This is the second disc in Antony Beaumont's Zemlinsky survey. The first was released to excellent critical accaim. Beaumont is a world authority on Zemlinsky, whose previous interpretations of the composer's works have been universally admired for their authenticity and sheer musicality. Gramophone noted: 'No one has studied these scores with more sympathy thant Antony Beaumont..' Recorded in: Dvorák Hall, Rudolfinum, Prague 12-14 and 22 & 23 March 2003 Producer(s) Ralph Couzens Sound Engineer(s) Oldrich Slezák

Classical Music

It makes an apt coupling having the long-buried pieces by Ponchielli (Puccini’s teacher) and Catalani (his contemporary from the same city, Lucca) alongside the three most impressive examples of Puccini’s early orchestral writing. Like Puccini’s Preludio and Capriccio the works by Ponchielli and Catalani have been resurrected by the Italian musicologist, Pietro Spada, and similarly offer easily lyrical invention from composers who, like Puccini, were concentrating on opera.

The Ponchielli Elegia sustains its length well up to passionate climaxes, rather like film music. The two Catalani items were both arranged from piano pieces, the Scherzo a charming dance, Contemplazione much more ambitious, leading to a tender and hushed reprise of the opening theme (track 3, 8'32''). The orchestration was evidently made for the Scala orchestra’s appearance at the Paris Exhibition of 1878.

Welcome as those compositions are, it is striking that the Puccini pieces are markedly more memorable, above all in their melodic writing. That is immediately apparent in the free-flowing Preludio sinfonico, and “La tregenda” (“Witches’ Sabbath”), the dance interlude from Puccini’s first opera, Le villi, is the most brilliant of his early inspirations.

The Capriccio sinfonico, the longest piece here, was written as a graduation exercise, very well orchestrated, with structure well controlled. A moment of revelation comes when the Allegro opens on the theme which Puccini later used for the opening of La boheme. Muti brings out the emotional warmth in all these works.

-- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone [9/1998]

GERSHWIN Rhapsody in Blue. Rhapsody No. 2, “Rhapsody in Rivets.” Variations on “I Got Rhythm.” Piano Concerto in F • Anne-Marie McDermott (pn); Justin Brown, cond; Dallas SO • BRIDGE 9252 (72:53)


Gershwin’s four works for piano and orchestra fit so comfortably on a single CD that it’s surprising how rarely they all show up together. Currently, arkivmusic.com lists only two direct challengers: Sony’s compilation of Levant’s classic but dim-sounding recordings (with the preludes as a bonus) and a Conifer disc with performances by Michael Boriskin, which was tepidly reviewed by Michael Ullman in 22:5. This new Bridge issue, therefore, fills a significant if unexpected discographic gap. Even when held up against less complete collections, though, these classy performances stand high.


On the whole, the performances are characterized by a light (even Gallic) touch, not only on the piano but also in the orchestra, where the brass and percussion are generally kept under control. I don’t want to suggest that McDermott is tame or aloof: with her imaginative articulation and dynamics, coupled with her willingness to tease the rhythms and tone (listen to the Debussian colors before rehearsal 10 in the Concerto’s second movement), she invests the music with plenty of personality. But mercurial though it may be, that personality tends to be suave rather than aggressive, deft rather than determined, snappy rather than assertive. Rarely does she reveal the claws beneath her velvet paws. Thus, for instance, she sets out the big tune in the Rhapsody in Blue with a tenderness that nimbly sidesteps the self-indulgent gush that drowns, say, Leonard Bernstein’s performances; she dances through the climaxes of the Concerto, more apt to impress us with a wink than with a whack; she turns the Second Rhapsody, pushy even under Levant’s sophisticated fingers, into a delectable tin-pan soufflé. Justin Brown is a sympathetic partner, and the orchestra gives us considerable detail without a hint of pedantry (try, as but one example, the nifty upward arpeggio on the bassoon three measures before 7 in the middle movement of the Concerto). Frothy but sassy, these performances will lift your spirits.


I wouldn’t quite say that McDermott sweeps the field. Any lover of Gershwin will want to consider the Levant, too, as well as the Earl Wild/Arthur Fiedler recordings of the Concerto, the Variations , and the Rhapsody in Blue . Jon Nakamatsu’s intently modernist version of the Concerto on Harmonia Mundi (31:1), in state-of-the-art SACD sound, is also well worth knowing. But McDermott’s solidly engineered performances are surely among the front-runners. Enthusiastically recommended.


FANFARE: Peter J. Rabinowitz

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Classical Music

Yuli Turovsky and I Musici de Montréal offer a very different listening experience in John Corigliano's Pulitzer Prize-winning Second Symphony (a masterful and imaginative string-orchestra arrangement of his 1996 Quartet) in comparison with the work's recorded premiere with John Storgards and the Helsinki Philharmonic on Ondine (to see David Hurwitz's favorable and succinct comments, type Q7651 in Search Reviews). For starters, Turovsky's chamber orchestra contains far fewer strings, resulting in more transparent and delicate textures all around, abetted by faster tempos in each of the five movements. Granted, the eerie, atmospheric opening movement and central Night Music benefit from the Helsinki ensemble's broader, padded sonorities, but Turovsky's more incisive articulation of the Scherzo and Fugue movements gives clearer voice to the music's quirky mood shifts. Furthermore, Chandos' surround-sound production manages to be sharply detailed and lifelike at the same time.


The sonic excellence particularly comes into its own in the "Red Violin" Suite culled from Corigliano's score to the François Giraud film of the same name. With all due respect to Joshua Bell's suave, effortless violin virtuosity that distinguishes the original soundtrack recording, Eleonora Turovsky's more impassioned and colorful solo work adds depth to the composer's unfettered eclecticism (try the cadenza-like passages in Shanghai and Pope's Betrayal). Perhaps some listeners will find this score more accessible and easier to absorb than the Symphony, although it's not as interesting or inspired as Corigliano's wacky collage piece The Mannheim Rocket that couples the Helsinki's Second Symphony. The bottom line is that Storgards and Turovsky are both excellent in their own ways, making a clear-cut choice difficult. Knowing that the present recording was made under the composer's supervision and bears his enthusiastic endorsement might tilt the scales in Chandos' favor.
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

There’s always room for another terrific Falla collection, though there’s certainly no shortage of them. Indeed, The Three-Cornered Hat has already been very kind to Chandos: Tortelier’s Philharmonia version is excellent (coupled with Albeniz’s Iberia in the Arbos orchestration). This one is just as fine, maybe even better. Juanjo Mena certainly gets the BBC Philharmonic to wake up from its usual bland, business-as-usual attitude and deliver tangy, idiomatic results. Listen to his perfectly judged rhythmic accents in the Dance of the Miller’s Wife, or his riotously brilliant final Jota. These zesty and energetic sections are more than offset by the poetic stillness of Raquel Lojendio’s lovely offstage soprano solo in Part Two. It’s just an excellent performance, about as good as it gets.

This is just as true of the other works on the disc. Homenajes receives a nicely contrasted interpretation that gives the piece a wider expressive range than usual–the tribute to Debussy is particularly atmospheric. Nights in the Gardens of Spain is marvelous. Bavouzet, as has become clear over the past couple of years, is a very major artist, and his performance has an especially noteworthy vitality and sparkle. So many performance of this work wallow in a sort of droopy, soggy “impressionism.” Certainly Mena and Bavouzet capture the music’s many moods, and they don’t stint on its mysterious, nocturnal tints, but they do it with a welcome rhythmic focus and firmness of outline. For a typical example, consider the vibrant Poco più animato at figure 5 in the first movement. This is great stuff, and the sonics are as bold and tactile as the interpretations.

– ClassicsToday.com

Mozart: Bassoon Concerto, K. 191 - Violin Concerto No. 1 - H

Symphony No. 5 is widely considered as the finest among the nine numbered symphonies of Anton Bruckner, and ranks among his most famous works. In their first recording on Chandos for almost ten years, the Residentie Orchestra The Hague here performs the work under its chief conductor, Neeme Järvi, who has conducted the symphony with orchestras across the globe, and is recognised as one of the key interpreters of it. The reputation of the Residentie Orchestra The Hague as one of the finest orchestras in Europe makes it an appropriate figurehead for The Hague as a cosmopolitan city of justice, peace and culture.

Classical Music

Much to enjoy here … listen to this and marvel at playing of such eloquence.

Mozart’s sole bassoon concerto dates from 1774. As the booklet points out, every bassoonist plays it at some time, and most seem to harbour an ambition to record it. I have come to regard the results as a very special test of a player’s musicianship. A technically proficient but dull performance will leave you wondering why you bothered to spend a quarter of an hour with such tedious music, whereas in the hands of a player with real imagination and energy it can be a most exhilarating experience. Fortunately, and no surprise to those who have enjoyed her earlier discs for Chandos, this performance falls resoundingly into the latter category. Right from the soloist’s first entry the listener is engaged by Karen Geoghegan’s ripe tone, crisp articulation, imaginative phrasing, total technical control and above all her ability to communicate directly. The variety of tone that she gets from the instrument is one of her chief assets, together with an ability to surprise the listener by minute variations of phrasing. The slow movement, with its muted upper strings and subtle textures is an especial delight, and the Rondo Minuet finale has just the rhythmic lift it needs to keep it alive. The only criticism I would venture is the length of the cadenzas in the first two movements, but she is certainly not alone in this and they are of greater interest than those used by many of those of her rivals that I have heard. The very positive contribution of the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda is a major part of the success of this performance and their efforts are helped in turn by the transparent recording. Perhaps the soloist is a shade too forward for my liking, but I soon adjusted to it.

Similar remarks could be made about the performance of the Crusell Concertino, his last work in this form. The Kreutzer Fantasie falls into three sections, ending with a Polacca. In style, form and length it is very similar to Weber’s Clarinet Concertino, and whilst not as memorable as that work it is enjoyable and is given a first class performance here.

The remaining work is one I had not heard before – the “Rossini” Concerto. I understand that this was only discovered in the 1990s and that some Rossini scholars doubt that he wrote it. Whilst I have not read their reasoning for that view, I must say that I find it hard to believe that he had a hand in it. The booklet refers to its “veritably Rossinian wit” but each time I listened to it I missed it, although I certainly acknowledge that it does “display various kinds of bravura agility” with playing of a breathtakingly confident style. I am glad to have heard it but doubt if I will wish to return to it often.

This disc offers four works for bassoon and orchestra from the late 18 ^th and early 19 ^th centuries in superb performances well recorded and presented. Only one is a real masterpiece, two are pleasant if second rate, and one is wholly forgettable. If the programme appeals to you there is much to enjoy here, and wind players in particular should listen to this and marvel at playing of such eloquence.

-- John Sheppard, MusicWeb International

Classical Music

D'Indy was a contemporary of Debussy and Ravel, and a pupil of César Franck. Fauré described him as 'The Samson of Music' for his multifarious and generous-minded work as a composer, conductor, educator and propagandist who greatly strengthened French musical culture. Today the music of d'Indy is sadly neglected, which is why Chandos and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra have decided to embark upon a series devoted to his orchestral works with conductor Rumon Gamba. With a style essentially eclectic and strongly influenced above all by Beethoven and Wagner, d'Indy particularly excelled in orchestral composition. He drew particular inspiration from his native region in southern France, and formed a body of post-romantic works richly orchestrated, often inflected with folk-like melodies and employing Franck's well-known 'cyclic method'. This is the first foray by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra for Chandos into the realm of French repertoire after recordings of music by Malcolm Williamson. On the most recent Williamson release, American Record Guide commented, 'Rumon Gamba's direction of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra is superb, as is the shape and conviction of all these interpretations. The sound is vibrant and clear'. Previous releases with Rumon Gamba and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra: Williamson, Vol.1: CHAN10359 Williamson, Vol.2: CHAN10406

Classical Music

D'Indy was a contemporary of Debussy and Ravel, and a pupil of César Franck. Fauré described him as 'The Samson of Music' for his multifarious and generous-minded work as a composer, conductor, educator, and propagandist who greatly strengthened French musical culture. With a style essentially eclectic and strongly influenced above all by Beethoven and Wagner, d'Indy particularly excelled in orchestral composition. He drew particular inspiration from his native region in southern France, and formed a body of post-romantic works richly orchestrated, often inflected with folk-like melodies, and employing Franck's well-known 'cyclic method'. The exclusive Chandos artist Rumon Gamba and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra here return with Volume 4 of Chandos' highly acclaimed series devoted to these unjustly neglected orchestral works. Of Symphony No. 3 on Volume 3, released in 2010, Classic FM said: 'Following their first two much-praised discs, Rumon Gamba and the Iceland Symphony further champion the lushly colourful and impressionistic orchestral music of Vincent d'Indy. It's a fascinating work that mixes straightforward militaristic passages with a high-Romantic, 20th-century language that's part Expressionist, part Impressionist'. Symphonie italienne was written when d'Indy was in his late teens. It was strongly inspired by his travels in Italy, and the four movements bear the respective titles 'Rome', 'Florence', 'Venice', and 'Naples'. Heavily indebted in style to Mendelsohn, Schumann, and Berlioz, this tuneful work was a tremendous if ambitious undertaking for the comparative novice, and shows early signs of the composer's strong intellectual musical mind. D'Indy composed the Symphonie Suite Poème des Rivages, his late orchestral masterpiece, in 1919 - 21. It is a work of outstanding technical accomplishment and poetic inspiration, which succeeds in combining the solid post-Franckian structures with the textual and colouristic fluidity of Debussy. The orchestral forces, including four saxophones, create an almost visual impression of light and atmosphere, in the manner of Claude Monet. Its well-received premiere took place in New York on 1 December 1921 under d'Indy's direction.

TELEMANN Suites: in F, TWV 55:F16 ; in A, TWV 55:A7 ; in D, TWV 55:D23 . Concerto in D for Strings, TWV 43:D4 . Fanfare in D, TWV 50:44 . Divertimento in E?, TWV 50:21 • Simon Standage, cond; Collegium Musicum 90 (period instruments) • CHACONNE 0787 (79:18)


It seems like the Telemann fountain is flowing full force nowadays, with a number of recordings appearing like clockwork each month, and I’ve no doubt that the vast number of his compositions are very much in danger of being all recorded, that is, those that haven’t been lost. This disc brings together a selection of instrumental pieces performed by the venerable Simon Standage with the equally venerable and reputable Collegium Musicum 90, which he founded with the late Richard Hickox. Indeed, the Telemann offerings by this ensemble and its director are of such number, variety, and excellence that they were awarded the Telemann prize in 2010, an honor that shows their stature in this massive revival.


This disc does not disappoint, either, although only one of the six works presented is given its world premiere. This is the Divertimento in E?, which seems in every other way little more than a conventional suite of French dances but contains a rather nice dramatic element in the movement titles that offer something more than expected. It would seem that for someone who wrote such a tremendous amount of music, one would have scads of autographs all about, but in Telemann’s case, oddly enough, these seem to be a rarity. As few as 18 of the instrumental works exist in his own hand, nine of which are actually in a single collection written for and dedicated to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, Ludwig VIII. This disc takes three of these works, written when the composer was 86 years old in 1766, opera ultima if ever there were. The remaining three are earlier, probably closer to 1708 or so when he was Kapellmeister at Sorau in Silesia, now Poland. It is no matter, for the thread that links them is that all are in the French style, dances that alternate fast and slow in the manner of the suite. Only in the Overture-Suite in A Major (titled Concert en Ouverture ) is there a hint of a soloist, in this case a vehicle for violinist Standage to shine. More interestingly, however, is that three of the works from late in the composer’s life include a pair of horns, as well as flutes, coming close to the standard Classical-period orchestra.


Since most have been recorded before, only a few words will suffice about the works themselves. The F-Major suite is very Handelian, with exaggerated French dotted rhythms at the opening, but the harmonies momentarily veer off into strange areas, one of Telemann’s trademarks, as is the outdoorsy feel of the Allegro section with its hunting calls. In the Bourrée that follows, the horns begin this dance in their high register, adding tonal punch to the line, but in the second part, the folk-song character in the decisive rhythms makes a nice complement. The final movement is titled “The Tempest,” and the skirling strings and echoing horns entrances, not to mention a nice crescendo at the beginning of each section, is quite dramatic. In the concerto grosso, I find the opening Andante amusing, almost like Telemann is teaching his ensemble exercises, but his penchant for folk rhythms reasserts itself in the Vivace that follows. One might also note the perpetual-motion finale of the A-Major suite, with its maniacal Gigue and final unexpected cadential flourish. The Divertimento is a perfect little gem, almost a dramatic and very civilized scene that begins with a quick awakening, a mincing gavotte that evokes a conversation at the table, and a brief hunt. Here we are more in the world of early Classicism than the rather more Baroque style of the remainder of the works on the disc.


About the performances themselves, Collegium Musicum 90 is up to its usual standard of excellence. The interpretation is finely nuanced, the attention to dynamic and rhythmic contrast clear, and the intonation spot-on. This rapport is clearly something that Standage and his group have achieved over the years, and this disc only adds to an already world-class reputation. I find some nice surprises, such as the rather prominent horns in the opening movement of the F-Major overture, which I suspect may have been playing bells-up in order to achieve the bucolic sound, very different from the more refined work elsewhere. The flutes are equally clear in their performances. All around, this disc can be highly recommended, even if you have most of the works on other recordings. I would make this one your standard.


FANFARE: Bertil van Boer

In this exciting new disc, Virgin Classics countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic breaks the 200-year-old tradition of female mexxo-sopranos incarnating male characters. Paving the way for countertenors to sing what were once exclusively "trouser roles", Cencic and director Michael Hofstetter offer arias and overtures from Rossini operas spanning from TANCREDI, Aurelliano in PALMIRA, DONNA DEL LAGO, until the climax of the composer's Neapolitan Era with Semiramide. The results are fresh and revelatory, making a strong case for more men taking on these parts.

These performances by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Rumon Gamba, who have many a cinematic credit to their name, carry the conviction of an original soundtrack recording in state-of-the-art sound.

– Gramophone

The story of how Miklós Rózsa left his native Hungary and brought his talents as a composer of film music to the West is well known. He went first to London and then to California, when the outbreak of war necessitated moving Jungle Book lock, stock and barrel to Hollywood. Though there have been some fine recordings of his more ‘serious’ music - Chandos themselves have made three of them - it’s for his film music that he will be most remembered.

The BBC Philharmonic and Rumon Gamba were the performers on those three earlier Chandos recordings. This orchestra and conductor also has a long-established history of fine recordings of film music for the label, so it’s only fitting that they should be chosen for this new project.

For all that I enjoyed the earlier albums, I shall be very surprised if this recording of the film music doesn’t outsell all three of them put together. It certainly deserves to be very successful. At least two of the films are all-time classics and I greatly enjoyed this evocation of The Thief of Baghdad and Ben-Hur. In case the music doesn’t quite do the trick for you, there are still photos in the booklet. I don’t think I ever saw Sahara and I’d forgotten Hugh Griffith’s part in Ben-Hur until I saw the photo, though I certainly remember his hell-raising Falstaff on, and reputedly off stage, at Stratford in the early 1960s.

It may seem odd to spend more time on the booklet than the performances but I found the notes most enlightening while I can be short and sweet concerning the performances and say that, short of someone brushing up the original film scores in modern digital sound, they are unlikely ever to be bettered. Rumon Gamba and his team capture the tender aspects of the music just as well as its more dramatic moments.

The recording, to which I listened in CD-quality 16-bit sound, is very good indeed. It captures the colourful nature of the music without ever being over the top or as brightly lit as the composer’s own Phase 4 recordings. Movements such as the Parade of the Chariots, however, which concludes the album on track 24, are suitably Technicolor, though you may well find that you need to turn up the volume to hear the recording at its best.

Try some of Gamba’s other film music recordings for Chandos, too. The original music for Scott of the Antarctic is one of my favorites - it makes a fascinating comparison with the Sinfonia Antartica into which Vaughan Williams later shaped most of the material.

The chief rival to this new recording comes from Australian Decca (Eloquence 4803790, 2 CDs at budget price: A Bargain of the Month with Rózsa himself in the late 1970s conducting the music for Ben Hur and Quo Vadis and Bernard Herrmann the music for Julius Cæsar. Dutton have also given us a 2-CD release of the two composer-conducted recordings, originally made in Phase 4 (CDLK4332). The Ben-Hur suite, which forms the climax of the new recording stands up against even that competition. While the album is not qualified with a ‘Volume 1’ addition, I do hope that Chandos will give us the BBC Philharmonic and Rumon Gamba in the Quo Vadis music, too, as a sequel.

– Brian Wilson, MusicWeb International

'the performances are of outstanding imaginativeness and sympathy, the solo playing of great refinement, the atmosphere of each piece marvellously caught?A most distinguished achievement.' Gramophone 'With readings as affectionate and illuminating as these, Bax's music can rarely have been better communicated.' Hi-Fi News and Record Review Recorded in: St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead, London 23-25 June 1991 (A Legend) Recorded in: Ulster Hall, Belfast 25-27 March 1986 (On the Sea Shore) and 10-12 February 1985 (other works) Producer(s) Tim Oldham (A Legend) Brian Couzens (other works) Sound Engineer(s) Richard Lee (A Legend) Ralph Couzens (other works) Peter Sheldon (Assistant: A Legend) Philip Couzens (Assistant: other works)

Classical Music