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J.S. Bach: The Complete Organ Works, Vol. 3

Tenebrae return to recording on Signum in performances exploring the Psalms in Music. With trumpets and well-tuned cymbals, the musical and prayerful richness of The Book of Psalms inspires vastly differing offerings from composers with a myriad of approaches to combining the two worlds of the symphonic and the choral. The results are works which defy categorisation and stand the test of time with audiences and performers alike. Joined by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the choirs director Nigel Short, they perform iconic works by Stravinsky (Symphony of Psalms), Bernstein (Chichester Psalms), Zemlinsky (Psalm 23), as well as Schoenberg’s final significant tonal work Freide auf Erden. Described as “phenomenal” (The Times) and “devastatingly beautiful” (Gramophone Magazine), award-winning choir Tenebrae, under the direction of Nigel Short, is one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles renowned for its passion and precision.

Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto was first performed in Milan in 1770—the composer was still a month short of his fifteenth birthday and the opera ran for an impressive 22 performances. As well as the complete opera, this release includes original versions of a number of arias that Mozart subsequently changed.

The London Sinfonietta combine two works from Thomas Adès, one of the most distinctive and popular voices in modern composition. Both works feature accompanying films (by Tal Rosner and Sophie Clements) that are included in this CD/DVD set. This is the second CD for the London Sinfonietta with Signum. It follows their October release of music by Louis Andriessen, featuring the UK premiere of Anaïs Nin, alongside his famed work De Staat. In Seven Days is a musical interpretation for piano and orchestra of the biblical 'creation' by Thomas Adès, composed in collaboration with a film-piece by the artist and filmmaker Tal Rosner. Both music and film evoke the processes of the creation rather than the objects described in the movement titles, using simple elements in repeated and evolving contexts in a perpetual state of flux, change and growth. The Piano Studies Nos 6 & 7 are arrangements of player-piano works by the American composer Conlon Nancarrow. An influential figure to generations of composers, Nancarrow's studies for the player-piano (or pianola) allowed him to generate music of extreme rhythmic complexity in a multitude of inventive ways. These arrangements for two pianos by Thomas Adès capture the strange magic of the originals, where fragmented musical ideas are played off against each other in a wild, almost jazz-like way. The works are accompanied by film-visualisations by Tal Rosner and Sophie Clements.

The Clarinet Concertos of Mozart and Nielsen stand as the two greatest such works in the repertoire for the instrument, twin examples of what can be achieved by composers who have been truly inspired to write for the clarinet, using its uniquely expressive qualities to produce enduring and comprehensively masterly compositions. One of the most talented young musicians of our day, Julian Bliss has already appeared as soloist with orchestras worldwide and in recital at concert halls in the UK, France, Israel, Germany and America.

STRAVINSKY; POULENC; LIADOV BBC NATIONAL ORCHESTRA OF WALES; FISCHER (COND.) MUSIC FROM DIAGHILEV'S BALLET RUSSES- STRAVINSKY: THE FIREBIRD, THE RITE OF SPRING, PETRUSHKA, SCHERZO FANTASTIQUE; LIADOV: BABA-YAGA, THE ENCHANTED LAKE. KIKIMORA; POULENC: LES BICHES

Continuing Signum’s new partnership with Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort following the triumphant success of Berlioz’s 'Grande Messe des Morts' (SIGCD280 –, their next release will be a recording of the groups' renowned a cappella programme of music for mourning and consolation. This is a beautifully poignant programme of British choral music, including works by composers as diverse as Morley and Dove, Sheppard and Walton and featuring Howells’ sublime 'Requiem'.

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DMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH St. Petersburg Philharmonic ORchestra/Yuri Temirkanov. DMITRY SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 60 "Leningrad".

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This excellently engineered recital showcases an immensely talented pianist with something to say, and I look forward to hearing more.

The title, the photos, and the booklet notes aim to position 34-year-old James Rhodes as classical music's answer to Sid Vicious or Iggy Pop, an impression fueled by this pianist's past struggles with drug abuse and self-mutilation, together with his determinedly "unclassical" platform manner. But listen without looking and you'll discover a sensitive and imaginative artist with a lyrical gift and a bell-like keyboard touch. The Bach G major French Suite's quicker movements evoke a fuller-bodied manifestation of Glenn Gould's hair-trigger articulation, while the opening Allemande boasts inventive ornamentation in the repeats, and the slow-moving Sarabande oozes concentration and sustaining power. The Bach/Busoni Chaconne stands out for Rhodes' steady deliberation and an insidious cumulative arc.

Conversely Rhodes' flexible pulse throughout the Beethoven E minor sonata underscores the first movement's points of tension and the second movement's almost Schubertian melodic trajectory. Also note Rhodes' uncommonly clear articulation of the first movement's difficult, rapid rotary figurations.

The Moszkowski and Bach/Siloti encores exude old-school charm and mastery. My only quibble concerns Chopin's Fourth Ballade, where Rhodes' broad tempos and slightly discursive rubatos cause the music to ramble, in contrast to similarly subjective yet more cogently structured interpretations by Ivan Moravec and Claudio Arrau. All in all, this excellently engineered recital showcases an immensely talented pianist with something to say, and I look forward to hearing more.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

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Built between 1922 and 1932, the Grand Organ of Westminster Cathedral is considered by many to be the greatest achievement and crowning glory of Henry Willis III, one of England’s finest organ builders. Organist Robert Quinney plays 10 preludes and overtures works by Brahms, Wagner, and Dupre. “It’s quite an achievement to pull off orchestral transcriptions for the organ that don’t have you missing the original, but Robert Quinney manages this on the magnificent Westminster Cathedral instrument

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Originally broadcast on BBC2, the 21st-Century Bach series present performances by the world-class organist, John Scott Whiteley, played on well-restored, historically-authentic instruments that are closely linked with Johann Sebastian Bach. The organ at Amorbach Abbey was begun only two decades after his death, and Bach himself acted as an inspector for the organs of H. G. Trost, the organ builder at Walterhausen. The organs are in themselves works of art, captured in these performances using pioneering camera-work. Extra features include commentarties by the performer, and an interview with Harvard Professor Christoph Wolff on the organ works.

TALLIS Missa Puer natus est. Salvator mundi. Quod chorus vatum. Benedictus. Magnificat a 4. Audivi vocem de caelo. Videte miraculum • Andrew Carwood, dir; The Cardinall’s Musick • HYPERION 68026 (67:39 Text and Translation)

MEDIEVAL CHANT AND TALLIS LAMENTATIONS • Nigel Short, dir; Tenebrae Consort • BENE ARTE 901 (65:23 Text and Translation)

This is the third disc in Andrew Carwood’s Tallis series. The first one marked his debut on Hyperion ( Fanfare 29:3), but now the next two have come in such quick succession (37:4 for the second one) that it seems as if he may be planning an alternative to Alistair Dixon’s set of the complete works on 10 Signum CDs (the ninth issue had an extra disc to get the overflow in). His favorite venue is Arundel Castle, probably for the historical significance of the recusant Catholic Duke of Norfolk’s estate as much as for the superb acoustics of Fitzalan Chapel, for he made his complete set of Byrd’s sacred music on 13 CDs there. The two recent discs each include a Mass, but this time he adds the chant introit for the third Mass of Christmas, though no Kyrie is supplied (Dixon included a Kyrie and a whole set of Mass Propers). Unlike Dixon’s homogeneous discs, Carwood offers more varied programming. The first disc had Latin-texted music, the longest being Gaude gloriosa (almost as long as a Mass). The second had more English-texted pieces than Latin to fill out the Mass. This one has mostly Latin works, including the two great gospel canticles, with only the Benedictus set in English.


Much as I have admired Alistair Dixon’s work, influenced certainly by the ambition of his project, Carwood has achieved a standing second to none among English vocal ensemble directors. That is saying a great deal, but in this field, it is crowded at the top, and each group will have its partisans. The Mass for Christmas of 1554 on this disc has attracted several recordings recently because of its connection with Queen Mary, whose presumptive “puer” (not the Christmas “Puer”) would have been the heir to the throne if he had been born. As it turned out, he was not even conceived. The closest competition in the Mass comes from the exquisite Stile antico (34:4), Peter Phillips, Harry Christophers, and Dixon’s volume 3 (21:6). Grant Llewellen (27: 5) is also good, though his choir is larger than these vocal ensembles. Reconstruction of the Mass parts started with David Wulstan (4:1; CD in 12: 1), but now this new entry must be considered in any comparison of the recordings.


The shorter works range from the familiar Videte miraculum to the seldom recorded Quod chorus vatum , though both belong to the feast of Candlemas. The latter was first recorded by Christopher Robinson (20:2) and is found now only in Dixon’s volume 4. Since Tallis wrote for both Catholic and Anglican liturgies, the juxtaposition of the English Benedictus followed by the Latin Magnificat must be a conscious effort to make the point. If this is indeed a new complete works in the making, it will be worthy of careful comparisons with Dixon’s set. Highly recommended.


The second disc consists of chant for Passiontide along with three polyphonic works: the two Lamentations of Thomas Tallis and the respond In manus tuas (I) by John Sheppard, all familiar on records, the last in Harry Christophers’s latest disc herewith. I have 21 recordings of the Lamentations dating back to the early 1950s, but the two Lamentations have never been coupled with chant responsories on record as here, though this practice has been adopted in settings of Lamentations by other Renaissance composers. Tallis made two Lamentations out of the text used in modern editions for the first Lamentation for Holy Thursday, the beginning of the Old Testament book.


This disc offers 40 minutes of chant to 25 minutes of polyphony, so the main interest is in Medieval Holy Week observances. The hymn Pange lingua for Good Friday (not the familiar text for Corpus Christi) begins the program—just four strophes and a doxology—followed by a complete Office of Compline because Sheppard’s responsory belongs to this Office, though it is placed further on. The responsories that follow the two Lamentations are In monte Oliveti and Tristis est anima mea ; the latter is from the familiar Tenebrae service but the former, oddly enough, is the variant version for Palm Sunday. The final track is a Holy Week chant that I have indexed on many recordings as Kyrie ... Qui passurus , found in several uses. Here it is titled a litany after Lauds of Holy Thursday, and may be a version from the Sarum use. Like many Holy Week chants, it is uniquely touching. The Tallis Lamentations, of course, are the featured tracks, as the disc title indicates, and they are sung elegantly. Nigel Short has given us some adroitly programmed discs, and this one is an original approach. You will know by now if this is for you, but I urge you to give it a chance.

FANFARE: J. F. Weber

An exciting start to a new orchestral collaboration for Signum Records, this disc is the first of a new series with the London Sinfonietta - one of the world's elite contemporary music ensembles with a reputation built on the virtuosity of its performances and ambitious programming. This live recording brings together the UK premiere of Anaïs Nin, a new work for soprano and small ensemble, alongside his famed work De Staat. Anaïs Nin is a monodrama based on the diaries of the same famed author, as well as those of her lovers (Antonin Artaud, René Allendy, Henry Miller and her own Father). A sometimes disturbing tale of desire and passion, Andriessen felt that the music should "closely track the irony, despair and passion of this brilliant, many-sided woman". ' ... [Anaïs Nin's] resonance is profound and disturbing. By pairing it in concert with an invigorating performance of Andriessen's early masterpiece, De Staat, whose concern with the individual body and the body politic bears strong parallels, the Sinfonietta showed the Dutch composer at his searching best.' Guy Dammann, The Guardian (Review of the concert from which this recording was made)

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BERLIOZ ENSEMBLE WROCLAW; MCCREESH (COND.) GRANDE MESSE DES MORTS

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