Review

01 Fialkowska SchubertJanina Fialkowska’s new recording of Schubert – Piano Sonata No.7; Four Impromptus (ATMA ACD2 2699) is an example of familiar repertoire rethought, reconsidered and reinvented. Nothing has been turned on its head nor has Schubert been over-examined for missed content. The genius of his ideas lies in both their lyric value and in the exquisite nature of his supporting accompaniments. What Fialkowska has done is to redraw the emotional map that guides her playing through Schubert’s straightforward material. She plays the Impromptu No.2 in A-flat Major Op.142 D935 as if it were something sacred. The opening idea is delivered in utter simplicity and the middle section rises to a speed and intensity not often heard. This pulls the work’s emotional poles further apart and gives greater impact to the quiet ending. The other three impromptus, too, are wonderfully recast.

The Piano Sonata No.7 in E -flat Major Op.122 D568 benefits from a release of tempo strictures in the second and third movements. Fialkowska gives Schubert’s simple ideas an airy freedom that feels so completely right. She is, as ever, the mature interpreter we have come to admire.

Concert Note: On April 1 and 2 Janina Fialkowska performs Chopin’s Concerto in F Minor with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony at the Centre in the Square.

02 Hewitt ScarlattiIt’s always a pleasure to hear a new recording from Angela Hewitt, regardless of the repertoire. Early 2016 saw the release of Domenico Scarlatti – Sonatas (Hyperion CDA67613), her first project with this material and one which she hopes to pursue more. In her liner notes, Hewitt makes reference to the scholarly debate over whether the sonatas were originally intended to be paired or not. She has, nevertheless, chosen to devise her own groupings, to the sonatas’ best advantage.

Playing her long-favoured Fazioli, Hewitt delivers a flawless technical performance with clarity never sacrificed to speed. Scarlatti’s sonata structures are simple enough to navigate and one might expect that in the course of 16 such works a certain amount of predictability would set in. But this never happens as Hewitt gives the main idea of each sonata a completely fresh approach. She also never misses a contrapuntal opportunity, and plenty abound throughout. Her ornaments and figures are perfect. She is also completely at ease using whatever technical advantage the modern piano offers to this older repertoire, whether dynamic or colouristic. The Sonata in G Minor Kk8 is an excellent example of this as is the Sonata in F Minor Kk69.

The final track is a bit of surprise as Hewitt’s choice of tempo is notably slower than most often heard. This turns the Sonata in E Major Kk380 into a far more thoughtful and even slightly melancholy utterance than we expect. We look forward to her next set of Scarlatti sonatas.

Concert Note: On April 13, 14 and 16, Angela Hewitt performs two piano concertos by Bach with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The program also features Symphony No.8 by Shostakovich, conducted by Peter Oundjian.

Review

03 Grimaud WaterIn her latest disc Hélène Grimaud – Water (Deutsche Grammophon CD 00289 479 3426), pianist Hélène Grimaud draws from the well of repertoire using water as its inspiration. Nearly every composer has written something depicting an aspect of water whether vast or minute. Her choices of works were guided by a live performance project incorporating art, music and architecture. Set in a New York armoury drill hall carefully flooded for added effect, the performance reflected her environmental concerns around the treatment of water as one of humanity’s most precious resources.

Grimaud immerses herself completely in the nature of the water theme. Aided by the cavernous acoustic of the armoury, she captures all the fluidness and sparkling images created by her chosen composers. Liszt’s Les Jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este is among the best tracks for its articulate shimmer in the upper registers. The Takemitsu Rain Tree Sketch II is beautiful for its deeply haunting reserve and Fauré’s Barcarolle flows with unbound rhythmic freedom throughout. The best track is, however, Debussy’s La Cathédrale engloutie. Here Grimaud evokes an architectural grandness and solemnity so appropriate to the composer’s image for the piece.

The recording produced at the art installation is combined with seven electro-acoustic compositions by Nitin Sawhney that act as transitions between her eight piano pieces. The contemporary works serve effectively as transitions between the traditional repertoire and are, in fact, titled as such, Transition 1, 2, etc. They alternate seamlessly from one track to the next and make for a truly fascinating listen.

04 LisitsaIt’s hard to imagine the mindset that a pianist must adopt to undertake an extensive project like Valentina Lisitsa plays Philip Glass (Decca 478 8079 DH2). This two-disc set contains nine selections from The Hours and other films like Mishima and The Truman Show. Lisitsa also plays the Metamorphosis I-V and the half-hour long How Now.

Conventionally, one imagines a performer mapping out thematic structure and development, and attending to such concerns as articulation and phrasing. But in Glass’ world these things can have far less significance and a performer may look elsewhere to prepare.

Glass describes himself as a composer of “music with repeating structures” and it’s this device that predominates throughout the repertoire in this set. Lisitsa takes an approach that respects the important patterns of Glass’ work but leaves her enough expressive room to use speed and dynamics to shape the music. This is most evident in How Now and Wichita Vortex Sutra. The experience of playing this often hypnotic music is challenging. Lisitsa reaches successfully for the other worldliness of Glass’ minimalist voice. She never loses herself in it because she understands that the immersive experience of Glass’ music is best reserved for the listener.

Concert Note: Valentina Lisitsa performs at Koerner Hall at 3pm on April 10. The program will include Scriabin, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov.

Review

05 Glassworlds 3Young pianist Nicolas Horvath has a very impressive reputation as a Liszt interpreter. It’s no surprise then, that his approach to Glass in Philip Glass – Glassworlds 3; Metamorphosis (Grand Piano GP691) is strikingly different. His own liner notes to this recording reveal his inclination toward analytical detail. At the keyboard he extracts thematic material from the rotating structures that Glass sets spinning like so many Buddhist prayer wheels. In doing so he compels the listener to experience the music more melodically than its hypnotic patterns might otherwise allow. This sets his performance of the Metamorphosis I-V apart from most others. The melodic imperative that seems to drive Horvath’s interpretation of Glass’ music is even more powerful in Einstein on the Beach and the Piano Sonatina No.2 (1959). There’s even a hint of programmatic interpretation in the piano version of The Olympian – Lighting of the Torch and Closing.

By contrast, however, Horvath completely abandons all classical/romantic sensibilities in Two Pages (1968), choosing instead to favour the dominant mechanical nature of the repeating figures, leaving only Glass’ subtle changes to play with the listener’s mind. This kind of versatility makes Horvath a compelling interpreter and presents the repertoire in a deeply engaging and listenable way. This disc is the third volume in his Glassworlds series.

Review

06 Khachaturian PoghosyanKariné Poghosyan is an Armenian-American pianist teaching at the Manhattan School of Music. With a scholarly thesis on the piano music of Aram Khachaturian to her credit, her latest recording Khachaturian Original Piano Works and Transcriptions (Grand Piano GP673) demonstrates the affinity she has for this composer’s work.

The disc includes a new piano transcription of the Masquerade Suite with its familiar Waltz, and the Suite No.2 from the ballet Spartacus, in a new arrangement by Matthew Cameron. Both performances are world premieres but the latter is impressive for the way it presents the ballet’s well-known main theme, particularly in its wide, sweeping orchestral gestures.

Also on the disc is Poem, a very early and somewhat troubled work that Poghosyan performs with conviction, finding great serenity in the quieter sections to balance the work’s darker passages.

The recording’s finest piece is, however, the Piano Sonata from 1961, one of Khachaturian’s few formal efforts in larger forms. The opening movement is breathtaking for its relentless motion that only has a brief respite midway through. Poghosyan plays this brilliantly and brings it to an edge-of-your-seat close. The second movement is remarkable for its unfamiliar and sometimes experimental language. The final movement brings back the energy of the first but with more intensity. This must be an exhausting piece to perform live. It is excitement combined with mystery and Poghosyan plays it masterfully.

07 StiebeltWe tend to have set notions of the personalities that shaped the music of most historical periods. While the names of those who dominate obscure the lesser, we sometimes find, in the shadows, new material that helps us understand an age in a richer way. And so it is with the music of Daniel Steibelt and a new recording by Howard Shelley that presents three of his piano concertos in Stiebelt (Hyperion CDA68104).

Born to German/French parents, Steibelt was a contemporary of Mozart and Beethoven. He built his career as a pianist and composer in France and England at the turn of the 19th century. He is reported to have famously challenged Beethoven to a piano duel and forever lived with the humiliation of that ill-conceived contest. Steibelt’s music shows his remarkable keyboard facility with extended runs and complex ornamentation. Although his work shows him to have been a fine tunesmith, he is judged to have been much less competent at thematic development.

Pianist and conductor Howard Shelley performs the Piano Concertos Nos. 3, 5 and 7 with the Ulster Orchestra. Shelley’s playing is graceful and delivers the full value of Steibelt’s decorative tunes, many of them finely crafted and memorable, especially the Scottish folk melodies in the slow movements. The orchestra is superbly balanced with the piano, and while conducted from the keyboard, their performance is unerringly intimate with the soloist. The recording is a welcome document of a deserving, if lesser known, composer.

08 Mozart BezuidenhoutLauded by critics as the finest fortepiano performer of our time, Kristian Bezuidenhout has issued another installment in his ambitious Mozart recording project, Mozart Keyboard Music Vols. 8 & 9 (Harmonia Mundi HMU 907532.33). Bezuidenhout plays a fortepiano built in 2009, copied from a Viennese Walter & Sohn of 1805. The instrument is tuned to A 430 and set in unequal temperament. This has the effect of reducing the instrument’s resonance in keys not part of C Major’s harmonic overtone series, like D and F. This is hardly noticeable since the fortepiano has, overall, characteristically less resonance than our modern pianos.

These two volumes are well programmed with plenty of contrasting pieces that make listening through their entirety highly enjoyable. The familiar Sonata in C Major K545 opens the set and is striking for the degree of clarity and articulation Bezuidenhout is able to express at this keyboard. He plays the Gigue in G Major K574 with an incisive angularity applied to both the rhythmic patterns and the intervallic leaps that must have delighted Mozart in writing them. He also includes three sets of variations and a couple of fragments completed by Mozart scholar Robert Levin.

Bezuidenhout is a dynamic player not shy about digging into the instrument forcefully to generate a fortissimo. He’s equally adept at key touch so light that some notes seem to disappear on first hearing. A quick replay confirms their presence but only at the softest levels.

The two-disc set contains selected works from 1774 to 1790 and, like the rest of the series, is not chronological.

01 Way of the PilgrimThe Way of the Pilgrim
Toronto Consort
Marquis Classics MAR 81465 (marquisclassics.com)

The Toronto Consort was founded in 1972. Since then it has been recognized as one of the finest ensembles in the world specializing in medieval, renaissance and early baroque music. This disc is a reissue, first released by Dorian in 2000. The ensemble is essentially the same as that performing now, with one exception: the recording was made before the soprano Michele DeBoer joined the group.

Although the title of the CD emphasizes pilgrimage, the subtitle, “Medieval Songs of Travel,” shows that “travel” is taken in a wider sense: we have here songs about the Crusades, about the miracles performed by the Virgin Mary (linked to the Spanish pilgrimage Salas), about spring and love written by wandering monks (the Carmina Burana) and about the vicissitudes in one’s own life (the autobiographical poem by Oswald von Wolkenstein, one of the last minnesingers). Making these works ready for performance would have involved a considerable amount of work. While good modern editions are available, it must be remembered that the music has come down to us in the shape of monophonic songs. Everything added to the tune would have to be added by the performer.

The performances on the CD are always enjoyable. I was particularly taken with the soprano Katherine Hill’s performances in the Cantiga Ben pode Santa Maria, mezzo Laura Pudwell’s rendering of Bonum est confidere from the Carmina Burana and with Pudwell’s unaccompanied performance Jerusalem se plaint, a lament written in response to the retreat of the Crusader army from Egypt in 1221. A lively and informative essay by David Fallis, the artistic director of the Toronto Consort, is a valuable supplement.

Concert Note: The Toronto Consort’s season concludes with performances of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 with special guest British tenor Charles Daniels, joined by tenor Kevin Skelton and Montreal’s premier cornetto and sackbut ensemble La Rose des Vents on May 6, 7 and 8 at Trinity-St.Paul’s Centre.

02 MonteverdiMonteverdi – Vespro Della Beata Vergine
Monteverdi Choir; English Baroque Soloists; Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Alpha 705

Sir John Eliot Gardiner has conducted Monteverdi’s Vespers many times. In the booklet that comes with this DVD he relates how he first conducted the work in 1964 when he was still an undergraduate at Cambridge. He also mentions that he received a great deal of cooperation from various academics. His tutor even arranged for him to have a year off from his work for the History Tripos so that he could concentrate on the Monteverdi. The performance was in the splendid late Gothic chapel at King’s College, Cambridge. Recently Gardiner was invited to conduct the work again in King’s College Chapel and the essay in the DVD booklet is clearly the program note for that performance.

Gardiner has conducted the work several times on CD and also once on an earlier DVD where the venue was the Basilica of St. Mark in Venice. The venue on this recording is yet another space, the late 17th century Chapelle Royale de Versailles. That church is not as spectacular as the Chapel at King’s College or St. Mark’s Basilica but the architectural space works well. The cinematographer has also made good use of the frescos in the church to heighten the baroque ambiance in which the work is performed.

In his introductory essay, Gardiner writes that already in 1964, he foundthe smooth, polite euphony of the collegiate choral style of the early 60sunsuitable for this work. He has not changed his mind: this performance is dramatic and vigorous. Apart from some rather ungainly entrances by the solo tenors in the concluding Magnificat, it is also beautifully sung and played.

Concert Note: As mentioned above, the Toronto Consort presents Monteverdi’s Vespers at Trinity-St. Paul’s on May 6, 7 and 8.

03 Rossini MoseRossini – Mosè
Raimondi; Kabatu; Ganci; Mihai; Polinelli; Veneranca Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano; Francesco Quattrocchi
Cmajor 735308

This was one of the events specially created for the Milan Expo 2015 that coincided with the 150th anniversary of Italian Unification and what better way to celebrate than to perform an opera in the magnificent Gothic cathedral, Duomo di Milano, that took 600 years to build. The majestic interior became awash in cascading multicoloured curtains of light giving an impressive backdrop to the action.

The original opera, well over three hours long, Mosè in Egitto by the 24-year-old Rossini, was written for Naples. He later revised it for Paris and turned it into French (Moise et Pharaon) thereby losing a lot of the originality and freshness of the original. The creators of this particular event in their wisdom used this second version (translated back into Italian) and condensed it into a one-and-a-half-hour “semi-staged sacred melodrama” of overblown and repetitive religious scenes of divine miracles, dispensing with much of the love story, the human drama and the wonderful music that made this opera a success and caused it to survive for nearly 200 years. Fortunately, the immortal Prayer Scene at the banks of the Red Sea was kept, ending the show on a positive note.

This being in Italy and especially Milan, the mostly young singers are all excellent, their voices gloriously resounding in the spacious acoustics of the cathedral. Isabelle Kabatu as Queen Sinaide is especially memorable in her highly emotionally charged scene, and in the title role the venerable Ruggero Raimondi at 74, amazingly enough can still sing the role although his voice is somewhat compromised by now. The young Italian conductor Francesco Quattrocchi, well attuned to the Rossini idiom, brings out beautiful sounds and sonorities. All in all the opera is severely truncated, but still an impressive, visually resplendent show for this special occasion.

04 TannhauserWagner – Tannhäuser
Seiffert; Petersen; Mattei; Pape; Prudenskaya; Sonn; Staatskapelle Berlin; Daniel Barenboim
BelAir Classics BAC122

The exiled and penniless Wagner’s first real international break came in 1860 when Emperor Napoleon III invited him to perform his Tannhäuser in Paris, an event that became the biggest scandal in the history of opera. Riots broke out, people were beating each other up, screaming, yelling and throwing things at the singers while the Emperor and his Empress were sitting in the royal box unable do a thing. Wagner quickly withdrew the score and hurriedly left Paris.

Tannhäuser, Wagner’s tortured dilemma between physical and spiritual love, however, not only survived 150 years but is triumphantly vindicated here in Berlin. The big problem facing directors today is how to make opera relevant in the 21st century; there have been many failures, stupidly conceived updated concepts by second-rate directors. Acclaimed choreographer Sasha Waltz was the Staatsoper’s unlikely but brilliant choice to direct, and with her emphasis on the poetry of movement to underline the drama – exquisitely composed scenes with dancers mingling with the singers – there is constant motion adding excitement and visual splendour.

There is musical splendour of the highest order as well. A superb cast: Peter Seiffert, a strong heldentenor as Tannhäuser, his voice rich, sensitive and expressive with no sign of fatigue through the gruelling four hours. Ann Petersen is a glorious Elizabeth both in joy and later in her suffering. Peter Mattei, probably today’s greatest lyrical baritone is a noble, elegant and aristocratic Wolfram. René Pape (Landgraf) and Marina Prudenskaya (Venus) are also memorable in their lesser roles. Maestro Barenboim conducts the entire score from memory with forward thrust and quickening of pulse in the resplendent and joyful scenes of the second act, broadening into sustained slow tempi in the tragic but sublime third. Wonderful performance, highly recommended.

05 Ravel Heure EspagnoleRavel – L’Heure espagnole; Don Quichotte à Dulcinée
Lombardo; Druet; Antoun; Barrard; Courjal; Le Roux; Orchestre National de Lyon; Leonard Slatkin
Naxos 8.660337

Maurice Ravel loved a challenge. Why else would he embrace the prospect of writing a new take on the comic Italian opera in French, on a Spanish theme? The Spanish Hour, filled with flirtation, comical characters and cuckolds, is far from being a bedroom farce. It is, instead, a great example of Ravel’s musical genius, especially when it comes to orchestration. While he pays homage to the Spanish musical idiom, he also respects the distinct musicality of the French language, whether scoring the straightforward observations of Ramiro, the rapid plotting of Concepción, or the over-the-top buffoonery of Gonzalve and Don Inigo. The result is playful, poetic and impressionistic.

The accompanying work, three songs of Don Quixote sung to Dulcinea, has a much less happy theme – and history. It is the very last thing Ravel composed (in 1933) and was commissioned by the celebrated film director, G. W. Pabst for a new film version of the story of the knight of La Mancha. Alas, as they say in the film biz, it ended up on the cutting room floor and was replaced by Jacques Ibert’s four songs on the same theme. This insult galled Ravel to the point of considering a lawsuit against the producers, but he eventually gave up on this…quixotic pursuit. The film’s loss is our gain, as these songs remain a popular vehicle for baritone voice, as rendered here by François Le Roux, one of the leading exponents of French chanson.

06 Alec RothAlec Roth – A Time to Dance
Ex Cathedra; Jeffrey Skidmore
Hyperion CDA68144

Alex Roth’s A Time to Dance is divided into four major sections, each representing a season and time of day, with each featuring a different soloist: soprano for Spring Morning, tenor in Summer Noon, alto for Autumn Evening and bass in Winter Night. Adding choir and orchestra, the hour-long cantata, uses almost the same instrumentation as Bach’s Magnificat; thus the two works were paired for the cantata’s premiere performance by Ex Cathedra in 2012.

With texts drawn from biblical verse as well as well-loved poets such as Blake, Dickinson, Donne, Manley Hopkins, Marlowe and Yeats, a fertile groundwork is provided for a great variety of expression in the music. The piece opens with the bass and choir singing from Ecclesiastes (To everything there is a season). Through Roth’s deft characterization, soprano Grace Davidson evokes the beauty of spring; tenor Samuel Boden the romance and sensuality of summer, alto Matthew Venner the ripeness of autumn and bass Greg Skidmore the gravity of winter. All come together for the marvellous Epilogue followed by an exuberant After-dance in which Roth expects the singers to hand-clap as well as actually dance.

The other pieces included on the recording are a little more conventional and reserved, though still lovely; Roth’s Magnificat and Nunc dimittis is set for a smaller choir with a chamber organ part for left hand only; Men and Angels, for unaccompanied choir, showcases Ex Cathedra’s thoughtful and meticulous delivery.

01 In Search of ChopinIn Search of Chopin
A film by Phil Grabsky
Seventh Art Productions SEV182

Traditionally, the lives of classical composers haven’t fared all that well on film. We have only to think back to Miloš Forman’s acclaimed Amadeus which, in the opinion of many music lovers, left something to be desired in its portrayal of Mozart as a childish jokester who also happened to be a musical genius. And certain biographies currently posted online seem questionable in quality. In Search of Chopin is something very different, a sensitive documentary by Phil Grabsky on the Seventh Art label and the fourth in his series of DVDs focusing on the lives of great composers.

Through the use of exquisite photography, a well-delivered narration by Juliet Stevenson and readings by David Dawson of selected correspondence, In Search of Chopin takes the viewer on a 39-year journey, from the composer’s beginnings in Żelazowa Wola, Poland, to his untimely demise in France in 1849. Commentaries from those connected with the Chopin Institute in Warsaw and from musicologist Jeremy Siepmann further add to this compelling biography and from the beginning, I was struck by a wonderful sense of intimacy. The viewer becomes a privileged visitor to the rooms where Chopin lived and created – in Warsaw, in Vienna, at Nohant and his city of exile, Paris.

Yet the film is more than a mere life story; indeed, it views the composer through his music more than most documentaries do. Interviews with renowned pianists such as Ronald Brautigam, Lars Vogt, Daniel Barenboim and Leif Ove Andsnes shed light on the composer’s output in new and revealing ways. Furthermore, the numerous musical examples seem particularly generous in length while those performed by Nelson Goerner, Kevin Kenner and Janusz Olejniczak in concert on an early Erard instrument with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century provide the viewer with a sound very close to what Chopin would have heard during his lifetime.

Adept editing and attractive bonus features further add to the appeal of this exemplary biography, a worthy tribute to the “poet of the piano.” Highly recommended.

03 MendelssohnMendelssohn – A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Hebrides Overture; Fair Melusine Overture
Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Radio Choir; Thomas Dausgaard
BIS Hybrid SACD 2166

Felix Mendelssohn was born in Hamburg on February 3, 1809, and a no more prophetic name than Felix (Latin for “happy”) could have been given him if his music tells the tale. His ebullient Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream was written when he was 17 and was followed 17 years later by more miniatures to comprise a suite of Incidental Music. That he chose to compose these extra pieces populated by those same scampering fairies of the Overture was brilliant.

The Incidental Music is composed of the Overture that sets the stage and introduces the cast, followed by 13 pieces including the Scherzo, Nocturne, Intermezzo, Wedding March and other delights.

Dausgaard’s tempi may feel slightly headlong, with an impetuosity that imbues a breathtaking expectancy even when we know the score well. This is a performance that has the listener leaning forward so as not to miss a single, unexpected nuance. Constant re-evaluation of textures in almost every chord is different in weight and balance from what we are used to, keeping us alert for what is to come. We can see those fairies being as disruptive as they are in Shakespeare.

The uniquely mid-nineteenth-century quality of the score is brought out with extremely precise orchestral execution, transparent and articulate, adding a zing unlike any others. This is pure Mendelssohn and, for me, exemplary.

Similarly, the two familiar overtures are meticulously prepared, drawing even a blasé listener into these interpretative revelations and performance bench marks.

Concert Note: On April 9 and 10 the Toronto Symphony Orchestra presents “A Midsummer Night’s Dream & More” featuring Mendelssohn’s incidental music, Handel’s Harp Concerto, Elgar’s Enigma Variations and Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries under the baton of James Feddeck in his TSO debut. 

03 Liszt DutilleuxMiroirs: Dutilleux; Liszt
Jonas Vitaud
NoMadMusic NMM028 (nomadmusic.fr)

Miroirs is a solo piano album of Romantic and 20th-century repertoire by French pianist Jonas Vitaud that stems, in part, from his work with Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013) at the Cordes-sur-Ciel festival in 2004.

The CD immediately transports us into harmonically adventurous worlds with Liszt’s Angelus, Klavierstück, Valse oubliée, Nuages gris and Dutilleux’s three Preludes: D’ombre et de silence, Sur un même accord, Le jeu des contraires (1973-1988). However, Vitaud has changed the order of the pieces and interjects a Dutilleux prelude between each of Liszt’s four late compositions. His rationale is to show parallels between the works written by these two very different composers, with Vitaud describing Liszt as a prolific virtuoso and Dutilleux as “a composer of the night.” The reordering may be confusing for a listener who is not following along with the liner notes, however Vitaud consistently conveys an acute awareness of harmonic colour and masterfully presents works that are not performed as often as they should be.

The album gradually leads to Liszt’s virtuoso Mephisto Waltz before closing with Dutilleux’s musically and technically complex Piano Sonata Op.1 (1948). Dutilleux consciously defied classification and rejected a number of 20th-century compositional idioms while expanding elements of the Impressionist tradition. Many of his compositions are refined and deeply moving, such as the Choral et variations, the final movement in the piano sonata, which Vitaud delivers superbly. Particularly impressive is Vitaud’s ability to convey strength without harshness even in the most technically difficult passages, resulting in an innovative and beautifully performed CD, released to coincide with Dutilleux’s centenary.

04 Concertgebouw windsWoodwinds
Woodwinds of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
RCO Live LC-14237

This varied, attractive program of 20th-century woodwind chamber music presented by Concertgebouw wind players is a credit to all concerned. For me the highlights are Poulenc’s Sextet (1932/39) and Jánaček’s Mládí (1924). The well-known Poulenc is played with sensitivity, and Jeroen Bal’s handling of the piano part is particularly subtle. Fine recordings of this work are numerous: the recent Berlin Counterpoint on Genuin is more energetic and virtuosic; while the London Conchord Ensemble on Champs Hill has a more reverberant acoustic. But to me, the shifting senses of nonchalance, dreaminess and high spirits in the composition are most stylishly captured in this reading.

Jánaček’s late and wonderful Mládí evokes his memories of childhood in Moravia, with instrumental suggestions of speech, song, dance and play. The group projects frequent changes of activity and emotional tone confidently. Intonation is unfailingly accurate and Lucas Navarro’s oboe playing is particularly expressive.

Martinů’s Sextet for Piano and Wind Instruments (1929) avoids consistent style and instrumentation. The Scherzo is to me the best movement; flutist Emily Beynon’s virtuosity and tone make it shine. Gershwin-jazzy passages burst in on several movements, and the Concertgebouw winds turn the whole into a witty, enjoyable experience. The early Sonatina for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon (1931) by Sándor Veress (1907-1992) features intriguing dissonance, attractive lyricism and vital rhythm in turn, all conveyed convincingly by the reed trio who seem throroughly at home with the work’s Hungarian folk idioms.

01 Prokofiev Piano ConcertosProkofiev – Piano Concertos 2 & 5
Vadym Kholodenko; Fort Worth Symphony; Miguel Harth-Bedoya
Harmonia Mundi USA – HMU 807631

Among the plethora of emerging piano virtuosos a name to watch is Vadym Kholodenko, the Ukrainian winner of the 2013 Van Cliburn competition. Of special interest is his partnership with the Fort Worth Symphony including the recording of all five Prokofiev piano concertos. Kholodenko’s stylistic and technical rapport with conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya and orchestra shows in fine ensemble playing. I come to this Prokofiev Concerto No.2 (1913) with memories: Yefim Bronfman’s blazing performance with the Toronto Symphony; also novelist Philip Roth’s astounded account of Bronfman’s Prokofiev Two in The Human Stain. Khodolenko’s technique is fully sufficient yet he emphasizes expressive, lyrical aspects more, starting with the expansive opening melody. He even manages to make the cadenza’s romantic ballast sound meaningful. The perpetual motion Scherzo and heavy tramping Intermezzo have fewer expressive opportunities. The Finale does however, amid much virtuosic bravado that Kholodenko also navigates successfully.

By 1932 when he wrote Concerto No.5 Prokofiev was seeking stylistic simplicity, no doubt under increasing pressure from the Soviet regime. Many passages show that he still had the ability to be both musically childlike and inventive. For example, the second movement’s clock-ticking motion becomes interesting with lightning quick scales and staccatos that pianist and orchestra make sound crystalline. In the fourth movement, the piano weaves beautifully around lyrical winds; later on, the performers achieve the required solemnity. I look forward to the other three concertos from this team.

02 Bartok LigetiBartók; Ligeti
Ensemble InterContemporain; Matthias Pintscher
Alpha 217

Though György Ligeti’s early large-scale works brought him fame, his name was largely absent from North American orchestra programs in the 1980s. As a result, for many, he is associated with bagatelles and études instead of megaliths like Atmosphères. This Ensemble InterContemporain recording, better than merely reminding us of his orchestral roots, reaffirms his genius in both styles.

This is especially true of the Piano Concerto, featuring Hidéki Nagano, which feels at times like orchestral Ligeti and intimate Ligeti happening simultaneously, the sound streams occasionally lining up in a happy coincidence akin to those moments when a car’s turn signal blinks in time with the radio. This mechanical analogy is particularly apt, as the perpetual motion piano part also conjures up Conlon Nancarrow’s player piano works. The second movement showcases Ligeti’s trademark cosmic orchestral writing; here he weaves slide whistles and ocarinas into the fabric of a soundscape reminiscent of his Lontano for orchestra, delicately toeing the line between the apocalyptic and the mawkish in a way only Ligeti can.

Also featured are Ligeti’s concertos for violin and cello. Ligeti described his piano concerto as “music as frozen time, as an object in an imaginary space,” but these words might be yet better suited to his Cello Concerto, performed here by Pierre Strauch. The above are joined by two Bartók pieces, Contrasts and the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, and appropriately enough – for no two composers offer a more compelling solution to the problems posed by a world where both trite tonality and humourless avant-gardism are equally exhausted.

Concert Note: Matthias Pintscher makes his Toronto Symphony Orchestra debut conducting Mahler’s Symphony No.1, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.24 (with Inon Barnatan) and his own Towards Osiris on April 28 and April 30.

03 AndreyevSamuel Andreyev – Moving
ensemble proton bern; Matthias Kuhn
Klarthe K014 klarthe.com

Paris-based Canadian composer Samuel Andreyev is deeply influenced by the plastic arts; he describes the first work on this disc, the Marcel Duchamp-inspired La Pendule de Profil, in terms of cubism, and his pieces tend toward an object-like quality. A good analog for the entire decade of work represented here, however, might be abstract impressionism. The impressionists placed the immediacy of perception above all else, carefully modulating light and colour to reproduce the experience of motion and time. The abstract impressionists took it further, distilling the object until only motion and colour remained. Andreyev, too, reduces musical perception to its elementary components, exploiting attack and especially timbre for their visceral, immediate impressions.

Where the abstract impressionism analogy fails, however, is in Andreyev’s meticulous structural clarity. An abstract impressionist painting overwhelms with its chaotic density. Andreyev’s music, although saturated with chromaticism, is not spatially dense, and as a result the listener perceives the music as both weighty but translucent, ordered but atemporal.

The miracle material that enables this remarkable paradox is ensemble proton bern itself; the symbiosis between composer and the musicians is palpable throughout. As rare instrument specialists, the Swiss ensemble gives free rein to Andreyev’s timbral explorations. The best examples are PLP, which features the Lupophon, a bass oboe with a fibrous, tenor saxophone-like sound, and Bern Trio, an ethereal gossamer fog for quartertone-tuned harp, viola, and oboe d’amore. A moving disc in both senses of the word.

04 Simon MartinSimon Martin – Hommage à Leduc, Borduas, et Riopelle
Quatuor Bozzini; Quasar quatuor de saxophones; Trio de guitares contemporain
Ambiances Magnétiques Collection QB CQB 1616 (quatuorbozzini.ca)

The young composer Simon Martin has created three separate works here with highly distinct instrumentation in homage to a trinity of closely linked Québécois painters central to the history of Canadian art. The first piece L’heure mauve, inspired by the Ozias Leduc painting and the last of these works to be composed (2009), is performed by a trio of classical guitarists. Historically, Martin has arrived at the earliest of these painters last and he’s matched Leduc’s symbolist landscape with an extraordinary minimalism, organizing a piece that matches periods of silence with complex rhythmic patterns created on strummed flurries or plucked notes on open strings.

Projections libérantes (2007), named for a text by Paul-Émile Borduas, was composed for Quasar saxophone quartet. The piece uses saxophone multiphonics created by alternate fingerings and shifting embouchures to mine the instruments’ sonic resources, drawing, for example, simultaneous low-frequency blasts and whistling highs from the baritone.

That sonic creativity is matched by Martin’s handling of the string quartet in Icebergs et Soleil de minuit — Quatuor en blanc, which takes its inspiration from Jean-Paul Riopelle’s series of black and white paintings. It’s a series of brief vignettes, sometimes highly gestural, in which Quatuor Bozzini explores different textures often employing harmonics to create a kind of richly nuanced transparency, a contradictory dense thinness of sound resembling the texture of a painted surface, as clusters can gradually reduce to single attenuated pitches.

What ties these works together is Martin’s fascination with the physical matter engaged by these painters and the power of brush or spatula strokes in their work, qualities transferred to his own dramatic exploration of individual instrumental timbres and subtly evolving sounds. The ultimate effect resembles the dynamic stillness and material transformation that links his three subjects’ work. It’s music of power, beauty and originality, worthy of its subjects.

05 FairouzMohammed Fairouz – No Orpheus
Kate Lindsey; Kiera Duffy; Christopher Burchett
Naxos 8.559783

Review

The young American composer Mohammed Fairouz has quickly become a widely performed and recorded composer. Although barely into his 30s, Fairouz has been commissioned by many important American institutions and performers. In his latest Naxos release Fairouz has compiled a selection of art song spanning a ten-year range in his output. The disc is comprised of four works that incorporate texts by W.B. Yeats, Edgar Allan Poe and William Wordsworth, along with selections from the writings of Alma Mahler, the ancient Arabic poet Ibn Shuhayd and contemporary poets Wayne Koestenbaum and Lloyd Schwartz. This collection reinforces Fairouz’s command over his approach to musical expression. Those who are familiar with his musical language appreciate it for an immediate sense of accessibility, its strong link to popular music infused with light romanticism and a familiar lyricism. Fairouz writes well for the voice. There is clarity of intention in his vocal writing that leaves nothing beyond the surface for the listener.

Mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, soprano Kiera Duffy and baritone Christopher Burchett bring a strong sense of musicality and drama to this recording and are able to interpret this music with a calming sense of ease and intuitiveness. At times the music is bare. The instrumental writing for cello and piano make for a light accompaniment that – despite a sense of clarity – perhaps leaves the listener wanting a bit more. Where clarity of artistic voice elevates this music to certain successful neighbourhoods, a deeper level of expression is perhaps lacking throughout. This recording provides a light, pleasing listening experience that doesn’t pin the listener down with any type of heavy material.

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