"This internationally acclaimed viol ensemble, with organist Daniel Hyde, bring all to shadowy life, the immediacy and intimacy captured expertly by the Linn engineers. Give this music your full attention - and be astonished."
-- The Observer (1 July 2012)

"These two beautifully performed sets of fantasies...are full of suave angularities and delicious dissonances, captivating for liveliness and melancholy alike."
-- The Sunday Times (24 June 2012)

"Phantasm shine a light wonderfully on this under served talent."
-- Buffalo News "Phantasm's sympathetic performances should win new friends for this sometimes almost bewildering music."
-- Irish Times

Prize-winning Bach specialist John Butt O.B.E. and distinguished violinist Lucy Russell deliver a personal and historically informed performance on ‘J.S. Bach: Sonatas for violin and harpsichord’. Perhaps best known as director of Dunedin Consort, John Butt has won two Gramophone Awards: the ‘Baroque Vocal’ Award for ‘Handel: Messiah’ and the ‘Choral’ Award for ‘Mozart: Requiem’. Fitzwilliam String Quartet leader Lucy Russell is among the most distinguished of international violinists who have achieved eminence on both historical instruments and their ‘modern’ counterparts.

The award-winning viol consort, Phantasm, explores the works of John Jenkins. Jenkins is considered one of the most refined and accomplished composers of the seventeenth century. Director Laurence Dreyfus says "there isn't a dull moment...the wide ranging treble parts constantly vie for ascendancy..."

ZELENKA Sonatas, ZWV 181/3, 5, 6. Symphonie à 8 Concertanti: Andante • Monica Huggett (vn); Ensemble Marsyas • LINN CKD 415 (SACD: 49:43)


It was the pioneering Archiv recordings from 1978 of Jan Dismas Zelenka’s trio sonatas and orchestral works, with an instrumental ensemble including the celebrated oboist Heinz Holliger, that put the composer’s name and music back into circulation after two centuries of obscurity. Since then the sonatas have become far and away Zelenka’s most recorded compositions, continuing to attract admirers for their inventive quirkiness. As three other Fanfare critics—John Bauman, Michael Carter, and Brian Robins—have ably discussed the music in extensive detail in their reviews of previous sets, I will refer readers to their discussions and focus upon a comparison of complete recordings in the original instrumentation for two oboes (with one replaced by a violin in the Third Sonata), bassoon, and continuo. (There have also been partial sets and recordings of arrangements made for string ensembles.)


The aforementioned Archiv recording with Holliger either was not reviewed in these pages, or else any such review has not yet made its way into the online Archive; it is available as both a reissue in its original form from ArkivMusic.com and in a budget version from Brilliant Classics. Holliger made a second recording, for ECM in 1999, with some of the same instrumentalists as before; Robins praised that set in 23: 2 as well played but stated it was not to his taste, as he “simply cannot accept the thin, pinched sound of a pair of modern oboes in this music.” By contrast, Carter placed it in the Classical Hall of Fame in 26:4. In successive reviews in 17:5, 19:2, 19:4, and 19:5, Bauman praised both an MDG set with the Northwest German Chamber Soloists and a Claves set with members of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, ranking them above the older Archiv set and dismissing a Berlin Classics set with oboist Burkhard Glaetzner with the comment that “these fine German musicians come as close to making Zelenka as dull as seems likely.” However, he endorsed as first choices an Accent set with a group of Belgian performers and two discs by Astrée with the Ensemble Zefiro as being “far and away the most exciting and imaginative we have had in the last several decades.” Robins also endorsed the Ensemble Zefiro as a first choice in his review of the ECM set. Contrary to Baumann, Carter had high praise for the Berlin Classics set in 30:1, ranking it as being virtually equal to the ECM release. There is one other set in print that has not been reviewed here, a Matous release from 1993 with a group of Czech musicians.


For my part, I do not find myself in complete agreement with any of the above critics. For fans of Holliger, the ECM set is clearly superior to the old Archiv version: I agree with Robins and Carter on its merits, and unlike the former I do not object to hearing this music played on modern instruments, even though I do prefer period instruments for it. Unfortunately the Astrée discs and MDG set are both out of print. The few used copies of the former available through Amazon.com are advertised at obscene prices; those for the latter are more reasonable. Movements from some of the sonatas as played by Ensemble Zefiro are posted on YouTube; while handsomely played, I’m not as enthusiastic for them as either Bauman or Robins. The MDG set is solid, but I would prefer both the ECM and Astrée versions to it. I cannot concur with Bauman’s enthusiasm for the Accent set; it is a rare instance of a period ensemble engaging in stodgy, foursquare playing, and has an unnaturally reverberant recording acoustic. I agree with Bauman and disagree with Carter regarding the Berlin Classics recordings; they are indeed rather dull affairs, as is the Claves set. However, my endorsement would go to the hitherto neglected Matous release, which features elegant, vibrant, and heartfelt playing in a very attractive recorded acoustic. The fly in the ointment there is that it is the most expensive alternative, costing over $40.00, whereas the ECM set can be had far more cheaply.


How does the present release compare with all of the preceding alternatives? Quite favorably; Ensemble Marsyas is a newly formed Scottish ensemble of baroque musicians, and this release marks an impressive recording debut. The performances are on period instruments, with the continuo parts variously played on violone, theorbo, harpsichord, and/or organ. Everyone blends well, and the tone colors are striking; I am particularly taken with bassoonist Peter Whelan, the ensemble’s founder, who offers by far the most pungent rendition of his part in any recording made of this music. Violinist Monica Huggett is, as one would expect, a most accomplished soloist in the Third Sonata, and the two oboists are quite agile. The booklet provides detailed and informative notes and several color photos. While I’m not convinced that SACD technology adds anything significant to a chamber ensemble beyond standard digital recording, the recorded sound is quite pleasing. My one point of hesitation is that I cannot find any indication as to whether a sequel disc is planned for the other three sonatas. If and when that appears, this would become the new set of choice. Until then, for a complete cycle go with ECM or Mantous, but do buy this now if you love these pieces and have the cash to spare; recommended.


FANFARE: James A. Altena

Profeti della Quinta makes its Linn debut with a unique programme of Italian madrigals, instrumental pieces and Hebrew prayers by Salomone Rossi (c. 1570–c. 1630). The programme encompasses Rossi’s many-faceted talents both as a court composer in the service of the Gonzaga family and as a unique innovator of devotional music for the synagogue. Profeti della Quinta, the award-winning a cappella ensemble comprising five core male singers, is joined for this recording by Katya Polin and Eva Saladin (violin) and Ori Harmelin and Ryosuke Sakamoto (theorbo). The native Hebrew speaking singers specialize in the music of the Italian Baroque and have an immediate connection to Rossi as a Jewish Italian composer. In naming Profeti della Quinta winners of the 2011 York Early Music Young Artists Competition, producer and judge Philip Hobbs commented: “Profeti della Quinta’s stunning authentic performance practice and quality of execution was truly magnificent.”

Classical Music

HAYDN The Creation • Martin Pearlman, cond; Amanda Forsythe (sop); Keith Jameson (ten); Kevin Deas (bs-bar); Boston Baroque • LINN CKD 401 (2 SACDs: 96:09 Text and Translation)

I was disappointed in Boston Baroque’s recording of Cherubini’s C-Minor Requiem (Fanfare 30:5), but this Creation has, from its orchestral introduction, an essential rightness—of mood, sonority, drama, and tempo. As with Dinu Lipatti’s Schumann Concerto (the first time I experienced such a feeling), this is the way it should go. Martin Pearlman realizes the work’s character of being very serious yet radiantly joyful. His period orchestra (strings 6/5/4/4/2) has a full measure of both power and tenderness, without having to strain for either. The chorus (7/6/6/6) is magnificent; the opening of “Stimmt an die Saiten” (disc 1, track 11) is so electric that one wants to stand up and cheer. Pearlman’s vocal soloists are each superb, in voice and in delivery; their clean, never ostentatious ornamentations fit this particular work (the florid style of René Jacobs’s soloists is better suited to the more Baroque The Seasons), and they match beautifully in ensemble. The fortepiano continuo is always just right. Above all, the lofty spirit of the whole is thrilling.

The icing on the cake is Linn’s recorded sound, from Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts, during October 2011. It is so realistic, so natural, that one might be sitting beside Beethoven at the premiere. Balances are ideal; the chorus is clearly spread from sopranos on the left to basses on the right, and every contrapuntal line comes through. This is Boston Baroque’s first recording for Linn, and it helps explain the vast improvement over its Cherubini. No doubt it is aided by listening on a system of all-Linn electronics (with KEF 104/2 speakers and/or Sennheiser HD 600 head phones). I blamed the Worcester Hall’s acoustics for the Cherubini’s problematic sound; either I was mistaken or Linn’s team, led by Thomas C. Moore of Five/Four Productions, Ltd., has worked miracles. SACD smoothes the sound, lessening the orchestra’s impact, but clarifies the choral lines even more; one has the sensation of almost hearing each individual voice, which is just as it should be. Surround sound restores any lost impact and throws the listener into the performance, a wondrous if slightly unreal effect.

Must there be something wrong? Okay, the side-by-side German/English libretto is in small white print on black pages, making one squint.

I haven’t been counting, but I’ll bet there have been 100 recordings of The Creation. This one stands comfortably at the pinnacle; among its close competitors, Thomas Hengelbrock on Deutsche Harmonia Mundi is sweeter but less dramatic, Neville Marriner’s incomparable EMI soloists steal the show in a modern-instrument performance. In more than six decades of listening, I have found that almost every new recording of any masterpiece brings more doubts, because every performance has characteristics that others lack. About once a decade have I found the recording, one that has everything: Willem Mengelberg’s (Telefunken) Franck D Minor, Otto Klemperer’s 1954 mono “Eroica,” David Willcocks’s “Lord Nelson” Mass, Klaus Tennstedt’s (pirate) live BSO Schubert Ninth, George Szell’s Schumann Second, Riccardo Chailly’s Gurrelieder, James Levine’s Prokofiev Fifth. Martin Pearlman’s Creation joins that list.

FANFARE: James H. North

The first of two Haydn recordings from Robin Ticciati and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra presents one of the famous ‘London Symphonies’, No. 101, ‘The Clock,’ which has its focus firmly on the future. Robin Ticciati is in his fifth season as Principal Conductor of the SCO. Gramophone named Robin one of the top ten young ‘conductors on the verge of greatness’ and one of 'Tomorrow's Icons'. “[an] exhilaratingly free performance of The Clock…the tick-tock Andante had a fragile grandeur that was disarming and poignant.” (The Guardian)

HAYDN Mass No. 11 in d, “Lord Nelson.” Symphony No. 102 in B • Martin Pearlman, cond; Mary Wilson (sop); Abigail Fischer (mez); Keith Jameson (ten); Kevin Deas (bs); Boston Baroque (period instruments) • LINN 426 (SACD: 62:03 Text and Translation)

REVIEW

WOWZA! This performance is so good that it instantly peels back the dust and crud that may have surrounded this work and immediately places it on the high end of Haydn’s output. Originally titled Mass in a Time of Anxiety —a title that in many ways suits this work better, since it is uplifting and cheerful—it somehow became associated with British Admiral Horatio Nelson. The music skims and sings its merry way through one’s mind while listening; despite its liturgical text, the upbeat feel of the music and its wonderfully changing harmonies and moods make it sound more like a secular oratorio. And what a wonderful quartet of singers Pearlman has assembled here! It starts with soprano Mary Wilson, whose beautiful and flexible voice leaps and skips through the Kyrie, and goes all the way down to rich-voiced basso Kevin Deas, who dominates the Qui tollus peccata mundi. (The booklet informs us that this miraculous singer is “most acclaimed for his signature portrayal of the title role in Porgy and Bess. ” *Sigh*, I’m so sick and tired of seeing this. Have a major African-American bass or baritone emerge, and heaven forbid you start hiring them in major operatic roles. Just let them keep on singing Porgy.) Mezzo Fischer and tenor Jameson are heard to their best advantage in Et incarnates est. And of course, that chorus is spot-on; and everyone has clear diction. Hallelujah!

It is when one reaches the Symphony No. 102 that you suddenly realize that Pearlman’s string section is adhering like Crazy Glue to the immutable doctrine of Straight Tone, but again his performance is so effervescent and lively that one doesn’t mind so much. There are too many little touches in the way he conducts this music where the orchestra dips and glides joyously for me to enumerate them, but believe me, they are there.

Stylistically, these are fairly straightforward readings. Pearlman doesn’t employ the slightly asymmetrical rubato style that I generally like in Haydn, but neither does the performance sound the least bit hard driven. Everything has a wonderful flow and energy, and he never sounds as if he is pile-driving the music, yet the incessant joie de vivre of this performance is bubbly and infectious. And oh yes, the SACD sound is clear and natural. This one is clearly a winner.

--Fanfare (Lynn René Bayley)

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.
All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.

Apollo e Dafne, composed by George Frideric Handel in 1709, is a secular cantata, and one of Handel’s most ambitious cantatas. The success of this work was indicative of Handel’s outstanding operatic career which would soon follow its release. Vocal soloists Mhairi Lawson, soprano, and Callum Thorpe, bass, join the ensemble for the cantata. This release also includes two recital pieces for wind band, which shows Ensemble Marsyas’ instrumentalists’ great talent. Ensemble Marsyas is an Edinburgh based chamber group which is made up of the best of this generation of musicians who specialize in European early music. “…this music positively flourishes in the hands of the Ensemble Marsyas.” (BBC Music Magazine) “…the whole group plays with uncanny rap pot… a stream of unalloyed listening pleasure.” (Early Music Today)

Expectations for Dunedin Consort’s recording of Acis & Galatea were high; its release in 2008 followed on from its hugely successful recording of Handel’s Messiah. The combination of Messiah’s award-winning cast and director John Butt’s insights into authentic performance practice ensured it was met with numerous recommendations and outstanding reviews. Acis & Galatea is a beautiful pastoral entertainment; Handel’s first dramatic work in English is a simple yet highly emotional story that encompasses the extremes of love and tragedy. There are notable differences in the original performing version from 1718, including changes in instrumentation and vocal scoring (there is no alto line) made by Handel to suit the forces at Cannons. Butt chose this version specifically because of the small forces involved, since this was one of the aspects that made Messiah so distinctive; although there have been ‘first versions’ of Acis recorded before, Butt felt that there were certain aspects of the original version that had not yet been sufficiently realized.

ALBÉNIZ Iberia. GRANADOS Goyescas • Arthur Pizarro (pn) • LINN CKD 355 (2 CDs: 146:25)


Goyescas and Iberia are generally considered, and not without some justice, to be the two pinnacles of Spanish piano music. Messiaen, who was obviously influenced by it, once wondered if Iberia might not be the greatest piece of piano music ever written. Seriously. It is divided into four parts, each consisting of three pieces that attempt to evoke Spanish scenes and landscapes, mostly in Andalusia and vicinity, often by using characteristic dances and rhythms. It presents the would-be performer with a cascade of finger-twisting difficulties and a barrage of notes that sometimes require three staves (this is also true, to a lesser extent, of Goyescas ). Albéniz once considered destroying it because he suspected that it was unplayable and Blanche Selva, the pianist who eventually gave the first performances of all four books, initially agreed with him.


I have not heard any of the several previous recordings that Artur Pizarro has made for Linn Records but, judging from his recordings of these Spanish favorites, I would guess that he’s someone who marches to his own drummer. In his interesting annotations, Pizarro says that the composer himself could not play all of the 12 pieces that make up Iberia . Pizarro obviously can but he sometimes tries to make his points with tonal shading and restraint, eschewing flashiness. This is a dangerous strategy in Iberia , which is surely one of the most extroverted collections of piano music going. Many of the pieces invite virtuosic brilliance and, if recordings are typical, usually get it. I think that the music benefits from a more aggressive approach than that taken by Pizarro in, at least some of the pieces. I am not claiming that this is a dull performance—it is not and it does not lack vitality and color. Speaking of tonal color, he uses a Blüther piano because he believes it has a sound that Albéniz and Granados would have recognized—in his words, “a piano with the sound of the beginning of the century with the build quality and strength of a new piano and a very, very fast action.” This is no problem at all and what emerges from the Blüther bears no resemblance to the tinny sound of a fortepiano.


My own favorite among Iberia s remains that of Nicholas Unwin on Chandos, which I would place in a virtual tie with those of Marc-André Hamelin (Hyperion) and Alicia de Larrocha (Decca). These are all more conventionally “brilliant” performances and tend to be faster than Pizarro’s. Unwin’s has two advantages over theirs: (1) it’s on one CD and (2) it’s still available. Larrocha’s EMI recording (originally Hispavox), a wonderfully vital, animated performance, suffers from what seems to be sympathetic vibration that imparts an unpleasant ring to many loud notes. It has also been reissued on the “Great Performances of the Century” series but I doubt that the problem has been cleared up; by my recollection, it also existed on the Epic LP. There are also perfectly good recordings by Martin Jones (Nimbus) and Guillermo González (Naxos). I have not heard Aldo Ciccolini’s recording in many years. My (possibly unfair) recollection was that some of his “interpretive” touches were dictated by the difficulty of the pieces. On the other hand, in 1947 Claudio Arrau recorded Books 1 and 2, only, with such technical facility and power that he actually made the pieces sound easy. Grab that one if it ever turns up. Too bad Arrau didn’t record it all, but he apparently had little interest in Spanish music. Jorge Bolet would probably have made a knockout recording but he only recorded one Spanish music collection, for the Boston Records label (I wonder who owns the rights). José Iturbi was interested in Spanish music and played it with flair but he only recorded a few pieces by Albéniz and Granados for EMI, none of them from Iberia or Goyescas . It is possible that he recorded some for his own label but I’ve never seen any of those recordings. His sister, Amparo, made a fine LP recording of Goyescas for RCA Victor but I’ll bet that never shows up on CD.


Speaking of Amparo Iturbi, when she was a child, she played Goyescas for Granados and was told that he wished performers would use El pelele , which is not part of the set, as a prelude to Goyescas . In fact, when he wrote the opera that is based on the piano suite, he actually did use El pelele as the prelude. The only recordings I know of that follow this procedure are those of Iturbi and Ralph Votapek, the latter of which, fortunately, compares with any that I’ve heard and, happily, is still available. Like the six pieces that make up the body of Goyescas, El pelele is inspired by a painting by Goya. The only piece he did not use when he wrote the opera is the final one, The Specter’s Serenade.


In his annotations, Pizarro says that Alicia de Larrocha once admonished him not to imitate her. That some young pianist who was taking on Spanish repertoire might be inclined to do so would be understandable, given her authority and proficiency. It appears that she need not have been concerned; his take on Goyescas is not only different from hers, it’s actually different from the other nine recordings I auditioned. In four of the pieces, Flattery, Conversation at the Window, The Maiden and the Nightingale, and Love and Death (I assume that the English titles will mean more to most Fanfare readers), his is the slowest tempo, sometimes significantly so, but he brings it off. There is a kind of yielding elegance to his playing that strikes me, at least, as appropriate for the music. On the other hand, Granados’s recording of the first four pieces is much faster but he probably never played it the same way twice in a row and his Welte-Mignon piano rolls seem improvisatory. He takes the pieces at quite a fast tempo and certainly demonstrates that reports of his prodigious technique were not greatly exaggerated. He also, for some reason, makes a cut in Flattery . In any event, Pizarro joins the ranks of those who have done recorded justice to Goyescas, which, to my taste, include Votapek (my first choice), Alicia de Larrocha (any of the four I’ve heard), Cristina Ortiz, Eduardo del Pueyo, Benita Meshulam, Douglas Riva, Martin Jones, and Amparo Iturbi. When (what I assume to be) Larrocha’s earliest recording of Goyescas was issued in the U.S., on American Decca, it was, for some reason, divided between two LPs, with the last two pieces on the second LP along with some piano music of Mompou. When MCA issued it on CD, they only included the first four pieces, as if they were unaware of the other LP, a really dumb error. Tape damage would have been no excuse since I wasn’t the only person in the country to own the second LP. Fortunately, her subsequent recordings for Hispavox/EMI, Decca/London, and RCA Victor more than filled that gap.


FANFARE: James Miller

Nigel North presents a beguiling selection of English Renaissance ballad tunes for the lute by John Dowland and his contemporaries. Originally released in 2003, 'Go From My Window' has been re-issued as part of Linn's ECHO series which offers a second chance to enjoy the best of the label's award-winning catalogue. To the Elizabethans and Jacobeans of early seventeenth-century England, the lute was undoubtedly the most important instrument at all levels of society. It was the principle instrument used to accompany the voice, at court, theatre or home; amateurs played it for domestic music making; professionals like John Dowland entertained royalty around Europe with their own music composed and performed on the lute. Familiar favourites, like 'Greensleeves' and 'Go From My Window', sit alongside pieces whose popularity has since been forgotten. North has grouped pairs of the same tune by different composers allowing the listener to compare the different variations. 'Go From My Window' was well reviewed upon release with Gramophone naming it a 'Choice' recording. Renowned as one of the world's most respected lutenists Nigel North has developed a unique musical life embracing work as a teacher, accompanist, soloist, director and writer. With the ensemble Romanesca, North, together with Andrew Manze (violin) and John Toll (harpsichord & organ), performed and recorded 17th century chamber music winning several international awards for their recordings.

This new release is a live recording from a sold out performance at the Edinburgh International Festival 2015. The Scottish Opera is joined by an outstanding soloist cast, including John Mark Ainsley, Elizabeth Watts and Toby Spence. Comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor serves as narrator. HMS Pinafore is thick with comedy, parodying the Italian operas of its day. This is truly a fun release!