Classical Music

Classical Music

FRANZ SCHUBERT Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Orebro/Thomas Dausgaard FRANZ SCHUBERT: Symphonny No. 8 in B minor, 'Unfinished', D759; symphony No. 9 in C major, 'Great', D944.

Classical Music

Classical Music

One of the world's foremost wind quintets meets one of today's finest pianists in a work that many consider to be one of the best examples of a work for piano and winds: Poulenc's Sextet. The composer himself called it 'a homage to the wind instruments which I have loved from the moment I began composing', and its cheeky character, virtuosic drive and catchy melodies are typical of his other writing for wind instruments. Poulenc also supplied the piano with a crucial - and virtuosic - part, however, including jazzy elements typical of the period as well as emotional outbursts in the manner of Rachmaninov. Stephen Hough and the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet have enjoyed a long collaboration. On disc this has resulted in recordings of the quintets by Mozart and Beethoven, a release which made the reviewer on the website classicstodayfrance.com surrender unconditionally: 'the adjective which comes to mind while listening is one of excruciating banality, and yet it says everything: this disc is profoundly beautiful'. Poulenc's sextet is framed by three other French works, and from the late-Romantic Quintet by Taffanel to the last of Tomasi's Cinq Danses (a 'War Dance' marked 'wildly frenetically'), the players of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra - who began performing as a group more than 20 years ago - once again demonstrate their supreme capacity not only on their individual instruments, but as ensemble players. Please note: The music on this Hybrid Super Audio CD can be played back in Stereo (CD and SACD) as well as in 5.0 Surround sound (SACD).

STENHAMMAR  String Quartets: No. 5 in C, op. 29, “Serenade;” in f; No. 6 in d, op.35 • Stenhammar Qrt • BIS 2009 (SACD: 65:20)


Here is the Stenhammar Quartet’s second installment in its survey of works for string quartet by the ensemble’s namesake composer, Wilhelm Stenhammar. It follows quickly on the heels of Volume 1, which was reviewed only in the last issue (37:3).


Much of what was said about the previous release applies to this one, and so soon after, needn’t be repeated. If you’re familiar with Stenhammar’s late-blooming Romantic idiom in general, and his string quartets in particular, the three works on this disc further reinforce the composer’s consistency in craftsmanship and style.


The three-way comparison I made last time in reviewing Volume 1 of this cycle, which contained the String Quartets Nos. 3 and 4, was between the Stenhammar, Oslo, and Gotland Quartets. Here, with the Nos. 5 and 6, the comparison is again between the Stenhammer and Oslo Quartets, and this time the Fresk Quartet in No. 5 and the Copenhagen Quartet in No. 6—the record label, Caprice, split the quartets up among three ensembles. So here are the results of the present comparison


Quartet No. 5

Ensemble	I	II	III	IV	Total
Fresk Quartet	5:07	7:30	1:54	4:14	18:45
Oslo Quartet	5:29	7:30	2:26	4:32	19:57
Stenhammar Quartet	5:13	7:29	1:58	4:15	18:55

Quartet No. 6

Ensemble	I	II	III	IV	Total
Copenhagen	7:48	2:44	7:48	6:02	24:22
Oslo Quartet	8:14	3:08	7:53	6:03	25:18
Stenhammar Quartet	7:12	2:44	8:08	6:00	24:04

The outcome is pretty much the same as before. The previous comparison found the Stenhammar Quartet taking a middle-of-the-road approach, tempo-wise, between the slightly quicker-paced Gotland Quartet and the generally slower-paced Oslo Quartet. That conclusion is reaffirmed here, even allowing for the two different ensembles, the Fresk and the Copenhagen, taking the place of the Gotland in the Fifth and Sixth Quartets, respectively. With minor exceptions, the Stenhammar’s timings fall in between those of the other ensembles, and end up closer in total to their Swedish (Fresk) and Danish (Copenhagen) counterparts than to their Norwegian (Oslo) colleagues.


It’s with good reason that Stenhammar’s circa 1910 Fifth Quartet carries the nickname “Serenade,” for it’s an easygoing, genial, breezy, spontaneous-sounding, melodious work that has much in common with Hugo Wolf’s much earlier (1887) Italian Serenade and Dag Wirén’s much later (1937) Serenade for Strings. But, personally, I find Stenhammar’s score prettier than the former and better put together than the latter; and it’s performed by the Stenhammar Quartet’s players with much warmth and affection.


By virtue of its minor key, the Sixth Quartet, dated 1916, is necessarily a somewhat less upbeat-sounding piece, but Stenhammar doesn’t seem to have had it in him to compose a dark, tragic-sounding work. The score frequently veers off into sunnier, major-key climes for lovely, song-filled melodies.


The unnumbered String Quartet in F Minor, date 1897, is an equally engaging piece, which, in its melodic contours and rhythmic patterns, more than occasionally calls Dvo?ák to mind. If you’re just beginning to explore Stenhammar’s string quartet output, I’d strongly suggest you start with this disc. The music is as ear-pleasing and emotionally satisfying as anyone could ask for, and the performances by this outstanding Scandinavian ensemble, complemented by BIS’s vibrant SACD recording, make this an unqualified recommendation.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.



At last, a modern Nielsen to lead the field - and a future classic?

There are eight or so modern accounts of the Nielsen Clarinet Concerto in the catalogue, plus a few no less impressive that have come and gone. Most have fine qualities. Yet for sureness of idiomatic touch none dislodges Ib Erikson’s classic 1954 Danish accounts.

Closer to the mark than any modern rivals is this new issue from Martin Fröst, the clarinettist of the moment for all-round artistry allied to adventurous approach to repertoire. He seems to have Nielsen’s irascible masterpiece in his bloodstream, as surely as he has its technical contortions under his fingers. Vänskä ensures that the Lahti players are never fazed by the exposed edges in the accompaniment, and only the very drawn-out final bars come across as slightly self-conscious. Detail for detail, phrase for phrase, I would have to give this team the palm over the old Danish recording, even before considering BIS’s immeasurably superior sound quality. Even so, Erikson and Wöldike remain a benchmark for insight into the character of the piece.

Kalevi Aho’s Concerto starts arrestingly but without a trace of the attention-seeking that afflicts certain other clarinet concertos of recent times. There is something in Aho’s five continuous movements that recalls Nielsen’s directness and free-flowing succession of ideas, and the cadenza that forms the second movement even brings momentary echoes of Nielsen’s uncompromising skirls and flourishes. But the Finn’s sights are set more on the starkly elemental than on the quirkily personal. For Aho the Vivace con brio third movement is the “centre and culmination”, and it is certainly exuberant – dangerous, even – in its restless virtuosity, rather like Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel driven mad by inner demons. After this a sad slow movement brings sober reflection, and an Epilogue concludes the work on a note of mystery.

Few would now question the status of the Nielsen as the finest clarinet concerto of the 20th century. Time will tell with Kalevi Aho’s concerto in the 21st. In the short term it will probably daunt as many prospective soloists and orchestras as Nielsen’s work did in its time. But there can have been few equally impressive head-on engagements with the concerto medium in recent years. In sum, a CD of rare distinction.

-- David Fanning, Gramophone [5/2007]

Ottorino Respighi is most celebrated for his vividly colourful symphonic poems, and above all the brilliantly orchestrated trilogy celebrating the landmarks and history of Rome: The Fountains of Rome, The Pines of Rome and Roman Festivals. Impressioni brasiliane, another triptych in a similar vein - although on a smaller scale - communicates Respighi's impressions from the summer of 1927, which he spent in Rio de Janeiro. The composer was fascinated by the popular music of Brazil, but also by the nature (the rain forests in the Rio area inspired the first part of the triptych, Notte Tropicale), animal life (a visit to the famous Butantan collection of poisonous snakes and spiders gave him material for the sinuous second part) and, naturally, the carnival, with Canzone e Danza painting a picture of riotous and colourful street festivities. Respighi's greatness as an orchestrator is evident not only in his original works, but also in his adaptations of music by other composers. One such work is La Boutique fantasque (The Fantastic Toyshop), composed in 1918 for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, and performed more than 1000 times during the following few years. Respighi's score was based on piano pieces by Rossini, and it accompanies a plot centred on the love of two marionettes, the creations of a toymaker specializing in beautiful dancing dolls. In his shop the dolls perform various dances to attract customers - a tarantella, a Cossack dance, a can-can ... - providing Respighi with the opportunity to use every colour on his orchestral palette. On the present disc we hear the complete ballet score, performed by the fine Liège Royal Philharmonic making their first appearance on BIS. Conductor John Neschling, on the other hand, is a BIS veteran, with superb credentials in things Brazilian (including the complete Choros by Villa-Lobos) and a recording of Respighi's Roman Trilogy placed firmly 'among the great versions of this music' by the web site ClassicsToday.com.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music