Richard Hickox brought these two neglected works into the record catalogue to criticla acclaim. In an Editor's Choice review in 1996 - the year of its release - Gramophone stated: ''Elgar completed The Black Knight in 1893 and it provided him with his first big success. The text tells of a sinister, unnamed ''Prince of mighty sway'', whose appearance at the King's court during the feast of Pentecost has disastrous consequences. Elgar's score boasts much attractive invention, some of it strikingly eloquent and prescient of greater offerings to come. The choral writing is always effective, the orchestration already vivid and assured. Richard Hickox's performance has great bloom and spaciousness. Similarly, in the tuneful, vernally fresh Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands, Hickox and his colleagues respond with comendable spirit and pleasing polish. Typical of Chandos, the recording is bright and clear, tonally beyond reproach and with just the right balance between choir and orchestra.''

"Hickox's superior Elgarian credentials are immediately established in the glorious orchestral "Meditation", where his conducting demonstrates a noble flexibility, sensitivity to dynamic nuance and feeling for climax that are wholly beguiling. Equally, the Chandos production team see to it that the familiar Elgarian 'glow'-.-a component largely missing from Sir Charles Groves's rival Liverpool recording—is in generous supply; indeed, the engineering, sumptuous yet nicely detailed, comes close to the ideal. The LSO respond for their Associate Conductor with playing that is both warm-hearted and alert; as ever, the London Symphony Chorus contribute to proceedings in exemplary, splendidly disciplined fashion..."

- Gramophone, (From the original 1993 release.)

This re-release of The Light of Life by Sir Edward Elgar forms part of the new Hickox Legacy commemorative series on Chandos Records, leading up to (and continuing beyond) the fifth anniversary, in Nov 2013, of the conductor’s untimely death.

The Light of Life, an oratorio for soprano, contralto, tenor, and baritone soloists, full choir and orchestra, is a lesser-known but imposing work by the composer who brought us the mighty Dream of Gerontius. The story concerns the blind beggar whose sight Christ restored. The words are taken from the Gospel of St John, with additions by the Reverend Edward Capel Cure.

Elgar proposed to call this his first oratorio Lux Christi, but his publishers persuaded him to provide an English title: as the work was written with the 1896 Three Choirs Festival at Worchester in mind, the concern was that an Anglican cathedral festival might detect a Roman Catholic bias… Elgar complied, and the work was given the more suitable title by which we know it today.

Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus were joined on this recording by the soloists Judith Howarth, Linda Finnie, Arthur Davies, and John Shirley-Quirk.

- Chandos

Almost forty years after his first recording on Chandos, this unique limited-edition release gathers some of the best and most-awarded recordings on the label by one of the most prolific conductors of all time: Neeme Järvi. It highlights a 200+ discography that explores an astonishingly wide repertoire, with selections from the legendary complete series of Prokofiev’s symphonies and Tchaikovsky’s ballets to the groundbreaking discoveries of composers such as Atterberg or Suchon. It features nearly a dozen of the numerous orchestras with which he has collaborated, including the RSNO, Chicago Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, all here celebrated at their best. Offered at a very special price and retaining the original covers, this product also includes very special notes by James Jolly, Editor in Chief of Gramophone, as well as exclusive photos and interviews with figures central to Järvi’s extraordinary musical life.

Past praise of previously released material included in this set:

Prokofiev: Symphony No 6, Waltzes Suite / Järvi, SNO

As in all of his Prokofiev symphony recordings–this was the first, by the way–Järvi really digs into the music. The engineering is as big and bold as the performances. This recording deserves classic status.

– ClassicsToday

Smetana: Má Vlast / Järvi, Detroit Symphony

Järvi and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra deliver an expansive reading of the complete work, and their feeling for the music's vivid imagery and richly Romantic expression is spot on.

– All Music Guide

'Never was there a more complete triumph', wrote The Times after the premiere of Elijah by Mendelssohn. The performance, conducted by the composer at the 1846 Birmingham Music Festival, marked the beginning of the life of Elijah as one of the best-loved choral works in the repertoire, a status it still holds.

A grand oratorio in two parts, Elijah is very much composed in the spirit of Mendelssohn's baroque predecessors, combining the dramatic sweep of Handel with episodes of sublime meditation such as are found in Bach. It tells the story of the stern Old Testament prophet Elijah who preached against the idol worship of the Israelite people. Mendelssohn adapted the Biblical texts to produce intensely dramatic scenes depicting, for example, the resurrection of a dead youth, a contest of the gods, and Elijah's ascension into heaven on a fiery chariot.

This recording, made in April 1989, presents an all-star cast with Willard White in the title role and Rosalind Plowright, Linda Finnie, Arthur Davies, and Jeremy Budd singing the various supporting parts. Conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus is the late Richard Hickox, a musician who built an immense reputation for his masterful performances of choral music during his career. This release is a part of the ongoing Richard Hickox Legacy series.

Claudio Abbado's collection of Rossini overtures is flecked with moments of special illumination... With Abbado, the difficult to manage Il Turco in Italia is a rare treat, Tancredi, in Philip Gossett's new revision, is a tour deforce and the liquid-toned cellos at the start of Guillaume Tell are nothing short of miraculous. Abbado's Scala di seta, too, wings into life, sweet and silken, like feathered Mercury.

-- Gramophone [8/1979, reviewing the LP release of the Rossini overtures]

One of Parry's finest works, magnificently performed, and the best of the two available recordings of "The Sons of Light".

This was the first recording of "The Sons of Light". When I reviewed the second recording, by David Lloyd-Jones on Naxos, I found the Lyrita preferable, with more presence to the recording, more vital conducting and better choral diction. At that time there still seemed to be no prospect of the many Lyrita treasures ever seeing the light of day again. Now things are changing and this is the recording to get.

I referred in my review to the "coursing energy and phenomenal range of colour" of the work. It is, in its way, one of Vaughan Williams’s most impressive. You would certainly never imagine it was written to be sung by children – 1,150 of them at the first performance in 1951, with the accompaniment of the LPO under Boult. What worries me is that, every time I come to it, I find I don’t remember it. It’s not just that the themes don’t stay in my mind. As the work plays I don’t get any sense of recognition – "Ah, I remember that bit now". I hear it as a work I’ve never heard before. This is not a problem I have with Vaughan Williams generally.

Though I also had the LP containing "The Mystic Trumpeter" I never really listened to it often enough to say whether it sticks in my mind or not. I should think it unlikely. I find the same problem here as with Vaughan Williams’s "Willow-Wood", which was also on the Naxos/Lloyd-Jones disc. The composer has very skilfully set the poem line by line, with meaningful upward swoops for important words, pregnant key-changes and so on. He’s produced a nice wall-paper backing to a poem that is far more exciting when it’s simply read. But composition is about creation. It is a constructive process. If you start with an exhilarating poem and finish with a piece of music with about as much tension as a wet lettuce, is this to be defined as composition or decomposition? A work for Holst completists only. The performance is good enough, though Armstrong’s voice sometimes billows when it should soar. Holst seems to have a whopping Wagnerian soprano voice in mind and Armstrong, for all her virtues, was not exactly that. There is also a touch of opaqueness to some of her notes on the CD, though not on the LP.

The Parry is a far more memorable work. The composer had the good sense to choose a poem which provides a refrain. He does not repeat the same music every time but provides a new variation of it. The result is a sort of variation rondo form, combining continuous development with structural unity. Parry is at his finest and most eloquent throughout, from the lilting opening to the dancing energy of the later stanzas. There is a satisfying build-up which dies away to a touching close. There is also a lovely solo stanza, beautifully sung by Teresa Cahill. John Quinn noted in his review that her word underlay at the end of this stanza was at variance with the new edition he was using and wondered if the edition had been revised. I doubt it; I have a copy of the original edition and the textual underlay is different from what is sung there, too. Quite simply, the music as written calls unrealistically for a third lung, so I imagine Cahill herself changed the underlay in order to take a breath in the middle. Composers who aren’t singers miscalculate in this way more often than you’d expect – even Verdi did sometimes. Read John’s review, by the way; he has had the good fortune to sing in a rare performance of the work and his enthusiasm comes from within. But did the soprano at that performance cope with that long phrase in a single breath?

If Parry is at his best, so is Willcocks. It’s a thrilling performance from a great choral conductor. This is the only recording of the piece so far, but now it’s available again we hardly need another. Just for the record, I have always thought Cahill a little insecure in her opening phrase, but thereafter she is splendid. She has a lovely disc of R. Strauss and Rachmaninov to her credit and, unlike Sheila Armstrong in "The Mystic Trumpeter", her voice doesn’t billow, it soars.

Maybe in 1912 the Parry seemed old-fashioned. In 2007 it just seems timeless.

Outstanding recordings, as always with Lyrita, and notes by Ursula Vaughan Williams, Bernard Benoliel and Imogen Holst.

-- Christopher Howell, MusicWeb International

This second installment of Davis’s Sibelius cycle is purest gold. These performances command attention and will satisfy listeners for many years to come.

This second instalment of Davis’s new Sibelius cycle is purest gold. Hardly a phrase in these performances passes without new light being shed on it, and yet there is a strong feeling of spontaneity throughout. Davis’s readings are far from conventional; he often focuses on the darker sides of these symphonies, bringing out rarely heard depths in the Second and adding a fascinating new dimension to the Sixth. In both, he projects a strong sense of narrative and in the Second Symphony guides the argument toward the finale with overwhelming results – the appearance of the big tune gains immeasurably from a determined lack of sensationalism. Still more revealing is the finale of the Sixth: along with the expected ‘pastoral’ reflection he finds more than a hint of menace.

Davis is admirably served by the LSO. The strings respond to the detail of his interpretation with superb flexibility, and wind and brass groups are richly voiced. There is a wealth of magically observed orchestral detail, with the start of the slow movement of the Second Symphony – a polar-bear growl from the timpani and singing pizzicato – being especially memorable. These performances command attention and will satisfy listeners for many years to come.

Performance: 5 (out of 5), Sound: 5 (out of 5)

-- Jan Smaczny, BBC Music Magazine

Ukrainian-born conductor Nicolai Malko studied music in St. Petersburg. He eventually began teaching at the Moscow and Leningrad Conservatories. Malko had a sporadic relationship with the BBC, and although he was never a staff conductor, he visited, taught, and conducted occasionally from 1929 until his passing in 1962. This 4-disc set contains some of Malko’s best conducting for BBC broadcast, including works by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Haydn, Mussorgsky, Bruckner, and more.

"This well-transferred collection of BBC broadcasts has to be one of the most significant "historical" orchestral releases in recent years. There are of course various commercial discs with Malko; here, though, we have the Russian-born conductor captured in full flight.

The principle novelty is The Kodaly's one-act theater piece The Spinning Room, sung in English, and thoroughly enjoyable. The remainder of the set is purely orchestral.

Minor tape imperfections and playing fluffs notwithstanding, this is a musically enriching set and our experience of the conductor is duly extended." – Gramophone

Irene Scharrer, though perhaps the least remembered of the major Matthay pupils, was the earliest to record, beginning in 1909 at the age of 21. She excelled in such works as the Chopin preludes and in other brilliant pieces such as those by Scarlatti and Liszt, but the poise and refinement of her Chopin Nocturne reveal another side to her playing that is sadly underrepresented on disc. Her final recording, of the Litolff Scherzo, was also her most famous; in it's day it was a best seller and was responsible for putting that work on the musical map. This set reissues for the first time all Scharrer's electrical recordings and examples of every work she recorded in the acoustic era (pre 1925) that was not later remade as an electrical recording. For completeness, a discography of all her other acoustic recordings is also included.

Wilhelm Backhaus (1884–1969) left a 60-year recorded legacy which began in 1908, but though known particularly for Beethoven and Brahms in his later years, he performed a much wider repertoire before the war (as seen on the companion album which presents works by Chopin, Liszt and Schumann) and the four sonatas and two concertos included here are the totality of his early Beethoven output. These are nevertheless important recordings – the ‘Emperor’ concerto was only the second ever recording and the first recorded by the ‘electric’ process. The 4th became an instant classic and still stands high among recorded versions. The sonatas benefit from the spontaneity of youth – the didactic and gruff presentation which occasionally afflicts Backhaus’s later complete sonata cycles is little in evidence here. Three of the sonatas were issued with Bach ‘fillers’ and we have included these here to reveal yet another side of Backhaus’ musicianship.

-----

REVIEW:

Backhaus has a particularly fascinating way with the development of the G major’s opening Allegro. The sonatas are a bit of a mixed bag, some superior to his later recordings, others not.

– Gramophone

The Pathétique was recorded the day after the Emperor and is an example of his unmannered (other than tempo speeding in the finale), direct, largely uneffusive sonata playing. The Moonlight has rather too many punctuation points for comfort but is otherwise eloquently phrased with real brio in the finale. Les Adieux is perhaps the pick of these early sonata readings for its consistency of vision; sometimes in Op.101 he is inclined to go hell-for-leather. This disc ends with a particularly beguiling performance of Clarence Lucas’ arrangement from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.

– MusicWeb International

Chandos presents its second LP re-release, the distinguished recording of Vaughan William’s original 1913 version of A London Symphony. This recording, featuring Richard Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra, was met with universal critical acclaim upon initial release, being ‘destined for classic status’, according to Gramophone. This is the first and only recording of the original 1913 version of the symphony, containing about twenty minutes of music edited out of the familiar final version.

For this album, renowned classical guitarist Christoph Denoth joins with the London Symphony Orchestra under conductor Jesus Lopez Cobos to bring us a beautiful recording of compositions by Lorenzo Palomo (b. 1938), Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999), and Joquin Malats (1872-1912). The title track of the album, Palomo's Nocturnos de Andalucia, was composed for Pepe Romero. The full suite for guitar and orchestra was premiered in Berlin on January 27, 1996, with Romero performing. Christoph Denoth began his concert career at age 15. He regularly performs with chamber ensembles, such as the Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain and the Offenburger Streichtrio. He also performs solo concerts internationally. Joquin Malats' Serenata Espanola is arranged for this recording by Christoph Denoth and Jonathan Rathbone, and is the world premiere recording.

Puccini: La Boheme / Nagano, Te Kanawa, Leech, Ambrosian Singers, LSO. Composer: Giacomo Puccini, Performer: Alan Ewing, Richard Leech, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Carlos Chausson, Conductor: Kent Nagano Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra, Ambrosian Singers, St. Clement Danes Nearly a century after it's premiere in Turin in February 1896 we have a fresh and vibrant new recording of this opera - one of the best known and probably most loved in Puccini's output. Nagano is well able to delineate Puccini's large musical canvas, sweeping the colors of the orchestral scoring and the glorious vocal lines onwards and upwards with an intoxicating, rumbustious swagger. If Te Kanawa had made a recording of this role around the time she sang it at Covent Garden in 1976 (with Pavarotti as Rodolfo) or in the subsequent revival in 1979, it would have made for a fascinating comparison. Amazingly, this is her first recording of Mimì and she has successfully managed to integrate her mature, lustrous sound with the poignant vulnerability and gradually ebbing strength of Mimì to remarkable effect. It is a hauntingly convincing performance. Leech provides an excellent shaping of Rodolfo with a rich, passionate tone. Titus (Marcello) and Gustafson (Musetta) are as finely characterized and vividly sung as one could hope and all the ensemble interplays, especially in Acts III and IV, have a fresh and dynamic intensity.

Kermit Poling writes music that is beautifully crafted, and immediately accessible. It is full of beautiful, melodic lines. The Guitar concerto, written for Guitarist Giovanni De Chiaro, who performs it here, is one of the greatest guitar concertos of the past 50 years. Named by Forum Magazine as one of the top ten faces to watch, Kermit Poling is celebrating his 22nd season as Music Director of the South Arkansas Symphony and his 27th season as Music Director of the Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet. He is in his 31st year as Associate Conductor of the Shreveport Symphony, an orchestra where he also was Concertmaster for over 27 years. He has produced the Shreveport Symphony’s broadcast series since 1987, having also produced radio programming for WBUR Boston and other public radio stations. He serves as General Manager of the Red River Radio public radio network at LSUS having been appointed to the position in 2006. In 2015 he became music director of the Marshall Symphony Orchestra in Texas. “The Romantic spirit lives, breathes, and flourishes in Kermit Poling.” (Fanfare Magazine)

There is no finer work in the medium than William Mathias' Harp Concerto, a stunning combination of characterful melody and magical handling of texture. The finale in particular must be counted as one of the most successful concerto movements in the 20th-century literature for any instrument, and this performance featuring the work's dedicatee Osian Ellis is just about perfect in every way. Why this piece isn't a concert staple remains a mystery. The other two works in their individual ways are also very satisfying and well worth hearing, if perhaps not quite as remarkable as the Harp Concerto.

Gervase de Peyer gives a fearless account of the Clarinet Concerto, a piece that vacillates between mellow lyricism and strident outbursts. The thematic material here isn't quite as memorable (to me at least) as that in the Harp and Third Piano Concertos. This latter lives squarely in the school of Bartók and Prokofiev, with a "night music" central movement and a finale that sounds like an amalgam of Bartók's Second, Barber, and Ginastera, albeit with a Welsh musical accent. Peter Katin is the excellent soloist, David Atherton conducts splendidly, and the recording is of the very highest quality. Outstanding and essential for anyone who enjoys really good 20th-century concertos.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

GALLAGHER Diversions Overture. Berceuse. Sinfonietta for String Orchestra. Symphony in One Movement, “Threnody” • JoAnn Falletta, cond; London SO • NAXOS 8559652 (63:47)


For those who do not know about Jack Gallagher and the genesis of this recording, I refer you to the feature/interview elsewhere in this issue. The four works offered here are an overview of most the American composer’s career so far, from the 1977 Berceuse , written when he was 30 years old, to the Sinfonietta, completed in 2007 and revised the next year.


There probably is no better introduction to Gallagher’s beautifully crafted, accessible music than Diversions Overture , the opener for this CD. The concert overture seems to evoke the open prairies of the old West, complete with sunrise, sunset, and the excitement of discovery. I mean no irony; it is very much in the style of the American school created by Aaron Copland and Gallagher’s first composition teacher, Elie Siegmeister. If there is any irony, it is that Copland and Siegmeister were city boys from New York, and Gallagher was, too, before he took his university job in Wooster, Ohio. It doesn’t matter. In 1986, when Gallagher wrote this, he showed himself a natural heir to the style that his predecessors created. There is poignancy, explosive energy, good-natured humor (love those harp interjections in the middle section), and a warm-hearted directness that is tremendously engaging. This is a feel-good music in the very best sense of the expression.


On the other hand, the earlier Berceuse is so beautiful it could make you cry. How many times does a critic get to say that when reviewing a piece by a living composer? And it works because there is no sense that the composer is trying to make that happen. As is true of all of Gallagher’s music, there is unaffected honesty, the sense of being allowed to look into the composer’s heart. This gentle little lullaby, based on a piano work written for the daughter of friends, is one of Gallagher’s most played and recorded works. I have not heard it better done.


Originally a set of two pieces for orchestra, and expanded in to a full five-movement suite in 2007, the Sinfonietta is occasionally reminiscent of chamber-orchestra works by British composers like Moeran. At other times Britten’s more anxious string works are brought to mind. This is a different side of Gallagher’s art, emotionally more contained—though no less vigorous—and sparer in sound. Throughout there are surprises: an unexpected interval, an unusually timed rhythmic pattern, or a chord that deliciously refuses to resolve. In the Intrada, he uses the octatonic (diminished) scale to create a feeling of uneasy anticipation. In the Intermezzo he frames the melancholy, slowly shifting movement with a concertante opening and closing that is like murmured conversation against the sound of the night. The lively, slightly unsettling central Argentinean Malambo serves as a scherzo, but the bustle never seems joke-like. The Pavane is reminiscent of the Berceuse of 30 years previous, though now the innocence is bittersweet, and the gentleness a touch reserved. The pizzicato opening of the concluding Rondo Concertante brings us back to English pastoral, and the folk dance. Throughout there is a quality of understatement that is deceptive, as greater familiarity with the work reveals a deep complexity that isn’t immediately apparent; very like getting to know the composer, and very moving.


So is Gallagher’s Symphony in One Movement, subtitled “Threnody.” Written, in part, in memory of his mother, who died unexpectedly during its composition, this is understandably the darkest of the works here. The opening section may well remind you of Shostakovich’s wrenching adagios, and echoes of Bernard Hermann will come later, but the way this lament explodes into sudden anger in the second part is clearly Gallagher’s usual kinetic energy, agonized and held too long in check. It subsides eventually, played out in sinister snatches of manic solo violin, and racing piano chromatics, and the roaring of the brass. An eerie harp cadenza provides a release, but no sense of consolation, and the work dissolves into a fractured madness of spent rage and poignant remembrances before collapsing into despair.


As I have said before, this is a most welcome release of some absolutely fantastic music. It is not cutting-edge, nor self-consciously emotive as some neoromantic music is. It is richly and directly communicative. Naxos is to be commended for offering an opportunity to hear these four major works by a composer who richly deserves to be better known. JoAnn Falletta clearly loves these pieces, and brings them vividly to life. The LSO—need I say this?—plays with great conviction and energy. Only an occasional unevenness of ensemble in the swirling figurations of the Sinfonietta, or a moment or two of tentativeness in the brass, hint at any lack of familiarity. The sound is lovely, fully capturing the bloom of that great Abbey Road Studio One. Urgently recommended.


FANFARE: Ronald E. Grames


On evidence here, Jack Gallagher (b. 1947) is a composer of considerable ability. He wrote the notes to this release, not necessarily a good idea, since they read like a job resume and have about as much personality as stale bread, but the music happily says otherwise. The two big works, the Sinfonietta for strings and the Symphony "Threnody", have considerable substance. Among the five movements of the former work is an Argentine Malambo (think of the final dance of Ginastera's ballet Estancia), and a very good one too. The symphony manages the difficult task in a modern work of being turbulent and emotionally affecting without ever sounding petulant or gratuitously miserable. It's also very cogently structured in one movement, part of a long and distinguished lineage stretching back through Samuel Barber and Roy Harris to the Seventh Symphony of Sibelius.

Diversions Overture opens with some lovely modal harmonies in the woodwinds, and for a moment you might feel that you are listening to a lost work from the English pastoral school--not quite Vaughan Williams, but possibly E.J. Moeran or John Ireland. Gallagher's individuality soon reasserts itself, however, in the music's quick sections. The Berceuse is a slight but pretty little intermezzo.

As you may have guessed, this music is harmonically traditional and falls gratefully on the ear, but it never comes across as merely facile or clichéd. JoAnn Falletta and the London Symphony play it all with notable confidence and technical security, as we have every right to expect, and they've been well recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Gallagher is definitely worth getting to know.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

The latest release in the Remastered Classics series from PENTATONE is Rafael Kubelik’s sprited and acclaimed reading from the 1970s of Beethoven’s first and fourth symphonies, performed with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Delightful, infectious and witty, Beethoven’s first symphony is a paean to the classical symphonies of Haydn and Mozart shot through with very Beethovenian touches, such as the opening Adagio which starts in the wrong key and the final movement which struggles to get started at all. These peculiarities taken with the felicity and inventiveness of his writing make this a happy and evergreen work. Overshadowed by the monumental third and the dramatic fifth symphonies, Beethoven’s cheerful and optimistic fourth has been described as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” for its mix of engaging melodies, lurching rhythms, pungent dissonances and its vigorous orchestral writing. While structurally and harmonically more complex than the first symphony, it too is cast in the classical mould with a palpable nod to Haydn in the rousing final movement. Rafael Kubelik recorded his acclaimed cycle of Beethoven symphonies in the 1970s for Deutsche Grammophon, each with a different orchestra to dazzling effect. Although recorded in multi-channel sound, these unmissable performances have previously been available only in the conventional two-channel stereo format. Using state of the art technology which avoids the need for re-mixing, PENTATONE’s engineers have remastered the original studio tapes to bring the performances to life as originally intended: in compelling and pristine multi-channel sound. Further releases from this memorable cycle are planned this year in the Remastered Classics series: Symphonies 2 & 5 (October) and Symphonies 6, 7 & 8 (November).

SCHOENBERG String Trio, op. 45 1,2,3. 4 Pieces for Mixed Chorus, op. 27 5. 3 Satires for Mixed Chorus, op. 28 5. Septet-Suite, op. 29 1,3,4. Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene, op. 34 6 • 1 Rolf Schulte (vn); 2 Richard O’Neill (va); 3 Fred Sherry (vc); 4 Christopher Oldfather (pn); 4 Charles Neidich, Alan R. Kay (cl); 4 Michael Lowenstern (bs cl); 4 Toby Appel (va); 5 Simon Joly Chorale; Robert Craft, cond; 5 London Sinfonietta; 6 London SO • NAXOS 8557529 (79:12)


Robert Craft’s extensive new series of Schoenberg recordings continues apace with this release, Vol. 11 (for those who are keeping score at home). As indicated in my earlier review of his new version of Pelleas et Mélisande, this new series has far lusher, more reverberant sound than his earlier Columbia recordings, which obscures some detail even though it retains some of the old fire. I was very curious to hear this disc, however, as it contains works he did not previously record and indicates that his oeuvre will now include chamber pieces that don’t necessarily need a conductor, even though he is listed as such on the CD box and booklet.


Sixty years after his death, Schoenberg remains an acquired taste—to some, a taste they’d rather not acquire at all. The problem is not, and never was, that his music is completely inaccessible but that the rigorous rules of 12-tone music make it more of a mind game than an expressive device. Craft and the chamber musicians involved in the present release try to overcome this obstacle by infusing their performances with a goodly amount of real emotion. Despite their good intentions, however, the String Trio strikes me as overly busy and consistently neurotic. Atypical of Schoenberg, he published the trio with a detailed chart, measure by measure, of the form of the piece. Well, any music that needs that much explanation, even to the performers, isn’t going to do much to communicate to any but the most dedicated atonal buff.


On the other hand, the Four Pieces and Three Satires for mixed chorus are—for atonal music—quite a bit of fun to listen to. Here, Schoenberg breaks up the rhythmic patterns and, especially in the Four Pieces, produces some exceptionally fine choral writing. Most whimsical of all is the third Satire, “Der neue Klassizismus,” which keeps seesawing back and forth between 4/4 and 3/4, and even within the 3/4 time, fractions the beats to keep the listener off-balance. I loved it!


Also very playful, despite its density, is the Septet-Suite, which is very close in spirit and feeling to the Serenade (one of my personal favorite of all Schoenberg works, and to this day one of his most popular pieces). One thing that really makes this piece work, for me, is the sound quality. By switching recording venues to Master Sound Astoria Studios in New York, we are treated to absolutely superb sonics for such a chamber work, clear as a bell with only a bit of natural resonance. Would that the entire series was recorded this way. I’m not sure if Schoenberg indicated that the piano be somewhat recessed in volume, or if this was a decision by Craft or the musicians, but it works beautifully, making the instrument sound more like a xylophone in the way it fits into the musical texture. As the piano is pushed a bit back from the microphone, the bass clarinet is brought forward, and this, too, imparts a richness of balance to the sound texture that I find particularly warm and rewarding.


But Craft, and Naxos, save the best piece for last. Despite the over-reverberant, almost goopy ambience, Accompaniment to a Cinematographic Scene is an absolute masterpiece that morphs and grows and moves with a real Viennese rhythmic lilt despite its dense scoring and atonal structure. Craft explains the reason: The earlier of the nine episodes are written in somewhat slower tempos that build gradually toward the ninth and last, “Catastrophe.” I would, however, also give a large amount of credit for the work’s success to Craft’s wonderful sense of proportion and the way he builds and releases tension.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

Yondani Butt was born in Macau. He studied conducting with Wolfgang Vacano (1906-1985) at Indiana University, majoring in chemistry. He continued to study conducting with Josef Blatt (1906-1999) at the University of Michigan while pursuing his chemistry degree. Hailed by Robert Marsh of the Chicago Sun Times as ''an outstanding talent'', Yondani Butt has received acclamation from critics and audiences for his many recordings and concert performances. He died on August 28, 2014. ''Anyone seeking these two symphonies on one disc, together with a generous 'filler' into the bargin, could hardly do better than to acquire this eminently recommendable issue'' Robert Matthew-Walker, International Record Review on the original release of Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4.