05_Wagner_en_SuisseWagner en Suisse
Orchestre Symphonique Bienne;
Thomas Rosner
ATMA ACD2 2580

Tribschen, the Wagner villa in Lucerne, is on the cover of this surprisingly beautiful collection by ATMA. I visited this house and its breathtaking surroundings exactly 100 years after Siegfried Idyll was first performed in its central staircase as “Symphonic Birthday Gift” to his soon-to-be second wife, Cosima von Bülow (December 25, 1870). Wagner’s Swiss exile due to political reasons is so rich in significant events, inspiration and compositional scope that volumes could be written. Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger, the completion of Siegfried will barely scratch the surface …

The original chamber version of Siegried Idyll dreamily performed recreating the intimate acoustic properties of the house, suitably starts off the program. This is followed later by Traume, an early study for the phenomenal second act love duet, dedicated to Mathilde Wesendonk, his Zurich benefactor’s wife and object of Wagner’s tempestuous love affair that inspired Tristan und Isolde. All this and much more is contained here, lovingly played by the Orchestre Symphonique Bienne conducted by a young and up and coming Thomas Rösner. His fresh inspiration breathes new soul into these works.

In stark contrast, Richard Strauss’ “sojourn en Suisse” in 1946 was not really an exile, more like an escape from the defeat of the Third Reich (whose composer emeritus he was), looking for greener pastures and a more comfortable life. His Oboe Concerto written, ironically, for an American GI oboist certainly reflects his newfound peace. Much inspired by Mozart, Strauss, by this time, abandoned his earlier, overheated post-Romantic, albeit masterful, style. Performed to perfection and virtuoso grace by Louise Pellerin, it makes an appropriate close to this highly recommendable new release.

06_Dvorak_CeciliaDvorˇák – String Quartet No.13; Cypresses
Cecilia String Quartet
Analekta AN 2 9892

Dvořák’s String Quartet No.13 in G Major was written towards the end of 1895, a particularly happy time in the composer’s life. Only a few months earlier, Dvořák had returned from his second successful tour of the USA and was now back in the familiar landscape of his beloved Bohemia. Working from his country home in Vysoká, he completed the quartet in just four weeks, putting the final touches on it on Christmas Day. The piece exudes contentment, and its buoyant spirit is clearly evident in this new Analekta recording featuring the Cecilia String Quartet.

Named for the patron saint of music, the Toronto-based ensemble formed when all four members were studying at the University of Toronto. The quartet won the Felix Galimir Chamber Music Award in 2005, went on to win first prize at the Banff International Quartet Competition in 2010 and has since made appearances both in Europe and North America. This is the Cecilia’s first recording in a series of four to be recorded for Analekta, and it’s a gem! From the quartet’s sprightly opening measures, the ensemble achieves a wonderful sense of balance throughout the finely interwoven counterpoint. The intonation is clear and precise, and there is none of the muddiness which can sometimes occur in string performance. The languorous lines of the Adagio result in a wonderful sound, while the Finale is treated with an arresting energy, the changes in mood and tempo adeptly handled.

An added bonus on this disc is the set of Cypresses Op.152. These expressions of young love initially began as songs, but were later adapted for string quartet. Together, they contain a bevy of contrasting moods, from yearning and tender to anguished and defiant. The Cecilia Quartet does them all justice, playing with an assured elegance, as it does the set of Two Waltzes Op.54 which rounds out this most satisfying recording.

Concert Note: This year’s Felix Galimir Prize will be presented to the Arkadas String Quartet in a concert at Walter Hall on Sunday May 13 at 3 PM. Arkadas will perform Beethoven’s “Serioso” quartet, Wolf’s Interlude and Bartok’s String Quartet No.6.

01_Windermere_QuartetToronto’s Windermere String Quartet was founded in 2005, but has only just released its first CD, The Golden Age of String Quartets, on Alison Melville’s Pipistrelle label (PIP0112). The ensemble bills itself as the Windermere String Quartet “on period instruments” and the players, violinists Rona Goldensher and Elizabeth Loewen Andrews, violist Anthony Rapoport and cellist Laura Jones, all have extensive experience with leading period instrument ensembles.

Their debut CD highlights the period at the heart of their repertoire, with Mozart’s Quartet in C Major K465, the “Dissonance,” Haydn’s Quartet in E-Flat Major Op.33 No.2, “The Joke,” and Beethoven’s Quartet in C Minor Op.18 No.4.

As you would expect, there is no overtly “romantic” approach to the playing here, but these are terrific interpretations, with fine ensemble playing, great dynamics and expression, excellent choices of tempo, sensitivity in the Mozart, a fine sense of humour in the Haydn and real passion in the Beethoven.

The recordings were made almost two years ago in St. Anne’s Anglican Church in Toronto, with the expert team of Norbert Kraft and Bonnie Silver, and the ambience is spacious and reverberant.

Period performances often display a sparsity of vibrato and a softness of attack that can make them sound somewhat flat and lifeless, and lacking in fullness and warmth — or at least, warmth the way we have come to expect it. There is never any danger of that here, though. These are period performances that blend life, spirit and soul with a perfectly-judged sensitivity for contemporary style and practice. It’s the perfect marriage, and hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for further offspring to accompany this exemplary debut disc.

Two interesting CDs of early Italian string quartets arrived recently, neither of which turned out to be quite what I expected.

03_BocdheriniLuigi Boccherini (1743–1805) is mostly remembered for his famous Minuet, but along with Haydn he was in at the birth of the string quartet form, writing close to 100 quartets, almost always in groups of six, starting with his Op.2 in 1761. The six String Quartets Op.8 from 1768 are featured on a budget re-issue CD from the Italian DYNAMIC label in excellent 1994 performances by the Quartetto d’archi di Venezia (DM8027).

Despite their brevity — the longest quartet is only 14 minutes long — and their limited emotional range, this is in no way merely functional music but true part-writing that is both well-balanced and idiomatic.

02_PaganiniNiccolo Paganini wrote only three works in the quartet genre, but despite their being written some 50 years after Boccherini’s there is virtually no part-writing; it’s almost all first violin solo with string accompaniment. Perhaps surprisingly, this is not because Paganini wanted to display his virtuosic technique: they are, in fact, very much of their time. Paganini was a close friend of Rossini, and the music here — like Rossini’s — is essentially melodic, with no attempt at dialogue. The String Quartets Nos.1–3 are charming and competent, but with no great depth, and receive effortless performances by the Amati Ensemble String Quartet on Brilliant Classics (94287). These quartets live or die on the skills of the first violin, and happily, Dutch violinist Gil Sharon is more than up to the task.

04_GoosensThe Goossens family was at the centre of English musical life in the first half of the 20th century. Eugene Goossens (1893-1962) is now mostly remembered for his conducting career, particularly in the USA, but he was trained as a violinist and composer. Naxos has issued an outstanding CD of his Complete Music for Violin and Piano, featuring violinist Robert Gibbs and pianist Gusztav Fenyo (8.572860).

The violin sonatas nos.1 and 2, from 1918 and 1930 respectively, are the major works here. Heifetz played the latter, and Goossens transcribed the Romance from his opera Don Juan de Manara for him. The Lyric Poem and the Old Chinese Folk-Song complete the disc.

Gibbs is simply perfect for this material, technically stunning, with a warm, sweet, lyrical sound and a fast and fairly constant vibrato very reminiscent of Heifetz. Fenyo is every bit his equal, especially in the demanding second sonata.

05_YsayeThere is yet another CD – the third I’ve received in the past year – of the Six Sonatas for Solo Violin by Eugene Ysaÿe, this time by the American violinist Tai Murray (harmonia mundi HMU 907569). Given the number of versions available, these works obviously continue to be highly regarded and valued by violinists, even if music lovers in general seem to be unaware of their quality and significance.

This is Murray’s debut recording for the label, and it’s a real winner. She has a big, warm tone, and always keeps a clear inner line through the maze of multiple stoppings and technical challenges, with never a strained moment or jagged edge.

It’s almost impossible to recommend a single CD of these works, given the number currently available, but you really can’t go far wrong with this beautifully recorded and impeccably played interpretation.

06_Soviet_2The Chicago label Cedille has issued Volume II of The Soviet Experience, the series of String Quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich and his Contemporaries (CDR 90000 130), and it maintains the standard set by the first volume, reviewed in this column two months ago.

This time, the four Shostakovich quartets Nos.1-4 are paired with the String Quartet No.2 of Sergei Prokofiev, and the performances by the Pacifica Quartet once again show their great affinity for the music of this country and this period. The booklet notes and cover art are again outstanding.

I hope we won’t have to wait too long for the remaining volumes in this terrific series.

07_SarasateNaxos has issued another volume in its ongoing series of the Complete Violin Works of Pablo Sarasate. I think it’s volume six of a planned seven or eight – depending on which CD cover you believe – but I’m not sure, as the numbering system is a bit confusing: this is apparently Volume 3 of the Music for Violin and Piano (8.570893) and there have also been three numbered volumes of Music for Violin and Orchestra, two of which have been reviewed here. No matter, because it’s the music that counts, and once again the standard of composition never lags throughout the 14 short pieces.

In his booklet notes, Josef Gold rightly stresses not only Sarasate’s outstanding melodic gifts, which were far ahead of the other composers of salon pieces at the time, but also his skill in the piano accompaniments. Both aspects are fully evident on this delightful CD, which once again features the outstanding Tianwa Yang accompanied by Markus Hadulla. Melody does quite often overshadow pure virtuosity, but Yang is perfectly at ease with both. Hadulla supplies sympathetic and idiomatic support throughout.

Most of the tracks on this CD were recorded in Germany in 2007, with three of the longer tracks recorded there in late 2010. Yang apparently started the series in 2004, and while it seems to be taking quite some time to reach completion the quality of the playing and the standard of the production has remained extremely high.

01_DinnersteinSomething Almost Being Said –
Music of Bach and Schubert
Simone Dinnerstein
Sony Classical 88697998242

For someone who supposedly “broke all the rules” when it came to preparing for a concert career, New York-based pianist Simone Dinnerstein has been remarkably successful. She dropped out of the Juilliard School at 18 (only to return later) and by 30 she had neither management nor bookings. Nevertheless, her talents ultimately triumphed, and she has been able to achieve what she calls “a normal life” with international appearances to great acclaim.

Her latest recording, featuring the first two partitas by Bach, and Schubert’s Four Impromptus Op.90, is titled Something Almost Being Said, the name taken from a poem by Philip Larkin. Dinnerstein explains in the notes that, in her opinion, the non-vocal music of both composers has a strong narrative element to it, with a resulting effect of “wordless voices singing textless melodies.” While her full command of the music is evident from the opening of the c minor partita, this is decidedly Bach with a difference. Her approach is convincingly lyrical, proving that Bach need not be played with metronomic rigidity, as is sometimes the case. Indeed, the melodic lines of such movements as the Sarabande in the second partita, or the Praeludium in the first, have a wonderful vocal-like quality to them fully in keeping with the premise of the recording. This declamatory quality is further evident in the four impromptus, coupled at times with a mood of quiet introspection. Bravura for its own sake is refreshingly absent; instead, Dinnerstein chooses to let the music speak for itself.

In all, this is a fine recording from someone who manages a balanced life — and indeed, balance is a key issue here. Beautiful music elegantly played — we can hardly ask for more.

02_SicsicHenri-Paul Sicsic en recital à Paris
Henri-Paul Sicsic
Independent
www.henripaulsicsic.com

Henry-Paul Sicsic, Canadian pianist and professor at the U of T Faculty of Music, is a remarkable artist who “thrills audiences across North America and Europe with his intense, passionate and imaginative performances.” He is not short of impressive credentials and there is a thread that connects him to the legendary Alfred Cortot via his teacher Juliette Audibert-Lambert who herself had been a student of the master. Sicsic’s remarkable international concert career and the top prizes he’s won are well documented on his website but we must emphasize also his achievements as a teacher and his uncanny ability to inspire the younger generation.

His second solo recording was done in the aptly named Salon Cortot in Paris. This recent disc has been issued to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth. About half of the program is devoted to Chopin, short pieces of which the passionate Nocturne in C Minor of brooding intensity followed by the sunny, brilliant and bravura Valse in A-Flat Major stand out. The centrepiece is the famous Piano Sonata No.2 that shows off the pianist’s talents with its complex structures and varied moods. How beautifully he makes the piano sing in the slow section of the Scherzo or in the trio of the ubiquitous Marche Funebre!

The remainder of the program is devoted to the impressionist sound-world of Ravel and evocations of Spain by Albeniz. A surprise treat is I Leap through the Sky with Stars by the Toronto composer Alexina Louie that appears to be influenced by Ravel at first, but almost imperceptibly loses its tonal centre as it develops and becomes more like “new music.” It receives grand applause from the Paris audience.

03_KatsarisKatsaris plays Liszt, Volume 1
Cyprien Katsaris
Piano 21 P21 041-N
www.cyprienkatsaris.net

Liszt! What do we think of when one of the most flamboyant composers of the 19th century comes to mind? Swooning ladies? Technical brilliance on an almost superhuman scale? Whatever image we have, the 200th birthday of this legendary pianist/composer from Raiding was celebrated in 2011, and among those marking the occasion was French-Cypriot pianist Cyprien Katsaris, who issued a splendid two-disc set titled Katsaris Plays Liszt on his own label, Piano 21.

Internationally famous since his debut in Paris in 1966, Katsaris has been the recipient of several prizes for his recordings, including the Grand Prix du Disc Franz Liszt in 1984 and 1989, and the German Record of the Year in 1984. This set — recorded over a 39 year period — is bound to appeal to any Liszt aficionado. The first disc, titled Gypsy and Romantic, is mainly devoted to his earlier works, including four of the Hungarian Rhapsodies, the well-known Liebestraum, and the Piano Concerto No.2 with the German Radio Symphony of Berlin, Arid Remmereit conducting. Here, Katsaris handles the technical demands of the repertoire with ease and panache, easily upholding his reputation as a fleet-fingered virtuoso.

Yet the set is not all tinsel and glitter. The second disc, titled Avant Garde, Hommage à Wagner, The Philosopher, is considerably more introspective and features music from Liszt’s late period. This was a time when the composer was very much “pushing the boundaries.” Indeed, Grey Clouds, The Lugubrious Gondola 1 and 2 and At Richard Wagner’s Grave stylistically look to the future, with Katsaris perfectly conveying the dark, almost sinister quality of the music.

As this set is designated as “Volume I,” may we assume there are more to come? We can only hope so, in light of the high standards and intriguing programming presented in this one.

04_Berlioz_HaroldBerlioz – Les Nuits d’Été; Harold en Italie
Anne Sofie von Otter; Antoine Tamestit; Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble;
Marc Minkowski
Naïve V 5266

I was introduced to “Harold” by the Victor recording with William Primrose that Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony made in 1944. Hearing this was a thrilling discovery and repeated encores did not diminish its impact. Particularly winning was Primrose’s patrician elegance and focused performance that would define the role for me.

As it turns out, the genius of Berlioz benefits from a large, well oiled virtuoso orchestra, as the two Primrose recordings with the Boston Symphony in its prime, conducted by Koussevitzky and the 1958 Charles Munch (RCA 88697 08280, hybrid CD/SACD), so magnificently demonstrate. I have also heard many excellent European performances with different soloists, the most notable of which are conducted by Colin Davis.

This new recording with a somewhat smaller orchestra (about 50 players) would seem to lack the splendour and power we have come to expect in a worthy Berlioz performance. Minkowski and his group, however, have a thorough understanding of Berlioz’ musical essence and convey a persuasive enthusiasm, overriding any misgivings about size. Tempos in each of the four movements are well judged and unerringly balanced. Some unusual accents flavour a beautifully constructed performance played with immaculate ensemble. Acclaimed violist, Antoine Tamestit, delivers a compelling, deeply felt performance with a delicious viola sound throughout.

The Les nuits d’été (a work that contrasts with the hectic finale it follows) is one of the finest versions of this enchanting song cycle to come my way. The program concludes with the strange narrative “The King of Thulé” from The Damnation of Faust, with the viola intertwining with Anne Sophie von Otter’s voice in this haunting Gothic lullaby … a master stroke of programming. This disc is a treasure.

Back to top