Barbara Pentland – Toccata
Barbara Pritchard
Centrediscs CMCCD 18312

I am very happy that Centrediscs, a label on which I also record, has released this CD of the solo piano music of Barbara Pentland. She was one of Canada’s leading composers who also had a place in the international avant-garde. Although she favoured serial techniques she did not let the rules restrict her. Her music sings and flows with imagination and colour. These are not the dry ascetic pieces you might expect from a serialist.

The first piece on the CD, Toccata (1958), is modelled on the toccatas of Frescobaldi and reflects the baroque virtuosic style of fast trills, arpeggios and hand crossings. Barbara Pritchard played this piece for the composer and gives an exemplary performance.Ephemera (1974–78) is made up of several short pieces named Angelus, Spectre, Whales, Coral Reef and Persiflage.This is an extraordinary set of works and Pritchard’s sensitive tone and attention to detail make this impressionistic-sounding music a mesmerizing experience. The humour that Pentland injects into two of these pieces is charming. A hint of Reveille in Persiflage is quirky and fun.

Tenebrae (1976) is full of brooding shadows lovingly played by Pritchard. Dirge from 1948 and From Long Agofrom 1946 illustrate Pentland’s early style and you can hear the influence of Copland, Stravinsky and Bartók on her work. Vita Brevis (1973) and Horizons (1985) complete this excellent CD which should encourage pianists of all levels and musicians of any taste to discover the marvellous, musical world of Barbara Pentland.

Adam Sherkin – As At First
Adam Sherkin
Centrediscs CMCCD 18212

This new recording finds Adam Sherkin at a fascinating early point in his career as a composer. Sherkin trained first as a pianist, and the works on this CD of his solo piano compositions show him processing this experience. Having engaged the piano repertoire as broadly and comprehensively as one could ask of an artist of 29 years, classical piano music remains his central point of reference. Clearly evident are the influences of an entire gallery of European piano keyboard composers from the Baroque through the late 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Mozart and Haydn are overtly acknowledged in this recording (in the pieces called Amadeus A.D. and Daycurrents, respectively), but the presence of Bach, Liszt and Shostakovich are no less clearly felt at various points in the proceedings.

Influences aside, what do we perceive of Sherkin himself? It’s a fair question in this case, because his compositions must accommodate the performer’s own fulsome expressivity: the dynamic range of his playing is wide, tending to the forte; his articulation is crisp with a fondness for jabbing accents; his phrasing often features a late-Romantic emotionalism in its rubato, but can also — albeit less frequently — settle into a calmer metric momentum. And here is what is interesting about this portrait: as a composer, he is dealing with the conflicting attractions of self-expression on one hand, as in the solo piano music of Schoenberg or Scriabin for example, and a less subjective, more outward and “American” approach on the other, as in the music of John Adams, with whose solo piano music Sherkin is well acquainted. It is a typically 21st century creative quandary, and Adam Sherkin has taken up the struggle with energy and panache.

Levant
Amici Chamber Ensemble
ATMA Classique ACD2 2655

Clarinettist Joaquin Valdepeñas, cellist David Hetherington and pianist Serouj Kradjian are joined by first-rate guests (Benjamin Bowman and Stephen Sitarski, violins, Steven Dann, viola) to perform a wide range of pieces which make up the passionately played program of this superb recording. The music of familiar composers such as Glazunov and Prokofiev sits alongside that of little-known Gayané Chebotaryan, Solhi Al-Wadi, Marko Tajčević and other artists inspired by the “sounds and colours of the Middle East,” as explained in Kradjian’s informative liner notes.

Highlights include Prokofiev’s Overture on Hebrew Themes, involving all the musicians and featuring Valdepeñas’ gorgeous clarinet sound, and the Seven Balkan Dances by Tajčević, a 20th century Yugoslav composer. The performance of these dances is highly spirited and showcases the artistry and virtuosity of the core ensemble.

The program is punctuated by chants by the spiritual teacher George Gurdjieff, arranged for solo piano by Thomas de Hartmann. These contemplative pieces, sensitively played by Kradjian, act as a welcome foil to the larger, longer and more intense ensemble pieces.

The disc ends with a sensational solo piano work — Levante, by Osvaldo Golijov — brilliantly rendered by Kradjian.

The string playing by Hetherington and guests is rhapsodic and committed and the whole disc exudes polish and thoughtful musicianship. Special mention should be made of Carlos Prieto’s engineering.

Concert notes: Amici provides live music to accompany classic silent (and neo-silent) films by Buster Keaton, Man Ray and Guy Maddin at the Bell Lightbox on February 3 at 3:00. They will be joined by soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian and other guests in music of Beethoven, Chausson, Poulenc and Montsalvatge at Koerner Hall on March 1 at 8:00.

Stealing Genius
Amy McConnell; William Sperandei
Femme Cache Productions FCP0001 mcconnellsperandei.com

The debut record from singer Amy McConnell and trumpeter William Sperandei, with producer Feisal Patel, is a stylish romp through 20th century music originating from a range of genres and eras. The title, Stealing Genius, is a reference to Oscar Wilde’s quip “talent borrows; genius steals.” But since covering other songwriters’ work is standard practice in the world of jazz, the quip could be reworked as “talent borrows; jazz artists assume ownership.” In this case, the victims of the thefts are varied and sometimes unexpected such as Elvis Presley (Suspicious Minds), Led Zeppelin (Thank You) and James Bond (From Russia With Love).

McConnell’s background in theatre shows in her vocal phrasing and approach — she has a big sound and emotions are expressed in broad strokes that play to the back of the house. Her accent is beautiful and convincing on the few French offerings including, of course, Piaf’s La Vie en Rose. Sperandei’s nice, bright sound blends well with McConnell’s and his soloing is confident and concise. Singer/stride pianist Michael Kaeshammer’s guest turn on the Ink Spots’ I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire is inspired. But the real genius is in having Larnell Lewis and Rob Piltch play drums and guitar on this record. Lewis’ exuberant precision and Piltch’s subtle musicality elevate many of the songs from stylish to artful.

The Speakeasy Quartet –
Vintage Style Hot Jazz, Swing and Pop
Speakeasy Quartet
Independent WJS004
hughleal.com

Hugh Leal may not be well known in Toronto but he has been a significant force for jazz in the Windsor area since the late 70s. He has been a real catalyst for the music as a guitarist/promoter/record producer; between 1983 and 2000 his Parkwood Records label recorded such veteran musicians as Doc Cheatham, J.C. Heard, Art Hodes, Franz Jackson and Sammy Price.

On this latest CD he features the Speakeasy Quartet in a program of jazz standards from the 20s and 30s including a couple of Bechet compositions, Egyptian Fantasy and the rarely heard Premier Bal, East St. Louis Toodle-oo and The Mooche by Ellington, Jubilee, Willie The Weeper, two trio numbers where the cello lays out, Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams and Indian Summer plus three originals by saxophonist Ray Manzerolle whose impressive playing is featured throughout the album. There are also fine solos from cellist Mike Karoub and pianist Mike Karloff.

All in all an enjoyable album from four musicians who respect and understand the traditions of the music. As the back of the jewel case accurately says: “Classic jazz with a unique fresh sonority.” Thank you Hugh for your seemingly tireless dedication to the jazz of an earlier era. To buy the CD contact lealjazz@gmail.com. $15 and it’s yours.

When I Arrived You Were Already There
Aviva Chernick
Independent AVGC-002
avivachernick.bandcamp.com

This is the solo CD debut for Aviva Chernick, who also performs as lead singer of the JUNO-nominated group Jaffa Road. Jaffa Road, like many of the other groups she performs with, explores a wide variety of world music. This recording reflects her work leading devotional music in the Jewish community, including at a number of Toronto’s temples and synagogues.

Her melodies on English and Hebrew texts are presented in a lovely, simple and accessible chant-like style. They transport the listener with a meditative and transcendent character, while the accompanying musicians on a number of exotic instruments provide more intricate and varied textures elegantly lending elements of rock, jazz and world fusion. One of the songs, Chadesh yameinu, borrows its melody with a tip of the hat to the Indian-Persian duo Ghazal.

Aviva maintains a forthright manner and purity of tone in her vocal style, as do her many notable guest singers. The relationships of breath/spirit, creativity/divinity, nature/renewal, family and community are explored on many levels in this deeply heartfelt and personal offering. The title When I Arrived You Were Already Thereis an invitation to the listener to look deeply within and return to peace.

Few cds will garner the immediate interest of Test of Time (Cornerstone Records CRST CD 140, cornerstonerecordsinc.com), previously unreleased material recorded in 1999 by the trio of saxophonist Mike Murley, guitarist Ed Bickert and bassist Steve Wallace. The trio’s only previous CD won the 2002 Juno Award for best mainstream jazz album, shortly after Bickert’s 2001 decision to retire from playing. Bickert may be Canada’s most distinguished jazz guitarist (his tenure with Paul Desmond might be enough to establish that) but all his gifts are in evidence here, the gentle propulsion of his chording, the perfect voicings when he’s comping and the brilliant linear flow of his improvised lines. There’s likely no better forum to showcase his gifts than this trio without drums, his every nuance clearly audible and Murley and Wallace ideal associates to bring out his best as both soloist and accompanist. East of the Sun stands out.

Myriad 3 is a group of young Toronto musicians in the traditional jazz piano trio format, with Chris Donnelly on piano, Dan Fortin on bass and Ernesto Cervini on drums. Tell (ALMA ACD13112, almarecords.com), however, doesn’t strongly suggest any traditional trio approaches. Instead the group’s affinities are with more recent paradigms, like Sweden’s EST or the American trio Bad Plus. Myriad 3’s style is distinctly spare and strongly rhythmic, with elements of classical and pop music frequently appearing. The opening Myriad may suggest Satie in its modal grace, while Drifters emphasizes forceful, broken rhythms and dramatically unexpected piano chords. There’s a sense here of an equality of parts, each member playing in a sparse, assertively gestural style. When older jazz elements appear, they’re equally lean and specific, whether it’s Duke Ellington’s almost monotone C Jam Blues or the bluesy Horace Silver-style bop of Donnell’s Mr. Awkward.

The Lina Allemano Four has achieved remarkably consistent form, maintaining the same personnel for their fourth consecutive CD (beginning with Pinkeye in 2006). Trumpeter Allemano is joined by Brodie West on alto saxophone, Andrew Downing on bass and Nick Fraser on drums on Live at the Tranzac (Lumo Records, linaallemano.com), the Toronto bar providing a comfortable setting for these close-knit, highly conversational dialogues on the leader’s compositions. The style is free jazz, the band reminiscent of Ornette Coleman’s original quartet, but the music couldn’t be more disciplined, the band working hand-in-glove to realize the most from each of Allemano’s tunes.

Tenor saxophonist Michael Blake has long been established in New York, where he’s best known for his decade-long membership in John Lurie’s high-profile Lounge Lizards. He still maintains strong ties to Vancouver, however, and he has just released In the Grand Scheme of Things (Songlines SGL159-2, songlines.com) featuringa quartet with Vancouver musicians. It’s a heady musical blend that delights in contrasting sounds, from Blake’s own, often straight-ahead tenor in lyrical ballad or forceful up-tempo mode to passages of eerie, electronically altered trumpet from JP Carter, techno and ambient electronic sound from Chris Gestrin on Fender Rhodes electric piano and a Moog Micromoog synthesizer and percussion that ranges from traditional trap drumming to the metallic grit of scraped cymbals from Dylan van der Schyff. It’s evocative work, but it’s Blake’s warm, keening tenor on the soulful Treat Her Right that leaves the strongest impression.

The American composer and bandleader Sun Ra died in 1993, but his influence persists in new recordings from Montreal and Toronto. Bassist Nick Caloia has been building the Ratchet Orchestra since the early 90s. At times it’s been as small as a quartet, but the current personnel numbers around 30. While the band has performed and recorded Sun Ra compositions in the past, here the influence is apparent in Caloia’s own writing. It’s a mad explosion of sound that layers Caloia’s ceremonial melodies over processional rhythms and a thick undergrowth of improvising percussion. As heard on Hemlock (Drip Audio DA00820, dripaudio.com), the band has also assembled the strongest core of soloists you’re ever likely to hear in a Canadian free-jazz band, including the reeds of Jean Derome, Lori Freedman, Christopher Cauley and Damian Nisensen, trombonists Tom Walsh and Scott Thomson and guitarist Sam Shalabi. The vitality and high spirits are palpable and they sometimes explode, as in the eruption of Beat poet Brion Gysin’s permutational Kick that Habit Man.

Toronto guitarist Ken Aldcroft’s Convergence Ensemble has released a 2-CD set of the leader’s compositions called Sneaky Pete/Slugs’ (Trio Records try 015, kenaldcroft.com). Disc one is a collection of pieces that emphasizes sub-groups and solo improvisations; Disc two, by the full sextet, presents Slugs’: Suite for Sun Ra, named for the New York club where Sun Ra once played regularly. It’s animated at once by Aldcroft’s melodies and swaying rhythms, but it’s elevated by the focused improvisations of the ensemble, from Aldcroft’s own divergent approaches (sometimes a lyrical minimalism, at other times tumbling, rapid flurries of notes) to the extended techniques of trumpeter Nicole Rampersaud, playing multiple tones at once, and trombonist Scott Thomson (yes, he manages to appear in both these bands) who explores seemingly contradictory low-pitched whistles. The final piece, combining themes from both Sneaky Pete and Slugs’, goes through numerous textures, highlighted by the intensity of saxophonist Evan Shaw.

Although the witticism that “free jazz keeps you young” has been repeated so often that it’s taken on cliché status, there’s enough evidence to give the statement veracity. Many improvisers in their eighties and seventies are still playing with the fire of performers in their twenties. Take German saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, who celebrated his 70th birthday and nearly 50 years of recording a couple of years ago. Case in point is Solo +Trio Roma (Victo CD 122/123, victo.qc.ca), recorded at 2011’s Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV) in Quebec. Not only does Brötzmann play with unabated intensity for almost 75 minutes, while fronting a bassist and a drummer about half his age on one CD; but on the other inventively plays unaccompanied, without a break, for another hour or so. The multi-reedist still blows with the same caterwauling intensity that characterized Machine Gun, 1968’s free jazz classic, but now a balladic sensitivity spells his go-for-broke expositions.On Solo, his overview is relentlessly linear mixing extended staccato cadenzas with passages of sweet romance that momentarily slow the narrative. Climactically the nearly 25-minute Frames of Motion is a pitch-sliding explosion of irregular textures and harsh glissandi that seems thick as stone, yet is malleable enough to squeeze the slightest nuance out of every tune. Slyly, Brötzmann concludes the piece with gargling split tones that gradually amalgamate into I Surrender Dear. Backed by Norwegian percussion Paal Nilssen-Love and Italian electric bassist Massimo Pupillo, Brötzmann adds lip-curling intensity and multiphonic glissandi to the other program. Centrepiece is Music Marries Room to Room that continues for more than 69 minutes. Besides wounded bull-like cries tempered with spitting glissandi from the saxophonist, the piece includes jet-engine-like drones from Pupillo as well as shattering ruffs and pounding shuffles from the drummer. Several times, just as it seems the playing can’t get any more ardent, it kicks up another notch. Indefatigable, the saxophonist spins out staccato screams and emphatic abdominal snorts in equal measures, with his stentorian output encompassing tongue slaps, tongue stops and flutter tonguing. Brief solos showcase Pupillo crunching shards of electronic friction with buzz-saw intensity, while Nilssen-Love exposes drags, paradiddles, rebounds and smacks, without slowing the beat. There are even lyrical interludes among the overblowing as Brötzmann occasionally brings the proceedings to a halt for a capella sequences, which suggest everything from Taps to Better Git It in Your Soul. Finally the broken-octave narrative reaches a point of no return to wrap up in a circular fashion with yelping reed cries, blunt percussion smacks and dense electronic buzzes. Rapturous applause from the audience spurs the three to go at it again at the same elevated concentration for an additional five minutes.

Three months after FIMAV, at a Portuguese jazz festival, the trio was joined by Japanese trumpeter Toshinori Kondo and under the name of Hairybones recorded the single-track blow-out that is SnakeLust (Clean Feed 252 CD www.cleanfeed-records.com). Affiliated with the reedist on and off since the early 1980s, the trumpeter who also uses electronics, adds several sonic colors to sounds from the basic trio. Given a wider canvas, Pupillo transcends holding the ostinato, and uses slurred fingering, buzzing flanges and frailing distortions. Similarly the drummer contributes several extended hand-drumming sequences, most notably as accompaniment to Brötzmann’s investigation of the woody tárogató. Kondo’s most common strategy mixes muted tongue flutters with electronic extensions reminiscent of Miles Davis’ 1970s work. He often plays allegro as well, using his familiarity with the reedman’s ideas to blend capillary grace notes with Brötzmann’s visceral strains, often played parallel. The expanded sound field not only creates polyphonic textures with at least five sonic colours, but warms the saxman’s staccato slurs and altissimo cries. Following Brötzmann’s and Nilssen-Love’s tárogató-drum intermezzo, Kondo’s mellow, electronically enhanced trills add enough French-horn-like timbres to almost make that theme variation low key. By the improvisation’s conclusion however, Kondo presses down on his effects pedal to add wide vibrations. These join enough torqued multiphonics from the other players to create a finale that’s strident, contrapuntal and ultimately satisfying.

Less than 90 days afterwards, peripatetic Brötzmann performed at Krakow’s Autumn Jazz Festival in another mammoth improvisation captured on Yatagarasu (NotTwo MW 894-2 www.nottwo.com). Billed as The Heavyweights, his associates were both Japanese and his contemporaries: pianist Masihiko Satoh is his age and drummer Takeo Moriyama four years younger. Despite the abundance of grey hair the set was characterized by the same unparallelled toughness as the others. Another free jazz marvel, Satoh has the matchless technique and indefatigable stamina to match the saxophonist’s snaky inventions, while Moriyama’s double-time paradiddles and martial press rolls open up spacious sound territory. On some tracks, Brötzmann appears to never stop playing, emptying his lungs with staccato whinnies and visceral battle cries. Not that the pianist’s raw-power chording takes second place. Should the saxophonist metaphorically examine every tone facet before letting it loose, then Satoh’s voicing emphasizes each note with key-clipping enthusiasm. On Icy Spears, the pianist cuts through the cacophony to surprise with low-frequency, cross-handed chording, prodding Brötzmann to briefly slow the tempo with breathy vibrations before deconstructing the line into shards once again. Full-blast saxophone shrills are other Satoh challenges, which he counters by redoubling his kinetic key fanning. Eventually cymbal clashes blend with swelling piano pumps and altissimo reed passion for an expressive climax which appears to have reached the limits of endurance; at least the trio suddenly stops playing.

Brötzmann is also a mentor to – and often employer of – younger saxophonists involved with unbridled free expression. Recorded one month before his FIMAV gig, Sonore Café Oto/London (Trost TR 108 www.trost.at) is a showcase for another of his distinctive working groups. An all-reeds trio, other members are American tenor saxophonist/clarinettist Ken Vandermark and Swedish baritone saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, leaders of their own bands, each two decades Brötzmann’s junior. Tellingly the older saxophonist doesn’t pull rank, with solos parceled out equally. Furthermore the program consists of a composition by each member plus a free-form blow-out. More crucially despite the juxtaposition of jagged split tones, altissimo runs and deep-seated bellows vibrating during the program, Sonore is in no sense Brötzmann times three. While a layered narrative like Le Chien Perdu features the three harmonizing in triple counterpoint, each player retains his individuality. Gustafsson does so by propelling pedal-point pops. Still even as Brötzmann’s and Vandermark’s staccato timbres swell to bird-whistle territory, neither would be mistaken for the other.

Youthfulness may have a particular meaning in general. Yet when it comes to innovative musical expression, Brötzmann provides the textbook definition.

Many of us have attended or heard performances of the Brahms First Symphony that for the most part have slipped from memory. As important as it is, this symphony has fallen into the war-horse, crowd-pleaser category and a performance whether heard live or via recordings can appear to be just another work on the program, or a revelation! Granted any first hearing will be a unique experience but one would need to be quite familiar with a few different versions to recognize that a particular new performance is exceptional. Case in point is a new release of a concert performance by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sergiu Celibidache (Vienna Symphony CD, WS002 mono).

Celibidache refused to make commercial recordings, stating that such documents would only reveal how he conducted the work at that time of day, on that date, in that venue ... etc., etc. On the evening of October 30, 1952, in the Konzerthaus, this is how they played! It remains a truly memorable event. The playing is articulate, no slurring, clean winds and brass and no pregnant pauses. The music seems to drive itself. This is a passionate performance directed by a young firebrand and is no way akin to his later settled-in and comfortable versions — from the 1976 Stuttgart RSO (DG) and the 1987 Munich Philharmonic (EMI). This performance remains not a monument to Brahms but a celebration. The mono sound is full bodied and dynamic, typical of the best engineering of the day.

Although there were others, for the second half of the 20th century and beyond, when one considered performances of Schubert lieder, the late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau enjoyed his well-deserved prime reputation. Of course, he was also known for his Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Hugo Wolf, Mahler and Richard Strauss and others from Bach to Berg and Britten. And he loved to make recordings.

He recorded the three Schubert cycles many times, because, unlike instrumentalists and some conductors, he wanted a wide audience to know how he sang it that day with that accompanist. He talks about this in a charming interview/conversation dating from the 1985 Schubertiade, part of a DVD release from Arthaus Musik of Schubert (Arthaus 107523, 2 DVDs). Die Schöne Müllerin was recorded live in 1991 at the Montforthaus in Feldkirch with Andres Schiff including, as a bonus, the conversation with Franz Zoglauer. Winterreise was filmed a dozen years earlier in Siemens Villa, Berlin in 1979 and includes almost an hour of rehearsal for the recital with Alfred Brendel. So why would this singer require a rehearsal of what was his basic repertoire? As he says on the other disc, different accompanists can elicit different variations in his interpretation and together they work it out. Together, the two DVDs provide a most satisfying evening.

I must remind readers of what I consider to be the most satisfying recording ever of Das Lied von der Erde: Fischer-Dieskau conducting the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra with alto, Yve Janicke and tenor Christian Elsner (Orfeo C494001 B). Not surprisingly, the orchestral playing is unusually expressive and much more sublimely lyrical than other versions particularly, but not only in the winds. The overwhelming loneliness and resignation of Der Abschied is heart-breaking. Recorded in concert on June 22 at the 1996 Schubertiade in the medieval town of Feldkirch, this would be one of my ten Desert Island discs.

Alfred Cortot was one of the most respected musicians and pianists of the early 1900s and into the 1950s. His recordings were once the cornerstones in the libraries of Chopin and Schumann aficionados around the world. Cortot was born in 1877 in the Suisse Romande and studied and was awarded in Paris. He was choral conductor in Bayreuth in 1901 and was responsible for the mounting of Götterdämmerung in Paris in 1902 which he also conducted. The Cortot, Casals and Jacques Thibaud Trio had a well-deserved reputation and was in part responsible for elevation of the trio form from the salon to the concert stage. Cortot was a sensitive accompanist for singers and string players alike. He also conducted notable recordings.

Today, perfect technique has become the norm and the prime concern of audiences who, to paraphrase Professor Higgins, don’t care about what instrumentalists play as long as they play all the right notes. Cortot was one of the last musicians from the times when personal and intuitive interpretations overrode minor concern for technical perfection.

The motherlode of his recordings, Alfred Cortot An Anniversary Edition, contains every EMI recording from 1919 to 1959 including unreleased items (EMI 5099970490725 40 CDS). As of this writing, a complete list of the some 275 works can only be seen at Arkivmusic: arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=817326.

Chatting about this totally new, all newly remastered set recently, I was asked “Did they leave in all the wrong notes?” Yes, they did.

ICA Classics continues to release DVDs of concert performances featuring Benjamin Britten conducting the English Chamber Orchestra in The Maltings Concert Hall in Aldeburgh as they were recorded for broadcast by the BBC. From June 16, 1968 (ICAD 5025) Mstislav Rostropovich is the soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations Op 33 and the Pezzo capriccioso Op.62. The orchestra plays the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture. Also on this DVD, the orchestra is joined by the Aldeburgh Festival Singers on June 5, 1970, from a performance of a suite from Britten’s Gloriana: The Tournament, The Lute Song (with Peter Pears) and Apotheosis. As this is the only recording of Britten conducting anything from Gloriana it will be of particular interest to collectors. 

Verdi – I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata
De Biasio; Pertusi; Theodossiou; Meli; Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma; Daniele Callegari
Cmajor 720608DVD

In glorious sunshine over the city of Jerusalem and in the background a row of devout Orthodox Jews praying at a Wailing Wall that extends full width across the stage, a rapt chorus in the foreground sings one of Verdi’s most inspired choral creations – Gerusalemme! Gerusalemme! Thus begins the third act of I Lombardi, young Verdi’s fourth opera for La Scala, from 1843.

The core of the story is the tragic love between a Moslem man and a Christian girl elevated by some of the most beautiful singing the not yet 30-year-old Verdi had written so far. The youth, the tenor, unfortunately only sings in two acts of the four, but the role is so rewarding that both Pavarottiand Domingoshone in it. Here, a young Italian, Francesco Meli provides some enchanting moments while the girl (daughter of the leader of the Crusade), Giselda, the dramatic-soprano lead, sung by the formidable Dimitra Theodossiou,soldiers magnificently through all four acts from breathtaking pianissimo solos to fortissimo outbreaks with shattering high notes as in the finale of the second act. To top it all she displays such vocal acrobatics in her fourth act cabaletta that even the brilliant conductor, Daniele Callegariseems visibly delighted.

Choruses feature heavily in this opera, more so than in Nabucco. To my mind Verdi impresses most by these early efforts at ensemble writing he later perfected in Macbeth, Rigoletto and La Traviata, etc. Most notable here is the supremely beautiful trio at the end of Act Three that gives me shivers of pleasure every time I hear it. The underpinning voice in the trio is the lead baritone, Michele Pertusi,the evil brother turned hermit (sung at the Met by Samuel Ramey) whose voice of stentorian power and great sensitivity is so magnificent that all I can say is: “Oh, brother, can he ever sing!!” Overall a memorable production, worthy of Verdi.

Arias for Marietta Marcolini (Rossini's First Muse)
Ann Hallenberg; Stavanger Symphony Orchestra; Fabio Biondi
Naïve V5309

Noted Swedish mezzo soprano Ann Hallenberg’s new disc on the French naïve label is an interesting collection of arias written originally for a great diva who “set Verona ablaze” with her artistry in the 1810s and 20s, Maria Marcolini. By a fortunate coincidence she entered the life of the teenage Rossini who was just beginning his career and provided such an inspiration and forward momentum that the mezzo-soprano lead became the raison d’etre of his early operas, first and foremost L’Italiana in Algeri, the comic masterpiece from his Venetian period. Marcolini however was an already established singer and she sang in many of the works of Rossini’s contemporaries who in hindsight were never as good as the master himself. Nevertheless, in order to a give a fuller perspective of the period Hallenberg has included a few arias from those operas as well.

Such names as Mayr, Weigl, Paer, Mosca and Coccia are likely to be totally unknown for most listeners but the selections are not without merit and sung with dedication, perfect intonation and technical brilliance.

Generally the same is true for the Rossini arias. In one of my favourites, Per lui che adoro (“The Man I love” – Rossini version), the beautiful espressivo, the lyrical vocal line, the coquettish charm and sensuality, so important in Isabella’s character in L’Italiana, come out well and certainly there is no lack of brilliance in the devilishly difficult Rossinian fioraturas either. Her power, especially in the high registers is glorious. She receives stylish accompaniment from the Norwegian ensemble under Fabio Biondi’s direction.

2013 is rapidly approaching and with it the 200th birthday of Giuseppe Verdi. To celebrate, the C Major label and the Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma have put together a worthy birthday present, DVDs of all his 26 operas plus the Requiem performed to perfection on Italian stages, by Italian singers, conductors and designers. According to critics: “this is how Verdi should be played.” So far from what I’ve seen and heard I definitely agree.

Un Giorno di Regno (C Major 720208) the 26-year-old Verdi’s second opera for La Scala was a total, unremitting failure. He not only failed miserably trying to write a comic opera, but at the same time lost his wife and two children and was near suicide. He decided never to compose again and the piece was almost ignored until recent years. Seeing this production from Teatro Regio di Parma, a regional theatre of architectural splendour, one is immediately taken by the wealth of catchy melodies, all original, no repeats, the irrepressible upbeat rhythms and hilarious comedy at its best. A connoisseur however would find the influences of Rossini and Donizetti, but at the same time hear premonitions of the master to come (e.g. echoes of the Su vendetta of Rigoletto). Conducted by Donato Renzetti, the production was designed by famous Italian Pier Luigi Pizzi with an elegant, symmetrical renaissance set with ingenious lighting changes following the progress of the day (giorno). Six major voices (four male, two female) mainly all young singers in top form carry the action that never for a moment stands still. It’s unfair to pick a favourite, but I was partial to the lead mezzo Anna Caterina Antonacciwhose vocal power in all registers, beautiful intonation, feeling for nuances and a comic talent could put any mezzo currently basking in glory to shame. The protagonist Guido Locansolois a radiant baritone,looks the part, elegant, regal but relaxed and charmant, a worthy foil for Antonacci.

The legend goes that Verdi, driven to near suicide, found a new libretto smuggled into his furnished room but in desperation threw it on the floor. The new libretto, Solera’s masterwork, fell open with the words “Va pensiero, sull’ali dorate” (Fly thought on golden wings) and the rest is history. His new opera Nabucco (C Major 720408) became a tremendous overnight success and firmly established his reputation. The opera is conducted with excitement and enthusiasm, beautifully pointed, with soaring melodies and upbeat tempi by a young Italian named Michele Mariottiand sung by youthful, strong voices so that even the lowliest chorister could be a soloist at any world stage. In addition there are two veterans in the principal roles. Leo Nucci as Nabucco is easily the world’s top Verdi baritone (succeeding the legendary Renato Bruson) who is larger than life, with a voice of immense power and touching lyricism. Dimitra Theodossiou takes one of the most murderous dramatic soprano roles in the entire opera repertoire, that of Abigaille, a role usually reserved for the Callases in the past, and simply astounds the audience to a thunderous ovation. A third principal, a stentorian basso with exceptional power even in the deepest registers, is Riccardo Zanellato as Zaccaria, the high priest of Israel. This is a production to cherish. It’s as good as can be and this bodes well for the rest of the series. I can hardly wait!

Wagner – Der Ring Des Nibelungen; Wagner's Dream, a documentary
Robert Lepage; Metropolitan Opera
Deutsche Grammophon 073 4770 (8 DVD) 073 4771 (5 Blu-ray)

This set is derived from the Live from the Met broadcasts from the 2010/11/12 seasons and is the second Ring cycle from the Met for the home screen. The first was the Otto Schenk/Gunther Schneider-Siemssen cycle that was seen on PBS in the early 1990s. While watching these new discs I thought about this earlier set and had a peek. The peek turned into a marathon. Every aspect of that cycle pleases me; the mise-en-scène, the cast and Levine’s direction. It remains the perfect document exemplifying the traditional productions of the last 100 years (DG 073043-9, 7 DVDs).

Dutifully returning to the Lepage Ring, as it is now referred to, was an utterly different experience, drawing undue attention to and distracted by the stage-wide row of planks waving around and wondering what they will do next. Viewing these four music dramas in the theatre over three years, many were disappointed, perplexed and intolerant of such a radical departure from tradition.

Wagner’s Dream is an engrossing, informative documentary of the philosophy, concept and construction of “The Machine,” the brainchild of Robert Lepage. We are in on its fabrication in Quebec and the installation at the Met. Then the inevitable little hitches as stage people, the choreographer and the singers familiarize themselves with this 9,000 pound machine and its ability to produce the desired result. The Machine, it dawned on me, is simply an elaborate new form of scrim, adjustable in countless ways to also provide planes according to the needs of the scenes, while the projected images serve only to evoke the surroundings and not to furnish them. Once the penny dropped, it all seemed so obvious. I no longer lamented the absence of traditional three-dimensional sets but was well aware of the atmosphere and environment.

This was to be Levine’s Ring but due to his declining health he was able to conduct only Das Rheingold (October 9, 2010) and Die Walkure (May 14, 2011). The cycle was completed by Fabio Luisi who had assumed the post of principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera on September 6, 2011: Siegfried (November 5, 2011) and finally Götterdämmerung (February 11, 2012).

Singers in the principal roles remain constant across the four dramas including Bryn Terfel as Wotan, Stephanie Blythe as Fricka, Hans-Peter König as Fafner and Hunding and Hagen while Gerhard Siegel is Mime and Eric Owens is Alberich. This is Deborah Voigt’s first Brunnhilde and Jay Hunter Morris’ first Met Siegfried but the viewer would never guess it, so “to the manner born” are their performances. I see and hear them as ideally cast. Morris was born and raised in Paris, Texas and in conversation has not lost his charming Texas drawl. The many interviews with each tell their stories.

Jonas Kaufmann appears only in Die Walkure where the attraction of his Siegmund to Eva-Maria Westbrook’s Sieglinde is exquisitely intense. Performances from Voigt, Morris, Terfel and König are outstanding but there are no lesser players. Conversations and interviews with the principals caught between acts in the original transmissions are included as separately tracked extras.

The Met orchestra has been honed to perfection over the years and their enthusiasm and sensitivity can be movingly gentle or strongly dramatic with enormous horsepower where called for.

This unique set will be irresistible for many Ring fans, and diehard traditionalists may be pleasantly surprised.

Ligeti – Le Grand Macabre
Chris Merritt; Ines Moraleda; Ana Puche; Werner Van Mechelen; Barbara Hannigan; Frode Olsen; Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatre del Licau; Michael Boder
ArtHaus Musik 101 043

Ligeti owes some of the popularity of his music to futuristic images: the hypnotic passages in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey were incredible background to Ligeti’s music. It is then little wonder that a combination of his difficult, relentless and entrancing music, with fascinating and at times shocking staging by La Fura dels Baus, results in such an explosive combination. The La Fura ensemble is Europe’s answer to the theatrical wizardry of Robert Lepage’s ExMachina. After a visually stunning production of Weill’s Mahagonny on the same label, Le Grand Macabre sets the bar even higher. The stage, dominated by a female shape, vaguely reminiscent of Picasso’s large-boned nudes, is transformed by tricks of light and projections into a phantasmagoria of nightmarish images, truly a “Grand Macabre.”

The tale of a false prophet of an impending apocalypse was written by Ligeti between 1974 and 1977, but he completely reworked it in 1996. Opera as a genre forces Ligeti to accommodate the most difficult of instruments, the human voice. Hence the presence of both melody and tonality in this intense work. The striking visuals will transfix even the most reluctant modern opera followers, but this is not to say that the singing is not amazing. Werner Van Mechelen inhabits the role of Nekrotzar, the prophet of doom, with ease and class, while Barbara Hannigan as Gepopo and Brian Asawa as Prince Go-Go shine in their respective roles.

This is certainly not a production that leaves the listener toe-tapping or humming a familiar aria. Instead, one will be forced to think, reflect and then put the DVD back on. Such is the power of Ligeti’s music and futuristic imagery.

Navidad
Toronto Consort; David Fallis
Marquis MAR 81435

The Toronto Consort’s Christmas offering this year features villancicos and dances from 16th and 17th century Latin America and Spain. More earthy and fun than the more formal church music, the villancico traditionally mimicked ethnic speech patterns and was accompanied by folk instruments. So, true to form (and similar to the Toronto Consort’s treatment of early popular English music), some of the stresses and pronunciation you hear in selections such as Riu, riu, chiu may at first sound a little rough around the edges, but serve well to portray the joyful, lusty nature of the peasant class. In fact, as pointed out in David Fallis’ detailed liner notes, people actually got up in Church and often danced to these, “much to the consternation of church authorities.”

Other songs on this disc, such as the sweet and tender lullaby Xicochi and the mystic Ay, luna que reluzes provide a lovely contrast to soothe and inspire. The players have picked up some less familiar instruments suited to the repertoire, with Terry McKenna and Lucas Harris on vihuela (shaped like a guitar, tuned like a lute), Julia Seager-Scott on baroque harp and Dominic Teresi on bajón (an instrument similar to the bassoon). With lively notes as well as lovely voices and good-humoured too, this is an excellent recording to liven up the Christmas season.

The Toronto Consort performs Michael Praetorious’ Mass for Christmas Morningat Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre on December 14, 15 and 16.