Includes polonaise(s) by Michal Kazimierz Oginski. Soloist: Oleg Timofeyev.

Sono Luminus is proud to introduce a stunning new talent to the label, The Jasper String Quartet, with their debut album The Kernis Project: Beethoven. For this debut recording, they chose two pieces closest to their collective heart. Aaron Jay Kernis took quartet writing to the next level when writing his Pulitzer Prize winning Quartet No. 2 “musica instrumentalis”. The first two movements take inspiration from Baroque and Renaissance dance forms and the last movement is directly influenced by the joyous fugue of Beethoven’s Op. 59 No. 3. With his last “Razumovsky” Quartet, Beethoven began his transformation into the most revered quartet composer of all time. The two pieces share a profound depth of expression and expansion of the possibilities of the quartet genre, making them a perfect pair for this project.

Sarah Schuster Ericsson has been harpist of both the Baltimore Symphony and the Boston Symphony orchestras. Here she offers a pleasantly varied program within the rubric identified by the collection’s title. Most noteworthy is the 1961 sonata by American composer Nicolas Flagello. Although he wrote three pieces for harp solo, the sonata is by far the best known, appearing frequently on recitals and at competitions. In fact, this is the third recording of the work currently available on CD. Typical of his music, but atypical of conventional works for harp, Flagello’s sonata is dramatic and serious in tone overall, although leavened by a lovely, melancholy waltz-like slow movement, and a briskly exuberant finale. Ericsson’s approach to the work is richly expansive, in striking contrast to Erica Goodman’s meticulously precise, unsentimental reading (BIS 319). Some of Flagello’s works can benefit from an expansive approach: For a piece like the Harp Sonata, with dense textures and some rhythmic complexity, a broader approach can allow details to blossom, while a tighter, more metronomic approach can force those details “under the rug,” so to speak. On the other hand, taking expansiveness to an extreme can drain rhythmic energy, and cause the work to lose focus.

In general Ericsson’s performances are gracious and tasteful, if a trifle hesitant and reserved. Probably the best-known work on the program is the sonata by Paul Hindemith. Ericsson offers an appealing performance of this uncharacteristically warm and lyrical piece. Alfredo Casella (1883–1947), an Italian contemporary of Bartók and Stravinsky, was celebrated as a modernist during the early years of the 20th century, but most of his work has faded from view. His Harp Sonata, composed during World War II, pursues a gentle neoclassicism somewhat similar to the music of Gian-Francesco Malipiero, another contemporary of Casella’s, as well as a fellow countryman. From today’s perspective Casella’s sonata is a solid, attractive work with the slightly archaic flavor characteristic of the Mediterranean neoclassicists. Germaine Tailleferre is remembered today chiefly as the woman among the early French modernists known as Les Six. Her music leans toward a light-hearted cheerfulness that does not appeal to me. Her sonata is the least interesting item on the program. Pierick Houdy, a Breton composer who has spent most of his prolific career in Canada, is still active at 80, as far as I know, although he returned to France in his later years. His wife is a harpist, and he composed his sonata with her in mind. It is a pleasantly melodic, untroubled and untroubling work—another staple of the contemporary harp repertoire.

All in all, this is an ingratiating program, excellently played, and expertly recorded. I suspect that it will please most connoisseurs and enthusiasts of the harp.

FANFARE: Walter Simmons

SUESSE Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra. McDONALD Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra • Long Duo; Patrick Souillot, cond; Eskichir Greater Municipality SO • SONO LUMINUS DSL 92129 (68: 37)


The talented and comely (judging from the booklet cover photo) Taiwanese sisters Beatrice and Christina Long demonstrated considerable enterprise in selecting a couple of rarely performed two-piano concertos (Suesse and McDonald) for this debut recording for the new label Sono Luminus. And, given the limited repertoire for this combination, their additional choice of the roilingly rough-hewn Vaughan Williams makes a kind of sense, although we are still awaiting a first recording of the Piston effort in this genre.


Dana Suesse (1909–87) was a Kansas City prodigy who in her 20s became a prominent member of the “metropolitan” school of composers gathered about, and promoted by, showman-musician Paul Whiteman. After Whiteman’s landmark Aeolian Hall concert that launched Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue , Whiteman became a mentor to a flock of homegrown composers who had one foot firmly in popular music but aspired to concert hall status, thus instituting our first generation of Third Stream music. More or less at the same time (the early ’30s) that Suesse was publishing such hit songs as You Oughta Be in Pictures and My Silent Love (the latter adapted from an earlier piano piece, Nocturne ), she was soloist in the Whiteman premiere of her Concerto in Three Rhythms, which has just been issued on Naxos.


Suesse’s Two-Piano Concerto was labored over during most the 1930s and finally premiered in 1943 by Eugene Goossens with the celebrated two-piano team of Ethel Bartlett and Rae Robinson as soloists. This four-movement piece is a serious and well-proportioned work that, as opposed to the earlier concerto, has only a few dim echoes of Suesse’s pop background. The themes are songfully distinctive and appealing, the formal structure clear and traditional, and the harmonic language an auspicious blend of Grieg and salon music without any soupçon of pretense or banality. This is one of those once-obscure scores that was well worth reviving.


Harl McDonald (1899–1955) was a California-born composer who in later years became closely identified with the Philadelphia Orchestra (eventually serving as its manager) during both the Stokowski and Ormandy eras. A good deal of his music was once available on shellac but, except for his utterly disarming suite for harp and chamber orchestra, From Childhood, it has mostly fallen, undeservedly, into oblivion. Most of his work derived from programmatic concepts (even the four symphonies have movements with titles), but this 1936 two-piano concerto was one of his exceptional efforts in absolute form. As such, it is a very engaging work in conventional tripartite form using a type of Yankee-accented sub-Rachmaninoff idiom, with the middle movement an unexpected theme and variations and the finale employing some of McDonald’s favorite “south of the border” elements. Though the original Stokowski-led recording was reissued on Cala as one of “Stokowski Rarities,” a modern recording was overdue and this one more than meets the mark.


Originally conceived in the 1920s as a solo piano concerto, Vaughan Williams’s Two-Piano Concerto was revised by the composer two decades later, in the process doubling its quotient of energy and tumult. This is quite a challenging score for both the soloists and the orchestra and on balance the Longs hold their own against previous recordings by Whittemore and Lowe (RCA vinyl with Golschmann conducting), Markham and Broadway (Menuhin conducting on Virgin Classics), and the unusually emphatic and fast-clipped Vronsky and Babin, with Boult maintaining a furious pace, on EMI. Though as thoroughly professional as this provincial Turkish orchestra sounds, it can hardly be expected to meet the standards set by the Royal and London Philharmonics. Bearing that in mind, this is a still an acceptably faithful account of the music.


For the Suesse and McDonald works, together with a knowledgeable annotation by the unique cabaret pianist and singer Peter Mintun (who back in the 1970s brought Dana Suesse out of retirement to attend a Carnegie Hall concert of her music featuring conductor Frederick Fennell and pianist Cy Coleman!), this is an essential release not likely to be duplicated in the near or far future. Grab it!


FANFARE: Paul A. Snook

Passion and Lament: Choral Masterworks of the 17th Century is a Dorian Sono Luminus release by the Bach Sinfonia, a period instrument group led by Daniel Abraham and based out of Silver Spring, MD; the concurrent vocal group is identified by the rubric Sinfonia Voci. Leader Abraham seems to have an uncanny knack for landing the premiere recording options on newly discovered works by famous composers; the previous Dorian Sono Luminus effort devoted to Handel's Alexander's Feast also contained the J.S. Bach aria Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn, discovered in 2005. Here the featured first recording is of a work by Heinrich von Biber, his setting of the Stabat mater that emerged in 2007. It is a short, somber, and restrained setting from late in Biber's career, not the most ravishing vocal work that he has to offer but still recognizable as his. Along for the ride is a selection of six Psalm settings from Salomone Rossi's The Songs of Solomon and the early oratorio Jephte by Giacomo Carissimi. The good news is that the Rossi settings, recorded without continuo, probably have never received a better performance on disc than here. Jephte, of course, is a canonical classical work and the Bach Sinfonia has a good deal more competition in it among recordings. The performance here is well done, and the crucial concluding chorus Plorate filii Israel is very well handled and particularly effective, though one wonders if a slightly larger continuo might not have been a bad idea for Jephte; the Bach Sinfonia here consists of only five instruments and normally they are a 22-piece band. The singing is all quite good; soprano Jennifer Ellis Kampani turns in her usual, stellar performance and one must compliment baritone Sumner Thompson for being a low male voice who "gets" concitato singing. Dorian Sono Luminus' recording is a very digital-sounding recording that has a slightly weird, metallic timbre; at one point it pulls a soprano note into a range of distortion. Nevertheless, Biber's devotees will want to know the new work, even though the true virtues of this disc are encountered best in the Rossi and in parts of the Carissimi.

-- "Uncle" Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

Founded in 1980 to perform the instrumental music of Shakespeare’s time, The Baltimore Consort has explored early English, Scottish, and French popular music, focusing on the relationship between folk and courtly art song, and dance. Their interest in early music of English/Scottish heritage has also led them to delve into the rich trove of traditional music preserved in North America.

There are hundreds of references to music in the works of Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s music can be placed into three general categories: Incidental Music- The individual titles of incidental music in Shakespeare’s works are never named but the directions “music here,” “music begins,” “music for dancing,” etc. are provided. Literary References- Shakespeare refers to the music, music theory, and instruments of the time within the text of his works. A humorous example is found in the names of the musicians Peter confronts in Romeo and Juliet: Hugh Rebec, Simon Catling and James Soundpost. Songs- Specific songs are included for performance in the text of Shakespeare’s plays. Shakespeare authored the lyrics to some of these songs but also incorporated popular songs known to his contemporary audiences. The plays did not include notation of the tunes of these songs. However, we are certain that Robert Johnson’s settings for “Full Fathom Five” and “Where the Bee Sucks” are the same as when originally performed in The Tempest. Johnson is well documented as Shakespeare’s composer.

For the other songs on the recording we are using the earliest surviving versions – both published and from manuscript – which are contemporary with Shakespeare’s productions. These include, “It Was a Lover and his Lasse,” “Farewell, Dear Love,” “When Griping Grief,” “Gravedigger’s Song,” and “Willow Song.”

REVIEWS:

A very pleasurable late-evening hour can be spent in the company of these musicians.

– MusicWeb International

This gem of an album played with historical performance accuracy and 21st century pizzazz is a revealing and often toe-tapping thing to treasure.

– Rafael's Music Notes (Rafael de Acha)

With most of the songs in the one- to three-minute range (only three exceed four minutes), changes happen fast, the recording never staying in one place for long. As enjoyable as the songs are, the album’s foremost pleasures derive from the interactions between the players and the rich timbral contrasts between their instruments. Often the full ensemble performs, but arrangements vary, with instruments combined in different combinations and number (e.g., “Cuckolds All a-Row” played by cittern alone; voice accompanied by lute for “Willow Song”); the album also benefits from the inclusion of both vocal and instrumental tracks, with a satisfying balance achieved between them.

– Textura

American lutenist Ronn McFarlane has had a successful career as a traditional performer and educator offering concerts and recordings of Renaissance and Baroque repertory. With the justification that lutenists of the past have been both performers and composers, he has begun to write and record crossover music with a small band called Ayreheart, consisting of flute or harp, bass, and percussion, augmented at times by strings and mostly wordless vocals. Despite the large collection of instruments, it's a crisp sound not weighed down by sentiment, with McFarlane's lute front and center, supported by subtle acoustic percussion and other sounds that accent the material according to its rhythmic qualities. The album One Morning is a successor to McFarlane's Grammy-nominated 2009 album Indigo Road, and it's in the same vein but perhaps a bit more uptempo; few of the tracks have the new age ambiance the rather cheesy sunset-and-lute cover might suggest. Likewise, although there is certainly some Celtic influence in the music, McFarlane avoids the clichés of the genre. The music here, in fact, is pleasingly impossible to categorize. There are enough hints of McFarlane's Renaissance background to satisfy anyone who has come to the music through a general liking for what might be called pop-Renaissance culture, but there are also moves derived from later eras of classical guitar, folk styles, and even bluegrass, with the rhythmic orientation being basically toward jazz. Fans of pure Renaissance music are unlikely to be satisfied by this, and it's likewise not well suited to those whose ends are meditiative, but the album is recommended to pretty much everyone else who likes the sound of a lute; McFarlane's accomplishment in reimagining its capablilities is considerable. A plus is that the Dorian label can record the lute very well indeed.

-- James Manheim, All Music Guide

Classical Music

With some justice, the 1970s are often dismissed as the decade that Style forgot.

But while it’s true that many of us would prefer never again to contemplate the likes of platform shoes, hotpants, bell-bottom trousers and Brotherhood of Man, one icon of middle class culture from that generally unlamented decade remains with us to this day – the dinner party.

Today the 1970s dinner party is easy to caricature: prawn cocktail, chicken in a brick (the latter bought from the local Habitat store) and Black Forest gateau – all washed down with a bottle or two of trendy Blue Nun. And there was always some music playing quietly in the background – not, unless you were very unlucky, from Brotherhood of Man but something selected to indicate the host’s cultural sophistication. And surprisingly often, as I recall from the Hampstead and Highgate dinner party circuit of the time, that was a Turnabout LP of Vivaldi lute and mandolin concertos performed by Anton Stringl (lute), Paul Grund and Artur Rumetsch (mandolins) and the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra under Jörg Faerber.

Yes, with all due respect to its devotees everywhere, the mandolin made – and continues to make – ideal background music and I’m not sure that many people will listen to this new CD with the rapt concentration that they’d give to a Beethoven string quartet or a piano recital from Alfred Brendel. Indeed, a few listeners to whom I’ve played this disc had had quite enough after just a couple of tracks and others were frankly relieved to note its otherwise disgracefully short overall running time. But as a pleasant and undemanding diversion it more than fits the bill.

The 2003 line-up of the Modern Mandolin Quartet – Dana Rath and Matt Flinner (mandolins), Paul Binkley (guitar and mandola) and Gyan Riley (guitar and mandocello) – was clearly a very talented one. Their potted biographies indicate that the players came from backgrounds that encompass jazz, rock and folk as well as classical music but some details may leave more than a few MusicWeb International readers bemused - thus the booklet notes reiterate Bluegrass Now’s contention that “Flinner provides the next evolutionary step to David Grisman’s unique dawg style”.

In general, though, with just one exception, the quartet’s stylistic eclecticism is kept in check in these relatively straightforward musical arrangements. Miguel Llobet’s Four Catalan folksongs, none more than two minutes long, are simple and pleasant enough but are essentially unmemorable and would be best utilised as programme fillers or encores for live performances.

Things perk up somewhat with the Tchaikovsky where the delicacy of much of the orchestration adapts quite effectively to the mandolin. The Miniature Overture is vivacious and demonstrates the fine balance between the individual instruments established by the players - and the engineers? The March and Russian Dance are both executed in the most lively and attractive manner; the Dance of the Mirlitons works well; but the slower, more atmospheric tracks disappoint, with an Arabian Dance that misses the subtle sultriness of Tchaikovsky’s original and a distinctly heavy-footed sugar plum fairy. The undoubted highlight, not just of the suite but of the whole disc, is an account of the Waltz of the Flowers that goes with a real swing. The performers’ huge enjoyment is very obvious and this would bring the house down in any live performance.

The Delibes track is arranged in a way that suits the mandolins very effectively and the same is true of the Fauré, although sometimes the playing there is deliberate rather than dreamy. The Fauré track will, indeed, divide listeners. From about 3:40 we go, for the only time on the disc, into a distinctly jazzy and improvisatory mode for a couple of minutes: it’s not unpleasant at all – but it’s not Fauré either.

The Vivaldi D major concerto was one of those included on that old dinner party Turnabout LP. It is very attractive music, undemanding for the listener - if not the executants - and is well played here.

It was, in fact, so effectively evocative that, immediately after playing it, I was inspired to head for the kitchen and, just half an hour later, was tucking in to a plate of delicious Chicken Kiev accompanied by garlic mushrooms and washed down with a can or two of refreshing Harp lager.

Only the absence of a power cut made me realise that I wasn’t back in the 1970s after all.

-- Rob Maynard, MusicWeb International

Boyd Meets Girl pairs Australian classical guitarist Rupert Boyd with American cellist Laura Metcalf. Acclaimed soloists in their own right, as a duo they perform an eclectic and engaging range of repertoire, from the baroque through modern day, including many of their own arrangements. Boyd has been described as “truly evocative” by The Washington Post, and as “a player who deserves to be heard” by Classical Guitar Magazine, while Metcalf, also a member of the ensembles Sybarite5 and Break of Reality, has been called “brilliant” by Gramophone. Boyd Meets Girl has toured throughout the USA, Australia, India and Nepal, including appearances at the Newport Music Festival (Rhode Island), the Gharana Music Festival (Kathmandu, Nepal) and the Monsoon Music Festival (Kolkata, India). The duo writes of this release: “Our debut album is a lovingly curated musical journey, encompassing both our shared perspective on beloved works and relatively unknown repertoire we believe is equally deserving of attention. This album features our own arrangements, including a reduction of Faure's adored Pavane from its orchestral original, and Bach's solo keyboard inventions re-imagined on cello and guitar. These are presented alongside contemporary works, including a colorful three-movement piece by Bolivian composer Jaime Zenamon, and the debut recording of Arafura Arioso by esteemed Australian composer Ross Edwards. The entire album is designed to highlight the range and of timbral possibilities of this under-explored instrumental pairing. Our collaboration began as a romantic relationship in 2012. We are now happily married and live in New York City.”

REVIEW:

It took me a while to getting around to review this CD. The concept of a quasi-narrated work in a traditional musical format with the subject of graveyards seemed unavoidably sentimental. I should have known better. I am not by nature a mystical person, but who can deny the enormous emotional power of cemeteries? It might be a passing glance of sad, proud vets in full uniform visiting old comrades on Memorial Day, or the lyrical beauty of vast Victorian resting places such as Philadelphia’s Laurel Hill, or the awful majesty of sprawling military resting places. And then there is the simple eloquence of early American church graveyards, so rich with the rhythms of this nation’s early history, and the subject of this strong new work by Evan Chambers. 

Chambers is a sophisticated composer and teacher (he chairs the composition department at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor), but he is intensely interested in folk music. He is a prize-winning Irish fiddler, and has studied Sufi and Albanian folk musics, but has a special passion for the vernacular traditions of American music. What makes this particular work so compelling is the daring mix of style and texture that Chambers employs, both musically and in his choice of words to set. The gravestone inscriptions are extraordinary; simple yet often profoundly poetic, tightly packed little kernels of searingly intense emotion.

Chambers also uses contemporary poetry written in a complementarily spare style by four fine poets; Jane Hirshfield, Thomas Lynch, Richard Tillinghast, and Paula Meehan. One has to admire his self-confident blending of diverse literary and musical sources. The only slightly sour note for this listener is in the full-orchestra introduction and linking material, which, in its somewhat overwrought manner, seems to clash with the solemn grace of the words, and even, in that context, feels a bit pompous. But this work is very much the sum of its many interesting parts, and in that sense it is a bold success. The performances are excellent: sturdy, rich, and respectful of the darkly alluring subject matter.

FANFARE: Peter Burwasser

One of Ireland's most compelling gifts to the world is its music. Deliberately, inadvertently, unquenchably, the music, like the people, traveled. They went to America as eager immigrants, such as the Irish Quakers who settled in Pennsylvania, and as unwilling prisoners, like the many Irish Tories remanded to Virginia in the late 17th century. The music they brought with them famously infused America's nascent musical voice as the young country climbed on its shaky legs and learned to dance. No household, it seemed, was without a copy of "Moore's Irish Melodies," although scores of other Irish collections became nearly as popular.

Not just America:
That influence spread throughout the English-speaking world, mixing into the music of such diverse areas as Cape Breton and the Orkney Islands. And, not surprisingly, what with all the conquest-happy traffic in and around Ireland over the centuries, the music has spread even further.
- Byron A. Nilsson

Includes paradetas by various composers. Ensemble: Chatham Baroque. Soloist: Becky Baxter.

Includes traditional reel(s). Ensemble: Kirkmount. Soloist: Alex Bagney.
Includes traditional strathspey(s). Ensemble: Kirkmount. Soloist: Alex Bagney.

The music on this disc offers a superb program sampling the recorded baroque and classical repertoire of Les Violons du Roy, ranging from well-loved gems by Vivaldi to a rarity by J.C.E. Bach to unique transcriptions of some of Bach's greatest music. Every selection is a brilliant musical jewel, played with panache and joy. A highlight of the collection is a brilliant, previously unreleased performance of Handel's Concerto Grosso, Op. 6, No. 5 in D Major. The Artists " . . . they play with all the transparency, flexibility and sheer stylistic awareness of a period orchestra, with a stunning level of technical precision that should be a lesson both to those who listen to this repertoire and to those who play it." - Gramophone " . . . Splendid . . . These musicians have absorbed the lessons of the early music movement in terms of historically informed performance practices. Yet they play on modern instruments (though the string players do use period

In their latest release with Sono Luminus, the celebrated artists of Cuarteto Latinoamericano have brought together a stunning collection of selections from Brazil entitled Brasileiro: Works of Francisco Mignone. They are also joined on the Seresta No. 2 by the talented La Catrina Quartet.

Francisco Mignone (1897 - 1986) was one of the most accomplished musicians Brazil has ever had. In addition to being a masterful composer, he was also a great teacher, a successful conductor, an exceptional pianist, a great orchestrator, and in addition, a man of extensive culture. Because he settled in Rio de Janeiro in 1933, many people forget that Mignone was born in Sao Paulo, in 1897. A son of Italian immigrants, he began studying music with his father, who was an excellent flutist. In 1920 Mignone travels to Italy, where he studies with Vincenzo Ferroni (1858-1934), who had taught other Brazilian composers. It was there that he composed his first opera, “O Contratador de Diamantes” (“The Diamond Contractor”). He returned to Brazil in 1929, and in 1933 Mignone moves permanently to Rio de Janeiro and begins to occupy important chairs in the musical life of what was then the federal capital, including Music Director of the National Institute of Music’s Orchestra.

R E V I E W :



MIGNONE String Quartets: No. 1; No. 2. 3 Spanish Songs. 2 Essays. Barcarola. Minuet • Latinoamericano Qrt • SONO LUMINUS DSL 92147 (60:27)


Francisco Mignone (1897–1986), a Brazilian of Italian background, was a much-loved figure in the musical circles of Rio de Janeiro. BIS produced a disc of his orchestral music in 2005 (see Fanfare 28:6), and here we have a disc of his string-quartet music from the distinguished Latinoamericano Quartet. Mignone was a secondary composer, exhibiting all the good points of that species, such as highly refined craftsmanship, a working knowledge of instruments, and a solid sense of form. His music for string quartet is by no means groundbreaking, either technically (Bartók) or expressively (Shostakovich—or, nearer to home, Revueltas), yet while it may lack individuality, the composer’s incorporation of Latin American rhythms and bluesy harmonies into his work does give it a distinctively nationalistic voice. A breeziness to his music invokes an idealized Brazilian countryside; moreover, unlike the music of Villa-Lobos, there is never any suggestion of note-spinning or filler passages. Mignone is succinct.


The masterpiece is the Second Quartet, which opens the disc. Its first movement contains flowing melodic writing, with a cheeky use of portamento , while the concluding third movement has a bracing rhythmic zest. The slow movement, however, is the real gem; beginning with a soulful Villa-Lobos type theme from the cello, it progresses to an agitated middle section (featuring slithery chromatic harmony) to close on a beguiling jazz-flavored cadence.


The First Quartet follows the same structural pattern of fast/slow/fast. Its first movement is more fragmentary; the second movement is notable for a hint of the tango within its intricate and evocative textures. The finale is a relatively amiable, full-toned rondo. Both quartets were composed simultaneously in 1957, Mignone’s annus mirabilis for string-quartet writing.


The remainder of the program consists of small works where the composer’s creative impulse might be termed more easygoing. Most of them date from earlier in his career. My favorites are the Three Spanish Songs, transcriptions Mignone made of songs he wrote while visiting Spain in 1932. Despite their provenance, they are pervaded by a lyricism that could only be called Italianate. The first song, a subdued lullaby titled Nana , is particularly lovely. Similarly, the Andante cantabile (the first of the Two Essays ) is unashamedly romantic.


The Latinoamericano plays this program to perfection. We owe the group so much for its tireless investigation of Latin repertoire, of which this disc is yet another shining example. I would recommend it for those times when Bartók feels too aggressive or Shostakovich too melancholy. In fact, in terms of melodic flow and expressivity, the quartet composer who comes to mind as a yardstick is Borodin.


Sound quality is excellent.


FANFARE: Phillip Scott

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Recording information: Baker Estate, Pebble Beach, California.

This selection is a 2-disc set, containing an audio-only (i.e., with no video content) Blu-ray disc playable only on Blu-ray players as well as a standard CD.

Sono Luminus presents this uniquely engaging collection of music that embodies the American spirit in Americana, the latest release by Modern Mandolin Quartet.

Expressing their opinion on their choices of musical selections for this album, the quartet writes “This music attracted us because of the wonderful way it sounds on our instruments, particularly the Dvorák. Since the musical character of the pieces is based on various forms of American music, it lends itself extremely well to the mandolin. While many selections for piano and string music rely on idioms and techniques that may not transpose well to the mandolin, the pieces included on this disc were chosen for their vitality and the way they jumped right off the page.”

The Modern Mandolin Quartet was formed in 1985 to give a new voice to that most American of musical instruments, the mandolin. Following the tradition of the mandolin orchestras and chamber groups from the early twentieth century, the Modern Mandolin Quartet uses the instruments of the mandolin family which correspond to the conventional string quartet (two mandolins, mandola, and mandocello). To date the Quartet has arranged and performed over 90 works originally written for orchestra, chamber ensemble, piano, guitar and string quartet.

“MMQ play dead-straight, spot-on, and packed with freshness and vitality of a kind that is rare in material of this type. These are not down-scaled, make-em-easy, just-for-kicks charts either - they are a Major Thing. TRIPLE MUST!” – Fanfare

This is a reissue of six separate discs Jean Guillou recorded for Dorian in 1987 (1 and 6) and 1990 (2–5), issued separately in 1990 and 1993. I couldn’t find reviews of them in the  Fanfare Archive, which doesn’t go back that far. Elsewhere on the Internet, however, one finds both lavish praise and caveats, the latter because these are not strict readings of Bach’s music but contain moments in which Guillou, himself a composer, dares to improvise certain notes or passages, which brings the listener to decide whether or not such an approach is valid.

One online review said that Guillou plays these works much like Glenn Gould played Bach on piano, but where Gould’s reinterpretations extended only to tempo and phrasing, Guillou also adds or changes the music. As you can expect, reactions to this vary widely, from one Amazon reviewer who said (as I would) that “he improvises in such a way that casual listeners never suspect … that what they are hearing is not part of the piece they think they are hearing,” to Joel Warren Lidz, Ph.D., who flatly states that “his Dorian recordings are a joke in my opinion.” Both reactions are possible depending on your perspective. On the one hand, improvisation was accepted Baroque practice in solo instrumental music. Yehuda Hanani recorded Bach’s cello suites in a similar manner. But on the other hand, Bach’s music is considered sacrosanct; what one is permitted to do in Couperin, Scarlatti, or Vivaldi is simply not done in Bach. His works are considered complete and immutable. 

In the final analysis, however, the most important question is, does it work, or is it really obtrusive? That must be left to the decision of each auditor. I say that it works. Should, or could, this approach be applied to other works by Bach? I think so, particularly in  A Musical Offering and Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2. But, again, this is purely subjective and speculative.

As for Guillou’s playing there can be no argument. He is not only a virtuoso of the first rank, but shows a remarkable grasp of line and structure, rhythm and color. His feet and fingers fly so swiftly over the instrument that one is left in awe that he is also able to change registration, sometimes in the very middle of a passage. His playing is indeed relative to Gould’s in the sense that quick tempos and rhythmic acuity (almost a little clipped at times, like Gould) are hallmarks of his style. But also like Gould at various stages of his career, Guillou does not slough off or rush legato passages, but lingers a bit over them (as in the Trio Sonata BWV 525) with loving affection. He is, above all, French, and therefore brings a very Gallic sensibility to this music. Indeed, going through this set, one may be struck, as I was, by the sheer variety of moods he is able to evoke. Guillot clearly views Bach’s organ music as both evocative and structural, and so does not ignore either aspect of the music. 

Of course, this set only includes about half of Bach’s organ music, not counting the concertos or spurious works given BWV numbers. Guillot made a second, complete, set issued by Philips on 12 CDs in 1999. You can find reference to it, and a photo of the box, at bach-cantatas.com/NVP/Guillou.htm#Organ2, but neither a catalog number nor an outlet where you can buy it outside of Amazon. The fact that it appears to be available only in Bach’s home country tells me that the Germans love his playing a lot more than American or British musicological pedants do. 

Considering that the set is incomplete, I wondered why one whole disc was devoted to the  Goldberg Variations rather than more of the bona-fide organ music. Listening explained why. Not only does Guillou view this music as an opportunity to (literally) pull out all the stops, but the score also gives him license to improvise beyond one’s expectations or belief. He turns the very first variation, for instance, into a two-part contrapuntal dialogue, taken at a rapid clip, but nothing in the entire boxed set prepared me for his playing of Variation 14. This will absolutely blow you away—I haven’t heard its like in 40 years of listening to organ playing, Bach, the Goldberg Variations , or any combination thereof. When it started, I thought for sure this was speeded up from the original tape for release. It seemed to me impossible that any human being, particularly one in his 70s at the time of recording, could play this fast. But there it is.

Two organs are used, discs 2–5 being recorded at the Tonhalle, Zurich, while discs 1 and 6 (the  Goldberg Variations ) were recorded on the special Klueker organ that Guillou himself designed at the Church of Our Lady of the Snows in Alpe d’Huez, France. Both are modern in sound, with a wide variety of stops and registrations that add considerable color. The sound quality is spectacular, combining both a close perspective for brilliant passages and atmospheric roominess for quieter and more muted ones. If you insist on authentic-organ performances, there are not one but two series by Helmut Walcha, in a 10-CD set (mono) on Deutsche Grammophon 000185602 and a 12-disc set (stereo) on Archiv 463712; or the much better-recorded (and less dryly performed) 11-CD set by George Ritchie on Raven 875, possibly your best buy at around $60. Yet my personal recommendation for a “straight” set played by a master on older organs goes to the great Marie-Claire Alain (her third and last set, 14 CDs on Erato 96358, by all accounts her finest).

Your decision to acquire this Guillou set will, of course, depend on the issues described above, but I really think you owe it to yourself to hear it. Besides, it is a bargain, selling for a little more than the price of two of the single discs, if you can find them (not all are still in print). I recommend it, even as the only set you may want of Bach’s organ works, unless you are a purist or a completist. 

FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley 

This six-CD set presents J. S. Bach’s great works for organ performed by Jean Guillou, a leading exponent of his instrument. The discs were recorded in 1987 and 1990 on the Kleuer organ of the Eglise Notre-Dame des Neiges at l’Alpe d’Huez and on the Kleuker-Steinmeyer organ of the Tonhalle in Zurich. These are both exceptionally fine instruments, with focused, clear tone throughout the range and well-differentiated voicing. Guillou’s performances are extremely intelligent, with well-thought-out registration and an excellent resultant layering of sound. Individual voices are brought appropriately to the foreground and the climaxes are solid, though never clogged with redundant sound. The use of registration is particularly refreshing in the context of the better-known works - Guillou’s sense of dialogue in the closing paragraph of the Toccata of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 is palpable, lending a new perspective to a work that is so often characterised by an indulgent wash of sound. The delineation of voices can be heard to good advantage, too, in the Chorale Preludes - the chorale melody occupies the foreground to a sufficient extent to be evident, but still at a level of translucency that allows Bach’s often startlingly innovative harmonic interpretation to shine through. Listen to In dulci jubilo, BWV 608 and An Wasserflüssen Babylon, BWV 653, for particularly interesting examples of this. Striking harmonic piquancy is imparted through judicious use of the Sesquialtera on the Positif, which some listeners may find disturbing at first; but once the ear has accustomed itself to this slightly unusual colour, it will be perceived as an enhancement to the harmonic color and as an excitingly innovative dimension to the sound-landscape. 

Guillou’s employment of rhythm as an expressive medium is also impressive, and results in a momentum that is essentially horizontal: he allows the music’s harmonic characteristic to inform the vertical element and thus brings the melodic element to the fore. Such an interpretation becomes at once a celebration of Bach’s contrapuntal art and a realisation of its basis in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century vocal polyphony.

The booklet notes are clear and well-written, with the works appropriately grouped according to type; although those unfamiliar with musicological research connected with this music might appreciate a brief explanation of the credentials of the ubiquitously mentioned Peter Williams. There is enough technical detail to provide ‘signposts’ to guide a listener through the works; and informative historical data, too; as well as some enjoyable anecdotes (such as Hubert Parry’s word-setting of the subject of the G minor Fugue). Fascinating notes on the organs and full specifications of both are given, pleasingly enough. An authoritative and fascinating set of discs.

-- Em Marshall, MusicWeb International

In addition to being one of the most well-known of jazz pianists, Dave Brubeck is also a composer who has explored many new avenues in composition and performance. Lauded around the world, he received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor in December 2009.

Brubeck's "Songs of Praise" is recorded here by the Pacific Mozart Ensemble, a group noted for passionate, expert and engaging choral performances of music from Brahms to Brubeck to the Beach Boys.

Past and present come together in this vibrant release from Sono Luminus, But Not Forgotten: Music by African-American Composers for Clarinet & Piano, as clarinetist Marcus Eley, and pianist Lucerne DeSa display the timeless class and musical stylings of composers whose music runs rich with the knowledge and desire of gifts to be returned through the notes on a page, and the instrument in one's hand.

Marcus Eley writes, "For many years, I have had the privilege of performing recitals featuring African-American composers for clarinet and piano. I have felt these composers needed a format, a champion, to make certain their compositions for my instrument were not ignored. In current classical or “art music”, there is little representation in mainstream recorded music of the African-American composer. Vocal music tends to be the exception. However, for solo wind instrument, especially the clarinet, there is nothing. I want this CD of clarinet and piano music to celebrate these African-American composers. Further, it is my desire that their unique voices are heard and not forgotten."

-----

REVIEW:

Marcus Eley has done a great service to African-American composers. He is a brilliantly talented advocate for his instrument who successfully exploits everything a clarinet can do while Lucerne DeSa is an extremely sympathetic partner. Together they have created a disc of unalloyed joy. I sincerely hope that there will be more in the pipeline as he suggests this is only the tip of a musical iceberg in terms of similar works by other unknown composers.

– MusicWeb International

REGER Sonatas for Unaccompanied Violin, op. 91: No. 1 in a; No. 2 in D; No. 3 in B?; No. 4 in b; No. 5 in e; No. 6 in G; No. 7 in a • Ulrike-Anima Mathé (vn) • DORIAN 90915 (2 CDs: 115:44)


Having just reviewed a recording of Reger’s suites for solo viola with Tabea Zimmermann for the previous issue, I was pleased to receive this sumptuously reconstituted set from Dorian of the composer’s complete op. 91 sonatas for solo violin. Max Reger, it seems, is beginning to attract more mainstream attention and more of an audience than has heretofore been the case.


Reger’s seven sonatas for solo violin are important additions to the repertoire, and choice in recorded versions is extremely limited. Therefore, I do not wish to be too critical of this retread, which was originally (and still is) available as two separate discs. But I must get one thing out of the way right off the bat. Once upon a time, Dorian was roundly criticized for recordings with such excessive reverberation that they sounded like they’d been made in an echo chamber. The company apparently took the criticism to heart, for their releases that followed were significantly less echoey. Unfortunately, these not-new recordings, made in the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, New York, in 1992 and 1994, come from a period during which Dorian’s engineers were pursuing their sinful ways. I’ve heard quite a few more recent recordings that emanate from this venue, so I can vouch for the fact that it’s a hall with superb acoustics that sound nothing like this. The impression one receives the instant Ulrike-Anima Mathé’s bow touches the strings is of a vast, cavernous space that makes her violin sound three times normal size and dimensionally distorted.


That being said, judgment of Mathé’s playing should not be based on what her makeup artists did to pump it up on steroids. She articulates Reger’s difficult double-stopping and string crossings cleanly and with exceptional incisiveness. Her left-hand work is equally deft, capable of delivering pitch-perfect intonation and invigorating velocity. And though it’s hard to judge her tone quality due to the souped-up sound, I suspect that it would be quite pleasing to hear in a normal setting.


Reger-phobia is unwarranted. Anyone who has ever read anything about Reger or had any exposure to his music knows that he was obsessive-compulsive when it came to writing fugues, and that he had a “thing” about Bach. That fixation, however, led to the creation of some fascinating and intellectually stimulating music. If you enjoy listening to Bach’s sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin, you are virtually guaranteed to enjoy Reger’s sonatas, for they are Bach revisited and reheard through 1905 ears.


The technical difficulties posed by Reger’s sonatas are similar to those posed by Bach’s works for unaccompanied violin. To produce the harmony and the effect of multiple voices engaged in contrapuntal interplay, it is necessary to notate miles of double- and triple-stops and awkward string crossings, something that is neither easy nor natural to play on an instrument better suited to producing a single-voiced melody. Thus, works of this type require a technical whiz of virtuoso caliber, but they are not virtuosic display pieces in the same way that Paganini’s, Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst’s, or Eugène Ysaÿe’s somewhat later works for solo violin are. Reger’s sonatas, however, are no more boring, academic exercises than are Bach’s sonatas and partitas. The initial appeal may be intellectual, but gradually the music grows on you and blossoms into something entirely satisfying on an emotional level.


At the time these recordings were made, Mathé showed every promise of being a rising star. I’m not quite sure what has happened to her since. I reviewed a cpo CD of Friedrich Kiel’s piano quartets in Fanfare 31:5 in which she played violin; but other than that, on record at least, it doesn’t appear that she’s been very active, which is too bad, because her playing here is exceptionally good. And, as mentioned above, recordings of Reger’s op. 91 complete are few and far between. The only other current listing I find is on Troubadisc with violinist Renate Eggebrecht-Kupsa. Her account of the sonatas may be very fine (she has way more recordings listed than does Mathé), but I haven’t heard it.


Reger’s sonatas need not appeal exclusively to listeners who have a special interest in music for solo violin. So, provisionally recommended, as long as you can adjust to the recorded sound. Otherwise, you might wish to explore Eggebrecht-Kupsa’s version, although it’s pricey. I suspect, though I don’t know for sure since it was not yet listed at the time of writing, that the Dorian set, being a repackaging job, may be sold as a twofer.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Sono Luminus has come together again with the amazing talent of the Ying Quartet and is excited to release American Anthem: The Music of Samuel Barber & Howard Hanson. Bringing together musical selections that are truly expressive of the American spirit, this album also includes a selection from American composer Randall Thompson, and features pianist Adam Neiman and baritone Randall Scarlata.