01_antheillViolinist Mark Fewer, never one for simply sticking to the standard repertoire, has combined with pianist John Novacek on an absolutely stunning CD of Sonatas for Violin and Piano by the American composer George Antheil (Azica ACD-71263) which grabs you by the ears right from the start and never lets go. In the early 1920s Antheil was a fixture of the “Americans in Paris” social scene, where he was befriended by the poet Ezra Pound and the American violinist Olga Rudge, for whom the first two sonatas were written in 1923. Sonata No.2 is an astonishing single-movement aural onslaught, parodying and distorting a whole range of well-known melodies and styles over a percussive chordal accompaniment; it could almost have been written by Charles Ives. Sonata No.1 is no less challenging, and calls for a huge range of unorthodox effects, Antheil’s music at that time reflecting his fascination with machines and mechanical noise. Sonata No.4(2) dates from 1947-48, when Antheil was back in America, and having second thoughts about his avant-garde years; it leans more towards Prokofiev than to the percussive Stravinsky of the earlier works. Although the fourth sonata Antheil wrote, it was officially termed his “New Second Sonata” after he disowned the original No.2 and revamped Nos.1 & 3 into a single “new” No.1. The unfinished Solo Sonata from 1927 completes the CD. Antheil gave the manuscript to Rudge; now in her papers at Yale, it has never been performed before. The first movement is complete; the second merely a few haunting minutes. Fewer and Novacek are both simply brilliant throughout. The booklet notes by Mauro Piccinini are outstanding, contributing enormously to a fuller understanding of the music’s background. Recorded at McGill’s Schulich School of Music, the sound quality matches the stunning performances.

02_janine_jansenI’ve raved about the Dutch violinist Janine Jansen before; Beau Soir, her new CD with pianist Itamar Golan - and her first recital disc - is yet more proof of her musical artistry and sensitivity (Decca 478 2256). The Debussy and Ravel sonatas are the backbone of a programme of French pieces, including Debussy’s Beau soir and Clair de lune, Messiaen’s Thème et Variations, Fauré’s Après un rêve and Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne. Richard Dubugnon, who wrote a concerto for Jansen in 2008, also contributes four miniatures; he noticed the common nocturnal theme in some of the selected works, and suggested structuring the CD as a musical journey from evening through to morning, writing his pieces to supply the missing parts. They fit perfectly. Jansen clearly has an innate understanding of the French sound, with its subtlety and delicacy, and offers interpretations that are full of nuance, shimmering warmth and ravishing sensuality. I just wish they would dispense with the cheesy booklet photos: she really doesn’t need them.

03_jennifer_pikeThe Debussy and Ravel Violin Sonatas, along with the Franck, are also featured on a CD - apparently her first - from young British violinist Jennifer Pike (Chandos CHAN 10667), who has been attracting a good deal of attention in England since winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 2001 at the age of 12. There’s a different mood to the Debussy here, less subtle and more straightforward than the Jansen, and with less of a “French” feel about it. The Ravel fares better, with the last movement in particular benefitting from Pike’s drive and energy. The Franck is competent and workmanlike without being in any way memorable. The experienced pianist Martin Roscoe provides solid support.

04_vilde_frangAnother young European garnering a lot of attention is the Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang, whose CD of the Grieg and Strauss Violin Sonatas with pianist Michail Lifits (EMI Classics 9 47639 2), together with the Bartok Solo Sonata, is also a first recital disc, following her well-received debut CD of the Sibelius and Prokofiev No.1 concertos. Frang, her label’s Young Artist of the Year in 2010, is understandably at home with the Grieg, and there is also fine playing in the Strauss, but at first sight the Bartok seems an odd stable-mate. Still, Frang’s clean, almost easy-sounding performance makes it feel possibly a bit less visceral and more “mainstream” than usual. This is clearly a player to watch.

If the CD is becoming an obsolete technology and a commercial dead duck, then somebody apparently forgot to tell Naxos. This month sees two more CDs from British violinists, as the label continues to make significant and invaluable contributions to the recorded repertoire by taking the road less-travelled.

05_alwynThe English composer William Alwyn (1905-85), previously best-known for his film scores, has been particularly well-served by Naxos, with over a dozen CDs of his orchestral, chamber and vocal music issued to date. Scottish violinist Lorraine McAslan is the soloist in his Violin Concerto (Naxos 8.570705), with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under David Lloyd-Jones. Astonishingly, the work has never received a professional concert performance: the closest it came was a private violin and piano performance in 1940, the year after it was completed. It was considered for a Henry Wood Promenade concert in 1943, but rejected by the BBC, and was finally resurrected for a commercial recording in 1993. The CD blurb describes it as “romantic and rhapsodic”, and it is fully that, and more, with a big “main title” movie opening, a beautifully atmospheric slow movement, with shades of Vaughan Williams, and a strong finale. McAslan, who seems to specialize in lesser-known English concertos, is very much at home here. I found her lower tone a bit on the nasal side, but in the higher register she is terrific - assured and brilliant in tone. Alwyn’s wonderful gift for orchestration is also on display in the Miss Julie Suite, a three-movement arrangement by Philip Lane of music from Alwyn’s early 1970s opera. It’s a brooding, dramatic, sweeping score with superb orchestral colour. No wonder Alwyn was so successful with his film scores. The short Fanfare for a Joyful Occasion, a short work for brass and percussion from 1958, completes an immensely satisfying CD, with the crystal-clear recording quality well up to the usual Naxos standard.

06_mathiasThe second Naxos disc features the Violin Sonatas of the Welsh composer William Mathias (1934-92), performed by Sara Trickey and Iwan Llewelyn-Jones (Naxos 8.572292). The Sonata No.1 was written in 1961 on a commission from the Cheltenham Festival, where it was first performed in 1962. It has a sparse, angular opening - “spiky and aggressively rhythmic” in the composer’s words - with a lyrical middle movement and an energetic finale. Sonata No.2 was a commission to celebrate Mathias’s 50th birthday in 1984; the booklet notes rightly refer to the “four vividly contrasted movements” making “virtuosic demands of both performers.” I found the third work on the disc, the world premiere recording of the Violin Sonata (1952), to be the most enjoyable - perhaps surprisingly, given that Mathias apparently chose not to recognize it. Written when he was 18, and between school and university, it was the first work of the composer’s to be performed in public, and was the first entry in Mathias’s personal catalogue of compositions, albeit without an opus number. It was subsequently withdrawn and never performed again. In 1992 Mathias reviewed his entire catalogue, and chose to rehabilitate some of his withdrawn works - but this wasn’t one of them. Since his death, however, his estate has occasionally given careful consideration to the limited release of the withdrawn scores, and agreed to the inclusion of the work in this CD. Sara Trickey is a precise and accurate player, with a sweet tone, possibly a bit thin at times, but not a great deal of tonal or dynamic contrast. Her vibrato seems a bit unfocussed in the slower passages, and she only really seems to take flight in the faster, rhythmic sections. On this evidence I’m not sure I would call her playing “fiery and passionate” (the quote from The Strad magazine that dominates her publicity material) - The Guardian’s reference to her “clean-cut precision” seems much more appropriate.

I doubt if any record label has done as much for the promotion of American music as has Naxos with their ongoing and comprehensive American Classics series. Two new CDs in the series feature the violin works of two established but quite different composers now in their 50s.

07_gompperWolfgang David is the soloist in the Violin Concerto of David Gompper, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Emmanuel Siffert (Naxos 8.559637). The disc highlights the problems you can encounter trying to review contemporary music, when you probably don’t know the composer or his works, and have no scores to consult. The booklet notes, by Gompper himself, did little to help in that regard; in fact, far from being an aid to understanding, they just made things more obtuse. In Spirals, for instance, we are told that “…the Fibonacci series is applied to all musical parameters, including pitch distribution, density control and formal and micro-rhythmic structural formulations.” Great. But, hey, music either communicates or it doesn’t, and this does. This is someone who clearly knows exactly what they’re doing, and the description of Gompper’s music on the CD cover - “tightly-organised yet free-flowing” - is spot-on. The Violin Concerto, which occupied Gompper for the best part of a decade, is a substantial work in the traditional three-movement form, and after a tough opening settles down into an often lyrical and beautifully orchestrated piece. David and the RPO are in top form. Ikon, from 2008, is a representation of a 19th-century Russian house icon that the composer obtained in Estonia that year while on tour with David. Flip, from 1993, was written for a chamber orchestra, and playfully flips or switches various musical ideas and borrowed snippets. Spirals, despite the complex programme note, is a highly effective 2007 work in which David is joined by violinist Peter Zazofsky. I still have no idea what Gompper means about the framework, but it really doesn’t matter: you don’t have to understand the architect’s blueprints to appreciate an impressive building.

08_dillonLawrence Dillon, on the other hand, is an instantly accessible composer, and the CD of his Violin Music marks the recording debut of the Mexican-American violinist Danielle Belen (Naxos 8.559644). Her playing is terrific from the outset, with a full, warm tone and a daunting technique. There isn’t a single moment on the entire CD when you don’t feel that she is in complete control, both technically and musically. There are seven pieces here, covering a period of 25 years. The story behind the two solo violin works, Mister Blister - the opening track - and Fifteen Minutes, is quite fascinating, and was the genesis for the CD. In 2006, Dillon was one of fifteen composers asked by violinist Piotr Szewczyk to write a short solo violin piece of a few minutes’ duration; Dillon left the project for several months and, becoming somewhat confused, thought he was to write a one-minute piece. He ended up writing sixteen, and, unable to pick one, sent them all to Szewczyk. The virtuosic Mister Blister was rushed off in a single afternoon when the error was pointed out. The other sixteen pieces were rearranged into Fifteen Minutes; Szewczyk ended up premiering both works and putting them on his website, where Belen found them while looking for an American composer to feature on her debut CD. They are varied and quite dazzling - and in one of the movements Belen is even required to accompany herself on a kazoo! The earliest work on the disc is Façade, a deceptively simple student work from 1983 that I found quite captivating, but which apparently caused a stir at its premiere. Frequently performed since then, it is a particular favourite of Belen’s. David Fung is the accompanist. Canadian born violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez joins Belen for the Bacchus Chaconne, a 1991 work that Dillon wrote as part of his coming to terms with the last-minute loss of a commission for a cello concerto that he was just completing after 18 months’ work. The Violin Sonata Motion, from 2008, was originally scored for flute and piano, although Dillon had always had a violin adaptation in mind; he finally made this when Belen contacted him in 2008 to ask about recording his complete violin works. Fung is again the accompanist, as he is in The Voice, a transcription of an aria from Dillon’s 2001 opera Buffa. Stan Muncy accompanies Belen on marimba in Spring Passing, a 1997 version of an elegy Dillon wrote for his father, who died when the composer was only 2. The always-reliable Naxos team of Norbert Kraft and Bonnie Silver handled the production at St John Chrysostom Church, Newmarket, and the CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. The former location, with its added resonance, was used for the solo string works.

01_business_of_angelsThe Business of Angels - English Recorder Music from the Stuart Era

Alison Melville; Lucas Harris; Nadina Mackie Jackson; Borys Medicky; Joëlle Morton

Pipistrelle Music PIP1110

The recorder enjoyed great popularity in the Stuart Era and many instructional manuals and collections with repertoire of excellent quality were published in London. The preface of one such, The Genteel Companion, printed by Henry Salter in 1683, provided this recording with its title... “Musick, beloved of Heaven, for it is the business of angels; desired on earth as the most charming pleasure of men.” And while the recorder may have been fairly accessible, it takes a skilled and sensitive hand to do justice to an art of heavenly origins. And who better in modern times to lend a light and supple touch than local virtuoso Alison Melville, accompanied by Lucas Harris, guitar and archlute; Borys Medicky, harpsichord; Joëlle Morton, bass viol; and Nadina Mackie Jackson, baroque bassoon.

One of the delightful aspects of a cosmopolitan city like London in the 17th and 18th centuries was the constant trading and intermarrying of styles, creating new perspectives on traditional forms. Thus we have French-born composers like Luis Mercy setting Scottish ayres, and theatrical pieces such as Handel’s Rinaldo overture made especially delightful when transcribed for more intimate performance. Melville has scoured through ancient collections to gather sweet and refined sonatas by James Paisible, Godfrey Finger and William Topham set alongside Corelli’s well-loved Folia, and complemented by jaunty Divisions on popular grounds by Eccles and Tollett. A lively and charming portrayal of London’s sweeter side.


02_bach_beausejourBach - Famous Works on Pedal Harpsichord

Luc Beauséjour

Analekta AN 2 9970

This fascinating recording celebrates the essential triumvirate of a complete and satisfying musical experience: composer/performer/instrument. Recorded entirely on a pedal harpsichord completed in 2009 by the brilliant and prolific Montreal instrument-maker Yves Beaupré, the program tours some of Bach’s best-loved keyboard works.

The excellent French Canadian harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour enjoys an international career and is known for his virtuosity, as well as being a probing and thoughtful performer. He dives boldly into the full and rich sound world of the pedal harpsichord, a robust and powerful instrument that makes up in heft and colour what it lacks in delicacy.

From the profound and familiar opening notes of the D minor Toccata, Beauséjour’s playing sparkles with precision, intensity and beauty. Two substantial Prelude and Fugue sets (BWV 541 and 535) and a generous selection of chorale preludes follow. In the latter it is at times difficult to apprehend the chorale tunes in the midst of the surrounding material, the sound colours being so identical. The recording concludes however with a spectacular performance of the monumental C Minor Passacaille, BWV 582.

There is a relentless intensity to the sound of the pedal harpsichord which may make this recording not to everyone’s taste, but the remarkably free and deeply musical playing of Beauséjour carries the day for me, making this CD a unique and valuable effort.

 


03_bach_flute_smithBach - Flute Sonatas

Joshua Smith; Jory Vinikour; Ann Marie Morgan; Allison Guest Edberg

Delos DE 3408

This is Joshua Smith’s second disc of Bach’s flute music, the first of which covered the sonatas with obbligato harpsichord (Delos 3402). This newer offering features the E major, E minor and C major sonatas for flute and basso continuo. Smith does a remarkable job with these, which so often suffer from heavy-handedness and lack of imagination when performed on the modern flute. His playing is delightfully devoid of extreme vibrato and heavy-handed articulation, and displays a consistently thoughtful understanding of the music’s underlying harmonic structure. In some of the faster movements the passagework could perhaps use a little more variety in its shaping, and some of the allegros were too close to presto for my taste. But Smith’s attentive phrasing and expressive delicacy, particularly in the slower movements, more than make up for these small caveats. He is also brilliantly accompanied by colleagues Jory Vinikour, harpsichord, and Ann Marie Morgan, baroque cello, and the trio’s teamwork is pretty close to flawless.

An extra treat included on this recording is the C minor trio sonata from the Musical Offering (BWV 1079), in which Smith, Vinikour and Morgan are joined by baroque violinist Allison Guest Edberg. Theirs is a first-rate recording of this magnificent piece, in which the bigger arcs of structure and harmony happily coincide with deftly outlined musical nuance.

It’s not every day that a modern flutist gives Bach a performance that makes a traverso player happy, but Joshua Smith does so with consummate skill and aplomb.


01_moonlight_fantasiesMoonlight Fantasies - Beethoven; Schumann; Chopin

Ian Parker

Azica ACD-71264

In Canadian music circles the name Parker has almost come to be synonymous with high standards of excellence in the field of piano performance, all stemming from the renowned Vancouver-based pedagogue Edward Parker. Edward’s two nephews, Jon Kimura and James, have already earned international reputations. Now Ian, his son, continues the tradition, and this new recording “Moonlight Fantasies” proves that he is indeed a worthy follower in the family footsteps.

Ian began studying the piano with his father, and later continued at the Juilliard School, where he was the winner of the Gina Bachauer Piano Scholarship Competition. He made his debut at Lincoln Centre in 2004, and has since gone on to perform throughout North America and Europe. This disc, which features music by Beethoven, Schumann, and Chopin, is a delight. Beethoven’s two sonatas Op.27, including the famous “Moonlight,” show a polished and sensitive approach, while the great Fantasie in C Op. 17 by Robert Schumann combines a technical brilliance with deeply-rooted sensitivity. Whether or not Chopin’s Fantasie Op.49 is his greatest work is open to debate, but Parker’s interpretation would surely meet with the approval of all Chopin aficionados, myself included. My only quibble – and it’s a minor one- is the speed at which he takes the thrice–heard lyrical secondary theme in this piece. Although I would have preferred a little easing up of tempo, this is a minor point, and in no way mars an exemplary performance.

Well done, Mr. Parker. Like your older cousins, you have proved yourself a credit to the family name.


02_bruckner_8_nezet-seguinBruckner - Symphony No.8

Orchestre Metropolitain du Grand Montreal; Yannick Nézet-Séguin

ATMA ACD2 2513

Yannick Nézet-Séguin is a young, very talented French Canadian conductor from Montreal, student of the great Giulini, who in a short few years has had a meteoric rise: first as Gergiev’s appointed successor for the Rotterdam Philharmonic and now as Chef d’Orchestre for the prestigious Philadelphia Orchestra. Last fall he was invited to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic and with rousing success.

The Canadian recording company ATMA Classique has been lucky to snap him up and made several recordings with him, all given high esteem and international prizes. One of these is Bruckner’s immense 8th Symphony, a formidable task for even the most experienced conductor, and the result is spectacular.

“Bruckner is all about space” says the artist and the recording makes us feel it with its reverberant church acoustics. Nowhere have I heard the ending, where Bruckner’s gods make their triumphant entry to Walhalla, so full, so uplifting, and all bells ringing, like the whole universe coming together. “No, it’s not an end,” says the conductor, “but heralds a beginning of a new era” perhaps unintentionally paraphrasing Winston Churchill. There are many exquisite moments, like the pp fleeting rush of strings that introduce the scherzo theme, a theme that’s repeated endlessly, never twice the same, in a steady crescendo. Or the prayer-like, hushed Adagio, one of the most intensely beautiful selections of music ever written that builds over 23 minutes to an earth shattering ff climax.

A triumphant recording. Best yet in his Bruckner cycle.


03a_mahler_symphony_203b_mahler_knabenMahler - Symphony No.2

Kate Royal; Magdalena Kožená; Rundfunkchor; Berliner Philharmoniker; Simon Rattle

EMI 6 47363 2

Mahler - Des Knaben Wunderhorn

Sarah Connolly; Dietrich Henschel; Orchestre des Champs-Élysées; Philippe Herreweghe

Harmonia Mundi HMX 2901920

Mahler’s Second Symphony has a preeminent significance to Simon Rattle; it was the work that inspired him to become a conductor. Rattle’s interpretation of the work has always been refreshingly distinctive, with an organic plasticity that never descends into mere taffy-pulling. He takes some interpretive risks here, milking the impressive dissonance that heralds the recapitulation in the first movement at a very deliberate, stentorian pace while elsewhere revealing an obsession with details that are seldom heard in lesser interpretations. The Berlin musicians play like gods throughout. Rattle’s well-regarded 1987 EMI recording with the Birmingham SO is still revered for the presence of Arleen Auger and Dame Janet Baker as the vocal soloists. Alas, they don’t make voices like that these days; here the singers are Kate Royal and Magdalena Kožená (Sir Simon’s second wife), the latter quickly becoming a ubiquitous presence in several recent high-profile Mahler recordings. The symphony is spread over two discs, with the first movement alone occupying the first of these. The live performance (mercifully without applause or other audience intrusions) is exceptionally well recorded.

Harmonia Mundi has re-issued at a budget price Philippe Herreweghe’s 2006 recording of the orchestral songs from Mahler’s settings of folk poetry from the popular 19th century anthology known in English as The Youth’s Magic Horn. The string section of Philippe Herreweghe’s Champs-Élysées orchestra is a reduced ensemble that performs in the imperturbable, “historically informed” manner, lending an exceptional transparency to the orchestral texture – though it must be said that Mahler himself cared little for interpretive historical precedents. The powerful voice of Dieter Henschel brings a swaggering authority in the military songs while Sarah Conolly’s honey-hued tone provides ample rustic charm to the lighter numbers. While Herreweghe’s precise accompaniment falls a bit short dramatically in comparison to the classic Szell, Bernstein or Abbado performances this unique and admirably recorded disc is nonetheless well worth owning.


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