When I saw the artistic pairing on the latest CD by James Ehnes, the Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 and the Viola Concerto by Béla Bartók (Chandos CHAN 10690), my expectations sky-rocketed: not only was Ehnes playing, but the conductor was the terrific Gianandrea Noseda with the BBC Philharmonic. A dream team! For years, the Violin Concerto No.2 was assumed to be the only one that Bartók wrote, until the discovery of an earlier two-movement concerto, written in 1907-08 for the young violinist Stefi Geyer, to whom Bartók was romantically attached. The score remained unpublished and in her possession until her death in 1956. Ehnes is terrific in the lush, romantic first movement, as well as in a second half that more approaches the style of the mature composer. Despite Ehnes’ comment that this is music that has been very close to his heart since childhood, I found the Concerto No.2, one of my favourites, to be a bit less than I hoped for. It’s a passionate and lyrical reading, true, but I felt it lacked the contrasts and the sense of mystery that Menuhin – who knew Bartók – used to bring to this work. The Viola Concerto was left unfinished at Bartók’s death; unfortunately, the supposedly complete draft turned out to be just a pile of unnumbered manuscript pages with only a couple of indications of instrumentation. Bartók’s friend Tibor Serly, himself a violist, managed to solve the puzzle and complete the work, and Ehnes plays it with a commitment that never leaves its authenticity in any doubt. Noseda does his usual terrific job of bringing the very best out of the orchestra. One personal comment: the booklet bio again uses that quote from a Toronto newspaper hailing Ehnes as “the Jascha Heifetz of our day.” Does anyone else find this ridiculous? What’s wrong with Ehnes being hailed simply as one of the truly great players of his generation? If you want to appreciate how silly this is, then just imagine someone releasing a historical reissue of Heifetz recordings, and hailing him as “The James Ehnes of Yesterday.” Exactly!

I know it’s a bit of a cop-out to be quoting a large chunk of the booklet notes in a CD review, but the opening remarks by the Quatuor Ebène for their Mozart Dissonances CD (Virgin Classics 50999 070922 2 0) tell you all you need to know about their approach to the music: “Mozart – despite the surface simplicity of his music – is one of the most difficult composers to interpret well, if not the most difficult of all. For his works demand two things of performers: absolute technical assurance, as anything less than perfect intonation and articulation would be all too clearly apparent in music that is so pure and transparent, …but above all the ability to let go and bare all.” And that’s exactly what you get on this wonderful recording of two of Mozart’s greatest quartets – the D minor K421 and the C major “Dissonance” – and the early Divertimento in F, K138. This is Mozart playing at its glorious best: warm, expansive, both passionate and sensitive, intelligent and thoughtful, and full of contrast and nuance. Add the simply beautiful recorded sound and you have a Mozart disc that will be hard to equal, let alone surpass.

You would be hard-pressed these days to find someone who would mention the French violinist Émile Sauret (1852-1920) in the same breath as Paganini, but such were his performing skills – he was giving concerts in London, Paris and Vienna at age 8! – that contemporary critics detected the same hint of the supernatural about his playing. Sauret was another of that breed that essentially died out during the 20th century: the virtuoso performer with compositional skills to match. Naxos has issued a charming CD of his Music for Violin and Piano (8.572366) played by the American violinist Michi Wiancko and the Russian pianist Dina Vainshtein. Their playing of these attractive, well-crafted pieces, that are closer to Sarasate in style than to Paganini, is an absolute delight. Recorded at the CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio by the always-reliable Norbert Kraft and Bonnie Silver, the sound quality displays perfect balance and a spacious ambience.

Viola players are not exactly overwhelmed with choice when it comes to concertos for their instrument, so the recent Naxos release of a CD of Viola Concertos by Stamitz and Hoffmeister (8.572162) is a welcome one. It’s an intriguing one as well, for viola concertos were not that common in the 18^th century. Carl Stamitz, whose father Johann was the leader of the famous Mannheim orchestra, was a viola virtuoso as well as a violinist and composer, and his Concerto No.1 in D major, published around 1774, combines a technically challenging solo part with a skilful and sensitive orchestration. Although the composer Franz Anton Hoffmeister is now mostly remembered as a successful music publisher, his viola concertos in D major and B flat major were never published: each work has survived only in a single contemporary set of manuscript parts. This recording uses the new Artaria edition prepared from those parts by Allan Badley, who also wrote the booklet notes. Violist Victoria Chang is perfectly at home in this charming, if somewhat insubstantial, music and receives excellent support from the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra under Markand Thakar. The booklet notes remark that all three works remind us of the musical riches that can be found in the most unexpected corners of the 18^th century. That’s quite true, but they also remind us of just how far Mozart was ahead of his contemporaries.

I didn’t know the names of any of the three composers on Russian Viola Sonatas (Sono Luminus DSL-92136), the new CD from the American violist Eliesha Nelson and the U.K.-based Nigerian pianist Glen Inanga. Varvara Gaigerova (b.1903), Alexander Winkler (b.1865) and Paul Juon (b.1872) all died between 1935 and 1944, but not – as you might suspect – as a result of the political situation in Russia at that time. Only Gaigerova died in Russia, in 1944 at the early age of 40, but her folk-inspired compositions and politically correct works in the 1930s apparently never put her at odds with the Soviet regime. Winkler emigrated to France 11 years before his death there in 1935; Juon retired to Switzerland in 1934, and died there in 1940. All the works on the CD are from the 20^th century, but there is little of the sound and style that we associate with composers such as Shostakovich and Prokofiev. All three composers were influenced by Russian folk elements, making for very attractive and highly accessible works, but there’s hardly a moment when you have no doubt that you are listening to 20^th century Russian music: there’s more of a German Romantic feel here a lot of the time. Winkler and Juon, of course, received their training in the 19^th century, but even the Gaigerova work has turn-of-the-century echoes of Scriabin, Brahms, Ravel and Rachmaninov. Juon, whose Sonata in D major, Op.15 is the only work on the CD that is not a world premiere recording, was raised in a German-speaking household and spent virtually all of his working life in Berlin. His three-movement sonata, written in 1901, makes it clear why he was often referred to as the “Russian Brahms.” There is more than a trace of the same composer in the Winkler Sonata in C minor, Op.10, from 1920, by far the biggest work on the CD – in fact, there is an almost direct quote from the Brahms A major violin sonata in the first movement. Winkler’s Two Pieces Op.31, the slow Méditation élégiaque and the scherzino La toupie, are well-crafted and effective light music pieces. Gaigerova is perhaps the most interesting composer here – very little information is available about her – and she was the composer most strongly influenced by the folk music of the numerous Soviet Republics. Her four-movement Suite Op.8, published posthumously in 1969, is a beautiful work, and makes you wonder what we might be missing in her neglected string quartets and symphonies. Nelson’s viola tone is mostly warm, although it’s a bit thin at times in the upper register, but the tonal quality and the steady, constant vibrato hardly vary at all throughout the disc. There’s not much dynamic contrast either, and the end result is that the works tend to sound rather the same. How much this is due to the compositions themselves rather than the performance would make an interesting discussion, but I really can’t hear the power and passion or the sensitive phrasing that some reviewers of this CD have found in Nelson’s playing. Inanga is a fine partner at the keyboard, although the recorded balance makes the piano sound a bit distant at times.

Hahn; Schmitt; Dubois
Ames Piano Quartet
Sono Luminus DSL-92141

This is the 14th release by the Ames Piano Quartet, the resident chamber music ensemble of Iowa State University. The quartet has been hailed for their two decades worth of well-received releases for Dorian Records, subsequently re-issued as a box set by the Virginia-based Sono Luminus label. Their latest recording features French chamber music from the first half of the twentieth century.

Best known for his vocal works, the Venezuelan-born Francophile Reynaldo Hahn (1874-1947) is represented here by a late Quartet in G published in 1946. Hahn, partly Jewish and once the intimate partner of Marcel Proust, kept an understandably low profile during the war years hiding away in Monte Carlo. His elegant, finely crafted quartet betrays little personal anxiety considering the circumstances; though the tender third movement suggests a certain regret, the general tone is one of restrained optimism.

Florent Schmitt (1870-1958) enjoyed tremendous success at the outset of his career but alienated the establishment through his acidic music reviews (his habit of shouting out his verdicts in the concert hall led the publisher Heugel to brand him “an irresponsible lunatic”) and perceived pro-Germanic stance owing to his Alsatian origins. Be that as it may, his truly delightful “petit concert” Hasards Op. 96 (1944) towers over his compatriots on this recording thanks to its brilliant colours, refreshing mutability and sheer rhythmic inventiveness.

Bringing up the rear is the teacher of both Hahn and Schmitt, the distinguished Théodore Dubois (1837-1924), now mostly remembered for denying Maurice Ravel the Prix de Rome. The thoroughly conventional structure and fulsome harmonies of his impeccably proper Quartet in A minor (1907) bring to mind the music of César Franck, an impression confirmed by the cyclic return of earlier themes in the finale of the work. Schmitt remains the indubitable star of the show however and reason enough to own this intriguing collection of lesser-known repertoire.

Concert Note: Reviewer Daniel Foley’s latest composition Music for the Duke of York will receive its premiere at an afternoon concert honouring the late Antonin Kubálek at Walter Hall on November 6.

Russian Favourites
Alexander Sevastian
Analekta AN 2 9929

“Russian Favourites” showcases Quartetto Gelato accordionist Alexander Sevastian in a number of Russian solo accordion works and arrangements.

The accordion specific works are important examples of “classical” 20th century Russian accordion repertoire. Compositional acumen and the monster virtuosic strength of the Russian players created a challenging collection. Here Vyatcheslav Semionov’s Don Rhapsody No.1 is a prime example. In just under five minutes, it showcases almost everything the accordion can do. Massive chords, lyrical melodies and blasting sound walls are all controlled brilliantly by Sevastian. The work is saved from becoming a musical parody of itself primarily thanks to the composer’s clever compositional skills. Original works by Shenderyov, Korolyov, Panitsky and Zolotaryov are also featured.

Sevastian himself arranged works by Rachmaninoff, Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky. The success of any arrangement for the accordion from Romantic piano repertoire is tricky. The piano is a percussion instrument – finger articulation causes a hammer to hit a string which causes it to vibrate. Pedals figure prominently too. Lots of sound source possibilities. The accordion is a wind instrument – the bellows force air through metal reeds causing them to vibrate once buttons or keys are depressed. There is only has one sound source. That’s why sometimes an arrangement like Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise sings with its inherent flowing melodic beauty while Mussorgsky’s “The Gnome” from Pictures at an Exhibition stumbles with too many simultaneously vibrating reeds.

Sevastian is a sensitive and accomplished performer in this crowd-pleasing jewel.

Tchaikovsky - Symphonies 4-6
Mariinsky Orchestra; Valery Gergiev
Mariinsky DVD MAR0513; Blu-ray BD MAR0515

Philips issued CDs of these three symphonies with Gergiev conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in live performances from 2002, 1998, and 2004. Although they were very well received in some quarters, I found them to be quite perfunctory. Here is a wiser Gergiev in 2010 with his own orchestra live from the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the performances are polished, spectacular and substantial.

The first movement of the Fourth Symphony sounds eccentrically slow on first hearing but after listening to all three symphonies it now fits perfectly into Gergiev’s new understanding and appreciation of Tchaikovsky’s music. The Fifth Symphony is unusually stirring from the first notes to a hectic, triumphant finale. The Sixth can be driven too hard as Gergiev did in the Vienna recordings but here it unfolds with unusual respect and sensitivity. That is not to imply that it is not thrilling, which it assuredly is, but there is an atmosphere of inevitability throughout heard in no other performances that I know of. The tragic last movement, Tchaikovsky’s valedictory address, is played with intense passion and is quite final. I “Do not go gentle into that good night,” he seems to say.

There is a bonus in which Gergiev talks about Tchaikovsky’s orchestrations with interesting observations. Not an overly large orchestra, about 50 players, the textures and balances are never obscured. For me, these extraordinary, vital performances set a new standard. Perfect sound and thrilling dynamics throughout make this Blu-ray disc an uncontested first choice. Enthusiastically recommended.

Beethoven - In the Breath of Time
Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal; Kent Nagano
OSM OSMCD7437

The Montreal Symphony has much to be happy about these days. Conductor extraordinaire Kent Nagano is now in his sixth season as music director and the orchestra is sounding great. This is in part because of its new hall, which opened in September and is proving to be an acoustical gem. Furthermore, the ensemble has begun to record on its own label – OSM - and this latest offering – a two-disc set titled “In the Breath of Time” is another in the series featuring music by Beethoven, specifically symphonies six and eight, in addition to the Grosse Fuge as arranged by Felix Weingartner.

As fine an ensemble as the MSO is, there are no surprises here, nor is there any ground-breaking. Instead, under Naganos’s competent baton, the orchestra concentrates on solid musicianship, performing with a particular warmth and sensitivity. The “Pastoral” Symphony is a delight – here are the familiar bird-calls, the peasant dances and the joyful mood of life in the country as Beethoven witnessed it. The more traditional Symphony No.8 is approached with a suitable spirit of nobility and the monumental Fuge – all seventeen minutes of it – with the grandeur it deserves.

In keeping with the overall theme of time and change, the second disc concludes with a brief spoken word trilogy titled Declaration of INTERdependence, written and narrated by David Suzuki. While the recitation is moving and poignant, it’s the music itself that makes this such a satisfying recording – a fine interpretation of familiar repertoire by one of Canada’s most renowned orchestras.

Mark-Anthony Turnage - Anna Nicole
Eva-Marie Westbroek; Gerald Finley; Royal Opera House; Antonio Pappano
Opus Arte OA 1054 D

Opera is probably the most democratic art form, contrary to its “elitist” reputation. Centuries ago, the librettists and composers figured out that lives of courtesans, prostitutes and comfort women are as worthy of being immortalized as the kings and nobles whose pleasure they serve. Enter “Anna Nicole.” The story of a rather Rubenesque woman famous… well, for being famous and for her enhanced chest, is pure tabloid fodder, sordid and vulgar. It is also tragic, not the least because of its final outcome.

Richard Thomas (who also created “Jerry Springer – the Opera”) seizes upon all the tabloid angles, but never loses sight of our tragic heroine. The choir, on-stage from the overture on, initially is just a Greek chorus. It quickly becomes a flock of media vultures, ready to report on the slightest non-event and to destroy Anna Nicole’s camera-seeking life in the process. You cannot help feeling as sorry for the fame obsessed small–town girl as you would for Cio Cio San. Large credit goes to Eva-Maria Westbroek’s sensational performance; Gerald Finley, who is clearly Covent Garden’s audience favourite, lends his beautiful baritone to the role of the sleazy lawyer Stern and Susan Bickley, is forced to be a modern-day Cassandra, predicting the gloom.

Turnage’s music, never very easy, gains on second hearing and is ably assisted by a rhythm section including John Paul Jones (of Led Zeppelin, I kid you not!). Should you see it? Yes! Besides, where else can you hear a soprano aria “Get me the f**k out of here!”?

Rossini - William Tell
Gerald Finley; John Osborn; Malin Bystrom; Marie-Nicole Lemieux; Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; Antonio Pappano
EMI 0 28826 2

With glorious C major arpeggios and a scene bathed in sunlight over the mountains above Lake Lucerne in a newly liberated Switzerland… so ends Rossini’s last work for the opera stage. Guillaume Tell, a monumental, French style grand opera and a prototype for the genre later developed by Auber, Halevy and Meyerbeer, was indeed his swan song after which, at age 48 and after 59 operas, he wisely decided to take it easy, enjoy his wealth and fame in Paris, be a great cook, give musical soirées and teach at exorbitant fees. William Tell is unlike anything he had written before in its scope, scale and musical language. Even Wagner expressed unusual interest by saying that at one point Rossini created a “perfect fusion of declamatory style and emotional content.” “So I wrote music of the future?” asked Rossini innocently. “No, Maestro, but music for all times!” was Wagner’s thoughtful reply.

The opera is seldom recorded mainly because of the strenuous requirements on singers. For example the tenor has to sing 54 B flats, 19 high C’s and 2 C sharps! Therefore it is doubly welcome to have this superb new EMI release conducted by today’s maestro of maestros of opera, Antonio Pappano. With carefully studied pacing this long, unwieldy score becomes beautifully coherent with dramatic excitement, tumultuous crowd scenes, expansive pastoral interludes and exhilarating ballet music of the finest kind. This recording bolsters our national pride with two of the principals being Canadian, baritone Gerald Finley (Tell) and Marie-Nicole Lemieux (his wife Hedwige), both in fine characterization, superior voice and impeccable French accent. But probably the greatest strength of the recording is American tenor John Osborn heroically conquering this most gruelling role of the repertoire, Arnold Melchtal.

All other principals are exemplary and form a true team effort of this surprisingly satisfying rarely performed work.

Berg - Lulu
Julia Migenes; Evelyn Lear; Kenneth Riegel; Metropolitan Opera; James Levine
Sony 88697910099

Alban Berg finished the short score of Lulu in the spring of 1934. Like Wozzeck, it was structured with what George Perle called a “recapitulatory aspect” in that large sections of the second half repeat or alter movements from the first half. Berg orchestrated Acts 1, 2, and the first 268 bars of Act 3; the orchestral interlude of Act 3 and the closing scene were thrust into the Lulu Suite as a promo piece suggested and conducted by Kleiber in November 1934. Delayed by the commission of his violin concerto, his sudden illness and death left the remainder of Act 3 unorchestrated. Erwin Stein published Acts 1 and 2 and had engraved the first 70 pages of Act 3 when the short score was locked away by the widow Helene in her lawyers' safe. Frau Berg supposedly saw uncomfortable parallels between an autumnal feminine interest of her husband and the seductive anti-heroine Lulu. Act 3 was micro-filmed, there was a legal dispute and then Frau Berg died in 1976. Contrary to some stories, all but 86 bars could be orchestrated with a mathematical conviction. Happily, the task fell to Friedrich Cerha, a composer devoted to Webern, Schoenberg and Berg. The Berg scholar Anthony Pople generously admitted: “Whatever its minor shortcomings, Cerha's realization is brilliant work, and there is no reason to think that there will ever be a necessity for the completion of Act 3 in full score to be undertaken afresh.”

The three-act version appeared in Paris on February 24, 1979 starring Canada’s Teresa Stratas to rave reviews. Franz Mazura was Dr. Schön and Kenneth Riegel his son Alwa, both of whom then appeared at the Met in 1980 in the production recorded in this beautiful DVD set. Lulu is Julia Migenes, a seductive and street-wise survivor, with a sharp dramatic edge. Evelyn Lear (a wonderful Lulu herself) plays the lesbian Countess Geschwitz, completely at home in this music and convincing as the only truly honourable character in the opera. Both the acting and the singing are compelling. James Levine loves Berg and draws a nuanced performance of this complex and fascinating work. If you have not previously been won over by Lulu, she may well seduce you with this appearance.

A recent Naxos release of music by Howard Hanson (8.559700) performed by the Seattle Symphony under the direction of Gerard Schwarz caught my attention because of this American composer’s inadvertent influence on the history of composed music in our own country. It was Hanson, during a conducting engagement in Toronto in 1937, who encouraged John Weinzweig to enrol at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester where he was the director. Unlike the University of Toronto at the time, Eastman had courses in 20th century music and substantial library holdings and it was here that Weinzweig was exposed to two works which would influence him greatly: Stravinsky’s Sacre du printemps and Berg’s Lyric Suite. The rest, as they say, is history as Weinzweig went on to become Canada’s first important modernist composer and to mentor several generations of composition students. This new disc, a re-issue of an earlier Delos recording, provides a grand introduction to the music of Howard Hanson, featuring the expansive Symphony No. 1 “Nordic” – a kind of homage to Hanson’s idol Sibelius – and the dramatic Lament for Beowulf which also employs the Seattle Symphony Chorale. Both works date from the 1920s before the composer had turned 30, yet show a mature command of the medium by a young man who would go on to become one of the most lyrical symphonists of his time. I notice that Naxos has just released the next instalment in Hanson’s complete symphonies - with No.2 “Romantic” - so evidently we can look forward to hearing all seven in the coming months.

Although he seems to have expunged it from his official biography, as a young man Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi spent a season at the helm of the Chamber Players of Toronto in its final year of operations, 1991-1992. He has since gone on to a number of prestigious postings, currently Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris, following a decade in the same capacity at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra culminating with the 2010-2011 season. To commemorate their long and fruitful relationship the CSO has just released Baltic Portraits (CSOM-946) with live performances spanning 2002 through 2011. The disc begins with Fireflower, a short dramatic work by fellow countryman Erkki-Sven Tüür, to celebrate Järvi’s 10th anniversary with the CSO. Designed not so much a fanfare as a ceremonial bouquet - with “blossoms resembling flames” – it is a colourful work representative of the composer’s recent orchestral output (symphonies 4 – 8) with a momentary reference in the rhythm section to Tüür’s early years in a rock band. Finnish symphonist Aulis Sallinen is represented by the Symphony No.8, “Autumnal Fragments” which Järvi premiered in 2004 with the Concertgebouw Orchestra before introducing the work to North America in Cincinnati the following season. The Finnish connection continues with Gambit, a work composed as a 40th birthday present for Magnus Lindberg by someone we know better as a conductor, Esa-Pekka Salonen. Beginning in shimmering ethereal waves the piece erupts into a dynamic extended middle section before eventually returning to its quiet opening mood. Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten with its familiar tintinnabulations seems to grow organically from the Salonen and then leads dramatically to the final work, the Symphony No.6 of Estonian composer Lepo Sumera, completed just months before his death at age 50 in 2000. Not only one of Estonia’s most significant composers, Sumera also had a wider public influence serving as the Minister of Culture from 1988-1992 during the country’s Singing Revolution. This dramatically compelling symphony, which would in other circumstances have been a mid-career milepost, adds to the legacy of this strong and original voice, but leaves us wondering what Sumera might have accomplished if allowed even a few more years.

A conductor who has not disavowed his time in Toronto, Jukka-Pekka Saraste was director of the TSO from 1994-2001. He currently serves as the Music Director of the Oslo Philharmonic and since 2010 is Chief Conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has just released a disc of live recordings (LPO – 0057) drawn from concerts Saraste conducted in February and October 2008 featuring two of my favourite orchestral works, Sibelius’ Symphony No.5 and Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra. Sibelius is of course one of Saraste’s specialties – he’s recorded the cycle of seven symphonies twice to great acclaim – and Sibelius was, along with Mahler, a mainstay of his repertoire in Toronto. Unlike many composers, with Sibelius we are not given finished themes that are then developed and reworked, but rather fragments which seem to grow organically into the final form of the composition. This live performance with the LPO is outstanding as we hear Saraste building the music block by block until we reach its majestic conclusion and the anticipatory tension of the final six chords. The Lutosławski concerto is a relatively early work which exploits the full resources of the orchestra in a dramatic and dynamic way. I see this as a culmination of the composer’s early development, kind of a doctoral thesis summing up his understanding of the music of the first half of the 20th century. His particular influences were Bartók (whose own Concerto for Orchestra was perhaps the first modern day work in this form) and the folk music of his native Poland. Shortly thereafter, his music began to develop along different lines as he incorporated aleatoric aspects and added extended temporal and harmonic effects. One the earliest works in the new style, premiered at the 1958 Warsaw Autumn Festival, was another homage to Bartók, the Musique funèbre in memory of the Hungarian master. But it is the wonderfully dramatic Concerto for Orchestra we are presented with here and Saraste really brings it to life, emphasizing the bombast of the exuberant passages and the foreboding of the opening of the final movement with its haunting double reed melodies. The thunderous ovation which begins almost before the last note sounds is testament to the London audience’s appreciation.

1957 was a breakthrough year for Thelonious Monk seeing the release of two seminal albums including Monk’s Music, the only studio recording on which John Coltrane performed in a Monk ensemble. Other members of the septet included trumpeter Ray Copeland, Gigi Gryce on alto sax, Monk’s former boss Coleman Hawkins sharing tenor sax duties with Coltrane, Wilber Ware bass and Art Blakey on drums. The original six track Riverside Lp included Monk’s arrangement of the traditional hymn Abide with Me, the distinctive Well, You Needn’t and three more Monk signature pieces – Ruby, My Dear; Off Minor; Crepuscule with Nellie – and the 1942 Kenny Clarke/Thelonious Monk tune which has been touted as “the first classic, modern jazz composition” Epistrophy. In 1991 there was a CD re-issue on the Original Jazz Classics label which included bonus tracks of other takes of Crepuscule and ­Off Minor and several months ago I received a 2011 re-issue of the re-issue, now on the Original Jazz Classics Remasters imprint (OJC-32689-02). This latest incarnation has added another bonus, an extended track entitled Blues for Tomorrow penned by Gigi Gryce, recorded at the end of the first day of the two day session that produced the original disc. Notably absent is Monk himself on this track, evidently fast asleep after the effort of recording Epistrophy. The new release has retained the iconic cover picture of Monk seated in a little red wagon wearing his distinctive hat and sunglasses, and the original liner notes have been shrunk to near illegibility to fit the CD format. Fortunately these notes by Orrin Keepnews are also included in a more readable type inside the booklet along with a four page in depth appreciation by Ashley Kahn. It is features like this which make the continued recycling of the existing catalogue worth while.

Around the same time an intriguing new album arrived – Hat and Beard: The music of Thelonious Monk – which uses for its cover art a clever re-working of the Monk-on-a-wagon portrait, this time with the vehicle fashioned from a guitar and a drum kit. The disc was recorded live at Toronto’s Somewhere There in April 2009 and features guitarist Ken Aldcroft and drummer Dave Clark (Trio Records TRP-013). Although there is no overlap of material here with “Monk’s Music” and for that matter almost none in the instrumentation, the entire album re-interprets the music of the quirky legend in some surprising ways, from a very busy 52nd Street Theme to a very sparse (but ever growing in intensity) Locomotive. A highlight is the Monk/Hawkins co-composition I Mean You. While this album in some ways outdoes the originator’s minimal approach to melody and arrangement, it certainly provides evidence of a thoughtful consideration of the music of this modern master.

Simultaneous with the release of “Hat and Beard” Ken Aldcroft – a very active participant in Toronto’s avant-jazz scene and co-founder of the Association of Improvising Musicians – released Home: Solo Guitar Compositions (Trio Records TRP-5502-012). I approached this disc with some trepidation, assuming that an entire album of solo electric guitar works by a single composer would wear a little thin after a while. Of course an electric guitar can produce an almost infinite variety of sounds with the extensions and manipulations available today. I was therefore doubly surprised to find that Aldcroft held my attention throughout the near hour-long excursion, and that he did so without the obvious use of pedals and other devices so commonly seen at the feet of guitarists. Oh he certainly uses some extended playing techniques, but one gets the impression these are all achieved through dextral facility rather than electronic means. There aren’t any tunes you’ll go away whistling here, but some surprising sonorities in the exploration of the possibilities inherent in the six strings of Aldcroft’s instrument.

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David Olds

DISCoveries Editor

discoveries@thewholenote.com

By my reckoning, the Canadian Music Centre released more than a dozen CDs on its Centrediscs label last year, with reviews of 13 titles appearing in these pages since July 2010. This is, by any standard, a remarkable achievement in the rarefied medium of contemporary concert music and wonderful news for the composers of this country. Even better news is that the field has broadened with the recent announcement from NAXOS – the largest producer of classical CDs in the world – that they will be releasing six to eight discs of music by Canadian composers annually on their new Canadian Classics series.

The first to appear is Fugitive Colours, featuring music by Jeffrey Ryan performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Gryphon Trio under the direction of Bramwell Tovey (8.572765). There is a strong Toronto connection here in spite of the Vancouver by-line. Born in Toronto (and raised in Fergus), Ryan has since 1997(!) served as composer advisor to Music Toronto - his String Quartet No. 4 “Inspirare” was premiered by the Tokyo Quartet at Walter Hall in the opening concert of MT’s 40th season last month - and from 2000-2002 was an affiliate composer of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Now based in Vancouver, Ryan was composer laureate of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 2008/09 having previously served as its composer-in-residence from 2002-2007.

The three works on this CD are a legacy of his relationship with the VSO. The opener, The Linearity of Light¸ commissioned in the early days of his residency there, was completed in 2003. It is a tone poem that explores reflections and refractions in a dramatic and rhythmically compelling way, at times reminiscent of Stravinsky and Holst, juxtaposed with ethereal moments of extreme delicacy. 2007’s Equilateral: Triple Concerto for Piano Trio and Orchestra was co-commissioned by the VSO and the TSO in celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Gryphon Trio, long-time colleagues of Ryan’s at Music Toronto as ensemble-in-residence. It must have been a daunting task to undertake a work in the shadow of Beethoven’s masterpiece for the same instrumentation – I can’t think of another example off-hand; I’ll probably get letters – but Ryan rises to the challenge admirably. The two outer movements, aptly named Breathless and Serpentine featuring unison rhythms and dense textures, frame the wonderfully lyrical Points of Contact, with its poignant solo passages and microtonal “Doppler” effects. Ryan the colourist is shown to great effect in the title work, the 2006 symphony commissioned by the VSO. Three of the movements make no secret of their inspiration from the world of colour: Intarsia (although I must admit I had to look that one up), Nocturne (Magenta) and Viridian. The remaining (third) movement, Light: Fast suggests the full spectrum while once again reminding us of the rhythmic vitality of Stravinsky. This segues into the finale with a violin solo which sets the tone for an extended and peaceful dénouement.

All in all, this disc makes a strong contribution to the recorded legacy of Canadian music and a fitting opening to the Naxos series. Ryan already had an impressive discography – this is the tenth CD to include his music – but here we are presented with the first to feature his orchestral music exclusively. Congratulations to Jeffrey Ryan, to Naxos and indeed to the Canadian music community – this series promises to be a win, win, win situation.

Concert note: Jeffrey Ryan’s extended vocal cycle The Whitening of the Ox will receive its premiere at the Enwave Theatre on January 29 with baritone Tyler Duncan and the New Music Concerts ensemble.

The rest of my listening this month was devoted to recent releases in my favourite genre, the string quartet. I was intrigued to receive a disc on the Bridge Records label purporting to be by the New Orford String Quartet. Who can this be, I wondered, with the nerve to appropriate the name of Canada’s most respected chamber ensemble? I still harbour some of those thoughts, but having listened to the Schubert and Beethoven quartets included on their inaugural release (Bridge 9363) I am willing to at least grant them credibility. It turns out that the quartet, like its namesake, was formed at the Orford Music Centre in Quebec, in this instance in the summer of 2009. It is comprised of principals and former principals of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Toronto Symphony, violinists Jonathan Crow and Andrew Wan, violist Eric Nowlin and cellist Brian Manker. Unlike the original Orford which for more than 25 years was devoted exclusively to being a quartet, the New Orford dedicates only specific periods each year to working together. There are a number of surprises on this recording: that the Bridge label doesn’t only record the music of living American composers and musicians; that Schubert, Beethoven’s junior by 27 years, finished his 15th string quartet in the same year that Beethoven wrote his own 16th (the two being paired on this recording); and that a “part-time” quartet can play so well together! The disc features unusual and insightful liner notes by cellist Brian Manker and the exceptional sound quality was captured at the Schulich School of Music, McGill.

Founded in 1997, Montreal’s Molinari Quartet has established a solid reputation as a voice for established and emerging composers working in the genre of the string quartet. One of its lasting legacies is the triennial Molinari Quartet International Competition for Composition which in the fist 10 years has received over 600 new quartet scores from 60 countries. The only remaining founding member, first violinist Olga Ranzenhofer, has surrounded herself with a fine crop of new partners – violinist Frédéric Bednarz, violist Frédéric Lambert and cellist Pierre-Alain Bouvrette – for a 2 CD set of string quartets by Alfred Schnittke (ATMA ACD2 2634). The German/Russian composer (1934-1998) was one of the original voices of the new eclecticism and this is well demonstrated in his four quartets spanning the years 1966 to 1983. These important works receive convincing performances here. My only qualm is the ordering of the quartets on the recording. Usually re-arranging works is a result of the time constraints of the medium. That is obviously not the case in this instance (3-1-2 on one disc) so we assume it was an aesthetic choice, perhaps to do with the particularly alluring opening of the third quartet. That quibble aside I find it very easy to recommend this set to both those who are familiar with the material and those who have not yet encountered the quartets of this exceptional composer.

My first exposure to the music of Swiss/Israeli composer Ernest Bloch was a rehearsal I had the privilege of attending in my formative years when Milton Barnes was conducting the Hart House Chamber Orchestra in a performance of Bloch’s Concerto Grosso No. 2. That piece still numbers among my favourites and so it was a great pleasure to receive the Galatea Quartet’s recent recording Landscapes (SONY 88697950242) which features a number of Bloch’s shorter works for string quartet, some of which are reminiscent of the concerto grosso, and an adolescent work which he later disavowed. Bloch published five mature quartets, not included here, and perhaps it was with good reason that he did not acknowledge this student work composed when he was fifteen. But I find it charming. It is not embroiled in the romantic turmoil of the time when it was written (1895) but is rather a clean and refreshing expression of exuberance and youthful optimism. The work is as yet unpublished. I thank the Galatea for bringing it to the world’s attention and look forward to the time when I can have a go at it with my own amateur quartet.

We welcome your feedback and invite submissions. CDs and comments should be sent to: The WholeNote, 503 – 720 Bathurst St. Toronto ON M5S 2R4.

David Olds

DISCoveries Editor

discoveries@thewholenote.com

Broken Hearts and Madmen

Patricia O'Callaghan; Gryphon Trio

Analekta AN 2 9870

Classical sensibilities applied to popular music should enhance, rather than sacrifice the spirit and intent of the original music. It rarely makes sense to over-beautify the themes of everyday life and we all can site instances where the marriage of pop and classical does not quite work. In this recording, however, Patricia O’Callaghan and the Gryphon Trio, deliver savvy and artful new interpretations. It all begins with choosing ingeniously artful songs. Songs by the likes of Laurie Anderson, Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen and Elvis Costello are interspersed with those by Llasa de Sela, Los Lobos and Astor Piazzola as well as traditional Latin pieces, offering a diverse and clever mix most suitable for orchestration. Interpreted through brilliant arrangements by Roberto Occhipinti, Hilario Duran and Andrew Downing, the results are stunning, soulful and profoundly affective.

The trio’s playing is superb and complex and O’Callaghan’s vocal nuances are delivered with a heartfelt, dynamic, yet surprisingly light and subtle touch. Most notable is her ability to keep the extreme emotional intensity going despite the incessant repetition in Elvis Costello’s I want you. Along with her gorgeous singing, O’Callaghan’s expert facility with languages is remarkable in the Spanish and French selections. Through a decade developing a chamber music series for the Lula Lounge, the Gryphon Trio has finely honed their talent for skilfully adapting classical technique to the contemporary audience and this shines through beautifully in this recording.

Concert Note: Patricia O’Callaghan and the Gryphon Trio will launch “Broken Hearts and Madmen” at the Lula Lounge on October 2.

VOCAL Note: For reviews of eight new Sony opera re-issues see Bruce Surtees’ Old Wine in New Bottles

Couperin - Concerts royaux

Bruce Haynes; Arthur Haas; Susie Napper

ATMA ACD2 2168

Around 1700 Pierre Naust crafted an hautboy in Paris – it may be the earliest hautboy (forerunner of the oboe) now in private hands. In 1703 Barak Norman created a viola da gamba in London. This recording unites these two instruments in some of Couperin’s concerts royaux, precisely the repertoire for which Naust’s hautboy would have been played.

The recording was originally released in 1999 but one very poignant reason explains its redistribution. US/Canadian Bruce Haynes, the hautboy soloist, died this year; reintroducing the hautboy into France (!) and five books and 50 articles on early music are his legacy.

Concert 7’s sarabande is the first opportunity to hear the Naust hautboy. It is both outwardly expressive and yet slightly sensitive; Couperin was well able to bring out the quality of this instrument.

In Concert 11, despite the rather stately quality of all eight movements, the standard of hautboy playing is always maintained. It is Susie Napper’s mastery of the gamba which gains exposure, reinforced in her duet with harpsichordist Arthur Haas in a track from Couperin’s third book of harpsichord pieces. In fact, Bruce Haynes returns with some of his most inspired playing in two musétes. Rural can only begin to describe the combination of hautboy, harpsichord and gamba as they imitate the sounds of the French bagpipe!

And then the even more varied Concert 3 (with another muzette - sic) to conclude this tribute to Bruce Haynes, and to the instrument he revived in the country of its birth.

Tabarinades - Musiques pour le theatre de Tabarin

Les Boréades; Francis Colpron

ATMA ACD2 2658

Tabarin was the stage name of Jean Salomon. Born in 1584, he and Antoine and Philippe Girard set up an open-air theatre in Place Dauphine, Paris. Lively shows put Parisians of all classes in good humour, promoting the sale of Tabarin’s range of quack medicines.

Music accompanied the sketches; violins and bass viol are depicted in illustrations. The comparison with commedia dell’arte is too tempting for Director Colpron, who adds the latter’s recorders, lute and guitar.

From the start, this anthology (27 tracks in one hour!) features the liveliness of the French renaissance dance tune and many tracks are very familiar to early music lovers; track 2 Les Bouffons is a case in point, although one of the “outdoor” instruments of the period (crumhorn, rauschpfeife) would perhaps have made for an even livelier performance.

Several pieces are taken from more courtly circles, ballets being an obvious example. In these cases, woodwinds liven up what might have been rather subdued string pieces.

The selection is varied, as a motet and a stately pavan find their way onto a CD of essentially French secular and theatrical music. None of this should distract the listener from an hour of highly enjoyable playing, none more so than the recorder-playing of Francis Colpron (listen to the stately quality of Da bei rami scendea). His direction brings as many as 14 early musicians together, sometimes 11 on one track - a veritable crowd for early music enthusiasts!

And one man did come to be deeply influenced by Tabarin: real name Jean-Baptise Poquelin, stage-name Molière.

Beethoven - The Complete Piano Sonatas

Peter Takács

Cambria CD1175-1185 11 (www.cambriamusic.com)

Peter Takács is a professor of piano at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. He was born in Bucharest, Romania and by four was taking music lessons and made his debut there at seven. When the family emigrated to France he was admitted to the Conservatoire National de Paris. In the United States he was awarded full scholarships to both Northwestern and the University of Illinois. It was with Leon Fleisher, with whom he maintains a close personal friendship, that he completed his artistic training at Peabody Conservatory. In addition to the usual one-on-one instruction, he gives master classes, adjudicates on music competitions, and concertizes in the United States and abroad, performing in solo recitals, chamber music and works with orchestra.

It is evident that Takács has become very close to Beethoven’s spirit, for these interpretations seem to come from within and not imposed on the score. These are not simply scholarly performances but fresh, compelling renditions by a scholar who has resolutely looked beyond the printed page. In addition to the 32 published sonatas, six extras are included: WoO 50 & 51 (1797/8); The Elector Sonatas WoO 47 nos. 1,2,3; and the sonata for piano four hands op.6 (1896/7) with Janice Weber, secondo. Plus, for good measure, the Andante Favori WoO 57. Thus, the collection is uniquely complete.

For me, Takács reveals qualities in these works that elevate them from piano pieces into musical narratives that engage the listener’s undivided attention and hold it beyond the very last note. I hated to stop any one of them or have my attention diverted in case I missed something. Even the shortest note or phrase has meaning. A poor simile but it may be like habitually viewing a sculpture from the same perspective and then seeing it from a new aspect... same piece but differently illuminated... an added dimension and a fresh appreciation of a familiar piece. Listening to these recordings aroused nostalgic remembrances of the wonderment and excitement of hearing these works for the first time. I do hope that Professor Takács will favour us with some Schumann, played with equal dedication.

Audiophiles will be very excited with these hybrid discs which are recorded in five channels that are available on the SACD track but are spot-on heard on the two channel track of the discs. The instrument is a Model 290, 9’6” Bösendorfer Imperial Grand and the recordings were engineered by Soundmirror, Inc. of Boston.

Finally, I must comment on the sumptuous packaging which, itself, is a work of art: a sturdy box houses a 144-page, full colour, hard-bound book of informative essays and meticulous notes on each work written by Professor Takács. A pocket on the inside back cover contains a BEETHOVEN TIMELINE, an 18”x19” folded 2-sided almanac of significant events in Beethoven’s life with contemporary milestones in the worlds of music, literature, science, philosophy and history. The CDs are individually sleeved in a matching hard cover book.

Professor Takács visited Toronto recently and he was kind enough to sit and chat with me in the WholeNote offices. Parts of that conversation/interview with this very interesting and articulate man were recorded and I urge the reader to view this below.

Lizst - My Piano Hero

Lang Lang; Vienna Philharmonic; Valery Gergiev

Sony 88697891412

For the Liszt bi-centennial most of the major record companies have issued new releases and re-releases of his work. One of these is “Liszt - My Piano Hero” by Sony Classical featuring Lang Lang. The celebrated young Chinese pianist, a former child prodigy, is now 29 years old. Over the last 10 years he has developed enormously from a dazzling showman somebody referred to as “the J.Lo of the piano,” to a maturing artist whose playing never ceases to touch your heart. Lang Lang’s main attributes, I think, are his communication skills and exuberant love of playing the piano. Recently I saw him with 100 kids playing Schubert’s March Militaire at the Philharmonie Berlin under his inspiring direction to a result of overwhelming success.

This selection contains some of Liszt’s most popular pieces like La Campanella, Hungarian Rhapsodies Nos. 6 and 15, Grand Galop chromatique and many others of similar vein, plus the Piano Concerto in E flat major with Valery Gergiev conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. A good cross section of Liszt’s works from the dazzling virtuoso pieces to the more introspective romantic, dreamy compositions (Liebestraum No. 3, Consolation No. 3, Un Sospiro) which are played with exquisite touch and delicacy. There is idiomatic playing in the Rhapsody No. 6 especially in the slow mid section (Lassu) where he captures the Hungarian spirit with the characteristic rubatos and accelerandos. La Campanella sounds like a little bell the piece was named after.

This fine recording will convert many sceptics to accept Liszt to be Chopin’s equal as a keyboard giant.

Concert note: Valery Gergiev conducts the Mariinsky Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall on October 21. Lang Lang performs all five Beethoven Concertos (one per night) with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra November 9, 10, 12, 17 & 19.