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Ludford: Missa Inclina Cor Meum; Mason: Ave Fuit Prima Salus / Blue Heron
Blue Heron Renaissance Choir · Oct 2013CD$21.99 -
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Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius; The Apostles; The Kingdom / Elder, Halle Orchestra
Halle · Jun 2023CD$69.99 -
The Lost Music of Canterbury / Metcalfe, Blue Heron
Blue Heron Renaissance Choir · Oct 2018CD$74.99 -
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Christmas In Medieval England / Metcalfe, Blue Heron
Blue Heron Renaissance Choir · Oct 2015CD$21.99 -
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SaleBach Unbuttoned / Vega, Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn
PENTATONE · Apr 2021CD$19.99$14.99 -
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Dutilleux: Tout un monde lointain; Dusapin: Outscape / Julien-Laferrière, Robertson, ONF
Alpha · May 2023CD$20.99 -
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J. & M. Haydn: Horn Concertos / Klieser, Württemberg CO Heilbronn
Berlin Classics · Jan 2024Vinyl$37.99 -
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Duo, Trio, Quartet - Haydn, Rossini, Schubert / Eberle, Tetzlaff, Weithaas, Roberts
CAvi-music · Jun 2012CD$19.99 -
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Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks, Vol. 5 / Metcalfe, Blue Heron
Blue Heron Renaissance Choir · Mar 2017CD$21.99 -
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Mondnacht - Lieder und Klavierwerke von Robert Schumann
Roberto Devereux
Ludford: Missa Inclina Cor Meum; Mason: Ave Fuit Prima Salus / Blue Heron
MASON Ave fuit prima salus. ANON Cunctipotens genitor. LUDFORD Missa Inclina cor meum • Scott Metcalfe, cond; Blue Heron • BLUE HERON 1004 (59:58 Text and Translation)
Philip Heseltine (better known his compositional pseudonym of Peter Warlock) once lamented that all the music of England’s Golden Age that still existed had been found, and that there was no more to uncover, or transcribe. But this was towards the end of his short life, while in deep depression. In the more than 80 years that have passed since that time, much additional music has been brought to light. Some of it, too, that was previously damaged to the point where performance was thought impossible, has been painstakingly reconstructed.
This is the case with a subset of the Peterhouse partbooks compiled in a relatively short time, probably in the early 1540s, following Henry VIII’s famous Dissolution of the Monasteries. The king’s death in 1547 led to a series of rulers and policies that set the nation careening across the religious spectrum, with various levels of tolerance towards such delights as sacred choral music. At some point, whether through neglect or deliberate sabotage, the tenor book vanished, and was never recovered. Portions of the treble book also went missing. What made this particular loss severe is that of the 72 pieces included in the Henrician group of partbooks, 39 are unica , while another 12 exist elsewhere only in incomplete versions.
The reconstruction of individual pieces has become the lifework of musicologist Nick Sandon. It’s his editions we hear on this album, with a new version of the missing tenor part in the Mass, and both treble and tenor in the antiphon. These are world premieres of both works in two respects, then—not only first recordings, but also part of a series of first performances since the mid-17th century, at the latest.
John Mason is by far the least-known of the composers on this release, and the only reason we know his music at all is because of four works in these partbooks. The Ave fuit prima salus isn’t based on a cantus firmus . Its interest lies in the brilliant yet subtle variations the composer works on each of his 17 verses that conclude with “Ave Maria.” Mason is a past master at varying textures through the number and color of active parts, but the emphasis tends for the most part towards the contemplative side of the emotional scale, as is appropriate. Sandon is quoted in the liner notes as finding the text “as undistinguished as literature as it is pedestrian in theology,” but it is all turned to gold by the composer.
The Missa Inclina cor meum is the second of two by Ludford that come down to us solely from the Peterhouse partbooks. (The other, Missa Regnum mundi , was recorded on Blue Heron 1003, and reviewed in Fanfare 36:1.) As its cantus firmus is not associated with any specific feast day, Metcalfe has chosen not to include plainchant Propers. The custom of the day in England was to omit writing a through-composed Kyrie, and replace it with a plainsong-based textual trope—which is exactly what we get here with Cunctipotens genitor , instead of leaving a mass minus a movement as many recordings do: well done. Metcalfe points in particular to a passage in the Sanctus where the basses greatly augment the melody as the top voices “spin out melodies high above” as an example of “truly strange passages,” but in its entirety this mass is a boldly imaginative work of great melodic beauty and harmonic sensitivity.
What continues to set apart these recordings of Blue Heron from the majority of choirs recording similar repertoire is the use of expressive devices. To beauty of phrasing, and the careful blending of parts, Scott Metcalfe adds clarity of enunciation, flexible tempos, and both a general and part-related control of dynamics that never approaches stylistic anachronism. As a result, the music doesn’t float in a vacuum, but becomes the carrier when appropriate for an emotional current. When it is sung that with Mary “angels rejoice and archangels exult,” for example, the performance reasonably seconds the music, and the score blazes with the brightness of that eternal moment. There are many more instances of that, all to the good.
The sound is close and resonant, but absolutely clear, with none of the messy lack of focus that comes from cloudy, over-reverberant efforts. The quality of this series remains as high as ever, both for music and performance. Available from blueheronchoir.org and, needless to add, strongly recommended.
FANFARE: Barry Brenesal
Boito: Nerone
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius; The Apostles; The Kingdom / Elder, Halle Orchestra
Sir Mark Elder has long been hailed for his interpretation of the works of Sir Edward Elgar. This special release box set celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the Hallé label and marks Hallé’s Elgar oratorios festival at the Bridgewater Hall in June 2023. Elgar’s three major oratorios are brought together in this special release box set. The multiple award-winning recordings feature the highly acclaimed Hallé Chorus and Youth Choir and a stellar line-up of major international vocal soloists.
The Lost Music of Canterbury / Metcalfe, Blue Heron
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Excerpts of reviews from previously released volumes included in this set:
Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks, Vol. 5
2018 Gramophone Magazine Early Music Award Winner
The anonymously-composed Mass in particular is superb. Whoever wrote it almost certainly knew Taverner's Gloria tibi Trinitas, for echoes of it abound, yet it is no slavish imitation. For this piece alone the disc is worth owning. This is one of the discoveries of the year.
– Gramophone
Jones: Missa Spes Nostra - Ludford: Ave Cujus Conceptio - Hunt: Stabat Mater
Robert Jones's Missa Spes nostra, the album's centerpiece, has an almost folk-like quality, though upon other occasions Jones relishes the passing dissonances his juxtapositions invite. It is a highly individualized work, and amply repays repeated listening.
– Fanfare
Ludford: Missa Regnum Mundi; Pygott: Salve Regina
They blend beautifully, but the emphasis isn’t on a homogenous sound; instead, it’s on one that allows each voice part to be heard in its distinct contribution and with a fitting weight, given the shifting balance of musical thought. The texts are enunciated with great clarity, and a degree of emphasis that very subtly seconds moments of intensity.
– Fanfare
Latin Winds / Rundell, Heron / RNCM Wind Orchestra
From Spain to Mexico and Brazil, the RNCM Wind Orchestra, under the conductors Clark Rundell and Mark Heron, here celebrates the strong Latin tradition of wind bands in an exhilarating programme. The album prominently features works by one of the most iconic composers for winds, the Brazilian Villa-Lobos. Their liveliness, freely changing modalities, ease of flow, and likeable sonorities are a striking compositional signature, the unusual Concerto Grosso exploring a unique sound world with concertante discussion among the four wind soloists and the wind band. Also heard are the tender wind Adagio by Rodrigo and his arrangement for band of his first major symphonic work, Per la flor del lliri blau, which in dreamily evoking the age of mediaeval tales inspired his Concierto de Aranjuez. We are brought to Mexico with a stunning work by one of the country’s most popular composers, Carlos Chávez, celebrating a range of popular national genres: the march, waltz, and song.
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius
Rore: I madrigali a cinque voci / Blue Heron
The first release of new material from Blue Heron since winning the 2018 Gramophone Classical Music Award for Early Music, this two-album set is the world-premiere recording of Cipriano de Rore’s landmark first book of madrigals for five voices. The set includes all twenty madrigals in De Rore’s 1542 print, as well as readings of the Italian poems (many of which are by Petrarch) by Alessandro Quarta. De Rore is celebrated as an innovator who helped create the madrigal as it is known today, putting the music at the service of the text and inventing a new, dramatic, and expressive harmonic language. In this music, listeners will perceive a deep engagement with the text, an engagement matched by the singers of Blue Heron, who were led by both Scott Metcalfe and Alessandro Quarta in developing an appropriately rhetorical style of performance. Musicologist Jessie Ann Owens has shown that the book is a poetic and musical cycle that likely resulted from a collaboration between De Rore and the Venetian poet Giovanni Brevio, who wrote the opening and closing poems of the set. The narrative structure is illustrated with “the colors of the modal system,” the madrigals being sequenced in modal order. Professor Owens’ research and conclusions are presented in extensive notes in the booklet. Prof. Owens and Blue Heron won the 2015 Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society, which provided stimulus funding for the project.
Christmas In Medieval England / Metcalfe, Blue Heron
Christmas in Medieval England allows listeners to share the beauty, excitement, intensity and variety found in a Blue Heron concert performance. It includes plainchant, carols, and other music for Advent and Christmas from 15th c. England. It is comprised entirely of tracks recorded live at First Church in Cambridge, Congregational in December 2013. The disc should find favor with fans of Blue Heron’s first CD release (BHCD1001), which contained music of 15th c. France. “… one of the Boston music community’s indispensables.” (Boston Globe)
Evolution (and Flashback) - The Very Best of Gil Scott-Heron
Producer: Bob Thiele.
Compilation producer: John Snyder.
Engineers include: Bob Simpson, Ray Hall.
Recorded between 1970 and 1972. Includes liner notes by Tom Terrell.
Digitally remastered by Tom MacCluskey (1997, BMG Studios, New York, New York).
Hugh Aston: Three Marian Antiphons / Blue Heron
Blue Heron has made the Peterhouse repertoire a specialty ever since its first concerts in 1999, in which the ensemble performed Aston's Ave Maria dive matris Anne, the opening track of the new disc. It is safe to say that Blue Heron has sung more of Nick Sandon's tenor lines than any other ensemble in North America, and never in ten years has any one in the group felt that a note he composed felt wrong. His quite amazing accomplishment is to have recreated a musical line that is utterly idiomatic, not merely to the general language of English music in the early sixteenth century, but to the local dialect and accent of one composer and, even more specifically, to that one composer's voice as heard in one piece in all its particularity. We-and Aston and Jones and Mason and all the other Peterhouse composers-owe him grateful thanks for restoring this marvelous music to us in singable form.
The CD booklet includes extensive notes by Nick Sandon on the Peterhouse partbooks, their place in history, and the process of restoring the missing music, as well detailed information concerning historical performance practice by Scott Metcalfe.
Bach Unbuttoned / Vega, Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn
On her third PENTATONE album Bach Unbuttoned, Ana de la Vega brings together a group of exciting young soloists and the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn to present a lively and fresh perspective on Bach as man and composer. The programme contains Brandenburg concertos Nos. 2, 4 & 5, a unique rendition on flute and oboe of the double violin concerto, as well as the breath-takingly virtuosic Badinerie for flute. Flautist Ana de la Vega’s presents her third PENTATONE album, after having released Mozart Myslivecek (2018) and Haydn Stamitz (2020). Oboist Ramón Ortega Quero also starred on the latter album, and is featured prominently on Bach Unbuttoned as well. Violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, trumpet player Cyrus Allyar, harpsichordist Johannes Berger and the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn all make their PENTATONE debut.
Siegfried Wagner: Der Kobold / Strobel, Broberg, Horn, Et Al
S. WAGNER Der Kobold • Frank Strobel, cond; Rebecca Broberg ( Verena ); Regina Mauel ( Gertrud ); Andreas Mitschke ( Ekhart ); Achim Hoffmann ( Trutz ); Johannes Föttinger ( Fink ); Philipp Meierhöfer ( Kümmel ); Volker Horn ( Friedrich ); Nicholas Isherwood ( Der Graf ); Martina Borst ( Die Gräfin ); Ksenija Lukic ( Jeannette ); Marco Bappert ( Jean ); Joachim Höchbauer ( Knorz ); Heike Kohler ( Käthe ); Young Jae Park ( Seelchen ); PPP Music Theatre Ens; Nuremberg SO • Marco Polo 8.225329 (3 CDs: 195:27)
Each time I listen to this recording of The Goblin , I am utterly unnerved—do not be fooled by the descending flute figures that cue the overture, like Pan himself coming down to bless the land. Obviously, there is no shortage of warped and twisted librettos, which tend to serve as jumping off points for music yet more warped and twisted, but my goodness, our man Siegfried was exorcising some personal demons with this work—ironically, by enlivening some.
The first “sung” note, once the gentle, autumnal instrumental opening has concluded, is a scream, one that comes through on the recording like a spike—no reverb, no vibrato, just fear, hammered home. We are dealing with a dramatis personae of goblins (including one whose entrance into the world comes courtesy of a mixture of a hanged man’s seed and the yellow grass below), a wizard, some assassins, night phantoms, a few satyrs, a circus collective, a rapist, and such cheery pursuits as infanticide, abortion, flesh trading, and prestidigitation for, shall we say, less than salubrious ends. Good luck sorting out the plot, which is about as close to postmodernism as Siegfried ever got, and features an opera within the opera, and a climax not dissimilar to F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu , which had the subtitle, intriguingly enough, of “A Symphony of Horrors.”
The quality of the recording itself will jar you, but that’s part of its effectiveness—weapons crash to the ground as though they’ve landed on microphones, or like something is kicking inside the speakers and trying to get out. It’s a fascinating, weird kind of audio-vérité, that further unsettles the nerves; but distortion was Siegfried’s ally in the creation of this work, and some passages even appear, at first, to be atonal. Rebecca Broberg as Verena, the opera’s heroine—a default designation, really, in this case, given her successive and ultimately defeating tragedies—is really stretched on the rack in her exceedingly taxing role, and it is through her vocal lines that we experience whatever empathy—which often takes the forms of anxiety and fear—the opera has to offer. It’s been remarked that for all of its fantastical elements, Der Kobold is something of a gangster story, but the noir -ish element becomes almost hallucinatory in the constant churn of crises, a vortex of demonism, you might say—of both the supernatural and human variety, the latter, of course, always being worse. Cpo has a Siegfried Wagner sampler disc with the West German Radio Symphony Orchestra and Roman Trekel handling an excerpt, but for the whole, vivid nightmare, you’ll need this set to be properly shocked and disturbed. And for those who cherish their illusions of childhood, there is perhaps no 20th-century opera that poses such a menacing threat to any and all forms of latency.
FANFARE: Colin Fleming
Le Chanteur / Roberto Alagna
The album features swing, jazz, gypsy jazz, the lamento, the waltz and the tango and through its highly personal approach to these songs, it conveys the tenor’s tremendous passion for music which, full of character, is instinct with vitality and feeling. The result is a formidable tribute to the unforgettable melodies that we all know and that we have all hummed to ourselves. It is also an homage to their illustrious interpreters and composers.
The album includes, among others, “La Chanson des vieux amants”, “Padam, padam”, “Les feuilles mortes”, “C’est un mauvais garçon”, “Mon pot’ le gitan”, “Nuages”, “Adieu mon pays” and “Domino”.
“This is the first time that I have made a recording devoted entirely to the French chanson […]. Reading between the lines of this repertoire, I wanted to throw light on the whole range of different genres and on the more or less remote musical influences that are now an integral part of the identity and legacy of French music. […] This foray into a world unlike that of my normal lyrical and classical repertoire, in a genre where listeners may not necessarily expect to find me, has a particular appeal for me. […] Be that as it may, this is a recording in which I hope that listeners will sense the infinite pleasure that I myself have felt in exploring these different styles and – thanks to the instrument that is my voice – allowing audiences to discover my passion and love of this music and to share those feelings with the greatest possible number of listeners.” Roberto Alagna
Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy; Impromptus / Viviana Sofronitsky
Melvyn Tan set the standard for fortepiano recordings in past decades, and his Virgin Veritas two disc survey of Schubert’s music, which includes the Impromptus D935 and D899, is still very much worth having. The EMI recording is a little gentler than the Avi-Music balance, with more distance between the listener and the instrument. Tan is more romantic in approach, allowing for more rubato and sustain where Sofronitsky is more direct. The first Impromptu D899 is a typical example, in which the articulation of the notes seems as important as the shaping of melodic lines and phrases to Sofronitsky. This is a challenge in its own right: who can we say is more accurate? Do we allow for more generosity of romantic spirit in music which still feels the pull of Mozart, or do we emphasise the classical in music which expresses emotion in the deepest ways available to but stretching the style and idiom of the day. Sofronitsky by no means plays without expression, but her articulation is more angular than most versions you will probably have heard until now. I could accuse her second Impromptu D899 of being too choppy and vertical sounding. Indeed there are passages where the repetitions seem to stack up rather than moving the musical narrative along. That said, the contrast of touch and the dramatic world created also have plenty to offer. The singing melody of the third Impromptu D899 provides an illusion of a sustained line on any piano. Sofronitsky carefully and effectively paces the movement so that this works as well as possible. Even so, the balance of melody is a mote too weak against the myriad accompanying notes though still sweeping along with fine and at times touching character. The last of the D 899 set is rather magical in its opening and closing bars, the lightness of touch – I take it with soft pedal – creating an ethereal atmosphere you’re unlikely to hear anywhere else, certainly not with Tan. The music comes into focus and advances as the effect is lifted, and the progression into the minor key is all the more dramatic for this extra layer of colouration.
The comments for D899 apply to a large extent also to the Impromptus D935. Sofronitsky obtains the maximum effect from the instrument. There are many aspects of these pieces which one can discover anew when hearing it on a fortepiano as opposed to a modern concert grand. You can tell the shading of light and dark in the first of the D935 set is exactly the effect Schubert would have had in mind, though the almost skipping tempo with which the second piece opens may or may not have been what he had in mind. Sofronitsky connects this with the dance rhythms which are the origins of the work. He seeks depth of expression in its brilliant contrasts of tonality and dynamic, rather than exploring artificial profundity in languor of tempo. The disarming melody of the third in this set is perhaps presented a little too heavily for my taste, though there is a marvel of difference in some of the variations which follow. The closing dance of no. 4 is lively and full of surprises.
Saving the best until last, it is the Wanderer Fantasie which impresses me most on this recording. Viviana Sofronitsky’s performance is one which fascinates at all levels. The anticipation of hearing how certain passages will sound on the MacNulty instrument is always rewarded with refreshing and unusual sonorities and tremendous inventiveness. Being a huge fan of Schubert’s piano sonatas and lieder I’ve been less keen on this work in general, but hearing the way it can sound on fortepiano and played so expertly has revived my interest more than somewhat. Schubert’s melodramatic writing makes absolute sense with this instrument, and the at times almost orchestral sounds which emanate clearly show how Schubert anticipates later generations and names such as Wagner, Berlioz and Liszt in his exploratory harmonic relationships and thematic developments. The difference between a pp and f or ff isn’t just soft or loud here, and the change in colour and texture between different moments is hard to describe in words. Take the bass line from 1:51 to 2:10 in the second movement Adagio, which has a driven, vocal quality as the dynamic increases. I find the personality which emerges from this kind of effect quite bewitching, and the entire piece comes alive in this version.
This recording probably won’t substitute your favourite concert grand performances, but if you still perceive listening to the fortepiano as a kind of hair-shirt experience then this disc should make you think again, though it does require decent equipment to bring the best of the subtleties of colour to the fore.
-- Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International
Roberto Sierra: Sonatas 13-14 & Estudios Trascendentales
Dutilleux: Tout un monde lointain; Dusapin: Outscape / Julien-Laferrière, Robertson, ONF
Victor Julien-Laferrière, winner in 2017 of the first Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium dedicated to the cello, presents here two French works for cello and orchestra: Outscape by Pascal Dusapin: "The title itself carries the musical project (...) a word rich in meaning that indicates a variety of meanings from the most common to the most philosophical. “Outscape” is the way or opportunity to escape, to invent a path of one's own. I liked this word because it is basically like a summary of the history of my work." Alongside this work composed in 2015 and here recorded in its world premiere (conducted by Kristiina Poska), the French cellist, the Orchestre National de France, this time conducted by David Robertson, celebrate Henri Dutilleux (who died just 10 years ago, on 22 May 2013), with his famous concerto, whose title is taken from a poem in Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal, La Chevelure: " A whole far-away world, absent, almost defunct"...
REVIEW:
Tout un monde lointain… finds Dutilleux at his stealthiest – not least in the first of its five continuous movements, ‘Énigme’, to whose refractory changes of mood JulienLaferrière is as attentive as he is to the probing inwardness of ‘Regard’ and the plangent dialogue of ‘Houles’. Nor is he afraid of mining a deeper vein of expression than many in the shimmering vistas of ‘Miroirs’, before ‘Hymne’ brings this Baudelaire-inspired sequence to an energetic if ultimately equivocal conclusion.
The numerous possible meanings of Dusapin's Outscape (2015), are reflected in the timbral and textural interplay of music where a corresponding emotional intensity gradually takes precedence. Even in the dramatic final stage, an interiorized quality remains foremost yet, as JulienLaferrière renders it, there is never an absence of immediacy.
With vibrant orchestral playing and sound of real vividness, this disc can be warmly recommended.
-- Gramophone
Among the many composers he commissioned new works from, including Britten and Lutosławski, the cello concerto that Rostropovich commissioned from Henri Dutilleux holds a special place. Rostropovich commissioned new works at the drop of a hat, and it took only a backstage introduction by Igor Markevitch in 1961 (reminiscent of Rostropovich’s first meeting with Britten, the introducer being Shostakovich) for him to prompt Dutilleux to write something for him. Rostropovich added that the famously slow and meticulous composer take his time, which Dutilleux did, producing Tout un monde lointain… , the concerto’s given title, in 1968. This led to the premiere in 1970 and later a famous recording by Rostropovich for EMI, transferred to CD in 1988.
The title, which translates as “An entire world far away,” was a considered choice, taken from the poetry of Baudelaire – in the early 1950s Dutilleux was inspired to write a ballet based on Les fleurs du mal, but it came to nothing. Baudelaire is the source of the one-word titles of the concerto’s five movements, but it is reasonable simply to consider them as indicators of the music’s atmospheric moods. As varied as the score is, Dutilleux focuses on the cello’s lyrical voice.
Dutilleux ascribed much of the work’s immediate success to Rostropovich’s performance, which is likely enough. That poses a formidable challenge for subsequent soloists, in the present case Victor Julien-Laferrière, an admired French cellist born in Paris in 1990. I’ve appreciated him as a member of the outstanding Trio Les Esprits[.]
Therefore, I listened to the present release with faith in Julien-Laferrière’s abilities. He is in every way exemplary, and the absence of Rostropovich’s strong presence isn’t felt unless you do a bar-by-bar comparison. Dutilleux lived long enough – he died at 97 in 2013 – to journey through many stylistic phases, and I’d say that Tout un monde lointain… , despite its modernist harmonies, is richly Romantic. A flair for theatricality infuses the score, which aids in directly communicating with the listener.
David Robertson, a specialist in modern and contemporary music, provides ideal accompaniment, and although Serge Baudo is excellent on the Rostropovich recording, this new version features more precise and colorful orchestral execution from the Orchestre National de France, along with improved, up-to-date recorded sound.
The notion of a distant imagined world is a shared theme with Pascal Dusapin’s Outscape from 2016 – in a free-form composer’s note he rhapsodizes about the connotations of this English word, which frankly I’d never run across before (it’s a synonym for “an escape”).
Outscape is engrossing, underscored by Julien-Laferrière’s intense and highly accomplished performance of the solo part. I often couldn’t follow the argument by ear, but there was no trouble remaining involved with a work that exemplifies the current eclecticism so vividly. The mood is often deliberate, at times mournful, and it helps that the music’s emotional tone is so clear and direct, even as its gestures widely divagate.
It’s frustrating, no doubt, to compete with a classic recording, all the more because the Dusapin must stand up to Rostropovich’s pairing, the esteemed Lutosławski Cello Concerto, another of his most notable commissions. But Julien-Laferrière has a great deal going for him, and there’s no obstacle to giving this release a strong recommendation.
-- Fanfare
Karola Obermuller / Various
J. & M. Haydn: Horn Concertos / Klieser, Württemberg CO Heilbronn
The popular album"Horn Concertos" by Felix Klieser is being released as a 180g Vinyl Reissue. The talented and unique horn player masters the technically demanding Horn Concertos by Joseph Haydn and his lesser known brother Michael Haydn. He is accomapnied by the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn under the baton of Ruben Gazarian. Together, they display these innovative compositions and their masterful orchestration with brilliance and unrivaled brilliance. The reconstructed 'Horn Concerto No. 0' by W. A. Mozart offers glimpses into the maestro's early Viennese years.
Duo, Trio, Quartet - Haydn, Rossini, Schubert / Eberle, Tetzlaff, Weithaas, Roberts
HAYDN Piano Trio in Bb, Hob XV:20. ROSSINI Duo for Cello and Double Bass. SCHUBERT String Quartet No. 14, D 810, “Death and the Maiden” • Martin Helmchen (pn); Veronika Eberle, Antje Weithaas, Christian Tetzlaff (vn); Rachel Roberts (va); Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Tanja Tetzlaff (vc); Alois Posch (db) • AVI-MUSIC 8553259 (66:11) Live: Heimbach 6/6-10/2011
The three concert performances on this disc derive from an annual chamber music festival entitled “Tensions [ Spannungen ]: Music in the Heimbach Hydropower Station,” which does in fact take place in a functioning hydroelectric installation, built in 1904 in Art Nouveau style and located in Germany’s Eifel region. Lars Vogt, the festival’s artistic director, writes in his introductory notes that the title is “not only an allusion to the electric current normally produced in this…installation but also to the underlying musical tensions and contrasts in the festival’s music program.” Electricity, in the figurative sense, is certainly a feature of the excellent performances on this disc.
The Haydn Trio offered here, No. 20 according to Hoboken but No. 34 in the Landon listing, is a relatively late work, one of a group of three trios written in 1794, during the composer’s second visit to London. Its three movements total just over 13 minutes in this performance by violinist Veronika Eberle, cellist Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, and pianist Martin Helmchen. Their rendition is excellent, predictably larger-scaled and more assertive than the fine period-instrument recordings by Trio 1790 (CPO) and by Patrick Cohen, Erich Höbarth, and Christophe Coin (Harmonia Mundi), achieving an ideal combination of energy, exuberance, precision, and elegance. The crystalline clarity of Helmchen’s pianism and the perfect intonation and burnished tone of the string players further contribute to the success of this performance.
Unlike his string sonatas, Rossini’s Duo for Cello and Double Bass is not an early work but rather dates from 1824, when the composer was already approaching the end of his operatic career. It was written for a well-known double bass virtuoso of the time, Domenico Dragonetti, who, according to the notes, lived from 1763 to 1841 but performed in the presence of Berlioz in 1845, making him one of several musicians who have been credited in print with performing after death. (Other sources indicate that his actual death date was 1846.) This instrumental combination might seem unpromising and be expected to yield a dull, boomy sound, but in Rossini’s hands it actually works quite well. Cellist Tanja Tetzlaff assumes the lead role that would go to a violin in a more conventional ensemble, but the playing of bassist Alois Posch is supple and euphonious. Together the instruments produce a warm, throbbing sonority, and this being Rossini, there is plenty of engaging melody in the three movements of the piece.
To conclude the program, violinists Antje Weithaas and Christian Tetzlaff, violist Rachel Roberts, and cellist Tanja Tetzlaff deliver a performance of Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” Quartet that is of astonishing power and intensity, with urgent tempos, forceful attacks, strong dynamic contrasts, and explosive climaxes. In taking the lengthy exposition repeat, unlike most competitors, these players prolong the first movement to over 15 minutes, which may not sit well with those who feel Schubert goes on for too long, but that is not a viewpoint I share, and in any case the performance is so gripping that no one is likely to complain of monotony. Although their treatment of tempo is not rigid, the Heimbach musicians, unlike many ensembles, relax only slightly in the more lyrical portions of the movement. Their urgency and vehemence continue into the Andante con moto second movement, where most ensembles opt for a more relaxed, lyrical approach. An unusually forceful and angry Scherzo is followed by a headlong and vehement finale. Technically, the playing is of a high standard in terms of intonation, articulation, and tone quality, although it is not note perfect, as is understandable given the live concert setting and the extremely intense, highly charged nature of the interpretation. Also notable is the unusually open and detailed texture of this performance, in which the contribution of each instrument can be heard distinctly.
There are many fine recordings of “Death and the Maiden,” but I do not know of another that matches this one for intensity and dramatic power. In contrast, that of the Alban Berg Quartet (EMI) flows smoothly and mellifluously, with a blended sonority. The Budapest Quartet (in its 1953 Columbia recording, available from ArkivMusic) is also comparatively genial and lyrical. The Emerson Quartet (DG) and the Juilliard Quartet (in its 1959 RCA recording, reissued by Testament) get a bit closer to the Heimbach approach but still do not match its relentless drive, towering climaxes, and searing passion. The Heimbach performance is greeted with thunderous applause and foot-stamping at the end, as it should be.
In addition to the quality of its performances, this disc benefits from excellent, realistic sound that positions the musicians precisely in a spacious acoustic and is vivid, well balanced, and free from harshness. The concert audience is very quiet, except for its enthusiastic applause after the performances, although faint background noise may be heard during silences and in quiet portions of the Schubert. This is an outstanding release, and I strongly recommend it to all lovers of chamber music.
FANFARE: Daniel Morrison
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius
Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks, Vol. 5 / Metcalfe, Blue Heron
2018 Gramophone Magazine Early Music Award Winner
Volume 5 of Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks contains the world premiere recording of a Mass by an anonymous English composer from the first half of the 16th century. Since the source of the cantus firmus has not been identified, the Mass remains without a name ("sine nomine"). The release also includes an antiphon addressed to St. Augustine of Canterbury which is the only surviving work of Hugh Sturmy, a short and dramatic Ave Maria mater dei by Robert Hunt, whose Stabat mater is a highlight of vol. 3 of the series, and the sonorous and captivating Ve nobis miseris by John Mason, for men's voices in five parts. This recording is part of a 5-release project which began in 2010.
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REVIEW:
The anonymously-composed Mass in particular is superb. Whoever wrote it almost certainly knew Taverner's Gloria tibi Trinitas, for echoes of it abound, yet it is no slavish imitation. For this piece alone the disc is worth owning. This is one of the discoveries of the year.
– Gramophone
14th Century Salmagundi / Blue Heron
The vocal ensemble Blue Heron, winner of the 2018 Gramophone Classical Music Award for Early Music and a 2020 Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, presents A 14th-Century Salmagundi. A salmagundi is a savory dish composed of chopped meats, seafoods, eggs, vegetables, and condiments; a mixture or hodgepodge; an assemblage of miscellaneous components. Blue Herons Salmagundi is a pleasing miscellany of music composed c. 1300-1400, a delightful salad of ingredients gathered from our storehouse of French and Italian songs, including virtuosic music by Guillaume de Machaut, Francesco Landini, and Jacob Senleches. Seven vocal soloists are featured along with medieval fiddle, harp, and lute.
