John Adams –Harmonielehre, Doctor Atomic Symphony, Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Peter Oundjian
Chandos CHSA 5129

When over 30 years ago John Adams introduced his brand of minimalism to the listening audiences, nobody could have predicted the staying power of the young composer. With the consecutive successes of Shaker Loops, Grand Pianola Music, The Chairman Dances, Nixon in China, The Wound-dresser, Death of Klinghoffer, the Pulitzer-prize winning On Transmigration of Souls and triumphant premiere of Doctor Atomic in 2005, Adams now is a part of the standard repertoire for orchestras worldwide. Enter RSNO, under the artistic direction of Oundjian. Doctor Atomic Symphony, a 25 minute extract of themes from the opera, belongs firmly to the “later” output of Adams. Less minimalistic, with no bare-bone structure and easily identifiable tempi laid out in a score, it presents a challenge. As Anthony Tommasini wrote in December, 2007 for the New York Times: “the tremulous surface of the orchestral music is deceptively calm, allowing the vocal lines to dominate. Just below, though, the orchestra teems with fractured meters, intertwining contrapuntal elements, fitful bursts and Mr. Adams’s most tartly dissonant, boldly unmoored harmonies.”

It is that ambiguity that trips up Oundjian, as the score seems to get away from him until the quasi-vocal lines of Huw Morgan’s trumpet lead the Oppenheimer aria Batter My Heart to its thundering conclusion. The earlier works are somewhat easier to conquer and fare much better – especially Short Ride which delivers on its Honegger-esque (Pacific 231) perpetuum mobile idiom. A worthy recording of important contemporary music.

Mozart - Clarinet Concerto; Kegelstatt Trio; Allegretto 
Martin Frost; Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
BIS 1893

Clarinetist Martin Frost can play anything anyone puts in front of him. He’s that kind of monster. He can conduct and dance and who knows maybe serve toast and tea while doing so. He’s musical, he’s tall and Swedish, and he works with really good musicians on this release of Mozart works for the clarinet. So it’s heartening to this envious hack that even he can’t make me like the basset-clarinet, an ungainly extended clarinet with an out-of-proportion lower range that somehow makes me think of Jennifer Lopez.

It is the fashion to try to reproduce the lost or stolen manuscript version of the clarinet concerto K622 by revising the first edition such that certain passages make use of the extra four semitones at the bottom of the basset extension. To this ear that range is an ugly ostrich-ling, and the pitch wonkiness of a normal clarinet is exponentially worsened by the physical length of the lower joint.

Who besides Mozart wrote for the instrument? Franz Sussmeyer, that’s who. The guy who completed the scores of late Mozart works. After that… (deafening silence). Never mind, Frost is wonderful, his musicianship  impeccable and the orchestra he leads is a flexible and united band. I say the rondo is too fast, but after that J Lo crack who’s listening?

Once you’ve enjoyed the concerto, hit pause and let things settle a bit before you jump into the Kegelstadtt Trio K498. The jump in key from A major to E-flat is likely an unintended jolt; some might like aural palate cleanser before continuing. Too rarely-recorded, the trio is a genial conversation. Written for his buddy Anton Stadler, like the quintet and the concerto, Mozart’s trio is named for the hangout where he may have spent many a dissolute hour: a bowling alley. He wrote the piano part no doubt to test a favoured student; it is a mini-concerto for the keyboard, especially the final rondo. The group makes interesting decisions regarding a problem posed by the piece: how to vary the pulse from one movement to the next. Their sense of ensemble is fantastic. The final selection is a reconstruction by Robert Levin of a fragment (93 bars) of a work Mozart began for clarinet and string quartet: a welcome addition to the chamber rep for clarinetists, and a terrific vehicle for Frost’s virtuosity, it’s full of lovely late-Mozartian surprises and innovation.

Richard Strauss - Die Liebe der Danae
Manuela Uhl; Mark Delavan; Matthias Klink; Thomas Blondelle; Burkhard Ulrich; Deutsche Oper Berlin; Andrew Litton
ArtHaus Musik 101 580

Strauss’ last opera had a difficult birth and even more difficult “childhood.” Written in the midst of WWII, at the imminent collapse of Germany, Strauss wouldn’t allow this seemingly frivolous “joyful mythology”  to be performed during the war, but kept nursing it to his bosom, procrastinating until he died in 1949.  It finally reached the stage for the first time in 1952 at the Salzburg festival. One wonders why Strauss wrote such a “frivolous comedy” at the end of his career. Perhaps because it is not a frivolous comedy at all!

The God Jupiter who created everything, even man’s “free will” that becomes his undoing, falls in love with the beautiful Danae and employs clever manipulations such as assuming the false identity of Midas to win her with gold and using the real young, handsome Midas as go-between. He unwittingly lets Danae fall in love with Midas out of her own free will which he, the God, is unable to control. Jupiter with enormous sadness has to renounce his love and disappear from the scene. This is the tragedy of an old man, like Strauss himself who is similarly leaving the scene, saying farewell to his love, his life, his art and the world.

Die Liebe der Danae is a beautiful, very eventful and musically rich opera that reaches sublime heights in its last scene (Strauss was always good at endings), the music soars and soars and when it finally reaches ff, leaves the audience silent in awe of its heavenly power. This production by Deutsche Oper, presented on two DVDs, makes us feel exactly that. Stunningly realized with sets of gold and azure, directed with know-how and dignity by Kirsten Harms, conducted by great Straussian Andrew Litton, the title role is sung by Manuela Uhl, who is as good a singer as she is ravishingly beautiful, paired with tenor Matthias Klink (Midas) singing with “emotional radiance.” The real hero however is the baritone, Mark Delavan (Jupiter) with his tremendous pathos, sensitivity and of course power, the power of a God.

2013 was a milestone year in many ways, one being the 100th anniversary of the riotous premiere of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Further on in these pages you will find reviews of three new recordings which take very different approaches to this seminal work. But the year also marked the centenaries of a number of important composers, from Canadian pioneers John Weinzweig, Violet Archer and Henry Brant to iconic international figures including Benjamin Britten and Witold Lutosławski. I wish I could tell you that there were new recordings of works by the Canadians, but I am not aware of any. Both Britten and Lutosławski however have been very well served over the past year.

On the local scene this year Britten has been a recurring presence on TSO programs, the COC recently completed a successful run of Peter Grimes and as you will know from WholeNote reviews there has been a wealth of recordings of his concertante works and operas.

With a vast output in larger forms — more than a dozen operas and a plethora of orchestral, vocal and choral works — it is all too easy to overlook Britten as a composer of chamber music. There is however a substantial body of work encompassing innumerable combinations of solo instruments. Of particular note are the works for solo cello (three suites and a sonata with piano) written for Rostropovich and the nine for two violins, viola and cello including three numbered String Quartets. Hyperion has just released a new recording (CDA68004) of the latter featuring the celebrated Takács Quartet. String Quartet No.1 was written on commission from Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge while Britten was living in the United States in the early years of World War Two. It is less conventional and somewhat harsher than his earlier works, showing the influence of Stravinsky and Copland. String Quartet No.2 was composed after his return to England and premiered just months after the triumphal staging of Peter Grimes at Saddler’s Wells, the work that brought Britten international stardom. Most notable in this quartet is the extended third movement, a “Chacony” in homage to Henry Purcell whose work he would further celebrate the following year in The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.

Britten did not return to the string quartet form until 30 years later, in 1975, just one year before his death. String Quartet No.3 is related to his final opera Death in Venice, and was in fact partially composed in the Italian city. Following a spiky “Burleske” reminiscent of Shostakovich (who had died that year) the final movement’s “Recitative” incorporates a barcarole reminding us of the gondolas of Venice and its concluding “Passacaglia” is set in the key of E major so closely associated with Gustav von Auschenbach, the protagonist of the opera.

Bookending Britten’s early mature offerings and his final output, these quartets, insightfully and exquisitely played by the Takács, offer quiet commentary on the larger-than-life works through which we have come to best know this composer.

Concert note: Associates of the Toronto Symphony will perform Britten’s String Quartet No.2 at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre on January 20.

Witold Lutosławski has also been honoured through recordings this past year, though more in the form of re-issues than new releases. The Polish national label Polskie Nagrania released Witold Lutosławski – Centenary Edition an 8-CD set earlier this year (reviewed in the online version of Editor’s Corner in June) which featured historic recordings, many of which were conducted by Lutosławski himself. Now Naxos has collected its existing recordings and issued a 10-CD box Lutosławski – Symphonies; Concertos; Choral and Vocal Works (8.501066) featuring the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (and others) under the direction of Antoni Wit. Containing virtually all of the larger works it is a comprehensive set of thrilling performances in glorious sound. Originally issued as individual discs the collection gives the opportunity to listen to the complete oeuvre in any number of ways. As I write this I am enjoying exploring the symphonic works in chronological order: Symphony No.1 (1941–47); Concerto for Orchestra (1950-54); Symphony No.2 (1965–67); Symphony No.3 (1981–83); Symphony No.4 (1988–92), works which span the entirety of Lutosławski’s creative output. It is most interesting to hear not only the stylistic but also the formal developments from the mostly traditional first symphony (in four movements) through the Bartókian concerto (three movements) to the second symphony (two movements) and the final mature works both in a single movement. Another highlight is the Cello Concerto, written for Rostropovich but performed here by ARD- and Prague Spring Competition-winning Polish cellist Andrzej Bauer who, among other studies, worked with William Pleeth for two years in London on a scholarship funded by Lutosławski and who has obviously made this concerto a signature piece.

While the first nine discs are reissues of Wit’s definitive Naxos recordings, the final disc comprises the last concert that Lutosławski conducted in his lifetime. That took place at the Premiere Dance Theatre at Harbourfront in Toronto on October 24, 1993 and featured violinist Fujiko Imajishi, soprano Valdine Anderson and the New Music Concerts Ensemble. You can read NMC artistic director Robert Aitken’s reminiscences of the great Polish composer elsewhere in these pages.

Although Lutosławski wrote almost exclusively for large ensembles there is one very important transitional work that it is a shame not to have included here, the String Quartet from 1964 in which the composer takes his aleatoric approach to composition to new levels. The Polskie Nagrania set mentioned above includes a performance by the LaSalle Quartet who premiered the work, recorded at the Warsaw Autumn Festival in 1965. A 2013 Hyperion recording by the Royal Quartet (reviewed in this column last May) is also highly recommended.

I’m often taken by the frequencies of coincidence in my life. One such occurrence relates to discs received in the past two months. Trobairitz, the feminine form of troubadour, was not a word in my vocabulary until the release of an ATMA CD by that name reviewed by Hans de Groot in last month’s WholeNote. De Groot mentioned that the only trobairitz song to have survived in both melody and words is A Chantar by the Contessa de Día and that it is not included in the recording by Shannon Mercer and La Nef. I have just received a new disc featuring Isabel Bayrakdarian entitled Troubadour & the Nightingale with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra under Anne Manson’s direction (MCO 013001 themco.ca). Lo and behold this recording of arrangements and original compositions by Serouj Kradjian includes the suite Trobairitz Ysabella in which the ancient song A Chantar is featured ...

In Kradjian’s illuminating introductory essay he explains the project originated in a discussion with conductor Manson about the book The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain by Maria Rosa Menocal, which explores the golden age when the arts, literature and science flourished for 500 years in an atmosphere of tolerance. This eventually led him to the lives, poetry and music of the trobairitz of Occitania in the south of France bordering Spain, who were active for a brief 60 years in the 12th and 13th centuries during the Crusades. Evidently when the men returned from the wars social values once again regressed to the point where women were no longer allowed creative expression. Kradjian was inspired by his readings to compose the song cycle about Ysabella for his wife Bayrakdarian and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. For this attractive and evocative work the basic strings of the MCO are complemented by clarinet, oud, guitar and percussion.

In keeping with the theme, Kradjian arranged and orchestrated four songs by latter-day Armenian troubadour Sayat-Nova, born Haroutiun Sayatian in 1712, who served for a time at the court of Heracle II, King of Georgia, until his attraction for the king’s daughter led to expulsion. To complete the set Kradjian also arranged the beautiful Greek songs of Maurice Ravel and that composer’s setting of Kaddish, a Jewish prayer in Aramaic magnifying and glorifying God. Throughout the disc Bayrakdarian is in fine form and full voice, often sending shivers down the listener’s spine.

In brief: Rachel Mercer is a cellist whose career I’ve been following since her university days when as a broadcaster at CJRT I had the opportunity to record the brilliant young Metro Quartet. Mercer went on to an international chamber career with Israel’s Aviv Quartet (2002-10) and since returning to Toronto has been a member of the Mayumi Seiler Trio (with pianist Angela Park), the Mercer-Park Duo and Ensemble Made In Canada. This latter is a piano quartet in which Mercer and Park are joined by other local young lionesses Elissa Lee (violin) and Sharon Wei (viola). The EMIC’s debut CD (ensemblemadeincanada.com) features the second piano quartet of Mozart and the third of Brahms in dramatic, nuanced and, where appropriate, playful performances. Produced by Scott St. John and EMIC and recorded at Glenn Gould Studio in August 2012, the sound is everything you would hope for (and expect). Incidentally, as the winner of the 2009 Canada Council Musical Instrument Bank Competition, Mercer was awarded the use of the 1696 Bonjour Stradivarius cello from 2009 to 2012 and it can be heard on this fine recording.

Concert note: Ensemble Made In Canada performs at the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society on December 3.

Analekta recently released a disc which I must confess I was sceptical about when I first came across it. I was afraid that Adagio (AN 2 9848) featuring Ensemble Caprice under Matthias Maute would turn out to be another compilation of “the world’s most beautiful melodies” or some such saccharine fare. I’m glad that I gave it a chance though; it turned out to be a thoughtful collection with some surprising inclusions. Although overall a baroque offering — Zelenka, Albinoni, Carissimi, Allegri and Bach are all present — Maute explains the premise of the project in his program note as having been inspired by Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question and its subtitle A Consideration of a Serious Matter. He says “This wonderful title soon became the programmatic idea behind our recording of adagios throughout the centuries. [...] all meditations on the fundamental questions of life and death [expressing] something impossible to communicate through words.” It is an interesting concept and one which works very well for the most part with its balance of instrumental and choral works and Shannon Mercer’s wonderful rendering of Bach’s Ich habe genug. Maute has contributed an original prelude, used as a bridge to his arrangement of Satie’s lovely Gymnopédie No.1 and also an arrangement of Chopin’s Prélude Op.28, No.4. I only have two reservations about the disc: I would rather have heard the string version of Barber’s famous Adagio rather than the later choral setting of Agnus Dei using the same melody; I found the inclusion of Allegri’s Miserere, lovely as it is, to be too much in the context — too long in relation to the other selections, and simply too liturgical.

Two excellent and quite different acoustic guitar discs came my way this month. The first is by local stalwart of the jazz and independent music scenes, Brian Katz and the second features Newfoundland Django-style jazz guitarist Duane Andrews joined by country picker Craig Young. Leaves Will Speak (briankatz.com) is theresult of two years in the studio although more accurately it has been more than three decades in the making since that day in 1980 when Brian Katz decided that the nylon-string guitar would be his instrument of choice. Listening to this disc I was not surprised to find that Katz studied with Ralph Towner whose recordings with Oregon and the Paul Winter Consort were an integral part of the soundtrack to my formative years. But his influences and inspirations extend to many forms including jazz standards, free improvisation, klezmer, world, classical and new music. The 18 solo tracks on the album showcase the full range of Katz’ diverse musical world. With only one exception, an arrangement of an anonymous Italian Renaissance Danza, the tracks are original, most through-composed but some improvised in the recording studio. The sound is crisp and warm with a minimum of finger noise and the booklet is comprehensive with an informative essay about Katz’ background and approaches, and descriptive notes for each piece.

Charlie’s Boogie (charliesboogie.com) brings together a number of styles of steel-string guitar picking, with Duane Andrews and Craig Young each bringing their own distinctive influences to the mix. From traditional North American country music and fiddle tunes, rags and reels through the blues (via Bill Monroe) and of course “Hot Club of France” style jazz, there’s even one singer-songwriter type offering, Jerry Faires’ homage to his guitar, “The D-18 Song.” Andrews has created a unique blend of Newfoundland traditional music and jazz guitar (he graduated with honours from jazz studies at St. Francis-Xavier University in Nova Scotia and went on to composition studies in Paris and Marseilles). Young, also a native of Newfoundland, left home for Alberta in 1993 and later relocated to Nashville, Tennessee as a member of the Terri Clark band, playing at the Grand Ole Opry and the like. Some four Canadian Country Music Awards later he’s back home in Newfoundland teaching and pickin’ up a storm with Andrews. Although both are composers in their own right, the album features only one track by each with the rest devoted to cover versions of the stuff they enjoy most. Man, these guys are hot!

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

—David Olds, DISCoveries Editor
discoveries@thewholenote.com

Bach – Matthäus-Passion
Im; Fink; Gura; Lehtipuu; Weisser; Wolff; RIAS Kammerchor; Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin; René Jacobs
Harmonia Mundi HMC 802156.58

Half a century ago there were two kinds of performances of Bach’s Passions: those that used large forces and modern symphony orchestras and those that used smaller forces as well as period instruments and baroque performance practices. Now the former kind have all but disappeared. There is, however, a great deal of variety in historically informed performances. In 1981 Joshua Rifkin proposed that there was no chorus in the modern sense in Bach’s sacred music and that choruses and chorales were sung by the soloists, one to a part. Initially that proposal was greeted with derision but over the years it has gained a great deal of acceptance.

A 2008 recording of the Matthew Passion that comes close to what Rifkin proposed is that of the Dunedin Consort and Players, conducted by John Butt (Linn Records CKD 313). In that performance the Evangelist is the tenor of the first Choir and the Christus is the bass. The singers of the arias also sing in the choral sections. Butt needed a few extra singers for the smaller parts and for the sopranos who sing the cantus firmus in the opening chorus. That gives us 12 as the total number of singers.

By contrast, Jacobs proposes that the larger of the two choirs sing at the west end and the smaller choir at the other end of the church. He divides the larger choir into two groups and also adds a boys’ choir. Those who sing the smaller parts also sing in the chorus but not the major soloists or (with one exception) the singers of the arias. That brings the total number of singers to 61. Instrumental forces are also larger: 37 as against 25 in the Dunedin Players. Jacobs also has a much heavier bass line because he has added two bassoons as well as a lute to the continuo.

It is clear that the new recording is on altogether a different scale than that of the Dunedin Consort. While I like the lightness of the latter performance, I would concede that (whatever the historical validity) Jacobs’ interpretation has one great advantage and that is that he can scale down his large forces when needed. The performance is very dramatic and is none the worse for that. He has very good soloists. Werner Güra (the Evangelist), Johannes Weisser (Christus) and Bernarda Fink (the alto arias) are especially fine. This is Jacobs’ first recording of the work, though he has sung the alto solos many times. But his love for the work goes back further, to the time when he sang it as a boy chorister in St. Bavo Cathedral in Ghent. It is fitting that the illustration on the box of the CDs is that of Jan van Eyck’s Adoration of the Lamb, the central portion of the altarpiece in that church.

Mozart – Don Giovanni
Skovhus; Ketelsen; Petersen; Opolais; English Voices; Freiburger Barockorchester; Louis Langrée
BelAir BAC080

It is to the credit of Mozart’s greatest opera to be able to endure many different viewpoints, from traditional to the wildest modern interpretations. I’ve even seen one that took place in the South Bronx with an all-black cast and it was marvellous. Here the Don Juan legend, or “morality tale” is from the hand of a young, very talented Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov with a well-thought-out and imaginative concept that infuses the action, setting and characters to the last detail. That concept puts the drama in a modern setting: a drawing room of a luxurious residence of a dysfunctional family is quite immaterial. It really is all about a man trying to live above the rules of society; although he is successful for a while, he is ultimately doomed.

To achieve this, the director, who knows the score and libretto by heart and therefore is no bumbling dilettante, selected his singing actors with utmost care, mostly young with fine voices and remarkably fit to live up to his strenuous physical, emotional demands. The dissolute Don, Danish baritone Bo Skovhus is a larger-than-life presence, alternatively charming, elegant, seductive, insolent, despondent or manic, you name it, although the superhuman demands do take their toll and his powerful voice is sometimes off pitch. The three women representing three social classes andof different ages, are all memorable, each with their own issues, but common in one respect: their uncontrollable, conscious or subliminal attraction to the Don. I was most impressed by the ingenue, exceptional Swedish soprano Kerstin Avemo, giving a simply unforgettable, many-layered emotional, heartbreakingly empathetic portrayal of Zerlina.

Under the enthusiastic, firm musical leadership of French conductor Louis Langrée driving his virtuoso period instrument orchestra with verve and brisk tempi, the show moves along seamlessly and it’s refreshing like the Provence air.

Rossini –  Ciro in Babilonia
Podleś; Pratt; Spyres; Palazzi; Orchestra and Chorus Teatro Comunale di Bologna; Will Crutchfield
Opus Arte OA1108D

Around 1810 Rossini ran away from home as a teenager to try his luck in Venice, where he met and fell in love with a great operatic diva of the time, Maria Marcolini. This very fruitful relationship bore many successful operas written with Marcolini’s wonderful contralto coloratura in mind. Unfortunately the biblical epic Ciro in Babilonia, Rossini’s take on Belshazzar’s feast, was a fiasco according to the composer and duly forgotten over the next century. Posterity, however didn’t agree with Rossini’s modesty and the opera was revived recently in the USA at the Caramoor Festival under the auspices of Rossini scholar Will Crutchfield, who also conducted. So successful was the revival that it was soon transferred to Rossini Mecca, the Pesaro Festival where this video was filmed.

Fortunately today we have the voices capable of singing the extremely difficult lead roles. Polish contralto phenomenon, Ewa Podleśis the ideal choice for the lead, Ciro, King of Persia, the longest contralto role in opera history. No less impressive is the virtuoso soprano, American Jessica Pratt who cuts a magnificent figure with vocal acrobatics to match as Almira, his imprisoned wife. Another American is the powerful, virtuoso tenor Michael Spyres as the villainous Baldassare, the wicked ruler of Babylon who gets his just desserts prophesied by “the writing on the wall.”

The most wonderful quality of this performance is the projected scenery that conjures up in a matter of seconds vast deserts, beautiful palaces, grand ceremonial spaces or a dungeon built stone by stone in front of our eyes. After witnessing Bill Viola’s wonderful Tristan videography, this production is a step in the right direction using up-to-date cinematic technology as a way to the future.

Mahler – Das Lied von der Erde
Sarah Connolly; Toby Spence; London Philharmonic Orchestra; Yannick Nézet-Séguin
London Philharmonic LPO-0073

This live performance recorded on February 19, 2011 in London is a welcome addition to the extensive discography of outstanding performances of Mahler’s autumnal song cycle, The Song of the Earth. The six movements of the work alternate between tenor and contralto roles, though the latter is sometimes sung by a baritone. The phenomenal English tenor Toby Spence is blessed with a voice of steel, with a bright, ringing tone equal to the challenge of cutting through the massive orchestration of the opening “Drinking Song of Earth’s Misery.” His lusty tone is also equally suited to the mood of “The Drunkard in Spring.” Only the intervening “Of Youth” movement left me a bit disappointed; I would have appreciated more tonal shading in this more reflective music. Nonetheless a voice this powerful in such a taxing role has rarely been heard of late. Mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly maintains these high standards with her beautiful, even sound. The finely shaded intimacy she brings to “Autumn Loneliness” contrasts nicely with her sly account in “Of Beauty,” amazingly well enunciated at such a blistering tempo. The great challenge of the closing “Farewell” is artfully conveyed by her extensive vocal shadings, falling just short of the sublime in the final fading moments.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin ensures every detail of the score is heard yet beautifully balanced and brings a very Mahlerian plasticity of tempo to the work without falling into excess. The sound is closely miked yet spacious with minimal audience interference. Highly recommended.

Francis Poulenc – Intégrales des mélodies pour voix et piano
Pascale Beaudin; Julie Fuchs;
Hélène Guilmette; Julie Boulianne;
Marc Boucher; François Le Roux;
Olivier Godin
ATMA ADC2 2688 (5 CDs)

In his booklet notes for this collection of Poulenc’s mélodies and chansons, baritone François Le Roux describes Poulenc’s music as “a mixture of melancholy and joie de vivre, of solemnity and fun.” As the Canadian Opera Company’s stunning production of Dialogues of the Carmelites last season made clear, Poulenc’s music is not to be taken lightly. Underlying even his most playful works — and there are plenty of those here–is a deeply felt reflectiveness. That’s precisely what the musicians involved in this recording convey so well, and what makes this collection so enjoyable.

Poulenc always claimed that it was the poets whose words he was setting that directly shaped his music. With so many poets involved, it’s no wonder there is such variety in these 170 songs. There are three songs which have never been recorded, some rarities, including a few songs that Poulenc dropped from Le bestiare, and a song cycle for chamber orchestra accompaniment, Quatre poèmes de Max Jacob, that pianist Olivier Godin has transcribed for piano. But what sets this recording apart is that it is the first complete collection of the songs for voice and piano to feature francophone musicians, four from Canada and two from France. This turns out to be revelatory. It’s not just because they all sound so natural and idiomatic. The enunciation of each singer is so clear and unmannered that you can make out every word.

Poulenc loved the music of Maurice Chevalier, and with Les chemins de l’amour he steps into Chevalier’s music hall. He conjures up a delectable waltz for Anouilh’s bittersweet ode to paths not taken. Soprano Pascale Beaudin uses a wonderfully nuanced palette of colours to create a jaunty mood and, at the same time, bring out the undercurrents of longing and regret.

Soprano Julie Fuchs balances the shifting moods of a robust ballad with the touching innocence of a prayer in “La Petite Servante,” one of the Cinq poèmes de Max Jacob. Vocalise shows how expressive Poulenc can be without any text at all, especially with soprano Hélène Guilmette imaginatively fashioning a tragicomic scenario of operatic proportions. Mezzo Julie Boulianne deftly contrasts the despair of Montparnasse, Poulenc’s wartime ode to Paris’ once-vibrant artists’ quarter, with the wryness of Hyde Park in Deux mélodies de Guillaume Apollinaire. Baritone Marc Boucher brings moving lyricism to the nine songs of Tel jour telle nuit (Such a Day Such a Night). His voice seems to grow darker and more urgent as day turns into night in Éluard’s cycle of poems.

In his prime, François Le Roux was a peerless interpreter of art songs from his native France. Here he is no longer in his prime. His voice is brittle, underpowered and weathered around the edges. But that doesn’t affect my pleasure in his singing on this set. He’s always interesting, never bland. There’s a lifetime’s experience in the way he embraces the nostalgic mood of “Hôtel” from Apollinaire’s Banalités, his top notes resonating with tenderness. You can smell the Gauloises (unfiltered, of course) as he sings, “I don’t want to work, I want to smoke.”

Poulenc was himself a marvellous pianist, and he demands a lot from a pianist in his songs. Olivier Godin makes an especially responsive partner. His finely calibrated sense of momentum and evocative textures animate passages like the exquisite pulsing coda that ends Tel Jour Telle Nuit. Booklet notes and bios are in French and English, but the French song-texts are not, unfortunately, translated.

Jake Heggie – Moby-Dick
Morris; Costello; Smith; Lemalu; Trevigne; San Francisco Opera; Patrick Summers
EuroArts 2059658

The only lingering question about Moby-Dick as an opera is: why did it take so long to happen? The epic tale, characters and intensity of emotions — they all are perfectly operatic in scope. Deconstructing the linearity of the story was the right approach to the sprawling novel, suggested by Heggie’s collaborator Terrence McNally. (McNally, who was the librettist for Heggie’s Dead Man Walking began this project but had to back out and the libretto was completed by Gene Scheer). Paraphrasing the immortal first line of the novel as, “You may call me Ishmael ...” for the closing line was another stroke of genius. The rest relies on Heggie’s brilliant, neo-romantic score, with its delightfully unanticipated musical quotations from Poulenc and Debussy and all-male vocal score (save for the “in-trousers” role of Pip). In this production, the demonic Captain Ahab (Jay Hunter Morris) demonstrates considerable hubris early on — “I’d strike at the sun if it’d burned me.” His relentless pursuit of the whale, leading to a loss of humanity and almost complete annihilation, is set in stark relief by Starbuck (Morgan Smith), the moral centre of the opera. Stephen Costello as Greenhorn (Ishmael) imbues the music with a sense of foreboding and fear. The production values are truly spectacular — inventive use of digital projections (with a tip of the hat to our own Robert Lepage), beautiful sets and creative lighting make for an immensely watchable 140 minutes. Finally, the direction for video by Frank Zamacona is of a calibre rarely seen on operatic DVDs. All in all, Moby-Dick is a solid new entry in the standard repertoire and this production is a must-have for watching at home.

Philip Glass – The Perfect American
Purves; Pittsinger; Kaasch; Kelly; McLaughlin; Teatro Real Madrid; Dennis Russell Davies
Opus Arte OA1117D

The 20+ operas of Philip Glass for the most part astonish and intimidate in equal measure. These works of genius are cerebral affairs – relying heavily on subtle symbolism, full abstraction and an expounding on the minimalist musical idiom. In short, they are usually not for the uninitiated. Fear not opera lovers, The Perfect American is what I would describe as Philip Glass in his “verismo” period. It is a shockingly traditional opera, devoid of abstract concepts, telling the story of the last months in the life of Walt Disney. The work relents in the use of minimalism for the sake of a more John Adams-like approach to melodic structures and simple arias and duets. All that does not mean this is Glass-lite. There is still the tremendous discipline and intellectual rigour that we so value in his work.

The story is essentially a deconstruction of Disney, who is revealed to be a reactionary, union-crushing opponent of human and civil rights. He is tangled in a relentless pursuit of commercialism and profit – and, when faced with terminal illness, the pursuit of cryogenic immortality. So what would make him an operatic protagonist? Well, the very dream of Disney’s, to create a machine to replace all his “ungrateful communist workers,” is what destroyed Disney’s world. Generic, computer-generated cartoons have long replaced painstakingly hand-painted cells and have destroyed the pastoral, naively idealistic America seemingly constructed by his studios. It may be glib to say that the transformation of Hannah Montana into Miley Cyrus was the death knell to Disneyland, but this finally turned Walt Disney into an anachronistic, even tragic figure – worthy of an opera.

Io Vidi In Terra
José Lemos; Jory Vinikour; Deborah Fox
Sono Luminus DSL-92172
sonoluminus.com

Seventeenth-century Italy presents us with images of love, debauchery, power games, murders and ruthless ambition — but at least there were some great Italian composers around to set the romantic elements to music!

Brazilian José Lemos displays his in-depth love for Italian vocal music by selecting not only giants of the period but also lesser-known composers. It is, indeed, a less-well-known composer, Tarquinio Merula, with whom José Lemos opens his recital. His rendition of “Su la cetra amorosa” draws on a very wide range of skills as it combines an almost rushed score with a sometimes highly exhilarating one.

“Io Vidi in Terra” sets lines by Petrarch, and it is a tribute to both Marco da Gagliano and José Lemos that poetry and song of such beauty and sensitivity are to be found on this CD. Just as anguished by love’s pains is “Ardo” by Benedetto Ferrari, bringing out the best in Lemos’ longer notes and drawing on Vinikour’s harpsichord and Deborah Fox’s theorbo.

Instrumental solos feature. Spagnoletta was one of the most popular and longest-lived pieces of the entire Renaissance. Vinikour gives a spirited interpretation of Storace’s complex score — the most demanding this reviewer has heard. And for good measure there is the exuberant Balletto by the same composer.

Lemos starts and finishes his recital with songs by Merula, who deserves to be better known. Listening to this choice of songs, it is easy to see why — this is a wonderful collection of early Italian baroque music.

Splendore a Venezia – Music in Venice
from the Renaissance to the Baroque
Various Artists
ATMA ACD2 3013

This compilation disc was created to accompany the exhibition presented at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts this season from October to January focusing on the interrelationship between the visual arts and music during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, In addition to paintings, the show features historical instruments, musical texts and manuscripts. For the recording, the ATMA label draws from its catalogue works by composers who figure in the exhibition, including Monteverdi, Gabrieli, Rossi, Vivaldi andAlbinoni, performed by local Montreal artists and their guests. There is a cornucopia of instrumental and vocal works offered, bringing to life the rich, festive tapestry of Venetian society. The Académie baroque de Montréal offers a stunning performance of a Vivaldi concerto with the late Washington McClain as oboe soloist. Perhaps in honour of the string instruments on display at the gallery, such as the Koch archlute, a lovely Ballo secondo by Kapsberger features chitarrone and harp.

Vocal ensemble Les Voix Baroques and Tragicomedia perform Gabrieli’s madrigal Due rose fresche and Monterverdi’s Laetatus sum. Charles Daniels and Colin Balzer delight in Monterverdi’s whimsical Zefiro torna and the superb voice of Karina Gauvin soars through the lovely Vivaldi aria “Addio Caro.” A delightful surprise is Benedetto Marcello’s setting of Psalm 15 gorgeously sung by Israeli mezzo Rinat Shaham. For those looking for a reason to brave the cold in Montreal this winter, the exhibit is a must-see; for all others, vicarious enjoyment through the music, complete with a full-colour booklet illustrated with several of the works presented in the MMFA exhibition.

Handel; Boieldieu;
Mozart – Harp Concertos
Valérie Milot; Les Violins du Roi;
Bernard Labadie
Analekta AN 29990

The three concertos on this recording remain a major part of the harp repertoire today even though they were written at the time when the harp was not considered much more than a salon instrument, due to the defects of the single pedal mechanism. Interestingly enough, it was Sébastien Érard, a roommate of Boieldieu, who invented the double-action pedal mechanism that greatly improved the sound and the ability of the harp. All three concertos, featuring Valérie Milot as soloist, were recorded on the modern harp thus adding an array of colours and textures that would have been impossible to achieve at the time they were composed.

Handel’s Concerto in B flat Major is my personal favourite on this recording. It was premiered in 1736 at Covent Garden in London, at a concert dedicated exclusively to Handel’s compositions. This concerto has a wonderfully intimate sound throughout. Elegant baroque phrasing of Les Violons Du Roy complements the crispy, sparkling harp sound — creating an atmosphere that is not overly dramatic yet containing a wide range of emotions.

François-Adrien Boieldieu (1775–1834) may not be a familiar name but he was a popular opera composer and piano teacher at the Conservatoire de Paris. His love for opera is evident in his concerto for harp — dramatic orchestra opening of both the first and second movements and many ornaments in delicately virtuosic harp lines. The last movement has a very enjoyable swaying momentum, evoking the spirit of the times.

Mozart wrote the Concerto for Flute and Harp in C, K299 while he was visiting Paris and happened to become a composition teacher for the Duc de Guines’ daughter, who, in turn, occasionally played the harp accompanied by her father on the transverse flute. This concerto is signature Mozart, bursting with melodies and brightness. The flute soloist, Claire Marchand, plays with sensitivity and clarity, and the two instruments blend very well. Milot has composed cadenzas for both Handel’s and Mozart’s concertos, in keeping with the practices of the times and contributing more authenticity to this recording.

Brahms – The Symphonies
Gewandhausorchester; Riccardo Chailly
Decca 4785344

The Four Symphonies including some revised and original material: Tragic Overture, Haydn Variations, Academic Festival Overture; Intermezzi, Liebeslieder Waltzes, Hungarian Dances (3 CDs in a hard-bound book). Here are some notes to myself as I made them listening to this set in preparation to write a review:

Hits the ground running ... Not traditional weighted-down performance ... Keeps moving ... The music flows ... Thrilling ... Could be the Beethoven Tenth ... Hearing with new ears ... Perfect balances ... Translucent ... Clearly hear the pluck in the plucked basses.

Vivid recording, you can see the orchestra ... Outstanding string section that doesn’t swamp the woodwinds ... Instruments clear without spotlighting ... Clearly hear the inner instrumentation in true perspective.

Feels like hearing the works for the first time ... Outstanding dynamics ... Texture in the horns reminiscent of Szell ... Tempos fluid and forward-looking ... Well-rehearsed but no sense of hearing a routine performance ... No trudging through well-worn paths ... Not dutiful or obligatory.

Gorgeous singing winds ... Excitingly fresh ... Spectacular ... Confident ... Brahms restored ... Chailly, the orchestra a perfect match ... Brings to mind Toscanini’s 1951 recording of the First ... Unique interpretations ... Enthusiastic, firm, clear, articulate, translucent ... This is how Brahms was heard at the first performances before there were any coats of traditions to wear.

I guess what I’m saying is “Highly recommended!”