Jeneba Kanneh-Mason's debut solo album is out now! 'Fantasie' takes you on a journey that explores connections across different composers' sound worlds. From Claude Debussy, Fr�d�ric Chopin and Alexander Scriabin to Florence Price, Margaret Bonds and William Grant Still, Jeneba presents a programme which is also very personal to her as an artist.

In the early 1960s, four young musicians who had been playing chamber music at Rudolf Serkin’s Marlboro School and Festival in Vermont were encouraged to form a string quartet. In July 1964, the Guarneri Quartet gave its first concert and less than a year later made its first recordings under contract to RCA Victor. For the next 45 years, with only one change of personnel, the Guarneris performed all over the world and amassed a large, wide-ranging, prize-winning discography. Sony Classical now presents, for the first time in a single collection, all the recordings made by the Guarneri Quartet for RCA between 1965 and 2005.

When the announcement came of its retirement at the end of the 2008–09 season, the eminent British critic Rob Cowan wrote a perceptive, affectionate tribute to the Guarneri Quartet in Gramophone, comparing it to the Juilliard Quartet, the other superb ensemble that had dominated the American quartet catalogue for so many years. Using their respective Bartók recordings as an example, he contrasted the “cut-glass precision” of the Juilliard’s early-60s set to the Guarneri’s “volatile, free-spirited, generously expressive and tonally rich” performing style in its RCA cycle from the mid-70s.

That characterization of the Guarneri Quartet’s playing runs through virtually all the reviews garnered in their long recording career, a story that began with the 1966 release of two of Mozart’s late “Prussian” Quartets and an album coupling Dvořák and Smetana. HiFi Stereo Review wrote that “not since the Juilliard String Quartet set the New York music world on its collective ear some 25 years ago has a new chamber group created such a furor as the Guarneri Quartet on the occasion of its New York début in February, 1965. This pair of discs demonstrates eloquently what all the shouting was about, for these players – Arnold Steinhardt, John Dalley, Michael Tree, and David Soyer – blend precision with flexibility of phrasing and rhythm in a way not often encountered in contemporary American string groups. Here, indeed, is the influence of the seed bed from which the quartet stems – the Marlboro of Rudolf Serkin, Alexander Schneider, and Pablo Casals … To the Smetana [‘From My Life’] the Guarneri Quartet brings blazing intensity and fierce rhythmic verve, while the wonderful slow movement of the Dvořák [Op. 105] comes forth from the stereo speakers with an almost orchestral lushness, yet with inner voices flawlessly balanced.”

Other critics concurred in their reviews of these two LPs: “The foursome produces an unfailingly luscious tone, plays with letter-perfect intonation, and displays all sorts of felicitous pinpoint balances and coloristic effects. And how these gentlemen stay together … even in the most wayward of tempo changes. In short, this is ensemble work of a transcendental variety … The Guarneri Quartet is the most gifted group of its kind I have heard in years” (High Fidelity). “This is distinguished Mozart playing indeed. Its technical excellence needs little comment: as with the Dvořák/Smetana record … last month, with this team you take technical mastery for granted as soon as you hear the first phrase, and straightaway it's the intensely musical quality of the playing which strikes you. Theirs is Mozart played with the classical virtues, above all with firm line, poise and sensibility. The surface of the music is polished, but how much the Guarneri Quartet find beneath” (Gramophone).

Arthur Rubinstein was the quartet’s longtime keyboard partner. In 1966, they recorded the Piano Quintets of Schumann and Brahms: “Rubinstein and the Guarneris search out to equally convincing effect the flowingly lyrical aspects of the music, and this yields special rewards in a ravishing slow movement [the Brahms]” (HiFi Stereo Review). Dvořák’s followed in 1971: “The performance is beautifully balanced between the gentleman at the keyboard and the gentlemen with strings, and the sense of give and take comes from the experience of many collaborations” (High Fidelity).

They also recorded the piano quartet literature, beginning in 1967 with “beautiful performances” (High Fidelity) of Brahms. Their reading of Fauré’s Op. 25 in C minor was judged (also by High Fidelity) to be “beautifully played and exquisitely well reproduced. The instrumental lines are wonderfully clear in this highly directional recording … Rubinstein displays his regal style.” And in a disc containing both of Mozart’s piano quartets, “the playing throughout both sides is extremely beautiful … and superbly integrated – at once expressive and elegant, making all of Mozart’s points with clarity, straightforwardness, and the exalted give-and-take that is the life’s breath of real chamber music. The recorded sound, too, is exceptional for its richness, balance, and clarity” (HiFi Stereo Review).

One of many other composers who feature prominently in Sony’s Guarneri collection is Haydn. About the ensemble’s 1977 recording of the two Op.77 quartets, HiFi Stereo Review wrote that “these spirited, attractive performances of Haydn's two greatest string quartets are marked by a sense of real involvement. Articulation is crisp, ensemble is impeccable, and there is an organic flow from the first phrase to the last in each work”, while Gramophone praised their “deeply thoughtful, powerfully paced” 1986 reading of Haydn’s Seven Last Words.

With reinforcement from the Budapest Quartet in 1965, the Guarneris produced an “absolutely stunning performance (HiFi Stereo Review) of Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence sextet. In 1966, they recorded quartets by Mendelssohn and Grieg (the latter receiving its CD première in this set): “The Guarneri ensemble does itself proud throughout this disc – most notably in the Mendelssohn, in which they display a tonal homogeneity and a warmth of phrasing that are truly striking. It is as though one instrument, not four, were producing the lovely sound that emerges from the speakers. Happily, the RCA recording staff has come up here with a string quartet sonority of the utmost intimacy, yet endowed with just enough room tone to enhance the naturally warm tone of the Guarneris” (HiFi Stereo Review).

But the heart of any string quartet’s repertoire is inevitably the Beethoven cycle, and it is with these works that the Guarneris were most closely associated. They made their complete recording for RCA between 1966 and 1969. Gramophone described the Early Quartets as “elegant and buoyant, with well-chosen tempos, subtle bowing, crisp articulation, telling contrasts between staccato and legato, and a consistent sense of style.” HiFi Stereo Review enumerated the virtues of their Middle Quartets: “(1) excellent intonation; (2) glowing tone; (3) ensemble that is balanced and accurate but always flexible and natural; (4) superb phrasing and line-building; (5) good feeling for a high Beethoven style. These are strong and expressive readings that often achieve great poetic insight and a powerful dynamic impulse.” The HiFi Stereo Review’s critic rhapsodized over their Late Quartets: “If I had to make the choice of a very few records to take with me to a desert island, I’d choose recordings of the last five Beethoven string quartets. Now, with the arrival of this new album (complete with the Grosse Fuge) by the Guarneri Quartet, I’ve got my island package. All I need is the island. The Guarneri is, without a doubt, one of the most extraordinary string quartets before the public these days: the group has an absolutely stunning sense of both soloistic and ensemble color. Indeed, I can’t think of another string quartet that can match them for sheer sensuous appeal.”

SUMMARY:

• With the first release of the Guarneri Quartet’ recording of Mendelssohn’s Quartet No. 3, transferred and edited from the session reels using 24 bit / 192 kHz technology

• 9 quartet recordings for the first time on CD, transferred and mastered from the original analog tapes, 3 quartets remastered, using 24 bit / 192 kHz technology

• Includes collaborations with Arthur Rubinstein, Leonard Rose, Mischa Schneider, Pinchas Zukerman, Walter Trampler, Ida Kavafian, and more

• Original LP sleeves and labels, booklet with full discographical notes

...an abundantly characterful, often exquisitely observant reading of the Enigma Variations set down at Walthamstow towards the end of 1954... Beecham sifts Elgar’s textures with rare mastery, and there are some delectable sounds throughout from his RPO wind principals (above all, Jack Brymer’s wonderfully hushed solos in the ‘Romanza’). Elsewhere, ‘Troyte’ fairly tears out of the blocks (distinctive, gun-shot timpani), and the finale struts with an irresistible physicality and unbuttoned thrust. By contrast, ‘Dorabella’ skips along in a more leisurely fashion than usual, and I love the tender intimacy Beecham imparts to ‘Ysobel’. A pity about the botched opening of ‘RPA’; otherwise, an Enigma to savour, if not quite ousting such legendary near-contemporaries as the evergreen Monteux or Barbirolli’s inspirational 1956 Halle account from the head of a very long list. It’s preceded by a terrific, swaggeringly exuberant Cockaigne (whose ripe coda heralds a startling change in both ambience and perspective) and a wholly disarming, gently affectionate reading of the Serenade for Strings.

-- Gramophone [8/2001]

MOZART: DON GIOVANNI (HIGHLIGH

Let’s cut right to the chase: Ormandy’s Tallis Fantasia is one of the reference versions of the work, while his Delius is every bit as fine as Beecham’s. It has all of the same virtues: flowing tempos (indeed, in Brigg Fair he’s a minute quicker), magnificent orchestral playing, and a willingness to let the music unfold freshly and naturally. The only reason these performances fail to receive the acclaim that they deserve is because the English press, historically, has been quick to dismiss foreigners who dare to compete with home-grown talent in “their” music, and no one else much cares.

Still, just listen to the massed Philadelphia strings in the first great tutti of the Tallis Fantasia (first sound sample). This is great playing, and beyond that Ormandy’s tempo, a bit quicker than usual, gives the music an uncommon degree of energy without compromising its nobility of spirit. The Fantasia on ‘Greensleeves’ is basically indestructible and certainly in no danger here, while Sony offers a lovely bonus in the form of The Lark Ascending, affectingly played by Cleveland Orchestra concertmaster Rafael Druian and the Cleveland Sinfonietta under Louis Lane.

As for the Delius works, has there ever been a more purely beautiful version of In a Summer Garden? Or a more rapturously played recording of Brigg Fair (second sound sample)? Ormandy’s reputation has never been lower than it is at present, but there was a reason he was Sony’s (Columbia’s) “house” conductor in the 50s and 60s. He and his orchestra maintained a level of versatility and polish that no one else could match, and his catholicity of taste was remarkable. This surprising disc makes a fine tribute to his art, and an eloquent reminder of his achievement in repertoire for which he was, to put it mildly, not a household name.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

A delightful collection. Casadesus plays Rameau to the manner born. Highlights include a comically zippy Le Rappel des Oiseaux and a lusciously flowing Les Niais de Sologne--the latter featuring a particularly impressively sculpted, sensitively balanced left hand. The Scarlatti sonatas rise to the same level. Casadesus achieves a harpsichord-like clarity of articulation while never denying himself the sensitive dynamic shadings unique to the piano. In the hugely virtuosic K. 533 and K. 14 his trills and runs rival Horowitz's, and he understands the need to project the horn imitations in K. 430 with brassy brilliance and verve. On the other hand, Casadesus' legato but always pointed phrasing in the great B minor sonata, K. 27, projects just the right smooth elegance. Recorded in 1952, the mono sound has been nicely remastered and in no way limits the impact of the performances.


The second half of the recital jumps ahead to the Classical Period, and to the early 60s sonically speaking. The Haydn sonata sports an especially lovely central Adagio, and Casadesus catches its simple eloquence without a trace of affectation. He also takes Haydn at his word in the dazzling Presto finale, playing with a breezy velocity that enhances the music's good-humored sense of fun. The Mozart quintet unites Casadesus with some distinguished partners, including John de Lancie (oboe) and Mason Jones (horn). It's a sincere compliment to say that they play the music like Poulenc: in other words, the performance has pungent wit, urbanity, and a nicely modern, "sec" quality that perfectly marries classical poise with surprising touches of sentiment (in the last two movement particularly). Sony France's ongoing tribute to Casadesus has come up with another intelligently planned, essential installment.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

SCARLATTI: HARPSICHORD SONATAS

These 1967/68 recordings are not to be confused with the earlier Mozart cycle Lili Kraus made for the Haydn Society and recently reissued by Music & Arts. Close microphone placement yielded a bright, slightly flinty sonority that I remember from CBS/Odyssey's vinyl incarnation. Although I have not heard Sony's earlier CD reissue, the present edition's warmer, more rounded equalization unmasks subtleties of touch and nuance that showcase Kraus' pianism in more flattering, colorful light than before. In contrast to Joyce Hatto's operatic cultivation, Walter Gieseking's classical poise, and András Schiff's ornamental flair, Kraus is all passion and drama. An expressionist aesthetic governs her boldly contrasted dynamics, hard-hitting accents, and faster-than-common slow movements, along with angular phrasings and pedal effects that underline harmonic felicities and underplay barlines.

This approach best suits darker, more serious pieces such as the C minor Fantasy/Sonata K. 475/457 and the A minor K. 310 sonata. Similarly, Kraus' gaunt, stinging way with K. 331's famous first-movement variations and concluding Rondo Alla Turca liberates the music from decade's worth of interpretive cotton candy.

Perhaps the early sonatas, the bubbly D major Rondo, and "easy" C major K. 545 lack surface charm and elegance, largely due to Kraus' tendency to "think ahead" and push rapid passages slightly ahead of the beat (a habit of her one-time teacher Artur Schnabel), yet her nervous energy always enlivens rather than obliterates Mozart's intentions. I only wish that Kraus also had recorded the wonderful F major Sonata K. 533/494. It's good to have these invigorating, often provocative performances available again.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

RESPIGHI: FONTANE DI ROMA, PIN

SCHUBERT: PIANO MUSIC FOR FOUR

SCARLATTI, VIVALDI: STABAT MAT

...Ferro conducts with a mixture of ease and ebullience... [T]he Ferro set is well cast, with Enzo Dara as an amusing Magnifico, the young Francisco Araiza ardent and freshvoiced as the Prince, and Lucia Valentini Terrani—the leading Cenerentola of her time—giving a reading that is ripe, meaningful and suitably virtuosic in its lustrous, dark-grained way.

-- Gramophone [6/1991]

SCHUBERT: OCTET CLEVELAND OCT

GLUCK Iphigénie en Tauride • Riccardo Muti, cond; Carol Vaness ( Iphigénie ); Giorgio Surian ( Thoas ); Thomas Allen ( Oreste ); Gösta Winbergh ( Pylade ); Anna Zoroberto ( First Priestess ); Michaela Remor ( Second Priestess ); La Scala O & Ch • SONY 52492 (2 CDs: 116:34 Text and Translation) Live: Milan 3/1992


I have a personal criterion for judging sopranos in modern recordings of any role that Maria Callas excelled in: If you can beat Callas, you are gold. And despite her achievements in bel canto roles (most of which I find uninteresting, either dramatically or as music), I still think that Callas’s greatest gift to the world of opera, particularly opera in Italy, was to point out to the entire country and the world how much more there was in roles like Elvira in I Vespri Siciliani, Cheribini’s Medea, Iphigénie in this opera, and yes, even Lady Macbeth than had been previously thought. If you had given me a lie detector test in February 1992, a month before this recording was culled from its six live performances at La Scala, I would have told you that no soprano in the world would ever eclipse Callas’s reading of the title role in this opera.


Yet within the first five minutes of this recording, both Muti’s driving, insistent intensity and Vaness’s driving, soaring voice made me eat those words. And that is no disservice to Callas. Her live performance of this opera is still one of her finest moments, but as you continue to listen to the Vaness recording you realize how much more chameleon-like her performance was. Vaness had more colors in the voice, more changes of focus, volume and even changes of “face” than Callas did in her performance. Don’t ask me how she did it. I’m not sure if it was mostly her idea, Muti’s, or a combination of both. All I know is that it works.


Moreover, the rest of the cast here is superior to Callas’s, particularly the Pylade of Gösta Winbergh that is well-nigh flawless. Millions of opera lovers publicly mourned the death of tenor Franco Corelli, but not me. I mourned the untimely death of Winbergh, one of the finest yet most understated tenors of his time. What other tenor, in this era, so painstakingly built his career, rung by rung, from Mozart to Wagner with every stop in between? His technique was flawless, his tone warm and ingratiating, his interpretations among the finest I’ve ever heard in the varied roles that he sang, and this recording is one of his finest moments.


This recording is also one of Muti’s finest moments. How I wish he’d had this cast when he performed Spontini’s La Vestale.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley [5/2012]

...I think Ormandy sees [Das Lied von der Erde] very much in symphonic terms. It's a view often put forward by scholars casting the first and second songs as first and second movements, songs three, four and five running together as a kind of scherzo-intermezzo third movement (fourth song as quasi trio to the other two movements' scherzo), and the sixth song as fourth movement/finale. The reason I see this in Ormandy's account is that he seems to see the third, fourth and fifth songs in very much the same way, the same tone, with very little variation in approach from song to song though he stressed well the chinoiserie that is a feature of Mahler's orchestration. Then there is the fact that less than usual of the work’s darker undertones are brought out by him. There are some lovely woodwinds at the start of "Von der Jugend", though, matched with Richard Lewis's lighter delivery paying greater dividends here than elsewhere. However, Lewis is always much more the witness than the participant, especially in comparison with others, and even more detached from the words in "Der Trunkene im Fruhling". This work must involve the listener at all times and there are passages in this recording when I am not. Though let it be said there is a fine "stepping inside" of the scene by Lewis at "Ja! Der Lenz ist da" (Yes! Spring is here") and he also manages a laugh when describing the bird's laughter. Lewis has limited attack in the first song, though. He is more mellow and lyrical than colleagues like Peter Schreier for Sanderling (Berlin Classics 009 4022BC) but Ormandy matches him in being more lighter-toned than Klemperer, Sanderling or Horenstein (BBC Legends BBCL 4042-2). He is more concerned with the singing line and communicating energy and lift, which is certainly no bad thing in itself. There is less contrast between the varying sections of the song too. The passage starting with "Das firmament blaut ewig" is delivered by Lewis with none of the irony it is capable of and in the "ape and graves" section he is a little overwhelmed by the orchestra, well though he sings. Here Wunderlich for Klemperer (EMI 5 66892 2) manages to ride the climax admirably. Not surprisingly Lewis doesn't have Schreier's distinctive delivery on each "dark is life; dark is death" refrain" for Sanderling. The playing of the orchestra is superb, however, giving notice from the start we are in the presence of one of the world's great ensembles.

Ormandy opens the second song with admirable restraint and icy-coldness. This is late autumn with no heat at all. Lili Chookasian has a light voice and her first entrance doesn't bode too well for what is to come. All this brings some dividends when the orchestra shows a wonderful burst of warmth, especially from the lower strings at "Bald werden die verwelkten" ("Soon the withered golden leaves"). In fact, the Philadelphia strings are (and it should be no surprise) one of the glories of this recording and show Chookasian up rather. If only she could sing as well as they do! At "Ich weine viel in meinem Einsamkeiten" ("Long do I weep in my loneliness") hear also the solo horn against the oboe picked out by Ormandy and then "Sonne der Liebe willst du nie mehr scheinen" (Sun of love will you never shine again), where, as with Lewis in the "ape and graves" section of the first song, Chookasian is rather overwhelmed by the power of the orchestra. In "Von Der Schoenheit" she struggles to make the words tell, not least in the horse section which Ormandy takes very fast making her hang on for dear life. Then in the opening of "Der Abschied" there is some lack of tragic weight. But this is in common with what appears to be the philosophy behind Ormandy's performance. Again and again the stress is on refinement, fastidiousness, polish and no praise can be too high for the orchestra who bring really cultured playing to everything. Again Chookasian seems more than a touch under-involved. With Lewis detachment could be looked on as a positive stance but with Chookasian I feel it's simply that she isn't quite up to the peculiar demands of this piece. This is never more so than in the challenge of the last song where her rather peripheral feeling for the words tells most of all. But Ormandy's polish is in evidence throughout and a good example is his accompaniment of "Die Blumen blassen im Dammerschien" ("The flowers grow pale in the twilight"). He is very controlled too, helped by a slightly faster tempo than we are used to so that crucial line "Alle sehnsucht will nun traumen" doesn't move us as it should. He also skates too discursively over the wonderful bird section. This is a real example of his refinement robbing the music of one of its most distinctive moments: more "Ma Mere l'oye" than "Le Chant de la terre". Although that expressionist, "Pierrot Lunaire-like" section beginning "Es wehet kuhl" with flute and string bass underpinning has a fine sense of stillness it has less depth than it needs so that when the music warms up there is less feeling of respite. In the funeral march orchestral passage there is some extraordinary music where Mahler pushes the boundaries of tonality to the limit, but Ormandy rather throws it away in pursuit of smooth edges. The overall tempo is also too quick to make the effect it has to, though there is some wonderful playing from the cellos at the climax, really digging into their phrases. This is more than Chookasian does in the closing section, I feel. Her attention to the words is not really close and her tone rather one-dimensional; not expressive enough for music that expresses so much and Ormandy rather forces her on.

In sum a beautiful performance of Mahler’s late masterpiece, especially from the point of view of conductor and the orchestra. But there is more to this work than what lies on the surface and Ormandy's apparent stress on those symphonic aspects seems to encourage him in his refinement of everything else. Lewis's detachment at least seems to have point. Chookasian, on the other hand, one suspects is witness because she doesn't know how to get more involved or whether she should. On balance I think the same applies to Ormandy who doesn't really impress as a Mahlerian in this most elusive of works. He is saved by his wonderful orchestra who, in spite of some slightly faster tempi than we are used to, make this a performance to be enjoyed, for all I may not regard it as a front runner.

A coupling for Das Lied is rare but here is a very substantial one in the shape of the five Rückert Songs in a performance that finds Frederica Von Stade at the height of her considerable powers and Andrew Davis as ever an excellent accompanist. This is not a reason to buy this release, but certainly one to make up for any shortcomings in the main work.

Ormandy and his great orchestra are the real stars of this fine release.

-- Tony Duggan, MusicWeb International