DON QUIXOTE

METAMORPHOSE

ALPENSINFONIE

This selection is available for a limited time as a special import.
This album was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Classical
Vocal Performance.

DON JUAN

Nimble mobility, fineness of accentuation, clarity in polyphonic textures and a lyricism which steers clear of emotionalism characterize Zinman'svision of Richard Strauss's orchestral works. As required, Strauss's arches of melody surge forwards, swell or soar to the heights. An excellentrecording.

We all know this: debut albums come and go; young wizard violinists who for the most part all sound alike come and go; and certainly marketing efforts come and go. Aside from tepid reviews for a Nielsen concerto performance at Carnegie Hall with the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Herbert Blomstedt in late 2001, there hasn't been much attention paid to 26-year-old violinist Nikolaj Znaider, but in the meantime RCA Red Seal signed him to an exclusive deal. (In the interest of full disclosure, the label asked me to write the short Znaider biography that appears on its website, but I have no attachment to this disc.)


Well, RCA made a very smart move: this guy is a powerhouse, and this is one of the most impressive discs I've heard in a long time. (It's actually not his first album; he made a recording of Nielsen and Bruch for EMI that--surprise, surprise--was issued and cut out in near record time, and a lot of people are mistaking this RCA disc as Znaider's debut.) Although he studied with the late Dorothy DeLay at Juilliard, he has honed a distinct sound and a clear point of view, unlike many of DeLay's other students who have an unfortunate tendency to machine-gun their way through difficult scores, firing off passages with rat-a-tat-tat accuracy and zero emotion. Znaider, on the other hand, manages to be both muscular and achingly sweet, an unbelievable combination that works especially well in the shifting moods of the Prokofiev.


There's a nasty edge to the outer movements, a knowing sourness to Znaider's playing that's reminiscent of Oistrakh. The excitement that builds in the final minute and a half of the concerto's last movement is palpable; the tension of the thudding percussion sets off Znaider's emotionally crazed (but technically impeccable) cross-registral runs. On the other hand, the inner Andante assai offers the violinist a chance to show off a lyrical romanticism that is echoed in the less interesting Glazunov concerto, a piece that compositionally is far more one-dimensional than the Prokofiev. The tossaway here is the Tchaikovsky Méditation, but again it's a chance for the young Danish violinist (of Polish-Israeli heritage) to show off his lush, rich sound and flexible phrasing that undoubtedly will remind many listeners of the golden age of violinists.


Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony are astute accompanists, playing crisply and cleanly (if a bit leaden-footed in the first movement of the Prokofiev), but the truth is that in all respects this is Znaider's star turn. The sound is realistic and the balance between soloist and orchestra is excellent.
--Anastasia Tsioulcas, ClassicsToday.com

With his recording of the spectacular Beethoven symphony cycle and of Mozart's violin concertos David Zinman and the TonhalleOrchestra Zurich have finally established themselves as the first address for classical repertory. The successful co-operationwith ARTE NOVA is being continued with orchestral works by Richard Strauss.

MEXICO LINDO

This selection is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording.

Composer: Harry Gregson-Williams.
Personnel include: Lisbeth Scott (vocals); Hugh Marsh (electric guitar); Nigel Eaton (hurdy-gurdy); Jacob Heringman (lute); Martin Tillman (electric cello); Richard Harvey (woodwinds).
Recording information: Abbey Road Studio, London, England.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved book has been with us for more than 60 years, a staple of French language classes in the English-speaking world, and of the night stands of young people of the more philosophical sort. It’s an elusive story, easier to feel than to explain, and it takes a light touch to translate it, to say nothing of adapting it for another medium. (Others have tried.) This new “children’s opera” has been performed in Houston and in New York City, and televised by the BBC. It is the latter studio production that has been simultaneously released by Sony Classical on DVD and CD. Oxford-educated Rachel Portman has been writing film scores since the early 1980s; these include The Cider House Rules, Sense and Sensibility, The Human Stain, and the Emmy-winning Emma. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she prefers acoustic instruments to electronics, and her scores are warm, emotional, and human. She was a good choice for The Little Prince. The libretto was prepared by Nicholas Wright, who more or less managed to retain the original’s flavor without too much saccharine. (Lines such as “Anything essential is invisible to the eye” and “Eyes are blind, look only with your heart” are bound to get the cynics groaning, however.) Thousands of children were auditioned for the title role and for the ensemble. (This process is featured in a 13-minute “Blue Peter” special, which is a bonus on the DVD.) Maria Bjørnson’s sets and costumes are faithful to Saint-Exupéry’s vision.

Although The Little Prince is not an instant classic, it’s heartening proof that integrity and sensitivity still exist in the music business. Portman’s music is touching, and it is of the proper scale for the story. One must remark, however, that her score is not ideally varied over the course of the opera, and that her experience as a film composer is more noticeable than her skill as a composer for the voice. Kudos to her anyway for not talking down to her potential audience, and for not cheapening the material with “pop” inflections. Indeed, what Poulenc or Britten might have done with this story—and it would have been a natural for them—is not so different from what Portman has done, within her own style. Again, her score perfectly captures the book’s childlike wonder and—for the lack of a better phrase—its tough sweetness.

The casting seems perfect. In the title role, serious little Joseph McManners looks and sings like an angel, but there’s not a trace of specious cuteness or sentimentality in his portrayal. But really, it would be invidious to single him out, given the warm and dedicated performances by Teddy Tahu Rhodes, White, Garrett, and others. (Aled Jones, himself an accomplished boy soprano in days gone by, sings the brief role of the Drunkard.) All soloists have perfect diction, rendering the libretto unnecessary. (The chorus doesn’t enunciate quite that well, unfortunately.) Francesca Zambello’s direction stays out of the way of the story, enhancing its simplicity and creating a space in which one’s imagination can fly.

The CDs are a little longer than the DVD. Apparently there was a 90-minute limit on what could be broadcast by the BBC, so cuts amounting to a few minutes in total—nothing disfiguring—were made. I guess this means that if you fall in love with The Little Prince, you’ll want both—the DVD so you can see it all, and the CDs so you can hear it all.

Call me a pessimist, but I think The Little Prince—the book and the opera—probably is too thoughtful and too uneventful for today’s younger children, reared as they are on video games and other instant gratifications. If you know an emotionally or musically talented high schooler, however, he or she might fall in love with it. Failing that, I am sure there’s many an adult who would enjoy The Little Prince, with or without children of his or her own.

Raymond Tuttle, FANFARE

Personnel: Pedro Jose Sanchez Martinez (vocals); Tito Alcedo, Javier Crespo (guitar); Julia Malkova (violin); Ara Malikian (viola); Pavel Gomziakov (cello); Bob Sands (saxophone); Juan Miguel San Bartolome (trumpet); Javier Casado (piano); Victor Merlo (double bass); Angel Crespo (percussion).

This is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording

There's no such thing as a "definitive" recording, but if there were, this one would come close to that imagined ideal. Its special qualities haven't dimmed a bit in the four decades since it was recorded, and every interpretive decision comes across with the inevitability of fate itself. First, you get the first-movement exposition repeat (very unusual for its time), then there's the very slow (but still very flowing) Largo, gorgeously played and far from the trudge-fest that Bernstein would make of it in his lousy later recording for DG. The scherzo goes like the wind, the fastest ever, and the finale offers simply the last word in excitement. If you don't own this performance in some form, then you don't know the "New World".

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com