The Teddy Bears Picnic

Review of an edition previously available of this same release:

These fine performances constitute the only complete cycle currently available of the 17 string quartets that pepper Villa-Lobos' entire career. The suite-like, five-movement No. 1, with its adorable "like a jumping bean" finale, is deceptive. Most of these are resoundingly neo-classical works full of acerbic harmonies and typically busy counterpoint, with few overtly nationalistic elements. Of course they sound just like Villa-Lobos, who was himself something of a "nationalistic element" when you come right down to it. The series reaches its culmination in the large works composed around the time of the Second World War, Nos. 7-11, which really do constitute landmark 20th century contributions to the form on a par with those of Shostakovich and Bartók.

For the most part, this is tough and serious music, and it receives tough and serious performances from the Cuarteto Latinoamericano, whose rhythmic verve and slightly astringent timbre works beautifully in clarifying the dense thicket of the composer's effusive counterpoint. Occasionally the very intensity of both music and performance becomes a bit overbearing, but then no one is suggesting that you listen to 17 quartets in a row. Overall, both the works themselves and these performances remain astonishingly consistent in quality. Sonically you couldn't ask for better. At a bargain price, this is a very attractive proposition for anyone who fancies either the composer or chamber music in general.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Shakespeare's Music

Sono Luminus is proud to release Two Lutes: Lute Duets from England’s Golden Age, a wonderful collection of enchanting music performed by lute virtuosos Ronn McFarlane and William Simms.

As stated by Ronn McFarlane, “Elizabethan lute duets yield the most companionable and friendly kind of music-making for the players. In equal duets each lutenist plays nearly the same music, alternating playing the melody and the harmonic accompaniment. It feels like a conversation, with each lutenist posing musical questions and answers throughout. Each player is free to improvise upon the written part, so the conversation can be very individual and spontaneous! On the other hand, in the treble-ground style of lute duet, one lutenist plays a single line melodic part (usually including some virtuosic passages) while the second lutenist plays a chordal accompaniment. Sometimes the chordal accompaniment is very simple and repetitive, and it is likely that a skilled player would vary his part to make a more musically satisfying accompaniment.”

REVIEWS:

"Casual pronouncements are made every so often that the lute songs of Elizabethan England were the pop music of their day. The lutenist is said to be the 16th-century version of the guitar hero — a solitary character who played in courts and developed a moody, quixotic reputation. Movies and popular culture have portrayed lutes as being for the odd county fair minstrel, or the hapless suitor serenading a fair maiden.

But lute music wasn’t entirely a solo pursuit. During the high English renaissance (roughly 1570-1620) composers wrote more than 80 works for lute duet. In these, each lutenist plays nearly the same music, alternating between melody and accompaniment. On "Two Lutes," the lutenists Ronn McFarlane and William Simms recapture nearly 30 of these duets, most of which are seldom performed today...

About one-third of the songs on the collection come from the pen of John Johnson, England’s Royal lutenist, who served Queen Elizabeth I during the first years of her reign. They include the scampering “Trenchmore,” the reflective “The Delight Pavan,” and the rollicking “The Queen’s Treble.” Also featured are several songs by Thomas Robinson, a Danish court composer who projected the inward, melancholic quality of the instrument in songs like “Passemezo Galliard” and “A Plaine Song.”

The third major name on the album is the self-styled king of the lute, John Dowland, who is represented with two songs tinged with refined sadness. Rounding out the collection are some anonymous numbers including the ever-popular “Greensleeves.” However obscure the majority of this music is, Simms and McFarlane approach the recording with an air of warmth and accessibility."

-- WQXR, Album of the Week [July 29, 2012]

Prepare to be musically transported by A Change of Worlds, the latest release from Ensemble Galilei and Sono Luminus. Through the unique combination of old Irish tunes, traditional American folk melodies, and inspired original selections, A Change of Worlds transcends a myriad of musical genres.

Comprised of very talented and capable members who are both classically trained and traditional musicians, Ensemble Galilei brilliantly melds a wealth of technical capability with an abiding passion for ancient music. Through their infectious improvisational energy, the vibrancy of this ensemble captivates the listener, from the downbeat of the first tune, to the final chord on the album.

All of the music recorded for this CD is part of First Person: Seeing America – a collaboration between Ensemble Galilei and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The multi-disciplinary project includes photographs from the Met, poetry and prose about America, and the music of Ensemble Galilei, and premiered in New York in October of 2010. It will tour through 2015.

This unique recording of Ronn McFarlane's original music composed for the Lute, enables Indigo Road to bridge the gap between traditional and modern music. All of the compositions were originally conceived as solos, however McFarlane adds parts for bass, flute, harp, percussion, cittern, harmonium and string quartet to several of the tunes, in order to heighten individual mood and character. McFarlane has made a recording of very accessible music as he stays true to the title song, 'Indigo Road', which signifies a spiritual path or the road we take through life. The pieces take the listener down aural roads from one composition to the next: from the peaks of Denali, to Pinetops, into a storming sky in Blue Norther an across Uncharted Waters...we are transported to the future through dreams and left feeling wistful and nostalgic as if remembering the distant past.

This new release is a full album of hymn favorites written by Charles Wesley. Wesley is one of the greatest hymn writers in history, penning over 6,000! Included are titles such as 'Hark! the Herald Angels Sing," "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," and "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing." The Choral Arts Society of Washington, founded in 1965, has experienced monumental success, performing with the national Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony, the Mariinsky Orchestra, and many more. The Chamber Singers is a small ensemble of thrity, launched on the Society's fiftieth anniversary. Scott Tucker, artistic director for the chorus, has prepared choruses for Christoph Eschenbach, Vassilly Sinalsky, Marin Alsop, among others. J. Reilly Lewis, a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory and The Julliard School, is a world renowned organist and is the Music Director of the Cathedral Choral Society.

This selection is a High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) recording.

ARENSKY String Quartets: No. 1; No. 2. Piano Quintet • Ying Qrt; Adam Neiman (pn) • SONO LUMINUS 92143 (76:56)


Anton Arensky’s String Quartet No. 1 appeared in 1888, six years after he graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory, and immediately joined the Moscow Conservatory as professor of harmony and counterpoint. (The requirements were much lighter at the time, in a culture where classical music was essentially viewed as a new Russian art form, earlier isolated musicians such as Dmitri Bortniansky, Yevstigni Fomin, and Mikhail Glinka notwithstanding.) It reveals the pronounced influence of Tchaikovsky, who became a mentor and friend of his younger colleague. Not always to the good, either, as the first and third movements meander pleasantly with little of distinction to say and less energy to convey it, all much in Tchaikovsky’s worst manner. The andante sostenuto is better, a simple, lyrical song whose charm lies in its rich accompanying harmonies, while a central section nods perfunctorily at counterpoint. The finale is by far the best thing in the work, a theme and variations (a form that, like Glazunov, Arensky excelled at) of a very Russian cast. The variations reveal the art and unpredictability of which the composer was master.


The Second Quartet followed the first by 12 years, and exists as a complete work in two versions: one for the standard lineup of two violins, viola, and cello, and one for violin, viola, and two cellos. They are musically identical, and were presumably composed to prove a point—not for the first time, since Arensky was a contrarian who would go out of his way to do something when someone else said it couldn’t or shouldn’t be done. (Tchaikovsky once reproached him for his occasional employment of unusual meters, citing the 5/4 finale to his Piano Concerto. Arensky immediately responded by composing several further works with similar metrical irregularities.) It is a more striking and imaginative work than the previous quartet. The first movement attempts the same frequent shifts of effect, textures, and harmony as its predecessor, but with superior thematic material, if with no greater ability to weld its disparate parts together. It is followed by only one other movement, a large-scale (17:28, in this reading) theme and variations on a Tchaikovsky song. With a lengthier theme that supplied more elements to vary, Arensky achieves as much as he had in the first quartet, but on a more ambitious scale. If a couple of the variations, such as the fifth, are little more than ornamentation, the overall result is successful.


The Piano Quintet appeared in 1900. Schumann’s Florestan is prominent in its opening movement, while another group of variations makes its appearance immediately afterward. As such, it’s an andante set, a rarity in Russian music, and an unabashedly sentimental, Tchaikovsky-like set, too. The scherzo is perfunctory, but the finale is more Arensky contrarianism: a 3:31 movement of which the first 2:47 consists of a stern contrapuntal prelude, leading to a fast and otherwise undistinguished reprise of the Schumann-like theme that opened the quartet.


The Ying Quartet started life in 1988 with four Winnetka, Illinois, siblings who all studied at the Eastman School of Music. When first violinist Timothy left in 2009, Frank Huang took over the chair, and when he left the following year to become the Houston Symphony’s concertmaster, Ayano Ninomiya became first violinist. It’s this final lineup that recorded this Arensky album. Their most distinguishing characteristics are an emphasis on energy, a narrow, disciplined tone, chance-taking, and intense group practice. I enjoyed their silky and at times quixotic versions of the Tchaikovsky quartets and Souvenir de Florence (Telarc 80685), and wasn’t surprised to find much the same qualities exhibited on this release. The attempts at portamento aren’t especially convincing, given that their string tone lacks the kind of “plush” necessary to bring it off, but as the central section of the Piano Quintet demonstrates, they and pianist Adam Neiman are certainly capable of employing rubato and expressive dynamics as to the romantic manner born. These are, in short, worthy performances of all three pieces.


They aren’t without competition, however. The Lajtha Quartet with Nona Prunyi offered an identical lineup of music on Marco Polo 8.223911, though with slightly less technical virtuosity and a lot less theatricality. Among recorded performances that offer one of the works, the String Quartet No. 2 receives a vigorous, almost impatient reading from the Raphael Ensemble (Hyperion CDA 66648), while a more spacious account is offered by the Arienski Ensemble on Meridian 84211 (deleted, but still available from some sources). I’ve also enjoyed the warmly expressive live reading of the Piano Quintet on the three-disc set titled Martha Argerich and Friends , recorded at the 2008 Lugano Festival, though the Yings supply more finesse in the middle movement.


In short, while there’s no clear winner when it comes to a single version of the Second String Quartet, the Ying Quartet is my preference for all three works combined. With excellent sound, definitely recommended.


FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

Alexander Borodin's Second String Quartet has vastly superceded the First in popularity. Musicologists tend to bemoan this fact, citing the earlier work's greater compositional ingenuity. Yet most listeners are understandably drawn to Quartet No. 2's irresistible tunefulness (two of its melodies were used as songs in the Broadway musical Kismet). The St. Petersburg Quartet emphasizes the intellectual rigor of No. 1, making a connection between it and Beethoven's late quartets. The playing, with its smoothness and clean intensity, lends an especially bleak cast to the rhapsodic Andante con moto, sounding here like a precursor to the quartets of Shostakovich.

This ensemble takes a more lyrical approach for No. 2, which is full of feeling yet maintains a strong sense of line (the first movement's argument is seamlessly realized here). Both performances are quite satisfying and are recorded in wonderfully clear, detailed, dynamically realistic sound by Dorian. Fine as these performances are, the Borodin Quartet on EMI displays even greater imagination throughout both performances (especially in the finale of No. 2), and a more deeply felt passion (No. 1's first movement and No. 2's Notturno). However, the cavernous Melodiya recording tends to blur some detail and adds an element of gigantism to the readings. So, it looks like the Dorian is the more generally recommendable version. It's quite enjoyable, and if you don't know these pieces, you've got quite a treat in store.

--Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

Music of the Sephardim & Renaissance Spain

REVIEW:

When we last left Perceval (heard on La Nef’s earlier Dorian recording, Perceval, The Quest for the Grail Vol. 1--type Q383 in Search Reviews) he was departing from Belrepeire Castle, scene of his victorious battle and home of his beautiful, beloved lady Blancheflor, determined to return to his mother, who he had long ago left grieving and sorrowful. In this Volume 2, Perceval, sung with clear, unadorned, lyrical beauty by countertenor Daniel Taylor in perhaps his best recorded performance to date, falls into many more adventures, some quite mysterious and even surreal. His encounter with the Fisher King in the Castle of the Grail involves a bizarre processional that involves a spear dripping with blood, a candelabra, a silver platter, and, unbeknownst to Perceval, the Grail itself. The next morning, all he has seen has vanished. For years more he wanders, facing many challenges and meeting a strange and wonderful cast of characters--a maiden, an injured goose, the Hideous Damsel, and a Holy Hermit--all of whom help reveal secrets regarding his journey and of the Grail, “a thing of great sacredness that supports and fortifies life.”

If you’re not familiar with the amazing Canadian ensemble La Nef, you owe it to yourself to hear its performances, and the two discs that make up the story of Perceval and the Grail are a good place to start. What these musician/storyteller/actors have done is adapted the 12th-century texts of Chrétien de Troyes’ version of the grail story and set them to various existing and newly composed tunes, supported with original and highly effective instrumental accompaniments. In a strange way, La Nef has modernized the story and its presentation while preserving an aura of “ancientness” through use of old instruments--harp, viol, psaltery, early guitar, shawm, percussion, recorder--the ancient languages, and perfectly chosen, characterful voices. There’s an abundance of beautiful music here, and the tunes are always tastefully and imaginatively used--the British folksong “Ca’ the yowes” set to the words “Tout le jour, sa voie tint”; the clever interjection of the old English song “Brid one brere” (Bird on briar) into the scene where Perceval finds the injured goose; and the varied use of the Easter plainchant “Victimae paschali laudes” at Perceval’s Good Friday visit to the Hermit.

One of the disc’s highlights is the haunting solo and accompaniment to the Fisher King’s song of greeting, a tune adapted from a Gaelic melody. All of the voices and instrumental performances are outstanding (especially Taylor, baritone Rafik Samman, soprano Catherine Herrmann, contralto Claire Gignac, viol player Betsy MacMillan, and guitarist Sylvain Bergeron) and they’re captured in Dorian’s trademark top-notch sound. This disc and its companion volume provide two of the most delightful hours you can spend with a recording. If you like great stories, fantastic music, and a bit of medieval magic, you can’t go wrong with La Nef and Perceval.

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

This cheaply priced set brings together a number of recordings made in the early 1990s in Venezuela, featuring the Simón Bolívar Orchestra under the baton of the Mexican conductor Eduardo Mata. Mata, who had a distinguished career in Europe, London, and the United States, died at the age of 52 in a plane crash in January of 1995. 

The Simón Bolívar orchestra is internationally known because of the  sistema , set up in Caracas in 1975 by José Antonion Abreu, whereby young people are taught to play and appreciate music. Many orchestras at various levels of proficiency are a part of this scheme, the Simón Bolívar representing the cream of the crop. Since Gustavo Dudamel became their chief conductor (prior to his tenure in Los Angeles), the orchestra’s profile has grown and the enterprise has expanded considerably. Ten years earlier, they had the good fortune to be associated with Mata, although I would guess that the majority of players from that time have since moved on.

Dorian initially recorded and distributed these CDs separately, and most collectors will be aware of them. Now they have been re-released as a box set by Dorian Sono Luminus. The latter company recently reissued the complete Villa-Lobos string quartets, and will produce a box set later this year of Mata’s Dorian recordings with the Dallas SO (where he was music director at the time of his sudden demise). 

According to the press release, all the recordings have been newly remastered, although there is no indication of that in the packaging, and no engineer credited with remastering. (This is in contrast to the well-documented Villa-Lobos quartets reissue.) In an A/B comparison using three discs, I found the sound on the new set to have more presence; the slight boxiness of the original pressings has been minimized. The new discs have also been mastered at a higher level, a noticeable improvement. 

In some other respects, crucial information is missing. No cast list is given for the opera  La vida breve , merely a few singers’ out-of-date biographies. Research suggests the lead role of Salud is sung by Marta Senn, who is also the soloist in El amor brujo and the Seven Popular Spanish Songs , although nowhere is this stated. No librettos are supplied, even though the original incarnation of at least one of these discs did so (Estévez’ Cantata criolla ). The Cuarteto Latinoamericano is no longer acknowledged for their major contribution to Orbón’s Concerto grosso, and Sensemayá is not listed as part of the contents of disc 2 in the booklet. Notes are otherwise comprehensive.

Putting the two Falla discs aside for the moment, the program consists of Latin American music’s greatest hits, with a few lesser-known works mixed in, such as those by the Venezuelan Antonio Estévez (1916–1988) and Spanish-born Cuban Julian Orbón (1925–1991). A personal friend of Orbón, whose Partita No.4 for Piano and Orchestra he also recorded, Mata is very much at home in this music. He generally takes a no-nonsense approach, so performances tend to be snappy and slick. Ensemble is tight and textures clearly delineated. 

In the 1990s, this orchestra had not attained its current level of polish, so it does not trump all competition—such as Mata himself conducting the New Philharmonia in Revueltas and the London SO in Falla (both RCA), or Dudamel’s sensational 2008 recording of  Sensemayá, Mediodia en el llano , and Estancia on DG. Nevertheless, these colorful and energetic readings are highly enjoyable on their own account; the Estévez cantata builds impressively to its climax—a vocal duel between the two male soloists. This is also the only available version of Chavéz’ rare ballet score, Caballos de vapor.

The four CDs of Latin music alone would have made a tempting bargain box, but Dorian has added two discs of Falla. The second includes two rarities: the composer’s own orchestration of his  Homenajes (“Homages”), some of which were originally written for piano or solo guitar, and the orchestral arrangement of the Seven Popular Spanish Songs made by Luciano Berio for his then wife Cathy Berberian. (Did Berberian ever record them?)

Falla’s early opera-cum-zarzuela  La vida breve is well worth getting to know. Its Impressionistic opening gives way to a red-blooded verisimo story of love and death, replete with a Spanish dance in the style of The Three Cornered Hat and an interlude for (male) flamenco singer/guitarist. Mata championed this work throughout his career. The main soloists here are fine, but Senn is outsung by Victoria de los Angeles (EMI), Alicia Nafé (Telarc), and Teresa Berganza (DG), respectively. And though he may be authentic, Mata’s Gypsy singer sounds as if he’s been gargling battery acid. Senn is clearly uncomfortable in El amor brujo , where the tessitura lies awkwardly for her; the low part of her head voice comes over as hooty. I much prefer Nati Mistral on Mata’s earlier recording. Orchestrally, the Venezuelan performances are typically vigorous and clear.

Chávez’  Sinfonia India , Revueltas’s Sensemayá , Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas brasileiras No. 2 and Ginastera’s Estancia are cornerstones of the Latin repertoire. This release is a relatively cheap way to acquire them— and much else of interest besides—while paying fitting tribute to Eduardo Mata. It hardly feels like 15 years since his death.

FANFARE: Phillip Scott 

Classical Music

If you care about Mahler, make a point of hearing this disc, no matter how many Fourths are already on your shelves. And I hope we will soon need more shelf space for additional CDs of Slowik's Mahler, some of it with full-sized orchestras. Mahler's music is no longer rare, but performances of such freshness, commitment and depth are always in short supply.
-- Bernard D. Sherman, Andante.com

Seascapes is a collection of some of the finest and most interesting sea-influenced pieces in piano literature.From peaceful meditations, dramatic reflections of violent waves, to a depiction of marine luminescence, these pieces truly encompass the vast possibilities for creation that the majestic sea can inspire.Pianist Janice Weber is a member of the piano faculty at Boston Conservatory and MIT.“Maximum virtuosity with minimum gesture is a particular Weber talent...no bravura gestures divert attention... She is a musician's musician - and a listener's musician.” (Bergen Record)

All works transcribed for two guitars by Julian Gray and Ronald Pearl.

Classical Music

Sono Luminus announces the release of Icelandic ensemble Nordic Affect’s debut album on the label, Clockworking, featuring the music of five Icelandic women composers – Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Hildur Gudnadóttir, María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, Hafdís Bjarnadóttir, and Thurídur Jónsdóttir. The album was recorded by Georg Magnússon at The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, with mastering and post-production by Valgeir Sigurdsson.

REVIEW:

[A] brilliantly sensitive sound mixed more like up-close ambient music than chamber music, and it's one of the most evocative releases edging on either category in recent memory.

-- WQXR

This release comes from one of the hardest-working and most respected pianists in the world today- Stewart Goodyear. Every album from Goodyear is released to widespread critical acclaim, and this one is sure to be no different. Goodyear writes of this release: “It was the year Glenn Gould died when I first heard his legendary name. It was his Bach that introduced me to his playing. His sound struck me immediately… a sound that was compelling and uncompromising. It was not designed to speak words of mere prettiness, but of an individual truth… My decision to record Glenn Gould’s program came right after performing it in Montreal. While playing homage to one of the great Canadian legends, I was being transported to childhood memories of growing up in Toronto, Gould’s home town, studying at the Royal Conservatory, Gould’s home alma mater, and being an artist from Canada, Gould’s country.

REVIEWS:

The Bach is brisk and crisp and the ornamentation with the Gibbons piece is tightly coiled. The Brahms selections are robustly songful. If the concept and execution of this release aren’t appealing enough, Goodyear’s program was engineered by Daniel Shores at the Sono Luminus studios in Boyce, Virginia, the source of some of the finest piano recordings on earth.

– Absolute Sound

He does have a good grasp on the way Gould played, capturing his crisp attack and emotional impact. Goodyear perfectly captures Gould’s unusual approach to Brahms, which was resolutely unsentimental. His performance of the Berg Sonata again captures Gould’s approach, albeit with a piano sound more resonant than the one Gould himself favored.

– The Arts Music Lounge (Lynn René Bayley)

Langston Hughes wrote his poem “Let America Be America Again” in 1938. The country was crushed by the decade of depression that had squashed so many American dreams, and was threatened by the gathering clouds of the impending war in Europe. Birth right and skin color posed restrictions to the justice and liberty which rest at the heart of American promise, and America was a country divided. Today, we still live in troubled times, where circumstances and skin color still keep the American promise out of reach for so many. The music featured on this release is a tribute to the generations of American men and women, both black and white, both immigrants and pioneers, who dreamed and accomplished the impossible. American music is made of everything that we are, coming from so many different people and places and expressing so many dreams. Lara Downes is a best-selling pianist, who with this release makes her Sono Luminus debut. She performs constantly across the United States, and has also been featured on European stages. This important collection of American repertoire includes three world premieres, and is a unique program which will resound with listeners in today’s world.

This selection was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance.

This unique collaboration of some of early music's most esteemed artists performing with period instruments and featuring the beautiful young Brazilian countertenor, José Lemos, truly showcases the exquisite melodies and exciting dance pieces that define the Sephardic culture of early Spain.

REVIEWS:

This is something of a concept album. It’s also a programme that has been toured and performed in concert many times and reaches fruition as a disc. It takes Elizabethan and Jacobean lute music and marries it to the poetry and theatre of the time. Sometimes a single track is given over to verse or a short scene from a play, spoken by Robert Aubry Davis; but also we hear a speech or lyric spoken above, as it were, lute accompaniment. This sometimes makes things difficult to judge artistically vis a vis Ronn McFarlane’s lute playing, but it’s a disc to be measured against a rather wider canvass than usual, a multi-disciplinary words and music presentation.

Most of the music is by Dowland, but there is one piece by Campion, another by Byrd and others by our old pal, Anonymous. The theatrical performances derive from Shakespeare - Henry VIII, The Taming of the Shrew, The Two Gentlemen of Verona - as well as Thomas Heywood’s A Woman Killed with Kindness. There are poems by Wyatt, with which we begin and end, Robert Herrick and Samuel Daniel. Thomas D’Urfey’s wickedly naughty The Wanton Trick is here too.

As an example of a theatrical presentation it works well. Whether it has longevity on disc is a moot point, because some of the extracts are very brief, and also because the lute, played behind the voice, is demonstrably there for evocative effect. Ronn McFarlane has a number of discs to his name of lute music and is indeed a fine player. There are times when he inclined to the brusque and overly metrical - one thinks of Mrs Winter’s Jump for example; the woman in question must have been quite a motoric figure if his playing is anything to go by.

Next we have the spoken element. The method in the Wyatt ‘title track’, and others, is this. Davis speaks the first stanza, and then McFarlane joins in behind him. Note though that they were separately recorded.

The texts are printed in full, and the booklet has been nicely designed and amusingly written (by Davis). Indeed the disc is cleverly programmed.

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International