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Ives: Works for Orchestra / Feinberg, Sinclair, National Symphony of Ireland
Naxos · Oct 2003CD$19.99 -
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Telemann: Ich Hoffete Aufs Licht: Trauermusik Fur Karl VII / Schneider, La Stagione Frankfurt
CPO · Apr 2011CD$18.99 -
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SaleSchicklele: A Year In The Catskills / Wang, Rose, Blair Woodwind Quintet
Naxos · Aug 2011CD$19.99$9.99 -
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Cascade - Beethoven, Prokofiev & Schumann: Piano Music / Williams
SOMM Recordings · Sep 2023CD$20.99 -
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Piano Protagonists - Music for Piano & Orchestra / Weiss, Botstein, The Orchestra Now
Bridge Records · Mar 2021CD$18.99 -
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SaleAmerican Percussion Works / Asmussen, Walentin, Thorel, Percurama Percussion Ensemble
Naxos · Jan 2021CD$19.99$9.99
Ives: Works for Orchestra / Feinberg, Sinclair, National Symphony of Ireland
The Emerson Concerto, a reconstruction by David G. Porter from Ives' "developed draft", gets top billing here, but it's the First Symphony that comes as the real revelation. In conversation with the present writer, conductor and Ives scholar James Sinclair offered the opinion that the reason Ives didn't finish the Emerson as a piano concerto was largely practical: he didn't trust himself as piano soloist, and no one else would have touched the piece in the first decade of the last century when he wrote it. Of course, both Ives and Sinclair were right, and much of the material for the concerto found its way into the Concord Sonata, and happily so.
While I am hardly in a position to judge Porter's work regarding its faithfulness to Ives' intentions (inasmuch as they can be determined), the piece strikes me as thick, clunky, episodic, and slow moving, lacking that typically Ivesian energy and abandon. It sounds more like Carl Ruggles, though with less of both polish and purpose. The important question in evaluating any effort such as this is whether or not it tells us anything really new or essential about the composer. As an interim stage on the way to that certified masterpiece, the Concord Sonata, I suppose it's interesting--but I wouldn't call it necessary, even though the redoubtable Alan Feinberg plays it about as well as we have any right to expect, and Sinclair probably knows it better than anyone in the universe except perhaps Porter himself. Ives fans, of course, should hear it and draw their own conclusions.
No, the big news here is the First Symphony, a work that should appeal to the universe beyond the Ives ghetto, particularly as this performance ought to be regarded in most respects as its premiere on disc. I don't say this lightly: excellent recordings already exist by Eugene Ormandy and Michael Tilson Thomas (both for Sony), but Sinclair not only has a new edition (with additional percussion in the finale that Ives specifically indicated in a letter but that never made it into the previously published score), he also has an interpretation that will prove a revelation to anyone who ever thought of this work as small-scale and unadventurous.
Of course, compared to the mature Ives it's tame stuff, but with all of its repeats in place and lasting some 45 minutes, the work now has a bigness of vision and greatness of heart that identifies it, emotionally at least, as genuine Ives, indelibly stamped with his irrepressible personality even at this early stage. The first movement, episodic though it may be, moves with majestic confidence toward its Brucknerian close, the quirky passages (such as the Stravinskian second subject for solo flute) standing out more vividly then ever before. The second movement, taken very slowly, now becomes a real Romantic adagio, clearly inspired by the Largo of Dvorák's "New World" Symphony (English horn solo and all). The perky scherzo perfectly sets up the athletic but very grand finale (so curiously reminiscent of Nielsen's Second Symphony, except that the Ives came first), with that riotous extra percussion toward the end clearly opening the door to the Second Symphony and the masterworks to come.
No one active today has a better feel for this music, for its past influences as well as its future destiny, than James Sinclair, and he galvanizes the players of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland to produce warmly idiomatic, extremely satisfying results. As anyone who has heard Naxos' excellent Malcolm Arnold symphony cycle from this venue might have guessed, the sonics also are outstanding in every respect. Whatever my reservations about the Emerson Concerto, for the symphony alone this disc deserves a very strong recommendation. Don't miss it!
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com
Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire, String Trio / Stiedry-Wagner
SCHOENBERG Pierrot Lunaire 1. String Trio 2 • 1 Arnold Schoenberg, cond; 1 Erika Stiedry-Wagner (voc); 1 Rudolph Kolisch (vn, va); 1 Stefan Auber (vc); 1 Kalman Bloch (cl); 1 Leonard Posella (fl, pic); 1 Eduard Steuermann (pn); 2 Robert Mann (vn); 2 Raphael Hillyer (va); 2 Claus Adam (vc) • SONY 45695, mono/stereo (52:53)
As in the case of several of my other CHoF recommendations, this one is for half-a-record, in this case for the 1940 recording of Pierrot Lunaire directed by the composer. It’s not that the 1967 performance of the String Trio is a poor one—it’s not—but the 1985 recording of the String Trio, also by members of the Juilliard String Quartet (for such they are) only with Samuel Rhodes on viola and Joel Krosnick on cello (Sony 47690) supercedes this one. It is the recording of Pierrot Lunaire that is wholly unique.
Directed by the composer, it was the first of Schoenberg’s mature works to be recorded (Leopold Stokowski had recorded the earlier Gurrelieder in 1932 for RCA Victor). It includes pianist Eduard Steuermann, who had been playing this work since its premiere in 1913, and soprano Erika Stiedry-Wagner, who had been speaking/singing the vocal part in performances under Schoenberg’s direction since 1921. (In Robert Craft’s book Stravinsky: Discoveries and Memories, reviewed elsewhere in this issue, he writes of a performance in Italy of Pierrot Lunaire under Schoenberg’s direction, attended by none other than Giacomo Puccini. Stiedry-Wagner was probably the speaker in that performance as well.)
Curiously for an experienced singer who had performed this work many times with Schoenberg, Stiedry-Wagner sings several wrong pitches in “Eine blasse Wäscherin”; but as Dr. Avior Byron, a musicologist and composer who is working on the book Schoenberg’s Writings on Aesthetics and Interpretation in Performance has said, these deviations from pitch were not only accepted by the composer but quite possibly encouraged as a later reconsideration of how this specific song was to be interpreted. You can read the details in Chapter Seven of his book, “ Sprechstimme Reconsidered,” at bymusic.org/images/stories/byronphd/chapter_7.pdf. To begin with, there were no less than five takes made of this song (in addition to five each of “Valse de Chopin” and “Madonna,” and four each of “Gebet an Pierrot,” “Raub,” “Rote Messe,” and “Galgenlied”), and Stiedry-Wagner deviates from the written pitch in all of them. With the composer in charge, this error could have been remedied with a 15-minute piano rehearsal; but the fact that he allowed the recordings to be made, and the take with the wrong pitches issued, indicates a much deeper level of tolerance on Schoenberg’s part. As Byron illustrates via written comments from Schoenberg, the composer wanted a stricter adherence to pitch in Pierrot Lunaire than in the spoken recitation of Gurrelieder, but in certain songs—“Eine blasse Wäscherin” was apparently one of them—the mode of expression, the curve of the voice delivering the words, the vocal melismas as it were, became more important to him than absolute fidelity of pitch. Therefore, one can indeed accept this deviation as composer-approved and not an errant mistake that the composer did not catch prior to issue.
The bottom line is that Stiedry-Wagner’s performance is utterly fascinating and enthralling in its own way. She rivets your attention much better, for instance, than does Yvonne Minton in the note-perfect recording made under Pierre Boulez’s direction. From start to finish, this Pierrot Lunaire creates an atmosphere that is spellbinding. These performers, most of whom had been doing this work for a long time under the composer’s direction, give about as authentic a performance as can be imagined; and, as Byron makes clear, even the pitch deviations are instructive to modern performers as to how the songs should be done. In tonal Western music, interpretive differences are generally given by means of variants in the phrasing and the stress given to certain words, as in opera and Lieder, but to Schoenberg, the rhythms of Pierrot Lunaire were inviolable; and though he demanded a higher degree of pitch accuracy in this work, he apparently allowed a certain degree of latitude considering the range of one’s voice and the way the music was spoken-sung. Stiedry-Wagner was an accomplished operetta soprano and particularly an actress, thus I suspect that she and Schoenberg discussed the pitch deviations in “Eine blasse Wäscherin” to some extent, especially since all of the five existing takes deviate in one way or another from score pitch and, in fact, each one is different.
So much for “historically informed” performances, eh?
FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley
J.S. & J.C. Bach: Motets / Solomon's Knot
This recording features the complete motets by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), set in the context of music from the previous generation of his family which inspired him. In his final decade, J.S. Bach researched and performed motets by his father’s cousin, Johann Christoph (1642-1703), whom he greatly admired. Although Johann Sebastian took the motet genre (and presumably his singers) to the limits of possibility, one can also hear the strong influence of the family tradition. This is the first of a series of location-specific Solomon’s Knot recording projects. We chose Arnstadt's inspirational Bachkirche for these works, not only for its wonderful acoustic, but also as a place which connects the two Bachs: Johann Christoph was born in Arnstadt, and Johann Sebastian's first job as an organist was at the church, which came to be named after him.
PLACES
Mozart: Piano Sonatas / Wanda Landowska
Wanda Landowska's reputation as a harpsichordist obscures her considerable achievements as a pianist, especially in regard to these extraordinary Mozart recordings, made at her Lakeville, Connecticut home in 1956. The sound is on the dry side, and Landowska's reposeful, intimately scaled readings rarely exceed mezzo-forte. Yet her seemingly infinite gradations of shading and touch, her immaculate control and timing, plus her well-considered and expressive embellishments (try the K. 333 sonata first movement's exposition for a few elaborate surprises) add up to a master class in style from which many of today's historic-minded interpreters can learn and benefit.
A singing impulse consistently governs Landowska's liquid trills, proportioned rubatos, and finely tuned balances between the hands that ensure no dead spots. She arpeggiates chords with the utmost specificity, abetted by a masterful and sophisticated finger legato technique. As a result, she employs the sustain pedal sparingly and tellingly. Although these performances were reissued on CD only by RCA Japan, they now gain a welcome lease on life courtesy of Arkivmusic.com's "on demand" reprint program. Notes are in Japanese only.
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com
Per la viola bastarda
Carnival - Italian Music for Violin & Guitar / Gomyo, Eskelinen
For her debut album, Karen Gomyo has joined forces with guitarist Ismo Eskelinen in a programme offering fireworks as well as graceful tenderness. A violin virtuoso as well as an expert guitar player, Niccolo Paganini wrote a number of works for the two instruments together. He thus forms a natural point of departure as Gomyo and Eskelinen embark on a journey some hundred years backwards in history, and offer works by three other famous Italian violinist-composers. Neither the violin sonatas by Vivaldi and Locatelli nor Corelli’s celebrated ‘La Follia’ were written specifically with the guitar in mind. They are instead provided with so-called basso continuo accompaniments, to be performed on various chord-playing instruments, such as the harpsichord or the organ. Larger continuo ensembles might also include a lute or a guitar, and it is to this tradition that Ismo Eskelinen harks back as he performs his own realizations of these accompaniments. With one exception, the works by Paganini are on the other hand intended for the combination of violin and guitar – or, in the case of the Grand Sonata, ‘per chitarra e violino’. The centrepiece of the disc is formed by the famous 24th Caprice, provided by the composer with a guitar accompaniment and renamed Variazioni di bravura. Another favourite closes the disc, as Karen Gomyo and Ismo Eskelinen perform their version for violin and guitar of Il carnevale di Venezia, Paganini’s take on a Neapolitan folk song.
![Aix All Stars:... [dvd-audio]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/547226.jpg?v=1786623723&width=400)
Telemann: Ich Hoffete Aufs Licht: Trauermusik Fur Karl VII / Schneider, La Stagione Frankfurt
TELEMANN Funeral Music for Emperor Karl VII, Ich hoffete aufs Licht, TWV 4:13 • Michael Schneider, cond; Gabriele Hierdeis, Annegret Kleindopf (sop); Dmitry Egorov (ct); Ulrike Anderen (alt); Georg Poplutz, Benjamin Kirchner (ten); Nils Cooper, Stepha Schreckenberger (bs); La Stagione Frankfurt (period instruments) • CPO 777 603-2 (62:53 Text and Translation)
Here is another of what seems like a flurry of Georg Philipp Telemann’s occasional music composed for the city of Hamburg during his long tenure there. In 1745 the Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation, Karl VII, died in Vienna. Since Austria and Prussia were in the middle of both the Silesian War and the War of the Austrian Succession, Karl, the erstwhile non-Hapsburg Elector of Bavaria, had seemed a decent compromise, and even though Hamburg was technically not part of the empire, it was a protected city due to its strategic importance as a northern port not dominated by archenemy Prussia. Therefore the city father felt obligated to celebrate Imperial events, and Telemann was certainly willing to oblige. The text chosen was by the chief pastor of St. Catherine’s Church, Joachim Zimmermann, and Telemann wrote the work in his usual manner, that is, quickly and efficiently.
The work is written in oratorio fashion in two parts based upon a combination of quotations from the Bible, newly written poetry, and an appropriate selection of chorales, all part and parcel of the normal Hamburg sacred musical text. For the composer, this was not extraordinary, but the convoluted performance circumstances, wherein the work was mixed in with normal church services, required him to hire extra musicians and to make do with a small chorus musicus of only eight singers, who performed both solo and choral roles. The music itself is vintage Telemann on the cusp of Empfindsamkeit and with hints of the Baroque peeking through. Throughout the work are several “dicta,” commentaries and prayers, which Telemann often sets in homophonic fashion. The second, “Die Güte des Herrn,” has a stern set of dotted rhythms in the strings that make the sometimes strange harmonic modulations more apparent, while the chorale tunes are both normal four-part settings or, as in “Uns lässet zwar,” suddenly appear from within the recitative, here to a continuo line that begins to walk with a steady eighth-note pace. There are moments where Telemann’s use of the orchestra is masterly, such as the soft lyrical line for alto (with choral punctuations) “Lasst uns klagen” with the timpani beating a funereal comma even as the piece winds along in a major key. Telemann’s arias, such as “Die ihr auf unbekannte Wellen” with fits and starts, swirling strings, and clarion trumpets, or “Melde, gewognes Gerüchte,” which was reused in the oratorio Tage des Gerichts , are filled with the contrasting dynamics, rhythmic-motivic structures, and textures of the early Empfindsamkeit ; indeed, they could all have been written by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Telemann’s successor some two decades later. Even the recitatives weave in and out of accompagnato, making the text flow together. The final chorus, “O du Volk vom teutschen Samen,” is a verse and refrain, and although there is a chorale-like cantus firmus for one of the verses, the expected counterpoint is missing entirely, making the work more intimate.
Michael Schneider’s direction keeps the tempos moving along and the performance crisp. The eight-member soloist-chorus sounds at times much larger, but the voices are equally adept at their solo numbers. Nils Cooper’s bass, in particular, has that nice, light German sound that I find particularly attractive in Telemann’s (and Bach’s) music. The recording is, as always with cpo, well staged and the sound clear. This is clearly a work that anyone who fancies Telemann ought to have in their collection, for it shows that the composer was talented and able to bridge styles, occasions, and requirements with ease.
FANFARE: Bertil van Boer
La Stagione Frankfurt with Michael Schneider have a good history of inspiring, original and stimulating performances of music from the High/Late Baroque period - particularly that of Telemann. Here they are again with that composer's Trauermusic für Kaiser Karl VII [TVWV 4:13], 'Funeral music on the death of Emperor Charles VII'. The CD is part of CPO’s 'Musica sacra Hamburgensis 1600-1800' series; it's a rarity which has much to recommend it.
The emperor's death in 1745 was a significant event for (the citizens of) Hamburg … he had offered protection against a number of potential and actual enemies. Arrangements for formal and elaborate ceremonies marking his death were expedited quickly. So what we have on this CD is music originally written for a specific occasion in the middle of the north German eighteenth century. But its beauty, sobriety and delicate restraint can speak to us now. Especially when performers as experienced and insightful expose and embrace the idiom of Telemann so well.
The Hamburg City Council commissioned Telemann to write funeral music to texts by Joachim Johann Zimmermann (1710-1767), who had already proved himself with equivalents for the emperor's own coronation and his predecessor's funeral. What we have here is an amalgam of free poetry, Biblical material and hymns. It's divided into two parts of roughly equal length - one to be performed either side of a sermon. Its tone is as much about expressing concern for an uncertain future as a panegyric on the dear departed.
Somehow Telemann conveys the anguish relating to the threat which an uncertain future held as much as the grief at the emperor's death. He dos this not by writing music that's tentative or insipid. Instead this is achieved through using modulations of key and trills, specific voice and instrument combinations and musical phrasing that would perhaps indicate impatience in other contexts. Here they are somewhat unsettling … the soprano recitative, Du bleibst indessen [tr. 20], for instance. The contradiction between words ("you are constant") and melodic and textural wavering is an odd one; but it nevertheless successfully adds to the unpredictability of the situation.
Several aspects of the music stand out: the use of a rather prominent drum at key moments - recorded very forward; and some striking chromatic passages - in the Dictum for chorus, Meine Harfe ist [tr.13], for example. Instrumentation is interesting: muted, shady and reserved; not at all grand nor yet lugubrious. La Stagione Frankfurt respects and breathes full life into this highly nuanced set of atmospheres and allusive writing. They are aided by the variety of compositional forms - arias of types, chorales, recitatives and choral interpositions - which Telemann uses. Rarely do such contrasts really call for flourishes. When they do come - as in the short choral Dictum, Ach daß müssen [tr 25] - Schneider and his forces afford them all the more impact. Otherwise one is struck by the level, even-tempered, though no less vigorous and definite pace and 'attack' delivered by soloists, choir and instrumentalists.
The mildness and sense of having all expression, developmental lines and partnerships between text and music well within these musicians' grasp is matched by a quiet and purposeful energy throughout this hour long performance. There are single memorable moments - the final chorus, O Du Volk [tr. 29], for instance. But one is left with a more general feeling of music written for an occasion about which we cannot possibly have the strength of sentiment that contemporaries evidently did. Yet this touches us with its graceful observance of the complex public feelings and slightly suppressed hope for the future. This, by its very nature is more generalised, in music that's thoughtful, yet almost extrovert.
The booklet that comes with the CD contains much useful background information, the text in German and English, and details of the performers - though it is set in an almost impossibly small font size. The acoustic is clear and aids our understanding of the equally clean and unruffled articulation of the text by the eight soloists of La Stagione Frankfurt.
Each issue in the series, 'Musica sacra Hamburgensis 1600-1800', has been worth a close look. Ich hoffete aufs Licht is no exception. Schneider and his group make music with real style; yet never overstate their case. A rarely-heard work from Telemann's canon, of which there is no other recording available, this may not be ground-breaking Baroque at its unique best. Even so, it has a lot going for it.
-- Mark Sealey, MusicWeb International
Fiorini: In the Midst of Things - Piano & Chamber Music
Maltese composer Karl Fiorini is a European without frontiers – the compositions in this album reflect his early detachment from a Mediterranean identity towards a more varied and intense sound world. Trio Lamina features elements of Bartók’s ‘night music’ in its complex sub-sections, whereas Fiorini’s two piano studies, which predate his move to Paris, already exude a Gallic ambience. Influenced by North African folk music, the Piano Trio expands his global reach, and the Piano Sonata, a gritty virtuoso concert piece, shifts geographical influence towards Eastern Europe to powerful effect. All of these world première recordings were recorded in the presence of the composer.
REVIEWS:
This program is a shining example of a 21st-century composer who has stepped back from the extremist styles of the mid-late 20th century to re-embrace communication with an audience, but has taken elements from those styles into his own armory.
Karl Fiorini (b. 1979) references Minimalism alongside Lisztian bravura in the first of his Piano Études (2007–08), Middle Eastern syncopation in his 2017 Piano Sonata, and Neoclassical momentum plus Webernian fragmentation in the Trio Lamina (2002).
He draws on the characteristics of recent schools without adhering to their strict rules or specific aims. He knows his instruments, and his chamber music on this showing is bracingly virtuosic. Like other contemporary composers such as Francisco Coll, he has created a strong voice by synthesizing disparate elements so they emerge as subtle flavors, to use a cooking metaphor. (Much 21st-century music resembles modern fusion cuisine.)
The latest work on this program is a quartet, In the Midst of Things (2019), utilizing the same instrumental combination as Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. I think Fiorini deliberately echoes that seminal work in the first movement, which begins with a languorous cello melody accompanied by full, stately chords from the piano, but he soon turns away from it. By the time we reach the closing Presto movement we are in a bustling world of earthy joie de vivre of a type Messiaen never attempted. Again, Eastern rhythms feature.
I greatly enjoyed these examples of Fiorini’s work. He may be an instinctive composer as he claims, but his instinct is clearly based in a solid grounding of acquired knowledge and continual exploration. The sound and performances are excellent. For those interested in new music, this disc is an exciting and not overly demanding example.
-- Fanfare
The early Trio Lamina (2002) for violin, clarinet, and piano sports an arch form and a spooky atmosphere reminiscent of Bartok. The Two Piano Etudes (2008) have a Gallic neo-Impressionism; and the Piano Trio (2005) has echoes of North African folk music in the use of hexachords and modes in retrograde and inversion. The Piano Sonata (2017) is a dense and demanding concert piece inspired by the music of Eastern Europe.
In the Midst of Things (2019) is a four-movement work for clarinet and piano trio that takes a Beethoven-like approach to structure, balancing intricate theory with carefully timed emotion. The performers bring out the best in the scores, rendering them all with marvelous skill, vigor, transparency, and commitment[.]
-- American Record Guide
Schicklele: A Year In The Catskills / Wang, Rose, Blair Woodwind Quintet
SCHICKELE A Year in the Catskills. Gardens 1. What Did You Do Today at Jeffrey’s House 2. Dream Dances 3. Diversions • Blair Wind Qnt members; 1,2 Melissa Rose (pn); 3 Felix Wang (vc) • NAXOS 8.559687 (52:03)
The Blair Wind Quintet is a faculty ensemble of the Blair School of Music of Vanderbilt University. Though a woodwind player myself, I am not familiar with their work, so this release, the second on which this ensemble appears, is a pleasant introduction to these fine musicians. Their performances here are mostly solo and in smaller groupings, with only the title work, A Year in the Catskills, played by the whole quintet. This last is one of a trio of works for resident ensembles funded by the Blair Commissioning Project. Peter Schickele’s quintet was joined by a piano trio from Susan Botti and a string quartet by György Kurtág; one can but imagine what a wildly incongruent faculty recital that could have made.
Schickele is, of course, best known in his persona of the researcher and exhumer of works by “the youngest and oddest of J. S. Bach’s 20-odd children.” Since 1965, the year of his first public concert, he has created a body of entertaining musical parodies of familiar musical forms for his fictional P. D. Q. Bach. There is another aspect of the composer, though, as many will know. Under his own name, he composes concert works for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles, and vocalists, as well as scores for film, theater, and television. This disc presents a nice sampling of pieces for wind instruments, written over a 46-year period. They cross boundaries of genre and style with consummate skill, and are uniformly clever, lightweight, and charming. Even when fleetingly serious, they are never more than melancholy. They are more often humorous. In fact, minus the more obvious burlesquing that goes on in a P. D. Q. Bach pastiche, his serious works sound remarkably akin to his comedic bread and butter. The unexpected instrumental colors are a bit more subdued, the odd cadence more integrated, and the stylistic incongruities less outrageous. What is played for laughs when acting The Professor is quirky and playful in the realm of the serious composer, but the singular identity can never be in question.
Consider the four seasonal portraits of A Year in the Catskills (2009), presented in Baroque canons and a fantasy, and rounded out with a fifth movement called “Fast Driving,” which bebops the listener back to more modern urban surroundings. Or What Did You Do Today at Jeffrey’s House? (1988) for horn and piano, which remembers childhood games (one is relieved to learn, given his compositional credits for O! Calcutta! ) with a piano-stride parade and a boogie-woogie carnival with dancing bears framing a very brief compulsory nap. Finally, there is Dream Dances (1988), a suite for flute, oboe, and cello, which juxtaposes a not very Baroque minuet and sarabande with a jitterbug, a demented French gallop, and a waltz that only needs John Ferrante and some silly lyrics to become one of the Diverse Ayres on Sundrie Notions.
The two remaining earlier works give some idea of where Schickele might have headed if the fictional “minimeister of Wein-am-Rhein” had not been such a huge success. In these we hear a composer still working in academia, creating works that reflect seriously (well, all right, more seriously) on relatively contemporary styles. Gardens (1968) for oboe and piano is an atmospheric triptych with overtones of Messiaen, though this is more obvious in New York Philharmonic oboist Joseph Robinson’s recording on Cala. Diversions (1963) for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon channels neoclassical Stravinsky in portraits of the bath, a game of billiards, and a New York bar. It is all very engaging, and wonderfully presented by musicians and engineers. Naxos has a winner here, and I hope we hear more from the Blair Wind Quintet. Meanwhile, woodwind fanciers are hereby alerted to a must-buy release.
FANFARE: Ronald E. Grames
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It is a good and joyful thing to see a nice collection of Peter Schickele’s concert music. Not that he is unduly famous for his P.D.Q. Bach character, but as a composer of serious music he shines as one of the most original voices of his generation. Schickele has not invented a new wheel, rather he has managed to take traditional musical gestures and season them with his own invention with the skill of a master chef. This collection of chamber music, deftly rendered by members of the faculty of Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music, is a showcase of the composer’s unique wit and creativity.
Commissioned by the Blair Quintet, A Year in the Catskills was brand new at the time of this recording. It is a picturesque work; full of the kind of interesting twists of melody that make Schickele’s music so fascinating. He is prone to shifting one or two notes in a tune by a semitone here or a semitone there to make what could sound quite ordinary into something that is unique and quirky.
The brief triptych Gardens, for oboe and piano is a study in colors. One of Schickele’s outstanding features is his ability to say so much in a very short time. I wouldn’t call him a miniaturist, but he can get his point across with little fuss. Such are these elegant little pieces that depict a garden at the three parts of the day. Jared Hauser plays with a sweet unforced tone, and is sensitively accompanied by pianist Melissa Rose.
What Did You Do Today at Jeffrey’s House? is a bit of nostalgia based on memories of the composer’s playtime with a childhood friend. These are whimsical pieces, pulling from a number of styles including a rollicking boogie-woogie ending. Scored for horn and piano, Leslie Norton and Melissa Rose find all the charm of these brief episodes. I can’t say that I was completely in love with the pieces themselves, as they came across to these ears as a bit contrived.
The outstanding work in this recital is the lovely set of Dream Dances. Scored for flute, oboe and cello, Schickele combines the old and the new by creating a suite that is reminiscent of a Baroque partita, but just for fun he throws in the semi-modern by replacing the Courrant with a Jitterbug and the Allemande with a Waltz. It is pretty much genius really, and Jane Kirschner, Jared Hauser and Felix Wang deliver an elegant performance full of wit.
Diversions, scored for oboe, clarinet and bassoon are again whimsical, and depict three specific scenes, a hot bath, a billiard game, and a New York bar. Although I felt that the composer captured his scenes well, I can’t say that I was particularly moved by these little snapshots, in spite of their being very well played.
Peter Schickele is reported to be one of the most performed composers in America, and it is easy to see why. The term accessible gets too much airplay, but his music is almost always captivating, mainly due to his double ability to color within the lines while choosing shades that don’t come from just any box of crayons. A good listen.
Colorful, original, whimsical, and adventuresome, this collection of musical short stories from one of America’s most diverse composers has something to please every ear.
-- Kevin Sutton, MusicWeb International
Cantata - Yet Can I Hear / Mehta, Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin
This album contains a selection of solo cantatas, both secular and sacred, from the Italian, German, and English traditions. Including works by Handel, Vivaldi, and Bach in settings large and small, with obbligato instruments ranging from oboe to chimes, the magnificent cantatas on this album create a portrait of this intimately transcendent repertoire. With ‘Cantata; yet can I hear…,’ the American countertenor Bejun Mehta releases his first album on Pentatone. Hailed as “arguably the best countertenor in the world today” by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Mehta here joins forces with the players of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, one of the most renowned early music ensembles of today. Mehta writes: “This is by far the most personal recording I have ever made. Unlike Lieder, which as miniatures often work their magic in impressionistic ways, or opera, which unleashes human passions to their largest and most raw expression, solo cantatas lie in the middle and take the singer on a highly specific conversation with himself as he grapples with the subject at hand.”
Cascade - Beethoven, Prokofiev & Schumann: Piano Music / Williams
SOMM Recordings announces Cascade; the exhilarating new recital by pianist Cordelia Williams featuring music by Beethoven, Schumann, and Prokofiev. Cascade explores music’s mercurial ability to change in an instant; to reveal depths beneath the surface; and to illustrate; as Williams says; “that the whole world can change entirely in one twist of perspective; one change of angle; to offer a glimpse of something bigger”.
Early and late Beethoven bookend the program. Unpublished in his lifetime; the C major Bagatelle (WoO 56) flickers and glints; sparkles and surprises with kaleidoscope-like brilliance. His Op.126 Six Bagatelles – among the very last pieces he wrote for solo piano – alternate between the introspective and the garrulous; each turned inside out to reveal new facets and features. A variegated collection of 20 miniatures with hints of Chopin; Scriabin and Shostakovich to be found; Prokofiev’s Visions fugitives; Op.22 are essentially a series of meditations; each individually pursuing a specific idea or mood while collectively exploring the hinterland between surface appearance and what lies beneath; and all expressed with comparable crystalline clarity. Schumann’s Waldszenen (Forest Scenes); his last major cycle for solo piano; is an enchanted landscape lit up by beguiling pastoralism and shadow-cast by darker recesses of the imagination. Two sides of the same coin: Arcadia in excelsis; and red in tooth and claw.
Booklets notes; as with all of Cordelia Williams’ recent SOMM releases; have been written by Michael Quinn. Piano winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition; Cordelia Williams’ previous SOMM releases include her acclaimed coupling of Bach and Arvo Pärt (SOMMCD 0186); hailed by International Piano as “a magnificently stimulating concept; brilliantly recognised”; well-received recitals of Schubert (SOMMCD 0127) and Schumann (SOMMCD 0150); and Nightlight (SOMMCD 0639); which Fanfare hailed for Williams’ “spectacular playing” and which Gramophone described as “extraordinary”.
Mozart: Concertone, KV 190, Horn Concerto No. 3, KV 447, Pia
Jusqu'a la nuit - Le bleu
Fratres - Corigliano, Part / Maria Bachmann
Here's a double-barrelled surprise: gripping new music for violin and piano and a performing style that revisits a sweet-scented immediacy more typical of previous generations. Maria Bachmann, a pupil of Ivan Galamian and the late Szymon Goldberg, has a bright, winsome tone and a heartwarming interpretative manner. The works that particularly suit her are Corigliano's 1963 Violin Sonata and the two pieces that were written with her in mind, Albert Glinsky's Toccata-Scherzo and Paul Moravec's Sonata. Of the latter two, the Glinsky is the more memorable—a sort of Sarasate for the 1990s, its lyrical centre-piece flanked by brilliant outer sections. The Moravec is busy and pleasant, but even Bachmann's dextrous advocacy can't quite mask its stylistic anonymity. The Corigliano, on the other hand, harbours the kind of juicy 'tunes' that modern players search for in vain but hardly ever find in contemporary music. The Lento is strikingly memorable, whereas elsewhere Corigliano demands all the tricks of the fiddler's trade—harmonics, pizzicatos, sal pondcello and so on, all couched in an appealing musical context that might best be described as Stravinsky-cum-Samuel Barber.
Turning then to Fratres and comparing Bachmann with Gidon Kremer (ECM), I was interested to note how Bachmann arpeggiates pizzicato chords, a gesture totally in keeping with her warmer, less spidery approach. Ksemer's rougher-edged but rather more ethereal reading still gets my vote, but Bachmann provides an engagingly demonstrative alternative. Messiaen himself said of his "Praise to the Immortality of Jesus" that it "specifically addresses the second aspect of Jesus, namely His human aspect, the Word that has become flesh, resurrected immortal to give Him life." And it's as well to bear that in mind when listening to Bachmann's unusually sensuous performance, an affectionate, this-worldly option to the more withdrawn manner of, say, Luben Yordanoff (with Barenboim on DG).
Bachmann receives sympathetic support from Jon Klibonoff and both are nicely recorded. I thoroughly enjoyed this recital, and I sincerely hope that there's another on the way. But if and when it arrives, I do hope that RCA drop their tiresome idea of fold-up annotation: within a day or so, my copy was already beginning to look like an old shopping list. Booklets are far better. Incidentally, why photograph the immensely personable Maria Bachmann entangled in net curtains?
-- Robert Cowan, Gramophone [12/1993]
Kaleidoscope Europe
Karlsons: Oremus / Kļava, Sinfonietta Riga, Latvian Radio Choir
Composer Juris Karlsons (b. 1948) is one of the leading names in Latvian music today. This new album by the Latvian Radio Choir under their music director Sigvards Klava features Karlsons’ choral works. These works are marked by deeply religious feeling and profound message. Oremus is choral piece written by the composer in 2018 for the Latvian Radio Choir. It was premiered as part of the Lincoln Center White Light Festivals. When writing this work, no doubt Karlsons had specifically the sound and vocal abilities of the choir in mind.
The largest work of the album is Adoratio (2010), a symphonic, single-movement work for choir and orchestra with a duration of over 30 minutes. Yet, this powerful work filled with drama can, like a symphony, be clearly divided into musical sections.
Le lagrime dell’anima (2013) for piano and choir is based on a short poem written by the composer: “Here are just seven simple notes that are born on a beautiful summer evening when watching the sunset. The stars slowly light up, one, then another. You wait for the next one. The seven sounds of stars are gradually born under the pianist’s fingers, somewhere in the silence they appear in the chorus’s intonations, and finally intertwined in a melodic line,” the composer describes.
The final piece of the album, Ora pro nobis (2019), is a tribute to Virgin Mary based on an earlier work and written for Sigvards Klava. The Latvian Radio Choir (LRC) ranks among the top professional chamber choirs in Europe and its refined taste for musical material, fineness of expression and vocal of unbelievably immense compass have charted it as a noted brand on the world map. The repertoire of LRC ranges from the Renaissance music to the most sophisticated scores by modern composers; and it could be described as a sound laboratory – the singers explore their skills by turning to the mysteries of traditional singing, as well as to the art of quartertone and overtone singing and other sound production techniques.
Cabinet of Wonders, Vol. 2 / Ujszászi, Foster
Piano Protagonists - Music for Piano & Orchestra / Weiss, Botstein, The Orchestra Now
This new studio recording contains three works for piano and orchestra that virtuoso pianist Orion Weiss and conductor Leon Botstein first performed in concert at the Bard Music Festival. Together, the three works span almost a century of musical Romanticism and are as different from one another as the generations they represent. In each piece, the virtuoso genre becomes a means by which the composer responds to a specific source of inspiration—in the first case (Korngold), a performer and family friend who had suffered a horrendous tragedy, in the second (Rimsky Korsakov), a venerated old master, and in the third (Chopin) a melody from a beloved opera.
REVIEWS:
All the performances on this album, featuring the brilliant pianist Orion Weiss, are excellent.
– New York Times
Thoroughly entertaining.
– BBC Music Magazine
Chinese Recorder Concertos / Michala Petri, Lan Shui
CHINESE RECORDER CONCERTOS • Michala Petri (rcr); Lan Shui, cond; Copenhagen P • OUR 6.220603 (SACD: 71:29)
TANG JIANPING Fei Ge. BRIGHT SHENG Flute Moon. MA SHUI-LONG Bamboo Flute Concerto. CHEN YI The Ancient Chinese Beauty
Once a busy recording artist for Philips and RCA Red Seal, Danish virtuoso Michala Petri (with guitarist and lutenist Lars Hannibal) launched her own label in 2006. This is OUR Recordings’s 13th release, and the third in its Dialogue—East Meets West series. This collection of Chinese recorder concertos is, to enlist a perhaps overused word, delightful, and deserves to be brought to the attention of a broad audience.
If you don’t believe me, try the opening work by Tang Jianping, who was born in 1955. The title’s English translation is Flying Song, a reference to a style of folk singing indigenous to a region of southwest China. As a courtship song intended to be projected over long distances, it must be both penetrating and appealing—think of the songs from the Auvergne region set by Joseph Canteloube. With its rich scoring and tunefulness, Fei Ge also seems to be motivated by the same forces that led George Enescu to compose his two Romanian Rhapsodies. The languages are very different, of course, but the impact is quite similar. This will go to the top of my list of musical pick-me-ups. Tang Jianping composed this work for bamboo flute and a ensemble of various Asian instruments; the arrangement for Western instruments performed here is the composer’s own.
Bright Sheng and Chen Yi are more familiar to Western listeners. The first movement of the former’s Flute Moon (“Chi Lin’s Dance”) is an athletic and often thunderous toccata in which the dancing of the mythical Chinese unicorn or “dragon horse” is evoked. The combination of the piping recorder with the heavy stamping of the orchestra creates an effect that is both bizarre and beguiling. The atmospheric second movement (also titled “Flute Moon”) is based on a classical melody dating from the Song Dynasty. After a tensely quiet opening, the movement erupts with dramatic gestures and a strong melodic profile, and then returns to the opening mood. Chen Yi currently teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The Ancient Chinese Beauty was composed specifically for Michala Petri, who premiered it in Beijing in 2008. Its language is more difficult, and what grabs the ear most, at least initially, is the composer’s employment and combining of instrumental timbres in much the same way that an abstract painter uses a variety of paints and brushes. The three movements are “The Clay Figurines,” “The Ancient Totems,” and “The Dancing Ink.” Less than 15 minutes long, The Ancient Chinese Beauty is just the right length for its materials. The tenor recorder is used in the middle movement, and the alto recorder in the first and third. The third movement is an exciting moto perpetuo characterized by the composer’s insistent use of repeated notes.
The Bamboo Flute Concerto by Ma Shui-Long (b.1939) blends traditional Western gestures—particularly those associated with the genre of the romantic concerto—with melodies in a traditional Chinese style. As the title suggests, Ma composed it for the bang di , but of course here it is performed on a recorder—a sopranino, unless I am mistaken. It is not a very adventurous concerto, but it is appealing, and it is an appropriate foil for the works by Bright Sheng and Chen Yi that frame it.
Michala Petri recently turned 50 and shows no signs of relinquishing her enthusiastic yet serene mastery over her instruments of choice. She plays all of these works, not just The Ancient Chinese Beauty , as if they were composed just for her. If anyone still doubts the recorder’s place as an instrument worthy of the same attention as its cousin the flute, Petri’s playing here should put that to rest. The Copenhagen Philharmonic accompanies her idiomatically, and with sensitivity to this music’s many shapes and colors. Kudos to Lan Shui, its chief conductor since 2007, for making this happen. Finally, the booklet notes (in English and Chinese) thoughtfully guide one through the program, and the SACD technology makes a spectacular noise, from the recorder’s most piercing upper registers to the granitic power of the orchestra’s lowest notes.
This is Want List material.
FANFARE: Raymond Tuttle
Taperebá
Described by critics as beyond category, to use Duke Ellingtons signature compliment (All About Jazz), Japanese marimba extraordinaire Mika Stoltzman brings her wealth of experience to her latest Mikarimba album, Big Round Records Taperebá. Vibrant and bursting with flavor (just like the Brazilian fruit which the album derives its title from), the jazzy Taperebá features performances by Stoltzman and a circle of legendary fellow artists. With over 25 Grammy Awards shared between the members on this record, a memorable listening experience is practically guaranteed. Taperebá brings notable names from around the globe and a spectrum of musical experiences into one collection. Featuring the likes of Stoltzman, her husband and Grammy Award-winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, and a lineup including the legendary bassist Eddie Gomez, iconic percussionist Steve Gadd and his son Duke, and Brazilian mandolin great Hamilton de Holanda, the album leads audiences through a lighthearted yet technically spellbinding listening experience with just the right amount of flare. Each piece on the album was either written or arranged for Stoltzman, such as the Paul Simon classic 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, arranged by Steve Gadd (who, not to mention, played drums on the original Simon version). From this, to Return to Bahia written specifically for Stoltzman by Bill Douglas, an arrangement of Chick Coreas Spain, and more, Taperebá altogether moves listeners through a kaleidoscope of 20th and 21st-century jazz, popular music, and more. Taperebá is many things: a collection of works by legends past and present, a celebration of rich and diverse styles, and a group of friends making beautiful music together. However one connects with the music most, Taperebá is an experience not to be missed.
CALYPSO DIOLA
Haydn: Divertimenti Per Il Bariton A Tre
The baryton is almost exclusively associated with Joseph Haydn. It was a much older instrument, though. Its origins go back as far as the early 17th century. In his liner-notes Jérôme Lejeune states that the descriptions of the instrument in its early stages widely differ and often have not that much in common with the baryton as we know it from Haydn's time. In the 18th century it was especially popular in southern Germany and Austria. Because Haydn's output for the baryton is so large, not that much is known about other composers' works for the instrument. What is known is that at least Johann Joseph Fux and Attilio Ariosti wrote arias with an obbligato part for the baryton.
Leopold Mozart gave this description in his Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule (1756): "This instrument has, like the gamba, six or seven strings. The neck is very wide, with the back surface hollowed out and open, under which run nine or ten brass and steel strings. These are plucked with the thumb, so that in fact whilst the main melodic line is played with the bow on the gut strings strung on the front of the instrument, the thumb simultaneously plays the bass line by plucking the strings under the neck. It is for this reason that the pieces need to be specifically composed. It is, incidentally, one of the most graceful of instruments." The German composer and author Friedrich August Weber (1753-1806) described the sound as a combination of viola da gamba and harp and wrote that its sound moved him to tears.
There is some difference of opinion about the abilities of Haydn's employer. Those are generally considered rather limited. But Jérôme Lejeune believes one shouldn't underestimate his skills. "Haydn does not hesitate to demand pizzicato playing of the sympathetic strings on a regular basis. The player is frequently required to play a melody line on the bowed strings and to accompany it with pizzicato notes; an excellent command of the instrument is clearly required".
Nikolaus continuously urged Haydn to compose music which he could play at his beloved instrument. The result is a huge corpus of more than 160 pieces for or with baryton. The largest part of this output comprises 126 trios for baryton, viola - or violin in a handful of trios - and cello. Almost all of them are in three movements: a slow movement, a fast movement and a menuet, mostly in that order. But Haydn would not be Haydn if he hadn't changed the order of movements now and then. Because of their character the trios rank among the genre of the divertimento. That was also their function: Prince Nikolaus played them for his own entertainment. That doesn't mean Haydn sticks to what one may expect from a divertimento. The slow movements are often quite expressive. And although the large majority of the trios are written in D, G or A, Haydn also has written some trios in other keys, even some in the minor, like the Trio in b minor (H XI,96). As a result it has a considerably darker colour than most trios and is the most 'serious' piece of this disc.
The artists have made a nice and imaginative choice from Haydn's large output. Fortunately they have largely avoided the most frequently recorded trios. Haydn's complete oeuvre with baryton has been recorded by the Esterházy Ensemble (Brilliant Classics). As good as Haydn's music and these performances are, many will find this too much of a good thing. For them this disc offers an excellent alternative. The playing is technically immaculate, and the interpretation goes to the heart of Haydn's music. There is no lack of expression in the slow movements, whereas the fast movements are playful and explore Haydn's subtleties. Although the recording was made in a church, it has the right atmosphere. The balance within the ensemble is optimal.
In the English translation of the liner notes Jérôme Lejeune writes about the Trio No. 107 which is remarkably written for baryton solo. "We have of course not been able to resist the temptation to add it to our programme". Apparently the artists had second thoughts: the trio has not been included, and the whole passage from the liner-notes is absent in the original French version and in the German translation. Maybe on a later disc?
Let's enjoy what is on offer here. Haydn's trios are irresistible, and the artists have done everything to bring them to life.
-- Johan van Veen, MusicWeb International
American Percussion Works / Asmussen, Walentin, Thorel, Percurama Percussion Ensemble
American Percussion Works is a rare collection of seldom heard works each with specific rules or themes as a basis for the compositions. In John Cage’s First Construction the principle is based on the figure 16. Alberto Ginastera’s work Cantata para America Magica, uses pre-Columbian texts based on the conditions of human life, with war, natural phenomena, daybreak, night and love. Lou Harrison mixes non-European forms which ‘follow the pattern of having a single melodic part accompanied (or enhanced) by rhythmic percussion’ in his Koncherto. Varese’s Ionisation also enters a new land being his first solely percussive work where ‘he finds a new grammar for the language of music.’
