Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

An excellent performance.

George Frideric Handel left a large oeuvre, most of it written after he had left Germany. As a result very few compositions on a German text are known. For some time a St John Passion was attributed to Handel, but there now seems general agreement that it was written by someone else. That leaves the nine German arias and the Brockes Passion. Although they are on German texts Handel wrote them while he was living in England.
 
Handel used the well-known libretto 'Der für die Sünden der Welt gemarterte und sterbende Jesus' (Jesus who suffered and died for the sins of the world) written by Barthold Heinrich Brockes. It was also set by other composers: Reinhard Keiser (1712, the same year the libretto was published), Georg Philipp Telemann in 1716 (the same year as Handel) and Johann Mattheson in 1718. The latter performed all four in Holy Week of 1719 in the refectory of Hamburg Cathedral. This church was a kind of sanctuary in Hamburg because it was not under the supervision of the city council. Brockes' text was of a dramatic nature and offered a composer much opportunity to write in an operatic style. That kind of Passion music was certainly not approved of by the ecclesiastical authorities.
 
The Brockes Passion was one of the first in the new genre of the Passion oratorio in which the text of the Gospels was paraphrased. The report of the events is delivered by the Evangelist, the other characters in the Gospels are also represented - Judas, Peter, Pilate, - but there are also two symbolic characters: Tochter Zion (Daughter of Sion) and Gläubige Seele (the Believer) who reflect and comment on the events. They take most of the arias, and are mostly scored for soprano. Because of the number of arias some are performed by Johanna Winkel, who also takes the role of the Believer. Two arias of the Believer and one of Daughter of Sion are given to a tenor, and are sung here by Markus Brutscher. And another aria of the Believer is scored for bass: 'Wie kommt's, dass da der Himmel weint', sung by Michael Dahmen.
 
Handel explored the operatic character of the libretto to the full. It is hardly surprising that he used material from this Passion in later years for some of his English oratorios. The text is set in a very expressive way, not only for the voice but also for the instruments. Two arias are given to Jesus, another feature of the Passion oratorio. These two - 'Mein Vater, schau wie ich' and 'Ist's möglich, dass dein Zorn', which have the same musical material and are divided by a recitative - are introduced by dramatic chords from the strings. Descending chords lead to Peter's aria 'Schau, ich fall' in strenger Busse': "See, I fall on my knees at your feet as a penance". A kind of operatic dialogue is the scene in Gethsemane, when Jesus urges his disciples to stay awake. Also reminiscent of opera are the rage arias; there are no less than four in this oratorio.
 
In some arias instruments play a prominent role. The aria 'Dem Himmel gleicht sein buntgefärbter Rücken' - which with some textual differences also appears in Bach's St John Passion - contains an extended solo for the violin. The highly expressive aria 'Die ihr Gottes Gnad' versäumet' has a beautiful obbligato part for the oboe. And the last aria of this oratorio, 'Wisch ab der Tränen scharfe Lauge', begins with an introduction by the strings, after which soprano and oboe proceed alone in unisono. These are just some examples of the many splendid arias this oratorio contains. In addition there are two duets, between Daughter of Sion and Jesus, and between Mary and Jesus respectively. The latter and the preceding recitative are the only passages which are given to Mary.
 
Handel's manuscript has not been preserved. For this recording a copy was used – one made by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is not known whether he copied it to perform in Leipzig or just out of interest. In this copy the text of the first chorus has been changed. Brockes' text begins with the words: "Mich vom Stricke meiner Sünden zu entbinden". Here we get: "Kommet, ihr verworfnen Sünder".
 
Considering that Handel's Brockes Passion was first performed in the refectory of Hamburg Cathedral one wonders how large the ensemble would have been. A choir of 27 singers is probably a bit on the large side. On the other hand, the oratorio has been performed again in later years, probably also in larger venues, and that could well be an argument in favour of a larger ensemble. I have nothing but praise for the choir, though. It produces a powerful sound where it is due, in particular in the 'turbae'. But the chorales are also beautifully sung.
 
What is so admirable about this performance is that it has absolutely no weak link. Peter Neumann has brought together a really excellent cast, which is stylistically on the same wavelength. The two sopranos have gorgeous voices; they are not that different, but here that is not really necessary. They sing the more dramatic recitatives and arias just as brilliantly as the more reflective parts. Markus Brutscher gives a splendid account of the part of the Evangelist. His articulation and diction are exemplary. If there is one thing to criticise it is that the recitatives are sometimes too strict in time, with too little rhythmic freedom. This is a problem with recordings of baroque vocal music which I have noticed quite often.
 
Markus Flaig performs the role of Jesus just as well, both in the recitatives and in the arias. Elvira Bill's performance of the small role of Maria is very moving, and her duet with Markus Flaig is one of the highlights of this recording. Apparently Michael Damen sings all the smaller bass roles - although the booklet omits to tell us - and he does so convincingly. Jan Thomer sings the role of Judas, including another operatic aria (Lasst diese Tat nicht ungerochen), and James Oxley the role of Peter, and both do so beautifully. Lastly the orchestra gives excellent support to the singers and greatly contributes to the drama which unfolds.
 
There are not that many recordings of Handel's Brockes Passion. The only one I have is directed by Nicholas McGegan (originally released on Hungaroton, later reissued on Brilliant Classics). That is a quite good performance, but this new recording surpasses it. In my view it sets a new standard for every future recording of this work.
 
-- Johan van Veen, MusicWeb International

An adventurous program of European masterworks for flute and guitar from scintillating young artists Viviana Guzman and Jeremy Jouve, captured brilliantly by Grammy®-winning recording engineer Keith O. Johnson. A winner for all audiophiles and music lovers! This album is a musical journey full of emotion, from the soothing and mellow music of Fauré and Satie, and the driving excitement of “Bolero” and “Carmen,” to thrilling modern music by Dyens, Duplessy, and Ourkouzounov.

Described by the New York Times as “an imaginative artist,” Chilean-born flutist, Viviana Guzmán performs over 80 concerts a year throughout the world. She has been featured on programs for PBS, NBC, and NPR, seen on the cover of Latina Style Magazine, and in COSMOPOLITAN en Español and has played in 118 countries including South Africa, Ireland, Spain, Brazil, Bali, India, Peru, and Greece featuring flutes from her collection of over 100 gathered from concert tours.

Charpentier: Messe Pour Les Trepasses; Tabart; Requiem, Charpentier: Messe en La Memoire D'un Prince / Var Composer: Louis Couperin, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, André Raison, Pierre Tabart, Performer: Jean-Claude Sarragosse, Hans Jörg Mammel, Pascal Bertin, Conductor: Jean Tubery, Orchestra/Ensemble: Ensemble la Fenice (France) Number of Discs: 2

Classical Music

Hardly any other composer of his epoch was as deeply rooted in the German and European choral traditions as Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Strongly influenced by the art of Johann Sebastian Bach, which he had encountered in the Berlin Singakademie under his teacher Carl Friedrich Zelter, the young composer wrote a series of eight chorale cantatas, including "Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich" (“Give us Thy blessed peace”, 1831) - a short prayer for choir and orchestra set to words by Martin Luther. Mendelssohn's five wide-ranging and large-scale psalm settings became even more famous, and three of them can be heard here. The first piece in the group is the multi-part setting of Psalm 115 "Non nobis Domine" (“Not unto us, O Lord”) for soloists, choir and orchestra, op. 31 (1829/30), which was probably begun during the composer’s first stay in England and reveals his fascination for Händel's music. Mendelssohn himself considered “Wie der Hirsch schreit” ("As pants the hart"), a multi-part, cantata-like setting of Psalm 42 for soprano, choir and orchestra, op. 42 (1837/38), to be the best work of this group. Also highly praised by Robert Schumann, it remains one of the composer’s most famous choral works to this day. For the newly-formed Berlin Cathedral Choir, he also wrote a setting of Psalm 98 "Singet dem Herren ein neues Lied” (“Sing to the Lord a new-made song”) for soloists, choir and orchestra, op. 91, and in response to requests from London he composed "Hear my Prayer", a “hymn” based on Psalm 55 for soprano, choir and organ, which he later orchestrated. The piece became one of his most famous sacred works in Victorian England.

REVIEW:

It’s always pleasing to have a new album of Mendelssohn’s exalting psalm settings which sadly are an all too neglected part of his oeuvre. It is sometimes said that the German composer’s greatest accomplishment lies in this field. Here we have a judiciously chosen programme of four psalm settings and a single chorale cantata. Especially gratifying too is that these live performances, from a quartet of soloists, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Münchner Rundfunkorchester under Howard Arman, feel so inspiring.

With utmost conviction from beginning to end the renowned Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks deliver appropriately devout singing, well focused and eminently unified. Conductor Howard Arman pulls everything together with calm assurance, adopting sensible speeds and dynamics. Of high order too is the playing of Münchner Rundfunkorchester such a versatile ensemble that seems completely at home with Mendelssohn’s music.

– MusicWeb International

TCHAIKOVSKY: CONCERTO FOR VIOL

This 1949 recording (originally on 78s) of North Country Sketches already has appeared on CD in Sony's British Pageant series. The very start of the fourth movement, "The March of Spring", sounded fractionally clipped there, and regrettably it still does in this version, which ultimately offers no perceptible sonic improvements over the earlier release. Nevertheless, Delians will be more than happy to tolerate a minor flaw or two to get their hands on this matchlessly idiomatic performance. This is Beecham at his best; he gets the first section ("Autumn, the wind soughs in the trees") off to a delightfully misty beginning, even though the double bass and bassoon pedal notes don't really come across. Still, you'd be hard put to imagine the desolation and solitude of the Yorkshire moors much better characterized, even though the transfer retains its former ill-defined lower registers, and even flutes and clarinets can have a nasal, hollow quality above mezzo-forte.


However, any sonic shortcomings are amply compensated, and although there's some questionable wind tuning toward the close of "Winter Landscape", Beecham's careful dynamic gradations register well and the lonely feel of the piece is highly palpable. And save for that clipped start, there's also much to enjoy in the closing section where the awkwardly placed cello and violin solos are skillfully managed.


This CD also includes a complete 1952 recording of Appalachia. Beecham probably knew it better than anyone, and after a rather plain, possibly too-relaxed introduction, he portrays all 14 variations with great sensitivity. Delius' vividly impressionistic North Country Sketches is the more attractive work, though, and its relatively poor representation on CD gives this release additional value. If you find that the limited dynamic range and astringency of Sony's reissue leaves too much detailing hidden, consider Chandos' 1995 recording from Richard Hickox and the Bournemouth Symphony. It's an assured and likeable performance, splendidly engineered and adroitly played, but in terms of atmosphere, Beecham is still in a league of his own.
--Michael Jameson, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

CONCERTO FOR VIOLONCELLO & ORC

Classical Music

In these live recordings from 2011 and 2014 respectively, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and its longtime chief conductor Mariss Jansons present, in their second release of works by Richard Strauss, two of the composer’s "heroic" tone poems. With "Don Juan", the young and aspiring Strauss proved to be a prematurely consummate master of the symphonic poem genre. "Ein Heldenleben" ("A Hero's Life"), written at the turn of the 20th c., ranks as one of the great touchstones for a symphony orchestra – and with its extensive solo violin part, for a concertmaster too.

Impressive Brahmsians.

This disc follows close on the heels of these artists’ recording of the Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 on BR Klassik (SACD) 900111. Both Symphonies were recorded in the splendid acoustic of the Herkulessaal and audience applause has been retained at the conclusion of each symphony. In May 2011 I experienced at first hand just how empathetic the relationship is between Jansons and the Bavarian RSO. I eagerly await the opportunity to attend one of their Munich concerts.

Brahms was aware that by writing symphonies he was encroaching on the territory ruled by Beethoven. In fact Brahms had written to Hermann Levi that he could feel the presence of Beethoven marching behind him. Many Brahms supporters, notably Eduard Hanslick, were happy to acknowledge the close relationship of the First Symphony to the music of Beethoven. Hans von Bülow went further, referring to the C minor symphony as “Beethoven’s tenth”. Brahms was 43 and at the height of his maturity when his Symphony No. 1 was completed in 1876 although the gestation period had been protracted, making sketches for the score, it seems, over twenty years earlier.

The grave and leaden thuds of the threatening drums that open the first movement Un poco sostenuto - Allegro are implacably convincing. Impressive too is the beautiful oboe playing of the rising motif at 2:16. Throughout this movement an assured Jansons successfully provides generous quantities of beauty, sadness and even menace. Compared to many rivals it took me a while to get used to his rather measured pace. One senses that he is rather holding back his forces. Although Rattle comes close with the BPO in truth no one I have heard on record has managed to provide an opening of such raw power. It approaches that of Klemperer and the Philharmonia. There is a burnished autumnal countryside feel to the E major Andante sostenuto. One could imagine walking at the edge of an eerily tranquil and shadowy forest whilst anticipating the ominous onset of severe weather. In the midst of such glorious playing I was struck how much the rising melody for solo violin at 6:05 reminded me of a section in Brahms’ Violin Concerto. Warm and magnificently lyrical melodies abound in the short Un poco allegretto e grazioso right from the swaying opening measures. Its manner is reminiscent of Mendelssohn. This is fresh music of the great outdoors and is evocative of cool early morning dew over a backdrop of wonderful Alpine scenery. Jansons conveys a sense of intense activity in the closing Adagio - Allegro non troppo ma con brio as if lying on a verdant grassy bank gazing up at the tones and shapes of a swiftly changing sky. I loved the inspiring and highly memorable chorale melody. The writing really evokes the finale to Beethoven's ‘Choral’ Symphony.

It was in 1884 and 1885 that Brahms worked on his Symphony No. 4 at the Austrian summer resort of Mürzzuschlag in the Styrian Alps. Hans von Bülow, who had conducted a rehearsal of the score enthused that the symphony was “stupendous, quite original, individual, and rock-like. Incomparable strength from start to finish.” It’s esteem has endured and remains for many Brahms’s most popular symphony. Walter Niemann found an intense degree of sadness in the fourth movement and wanted to describe the score as Brahms’s ‘Elegiac’ symphony.

A comforting mood of warm serenity and joy suffuses the swaying opening Allegro non troppo. In splendid performances such as this I am reminded of the verse, “perfectly cultivated earth. Honey of dawn, sun in bloom” from the poem Glimmer by Paul Éluard (1895-1952). Commencing with a striking horn-call in Jansons’s hands the E major Andante moderato feels like a dreamscape attaining beguiling heights of fantasy and grandeur. I love the good humour and vigour of the Scherzo as Jansons takes the music forward with majestic strides. In the dark key of E minor the final movement marked Allegro energico e passionato is a heroic drama constructed out of a theme and variations in the form of a chaconne often described as a passacaglia. Here Brahms introduces contrasts of the broadest imagination including chorale-style variations featuring horns and trombones. I especially enjoyed the lovely and moving passage for solo flute at 3:05-3:56 as well as the following woodwind interplay and the fierce and defiant hammer-blows.

Jansons and the Bavarian RSO provide highly accomplished performances even if they are unable to match the pervasive aura of heart-searching and the strong sense of excitement provided by Klemperer/Philharmonia and Rattle/BPO. The warm and well balanced sound quality from live concerts at the Herkulessaal, Munich is impressive.

It has been a ‘rite of passage’ for conductors to record a complete cycle of the Brahms symphonies and I have several splendid sets in my collection. My benchmark is the set of evergreen performances from Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia. These are aristocratic, powerful and expressive. They were recorded with the great producer Walter Legge at his favoured venue: London’s Kingsway Hall in 1956/57 and can be heard on EMI Classics 5 62742 2 (c/w ‘Haydn’ Variations; Alto Rhapsody with Christa Ludwig, mezzo-; Academic Festival and Tragic Overtures). The digitally re-mastered sound is quite superb. With impeccable credentials Klemperer is a marvellous and experienced Brahmsian who made a studio recording of the Brahms First Symphony with the Staatskapelle Berlin as early as 1928. I often play the sterling performances of the Symphonies 1-3 conducted by Eugen Jochum with the London Philharmonic Orchestra from the Kingsway Hall, London in 1956 on EMI Classics 5 69515 2. Re-mastered at the Abbey Road studios, for its age, Jochum’s sound is excellent too. For an accompanying single version of the fourth symphony I would add Carlos Kleiber’s commanding 1980 Musikverein, Vienna reading with the Vienna Philharmonic digitally recorded on Deutsche Grammophon 457 706-2. Of the modern digital sets I greatly admire the 2008 accounts from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle on EMI Classics 2672542. They were recorded live in the Philharmonie at single concert performances with some additional patching. In my review I described them as, “urgently spontaneous performances conveying a Romantic power of immense intensity.”

Jansons and his Bavarian Radio colleagues are impressive Brahmsians. Any serious collector should be happy to hold this set of Brahms’ symphonies.

-- Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International

To follow the Christmas Oratorio, the Bavarian Radio Choir under its artistic director Peter Dijkstra again present a major work by J.S. Bach, in a live recording on CD and DVD: the St. Matthew Passion. The choir's partner is the renowned period instrument group Concerto Köln, already heard together with the choir on several BR-KLASSIK CDs. Julian Prégardien sings the part of the Evangelist. The DVD edition of this live recording features highly atmospheric lighting effect

Telling the story of Christmas from the Nativity to the visit of the Three Wise Men, J.S. Bach's "Christmas Oratorio" and comprised of six cantatas, this piece remains for many, ubiquitous to the holiday season. What elevates this December 2010 live recording from the Herkulessaal in the Munich Residenz is the spirited collaboration between the young and excellent vocalists including Rachel Harnisch, Anke Vondung and more, along with the fine Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the direction of Peter Dijkstra with the transcendental period instrument ensemble, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin all of whom provide a stunningly fresh take on this baroque masterpiece.

Friedrich Cerha's output has solid roots in an extended musical tradition, while spanning a wide arc from the b eginnings of new music all the way to the present. This is not only due to the composer's respectable age, but primarily to the great number of activities he has pursued in the course of his long life, along with the great variety of influences he has incorporated into his work.

15TH INTERNATIONAL FREDERICK C

Haydn: Quartets, Op. 76, Nos. 1-6

Classical Music

Recorded in: Waalse Kerk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2 & 3 July 2000 (String Quartet), 20 December 2000 (Hier ist Friede), 21 December 2000 (Four Pieces), 6-8 February 2001 (Lyric Suite), 21 November 2001 (Adagio) Producer(s) Bob Zimmerman (String Quartet, Lyric Suite) Henk Guittart (Hier ist Friede, Adagio) Janneke van der Meer (Four Pieces) Sound Engineer(s) Adriaan Verstijnen

Kusser, J.S.: Composition De Musique - Suites Nos. 1-3

Classical Music

Martin Scherzinger is a South Africanborn composer and media theorist, who works on and engages with the music of Africa. African Math is an album of piano trio music that "Africanizes" these western instruments (flipping the typical appropriation of indigenous instruments on it's head). Piano, violin, and cello are used as conduits for material originally intended for mbira, or kalahari, or Ugandan xylophone. Underlying the layer of transcription, Scherzinger highlights and delights in the rich musical mathematics which exist at the core of so many musical traditions in Africa.