Tuesday, 6.26.07, 10:09 am
New Releases: CDs
Busoni, Works for Cello & Piano, Duo Pepicelli
"New Releases" posts are regular columns that feature reviews of new CDs that are, for one reason or another, truly outstanding among the many I come across every month.
 F. Busoni, Works for Cello & Piano, Duo Pepicelli |
Busoni – Ferrucio Benvenuto Busoni (1866-1924) – might be best known for his Bach transcriptions that offer pianists genial versions of a rather romantic Bach to play. One might be excused to think that his name is, hyphenated, “Bach-Busoni”. There are probably more recordings of his Bach transcriptions in the catalogs than ‘just-Busoni’. But this highly Germanic Italian composer who straddled the musical times between romanticism and atonality (not with unease but with little lasting success – much like Max Reger (1873-1916)) has much to offer. 40 Years ago, his transcriptions were not mentioned in his 55 word lexicon entry, but his pianism is (after all Busoni was hailed as the “most perfect” pianist of his time – often compared to Franz Liszt) – as are his four most important operas: “Turandot”, “Arlecchino”, “Die Brautwahl”, and “Dr. Faust”.
 Doktor Faust – Leitner  Doktor Faust – Nagano |
The splendid “Dr. Faust” is not easily had – Warner has pulled its fine Nagano (Dietrich Henschel, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau) recording (with prologue) and Deutsche Grammophon also has yet to re-issue its star-studded (Franz Grundheber, Hans Sotin, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau et al.) Karl Leitner recording (without prologue). A shame, because along with Pfitzner’s “Palestrina” and Schreker’s “Die Gezeichneten”, it is among the finest ‘German’ non-Strauss operas of the 20th century. But Naxos is tackling Busoni’s creative and re-creative œvre disc by disc. One of the recent gems in this series is his complete works for Cello and Piano. Kleine Suite (”Little Suite”), op.23, Serenata, op.34, and Kultaselle (Ten Variations on a Finnish Folksong), are included – as are his Liszt transcription of the Valse oubliée and the substantial Piano and Cello version of Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue.
This neatly encompasses his two main musical influences in Bach and Liszt (although Busoni well explored the limits of tonality before settling on his intriguing ‘neo-classicism’ style) which shine through even in the echt-Busoni Suite which, though not a transcription, is illuminated by Bach, from the inside. Terribly charming in its melancholic, structured, and undeniably romantic way, it is rightly at the heart of this recording by the brothers Angelo (piano) and Francesco (cello) of the epomymous Duo Pepicelli. As should be expected, the piano carries its own throughout all of Busoni’s cello works and the artists perform to the highest standards… even if there remains the desire to hear some of the works played by two fiery soloist together.
The Serenata is Busoni-Busoni – a work he transcribed himself from the last movement of his clarinet suite op.10. It’s far from mature Busoni, but in the transcribed form it already hints at some of the delicious complexities with which Busoni achieved to baffle contemporary ears, even if today most would find these earlier ventures rather tame. Thankfully, tameness does not go to the discredit of a work if it manages to be quite so pleasing. To fill out the disc a little beyond the 50-some available minutes of Busoni for that genre, Naxos added Busoni’s contemporary and compatriot Ottorino Respighi to the mix – with his early (and later transcribed for cello and orchestra) Adagio con variazioni. Just like all of the Busoni works on this disc, I should be delighted to find it sticking it’s head out of any Piano/Cello recital – perhaps as a little respite between one stern Beethoven sonata and another. Until that takes place, Naxos’ recording will serve as a most pleasing stopgap.
Monday, 6.18.07, 5:20 pm
New Releases: CDs
Paul Moravec, Tempest Fantasy et al., Trio Solisti
"New Releases" posts are regular columns that feature reviews of new CDs that are, for one reason or another, truly outstanding among the many I come across every month.
 P. Moravec, Tempest Fantasy, et al., Trio Solisti, David Krakauer |
Paul Moravec’s Tempest Fantasy (for piano trio and bass-/clarinet) has been much written about – little wonder for a work that brought its composer the Pulitzer (2004) and has been picked up enthusiastically by groups that champion modern music. Especially so since the Tempest Fantasy is remakrably accessible music. Picturesque, conventionally beautiful at times, but without pandering to the ears’ lowest harmonic expectations. Music that works with all the traditional tools from the composer’s workshop which have changed surprisingly little since Bach – but Moravec uses them to create music anew. “Fresh” – as overused as that word must surely be – still has descriptive value when talking about his music. In Washington alone the Tempest Fantasy has been played three, four times last season… including a performance at the Corcoran Gallery introduced by the composer himself. One could try to hunt for influences in the music – or rather: discover accidental musical analogies. Telling or not as that may be, you might hear Mompou one moment, Debussy another, perhaps ‘whimsical’ Hindemith… even Poulenc. It could not be further removed from Adams, Reich, or Glass. To quote myself from my review of the live performance:
It would be failure on the part of the composer not to make a work of that title sound tempestuous and failure on part of the critic to find no other description for it. Alas, Mr. Moravec himself described the opening of the fifth and last movement (Fantasia) so and quoting him is my excuse for not coming up with descriptive prose more purple. Fantasia, which might well have been titled “Prospero Prevailing,” sums up the Puliter Prize-winning Tempest Fantasy’s first four movements: a spiky-joyous and flighty characterization of Ariel; the melancholic cello that is a lamenting Prospero; the limping dance of Caliban in the third movement (Peter and the Wolf just around the corner). And Sweet Airs, exposed on ‘Ariel’s’ violin and inspired by Caliban’s speech “The Isle is Full of Noises” (III.ii.130–138). G-D-A-E (the violin’s open strings) dominate Ariel, the Prospero cello-theme is prominently summoned in the Fantasia – but now imbued with the jazzy beat the first movement hinted at. Caliban, a “misshapen monster” (Moravec) is portrayed by David Jones’s bass clarinet. Apt, too – since the description “misshapen monster” equally applies to that absurd-looking instrument… a Three-Mile-Island love-child between a clarinet and a saxophone.
You can find the humor of Carter – but at a smaller rate of admission as regards harmonic departure from what most ears are used to. And less of the knotty intellectualism that Carter displays. (At least compared to his American colleagues… compare Carter to Boulez and you will find the former a frivolous stroll along the beach of atonality.) Naxos has now brought some of Paul Moravec’s works, including the Tempest Fantasy and Mood Swings (the Washington Post’s “best new Classical Composition of 1999) to a wider public by re-issuing the 2004 Arabesque recording on their “American Classics” line. Trio Solisti (Alexis Pia Gerlach – cello, Maria Bachman – violin, and Jon Klibonoff – piano) and John Krakauer on clarinet(s) supply a performance that conveys all the glory of this music and cannot be faulted on any account. And where I found the third and fourth movements a bit longer than necessary in performance, this performance had me look for possibilities (much less necessary) judicious cuts in vain. Undoubtedly a highlight of the “American Classics” series – more reviews of which will be forthcoming.