Review

01 Collectif9Volksmobiles is the quite fascinating first CD from collectif9 (collectif9.ca), the Montreal string ensemble that made its debut in 2011 and is composed of four violins, two violas, two cellos and a bass. The players met through their studies at McGill University and the Université de Montréal, and their assertion that the ensemble size enables them to combine the power of an orchestra with the crispness of a chamber ensemble is more than justified by the results here.

Two arrangements by the group’s bass player Thibault Bertin-Maghit open the program: a simply dazzling version of Brahms’ Rondo alla zingarese (check out the video on their website!) and a short but effective transcription of the Allegretto from Alfred Schnittke’s Violin Sonata No.1.

The central work on the disc is the title track, a short three-part piece commissioned by the group from the Guelph composer Geof Holbrook. Its opening movement has more than a hint of Marjan Mozetich about it (no bad thing!) and the third movement is a clever mixture of percussive effects and pizzicato.

A condensed Allegro assai from Bartok’s Divertimento is a more substantial piece played with a great sense of style, and André Gagnon’s really short but exuberant Petit concerto pour Carignan, an homage to the legendary Quebecois fiddler Jean Carignan, rounds out the disc with a wicked cross-mixture of Bach and fiddle music.

I have only one complaint, and although it’s a big one it’s also a positive one: clocking in at just over 29 minutes for the seven tracks, the disc feels more like a sampler CD than a debut disc, and it certainly leaves you really wanting to see what the group does with a more substantial program. Hopefully we will be hearing a great deal more – in both quantity and length – from this dynamic ensemble in the not-too-distant future.

Concert Note: You can hear collectif9 live courtesy of Music Toronto at Jane Mallett Theatre on March 10. The program will include the Holbrook mentioned above and works by Brahms, Shostakovich, Bartók, Schnittke, Hindemith and Prokofiev.

02 Gabetta VasksThe Swiss-based Argentinian cellist Sol Gabetta is simply stunning in Vasks Presence, the world premiere recording of the Concerto No.2 for Cello and String Orchestra, “Klātbūtne – Presence,” which was written for her by the Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks (Sony 88725423122). The work, premiered in October 2012, was commissioned by the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, which is conducted here by Candida Thompson.

The concerto is described as portraying the hope that the individual may find peace and purification in a conflict-ridden here and now, and consequently has passages of both great beauty and dissonant struggle. There’s a glorious build-up throughout the opening Cadenza – Andante cantabile, a tough and choppy Allegro moderato with distinct shades of Shostakovich, and another lovely build through the Adagio final movement, Gabetta adding a really lovely and almost Bachian vocalise at the end, as the cello soars to the highest and quietest of endings.

Grāmata čellam – The Book is a two-movement work for solo cello, with a strong, percussive and impassioned Fortissimo followed by a Pianissimo that again requires Gabetta to add a vocalise. Written in 1978, it was the first work of Vasks that Gabetta heard and led directly to their ongoing friendship.

For Musique du soir for Cello and Organ, Gabetta is joined by her mother, the organist Irène Timacheff-Gabetta. Vasks has said that the evening of the title refers to the evening both of the day and of life; it’s a strongly tonal and very effective work.

The standard of Gabetta’s playing and interpretation throughout a challenging program is quite astonishing, especially in view of the amount of solo writing and the remarkably high and demanding technical level of the music. It is the Cello Concerto that really stands out here though, and as Vasks assisted with the recording this is clearly a definitive performance of what is a significant addition to the contemporary cello concerto repertoire. It’s a simply indispensable CD for anyone interested in the genre.

03 Saint Saens CelloThere’s another excellent cello CD this month, this time with cellist Truls Mørk as soloist in the Cello Concertos Nos.1 and 2 of Saint-Saëns on a Chandos Super Audio CD (CHSA 5162). Neeme Järvi conducts the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.

Saint-Saëns was an astonishingly gifted musician whose life spanned a period of enormous musical change – he was born eight years after Beethoven’s death and was still alive three years after the end of the First World War – but his music was often regarded as out-of-date almost as soon as it was written. Still, what music it is at times!

The two concertos, written in 1872 and 1902, must have been welcome additions to the solo cello orchestral repertoire, which was still quite thin on the ground by the late 1800s. Concerto No.1 in A Minor Op.33 is a three-movement work with a lovely Allegretto as the middle movement, while the Concerto No.2 in D Minor Op.119 is a shorter two-movement work with equally beautiful lyricism in the slower passages. Mørk plays with a warm tone and fine sense of style throughout both concertos.

The additional works on the CD offer ample proof of the composer’s all-round ability. Pianists Louis Lortie and Hélène Mercier join Alasdair Malloy on glass harmonica and members of the orchestra for a joyous performance of Le Carnaval des animaux, Grande Fantaisie zoologique for Two Pianos, Flute, Clarinet, Glass Harmonica, Xylophone and Strings. The work grew out of a cello solo – Le Cygne – which the composer wrote for a cellist friend in 1886, but while the famous Swan was soon published Saint-Saëns never allowed the entire work to be performed outside of a small circle of his friends; it remained unpublished until 1922, after the composer’s death. Not surprisingly, Mørk shines in his famous solo turn.

Two concert pieces for piano and orchestra complete a diverse and highly entertaining CD: the well-known Caprice-Valse Op.76Wedding Cake,” and the fantasia Africa Op.89, both of them showcasing the terrific talents of Louis Lortie.

04 Bruch concertosThe outstanding Hyperion series The Romantic Violin Concerto reaches Volume 19 with three works by Max Bruch – the Violin Concerto No.1 in G Minor Op.26, the Romance in A Minor Op.42 and the Serenade in A Minor Op.75 – in performances by the English violinist Jack Liebeck and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins (CDA68060).

Bruch wrote three works officially designated as violin concertos, but that wasn’t the full extent of his compositions in that form; both the Scottish Fantasy and the Serenade included here are four-movement works that are concertos in all but name. The former was coupled with the Violin Concerto No.3 on Volume 17 of this series in performances by the same personnel.

Bruch was constantly exasperated by the popularity of the G minor concerto at the expense of his other – and in his opinion, better – violin concertos, but it remains probably the most popular of all the Romantic violin concertos. It’s given a lovely performance here.

Bruch’s other violin concertos are much better served by recordings now than they used to be, but even if you do know the other two concertos and the Scottish Fantasy the chances are that the Serenade will be new to you; if so, you’re in for a real treat. It’s a lengthy work from 1899, when the composer was 61 but still had more than 20 years left in his life. Written for and at the prompting of the Spanish virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate, it’s a simply beautiful work by a mature composer in complete control of his craft; the third movement Notturno in particular is absolutely gorgeous.

The single-movement Romance dates from 1874, some six years after the first concerto, and was intended as the opening movement of what Bruch thought would be a second concerto. The booklet notes describe it as “rather uneventful, although very beautiful,” the latter a word that regularly seems to crop up in discussions of Bruch’s music.

The noted English musicologist Sir Donald Tovey once said that “it is not easy to write as beautifully as Max Bruch.” That’s quite true – and it’s not easy to play as beautifully as Jack Liebeck, either. Add the outstanding orchestral support and the lovely recorded sound and you have a supremely satisfying CD.

Johannes Brahms was notoriously self-critical, often ruthlessly destroying early compositions as well as his ongoing revisions of existing works. As a result, musicologists rarely have the opportunity to observe the compositional process and to make comparisons between initial and final versions of Brahms’ works.

One welcome exception to this is the Piano Trio No.1 in B Major Op.8, presented in its original 1854 version along with the Piano Quartet No.3 in C Minor Op.60 on a new harmonia mundi CD by the Trio Wanderer (HMC 902222).

05 Brahms Quartet TrioThe trio was completed in early 1854, when Brahms was still only 20. By the time it was accepted by the Leipzig publisher Breitkopf and Härtel, Brahms was already having serious doubts about the work and considered withdrawing it, as he “would certainly have made changes in it later.” Although he did not prevent its publication he had nothing to do with the work’s premiere. When he did finally revisit the work 35 years later his revisions were so all-encompassing that they amounted to a virtual recomposition of the piece, and the admittedly more focused and structured result is the version usually performed today. The original version, though, is a delightful and by no means lightweight snapshot of the young Brahms, and makes us wonder again what we may have lost in the large number of destroyed early string quartets.

Trio Wanderer is joined by Christophe Gaugué on viola for the piano quartet, a work whose seeds were sown in 1855 in an unfinished quartet in C-sharp minor, two of the three movements being extensively reworked for the completed Op.60 in 1875.

The period of the work’s gestation, covering his relationship with Clara Schumann, together with Brahms’ comments to the publisher Simrock in which he likened himself to Goethe’s Romantic poet Werther (who committed suicide over an unrequited love) have led to suggestions that the quartet embodies Brahms’ unfulfilled love for Clara; certainly the passion and yearning – not exactly uncommon traits in Brahms’ music, it must be said – would seem to make it much more than a mere possibility.

Trio Wanderer performers – violinist Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian, cellist Raphaël Pidoux and pianist Vincent Coq – all graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris in the 1980s and went on to study at the Juilliard School in New York. The trio was formed in 1987, and the lineup has been unchanged since Phillips-Varjabédian replaced the initial violinist in 1996. Their sensitive and beautifully recorded performances here make this new release a welcome addition to their impressive discography of some two dozen discs.

We have the pleasure this month to consider two laureates of the Honens Piano Competition, Hinrich Alpers from 2006 and Gilles Vonsattel from 2009. Their discs, part of the prize intended to help launch their professional careers, are remarkably unlike each other.

01 Honens AlpersThe ambitious Hinrich Alpers Complete Piano Works of Ravel (Honens 201502CD) will have been several years in preparation before its extensive recording sessions at The Banff Centre in 2015. There’s so much that’s superb about this recording and virtually no space in this column to say even a fraction of it. We’ll settle then, for some praise lavished on a few of the many exceptional tracks.

Pavane pour une infant défunte has never been more lovingly played, perched just on the threshold of deep melancholy. Alpers’ touch and tone are impeccable. Oiseaux tristes from Miroirs also benefits from Alpers’ tactile genius at the keyboard where the gentlest of hammer strokes evoke unimaginable bird calls. His Gaspard de la nuit is entirely brilliant but its Ondine is especially fluid and sparkling. In the closing track, Alpers holds nothing back in La Valse and its devastation of the old order.

Six bonus tracks add homages to Ravel by composers like Honegger and Casella. This 2-CD set is a wonderful and complete document for all enthusiastic Ravellians.

02 Honens VonsattelThe 2009 laureate takes a very different direction in Gilles Vonsattel, Shadowlines (Honens 201501CD). The central and title work of the recording is George Benjamin’s Shadowlines, around which Vonsattel programs related material. Three Scarlatti sonatas open the CD. They’re crisp, emphatically punctuated and use every performance advantage the modern piano offers. With tonality and rhythm established, the Messiaen Quatre etudes de rythme: No.4 moves sharply toward a new form that along with the Webern Variations Op.27 influenced George Benjamin’s work. Vonsattel thus far proves himself capable of both incisive playing and introspective repose.

In Shadowlines, Vonsattel opens beautifully to freer form before returning to Messiaen whose Préludes are a perfect bridge to the closing tracks by Debussy. It’s a very satisfying and well-constructed program that Vonsattel holds together both intellectually and artistically. His particular gift seems to be understanding how best to highlight the stylistic differences of each composer.

He’s an adventurous and intelligent musician who brings obvious rationale to a convincingly expressive keyboard style.

Review

03 Seong Jin ChoSouth Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho won the 17th International Chopin Piano Competition last year, taking top prize after five rounds of competitive performance. 163 pianists began the odyssey that is now the world’s oldest piano competition – six emerged as finalists. Winning this event is a career-making achievement, especially at age 21.

This recording, Seong-Jin Cho – Winner of the 17th International Chopin Piano Competition (Deutsche Grammophon 479 5332) is Cho’s live performance at the Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall in October last year. He delivers all the bombast and meets the blazing technical demands of the repertoire with confidence. It’s also a very moving listening experience for its mature approach to the familiar fragilities that Chopin requires. Cho spends critically important fractions of seconds delaying passing notes and dissonances to intensify each moment of uncertainty.

The Préludes Op.28 contain a universe of emotions beautifully portrayed with complete conviction. The Piano Sonata No.2 in B-flat Minor Op.35 demonstrates Cho’s command of Chopin’s rich vocabulary. This is particularly evident in his treatment of the third movement’s central passage where the simple melody moves slowly, unhurried and with minimal accompaniment. Cho lingers courageously creating a powerful contrast to the gravity of the surrounding Marche funèbre.

The recording ends appropriately with the Polonaise in A-flat Major Op.53 (Polonaise héroïque) upon whose closing chord the audience erupts in cheers and applause.

Review

04 Castelnuovo TedescoMario Castelnuovo-Tedesco occupies that sparse region of Italian composers whose works were not principally operatic. Perhaps best known for his guitar and film works, his small body of piano compositions is often overlooked. Claudio Curti Gialdino’s recent disc, Castelnuovo-Tedesco Piano Music (Brilliant Classics 94811) offers a fine example of how this composer blended his own voice with the French and Russian influences of the early 20th century. The repertoire represents the composer’s early work before he fled fascist Italy in 1939, to settle in the US.

Alt Wien Op.30 has a strong feel of Ravel’s La Valse about it. While it’s not nearly as deconstructionist, it does share a similar scale and language. The work’s unique feature is the anti-rhythmic way the composer has cast the dances of the opening and closing movements. Gialdino captures this wonderfully by holding back the Waltz and Fox-Trot, never letting them emerge as quite the dances we expect.

Despite its programmatic title, Le danze del Re David Op.37 is a freely impressionistic collection of eight rhythmic caricatures. It’s clever writing and fine playing. Gialdino brings a distinctive bounce to this set that is very appealing. He goes even further in his performance of Piedigrotta Op.32 (Rapsodia napoletana). Here, an underlying sense of Russian grandness supports a series of five colourful vignettes that concludes with some serious keyboard muscle.

Gialdino plays a Kawai in this recording, and I suspect it might be less than full concert size. It’s brightly voiced and delivers the music well.

06 HuebnerEric Huebner is a versatile musician with eight recordings to his credit. Many of them are ensemble performances of contemporary music, so it’s a thrill to hear what he does on this new solo CD Eric Huebner Plays Schumann, Carter and Stravinsky (New Focus Recordings FCR159). Huebner’s performance of the Schumann Kreisleriana Op.16 is competent and direct with memorable tenderness flowing through the Sehr langsam movement. It is, however, his playing of three movements from Stravinsky’s Petrouchka that really tempts one to reach for superlatives.

While many pianists begin the Danse Russe at full throttle, Huebner holds back throughout this section and saves his energy for the maniacal marathon of playing required for La semaine grasse. His clarity and endurance are truly impressive. Better still is the intervening movement, Chez Petrouchka, which I have never heard played with such impish energy and mysticism. He uses the silence between notes to powerful effect and adds unexpected hesitations to rests. It’s a brilliant performance.

The recording also includes the rather dense Night Fantasies by Elliott Carter. Huebner is very much at home with this material. It’s unstructured and leaves the performer to create an episodic map that makes interpretive sense for the listener. Its length requires intellectual discipline to sustain interest and Huebner has no difficulty doing this, effectively conveying Carter’s world of half wakefulness in the middle of the night.

07 American IntersectionsThe dynamism of dual piano performance asserts itself powerfully in American Intersections (Two Pianists Records TP1039220). Nina Schumann and Luis Magalhäes have performed together since 1999. Their latest recording seeks to reflect the melting pot of influences that defines American music, Blues, Latin, Ragtime, etc.

 Souvenirs Op.28 is Samuel Barber’s collection of dances for piano four hands. Schumann and Magalhäes, however, play an arrangement for two pianos and take advantage of the opportunity for the richer performance that this offers. They adhere faithfully to Barber’s strong romantic leaning without neglecting his frequent modernist flirtations.

William Bolcom’s Recuerdos is a three-part set of homages to composers like Nazareth and Gottschalk. The Paseo opens and closes with a sublime Latin-influenced rag that is utterly captivating. But the show-stealer is the final homage to Delgado Palacios, in which the duo brings explosive energy to Bolcom’s Valse Venezolano.

When Leonard Bernstein arranged Copland’s El Salón México for two pianos in 1941, it soon eclipsed the version for single keyboard. This recording of the piece captures every orchestral nuance and turn of phrase. It’s a terrific performance.

Frederic Rzewski echoes the powerful pulse of American industry in Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues. The pounding episode that opens the piece surrenders to a mildly dissonant blues segment beautifully played, which then blends back into a combined machine-pulsed blues to close the piece.

Hallelujah Junction by John Adams is a complex and difficult piece. Schumann and Magalhäes perform this superbly. There’s a devilishly complex rhythm just before the slower middle section which they handle flawlessly. The work’s relentless drive to its finish seems no challenge at all to this very gifted pair.

08 Peter Hill BachPeter Hill’s latest recording project is JS Bach – The French Suites (Delphian DCD34166). Hill is perhaps best known for his recordings of contemporary repertoire, his books on Stravinsky and Messiaen, and his master classes at major music schools around the world. His recording of the Bach French Suites is, therefore, especially interesting.

Hill plays this music with a great deal of affection. While Bach’s pedagogical intent is always clear in the two- and three-voice counterpoint, Hill reaches further to find the beauty in every melodic fragment. He’s not the least shy about using the piano’s expressive potential to colour the main ideas. He’s quite disciplined about the regulated speed at which this baroque repertoire needs to proceed and reserves his subtle ritardandos exclusively for phrase endings. He also makes a practice of lightening up on the touch at the same time. The combined effect of these creates a reverent and respectful closing punctuation. Hill’s ornamental technique is tasteful and well considered. It’s always clean and of just the right length.

His playing overall is somewhat understated and he makes the Steinway concert grand sound both delicate and fragile. He rarely rises beyond mezzo forte, even in the Gigue of Suite No.5 in G Major where it could credibly happen. This is also true of the Mozart Suite in C K399 which many have played much more aggressively. Hill’s performance is beautifully articulate, completely unpedalled and has a meditative quality about it.

 

 

 

 

 

01 Handel AcisHandel – Acis and Galatea
Boston Early Music Festival; Paul O’Dette; Stephen Stubbs
CPO 777 877-2

There have been several fine recordings of Acis and Galatea in the recent past. I myself am especially fond of the recording conducted by John Eliot Gardiner with Norma Burrowes and the late Anthony Rolfe Johnson in the main parts (on Archiv). Still, this new recording is something else. It is fast-paced and light on its feet. The singing and the playing are exceptional. I especially enjoyed the tenor Jason McStoots, who sings Damon, the lovely oboe playing by Gonzalo X. Ruiz and the virtuoso sopranino recorder obbligato by Kathryn Montoya in Hush, ye pretty warbling quire! It was also a pleasure to hear our own Dominic Teresi, the principal bassoon of Tafelmusik.

The recording seeks to reconstruct the first performance of 1718 and uses not a choir in the modern sense of the word but a group of six singers, five of whom are also soloists. The minimum number of orchestral players needed is seven; this recording uses ten, presumably because an archlute, a theorbo and a double bass have been added. The recording includes the chorus Wretched lovers, which signals the arrival of the Cyclops Polyphemus and marks the shift from rural innocence to impending violence. Here the directors have not been altogether consistent as that chorus is a later addition and is generally thought to have been added in 1739.

The record also includes a substantial bonus in the cantata Sarei troppo felice (1707), beautifully sung by soprano Amanda Forsythe.

02 Mayr SaffoJohann Simon Mayr – Saffo
Brown; Schafer; Yun; Papenmeyer; Ruckgaber; Preis; Bavarian State Opera; Franz Hauk
Naxos 8.660367-68

Review

Johann Simon Mayr was born in Bavaria in 1763 but moved to the northern Italian city of Bergamo in 1787. He spent the rest of his life there and in Venice. Saffo was his first opera: it was commissioned by the then new La Fenice in Venice and first performed there in 1794. From our perspective Mayr can be seen as a transitional figure, transitional that is between the reforms of Gluck and the revolutions of Rossini.

That Mayr is to some extent still working in the opera seria tradition is most obviously seen in the fact that the role of the male protagonist was written for a castrato, in this case the famous Girolamo Crescentini. On these CDs it is beautifully sung by the soprano Jaewon Yun. The plot would seem to lead logically to Sappho’s suicidal leap from a rock but in the opera she is saved at the last moment by the lover who had previously rejected her. The happy ending is also a standard item in most, though not all, opere serie.

On the other hand, gone are the da capo and exit arias. The tenor has become important (as had already been the case in Mozart’s Idomeneo and La clemenza di Tito), the chorus is now more substantial and many of the recitatives are given orchestral accompaniments (there are precedents for that, including, again, Idomeneo).

Mayr wrote almost 70 operas. Someday I would like to hear some of the others, especially if they are as well sung and played as Saffo is on this recording.

03 Rossini BruschinoRossini – Il Signor Bruschino
de Candia; Lepore; Aleida; Alegret; Orchestra Sinfonica G Rossini; Daniele Rustioni
Opus Arte OA 1109 D

For your next vacation, why not go to Pesaro on the sunny beaches of the Adriatic and if you are an opera lover, to the Rossini festival, a really fun destination judging by this video. Venice is not too far away either where the 20-year-old Rossini spent his first creative period writing operas for a near bankrupt theatre company that took a chance on the young fellow with no previous experience in writing anything, let alone opera. Amusingly, the elders of the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro did much the same thing in trusting this revival of Il Signor Bruschino to a young theatre group, Teatro Sotteraneo, with no previous experience in opera. The directors of the group are all in their 20s and full of ideas, energy and fun.

The scene for this one-act farsa giocosa is a modern-day theme park complete with Coke machines, popcorn, balloons and silly hats. Tourists of all ages wander in and out snapping photos and are invited to join in the even sillier plot where everyone lies except the poor put-upon protagonist, Bruschino. In fact they confuse him so much that he ends up wondering who he is and there is typical Rossinian mayhem, except for the wonderful music and the singing. The polished cast are mainly young people such as the soprano, Maria Aleida, spectacular in her high register, and her suitor, David Algret, a fine tenor. The principal baritones: Roberto de Candia (Signor Bruschino) and Carlo Lepore, the guardian of the bride, who arrives on a Segway, singing his cavatina riding on it up and down the stage, are a bit older and undoubtedly best in show. In charge of it all is the conductor Daniele Rustioni who is barely out of his teens, just like the composer.

04 Verdi MacbethVerdi – Macbeth
Zeljko Lucic; Anna Netrebko; René Pape; Joseph Calleja; Metropolitan Opera; Fabio Luisi
Deutsche Grammophon 073 5222

For me the most sublime moment in Macbeth is the Gran concertato just after the murder of King Duncan when out of the anguished a cappella chorus the orchestra finally joins in with a melody direct from heaven (and how beautifully did Sinopoli do it!), but that was nothing compared to the intense joy and outburst of the Met audience following Vieni! T’affretta, Anna Netrebko’s first salvo as Lady Macbeth. And that Sleepwalking Scene! Oh my! It was an inspired decision to revive Macbeth for the 2014 season with Netrebko as the lead soprano. The woman had never sung the role before, her voice more suited to the lyrical and coloratura repertory or so people thought. But they didn’t know Netrebko! After 2007, when she sang a few bel canto roles at the Met, she went back to Europe scoring triumph upon triumph in the most challenging prima donna roles: Manon in Berlin, Anna Bolena in Vienna, Donna Anna at La Scala. Nevertheless, here she is, Lady Macbeth in New York, seductive in her silk chiffon dress, packing the house again to capacity, her voice extending to a high D flat and also extending the Met’s sagging profits.

Fortunately, the rest of the cast is not outclassed by Netrebko’s radiance. The great basso René Pape (Banquo) is a distinguished credit to a rather short role (as he gets killed quickly) and so is the tenor, Joseph Calleja (Macduff), but at least he survives. Serbian baritone Zeljko Lucic (Macbeth) is a fine character actor with a strong voice, but no match for the great Italian baritones (e.g. Leo Nucci or Renato Bruson) of yesteryear. Exciting yet sensitively refined conducting by new Met principal conductor Fabio Luisi amply compensates for the still unsurpassed legendary Sinopoli reading.

05 Krol RogerSzymanowski – Król Roger
Kwiecień; Jarman; Pirgu; Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House; Antonio Pappano
Opus Arte OA 1151 D

It took almost a century from its premiere in Warsaw in 1926 for Król Roger (King Roger) to reach the stage of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London. Belated though it is, this debut is nothing short of a triumph. It is by far the finest production of this modernist opera that I have seen. The great strength of Szymanowski’s music is its exuberant, ecstatic orchestral colour, making it more neo-romantic than modernist. Mariusz Kwiecień, whose portrayal of King Roger may be a career-defining moment, put it like this: “To compose this music, you must be either on drugs or mad.” Think Ravel, Scriabin, Bartók, but also Górecki. In the past, infrequent as they were, many productions of the opera faltered on stage because of its halting rhythms. The work jumps from bacchanal celebration to a standstill oratorio within its slim, 90-minute timeframe. Director Kasper Holten brilliantly unites the two polar opposites, with some help from the gorgeous set designed by Steffen Aarfing. Among the many charms of this work are wonderful choral passages and showcase arias for the female protagonist, Queen Roxana, masterfully delivered by Georgia Jarman. Saimir Pirgu as the Shepherd is beguiling and free. All the cast benefit from having a native Polish speaker (Kwiecień) on hand – the language coaching is well beyond the typical, cringe-inducing sound imitation that plagues the productions of many Czech, Polish and Russian operas in the West. Antonio Pappano not only conducts the work, he breathes Szymanowski’s music. This production will likely propel King Roger into the sphere of interest of the major opera houses in the world. Bravi!

06 Palej Cloud LightCloud Light – Songs of Norbert Palej
Bogdanowicz; McGillivray; Wiliford; Woodley; Philcox
Centrediscs CMCCD 22315

The song or chanson or lied died with Benjamin Britten – or that is the impression you might have gotten by visiting your neighbourhood record store or any concert hall. While Brahms, Strauss, Schubert and Mahler song cycles are everywhere, very little in that genre seems to have originated since the middle of the 20th century. It is more that the song itself has changed, rather than disappeared. Pianist Steven Philcox and tenor Lawrence Wiliford, directors of the Canadian Art Song Project, summed it up succinctly in the liner notes to this recording: “…the experimentation of the 20th century avant-garde rejected the intimacy that is inherent to the genre…”

Enter Norbert Palej (Pah-Lay), a Polish-born composer, still in his 30s, currently teaching at the University of Toronto. He restores to the song what for centuries was its golden measure: the intricate relationship between poetry and music, the latter being an emotional outgrowth of the former. All cycles included on this disc evoke an earlier era, with respect for the text and an intimacy of interpretation. Cloud Light, not written for any specific voice, invites comparisons with les nuits d’été by Berlioz. Most surprisingly, despite being an homage to the 19th- and early 20th-century tradition of song, the work sounds utterly contemporary and modern. It is as if after 50 years in the wilderness, the genre is coming back into its own. A welcome return!

07 Canadian Chamber ChoirSacred Reflections of Canada – A Canadian Mass
Canadian Chamber Choir; Julia Davids
Independent (canadianchamberchoir.ca)

The working style of the Canadian Chamber Choir is unique; with members spread across the country, they convene at least twice a year for short projects after learning their parts at home. A rehearsal period of a few days is hosted by a school, choir or community and the choir then returns the favour by providing workshops before they embark on tour. Their mandate, therefore, is not just to perform, but to build community by educating and engaging as many singers as possible on each tour while introducing the works of established as well as emerging Canadian composers.

This recording, nominated for the 2016 JUNO Awards Classical Album of the Year, is organized into the format of a mass, incorporating 19 works by 17 Canadian composers. Amongst the five movements of the Mass Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei) are interspersed a number of other reflective sacred pieces in exquisite a cappella renderings. For example, composer-in-residence Jeff Enns’ O magnum mysterium begins with the purist soprano solo by Megan Chartrand; Robert Ingari’s beautiful and rich setting of Ave Maria is contrasted by another, mysterious and dissonant, by James Fogarty. Director Julia Davids has chosen the pieces well, and woven the parts into a flowing and cohesive whole, whilst directing the itinerant choir in a stunning performance.

08 Voices of Earth Amadeus ChoirVoices of Earth
Amadeus Choir; Lydia Adams; Bach Children’s Chorus; Linda Beaupré
Centrediscs CMCCD 21915

Lydia Adams’ Amadeus Choir has produced its eighth CD, featuring the music of four Canadian composers, two of whom perform on the recording. The title piece is composed and played by pianist Ruth Watson Henderson, joined by a percussion ensemble along with another featured composer, Eleanor Daley, playing the celeste. This, and others on the recording, afford another opportunity for the choir to partner with the Bach Children’s Chorus, celebrating 28 years of collaboration. Voices of Earth is a multi-movement work with a great variety of harmonic colour and ever-changing rhythms which mirror the dynamic character of nature and creation. Similarly, the next piece, Of Heart and Tide by Sid Robinovitch, portrays another force of nature, the sea, with musical undercurrents evoking the awesome power therein. Eleanor Daley’s pieces are of a different character altogether and contrast nicely; her Salutation of the Dawn and Prayer for Peace are essentially quiet, heartfelt devotionals. I Will Sing Unto the Lord by Imant Raminsh is joyful and jubilant, rounding out the program nicely. It is, as always, truly wonderful to experience the convergence of excellent singers, instrumentalists, conductor and composers who are unequivocally passionate about choral music.

01 SokolovSchubert & Beethoven
Grigory Sokolov
Deutsche Grammophon 479 5426

Review

Although not the most recognized figure by the record buying public, to pianophiles Sokolov is an icon on the same short list that would include Richter, Argerich and few others. A first prize winner of the 1966 International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition, it was Emil Gilels, who headed the jury that unanimously awarded him the Gold Medal. This new release is his second on DG, following the sensational Salzburg Recital issued last year which included an unequalled performance of the 24 Chopin Preludes (DG 4784342, 2 CDs). As he does in that first set, he transforms each and every track into a listener’s instantaneous personal favourite. Sokolov is capable of making the piano sing in a very particular way. He demonstrates breathtaking sensitivity, a seamless pianistic style and a low key projection that sweeps the listener away.

Sokolov’s Schubert Impromptus Op.90 D899 are quite different from the same music in other hands. If one listens without any distractions there are feelings of the realization of his mortality and his struggles against it. Simple but profound in spirit. Similarly the Three Piano Pieces D946 convey the same story. These performances were recorded in concert in Warsaw on May 12, 2013.

All Sokolov’s unique qualities make his performance of the Hammerklavier a breathtaking event, and I am curious to hear him in the other 31 sonatas of Beethoven. This performance and the Rameau and Brahms encores were recorded at the Salzburg Festival on August 23, 2013. The Rameau encores are very interesting as Sokolov maintains a quasi-Romantic approach that happens to work very well. A splendid choice exposing his versatility. The Brahms Intermezzo Op.117 No.3 takes us home.

Mention must be made of the astonishing dynamic sound from both concerts. Although the engineers are different the sound is remarkably similar. As realistic as I’ve ever heard.

02 Lisiecki SchumannSchumann
Jan Lisiecki; Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; Antonio Pappano
Deutsche Grammophon 4795327

Review

There are so many recorded versions available of the Piano Concerto in A Minor Op.54 that any newcomer has to be extraordinary to justify itself. This enticing performance is just that. Jan Lisiecki, the 20-year-old born in Calgary, came into prominence as a child prodigy, making his orchestral debut aged nine. Today he is internationally acclaimed and is one of the most respected pianists of this generation.

The first hearing was most disappointing. Lisiecki seemed to be uninvolved and somehow unresponsive to the score…a non-starter. Easy to understand, as we are so firmly imprinted with the usual bravura performances that anything less energetic sounds injudicious and/or simply wrong. The following week listening again to make sure, I heard a very convincing performance, thoughtful and searching. Lisiecki’s Schumann is so natural and unforced that his playing does not come between composer and listener.

Also, I was playing it softly at the “audition” level and now, at a more robust volume, the true character emerged.

There are many attributes of this performance; excitement, communication, delicacy and tonal beauty. It is such a perfect blend and unanimity of soloist and orchestra that it sounds as if were executed by one mind. There is cross inspiration between piano and the solo instruments of the orchestra, particularly the creamy winds that, in spite of perfect ensemble, still sound spontaneous. The recording is a model of a naturally balanced soloist and these delectable orchestral textures. The two shorter and less familiar, later-concerted works – Introduction and Allegro appassionato Op.92, Introduction and Concert Allegro Op.134 – receive similarly attentive performances, making this release even more attractive. Time stands still during the little encore, Träumerei, adding a thoughtful adieu on this attractive CD.

03 Mahler 6Mahler – Symphony No.6
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks; Daniel Harding
BR Klassik 900132

Daniel Harding makes all the right moves in this new recording of Mahler’s mighty Sixth Symphony, scrupulously following the letter of the score and observing every indicated tempo fluctuation with considerable élan, but what really caught my attention was the magnificent, totally committed playing of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. It more than compensates for the missed opportunities (particularly in the first movement) for Harding to set his stamp on this work as decisively as a Bernstein or Kubelik. My only frustration is that this recording uses the New Critical Edition of the score, which swaps places between the Andante and Scherzo of the middle movements. Though there are good historical arguments for doing so, musically I prefer Mahler’s original conception. Perhaps in his own performances of the work Mahler found it less taxing for the musicians of the day to perform the slow movement second; or possibly he was keen to stress the traditional symphonic order as a purely musical structure, though it is far more than that. Nonetheless thematically the scherzo serves as a relentless expansion of the previous movement in a relationship consistent with that of the first two movements of his Fifth Symphony.

The four movements have been shoehorned into a single disc for this release and the applause excised from the live performances recorded in Munich in March of 2014. The mixing is superb and finely detailed. The booklet oddly features electrocardiac diagrams of the response of the percussion section and the conductor at the second cataclysmic hammer blow of the finale. Big spike from the musicians, flat line from the conductor. That sums it up nicely. As a member of the Vienna Philharmonic once remarked of a certain music director, “We like him. He doesn’t get in the way.”

04 French FluteBucoliques: French Album III
Richard Sherman; Minsoo Sohn
Blue Griffin Records BGR 379 (bluegriffin.com)

Kudos to flutist Richard Sherman and pianist Minsoo Sohn for this selection of little-known music for flute and piano by four more or less forgotten 20th-century composers. Sherman’s readings are disciplined and spirited. Sohn’s, to my ears anyway, somehow capture the French-ness of the music.

The title Bucoliques raises questions about the composers, their intentions and the world in which they lived. Neither the lives of the composers, Gabriel Grovlez (1879-1944), Raymond Gallois Montbrun (1918-1994), Louis Durey (1888-1979) and Alfred Desenclos (1912-1971), nor Paris, the city where they lived and worked, were bucolic. “Bucoliques” is borrowed from the title of the work by Desenclos. The program notes suggest that “the classical titles of its movements recall those of 19th-century academic forebears, such as Théodore Dubois, and reflect the academic rigour of his work.” I don’t quite get the connection between Arcadian allusion and academic rigour, although it may reflect a taste for irony and self-deprecating humour!

The notes also bring to light something of Desenclos’ approach to composition: “...I do not deny the past on the pretext of creating the future.” The turbulence of Durey’s career is hinted at, with the references to his involvement in left-wing politics and the French Resistance; and we are also told of Montbrun’s rise “to the top of the French musical establishment.”

Bucolic or not, their music gives us a glimpse into the ideals and accomplishments of another time, so close and yet so remote.

05 French TrumpetThe French Influence: Music for Trumpet and Piano
Gerard Schwarz; Kun Woo Paik
Delos DE 1047

Review

Celebrated trumpet virtuoso and conductor Gerard Schwarz revisits his roots in this release – a 1971 New York concert with collaborative pianist Kun Woo Paik. Schwarz has woven together an attractive series of works and explained in excellent program notes the interrelated developments of trumpet performance, composition, and manufacture in 19th- and 20th-century France. A limitation is the disc’s length of only 42 minutes.

The recording opens with Arthur Honegger’s Intrada, a staple of the trumpet repertoire in which Schwarz demonstrates excellent tone and technique. George Enescu’s Légende is the disc’s highlight for me. Well-known as a virtuoso violinist, Enescu remains underrated in composition, which he studied with Fauré and Massenet in Paris. The work’s originality shows in an atmospheric and meditative opening, soft trumpet filigree passages, and a complex yet effective piano part. Eugène Bozza’s Caprice is idiomatic to the instrument, as is always the case with this prolific composer. Schwarz is more than equal to sprightly technical passages including challenging triple tonguing, but the duo also capture mysterious Debussy-like flavours elsewhere in the piece, including muted and echoed fanfares. Brief pieces represent other well-known 20th-century French composers: Jacques Ibert (Impromptu) and André Jolivet (Air de Bravoure). The two earlier works on the disc are Theo Charlier’s Solo de Concours and Henri Senée’s Concertino; I particularly like Senée’s composition for the cornet, especially the Romance movement, whose attractive melody is capped with a sudden pianissimo climax that Schwarz achieves impeccably.

01 IvesIves – Symphonies Nos.3 & 4; Unanswered Question; Central Park in the Dark
Seattle Symphony; Ludovic Morlot
Seattle Symphony SSM1009 (seattlesymphony.org)

Charles Ives had a beautiful musical mind, far ahead of his time. In my youth I watched a televised performance by Stokowski with the American Symphony of Ives’ Symphony No.4 (1910-16). Each subsequent hearing magnifies my appreciation of this masterpiece. Conductor Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony seem comfortable with the work’s contradictions. Ethereal high strings evoke night uncannily in the short Prelude yet orchestral interruptions are harsh; meanwhile a hopeful chorus sings the hymn Watchman. Is it right to have all of this going on? Ives would say, “Sure – why not?” Then a complex movement, Comedy, goes much further. It opens with quarter-tone string glissandi, the quiet soon intruded on by other material including marches and full brass, sentimental tunes, a piano waltz and a violin solo, often with different simultaneous tempi. Conductor, orchestra and engineer still manage to keep everything in balance in this musical funhouse! The following strict hymn-tune-based Fugue could not contrast more vividly. In the visionary Finale, despite diverse interruptions, Morlot maintains the unifying sense of a parade bookended by percussion-alone passages that emerge from and return to silence.

The classics The Unanswered Question (1908) and Central Park in the Dark (1898-1907) receive scrupulous, loving treatment, with impeccable intonation. In Symphony No. 3, “The Camp Meeting” (1901 - 14) a different side of Ives appears, as turn-of-the-century classical music language combines seamlessly with nineteenth-century American hymnody; this recording presents a persuasive case for the result.

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