Fedoseyev/Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra.

WERKE FUER KLAVIERDUO

Nudallgraaduus

Wilhelm Stenhammar’s Serenade is unquestionably an orchestral masterpiece, one of two that he wrote (the other being the Second Symphony), and this remains its finest recording. Järvi remade the work for DG, and very well too, with this same orchestra, but as is so often the case the second effort doesn’t quite measure up to the initial outing. In the first place, this performance includes the “Reverenza” movement that Stenhammar later deleted. It’s a charming minuet, and since it’s followed by the Canzonetta, a slow waltz, it’s easy to understand why he decided, however reluctantly, to leave it out. I’m not entirely sure it fits here as the second movement–that means a lot of slow music between the opening Overture and the Scherzo–but it’s still good to have and you can always just skip it if the result turns out to be boring in your opinion.

Second, Järvi offers the most exciting and rambunctious performance of the Scherzo yet recorded. This movement really can and should be a virtuoso extravaganza, and here it has a huge impact, assisted in no small degree by some of the best recorded sound that BIS ever managed in Gothenburg. The rich bass, wide dynamic range, and superb balances permit Järvi and his players to let it rip in thrilling fashion. Add to that a lovely, flowing Notturno and a meaty, muscular finale and the result is one of the glories of the BIS catalog. The Serenade has been lucky on disc, and has received a striking number of fine recordings, but this is the one to own to get to know the work.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Hermann Meier - Kammermusik und Orchesterwerke

Sons de la Montagne (Bergtöne)

Perrin: Œuvres pour piano

REVIEWS:
International Record Review (4/00, pp.33-34) - "...For this fascinating recce into the no man's land between Baroque and Classical, Gaigg ably marshals her forces: formations are precise, spit and polish gleam, and in the close-range recording you can see the excitement in the whites of their eyes..."

Includes work(s) by Francesco Antoni Rosetti. Conductor: Johannes Moesus. Soloist: Klaus Wallendorf.

Born in 1819 as a Prussian citizen in a Saarbrücken suburb then named Goffontaine (today’s Scheidt-Schafbrücke), when Louis Théodore Gouvy died in 1898 he was regarded as a Frenchman in Germany and as a German in France. No other foreign composer’s works were performed as frequently in Leipzig during the 1850s as those by Gouvy. In his symphonic oeuvre, Gouvy displays the bravura and clarté that his contemporaries valued in his music. “Melodic richness, natural sovereignty in the treatment of harmony, and a completely unaffected originality… play[ed] with fine nuance…” (klassik-heute)

The Bayadere celebrated its premiere in Vienna in December, 1921. A few months later, in February, 1922, the Metropoltheater in Berlin staged this operetta by Emmerich Kalman. His music brings together Hungarian folk melodies and the Viennese waltz, displays operatic and melodramatic elements, and illustrates the American dance rhythms of its times. In addition, it offers exotic tone colors like those of the tarogato and specific rhythms designed to satisfy the longing for the faraway, foreign India. These ingredients came with the guarantee of musical success. This work numbers among the genuine highlights in the Hungarian composer Kalman's oepretta oeuvre. In 2014, the WDR presented a concert performance of The Bayadere and then went on to produce this work in the studio. The great Richard Bonynge opened the operetta's vibrant introduction with plenty of energy and stormy drive, astonishing for this world-renowned Australian conductor who is now in his seventies. The elegant, slender gentleman with a full head of white hair who has always loved the operetta and whose discography includes many recordings in this field led the WDR Orchestra and the WDR Chorus with precisely trimmed conductor's gestures, so that here Emmerich Kalman's famous Bayadere experienced the right interpretation.

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This selection is also included in Bis Twins 3.

BACH (attr.) THE SACRED APOCRYPHAL BACH • Wolfgang Helbich, cond; Alsfelder Vocal Ens; various performers • CPO 777 878-2 (8 CDs: 432: 03 Text and Translation)


BACH (attr.) Cantatas, BWV 217–222 • Wolfgang Helbich, cond; Johanna Koslowsky (sop); Kai Wessel (alt); Harry Geraerts (ten); Phillip Langshaw (bs); Alsfelder Vocal Ens; Steintor Barock Bremen • CPO 999 139-2 (2 CDs: 101:27 Text and Translation)


BACH (attr.) Motets, BWV Anh. 159, 160, 162–165 • Wolfgang Helbich, cond; Alsfelder Vocal Ens • CPO 999 235-2 (55:27 Text and Translation)


BACH (attr.) St. Luke Passion, BWV 246 • Wolfgang Helbich, cond; Rufus Müller ( Evangelist ); Stephan Schreckenberger ( Jesus ); Mona Spägele (sop); Christiane Iven (alt); Harry van Berne (ten); Marcus Sandmann (bs); Alsfelder Vocal Ens; Barockorchester Bremen • CPO 999 293-2 (2 CDs: 106:17 Text and Translation)


BACH (attr.) Masses, BWV Anh. 25 and 26. Magnificat, BWV Anh. 21 • Wolfgang Helbich, cond; Dorothee Mields (sop); Henning Voss (alt); Henning Kaiser (ten); Ralf Grobe (bs); Alsfelder Vocal Ens; I Febiarmonici • CPO 999 834-2 (51:47 Text and Translation)


BACH (attr.) Cantatas, BWV 15, 141, 142, 160 • Wolfgang Helbich, cond; Dorothee Mields (sop); Henning Voss (alt); Henning Kaiser (ten); Ralf Grobe (bs); Alsfelder Vocal Ens; I Febiarmonici • CPO 999 985-2 (58:48 Text and Translation)


BACH (attr.) Cantata, BWV 150. Magnificat, BWV Anh. 30. Masses, BWV Anh. 24 and 167. Sanctus, BWV 237, 239, and 240 • Wolfgang Helbich, cond; Bremen Musikhochschule Solo Qrt; Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam; Alsfelder Vocal Ens; Hannover Hofkapelle • CPO 777 561-2 (58:17 Text and Translation)


Conductor Wolfgang Helbich died of a stroke on his 70th birthday, on April 8, 2013. Here, CPO has assembled (by simple virtue of an outer cardboard box around the original separate releases) the six sets of eight CDs comprising Helbich’s project of recording vocal works once attributed to Bach but now (with two exceptions) generally considered to be spurious or dubious, or now definitely known to be by another composer. The dates of the recordings span 1991 to 2009 and are listed above in their original order of release. Three of them were previously reviewed in these pages: the two-CD set of cantatas by George Chien in 16:2, the St. Luke Passion by Ralph V. Lucano in 21:1, and the second disc of masses and mass movements by yours truly in 36:2. All of those performances were highly praised, and that praise is equally applicable to the other three discs in the series as well.


Given the detailed coverage given to three of the releases, I will confine myself here to an overview of the set as a whole, with a few specific comments on the three discs not previously covered. First, a scorecard of current attributions, if any, of the various compositions, in order of the sets listed above and using their front tray card titles:




Apocryphal Bach Cantatas:


BWV 217, 220, and 221—Anonymous


BWV 218 and 219—Georg Philipp Telemann


BWV 222—Johann Ernst Bach (1722–1777)


Apocryphal Bach Motets:


BWV Anh. 159—authentic J. S. Bach


BWV Anh. 160—Georg Philipp Telemann, portions reworked by Bach


BWV Anh. 162—Georg Gottfried Wagner (1698–1756)


BWV Anh. 163—Bach “di Eisenach”—unknown; possibly Johann Ernst Bach?


BWV Anh. 164—Johann Christoph Altnickol (1719/20–1759)


BWV Anh. 165—Johann Ernst Bach


Apocryphal St. Luke Passion:


BWV 246, Anh. II 30—unknown; possibly Johann Melchior Molter (1696–1765)


Apocryphal Bach Masses (and Magnificat):


BWV Anh. 21 (Magnificat)—Georg Melchior Hoffmann (c. 1679–1715)


BWV Anh. 25—unknown; Italianate in style, probably by a Neapolitan composer


BWV Anh. 26—Francesco Durante (1684–1755), revised by Bach


Apocryphal Bach Cantatas II:


BWV 15—Johann Ludwig Bach (1677–1731)


BWV 141 and BWV 160—Georg Philipp Telemann


BWV 142—unknown; possibly Johann Kuhnau (1660–1722)


Apocryphal Bach Masses II:


BWV 150 (Cantata)—authentic J. S. Bach


BWV Anh. 24 (Mass)—Johann Christoph Pez (1664–1716)


BWV Anh. 167 (Mass)—unknown


BWV Anh. 30 (Magnificat)—unknown


BWV 237, 239, and 240 (Sanctus movements)—unknown


Second, a few remarks on the three previously unreviewed discs. The unaccompanied motets all set German texts; the most substantial in terms of length are BWV Anh. 160 and BWV Anh. 163. For the latter, the suggestion of Johann Ernst Bach (the son of a second cousin of J. S. Bach) as the most likely of the Eisenach Bach clan to be the work’s author is mine, on the grounds that he personally studied with J. S. Bach, who copied out two other works by him listed above, including another motet. The one apocryphal motet that sounds most like an authentic piece by J. S. Bach, however, is BWV Anh. 164 of Johann Christoff Altnickol, a son-in-law of J. S. Bach who served as organist at the Wenzelkirche in Naumburg until his untimely death. Georg Gottfried Wagner was a pupil of J. S. Bach and of Bach’s predecessor in Leipzig, Johann Kuhnau. Like Altnickol, he obtained a lifetime appointment on the strength of a recommendation from his teacher, in Wagner’s case as Kantor to the Johanniskirche in Plauen. Only one other composition of his besides this motet is known to have survived.


Regarding the two apocryphal masses, it beggars belief that anyone would have thought either one to be by Bach given how obviously Italian they are in compositional style, though in the case of BWV Anh. 26 Bach did make some emendations to the score, particularly in the Kyrie. Francesco Durante was a Neapolitan composer of sacred music and a noted pedagogue (particularly notorious for his insistence that all his students rigidly adhere to a single unvarying set of compositional rules) who successively taught at the Conservatorio di Sant’ Onofrio and the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto. For his part, Georg Melchior Hoffmann studied first in Dresden and then in Leipzig, where he succeeded Telemann as director of the famed Collegium Musicum which J. S. Bach also would later head. During his short life-span he was both quite prolific and highly regarded. As with the apocryphal motets, his Magnificat lies squarely within the stylistic confines of the late German Baroque. As for the second disc of apocryphal cantatas, Johann Ludwig Bach was an uncle of J. S. Bach. Both the BWV 15 cantata now attributed to him, and the BWV 142 that is possibly by Bach’s Leipzig predecessor Kuhnau, exemplify the less elaborate compositional style of the generation before Bach, whereas the works by Telemann bear all the hallmarks of that composer’s sophisticated and more eclectic musical palette.


Each set within this compilation has its own booklet with CPO’s usual copious notes, artist biographies, and complete original texts with English translations. Aside from being a posthumous tribute to Helbich, however, one must also wonder if the issuance of this set also signals the end of CPO’s Apocryphal Bach project. One hopes that is not the case, for there still remain some items to be covered that could all fit onto one or two CDs. Using the Teldec Complete Bach Edition that I reviewed in 36:2 as a guide, still eligible for inclusion in this series are:


- Cantatas BWV 53 and 189 (both composed by Georg Melchior Hoffmann);


- Cantata fragments BWV 216, 223, and 224;


- Motet BWV 231 (a contrafactum of the second movement of the Cantata BWV 28, presumed to be by another hand);


- Miscellaneous fragments BWV 1081 (an introduction to a Credo by Giovanni Battista Bassani), 1082 (an adaptation of a Magnificat by Antonio Caldara), 1083 (a transcription of a Stabat mater by Giovanni Pergolesi), and 1088 (a bass arioso contributed by Bach to a Passion pastiche, the majority of it composed by Carl Heinrich Graun but also including movements by Telemann, Kuhnau, and Altnickol).


In any case, this entire set deserves a warm recommendation, which I am happy to provide.

FANFARE: James A. Altena

Louis Glass (1864-1936) began his career as a pianist, but illness forced his retirement from active concertizing and his focus turned toward composing. His six symphonies clearly occupy the center of his oeuvre. Early influences of Schumann, Gade and Grieg soon yielded to influence from Ce�sar Franck. Glass also displays strong influence emanating from Bruckner, very unusual during this generation and beyond the borders of German-speaking Europe. CPO's new Glass Complete Symphonies, Vol. 1, features his idyllic Forest Symphony No. 3 and the Summer Life orchestral suite.

Tamás: Kammermusik

Fedoseyev/Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra.

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In the golden age of vinyl, the English label Lyrita produced a series of Bax symphony recordings conducted by Myer Fredman, Raymond Leppard, Vernon Hanley, and Norman Del Mar that gave most their first exposure to the evocative, romantic symphonic music of Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953). It was one of the most distinguished series of audiophile recordings every chronicled. Lyrita only released two of the symphonies on CD (Symphonies 1 & 7) but that is probably out of print at the moment. There was an even better recording of the third symphony from the London Symphony and Edward Downes, also long gone. Chandos took a stab at the series during the dawn of the DDD era, but its conductor, Bryden Thomson, using slow tempos, took a loose and meandering view of these episodic works that caused them to seem disjointed. Naxos has now entered the ring with just the right conductor and orchestra and produced a series that is every bit the equal of that on Lyrita, but with a welcome twist, it is available to the public at less than half the cost. In this current installement, David Lloyd-Jones once again leads the excellent Scottish orchestra in a reading that is radiant and lyrical, and paced exacly right. The sounds of nature have seldom been so successfully translated into musical expression, and the superb engineering partners the performance hand in glove. If you like Vaughan Williams, especially his Pastoral Symphony, you will no doubt love this music. Start with this, the most popular of the composer's symphonies, backtrack to symphonies 1 & 2, already available on Naxos CD; then, along with me, keenly anticipate further releases in this magical series.--Rad Bennett, ClassicsToday.com

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La musique populaire en Suisse Romande

Zum Gipfel Und Zurück - Neue Alphornmusik

RESPIGHI Concerto in modo misolidio 1. Fountains of Rome • Sakari Oramo, cond; 1 Olli Mustonen (pn); Finnish RSO • ONDINE 1165 (53:53)


Sakari Oramo and his Finnish forces give us a sensitive if not outstandingly atmospheric performance of the earliest of Respighi’s Roman trilogy, the Fountains of Rome of 1916. The big moments are somewhat hampered by a lack of string power. The violins do not contribute as much as they should to the climax of the third movement (“Fontana di Trevi al meriggio”) and, unfortunately, the success of these Roman tone poems lies in balancing the weight of the fortissimos against the quiet passages of impressionistic introspection. The latter are meltingly played, with details like the distant church bells in the “Fontana di Villa Medici” perfectly balanced.


The main work on this disc is a rarity. Completed in 1925 and premiered in New York under Mengelberg, the Concerto in Mixolydian Mode is a large-scale Romantic piano concerto imbued with medieval church harmonies. Much of the first movement sounds like an extended fantasia on Debussy’s Engulfed Cathedral , beginning as it does with a chorale in full chords stated by the soloist. (The theme is based on the traditional introit for the Mass of Ascension Day.) The mixolydian mode is close to the major scale—only a flattened seventh differentiates them—and the piano’s first entry avoids that note, sounding for all intents and purposes to be in a major key. Gradually, modal harmony creeps in as the composer’s evocation of an earlier era is established.


Respighi’s concept of medieval times was, let us say, the polar opposite of Pasolini’s bawdy, earthbound vision; the composer envisaged the period as one of grandeur and ecclesiastical solemnity. These are the overriding characteristics of the lengthy first and second movements, which work their way through a number of musical episodes at an unhurried pace. In the second movement, the piano part becomes increasingly decorative, adding a glittering veneer to the basically sedate proceedings. Momentum is finally achieved in the passacaglia finale, but for all their lushness and lyricism it is probably the lack of impetus in the first two movements (totaling 27 minutes) that keeps Respighi’s concerto out of the repertoire. His Concerto Gregoriano for violin and orchestra of 1922, similarly based on ancient church modes, is more successful, though it too has its longeurs, while his 25-minute Toccata for piano and orchestra (1928)—another piano concerto in all but name—is saved by its spectacular final movement.


I have no wish to write this work off, however. There is a case to be made for it, and these musicians make that case convincingly. Olli Mustonen plays with uncharacteristic legato . Listen to his limpid interpretation of the first movement’s closing solo (around 15:30); this is certainly not the pianist who pecks his way through Beethoven. His lightness of touch in the passagework of the finale is a delight. This is very much a concerto where soloist and orchestra work as a partnership, and under Oramo the Finnish RSO contributes strong and often subtle support. The sound is clear and vivid. Previous recordings by Tozer and Scherbakov have been praised, but I cannot imagine them being superior in any way to this one. Recommended as a disc that could easily grow on you.


FANFARE: Phillip Scott


Respighi was proud of his Concerto in modo misolidio, and rightly so. It's a beautiful work, full of attractive melodies and effective writing for the soloist, and it deserves more exposure on the concert stage than it gets. This is hands down the best performance it has received thus far on disc. It's so typical that Mustonen (rather like Leopold Stokowski), who can be so perverse in his performances of the standard repertoire, offers such a faithful rendering of the piano part when confronted with a novelty item. This isn't to suggest that his performance lacks imagination or spirit: just the opposite. However, Respighi gives the soloist so much to do (much of the part is written on three staves) that there's certainly less room to fool around gratuitously, and so Mustonen doesn't.

The main competition in this work comes from Tozer/Downes on Chandos, a good performance that nonetheless sounds more than a touch stodgy next to this one. It takes some five minutes longer, almost all of it the central slow movement and concluding passacaglia. Mustonen and Sakari Oramo's extra energy in these movements pays huge dividends, effectively belying any view of the work as pretty but formally ungainly and lacking excitement. This is certainly the version to choose to get to know the concerto, particularly if you're coming to it for the very first time.

Only the coupling prevents this disc from getting the very highest rating. Actually, this is an excellent performance of Fountains of Rome, very well played, and glitteringly captured by the engineers. But there are many such, and it's a skimpy disc-mate, bringing total playing time only to 53 minutes. It would have been so much nicer to have some more neglected Respighi--my vote would have gone to a new version of Metamorphoseon, which shares a similar aesthetic to that of the piano concerto, or perhaps even the similarly modal Concerto gregoriano for violin. Still, as the finest version available of the main item, this disc will be self-recommending to Respighi fans (and piano buffs too).

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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