Classical Music

SAINT-SAËNS Violin Sonata in d. Berceuse, Op. 38. Elégies: No. 1 in D, Op. 143; No. 2 in F, Op. 160. Sarabande et Rigaudon, Op. 93. Romance in D?, Op. 37. L’air de la pendule triptyque, Op. 136 • Fanny Clamagirand (vn); Vanya Cohen (pn) • NAXOS 8.572750 (68:01)


This CD turned out to be more than a pleasant surprise; it turned out to be a sheer delight. I wasn’t sure what to expect from two relatively young and relatively unknown (on record, at least) artists in Saint-Saëns’s frequently essayed Violin Sonata in D Minor, but the performance by Fanny Clamagirand and Vanya Cohen proved positively persuasive and more than competitive with some of the very best, among which I would count my first recording of the piece with Heifetz and Emanuel Bay on a 1950 RCA LP, along with more recent versions by Gil Shaham and Gerhard Oppitz on Deutsche Grammophon, and the very impressive young violinist Jack Liebeck with Katya Apekisheva on Quartz.


Clamagirand (b. 1984), a past graduate student of Jean-Jacques Kantorow at the Paris Conservatory, sports a robust tone that projects with a good deal of authority, yet is of an alluring sweetness. Saint-Saëns’s D-Minor Sonata, the first and by far more popular of two he wrote, can invite some coarseness in tone in a number of its rough-and-tumble passages, but Clamagirand will have none of it. She cuts through the slashing first-movement chords without slashing them, and she springs sprightly through the ricochet-like spiccato bowing in the Allegretto moderato . Vanya Cohen, born in 1980 in Monaco of Russian parents, leaves no doubt in her confident delivery of the piano part that Saint-Saëns’s swirling and whirling score is as much piano sonata as it is violin sonata. This is as brilliant and thoroughly convincing a performance of the piece as I know.


The most enchanting aspect of this album, however, is the short, salon-like pieces that fill out the disc to a generous 68 minutes. All in all, not counting the two sonatas, Saint-Saëns composed no more than six opus numbers originally scored for violin and piano, and on the present disc we have all but one of them, the Caprice brilliant in B Minor of 1859. In its place, Clamagirande and Cohen give us the Romance, op. 37, originally for flute and piano, but published with an alternate version for violin. And for extra measure, they also give us the Sarabande et Rigaudon , op. 93, originally a work for orchestra.


It would be inaccurate to say that these pieces are entirely absent from the catalog, but according to current listings, they’ve received scant attention on disc; and that’s really a shame, for there’s not one of them that’s not a real charmer. This is a most enjoyable program, and it’s one performed to the highest standards by two exceptionally talented artists. Very strongly recommended.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

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Although better known for his nine Symphonies and his film scores, Malcolm Arnold made a significant contribution to chamber music. His two string quartets form a fascinating contrast. The first comes early in Arnold's career, whereas the second was written.

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From 1917 to 1919, composer Eleuterio Lovreglio was first violin of the La Scala theatre's orchestra conducted by Toscanini, and in 1919 he moved to France. Lovreglio's works blend French and Chinese musical influences (the latter absorbed during his stay in China). Endowed with uncommon musicality, he was able to write incredibly modern works, many of which are, regrettably, still unknown.

Franz Benda was employed at the court of King Frederick the Great of Prussia, and his exceptionally expressive violin playing led Charles Burney to describe him as ‘a truly great genius’. Benda’s cantabile composing style allowed space for elaborate ornamentation during performance which was the height of fashion in this period. This world première recording reveals Benda’s authentic and often spectacular written-out ‘improvisations’ in new editions of his sonatas, re-uniting them with a violin preserved unaltered since its creation in 1735.

Includes tambourin(s) by Jean Marie Leclair. Soloist: Oscar Shumsky.

Philippe Gaubert's music is well known to flutists, but to few others, which is a pity because it's lovely. Although we don't generally expect music by flutist/composers, especially French ones, to explore the outer regions of avant-garde expressionism, there's still a big difference between music that's appealing to flutists and music that's just really, really pretty. Gaubert's works fall into the latter category, being attractively impressionistic, graceful, tuneful, and not a note too long. The Trois aquarelles for flute, cello, and piano comprise the most substantial piece on this disc, lasting nearly a quarter hour, and they're so lovely that it's almost painful. Also noteworthy: the sexy little Divertissement grec for two flutes and harp, and the charming Suite in four movements that concludes the disc. But really, if you like any of it, you'll love all of it.


Boston Symphony Orchestra flutist Fenwick Smith plays these pieces with a big, full tone and complete absence of irritating breathiness. In the Divertissement, he and his BSO colleague Jacques Zoon play wooden flutes, and his fellow musicians support him admirably. Pianist Sally Pinkas makes a particularly considerate partner, managing to characterize her playing quite well without overwhelming the flute in climactic passages. The sonics also do full justice to Smith's limpid tone and offer excellent balances between the various performers. Only a few captured breaths here and there point to microphones positioned perhaps a touch too closely, a seemingly ubiquitous failing these days. Still, this is a delightful disc by any standard, and one that works equally well as a light background or as an engaging foreground.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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Shumsky never recorded the Brahms Violin Concerto commercially, though TV film exists of his performance. Violin fanciers had quivering fingers set on 'record' when he played it on the BBC many years ago and I should know as my own calloused fingers were poised to plunge and capture the great man in action. Some hardy souls have uploaded their VHS copies onto YouTube. I think it's less well known however that he set down the Violin sonatas and Viola sonatas for MusicMasters in 1991 and these performances have now been revivified by Nimbus.

It was always a perplexing matter as to why Shumsky was one of that rare breed who, once he had made his belated and feted reappearance on the international scene, was so seldom asked back by orchestras. I understand that his tart and abrasive manner may have had something to do with it, but playing of his exalted level comes very seldom in one's listening experience. Maybe he was out of kilter with some elements of the public. I remember hearing his American colleague Aaron Rosand at his last Wigmore Hall appearance in London. The stranger sitting next to me turned at the interval and asked what I thought of the violinist so I gave him a more than favourable summary. The man's brow darkened. 'I don't like his tone or his playing', he said and turned away, and that was that. Perhaps he'd have preferred Midori.

Not much of which has anything to do with these late, patrician readings. Nobility courses through the veins of Op.108 - tone and phrasing - and even at 74 Shumsky gives younger players a master class in rubato usage and phraseology. His near contemporary Leonid Hambro demarcates the left hand accents of the slow movement punctiliously whilst Shumsky gauges the rise and fall of the lyric line with great wisdom, reserving greatest weight of tone and bow pressure for the optimum time. Both men catch the gutsy wit of the Scherzo and stake out the finale's geography with practised assurance. It's true that Shumsky's intonation is not infallible and his tone can become pinched from time to time but these are minor glitches amongst the panorama that unfolds.

The G major and A major share these virtues and abundance and also, it's true, some technical failings as well already alluded to as well as a lack of tonal body. Ensemble however is excellent, the double stopping in the Adagio of Op.78 on the money, whilst the piano's bass tolling is memorably insisted upon by Hambro. In the lyrically settled Op.100 things are first class, the lyric warmth conveyed with nobility but no hint of glutinous over vibration, albeit the slowing vibrato makes itself heard most especially in the sonata's finale where tone colours could be better varied.

Some may not know that Shumsky played the viola - though his son Eric does - but as he shows here he most certainly did. He was once an august member of William Primrose's quartet and I think it's to that great Scotsman that we can best ascribe the strongest influence on his viola playing. The tempi are remarkably similar - Primrose recorded I with Kapell and II with Gerald Moore and both with Firkušný. If you admire, say, Rivka Golani's playing (with Bogino, Conifer CDCF199) you will find Shumsky almost brusque in comparison. But this kind of 'alto' toned viola playing aligns well with Primrose's own, albeit the myriad colours and virtuosic panache of Primrose are a very different thing from Shumsky's own playing, which can sound rather more one dimensional. But it does share that same tensile-expressive curvature, that unsentimental affection, the subtlety of metrics and rubati.

This is one for Shumsky's admirers. It's not without its faults but it enshrines playing of rapt wisdom and assurance, and fortunately captures both Shumsky and his excellent colleague Hambro well.

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

Bach and the French baroque the working title of the program is Bach and the French baroque. L'art de toucher le clavecin by François Couperin (1668-1733) was published in 1716 as a manual for the French style and gives important instructions for playing the harpsichord as regards finger positions and ornamentations. The préludes are written-out improvisations in the style of the Préludes non mésurée. the Suites of Georg Böhm (1661-1733) were produced in an environment orientated towards France, like the court in German Celle, where the French consort of Duke Georg Wilhelm resided. After her husband's death, she lived for some years in Lüneburg, where Böhm worked in the Johannis-Kirche. Besides the usual dances, the Suite in F Minor played here contains for instance a French Ciaconne.

The novelty of Franz Anton Hoffmeister' double bass quartets lies in his substitution of that husky-voiced instrument for the first violin in a regular string quartet line-up.

Dennis Russell Davies clearly has an affinity for Copland's iconically American music. This disc features Copland's most famous work, Appalachian Spring, as well as comparatively unknown compositions from both the beginning and the end of his career.

FIOCCO: Missa Solemnis / Ave Maria / Homo Quidam

The first recording of the complete consort music of little known 17th century composer David Funck. The 1677 publication Strictuae Viola-di Gambicae is the only surviving music by David Funck (1648-1699), of whom very little else is known. Stricturae Viola-di Gambice is a collection of dance suites for four viols. This recording features performances by influential performers in the early music scene, hailing from Oberlin, Julliard, Yale, McGill and Boston University.

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

Also available on standard DVD

The Austrian piano virtuoso Rudolf Buchbinder, a known expert of Mozart plays and conducts three of Mozart’s most beloved piano concertos together with the Staatskapelle Dresden, where he was the first pianist to hold the title of “Capell-Virtous”. In advance to an extensive tour to Germany, Europe and Asia the concert was recorded in Dresden in an unique setting, being the first ultra-high definition recording of this work: especially for this purpose a stage was set up right inside the Gläserne Manufaktur, a luxury car manufacturer in the heart of the city of Dresden.

No. of Discs: 1
Run time: 93 minutes
Disc Format: BD 50
Picture: 16:9, HD
Audio: PCM Stereo, PCM 5.1
Region Code: 0 (worldwide)

CIMAROSA Keyboard Sonatas: R 1–18 • Victor Sangiorgio (pn) • NAXOS 8.570718 (66: 49)


I’ve only heard a small amount of Cimarosa’s music—a smattering of mediocre concerto movements, a few scattered vocal works, and of course the fine opera, Il matrimonio segreto , his only work with a significant recorded history. This constitutes a considerable demotion for the most renowned Italian composer of the late 18th century during his lifetime. As for his keyboard works, the 87 movements attributed to Cimarosa are shrouded in mystery. They weren’t discovered until 1927 (and not in the composer’s hand), contemporaneous accounts of their existence are absent, and there is no hard evidence for the purpose of their composition. Even the grouping of the pieces into two or three movement “sonatas” is largely arbitrary, accomplished apparently by the editors of published editions, although the otherwise excellent notes are ambiguous on the subject.


The first composer who springs to mind after these written descriptions and initial hearings is Domenico Scarlatti, whose similarly brief keyboard sonatas have long been standard fare. There is no issue of provenance in his case, and keyboard works were his bread and butter, not an afterthought, as appears to be the case with Cimarosa. However, the possible sonata linkage of movements in identical keys is a well-litigated point for both. Given Cimarosa’s era, we should be examining these pieces alongside the piano works of Haydn and Mozart. Yet, there are so few similarities in style and scale that such a comparison appears fruitless. Again, the more apt relationship is to his countryman Scarlatti, even though the Baroque composer was born nearly 70 years earlier. Remarkably, the sonatas of the much older composer sound more advanced. Scholars are uncertain if Cimarosa heard Scarlatti’s sonatas, but the connections seem undeniable. Listen to the first movement of the Sonata in G Minor (Rossi 10), with its conversation between hands and melodically arpeggiated figures at cadences that are repeated at the end of long phrases, a Scarlatti trademark if ever there was one. Similar commonalities in texture, mood, and melodic construction present themselves throughout this disc.


When I’m asked by a classical-music novice whom to recommend as an introduction to the art, Scarlatti is often the first name that comes to mind, since his music reveals its merits on only one or two hearings, and its brevity fits seamlessly into our pop-song culture (neither of these observations should be construed as criticisms). I could add Cimarosa’s morsels to this short list, except, to put it bluntly, there is a significant gap in quality between the two composers.


Interested listeners should also take note of a single disc of 32 Cimarosa sonatas by Evgeny Soifertis on Meridian, a two-disc set of the complete sonatas by Marcella Crudeli on Arcobaleno, and another by Andrea Coen on Stradivarius. These works were clearly written for the harpsichord, although all three of these recordings use the piano. The recorded sound is satisfactory, and Victor Sangiorgio plays with stylish intimacy.


FANFARE: Michael Cameron

SCHUBERT Mass No. 4 in D, D 452. Mass No. 2 in G, D 167. Deutsche Messe, D 872 • Morten Schuldt-Jensen, cond; Immortal Bach Ens; Leipzig Chamber O • NAXOS 8570764 (61:38)


This is a follow-up to Naxos 8570381, which contained Schubert’s great E?-Major Mass, D 950 (No. 6), his last, coupled with the Stabat Mater in G Minor, D 175, and performed by these same forces. Joel Kasow did not care much for the earlier release, calling the performance “perfunctory” in a Fanfare 32:1 review. He felt that Morten Schuldt-Jensen’s reading of the score “lacked the spirituality of the major defenders of this work, Harnoncourt and Sawallisch, or Corboz to a slightly lesser degree.” Not being familiar with any of Kasow’s notable mentions, I’m unable to comment; but of the three I do have—Robert Shaw with his Atlanta forces on Telarc, Claudio Abbado with his Vienna contingent on Deutsche Grammophon, and Charles Mackerras with the Dresdeners on Carus—the only one I would recommend would be the last-named. But my reasons are not relevant to this review since we’re discussing different works.


The first four of Schubert’s numbered masses are relatively early works, the G-Major dating from 1815, the D-Major from a year later. Of course, in Schubert’s case, age is not a reliable measure of his musical maturity. In 1816, at the age of 19, nearly two-thirds of his life was already over. Comparing his output of masses to his symphonies, it might be useful to say that in terms of musical development and sophistication his first four masses are analogous to his first six symphonies, and that just as the “Unfinished” Symphony of 1822 marks a significant turning point in Schubert’s symphonic writing, the Mass No. 5 in A? of the same year marks a departure in his writing of sacred choral music.


The Mass No. 2 has about it the sound of a wide-eyed innocent. There is something especially precious in the prettiness of its Kyrie and Credo movements. Compared to the aforementioned Shaw recording on Telarc, Schuldt-Jensen’s reading does seem a bit on the swift side. But in this blissful and ingenuous work, I’m not sure the accelerated tempo is deleterious. Slowing it down can have a cloying effect, so I rather like this performance, which is clear-eyed and straightforward. The choristers enunciate clearly, sing in tune, and have plenty of heft and body for the weightier passages.


Much of the wide-eyed innocence has disappeared a year later in the D-Major Mass (No. 4), which is scored for a larger instrumental ensemble and is more serious in tone. If only a few seconds longer in duration than the G-Major Mass, the D-Major is a bigger-boned and heavier-textured work, more in the style of Haydn’s late masses. Again, I like the clarity of diction and transparency of voicing, both choral and orchestral, that Schuldt-Jensen brings to the score. In any case, pickings are a bit slimmer for the D-Major Mass than they are for the G-Major, though Sawallisch, mentioned by Kasow in connection with the E?-Major Mass, can be heard in the D-Major as well as in a budget twofer on EMI. For the period-instrument crowd, there’s a Sony Vivarte recording with Bruno Weil leading the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Chorus Viennensis. And for those whose taste runs to boy trebles and altos in place of female voices, there’s George Guest with the Cambridge St. John’s College Choir and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields on Decca.


The so-called Deutsche Messe , D 872, is one of Schubert’s last sacred works, and due to the circumstances of its commission, quite possibly one of the least inspired and least interesting things he ever wrote. But listeners may at least take comfort in its “divine length,” all 24 minutes of its homophonic, hymnic monotony. The commission came from a Professor J. P. Neumann of the Polytechnic School of Vienna, the churchman who had previously provided Schubert with the libretto for Sakantala , an opera that never fully materialized. The texts for the Deutsche Messe are Neumann’s, and his request to Schubert was that the score be as musically simple as possible so that it could be performed by amateurs. Schubert discharged his duty accordingly, providing what sounds like a succession of German Protestant church hymns. The booklet provides only the titles and tempo indications for each of the nine movements, but not the full texts or translations.


Schubert wrote a large volume of sacred choral music, so it cannot be dismissed as an insignificant or occasional interest on his part. Yet with the exception of his two late masses, his sacred works have not been as widely embraced as have his songs, orchestral works, and chamber music. So, if you are just now beginning to explore this area of Schubert’s output, the new Naxos release is a modest enough investment for getting started. The G-Major Mass from the pen of the 18-year-old composer is one of his loveliest creations, and well worth getting to know.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Ildebrando Pizzetti was hailed in 1921 by the Musical Times as 'doubtless the greatest musician in Italy today'. Composed in 1918-19, the powerful Violin Sonata opens with a turbulent evocation of war and continues with a prayer for the innocent be.

Includes work(s) by Girolamo Frescobaldi. Soloist: Martha Folts.

HILL String Quartets: Nos. 1–3 • Dominion Str Qrt • NAXOS 8.570491 (65:41)


This is the first volume devoted to Alfred Hill’s 17 string quartets. Hill (1869–1960) was born in Australia, spent his formative years in New Zealand, and studied in Leipzig. He was prolific as a composer and wrote operas, symphonies, concertos, choral works, and much more. (By the way, Hill is usually referred to as having been born on December 16, 1870, but research seems to have proved that his birth was exactly one year earlier.)


His music is likened to that of Dvo?ák and Tchaikovsky. Spot on. It is. And none the worse for that. These three four-movement string quartets, each playing for around 20 minutes, are quite delightful: folksy, tuneful, and elegant, and written with no other aim except to be enjoyed. Hill’s writing is carefully crafted, thoroughly idiomatic, and fluent without being slick; and he seems to have a wealth of melody and suggestion by his side. A European Romantic in essence, but underpinned by “antipodean nationalism [and] Maori themes” (to quote from the booklet note). This latter, while no doubt important to the composer, is absorbed into very traditional-sounding string quartets, really quite Slavic, and here distinguished by some wonderful invention and fine craftsmanship.


The performances by the Dominion Quartet seem excellent and committed, and the close recording is very well judged.


FANFARE: Colin Anderson

Also available on Blu-ray

This incredible production of the ballet Don Quixote from Teatro alla Scala features the renowned choreography of Rudolf Nureyev. Don Quixote has become one of the most loved ballets, with its energy, freshness, and choreographic splendor, requiring the highest skills of dancers. Natalia Osipova, principal dancer of the Royal Ballet in London, and Leonid Sarafanov, principal dancer of the Mihaylovsky Theatre Ballet in St. Petersburg, are the stars in this dazzling performance.

Picture Format: 16:9
Sound Formats: Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS 5.1
Region Code: 0 (Worldwide)