Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Rautavaara, E.: Symphonies Nos. 1-3

Classical Music

Classical Music

REVIEW:

The Finnish Brass Symphony, directed by Hannu Lintu, has recorded a masterful survey of music by countryman Einojuhani Rautavaara. Spanning more than 45 years of the composer's work, the album functions as something of a compendium of themes that Rautavaara has returned to time and again in his music, from the dodecaphonic experiments of the Wind Octet to his ongoing fascination with angels. In this performance of 1981's Playgrounds for Angels, it becomes unclear if the playgrounds belong entirely to terrifying otherworldly beings or to these instrumentalists, whose superb ensemble skills definitely qualify them as supernaturally talented. 1953's A Requiem in our Time has been recorded at least four times, most memorably--until now--on a BIS disc with Brass Partout. The bold strokes and brash colors of this work are reflected in the more rare Soldier's Mass from 1968, whose "In Hora Mortis" movement presages the shimmering intensity of Rautavaara's later works.

A few shorter compositions round out the collection. Originally written as a compulsory piece for a trumpet competition, the Tarantará must have struck fear into the hearts of those brass players--in Rautavaara's hands, the instrument is nothing short of a wild animal that shrieks, growls, and leaps all over the register with dizzying speed. The extraordinary trumpeter Pasi Pirinen makes it all seem easy. The fanfare written for Finland's 75th independence anniversary is a mere 37 seconds long: blink twice, and you miss it entirely. The most recent composition, 1998's Hymnus for trumpet and organ, ably performed by Deborah Calland and Barry Millington, completes the survey. Kudos to Ondine for a marvelous recording.

--Anastasia Tsioulcas, ClassicsToday.com

For the last several years, sacred choral music has been experiencing a resurgence in popularity. RADIANT LIGHT captures the emotion and power of the live choral performance from one of the top choirs in the United States.
Recorded at the choir's home at Trinity Church in Boston, Massachusetts, the Trinity Choir's sound is augmented by the warmth of the performance space. The three dimensional sound is of particular note on John Tavener's "The Lamb," one of the most popular compositions on the album.
Directed by Brian Jones, the Trinity Choir lives up to its reputation as a world-class choir. Accompanied by organist Ross Wood, the choir provides a winning performance that will please recent converts to choral music as well as to long-time fans of the genre.

Classical Music

Classical Music

This disc of chamber works by Luigi Nono is most definitely not easy listening, and will not fade quietly into the background. It is, however, a fascinating collection of works which owe at least some debt to Anton Webern in the composition of their sound worlds. The titles evoke the most basic elements of Western music: polyphony, monody, rhythm, songs. Yet none of these appears in its traditional sense in the music--Nono is more interested here in suspended or fractured songs, rather than a style of sustained lyricism. 'Polifonica-Monodia-Ritmica' begins with echoes of unheard pitches which coalesce into undulating almost-harmonies before breaking into a halting movement forward.
Peter Hirsch and his Ensemble United Berlin have mastered this music and found Nono's broken and echoed melodies along with his polyphony, monody, and the rest. Whether a group of seven or of thirteen or of only two, they play with excellent ensemble. Soprano Angelika Luz gives the haunting, stratospheric 'Canciones a Guiomar' appropriate voice, giving beauty and life to "un-pretty" vocal writing.

Volume Five pairs two relatively early works of Lutoslawski with two works of his full maturity. The 'Concerto for Orchestra' of 1955 is a brilliant example of Lutoslawski's orchestral craftsmanship. It also demonstrates that he was a great composer well before he explored the more personal idiom of his later music. Also from this period is the tiny Overture for Strings of 1949. It is a lovely work that has been completely overshadowed by the composer's first symphony as well as the more famous 'Funeral Music.'
From the composer's full maturity comes his only work for chorus and orchestra, the 'Three Poems of Henri Michaux.' The score specifies that the two ensembles are only loosely coordinated, and each has its own conductor. The middle movement is a brilliant evocation of a crowd on the verge of riot. Finally there is 'Mi-Parti,' from 1976, a two-part single-movement work written for the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. As always in this series, the performances are completely competitive and offer much repertoire not available elsewhere--and all at a budget price.

Somewhat unusually, the fourth volume of the Naxos series of Lutoslawski orchestral recordings concentrates entirely on the music of his full maturity where the composer used brief passages of aleatoric counterpoint. As the composer stated many times, this is not improvisation: All the music is written out, but the precise coordination over a set duration is left to the moment. Thus each performance is, in its small details, literally unique. By the time of 'Livre pour orchestre,' written in 1968, Lutoslawski had begun to incorporate a certain amount of indeterminacy in all of his music.
The masterful Cello Concerto, written for Rostropovich in 1970, marked Lutoslawski's mature return to concertante writing. At the great cellist's request, only musical considerations were taken into account, hence the fearsome solo part. It is one of the composer's finest works, and is very well performed here. The 'Novelette' was also written for Rostropovich, this time as conductor, as a companion piece to the Cello Concerto in 1979. Finally, from Lutoslawski's last period comes 'Chain No.3,' the last of three works all employing a similar chain method of construction. All three works reflect the increasingly refined idiom of Lutoslawski's final decades.