A comprehensive and richly varied Delius programme has been put together form this new two-CD collection. Vernon Handley's splendid Ulster performance of the comparatively rarely heard 'Florida Suite' is complemented with, among others, 'North Country Sketches', a work which reveals a Debussyan influence. Richard Hickox is a sensitive and flexible Delian and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra plays passionately for him, especially in 'The Walk to the Paradise Garden'. The collection demonstrates the glittering qualities of Delius's enchanting music which evokes an atmosphere of serene pleasure in nature. These are conductors and orchestras performing at the top of their form, and the anthology will serve collectors as the perfect introduction to this marvellous composer.

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Handley's command of this unfamiliar music is wonderfully assured; the BBC Philharmonic play superbly for him, and it is hard to imagine anyone else doing it better or with more commitment. -- The Guardian (U.K.)

This disc offers four works, from several of Korngold's periods, including the 'Cello Concerto', an adaptation of a short piece Korngold composed in 1946 for the film 'Deception' and here performed by Peter Dixon. Dixon plays with elegance and a lyric understatement needed for this work. 'First-rate playing and opulent, well-balanced recording. Well worth exploring.' - The Penguin Guide, 3 stars

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My Recording of the Month, by a long way. The BBC Philharmonic sounds simply superb … Noseda conducts intelligently, sensitively, with full structural awareness of the dramatic trajectory.


Note that this is not part of the Chandos ‘Opera in English” series. This Aleko is sung in Russian. Rachmaninov’s early opera is remarkable, especially given its early date. The inspiration is free-flowing from the composer’s pen; the integrity of the Pushkin original is maintained.

The BBC Philharmonic sounds simply superb in the opening Prelude, delivering the themes of fate and jealousy with equal amounts of foreboding and lyricism. The recording helps – superbly focused, believably balanced and with just the right amount of space. The orchestra is superbly captured throughout, a vital facet of any recording of this piece given the dances that permeate the score. The Women’s Dance is superbly characterful - the BBC Philharmonic’s wind section excels. The Men’s Dance contains more contrasts, all relished by the forces here.

The opening chorus of gypsies makes plain reference to Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances. The chorus throughout - and it plays an integral part in the work’s unfolding - is magnificent. The Teatro Regio, Turin chorus makes a lovely, rounded sound and still sounds believably Russian.

The Russian text is given in Cyrillic only in the booklet, which might pose problems for some. At least there are translations in English, French and German and track points are frequent.

Luxury casting comes in the form of the experienced Gennadi Bezzubenkov as the Old Gypsy, full of Russian melancholy as he reminisces (track 3). The oboe’s supporting comments seem echt-Russian rather than Mancunian. The Old Gypsy Woman, who appears towards the end of the opera, is similarly convincing (Nadezhda Vasilieva).

The title role is taken by baritone Sergey Murzaev, strong and virile of voice. Aleko’s Cavatina (track 10) is powerfully delivered, a clear arioso narration until Aleko utters the magic name of “Zemfira”. The aftermath of his Cavatina (after the lines “Zemfira is unfaithful! Zemfira has grown cold!”) is a magical Intermezzo, during which the moon disappears and daybreak begins onstage. His vocal acting in the finale, when he awakes to find Zemfira and the Young Gypsy together, is excellent, right up to the moment he stabs the Young Gypsy.

As Zemfira, Svetla Vassileva is pure and yet passionate. Her big number is the Lullaby (track 9), preceded by the tender duet with the Young Gypsy - the ardent tenor Evgeny Akimov. Only his later off-stage aria, “Look how beneath the distant vault of Heaven …” disappoints, lacking the last iota of conviction. Again, the BBC Philharmonic performs a sterling service in setting up the atmosphere, here in the pointed phrasing. Vassileva sings beautifully, moulding her responses to the text perfectly.

Noseda conducts intelligently, sensitively, with full structural awareness of the dramatic trajectory. We clearly hear the Tchaikovskian influences in the orchestral writing, particularly in the yearning string phrases.

Rob Barnett rightly praised the Järvi DG recording on this site some eight years ago. I would love to hear the Svetlanov (only part of a six-disc set, alas). I remember a Proms performance of Aleko some years ago now which featured the magnificent Elena Prokina – perhaps it is too much to wish that she were part of the Chandos cast. Whatever, there is no doubt that this performance stands firmly on its own two feet.

My Recording of the Month, by a long way.

-- Colin Clarke, MusicWeb International

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For this new recording of orchestral works by Mendelssohn, the CBSO and its principal guest conductor, Edward Gardner, join the violinist Jennifer Pike, who made a remarkable debut at Carnegie Hall this year. She here performs the Violin Concerto in E minor, the piece that launched her career thirteen years ago when she became the youngest-ever winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Award. This recording contains another of Mendelssohn's later works: the Incidental Music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1843), in which he managed to recapture and amplify the unique magic of his early years.

Review:

Pike allies the luminous beauty of her tone to her innate musicality and mercurial technique to produce an exceptionally lyrical interpretation of the evergreen Violin Concerto in E minor.

– Guardian (UK)

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With their second album on Chandos, the highly lauded team of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor, Kirill Karabits, presents another volume in their surround-sound series ‘Voices from the East’. This is music very close to the heart of the native Ukrainian Karabits: Boris Lyatoshynsky taught orchestration to his father, Ivan Karabits. Having absorbed the music of the Russian tradition and late-nineteenth-century Western European romanticism, Lyatoshynsky shaped his personal voice under the influence of twentieth-century modernist movements such as expressionism, as well as Ukrainian folk music, becoming a self-professed national composer. The premiere of Symphony No. 3 could not be given until Lyatoshynsky had rewritten the finale to accord with Communist Party requirements, the original movement having met with objections from the Soviet authorities. On this recording the symphony is heard as originally conceived. The symphonic ballad Grazhyna was written to mark the centenary of the death of Poland’s greatest poet, Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855). Both works are confidently played by the BSO under a conductor whose musical decisions have the authority of one who directly embodies the legacy of the composer.

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The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra playing under the baton of Richard Hickox, Delius’s palette of colours shines through once again. Hickox was indeed a sensitive and flexible Delian and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra responded passionately to him from the start: their collaboration began with famous performances of the first ever complete cycle of Vaughan Williams’s symphonies in London.

Especially in ‘The Walk to the Paradise Garden’ – a highlight here – the collection demonstrates the glittering qualities of Delius’s enchanting musical world, which evokes an atmosphere of serene pleasure in nature.

Highly recommended by the Penguin Guide in 1995, one year its recording.