Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

On the 52nd disc in his monumental undertaking of recording all the sacred cantatas by J.S. Bach, Masaaki Suzuki includes one of the best-loved cantatas of all, Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140. With the famous chorale as the unifying element, Bach creates a majestic first movement which is followed by a couple of the most beautiful love duets in the history of music, between the Soul and Jesus, here interpreted by the soprano Hana Blažíková and Peter Kooij, bass. Following BWV 140 on the disc is Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt (‘the Lord is my faithful shepherd’), in which an adaptation from 1531 of the famous Psalm 23 provides the text for all five movements. It is thus a late addition, composed in 1731, to the so-called chorale cantatas that Bach composed a number of in 1724-25. The final cantata in this volume was composed for a church service celebrating the inauguration of a new city council, a ‘Ratswahl cantata’. For this unusually festive occasion Bach clearly wished to demonstrate to the Leipzig notables how sacred music was flourishing under his direction and to present himself as a composer. As a result, the opening sinfonia is a brilliant organ concerto movement, while the first chorus is a reworking of material which Bach would return to in the Dona nobis pacem of his Mass in B minor. The ending of the cantata is suitably splendid and festive, with trumpets and timpani joining in the praise ‘unto God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost’ expressed in the closing chorale. As this recording project is nearing completion – three more volumes remain to be released – reviewers worldwide are commending it for its consistently high standards, with the German web site Klassik Heute remarking that Suzuki ‘not even towards the end of his marathon is showing any lack of freshness or breath – one can only wait impatiently for the final discs of this series’.

Classical Music

Includes yiddish song(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Elli Jaffe. Soloists: Robert Abelson, Bruce Adler, Robert Bloch, Joanne Borts, Amy Goldstein, Benzion Miller, Elizabeth Shammash, Nell Snaidas, Simon Spiro.

When, in 1922, Charles Ives published a volume entitled 114 Songs, he was indirectly drawing attention to the fact that the genre played a central part in his output. 85 years on and, for all that his wider reputation may rest on orchestral, chamber and piano music, songs represent the heart of his creative thinking. Nor was that initial volume comprehensive; Ives having written nearly 200 songs, of which this edition includes all those he completed. The expressive variety is vast: indeed, the gradual evolution of Ives's songwriting, from those drawing on Austro-German Lieder and English parlor-song traditions to ones that evince anarchic humor as keenly as others do profound vision, is analogous to the evolution of American music over the last quarter of the nineteenth and first quarter of the twentieth centuries. Although it would be possible to collate Ives's songs according to type, the alphabetic approach adopted by this edition ensures each volume (of which this disc is the fifth) contains a representative cross-section of his achievement. A wide range of poets is set, including a number of (mainly early) German settings as well as forays into French and Italian writers. The temporal distance (1887-1926) traversed by these songs is as little compared to their stylistic diversity or their emotional range.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

An atmospheric medieval mass recorded by men's voices. A sumptuous sound bringing the inner peace of this timeless music - Gregorian chant - which formed the bedrock of the liturgy of the early church and whose calm intensity still speaks to US with equal clarity today.

2 CD set in an elegant, book-like package. Sacred choral music from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance sung by Magdala directed by David Skinner. Music from both manuscript and printed sources of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; a mix of English and Italian polyphony with music from all corners of the Holy Roman Empire, including Robert Fayrfax's splendid Mass Tecum principium.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Music for Henry VIII a collection of glorious sacred music which was presented as a gift to Henry VIII at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1526 by the city of Florence. Music by the great European composers of the day which was known to Henry and heard in his great chapels throughout the land, in an atmospheric recording by Oxford's finest mixed-voice choir.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Volume 10 of the Cantata Pilgrimage series features the programs given in Potsdam and Wittenberg on the 29th and 31st of October, respectively. The first disc is devoted to three cantatas for the 19th Sunday after Trinity with BWV 90 (for Trinity 25) tossed in for good measure, while the second appropriately contains Bach’s two great Reformation Day cantatas (Nos. 79 and 80), separated by the brief, lively, and possibly incomplete No. 192. The three Trinity 19 cantatas are altogether more solemn, or at least begin that way. Coming a third of the year after the last major festival, these cantatas are concerned more with reassurance than exultation, and each concludes with a positive affirmation, and in the case of BWV 5, a triumphant one. Best known of the three, by far, is Cantata 56, for bass. Here divorced from its customarily joined-at-the-hip partner, BWV 82, it confirms its status as one of the elite cantatas. The inclusion of No. 92 is a happy solution to a number of dilemmas. The year of the Pilgrimage did not have enough Sundays after Trinity to accommodate it; it fills out what might otherwise have been a short program, and it is a vigorous and effective foil for its more introspective discmates.

Again, the performances are superb. Personnel for the two concerts are consistent, apart from the addition of flutes, horns, timpani, and a bass sackbut for the second evening. The choir is made up of seven (count them) sopranos, one female and three male altos, four tenors, and three basses, without detectable loss of responsiveness and flexibility, and the solo quartet acquits itself admirably. Harvey’s BWV 56 is outstanding. Lunn and Towers, incidentally, pull double duty, singing in the choir as well as offering their solos.

As expected, Gardiner uses the original scoring––without Wilhelm Friedemann’s high trumpets––in Ein feste Burg (Cantata 80). Obviously it’s an (perhaps the) appropriate choice, but it set me to wondering about what seems to be an obsession among the period-practice set with composers’ first thoughts––their need to find the earliest version of any score, as if the original inspiration is automatically diminished by any subsequent modifications. We know that Bach’s music was nearly always created under the most intense pressure, and that he was constantly tinkering with it, usually out of necessity, but, who knows, perhaps out of conviction. I know that I, operating at a much lower level of inspiration, am continually tweaking whatever I happen to be working on. Recording artists, especially in the classical field, if they are successful enough, revisit music that they have already committed to disc. First thoughts are not invariably best. That’s why there are erasers on pencils and an Undo button on the Word toolbar. We’ll never know, of course, but isn’t it possible that Bach might have mentioned casually to his son that he wished he’d put some trumpets in that music he wrote for Reformation Sunday? Well, no matter. In fact, Gardiner does have a sonic surprise for us in Cantata 80, an unexpectedly prominent bass sackbut. And why not? The production is, as anticipated, exemplary. Most enthusiastically recommended.

FANFARE: George Chien

Classical Music

William Croft (1678–1727) was the finest English composer of his age, having followed in the footsteps of Henry Purcell and John Blow at Westminster Abbey. This recording highlights his full anthems and Burial Service published in his ambitious and successful Musica Sacra of 1724, which succinctly demonstrates his passion for the preservation of English church music in an age rapidly becoming dominated by the stage and grand oratorios. Croft was deeply inspired by Thomas Tallis and, at the height of his career, flourished in the shadow of Handel. The Sidney Sussex College Choir’s first recording with Obsidian, Thomas Tomkins ‘These Distracted Times’ with Fretwork and Alamire was awarded both Gramophone Editor’s Choice and their CD of the Month. Their most recent, music by Thomas Weelkes, was also nominated for a Gramophone Award in 2014. David Skinner is well known as a leading scholar and performer of early music, and director of the acclaimed vocal ensemble Alamire.

A Copland Celebration, Vol. 3: Vocal & Choral Works

LIFE BELONGS YOU

The parade of aspirants to the title "Next Great Tenor" has, at times, seemed endless. But no one had been able to reach up and firmly grasp the brass ring, until Salvatore Licitra entered the fray armed with extraordinary natural ability and an impressive list of credentials. Trained by the venerable Carlo Bergonzi, the young singer has already established a considerable reputation through triumphs at La Scala and the Arena of Verona, and his Metropolitan Opera debut could become the stuff of legend. Called upon at the eleventh hour to fill in for an ailing Luciano Pavarotti, he was whisked to New York via Concorde with barely enough time to unpack a toothbrush before he wowed audience and critics alike. But the proof is in the singing, and his maiden recital disc offers that proof in abundance. Licitra, steeped in the Italian tenor tradition, wisely plays to his strengths and devotes the album solely to arias by Puccini and Verdi. He moves through these masterworks with poise and confidence, displaying a powerful vocal style and a sure sense of musicianship. It may be premature to anoint him just yet, but this auspicious debut augurs well for a bright future.