Early, Classical and Beyond

Art Choral Vol.10: Hallelujah
Ensemble Artchoral; Matthias Maute
ATMA ACD22429 (atmaclassique.com/en/product/art-choral-vol-10-hallelujah)

Ensemble ArtChoral, one of the pre-eminent choirs in Canada, have been active for 40 years and are now the resident choir of Montreal’s Maison de Musique. This is the tenth volume of the ATMA series of recordings under the direction of Matthias Maute who has been at the helm since 2019. The other volumes are each devoted to a single focus, such as Renaissance, Classical, or Modern repertoire, and here the programme consists of Jewish a cappella music. The pieces all have texts that specifically relate to Jewish themes and all the composers were Jewish.

The best known item will probably be a setting by André von der Merwe of Leonard Cohen’s almost ubiquitous Hallelujah. This is now the choral version of the iconic anthem to own.

Seven other composers are represented with all the polish, panache, and dynamic range one could want. The Halevy piece is a setting of part of a Jewish service, with a very florid tenor Cantor part, for which they are joined by Gideon Zelermyer, an actual Cantor with the necessarily large vibrato one hears in Jewish worship. There is a piece by Meyerbeer, but the most characterful are the five pieces by Montreal composer Rona Nadler, who also wrote the album notes. Her pieces are in Hebrew and Yiddish and present well contrasted fragments of Jewish life.

Ernst Bloch, Leonard Bernstein and Kurt Weill also have pieces, and there are five items by the 16th century Salamone Rossi of settings in Hebrew of the Songs of Solomon in four to six parts. These performances with the lithe youthful sound of only 12 voices are compelling. 

Sound and technical production are ideal, recorded in a church in Mirabel Quebec in January 2023. I only wish the program could have been longer.

Invitation à la Valse
Janina Fialkowska
ATMA ACD2 2913 (atmaclassique.com/en/product/invitation-a-la-valse)

Beginning with Weber’s Invitation to the Dance of 1819 and ending with Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales of 1911, Janina Fialkowska’s new recital album is a journey through almost a century’s worth of waltzes. Continuing with a dozen of Schubert’s Valses sentimentales D.779, two of Chopin’s most charming waltzes, and more rarely heard works by Liszt, Grieg, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky, the works tend toward the graceful and the refined. These works do not generally plumb great depths of expression, and Fialkowska’s approach is marked by an effortless elegance and a stylish use of rubato, never weighing the music down with unnecessary seriousness. There is a fluid, conversational flow that highlights the gentle, salon-like nature of this repertoire. 

This approach is perhaps less successful in Ravel’s homage to Schubert. Here, one might miss the underlying shadows and the sardonic bite of the harmonic language. The same flexibility of pulse that brings the recital’s 19th century waltzes to life can seem to hinder the forward momentum of Ravel’s crystalline writing. The Ravel, in particular, is also not helped by a rather closely recorded sound, also noticeable in the suddenly climactic final minute of Sibelius’ otherwise nostalgic Valse triste.

Nevertheless, this remains an hour’s worth of lovely music, lovingly performed. If the repertoire appeals, Fialkowska’s invitation is one you should certainly accept without hesitation.

In Her Hands
Neave Trio
Chandos CHAN 20368 (chandos.net/products/reviews/Chan%2020368)

Piano trios by three women whose places in music history range from significant to tangential to obscure receive loving performances from the Neave Trio, ensemble-in-residence at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Trio in G Minor, Op.17 by Clara Schumann (1819-1896), her most substantial composition, naturally embraces the musical language of her husband Robert and friends Mendelssohn and Brahms, but avoids mere imitation. The angst-ridden Allegro moderato, filled with intense longing, is followed by the gentle, graceful Scherzo – Tempo di Menuetto. Clara, who inspired Robert’s innumerable love songs, evokes his romantic sensibility in Andante, a heartfelt love song “without words.” The invigorating Allegretto provides the trio’s “happy ending.”

Now all-but-forgotten, Croatian Dora Pejačević (1885-1923) composed over 100 orchestral, chamber and vocal works before dying of post-childbirth sepsis. Her sunlit Trio No.2 in C Major, Op.29 features, in turn, a sweet, rocking waltz (Allegro con moto), folk-like melodies and rhythms (Scherzo), dreamy sentimentality (Lento) and festive cheerfulness (Allegro resoluto).

Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944) generally considered “a composer of French salon music” – charming, lightweight songs and piano pieces – is slowly regaining the recognition and respect she once enjoyed for her larger-scale compositions, such as her Trio No.2 in A Minor, Op.34. Brilliantly exploiting the varied colours of the three instruments, Allegro moderato kaleidoscopically mixes celebratory grandiloquence, wistful lyricism and sprightly playfulness. Lento is a solemn hymn of hope within despair. Celebration returns in the skittish, rambunctious Allegro energico, ending this very enjoyable work and very enjoyable CD.

There’s another complete set of the Bach Cello Suites, this time from the New Zealand-based cellist Inbal Megiddo (Atoll Records ACD233 atoll.co.nz/album.php?acd=233).

From the opening notes of the Suite No.1 in G Major, BWV1007 there’s a lovely use of rubato – no strict tempo here, but a rhythmic freedom which her mentor Aldo Parisot rightly says “gives an improvisatory feel to the music.” Beautifully shaped, expressive and sensitive, it sets the tone for all that follows.

Megiddo likens the Suites to an emotional and spiritual journey that mirrors life’s experience, convincingly equating each suite with a progressively later stage of life. Gorgeous tone, faultless intonation, all beautifully recorded – it’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed listening to these wonderful works this much.

Listen to 'Bach Cello Suites' Now in the Listening Room

Reflection, the new CD from violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen and her long-standing duo partner pianist/composer Huw Watkins was inspired by Reflection Op.31a, written for the duo in 2016 by British composer Oliver Knussen, who died in July 2018 (Signum Records SIGCD968 signumrecords.com/product/reflection/SIGCD968).

The duo immediately wanted to record it, but it wasn’t until they performed Watkins’ own Violin Sonata in 2020 that Waley-Cohen felt they had found the right accompanying piece; both works are world-premiere recordings. The Watkins sonata is a striking work, written for Waley-Cohen and influenced by the qualities he sees and admires in her playing; despite some climactic passages, it has what the composer calls a prevailing mood of calm introspection.

Also on the CD are Stravinsky’s Duo Concertant, K054 and Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata No.1 in F Minor, Op.80, works by two favourite composers of Waley-Cohen, Watkins and Knussen.

Violinist Jerilyn Jorgensen and pianist Cullan Bryant are the duo on Schubert: The Sonatinas for Piano & Violin (Albany Records TROY2012 albanyrecords.com/catalog/troy2012).

The three Violin Sonatas in D Major D.384, in A Minor D.385 and in G Minor D.408 from 1816 were published posthumously in 1836 as Sonatinas Op.137. In her insightful notes Lidia Chang suggests that the term sonatina was a deliberate marketing choice, indicating a lesser degree of difficulty with the many capable amateur players of the time in mind, a view supported by the fact that the style of the works suggests that they were intended not for the concert hall but for private performance.

Jorgensen and Bryant established a career presenting classical period historical performances, and this CD appears to be in that vein. The violin playing is low-key and understated, with very little consistent vibrato, and the keyboard is presumably a period instrument, the CD having been recorded in Ashburnham MA, home of the Frederick Collection of Historic Pianos, which Bryant has used as an instrumental source since the late 1990s. No confirmation in the notes, however.

If the thought of a Cuban pianist and a French cellist playing and improvising together appeals to you then you really should listen to Nuit Parisienne à la Havane, the new CD from pianist Roberto Fonseca and cellist Vincent Segal (Artwork Records ARTR0016CD store.pias.com/release/559357-vincent-segal-roberto-fonseca-nuit-parisienne-la-havan).

Fonseca – who includes the Buena Vista Social Club among his early activities – and Segal have created an intimate, finely crafted encounter that bridges classical influences, Afro-Cuban traditions and contemporary improvisation. The CD was recorded spontaneously over five days, with no preparation – they “simply sat down and began to play,” balancing carefully composed material with moments of improvisation. 

Fonseca admits to being strongly influenced by classical music, especially Bach and Chopin, and the interplay here between classical and jazz piano is captivating and immensely entertaining. Segal’s cello is a joy throughout.

BEYOND WORDS – A Collection of Art Songs for Cello and Piano features cellist Meredith Blecha-Wells and pianist Sun Min Kim in a recital of vocal works reimagined for their instruments, highlighting music’s power to communicate emotion beyond language (Navona NV6788 navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6788).

Two American works are at the heart of the recital: the lovely Aria for Cello and Piano by H. Leslie Adams (1932-2024) and Jennifer Bellor’s three-part Smile and a Sigh – Song of Flight, Echo and Long These Days – originally for soprano, electric guitar and piano, and arranged here by the performers.

Blecha-Wells and Kim are also responsible for all the remaining transcriptions on the disc. The CD opens with eight Rachmaninoff songs, selected from his various Romances Opp.4, 21, 34 and 38, and closes with de Falla’s six-part Suite populaire espagnole.

Blecha-Wells has a warm, smooth tone and a lovely sense of line, with Kim a fine accompanist. Cello and piano sound are both beautifully recorded on an excellent release.

In Beethoven complete string quartet news, the three volumes of The Complete Beethoven String Quartets released by the Calidore String Quartet between February 2023 and January 2025 have now been reissued as a 9CD box set (Signum Classics SIGCD925 signumrecords.com/product/beethoven-cycle-4-complete-box-set/SIGCD925).

From the outset the releases garnered a very positive response, with reviews in this column noting ensemble playing of the highest quality and expecting the resulting box set to be an exceptionally strong option – which, in a highly competitive field, it clearly is. 

Out of Vienna – Berg, Webern, Schulhoff, the outstanding debut album on the Alpha Classics label by the Leonkoro Quartet is a fascinating exploration of Viennese music for string quartet in the early 20th century ALPHA1196 leonkoroquartet.com/en/media).

Berg’s 1926 Lyric Suite is an intimate and passionate depiction of his deep love for Hanna Fuchs-Robettin, the sister of Franz Werfel and the wife of an industrialist friend of the composer. Hanna’s annotated copy of the study score from Berg (“May it be a small monument to a great love”) details the use of their initials (B-F and A-Bb in German notation) and personal numerology, as well as significant quotes from other works.

Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet from 1923-24 are described as looking at the Baroque genre through surrealist – and sometimes sarcastic and mocking – lenses.

Webern’s Five Movements for String Quartet, Op.5 from 1909 was the first string quartet work to use the free atonal style that Webern had started in his Lieder Op.3 – “a concentration of means that tended towards aphorism.” He told Berg that the work mourned the 1906 loss of his mother. His beautiful Langsamer Satz, an early work from 1905 is essentially a love poem to his future wife.

Concert note: The Leonkoro Quartet perform Haydn, Bosmans and Schubert at Music Toronto on March 5. 

Works by Shostakovich and Kaija Saariaho are presented on Terra Memoria, the new CD from the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam (Rubicon Classics RCD 1218 dudokquartet.com/albums/terra-memoria-saariaho-shostakovich).

Shostakovich’s String Quartet No.3 in F Major, Op.73 was highly regarded by the composer, who originally gave each of the five movements a title suggesting an anti-war stance – Blithe ignorance of the future cataclysm; The eternal question: why? and for what?, for instance – before deciding to withdraw them. It remains a powerful personal statement in his unmistakeable style.

The title track is Saariaho’s atmospheric 2007 Terra Memoria for String Quartet, her second work in the genre. It has the dedication “for those departed,” remembering those no longer with us, “Terra” (earth) referring to the material of their complete lives and “memoria” to its transformation in our memories.

Transcriptions of seven of Shostakovich’s 1933 24 Preludes Op.34 complete the disc, with two (numbers 1 and 22) arranged by the Dudok’s violinist Judith van Driel and five (numbers 2, 4, 6, 7 and 12) by their cellist David Faber.

On Elena Ruehr: The Northern Quartets the Quartet ES performs the programmatic set of three string quartets that Ruehr wrote for them following a casual suggestion that she write some new quartets about places she loves (AVIE AV2798 avie-records.com/releases/elena-ruehr-the-northern-quartets).

String Quartet No.9 “Keweenaw” explores the Keweenaw Peninsula on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where Ruehr grew up. The five movements include A Thimbleberry Ripens in the Sun, A Blizzard and Lake Superior at Night. String Quartet No.10 “Long Pond” evokes the small lake in Cape Cod where Ruehr has spent a lot of time, the quartet opening with Moonrise and ending with a Nor’easter storm.

Iceland was the inspiration for the String Quartet No.11 “Reykjavik” in anticipation of its premiere there, Ruehr admitting to having been inspired by Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Psalms and Barber’s Adagio for Strings when writing it.

The works are all strongly tonal and immediately accessible, creating a distinctive array of soundscapes and fully supporting Ruehr’s remark that you don’t need to know the programmatic elements to enjoy the music. 

The string quintet developed alongside the string quartet, but never matched the latter’s prominence in the chamber music world. The new 3-CD set Mozart String Quintets, featuring violinists Oleg Kaskiv and Alexander Grytsayenk, violists Eli Karanfilova and Valentyna Pryshlyak and cellist Pablo de Naverán presents all six of the works Mozart wrote for the genre, with a viola instead of a cello as the fifth instrument (Claves Records CD 50-3127-29 claves.ch/products/mozart-the-string-quintets?srsltid=AfmBOoqfo6k0fgxKgUYsw9OI9DT5AGRFn3Ltpzw-14bjh4tbwIdE1pxu).

  Michael Haydn has been credited with creating the form in 1773, the same year that Mozart wrote his String Quintet in B-flat Major, K174 on returning from a trip to Italy. The String Quintets in C Major K515, in G Minor K516 and in C Minor K406/516b (the latter a transcription of an earlier Serenade for Wind octet) date from 1787, the String Quintet in D Major K593 from 1790 and the String Quintet in E-flat Major K614, the last chamber work he completed, from 1791.

There’s bright, joyful playing here that still plumbs the emotional depths of these superb works.

Two remarkable works by teenage composers are featured on Enescu & Mendelssohn Octets, with the Paris-based Quatuor Ébène and the London-based Belcea Quartet continuing a relationship they first began ten years ago (Erato 5021732997296 warnerclassics.com/release/octets-mendelssohn-enescu).

“Phenomenally gifted,” says the release blurb of both composers – if anything, an understatement. It’s still difficult to believe that Mendelssohn’s wonderful Octet in E-flat Major, Op.20 from 1825 was written by a 16-year-old, and George Enescu’s Octet in C Major, Op.7 from 1900, when the 18-year-old composer was living in Paris, inspires equal admiration. It’s an expansive and passionate work that reflects the influences of the time – Strauss, Wagner, Debussy – as well as folk music from the Romanian composer’s homeland.

Both works receive full-blooded performances. There are numerous recordings of the Mendelssohn available, but the addition of the Enescu renders this excellent release even more attractive.

The Brazilian Rafaell Altino has been principal viola with the Odense Symphony Orchestra for 28 years, and they join him in three 21st-century Danish Viola Concertos by Karsten Fundal (b.1966), Christian Winther Christensen (b.1977) and Søren Nils Eichberg (b.1973), all written for him. David Danzmayr conducts the Christensen, Pierre Bleuse the Fundal and Eichberg (Dacapo DAC-DA2044 dacapo-records.dk/en/recordings/fundal-viola-concertos).

Fundal’s 2008 Viola Concerto (Lightened Darkness/Darkened Light/Dwindling Recall) is an engrossing work, brilliantly orchestrated with a full range of textures and sonorities. The three sections grow less dense in texture, with the solo viola gradually disappearing over the final six minutes against a barely audible background of what sounds like falling water.

 To call Christensen’s 15-minute composition from 2019 a Viola Concerto seems a misnomer: seven brief sections, mostly mixtures of sounds and effects with barely a hint of orchestration. The release sheet mentions “strings tapped with rods rather than bowed, instruments patted and scraped, and woodwinds blown without reeds. Rarely does anything sound fully or in the foreground.” Make of that what you will.

Eichberg’s 2016 Charybdis (Wirbeirausch ) restores our faith. It’s named for the whirlpool and sea monster in Homer’s Odyssey and was inspired by the force of natural destruction, the viola being “caught in the spiraling vortex of the orchestra.” Brilliant stuff!

Compositions by Edward Elgar, John Ireland and Frank Bridge are featured on English Cello Works, a new Naxos CD with the Danish cellist Andreas Brantelid, the Swedish pianist Bengt Forsberg and the Royal Danish Orchestra under Thomas Søndergård (8.573690
naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.573690).

Brantelid digs deep in an expansive and passionate opening to the Elgar in a live recording of a 2021 Copenhagen concert. It’s a terrific performance all through, with lovely phrasing, plenty of nuance and a fine mix of intensity and expressive sensitivity. The orchestral support is equally fine.

Ireland’s Cello Sonata in G Minor from 1928 is fittingly described here as fusing brooding, terse muscularity with lyricism and bravura. Brantelid and Forsberg provide a compelling reading, as they do with Bridge’s Cello Sonata in D Minor, H125, a two-movement work begun in 1913 but not completed until 1917, the trials and tribulations of the First World War which intervened possibly accounting for the differences between the Romantic opening movement and the more melancholic and defiant second.

Elgar wrote Liebesgruß (Love’s Greeting) in 1888 as an engagement present for his piano student Caroline Alice Roberts; it was published by Schott the following year in various arrangements under the title Salut d’amour. The cello and piano version closes an outstanding CD.

The two Shostakovich Cello Concertos were both written in collaboration with Rostropovich, whose artistry inspired the composer to expand the cello’s expressive capabilities with virtuoso technique and profound emotional depth. They are presented on a new Avanti Classic CD in live performances by Alexander Kniazev and the Yokohama Sinfonietta under Kazuki Yamada (AVA 10672 avanticlassic.com/releases/shostakovich-cello-concerto-cd).

Both concertos offer insights into Shostakovich’s relationship with the Soviet regime. Concerto No.1 in E-flat Major, Op.107 from 1959, with its extraordinary solo cello cadenza third movement is from a relatively relaxed period following the 1953 death of Stalin, but it is still somewhat ambivalent and cautious.

 Concerto No.2 in G Major, Op.126 from 1966 is darker and more introspective; the composer’s health was deteriorating, and he was under increased scrutiny after reluctantly joining the Communist Party in 1960.

The two concertos were recorded in performance in Philia Hall, Yokohama in January 2015 and February 2018 respectively, and are accurately described as capturing the dark intensity and emotional richness of Shostakovich’s music.

Bach – Goldberg Variations for double reed trio
Tacamis Trio
Leaf Music LM 307 (leaf-music.lnk.to/lm307PR)

Bach – Goldberg Variations
Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado; Frank Nowell
Navona Records nv6821 (navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6812)

Even in 2026, the genius of J.S. Bach is revealed in new and exciting ways. His Goldberg Variations, a war horse within the Baroque canon, was originally composed for the two-manual harpsichord, but has been interpreted using just about every instrumental and vocal combination imaginable. A hallmark of technical difficulty, the piece demands much from its performers who need to find their own opportunities for dynamism (the original harpsichords offered no dynamic touch sensitivity) and personalization within what at this point is a plethora of wonderfully recorded and creatively interpreted performances. Good thing then that there are still imaginative and skilled musicians out there willing to take up the mantle of responsibility and find ever new ways of approaching this great work. And two fine new 2026 recordings, Bach – Goldberg Variations by the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado and Bach: Goldberg Variations for double reed trio by the Tacamis Trio do just that. 

I had the good fortune to attend the Tacamis Trio’s album launch party at the wonderful Arts & Letters Club of Toronto recently and to hear the skilled double-reed maneuvering and interpretive aplomb that this talented young trio brings to the Goldbergs. Comprised of oboist Caitlin Broms-Jacobs, English hornist Tracy Wright, and bassoonist Allen Harrington, who collectively form the double reed section of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Tacamis’ unique instrumental combination and compelling ensemble sound mined the expressive expansiveness of a well-chosen selection of the 30 variations, plus a few beautiful Renaissance pieces. Both the performance and their most recent recording on Leaf Music highlight the groups musicality, ability to weave together compelling contrapuntal lines using an unorthodox, but beautiful, collection of instruments, and their symbiotic performance style that undoubtedly comes from working together, as they have done, in both the MCO and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for over a decade.

While the intimacy of the trio format can tease out the delicate intricacies of Bach’s piece. It is indeed an impressive undertaking when an orchestra, in this case the terrific Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado (featuring a new arrangement by violist Alexander Vittal), takes on Bach’s famous aria and its subsequent creative inventions. Vittal’s version captures both said delicacy, along with the intensity and expansiveness that, for example, Variation 2 deserves, and which an impressive large scale orchestra such as this can handle admirably. 

Both recordings are excellent and while listening to them back-to-back, one gets the sense of not only how seamlessly Bach’s timeless piece can move within various ensemble shapes and sizes, but how in the skilled hands of the many wonderful musicians represented here, there is still much to discover and much joy to be had from a work that is nearly 300-years old.

Listen to 'Bach: Goldberg Variations for double reed trio' Now in the Listening Room