Classical Music

Kabalevsky's natural talent was for catchy tunes, clear structures and audience-pleasing rhythms; beautifully crafted, eminently accessible, full of wit and charm. � His position as a Stalin regime-friendly, arch-conservative critic did nothing to win him friends. � All works recorded here performed by Swedish cellist Torleif Thedeen. � The NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover is conducted by Eiji Oue; Adrian Prabava (Suite op. 24a).

Classical Music

AUBER La Muette de Portici • Antony Hermus, cond; Diego Torre ( Masaniello ); Oscar de la Torre ( Alphonse ); Angelina Ruzzafante ( Elvire ); Wiard Witholt ( Pietro ); Anhaltische PO & Op Ch • CPO 777694 (2 CDs: 135:09 & French only) Live: Dessau 5/24–26/2011


Hard for us to believe nowadays, but in its time Daniel-François-Esprit Auber’s opera La Muette de Portici (The Mute Girl of Portici) was to the Belgian fight for independence what Verdi’s Nabucco was to become a dozen years later for Italy—possibly even more so, since its Brussels premiere led directly to a public revolution on the very night the opera was given. The rebel leader tossed his red Jacobin cap into the air at the sight and sound of every appearance of the rebel Masaniello and his followers onstage; immediately after the performance, huge, unexpected mobs formed in the streets and marched into the office of the government newspaper Le National, smashing windows. All night long the victorious rebels loudly sang the passage from the opera declaring that nothing is more glorious than dying for one’s fatherland. Talk about a wildly successful premiere!


Very briefly, the plot concerns Alphonse, son of the Spanish Viceroy of Naples. He is in love with the mute girl Fenella, sister of a fisherman named Masaniello who becomes the leader of the peasants’ revolt (this is based on real events of 1647), but his father coerces him into marrying the more socially acceptable Elvire. Yet Fenella, imprisoned by Alphonse’s father, manages to escape and begs Elvire to help her. Fenella witnesses Alphonse’s marriage and is stunned to discover that Elvire is the bride, but the latter keeps her promise to help her and Alphonse, still in love with Fenella, also helps her escape. Masaniello and his fishermen plan for the revolution; when Alphonse and Elvire are captured, she begs the rebel leader to help them escape, and he does so before learning who they really are. When his actions are discovered, Masaniello is considered a traitor by the rebels and poisoned by his rival leader, Pietro; but this must be a rather odd, weak, and slow-acting poison, because Masaniello doesn’t die but just goes mad. Oddly enough, the peasants still trust him to lead them into battle, which he does. Fleeing from him this time, Elvire tries to convince Fenella to escape with her, but the mute girl learns that her brother was killed by his own men when he tried once again to protect Elvire and takes her own life.


Listening to the opera, especially as well and tautly conducted as it is by Antony Hermus, one is continually struck by the impressive and original music with which Auber graced this plot. Unlike so many Auber opera arias I’ve heard (think of “L’eclat de rire” from his Manon Lescaut ), this music demands that rare combination of vocal agility and flexibility with dramatic declamation. And let me tell you, this music is hard to sing: just listen to Elvire’s act 1 aria, “O moment enchanteur,” and you’ll hear what I mean. Angelina Ruzzafante, like so many of her soprano sisters nowadays (think of Barbara Frittoli or Patricia Racette), has a good enough technique to cope with the music’s difficulties and acts very well with the voice (a real necessity in this opera), yet has an inconsistent and sometimes acidic tone in the upper register (which does improve tonally as the performance goes on). This, however, is not entirely a detriment to a role which, like the opera itself, calls for drama over sheer vocalism, and the almost relentless drive of Auber’s music, in this opera at least, is a major factor in determining the prescribed style in which it is to be performed.


Tenor Oscar de la Torre, as Alphonse, has slightly tight voice production but superb phrasing, excellent declamation, and high notes in abundance—and he needs every last one of them, as they are written into the score and not optional. The other tenor, Diego Torre as Masaniello, has a similarly light, bright voice, and to my ears a more even tone production. Both are excellent in what they do. In fact, the only really poor voice in the cast is that of Masaniello’s rival, Pietro, sung by baritone Wiard Witholt.


The only other complete commercial recording of this opera that I could track down was the one made in September 1996 (EMI) with a considerably over-the-hill Alfredo Kraus and, though she was much younger, an already over-the-hill June Anderson (who also had, in my estimation, ZERO excitement as an interpreter); this is therefore clearly the better of the two recordings. (Since Kraus wanted to sing Masaniello’s famous aria, “Du pauvre seul ami fidèle,” he took that role, giving the equally cruel tessitura of Alphonse to a good but not great tenor, John Aler.)


There are two negatives, only one of which really affects us as listeners: 1) the stage production seems to have been updated to represent a gang war, as Masaniello is wearing a do-rag and a sleeveless T-shirt with “FSBN Bulldogs” proudly printed on it, and 2) the libretto is in French only. Other than that, this recording is a must-get for any lovers of truly dramatic opera of the ottocento period. This music is so great as to almost beggar belief, driving forward with an impulse that is sheerly visceral and practically irresistible. After hearing it, I almost wanted to go out and smash a government newspaper window myself! Go for it!


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

Classical Music

CPO and Osnabrück deserve considerable praise for this very successful revival of this fascinating work.

The operas of Gounod occupy a much lower place in the repertoire of most opera houses than was the case in his own century. Performances of Faust and Roméo et Juliette are not too infrequent outside France, but his other operas – ten in all – need to be sought out in their rare revivals. In the case of La Nonne Sanglante (“The Bleeding Nun”) the revival which this recording documents was the first since its initial performances. It was Gounod’s second completed opera, an attempt to meet the public taste more directly than he had done in his first opera, Sapho. However after eleven reasonably successful performances of La Nonne Sanglante a new director was appointed to the Opéra in Paris who disapproved of its mixture of Gothic horror, sex and religion and cancelled further performances. Whatever the rights or wrongs of this view one must wonder whether he would have done the same if the libretto had been set by one of the other composers to whom it had been offered, including Berlioz, David and Verdi.

Much has been written about the defects of both libretto and music, inevitably by those who had never had the chance to hear it, let alone see it on stage. Whilst its mixture of surefire elements and a tendency to leave unexplained crucial aspects of the plot does make it hard to feel any real concern about the characters, it is no worse than many operas of that period that have been successfully revived in recent years. The conductor in his notes in the booklet explains that some changes have been made to focus the story more precisely. As far as I can see without access to the original text these have been wholly beneficial, although admittedly most relate to a specific production rather than to what is heard on these discs. The photographs in the booklet suggest that a DVD of the production would be very much worth seeing.

The plot is drawn from part of Matthew Lewis’s once enormously popular novel “The Monk”. It concerns a couple from two feuding families who wish to marry. Rodolphe plans with Agnès that they will elope together. To prevent this being discovered they will meet at midnight with Agnès disguised as the ghost of the Bleeding Nun (who, confusingly, has the same name). In the event it is the real ghost who turns up and Rodolphe promises to marry the ghost. He does not do so however, and circumstances change so that he would now be free to marry Agnès - his original intended, not the Nun. The ghost now appears to him every night, offering to free him from his vow only if he will kill the man who murdered her. After yet more complications she reveals that this was Rodolphe’s father, who in the last Act atones for the crime by allowing himself to be murdered in place of his son. The Nun is at last free to ascend to heaven to seek atonement for her murderer. That is a mere summary of the plot but I hope that it is sufficient to show that it contains what might be termed strong if not very believable theatrical confrontations, and opportunities for various kinds of set piece. These include the opening scene with two warring families (a familiar situation in a later Gounod opera) brought together by Peter the Hermit (best not to ask what he is doing here), a series of duets for the (many) main characters, a soldiers’ chorus, a peasant waltz, and a final apotheosis (all familiar forms from the best known of Gounod’s operas). In addition there is a chorus of ghostly ancestors who come alive from their pictures. This must inevitably remind the British listener of Ruddigore. Given Gilbert’s undoubted knowledge of operas of the day – or at least of their plots, perhaps this was deliberate, and certainly parts of the “spooky” effects in the woodwind are similar to Sullivan’s in Sir Roderic’s song. It would be interesting to have the views of Sullivan scholars on this, but what really matters is that the scene is extremely effective, as is most of the rest of the opera. What is less clear is whether or not it would actually add up to anything as a whole in live performance. In the meantime this is an extremely welcome opportunity to get to know one of the composer’s least known but most interesting works.

The performance is the result of live performances although it does not appear to have been recorded at them. None of the performers are well known, but most are more than adequate in their roles. The singers of the two ladies called Agnès are by some way the most satisfactory, and the many smaller roles are well filled. The chorus and orchestra match those of the greatest opera houses, but they are never less than adequate for what they are asked to do, and are dramatic and eloquent by turns as the music and plot require. The only serious disappointment is Yooki Baek, whose somewhat lachrymose and nasal tenor is heard in almost every scene as Rodolphe. This is unfortunate but not sufficient to spoil the performance as a whole. In many ways the recording is above all a tribute to what a minor opera house like Osnabrück can achieve using almost entirely its own ensemble, something that seems virtually to have disappeared in larger opera houses. To be able to present a more than acceptable revival and recording of an opera which had wholly disappeared from public view is no mean achievement. Fortunately the opera responds well to this treatment, and listening to this set has been a thoroughly interesting and enjoyable experience.

Just about a year after Gounod’s opera had its initial performances, the English composer Edward Loder produced his opera Raymond and Agnes based on the same sub-plot from “The Monk” but treating it in a very different way. A recording of that work would be very welcome both on its own account and as a comparison with Gounod’s opera. It would be good to think that CPO and Opera Rara were competing to see who could produce one first. In the meantime, CPO and the Osnabrück Theatre deserve considerable praise for this very successful revival of this fascinating work.

-- John Sheppard, MusicWeb International

J.C. Bach – music that is charming, easy on the ear, cleverly composed and beautifully performed.

When one thinks of the so-called ‘classical period’ - which school pupils normally compartmentalize as from c.1750-1810 - the names of Mozart and Haydn leap to mind. After them you think of Gluck (the Reformer of German opera), then might come the somewhat maverick genius, C.P.E. Bach and only after that J.C. Bach. Yet having heard all six hours or more of this set I am again convinced that he is in many ways the archetypal composer of the classical period.

In the booklet to the sixth volume in this part of the CPO J.C. Bach series (there are 22 CDs in all of which these six address the Symphonies Concertantes) there is an extra essay by Peter Wollny entitled ‘Orchestral Music by Johann Christian Bach’. In it he quotes C.P.E. in 1768 as saying “There is nothing behind my brother’s present manner of composing”. This reminded me of Oscar Wilde: “On the surface he seems possibly to be profound, but fortunately once underneath one soon realizes that that he is entirely shallow”. That’s pretty much how I perceived J.C.’s music. However Leopold Mozart, not without wisdom, reminded Wolfgang Amadeus that “What is slight becomes great when it is written with a natural flow and in a light hand”. Not surprisingly Mozart went to London and studied with J.C. and was possibly present when J.C. gave the first known piano recital in London.

Each disc in this series of six has the same introductory essay by Ernest Warburton. His conscientious scholarship and research has in recent years discovered scores and parts long thought lost. His reconstructions of the scores have brought much of this music to our attention but only comparatively recently. He offers biographical notes on J.C. and then on the Symophonia Concertante as a form. Each work is described and sometimes lightly analysed. Only in the sixth booklet, as indicated, does Peter Wollny add an analytical essay.

Anthony Halstead who has obviously devoted so much loving care on the conducting also makes a literary contribution. A 22 disc assignment to record the music of just one composer - and not a great one - takes a huge commitment and monopolises a massive chunk of your life. Sadly Ernst Warburton died just a short time before the recording project was completed in 2001, it having started six years before that.

Now this collection of six discs of the Symphonies Concertantes have been gathered together having previously been released separately. They allow us a real chance to delve into the mind of this still little-known composer.

The worry I had when confronted with this set was ‘Would all twenty works be exactly the same, in form, style, performance and texture?’. Well that fear proved unfounded almost from the start. As you can see from the above listings each CD is slightly different in type and content. For example, several ‘Symphonies’ are in three movements, fast(ish)-slow-fast (probably a Rondo). However, on disc 4, (the tracks are carelessly printed in the booklet), the first Symphonie in C has an opening elegant Andante in the French style (gallante) followed by a lively Allegro and that’s it. The following Eb work is similar in form whilst the later G major piece is in three movements. That particular disc features variation in texture. Two violins and cello - the most common instrumental grouping used by J.C. - are featured in the first. In the second the flute is added and in the Eb we have the flute with an oboe and bassoon. In between comes a Violin Concerto, the complex reconstruction of which, and its place in the canon, is explained by Ernst Warburton in the notes as are the other single concerto works listed.

I have already alluded to the French late Baroque style (Rameau, Couperin) which Bach sometimes employs but he is also prone to adopting the Italian style with its emphasis on melody and elegance and charm. Nowhere is this more noticeable than in the A major work for two violins and cello on disc 3. This was a popular piece at the time and was published in 1775; only two others were published in Bach’s lifetime. This is a two movement work definitely written with the French taste in mind. Warburton describes it as having a “bluffer manner” than others and being “highly decorated” by which he means ornamented. The Italian style is exemplified by the D major Concertante on Volume 2, with its emphasis on virtuosity and on ritornello material, as happens in Vivaldi. Not only that, but the work is from a single manuscript copy found in Mantua.

The sixth disc has the last two ‘Symphonies Concertantes’ and has, as an bonus, a curious Keyboard concerto and a brief work simply called a ‘Cadenza’. The concerto is a different version of a published Concerto in G recorded a few years before (CPO 999 600-2) and its complex history is worth a little study. It is played on a sweet-toned fortepiano by Anthony Halsead himself who also improvises the cadenzas. It sounds more like chamber music with its accompaniment of just two violins and a cello. The final track, the ‘Cadenza’ for Oboe, Viola and Violoncello is attributed to J.C. and probably should be attached to the C major Concertante (C45). It is just a two and a half minutes long.

I can think of no better performers than ‘The Hanover Band’ – 26-strong – to present this music. They are all soloists and each appears to relish the chance to play solo whenever called upon. There is a superb sense of balance throughout between each of the original instruments even the flute which although not even-toned throughout its range is most sensitively handled by both Liza Beznosiuk and Brinley Yare.

I must end by adding that although I applaud the project and indeed the whole idea of the 22 discs of J.C. Bach, I do wonder how many times I will actually play it. It is charming and easy on the ear, cleverly composed and beautifully performed but it may well spend much of its time on the shelf not only at my home but at most Universities and Colleges. For this reason I am going to suggest that if you decide to hunt out single volumes only then you could do no worse than purchase Volume 2 and/or Volume 3. These have contrast and quality and represent, I feel, the heart of the Concertantes and of J.C. Bach himself.

-- Gary Higginson, MusicWeb International

PFITZNER Piano Quintet in C, op. 23. Sextet in g, op. 55 • Ens Ulf Hoelscher • cpo 777 395 (68:29)


Hans Pfitzner (1869–1949) provides a case study in the “do what I say, not what I do” philosophy. An exact contemporary of Richard Strauss, Pfitzner was in word, if not always in deed, a fierce anti-modernist. In a pamphlet titled Danger of Futurists , a rejoinder to Busoni’s Sketch for a New Aesthetic of Music , he railed against those who “place all hopes for Western music in the future and understand the present and past as a faltering beginning, as the preparation.” But “What if,” he asks, “we find ourselves presently at a high point, or even that we have already passed beyond it?” Clearly, Pfitzner’s professed views have found favor with those of us who fear that Western music (its composition as opposed to its performance) has been in a state of decline since the end of the 19th century. And in his earlier works, Pfitzner remains true to his stated beliefs and values. In expressive range and Romantic idiom, his B-Minor Violin Concerto once rivaled Bruch’s G-Minor Concerto in popularity. Like Strauss, however, Pfitzner lived a long life, and some of his later works—those leading up to and after WW II—often reflect the inescapable and more progressive tendencies of Berg and Schoenberg.


Writing in virtually all musical genres except symphonic tone poem—Strauss dominated that domain—Pfitzner is mainly remembered today for his opera Palestrina . It was not that work, however, but a Sonata in E-Minor for Violin and Piano and some of his earliest chamber works—the op. 1 Sonata for Cello and Piano in F? Minor and the Piano Trio in F-Major, op. 8—that were my introduction to what one writer called this “hyper-Romantic” composer.


There can be no doubt, as one listens to the 1908 C-Major Piano Quintet recorded here, that had Brahms lived but another 11 years, this is the work he would have written. All that is necessary to make that leap is to hear the first 15 seconds of it with its remarkable resemblance to the opening of Brahms’s G-Major Sextet. Where Pfitzner departs from Brahms is in the unfolding of his thematic material, which becomes much more chromatic, dissonance-laden, and prolix, in the manner of César Franck. Crossbreed Brahms and Franck and the offspring is Pfitzner’s Quintet.


The G-Minor Sextet for clarinet, violin, viola, cello, double bass, and piano belies its date of composition, 1945, and the circumstances under which it was written. Pfitzner was ill and almost blind; it would be Pfitzner’s penultimate work. His initial instinct was to call it a suite, not only because it’s in five movements, but because of its relatively lightweight divertimento- or serenade-like character. There is nothing in the piece to suggest the nostalgic leave-taking of Strauss’s Four Last Songs . For the most part, the Sextet is melodically and harmonically uncomplicated, and has about it a rhythmically lilting dance-like quality that occasionally—listen to the Rondoletto movement—hints at Klezmer music. The clarinet, of course, helps to foster this impression. What a really lovely score this is.


Ulf Hoelscher, from whom the Ensemble takes its name, is himself a noted violin soloist who has made numerous recordings of both mainstream and some not-so-mainstream repertoire. With a group of the same name, he has also recorded for cpo an octet and quintets by Bruch, but it is not clear if this is a permanent group similar to England’s Nash Ensemble, which with a relatively stable lineup of personnel shape-shifts itself according to the demands of instrumentation, or if it’s an ad hoc assembly of musicians that are newly selected for each project. I suspect the latter, since I have the Bruch disc in question, and except for Hoelscher and pianist Ian Fountain, there is no other commonality of players between the two recordings.


As always, cpo is to be commended, not just for excellence in sound, but for salvaging so many buried treasures of the late 19th- and early-20th centuries. There is some recorded competition in these two works from two other CDs that, as coincidence would have it, are coupled exactly as here with the same two opus numbers. I haven’t heard the one with the Consortium Classicum, which I believe plays on period instruments. If that is the case, I reject the recording out of hand for reasons I needn’t rehash here. The other, on Preiser, with another ad hoc ensemble of players, I have heard, and I find the performances solid if a bit stolid, and nowhere nearly as full-throated and vibrant as those on the current cpo release. Strongly recommended to those with a taste for chamber music of the unrepentantly post-Romantic kind.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Germany's CPO label has presented the efforts of performers who have doggedly unearthed unknown music of various periods, especially the eighteenth century. With the voluminous corpus of concertos by Telemann, many of which exist only in manuscript, they enter a field with a lot of still-uncharted territory. - AllMusic Guide

Originally released by CPO in 8 separate volumes and at last in a limited edition box set, here are the complete concertos for wind instruments of Georg Philipp Telemann.

The music of Christian Sinding was highly thought of in its day and the composer certainly had his champions. Before the Second World War it was regularly played in Europe and America and was extremely popular in Germany. In 1907 his Second Symphony was premièred in Berlin by Felix Weingartner and the Third Symphony in 1920 in Leipzig under Arthur Nikisch.

Although Sinding lived in Germany for most of his life he was Norwegian by birth and had the luxury of receiving generous stipends from the Norwegian government for many years. Since his death in 1941 - and probably before that - he has been known for a single piece for solo piano the popular Frühlingsrauschen (Rustle of Spring). In the last decade there has been renewed interest with a number of recordings especially from Hyperion, Simax, Finlandia, Naxos and CPO.

Soloist Ukraine-born Andrej Bielow has a strong connection with Hanover studying in the city from the age of fifteen at the University of Music and Drama. He plays a Guarneri ‘Joseph Filius’ violin (c. 1730/35) loaned by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

The NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover is no stranger to Sinding’s music. They have already recorded Sinding’s four symphonies on two separate discs with Symphonies No.1 and No.2 conducted by Thomas Dausgaard and Symphonies No.3 and No.4 under David Porcelijn.

The set opens with the Violin Concerto No. 3 in A minor composed in 1916/17. Shortly after completion it received its première at Bergen played by Leif Halvorsen. At times I was reminded melodically of Brahms especially in the extended opening movement. Bielow plays virtually continuously throughout in music that varies between moody and windswept. A yearningly emotional Andante has shades of the Sibelius and Nielsen concertos composed between six and ten years earlier. Finally in the Allegro non troppo the mood becomes more uplifting with the orchestra gaining greater prominence although Sinding’s writing feels rather lightweight.

The Legend for Violin and Orchestra from 1900 was given its first performance in Stockholm two years later. Initially the orchestral writing felt evocative of Elgar. Coming across as rather strait-laced the Legend takes itself rather seriously yet contains a degree of warmth communicated through Bielow’s long melodic line. I’m not sure if Sinding felt any special affinity or significance for his tender and warm Romance as he allocated the opus 100 to the 1910 score. Bielow’s solo line and orchestration reminded me of the Delius concerto; a work that was composed some six years later.

Sinding’s first Violin Concerto in A major was written in 1897/98. It seems it was completed in London and premièred later the same year in Oslo. Summery melodies in the manner of Dvorák inhabit the opening movement with bustling extended lines from the soloist. Low strings open the Andante suggesting a darkly-hued temperament set amid a strong sense of melancholy. In the central passage the music develops a weightier funereal tread which must surely be a commemoration of a significant loss. Buoyancy and exhilaration pervade the Finale, Allegro giocoso. Noticeably Sinding’s writing varies widely in pace and emotional content. At times Bielow is required to play at breakneck speed which certainly blows away any cobwebs.

CD two opens with the Violin Concerto No. 2 in D major first performed in 1901 in Berlin. The score’s dedicatee was the soloist Henri Marteau. It was a great success at the première. This work is predominantly wistful in nature. Bielow is required to play virtually continually throughout. At times I was reminded of Dvorák’s violin concerto. A lengthy orchestral introduction precedes a severe and dark-hued Andante. Serving as a stark contrast the Finale, Allegro is a light-hearted romp through verdant Norwegian pastures.

Originally composed in 1886/87 as a suite for violin and piano Sinding’s Suite in A Minor was not published until nearly twenty years later in this arrangement for small orchestra. The opening Presto is breezy and exhilarating in the manner of Dvorák followed by a warm-hearted Adagio of much tenderness. Marked Tempo giusto the final movement just glows with happiness. The Abendstimmung is a product of the Great War years. As the German title suggests the writing establishes a picturesque evening mood. This short single movement score is a sultry nocturne suffused with warm and summery temperament.

Bielow never over-indulges himself, taking a sensible middle-ground approach. He comes across as a sensitive and responsive violinist with a splendid technique who is equally at home with virtuosic requirements as he is in rapt emotion. Under the baton of Frank Beermann the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover come across as committed partners. They do not disappoint.

On this CPO release it took me a while to get used to the sound which is best heard with the volume turned up. The balance and overall impression is agreeable but I’m not sure how well Bielow’s Guarneri is served by the recording. The instrument’s timbre is rather thin and bright in repertoire that would surely have benefited from more warmth and sweetness. The presentation is enhanced by a detailed essay. The front cover uses a stunning image by Zemo Diemer titled ‘Fjord with a steamship’.

For those approaching Sinding’s music for the first time what should they expect? It is hard to hear a very individual voice in Sinding’s late-Romantic music. Seemingly highly derivative in nature, I felt the music mainly echoed the sound-worlds of Brahms and Dvorák. Sinding’s design seems to favour a thickly textured opening movement Allegro with a rather dark and sombre slow central movement. Only in the brisk final movements do things lighten up. There the music is usually cheerful and of a fresher, breezy quality.

Sinding’s music is appealing and has its share of impressive moments although in truth it contains very little in the way of memorable melodies.

-- Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International

TOCH Symphonies: Nos. 1?7 ? Alun Francis, cond; Berlin RSO ? cpo 777 191 (3 CDs: 195:47)


This set combines three separately issued CDs of Ernst Toch?s Symphonies, which were recorded and released over a wide span of years: 1995?2002. Only the jewel case and the price have changed: this three-CD set sells for less than twice the price of each original CD. Even the three original booklets are included here. Joanne Forman and I each reviewed Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 in Fanfare 20: 6. Paul A. Snook reviewed Nos. 2 and 3 in 24:5, and he and I each discussed the final installment in 28:1.


So you probably don?t need to be told, for a sixth time, that Toch (1887?1964) was a major composer in pre-World War II Germany who fled Hitler in 1934 and languished in Hollywood for well over a decade. Newly invigorated, he wrote all seven symphonies in his final 15 years. Hearing them all together, and in order, is both rewarding and revealing: Toch was a self-trained master who went his own way, without paying much attention to conventional forms or systems. The first three are gargantuan in reach if not in scale: tough, dense music sheathed in dissonant harmonies that can also relax into moments of sheer beauty. The Second Symphony tightens up the gentler, prolix First, and the Third?Toch?s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece?concentrates the music into white-hot passion. This is my kind of music: high-voltage Hindemith, brash Prokofiev, and a smidgeon of Berg, but all Toch, all the time. The final four symphonies ease up on the pedal, becoming gradually lighter and, by No. 6, wittier. By a narrow margin, each symphony is shorter in performance than its predecessor. Just as Toch?s string quartets portray his music in Germany (even though the last two were written here), the symphonies define his American output. For all the details, dig out those earlier reviews, which will also be available on www.fanfaremag.com in the not-too-distant future.


Alun Francis, his Berlin Radio Symphony, and cpo all do an excellent job. The cited reviews considered the few earlier recordings, but only William Steinberg?s Pittsburgh Third (EMI 65868) is superior. One can imagine one of the world?s great orchestras doing even more justice to this intriguing cycle in the future, but don?t hold your breath.


FANFARE: James H. North

A compelling programme of Christmas music from 17th-century Hamburg.

With this disc Manfred Cordes once again sheds light on the rich musical culture of 17th-century Hamburg. He usually does so with his own ensemble, Weser-Renaissance. This time he directs the Bremer Barock Consort, a group of students from the early music department of the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen. It consists here of five sopranos, two altos, two tenors and two basses, two violins, three viole da gamba, two players of cornett and recorder, two sackbuts, dulcian, chitarrone and organ as well as two organists who play the solo items.

These forces are used in various combinations for a programme which gives a good idea of the variety of the 17th century repertoire written for the churches in Hamburg. It varies from a small-scale piece for three solo voices, two violins and bc, like Christoph Bernhard's Ach, mein herzliebes Jesulein, to large-scale works in polychoral style such as Hieronymus Praetorius's Angelus ad pastores ait. In his liner-notes Manfred Cordes gives this description of music in Hamburg: "The motet traditions of the late sixteenth century were still alive and mixed with the influences of the Venetian polychorality, with the coloration techniques also reaching the North somewhat belatedly from Italy, and above all with the new concertizing style over the thorough bass with its intensified expressive possibilities." The programme on this disc bears witness to this description.

The first item is written in the Venetian polychoral style, although the composer, Hieronymus Praetorius, has never been in Italy himself. He uses a traditional text, Angelus ad pastores ait, to which fragments from a traditional German hymn are added, 'Puer natus in Bethlehem (Ein Kind geborn zu Bethlehem)'. The next piece is a Magnificat for eight voices in two choirs. It is an alternatim setting: the odd verses are in plainchant. But Praetorius also interpolated Christmas hymns, just like Johann Sebastian Bach did much later in the E flat version of his Magnificat. Here two hymns are included: 'Joseph, lieber Joseph mein' and 'In dulci jubilo', one of the most famous Christmas songs of all time.

In his liner-notes Manfred Cordes refers to the still living tradition of the 16th century. Motets by masters of the polyphony were still held in high regard in Germany in the 17th century, and were often intavolated for organ. Thomas Selle's sacred concerto Videntes stellam magi is also based on a 16th-century piece, a motet with the same title by Orlandus Lassus. Liturgically this piece is for Epiphany as it is about the magi travelling to Bethlehem to pay honour to the new-born king.

The dialogue is a typical 17th-century format. The purest form can be found here in Gegrüßest seist du, Holdselige by Matthias Weckmann, in which the angel announces Jesus' birth to Mary. The angel is sung by a tenor, supported by strings, whereas the role of Mary is sung by a soprano with two recorders. In his concerto Joseph! Was da? Thomas Selle follows this pattern less strictly. Soprano, tenor and bass perform in various combinations. The rhythm of the piece gives it a pastoral character, in particular at the phrase "now help me cradle a dear little child".

Hymns play an important role in the sacred repertoire in 17th-century Hamburg. Johann Philipp Förtsch composed a sacred concerto on the hymn Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ. The seven stanzas are treated in various ways. The first is for a soprano, singing the unornamented chorale melody over abundantly ornamented string parts. In the next stanzas soprano, alto, tenor and bass sing in various combinations, mostly on original musical material, but with quotations from the chorale melody. The words "Jammertal" (vale of tears) and "kommen arm" (came in poverty) are singled out.

Christoph Bernhard was an important composer who started his career as a pupil of Heinrich Schütz in Leipzig, to which he returned later on. His output is still hardly explored; the two pieces on this disc show his qualities and his versatility. Ach, mein herzliebes Jesulein is an intimate piece: "Oh, my dear little Jesus, choose a pure soft bed for yourself my resting in this my heart's shrine, that I may never forget you". This intimacy doesn't hold the composer back from writing virtuosic ornaments in the solo parts, in particular of the two sopranos. The disc ends with his concerto Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener, a large-scale piece for ten voices on the Canticum Simeonis, here in a German rhymed version. It begins with a sinfonia for strings on the funeral anthem 'Mit Fried und Freud'. The first line is performed tutti, then follows a virtuosic duet for two sopranos, a more restrained duet of alto and tenor and lastly a solo for bass. The piece ends with a repeat of the first vocal section. Manfred Cordes follows the composer's suggestion to use a second choir here.

A disc like this should also include some organ pieces. Organists were highly regarded in Germany in the 17th century, and Hamburg had some of the very best within its walls. Most of them were pupils of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck in Amsterdam, who was nicknamed the 'German organist builder'. Jacob Praetorius, son of Hieronymus, was one of them, and in his capacity as organist of St. Petri a key figure in Hamburg. He is represented with a free organ work, the Praeambulum in d minor. This prelude is a short brilliant piece which reflects the great skills of the composer. He was the teacher of Matthias Weckmann whose Toccata vel Praeludium 1. toni is included. With Heinrich Scheidemann we meet another Sweelinck pupil. For a long time he was organist of St. Katharinen. We know his music only from sacred songs and organ works. Here three verses from his chorale fantasia Vom Himmel hoch are played. The inclusion of Samuel Scheidt in the programme is a bit odd, as he never worked in Hamburg. It is justified by Manfred Cordes with the fact that he was also a pupil of Sweelinck. The three verses from his chorale fantasia Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ are played here as a kind of introduction to the concerto by Förtsch on the same chorale melody.

In the 17th century the basso continuo part in sacred music was usually played at the large organ rather than at a small positive. This practice is hard to follow in our time, as there are not that many organs with the right disposition and tuning, and also with enough space in the loft. After a long search a suitable church and organ were found: the St. Marien & St. Pankratius in Mariendrebber, with an organ which was built by Berend Hus - the mentor of Arp Schnitger - in 1658/59. Although it has been modified during its history the most important stops are still in their original condition. It is in 1/5 comma temperament which is appropriate for the earlier pieces in the programme. For Bernhard and Weckmann a positive was used.

The Bremer Barock Consort may consist of music students but they produce a very fine and technically impressive recording of this compelling programme of Christmas music. The ensemble is very good, and the various voices are generally excellent. Only now and then is it noticeable that these are young singers whose voices have yet to mature. Sometimes they could have gone further in exploring the expression of the texts but on the whole I am very pleased by what is offered here. The pitch of the organ is not mentioned in the booklet, but I assume it is the high organ pitch which was common in Germany in the 17th century. As a result some treble parts are very high, and the sopranos deal with them convincingly.

The booklet contains a number of errors. In the tracklist the organ piece by Weckmann is attributed to Christoph Bernhard, who never wrote any organ piece. The lyrics contain various mistakes and have the wrong track numbers from track 8 onwards.

Still, from every musical angle this is a very good production, and a great addition to any collection of Christmas discs.

-- Johan van Veen, MusicWeb International