Following on from the tremendous popularity of the two previous volumes, this is Ian Tracey's third symphonic organ works disc for Chandos and the enormous Willis organ of Liverpool Cathedral. Ian Tracey is well-established as one of the leading exponents of this music and his skills are brought out to the fore in this brilliant selection of virtuosic works by some of the greatest masters of this genre, including Saint-Saëns, Guilmant and Dupré. This is a must for organ fans and symphonic enthusiasts alike.

I cannot imagine a better place to start to get to know the French organ repertoire... Lovers of the genre should place their orders at once.

The CD opens with a display piece which is much more than just display: the whole disc might well have been devised to demonstrate that there is much more to the great French organ tradition than just a mighty sound. Much of the music is quiet and reflective and the bravura works, like this Tournemire improvisation, have more to offer than glorious sound.

This is one of the improvisations which Tournemire recorded and which were subsequently transcribed by Duruflé. Tournemire insisted that improvisations could not and should not be recaptured but this Improvisation on the Te Deum is a fine piece, worthy of preservation. The CD notes attribute this work to L’Orgue mystique, a cycle of 51 pieces on Gregorian themes for the major festivals of the liturgical year but, whereas that work consists of improvisation-like pieces which Tournemire actually wrote down, the Te Deum improvisation was not written down until Duruflé’s labour of love in transcribing it 28 years later.

Duruflé’s transcription in Ian Tracey’s hands almost persuades one that one is hearing the actual process of improvisation, yet at the same time the playing is totally assured. The Liverpool organ may not be a Cavaillé-Coll, but it is a fine instrument.

Only careful listening identifies the plainsong tune of the Te Deum but that is part of the art of composing such pieces. Bach sometimes buries his chorale melodies fairly deeply in his preludes and Duruflé’s own music based on plainsong themes sometimes requires a deal of detective work. Try his Four motets on Gregorian themes, coupled with his own performance of his gorgeous, Fauré-inspired Requiem and his Mass Cum jubilo on Apex 2564 61139 2, a budget-price distillation of two Erato CDs which have long been in my collection.

The two short pieces by Bonnet which follow are fairly insubstantial but they make an excellent bridge between the display of the Tournemire and the Saint-Saëns improvisation, itself an exercise in virtuosity which receives a glorious free-wheeling performance from Tracey. There is very little Saint-Saëns organ music in the record catalogues; a performance like this reminds us that there is much more to him than The Carnival of the Animals, as I have pointed out in my recent review of two of his Piano Concertos. (Jean-Yves Thibaudet with the OSR under Charles Dutoit on Decca 475 8764).

The title of Franck’s Grande Pièce Symphonique, which is used as the generic name of the CD as a whole, implies employment of the big guns but, in fact, the dominant mood of this piece is restrained, with frequent markings of dolce, pp and even ppp. The opening andante serioso is subdued and reflective: Tracey captures the serioso mood here as well as the mood of the succeeding allegro section, faster but still no troppo e maestoso. The notes in the booklet compare the opening section to a processional but I was put more in mind of a hushed and expectant congregation awaiting the start of Vespers.

In the quiet and reflective andante opening of the second movement, too, the image conjured up is of the preparation for an important service – a role which Tracey, in his capacity at Liverpool Cathedral, will have performed many times. He captures all these quiet passages extremely effectively, especially in those sections marked cantando, and the recording registers every detail, with individual manual- and pedal-parts coming over very clearly. The Liverpool reverberation is kept to a minimum.

The finale also opens pp, but with a hint of a storm to come. When those bigger guns finally arrive, in the wonderful fugue and the concluding outburst of joy, they are all the more effective for having been kept so long in reserve – and for Franck’s retaining a considerable degree of restraint even when they do fire. This is certainly not a showpiece for the sake of mere show and Tracey shows admirable restraint where a lesser organist might well have gone overboard. These grander moments are also very well captured by the engineers, even in normal stereo. One is again aware of the resonance of the building without its ever interfering with the clarity of the recording.

Those seeking to expand their knowledge of Franck’s organ music will inevitably reduplicate the Grande pièce, albeit at bargain price and on French organs. Either Jennifer Bate on the Beauvais organ (Regis RRC2054) or Marie-Claire Alain on the Cavaillé-Coll organ at Caen (Apex 2564 61428 2) will do very nicely. Both are 2-CD sets selling for around £9 in the UK.

The Gigout Scherzo provides a lighter, capricious moment before the Widor: delicacy of touch is paramount here and this Tracey very ably provides.

The Widor Symphony is not the one with the Toccata: that is No.5, already recorded in full by Tracey on CHAN9271. Listeners may welcome the chance to get away from that ubiquitous piece and at the same time hear another of his symphonies in its entirety: the Fourth Symphony is as good a piece as any to choose. Don’t expect these works, despite their title, to sound too symphonic: they are more like a suite than a symphony. Again Tracey’s chief rival in this work is Marie-Claire Alain’s authoritative account on the Cavaillé-Coll organ at Saint Germain (Warner Elatus 2564 60341 2, at mid-price).

Franck left his big guns till the end of his Grande Pièce; the Widor Symphony does the opposite, starting with a fff marking at the beginning of the opening Toccata. This is a big movement – by definition a Toccata is designed to show off the player’s expertise in ‘touching’ the keys. (From Italian toccare, to touch.) Tracey makes the Toccata sound big without being entirely overwhelming and without setting off too much reverberation: if anything, I might have wanted him to sound just a little more ferocious. The Fugue begins quietly with the 16’ pedal tone which the score calls for held in restraint; the effect is ethereal.

The third movement, marked dolce, opens even more ethereally, with the pp organ barely audible. This is the best-known movement, often played as a separate piece. The booklet compares it to Daquin’s Noëls but, having recently reviewed an excellent Hyperion Helios reissue of the Noëls (CDH 55319) I have to say that the relationship is a distant one apart from the cantabile nature of the music, excellently captured by Tracey. The central section, written in four staves – i.e. with two sets of pedal parts – is fiendishly difficult but Tracey, with art that conceals art, makes it sound effortless.

The Scherzo and Adagio are again gentle movements, the pp opening of each setting the tone. The mood of the Adagio anticipates that of Fauré’s Requiem by twenty-one years. Tracey’s nimble playing in the Scherzo, his lighter touch in the Adagio and the recording are once more absolutely first class.

It is a mark of a fine recording not only that it captures the loudest moments without distortion but that it makes an equally good job of registering music on the threshold of hearing. The Chandos engineers score in both respects on this CD – just don’t try to play it in the car: the volume required for the quieter movements to register would place you in the head-bangers’ league in the louder movements.

The Finale begins fff, a marking which recurs at several points in the movement. The big guns are unleashed at the start but Widor is careful again not to make the effect too overwhelming and Tracey’s playing contributes to the comparative restraint, especially in the central part of this movement. The closing bars bring a confident conclusion to the work, confidently executed.

I have already indicated that the recording is first-class even in stereo. In SACD surround-format I am sure that the ambience of Liverpool Cathedral is perfectly captured, albeit without too much of the reverberation of this building.

I’m going for broke and nominating this my Recording of the Month. I cannot imagine a better place to start to get to know the French organ repertoire – unless it should be one of Ian Tracey’s other recordings in this series. Lovers of the genre should place their orders at once.

-- Brian Wilson, MusicWeb International

Recorded in: Forde Abbey, Somerset 1-3 June 2000 & 12 June 2001 Producer(s) Gary Cole Sound Engineer(s) Gary Cole

The Symphony No. 11 in G minor by Dmitri Shostakovich was written in 1957 and premiered, by the USSR Symphony Orchestra under Natan Rakhlin, on 30 October 1957. The subtitle of the symphony refers to the events of the Russian Revolution of 1905. However, the music actually reflects the Soviet invasion of Hungary, as the symphony was composed in the aftermath of the events. Shostakovich himself was quoted saying "don't forget that I wrote the symphony in the aftermath of Hungarian Uprising". The first performance given outside the Soviet Union took place in London's Royal Festival Hall on 22 January 1958 when Sir Malcolm Sargent conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The symphony was conceived as a popular piece and proved an instant success in Russia—his greatest, in fact, since the Leningrad Symphony fifteen years earlier. The work's popular success, as well as its earning him a Lenin Prize in April 1958, marked the composer's formal rehabilitation from the Zhdanov Doctrine of 1948. On this new release, the BBC Philharmonic brilliantly interprets the work under the baton of John Storgards.

Kalinnikov: Symphony No. 2 - Overture Tsar Boris - The Cedar

Kodály's orchestral output was relatively limited. Best known for his educational material, he wrote only nine works for orchestra. On hearing Kodály's orchestral music, one cannot help but notice similarities to Bartók in the use of Hungarian folk melodies, rhythms and dance forms, as well as his application of quartal harmonies, that is, harmony using the interval of the perfect fourth as its basic unit, instead of the third or fifth. Though overshadowed by Bartók as a serious composer, Kodály's music is neither derivative nor insignificant. Bartók was more of a modernist with respect to form, using mathematical and architectural strategies to generate new forms. Kodály strove to frame Hungarian music with classical and baroque forms, as in his Concerto for Orchestra.
This is a good overview of Kodály's orchestral music. Yan Pascal Tortelier metes out a steady tempo without being too rigid to accommodate the fluid exoticism of the 'Dances of Marosszek.' The BBC Philharmonic is a tight rhythmic ensemble, essential to a good performance of the dance rhythms found in Kodály, Bartók, or Stravinsky. This is particularly evident in the woodwinds' nimble performance at the end of the Allegro con brio from 'Marosszek.'

Franz Schreker's early 20th Century compositions pushed him to the forefront of modernism. His ability to work on a large scale as well as with more intimate orchestrations makes this collection a particularly varied and enjoyable experience.
The pieces here range from symphonic overtures to small chamber orchestra pieces. The title composition, 'Prelude to a Drama,' billows in its immensity. This work, which Schreker later shortened and used in his opera 'Die Gezeichneten,' achieves its grandiose scale with sweeping melodies with a minimal focus on the underlying rhythms. Conversely, 'Valse lente' is a subtle, tightly scored piece full of bright color and delightful patterns. Written to be a dance score, it is unobtrusively pleasant. Most of the pieces included in this collection, however, are of a more symphonic nature, given to the soaring energy of the late Romantics. Like a Liszt or a Wagner, Schreker put power in his music.
REVIEWS:
International Record Review (4/00, p.41) - "...Schreker had a wonderful sense of fantasy, a feeling for colour and impressive mastery of the orchestra. Sinaisky and his fine orchestra are expertly served by the recording team, and whole disc serves to advance Schreker's cause..."

REVIEWS:
International Record Review (5/00, pp.74-75) - "Here, surely, is the Hummel disc we've been waiting for....it would be difficult to imagine these performances being improved upon; everything is ideally shaped, phrased, articulated and coloured..."

Recorded in: Orchestra Hall, Detroit 8 & 9 November 1991 (Three Essays for Orchestra), 24 & 25 April 1993 (Excerpts from Vanessa and Music for a Scene from Shelley, 16 January 1994 (Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance) Producer(s) Brian Couzens (Executive) Charles Greenwell (Three Essays for Orchestra) Ralph Couzens (Excerpts from Vanessa; Music for a Scene from Shelley and Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance) Charles Greenwell (as for Ralph Couzens) Leslie B. Dunner (Associate) Sound Engineer(s) Dan Dene Robert Shafer

Chandos continues its most enjoyable film music series with a disc devoted to Sir Arthur Bliss, whose score for Things To Come (1934-5) was the first important contribution to cinema by an established composer. It remains one of the medium’s finest scores. Bliss’s screen work also embraced both more functional cinematic fare such as the weekly Pathe Pictorial newsreel (featured here a Welcome March marking the return of the Queen from a Commonwealth tour in 1954) and television documentary – represented on this disc by War in the Air and 1966’s The Royal Palaces Suite. In all this music, played with fervour and flair by the well-proven Rumon Gamba- BBC Philharmonic partnership, the vigour and vitality of the composer’s musical invention shines through.

If occasionally Bliss’s melodic line isn’t as overtly tuneful as that of his near contemporary Walton, his dazzling orchestration, dramatic and highly coloured sense of drama, and pungent rhythmic flair are uniquely his own. In these slighter pieces listen out for the unbuttoned start to Welcome the Queen and, at the other end of the scale, the piquantly scored wind interlude in the brief War in the Air. The picturesque tuneful waltz, ‘The Ballroom in Buckingham Palace’ from The Royal Palaces Suite, reminds us of the composer’s earlier credits for the ballet and Bliss, the conjurer of magical orchestral effects, runs through the spooky dark alleyways of Holyrood House, where Rizzio the confidante of Mary Queen of Scots was murdered, to evocative effect.

Things to Come, with its compelling warning for mankind’s future, has lost none of its power to enthrall. In an opening maestoso modal theme interrupted by call signs indicating an outside presence, Bliss powerfully captures the potent compound of HG Wells’s hopes and fears. ‘The Ballet for Children’, a gem of fleet-footed scoring and counterpoint with a trumpet tune foreshadowing to uncanny effect the one in Copland’s Billy The Kid, is followed by a series of bleak landscapes rent asunder by war-like noises. The optimistic note sounded in ‘Building of the New World’ is affirmed by the surging tune in the ‘Epilogue’. Congratulations are due to Philip Lane who arranged and reconstructed this concert music from the film, a story told in detail by Giles Easterbrook in his booklet-notes.

Given its first recording here, Caesar and Cleopatra was an unhappy experience for Bliss. He walked out on the project after meeting the Hungarian producer Gabriel Pascal, who by most accounts was as mad as a hatter, a fact recorded by Alan Jay Lerner during his acquisition of the musical rights to Pygmalion. At the time Bliss had completed over 80 pages of fully scored music including some enchanting, luminously conceived dance episodes. Studio 7 in New Broadcasting House, Manchester makes an ideal recording venue for this kind of music with a dry acoustic that is able to absorb the large battery of percussion evident in Things to Come, as well as offering an appropriately wide view of the sound stage.

GRAMOPHONE

Classical Music

Bax, who died in 1953, is now enjoying something of a renaissance and featuring in more concert programmes and record listings than ever before. His popularity is largely due to Chandos. These chamber works are new to the catalogue and to my ear, although Max Harrison in his review of the LP has reminded us that the tuneful String Quartet No. 1 was available on 78s. Here they are all recorded quite distantly in a decidedly non-chamber acoustic but nicely balanced and very listenable, it being easily possible to follow any of the instrumentalists at will.

-- Gramophone [4/1987]

Recorded in: Mosfilm Studio, Moscow April 1999 Producer(s) Vadim Ivanov Sound Engineer(s) Vladimir Schuster

Felicity Lott's radiant singing has a glistening purity and brightness of tone. Her diction is immaculate and the sheer rapture of her phrasing is glorious to hear.

A distinguished Strauss disc, and how good to find it sponsored by a Scottish commercial firm. The SNO made many fine recordings under Sir Alexander Gibson and this achievement is obviously being prolonged by his successor Neeme Järvi, who has imparted his own precision to the playing. The orchestra now play with a smouldering intensity that can and does, when required, erupt with volcanic force. Em Heldenleben is just the work for this kind of corporate artistic personality and the best tribute I can pay to this performance is that it can stand comparison with Karajan's latest Berlin/DG recording; and Chandos offer better value for money by including the Four Last Songs.

The sound on the LP version is admirable. Recording balance is excellent and even the most complex and forceful sections of the score, such as the Battle scene, never sound congested. .15rvi is kinder to the Adversaries (music critics) than some of his colleagues: the SNO woodwind lack some of the spitefulness that this passage ideally requires. Edwin Paling's playing of the long violin solo depicting Strauss's wife, Pauline, is vividly characterized and technically beyond cavil. I was deeply moved by Jdrvi's interpretation of the final section, where the solo violin and solo horn contribute to his creation of a-truly noble tranquillity. One feature—unique among Ein Heldenleben recordings to the best of my knowledge—is that each of the work's six sections is banded, a very welcome idea.

Those fortunate enough to attend Glyndebourne know how well Felicity Lott sings operatic Strauss, so it is particularly pleasing that wider and larger audiences enjoy her outstanding performance of the Four Last Songs and can now have it on record. I have no hesitation in preferring it to Jessye Norman's over-praised Philips recording; for one thing, Järvi's tempos avoid Masur's ponderous treatment of this score. For another, the songs are sung in the order of the 1950 first performance, with "Beim schlafengehen" first (as on the Delia Casa/13611m classic 1953 Decca disc—nla). Emotionally this seems to me an improvement on the published sequence. Lott's radiant singing reminds me of Sena Jurinac in this music. It has a comparable glistening purity and brightness of tone. Her diction is immaculate and the sheer rapture of her phrasing–in a line like "Sommer lachelt erstaunt" and especially her profoundly moving delivery of "So tief im Abendrot" in the final song—is glorious to hear. The orchestral playing is luminous and rich in detail.

-- Gramophone [10/1987]

First issued here for the centenary of Ives's birth, this performance, with its sound quality somewhat improved, is welcome back. Symphony No. 4 is among the great works of American music and one of the most remarkable things that Ives ever did. Serebrier, born in Uruguay of Russian and Polish parents, understands this music well, especially the last two movements where much of the symphony's weight lies. He was, of course, one of Stokowski's assistant conductors at the New York first performance in 1965.

This interpretation, however, is by no means an echo of Stokowski's (CBS 77424, 9/74—part of a four-LP set). For example, and as MM pointed out when Serebrier's recording first appeared, the second movement's representation of chaos resolves quite differently. It is reassuring that this performance is at its most impressive in the visionary last movement, although on a more mundane level one has to point out that at 32'44" the overall playing time is not generous.

-- Gramophone [9/1985, reviewing the LP release, Chandos 1118]