Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

In his poem Art poétique, Paul Verlaine declared that poetry above all should be musical: 'De la musique avant toute chose'. This quality in his work was recognized by composers already during his lifetime, and it is sometimes claimed that Verlaine has been set to music more often than any other poet after him.+ For their Verlaine Songbook, Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton have selected songs by ten composers, including two complete cycles – Fauré's La Bonne Chanson and Debussy's Ariettes oubliées. The 33 songs on the release set a total of 25 texts – several poems by Verlaine have attracted more than one composer, and Clair de lune appears three times, in versions by Debussy, Fauré and Joseph Szulc, while La lune blanche can be heard no less than four, in versions by Fauré, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn and Poldowski – the pseudonym of the Belgian-born British composer Régine Wieniawski. Released in 2015 to critical acclaim, Carolyn Sampson's début recital disc, Fleurs (BIS-2102), was a flower-themed anthology with songs by composers ranging from Purcell to Benjamin Britten via Schubert and Debussy. On the present release the repertoire is rather more concentrated in time – all songs were composed during a span of 35 years (c. 1880-1915) – but the variety is nevertheless striking: a reflection of how different artistic temperaments have interpreted the many-facetted Verlaine.

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REVIEW:

Sampson and Middleton concentrate on song cycles, bookending their recitals with Debussy's Fetes galantes and Ariette oubliees, and placing La bonne chanson (Faure) at its center. Paysages tristes, by the d'Indy pupil Deodat de Severac, one of the many discoveries here, forms the disc's unforgettable epilogue.

Both artists are very much at home in this repertory, frequently functioning as an indivisible unit with sound and sense beautifully fused. Sampson is in excellent voice, her tone clear and silvery, her upper registers exquisite. Middleton's playing is marvelously fresh throughout, the thin dividing line between wit and melancholy superbly negotiated.

– Gramophone (12/2016)

Classical Music

Classical Music

Thomas Dausgaard, the enormously talented conductor, continues here with his quest for recording the mainstream symphonic repertoire with an orchestra, smaller than the usual today. His journey has become a considerable success. What one possibly misses in string sound "thickness" is more than well compensated for by the added transparency, and the almost chamber-music-type listening by the orchestral members. As a matter of fact, Dausgaard's and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra's togetherness, ensemble playing is totally amazing and gives this listener a completely different view of these Brahmsian masterpieces. Add Anna Larsson – Abbado's favourite alto – Johan Reuter, and the Swedish Radio Choir, and what you get is a very, very strong team indeed. Renowned for his creativity and innovation in programming, the excitement of his live performances and an extensive catalogue of critically-acclaimed recordings, Thomas Dausgaard has been the chief conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra since 1997, and in 2016 took up the same position with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He is also set to become the music director of the Seattle Symphony in 2019.

Classical Music

Classical Music

My enthusiasm for Volume 1 in the Bach Collegium Japan's cycle of Bach's cantatas continues here in a program that includes a work (BWV 131) based on conductor Masaaki Suzuki's favorite psalm, number 130. (In the notes to the first volume Suzuki candidly declares how important his Christian convictions are to his interpretations, and describes his relationship to Bach as "fellows in faith"). Though thematically based on the depths and multitudes of sin, Bach's settings here are not entirely solemn--nor are Suzuki's spirited renderings. The opening selection, Gott ist mein König, begins with a striking choral "Gott!" followed by enough resounding brass and percussion to simultaneously excite the layman and instill joyous consolation among the faithful. Bass Peter Kooy's more somber though equally compelling fourth-movement aria "Tag und Nacht ist dein" couldn't be more lovely; as the singer muses over God's omniscient reach, he's partnered by a lingering melody that anticipates the composer's famous Sinfonia in C. Likewise countertenor Yoshikazu Mera shines in his brief aria "Durch mächtige Kraft", accompanied only by a trio of trumpet, organ, and timpani.


Arguably one of Bach's most angst-ridden cantatas, Aus der Tiefe rufe ich Herr, zu dir gets a reading that equals if not surpasses Günther Ramin's legendary 1952 account (a statement heretofore unimaginable). Though nearly as dramatically slow in tempo as Ramin, Suzuki often subtly mutes the choir, which heightens the overall impression of humility, misery, despair, and lifelong repentance. Also unlike Ramin, who unfortunately had only less-than-accurate editions at his disposal, Suzuki includes an additional soprano (Midori Suzuki) whose sublime laments beautifully complement Kooy's second-movement aria.


From Bach's so-called "Mühlhausen period" (where he held the post of organist at Mühlhausen's Church of St. Blasius) his Actus Tragicus funeral cantata (Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit) remains his most popular and oft-recorded work. While long-standing favorite recordings include such diverse readings as Karl Richter's grand Munich Bach Orchestra modern-instrument performance and the Collegium Aureum's much more intimate original-instrument account, Suzuki again successfully combines the best of both approaches. The famed opening instrumental sonatina couldn't be more graceful and appropriately suggestive of another world. As well, tenor Gerd Türk and countertenor Yoshikazu Mera deliver exceptionally lovely performances, particularly in the third-movement choral. This Actus Tragicus surely is one of the best, if not the best currently available (both of the recordings mentioned above are scarce imports). BIS again complements Suzuki's achievement with state-of-the-art sonics and engaging and informative booklet notes by Suzuki and Tadashi Isoyama. Highly recommended. [3/5/2003]
--John Greene, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

Classical Music

The prolific Danish composer Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996) has been a major concern of BIS for quite some time now. In all we have released 12 CDs dedicated to him and in particular to his orchestral works, including the complete cycle of 13 symphonies (re-released in a 6-CD box, BIS-CD-843/46). Besides the symphonic genre, Holmboe also favoured the concerto form. In his catalogue there are 21 works for solo instrument(s) and orchestra, and with this disc we have recorded a total of 11 of these works. The three concertos on the present CD are all part of the series that Holmboe initially called 'chamber concertos', reverting to the more conventional title 'concertos' mid-way. But still, the format is smaller than a full-blown, romantic concerto - both in terms of scoring (the Piano Concerto is scored for piano, strings and timpani only) and in duration. Written over a period of six years (1939-1945) the concertos for piano, clarinet and oboe show the various influences (Bartók, neo-classicism etc) that the composer integrated in his own music - music that The New Grove Dictionary of Music describes as being of 'a rare continuity and quality of thought.' In order to guarantee the continuity of the BIS Holmboe series, the task of recording these works has been entrusted to conductor Owain Arwel Hughes and the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra; the same team that has been so highly praised for earlier instalments. (About BIS-CD-917, International Record Review wrote: 'As his BIS cycle of the symphonies has shown, Owain Arwel Hughes and his fine Aalborg musicians are completely attuned to Holmboe's world... Recommended with all possible enthusiasm.') The soloists Noriko Ogawa, Martin Fröst and Gordon Hunt will be known for their many and varied BIS recordings. And to round off the disc is a rarity: a setting of Psalm 32, Beatus Parvo, for choir and orchestra, composed in 1972 and an example of the composer's important choral output. (According to the Grove article quoted above, Holmboe is 'one of the few post-World War II Scandinavian composers to possess a natural feeling for vocal line and for polyphony.')

Classical Music

Classical Music