Works for solo piano and orchestra, including the ever popular pieces La Mer and Three Nocturnes, highlight this budget collection of music by this giant of French impressionism.

Modernism. Multiculturism. Multi-tuning. Lockdown. These are among the elements that bind the works on The Solo Album by award winning cellist Christoph Croisé, who took the opportunity of 2020’s coronavirus isolation to work intensively on a variety of solo works and also turn his hand to composition. At the heart of the album is Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály’s epic Sonata, the first major work for solo cello after the suites by Johann Sebastian Bach which were written two centuries earlier. The virtuosity demands of the soloist re-tuning two of the cello’s strings, double-stop trills and simultaneous bowed and plucked passages, all of which Christoph dispatches with aplomb. Framing Kodály’s Sonata are works by two compatriots, György Ligeti’s two-movement Sonata which draws inspiration from Béla Bartók, and the more recent Stonehenge by cellist, composer and pop-music producer Péter Pejtsik which includes intimations of electric guitar. A “sandwich filler” is Christophe’s first composition for solo cello, Spring Promenade, which is infused with boogie-woogie, reggae, swing and techno. He took inspiration from Sicilian composer-cello virtuoso Giovanni Sollima whose Concerto Rotondo incorporates electronics and extended techniques. Closing out the album, Sollima’s short work Alone gives way to the album’s “encore”, the exuberant Some like to show it off by Croatian cellist-composer Thomas Buritch.

REVIEW:

Since the demise of The City Musick some 16 years ago, Chicago has been without a period-instrument orchestra. Plenty of smaller chamber groups have been trying to fill the void, but it’s not quite the same as having a full-sized period orchestra that can tackle the larger works. Many metropolitan areas in North America can boast of having a Baroque orchestra—San Francisco, Boston, New York, Seattle, Cleveland, Toronto, Montreal. For a great city like Chicago to go without is unthinkable. The formation of the Baroque Band in 2007 was therefore something of an event and grounds for celebration. That this took place on the cusp of a severe economic downturn is even more remarkable. The present CD is the group’s debut recording, and shows it to consist of a nicely rounded 5-4-3-2-1 plus harpsichord, a healthy size by any standard. My thanks to Jim Ginsberg and his enterprising Cedille label for affording us non-Chicagoans the chance to examine the group for the first time. 

In the press release to the CD, Baroque violinist and founder Gary Clarke speculates that this may be the first time the six suites of Biber’s Mensa sonora have been recorded using full orchestra, and he may be right. My past favorite, and the Baroque Band’s chief competition, is the version by Musica Antiqua Köln and Reinhard Goebel (Archiv 423701, nla). Naturally, one cannot expect the same sort of individualistic chamber-music approach from an orchestral performance, but within the context of a larger group, the Baroque Band plays with admirable style and precision. A minor quibble has to do with the omnipresent and very prominent harpsichord continuo. Well played as it is by David Schrader, the occasional inclusion of a theorbo or chamber organ would have provided some much-needed variety.

The featured work is the famous Battalia à 10 (subtitled “for violin, strings, and basso continuo in D Major” in the booklet), and its history on record is traceable to the classic premiere recording by Concentus Musicus from 1966. That LP, which contained several other works of Biber as well as music of Muffat, was rereleased on CD in the early ’90s as part of the Collectio Argentea series (Archiv 437081, nla). It’s fascinating to compare the two period-instrument performance styles of 1966 and 2010. Back then, violinist Alice Harnoncourt played with a very sweet, vibrato-y sound, but also with great authority and presence. Here, Gary Clarke is equally authoritative, but his sound is straighter and ultimately more apropos than Harnoncourt’s. Compared to the ultra-polished but somewhat laid-back Concentus Musicus, the Baroque Band is a well-drilled regiment, clearly in command of the music. It plays with greater energy and really digs into the Bartók pizzicati in “Die Schlacht.” The players ham it up delightfully in the Lamento movement, a perfect depiction of a bunch of drunken soldiers. The “fife and drum” movement is memorable—for once, the parchment-wrapped double bass really sounds like a drum. Of the several versions that have appeared over the years, including MAK’s, the Baroque Band’s is the most successful in capturing the spirit of this unusual and innovative music.

My main complaint about the CD is that there isn’t enough of it! A timing of 56 minutes is pretty skimpy these days—it would have been easy to add another couple of works by Biber, the Pauern Kirchenfahrt , perhaps, or the Sonata representativa . The recorded sound is first-rate, and Gary Clarke’s notes afford a good introduction to the music. An excellent, urgently recommended debut disc.


FANFARE: Christopher Brodersen


Biber's Mensa Sonora ("Sonorous Table") doesn't get as much play as some of his more virtuosic violin works, but it contains splendid music nonetheless. By any standard this is an excellent performance for a period-instrument group, largely because director Garry Clarke made the smart decision to use a larger-size ensemble rather than having the music played one to a part. In his booklet notes Clarke offers all kinds of ridiculous "historical" reasons supporting this decision, and it's sad that today it is unacceptable for period-instrument performers to offer the one reason that we know would have been as valid in the composer's own time as it is in ours: the music sounds better this way.

Mensa Sonora consists of six parts (called "Pars" appropriately enough), each containing from five to seven brief movements. These range from delicate arias and sarabandes to the vigorous and rhythmically inventive second Balletto from Pars II, and including a couple of imposing Chaconnes (in Pars III and VI). A larger ensemble gives more weight and sonority (that's "Sonora", right?) to the big moments, and a richer but still intimate sound to the lighter ones. Sure, there's the usual minimization of vibrato, which is wrong, but with multiple players it matters less than usual, and to his credit Clarke permits them none of that whiny squeezing of notes that so many period ensembles deploy to the point of mannerism in lyrical passages.

The Battalia makes a substantial bonus. Clarke and his company really play up the battle scene, and the drunken soldiers make a jolly cacophony. Only the final lament of the dying doesn't quite work--it seems to me that it should be simply touching and played more or less straight, without the lachrymose chromaticism exaggerated quite so much. Of course, this is very much a matter of taste. As usual with this label, the engineering is superbly natural and well-balanced. A fine disc that all fans of Baroque music will want to consider.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

REVIEW:

These are strong, exciting performances of symphonies that demand the sort of bold muscularity in their execution that these artists offer. In Alan Gilbert’s hands the First Symphony sounds extremely confident and wholly mature. It starts with a bang and the tension in the first movement never lets up. The playing of the New York Philharmonic throughout is fresh and unaffected, full of spirit and drive. Even the Andante flows purposefully forward, and contrasts nicely with the Allegro comodo that does duty for a scherzo–with its harmonic kinks so personal to Nielsen. The finale has the same “pedal to the metal” drive as the opening, bringing the performance to a rousing conclusion.

The performance of the “Inextinguishable” Fourth Symphony also features some really impressive energy and power. In the first movement the brass play with a precision and clarity that few other versions can match, and in the finale the dueling timpani compete with real bravura. The slow movement here reminds me of Shostakovich in its bleak intensity, and my only quibble with Gilbert’s interpretation concerns the symphony’s coda where, like most of his colleagues, Gilbert broadens the pace in the closing bars when Nielsen clearly wants to drive the music home in tempo. Gilbert does pull it off: with an orchestra that has the weight and strength of the New York Philharmonic the effect is convincing, but Gibson (on Chandos) remains unmatched here.

Dacapo’s engineering, as with the previous release in this series, is natural and very present. The woodwinds feel just slightly recessed in more fully scored sections, but I can attest that the music really does sound like this in actual performance with a large orchestra, and certainly nothing gets lost. More importantly, the engineers have captured the impression of a live performance, caught on the wing, and the audience is mercifully quiet. This is a very impressive release.

– David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

In his piano music, as in his symphonies and string quartets, the English composer David Matthews (b. 1943) marries the idiom of classical tradition with that of his own day. His 2009 Piano Concerto, Mozartian in spirit, contains both a tango and a blues; his Piano Sonata of 1989 includes jazz elements, and his 1997 Variations feature both further blues and a homage to Beethoven. The mood of the music on this CD ranges from contemplative introspection to fiery, rhythmic energy. David Matthews describes the Finnish pianist Laura Mikkola as ‘a marvellous exponent of my music’. This disc is released to mark David Matthews’ 70th birthday in March.

REVIEW:

David Matthews’s 2009 Piano Concerto, with string orchestra, is an approachable, joyfully tonal work that should appeal to pianists and audiences seeking a diverting, fresh 20-minute extension of the worlds of Britten and Tippett, with excellent craftsmanship and minimal complication. It would take an act of desperation not to enjoy it, and unless you are a firebreathing modernist you will.

Speaking of “firebreathing”, the earlier Piano Sonata (1989), in three continuous movements, is far more acerbic and breathlessly dramatic. Prokofieff may be a distant influence, but the language is more relentlessly dissonant, and some would call it “advanced”. It’s pretty exciting, and like most of this composer’s work is unfailingly musical.

The 1997 Variations is an imaginative and very effective set built on a theme of descending thirds very distantly related to Brahms, but its treatment is very much of our time. Always with a distant flavor of tonality in the background, the seemingly improvisatory work holds the attention until the quiet, bluesy close.

Dionysus Dithyrambs (2007, 2004) are two brief pieces inspired by Nietzsche. Scriabin lurks, especially in the pieces dealing with Nietzsche’s insanity, most obviously in the wild final piece (‘Esultante’) with its whiffs of Tristan toward the end. Tristan gets up to dance in the final piece on the program, ‘One to Tango’ (1990, rev 1993), a pleasant but not trivial coda.

This should be of interest to pianists looking for high-quality end of century repertoire.

The excellent Finnish pianist Laura Mikkola acquits herself nobly.

-- American Record Guide

The firm of M. Welte and Söhne’s NYC branch on 5th Ave. lasted from 1865 until 1917, under the name M. Welte and Sons. Established by the founder’s son, Emil Welte (1841–1923) lived in the USA permanently, only rarely visiting Freiburg. A recording studio with a grand piano for making piano recordings and a recording organ as well occupied this fine 5th Ave. address. Piano recordings of the Welte firm were thus not only made in Freiburg im Breisgau from 1905 until 1932, but also in New York. Featuring organists Clarence Eddy, Samuel Atkinson Baldwin, Lynnwood Farnam, Richard Epstein and Edwin H. Lemare.

When the Darmstadt teenager Volker Kriegel (1943-2003) officially debuted his first chords in the late 1950s, the guitar was still an outsider instrument in jazz. It could boast a few luminaries, but actually everything was still open when, in 1963 and 1964, the autodidact from Hessen won first prizes as guitarist and soloist at the amateur jazz festival in Düsseldorf. The debut recordings in 1963, which Südwestfunk (SWF) recorded with the nineteen-year-old guitarist in trio at the Deutschhaus in Mainz, and the 1969 studio sessions in the Kammersaal Studio, are worlds apart. For one thing, the guitar itself had carved out a career. On top of this, Kriegel had gained in self-confidence. But above all, he had found a counterpart in Claudio Szenkar, who opened up perspectives not only in terms of communication and composition but also through Kriegel’s own instrument. The combination of vibraphone and guitar was then still fairly new. In 1968, Kriegel decided to make music his main profession. Thanks to "With A Little Help from My Friends" and an appearance at the German Jazz Festival in Frankfurt, he achieved the breakthrough into public recognition. Together with the vibraphonist Dave Pike, the bassist Hans Rettenbacher and the drummer Peter Baumeister, he founded the Dave Pike Set, which became for four years his artistic center and a beacon combo of European jazz rock. And for the SWF (Südwestfunk, today SWR) he went twice into the sound studio. With the exceptions of The Beatles’s anthem "Norwegian Wood" and "Mother People" by the young guitar berserker Frank Zappa, hardly any pieces by other musicians are still to be heard in these recordings.

This is the premiere recording of Vaughan Williams's opera The Poisoned Kiss. This romantic extravaganza contains some of the composer's finest music, and a sense of fun runs through the delightful score. Vaughan Williams began writing The Poisoned Kiss, his fourth opera, in 1927. He was also working on Sir John in Love and had begun sketching the first scenes of Job. he was at the height of his musical powers, yet The Poisoned Kiss has remained unperformed, unrecorded and unknown. The reason for this neglect lies mainly in the rather dated text and the lengthy sections of spoken dialogue (some of which is omitted in this recording). It did not help that the composer and the librettist were uncertain about the balance between comedy and drama in the opera, a dilema that led to major revisions of the work by Vaughan Williams in 1936 and again in 1956-57. In the final version the composer's lyricism dominates the humour and we are treated to an extraordinary wealth of expressive and heart-felt music whcih does not deserve to be ignored. Recorded in: Brangwyn Hall, Swansea 3-6 January 2003 Producer(s) Brian Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Ralph Couzens Matthew Walker (Assistant)

This album was awarded the 2008 Grammy Awards for "Best Classical Album" and "Best Orchestral Performance."
All tracks have been digitally mastered using 24-bit technology.

A budget-priced collection of highlights from among the composer's solo piano, chamber, vocal, and orchestral works, including his famous Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani in G minor.

Myrtle and Rose- the title taken from the Heinrich Heine poem which Robert Schumann set as the final song of his Liederkreis, Op. 24- features two of Robert Schumann’s most beloved song cycles (the other being Liederkreis, Op. 39) along with several rarely-recorded songs by his wife Clara. The album beautifully captures the artistic partnership of tenor Kyle Stegall and fortepianist Eric Zivian, who first collaborated at the Valley of the Moon Music Festival in Sonoma, California. Stegall’s “lovely tone and ardent expression” (The New York Times) and Eric Zivian’s original 1841 Rausch fortepiano from Vienna- built exactly when the songs were written- combine in these inspired and illuminating interpretations. “a gentle tone that melted the hearts of all” (OperaWire) “the last word in low key virtuosity” (San Francisco Classical Voice)

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REVIEW:

This little recording has a great deal worth recommending. The gentle singing of tenor Kyle Stegall and the circumspect but active accompaniment by Eric Zivian are strong points. The program is elegant. The real star of the show, however, is not Stegall or Zivian, but Zivian's period piano, an 1841 instrument by the Viennese builder Franz Rausch. Many historical performances featuring pianos from this period use French or English models, and the name of Rausch is not much known. However, it fits this music admirably, producing a subtle, silvery tone that brings out the poetry without retreating into the background. Continuing credit to the Avie label for uncovering distinctive little-known performers.

– All Music Guide (James Manheim)

The programme performed here by baritone Christopher Maltman and pianist Joseph Middleton was born whilst Maltmann was studying at the Royal Academy of Music. The compositions have been selected to form a coherent but flexible narrative that produces a touching memoir to all those affected by war. One composer chosen for the record, George Butterworth, was a casualty of the First World War: in September 1915 he want to the trenches and was killed, aged 31, in the Battle of the Somme on 5th August 1916. The use of his composition, A Shropshire Lad, is touching in this instance. It gives the listener a more sensitive perspective of the loss in World War One, almost allowing the listener to see the faces of those who passed away, most of whom were young 'lads' from various parts of the country.

“These heartfelt works are ideally suited to the open, expressive richness of the St John's, Cambridge choir. 'A Sad Pavan for these distracted times' is one of three pieces played by organ scholar Freddie James – a name to watch.” – The Observer (UK)

[T]ruly sumptuous. Although the standout solos sound as young as you would expect from a group of undergraduates, corporately there is the strongly identifiable John's sound of adult professional choir in microcosm. The John's acoustics, too, are particularly good for this music because they buoy up, warm and upholster the sound of the choir.

– Gramophone [10/2014]

‘Christmas In Ireland’, featuring guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and singer Noel McLoughlin & multi-instrumentalist, singer, teacher, composer and arranger Ger O’Donnell offers real traditional Christmas favorites from Ireland and ‘all over’, inviting listeners to sing along in the true spirit of Christmas. + Among its thirteen seasonal tracks are ‘The Holly and the Ivy’, ‘O’ Little Town of Bethlehem’, ‘Oh Christmas Tree’ (an English translation of the German carol ‘Oh Tannenbaum’), ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ and ‘Auld Lang Syne’.

Born in Albania in 1958, Thomas Simaku studied composition at the State Conservatory of Music in Tirana. He moved to England in 1991, where he was able to immerse himself in the music that had been banned in his native country, and especially that of Ligeti and Kurtág. This, as well as his earlier experience of working with Albanian folk musicians, had a lasting effect on his own music – but as Simaku himself puts it: ‘when it comes to creativity, one should at least try to speak with one’s voice, however small that might be.’ He often composes for specific performers and the present album highlights his collaborations with Quatuor Diotima and with the pianist Joseph Houston. Catena I, the opening work as well as the most recent one on the programme, was written for Houston, while the String Quartets Nos. 4 and 5 were destined for Diotima, of which Simaku has said that ‘one cannot fail to notice their individual and sensitive approach to sound and color, and their huge range of expression. I have tried to embody these idiosyncratic qualities in both quartets.’ Houston also plays two works written by Simaku as tokens of his respect for two composer colleagues: L’image oubliée d’après Debussy and Hommage à Kurtág. These frame the piano quintet con-ri-sonanza which has also given its name to the entire album, after the sonic qualities it embodies: consonanza, risonanza, con risonanza …

It's an initially disorientating experience to hear Sea Pictures in a version with choir. The Rodolfus Choir are an elite SATB group and have a wonderfully smooth and often lulling sound; there's a lot of that mood in Sea Pictures. The choir's diction is a marvel although the sung words are in any event at the back of the booklet. The singers are attentive to dynamic contrast and register some superbly poetic effects. Open-minded Elgarians who can get over the heresy of unfamiliar forces will find much to enjoy here. Where Corals Lie is a delight and works exceptionally well with choir.

A lazy unobservant glance at the details of this disc had me assuming that the Piano Quintet had been re-engineered into a Piano Concerto to join the Elgar/Walker. No such thing. What we have here is something of symphonic proportions and character. While there are some dark and dramatic moments and even some hints of the Second Symphony this now comes across as reflective and in the same territory as Falstaff. The first movement has an air of halting even fearful uncertainty. It's all very smooth though, suave even. A Viennese lilt at 10.00 is one of several instances where things become quite Brahmsian. The second movement is almost Finzian as details entwine much as they do in the woodland Interludes in Falstaff. The finale has its exciting moments but is overall quite nostalgic, philosophical, and regretful.

These two works in new colors should give many more opportunities to hear this music although ironically each requires a greater number of performers than the originals. Of the two Sea Pictures strikes me as the more attractive.

– MusicWeb International (Rob Barnett)

Classical Music

Classical Music

This album is an all-too-rare recording of Mozart's Gran Partita in a contemporary arrangement for fortepiano, oboe and string trio. The arrangement, made by Christian Friedrich Gottlieb Schwencke, is a pure masterpiece for it's sonic effectiveness and for it's successful coherence in representing Mozart's ideas. Ewald Demeyere has taken part in many recordings and is principally interested in the influence of theories from the Baroque era and performing on period instruments.

Throughout his long career Liszt’s songs – perhaps the most neglected part of his enormous output – took a radical approach to form: he eschewed convention in his search for a sincere musical response to each text. His free-spirited creativity meant that a single song would often call on a range of stylistic devices, among them bel canto vocal lines, unaccompanied recitative, orchestrally conceived piano textures and audacious harmonic procedures. This first recording of his songs by a bass voice brings out both the power and poetry of Liszt’s remarkable imagination. The American bass Jared Schwartz was born in Berne, Indiana, where he began piano lessons at the age of three, violin at seven and French horn at ten. He began a double major in pre-med and music at Bethel College, Indiana, then studied piano with Alexander Toradze and voice with Victoria Garrett, earning a graduate degree from the Eastman School of Music. For Toccata Classics he has already recorded albums of songs by Faure and Flegier.

REVIEW:

Schwartz's forte singing is most impressive, and his voice remains lustrously smooth and elegant in all registers. His vocal coloring, use of contrasting dynamics, and feeling for the text combine to make his readings thoroughly engaging. When he sings with gentleness and lyricism he weaves a magic spell, as in ‘Des Tages Laute Stimmen Schweigen’, which ends sublimely as he delivers the final line of the text (“As night embraces you with gentle silence”). It is stunning.

Mary Dibbern, who collaborated with him in his Flegier album and in preparing his Fauré album, does a superb job with Liszt’s often challenging accompaniment. She also wrote the comprehensive and informative notes for the release.

I learned to enjoy Liszt through his songs, especially his early high-flying Schiller and Petrarch settings, sung by tenors. I am now enjoying a voice that plumbs the sonic and textual depths of the songs.

-- American Record Guide