Tambanavo (Dance With Them)
Zhambai Trio
Independent n/a
www.zhambai.com

The exhilarating debut CD by the Vancouver group Zhambai Trio showcases both the traditional music of the Shona culture of Zimbabwe and that of its transplanted son, Kurai Blessing Mubaiwa, the group’s leader. Mubaiwa is not only an outstanding mbira dza vadzimu (“thumb piano”), marimba, ngoma (hand drum) and hosho (maraca) player; he is an eloquent and powerful singer as well.

Joined by Canadians, world drummer extraordinaire Curtis Andrews and dancer-percussionist Navaro Franco, the Zhambai Trio’s music is deeply steeped in the traditional mbira music of Zimbabwe. The musical form is typically cyclic, while also marked throughout by evolving, interlocking, dual instrument variations. Characteristic vocal solos and choral responses are usually sung over the continuous instrumental patterns, which in the case of Chinzvenga Mutsvairo, builds into a very satisfying, densely woven, polyphonic texture. That and other tracks remind us how closely identified with the essence of music-making the voice is in much of West Africa. The expressive voices, so prominent on this CD, make a compelling case as the real stars here, despite the evident “rightness” and even virtuosity of much of the instrumental playing.

The online notes refer to the “trance-y” nature of the performance in its homeland. Traditionally sought after in Shona ceremonies, trance states are used to communicate with ancestor spirits and to offer insights to problems of community members. The lyrics on this CD however offer less dramatic, reassuring advice to youth, “you can also do what your elders can” (Chipundura). Another song urges people to get along with their grandmothers, who they rely on for comfort and warmth (Dangurangu).

While the Zhambai Trio was formed as recently as 2010, this CD is clear evidence of an infectious brand of contemporary Zimbabwean-inflected music emerging fully formed from our west coast.

Arguably the most illustrious achievement in Decca’s history, and in the industry’s, was the realization of a staged for stereo production of Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelungen featuring the world’s eminent Wagnerian voices to be supported by the incomparable Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. EMI had recorded the Karajan cycle live in Bayreuth in 1951 but getting it to market didn’t get beyond the planning stage. Some years later a tentative release date for the complete cycle was announced but the project was shelved when, as I understand the situation, EMI was unexpectedly required to pay all the musicians involved with a fee equal to what they would be paid if they were to record it at this later date. Fortunately, EMI secured the rights and issued the Furtwangler Ring recorded in Rome in October and November 1953. The story of getting that cycle to disc is a saga in itself.

In addition to engaging singers the Decca project required a conductor of stature. Hans Knappertsbusch was considered but Georg Solti was the final choice. John Culshaw was the producer who led the Decca team responsible for everything necessary to get some 16 hours of intense music making onto a finished tape. To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the composer in 2013 and the conductor’s 100th this year, Decca has assembled an extraordinarily opulent edition with many extras that are listed at the bottom of this review.

Das Rheingold was recorded in the Sofiensaal during September and October 1958 with an all-star cast including George London (Wotan), Kirsten Flagstad (Fricka), Set Svanholm (Loge), Paul Kuen (Mime), Gustav Neidlinger (Alberich) and other luminaries of the day. The closing scene following Donner’s summoning the thunder is most impressive with London the perfect Wotan who has unknowingly set in motion the inevitability of the far off twilight of the gods. Many of us looked forward to London’s Wotan in Walküre and Siegfried but it was Hans Hotter who sang the role in both.

Initially, there were very real concerns as to whether demand at retail would be large enough to make the project worthwhile. After all, there had never been an undertaking of this magnitude. Decca/London’s classical manager in the United States, Terry McEwan, was very positive about the sales potential and it is claimed that his enthusiasm and initial first order ended any doubts about the future of the cycle. The three LP set of Das Rheingold was issued in 1959 to universal acclaim, both artistically and sonically. No one had ever heard a recording to match the realism of Decca’s “Sonic Stage” stereo sound and such opulence from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. It was a milestone. It has been in the catalog ever since as LP, then tape and finally CD ... well not quite finally as related below.

In Die Walküre the real story begins as Sigmund (James King) and Sieglinde (Regine Crespin) are thrown together, discover that they are brother and sister, fall madly in love and run off into the woods and conceive Siegfried. Hunding is sung by Gottlob Frick, Wotan by Hans Hotter, Birgit Nilsson is Brunnhilde and Christa Ludwig is Fricka. The eight Valkyries include Brigitte Fassbaender and Helga Dernesch who would later be Karajan’s Brunnhilde in his cycle for DG. Die Walkure was recorded after Siegfried during October and November 1965. Siegfried had been set down in May and October in 1962. The legendary Wolfgang Windgassen is really into the role of Siegfried who knows not fear, slays the dragon Fafner (Kurt Bohme), kills Mime (Gerhard Stolze) then learns of and finds the sleeping Brunnhilde thanks to the Wood Dove (Joan Sutherland).

Nowhere better is the opulent sound and full glory of the Vienna Philharmonic heard than in Götterdämmerung, where all the machinations are paid for, all the principal mortals killed off, Loge has his revenge on the gods as Valhalla burns and the gold is restored to the Rhine Maidens.

There are, of course, many passages in this recording of a very long and complex work that the listener may wish to compare favorably or unfavorably with another performance or performances. That’s what collectors and music lovers do and enjoy.

The Solti Ring is a living tribute, a monument, to everyone involved; the singers, the orchestra and to Solti himself and of course Wagner, the librettist and composer. All perpetuated by Decca who had the remarkable foresight to hand over reigns to producer John Culshaw and a totally enrolled support team.

I must comment on the single Blu-ray audio disc that contains the entire cycle. There is a total absence of any processing artifacts and the listener is immediately and unmistakably right there in the acoustic of the Sofiensaal, witnessing the nuances and dynamics of a live performance. I have heard every iteration from the stereo LPs on, and this sound really is a fresh experience.

As i sit down to write this I have just read the shocking news of Jeanne Lamon’s announcement of her intention to retire as music director of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in 2014. After more than three decades at the helm of this flagship Canadian orchestra it is hard to imagine the organization without her. Although stepping down from the first chair (or stand as the case may be), she will evidently be staying on to help with the creation of the Tafelmusik International Baroque Academy. Of course the orchestra is such a well-oiled machine that there is no doubt it will continue to flourish, but the search is on for a new leader.

Under Lamon’s direction a fledgling semi-professional ensemble grew to become one of the world’s great period instrument orchestras and we are blessed with a wealth of recordings documenting her tenure. Although many of the original Sony releases have been discontinued, a number of key titles are now available again on the orchestra’s own imprint Tafelmusik Media which was launched earlier this year. The bulk of the early TM releases have been reissues of such important classics as Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, but this month marked an important new phase with recent live recordings from Koerner Hall. You will find a review of the 2011 Handel Messiah in next month’s issue but in recent weeks I have been enjoying performances of Beethoven’s Eroica and Mendelssohn’s Italian symphonies recorded in May of this year under the direction of Bruno Weil (TMK1019CD). The glorious sound of both the orchestra and the concert hall are captured expertly by German tone-meisters Stephan Schellmann and Peter Laenger. While Beethoven is not unfamiliar territory for Tafelmusik — they have recorded all of the concertos for Sony’s Vivarte label and Symphonies Five through Eight for Analekta — I believe this is their first recording of the music of Mendelssohn. I will leave the question of whether a baroque orchestra has any business venturing into the 19th century for others to debate. For my ears these brilliant and lively performances are totally satisfying. On this occasion the orchestral forces were supplemented to include 7-6-4-4-3 players in the string section with double woodwinds and trumpets and four horns. These latter are particularly worthy of note: Scott Weavers, Ronald George, Stéphane Mooser and David Parker for their impeccable intonation on that most difficult to control instrument, but well-deserved kudos go to all involved.

There is a Koerner Hall connection to the next disc as well, Shostakovich & Shchedrin – Piano Concertos with Denis Matsuev and the Mariinsky Orchestra under the direction of Valery Gergiev (Mariinsky SACD MAR0509). By the time this goes to print Valery Gergiev’s performance with the Stradivarius Ensemble will have come and gone, but we can look forward to Matsuev’s Koerner Hall debut in an all-Russian program on December 2. On that occasion the dynamic young pianist, winner of the 1998 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, will perform a solo recital of music by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky. On the current recording he is featured as soloist in more recent Russian works, including the introspective Piano Concerto No.5 by Rodion Shchedrin (b.1932) which was written around the same time as Matsuev’s Tchaikovsky competition win. The disc opens with the familiar Piano Concerto No.1 which Shostakovich wrote in 1933, with its ebullient rhythms and obbligato trumpet, and continues with his Piano Concerto No.2 from 1957. As the extensive liner notes in four languages point out, these works reflect rare happy periods in the composer’s often troubled life. Their allegro and even allegro brio movements seem almost out of character to my ears which are more accustomed to the languor and angst of his later compositions (culminating in the final string quartet with its five adagio movements only broken up by the inclusion of an adagio molto Funeral March). Matsuev seems to enjoy this playful side of Shostakovich and embraces the jollity of these works in crisp and exuberant performances. The unfamiliar Shchedrin concerto is more pointillistic and subdued, with darker colours from both the piano and the orchestral accompaniment. It is an extended work — more than half an hour in duration — with a slow middle movement of touching lyricism and hints of gamelan melodies. The rousing finale uses modal scalar passages, but this time allegro assai, in a pianistic molto perpetuo, with orchestral interventions somewhat reminiscent of Messiaen, that builds and builds over a nine minute crescendo. The soloist’s playing is superb and Gergiev’s control of the orchestra outstanding. Like the virtuoso ensemble itself, the Mariinsky Theatre boasts wonderful sound and it is captured here in all its splendour. Concert goers at Matsuev’s upcoming Toronto performance can look forward to a similar sonic treat in the acoustic of Koerner Hall.

Last month I wrote about a disc of chamber music by Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg which featured cellist Annsi Karttunen on each of its tracks. Karttunen appears again this month on a disc of Trios by Kaija Saariaho (Ondine ODE 1189-2), once again in every piece with otherwise diverse instrumentation. In May 2011 the Toronto Symphony Orchestra presented the Canadian premiere of Saariaho’s Mirage for soprano Karita Mattila and cellist Karttunen with orchestra, a work written in 2007. Concurrently Saariaho produced a trio version of the haunting piece for soprano, cello and piano which was premiered in 2010 by, and dedicated to, the musicians who join Karttunen to reprise their performance on this disc, soprano Pia Freund and pianist Tuija Hakkila. The intimacy of this chamber version of Mirage is simply stunning. Another near-TSO connection occurs in the next piece, Cloud Trio, performed by the Zebra Trio which includes former TSO principal violist Steven Dann, Karttunen and violinist Ernst Kovacic. The eerie ethereal string timbres in this aptly named work have to be heard to be believed. Dann, Karttunen and Hakkila are featured in Je sens un deuxième coeur, a five movement work based on Saariaho’s 2003 opera Adriana Mater. It was originally intended to create musical portraits of four characters from the opera but when “she began to adapt the material for viola, cello and piano — a darker version of the traditional piano trio — the music began to distance itself from the opera.” It is certainly an effective chamber work not dependent on the programmatic inspiration for appreciation. The other offerings are Cendres for alto flute, cello and piano which involves extended techniques and vocalisms from the flutist (Mikael Hesasvuo), and Serenatas for percussion (Florent Jodelet), cello and piano. The latter once again draws on other Saariaho works as points of departure, in this case the cello concerto Notes on Light and, bringing the disc full circle, the opening piece Mirage. The simplicity of the title Trios notwithstanding, this recording presents a wealth of diverse textures and instruments with definitive performances by musicians who have collaborated extensively with Saariaho, one of the most distinctive voices in the music of our time.

In brief:Toronto’s premiere Middle Eastern-South Asian fusion band Jaffa Road have just released Where the Light Gets In (JR0002 www.jaffaroad.com), a welcome follow-up to their 2009 release Sunplace. The distinctive vocals of Aviva Chernick, singing in English, Hebrew, French and Ladino, are complemented by multi-instrumentalists Aaron Lightstone, Chris Gartner, Jeff Wilson and Sundar Viswanathan playing a plethora of Western and Middle Eastern plucked, blown and struck acoustic and electric instruments. All share writing credits for the bulk of the material, although one notable exception is Through the Mist of Your Eyes by the group’s “friend and teacher Yair Dalal, a master Iraqi-Israeli musician who lives in Galilee.” The text is sung in Hebrew by Chernick and repeated in Arabic by guest artist Hazan Aaron Bensoussan. It is quite striking how different the same poem sounds in the two languages. All in all Jaffa Road’s creative blending of sacred and secular Jewish songs, classical Arabic and Indian influences with a variety of Western musical styles makes them an innovative force on the Toronto scene and Where the Light Gets In is a worthy testament to this.

As noted in September’s issue, 2012 marks the 80th anniversary of Glenn Gould’s birth and the 30th of his untimely death. Sony seems determined to make every note that he ever recorded available to us on compact disc and the commemorative sets have begun arriving in volume. You’ll find Dianne Wells’ take on his Richard Strauss recordings further on in this section but one set that I reserved for myself is Glenn Gould plays Sonatas, Fantasies, Variations (88725413742), four CDs that include a lot of music that doesn’t necessarily come to mind when we think of Glenn Gould. Of particular interest to me are the Canadian composers included: Istvan Anhalt, Jacques Hétu, Oskar Morawetz and Barbara Pentland. The disc which includes these pieces also features Alban Berg’s Piano Sonata Op.1and Ernst Krenek’s Sonata for Piano No.3,providing an interesting mix of modern Romantics and some spikier fare. Another disc is devoted to Russians Alexander Scriabin and Sergei Prokofiev while Finland and Norway are represented on another with music of Sibelius and Edvard Grieg, a composer Gould claimed to be related to through his maternal great-grandfather. Perhaps most out of character is the inclusion of Robert Schumann’s Quartet for Piano, Violin, Viola and Cello with members of the Juilliard String Quartet. Although Gould did record the complete Hindemith brass sonatas with members of the Philidelphia Brass Ensemble and the Bach gamba sonatas with cellist Leonard Rose, there really isn’t much in the way of chamber music in his discography, and as far as I know, no other music of Schumann. This final disc also includes another surprise — the Premiere Nocturne and Variations chromatiques de concert by Georges Bizet. While all of this material has been previously released over the years, it is an impressive list of rarities when collected together in a set like this, providing a timely reminder of Gould’s eclecticism and innate curiosity.

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

Just over a year ago I didn’t know of the Israeli violinist Ittai Shapira, but this month sees the third CD of his that I’ve reviewed in the past 15 months. American Violin Concertos, on the English nonprofit label Champs Hill, features reissues of the violin concertos of Samuel Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti with a world premiere recording of the violin concerto Katrina by Theodore Wiprud (CHRCD043). The Barber and Menotti were recorded in Moscow in 2001 with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra under Thomas Sanderling, and issued separately on the ASV label. The Wiprud was recorded in Liverpool earlier this year, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Neil Thomson.

The Wiprud concerto was written at Shapira’s request, and premiered by him just a year ago. The composer describes it as reflecting on the devastation that Hurricane Katrina wrought on the musical life of the whole Delta region, the cradle of so much American music, and as exploring the enduring nature of music, and of life itself, even when apparently crushed by such overwhelming events. It’s a strongly tonal and very effective work.

I don’t recall hearing the Menotti before, but again it’s an immediately accessible work with hints of the Barber in the slow movement – hardly surprising, given the two composers’ almost life-long relationship. Shapira is in his usual superb form – and boy, can this guy play! He certainly has something new to say with the Barber. He takes his time with a meditative and rhapsodic first movement, allowing it to build slowly, but never at the expense of the lyrical nature. Both here, and in the slow movement in particular, the sensitive orchestral balance allows many often unheard details to come through. The Presto finale, while fast, is never simply a headlong rush, with clear delineation of the solo line.

Shapira never puts a foot wrong in impassioned, committed and intelligent performances. One of my earlier reviews mentioned that the violinist had already had 14 concertos written for him; this latest CD makes it easy to see why composers want to write for him. It’s also just as easy to see why people want to listen.

Many years ago I worked for the Chester/Wilhelm Hansen music publishers in London, England, and we would receive a constant stream of new issue Scandinavian works from the Copenhagen office. Two of the leading composers were Denmark’s Per Nørgård (b.1932) and Norway’s Arne Nordheim (1931-2010) and both are featured on the new CD Momentum – Nordic Cello Concertos, featuring the Danish cellist Jakob Kullberg with the New Music Orchestra under Szymon Bywalec (Aurora ACD5075). The third work on the CD is Amers – Concerto No.1 for Cello, Ensemble and Electronics, by Finland’s Kaija Saariaho (b.1952).

I had difficulty back then trying to identify personal or national styles in the Scandinavian composers, and I find much the same problem now. It’s a challenge in any case to try to judge performances of contemporary works without the benefit of a study score; all you can really do is try to decide if the music communicates with the listener. The level of performance here is clearly very high throughout the CD, although the degree of communication will probably be a matter of individual taste.

Nørgård’s Momentum – Cello Concerto No.2 was written in 2009, and dedicated to Kullberg, who also gave the first performance; composer and soloist have enjoyed a close collaboration for the last 15 years.

Nordheim’s Tenebrae – Concerto for Cello and Orchestra was written in 1982 for Rostropovich and is performed here in a chamber orchestra version. It’s not a literal depiction of the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical service, but certainly addresses the same issues of shadow and pain.

Saariaho’s Amers – “sea marks” or “buoys” – was written in 1992, and was inspired by a collection of French poetry on the theme of the sea. The addition of electronic sounds possibly makes it a tougher first listen.

These are clearly works that must be listened to, and not approached casually; the result, though, will be worth the effort.

The Nørgård and Nordheim concertos – the latter apparently only in this chamber version – are premiere recordings. Both works are published by Wilhelm Hansen; the Saariaho, coincidentally, is published by Chester.

Last month’s column featured an outstanding recording of the last string quartet that Schubert wrote, two years before his death, and this month there’s a CD of Schubert’s final string chamber work, the wonderful String Quintet in C Major, Op.163, D956, (harmonia mundi HMC 902106) that matches it in all respects. The ensemble in this performance is the German Arcanto Quartett with Olivier Marron on second cello.

The work was written in the summer of 1828, only a few months before Schubert died in November, and it’s one of the great masterpieces of the string chamber repertoire. Strangely, it wasn’t performed until 1850 and didn’t appear in print until 1853.

The lengthy booklet notes, somewhat awkward in their translation, present a complex, rather puzzling and not always convincing analysis of the nature of the contrasting elements in the music, but this is a work which needs no explanation, especially in performances like this one.

Recorded in the Teldex Studio in Berlin, the sound and balance are both exemplary.

I still find it a bit strange having to use the term “21st century music,” but that’s what we have on the very interesting and appealing CD Boiling Point – Music of Kenji Bunch (Delos DE 3430) featuring members of the Alias Chamber Ensemble.

In a perceptive foreword, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts notes that it still isn’t easy “to write from the heart without fear of elitist backlash,” as Bunch does, and goes on to describe Bunch as a consummate musician who “can write effortlessly in a myriad of styles and languages, which he is able to juxtapose with elegance and humor.” All of which should give you a good idea of what this disc sounds like. It’s strongly – but not entirely – tonal music that reflects numerous diverse musical influences, and it’s beautifully crafted and always interesting.

Bunch, born in Portland, Oregon in 1973, describes the CD as a collection of some of his favourite and most deeply personal chamber works of the past decade.

Each of the five movements of String Circle for string quintet (with two violas) pays tribute to a particular kind of American string music: the highlight is a brilliant all-pizzicato movement evoking banjos and ukuleles.

Drift is a charming trio for clarinet, viola and piano; 26.2, for French horn and string trio, celebrates and depicts the composer’s first running of the New York City marathon with his wife – 26.2 miles is the official distance.

Luminaria, for violin and harp, drew its inspiration from the Mexican/Pueblo tradition of votive candles enclosed in coloured paper wrappings.

The final title track, for string quartet, string bass and drums, is a spirited full tilt romp that follows the development of water in a kettle as it gradually escalates to the boil; it’s performed with a live kettle on stage, the performance ending only when the whistle blows!

All in all, a delightful CD of solid, captivating pieces, beautifully performed and recorded. 

Last month when mentioning a new recording of Olivier Messiaen’s Et exspecto ressurectionem mortuorum I lamented the fact that, although admittedly designed for very different purposes, the 1964 work lacked the exuberance of the earlier Turangalîla Symphony. I was very pleased to find in a recent shipment from Harmonia Mundi Canada, which distributes a number of distinguished European labels, a June 2011 recording of that seminal work. Juanjo Mena conducts the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra with Steven Osborne (piano) and Cynthia Millar (ondes Martenot) in a gloriously rambunctious performance of the Turangalîla on Hyperion (CDA67816). Commissioned by Serge Koussevitsky for his Boston Symphony immediately after the Second World War, Messiaen took several years to complete the ten movement work. Although unmistakably Messiaen, there are distinct hints of Gershwin in the music, perhaps reflecting the American nature of the commission. By the time of completion Koussevitsky was too frail to conduct the premiere and that duty fell to his flamboyant protégé Leonard Bernstein. The pianist for that December 2, 1949 performance was Messiaen’s own protégé Yvonne Loriod who would later become his second wife and the ondes Martenot was played by Ginette Martenot, sister of the inventor of that unique electronic instrument. Yvonne Loriod and her sister Jeanne would later be featured in an RCA recording of Turangalîla with the Toronto Symphony under the direction of Seiji Ozawa with the composer’s participation. Recorded in 1967, the TSO LP was the first commercial release of the symphony and to this day it is the benchmark against which all others must be measured. In 1994 it was re-issued on CD as part of the RCA NEW BEST 100 line, but only released in Japan. A decade later it finally became available in the rest of the world as RCA Victor Red Seal 59418 and a quick check of the grigorian.com site confirms it is still available. But back to the issue at hand. This new recording captures the energy and excitement of the score in all its nuances. My only reservation is the overly prominent placement of the ondes Martenot in the mix with its soaring (almost searing) textures just slightly over the top at times. It does add to the exuberance though. All in all, a welcome addition to the discography.

Last month I also mentioned looking forward to the release of Vivian Fung’s Dreamscapes, the latest addition to the Naxos Canadian Classics line (8.573009), and I am pleased to report that the disc lives up to my expectations. I first encountered Fung’s music in the mid-1990s in a concert with Scott St. John and friends (including Marina Piccinini as I recall) and later through recordings by the Ying Quartet (Pizzicato) and Composers in the Loft (Miniatures for clarinet and string quartet). Although renowned for her writing for string quartet — her second quartet was commissioned by the Shanghai Quartet for its 25th anniversary season and it has just been announced that she will compose the required work for the 11th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2013 — Fung’s oeuvre ranges from solo, chamber and vocal to works for full orchestra. This new recording presents a sort of middle ground, with violin and piano concertos written for the Metropolis Ensemble, a large chamber orchestra based in New York, and Glimpses, a set of three works for prepared piano. This latter, performed by Conor Hanick, dates from 2006 and is the earliest of the works presented here (the violin concerto was completed in 2011). It marks a turning point in Fung’s development as the Edmonton-born composer expands the exploration of her Asian roots to encompass the music of Indonesia. All three of the works presented here are based on gamelan motifs and melodies giving the disc a wonderful continuity. The most obvious connection to Bali is the sound of the prepared piano, John Cage’s invention that mimics the sounds of a percussion orchestra by placing a variety of objects between and upon the strings of the piano. But the melodies borrowed and developed in the Violin Concerto and the Piano Concerto, ”Dreamscapes” which open and close the disc respectively are evocative of the exotic culture that has been so attractive to Western composers since Debussy first heard a gamelan perform at the Paris Exposition of 1889, and more particularly since Canadian-born composer Colin McPhee brought his wealth of research and recordings of the music back to North America in the 1930s. Like a number of composers before her Fung has taken inspiration from her own travels to Indonesia and truly made this music her own.

A triumvirate of Canadian soloists has recently joined forces under the banner Triple Forte to record some early 20th century gems from the piano trio literature. Ravel–Shostakovich–Ives: Piano Trios (ATMA ACD2 2633) features Jasper Wood (violin), Yegor Dyachkov (cello) and David Jalbert (piano), and what a team they make. Although Ravel’s Trio in A Minor, completed in 1914 after a prolonged gestation, has become a standard of the repertoire, the Shostakovich and Ives trios are rarely heard. Unlike the fully developed second trio from 1944 and the much later Seven Romances (after poems by Alexander Blok) for soprano, violin, cello and piano, Shostakovich’s brief Piano Trio No.1 in C Minor was written as a student in 1923. The one movement work was Shostakovich’s first foray into the world of chamber music. It is a poignant piece that reflects the loss of his father on the one hand and the splendour of first love on the other. Although Shostakovich performed the trio with two friends shortly after its completion, the score was actually left unfinished and it was his student Boris Tischenko who added the 22 missing bars of piano for the work’s posthumous publication. Like Ravel’s, Charles Ives’ Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano is a full length work that was a long time developing. Begun in 1904, the composer worked on it over a period of seven years. It bears all the hallmarks of Ives’ eclectic style with its interweaving of popular, patriotic and religious melodies. After the almost dirge-like moderato opening movement, the scherzo — entitled TSIAJ [This scherzo is a joke] — bursts forth in a rollicking combination of marches and joyous hymn tunes which occasionally give way to quiet strains of What a Friend We Have in Jesus. The final movement juxtaposes a quasi-Wagnerian melody that Ives had written in 1896 with Rock of Ages and then with Ives’ playful humour incorporates popular songs treated with syncopated ragtime rhythms. While the playing throughout this disc is exemplary, it is in the Ives, especially in the dense and often frenzied scherzo, that the skills of these fine musicians are put to the test. They pass with flying colours!

In February 2008 Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg visited Toronto to participate in concerts with the TSO and New Music Concerts. In the latter, TSO assistant principal cellist David Hetherington performed a recent Lindberg composition Konzertstück with the composer at the piano. A new Ondine release simply entitled Chamber Works (ODE 1199-2) features this piece and three others which all prominently showcase the cello and Anssi Karttunen who has worked closely with Lindberg over the past three decades. They perform as a duo called Dos Coyotes which is also the name of a hauntingly lyrical work that is the earliest on this disc, dating from 1993 and revised in 2002. Karttunen also performs the 2001 Partia for solo cello, commissioned by the Turku Cello Competition. The notes tell us it is based on Bach’s partitas for solo violin rather than the cello suites in spite of its six movement form and indeed the dance rhythms of the traditional suite are missing in this more introspective work. Lindberg and Karttunen are joined by clarinettist Kari Kriikku for a three movement Trio. Although perhaps best known for his large orchestral canvasses, Lindberg has a strong penchant for chamber music, both as a composer and a performer, as this disc aptly demonstrates.

A few years back there was a local bass player named Eli Eisenberg who did some work at The WholeNote including a bit of jazz reviewing. I heard from him again recently when he let me know he’d just released a CD called The Iceberg Project (www.cdbaby.com/cd/elieisenberg) featuring instrumental music he composed, arranged, played and programmed. I must say it’s a treat. Funky, bright and bluesy, it’s a feel good situation from start to finish. I understand the title to be a pun on his name, but I think the CD would be more aptly called “The Boat Drinks Project” because it certainly would go well with one (or more) of those drinks with the little umbrellas. Definitely more reminiscent of the tropics than the North Sea. The music is jazz inflected and mainly Latin in feel. The instrumentation is mostly bass and guitar with programmed orchestrations which would normally leave me cold. But I must say that synthesis, or I guess it’s more likely sampling in this day and age, has come a long way and there are some very sophisticated sounds here. Still, when Bill McBirnie plays the flute, as he does on a couple of tracks, the ear is still reminded that acoustic instruments really do sound best. Overall this is a disc that I’ve enjoyed immensely since it arrived, especially during those otherwise oh-so-dreary morning exercise sessions.

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

Le Triomphe de l’amour
Sandrine Piau; Les Paladins;
Jerome Correas
Naïve OP 30532

The recorded repertoire of the soprano Sandrine Piau is extensive; it also covers a remarkably wide field, from Purcell and Biber in the 17th century to Frank Martin and Benjamin Britten in the 20th. It is, however, as an interpreter of baroque music, both opera and oratorio, that Piau is best known and it is French baroque opera, from Lully and Charpentier in the 1680s to Sacchini in 1783, which forms the subject matter of the disc under review.

As the title suggests, the arias are all about love: about desire, about jealousy, about grief for the death of the beloved. Piau has an agile and expressive voice. She displays an impressive coloratura in the disc’s opening aria from Grétry’s L’amant jaloux and even more so in the fearsome passage work of the extract from Sacchini’s Renaud. Her technique is, however, never offered for its own sake. This is best heard in the sadness and the passion of the aria from Campra’s Idomenée and in the long sustained lines of the arias from Charpentier’s David et Jonathas and from two Rameau operas: Les paladins and Les indes galantes. There are also several instrumental tracks; of these the dance sequence from Rameau’s Les fêtes de Ramire is especially attractive.

We can look forward to Piau’s appearance with Tafelmusik early in the new year. Meanwhile we have this disc, which I recommend with enthusiasm.

Sogno Barocco
Anne Sofie von Otter; Sandrine Piau; Ensemble Cappella Mediterranea; Leonardo Garcia Alarcon
Naïve V 5286

The mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter has never been known as an early music singer, in the limiting sense of that term, but she has sung in some very fine recordings of early music. The CD under review is a very welcome addition to her repertoire: it both begins and ends with Monteverdi; in between there is music by Cavalli, Rossi and Provenzale. The first Monteverdi item is the solo madrigal, Si dolce è ‘l tormento, which has in the past been recorded by other fine singers, notably Janet Baker, Montserrat Figueras and Philippe Jaroussky, as well as by von Otter herself. There are two duets from L’incoranazione di Poppaea, in which von Otter sings Nero to Sandrine Piau’s Poppaea, while the concluding piece is Penelope’s great lament in Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria. Of especial interest too is Rossi’s lament by the Queen of Sweden on hearing the news of the death of her husband Gustavus Adolphus on the battlefield. It is complemented by Provenzale’s parody of that lament.

Von Otter is in great voice throughout the recording, which I recommend with enthusiasm. The three duets with Piau are especially fine. We shall be able to hear Piau in concert with Tafelmusik in the new year; von Otter last sang in Toronto in February 2011, but I remember her from a much earlier occasion, when she did a fabulous recital at the George Weston Recital Hall. When shall we hear her again?

Massenet – Don Quichotte
Jose Van Dam; Orchestre symphonique et choeurs de la Monnaie; Marc Minkowski
Naïve DR 2147

One of the last operas of Jules Massenet, a moving incarnation of an “impossible dream” and the inevitable reality of old age, is celebrating its 100th anniversary, performed to perfection at the Royal Opera House of Belgium. A grand event attended by the Queen who contributed to the show by financing four new young singers. It also became a farewell performance for José van Dam, who dazzled the world in the title role for decades. He was also a vocal coach for the young singers; an inspirational figure indeed.

As to what was involved to realize this magnificent occasion there exists an excellent long, exhaustive documentary. It shows the almost superhuman painstaking efforts step by step from the directorial concept, the rehearsals, the building of the scenery with millions of sheets of paper, the coaching of the choir and the tireless efforts of the young assistant conductor. Finally the godlike arrival of conductor Marc Minkowski and the mercurial presence of le directeur, Laurent Pelly, whose enormous contribution this video increasingly demonstrates.

Because of the very difficult task of coping with a huge, episodic novel, the composer decided to select a few key episodes, like the iconic windmill adventure and came up with a dramatically cohesive structure with one of the most moving endings in opera. José van Dam is ideally suited for Don Quixote, a role originally written for Chaliapin. As a Frenchman would, Massenet expanded the role of the woman in the story into a sophisticated, tempestuous and beautiful femme fatale (Cervantes’ Dulcinea was never like this!). The role is exquisitely sung and acted by Silvia Tro Santafe, a Spanish mezzo with a spectacular vocal range. And we mustn’t forget the third principal, Werner van Mechelen, a Belgian baritone who made Sancho Panza his own.

A joy to watch, never boring, much laughter and touching tenderness make this a very rewarding evening’s entertainment.

Mercadante – Don Chisciotte
alle nozze di Gamaccio
Ugo Guagliardo; Domenico Colaianni; Laura Catrani; San Pietro a Majella Chorus, Naples; Czech Chamber Soloists, Brno; Antonino Fogliani
Naxos 8.660312-13

Cervantes’ huge, epoch making novel from 1605, the first “novel” ever written, has inspired more than one musical treatment not to mention the magnificent tone poem by Richard Strauss, but there is one curiosity just recently emerged. At the well established and respected Rossini in Wildbad Festival, a totally forgotten opera (not performed in the last 150 years!) was unearthed. The composer was Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870), a contemporary of Rossini and Donizetti, an Italian who did much of his work in Spain. His music is much under the influence of Rossini with some originalities explained competently in the liner notes.

To me the interesting thing is how each composer approached this enormous novel. Massenet compressed the work into a few significant scenes, but Mercadante chose an entirely different venue by selecting only one episode, the 20th chapter, where Don Quixote prevents a forced marriage of a farm girl to a wealthy suitor instead of her poor lover. The music is delightful throughout with all-pervasive Spanish rhythms, but the opera really takes off when Don Quixote (Ugo Guagliardo) enters the scene. The entry of the powerful basso profundo voice with vocal acrobatics and strong characterization turns the opera into the extraordinary, much like what Rossini did in his Maometto Secondo. Laura Catrani, the country girl and her lover Hans Ever Mogollon (tenor) are beautiful fresh voices and there is no weakness in the supporting roles either. Rossini specialist Antonino Fogliani conducts with a strong impulse and forward momentum to draw a thunderous ovation.

Les Gouts Accordes
Esteban La Rotta; Jivko Georgiev; Margaret Little; Katelyn Clark
ATMA ACD2 2673

Louis XIV wanted to bring ethnic cohesion to his western European mini-empire. Realising culture would play a part in this, he brought Italian-born Giovanni Battista Lulli to his court and rebranded him as Jean-Baptiste Lully. This CD brings us Lully and Robert de Visée (who actually was French-born) and others such as Jean-Baptiste Barrière who composed in the Sun King’s wake.

Barrière’s second and sixth trio sonatas bring out a rich resonant quality in the theorbo. This continues in the allegro movements with a part for viola da gamba which plays the spritely gigue that ends both sonatas. The theorbo is, above all, given a chance to showcase itself with de Visée’s A Minor theorbo suite. Here, the incorporation of more lively dance-based movements, the gavotte and rondeau, enhance the enjoyment of the suite and Esteban La Rotta’s dexterity manifests itself.

Finally, there is a theorbo solo where de Visée arranges the “Ritournelles des Fées” from Lully’s opera Roland. In the hands of La Rotta the solo underlines just how versatile the theorbo was at a time when it was being challenged in every area of performance by the harpsichord. Indeed, it also demonstrates how effective the combination of Lully and de Visée was in forming a cohesive French musical tradition.

Busoni – Clarinet Concertino; Flute Divertimento; Rondo alecchinesco
Giammorco Casani; Laura Minguzzi; Gianluca Terranova; Orchestra Sinfonica
di Roma; Francesco La Vecchia
Naxos 8.572922

The Italian maestro Francesco da Vecchia, who favoured us last season with an ambitious new recording of Busoni’s gargantuan Piano Concerto, continues his championing of the music of Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924) with a generous sampling of shorter orchestral works by this sorely underrated composer whose inimitable compositions have long been overshadowed by his towering reputation as a legendary performer. The centrepieces of the present disc are two single movement wind concertos. Giammarco Casani is the exceedingly suave soloist in the Clarinet Concertino while Laura Minguzzi provides an appropriately sprightly interpretation of the mercurial Divertimento for flute and small orchestra. My only grievance with these interpretations is that they are engineered with the soloists forced unrealistically forward in the sonic mix.

An additional quartet of purely orchestral works presents a broad chronological overview of Busoni’s stylistic development, commencing with the bustling neo-classical Comedy Overture of 1897, the moody, otherworldly Song of the Spirit Dance with its striking aboriginal references inspired by Busoni’s foray to America, followed by the sardonic Rondò arlecchinesco (both from 1915) and concluding with Busoni’s last orchestral work, the Viennese-accented Tanzwalzer of 1920.

In an unusual practice for Naxos, there are two different sets of liner notes, the usual prosaic English version by the ubiquitous Richard Whitehouse and, as best as I can tell, a considerably more insightful Italian essay by Tommaso Manera.

10
tenThing
EMI Classics 088326 2

A few months ago I reviewed the CD Storyteller by Norwegian trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth with orchestra and piano accompaniment. Now she is back with a ten member all woman brass ensemble called tenThing. This group, in instrumentation and sound, more closely resembles an enlarged brass quintet that a small brass band. The group consists of four trumpets, three tenor trombones, one bass trombone, one French horn and one tuba. The opener is a rousing version of a Carmen Suite arranged for the group by Roger Harvey. The group’s precise articulation comes to the fore in their rendition of Asturias by Albéniz. It’s not just the trumpets; the trombone and tuba always come through crisp and clean.

For me, a welcome inclusion is a seven movement suite from Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera. The trombone playing in particular captures the spirit that Weill would have wanted; Mack the Knife and Polly come to life. Two impressionistic works by Astor Piazzolla add a bit of Latin flavour, and a spirited rendition of Mozart’s Rondo alla Turca provides the real fiery component of this compilation.

There is no attempt to showcase the leader or any other member on this recording. Throughout, Helseth and her cohorts are members of the tight ensemble. The recording quality is top notch with 68 minutes of varied listening pleasure. Unfortunately, the disc is devoid of any biographical information, which is particularly annoying for the lesser known figures such as Dutch composer Jan Koetsier, who gets no mention although his three movement Brass Symphony, Op.80 and another shorter work are included.

Baroque specialist Rachel Podger is in magnificent form on a new 2-CD set of Vivaldi’s La Cetra – 12 Violin Concertos Op.9, with matching support from the Holland Baroque Society (Channel Classics CCS SA 33412). Podger is technically superb in all respects in concertos which demand a very high level of playing, managing to make them sound effortless but never empty and crystal clear and precise without ever lacking warmth. The outstanding accompaniment is lively, bright and full of dynamic contrast, with a continuo group consisting of organ and two lutes in addition to the usual cello and harpsichord sounding particularly effective in the solo violin passages. There’s the usual Vivaldi display of seemingly endless circles of fifths, scale and arpeggio passages and sequences, of course, plus the false familiarity — there are moments when you could swear you’ve put the Four Seasons on by mistake — but these are concertos that have enough variation to easily hold your interest throughout the two discs.

Recorded in Amsterdam, the wonderful sound quality adds to the enjoyment of a marvellous issue; this is simply one of the best Vivaldi sets you are ever likely to hear.

t’s been a long time since any string quartet CD had an impact on me to equal that of the latest issue from the Barcelona-based Cuarteto Casals, but stunning performances of the Schubert String Quartets D.87 and D.877 (harmonia mundi HMC 902121) left me quite lost for words.

Despite his tragically short life — or maybe because of it — Schubert managed to plumb depths in his later music that few composers have ever matched, let alone exceeded. The two quartets on this CD are from opposite ends of his career: the E-Flat Major D87 is the work of a 16-year-old who regularly played quartets at home with his family members, while the G Major D887 is Schubert’s final quartet, written in 1826 just two years before his death. The string quartet genre hadn’t really been around all that long at the time — only 50 or 60 years or so — but the emotional and technical distance that Schubert traveled in the 13 years that separate the two works is simply remarkable. The e-flat quartet is a charming and interesting work that owes much to Haydn and Mozart, but the g major is a worthy contemporary of the late Beethoven quartets. And what an astonishing work it is! — powerful, turbulent, full of wonderful theatrical and symphonic effects, and given a rich, fully committed performance by the Cuarteto Casals, whose passion and dynamic range perfectly match the emotional range of the music. Their wonderful playing is beautifully recorded, with perfect balance and just the right amount of resonance. A simply outstanding disc.

I’m sure most of us have a favourite composer whom we feel is unjustly neglected or underperformed. One such for me is the Belgian-born Guillaume Lekeu, who was just establishing himself in Paris after studying with César Franck and Vincent d’Indy when he died suddenly of typhoid fever the day after his 24th birthday in 1894. ATMA has released a CD of his Trio et Quatuor avec piano (ACD2 2651) featuring the Canadian Trio Hochelaga with the TSO principal violist Teng Li. Both works are very much of their time and clearly in the same style as those of Franck and d’Indy. The Piano Trio is the larger work, and the only completed one of the two; the Piano Quartet was unfinished at Lekeu’s death, and needed an additional few bars from d’Indy to make the second movement performable. It’s a shame it’s incomplete: Lekeu was a late starter, despite his early demise, and it’s clear that a more personal voice was beginning to emerge in this work. The Trio Hochelaga — violinist Anne Robert, cellist Paul Marleyn and pianist Stéphane Lemelin — give full-bodied and committed performances, although I found the violin vibrato to be a bit too wide and heavy at times, threatening to compromise the intonation and making the unison runs with the cello sound a bit out of synch. Overall, the feeling here is not so much one of masterpieces all too few, but more one of future masterpieces unfulfilled and of huge promise cruelly cut short.

It’s interesting to note how, in recent years, a good deal of contemporary composition in the U.S. appears to have swung back to works with a strong tonal base, often with a strong cinematic feel to them. A recent Naxos CD (8.559723) in their excellent American Classics series features performances by the London Symphony Orchestra under JoAnn Falletta of five works by Kenneth Fuchs, who was born in 1956. This is actually the third Naxos album of Fuchs’ works by this team — Falletta and Fuchs have been collaborating for over 25 years — and it shows a lyrical composer with great imagination and a fine ear for orchestral colour. Two orchestral works — Atlantic Riband and the overture Discover the Wild — open and close the disc. Falletta is joined by her Buffalo Philharmonic concertmaster, the outstanding Michael Ludwig, for American Rhapsody (Romance for violin and orchestra) and by the LSO’s Paul Silverthorne for Divinum Mysterium (Concerto for viola and orchestra), which was written for the performer. Both soloists are in top form, with Ludwig’s beautiful tone again fully evident. The Concerto Grosso for string quartet and string orchestra completes the CD. Despite the occasional suggestion of an English influence — Britten’s Sea Interludes in the Atlantic Riband and the Divinum Mysterium, for instance, or Vaughan Williams’ Lark Ascending in the Rhapsody — this is music firmly in the American mainstream tradition. There are more than a few hints of Copland and the American pastorale; at times, though, you could be forgiven for thinking that you were listening to music for a major motion picture or a top level television news or sports program.

OPUS 1 (Azica ACD-71274) is the impressive debut recording by the Israeli Chamber Project, a group of distinguished young Israeli musicians that was founded in 2008. All of the six members featured on this CD — Itamar Zorman (violin), Shmuel Katz (viola), Michal Korman (cello), Tibi Cziger (clarinet), Sivan Magen (harp) and Assaff Weisman (piano) — are established and experienced performers in their own right, with very impressive backgrounds and résumés. The playing, not surprisingly, is of the highest quality throughout a varied but always interesting program. The Saint-Saëns Fantasie for Violin and Harp, Op.124 from 1907, is one of several pieces that the composer wrote for the harp; it’s a simply lovely work that beautifully illustrates his understanding of the instrument. Martinů’s Chamber Music No.1, written only five months before his death in 1959, is the only work to use all six players. It’s full of folk rhythms, with a slow movement reminiscent of Bartòk’s “night music.” Matan Porat’s Night Horses was commissioned for, and dedicated to, the Israeli Chamber Project, who specifically requested the instrumentation of clarinet, violin, cello and piano to match that of Messiaen’s Quatuor pour le fin du temps. This is its first recording. Sivan Magen arranged Debussy’s 1915 Cello Sonata for cello and harp in 2010, and it works extremely well. Again, this is a premiere recording. A spirited performance of Bartòk’s Contrasts for clarinet, violin and piano rounds out an excellent disc. 

Vagn Holmboe – Chamber Symphonies
Lapland Chamber Orchestra;
John Storgårds
DaCapo 6.220621

Danish composer Vagn Holmboe (1909 –96) composed three chamber symphonies over the span of his career. Holmboe described his compositional approach as “metamorphosis technique,” a concept he developed from his close relationship with nature — the liner notes state he planted 3,000 trees himself over his lifetime! The subtle changes in say, for example, a blade of grass, did not go unnoticed by him. He expanded this metamorphosis idea into his music. Each symphony abounds with subtle tone colour shifts, while a short melodic (aka a blade of grass) idea will be transformed by instrumentation, harmony and rhythm.

Chamber Symphony No.1, Op.53 (1951) is the most “classical” sounding of the three. The music develops within a more traditional harmonic framework. In Chamber Symphony No.2, Op.100 “Elegy” (1968), the turmoil in the composer’s life appears as short ideas and motives. Still tonal, it is the independent instrumental lines that never quite coincide, and a dramatic and unexpected pause in the middle of the third movement that makes this the strongest work here. Chamber Symphony No.3, Op.103a “Frise” (1969–70) is a curious six movement work. Each movement seems like an independent score with the witty percussion part adding to the rhythmic vitality. The unexpected appears as a quiet tone at the work’s conclusion.

Conductor John Storgårds achieves a detailed and colourful performance with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra. The string section especially is tireless in its execution of whirling lines and ensemble precision. A very enjoyable world premiere recording!

Ernst Krenek – Complete Symphonies
NDR Radiophilharmonie; Alun Francis; Takao Ukigaya
cpo 777 695-2

Ernst Krenek’s orchestral music receives loving attention from Takao Ukigaya on this four disc package recorded 1993–2006. The Viennese composer’s atonal language connects to Schoenberg and Berg; he tries to inherit the symphonist mantle of his fiancée Anna’s father, Gustav Mahler. His Symphony No.1 in nine linked movements is a wide-ranging exploration departing from previous symphonic concepts. Krenek’s orchestration is idiomatic; solo winds and strings of the Hanover Radio Symphony shine particularly in the third movement. The composer’s predilection for counterpoint is especially clear in the eighth movement, as is his quirky side in the final movement’s disintegration into Webernesque whispers.

Ukigaya and the Hanoverians deliver a masterful performance of the sprawling Symphony No.2 (1922). Krenek’s own metaphor for this work is of a giant trying to get out of a cage. (Perhaps the “giant” was the 22-year-old Krenek himself, struggling with his teacher, the more conservative Franz Schreker!) The Third Symphony (also 1922) is more economical; Krenek parodically sneaks in a popular march-like melody, foreshadowing the eclectic Potpourri Op.54 (1927) also on this disc. The last two symphonies composed in the late 1940s develop logically from the earlier works. The Symphony No.4 disc is conducted by Alun Francis; both it and Krenek’s Concerto Grosso No.2 are given capable readings, with beautiful pacing in the processional of the latter’s Adagio leading to its moving climax.