The young period band Höör Barock, based in the south of Sweden, has chosen a colourful programme for its début disc. With recorder virtuoso Dan Laurin at the helm, the twelve musicians steer a course through Telemann’s celebrated Wassermusik (also known as Hamburger Ebb’ und Fluth) with its sea gods and goddesses dancing bourrées and gavottes before a rowdy crowd of seamen closes the suite with an energetic Canarie. The center piece of the programme is Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in F major, the composer’s arrangement of his own Brandenburg Concerto No. 4. Soloist here is Anna Paradiso, who also plays continuo in the other works of the recording. Bach is flanked on either side by two of the Op. 6 concerti grossi by another Baroque heavyweight, Arcangelo Corelli. His Concerto No. 4 and No. 8 – the much-loved Christmas Concerto – appear here in a slightly unusual guise. They are usually performed by strings alone, but inspired by recent research, Dan Laurin and his recorder-playing colleague Emelie Roos here take on the solo parts, and the tutti ensemble is joined by oboes and bassoon – while a baroque harp adds to the angelic atmosphere of the closing Christmas Pastorale of Concerto No. 8. The album closes as it began, with Telemann, whose Concerto in B flat major for winds, strings and basso continuo is a perfect example of the composer’s art, involving playful juggling of different instrumental combinations and musical ideas.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Telemann drew inspiration from just about every national genre and style of the period throughout his lengthy and prolific career. Alluding to this diversity, this program titled “Ouvertures pittoresques” (picturesque openings) features three of Telemann’s more evocative and instrumentally diverse overtures, as well as two Concerto polonois, briefer works specifically inspired by his longstanding admiration of Polish music (early on he often visited the region and remained an enthusiastic fan of the culture, and especially its folk music). The Polish period-instrument ensemble Arte dei Suonatori, directed by Martin Gester, clearly has an affinity for these concertos and delivers first rate performances throughout this 77-minute program.

The opening Overture in D major, scored for three oboes (one of Telemann’s favorite instruments), strings, and basso continuo, is composed strictly in the French style and is the least adventurous offering of the lot. Nevertheless, it’s still consummate Telemann, and when performed this well the many inspired moments–the inventive fugue that laces the second-movement Prelude Tres viste; the witty rhythmic play during the Menuets; and the ebullient, boisterous humor of the fifth-movement Harlequinade–absolutely shine.

Immediately following is one of Telemann’s most fascinating and famous works, nicknamed posthumously Völker-Overture (“The Nations”) because instead of typical dance titles, most of the movements are subtitled and meant to be evocative of specific nationalities. Like most ensembles, Arte dei Suonatori has great fun here, though the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin’s performance (Harmonia Mundi) reviewed earlier remains marginally more captivating. For instance, while the unusual use of percussion here in Les Turcs is a nice touch, Arte dei Suonatori’s performance just misses the momentum and wit that gives the Berliners’ romp a slight edge. Les Boiteux and Les Coureurs also suffer somewhat from this as well, but the group’s wonderful rendering of Les Moscovites, where the whole ensemble gradually eases into the beat (as opposed to each instrument eventually entering on their own in the Berlin performance), is equally compelling.

Before the final overture are the two Concerto polonois, works stylistically indebted as much to Poland and Saxony as they are to Italy (the verve of the allegros is especially Vivaldi-like). Musica Antiqua Köln (DG Archiv) has previously offered excellent performances of these two, often playing up the contrast between the two fast and two slow movements of each. Arte dei Suonatori takes a similar approach, yet their performance satisfies more because in comparison more attention is paid to the dynamic and rhythmic subtleties throughout, heightening the festive dance element Telemann most likely had in mind.

Concluding the program is another well-known Telemann favorite, his Ouverture, jointes d’une Suite tragi-comique, where each movement is meant to programmatically allude to either an ailment or a remedy. Not surprisingly, the ailment movements (Le Podagre, L’Hypocondre, and Le Petite-maitre) are slower, if not sluggish at times, and take nearly twice as long as the more celebratory and peppy remedies (La Poste et la Dance, Souffrance heroique, and Petite-maison: Furies). Here Arte dei Suonatori again rivals another formidable recording by the Academie für Alte Musik Berlin on Harmonia Mundi, though this time their performance is tops. For instance, the performance here of Le Podagre lumbers along convincingly enough while the Berliners’ rendering is so slow it at times borders on atonality. By drawing out more of the rhythmic variety in the Furies finale as well, Arte dei Suonatori delivers a much more exciting performance compared to the only slightly shorter Berlin mad dash.

The SACD sound is absolutely stunning. The clarity of the instrumental detail is remarkably life-like without sacrificing the illusion of the ensemble as a whole. This is state of the art Telemann and highly recommended.

-- John Greene, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

Along with Vivaldi’s ‘Seasons’ or Beethoven’s ‘Fifth’, Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos belong to those works that are so well-known that we risk taking them for granted. In order to (re-)discover the special qualities that can inspire us today, in 2001 Thomas Dausgaard and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra decided to contact six contemporary composer, asking each of them to compose a companion piece to one of the concertos. Seventeen years later, in 2018, it was time to present the result, with a performance at the BBC Proms of all the works – new and old. Recorded over a period of 18 months leading up to this event, the present boxed set provides a unique opportunity to experience six very different musical minds and idioms entering into conversation with Bach: Mark-Anthony Turnage, Steven Mackey, Anders Hillborg, Olga Neuwirth, Uri Caine and Brett Dean. Bach’s concertos are remarkable in that they are all scored for different instrumental combinations, and part of the brief to the group of composers was to reflect this. In her Aello, Olga Neuwirth has for instance used several ‘instruments’ to stand in for Bach’s harpsichord, including a synthesizer, a milk frother and a typewriter. Brett Dean, on the other hand, has stayed very close to Bach’s instrumentation, but has chosen to write his work as a preparation for Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 – an Approach to Bach’s extremely tight canonic writing. In performing the twelve works the orchestra and Dausgaard are joined by leading soloists including Clare Chase, Mahan Esfahani, Håkan Hardenberger, Pekka Kuusisto and Tabea Zimmermann.

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

With an unparalleled potential for expressivity as well as for virtuoso display, the violin is one of the Western instruments that have been most warmly embraced by non-Western musical cultures. One example of this is The Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto, one of the best-loved classical compositions in China, and probably the Chinese work that is most often performed in Western concert halls. In China, the solo part is often transcribed for one of the traditional virtuoso instruments such as the erhu, but on the present recording it is instead the orchestral part that has been arranged for Chinese traditional orchestra, the eminent violinist Lu Siqing performing the concerto with the support of the Taipei Chinese Orchestra conducted by Chung Yiu-Kwong. The 25-minute concerto forms the grand finale of a programme which mixes Western and Chinese violin favourites, beginning most appropriately with Fritz Kreisler's Tambourin Chinois, but also taking in Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen and Tchaikovsky's Mélodie, all in arrangements made especially for this recording. The disc forms the sixth instalment in a series which features Western solo instruments against the thrilling soundscapes of the Chinese traditional orchestra. Reviewing previous discs, critics have been bowled over by an orchestra capable of 'evoking delicate playfulness, high drama, or the tranquillity of a misty Chinese valley with equal atmosphere' (Classic FM Magazine) and creating 'sounds that are mysterious, biting, intoxicating, and darned close to delirious' (Fanfare).

As the centenaries of various events of the First World War are being commemorated, we are reminded of the great battles and the large-scale suffering. To imagine what day-to-day life may have been like in the trenches in Flanders is more difficult, however, 100 years later and with no living survivors of the war to bear witness. Poems and paintings can give us some idea – but, as this disc from Steven Isserlis proves, so can music! The main, more conventional section of the programme is a selection of cello works composed around the time of the war, by composers from three of the countries involved in it: France, Britain and Austria. This is followed by something rather more unusual, however, as Isserlis exchanges his ‘Marquis de Corberon’ Stradivarius for an instrument that was once played and heard in the trenches of Ypres. Harold Triggs, the owner of this so-called ‘trench cello’, brought it with him to Flanders from England – other soldiers, on both sides of the conflict, constructed their own violins, cellos or flutes on site, from ammunition boxes, pipes and whatever else they could get hold of. These instruments thus become a highly moving testimony to every man’s need for beauty and solace and joy, even in the middle of a battlefield. With the delicate support of Connie Shih on the piano (and in fact even pianos could be found in the trenches, even if not concert grands!), Isserlis and his trench cello transport us, for a brief moment, to a trench near Ypres during a quiet spell between skirmishes, with soldiers resting, writing home, playing cards – and with the help of the music dreaming of a life elsewhere.

Song composition has been a constant in British music since the lute and consort works of the early seventeenth century. By 1900, it had developed into a sophisticated genre embraced by almost all serious composers. The music on this amply-filled disc illustrates the diversity of British song-writing and it's transformation over a century: from Vaughan Williams's Orpheus and his Lute (ca 1901) to Huw Watkins's Five Larkin Songs, composed in 2010 for Carolyn Sampson, who performs them here. Together with Joseph Middleton, her partner on several acclaimed recital discs, she has devised a highly contrasting programme bookended by two groups of songs by William Walton - A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table from 1962, celebrating the diversity of London, and three songs from Fa�ade, the 'entertainment' with which the young composer gained both fame and notoriety in 1923. These frame settings by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Roger Quilter and Frank Bridge of poetry by writers from Shakespeare and Shelley to Keats and Yeats. In comparison, the anti-romantic poems by Philip Larkin have been described as marked by 'a very English, glum accuracy'. Huw Watkins (b. 1976) has selected texts from across Larkin's output, catching the various moods - ranging from a certain unsentimental nostalgia to the poet's seemingly habitual pessimism - in settings that often carry a bittersweet sting in the tail.

Classical Music

Includes work(s) by Jean Sibelius. Ensembles: Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Tempera String Quartet, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki University Chorus, Dominante Choir. Conductors: Osmo Vänskä, Neeme Järvi. Soloists: Leonidas Kavakos, Dong-Suk Kang, Anne Sofie von Otter, Bengt Forsberg, Monica Groop, Folke Gräsbeck.

This disc provides an opportunity to explore the music of the proud Englishman, the devoted friend, the loyal subject, and the faithful servant that was William Byrd, on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of his death. Through a collection of songs and instrumental works performed by the Chelys Consorts of Viols joined by tenor violist Harry Buckoke and mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, this recording introduces this key figure of the English Renaissance music: both devoutly Catholic and a favourite of the Protestant Queen, a serious character capable of weighty contemplation but also sharp wit and humour, and the loyal friend who wrote so personally and touchingly. Beginning with Thou poet’s friend, a celebration of the union of poetry and music, the ensemble’s carefully chosen works are in turn gay, sad, religious and secular, culminating in one of the best and most moving consort songs ever composed, Ye sacred Muses, a tribute to Thomas Tallis, Byrd’s teacher, colleague and friend. The seven instrumental pieces showcase Byrd’s inventiveness with their unexpected runs, cross-rhythms, daring harmonies, lively dances and the joy of sheer virtuosity.

REVIEW:

The Honour of William Byrd offers a rounded portrait of this complicated composer – sombre and witty, Catholic yet a favorite of Elizabeth I. Songs lamenting the deaths of the courtier Philip Sidney and Byrd’s mentor Thomas Tallis stand out amid a consistently intriguing program. Played by the Chelys Consort and flawlessly sung by the mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston, the whole thing is beautifully done.

-- The Guardian (UK)

In the 18th century, Leufsta Bruk - some 140 kilometres northwest of Stockholm - was the centre of a major industry producing iron both for Swedish needs and for export. It was a little principality in the middle of the forest governed by the descendants of Louis De Geer, the Belgian financier who had developed the ironworks. Highly cultured and musical, the family gathered together a remarkable collection of musical scores, a collection which mirrors the development of music and music publishing on the Continent, as well as the musical activities at a flourishing Swedish manor of the period. Presenting a sample from the Leufsta collection, this disc contains music by international stars - Tartini and Handel - as well as less familiar names, such as the London-based German composer Gottfried Keller and the Swedish composers Johan Helmich Roman and Hinrich Philip Johnsen. Concertos, keyboard solos, sonatas and duets bear testament to the entertainments - often with the active participation of members of the De Geer family themselves - that enlivened the evenings at Leufsta in the mid-18th century. The programme closes with music that has a special connection to the church of Leufsta Bruk and its famous organ from 1728: excerpts from Johnsen's Church Music, composed for the Easter Day service of 1757. Bringing these musical treasures to life is the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble, whose many recordings on BIS have created a following around the world. Released in 1985 their version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, with soloist Nils-Erik Sparf, is still considered one of the classic recordings of this work. More recently the forerunner of the present disc (Musical Treasures of Leufsta Bruk I, BIS-CD-1526) was described as a 'superbly performed ... unique collection of pieces demonstrating an eclectic and aristocratic taste of the early 18th century' by the reviewer on the website MusicWeb International. !

An important centre for iron production in 17th-century Sweden, Leufsta Bruk came into the hands of the De Geers, a Dutch family, in the 1640s. In 1730 the young Charles De Geer inherited the estate and the ironworks, and it was here that he kept his extensive collection of sheet music, including many volumes imported from Amsterdam but also works by composers based in or visiting Sweden, such as Hinrich Philip Johnsen and Conrad Friedrich Hurlebusch. Charles played the cello and the harpsichord, and it is probable that much of the music in the Leufsta collection will have been performed by members of the De Geer family themselves. The collection, now housed in the library of the University of Uppsala, thus offers fascinating insights into domestic music-making in 18th-century Sweden. This is the third album to present music from the collection, and the first to focus on vocal music. It also features the famous organ in the church belonging to the estate, built in 1728 by Johan Niclas Cahman. Ranging from Swedish chorales to French opera, the varied selection is performed by soprano Elin Rombo and members of Rebaroque, one of the leading baroque ensembles in Sweden.

There are instruments and then there are instruments … On the one hand a violin, trumpet or lead guitar so firmly planted in the spotlight that everyone else on stage is reduced to a supporting role. On the other a bassoon, double bass, drum set or Hammond organ, providing the harmonic and rhythmic backdrop against which the soloist can shine But what if the background instruments rebel? What if they strike back? ORBI – the Oscillating Revenge of the Background Instruments – is the result: four musicians making their bass-heavy instruments howl and growl (and sing!) in a mix of symphonic rock, thrusting metal and a little blues, 100% instrumental and lead-singer free. Of this Dutch quartet, Bram (on bassoon) and Rick (double bass) both pursue high-profile careers in classical music. Marijn (percussion) is classically trained but also studied in West Africa and India, and is active in many musical genres as well as multimedia projects. And keyboardist Sven Figee, finally, plays jazz, pop and rock in various constellations. Choosing from their own favourite playlists, and with the help of arranger Marijn van Prooijen, they have come up with a mix of music and sounds that is as weird and wonderful as it is surprising and addictive.

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REVIEW:

There are a couple of old favourites – it was great to hear, for example, the Led Zeppelin classic ‘Since I’ve been Loving You,’ especially in this attractive, novel arrangement.

This disc is far, far more than a novelty album. It easily bears repeated listening – and in doing so effortlessly raises a smile. Moreover, it provides an object lesson in the art of arrangement; it is a sublime example of ‘genre-bending’. I only hope that this quartet find time outside their busy schedules to make ORBI II at some point in the not too distant future.

– MusicWeb International

Classical Music

Classical Music

John Corigliano's violin concerto 'The Red Violin' originated as the score to a film about a violin by one of the Old Italian master-builders, and its journeys around the world throughout three centuries. While working on the film score, Corigliano also produced a one-movement concert version of it, which he later expanded into a full-scale concerto in four movements. The son of a violinist, Corigliano's aim was to write a concerto in a style his father would have wanted to play, and he has managed to do so without sacrificing any of the music's communicative qualities, or its wealth of colours, emotions and atmospheres. The work is coupled here with a concerto of a similar broad appeal, composed by Jaakko Kuusisto, who is a highly respected violinist in his own right, as well as conductor. In his liner notes, Kuusisto recounts how he had toyed with the idea of writing a violin concerto for several years, but that the project only came into fruition after a commission from his colleague Elina Vähälä, and the liberating prospect of composing a work for another performer than himself. Appearing for the first time on BIS, the acclaimed violinist Elina Vähäla has a wide-ranging career, both geographically and in terms of repertoire. She made her début at the age of twelve, performing as a soloist with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, which lends her spirited support on the present disc, and also performs the orchestral piece Leika. Using the Icelandic word for 'play' as its title, Kuusisto's composition displays a playfulness and wealth of colours that makes it a perfect curtain raiser for this appealing disc.

This is the second of a planned series of eight discs promising to trace the development of the trio sonata, the archetypal Baroque chamber form. The first, devoted to music from London Baroque’s home country, was reviewed in Fanfare 28:3 with considerable enthusiasm by Laura Rónai, and by myself elsewhere in a review that largely mirrored my colleague’s findings. Now London Baroque has turned its attention to what was happening during the same period across the English Channel, with equally commendable results.


The ambivalent French attitude to the sonata, an Italian invention, was famously and sardonically expressed in the words of playwright Fontenelle: “Sonate, que me veux-tu” (literally “Sonata, what do you want from me?”). A more balanced view came from the theorist François Raguenet who, although a stern critic of Italian opera, declared that he had “never met with a master in France but what agreed that the Italians knew much better how to turn and vary a trio than the French.” A number of French masters, indeed, sought to integrate the spirit of the Italian sonata, specifically the Corellian sonata, into their own style, among whom François Couperin attempted a fusion that reached a climax in the two sets of L’apothéoses , dedicated respectively to Corelli (1724) and Lully (1725). (Both have already been recorded by London Baroque on BIS CD1275, not reviewed in Fanfare. )


The selection made by London Baroque provides a representative cross section of writing in trio style, taking us chronologically from Lully to Clérambault (one assumes the series will include a second French disc devoted to the 18th century), and managing to include at least one unfamiliar name in the shape of Jean Nicolas Geoffroy (?–1694), a shadowy figure whose obscurity is not helped by the fact that there was more than one composer of that name working in Paris at the time. According to gambist Charles Medlam’s note, his Dialogues were probably originally intended for organ, but they work well enough in this form, if too diffuse to lay any claim to the structural balance of the true trio sonata. Much the same can be said of the little pieces by Louis Couperin, which provide no indication as to instrumentation. Lully’s trios for the ceremony of Le coucher du Roi , performed daily at Versailles by the petits violons , do achieve true equality between the two violins, but, true to form, the Italian-born Lully firmly implanted French style on the music. Although Marais’s Pièces en trio (1692) were the first works to be published in France in trio form, they are in fact a collection of mostly dance movements that following tradition could be arranged in suites. As such, they too bear little relationship to the true trio sonata, preferring to explore the French love of varying sonorities rather than the symmetrical balance of the Italian sonata, an observation that applies equally to the Suite by Gaspard le Roux (1660–1707).


It is only with the next generation that an awareness of the Italian model emerges. François Couperin’s La Superbe is well named, being a majestic work that pays overt homage to Corelli in the suspensions of its opening movement, and the fugal writing of the second, while Jean-Féry Rebel’s tombeau in honor of Lully largely remains loyal to native style, but also betrays Italian leanings in some dazzling solo violin-writing and furious tremolandos in its fourth movement. Most Italianate of all is the work by Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, significantly the only one included here to bear the name “sonata.”


With the proviso that, as with the disc of English works, London Baroque’s style of playing manifestly owes more to the 18th than the 17th century, these performances can be thoroughly recommended. The technical expertise, splendid sense of balance between the players, finesse, and spirited approach are by now all familiar assets, while the music is of generally high quality and well worth hearing. The engineering occasionally imparts a glassiness to the violins’s upper register, but is otherwise fine. I look forward to further issues in this interesting series.


FANFARE: Brian Robins

On two previous discs, London Baroque has explored the genre of the trio sonatas as it unfolded in 17th Century France and England. Both these issues met with great acclaim. The ensemble has now arrived in Germany, or more correctly: the German-speaking world of the time, as the programme also features works from the Low Countries and Austria. The great masters of the period, Buxtehude and Biber - are both among the ten composers represented here. But included are also other, less well-known names, such as Johann Schmelzer and Johann Rosenmüller. The great variety of styles and forms found on the disc fully reflect the diversity among the composers, while also serving to remind the listener of the fact that the trio sonata genre was just becoming established during the period.

Giovanni paolo cima;Francesco Turini; G.B. Buonamente; Dario Cast London Baroque The Trio Sonata in 17th Century Italy.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Formed in 1978, London Baroque enjoys the position of being one of the most experienced and long-lived baroque chamber groups. Combining 8 albums originally released between 2003 and 2013, the present set of trio sonatas can be seen as the fruit of all those years of research, experiment and discovery. The trio sonata was the primary vehicle for chamber music in the seventeenth and at least half of the eighteenth centuries. Its history mirrors other developments throughout the whole of the baroque era. This set is chiefly concerned with those for two violins and continuo, with occasional digressions into those for violin, bass viol and continuo, and one with viola replacing the second violin. Like the string quartet in later ages, most composers (with some notable and regrettable exceptions) tried their hand in the form. The customary addition of a figured bass part played on a harpsichord or organ around 1600 meant that middle parts of the old contrapuntal style could be excluded and chamber music soon began to favor the trio sonata texture. 150 years later, with the string quartet, the process was reversed as the viola took over the middle ground previously occupied by the keyboard.

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Excerpts from reviews of previously released volumes included in this set:

The Trio Sonata In 18th-century Germany

London Baroque is one of the older ensembles in the world of historical performance practice. It is still going strong, and it is remarkable how it has kept its high standard over so many years. That also applies to the Bis trio sonatas series: eight discs, intelligently put together and forming a lively documentation of an important part of music history. The playing is again of the highest quality.

– MusicWeb International

The Trio Sonata In 18th-century Italy

London Baroque’s program-opening performance of Albinoni’s Balletto in G features a fresh, unsentimental treatment of the composer’s characteristically slow first-movement Preludio Largo, followed by sprite deliveries of the second and third movements and a dashing Vivaldi-esque concluding Gavotta Presto. Their performance of Giuseppe Sammartini’s Sonata V is equally inspired. Locatelli’s Sonata in D major also receives a captivating, distinguished performance featuring plenty of thrilling fiddling, especially in the Allegro molto finale. London Baroque performs Vivaldi’s famous Op. 1 No. 12 trio sonata “La Folia” with the leaner continuo of just a cello and harpsichord backing the two violins originally specified by the composer. How refreshing!

– ClassicsToday

Trio Sonata In 18th Century France

Listening to these virtuoso performers swing through much of Couperin’s glorious music is often dazzling. It’s been more than a decade since London Baroque began its European trio sonata recording odyssey for BIS, with by and large great success. And here is another wonderful installment, warmly recommended.

– ClassicsToday

The Unknown Sibelius presents a spectrum of the music that is the least wide-spread of the Finnish master’s production, either because the pieces included belong to genres not usually associated with ‘Sibelius the symphonist’, or because they appear in versions that differ from the ones that are performed frequently all over the world. A case in point is the opening Finland Awakes, a rarely heard version of what is possibly Sibelius’ best-known piece, Finlandia, in which the famous ‘hymn’ tune is restated in full, scored with unashamed flamboyance for brass, at the end of the piece. That recording and others on this disc are culled from the complete SIBELIUS EDITION brought to a close in 2011 – but completeness is a relative concept: a ‘complete’ edition is only complete until the next mislaid manuscript or forgotten work is re-discovered. The present disc thus serves a dual purpose, as it also includes première recordings of works and fragments that have been discovered or otherwise have become available after the EDITION was brought to a close. Among these, the late orchestral fragments earned a certain celebrity in October 2011, as media across the world greeted the discovery of what was soon proclaimed to be sketches for the famed 8th Symphony – that elusive Holy Grail of all Sibelius-spotters. Dr. Timo Virtanen, the respected authority on Sibelius, has prepared the sketches for the present recording and also written a text – available on the BIS web site – discussing them and the context in which they may have been written. If the orchestral fragments generally tend towards the harmonically bold sound world that Sibelius explored in some of his very late works, the three piano pieces that have also come to recent light are earlier works which all in different ways are connected to other compositions by Sibelius.

Pianist Jenny Lin, in her second release for BIS, scores with a program that's as substantial and historically important as her first (Chinoiserie) was entertaining and amusing. Ruth Crawford Seeger commands respect for a number of reasons: as one of the first significant American woman composers; as a representative of the progressive school in the first decades of the last century; and not least as an ethnomusicologist and expert on American folksong. This first CD devoted entirely to the original piano works (there are also numerous folksong arrangements) not only contains several world premieres but also permits us to see the composer's achievement whole, in all its variety. Just as importantly, while some of these pieces have enjoyed previous recordings, Lin's performances equal or better the competition in every case.


The pieces here fall into two broad categories: first, lightly diverting character pieces of conservative cast (Little Waltz, Little Lullaby, Caprice, Jumping the Rope, Whirligig), some composed with a pedagogical purpose (We Dance Together, Mr. Crow and Miss Wren Go for a Walk--A little study in short trills); second, more exploratory works that take notice of various more modern trends such as impressionistic or chromatic harmony, free atonality, expressionism, and complex rhythms. These are the pieces that offer the pianist real technical and interpretive opportunities, and Lin makes the most of them. In a transitional work such as the Sonata of 1923, her bravura attack on the music's eruptive elements traces the emergence of Crawford Seeger's mature style with the same clarity with which we can see a painter like Mondrian beginning to reduce traditional or naturalistic forms and images to a few basic, abstract lines. The Theme and Variations from the same year continues this process, offering Lin scope for some brilliantly clear finger work (in the first variation especially) and Lisztian display.


In the marvelous Kaleidoscopic Changes on an Original Theme, Lin simply outplays Virginia Eskin (Albany), offering both greater structural integration and more physical excitement. The Nine Preludes, Crawford Seeger's most popular keyboard works, appear here in two groups of five and four respectively, this second batch incorporating for the first time unpublished corrections to the printed text in the composer's own hand. Sarah Cahill recently recorded an outstanding version of the preludes for New Albion, and her smoother tone and magical pianissimos complement Lin's more sinewy, highly contrasted approach. In the Eighth Prelude, for example, Lin takes a bit more time than Cahill but also offers a greater range of tempo and dynamics. Lin adds to her program all three possible versions of the challenging Piano Study in Mixed Accents (though they are listed in the booklet in the wrong order), and plays them perfectly.


The program concludes with The Adventures of Tom Thumb for narrator and piano, a delightful piece in the same vein as Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf--or (more aptly) Poulenc's The Story of Babar the Little Elephant (dating from 1925, Tom Thumb actually precedes both chronologically). The composer's daughter, Peggy Seeger, completed the text especially for this recording, while Lin and narrator Timothy Jones enthusiastically chart the story's progress in words and tones. Toss in excellent recorded sound, very informative notes (though the tray card misidentifies some of the premieres), and the result is a 75-minute-long program that combines both revealing scholarship and care in repertoire selection with musicianship of the very highest caliber.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

10/10 Classicstoday.com The music of Frank Zappa played on baroque instruments? 'As if! Like...grody to the max!' Ensemble Ambrosius is a group that concentrates on contemporary music, using mostly baroque instruments. Their first step in tackling the music of Frank Zappa was to use the 'Stevie Vai' method - every note was first transcribed from the original songs, and then arranged for the ensemble. Then the work began! Retaining the rhythmicality and metric pulse of the music was paramount. The results are like totally, what-ever! This is the ONLY Zappa album ever recorded on baroque instruments. It is a MUST for all Zappa fans.

Classical Music

The term sinfonietta is generally used to describe a work that is smaller in scale or lighter in approach than a standard symphony. It only came into common usage during the first half of the 20th century, which is when the three works included on this disc were in fact composed. Worth noting is also that Sergei Prokofiev and Benjamin Britten wrote their respective sinfoniettas while they were still in their teens – early attempts at multi-movement works for ensemble. Prokofiev revised his Sinfonietta twice, with the 1929 version recorded here, and went on to become one of the great symphonists of his time. Britten chose a different path, with operas forming the most important part of his legacy. Perhaps symptomatically, his Sinfonietta – his Op. 1 – was initially composed for wind quintet and string quintet, a scoring which he later expanded into the version heard on the present recording. Like Britten, Francis Poulenc was not naturally inclined towards large-scale orchestral works, and his Sinfonietta is indeed his only symphonic piece. The most recent of the works on the disc, it is in a neo-classical vein with sparkling dance rhythms as well as lyrical moments. The three works are here performed by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk, a team which has released several highly acclaimed albums on BIS.

REVIEWS:

Poulenc's Sinfonietta would be the composer's only work in the symphony genre, borrowing, sometimes more obviously than not, from the neo-classical stylings of Stravinsky and nearly quoting Mozart. Poulenc mostly stayed away from larger forms, finding success with his songs, chamber music, and religious works, but this Sinfonietta displays the composer's charm and gift with melodic phrasing.

The Sinfonietta, Op. 5, by Prokofiev (heard here in its final revision from 1929, which the composer assigned as his Op. 48) is a youthful work, even in its revised form. A light and airy neo-classical work that, along with his Classical Symphony, can trace to the mature Prokofiev symphonic writing.

While the sinfoniettas of Poulenc and Prokofiev are light and airy works, the Sinfonietta, Op. 1, by Britten has a more mature sound, even though he was only 18 when it was written. The harmonic structure of the work is influenced by the Second Viennese School through his teacher and dedicatee of the work, Frank Bridge. Originally written for wind quintet and string quintet, Britten later revised it for chamber orchestra, which is what is presented here.

A thoroughly enjoyable hour of lighter music that will be nearly unknown to many listeners but should be accessible to a wide audience. BIS' engineers make good use of the Lahti Symphony's magnificent Sibelius Hall home.

-- AllMusic.com (Keith Finke)

All in all this is a splendid release, very enjoyable from beginning to end, offering 3 wonderful pieces not often encountered. It is expertly played, conducted and recorded. Very highly recommended.

-- Classical CD Review

Sir Edward Elgar once described the sensation of flying in an aeroplane to Frederick Delius: 'There is a delightful feeling of elation in sailing through gold and silver clouds. It is, Delius, rather like your music - a little intangible sometimes, but always very beautiful.' On this disc, Camerata Wales - consisting of some of today's finest Welsh musicians - and conductor Owain Arwel Hughes bring together not only Elgar and Delius, but also Holst, Peter Warlock and Welsh composer Arwel Hughes (father of the conductor) in a programme which is certainly both elating and beautiful. St. Paul's Suite and Capriol are both works that have proved almost impossible to sit still to while listening, while in Arwel Hughes' Fantasia, based on 'an old ecclesiastical theme', it is an elegiac melody bathed in nostalgia that sets the tone. Delius's Cuckoo and Summer Night are the most English of all English music - even though the river portrayed in the latter piece is actually French: the Loing, flowing past Delius's home near Fontainebleau. These gems are framed by Elgar's Serenade for Strings, one of his best-loved works and glowing with an identifiably Edwardian warmth throughout, and his Elegy, whose brevity (it lasts around five minutes) belies its depth of emotion.