Handel – Il Pastor Fido
La Nuova Musica;
David Bates
Harmonia Mundi HMC 907585.86

Unlike many baroque composers, Handel thought in acts, not scenes, and was singular in his pursuit of dramatic balance and pace. He worked on three complete versions of Il Pastor Fido, the other two printed as “the second” and “the third edition.” This welcome recording is of the first setting which premiered on St. Cecilia’s Day, November 22, 1712. The plot derives from a famous pastoral play by Guarini, but the libretto (like many of Handel’s early operas for London) probably was adapted by Rossi from a French source: there is a scene with a garland not in Guarini, but occurring in contemporary French pastorals. The chopped three-act version (from Guarini’s five acts) needs some explanation. This was given in a page-long “Argument” only a third of which is given with this recording. Similarly the detailed stage directions are absent. Why? Add to this some bad translations. When the hunter Silvio cries out “Lancio il mio dardo” and wounds Dorinda, he is throwing his spear, not shooting an arrow. The boast is that this is a “world premiere recording.” It is not. That was done by Cetra with il Quartetto di Milano directed by Ennio Gerelli long ago and amazingly with all the voices at the right pitch!

The cast is excellent. They have chosen stylish ornaments for the da capos with real trills not just extended vibrato. Lucy Crowe is especially clear and moving as the long-suffering Amarilli and Anna Dennis as the lovesick self-sacrificing Mirtillo, revealed as the faithful shepherd of the title. Lisandro Abadie, a resonant bass-baritone makes an all too brief third act appearance as the priest Tirenio pronouncing Diana’s divine plan. Katherine Manley is lively and devious as the scheming Eurilla.

The tempi are uneven: surely the final chorus is not a dirge! Nonetheless, when he gets it right, David Bates can be magical. The box is worth having for an aria in Act 1 “Mi lasci, mi fuggi” for Dorinda (Madeleine Shaw) — a perfect example of Handel’s musical drama and his ability to probe human frailties. One final comment on the number of orchestral players: this is one of the few recordings that gets it about right but is still light on the strings.

Schubert – Schwanengesang
Matthias Goerne; Christoph Eschenbach
Harmonia Mundi HMC 902139.40

This posthumous collection of Schubert lieder is a favourite for singers who want the expressive variety that a cycle of themed poetic texts from a single pen might not offer. The creative outpouring of Schubert’s final year included numerous songs that his brother assembled for publication. Unlike Winterreise or Die schöne Müllerin whose texts by Müller are more focused around a specific story, Schwanengesang represents texts by three different poets on a richly diverse set of ideas.

The real surprise in this recording is not that baritone Matthias Goerne presents another flawless performance with pianist Christoph Eschenbach, or that he shows impeccable mastery over the emotive range of material, or that with his enormous voice he never over-sings the intimate requirements of the salon. The real surprise lies in the companion disc with Eschenbach’s performance of the Sonata D960.

Serious Schubertians love this work for its tenderness, harmonic depth and melodic simplicity. This sonata is free of studied complexity or artifice. The writing is direct and aims at some target deep within the soul. Was Schubert conscious of his end? Is the sweet melancholy the lingering pain over Beethoven’s death only months earlier? Eschenbach seems to know the answer, playing unashamedly with full conviction, drawing from these pages a unique statement unlike any you have heard before. He is interpretively wise to Schubert’s phrasing needs, his clever switchbacks over only partial restatements of his principle themes. He is no less clever and wise than the composer himself. This powerful combination creates a rare masterpiece performance you simply must own.

Verdi – Les Vêpres Siciliennes
Barbara Haveman; Burkhardt Fritz; Alejandro Marco-Burmester; Balint Szabo; Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir; Paolo Carignani
Opus Arte OA 1060 D; OA BD7092D

This fine new release in digital splendour is a perfect example of how under the hand of a talented director an opera can be updated and even improved with a revolutionary concept. Revolutionary indeed. The opera is all about revolution, in this case the uprising of the Siciliani against French oppressors in 1282. How ironic and daring that Verdi prepared this French version for a Paris audience in 1855. But of course his mind was on Italy’s fight for freedom and unification.

The Grand Opera tradition that Verdi laid his hands on with variable success must include a ballet and so this version does, making the opera almost five hours long. What Christof Loy of Salzburg fame does with it is a re-enactment of the protagonists’ childhoods which enlightens the rather confusing plot and keeps the action moving. Minimalistic but strong sets, simple props like chairs scattered around, modern costumes used as a dramatic device (the French in dinner jackets, the natives in jeans and loose shirts, Hélène the heroine in a man’s suit and tie) and an overall grey colour scheme all form an artistically unified concept.

Add to this a group of dedicated, enthusiastic singers, Barbara Haveman’s glorious soprano, Burkhard Fritz  (the tenor’s vocal acrobatics stand out), a fine chorus always so important in Verdi’s operas and a young, formidably talented and dynamic conductor, Paolo Carignani, who brought the house down in COC’s Tosca this February. It’s a win-win situation with the immortal Verdi emerging as triumphant even with one of his less successful but, in this production, very soul-fulfilling operas.

I Saw Eternity
Elora Festival Singers; Noel Edison
Naxos 8.572812

The Elora Festival Singers continues its history of collaboration with Canadian composers in this strikingly beautiful recording. Four of the selections on this disc were composed expressly for this choir, and these, as well as the other selections, are well served by the choir’s pitch-perfect and artful delivery. In the title track by Leonard Enns, we are struck by the passages which incorporate a layering of voices that build and cascade in awe of a profound experience. Peter Tiefenbach’s Nunc Dimittis is peaceful in character, with a gentle, melodic interplay of voices with the piano, played with loving sensitivity by Leslie De’Ath, who also evokes the shimmering movement of water in the Agnus Dei from Glenn Buhr’s Richot Mass.

Organist Michael Bloss both supports and enlivens Paul Halley’s Bring us, O Lord God. In Ruth Watson Henderson’s unaccompanied Missa Brevis, upper voices maintain a consistently pure, even tone, resulting in a treble-like quality reminiscent of that in a traditional men and boys choir. The excellent control of soprano voices is also evident in Craig Galbraith’s setting of Let all Mortal Flesh Keep Silence with the dolce and pianissimo delivery of top notes. On a text by Rabindranath Tagore, Marjan Mozetich’s Flying Swans is written with a wonderfully mystic accompaniment of cello and clarinet, which features drone, ostinato and solo passages, some of which evoke the flapping of wings and trumpeting of the swans, all executed brilliantly by John Marshman and Stephen Pierre.

Schnittke – Zwölf Bussverse; Stimmen der Natur
SWR Vokalensemble, Stuttgart; Marcus Creed
Hänssler Classic 93.281

The Vocal Ensemble Stuttgart is a highly intelligent (musically and textually) group of singers who take on a great number of difficult historical and contemporary scores, not the least of which is represented by these works by Alfred Schnittke. In addition to being a highly innovative composer, Schnittke also trained as a choir conductor. For his Psalms of Repentance, premiered in Moscow in 1988 during the thousand-year anniversary of the Christianization of Russia, he selected texts from a collection of 16th-century writings on subjects such as arrogance, hypocrisy, greed, original sin and fratricide. Musically, he began with Russian Orthodox chant, Gregorian chant and organum which he then filtered through his modernistic style. The effect is soulfully dark and archaic, and Schnittke himself admitted that he could not explain the technique but that the music was dominated by its linguistic origin. Contrasting this, the last movement finishes the work with no text at all, a vocalise sung bocca chiusa [with closed mouth]. Similarly, at the end of the recording is Schnittke’s mesmerizing, hauntingly beautiful Voices of Nature for female voices and vibraphone, in a style described as “structured simplicity,” with consonant sounds evoking the natural world through the creation of tone clusters that sporadically appear and disappear. Again, the choir produces a gorgeous soundscape with absolute, perfect precision.

Tune thy Musicke to thy Hart
Stile antico; Fretwork
Harmonia Mundi HMU 807554

Tudor and Jacobean music for private devotion has long been neglected by early music performers. Here is a selection of composers who reveal why that neglect cannot be justified.

Stile antico rises to the sumptuous demands of Thomas Tomkins’ O praise the Lord with its 12-part texture reminding us of polyphony’s own past glories. Immediately afterwards Fretwork make its instrumental presence felt through its experienced viol-playing in O ye little flock by the all-but forgotten John Amner. Indeed, on occasions the deep, hollow resonance of Fretwork’s playing makes one almost forget that viols are the only instruments involved: listen to Robert Parsons’ second In Nomine.

Then there are the hymns that give the lie to the myth that England was a Protestant country at ease with its spirituality. Thomas Campion’s Never weather-beaten sail may indeed be a prayer of relief for those surviving a voyage. It may also be a prayer of relief by the Catholic Campion for his own survival in an age when his namesake Saint Edmund Campion died a cruel death for his faith. That death, in fact, is the subject of a song by William Byrd on this very CD.

Although some might say this collection is melancholic, divine and spiritually uplifting are the fitting adjectives.

Lawes – The Royal Consorts
Les Voix Humaines
ATMA ACD2 2373

England’s Civil War claimed the life of William Lawes in 1645. Charles I, to whom Lawes was extremely loyal, described him as “the Father of Music.” The ten Royall Consorts date from the early 1630s, but were still being played from hand-written scores in 1680.

All ten are performed here by the seemingly limited combination of violin, viola da gamba and theorbo. And yet from the first notes it is clear that we are to be treated to compositions that display the versatile capabilities of these same instruments. The two Fantazies alone prove this.

In fact, the clear majority of the movements in the consorts are named after the stylized dance movements of the Baroque. The pieces here would hold their own among any contemporary baroque entertainment. Take, for example, the spirited violin playing in the Alman, Corant and Saraband that conclude Consort 10.

Lawes even includes a galliard and six pavans in the Royall Consorts; perhaps he or his clients felt nostalgia for the best-known renaissance dances. The delicate pavan at the start of Consort 9 tests all the musicians.

Overall, Lawes’ music challenges the idea that England’s Golden Age of Music ended in 1620; surely he would have greatly influenced the course of 17th century English music had he lived?

Rachmaninov – Piano Concerto No.4
Alain Lefèvre; Orchestre symphonique de Montréal; Kent Nagano
Analekta AN 2 9288

This concerto is at once a reminder of Rachmaninov’s consistent and recognizable musical language. The style of lush orchestral washes led by strings against broad piano chords reminds the listener of familiar passages in the previous concertos. There is, however, a new element of modernity in this work that for Rachmaninov seems to have been a long time in coming.

Pianist Alain Lefèvre is a powerful player. At the keyboard he creates the kind of Lisztian fear that instruments must surely have when they’re about to be shaken to the core. He is an exemplar of the player that the Rachmaninov Fourth needs. Nothing less will do. Lefèvre and Nagano explode out of the starting gate with so much energy that it’s tempting to think your CD player has started the final movement by mistake. They make the perfect team required to navigate Rachmaninov’s new polyrhythms strewn throughout the work. They embrace the numerous harmonic collisions without reservation and offer a highly charged performance that sets the heart racing. In all, this performance can actually be a little disturbing for anyone unaccustomed to hearing Rachmaninov’s dark side so eloquently referenced here by Lefèvre and Nagano.

By contrast, and a well-programmed one it is, Scriabin’s Prometheus draws the OSM into repertoire it does so well. While of the same generation, Scriabin turns Rachmaninov’s flirtations with modernism into a full nuptial embrace. It’s all here, the French school of the early 20th century excited with rich colours on broad canvas and using every potential offered by the piano to gild the orchestral palette.

Berlioz – Symphonie Fantastique
Orchestre de la Francophonie;
Jean-Philippe Tremblay
Analekta AN 2 9998

To my mind, there are few major orchestral works that embody the spirit of early romanticism better than the Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz. Completed in 1830, this monumental work was subtitled “Episode in the Life of an Artist,” and tells of a lovesick young musician who attempts to poison himself with opium. The drug doesn’t prove strong enough to cause death, but instead, only creates fantastic visions, all of which are glowingly portrayed throughout the symphony. And who better to interpret this myriad of ever-contrasting moods than the Orchestre de la Francophonie under the direction of Jean-Philippe Tremblay on this new Analekta recording? The Ottawa-and-Montreal-based ensemble was founded in 2001, and since then has gone on to earn an enviable reputation as one of North America’s most vibrant youth orchestras. I’ve asked the question, “Do French musicians best interpret French music?” before, and the question is still open to debate. Nevertheless, in this case it certainly doesn’t hurt, for the OF’s performance is splendid.

From the cautious and hesitant mood of the opening measures, Tremblay demonstrates a full command of the score, coaxing a warm and expressive sound from the orchestra. We can truly feel the despair of the love-stricken young man! The second movement finds our hero at a ball, and the music is appropriately light and graceful. Following the placid “Scene in the Meadows” comes the sinister “March to the Scaffold,” where the talents of the wind and brass sections of the OF are shown to full effect. The exuberant finale  — “Dream of a Witch’s Sabbath” — is all at once grotesque, exhilarating and terrifying. Here, the OF “pulls out all the stops,” bringing the mad frenzy to a rousing conclusion.

This is indeed an exemplary interpretation of a musical landmark — felicitations to Jean-Philippe Tremblay and the OF. Hector would surely have approved!

Music is the Language of the Heart and Soul: Mahler – Symphony No.2
Ricarda Merbeth; Bernarda Fink; Netherlands Radio Choir; Royal
Concertgebouw Orchestra; Mariss Jansons
Cmajor 709708

Mahler – Symphony No.2
Christiane Oelze; Sarah Connolly; MDR Rundfunkchor; Berliner
Rundfunkchor; GewandhausChor; Gewandhaus Orchestra, Leipzig;
Riccardo Chailly
Accentus Music ACC10238

The above Blu-ray sets enter a well-populated community of commendable recorded performances that stretch back to c.1923 when Oskar Fried, who had conducted the premier performance in 1905 and to whom Mahler had conveyed all he should know about the work, conducted it for Polydor. Balancing orchestra, soloists and choir was a monumental undertaking in the acoustic era and one wonders how many sets they had hoped to sell, particularly when Mahler’s works were not as deeply admired then. That Polydor not-for-audiophiles recording is available on a 2-CD set from Pearl (CDS 9929).

Each of these new videos presents a performance that will satisfy the most ardent and jaded critic. Both orchestras are at home with the score and the soloists in each are well-matched. Of course, the vocal mavens may have their personal opinions about the choice of soloists but, to these ears, there are no good reasons for any petty or insignificant objections. There are no complaints about the state-of-the-art video production in either version and the audio is equally matched in presence and detail.

I watched the Jansons first and heard a very romantic performance, indicating that the conductor is comfortable with the score and views the work as belonging to its past and not as a portent of things to come.

I may not have felt this so acutely had I not, soon after, played the Chailly version. There is a real sense of hearing something new and exciting … from unexpected, subtle instrumental inflections and phrasing to the just perceptible spaces between phrases. The musicians are caught up in the excitement and significance of their parts, often playing like they have their feet in ice-water. The last movement and the closing pages are devastating. Repeated viewings have not dampened my enthusiasm for the Chailly in any way.

The Concertgebouw disc includes a 50+ minute videography of Jansons entitled Music is the Language of the Heart and Soul. There is a companion Blu-ray disc of the Eighth Symphony from the 2011 Mahler Festival in Leipzig that I have put off playing until the “right” time.

Still Sound
Bruce Levingston
Sono Luminus DSL-92148

Exquisite colours and haunting cadences highlight the remarkable solo performances of American pianist Bruce Levingston in Still Sound.

Levingston is powerful in his well thought out performances of Chopin, Satie and Schubert. He has a firm grasp of technique and style here. However, he is most striking when performing more contemporary works. Arvo Pärt’s popular Für Alina and Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka are breathtaking in their bell-like charm and quality of attention to the spaces between the notes.

Levingston is also a champion of American composers. Augusta Gross is a fine composer in the contemporary American style and is featured in five tracks. Memorable is her polyphonic writing in Reflections on Air which is intricately captured by Levingston’s gentle performance. William Bolcom’s New York Lights is a solo piano version based on an aria from his opera A View from the Bridge. Bolcom’s clever use of a multitude of American musical styles makes this an accessible yet modern work. Unfortunately, Levingston is suddenly a bit too bangy and percussive in the climatic, louder section, though he retreats back to his mature musical touch for the end of the work.

Levingston is to be applauded for his choice of programming. This is a collection of reflective, personal music with which to enjoy, contemplate and unwind.

Time Transcending (Oehms Classics OC 832) is the first solo recital disc of the Australian-born violinist Daniel Dodds, and it’s quite stunning. The works range from Bach through Paganini, Ysaÿe and Ernst to 20th century works by Rochberg, Berio, Bram and Messiaen. You’ll find better — or, at least, more nuanced — versions of the great Chaconne from Bach’s Partita in D Minor, but you’d be hard pushed to find anything anywhere to match the playing on the rest of the CD. There are terrific performances of Ysaÿe’s Sonata No.3, Ballade, and Luciano Berio’s Sequenza VIII from 1976, followed by a stunning Caprice No.24 from the Paganini Op.1. The American composer George Rochberg published 50 Caprice Variations on this particular piece in 1970, and 12 of them are here, played with a quite startling range of tone, colour and special effects. The Etude VI by H. W. Ernst is his famous 1864 set of variations on The Last Rose of Summer, and a work of almost ridiculous technical difficulty — but apparently not for Daniel Dodds.

The phenomenal playing continues in Swiss composer Thuring Bram’s Uhrwerk (Clockwork), written in 1976; Dodds is called on to play a dazzling array of effects — thumps, harmonics, bow scrapings, left-hand pizzicato and more — in an engrossing piece that treats the violin, in the composer’s words, as “a sophisticated percussion instrument.”

Dodds is joined by pianist Tomasz Trzebiatowski for the final track, Messiaen’s Louange a l’immortalité de Jesus, the final movement from his Quatuor pour le fin du temps. The beautifully sustained long, high melodic line brings a breathtaking CD to a serene close.

We’re not exactly overwhelmed with viola concertos, so I was delighted to receive the latest CD by the marvellous young American violist David Aaron Carpenter, which features world premiere recordings of three Viola Concertos by Joseph Martin Kraus (ONDINE ODE 1193-2). Kraus, a German composer who spent most of his working life in Sweden, was an exact contemporary of Mozart, born in the same year and dying just 12 months after Mozart’s death. Until just a few years ago, however, these works were mistakenly attributed to his friend and compatriot, Roman Hoffstetter.

There are two solo concertos, in e-flat major and c major, and a double concerto for viola and cello (although really viola with cello obbligato) in which Carpenter is joined by Riitta Pesola. All three works were probably written around the time that Kraus moved to Sweden in 1778; not surprisingly, there are stylistic similarities with both Mozart and Haydn — who, apparently, named Mozart and Kraus as the only two geniuses he knew — but all three works are full of melodic and harmonic surprises.

Carpenter’s playing is superb: warm and rich across the entire range, and wonderfully expressive. He also directs the Tapiola Sinfonietta, an orchestra which has the Viennese music of this period as part of its core repertoire as is clear from their perfectly-judged accompaniment.

The Chinese guitarist Xuefei Yang, who is currently based in the UK, presents her own transcriptions and arrangements of three Bach Concertos on her latest CD (EMI Classics 6 79018 2) with the Elias String Quartet. The two solo Violin Concertos, in a minor and e major, are here, as well as the Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor BWV1052, which is believed to be based on a now-lost violin concerto.

Yang found the solo parts in the violin concertos to be perfectly playable on the guitar, but the real masterstroke here is her arrangement of the orchestral accompaniment for string quartet, thus ensuring that the guitar’s softer voice can always be heard. Her playing is clean, precise and beautifully shaped, and the balance with the quartet is excellent throughout.

Yang was drawn to the violin concertos by the guitar transcriptions of Bach’s solo violin sonatas and partitas, and this disc includes the Sonata in G Minor, transcribed by her to a minor. Nothing seems to be lost in the transcription; indeed, many sections sound smoother than in the violin original. The Prelude in C Major from the Well-Tempered Clavier, again transcribed by Yang to a major, and played on a seven-string guitar, and the Air on the G String complete an excellent and generous — almost 80 minutes — CD.

Carolyn Huebl (violin) and Mark Wait (piano) are the performers on a new Naxos CD of Stravinsky Works for Violin and Piano (8.570985). All of Stravinsky’s works for this combination were the result of his partnership with violinist Samuel Dushkin, with whom he toured throughout the 1930s, and this disc features the three most substantial pieces: the Suite italienne and the Divertimento, both arranged by the composer and Dushkin; and Stravinsky’s only original work for the medium, the Duo Concertant.

Mark Wait certainly has the credentials for these works, having recorded Stravinsky’s solo piano music for Robert Craft’s series of the complete works of Stravinsky some 20 years ago.

The performances here are solid and carefully considered if not spectacular, and tend to be a bit pedestrian at times. They were recorded at the Blair School of Music in Nashville’s Vanderbilt University, where both performers are on the faculty.

The low Naxos price makes this a decent buy, but if you’re seriously interested in Stravinsky’s music for violin and piano then for an even lower per-disc price you can buy the excellent Newton Classics 2-CD reissue set of the complete works by Isabelle van Keulen and Olli Mustonen that I reviewed last October. Their interpretations tend to be a bit “spikier” and capture the Stravinsky character more fully. There is also a Hyperion two-CD budget-price set with Anthony Marwood and Thomas Adès that I have not heard, but that should be well worth tracking down.

Volume 12 of the outstanding British series The Romantic Violin Concerto (Hyperion CDA67878) features the first two Violin Concertos of Henri Vieuxtemps in lovely performances by Chloë Hanslip and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins.

The Concerto No.1 in E Major was actually written after the Concerto No.2 in F-sharp Minor, but the numbering follows the order in which they were published. The E major is a huge work, running over 40 minutes, and with a first movement that is longer than many full concertos. Written when Vieuxtemps was 20, it feels a bit episodic at times – perhaps not surprisingly, given its size – but is full of lovely moments. The F-sharp minor concerto pre-dates the E major by four years, and understandably shows signs of immaturity as a composer; the booklet notes correctly comment that it “makes more of a classical impression than a romantic one” with the influence of Mozart and Beethoven in evidence. The real forgotten gem here, though, is the Greeting to America Op.56, written for Vieuxtemps’ concert tour of the USA in 1843-44. It’s a fantasia on both The Star-Spangled Banner and Yankee Doodle for violin and orchestra, and brings another terrific Hyperion CD to a rousing close. Hanslip is in great form throughout, and given excellent support by Brabbins and the orchestra. The recording quality, as you would expect from this label, is exemplary.

Incidentally, Volume 8 of this series features Vieuxtemps’ concertos nos.4 and 5 (the “famous” one) in performances by Viviane Hagner and the same orchestral team.

In last year’s summer edition of this column I reviewed a short CD of the Concierto Latino by the Israeli violinist/composer Ittai Shapira. The same recording has now turned up on a full-length disc of Shapira: Violin Concertos, coupled with The Old Man and the Sea and the solo violin piece Caprice Habañera (Champs Hill CHRCD032).

The Old Man and the Sea was inspired by, and based on, Ernest Hemingway’s short novel of the same name; the idea came to Shapira, coincidentally, when he was in Florida for the US premiere of his Concierto Latino. Hemingway wrote his novel in Cuba, and it is the influence of Cuban music that is the common link between the three works on this disc.

The writing throughout both major works is accessible and highly idiomatic, although it is difficult to determine a truly individualistic voice; it tends to be music that keeps reminding you of something else. The Concierto Latino seems to be the stronger work on re-hearing, but that may well be due to the therapeutic nature of its composition, Shapira having written it in the aftermath of being the victim of a gang attack in New York City in January 2005. The Caprice Habañera is a short virtuosic solo encore piece with some innovative technical challenges.

The three works were all recorded on different dates, and the two concertos with different partners: the London Serenata under Krzysztof Chorzelski accompanies the Concierto Latino, and Neil Thomson conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in the Hemingway-inspired work, recorded this past January.

The conductor Marin Alsop, who is also a fine violinist, founded the ensemble String Fever with a group of top New York instrumental friends in 1981, partly to try to break down some of the classical boundaries, and partly just to have some fun as string players. Naxos has issued It Don’t Mean A Thing, an album of tracks recorded in 1983 and 1997 that shows just what they got up to when they weren’t on their “serious” gigs (8.572834).

It’s an odd offering from several aspects. For a start, it’s not clear if the group is even still in existence: in the sparse booklet notes Alsop refers to the group in the past tense, thanking those “who played in String Fever over the years” and citing the “many adventures over our 20 year career together,” all of which suggests that the ensemble ceased performing about 11 years ago. Secondly, despite the cavalcade of great standards from the likes of Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Dave Brubeck, Benny Goodman, Harry Warren and Richard Rodgers, the album really falls between two stools. There’s much more of an attempt at originality here than in the Angèle Dubeau CD of movie hits last month, but it’s less of a success precisely because of that fact. The heart and soul of jazz is improvisation, but however good the players are you can’t really have a number of first violins all improvising at the same time. The answer? Jazz-style “arrangements” that are written out and fully notated. The problem? The moment the notes are written down, they lose all sense of spontaneity and hence aren’t either straight renditions or true jazz performances. Classically-trained players are always going to maintain respect for the written note, but in jazz and swing music it’s not how it’s written, but how it’s played that is the crucial element. If you have any trouble appreciating this, then just listen to the numerous albums Stephane Grappelli made with Yehudi Menuhin, where Grappelli, with his inimitable invention allied to his impeccable technique, plays Menuhin – with his written-out parts – out of the studio, down the road, around the corner and completely out of sight.

There are some decent arrangements here, and some really good playing, but even with the addition of a trap drum set and also an electric bass on some tracks, the overwhelming impression is of classical players having fun, but also having problems really letting loose.

I’m not sure what market Naxos has in mind for this release, or for the subsequent volume of original material from 1991, Fever Pitch (8.5722835); they categorize it as “contemporary jazz” in their catalogue, but with the most recent tracks already 15 years old it’s not really either.

And, of course, when today’s players like Judy Kang can shred electric violin with Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball tour, cross-over playing is not such a ground-breaking concept any more.

Strings Attached continues at thewholenote.com with works for baroque guitar performed by David Russell, violin and piano by Stravinsky performed by Carolyn Huebl and Mark Wait, early violin concertos of Vieuxtemps featuring Chloë Hanslip, Cuban-inspired concertos composed and performed by Israeli violinist Ittai Shapira and some jazzy offerings from Marin Alsop’s all-star ensemble String Fever.

Ruggles – The Complete Music of Carl Ruggles
Buffalo Philharmonic;
Michael Tilson Thomas
Other Minds OM 1020/21-2

Long out of print, this double CD re-issue of the 1980 Columbia vinyl LPs of the complete music of the American iconoclast Carl Ruggles (1876–1971) makes a welcome return to the fold thanks to the efforts of the San Francisco Symphony’s Other Minds project. Michael Tilson Thomas, long-time conductor of that admirable ensemble, was also music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic from 1971–79, continuing a golden age for contemporary music in Buffalo dating back to the tenure of his predecessor, the composer-conductor Lukas Foss (1963–71).

Ruggles struggled mightily with his compositions, publishing only a dozen complete works from 1918 to 1944, amounting to a mere 90 minutes of music. Strident, granitic and densely chromatic, Ruggles’ powerful music attracted the attention of the avant-garde of the time who greatly admired his uncompromising vision. Edgard Varèse (none too prolific himself) was a major enthusiast, and used his influence to arrange high-profile performances and solicit new commissions for him. Alas, the cantankerous Ruggles was more fascinated with the process of composition than its termination and left the majority of his projects unfinished. His colleague Henry Cowell recalled overhearing Ruggles pounding out the same crystalline sonority relentlessly for hours on end, and when he gently questioned him about it Ruggles bellowed, “I’m giving it the test of time!”

Ruggles’ distinctive music has indeed passed that test with flying colours, and 32 years after their initial release these performances remain compelling despite the comparatively dated sonics. The voicing of the glowing, closely-packed harmonies in the isolated moments of quiet repose are expertly balanced and the orchestra projects the stentorian passages with chilling conviction. Excellent documentation is included. This is a landmark collection that should not be missed.

Schulhoff – Piano Works 1
Caroline Weichert
Grand Piano GP604

Weinberg – Complete Piano Works 1
Allison Brewster Franzetti
Grand Piano GP603

Music of Erwin Schulhoff (1894–1942) and Miecyslaw Weinberg (1919–1996) raises consideration of totalitarianism’s effects. Jewish composers escaping the Nazi terror transformed and elevated our western musical world, but what about the ones who looked eastward? New discs enhance our awareness of these wonderful artists. Born in Prague, Erwin Schulhoff developed early as a significant pianist and composer. Attempted emigration to the Soviet Union was overtaken in 1939 by Germany’s occupation of Czechoslovakia and his arrest; he died in a concentration camp. Weinberg grew up between the wars in Poland, barely escaping the Nazi invasion while the rest of his family perished in the Holocaust. He settled successively in Minsk, Tashkent and Moscow in 1943, adapting as best he could to the Soviet regime.

Schulhoff has received considerable attention in recent years; his piano works show a tasteful master integrating musical influences into original and deeply felt works. The affecting Variations and Fugue on an Original Dorian Theme (1913) reveals an already-mature composer commanding compositional forms and devices towards his expressive ends. Carolyn Weichert brilliantly captures the idioms of both modernism and jazz in Partita (1922) where 1920s dances replace Bach-era ones. Transcending clichés of decadent Weimar Germany, the depth and seriousness of its jazz scene during the 1920s and ‘30s are evident; I love the charm, quirky humour, fleeting pensive moments and glimpses beyond the ordinary in the Tango-Rag. Schulhoff’s harmony is never just “bi-tonal” or “wrong-note.” Weichert balances chords and brings out subtle voice-leadings in music evocative of the era and more. The Third Suite for the left hand is a work of pianistic genius. Weichert’s fingers crawl “multi-legged” over the keyboard; as her thumb sings out one of Schulhoff’s exquisite long melodies in the Air, fingers carry on a canonic invention below! After the harmonically-adventurous Improvisazione, she delivers the mixed-metres perpetual-motion Finale with flair but without bombast.

Miecyslaw Weinberg’s major piano works are ably performed by Allison Brewster Franzetti, some in premiere recordings. Weinberg was an excellent pianist whose creative leanings showed in his Lullaby composed at 16, which carries the genre to remarkable heights. Nazi totalitarianism threw him towards the Soviet sphere and he was strongly affected upon hearing Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. His First Sonata (1940) retains adventurous musical possibilities: bi-tonal passages, extreme registers, stark and dissonant sonorities. Franzetti’s performance of the magical close of the Andantino is touching, seemingly wandering into the distance before the fearsome Finale emerges. Official pressure against Shostakovich’s experimentalism forced him towards the Symphony No.5’s more “positive” idiom; comparing Weinberg’s Second Sonata (1942) to the first shows similar movement. Harmony is organized around familiar scales, the music lilts and sings. Franzetti builds perfectly towards the slow movement’s climax, and the quiet return of the opening mood is breathtaking. Again in 1948 Stalinism reared up, demanding folk-like themes and simple forms. In the Sonatina (1951) Weinberg incorporated some of these changes; unsatisfied, he revised it in 1978 as Sonata Op.49A. The effects of totalitarianism can be long-lasting.

Overheard – Music for Oboe and English Horn
Michele Fiala; William Averill;
Martin Schuring; Donald Speer
MSR Classics MS 1403
www.msrcd.com

Overheard is a refreshing disc of contemporary music for oboe and English horn, by composers born between 1952 and 1986. A professor of oboe at Ohio University who has performed internationally, Michele Fiala’s playing on this, her second recording, is certainly “world class,” in both display of solid technical facility and musical expression, with equally able piano accompaniment provided by William Averill and Donald Speer; but congratulations are also in order on the choice of repertoire which covers a gamut of styles from jazz to the incorporation of electronics.

One of three commissioned works on this disc is by Toronto composer Beverly Lewis — her Fundy Temperaments for English horn and piano is a dramatic work evoking the landscape of the Bay of Fundy, including a foghorn depicted through the use of multiphonics. Another commission, Peaches at Midnight, is a delightful work by Theresa Martin evoking the playfulness of childhood. Sheer technical brilliance is displayed in Gilles Silvestrini’s Three Duos for Two Oboes, in which Fiala is joined by Martin Schuring; the movements are named for works by French impressionist painters.

The concluding work on the disc is a personal favourite — Mark Phillips’ Elegy and Honk for English horn and electroacoustic music uses only processed English horn sounds for the background soundtrack of the slow and moody first segment, while Honk employs manipulated sounds of geese, ducks and a bicycle horn as a rhythmic backdrop to the live instrument. I found myself chuckling along with this last track on what is a thoroughly enjoyable and important contribution to the recorded repertoire for oboe and English horn.