Classical Music

Joseph Beer was the operetta's rising star during the early 1930's and his Polish Wedding promised to bring him a major breakthrough. However, Nazi rule abruptly and tragically ended his career. Paul Abraham's librettist Fritz Lohner-Beda had taken Beer under his wing and did everything in his power to promote his success. Abrahama nd Beer had a lot in common - Jewish roots, a nervous disposition and above all, a bold stylistic mix combining folklore and jazz. All the characteristics of the operetta genre are united in concentrated form in Beer's music - buffo duets of folk character in the manner of Kalman, operatic finales a la Lehar and "Abrahamic" dance hits with rhythmic pep. An Austrian magazine wrote in 1934, "Surprises in the field of the operetta have become rare. The successes of recent years have been associated with a few names that one can count on the fingers of one hand. And now a young man of twenty-four by the name of Joseph Beer suddenly comes along and presents a work with an extraordinary musical appeal, sumptuous and personal invention, firm execution and an instrumentation that is a delight ot hear." Franz Lehar was forty years older than Beer and only a few months before Giuditta, his last work, had celebrated it's premiere at the Vienna State Opera - the crowning culmination of an operetta epoch that quite noticeably was nearing it's end. The time was ripe for a new generation, and Joseph Beer seemed to be just the right composer to lead it into the future.

Classical Music

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

The six violin concertos offered here are among 30 or so that Vivaldi dedicated to Anna Maria, one of his most gifted pupils who went on to become one of his most important colleagues (she remained on staff at the Ospedale Della Pieta in Venice nearly 70 years until her death at the age of 86). As one would expect given his longstanding admiration of Anna, Vivaldi crafted these remarkably versatile, ravishing concertos not only to showcase the soloist's apparently limitless expressive range and virtuosity, but he also loaded them with endearing personality and wit that often transcend the flash.

For instance, the humorous, "meowing cat" figures that lace the opening Allegro of RV 387 and the third-movement Allegro ma poco of RV 349 must've been as much fun for Anna to perform as they were a pleasure for her audience to listen to. With the equally delightful, extravagant ornamentation heard in the final Allegro of RV 387, opening Allegro of RV 343, and final Allegro of RV 366, you can almost sense Vivaldi's glee not so much in simply challenging Anna, but also taking pride in providing material that fully complemented her imagination and technical abilities. The wild, equally sensational inner movement of RV 248, with its sharply delineated dynamic contrasts and tempo extremes, also is a stunner. If there's another equally short movement that combines this many hyper-tempestuous and pensively quiet moments, I've yet to hear it!

L'Arte dell'Arco and the ensemble's director/violin soloist Federico Guglielmo deliver remarkably convincing, stylistically and technically peerless performances. CPO's SACD sound is quite good, though Guglielmo at times is placed noticeably forward in the mix. Nothing serious. In sum, this is an outstanding recording, strongly recommended, especially to those unfamiliar with the composer's more playful, if not eccentric side.

--John Greene, ClassicsToday.com

The Kölner Akademie under Michael Alexander Willens recorded a disc of Kalliwoda symphonies for CPO that left me less than impressed, but on this first disc in a projected series of concertinos and overtures (Kalliwoda wrote 24 of the latter and plenty of the former) everything goes swimmingly. Although Concertino No. 1 lives up to its title, being a light and jolly piece a quarter of an hour long, No. 5 in A minor is as substantial as many a concerto: more than twenty minutes with a passionate first movement, a singing central Adagio, and a substantial finale chock full of good, romantic tunes. Soloist Ariadne Daskalakis plays both works with charm, winsome tone, and where required, bravura.

Unlike so many of his mid 19th-century colleagues, Kalliwoda’s music has real character. He knew how to write good tunes, and score them brilliantly. These qualities are abundantly evident in the three overtures offered in tandem with the two concertinos. Overture No. 3 is brief and fairly lightweight, but the other two are more substantial and, as always with this composer, the music packs a perky rhythmic punch that keeps the listener fully engaged. Willens and his crew sound better balanced and more in tune with the idiom than on their previous Kalliwoda outing, playing with both finesse and verve, and as usual the German radio engineers do an excellent job. Recommended without reservation.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

GRAUN Osteroratorium • Michael Alexander Willens, cond; Nina Koufochristou (sop); Dagmar Saskova (alt); Jan Kobow (ten); Andreas Wolf (bs); Kölner Akademie • CPO 7777942 (64:08 Text and Translation)

As with much of the oeuvre of Carl Heinrich Graun (1704–59), the date of composition of his Easter Oratorio is unknown. Based on stylistic grounds, it probably belongs among his earlier works composed in Dresden or Braunschweig (Brunswick), before he moved to Prussia in 1735 and ultimately became Kapellmeister to Frederick II. It survives in a single manuscript copy by an unknown hand from the later 18th century, and the librettist is not named. It is divided into four sections, for performance respectively on Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, Easter Tuesday, and the First Sunday after Easter in the liturgical calendar. Except for two brief verses taken from the Bible, the text consists of poetic meditations on Christ, his resurrection, and the import of those for the true believer.

Today, Graun remains remembered almost solely for his Passiontide oratorio Der Tod Jesu , which was performed every Good Friday by the Berlin Singakademie for a span of almost 130 years (see my review of the Pál Németh recording on Hungaroton in 34:1). The redoubtable CPO label is primarily responsible for what little more knowledge most of us have of the composer’s music, having previously issued recordings of the Christmas Oratorio , the Grosse Passion , the opera Montezuma , and single discs of sacred motets and instrumental concerti. The Harmonia Mundi label also issued a recording of the opera Cleopatra e Cesare conducted by René Jacobs. Reactions to these additional works by the Fanfare critics who have reviewed them—Bertil van Boer, Michael Carter, Henry Fogel, Ronald E. Grames, David Johnson, and David L. Kirk—have expressed sharply divided views on their merits. Some have found Graun to be a dull Kapellmeister and routine note-spinner, whereas others have expressed pleasure at the restoration of a skilled if second-rank composer to living memory.

In this instance, at least, my vote joins those in the second camp. This is a lovely and delightful work, which astonishes by its remarkable stylistic similarities to Handel in its harmonic and melodic contours. Indeed, had someone played selected parts of it for me and told me it was a recently rediscovered work by Handel from a German source, I would have believed it. The orchestration is somewhat more brilliant than Handel employs in e.g., Messiah ; the 24 members of the instrumental ensemble include pairs of flutes, oboes, bassoons, and horns, plus three trumpets, timpani, organ, and strings. The superb quartet of vocal soloists—a veritable model for recordings of such repertoire, even if tenor Jan Kobow is not quite as suave of voice as his colleagues—also serves as the chorus when needed. The Kölner Akademie is likewise beyond praise, and conductor Michael Alexander Willens exploits every bar of the score to fullest expressive effect. CPO provides its usual copious booklet notes and stellar recorded sound in addition to a complete German-English text. (Very oddly, in the English texts there are a number of words printed with random single space gaps dividing them into two parts.) For anyone looking to go beyond Bach and Handel for worthy exemplars of late-Baroque sacred music, this recording should be a prime choice; highly recommended.

FANFARE: James A. Altena

Classical Music

TELEMANN Lukas Passion • Hermann Max, cond; Veronika Winter (sop); Anne Bierwirth (alt); Julian Podger (ten); Clemens Heidrich, Matthias Vieweg (bs); Rhenish Kantorei; Das Kleine Konzert • CPO 777 601-2 (2 CDs: 91:32 Text and Translation) Live: Magdeburg 3/13/2010


The incredibly prolific Georg Philipp Telemann (1681–1767) is known to have composed no fewer than 46 oratorio passions, of which 22 are still extant. Among those, the St. Luke Passion presented here dates from 1748 and is the 27th in order of date of composition, matching the 27 years that the composer had served to that point as music director of the city’s five principal Lutheran churches. Since most of the lost (or at least undiscovered) passions are from the earlier years, this is by default one of the earliest known examples of his art in this genre, despite being more than halfway through the total and composed at age 67. Although by that time Telemann had long incorporated various foreign influences, particularly the French galant , into his “mixed” compositional style, here at least he adheres somewhat more to a traditional Germanic musical vocabulary, even if the melodic and rhythmic contours (particularly the use of skipping dotted eighth figures) are more closely akin to Handel than to Bach. The overall musical structure, however, is closer to that of a Bach passion, though there are significant differences. For Telemann the chorus plays a considerably smaller role, with the chorales being fewer and more modest in scope. Instead, the soloists assume a greater share of the commentary beyond their arias in sections titled accompagnato ; these are extended dramatic declamatory passages with intermittent instrumental accompaniment, penned in irregularly rhymed and metered verse, more melodic than straightforward recitative passages but lacking the formal symmetry and development of regular arias.


The addition of any Telemann oratorio to the relatively few so far recorded is an occasion for rejoicing, and all the more so when it involves the redoubtable Hermann Max and his veteran vocal and choral ensembles, the Rhenish Kantorei and Kleine Konzert. Recorded here in concert at the annual Magdeburg Telemann Festival, he and they deliver performances according to their customary superlative degree of excellence, leaving nothing to be desired on their part. I am somewhat less enthusiastic about the soloists, who are solid but not distinguished. Both Clemens Heidrich as Jesus and Matthias Vieweg as soloist for the bass arias have rather light and somewhat dry baritonal voices; the tenor of Julian Podger is a bit grainy; alto Anne Bierwirth simply does not have a distinctive profile; and even the usually first-rate Veronika Winter is not quite at her best. None are bad or even unsatisfactory, but they are definitely a step down from the stellar solo quartet Max assembled almost 20 years prior for the set of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach cantatas reviewed by me elsewhere in this issue. The recorded acoustic has a rich and slightly reverberant ambience, and not a whisper of noise from the audience is to be heard. Booklet notes are provided in German, English, and French, and the libretto in German and English; unfortunately the librettist is not identified, let alone discussed. One also wishes that either the short timing for a full-priced two-CD set had been fleshed out with another of Telemann’s sacred choral works, or else that the cost had been discounted. Despite this complaint, and the minor caveats about the soloists, this release is unhesitatingly recommended to all fellow lovers of Baroque sacred music.


FANFARE: James A. Altena

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.


If your system is a little shy in the bass, forget this disc. On the other hand, if you have a good setup and you enjoy organ music even a little, you are going to fall in love with this disc. The Mühleisen organ at the church of Bad Gandershein was built in 2000. The booklet note advises us that the manufacturer was awarded the "Meilleurs ouvriers de France" distinction for this instrument. They were being too modest: had they said "Europe" instead of "France", this organ would have deserved the accolade.


Such sumptuous sonorities, such perfect integration of the instrument within its acoustic environment, and what a recording! The engineers have achieved a miracle here, capturing a richness consistent throughout the entire sound spectrum, placing the organ ideally within its natural space. The recording never sounds "engineered" specifically for playback on disc, nor is it self-consciously a sonic spectacular for its own sake. This is one of those rare efforts when all of the technical parameters just went right, and this is as true of the stereo recording as it is of the even more evocative SACD multichannel version.


Under these auspicious circumstances, organist Friedrich Flamme rises to the occasion admirably. The discography of Duruflé organ works certainly has grown in recent years, with notable versions by Lecaudey in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (Sony), Schmidt (Aeolus), Pincemaille (Motette), and excerpts recorded by Escaich (Calliope). I wouldn't say that Flamme eclipses all of these, but his instrument is infinitely more supple and rich than Lecaudey's, and clearly better captured on disc than Schmidt's.


Flamme also knows, by his choice of registrations and his patience, how to evoke both the mystery and gentle mysticism of this music--as in the sublime Adagio from Op. 4 and the suddenly brilliant Toccata from the Suite Op. 5. In contrapuntal works, such as the Prélude et fugue sur le nom d'Alain, the clarity of texture and steady buildup of tension are irresistible. This is a marvelous disc, and if you've been waiting for a great organ recording to test on your system, this is it.
--Christophe Huss, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Classical Music

Not even thirty years separated Carl Friedrich Abel’s Symphonies op. 7 from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s last three symphonies and the Jupiter finale that Johann Christian Bach would hail as a “triumph of new musical artistry” already in 1803. The genre of the symphony had quickly developed into one of the most magnificent genres for musical statements. What makes Abel’s symphonies so unique among those of his contemporaries is not their first movements in what was later known as the “sonata form” or their last movements, which without exception are formed, usually in rondo structure, by dances of folk character like fast contredanses and minuets, but rather their slow middle movements, mostly with the heading “Andante” and frequently “sempre piano” in dynamics, which speak a new and thoroughly individual musical language. Here we are referring not primarily to the examples of the style galant or empfindsamer Stil found in the Symphonies in G major and C major but to the absolutely “hymnic” movements of song character scored exclusively for strings like those in the Symphonies in B flat major and F major. Their almost “proto-Elgarian” tone has what it takes to stir human hearts!

Louis Glass (1864-1936) began his career as a pianist, but illness forced his retirement from active concertizing and his focus turned toward composing. His six symphonies clearly occupy the center of his oeuvre. Early influences of Schumann, Gade and Grieg soon yielded to influence from Ce�sar Franck. Glass also displays strong influence emanating from Bruckner, very unusual during this generation and beyond the borders of German-speaking Europe. CPO's new Glass Complete Symphonies, Vol. 1, features his idyllic Forest Symphony No. 3 and the Summer Life orchestral suite.