Delibes: Lakmé Natalie Dessay, soprano, Gregory Kunde, tenor;  José van Dam, baritone Orchestre et Choir du Capitole de Toulouse Michel Plasson, conductor EMI 5 56569 2 6

In January, Opera Ontario con-tinues its invaluable exploration of neglected nineteenth century French operas when it performs Delibes’ once-popular Lakmé. It was a hit when it opened in 1883, and remained so for almost one hundred years. But today Delibes is mainly known for his popular ballet Coppélia, although two of the arias from Lakmé, the coloratura showpiece Bell Song and the Flower Duet are often heard. 

Lakmé takes place in India during the British occupation. The somewhat dubious plot hinges around a vengeful Brahmin priest, his young priestess daughter, and the British officer who falls in love with her. 

But the music is glorious, especially when performed as splendidly as on this recording.  French soprano Natalie Dessay is sensational. She brings such character and shading to each note, with such luminous ringing tones, that even the great Sutherland, who recorded the role twice, can’t match her here. She has a distinctively youthful and versatile voice, which seems to get clearer and more beautiful the higher she goes – and this is a high role.

The great Belgian baritone José Van Dam gives depth and humanity to the fanatical priest whose fatherly love is perverted by religious zeal. Tenor Gregory Kunde as the ardent lover comes off as more caring than callow.

The orchestra and chorus under Michel Plasson capture the exotic atmosphere of the lush score, but still provide plenty of dramatic momentum. 

Pamela Margles 

Concert Note: Opera Ontario is producing Lakmé in Hamilton on January 25, 30, and Feb. 1 at Hamilton Place, and in Kitchener-Waterloo on Feb. 7 at The Centre in the Square.

Handel: Italian Cantatas Marie-Nicole Lemieux, contralto Luc Beauséjour, harpsichord  Marie-Céline Labbé, baroque flute;  Amanda Keesmaat, baroque cello Analekta FL 2 3161

Here’s a discreetly charming little Handel-fest: a disc that alternates solo cantatas, accompanied by two or three players, with instrumental works. All composed before 1720, these works reveal a musically intimate Handel. The secular cantatas here were written for private performances in the homes of Italian nobles in Rome, and this recording invites the listener into this exclusive world.

Marie-Nicole Lemieux — a contralto with a pure, counter-tenorish voice — sings with spot-on intonation and a vocal agility that makes it all sound easy. (Listen to her seemingly effortless negotiation of the roulades in the aria Fuggi da questo sen, for instance.) Lemieux’s embellishments are tasteful, her delivery subtly expressive - and yet she can give goosebumps with the word “crudele.”

Harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour performs with gentlemanly deference. Even his two solo contributions - the Suite in E major, and the Air from Water Music - show a self-assured, restrained elegance.

Flutist Marie-Céline Labbé shines in a deft reading of the Sonata in D Major, her soft-toned baroque flute balancing perfectly with the harpsichord and cello. In the cantata Mi palpa il cor, she delightfully mirrors the phrasing, articulation and Affekt of the singer. mCellist Amanda Keesmaat, who unfortunately has no solo contri-bution to this disc, is a warm, steady presence throughout. 

Colin Eatock 

Concert Note: Marie-Nicole Lemieux is featured in Tafel-musik's A Rising Star concerts January 8 - 12 at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre

NEW AND RECENT RELEASES
 

Handel: Oratorio Arias David Daniels, countertenor Ensemble Orchestral de Paris John Nelson, conductor Virgin 7243 5 45497 2 4

Handel: Arcadian Duets Le Concert d’Astrée and soloists Emmanuelle Haïm, director Virgin 7243 5 45524 2 7

Handel’s Messiah dominates the December concert scene, and these two lovely collections of Handel’s vocal music both touch on his great oratorio.

David Daniels’ recital of arias from Handel oratorios features a gorgeous “He was despised” from Messiah. Since Daniels has not yet recorded the complete oratorio, this is particularly welcome.

There are many other delights on this disc, including “The Raptured Soul” from Theodora, which displays Daniels’ thrilling coloratura and expressive ornamentation. 

For this disc he is backed by modern instruments, which in this case works well since Daniels has a fuller, richer voice than most countertenors, and he does use vibrato freely, if judiciously. The Ensemble Orchestral de Paris under the experienced John Nelson sounds stylish and responsive, with sparkling continuo and lively strings. 

For her selection from Handel’s concert duets, French conductor Emanuelle Haïm has gathered an extraordinary team of ten remark-able singers. These duets represent Handel at his most imaginative, the Italian texts full of the joys and pains of love. This exquisite album by no means supplants the collection by countertenor James Bowman and soprano Gillian Fisher. In fact, Haïm uses her fine countertenor, Brian Asawa, only once, though effectively, with soprano Juanita Lascarro in Conservate, raddoppiate. Any regrets that sopranos Natalie Dessay and Véronique Gens never return after their ravishing Ahi, nelle sore umane are dispelled by the beautiful performances that follow.

It is fascinating to hear in these duets themes that Handel later reused in his operas and oratorios. Messiah figures prominently, where the worldly No, di voi non vo’ fidarmi (No I do not trust you two, blind Love, cruel Beauty), later becomes “For unto us a child is born.” On organ and harpsi-chord, Haïm leads a buoyant and vivid continuo with her polished period instrument group, Le Concert d’Astrée. 

Pamela Margles 

Concert Notes: For the many seasonal presentations of Handel’s Messiah see the special “Messiah listings”

Alban Berg: Violin Concerto; Lyric Suite; Three Orchestral Pieces Rebecca Hirsch, Violin, Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Eri Klas Naxos 8.554755

Berg’s enduring masterpiece, the 1935 Violin Concerto, was prompted by the chilling premature death of Manon Gropius, the 18 year-old daughter of Alma Mahler-Werfel. It is a deeply moving programmatic meditation on life and death, inscribed “to the memory of an angel”. Tragically, Berg himself was to die pre-maturely soon after completing this monumental work. The outstanding young British violinist Rebecca Hirsch contributes a genuinely poetic interpretation of the difficult solo part, delivered with impec-cable intonation and absolute conviction. The Estonian conductor Eri Klas leads the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra in a performance notable for its subtlety and nuance.

Berg transcribed the three central movements of his Lyric Suite from the original six-movement work for string quartet composed in 1926. Again, there is a complex pro-grammatic element involved (only hinted at in the minimal liner notes), this time concerning the composer’s mistress, that only came to light relatively recently with the discovery of an annotated score from the estate of a certain Hanna Fuchs. The skill of the Dutch musicians is particularly evident in their nimble perfor-mance of the demanding allegro misterioso movement from this work.

The Three Orchestral Pieces (1915), are dedicated to Berg’s mentor Arnold Schoenberg. From the primeval percussive rumblings of the opening Präludium to the frenzied, militaristic struggle of the concluding Marsch, Berg’s massive orchestration is never obscured thanks to the sensitive interpretation and the expert recording in the relatively dry acoustic of the Hilversum Concert Hall.

Daniel Foley
 

The Noel Coward Songbook Ian Bostridge, tenor  Including five duets with Sophie Daneman, soprano Jeffrey Tate, piano EMI Classics CD, 72435 57374

The incomparable and irreplaceable Sir Noel Coward, The Master, he with “a talent to amuse,” recorded for HMV from 1928 to 1952. The first published recording of this self-confessed “brazen, odious little prodigy, over-pleased with myself and precocious to a degree” was A Room With A View and the last for HMV was There Are Bad Times Just Around The Corner. 

Born just two weeks before the 20th century, hence his seasonal name, for half a century until his death Coward was recognized and lauded the world over. Although his popularity ebbed and flowed over the decades he retained his dignity and dandy elegance to his final curtain in Jamaica in 1973. His last words to his secretary and to his companion of four decades, Graham Payn, were “Goodnight my darlings – I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

Bostridge seems to have no intention of recreating a Coward experience. To emulate Coward’s delivery requires a less secure intonation, a wavering falsetto and an impression of jaded nostalgia. In short, only Noel Coward could sing exactly as Noel Coward. 

Those who do not demand a Coward sound-alike will be more than delighted with Bostridge’s pristine renditions of 19 Coward favourites. He is absolutely secure and Tate has a nice touch. The duets blend well. I found that keeping the volume down to an intimate level created a very pleasing effect.

Bruce Surtees 
 
 

Mahler: Symphony No.10, realized Clinton A. Carpenter Andrew Litton and The Dallas Symphony Delos DE 3295

Heavens! Not another Mahler 10th. Yes and no. A recording of the Carpenter version was released in 1995 conducted by Harold Farberman with the Philharmonia Hungarica [Gold String #024] and distributed almost exclusively through audio dealers. After being so enthusiastic about the Wheeler version on Naxos recently, I confess that while the Wheeler is satisfying cerebrally, this new recording of Chicagoan Clinton Carpenter’s 1965 edition is a knock-out. 

Except for the first movement, the well known Adagio, the completed scoring of the other four movements is at best speculative. Scholarly but speculative. They are not even re-creations, for, until Mahler would have laid down his pen on the totally completed score there may have evolved a work discarding the passages in progress.

Bottom line right now is that the Carpenter version is more tragic and broader than the others. Also darker and more richly orches-trated without ever sounding, to these ears at least, illogical or out of context. The final pages still leave Mahler quietly asking the unanswered question. Need I say that I prefer Carpenter to any of the various Cooke or Mazzelli versions?  While the Wheeler retains its individual attraction, for extra horsepower this is the disc to own. 

The Dallas Symphony sounds exceptionally together and focused under Litton’s direction in this demonstration-quality recording.

Bruce Surtees

Violons du monde La Pietà with Angèle Dubeau, Leader and Violin Soloist  Analekta AN 2 8721

The brilliant Montreal violinist Angèle Dubeau founded La Pietà in 1997 and in a relatively short time, they have established themselves as one of Canada’s leading string ensembles and most successful small businesses. While this recording is designed as a lighthearted musical tour of the world, there is a stylistic sameness to the bite-sized selections. We have “cleaned up” takes on klezmer, Hungarian and even American pop styles, as if filtered through the same lens. Buried in the middle of the disc are some interesting cuts, though, especially two movements from Swedish composer Dag Wiren’s Serenade for Strings and a quirky number that Dave Brubeck wrote for the group entitled Regret. Alas, for the most part, the recording is a pleasant, slightly innocuous collection of music designed to soothe and entertain, not challenge. It would be nice to hear the group sink their teeth into weightier repertoire.

 Larry Beckwith

Haydn Concertos Pacific Baroque Orchestra Marc Destrubé, Leader and Violin Soloist  Atma ACD2 2287

The violin concertos of Joseph Haydn – along with those of contemporary Jean-Marie Leclair - are unjustly overlooked gems of the genre. They combine the wit and simple charm of music of the mid to late 18th century, with a spontaneously virtuosic spirit. This new CD of Haydn concertos from Pacific Baroque Orchestra, on original instruments, features the talents of violinist Marc Destrubé, the founder of the orchestra. His bold and daring solo playing recommends this disc. 

In the three concertos, all written in the early 1760s, the solo violin weaves in and out of the string orchestra texture, at times joining the stream, then playing elaborate variations on the thematic material. As Ron Rabin points out in the informative liner notes, there are definite connections between these pieces and Haydn’s early sinfonia concertante symphonies (“Le Midi” and “Le Matin”). The solo performances on the disc are poised and polished. My one criticism is of a certain lack of attention to detail in the orchestral playing. The wonder of the music of Haydn is in the details and, to my ear, the trills, turns and other curly-cues are played in a lackluster fashion, robbing the music of its sheen. In the end, though, Destrubé’s playing carries the day and makes a strong argument for a more frequent inclusion of these pieces on concert programs – less Bruch, more Haydn!

Larry Beckwith 

Dave Holland has managed to maintain a creative fire throughout a career full of highlights. This latest offering is, you might say, the Dave Holland Quintet plus eight. The regulars are there - Chris Potter, Robin Eubanks, Steve Nelson and Billy Kilson, and Holland has expanded this to a 13 piece unit playing his own compositions and arrangements. If you are at all interested in contemporary big band music, this CD is well worth repeated listening. Not essentially melodic themes, but rather layers of shapes and colours, some great soloists and all wonderfully held in place by Holland and drummer Billy Kilson.

Dave was quoted a few years ago as follows: “One of the things that’s happening to me as I get older is that I’m thinking more and more about using the totality of my experience as a player. Something Sam Rivers said a long time ago has stayed with me: ‘Don’t leave anything out, use it all.’ That’s become almost a mantra for me over the years as I’ve tried to find a way to build a vehicle which lets me utilize the full spectrum which includes the tradition, which includes playing the blues, which includes improvising freely. I love all that music, and there’s been a desire to reconcile all those areas, to make them relevant, hopefully, in a contemporary context, as one music.”

I can’t put it any better than that.

Jim Galloway 

Naida Cole Reflections  Ravel, Bartok and Liszt Decca 2894724642

 For many years now my most cherished recording of the Liszt B minor Sonata has been a scratchy old vinyl LP on an obscure European label featuring the crusty pianist Francis Bamberger. And suddenly, here is Naida Cole’s new disc on Decca. Such a spectacular pianist! 

Cole seems to have made the switch from Deutche Grammophon to Decca without missing a beat, and with her second Decca release, tackles mighty repertoire with apparent ease. Ravel’s Miroirs is the perfect opening to the programme. All five pieces are given sensitive treatments, without undue emphasis on the popular warhorse Alborda del gracioso.

The eight pieces from Bartok’s Op. 20 Improvisations (on Hun-garian peasant songs) contrast nicely with the Ravel. Cole’s playing is beyond reproach, but I hear some harshness from the CF3 Yamaha that she professes to prefer. The sensitive microphone placement also picks up the sound of the dampers lifting from the strings, which is quite distracting in the pianissimo passages. 

However, it is her performance of the Liszt Sonata that makes this disc so outstanding. It is worthy of repeated listenings. 

David Frost’s production in the Weston Recital Hall in North York is warm and generally pleasing. The colorful booklet has Alan Gilmor’s well-researched notes, which compete for our attention with several photos, both of Cole (in two different outfits and hairdo’s) and the piano itself as fashion object. Highly recommended.

John Gray

Fiddlesong Anne Lederman Falcon Productions FP005 (www.AnneLederman.com)

Well, this is a pretty Canadian disc... it opens with a full-throated Celtic keen accompanied by a throbbing fiddle drone. But wait, that’s not a bodhran! Vocalist, pianist and fiddle-player Anne Lederman, who has spent time working in South Africa, has assembled some fine African musicians such as Njacko Backo and Kwazi Dunjo along with more predictable collaborators for a CD that celebrates traditional Canadian fiddle influences — especially those from Métis and Franco-Manitoban territory — but also explores fusion with African rhythms and forms. 

The most fully elaborated ex-ample of this experimentation is the four-part African Suite, which opens with a Master Drummer’s call and plays with fiddle riffs and African percussion, all worked out around the Ghanaian Otofo rhythm. But fans of straight-up traditional fiddle will also find lots to enjoy in this lively and varied collection. 

Sarah B. Hood 

Tova Live at The Top O’ The Senator  Theresa Tova Tova Entertainment (available from www.theresatova.com and Indiepool, 888-884-6343)

Classy, jazzy, and deliciously sensuous cabaret/Broadway singing are terms that first come to mind when listening to Theresa Tova’s second CD. I was fortunate to attend the final recording session and thoroughly enjoyed reliving the experience. She was backed by a jazz quartet including Alex Dean and Steve Wallace, two of Toronto’s master improvisers. Tova interleaves her two musical worlds of Broadway and the current renaissance of Yiddish culture, with some beautifully voiced French lyrics thrown into the mix. You’ll hear why Tova holds her own during forays into New York’s Darwinian music world.  Nine of the twelve tracks are classics from the interwar golden age of musical theatre and, with an entirely apt turn, three are belted out in Yiddish. Much of Broadway’s great music was created by Jewish songsmiths taking their talents uptown into mainstream America. 

The jazzy arrangements are also apt: jazz musicians leapt and still leap on the harmonic possibilities of Broadway classics; jazz was a natural magnet to Jewish musicians like Benny Goodman who grew up with improvised Klezmer music; and Duke Ellington transmuted Yiddish music into “oriental foxtrots.” An excellent final track is the only contemporary song: a recent Yiddish poem provides lyrics about a jazz saxophonist blowing away in a New York subway station. I’d love to hear a future Tova CD centred on new songs as good as this one. 

Philip Ehrensaft 

Visions Timothy Minthorn Toreador TRCD021-2

In this, his apt follow-up to 1999’s Tidal Storm, jazz pianist Timothy Minthorn launches into the strident Blue Generation, beginning a series of seven self-penned works that are scattered across the track list.  Interspersed are three jazz interpolations of well-known works: Bach’s C major Prelude BWV846, Cole Porter’s What is This Thing Called Love, and Rodgers & Hart’s My Funny Valentine. 

Minthorn’s Visions, second of the set, is a dreamy ten-minute long G-minor tone poem in the spirit of Richie Beirach and/or seventies-era Keith Jarrett, a very effective essay in the genre. Mean Solar Days is outstanding with its placid statement in simple harmonic language, and pensive space between phrases. 

The works were recorded here in Toronto in a small studio using a modest six-foot grand piano. Through most of this CD the pianist was careful not to overstep the limitations of the instrument. The exception to this, Perpetual Motion Machine, reaches for the top of the dynamic range, with lowest-octave growls, just begging for a chance to be played on a big nine-footer. Minthorn himself was the producer, which paid off. The overall sound is open and inviting.

The clever tri-fold insert is printed in just 3 colours. The composer gives just a single paragraph with clues to the origins of the recording, and each piece merits only a line or two, in place of the expected in-depth notations. Buy it for the music.

John Grey 

This is not the first time that classical saxophone and pipe organ have been paired up, and the combination of tone colours has already been proven to work well. The thing that makes Rubinoff & Dawes’ CD special is the choice of material. Instead of a program based on short, light classical and baroque pieces, or saxophone concerti with the orchestral parts transcribed for organ, Dance of the Blessed Spirits presents a wide variety of music, from Baroque to contemporary Canadian.

The opening track, Bozza’s Chanson à Bercer is one of the loveliest melodies I’ve ever heard on the saxophone. Several other tracks, including Fauré’s Pavane and Schubert’s Serenade serve as bel canto features for Rubinoff’s alto saxophone.

The highpoint of this disc for me, however, is Canadian composer John Burge’s The Blues of a Chagall Window. The piece is quite intense, due to a harmonic palette featuring a liberal use of dissonance and an extremely wide dynamic range. I’d be surprised if this piece does not become part of the standard classical saxophone repertoire within a few years.

The order of the programming on this CD deserves special praise. The disc builds in intensity and complexity up to the Burge piece, and then the tension is finally released by the Sonata No. 1 for Saxophone and Organ by Quebec composer Denis Bédard. The last movement, Humoresque is a delightfully vaudevillian romp.

Merlin Williams

Lifetime Steve Koven Trio SKTCD 4-0

Here’s a mixed bag of ballads, blues and baja from a trio of local musicians. No strangers to the musical scene, this is their 4th CD and is a combination of originals and unusual treatments of standards. Random thought: Things Ain’t gets a curious treatment, with the original line being paraphrased and the whole owing more perhaps to funk than to Duke.

It is quite common for musicians to look towards standard repertoire as a source of inspiration or to use as a springboard to something new and Don’t Forget Flossie, for example, is an original in 3/4 time owing more than a little in its structure to the old standard Mean To Me.

I’ve always preferred All The Things You Are at a slow tempo.  Koven does that, and adds a brooding almost sombre quality to this Jerome Kern classic (as well as taking some liberties with the structure of the song - but that's O.K., although Mr. Kern would think otherwise: he did not approve of liberties being taken with his music - a great songwriter, but definitely not a jazzer!)

Jim Galloway

WORTH REPEATING
 
 

The Last Concert  Rosemary Clooney with the Honolulu Symphony Pops Concord CCD_2166-2

The story behind this CD is fascinating enough that I jumped at the chance to review it. Rosemary Clooney’s performance on November 16, 2001 with the Honolulu Pops was recorded as a demo to get a recording contract for the orchestra. As fate would have it, it was her last concert appearance. It’s fortunate that it was recorded well enough for commercial release, since it would be a shame not to hear Rosemary Clooney for one last time.

The CD, as with most of her Concord recording over the past decade features material from what is now usually referred to as “The Great American Songbook”. In other words, standards from Broadway shows and movies over the period from about the twenties to the sixties.

The sound of Clooney’s voice is warm and comforting, and her pitch is still accurate and unwavering. The backing of the Honolulu Pops and the Copa Cat Pack band is lush without being overwhelming.

My only caveat: the total time of the recording is just under forty-five minutes, including the four and a half minute instrumental overture. I’m sure though that fans of Rosemary Clooney will not be disappointed by the brevity, since the music is so enjoyable.

Merlin Williams 

From Gary Cristall’s introductory essay “There’s some played harder, and there’s some played smarter, but nobody played like you” you’d likely remember only a few things: that Stringband’s principal songwriter Bob Bossin most often met his muse under the influence of LSD; that he and his singing partner Marie-Lynn Hammond never really liked each other very much; and most surprisingly, that the band’s singing members were not talented enough to attract and keep a real “musician” in the fiddle-player slot. (Well, if you were reading the essay’s title, then you’d remember one more thing: Bossin’s gift for the mysteriously resonant lyric.) And yet, there’s something completely clear about what Canadian culture meant to Stringband, and vice versa.  Consider just the metaphorical implications of the group’s two founding “nations,” an Anglophone guy from Toronto, who’s held the balance of power for thirty years, and a smart, funny, cultured, bilingual woman who sings passionately and beautifully. 

I’d say that the album lives up to its name, and that’s no mean feat. There’s such a blessed, great variety, right from the first track of the first CD, which features Stan Rogers’ inimitable voice as a surprise guest (in Tugboats). Not that everything is dedicated to sentimental memories, as the lyric “Singin’ ‘bout the old times, livin’ in the new” (from Daddy was a Ballplayer) suggests. 

Tell your local library to buy this, so that normal Canadians can stumble across their own history, and have a hot time listening while doing so.

Alan Gasser 

Opera Explained / Classics Explained  Naxos

These two series set out to explain classical music and opera to the layman and do a splendid job of it.  Written by Thomas Smillie and narrated by David Timson, the “Opera Explained” series devotes a CD each to operas such as The Barber of Seville, Carmen, La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Rigoletto, and  La Traviata. Histories of the compositions, socio-cultural milieu, synopses, and musical elements are explained in interesting detail and related to musical highlights from the works in a highly accessible manner.

The instrumental series,“Classics Explained” is written and narrated by Jeremy Siepmann, and includes Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos Nos.4 & 5, Beethoven’s Symphony No.6 “Pastoral” and Brahms' Piano Concerto No.2. For Dvorak’s Symphony No.9 “From the New World”, a blow-by-blow account is given of the structure and musical devices of each movement along with the related musical extracts. At the end of each analysis, the movement is then presented uninterrupted in its entirety. Along with the recording is a substantial booklet with historical background, composer biography and analysis followed by a layman’s detailed guide to the symphony, how to listen, basic forms of music and a glossary of terms. In short, quite the musical education for a modest price!

Dianne Wells
 

DISCS OF THE MONTH
 
 

Les grands airs de Noël / Christmas Greatest Songs Choeur Les Rhapsodes;Choeur Les Rhapsodes;  Les Petits Chanteurs de Mont-Royal;  Lyne Fortin; Orchestre symphonique de Québec;  Angèle Dubeau, Luce Vachon, Strada, La Bande Magnetik Analekta ANS 9125-6

Growing up in Montreal I unconsciously developed a strong attachment to the rich repertoire of French-language Christmas carols, of which this two-disc set is a treasure trove. From the opening Il est né le divin enfant by Choeur Les Rhapsodes, with its full, traditional choral arrangements, organ accom-paniment and distinctly  churchy sound, the first disc is very much like the type of concert one might expect to hear preceding a Christmas Eve midnight mass at a Quebec cathedral. Most of the first fourteen cuts are familiar religious standards. Even the main exception, Noël blanc/White Christmas, is given such a reverent treatment by soprano Lyne Fortin that you might almost mistake it for a devotional piece. Fortin comes into her own, however, with Minuit, Chrétiens (known in English as O Holy Night). Her rich, slightly dark voice handles the notoriously tricky number like a confident hurdler sailing over each successive obstacle with no wasted effort or visible strain. 

The second disc mixes it up a bit more, with some nice, authentic sounding medieval pieces from the group Strada. There’s also an extravagantly lush flute and harp arrangement for Greensleeves by the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and an especially hearty and pleasing God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen from Les Petits Chanteurs de Mont-Royal. Then, just as you think you’ve heard the full gamut, La Bande Magnetik steps up with three final songs rendered in Manhattan Transfer-style vocalize. Their Feliz Navidad is especially swingin’! 
 

The First Noel Ginette Reno Honey-Dew MMCD-517

Quebec’s Ginette Reno offers up a collection that contains no French-language material and very few devotional songs, but I dare you not to get a little misty listening to these heartfelt renditions by a talented pro. Reno may not be extremely well known in English Canada, but she’s been a pop icon in Quebec for some forty years. Now, with a voice that shows little age, she has the emotional intensity of a Céline Dion but projects a more grounded personality. In my opinion she compares favourably with the likes of Barbara Streisand in somewhat the same genre. Reno brings nice phrasing to a selection of mainly contemporary North American songs, like Mel Torme’s The Christmas Song, Leonard Bernstein and Steven Schwartz’s A Simple Song and David Foster and Linda Thompson Jenner’s My Grown-Up Christmas List. These are choices that have a lot more resonance when sung by someone who’s been around long enough to know that not all Christmas dreams come true, and Reno handles them with sincerity. Then, just to show she can, she throws in a show-stopper of an O Holy Night, that starts with the big high note section and then goes back to the beginning to build up to a second finale. Well, after this long in the business, Reno certainly knows how to wow a crowd.
 
 

In Bethlehem Tonight Chorona Attic Sounds Music ASM0201

Chorona is a new vocal group made of some very fine singers, including leader and composer/arranger Norman Gabriel Nurmi, whose pleasing bass lights up several of the cuts. This, the ensemble’s inaugural recording, features Nurmi’s arrangements of both well-known and more obscure Christmas material, with a few selections by other Canadian composers and two entirely original compositions by Nurmi. His In Bethlehem Tonight, after which the recording is named, has a simple, hymn-style melody with pretty words. His The Night Was Cool is bright and joyful; both could well be adopted by choirs across the country. This is a disc that reflects on the mysterious nature of Christmas, with songs such as the Advent hymn O Come, O Come Emmanuel, the lovely D’ou viens-tu, bergère? and the Appalachian I Wonder as I Wonder. Standouts include Eleanor Farjeon’s lovely words to People Look East (set to a James Whicher tune that I did not previously know), and John Botten’s sophisticated Take A Long Deep Breath, whose complex a capella harmony and rhythm make it unlikely that the performers will be able to take their own advice. 
 
 

Home for the Holidays Oakville Children’s Choir, Chamber Choir WRC8-7566

This young choir (in both senses; it was formed in 1994 by Glenda Crawford) is as sweet-voiced and meticulous as one could wish in this recording of many winter songs and a few Christmas ones. Their command of dynamics is admirable, and they are blessed in Sheldon Rose with an accompanist a bit above the average. The singers (all of whom are apparently female) perform a very agreeable version of what must be the ultimate carol for children: Away in a Manger, with descant. They also do a rendition of Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! together with the rather sweet The Snow’s Gotta Go! by Mac Huff, and a clever medley titled It’s Snowing!, which features a number of well known wintry tunes arranged by Hillary Kinsdale. On the other hand, they are also accomplished enough to be able to handle a couple of Britten compositions, including the none-too-simple This Little Babe. 
 
 

A True North Christmas True North Brass Opening Day Recordings ODR 9323

Finally, an all-instrumental Christmas CD from the True North Brass, a quintet that manages to convey a wide range of voices in this particularly Canadian CD. It opens with the triumphal jubilation of Healey Willan’s Hodie, Christus Natus Est arranged (as are many of the selections) by the group’s tuba player, Scott Irvine. Among a number of very familiar choices, Irvine throws in his own Nowell Echoes and Meditations on a Huron Carol, the latter of which uses rain sticks, loon whistles and wine glasses along with piano and brass to evoke the wild sounds of a Canadian winter, including the haunting howl of the wolf. The group shows virtuosity in such numbers as Gesu Bambino, with its long sustained notes. I Saw Three Ships achieves an ancient quality with the valveless horn and a bodhran; The Christmas Song has a Big Band sound, while True North uses an unexpected samba beat for Silver Bells. Many styles; one strong, true northern personality. 

All Christmas CD reviews 
are by Sarah B. Hood 
 

DAVID OLDS: As editor of the WholeNote DISCoveries section I am aware of the vast number of discs that come in that there is just no space or time to review. In an effort to partially rectify this, once a year I ask our reviewers to provide very brief plugs for discs that they feel are especially worthy of note that for any number of reasons have not been covered in the magazine. My own picks are four recent contemporary music releases.

Musikfabrik: James Tenney Forms 1-4 (hat[now]ART). This double CD features the world premiere recording of Tenney’s series of pieces written in memory of 4 significant 20th century composers. It also includes important works by each of the composers eulogized: Edgard Varèse (Octandre), John Cage (Seven), Stefan Wolpe (Piece for trumpet and seven instruments) and Morton Feldman (Numbers). 

Tadaaki Otaka and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales: Toru Takemitsu A String Around Autumn (BIS) - As I eagerly await the release of Robert Aitken’s recent recording of Toru Takemitsu’s chamber works with flute for the Naxos label, I am finding great pleasure in this fine orchestral recording which features concerted works for viola (the title track), flute (I Hear the Water Dreaming) and piano (riverrun) and the orchestral version of his string quartet (A Way a Lone II).

Kabalevsky Violin Concerto; Cello Concerto No.2 (CHANDOS) – Lydia Mordkovitch is featured with the Scottish National Orchestra under Neemi Järvi in a dynamic performance of the familiar violin concerto, but what makes this recording special is the inclusion of the much more rarely heard second cello concerto. This fabulous work, which features the cello trading lines with a saxophone in the second movement, is played with panache and fervor by Raphael Wallfisch and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Bryden Thomson. 

Christina Petrowska Quilico: Gems with an Edge (Welspringe) – My final pick is a project I’ve had the privilege of being a part of, the reissue of Christina Petrowska Quilico’s recordings from the 1970’s of some very significant contemporary piano repertoire: selections from Olivier Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’enfant Jésus, Pierre Boulez’ Troisième Sonate pour Piano, Mario Davidovsky’s Synchronisms VI (Davidovsky is the featured composer at the U of T’s New Music Festival in January) and works by her first husband, the late Michel-Georges Brégent, and another pioneering French Canadian composer who died tragically young, Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux.

PAMELA MARGLES:
Trevor Pinnock and The English Concert: The Complete Mozart Symphonies (Archiv) - These superb period performances of all forty-one of Mozart’s symphonies provide hours (in fact, over thirteen hours) of delight. At any price this new reissue would be amazing, but at less than forty-five dollars for eleven CDs, it can’t be beat.

Jeanne Lamon and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra: A Baroque Feast (Analekta) - Splendid performances of exquisite repertoire make this a feast indeed. This terrific disc is programmed like a live concert, with a balance of orchestral pieces and concertos showcasing Tafelmusik’s top performers. 

Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus: Berlioz Les Troyens (LSO) - For Berlioz lovers (and how can anyone not be?) this magisterial recording is the next best thing to a trip to New York next spring to hear the Metropolitan Opera’s production of this extraordinary opera with the principals on this live recording, Ben Heppner and Michelle DeYoung.

Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble Intercontemporain with soprano Christine Schafer: Pli Selon Pli (DGG) - Whether or not this is the final version of Boulez’s masterpiece, which he revised over a thirty-two year period, it is a great recording, with shimmering textures and gorgeous lines.

BRUCE SURTEES: 
Vengerov Plays Ysayë, Bach and Shchedrin (EMI Classics) - Vengerov makes the Ysayë unaccompanied sonatas sound, well, attractive to ears that do not take kindly to this repertoire. It is now believed that Bach may not have written the famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor and that it may have begun life as a violin solo. Here, as far as the editor thinks, it is. The Shchedrin live encore is Balalaika, played by a smiling Vengerov. A charming programme indeed. 

Great conductors of the 20th Century: Charles Munch (EMI Classics) - The Munch set is number 22 in EMI’s continuing series. The major work of the seven representative and diverse works here is a breathtaking Beethoven Ninth from Boston (1958) in spectacular sound with Leontyne Price, Maureen Forrester, David Poleri, and Georgio Tozzi. This is a performance not to be missed. Collectors will find much of interest among the 24 sets now available in this series. Check them out.

Caruso: Italian Songs (RCA Victor) - Once again, The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) has stripped off anemic orchestral accompaniments from original Caruso acoustic recordings and mixed in new backup by the Vienna Radio Symphony. It works! Caruso seems to be right there, in robust voice, before the orchestra. 17 tracks. 

Murray Perahia Chopin Etudes Opp. 10 and 25 (Sony Classical) - How well Perahia is playing these days! Each of these studies is treated as a little miniature with very a satisfying interpretive resolution in each. This pianist does not impose himself on the written notes but actually gets inside the music with results that make these performances very special, if not unique. Perahia is not just playing piano; he is passing on a message. 

DANIEL FOLEY: 
The cornucopia of fine releases from the ever-adventurous Naxos label includes a congenial selection of accessible items from their burgeoning American Classics series. Here are a few that, in the spirit of Scrooge, I’ll be holding on to for my own enjoyment.

A winning account of that most musical of musicals, Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, is one of the few examples in this series of an all-American production. Kenneth Schermer-horn leads an eloquent account of the original Broadway version of the score with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and a proficient cast of fresh, unfamiliar voices.

The popular orchestral suites of the Los Angeles composer and arranger Ferde Grofé are not often heard this far North, though some may recognize his name as the orchestrator of Gershwin’s Rhap-sody in Blue. William Stromberg, a veteran of many a Hollywood sound stage, sets the fleet-footed Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra sailing through three of Grofé’s unfailingly folksy, expertly scored and ingratiatingly picturesque “nature suites” named after the locales of Death Valley, Hollywood and the Hudson River.

Finally, I strongly recommend the exciting new recording of Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto with the dynamic American soloist Stephen Prutsman and the Royal Scottish Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop. This superlative example of American Romanticism, composed at the peak of Barber’s renown in 1960, is followed by some appropriately seasonal fare in the form of his deftly orchestrated suite of Christmas carols, Die Natali.

LARRY BECKWITH:
Jascha Heifetz: Beethoven & Brahms Violin Concertos (RCA Victor/BMG) - One of the 20th century’s finest violinists at the top of his form. Recorded in 1955 with the Boston (Charles Munch) and Chicago (Fritz Reiner) Symphony Orchestras, these performances are filled to the brim with brilliant musical ideas filtered through a phenomenal technique. I’ve never heard better performances of either work. 

Jeanne Lamon and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra: Geminiani Concerti Grossi (Sony) - Raw, fiery, passionate playing of rarely-recorded music. Geminiani’s wonderful gifts of invention are illuminated by the band (especially the concertino group made up of Lamon, Stephen Marvin, Ivars Taurins, Christina Mahler and the brilliant lutenist Paul Odette). The crystal clear recording quality doesn’t hurt, either. 

Trio Sonnerie: Leclair Sonatas for Violin (Gaudeamus) - A selection of three sonatas from the 18th century French master of the violin. Baroque violinist Monica Hugget’s agility, imaginative phrasing and warm tone are on display throughout. 

MERLIN WILLIAMS:
Don Byron: A Fine Line (Blue Note) Clarinettist Byron, known for his tributes to Klezmer and cartoon music performs arias and lieder by such disparate composers as Puccini, Sondheim and Roy Orbison. His version of Nessun Dorma has to be heard to be believed.

Duke Ellington: Live At Newport (Complete) (Columbia Legacy/Sony) - If you’ve only heard the original release of this classic Duke CD, you really should check out the two disc version of the complete concert that merges two different source recordings. This disc is worth getting just for the improvement in sound on Paul Gonsalves’ classic Diminuendo/Crescendo in Blue tour de force solo.

Dorati Conducts Prokofiev (Mercury Living Presence) - I love Prokofiev and this CD has my all-time favourite version of his Symphony No.5, plus the not as frequently heard Scythian Suite. There are very few modern recordings that get the sound that these old Mercury recordings did.

JIM GALLOWAY: Here are a few of the CDs that belong in a basic jazz collection and would make the ideal introduction to a newcomer to jazz.

Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy (Columbia-Sony) - Not only is this is a classic record by a truly classic jazz musician, it is one of the better records for hearing Armstrong’s true talent as an improviser.

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue (Columbia-Sony) - stands as a landmark of extended modal improvisation and is perhaps the greatest record in Miles’s oeuvre, and the best introduction to his work. 

Ben Webster: Soulville (Verve) - The “big boss” tenor takes his turn as “gentle giant,” leisurely swinging with the Oscar Peterson group through ballads and blues.

Thelonious Monk: Brilliant Corners (Riverside) - Quirky yet rigorously logical, Brilliant Corners is a triumph of composition and performance, a set heavy on Monk originals with Rollins, Roach and Pettiford along for the swing.

On a Christmas note you might want to consider An Oscar Peterson Christmas (Telarc) - Great stuff!  If you like Oscar Peterson, grab this, because this is vintage and every cut is a gem. Or, you might try my own contribution to Ho! Ho! Time - Jim and Jay’s Christmas (Sackville)- a swing-oriented mainstream set. With the inimitable Jay McShann giving his very own take on Christmas.

Concert Note: Jim Galloway is featured in “A Christmas Jazz Vespers” at Christ Church Deer Park on December 22.

PHILIP EHRENSAFT:
Juilliard String Quartet: Elliott Carter, The Four String Quartets; Duos for Piano and Violin (Sony) and Arditti Quartet with Ursula Oppens: Elliott Carter, Chamber Music (Disques Montaigne) - The development of Carter’s unique musical thinking is epitomized in his cycle of five string quar-tets. The Juilliard Quartet’s 2-CD set for Sony was prepared under Carter’s supervision. The Cham-ber Music disc not only contains his last string quartet but also the wonderful 90+, a quintet commissioned for Ursula Oppens and the Ardittis. Carter is, in fact, 90+ and still going strong.

The 1943 Metropolitan Opera Broadcast w/Jussi Bjorling, Bidu Sayao, Leonard Warren: Verdi, Rigoletto (Naxos Historical) - Blind jazz musician Wayne Marston is the wizard at restoring old opera recordings, and Naxos has engaged his services to issue the great Met broadcasts of the 30’s and 40’s. The Rigoletto cast is unbeatable, and bravo to Naxos for making historical recordings affordable.

Louis Armstrong: The Complete Hot Fives and Sevens (JSP) and Ornette Coleman: Beauty Is A Rare Thing, The Complete Atlantic Recordings (Rhino) - Listen to Armstrong invent the jazz solo in this excellently remastered 4-CD set of his seminal sessions from the 1920’s. And at a budget price to boot. Then listen to Ornette’s reinvention of jazz during the 1960’s in this 6-CD set. They still surprise.
 
 
 

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For more information contact David Olds at dolds@interlog.com or call 416.535.7740.