Mahler – Symphony No.9
Gewandhaus Orchestra; Riccardo Chailly
Accentus Music ACC 20299

This is the sixth of Chailly’s live performances of Mahler symphonies thus far released on Blu-Ray video discs (and DVD). Each release (since the Second and Eighth) contains a discussion of the particular symphony, together with selected rehearsals and concert excerpts to illustrate Chailly’s rethinking of performance practices and where he believes Mahler’s intentions were misunderstood.

We observe Chailly and Mahler scholar and author Henry-Louis de le Grange discussing the work and weighing all the clues that led to their considered opinion that this symphony is not one of resignation and farewell as Leonard Bernstein, for one, would have it. In this performance, Chailly’s first movement reflects the metre of the first movement of the Fourth Symphony; the second movement is faster than usual with a sense of fantasy and the third, Rondo-Burleske, is pleasingly brisk. His last movement is for listeners who are weary of the hand-wringing performances, especially those of Bernstein who helped resurrect Mahler in the 1950s, that treat the symphony as a tragic resignation, another Abschied. Chailly’s is a mighty performance, very positive and life-affirming.

These are Chailly’s own insights and after several listening sessions I am inclined to agree. There is no positive right or wrong, simply different points of view. This is a brilliant performance, exceptional on every level, and deserves to be heard and reheard.

The idea for Music from Armenia for Cello and Piano, a Divine Art CD (divineartrecords.com) featuring Newfoundland cellist Heather Tuach and the Armenian-Canadian pianist Patil Harboyan, began with a 2012 recital by the duo in Newfoundland that included Alexander Arutiunian’s Impromptu, the short work that opens this disc. The enthusiastic audience reaction to the piece encouraged the performers to search the Armenian cello and piano repertoire for music that would make for an appealing and informative CD. They certainly succeeded.

Armenia was under Soviet Russian rule from 1920 to 1991, and the music here is essentially what you would expect from that background (Arno Babajanian’s Vocalise, for example, is very similar to Rachmaninov’s), but the significant aspect of the CD is its recognition of the importance of the documentation and preservation of Armenian folk music.

The crucial figure in this respect was Gomidas, described in the excellent booklet notes as the founder of Armenian classical music and ethnomusicology, working in much the same manner as his direct contemporary Béla Bartók in Hungary. Most of his ten short folk songs here are arrangements by cellist Geronty Talalyan of the string quartet versions by Sergei Aslamazian, and they’re highly entertaining.

The one major work on the CD is the Sonata for Cello and Piano Op.35 by Haro Stepanian, who graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory and also collected Armenian melodies from his homeland; the influences of both his Russian training and his Armenian folk music research are evident in a very attractive and effective work.

The whole CD is a fascinating portrait of a musical heritage perhaps most widely represented for most people by the music of Aram Khachaturian, who openly acknowledged his – and Armenian music’s – debt to Gomidas. The performances are rich and full of nuance, and the balance and recorded sound are ideal.

Chamber Works is a quite exceptional new CD featuring members of Camerata Pacifica playing music by the American composer John Harbison, who turns 76 later this month (harmonia mundi usa HMU 907619). Violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti, violist Richard O’Neill and cellist Ani Aznavoorian combine for the six-movement String Trio from 2013, a striking work of strength and depth.

Paul Huang is outstanding in the Four Songs of Solitude for solo violin, written for Harbison’s violinist wife. Technically challenging, these are lyrical pieces (“songs, not sonatas or fugues,” stresses the composer) with a definite edge.

Songs America Loves to Sing, a set of ten popular American melodies for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano, rounds out a marvelous CD. The final track, Anniversary Song, ends with a wheezy harmonica contribution in Happy Birthday To You. It’s simply terrific stuff!

One of the real benefits of reviewing CDs is the exposure to composers – especially contemporary ones – who are new to you. Seven Deadly Sins, the new Naxos American Classics CD (9.70204) of music for violin and piano by Paul Reale, who turned 71 this year, leaves me wondering why I haven’t encountered his music before. I’ve obviously been missing something. The terrific Jessica Mathaes (another name new to me) is the violinist here on her second CD, and Colette Valentine the equally impressive pianist.

The Seven Deadly Sins suite was written in 2009 for Mathaes especially for this recording (made in 2012) and offers humorous observations of their effect on the human condition. Composers’ Reminiscences is a suite for solo violin written in 2000, but substantially revised for this recording. The seven short but challenging pieces are described as “impressions” (and not imitations) of the styles of Bartók, Puccini, Paganini, Webern, Corelli, Ives and Haydn, but to be honest it’s difficult to differentiate between the two approaches. The Sonata for Violin and Piano, “Celtic Wedding” is another work that has been extensively revised, this time from the 1991 original, for its publication in 2007.

The CD ends with the all-too-brief Holiday Suite, three very short pieces celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s; the latter features Auld Lang Syne mixed with the soul of Dave Brubeck’s Take Five. “This is good-time music,” says Reale, “melody driven, and devoid of pretension.”

That’s also a pretty good description of the entire CD. This is immediately accessible music written with craft, bite, intelligence and humour, and given outstanding performances. Surprisingly, only the Celtic Wedding is available in sheet music form. It’s a pity; this is music that cries out for – and would be greatly appreciated by – a much wider audience.

There was a time, after the 1964 Isaac Stern and Leonard Bernstein Columbia LP was deleted from the catalogue, when you would have been hard pushed to find a recording of Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, but things have certainly changed: it’s now probably the most popular violin concerto of the 20th century, and is currently available on at least two dozen CDs.

The American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers opens her latest CD, The American Masters (eOne EOM-CD-7791), with her second recorded performance of the Barber; the concerto was featured on her debut CD in 1988. It’s really difficult to find an unsatisfactory performance of this work, and there’s certainly no danger of that here. I haven’t been able to compare this recording with the 1988 performance, but I suspect that this one is perhaps more introspective and nuanced, reflecting the quarter of a century that Meyers has spent with the work. It may be somewhat less passionate and intense than some recordings, especially in the haunting slow movement, but it’s an intelligent and committed performance.

There is clearly intelligence in the programming of this CD, too, with John Corigliano’s Lullaby for Natalie, a short piece written for Meyers in 2010 and named for her baby daughter, forming the central point between the Barber concerto and the Violin Concerto by Mason Bates, a work commissioned by Meyers. Corigliano was mentored by Barber in a relationship that developed into a close friendship, and Bates has enjoyed an identical relationship with Corigliano.

The Bates concerto, written in 2012, is an interesting work that promises to become more effective on closer acquaintance. The soloist, in the composer’s own words, is treated as a hybrid musical creature, based on the Archaeopteryx, the first dinosaur/bird hybrid; the three movement titles – Archaeopteryx, Lakebed memories and The rise of the birds – reflect the continuous unfolding of the music.

Leonard Slatkin conducts the London Symphony Orchestra, and is clearly in his element with the music: Corigliano notes that as well as being a close friend of his, Slatkin has also championed all three composers on the disc. Meyers, incidentally, is now playing the 1741 ex-Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesu violin, bought by an anonymous buyer in 2013 and awarded to Meyers for her lifetime use; the price was reported as being in excess of 16 million dollars. Needless to say, the sound throughout the CD is sumptuous!

Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber is joined by his cellist wife Jiaxin Lloyd Webber and the European Union Chamber Orchestra directed by violinist Hans-Peter Hofmann in a CD of Vivaldi Concertos for Two Cellos (Naxos 8.573374). Only one of the six concertos here – the G minor, RV531 – is a Vivaldi two-cello original, the others being arrangements by Lloyd Webber of concertos for two mandolins (in G major, RV532), cello and bassoon (in E minor, RV409), oboe and bassoon (in G major, RV545), two horns (in F major, RV539) and the recently discovered Concerto in G minor, RV812 for violin and cello.

It was, of course, normal practice in the time of Bach and Vivaldi for composers to transcribe their own works for different instruments, so there’s nothing radical happening here. These three-movement concertos are all very short, however (only three exceed ten minutes, and none reaches the 12-minute mark), and while there are variations in the content it does tend to bring to mind the old line about Vivaldi having written not 500 different concertos, but the same concerto 500 times.

Most of the time it does tend to sound as if there is only one solo cello, or perhaps more accurately a solo cello with a cello continuo underneath, but there’s a light-hearted feel to the performances and the recordings, and excellent playing by all concerned. It sounds like it must have been great fun to do; it’s certainly great fun to listen to.

The final track on the CD, somewhat puzzlingly, is Lloyd Webber’s attractive arrangement for two cellos of the Milonga from Astor Piazzolla’s Concerto for Bandoneon and Guitar. The two cellos are clearly independent and intertwining voices here. All works other than the Vivaldi original concerto are world premiere recordings of these arrangements.

Formed at Yale University and based in New York City since 2007, the Ensō String Quartet has been active for 15 years now, and has built a formidable reputation in the process including winning the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2004. String Quartets, their seventh album – and fifth for Naxos – features the complete string quartet music by three composers known primarily for their operas: Richard Strauss, Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini (Naxos 8.573108).

From the opening bars of the early Strauss String Quartet in A Major, written when the composer was 17, it is clear why the ensemble has been garnering rave reviews for their CD releases; it’s beautifully rich, full-blooded and warm playing from the outset, and just perfect for the late Romantic nature of the music. Puccini’s Crisantemi, reportedly written in a single evening in 1890 in memory of the composer’s friend the Duke of Aosta, is a short piece named for chrysanthemums, the Italian flower of mourning, and is well known in both its original form and in a string orchestra setting. Rarely heard, however, are his charming Three Minuets in A Major, written when the composer was 25.

Most people, when they find they have some unexpected free time on their hands, just relax; the 60-year-old Verdi, when the Naples premiere of his opera Aida in 1873 had to be postponed for a few days due to the lead soprano’s illness, chose to sit down and write a string quartet. The String Quartet in E Minor is his only work in the genre, and attempted to marry the Italian vocal tradition with the German classical quartet form. Critical opinion differed on its success, but it’s a solid and finely crafted work, perhaps less purely melodic than you would expect, and with a strong formal structure. It can tend to sound somewhat ponderous and serious in the wrong hands, but the performance here strikes exactly the right balance.

The recording was made in the glorious acoustics of St. Anne’s Anglican Church in Toronto, with the ever-reliable team of Norbert Kraft and Bonnie Silver in charge. The quality of the recorded sound, not surprisingly, is superb.

I was somewhat nonplussed by Nigel Armstrong, the eponymous debut CD by the young American violinist on Yarlung Records, a label which specialises in producing debut discs by rising young artists (Yarlung Records 65007). Two unaccompanied works, the Bartók Sonata for Solo Violin and the Bach Sonata No.3 in C Major are both given accomplished performances, but Armstrong’s vibrato seems a bit narrow and thin, giving the recordings a slightly strained air at times. He’s up against major competition in such works, of course, and while there is much to admire here – especially the smooth melodic line in the contrapuntal Bach sections – neither performance is likely to unseat whichever favourite you have in your collection.

Then comes a live performance of the Korngold Violin Concerto, recorded with the Colburn Orchestra (Armstrong spent four years at the Colburn School in Los Angeles) under Sir Neville Marriner, and we’re in a different world. The vibrato is bigger and warmer, the tone rich and full, and the soaring, expansive performance quite outstanding, although again Armstrong is up against stiff competition in the market. If there’s one aspect that’s a bit disappointing, it’s the recording quality: there is a fair bit of audience and extraneous noise, and the acoustics in the concert hall seem very dry. The movement tracks are also cut off very quickly to exclude any audience reaction.

I did what I normally do with performers who are new to me, and looked Armstrong up online; I was astonished at what I found. There’s a brief but interesting clip on YouTube in which Bob Attiyeh, the producer of the CD, explains how they went about it (look for Nigel Armstrong The Debut Recording) but the real gems were the associated links. There are clips from Armstrong’s performances at a violin competition in Buenos Aires in 2010, one a gorgeous Piazzolla work with string bass and bandoneon and the other a terrific Paganini Caprice, and two clips from the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, one of the end section of the Bach D minor Chaconne, and the other a simply astonishing performance of John Corigliano’s Stomp for solo violin, a fiddle-based work that includes Armstrong playing the instrument behind his back.

The CD booklet notes spend a fair amount of time in a navel-gazing discussion of the choices and challenges facing an international concert soloist – Armstrong spent some time studying at a Zen monastery in upstate New York, and has spent summers working on an organic farm in Germany. Attiyeh says that he looks forward to Armstrong’s next Los Angeles concert, “or to the taste of a new Armstrong organic carrot, whichever comes first.” I’m not sure that he’s joking.

It will certainly be interesting to see where this young man’s career leads him. One thing is clear: he’s an astonishing talent, and I’m not sure this debut CD really does him justice.

It’s an idea so obvious that you have to wonder why the market isn’t already flooded: a DVD that features a world-class soloist going through a major concerto almost bar by bar, explaining the problems and challenges, and discussing ways of addressing them. DVDs of masterclasses are occasionally issued, but I don’t know of anything quite like the Learning from the Legends series (learningfromthelegends.com), which has recently started its catalogue with two 2-DVD sets featuring Lara St. John playing and dissecting two of the most popular violin concertos in the repertoire: the Bruch G Minor and the Mendelssohn.

The Bruch set came my way recently, and it’s absolutely fascinating and engrossing. DVD1 features St. John playing the concerto with pianist Eduard Laurel, but with the work broken up into short segments, often of only a few bars. The violin music appears at the foot of the screen, and St. John discusses just about everything you can think of before repeating the section: technical challenges and problems; interpretation; performance issues; tips and advice; fingering; bowing; practising and learning the solo part. The first movement dissection takes 45 minutes; the second 33 minutes, and the finale 43 minutes.

DVD2 has the uninterrupted performance of the concerto by St. John and Laurel, a piano-only accompaniment, and a selection of short help sections from St. John: The Importance of Finding a Teacher; Practice Philosophy; and eight short Technical Exercises.

St. John’s relaxed and friendly presentation-style is perfect, and her commentary always apposite and perceptive. The camera work is almost entirely close-up, with every possible angle of fingering and hand position shown clearly.

It’s absolutely indispensable stuff for student violinists, and offers fascinating and revelatory insights for anyone interested in how concert performances are built. Sheet music for St. John’s own edition of the solo part is available for download through the publisher’s website.

Quebec’s Quatuor Fandango was formed six years ago as a student ensemble at the Conservatoire de musique in Gatineau. Uarekena, their debut CD, presents an attractive program of short works and some excellent ensemble playing (ATMA ACD2 2707).

The disc opens with Comme un Tango and closes with Carnaval, two short pieces by Patrick Roux, the quartet’s teacher and mentor in Gatineau. Dušan Bogdanović’s Introduction and Danse was inspired by the music of Eastern Europe and Sérgio Assad’s title track reflects his Brazilian heritage.

Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite is followed by Leo Brouwer’s Paisaje cubano and Jürg Kindle’s Berimbao, the latter named after the African instrument that consists of a steel string struck with a stick. There are some particularly interesting sound effects in the Brouwer and Kindle pieces – and yes, you can play the guitar with a pencil!

The recorded sound is warm and resonant, the balance excellent and the playing terrific. The group rightly points out that the guitar quartet is a relatively recent addition to the list of performing ensembles, and the repertoire continues to grow, both in original compositions and arrangements and transcriptions. This CD is a welcome addition to the quartet discography, and a debut disc to be proud of.

Given that the outstanding Hyperion series The Romantic Violin Concerto has mostly highlighted lesser-known composers, the selection of Max Bruch for Volume 17 (CDA68050) may, at first glance, seem a bit surprising. The huge popularity of the Concerto No.1 in G Minor, however, overshadowed the two later concertos, both in D minor, which Bruch wrote for the instrument.

The Violin Concerto No.3, Op.58 is the main feature here. It’s a long work, with absolutely gorgeous music throughout, and a particularly lovely slow movement. The melodies are perhaps less immediately memorable than those in the G minor concerto, which may help to explain why the work never really established itself, but it’s easy to see why Bruch grew so annoyed and frustrated when violinists always preferred to play the earlier concerto.

If there is a bit of a surprise here, it might be the choice of the Scottish Fantasy, Op.46 as the accompanying work, instead of the even less-heard and perhaps more obvious Violin Concerto No.2; still, it’s such a lovely and familiar work that it’s hard to complain, and it shows, perhaps, the difference that strong melodies that stay with you after just one hearing can make to a work’s impact.

The English violinist Jack Liebeck is in superb form in both works, with Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra providing excellent support.

Joshua Bell joins the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields as soloist and music director in performances of the two solo violin concertos by J. S. Bach on his latest CD, Bach (Sony Classical 88843 08779). The Concerto No.1 in A Minor, BWV 1041 and the Concerto No.2 in E Major, BWV 1042 are both given bright, sympathetic readings with beautiful playing from all the participants. The slow movements are heartfelt without ever being overplayed, and the finales have a genuine dance feel to them.

It’s hard to understand now how anyone could ever have felt that any of the Bach solo Sonatas & Partitas needed a piano accompaniment, but in the mid-19th century both Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn did just that, Schumann supplying a piano part for all six works, and Mendelssohn – who was mainly responsible for the revival of Bach’s music in the first place – writing an accompaniment for the great D minor Chaconne. The Chaconne is included here with the Mendelssohn accompaniment, but Bell takes it a step further by using an orchestral arrangement of Mendelssohn’s piano part that he created with the Philharmonia Orchestra violinist Julian Milone. Bell openly admits that the Bach original cannot be improved upon, but appreciates that it does give him another way to experience the work and the opportunity to play it with his friends in the Academy. It’s an interesting experiment, and one that is repeated with the Gavotte en Rondeau from the E major Partita, this time with Schumann’s accompaniment getting the Milone treatment. A lovely reading of the Air from the Orchestral Suite in D Major completes an excellent CD.

The title of violinist Daniel Hope’s new CD, Escape to Paradise: The Hollywood Album (Deutsche Grammophon            4792954), is a bit misleading. Hope’s focus is on composers who escaped from Hitler’s Europe to the warmth of the Hollywood movie scene, but there’s non-Hollywood music here from pre-and post-war Germany – including a Korngold work from 1908 – as well as non-escapee music from second-generation Hollywood composers like John Williams and Ennio Morricone.

Hope and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Alexander Shelley display a big Hollywood tone right from the opening notes of Miklós Rózsa’s Love Theme from Ben Hur, and carry the same style into the major work on the disc, Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto Op.35; the concerto was built around themes from Korngold’s Hollywood movie scores. It’s a fine performance of a lovely work.

The remainder of the CD is given over to 14 short pieces, most of them arrangements; five are for duo or chamber ensemble, including three that feature members of the Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin. Ex-Police frontman Sting sings his own lyrics (replacing Berthold Brecht’s!) to a song from Hanns Eisler’s Hollywood Liederbuch, and German singer Max Raabe contributes a flat (unfortunately in both meanings of the word) performance of Kurt Weill’s Speak Low.

The best tracks are those for soloist and orchestra, including the themes from Rózsa’s El Cid, Morricone’s Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, Williams’ Schindler’s List and Thomas Newman’s American Beauty. The disc ends with a slow, low-key and really quite odd solo violin arrangement of As Time Goes By.

The CD is a strange mixture in many ways; some moments resonate less than others, and the vocal tracks in particular seem more like intrusions than contributions, but Hope’s playing is stylish and of a very high standard throughout. Editor’s Note: Alexander Shelley succeeds Pinchas Zukerman as conductor of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in September 2015. 

Terra Incognito, featuring the Colombian-born guitarist and composer Arturo Parra, is the debut CD from the new Montreal music and book publishing company La Grenouille Hirsute/Shaggy Frog Productions (LGH1301).

The sub-title of the CD is Seven sound portraits, Parra having spent time with seven men and women from different parts of the Americas before composing seven original pieces “at the request of their subjects” in response to what he had heard. The title, Terra Incognito, refers to the phrase that used to indicate unknown territory on early maps and globes. More on that in a minute.

I didn’t quite know what to expect from this disc. Parra has extensive experience with contemporary mixed media compositions for guitar, and, we are told, “…has to date invented over fifty extended guitar techniques and forms of guitar/vocal expression, and continues to expand the expressive range of his instrument through his sonic explorations.” Not that you would know that from this CD: from reading the promotional material I expected a far more edgy, experimental approach, but it’s mostly riffs and improvisations on standard classical guitar etudes, patterns and techniques, with the occasional extraneous sound – clicks here, a swoosh there – and some fairly standard guitar sound effects – string slides, percussive knocks and the like.

The relevance of the Terra Incognito title is explained by the album’s representing “a vast fresco of a grand journey through unknown lands… a journey that ultimately leads [listeners] back to their home port.” The language throughout the entire package – and particularly in the almost impenetrable booklet notes on the seven track titles – is, to put it mildly, opaque. Here is Parra expounding on his view that every portrait is also, in some way, a portrait of its author: “Each of us is, to another, a two-way mirror watching us watching ourselves while we believe we are watching someone else; a mirror in which we stare into infinity, entranced by our own features, while the mirror stares at itself believing it is staring at us.” Um… OK. “Would I have written the portraits in full knowledge of how naked they would leave me? Don’t know, can’t say.” The entire booklet notes are of a similar nature, either at the far edge of perception or simply pretentious – take your pick – but it doesn’t really matter; the point is that they bear absolutely no relation to the end product and to what you hear.

Don’t get me wrong. Make no mistake: this guy can play. Parra is an extremely talented and proficient guitarist and composer, and the pieces here show an advanced technique and a refined awareness of the instrument’s range and colour palette. There is, however, little sense of the individual pieces being portraits of anything; the whole CD, far from feeling like a journey, feels more like a series of improvisational – albeit high quality and beautifully played – studies.

The recording quality is excellent, and there is a great deal to enjoy on this disc. I just have a big problem believing that it actually does what it claims to do.

Perla Barocca – Early Italian Masterpieces
Rachel Podger; Marcin Swiatkiewicz; Daniele Caminiti
Channel Classics CCS SA 36014

This beautiful disc is a pearl indeed. From the lyrical, improvisatory opening of G.B. Fontana’s Sonata 2 to the final exuberance of Bertali’s Chiacona, Perla Barocca is a delightful exploration of 17th-century Italian violin repertoire, as interpreted by three luminescent players.

Among my personal favourites on this CD are Pandolfi Mealli’s Sonata 6, in which the composer’s theatrical eccentricity and lyricism are effortlessly captured. Isabella Leonarda’s Sonata 12 is simply gorgeous, and the fiery passagework of Marco Uccellini’s Sonata overo Toccata “detta la Laura rilucente,” isn’t just impressive, it’s refreshingly expressive as well. Particularly in Biagio Marini’s Sonata 4, Rachel Podger and her colleagues make use of an extraordinary range of tonal colour and volume, as well as numerous special effects described in writings of the time but rarely heard nowadays in performances of this repertoire. Girolamo Frescobaldi is represented here with the familiar keyboard Toccata 1, in which harpsichordist Marcin Swiatkiewicz displays his interpretive mastery, and another Toccata for “spinettina e violino.” Podger, Camini and Swiatkiewicz give Dario Castello’s Sonata 2 one of the most thoughtful and inventive renditions I’ve ever heard, providing inspiration for a fresh look at this much-recorded piece. Their perfect exploitation of expressive device, creative pacing and snappy virtuosity give the impression that the three of them are actively collaborating with Castello as they go; and so it is with the rest of the music on this CD.

A must-listen.

A Royal Trio – Arias by Handel, Bononcini & Ariosti
Lawrence Zazzo; La Nuova Musica; David Bates
Harmonia Mundi HMU 807590

In 1719, Handel had been told by the newly established Royal Academy of Music in London to recruit a company of singers, of the calibre of the castrato Senesino. Such singers were the mainstay of the Academy, as were Handel and the Milanese cellist and composer Giovanni Bononcini.

Add a third composer Attilio Ariosti of Bologna, and you have an operatic power house in London which, along with Lawrence Zazzo’s genius as a countertenor, is the inspiration for this CD. Indeed, Zazzo’s skills as a countertenor are immediately displayed with his vigorous interpretation of Handel’s “Rompo I lacci” from Flavio. More sedate but no less intense is his performance of “Cosi stanco Pellegrino” from Bononcini’s Crispo.

Handel’s music features in ten of the 18 tracks on this CD, “Va tacito” from Giulio Cesare being an entirely suitable selection, not only due to Zazzo’s enthusiastic performance but because of the spirited accompaniment from the woodwinds and horns of La Nuova Musica. It is a sharp contrast to the thoughtful, sighing setting of “Tanti affani” from Handel’s Ottone, which follows.

Despite Handel’s reputation, one of the most moving recordings on the entire CD is Ariosti’s “Spirate, o iniqui marmi” from Coriolano, conveying Coriolano’s anguish at his wrongful imprisonment. In this case, it is the strings which combine with Zazzo’s voice to create the doleful atmosphere.

In fact, Bononcini and Handel both end the CD with a flourish, the former with “Tigre piagata” from Muzio Sevola and the latter with “Vivi, tiranno” from Rodelinda. Each piece showcases the sheer skill of Lawrence Zazzo and the demands placed on his voice.

Beethoven – Diabelli Variations
Stewart Goodyear
Marquis MAR 455

Stewart Goodyear has already demonstrated his maturity and artistic mastery of Beethoven in the complete sonata recordings and his marathon performances of the works. This current CD establishes him as one of the premier Beethoven interpreters today.

The Diabelli Variations “amused Beethoven to a rare degree” and were written in “a rosy mood” which dispels the belief that Beethoven spent his later years writing in complete gloom. These variations tease us with incredible humour and “funny themes.” Substitute the syllables ha-ha, hee-hee to the music in Variation 10 which Alfred Brendel so aptly named “Giggling and neighing” in his book Music Sounded Out and it will guarantee a smile and laugh while listening to this extraordinary opus. This is joyful, uplifting music and Goodyear has the formidable technique and astute sense of structure to be able to switch from one character to the next. He clearly defines the unique personality and mood of each variation.

The extra-musical images and literary allusions of the work come alive in Goodyear’s command of the extreme contrasts and articulation of the musical motifs. He brings to life tender moments and violent, disjointed musical excursions while sustaining a focus from the beginning to the end of the work. The love and joy of playing Beethoven is evident in every nuance and breath of Goodyear’s performance. The sound of the recording, tempo and timing flows naturally in its expressive and colourful journey.

This is an excellent recording and is highly recommended. I look forward to Stewart Goodyear recording all of Beethoven’s Variations.

Beethoven – Complete Works for Cello and Piano
Jean-Guihen Queyras; Alexander Melnikov
Harmonia Mundi HMC 902183.84

Having already collaborated on chamber music by Brahms, Kodály, Debussy and Poulenc, Canadian-born cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras and Russian pianist Alexander Melnikov – two established Harmonia Mundi artists – have now turned their attention to music by Beethoven in this splendid two-disc set featuring the complete works for cello and piano.

The music was composed over a 20-year period, from 1796 to 1815. The two sonatas Op.5, were a result of Beethoven’s association with the musical court life in Berlin which not only included the cello-playing King Frederick Wilhelm II (nephew of, and successor to, the flute-playing Frederick the Great) but also the Duport brothers – both cello virtuosos. The Queyras-Melnikov pairing is a sublime one, their playing elegant and polished, with a wonderful sense of momentum throughout. The first disc also includes the delightful Variations on Mozart’s Ein Mädchen oder Weibschen from The Magic Flute and See the Conquering Hero Comes from Handel’s Judas Maccabeus.

It was almost 11 years later that Beethoven returned to the cello/piano combination with his Sonata in A Major Op.69, long regarded as one of his most renowned in the genre. The mood is dignified and majestic and the equal partnership of the artists results in a wonderful cohesion of sound, with Queyras’ warm rich tone perfectly complemented by Melnikov’s solid performance. Also included on this disc are the variations on Mozart’s Bei Männern welche Liebe fuhlen from The Magic Flute and the two sonatas Op.102 completed in 1815. Queryas displays a particular tenderness in the slow movement of the second sonata before the two embark on the robust fugal finale, thus bringing the set to a most satisfying close.

Well done, Messrs. Queyras and Melnikov – it’s a classic case of outstanding repertoire superbly played, and we can’t ask any more than that.

Tchaikovsky; Grieg – Piano Concertos
Stewart Goodyear; Czech National Symphony; Stanislav Bogunia
Steinway & Sons Records 30035

These performances of the warhorses by Tchaikovsky and Grieg are on fire. There is an energy and passion from both the remarkable Stewart Goodyear and the incredible Czech National Symphony that makes this a must-listen-to CD for pianists. Goodyear speaks of the collaboration as “dancing” and the performances certainly weave long musical lines and pulsating shapes like dance choreography. I like the tempos in the Tchaikovsky concerto. Both pianist and orchestra refrained from romantic over-indulgence and kept the music flowing in grand, sweeping gestures. This concerto often suffers from affectations and egocentric playing. Goodyear’s impressive technique was used with integrity to interpret the music. He coaxed beautiful tone poems and colours from the piano. He embraced the lush harmonic worlds of Tchaikovsky and made the rhythms dance in balletic forms. His incisive articulation and trills that border on the phenomenal will keep listeners on the edge of their seats. The second movement sparkles effervescently at a quick tempo but the slower sections are tender and carefully nuanced. The concerto ends in a blaze of virtuosic display and fireworks from both piano and orchestra.

The Grieg concerto was impeccable. It sang in lyric colours and the ensemble between pianist and orchestra was exemplary. The tempos and timings breathed and evolved freely while creating naturally flowing phrases. The lyrical and sensitive second movement sang with luminous tone and expressiveness. The third movement was crisp and performed with scintillating precision.

It is so refreshing to hear these often over-done concertos played with such love, mastery and musical integrity. Bravo to Stewart Goodyear and the Czech National Symphony, as well as to Steinway for this excellent CD.

Bruckner – Symphony No.3
Orchestre Métropolitain; Yannick Nézet-Séguin
ATMA ACD2 2700

This Bruckner Third is another triumph for Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain and conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Wisely using the original 1873 version, Nézet-Séguin provides a well-paced, convincing performance of this massive symphony, with subtle tempo variations and shifts, controlled crescendos, and strategic silences. For Bruckner, it’s a good thing that we have learned to accept silence in musical works. In his pauses, I hear space for concert hall reverberation, time to ponder a profound question, or maybe a rest on an alpine hike!

Nézet-Séguin and his recording team have balanced the orchestra admirably, blending seamless strings, organ-like winds and bold but restrained brass. In the sprawling first movement he projects both the opening pathos and the later emotional pastoral song, where the orchestra’s strings are particularly warm and expressive. Some of Bruckner’s most arresting writing happens in transitions and interpolations, as in a passage more than a minute long over an A pedal note, or in a well-played trumpet explosion in the development section.

The strings shine again in the sublime slow movement, which shows Bruckner’s originality as a melodist who makes digressions and then picks up the thread again. The scherzo incorporates a ländler (Austrian folk-dance) as the trio section (anticipating Mahler), while the finale has an unusual passage where a polka combines with a wind chorale, exquisitely-played. Overall, I recommend this disc highly: crank up the volume, perhaps listen a movement at a time, and enter Bruckner’s unique sound world!

Stravinsky – Firebird 
Various Composers – Les Orientales
Les Siècles; François-Xavier Roth
Actes sud ASM 06

Last month I enthused over this group playing the reconstructed score of Le Sacre du Printemps as heard at the riotous premiere in Paris on May 29, 1913 (Actes sud ASM 15). Les Siècles is an orchestra of young musicians culled from the finest French ensembles. They have access to and play instruments from all periods and so are perfectly able to replicate the palette of the Ballets Russes orchestra at that time. We listen with new ears.

To conductor Roth’s credit, as one listens to these Stravinsky scores the rhythmic energy, regardless of the tempo, makes it very clear that these are ballet scores. In his later revisions and suites, Stravinsky had his eye on the concert hall. Here we hear exactly what the composer had in his mind over 100 years ago when he was in his late 20s and an enfant terrible in the making with Firebird, although by Le Sacre he was pretty well there. In these performances, we hear for the first time the interplay between instruments, particularly the winds, adding unsuspected nuances to the mix.

To open the program, Roth and Les Siècles are on their mettle with a reconstruction of another Michel Fokine ballet of the day, the exotic divertissement Les Orientales, including music by Glazunov, Sinding, Arensky and Grieg.

An inseparable aspect of these discs is the astonishingly detailed and translucent sound of these vital live performances, truly a “you are there” experience that will ignite the most jaded listeners. You will not hear performances to match these anywhere else. If you care to read the Le Sacre review it can be found at thewholenote.com.

These audiophile recordings belong in every audio dealer’s demo room and of course, in your collection if you have any regard for Stravinsky.

Prokofiev – Romeo & Juliet
Mariinsky Orchestra; Valery Gergiev
Mariinsky MAR 0552

This magnificent production, recorded live in March 2013 replicates the January 1940 Russian premiere of Romeo and Juliet choreographed by Leonid Lavrovsky. The mise-en-scène is delightfully dated but every aspect of this production is as virtually flawless as a live performance can be. Principal Dancer and soloist Diana Vishneva is Juliet with Principal Dancer Vladimir Shklyarov as Romeo. Ilya Kuznetsov is Tybalt and Alexander Sergeyev is Mercutio. The power and energy generated from the pit is astounding and the picture is breathtakingly opulent. Enthusiastically recommended!

The 1940 production had a twisted history. The often stormy encounters between composer and choreographer and others began in November 1934 when Prokofiev visited Leningrad to consider with dramatist Adrian Piotrovsky the subject for a new ballet. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was selected. By January 1935 Prokofiev had drafted a scenario for a five-act production and proffered this to theatre director Sergey Radlov, who suggested some dramatic themes for the production. By May a four-act scenario was agreed upon … with a happy ending! In 1941 Prokofiev wrote that “There was quite a fuss at the time [1935-36] about our attempts to give Romeo and Juliet a happy ending; in the last act, Romeo arrives a minute earlier, finds Juliet alive and everything ends well. The reasons for this bit of barbarism were purely choreographic: living people can dance, the dying cannot.”

From 1936 on, Romeo and Juliet became an artistic football as well as an incidental political one. Dismissals and some arrests, including Piotrovsky and Dimanov, who was the official from the Central Committee who had endorsed the happy ending, were not uncommon. Out with Dimanov and the happy ending! These vehement battles continued unabated right up to and beyond January 1940. In the meantime, in December 1938 the ballet with the tragic ending (as recorded here) had seven performances at the Regional Theatre in Brno, Czechoslovakia. All’s well that ends well…

Chopin – Complete Mazurkas
Janina Fialkowska
ATMA ACD2 2682

Chopin – 24 Preludes
Alain Lefèvre
Analekta AN 2 9287

Chopin – Preludes
Ingrid Fliter
Linn Records CRD 475

In the ridiculous horror-parody film, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, the bloodthirsty veggies can only be defeated when shown the sheet music of Donny Osmond. That makes them explode in fear. In the real world, the truly scary scores are those of Frédéric Chopin. The sheer complexity of the writing, the crowded added lines and bars bursting with fractal notes are enough to send a casual, sight-reading pianist scrambling. Chopin’s music requires a lot of great technique, to be sure. But technique alone is not enough – the best example of that is the pianist that this reviewer calls Bang Bang in obvious reference to his overuse of the forte pedal. Lots of bravado there, but very little heart and soul.

In fact, I would venture to say that the music of Chopin is a lot like wine – it is a result of the terroir, the quality of grapes and the winemaking technique. As for terroir, there is something magical when one hears that music at the Royal Baths Gardens in Warsaw, near the statue of Chopin (wrapped by two bronze weeping willows) or at Chopin’s family cottage in Zelazowa Wola, where his alleged piano is still in working order. Alas, that’s a pleasure not accorded to many. Still, there is something uncanny in the ability of Polish pianists to re-capture that ever-important terroir. Then there are the grapes – the beauty of Chopin’s writing was that no piece, no matter how slight, could be considered minor. The Minute Waltz, the Preludes, the Mazurkas or songs, regardless of length, command attention equal to that of the Piano Concerti. If all his scores are difficult, then the Mazurkas are particularly so, as their intuitive, internal rhythm has tripped up many a virtuoso. There is a reason, after all, for a separate award category for Mazurka interpretation at the Chopin International Piano Competition – a prize so elusive, that on several occasions it was not awarded. Finally we come to the winemaking technique. All three of the pianists in this review are no amateurs and their technique can be vouched for by the international prizes they have garnered – Ingrid Fliter was a silver medalist of the 2000 Chopin Piano Competition, Janina Fialkowska won the inaugural 1974 Arthur Rubinstein competition and Alain Lefèvre scored a JUNO, Prix Opus and ten (That’s ten!) Prix Felix. So, how do they fare?

All three discs are a true delight – so any criticism that follows will be merely an exercise in splitting hairs.

If I were to pick the weakest link, it would be the Argentine-born Ingrid Fliter. Though some would argue that hers is the finest technique of the three, her approach to Chopin is almost too conservative and because of that it seems fearful. No room for fear when playing Chopin – this is a counterphobe’s territory. I would also add that despite her triumph at the Warsaw competition, her recording pays the least homage to the actual terroir of the music. A notable exception is the “Raindrop” Prelude – possibly the best performance I have heard in years.

Lefèvre is fearless and bold, taking no prisoners in his approach and perhaps losing some clarity in the process. However, by leading with the heart, you cannot lose when playing Chopin.

Finally, Fialkowska is in fine form, proving once again that it is the combination of emotional presence, technique and experience or the grapes, terroir and winemaking, that delivers the stunning results. Hers is the crown of Mazurkas, those frustrating, intimidating gems that Schumann called “cannons under flowers” referring to their potent political message dressed as “small” piano pieces.

Étienne Moulinié – Meslanges pour la Chapelle d’un Prince
Ensemble Correspondances; Sébastien Daucé
Harmonia Mundi HMC 902194

Étienne Moulinié served for 30 years as musician to Louis XIII’s brother the Duke of Orléans; his sacred music is important to the development of mid-seventeenth-century French music. This CD brings together twelve singers in imitation of the original standard configuration, and ten musicians.

The serenity of this arrangement – together with its sometimes excitable stretches – is brought home in the first three pieces by Moulinié. Antoine Boësset’s Jesu nostra redemptio is far more spiritual, introducing parts for higher vocal registers as well as organ and viol. This ethereal quality continues in Cantate Domino (despite the words which exhort the listener to praise God with trumpets, cornets and horns – direct biblical quotations) and the organ playing of director Sébastien Daucé in O bone Jesu. Reflecting the sound choice of pieces on the CD, Boësset’s Populus meus sets words of reproach to yet another celestial arrangement.

Two allemandes by François de Chancy are included in the anthology. They demonstrate the compositions thatMoulinié could incorporate into his repertoire, reinforcing his position with the duke, and also the early stages whereby country dances such as the allemande were adopted by court circles and eventually became staples as baroque movements.

The duke took a second wife in 1632, a pious lady to whom Moulinié dedicated the most inspiring and yearning piece in this compilation. The Litanies de la Vierge comprises a series of entreaties to the Trinity and many other sacred beings. Eleven voices create a moving spirituality, imploring but never despairing.

Lamento (Kapsperger; Rossi; Carissimi; Strozzi; Frescobaldi; Monteverdi; Provenzale)
Romina Basso; Latinitas Nostra
naïve V5390

Monteverdi’s Lamento d’Arianna pioneered the art form known as the lamento, where the death of a famous figure was commemorated by a solo singer accompanied by basso continuo. In addition, techniques such as dissonant chords and melodies with wide leaps would add their own sense of lamentation.

 Latinitas Nostra is a Greek ensemble; their west-looking title refers to the flourishing Greek communities in places such as London and Venice. Soprano Romina Basso begins with Luigi Rossi’s lament by the Queen of Sweden for her husband Gustavus II Adolphus, the brilliant commander killed at Lützen in 1632. The lament combines the Queen’s sense of desperation with an exhortation to kill and strike the Germans, Spaniards and Italians without mercy. Romina Basso rises to this varied emotional challenge with passion, whether one considers this to be a true lament or a plea to crush Sweden’s enemies.

Mary Queen of Scots is the next subject of lament, in this case by Carissimi. Here the tone is again a mix of lamentation and anger: Mary protests her death sentence and expresses resentment against the English regime that created this situation. Vibrato effects enhance the sense of anger. Basso and her continuo admirably meet the demands of the lament.

 Then, one of the most accomplished lady composers of all time, Barbara Strozzi. Lagrime mie lingers over its text and uses pauses to reinforce the emotion. Strozzi’s interpretation makes full use of what one might call surges of melody to reinforce the intended effects of the lament.

And then to Monteverdi with Lamento d’Arianne in its five parts. If ever there was a fine basso continuo accompanying a lamento this was it. All the instruments involved make their presence felt, sometimes supporting and enhancing the plaintive singing, sometimes almost mocking it.

Finally, and to be frank, out of place, is Francesco Provenzale’s “lament” for Gustavus II Adolphus. This is less respectful in its lyrics, almost poking fun at his queen as she learns of his fate. There are exchanges of dialogue which, from the English translation, contain double entendres and undignified comments. In fact, this is not a solo lament; it is accompanied by other voices and the sleeve notes inform us that musicologists have not quite worked out why it was composed. It may just have coincided with Gustavus’ daughter Christina’s spectacular conversion to Catholicism in 1655.

This CD is a fine introduction to a musical form both delicate and forceful.

Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade
Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Peter Oundjian
Chandos CHSA 5145

Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade
Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra; Sascha Goetzel
Onyx 4124

About half a century ago the question was asked by some aspiring record company person “How do you decide what to record?” The sage answer was “Look in the Schwann catalogue and find the most recorded work and make one more.”

The TSO disc contains a live performance from Roy Thomson Hall recorded in June 2013. The orchestra is in top form and the playing is rock solid with Oundjian conducting an interpretation that does not stray from the usual way in which this popular orchestral showpiece is heard. There are some lovely turns of phrase and the tuttis are thrillingly open and dynamic. The“star of any Scheherazade is the first violin, the voice of the storyteller who must hold the attention of the imperious Sultan Shahryār or lose her head. Concertmaster Jonathan Crow’s engaging charm makes her irresistible.
I would have liked to have the luxurious recorded sound more articulate but this is a slight quibble. The audience is not heard from but I am sure they leapt to their feet in appreciation as Toronto audiences now seem to do no matter what.

Sascha Goetzel is the Austrian music director of the Borusan Instanbul Philharmonic that began as a chamber orchestra in 1993 and was augmented to become the Philharmonic in 1999. This is their third CD. Part of the uniqueness of this Scheherazade is the use of oriental instruments. The opening of the first tale finds her accompanied, not by a harp but a qanun, a plucked zither or dulcimer-like instrument. It is innocently gentle and appropriate. Before the second movement begins there is a mood-setting solo from the oud, a lute-like instrument, and before the final movement we briefly hear the qanun which supports her in the final pages. Throughout, there is an ebullient texture to the orchestral playing, revealing subtle flavours in familiar passages, particularly the quieter episodes. The uncluttered, spacious recording is as vital as the performance. 

Balakirev’s knuckle-breaking piano spectacular Islamey is heard in the orchestration by Lyapunov and although not a major work in the great scheme of things, it is a dashing showpiece. The two Ippolitov-Ivanov Caucasian Sketches are Procession of the Sardar and a disarmingly tranquil In the Village, featuring the slightly breathy ney flute, a classical Turkish reed instrument. The final piece on this generously filled 77-minute disc, Köçekçe is new to me. It is a dance rhapsody for orchestra. Turkish composer Ulvi Cemal Erkin (1906-1972), a member of the “Turkish Five,” studied in Paris with, of course, Nadia Boulanger and Köçekçeis his most popular work.

Bottom line: Not just another Scheherazade but a unique and arresting performance with oriental overtones together with some very tasty encores, recorded to perfection. I know that it’s pedestrian but I would like to hear an all-out Polovtsian Dances from this group.