The orchestrations are colorful, subtle and brilliant. A joy to hear. Equally delightful is the playing. The Lyon National Orchestra under Jun Märkl captures the subtlety and beauty of tone throughout every piece and the recorded sound is really first rate.

The Debussy Orchestral Works, Vol. 6 from Naxos offers a nice mix of familiar and rare works, all in exquisite orchestrations by musicians who either knew Debussy or admire his works. Debussy himself wrote all of this music for the piano 4 hands. The orchestrations are colorful, subtle and brilliant. A joy to hear. Equally delightful is the playing. The Lyon National Orchestra under Jun Märkl captures the subtlety and beauty of tone throughout every piece and the recorded sound is really first rate. Orchestrating piano music requires an understanding of both keyboard and orchestral techniques in order to rethink the piano music for an ensemble. It requires interpolations that are natural to the spirit of the music without imparting on the orchestra a pianistic left and right hand. These arrangements make the music sound as if it has always been for orchestra.

The selections range from pops concert favorite, Clair de lune, in a luminous classic arrangement by Andre Caplet to Debussy's early Symphony, of which he completed only the first movement, orchestrated by Tony Finno. With Clair de lune we also get the entire Suite bergamasque from which it comes, the other movements colorfully arranged by Gustave Cloez. The total effect of the suite in this orchestral form is much like a ballet score, performed with lyric grace by Lyon musicians. This is a particularly fine and sensitive performance of Clair de lune. This heartstrings pulling performance of moves at a slightly faster pace than some of the others but remains quite lovely within its own world in the suite.

The Symphony is actually rather good. Its swaggering main theme is a bit repetitious but the overall style is much more romantic than impressionist and reminiscent of perhaps d'Indy, Faure or the rarely heard symphony by Dukas. I've heard one other chamber ensemble arrangement of Debussy's sketches and this version for full orchestra by Tony Finno is far and away the best.

Henri Busser's arrangement of the Petite suite, which certainly has much orchestral competition with performances recorded by Martinon, Tortelier, Ansermet, Dutoit and many more is aided here by superb sound quality and excellent, sensitive artistry. Busser's other orchestration is Printemps, a two movement piece with one foot in the late-romantic era and the other feeling around in the new musical impressionism. The music is played with shimmering beauty. Probably the clearest and most sparkling recorded performance of Printemps I've heard.

En blanc et noir, orchestrated by Robin Holloway is not just black and white as the piano key title implies, but quite colorful. The arrangement was commissioned in 2002 by the San Francisco Symphony. The music is more boisterous and exuberant,sounding at times as if it is about to turn toward Debussy's Iberia but with the Spanish atmosphere replaced instead by a somewhat mischievous quality which grows on you with repeated hearings. The last movement Debussy dedicated to "mon ami Strawinsky"‘. With performances that treat the older works as if they were newly discovered and the unknown works with a sense of magic and wonder, this album is definitely a winner.

- Greg La Traille, ArkivMusic.com

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The most compelling item in this collection is En blanc et noir, not only one of Debussy's most advanced instrumental works (composed for two pianos), but the orchestral arrangement sounds closest to the composer himself. Robin Holloway drew upon Debussy's contemporaneous Jeux as a model, with numerous passages in the first and third movements replicating that work's uniquely colorful sound world. In the reflective middle movement Holloway's orchestral dress evokes the dreamy atmosphere of Les parfums de la nuit from Iberia. Jun Märkl and the Orchestre National de Lyon offer a sparking performance, playing the music with real verve, as if they had discovered a heretofore unknown Debussy masterpiece.

Debussy only completed one movement of his proposed Symphony in B minor (1880), and then only as a piano duet. Tony Finno's orchestral arrangement emphasizes the music's Russian influences (it was composed around the time he was employed by Tchaikovsky's patron Nadezhda von Meck), though there are occasional pre-echoes of the mature Debussy. Märkl and his band perform this and the remainder of the program (the familiar Suite bergamasque, Petite Suite, and Printemps arrangements) with the same vitality and commitment afforded En blanc et noir. The spacious recording is a bit over-reverberant, but nevertheless provides solid presence and impact. Debussy fans will find this release a real delight.

--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com

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Other review quotes:

"Subtle and sensitive readings" - Gramophone.

"This is bewitching music-making that should on no account be missed. One of the finest discs Naxos has ever released." - Classic FM (about Volume 1 (8.570759).

"Volume 6 in Naxos’s popular series presents five highly diverse works in gorgeous orchestrations by Debussy’s colleagues or later admirers. Indeed, pieces such as Clair de lune and Printemps may even be better known in these seductive guises than in their original forms. Of particular interest is Debussy’s sole attempt at composing a symphony, a youthful work imbued with the spirit of French Romanticism, only the first movement of which he completed." - Naxos

If you're looking for a stellar disc containing all three Borodin symphonies in top-notch sound (the Third left incomplete, its two movements orchestrated by Glazunov), then look no further. Gerard Schwarz and his players seem to have developed a real affinity for Russian music, as their previous Rimsky-Korsakov disc suggests. The First Symphony sounds unusually cogent and masterly in their hands. Listen to the bite of the lower brass in the outer movements, and hear the plaintive songfulness of the woodwinds in the Andante. It's a true Russian sound.

The same idiomatic characteristics enhance the Second Symphony's gutsy opening string theme, while the finale simply explodes with color and energy. Borodin's Second is one of those works that everyone takes for granted, but its compact 25 minutes or so comprises one of the very best Russian symphonies of any period. It has enjoyed many fine performances, but this one is every bit as good as the best of them, and as already noted, the sonics are splendid. Don't hesitate for a minute.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

CHINESE RECORDER CONCERTOS • Michala Petri (rcr); Lan Shui, cond; Copenhagen P • OUR 6.220603 (SACD: 71:29)


TANG JIANPING Fei Ge. BRIGHT SHENG Flute Moon. MA SHUI-LONG Bamboo Flute Concerto. CHEN YI The Ancient Chinese Beauty


Once a busy recording artist for Philips and RCA Red Seal, Danish virtuoso Michala Petri (with guitarist and lutenist Lars Hannibal) launched her own label in 2006. This is OUR Recordings’s 13th release, and the third in its Dialogue—East Meets West series. This collection of Chinese recorder concertos is, to enlist a perhaps overused word, delightful, and deserves to be brought to the attention of a broad audience.


If you don’t believe me, try the opening work by Tang Jianping, who was born in 1955. The title’s English translation is Flying Song, a reference to a style of folk singing indigenous to a region of southwest China. As a courtship song intended to be projected over long distances, it must be both penetrating and appealing—think of the songs from the Auvergne region set by Joseph Canteloube. With its rich scoring and tunefulness, Fei Ge also seems to be motivated by the same forces that led George Enescu to compose his two Romanian Rhapsodies. The languages are very different, of course, but the impact is quite similar. This will go to the top of my list of musical pick-me-ups. Tang Jianping composed this work for bamboo flute and a ensemble of various Asian instruments; the arrangement for Western instruments performed here is the composer’s own.


Bright Sheng and Chen Yi are more familiar to Western listeners. The first movement of the former’s Flute Moon (“Chi Lin’s Dance”) is an athletic and often thunderous toccata in which the dancing of the mythical Chinese unicorn or “dragon horse” is evoked. The combination of the piping recorder with the heavy stamping of the orchestra creates an effect that is both bizarre and beguiling. The atmospheric second movement (also titled “Flute Moon”) is based on a classical melody dating from the Song Dynasty. After a tensely quiet opening, the movement erupts with dramatic gestures and a strong melodic profile, and then returns to the opening mood. Chen Yi currently teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The Ancient Chinese Beauty was composed specifically for Michala Petri, who premiered it in Beijing in 2008. Its language is more difficult, and what grabs the ear most, at least initially, is the composer’s employment and combining of instrumental timbres in much the same way that an abstract painter uses a variety of paints and brushes. The three movements are “The Clay Figurines,” “The Ancient Totems,” and “The Dancing Ink.” Less than 15 minutes long, The Ancient Chinese Beauty is just the right length for its materials. The tenor recorder is used in the middle movement, and the alto recorder in the first and third. The third movement is an exciting moto perpetuo characterized by the composer’s insistent use of repeated notes.


The Bamboo Flute Concerto by Ma Shui-Long (b.1939) blends traditional Western gestures—particularly those associated with the genre of the romantic concerto—with melodies in a traditional Chinese style. As the title suggests, Ma composed it for the bang di , but of course here it is performed on a recorder—a sopranino, unless I am mistaken. It is not a very adventurous concerto, but it is appealing, and it is an appropriate foil for the works by Bright Sheng and Chen Yi that frame it.


Michala Petri recently turned 50 and shows no signs of relinquishing her enthusiastic yet serene mastery over her instruments of choice. She plays all of these works, not just The Ancient Chinese Beauty , as if they were composed just for her. If anyone still doubts the recorder’s place as an instrument worthy of the same attention as its cousin the flute, Petri’s playing here should put that to rest. The Copenhagen Philharmonic accompanies her idiomatically, and with sensitivity to this music’s many shapes and colors. Kudos to Lan Shui, its chief conductor since 2007, for making this happen. Finally, the booklet notes (in English and Chinese) thoughtfully guide one through the program, and the SACD technology makes a spectacular noise, from the recorder’s most piercing upper registers to the granitic power of the orchestra’s lowest notes.


This is Want List material.


FANFARE: Raymond Tuttle

Brescianello Terrell Stone, gallichone Sonatas for Gallichone

In all likelihood Haydn's 18th symphony actually was his Third, but he was 27 when he wrote it, and these early pieces are by no means immature if that means lacking in polish, contrast, or quality. Indeed, all four works offer something distinctive. For example, none has exactly the same form. No. 18 has three movements: slow, fast, minuet (with a minor-key "Hungarian" trio section). No. 19 also has three movements, but in the traditional style of an Italian sinfonia: fast, slow, fast. No. 20, which includes trumpets and timpani, adopts the standard four-movement pattern with the minuet third, while the particularly lovely No. 21 opens with a beautiful adagio featuring characterful solos for oboes and horns.

There isn't a dull bar anywhere, and this is just as true of the performances by Kevin Mallon and the Toronto Chamber Orchestra. Tempos are lively, the string section phrases with excellent rhythm, and the wind players are top-notch, so much so in fact that I wish they were a bit more forwardly placed in the balance. One quibble: Mallon uses a harpsichord continuo, not terrible in itself, but he permits far too much doodling in the opening Adagio of Symphony No. 21, to the point of creating a spurious, independent part. It's a surprising lapse of taste in what are in all other respects exemplary performances that I can otherwise recommend to Haydn aficionados without hesitation. These symphonies are seldom recorded, and the good here far outweighs any minor reservations.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Even at this early stage in his career (he was in his late 20s to early 30s, don't forget), Haydn's music was about 10 times more inventive than any of the competition. All four of these symphonies have many delightful moments, from the syncopated rhythms in the finale of No. 14, to the lovely and affecting use of counterpoint that opens No. 16 (a personal favorite), to the gorgeous slow introduction of No. 15 for horns with pizzicato strings. Kevin Mallon and the Toronto Camerata clearly understand and enjoy the idiom, offering stylish and elegant renditions that make this one of the best releases in Naxos' enterprising but variable complete symphony edition. The horn players are excellent, textures are transparent, and Mallon knows how to judge tempos to provide maximum contrast (especially in the minuets) and vitality. The continuo is well balanced and discretely played, as it should be, so as not to create artificial rhythms that fight against Haydn's energetic bass lines. In short, these are first-rate modern-instrument versions of works that you should waste no time in getting to know. Very good sound too. [5/16/2006]--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Hubert Parry is best known for his coronation anthem I was glad, and for his hymn tune Jerusalem, a setting of Blake’s magnificent poem. The hymn alludes to the legend that Jesus spent time in England during the undocumented years between his childhood and the beginnings of his ministry in and about his homeland.

Parry is sadly underrated today, even though he composed a number of fine symphonies that are on a level with Elgar and dare I say it, even Brahms. He is represented here by Blest Pair of Sirens, to a text by John Milton, a less often performed, but no less glorious work than those aforementioned. Alas, from a disc of otherwise quite outstanding performances, this rendition is found wanting. The booming acoustic, the thundery organ and a general lack of attention to enunciation render the text of this marvelous work unintelligible. Add to the fray a wayward member of the tenor section whose overzealous brightness of tone sticks out like a badly-voiced reed stop, and you get a performance that leaves something to be desired.

Now that those quibbles are out of the way, we can get on to what is one of the finer choral recordings that have crossed my desk in some time. Stanford’s rich double choir Magnificat, dedicated to the memory of Parry, with whom the composer had a longstanding and sadly unresolved parting of the ways, receives a splendid performance with all the elements of clarity, intonation, balance and tone in place.

John Stainer is ridiculed today as the apex of Victorian bad taste. But in spite of his rather trite and passé style, he should be remembered as a fine teacher and scholar, and as an organist and choirmaster who helped to revolutionize Anglican church music. I saw the Lord, is a diehard favorite and here receives a clear and unaffected performance by the Vasari Singers.

E.W. Naylor was primarily a composer of operas, and his Vox Dicentis: Clamavi of 1911 reflects his dramatic flair. My reaction to this work has always been “oh yeah, I sang that piece once.” Although it is flashy, I have never found it to be particularly memorable. The Vasari’s performance is stately and without undue affect.

Walton’s music is marked by taut rhythms and spicy, jazz-influenced chords. The Twelve, with a text by the oft-acerbic W.H. Auden is typical Walton with splendidly biting harmonies and jaunty off beat rhythmic gestures. Again, the Vasaris do not disappoint with a finely hewn performance that captures all of Walton’s seriousness deliciously offset by wit.

Holst’s glorious Nunc Dimittis lay fallow for many years until it was rediscovered in the 1970s and thankfully restored to the repertoire. It is distinguished by a splendid cascade of vocal entries marked by shimmering harmonies and a most sensitive setting of the text. My only beef with this performance is that it seemed a bit rushed. There could have been more time for the lush chords to settle into place. I also felt that the ending was a bit to edgy in its loudness.

Gerald Finzi lived all too short a life for one so very gifted. His epic motet Lo, the full final Sacrifice, shows him in his finest hour. It is a masterpiece, a perfect union of music and word and is abundant in simply ravishing sounds. Ravishing is as good a word as any to describe this splendid performance that achieves near perfection. Mr. Backhouse leads a seamless performance of a work that can be maddeningly “sectional” when in the wrong hands. This fine rendition is worth the very affordable price of the whole disc.

To sum it all up, this is a collection of great standards that on the whole is left in very able hands. The flaws, although distinct, are few enough not to detract from what is generally some very fine singing indeed. Organist Jeremy Filsell is up to his usual fine standards with sensitive registrations and technically flawless playing.

-- Kevin Sutton, MusicWeb International

LE SUITES MEDICEE

Classical Music

These performances were released previously by Koch, and it's good to see them reappearing here at budget price. Like most of Robert Craft's Stravinsky discs, this is very, very good, and questioning the conductor's authority in this music is tantamount to casting doubt on the composer himself (though not on his own hit-and-miss conducting!). The coupling is apt: both works are based on earlier music--Gallo and Pergolesi (for the most part) on the one hand, Tchaikovsky on the other. As Craft points out in his notes, however, Pulcinella remains comparatively faithful to the originals, with changes principally in terms of rhythm and scoring. The Fairy's Kiss, though, takes Tchaikovsky's tunes as a starting point, modifying them considerably, with most of the music being effectively original. Compared to the reference recordings above, Craft can appear to value precision over sheer excitement (as in the finale of Pulcinella), but this is quibbling: overall he gets fine results from both orchestras as well as from his three singers (in Pulcinella). If you're looking for both ballets complete, the combination of value and artistic quality on offer here speaks for itself.--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

REVIEW:

Robert Craft's performance of The Rite of Spring, rescued from oblivion, proves that in the early ballets he can be both accurate as well as exciting. Extremely well played by the London Symphony, seldom have the complex textures in the Introduction to Part One or the Ritual of the Rival Tribes sounded so clear and natural. And yet, in the Dance of the Earth, or the concluding Sacrificial Dance, Craft pulls out all of the stops to really impressive effect. The sonics are excellent, both here and in The Nightingale--this latter a beautiful, neglected piece that sounds much better in its original operatic form than in its later, formally somewhat dysfunctional symphonic dress. Once again Craft leads a superb performance of the orchestral part, and the singers are mostly fine. Olga Trifonova's bright soprano does well by the nightingale...with transliterated text and English translation, this is a very good deal.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

In my experience nothing beats this remarkable Haitink account.

On those very special occasions the excellence of the music and the quality of the playing and live atmosphere can combine to produce something quite special. So it is with this Profil disc.
 
Every year on 13 February a memorial concert is given in the German city of Dresden to commemorate the anniversary of the terrible World War Two allied air raid carried out in 1945. The night bombing left large tracts of the city in ruins and thousands of people dead. Traditionally a requiem mass has been given at the memorial concert. However, in 1995 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Dresden devastation Mahler’s Resurrection was presented. Performed at the Dresden Semperoper this massive score was considered to have the appropriate character to complement the solemn occasion. At these Dresden anniversary concerts it has been the tradition for the audience not to applaud before or after the performance. Instead the audience stand in quiet remembrance before leaving the hall. Incidentally, Haitink also performed the same Mahler score at Rotterdam in 1990 to mark the 50th anniversary of the destruction of the Dutch city by German bombers.
 
The opening movement originated as a symphonic poem entitled Totenfeier (Funeral Rites). It was composed in 1888. Between 1888 and 1894 Mahler laboured hard on his five movement symphony undertaking revisions in 1905. At the time Mahler was still carving out a name for himself as a conductor so work on the score was confined to his spare time, mainly during his summer holidays. Owing to the progressive nature of the writing, its unconventional design, the extended length and the massive forces Mahler must have hardly dared to imagine that he would ever hear it performed during his lifetime.
 
The first performance was given at Berlin in 1895 with the composer conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In this score Mahler attempts to explore the existence of humanity in its entirety using sung text in the final two movements. In the fourth movement the text is from the collection of German folk poetry known as Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Youth’s Magic Horn), The fifth movement uses text from Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock’s ode Die Auferstehung (The Resurrection). Then Mahler uses his own words beginning with O glaube, mein Herz (O believe, my heart). It was the composer’s friend Oskar Fried who first recorded the symphony in 1924 with the Berlin State Opera. The complete version of the Resurrection was introduced in Dresden in 1901 by conductor Ernst von Schuch, general music director of the Staatskapelle Dresden. Maestro Haitink’s stunning live account which was broadcast on the radio has so much going for it. The persuasive Haitink fashions the architecture and space of Mahler’s vast symphony splendidly, avoiding any sense of affectation. This reading feels completely spontaneous. Born in Amsterdam, maestro Haitink brought with him to Dresden a pair of renowned Dutch singers, Margiono and van Nes.
 
Right from the opening Allegro maestoso the weight, bite and sheer power of the Dresden orchestra is striking. There’s impressive pacing throughout with beautiful playing especially in the more lyrical passages. Although all sections impress I found the stunning playing of the brass and woodwind highly dedicated and perfectly in unison. The exquisitely scored second movement Andante moderato with its gentle Ländler feels so light, poised and elegant. It feels like a mid-nineteenth century dance hall in Vienna. As the music briskly develops in weight the sound produced is remarkable especially from the golden-hued Dresden strings. Towards the conclusion of the movement the swirling strings can make the listener dizzy. When attending a concert I love to watch as well as hear the section with guitar-like strumming by the violins and violas, and the delightful pizzicato from the cellos. Sounding like gunshots the timpani strokes announce the opening of the third movement Scherzo. The writing draws on the captivating melody from Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt ( St. Anthony’s Sermon to the Fishes). I love the way that Haitink underlines the acerbic sarcasm. In the section reminiscent of a klezmer band the schmoozing clarinet solo has the patina of Jewish folk music. The angry brass outburst is especially striking as is the potency of the pent-up energy released in Mahler’s agonised thrust. This puts a brisk halt to the bucolic frolicking.
 
Urlicht (Primeval Light) from one of Mahler’s own Wunderhorn songs is the title of the fourth movement. A real highlight is the entrance of Jard van Nes, rich and mellowed toned, commencing with the words O Röschen Rot! ( O red rose!). It’s a yearning declaration for respite from world weariness. I believed every word, such was her expressive power and clear diction. Van Nes also has an attractive timbre and supple projection. Following on closely is the rather brief and spiritually affecting chorale. This is intoned splendidly on the brass with woodwind playing of an elevated quality. The final movement Im Tempo des Scherzos, opening with Mahler’s terrible scream of anguish, is given such tremendous weight it feels terrifying before it decays into mere dust. In the ‘wilderness’ section the off-stage brass make a sure impression with the Dies irae chorale followed by blazing brass. The great drum-rolls at 10:06-10:24 are striking and shook me right down to my boots. A distinct martial quality to the brass fanfares is interrupted only by tetchy woodwind and angry percussion. Off-stage brass lingers in a lament interspersed with a flurry of birdsong on flute and piccolo. At 20:39 the Dresden chorus enter with the words Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n wirst du ( Rise again, yes rise again you will). It feels mellow and tender and makes a spellbinding impact. The text O glaube, mein Herz ( O believe, my heart) is sung at 27:28 to magical effect by Charlotte Margiono with her secure technique and appealing tone. Both Margiono and van Nes combine with the heavenly Dresden chorus for the words O Schmerz! Du Alldurchdringer! ( O suffering! All pervading or O all-piercing pain!). With singing of such quality from the impeccably matched soloists and chorus one might be excused for thinking they - and we - had been transported to paradise. The final section begins with the familiar Viennese string sound that soon develops in sheer weight. The massed forces, including organ and percussion battery, combine in a thunderous climax; the most remarkable that I have heard on disc.
 
Recorded live in 1995 for radio broadcast at the Dresden Semperoper the engineers have produced a warm sound that is clear and well balanced. Although a live recording I struggled to hear any significant audience noise and as I explained earlier there is no applause after the conclusion of the score. I found the substantial Profil booklet notes exemplary being especially highly detailed.
 
At this poignant 50th anniversary concert the magnificent playing was outstanding right from the high strings playing the softest pianissimo to climaxes of sonically massive proportions.
 
I have numerous recommended versions of the Resurrection but nothing beats this remarkable Haitink account.
 
-- Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International

Classical Music

Classical Music

Includes work(s) by Georges Bizet. Ensemble: National Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Munch.

MARTUCCI Piano Concerto No. 1. 1 La canzone dei ricordi 2 • Francesco La Vecchia, cond; Gesualdo Coggi (pn); 1 Silvia Pasini (mez); 2 Rome SO • NAXOS 8.570931 (67:53 Text, no Translation )


Giuseppe Martucci (1856–1909) was a forerunner to the so-called “generazione dell’ottanta” of composers (see Malipiero review elsewhere) that sought to initiate a new golden age of instrumental music in Italy to vie against the overwhelming dominance of opera. Most of those who would follow in his footsteps—and the list is long, including the likes of Casella, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Menotti, Pizzetti, Respighi, Rota, Wolf-Ferrari, and Zandonai—hedged their bets by playing both sides of the fence; but Martucci was unique for his time and place in that he wrote no operas whatsoever. Ironically though, in his role as a conductor, introducing Wagner’s operas to Italy may have done more to poison the well of Italian opera than any of his works as a composer did to stanch the opera rage. If you can’t lead the cattle away from the watering hole, do the next best thing: contaminate the water and kill them.


During his lifetime, Martucci was best known as a conductor, pianist, and teacher, Respighi being one of his more prominent students. His compositional output is not overly large, totaling fewer than 100 published opus numbers. Among them, however, are two symphonies, two piano concertos, two piano trios, a piano quintet, one sonata each for violin, cello, and organ, and a considerable volume of pieces for solo piano.


The current release—Volume 3 in Naxos’s complete survey of Martucci’s orchestral music—contains works that are not new to the recorded catalog. The Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor and La canzone dei ricordi were both coupled together, as here, in another Martucci survey a decade or so ago on the ASV label. The artists there were pianist Francesco Caramiello in the Concerto, soprano Rachel Yakar in the vocal work, and Francesco D’Avalos leading the Philharmonia Orchestra. That entire collection is now available in a super-budget four-disc set on Brilliant Classics. At about the same time that ASV was busy with their Martucci project, along came Sony with their release of the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in B? Minor played by pianist Carlo Bruni, paired once again with La canzone dei ricordi , sung by Mirella Freni. The conductor and orchestra on that recording were Riccardo Muti and La Scala Philharmonic.


The good news is that I have the Freni/Muti CD, so I’m able to compare the Sony recording with the new Naxos. The bad news is that of the D’Avalos survey on ASV, I have only the two symphonies, but not the disc with the Piano Concerto; thus, I’m unable to compare Caramiello to Coggi. So let me begin with La canzone dei ricordi (“The Songs of Memories”), which seems to be one of Martucci’s more enduring works. As originally completed in 1887, the piece was conceived for mezzo-soprano and piano. It wasn’t until 11 years later (1898) that Martucci orchestrated it. The piece is a setting of seven poems by Rocco Pagliera. Unless one is fluent in Italian, Naxos’s printing of the texts in Italian only is highly frustrating. The Sony with Freni provides translations in English, French, and German.


The poems, as can be deduced from the work’s title, are about dreams recollected, mostly of longed-for, but alas, only imagined loves. More interesting are Martucci’s formal design and musical content. Each song ends in a different key from which it started. The song that follows it begins in the key in which the previous song ended. Thus, by the end, we have returned to the key and the poem with which the cycle began. Stylistically, Martucci’s indebtedness to Wagner is unmistakable, but it’s a Wagner tinted—some might say tainted—by some of Puccini’s more pastel orchestral touches that one hears in La bohème . Martucci undoubtedly knew the opera, which premiered in 1896, two years before his orchestration of La canzone dei ricordi.


Freni was 60 when she recorded the Martucci with Muti in 1995. Age had added a degree of weight to a soprano voice that in its youth was lighter and more lyric in character. I’m not suggesting she would have made a good Brunhilde, but her projection in these songs comes across as sounding more Wagnerian than does Silvia Pasini’s delivery on the new Naxos. Nor by any means is it just a matter of voice. Freni dispatches the cycle in just over 28 minutes, compared to Pasini’s drawn-out 33:50. The result is that Freni’s reading has tremendous dramatic thrust, frequently sounding like an agitated Brunhilde railing in high dudgeon against Wotan, while Pasini sounds more like Mimi in her “Mi chiamano Mimì” aria from La bohème.


If my description has led you to believe that I prefer Freni to Pasini in this song cycle, you’d be wrong. Martucci may have been a Wagner champion, but he was not Wagner; and Pagliera’s poems, to which Martucci set his music, are not about mythic warriors, heroes, and the downfall of the gods. They’re about dreams remembered in that half-conscious state of waking. Pasini, I believe, comes closer to capturing the more impressionistic character of the poetry and the music; and Francesco La Vecchia has under him in the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma a better ensemble than Muti did at the time in his La Scala Philharmonic.


Since I have no other recordings of the Piano Concerto against which to compare Gesualdo Coggi’s performance, I can be brief. If you love big, Romantic piano concertos, Martucci’s D-Minor Concerto is right up there with some of the best of them. Echoes of Schumann, Grieg, and Brahms’s First Concerto (his Second hadn’t been completed yet when Martucci wrote his score in 1878) reverberate throughout the score, and maybe even a hint every now and then of Tchaikovsky (assuming Martucci had heard it in its original 1875 version prior to starting work on his own Concerto). Gorgeous music, gorgeous playing, gorgeous recording; this one is not to be missed.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Hungarian composer Eugene Z�dor, a friend of B�la Bart�k, won renown in Vienna before having to leave for America in 1939 where he eventually became Mikl�s R�zsa's exclusive orchestrator in Hollywood. His music is often redolent of his native soil as depicted in the Variations on a Hungarian Folksong which, at times, approaches an almost Straussian opulence. Written in Vienna in 1936, the Dance Symphony is a sunny homage to the composer's adopted home. The Festival Overture is a much later work of almost cinematic brilliance. This is Volume 3 of the ongoing Naxos series of Z�dor's orchestral works.

This recording by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Marin Alsop is the first of three discs of Dvorak symphonies taken from live performances at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

"Pietari Inkinen is one of the most remarkably gifted conductors of a generation, this new release numbers among the great Sibelius recordings. The detail and subtle colours he brings to Night ride and sunrise is magical; his Belshazzar is full of atmosphere, and you listen with refreshed ears to the familiar Valse Triste which opens Kuolema. His New Zealand Symphony, already in the orchestral premier league, respond with superb playing in a magnificent disc. A “must buy” release."

-- David Denton, Yorkshire Post, December 5, 2008

Classical Music

During his seven years as a Mason, and in addition to the incidental music for Thamos, King of Egypt and the Magic Flute, which abound in Masonic symbolism, Brother Mozart adapted or newly composed a number of works for his fraternity, some of which.

The rarely recorded Symphony No. 25 is an unusual work. Lacking a slow movement, it opens with an Adagio-Allegro followed by a minuet. Symphony No. 42, with it's compelling themes and keen sense of dramatic timing.

Sinfonie concertanti and several concertos by J.C. Bach are exceptionally well played by the Budapest Strings with fine soloists... The work where J.C. Bach’s influence on young Mozart can be strongly felt is on Side 4, for piano, oboe, violin, cello and orchestra. Not only is it the longest (25 minutes) but its piano writing seems to have served Mozart as a model. -- Paul Turok, Turok’s Choice [Summer 2009]

What makes Bruckner's eighth symphony so special to Jukka-Pekka Saraste is the richness of it's atmosphere. He is always excited by the dramatic first subject of the first movement, which is based on the same rhythmical motive as appears in the beginning of Beethoven's Ninth symphony. Saraste chooses to perform the Haas edition because it contains some fascinating sections taken from Bruckner's first version. In his version, Bruckner, advised by his well-meaning supporters, appears to have tried to create a greater symphonic unity and line.