With Earle Brown - A Life in Music - Volume 5, WERGO has again dug up treasures of contemporary music from the 1960s and 1970s: The set with 3 CDs not only contains one of the first recordings of Charles Ives' "Concord Sonata" by Aloys Kontarsky but also is a testimony to the virtuosity of Severino Gazzelloni who is, without doubt, one of the greatest flutists of the 20th century. In addition, it contains music of the group Sonic Arts Union with the four pioneers of electronic music David Behrman, Robert Ashley, Alvin Lucier, and Gordon Mumma. The 18 LPs of Earle Brown's (1926-2002) legendary Contemporary Sound Series, recorded between 1960 and 1973, have become a rarity in great demand since the series was discontinued in 1978. These rare and historically important recordings have been carefully digitized and remastered by the Earle Brown Music Foundation. Until the end of 2011, WERGO is going to release six 3-CD sets of these recordings, covering the extraordinary world of contemporary and avant-garde music which flourished in Europe, the USA, Latin America and Japan in the 1960s and the early 1970s.

Earle Brown's legendary Contemporary Sound Series will be released on WERGO CDs. Recorded between 1960 and 1973, the original eighteen LPs have been highly sought after in the secondary market since 1978 when they were discontinued. These rare and historically important recordings of international avant-garde music have been carefully digitized and remastered by the Earle Brown Music Foundation. The series presents the extraordinary world of contemporary and avant-garde music that flourished in Europe, the United States, Latin America and Japan in the 1960s and early 1970s. The third CD set within this series contains works by Luciano Berio, Sylvano Bussotti, John Cage, Toshiro Mayuzumi, Iannis Xenakis, Roger Reynolds, Yuji Takahashi and Earle Brown, performed by the great singer Cathy Berberian, accompanied by Francis Pierre, Jean-Pierre Drouet, Boris de Vinogradov and Luciano Berio; furthermore the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the NHK Chorus together with Tokyo Choraliers and the Nippon University Chorus under the direction of Wilhelm Schüchter and the pianist Yuji Takahashi. Each set contains three CDs in jewel boxes including the original liner notes and cover. In addition there is small catalogue/booklet with an essay 'Earle Brown's Contemporary Sound Series' in English, German and French, as well as an information about the complete Contemporary Sound Series to be released.*

All tracks have been digitally mastered using 24-bit technology.

Grammy Award Nominee 2006 'Best Classical Contemporary Composition' Composed in 2005 as a specially commissioned ballet score fo New York City Ballet, 'Piano Concerto No.2' comprises three movements: cumnock fair, shabards and shamnation. The work here receives its world premiere recording. It is a highly energetic work - a frenzy of folksong and dance; the first movement, cumnock fair, is a whirling fantasy of eighteenth-century Scottish dance melodies; shambards makes use of Burnsian folksong with fragments of the Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor drifting in and out of focus; shamnation is heavily influenced by Scottish folklore, often quite devilish. 'For sheer excitement...this half-romp, half tantrum of a work is hot stuff', wrote The Times. 'A Scotch Bestiary' was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the BBC Philharmonic to inaugurate the new organ in the Disney Hall in Los Angeles. This is a conertante work for organ (an instrument rarely used by contemporary composers) and orchestra, in two parts, and follows in a tradition of musical portraiture to which Elgar, Saint-Saëns and Mussorgsky have made significant contributions.

This recording presents first performances of four recent scores by Arlene Sierra, the American composer, now living in London. Arlene Sierra’s music packs volcanic rhythmic power into compositions that are at once atmospheric, yet possessed of inexorable forward drive. The subject matter of Sierra’s compositions is far flung, and includes East Asian studies, evolutionary biology, entomology, game theory, siege engines, and architecture, to name but a few. In recent years Sierra has been commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and the Seattle Symphony, and both of these compositions are heard here. Sierra teaches composition at Cardiff University, Wales and the The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, led by their Principal Guest Conductor, Jac Van Steen, have played Sierra’s orchestral music more frequently than any other orchestra. Their superb performances capture the visceral quality and detail of Sierra’s virtuosic scores. - Bridge Records

The New Orford Quartet approach these chamber monuments with justifiable reverance while providing ample space for them to sing, brood, and dance. Led with penetrating vibrancy by violinist Jonathan Crow, the performance of Op. 51/1 combines tonal beauty with seamless interaction. In the Op. 51/2, they are keenly alert to the contrapuntal conversations as they are to the matters of timbral warmth and focus.

– Gramophone

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Anyone performing John Cage's music cannot avoid silence. In all the works performed in this collection, percussionist Matthias Kaul deals with silence and how it can be realized in the most concrete way. Kaul is not only a percussionist, he is also a composer and therefore equipped for such a task. In Variations I, Cage plays with various forms of silence. The score consists of transparent sheets with dots and lines and the performers generates concrete tones, sounds and "pauses". The playing instructions for Inlets are still more rudimentary; there are three performers, each of whom has four conch shells. The shells are filled with water and turned round and round; then a fire fueled by pine cones begins, and the piece ends when one of the shells blown like a horn. In Child of Tree, the performer must toss coins to determine how many sections to divide the eight minutes into and which instruments to use in which sections. For this major project, Kaul used 90 different instruments and objects altogether.

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Andris Nelsons has been familiar with the Russian and, more especially, the Soviet musical tradition practically since he began his training as a conductor. After all, he studied in St. Petersburg with Alexander Titov and also with Mariss Jansons. His journey to Shostakovich and the Russian composer’s Seventh Symphony, which he recently conducted to great acclaim at the BBC Proms with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, is one that makes perfect sense in this context. Shostakovich’s symphonies continue to be at the mercy of commentators eager to find historical and political encoding in them, and yet a work like the Seventh Symphony in C major (“Leningrad”) has a universality for which the term “war symphony” is wholly inadequate.

The almost idyllic opening of the first movement and the disruption of that mood by the sudden irruption of a series of timpani rolls, together with the themes associated with a military attack, remain etched in the memory in spite of the final frenzy bound up with the idea of victory, and the same is true of the emotional highs and lows of the middle movements, in which listeners are torn between subdued trust and chorale-like solemnity in the tradition of some of Shostakovich’s great Russian predecessors, especially Modest Mussorgsky, enabling him to lend his voice to the tormented soul of a nation above and beyond all ideological divisions. It was no doubt passages like these that led to the rapid worldwide dissemination of the work once the microfilmed score had reached the United States after an adventurous journey via the Middle East.

A new chapter in this exciting performance history of the symphony has now been written by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under its music director Andris Nelsons with a thrilling reading notable for its musical focus and depth and, not least, for its contrasts between rhythmic power and lyrical tenderness. The monumentality of Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony emerges to particularly moving effect in a performance in which garish primary colours are banished in favour of balance. - Orfeo

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Klaus Ospald's Leopardi Cycle is based on the work of Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi. Notable in all three works is a preference for low tonal regions, especially of the brass and woodwinds, augmented by deep percussion. Ospald uses the oscillations, beats and irritations of enharmonic to blur the sounds and make them dazzlingly unreal.

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Classical Music

This fascinating release is performed by low horn virtuoso, Denise Tryon, the fourth hornist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. As a player of fourth horn, Ms. Tryon is an expert in the lowest regions of the French Horn's range, and her disc features newly commissioned compositions that feature this area of the horn's register. Played alongside older works for both solo horn and horn with piano, this recording makes for a most enjoyable sonic journey in colors rarely encountered on the horn. Ms. Tryon's musicality and virtuosity is a pleasure to hear throughout. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra writes that “Denise Tryon’s command of the lower register provides the strongest foundation of sound for a horn section, and yet, her sound is supple and flexible.”

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Currently there seems to be no stopping the resurgence of interest in John Ireland's music. His cause is certainly being helped by a number of new and reissued recordings, a splendid biography The Music of John Ireland by Fiona Richards (2000) and the hard work by the John Ireland Charitable Trust.

It is not difficult to imagine a wry and knowing smile of satisfaction on the face of Ireland's great teacher Sir Charles Stanford. Although their relationship was often fraught and his teacher's methods considered harsh the influential Stanford loved to see his pupils having success. Ireland certainly came a long way from his days as a vulnerable young student at the Royal College of Music (1897-1901). An easy target for ridicule by attending his early classes wearing knickerbockers and boots; goodness knows what psychological damage he was caused. In 1898 the great master Stanford said to his young pupil, 'All water and Brahms me bhoy and more water than Brahms …Study some Dvořák for a bit and bring me something that isn't like Brahms' ('Charles Villiers Stanford' by Paul Rodmell, Ashgate 2002). Stanford's rebuke seemingly did the trick and Ireland soon produced his precocious and charming Sextet for clarinet, horn and string quartet. 
The opening track of this Hallé label disc is the symphonic rhapsody Mai-Dun that Ireland completed in 1921. It seems that the score was inspired by Maiden Castle, the Iron Age hill fort, a structure that reflected Ireland's great interest in historic sites such as fortifications and pagan burial sites. Throughout one is aware of the variegated nature of the score alternating the serious nature of war with calmer passages representing peace.

The tone poem The Forgotten Rite was composed in 1913/14. The work is a product of Ireland's interest in the archaeological sites on the island of Jersey and his fascination with the Arcadian vision of the Greek God Pan. A strong undercurrent is the sense of mystery and one can easily imagine the scene of dawn breaking over a stormy seascape.

The inspiration for the orchestral overture Satyricon from 1944/46 was literary. The character of the boy Giton from the 'Satyricon' of Petronius Arbiter appealed strongly to Ireland. I enjoyed the energetic and effervescent rhythms that at times seemed distinctly Bernsteinesque. With shimmering and soaring string melodies of increasing intensity Ireland inhabits a soundworld close to that of say Max Steiner's score to Victor Fleming's Hollywood blockbuster Gone with the Wind (1939). I loved the strong bucolic feel of the solo passage for clarinet followed by the flute at 4:01-4:57.

Also in the year 1946 Ireland was commissioned to write the score to the film The Overlanders. The Harry Watt film recounted the hazardous journey of driving cattle across the vast country of Australia. John Wilson conducts the five movement suite prepared by Sir Charles Mackerras and published in 1971. I was reminded of the suitability of Ireland's music to Baz Luhrmann's film Australia the 2008 epic romance starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman which shares an uncannily similar plot to that of The Overlanders. In particular I enjoyed the third movement Intermezzo: Open Country which is convincingly evocative of Jackaroos on horseback driving herds of cattle across the Australian bush.

In the manner of Elgar's Cockaigne Overture (In London Town) and Vaughan Williams' A London Symphony Ireland was inspired by the sights and sounds of London to write an orchestral score. His A London Overture (1936) is a reworking of the earlier Comedy Overture from 1934 scored for brass band. With music that never reaches anywhere close to the heights of Elgar and Vaughan Williams, Ireland's moderately convincing score seems to lose its way especially in the middle section.

In 1942 Ireland was commissioned by the British Ministry of Information to write a morale boosting patriotic score; the Epic March was the result. It seems that the score contains several musical references to various personalities that were significant in Ireland's life. At times in the Epic March I heard slight reminders of the Walford Davies/George Dyson RAF March Past. Despite the enthusiastic promptings of conductor John Wilson the Epic March, although agreeable, only revealed to me its lacklustre quality.

The music of John Ireland is served extremely well by John Wilson and the Hallé who are on splendid form. These engaging and refreshing readings serve to reinforce to me how far the orchestra has come in recent years. The sound quality from Studio 7 at the BBC at Oxford Road, Manchester is a credit to the engineers. Fiona Richards's booklet notes are as authoritative as I had expected.

-- Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International

Fritz Reiner: Vienna

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.

Track Listing
1. Tuxedo Junction
2. After Hours
3. Tippin' In
4. Rockin' Rollers' Jubilee
5. Weary Blues - (bonus track)
6. Easy Rider
7. Swing Out
8. Big Wig in the Wigwam - (bonus track)
9. Swingin' on Lenox Avenue - (bonus track)
10. Gin Mill Special
11. Cherry
12. Dolomite
13. Song of the Wanderer - (bonus track)
14. Junction Blues
15. Sweet Georgia Brown
16. Five O'Clock Whistle - (bonus track)
17. Soft Winds
18. Nona
19. Blackout
20. Don't Cry Baby
21. Bear Mash Blues

Personnel: Erskine Hawkins (trumpet), Ida James (vocals), Jimmy Mitchelle (alto saxophone, vocals), William Johnson, Bobby Smith (alto saxophones), Julian Dash, Paul Bascomb, Aaron Maxwell (tenor saxophones), Heywood Henry (baritone saxophone, clarinet), Sam Lowe, Wilbur Bascomb, Marcellus Green, James Harris, Charles Jones, Willie Moore, Robert Johnson (trumpets), Edward Sims, Robert Range, Richard Harris, Norman Greene, David James, Donald Cole (trombones), Avery Parrish, Ace Harris (pianos), William McLemore, Leroy Kirkland (guitars), Leemie Stanfield (bass), James Morrison, Edward McConney, Kelly Martin (drums).

Recorded in New York between 1938 and 1942, and Chicago on January 10, 1945. Includes liner notes by Stanley Dance.

Booklet includes a discography and detailed personnel listings.

Personnel: Erskine Hawkins (trumpet).

Recording information: 09/12/1938-01/10/1945.

This is an excellent one-CD sampler of the music of Erskine Hawkins' Orchestra. Although serious collectors will want to get the comprehensive Classics releases, this is a perfect place for more general listeners to begin. Hawkins' three biggest hits ("Tuxedo Junction," "After Hours," and "Tippin' In") lead off the set which otherwise has highlights from 1938-42. With the exception of 1945's "Tippin' In" (which features some memorable lead alto by Bobby Smith), all of Hawkins' key soloists are here, including the leader and Dud Bascomb on trumpets, either Paul Bascomb or Julian Dash on tenor, baritonist Haywood Henry, and pianist Avery Parrish (who made "After Hours" famous). Timeless swing. ~ Scott Yanow

2009 two CD release. The recordings contained in this set of Shostakovich's Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Symphonies were all made soon after the first performances of each work, and have an authenticity as well as a musical immediacy that later recordings inevitably have lacked, good as they may be. These recordings stand as unique sound documents in the history of the interpretation of Shostakovich's music. In addition they testify to Stokowski's own personal style as an interpreter of this composer's works. Shostakovich held Stokowski in high esteem as an exponent of his music.

Of all the recent issues in Chandos' excellent series of film scores by British composers, this may well be the most interesting and important, not just because of the stature of Vaughan Williams himself, but also because of his work in recasting the score of Scott of the Antarctic as his Seventh Symphony. Now obviously you have to know the latter work well to get maximum enjoyment out of the former; not that film score isn't enjoyable on its own, but as in so many cases it consists of little bits, some less than a minute long, that often have no form, stop suddenly, and repeat themselves without any ostensible musical purpose. In other words, it's a typical film score. Also, in making the symphony, the composer shrewdly chose all of the most evocative and atmospheric music and very cleverly expanded it, enriching the orchestration and most importantly enhancing its melodic interest. So the symphony actually gives a much more powerful sense of the moods and atmosphere of the film than does the film score itself. Still, here you will find music omitted in the symphony, such as scenes prior to Scott's arrival at the South Pole, or a brief portrait of his sculptress wife, though not surprisingly these contain the least interesting music.


Of the other two pieces here, the Coastal Command Suite is colorful WWII documentary material of minor interest in the context of Vaughan Williams' work, but The People's Land is quite a find, more than 13 minutes of continuous music based on several folksongs. It was composed in 1942 for a brief narrative "infomercial" describing the work of the British National Trust, and it's a fine example of the composer's breezy, "open air" manner that surely deserves some currency as a concert item.


Rumon Gamba leads aptly vigorous performances and the BBC Philharmonic plays with its customary professionalism. The wordless soprano solo in Scott of the Antarctic is taken by one Merryn Gamba, no doubt a relative of the conductor and an excellent argument against nepotism in musical projects. She sounds shrill and quite unpleasant, even from offstage! Big, rich, slightly soft-edged sonics round out a very worthwhile release that all Vaughan Williams fans will want to sample. [11/11/2002]
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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