Early, Classical and Beyond

Mozart – Piano Concertos K238 | K242 | K246
Robert Levin; Ya-Fei Chuang; Academy of Ancient Music
AAM AAM044 (aam.co.uk)

Few period music ensembles have had as long and illustrious a history as the Academy of Ancient Music.  Founded by Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it took its name from an earlier ensemble that existed between 1725 and 1806. Since then, the orchestra has maintained a reputation for its excellence in the performance of baroque and classical period music on period instruments. 

This newest recording on the AAM Classics label is the 12th and penultimate disc in a Mozart piano concerto cycle, presenting concertos numbers six, seven and eight – all from 1776 – with soloists Robert Levin and Ya-Fe Chuang under the direction of Laurence Cummings and Bojan Čičić.

This disc is a delight! Opening with the Concerto No.6, Levin delivers a fresh and robust performance on a tangent piano (a cross between a harpsichord and pianoforte) particularly suiting this youthful music. His phrasing is carefully conceived and the cadenzas, tasteful and creative. 

Levin is joined by Chuang on a fortepiano and Cummings (who also directs) on a harpsichord in the Concerto for Three Pianos K242, music written for the wealthy Lodron family of Salzburg with each of the solo parts composed to meet the ability of the original soloists. Here, the march-like opening movement, the lyrical adagio and sprightly Rondo finale are all adroitly handled by the three soloists who achieve a wonderful sense of balance while the AAM proves a sturdy and sympathetic partner.

Rounding out the recording is the Concerto K246, the “Lutzow” performed by Levin and directed by Čičić. Levin’ s approach is fluid and stylish, particularly in the courtly finale which brings the disc to a most satisfying conclusion. 

Attractive packaging and detailed notes further add to an already exemplary recording.  We can look forward to the final release in the series.

Heritage – Bohme; Ewald; Jergensen
Buzz Brass
ATMA ACD2 2897 (atmaclassique.com/en)

Buzz Brass (Buzz Cuivres), a Canadian but globally recognized brass quintet, has been dependably putting out strong recordings and concertizing around the world for over two decades. For an ensemble such as this – two trumpets, horn, trombone and bass trombone – the challenge, it seems, is what to play. First, the aggregation itself is relatively young in comparison to other classical music forms, dating back to 1833 with the Distin family. Secondly, although such well-known composers as Joseph Haydn were indeed known for fine chamber music contributions, the canonical repertoire for this unique instrumental setting belongs primarily to a handful of such wonderful composers as Victor Ewald, Axel Jørgensen and Oskar Böhme, who were all new to me and who Buzz Brass does a marvellous job at broadcasting more widely. 

With such titles as Brass Quintet No.1 in B-flat Minor and Brass Quintet in A-flat Major, we are clearly in the territory of so-called “absolute music,” where the music itself, fine playing and cohesive blend of beautiful brass instruments is the point, rather than some extra-musical theme or programme intended to give the pieces further meaning. And with Héritage, the group’s first recording for ATMA Classique (following two on  the Analekta label), nothing additional is needed. Like slipping into a warm bath of wonderfully resonant and round brass timbres, this 2024 recording is immersive and enveloping, capable of washing over the attuned listener with beauty, lyricism and expressiveness.

Ravel – Complete Works for Solo Piano Vol.1
Vincent Larderet
Avie Records AV2623 (avie-records.com)

On the last page of the booklet there is a beautifully captured sketch of Ravel by none other than our pianist at age 12! So we have a talented visual artist as well as a pianist and that’s just what we need for the world of Ravel. “Steinway Artist” Vincent Larderet’s playing, apart from superb technique, is beautifully lyrical and deeply inspired with “a rare melding of the intellectual and the visceral” (International Piano, UK).

Ravel has an amazing quantity of piano works and Larderet embarks here on a project to record them all in four volumes. This first contains Miroirs, Jeux d’eau, Valses nobles et sentimentales, Sonatine and Pavane pour une princesse défunte. 

One salient feature of French Impressionism is getting inspiration from the external world, in the case of Ravel from Nature, e.g. water in its many representations. This is the case for Jeu d’eau, which was also inspired by Liszt, his Fountains of the Villa d’Este. The multifaceted genius Ravel was also quite entranced with the dance form the Waltz, and here we are treated to a set of eight delightful Valses that are indeed Noble and Sentimental. One can sense here some elements germinating towards Ravel’s major orchestral composition La Valse. 

The final work is one of Ravel’s finest, Pavane pour une princesse défunte, a hauntingly beautiful melody that was also orchestrated by the composer. This fine collection bodes well for the future and we look forward to further volumes from this exceptional pianist.

Mahler – Symphony No.6
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks; Sir Simon Rattle
BR Klassik BRK900217 (brso.de/en/media-center/cds-and-dvds)

Throughout his life, the music of Gustav Mahler has been a guiding star in Simon Rattle’s career. While a percussion student at the Royal Academy of Music he single-handedly organized and conducted a performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony by his fellow pupils. His love of Mahler continued throughout his years directing the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980 to 1998); their well-received recordings of contemporary and late romantic works included several Mahler symphonies. Rattle made his conducting debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1987 in a performance of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony; he was their chief conductor from 1999 to 2018 and chose the very same symphony for the final concert of his tenure. His subsequent leadership of the London Symphony Orchestra (2017 to 2023) also drew to a close with a Mahler symphony, the Ninth.

Alban Berg once proclaimed, “There is only one Sixth, notwithstanding the Pastoral.” Rattle once again has chosen this tragic masterpiece that encapsulates, in his words, “the whole package of a colossal life – and that includes love and optimism” for his inaugural season with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra responds magnificently to Rattle’s direction with a sensitivity that surpasses the sometimes indifferent results he encountered in Berlin. I’d go as far as to say that Sir Simon may be the finest Mahler interpreter since the late Claudio Abbado, his predecessor in Berlin. Rattle has remarked in the past that a conductor doesn’t become really good until he hits his sixties. Give this compelling disc a listen and I’m sure you’ll find that truer words were never spoken.

Sibelius 2 & 5
Orchestre Metropolitain de Montréal; Yannick Nézet-Séguin
ATMA ACD2 2453 (atmaclassique.com/en)

In the right hands Sibelius’ symphonic work can be extremely exciting. Yannick Nézet-Séguin can lay claim to being one of the most penetrating Sibelians in modern times. He may be less Romantic than some – Osmo Vänskä, for instance – but his understanding of the composer goes way beyond abstraction. His 2019 Symphony No.1 was amongst the most stirring ever recorded, while on this recording of Nos. 2 & 5 he brings the kind of visceral engagement that forces you to listen afresh.

Symphony No.2 (1901), one of the most popular in the cycle, marks the transition between the youthful and the more mature Sibelius. The Russian influence is replaced by something more southern in feeling: themes and textures are more open, and the general atmosphere is one of warmth. But a mood of foreboding soon emerges at the start of the second movement, with a theme inspired by Don Juan being confronted by the figure of Death. 

Symphony No.5, experienced here, certainly lives up to its reputation as one of Sibelius’ most original reworkings of the symphonic form. During its dramatic (1919) revision he merged the first and second movements with a transitional passage that miraculously glides from one into the other. So heroic is the grand finale that it is aptly described as the swinging of Thor’s hammer. 

Nézet-Séguin and Orchestre Métropolitan de Montréal traverse both symphonies with exhilarating power and energy.

Editor’s Note: One of the most lauded conductors of his generation, Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin received the highest designation conferred by Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music on April 17 when he was inducted as an Honorary Fellow (FRCMT) of the organization.

Listen to 'Sibelius 2 & 5' Now in the Listening Room