Philadelphia Orchestra Solo Harpist Elizabeth Hainen paints a varied and innovative portrait of private moments in this ode to the pleasures of home. The program features favorite pieces from those enjoyable hours spent playing her instrument alone or in partnership with her percussionist husband- a collection of cherished gems alongside new creations including a world premiere arrangement of Sting’s ‘St. Agnes and the Burning Train.’ Other works featured include pieces by Bach and Debussy. “Sheer sensuality… utterly gorgeous… time-stillingly luscious” (The Irish Times) “Purling tone, faultless technique, and judicious interpretive taste.” (Fanfare)

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REVIEW:

The mix of classical gems with contemporary arrangements reveals a growing repertoire that harpists and harp fans should celebrate. She clearly knows how much she is contributing to her instrument’s literature, which makes this collection a revelation.

– All Music Guide (Blair Sanderson)

Alexander Zemlinsky’s four numbered string quartets span some four decades, moving from the conservatism of his Brahms-inspired youth to the experimental works of his mature years. Written just after the Lyric Symphony (Naxos 8.572048), the Third Quartet is constructed in a cool, austere language far removed from the emotional, expressionistic atmosphere of the Second Quartet. The Fourth Quartet, written in memory of Alban Berg, is a fitting conclusion to an important body of work bridging the Romantic world of the nineteenth century to the modern age of the twentieth. Quartets Nos 1 and 2 will follow on Naxos 8.573088.

The joy of hearing two master musicians getting Beethoven absolutely right

Admirers of the Beaux Arts Trio may be distraught at the news that Menahem Pressler is to disband the group he founded. Yet he here serves notice, one hopes, of a slew of fascinating projects to follow. There is much of the art that conceals art in these simply lovely, gentle yet probing performances. It's an album to live with, and one looks forward to Pressler's next venture.

-- Gramophone [7/2008]

about the release In a short space of time Augustin Hadelich has become one of the most respected and admired violinists of his generation. Two critically acclaimed and Billboard Classical Chart-topping releases for AVIE, a string of major debuts with the likes of the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco, St. Louis and National Symphony Orchestras, multiple awards including an Avery Fisher Career Grant and Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award, have resulted in major media coverage in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and Philadelphia Inquirer, among many others, and an ever-widening and adoring fan base. On Histoire du Tango, Augustin conjures a dark and sultry night of fiery, hot-blooded dancing. Partnered by award-winning Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas, Augustin traces the history of Argentina's national dance in Piazzola's title track, stirs up folk, gypsy and flamenco dances which inspired De Falla's Six Popular Spanish Songs, and tosses off a fusillade of pyrotechnics in works by the pinnacles of 19th-century violin performance, Paganini and Sarasate. critical acclaim for Augustin Hadelich "If a layer of surface noise were added to Augustin Hadelich's recent solo-violin recording on the Avie label, you might think you were hearing a virtuoso out of the Golden Age." - The New Yorker "behind Hadelich's talent was a molten intensity, a determination to explore the music's passionate, earthy sides with gritty articulation and tender lyricism." - Cleveland Plain Dealer "impressive -- intonation dead-on, with a luscious tone and an Old World grace that you don't hear very much from young violinists anymore." - Los Angeles Times "he easily confirmed his place on the shortlist of today's top violin virtuosos" - The Denver Post, on Augustin's New York Philharmonic debut at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival

Giuseppe Verdi composed over 30 operas, though only about half of them are still regularly staged. For the latest studio recording with the Philharmonia Zurich, Fabio Luisi has chosen overtures and preludes from Verdi’s whole creative period. Next to popular masterpieces like the overture to "La forza del destino", the selection ranges from the earliest works by Verdi, which strongly remind of Rossini and Donizetti, over exceptional preludes he wrote for "Macbeth" or "La traviata" for example, to rarely performed overtures such as "I vespri siciliani" or "La battaglia di Legnano". A special highlight on this recording is the long version of the overture to "Aida", which is never heard in combination with opera. Furthermore, the ballet music for the French version of "Don Carlos" also found its way onto the album. Thus, the compilation unites pieces that belong to the day-to-day repertoire of the Philharmonia Zurich with those that are also rarities to orchestra musicians.

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REVIEW:

Luisi is never subject to the temptation of vulgar crashing or rhythmic idling. Rather, he has an unmistakable sense of the music's many chamber-like intimate moments, as well as the great dramatic psychological aspects of these miniature masterpieces. Overall then, an impressive record of the work this podium maestro has accomplished in Zurich.

– Online Merker (Austria; Ingobert Waltenberger)

Classical Music

Salve Regina

“Why these are the city waits, who play every winter’s night through the streets to rouse each lazy drone to family duty. These are the topping tooters of the town, and have gowns, silver chains, and salaries, for playing Lilliburlero to my Lord Mayor’s horse through the city.” This 1709 reference to a professional band of musicians conjures the thriving city of London in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The band’s sound is replicated on this release by the modern-day namesake The City Musick directed by foremost expert in the field William Lyons (who is also director of the Grammy-nominated Dufay Collective). The drones of dulcians and cornets, sackbuts and shawms, evoke the era’s civic events, theatrical productions and liturgical services, paying homage to the unsung talents of the Waits from the period when their reputation was at its zenith. The City Musick was formed to explore the diverse repertoire of civic and court wind players in 16th and 17th century Europe and is now firmly established as the premier renaissance wind band in the UK.

ENESCU Piano Quartets: No. 1 in D; No. 2 in d • Tammuz Pn Qrt • CPO 777506 (65:40)


Pianist Oliver Triendl is a veteran of numerous cpo chamber-music recordings in which the ensembles he is part of—the Minguet, Sine Nomine, and Vogler quartets, and Ensemble Acht—seem to change from one release to the next. I mention this because the Tammuz Piano Quartet is yet another ensemble recently established when Triendl and this time friends Daniel Gaede, violin; Lars Anders Tomter, viola; and cellist Gustav Rivinius (not to be confused with pianist Paul Rivinius) came together. This is their first, and as far as I’m aware, their only commercial recording.


The name of the ensemble struck me as odd, the booklet note informing us that Tammuz, in Babylonian and Assyrian mythology, was the lover of Ishtar, the goddess of love. I suppose for those up on their ancient Mesopotamian history, Ishtar might be the first reference to come to mind, but for many more of us, I suspect, Tammuz will ring a bell as the name of the 10th month on the Hebrew calendar, corresponding roughly to the Gregorian calendar month of July.


For most of my early years of musical discovery, I knew Romanian composer George Enescu (1881–1955) only by his Romanian Rhapsodies . I still remember a Columbia LP recording of them I had with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. It has only been within the last 20 or so years, I’d say, that Enescu’s large body of works has made inroads among the classical-music listening public. Live performances of his symphonies, orchestral compositions, and many chamber works are still relatively rare, and his large scale opera Œdipe , completed in 1931, had to wait until 2005 for its U.S. premiere. However, much of Enescu’s music is today available on record, and what has emerged in works like the C-Major Octet and the Sinfonia Concertante for Cello and Orchestra, which can be heard on Volume 1 of Hyperion’s Romantic Cello Concerto series, is a composer of broader scope than might have been thought from some of his popular folk-styled works.


James Manheim, reviewing the current CD for the website AllMusic, writes that “Enescu’s Piano Quartet No. 1, composed in 1909, sounds a bit like what might have happened if Richard Strauss had grown up in Paris.” Manheim’s observation that “the quartet is a large piece (for a chamber work), with the first two of its three movements clocking in at over 13 minutes each,” comports with Christoph Schlüren’s booklet note in which he states, “If only in point of length, the First Piano Quartet is a composition of epic dimensions.” “Epic” may be a bit exaggerated, for certainly there are chamber works, like Franck’s D-Major String Quartet, that exceed Enescu’s in duration. But “epic” has as much to do with weight and gravity of content as with length; and these two piano quartets are as serious in intent as they are seriously gorgeous.


Up until World War II, Enescu divided his time between his native Romania and France, but following the Soviet occupation of Romania, he repaired permanently to Paris. The French influence on Enescu cannot be downplayed. He studied with Massenet and Fauré, and in the first decade of the 20th century he would have heard not only the works of his teachers but also of Debussy. So, Manheim got the Paris part right, but not, I think, the Strauss reference. Enescu’s Piano Quartet No. 1 sounds to me like Fauré on testosterone, which is to say it has much the same restless harmony, arresting melody, and free-flowing rhythm, but it’s scruffier around the edges, with a week-old beard, sounding more masculine and muscular and smelling more of musk than of hyacinth and lavender.


Writing during the worst of times, Enescu composed his Piano Quartet No. 2 between 1943 and 1944. It was written to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Fauré’s death. Unlike its older companion, however, which is heavily influenced by Fauré’s melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic language, if not so much his elegant, refined style, the later work seems to take note of Bartók in the way it draws upon Magyar folk elements in its first and last movements, and to explore a kind of post-Debussy Impressionism in its slow movement.


Both of these works make very personal, very powerful, and very moving musical statements. For several years now, there has been a Naxos recording of the Piano Quartet No. 2 with the Solomon Ensemble, but it’s coupled with a performance of the composer’s Piano Quintet. To the extent that current listings can be trusted, this new cpo recording seems to be the only one available of the Piano Quartet No. 1. But it’s not trumpeted as a world premiere recording, which record companies usually boast when they’ve managed a coup.


The Tammuz Piano Quartet is really outstanding. The music sounds quite technically challenging, yet I hear no stress or strain in these performances. Playing and recording are superb. If the Romanian Rhapsodies are the only Enescu in your collection, you are in for a real surprise and a real treat with this CD. Not only do I urgently recommend it, I’m setting it aside as a potential candidate for my 2011 Want List.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

cpo continues their exploration with Ries’ Notturni for Winds, works exemplifying his great compositional talent. Although set for the same instruments, the works are very different in ambition and dimension. The recording also includes Mozart’s Partita in B flat–better known as the Gran Partita–in the version for wind octet. This release is most highly recommended to all fans of good chamber music!

The Cypress String Quartet completes their cycle of the genre’s greatest oeuvre with a two-album set of Beethoven’s six ground-breaking quartets, Op. 18, alongside a reissue of their previously self-released recording of the late quartets. For the past several seasons, the Cypresses have immersed themselves in performing Beethoven on tours throughout the United States and Europe as well as recording all 16 works plus the “Grande Fugue” (Große Fuge). The completion of their Beethoven cycle is a fitting celebration of the Bay Area-based ensemble’s 20th anniversary as well as their valedictory season.

Gripping interpretations of Spohr’s Violin Concertos are now on 8 CDs from cpo. Mere words do not suffice to praise Ulf Hoelscher’s violinistic achievement highly enough. Gramophone: “Hoelscher has the elegance and almost cantabile qualities going hand in hand with Spohr’s composing for the violin.”

Composer Günter Raphael survived many dangers from antisemitism, tuberculosis, Nazi persecution and the war. All the while he composed many works and was responsible for restoring Dvorak's other Cello Concerto in A major. Violinist Christine Raphael performs Günter Raphael's Violin Concerto and chamber works.

The Eskar Trio have established themselves as one of Denmark’s leading chamber music ensembles and Cpo are proud to present their interpretation of Johann Brahms’s Piano Trios.

In addition to the three well-known trios is the Piano Trio in A major, a work whose authorship continues to be a matter of controversy. The anonymous score from a Bonn manuscript collection of the nineteenth century was discovered in 1924 (now extant), and it is thought to be a sole survivor from collection of piano trios the self-critical composer withheld from publication.

Johann Nicolaus Denninger (1743-1813) numbers among the many musicians of the Classical period who in their multiple roles as instrumentalists, composers and music directors contributed not inconsiderably to tilling the field for the greats of their epoch. In the few extant instrumental works remaining it his main instrument, the harpsichord or the fortepiano then coming into fashion, occupies the focus. Formally and stylistically, these works represent the state of development during the last two decades of the 18th c., a period for which Haydn and Mozart set the decisive standards.

Alexander Fesca, born in Karlsruhe in 1820, spent the largest part of his life there. He then took up residence in Braunschweig as a chamber virtuoso to Prince von Fürstenberg in 1842 but died there of a lung ailment in 1849. Fesca compiled a considerable catalogue of sixty works with opus numbers, his main focus piano and chamber music. Op. 12 and 46, two of his six Piano Trios, were composed during the 1840s and thus belong to the same period as relevant works by Mendelssohn and Schumann. Piano Trio №. 5 merits special mention: a highly appealing work with a wealth of beautiful melodies.

GRAUN Trios for Violin/Viola and Clavier: in A, GrWV C:XV:90 ; in B?, GrWV A:XV:16 ; in A, GrWV A:XV:13 ; in b, GrWV C:XV:92 • Les Amis de Philippe • CPO 777 633 (68:24)


One will probably notice in the title that I have not been specific as to which of the prolific Graun brother, Carl Heinrich or Johann Gottlieb, wrote these pieces. To make matters more complex, these works are part of a collection of chamber works found in a Dresden manuscript that has “trios” in the title, but these four works are in reality duo sonatas for either violin or viola and obbligato keyboard, here performed by conductor Ludger Rémy on the fortepiano. In untangling this Gordian knot, one should note that these works were originally trios (hence the retention of the designation), since what one presumes was their original form exists in other sources. As to who wrote them, the situation is even murkier (although there are of course only two possibilities, with a 50-50 chance of being correct), as the styles in these works are reflective of both men. My personal choice would be Johann Gottlieb Graun, based simply upon the fact that he favored the violin and viola in both concertante and solo works, but this is only the most cursory of guesses on my part based upon my own bias, and the third work, the second one in A Major, opens with a long keyboard introduction and a rather more virtuoso violin part that is quite reminiscent of Johann Quantz, and so I might be tempted to assign this one to Carl Heinrich.


Be all of this as it may, there is no doubt that the music represents solid compositional technique. For the most part, the bulk of the harmony is carried by the keyboard, while the violin (and viola) rarely traverse their ranges with the usual virtuoso leaps and bounds. The composer keeps his violin/viola in a solid middle range, opting for contrast and depth rather than display. Three of the four works are arranged in an old-fashioned order, with a slow movement followed by two faster ones, the last usually some sort of dance tempo derivative. There are emotional depths to be plumbed here, especially in the haunting fragmented theme of the second A-Major Trio, or the long, lyrical lines of the first movement of the B?-Trio. The composer can also be strict, as in the second movement fugue of the B-Minor Trio, which contrasts in its severity with the mysterious lament of the opening movement. There is more than a bit of C. P. E. Bach in the figuration of the third movement of the first A-Major Trio, with its neat vacillation between duplets and triplets in both parts. Both instruments in each trio are used as equal partners, and in the second movement of the first A-Major Trio, as well as the nice parallel thirds in sequence in the second trio in the same key, the sonorities are calculated to match, rather than being contrasting. These are the types of works that any reputable chamber musician of the time would find a delight to play, as players must cooperate intimately to make them work, and at the same time would be pleasing to the ears of their knowledgeable audiences.


Les amis de Philippe is conductor Ludger Rémy’s group of people whom he gathers around himself to perform such chamber works. Here, he uses violinist Anne Schumann and violist Eva Salonen, both of whom use a similar tone that is fairly rich and dark. This blends nicely with the softer sounds of the fortepiano, a choice made by Rémy that lends these works a slightly more modern (read, Classical era) interpretation. One might suggest that a harpsichord might have been more “authentic,” but I find that the textures speak better with the fortepiano. The original sources, of course, are generic, and there is nothing that would argue against Rémy’s choice. The only bobble I can detect is when Schumann’s violin enters into some of the upper registers; here there is an occasional scratch and squeal, which would probably be unremarkable had not Graun chosen to set most of the music for the violin/viola in the lower and middle portions of their range.


In short these trio arrangements function quite well on their own, and indeed demonstrate that whichever of the brothers wrote them was quite cognizant of how the music could unfold. These performances too render this disc a good addition to any collection of 18th-century chamber music. The playing is excellent and the musicality of the works shows that they are not just museum reference pieces, but real flesh and blood contributions to the sensitive style of the period. Recommended.


FANFARE: Bertil van Boer

Putting aside any presumption of “authentic performance”–which guitarist David Härenstam acknowledges at the outset of his informative liner notes–this turns out to be a very engaging, entertaining project that honors Bach’s music while offering a thoughtful interpretation and uniquely distinct and vibrant sonic result. Although Bach didn’t write these sonatas (or any works) for violin and guitar, there’s no reason why two skilled and creative performers shouldn’t explore the possibilities, taking on the challenges of contrast and compatibility with guitar rather than keyboard as continuo.

Nils-Erik Sparf, whose recording resumé is quite respectable and varied, is not a baroque specialist–his use of baroque violin here was more for aesthetic and technical reasons related to learning and understanding the music than for any attempt at period “authenticity”–but he’s an experienced practitioner of 18th-century music and is well-versed in style. He employs a restrained vibrato technique that’s mostly used on longer-held notes, an approach that allows a compatible match and favorable balance between the bowed and plucked instruments. Härenstam also notes that to help make the tonal balance even better between his modern guitar (built in Holland in 1994) and Sparf’s early-1700s violin, he “tuned the guitar down in pitch” (he doesn’t give details).

The playing and interaction between the performers is expert and exciting, with the melodies more exposed against the quick-decaying notes of the guitar than we would experience with a harpsichord continuo. There are some very beautiful moments (the gentle interplay between violin and guitar in the Andante and Adagio of BWV 1033), and even surprising ones, as in the first movement (Adagio) of BWV 1021, where you might think you’ve temporarily wandered into a rendition of some French love song. In that same movement we also encounter some of Sparf’s consistently tasteful and affecting ornamentation. Härenstam offers his own improvisational expressive touches, and although the violin has the dominant role, the accompaniments clearly have a certain independence even as they support the “soloist”, and with his clear articulation Härenstam makes sure we don’t miss the interesting happenings in his own part.

The sonatas featured on this program are not among the six (BWV 1014-1019) usually performed and recorded, the ones with fully written out keyboard accompaniments. Two of them–BWV 1020 and BWV 1022–are of disputed provenance–and another two (BWV 1021 and BWV 1023) are for violin and continuo with only a written out figured bass line (the accompanist, within certain rules, freely fills in the harmonies). BWV 1033 exists as a sonata for flute and continuo in the hand of C.P.E. Bach, and its attribution to J.S. is not certain. All of which provides no end of interesting study and investigation for historians and musicologists, and is certainly worthy of notice by anyone who is a lover of Bach’s music. However, for the purposes of listening to this recording, it matters little: these two performers have made these pieces work very well in a context that’s both stimulating to the ear and artistically fulfilling. The studio sound is intimate without being too close (you do hear an occasional squeak or click of fingers on guitar strings or fingerboard), while the instruments have a natural presence and pleasingly resonant, realistic timbral quality. Strongly recommended.

-- David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

STÖLZEL Quadri di Dresda e Bruxelles • Epoca Barocca • CPO 777 764-2 (51: 09)


Back in 24:1 and 24:5, Brian Robins passionately took up the cudgels of advocacy for Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (1690–1749) in interviews with conductor Ludger Rémy, undertaken in conjunction with releases of two CDs comprising the composer’s Weihnachtsoratorium . Apart from that, there is still only one entry for the composer in the Fanfare Archive, for a single quartet from a baroque anthology disc. Finding listings of CDs of his works available domestically presents a serious challenge, as the search function on the normally reliable ArkivMusic website has something seriously askew in his case, alternately producing either only one entry, or else a list of 100 entries that are mostly for J. S. Bach instead, with the handful of genuine Stölzel items randomly intermixed. (For a proper list, visit my favorite European website, jpc.de). Apart from the five releases that Rémy has produced for CPO, the only other Stölzel CDs I can find in print are another version of the Weihnachtsoratorium on the MDG label, a disc of chamber music on the Ambitus label, and now this new CPO release of the composer’s Quadro Sonatas.


The continued obscurity of Stölzel is, at first sight, difficult to understand, given the considerable reputation he enjoyed in his own lifetime. Born in the small town of Grünstädtel, southeast of Zwickau and near the northwestern border of the modern Czech Republic, he came from humble circumstances; his father, the son of a miner, was the local schoolteacher and church organist. Although his parents gave him some musical training, they did not want him to pursue a career in that field, and upon graduation from secondary school in Gera he obediently enrolled as a student in theology at the University of Leipzig. However, once there he was soon entirely absorbed into the city’s thriving musical scene, becoming a copyist for Melchior Hofmann, a pupil of Emanuel Kegel, and a devoted friend of Johann Friedrich Fasch. By the time he moved to Breslau in 1710 he was composing his first opera in addition to some instrumental music. Shortly afterward he moved on to Halle and then, after rejecting offers of employment from the courts at Gera and Zeitz, went to Italy to further his musical education, where he met among others Antonio Vivaldi, Alessandro Marcello, Johann David Heinichen, and Domenico Scarlatti. Late in 1714 he went back north to Prague, and—after a brief stay in Bayreuth in 1717, plus rejection of a lucrative offer of employment at the electoral court in Dresden, probably because his strong Protestant convictions made a post at a Catholic establishment uncongenial—returned to Gera to become the court music director. In November 1719 he assumed what would prove to be a lifelong position as Kapellmeister for the ducal court in Gotha. Highly esteemed by his contemporaries, he was, for example, admitted to membership in the Correspondierende Societät der musicalischen Wissenschaften (Corresponding School of Musical Science) of the renowned Leipzig scholar Lorenz Christoph Mizler (1711–1778) several years before the application of J. S. Bach was accepted. Mizler also composed a funerary ode to Stölzel upon the latter’s death. For his part, Bach paid a minor tribute to Stölzel by including a Partita in G Minor by him (with the addition of a trio of Bach’s own devising) in his Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.


While Stölzel was a prolific composer of stage works, oratorios, masses, cantatas, and various instrumental works, little of his output has survived; for example, only 12 of his 85 known secular cantatas, and fragments from only 10 of his 442 sacred cantatas, are extant. At least 18 orchestral suites and over 90 vocal serenatas are completely lost. Part of this is due to the fact that his music quickly became unfashionable after his death; his successor at Gotha, Georg Benda, explicitly stated that he thought only select works of Stölzel’s compositional corpus were worth preserving, ones that he weeded out from what he termed “useless junk.” The rest was consigned to leaky attics, where depredations of weather and hungry rodents soon took their toll. In the case of the nine quadros presented on this CD, eight are taken from the musical archives in Dresden (assembled primarily by Georg Pisendel) and the ninth is preserved in an archive in Brussels. They are unusual not only for their inclusion of the horn, but also for using it as an equal partner at a time when, outside of music for hunting and martial occasions, it was usually assigned to a strictly subordinate role of reinforcing instrumental climaxes. The limitations of the valveless horn of that period necessitated that F Major be the predominant key of all of these quadros.


This is my first exposure to Stölzel’s music. Not having heard either the Weihnachtsoratorium or the Brockes-Passion that so roused the enthusiasm of my colleague Brian Robins, I have neither a basis nor desire to gainsay his highly positive judgment of those. However, I can say that, based on these works, I do not share his enthusiasm. Imagine, if you will, nine knock-offs of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 by a modestly talented pupil who lacks his master’s genius and artistry, and you will have the results presented here. They are pleasant and genial, and make for moderately enjoyable listening, but their commonplace thematic material prevents them from being anything more than that. I find no fault in either the sterling performances by Epoca Barocca, which presents these pieces in their best possible light, nor in CPO’s typically excellent recorded sound and lavish booklet notes. Based on this slender acquaintance, I am not about to make any general pronouncement on Stölzel’s merits as a whole; I will say that this disc is a purely discretionary rather than obligatory acquisition for the devotee of baroque instrumental music. If you choose to buy it, this disc will provide you with pleasure, but don’t expect it to bowl you over.


FANFARE: James A. Altena

In 1929, six years after the official start of German radio, an exciting atmosphere of new beginnings continued to prevail in the boardrooms where artistic, cultural, and political program editors held their meetings. The number of officially registered radio listeners was higher than ever, and the new medium enjoyed unprecedented popularity ratings. Editors had to produce attractive programs, and the pressure on them to do so had dramatically increased. However, the artistic directors of the music departments wanted to offer more than just concert broadcasts and news reports. They wanted “radiophonic” music proper to the new medium – music made to order for the technical capabilities of the loudspeaker, which at the time was beginning its triumphant march and supplanting the very uncomfortable earphones, music also made to order for the acoustical circumstances in the recently constructed broadcasting halls. And so our third Radio Music release with works from this period once again features the magic of the radio: its sound, the invisible wave, the microphone, and the loudspeaker. This time musical radio plays form the focus – like the radio play Sabinchen by Paul Hindemith, the audio play Mord by Walter Gronostay, and even the radio opera Jorinde und Joringel by Heinrich Sutermeister. A world all of its own with unique, intensive expressive opportunities and possibilities!

This CD features Finnish pianist Henri Sigfridsson with piano works by Finnish composer Selim Palmgren. Palmgren is regarded as the most important post-romantic piano composer in Finland. The core of his output is formed by his five piano concertos and more than 300 small pieces for piano. The Sonata in D minor is Palmgren's most extensive work for piano and it was hailed as a milestone in Finnish music.

Pierre Rode' music represents the full flowering of the French violin school founded by his mentor Giovanni Battista Viotti. Naxos' recordings of his 24 Caprices and Violin Concertos Nos. 7, 10 and 13 have received critical accolades, with Nos. 3, 4.

The viola works on this recording fuse lyricism with virtuosity, and sometimes invoke folkloric moments as well as more rhapsodic flights. Martinu' 1955 Sonata plays on elements of folk music and rhapsody, as well as a toccata-like intensity.

"This music has the power to connect the avant-garde with the lost paradise of tonality,’ said Robin Holloway once about Britten. He might have been talking about this Blake set, a standout in Britten’s still often underrated output of the 1960s, written for Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau after his contribution to the War Requiem.

Putting this new Roderick Williams recording immediately up against the composer and Fischer-Dieskau is like going from hymns ancient to hymns modern. Williams finds an ideal emotional stance—involved, totally word-conscious but never melodramatic…as a recorded recital, Williams—and Burnside, who is similarly colourful but keeps an interpretative distance from pumping up the text—have created an outstanding achievement, one to set alongside the Gerald Finley/Julius Drake disc. Their remaining items, including Tit for Tat—Britten’s ‘reissue’ of early 1929-31 Walter de la Mare settings—shine in a similar way. The Potton Hall recording is clean and clear with excellent instrument/voice balance."

-- Mike Ashman, Gramophone [6/2012]

This disc couples a masterpiece from Britten’s maturity and songs written in his youth. The latter were revived and gathered together as a set in his later years. Britten wrote very little for baritone, but I do think it a pity that rather than seek an interesting work by another composer to complement these two works, it was decided to complete the disc with folk-songs. Beautiful though these arrangements are, many collectors will have quite enough Oliver Cromwells and Little Sir Williams on the shelves, thank you. They are, however, beautifully sung here. There is a very brisk Plough Boy, and Roderick Williams tones in his voice beautifully for the gentler numbers. Ca’ the yowes, a minor masterpiece, is magnificently grand. Overall, the delivery is simple, neither folk-song nor art-song, and refreshingly avoiding the coy or arch in the likes of The foggy, foggy dew. No, Williams presents them unadorned, and with a beautiful legato line, as a series of lovely tunes with inventive and striking accompaniments. Others, some of whom set them up as quasi-operatic scenes, do inject more life into some of the songs, not always to their advantage.
 
Tit for Tat, a set of five short songs to poems by Walter de la Mare, was first performed in 1969 by John Shirley-Quirk with the composer at the piano. I have in my head the sound of Shirley-Quirk singing these songs, but can’t for the life of me remember where or when it comes from. The songs were written when Britten was in his teens, and he had only recently gathered them together and, with minimal editing, prepared them for publication. They are accomplished works that can, on the whole, be enjoyed without making allowances for the composer’s age. There is not the psychological insight - neither into the poems nor into the mind of the listener - that you find in the mature composer’s vocal music. Nor is the piano part so developed. Listen however to the second song, “Autumn”: everything that was to come is there in embryonic form. It would be easy to exaggerate the claims of these songs, but presented so cleanly and with such understanding as do Williams and his superb pianist, Iain Burnside, they make just the effect the mature composer surely intended.
 
Philip Lancaster’s booklet essay casts plenty of light on the programme. Walter de la Mare’s poems are sadly not given, but the folk-song texts do appear, as do the texts of the masterly Songs and Proverbs of William Blake. This work was composed for Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and is dedicated to him. The dedication reads “For Dieter: the past and the future. It is a proper, integrated song-cycle, but which is sung without a break. Poems and proverbs alternate, creating a continuous text which was chosen and arranged in order by Peter Pears, no doubt with input from the composer. Words and music combine to create a cycle that maintains a single mood throughout its length, one of melancholy observation. In his book Britten, Voice and Piano, Stephen Johnson recounts how the relationship between Fischer-Dieskau and Britten, though nourished by mutual admiration, was not an easy one. The sessions for their Decca recording of December 1965 were by all accounts particularly fraught, but this is hardly audible in the finished result, which is a performance of extraordinary mastery. Fischer-Dieskau is magnificent, and the composer’s piano playing is miraculous. Listen, for example, in the ppp quavers that introduce A Poison Tree, how he manages to conceal the inconvenient fact that a piano works by hammers striking on keys. This is the kind of piano playing that prompted Gerald Moore, in his book Am I Too Loud?, to proclaim Britten as “the world’s greatest living accompanist”. Britten’s recorded legacy is essential for any admirer of his work, but happily the era is now long gone when attempts by other performers to stamp their own personality on the music seemed like an affront to the composer’s memory. Iain Burnside is outstandingly fine on this disc. It seems almost insulting to state that his playing is technically impeccable, but I do state it, whilst adding that he is profoundly in tune with the music and with the singer’s needs. Roderick Williams gives a performance of great vision, beautifully sung, that will satisfy any listener who discovers the work from this performance. In general, Fischer-Dieskau employs a wider range of vocal colour that allows him, in The ChimneySweeper, for example, to play the part of the oppressed child with remarkable vividness. Another example would be at the line “And blights with plagues the marriage hearse” in London, where Williams doesn’t really match Fischer-Dieskau’s disillusioned bitterness. Williams is slower, too, the song hardly reflecting the composer’s marking of “Very agitated”. If this gives the impression that the reading is a pale one, the opposite is the case. There is a suggestion of whimsy in Fischer-Dieskau’s performance of The Fly that is absent in Williams’ reading, and Williams launches Ah! Sun-flower with a superb crescendo barely observed by Fischer-Dieskau. The end of the work, too, is very fine indeed from both artists, not quite resigned, not quite hopeless.
 
-- William Hedley , MusicWeb International

Classical Music