Classical Music

Classical Music

A large measure of Mozart's increasing fascination with the clarinet from the later 1780s was due to his interaction with one of the cutting-edge virtuosi of the day, Anton Stadler, for whom both of the works on this CD were composed as well as the Clarinet Concerto, K. 662. Both works are played here by Australian virtuoso, Owen Watkins on reproductions of period clarinets, including a basset instrument, with extended lower range, for the Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581. Jaap Schr�der, an expert in the violin repertoire of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, founded the Sk�lholt Quartet and lead the Quartetto Esterhazy and Smithson String Quartet, performing and recording classical quartet repertoire for the first time on period instruments. Oboist Owen Watkins has performed and recorded with many premier ensembles in the USA, Europe and Australia, including Boston Baroque, the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Camerata, Washington Bach Consort, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera and Orchestra of the Antipodes, Orchestra 1788 and the Cambini Quintet. A faculty member of the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute for twenty-five years, Penelope Crawford is internationally acclaimed as one of America's master performers on historical keyboard instruments. From 1975 to 1990, she was harpsichordist and fortepianist with the Ars Musica Baroque Orchestra, one of the first period instrument ensembles in North America.

BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas: No. 30; No. 31; No. 32 • Penelope Crawford (fp) • MUSICA OMNIA 0308 (64:30)


Although Ann Arbor-based Penelope Crawford is widely regarded as one of the leading American fortepianists, she has made relatively few recordings for an artist of her stature. Blame it on the vicissitudes and dog-eat-dog nature of the record business, I guess. Her reputation is built largely upon live concerts, both solo and chamber music, also as a result of her many years of teaching at the University of Michigan and at the summer Baroque Performance Institute in Oberlin, Ohio. Rare as the concerts are, they are eagerly awaited events attended by her many friends, fans, and former students.


Aside from Crawford’s chamber-music recordings, I know of only two solo discs on the Titanic and Loft labels, and these appeared as long ago as the early ’90s. Since 2002, Boston-based Musica Omnia and its director, Peter Watchorn, have been quietly rectifying that situation by recording Crawford and the Atlantis Ensemble—Jaap Schroeder is the violinist of this group—in performances of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, and Mendelssohn. The present CD is the first newly recorded solo disc from Crawford to be issued on Musica Omnia, and it’s a winner.


I don’t normally take notice of cover art, but in this case the painting reproduced on the booklet cover ( Der Watzmann by Caspar David Friedrich) is worth mentioning. In the spirit of Friedrich’s fanciful Alpine landscape, the title Magnificent Landscapes has been appended to the CD, and this is an apt description of both the music and the playing. Beethoven’s three final sonatas are some of the densest, thorniest music around; they require a pianist with flawless technique and consummate interpretative skills. Penelope Crawford has these qualities in spades, as we shall see.


The instrument used in this recording has a fascinating story. The six-and-a-half-octave grand piano was built by Conrad Graf of Vienna around 1835, presumably for a noble Swedish family. That’s where it turned up at auction in 1940; a retired schoolteacher was motivated to outbid another family when she heard that the instrument was going to be converted into a dining room table! Eventually the piano made its way to the United States, where it was acquired by Edward Swenson, who restored it to playing condition. Crawford purchased the instrument in 1994.


The instrument has a wonderfully warm, well-balanced sound, with nary a trace of action noise—at first, you might not recognize it as a fortepiano. The upper treble is voiced down ever so slightly, which shifts the tonal balance toward the middle and lower registers. The characteristic crisp dampening and treble woodiness of a Viennese fortepiano are there; some find these qualities objectionable. I prefer to think of it as furnishing the ideal tonal characteristics for late Beethoven. Just as the brilliance of a Steinway is ideal for Ravel, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninoff, the subtle richness of a Graf is the exact quality needed for Beethoven (and Schubert and Schumann).


Just for fun, I compared Crawford’s rendition of the three last sonatas with that of Ronald Brautigam on BIS, not yet reviewed by Fanfare as of this writing. Usually one associates American pianists with fire and brilliance, European pianists with warmth and Innigkeit— to make a sweeping generalization for which there are many, many exceptions. But in this case the tables are tuned: Brautigam’s characteristically fast tempos and brighter-sounding fortepiano gloss over the deeper aspects of the music at times, whereas Crawford achieves the kind of depth of expression that one expects from a Wilhelm Kempff or Artur Schnabel. A perfect example is the final movement to op. 109, marked by the composer Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung . You know that when Beethoven demands “the most heartfelt expression,” the pianist must deliver, and Crawford achieves some of the most deeply considered, soulful fortepianism that you’re likely to hear. Using subtle modifications of dynamics and articulation, plus the Moderator stop at one point, she provides a finely shaded example of how late Beethoven should be played. The amiable A?-Major sonata and the dramatic C Minor benefit in equal measure—simply stunning.


The piano is recorded fairly close up but quite believably. Handsome packaging, including an excellent essay on the music, completes the picture. If you haven’t guessed by now, this is my preferred version by a country mile.


FANFARE: Christopher Brodersen

This 3 CD collection brings together composer Julian Wachner’s most important works for orchestra and voices from the early breakthrough “Canticles” [1990] through his monumental “Symphony No. 1” [2001] and theatrically-charged “Regina Coeli” [2002] to his secular ghost-story oratorio “Come, My Dark-Eyed One” [2008] and jazzy, blues-infected Blue, Green, Red [2014] for trumpet and organ. Recorded in the superb acoustics of Trinity Church, NYC, and featuring the combined forces of the GRAMMY-nominated Choirs of Trinity Wall Street and NOVUS NY, Trinity’s resident new music orchestra. Mr. Wachner’s compositions have been described as “jazzy, energetic, and ingenious” by the Boston Globe, having “splendor, dignity, and sophisticated chromatic exploration” by La Scena Musicale, being “a compendium of surprises” by the Washington Post, and as “bold and atmospheric”, having “an imaginative flair for allusive text setting” and noted for “the silken complexities of his harmonies” by the New York Times.

Bach's French Suites are pieces that underwent many revisions. Unlike Bach's Partitas, which were published and therefore frozen in their state at the time of publication, the French Suites were didactic pieces, with many variants. Some early versions appear in the 1722 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, which contains two full suites (BWV 815 and 816) together with parts of the first two suites. Peter Watchorn discusses how Bach used these suites for teaching in his interesting liner-notes. These take the form of an imaginary interview with Johann Sebastian Bach.

The first thing that strikes the listener is the clear, rich sound of the harpsichord, a Zuckerman copy of a Christian Vater instrument from 1738. Not only does this harpsichord offer an extremely balanced sound from the low end to the treble, but the recording itself enhances the musicality of the instrument. It sounds warm and full, without the sometimes harsh high end that can be tiring to listen to. Also, it is worth noting that Watchorn uses Bradley Lehman's tuning scheme, described here.

Watchorn's performances here are delightful. His playing ranges from dainty to powerful according to the needs of each specific movement. He takes full advantage of the wide spectrum of sounds his harpsichord can voice, offering tasteful ornamentation and subtle accents when desirable.

One thing that Watchorn does here that sets this recording apart from others involves interpolating preludes into those suites that lack a prelude. He has restored the prelude to the 4th suite, and plays other preludes before the suites that do not contain any. His reasoning, laid out in the liner-notes, is in part due to the fact that Bach and his sons would "improvise" preludes when playing these suites. To this end, he uses preludes from a variety of sources: The Well-Tempered Clavier, other uncollected preludes, and even BWV 999, a prelude that Bach wrote for the lute, and which is well-known.

I am very familiar with the French Suites, having long appreciated these beautiful works. Adding preludes to them is interesting, but when one has listened to them without these preludes for so long, it can be jarring to hear them with what seem like "intruders", especially those preludes that are familiar from The Well-Tempered Clavier, or the prelude for lute. I admire the research that has gone into this choice, but I will choose to listen to the French Suites without these additional movements. It is like Bach's Art of Fugue. For a long time, it was thought that the unfinished fugue was the final part of the work; it certainly sounds like a summation of the rest of the fugues, and its ending in suspension is a fitting ending for the entire work. But musicologists have shown us that its position in the work was much earlier. Nevertheless, I simply cannot listen to it in its proper position.

This set also contains the twenty "Little Preludes", other didactic works from the Clavierbüchlein for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. Among these works, Watchorn "completed" the prelude BWV 932, which existed as a fragment. I find the Little Preludes interesting, but they certainly don't stand up to the French Suites. These are not works I return to often, though Watchorn's recordings are up to the same standards as the French Suites.

To sum up, this is a fine recording of the French Suites, with the odd aspect of the additional preludes. It is up to the listener to decide whether or not he or she wishes to hear the suites in this manner. Given the quality of the performances and especially the excellent recording, this set is among the best harpsichord recordings of these works.

-- Kirk McElhearn, MusicWeb International

The initial installment of the Clavier-ubung, Bach's first published opus. The most complete recording of the Bach Partitas, on 3 CDs, with all the repeats played. Recorded on a state-of-the-art replica of a German-style harpsichord from 1709. Latest release in Musica Omnia's complete recording of Bach's solo music for harpsichord performed by one of the leading specialists in this core repertoire. Booklet essay by Peter Watchorn, providing detailed background and musical analysis.

In 1735 Bach produced the second part of his Clavier-�bung, consisting of an elaborate French Overture, BWV 831 and a Concerto in the Italian Style, BWV 971 for solo harpsichord, following after four years the publication of his six Partitas, BWV 825-830, which made up the first part. Both works appear on this latest volume of Musica Omnia's Complete Works for Harpsichord by J. S. Bach along with the Four Duetti from Part III and various other works for harpsichord and the Lautenclavier, a hybrid instrument for which Bach composed several works throughout his career, and all included here.

Musica Omnia presents the première recording of Giovanni Felice Sances’ complete arias for solo voice from 1636, performed here by Bud Roach as they would have been commonly heard in the 17th century: with the singer accompanying himself on the Baroque guitar. Trained in Rome at the Collegium Germanicum, Sances found success in Venice, where much of his secular music was written. The height of his fame there was the publication by Vincenti of his fourth book of cantatas, arias, canzonettas, and ariettas. As was usual for such collections, it includes a chart for “alfabeto” notation for the strummed Spanish guitar.

First release in a new four-CD series devoted to Schubert's late and greatest chamber music. Performances use period instruments, reconstructing the sound Schubert's own time. Quartet is led by Jaap Schroder, one of the legends of historical performance practice, and one of the greatest violinists of our day. Schubert's G major Quartet, D. 887, represents the high point of quartet-writing of the first three decades of the 19th century. Booklet text in English and Icelandic.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Collectors familiar with Trudelies Leonhardt’s previous Beethoven releases on the Globe and Meridian labels will know what to expect here. As before, she uses a Viennese Benignus Seidner model fortepiano dating from 1815. Its low notes have a warm, slightly nasal timbre, with an attractive singing quality to the middle and high registers that contrasts to the jangly sonorities we sometimes hear from other instruments from that period, such as the Graf fortepiano. Leonhardt’s genial performing style evokes the intimacy and spontaneous inflections typical of Wilhelm Kempff and Wilhelm Backhaus in their later years.

She takes the two Op. 49 sonatas’ modest dimensions on their own terms, projecting the melodies in natural, conversational arcs. Leonhardt’s tempo for the G major Op. 14 No. 1 first movement is more of a Moderato than the Allegro that Beethoven specifies, and we might wish for more rhythmic backbone in the development section, or a brusquer attack to the Andante’s soft staccato chords. By contrast, Leonhardt brings out the Allegro assai finale’s sense of surprise in her sophisticated timing of the ascending scales and rests.

Also note the uncommonly clear left-hand passagework in Leonhardt’s expansive and well-proportioned Op. 110 sonata opening movement. Her little luftpauses at phrase ends disrupt the rhythmic flow of the Allegro molto movement’s main theme. The expressive eloquence informing the third movement’s ”Klagender Gesang” best illustrates Leonhardt’s seasoned musicianship, although she doesn’t match Peter Serkin and Ronald Brautigam for virtuosic momentum in the fugue’s climax. The booklet includes an extensive essay about the Seidner fortepiano and excellent musical annotations.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Penelope Crawford presents a program of four of Beethoven's most important transitional sonatas, bridging the gap between his "middle" and "late" periods. Composed against the backdrop of Napoleonic Europe and Metternich's Congress of Vienna, these four works chart Beethoven's growth as a composer in a rapidly changing world. As with her first Beethoven sonata recording (opp. 109-11), Musica Omnia MO 0308), a splendid fortepiano by the great Viennese builder, Conrad Graf, is used here, similar to one of the last pianos owned by Beethoven, also by Conrad Graf.