Puccini – Turandot
Sondra Radvanovsky; Ermonela Jaho; Jonas Kaufmann; Orchestra dell’ Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; Antonio Pappano
Warner Classics 3394009 (warnerclassics.com/release/turandot) 

Where does Puccini’s genius lie? Apart from his exceptional melodic gifts it’s his tremendous versatility and ability to create atmosphere. No other composer has been capable of conjuring up a Paris waterfront, the American Wild West or contemporary Japan, all so different, with equal ease and with music that feels fully authentic. Such is the case in Turandot, Puccini’s last and sadly unfinished opera where the scene is ancient China. The music is oriental, brutal and dissonant, heavy in percussion for the inhumanly cruel despotic Imperial Court but intense, lyrical and beautifully melodic for the protagonists, two extreme elements resolved very successfully.

In this new studio recording the obvious motivating force is Maestro Pappano, his unbridled enthusiasm, deep insight, overcoming COVID limitations yet creating an optimal sound world this opera demands. It’s beautiful to watch him on YouTube wildly gesticulating to inspire the singers who respond with equal enthusiasm, body and soul.

Turandot, the ice princess, is Sondra Radvanovsky, an American-Canadian soprano of the highest calibre who copes wonderfully with this very strenuous role full of spectacular high notes in fortissimo. Her famous aria In questa Reggia is absolutely ravishing. Her hopeful lover who has to solve three riddles (shades of Oedipus Rex) otherwise he dies, is today’s leading helden tenor Jonas Kaufmann. His faultless Italian and intense bel canto is a worthy successor to the iconic, unforgettable Pavarotti who single-handedly turned the world’s attention to opera with his Nessun dorma, the opera’s most beautiful aria. The unfortunate servant girl Liu who sacrifices her life for love is Albanian mezzo soprano sensation Emanuela Jaho. Her totally engaged emotional singing is heartbreaking and a real asset to this extraordinary recording.

Man Up / Man Down
Constellation Men’s Ensemble
Sono Luminus DSL-92266 (sonoluminus.com) 

Everything about this recording is dramatic, even to the idiomatic cover, with a feather from which hangs a stone. The image and the imagery of the cover together with the quite bitterly sardonic repertoire has Promethean connotations and therein lies the ingenuity of the whole project. Not least, of course, is that the Constellation Men’s Ensemble is a truly fine all-male a cappella group, unafraid to allow the power of their voices to expose the myth of masculine power in the music of Man Up/Man Down. 

Three composers contribute to this extraordinary debut album. They are Jeffery Derus, whose composition HOME sets up the whole recording. Derus’ work takes its cue from a poem by Carl Sandberg who writes at night as he “listened… to a mother signing softly to a child restless and angry / in the darkness.” Perhaps unwittingly (or otherwise) this song sets up the Madonna and her unquiet child who grows into his uncomfortable manhood. 

This is the kind of man we encounter in Robert Maggio’s monumental, 11-part work Man Up/Man Down. Expectation and the harsh realities on man/woman inequity collide in Maggio’s work as the composer peals and chips away at the hollowness of male role modelling which – as the narrative prosody of the words tell us – has resulted in the near-destruction of contemporary body politic.  

The disc concludes with a work by David Lang. His song manifesto makes for an uplifting utopian dénouement after some brilliant, yet otherwise dark music.

J.S. Bach
András Schiff (clavichord)
ECM New Series ECM 2635/36 (ecmrecords.com) 

As the 2CD J.S. Bach – Clavichord release liner notes explain, the clavichord was Bach’s favoured domestic keyboard, its intimate sound nevertheless allowing for a wide range of expression unavailable to the harpsichord. Veteran Bach specialist, Hungarian-British pianist and conductor András Schiff, makes full use of the clavichord’s impressive nimble and expressive capabilities in this recording of six Bach works. On display is his use of shaded dynamic tiers to distinguish contrapuntal voices in the music, as well as his subtle finger vibrato produced by vertically pressing the key after sounding the note. He also sometimes introduces a nuanced rubato along with the finger vibrato, heightening the drama in the music. 

Playing a 2003 replica of a 1743 Specken clavichord, which in certain passages leans toward a pleasant lute-like timbre, Schiff gives us a convincing Bach clavichord recital comparing favourably with Menno van Delft’s recording of the keyboard partitas. Bach’s two-part Inventions and three-part Sinfonias are particularly well represented. Each of the 15 movements in a different key, these pedagogic works were originally intended for students and amateurs, yet they number among the composer’s most original and expressive keyboard compositions.

ECM’s evocatively realistic sound engineering presents the clavichord as the modest living room instrument it was designed to be, designed for private study and enjoyment. Schiff knows the clavichord and this repertoire inside out, playing with musical poise and unaffected élan.

Beethoven – The Late Sonatas
Maurizio Pollini
Deutsche Grammophon 486 3014 (deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/beethoven-the-late-sonatas-pollini-12858) 

Having completed the recording of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas in 2014, renowned Italian pianist Maurizio Pollini revisits the last five with the intense yet simple approach of an artist who understands life. It is astounding that Pollini undertook the recording of such technically challenging works at the age of 80 and it is precisely this fact that makes the recording precious. Here we have an artist at the full height of life experience sharing deep mastery of his instrument via some of the most complex pieces of the piano repertoire. 

Piano Sonata Op.101 marks the beginning of the late period of Beethoven’s compositional trajectory, and it is nothing like the composer’s previous works. The essence of this sonata is freedom – freedom of form, harmony and expression. Pollini understands it well and conveys it with gusto. Piano Sonata Op.106 “Hammerklavier” remains underperformed on the concert stage even today due to the technical challenges it presents. It requires a performer with great emotional maturity, as Beethoven seems to have conjoined centuries of writing tradition with magnificent innovations of genius in this piece. Both Beethoven and Pollini, each in their own masterful way, are unapologetic of who they are as artists – vulnerable in their stance yet afraid of nothing. Pollini’s occasional faint singing in the background makes the recording come alive with immediate intimacy – this, simply, is life.

Clara Robert Johannes – Atmosphere and Mastery
Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra; Alexander Shelley
Analekta AN 2 8882-3 (analekta.com/en) 

Perhaps, as classical music fans, we like to think of our enjoyment of this music in a priori terms. Music for music’s sake and all that. As an extension of the better-known maxim, “l’art pour l’art,” (Art for Art’s Sake), this 19th-century declaration that art is most “true” when decoupled from extra-musical meaning or purposes (social, utilitarian etc.), provides a sort of tautological framework for our 21st-century tastes: classical music is good, because it is good music. Unlike such artifacts of mainstream culture as so-called “pop” music, whose raison d’être is a kind of didactic utilitarianism (music for dancing, music for escapism etc.), classical music, rightly or wrongly, has come to be seen as more other-worldly and elevated (some might say hifalutin). But, as we learn with Clara-Robert-Johannes, the third of a four-part recording cycle from Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra that mines both the Schumann/Brahms canon and their relationship, what could be more salaciously human than a potential relationship triangle marked by the entanglements of marriage, death and unrequited love? 

Performed skillfully under the direction of Alexander Shelley, this 2023 recording features some lesser-known pieces by the compositional triumvirate of Clara Schumann, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms that, none-the-less, represent the high-water mark of Romantic-era beauty and sophistication. With greater compositional representation given here to Clara, not simply as muse to both Robert and Brahms, but rightly acknowledging and platforming her as a compositional force of equal magnitude and import, Clara-Robert-Johannes captures the complexities of both their music and of the human condition in this gorgeously captured and fine recording.

Chopin Recital 4
Janina Fialkowska
ATMA ACD2 2803 (atmaclassique.com/en) 

Canada can be proud of having many world class pianists. The confluence of diverse cultures is a happy breeding ground putting forth pianists of different backgrounds like Poland that produced this shining example, the Grande Dame of Canadian pianism, Janina Fialkowska. She is, as said by Arthur Rubinstein, a “born interpreter of Chopin,” whose credits are too numerous to mention – including concerts all over the world, the JUNO Award, the Order of Canada – she is praised for “her musical integrity and refreshing natural approach.”

Fialkowska records exclusively with ATMA Classique and this is her 15th release and fourth Chopin album. It’s a good cross section of various genres of Chopin’s genius: Polonaises, Nocturnes, Preludes, Ballades, Valses etc. Curiously enough a few of the pieces are not of the highest difficulty and within the capabilities of any aspiring piano student of Grade 8 level, (yours truly included) so these come back to me as old friends like the defiant, heroic Military Polonaise in A Major that starts off the program or the sweet, nostalgic Nocturne Op.55 No.1 in F Minor. Both are exquisitely played. These are followed by the Berceuse in D-flat Major, one of the most beautiful things Chopin ever wrote, played with a lovely sustained soft supple legato.

The big guns however are the virtuoso pieces like the Ballade in G Minor that starts off deceptively simple but gradually gets more and more complex and difficult with a prestissimo finish. The Scherzo No.3 in C-sharp Minor is even more demanding. The strong chords at the beginning remind me of Liszt, the incessant, cascading fioratures are so delicately and precisely played and the 110-bar coda finishes the piece with a big flourish.

Franck; Vierne – First and Last
Christopher Houlihan (organ)
Azica ACD-71356 (azica.com) 

If Paul Simon’s haunting 1970 song, The Only Living Boy in New York, ever needed a companion, a potential contender might be the only French-built organ in New York. Housed in that city’s Church of the Ascension, Pascal Quoirin’s Manton Memorial Organ is not only both played and captured beautifully on this new Azica recording by the celebrated American organist Christopher Houlihan, but with my aforementioned whimsical Simon reference, perhaps the door is now open for another, this time riffing on the folk composer’s 1968 song Bookends. Wherein that earlier Simon song tells the tale of two old friends who sit together on, one assumes, a New York park bench like old friends watching the tumbleweed of newspapers blow by, Houlihan here uses César Franck and Louis Vierne to musically bookend the French Romantic tradition of organ symphonies. In fact, marble busts of the composers’ halved faces appear on the album cover like literal “first and last” bookends. 

Beginning the recording with Franck’s Grande Pièce Symphonique Op.17 (1860–62) and closing with Vierne’s Symphonie No.6, Op.39 (1930), Houlihan – the current Artist-in-Residence at Toronto’s Trinity College where he also teaches and directs the Chapel Singers – both musically and historically demonstrates the richness of possibility that can occur when a skilled technician and thoughtful artist demarcates their creativity for compelling results. Narrow and focused in scope, but sprawling and grand in ambition, Houlihan, empowered here to mine the depths of a repertoire so “dependent on the particular sonorities,” he writes, of this particular French-built instrument, has found the context, instrument and conceit necessary to make a meaningful contribution to the discographic canon of fine organ recordings. 

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Scriabin – Poem of Ecstasy; Symphony No.2
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; JoAnn Falletta
Naxos 8.574039 (bpo.org/recordings) 

Will the compositional dust ever settle on the early 20th century? Let’s hope not. What a fascinating, tempestuous time it was, what madness emerged from the studied rebellion of the Romantic period! Who knew that Liszt, of all people, would be a kind of heroic model to Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915), who tore up the book of common practice harmony and looked for colours that some would call garish, and others revelatory.

And the composers themselves, calling one another names or championing themselves and their cadre. (Okay, that sounds contemporary.) According to the liner notes on this beautiful rendering of his Poem of Ecstasy (1905-08) and Second Symphony (1901), Scriabin referred to Igor Stravinsky (ten years his junior) as “a mass of insolence and a minimum of creative power.” Dude, sour grapes? Stravinsky was calculating, but he also wrote The Firebird and The Rite of Spring.

Scriabin’s art has factions pro and con, and he probably had as much influence as Ravel did on insolent Igor. For my part, hearing the colours and wandering sensuality of phrase and gesture of the Poem, I’m back in the ballet pit, back in the 1900’s, grumpily wishing I were playing Afternoon of a Faun instead, because who is this upstart with the idea that sexual release and musical climax should be enjoyed simultaneously? At least Claude merely sought to depict it, not to have his listeners engage in it. (There is nobody more conservative than a ballet pit musician…)  

Scriabin’s tonal voice was amazing, his artistic trajectory heading into the ever-weirder, his fame unquestioned; and then he died in his 40s. Just a terribly sad fate. 

The playing is more than equal to the demands of the score, the direction sure and provocative, as the score also demands. JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic have every right to be proud. If the second symphony makes you think of César Franck, well, yes. But EVER so much better.

Strauss – Also Sprach Zarathustra | Debussy – Jeux
London Symphony Orchestra; François-Xavier Roth
LSO Live LSO0833 (lsolive.lso.co.uk) 

The tone poem reached its pinnacle with the works of Richard Strauss. In fact, he once said braggingly that he could set absolutely anything to music and certainly this text that probes mankind’s place in the universe proves that point. The opening brass fanfare with the solo trumpet striking a triad C G C, (the tonic, the fifth and an octave leap) sets a tone, a motive that keeps returning and represents the big question mark, the question of existence for which there is no answer. The music then carries through all that constitutes life on earth but according to Nietzsche these are “false consolations,” distractions from the ultimate question, a “rope over the abyss” so to speak. Strauss’ melodic gifts and complex, modern orchestration shine throughout, each section different. There are some lovely highlights, like the solo violin representing Joy, but it all ends with the fatal bells ringing and everything quiets down. At the end two dissonant chords, ambiguity, tells us that there is no answer.   

The tremendous opening theme was made famous in 1968 by Stanley Kubrick in the film 2001 – A Space Odyssey, and since then it has become a favourite of conductors (notably Karajan). This latest issue is conducted by François-Xavier Roth, a very busy man all over Europe conducting several orchestras including the prestigious London Symphony, here most assuredly in top form. 

Roth is also a champion of French music, and he includes Debussy’s Jeux, a playful work which features, for example, a tennis game with the ball hit back and forth. Incidentally, the piece was a favourite of Pierre Boulez “who found in the quicksilver play of sonority, harmony and arabesque Debussy’s most sophisticated and far-reaching contribution to the artistic revolutions of the 20th century.”

Rachmaninoff – Symphony No.2
Sinfonia of London; John Wilson
Chandos CHSA5309 (chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%205309)

Many music lovers are most familiar with Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, but there was a time that the most often heard and performed pieces were his Prelude in C-sharp Minor for piano and the Symphony No.2 in E Minor. This newly released CD, with John Wilson conducting the Sinfonia of London, features outstanding recordings of these two old favourites. The first ever performance of the second symphony was conducted by the composer in Saint Petersburg on February 9, 1908 and it won the Glinka Award that year, one of five Rachmaninoff received in his lifetime. 

We all know how the symphony opens, usually with a full orchestra, but Wilson has chosen to interpret the score a little differently. Instead of the dynamic sounds we’re used to, he conducts it as a more Romantic piece; perhaps it’s the balance of the strings that gives it this quality. Regardless, it didn’t take many listening sessions before I thought it sounded natural and was very comfortable with this “new-to-me” version. In truth, it sounds perfectly correct, (no shade to any other version). A sumptuous performance of the Prelude Op.3 No.2 for solo piano orchestrated by Leopold Stokowski opens the disc.  

Wilson came to prominence conducting Hollywood film scores, most notably at the Proms in London and on recordings for Chandos with the John Wilson Orchestra. More recently he has revived the Sinfonia of London, an all-star orchestra of top London musicians and has branched further afield. He is in great demand as a guest conductor in the UK and Europe, but surprisingly has appeared scarcely at all in the United States or Canada. Hopefully that will change!

Sibelius 3 & 4
Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal; Yannick Nézet-Séguin
ATMA ACD2 2454 (atmaclassique.com/en) 

Whatever was eating Jean Sibelius, he managed to churn out a decent number of fascinating and varied symphonic works, some, more well known than others. The latter set includes the brief Third Symphony in C Major, Op.52, and the not quite as brief Fourth Symphony in (something like) A Minor Op.63. Fluid and diverse in character, they rush through a month’s worth of angst and elation in just over an hour TOTAL. None of his symphonies stretch beyond 50 minutes, and most are less than 40; it almost seems he was either too modest or too smart to restate all the moments in order, as might Bruckner or Mahler, or others adhering to classical structure without its restraint. Motif rules, but so does organic development.

There are the usual Sibelian tropes: jollity and delight in folk idioms, a sense of awe possibly induced by the Finnish landscape, grand builds to grander climaxes, and especially in opus 63, tonal freedom (not to mention dark explorations of the wandering soul). I never forget that the composer battled the bottle for most of his life.

Congratulations to the spirited and excellent Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, led by the supernova legend Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Were I prone to envy (yes) it would irk me to know that not only does Montreal have the Habs, but they also have two excellent symphony orchestras playing all the big repertoire, this one led by YN-S, and that other one with a similar name. The strings are particularly strong, as are the woodwind soloists, who are afforded many juicy moments. YN-S and his crew sweep us along the turbulent and gorgeous soundscapes. Bravi tutti.

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Samuel Coleridge-Taylor – Piano Works
Luke Welch
Independent (lukewelch.ca) 

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor occupies an interesting place in British musical history. Born in 1875 to an Englishwoman and a Krio man from Sierra Leone who had studied medicine in London, he attended the Royal College of Music where he studied composition with Charles Villiers Stanford. By the 1890s, he was earning a reputation as a composer greatly helped by Edward Elgar – and his piece Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast premiered by Stanford in 1898, firmly secured his stature.

Included among Coleridge-Taylor’s extensive output are a number of compositions for piano and many of these are presented here on this recording performed by Toronto pianist Luke Welch. The disc is a delight!  

It opens with the five-movement Scenes from an Imaginary Ballet Op.74 (written in 1910) which immediately demonstrates Coleridge-Taylor’s affable and melodic style. These sprightly miniatures with their well-crafted phrases and inherent lyricism attest to their timeliness, as engaging today as they were a century ago.

The charming Three Humoresques Op.31 which follow are each slightly lengthier than the other compositions on the disc and demonstrate an intriguing use of harmony and chordal progressions. Throughout, Welch delivers a poised and elegant performance in keeping with the spirit of the music.

What is particularly appealing in this collection is the range of contrasting moods – for example, Intermezzo is a brief essay in pomp and ceremony while Papillon is all light-hearted exuberance demanding considerable technical skill from the performer. The Valse Suite Three Fours Op.71 from 1909 rounds out a most satisfying program.

Kudos to Mr. Welch for not only a fine performance, but also for bringing to light music that decidedly deserves greater recognition.

Joseph Haydn – Heretic Threads
Boyd McDonald; Joseph Petric; Peter Lutek
Astrila Records (astrila-records.bandcamp.com) 

Much like nature, music exists in a vast spectrum. Despite the apparently binary concepts of Historically Informed Performance for example, in which ensembles and their ideologies can be split into disciples and heretics, there are innumerable ways to approach the performance of older music. Heretic Threads, a new two-disc release from pianist Boyd McDonald, accordionist Joseph Petric and composer Peter Lutek combines several different approaches to the music of Haydn, resulting in a product that defies categorization.

The first disc of Heretic Threads explores three Haydn piano works, interpreted on a fortepiano that is a replica of Haydn’s own instrument. This performance by MacDonald is light and energetic, with the fortepiano facilitating both clarity and articulation, and removing much of the percussive harshness that can be inflicted upon such music by modern pianos. 

The second disc is a fascinating re-interpretation of the same three works by Petric, but this time on the concert accordion, an instrument that defies expectations when juxtaposed so closely with the historical fortepiano. Haydn on a fortepiano and an accordion? Only a heretic would consider such a thing! Despite the apparent heresy, Haydn’s music is surprisingly satisfying on the accordion, and the subtleties that Petric evokes from his instrument complement the fortepiano versions while being delightfully unique. 

The final track is Sintering, a 27-minute mashup of Haydn and digital electronics by Peter Lutek. This medley makes use of the previous harpsichord and accordion performances to create something new and old all at once, a perfect way to summarize the contents of this engaging and ingenious foray into Haydn, as well as the way we look at, listen to and think about music.

Lumières Nordiques
Vincent Boilard; Quatuor Molinari
ATMA ACD2 2859 (atmaclassique.com/en)

Lumières Nordiques is the first solo album released by Vincent Boilard, associate principal oboe of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Featuring contemporary pieces for oboe and strings, Boilard is joined by the award-winning Molinari Quartet in his passion project to help elevate previously unrecorded Canadian works. These compositions are varied soundscapes using the full range of tonal colours and technical flourishes this group of instruments has to offer. 

Beginning with solo oboe, which is then joined by string quartet, Stewart Grant’s Serenata da Camera morphs into a set of variations that showcase each instrument, inspired by Musaeus, the original group (with Grant himself on oboe) – composed for their Belarusian tour in 1991. Boilard’s beautiful, soft tone is masterfully blended with the brilliance of the strings.

Originally a ballet, Elizabeth Raum’s Searching for Sophia was adapted to this three-movement piece for oboe and string quartet. The movements draw on sounds and harmonies from the composer’s childhood when her Syrian grandmother would sing to make her dance; a poem written by the composer about what she wishes to express in music; and traditional melodies that her mother sang to her as a child. Laced predominantly with a Middle Eastern colour, this piece uses all of the instruments equally, allowing the full range of the strings and the oboe to bring out the different characters of each movement.

Michael Parker’s Requiem Parentibus, Op.34 was written as a tribute to his father after his sudden death, exploring the emotions of incomprehension, sadness, anger and melancholy. These complex emotions are represented on the oboe with high shrieks followed by soulful lyrical playing while the strings are used mainly as an atmospheric colour.

Lastly, Brian Cherney’s In the Stillness of the Summer Wind was commissioned by his brother, oboist Lawrence Cherney, and the Hungarian String Quartet. Sounding as if inspired by summers spent in the countryside, this piece draws the listener in with various depictions of nature through the different tonal colours used by the strings as well as the four glass chimes used at the end to create the sound of a gentle, rustling breeze. 

Boilard’s virtuosity and supple tone is beautifully paired with the inspired playing of the Molinari Quartet throughout this album. Hopefully Boilard will continue this project of recording new works so that they are brought to life and appreciated.

Sounds of Time & Distance
Alfredo Santa Ana
Independent (alfredosantaana.ca) 

Born in Mexico City and working in Vancouver since 2003, composer/guitarist Alfredo Santa Ana draws on his experiences composing for television, film, dance, instrumentalists and orchestras in his self-described “hybrid” nine-track album for guitar, electronics and flute combinations.

Santa Ana does everything here with successful finesse, from performing, composing, recording, mixing, mastering and producing. Opening track Under an Orange Sky (2017), originally commissioned for 18 musicians, is a guitar duet here, performed with Michael Ibsen. Santa Ana’s musical depiction of the horrific BC fires and subsequent long periods of orange skies opens with exciting fast lines and accented single notes, followed by suspenseful longer lower-pitch held tones and occasional dissonances, and repeated midsection minimalistic lines with slower quieter sounds adding a reflective touch. More virtuosic well-thought-out guitar performances by Made in Canada Duo as Ibsen & Nathan Bredeson play Santa Ana’s interesting Foundation Visit High Scatter (2022) uninterrupted changing sound environments from slow strums to pitch slides to punchy rhythmic sections. Wave Remote (2022), performed by McGregor-Verdejo Duo, has flutist Mark Takeshi McGregor and guitarist Adrian Verdejo use loopers and electric guitar pedal technology to at times play above themselves in almost quasi rock and contemporary music improvisations. Steve Reich’s three track Electric Counterpoint (1987) receives a meticulous respectful performance by Santa Ana.

The musical world of guitar explodes with unexpected new sounds, flavours and effects in this fantastic release.

Listen to 'Sounds of Time & Distance' Now in the Listening Room