The newest release from Altissimo! Celebrates the music of Percy Grainger, both familiar and unknown, recorded live in 2011 at a concert given in observation of the 50th anniversary of composer death, performed by the "President's Own" US Marine Band under Colonel Michael J. Colburn in collaboration with the Choral Arts Society of Washington. The title The Music Lover's Grainger was borrowed from one of Grainger's many unfinished publishing projects, reflecting the world premiere recordings featured on the program. These include a version of "The Lost Lady Found", the final number of Lincolnshire Posy, transcribed for band and chorus, based on Grainger's original setting for chorus and orchestra; the original, unpublished band version of "Spoon River", reconstructed from the recently discovered manuscript parts; and a rarely heard, otherworldly harmonization of the "Londonderry Air", the tune of "Danny Boy", scored for band, chorus, and organ. A significant amateur ethnomusicologist, Grainger drew extensively from folksong, collecting several hundred tunes from the English countryside himself. The repertoire recorded here includes English, Irish, Scottish, American, and Danish influences.

This collection of Gabriel Fauré’s mélodies is the first recording to be conceived for a bass voice. It juxtaposes some of the composer’s best-loved songs with some of his lesser-known works. This recital program draws out connections of poets and poetic themes, some of which restore the composer’s own original groupings. This is also the first recording to be based on the new Peters Edition, which eliminates countless errors in older publications. The young American bass Jared Schwartz received the 2013 ‘People’s Choice’ Award in the American Traditions Vocal Competition.

REVIEW:

There are a total of 25 songs on this disc and each of them has been recorded with care and affection for the music of this wonderful French songwriter. Schwartz’s excellent new recording on Toccata gives us pristine sound; it is a recording that should be in the collection of everyone who loves French song.

-- Fanfare

Using a polyphonic musical language that draws on medieval Byzantine chant, Petros Petridis can be considered one of the most important proponents of the Greek National School. The Requiem for the Emperor Constantine Palaiologos mourns the end of the Byzantine Empire with elegiac lyricism culminating in an ultimately uplifting finale. The Third Symphony is a musical tribute to France, Petridis’s adopted home, while the Concerto Grosso enriches an older form with contemporary color. All of these works are eminently representative of this composer’s significant aesthetic and creative achievements.

Verdi´s Rigoletto, one of his most successful operas, is based on Victor Hugo’s play Le roi s’amuse, which for Verdi was the greatest drama of the present day. The “spectacular production“ (La Vanguardia) at the Gran Teatre del Liceu “under excellent musical direction by Riccardo Frizza“, "the dramatic depth of Carlos Álvarez and the triumphant debut of Javier Camarena as Duke of Mantua“ (El Periodico) made it a "top-class Rigoletto“. (bachtrack.com) "A production with this simplicity requires outstanding direction, which is achieved here“ (Seen and Heard International) and is crowned by the colourful costumes of the Oscar-winning Sandy Powell.

Hailed as ‘remarkable’ by The Daily Telegraph, Matilda Lloyd is a young instrumentalist with exceptional poise and musicality. She studied music at the University of Cambridge, Royal Academy of Music, and with Håkan Hardenberger at Musikhögskolan i Malmö. She has since captivated audiences and critics alike with her artistry, communication, and, in the words of Saarbrücker Zeitung (March 2020), ‘flawless sound and virtuosic technique’, with which she brings a unique flair to every performance. She won the BBC Young Musician of the Year Brass Final in 2014, and in 2016 made her début at the BBC Proms.

Casta Diva is Matilda’s début album on Chandos, about which she writes: ‘Every trumpet player has studied the ultimate technique book, by Jean-Baptiste Arban – a monumental tome affectionately known as ‘The Trumpet Bible’. At the end of the book are sets of theme and variations – my favourite, the Variations on Bellini’s Norma, became the point of departure for this album inspired by nineteenth-century Italian opera, as it uses the aria ‘Casta Diva’, from Bellini’s 1831 opera, as its theme. The album explores the voice of the trumpet in that golden age of opera, highlighting works by Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti. I hope that the album showcases the beauty, musicality, and technical brilliance of the instrument, and that you find as much enjoyment in listening to, as we did in arranging and recording, these fantastic pieces of music!’

Like most hit Broadway musicals of its time, the rollicking Li’l Abner – inspired by Al Capp’s blockbuster comic strip – got the full Hollywood treatment in 1959. Musical theater fans know the film as a remarkably pure transfer of a classic 1950s Broadway musical, skillfully re-setting and preserving a theatrical experience onscreen. Most of the Broadway cast was retained: Peter Palmer reprised his portrayal of Li’l Abner, and the stage veterans included Stubby Kaye, Julie Newmar, Joe E. Marks plus a number of ensemble performers. Nelson Riddle adapted and conducted the Gene de Paul/Johnny Mercer score for the Li’l Abner soundtrack, with choral arrangements by Joseph J. Lilley; they earned the film’s only Oscar (and, later, Grammy) nomination. The “soundtrack” album (in stereo, while the Broadway recording was available only in mono) is actually a re-recording (or re-editing) of the songs for the soundtrack’s commercial LP release, a common practice that promised a smoother listening experience on the home hi-fi.

Review:

At last! While we have plenty of filmed productions of Coppélia to watch and enjoy – whether vintage, bang up to date or downright wacky – and a very good one of Sylvia, this new release finally brings the first of Delibes’s three ballets, La source, to a wide audience via Blu-ray and DVD.

The usual explanation for La source’s historical neglect has been that the contribution of Delibes’s co-composer Ludwig Minkus diminished the overall quality of the score. But that suggestion isn’t an adequate one – or even necessarily accurate. In the first place, we need to be clear that “co-composers” doesn’t mean that each of the score’s individual numbers was a sort of high-quality-Delibes-watered-down-by-workmanlike-Minkus hybrid. In fact, the way in which the collaborative process worked was a very practical one – even if we have no idea why it was adopted – with each man allocated responsibility for different parts of the score. Minkus was entrusted with Act 1 and the second scene of Act 3, while Delibes was responsible for Act 2 and Act 3’s first scene. That turned out, in practice, to be a pretty even split, for Minkus ended up providing about 45 minutes worth of music and Delibes penned about 44[.]

It is certainly true that there are differences between the two men’s scores. To some extent, those derive from the mundanely practical point that each composer was writing music for very different sections of the story. Minkus’s focus in Act 1 was on establishing the ballet’s various characters and generally setting the scene, while the finale to Act 3 offered few opportunities as it gave him only six minutes to wrap up the whole drama. Delibes, on the other hand, was tasked with creating the music underpinning the more glamorous jollifications at the khan’s court, which allowed him to concentrate on writing livelier material that was characterised by far more colour, glitter and exotic sensuality.

There is, however, a second and somewhat more fundamental explanation for the perceived contrasts between the two composers’ scores, for Minkus and Delibes had rather different conceptions of what writing music for the ballet actually meant. The former was a composer of the old school who, as Ivor Guest wrote in his booklet essay for the aforementioned Bonynge CD, “specialised in composing music for the ballet, a field not highly regarded in musical circles but which nonetheless demanded a special gift to satisfy the ballet-master’s requirements – to produce melodious numbers for the dances and suitably descriptive passages for the action, and above all to deliver to a deadline”. That has led some critics to perceive Minkus as little more than a hack journeyman who churned out unmemorable material on demand, even though audiences who have come to appreciate the manner in which his skilfully-wrought scores underpin such popular ballets as Don Quixote and La bayadère might beg to differ. In reality, his music was in no way “inferior” to that of the next generation of ballet composers: it simply aimed to achieve a very different - but certainly no less legitimate – musical and dramatic purpose. The first embodiment of that subsequent generation, Delibes himself, was, on the other hand, a composer whose conception of ballet was developing into something rather more ambitious. No less a figure than Tchaikovsky, the originator of the modern “symphonic” style of ballet score, regarded Sylvia as “the first ballet in which the music constitutes not just the main, but the sole interest. What charm, what grace, what melodic, rhythmic and harmonic richness. I was ashamed. If I had known this music earlier, then of course I would not have written Swan Lake”.

It is far too easy, in fact, to assert glibly that any contrasts between the two composers’ contributions are necessarily qualitative in nature. Indeed, when listened to blind and without foreknowledge of who actually composed what, the score of La source – skilfully edited and occasionally augmented here by Marc-Olivier Dupin - actually emerges as a pretty seamless whole.

In reality, there were two other much more significant causes of the ballet’s failure to maintain a long-term place in the repertoire. In the first case, its plot was undeniably involved, and it is notable that the production under consideration omits several of its complicating plotlines. Moreover, the fact that there are no less than three central female figures and that easily confused names were selected for some of the central characters (Naïla/Nouredda, Djémil/Dadjé) does not help. The inconsistency of some of the participants’ on-stage motivations can also be puzzling from time to time – though, in the absence of any other modern production with which to compare it, that may be a feature unique to this particular one.

The second legitimate reason for La source’s relatively rapid descent into obscurity is simply accidental. It successfully maintained its place in the repertoire for a decade and there is no reason to doubt that regular revivals might subsequently have been mounted. However, a disastrous fire in 1873 destroyed the drawings, models and plans on which the original production had been based and, rather than recreate them from scratch, it no doubt seemed easier to ballet impresarios at the time to move on to different projects.

This new Blu-ray/DVD release preserves a new production of the ballet dating from almost 150 years after its premiere. Conservatively choreographed by Jean-Guillaume Bart for the Paris Opera Ballet, it follows the original story’s broad outlines and uses much of the Minkus/Delibes score. Booklet notes author Laure Guilbert is nevertheless at pains to stress that this production is in no way a “reconstruction” of the original but instead has a character and identity of its own. Those last words might be enough to strike fear in the heart of traditionalist ballet fans, but in reality the French choreographer (gushingly described by Ms. Guilbert as a man who “fervently cultivates his attachment to the classical universe… a lover of dance who has transformed [it] into an odyssey throughout the near- and far-flung realms of the art”) is owed a real debt of gratitude for his achievement in returning La source to the stage. There are, it’s true, a few significant problem areas that would have benefited from attention. In the case of the plot, Nouredda’s motivation and reactions as she experiences her character’s trials and tribulations can be somewhat opaque or even downright puzzling. In addition, the stage production itself is visually rather disconcerting. There is, to my own eyes at least, a jarring mismatch between Christian Lacroix’s detailed and often gorgeously elaborate costumes and Éric Ruf’s essentially impressionistic set designs. The latter are highly imaginative and attractive in their own right (especially a set of prominent and exquisitely lit ropes, lowered over the stage from the flies, that represent trees) but they are clearly not intended as any sort of realistic depiction of the settings and that doesn’t gel with the detailed, elaborate and convincingly “realistic” clothing sported by the dancers. Neither element can be described as wrong in itself, but another producer might have chosen to integrate them more effectively.

The quality of the dancing, meanwhile, is generally high, with the women, in particular, demonstrating confident assurance in their own technical skills. Ludmila Pagliero as Naïla performs with delicacy and an appropriate sense of otherworldliness; she presumably impressed not only the theatre audience but the company’s management, too, as within a year of this performance she had been promoted to the top rank of danseuse étoile. Meanwhile, the nature of her role as the princess Nouredda means that the other leading female dancer, Isabelle Ciaravola, tends to spend a disproportionate amount of time on stage looking depressed and generally mopey – although there are also moments, as already noted, when she looks bizarrely happy even though her circumstances are at their worst. If her acting is somewhat questionable, the same cannot be said, however, of Ms. Ciaravola’s dancing which is, invariably, both sensitively and often rather beautifully delivered. Of the men, Karl Paquette combines sheer energy with attention to detail in a winning performance that suffers only from an uncharacteristically drab and featureless costume, little suited, in my opinion, to the hero of a classical ballet. The role of Nouredda’s brother Mozdock, concerned about her only as far as she serves his own political ambitions, is taken by Christophe Duquenne who delivers an effectively villainous turn while leading his energetic and well-drilled soldiers in several lively numbers. Dancing as the elf Zaël, Mathias Heymann is the audience’s favourite as he leaps his way enthusiastically and repeatedly across the stage, creating a genuine character out of his role. The dancer portraying the libidinous khan, Alexis Renaud, makes the most of his opportunities but does not create as much of an impression as the other men. The rest of the company make a very positive contribution, to the extent that I thought that the numbers in which the primary focus was on the corps de ballet were among the most effectively delivered in the whole performance.

On the technical side, I was particularly impressed by the effectively realised stage lighting which has been very well captured on film. The sound, as relayed on this recording, is also more than merely acceptable and allows us to appreciate plenty of felicitous detail from the orchestra, led on this occasion by Koen Kessels who will be known to many as music director of the Royal Ballet. Meanwhile, the experienced François Roussillon’s film direction focuses our attention to everything that we need to see while not distracting us unnecessarily or drawing undue attention to itself.

This is an important release for balletomanes. It is, I think, unlikely that there will be an alternative version of La source any time soon...I repeat, therefore, my original reaction to the release of this new and well-produced Blu-ray disc – at last!
 
Rob Maynard

Pianist Ursula Oppens, stalwart champion of 20th- and 21st-century American music and recipient of multiple Grammy nominations and other honors, celebrates her decades-long friendship and professional association with composer Laura Kaminsky on an album of world-premiere recordings. The program includes two recent works written for the pianist: Kaminsky’s Piano Quintet, performed with the Cassatt String Quartet, “a concise work of considerable substance and atmosphere” (New York Classical Review) and the turbulent Reckoning: Five Miniatures for America for piano four-hands, with pianist Jerome Lowenthal, created expressly for this recording. A large-scale Fantasy for solo piano explores sonorities from French Impressionism to jazz. Oppens gave the New York premiere in 2017.

Kaminsky’s Piano Concerto was inspired by visual images of sunlit rivers in New York City and St. Petersburg, Russia, where Oppens gave the world premiere with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic led by its artistic director Jeffery Meyer. On this world-premiere recording, Meyer, who is also director of orchestras at Arizona State University, conducts the ASU Symphony Orchestra.

REVIEW:

The solo piano Fantasy is just that, an imaginative fantasia piece that moves in unexpected directions at Kaminsky’s whim. A few hints of jazz rhythm come and go in it as well as a remarkable passage in which the two hands play completely different and opposing lines against each other. Interestingly, this Fantasy is longer than the entire Piano Quintet and only eight seconds shorter than the entire Piano Concerto that ends the disc. More and different permutations follow within that time span, all of them unexpected and interesting. These performances, all first recordings of these works, are all excellent, which helps us to appreciate Kaminsky’s sound world. Highly recommended.

– The Art Music Lounge

Titan of the contemporary keyboard, Ursula Oppens is a rarity among artists living today. She is the stalwart bearer of a mid-century musical torch that apparently burns eternal. How fortunate we are to have such musicians as Oppens still making music with fortitude, passion and tireless faith.

Oppens wields her piano at the album’s centre, steering a varied vessel with consistent skill and surety. Even in brief piano passages, as she peeks out from dense ensemble material, Oppens’ artistry sings unmistakably. The 20-minute solo Fantasy (2010) should be considered a tour de force in and of itself. When it comes to a career such as Oppens’, dedication and staying power carry the day. May she always urge us to listen close and listen well, ever compelling our ears toward the future.

-- The WholeNote

This newly recorded release offers an attractive and varied programme of music composed for the combination of violin and viola. The first half of the album features works for violin and viola solo: compositions by Mozart (one of his famous duos), Martinu (Three Madrigals), Spohr (Grand Duo), Ponce (Sonata), and the famous Passacaglia by Handel/Halvorsen. The next section contains concertante works for violin, viola and orchestra: the most famous work written for the genre, Mozart’s genius Sinfonia Concertante, the Sinfonia Concertante by Ignaz Pleyel, and the Concerto for violin, viola and orchestra by romantic Max Bruch. This rare and exciting music is performed by David Alogna and Jose Adolfo Alejo, accompanied by the Camerata de Coahuila, conducted by Ramon Shade.

American Originals is the latest release from the Cincinnati Pops conducted by John Morris Russell and features iconic American songs interpreted by a diverse array of acclaimed musical collaborators including Rosanne Cash, Dom Flemons, Over the Rhine, Joe Henry, Aoife O'Donovan and the Comet Bluegrass All-Stars. The first-ever Cincinnati Pops album to be recorded live in concert, American Originals breathes new life into the first chapter of the Great American Songbook and the music of Stephen Foster. The 94th Cincinnati Pops album includes inspiring new renditions of My Old Kentucky Home, O Susannah, Camptown Races, Aura Lee, Slumber My Darling, Hard Times, and Beautiful Dreamer, among other classic tunes. According to The Cincinnati Enquirer, The fresh arrangements and unique talents who performed them set each in a new light.

In Palermo, where Richard Wagner composed this monumental opera during a long stay, conductor Omer Meir Wellber makes a highly successful debut as music director of Palermo’s Teatro Massimo, architecturally and artistically one of Italy’s most impressive opera houses. “With the Teatro Massimo’s excellent orchestra he succeeded in a reading that was absolutely straight forward” (Opera Today). The singers are excellently cast, especially Julian Hubbard as Parsifal “who was a sensation” (neue musikzeitung). Stage director “Graham Vick strips Parsifal of mysticism to deliver a powerful indictment of divisive ideologies” (Musical America).

The waltzes of Johann Strauss II (‘The Waltz King’) remain de rigueur concert fare for the annual New Year’s Eve celebrations occurring throughout the world. Opera overtures number far less in his oeuvre but are of equal attraction and popularity. Bookending this nine-track Naxos CD overture selection conducted by Alfred Walter are the openers to Die Fledermaus and Die Zigeunerbaron, with the Eine Nacht in Venedig overture among the seven additional Viennese delights on offer.

� A legend in British concert halls, Sir Malcolm Arnold was also in demand as a composer of film music in Hollywood and beyond. � Including an overture for the New York premiere, the score for The Roots of Heaven adds drama and atmosphere to the story of one man's crusade to save African elephants from extinction. � David Copperfield was Arnold's last film score and one of his most expressive and memorable, summed up as 'truly amazing' by director Delbert Mann. � Classics Today.com has described this recording as 'a treat for Arnold fans and movie buffs alike. ' � Recorded at the Mosfilm Studio, Moscow, 4-7 April 2000 by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra conducted by William Stromberg. � The score restorations were realized by John W. Morgan, who, with Mr. Stromberg amongst others has, since the early 90s, worked in reconstructing and re-recording the great symphonic film scores composed during Hollywood's Golden Age of the mid 30s to the late 50s.

Violinist Tianwa Yang turns her attention to one of the great 19th century violin concertos, coupled with two of Mendelssohn's youthful yet astonishingly mature works.

REVIEW:

Young violinist Tianwa Yang has exceptional technique, and her vision in the great E minor concerto is unfailingly intelligent. The first movement is taken a touch on the slow side, giving the music added weight and seriousness. In the finale, too, Yang refuses to rush or indulge in empty showmanship, while the Andante’s singing melodies do just that. If there is any down side to her interpretation, it is this: older, wiser violinists such as Nathan Milstein shape the many moments of passagework to more purposeful effect, just as a masterful singer understands that coloratura expresses virtuosity but also can be phrased and articulated so as to heighten the emotion and intensity of the phrase. Yang isn’t quite in that league yet, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with the playing as such. The accompaniments, similarly, won’t compare to the best versions featuring major orchestras, but they offer distinguished contributions nonetheless.

What makes this disc such a smart one, though, is the inclusion of the youthful D minor concerto and the F minor violin sonata. Most Mendelssohn discs couple another major violin concerto (usually Bruch’s or Tchaikovsky’s), and God knows we don’t need another recording of those works any more than we need another Mendelssohn E minor concerto. Both youthful works are vintage early Mendelssohn, and he was not a composer who invariably got better with age. Yang plays them very well indeed, and there’s far less competition here than in the more famous companion pieces. Pianist Romain Descharmes accompanies very sympathetically, and both in the concertos and the sonata the engineering is very clean and well-balanced. In sum, the couplings make this disc worth acquiring even if you’d never think of buying another version of the E minor concerto. As for Yang, she remains an artist to watch.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

The story of Beowulf, although thousands of years old, is still loved by many all over the world. This recording of a new musical telling of the story, composed by Toby Young, blurs traditional sense of the genre of classical music by merging it with folk and popular music. This fusion is what makes Beowulf a fantastic story. The greatest versions of the story are not those defined by a simplistic clash of good versus bad, but the ones which involve slight ambiguous points; ones which allow the reader/listener to make his/her mind up about what is exactly going on. The combination of Toby Young’s score and Jennifer Thorp’s libretto create this perfectly – with characterful narration by celebrated actor Timothy West, beautiful performances by soprano Elin Manahan Thomas.

REVIEW

This disc is really a lot of fun. The English composer Toby Young (b. 1990) studied at King’s College, Cambridge (with Robin Holloway) and New College, Oxford. This work is a retelling of the classic story of Beowulf, involving a script by William Towers, based on ideas by Danny Coleman-Cooke, and a sung libretto by Jennifer Thorp. Famed actor Timothy West is the superb narrator, and the young choral forces sing music to accompaniment of a small instrumental ensemble. Coleman-Cooke’s treatment of the story introduces ambiguity rather than hewing to a simple good vs. evil dynamic. Young’s music feels perfectly gauged. Each “cue” is never too long. The overall style is both completely of the present while also evoking the “ancient” era of the story. It is beautifully recorded and performed, and makes for a most enjoyable hour of storytelling in words and music.

--Fanfare