06 dindyD'Indy - Symphonie sur un Chant montagnard français; Saugefleurie; Medée
Louis Lortie; Iceland Symphony Orchestra; Rumon Gamba
Chandos CHAN 10760

At the time of writing, spring has finally arrived, so a disc which includes Vincent d’Indy’s Symphony on a French Mountain Air seems particularly appropriate in celebration of the season. The disc in question is the fifth volume in a series on the Chandos label presenting music by the Parisian-born composer performed by the Iceland Symphony under the direction of Rumon Gamba.

Born in 1851, d’Indy was a controversial figure during his lifetime, his strong right-wing political views frequently going against the mainstream. Nevertheless, he was regarded as a composer of considerable stature, and his eclectic and romantic style exerted considerable influence on later composers, such as Eric Satie and Albert Roussel.

In addition to the Symphonie with renowned pianist Louis Lortie as the soloist, the disc also features Saugefleurie, Medée, and the Prelude to Act One of his opera Fervaal. The Symphonie is surely one of d’Indy’s most famous compositions, and is treated here with the joyous spirit it deserves. Based on a folk song from Tourtous, the work is a large and lush canvas with Lortie forming a perfect musical partnership with the orchestra. Saugefleurie had its origins in a poem by Robert de Bonnières and here the prominent use of horns and chromatic harmonies shows the clear influence of Wagner. (Unlike many of his French contemporaries, d’Indy was a staunch Wagnerite). Also with a literary connotation is the orchestral suite Medée, written for a tragedy by Catulle Mendès. The Iceland Symphony performs with a sensitive assurance, ably capturing the orchestral colours and contrasting moods in this story of doomed love, thus rounding out a most satisfying recording.

This is a fine addition in the series devoted to the “Samson of Music,” one which is helping bring to light certain works that up to now have unjustly languished in obscurity. D’Indy would be gratified!


07 emerson journeysJourneys: Tchaikovsky - Souvenir de Florence; Schoenberg - Verklärte Nacht
Emerson String Quartet; Paul Neubauer; Colin Carr    
Sony 887254 70602

Firstly, I must admit my prejudice against the Emerson String Quartet initiated by a keen
disappointment and lingering dislike of their Beethoven String Quartets cycle of the mid-1990s issued by DG. To my ears, those coldly efficient, shiny performances displayed no empathy at all for the human being behind the scores. So it was with some trepidation that I approached this new CD, recorded just last year, but the interpretations are exemplary!

Verklärte Nacht is a particular favourite of mine, both in the original sextet version of 1899 and the opulent version for string orchestra revised in 1943. There is also a version for piano trio by Eduard Steuermann, a pupil of Schoenberg, of which several performances are available. The Emersons are right on the mark here. Their towering performance is completely focused with impeccable ensemble. Sensitive to every nuance and reading between the notes, the group appears to be totally absorbed by the beauty of the score and, just maybe, mindful of the melodrama and imagery of the Richard Dehmel poem that inspired it. Arguably, this performance sweeps the board.
 
Souvenir de Florence is an exhilarating, less familiar four-movement sextet by Tchaikovsky. It enjoys the same attention from the players who turn in a solid and joyous performance of this beautifully decorated score that will surely convert new listeners into fans of this captivating, abundantly energetic opus. 

The recording producer and engineer, Da-Hong Seetoo deserves an award for achieving such stunning realism and immediacy with apparent ease. This is an inspired disc that belongs on your shelf.


08 mahler 1 lpoMahler - Symphony No.1
London Philharmonic Orchestra; Vladimir Jurowski
LPO LPO-00070

The late release of a 2010 performance of Mahler’s Symphony No.1 on the London Philharmonic’s house label reveals a young conductor, Vladimir Jurowski, leading an enthusiastic and quite capable orchestra in repertoire he evidently has not quite come to terms with. This is most evident in the first movement, where Jurowski’s rigid phrasing robs the music of much of its charm and freshness. The novelty of this particular performance is the inclusion of a fifth movement entitled Blumine (Flowers) inserted between the first and second movements, an addition which was deleted by Mahler after three performances and was presumed lost until it resurfaced in 1966. Over twenty recordings have included this movement since then, but considering the flood of recordings we have experienced lately it’s still quite a rarity. Jurowski’s freakishly muscular interpretation of this delicate movement is certainly no bed of flowers, and for my taste the plebeian lack of perfume spoils the contrast with the country bumpkin charm of the following Scherzo, which seems to pass by in a flash in its wake. Having opted to reclaim the past by the inclusion of the extra movement, Jurowski inexplicably gives in to current revisionism by assigning the celebrated double bass solo that launches the ensuing bizarre funeral march to the entire section according to the specious reasoning of the latest Mahler edition. Thankfully by this point the conductor is beginning to show some real enthusiasm, finally hitting his stride in the hyper-theatrical grand finale and eventually saving the day with a fiery conclusion. The recorded sound from the recently renovated Royal Festival Hall is quite acceptable with no discernible distractions.

01 jansen schoenbergAlthough she doesn’t really do any more than her collaborators on her latest CD featuring Schubert’s String Quintet and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, the terrific Janine Jansen gets virtually solo credit and attention on the cover (Decca 478 3551). Her usual musical intelligence and sensitivity, however, is clearly matched by violinist Boris Brovtsyn, violists Maxim Rysanov and Amihai Grosz, and cellists Torleif Thedéen and Jens Peter Maintz. Schoenberg arranged Verklärte Nacht for string orchestra, but what a ravishing and entrancing work it is in this original sextet form. Written in 1899, well before his journey into atonality, it remains a stunningly beautiful late-Romantic work, given an exemplary performance here. The quality is just as high in the Schubert String Quintet, with impeccable balance between the voices revealing the intricate inner details with perfect clarity, and far more successfully than most ensembles. Attention to detail, never for its own sake but always with the aim of enriching the interpretation, is one of Jansen’s great strengths, and her leadership here is evident. This is music-making of the highest quality, and as engrossing and satisfying a performance of this wonderful work as you could wish for.

02 fischer bruchAnother of Decca’s young European superstar violinists, Julia Fischer, has a new CD of the Bruch and Dvořák Violin Concertos, with David Zinman leading the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich (Decca 478 3544). In the old LP days, the Bruch Violin Concerto in G Minor was nearly always paired with the Mendelssohn, but the Dvořák makes a surprisingly good companion. The two works were written only about 12 years apart, and share similarities in form – as indeed they do with the Mendelssohn. Fischer clearly has a great affection and affinity for the Dvořák: her mother is Czech and studied in Prague, and the concerto was one of the first that Fischer studied as a child. It’s a lovely work that has never really established itself at the top of the standard repertoire. Fischer believes that this is changing; it would certainly be difficult to find a more convincing argument than the one she presents here. From the very strong opening, through the beautiful slow movement to the lively finale, this is a magnificent performance – intense, expansive, rich and warm throughout, with a lustrous tone and lovely orchestral support.
Exactly the same can be said for the beautiful performance of the Bruch, which makes this old favourite sound new and fresh.

03 glazunov schoekHyperion’s excellent ongoing series The Romantic Violin Concerto has reached Volume 14 with works by Alexander Glazunov and Othmar Schoeck (CDA67940); Chloë Hanslip is the soloist, with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana under Alexander Vedernikov. A beautiful performance of the Glazunov A Minor Concerto reminds us what a truly lovely work this is, and the short Meditation Op.32 is no less lovely despite its brevity. The Mazurka-oberek dates from 1917, when Glazunov’s work as head of the Conservatory in St. Petersburg left him with little time for composition; its Polish flavour suggests that it may have been one of the small number of works written with wartime patriotic associations. The Swiss composer Schoeck is known primarily for his vocal works, and his Concerto quasi una fantasia in B flat major, Op.21 is one of the few orchestral works that he produced. Written in his early 20s, it is a work that is an appropriate and welcome addition to this Romantic series.

04 pacifica soviet 3Another outstanding ongoing series is The Soviet Experience: String Quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich and his Contemporaries, which reaches Volume III with a 2-CD set of Shostakovich quartets Nos.9 through 12 paired with Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s String Quartet No.6 in E minor (Cedille CDR 90000 138). The Polish-born Weinberg was a close friend of Shostakovich, and both composers influenced each other in their quartet writing. Weinberg’s quartet, one of a series of seventeen, was written in 1946 but never performed; it was briefly included on the list of “non-recommended” works produced in 1948 as part of Andrei Zhdanov’s anti-formalist campaign. Not published until 1979, it was apparently premiered as late as 2007.
The Pacifica Quartet is once again in simply superb form, playing these intensely personal works with sensitivity and passion and a wonderfully expressive range of dynamics.

05 shostakovich cello
Shostakovich is the featured composer on a new harmonia mundi CD from the French cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand, who gives a solid, committed performance of the Cello Concerto No.1 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Pascal Rophé (HMC 902142). Bertrand is joined by her regular piano partner Pascal Amoyel for an excellent performance of the Cello Sonata Op.40, written just 2 years before the devastating 1936 attack on the composer and his music in the Pravda newspaper, and of the Moderato, a short piece found in manuscript some year’s after the composer’s death, and which may possibly be contemporaneous with the sonata itself.

06 new music seanceOther Minds is a non-profit organization in San Francisco dedicated to promoting the work of contemporary composers. For the past 20 years they have produced an annual festival where the composers are in attendance, and a few years ago had the idea of a short series of concerts that would present contemporary works alongside works by the now deceased American composers who had influenced the current generation. As the intention was to summon “the spectres of musical forbears” the series was called A New Music Séance; among the performers were violinist Kate Stenberg and pianist Eva-Maria Zimmermann. The resulting CD Scenes from a New Music Séance (Other Minds OM 1019-2) is the recording debut of the duo, and presents a fascinating program. Works by composers no longer with us are: Josef Matthias Hauer’s Jazz, the fifth of his Fünf Stücke für Violine und Klavier; Henry Cowell’s Ballade; Ruth Crawford’s Violin Sonata; George Antheil’s stunning Sonata No.2 for Violin, Piano and Drums, a fascinating and exhilarating single-movement romp through a whole range of American popular songs and styles; Alan Hovhaness’ Khirgiz Suite; and Henning Christiansen’s Den Arkadiske. Works by current composers are Canadian Ronald Bruce Smith’s Tombeau, Charles Amirkhanian’s Rippling the Lamp, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen’s Double and Amy X Neuburg’s Nonette. Stenberg and Zimmermann handle the wide range of styles and techniques with consummate ease.

07 ziaKate Stenberg is also the first violinist of the Del Sol String Quartet, an ensemble based in San Francisco and dedicated to breaking musical boundaries. Named for the sun, the group gave their first concert 20 years ago in New Mexico, where the sun is sacred to the Zia Indians of the region. The quartet’s new CD release is called ZIA (Sono Luminus DSL-92164), and features five works by contemporary composers. Gabriela Lena Frank’s Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout takes Andean folk music traditions as its inspiration; the composer has travelled extensively in South America, studying not only music but also poetry and legends (leyendas). There are some fascinating effects here, especially when Andean folk instruments are being evoked. Lou Harrison, who died at 85 in 2003, is represented by his String Quartet Set from 1979, which was dedicated to our own Robert Aitken and New Music Concerts. It’s a decided mixture of five short pieces with quite different characters. Spain’s José Evangelista has been based in Montreal since the 1970s. His Spanish Garland, 12 Folk Melodies from Spain dates from 1993; the melodies used are predominantly very old, and have a distinct middle-Eastern flavour and character to them. The Iranian composer Reza Vali has been on the School of Music faculty at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University since 1988. All of the musical material in his Nayshâboorák (Calligraphy No.6) is derived from traditional Persian music. Its use of quarter-tones and precise intervallic degrees makes for challenging but highly distinctive music. Born in Uzbekistan, Elena Kats-Chernin has been resident in Australia since 1994. Her Fast Blue Village 2 is a short moto perpetuo with a 5-beat rhythm. The playing throughout a varied and often technically challenging program is of a very high standard, and the music is always engaging. Perhaps the clue lies in the comment in the booklet notes that the Del Sol Quartet “commissions and performs accessible new music…” (my italics). Certainly there is much to enjoy here.

01-Handel-Concerti-GrossiHandel – Concerti Grossi Op.6
Aradia Ensemble; Kevin Mallon
Naxos 8.557358-60

Toronto’s early music Aradia Ensemble, under the energetic direction of conductor/violinist Kevin Mallon, performs with grace and momentum in this three-disc collection of George Frideric Handel’s 12 Concerti Grossi, Op.6.

 Composed over the period of a few weeks, the first seven Concerti are scored for the concertino solo group of two violins and cello, and ripieno orchestra of strings and continuo. Mallon’s first violin solos are impeccable, with Genevieve Gillardeau and Cristina Zacharias taking turns in the second chair. The rich cello concertino solos are well performed by Allen Whear and Katie Rietman. As the liner notes explain, Handel began composing oboe parts later, possibly for the theatre, but never completed them. Aradia oboists Stephen Bard, Chris Palemeta and Kathryn Montoya play these wind parts in Nos.8 to 12. The richness of the winds adds a welcome extra layer of texture. In the compositional style of the day, there are numerous references to Handel’s other works, as well as a nod to composers such as Domenico Scarlatti, and folk music idioms including the Sicilian dance and English hornpipe.

This is music to listen to intently in order to marvel at Aradia’s phrasing, ornamentation and stylistic interpretation. And as background music, the drive and spirit of the performances will brighten even the most drab of days. The strings shine, especially in the cohesive descending lines of No.2 and the triumphant trumpet-like opening of the Overture of No.5,while the resonating double bass of J. Tracy Mortimore adds depth and support, especially in the Musette of No.6.

The sound quality is clear, with each instrumental line carefully balanced. The liner notes are informative and concise. Mallon has brought out the very best in his Aradia ensemble as their passionate performances radiate Handel’s inquisitive artistry.

01-Beethoven-9-SFSBeethoven – Symphony No.9   
Erin Wall; Kendall Gladen; William Burden; Nathan Berg; San Francisco Symphony; Michael Tilson Thomas      
SFS Media 821936-0055-2

Beethoven symphonies hold a special place in my heart, having been my point of entry into the world of classical music, starting with the Sixth Symphony at the tender age of seven or eight. The very sweep of the master’s compositions sent shivers down my spine. But it was the Ninth that truly shocked and disturbed me, providing enough nervous tension and pent-up force-under-the-surface to forever etch itself onto my mind. Later on, in high school, during my mercifully short career as a chorister, I remember the difficulty of singing the last movement at breakneck speed, as the music hurled towards a climax. Granted, the Ninthdoes not sound much like the rest of Beethoven’s symphonies, but who knew that Louis Spohr described the first three movements as “inferior to all eight previous symphonies” and the Fourth as “so monstrous and tasteless ... that I cannot understand how a genius like Beethoven could have written it.” As I always say, consider the source: Louis who?

All joking aside, there was enough experimentation in the Ninth to disturb Beethoven’s contemporaries. Nowadays, what makes it great still is that raw, exposed nerve; the passion and relentless thrust forward that still break convention. In keeping with its nature, the Ninth is best experienced as a live performance or recording thereof, here with Michael Tilson Thomas steering the orchestra with a steady hand and with passion to spare. When the murmur of the “Ode to Joy” theme grows into a vocal and choral crescendo, the old shivers down my spine are back again.

02-Longworth-BrahmsBrahms – Klavierstucke, Op.76;
Fantasien, Op.116; Drei Intermezzi, Op.117
Peter Longworth
Azica ACD-71279

I really enjoyed the warm tone and elegant interpretation of these Brahms works as recorded by Toronto pianist Peter Longworth. This was a mature and introspective performance. There was a real sense of intimacy between the music and the performer. This came across in fluid music making and exquisite attention to detail. Longworth plays this music with a sense of integrity and delicacy that speaks to the nature of this music. You sense that these Brahms pieces are like Longworth’s treasured old friends and it shows in the care he takes in shaping the musical lines and phrases. The music is personal and tells an intimate emotional story. This is not the virtuosic, flashy Brahms of the sonatas or concerti, but there is enough difficult technical detail to keep the pianist working hard. Longworth makes it sound easy and I never once thought about technique while I listened. I was too enthralled and mesmerized by the music.

I also appreciated hearing these works on one CD, almost like one large piece. The three sets of Klavierstucke, Op.76, Fantasien, Op.116 and Drei Intermezzi, Op.117 are comprised of capriccios and intermezzi and it is revealing to hear Brahms’ own spiritual journey revealed in these tender gems of music. Longworth has long championed chamber music and you can hear this influencing his texture and mastery of tonal colour. He wrote in the program notes that “this music remains relevant, and grows increasingly rich as we savour more of life. I look forward to playing these pieces 40 years from now.” I will definitely be looking forward to hearing him play them again.

Back to top