Arrivals/Departures – New Horizons in Jazz
Stuart Broomer, Brain Morton & Bill Shoemaker
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
€ 34.50 (includes international shipping) montra@gulbenkian.pt
ISBN: 978-972-31-1493-5 UPC: 9789723114935

Distinguished as much for its scholarship as for the artful, mostly colour photos and illustrations which make it an attractive souvenir, this 240-page volume was published by Lisbon’s annual Jazz em Agosto (JeA) Festival to mark its 30th anniversary of innovative programming. It says a lot about the individuals who program JeA that rather than commissioning a vainglorious rundown of the festival’s greatest hits, they turned to three respected jazz critics to profile 50 of the most important musicians, living or dead, who have performed at the festival.

The three writers are Brian Morton from the United Kingdom, American Bill Shoemaker and Canadian Stuart Broomer, who also writes for The WholeNote. The profiles reflect how universal jazz — or more properly improvised music — has become in the three decades JeA has been in existence. Once exclusively thought of as the United States’ contribution to the music world, only slightly more than half of the profiles are of American improvisers. Additionally the majority of the Yanks are not only better known in Europe than North America, but earn the greater part of their income overseas at festivals like JeA.

Well-written and insightful, the profiles include those of acknowledged trailblazers such as saxophonists Evan Parker and Steve Lacy, drummer Max Roach and pianists Muhal Richard Abrams and Cecil Taylor, plus those just establishing a reputation like pianist Craig Taborn, trumpeter Peter Evans and guitarist Mary Halvorson. Offering a wealth of information and craftily outlining the performers’ contributions to jazz history as well as a list of essential recordings, the essays could be a primer for those interested in more exposure to excellent music and musicians not promoted by celebrity-obsessed mass media. Broomer’s essay on American saxophonist John Zorn and Shoemaker’s on French bassist Joëlle Léandre are particularly instructive since they pinpoint the many and varied non-jazz influences that helped create these musicians’ exceptional improvised sounds.

For Canadians however the biggest disappointment is that none of the musicians profiled come from this country, although even Japan and Australia are represented. But of course the omission reflects JeA’s booking policies rather than editorial decisions. Considering that Canadians in greater numbers, including expatriates like New York-based drummer Harris Eisenstadt and pianist Kris Davis as well as homebodies like Vancouver clarinetist François Houle and Montreal reedist François Carrier are making a profound impact on the sort of evolving music JeA supports, that situation could soon be reflected by JeA and perhaps a future volume. 

This month brevity will have to be the soul of wit as I try to do justice to some of the many interesting CDs to land on my desk in recent weeks. To begin, a marvellous discovery from northern Ontario. I have long known and enjoyed the music of Sudbury-based Robert Lemay but I had not previously heard his music for string quartet nor for that matter did I know there even was a string quartet in that city. L’errance …, another in the wealth of recent releases on the Centrediscs label (CMCCD 19513) has opened my ears on both accounts. The Silver Birch String Quartet is an excellent ensemble of young players currently in residence at Laurentian University with a string of accomplishments, including a previous recording with Montreal jazz pianist John Roney that garnered a JUNO nomination in 2010 and two Felix Awards, which makes me wonder why they weren’t already on my radar. This disc spans two decades of the Lemay’s output, beginning with L’errance ... hommage à Wim Wenders composed over a two-year period in Montreal, Quebec City and Buffalo, completed in 1990. It takes its inspiration from Wenders’ film Wings of Desire and is the first of a series of works paying tribute to different film directors. Although written long before the group’s formation, Silver Birch have toured this work extensively and feel it to be a signature piece in their repertoire. Opening with an extended cello solo and ending with solo violin, in this it is reminiscent of the third quartet of Canadian icon R. Murray Schafer, although Lemay’s language is quite distinct. The other works are more recent and reflect the mature voice of this composer. Structure/paysage ... hommage à Eli Bornstein (2008) is one of a series of works honouring abstract painters, in this case the leader of the Canadian structuralist abstract school. For the final and most developed work on the CD, Territoires intérieurs (hommage à Bernard Émond) (2010), the quartet is joined by pianist Yoko Hirota. This captivating piece was commissioned by the quartet and developed over the period of a residency at the Banff Centre which they say “was among the most artistically fulfilling projects for us as a quartet.” Certainly that camaraderie is conveyed in this performance which was captured in all its intimate glory in this Glenn Gould Studio recording by engineer Dennis Patterson and producer David Jaeger. This is one of the most satisfying chamber discs to come my way in a long time.

A close second is the latest from the ARC Ensemble (Artists of the Royal Conservatory), a Chandos recording featuring Chamber Works by Paul Ben-Haim (CHAN 10769). Ben-Haim, born Paul Frankenburger in 1897, was a German Jew who immigrated to Palestine shortly after Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. The bulk of this disc is devoted to works written in the decade after arrival in Palestine, including works for viola and piano and violin and piano from 1939 and a piano piece from 1944. It is obvious from the use of Middle Eastern themes and references to the local landscape that Ben-Haim was quick to embrace his new land. The most substantial of these is a clarinet quintet from 1941 about which the composer says “I was very satisfied because I felt that I had at last succeeded in consolidating a new style.” This lush and lyrical work is beautifully performed by Joachim Valdepeñas and a string quartet comprised of Marie Bérard, Erika Raum, Steven Dann (also featured in the haunting viola pieces) and Bryan Epperson. It was revised in 1965 and I wish the liner notes mentioned what sort of revisions the composer made more than two decades after writing the work. The disc opens with an early venture, the Piano Quartet Op.4 from 1920-21 (violinist Benjamin Bowman and pianist David Louie join Dann and Epperson) which shows the influence of Germanic forebears Brahms and Strauss but also French nuances of Fauré and to my ear, Debussy. Evidently the composer suppressed his pre-immigration works and until unearthed in the Ben-Haim archives and performed by the ARC Ensemble in 2012 this quartet had not been heard since a radio broadcast in 1932 before the composer left Germany. As with their three previous releases (on RCA Red Seal) of music by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, Julius Röntgen, Walter Braunfels and Adolf Busch the ARC Ensemble continues to bring to light some repertoire unjustly neglected due to political suppression or shifts in musical fashion, in stunning performances through its Music in Exile series under the artistic direction of Simon Wynberg.

I Am in Need of Music is the title of another new Centrediscs release featuring songs on poems of Nova Scotian Elizabeth Bishop (CMCCD 19413) composed by Alasdair MacLean (NS), John Plant (QC), Emily Doolittle (NB) and Christos Hatzis (ON). Best known for her extensive work in the field of early music, soprano Suzie LeBlanc brings her signature vocal purity to this project which she conceived and developed between 2007 and 2011, Bishop’s centenary year, in conjunction with poet and Bishop scholar Sandra Barry. Together they decided to commission settings of Bishop’s poems in honour of the anniversary and it was Barry who told LeBlanc about a walking trip that Bishop had undertaken in 1932 in rural Newfoundland. LeBlanc, a walker in her own right, decided to recreate this journey as well as could be done some 75 years of development later, and invited filmmaker Linda Dornan to join her. The results were two-fold, both documented in this combined CD and DVD release from the Canadian Music Centre: more than an hour’s worth of music wonderfully performed by LeBlanc accompanied by the Blue Engine String Quartet (MacLean) and the Elizabeth Bishop Players under the direction of Dinuk Wijeratne (Plant, Doolittle and Hatzis); and a half-hour video of LeBlanc and Dornan’s adventure in the outports of Newfoundland. The music, although consistently lyrical and tonally based, is quite eclectic in the different musical languages of these composers. Most surprising to me was to hear yet another side of chameleon-like composer Hatzis whose charming settings show him to be as at home in the idiom of musical theatre as in the diverse and multi-ethnic worlds of his previous compositions. Congratulations to Suzie LeBlanc on the success of her vision and to all concerned in this endeavour.

Concert note: Suzie LeBlanc is featured with tenor Charles Daniels in Tafelmusik’s “Purcell and Carissimi: Music from London and Rome” at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre November 6 through 10. She also joins Les Voix Humaines Consort of Viols for a Women’s Musical Club of Toronto recital November 21 at Walter Hall.

In brief: Analekta has released a CD/DVD combination featuring one of the celebrated historical voices of Canadian opera, bass Joseph Rouleau. Now 84, Rouleau is a Companion of the Order of Canada and Grand Officer of the Order of Quebec. I was first introduced to the splendour of his voice in a CBC recording of the extended orchestral song cycle he commissioned from Jacques Hétu in 1984, Les Abîmes du rêve based on the poetry of Émile, and I was hooked. Although particularly associated with French and Italian repertoire, Russian Operas Russes (AN 2 9223-4) makes it clear that Rouleau was also at home in the role of basso profundo as displayed in selected arias from the operas of Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov. The recording, dating from the height of his career, originated in 1972 from the concert Soirée de musique russe avec Joseph Rouleau produced for Les Beaux Dimanches at Radio Canada. The bonus DVD features Rouleau in the title role of Boris Godunov’s Death Scene (Act Four, Scene Two of Mussorgsky’s opera) filmed in 1983. This is a welcome testament to one of the great voices of our country and although the sound is not as pristine as might be hoped, it is still sufficient to send chills down the spine.

The next disc made me laugh out loud on first hearing. I really didn’t know what to expect from Nutcracker Nouveau – The Russian Expedition from the wacky eclectic local Ensemble Polaris (ensemblepolaris.com). I had been told by core member Alison Melville that this was the closest they would ever come to a Christmas disc, so we’re perhaps rushing the season a bit (as I write this Halloween is still a couple of weeks away) but as they will be launching the disc on November 29 at the Edward Day Gallery at 952 Queen St. W. and as I’m told the disc will be in stores by the time this issue of WholeNote hits the streets (and because as you will see shortly there are other connections afoot) I thought I’d slip it in now. The opening track, Kirk Elliott’s arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s “Trepak” from The Nutcracker, begins with what sounds like Duelling Banjos followed by the theme from The Beverly Hillbillies before settling into the familiar melody from Tchaikovsky’s ballet. This sets the stage for a hilarious homage to the Russian master. The instrumentation ranges from guitars, mandolins and banjos through violin, accordion, bagpipes, bazouki, flutes, recorders and clarinets to a host of multi-cultural percussion instruments. Particularly effective is the guzheng and the violin convincingly impersonating an erhu in Melville and Elliott’s arrangement/medley of the traditional Chinese melody Picking Tea and Tchaikovsky’s “Danse Chinoise” which also features descant recorder and musical saw among other oddities. The suite is a clever and entertaining blend of new takes on the familiar ballet themes intertwined with other Slavic favourites. Perhaps due to my personal preference for the instrument I must mention the gorgeous sound of Margaret Gay’s cello which was captured in all its glory by Jeremy Darby at Canterbury Sound.

The Polaris ensemble is of course not the first to make original arrangements of this most “Christmas” of all ballets. Another instance arrived recently from Harmonia Mundi featuring Tchaikovsky’s original Nutcracker Suite, Op.71a in a straight ahead and wonderfully lush performance by the Harmonie Ensemble New York under Steven Richman paired with a 1960 arrangement by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (HMU 907493). For this iconic jazz rendition the Harmonie is joined by Lew Tabackin tenor sax, Lew Soloff trumpet, Bill Easley clarinet, Victor Lewis drums and George Cables piano. If you are not already familiar with this wonderful example of “third stream” music you owe it to yourself to check it out. Rarely has there been such a successful fusion of traditional classical music and big band jazz.

Classical/jazz fusion continues to inspire artists and a recent local example is (primarily) jazz pianist Ron Davis who makes a strong case for it in the liner notes to his new CD SymphRonica with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra and John Morris Russell (rondavismusic.com). The disc includes six Davis compositions arranged by Timothy Berens and Jason Nett along with two traditional tunes and a variation on J.S. Bach’s Mache Dich Mein Herze Rein. Davis is joined by bassist Mike Downes and drummer Ted Warren for the jazz treatments with orchestral soloists Sasha Boychouk clarinet and Lillian Scheirich violin. While SymphRonica is certainly not in the same league as the Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker arrangements it is obvious that it is a labour of love and that a good time was had by all, classical and jazz participants alike.

Concert note: Ron Davis launches SymphRonica with events at the Lula Lounge on November 3 and 10.

Another disc that expands the scope of the classical orchestra is Symphony!, the latest offering from Toronto’s many-influenced Sultans of String (sultansofstring.com).Violinist Chris McKhool and his colleagues, guitarists Kevin Laliberte and Eddie Paton, bass player Drew Birston and percussionist Rosendo “Chendy” Leòn, are joined by some very special guests including Bassam Bishara on oud, James Hill ukulele, Larry Larson trumpet and Paddy Maloney of The Chieftains on pennywhistle and pipes. Add to this 55 of Toronto’s top orchestral players under the direction of Jamie Hopkings and some very effective orchestrations by Rebecca Pellett and we are presented with a wonderfully playful disc of mostly original material penned by McKhool and Laliberte ranging from gypsy style and flamenco to Middle Eastern influences. Of course there is a good measure of swing in the mix, along with some lush soundtrack-like pieces and the pop song proposal Will You Marry Me with backing vocals by Dala.

Concert note: You can catch a live version of this “roots-worldbeat-symphony mash-up” at Koerner Hall on December 1 when the Sultans of String will be joined by the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra.

We welcome your feedback and invite submissions. CDs and comments should be sent to: The WholeNote, Centre for Social Innovation, 503–720 Bathurst St., Toronto ON, M5S 2R4. We also encourage you to visit our website thewholenote.com where you can find added features including direct links to performers, composers, record labels and additional, expanded and archival reviews.

—David Olds, DISCoveries Editor

discoveries@thewholenote.com

Trobairitz
Shannon Mercer; La Nef
Analekta AN 2 9846

Troubadours and trobairitz were active in medieval Provence. The troubadours were men; they were generally not of high birth and in their compositions they sang the praises of noble ladies. By contrast, trobairitz were nobly born women who sang the praises of troubadours. Although a number of their poems have been preserved, there is only one composition that has both words and music: A Chantar by the Comtessa de Día.

A Chantar is not on this disc. Instead the director, Seán Dagher, has taken a number of extant texts and composed new music for them. Their sound world is closer to that of a folk-music group like Milladoiro than that of early music groups like Sequentia or Hesperion XX. No texts are included but they can be found on the Analekta website. An oddity is that, while the titles of songs are given in Occitan and in French and English translations, the texts are in Occitan only. That limits their usefulness. Another oddity is that the names of the (presumed) poets are not included.

The instrumental ensembles are tight and the music is attractive if not particularly memorable. The glory of the disc is in the singing of Shannon Mercer. Mercer is perhaps best known as an early music singer (for Analekta she has recorded Francesca Caccini and traditional Welsh music) but she also sings contemporary music (in a recent Soundstreams concert she performed Arvo Pärt and James Rolfe). Her singing on this disc is very fine: expressive, technically assured and with wonderful intonation.

Verdi
Anna Netrebko; Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino; Gianandrea Noseda
Deutsche Grammophon 4791052

The Verdi Album
Jonas Kaufmann; Orchestra dell’Opera di Parma; Pier Giorgio Morandi
Sony Classical 88765492042

Domingo/Verdi
Placido Domingo; Orquestra do la Comunitat Valenciana; Pablo Heras-Casado
Sony 88883733122

The music of Verdi, nearly 200 years on is still the litmus test of opera singers of the 21st century.

It is something to be graduated to, something that reveals the true mettle of contenders and something that strikes fear in the hearts of those singers. Let’s call it a rite of passage for the vocalists. One of the reasons, but by no means the only one, is the fact that Verdi always wrote for the divas (and divos) of the day — singers blessed with that extra high E, smoother coloratura and a more dramatic glissando. Unlike the masters of Bel Canto, there was nothing superfluous in Verdi’s writing, no extra trills to enhance the experience. Instead, the full vocal range was exploited and the dramatic range of the performers was used to the fullest effect. These days, the Verdi repertoire is not only the most consistently performed on the world stage, but also what separates the wheat from the chaff. When it comes to the female voice, Verdi demands a full soprano, somewhere between the lyric and dramatic, and as for tenors, well, they need to be “helden tenors” with power to spare.

The current reigning diva of the Met, Anna Netrebko, having wrestled the mantle from Angela Gheorghiu, has finally released her first Verdi album. The thoughtful selections, from Macbeth to Giovanna d’Arco, Don Carlo and Il Trovatore, take her voice through some major hoops, showing the growing confidence of the Russian soprano. She truly is the “prima donna assoluta” however much one may hate such superficial judgments. In perfect command of her voice, Netrebko does justice to all her predecessors, Verdi’s favourite divas: Erminia Frezzolini, Marianna Barbieri-Nini, Rosina Penco and Sophie Cruvelli. A graduation from the lighter Puccini and verismo roles bodes well for the soprano’s future both at the Met and in the recording studio.

Jonas Kaufmann, surely the brightest star of the new generation of tenors, comes to the music of Verdi from a point of reverence. His lovely voice, so effective in his native tongue in the renditions of Schubert, Mahler and Mozart, at first seems intimidated by the Verdi repertoire. The culprit, I presume, is his knowledge of Verdi’s arias in German at first, making a transition to Italian that much more difficult. Fortunately once he gets through his initial jitters he proves once again that he is the one to watch, exuding both confidence and the bravado necessary to dominate the stage in Verdi productions of the future.

Placido Domingo could have easily succumbed to the “superstar syndrome” so readily embodied by the late Luciano Pavarotti: sing it all, sing it badly (or at least too long) and damn the torpedoes. Instead, Domingo carefully observes the changes to his voice over the decades, moving his repertoire down his range, tackling the baritone with some tenor flourishes. Not having heard him live in over five years, I cannot vouch for this voice outside the recording studio, but here it sounds as though Domingo is in full control of his abilities, beautifully navigating the treacherous waters of Verdi’s writing. He may be the lion in winter, but his roar still sends shivers down the spine.

The good news in all this is that the music of Verdi has a most competent cast of characters, both young and old, beautifully bringing the music of the Italian master to our ears on the 200th anniversary of his birth!

Stephen Chatman –
Magnificat: Songs of Reflection
UBC University Singers; Graeme Langager; UBC Symphony Orchestra;
Jonathan Girard
Centrediscs CMCCD 19313

Students at UBC are fortunate to have one of Canada’s most popular choral composers close at hand. Stephen Chatman, multiple JUNO nominee and a Member of the Order of Canada, is Professor and Chair of Composition at the UBC School of Music. In this recording, the UBC University Singers and Symphony Orchestra begin with his setting of the Magnificat, a work commissioned in 2010 by the Vancouver Chamber Choir. Chatman begins the piece with the traditional Latin text, and then sets the following sections in the six official languages of the Vancouver Winter Olympics: French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Russian and English. The 40-voice choir handles the linguistic transitions well and there are some wonderful changes of cultural idiom for the orchestra. A fourth year student (at the time of recording), soloist Bahareh Poureslami manages the voice of Mary with lovely expressiveness ranging from tender anticipation to soaring joy and divine rapture.

Following with a collection of “songs of reflection” the choir performs (sans orchestra) Chatman’s settings of contemplative poetry by Christina Rossetti, Sara Teasdale and Walt Whitman, as well as two from FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat and John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields. Themes of love, loss and longing, followed by transcendence and peace, find tender expression through skilful composition and artful nuance in the choir’s performance.

Passaggi
Vincent Lauzer; Mark Edwards
ATMA ACD2 2637

Having just recently enjoyed a CD of late 16th and 17th century music for the cello, it’s timely to hear Passaggi, a recording of repertoire from the same era but this time for recorder and keyboard. This disc includes diminutions, sonatas, sinfonias, canzonas and Frescobaldi’s extravagant Cento Partite for harpsichord, and features two players familiar to Montréal audiences, Vincent Lauzer and Mark Edwards.

They work well as a team and play this program with affectionate invention. Edwards’ alternation between organ and harpsichord is often witty, for example in Berardi’s Canzona and Schmelzer’s sonatas, and his take on Frescobaldi’s Cento Partite is impressive. I particularly enjoyed his laid-back ambling through the sections displaying the savoury nature of the temperament he’s chosen. Lauzer provides impressive displays of nimble fingerwork, for example in the Notari canzona and the Schmelzer, and plays with a sweet sound. It’s also very good to hear him employ the g alto recorder, the favoured “solo” recorder of the era, as well as the soprano. He creates some nice changes of colour and volume with the use of alternate fingerings, but in the 17th-century pieces I miss the ornamental affetti described by musician/composers of the time, which are commonly heard in baroque violin and cornetto performances of this repertoire. They provide a broader expressive palette to the wind player and assist in making a greater distinction between diminution practice and the “seconda prattica” of the 17th century.

That aside, this is an enjoyable musical exploration of some wonderful music, from two of North America’s fine younger generation of players. Kudos to all involved!

Bach – Keyboard Works
Hank Knox
EMCCD-7775
earlymusic.com

It took performers like Wanda Landowska — and more recently, William Christie and Kenneth Gilbert — to take the harpsichord out of the museum and put it into the concert hall or the recording studio. Among the instrument’s most recent champions is the Montreal-based performer and pedagogue Hank Knox, whose talents are admirably showcased on this recording on the earlymusic.com label featuring selected works by J.S. Bach.

Early keyboard instruments have been a big part of Knox’s life for many years. He studied harpsichord with Kenneth Gilbert in Paris and also at McGill University, where he currently directs the Early Music program. A founding member of the Arion Ensemble, Knox has also performed, toured and recorded with the Tafelmusik Baroque Ensemble and the Studio musique ancienne de Montréal, and this newest release is further evidence of his deep affinity for music from this period.

What a wonderful program this is! The disc features some of Bach’s most formidable works for solo keyboard, including the Toccata in E minor, the great Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, the Fantasia in C minor and the French Overture BWV831. From the opening chords of the Toccata, it’s clear to the listener that Knox is in full command of this repertoire, the playing confident and self assured. The challenging Chromatic Fantasy — a true “tour de force” among Bach’s solo compositions — displays not only his redoubtable technique, but also a deeply-rooted musicality.

Published in Leipzig in 1735, the Overture in the French Manner was undoubtedly Bach’s way of transferring the French orchestral suite to the keyboard. Knox has no difficulty in conveying the subtle nuances required of the music, from the stately “Ouverture” to the brisk “Echo,” bringing this most satisfying disc to a close.

Haydn – Symphonies 6 & 82;
Violin Concerto in G
Aisslinn Nosky;
Handel and Haydn Society;
Harry Christophers
CORO COR16113
handelandhaydn.org

The energy that emanates from this recent recording is palpable. Now in his fifth season as the artistic director of the venerable Handel and Haydn Society, the multi-talented conductor Harry Christophers brings a wonderfully rustic and open personality to this terrific CD, without losing one iota of elegance and charm.

The cover promises two symphonies and one concerto, but indeed the early Symphony No.6, written in 1761 at the beginning of Haydn’s illustrious career at the court of the Esterhazys, is less a symphony and more a “sinfonia concertante” featuring extensive and virtuosic solo work from many different areas of the orchestra. Christophers leads a brisk, smile-inducing performance of the piece, nicknamed “Le Matin” for its warm and evocative musical “sunrise” and generally perky spirit. Special mention goes to violinist Aisslinn Nosky, flutist Christopher Krueger and bassoonist Andrew Schwartz for their brilliant solo contributions.

Toronto-based Nosky, who has been the concertmaster/leader of the orchestra since 2012, moves front and centre for the Violin Concerto in G. Her trademark tone, technique and sense of abandon are present throughout this delightful and moving performance.

The crowning glory is Christophers’ powerful rendering of the Symphony No.82, written in the mid-1780s for performance in Paris. It’s an endlessly fascinating piece, full of contrast, humour, poignancy, sensuality and grandeur. Christophers and the orchestra give a detailed, lively and majestic performance, reminding us at every turn of Haydn’s inventiveness and wit.

Brahms – Piano Miniatures performed on a Johann Baptist Streicher fortepiano (1851)
Boyd McDonald
Doremi DDR71154/5

Veteran pianist, composer and musicologist Boyd McDonald, now professor emeritus at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo has, for the better part of his career, been exploring and performing on period pianos and their ancestors of the last 200 years. A former student of Nadia Boulanger and winner of the Leschetitzky Prize, McDonald is a recognized authority on Brahms’ own instrument made by Johann Streicher in 1851, on which instrument he has now released this set of Brahms miniatures.

While I find his performances are pleasant, the raison d’être of this set is to reveal to modern ears the instrument that Brahms himself used, as did Schumann and others. For historical reasons, this is an important documentation of a chapter in the development of the keyboard instruments. Compared to the modern piano, the sound is slim and percussive and so may not be to everyone’s taste. Heard are Four Ballades, Op.10; Two Rhapsodies, Op.79 and shorter works opp. 76, 116, 117, 118 and 119.

Schubert – Piano Sonatas D664 and D894
Janina Fialkowska
ATMA ACD 22681

These two sonatas are dissimilar works, coming as they do from very different periods in Schubert’s life, albeit only seven years apart. The earlier Sonata in A Major is thoroughly pleasant with familiar echoes of Mozart and Haydn throughout. Altogether, it’s a finely crafted piece with a conventional three-movement structure and competently developed ideas.

While this description sounds bland, the beauty of Fialkowska’s approach is that she actually understands this and refuses to make more of the sonata than it deserves. Instead, she plays each movement with a strict no-nonsense approach leaving aside the over-romanticized interpretations attempted by some other pianists. She finds just the right balance between the technical requirements of the music and the smaller but clearly still-emerging voice of the composer in this musical form.

In the second sonata (G major) Fialkowska acknowledges the more substantial content. Here, Schubert places technical demands in greater service of the music’s development allowing the performer new heights of invention and emotion. The opening movement is huge and Fialkowska plays it with a sustained commitment to holding its thematic ideas together until the triple forte ending.

The succeeding slow movement weaves a tender melody around a more stormy response which Fialkowska never allows to grow out of control. After a light dance movement, she plays through a fourth and final movement that ends quietly with a tasteful sense of anti-climax.

Throughout both sonatas, Fialkowska’s seasoned touch is a tribute to her mature understanding of Schubert’s actual intentions. Fialkowska’s Schubert is the real McCoy.

Strauss – Josephslegende; Love Scene from Feuersnot; Festmarsch
Royal Scottish National Orchestra;
Neeme Järvi
Chandos CHSA 5120

Richard Strauss, reigning overlord of the orchestral tone poem and emerging monarch of the operatic stage at the turn of the century, had been seriously intrigued by the prospect of writing a ballet since 1900, partly because, as he confided to his parents, “One does not have to worry about singers and can storm about in the orchestra.”

In 1912 he witnessed a sensational performance of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Berlin and, through his librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal and the diplomat Count Harry Kessler, arranged a commission from the celebrated troupe. The end result was a gargantuan, 65-minute pantomime (subtitled “Action in One Act”) with an incredibly detailed scenario based on the biblical episode of Joseph’s enslavement at the Egyptian court by Potiphar, updated to the era of the Venetian Renaissance for the sake of sumptuous costuming. The central role of Joseph was designed for the stupendously talented Vaslav Nijinsky, though by the time of the premiere Strauss was disappointed to learn that Diaghilev had dismissed him after a lover’s quarrel and replaced him with Léonide Massine. Strauss himself conceded that while composing the work he felt frustrated with the “boring” piety of the saintly young Joseph and the angel that guards him but even so his score roars to life with his grandly erotic depictions of the suicidal attempts by Potiphar’s wife to seduce the reluctant underage Israelite. Sadly for Strauss and all concerned, the 1914 Parisian premiere was swiftly followed by the onset of the Great War and the ballet fell into obscurity.

Josephslegende demands such an immense orchestra that stagings of the work are quite rare and there are precious few recordings available (notably by Sinopoli and Iván Fischer) for comparison. This compelling new performance by Neeme Järvi, conductor laureate of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, is a welcome addition, plushly recorded by Chandos in a hybrid SACD format. Two brief works, an orchestral excerpt from the early opera Feuersnot and the juvenile Festmarsch Op.1 (composed at the age of 12!) fill out the disc. Though Josephslegende is perhaps not among the composer’s greatest achievements, the sheer orchestral magnificence of this little-known score is immensely captivating.

DeGaetano – Concerto No.1;
Chopin – Concerto No.1
Robert DeGaetano;Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra; John Yaffé
Navona Records NV5929

I always look forward to CDs that feature composer/pianists. The results usually portray the performer in their best light. The composer/pianist knows the instrument intimately and shows off the pianists’ unique skills to their best advantage. Such is the case with Robert DeGaetano’s first piano concerto. Virtuosic technique blazes through this concerto. Scintillating runs and octaves are spectacular. I loved the opening, which reflects the composer’s intent on showing the universe breathing. I would have liked more development of that mood however, instead of the constant runs. The second movement was charming with hints of the rhythms and jazz of New York. The orchestration sounded retro in a good way. The third movement was a more intimate, reflective performance and a prelude to the last dance-like movement. Hints of Italian tarantellas, overtones and brilliant technique brought this dazzling concerto to its finale. Bravo for an imaginative first piano concerto.

The idea of programming Chopin’s First Piano Concerto with his own has merit. DeGaetano went the extra mile in having John Yaffé revise the orchestration due to questions about the originality of Chopin’s. Yaffé began his work with the 1910 version by Mily Balakirev as the point of departure for his own. It will be available for other performers in a published version. There is not enough room in this review to discuss orchestration so I will address the performance. DeGaetano is an excellent technician and musician. He has a lot of fire and energy in his playing. I would prefer more breadth and breath in both the opening orchestral tutti and the piano. More singing tone and a vocal approach would help elevate this into a stunning performance. The third movement is dancelike and the syncopated rhythms could convey this more. However, I think the CD is valuable in showing off two opus one concertos and with exemplary performances they deserve a listen.

Mosh Pit (One Piano Four Hands)
Zofo
Sono Luminus DSL-92167
sonoluminus.com

Listening to two pianists at a single keyboard usually sets up an expectation of something slightly heavy and possibly ungainly. Zofo, however (love that name!), blow all that away with their euphoric energy. These two are young, driven and fearless. There is no repertoire from which they shrink. They exude a “take no prisoners” approach yet perform with an interpretive competence and originality that leaves listeners wanting to hear more.

Gershwin’s Cuban Overture is so fresh and alive I hardly recognized it and checked the liner notes to ensure it was really Gershwin’s own version of his orchestral score. This is a terrific way to open the disc and it grabs you instantly.

Nancarrow’s Sonatina immediately shifts to an intense and delicate discipline that is by contrast, quite arresting. Zofo’s gift for extracting and delivering melody makes this work seem all too short. Likewise, Samuel Barber’s Op.28 Souvenirs, a bouquet of tuneful post-romantic ideas, are also played with profound engagement.

Two sets of dances by John Corigliano and Allen Shawm set a new stage for Zofo as the pair work ever so seductively with shifting rhythms to leave listeners embraced by the constant sense of movement.

Finally, the disc’s major work, Schoenfield’s Five Days from the Life of a Manic Depressive, isn’t nearly as frightening as the title suggests. Rather, filled with a humourous cynicism about contemporary music, it becomes a good-humoured showpiece by its end, closing the CD with the same kind of energy that opened it.

Cello sonatas, featuring the G minor sonatas by Rachmaninov and Chopin, is the outstanding new release by the Canadian duo of cellist Denise Djokic and pianist David Jalbert on the ATMA Classique label (ACD22525).

The Rachmaninov Sonata Op.19 is a relatively early work, written at the same time as his Second Piano Concerto and at the end of a three-year period of depression caused by the failure of his First Symphony. It’s a marvellous work, melancholy at times, but passionate and virtuosic, and full of those typical Rachmaninov melodies.

When Chopin wrote his Op.65 sonata in 1846, his health was failing and his affair with the writer George Sand was coming to an end; three years later he would be dead. Listening to it back-to-back with the Rachmaninov, it’s quite striking how similar their moods are at times; despite the gap of over 50 years between them, they seem to be soulmates.

The final track on the CD is Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, written in 1915 following the deaths of the composer’s friends and colleagues Sergei Taneyev and Alexander Scriabin. The transcription is by Leonard Rose. Not surprisingly, it’s no mere afterthought but a perfect fit with the two major works.

Djokic is in tremendous form throughout the disc, as is Jalbert, a top soloist in his own right — in fact, you only have to look at the composers’ names to realize how demanding and virtuosic the piano writing will be. The instrumental sound is warm and vibrant, and the interpretation everything you could ask for.

Toronto-based guitarist Warren Nicholson is a graduate of Hamilton’s McMaster University and the Manhattan School of Music, and made his solo debut at New York’s Weill Recital Hall in 1998. He has been active as a teacher and performer ever since, but Latin American Guitar Favourites (warrennicholsonguitar.com) is his debut CD. It features works by two early 20th century South American guitar masters, together with works by two contemporary Latin composers.

The program opens with the Cinq Préludes by the Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos, followed by four pieces by Cuba’s Leo Brouwer: his Dos aires populares Cubanos and Dos temas populares Cubanos. Milonga, by the Argentinian Jorge Cardoso, and five pieces by the Paraguayan Agustín Barrios Mangoré complete the recital. In the final track, Una limosna por el amor de Dios, Nicholson displays a fine control of right-hand tremolo.

The playing throughout is accurate, clean and thoughtful, although perhaps a little too reserved at times. The guitar tone is lovely and the recorded sound is warm and clear.

There is, unfortunately, no information at all regarding recording dates or location, and there are no timings for the individual tracks; the CD clocks in at just under 50 minutes.

There is another excellent release from the Danish national label, Dacapo Records, this time featuring Concertos by the Danish composer Vagn Holmboe (6.220599). Holmboe, who was 86 when he died in 1996, produced an enormous number of strongly tonal compositions, many of which have inevitably been overlooked. The three highly accessible works on this CD are all world premiere recordings, and one — the Concerto for Orchestra (1929) — is believed to be a world premiere performance as well.

Lars Anders Tomter is the soloist in the Concerto for Viola Op.189 from 1992. Written for Rivka Golani, it’s a work which immediately shows strength and personality. Violinist Erik Heide performs the Concerto for Violin No.2, Op.139 from 1979, although the number is somewhat misleading; there is an earlier violin concerto from 1938 that carries the designation No.1 but has never been performed, and this current work is apparently regarded as “the” violin concerto. Again, it’s a two-movement work, with hints of Samuel Barber as well as Carl Nielsen, especially in the beautiful slow movement.

Dima Slobodeniouk conducts the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra in the concertos, and the orchestra takes centre stage for the Concerto for Orchestra, a single-movement work from 1929 that has apparently never been performed. It’s a very attractive piece, quite heavy on brass and percussion, and again with distinct hints of Nielsen, who was the examiner when Holmboe auditioned for the Royal Danish Academy of Music, and who clearly influenced the young composer’s early works.

Cellist Wendy Warner adds to an already impressive discography with a CD of the two Cello Concertos of Joseph Haydn, paired with the Cello Concerto In C major by Josef Mysliveček (Cedille CDR 90000 142). Drostan Hall leads Camerata Chicago in excellent orchestral support.

The Haydn concertos are relatively recent additions to the cello repertoire, the C major work having been discovered and first performed in the early 1960s. The D major concerto was long believed to have been written by Anton Kraft, a cellist with Haydn`s Esterhazy orchestra, until Haydn`s original score was discovered in the 1950s. The virtuosic cadenzas here are by Maurice Gendron and Emanuel Feuermann.

Mysliveček was a contemporary and acquaintance of Mozart, and known at the time mostly for his operas and concertos. His cello concerto is actually a transcription of one of his violin concertos and features a good deal of playing in the higher register.

Warner is a simply marvellous player, with great tone, lovely phrasing, and agility and technique to burn. She effortlessly holds our attention throughout a simply dazzling and delightful CD.

There is more thoughtful and intelligent playing of the highest order on Mendelssohn & Schumann Violin Concertos, where violinist Rachel Barton Pine is joined by the Göttinger Symphonie Orchester under Christoph-Mathias Mueller (Cedille CDR 90000 144). The two Beethoven Romances are also included.

It sometimes seems that there can’t be anything left for a soloist to say with the Mendelssohn, but Barton Pine would doubtless disagree; “The older I get,” she says, “The more difficult this ‘easier’ concerto becomes.” Her approach here is sensitive and low-key, but no less effective for that. It’s thoughtful playing with a light touch, and with tempi that are kept moving; no time for wallowing in sentiment here, but no lack of feeling either.

The Schumann concerto has had a troubled history. Written shortly before Schumann’s 1854 suicide attempt that led to his entering the sanatorium in which he would die two years later, it was never fine-tuned to the composer’s satisfaction, and was suppressed by its dedicatee, Joseph Joachim, not long after Schumann’s death. It resurfaced in Germany in the 1930s due primarily to the efforts of violinists Jelly d’Arányi and Yehudi Menuhin, but plans for a premiere were hijacked by the Nazis, who hoped to promote it at the expense of the Mendelssohn concerto, with its Jewish connection. The concerto has its technical problems, in particular an exceptionally difficult solo part in the last movement which makes an ideal tempo almost impossible, but it has a particularly beautiful slow movement. Mueller was responsible for Barton Pine’s deciding to record the work, and the soloist has done her work here, making judicious changes where she felt necessary; in particular, she and Mueller make the final movement work extremely well.

The performances of the Beethoven F major and G major Romances follow the approach set in the Mendelssohn, with a clear tone, slow and spare vibrato and a nice sense of movement.

Barton Pine’s own extensive and excellent booklet notes contribute to another top-notch Cedille issue. 

I must admit to having approached the latest Nigel Kennedy CD, Recital (Sony 88765447272) with a great deal of trepidation. Kennedy’s huge talent has never been in doubt, but he has often been a lightning rod for controversy; some of his career choices have been – well, a bit puzzling, to put it mildly. In particular, his crossover rock/jazz CD projects have been wildly erratic, and at times almost inexplicably bad.

“Music inspired by Fats Waller, J .S. Bach, Dave Brubeck and more…” says the sticker on the front of the jewel case, and perhaps that’s the clue to why this particular CD is such an overwhelming success: the standard of the basic material is much higher than on some of Kennedy’s other projects, particularly the Polish ones. It’s also music which Kennedy says he has either grown up with or feels as if he has grown up with, so there is clearly a strong affinity with the material.

There are four Waller numbers here, and one Brubeck – Take Five, of course – plus numbers by Ze Gomez and Yaron Stavi and two originals by Kennedy himself. The Bach tracks were inspired by the Allegro from the Sonata No.2 in A minor for Solo Violin and the first movement of the Concerto in D minor for Two Violins.

Kennedy is joined by Rolf Bussalb on guitar, Yaron Stavi on bass, Krysztof Dziedzic on drum (singular, note) and Barbara Dziewiecka on second violin and viola on selected tracks.

Kennedy is not the greatest of jazz violinists, but his playing on this disc is very sophisticated, very original and highly entertaining. He uses his enormous technical skills to great effect, creating a quite different sound to most jazz players. Even in the standards he “shreds” in places – and it works! The Fats Waller tracks in particular are simply terrific, and the takes on Bach are a real blast.

The sense of freedom – and of fun – is obvious throughout the disc, with group laughter clearly audible on some of the tracks. This is Kennedy being Kennedy at his best: sounding like no one else, having a ball, and making terrific music. The entire CD is an absolute delight, and a real winner.

Reflections
Mike Murley; University of Toronto Jazz Orchestra; Gordon Foote
U of T Jazz

Recorded April 8 and 9, 2013 at Revolution Recording Studios, Toronto.

Everybody forgets about the arranger. For example jazz enthusiasts know about the Thelonious Monk big band concert in 1963, but how many know or care that arrangements for much of that great music were by Hal Overton. Or that the landmark recording by Basie of “April In Paris” was arranged by Wild Bill Davis?

The reason for this preamble is that on listening to this album I realized just how essential the arrangements are; so hats off to Mike Murley, Terry Promane, Jef Deegan and John MacLeod who lay down the rich layers of sound which add so much to the original compositions of Mike Murley. If you listen carefully to the final track, “Can’t You See,” you might just recognize the chord changes of “It’s You Or No One.” Murley is the featured soloist displaying his usual formidable talent along with members of the U of T Jazz Orchestra. I am constantly amazed at the technical proficiency of so many of today’s young musicians, talents that are amply demonstrated on this recording, with seven members of the orchestra sharing solo honours with Murley.

The CD will be available through Indie Pool, Amazon and will have distribution on iTunes.