Modern and Contemporary

07_Cage_Bozzini.jpgJohn Cage: Four
Quatuor Bozzini
Quatuor Bozzini CQB1414 (actuellecd.com)

Montreal’s Quatuor Bozzini has been together for 16 years and has recorded 15 CDs of the kind of challenging contemporary music that they specialize in, including works by Canadians Malcolm Goldstein, Tim Brady and Jean Derome and international figures like Steve Reich and James Tenney. The experience tells as they take on John Cage’s three works for string quartet, realizing distinctive versions in the process.

The earliest of the compositions, String Quartet in Four Parts (1949-50), is a work descriptive of the four seasons with the composer’s notes encouraging light string contact and no vibrato. The work’s structure and minimal harmonies create an unlikely resemblance to the melodic purity of medieval music. Leaping ahead to 1983, Thirty Pieces for String Quartet presents the musicians with both demands and choices: each piece lasts about a minute, with each musician given a sequence of notes to be fitted into the “time bracket.” The musicians individually choose between microtonal, tonal and chromatic options, but the parts are not directly related to one another except for the coordination of segment lengths. The music that emerges within these configurations is rich in complexity and convergence, a kind of collaboration between composer, performer and listener.

The final work, Four, from 1989, is the most radically reductive of these works, still employing time brackets but offering choices from its sparse materials to all the performers. The result is spacious but continuous with tonal structures that may gently evolve or appear transient. The cumulative work is a serene landscape in which mysterious elements emerge and disappear.

Quatuor Bozzini assumes the substantial demand that this music makes on its performers: to at once realize the work in shaping its form while allowing the components to maintain their distinct, non-structural identities. If the Arditti Quartet’s recordings of these works (on Muse from the early 1990s) have long stood as masterful readings (they worked closely with Cage on Four), Quatuor Bozzini does a fine job of traversing this music, inevitably creating new works in the process.

08_Korngold_Project.jpgThe Korngold Project Part One
Daniel Rowland; Priya Mitchell; Julian Arp; Luis Magalhães
TwoPianists Records TP1039282 (twopianists.com)

Pianist Luis Magalhães, originally from Portugal and now living in South Africa, is co-founder of TwoPianists Records and its Korngold Project, which here makes an auspicious debut, daring to go head-to-head (in the Suite) against Sony’s recording (SK 48253) by the all-star cast of Joseph Silverstein, Jaime Laredo, Yo-Yo Ma and Leon Fleisher.

To my very pleasant surprise, in a movement-by-movement comparison, Magalhães and the European-based string players outdo the famous foursome in every way, bringing much, much more punch and passion to this punchy, passionate work, one of three Korngold composed for pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost an arm in World War I. The balances here are much better, too, with the strings as closely miked as the piano, while on the Sony CD the strings seem muted, lacking focus and presence. (The flaccid Swedish performance on DG 459 631-2 isn’t worth considering.)

The Piano Trio doesn’t sound at all like a composition by a 12-year-old – but it is! – and it’s filled with real music, late-romantic Viennese gemütlichkeit laced with many of the already-distinctive melodic and rhythmic gestures that would remain with Korngold all his life. It, too, receives a vigorous, upfront performance, recorded live, as was the Suite, with well-deserved applause at its conclusion.

The Korngold Project will focus on the composer’s chamber music. This Korngold enthusiast, for one, looks forward to Part Two and beyond.

Nordic Sound – Tribute to Axel Borup-Jørgensen
Michala Petri; Lapland Chamber Orchestra; Clemens Schuldt
OUR Recordings (ourrecordings.com)

Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos
Michala Petri; Aalborg Symphony; Henrik Vagn Christensen
OUR Recordings (ourrecordings.com)

August brought me two CDs of modern recorder concertos from Denmark, released on the Danish label OUR Recordings, and what a pleasant smörgåsbord they are (sorry, couldn’t resist that one).


Review

09a_Nordic_Sound.jpg

Nordic Sound is a special tribute to Axel Borup-Jørgensen (1924-2012), one of Denmark’s most influential modern-era composers, and four of the six works on the program are for recorder and strings. Inspired by the Danish landscape, Bent Sørensen creates a mystical and spacious atmosphere in Whispering, and the elegant pointillism and rhythmic complexity of the Faroese composer Sunleif Rasmussen’s Winter Echoes elicits wonderful and virtuosic playing from all parties. Mogens Christensen requests a panoply of flutters, pips, chirps and multiphonics from Michala Petri in his Nordic Summer Scherzo, all of which makes for a tour-de-force of bird imitation, and Thomas Clausen’s four-movement Concertino provides a tasteful shift to the neo-Baroque. Two pieces for strings, by Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen and Borup-Jørgensen himself, are beautifully played by the members of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra under Clemens Schuldt.

 

Review

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Danish and Faroese Recorder Concertos also features Petri as recorder soloist but this time with the excellent Aalborg Symphony Orchestra under Henrik Vagn Christensen. A novel by Italo Calvino was the inspiration for Rasmussen’s four-movement Territorial Songs, and his inventive, multi-faceted use of orchestral colour and depth of melodic expression is impressive. Chacun son son by Gudmundsen-Holmgreen begins with the whimsical combination of bass recorder, bass clarinet, clarinet and bassoon, and the various sections of the orchestra are pitted against one another, as one might expect given the piece’s title. The recorder is well incorporated into the woodwind section here, rather than being cast in a more typical soloist’s role, and the instrument, particularly the bass recorder, balances well with the others, something unlikely in an unplugged live performance. Thomas Koppel’s Moonchild’s Dream is the third contribution to the program and its lovely yet unmistakable film vibe is no surprise, considering that it was originally commissioned for a video.

As always in this repertoire, Petri continues to show why she remains a leading inspirer of new repertoire for the instrument. I just wish that the excellent solo clarinetist from the Aalborg Orchestra had been credited, as the violinist was.

01_1939.jpg1939 (Jongen/Ullmann/Hindemith/Hua/Klein)
Teng Li; Meng-Chieh Liu; Benjamin Bowman
Azica ACD-71301

Since Teng Li moved here to join the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as principal viola, she has become a much-valued presence on the Toronto concert scene in her own right. But, surprisingly, this is her first solo disc.

At its heart is Hindemith’s third Sonata for Viola and Piano. Like most of the works here, it was written in 1939, as the horrors of World War II were being unleashed on the world. Li’s impassioned performance, with pianist Meng-Chieh Liu, underlines the expressive force of Hindemith’s dazzling work.

Gideon Klein was just 20 when he wrote his audacious Duo for Violin and Viola. Li is well-matched by violinist Benjamin Bowman in a shattering evocation of Klein’s despair. An extraordinary work – in an unforgettable performance.

Viktor Ullmann’s situation was as dire as Klein’s in 1939. But his Five Love Songs, like Joseph Jongen’s luminous Concertino for Viola and Piano, are infused with hopeful, if bittersweet, longing. Arranged for viola and piano by Liu, Ullmann’s songs, though fleeting and unmoored without their texts, find an eloquent poetic voice here.

Moon Reflected in Er-Quan takes us to Li’s native China with this tender elegy composed by the blind itinerant Yanjun Hua. Li manages to evoke the distinctive sound of the erhu in this moving arrangement for solo viola.

This is a memorable disc. The recorded sound is clear and authentic, and Li’s own booklet notes, in English, French and Chinese, are persuasive in presenting these works as direct responses to their fraught times.

 

02_Shostakovich_Gergiev.jpgShostakovich – Symphony No.9; Violin Concerto
Leonidas Kavakos; Mariinsky Orchestra; Valery Gergiev
Mariinsky MAR0524

Symphony No.9 in E-Flat Major Op.70 is a lively, mocking, inspiring, bouncy, sarcastic picture of human nature. Originally imagined as a monumental work, with chorus and soloists – the ode to the victorious ending of the brutal war – it eventually emerged as a 22-minute-long creation that was lighthearted, humorous and transparent. Shostakovich himself said: “It is a merry little piece. Musicians will love to play it, and critics will delight in blasting it.” He was right, indeed. The work had a disappointing effect on the general public, and was quickly banned by the Soviet regime. However, amidst the parades and humour, this symphony is illuminated by deeply felt moments of human suffering in the slower movements and features the most heartbreaking bassoon solo in the fourth movement. The Mariinsky Orchestra, under the baton of maestro Valery Gergiev, displays a wonderful uniformity of sound and phrasing. Their interpretation of this work is both exciting and reassuring.

The Ninth Symphony is coupled here with the dark and reflective Violin Concerto No.1, arguably one of the best violin concertos ever written. It opens with Nocturne, essentially a long violin narrative. Dance-like elements become more devilish toward the end of the Scherzo, increasing the virtuosity in the violin lines. The central movement, Passacaglia, brings a sense of inevitability that culminates in the cadenza, which starts as a beautiful lament but changes into a furious display of emotions. The soloist, Leonidas Kavakos, while superb throughout, truly shines in this movement – his expression is raw, vulnerable yet powerful, revelatory in nature, bewitching to the listener. Burlesque, the last movement, has an eerie combination of spookiness and light, ending in swirls of melodies and rhythms, like a shamanic dance.

The outstanding acoustic qualities of the Mariinsky Theatre (where this album was recorded) makes this disc even more enjoyable.

 

03_Taktus_Glass_Houses2.jpgGlass Houses for Marimba – Music by Ann Southam
Taktus
Centrediscs CMCCD 21415

It was with great pleasure that I listened to Taktus (percussionists Greg Harrison and Jonny Smith) playing Glass Houses for Marimba. It was difficult not to compare this version to the piano pieces, which I have recorded; however, music should be experienced in the moment and in different interpretations so I enjoyed this CD.

In these performances tempi and articulation vary from the piano in interesting ways. No.5 by the marimbas clocks in at 5 minutes 21 seconds in comparison to the piano’s 8 minutes 28 seconds. The marimbas play this Glass House in a slower tempo and make it more meditative, rather than the virtuosic piano version. I like that their version is quite different from the piano, although I do prefer No.5 with all its repeats, faster and with an edge. Glass House No.1 as heard here is twice as long as the piano version, although the tempi were comparable (more repeats were added). The shorter version is closer to the original score but the transcription from piano to marimba results in different tonal colours and phrasing.

I do think it is important to have different performances and interpretations. How boring music would be if everyone played the same way. I like the contrasting dynamics in No.7, which is almost three minutes slower than the original. Again, different sounds emerge from different instruments and this highlights the unique quality of this music. No.8 is wicked for the piano – there is a 33-note drone which the pianist must memorize in order to focus on the right hand melodies. Needless to say I relished hearing two people perform this difficult piece with such relaxed ease and expertise. My favourite Glass House in this CD was the performance by Taktus of No.9 because it accentuated the colours and delicate nuances of the marimbas. The playing throughout the CD was impeccable and articulate.

Editor’s Note: Centrediscs will be re-issuing Christina Petrowska Quilico’s piano recording of Ann Southam’s complete Glass Houses as a 2-CD set in the coming months.

More Articles ...

  1. Isadora Sings - Vivienne Spiteri
  2. Sassicaia & Zarabandeo - François Houle; Jane Hayes
  3. Piano and Erhu Project Volume 2 - Nicole Ge Li; Corey Hamm
  4. Louis Babin – Saint-Exupéry: De Coeur, De Sable et D’Étoiles
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