On this disc Chandos bring together some of the highlights from Neeme Jarvi's five-volume Wagner series with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. As an added bonus, they included the Overture to Der fliegende Holleñnder, a piece not before released as part of their Wagner series.

For decades now the Dvorák symphony cycle sweepstakes has been dominated by three classic contenders: Kubelik (DG), Kertesz (Decca--and to my mind not quite as deserving of the attention it has received), and Rowicki (Philips). But there are other cycles worthy of consideration, including Neumann (Supraphon), Pesek (Virgin), Suitner (Berlin Classics), Macal (Koss), and this one. Its merits are considerable, and it may be that its previous incarnation on nine discs (with couplings) prevented collectors from making its acquaintance.

Neeme Järvi's fresh approach most recalls Rowicki's and results in very fine interpretations of Symphonies Nos. 1-4, 6, and 8; very good ones of Nos. 5 and 9, and a strangely dark and heavy performance of No. 7 that will not appeal to all tastes but bespeaks of a valid interpretive tradition (noted Czech conductor Zdenek Kosler always did it this way too). Sonically the recordings range from excellent to excessively reverberant, but they certainly equal or surpass most of the competition. If you collect these symphonies and want to explore beyond the canonical Big Three sets, you will find much to enjoy here.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

The exhilarating conductor Kristjan Järvi exploits the style and panache of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in a festive programme of works by the American John Philip Sousa, ‘The March King’. This follows the spectacular recording of works by Julius Fu?ík, made by Neeme Järvi, Kristjan’s father. Including such famous pieces as The Stars and Stripes Forever (National March of the USA), Semper Fidelis (Official March of the US Marine Corps), and The Liberty Bell (theme tune for Monty Python's Flying Circus), this album is a celebration in its own right, enhanced by brightly coloured sound captured in high-quality surround-sound.

-----

REVIEW:

This fun album mixes the familiar — the thunderous trombone scales and tootling piccolo descants of The Liberty Bell (of Monty Python fame), The Washington Post, and The Stars and Stripes Forever — with elegant extracts from such forgotten operettas as The Irish Dragoon and El Capitan. It’s an infectious selection.

– The TImes (U.K.)

BARBER Piano Concerto. COPLAND Piano Concerto. GERSHWIN Piano Concerto • Xiayin Wang (pn); Peter Oundjian, cond; Royal Scottish Natl O • CHANDOS 5128 (SACD: 75:44)


Let’s get this out of the way: this combination of a Chinese pianist, Canadian conductor, and Scottish orchestra delivers some of the most vibrant and stylish takes on these American piano concertos you are likely to hear anywhere. The soloist, Xiayin Wang, delivers the goods with a winning combination of taste and dazzling technique. She resists the temptation to showboat; she has the chops to make the Gershwin a virtuoso blowout, but instead respects, and trusts, the integrity of the score. As someone who still believes that there is such a thing as a nationalistic style in classical music performance, I am going to risk describing Wang as a member of the contemporary Chinese school of pianism, characterized by phenomenal technique anchored by a rock-solid rhythmic control, bright tone, and a big sound that is related to the immense influence of Russian teachers on Chinese pedagogy. The obvious exponents of such a “school” include Lang Lang, Yundi Li, and Yuja Wang.


This approach is ideal for much of the music on this disc. It even brightens up the rather leaden Barber Concerto, which is usually heard in a more darkly brazen manner. Her way with the Copland (a fine early work by the American master that is inexplicably underplayed), which exhibits a delightfully jazzy bent by the composer, and the beloved Gershwin, is utterly captivating and completely idiomatic.


Peter Oundjian, who I have enjoyed hearing in live performance a number of times, seems to me to be an unappreciated conductor. He has an excellent ear for balance and color, but is not an especially flashy musician, which, in the world of high-octane orchestral performance, does not take one to the front of the public stage. This recording reminds me why I admire him; he and his soloist find natural, flowing tempos, excellent clarity of texture, and attractive highlighting of the fine soloists in this world-class ensemble. Add the usual fine engineering from Chandos and you have yourselves a winner of a release.


FANFARE: Peter Burwasser

Thirty years after having recorded Dvorák’s complete Symphonies on Chandos, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and its laureate conductor, Neeme Järvi, tackle another romantic Czech composer, Julius Fucík, famous for his more than 400 polkas, marches, and waltzes, a mouth-watering selection of which is featured here.

Fucík studied violin in his early years, switching later to the bassoon, with a subsidiary in percussion and timpani. Playing in Austro-Hungarian regiments, he gained invaluable experience of writing for military band and became a very prolific composer of marches. The most famous of these is of course Entry of the Gladiators, completed in 1899 and soon performed throughout the world. Full of energetic, effervescent Bohemian cross-rhythms, tuneful brass melodies (often now associated with a circus atmosphere), but also more lyrical expressions, this album is a festival in itself. - Chandos

Felicity Lott's radiant singing has a glistening purity and brightness of tone. Her diction is immaculate and the sheer rapture of her phrasing is glorious to hear.

A distinguished Strauss disc, and how good to find it sponsored by a Scottish commercial firm. The SNO made many fine recordings under Sir Alexander Gibson and this achievement is obviously being prolonged by his successor Neeme Järvi, who has imparted his own precision to the playing. The orchestra now play with a smouldering intensity that can and does, when required, erupt with volcanic force. Em Heldenleben is just the work for this kind of corporate artistic personality and the best tribute I can pay to this performance is that it can stand comparison with Karajan's latest Berlin/DG recording; and Chandos offer better value for money by including the Four Last Songs.

The sound on the LP version is admirable. Recording balance is excellent and even the most complex and forceful sections of the score, such as the Battle scene, never sound congested. .15rvi is kinder to the Adversaries (music critics) than some of his colleagues: the SNO woodwind lack some of the spitefulness that this passage ideally requires. Edwin Paling's playing of the long violin solo depicting Strauss's wife, Pauline, is vividly characterized and technically beyond cavil. I was deeply moved by Jdrvi's interpretation of the final section, where the solo violin and solo horn contribute to his creation of a-truly noble tranquillity. One feature—unique among Ein Heldenleben recordings to the best of my knowledge—is that each of the work's six sections is banded, a very welcome idea.

Those fortunate enough to attend Glyndebourne know how well Felicity Lott sings operatic Strauss, so it is particularly pleasing that wider and larger audiences enjoy her outstanding performance of the Four Last Songs and can now have it on record. I have no hesitation in preferring it to Jessye Norman's over-praised Philips recording; for one thing, Järvi's tempos avoid Masur's ponderous treatment of this score. For another, the songs are sung in the order of the 1950 first performance, with "Beim schlafengehen" first (as on the Delia Casa/13611m classic 1953 Decca disc—nla). Emotionally this seems to me an improvement on the published sequence. Lott's radiant singing reminds me of Sena Jurinac in this music. It has a comparable glistening purity and brightness of tone. Her diction is immaculate and the sheer rapture of her phrasing–in a line like "Sommer lachelt erstaunt" and especially her profoundly moving delivery of "So tief im Abendrot" in the final song—is glorious to hear. The orchestral playing is luminous and rich in detail.

-- Gramophone [10/1987]

As is to be expected of a Lyrita-sourced disc this is a programme of considerable musical interest and artistic merit. One small curio, it seems to have been created under the auspices of Dutton and the master-tape subsequently licensed to Lyrita. Quite why Dutton should choose not to release this disc under their own banner given that it fits their house style I do not know - the important fact is that we are able to hear it whatever the label.

Coupling Arnold Bax with Stanley Bate is an interesting and unique concept. Here we have two essentially lyrical/romantic concertos that explore the darker more troubled aspect of the cello's character. I have to admit to being an unrepentant admirer of Bax's music but the opportunities to hear his larger-scale music on disc and in the concert hall are limited. The fact that there are three complete cycles of the symphonies plus the five recorded for Lyrita (1/7; 2/5; 6) remains something of a miracle. The concerted works have fared less well and the cello concerto least of all. Commercially there is only the version on Chandos from Raphael Wallfisch accompanied by Bryden Thomson and the LPO to compete with this new disc. Prior to receiving this new disc I had not listened to the Thomson/Wallfisch for some time. The soloist on the new disc is Lionel Handy accompanied by Martin Yates and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Yates orchestrated the early Bax Symphony in F and the RSNO were the first orchestra to record a complete Bax cycle for Naxos. Add to that the fact that Handy performed the concerto as part of the Bax centenary celebrations thirty years ago and you will see that this is a performance that benefits from performers well versed in the Baxian sound-world. Michael Ponder acted as both producer and engineer and he creates a warm and detailed soundscape in Glasgow's Henry Wood Hall. Perhaps Handy has been placed a fraction further forward in the picture than I would ideally prefer but he plays with absolute security and conviction and his technique can bear such close inspection.

In the liner Paul Conway draws attention to the detail of Bax's scoring and it is here in particular that this new performance scores over the older Chandos disc which is now - rather terrifyingly - some 27 years old. It dates from the time Chandos used All Saints Tooting as their recording venue of choice and for all the 'glamour' of the sound there is a rather glassy resonance that obscures the subtler details of the score. I have not heard the 2003 re-mastering to know how much of that has been tamed - certainly on the original disc it remains an issue but before dismissing the earlier performance, coming to it after the Handy/Yates I find Wallfisch/Thomson to be much more compelling story-tellers. Bax is always accused of rambling and becoming discursive; the new disc tends to reinforce that perception. In every movement this new performance is substantially longer than the earlier one. By movement (Wallfisch first): 14:16/16:25 - 9:29/11:36 - 8:46/10:03. The first movement in particular 'feels' long with Handy. That said, I like very much his muscular almost gruff approach. This does suit the craggy drama of the work but Wallfisch finds a lot more light and shade, his is a more febrile, edgy interpretation and one that benefits from Thomson nudging the music forward. In his cycle of the symphonies Thomson was sometimes criticised for the reverse - allowing energy to leak out of the scores. But in his time he was famed as an especially fine accompanist in concertos so perhaps he took his cue from Wallfisch. In his extraordinarily thorough book "A Catalogue of the works of Sir Arnold Bax" Graham Parlett quotes the composer writing to cellist Beatrice Harrison; "Be careful not to let the beginning hang about rhapsodically. It must go along with urge and fire. Cassado [the dedicatee and first performer] made this mistake at first, but the other day ... was just right". Elsewhere Bax wrote regarding Harrison - the work's main champion - "... she must be kept in order about rubatos ..." Both quotes tell me that momentum and impulse are important in this work.

That being said the way the Handy relaxes into the lyrical second theme [track 1 4:50] benefits the music - here Wallfisch feels restless - but he is better and picking the momentum back up where Handy continues his rather steady way.

The central movement is quite beautiful - unusually for Bax it is titled Nocturne and according to Harriet Cohen was written to quote Bax again; "to recall you to your naughty boy ..." Cohen had accompanied Cassado on a recital tour and pestered him to commission the work - he is the 'naughty boy' but this is rather chaste and lyrical music rather than the smouldering eroticism the title and quote might imply. Bax expert Lewis Foreman hears an oblique tribute to Strauss' Don Quixote in the duetting cello and solo viola in this movement and goes on to suggest that Moeran quarried some of the instrumental effects in the second and third movements for his own G minor Symphony which was being written at this time.

The poise and reflection of this slow movement suits Handy's style well and again the detailed new recording does allow the sophisticated detail of Bax's scoring to register. Again, valid though this approach is I find Wallfisch's greater fantasy ultimately more rewarding - he has the full measure of the range of Bax's pensive twilight. This movement is very fine indeed and probably contains the finest music on the whole disc. Early critical opinion was that the finale was something of a throw-away after the drama and atmosphere of the previous two movements. It certainly feels lighter in spirit and content but is effectively played by both cellists.

If it were for the Bax alone I would not hesitate in saying that collectors already possessing the earlier recording either in its original guise coupled with some orchestral works or the later re-mastering with the Violin Concerto and Morning Song need not buy this new disc. However, even for Bax admirers such as myself the curiosity-tweaking interest of this release is the presence of Stanley Bate's Cello Concerto in its premiere recording. Dutton have rather promoted Bate's work which makes it all the more surprising that they chose to pass on this release. As with the Bax, this is a work in the traditional three movement fast-slow-fast format. Again, as with the Bax, the scoring is relatively restrained although the Bate is slightly unusual in having reduced wind; two each of flutes, oboes and bassoons but only a single clarinet offset against a full brass complement. Until a revival in his music through the medium of CD he was truly a forgotten composer and one imagines a sense of being forgotten in his own time and writing music not of that time contributed to his suicide at the age of 47 in 1959.

Certainly this is instantly attractive and skilfully written music. Paul Conway in his liner rightly points out that Bate writes themes that are easily distinguishable and his sense of form is clear and well defined. This is unashamedly Romantic music which exploits the singing quality of the instrument. I see from the liner that Handy was responsible for creating both the score and a set of performing parts for the work - a very major undertaking even before learning a note of the solo part. Committed advocate though he is of the Bax concerto I cannot help wondering whether the Bate was the real impetus for the making of this disc. Clearly, there is not another recording available to compare or contrast with but I have a sense that Handy is even more engaged with the Bate than the Bax. My response is perhaps a little more lukewarm. Bate's orchestration here and in the other works I have heard I find thoroughly competent and effective but rarely inspired or imaginative. Likewise his harmonic palette; it is good and tasteful but with few of those sideslips and surprises that Bax produces by the bar - too often his detractors might say with some good cause. Martin Yates has been on the podium of nearly all the Bate recordings for Dutton so he can claim to be the most experienced conductor of his work today. As with the Bax, Yates and the RSNO prove sympathetic accompanists. Again, as with the Bax, the central movement - here an Andante - contains the best and most memorable music in the work. It starts with a chord that sounds as if it could have been lifted from Vaughan Williams' Tallis Fantasia and then moves on to a passionate extended arioso that brings out the considerable best in Handy. The Bate concerto predates Walton's essay in the form by some three years but they share the same sense of pained lyricism. This central movement contains the brief cadenza before an interesting passage where the woodwind carry the melodic content with the soloist accompanying with fluttering trills. Another similarity with the Bax is that the finale feels like the weakest music in the work - trying slightly too hard to be upbeat and with an even more abrupt conclusion than the Bax. Conway hears a melodic similarity to the song "Let's face the music and dance" which is passing at best - not too much "trouble ahead" for the plagiarism lawyers, I feel. My concern is that it feels rather more worked out than the spontaneous flow of melody the central movement contained. That being said it is a concerto I am very glad to have heard and certainly will be a piece admirers of the composer and those interested in British string concertos will want to hear.

As with all Lyrita discs this is immaculately presented; excellent concise - English-only - liner-notes and biographies, beautifully engineered - whatever the source and an attractive cover portrait of Bax. Interestingly this same painting - by Vera Bax - differently cropped is also used on Handy's disc of Bax's works for cello and piano. The only minor blot on the Lyrita presentation is that they state 'recording location and date' but give no date. Running at just over the hour mark perhaps it would have been nice to be offered another short (concertante?) work by either composer. Highly enjoyable music even if neither work represents the composer at his absolute finest.

- Nick Barnard, Musicweb International

Once again Naxos pulls a rabbit out of its hat with this gorgeous release of Alan Rawsthorne's music (with two world premieres yet). Rawsthorne (1905-71) was one of a middle generation of 20th century British Romanticists whose music had a somewhat rough edge, veering toward elements of atonality without really crossing the line (this is particularly true of his symphonies). One of Rawsthorne's best works, easily ranking with his symphonies, is the Symphonic Studies (1939) performed here. With its shifting moods and bright orchestral colors, this work more closely resembles a concerto for orchestra and is full of delicious surprises. It alone is worth the price of admission.


The world premieres here are the two concertos, one for oboe from 1947, the other a 1966 cello concerto. Both are mainstream Romantic works but with a bit more emotional content than found in the Symphonic Studies. The Oboe Concerto might draw comparisons with the one by Vaughan Williams, but while it has the same depth of emotion, it also has fewer melancholic elements. The soloist is Stéphane Rancourt, whose oboe provides a warm, sympathetic reading of the material without being assertive or showy. The Cello Concerto is a more dour work and it will remind the informed listener of Arnold Bax's cello concerto--but again, without that composer's brooding temperament. However, every performance element here is in place and the sound quality is superior. If you're new to Rawsthorne, there is no better introduction to his music than the Symphonic Studies. This is a real find.
--Paul Cook, ClassicsToday.com

Einojuhani Rautavaara is one of the most original and accessible composers of the second half of the 20th century. His music has a deep romanticism to it, yet he often uses twelve-tone and atonal constructs as an integral part of the process.
The First Piano Concerto is a very strong work, and though very original, seems descended from the colors of Debussy, the broadness of Tchaikovsky and the harmonic contours of Sibelius. The piano writing is full, rich and virtuosic, pitting the soloist against the forces of the orchestra. This is a work that truly deserves to be a part of the standard repertory.
The Third Symphony employs much of the same power, but adds the grandeur and religiosity of Bruckner at the opening. At its weakest, some of the orchestral colors and motifs seem borrowed and melodramatic, but it is an immediately accessible work which opposes the formalist academic tradition.
'Cantus Articus' is the strangest work on this recording. Subtitled a "Concerto for birds and orchestra," this work features recorded Arctic birdsong, not just as background, but as the featured element. Unfortunately, anyone who has seen Hitchcock's THE BIRDS recently will find 'Cantus Articus' more than a little creepy!