Zino Francescatti never made a better disc than his 1958 coupling of Mozart's Violin Concertos Nos. 3 in G, K216 and 4 in D, K218. The Californian sound is again warm and well balanced and Walter and the Columbia Symphony provide affectionate, immaculately turned accompaniments. The slow movements are slightly romantic in feeling, but agreeably so, and the overall impression is one of freshness combined with the performers' love for the music.

-- Gramophone [8/1995]

KANCHELI: SYMPHONIES NO. 6 & N

This is boisterous good fun, Christmas cheer performed with tremendous verve, well calculated to produce the 'medieval sound' that goes with Christmas trees, holly and mistletoe.

...Twenty years earlier [then Sequentia's recordings of this repertoire], Konrad Ruhland's approach is totally different: the melody instruments merely doubling the tune and those accompanying simply reiterating obvious patterns. This, too, would seem perfectly justifiable-especially for a more popular type of repertoire, which is exactly what we have in the Christmas Cantiones from the Moosburg Graduale of 1360.

"Christmas", the Ruhland remastering (though not entirely restricted to that season), was well worth the effort. It is all boisterous good fun. Christmas cheer performed with tremendous verve, well calculated to produce the 'medieval sound' that goes with Christmas trees, holly and mistletoe. It is nearly all in 6/8 and there is a lot of major mode, and it includes such famous items as Resonet in laudibus: you know the sort of popular repertoire. It's just the sort of CD that one needs as background music for the office Christmas drinks party. Sadly, no texts are given, but, luckily for us, the singers do articulate extremely well.

-- Gramophone [12/1997]

Casals directed Mozart with regimented authority... Of the piano concertos, however, the hitherto unreleased K466 proves unexpectedly serviceable, although Serkin's account of K482, exultant and miraculous, utterly transcends Yvonne Lefebure in the other work.

-- Michael Jameson, BBC Music Magazine

NASIDZE, TSINTSADZE: QUARTETS

Haydn: Paris Symphonies Nos. 82-84

This CD contains both DDD and ADD recordings.

SCHEIDEMANN, SCHILDT, BRUHNS,

Schumann’s treatment of Goethe is a curiously uneven work, composed at various stages in the last decade of his life. Parts 1 and 2 consist of dramatic scenes, which lie somewhere between opera and oratorio, rather as in Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust; but Schumann’s third part takes the music on to an altogether higher plane, setting the mystical final scene from Goethe’s poem (the same text Mahler used in his Eighth Symphony). Recordings and performances of the complete work are rare, partly because of its length (nearly two hours) and the need for multiple soloists (ten in this performance); so this exceptionally fine new Sony set, recorded ‘live’ at Berlin concerts last year, is very welcome indeed. Bryn Terfel is an ideally ardent, troubled Faust, and sings a large amount of music with consummate authority. Mattila makes us feel for Gretchen, and the ensemble numbers are led by Barbara Bonney’s silvery high soprano. The choral singing (Swedish choirs prepared by the legendary Eric Ericson) is simply outstanding, as are the Tölz Boys Choir’s lusty contributions. Most importantly of all, Claudio Abbado conducts with flair and also with great sensitivity, and the members of the orchestra respond as if they believe in every note. If this set doesn’t win an award, there’s no justice in the world.

Performance: 5 (out of 5), Sound: 5 (out of 5)

-- BBC Music Magazine

"The G minor Quintet receives a very fine, very substantial performance from this period-instrument group. The opening Allegro goes at quite a lively tempo but there is a real breadth to the rhythms and an expansiveness of phrasing which ensure that the scale of the music is properly realized, with considerable intensity at the contrapuntal climaxes of the recapitulation, surely the movement's high points. The minuet is quite brisk, considering that Mozart marked it Allegretto (presumably that was intended to mean 'slower than usual'), and a bit uncompromising, with the chords almost brutal. But the Adagio is wonderfully done, slow, deeply serious, with real tenderness and warmth. I wished only that the players would occasionally give themselves a little more space to articulate the changes in texture and mood more distinctly, and to let the music breathe. The finale, after an introduction of fine concentration, moves with great fire and energy: no sense, as sometimes with this movement, of an easy G major let-down after all the G minor passion. The passion never falters."

-- Gramophone [9/1995]

Includes toccata(s) by Giovanni Gabrieli. Ensemble: Cologne Musica Fiata. Conductor: Roland Wilson. Soloists: Graham Nicholson, Sebastian Scharr, François Petit-Laurent, Martin Lubenow, Matthias Sprinz, Yuji Fujimoto, Detlef Reimers, Sebastian Krause, Ole Andersen, Cas Gevers, Henning Plumeyer, Peter Sommer.

GREGORIAN CHANT, Vol. 2

This is a classic symphonic Beatles played by the legendary Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Symphony. Tracks include "Hey Jude," "Yellow Submarine," "Eleanor Rigby," and many more.

Non-keyboardists increasingly lay claim to Bach's Goldberg Variations on disc, from string trios and cimbalom duos, to guitar renditions and synthesizer blowouts. The challenge to both performers and arrangers is to render Bach's keyboard-specific textures with results that are technically plausible and musically convincing. A brass quintet arrangement by Arthur Frackenpohl, newly recorded by the Canadian Brass, succeeds on both counts--for the most part. The slower variations acquire an attractive ceremonial dimension in this medium, benefiting from a brass player's ability to change dynamics on a single note (which of course you can't do on piano or harpsichord). I also like how the double keyboard cross-handed variations are deployed to splendid antiphonal effect although the neccesarily slower tempos weaken Bach's original bravura intentions. Repeats are observed in each half of the opening Aria and a few select "A" sections elsewhere. "A" and "B" section da capos are respectively assigned to higher and lower instruments. The Canadian Brass achieve a blend that's akin to the dark smoothness of aged Scotch whisky, purring out rounded legato lines in which no breath seems to transpire. An electric blanket of resonance reinforces the ensemble's slick perfectionism, which probably will appeal more to brass fanciers than Bach lovers.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

CANTATAS FOR BASS • Harry van der Kamp (bs); Period Instrument Ens • SONY SK 68264 (75:39 Text and Translation)


Selections by ROSENMÜLLER, J. Christoph BACH, BUXTEHUDE, WECKMANN, SCHÜTZ, TUNDER, BRUHNS


Harry van der Kamp has made dozens of recordings, most notably of the sacred works of Bach; but so far as I can discover, this disc, originally released in 1996 and now in print as an ArkivMusic reissue, is the only solo recital album he has ever made. As the renowned Dutch bass reaches his 65th year, it is appropriate to recognize and honor one of the very greatest singers of Renaissance and Baroque repertoire ever to grace vinyl and silver discs. Even if this were not an anniversary year, however, this disc would merit inclusion in the Classical Hall of Fame as one of the finest vocal recital albums ever produced.


First, there is the remarkable voice itself. It is quite full-bodied and resonant, despite a general absence of vibrato (employed only occasionally at climaxes, and then in a very light and subtle manner). The timbre is silken-smooth, free of graveliness even in its sepulchral low notes; there is no register break, with a seamless flow from bottom to top, and no hint of strain at either end of the spectrum. Both treacherous leaps of unusual intervals and florid runs of triplets and 16th notes are dispatched effortlessly. Diction is exemplary for its clarity. Second, there are the profoundly penetrating and subtle intelligence and artistry that van der Kamp applies to every note. He is a master of musical understatement, able to make telling points with the slightest inflection of volume, tone color, and phrasing. In repertoire where word-painting is all-important, he has few rivals and no superiors.


In line with the dark hues of the bass voice, most of the sacred arias recorded here—those of Heinrich Schütz, Johann Rosenmüller, Johann Christoph Bach, and Nicholas Bruhns—are works of lamentation or imprecation. The exceptions are the two celebratory pieces of Dietrich Buxtehude, the gently pastoral and lyrical Salve coelestis pater of Franz Tunder, and the unusually florid Kommet her zu mir alle of Matthias Weckmann, the one item here that clearly follows models from the Italian rather than German Baroque. Listening to these works is a salutary reminder of how seemingly still musical waters can in fact run very deep. Operas from the High Baroque onward have accustomed us to listen for emotional expressiveness in overtly theatrical gestures—ecstatic abandonment, martial triumphalism, violent rage, lachrymose sorrow. Here is music that instead explores and evokes profound joy and sorrow with a noble dignity and gravity that, in its courtly restraint, is not one whit less powerful.


As an expositor in this musical mode, van der Kamp is unsurpassed. For example, Buxtehude’s Mein Herz ist bereit expresses solemn exaltation with extraordinary lightness and transparency. Even more astonishing is the Fili mi, Absalom of Schütz, which I unhesitatingly consider to be the greatest freestanding sacred aria ever written. The grief of King David at the loss of his rebellious son is a truly regal lament of stunning, even shattering, power, with the alternately ascending and descending solo bass line both punctuated and supported by a dolorously sonorous quartet of trombones. The work has rightly been often recorded, but no one else on CD matches van der Kamp. (The only other version that does rival him was recorded back in 1969 by Wilhelm Pommerien, with an instrumental ensemble led by Helmut Rilling, as part of two LPs of selected movements from Books 1 and 2 of the Symphoniae Sacrae— more treasures of the old Nonesuch catalog that cry out for reissue on CD.)


The unnamed period-instrument ensemble has 19 members, playing in various combinations upon violin, viola da gamba, cello, cornett, trumpet, sackbut, and trombone, with bassoon, violone, chitarrone, harp, and organ providing the continuo accompaniment as needed; one of the cornett players is the famed early-music conductor Roland Wilson. No ensemble leader is named—I suspect it is either van der Kamp himself, or else Wilson—but everyone plays exquisitely. The recorded sound is forward (the soloist is rather closely miked) and somewhat resonant. Full texts are included in German, English, and French, and also in Latin when that rather than German is the original language. This disc is an indispensable part of any collection of sacred Baroque music, and has my highest possible recommendation.


FANFARE: James A. Altena