Here is an album whose contents seem odd as it couples the violin concerto of a (still) Russian composer to the viola concerto of an English one. Instead, the coupling is very clever since Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto, whose premiere was in 1923 (while the composer was still living in France, a few years before his return to Soviet Union) served as a much-admired model to Walton’s Viola Concerto, whose first performance was played by Paul Hindemith in 1929. The similarities between the two works go beyond the three-movement structure slow-quick-slow and concern themes, accompaniments and the rondo form of the virtuoso central Scherzo. The smart idea of such unusual coupling came to one of the few great living violinists who can really play the viola with equal skill: Isabelle van Keulen. This glorious album is crowned by the orchestrated version of Vaughan Williams’ masterpiece The Lark Ascending. One of German radio’s best orchestras, the NDR Radiophilharmonie is conducted by Andrew Manze, Keri-Lynn Wilson, and Andrew Litton.

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REVIEW:

Full marks for this well-conceived program, which brings together two works closely related but rarely coupled. Van Keulen plays the Prokofiev with a shiny, rather glassy (rather than glossy) tone. No reservations are needed for the Walton, whose introverted yet deep running emotion well suits van Keulen’s way with the husky-toned viola she plays. Conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson finds an ideal balance of restraint and (in the scherzo) extroversion.

– BBC Music Magazine

This cleverly thought-out album is a tribute to Bach and his kindred spirits. Who is akin to whom? Are they spiritual or elective kinships? In the first instance, all the pieces recorded here are akin to each other in that they are especially suitable or that most sensitive of all keyboard instruments, the clavichord. Beauty is another common feature, which they display in their own way. And in the circle of fifths these pieces are very close to one another. Personal and familial kinships become apparent with the name of Bach. It is also known that JS Bach chose JA Reincken, around forty years his senior, as his teacher: Reincken can certainly be described as a musical father, a true kindred spirit, to JS Bach. Johann Gottfried Muthel slots into the ensemble as a logical consequence. He was JS Bach’s last pupil who had participated in transcribing The Art of Fugue and who composed in a consistently new and noncontrapuntal style. In this respect, he is musically much closer to Bach’s sons Carl Philipp Emanuel and Wilhelm Friedemann, almost a brother to them.

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This is the first volume in a complete survey of Bach’s harpsichord concertos, recorded by La Risonanza in one-to-a-part practice performance. With his Fifth Brandenburg Concerto, Bach had created the first ever harpsichord concerto. In Leipzig, the opportunity arose to continue this experiment: each week at Café Zimmermann he conducted his Collegium musicum in orchestral concerts that lasted around two hours. In the summer of 1733, he took delivery of “a new harpsichord, the like of which has not been heard before around here.” This magnificent instrument, which featured in the Zimmermann concerts, urgently called for concertos to be played by Bach himself as soloist, and even more so his sons and students. Not only in Saxony but also well beyond, Bach was considered to be the absolute authority on all things harpsichord and organ; he thus had to make his own contribution to the emerging genre of the ‘clavier concerto.’ The manuscript of his six harpsichord concertos should therefore be understood as a repertoire collection for his Collegium musicum, and as a personal manifesto.

The angel as a symbol of the tango-dance, death, and resurrection. Without losing the romance, the violence, eroticism and devotion of the traditional tango that he saw as empty and hollowed out, Piazzolla renewed and modified it with elements of European art music, Argentine folklore and jazz, and thus tango took on a new meaning and shape. The writer Alberto Rodriguez Munoz approached Piazzolla in 1961 with a request to write music for his play Tango del angel, which is about an angel appearing in an apartment block in Buenos Aires to cleanse the souls of it's inhabitants. The titles Introduccion al angel, Milonga del angel, and Muerte del angel were created. The latter, a four-part fugue with hard, uncompromising harmonies and rhythms, impressively shows how far Piazzolla pushed the boundaries of traditional tango. When they play was performed in 1962, even the previously hostile parts of ht emusical public in Argentina had to admit how fitting and successful this music was and the titles, especially Milonga del angel, gained extraordinary popularity. The motives of Angel and Diablo appear in many of the tangos composed by Astor Piazzolla: "In my story, angels and devils mix- you have to have something in everything."

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It is remarkable that listeners in later ages hardly ever share the preferences of a composer’s contemporaries. This is also true to a certain extent in the case of Antonio Vivaldi. The twelve concertos op. 8, Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Inventione of which The Four Seasons are the first four, were only printed four times. The first edition, published in Amsterdam by Michel Charles le Cene, appeared in 1725, and it was reprinted three times by the Paris publisher Le Clerc. L’Estro’s popularity was equaled by Il Cimento only in France. This great success in France was undoubtedly due partly to the fact that French theoreticians often were less skeptical about the onomatopoeic potential of music than for instance their English colleagues. We do not know how Vivaldi himself regarded these theoretical questions. There are hardly any quotations extant from the Venetian master in which he airs his views on composition of aesthetics. Even the relation between the score of The Four Seasons and the four “explanatory sonnets” that Vivaldi had printed along with the first edition, is not quite clear. Did Vivaldi, in writing the Four Seasons, base himself on a specific programme? From the countless special effects the score offers it appears that this must have been the case. Yet the fact that some sonnet lines have no parallel in the music suggests the programme was not as well-defined as the sonnets would lead us to believe. One of the world’s most sought-after conductors, Jaap van Zweden has been Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra since 2008, and Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra since 2012.

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Chopin looked back and evoked for us the story of his life in 24 Preludes. Through the medium of these works he revealed his deepest fears and sorrows, but also the beauty and integrity of his heart. The story of these ghosts culminates in tolling bells which are, in Cortot's words, "of blood, of earthly pleasure, of death..." But what follows? A pause: silence, timeless solitude, in the Etude Op. 10, No. 6. Then, suddenly, the soul wakes up and waltzes into space. The album ends with the Scherzo No. 2 "like a charnel house," or the house of the dead, as Chopin apparently described the opening- yet the finale sounds like a celebration of life. And so our ghostly journey ends with fireworks, with smiling and shining, looking far into the future..."

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

Isabelle van Keulen is a top Dutch violinist who performs all over the world as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles. She heard an Astor Piazzolla LP at the tender age of six, and has been a tango music lover ever since. Isabelle has long wanted to play this music in an ensemble, and now her dream comes true with not only an SACD but also a DVD and Blu-ray, which both include a moving film by director Hans Pannecoucke as well as a behind-the-scenes documentary on the project.

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The Christmas Oratorio is a series of six separate cantatas, collectively relating the story from Christmas through to Twelfth Night. Bach wrote the work in Leipzig in 1734 and 1735 for Christmas Day, Boxing Day, the third day of Christmas, New Year, the Sunday after New Year, and Twelfth Night. As with the Passions, the texts here are drawn from three sources: the evangelical texts intoned by the Evangelist as recitatives, chorales from the Lutheran tradition and free texts for arias and some choral passages, written by the poet Picander. This performance is perhaps as close as presently possible to what we imagine Bach might have had in mind as he composed the work in Leipzig. First of all, we have the 'one to a part' aspect: historical research among the various sources clearly shows that Bach did not ask for a choir to perform his cantatas, but simply a vocal quartet. This 'single line singing' certainly adds to the individual expression of the text and the music's transparency. Bach's religious music always uses the text as it's starting point and a great deal of attention is therefore paid to correct enunciation. The vocal principle of 'one to a part' also has a major influence on the instrumental forces. Bach employed a small-scale string ensemble, as well as single wind instruments where appropriate, all supported by an organ, which formed the continuo in conjunction with the bass violin. And since the instrumental music is also completely permeated by the rhetoric that stems from the text, the transparency of this small ensemble intertwines seamlessly with the vocal lines, giving a refined polyphony that reached it's zenith in Bach's music.

"...slowly, as my musical path kept unfolding, I got to the point where more and more I was able to let go of my preconceived notions aout the Violin Concerto and more clearly start to see and hear my own voice in it. Over the years I got to know so much more music by Mendelssohn, from the inside out, and I felt the language become more fully my own. When working with Kees Bakels on it a couple of years ago things started to really fall into place, and last May when performing it with the Amhem Philharmonic I really was all of a sudden struck by a distinct feeling that I can only describe as falling in love all over again with this magical piece. Certain details in the score seemed to appear completely new to me and the idea of approaching the work with the same collaborative energy as in chamber music made me experience it completely afresh. The combination of passion, grand emotions and at the same time lightness and elegance, such characteristic traits for Mendelssohn, fell completely into place. To feel this way about such a familiar piece was revelatory and I knew I wanted to share these discoveries, if you like, with many more people." (Liza Ferschtman)

2019- an anniversary year. For three exceptional musicians 2019 brings cause for great joy and gratitude for several reasons. Ton Koopman, internationally renowned as a harpsichordist, organist, conductor, professor and musicologist, celebrates his 75th birthday. He also looks back on 40 highly successful years with the ensemble he founded, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. His wife, Tini Mathot, an outstandingly gifted harpsichord and fortepiano virtuoso as well as a very successful producer of countless international albums, celebrates her 70th birthday. Klaus Mertens, acclaimed for over four decades as an international concert singer with an admirably wide repertoire stretching from Monteverdi to contemporary composers, also celebrates his 70th birthday. "As the ideal conveyor of Bach's cantatas and passion texts..." he also receives the Bach-Medaille of the city of Leipzig in 2019. As if this were not sufficient cause to celebrate an anniversary, these three musicians cap it all by looking back on 40 years of successful and amicable music-making together in concerts and recording studios by presenting an anniversary album as well as several chamber concerts.

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An outstanding volume in Koopman's complete Buxtehude cycle from Challenge will delight, stimulate and please in every respect.

Ton Koopman's survey of the entire works of Buxtehude seems to be getting more enjoyable and exciting with each release. Here we are at what must be (just under) about two-thirds of the way through - volume 14, the fifth in the series of the composer's vocal works. The five high soloists and a tenor and bass are lively, confident, sensitive - the dialogue in Bedenke Mensch das Ende [tr.5] is a good example of real, studied drama - and technically brilliant (listen to the ensemble singing and pacing towards the end of Jesu, komm, mein Trost und Lachen [tr.7], for instance). They infuse their performances with joy, depth, clarity, devotion and the other emotions required by the glorious - yet almost unknown - writing of Buxtehude … essentially Germanic but with the inevitable influence of Italy in general and Monteverdi in particular also much in evidence.

Some of the works on this CD were recorded as long ago as 2007 and 2008; the booklet is unusually unforthcoming about which and where. This suggests that Koopman may be 'collecting' from Buxtehude's œuvre at this stage in the project. But there is nothing about the collection on this generous and amply-recorded CD to make us think we're experiencing the 'also-rans' or dregs. This is music of great exactness: penetrating, striking and original. Buxtehude's gift for melody, structure and the creation of complex, subtle yet highly meaningful textures is in evidence from first note to last.

Only three or four of the works presented here are otherwise available - in compilations and on DVD, for example. So there is every reason to acquire this CD without hesitation - even were its performances not of the extremely high calibre that they are. Each of the soloists has something definite, communicative and enriching to offer. The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra is also on typically excellent form.

The new impetus given to music after the devastation of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) by the evolving Geistliches Konzert (sacred concerto) is also responsible for much of the measured yet unmistakable vivacity of Buxtehude's choral writing here … usually a short instrumental introduction, an impactful, self-contained and focused Biblical phrase or section of text is explored by one or more soloists - with instrumental 'support' rather than intricate comment in its own right. A true point of departure for and from the church cantata. The musicians involved in this excellent CD from Challenge thoroughly understand the idiom of the Geistliches Konzert.

This CD has other forms which are as striking by their then innovative nature at Buxtehude's time as by their 'stability' and overseeing command of the blend of musical form and idea with text are to us now. These include the strophic arias and ciacconne; and the concerto-aria cantatas ( Je hoher du bist [tr.1] and Herr, wenn ich nur dich habe [tr.2]). One senses Buxtehude's delight at the freedom of expression which these forms afford him. And the performers' responsiveness and involvement … Buxtehude was laying all sorts of ground for others - not least Bach. But he was also writing devotional music for local 'consumption' and probably specific occasions in Lübeck. So the singers need to steer a fairly narrow course between emphasising the historical moment in which the music was written; and its more general meaning. They do. At the same time, their singing and playing have a modern touch … it's immediate, 'edgy' almost, the singers' articulation of the all-important texts are crystalline, liquid, limpid - without ever being florid.

The acoustic is clean, though perhaps a touch too dry for the not ostentatious but peacefully declamatory nature of some of the music. The booklet with notes by Christoph Wolff is highly informative and has the texts in German (and Latin for Jesu, dulcis memoria) and English. If you're already collecting this cycle, don't hesitate for a second. If you want to sample historically significant and beautiful music from the under-performed Buxtehude, this is a great place to start.

-- Mark Sealey, MusicWeb International

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ITALIAN CONCERTOS AND SONATAS • Stephen Stubbs, cond; Lucia Swarts (vc); Teatro Lirico (period instruments) • CHALLENGE 72516 (3 CDs: 181:10)


Works by BOCCHERINI, JACCHINI, LEO, PLATTI, PORPORA, VIVALDI


This appears to be the third time around for the works on this disc, having been recorded back in 1997–99, and released individually by Challenge Classics then and once more in 2004–2007. This time, though, all of the works are available on a three-disc set, a sort of compendium, even though the programming becomes a bit more generic than one might expect. Lucia Swarts, a protégée of famed cellist Anner Bylsma, follows her mentor closely in style, with dexterous rapid passages and a sonorous, soaring, lyrical line as appropriate. Brian Robins reviewed the first disc, the Italian concertos, back in 2003, and the others have generally received excellent reviews for her performance in several online venues, so there is little to add here, save for my own immediate reactions.


First, Challenge Classics made no effort in the booklet notes to unify the release. All three of the previous discs’ notes are given verbatim side by side, and there is no overarching continuity or explaining just what “Italian concertos and sonatas” means in this context. On the other hand, despite the incongruity of the works, each has its own special purpose. The first disc is a compendium of concertos from about 1700 to 1730, an excellent means of demonstrating how this instrument came to prominence as a solo during this period. The first Platti concerto in C Major is more of a concerto grosso, with the solo instrument playing in the episodes of the ritornello, emerging as a textural contrast. The Leo concerto, on the other hand, has some extremely difficult passagework in the two fast movements, all of which foreshadow the more virtuosic lines of composer-cellists like Boccherini later in the century. Each of these varies between three and four movements, as one might expect of the late Baroque period, but there is ironically more of a hint of the emerging galant in the second Platti and the Leo, both of which straddle the stylistic periods. Here, the Teatro Lirico period-instrument orchestra provides a good background, with a fine sense of nuanced style and an excellent ensemble.


For the two sonata discs, the term “worlds apart” can distinguish them. Vivaldi writes four-movement works that are interesting but not especially unique. To be sure, he writes long lyrical lines and uses a fair amount of rhythmic syncopation. But it is Vivaldi, and he is deliberately writing apparently for well-trained but non-virtuoso musicians. There is of course no evidence that these were composed for the Ospedale della Pietà, where he worked for many years, but the style may be telling. For the Boccherini, however, we enter a time where the instrument’s potential had been released, thanks to that composer’s technical prowess, including the extensive use of the thumb position. The four sonatas are tours de force , often requiring extreme ranges and double- or triple-stop passages. I am particularly impressed by the first movement of the Sonata No. 2 in C Major, with figuration that really makes the performer sweat. All of these Swarts performs with an ease that is exceptional. One final word about the continuo on these two discs. In the Vivaldi, she expands the size, which I find gives a nice contrasting resonance to the character of the individual movements, while in the Boccherini she has chosen to have it performed by a continuo cello, ably played by Richte van der Meer, and a plucked instrument, varying between guitar in the fast movements and theorbo in the slow. I am not convinced by the musicological arguments for this arrangement, but from a musical standpoint, the results are eminently satisfactory. Indeed, for Boccherini, who spent so much time in Spain, there is more than a nice echo of Iberia in the opening Allegro militaire of the third sonata, with its marchlike rhythms for which the guitar is a perfect accompaniment. If you don’t already own these individually, this set is a good way to incorporate some great pieces from the 18th century into your collection.


FANFARE: Bertil van Boer