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Classic Music Reviews
BIZET: Carmen - Angela Gheorghiu (Carmen), Roberto Alagna (Don José), Inva Mula (Micaëla), Thomas Hampson (Escamillo), Elizabeth Vidal (Frasquita), Isabelle Cals (Mercédès). La Lauzeta (children’s chorus of Toulouse), Choeur “Les Élements,” Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse / Michel Plasson. - EMI 57434-2 (3 CDs):
If you’re in the market for a new Carmen using the standard Guiraud performing edition, this one will fit the bill, especially if you like your operatic opulence with a convincingly human touch to it and a deft French sense of storytelling. Conducted by Michel Plasson with lyrical elegance, and with an unusually deep cast headed by opera’s hottest young married couple, Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna, this is a very strong contender for top honors.
Gheorghiu is a very seductive Carmen, even if a bit mature sounding for such a fiery role. Alagna, singing in beautiful French, is ardent and high- flying as he should be. Inva Mula is quite spectacular as the doe-eyed Micaëla, as emotionally sympathetic and vocally splendid a performance as I can recall. The outstanding Toulouse orchestra sports velvety strings and woodwinds colored like French wines (check out the woody bassoons!). Plasson brings a rare sophistication to the score and only the less then white-hot dénouement at the end lets the dramatic side down.
The sound, captured in the Halle aux Grains hall in Toulouse, where the orchestra gives its concerts, presents a spacious, utterly natural soundstage, an ideal example of how to record an opera. The liner notes are skimpy but serviceable. There is a complete libretto with English translation.
The grandest recording of this score remains the 1963 version conducted by Herbert von Karajan with Leontyne Price, Franco Corelli, Robert Merrill, Mirella Freni and, perhaps most important, the Vienna Philharmonic. It is sumptuous beyond belief, hyper-produced by John Culshaw in larger-than life sound completely opposite to that of the new EMI, and not very French. If and when Naxos releases in the U.S. the classic 1950 version conducted by André Cluytens, that will give you an idea of how sexy the opera can sound when sung in idiomatic French. Whether you know the language, it makes all the difference, despite the indifferent sound. But don’t pass up the opportunity to check this out. Even if you know Carmen well, and have several versions, you will be surprised by the enormous punch this one packs.
-Laurence Vittes
SONGS OF DEBUSSY AND MOZART: Beau soir, Clair de lune, Pierrot, Apparition, Pantomime, Fêtes galantes/1er livre, Ariettes oubliées (Debussy); Dans un bois solitaire, Oiseaux si tous les ans, Warnung, Der Zauberer, Das Veilchen, Sehnsucht nach dem Frühlinge, Als Luise die Briefe ihres untreuen Liebhabers verbrannte, Abendempfindung (Mozart). Julian Banse, soprano; András Schiff, piano – ECM New Series 1772 (60 mins.):
What a great idea: to juxtapose Debussy and Mozart in a way that will seduce listeners into a deeper understanding of how creativity works its magic while blurring the musical and aesthetic lines between the two composers. No one will ever have any doubt about which composer they are listening to, but I imagine that few will stop to think. The songs are about emotion and vulnerability and exaltation and love. And if you have already fallen in love with the ecstasy of Debussy’s songs, as so many have, you have a surprise in store with the intensity of Mozart’s lyrical sophistication and power.
The young German soprano Julian Banse has recorded Mendelssohn's with Ashkenazy, Berg with Abbado and the Vienna Philharmonic, and Mahler's Symphony No. 4 with Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra. Her beautiful voice has a wonderful range and freedom from strain. Her Debussy is miraculously precise and her Mozart warm. Schiff is the ideal collaborator in this repertoire, bringing a crystalline focus while suffusing the music with radiance.
The gorgeous recording, clear and airy and with just the right touch of ambience, was made in the recently renovated Reistadel concert hall in the historic Count Palatine city of Neumarkt, situated between Nuremberg and Regensburg. Seating only 400, the hall’s excellent acoustics make it a frequently used location for CD productions (the Takacs Quartet have recorded Schubert there).
To cap off a most refreshing release, Jacques Drillon contributes a lengthy essay titled “Mozart, Debussy and the Law” in which he presents a slightly puzzling context and then seasons it with a dazzling series of references including Vermeer, Sir John Gielgud and Daddy Bear (a hip translation from the French; we like to say Poppa Bear!). You may not be able to follow the argument but you will be fascinated by the places Drillon takes you.
- Laurence Vittes
DVORAK: Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70 - Sir Colin Davis conducting The London Symphony Orchestra - LSO Live LSO0014 40:14 (Distrib. Harmonia Mundi):
Taped in March 2001, this is a fine rendition of Dvorak's D Minor Symphony. It has great technology all over it, with clear delineation of all interior lines, cross rhythms, French horn in the Adagio, flute trills in the Scherzo, diviso strings in the last movement. Davis's conception is lean, articulate, often highly energized in the more aggressive sections of this most Brahmsian of Dvorak's late symphonies. Stylistically, it reminds me a bit of the Leitner inscription made for DGG and issued through American Decca back in the late 1950's. So, with all this spit and polish, why won't anybody buy this disc? Because at merely 40 minutes, it is missing a full half hour of programming. Has the LSO nothing in the vaults that would have filled out this disc? Please.
--Gary Lemco
Dream of the Orient - Works by MOZART, GLUCK, KRAUS, SUSMAYR, AGA, GIRAY & TRADITIONAL - Concerto Köln/Werner Ehrhardt & Sarband/Vladimir Ivanoff - Archiv 474 193-2:
Now here’s a crossover effort of the best possible sort - one that brings together not only different musical cultures but also different periods in music history and different cultures in general - so valuable in these times of heavy focus on the Middle East. The title comes from the European and Western fascination with the Orient, which started in the time of Marco Polo. In this case the focus is more specifically on Turkey and its musical culture. One of the two instrumental ensembles here - Sarband - is described as a Turco-German group founded to demonstrate the links between European music and the musical cultures of Islam and the Jews. The Cologne ensemble specializes in 18th and early 19th century music, using period instruments.
Both groups learned a great deal from their collaborations in performing not only classical works influenced by the exotic sounds of Turkish music, but also genuine Turkish works. The European performers played everything too precisely and at first the pieces didn’t flow as they should in oriental music. The Turkish players had a more relaxed idea about tempo as well and couldn’t understand having to stop playing for whole bars - which didn’t happen in Turkish music. Some of the selections here feature just one ensemble or the other, and others are the collaborations. Joseph Martin Kraus is well-represented; there are eight short ballet excerpts from his Turkish opera Soliman II. In Sussmayr’s Turkish Sinfonia, the musical battles between the European orchestra and the Turkish “janissary” percussion are staged in the first three short movements, but in the last movement the main orchestra seizes control. A thoroughly fascinating musical journey!
- John Sunier
Happy Birthday = SCHNITTKE: Polka; HEIDRICH: Happy Birthday Variations; KAKHIDZE: Blitz Fantasy; GHYS-SERVAIS: Variations brillantes et concertantes on God Save the King; TCHAIKOVSKY; Elegy; BOR: McMozart’s ein kleine bricht Moonlicht nicht Musik; WAXMAN: Auld Lang Syne Variations; KUPKOVIC: Souvenir - Gidon Kremer & Kremerata Baltica - Nonesuch 79657-2:
I somehow missed this one last year and I don't want readers to miss it. Kremer has come up with some highly original album ideas in recent years but I think this is his best yet. He says in his notes, “My intention has always been to awaken the listener by a kind of shock to the senses, which, in this case, is a humorous one; to make him or her aware that music is able to not only glide easily on the surface of our senses, but also permeate more deeply, enriching us with emotions, fantasies, laughter and insights.” He also admits to his use of opposing ideas here as an ironic statement against the trend of crossover albums made for no other reason than the promise of profit. Bravo to that!
February 2002 was the fifth birthday of Kremer’s chamber orchestra made up of young musicians from the three Baltic States. So what have we got in the Kremerata Baltica’s birthday gift to itself? At first it seems just a collection of encores involving familiar themes such as Happy Birthday, Auld Lang Syne or a theme from Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik. But it is much more than that. It teases the encore genre with a highly developed sense of musical humor that, as the notes say, “nudges us our of our listening rut.” A couple of my favorites were the Blitz Fantasy by Kakhidze, which combines his interest in Georgian folklore with a love of jazz and is done in a very non-academic style; and the Franz Waxman (yes, the Hollywood composer) tidbit created for a New Year’s party in LA in l947, which is a dream in which Shostakovich and Prokofiev muse about Mozart and Beethoven. Actually Mozart’s familiar melody from Eine kleine Nachtmusik is not heard in the work by “Teddy Bor;” as the title nicht Musik would indicate.
- John Sunier
ELGAR: Organ Sonata in G Major Op. 28; Enigma Variations (transcribed for organ by Keith John) - Keith John at organ of The Temple Church, London - Hyperion CDA67363:
The Organ Sonata is such a major four-movement work, of a half-hour length, that the publishers commissioned an orchestration of it, calling it Elgar’s Symphony No. 0. There’s much noble-sounding music here, and plenty of counterpoint - which the composer loved so much he played something from Bach’s “48” on a daily basis. But the longer transcription of Elgar’s trademark Enigma Variations is the main interest here. It’s always interesting to hear a familiar work in a different setting entirely but with most of the same notes. This version is actually closer to what first existed during the variation’s birth - Elgar working at his piano and trying out variations on a simple theme, each one describing one of his friends. The name Enigma was never applied by the composer to the work, but others close to him made many enigmatic statements concerning it, including: “The theme is a counterpoint on some well-known melody which is never heard;” “It is so well-known that it is extraordinary that no one has spotted it,” and this mind-boggler: “through and over the whole set another and larger theme ‘goes,’ but is not played.” In his notes organist John talks about an organist’s selection of registration being akin to a composer orchestrating a work from, say, a piano score. His expert choices in presenting Elgar’s piece seem to point up the variation techniques used on the main theme better than hearing the orchestral version.
- John Sunier
DURUFLÉ: Works for Organ and Choir--Thierry Escaich, organ and dir/Cambridge Voices--Calliope 9939 (Distr. By Albany):
Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) is best known for his serene, gently devotional, and very beautiful Requiem. The pieces on this disk are mostly for solo organ. Many of them sound improvisational and--unlike the Requiem-- consist of big sheets of sound without much melodic content. The choral sections, however, are very lovely. Thierry Escaich succeeded Duruflé as organist at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris (where this recording was made), and, during his years of study at Cambridge University, formed the 16-voice Cambridge Singers. He plays very well, the choir sings sweetly, and the recording is aided by excellent sound. I don’t find it the music very interesting, but then I’m not an organ enthusiast. It should have considerable appeal to those who are.
--Alex Morin
GRAUPNER: Instrumental and Vocal Music--Ingrid Schmithüsen, sop/Genevieve Soly, dir/L’Ensemble des Idées heureusese--Analekta Fl 2 3162 (Dist. By Naxos):
Christoph Graupner (1683-1760) has been overshadowed by his great contemporaries, Bach, Telemann, and Handel; I think deservedly so, though he gets nearly four full columns in New Grove. He spent most of his life in Darmstadt, where he composed prolifically and built an excellent orchestra. His compositions are conservative and not very interesting. An earlier volume from Genevieve Soly offered some of his keyboard music; this disc contains one of his 1418 cantatas (Ach Gott und Herr), one of his 50 Vivaldian chamber concertos, one of his sonatas da chiesa, and excerpts from one of his 11 operas, Dido, Königin von Carthago. Ingrid Schmithüsen sings the cantata and the opera excerpts in a white voice, not always exactly on pitch, and without much expression, and the Ensemble doesn’t play with great spirit or skill. However, this music is worth hearing at least once for no other reason than to lend reality to an almost forgotten name.--Alex Morin
BEETHOVEN: Symphonies 1-9 - Barbara Bonney, soprano; Birgit Remmert, contralto; Kurt Streit, tenor; Thomas Hampson, baritone. City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. - EMI Classics 57445-2 (5 CDs):
In concerts at the fabled Musikverein last April and May, Sir Simon Rattle and the Vienna Philharmonic bridged the centuries at the intersection of modern scholarship and tradition, as if they had happened on the secrets that alchemists once sought. Contrary to popular opinion, which has this new set as either an anachronism ("Why do we need another set of Beethoven symphonies by the Vienna Philharmonic?") or a marketing blunder ("Why do we need another set of the Beethoven symphonies at all?"), this is quite simply a recording that had to be made. In the process, Beethoven has been reborn.
The scholarship comes by way of new performing editions of the scores, prepared by Jonathan Del Mar and published by the great German house of Bärenreiter. These scores have been used before for recorded cycles by David Zinman, Sir Charles Mackerras and Claudio Abbado, but those earlier results, although they stripped away textual inaccuracies and the accretions of years, did not so comprehensively integrate mind and heart. The enormous outburst of creativity that shines through every bar of this new set comes from Rattle and the orchestra paying attention with unabashed joy to the amazing precision with which Beethoven assembled his marvelous musical machines. It is not Beethoven the musical architect we hear, but Beethoven the magical inventor.
This set not only illuminates what there is left to learn about Beethoven, and there is left to learn about every great composer, it demonstrates how an orchestra steeped in the traditional ways of the past can find itself liberated. The way the in which Vienna Philharmonic responds to Rattle's leadership is amazing: breathtaking freedom of phrasing from the woodwinds, exhilarating horn playing, dynamic surges of the entire ensemble that have nothing to do with convention. There is not one bar that is ordinary, that is not touched by the imaginative genius of Rattle nor of the orchestral magnificent of a Philharmonic absolutely willing and able to take a chance on Rattle's interpretive approach. In doing so, they seem to have experienced a reawakening of their own most vital musical instincts.
And always, there is Rattle's ferocious zest for life: His lead-ins to the allegros of the first movements of the Second and Fourth symphonies, his excitement at the storm in the Pastoral, his involvement in the first movement of the Eroica. Speeds are moderate to fast, and accents are direct and powerful, but since there is nothing doctrinaire about Rattle's approach, there is no way for eve the most knowledgeable listener to predict or to anticipate. Those who have never heard Beethoven's symphonies before will be luckiest, perhaps, for they will have an opportunity to hear the music scrubbed clean of all preconceptions. But those who know the music well, as long as they come with an open mind and heart, will also find so much to treasure - and far beyond just one hearing.
These results are not surprising. Of all today's young conducting lions, Simon Rattle understands the original instrument movement best (witness his provocative work with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment). Rattle knows, as only a conductor with his access to the world's great orchestras could, what orchestras are capable of - and not! I once asked Rattle why he did not ask all orchestras to incorporate lessons of the original-instrument movement; he said some were just not willing, or able.
The sound is suitably large and powerful, and not too polished. EMI has packaged the recordings in an elegant, sturdy box with a hardbound booklet that includes straightforward essays on the music and the Vienna Philharmonic, and comments by Del Mar.
- Laurence Vittes
Two major works by two major French composers...
MESSIAEN: Des Canyons aux Etoiles... (From the Canyons to the Stars...) - Roger Mujraro, p./Jean-Jacques Justafre, horn/Francis Petet, xylorimba/Renaud Muzzolini, glockenspiel/Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France/Myung Whun Chung - DGG 471 717-2 (2 CDs):
This is the massive American work from the path-breaking composer who died just 11 years ago. It was a commission from the Chamber Music Society of New York but is certainly far from chamber music. A limitation of the string section to only 13 seems to be the only chamber-like design here. After accepting the commission, Messiaen opened an encyclopedia and found his subject in the canyons of Utah, which he then visited before writing the work. In 12 movements arranged in three parts, it seems to be a summation of all his instrumental writing. Each of the parts ends with a visit to one of the great Utah sights. These include: The Desert, Bryce Canyon, Zion Park, and many different birds - from orioles to four exotic birds common to Hawaii (I guess he took a side trip). The birds of course provide the opportunity for the composer to work with his beloved bird song material. The piccolo, glockenspiel and top notes of the piano all assist in creating the bird songs. The French horn solos in the work are also a standout. The entire suite displays the trademarked ecstatic quality common to Messiaen, and is one of his few works without direct connections to his strong Catholicism, although there are references in some of the titles to the Gift of Awe, the Resurrected, and the Celestial City. In a work as sonically spectacular is this, I found myself again wishing for a multichannel version of the same performance. Switching to ProLogic II got me partway there at least.
- John Sunier
DEBUSSY: Pelléas et Mélisande concert suite; Three Nocturnes; Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun - Berlin Philharmonic/Claudio Abbado - DGG 289 471 332-2:
I wasn’t aware that conductors Sir John Barbirolli, Pierre Monteux and Erich Leinsdorf had all arranged concert suites of music from the unique Debussy opera, but since I lean toward instrumental rather than vocal music and enjoy all of Debussy’s music, the half-hour suite on this CD caught my eye. Abbado uses the Leinsdorf version and this selection was recorded during a live concert in Berlin whereas the other two were not. The three main characters in the opera each have their own leitmotif, so drawing from various preludes, postludes and interludes in the score, the suite is similar to a symphonic poem but without a narrative line. The love scenes and the killing of Pelleas by his half-brother Golaud are not included in the music selected. This is a welcome addition to the catalog of opera-without-singing, and very well performed/recorded. The Three Nocturnes is Debussy at his impressionistic best, with the distant song of the Sirens a hallmark of the last Nocturne, and the tone-painting of Fêtes picturing a fantastic procession approaching from the distance, passing, and continuing over the horizon.
- John Sunier
Two new releases of orchestral works by the tuneful Spanish composer Rodrigo...
RODRIGO: Concierto de Aranjuez; Fantasia Para Un Gentilhombre; Musica para un jardin; Tres viejos aires de danza - Marco Socías, guitar/Orquesta Ciudad de Granada/Josep Pons - Harmonia mundi HMC 901764:
The blind Spanish composer, who died just four years ago, continued the Spanish compositional lineage of Manuel de Falla. He looked to the 16th century Spanish vihuela tradition, early works for guitar, the harpsichord works of both Domenico Scarlatti as well as Falla’s late Concerto for Harpsichord. If you don’t already have the Concierto de Aranjuez in your collection - the most frequently-performed Spanish classical work in the world - this one is a winner. It pairs it with the suite-like Fantasia, which Rodrigo wrote for Segovia after the famous guitarist expressed his displeasure at not being involved in the premiere of the Concierto. The Music for a Garden began with the composer’s commission to write music for a documentary film on a park in Madrid, and the Three Old Dance Tunes are orchestrations in the style of Ravel of pieces he wrote early in his career. The Iberian performers deliver superbly authentic versions of all four works and HM delivers rich and transparent sound.
RODRIGO: Complete Orchestral Works Vol. 4 = Concierto para piano 7 orquesta; Preludio para un poema a la Alhambra; Musica para un jardin; Homenage a la tempranica; Juglares - Daniel Ligorio Ferrandiz, piano/Castile and León Symphony Orchestra/Max Bragado Darman - Naxos 8.557101:
More Iberian performers in more Rodrigo; never mind the 11-minute Garden music duplication - the sound is somewhat better on the HM disc. The Concierto is a revision by Joaquin Achucarro of the composer’s Concierto heroico, notably deleting two long cadenzas in the already longest movement, the Largo, and is still plenty virtuosic. The Prelude is strongly influence by Falla and evokes a twilight scene near the Alhambra. Juglares was the first Rodrigo work to have a public performance. This Rodrigo series on Naxos is a great way to become more familiar with the colorful music of the composer and at a bargain price.
- John Sunier
HAYDN Piano Sonatas = No. 31 in A Flat Major; No. 34 in D Major; No. 29 in E Flat Major; No. 49 in C Sharp Minor; No. 35 in A Flat Major - Emanuel Ax, p. - Sony Classical SK 89363:
Haydn was the model of the at-the-piano composing style. He once told a friend “I am just a living clavier.” So in addition to his over 100 symphonies and many oratorios, Haydn penned many keyboard sonatas. Many of them were written originally for the harpsichord, not the fortepiano, and I usually prefer them on that instrument. However, Ax does such a tasteful and convincing job of translating these five works to the larger and more dynamic grand piano that I find them immensely enjoyable. Previously I found most recorded performances of Haydn sonatas on the piano sleep-inducing, but not these! There is an intimate world of beauty and variety in these individual sonatas. The recording, using the DSD system but bit-mapped down to 44.1K, displays an exceptionally clean and natural reproduction of the piano. The opening No. 31 is one of the most-played of the sonatas and more technically difficult than most of the others.
- John Sunier
Off-the-beaten-track music from the time of Mozart on the next pair of CDs...
“Mozart Noir” - The Music of JOSEPH BOULOGNE, CHEVALIER DE SAINT-GEORGES: Overture - L’amant anonyme; Symphony in D; Excerpts from L’amant anonyme ballet; Violin Concerto in D Major; Symphony in G Major; LECLAIR: Allegro from Violin Concerto in F Major; GOSSEC: “Pastorella” Symphony in D Major - Tafelmusik Orchestra/Jeanne Lamon - CBC Records SMCD 5225:
Saint-Georges - the “Black Mozart” - had an extraordinary life. He was the son of a French plantation owner in Guadeloupe and one of his African slaves. He was given the best education in France at the Royal Academy of Arms and developed great talents in fencing and military pursuits. He also must have studied music somewhere because he soon became one of the most important musician-composers of the pre-Revolutionary period. He was mentored by both Leclair and Gossec, which explains the inclusion of their works in this collection. St.-Georges’ two symphonies here are rather light, in the style of Mozart serenades, but his Violin Concerto is a major and extremely virtuosic work. He also wrote seven comic operas, of which the one from which the ballet excerpt here is derived is the only one extant. The last decade of his life was involved with the Revolution and his career in music almost over. Fascinating music from a fascinating personage at a fascinating time and place in history.
LUDWIG AUGUST LEBRUN: Oboe Concertos = No. 1 in D Minor; No. 2 in G Minor; No. 4 in B Flat - Bart Schneemann, oboe/Radio Chamber Orchestra of the Netherlands/Jan Willem de Vriend - Channel Classics CCS 16198:
Lebrun, who was Mozart’s contemporary, was about as famous as Mozart in the second half of the 18th century. He was the son of a French oboist who settled at the Mannheim Court in Germany and gained renown for his spectacular virtuoso playing as well as his 14 oboe concertos written to show off his expertise. These four demonstrate the rich invention of Lebrun, who employed many then-striking musical techniques developed by the famous Mannheim School instrumentalists and composers. Both in composition and playing, the boundaries of late Baroque style were always being expanded. Each of the concertos is in three movements, beginning with an Allegro and ending with a Rondo Allegro. The 39-member Radio Chamber Orchestra sounds fuller and richer than would a smaller ensemble, and Schneemann is clearly a master of his instrument - which fell into disfavor after Lebrun’s time because it simply couldn’t play loud enough for the large concert halls then coming into being.
- John Sunier
LIGETI: The Ligeti Project III, Konstanty Kulka and Chee Yun. Conducted by Antonio Witt. Teldec 8573-87631-2:
Everything Gyorgy Ligeti composes fascinates me with its humor, unpredictability, and cantankerous charm. I even like the pieces I can’t listen to, like his opera Le Grande Macabre: it pushes the envelope so deftly it never tears, but stretches into its own horizons. These works from the latest volume in the Ligeti Project do not disappoint. Consider his Cello Concerto. Opening pianississimo, it stays at that dynamic for most of the piece. Tonally, it’s barely there. But when it breaks out if its self-contained shell and showers you with its disquieting high registers, you may be tempted to leave the room for a few moments. But don’t. There’s magic to come. Listen to the brazen ostinatos of Clocks and Clouds and wonder what shapes they’re going to assume. Halfway through its haunting perambulations, a dense vocalise ensues, which Ligeti helpfully explains as being “notated in the International Phonetic Alphabet, serving the rhythmic articulation and the transformation of timbre.” The violin concerto is a small masterpiece, with its contrasting bitonality with traditional formats like the arioso. Shades of Schnittke! My favorite is his recent song cycle Sippal, dobbal, nadihegeduvel:Weores Sandor versaire. Ranging in length from forty seconds to 2:47, these elliptical pieces are angry, satirical, and nonsensical (“Cannot be translated” read two of the translations.). In these works about coolies, apples, dragons, and walking mountains, he charts new theatrical realms, effectively extending the work he left undeveloped in Le Grand Macabre.
--Peter Bates
If Legeti loses you, here’s some more 20th Century music that’s more accessible...
KURT WEILL: Symphonies 1 & 2; Bastille Music - Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra/David Atherton - GMN.com GMNC0100:
In the great attention given to Weill’s many stage works from both Berlin and New York, his earlier abstract instrumental works have been pretty much ignored. There have been previous recordings of both of these symphonies but this one is from a long time Weill specialist and in up-to-date sonics. His single-movement First Symphony, written when he was only 21, shows the influences of both Mahler and Schoenberg and skirts atonality. It’s a very modern sounding work full of interesting ideas. In 1923 Weill attended a performance of Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale and it had a very strong effect on him thereafter - resulting eventually in the spikey and sardonic style incorporating jazz, folk music and burlesque seen and heard in The Three-Penny Opera. The Bastille Music, with accordion, is from this period and originated in incidental music for a play by Strindberg. The Symphony No. 2 mixes some of his ballad-operas’ tricks into a traditional three-movement symphony form. The first movement was being composed just as Hitler was becoming Chancellor.
LOWELL LIEBERMANN: Symphony No. 2; Concerto for Flute and Orchestra - Eugenia Zukerman, flute/Dallas Symphony Orchestra & Chorus/Andrew Litton - Delos DE 3256:
This live recording made in the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas is the world premiere of Liebermann’s Second Symphony. He works in the traditional musical forms and finds them stimulating enough for the creation of his own individual voice. The Second is choral symphony in the tradition of Beethoven’s Ninth. The mixed chorus sings passages from various poems of Walt Whitman (which are in the note booklet). There is also pipe organ and auxiliary brass in the balconies a la the Berlioz Requiem. This should be quite a surround sound spectacular if released on multichannel SACD! (Being one of Delo’s VR2 matrix surround discs it works fairly well for now in surround using Dolby ProLogic II for playback.) The symphony has a continuous 40-minute span but four movement-sections are discerned within it. One passage in the Tempo di marcia second movement - featuring xylophone over the march-step orchestra - reminded me of an American Shostakovich. Liebermann’s Flute Concerto was commissioned by James Galway and sounds as if Ravel was still alive and penned a flute concerto. It is more transparently tonal than the symphony, uses a smaller orchestra, and is a breathless workout for the soloist.- John Sunier
HANDEL: Rinaldo – Vivica Genaux, Miah Persson, Inga Kaina, Lawrence Zazzo, James Rutherford, Christophe Dumaux, Dominique Vissé, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra conducted by René Jacobs – Harmonia Mundi 901796.98 (3 CDs):
From the first bar, partnered by stunning sound, René Jacobs takes hold of Handel’s floridly extravagant score and never lets go. There have been magnificent recordings before of this wonderful music, most notably the recent Decca version conducted by Christopher Hogwood and featuring Cecilia Bartoli in a star-studded cast, but none is as ferocious as this one.
The opera can take it. It was Handel’s first Italian opera for his London audiences, and was a spectacular success with a storyline that has the Crusaders attacking Jerusalem and emotions that range across wide Technicolor plains. This new recording came in the wake of a highly controversial, anti-war production at the Montpellier Festival last year, in a contemporary setting with GIs, sheikhs, nymphomaniacs and other incendiary types. Devoid of the visuals, the performances seem mainstream dazzling - led by the instrumental brilliance of the Freiburg orchestra. Whether trills and turns by the oboes, delicately lazy introductions by the bassoons, or elaborate continuo riffs by lute, harp and harpsichord (sometimes two as in Armida’s aria, Vo far Guerra), here is a conception whose larger-than-life instrumental component stamps it as an opera worthy of standing beside titans like Fidelio.
The vocal work is hardly less dazzling. Vivica Genaux’s Rinaldo may have been the nominative star of the Montpellier show, and her work is truly magnificent, more mezzo than contralto, but she is closely rivaled by Miah Persson as Almirena (her Lascia ch'io piango is so deeply moving and profound that I had to listen to it three times over!) and Inga Kaina as Armida. The countertenors, led by Lawrence Zazzo, are also superb.
The sound is powerful, rich in timbre, detail and texture. Not as much air around it as the Decca, but close to audiophile quality. The liner notes in this sumptuously packaged set are what you might expect from an intellectual French company. Reinhard Strom’s introductory essay refers to Marxists, power and the European Baroque. And Jacobs’s longer discussion of the “Enchantments of a Magic Opera” provides the insights that only an interpreter can hope to know. “In a magic opera,” he writes, “the magic tricks are performed not only onstage, but also in the pit.” How right he is!
- Laurence Vittes
VILLA-LOBOS: Symphony No. 3; Symphony No. 9; Overture de l’Homme Tel - SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Stuttgart/Carl St. Clair - CPO 999 712-2:
VILLA-LOBOS: String Trio; Duo for Violin and Viola; Deux Chôros for violin and cello; Chôros No. 2 for violin and cello -
German String Trio - CPO 999 827-2:
The Brazilian composer penned a dozen symphonies thruout his life and they are all quite different works. No. 3 of 1919 was a commissioned work to celebrate the Armistice of WW I. It is scored for a large orchestra and chorus and while it lacks a specific program, the insertion of military fanfares and battle calls identify this as the composer’s war symphony. The last movement even has references to both the Brazilian national anthem and Le Marseillaise. The shorter Ninth Symphony, on the other hand, dates from l952 and employs some techniques often used by Villa-Lobos. These include polychordal and pandiatonic passages and timbres combining Romantic and Impressionistic techniques.
The composer wrote a vast amount of chamber music, including many pieces for duos and trios. Since he was a cellist himself he was drawn to string instruments. These chamber works often use double stops, harmonics and simultaneous plucked and bowed notes among their innovative sounds. The major selection here is the opening String Trio of 1945, the only one in Villa-Lobos’ catalog. It is similar in style to his later string quartets but with one less instrument. The lovely Andante movement has an expressive main theme over muted strings, and the Scherzo employs a dance-like theme and rhythm.
- John Sunier
DAVID DIAMOND: Psalm; Kaddish for Cello and orchestra; Symphony No. 3 - Janos Starker, cello/Seattle Symphony/Gerard Schwarz - Naxos American Music Series 8.559155:
Part of the recent Seattle Symphony series launched by Naxos, this release presents much better-known artists than the usual Naxos stable of performers. Starker is one of the greatest living cellists today and had made over 165 recordings. Diamond has been a stalwart of the older generation of American composers - working in an accessible tonal and modal style with traditional forms but using great creativity. It is said to wed Bachian counterpoint with Ravelian tone color. These performances were recording in the Seattle Opera House about a decade ago. Diamond’s Kaddish is only ten minutes long and entirely instrumental, utilizing the rhythmic articulation of the opening words of the Hebrew prayer. The four movement Symphony of 1945 is strongly tonal and has a cyclic form.
- John Sunier
A pair of British “Bs” closes out our classical section...
ARNOLD BAX: Symphony No. 6; Into the Twilight; Summer Music - Royal Scottish National orchestra/David Lloyd Jones - Naxos 8.557144:
Bax was a prolific composer in many forms who had an abiding interest in Irish and Celtic musical culture. His style could be called neo-Romantic but with strong impressionistic tendencies - heard especially in the very Delius-esque Summer Music. Chromaticism and counterpoint are other elements of his approach. Into the Twilight had Celtic inspirations and its title comes from Yeats. The Symphony was written mostly in Scotland and is considered one of his best. The three movements alternate dramatic and lyrical sections in heavily chromatic tonality. Recorded last year in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, sonics are rich and detailed.
ARTHUR BLISS: String Quartet No. 1; Conversations for Flute, Oboe, Violin, Viola and Cello; String Quartet in A Major - Maggini Quartet/Nicholas Daniel, oboe/Michael Cox, flute - Naxos 8.557108:
Bliss, who died in l975, followed Bax in the role of Master of the Queen’s Musick. He is known for his modern but accessible scores for a series of ballets including Checkmate and Adam Zero, and for the soundtrack music to the British sci-fi classic Things To Come. Bliss’ Conversations - written in Paris just after his serving in the British Army in WW I - is at the top of his chamber music list. It is a humorous homage to the young French composers who comprised Les Six. The Quartet No. 1 is an attractive and energetic work written during the two years Bliss was teaching in California.
- John Sunier
