You don't listen to Cecil Taylor (my favorite living pianist) as much as experience him. More often than not he begins one of his extended solo or group pieces with thematic cells stated in quiet, restless octaves, single notes, or sparse clusters of chords. Since the early 1980s he's been sneaking in bits of spoken word. As he gets going, the material slips and slides up and down several octaves and eventually envelops the entire instrument at super speeds. A musician friend of mine once described Taylor's high-velocity keyboard prowess as treating the piano like a punching bag. That's not really true. There's certainly a percussive side to Taylor's decisive, frighteningly ambidextrous articulation, yet the phrase shapes always seem to arise from melodic impulses no matter how fast they transpire. Think of Erroll Garner's rolling, unpredictable solo introductions blown up to feature size, and you'll realize that Taylor is not so avant-garde as he appears on the surface.


Algonquin, commissioned for the Library of Congress and premiered there on February 12, 1999, features the pianist in duet with violinist Mat Maneri. The 55-minute performance is typical of Taylor's collaborative modus operandi in that he plays the way he plays, and the rest of you try to fit in. Rather than offer a violinistic counterpart to Taylor's virtuosity and visceral power, Maneri courageously sticks to his understated, soft-spoken style, which fuses free jazz, traditional folk fiddling, and baroque bowing techniques in a compelling, organic whole. He also employs an electronic pedal that expands the violin's range below its unplugged parameters into viola and cello territory.


Two larger duet sections bracket a pair of unaccompanied solos that reveal each player's mature lyrical inventiveness to telling advantage. That said, I don't think Maneri challenges Taylor to the extent that more dynamic or iconoclastic improvisers have done in the past. Cases in point include Taylor's stimulating recorded collaborations with guitarist Derek Bailey, his wide-ranging duets with percussionist Max Roach, and the 1998 trio session with tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman and the late, great drum icon Elvin Jones--plus, of course, his working trio from the '60s and '70s that included alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons and percussionist Andrew Cyrille.


Newcomers to Cecil Taylor's unique artistry should start with one of his extended live solo performances on CD, like Silent Tongues (Freedom/Black Lion), Air Above Mountains (Enja), or Erzulie Maketh Scent (FMP). Get to know these discs first, then investigate the Bridge release. The engineering is of good archival quality, and the annotations cogently discuss this performance in the context of Taylor's long career.
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Andrew Rangell's latest disc is a recital of compositions that the pianist connects, in various ways, to the music of J.S. Bach. Most of the works which comprise this recital were written in the early to middle 1600's, and Rangell writes that: “one can hear fleeting soundprints of Bach here and there: moments of the Goldberg Variations in Sweelinck's Linden Grüne variations or the Tomkins Voluntary; the contrapuntal abstractions of the Art of the Fugue surfacing in Sweelinck's long fantasy or Froberger's mystical ricercares; dance rhythms and metrical patterns from innumerable Bach suites, prefigured in the pavanes and galliards. Though many-faceted, this program is essentially intimate and interior in character. “A Bridge to Bach” -- a figurative, slightly fanciful designation-- is a metaphor meant to suggest how, for me, all the present pieces are linked, spanned, connected, encompassed.” Andrew Rangell's though-provoking recordings for Bridge have sparked considerable debate for their individualistic approach to repertoire and performance practice. Charles Michener in the NY Observer writes: “such was Rangell's intensity—like the late Glenn Gould, he seemed to be propelled by an irresistible force—that the listener's attention was riveted to the music.”

R E V I E W S:

Andrew Rangell always has something interesting to say. After making a series of provocative recordings, mostly Bach and Beethoven, for the Dorian label, Rangell was adopted by the good folks at Bridge, where he has continued to make unusual recordings that are both intellectually and emotionally satisfying.

This time around, Rangell has assembled a program of music composed mostly during the first half of the 17th century – several generations before Johann Sebastian Bach was active. In his extended yet very readable booklet note, Rangell explains this disc's overall title. In some of this music, "one can hear fleeting soundprints of Bach," but that is not precisely what Rangell is trying to get at. "The resemblances are noteworthy," he writes, "but the larger point, for me, is that in the area of articulation, contrapuntal balance, imaginative ornamentation, and rhythmic definition, Bach himself has been my most valued tutor in the study and appreciation of his predecessors."

I'm sure that Glenn Gould, one of the past century's most outstanding interpreters of Bach, would have agreed. Among Gould's recordings is a collection of music by William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (Sony SMK 52589). At one point, Gould claimed that Gibbons was his favorite composer, and that composer's Lord of Salisbury Pavane and Galliard is common to both the Gould disc just referenced and the Rangell disc here reviewed.

For Gould, Gibbons also must have been a "bridge to Bach." There's no mistaking Gould for Rangell, or vice versa, but both pianists clearly adore this music. Both performances are quietly contemplative, and with their perfect proportions and clarity, they make listeners feel that all is right with the world. The same can be said for everything on A Bridge to Bach. The dexterous Rangell uncovers the beauty in all that he touches. He is like one of those professors in college who makes biology or physics not just understandable, but miraculous – even to English majors!

Like Gould, Rangell plays this music not on the keyboard instruments of the early to mid 1600s, but on a modern piano. (In Rangell's case, this is a Hamburg Steinway D.) These recordings, then, will be of little use for authenticists – forgive the neologism, but it seems appropriate – but will deeply satisfy those who believe that the message is more important the medium. Even more than Gould, Rangell uses the piano's full resources to play this music, and this gives his performances colors, excitement, and relevance of their own. Rangell also has a clear advantage in terms of engineering. Bridge's sound is far superior to what Columbia was giving Gould in the 1960s.

Copyright © 2007 by Raymond Tuttle, Classical.net

Also Available - Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1
"Andrew Rangell's free-spirited Bach is distinguished by its powerful drive and intensity and a remarkable articulation that illuminates contrapuntal intricacies with microscopic clarity."
-- Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times [2/3/2008]

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Jaffe: Concerto for Cello & Orchestra, Homage to the Breath,

This release contains two of Mozart's greatest concertos. 1784 found the 28-year-old Mozart at the peak of his popularity in Vienna, if we can judge by the fact that he composed no less than six piano concertos during that year. Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453 was written in the early spring. Mozart completed it, according to the date he noted on the score and his recently-begun work-catalogue, on April 12. Scored for a small orchestra without clarinets, trumpets, or drums, K. 453 is one of the most graceful of all Mozart's concertos, typically mingling a sense of gaiety with melancholic undertones. A year and a half after the first performance of Concerto No. 17, Mozart completed Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat, K 482, which he entered as completed into his work-catalog on December 16, 1785. Urbane and aristocratic in character, it gains a regal warmth of sound from the orchestra's inclusion of clarinets instead of oboes - the first time Mozart had done so in a concerto. Vassily Primakov plays Mozart's own cadenzas in K. 453, and those of Camille Saint-Saëns in K. 482.

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The superb Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio is heard in all of Schubert's music for Piano Trio- the two great masterpieces (the B-flat and E-flat Trios), as well as the rarely played "Sonatensatz" and Notturno. In addition, Sharon Robinson and Joseph Kalichstein perform the lovely "Arpeggione" Sonata. This specially priced release includes notes by Schubert specialist, Malcolm MacDonald.

 

VIVALDI Concertos, Op. 10/1-6 (RV 433-37). Suonata à 4 al Santo Sepolcro in E?. Concerto in g, RV 157 • Matthias Maute (rcr, fl); Jörg-Michael Schwarz (vn, ldr); Rebel • BRIDGE 9377 (56:40)


Here is an exciting and well-played disc of Vivaldi concertos (and a Sonata for strings and basso continuo) played not by a full orchestra but by the eight-piece Dutch group Rebel (pronounced “ruh-BELL,” after the French Baroque composer Jean-Féry Rebel). Although it is only an octet, Rebel performs these works in the “La Scintilla” brisk-orchestral style pioneered by that Italian orchestra. In Vivaldi this works very well, and since this is the music of that composer, this group’s style could also be called “modified Red Priest” as a model on the British ensemble of that name. I was utterly delighted by Matthias Maute’s recorder playing in the concerto, op. 10/3, nicknamed “The Goldfinch.” His technique is so good that he is able to create swirling lines that almost sound as if they are easy to play, which they most certainly are not. Moreover, Rebel’s strings—including the oft-tricky basso continuo—are not only consistently in tune but have a good tone. In this album, they play so much as an ensemble that one comes to hear them as a sort of chamber orchestra. I wondered how they might actually sound in music where they are called upon to perform in opposing motion, i.e., in works calling for an interplay of the instruments.


Only in the transverse flute concerto (op. 10/4) did I feel that Rebel’s strings had a bit too edgy a tone quality, incurred by their insistence on only using straight tone (an approach not supported by historical scholarship), and a very thin straight tone at that. The richness of the double bass and cello underneath the higher strings created a nice balance of sound, especially in the concerto for alto recorder (op. 10/5). Here the lower pitch brings the strings down by about a third from the other concertos, and the generally pastoral quality of this music is welcome relief from the composer’s generally upbeat style.


This disc, though having a long list of competitors in this material, is a worthy follow-up to this group’s previous disc, Shades of Red (Bridge 9173). Recorded in St. John’s Lutheran Church in Stamford, Connecticut, the sonics have just enough ambience around the instruments to give a nice sheen to them without overdoing it.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

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...a tremendous new recording of Vivaldi's Opus 10 Flute Concertos played by brilliant young Belgian virtuoso Matthias Maute and one of the Big Apple's top original instrument crews, Rebel (accent on the second syllable). It's an extraordinary display of panache and virtuosity...and Rebel backs him with ferocious energy and risk-taking authenticity... The playing is out of the box with its ornaments, plastic phrasings and simulated spontaneity so that each new section, each new tune, each new dashing series of runs and trills, brings with it unexpected surprises and just enough time to catch your breath between movements.

-- Laurence Vittes, Huffington Post

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DANIELPOUR A Child’s Reliquary 1. LUDWIG Concerto for Violin and Cello 1. HAGEN Masquerade 2 • 1 Sarah Hicks, 2 Troy Peters, cond; Jamie Laredo (vn); Sharon Robinson (vc); Vermont SO • BRIDGE 9354 (78:19)


Double concertos for violin and cello are not plentiful. There were examples before Brahms, but none on his level of achievement—from Vivaldi (three of them!), Johann Christian Bach, Leopold Hofmann, Josef Reicha, Carl Stamitz, Antonín Vranicky, and Donizetti. Following Brahms’s example, the next major figure to write such a concerto was Delius (1916). Other significant works for these soloists are Miklos Rózsa’s Sinfonia Concertante (1966) composed for Heifetz and Piatigorsky, and Robert Starer’s concerto of 1968. For some reason, there seems to have been a flurry of double concertos for violin and cello, or compositions featuring them as soloists, written in recent years: by Anatol Vieru (1980), Arvo Pärt (1981), Lou Harrison (1981, with the accompaniment of a Javanese gamelan ensemble), Ezra Laderman (1986), Carl Roskott (1989), Ellen Taffee Zwilich (1991), Stephen Paulus (1994), Ivan Tcherepnin (1995), Ned Rorem (1998), Lalo Schifrin (1999), Richard Danielpour (2006), Gordon Chin (2006), Daron Aric Hagen (2007), and David Ludwig (2008).


It would be hard to find a disc with a more integrated theme than this one. Beyond the obvious scoring of the three works for solo violin and cello with orchestra ( Triple Doubles is the title of the disc), they were all written for the soloists who play them here (a married couple at that), all were composed within the past few years, all are about the same length (just shy of half an hour), and all have programmatic implications relating to love, loss, and lament. Most importantly, I am pleased to say, they are all winners.


Richard Danielpour’s concerto, titled A Child’s Reliquary , is undoubtedly one of his finest works, comparable in its sustained interest and passionate intensity to his Cello Concerto and Anima Mundi . It is one of the most gorgeously orchestrated works I have encountered in the past quarter century. The music features long-arching melodic lines of poignant beauty and a harmonic language that is Danielpour’s own, yet born of deeply ingrained romantic impulses. Originally written for piano trio in 1999 and orchestrated in 2006, A Child’s Reliquary was inspired by the death of conductor Carl St. Clair’s son. Danielpour calls it “not unlike a musical shrine, with the outer first and third movements evoking public and private aspects of mourning, while the middle movement represents a flashback or snapshot of somewhat happier times.” That second-movement flashback is as joyful, snappy, and rollicking as anything Bernstein gave us.


I had never heard of composer David Ludwig before, but on the basis of his Double Concerto, I am going to be on the lookout for more of his music. Ludwig orchestrates with the skill and sophistication of a Ravel, and generates the power and thrills of a John Williams adventure film score. At times the barbaric splendor of Bloch’s Schelomo or Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast comes to mind. The opening grabs you immediately—dark, ominous chords for the low brass set against throbbing drums. The soloists enter to manic figuration. Offsetting all this drama is a second subject of haunting beauty—yearning, infinitely lyrical, gently rocking. The central Adagio is deeply soulful, while the third movement is a madcap dance set to irregular rhythms. The music is thoroughly engaging on its own but takes on deeper layers of meaning when heard in tandem with the program notes. Each movement is about a different kind of love. Want a teaser? The first depicts “one of the most intense evenings in all mythology,” writes Ludwig, “the night before Odysseus leaves the goddess Calypso.” Ludwig depicts the scene in music supercharged with electrical energy and raw emotion.


Daron Aric Hagen’s Masquerade takes as its point of departure the commedia dell’arte . In the upbeat, jaunty opening movement, the soloists “take on the roles of musical lovers [whose] courtship is told by two harmonically and melodically elusive contrasting themes,” according to the composer’s notes. Bright sonorities and crystal-clear textures of neoclassical Stravinsky meet Korngoldian romanticism. The second movement is a “lament for lost love,” its sense of benumbed grief not unlike that of “The Entombment” from Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler symphony. The third movement brings achingly beautiful romanticism and lush orchestration to the fore as the former lovers “are reunited at the bedside of a mutual friend [and] they reconnect, no longer as lovers but as old friends and soul mates.” The finale brings a satisfying sense of cyclic closure as the two “relive the open-hearted joy in singing of their childhoods before parting forever.”


I listened to Masquerade before reading Hagen’s notes, and what I imagined previously was not far off from what the composer intended, so vividly drawn and cogently developed are his musical arguments. The soloists are almost always integrated into the orchestral fabric, which is kaleidoscopic in its variety and colors. This, like the other two works, is as much about the orchestra as it is about the soloists.


How long the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, now in its 77th year, has been fully professional I cannot say, but it has certainly reached that level on the basis of this, its first commercial recording. The orchestra has a full-bodied, unforced sound, captured in a vivid, embracing acoustic that perfectly balances brilliance and warmth. Percussion is prominent in all three scores, and they impress with the weight and depth of sound, not just the volume. Guest artists these days include a gallery of stars like Leon Fleisher, Lang Lang, André Watts, Midori, Tony Bennett, and Arlo Guthrie. Its home is in Burlington’s Flynn Center, but it plays all over the state (80 percent of its concerts are given elsewhere). For its 50th anniversary season in 1985–86, it performed in every one of the state’s 281 cities and towns.


Soloists Jamie Laredo and Sharon Robinson are obviously deeply committed to these works. They toss off the wildly virtuosic passages with raw energy and draw richly sustained tones from their instruments in the lyrical, elegiac passages. Robinson is at her absolute expressive peak in the slow movement of the Ludwig concerto, with sumptuous tone to boot. Violin-and-cello duos need look no further for another solo work besides the Brahms concerto to make their mark. The only real difficulty is in deciding which of these three magnificent works to choose. This release is definitely headed for my year-end Want List.


FANFARE: Robert Markow

Annotator Allan Kozinn writes: "if audiences listened as devotedly to contemporary piano scores as to the great works of the 17th through early 20th centuries, the two works Martin Perry plays here would be regarded as landmarks of the piano’s huge repertory. No doubt one day they will be – Paul Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis has a constituency among discerning pianists and listeners; for many, Hugo Weisgall’s Sonata for Piano remains an undiscovered gem, something that may change once listeners who think of Weisgall as principally a vocal composer realize that his instrumental music is as just as dazzling." Martin Perry delivers intensely musical, brilliantly realized readings of these two important twentieth century keyboard masterworks.

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REVIEW: Perry plays the Weisgall, a profound but rarely heard work from the composer's 70th year, masterfully.

— NMC (New Music Connoisseur)

"Feasts of beautifully sculpted phrases...glimpses of heaven" - Philadelphia Inquirer

"Soulful depth...dramatic flair and contrast" - New York Times

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PAYSAGE • Susanna Phillips (sop); Myra Huang (pn) • BRIDGE 9356 (54:06 Text and Translation)



Songs by Debussy, Fauré, Messiaen


Susanna Phillips has been singing professionally for at least 5 years now and it is a wonder to me that she hasn’t already been recorded, this being her first recital disc. She has the voice and talent that quite likely will get her to the top of her profession sooner rather than later, all the potential makings of a major artist. So the Bridge label has had the perspicacity and the good fortune to debut her on CD, and they have another winner here.


Phillips sings an all-French program, from the 19th-century lyricism of Gabriel Fauré to the more tonally ambiguous (as the booklet puts it) work of Claude Debussy and the modern sounds of Oliver Messiaen, who created his own otherworldly soundscape to express the mystic and religious nature of his own texts. The three composers are not presented in that developmental order; the rather musically complex songs of Debussy’s Ariettes oubliées put both singer and pianist to work right away with the composer’s Impressionistic music. Phillips is expertly accompanied on piano by fellow Juilliard grad Myra Huang; Opera News opines that she “bids fair to be among the top accompanists of her generation.” The rather spiky dissonance of Messiaen’s song cycle Poèmes pour Mi is presented next, providing an even greater artistic challenge for both artists, and they respond admirably. Four lovely pieces by Fauré finish the program, allowing Phillips to display her fine voice and ability to add colors in more lyrical passages.


If Phillips’s French is not idiomatic, it is still quite good. Three different French styles are heard here and the singer does them all justice, but some of this music is not for the faint of heart. Timing is a bit short at about 54 minutes, but gets excused because of the fine music-making of both Phillips and Huang. A well-written and informative essay on the music by Malcolm MacDonald is included in the booklet, as are texts and translations.


FANFARE: Bill White

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Conductor Leon Botstein has consistently offered the musical public some of the most innovative and fascinating programs to be found on today's concert stage. This album combines three orchestral works written within during the years 1926-1928, featuring Othmar Schoeck's stunning 45-minute song cycle for baritone, chorus and orchestra, "Lebendig Begraben" (Buried Alive), alongside Arthur Honegger's wildly colorful "Rugby" and Dimitri Mitropoulos's rarely heard "Concerto Grosso.” Leon Botstein is a Swiss-American Jewish conductor and scholar, and the president of Bard College. He is currently conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra where he served as music director and principal conductor from 2003-2010.