02-Canadian-BrassCarnaval – Robert Schumann’s Carnaval and Kinderszenen
Canadian Brass
Opening Day ODR 7438
openingday.com

The Canadian Brass has their work cut out for them in this recording of brass adaptations of Robert Schumann’s piano compositions Carnaval, Op.9 and Kinderszenen, Op.15.

Both works are mainstays of the piano repertoire, being musically and technically daunting, humbling and gratifying to perform. In these versions by Brass members Chris Colleti and Brandon Ridenour, the same challenges are remarkably conquered.I am familiar with the original piano compositions so I do miss the subtlety of colour and sentiment in both the fast contrapuntal lines and slower melodic sections that the pianist achieves. However, the performances on brass instruments add new elements of expression.

The brass choir sound such as in the opening “Preambule” of Carnaval works extremely well. The technical brilliance of the ensemble is proven again in the speedy Intermezzo: Paganini. Surprisingly, the most “piano specific” movements work the best. In Chopin, the pianistic arpeggio-like lines are transformed into a steady backdrop against the soaring melody. “Traumerei” from Kinderszenen transforms into a brass anthem of contrasting instrumental phrases. Also fun is to hear the low instruments in “Fast zu Ernst” and in the closing cadence of final track “Der Dichter spricht.” I only wish there was more sense of spontaneity and abandon in the performances.

No surprise in the excellent sound quality achieved by recording in Toronto’s Christ Church Deer Park. This is a worthy venue to record in. And this is a worthy recording to listen to.

01-AnagnosonKintonPiano Titans
Anagnoson & Kinton
Opening Day ODR 7432
openingday.com

Has it really been almost 40 years that the Toronto-based pianists James Anagnoson and Leslie Kinton have delighted audiences with their exemplary keyboard skills? The two pianists met as students while at the Aspen Music Festival. Nine discs and more than 1,000 performances later, they’re recognized as one of the world’s foremost piano duos and this latest CD, titled Piano Titans with music by Clementi, Beethoven and Schubert, is a testament to their ongoing success.

To be honest, the title may be a bit of a misnomer. While Anagnoson & Kinton could rightly be regarded as piano titans, (as could Beethoven and Schubert), most of the music on this CD — apart from the great Schubert Fantasie — wouldn’t be regarded as “titanic.” Instead, it comprises small musical gems, as pleasing to listen to as they are to perform.

The disc opens with two short piano sonatas by Clementi, famous during his lifetime as a pianist, composer and piano manufacturer. Nowadays Clementi’s works are performed more by students than by professionals, but his music is not without its charm, and the duo does it justice, exhibiting a particular precision and elegance of phrase. Three Marches Op.45 by Beethoven follow, scored for four hands at one piano. Complete with musical depictions of treading feet and drum-roll effects, these pieces are great fun, undoubtedly conceived for performance in amateur Viennese drawing rooms.

Anagnoson & Kinton save the best for last in a compelling performance of the great Schubert Fantasie in F Minor D940. Written for one piano, four hands, the piece is now regarded as one of the finest piano duet compositions in the repertoire. Here the two are in perfect sync, easily capturing the dramatic intensity of the music through a strong and assured performance, thus rounding off the CD in a most satisfying way.

Well done, gentlemen. May you continue to face each other across the expanse of two grand pianos for many years to come!

03-Faure-HewittFauré – Piano Music
Angela Hewitt
Hyperion CDA67875

In her informative liner notes, pianist Angela Hewitt writes in her commentary about Gabriel Fauré’s Nocturne No.5 in B-Flat Major, Op.37 that “there is a grace combined with a contained strength behind every note.” This description can also be used to describe Hewitt’s powerhouse performances here.

Thème et variations, Op.73 opens with a march-like statement reminiscent of Hewitt’s Bach performances. The abrupt changes in dynamics from loud to soft are executed perfectly by Hewitt, with heartfelt beauty and an inherent sense of romantic melodic line. Each variation is flowing, clear and spontaneous. After variation 10, Allegro vivo’s dramatic ending, it is Hewitt’s intelligent and emotional interpretation of the more sparse variation 11, Andante molto, moderato espressivo that foreshadows more moving performances of the following two sparkling Valse-caprices and three dreamy Nocturnes. The slightly chromatic nature of the opening melody combined with the darkness of the harmonies of the above-mentioned technically demanding Nocturne No.5 leads to a carefully crafted work of wide-ranging moods. The Ballade pour piano seul, Op.19 is the earliest piece featured. Hewitt’s sense of cadence resolution and manipulation of tempo supports well-defined and tonally colourful melodies and trilling ornamentation.

Hewitt writes that she was first introduced to and learned Fauré’s Ballade as a 15-year-old student. Her decades-long dedication to his work is apparent here. This is not salon music — it is substantial piano repertoire performed unforgettably by a passionate and brilliant pianist.

01-Glass-CelloThe terrific Matt Haimovitz is back with another fascinating CD, this time featuring the Cello Concerto No.2 “Naqoyqatsi” by Philip Glass (Orange Mountain Music OMM 0087). Long-time Glass champion Dennis Russell Davies provides excellent support with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

The bulk of the music dates from the 2002 score Glass wrote for Naqoyqatsi: Life as War, the third film in a Godfrey Reggio trilogy that featured only music and images. The prominent solo cello part was played by Yo-Yo Ma. When Glass became a creative director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in the 2011/12 season, a commission from the orchestra gave him the opportunity to re-work the film score as a full concerto for cello and orchestra.

It’s not a concerto in the traditional formal or structural sense, but neither is it always what you might expect to hear if you are familiar with Glass’ music. Glass acknowledges that the film’s largely digital images steered him towards “a very acoustic, symphonic piece” which would make the images seem less synthetic and more approachable, thus hopefully making it easier for audiences to connect with the film.

There are seven movements, all shorter than eight minutes in length, with the solo cello third and fifth movements acting as connecting passages within the overall structure. The faster movements certainly have the typical Glass sound, but the cello writing throughout is contemplative and more rhapsodic than virtuosic. Haimovitz plays beautifully throughout this intriguing and highly satisfying work.

02-Elgar-QueyrasIf you come across a performance of the Elgar Cello Concerto that puts the iconic Jacqueline du Pré recording with Barbirolli completely out of your mind, then you know you’ve found something really special. That’s exactly what the French (but Montreal-born) cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras manages to do with his stunning new harmonia mundi CD, which couples the Elgar concerto with Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations and two short pieces by Dvořák (HMC 902148).

It’s clear from the opening solo bars of the Elgar that Queyras understands the inner soul of this quintessentially English work by the most English of composers. It’s a simply beautiful opening — thoughtful, probing and expansive. Jiří Bĕlohlávek draws a performance from the BBC Symphony Orchestra that is perfectly attuned, catching the mood of wistful Romanticism with playing that always has weight and depth, but is never heavy.

The performance level never drops throughout the remainder of the CD. Dvořák’s Rondo Op.94 and Klid (Silent Woods) Op.68/5 were originally written for cello and piano, and orchestrated by the composer in 1893, shortly before he began work on his Cello Concerto. Again, Queyras’ tone is quite beautiful.

The Tchaikovsky Variations were extensively revised and rearranged, prior to publication, by the cellist Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, the composer’s colleague at the Moscow Conservatory, not exactly with Tchaikovsky’s approval, but apparently without much complaint either. It’s still the version we usually hear. Another dazzling performance by Queyras rounds out a marvellous CD.

03-WispelweyThe Dutch cellist Pieter Wispelwey has compiled an extensive and impressively varied discography, ranging from the Bach Solo Suites (reviewed in this column last April) to works by Shostakovich, Ligeti and Britten. His latest CD on Onyx Classics pairs two rarely heard works: the Lalo D Minor Cello Concertoand theConcerto No.2,also in D minor, by Saint-Saëns (Onyx 4107).

Wispelwey is in terrific form; indeed, on the strength of these performances it’s difficult to understand why we don’t hear these two outstanding concertos more often. The Lalo is a powerful work with a charming slow movement. Wispelwey’s line is strong and fluent, offering wonderfully assured playing with never a hint of empty bravura. The Saint-Saëns No.2 is a striking concerto that has been unjustly overshadowed by No.1, and reminds us just how much this often-marginalized composer has to offer. Wispelwey displays terrific agility in an extremely difficult and challenging work, with some particularly tender and heartfelt high register playing in the slow movement.

04-Faust-BartokThe Flanders Symphony Orchestra under Seikyo Kim provides top-notch support throughout, and also performs the filler on this CD, the Love Scene from Berlioz’ dramatic symphony Roméo et Juliette. It’s Berlioz at his best and beautifully performed, but this is a CD you’ll be buying for the Lalo and Saint-Saëns.

Violinist Isabelle Faust and conductor Daniel Harding team up on another outstanding harmonia mundi CD, with marvellous performances of the Violin Concertos Nos.1 & 2 by Béla Bartók (HMC 902146). The orchestra is the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Harding has been their principal conductor since 2007. He has already recorded highly successful concerto discs with violinists Nicola Benedetti, Janine Jansen and Ray Chen, and this latest CD is the equal of any of them. Faust is a consummate artist, and her rapport here with Harding is palpable.

For many years the 1938 concerto we now refer to as No.2 was regarded as Bartók’s only violin concerto, but 30 years earlier he had written a concerto for the violinist Stefi Geyer, with whom he was deeply in love. The relationship didn’t last, though, with Geyer rejecting not only the composer but also the concerto. She did keep the manuscript the composer sent her, however, and bequeathed it to the Swiss conductor Paul Sacher, who conducted the premiere in Basel in 1958; it was published in 1959 as Violin Concerto No.1, Op.posth. In her preparation for this recording Faust went back to the various original sources for this early concerto, and discusses the process in fascinating detail in her excellent — and extensive — booklet notes. The depth of her understanding is evident in the depth of her interpretation; this really is an exceptional performance in all respects.

The same innate grasp of the material is just as evident in the Concerto No.2, which also receives an outstanding performance. What makes it even more special is that Faust and Harding choose to use the original ending for the work, which has no solo violin part over the closing bars. Zoltán Székely, for whom the concerto was written, asked the composer to write an alternative ending where the violin could play to the end of the work along with the orchestra and Bartók obliged. The original ending is well worth hearing!

05-Rosanne-PhillippensThe young Dutch violinist Rosanne Philippens is a new name to me, but if Rhapsody, her debut CD on Channel Classics (CCS SA 35013), is anything to go by, we’ll all be hearing a lot more of her in the future. She is accompanied by her regular keyboard partner Yuri van Nieuwkerk in a recital of works by Ravel and Bartók. This may seem like an odd pairing at first glance, but the performers note that both composers worked in a period when a wide range of musical styles — jazz and blues, for instance — were influencing the European musical world; almost all of the works here were written in the 1920s.

Ravel’s Tzigane is given a straightforward but very solid performance, but the real Ravel gem here is the Violin Sonata No.2, which showcases Philippens’ big, expansive tone. There is a perfect balance between the two performers in the first movement; a lovely Moderato: Blues middle movement; and some outstanding playing and great dynamics in the Perpetuum Mobile: Allegro finale.

The Bartók pieces are equally well-served, with just the right mix of spikiness and lyricism in the two Rhapsodies from 1928 and the Rumanian Folk Dances from 1915.

The final track is the short Scène de la Csárda No.4 – Hejre Kati by Bartók’s fellow-countryman Jenö Hubay. Written some 40 years before the other works on the disc, it seems a bit of an odd choice, but it provides a rousing ending to an excellent debut CD that suggests there are great things ahead for this duo.

06-Brodsky-In-the-SouthI must admit to being quite astonished to find that Britain’s Brodsky Quartet has been around for over 40 years — two founder members are still there — and has over 60 recordings to its credit. Their latest Chandos CD, In the South (CHAN 10761) is typical of their wide-ranging and intelligent programming, exploring the attraction of the South in musical history, and its relationship with and influence on the North.

It’s essentially a recital of short, almost light classical works by composers from both hemispheres, although the programmatic link does seem a little stretched at times. The Brodsky members play with a lovely sensitivity and a great dynamic range throughout the disc, and really seem to get to the heart of these works, which are not insubstantial despite their brevity.

Hugo Wolf’s Italian Serenade opens the disc, followed by Puccini’s soulful Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums). Verdi’s String Quartet in E Minor, the composer’s only work in the genre, was an attempt to marry the Italian vocal tradition with the German classical quartet form. Critical opinion differed on its success, but here it is handled quite beautifully and with great sensitivity; it’s never too heavy or serious and the lyrical qualities are never over-stressed.

I don’t recall ever having heard Turina’s La oración del torero (The Toreador’s Prayer) before, but it really is a quite beautiful and very effective work. Astor Piazzolla’s Four, for Tango was written four years before the composer’s death, and is typical of his later tango compositions. Its dissonances and percussive effects should come as no surprise, as it was written for the Kronos Quartet.

The disc ends with two of the Paganini 24 Solo Caprices, arranged for string quartet by the Brodsky’s violist Paul Cassidy. No.6 is particularly attractive, and No.24 has some fascinating instrumental effects. The programmatic link, apparently, is that Paganini represented the instrumental “southern individualism” of the 19th century,which is viewed here through the “northern” string quartet form. A bit of a stretch, perhaps, but nonetheless a terrific CD.  

01 ORileys LisztO’Riley’s Liszt
Christopher O’Riley
Oxingale OX2020
oxingalerecords.com

This wonderful pair of CDs is the perfect choice for avid lovers of the piano and its orchestral sound. The Lisztian virtuosic excess is like having a meal of rich overwhelming textures and layers of scintillating colours. Christopher O’Riley has astounding technique and control, as well as a creative and wild imagination. Those skills make these Liszt transcriptions a sumptuous and sensual listening experience.

I enjoyed his programming on the first CD. He paired two mammoth showpieces, alternating them with sensitive song transcriptions. He began with the extremely difficult transcription of Mozart’s Don Juan Fantasy, which Moritz Rosenthal had performed to impress Brahms. Schumann/Liszt’s Fruhlingsnacht followed in a tender and gentle interpretation. This was a breath of calm before the stormy and tragic Tristan und Isolde by Wagner/Liszt/Moskowski and O’Riley, who added a vocal line near the end of the piece and managed to make his fingers sing throughout this opera for the piano. He concludes the first CD with Schubert’s Fruhlingslaube. His emotional response to the music is refreshing and his musicality subtle.

The second CD is Liszt’s transcription of the Berlioz Symphonie fantastique. In his excellent program notes, Ethan Iverson quotes Charles Halle who said that Liszt played his piano version “with an effect even surpassing that of a full orchestra and creating an indescribable furor.” O’Riley displays his own gargantuan keyboard skills in this incredible performance. I didn’t miss the orchestra at all and O’Riley made the piano thunder and sing in washes of orchestral sound. Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath was monumental and devilish. These CDs are highly recommended.

Editor’s Note:O’Riley’s Liszt is also available on a Blu-Ray video disc which includes a special feature The Bells of Berlioz with artist’s commentary (Oxingale OX2021).

02 Duo KoechlinKoechlin; Schmitt; Rivier; Cartan;
Bozza Duo (Jean-Guy Boisvert;
Christiane Laflamme)
ATMA ACD2 2679

Moncton-based clarinettist Jean-Guy Boisvert’s latest project on the ATMA label brings together colleagues Christiane Laflamme (flute) and Jean-Willy Kunz (keyboards) from the Université de Montréal in an extended program of relatively unknown French miniatures from the margins of the 20th century wind repertoire, including several world premiere recordings. The 27 tracks are united by the recurring presence of the great Alsatian master Charles Koechlin, who is represented by 14 tracks interspersed with compositions by his contemporaries.

The best known of these fellow travellers is Florent Schmitt, represented here by the delightfully quirky modulations of his 1935 Sonatine for flute, clarinet and harpsichord. Also of note is the intriguing 1967 Duo for flute and clarinet by Jean Rivier, the slow movement of which is the only example that briefly flirts with the serial techniques of the 1960s. A series of duets by the short-lived Jean Cartan and the woodwind doyen Eugène Bozza fill out the guest list.

Koechlin is represented by the self-consciously antiquarian Sonatine modale and similarly conceived Motets de style archaïque duets along with six excerpts from his Monodies for solo clarinet. An example of Koechlin’s unique harmonic palette is briefly represented by his Pastorale for flute, clarinet and piano. The duets are masterpieces of contrapuntal writing while the best of the solo pieces is represented by the eerie chromatic bifurcations of the Chant funéraire. Koechlin also wrote extensively for solo flute and it is regrettable that we are not allowed to enjoy the clear and attractive tone of Christiane Laflamme in at least a few examples from the 96 pieces that constitute his monumental Les Chants de Nectaire. The recording is artfully captured in a warm, close acoustic recorded at the Domain Forget in Québec.

01 Brothers in BrahmsAt the time of writing, the outstanding Toronto double bassist and former TSO principal Joel Quarrington is about to take up his new position as principal bassist of the London Symphony Orchestra. His latest CD with pianist David Jalbert on the Modica Music label, Brothers in Brahms (MM013), consequently has somewhat of a parting gift feel about it, having been recorded at the CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio just this past March and released in June. The title comes from a concert program that the Toronto RCM’s ARC Ensemble presented ten years ago, in which Quarrington was asked to play the Double Bass Sonata Op.97 by Brahms’ contemporary and friend Robert Fuchs. Quarrington had never heard of Fuchs or the sonata, but was quite taken with it, and eventually chose to record it by following the ARC Ensemble’s original program idea, pairing it with his own transcriptions of works by Brahms and Robert Schumann.

The Brahms might stop you in your tracks at first hearing: it’s the Violin Sonata No.1 in G Major, Op.78; a work you wouldn’t think would be able to survive a drop of a couple of octaves for the solo part. It takes a bit of getting used to, but soon assumes a character of its own and does work very well. Quarrington rightly stresses the singing nature of the solo part in his booklet notes and more than justifies this observation with his playing.

The transcription of Schumann’s beautiful Adagio and Allegro Op.70 for French horn is more immediately successful, but the main interest here is the Fuchs sonata. It’s a terrific work, with a cello-like quality much of the time, and quite Brahmsian in style — lyrical, Romantic, lush and passionate. As the original three movements are all Allegro, Quarrington chose to add the Andante from Fuchs’ Three Pieces for Contrabass and Piano Op.96 as a slow third movement; it works extremely well.

Quarrington’s playing throughout the CD is superb, combining virtuosity and musicianship with a tone and agility that are at times quite astonishing. Jalbert is his equal in all respects, and the recorded sound and balance are faultless.

02 Exoticism SzymanowskiPolish-born violinist Jerzy Kaplanek is a member of the Waterloo-based Penderecki String Quartet and associate professor in the Faculty of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University. On his new CD Exoticism – The Music of Karol Szymanowski (Marquis MAR 437), he is joined by pianist Stéphan Sylvestre, associate professor of piano at Western University, in a recital of works by his compatriot.

Kaplanek readily admits that he feels he has known and understood Szymanowski’s music since his childhood days; it’s certainly borne out by his exemplary playing on this excellent disc. Two of the major works here — the Nocturne and Tarantella Op.28 and Mythes Op.30 — are from 1915, at the start of the composer’s most prolific period. Also included are the Sonata in D Minor, Op.9 from 1904, the early B Minor Prelude Op.1 No.1 in a transcription by Grażyna Bacewicz, and the Chant de Roxane from the post-war opera King Roger.

Szymanowski always wrote gratefully for the violin — his two violin concertos are particularly beautiful — and the music throughout this disc is a delight. Beautifully recorded at the Banff Centre in 2011, the recital features outstanding playing from both artists, with the wonderful Mythes the particularly dazzling highlight of a terrific CD.

03 Bach Mullova DantoneViolinist Viktoria Mullova is joined by harpsichordist Ottavio Dantone and the Accademia Bizantina on a new Onyx CD of Bach Concertos (ONYX 4114). The two standard solo concertos — the A Minor BWV1041 and the E Major BWV1042 — are here, together with two transcriptions: the E Major Concerto for Harpsichord, arranged for violin in D major; and the Concerto for Two Harpsichords in C Minor, arranged for violin and harpsichord.

Mullova’s playing is simply beautiful: crisp, clean and light, with a nice sense of space. The slow movement of the E major concerto is particularly lovely. The two transcribed concertos aren’t quite as successful, but are still highly satisfying. The C minor concerto perhaps transcribes better, but both works have really nice third movements, with some particularly dazzling harpsichord passages in the duo concerto.

Beautifully presented in a glossy card folder, this is a simply lovely CD.

04 NigunimThe wonderful Gil Shaham is back with another outstanding CD on his own Canary Classics label, teaming up once again with his sister Orli Shaham for a fascinating recital titled Nigunim – Hebrew Melodies (CC10). It’s a mixture of old and new, with Josef Bonime’s Danse hébraïque and Joseph Achron’s Hebrew Melody and Two Hebrew Pieces bracketing the major work on the CD, Avner Dorman’s Nigunim (Violin Sonata No.3). The Dorman work was commissioned for this recording by the Shaham siblings, who wanted to emphasize the relevance of the Jewish music tradition in today’s world, and it’s a stunning piece, the virtuosity and quality of which quite clearly thrilled the performers.

The other works on the CD are: John Williams’ Three Pieces from Schindler’s List, the link to the 1940s Poland of their grandparents giving the music a personal relevance for the performers; Leo Zeitlin’s Eli Zion, transcribed by Joseph Achron from the original 1914 piece for cello and piano; and Ernest Bloch’s three-movement Baal Shem, the terrific performance of which features a particularly glorious Nigun central movement.

The Shahams grew up with this music, and it shows: the violin playing throughout the marvellous CD is rich, warm and idiomatic, and the piano playing always sympathetic and perfectly attuned.

05 Prokofiev Smetana JanacekThe young Czech violinist Josef Špaček has a new CD on the Supraphon label, pianist and fellow Czech Miroslav Sekera joining him in a recital of works by Janáček, Smetana and Prokofiev (SU 4129-2). Both players are clearly very much at home in the Janáček Sonata for Violin and Piano and Smetana’s From the Homeland: Two Pieces for Violin and Piano, but Špaček shows a remarkable affinity for the music of Prokofiev as well. The Sonata for Solo Violin Op.115 is a relatively short but charming work and Špaček gets it absolutely right, with a perfect mix of lyrical and spiky percussive playing in the opening movement, a lovely Theme and Variations middle movement and a nicely contrasted — and not too fast! — finale.

Both players are in dazzling form in Prokofiev’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No.1 in F Minor, Op.80, from the lovely wispy violin scales over the slow, deep bass piano octaves of the first movement, through the percussive second movement to the brilliant Allegrissimo finale and the return to the mysterious mood of the sonata’s opening bars.

The great sound and balance contribute to an outstanding CD.

06 HigdonJennifer Higdon, who recently turned 50, is firmly established as one of the leading contemporary American composers. With Early Chamber Works (8.559752) Naxos has added a fascinating retrospective CD to its American Classics series, presenting première recordings, made in association with the composer, of five works from the formative years of Higdon’s career. They are all finely crafted and very accessible.

The Serafin String Quartet opens the CD with a short but lovely setting of Amazing Grace, followed by the Sky Quartet, a four-movement work inspired by the immensity and beauty of the Western U.S. sky. The quartet’s violist Molly Carr is joined by pianist Charles Abramovic for the early — and really beautiful — Sonata for Viola and Piano from 1990, and bassoonist Eric Stomberg joins a standard piano trio line-up for Dark Wood, a short piece that Higdon describes as exploring the bassoon’s virtuosic abilities as well as respecting its soulful nature.

Members of the Serafin Quartet perform the earliest work on the CD, the String Trio from 1988; it’s a terrific work that draws an interesting comment from Higdon, who says it “reveals a young composer in the process of finding her own voice. The language is restless and searching, and even the arrival points do not feel quite settled.” She calls it “a good place to be if you are a developing composer.”

And an even better place to be if you are an interested listener!

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