The New York Philharmonic: From Bernstein to Maazel

by John Canarina

Amadeus Press

495 pages, photos; $29.99 US

• In this engaging history of the New York Philharmonic, John Canarina relates how someone at a public forum in 1991 suggested that the orchestra should install a giant mirror at the rear of the stage so audiences could watch the conductor’s facial expressions. The orchestra’s music director at the time, Kurt Masur, responded, “When I conduct Beethoven, I wouldn’t like to replace Beethoven. He should be in your mind, not me.” Masur’s attitude is similar to that of another of the orchestra’s long-time conductors, Leonard Bernstein. In fact, the orchestra has consistently attracted principal conductors who, like Masur and Bernstein, are more concerned with letting the composers’ voices be heard than stamping their own personalities on the orchestra. This has allowed the distinctive sound of the orchestra – which Canarina characterizes by its openness and immediacy – to develop under a succession of conductors.

Canarina, who was an assistant conductor with the orchestra under Leonard Bernstein, starts his history with Bernstein, who took over from Dmitri Mitropoulos in 1958 amid concerns that he was just a “personality boy.” At 39 he was considered too young to lead a major orchestra, though today that doesn’t sound so young, with 29-year-old Gustavo Dudamel leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic and 35-year-old Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin leading both the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic. In any case, the choice of Pierre Boulez sparked even more controversy, though it turned out to be just as visionary.

The conductors are quite properly Canarina’s main focus. But he certainly gives the orchestra players their due. He quotes his own interviews with orchestra members and highlights the work of legendary principal players like cellist Lorne Munroe, flutist Jeanne Baxtresser, (who came to the orchestra from the Toronto Symphony), clarinettist Stanley Drucker, and current concertmaster Glenn Dicterow.

Canarina also pursues his particular interest in how the orchestra has been treated by the press throughout the years, which leads to numerous quotations from past reviews. But far more interesting are the quotes from performers, composers and conductors, and especially his own insightful comments, which enhance this lively portrait of a great orchestra.

A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers

by Will Friedwald

Pantheon

829 pages; $53.00

• This hefty volume certainly lives up to its title, with detailed biographies of more than three hundred of the twentieth century’s best jazz and popular singers. But it offers much more. In fact, this book contains some of the most astute, witty and stylish critical writing on singers since Whitney Balliett wrote for the New Yorker.

Instead of trying to define who is and who isn’t a jazz singer, Will Friedwald , a jazz critic for the Wall Street Journal, has based his choices on those who sing the standards of the so-called Great American Songbook. Though most of the singers he profiles were active during the last century, he does cover a number of contemporary singers, including Canadians Diana Krall and Michael Bublé.

Friedwald comes up with some surprising – and interesting – historical connections. “If you take [Dean] Martin’s usual singing,” he suggests, “and apply a little more vibrato to it, you end up with something that sounds suspiciously like Elvis.” For him, even an obscure singer like Rose Murphy is not just “one of the most distinctive, not to mention delightful, performers in popular music,” but also an important influence on Ella Fitzgerald.

One of the many things that sets this encyclopedia apart is the generous length of the entries, long enough to do justice to what these singers accomplished, and detailed enough to include discussions of their recordings. He sheds fresh light on well-documented singers like Frank Sinatra (the subject of one of Friedwald’s previous books), Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams, Alberta Hunter, Anita O’Day, and Mel Tormé. But he also re-evaluates lesser-known singers like Al Hibbler, Ernestine Anderson, Mose Allison, and Helen Humes. He admits to failing to be moved by Cleo Laine, yet still manages an appreciative portrait. And some of his most interesting comments are about those who are well-known, but not so much as singers, like Dean Martin, Doris Day, Fred Astaire, and Jimmy Durante.

Though there is a detailed list of contents, there is, unfortunately, no index. So unless you read this book from cover to cover, you are bound to miss some terrific writing, like the extra comments on Louis Armstrong which are found in Friedwald’s discussion of Durante. It’s especially frustrating because Friedwalds’s writing is so good that I wouldn’t want to have missed anything he had to say about a singer I was interested in.

Address inquiries to bookshelf@thewholenote.com.

As we enter the New Year you’ll notice a couple of new aspects to DISCoveries. “Strings Attached” is a column in which Terry Robbins will “round-up” recent releases featuring the violin family – concertos, sonatas and chamber music offerings from the international catalogue on a monthly basis. We also welcome Jason van Eyk, long familiar for his “In With The New” column in these pages, to our roster of reviewers. You’ll find his take on a new piano disc by Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa in the Modern and Contemporary reviews. As for my own column, as the snow piled up outside my window over the past two months, so have the mounds of CDs on my desk. I’ve had lots of listening time to explore innumerable new releases which only makes the task of selecting what to include here that much more difficult. Some of the highlights from my hibernation are included below.

In my other life as general manager of New Music Concerts I have had the pleasure of being exposed to the music of some of the world’s most exciting compositional talents over the past decade. Last May, in a concert curated by Brian Current, Canadians Nicole Lizée and Analia Llugdar were featured alongside Frenchman Fabien Levy and Germans Enno Poppe and Oliver Schneller. Schneller’s delicate Trio (1998) for accordion, cello and piano was featured on that Toronto concert and I was pleased to find it on a new Wergo recording along with five more recent Schneller compositions (WER 6579-2). Trio and Aqua Vit (1999) for eight instruments are the only purely acoustic compositions on the disc, with all of the more recent works involving live electronics. Schneller’s fascination with the nature of sound itself is evident even in the instrumental compositions, as he examines textures and timbres as if through a microscope. This concern is taken further with his use of technology in the later works, most notably Stratigraphie I (2006) and II (2010), both for six instruments and live electronics. Also of note is his alluring addition to the two pianos/two percussion repertoire with Resonant Space, a compelling work which adds live sound manipulation to the mix.

The most recent New Music Concert featured Quatuor Diotima, a Paris-based ensemble whose repertoire spans three centuries with a particular interest and expertise in the work of living composers. Of the works they performed in Toronto, by far the most intriguing was Madhares, the third string quartet by Thomas Larcher, who was born in Austria in 1963. This extended work called upon the musicians to employ a number of extended techniques, including tapping on the strings with wooden mutes to make eerie pointillistic glissandi up the neck of their instruments. The dynamic range varied from sub-audible to shriekingly loud in moments reminiscent of the shower scene from Psycho. But the piece was also imbued with beautiful melodies harkening back to pre-classical times and moments of languid calm. You can hear the work for yourself performed by Diotima on an ECM New Series release (ECM 2111) which also includes Larcher’s Böse Zelten for piano and orchestra and Still for viola and chamber orchestra with soloists Till Fellner and Kim Kashkashian and the Munich Chamber Orchestra under Dennis Russell Davies. Both of the concerted works have the intimacy of chamber music while exploiting the full resources of the orchestra. As with Oliver Schneller, the exploration of sound itself is paramount. The prepared piano is particularly effective in Böse Zelten whose title translates as Malign Cells.

On the most recent release by Quatuor Diotima the group is joined by soprano Sandrine Piau and Canadian contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux in works by Berg, Webern and Schoenberg (Naïve V 5240). Piau’s impeccable vocals are expected in Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 2 where the third and fourth movements are settings of texts by Stefan George, but an unexpected treat is the sixth movement of Berg’s Lyric Suite where Lemieux sings the text inscribed by the composer in a miniature copy of the score sent to his “beloved” Hanna Fuchs. That only came to light thanks to Fuchs’ daughter after the death of Berg’s widow in 1976. I’m not sure if this is the first recording to include the sung text, but it is the first to come to my attention and Lemieux makes a convincing case for it. The quartet is impeccable in their interpretations of all the works, including the purely instrumental Sechs Bagatelles of Anton Webern.

Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919-1996) and Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1974) share a remarkably similar voice and seem to have influenced each other profoundly. It is thought that much of Shostakovich’s interest in Jewish music stemmed from his friendship with the younger Pole. Weinberg’s Piano Trio was composed in 1945, two years before the masterpiece in the same genre by Shostakovich. I am very pleased to find both works featured on a new recording by Trio Voce, an ensemble which includes American violinist Jasmine Lin and Canadians Marina Hoover, founding cellist of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and Alberta pianist Patricia Tao. The disc, entitled Inscapes (Con Brio CBR21045, www.conbriorecordings.com), includes not only the Weinberg trio Op.24 and Shostakovich’s familiar Op.67, but also a rare performance of the latter’s early first trio Op.8. The performances are sensitively nuanced and dynamic and the recording, done at WFMT Studios in Chicago last May, is immaculate.

I’m not sure why, but it seems like kind of a “guilty pleasure” to revisit some of the masterworks of the past century upon which I “cut my teeth.” I tend to find it deplorable that so many of my generation never seem to get beyond the pop music they heard in their formative years, yet I also realize that the music which informed my own artistic development still remains my favourite. So it is with a grain of salt that I recommend Avantgarde Favourites of the 20^th Century (Scandinavian Classics 220571-205) performed by the Arthuis Sinfonietta. But hearing Ligeti’s Chamber Concerto for Thirteen Instruments, Webern’s Concerto, Varèse’ Octandre, Lutoslawski’s Chain I and Takemitsu’s Rain Coming again after all these years was a real life affirming experience. To hear these seminal works so well performed in a new context was invigorating. And the addition of Harrison Birtwistle’s Ritual Fragment which I was not previously aware of was a real treat.

Another wonderful revisitation was an exuberant new recording of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring by Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela (Deutsche Grammophon 477 8775). Although appointed Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2009, Dudamel continues to work with the outstanding young players of his homeland as these thrilling live recordings from Caracas in February 2010 attest. As always Dudamel brings the best out in the youngsters and one would not likely guess this is anything other than a fully professional orchestra just by listening. The Stravinsky is paired with La noche de los mayas (Night of the Maya) by Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas. Completed a year before the composer’s death in 1940 La noche had to wait twenty years for its first performance. Although not likely to replace Rite of Spring in the repertoire anytime soon, this is a dramatic, lyrical, colourful and powerful work that deserves to be much more widely heard. With Dudamel as its champion we can rest assured that it will be.

One of my finest musical experiences of the past several months was not a piece of music at all, but rather a book written by Toronto playwright and director of One Little Goat Theatre, Adam Seelig. Every Day in the Morning (slow) (New Star Books) is a novella crafted like a musical composition and typeset in a very graphic way – its very sparse text spread over the page like poetry, with far more white space than print. This affects, and effects, the way we read this monologue, with pauses built in as an inherent part of the process. Told alternately in third and first person, we are presented with the inner thoughts of a writer’s-block-ridden composer, railing against himself, the world, the classical music business, Steve Reich and the minimalists, his father and his childless marriage. It is effective and compelling. After my first reading I went back almost immediately and read the book again, aloud this time, and found it even more satisfying.

We welcome your feedback and invite submissions. CDs and comments should be sent to: The WholeNote, 503 – 720 Bathurst St. Toronto ON M5S 2R4.

David Olds

DISCoveries Editor

discoveries@thewholenote.com

Henri Duparc - Intégrale des Melodies

Marc Boucher; Olivier Godin

XXI XXI-CD 2 1705

Theodore Dubois - Chansons de Marjolie

Anne Saint-Denis; Olivier Godin

XXI XXI-CD 2 1704

Henri Duparc, despite having been one of the first and possibly most talented pupils of César Franck, despite having been one of the founders of Société Nationale de Musique Moderne (with Saint-Saëns), despite having lived to the age of 85, left a legacy of fewer than 40 works. The shocking explanation is that Duparc, who stopped composing at 37 due to what was then diagnosed as “neurasthenia” (a type of mental exhaustion with elements of depression, anxiety and pain), destroyed most of his works, including his only opera. In a letter to Jean Cras, Duparc wrote: “Having lived 25 years in a splendid dream, the whole idea of [musical] representation has become – I repeat to you – repugnant. The other reason for this destruction, which I do not regret, was the complete moral transformation that God imposed on me 20 years ago and which, in a single minute, obliterated all of my past life. Since then, [my opera] Roussalka, not having any connection with my new life, should no longer exist.”

This album’s 17 songs have been called a perfect blend of poetry and music, in no small part because Duparc was inspired by the words of Gauthier, Sully-Prud’homme, Baudelaire and Cazalis. Marc Boucher and Olivier Godin, frequent collaborators on stage and on record, are delightfully matched and attuned to each other’s musical sensibilities. These eminently able Quebec musicians have successfully rendered songs requiring not just musical skill, but also a love of these texts. A great introduction to Duparc’s tragically small repertoire.

François-Clément Théodore Dubois was an almost-contemporary to Henri Duparc, their lives intersecting at many junctures, though his composing life was a much more fulfilled and happy one. Receiving the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1861, he also took over from César Franck as choirmaster at the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde and, in 1877, succeeded Camille Saint-Saëns as organist at the Church of the Madeleine. He served as director of the Paris Conservatoire from 1896 to 1905.

The true surprise is that his song cycles remain virtually unknown and numerous operas and ballets either have never been performed or have fallen into oblivion. The only work attaining some popularity is his oratorio Les Sept Paroles de Christ. In this recording, Dubois’ compositions prove a true epitome of French Romanticism. Though rarely indicating the type of voice that should sing them, they nevertheless follow faithfully the overall theme, using contemporary poetry and reaching for inspiration from the Renaissance and Middle Ages. Anne Saint-Denis is a revelation here: her voice is not really what one would call “beautiful,” with a somewhat over-pronounced vibrato and shallow tessitura, and yet it seems perfectly suited. This rare, perfect match of music and instrument deliver a true delight to the listener of this (most likely) unfamiliar music. The unfamiliarity passes quickly, as one feels compelled to listen again and again, soon humming along to the tracks.

François-Clément Théodore Dubois, vilified after his retirement from the Conservatoire for his part in the Ravel/Prix de Rome scandal, deserves a revival. This disc is a wonderful first step in that direction.

Gardens of Spain

Lyne Fortin; Esther Gonthier

Analekta AN 2 9972

Wolf - Italienisches Liederbuch

Catherine Robbin; Daniel Lichti; Leslie De'Ath

Analekta AN 2 9956

Two recent Analekta releases feature the music of Hugo Wolf, the late 19th-century life-long composer of lieder. One recording focuses exclusively on one cycle by Wolf, while the other includes him in a collection of Spanish and Spanish-inspired pieces. While both song cycles are named for the countries the poetry originates from, Wolf's music itself is decidedly Germanic.

In each of the excerpts from Spanishes Liederbuch performed by Lyne Fortin, she certainly has the dramatic presence to handle the “Sturm und Drang” required by the constantly changing emotional content. In selections by Richard Strauss a garden flower is passionately compared to a girl or a woman whose nature reflects that of the blossom. Bizet and Delibes truly embrace the flavour of Spanish music with a dizzying flirtatiousness that Fortin delivers beautifully. Fortin conveys a fiery persona especially in the truly Spanish repertoire on this recoding. The cantos by Cuban composer Joaquin Nin start with an excitement and flourish that keep quite a pace until the third selection which slows but maintains the emotive momentum. In fact, throughout the CD, this singer sings as though always on edge, with smouldering moments juxtaposed with shrill peaks of high anxiety, keeping the listener thrilled with uncertainty. Pianist Esther Gonthier keeps the tension high throughout and especially shines in the Torroba, where her piano takes on the persona of a strumming guitar.

Hugo Wolf's Italienische Liederbuch is rarely performed in its entirety, consisting as it does of no less than forty-six vignettes. Having performed a few of them in a recent concert tour entitled “Songs of Venus and Mars”, mezzo-soprano Catherine Robbin and bass-baritone Daniel Lichti were inspired to record the complete cycle since the lieder neatly fall into categories suitable for both male and female singers. Again, in paying homage to the Tuscan folk poems and Venetian vilote, Wolf's music reflects his own nationality, but the translations into German still make for quite the range of emotion, from passion to reverence and playfulness to despair. Both Robbin and Lichti along with pianist Leslie De'Ath add a certain elevation to sentiments of romantic exploration in the same way that Wolf transforms the simplicity of the lyric to a more classical standard of high art. The singers, well known for their expertise in this repertoire, imbue the performance with superb tonal quality, warmth and grace.

Salsa Baroque

Ensemble Caprice; Matthias Maute

Analekta AN 2 9957

Matthias Maute’s notes explain salsa baroque as being 17th and 18th century Latin American and Spanish music with a diffusion of harmonies and rhythms of Europe and Africa blended with Amerindian nuances and styles. Hybrid must be an under-statement.

The choice of pieces is itself varied as Zipoli’s pastorales vie with his battaglias and in turn mingle with Gaspar Fernandes’ compositions with their unsullied pre-conquistador titles. The opening (anonymous) chaconne combines easily recognizable baroque music with spirited Latin American embellishments; Variations on la Gayta and the lively singing of further settings bring home the passionate nature of this fusion of music from Spain and her new colonies. Listen to Lanchas para baylar for further confirmation. Those looking for something more indigenous need only listen to the second piece, the definitely non-Hispanic Hanacpachap cussicuinin. It is incomparably Latin American, mainly because it is dated to 1631 in Cuzco!

Looking at the cover design of this CD with its electronically-drawn drizzlings of Latin American dressings and then translating its title (baroque sauce), you might get the impression this is one for the tapas-bar yuppies. It is, in truth, a valuable introduction to music created by Spanish and Portuguese composers who were assigned to Latin America and influenced by the music they found there.

Vivaldi Oboe Concertos

Alex Klein; New Brandenburg Collegium; Anthony Newman

Cedille FOUNDation CDR 7003 (www.cedillerecords.org)

One of the most prolific composers of his time, Antonio Vivaldi (1675-1741) wrote a total of 14 concerti for oboe, plus an additional three for two oboes. This sampling of eight of them, from one of the world's finest oboists, is a recent re-release of material originally recorded in 1993. Alex Klein is probably best known as a former principal oboist of the Chicago Symphony, a position he held from 1995 to 2004, when he left the job due to focal dystonia, a neurological condition affecting the muscles in some of his fingers. (He has since recovered, and I had the pleasure of hearing him perform live in Kitchener a couple of years ago).

In addition to composing, Vivaldi also taught music at the Ospedale della Pietá, an orphanage for girls in Venice. In the insightful liner notes with this recording, Klein suggests that these works were perhaps written for these girls, with their particular talents and personalities in mind. Given the technical challenges of these concerti and the limitations of the oboe of the time, if this is true, these girls must have been true prodigies! Speculation aside, this recording presents these works in their best light, played here by a true virtuoso. Klein's technical mastery of the instrument is staggering – even the most virtuosic passages are executed with flawless precision, giving an impression of total ease; and embedded within the most technically demanding sections, Klein manages a sensitivity and subtlety of expression that only a true master can convey. This recording deserves undivided listening attention to fully appreciate the complexity and nuance of both the composer's work and this first class performance.

J.S. Bach - Organ Works

Nicolas-Alexandre Marcotte

XXI-21 Productions; XXI-CD 2 1713

Organist Nicolas-Alexandre Marcotte plays a magnificent organ built in 1973 by Karl Wilhelm for Église Saint-Matthias (Montréal). It is entirely mechanical (tracker action) and voiced in the very best Baroque style. Marcotte’s repertoire choice (some duets, a Fantaisie, a Trio Sonata, etc.) is far from standard Bach but carefully chosen to demonstrate the Baroque keyboard technique of note detachment, the very antithesis of the Romantic tendency for legato in nearly everything. The playing is brilliant and the acoustics perfect – an altogether outstanding recording achievement.

Mozart - Piano Sonatas

Robert Silverman

IsoMike 5602 (www.isomike.com)

If we accept Hans von Bulow’s decree to pianists that “Bach is the Old Testament and Beethoven is the New Testament of music,” where does that leave Mozart? As a kind of musical John the Baptist?

But if Mozart has been relegated to the role of a pianistic voice crying in the wilderness, it’s not the composer’s doing, but the fault of the musical world. Some pianists, such as Glenn Gould, have disdained his piano music as lightweight. Others, such as Alicia De Laroccha, have unwittingly given credence to this view by performing Mozart with a mannered superficiality. And then there are folks who feel that Mozart’s piano music needs to be performed on a period fortepiano – as if he can’t quite compete with “important” piano composers when played on a modern instrument.

Enter Robert Silverman, the Vancouver-based pianist who has earned a reputation as a Beethoven interpreter with a penchant for complete sonata cycles. Now, in this seven-disc boxed set on the audiophile IsoMike label, Silverman has recorded all 18 Mozart sonatas, and also the Chromatic Fantasy in C Minor.

What makes these performances so consistently engaging is the breadth he brings to his interpretations. He’s not out to directly overthrow traditional ideas about Mozart, but rather to enfold them within a broader vision: while there’s sometimes a “Mozartkugel” sweetness to his playing, there’s much more than that. In Silverman’s hands, this music is dramatic, humourous, effervescent, calm, blissful, tragic, and many other things as well.

For instance, there’s Sonata No. 15, which Silverman, in his notes, describes as “the most curious work in Mozart’s entire keyboard oeuvre.” In this recording, the first movement begins as a lively romp, but with the underlying strength of supple and flexible steel. The second movement is less complex, perhaps, but inward-looking and carefully shaped. And the last movement is pure innocence and charm – until the change from major to minor brings just a touch of wistfulness.

The only non-sonata on these discs, the C Minor Fantasy, is no less impressive. Contrasts are sharply drawn, intensity builds and recedes, colours range from light to dark, and the music is always going somewhere.

Sonically, these discs are as clear as a bell and as pure as the driven snow. And speaking of Glenn Gould (whom I mentioned four paragraphs back), can Silverman be heard very quietly humming in some lyrical passages? It sounds like he might be.

Beethoven - The Symphonies & The Beethoven Project

Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen; Paavo Järvi; Christiane Oelze; Annely Peebo; Simon O’Neill; Dietrich Henschel; Deutscher Kammerchor

SONY 86977814396 (4 DVDs)

“As long as we will be performing the Beethoven symphonies they will always be slightly different. There is no way of making an identical performance... it simply doesn’t work that way. One of the things that I value most by doing those cycles is that I feel that the next one can be a little bit better because I have learned something from the one before and I feel that I know how to do them better and I feel that the orchestra and I have a closer communication because we’ve been through this process.”

Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie had already recorded the Beethoven Symphonies for CD release over a period of four years from 2004-2008. Those performances had positive reviews and I was very impressed by the clarity and energy of the playing and the hard-edged recording.

The new cycle on DVD was recorded not in four years but four consecutive days, September 9-12, 2009 in the Beethovenhalle in Bonn. It is plain to hear that the ensemble has refined into a more personal style that is far more engaging and persuasive. The thrilling live performances are both inspired and inspiring, a tribute to Järvi’s panache and inspiration; they glow from within... a refreshing experience. The sound dynamics, whether heard in stereo or 5.1 surround sound are exceptional, as they must be here.

Play the extra DVD, “The Beethoven Project Music Documentary,” first as it tells how this event came together and also get to know a few of the players and experience the orchestra’s general camaraderie. More valuable are the rehearsal excerpts in which Järvi works with the players on matters of tempi, phrasing, dynamics, and balance and illustrates Beethoven’s sense of humour. Later, one of the players relates a conversation between players on the last day as to whether they should play it safe in the Ninth. They decided to go all out and hold back nothing.

I promise that even the most jaded listener will be listening with new ears.

Widor - Complete Organ Symphonies

Jean-Guy Proulx, Gilles Rioux, Benjamin Waterhouse, Jacquelin Rochette,  Jacques Boucher

XXI-21 Productions; XXI-CD 2 1720

Organ recordings are as much about the instrument as they are about the performer and the repertoire, so it’s often hard to say what should really get top billing. XXI presents us with a complete set of Charles-Marie Widor’s 10 (Organ) Symphonies performed by five different organists on five different instruments built by Canada’s Casavant Frères of Saint Hyacinthe, Québec. This set is a substantial document. It illuminates a unique period of French music history in the early 20th century when advancing technology had a huge impact on pipe organ building. New materials, better mechanisms and electrification gave builders the opportunity to design “orchestral” instruments with broad palettes of colours. Moreover, a growing body of organ works in this “orchestral” genre was waiting to be heard and Widor’s 10 symphonies are among the best to illustrate this phenomenon. These six CDs offer many outstanding examples of how skilful organists can register (colour) the complex inner voices of Widor’s writing. Some remarkable highlights deserve special mention.

Symphony No.1 is a collage of contrasting dynamics and colour. Organist Jean-Guy Proulx plays the 1921 Casavant restored in 1979 by Guilbault-Therien (Cathédrale Saint Germain de Rimouski) and makes the Marche Pontificale the most memorable movement. Proulx also plays the Symphony No.4 in what is the most skilfully registered (tonally coloured) and virtuosic performance in the entire set. Superb.

Benjamin Waterhouse performs Symphony No.2 at Cathédrale Saint Hyacinthe on one of Casavant’s earliest instruments (1885, rebuilt in 1978). The fugal 4th movement Scherzo is a playful dance of solo reeds and the Symphony’s Finale is truly magnificent.

Symphony No.3 is played by Gilles Rioux on a 1964 Casavant, rebuilt in 1990 in the Basilique Notre-Dame-du-Cap, Cap-de-la-Madeleine. The 2nd movement Minuetto is an utter delight and the 3rd movement Marche is simply explosive!

Organist Jacquelin Rochette plays the 1943 Casavant (rebuilt 1995) in Église Saint-Roch, Quebec City. Her performance of the Symphony No.5 features the famous Toccata every organist either plays or wishes they played better. Her Symphony No.6 Finale is even more spectacular and shows Widor at his rhythmic and inventive best.

Symphonies 9 and 10 are both more compact works with fewer movements. Organist Jacques Boucher has the advantage of playing the 1995 rebuild of the 1915 Casavant in Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal. Of all the organs this one seems most solidly in tune throughout its entire set of ranks. Most others show some minor tuning issues, though not serious enough to detract from their performance.

Brahms - Handel Variations; Rhapsodies; Piano Pieces

Murray Perahia

Sony 88697794692

Brahms - Works for Solo Piano

Stéphan Sylvestre

XXI XXI-CD 2 1717

As youthful in appearance as pianist Murray Perahia may be, he is now rightfully regarded as one of the veterans of the concert-stage, having enjoyed a successful international career ever since making his debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1966. His recordings cover most of the major repertoire, yet for some reason, the music of Brahms has never figured prominently in his creative output. (Perhaps he felt that Bach was better suited for his recurring hand ailment.) Nevertheless, he has finally returned to the master from Hamburg in this Sony recording which features the Handel Variations, the two Rhapsodies Op.79, and two sets of Piano Pieces, Opp.118 and 119. From the very opening measures of the Handel Variations, the listener senses that this disc is a winner. True to his pianistic style, the playing is controlled, elegant, and naturally, technically flawless. This is decidedly Brahms for the 21st century, clean and straight-ahead without being fussy and over-sentimentalized. I did find some of his tempos a bit brisk, such as in the first rhapsody, and the first two Intermezzos in the set of piano pieces Op.118. And I also found the tone a little bright – a little more bass please! But this is the Perahia we have come to know and respect, at all times allowing the music to speak for itself.

From a veteran, we go to music of Brahms as performed by a young Canadian artist, Stéphan Sylvestre. Currently on faculty at the University of Western Ontario, Sylvestre is a graduate of the Université de Montréal and the Glenn Gould School. He was twice a prize-winner at the Jeunesses Musicales of Canada, and also a winner at the Prix d’Europe, the Canadian Music Competition, and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition. This CD, on the XXI label, is his fourth, and features the Brahms Ballades Op.10, and the two sets of Piano Pieces Op.118 and 119. In contrast to Perahia’s no-nonsense interpretation, Sylvestre’s approach is much more romantic, but equally appealing. His playing is introspective and thoughtful, imbued with a deep sensitivity. Tempos are considerably more languorous, and he produces a wonderfully warm and resonant tone from the instrument. If this is Brahms for the 19th century, so be it – Sylvestre’s masterful performance is a welcome presence in our sometimes harsh and too- technologically advanced world.

So for all lovers of Brahms’ piano music (and there should be many), these are two fine recordings, both of them welcome additions to the catalogue.

Itinéraire

Jacques Boucher

XXI-21 Productions XXI-CD 2 1718

Musique française pour violon et orgue

Anne Robert; Jacques Boucher

XXI-21 Productions; XXI-CD 2 1716

“Itinéraire” is really a sampler but still worth having for its wide content and overall substance. Drawn from organist Jacques Boucher’s large discography, these tracks present 11 composers whose excerpted works are heard on 11 different instruments ranging from a small chapel organ (1874 - Église-Saint André de Kamouraska) to the great giants of Quebec’s major cathedrals. Bouchard’s playing is scholarly, virtuosic and musical. His treatment of historical styles from Couperin to Dupré is fresh and exhilarating. The truly stunning track on this CD is the Dupré Placare Christe servulis from Le Tombeau de Titelouze op.38.

Collaborations between organists and solo instrumentalists are fraught with the difficulty of balance. Boucher and violinist Anne Robert avoid this pitfall by teaming up with a good recording engineer and using the natural acoustics of Église-Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal to produce a flawlessly balanced and artistically satisfying recording. Robert’s playing is intensely passionate whether nurturing the subtleties of a Guilmant Méditation or the angularities of contemporary works by Joubert, Reboulot and others. Boucher creatively selects various organ voices to weave around the violin line without detracting from it. The Bréville Prière is the best example of this and demonstrates the extent to which Boucher is a fully integrated duo partner with Robert making music on respectfully equal terms.

Anne Robert has another Duo CD with this label with pianist Sylviane Deferne (XXI-CD 2 1715), another recent release of French repertoire by Pierné, Tournemire and Franck. Here too, Robert shows her skill at knowing how to manage the dynamics of a duo performance.

Mahler - Symphony No. 4; Ruckert-Lieder

Magdalena Kožená; Lucerne Festival Orchestra; Claudio Abbado

EuroArts 2057988

Mahler - Des Knaben Wunderhorn; Adagio from Symphony No. 10

Magdalena Kožená; Christian Gerhaher; Cleveland Orchestra; Pierre Boulez

Deutsche Grammophon 477 9060

These two exceptional performances can be counted among the crown jewels of the flood of recent discs celebrating the legacy of Gustav Mahler. The mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená, an artist of exceptional intelligence and sensitivity well known for her artfully calculated interpretations, features in both of these items. Kožená is at her best in her performance of the Rückert-Lieder with the superb Lucerne Festival Orchestra. This hand-picked ensemble of Europe’s finest musicians meets each summer under Claudio Abbado’s direction and possesses a clairvoyant ability to respond instantly to his minutest gestures. Their stunning live performance of the Fourth Symphony captured here on a EuroArts DVD is a miracle of gracefulness, though the macabre sarcasm of this most accessible of Mahler’s symphonies is equally pointed. The highlight of this disc is the beautifully paced third movement, which flows seamlessly into the bucolic vocal finale.

Ms Kožená is joined by the admirable baritone Christian Gerhaher in twelve selections from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn song cycle on the Deutsche Grammophon label. This is a live performance with The Cleveland Orchestra and completes the cycle of Mahler’s orchestral works recorded by Pierre Boulez over the past 15 years with various orchestras. Unfortunately the rustic charms and barnyard humour of these early songs of Mahler’s do not seem particularly well suited to the über-urbane Boulez, who adapts some curiously strait-laced tempos and, with the exception of Gerhaher’s chilling account of the militant masterpiece Revelge, delivers a generally mundane though admirably dapper performance. Boulez redeems himself utterly however with his supple, near-ideal rendition of the posthumous Adagio from the incomplete Tenth Symphony. This highly chromatic, searching movement culminating in a shattering, ten-note dissonance points to the future and as such is clearly dear to his heart. The Cleveland Orchestra yet again distinguishes itself as the finest band in the land.

Urban Variations

The Junction Trio

Independent TJTCD201101 (www.myspace.com/thejunctiontrio)

In their cover photo they look gritty and hard-edged, staring expressionless into the camera, in the style of punk rockers.  A part of Jamie Thompson’s Urban Flute Project, which has a history of seeking out unusual urban performance spaces, where acoustics trump décor, this presentation of the Junction Trio seems appropriate enough. Even a cursory listening to the CD, however, reveals that art trumps the visuals, with accomplished readings of music by Bach, Borodin, Haydn and Vivaldi.

The highlights of the CD for me, however, were the two compositions by the trio’s violinist, Max Scheinin. The first of these is his arrangement of Radiohead’s song, Where I End and You Begin, which it is no mistake to refer to as a “composition.” In the tradition of so many composers, Scheinin has taken this piece from its over-amplified rock concert beginnings - contemporary “folk?” - and transformed it into an exquisite piece of chamber music, which, to my ears anyway, sounds more contemporary than the original! In his other work on the disc, Flutter, built on a repeated ostinato pattern introduced by the unaccompanied flute, he builds to a climax by adding the other instruments, including percussion, played by the ensemble’s versatile cellist, Lucas Tensen. Best of all in these two works by Scheinin, the players seem most at home and most able to find and convey the meaning behind the sounds. Kudos to the Junction Trio for bringing us something that is both classical and contemporary.