Wednesday, 1.30.08, 7:49 pm
Classical Performances
WETA’s CD Pick of the Week
"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.
Daniel Hope is proof that good connections, aggressive management, and astute choices of repertoire and collaborations are at least as important as talent in manufacturing a career. The violinist, one of whose greatest distinctions was to have been Yehudi Menuhin’s last student (his mother was Menuhin’s assistant) and regular collaborator, was still a child when he played Bartók’s 44 Duos for Violin for German television (and a subsequent 60 concerts) together with the grand old master.His popularity is greatest in Germany and the UK and it stems not least from his work with Schnittke and the London Royal Academy, membership in the now retiring Beaux Arts Trio, projects with Klaus Maria Brandauer, Sting, and Uri Caine. Most recently, a book about tracing his heritage (“a search for Hope’s roots in Europe, Africa and beyond, weaving the disparate strands of his ancestry – prosperous assimilated German Jewish families who became refugees from Hitler, a young Irishman who sought his fortune in South Africa…”) was a most judicious move that garnered much of that all-important publicity.
Now he has an exclusive contract with the Yellow Label, Deutsche Grammophon, – and is in the company of violinists like Hillary Hahn, Gidon Kremer, and Vadim Repin. Arguably, few experts would suggest Hope to be quite on the same level as these artists and I had never been all that impressed with previous recordings I had heard from him, only thinking him “quite good”. My impression became much more favorable however when I heard him twice at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC with the Beaux Arts Trio where he displayed musicality and chamber-playing instinct, rather than just serving as a ‘violinist patch’.Still, his signing with DG was more than a mild surprise. The result of this first collaboration is a recording of the Mendelssohn Concerto, the Octet, and arranged songs with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Thomas Hengelbrock, the current WETA CD Pick of the Week. I have had the opportunity to hear both, Hope and Hengelbrock, with the Munich Philharmonic fairly recently (albeit in different concerts) – and was impressed again.
Hengelbrock managed to inject some measure lightness and vitality into the generally romantic, lush Munich Philharmonic, guiding them through the Mozart Symphony in C K338 and tenor arias from La Clemenza, Così Fan Tutte, and Idomeneo (Ramón Vargas). In bold and assured C-major, with timpani and trumpets abounding, this lesser known, very overture-like symphony is a predecessor to the later C-major trumpet symphonies of Mozart – the “Linz” and “Jupiter” Symphony (K425, K551). Still more C-major and yet more trumpets and timpani in Schumann’s Second Symphony which Hengelbrock managed to tickle from his players with agility and wit, if not as much of that inner glow ‘thick’ Schumann renditions can ideally conjure.
Daniel Hope, meanwhile, offered the Britten Violin Concerto under the direction of James MacMillan who also conducted his own “Vigil”, the third part of his 1997 triptych “Triduum”, and consisting of three movements: “Light”, “Tuba Insonet Salutaris”, and “Water” in its German premiere. (It fascinated more listeners than it disturbed, but not by much.)
His Britten came with a nice tone, clarity, accuracy, and inner tension. There was little to take issue with, except perhaps that the pianissimos which were not all evenly beautiful á la Nikolaj Znaider.
There was a movingly lyrical touch given to the concerto, whether above the timpani pounding away (Beethoven’s spirit calling), or amid the brass glory in the unbound, joyous energy of the second movement. (No influence of the impending war in Europe to be heard here.) The great Elliot Carter, 99 years old and still kicking, very aptly called the concerto the English pendant to Prokofiev’s and Shostakovich’s, and the dark brass front towering over the end of the second movement (“Vivace”), just before the pizzicato studded cadenza, has just such a ‘Shostakovichian’, threatening quality. The Munich Philharmonic’s brass played sumptuously, Hope with contemplation. This was clean, impeccable, and more – but emotionally riveting it was not. But the Britten concerto needs not to be overly dramatic for great effect. First and foremost it needs to be played beautifully to work well, and Hope did that beyond any doubt.
The Mendelssohn recording affirms these positive impressions. The Chamber Orchestra of Europe energetic, swift, and bold. Hope highly driven, retro-romantic with swells and swoops – but always clean. There is an edgy-ness to the concerto’s performance that some might consider overly virile, others exciting. But the main attraction of this disc is not necessarily the perfectly fine performance, per se, but the unique use of the recently discovered “Ur-Text” version of the Mendelssohn concerto. If that mildly different version contributes to the greater urgency is hard to say, and whether it contributes to our greater appreciation of the concerto is even harder to claim.
The fact that it constitutes earlier Mendelssohn is not necessarily a deterrent – after all it was as a precocious teenager that he wrote his most popular and best works. Yet Ferdinand David, the violinist and long-time friend that Mendelssohn appointed as concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, might have contributed some fine and practical ideas… the cadenza, for example, is more of a bravura affair in the familiar version than here.
One such work of the teenage Mendelssohn is also included on this disc – the stunning Octet, one of the finest chamber music pieces ever written. Its coupling is particularly happy because it might find some ears who might instinctively be attracted to the concerto but not necessarily chamber music. It’s played a bit in the 7+1 style, but Hope is an instinctive enough chamber-musician to avoid taking the work hostage.
Capping off this fine all-Mendelssohn disc are three songs transcribed for violin and piano (Sebastian Knauer). Hexenlied, Suleika, and On the Wings of Song are the inconspicuous hits on this debut release – each two-some minutes of lyrical beauty presenting Hope at his best.
Monday, 1.28.08, 5:54 am
Classical Performances
Gustav Mahler in Washington
Mahler is not an easy composer to love, much less understand. Few neophyte listeners immediately take to Mahler’s sound-world – somewhere between the anxiety-driven and the sheer gargantuan, un-deliberately meandering – and a good number never warm up to his music entirely. But those who get bitten by the Mahler bug fall hard for the Austrian’s symphonies and orchestral songs. And since Mahler is no longer anathema to the serious classical music lover as he was until roughly the early 60’s (and until later, still, in places like Vienna), more and more people fall victim to “Mahleria” (Prokofiev). Mahler, like very few other composers, has a tendency to create obsession among his ‘followers’. That obsession has rarely been served better than in the first decade of the 21st century. Mahler performances become more and more common even outside the traditional Mahler-centers New York and Amsterdam.
The Washington Mahlerians are well served again this month. From January 31st until Februay 2nd, the National Symphony Orchestra will present one of its most promising and most ambitious programs with Mahler’s imposing Sixth Symphony and the Kindertotenlieder with none less than the great Mahler interpreter Thomas Hampson. It’s a must-hear event – followed by another must-hear event, presented by WPAS the following day, February 3rd. That’s when Mariss Jansons, by any account one of the very finest conductors of our day, presents one of his two top orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam. There is no orchestra more steeped in the Mahler tradition than the Concertgebouw, who have played Mahler symphonies well over eleven-hundred times (!) in the last century. You were lucky if you caught their concert in DC two years ago, and you’ll likely be lucky to hear them perform Mahler’s Fifth Symphony coming Sunday at 3PM. For good measure they will also throw in a little Richard Strauss.
The Fifth Symphony is popular enough because of the “Death in Venice” and Bobby Kennedy-Funeral playtime. Only Symphonies Four and One are played more regularly. It seems to need little introduction or ‘help’ to appreciate. The Sixth has a tougher time – and is, together with the rather strange Seventh and the logistics-challenged Eight, the least played of Mahler’s symphonies. It is dark, brooding, unrelenting, and ends on a note of despair. Cheerful it is not – but it is one of the most impressive symphonies composed and potentially one of the most impressive experiences in the concert hall.
The Sixth Symphony is often mentioned to be Mahler’s most classical, invariably followed by the qualification: “If only in structure”. It’s an important qualification, because although in the sonata-form of the classical symphony (replete with repeats, Allegro first movement, inner slow and Scherzo- movement and an Allegro moderato – Allegro energico Finale), the symphony has nothing else in common with the classical predecessors. For one, its individual movements are as long or longer than any one of Haydn’s complete symphonies. The musical language is Mahler at his most romantic, too. His symphonies are generally not of the happy, cheery kind – but at least they occasionally end on a note (or the hope) of optimism. Not so the Sixth. It’s brutal and remorseless – and while it can be tamed and sound beautiful, I find the most appropriate way to perform this symphony is by riding the beast as hard as possible; foam at the mouth, wide-eyed, driven to the brink of the abyss.
There are two choices to be made in the performance of this work and they are, among Mahler-geeks, perennially controversial: Is the Scherzo to be taken before the Andante (the order it was composed in) or the Andante before the Scherzo (as Mahler always had it performed; presumably because the criticism that the Scherzo and the first movement were too similar, struck a chord with him)? And are all three hammer-blows that Mahler originally composed to be included, or is the symphony to be played in the version where Mahler – possibly out of superstition – removed the last one? (The “Hammer-blows” are three particularly crushing thumps in the last movement for which Mahler envisioned a specifically constructed instrument; conductors variously use large timpani, wooden crates, or specially constructed mallets for this.)
It’s a tedious argument, usually, and suffice it to say that every outstanding performance allows you to neglect the matter, even if you do have set preferences. Mine, incidentally, favor Scherzo-first and three hammer-blows. I am inclined to separate between Mahler “the composer” and Mahler “the conductor” who was willing to engage in any compromise to get his works performed, including moving the Scherzo behind the Andante, even though the harmonic progression could be argued to suggest the order of Scherzo-Andante. The latest decision of the International Mahler Society reverses its course and now places the slow movement before the Scherzo with an air of unassailable certainty.
All that need not be on your mind when you listen to the NSO’s performance – or, if you can’t attend, a good recording of it. The point is rather to experience the hair-raising brutality and dystopia and the flurry of musical ideas and brilliance. Next week I will see to write about some of particularly outstanding recordings of the Fifth and especially Sixth Symphony to aid (or perhaps make more difficult) the decision which of the many recordings to own.
Monday, 1.21.08, 7:20 am
Riccardo Muti and Greatness in Conductors
Riccardo Muti is a rare guest in Washington, but he’s been in the vicinity during his Philadelphia years and the New York Philharmonic is one of only four orchestras he regularly guest-conducted while he was music director at La Scala. (So dedicated was he to full control of the Opera House in Milan that he turned down the offer to become Kurt Masur’s successor at the New York Phil in 2002.) But even now he remains excruciatingly specific in how he spends his time. He founded the “Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini”, an orchestra for young musicians based in Ravenna and Piacenza – and in the United States he’s been seen conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (which gave rise to the unrealistic notion that he might be their next music director – he won’t). But he can’t exactly be said to tingel from court to court.
Orchestras are finicky organizations, and more than one might like to admit (or think possible) they are full of bored, embittered personnel who cannot be bothered to give even 80 percent for a conductor they have not been forced to respect. Or worse: they sabotage him and the music with willfully perfunctory, barely dutiful performances, even if the true sufferers are the audiences.
If you have ever wondered why Youth Orchestras can – in concert – so often outplay professional, established, and even “great” orchestras, it’s because they have yet retained an enthusiasm for music and learning. If enthusiasm, passion, and commitment are communicated from conductor to orchestra, the naturally unwilling players will leave their attitudes at home and forgive the conductor even serious technical flaws. Alternatively a conductor can so impress an orchestra with technique, perfect ears, and efficiency that they are almost forced to participate. Otherwise what you get is that routine playing that can kill the spirit of any, even well played, performance. If you ever wondered why some orchestras nearby and a little further away look (and sound) so bored, it’s because they are.
This explains why “great conductors” are “great”. The select few of top conductors have, against the antagonisms and passivity of orchestras they have met and conducted in the years of their career, proven to be superior in motivating orchestral bodies, infusing them with enthusiasm, instilling a sense of respect in them – through natural authority and immense skill. They get up-front credit from the orchestra, they no longer have to spend any energy of convincing them that they are worthy giving 100 percent for.
Which brings us back to Riccardo Muti, who has an impeccable appreciation and reputation not only among audiences but among orchestras, too. Muti needs to prove nothing – he commands the utter respect of just about every musician in an orchestra. He need not raise his voice, he needs not to plead on behalf of compositions to be taken seriously. He does not need to go out of his way to tickle great performances from his players.
I’ve heard him twice in the last few months, both times in performance with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra – one of his regular and mutually respected partners. Both times they immaculately played music they might otherwise not have taken for full: a program of the “light music” of Nino Rota in December and choral works of Petrassi, Schubert, and Berlioz (Messe solennelle) where the unparalleled Bavarian Radio Symphony Chorus did its part to elevate the rather minor Berlioz work to something stunningly beautiful. Little wonder that those very forces have garnered a Grammy for their recording of Cherubini’s Missa solemnis in E. Not a “great” work, per se, but performed like that, you’d never know.
Washington will get to greet its truly great conductors, too – I’m thinking in particular of Mariss Jansons who will present his Royal Concertgebouw (one of his toys together with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra he also heads) on February 3rd, courtesy WPAS. Still, having Muti in the district would also be a treat for those who wish to hear great symphonic music on something less than autopilot.
Well, if the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, Muhammad might want to hop on a train because even the New York Philharmonic is worth listening to when Riccardo Muti directs them in the wonderful yet neglected Bruckner Sixth Symphony. (I reviewed a Bernhard Haitink recording of that symphony last year.) As if that were not enough, they also offer the Schumann Piano Concerto with none less than the elusive, innately musical Radu Lupu who charmed me last year together with Mitsuko Uchida in Mozart – also in New York.
Because the program will be presented from the 23rd to the 26th this month, you would not have to forgo the NSO’s program (24th to 26th) which may not particularly distinguish itself through conductor or soloist (Slatkin, Thibaudet), but offers Christopher Rouse’s Second Symphony. You may have heard and liked his First Symphony in Baltimore under Marin Alsop two years ago, or heard his Karolju Christmas carols on WETA over the holidays. It’s excellent modern music that succeeds at being popular with broad audiences and should be heard by anyone who thinks classical music halls to be more than just acoustic museums.
Sunday, 1.13.08, 11:51 pm
These Are a Few of My Favorite Things – 2007, Part XI
This is the final category in this list of recordings that have bought me particular pleasure in 2007 – the previous categories were: Bach, Chamber, Choral/Vocal, Concerto, Crossover, DVD, Keyboard, Opera, Obscure Composer/Work Rescued, and Orchestral.
Contemporary
Picking recordings for the category of contemporary works proved a little more difficult than with the other categories. Not for lack of choices, mind you: When I set out making my choices almost a month ago, there was a higher stack of contemporary music discs on my desk than the rest combined. Many works and performances were quite fine, but upon re-listening it turned out that only a few truly, unambiguously, stood out or fit the criteria.
Miklós Rózsa’s violin sonatas and concerto (Naxos), or Pancho Vladigerov’s orchestral work (CPO) are 20th century, but hardly contemporary. Virgil Thomson lived until 1989, but his superbly crafted music to Pare Lorentz’ The River, and The Plowe that Broke the Plains – expert propaganda films for the ‘New Deal’ – was a product of the 1930’s. Aside, the DVD version offers the better way of enjoying this must-have gem of American cultural and musical history. (Naxos CD 8.559291, DVD 2.110521) Even a work as Ned Rorem’s Second Piano Concerto was composed six years before Sibelius died.
I enjoyed John Corigliano and Jefferson Friedman’s String Quartets (sufficiently contemporary, having been composed in 1995 and 1997, respectively), but I haven’t yet quite grasped them in the way necessary to really be enriched by the experience. The same goes for Phillip Ramey’s and Aribert Reimann’s intriguingly harsh and ‘difficult’ romantic piano music (Toccata Classics 0029 and cpo 777 236-2) which I enjoyed tremendously, if in that passive way of a bystander, not participant.
Continuum® brought the ever intriguing and touchingly shapeless music of Robert Erickson to disc (Naxos 8.559283) – but it’s music I’d be very happy for others to discover, not music I’d necessarily exert force in pushing people to. The Harlem Quartet issued an impressive debut recording of Wynton Marsalis’ String Quartet No.1 (“At the Octoroon Balls”), a work that veers between weird, wonderful, silly, and catchy.
I’ve heard Ned Rorem’s “After Reading Shakespeare” on two different 2007 recordings now, once with Sharon Robinson (Naxos 8.559316), once with Matt Haimovitz (Oxingale 2012). The latter comes with two world premiere recordings of solo cello works by American composers Paul Moravec and Lewis Spratlan. Intriguing so far, but not entirely convincing. The Naxos couples it to the excellent Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra – a more attractive proposition for all but extreme cello buffs. And as if to flaunt its supremacy in contemporary American music, Naxos also issued world premiere recordings of Rorem’s Piano Concerto No.2 and the Cello Concerto. (The former is from 1951 and strictly speaking not contemporary, but the latter was composed in 2002 and is so, very much.) Tempting fare excellently played under the baton of José Serebier – and if I don’t include them here, I’ll know I will listen to all three concertos several more times in curious enchantment.
Cooman, Symphonies 2 & 3, Piano Concerto, Sonata for Violin and Organ et al., various artists, Naxos 8.559329
Finally one recording demanded inclusion – a sampler of the 25 year old Carson Cooman’s music. Unashamedly pleasant and presumably without pretensions of greatness, Naxos 8.559329 includes the 25 year old composers’ Second and Third Symphonies, a chamber Piano Concerto, and a Sonata for Organ and Violin. Cooman’s populist style (just) evades that mind-boggling triteness that the tailored-to-please works of the Rutters of this world usually exude. The result is a mix of infectious rhythms, pleasing harmonies and melodies – without the ear feeling sullied or guilty, afterwards. The Symphonies are thankfully brief and don’t avoid dissonance.
A Partita for baroque flute offers six minutes of utter pleasantry, but manages to be utterly forgettable. Then comes the Piano Concerto op.649 (!!) and this is a superb work. A brilliant little pastiche that does not per se copy from Mozart and (lots of) Ravel, but it, shall way say, rhymes with it. A wild ride and bout between the romantic piano part and the sometimes insidiously invasive, sometimes supportive string part – a little under ten minutes of fine inspiration and the highlight on this disc.
Vision, for violin and organ might have been found on the cutting room floor of Messiaen – but the Sonata of Violin and Organ op.573, at over 21 minutes the longest (and perhaps most substantial) piece included, is strikingly original in the way it assembles small, tuneful cells in the violin over gradually developing organ accompaniment. The third movement, “Keep on Shining!” moves away from the ambiguous meandering toward a joyous, instantly memorable Gospel tune. It’s catchy but not pandering – and lets this disc concludes on another highpoint.
After hearing this you might be tempted to get the Naxos recording of his piano music – but you may want to sample before giving in to that temptation. I didn’t find any of the quality in the piano pieces that makes the better works on the Symphony disc sparkle.
Moravec, Tempest Fantasy et al., Trio Solisti, Krakauer, et al., Naxos 8.559323
The one shoo-in on this list is the Trio Solisti recording of Paul Moravec which I reviewed earlier this year. That the “Tempest Fantasy” is a wonderful work is old news – after all it won its composer the 2004 Pulitzer award. And technically it’s a re-issue, because Naxos licensed a 2004 Arabesque recording and put it out on its “American Classics” line. But that does not make it any less appealing. It’s a work that could wonderfully serve as a stepping stone to the genre for those who are wary of contemporary classical music.
Corigliano, The Red Violin Concerto, Violin Sonata, Marin Alsop, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Jeremy Denk, Sony 88060
I don’t particularly adore Joshua Bell’s sweet, emotionally equivocal violin playing, nor was I entirely enamored by John Corigliano’s “Red Violin” Concerto when I attended the concert at which this performance was taped.
Starting over a gentle solo violin section quickly supported by flittering strings, occasionally soft woodwinds, the concerto allows the violinist to meander about before he is interrupted by martial interjections, orchestral whip-lash, and cacophonous rumbles – the ruins from which rises the movement anew, led by a solitary, optimistic clarinet. But at the live performance, there were moments when Bell disappeared behind the orchestra that suggested balance problems, rather than composer’s intent.
Sure enough the mixing table (or takes from the two subsequent performances in June of 2006) fixed that and the four movement concerto comes across as much improved as a result.
The nervous second movement (Pianissimo Scherzo) with enthusiastically gentle percussion participation, sounds like music that desperately wished to bark but was kept on too short a leash. The Andante Flautando is broad and rich to which the BSO responds with a very pleasing, sonorous sound. It might be best described as giving the impression of several Zbigniew Preisner scores being strung together, but then Preisner wrote some really good film music. Here the film music origins of the concerto become obvious.
I won’t say that I have changed my mind about the Philip Glass, John Adams, or Daniel Brubaker violin concertos doing more for me, but I’m very glad to have Corigilano’s work now for repeat listening (and well balanced), from which it benefits handsomely. Also included is the Sonata for Violin and Piano which I already liked in performances of Elmar Oliveira with Robert Koenig and Maria Bachmann with Jon Klibonoff, but am equally to happy to hear from Bell and Jeremy Denk.
I hope you have gotten around to enjoy some of the releases I wrote about over the last few weeks – or at any rate increased your CD wish-list. I am always happy about feed-back, so if you wish to harangue me for cajoling you into breaking the piggy bank for yet another Beethoven concerto or Twinkle Twinkle little Star á la Mozart (”Oh rats, I’ll never finish this song, never, never!”), please e-mail me.
Previous things that I liked:
Part I – Crossover
Part II – Concerto
Part III – DVD
Part IV – Keyboard
Part V – Choral/Vocal
Part VI – Orchestral
Part VII – Chamber
Part VIII – Obscure Composer/Work Rescued
Part IX – Bach
Part X – Opera
Tuesday, 1.8.08, 6:06 pm
These Are a Few of My Favorite Things – 2007, Part X
2007 won’t see a “Best of” list — instead I’ll simply point to a few artists and works that have brought me particularly joy or particularly content listening-hours this year. I have randomly assigned them the categories Bach, Chamber, Choral/Vocal, Concerto, Contemporary, Crossover, DVD, Keyboard, Opera, Obscure Composer/Work Rescued, and Orchestral.
Opera
Dukas, Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, Leon Botstein, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Telarc CD 80680
I am thoroughly ashamed to have thought of Paul Dukas as a Mickey-Mouse composer for so long – only because of the association of a musical rodent with his tone poem of Goethe’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice. But somehow I managed to ignore him to the point that if someone had told me that he was Czech, I might well have believed it. Beyond the Apprentice I had some foggy awareness of a ballet score La Péri, and nothing else.
That frightful ignorance has been put to an end to by the overdue exposure to his opera Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, a different take on the story that Bartók deals with in his contemporaneous Bluebeard’s Castle. Why it took until 2007 for the first good recording of this wonderful opera to appear is anyone’s guess – perhaps I am not the only one in having (had) a patronizing prejudice toward the name “Dukas”. (A 25 year old recording by Armin Jordan/Erato is long out of print, the 40 year old recording under Tony Aubin/Gala weak in most aspects.)
Leon Botstein is making something of a habit out of bringing out-of-favor and out-of-repertoire 20th century operas back to our attention. Thankfully he has a supporting record company at his side to aide him in these efforts. Richard Strauss’ Die Liebe der Danae and Die Ägyptische Helene and Ernest Chausson’s gorgeous Le Roi Arthus have already been issued over the last years. Now Telarc has released Ariane et Barbe-Bleu.
Dukas composed turn-of-the-century French music, a tad old fashioned (like Saint-Saëns and Fauré, maybe), yet achieving colors not unlike Debussy, whose Pelléas et Mélisande came out five years prior to Ariane. And behind this opera’s shadowy, gloomy veil are moments of ethereal beauty not found anywhere else… not even Erich Korngold. (See below.)
Lori Phillips navigates through the extensive, difficult, beautiful, and taxing part of Ariane with aplomb and them some. Ariane et Barbe-Bleue is essentially a one-woman show, with guest appearances by her nurse (Patricia Bardon), the other wifes of Bluebeard, and Bluebeard himself (Peter Rose), who has a total of eight lines. The liner notes (David Murray, Leon Botstein, and John Ashbery) point out the women’s liberation struggle that is portrayed in this opera – and indeed, the Maeterlinck libretto (originally intended for Edward Grieg) could well be seen that way. Ariane discovers the previous five wives – not ghosts yet – of Bluebeard and attempts to install newly gained self esteem in them and lead them to liberty. But the wives, despite having been forced to spend years in a miserable dungeon, refuse to leave Bluebeard.
Talk about “Escape from Freedom” – years before Erich Fromm gave us the analysis for this curious behavior. Ariane herself, also thrown into prison but escaping easily, does not go for revenge, either. When Bluebeard, who is beleaguered and thrashed by the peasant folk like Dr. Frankenstein or Count Dracula, is injured and at her mercy in Act III, she nurses him to health before she leaves him behind with the five immobile (ex?) wifes.
Leon Botstein conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers in an idiomatic, highly professional performance. In combination with the rarity of the opera and the beauty of the music it all adds up to the best opera recording of the year.
Stephan, Die Ersten Menschen, Mikko Franck, Orchestre National de France, naïve V 5028
Given my choices you might think that there were no fine opera recordings released of music composed before to the 20th century. There were: René Jacob’s Don Giovanni, the CPO recording of Lully’s Thésée, or Handel’s Floriodante (Archiv) might all have deserved inclusion in this list. But a very special favorite thing this year was Rudi Stephan’s Die Ersten Menschen – “The First Humans”. I should have listened to my colleague Bob McQuiston (who runs a great website about off-the-beaten-path composers and works at “Classical Lost And Found”) back when he recommended that very opera in 2006 when CPO issued a recording with Siegmund Nimsgern, and Karl Anton Rickenbacher conducting the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Now I had a second chance to appreciate this odd and appealing work of the youthful and perhaps confused Rudi Stephan. This is his magnum opus, and Stephan finished it just before the war – which is fortuitous, because less than a year later, aged 28, he lay dead with a bullet in his head, somewhere on the Eastern Front.
The music is in the realm of Germanic post-Wagnerism: more Schreker, Pfitzner, Strauss than Mahler, or Berg. It abounds in colorful scoring, melodical, lyrical stretches, it exudes most of the mystic, erotic, orgiastic, religious, sensually sexual oddness of the libretto, it has three, four – more or less similar – powerful climaxes. It plays with a large orchestra and organ, holds long pedal points, and shifts colors, includes the glockenspiel and lecherous saxophone notes. Yet it seems to repeat itself to the point of offering a sense of 90 minutes of ‘same-ness’, although not in a displeasing way. (The opera presented with some significant cuts here, surely not to its detriment.)
That’s not much of a criticism in light of so much intriguing music to be heard by a young man still and audibly influenced by the reverberations of the Wagner operas. And how to top Wagner, not just on account of ambiguous tonality but also as regards offering a more peculiar libretto? Well, instead of regular, Wagnerian Brother-Sister or Nephew-Aunt incest, Stephan sets an Otto Borngräber libretto that suggests Mother-Son incest – namely that Cain wants Eve, and Eve Abel (except they are named Kajin, Chabel, Chawa, and Adahm). Kajin, sung with booming excellence by Washington regular Donnie Ray Albert, interferes and slays Chabel (Wolfgang Millgram). Chawa, who is displayed as a sort of prophet to Chabel’s proto-Jesus, is sung by the fine Nancy Gustafson, and Franz Hawlata enlivens the otherwise dulled down Adahm who is more interested in agricultural matters than satisfying his lusty wife. The young Finnish conductor Mikko Franck makes the Orchestre National de France sound like a first class ensemble. It’s a wickedly good 90 minutes and stylistically and qualitatively it fits perfectly with the two other operas here mentioned: Dukas’ Ariane and Korngold’s Heliane.
Korngold, Das Wunder der Heliane, John Mauceri, RSO Berlin, Decca 475 8271
I have reviewed this re-issue of “Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s three act opera Das Wunder der Heliane on Decca in September (here) and my appreciation of it has not been diminished by a few more listenings. The rich score, thick with eroticism, busy and shrill at times, luscious and elegant elsewhere… makes for three compelling hours of 20th century romantic opera.
This really is (arguably) the composer’s greatest work. Profundity and beauty mingle as co-equals here. There is mid- to late Richard Strauss audible, and it bears remarkable similarities to the 1907 opera Ariane et Barbe-bleue by Paul Dukas I already mentioned. The similarity with the latter is not too surprising: Korngold, coy or blunt, said he’d copied from no other opera as much as Dukas’.
You can find the other parts here:
I – Crossover
II – Concerto
III – DVD
IV – Keyboard
V – Choral/Vocal
VI – Orchestral
VII – Chamber
VIII – Obscure Composer/Work Rescued
IX – Bach
Saturday, 1.5.08, 4:41 pm
These Are a Few of My Favorite Things – 2007, Part IX
2007 won’t see a “Best of” list — instead I’ll simply point to a few artists and works that have brought me particularly joy or particularly content listening-hours this year. I have randomly assigned them the categories Bach, Chamber, Choral /Vocal, Concerto, Contemporary, Crossover, DVD , Keyboard, Opera, Obscure Composer/Work Rescued, and Orchestral.
Bach
Bach, Mass in B-minor, Jos van Veldhoven, The Netherlands Bach Society, Channel Classics SA 25007
Jos van Veldhoven, who has previously recorded highly regarded interpretations of the Bach Passions and the Christmas Oratorio, has now added his Mass in B-Minor to the lot. Like the previous recordings, Channel Classics published it in the most luxurious CD box imaginable. The accompanying book (no booklet, this!) was produced in collaboration with the Museum Catharijneconvent and boasts some 100 pictures, reprints, and illustrations. The sturdy packaging with the golden imprint makes a pleasure just to hold in your hands.
Exteriors and superficialities should not be underestimated – but ultimately it is the content that matters. And here van Veldhoven really shines. True, at 105 minutes, this “HIP” performances is a far cry from the 2-hour-plus performances of Karl Richter, Celibidache, Scherchen, Jochum, von Karajan, Shaw, or Klemperer. For all those who insist on their B-minor masses big-boned and with might choruses, van Veldhoven with his two ripienists to a part won’t do. But for anyone who is not absolutely ruling out the “HIP” approach, this is the version that should convert to the historically informed approach… not necessarily as the exclusive means by which to achieve excellence in Bach, but as a valid approach that can offer some of the finest and most exciting music-making available in any style.
The momentum of Veldhoven is impeccable, the playing of his band, the Netherlands Bach Society Baroque Orchestra, excellent, the featured instrumentalists very fine and sometimes perfect (especially the trumpets and horns). Bass Peter Harvey delivers a Quoniam tu solus Sanctus with open, regal voice in a tempo that sounds perfectly logical and is only revealed as very speedy in comparison to other, slower but not necessarily more majestic performances.
Those who love the big “choral moments” in the B-Minor Mass will be happy to hear that they are not sacrificed to pretend-authenticity. Even with smallish forces, the sound and impact is tremendous. Ultimate splendor, for example, is achieved in the Sanctus. Van Veldhoven and the audiophile crew of Channel Classics make the 14 singers and 16-some instrumentalists involved sound like a grand ensemble – and he pushes them to create a sumptuous zenith of the Mass.
There’s an embarrassment of riches of great recordings of this work available now – but Veldhoven’s ranks among the handful of best recordings made, regardless of style and alongside Herreweghe II, Richter I, and Rilling IV.
Bach, Goldberg Variations – Sitkovetsky Strin Trio Version, Maisky, Rachlin, Imai, DG 477 6378
Dmitri Sitkovetsky’s string transcription of the Goldberg Variations must be the finest of the many re-renderings – and also the most serious. Only Sitkovetsky’s own string-trio version of his transcription is better, still.With Misha Maisky, Julian Rachlin, and Nobuko Imai recording them for Deutsche Grammophon, this adaptation may finally have received the necessary star-power and clout of a big label to overcome being considered a mere curiosity. The three musicians play with total dedication and technically flawless, take the repeats and clock in at just over 80 minutes – in time to keep the recording from sprawling onto a second disc.
I marveled at the recording when I reviewed it earlier in the year, it has lost nothing of its appeal since, and I am sure won’t, for some time.
Bach, Cello Suites, Pierre Fournier, Archiv Al Fresco 477 6724
This is a re-issue of a re-issue of a classic: Pierre Fournier’s, felt – yet patrician, warm and characterful 1961 recording of the Bach Cello Suites has aged like good wine. 2007 was very kind to the Bach cello suites, with complete recordings of Steven Isserlis’ and Jean-Guihen Queyras’ (Hyperion and Harmonia Mundi) being issued. I wonder, of course, whether I might have included one of them instead of the new super-budget release of Fournier, had I had the chance to listen to them. Especially the playing of Queyras (the slow movements in his Dvořák recording!) makes me imagine something altogether excellent. Perhaps it is also his Frenchness because of which I expect similarly great things from him as his musical countrymen Tortelier (EMI) and the impeccable, regal Fournier? But no matter the qualities of any new recording, I’ve always found Fournier the one to compare all others to in the end. Now, at just over $10, that comparison is just about mandatory – and for this reason alone Archiv’s re-release on the “al fresco” line more than merits inclusion in this list.
You can find the other parts here:
I – Crossover
II – Concerto
III – DVD
IV – Keyboard
V – Choral/Vocal
VI – Orchestral
VII – Chamber
VIII – Obscure Composer/Work Rescued
Thursday, 1.3.08, 5:02 pm
These Are a Few of My Favorite Things – 2007, Part VIII
2007 won’t see a “Best of” list — instead I’ll simply point to a few artists and works that have brought me particularly joy or particularly content listening-hours this year. I have randomly assigned them the categories Bach, Chamber, Choral/Vocal, Concerto, Contemporary, Crossover, DVD, Keyboard, Opera, Obscure Composer/Work Rescued, and Orchestral.
Obscure Composer/Work Rescued
Granville Bantock, Omar Khayyám, Vernon Handley, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Chandos CHSA 5051(3)
Take these ingredients: a bit of likable and charming Richard Strauss, a little Edward Elgar (less than you’d expect), Pfitznerian phrases here and there, camel bells (!), and Edward Fitzgerald’s Victorian translation of the poems of an eleventh-century Persian astronomer and mathematician.The result is Sir Granville Ransome Bantock’s Omar Khayyám – a three-part, three hour oratorio set in a mélange of exotic sounds from the Middle East and the European imagination of what the Middle East might be like.
It’s a fabulously audacious, glittering, gleaming work for gargantuan orchestra, three solo voices and chorus. It took Bantock (1868-1946) from 1906 to 1909 to put this dramatic oratorio about the “transience of existence” together. Throughout its various parts I hear different musical influences or accidental similarities. Apart from the above mentioned composers there are notes of Russian opera one minute, then a Meistersingerish or otherwise Wagnerian vocal line the next, and here and there hints of Pfitzner’s (1920) Eichendorff Cantata.
The work lulls significantly toward the end… a pleasantly wafting English pastoral dreamery… and more hints of C.M. von Weber, Elgar, and sweeping Film Music. To sit down for the whole three hours that the work lasts and read along the four-line verses, and perhaps even pick out the leitmotifs that Bantock employs (Ernest Newman identified them and their exact appearances are meticulously noted in the generous liner notes) is a most rewarding joy.
The BBC Symphony Orchestra plays astonishingly well, with unexpected cohesion and passion. The Chorus, Catherin Wyn-Rogers (mezzo), Toby Spence (tenor), and Roderick Williams (baritone) contribute their parts to make this premiere recording an outstanding and compelling contribution to the ever growing Bantock discography. Contributing most to that growth is that indomitable champion of good-but-neglected British music, Vernon Handley. This recording is yet another step toward most deserved knighthood for him. Chandos’ sound on this hybrid-SACD is outstanding.
Johann Gottfried Wilhelm Palschau & Johann Abraham Peter Schulz, Concertos and Solo Works for Harpsichord, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Concerto Copenhagen, DACAPO 8.226040
I like the harpsichord. Consequently I tend to like harpsichord concertos and solo works for harpsichord. But that is not to say that I am indiscriminate when it comes to the instrument. I’ll be as bored as anyone if a second-rate work is given the monotonous cembalo treatment. But whether 20th century composition or Galant-style concerto, I’ll be intrigued enough to give it a listen.
Intrigue gave way to proper enjoyment when I listened to Johann Gottfried Wilhelm Palschau’s two harpsichord concertos in C and D-major. There is little known about J.G.W.Palschau himself. He was born around the 21st December 1741, but we don’t know where, except most likely in Denmark. We know he died in St. Petersburg, but not exactly when… except probably in 1813 or 1815. He published these concertos, the only ones known to exist, in 1771 – but may well have written them before 1768. He was a child prodigy – but did not quite turn out to be a Danish Mozart.
The music is C.P.E. Bach-ish, more guarded and cautious than some of the wilder, fanciful compositions of the time. Indeed, more than a Galant-style concerto, it sounds like a ‘Concert Reminiscence’ of a Bach harpsichord concerto.
The critical reception in 1779 of J.A.P. Schulz’ Six diverses pieces pour le clavecin ou le piano forte stated that they were “among the best piano pieces of our time […] in the manner of Bach and not unworthy of him.” There is little to add to that, more than 200 years later… except perhaps the caution that Schulz, a Bach-student by second degree (his teacher J.P.Kirnberger was taught by Bach), often doesn’t actually sound much like J.S. Bach. The pieces pinpoint and reflect the time when the harpsichord was left behind in favor of the fortepiano. The admittedly (J.S.)Bachian Preludio showcases specifically the older instrument, other pieces were probably intended for the fortepiano abilities and sound accordingly different. There’s no harm in hearing them all on the harpsichord, though, played so expertly by Lars Ulrik Mortensen – who also leads the Concerto Copenhagen in the Palschau concertos. The recorded sound is exemplary and catches the harpsichord with a warm glow but never leaves smudges.
Felix Otto Dessoff, String Quartet in F-major, op.7, Mandelring Quartett, audite 97.505
I’ve already mentioned this recording of the Mandelring Quartett in the last part under “Chamber Music”. But that was for the Brahms a-minor quartet alone… and rather than point out there that the ‘filler’ on the Brahms is this neat, unknown F.O.Dessoff, the performance and the quartet deserve to be mentioned separately. That’s not only because the playing is outstanding (the recordings are 9 years old and include the former cellist of the Quartet, but the CD was released only now), but also because Dessoff’s op.7 is much more than just an afterthought to the Brahms quartet: it’s a wonderful work that deserves to be smack-dab in the middle of the string quartet repertoire of more groups than just the Mandelring Quartett. Brahms himself, a friend of Dessoff’s, found to have “such an unassuming face that one hardly dare praise it out loud… It would greatly please me to have my name printed on the front page [ of this quartet] that is amiable smiling at me…”
Holger Best’s liner notes mention that Dessoff did not want to sully his reputation as great performer with a second-rate composition. He need not have worried in this case: The F-major quartet smiles amiably, indeed. All four movements are ear-catching, a joy to listen to, unpretentious, simple but not simplistic, full of joy but not silly.
What makes it so immediately and lastingly enjoyable is perhaps that skilled but still not so very seriously well crafted (Brahms) element in it, or the fact that it is perfectly romantic without being burdened with dreamy portentousness (Schumann, some may say).
The delicate pizzicato theme running through the opening Larghetto merges with beautiful lyrical lines for an exquisite slow movement. The Poco andantino has Viennese café-house mood and gaiety running through its veins (and that from a cool northern German!). The outer movements, a driving Allegro ben moderato and a busy Allegro con brio have less a personal touch to them but are more than adequate opening and closing statements. What else did this Dessoff compose???
To the other parts:
I – Crossover
II – Concerto
III – DVD
IV – Keyboard
V – Choral/Vocal
VI – Orchestral
VII – Chamber
Tuesday, 1.1.08, 1:01 am
These Are a Few of My Favorite Things – 2007, Part VII
2007 won’t see a “Best of” list – but instead I’ll simply point to a few artists and works that have brought me particularly joy or particularly content listening-hours this year. I have randomly assigned them the categories Bach, Chamber, Choral/Vocal, Concerto, Contemporary, Crossover, DVD, Keyboard, Opera, Obscure Composer/Work Rescued, and Orchestral.
Chamber
Nielsen, String Quartets vol.1, Young Danish String Quartet, DACAPO 6.22052124507
Given that the Dane Carl Nielsen is a member of the triumvirate of Scandinavian music (with the Finn Sibelius and the Norwegian Grieg), it is a little surprising that his ‘minor works’ have not had more exposure. Apart from the Wind Quintet, the symphonies, and the opera Maskarade (or at least its overture), recordings are sparse.
All the more welcome therefore the addition of DACAPO’s first installment of his String Quartets. Played with aplomb and verve by the “Young Danish String Quartet”, this great sounding cycle on hybrid-SACDs will stand impressively next to the available sets of the Kontra- (BIS), Oslo- (Naxos), and Danish- (Kontrapunkt) quartets. Violinist Tim Frederiksen, who has recorded the quartets over a decade ago with the Danish (but not young) String Quartet, joins the junior players as second violist in the String Quintet in G-major from 1888 which, along with quartets op.13 in g-minor and op.44 in F-major, is also included on this disc.
The F-major Quartet is the more mature, and distinctively Nielsenesque work, composed in 1906 and revised in 1919. This is post-romantic music with Nielsen’s typical northern longueurs, faint touches of the modern and it is delightful indeed. And yet I am almost more impressed by the somewhat more anonymous, perhaps lesser work of Nielsen’s youth from 1887. Youthful works need not be inferior works, Erich Korngold and especially Frank Bridge wrote impressive chamber music as young as 13 and 17. And the 22 year old Nielsen may not have found his distinctive voice then, but there is something to enjoy in every movement of this well crafted work, especially the bold and unrestrained finale. The Quintet adds to this discs along similar lines as the early g-minor quartet. It pleased critics immediately upon its premiere and it has aged well. Its inclusion in this series is well deserved.
Shostakovich, String Quartets Nos. 6, 8, 11, Jerusalem Quartet, Harmonia Mundi HMC 901953
The Jerusalem Quartet, thankfully a regular guest in Washington, is an extraordinary group – but in Shostakovich they are simply great. Their spectacular 2005 recording of Quartets 1, 4, and 9 (Harmonia Mundi 901865) was followed this year by readings of Quartets nos.6, 8, and 11 and it’s just about as good.
Because of the included works it has an altogether darker, more somber hue, but the strengths of the Jerusalem Quartet come out in these works just as much. From the Allegretto of op.101 to the Finale – Moderato of op.122, they give a riveting account that is haunting in its painful moods, biting in its irony, irresistible in its drive.
In Quartet No.8, where the cool perfection of the Emerson Quartet (DG 638802 or 459670) and the Hagen Quartett (DG 650502) work best, the Jerusalem Quartet shows an alternative that is equally dark but gripping instead of offering that sense of détaché. I said it when reviewed it earlier this year and it bears repeating: Amid the plethora of groups that have issued complete Shostakovich cycles over the last ten years, this quartet is one that I actually, actively wish will offer one, too!
Brahms, String Quartet in a-minor, op.51/2, Mandelring Quartett, audite 97.505
I am – reluctantly – convinced of the merits of the Brahms String Quartet in a-minor op.51, no.2. I just have yet to be touched, charmed, or moved by it. I’ve tried to let the Emerson and the Takács String Quartets to do that for me, but they only offered excellence, not grit or inescapable passion. Three’s a charm though, and the third recording of the a-minor quartet I’ve come across this year may have done it for me.
When Brahms develops a 35 minute quartet out of just a few basic musical building blocks, the result is (or can be) an expressive stringency the kind of which got Hugo Wolf to declare Brahms the undisputed master of composing without ideas and even Britten to quip that it wasn’t bad Brahms he minded, but good Brahms that he couldn’t stand.
Usually I’d snicker with delighted, if embarrassed agreement – at least where Brahms’ string quartets are concerned. But the combination of cohesion and energy of the Mandelring Quartett (who played Brahms at the Library of Congress in 2006) makes for an unusually compelling, indeed: spellbinding performance. Brahms, for once, seems to successfully reach the pinnacle of a composer’s ambition that is the string quartet with op.51/2 — a string quartet that fascinated Schoenberg for its economy of means and made him famously declare Brahms ‘a progressive’. Now I will have to explore the other two volumes of their Brahms traversal – made only more attractive by their inclusion of string quartets of (forgotten) contemporaries of Brahms (Felix Otto Dessoff on this disc). If ever issued as a set – hopefully retaining the ‘fillers’ – it might well vie for the reference-recording spot with the Alban Berg Quartet’s EMI recording.
To the other parts:
I – Crossover
II – Concerto
III – DVD
IV – Keyboard
V – Choral/Vocal
VI – Orchestral
VIII – Obscure Composer/Work Rescued
IX – Bach
X – Opera
XI – Contemporary