Following the Grammy nominated Volume 2 featuring the music of Fitelberg, the Canadian ARC Ensemble presents Volume 3 in its "Music in Exile" series, dedicated to the music of Szymon Laks. Born in Warsaw in 1901, Laks studied in Paris before being deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. He soon joined and conducted the Auschwitz orchestra (his auditioning with a 'Jewish' work - Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto - went unnoticed). Although the trauma of his imprisonment left him alienated and reclusive, few of his works refer specifically to the Holocaust. A rather subtle, colorful and sometimes contrapuntal style emerges in his writing, notably represented in the early, elegant, Ravel-influenced Sonatina fo rpiano, in the later, melodic Passacaille, and the folk dances and songs woven into the cheerful String Quartet No. 4, as well as in the breezy, seemingly effortless Divertimento. These premiere recordings are a must-have, not only because of the compositional context and the quality of the music and its interpretations, but also because the unsparing eyewitness account that Laks gave of his imprisonment has eclipsed his musical legacy, leaving his works more than unjustly neglected.

EWALD: Brass Quintet / BOHME: Brass Sextet

PROKOFIEV: Divertissement / Symphony-Concerto in E minor / S

Chandos presents the eagerly anticipated second volume of Rumon Gamba’s fascinating survey of lesser-known British musical gems. This edition features works from composers including Sir Arthur Bliss, Patrick Hadley, Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Herbert Foulds, and more. British-born conductor Rumon Gamba held the positions of Principal Conductor and Music Director of NorrlandsOperan between 2008 and 2015 and Chief Conductor of the Aalborg Symfoniorkester between 2011 and 2015. He was also Chief Conductor and Music Director of Iceland Symphony Orchestra between 2002 and 2010. He regularly leads the BBC orchestras and has appeared at the BBC Proms on a number of occasions. This release includes two world premiere recordings.

This young star bassoonist has brought a great deal of attention to solo repertoire for her instrument. Gorgeous French Romantic and Impressionist music (including works by Debussy and Faur) in an intimate chamber recital.

This is the second volume in a series devoted to the works for strings by Béla Bartók, with James Ehnes the featured soloist. Ehnes had earlier recorded the Violin and Viola Concertos (CHAN 10690), which was made Disc of the Month in Gramophone magazine. On this new recording, he turns to the Violin Sonatas and Rhapsodies, complemented by the earliest surviving work by Bartók for violin and piano, an Andante. He is accompanied by the pianist Andrew Armstrong.

Dedicated to the Hungarian violinist Adila d’Arányi, the sonatas for violin and piano were composed in 1921 – 22, around the same time as the highly successful ballet score The Miraculous Mandarin. Of the two works, the Sonata in C sharp minor is the more traditional in terms of its structure, and characterised by a mood that is sometimes exhilarated, sometimes turbulent – but always virtuosic. The finale builds from a series of increasingly wild dances, folk-like in style but entirely expressionistic.

In the Sonata in C major, Bartók removes himself from classical form and traditional tonal practice, calling on the violinist to distance himself from the romantic manner of playing. At several points, for example, the violin is played without vibrato, producing an ethereally cool and distant sound. The improvisatory character is strong throughout, as the work repeatedly alternates between the quiet and thoughtful, and the stormy and strident. The ending, in contrast to the earlier sonata, is understated, emotional, and expressive.

Bartók’s two rhapsodies for piano and violin, dedicated respectively to Joseph Szigeti and Zoltán Székely, are steeped in the tradition of Hungarian folk music. Exuberant and infectious, the works are heavily inspired by the csárdás, the national dance of Hungary, and display the traditional pairing of lassú (slow) and friss (lively) movements.

Alfredo Casella composed his Concerto for Orchestra in 1937 for the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and Willem Mengelberg. At the time, there were very few works around bearing that title; the most famous was probably Hindemith’s brief essay in the form, and the neo-baroque energy of Casella’s work recalls Hindemith’s work, although this piece is typically sunnier, more lyrical, and considerably more traditionally melodic. The music is nevertheless extremely brilliant and wonderfully enjoyable; the sound clip below offers a tiny taste of the opening of the finale. Gianandrea Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic play the work with plenty of fire and drive in this premiere recording; why it’s not a repertory item is completely beyond imagining.

A notte alta (“In Deepest Night”) is a tone poem for piano and orchestra whose closest analogue might be Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, or something similar. The music had personal significance for the composer, and supposedly reflects his emotional response to an abortive love affair in the early years of the 20th century. The music is certainly evocative, impressionistic, nocturnal, mysterious, sensual, and all of that. This is the work’s second recording, the first being part of Naxos’ excellent Casella orchestral music series; this version is a couple of minutes quicker, but both are beautifully done and equally compelling. The Naxos comes with that label’s slightly finer version of the Second Symphony, and I don’t mind having both.

The Symphonic Fragments from the opera La donna serpent are witty, exotic, and very colorfully scored. The story is a Goldoni comedy that also furnished the story for Wagner’s Die Feen, and the only problem with these fragments is that they are indeed a bit, well, fragmentary. No qualms at all, though, about the performance, which is brilliant, and like everything on the disc very well engineered. Casella remains one of the few unquestionably great 20th-century composers who has yet to earn the acclaim he deserves. You owe it to yourself to get to know him.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Neeme Jarvi conducts Christopher Palmer's version, preserving the film music to Ivan the Terrible. This re-issue offers this praised recording at Classics price. 'Christopher Palmer strikes again! It is undoubtedly one of the great film scores, and Jarvi more than does it justice with the help of impassioned singing and playing from all concerned.' CD Review

This re-issue brings together the Violin Concertos of Prokofiev, along with Violin Sonata No.1, performed by Lydia Mordkovitch under Neeme Jarvi. 'Jarvi is an outstanding collaborator. His feeling for this composer's music is well established, and he brings out details that other conductors are content to overlook. Ms Mordkovitch has a powerful musical voice and a committed approach. I have returned to this recording with increasing fascination and would recommend it highly.' American Record Guide

"...Watkins' account seems the best to have appeared on disc for years. It has intensity, presence and warmth, which never topples over into sentimentality, and Davis and the BBC Philharmonic accompany with panache; the exchanges in the scherzo are wonderfully deft. The rest of disc is equally fine."

- Andrew Clements, The Guardian, London [April 5, 2012]

“...Watkins makes the music speak of pain, loss and rueful beauty ... There’s also perfect rapport between soloist, conductor and orchestra. Watkin’s ten years of conducting experience comes into play here, and the union of thought in the opening stretch is remarkable...” ****

- Geoff Brown, The Times, London [April 6, 2012]

-----

Paul Watkins is the cello soloist in a recording that showcases some of Elgar’s most popular works. The conductor, Sir Andrew Davis, is steeped in the English music tradition.

Elgar studied the violin from a young age, and had some early hopes of making a career as a soloist. Consequently, he wrote for the strings of the orchestra with a special understanding and flair, not least in a handful of works for strings alone. The showpiece among these is the Introduction and Allegro, written in 1904, for the newly formed London Symphony Orchestra to be included in an all-Elgar concert. The premiere performance was conducted by the composer.

Elgar started writing his Pomp and Circumstance Marches in 1901 in the wake of his national successes with the Enigma Variations and The Dream of Gerontius. The Marches vary considerably in mood. The First March gained worldwide fame largely due to the trio melody, which Elgar considered ‘a tune that comes once in a lifetime’, and the Second displays a certain air of urgency with its brazen horn calls and jaunty trio. Also on this disc is Elgar’s intimate and restrained Elegy for strings.

The Cello Concerto in E minor, written in 1918 – 19, was the last major work Elgar completed. Its mood is often described as ‘autumnal’, and highly reflective of the ageing composer’s own state of mind. At the time of writing it, Elgar was concerned about the failing health of his wife and about his own waning popularity; he was deeply disturbed, too, by the horrors of the First World War. Paul Watkins writes of his experience of recording this work: ‘It is a privilege to have the opportunity to add my voice to the many different interpretations of this iconic work. I prepared for this recording by using my experience as a conductor: in other words, to study Elgar’s masterful score as deeply as possible, and to realise how intimately the solo cello is linked to the orchestra throughout. In this respect I feel fortunate to have been working with Sir Andrew Davis. He is the most natural and intelligent interpreter of Elgar I know.’

Barry Douglas’s complete Brahms cycle for solo piano is now available as a unique box set. It contains all the six widely acclaimed volumes of the series, each disc planned and presented as a stand-alone mixed recital, along with the original booklets. Completed within the course of five years, the series was seen by BBC Music as ‘a triumph of Brahmsian thoughts’. It offers ‘beautifully manicured playing’ (Pianist), ‘captures Douglas’s sound perfectly’ (International Piano), and will ‘leave you a different person’ (Gramophone).

-----

Reviews excerpts of some of individual volumes contained in this set:

Brahms: Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 6

His hefty, full-bodied sound, built from the bottom up, befits the mellow power of Brahms’s sound world.

– Gramophone

Brahms: Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 5

Douglas's powerful tone and serious demeanour captures the composer's uncompromising side; yet there's a sense of flow that makes the intermezzos generous and warm without veering towards emotional indulgence.

– BBC Music Magazine

Brahms: Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 4

He comes fully alive throughout the C major Sonata. His proportioned rubatos in the first movement's second theme and broodingly sustained Andante imbue the unwieldy textures with colour and variety.

– Gramophone

Also available:

Brahms: Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 1
Brahms: Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 2
Brahms: Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 3

As a package, their claims are strong, both artistically and in terms of recording quality, awarded three stars by Penguin Guide. The Guardian wrote, "No one is more warmly dramatic in Prokofiev than Jarvi, making his issues consistently recommendable." As part of our on-going re-issue of Neeme Jarvi's famous Prokofiev Chandos now re-releases The Piano Concertos performed by Boris Berman and Horacio Gutiérrez with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. This has proved to be a very popular set in the past, and is now priced at one full price CD. Other Prokofiev releases available: CHAN 10500(4) X: Complete Symphonies CHAN 10484 X: Peter and Wolf CHAN 10482 X: Alexander Nevsky CHAN 10485 X: Semyon Kotko

[T]he [violin] concerto thoroughly deserves its new lease of life, and Little and Hickox’s sparkling and stylish advocacy will win it many new friends. . . . Hickox and the City of London Sinfonia . . . are no less responsive to the radiant string textures of the chaste, rather Bachian Prelude and more emotive Romance. Lovely, airy sound and exemplary presentation further enhance the appeal . . . . -- Gramophone

Let me come right out and say it: this is the most important film-music recording of the year, and perhaps for many years. The stunning Main Title sequence, with its powerful, sweeping orchestral chords depicting the motion of the sea, followed by the angular, dissonant descending six-note theme for Wolf Larsen’s ship, the Ghost , explores new territory for anyone who identifies Korngold by his scores for swashbucklers ( The Sea Hawk , Captain Blood , The Adventures of Robin Hood ) or costume spectacles ( The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex ). The Sea Wolf (and Between Two Worlds ) is stylistically closer to his two most famous operas, Die Tote Stadt and Das Wunder der Heliane .


Based on the Jack London novel, The Sea Wolf is the story of a sophisticated but sadistic and psychotic captain who psychologically tortures three passengers he has taken aboard his ship. The score is a series of variations on the brutal theme for the “Ghost.” The music is dark and sinister throughout the film, until some light seeps in at the end after Larsen’s death. There is also a haunting and atmospheric contrasting melody for solo harmonica that Korngold later used effectively in his Third String Quartet. The huge orchestra, including piano, celesta, vibraphone, and nova chord, makes you realize how Korngold would have relished utilizing synthesizers in his orchestra. This is the premiere recording of the complete score for The Sea Wolf . In addition to emphasizing the lost art of the composer presenting his principal musical statement in a concise Main Title, the CD also includes nearly five minutes of music composed for the film’s trailer. One thinks of a trailer like that for The Nun’s Story , which is virtually choreographed to Franz Waxman’s symphonically developed music. This is something you unfortunately no longer see in the present age of temp-tracked trailers.


The substantial filler is a 16-minute concert suite that Korngold arranged from his score for The Adventures of Robin Hood . Many feel that Robin Hood is Korngold’s greatest and most original score. While I freely acknowledge its seminal importance and influence in the history of film music, I prefer to listen to any number of his scores, including Kings Row , Anthony Adverse , Between Two Worlds , Devotion , and The Sea Wolf . The technically dazzling and flamboyantly orchestrated swashbuckling and swordfight music wears a little thin after awhile. In arranging his concert suite, Korngold seems to have recognized this. The gorgeous love scene is the centerpiece, and there is more emphasis on lyrical music than the action underscores. What is missing is the dazzling “Coronation Procession,” which is the orchestral highlight of the score.


Rumon Gamba’s interpretation of The Sea Wolf is excellent in every conceivable way. He doesn’t stint on the angry edginess of the music, and its unique atmosphere comes through perfectly. I can pay Gamba no higher compliment than to say that he matches Charles Gerhardt’s short Suite from the RCA “Classic Film Score” series in every way except the sound. Robin Hood does not work quite as well. Some of this is due to sound that lacks the transient speed and fine inner detail necessary to project the complex but transparent orchestration. Gamba is also a little laid back in the love music, and he doesn’t have the feel for those gorgeous climactic final cadences that Gerhardt has. To get back to the sound, the CD is recorded at a very low level, but if you turn the volume sufficiently high, the music explodes with a front and center aural perspective that complements the dynamic impact of The Sea Wolf . The distant harmonica is beautifully phrased and flawlessly integrated with the orchestra. It effectively emphasizes the loneliness of the sailor’s life, especially on this ship from hell. In sum, great music, dynamic conducting, brilliant orchestral execution, and sound that works well for The Sea Wolf , but somewhat less so for the Robin Hood Suite. The album contains excellent program notes written by the composer’s biographer, Brendan G. Carroll. This is essential for Korngold aficionados, film music fans, and music-lovers everywhere. One hopes that Chandos will follow this valuable recording with the many other Korngold scores that have never had adequate complete recordings.


FANFARE: Arthur Lintgen


The Sea Wolf is one of Erich Korngold's darkest and most evocative scores. This recording includes the entire work, plus the original trailer for the film--more than an hour of music in all. Despite the claim that Korngold's scores link up perfectly when played continuously, there's still a good bit of atmospheric noodling and some clear stops and starts. This is movie music, after all, but the vast majority of the piece really does hang together on its own, and as always Korngold's handling of texture and sonority is simply amazing. The suite from Robin Hood is quite popular and no stranger to disc, but the performances here are uniformly fine and very well recorded. Indeed, the BBC Philharmonic sounds like a good Hollywood pick-up band, perhaps lacking only that last ounce of schmaltz to the string tone. I can't imagine film music buffs or Korngold fans being disappointed.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

ECCLES The Judgment of Paris & • Christian Curnyn (hpd, 1–3 cond); Roderick Williams ( Mercury ); Benjamin Hulett ( Paris ); Susan Bickley ( Juno, mez 3 ); Claire Booth ( Pallas Athena, sop 2 ); Lucy Crowe ( Venus, sop 1 ); Richard Sweeney (gtr, archlute); 1–3 Emilia Benjamin (b vl); 1–3 early op company • CHANDOS 759 (62:13 Text and Translation)


& Restless in Thought; 1 Love’s but the frailty of the Mind; 2 I Burn, I burn 3


The Judgment of Paris , the tale of the famed competition between three Olympian goddesses that led to the Trojan War, was itself the subject of a competition. In 1700, a group of English nobility offered up a libretto by the famous William Congreve for competitive setting. Four composers were selected from those who replied to this ad in the London Gazette:


Several Persons of Quality having, for the Encouragement of MUSICK Advanced 200 Guineas, to be distributed in 4 Prizes, the First of 100, the Second of 50, the Third of 30 and the Fourth of 20 Guineas, to such Masters as shall be adjudged to compose the best; this is therefore to give Notice, that those who intend to put in for the Prizes, are to repair to Jacob Tonson at Grays-Inn-Gate before Easter-Day next, where they may be further Informed.


All four completed works were presented on stage individually, in events that, according to Congreve, a social snob of the first water, were “crammed with beauties and beaux, not one scrub being admitted.” This was followed by all four Judgments being offered as a single evening’s entertainment, with subscribers choosing the order of winners. John Weldon, organist of New College, Oxford and a former pupil of Purcell’s, scored something of an upset victory, having little previous theatrical experience. Eccles, the favorite, musical director for the Lincoln’s Inn Fields company and one of the king’s 24 musicians-in-ordinary, came in second, ahead of Daniel Purcell, the late composer’s younger brother. Placing last was Gottfried Finger, a Moravian composer and viol-player who a few professional musicians felt made the best showing of all. According to Roger North, James II’s attorney general and an inveterate concertgoer, Finger complained, perhaps unreasonably, that he had hoped to be “judged by men, and not by boys.” Sadly, his Judgment of Paris is lost, though all three of the others have survived; they were presented in 1989 at Proms concerts, where Eccles was given the palm. I can’t speak to the versions of Weldon or Daniel Purcell, though a bundled recording of all three works would have made for some fine comparisons. In any case, the opera of Eccles is by no means easily dismissed. Choral pieces are handled with distinction. Melodies are usually unadorned, and not infrequently possess a popular cast. The work is technically assured, rhythmically varied, and theatrically alive.


The judgment section of the piece, following the exposition, supplies a good illustration of the composer’s gifts. In it, Eccles differentiates among the three goddesses who seek the golden apple from Paris, providing each with a distinctive ritornello and brief, introductory song. Juno receives a majestic march; Pallas Athena, a graceful chaconne, whose accented second beat seems to sweep all before it; Venus, a minor-key sarabande that utilizes two recorders and a flute in the melodic line to emphasize what the period perceived as femininity. (At least she comes off better than in Tannhäuser .) Congreve shrewdly leaves out all efforts at bribery up to this point, however, leading to confusion in the mind of Paris, and a second, intensified round of presentations by the deific trio. In the fey “Let Ambition fire thy Mind,” Juno delivers a darkly martial, minor-key piece. She promises to Paris the delights of ruling an empire without toil or care. (The concluding verse, given to the divided chorus, with the violins running semiquaver figures, is especially effective.) The theme itself proved catchy enough upon publication to survive as a popular solo fiddle tune of the day. Boswell wrote of his almost obsessive affection for it. Ironically, a friend of mine who was part-timing as a Celtic fiddler once asked me if I knew why an old piece he played was given the odd name of “Let Ambition fire thy Mind.” After that, “Hark, hark! the glorious Voice of War” seems a small step down in energy and character, though it grants Pallas the first appearance of trumpets in the opera, alla battaglia . Venus restores an edge to the competition with “Nature fram’d thee sure for Loving,” a haunting minor key tune whose sensuous intimacy proves Handel wasn’t the only one capable of musically ravishing an English Baroque audience.


The recording concludes with three “mad songs.” These were very popular on London stages at the time, involving a female singer whose unrequited or suddenly terminated love leads to insanity. This chaotic madness is then revealed in a series of rhetorically balanced and logically contoured poems. I confess to little love for the genre, as you might guess from my remarks, but these three of Eccles are at least pleasant, if unmemorable. I find the best of the lot to be “I burn, I burn, my Brain consumes to Ashes,” and that’s at least in part due to its performer, Susan Bickley. If this recording were to offer its own golden apple to one of its three female soloists for articulation, tone, and dramatic interpretation, she would win, hands down. Bickley is one of those mezzos who shade up to a soprano, and her upper range is bright and ringingly glorious in its sound. Claire Booth’s slightly dull tone is not always well supported, and though she enunciates well, I find her far too restrained in lines that brim over with ardor for and joy in war. Lucy Crowe’s sweet tone and refined phrasing makes her an excellent choice for Venus, though, and if she’s rushed a bit in the opera, there’s more expressiveness in her mad song, “Restless in Thought disturb’d in Mind.”


The rest of the cast is top notch. Benjamin Hulett displays an attractive lyric tenor voice, notable for its sensitive deployment of color in “O Ravishing Delight.” Baritone Roderick Williams does a particularly fine job with the phrasing of his only song, “Fear not, Mortal, none shall harm thee.” This is my first exposure to the early opera company, an ensemble of 22 performers; effectively 18, if you disregard the brief appearance of the four trumpets. They deploy two bass violins and a bass viol instead of cellos and double basses on this release, along with a lowered A pitch of 392 Hz. The resulting sound is mellow, if not dark, vitiated by a few rushed tempo choices, notably Venus’s second song. Balance between singers and orchestra is good, with excellent choices for continuo.


It’s great to have this major work by Eccles easily available on disc. Perhaps we can now get the other two extant versions of the opera, as well—or possibly his opera Semele , set to another text by Congreve. Regardless, there’s much to enjoy, here.


FANFARE: Barry Brenesal