FRANKEL The Curse of the Werewolf: Excerpts . So Long at the Fair Medley . The Net: Love Theme. The Prisoner: Excerpts ? Carl Davis, cond; Royal Liverpool PO ? NAXOS 8.557850 (74:40)


CD?s of film music have experienced a renaissance of late, with older scores being rediscovered and recorded in droves. This CD retrospective of Benjamin Frankel (1906?1973) demonstrates the composer?s European style and lineage. Frankel, along with early pioneers in the field, including Korngold, Hermann, Mayuzumi, and Copland, redirected the classical tradition, bypassing atonality. In film scores to this day, it is acceptable to be traditional, because composers such as Frankel set the tone. The likes of John Williams still follow the lead with current neo-Romantic film scoring?no tricks or mathematical formulas.


The music is just good?and original. Novelty is not always complex, but may be fresh in its return to simplicity and comprehension.


The CD title selection here is Curse of the Werewolf , a 1959 cult film classic. The music is appropriately narrative, with more urgency than creepiness. Without seeing the movie, you can guess what?s happening by the musical allusions. Yes, it?s necessarily programmatic. Surprisingly, for all its accessibility and familiarity?it?s composed in 12-tone row, proving that what is serial may be packaged like cereal. There is a booming brass opening, some ominous Shostakovichian passages, punctuated by nervous snares and distant hunting horns. Castanets take on morbid significance, followed by a lilting string theme, the calm before the storm or, in this case, perhaps, clean-shavenness before the big five o?clock shadow. Musical wild howls and fangs follow. Frankel scores 12-tone bird sounds throughout, giving the impression of nature always watching, waiting for the grim game to be played out. There are, in addition, spooky xylophone riffs, mysterious harp glissandos, juxtaposed with more themes of virginal innocence, eliciting a chuckle, if your mind wanders to Mel Brooks?s Young Frankenstein . Later, Frankel introduces a relentless ticking motif, as if time is building to a crescendo of madness. Then the xylophone returns, with a momentary tonic chord, and more bird song, string plucks, and timpani, with a repeat of the distant hunting horns. An ironic waltz theme is recapitulated, followed by a denouement with furious swells of strings, screeching trombones, and a brooding bass leading to a bipolar coda.


Whether you view the werewolf tale as a metaphor for the onset of puberty, a depiction of the battle between nature and predation, as a cautionary tale about the evil of testosterone, or as a veiled reference to unbridled sexuality?or even if you?re not into Freud at all?this is a campy CD, but not a knockout. The other selections in this box, So Long at the Fair Medley and excerpts from The Net and The Prisoner , are pedestrian but pleasant, with So Long at the Fair being superior, with its familiar two-step dance, as well as nostalgic themes of childhood.


It?s all good music, but I?m just not sure it deserves its own CD?I?d rather rent the movies, and have the benefit of score and picture. Indeed, Frankel also wrote the scores for The Seventh Veil , The Importance of Being Ernest , The Man in the White Suit , Night of the Iguana , and Battle of the Bulge . Perhaps I?ll check Netflix.


The Royal Liverpool PO does a fine job of performing the scores, with Carl Davis in fine conducting form.


FANFARE: David Wolman

In his 13 symphonic poems, inspired by the visual or literary arts, Liszt broke away from the standard four-movement-symphony, to create a one-movement composition of frequently contrasting moods unified through thematic transformations.

ALFVÉN Synnøve Solbakken. En Bygdesaga. Elegy at Emil Sjögren’s Funeral • Niklas Willén, cond; Norrköping SO • NAXOS 8.557828 (73:12)


Niklas Willén’s Alfvén survey for Naxos continues apace with the sixth release in a series that has already covered the composer’s five symphonies plus assorted miscellaneous works with four different orchestras. This puts Willén and Naxos in head-to-head competition with Neeme Järvi on BIS in a survey that has the possible advantage of a single orchestra—the Stockholm Philharmonic.


With this latest installment, Willén mines Alfvén’s rich vein of music for film and stage. Originally screened in Stockholm in 1934, Synnøve Solbakken is a recasting of sorts of the Romeo and Juliet theme, but this time with a happy ending: boy and girl fall in love, but there’s bad blood between the parents. Boy is stabbed and temporarily paralyzed, but experiences an amazing Freudian recovery when he is called upon to save his father who is injured in an accident. Not having seen the film, the ending makes no sense to me at all, but somehow this miraculous incident reconciles the two families, and everyone lives happily ever after. Apparently, I’m not alone in my confusion. A critic at the time liked the lead actor and Alfvén’s music, but judged the overriding interest of the plot to be the landscape and the cows. Alfvén incorporated into the score music from his ballet-pantomime Bergakungen , as well as a number of Norwegian folk tunes.


Based on a novel by Vilhelm Moberg, Mans kvinna (literally, “Man’s woman”), the movie version hit the screen 10 years later, in 1944. Darker and more psychologically complex, it tells the story of an illicit affair between a woman trapped in a dull marriage to a farmer and her attraction to a handsome young farmhand. When the farmer learns of his wife’s infidelity, he essentially places her under house arrest, claiming her as his legal property—“chattel,” I believe, is the now politically incorrect word that would have been used. The lovers end up escaping together, but the story was probably meant more as social criticism of the attitudes towards women and their rights than it was intended as a tale of lusting after the flesh. From his film score Alfvén extracted a suite to which he gave the less provocative title, En Bygdesaga (“A Country Tale”). But the music remains reflective of its subject matter—i.e., it’s not in the folksy style of Synnøve Solbakken , but considerably more dramatic and serious in tone.


Alfvén wrote for the live stage as well as for film, and in 1932 he provided incidental music to Ludvig Nördstrom’s play, Vi (“We”). One of the numbers from that score was played at the funeral services of Swedish composer Emil Sjögren (1853–1918), and was later published as a standalone piece, the Elegy , op. 38. Though very beautiful, little about it sounds elegiac. It reminded me a bit of the funeral music from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung. Not one to throw away a good piece of music—Sjögren after all could only be elegized once—Alfvén subsequently incorporated it, along with other numbers from Vi , into yet another suite, Gustav II Adolf , op. 49.


If you have any familiarity with Alfvén, you will already know that he was more a product of the 19th century than of the 20th, as were so many Scandinavian composers of the time. You will also know that his music is of a rich, romantic tonal opulence that often has much in common with Swedish contemporaries, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger and Wilhelm Stenhammar. If you are not familiar with Alfvén, this release is as good a place as any to whet your appetite. Performances and recording are exemplary. Highly recommended.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

No sooner had Sibelius moved to the town of Järvenpää in 1904 than he was commissioned by the Swedish Theatre to write incidental music for Maeterlinck’s Pelléas et Mélisande. At the time it was his most ambitious undertaking in the genre of incidental music and his setting included ten scenes, only one of which was cut when he adapted the piece as a concert suite. Dating from the same year, Musik zu einer Szene was originally intended to accompany a tableau and is full of striking contrasts. The two waltzes of 1921 are transcriptions of piano pieces, and reveal the potent influence of Tchaikovsky.

CONCERTOS - ARIAS - SONATAS

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

"Wolfe is doing what she does best: frenetic power created through post-minimalist techniques that transcend mere repetition. The music materials are sharp, taut, basic, and the economy of material is expertly managed. Wolfe knows how to make a lot out of a little AND pull the listener along for the ride. Both works have programmatic elements but not knowing the program does not interfere with the listening experiences. These works sound fresh and contemporary and I’m confident that audiences in the future will continue to relate and connect with the ideas therein."

-- Sequenza 21

"Teeming with jealousy, rage, passion, murder and a ghost, Julia Wolfe’s Cruel Sister has all the makings of an opera... Under conductor Brad Lubman, Ensemble Resonanz elevates Cruel Sister to an incandescent plane, delving into the psyche of the titular murderous sibling the way Judi Dench once mined the character traits of Lady Macbeth."

-- WQXR.com

Apotheosis (1996) is a revision of the final movement from Rautavaara’s Sixth Symphony (1992), which was the symphonic reworking of music from the opera Vincent, hence the subtitle ‘Vincentiana’. The instrumentation lacks the synthesizer that evokes the paintings of the Dutch master in the opera, but the musical substance is intact.

Consisting of three movements—Daydreams, Nightmares and Dawn—Manhattan Trilogy (2004) does not constitute a symphonic piece as such. Its slow-fast-slow sequence equates to classical precedent, while the thematic working and textural elaboration follow directly from the composer’s practice in his last four symphonies.

Subtitled ‘The Journey’, the Eighth Symphony (1999) pursues its metamorphosis of ideas in ways similar to those of his previous three symphonies, but here the order of movements is nearly Classical; pointedly so in the second and third, whose contrast is emphasized by a lack of pause between movements.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1946, is the country’s leading professional orchestra. It has an establishment of ninety players and performs over 100 concerts annually. They tour extensively within their own country.

Music Director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Pietari Inkinen is one of the most exciting talents of the new generation of conductors. He has collaborated with major orchestras and with soloists such as Vadim Repin, Hilary Hahn, and Pinchas Zukerman. His recording with the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic has received outstanding reviews and was voted the BBC Music Magazine’s recording of the month.

Classical Music

Persichetti's band music comprises one of the most enjoyable and successful segments of his copious compositional output. In it you will find a communicative voice and range of expression often missing from his symphonies, where at times he seemed to find the seriousness of the genre inhibiting. Here, though, the challenge and discipline of creating really good music for wind ensemble has set his imagination free. Listen, for example, to the atmospheric opening of the chorale prelude O God Unseen, or to the quirky humor evident in the Divertimento and Masquerade. The largest piece here, Parable for Band, is an absolute masterpiece of the medium. The winds of the London Symphony Orchestra (and friends, presumably, unless the orchestra employs a dozen clarinets) play all of this music with appropriate aplomb under conductor David Amos. If you enjoy the symphonic band repertoire, you probably already know a lot of this music, and so you also will know that you want this well-recorded disc (originally released by Harmonia Mundi in the mid-'90s). [4/12/2006]--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

With worldwide acclaim and numerous awards, Xu Shuya is one of the leading composers to emerge from the Chinese 'New Wave'. His fascination with his Chinese heritage is eloquently expressed in pieces such as Insolation, inspired by the heroic myth of Kaufu Chasing the Sun, and Yun, which unites the famous 'Purple Bamboo Melody' with symphonic textures and gestures. Cristal au Soleil Couchant expresses the intensity of light and colours at sundown, while Echos du Vieux Champ conjures nostalgic memories of the composer's homeland. Shaped by spiritual concepts and the Tibetan landscape, Nirvana evokes the 'bittersweet pleasure' of 'faint distant melodies, like tunes from heaven'.

Naxos' many highly-praised recordings of William Alwyn' music have done much to revive excitement among today' listeners for this British composer who is best known for his 200 or so film scores.

Classical Music

Admirably bracing and sympathetic, excellently recorded.

The second instalment of the Naxos Schmidt symphonic cycle is with us. It preserves another impressive performance, this time of the E flat major Symphony. As before, the major competition comes from the Detroit Symphony and Järvi on Chandos CHAN9568 -- a four-disc collection.

The Symphony lasts around forty-eight or so minutes -- in this performance -- and is cast in three movements. Written between 1911 and 1913 it opens in genial fashion before some hefty Straussian brass calls puncture the amiable laissez faire. Schmidt is a minor master at alternation of brass fanfare and diaphanous gauzy textures; there’s even an Elgarian contour to his melodic way of thinking, a product of late-Romantic brio, surely, rather than anything else. Those Brucknerian caesuri are another strong influence. Pliant and neat, the second movement moves off into variational waters. These range from the lissom and fast to evocative, if ghostly, ballroom scenes. The baroque-leaning finale with its Bachian Fugue, solenelle style, has a grandly developing sense of space and drives onwards to a stirring and invincible chorale conclusion. The playing is splendid, and the interpretative decision-making vis-à-vis Järvi is a matter of individual taste. The latter has the more virtuosic orchestra but Sinaisky handles the thematic development of the symphony with equal authority.

The bonus, if one can call it that, is the 1937 Fuga Solemnis for organ, sixteen wind instruments and percussion. The organ begins its nobly reserved soliloquy whilst the orchestral forces are only allowed to enter with their stirring blocks of sound at around the mid-point of its 14 minute length. Again a stirring climax is ensured by Schmidt and whilst this one sounds a touch forced, its impact can’t be doubted.

Once again these forces prove to be fully conversant with Schmidt’s own personalised brand of late-romanticism, and its allied harmonic richness. The results are admirably bracing and sympathetic, and have been excellently recorded by the Naxos team.

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

Classical Music

Two previous Britten CDs reviewed in these pages were rescued, as was this one, from the archives of the now defunct Collins Classics label. If you happen to have the original 1992 Collins disc, be advised that it and the current Naxos release are one and the same. If you don?t have it, the present CD offers an excellent opportunity to acquire two of Benjamin Britten?s most popular works? The Young Person?s Guide and the Frank Bridge Variations ?plus two other not-so-often-heard pieces in the composer?s most approachable style, all in fine performances, a splendid recording that sounds newly minted, and at budget cost.


Few, if any, of Britten?s works have enjoyed the exposure of his Young Person?s Guide to the Orchestra , commissioned in 1946 for an educational film intended for the ?edification and entertainment? of children. Like other works of its type?Saint-Saëns?s Carnival of the Animals and Prokofiev?s Peter and the Wolf ?Britten?s piece has been edifying and entertaining audiences of all age groups ever since.


The major offering here, the Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge , was Britten?s tribute to his teacher. Written in 1937, it was premiered by the Boyd Neel Orchestra that same year, and recorded by the same forces a year later. That recording has been transferred to CD by Pearl, and is still available, as is Britten?s own 1967 recording with the English Chamber Orchestra on Decca. Several more recent accounts have also been committed to disc, the most recent being a very impressive SACD release with the Scottish Ensemble on Linn Records. I don?t think it too far a stretch to say that Britten?s Frank Bridge Variations may well be the most important work in variations form to come from the pen of an English composer since Elgar?s Enigma Variations .


The Occasional Overture and Prelude and Fugue for 18-part string orchestra have received less attention on disc, though the former found a place in a Britten anthology recorded by Simon Rattle, and the latter in a collection of the composer?s works led by Ronald Thomas for Chandos.


The current Naxos release serves a meal well balanced between two of Britten?s enduring masterpieces and two lighter, palate-cleansing courses. If you don?t already have the Collins original, go for it.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

WOLF, E.W.: 4 Symphonies

The first thing you notice is the vibrant sound, the ensemble's immediacy and depth, giving a realistic spatial and sonic picture of the array of musicians and instruments performing in a very complementary acoustic. Then you have to appreciate the robust rhythmic character and clean articulation in the opening March K. 189, the companion piece to the following Serenade K. 185. Indeed, throughout the program you get the sure impression that these performers know and love Mozart, putting sufficient energy into each movement of each piece, granting each the appropriate character of Menuet or March, Andante grazioso or Allegro. The orchestra's gentle way with the thematic rhythms in the Serenade's Andante grazioso and the subtlety with which the players (and conductor) highlight this movement's slight but important mood shifts is a pure pleasure to hear.

Violinist/director Alexander Janiczek asks for tempos that neither blaze nor plod nor obscure the happy spirit of these primarily youthful works. As a soloist in the two Rondos and the lovely Adagio K. 261 Janiczek also provides tasteful cadenzas that highlight his expertly executed, personable, open-hearted style. And who can fail to be impressed with the Divertimento K. 113, a remarkably "mature" piece of orchestral writing that shows a 15-year-old composer already in control of techniques and thematic devices that would reappear in later, more famous, more extensively developed forms. This is a very well-played, thoughtfully programmed recording of works that are all too often ruined by casual, matter-of-fact treatment; if its primary purpose is entertainment, which it should be, then it succeeds admirably.

– ClassicsToday

*** PLEASE NOTE: This is an audio recording (i.e., no video) that is playable on either a standard DVD player or one with DVD-Audio capability. Both stereo and surround sound are available depending on your audio equipment. ***

This recording is in the DVD Audio format and will only play on hardware specifically compatible with the DVD Audio format. Standard CD players will not play this CD.

The debut album of calm and meditative masterpieces from Russian organist Svetlana Berezhnaya