Classical Music

This is a project very close to the heart of the BBC Philharmonic's Principal Conductor, Gianandre Noseda. From the moment of his appointment to the BBC Philharmonic he spoke of his ambition to record the works of the twentieth century composer and fellow Italian Luigi Dallapiccola. The young counductor's reputation grows with every recording and receives consistently glowing write-ups in the press. It is hoped that with such distinguished and sympathetic advocacy, the music of Dallapiccola will achieve the worldwide recognition that it deserves.

Classical Music

Includes work(s) by John Marsh. Ensemble: London Mozart Players. Conductor: Matthias Bamert.

Vernon Handley's Chandos Moeran recordings are regarded as classic accounts. This final disc in the recent series of reissues gathers together some less well-known but hardly less appealing works: the 'Serenade in G' is highly attractive with its use of ancient dance forms, transformed in modern colours and dress, while the 'Nocturne' for baritone and chorus (a work much admired by Britten) is wonderfully atmospheric. The 'Rhapsodies' are unpretentious and highly enjoyable, with some very attractive themes, while folk-like melodies pervade 'In the Mountain Country' to disarming effect.

Sergei Taneyev's music, written in the late nineteenth-century romantic tradition, is well-crafted, attractively scored and tuneful. Polyansky and the Russian State Symphony Orchestra are renowned for their recordings of Russian repertoire and have made many acclaimed recordings for Chandos. Both symphonies receive their premiere recordings with this release.

Includes work(s) by Johann Sebastian Bach. Ensemble: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Matthias Barnet.

RESPIGHI Burlesca. Preludio, corale e fuga. Rossiniana. RACHMANINOFF (Orch. Respighi) 5 Études-tableaux • Gianandrea Noseda, cond; BBC PO • CHANDOS 10388 (73:04)


When I played an RAI recording of Respighi’s puppet opera La bella dormente nel bosco on a radio program in Dallas about 30 years ago, we received several enthusiastic calls—none more so than that of an individual who liked the work immensely and had been, until then, unaware that the composer had ever written anything other than a few tone poems and the three Ancient Airs and Dances suites. An extreme case, perhaps, but matters have improved since then for Respighi. There will never be any lack of musical fountains or pines about Rome for anyone to appreciate, but a lot more of the composer’s music has visibility now, and an attentive public. The Preludio, corale e fuga appears occasionally on concert programs, and I’m sure we’ll soon hear that the Burlesca is doing the same.


The Preludio, corale e fuga was composed in 1900, when Respighi was taking lessons from Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg. The work was written under the older master’s supervision; and certainly his touch can be heard in some of the harmonic progressions, the characteristic use of the strings and winds (especially the flutes), and the transformation of themes. There’s much of Respighi already present, however, notably in the arresting brass chorale (before it is harmonized and enters an Eastern Orthodox church), and the fugue subject and its chromatic treatment. Above all, the scope of the work and its mix of rigor and fancy point to a young, ambitious composer of considerable promise.


More consistently interesting is the Burlesca , a phantasmagoric piece despite its title, rather than something mock-serious like Strauss’s Burleske . The shape and harmonization of the Burlesca ’s main theme and the piece’s use of pedal points seem to point to Sibelius. As the work was composed in 1906, the possibility of influence cannot be set aside. Still, Sibelius wasn’t given to this kind of filigree work, and it is the subtlety, rather than the overt brilliance of the orchestration, as well as its suitability to the task, that impresses the most.


Rossiniana is nowhere near as well known as La boutique fantasque , but the source is the same: Rossini’s large collection of incidental piano music, nearly all of it composed late in life. It appeared in 1925 and was a success at its premiere, but has been eclipsed through the years by a suite drawn from the ballet. By contrast, while Rossiniana still gets heard on occasion, that can’t be said of the Five études-tableaux . They began life as Rachmaninoff’s ops. 33 and 39 piano collections from 1911 and 1917, respectively. For whatever reason, the composer had no interest in orchestrating a selection of these, so it was left to Serge Koussevitzky to suggest Respighi as a likely candidate. Rachmaninoff agreed; and the results come surprisingly close, not merely in the romantic, fantastical and warlike passages, but in singling out the mordant thread that runs through both “La Foire” and “Le Chaperon rouge et le loup.”


I find the value of these performances to be mixed. Noseda strives above all for clarity, which yields a harvest of welcome orchestral detail from this orchestrally brilliant composer. At times the conductor is too willing to sacrifice momentum and accent, as in the final “Marche” of the Five études-tableaux that frankly, falls flat; yet the concluding “Tarantella” of Rossiniana has all the brio one could desire. The “Marche funèbre” from the Five études-tableaux is colorful but prosaic—too fast and heavy in its tread; but nothing could be lighter or honed more delicately than the filigree work in the Burlesca . Throughout the program, individual soloists are too reticent, but Noseda coaxes a fat, beautiful Russian sound from his sections.


The “Tarantella” to one side, there are certainly better versions of Rossiniana available, though many now fall into the category of historical. Dorati’s old recording with the Royal Philharmonic on Decca 444106 has been re-released under arrangement with ArkivMusic, and is well worth pursuing for its infectious high spirits. Good, too, is Janigro/Vienna SO (Vanguard 41), another vintage release, despite an orchestra that was never within striking distance of the BBC Philharmonic in matters of virtuosity. Dorati and Janigro knew how to bring this music to life. On the evidence of this album, Noseda is still learning.


But in the Burlesca and Preludio, corale e fuga his only competition comes from a slapdash pair of performances featuring Adriano and the Slovak RSO in coarse sound (Naxos 8.557820). So if you want those works, and in excellent sound, too, this disc becomes self-recommending.


FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

Wonderfully light of heart ...fully mature and intriguing.

This is the fourth and final volume in the Chandos-Scott series each instalment of which has paired a symphony and a concerto.

This one reveals a fledgling green symphony by a young, and accomplished yet impressionable Scott. The Symphony No. 1 is not a harmonically complex work unlike the symphonies 3 and 4 and its mate on this disc. Scott at twenty plays a magnificently light hand and the music flows like cheering mercurial amber. The first movement has a flowing grace which recalls the feather hand of Binge’s much later Elizabethan Serenade and mixes in the jauntiness of Grainger. The Andante is almost Delian, warmly sighing and winsome. The Allegretto is gently playful. The bipartite finale starts with a theme and ten variations and is followed by a finale-proper. The Tema con variazioni smacks of Vaughan Williams and the neo-classical aspect of Moeran - those coarsely blown fanfares and confiding rhythmic ostinatos. Add to the mix a touch of Rimskian-Moussorgskian splendour. The same influence can be felt in the Bantock Russian Suite. I kept expecting to pick up the religious and symbolist influence of the poet Stefan George with whom the symphony is associated but it is not that kind of work. It was, at the time, perhaps the best of Scott and the composer dedicated his then best to the object of his admiration.

The Cello Concerto is a mature sombre work given eloquent expression by Paul Watkins. From almost forty years later than the First Symphony it is confident and totally accomplished. It seems likely that it was written for Beatrice Harrison to match the symmetry of the as yet unrecorded Double Concerto he had written for the Harrison sisters. His Violin Concerto (recorded earlier in the series) was a work championed by May Harrison. The Cello Concerto is in three movements in which a rich tapestry of swooping long passionate-lined melodies arc their way through a warmly musing Delian canvas. The orchestration is lavish but sensitively used with piano included. The work erupts in eloquent and completely characteristic clouds as at 3:48, 6:31 and 12:30 in the long first movement. There is a short meditative intermezzo pastorale which again makes tense play of the orchestral piano and woodwind. This leads into a sanguine pattering Rondo giocoso with pensive, melancholic Delian asides ending in some positively Moeran-like celebratory flourishes. It has something of the reflective and undemonstrative understatement of the Moeran and Bax cello concertos. Watkins, who I last heard in concert in Brighton in the Schumann concerto, manages magnificently in this domain of the restless, the soulful and the swirling. His adroitly hooded tone is spot-on for Scott.

There is an earlier Cello Concerto from 1902. Perhaps we will hear it one day.

The liner notes are by Lewis Foreman. They are typically informative - full of facts, nexus and insight.

Two long unheard Scott works - one wonderfully light of heart and celebrating a life-long admiration; the other fully mature in his richest and most intriguing vein.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

Much to enjoy here … listen to this and marvel at playing of such eloquence.

Mozart’s sole bassoon concerto dates from 1774. As the booklet points out, every bassoonist plays it at some time, and most seem to harbour an ambition to record it. I have come to regard the results as a very special test of a player’s musicianship. A technically proficient but dull performance will leave you wondering why you bothered to spend a quarter of an hour with such tedious music, whereas in the hands of a player with real imagination and energy it can be a most exhilarating experience. Fortunately, and no surprise to those who have enjoyed her earlier discs for Chandos, this performance falls resoundingly into the latter category. Right from the soloist’s first entry the listener is engaged by Karen Geoghegan’s ripe tone, crisp articulation, imaginative phrasing, total technical control and above all her ability to communicate directly. The variety of tone that she gets from the instrument is one of her chief assets, together with an ability to surprise the listener by minute variations of phrasing. The slow movement, with its muted upper strings and subtle textures is an especial delight, and the Rondo Minuet finale has just the rhythmic lift it needs to keep it alive. The only criticism I would venture is the length of the cadenzas in the first two movements, but she is certainly not alone in this and they are of greater interest than those used by many of those of her rivals that I have heard. The very positive contribution of the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda is a major part of the success of this performance and their efforts are helped in turn by the transparent recording. Perhaps the soloist is a shade too forward for my liking, but I soon adjusted to it.

Similar remarks could be made about the performance of the Crusell Concertino, his last work in this form. The Kreutzer Fantasie falls into three sections, ending with a Polacca. In style, form and length it is very similar to Weber’s Clarinet Concertino, and whilst not as memorable as that work it is enjoyable and is given a first class performance here.

The remaining work is one I had not heard before – the “Rossini” Concerto. I understand that this was only discovered in the 1990s and that some Rossini scholars doubt that he wrote it. Whilst I have not read their reasoning for that view, I must say that I find it hard to believe that he had a hand in it. The booklet refers to its “veritably Rossinian wit” but each time I listened to it I missed it, although I certainly acknowledge that it does “display various kinds of bravura agility” with playing of a breathtakingly confident style. I am glad to have heard it but doubt if I will wish to return to it often.

This disc offers four works for bassoon and orchestra from the late 18 ^th and early 19 ^th centuries in superb performances well recorded and presented. Only one is a real masterpiece, two are pleasant if second rate, and one is wholly forgettable. If the programme appeals to you there is much to enjoy here, and wind players in particular should listen to this and marvel at playing of such eloquence.

-- John Sheppard, MusicWeb International

Classical Music

Classical Music

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet here offers the third volume in his series devoted to the complete works for piano by Debussy. The music now moves to a more playful strand in Debussy's compositional career, with generally shorter pieces of the salon genre, including the two famous collections 'Children's Corner' and 'Suite bergamasque'. In addition to these well-known works there are several that are more rarely heard. Two such are 'La plus que lente', which seems to look ahead to the 'Études' of 1915, and 'Élégie'. Bavouzet's previous two volumes have been very well received both critically and commercially. In a recent review of volume two the LA Times wrote, 'In what may turn out to be the greatest complete recorded survey of the composer's piano music yet, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet...plays with such bracing clarity that hearing the early Romantic pieces, one feels like jumping into an icy pond after an hour in the sauna'. Of the same volume International Record Review has noted, 'I had the highest praise for jean-Efflam Bavouzet's first volume of Debussy, and the present disc is fully the equal of that one in terms of colour, refinement of touch, spontaneity and technical finish...Bavouzet has written that his Debussy playing has been influenced by that of Gieseking, Michelangeli and Richter. You may hear something of each of these pianists in his playing but more than that you will hear his own distinctive and special voice'. This series is a deeply personal project for Bavouzet who has been involved in all aspects of the recording process.

This is Volume 3 of orchestral works by Miklos Rozsa. His Hungarian roots influenced the composer’s musical voice, and his works dazzle with virtuosity. The BBC PO and Rumon Gamba play these works with the precision and passion they require. Jennifer Pike, an exclusive Chandos artist, joins them in the Violin Concerto.

Classical Music