Early, Classical and Beyond

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

Richard Strauss – Ein Heldenleben; Mahler – Rückert Lieder
Sonya Yoncheva; Orchestre symphonique de Montréal; Rafael Payare
Pentatone PTC 5187201 (pentatonemusic.com/product/30306)

Rafael Payare’s latest release with the OSM follows up on their highly effective Mahler Fifth Symphony recording with a disc devoted to Richard Strauss’ monumental tone poem depicting the heroic life of none other than his very self. In the course of this lengthy work Strauss mocks his critics, worships his wife, goes to war with his perceived enemies and celebrates his own weighty accomplishments. The scenario is ridiculous on the surface, but the execution is undeniably brilliant, in no small part due to Payare’s keen affinity for the genre. He’s well aware that there’s more to this sporadically bombastic music than the notes and brings to the score an idiomatic and affectionate reading; the orchestra is with him all the way, expertly negotiating the sharp curves on the Strauss autobahn. Concertmaster Andrew Wan contributes an exceptionally multi-dimensional interpretation of the extended solo violin part at the centre of the work, a musical portrait of Strauss’ wife and muse Pauline, whose notorious mood swings and oft-times hectoring tone confirm his perception that “every minute is different from what she was a minute before.” 

The inclusion of Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder as filler material is puzzling. Why not more Strauss instead? There are more than 40 orchestral songs to choose from. The Bulgarian diva-du-jour Sonya Yoncheva has made quite a name for herself recently in the operatic world, but her tentative take on Mahler’s introspective and decidedly non-operatic music left me quite unmoved. Payare and the reduced forces of the OSM do their best to not get in the way, but it’s a hopeless cause. Turn instead to the great Mahler singers of the past such as Baker, Ludwig, Ferrier or Fischer-Dieskau if you truly want to savour these songs.

Moments Musicaux
Petrit Çeku
Eudora Records EUD-SACD-2401 (eudorarecords.com)

Guitarist Petrit Çeku was born in Prizen, Kosovo and began his musical studies at the Lorenc Antoni music school before attending the Zagreb Academy and completing his studies with Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. Since then, he has performed recitals throughout Europe and continues to perform regularly with the Zagreb Soloists. This Eudora label recording titled Moments Musicaux is his third and affords the listener a glimpse into the world of Franz Schubert either through transcriptions or compositions with a Schubertian connection.

Joseph Mertz’s transcriptions of six lieder – four from Schwanengesang, one from Winterreise and a standalone, Lob der Tränen – are all skillfully constructed miniatures, as compelling for the guitar as they are for voice. Çeku’s warmly resonant tone helps to evoke a true sense of intimacy – from the anguished tone of Aufenthalt to the familiar Ständchen 

The Variations on a Waltz of Schubert Op.4 by Croatian composer Ivan Padovec is a charming set based on the Waltz Op.9 No.2. Beginning with the simple waltz melody, the seven variations require considerable dexterity, but Çeku easily meets the challenges with a supple technique. 

Manuel Ponce was one of the first Mexican composers to be widely recognized outside his native country and during his career he had close ties to the renowned guitarist Andrés Segovia. His four-movement Sonate Romantique “Hommage à Schubert” is written in a lyrical style of which Schubert surely would have approved. In the words of Segovia, the piece “honours the instrument “ – and so does Çeku throughout this fine recording.