Recordings from 1932-1948.

Maria Cebotari was working as an actress at the Moscow artist theater before she decided in 1929 study singing in Berlin. In 1931 she got an engagement as an opera singer in Dresden and launched her very successful career. She sang in Dresden till 1943, and made frequent appearances at the Berline State Opera. Her interpretations of the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss belonged to her specialties.

She made her film debut in 1929 with "Troika", but only from the middle of the 30's did she focus increasingly in this profession. Her well-known movies are "Mädchen in Weiss" (36), "Starke Herzen" (37) and "Il sogno di Butterfly - Premiere der Butterfly" (39).

KOECHLIN Chansons bretonnes, op. 115. Cello Sonata, op. 66. DEBUSSY Cello Sonata • Peter Bruns (vc); Roglit Ishay (pn) • HÄNSSLER CD 98.258 (53:11)


The tentative thumbs-up given to the Lidstrom/Forsberg tilt at Koechlin— Chansonnes Bretonnes , Books I and II, and the Cello Sonata (Hyperion 66979, Fanfare 22:1); Book III (Hyperion 67244, Fanfare 27: 2)—is a thumbs-down after hearing this new Bruns/Ishay release. With no comparisons, Lidstrom’s dragging pace and overload of clinging sensitivity presented Koechlin’s art as recondite, arcane, fragile, spaced-out, while Bruns and Ishay’s brisker pace—often by several minutes in many of these brief pieces—animates the Breton folk-song arrangements with lift, lilt, and charm. Likewise, the novel melodic/harmonic geste of the Cello Sonata leaps from the limbo of the “interesting” chez Lidstrom/Forsberg (the consolation prize one awards music of unfathomable complexity one intends never to hear again) to the desmesne of the piquantly novel, teasing us to return. Nor are Bruns and Ishay hustling the music for an easy score, but following directions—the Andante quasi Adagio of the Sonata’s middle movement, for instance, need not be a molasses-treading dirge, as it is with Lidstrom and Forsberg. The contrast puts one in mind of Schoenberg’s quip, “My music isn’t ‘Modern,’ just poorly performed.”


While Koechlin titled the folk-song collection Vingt Chansons bretonnes , Lidstrom and Forsberg have included a Marche d’Arthur which the composer omitted “due to its brevity (five bars),” Koechlin scholar Robert Orledge notes, though the performers distend this to 28 seconds. Bruns and Ishay eschew it but give us the set of 20 pieces, as Koechlin prepared it, complete on a single disc. Their Debussy Cello Sonata seems to search for a bit more than there is to find, heard after, say, Gary Hoffmann’s breezier go at it with David Golub (Delos 3167), though their performance still gives pleasure, supplying a substantial bonus. Sound is upfront and balanced, capturing every nuance with vibrant gutsiness. Orledge’s informed liner notes confect a final elegance. The performances of choice, enthusiastically recommended.


FANFARE: Adrian Corleonis

Includes work(s) by various composers.

HONEGGER Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher • Helmuth Rilling, cond; Sylvie Rohrer ( Jeanne d’Arc ); Eörs Kisfaludy ( Fr. Dominique ); Karen Wierzba ( La Vierge ); Letizia Scherrer ( Marguerite ); Kismara Pessatti ( Cathérine ); Jean-Noël Briend (ten); François Le Roux (bs); Stuttgart College Boys’ Ch; Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart; Stuttgart RSO des SWR • HÄNSSLER 098.636 (2 CDs: 84:30 & French only) Live: Stuttgart 4/2–3/2011


Here is, truly, an unusual release: the little-known but extremely powerful dramatic cantata by Arthur Honegger, Joan of Arc at the Stake, conducted by one of the world’s leading baroque specialists, Helmuth Rilling. This combination, which seems on the surface a mismatch, in fact results in one of the most emotionally powerful and musically atmospheric realizations on record in my entire memory.


The drawback, of course, is that the libretto is in French only. Certainly one is aware enough of Joan’s story to be able to follow what is going on in generalizations, yet the highly literate subtleties of Paul Claudel’s libretto are lost on the non-French speaker. Thus we must rely on the few words we can pick out of the booklet and rely on the emotional and dramatic power of the speakers, singers, chorus, and orchestra. Even within those parameters, this is pretty powerful music. Behind the spoken dialogue, at one point, the chorus enters singing strophic lines in almost Stravinsky-like neoclassicism, which then leads directly into a baritone solo with choral interjections. Honegger’s orchestra slashes and burns throughout: sometimes as an undercurrent, at other times in the foreground, moving from staccato brass chords to stabbing or swirling figures, underlining the drama of the situation—confined to the time of Joan’s trial and execution—in the most dramatic terms possible.


Conductor Marin Alsop has given us this synopsis of the oratorio at npr.org/2011/11/05/142021891/arthur-honeggers-joan-of-arc-for-the-ages:


“Claudel wanted to look at Joan’s life in a series of flashbacks—starting at the end. The piece opens with darkness setting over all of France. Is this the France of 1400 or the France of 1935? Perhaps that’s the point. Joan meets Frère Dominic in the afterlife and recognizes him, at which point they look back on what led to her trial and death. When Joan asks, ‘How did this happen?,’ Frère Dominic replies, ‘It was a game of cards that decided your fate,’ alluding to the political quagmire in which Joan, an illiterate peasant teenager, found herself immersed. The adjudicator at Joan’s trial was aptly named Cauchon (pig), and Claudel goes wild with the possibilities. The assessors are all depicted as animals, with the ass leading the pack and sheep commenting on the proceedings. And then there’s Honegger’s instrumentation, which creates a vibrant and unique sound world. He includes three saxophones plus an ondes martenot —a spooky-sounding instrument, invented in 1928, that sounds like its cousin the theremin. Honegger and Claudel’s collaboration brings Joan to life in a vivid and emotional drama that concludes with the line, ‘There is no greater love than the person who gives his life for a friend.’”


Alsop, as well as other commentators, allude to the “cinematic” quality of this opera-oratorio, mentioning that Honegger was also a film music composer. But if this is film music, it is extremely dominant in mood and structure, which to my ears is far too aggressive a composition to work well in that mode. Yet there is a certain “cinematic” structure to the work, which in effect makes it a “movie for the ears.” (One constantly hears nowadays that we “listen with our eyes,” so why not at least one piece where we “see with our ears”?) Alsop conducted a live performance of this work at the Barbican in 2011, but according to one online commentator the program notes for that performance were also spotty and indistinct.


I’ve been unable to track down an English translation of the text anywhere online. From what I can judge, between the French-only text and my slight grasp of the language, the actors in this recording are all extremely good, bringing out Joan’s combination of confusion, defiance, and fear perfectly. Much of the credit for this goes to Sylvie Rohrer, whose reading of the text is both dramatic and natural-sounding—a rare combination indeed. The singers are all excellent in both vocal quality and—more importantly—diction, as is the chorus itself. Despite being German, Rilling is to be highly commended for his persistence in bringing out the proper idiomatic Frenchness of the music as well as his insistence on clarity of pronunciation.


Particular credit for the success of this recording goes to engineer Friedemann Trumpp for capturing such incredible 3D sound.


There appear to be three other recordings available on CD: Supraphon 11 0557/58 featuring narrators Nelly Borgeaud and Michel Favory, sopranos Christiane Château and Anne-Marie Rodde, alto Huguette Brachet, and the Kühn Children’s Chorus, Czech Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Serge Baudo; a single-disc version (meaning under 80 minutes) with narrators Anne-Marie Ferrière, René Piloy, and Madeleine Joris, sopranos Marthe Dugard and Ria Lenssens, tenor Frédéric Anspach, and conductor Louis de Vocht (Opera d’Oro 1223); and another one-disc version conducted by Siegfried Heinrich (VMS Musical Treasures 152), none of which I’ve heard. I have, however, heard the recording by Sonia Petrovna, Michaël Lonsdale, Christian Papis, Anne-Marie Blanzat, other soloists, the Choeur de Rouen-Haute-Normande, and Orchestre Symphonique Français conducted by Laurent Petitgirard on Cascavelle OSF 49008/09. This was also a live performance, given on June 26 and 27, 1992 at the Salle Wagram in Paris. I could only find references to this recording on French CD sites like Price Minister and Amazon.fr. The sound quality is also excellent, and this performance, too, is wonderfully atmospheric, but none of the actors are recorded particularly well—they sound like they’re behind the choir. The actress playing Joan (Petrovna) is good, but does not declaim her text with as much feeling (perhaps she was an excellent actress visually, but on CDs you can’t see her). A very good performance, then, but this new Hänssler release is just as fine musically, better in the placement of the actors, and of course much easier to obtain, making it well worth getting. With the odd running time of this work, one could possibly combine it with the equally excellent but seldom-heard L’Amore de tre re of Montemezzi for a superb evening of dramatic works that will challenge and not just entertain you.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

Born in Hanau near Frankfurt-am-Main in 1895, where he was something of a musical prodigy, Hindemith entered Hoch’sche Konservatorium where he studied violin, composition and conducting. He supported himself by playing in local dance bands and theatre groups. He soon made his mark as a performer and became deputy leader of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra at the age of nineteen, becoming its leader three years later.

His early compositional style earned him the reputation of something of an enfant térrible. Whilst his music is modernist in outlook, he rejected some of the modern trends in music, including the teachings of Schoenberg, who he admired, in favour of a more individualistic outlook. In 1921 he had his String Quartet Op. 16 and his Kammermusik No. 1 performed at the Donaueschingen festival of contemporary music. This was followed by further performances of his music the following year at the International Society of Contemporary Music festival which served to bring Hindemith and his music to the attention of a wider audience.

The music presented on these two CDs seems to have been performed as part of the centenary celebrations of Hindemith’s birth during the 1995 Schwetzingen Festival. This is a well planned and executed concert which brings together two of his better known pieces with two of his less well known theatrical works.

Der Dämon or "The Demon" is described as "A Dance-Pantomime" and is set in two scenes, revolving around the said Demon's seduction of two sisters. In the first scene he seduces the first sister, leading the second sister into a Dance of Grief and Longing. The second scene deals with the second sister's advances towards the Demon and his rejection of her. I really enjoyed this performance. This is a work known for its more jazzy elements, and the Ensemble Varianti highlight this aspect far more than the Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt under Werner Andreas Albert on CPO (999 220-2) whose performance is more symphonic.

The Kammermusik No. 2 is in reality a mini piano concerto and marks the first in a six-part series of solo concertos which Hindemith completed in 1927. It has a highly virtuosic obbligato piano part and is in itself quite dramatic; it is believed that Hindemith composed his The Four Temperaments in order to stop George Balanchine re-working the Kammermusik No. 2 as a ballet presentation.

Herodiade which is a Ballet – Orchestral Recitation after Mallarmé, is the latest work presented here and displays greater maturity. It is available in two versions, one with recitation, and one purely orchestral. The one presented here has the wonderful Gisela Zach-Westphal whose declamation is far more dramatic than Ann Gicquel for Albert on CPO (999 220-2), although I do prefer his more orchestral sound and he does present both versions.

The final work on the disc is a spirited performance of the Kammermusik No. 1 with its famous finale entitled 1921 and siren-call ending. This was the piece that really announced Hindemith on the world-stage. Both of the Kammermusiks are given performances here that bring out the chamber music aspect more than in the other versions I have, Albert on CPO (999 301-2, 999 138-2) and Chailly on Decca (473 722-2). Even so, each version has a lot to offer.

These four works all have a significant role for the piano and here Florian Henschel is on top form, especially when you take into account that he was a late replacement for Sviatoslav Richter. His playing is strong and impassioned and he seems to make light of some fiendish sounding piano writing. As mentioned above, the Ensemble Varianti are excellent and really bring out the different colours in the music. As for Gisela Zach-Westphal she makes this disc worth buying just for her part in Herodiade. Whilst I knew that Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau also liked to dabble in conducting, especially towards the end of his singing career, this is the first disc I have of him in this role. He manages to keep a tight control on his forces whilst not losing any excitement from the music. First rate performances.

The sound is clearly from a live event; you get the applause and one or two coughs. There is also a slight string twang that I am sure is not in the score. Despites this, these are performances that are full of thrilling and energetic playing. I would have loved to have attended this concert. The booklet essay is exemplary; it is detailed and informative and fills in a couple of blanks in my knowledge of this composer.

– MusicWeb International (Stuart Sillitoe)

Heinrich von Herzogenberg (1843-1900) was a singular composer for the 19th Century. He found inspiration in the music of Wagner and Schumann, but was also the founder of the Bach Society and championed works of older composers such as Schütz as well as a personal friend of Brahms. While attracted to the music of the Lutheran church, he was a devout, life-long Catholic.

Herzogenberg's oratorio "The Birth of Christ" was quite extraordinary for its time. Large-scale religious music was no longer fashionable, and even most "Masses" were written for the concert hall rather than the Church. Herzongenberg's Die Geburt Christi is scored for a large orchestra, choir, children's chorus, soloists and organ and deftly combines the countrapuntal textures of Bach with the late Romantic harmonic language of Brahms. The result is a serene and oddly moving score, achieving some of its most touching moments with the simplest of forces (a lovely setting of Jesu, Lieber Jesu Mein" for solo voice and cello is just one highlight).

HAYDN Masses: in d, “Lord Nelson”; 1 in B?, “Creation” 2 • Helmut Rilling, cond; Letizia Scherrer (sop); 1 Roxana Constantinescu (alt); 1,2 Maximilian Schmitt (ten); 1 Michael Nagy (bs); 1 Donna Brown (sop); 2 Lothar Odinius (ten); 2 Markus Eiche (bs); 2 Bach-Collegium, Stuttgart; 1 Gächinger Kantorei; Oregon Bach Festival O & Ch 2 • HÄNSSLER 98.279 (78:47)


In every way this is a magnificent release, one that offers contrasting sonorities for these glorious scores, two of the half dozen that comprise the crowning masterpieces of Haydn’s last years. Although modern instruments and pitch are used in both performances, that of the “Nelson” Mass suggests period practices in its more transparent, astringent sonorities, purer string tone, and seemingly smaller chorus. If this last view appears equivocal, it is because the more distant perspective of the engineering for the “Nelson” may be contributing to the impression. Despite the fine modern-instrument accounts of these scores recorded for London/Decca by David Willcocks and George Guest, and the equally impressive period-instrument versions by John Eliot Gardiner for Philips, this new release is complementary to them in that it offers readings that differ from both. In general, Rilling favors a narrower range of tempos than does Gardiner and, in faster sections an urgency that Guest and Willcocks do not match. But all of these divergent readings convey the miraculous essence of these Masses: Haydn’s command of making a simple tonic-dominant progression deeply touching; his delight in bold (and typically “surprising”) harmonic turns; and most of all, perhaps, his prevailing daring and originality in bringing the symphonic Mass to a level of perfection previously unmatched. Certainly Rilling’s projection of both scores suits not only their wide-ranging melodic and dramatic richness, but how, more than anything else—in their joyous affirmation of life—they transcend the liturgy that inspired them. A thoroughly recommendable disc.


FANFARE: Mortimer H. Frank

After a slightly disappointing showing in two of Haydn's greatest Sturm und Drang symphonies (Nos. 49 and 52) Thomas Fey is back on form, and not just because he's not using that blasted harpsichord continuo. He's always at his best in Haydn's symphonies with trumpets and timpani, where he can let the brass rip with uninhibited gusto, and that's just what he does in Nos. 69 and 86. The former opens with a theme very similar to that in Symphony No. 48, full of that wiry brilliance that Haydn basically owned. Fey's performance is easily the finest yet recorded of this punchy, compact, and hugely entertaining piece.

No. 86, in addition to its thrilling outer movements, is special for its Capriccio (Largo) slow movement, an essay in mysterious harmony punctuated by sudden emotional outbursts that anticipates the "Representation of Chaos" that opens Haydn's oratorio The Creation. Fey paces this piece, with its dramatic pauses, as well as anyone ever has.

Symphony No. 87 is the least familiar of the six "Paris" symphonies, but it's in no way inferior to the other five. No one attacks the opening with the same vigor as Bernstein, with his incredibly powerful bass lines, but Fey comes close. There is some lovely flute playing in the slow movement, and the finale--Haydn with one of his most meltingly gracious quick tunes--sounds particularly fresh and joyful. The sonics have plenty of impact, giving the trumpets and drums their due but never approaching the kind of blaring vulgarity that sometimes passes for "authenticity" these days. You'll love this!

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Joseph Haydn deserves credit as the composer who significantly developed the symphony (and equally the string quartet) in terms of its musical content, scoring and form and who ultimately canonised the symphony as the genre we know today. His First Symphony was, according to Manfred Huss, written in Lukavec Castle near Pilsen in 1759. This is where Haydn served his second aristocratic employer (after Baron Fürnberg): Count Ferdinand Maximilian Franz Morzin. Haydn had a small orchestra of 15 to 17 musicians at his disposal there and wrote his early symphonies for them. The First Symphony is also the first to be listed in the catalogue of the Dutch musicologist Anthony van Hoboken (1887–1983, hence the abbreviation Hob.); however, the lack of accurate evidence made it difficult even for this great Haydn scholar to determine the chronological sequence of the remaining symphonies. Hoboken originally listed a total of 104 Haydn symphonies (culminating in the twelve “London Symphonies”) but musicologists have since increased the number of complete surviving symphonies to 106. This 24th volume in the Heidelberger Sinfonikder’s journey through all 106 symphonies features the Symphonies Nos. 63, 38, 37, and 9.

The recording of the complete symphonies of Joseph Haydn by the Heidelberg Sinfoniker under Thomas Fey continues with undiminished quality in their latest installment: vol. 19 contains the symphony no. 26 in D minor of 1768, better known under the nickname "La Lamentatione", together with no. 27 in G major from the ten years earlier and symphony no. 42 in D major from 1771 - a sunny, care-free score, inspired by the Italian opera buffa.

While played on modern instruments, these are historically informed performances, distinguished by crisp tempos and well-thought out cantilenas and with all her wit and charm and 'Sturm und Drang' that befits them. - Hänssler Classic

The present recording presents two of "Papa" Haydn's great late symphonies together with a rarity. Symphony No. 89 was composed during the interim following Haydn's triumphant tour in Paris and just prior to his conquest of London in 1791. The work reflects the influence of his young friend, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is one of the rare examples of Haydn borrowing from himself; in this case, the second and fourth movements were repurposed from a Concerto for two Lire Organizzata. Symphony No. 102 is from the set of 12 masterworks that have come down to us as the "London" Symphonies. This symphony also includes a reworking of a previously written piece (the second movement is an orchestration of the second movement of the F sharp Minor piano trio). Our rarity is the Sinfonia Concertante in B flat Major, composed at the request of his friend, the English impresario Johann Peter Salomon - no doubt as a special treat for the London audiences who flocked to hear Haydn.

In 2011, Thomas Fey was nominated for a Grammy for his world premiere recordings of the music of Antonio Salieri. Every new release of Haydn symphonies from Thomas Fey and his ensemble is greeted with enthusiasm; truly, this is how Haydn should sound today. To bring this about, Fey's musicians bridge past and present, performing both on modern string instruments and replicas of authentic period woodwind, brass and percussion instruments.

In 2011 Thomas Fey was nominated for a Grammy for his world premiere recordings of the music of Antonio Salieri. Every new release of Haydn symphonies from Thomas Fey and his ensemble is greeted with enthusiasm; truly this is how Haydn should sound today. To bring this about, Fey's musicians bridge past and present, performing both on modern string instruments and replicas of authentic period woodwind, brass and percussion instruments.

There is nothing immature about the earliest Haydn symphonies, which in style straddle the older Italian overture and Baroque musical world while simultaneously looking forward to exciting new melodic and rhythmic developments of the Classical era.

Handel's Saul is an operatic oratorio with ever intensifying action and increasingly drastic scenes. Handel seems to have been especially moved by this particular text. He gives each of the five main soloists a distinctive profile. Even the vocal supporting roles are unique and intentionally individual. In none of his other oratorios does Handel call for a more differentiated orchestra. Alongside the strings, he uses oboes, recorders, bassoons, trumpets, timpani and trombones. For me, Saul is one of the great high points of Handel's works. All of the performers on this recording thoroughly enjoyed taking on the challenges brought forth by this music. - Helmuth Rilling

"...one would have to be extremely inflexible not to find Mozart's tinkering fascinating on its own terms. Those terms include a German text, a version of "The Trumpet Shall Sound" that features the French horn, a quartet setting of "And He Shall Purify" and the deletion of a few arias and choruses.

But Mozart's wind and brass additions -- in the Sinfonia, "All We Like Sheep" and "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth," for example -- give his version a wonderful, distinct character. Mozart's voice hardly drowns out Handel's, but his commentary makes for an enlivening alternative to the standard "Messiah." Helmuth Rilling's lively, warm-toned reading is both inviting and persuasive." - Alan Kozinn, New York Times

Helmuth Rilling conducts Mozart's 1789 arrangement of that "Grand Musical Entertainment." According to Rilling, it is due to the details that this arrangement is so fascinating: dynamic changes, a different segmentation of solo & chorus parts, and the instrumentation modulated to the tone characteristic of Mozart's time, "Actually," says Rilling, "this Messiah is a new work, more colorful and ver interesting!"