This collection of music from the Eton Choirbook, the vast collection of English sacred music from the Early Renaissance, is the fourth in an acclaimed seris. Stephen Darlington and The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford lead the series, receiving countless awards and acclaim. The music on this release was firmly rooted in the daily life of the college, appreciated by all who attending and worshiped there.

With this installment of music from the Eton Choirbook, the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral sets out to rival The Sixteen’s five-volume anthology. Already it seems to me that they surpass it technically – which is remarkable considering the inevitable changes of personnel that time imposes on a choir with boy trebles – and interpretatively.

–Gramophone

Stunningly effective singing, with insightful and precise direction by Stephen Darlington. A ground-breaking achievement.

– Early Music Review

Includes work(s) by various composers.

"Think about a young man in love - this is what they are about," wrote Dvorák to his publisher when he was preparing Cypresses for string quartet. The title is taken from a volume of poems by Gustav Pfleger-Moravsky which inspired the composer's earlier burst of song writing in 1865, eight of which later became the cycle Love Songs Op. 83, and 12 of which were arranged for string quartet, five of them presented here. Recalling youthful love letters that are preserved and cherished, Love Songs and Cypresses combine beautiful melodic simplicity with the technique of a composer who was, by the mid-late 1880s, at the height of his powers. Cypresses in their string quartet form were premiered on 6 January 1888, on a bill which also featured the first performance of the Piano Quintet, Op 81. The Paris-based Quatuor Thymos - named after an ancient Greek term meaning "spiritedness" - comprises four First Prize winners from the Paris and Lyon conservatoires. Following acclaimed performances throughout France and in other European capitols, they were invited to perform at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago by Christoph Eschenbach. This recording brings the foursome together with the eminent pianist, who also accompanies the Slovakian soprano Adriana Kucerova whose star is rapidly in the ascendant.

FROM JEWISH LIFE • Jonathan Aasgaard (vc); Gerard Schwarz, cond; Royal Liverpool PO • AVIE 2149 (57:45)


BLOCH Schelomo. From Jewish Life: Prayer, (arr. Aasgaard). DIAMOND Kaddish. SCHWARZ In Memoriam. BRUCH Kol Nidre


Relatively short playing time and a largely sob-fest program may be a hard sell. Surely not all in Jewish music is penance and tears. The disc might easily have been filled out with something a bit more upbeat. The word Jewish is italicized because I believe a distinction needs to be drawn between that which is authentic—let’s call it kosher—and that which is artificial—let’s call it kosher style. This is an argument I engaged in with Walter Simmons in a 2005 Critics’ Corner exchange. There is no way we can know what the music of King Solomon’s day sounded like, but it’s a sure bet it didn’t sound anything like Bloch’s Schelomo , which, nonetheless, is a magnificent, sweeping musical documentary of the great Biblical figure and his times. As I opined in my CC entry, “ Schelomo is Bloch’s Scheherazade . It brought him international acclaim and, to a large extent, typecast him in the minds of the masses.” Bloch himself was careful to distinguish between what was certifiably kosher and what was kosher style, writing, “I do not propose or desire to attempt a reconstruction of the music of the Jews . . . or to base my work on melodies more or less authentic.” You can read the remainder of the quote in the aforementioned CC submission.


With nearly three-dozen current listings, Schelomo remains, since it was written in 1916, Bloch’s most popular work; though, surprisingly, cellists have tended to steer clear of it in recent years, the last new recording I’m aware of being Truls Mørk’s, reviewed in 28:6. Technically and interpretively, Mørk and Aasgaard are well matched; were a recommendation to be based solely on the respective cellists’ contributions, I’d be hard-pressed to make a choice. But this is one of those works in which the orchestra’s role is as important as that of the soloist’s. The piece is not a concerto with a fanciful name, like Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole . Bloch’s subtitle, “Hebraic Rhapsody,” was well chosen, for the cello does indeed engage in a rhapsodic, cantorial dialogue with the orchestra. Taking this into account, it has to be said that Gerard Schwarz and the Liverpool Philharmonic come across in brilliant, flaming colors compared to the softer grained pastels and gray tones of Paavo Järvi and the ORTF Philharmonic on Virgin. This was something I noted in comparing Mørk’s reading to the high voltage classic performance by Zara Nelsova; but it didn’t occur to me at the time the extent to which my perception of Mørk’s recording was influenced by the orchestra. Composed in 1924, Bloch’s three-movement suite From Jewish Life was originally scored for cello and piano. Its first movement, “Prayer,” is heard here in an arrangement by Jonathan Aasgaard for cello and strings. Like Schelomo , it is a kosher-style pastrami sandwich on rye.


David Diamond, who died in 2005, wrote his Kaddish for cello and orchestra for Yo-Yo Ma at the suggestion of Gerard Schwarz. It, too, is an artificial (I do not use the word pejoratively) construct of 20th-century musical techniques and gestures designed to suggest the cantorial cantilation heard in synagogue services. At 11 minutes plus, Diamond’s meditative take on the Kaddish dwells a bit too long on the morose, forgetting that the prayer is essentially one of glorification.


Frankly, there is not much to differentiate Gerard Schwarz’s In Memoriam for cello and string orchestra from Diamond’s Kaddish . If you didn’t notice the track number change on your CD player, you could be excused for thinking you were still in the same piece. Written in 2005 as a memorial tribute to the late Russian-born cellist David Tonkonogul, a former member of the Seattle Symphony and cello teacher to Schwarz’s son Julian who premiered it, In Memoriam is a bit more melodic, tonally centered, and rhapsodic than Diamond’s work, and shorter by about two-and-a-half minutes, but its dirge-like dreariness offers no contrast to the oppressive darkness of the Kaddish.


Amusing, if not ironic, is the fact that the Kol Nidre for cello and orchestra by Max Bruch, the only non-Jewish composer on the disc, is the only work based on a melody that is actually intoned by cantors worldwide at the Yom Kippur Eve service. Bruch himself had this to say about the piece: “I became acquainted with Kol Nidre and a few other songs (among others, Arabian Camel ) in Berlin through the Lichtenstein family, who befriended me. Even though I am a Protestant, as an artist I deeply felt the outstanding beauty of these melodies and therefore I gladly spread them through my arrangement.”


All of the works on the program are masterfully played by cellist Jonathan Aasgaard; and for an incandescent performance and recording of Schelomo in particular, the CD is recommended. As for the rest, taking it all in at once is a bit of a downer.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

The Cypress String Quartet completes their cycle of the genre’s greatest oeuvre with a two-album set of Beethoven’s six ground-breaking quartets, Op. 18, alongside a reissue of their previously self-released recording of the late quartets. For the past several seasons, the Cypresses have immersed themselves in performing Beethoven on tours throughout the U.S. and Europe as well as recording all 16 works plus the “Grande Fugue” (Große Fuge). The completion of their Beethoven cycle is a fitting celebration of the Bay Area-based ensemble’s 20th anniversary, as well as their valedictory season.

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REVIEW:

The Cypress Quartet’s Beethoven readings have numerous virtues. The interpretations are well thought through, and the group’s beauty of tone and unanimity of ensemble are unfailing.

– MusicWeb International

The joy of hearing two master musicians getting Beethoven absolutely right

Admirers of the Beaux Arts Trio may be distraught at the news that Menahem Pressler is to disband the group he founded. Yet he here serves notice, one hopes, of a slew of fascinating projects to follow. There is much of the art that conceals art in these simply lovely, gentle yet probing performances. It's an album to live with, and one looks forward to Pressler's next venture.

-- Gramophone [7/2008]

Includes work(s) by various composers. Soloist: Jacob Heringman.

Award-winning baroque violinist Alana Youssefian and her ensemble Le Bien-Aimé debut on AVIE showcasing music of the brilliant but seldom-heard French violinist and composer Louis-Gabriel Guillemain. His precociousness was noted at an early age, and Guillemain went on to serve in the court of King Louis XV. His symphonies are as uplifting and innovative as his sonatas are astonishingly virtuosic. While his compositions tested the abilities of his contemporaries, his lasting legacy may have been his knack for bridging the baroque and classical styles, seamlessly adapting to shifting tastes in music and art of his time. Alana rises to the challenges of Guillemain’s technical demands with ease. The young, New York-based violinist is a sought-after soloist for baroque, classical, and romantic repertoire. She has been honoured with the top prize in The Juilliard School’s Historical Performance Concerto Competition and a coveted fellowship by The English Concert in America.

Bringing to light another of Hans Gal’s gorgeously melodic and finely crafted scores, AVIE presents the world premiere recording of the Austrian émigré’s Concertino for Cello and String Orchestra with Matthew Sharp supported by Gal aficionado Kenneth Woods conducting the English Symphony Orchestra. Gal’s compositional output was vast, varied and consistent, from his early success in 1920s Germany, through internment during World War II, to his days in Edinburgh where he settled, became a respected academic and lived out his long life. His vivacious Cello Concertino was written in 1965, when he was 75 years old. The two spirited solo cello works were among his last, written at the age of 92. “hats off to conductor Kenneth Woods for making a case for Gal’s elegantly built orchestral pieces… Here’s hoping this is the beginning of a substantial Gal revival.” (National Public Radio’s All Things Considered)

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REVIEW:

Cello soloist Matthew Sharp plays outstandingly throughout, with deep concentration and a telling blend of artistry and control. Striking are the vivid colors and glorious tone he produces on his cello. In the Cello Concertino one senses the calm assurance of Kenneth Woods conducting the English Chamber Orchestra who play with vibrancy and a convincing feel for the idiom.

– MusicWeb International

The Brook Street Band has produced attractive recordings of Handel’s chamber music for Avie, and this newcomer is no exception. There are nine Handel violin sonatas, theoretically, and all of them are included here. Of course, with Handel you never really know. Five sonatas exist in verifiable manuscripts, four were printed without any demonstrable input from the composer, and all of them may well use music by others, as was Handel’s wont. But none of it matters because, as Tovey perspicaciously observed, every note added by Handel annihilates the rest.

The first sonata (in G, HWV158) dates from Handel’s days in Italy, and it’s the only work in three movements. I was a bit worried here because in the central slow movement violinist Rachel Harris adopts a “period instrument tone” that has soft, sustained notes on the verge of disappearing entirely. Of course, a decent vibrato would have helped, but as the saying goes, if the basic timbre is unattractive that’s like trying to put lipstick on a pig. Happily, once past the Sonata in G, Harris shows that her sound in sustained music, while slender, is mellow, touching, and sensitively varied.

The remaining sonatas are all in “church” style, that is four movements, slow-fast-slow-fast(ish). Three are in minor keys, smartly dispersed within the broadly chronological ordering of the set, and they provide welcome contrast to the general predominance of charm and cheer. Of course, all of the music is charming, with an abundance of melody that suggests, as the booklet notes state, that Handel’s authorship even in the four doubtful works is more likely than not. If eighty minutes of less than familiar Handel, elegantly presented and naturally recorded sounds appealing, then by all means give this disc serious consideration.

– ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)

WORKS FOR BASSOON • Judith LeClair (bn); Jonathan Feldman (pn); Gretchen Van Hoesen (hp 1 ) • AVIE 2181 (58:31)


BOUTRY Interférence I. 1 ANDRÉS Chants d’arrière-saison. SAINT-SAËNS Bassoon Sonata. MILDE Andante and Rondo. Polonaise. GLIÈRE Humoresque


She has been called “America’s leading lady of the bassoon.” Judith LeClair, as many will know, has been the principal bassoonist of the New York Philharmonic since 1981. She has taught a whole generation of bassoonists at Juilliard, and is an eminent chamber musician, recitalist, and soloist, appearing often with her own orchestra and with others around the world. This is LeClair’s second solo recital disc. The very desirable first recital, on Cala, came 12 years ago, and is still available as part of the label’s “New York Legends” series. This one focuses almost entirely on French works, including a mix of familiar and little-known. It begins with a piece that has become a favorite of many bassoonists with the chops to tackle it: Roger Boutry’s darkly manic Interférence I . Two other recent releases have included it. I am particularly taken with Akio Koyama’s exhilarating rendition on New Classical Adventure, reviewed in Fanfare 33:5. LeClair is less driven, and consequently a shade less exciting, but she makes more of the work’s contrasting moods. Jazzy and powerful, this is a perfect program opener.


It is not the electricity of the Boutry, however, that creates the disc’s strongest impression, but Bernard Andrès’ much calmer Songs of a Season Past , a set of seven mélodies for bassoon and harp previously unknown to me. As the title suggests, the work is nostalgic and gentle; the seven movements create, with the harp accompaniment, a feeling of Arcadian antiquity. Charming and understated, the work provides a perfect showcase for LeClair’s clear, easy playing in the high register and lovely song-like delivery. Her perfect-in-every-way partner in this work is Gretchen Van Hoesen, principal harpist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.


The Saint-Saëns is graceful and attractive, as well. The product of the French master’s last year, it shows his energy and melodic gifts undimmed by age. LeClair revels in the idiomatic writing. (What else would one expect of the composer who supposedly stormed out of the premiere of the Rite of Spring because of Stravinsky’s misuse of the bassoon?) She spins a golden thread of tone in the Allegro moderato and dances lightly through the Allegro scherzando and the balletic finale. Bassoonist/composer Ludwig Milde’s appeal is less sure, with a salon-like style that is often barely on the right side of cloying, but these two works serve LeClair well. Showing sensitive restraint in the Andante and Rondo and using the Polonaise as a pyrotechnic display of fingerwork, she makes the works more effective than they might be in lesser hands.


The recital ends with the only non-French work: the Glière Humoresque , a perfect encore. The title notwithstanding, it is a wistful dialogue between soloist and accompanist. The latter, Jonathan Feldman, is LeClair’s husband and chair of the Juilliard collaborative piano department. Here and elsewhere, he shows why he is in demand as a recital partner and chamber player. LeClair plays throughout with evenness of sound in all registers, spectacular technical facility, and poetic sensitivity. Her distinctive creaminess of tone, however, is not as evident in this recording as in the previous recital. Miked too closely, the rather boxy recording also occasionally picks up the distracting hiss of air escaping on high notes. This is the only fly, however, in an otherwise delightful ointment. Bassoon fanciers will want to snap up this recording, and hope that the next one doesn’t take so long to appear.


FANFARE: Ronald E. Grames

The Brook Street Band burst onto the scene in 2003 with their Avie debut, the world premiere recording of Handel’s “Oxford” Water Music, which earned the period-instrument ensemble an Editor’s Choice from Gramophone. Now, the all-girl group presents their first recording of the music of J.S. Bach, adapting his Organ Sonatas to their own instrumentation of two violins, harpsichord, and cello.

“The smartest new baroque band around … if you need instant sunshine, play this disc.” — The Times

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By definition, no two compilations of "Music for the Spanish Court" are alike (see recordings from Jordi Savall, the Gothic Voices, etc.) and this one offers first rate performances of songs and instrumental pieces performed by one of the world's premier early music ensembles, The Dufay Collective. The repertoire comes from "the time of Ferdinand and Isabella. . . whose marriage in 1469 effectively united the disparate states of Spain." So there's quite a mix of vocal and instrumental songs and dances by both anonymous and named composers, Narváez and Isaac being the most familiar. Early music fans will recognize the various instruments--sackbut, viols, lute, vihuela, rebec, shawm, harpsichord, harp--and these are employed in all manner of combinations, sometimes with a voice or two, invariably to enchanting or at least thoroughly engaging effect. Vivien Ellis and John Potter provide the vocal support and they do it with impeccable musicianship and technique borne of years of experience with early music performance. The instrumental ensembles, whether viols or wind configurations, deliver refined, colorful, energetic performances that we expect from these players--and the result is eminently listenable interpretations that always seem contextually proper and sensible.


My only complaint is the sonic perspective that renders the pieces with winds--such as the shawm, bombarde, and sackbut in several selections--significantly louder and more present than those with more sparse forces, such as voice/harp or solo vihuela or harpsichord. The transition between these tracks is jarring, although the performances remain focused, technically assured, and invariably true to style. Occasionally, as in the song Con amores mi madre, the voice is covered by the accompaniment, but in general the clarity of the instruments and voices is impressive, and early music fans will find this a welcome addition to their collections.
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

To the best of my knowledge, Imogen Cooper has come only recently to directing as well as playing concertos. In October last year I heard her at the QEH with the Northern Sinfonia in Beethoven – her playing was as fresh and spontaneous as always. Here she is, on record, in Mozart, a composer clearly very close to her heart.

It is actually the 23rd concerto that we hear first on the disc. The opening is very serene, very unhurried, even slightly Romantic in feel. Maybe one should really start listening with K291 as K488 is almost too comfortable. That said, there are some nicely sprung rhythms later on and the cadenza is simply tremendous, exhibiting real depth. Throughout there is a chamber music feel to it all, the give-and-take between piano and - in particular - winds a joy. The famous F sharp minor slow movement begins with a piano rumination that had me in mind of Daniel Barenboim's early version of this work from his cycle of the 1960s and 1970s with the English Chamber Orchestra. Indeed, all credit to the Northern Sinfonia for sustaining Cooper's intensity so well and losing nothing to their more southerly colleagues. Cooper adds decorations to Mozart's large, bare intervals - towards the end, around six minutes in. The finale begins with Cooper opting for a completely different touch, a harder staccato that delineates the territory immediately. Again there seems to be very slight blurring from the middle frequencies of the orchestra, though.

The so-called Jeunehomme Concerto begins with Cooper rather surprisingly indulging in unnecessary point-making in her initial dialogue with the orchestra. Just one misjudgement – an over-tenutoed note on the orchestra around 1:28 in. But with Cooper's pianistic re-entrance, all is civility and expert balance. Cooper even relaxes enough to give a really cheeky end to the cadenza.

The middle Andantino is peppered with moments of magic; the finale contains large swathes of superbly even passagework, scampering around wonderfully. Perhaps Cooper milks the Menuet that forms the centrepiece of this finale rather, but one can still revel in the beauty of her phrasing. True, I still maintain much affection for Cooper's mentor, Alfred Brendel, in this piece - I refer to the earlier ASMF recording now on a Philips twofer - but Cooper's recording shall now ever be at its side.

There is little doubt that this disc will bring much joy. The applause at the close of both concertos is eminently deserved.

-- Colin Clarke, MusicWeb International

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