Glazunov, A.K.: Orchestral Works, Vol. 15 - Symphonies Nos.

Brouwer: Guitar Music, Vol. 1

Classical Music

Every so often a recording comes out that is so powerful, so comprehensive in its interpretive vision, that it not only makes the music sound completely new, it forces a complete reappraisal of the music's overall significance. Georg Tintner's Bruckner Third is one such recording. In fact, it offers such a fundamental reappraisal of this music that it's safe to say that until you hear this recording, you have not heard Bruckner's Third Symphony. In order to understand why this is so, it's necessary to understand something of the history of the work. First composed in 1873 and dedicated to Wagner, the symphony went through at least two major revisions in the wake of its disastrous Vienna premiere. For the most part, these revisions involved cuts, but also some recasting of the basic thematic material of the first and last movement in a heavier, more "late Bruckner" style. The final, truncated version published by Nowak is the one most frequently played today, but the slightly less cut Oeser edition (the "middle" version) has been gaining favor recently, and has been recorded by conductors such as Haitink and Sinopoli.

Because Bruckner's later thoughts on the symphony reflect his more mature orchestral practice, the Third has acquired a reputation as a hybrid, a "magnificent failure" that falls between the Schubertian world of the early symphonies and his monumental later achievement. This view was reinforced by Robert Simpson's unsympathetic account of the work in his important English language study of the Bruckner symphonies. Eliahu Inbal's first recording of the original 1873 version for Teldec did nothing to dispel this impression, being a rapid and not especially well played performance that merely set out the notes that Bruckner wrote. Tintner's spacious, epic conception of the symphony couldn't be more different. In the first place, it plays for more than 77 minutes, making it Bruckner's longest symphony after the Eighth (and in fact longer than many performances of that work). But the tempos never sound slow. Rather, Tintner gives each thematic group time to breathe, to present its themes in Bruckner's characteristic blocks of sound, and along the way we make some fascinating discoveries. The first of these reveals the exposition of the first movement to be the richest and most thematically diverse that Bruckner ever wrote, with no less than four complete subject complexes. The spaciousness of the exposition makes the development section sound unusually concentrated for Bruckner, the movement's overall form confidently poised and balanced.

After the 30-minute first movement, with its huge contrasts of dynamics and texture, the lyrical adagio comes as the ideal contrast, and Tintner's gracious phrasing, combined with his ability to find just the right tempo, keeps the music moving with a real sense of inevitability. The Scherzo has never been controversial, and Tintner captures its lightness and rustic dance qualities as have few others, but it's the finale that offers the final revelation. Here, Tintner's confidence in Bruckner's vision pays huge dividends in a movement long regarded as almost a complete bust, formally speaking. With all the "cyclical" elements that were later removed still in place (the recollections of earlier themes), and a tempo that gives the music time to reveal its clear derivation from the melodies and accompaniments of the first movement, what we really have is one of Bruckner's most ambitious and far reaching formal successes, an energetic and satisfying counterbalance to the epic expanses of the symphony's opening. Tintner's belief in this symphony reveals it to be not some sort of unfortunate hybrid, but the product of a fully mature (he was 49 when he wrote it!), even radical composer. This in turn makes its initial failure in performance all the more understandable: there was certainly nothing even remotely like it in 1873. The conventional wisdom that the "real" Bruckner begins with the revised Fourth Symphony simply will not stand. It's this work that is his symphonic manifesto, and no one hearing this performance will doubt it for a second.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra deserves a huge amount of credit for sharing Tintner's patience and conviction. The light tone of the strings, in particular, sounds especially "right" in this symphony, and in this case preferable to the darker, heavier sound of many Continental orchestras in this music. Tintner's Bruckner series has been almost uniformly excellent, but I think that this recording is the finest of them all. Its importance to our understanding of Bruckner's symphonic achievement is such that it amounts to nothing less than a premiere performance of a newly discovered masterpiece. Recordings this significant happen all too rarely. Don't miss it.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

"A mandatory purchase for lovers of Arnold's music... Certainly this Naxos disc is useful for including the Welsh Dances, and for its price it is not to be sniffed at." -- Colin Clarke, musicweb.uk.net

"...at budget price and with the five sets of dances on one disc, nobody will regret giving this disc a try." - Classic CD - September 1996

"This new Naxos set of the Arnold Dances from the Queensland orchestra under Andrew Penny is well worth its modest cost and it has the advantage of including the Four welsh dances, not otherwise available on CD..this Naxos CD offers and excellent and inexpensive collection, more complete than any of its competitors." - Gramophone - October 1996

"An excellent chance to pick up on the music of an undervalued British composer at a very keen price." - Northern Echo - August 1996

"The Queensland Symphony seems to be an excellent ensemble ... Andrew Penny leads his charges with confidence and elan. The sound image hints at concert hall realism; quality is as good as what is found on many higher priced discs." - American Record Guide - Nov / Dec 1996

"only the Naxos release has the Welsh Dances ... much credit goes to young Arnold specialist Andrew Penny" - Fanfare

This release is the final volume of pianist Paavali Jumppanen’s acclaimed cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas. This volume combines the early Op. 7 and the famous Pathétique sonata together with the Last Sonatas Opp. 109-111 written by Beethoven in the 1820s. Jumppanen has collaborated with numerous contemporary composers and has premiered many solo and chamber works for the piano. He has worked personally with esteemed composers including Pierre Boulez, William Duckworth, Henri Dutilleux, as well as composers of his native Finland. In fact, on the DG recording project of the complete works by Pierre Boulez, Jumppanen recorded the piano sonatas upon the composer’s request. Paavali Jumppanen is an internationally esteemed pianist, a versatile performer equally at home as a concerto soloist, chamber musician, and a recitalist. His vast repertoire spans piano literature from Bach to the Avant-garde. Jumppanen has spent several years performing the works of Viennese Classics, in particular Beethoven. His performances of the complete cycles of Beethoven's and Mozart's Piano Sonatas as well as Beethoven's concertos and chamber music have won critical acclaim. Jumppanen’s installments in the Beethoven cycle have received thrilling reviews and, among others, the ‘Choc’ Award from the French music magazine Classica.

REVIEW:

He brings a supple, pliable touch to the Op. 7's first movement, and his attention to left-hand lines in the finale imbues it with a sharper than usual edge. The rhapsodic Vivace man non troppo of Op. 109 is a model of sensitive phrasing and timing. A superbly engineered and annotated conclusion to his Beethoven cycle.

– Gramophone

Children (Classical Favourites for) - Teddy Bear at the Conc

The magical world of Einojuhani Rautavaara is one that evokes other realms. Angels figure particularly heavily, especially those angels that deal with death and destruction. As Rautavaara himself says, “My angels are not those like in the altarpieces of Raphael...my angels are powerful.”

As well as with angels, many mystics have been preoccupied with the language of the birds (Messiaen in music, but think also of Saint Francis of Assisi preaching to the birds). One of the most popular Finnish works of recent years has been the Cantus arcticus, for prerecorded bird sounds and orchestra. It is a hugely impressive three-movement soundscape marked by a timeless feel and by beautiful, glowing lines. The taped birds could easily have sounded like a cheap effect, so it is telling that they emerge as an integral part of the work’s emotional vocabulary. Segerstam’s performance is excellent, as one would expect from this fine musician.

The very title Autumn Gardens seems to invite comparison with Takemitsu—all we need is a descending flock of the birds from the Cantus arcticus. It is certainly easy on the ear, so much so that the acerbic, percussive dissonances of the third movement of the First Piano Concerto come as something of a relief. Gothóni is an excellent pianist here; his way with some rhythms makes me suggest he has links to jazz. Back to pure atmosphere for the Clarinet Concerto, though—truly excellently played by Stoltzmann.

The second disc begins with an Adagio celeste for string orchestra. The strings of the Belgian National Orchestra play really sumptuously in this gently pulsating score; the much more abrasive Flute Concerto excerpt that follows (complete with agile low bassoon and menacing percussion) acts as a necessary corrective, although it is not long before it, too, shows its delicate side.

True and False Unicorn is a reminder of Rautavaara’s stature as a composer of choral works. The second movement, “Young Sagittarius,” is full of delightfully light rhythmic play, as is In the shade of the willow. Anadyomene , subtitled “Adoration of Aphrodite,” evokes more of a sense of the massive, using expansive, coloristic writing and including moments of real light.

The final work, Angels and Visitations , has a deliberately ambiguous title. “Visitations” may indeed refer to the Annunciation, but it may equally invoke something more sinister. Climaxes, therefore, tend towards the darkly hued. There are shades of Sibelius during the course of the piece, but Rautavaara transforms the material so that it glows in a most un-Sibelian way. This tense score (with its Pétrouchka -like mêlée of sounds) is one of the most impressive on either disc here, and is an apt way to close.

Although other companies are championing the Rautavaara cause, most notably Naxos, Ondine has a certain authority. Both sides of Rautavaara’s personality—the meltingly beautiful and the near violent—are given a chance to make their mark here.

-- Fanfare

Music historians of our time invariably describe the early 18th century as the era of Johann Sebastian Bach. But if one were to have asked German musicians living at the time, they might well have described it as the era of Georg Philipp Telemann. The distinguished music encyclopedia published by Johann Gottfried Walther - J.S. Bach's cousin, as it happens - in 1732 devotes four times more space to the fashionable maestro of Hamburg than to the humble Thomaskantor.

Graupner's total surviving output comprises some 2,000 separate works, including ten operas, a hundred symphonies, a thousand cantatas, 85 orchestral suites and 44 concertos. A significant part of his orchestral output consists of concertos and suites with diverse, sometimes very curious instruments in the solo ensembles.

Among the rarer solo instruments he favoured were the flûte d'amour, a flute pitched a third lower than the normal transverse flute, and the viola d'amore, an instrument roughly the same size and shape as a viola but with resonating free strings in addition to the (usually) seven strings played with the bow. Combining the traverso and hunting horn in the same concerto, or the viola d'amore and the chalumeau, was extremely exceptional for the period.

What is significant in Graupner's music is his exceptional command of melody and harmony, which do not really resemble those of any of his contemporaries.

Featuring Midori, the NDR Symphony Orchestra and Christoph Eschenbach, this release commemorates the anniversary of Hindemith's death 50 years ago. Midori is an extraordinary artist, a devoted and gifted educator and a community engagement activist. Her enthusiasm for playing music of different times is seen on her CDs and concert repertoire. This recording is her first for Ondine.

UNITED STATES NAVY BAND: Ports of Call

WALLIN, R.: Act / Das war schon! / Tides (Oslo Philharmonic) Composer : Rolf Wallin Artist(s): GRUBINGER KROUMATA OSLO PO SARASTE ETC

REVIEWS:

The Third Symphony was...favored by Karajan in the 1950s. It was the product of a composer in his sixties writing in his Normandy home at Vasterival. It was premiered by the Boston SO and Koussevitsky on 24 October 1930. The thud and thunder of the first movement contrasts with the pastoral melancholy meditation of the Adagio. This is followed by the fairground pleasantry of the Vivace and the massive fountains of exultation of the last movement. No wonder the audience - whose applause forms part of the track - greeted this performance with such warmth.

Le Festin is here given complete across 21 tracks. You are likely to enjoy this music - if you do already know it - if you already number Ravel's Ma Mère l'Oye and Debussy's Prélude a l'après midi d'un faune among your favorites. It has the magical elegance of the Ravel and the sultriness of the Debussy. Add to this the motorized thunder of Roussel's last two symphonies. It is superbly recorded - listen to the whispering distant gold of the violins in The Ants Dance in a Circle (tr. 16). The instrumental howls in the Funeral of the Gadfly (tr. 24) are memorable. Also in the same movement how similar some of the writing is to Ravel's dawn rustlings in Rapsodie espagnole. Those gentle rustles from the tam-tam suggest Ma Mère l'Oye. Eschenbach heartbreakingly captures the valedictory melancholy of Night falling on the deserted garden but brings out the solace too. This makes for an easy full price choice - poetically done in every aspect.

– Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

The liner notes for this release make the argument that French modernist Albert Roussel was the greatest composer of his time. It is an argument Christoph Eschenbach and the Orchestre de Paris do much to advance in these live performances. Coupling Le Festin de l'araignée from 1912 and the Symphony No. 3 from 1930, Eschenbach and the Parisian orchestra give Roussel's music the kind of clear-eyed, strong-willed performances that make the most of the composer's best features. Though distinctly of its prewar time, Le Festin de l'araignée nevertheless sounds brightly colorful, lightly ironic, and surprisingly inventive in this smoothly polished and vigorously rhythmic performance. The postwar Third Symphony sounds both of and above its time here, its angular themes, gleaming colors, and muscular rhythms brilliantly brought out by the German conductor and the French orchestra. If Eschenbach and the Parisian musicians' racing finale for the symphony, with its relentless polyrhythms, doesn't get your heart pumping, consult a doctor immediately. Recorded in vibrant live sound complete with appreciative applause, these performances may well convince the listener that Roussel is indeed underrated.

– James Leonard, All Music Guide

Ondine’s devotion to the music of Einojuhani Rautavaara has been of considerable standing and of great depth. Here we have a disc of highlights of pieces from their catalogue. The only complete works are Cantus arcticus and Apotheosis, though admirers of the composer will know that whilst this last named is a separate work, and one that can be performed in isolation with minor adaptations, it also forms part of the Sixth Symphony.

I’m sure that this neatly selected series of works will whet the appetite of those yet to experience Rautavaara’s music. I think it’s right that if you’re going to present a compact work by him in toto it should be Cantus arcticus, which is one of his most popular. This Concerto for Birds and Orchestra, a beautiful title if ever there was one, evinces all his most personal and vital qualities - string wash of great, indeed magnetic, power and concentration, the quality of melancholy so often encountered in his music, and an accumulation of sound that reaches, at moments, almost a frenzy. For all his reflective qualities he has never been a dormant composer; rather he has managed to unleash moments of great power and energy that seem to have aggregated from the earlier material. Such, certainly, is the trajectory of this work, never for a moment gimmicky, always beautiful and, fortunately, the electronic song is expertly balanced in this recording.

The other works offer interesting perspectives too. The second movement of the Clarinet Concerto is played by the dedicatee Richard Stoltzman, who worked closely with the composer during its composition. Its lyric outpouring is as addictive as the third movement of Autumn Gardens, a nature portrait of powerful verdancy. The first part of Manhattan Trilogy is called Daydreams and its alternation of percussive power and refined lyricism is effectively realised, whereas the third movement of the Third Piano Concerto, called Gift of Dreams, is restless, passionate, bright edged and enshrines some truly portentous moments. Vladimir Ashkenazy plays and directs. The final two pieces are from symphonic works; Apotheosis is rapt and beautiful, whilst the segment from the Sixth Symphony is calm, dreamlike, reflective.

The majority of performances are by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under Leif Segerstam. All the performances are special and I hope they will lead appreciative and curious readers to the relevant Ondine box sets that house the symphonies and concertos.

– Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

•Heritage of the March is a series of 185 vinyl records of marches and galops released from 1973 to the early 1980’s. It remains as the largest single march music record series in history, featuring close to 3,000 different marches! Volumes 7 and 8 feature the marches of Russell Alexander, Gabriel Pares, Joseph Olivadoti, and Franz Lehar, a combination of American, French, and Hungarian composers. These marches highlight the best of the genre from both the United States and Europe, re-mastered for CD release. Altissimo! Recordings is proud to release the next installment of this classic collection as a two-volume set.

Rosanne Philippens is considered one of the most promising violin talents in the Netherlands. Her open and communicative style of performance won her first prizes at competitions including the Dutch National Violin Competition in 2009 and the Freiburg International Violin Competition in 2014. This release from Channel Classics focuses on Polish and Russian works inspired by myths and legends. Philippens is joined by pianist Julien Quentin as well as the Nationaal Jeugd Orkest led by Xian Zhang in performances of Szymanowski's Mythes and Violin Concerto and Stravinsky's Chanson Russe and L'Oiseau de Feu.

Mozart, W.A.: Schauspieldirektor (Der) [Opera]

Classical Music

Born in 1959, Arnaud Petit studied with Luciano Berio. In addition to composing, he has taught at IRCAM, Stanford University and the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris. Petit's oeuvre includes opera, vocal, orchestral and chamber music as well as film soundtracks. Concertino Nervoso, the major work on this disc, is based on the dramatic potential of percussion. In it, a solo percussionist, played here by Fabrice Marandola, acts as a kind of deus ex machina. Pairing the soloist with electronics, Concertino Nervoso explores an imaginary link between percussion and various sound worlds, between live performance and it's computer double.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

One of the icons of chamber music, Schubert's celebrated String Quintet is heard in an unusual version on this recording. Schubert's work was styled after those of Boccherini and Onslow, which featured two violins, viola and two cellos. After hearing the double bass virtuoso Domenico Dragonetti, Onslow decided to add an alternative bass part to replace the second cello part. Schubert might have done the same if he had heard Dragonetti play, so the Amsterdam Sinfonietta commissioned this Marijn van Prooijen adaptation, and the double bass part is performed here by Rick Stotijn.

Classical Music

Franz Danzi’s wind quintets tend to be the most well known of his works today and are still within the repertoire of many wind quintets. His rarely heard orchestral symphonies, which impressed Carl Maria von Weber, are also enjoyable works, enhanced by a richer palette of instrumental colors and graced with appealing Haydnesque melodies.