Madrid-based Trío Arbós offers a compellingly performed survey of Joaquin Turina's four piano trios, works that document the evolution of his singular style, which was grounded in French models but with increasing and brilliantly effective use of traditional Spanish idioms. Turina composed the F major trio (here recorded for the first time) in 1904 during his years of study in Paris, and it reflects the influence of César Franck transmitted through the tutelage of Vincent d'Indy. A stern and declamatory first movement introduction leads to an Allegro of a kinder but no less dramatic countenance. The Andante's deeply somber mood (with its stirring central section, wonderfully rendered by Arbós) is effectively whisked away by the brightly dancing scherzo in 5/4, while the grandiose Finale employs Franck's cyclic principle of restating all the work's main themes before drawing to an emphatic close.

Turina's Trio No. 1 (1926) and Trio No. 2 (1933) reflect his immersion in the music of Debussy (whose evocative style he seamlessly melded into his own), while the "fantasy trio" Círculo (1936) contains Turina's most overtly Spanish music--nowhere more so than the Mediodía (midday) movement, with its shifting moods of dancing gaiety and contemplation. The Arbós players capture and relay these elements with stunning fidelity, and overall their performance, rich in native color and rhythmic intensity, surpasses the Beckova Trio's recent recording on Chandos. Indeed, the Arbós' emotional authenticity in all four works reflects its profound identification with Turina's style. Only Naxos' bright and somewhat harsh recording is less than ideal (especially when compared with the warmer, fuller sound on Chandos); but this need not prevent anyone from enjoying this remarkable collection.
--Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com

Vanderbilt University-based organist Carl Smith takes us on a pleasant little tour of some Tudor-era church music, visiting works by important contributors to the period's organ repertoire, most importantly John Redford, Thomas Tallis, and Thomas Tomkins. The pieces are typically short (most less than two minutes) and highly refined in their use of imitation and other developmental, structural devices. Most organs in England during the 16th and 17th centuries contained two manual divisions; pedal keyboards were virtually non-existent. Resources were relatively limited regarding registral compass and stops, especially compared to, say, instruments available in northern Germany at the time, and thus most English organ music of this period is for manuals only, the forms basic and unelaborate. Which is not to say the music by these very accomplished composers is uninteresting or inelegant.


On the contrary, the pieces on this program show the same high level of invention and craft that we hear in these same composers' more lauded choral compositions. Beyond that, it's up to the organist to bring the music to life, to carefully measure and sensitively balance its melodic and harmonic elements relative to period style and the constraints of a given instrument. And for these reasons--and for this repertoire--the choice of instrument is very important. Which brings us to Carl Smith, who is a serious student of English keyboard music and who has selected two different yet entirely appropriate American organs (one of which is featured on the CD cover) for his performances. The first, which he uses for 21 of the disc's 30 tracks, is an organ of modest specifications, dominated by fundamental flue stops; the second is more varied in voices and colors, featuring a nice selection of mutations, mixtures, and reeds, in addition to the basic flue stops. Smith is quite adept at utilizing his resources, keeping things interesting by often subtle variations in color and texture. In other words, this recital is very easy to listen to--and it's expertly played and recorded. Highlights include Redford's Te lucis ante terminum, a distant cousin of Bach's chorale preludes, and the wonderfully weird, anonymous La Mi Re.


I often wonder who is the intended audience for recordings such as this. The liner-note information regarding the organs and registrations employed is totally insufficient to satisfy organ aficionados--and the rather specialized content leaves it pretty much outside the realm of "non-organic" listeners. Fortunately, I like this kind of music and I was lucky enough to get to hear this CD; if you're of like mind, hopefully you'll make a point to hear it too. [11/3/2006]
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

The Haydn and Hummel Concertos were composed for a brand new instrument invented by Anton Weidinger - who was a member of the court orchestra in Vienna - a trumpet with keys which increased both the range and flexibility of the instrument.

REVIEWS:
BBC Music (4/98, p.77) - Performance: 5 (out of 5), Sound: 5 (out of 5) - "...Alain Trudel...adopts an appropriate `style galant' for the mainly lightweight material and...makes light work of the ornamentation which is normally such a burden to trombonists in the Classical repertoire. Among brass recordings it is unusually relaxing and elegant."

The feats of King Arthur and his Knights have inspired artistic creation in many art forms. In this disc we hear how troubadours spread their stories and we journey through twelfth-, thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Europe to encounter the Arthurian musical traditions of Germany, Spain, France and England. Full of allusions to legend, and also to contemporary events, the songs are masterpieces of their time. The composers include Alonso X el Sabio of Spain and Richard the Lionheart, whose Je nulls homs priz is one of the most beautiful of all medieval songs.

The Berlin-based Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa conceives of music as ‘a calligraphy of space and time’ and regards the flute as the instrument that can most deeply realise his musical ideas, the performer’s breath embodying the living power of sound enhanced by the equally expressive silence which surrounds it. The accomplished Icelandic flautist Kolbeinn Bjarnason, who has also studied shakuhachi music, conveys the essence of Hosokawa’s ‘musical calligraphy’, shaping sound and silence into deeply spiritual soundscapes for solo flute and within haunting instrumental textures.

The 'Toon Time' collection includes well-known melodies from everyone's favorite animated shows. From "Flight of the Bumble-Bee" to "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," 'Toon Time' brings the musical sounds of classic animation into one beautiful fun-pack... and they're all Panda Approved!

Includes miserere(s) by Thomas Tomkins. Soloist: Timothy Roberts.
Includes voluntary(s) for keyboard by Thomas Tomkins. Soloist: Timothy Roberts.

Classical Music

The period 1940-44 covered in this fourth volume of the piano music of the progressive and fiercely independent Italian composer Camillo Togni saw him rethinking elements of twelve-tone technique, chromatic harmonies and lyrical impulses. The result was a unique synthesis of competing styles reflected in the inner diary of his Serenatas, of which three are heard here. The imposing Serenata No. 2, Op. 11 is a complex nocturne and the companion works are both meditative and lively. His fondness for the music of Casella is reflected in the Baroque-tinged Suite, Op. 14a whilst Busoni haunts the attractive Quattro Pezzi, Op. 22.

The Italian composer and teacher Camillo Togni forged a creative musical path that was given decisive impetus through his exposure to the Second Viennese School, a process reflected in the youthful Serenade No. 1. This second of four volumes devoted to his complete piano music also shows how, in the Prima Partita Corale, Togni successfully absorbed Busoni’s ideas of Bach transcription. The result is a striking ‘free re-elaboration’. The Capriccios, meanwhile, explore the exciting and dramatic elements in Togni’s music. Volume 1 is available on Naxos 8.572990.

Volume 1 (of 4) of the complete piano music of the influential Italian composer, teacher and pianist Camillo Togni features both original works and transcriptions of Mahler and Bach. Togni’s fascination with the Second Viennese and Darmstadt Schools is evident in works that are notable not only for their fine craftmanship and technical brilliance but for their poetic depth and eloquence. Acclaimed soloist Aldo Orvieto’s Ex Novo Ensemble has also recorded Togni’s chamber works (Naxos 8.572074).

Boris Tishchenko was one of the most recognizable and important Russian composers of his time. His studies with Shostakovich - whose mantle as Russia's leading symphonies he assumed after his teacher's death in 1975 - proved decisive. Symphony No. 8, one of his last completed works, was written to be performed immediately after Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony to which it makes reference. The Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Orchestra is rich in emotional depth, lyricism and dance rhythms while Three Songs to Poems by Marina Tsvetayeva intriguingly fuses popular song with Russian romance.

Tishchenko isn’t well known in the West, but he remains among the most imaginative, musically satisfying, and intellectually stimulating composers to appear in Russia after the fall of Khrushchev.

Shostakovich was known for his generosity to friends and students. In his later years, one of the principle beneficiaries of this attention was Boris Tishchenko (b. 1939), who took a post-graduate course from the ailing composer. The elderly Shostakovich wrote to the authorities asking that Tishchenko be offered material support, and intervened to get his protégé’s works published. His judgment in this case was borne out by time. Tishchenko isn’t well known in the West, but he remains among the most imaginative, musically satisfying, and intellectually stimulating composers to appear in Russia after the fall of Khrushchev.

The five-movement Symphony No. 7 was composed in 1994. The musical language is one of extended tonality, different from, but similar to, that of Shostakovich. It’s typical of several other works by Tishchenko that I’ve heard over the years, in that several of its movements present basically simple, at times deliberately simplistic thematic material, which is subjected to ever-increasing emotional bombardment in subsequent development. This is what happens in the first movement, with its jauntily complacent clarinet theme, and again in the last movement, as piccolo, violins, and tom-toms present a happy-button theme that could have been lifted from any number of less inspired American wind band symphonies over the last half century. In neither case is internal equilibrium restored after the orchestra finishes its battering; but to misquote a phrase, not getting there is half the fun. The composer’s incisive musical dialectic between opposing emotional conditions is bracing, and his inspiration never flags.

None of the movements bear titles or tempos, but the central three function as episodic side events that dimly recall the tension of Tishchenko’s musical frame. The scherzo-like second movement throws a distorted version of Debussy’s Golliwog’s Cakewalk through a seemingly endless series of funhouse mirrors. The third movement opens with a serenely beautiful oboe melody accompanied by viola that recalls the rapt mood of the slow movement from Shostakovich’s Ninth Symphony. Finally, the fourth movement resembles some of Tchaikovsky’s waltz-like symphonic movements—if it were a waltz being danced by a set of 20th-century ghosts. I was reminded of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast Trilogy of novels (imagine the Addams Family as created by Charles Dickens) every time the woodwind glissandos sounded. Yablonsky and the Moscow Philharmonic were recorded live—not that you’d know it, aside from an odd cough in the third movement. The orchestra delivers a fine performance that starts to unravel in the final pair of movements: some ragged entries, fraying strings, and brass bobbles. In truth, it’s a work that reveals an orchestra’s weaknesses, with plenty of effective solos and exposed section-writing. That aside, the musicians perform their Russian hearts out in this recording, while Yablonsky is typically intense, detailed yet focused. I’m gradually coming to the opinion that this Russian émigré returned home is the best thing to hit conducting in his nation over the last couple of decades.

Clean, well-balanced sound and decent liner notes: not atypical of Naxos. The timing is short, but this one’s definitely a winner. Let’s hope the recording label offers us more Tishchenko soon.

Barry Brenesal, FANFARE

Recording information: St Silas the Martyr, Kentish Town, London (03/03/2009); St Silas the Martyr, Kentish Town, London (03/04/2009); St Silas the Martyr, Kentish Town, London (04/03/2009).