Kris Davis
Capricorn Climber
Clean Feed CF 266 CD
www.cleanfeed-records.com

Creating a cohesive program that moves from experimentation to straight-ahead swing and lush inventions — often on the same track — pianist Kris Davis outlines a series of moods on this program of her own compositions. Calgary-born Davis has made a reputation for herself as an arranger as well as a soloist and each of her compositions displays her sidefolk — some of New York’s most accomplished players — to their collective best advantage.

Take for instance Pass the Magic Hat, which starts off as a swirling and spiralling exposition for her piano plus the bass of Trevor Dunn and the drums of Tom Rainey, but soon evolves to a contrapuntal duel between her metronomic comping and Ingrid Laubrock’s pulsating tenor saxophone. A spikier secondary theme developed by violist Mat Maneri arrives, eventually to be harmonized with piano and reed slurs. On the other hand, Bottom of a Well is a cohesive recital-styled track with low-pitched piano clunks underscoring the chromatic string sets. Before a legato finale, Dunn vibrates a solo in the cello range while the violist harshly rubs his strings. With Davis’ narrative literally more low-key and impressionistic, Pi is Irrational balances Maneri’s tremolo stridency with Rainey’s rugged ruffs and taps, until Laubrock’s gentle arpeggios presage a brief, rhythmically sophisticated bass solo.

Davis who studied at Banff and Toronto defines her program enough to give her soloists the freedom to interpolate everything from strident reed bites and fiddle scratches to extended cymbal vibrations into the nine tracks. But she reins them in enough with strategies ranging from inner piano string plucks to keyboard jabs and cohesive chording to maintain the integrity of her compositional vision.

Upstairs
Matt Herskowitz
Justin Time JUST 249-2
www.justin-time.com

This CD was recorded before an audience at the Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill in Montreal where Matt Herskowitz has made his home since 2000 and the first thing that struck me was the phenomenal technique possessed by this Albany-born pianist.

The varied program begins with a long — over 13 minutes — interpretation of the Dave Brubeck composition, Dziekuje which means “thank you” in Polish, and was modelled on Chopin’s Prelude in E Minor. He also includes Cantabile by Michel Petrucciani, Traumerei by Robert Schumann, music by J.S. Bach, two originals, Waltz In Moscow and Bella’s Lament plus a couple of Gershwin songs for good measure — But Not For Me and I’ve Got Rhythm.

Herskowitz’ classical training permeates the music, sometimes at the expense of “jazz feeling” but then there are also passages of delicate beauty as shown in Bella’s Lament and Traumerei.

To make a comparison between visual art and music, Herskowitz is like, say, a Dali rather than a Mondrian.

I have a non-musical complaint on behalf of all of us with less than perfect eyesight. The liner notes are in deep blue against a black background, making them all but impossible to read. I, and a few others I have spoken with, find it extremely frustrating. Designers of CD sleeves please take note.

Guitarist Reg Schwager has worked with some of the most famous performers in jazz, including Diana Krall, George Shearing and Peter Appleyard. In addition to being a distinguished sideman, though, he’s also genuinely adventurous. Schwager has just released two contrasting CDs that testify to the range and quality of his work.

His duet with pianist David Restivo, Arctic Passage (Rant 1346), presents two musicians gifted in the myriad permutations of melody and harmony, etching work of glittering lyricism. Most of the compositions are Schwager’s own, themes worthy of further exploration, but there are also distinctive accounts of Poor Butterfly and Alexander’s Ragtime Band, each enlivened by thoughtful chordal extensions that are bound to surprise. The dialogue is inevitably reminiscent of the perfect duos recorded by Bill Evans and Jim Hall in the 1960s.

Schwager and drummer Michel Lambert, one of Quebec’s finest free improvisers, make Schwager’s outer limits more apparent on Trio Improvisations (Rant 1245). It’s a special trio, with three different musicians occupying the third spot. The recordings come from sessions during a six-month period between 2001 and 2002 and include the powerful Coltrane-influenced Toronto saxophonist Michael Stuart, Amsterdam’s anarchic and brilliant pianist Misha Mengelberg (an early influence on the Dutch-born Schwager) and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, perhaps Canada’s greatest contribution to international jazz. The music is all free improvisation, though in this case that means harmonic and rhythmic structures arise and dissolve with frequency and ease. What makes the set most remarkable is that it’s anything but pastiche. While many CDs from different sessions sound like patchwork quilts, this one sounds like a suite, with a consistent approach that expands outward from Schwager and Lambert and embraces their various guests.

Cellist Kye Marshall has a broad musical background ranging from extensive studies in jazz composition and positions as principal cellist with Toronto’s New Chamber Orchestra and assistant principal cellist with the National Ballet Orchestra. She’s worked extensively both in jazz and improvised music, and she brings all of those skills and inclinations to her Jazz Quartet’s Pencil Blues (Zephyr/Westwind Productions www.kyemarshall.com). It’s lively, infectious work and Marshall has thoughtfully constructed a string band around her still rather unusual jazz cello, with Don Thompson on bass, Andrew Scott on guitar and Ethan Ardelli on drums. When the group expands for textural reasons, she adds violist Kent Teeple and percussionist Mark Duggan to the ensembles. The feeling’s not unlike the Hot Club of France, and the clear star is Thompson, whose bass playing should be declared a national treasure.

Pianist Steve Koven is a crisp modern stylist, an ebullient musician who can move handily from infectious Latin jazz to probing ballads and complex three-way dialogues with the members of his long-standing trio. In fact that’s what has given Koven’s work its greatest dimension, something celebrated on SK3 20 (Bungalow Records SK 009 3), commemorating the 20th anniversary of the group with bassist Rob Clutton and drummer Anthony Michelli. It would be remarkable enough if Koven had held together a band that long with anybody, but he’s done so with two of the most creative musicians that the Toronto scene could provide, evident in the playful funk groove of Lolaland. The CD also comes with a bonus DVD of the group in performance.

Curtis Nowosad is a 24-year-old drummer who recently graduated from the University of Manitoba’s Jazz Studies Program. Clearly Nowosad enjoys many kinds of music, and there’s plenty of pop repertoire to go with the hard bop on his debut, The Skeptic & the Cynic (Know-a-sad Music KSM-001 www.curtisnowosad.com), with songs made famous by Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell and 2Pac Shakur. Nowosad’s band is made up largely of University of Manitoba faculty, with trumpeter Derrick Gardner, saxophonist Jimmy Greene, bassist Steve Kirby and Will Bonness on keyboards (covering piano, Fender Rhodes and Hammond B3) lending tremendous lustre to the proceedings. Clearly Nowosad has been an outstanding student, sounding right at home in this band of veterans, who for their part seem to be enjoying playing signature hard bop on tunes as unlikely as The Way You Make Me Feel and Three Little Birds.

Another musician employing distinguished talent is saxophonist Cameron Wallis. Calling Dexter (www.cameronwallismusic.com) features pianist André White, bassist Alec Walkington and drummer Dave Laing, who have functioned as the André White Trio for the past 25 years. Wallis is a skilful traditionalist, smoothly negotiating chord changes and swinging with aplomb. If anything, he’s a little too respectful, from the title dedication to Dexter Gordon to liner note invocations of Don Byas and “my two favourite Sonnys.” One of them is definitely Stitt, but Rollins seems too aggressively modern even in his 1950 form to qualify as the other. Wallis demonstrates more flexibility than identity by playing soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and even C melody saxophone, making it hard for a listener to get a sense of a distinctive voice.  

Of all the instruments that needed the advances of free music in the 20th century to show off its true character, it has been the double bass which benefitted most from this situation. Relegated to decorative, scene setting or mere rhythmic functions in conventional classical and jazz performances, it was only when bassists were able to express themselves without restraint that their role grew. By the 21st century in fact, solo bass recitals became as commonplace as those by other instrumentalists. The reason, as these CDs demonstrate, is the arrival of performers who can extract a multiplicity of novel tones, timbres and textures from four tautly wound strings.

Take Paris-based Joëlle Léandre for instance. Early in her career she played pieces composed specifically for her by the likes of John Cage and Giacinto Scelsi; now she’s fully committed to free expression. Wols circus: 12 compositions pour contrebasse d’après 12 gravures de Wols (Galerie Hus HUS 112 joelle-leandre.com) is particularly fascinating. Using only a bow, the strings, her instrument’s body and her own vocal inflections, Léandre interprets musically engravings by Surrealist artist Otto Wols (1913–1951). Created from 1942–1945, when the Berlin-born Wols was interned as an “enemy foreigner” in France, where he lived from 1932 until his death, the images are as abstract as they are affecting. Making no attempt to literally replicate the drawings in music, Léandre’s sound interpretations move from stentorian to muted, with indistinct, spiccato scrubs as common as Jew’s harp-like twangs. Especially noteworthy is the build-up and release reflected on the successive Topographie, Drei Vingnetten auf einem Blatt and Keiner Fleck. With each sequence three minutes, first abrasive then mellow string sawing fades into occasional arco slides and sul tasto pops with the air vibrated by the bow audible as well. The climax occurs as unison basso string strokes and Léandre’s vocal growls give way to a contrapuntal duet between sharp instrumental lines. Throughout, the bull fiddler provides personalized a view of Wols’ sketches with additional string inventions ranging from squeeze-toy peeps to tremolo bass slaps. Nonetheless the defining performance occurs with Dunkle Stadt, when with intensifying torque she moves from miniscule below-the-bridge plucks to staccato string chirps contrapuntally layered with vocalized faux lyric soprano accents. 

Unlike Léandre, whose 12 acoustic selections were recorded at one live concert, French-Israeli bassist JC Jones’ Citations: Solo Bass (Kadima Collective KCR 36 kadimacollective.com) is made up of 17 untitled compositions and improvisations from 2008 to 2012 using acoustic bass or electro-acoustic bass with live electronics. To be honest the computer processes aren’t that prominent; but are mostly used to provide a constant pizzicato undercurrent, while Jones’ arco buzzes add multiphonic sweeps or balladic decorations to the selections. More individual are the improvisations, which sometimes had been created to accompany dancers. On the 11th track for instance, rosin seems to be sliding off the bass strings as Jones slaps them agitato and tremolo so that soundboard thumps resonate throughout the instrument’s body. Buzzing spiccato action with banjo-like plucks from below the bridge succeed spanked string rhythms on the 15th track; while on the fifth Jones manages to sound as if he’s manipulating two basses at once without overdubbing. Here he plucks and shakes the strings in the instrument’s top range while ruggedly double- and triple-stopping from the bottom, resulting in snaps, knocks and pops ricocheting back onto one another. Moreover a track such as 17 sums up all the preceding strategies as Jones manages to isolate three separate theme variations. Not only are stentorian thumps and undulating bow motions heard, but so too is a third tremolo impulse harmonized alongside the first two.

If Jones’ electronic interface is limited, Montreal-based Alexandre St-Onge and Norwegian-in-Austin Ingebrigt Håker Flaten draw more textures to their finger tips by utilizing amplified electric basses on their solos sessions. A member of bands such as Klaxon Gueule, as well as studying for his PhD in art, St-Onge describes himself as a sound performer and the six selections on Ailleurs (&records ET18 etrecords.net) are studded as much with signal-processed drones and splutters as reflective string modulations. Layering the sequences with loops that replicate sounds ranging from ring-modulator whooshes to bell ringing and distorted flanges, the basic double bass-like rhythmic qualities of the instrument are muted. Only on the fifth track does the tremolo, dial-twisting exposition pull back enough for a semi-acoustic interlude. Here juddering bass-string plucks can be heard contrapuntally advancing the narrative, which is still decorated with additional droning lines and wiggling voltage-affiliated cries. The achievement of Ailleurs is that by mutating its intonation and freeing the bass from its limitations as a purely rhythmic instrument a new interface appears. The reverberating result is of an expansive formula that evocatively builds on expected bull fiddle timbres the way a realistic photograph could be the basis for a surrealistic art

As abstract in execution as St-Onge and as familiar with as many electronic extensions, on the six tracks which make up Birds – Solo Electric (Tektite Records ingebrigtflaten.com), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten at least follows the convention of titling his tracks. Known for his membership in bands such as The Thing and Atomic, he’s able to play the electric bass in such a way to suggest multiple instruments. The most breathtaking instance of this occurs on Chicago. Pulsating the top string of his highly amplified bass with spiccato pressure, Flaten produces timbres that could as easily have come from a bagpipe chanter or a piccolo trumpet. At the same time modulated feedback decorates the exposition, while a legato theme is heard from the top guitar-like strings. Eventually this broken-octave display fades into measured stops. Mercurial and rubato, many of the other tones in his improvisations sound as if they are extended by an e-bow. Take a track like Lucia. Here string slaps alternate with flanges that could come from backward running tapes, until a vigourous melody surmounts those sounds. Whistles, whooshes, crackles and other amplified flutters predominate throughout, but when Flaten strikes or scrapes the strings with firecracker-like resonation, he confirms the true instrumental origin of the performances.

With the creativity on display on any one of these CDs so obvious, hearing the bass used merely for decorative or rhythmic functions in the future will likely be disappointing for many.

Espejo
Eliana Cuevas
Independent EC003
www.elianacuevas.com

In continuing her stellar trajectory as an award-winning songwriter and vocalist (2007 — Toronto Independent Music Award for World Music Artist of the Year, 2008 — nominated Canadian Folk Music Awards for Best World Music Solo, 2009 — National Jazz Award for Latin Jazz Artist of the Year), Eliana Cuevas spent the past three years creating this dynamic and soulful fourth CD release. Her partnership with producer/pianist Jeremy Ledbetter, along with a great line-up of Latin and jazz musicians including George Koller and Mark Kelso, makes for an eclectic mix of styles performed with artistry and heart.

The vocals are rich with new experience, the musical arrangements sophisticated and savvy. From the sultry blues/torch song Lamento to the quirky, playful and humourous El Tucusito with its traditional Venezuelan joropo rhythm performed at lightning speed, she and her collaborators move deftly through a great variety of moods and tempi. The first track Estrellita is most danceable — full of joy and exuberance — and the penultimate track, Melancolía, is the jewel in the crown, evoking a wistful yet deeply powerful longing in its portrayal of the hardships of immigration. All in all, a collection of songs fairly bursting with life and energy. I can’t wait for the live show.

Concert Note: Eliana Cuevas will launch Espejo at Lula Lounge on May 15.

In its june 1935 issue, the opinionated periodical Etude ranked Myra Hess among the twelve greatest pianists of all time and more recently she was included in the Philips omnibus edition, Great Pianists of the 20th Century. Julia Myra Hess was born in London in June 1890. At the age of seven she was the youngest person ever to receive a certificate from Trinity College. She next studied at the Guildhall School where she was awarded the coveted Gold Medal and then went on to the Royal Academy of Music where she studied with Tobias Matthay, with whom she had been awarded a three-year scholarship, and where she befriended fellow pupil Irene Scharrer. Hess made her debut, aged 17, playing the Beethoven Fourth Piano Concerto with the 29-year-old, newly knighted Thomas Beecham conducting. She concertized extensively and in 1922 made her debut in the United States, instantly becoming a concertgoers’ favourite as she was in Europe.

Myra Hess – The complete solo and concerto studio recordings (Appian APR 7504, 5 CDs) presents her once-prized recordings to a new audience. Disc 1, the American Columbia recordings from 1928 to 1931, has 21 selections beginning with her celebrated transcription, Jesu, joy of man’s desiring, that became her signature piece. It was the first and also the last (in 1957) piece she recorded. These early performances are immediately captivating as the music appears to simply emerge, drawing the listener into a private, one-on-one appreciation of the composer. Lots of Bach, Schubert, Schumann and Debussy concluding with, surprisingly, Falla’s Ritual Fire Dance! Here are only some of the highlights of the four other discs: Disc 2 has the four English Columbias from 1933 and the HMVs from 1937–1949 including the 21st Mozart concerto conducted by Leslie Heward (1942). The HMVs from 1937–1949 continue on disc 3 with Schumann’s Carnaval (1938) and the Concerto in A Minor under Walter Goehr (1937), Franck’s Symphonic Variations under Basil Cameron (1941) and Howard Ferguson’s F Minor Sonata (1942). The HMVs from 1952 to 1957 on the last two discs include the Beethoven Sonatas Opp. 109 & 110 (1953), another Schumann A Minor Concerto with Rudolf Schwarz (1952) and his Symphonic Etudes Op.13 (1953). A final session took place on October 12, 1957 that included an inspired performance of Granados’ Maiden and the Nightingale, concluding as mentioned with her Jesu, joy of man’s desiring.

The generous liner notes are typical of Appian, being very readable with ample biographical material, recording dates and original matrix numbers, etc. The transcriptions are exemplary. This set is issued as a commemoration of the artistry of Myra Hess and while not every performance herein is equally praiseworthy, complete means complete; all 397 minutes! Those who revel in and look for the latest, fastest and loudest fingers around must look elsewhere.

Footnotes: by definition, not included is the 1927 Columbia recording of the Schubert Trio D898 with Jelly d’ Arányi and Felix Salmond or the 1935 d’ Arányi and Gaspar Cassadó Brahms Trio, Op.87 that Appian issued on APR7012. At the 1960 Edinburgh Festival she and Isaac Stern played sonatas by Brahms, Schubert, Ferguson and Beethoven that were recorded by the BBC and issued by Testament (SBT1458, 1 CD). There are a few other live performances to be found on Sony, BBC and Music and Arts CDs. Myra Hess died in London in 1965.

In audiophile circles, the reference recording of the Sibelius Symphony No.2 is usually the Sir John Barbirolli 1962 version for Readers Digest now on Testament. A new Barbirolli performance that sweeps the field has appeared on an ICA Classics release of a concert from February 7, 1969 with the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra (ICAC5096, 2 CDs). The program opens with an elegant reading of Schubert’s Fourth Symphony followed by Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. The tenor for the Britten is Gerald English whose voice has a texture and timbre different from Peter Pears’ for whom the work was written. Although Decca recorded the definitive version of the work in 1944 with Britten conducting the Boyd Neel Orchestra with Pears and, who else but Dennis Brain as the horn soloist, this version from Cologne is absolutely gorgeous, beautifully nuanced and abetted by the virtuoso horn soloist, Hermann Baumann.

Barbirolli’s reading of the Sibelius is exceptional even by his own high standards. He may have thought, “I’m not holding back any longer ... it’s now or never.” Perhaps not, but it certainly sounds like it. From the confidently measured opening to the closing measures this is a mighty performance from one of the very best orchestras around. In the coda of the Finale Barbirolli unexpectedly broadens the tempo as if to hold back the inevitable. The effect is stunning, a real lump-in-the-throat experience. The recording of all three works is state of the art, crystal clear and dynamic with wide open tuttis. 

One of the less talked about Shostakovich works is the Symphony No.8 Op.65, written in 1943 during World War Two. Of one hour’s duration, on first hearing it may feel to be an enigmatic, sprawling work… the first movement alone lasts nearly 25 minutes. This impression should be dispelled by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky in a live performance from The Royal Festival Hall on October 30, 1983 (LPO 0069). Rozhdestvensky is intuitively in sync with the Shostakovich of the time and is perfectly suited and able to pass it on to the audience and to us, 30 years later. The performance, while rather straightforward, is flavoured with many empathetic moments, but the most arresting surprise is the very long fermata in the percussion a few bars from the end of the third movement. The effect is still chilling after many hearings. As the final movement closes I feared that there would be an outbreak of applause to shatter the tranquility but happily there is none. Perfect!

The White Spot
Way Out Northwest
Relative Pitch RPR 1006 (www.relativepitchrecords.com)

Perhaps it should be called a North American Free Improv Agreement or NAFIA. Every time experimental British saxophonist John Butcher plays in the northwestern part of this continent his trio is made up of two Vancouver-based players: bassist Torsten Müller and drummer Dylan van der Schyff. Listening to the nine pitch-perfect improvisations on this disc demonstrates why this configuration has been maintained since 2007.

The veteran bassist, who is perfectly capable of atonal string-stretching and scrubbed pulsations, is careful to maintain a connective pumping throughout. Liberated by that stance, the drummer has the freedom to make strategic moves involving everything from cymbal snaps and woodblock clipping, the better to complement Butcher’s narratives.

Probably the easiest entry point to the poised intensity from this balanced trio is Earlianum. With Müller’s accompaniment low-pitched and rhythmic, Butcher’s tenor sax exposition is so well-modulated it could be from Coleman Hawkins, until he opens up the piece with shaking vibrations and quivering multiphonics, which are shadowed by the drummer’s clicks and clatters. As the saxophonist’s part evolves to reed bites plus staccato split tones, van der Schyff introduces muscular ruffs and the bassist’s part is transformed from stentorian tremolo strokes to razor’s edge slices and stops.

This interaction is emphasized throughout the disc. No matter how many triple-stopping bass runs, drumstick-on-cymbals shrills or strident reed-shattering banshee wails are heard, skilful equilibrium allows the tunes to impress as they flow chromatically. Comparison of NAFIA with NAFTA makes it clear that cooperation involving disparate musicians easily trumps any tripartite agreement dreamed up by politicians

Dompierre – 24 Préludes
Alain Lefèvre
Analekta AN 2 9292-3

Canadian composer François Dompierre has had an eclectic career to say the least. Born in Ottawa in 1943, he studied music at the University of Ottawa and the Conservatoire de Montréal in addition to his private lessons with Claude Champagne, Clermont Pépin and Gilles Tremblay. Since then, his career has taken him on several paths, including those of conductor, composer, CD producer and travel writer. His own compositions demonstrate a myriad of genres – soundtracks for more than 60 films, a full-scale opera and upwards of 30 concert works.

Dompierre’s 24 Préludes were inspired by longtime family friend “Bob” whose keyboard dexterity and interest in boogie-woogie were a source of great fascination to the young François. Hence, it was with Bob in mind that Dompierre created this enticing collection of miniatures, engagingly performed here by Alain Lefèvre on a two-disc Analekta recording.

The set opens with a prelude aptly titled Frénétique which features a rollicking boogie-woogie style bass, very much à la 1940s. From here, many of the preludes pay homage to a particular dance or pop style, one for each of the major and minor keys of the tonal system, and all as diverse as the set of 24 preludes by Frédéric Chopin. For example, the eighth, titled Déterminé (Tango) is a rhythmic and bombastic interpretation of the famous Argentinean dance form, while No.12, Immobile (Cool) lies at the other end of the spectrum, minimal and introspective. Lefèvre demonstrates a real feeling for the music, capturing the mood of each piece with great panache. Many of them contain complex cross rhythms, syncopations and chromatic harmonies, elements best addressed by only the most musically adept of pianists.

In all, the disc is an appealing case of “new wine in old bottles” with composer and performer perfectly complementing each other. Bob would surely have approved!

Rihm, Wolfgang – Oedipus
Schmidt; Pell; Dooley; Carlson; Murray; Golden; Deutsche Oper Berlin; Christoff Prick
ArtHaus Musik 101 667

Oedipus Rex, the tragedy by Sophocles, seems a perfect subject for an opera: prophecy, patricide, incest, suicide, self-blinding – it is all here. This well-known story receives a special treatment from the composer and librettist, Wolfgang Rihm. He was fascinated by post-structuralism and Derrida, so simply following the Greek play would not do. Additional texts came from the interpretation of the Oedipal myth by Nietzsche and Heiner Müller. The resulting “musical theatre” (Rihm initially refused the "opera" label) was created in collaboration with Götz Friedrich, who was the been the artistic director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1981 to 2000. Aside from deconstructionism, Rihm favoured incorporating the classical humanities, a trait he shared with Friedrich. It is more of a meditation on the human condition and human frailty represented in the Oedipal urges in all of us, as interpreted by Freud, than a straight retelling of the myth. To add to the originality of the work, it is scored for the most part exclusively for wind instruments, with two violins making a guest appearance when Oedipus gouges his eyes out. Rihm, who is as innovative as he is prolific, shows the influence of both Luigi Nono and Karlheinz Stockhausen, with whom he studied in the 1970s. Deserving of special mention is Andreas Schmidt (himself a student of Fischer-Dieskau and Schwartzkopf) and the offstage Greek chorus of 16 individual singers from the Deutsche Oper ensemble (rather than chorus members). 

It is hard to believe that this DVD is a recording of an event that took place 26 years ago. The music sounds fresh and contemporary, and the staging is sumptuous and reminiscent (or prescient) of Robert Lepage's recent work. Some of the principals, like Andreas Schmidt (Oedipus), have advanced their careers to become regulars at, among others, the Bayreuth Festival. Others have passed away (the elegant baritone-turned-tenor, William Pell [Kreon]), or continued in relative obscurity, despite an extensive performance schedule (Emily Golden [Jokasta]).

Wagner - Die Walküre  
Anja Kampe; Jonas Kaufmann, René Pape; Nina Stemme; Mariinsky Orchestra; Valery Gergiev
Mariinsky MAR0527

This year marks Wagner’s 200th birthday and the festivities and celebrations are well under way. During the last decade with many opera houses generating innovative new concepts for Der Ring des Nibelungen the cycle has come to new life and become justly or unjustly Wagner’s most popular work. With a wealth of video releases available today, it is refreshing to concentrate on what’s most important, the music performed by a great conductor trying his hands on it for the first time.

Although I presume Gergiev has performed the entire cycle in St. Petersburg, I am only aware of this CD set of Die Walküre, the second drama or the First Day of the Ring, as having been recorded. No matter, because it is the most engaging, most immediately appealing, most melodic and heartbreaking drama of the four. Act I is almost a complete opera in itself. Starting with a raging storm and emerging from utter darkness, the very depth of human misery with desperate cries for help, it turns very gradually into faint glimmerings of hope, then a ray of light followed by the burst into spring, and by this time Gergiev whips his orchestra into waves and waves of such ecstasy that one is reminded of the miracles Furtwängler used to produce. Act II is the turning point of the Ring saga. Although it is very long and could get tedious with its lengthy dialogues and monologues Gergiev never lets the tension sag. The ominous, frightening minutes prior to the crucial fight is so ridden with anxiety that an electric charge can be felt in the air. What follows in Act III is a rousing Ride of the Walkyries in sonic splendour and a most heartrending Wotan’s Farewell sung by probably today’s greatest, most intelligent and powerful Wotan, René Pape.

Further glories of this set are Swedish soprano, Nina Stemme’s wonderful Brunnhilde, Jonas Kaufmann’s strong yet vulnerable and tender Siegmund and his sister/bride Sieglinde, beautifully portrayed and sung by the accomplished Wagnerian soprano Anja Kampe. The superlative cast includes the awesome basso profundo, Mikhail Petrenko, who creates vociferous terror as Hunding.

One of the most intriguing releases to come my way in a good long time is the 3-CD + DVD set How We Tried a New Combination of Notes to Show the Invisible or Even the Embrace of Eternity,featuring the music of 40-something French composer and guitarist Olivier Mellano (naïve MO 782182).

The first disc is devoted to the eponymous extended symphonic work commissioned by the Orchestre symphonique de Bretagne which performs with soprano Valérie Gabail under the direction of Québécois conductor Jean-Michaël Lavoie. Both the music and the text (in six languages plus a recitation of the formulas for the first 17 numbers of the Fibonacci series) are by Mellano. The gorgeous long melodic soprano line soars over orchestral textures that range from placid to tumultuous throughout the five movements, with a passing similarity to Górecki’s iconic Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. As moving and dramatic as this work is, what makes it especially interesting are the variations that follow on the other two CDs. Mellano has taken the basic material of the soprano/orchestral composition and reworked it for male voice (half sung and half spoken by Simon Huw Jones), 17 electric guitars (overdubbed by the composer) and drums (Nicolas Courret). In this instance the text is rendered entirely in English and comes to the forefront. This is even more the case in the third version in which the lyrics are “co-written and re-imagined” by Hip-Hop veteran MC Dälek (Will Brooks). The various transformations are stunning and taken to yet another level with a silent narrative interpretation by French filmmaker Alanté Kavaïté using Cocteau-like images over a soundtrack of the original orchestral version.

Mellano’s was not the only intriguing symphonic work involving voice and electric guitar to come my way this month. Tim Brady – Atacama: Symphony No.3 featuring Bradyworks and Vivavoce (ATMA ACD2 2676) is a settingof poems from the collection Symphony by Chilean activist Elias Letelier who was given sanctuary in Canada in 1981 after being imprisoned and tortured by the Pinochet regime. Brady says “The text speaks of the political terror of the Pinochet era in Chile, one of the country’s darkest moments, but it uses striking metaphors of hope and love in the midst of the nightmare of torture and disappearances. This mixture of tenderness and cruelty, of light and dark, gave me a kind of strong emotional and dramatic contrast that I look for in a text.” His effective settings range from mostly a cappella, close harmony singing by the virtuosic Montreal choir to extended, often minimalistic rhythmical instrumental passages by his unique ensemble of keyboards, percussion, flute(s), clarinet(s), saxophone(s), violin, viola, double bass and his own electric guitar. Perhaps most effective are the movements that skilfully combine the two as Brady continues to redefine the designation “symphony.”

As we celebrate a myriad of centennials this season it would behoove us to keep in mind some of the senior living composers who continue to create. Henri Dutilleux is a case in point at the age of 97. The latest release of his music, Correspondances (DG 479 1180), includes the world premiere recording of the title piece featuring Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan. Although there are no performer bios included in the booklet, according to the blurb on the back of the CD Hannigan is “today’s foremost interpreter of contemporary vocal music.” She has performed the work with both the Toronto and the Montreal symphonies. Although originally written for Dawn Upshaw, Dutilleux was so impressed with Hannigan’s performance that he rewrote the ending especially for her. Also included are the cello concerto Tout un Monde Lointain with Anssi Karttunen and The Shadows of Time, a work based on The Diary of Anne Frank. The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France andconductor Esa-Pekka Salonen recorded this disc in the presence of the composer. Dutilleux is no stranger to Toronto audiences and the TSO’s 1998 recording of Symphony No.2, Metaboles and Timbres, Espace, Mouvement under Jukka-Pekka Saraste is still available (Finlandia 3984 2525324-2). Both discs are highly recommended.

If the DG disc can be faulted for having no performer bios, the next disc goes to the opposite extreme. The latest release on Orange Mountain Music (OMM 0086), a label devoted to the music of Philip Glass, features the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra under Anne Manson’s direction. In this instance the booklet includes two pages about the conductor, two pages about the guest piano soloist (Glass’s collaborator Michael Riesman), a page about the orchestra and full credits for the recording done at Glenn Gould Studio, but not one word about the composer or the music. I understand that a label which features Glass’ music exclusively might not need to include his biography on every release, but I was very surprised that there were no program notes about the pieces, Symphony No.3 and The Hours. The symphony, for string orchestra, surprised me as not being typical of the composer’s minimalist style, at least not until the third movement. The first two movements are reminiscent of English string symphonies of the early 20th century, although this wouldn’t really be mistaken for one, with only the final two more recognizable as Glass. The Hours is a suite arranged by Riesman from Glass’s original music for the 2002 film of the same name. It is lush and warm and beautifully balanced, exactly what we have come to expect from the cinematic Glass with his repetitive wash of diatonic unison melodies. Listening to the suite enticed me to revisit the marvellous film with a stellar cast including Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf. I now look forward to re-reading Michael Cunningham’s book on which it was based. By the way, the DVD of the movie includes an interesting bonus track with Glass discussing the music.

Brief notes: It’s hard to keep up with all the excellent new releases by Montreal’s ATMA label. I was very pleased to find that one of their latest features a work that I fell in love with in my formative years and have not had occasion to revisit recently, the Sextet for piano and wind quintetby Francis Poulenc. It gets a stirring performance by David Jalbert and the woodwind quintet Pentaèdre on Francis Poulenc – Chamber Music (ACD2 2646). The disc also includes fine renditions of the sonatas for flute and piano and clarinet and piano, the Elégie for horn and piano and the Trio for piano, oboe and bassoon. A very welcome addition to the catalogue.

Rye Whiskey is the latest offering from the eclectic local quasi old-time music quintet The Boxcar Boys (www.theboxcarboys.ca). Theunusual instrumentation of the group — clarinet, accordion, violin, trombone and sousaphone, supplemented by mandolin on some tracks — works surprisingly well in a wide range of music that spans original compositions in the form of waltzes, stomps and tangos to the standards Freight Train and You Are My Sunshine, and traditional tunes like the title track. The music is mostly instrumental and happily so. The occasional vocals are tentative at best, and while I think this may be part of the point — reminiscent of scratchy, distant sounding early 20th century folk recordings — in contrast to the high sound quality of the instrumentals they seem incongruent. Overall though, this disc is a wonderful swinging romp through a variety of hills and dales, swamps and deltas.

Toronto-based flamenco guitarist Jorge Miguel (www.jorgemiguel.com) has undertaken a monthly residency at the Lula Lounge (next instalment April 17) in support of his latest release Guitarra Flamenca (Andaluz Music AM1012). The playing is crisp and nuanced with lively, if minimal, support from percussionists Luis Orbegoso and Daniel Stone — often with just complex hand clapping — and bassist Justin Gray. Highlights include the opener Tortilla de Buleria, the rousing Rumba Tangos with vocals by the percussionists and the somewhat introspective Romance del Amargo, the only non-original composition on the disc. Written by Federico Garcia Lorca and Ricardo Pachon, it works very well in Miguel’s arrangement. In all this is a very satisfying release, one that makes it hard to keep your feet still.

The final disc I will mention is one that would not normally find its way into our pages due to its mainstream pop sensibility, but Beatle Ballads (www.martinandfrank.com) is quite surprising in its accomplishment. Singer/guitarist Martin Gladstone, well known on the Toronto scene for a number of decades now, and his younger colleagues Frank Caruso (piano and direction) and Brenton Chan (cello), have managed to capture the essence of 17 of the most poignant Beatles songs in their solo voice and instrumental trio arrangements. Purists will no doubt prefer to stick with the originals, but as a tribute album this features a great selection of well-loved tunes, lovingly performed. Highlights will no doubt vary with your own particular favourite Beatle songs, but even this jaded old critic (not known to have a fondness for the Fab Four) can’t resist such gems as Here Comes the Sun, Michelle, Julia and While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

We welcome your feedback and invite submissions. CDs and comments should be sent to: The WholeNote, 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 and record labels and additional, expanded and archival reviews.

—David Olds, DISCoveries Editor
discoveries@thewholenote.com

Schubert – Erlkönig
Matthias Goerne; Andreas Haefliger
Harmonia Mundi HMC 902141

Six hundred and thirty-four is the total number of solo lieder written by Franz Schubert, and Matthias Goerne has the ambition to record them all! This is the seventh disc in the series (each with a different piano accompanist) and Goerne is into some wonderful territory. Erlkönig is of course the setting of a poem by Goethe and Schubert’s first song masterpiece. The composer himself designated it as his Opus No.1. What remains a mystery is the studious indifference that Goethe seems to have shown to this brilliant song. When initially sent the setting by one of the young Schubert’s patrons, he returned it some months later — without a word of a comment. Later on, Schubert himself sent to the author beautifully bound scores for this and other Goethe poems, but never received a reply. Finally, after Schubert’s death, Erlkönig was performed for Goethe publically — and the only comment from the venerated poet was: “It reminds me of something I have heard before.”

No matter what Goethe thought, the song is a masterpiece — on this recording accompanied by other works, such as Die Forelle and Im Abendrot. Goerne has a beautiful baritone, perfectly suited to the lieder repertoire and of course a perfect command of the language. Many international singers, despite language coaching, get tripped up by the dense texture of Schubert’s settings. The thoughtful interpretation, combined with some truly inspired accompaniment, in this instance by Andreas Haefliger, make this Schubert edition an exciting endeavour. At least this reviewer will be looking up volumes one through six in record stores.

Sentirete Una Canzonetta
Harmonious Blacksmith;
directors Joseph Gascho, Justin Godoy
www.harmoniousblacksmith.com

Improvisations characterize this anthology, and they are both vocal and instrumental. Harmonious Blacksmith draws on the improvisations found in the instrumental instruction books of mid-16th century Italy. Ah Hong (soprano) brings an intense quality to Sentirete Una Canzonetta by Tarquinio Merula; the more rustic Se l’aura spira tutta vezzosa draws on Hong’s vocal expertise in tandem with Justin Godoy’s recorder playing — the latter well in keeping with the demands imposed on the baroque recorder by any of that era’s greatest composers. This mastery is again reflected in Giovanni Battista Fontana’s Sonata 3, with its hints of baroque country-dance movements.

In solo instrumental terms, Joseph Gascho’s inspired harpsichord playing interprets the virtuoso quality of Girolamo Frescobaldi’s Toccata 1 (Libro 2). Godoy’s recorder playing in Ricercar is up to the demands of the music by Jacob van Eyck. Nicola Matteis, who died after the heyday of Italian improvisation, introduces gentility to the instrumental pieces in this compilation. More spirited, not to say impassioned, is Nika Zlatarić’s cello playing in Giovanni Antonio Bertoli’s Sonata 7.

Godoy’s arrangement of pieces by five composers under the title More palatino is an intense and entertaining combination demonstrating just what baroque composers could bring out of their instruments — and their players. In fact, this attractive recital of baroque variations confirms that they were never confined to the harpsichord or lute.

Bach – Flute Sonatas
Andrea Oliva; Angela Hewitt
Hyperion CDA67897

On this recording Andrea Oliva and Angela Hewitt make a convincing case for playing Bach’s music on contemporary instruments. Hewitt’s nuanced approach to the master’s contrapuntal writing, especially evident in the long B minor sonata’s Andante opening movement, allows for an exquisite clarity and independence of the “voices.” Flutist Oliva brings a wide range of expression, from tender pathos in the Largo e dolce second movement of the same sonata to riveting bravura excitement in both Allegro movements of the E minor sonata. He brings effortless technique and consistently incisive but not aggressive articulation to everything he plays; this was particularly evident in the Allegro second movement of the Sonata in C Major. And then there was the confident repose of his relaxed and intelligent phrasing in the opening Allegro Moderato of the E-flat major sonata, the sparing but highly expressive use of vibrato in the famous Siciliano second movement of the same sonata, the persuasive use of dynamic contrasts to delineate episodes in the first movement of the B minor sonata and the exquisite pianissimos, allowing the melodic line of the piano to come out, later in the same work.

Extraordinary as it may sound, having played all these sonatas many times, even I was surprised by the beauty of the Andante third movement of the Sonata in E Minor. There is artistry in this recording that seems to get better every time you listen to it.

Sonatas & Suite
Steven Dann; James Parker
ATMA ACD2 2519

The accomplished musicians featured on this disc need little introduction to Toronto audiences familiar with their frequent appearances on the local chamber music scene. Their recital together on the ATMA label provides an intriguing opportunity to explore the repertoire of French viola works from the turn of the 20th century.

Pride of place in this collection goes to the central work in the program, the sonata by Charles Koechlin (1867–1950), a truly outstanding composition and a major contribution to the viola repertoire. Completed in the midst of the First World War, the work is dedicated to fellow composer and erstwhile violinist (and violist) Darius Milhaud who premiered the work in Paris in 1915. Koechlin’s crystalline harmonies, supple rhythms and melodic inventiveness are inimitable and it is a pleasure to see his music gradually attracting the attention it deserves. Throughout the four movements of the work the unusually wide-ranging piano writing is very much at the forefront of Koechlin’s thought, with the viola often receding into the background texture. Parker’s evocation of Koechlin’s kaleidoscopic quasi-orchestral textures is masterful and Dann’s artistry is movingly eloquent throughout.

The two flanking works receive their first recorded performances here. Pierre de Bréville (1861–1949) was a noted professor, music critic and the author of a biography of César Franck, a mentor whose influence permeates his finely crafted sonata which, though composed in the war ravaged days of 1944, still speaks the dainty language of the fin-de-siècle. The spirited opening and lively finale of the 1897 Suite in three parts by the celebrated organist Charles Tournemire (1870–1939) provide a rousing conclusion to this excellent and enterprising disc.