Moving into a comfortable adulthood, the annual Guelph Jazz Festival (GJF), September 3 to 7, hasn’t abandoned its presentation of new artists. However it has reached the state where musicians who have been there in the past are returning, but mostly in new contexts. Case in point in 2014, the 100th anniversary of bandleader Sun Ra’s arrival on this planet – he returned to the cosmos in 1993 – where the Sun Ra Arkestra, now under the direction of alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, gives two performances on September 6. The first is an afternoon parade; the second couples the band with dancers from the Colman Lemieux Company for “Hymn to the Universe,” a multi-media presentation at the River Run Centre (RRC).

Minus the visuals you can sample a Sun Ra Arkestra performance on Live in Ulm 1992 (Golden Years of Jazz GY 30/31 leorecords.com) when Ra, the man from Saturn, was still in charge. Unusual because there’s extended input from trombonist Tyrone Hill, guitarist Bruce Edwards and electric bassist Jothan Collins, this 10-piece Arkestra features four drummers, two reedists and two trumpeters who faultlessly follow the segues directed by Ra’s piano. An intense track like The Shadow World is defined by screaming reed multiphonics as the rest of the orchestra harmonizes; while James Jacson’s nasal oboe and Allen’s guttural flute bring otherworldly exotica to The Mayan Temples just as a bass vamp and percussion bumps keep it attached to terra firma. Elsewhere the percussionists’ claves produce a montuno pulse on a Latinized version of Fate in a Pleasant Mood, but before the dance beat becomes too predictable, Ra slips in references to other Ra classics while sounding if he’s playing a honky-tonk keyboard. Suggestions of spirituals and the Second Line alternate with brassy crescendos, and just as you think all the tricks have been revealed, the group presents a raucous recreation of Fletcher Henderson’s Hocus Pocus. Later there’s a vocal version of Prelude to a Kiss whose clip-clop backing is crowned by a strident Allen solo. With marching band precision and rhythmic hand claps, most of the second CD is given over to a singalong medley of Ra’s greatest hits including Space is the Place, We Travel the Spaceways and Outer Spaceways Incorporated. Ra may have left this earth, but the Arkestra continues impressing people.

Another veteran musician who has helped extend the lineage of jazz is New Orleans-based tenor saxophonist Kidd Jordan. He returns to the GJF September 6 to play the River Run Centre’s Co-operators Hall with another Free Jazz pioneer, drummer Milford Graves, plus Canadian pianist D. D. Jackson. Jordan and Graves haven’t recorded together but Trio and Duo in New Orleans (NoBusiness Records NBCD 64/65 nobusinessrecords.com) suggests how they may sound since here the saxophonist’s partner is another Free Jazz percussion pioneer: Alvin Fielder. More interesting is the second CD of duos, although both are also in top form on the first CD that adds the late bassist Peter Kowald. Jordan’s tempered split tones and stentorian output that stands up to every challenge are completely original. In the main, he’s comfortable in the altissimo register and on pieces such as Duo Flight, invention is paired with stridency as screeched multiphonics alternate with moderato slurs. Fielder uses shakes and shudders from percussion add-ons to make his points. In the final minutes, as Jordan moves into lower pitches, the two attain a spiky rapprochement that brings in bop echoes. Even when Fielder takes a protracted solo as he does on E. Fashole-Luke, there’s no show-off commotion, just moderated pizzazz. The drummer’s ruffs, ratamacues and rebounds show a man in perfect command of his kit. This sound authority extends to Jordan, who utilizes screams and melisma to build up to major saxophone statements. That the CD’s final track was recorded seven years after the first four, with no letdown in power, is a confirmation of the musicians’ skills.

Another sax-drum duo of equal quality unrolls on September 5 at the Guelph Youth Music Centre (GYMC) with American multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee and French percussionist Lê Quan Ninh. Highly praised for his mastery of contemporary notated music, Ninh is equally proficient as an improviser as he demonstrates with Montreal saxophonist Jean Derome on Fléchettes (Tour de Brass TDB 9004cd tourdebrass.com). During the course of one over-40-minute track the two face off like friendly gladiators lobbing back and forth any texture suggested by one or the other. Using only a giant, horizontal bass drum Ninh’s creations take on spatial as well as sonic qualities. Scraping, sliding and stroking a variety of timbres from his drum, he uses room architecture to amplify and expand rim shots plus wood abrasions, while creating electronic-like drones. Making use of all registers of his alto saxophone and flute, Derome’s interface is as dissonant as it is startling. His emotional expressions are sourced from flatulent guzzling slide-whistle-like peeps and piercing duck calls. In the duet’s final minutes a rapprochement established with the broken-octave improvisations finally fades following ghostly cries from Derome’s horn and answering rubs from Ninh’s drum top.

Drummer Lou Grassi partners another improv master, Belgian pianist Fred Van Hove on a GYMC double bill on September 6. Like Jordan, whose commitment to free expression goes back to the 1960s, the pianist works in many contexts. One unusual set-up is captured on Burns Longer (Balance Point Acoustics BPA2 balancepointacoustics.com) playing with Belgian bassist Peter Jacquemyn and American bassist Damon Smith. Grinding and goosing their eight strings the two scramble to keep up with Van Hove whose cadenza stream almost sweeps any interference out of his way. Not that this is a one man show. Both bull fiddlers hold their own, with one fortifying the rhythmic pulse and the other stropping strings. Sharpened stops squeak from the highest register as often as bowed textures outline more supple textures. Although Archiduc 2 is the most pianistic of the tracks, as Van Hove dampens his note waterfall by percussively stopping inner strings, the concluding 35-minute Archiduc 3 defines the narratives. Unexpectedly uncrating his accordion so that tremolo glissandi create an ostinato underpinning, the bassists’ response is close to what could be heard on a baroque recital. Back on piano, Van Hove’s kineticism increases. Yet the technical expertise of Smith and Jacquemyn allows them to not only respond with buoyant tones but also to mutate these timbres to resemble harsh blowing from saxophones or didgeridoos. Finally just as it seems as if the mixture of splayed strings and cascading lines can’t get any more exciting, the trio reaches a crescendo of interactive polyphony as the altered chords and tremolo strokes meld.

Another pianist returning to Guelph on a Co-operators Hall double bill on September 4 is Vijay Iyer whose trio includes drummer Tyshawn Sorey. Both are on featured on Pyramid, where alto saxophonist Pete Robbins mixes his fine-boned originals with jazz variations on tunes by Guns’n’Roses, Stevie Wonder, Nirvana and even Jimmy Webb (Hate Laugh Music 003 peterobbins.com). Playing with a Paul Desmond-like fluidity but a harder tone, Robbins’ recreations are neither smooth nor funk jazz. Instead the improvisations toughen a tune like Wichita Lineman, as Iyer’s molten swing runs contrast to Robbins’ relaxed reading of the head; or add unprecedented free-form motions to rock anthems. Lithium is given a Latin treatment as the pianist’s fleet fingering deconstructs the bridge, only to speed up returning to the familiar theme. Meanwhile the altioist’s reed vibrations and the pianist’s chording unearth the near-symphonic underpinning of Hallelujah. The Robbins-composed title tune showcases Sorey’s powerful backbeat; while a strummed solo from bassist Eivind Opsvik defines the groove on Too High. The probability of Iyer and Sorey presenting any Nirvana or Wonder songs during their concert is pretty slim. But considering the GJF’s reputation for showcasing unconventional music, and the breadth of the performers’ talents this year, who know what may take place?

By happy coincidence the past few months have seen new releases by many of Toronto’s most consistently creative musicians.

The trio of saxophonist Mike Murley, guitarist Ed Bickert and bassist Steve Wallace set a high standard for harmonically sophisticated, lyrical chamber jazz. The group released just two CDs – Live at the Senator and Test of Time – but each won the JUNO for Best Traditional Jazz Album, the former in 2002 and the latter in 2013. Guitarist Reg Schwager assumed the guitar chair when Bickert retired in 2001, but Looking Back (Cornerstone CRST CD143 cornerstonerecordsinc.com) is the first time this configuration of The Mike Murley Trio has recorded. The tunes are chosen with rare taste, emphasizing little-heard pieces by great composers, like Billy Strayhorn’s Isfahan and Antônio Carlos Jobim’s If You Never Come to Me. It’s music of supreme artistry, floated aloft on Murley’s distinctive, almost feathery, tenor saxophone sound and the bubbling electric clarity of Schwager’s guitar, all of it tethered joyously to Wallace’s pulsing bass lines. A rare blend of wistful reflections and soaring freedom make the CD another JUNO contender.

Reg Schwager turns up in another fine ensemble, trombonist Darren Sigesmund’s distinctive septet, on Strands III (darrensigesmund.ca). Sigesmund is an outstanding composer, creating welcoming moods comprised of evocative and elusive harmonies. His music is both warm and cool, dense and transparent, and there’s a subtle Latin flavour woven throughout. If his earlier work suggested a strong Wayne Shorter influence, his own identity is everywhere apparent here, its distinctive sound formed by the unusual combination of Eliana Cuevas’ wordless voice, his own mellifluous trombone and the expressive wail of Luis Deniz’s alto and soprano saxophones, complemented by Schwager, vibraphonist Michael Davidson, bassist Jim Vivian and drummer Ethan Ardelli. El Encanto, the only song here with words (Cuevas’ own) is particularly compelling.

Fern Lindzon is a rare jazz singer, her strong identity based on nuanced expression, a clear, almost silky voice, and a freedom from the collections of mannerisms that many jazz singers use to distinguish themselves. Instead, her work seems to grow from her solid piano playing and the empathy that exists with her band. For her third CD, Like a Circle in a Spiral (iatros IMO3 fernlindzon.com), she moves deftly between languages and styles, singing songs in Hebrew (Mishaela) and Yiddish (A Malekh Veynt) with the same idiomatic comfort that marks the more familiar Windmills of Your Mind. The most striking piece may be her arrangement of alternative pop songwriter Ron Sexsmith’s Jazz at the Bookstore, a richly ironic rendition in which accomplished jazz musicians (saxophonist David French, bassist/producer George Koller, vibraphonist Michael Davidson and drummer Nick Fraser) get to “play” jazz musicians.

Bassist Andrew Downing, trumpeter Jim Lewis and guitarist David Occhipinti provide comparable surprise on Bristles (Occdav Music - OM007, davidocchipinti.com), as they alternate a series of brief collective improvisations with longer treatments of standards. Each of the improvisations is named for a 20th-century painter, with a direct methodological link between the repeated even tones and cyclical discords of Cy Twombly and the sudden swirling lines of Jackson Pollock. The standards are evidently chosen for melodic richness, with the trio exploring the possibilities of such tunes as My One and Only Love, Emily and I Fall in Love Too Easily. There’s a spectacular clarity of thought and sound as the three embellish and reshape their materials, at times turning suddenly from icy abstraction to the most exalted lyricism.

Pianist Gerry Shatford worked extensively in the Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa jazz scenes before returning to Toronto where he was raised. He’s been emphasizing composition in recent years, along with studies with master pianist Stanley Cowell, and the results of both pursuits are documented on When I Sat Down to Play the Piano (gerryshatford.com), a suite of pieces inspired by Al Purdy’s poetry. Viewed through the great piano tradition of James P. Johnson, Thelonious Monk (his compositions get quoted) and Bud Powell, the poems find analogues in the off-kilter stride of Home-Made Beer or the romantic reverie of How a Dog Feels to Be Old. Accompanied here by the ideal rhythm section in bassist Neil Swainson and drummer Terry Clarke, the journeyman Shatford reveals a strong identity of his own.

The Jazz Descendants are another piano trio featuring a relatively unknown pianist with a stellar rhythm section, combining bassist Brandi Disterheft and drummer Leroy Williams with pianist Joshua Goodman, who works regularly in Disterheft’s quartet. Red (Superfran Records SFR0008, superfranrecords.com) is dedicated to Barry Harris, the respected bop pianist and teacher with whom Williams has long been associated and with whom Goodman has studied. Much of the music is low key, Goodman blending his mainstream jazz and classical influences in a consistently pleasant way, While his reflective Medley goes on too long, stretching its pastoral themes to the 14-minute mark, he brings a precise bop touch to the venerable Scrapple from the Apple. The best moments come when Disterheft and Williams come to the fore, as on the bassist’s potent Prayer to Release the Troops. 

Conductor Ferenc Fricsay (1914-1963) was a significant figure in the international music world in the mid-20th century. He was born in Budapest and studied with Bartók, Dohnányi and Kodály at the Budapest Academy of Music. He held several posts before 1945 when he became co-conductor of what would become the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra and sole director of the Budapest Opera. By the 1950s his interpretive talent was recognized and he was in demand as a guest conductor by leading orchestras. He left the Budapest Philharmonic in 1948 to become music director of the recently formed RIAS Symphony in Berlin. He held that post from 1948 through 1954, then again from 1959 to 1963.

Thanks to Deutsche Grammophon (DGG at the time) who recorded Fricsay working with his own and other orchestras, there is a wealth of superb performances in the vaults that are about to surface and re-surface in two omnibus CD packages. The first is available now, Ferenc Fricsay The Complete Recordings Volume 1: Orchestral Works (479 2891 45CDs, mono and stereo). Recorded mostly in the Jesus-Christus-Kirche in Berlin, with either the Berlin Philharmonic or the RIAS and its successor, these performances represent the highest level of musicmaking.

I recall my excitement in 1958 over acquiring the Beethoven Ninth in stereo! It was by Ferenc Fricsay conducting the Berlin Philharmonic with soloists Irmgard Seefried, Maureen Forrester, Ernst Haefliger and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. It was on two Decca LPs and was outstanding in every respect. As I write this I am listening to that very performance on disc nine of this collection and it really does stand the test of time. This is a different Beethoven from, say, the Klemperer or Furtwangler Beethoven. The textures are translucent without any suggestion of inevitability, particularly the slow movement which is open and at times radiant. In total there are five discs of Beethoven in the box and lots of brilliant performances of Bartók and Kodály. There are four discs of Tchaikovsky, five of Mozart. Soloists include Géza Anda, Tibor Varga, Monique Haas, Annie Fischer, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Pierre Fournier, Nicanor Zabaleta, János Starker, Joanna Martzy, Erica Morini, Clara Haskil, Yehudi Menuhin and many others. Clearly there is no space to detail the extensive popular and esoteric repertoire but the detailed track listing of the contents is at deutschegrammophon.com.

Thanks to the soundtrack of 2001, A Space Odyssey, Also Sprach Zarathustra is Richard Strauss’ most familiar work … well, at least the opening pages. Producer and director Stanley Kubrick carefully chose the music and selected the Herbert von Karajan-Vienna Philharmonic recording on Decca as his must-have. The request was unequivocally declined but after much negotiating, Decca agreed on condition that the performance remain anonymous and never identified. A soundtrack album was issued, substituting a Böhm recording. The secret was safe. Years later all was revealed and we wonder if Decca or Karajan was calling the shots.

That performance and the other Richard Strauss recordings made by John Culshaw in the Sofiensaal in 1959 are contained in a sumptuous package of all Karajan’s analog recordings of Richard Strauss for Decca and DG with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras. Karajan Strauss (4792686) is a limited edition, LP-sized package, about an inch thick, containing eleven CDs, a Blu-ray audio disc and an informative art book. None of these recordings is new to the catalogue. All the usual suspects are here including the live 1960 Der Rosenkavalier from Salzburg (including libretto), plus two historic recordings with the Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1943, The Dance of the Seven Veils and Don Juan, set beside the 1970s recordings from Berlin. The astounding new 24/96 processing of all these analog originals is an unexpected revelation of just how much more information there was to hear. The Blu-ray disc contains the same repertoire as on six of the 11 CDs.

Oscar Shumsky (1917-2000) was one of the most cultivated and exquisite violinists of his time, revered by his fellow musicians. He enjoyed a busy career, from the child prodigy engaged by the likes of Stokowski and Reiner settling into the role of concertmaster of New York orchestras and a much-loved and sought-after chamber musician. He played regularly with Glenn Gould, William Primrose, Bernard Greenhouse, Leonard Rose and Earl Wild and vocalists Maureen Forrester, Lois Marshall and James Melton. He was also a conductor and teacher. Canadians may well remember hearing performances in Stratford where he was co-director (1961-64) or director (1965-67) of music. I recall a Mozart concerto there “conducted from the keyboard” by Jose Iturbi in which the orchestra depended entirely on concertmaster Shumsky for their cues. He remained a regular contributor to Toronto’s musical life in addition to his role as teacher.

As sometimes happens, a major talent often is underutilized by the record companies in concerto recordings. In his later years however, Shumsky was taken over by an influential British concert management and became a busy soloist in recordings with leading orchestras.

A new Doremi set (DHR-8031-3 , 3 CDs) is a treasure house of mostly previously unreleased highlights of four decades of Shumsky’s great artistry in various musical styles, in concert with the above artists, playing composers from Bach, Mozart and Beethoven to Hindemith. Complete details at Doremi.com. 

Palace of Wind
Battle Trance
New Amsterdam NWAM058 (newamrecords.com)

 Battle Trance may be a quartet of tenor saxophonists, but banish from your inner ear the smooth reed sounds of The Four Brothers or more experimental foursomes like ROVA. Instead the Brooklyn-based ensemble, which plays at Arraymusic  on September 5 (155 Walnut Ave, 416.532.3019), specializes in a more difficult type of interaction.

An interconnected three-part composition by leader Travis Laplante, Palace of Wind wasn’t notated, but taught orally to the other players: Matthew Nelson, Jeremy Viner and Patrick Breiner. Laplante, whose improv experience includes the band Little Women, uses the harmonic conventions of jazz only as a bonding mechanism. Setting up the sequences, unaccented buzzing, tinges of folk melodies and contrasting expositions, singular, unison and with the other saxes’ organ-like chords cocooning the soloist, are put into play at various times. Similarly the narrative moves from gentle, barely audible whispers to crescendos of fortissimo timbres. Utilizing all parts of the woodwind(s), specific passages concentrate on the highest alto-like register of the horns or guttural, baritone-like lowing. But no tone predominates; and there’s always underlying textural bonding. Consistently deconstructing and rebuilding the themes, near pastoral sections are succeeded by ferocious blow-outs with split tones and irregular vibrations cascading every which way. Then just as often, intricate, overlapping unison playing arises.

Reaching a climax in the final minutes of the third and lengthiest section, the concentrated reed drone becomes so intense it’s almost visible. Just as quickly though this basso-range wallowing is succeeded by wispy reed airiness that guides the piece to its conclusion, with the horns and program still accurately and memorably harmonized.

This CD, and the upcoming performance, promise air currents you probably won’t want to miss hearing.

The Humours of Autorickshaw
Autorickshaw
Tala Wallah Records TW 005 (autorickshaw.ca)

The JUNO-nominated world music ensemble Autorickshaw’s delightfully exciting fourth album is a rich record of a particular transcultural Toronto musical masala. Make no mistake; The Humours of Autorickshaw is no parochial product however. Rather its achievement resonates across other communities of musicians forging other new musical hybrids. In its ambitious aspirations—adventurous genre mixings, and in some of its lyrics touching, contentious reaches of the human condition—it will resonate with select global audiences.

Somos Agua
Tony Malaby: Tamarindo
Clean Feed CF 304 CD (cleanfeed-records.com)

An essay on the intricacies of saxophone improvisation, New York tenor man Tony Malaby explores every nuance of reed sounds on this matchless session, backed only by the four-square pacing of William Parker’s double bass and the rhythmic flow of drummer Nasheet Waits. Reminiscent of similar trio tours-de-force by Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson, the seven selections make up a suite whose parts flow logically and seamlessly into one another. At the same time, Malaby’s solos confirm his experimental credo by exposing as many split tones and screeches as emotive flutters and gentling tones.  

Never losing sight of the tonal even as his solo explorations appear to produce aural x-rays of his horn’s insides, on the title track the saxophonist’s output is unhurried and relaxed enough to reference  the initial theme, even as his dense multiphonics squeeze the last atom of sound out of his horn. Parker’s power stops or sensitive bowing, plus Waits’ crunches and clatters, aptly second the saxophone flights. Nonetheless, the most edifying example of the Tamarindo trio’s game plan is the 14-minute Can’t Find You. Despite the title, there’s never a moment when the drummer’s intuitive cymbal splashes or drum colours aren’t on track as Malaby stretches stratospheric altissimo cries into slim variations which are finally reconstituted as a powerful narrative. Framing the journey, Parker’s thick stops eventually become supple, supportive strums. With this defining saxophone CD under his belt, it will be instructive to see how Malaby intersects with the local three-saxophones-three-rhythm Kayos Theory sextet when he plays The Rex June 27 and 28.

Bel Raggio – Rossini Arias
Aleksandra Kurzak; Sinfonia Varsovia; Pier Giorgio Morandi
Decca 478 3553

Now here is a disc that once and for all will put a stop to people moaning that the “golden age of singing is over.” Those lucky enough to have attended L’Elisir d’Amore in December 2012 at London’s Covent Garden with Aleksandra Kurzak (and Roberto Alagna) or even before, in 2008, at Kurzak’s sensational debut there in Rossini’s Matilda di Shabran will certainly protest vehemently. The young Polish coloratura non-plus-ultra is following the footsteps of the great Joan Sutherland with her opening number Bel Raggio lusinghier here, the phenomenal aria from Semiramide – and to put it mildly if she (Dame Joan) were still alive, she’d better watch out for her job. Without a doubt “her voice is stupendous, firm, crystal clear in coloratura, beautifully rich in legato” – as The Times of London raves.

This is indeed a stunning recording, one that you’d want never to end and to listen to over and over again. There are nine arias of immense difficulty, emotional scope and a vocal range extending from strong deep notes into the stratosphere of shattering high notes, which unfortunately I cannot identify (not having perfect pitch). The hair-raising Rossini fioraturas she sails through lightly as a feather and she refers to these “as the easy part.” Kurzak comes from a musical family; her mother was an opera singer and her father a horn player and she is also ravishingly beautiful with a lovely stage presence. Splendid accompaniment too by Sinfonia Varsovia conducted with great flair by Pier Giorgio Morandi. This is her second release for Decca and it’s a winner.

Wagner – Wesendonck Lieder; (excerpts from) Tannhäuser; Tristan und Isolde
Anne Schwanewilms; ORF Vienna RSO; Cornelius Meister
Capriccio C5174

Named Singer of the Year by Opernwelt magazine, highly acclaimed German dramatic soprano Anne Schwanewilms steps proudly into the league of such legends as Lotte Lehmann, Kirsten Flagstad and Birgit Nilsson, and is equally at home on the opera stage and as a lieder recitalist. Her discography is already impressive, but this new release will serve as a good introduction to her as a true “sound painter.”

As befits the composer’s bicentennial, this issue is more dedicated to Wagner than to the singer, so the orchestra plays a big part. To begin, a rousing performance in sonic splendour of Tannhäuser Overture and Venusberg Music, the Paris version that was his post-Tristan effort and therefore harmonically far more adventurous than the original. Tristan Prelude follows later where the famous Tristan chord’s break-up into two is manifest, eloquently performed.

The soprano enters with the Hallenaria from Tannhäuser full of the joyful anticipation (and some shattering high notes) of Elizabeth expecting her long-awaited lover’s return. In the Wesendonck Lieder Schwanewilms’ interpretive skills and her tones as a sound painter are well tested. This is more difficult territory and there is a lot of beautiful shading and innigkeit in this most Schopenhauerian poetry, written by Wagner’s beloved, Mathilde Wesendonck. Tristan is foreshadowed already in these songs, especially in No.3 (Im Treibhaus) and No.5 (Träume). The final offering is suitably the Liebestod, sung ecstatically as it should be, as we reluctantly bid farewell to this exquisite recording.

Britten: The Rape of Lucretia, Op.37
Cast of the 2001 Aldeburgh Production; English National Opera Orchestra; Paul Daniel
Opus Arte OA 1123 D

The Rape of Lucretia is one of Britten’s most difficult subjects. It is almost a graphic description of a rape and although it should be a fit subject for opera, it is almost unmanageable both to observe and to stage.

This production is a gripping and successful mounting of this harrowingly painful illumination of the dark side of human nature. Lucretia was the first of his chamber operas, which were succeeded by his Church Parables Trilogy, all valued for their modest demands.

Britten’s ritual structuring of this unusual piece makes it possible to negotiate the more lurid aspects of this tragedy, and the production strips away the operatic stage, make-up, ritualizing and costuming devices that would have served to objectify the depiction of the rape. The opera makes it clear that this violation destroys Lucretia’s soul. Her relationship with her husband will be demolished and, in her subjective context, the only solution is suicide. Yannis Thavoris’ set and costumes, appropriate for the time and David McVicar’s direction bring Ronald Duncan’s libretto to explicit realisation. The Greek Chorus, whose classic role is only to comment on the proceedings, is brought as much as possible into the dramatic space, frequently approaching the protagonists but never engaging with them. Persuasively sung and acted with ardour by John Mark Ainsley and Orla Boylan.

Contralto Sarah Connolly is a perfect Lucretia, patrician in bearing and maternal in spirit, and baritone Christopher Maltman is the Etruscan Tarquinius, supercilious in his soldier’s tunic and cuirass, with legs bare, making a formidable sexual aggressor. Clive Bayley is Collatinus, her husband and Leigh Melrose sings Junius. Catherine Wyn-Rogers is Bianca and Mary Nelson is Lucia.

Performed in the ambience of The Maltings in Aldeburgh, Britten’s own theatre, by a superlative cast on a starkly true set, this production will probably never be equalled, let alone surpassed. The 2001 BBC documentation is faultless and the finished DVD puts us in the audience. A unique treasure.

Dear Theo – 3 Song Cycles by Ben Moore
Paul Appleby; Susanna Phillips; Brett Polegato; Brian Zeger
Delos DE 3437

Ben Moore is an American composer of song cycles, chamber music and of late, opera, well-regarded in the Metropolitan Opera circles. That regard comes from his previous collaborations with Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Isabel Leonard, Frederica von Stade, Robert White, Lawrence Brownlee, Nathan Gunn and the darling of Broadway, Audra McDonald. His choice of texts is equally careful and accomplished – John Keats, W.B. Yeats, Anna Wickham, Muriel Rukeyser, Vincent van Gogh and Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Lyrically set and accompanied by the great Brian Zeger, the songs will seem instantly familiar, because of Ben Moore’s homage to Benjamin Britten’s writing style. Paul Appleby renders the dark letters of the increasingly sick painter with the right balance of anguish and raw energy, while Brett Polegato lends his velvet-smooth voice to Keats’ lyricism to create an instant classic. The only voice that did not convince me in this recording is that of Susanna Phillips. This young artist with a rapidly growing popular appeal may be better suited to a different repertoire, but here her soprano sounds glassy-fragile and slightly pushed. Regardless of that reservation, modern song lovers will find it a fine disc.

Nowadays amidst tightening budgets, cutbacks and a growing sense among the public that the golden age of singing is over, it must be very difficult and frustrating to pursue a career as a singer. For precisely this reason a British philanthropist, Ian Rosenblatt, under the aegis of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden set up a foundation in 2000 to support young singers by giving recitals, enabling them to be discovered by the public and furthering their career. Among the number of recordings received I’ve selected three artists who impressed me the most with their imagination and artistry, but I encourage the reader to investigate the complete series at opusarte.com for their particular interest:

Britten – Michelangelo Sonnets; Liszt – Petrarch Sonnets; Francesco Meli (Opus Arte OA CD9019 D). Young Italian tenor Francesco Meli is celebrated for a voice of lyricism, purity of tone and wonderful bel canto that has made him an ideal Verdi tenor and he sang a number of roles in the Tutto Verdi series to world acclaim. In this recording he tackles the two above-noted song-cycles, complemented with an exciting selection of French and Italian repertoire, accompanied by Matteo Pais.

Amore e Morte (Opus Arte OA CD9017D). Spectacular Russian spinto soprano Ekaterina Siurina,who has already made her debut at La Scala and the Met and is in great demand today all over the world, is featured in a most entertaining disc of songs by Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini and Verdi in a series of alternately flirtatious and grief-stricken ballads, with Iain Burnside at the piano.

Shining River (OA CD9016D) features Susan Chilcott,the great English lyric soprano whose young life tragically ended in 2003 and who created many memorable heroines (e.g. Verdi, Janáček, Britten) on the opera stage. The Shining River is of course the Ohio, starting off a program of American traditional and poetic songs by Aaron Copland and others, where her supreme artistry, youthful vitality and imagination is really a “shining river” surging through this very heartwarming disc. A great gift for young and old alike. Once again Iain Burnside is the accompanist.

Caccini – L’Euridice
Soloists; Concerto Italiano; Rinaldo Alessandrini
Naïve OP 30552

In 1607 Carlo Magno wrote to his brother that there would soon be a performance of “a piece that will be unique because all the performers speak musically.” The piece was Monteverdi’s Orfeo and the letter clearly shows that a work that was sung throughout or, as we would call it, an opera, was felt to be a new thing. The earliest opera was Jacopo Peri’s Dafne (1597 or 1598) but, since the music for that work has not survived, opera is generally thought to begin with the two Eurydice operas (written to the same libretto) by Peri and Giulio Caccini, both of which date from 1600. Musicologists have usually dismissed the Caccini version. On the other hand, the printed material that comes with an earlier recording of the Caccini (conducted by Nicholas Achten, on the Ricercar label) claims that Caccini, not Peri, was the true founder of the new genre.

The musical language of Caccini’s opera, the stile rappresentativo, is based on the impassioned speech of the solo voice. It is more melodious than mere recitative but it never develops into aria. Nor does it have the musical inventiveness or instrumental variety that characterize Monteverdi’s opera only a few years later. Whether or not the Caccini is inferior to Peri’s version, it has a great deal of dramatic power and is certainly worth listening to, especially when it is sung and played as well as it is here. Rinaldo Alessandrini and the Concerto Italiano have given us many fine recordings, particularly of the Monteverdi Madrigals, and this CD does not disappoint.

Leclair – Complete Sonatas for Two Violins
Greg Ewer; Adam Lamotte
Sono Luminus DSL-92176
(sonoluminus.com)

This two-CD set does indeed include all 12 violin duos by the French violin virtuoso Jean-Marie Leclair, six each in his Opp.3 and 12 collections. Leclair’s compositional brilliance is in marrying Italian and French styles with endlessly interesting and entertaining results. A dancer in his younger life, Leclair has an innate sense of dance rhythms and even the most ferocious of his allegro movements possesses grace, elegance and warmth. His writing for two violins, in particular, makes full use of the sonic possibilities of each instrument. Each part has equal prominence and there is an intricate relationship of soloistic and accompaniament duty-sharing as one finds in the gamba duos of Marais from a generation before. Along with Leclair’s sonatas and concertos, these duos deserve wider recognition and more frequent performance.

Ewer and Lamotte display an obvious fondness for this repertoire and take great care to bring out the expressiveness and line in each of these delightful sonatas. My one minor wish is that they might have occasionally made a more extreme tempo choice, either on the fast or slow side of the equation. That being said, their performances are poised, elegant and full of colour, contrast and life. It was a pleasant surprise to read the informative program notes by Montreal’s Matthias Maute.

Telemann – Miriways
Markus Volpert; Ulrika Hofbauer; L’Orfeo Barockorchester; Michi Gaigg
CPO 777 752-2

The Opera House in Hamburg, the first public opera house in the German-speaking world, opened in 1678. The operas it staged were in German, although they sometimes included Italian arias. Initially the major composer was Reinhold Keiser; later younger composers like Handel and Johann Mattheson gained their start in Hamburg. Telemann settled in Hamburg in 1721. He soon became the director of the company and wrote many operas for it. Most Hamburg operas dealt with mythology or ancient history but occasionally more topical subjects were introduced: Keiser wrote Masaniello Furioso in 1706; its subject was the 1647 Neapolitan revolt against the Spanish rulers of the city. Mattheson wrote an opera about Boris Godunov in 1710. Telemann’s 1728 Miriways was more topical than either. Its main character is a Pashtun emir from Kandahar, who, supposedly, defeated the Persians and conquered Isfahan in 1709.

Although the opera is in German, it is based on the Italian opera seria pattern with elaborate da capo arias. There is some interesting experimentation: in the first act the Persian Nisibis sings an aria, in which she invokes sleep, and appropriately falls asleep in the middle, in the B section, on the dominant! An oriental colouring is provided by the brilliant and taxing parts for the corni da caccia. In this performance recorded live in Theatre Magdeburg the opera is well sung and well played. Magdeburg was Telemann’s home town and the Magdeburg theatre is committed to performing all his works. Telemann’s operas are not well known and this lively (and live) performance can be wholeheartedly welcomed.

Handel – Tamerlano
Xavier Sabata; Max Emanuel Cenčić; John Mark Ainsley; Karina Gauvin; Ruxandra Donose; Pavel Kudinov; Il Pomo D’Oro; Riccardo Minasi
Naïve V 5373

The story of Tamerlano, or Timur the Lame, and his victory over the Ottoman sultan Bajazet provided perfect fodder for the operas of Baroque’s greatest masters (Handel and Vivaldi), as well as a slew of lesser composers, Gasparini amongst them. The peasant who rose to rule most of Asia, from Anatolia to northern India, and claimed to be a descendant of Genghis Khan, was essentially a 15th-century version of Alexander the Great. His defeat of the Ottoman Empire offered Europe a 50-year breather from a war on its eastern flank. His imprisonment and killing of Bajazet was already being used in Great Britain as a political metaphor for the struggle against the house of Stuart and plays on the theme were staged in early November of each year before Handel wrote his opera. In 1724, at its premiere, Tamerlano was joined by two other plays on the subject. It proved to be one of Handel’s great successes, in no small part because of numerous, brilliant arias and the dramatic tension of Bajazet’s suicide. In this recording, as in most if not all Naïve productions (the label is famous for recording all of the works by Vivaldi), the playing is meticulous and the voices… The voices are, to be frank, fantastic! If we only had such an ensemble in the recent COC production of Hercules! Karina Gauvin astounds with her ongoing vocal development, and Sabata and Cenčić are both delightful discoveries for this reviewer. Bravi!