Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Songs and Dances of D

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

This is a DSD (Direct Stream Digital) recording

BETWEEN FRIENDS

ROSE LAKE VISION ST. AUGUSTIN

A Copland Celebration, Vol. 3: Vocal & Choral Works

LIFE BELONGS YOU

Franck: Symphony in D Minor - Le Chasseur Maudit - Symphonic

Selections include: Symphony No. 93, Symphony No.9 4, Symphony No. 103, "Surprise," "Drum Roll."

Summer

CLASSICS FOR A NEW CENTURY

To know Esa-Pekka Salonen as a conductor who also composes is, as the booklet accompanying the first CD of his music says, ". . . to consider his story in reverse." But that's not entirely true, because the Salonen who heads the orchestra clearly informs the Salonen who writes music: in these pieces you can hear the icy grandeur of Sibelius, the eccentricity of Ligeti, the sparkle and bite of Stravinsky, the modal wash of Debussy, and even the "tonality" of Reich. From this distinguished roster (all of whom, with the exception of Reich, Salonen champions with brilliant results) comes music that is innovative without being obviously eclectic. Rather, it is clear, direct, and wholly original. This composer really knows his way around the orchestra--and what's more, he can write a melody.

The LA Variations is a 20-minute work for Salonen's own orchestra that teems with parental pride. Aside from being an enthusiastic meditation on life in L.A. (which we all know is fast and chaotic, but not without its laid-back side), Salonen riffs on fellow Finnish composer Sibelius, but with modernist eyes. And his orchestral innovation is endless: although you're convinced, especially during a moment halfway through when the percussion joins a frantic bass clarinet, that there is a tape component to this piece, there is not; it's just the consequence of a clever composer with a spectacular ear for his medium. The "Big Machine" portion of the work is relentless without being repetitive, a technique the composer uses to equal effect in the cello concerto Mania.

The Five Images After Sappho, gorgeously sung by Dawn Upshaw, are beautiful little song fragments in the spirit of the poet. Each is a little glimpse into a specific emotion, drawing on the modal pentatonic beauty of Debussy and the cool distance of Stravinsky (think Three Japanese Lyrics but more romantic). Salonen's ability to extract the sound of an entire orchestra from only 14 players is as baffling as his capacity to get his larger ensemble to sound lush and modern without sounding either "Hollywood-ish" or too dry.

Giro is the most modernist work on the disc, coming right out of the "spectral" school of another fellow countryman, Magnus Lindberg. Here, orchestral timbres bounce off one another to create non-orchestral sounds--voices, for example--which Salonen uses to striking effect. The ice-cold opening is stately and evocative of Sibelius, though Salonen uses this same device more successfully in Gambit. It's a piece that is at once playful and pensive (this duality might be the most Finnish of characteristics) and uses many of the now-defined Salonen musical traits: very clear and straightforward musical ideas, brilliantly orchestrated though not dependent on specific timbral effects to achieve their purpose. The pacing of the music is unpredictable in the best sense and doesn't lack for a sense of humor. When I heard that Salonen was scaling back his conducting efforts in order to concentrate on composing, it was with a feeling of sad loss. But now that this disc is available, here's to a nice long hiatus so he can give us more. [11/10/2001]

--Daniel Felsenfeld, ClassicsToday.com

Broadway: Super Hits, Vol. 2

Simplicity is the key to these chorale-like miniatures and musical landscapes, by turns playful and solemn. This disc is a hymn to life itself.

This disc, reissued in Sony's beautifully packaged 'Music for You' series, highlights the contemporary British composer Howard Skempton at his best and most idiomatic. While his creative peak, to date, is perhaps represented by his orchestral masterpiece Lento, these miniatures are probably more representative of his body of work as a whole and share with Lento a profound ability to communicate with their audience. Simplicity is the key here, and the composer's own booklet notes, while bearing little resemblance to the usual track by track commentary, divide the pieces into two types - chorale-like or landscapes. In one sense, I can see the logic at work here but the music encompasses so much more than that stark description could ever do.

The quintessential pianist for experimental British music of this vintage, John Tilbury, not only finds within himself performances that commune completely with works he is playing, but also contributes a second, highly perceptive booklet note. The composers he chooses to compare are American (Cage and Feldman) but I would add that anyone fond of the piano miniatures by the likes of Sculthorpe or Pärt will find much to please them here. Beyond that, I can, predictably I suppose, hear the ghost of Satie, by turns playful and solemn, at work as well.

This is a recital disc first and foremost and it would be wrong to overanalyse and isolate too many individual elements, some of which might be diminished by separation but certain tracks/pieces I cannot let pass me by without particular mention. The opening tribute to Skempton's teacher Cornelius Cardew is a friendly, unpretentious homage, whereas the extraordinary music, collected here as Images, written for a TV series about photography, places Skempton in the wider context of the English tradition with its incorporation of The Cockfight (a stunningly beautiful realisation) and, not for the first time with this composer, a version of The Keel Row. The Durham Strike reminds us that Skempton is not, unlike many of his contemporaries and, indeed, predecessors, detached from the real world but succeeds in its attempts at the transmutation of the daily grind into something more noble. These ears hear everything from Irish caoines to French impressionism in five and a half minutes of true genius.

Most of these pieces were written between 1970 and 1981, although they are not individually dated, and now it is surely time that Skempton gains the recognition he so richly deserves. Like the often very similarly inspired, though more "rock" aware music of Brian Eno's younger brother Roger, it positively bleeds artistic integrity and is what really ought to be playing on Classic FM's "chillout" sessions, rather than the pseudo-filmic ephemera of Einaudi et al. Absolutely essential, it reminds me of so many things I love in music, from the vaults of the ECM back catalogue to the contents of Singing Together I learnt as a child thirty years ago, this disc is a hymn to life itself.

-- Neil Horner, MusicWeb International

This release features legendary performances by Placido Domingo, Ying Huang, Andrea Rost, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eva Marton, Marcelo Alavarez and others.