Mozart - Piano Concertos 17 & 27
Angela Hewitt; Orchestra da Camera di Mantova; Hannu Lintu
Hyperion CDA67919

There is a cute little story attached to Mozart’s G major concerto. Apparently he acquired a little bird, a starling who quickly picked up the rondo theme of the third movement and sang it day in and day out, adding some of its own bits to it which pleased Mozart, a bird lover, immensely. No doubt, this helped him composing.

Canada’s own stellar pianist, Angela Hewitt chose this and the last, the B flat major concerto to follow-up on her previous Mozart concerto issue on the distinguished Hyperion label and what a fine recording this is. In coupling the G major, which comes from a very happy and successful period of the composer’s life with the B flat major, his last statement in this form, Hewitt traverses  a cross section of emotions, from joyful happiness to sad resignation and premonition of death.

My own experience with Hewitt’s exceptional pianism began with Bach and later with immense enjoyment of her beautiful set of Chopin Nocturnes (that were probably easier to interpret), so she came to Mozart relatively late. It was worth the wait. She approaches Mozart like a scholar with exceptional intelligence and a thoroughly sympathetic heart. Her playing has graceful elegance, impeccable technical prowess; the emotional content is deeply felt and compositional structure is fully understood. The orchestra and the conductor Hannu Lintu are wonderfully compatible and in perfect balance with the angelic tones of the Hewitt’s celebrated Fazioli piano. The recording is superlative.

Chopin - Etudes
Jan Lisiecki
Deutsche Grammophon 4791039

Young male pianists all too often try their audiences with a few years of brash playing where speed and volume overshadow their muse. Although impressed with divine keyboard technique, one nevertheless waits patiently for music to emerge – which it eventually and thankfully does.
More rarely, however, comes a young man for whom impeccable technique is merely a tool in the search for music’s kernel of meaning. This is Jan Lisiecki.

Since his early public appearances 5 years ago (in his mid-teens) this young Polish-Canadian has somehow managed to avoid this testosterone trap. He is capable of the most ethereal pianissimos, a blazing and accurate technique and breathtaking power at the keyboard.

The two dozen Etudes of Chopin’s Op.10 and 25 seem the perfect repertoire for Lisiecki at this point in his career. His playing shifts convincingly from transparent lightness to earnest melancholy. His tempi and dynamics feel more understood than learned. His own comments in the CD notes reveal a young mind with a remarkably mature interpretive grasp of Chopin’s music. He thinks with his heart.

As impressive as his playing is his recording technique in which each of the Etudes was recorded as a complete “take.” Technology today offers performers digital perfection with undetectable manipulations of speed and other values, but Lisiecki wanted his audience to have the real thing, start to finish. He allowed no edits. This speaks to a commendable honesty in performance. We should anticipate many years of truly extraordinary recordings from this young man. But we might also hope that his gift finds expression in teaching… we need such mentors.

L'Opera Concertante (Opera transcriptions by Ernest Alder)
Trio Hochelaga
ATMA ACD2 2652

Transcribing arias from the popular operas of the time was one of the favourite practices of 19th century composers. Those transcriptions ranged from faithful reductions to variations, fantasies and potpourris, and were usually done for one or two pianos, trios and quartets. The public enjoyed the more intimate, chamber setting of these transcriptions and took pleasure in the idea of bringing the opera into their salons.

Richard Ernest Alder (1853-1904) was a Swiss composer who studied at the Paris Conservatory and spent most of his life in France. He wrote a number of pieces for piano, as well as choral and orchestral works. He is being rediscovered today as a transcriber and arranger.

This CD features seven of Alder’s trio transcriptions of the beloved operas by Camille Saint-Saëns (Samson et Dalila), Ambroise Thomas (Mignon), Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (La Muette de Portici), Giacomo Meyerbeer (La Pardon de Ploërmel and Les Huguenots) and Jules Massenet (Le Cid and Werther). The transcriptions are skilfully done and adopt the same formula consisting of a brief introduction, followed by alternating sequences of fast and slow segments ending in a dramatic climax. Even though the composers are different, the music feels like one cohesive piece. Alder brings out both the sweetness and the drama in these transcriptions, combining virtuosic practices of 19th century-writing with more serene and sonorous parts, while using the craftsmanship firmly rooted in the German Romantic tradition.

Trio Hochelaga (Anne Robert, violin; Paul Marleyn, cello; Stéphane Lemelin, piano) is a distinguished Canadian ensemble whose repertoire places an emphasis on lesser known works of French music. Their interpretation of Alder’s transcriptions is playful, sensitive and polished. The ensemble’s use of colours and textures truly captures the romantic essence of these operas.
It is not necessary for the listener to know the operas that inspired Alder – one can just enjoy the wonderful chamber music on this CD and, like the 19th century audience, be entertained by it.

My Lucky Life  
Christopher Lee; Jacqueline Goring; Alexa Wilks        
Manor House Records MH2125 (christopherlee.ca)

In recordings of flute music, more often than not the focus is on the technical skills of the performer. Toronto flutist Christopher Lee has no need to concentrate on such a display; it is evident in all of his work. This CD shines a different light. With a few exceptions, for this recording Lee has selected well-known arias from operas. I was immediately attracted to this CD because it contains a flute and harp rendition of my all-time favourite operatic aria: Mon couer s’ouvre a ta voix from Saint-Saëns’ opera Samson et Dalila. In the opera Dalila seduces Samson so that he may be captured. All of the emotion of this work is brought to us though the warm and full-bodied tone of the artist’s flute enhanced by the beautiful counterpoint of the harp (Jacqueline Goring). Throughout the many rubato passages these two are in perfect synchronism as if they were reading each other’s emotions. While the violin (Alexa Wilks) plays a lesser role on this CD, it fulfills a significant role in the fabric of the arrangements.
           
Much of the recording contains similar renditions of familiar arias from the operas of Verdi, Puccini and Weber. The balance contains incidental music for plays by Grieg and Nielsen as well as the familiar serenade Ständchen from Schubert’s song cycle Schwanengesang. The disc leads off with Godard’s Berceuse from his opera Jocelyn. This is one of those enduring melodies which has stood the test of time long after the opera and composer have been forgotten.
           
With the exception of the work by Nielsen all of the arrangements were crafted by Lee. The program notes on the music and the performers are concise and informative.

Concert Note: Christopher Lee is one of a myriad performers featured at the Canadian Flute Convention being held in Oakville June 30 to July 1 (canadaflute.com/convention).

D'Indy - Symphonie sur un Chant montagnard français; Saugefleurie; Medée
Louis Lortie; Iceland Symphony Orchestra; Rumon Gamba
Chandos CHAN 10760

At the time of writing, spring has finally arrived, so a disc which includes Vincent d’Indy’s Symphony on a French Mountain Air seems particularly appropriate in celebration of the season. The disc in question is the fifth volume in a series on the Chandos label presenting music by the Parisian-born composer performed by the Iceland Symphony under the direction of Rumon Gamba.

Born in 1851, d’Indy was a controversial figure during his lifetime, his strong right-wing political views frequently going against the mainstream. Nevertheless, he was regarded as a composer of considerable stature, and his eclectic and romantic style exerted considerable influence on later composers, such as Eric Satie and Albert Roussel.

In addition to the Symphonie with renowned pianist Louis Lortie as the soloist, the disc also features Saugefleurie, Medée, and the Prelude to Act One of his opera Fervaal. The Symphonie is surely one of d’Indy’s most famous compositions, and is treated here with the joyous spirit it deserves. Based on a folk song from Tourtous, the work is a large and lush canvas with Lortie forming a perfect musical partnership with the orchestra. Saugefleurie had its origins in a poem by Robert de Bonnières and here the prominent use of horns and chromatic harmonies shows the clear influence of Wagner. (Unlike many of his French contemporaries, d’Indy was a staunch Wagnerite). Also with a literary connotation is the orchestral suite Medée, written for a tragedy by Catulle Mendès. The Iceland Symphony performs with a sensitive assurance, ably capturing the orchestral colours and contrasting moods in this story of doomed love, thus rounding out a most satisfying recording.

This is a fine addition in the series devoted to the “Samson of Music,” one which is helping bring to light certain works that up to now have unjustly languished in obscurity. D’Indy would be gratified!

Journeys: Tchaikovsky - Souvenir de Florence; Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht
Emerson String Quartet; Paul Neubauer; Colin Carr    
Sony 887254 70602

Firstly, I must admit my prejudice against the Emerson String Quartet initiated by a keen
disappointment and lingering dislike of their Beethoven String Quartets cycle of the mid-1990s issued by DG. To my ears, those coldly efficient, shiny performances displayed no empathy at all for the human being behind the scores. So it was with some trepidation that I approached this new CD, recorded just last year, but the interpretations are exemplary!

Verklärte Nacht is a particular favourite of mine, both in the original sextet version of 1899 and the opulent version for string orchestra revised in 1943. There is also a version for piano trio by Eduard Steuermann, a pupil of Schoenberg, of which several performances are available. The Emersons are right on the mark here. Their towering performance is completely focused with impeccable ensemble. Sensitive to every nuance and reading between the notes, the group appears to be totally absorbed by the beauty of the score and, just maybe, mindful of the melodrama and imagery of the Richard Dehmel poem that inspired it. Arguably, this performance sweeps the board.
 
Souvenir de Florence is an exhilarating, less familiar four-movement sextet by Tchaikovsky. It enjoys the same attention from the players who turn in a solid and joyous performance of this beautifully decorated score that will surely convert new listeners into fans of this captivating, abundantly energetic opus. 

The recording producer and engineer, Da-Hong Seetoo deserves an award for achieving such stunning realism and immediacy with apparent ease. This is an inspired disc that belongs on your shelf.

Mahler - Symphony No.1
London Philharmonic Orchestra; Vladimir Jurowski
LPO LPO-00070

The late release of a 2010 performance of Mahler’s Symphony No.1 on the London Philharmonic’s house label reveals a young conductor, Vladimir Jurowski, leading an enthusiastic and quite capable orchestra in repertoire he evidently has not quite come to terms with. This is most evident in the first movement, where Jurowski’s rigid phrasing robs the music of much of its charm and freshness. The novelty of this particular performance is the inclusion of a fifth movement entitled Blumine (Flowers) inserted between the first and second movements, an addition which was deleted by Mahler after three performances and was presumed lost until it resurfaced in 1966. Over twenty recordings have included this movement since then, but considering the flood of recordings we have experienced lately it’s still quite a rarity. Jurowski’s freakishly muscular interpretation of this delicate movement is certainly no bed of flowers, and for my taste the plebeian lack of perfume spoils the contrast with the country bumpkin charm of the following Scherzo, which seems to pass by in a flash in its wake. Having opted to reclaim the past by the inclusion of the extra movement, Jurowski inexplicably gives in to current revisionism by assigning the celebrated double bass solo that launches the ensuing bizarre funeral march to the entire section according to the specious reasoning of the latest Mahler edition. Thankfully by this point the conductor is beginning to show some real enthusiasm, finally hitting his stride in the hyper-theatrical grand finale and eventually saving the day with a fiery conclusion. The recorded sound from the recently renovated Royal Festival Hall is quite acceptable with no discernible distractions.

Although she doesn’t really do any more than her collaborators on her latest CD featuring Schubert’s String Quintet and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, the terrific Janine Jansen gets virtually solo credit and attention on the cover (Decca 478 3551). Her usual musical intelligence and sensitivity, however, is clearly matched by violinist Boris Brovtsyn, violists Maxim Rysanov and Amihai Grosz, and cellists Torleif Thedéen and Jens Peter Maintz. Schoenberg arranged Verklärte Nacht for string orchestra, but what a ravishing and entrancing work it is in this original sextet form. Written in 1899, well before his journey into atonality, it remains a stunningly beautiful late-Romantic work, given an exemplary performance here. The quality is just as high in the Schubert String Quintet, with impeccable balance between the voices revealing the intricate inner details with perfect clarity, and far more successfully than most ensembles. Attention to detail, never for its own sake but always with the aim of enriching the interpretation, is one of Jansen’s great strengths, and her leadership here is evident. This is music-making of the highest quality, and as engrossing and satisfying a performance of this wonderful work as you could wish for.

Another of Decca’s young European superstar violinists, Julia Fischer, has a new CD of the Bruch and Dvořák Violin Concertos, with David Zinman leading the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich (Decca 478 3544). In the old LP days, the Bruch Violin Concerto in G Minor was nearly always paired with the Mendelssohn, but the Dvořák makes a surprisingly good companion. The two works were written only about 12 years apart, and share similarities in form – as indeed they do with the Mendelssohn. Fischer clearly has a great affection and affinity for the Dvořák: her mother is Czech and studied in Prague, and the concerto was one of the first that Fischer studied as a child. It’s a lovely work that has never really established itself at the top of the standard repertoire. Fischer believes that this is changing; it would certainly be difficult to find a more convincing argument than the one she presents here. From the very strong opening, through the beautiful slow movement to the lively finale, this is a magnificent performance – intense, expansive, rich and warm throughout, with a lustrous tone and lovely orchestral support.
Exactly the same can be said for the beautiful performance of the Bruch, which makes this old favourite sound new and fresh.

Hyperion’s excellent ongoing series The Romantic Violin Concerto has reached Volume 14 with works by Alexander Glazunov and Othmar Schoeck (CDA67940); Chloë Hanslip is the soloist, with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana under Alexander Vedernikov. A beautiful performance of the Glazunov A Minor Concerto reminds us what a truly lovely work this is, and the short Meditation Op.32 is no less lovely despite its brevity. The Mazurka-oberek dates from 1917, when Glazunov’s work as head of the Conservatory in St. Petersburg left him with little time for composition; its Polish flavour suggests that it may have been one of the small number of works written with wartime patriotic associations. The Swiss composer Schoeck is known primarily for his vocal works, and his Concerto quasi una fantasia in B flat major, Op.21 is one of the few orchestral works that he produced. Written in his early 20s, it is a work that is an appropriate and welcome addition to this Romantic series.

Another outstanding ongoing series is The Soviet Experience: String Quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich and his Contemporaries, which reaches Volume III with a 2-CD set of Shostakovich quartets Nos.9 through 12 paired with Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s String Quartet No.6 in E minor (Cedille CDR 90000 138). The Polish-born Weinberg was a close friend of Shostakovich, and both composers influenced each other in their quartet writing. Weinberg’s quartet, one of a series of seventeen, was written in 1946 but never performed; it was briefly included on the list of “non-recommended” works produced in 1948 as part of Andrei Zhdanov’s anti-formalist campaign. Not published until 1979, it was apparently premiered as late as 2007.
The Pacifica Quartet is once again in simply superb form, playing these intensely personal works with sensitivity and passion and a wonderfully expressive range of dynamics.

Shostakovich is the featured composer on a new harmonia mundi CD from the French cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand, who gives a solid, committed performance of the Cello Concerto No.1 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Pascal Rophé (HMC 902142). Bertrand is joined by her regular piano partner Pascal Amoyel for an excellent performance of the Cello Sonata Op.40, written just 2 years before the devastating 1936 attack on the composer and his music in the Pravda newspaper, and of the Moderato, a short piece found in manuscript some year’s after the composer’s death, and which may possibly be contemporaneous with the sonata itself.

Other Minds is a non-profit organization in San Francisco dedicated to promoting the work of contemporary composers. For the past 20 years they have produced an annual festival where the composers are in attendance, and a few years ago had the idea of a short series of concerts that would present contemporary works alongside works by the now deceased American composers who had influenced the current generation. As the intention was to summon “the spectres of musical forbears” the series was called A New Music Séance; among the performers were violinist Kate Stenberg and pianist Eva-Maria Zimmermann. The resulting CD Scenes from a New Music Séance (Other Minds OM 1019-2) is the recording debut of the duo, and presents a fascinating program. Works by composers no longer with us are: Josef Matthias Hauer’s Jazz, the fifth of his Fünf Stücke für Violine und Klavier; Henry Cowell’s Ballade; Ruth Crawford’s Violin Sonata; George Antheil’s stunning Sonata No.2 for Violin, Piano and Drums, a fascinating and exhilarating single-movement romp through a whole range of American popular songs and styles; Alan Hovhaness’ Khirgiz Suite; and Henning Christiansen’s Den Arkadiske. Works by current composers are Canadian Ronald Bruce Smith’s Tombeau, Charles Amirkhanian’s Rippling the Lamp, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen’s Double and Amy X Neuburg’s Nonette. Stenberg and Zimmermann handle the wide range of styles and techniques with consummate ease.

Kate Stenberg is also the first violinist of the Del Sol String Quartet, an ensemble based in San Francisco and dedicated to breaking musical boundaries. Named for the sun, the group gave their first concert 20 years ago in New Mexico, where the sun is sacred to the Zia Indians of the region. The quartet’s new CD release is called ZIA (Sono Luminus DSL-92164), and features five works by contemporary composers. Gabriela Lena Frank’s Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout takes Andean folk music traditions as its inspiration; the composer has travelled extensively in South America, studying not only music but also poetry and legends (leyendas). There are some fascinating effects here, especially when Andean folk instruments are being evoked. Lou Harrison, who died at 85 in 2003, is represented by his String Quartet Set from 1979, which was dedicated to our own Robert Aitken and New Music Concerts. It’s a decided mixture of five short pieces with quite different characters. Spain’s José Evangelista has been based in Montreal since the 1970s. His Spanish Garland, 12 Folk Melodies from Spain dates from 1993; the melodies used are predominantly very old, and have a distinct middle-Eastern flavour and character to them. The Iranian composer Reza Vali has been on the School of Music faculty at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University since 1988. All of the musical material in his Nayshâboorák (Calligraphy No.6) is derived from traditional Persian music. Its use of quarter-tones and precise intervallic degrees makes for challenging but highly distinctive music. Born in Uzbekistan, Elena Kats-Chernin has been resident in Australia since 1994. Her Fast Blue Village 2 is a short moto perpetuo with a 5-beat rhythm. The playing throughout a varied and often technically challenging program is of a very high standard, and the music is always engaging. Perhaps the clue lies in the comment in the booklet notes that the Del Sol Quartet “commissions and performs accessible new music…” (my italics). Certainly there is much to enjoy here.

Ann Southam 5
Eve Egoyan
Centrediscs CMCCD 19113

There are many reasons to get excited about this recording of late works by maverick Canadian composer Ann Southam. For one thing, no one knew these works existed until they turned up in Southam’s Toronto home after her death in 2010. For another, this is a gorgeous recording.

What struck me the first time I listened – and after many listenings I’m still not ready to put this disc away – was that although these works are strikingly austere, they throb with vitality. Like the water-sculpted fallen trees on the booklet cover, they enchant by stealth, as though they are emerging from another world.

Southam wrote these works with Toronto pianist Eve Egoyan in mind, like the works on Egoyan’s two previous Southam recordings. Egoyan is able to bring special insights from those close collaborations with Southam to her exquisite handling of the lilting, halting and shifting rhythmic patterns which connect these works to each other, and to previous works called Returnings (two of these share the name Returnings, while the rest were left untitled).

The booklet throws light on Southam’s personal sound-world, especially by reproducing pages from her manuscripts. The sound is clear and spacious, allowing the pauses to resonate. But this disc deserves a more meaningful title, especially since it makes such an important addition to the already substantial evidence that Southam is not just one of our finest composers – hers is a significant voice in contemporary music.

Concert Note: Eve Egoyan plays a recital for Music Toronto on November 26 in the Jane Mallett Theatre at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.

T. Patrick Carrabré - War of Angels
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Centrediscs CMCCD 18513

T. Patrick Carrabré’s accessible, modernist music is characterized by angular lines and apt, dissonant sonorities orchestrated with clarity and balance. Inuit Games (2002) is an engrossing work in which Inuit throat singers Pauline Pemik and Inukshuk Aksalnik together weave continuous vocal patterns. Around them Carrabré emphasizes the low and high orchestra registers in mysterious, menacing sonorities. A unique and strong piece. In Symphony No.1: The War of Angels (1996), the opening movement’s fast triplet motion initially struck me as suggesting a finale. But then, shouldn’t wars happen differently in angel space and time? The sombre slow movement has profound moments, while the concluding one needs more intensity, in my view. The Winnipeg Symphony brass and winds shine in this work.

Hearing the workmanlike first movement of Symphony No.3 (2003) left me with some qualms about the composer’s propensity for the moto perpetuo process. But the second one is richer and more expansive; the Winnipeg winds give their numerous atmospheric solos loving treatment. And the finale is dramatic and varied, with some intricate counterpoint that builds to an impressive climax. The Dragon’s Tail (1997) is the exciting closer on this disc, featuring percussion passages performed energetically as the other sections of the orchestra also generate plenty of menace! Kudos to Carrabré for his compositions and his work (along with conductors Andrey Boreyko and Bramwell Tovey) for the annual Winnipeg New Music Festival, which has helped composers, orchestra and audiences for contemporary music flourish.

Rite
Jon Kimura Parker
Independent FP 0907 (www.jonkimuraparker.com)

Rite is an exciting CD of world premiere transcriptions of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (1913) and the complete ballet Petrouchka (1911) by pianist extraordinaire Jon Kimura Parker. There have been numerous transcriptions of the Rite, notably, by Stravinsky himself, Sam Raphling and Dickran Atamian. There are countless CDs and YouTube versions of three movements from the ballet Petrouchka. Emil Gilels, Grigory Sokolov, Alexis Weissenberg, Maurizio Pollini are excellent, Yuja Wang and Lang Lang with huge followings less so. What makes Parker’s version of Petrouchka a “must listen” is his remarkable and sensitive adaption of the complete ballet for solo piano. The focus is not so much on the pianistic fireworks of the famous dances but more on the pathos and lyrical qualities of melodic passages and the storyline. His attention to detail in transcribing is impeccable and his performance is never rushed but unfolds with singing lines and capricious humour. The ballet breathes in shapes and emotions. I realized at the end of the piece that I had not thought about the orchestra or the dancers because Parker’s transcription works beautifully as an extraordinary solo piano piece. This is definitely a welcome addition to the piano repertoire.

May 29, 2013 is the 100th anniversary of the Rite of Spring premiere performance in Paris, France. Today The Rite of Spring is one of the most influential works of the 20th century. Claude Debussy knew the work well and played it with Stravinsky in the four-hand duet version. Stravinsky himself worked on the score from the piano so it is no surprise that it works well as a solo piano piece. Jon Kimura Parker discovered Stravinsky’s piano duet version, which was used for ballet rehearsals. He felt that it was “less fastidious with details than I had expected.” Parker then began to add instrumental lines that had been left out. Other solo piano versions were deemed either too minimal or unplayable. I like Parker’s version with the encompassing layers of sound, from extreme delicacy and poignant colour to raw sensuality and primitive power. His performance is virtuosic both technically and artistically. I also agree with Parker’s quote about his own inspiration for this project. “Playing the Rite of Spring at the piano I am reminded of the day that I saw an exhibition of Picasso’s pencil sketches side by side with the finished paintings. Despite the absence of colour the angular power of the lines had even a greater impact.” We can use the same words about this CD which is excellent and I recommend it highly.

Ives/Brant - A Concord Symphony; Copland - Organ Symphony
San Francisco Symphony; Michael Tilson Thomas
SFSMedia 821936-0038-2

The four movements of Charles Ives’s Concord Sonata for piano (published in 1919 at Ives’s own expense along with his philosophical Essays Before A Sonata) are entitled Emerson, Hawthorne, The Alcotts and Thoreau – all leading authors of the American Transcendentalist school. Ives’ visionary writing is similarly “transcendent” and extremely challenging for performer and listener alike. Canadian-born composer, teacher and professional orchestrator Henry Brant had a particular affection for this groundbreaking work and set out to transcribe it for orchestra, a labour of love that occupied him off and on over the course of 35 years. The resulting 50-minute work was completed in 1994. Brant explained his intent was “to create a symphonic idiom which would ride in the orchestra with athletic sure-footedness and present Ives’s music in clear, vivid and intense sonorities.” Brant’s transcription is masterful and highly imaginative. He freely shifts the contours of melodic lines from one register to another and occasionally constructs inner voices to enhance his orchestral palette while remaining true to the content of Ives’s original piano score which, with its multiple staves, extreme density and general absence of time signatures, clearly suggests a blueprint in the form of an orchestral short score. The result could hardly be in more capable hands than those of Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, both of whom have an outstanding record of support for contemporary American music.

The disc also includes Aaron Copland’s Organ Symphony of 1925, a work commissioned and first performed by his mentor Nadia Boulanger. It is a remarkably assured accomplishment by the then 24-year-old composer and was the first of his works to receive wide public acclaim. Organist Paul Jacobs delivers a knockout performance of this intriguing and surprisingly intimate work. Superlative SACD quality sound throughout makes this disc a must-have item.

Cage - Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano       
Henry Kucharzyk         
Artifact Music ART-041 (www.arraymusic.com)
What to say about John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano? The piece has been recorded scores of times. Cage “invented” the prepared piano by inserting bolts, screws, pieces of rubber and other objects between the piano’s strings at precise points along the strings’ lengths in order to change the instrument’s timbre and tuning in unexpected ways. He described the result as a percussion ensemble under the hands of a single player. Cage’s insight and ingenuity in creating the prepared piano are a legendary moment in 20th century music. He had been exploring the possibilities of the prepared piano for some years up until the date of Sonatas and Interludes (1946-48) and continued to write for it for some years afterward. The prepared piano is the signature instrument of this early-to-middle phase of the composer’s career. 
What do we listen for in each new interpretation of the Sonatas and Interludes? Often, we tend to listen to the surface of this music – the novel sounds that result from Cage’s preparations. But Henry Kucharzyk’s performance takes us deeper into a new world of sound possibilities to approach the music’s essential motives. Cage’s “subject” was the nine “permanent” emotions of the Hindu tradition: the heroic, the erotic, the wondrous, the mirthful, sorrow, fear, anger, the odious and tranquility, to which the others all tend and aspire. Cage does not specify whether a particular sonata or interlude was intended to depict one or more of these nine. The overall effect of this very beautiful CD suggests that Henry Kucharzyk was especially highlighting tranquility, without short-changing any of the others. The erotic and the wondrous would be my next choices as guidelines/impulses in Kucharzyk’s interpretation, which has its mirthful and sorrowful moments, too.
I don’t remember now why I wasn’t there to hear this performance at the Premiere Dance Theatre 23 years ago. It must have been wondrous indeed. But we have this unique recording thanks to Artifact Music, Arraymusic, recording technicians John Oswald and Christopher Butterfield and, most of all, to Henry Kucharzyk for his deeply intelligent and elegantly realized rendition – emotional in just the way Cage intended.

Rota - Clarinet Sonata; Clarinet Trio
Goran Gojevic; Mary Kenedi; Lynn Kuo; Winona Zelenka; Michael Sweeney
Naxos 8.572778

The name Nino Rota may not be all that familiar, but if you’ve ever seen The Godfather or heard the famous love theme from the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, you’ve heard his music.

Born in Milan, Rota studied composition with Pizzetti and later at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Although he is chiefly known today for his film scores, his output also includes a large number of chamber and orchestral works, all of it written in a contemporary but thoroughly accessible style. And what better way to sample some of his non-commercial output than through this fine Naxos recording with music performed by some of Toronto’s top musicians? Among the pieces presented here are the Clarinet Sonata, the Clarinet Trio, Improvviso, Toccata for Bassoon and Piano and the Fantasia for Piano, admirably performed by Goran Gojevic, clarinet, Mary Kenedi, piano, Lynn Kuo, violin, Winona Zelenka, cello, and Michael Sweeney, bassoon.

This is a charming disc, its appeal not only in the high level of performance, but in the inherent contrasts found within the music. The Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano from 1973 is pure cheekiness, with two playful outer movements surrounding a languorous andante. In contrast, the lyrical Clarinet Sonata, written 18 years earlier, clearly looks back to the 19th century with its expansive melodies and mood of introspection. Gojevic’s warm tone and Kenedi’s solid command of the score result in a fine performance. Equally romantic is the Fantasia for Piano, also from 1945. A recent discovery, this piece seems to draw from numerous sources, but few of them from the 20th century – do I detect a snippet of Schubert at times? A touch of French impressionism?

This collection is a most welcome addition to the catalogue, and ample proof that there is much more to Nino Rota than what we’ve heard on the big screen during the last 45 years. Bravo to all performers involved for some fine music making.

Elżbieta Sikora - Solo and Electronics
Various Artists
DUX 0679a (www.dux.pl)

The soundworlds of the four works composed by Polish born Elżbieta Sikora emerge in this album out of the inspiration generated by the poetry of Zbigniew Herbert. Through the skilful interweaving of instrumental and electroacoustic timbres, each piece is an evocative sonic image stimulated by Herbert’s words: a striding Orpheus-Apollo; a hesitant Nike beckoning; a waking dream shimmering; a collection of stones distilling midair.

Although celebrated in Europe Sikora is relatively unknown in this country, but if you love listening to new sounds and are intrigued and curious about the electroacoustic genre, this CD offers music of breathtaking imagination and compelling sonic textures. Each piece presents an interaction between a solo instrument – flute, cello, harpsichord, piano – and electronic sources generated within a studio environment. 

This interaction takes varying forms: question and answer, expression of opposite polarities, or one sonic plane enhanced by the other. And within each of the pieces, she has carefully crafted various approaches to creating a sense of open flexibility within the realm of a fixed time frame -- always a compositional challenge with electroacoustic works for live players and pre-recorded electronics.

Even though the pieces were created over a period of 25 years, at no time do you feel as if the older technologies used are a limitation. In fact, quite the opposite. Each piece offers a window into a rich and diverse sonic language, and is full of dramatic vigour and intensity. Definitely a composer worth discovering.