Classical Music

Schulhoff’s music remained a well-kept secret for many years, due in part to its apparent eclecticism. Fortunately, that situation has changed over the last twenty years of so. This release from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam contains piano works from the period 1920-1931, an extremely fruitful period during which Schulhoff gave vent to his fascination for the new jazz and dance music without entirely losing signt of classical tradition. He was a brilliant pianist himself, making frequent appearances in the concert hall and later in radio studios, renowned for his immaculate technique, fabulous memory and prowess as an improviser. The combination of classical foundations and more decorative jazz elements in Schulhoff’s music suits Daahoud Salim Alvarez down to the ground, as he studied both classical and jazz piano at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Schulhoff constantly faced the dilemma of respecting traditions while at the same time being keen to distance himself from them. This is illustrated, for instance, by his Concerto for piano and c chamber orchestra- February 1923.

Pianist Emanuele Torquati immerses himself deeply into these pieces, giving them life and lift.

Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1884 - 1920) was endowed with a creative vein that allowed him to produce, in the space of a decade, works for the piano that were to become a point of reference for the following generation of American composers, especially Charles Ives and Aaron Copland. Indeed, Copland paid him posthumous tribute at Harvard in 1952: "what he gave those of us who came after him was a sense of the adventurous in composition, of being thoroughly alive to the newest trends in world music and to the stimulus that might be derived from such contact."

Such exuberance and influence is most vividly apparent in the three-movement Sonata which is the most forward-looking work on the disc. In its bitonality and untameable energy lie the seeds of a modern American music waiting to be nurtured by Ives and Elliott Carter. Earlier works are poetically inspired, such as teh Roman Sketches, Op. 7, which became repertoire items for the likes of Olga Samaroff and Dame Myra Hess. With its overlapping chords, "Nightfall" conjures up an aura of mystery, while "The Fountain of Acqua Paola" is a virtuoso piece somewhat reminiscent of Liszt's Les jeux d'eaux a la Villa d'Este. No less a figure than Ferruccio Busoni was greatly struck by Griffes's music, especially the three-movement cycle of tone poems from which this album draws its evocative title, The Vale of Dreams.

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REVIEW:

This CD may very well be an introduction for many listeners to Griffes’ unique sound world. It covers a lot of ground in Griffes’ career, and some of the pieces included, such as the piano versions of the 3 Tone Pictures (which impressed Ferruccio Busoni so much when he toured the U.S. that he helped Griffes get them published), the Winter Landscape, De Profundis and Rhapsody in B minor are far from common. He was consistently interesting and high-minded; he never wrote a single piece that was cheap, common, or purposely aimed at popular tastes; and thus his music remains fascinating because it communicated something deeply touching and deeply human about this sad and often lonely man who lived his life for art and beauty.

Will this be enough to encourage other pianists, and orchestras, to start programming Griffes? Probably not. He’s still one of those hothouse flowers of the classical world who apparently only appeals to the most high-minded, but this is truly great music that shouldn’t be missed.

– Art Music Lounge (Lynn René Bayley)

In 1638 Louis-Dieudonné, destined to become King of France under the name of Louis XIV, was born at last. Louis XIII instructed his ambassadors to celebrate the event with pomp and circumstance. In Venice, whose commercial vitality gave it a dominant role in Europe, four days of festivities were organised in honor of the French Dauphin, culminating in the performance at San Giorgio Maggiore of a solemn mass specially composed by Giovanni Rovetta, Monteverdi’s deputy maestro di cappella at San Marco, who was to succeed him in 1644 and become one of the leading musicians in Venice.

That mass, never sung again since its first performance, was reconstructed by Benjamin Chénier in 2015 for the tercentenary of the death of Louis XIV. It is a grandiose, typically Venetian work, with all the splendor appropriate to the spirit of La Serenissima Repubblica.

The Galilei Consort, founded by the violinist Benjamin Chénier, is principally dedicated to the reconstruction of musical practices and works of seventeenth-century Italy. Such practices emerged from the humanist movement, and are personified by Vincenzo Galilei, father of the famous Galileo, who advocated a return to the Greek conception of music with primary importance accorded to the meaning of the text.

Includes work(s) by Ernesto Lecuona. Ensemble: Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Bartos. Soloist: Thomas Tirino.

American lutenist Ronn McFarlane has had a successful career as a traditional performer and educator offering concerts and recordings of Renaissance and Baroque repertory. With the justification that lutenists of the past have been both performers and composers, he has begun to write and record crossover music with a small band called Ayreheart, consisting of flute or harp, bass, and percussion, augmented at times by strings and mostly wordless vocals. Despite the large collection of instruments, it's a crisp sound not weighed down by sentiment, with McFarlane's lute front and center, supported by subtle acoustic percussion and other sounds that accent the material according to its rhythmic qualities. The album One Morning is a successor to McFarlane's Grammy-nominated 2009 album Indigo Road, and it's in the same vein but perhaps a bit more uptempo; few of the tracks have the new age ambiance the rather cheesy sunset-and-lute cover might suggest. Likewise, although there is certainly some Celtic influence in the music, McFarlane avoids the clichés of the genre. The music here, in fact, is pleasingly impossible to categorize. There are enough hints of McFarlane's Renaissance background to satisfy anyone who has come to the music through a general liking for what might be called pop-Renaissance culture, but there are also moves derived from later eras of classical guitar, folk styles, and even bluegrass, with the rhythmic orientation being basically toward jazz. Fans of pure Renaissance music are unlikely to be satisfied by this, and it's likewise not well suited to those whose ends are meditiative, but the album is recommended to pretty much everyone else who likes the sound of a lute; McFarlane's accomplishment in reimagining its capablilities is considerable. A plus is that the Dorian label can record the lute very well indeed.

-- James Manheim, All Music Guide

Classical Music

With some justice, the 1970s are often dismissed as the decade that Style forgot.

But while it’s true that many of us would prefer never again to contemplate the likes of platform shoes, hotpants, bell-bottom trousers and Brotherhood of Man, one icon of middle class culture from that generally unlamented decade remains with us to this day – the dinner party.

Today the 1970s dinner party is easy to caricature: prawn cocktail, chicken in a brick (the latter bought from the local Habitat store) and Black Forest gateau – all washed down with a bottle or two of trendy Blue Nun. And there was always some music playing quietly in the background – not, unless you were very unlucky, from Brotherhood of Man but something selected to indicate the host’s cultural sophistication. And surprisingly often, as I recall from the Hampstead and Highgate dinner party circuit of the time, that was a Turnabout LP of Vivaldi lute and mandolin concertos performed by Anton Stringl (lute), Paul Grund and Artur Rumetsch (mandolins) and the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra under Jörg Faerber.

Yes, with all due respect to its devotees everywhere, the mandolin made – and continues to make – ideal background music and I’m not sure that many people will listen to this new CD with the rapt concentration that they’d give to a Beethoven string quartet or a piano recital from Alfred Brendel. Indeed, a few listeners to whom I’ve played this disc had had quite enough after just a couple of tracks and others were frankly relieved to note its otherwise disgracefully short overall running time. But as a pleasant and undemanding diversion it more than fits the bill.

The 2003 line-up of the Modern Mandolin Quartet – Dana Rath and Matt Flinner (mandolins), Paul Binkley (guitar and mandola) and Gyan Riley (guitar and mandocello) – was clearly a very talented one. Their potted biographies indicate that the players came from backgrounds that encompass jazz, rock and folk as well as classical music but some details may leave more than a few MusicWeb International readers bemused - thus the booklet notes reiterate Bluegrass Now’s contention that “Flinner provides the next evolutionary step to David Grisman’s unique dawg style”.

In general, though, with just one exception, the quartet’s stylistic eclecticism is kept in check in these relatively straightforward musical arrangements. Miguel Llobet’s Four Catalan folksongs, none more than two minutes long, are simple and pleasant enough but are essentially unmemorable and would be best utilised as programme fillers or encores for live performances.

Things perk up somewhat with the Tchaikovsky where the delicacy of much of the orchestration adapts quite effectively to the mandolin. The Miniature Overture is vivacious and demonstrates the fine balance between the individual instruments established by the players - and the engineers? The March and Russian Dance are both executed in the most lively and attractive manner; the Dance of the Mirlitons works well; but the slower, more atmospheric tracks disappoint, with an Arabian Dance that misses the subtle sultriness of Tchaikovsky’s original and a distinctly heavy-footed sugar plum fairy. The undoubted highlight, not just of the suite but of the whole disc, is an account of the Waltz of the Flowers that goes with a real swing. The performers’ huge enjoyment is very obvious and this would bring the house down in any live performance.

The Delibes track is arranged in a way that suits the mandolins very effectively and the same is true of the Fauré, although sometimes the playing there is deliberate rather than dreamy. The Fauré track will, indeed, divide listeners. From about 3:40 we go, for the only time on the disc, into a distinctly jazzy and improvisatory mode for a couple of minutes: it’s not unpleasant at all – but it’s not Fauré either.

The Vivaldi D major concerto was one of those included on that old dinner party Turnabout LP. It is very attractive music, undemanding for the listener - if not the executants - and is well played here.

It was, in fact, so effectively evocative that, immediately after playing it, I was inspired to head for the kitchen and, just half an hour later, was tucking in to a plate of delicious Chicken Kiev accompanied by garlic mushrooms and washed down with a can or two of refreshing Harp lager.

Only the absence of a power cut made me realise that I wasn’t back in the 1970s after all.

-- Rob Maynard, MusicWeb International

Following a first recording on Alpha devoted to Brahms which garnered much praise – ‘real duo playing’ said Gramophone, while Classica discerned ‘shared music making . . . a world full of nuances and subtlety, boundless sonic imagination (Marie-Elisabeth Hecker), playing of rare intelligence (Martin Helmchen)’ and awarded the disc a ‘Choc’ – the duo is reunited. Its new programme features two summits of chamber music: Schubert’s famous Arpeggione Sonata – named after a now obsolete instrument that was a cross between the guitar and the cello – and his no less celebrated Trio no.2 D929, which achieved even greater popularity thanks to Stanley Kubrick’s film Barry Lyndon. In the latter, the duo is joined by an eminent musician with whom they enjoy playing, Antje Weithaas, ‘one of the great violinists of our time’ (Fonoforum) and also one of the teachers most sought after by the young generation. For example, she taught Tobias Feldmann, the young violinist recently signed by Alpha.

FAURÉ Cello Sonatas No. 1 & 2. Romance. Elégie. Sérénade. Papillon. Berceuse. Clarinet Trio, op. 120 1 • François Salque (vc); Éric Le Sage (pn); 1 Paul Meyer (cl) • ALPHA 600 (74:02)


Here we have the type of recital that has almost disappeared from the face of the earth: quintessentially French performances of quintessentially French music. As an analogy, I should also point out that quintessentially German, Italian, Austrian, Dutch, and British performances have also faded to a precious few. The standardization of both instrumental style and sound has, by and large, imposed a generically pretty but nationally ambiguous style and sound on orchestras, solo musicians, and chamber groups the world over. Heck, we even have a hard enough time coming up with a quintessentially American sound anymore.


But Éric Le Sage and François Salque are indeed throwbacks to at least the 1940s. Salque’s cello avoids the generically rich, dark sort of timbre one hears from most such players the world over nowadays, but has rather a lean, edgy sonority not unlike Pierre Fournier. This does not mean that Salque’s low range lacks depth of tone, just that it’s not a basso profundo sound; it’s more like a basso cantate, which is fine by me. Likewise, Le Sage’s piano plays with light and shade, color and nuance, in a way that, fortunately, has never entirely disappeared from the lexicon of French pianists on record, from Cortot to Thibaudet.


Thus these performances reach inside the music not just in terms of emotional response but also in terms of coloristic response. They do not lack for energy or excitement when the music calls for it, even in such a piece as the op. 69 Romance, yet despite a CD cover that is almost completely black with white and blood-red lettering, their playing is a virtual rainbow. Some modern listeners, more used to the plush generic quality of many musicians nowadays, may find this approach foreign to them or difficult to comprehend, but as the expression goes, “this is the real deal.” As good as the recording of mostly the same music by cellist Ina-Esther Joost Ben-Sasson is (Naxos 8570545), my decision in favor of this release is predicated by exactly the virtues (or, if you prefer, idiosyncrasies) mentioned in the second paragraph. I should also add that Paul Meyer manages to fit in very well indeed in the performance of the Clarinet Trio. You simply can’t sing Italian comic patter like an Italian, you can’t conduct Má Vlast as well as a Czech-born conductor can, and you can’t play French music any better than the French do it.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

Also available on Blu-ray

A modern Opera adaptation by Charles Wuorinen based on Annie Proulx's short sorty previously adaptated by Ang Lee for the Oscar-winning film Brokeback Mountain.

Brokeback Mountain marks Wuorinen's return to the opera stage with one of the major works of his career, equally ambitious in its beauty and momentous tragedy. Brokeback is the story of ranch hand Ennis del Mar and rodeo cowboy Jack Twist, two young men who meet and fall in love on the fictional Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming in 1963. Wuorinen says "It's a story of doomed love, in this case a complex homosexual relationship taking place in a very homophobic society."

In a decidedly different approach than the film adaptation, Wuorinen creates a grittier atmosphere. The story and characters have been tightly condensed by Proulx. In reference to the genesis of the story Proulx has written "'Brokeback' was constructed on the small but tight idea of a couple of home-grown country kids, opinions and self-knowledge shaped by the world around them, finding themselves in emotional waters of increasing depth. I wanted to develop the story through a kind of literary sostenente."

In approaching the work for the stage Wuorinen writes "The music of Brokeback Mountain conveys the harsh magnificence of the Mountain where the protagonists first meet. Visiting Annie in Wyoming, seeing the land where the story is set and the characters shaped was invaluable, and it made a deep impression on me. Sometimes the score evokes the icy clarity of the high-altitude freedom the characters enjoy there. But the Mountain also breathes and storms, and the music projects this turbulence as well - especially when it transfers into the interior lives of the characters and their interactions in the human world. And the tragedy of the two principals, their doomed love, calls forth the most lyrical flights in the score."

With bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch and tenor Tom Randle. Staged by Ivo van Hove and conducted by Titus Engel.

Classical Music

C.P.E. Bach: Chamber Music with Transverse Flute, Composer Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Artist Helianthus Ensemble, Laura Pontecorvo transverse flute, Elisa Citterio violin & viola, Francesco Galligioni cello, Guido Morini harpsichord. During the last years of his life, CPE, not unlike his father, was not interested in following fashions or the market, his main aim being to leave posterity a meaningful musical heritage. In a letter written in 1787 he declared that he had concluded his 'work for the public and now wished to abandon the pen' not least because the desire to see certain works published that would 'bring him honor after his death' had been fulfilled by the publication in 1786 of the Zwey Litaneien Wq204 and in 1787 of the cantata Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu Wq240. The three quartets on this disc, written in 1788, the last year of his life and apparently without commission, can thus be considered the pearls of the composer's chamber output, and one of the finest fruits of a period of creativity in which he was able to express precisely what he wanted without constraints. The choice of instruments is particularly interesting - indeed, practically unique as a genre and highly original in terms of timbre. Laura Pontecorvo, a baroque flute specialist, has played first flute with the Concerto Italiano and regularly collaborates with ensembles such as Accademia Bizantina, Divino Sospiro, Europa Galante and L'Arte dell'arco. She has performed as a soloist all over the world and has recorded for several record labels including Opus 111 and Stradivarius. As part of the Helianthus Ensemble, she has already made a fine recording for Brilliant Classics, of chamber music by Giovanni Battista Buonamente (94478), featuring performances with copies of the instruments of the Sacro Convento of Assisi's collection. Recorded in 2013. These beautiful quartets were written by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in the last year before his death, not on commission but purely as a kind of musical testament, the purest and most individual outpour of his creative genius. The three Quartets in this recording are very different compositions. Because all three instruments play an essential role in the development of the musical discourse, even though the main part is entrusted to the keyboard, these works could never be performed ad libitum. Moreover, the choice of instruments is particularly interesting - indeed, practically unique as a genre and highly original in terms of timbre. Flutist Laura Pontecorvo is first flutist of the famous Concerto Italiano (Rinaldo Alessandrini), and plays regularly with such eminent ensembles like Accademia Bizantina, Europa Galante and L'Arte dell'Arco.

Unless I’ve missed something, this is the first recorded performance of the Magnard Quartet since the Artis Quartet’s tilt at it nearly two decades ago (Accord 220 602). A reading by the estimable Via Nova Quartet may have been offered about the same time, but seems never to have been available domestically. Composed over 1902–03—between Guercoeur and the Hymne à Vénus—and similar in appeal to the symphonies, the Quartet offers a propulsive, substantial first movement, a briskly bracing Sérénade, an extended movement in his familiar funèbre vein, and a frolicsome finale of Danses. Of Magnard’s 21 extant works this is the most difficult to know, by virtue of its compactness, and the one, once known, one may well come to love the best. Which is to say that you will want this more than passable performance. On the other hand, Fauré’s Quartet, his final work, does not lack for recorded performances, though most—the Ysaÿe’s included—run aground on the shoals of stylistic incomprehension. For both composers tautness is all, which puts them immediately at odds with the Ysaÿe’s kinder, gentler, nuance-rife readings. Chez Fauré, this approach clutters his austerity and dims its slow flare of radiance in an effusive mushiness. Magnard is more resistant but does not wholly escape blunting. His abruptness—his notorious brusquerie—was not merely a gesture of concision but a coup de théâtre, a call to order, a demand to listen. It is a closely argued work, and to occlude its fleet directness is to labor its argument. Still, there is enough of the essential Magnard here to make an acceptable introduction—while tracking down the Artis Quartet’s more incisively revelatory performance, lobbying for a reissue of the Via Nova, and pressing for other ensembles to essay it. For idiomatic Fauré, one may have to go back to the 1935 Pro Arte Quartet (Biddulph LAB 105), the Loewenguth Quartet (in an LP collection of French string quartets for Vox, SVBX 670), or—by default—the Miami Quartet as the best among recent issues (Conifer 75605 51291 2). Aeon’s sound is immediate and detailed within a spacious aural frame. With reservations noted, recommended.

Adrian Corleonis, FANFARE

A frequently ignored instrument, the Flauto d’Amore first appeared during the Baroque era, when chamber ensembles frequently included woodwind instruments. Built in B-flat, A, and A-flat, the flute is pitched between the standard concert flute in c and the alto flute, and is sometimes called the tenor flute. Several composers favored the flauto d’amore for its warm and full-bodied tone, including Quantz, a masterful flute composer whose literature is still standard in the repertoire. Ginevra Petrucci is widely recognized for her innovative programs. The flute she performs on for this recording is a solid silver flauto d’amore made by albert Cooper in 1990.

Classical Music

Tracks:
1. HOPKINSON- SMITH - BWV1004 - PARTITA IN D - ALLEMANDE
2. HOPKINSON- SMITH - -------- COURANTE
3. HOPKINSON- SMITH - -------- SARABANDE
4. HOPKINSON- SMITH - -------- GIGUE
5. HOPKINSON- SMITH - -------- CHACONNE
6. HOPKINSON- SMITH - BWV1013 - SONATA IN A - ALLEMANDE
7. HOPKINSON- SMITH - -------- CORRENTE
8. HOPKINSON- SMITH - -------- SARABANDE
9. HOPKINSON- SMITH - -------- BOURRE ANGLAISE

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Founded by five Julliard graduates in 1973, The Aulos Ensemble was one of the first American "original instrument" ensembles. Its accomplishments over the past four decades have given it pre-eminence in the early music movement. After one of their concerts the New York Times boasted “This was authentic Baroque performance at its best.”

SONATES EN SI MINEUR

These works by Clerambault are true glories of the Baroque era for ensemble and voices. Aston Magna specializes in this literature, with period instrument and a superb cast of singers.