RCA (ADD) SACD 61391-2. Heifetz, Boston SO, Munch – BEETHOVEN: Violin ConcertoRAVEL: Introduction and Allegro for Flute, Clarinet, Harp & Strings. DEBUSSY: Sonata for Flute, Viola & Harp. ROPARTZ: Prélude, Marine et Chansons. ROUSSEL: Sérénade
Australian Decca Eloquence (ADD) 480 2153
A desert island disc if ever there was one! The ethereal Debussy sonata and the equally heavenly Ravel Introduction and Allegro receive immaculate performances that have not been surpassed since the present record appeared in the early 1960s. The magical Roussel Sérénade has never been performed better, and the Ropartz rarity gives unfailing delight. Inspired playing and beautifully balanced recorded sound.
Violin Concerto in E min., Op. 64
RCA (ADD) SACD 61391-2. Heifetz, Boston SO, Munch – BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto
As one might expect, Heifetz gives a fabulous performance. His speeds are consistently fast, yet in the slow movement his flexible phrasing sounds so inevitable and easy that it is hard not to be convinced. The finale is a tour de force, light and sparkling, with every note in place, and Munch’s accompaniment throughout is outstanding. The 1959 recording is very good for its period and sounds well on CD, where it is paired with his outstanding Beethoven Violin Concerto.
Kyung-Wha Chung follows Heifetz’s lead and favours speeds that are faster than usual in all three movements, and the result is comparably sparkling, with the lovely slow movement fresh and songful, not at all sentimental. With warmly sympathetic accompaniment from Dutoit and the Montreal orchestra, given a full-bodied modern recording, the result is one of Chung’s happiest records and her coupling of the Bruch G minor Concerto and Scottish Fantasy may be thought more appropriate than Beethoven (Decca 460 976-2).
Overtures: Calm Sea and a Prosperous Voyage, Op. 27; Fair Melusina, Op. 32; The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave), Op. 26; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21; Ruy Blas, Op. 95; Trumpet Overture, Op. 101; Overture for Wind Instruments, Op. 24
DG 423 104-2. LSO, Abbado
Each of Mendelssohn’s overtures is infused with extraordinary imagination and a rich melodic appeal which has ensured their constant place in the repertoire. Abbado’s collection remains one of the most generally recommendable available today. Three of these performances were released with his recording of the symphonies in 1985, but the rest were new, recorded in various venues, but the sound is uniformly excellent. Included is the rare Overture for Wind (1824) and the Trumpet Overture (1826, more notable for furiously busy strings), and while neither is a forgotten masterpiece, they are entertaining and well worth having. The famous pieces – including the miraculously magical Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture, the romantically dramatic Ruy Blas and the hauntingly evocative Fingal’s Cave – sound strikingly vivid and spontaneous in Abbado’s hands, and the recording, wide in range with plenty of ambience, suits the music admirably.
Symphonies: 3 (Scottish); 4 (Italian). Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave) Overture
DG (ADD) 449 743-2. BPO, Karajan
The 20-year-old Mendelssohn visited the Western Highlands of Scotland in 1829 – one of the most beautiful places in Europe. He travelled north by coach at an average speed of four-and-a-half miles per hour to Edinburgh where – remembering its tragic association with past history – he was greatly moved by the ruins of Mary Stuart’s Chapel in Holyrood Palace. (He wrote home that ‘the chapel is now roofless, grass and ivy grow there, and at that broken altar Mary was crowned Queen of Scotland … I believe I found today in that old chapel the beginnings of my Scotch Symphony.’) And what an opening indeed, a lovely, nostalgic melody on the strings. Yet the theme is transformed again and again as the work proceeds through slow movement, Scherzo and its exultant finale. Its composer completed the work in 1841 and it is a truly lyrical and evocative masterpiece.
Mendelssohn left Edinburgh three days later, travelling uncomfortably by coach. En route, they called on Sir Walter Scott in Abbotsford. The next day they journeyed on via Stirling, Crief, Perth, Dunkeld, Blair Atholl, Killin, Pitlochry and Fort William, much the same way as one can travel today by modern roads and/or rail. It rained and rained as they passed ‘from rock to rock, many waterfalls, beautiful valleys with rivers, dark woods and heath with red heather in blossom – all stern, dark, very lonely’.
On 7 August, Mendelssohn reached Oban and went across by boat to the Island of Mull. And it was the breathtaking sight, seen from Oban harbour, of the wide bay with Mull as backcloth that brought the famous opening theme of the Hebrides Overture into Mendelssohn’s head. His party stayed in Tobermory on Mull in preparation for their boat journeys to Iona and Staffa. Even today, the voyage to Staffa in a small boat is very uncertain. (It took us three attempts before we could be sure of being able to disembark at the entrance to the cave. It is always wise to phone the Staffa ferry and check if access is possible before leaving Oban.) Mendelssohn was violently seasick on the voyage, but he never forgot the breathtaking sight of the vertical ranks of basalt rock that surround the cave.
On our third (and successful) trip, we took a small portable CD player with us, walked gingerly along the sheer rock face into the cave, waited until everyone else had gone, then sat inside the entrance, with water lapping round us, and played Karajan’s recording of the Overture right through – a magical experience you too could repeat if you are patient enough to wait for clement weather.
Karajan’s Berlin Philharmonic performance is worthy of Mendelssohn’s inspiration, and this CD makes a splendid memento of a famous Scottish visit.
(i) A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Overture and Incidental Music; (ii) Die erste Walpurgisnacht (Walpurgis Night)
Australian Decca Eloquence (ADD/DDD) 4801279. (i) Dawson, Schaechter, Frauenchor des Rundfunk, Berlin, Berlin RSO, Ashkenazy; (ii) Lilowa, Laubenthal, Krause, Sramek, Wiener Singverein, VPO, Dohnányi
There is no shortage of excellent accounts of the inspired music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream with which Mendelssohn ‘brought fairies into the orchestra’. The Overture, written in the composer’s youth, is magical enough, but it is all but matched by the incidental music, especially the Nocturne and Scherzo, which were composed much later. Ashkenazy’s account dates from 1992 and, with an excellent, warm and vivid recording, superb orchestral playing and lively direction, it is thoroughly recommendable. What makes this CD so appealing, however, is the composer’s much rarer dramatic cantata, Die erste Walpurgisnacht. Goethe’s suitably Gothic text, with its anti-Christian stance, is a bit of an oddity, but it inspired the composer to some especially dramatic writing, again evoking the supernatural world of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, if in more sinister fashion. Witches and druids are angrily pursued by Christians on the Brocken, and some of the more dramatic moments suggest that had he been given the right libretto Mendelssohn might have made an opera composer. Dohnányi’s performance dates from 1976, and is vibrantly performed and recorded. This makes an attractive double package, well worth exploring.
Cello Sonata 2 in D, Op. 58
Testament SBT 1419. Piatigorsky, Pennario (with CHOPIN: Sonata in G min. STRAUSS: Cello Sonata in F )
Gregor Piatigorsky was the greatest cellist of his generation and, after Feuermann, the finest interpreter of Bloch’s Schelomo. The first movement of the D major Sonata has something of the atmosphere of the Italian Symphony, though it is the middle movements that show Mendelssohn at his best. The playing is of the highest quality. In the Chopin coupling the pianist is Firkušný and, leaving aside the Rostropovich Argerich set on DG, this has an unsurpassed eloquence.
Octet, Op. 20
Australian Decca Eloquence (ADD) 421 637-2. ASMF Chamber Ens. – BOCCHERINI: Quintet for Cello & Strings
Mendelssohn’s Octet is one of the composer’s most inspired works – astonishing, considering it was written when the composer was aged just sixteen. Yet not only is the melodic freshness so appealing, but the work’s structural maturity completely belies the composer’s years. The slow movement is deeply eloquent, while the writing in the Scherzo and in the Presto finale is exhilarating in its wit and bubbling vitality. This 1968 performance by the ASMF is fresh and buoyant, and the recording wears its years lightly. It offers fine judgement in matters of clarity and sonority, and is coupled with a highly desirable and much less well-known work by Boccherini.
Piano Trios: 1 in D min., Op. 49; 2 in C min., Op. 66
Hyp. CDA 67485. Florestan Trio
Dazzling playing from this splendid ensemble puts the Florestan Trio at the very top of the list for these attractive and much-recorded works. The freshness of response and the virtuosity of the pianist, the inimitable Susan Tomes, make this coupling pretty irresistible. Top-quality recorded sound too.
String Quartets: 1 in E flat, Op. 12; 2 in A min., Op. 13; 3 in D; 4 in E min.; 5 in E flat, Op. 44/1–3; 6 in F min., Op. 80; Fugue (1827); Capriccio (1843); Scherzo & Theme & Variations, Op. 81
MDG 307 1055-2 (Quartets 1–2); MDG 307 1168-2 (3–4; Capriccio; Fugue); MDG 307 1056-2 (5–6; Scherzo & Theme & Variations). Leipzig Qt
The excellent Leipzig Quartet, with their warm, richly blended tone and natural finesse, give superbly polished accounts of these delightful works. Their lightness of touch and elegance are balanced by great (but not exaggerated) depth of feeling. They also have a naturalness and warmth that is most satisfying. Their performances serve as a reminder that this is great music which is all too often taken for granted by critics. This is a first-rate recommendation in every respect, with each of the three discs available separately.
But don’t make the mistake of buying the five-disc boxed set (MDG 307 1571-200) which includes a beautifully turned and graceful account of the remarkable early Quartet in E flat without opus number, which is well worth having. But it also includes the Octet and transcriptions of orchestral works (with the group augmented). The orchestral works are inessential, although quite well played and recorded; but the Octet is not helped by a recording which tends to coarseness, emphasizing both treble and bass at the expense of a detailed and balanced overall sound picture.
String Quintets 1, Op. 18; 2, Op. 87
BIS SACD 1254. Mendelssohn Quartet with R. Mann
Anyone wanting modern-instrument recordings of two of Mendelssohn’s finest chamber works could not better this BIS-SACD. The performances are full of sparkle and vitality: the outer movements have great spirit and energy while the finales with their brilliant contrapuntal writing are played with thrilling virtuosity, and the Scherzo of Op. 87 is like quicksilver, yet the Intermezzo of the same work is touchingly simple in its natural warmth. On a DVD/SACD player there is added fullness and resonance in the bass, at the same time producing a very slightly less transparent blend of timbre.
Songs without Words, Books 1–8 (complete); Albumblatt, Op. 117; Gondellied; Kinderstücke, Op. 72; 2 Klavierstücke
DG Double (ADD) 453 061-2 (2). Barenboim
This 1974 set of Mendelssohn’s complete Songs without Words, delightful music which Barenboim plays with such affectionate finesse, has dominated the catalogue for nearly four decades. The sound is first class. At DG Double price, this sweeps the board in this repertoire.
Chan. 8774/5 (2). White, Plowright, Finnie, A. Davies, L. Symphony Ch., LSO, Hickox
Richard Hickox with the London Symphony Chorus and the LSO secures a performance that both pays tribute to the English choral tradition in this work and presents it dramatically as a kind of religious opera. Willard White may not be ideally steady in his delivery, sometimes attacking notes from below, but he sings consistently with fervour. Rosalind Plowright and Arthur Davies combine purity of tone with operatic expressiveness, and Linda Finnie, while not matching the example of Dame Janet Baker in the classic EMI recording, sings with comparable dedication and directness in the solo, O rest in the Lord. The chorus fearlessly underlines the high contrasts of dynamic demanded in the score. The Chandos recording, full and immediate yet atmospheric too, enhances the drama.
St Paul, Op. 36
Chan. 10516 (2). Gritton, Rigby, Banks, Coleman-Wright, BBC Nat. Ch. & O of Wales, Hickox
Richard Hickox’s version, recorded live in Cardiff with BBC Welsh forces, completely avoids sentimentality, finding a freshness which effectively echoes the Bach Passions in punctuating the story of St Paul with chorales and the occasional ‘turba’ or crowd chorus. In brushing any Victorian cobwebs away, Hickox tends to favour speeds on the fast side, never sounding hurried but, more importantly, never sounding heavy or pompous as other German versions often do. Choral singing is excellent, and among the soloists, Susan Gritton and Jean Rigby are first rate, though the tenor, Barry Banks, is a little strained and Peter Coleman-Wright sounds rather gritty as recorded, though never wobbly. The warmth and clarity of the recording add to the freshness. It is now offered at mid-price with full texts and translations.
Amahl and the Night Visitors (opera, complete)
That’s Entertainment CDTER 1124. Haywood, Dobson, Watson, Painter, Rainbird, ROHCG Ch. & O, Syrus
Recorded under the supervision of the composer himself, this is a fresh and highly dramatic performance, very well sung and marked by atmospheric digital sound of striking realism. Central to the success of the performance is the astonishingly assured and sensitively musical singing of the boy treble, James Rainbird, as Amahl, while Lorna Haywood sings warmly and strongly as the Mother, with a strong trio of Kings.
BARTÓK: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. MUSSORGSKY (orch. Ravel): Pictures at an Exhibition; SMETANA: Má Vlast (Chicago SO, Kubelík). PROKOFIEV: (i) Love for Three Oranges: Suite; Scythian Suite; (ii) Symphony No. 5 (Dorati with (i) LSO; (ii) Minneapolis SO); Romeo and Juliet (ballet) Suites Nos. 1 & 2 (Minneapolis SO, Skrowaczewski). MUSSORGSKY: A Night on the Bare Mountain (LSO, Dorati); Pictures at an Exhibition (Minneapolis SO, Dorati plus solo piano version performed by Janis). CHOPIN: Études in F &A min. (Janis). KODÁLY: (i) Dances of Galánta; Marosszék Dances; (ii) Háry János: Suite. (ii) BARTÓK: Hungarian Sketches; Romanian Folk Dances (Dorati with (i) Philharmonia Hungarica; (ii) Minneapolis SO). ENESCU: Romanian Rhapsodies 1 & 2. BRAHMS: Hungarian Dances; Variations on a Theme by Haydn. LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsodies 1–6. STRAVINSKY: The Firebird; Fireworks; Four Études for Orchestra; Scherzo à la Russe; Song of the Nightingale; Tango. TCHAIKOVSKY: The Nutcracker. BEETHOVEN: Wellington’s Victory (LSO, Dorati). DVOŘÁK: Slavonic Dances; STRAVINSKY: Petrushka; The Rite of Spring. TCHAIKOVSKY: Capriccio Italien; 1812 Overture (Minneapolis SO, Dorati); Serenade for Strings in C (Philharmonia Hungarica, Dorati). COPLAND: (i) Appalachian Spring; Billy the Kid; (ii) Danzón Cubano; El Salón México (Dorati with (i) LSO; (ii) Minneapolis SO). SCHUMANN: Violin Concerto; MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto; BRAHMS: Violin Concerto; KHACHATURIAN: Violin Concerto (Szeryng, LSO, Dorati). BARTÓK: Romanian Folk Dances. DEBUSSY: La Plus que lente; NOVÁCEK: Moto Perpetuo; BRAHMS: Hungarian Dances. MARROQUÍN: Mexican Lullaby. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Flight of the Bumble-Bee. KREISLER: Allegretto (in the Style of Boccherini); Caprice Viennois; Chanson Louis XIII and Pavane; Liebesleid; Liebesfreud; Menuet; The Old Refrain; Praeludium and Allegro; (i) Recitativo and Scherzo-Caprice. Rondino (on a Theme by Beethoven); Schön Rosmarin; Tambourin chinois; Tempo di Menuetto. LECLAIR: Violin Sonata No. 3; GLUCK: Melodie. LOCATELLI: The Labyrinth (Szeryng, Charles Reiner; (i) Szeryng unaccompanied). BACH: 6 Unaccompanied Suites for Cello; (i) 2 Sonatas for Cello & Piano. BRAHMS: Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2; MENDELSSOHN: Cello Sonata No. 2 (Starker, (i) with Sebök). DVOŘÁK: Cello Concerto. BRUCH: Kol Nidrei; TCHAIKOVSKY: Variations on a Rococo Theme (Starker, LSO, Dorati). (i) BOCCHERINI: Cello Sonata in A; VIVALDI: Cello Sonata in E min.; CORELLI: Cello Sonata in D min.; LOCATELLI: Cello Sonata in D; VALENTINI: Cello Sonata in E; (ii) BACH: Cello Sonata in G min. (Starker with (i) Swedish; (ii) Sebök). BARTÓK: (i) Violin Concerto No. 2. Second Suite (Minneapolis SO, Dorati with (i) Yehudi Menuhin). BARTÓK: Bluebeard’s Castle (with Olga Szönyi, Mihály Székely, LSO, Dorati). BERG: Wozzeck: 3 excerpts (with Helga Pilarczyk, LSO, Dorati). (i) CHOPIN: Piano Concertos 1 & 2; BEETHOVEN: Piano Concertos 4; (ii) 5(Emperor) (Bachauer, LSO with (i) Dorati; (ii) Skrowaczewski). BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 2 (Bachauer, LSO, Skrowaczewski); Variations on a Theme by Paganini; LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12; BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 9; RAVEL: Gaspard de la nuit; DEBUSSY: 3 Préludes; STRAVINSKY: 3 Movements from Petrushka (Bachauer). (i) SCHUMANN: Cello Concerto in A min.; LALO: Cello Concerto in D min.; (ii) SAINT-SAËNS: Cello Concerto in A min. (Starker, LSO with (i) Skrowaczewski; (ii) Dorati). KHACHATURIAN: Gayaneh (ballet) Suite (LSO, Dorati). SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5 (Minneapolis SO, Skrowaczewski). SUPPÉ: Overtures: The Beautiful Galatea; Boccaccio; Light Cavalry; Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna; Pique Dame; Poet and Peasant; AUBER: Overtures: The Bronze Horse; Fra Diavolo; Masaniello. BERLIOZ: Overtures: The Corsair; Overture: The Roman Carnival; Symphonie fantastique; Hungarian March; Trojan March (Detroit SO, Paray). LISZT: Piano Concertos (i) 1 & (ii) 2 (Janis, Moscow PO with (i) Kondrashin; (ii) Rozhdestvensky); Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6; Sonetto del Petrarca 104; Valse oubliée; SCHUMANN: Novellette in F; Romance in F sharp; FALLA: The Miller’s Dance; GUION: The Harmonica Player; PROKOFIEV: Toccata; SCHUMANN: Variations on a Theme by Clara Wieck; MENDELSSOHN: Song without Words, Op. 62/1; PINTO: 3 Scenes from Childhood (Janis). PROKOFIEV: Piano Concerto No. 3; RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Janis, Moscow PO, Kondrashin); Piano Concerto No. 2 (Janis, Minneapolis SO, Dorati); Piano Concerto No. 3 (Janis, LSO, Dorati); Preludes in E flat and C sharp min. (Janis). SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto (Janis, Minneapolis SO, Skrowaczewski); Arabeske (Janis). TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concerto No. 1 (Janis, LSO, Menges). HANSON: For the First Time; Merry Mount Suite; Mosaics; (i) Piano Concerto (Eastman-Rochester O, Composer with (i) Mouledous). McBRIDE: Mexican Rhapsody; NELSON: Savannah River Holiday; MITCHELL: Kentucky Mountain Portraits; VARDELL: Joe Clark Steps Out; STILL: Sahdji; GINESTERA: Overture to the Creole ‘Faust’; GROFÉ: Grand Canyon Suite; Mississippi Suite; HERBERT: (i) Cello Concerto No. 2 (Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, Hanson with (i) Miquelle). JACOB: William Byrd Suite; WALTON: Crown Imperial; HOLST: Hammersmith: Prelude and Scherzo; BENNETT: Symphonic Songs for Band; WILLIAMS: Fanfare and Allegro; HEED: In Storm and Sunshine; ALLEN: Whip and Spur; KING: The Big Cage; Circus Days; Invictus; Robinson’s Grand Entree; FILLMORE: Americans We; Bones Trombone; The Circus Bee; Rolling Thunder; HUFFINE: Them Basses; JEWELL: The Screamer; FUCIK: Thunder and Blazes; FARRAR: Bombasto; HUFF: The Squealer; RIBBLE: Bennett’s Triumphal; DUBLE: Bravura; GOLDMAN: Boy Scouts of America; Bugles and Drum; Children’s March; Illinois March; Interlochen Bowl; Onward-Upward; HALL: Officer of the Day; SEITZ: March ‘Grandioso’; REEVES: Second Regiment, Connecticut National Guard March; ALFORD: The Mad Major; RODGERS: Guadalcanal March; SOUSA: Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company; The Black Horse Troop; Bullets and Bayonets; The Gallant Seventh; The Glory of the Yankee Navy; Golden Jubilee; The Gridiron Club; The High School Cadets; The Invincible Eagle; The Kansas Wildcats; The Liberty Bell; Manhattan Beach; The National Game; New Mexico; Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; Our Flirtations; The Picadore; The Pride of the Wolverines; Riders for the Flag; The Rifle Regiment; Sabre and Spurs; Sesqui-Centennial Exposition; Solid Men to the Front!; Sound Off; ‘The Civil War, its Music and its Sounds’ (Eastman Wind Ens., Fennell). ‘Hi-Fi a la Española and Popovers’: FAITH: Brazilian Sleigh Bells; LECUONA: Andalucia; Malagueña; GRANADOS: Intermezzo; BENJAMIN: Jamaican Rumba; FERNANDEZ: Batuque; TEXIDOR: Amparito Roca; FALLA: Ritual Fire Dance; TURINA: The Bullfighter’s Prayer; GUARNIERI: Brazilian Dance; DINICU: Hora Staccato; LISZT: Liebestraum; CZIBULKA: Love’s Dream After the Ball; SIBELIUS: Finlandia; DEBUSSY: Clair de Lune; SHOSTAKOVICH: Polka (Eastman-Rochester Pops Orchestra, Fennell). ‘Balalaika Favorites’: BUDASHKIN: Fantasy on Two Folk Songs; TRAD.: At Sunrise; Evening Bells; My Dear Old Friend, Please Visit Me; KULIKOV: The Linden Tree; OSIPOV: Kamarinskaya; MIKHAILOV-SHALAYEV: Fantasy on Volga Melodies; ANDREYEV: In the Moonlight; Under the Apple Tree; Waltz of the Faun; SOLOVIEV-SEDOY: Midnight in Moscow; TCHAIKOVSKY: Dance of the Comedians; SHISHAKOV: The Living Room; RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Flight of the Bumble-Bee (Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra, Gnutov). TRAD.: Sevillanas; GRANADOS: Intermezzo; TORROBA: Allegretto (from Sonatina in A); Llamada; ALBENIZ: Sevilla; SOR: Obbligato on Étude in B min.; C. ROMERO: Noche en Málaga; Romantic Prelude; TÁRREGA: Lágrima; VILLA-LOBOS: Prelude No. 3; VISÉE: Suite in D min.; NARVÁEZ: Cuatro diferencias sobre Guárdame las vacas; GALILEI: Suite of Six Dances; MILAN: 3 Pavanas; BACH: Bourrée; Gavottes I ⅈ Minuet; DOWLAND: King of Denmark’s Galliard; RAMEAU: Gavotte en Rondeau; SANZ: Españoleta (The Romeros). ‘Flamenco!’: TRAD.: Carabana Gitana; Fandangos por Verdiales; Farruca y Rumba; Fiesta en Jerez; Garrotin; Jota; Lamento Anduluz; Peteneras; Tanguillos; Zorongo; GRANADOS: Spanish Dance No. 6; TÁRREGA: Recuerdos de la Alhambra; SINOPOLI: Vidalita (Pepe Romero). RODRIGO: Concierto de Aranjuez (Angel Romero); Concierto Andaluz for Four Guitars and Orchestra (The Romeros); VIVALDI: Concerto in B min. for Four Guitars; Concerto in C for Guitar and Orchestra (Celedonio Romero); Concerto in G for Two Guitars (Pepe and Celin Romero) (all with San Antonio SO, Alessandro)
Mercury mono/stereo 478 3566 (51)
Mercury recordings still generate a certain frisson with collectors. The characteristic, up-front sound, distinctive from the early mono recordings (made with a single microphone) and a mark too of the stereo releases (made with just three microphones), amazes even today in its sheer vividness. Mercury’s bold ‘Living Presence’ logo and vibrant artwork made a tremendous impact in the 1950s and ’60s, and this handsome box set makes a fine tribute to the company, and above all to Wilma Cozart Fine, the remarkable recording director of Mercury records. This set includes Mercury’s first ever recording, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, coupled to the second recording they made, Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta (1951) with, both Rafael Kubelík and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The realism of the Mussorgsky (in spite of some thinness in the top range of the strings) still has the power to astonish. The performance has great freshness with not a hint of routine anywhere; there are many subtleties, particularly as one picture or promenade is dovetailed into another. The orchestral virtuosity in Tuileries, Limoges and the Chicks’ ballet is brilliant but possesses Ravelian delicacy too; similarly the central section of Baba-Yaga has a gently sinister quality that is very telling. The Bartók coupling is most compelling too, with great intensity obtained from the opening bars and maintained throughout the performance. Kubelík’s complete Má Vlast dates from the following year and remains one of the freshest accounts committed to disc.
The rest of the CDs are in stereo, with the indefatigable Antal Dorati featuring in almost half the contents of the box. One forgets how many landmark LPs he made for Mercury. Included here are his famous explosive recordings of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and Beethoven’s Wellington’s Victory (each with a fascinating documentary about the recording), his magical version of the complete Nutcracker and, almost above all, his recording of Stravinsky’s Firebird, which has never been matched in terms of spine-tingling vividness in both sound and music-making. His Petrushka and A Rite of Spring are hardly less impressive either, and he excelled in virtuoso colourful scores of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His performance of Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite is still the most exciting committed to disc, and the rest of his Prokofiev recordings included here – the Fifth Symphony and The Love for Three Oranges: Suite – are similarly gripping.
Dorati’s flair for colourful music is well displayed in his spontaneous-sounding Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodies, Dvořák Slavonic Dances, and Brahms Hungarian Dances as well as in the Hungarian music of Kodály (the Háry János Suite and the Marosszék and Galánta Dances) and Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsodies. The Gayaneh ballet music of Khachaturian was well suited to this conductor, as was the music of Aaron Copeland; his recording of the latter caused quite a sensation when it first appeared, for its precision of detail and brilliance of colour. The gunshots, with their clean percussive transients in Billy the Kid remain electrifying. Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle receives a performance with more emphasis on power than mystery and features brilliant playing from the LSO. Mihály Székely as Bluebeard is taut and intense while Olga Szönyi, though more uneven, is strong and incisive. Excerpts from Berg’s Wozzeck follow on from the Bartók, and excellent they are too.
Dorati also accompanies an array of impressive soloists: Yehudi Menuhin in perhaps his finest version of the Bartók Violin Concerto No. 2; János Starker in a full-blooded account of the Dvořák Cello Concerto and an excellent account of the delightful Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 1 (Starker also appears on a disc of baroque solo cello sonatas, the Bach Cello Sonatas, Brahms Cello Sonatas & 2 and Mendelssohn Cello Sonata No. 2 – all made when this artist was at his peak); Gina Bachauer’s impressive performances of the Chopin Piano Concertos are included and are notable in that in no other recordings of this repertoire have the orchestral accompaniments been given such a strong profile as they have under Dorati. These two artists are partnered again for a performance of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, and, if it is not among the finest accounts available on CD, it is still very good indeed; and again, in her account of the Emperor Concerto (conducted by Skrowaczewski), Bachauer admirably balances romantic power with classical elegance.
Henryk Szeryng appears in rather disappointing performances of the Brahms and Khachaturian Violin Concertos (even Dorati is not on top form here), though both are on better form for the Schumann and Mendelssohn Violin Concertos (Szeryng is also represented on a disc of ‘Violin favourites’, with pianist Charles Reiner, all most attractive and appealing). With Byron Janis, Dorati made a superb account of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto (with the LSO) and a very fine version of the Second (with the Minneapolis SO); Janis’s vivid solo piano account of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is also included and coupled with the familiar orchestral version with Dorati. Janis also appears on recordings made in Russia, notably the two Piano Concertos of Liszt (conducted by Kondrashin and Rozhdestvensky respectively) – still top recommendations today. He also provides comparably riveting accounts of the Prokofiev No. 3 and Rachmaninov No. 1 (both with Kondrashin). He was no less successful in his London recordings of Schumann’s Piano Concerto (a lovely performance, conducted by Skrowaczewski, another consistently excellent Mercury conductor) and the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto (conducted by Menges), in which Janis dazzles in the same way he does in his Rachmaninov recordings.
Gina Bachauer’s performance of Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit features the poems which inspired the music (by Aloysius Bertrand) read by Sir John Gielgud, and this partnership is coupled to her sympathetic performances of Debussy and Stravinsky. Her account of Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto (with Skrowaczewski and the LSO) is very sympathetic if not quite among the best available. Stanisław Skrowaczewski also directs a sometimes wilful but always exciting performance of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony (with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra) and his accounts of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet ballet suites are well characterized and gripping.
Howard Hanson was both an excellent conductor and and excellent composer, and the Mercury box includes a CD of his own highly attractive music, which is melodic, inventive and beautifully coloured, while another disc combines his vibrant performances of Grofé’s Grand Canyon Suite (with its spectacular Cloudburst) and Mississippi Suite, coupled to Victor Herbert’s pleasing Cello Concerto No. 2 (with Georges Miquelle). His ‘Fiesta in Hi-Fi’ recording is remarkable for its vividness, but the dry, up-front sound balance is a drawback (the recordings date from 1956–9). However, the disc features interestingly rare repertoire, including Gineastera’s Overture to the Creole ‘Faust’. Paul Paray made many remarkable recordings for Mercury, galvanizing his Detroit sessions with his distinctive (and now almost extinct) French style of conducting. The three Auber overtures receive scintillating performances which have never been surpassed in terms of sheer joie de vivre, and they are coupled with Suppé overtures similarly imbued with a Gallic spirit. His excitingly hard-pressed Symphonie fantastique is full of passionate, mercurial neurosis which may be over-the-top for some listeners, but the other Berlioz items come off with comparable electricity. It is a pity that only two of his CDs feature in this set.
Mercury sometimes went ‘off-piste’ in its choice of repertoire, and the first recording they made in Russia (in fact, the first recording ever made in the Soviet Union by an American company), ‘Balalaika Favourites’, is irresistible in its vitality and heart-on-sleeve tunes. Indeed, this is one of the unexpected surprises in the Mercury catalogue and is completely captivating. The guitar quartet The Romeros are represented on two CDs, one a varied and colourful programme of mainly Spanish guitar music, balanced by some delightful pieces from the baroque repertoire; the other offers concertos (mainly arrangements of Vivaldi), with Angel Romero having the solo in the justly famous Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez. Pepe Romero also has a CD all to himself in his 1962 recital ‘Flamenco!’ and this, like the other CDs featuring The Romeros, offers characteristically vivid sound.
Mercury made several recordings of wind-band music with the Eastman Wind Ensemble under Frederick Fennell, of which Gordon Jacob’s William Byrd Suite is particularly piquant. The ensemble’s discs of Sousa and circus marches, ‘Screamers’, have a rip-roaring, explosive energy which is almost shattering. ‘Hi-Fi a la Española and Popovers’, also conducted by Fennell, with the Eastman-Rochester Pops Orchestra, is similarly arresting in its music-making, with Benjamin’s engaging Jamaican Rumba contrasting with more red-blooded numbers such as Texidor’s Amparito Roca. An imposing Finlandia, along with other more ‘classical’ pieces, complete the rest of that CD, where Dinicu’s Hora Staccato will raise an affectionate smile. No doubt designed to show off Mercury’s technical prowess, ‘The Civil War, its Music and its Sounds’ remains striking technically, enjoyable musically and certainly entertaining.
The excellent booklet gives us detailed essays on some of these unique recordings, such as ‘The Civil War, its Music and its Sounds’ and ‘Mercury Living Presence Goes to Russia’. And a bonus CD features a short interview with Wilma Cozart Fine, the label’s recording director, whom we had an opportunity to meet personally when she came to England to supervise the transfer of the label’s LP recordings to CD.
She told us how, in her relative youth, as just plain Wilma Cozart, but with a university major in music, she went into the company’s HQ and offered her services to set up a classical label. She was welcomed with open arms and given a batch of classical tapes for which she was asked to arrange sleeve notes and artwork. She soon returned to suggest that the tapes were of poor quality and would do the company’s reputation no good, particularly as in Bob Fine they had a first-class recording engineer who was already making spectacular recordings of popular music. She suggested that at that time several of America’s most famous orchestras, including those in Chicago, Minneapolis and Detroit, who were not then under contract to any of the major recording labels, could between them, and with others added later, create a special kind of new classical repertoire.
So it was that she and Bob Fine formed a partnership to make records of the highest quality that were soon to make Mercury famous as a source of classical as well as popular repertoire. Moreover, Fine created a new stereo recording system that used only three microphones to capture the whole orchestra, and the results were astonishingly natural and realistic. The Mercury achievement astonished the recording world, and to set the seal on their relationship Wilma and Bob made it personal when they later married.
Les Deux Pigeons
Australian Decca Eloquence 476 2448. Welsh Nat. Op. O, Bonynge
Messager’s charming gypsy ballet was premièred at the Paris Opéra in 1886 on the same bill as Donizetti’s La Favorita. But it swiftly established its independence, to remain on the repertoire and be revived (with new choreography by Fredrick Ashton) by the Sadler’s Wells Company in 1961. We are familiar with the suite, but this is the first complete recording. The music is light but cleverly scored, after the manner of Delibes; agreeably tuneful, it does not wear out its welcome. Bonynge secures playing from the Welsh Opera Orchestra that is consistently graceful and sparkling, and if the sound is vivid and naturally balanced, it is not quite out of Decca’s very top drawer. Superb value at its Eloquence price.
Turangalîla Symphony
RCA stereo/mono 2CD 74321 84601-2. Leanne Loriod (ondes martenot), Yvonne Loriod (piano), Toronto SO, Ozawa – ROUSSEL: Symphonic 3 & 4 etc.
Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony is on an epic scale, in some ways seeking to embrace almost the totality of human experience. Turanga is ‘Time’ and also implies rhythmic movement. Lîla is ‘love’ and, with strong inspiration from the Tristan and Isolde legend, Messiaen’s love-music dominates his conception of human experience. The actual love-sequences, both serene and poetically sensuous, feature the ondes martenot with its ‘velvety glissandi’. The piano obbligato is also a strong feature of the score.
Ozawa’s performance comes from 1967, but you would never guess that from the brilliantly atmospheric sound, which is just as vivid as some of the newer versions, such as Nagano’s Erato version (which seems determined to emphasize all the bizarre qualities of the score), and has more warmth and atmosphere. Yvonne Loriod’s piano is placed too far forward but her contribution is undoubtedly seminal, and the overall balance is otherwise well managed. The performance itself is brilliantly played: it has plenty of electricity, and a warm sensuality too. It was and remains one of Ozawa’s best recordings and is now reissued in a 2-CD set coupled with Roussel.
Couleurs de la Cité Céleste; Hymne au Saint-Sacrement; (i) 3 Petites liturgies de la présence divine
DG 477 7944. R. France PO, Myung-Whun Chung, (i) with Maîtrise de R. France
This was the first of two outstanding single-CD collections of Messiaen’s music especially recorded by DG for the centenary of the composer’s birth. (The other is a recital by Pierre-Laurent Aimard – see below). We already know the extraordinary patina of Couleurs de la Cité Céleste from the Boulez version, but Myung-Whun Chung’s version if anything is even more multicoloured and atmospheric. The Hymne, with its long serene opening theme on the strings, in the words of Paul le Flem, ‘evokes a mysticism where ecstasy and fervour are combined’. The Trois petites liturgies are even more ambitious, intended, in the composer’s words, ‘to bring a kind of organized act of praise into the concert room’, dominated by ecstatic singing from the female chorus, but bringing in a repeated chorale on the strings based on the love theme we know in Turangalîla. The scoring includes tuned percussion, the gamelan, ondes martenot and piano and, in the finale, semi-spoken incantations. The work shows the composer at his most imaginative and most haunting, and it is given an inspired performance and superb recording, appropriately in Radio France’s Salle Olivier Messiaen.
Piano Music: Catalogue d’oiseaux: Book 3: L’Alouette Lulu. Book 5: La Bouscarle. 4 Études de rythme: Ile de feu I & II. 8 Préludes
DG 477 7452. Pierre-Laurent Aimard
This is another of the key records of the Messiaen centenary celebrations. Pierre-Laurent Aimard had a personal relationship with the composer and studied with Yvonne Loriod, and his performances have rare authority. He plays all eight of the early Préludes (of 1928/9), readily finding Messiaen’s special brand of intimate and extrovert impressionism, both highly original and underpinned by a Debussian inheritance. But the titles Song of ecstasy in a sad landscape, The impalpable sounds of a dream and A reflection in the wind are very much Messiaen’s own conceptions. The two excerpts from Catalogue d’oiseaux are completely contrasted, both unpredictable and both requiring real virtuosity; they are marvellously played. Similarly the extraordinary, exotic, even jazzy rhythms of Ile de feu are controlled with amazing sharpness of articulation. The piano recording is wonderfully clear – very much in the demonstration bracket.
Complete Organ Music: (i) Apparition de l’Église éternelle; L’Ascension; Le Banquet céleste; Les Corps glorieux; Diptyque; Livre d’orgue; Livre du Saint-Sacrement; Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité; Messe de la pentecôte; La Nativité du Seigneur; Verset pour la fête de la Dédicace. (ii) Three posthumous works: Monodie; Offrande au Saint Sacrement; Prélude (with birdsong in Messiaen’s music)
BIS CD 1770/72 (7). Hans-Ola Ericsson, (i) on Grönlund organ of Lulea Cathedral, Sweden; (ii) on Gerald Woehl organ of Katharinenkirche, Oppenheim, Germany
The outstanding complete survey of Messiaen’s organ music by Hans-Ola Ericsson on BIS is of outstanding quality, both musical and technical. It includes recordings of the three posthumous pieces, a 232-page booklet documenting the music and, as an appendix, there are recordings of the bird-calls indicated in Messaien’s organ scores. The seven CDs come for the price of three.
DG 469 052-2. Shaham, Meyer, Wang, Chung
Messiaen’s visionary and often inspired piece was composed during his days in a Silesian prison camp. Among his fellow prisoners were a violinist, a clarinettist and a cellist, who, with the composer at the piano, made its creation possible. This DG recording must take pride of place among its rivals. It is a performance of the highest quality, with a level of concentration and intensity that grips the listener from first to last, and it is superbly recorded. There are notes by both Messiaen and the cellist Étienne Pasquier, who was interned with Messiaen and took part in the première at the German prisoner-of-war camp in January 1941.
Les Patineurs (ballet suite, arr. & orch. Lambert)
Australian Decca Eloquence (ADD) 476 2742. Israel PO, Martinon (with DVOŘÁK: Slavonic Dances, Op. 46/1-8; Op. 72/7) – MASSENET: Le Cid
On this vintage LP the sheer vividness of the opening number, with its growling cellos, the swagger of the um-pa-pa rhythm of the strings, and the thundering timpani-strokes are startling even in the SACD age – and, praise be, the transfer is superb. No less remarkable is the quality of the playing, with Martinon inducing the Israeli orchestra to play this repertoire as usually only the French can – the performance explodes with vitality and colour. A unique collector’s item, bursting with joie de vivre.
Les Huguenots
Decca (ADD) 430 549-2 (4). Sutherland, Vrenios, Bacquier, Arroyo, Tourangeau, Ghiuselev, New Philh. O, Bonynge
Les Huguenots is one of the best – and most spectacular – examples of Meyerbeer’s grand operas, written during the golden age of such works. It was premièred in 1836, after the composer had taken some five years composing the score, and it is very far from being an empty showpiece of a work. Indeed, Meyerbeer lavished an inordinate amount of care on this work, carefully researching the historical elements of the story (the St Bartholomew’s Eve massacre) and applying an intellectual rigour to the scoring, and filling the opera with both colour and striking orchestral touches. For instance, Marcel’s ‘Piff-Paff’ aria, with its piquant woodwind and percussion, is both appropriate and quirky, quite unlike anything else in music. Similarly, Raoul’s romance in Act I, featuring the viola d’amore, is another nicely individual touch. Of course, there are plenty of rollicking good tunes to admire, plus show-stopping virtuoso arias, exciting choruses, while each of the Acts builds up to an impressively exciting finale.
Les Huguenots was known as ‘the night of the seven stars’ because of its requirement for seven top-grade artists and, although here the tenor Anastasios Vrenios is somewhat under-powered, seemingly swamped at times, he copes well with the extraordinarily high tessitura, which is more than most rivals have done. Martina Arroyo, too, is below her best as Valentine, but the star quality is unmistakable. Sutherland is predictably impressive. Her ‘O beau pays’ is thrillingly done (and complete, unlike her famous early version on ‘The Art of the Prima Donna’), with much attention to detail. Tourangeau as the page is another highlight. Originally written for a lyric soprano, Meyerbeer re-wrote the role for contralto Marietta Alboni, and gave her a sparkling aria. ‘Non, non, non, vous n’avez jamais’ is a show-stopper of a piece and is deliciously done here by Tourangeau. The rest of the cast is generally excellent, with Gabriel Bacquier and Nicola Ghiuselev fine in their roles. This is by far the most successful recording of this work and with a brilliant recording to match the ambitions of the project. It is well worth investigating by all lovers of French opera and sounds newly minted in its latest CD transfer.
Alastor, Op. 14; Lyric Concertino in G, Op. 32/2; Sinfonietta in A min., Op. 68/2
Alto ALC 1043. USSR State SO, Svetlanov
What an endearing composer Miaskovsky is! Alastor is an early tone-poem from 1910 and is redolent of Glazunov or Arensky – and is marvellously laid out for the orchestra. The charming Lyric Concertino with its haunting slow movement comes from the same period as the Tenth Symphony, and the Sinfonietta for Strings is a post-war work steeped in the gentle, resigned melancholy that characterizes his last years. Very rewarding, and played with total commitment by Svetlanov and his Moscow orchestra. This is a record to which you will return again and again, always with delight.
Divertissement, Op. 80; Silence, Op. 9; Sinfonietta in B min., Op. 32/2
Alto ALC 1042. Russian Federation Ac. SO, Svetlanov
Silence is an early tone-poem based on Edgar Allan Poe and dating from 1909. Miaskovsky played it through with his friend Prokofiev. The influence of Wagner and Rachmaninov (particularly The Isle of the Dead) is to be felt. The Sinfonietta for Strings of 1929 acted as a kind of calling card for the composer during the 1930s and was widely heard in Europe and America. The Divertissement comes from 1948, the year in which Zhdanov launched his attack on all the leading Soviet composers of the day, including Miaskovsky. There is a poignant lyricism here and in the first movement an endearing waltz theme that recalls those in Prokofiev’s War and Peace. Dedicated performances and more than acceptable sound.
Symphonies 1–27. Silence, Op. 9; Sinfonietta in B min., Op. 32/2; Divertissement, Op. 80
Warner Classics 2564 69689-8 (16). Russian Federation Ac. SO, Svetlanov
Miaskovsky is a master symphonist, completely neglected in the concert hall and cold-shouldered by the gramophone companies. Svetlanov believes in this music ardently and his sympathy shines through every bar. The First Symphony, also recorded by Rozhdestvensky, is very much in the received tradition, as are its immediate successors; it is in the massive, hour-long Sixth of 1922 with a choral finale that Miaskovsky finds his real voice: the delicacy and intense nostalgia of the trio section of the Scherzo is wonderfully affecting and unlike any of his contemporaries. Explore its successors from the interwar years and each has its own distinctive sound-world. No. 21 used to represent the composer in the post-war world but its imposing successor, 22, ‘Ballade’, in B minor has richness of vision and breadth of canvas. The pervasive melancholy of No. 25 (a close neighbour of the wonderful Cello Concerto) and one of the finest and most expressive, is totally and refreshingly out-of-keeping with the spirit of its times though it is No. 27, which he never lived to hear, that sounds as if it comes from the 1880s rather than 1950. This is a treasure house. However, readers should check that Symphony No. 18 is included, as some sets were issued without it!
(i) Ballade for Piano & Orchestra, Op. 61 Piano Concerto 4, Op. 295; (ii) Symphonies 4, Op. 281; 8 in D (Rhodanienne), Op. 362
Warner Apex 0927 49982-2. (i) Helffer, O Nat. de France, Robertson; (ii) Fr. R. & TV PO, composer
An immensely valuable budget reissue. The Ballade (1920) was composed for Roussel, and Milhaud made his piano début at its première in New York: its languorous opening seems to hark back to his days in Brazil. The Fourth Piano Concerto (1949), written for the virtuoso, Sadel Zkolowsky, is an inventive piece of some substance, with a particularly imaginative and evocative slow movement. Claude Helffer is an admirable exponent of both works, and he and David Robertson readily catch the music’s special atmosphere.
The Fourth Symphony was commissioned by French Radio in commemoration of the centenary of the 1848 uprising and revolution, and its four movements offer a vivid portrayal of those events. It is scored for unusually large forces, including two saxophones and a vast array of percussion, all heard to good effect in the first movement, which depicts the uprising with massive polytonal and dissonant clashes; the second laments the fallen, the third describes liberty rediscovered, and the finale is almost festive. The Eighth Symphony, written in the late 1950s for a new concert hall at the University of California, is subtitled Rhodanienne and evokes the course of the river Rhône from its beginnings in the Alps down to the Camargue. Rich in instrumental resource, it is full of imaginative colours and textures, and the playing of the Orchestre Philharmonique de l’ORTF for Milhaud himself is absolutely first rate. These performances date from 1968, and the sound is much cleaned up for this CD, which commands an unqualified recommendation.
(i) Le Bœuf sur le toit, Op. 58; (iv; ii) Le Carnaval d’Aix, Op. 83b; (i) La Création du monde, Op. 81a; Saudades do Brasil, Nos. 7–9 & 11; (ii) Suite française, Op. 248; Suite provençale, Op. 152b; (iii) Le Bal martiniquais, Op. 249; (iii–v) Paris, Op. 284; (iii) Scaramouche, Op. 165b
Brilliant 90071/2. (i) O Nat. de France, Bernstein; (ii) Monte Carlo O, Prêtre; (iii) Lee, Ivaldi; (iv) Béroff, (v) Collard
An ideal introduction to this genial composer at a very modest outlay. It brings Bernstein’s exhilarating 1971 HMV recordings of La Création du monde and Le Bœuf sur le toit, still unsurpassed in their flair, together with slightly later recordings by four distinguished French pianists. In the adorable Carnaval d’Aix, Michel Béroff is the soloist with the Monte Carlo Orchestra under Georges Prêtre, an ideal conductor in this repertoire. Altogether outstanding value.
Le Carnaval d’Aix, Op. 83b; Ballade, Op. 61; Piano Concertos 1, Op. 127; 2, Op. 228; 3, Op. 270; 4, Op. 295; 5, Op. 346; 5 Études for Piano & Orchestra, Op. 63; Fantaisie Pastorale, Op. 188
CPO 777 162-2 (2). Korstick, Basle RSO, Francis
Milhaud recorded the First Concerto with Marguerite Long in the days of 78-r.p.m. discs, but there are few alternative versions of the remaining four. Even the captivating Le Carnaval d’Aix, based on his ballet Salade, which ought to be as popular as La Création du monde or the Suite provençale, is relatively rare in the concert hall. Together, the pieces on these two CDs comprise Milhaud’s complete output for piano and orchestra. At its best it is sunny and irresistible music and always fluently inviting. Very persuasive and strongly recommended.
(i; ii) Concertino de printemps (2 versions); (iii) Piano Concerto 1; (ii) Violin Concerto 2; (iv) Suite française; (v) Scaramouche (suite for 2 pianos)
Dutton mono CDBP 9711. (i) Astruc with O; (ii) Kaufman, French R. O (members); (iii) Long, O Nat. de France; (iv) NYPO; all cond. composer; (v) Sellick and Smith
Milhaud regarded melody as ‘the only living element in music’ and turned all his resources to the expression of melodic ideas, often spring-like in their freshness and charm. No more so than in the vivacious Concertino de printemps which, in a Dutton scoop, is given here, first in its brilliant (1933) première recording by Yvonne Astruc, and also in an even more breathtaking later version (1949), dazzlingly played by Louis Kaufman. Yet both performances reveal the music’s underlying expressive nostalgia, and this is found again in the ‘Slow and sombre’ middle movement of the Second Violin Concerto, which Kaufman also plays superbly, delivering the finale with sparkling virtuosity. He is recorded closely but truthfully.
Marguerite Long (in 1935) scintillates in the small-scale Piano Concerto, and the composer delivers the full bonhomie of the Suite française, even if here the dated New York recording is brash and two-dimensional. For the most part, however, the splendid Dutton transfers make one forget the early provenance of these always vivid recordings. The performance of Scaramouche by Cyril Smith and Phyllis Sellick is unsurpassed, with the light-hearted Brazilian syncopations of the finale especially infectious, and here the 1948 Abbey Road recording sounds very realistic.
Music for 2 Pianos: Le Bal martiniquais, Op. 249; Le Bœuf sur le toit, Op. 58a; Carnaval à la Nouvelle-Orléans, Op. 275; Kentuckiana, Op. 287; La Libertadora, Op. 236a; Scaramouche, Op. 165b; Songes, Op. 237
Hyp. CDA 67014. Coombs, Pizarro
Hyperion assemble the bulk of Milhaud’s music for two pianos from the popular and irresistible Scaramouche through to the duet arrangement of Le Bœuf sur le toit. An entertaining and delightful issue which brings some high-spirited pianism from these fine players, and very good recorded sound.
(i) Symphony in G min.; (ii) Sinfonietta; Overture for a Masque
Lyrita (ADD) SRCD 247. (i) New Philh. O; (ii) LPO; Boult
First heard in 1937, Moeran’s G minor Symphony is built confidently on strikingly memorable ideas. This unaccountably neglected and immensely rewarding work is in the best tradition of symphonic writing, and is worthy to rank with the symphonies of Vaughan Williams and Walton. But for all the echoes of these composers, and of Sibelius too, it has a strongly individual voice. Boult’s radiant (mid-1970s) performance is both gripping and spacious, the recording very impressive and cast in the Boult mode. Characteristically he refuses to push too hard too soon, but the ebb and flow of tension are superbly controlled to build the most powerful possible climaxes. Rarely, even in Vaughan Williams, has Boult adopted so overtly an expressive style, especially in the glorious slow movement, and the recording quality, although refined, allows the widest dynamic range down to the gentlest pianissimo for the hushed, intense opening of that slow movement. The Sinfonietta is fresh and appealing too, written a decade later. More extrovert than the symphony, it shows its composer as less ready to write in long paragraphs. It is nevertheless an attractive work and, along with the Overture, given Boult’s persuasive advocacy it makes an apt coupling. This is a symphony urgently in need of discovery, if you have not already done so.
Cancións y danzas 1, 3, 5, 7–9; Cants mágics; Charmes; Dialogues I–II; Paisajes; Preludios 1, 5 (Palmier d’étoiles), 6 (for the left hand), 7, 9–10; 3 Variations
Hyp. CDA 66963. Stephen Hough
The exceptionally generous (77 minutes) and wide-ranging Gramophone award-winning recital makes an obvious first choice for those wanting to explore, on a single CD, the fullest possible range of Mompou’s piano music. Stephen Hough, who provides illuminating notes, imaginatively describes this as ‘the music of evaporation … there is no development of material, little counterpoint, no drama or climaxes to speak of; and this simplicity of expression – elusive, evasive and shy – is strangely disarming.’ He is completely inside Mompou’s fastidious, Satie-esque sound-world and understands the absorbed influences which make this music as much French as Spanish. The recording too is excellent if a little reverberant. Not even Mompou himself equalled, let alone surpassed, Hough in this repertoire.
Dominus Regnavit (Psalm 92); Venite Exultemus (Psalm 94)
Warner Apex (ADD) 2564 60155-2. Alliot-Lugaz, Borst, Goldthorpe, Huttenlocher, Vocal Ensembles: A Coeur joie de Lille, Animat de Valenciennes. De Chevreuse-Essone, Adam de la Halle; Paillard CO, Paillard – CORRETTE: Laudate Dominum
Venite Exultemus dates from around 1740 and enjoyed considerable success in its day; given its attractive melodic lines and variety of moods, it is not hard to see why. Dominus Regnavit, dating from 1734, has all of these qualities too, with some exciting writing for the chorus in the Elevaverunt flumina Domine, depicting the raging of the waves. There is much to enjoy here, including the lovely soprano duet, Parata sedes, and the majestic final chorus – a chorus so exhilaratingly enjoyable one feels it should be in the top ten classical hits. This French performance, from the early 1980s, is a decent, idiomatic one and more than a stop gap, but it would be interesting to see what Minkowski would do with this repertoire. The sound is nothing special, but good enough; but it is the quality of musical invention which merits inclusion in this volume, and the Corrette coupling is a joy.
Ab aeterno ordinata sum; Confitebor tibi, Domine (3 settings); Deus tuorum militum; Iste confessor Domini sacratus; Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes; Su le penne de’ venti; Nisi Dominus
Hyp. Helios CDH 55345. Kirkby, Partridge, D. Thomas, Parley of Instruments, Goodman or Holman
There are few records of Monteverdi’s solo vocal music as persuasive as this. The three totally contrasted settings of Confitebor tibi (Psalm 110) reveal an extraordinary range of expression, each one drawing out different aspects of word-meaning. Even the brief trio, Deus tuorum militum, has a haunting memorability; it could become to Monteverdi what Jesu, joy of man’s desiring is to Bach – and the performances are outstanding, with the edge on Emma Kirkby’s voice attractively presented in an aptly reverberant acoustic. The accompaniment makes a persuasive case for authentic performance.
(i) Il ballo delle ingrate; (ii) Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda
Naïve OP 30-196. (i) Ermolli, Dominguez, Carnovich, Franzetti; (ii) Franzetti, Ferrarini, Abbondanza; Concerto Italiano, Alessandrini
This commandingly dramatic account of Il combattimento, a totally idiomatic Italianate version from Rinaldo Alessandrini and his Concerto Italiano, offers superb singing from all three principals. Roberto Abbondanza is a splendidly histrionic narrator, and in the death scene Elisa Franzetti singing her farewell is exquisitely moving. Franzetti then returns at the end of Il ballo delle ingrate to bid an eloquent plea on behalf of the ungrateful souls, condemned for rebelling against earthly love, to be echoed by Monteverdi’s poignant closing chorus from her companions. The latter work was written to be performed at a wedding, with an obvious message for the bride. Daniele Carnovich is a true basso profondo and makes a superb Pluto, ready to take the reluctant ladies back to the Underworld, and Francesca Ermolli and Rosa Dominguez are equally fine as Amor and Venus, respectively. The vivid recording is warmly atmospheric.
Vespers 1610
DG Archiv 477 9773 (2). Gabrieli Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh
Like Sir John Eliot Gardiner in his version recorded in the ample acoustic of St Mark’s, Venice, Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort offer a performance of the Vespers that attempts to follow liturgical practice. Yet where Gardiner’s ample acoustic brings its inconsistencies of balance, McCreesh, recording in the helpful acoustic of Tonbridge Chapel, has a much more controllable acoustic, while still conveying the impression of a live event. The result is a smaller-scale, more intimate reading of this iconic work, very well recorded.
L’Incoronazione di Poppea (CD version)
DG 447 088-2 (3). McNair, Von Otter, Hanchard, Chance, D’Artegna, E. Bar. Sol., Gardiner
With an exceptionally strong and consistent cast in which even minor roles are taken by star singers, Gardiner presents a purposeful, strongly characterized performance. He is helped by the full and immediate sound of the live recording, made in concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. Sylvia McNair is a seductive Poppea and Anne Sofie von Otter a deeply moving Ottavia, both singing ravishingly. Francesco d’Artegna, a robustly Italian-sounding bass, makes a stylish Seneca, and there are clear advantages in having a counter-tenor as Nero instead of a mezzo-soprano, particularly one with a slightly sinister timbre like Dana Hanchard. So in the sensuous duet which closes the opera, the clashing intervals of the voices are given a degree of abrasiveness, suggesting that, though this is a happy and beautiful ending, the characters still have their sinister side. The text has been modified with newly written ritornellos by Peter Holman, using the original, authentic bass-line, and aiming to be ‘closer’ to what Monteverdi would have expected than the usual flawed text.
(i) Clarinet Concerto, K. 622; (ii) Clarinet Quintet, K. 581
RCA 82876 60866-2. Richard Stolzman, (i) ECO; (ii) Tokyo Qt
Richard Stolzman gives outstanding performances of the two greatest works in the clarinet repertoire. The Concerto, full of spontaneity, brings a comparatively brisk, sparkling tempo in the first movement and a contrasting leisurely Adagio, deeply felt, in which Stolzman produces the most beautiful timbre and gently embroiders the reprise of the main theme. The Rondo is high-spirited, with the clarinet roulades delightfully bucolic. By directing the ECO himself, the soloist controls the work’s structure as he wants, and then in the Quintet the silky-toned Tokyo Quartet provide a seductive backing tapestry, equally full of subtle light and shade, especially striking in the finale. The recording is first class, bright and glowing in both works and admirably balanced.
Flute Concertos 1 in G, K. 313; 2 in D, K. 314; (i) Flute & Harp Concerto in C, K. 299
EMI Masters 9 65937-2. Emmanuel Pahud, (i) Marie-Pierre Langlamet; BPO, Abbado
The fast speeds in these engaging Berlin performances have a light touch, yet no lack of tautness, with the ever-imaginative Emmanuel Pahud set against a modest-sized Berlin Philharmonic playing under Abbado with elegant warmth. Marie-Pierre Langlamet’s contribution brings appealing delicacy to the Flute and Harp Concerto to make this work especially beguiling. Pahud’s cadenzas in the solo concertos are a joy – not too long and often witty, especially in the finale of K.314. Really first-rate recording makes this bargain triptych very recommendable.
(i) Horn Concertos 1 in D, K.412; 2–4 in E flat, K.417, 447 & 495; (ii) Piano and Wind Quintet in E flat, K.452
EMI Masters mono 965 9362. (i) Dennis Brain, Philh. O, Karajan; (ii) Horsley, Brain Wind Ens.
An EMI bargain reissue of Dennis Brain’s celebrated (1954) mono record of the Concertos, coupled with the delightful Piano and Wind Quintet, is self-recommending. Boyd Neel once said that Dennis was the finest Mozart player on any instrument.
Horn Concertos 1–4; Concert Rondos: in E flat, K.371 (completed John Humphries); in D, K.514 (completed Süssmayer); Fragment for Horn & Orchestra in E flat, K.370b (reconstructed Humphries)
Naxos 8.553592. Michael Thompson, Bournemouth Sinf.
This is a particularly valuable – indeed, unique – collection for, as well as offering superb performances of the four regular Concertos using revised texts prepared by John Humphries, this outstanding Naxos issue includes reconstructions of two movements designed for an earlier horn concerto dating from soon after Mozart arrived in Vienna. It is fascinating too to have extra passages in No. 4, again adding Mozartian inventiveness. Michael Thompson plays with delectable lightness and point, bringing out the wit in the finales, as well as the tenderness in slow movements. He also draws sparkling playing from the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, very well recorded in clear, atmospheric sound; and these performances make an ideal modern successor to the vintage Dennis Brain versions.
Piano Concertos 1–6; 8–9; 11–27; Concert Rondos 1–2; (i) Double Piano Concerto in E flat, K.365; (i; ii) Triple Piano Concerto in F, K.242
Sony (ADD/DDD) 82876 872302 (12). Perahia; (i) Lupu; ECO
The Perahia cycle is a remarkable achievement; in terms of poetic insight and musical spontaneity the performances are in a class of their own. There is a wonderful singing line and at the same time a sensuousness that is always tempered by spirituality. About half the recordings are digital and of excellent quality and, we are glad to report, the earlier, analogue recordings have now been skilfully remastered with first-class results. This is an indispensable set in every respect.
(i) Piano Concertos 9 in E flat ( Jeunehomme), K.271; 14 in E flat, K.449. Piano Sonata 8 in A min., K.310
Alto (ADD) ALC 1047. Brendel, (i) I Solisti di Zagreb, Antonio Janigro
It would be wrong not to include in our book an example of Alfred Brendel’s early recordings from the LP era. Here (on a pair of Vanguard recordings from 1966 and 1968) he is teamed with Janigro and I Solisti di Zagreb, who provide stylish, well-paced and warm accompaniments with fine string playing. Our original Penguin Guide review commented: ‘Brendel’s performance of No. 9 is quite outstanding, elegant and beautifully precise; the performance of No. 14 is also first rate and has a memorably vivacious finale. This is an outstanding reissue, truthfully remastered with natural sound and a particularly realistic piano image.’
Piano Concerto 20 in D min., K.466; (i) Piano Concerto for 3 Pianos in F, K.242; (ii) Rondo in C, K.373; Adagio in E, K.261. Symphony 32 in G, K.318
Opus Arte DVD OA 1004D. Martha Argerich, New Japan PO, Christian Arming; with (i) Paul & Rico Gulda; (ii) Renaud Capuçon
Martha Argerich and her musical companions radiate a delight in music-making that makes this concert, recorded in Tokyo, a highly enjoyable and satisfying musical experience. The camerawork is devoid of gimmickry and places the listener to good advantage throughout. What a fine and expressive player Renaud Capuçon is! In the D minor Concerto Argerich is magisterial.
Piano Concertos 20 in D min., K.466; 21 in C, K.467; 23 in A, K.488; 27 in B flat, K.595; Rondo for Piano & Orchestra in D, K.382
EMI (ADD) 6 31796-2 (2). Barenboim, ECO
Barenboim recorded the complete Mozart concertos twice, first with the ECO for EMI and later for Warner Classics with the Berlin Philharmonic, in each case directing the orchestra from the keyboard. Both have their considerable merits, but the sense of spontaneity in the EMI recordings brings the message that this is music hot off the inspiration line and is hard to resist, even though it occasionally leads to over-exuberance and idiosyncrasies. These are as nearly live performances as one could hope for on record, and the playing of the English Chamber Orchestra is splendidly geared to the approach of an artist with whom the players have worked so regularly.
The coupling of Nos. 20 and the beautiful 23 in A major was the first of the series to be recorded, and Barenboim’s playing has all the sparkle and sensitivity one could ask for. The orchestral accompaniment is admirably alive, and one’s only reservation concerns the somewhat fast tempi he adopts for finales. There need be no reservations about his account of K.467, which is accomplished in every way, but K.595 is rather more controversial. He indulges in great refinement of touch and his reading of the slow movement is overtly romantic. Even so, this inexpensive double gives much pleasure, for the recording is spacious and truthful.
(i) Piano Concerto 27 in B flat, K.595; Rondo in A min., K.511; (ii) Double Concerto in E flat, K.365
Naxos 8.111294. Schnabel, (i) LSO, Barbirolli; (ii) Karl-Ulrich Schnabel, LSO, Boult
Schnabel’s account of the B flat Concerto with Barbirolli conducting the LSO was one of the mainstays of the pre-war HMV catalogue, and it is good to hear its virtues so vividly restored. Good, too, to have the 1936 version of the Double Concerto with Schnabel’s son, Karl-Ulrich, and Boult. The A minor Rondo was a post-war recording, marvellously played, and one of the products of his 1946 visit to London. Mandatory listening.
Violin Concertos 1–5; (i) Sinfonia concertante for Violin and Viola, K.364
DG 477 7371. Giuliano Carmignola, O Mozart, Claudio Abbado; (i) with Danusha Waskiewicz
The Italian virtuoso, Giuliano Carmignola, was a semi-finalist at the 1974 International Tchaikovsky Competition; members of the Orchestra della Scala who were present alerted Abbado to his talent. They played the Mozart concertos together with the period-instrument Orchestra Mozart and established a close rapport. Carmignola’s partner in the Sinfonia concertante, Danusha Waskiewicz, is hardly less accomplished. These recordings were made at Bologna in 2007 and must be ranked among the finest in this repertoire, whether on period or modern instruments. Impeccable recording.
Symphony in F, K.19a; Symphonies 1 in E flat, K.16; 4 in D, K.19; 5 in B flat, K.22; 6 in F, K.43; 7 in D, K.45; 7a in G (Alte Lambacher), K.45a; in B flat, K.45b; 8 in D, K.48; 9 in C, K.73; 10 in G, K.74; in F, K.75; in F, K.76; in D, K.81; 11 in D, K.84; in D, K.95; in C, K.96; in D, K.97; in C, K.102; 12 in G, K.110; 13 in F, K.112; 14 in A, K.114; in D, K.120 & 121; 15 in G, K.124; 16 in C, K.128; 17 in G, K.129; 18 in F, K.130; 19 in E flat, K.132; 20 in D, K.133; 21 in A, K.134; in D, K.161; 22 in C, K.162; 23 in D, K.181; 24 in B flat, K.182; 25 in G min., K.183; 26 in E flat, K.184; 27 in G, K.199; 28 in C, K.200; 29 in A, K.201; 30 in D, K.202; 31 in D (Paris), K.297; 32 in G, K.318; 33 in B flat, K.319; 34 in C, K.338; 35 in D (Haffner), K.385; 36 in C (Linz), K.425; 38 in D (Prague), K.504; 39 in E flat, K.543; 40 in G min., K.550; 41 in C ( Jupiter), K.551
EMI 585589-2 (12). ECO, Tate
Jeffrey Tate’s Mozart Symphonies survey is one of the finest things he has done for the gramophone. Recorded over a long period, from 1984 to 2003, his inspiration remained constant. Tate entered at the deep end by taking on Nos. 40 and 41 first, and they remain impressive accounts. In the Jupiter, the apt scale of the ECO allows the grandeur of the work to come out fully: on the one hand, it has the clarity of a chamber orchestral performance, but on the other, with trumpets and drums, its weight of expression never underplays the scale of the argument, which originally prompted the unauthorized nickname. In both symphonies, exposition repeats are observed in outer movements, particularly important in the Jupiter finale, which with its miraculous fugal writing bears even greater argumentative weight than the first movement, a point firmly established by Tate. Those who like a very plain approach may find his elegant pointing in the slow movements excessive, but Tate’s keen imagination on detail, as well as over a broad span, consistently conveys the electricity of a live performance. The recording is well detailed, yet has pleasant reverberation. Both the Linz and the Prague receive strong but elegant performances, bringing out the operatic overtones in the latter, not just in the Don Giovanni-like progressions in the slow introductions, but also in the power of the development section and in the wonder of the chromatic progressions in the slow movement, as well as the often surprising mixture of timbres. In the Linz, Tate is attractively individual, putting rather more emphasis on elegance and finding tenderness in the slow movement, taken like the Adagio of the Prague at a very measured speed.
Moving backwards to the earlier symphonies, from No. 25 onwards (itself very well done), Tate’s detailed articulation and fine detail are always telling. In all these works, he provides a winning combination of affectionate manners, freshness and elegance. (Readers should note: the alternative movements, originally included in this middle batch of symphonies, have been excised on this bargain-box release.) The three-disc set which comprises 16 early symphonies, from Nos. 13 to 24, written before his first out-and-out masterpiece among the symphonies (No. 25) include some of the rarer, early, unnumbered works, usually adaptations of early opera overtures, and all of them colourful pieces. The first three CDs in the box set are new recordings (2003) and concentrate on his earliest symphonies, and again include many of the unnumbered symphonies (here given supplementary numbers, from 42 to 52); these early works are full of vitality (even if with a couple of them their authenticity is doubtful). Tate finds a fresh exhilaration in these scores where the young Mozart was finding his feet, exploring possibilities all the time. There is a surprising amount of variety in these very early works, often pointing to his future brilliance in the opera house. The recordings are fresh and warm throughout this set, which is strongly recommended, especially at super-bargain price.
Symphonies 40; 41 (Jupiter)
DG 478 3621. VPO, Bernstein
Bernstein’s electrifying account of No. 40 is keenly dramatic, individual and stylish, with the finale delightfully airy and fresh. If anything, the Jupiter is even finer: it is both exhilarating in its tensions and it observes the repeats in both halves of the finale, making it almost as long as the massive first movement. Bernstein’s electricity sustains its length, and one welcomes it for establishing the supreme power of the argument, the true crown of Mozart’s symphonic output. Pacing cannot be faulted in any of the four movements and, considering the problems inherent in making live recordings, the 1984 sound is first rate, lacking only the last degree of transparency in tuttis. This mid-price reissue takes its place again at the top of the list of recommendations for this coupling.
(i) Clarinet Trio in E flat (Kegelstatt), K.498; (ii) Piano Trios 2 in G, K. 496; 3 in B flat, K. 502; 4 in E, K. 542; 5 in C, K.548; 6 in G, K. 564
EMI 3 44643-2(2). Barenboim, (i) Matthias Glander, Felix Schwartz; (ii) Nikolaj Znaider, Kyril Zlotnikov
Mozart composed piano trios as early as his set of six (K.10–15), but it is the present works, covering a period of two years when Mozart was also occupied with Figaro and Don Giovanni, that are representative of his mastery. Barenboim’s partners, the Danish violinist Nikolaj Znaider and Belarusian cellist Kyril Zlotnikov, are a natural and most musical team and their playing radiates an infectious pleasure in music-making. The recordings are well balanced and have excellent clarity.
Piano Quartets 1 in G min., K. 478; 2 in E flat, K. 493
Decca Eloquence (ADD) 480 3521. Lamar Crowson with the Pro Arte Qt
Mozart’s piano quartets are among the finest of all his chamber works. These beautifully intimate recordings, perfectly balanced, were recorded in 1965 but have been splendidly remastered and sound wonderfully natural. Lamar Crowson plays with great sensitivity and constantly delights the ear, particularly in the slow movement and finale of K.478. This disc has many competitors but none are finer, and this reissue is most competitively priced.
String Quartets 1–23; Divertimenti, K.136–8
DG 477 8680 (6). Amadeus Qt
The Amadeus Quartet accommodate the 23 String Quartets plus the 3 Divertimenti, K.136–8, comfortably on six discs. They were recorded between 1963 and 1977, and the new transfers are of good quality. It goes without saying that there are good things among them. They play with great polish and fluency and there are many who have remained loyal to them over the years. But there is a blandness which at times pervades the music-making (as in K.387) and a number of interpretative points to question, in K.421 and K.465 for instance, while the curioumannerism of sometimes swelling out on individual notes is noticeable from time to time. There are, of course, also some fine performances, the Hunt Quartet, K.458, for instance and all three Prussian Quartets. There appears to be no alternative complete box, but plenty of smaller collections to choose from.
String Quartets: 14 in G (Spring), K.387; 15 in D min., K.421; 16 in E flat, K.428; 17 in B flat, K.458 (Hunt); 18 in A, K. 464; 19 in C (Dissonance), K.465
EuroArt Unitel DVD 2072328 (2). Hagen Qt
These are beautifully alive and sensitively phrased performances that give much pleasure. They were recorded in 1998 in the elegant environment (and excellent acoustic) of the Grosser Saal of the Salzburg Mozarteum and they are impeccably presented visually. A most satisfying issue, which can be recommended with enthusiasm.
String Quartets 20 (Hoffmeister); 21–23 (Prussian Quartets 1–3)
CRD (ADD) CRD 3427/8. Chilingirian Qt
The Chilingirian Quartet give very natural, unforced, well-played and sweet-toned accounts of the last four Quartets. They are very well recorded too, with cleanly focused lines and a warm, pleasing ambience; indeed, in this respect these two discs are second to none.
String Quintets: 1 in B flat, K.174; 2 in C min., K.406; 3 in C, K.515; 4 in G min., K.516; 5 in D, K.593; 6 in E flat, K.614. Divertimento for String Trio in E flat, K.563
Decca (ADD) 470 950-2 (3). Grumiaux Trio, with Gérecz, Lesueur
Grumiaux’s distinguished set of the String Quintets is coupled with his unsurpassed (1967) version of the rather less well-known but equally inspired Divertimento for String Trio – an ideal linking. Beautifully played, the remastering of these fine analogue recordings is outstandingly natural – a tribute to the Philips engineers, even though this reissue is now assigned to Decca.
Così fan tutte (complete, DVD version)
Medici Arts DVD 207 2368 (2). Frittoli, Kirchschlager, Skovhus, Schade, Corbelli, Bacelli, V. State Op. Ch. & O, Muti (Director: Roberto de Simone; V/D: Brian Large)
Così fan tutte (CD version)
EMI (ADD) 5 67382-2 (3). Schwarzkopf, Ludwig, Steffek, Kraus, Taddei, Barry, Philh. Ch. & O, Boehm
It is a pleasure to welcome the Medici Arts 1996 Così from the Vienna State Opera. Roberto de Simone is one of those rare stage directors who do not seek to impose their own personality over that of the composer. This is a most stylish production, with attractive costumes and sets that are a viewing pleasure, especially the sea vista at Naples. When Guglielmo and Ferrando leave, they do so on a convincing backstage boat simulation, while the famous Trio which follows reveals Mozart’s exquisite part-writing clearly, instead of smoothing it into vocal homogeneity. Throughout, the singing (and acting) cast is in every way excellent, with Barbara Frittoli as convincing a Fiordiligi as Angelika Kirchschlager is an engaging Dorabella, and both feistily resist the temptation to stray, until their attempting seducers spectacularly feign arsenic poisoning. Monica Bacelli is a knowingly vivacious and ever-resourceful Despina (especially when disguised as the doctor) and she sings both her arias with real charm. Alessandro Corbelli, too, is a conniving Don Alfonso, yet not overplaying his role. Muti’s conducting is splendidly alive and fresh. What more could you want?
Boehm’s classic set has been splendidly remastered as one of EMI’s ‘Great Recordings of the Century’ and remains a clear first choice among CD versions. Its glorious solo singing is headed by the incomparable Fiordiligi of Schwarzkopf and the Dorabella of Christa Ludwig; it remains a superb memento of Walter Legge’s recording genius and remains unsurpassed by other recordings made before or since. The documentation is generous and includes a full libretto and sessions photographs.
Don Giovanni (CD version)
Decca (ADD) 478 1389 (3). Della Casa, Danco, Siepi, Corena, Dermota, V. State Op. Ch., VPO, Krips
Krips’s version was recorded in 1955 for the Mozart Bicentenary and has been one of the top recommendations of this work ever since. Freshly remastered, it sounds better than ever; few, if any, allowances have to be made for the date of the stereo recording. Its intense, dramatic account of the Don’s disappearance into hell has rarely been equalled and never surpassed on CD. And there are many equally memorable sequences: the finale to Act I is electrifying. As a bass Don, Siepi (a wonderful, truly great singer) is marvellously convincing, but there is hardly a weak link in the rest of the cast. The early stereo recording is pretty age-defying, full and warm, with a lovely Viennese glow which is preferable to many modern recordings. However, special mention should also be made of Giulini’s classic EMI set with Schwarzkopf, Sutherland and Cappuccilli – all singing on top form, supremely conducted and recorded, and another indispensable recording (EMI 5 67869-2 (3)).
Die Entführung aus dem Serail (DVD version)
DG DVD 073 4075. Gruberová, Grist, Araiza, Orth, Talvela, Holtzmann, Bav. State Op. Ch. & O, Boehm (Director: August Everding)
Karl Boehm conducted his beautifully paced account of Entführung at the Bavarian State Opera in April 1980, just over a year before he died. It was always a favourite opera with him. And the performance has a winning glow, with an excellent cast of soloists. Edita Gruberová as Konstanze is at her freshest: clear and agile, tender in Traurigkeit, brilliant in Marten aller Arten. Though Reri Grist as Blonde has an edge on the voice, hers is a charming and characterful assumption, most of all when confronting the powerful Osmin of Martti Talvela, a giant of a figure with a voice to match. Francisco Araiza too is at his peak, with Norbert Orth exceptionally strong as Pedrillo. August Everding’s stylized production, with smoothly sliding scenery by Max Bignens, sets each scene deftly and atmospherically in the Pasha’s palace. The 1980 sound is exceptionally bright and clear for its age.
Die Entführung aus dem Serail (CD version)
DG (ADD) 429 868-2 (2). Augér, Grist, Schreier, Neukirch, Moll, Mellies, Leipzig R. Ch., Dresden State O, Boehm
Boehm’s is a delightful account, superbly cast and warmly recorded. Arleen Augér proves the most accomplished singer on record in the role of Konstanze, girlish and fresh, yet rich, tender and dramatic by turns, with brilliant, almost flawless coloratura. The others are also outstandingly good, notably Kurt Moll, whose powerful, finely focused bass makes him a superb Osmin, one who relishes the comedy too. The warm recording is beautifully transferred, to make this easily the most sympathetic version of the opera on CD, with the added attraction of being at mid-price. Admirers of opera sung in English should also investigate Menuhin’s sparkling performance on Chandos, with an outstanding cast (Dobbs, Eddy, Gedda, Fryatt, Mangin, Kelsey), full and vividly recorded in 1967 and an absolute joy from beginning to end (Chan. 3081 (2)).
Idomeneo (complete, DVD version)
Arthaus DVD 101 079. Lewis, R. Davies, Goeke, Betley, Barstow, Oliver, Fryatt, Wicks, Glyndebourne Ch., LPO, Pritchard (Director: John Cox; V/D: Dave Heather)
Idomeneo (CD version)
DG 431 6742 (3). Rolfe Johnson, Von Otter, McNair, Martinpelto, Robson, Hauptmann, Monteverdi Ch., E. Bar. Sol., Gardiner
It was at Glyndebourne that this opera seria was first heard in Britain, and over the years John Pritchard made a speciality of conducting the piece, always a vigorous and dramatic interpreter of what misguidedly used to be regarded as undramatic. Like Pritchard as conductor, Richard Lewis in the title-role was a veteran still in superb voice. John Cox’s production of 1974 is brilliantly devised to bring out the limited dimensions of the stage in the old Glyndebourne opera house, with concentric circles framing the whole stage, giving a long perspective to highly atmospheric scenes at the end of the tunnel. It works beautifully, not least when the sea monster appears at the end of Act II. The snag with this version for some will be the elderly edition Pritchard uses, with the role of Idamante taken by a tenor rather than a mezzo, thus upsetting the balance of the great quartet in Act III. Nevertheless, it is included in this book as it is a beautifully crafted reading, with Leo Goeke’s tenor as Idamante well contrasted with the fine Idomeneo of Ryland Davies. Josephine Barstow at her peak is a formidable Elettra and Bozena Betley a sweet Ilia. The incidental roles are very well taken by vintage Glyndebourne performers, Alexander Oliver, John Fryatt and Dennis Wicks.
With its exhilarating vigour and fine singing, Gardiner’s aim has been to include all the material Mozart wrote for the original (1781) production, and he recommends the use of the CD programming device for listeners to select the version they prefer. Gardiner’s Mozartian style is well sprung and subtly moulded rather than severe. The principals sing beautifully, notably Anne Sofie von Otter as Idamante and Sylvia McNair as Ilia, while Anthony Rolfe Johnson as Idomeneo is well suited here, with words finely projected. The electrifying singing of the Monteverdi Choir adds to the dramatic bite. There is also an excellent version of this opera sung in English on the Chandos label, with a fine cast and superbly conducted by David Parry (CHAN 3103 (2)).
Le nozze di Figaro (complete, DVD version)
Opus Arte DVD OA 09990. Schrott, Persson, Röschmann, Finley, Shaham, ROHCG Ch. & O, Pappano (Director: David McVicar; V/D: Ferenc van Damme)
Le nozze di Figaro (CD version)
Decca (ADD) 478 1720 (3). Gueden, Danco, Della Casa, Dickie, Poell, Corena, Siepi, V. State Op. Ch., VPO, Kleiber
An outstanding new-styled DVD Figaro from David McVicar to lead the top choices. It is set in the 1830s, which simply means that the costumes are brought forward a few decades, but are still a pleasure to look at. The Count’s palace is on a realistically impressive scale, with a huge staff, and its elegance contrasts with the scruffy room to be allotted to Figaro and Susanna after they are married, where the opera opens. Erwin Schrott is a lively, resourceful and above all very good-looking Figaro, but the delightful Susanna (Miah Persson), charmingly dressed, is his match and they both sing splendidly. So does Gerald Finley, even if he portrays a truly unattractive, permanently disgruntled, jealous Count, and one wonders what Rosina originally saw in him. But his anger gives a spice to the action, especially in Mozart’s marvellous extended finale to Act II which, with wonderful music, keeps the viewer continually wondering what is coming next. The dignified Countess (Dorothea Röschmann) sings her pair of key arias beautifully and affectingly. While she conveys her deep unhappiness at her husband’s unfaithful behaviour, she is appealingly spirited and stands her own ground, obviously enjoying Cherubino’s attempts to win her favours. Rinat Shaham is very personable, and her singing of ‘his’ two arias in that role is another of the highlights of the production. Altogether this is very recommendable indeed. The sets are appealing and the action moves forward with a swing, with the performance conducted with his usual flair by Antonio Pappano.
Erich Kleiber’s famous set was one of Decca’s Mozart Bicentenary recordings of the mid-1950s. It remains a memorably strong performance with much fine singing, and few sets have matched its constant stylishness. Hilde Gueden’s Susanna might be criticized, but her golden tones are certainly characterful and her voice blends enchantingly with Lisa Della Casa’s. Suzanne Danco and Della Casa are both at their finest. A dark-toned Figaro in Cesare Siepi – simply one of the most magnificent singers of the twentieth century – adds much contrast to the performance. While it is true that the recitatives are rather slow by modern standards, this is not inconsistent with Kleiber’s overall approach, which lets the music’s intrinsic sparkle emerge completely naturally and without any force. For those who prefer a more ‘authentic’ approach to this score, René Jacobs’s outstanding version with the Concerto Cöln on Harmonia Mundi is strongly recommended. Vividly recorded and conducted, and with a very strong cast (Gens, Ciofi, Kirchschlager, McLaughlin, Keenlyside, Regazzo), it is perhaps the most outstanding of modern versions available today (HM HMC90 1818/20).
Die Zauberflöte (DVD version)
TDK DVD DVWW-CLOPMF. Cotrubas, Schreier, Gruberová, Talvela, Boesch, Sieber, Hiestermann, V. State Op. Konzertvereinigung, VPO, Levine (Stage Director: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle; V/D: Brian Large)
Die Zauberflöte (CD version)
DG 477 5789 (2). Röschmann, Miklósa, Strehl, Pape, Müller-Brachmann, Kleiter, Azesberger, Zeppenfeld, Arnold Schoenberg Ch., Mahler CO, Abbado
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s production of Die Zauberflöte, with his own charming toytown sets and costumes, was the one revived more than any other in the history of the Salzburg Festival. From the start, with James Levine at his most brilliant and perceptive as conductor, it struck an ideal medium between the pantomime element and the weightier implications of the Masonic background to the story. With Brian Large as video director exploiting the evocative setting in the Felsenreitschule with its series of layers of cliff recesses, it makes an ideal entertainment on film in this 1982 recording, with the possible reservation that an unusually large amount of spoken dialogue is included which, with well-chosen chapter headings, can easily be reduced on DVD.
As DG’s wording on the box makes clear, this is Abbado’s very first Magic Flute on record and indeed – as they claim – it is a triumphant success. Its freshness and charm, with ravishing playing from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, reminds us of our first encounter with the celebrated Fricsay recording (still available on DG 435 741-2 (2)). But Abbado’s cast is finer still, for here René Pape’s magnificent Sarastro dominates the opera, just as intended. He and the superb chorus bring just the right touch of gravitas, so all the pantomime fun with Papageno and Papagena is nicely balanced. Moreover, Erika Miklósa’s Queen of the Night’s second aria, Der Hölle Rache, is quite as dazzling as Rita Streich’s celebrated version, and it is slightly fuller in tone. Dorothea Röschmann and Christoph Strehl are a perfectly matched Pamina and Tamino, for both have lovely voices: Strehl is ardent and Röschmann is infinitely touching when she mistakenly thinks Tamino is lost to her for ever. The smaller parts are also without flaw. Kurt Azesberger is a splendid Monostatos, and even the speaker, George Zeppenfeld, has a honeyed tone. But most magical of all are the little vocal ensembles, wonderfully warm and refined, especially the numbers featuring the Three Ladies (Caroline Stein, Heidi Zehnder and Anne-Caroline Schlüter), who blend so delightfully but not suavely, and the Three Boys (from the Tölzer Knabenchor), who are just as memorable. Although the moments of drama are not lost, this is above all an affectionately relaxed performance, with Abbado continually revelling in the lyrical beauty of Mozart’s wonderful score. It is, of course, a live performance, so it has the extra communicative tension that brings; but the audience are (mercifully) angelically quiet, although we are aware of their presence during the fun created by the ever-reluctant Papageno. The recording is first class and, while there is a great deal of dialogue, it can be programmed out.
Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel)
RCA (ADD) 09026 61401-2. Chicago SO, Reiner – RESPIGHI: Fountains of Rome; Pines of Rome
There are many fine recordings of Mussorgsky’s celebrated Pictures, but Reiner has the advantage of the rich acoustics of Chicago’s Symphony Hall and a 1957 sound-balance which is highly atmospheric, if less sharply focused than some. The final climax of The Great Gate of Kiev shows the concentration of the playing, but this is also obvious throughout and the remastering is fully worthy of the performance. Reiner’s recording is also available in an excellent new SACD transfer (RCA 82876 61394-2), where the couplings include Night on a Bare Mountain, Tchaikovsky’s Marche slave and the engaging Marche miniature, Borodin’s Polovtsian March, Kabalevsky’s Colas Breugnon Overture, and Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture, all splendidly played and recorded.
Boris Godunov (DVD version)
Decca DVD 075 089-9 (2). Lloyd, Borodina, Steblianko, Leiferkus, Kirov Op. Ch. & O, Director: Gergiev (Tarkovsky, V/D Humphrey Burton)
In 1990 the Covent Garden production of Boris Godunov, directed by the Russian Andre Tarkovsky, and rehearsed by Stephen Lawless, was adopted by the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. This two-disc DVD offers the resulting film, originally shown on BBC television, a magnificent presentation of the opera in the edition prepared by David Lloyd-Jones using the original 1872 version of the score. Valery Gergiev conducts an outstanding Kirov Opera cast, joined in the title role by Robert Lloyd from Covent Garden, giving one of his greatest performances ever, strong and resonant and movingly acted. It is astonishing how the different incidental parts are cast from strength with star singers, each rising superbly to the challenge of a major scene – Pimen, Varlaam, Rangoni and the Simpleton (who sings his pathétique solo twice – in the first scene of Act IV and at the end). Olga Borodina is magnificent as Marina in the Polish scenes opposite the powerful Grigory of Alexei Steblianko, and even such a small part as Feodor, Boris’s young son, is taken with passionate intensity by a then rising star, Larissa Diadkova. Musically it would be hard to imagine a finer performance, even though the recording balance sometimes has voices too distant and unrelated to close-up pictures. Visually it is superb too, with the complex, episodic story told with extraordinary clarity, set on a simple but very grand stage, with a floor in false perspective adding to the grandeur. Costumes are authentic and often colourful, with Tarkovsky’s often stylized production bringing unforgettable moments, as when Rangoni comes and sits centre stage at the end of the love scene between Marina and Grigory, and turns to give the most sinister stare as the curtain falls. Altogether an outstanding set.
Khovanshchina (complete, DVD version)
Arthaus DVD 100 310 (2). Ghiaurov, Atlantov, Marusin, Kocherga, Burchuladze, Semtschuk, Slovak Philharmonic Ch., V. Boys’ Ch., V. State Op. Ch. & O, Abbado (Stage/Director Kirchner
The Arthaus DVD recording was made in 1989, with Nicolai Ghiaurov leading an outstanding cast in what is essentially the Shostakovich version of the opera with the finale prepared by Stravinsky. Rimsky-Korsakov’s marvellous orchestration is rejected as too sumptuous these days, and his corrections of Mussorgsky’s harmony are seen as too academically correct. And with the beautiful, tragic music of Abbado’s ending, the strength and dignity of the Old Believers is reinforced. Indeed Abbado, who has for so long been Mussorgsky’s most eloquent champion among Western conductors of his generation, is electrifying throughout. There is an intensity here, and a mastery both of pace and climax. The playing of the Vienna orchestra is exquisite in the quieter episodes and sumptuous in tone, as is the moving contribution of the chorus. The recording, too, is superbly balanced and defined, and visually the production is good to look at. The camera is expertly directed, and always where the viewer wants it. This is a mandatory choice for all lovers of Russian opera.
(i) Clarinet Concerto; (ii) Flute Concerto; (iii) Violin Concerto, Op. 33
Chan. 8894. (i) Thomsen; (ii) Christiansen; (iii) Sjøgren; Danish Nat. RSO, Schønwandt
Niels Thomsen’s powerfully intense account of the late Clarinet Concerto is completely gripping. Michael Schønwandt gives sensitive and imaginative support, both here and in the two companion works. Toke Lund Christiansen is hardly less successful in the Flute Concerto. Kim Sjøgren and Schønwandt give a penetrating and thoughtful account of the Violin Concerto; there is real depth here, thanks in no small measure to Schønwandt. The recording is first class.
Violin Concerto, Op. 33
Sony SMK 89748. Lin, Swedish RSO, Salonen – SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto
Cho-Liang Lin brings as much authority to Nielsen’s Violin Concerto as he does to the Sibelius, and he handles the numerous technical hurdles with breathtaking assurance. Salonen is admirably supportive and gets first-class playing from the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. An admirable coupling, very well balanced and recorded.
Symphonies 1–2; (i) 3; (ii) Aladdin (suite). Maskarade Overture
Double Decca 460 985-2 (2). San Francisco SO, Blomstedt; (i) with Kromm, McMillan; (ii) San Francisco SO Ch.
(i) Symphonies 4–6; (ii) Little Suite; (ii–iii) Hymnus amoris, Op. 12
Double Decca 460 988-2 (2) (i) San Francisco SO, Blomstedt; (ii) Danish Nat. RSO, Schirmer; (iii) with Bonney, Pedersen, Mark Ainsley, M. & B. Hansen, Danish Nat. R. Ch., Copenhagen Boys’ Ch.
These two Double Decca issues offer an admirable and inexpensive way of collecting Blomstedt’s complete cycle of Nielsen’s symphonies which is self-recommending. All six performances are among the finest available. The engaging Aladdin Suite is also winningly played, and the Overture to Nielsen’s comic opera, Maskarade, is appropriately high-spirited. Ulf Schirmer too shows a natural affinity for Nielsen. On the second issue he gives a persuasive account of Nielsen’s first published opus, the endearing Little Suite for Strings and the early cantata, Hymnus amoris, one of his warmest and most open-hearted scores. To put it briefly, this remains the best all-round modern set of the symphonies, and the bonuses add to its attractions.
Complete Piano Music: 5 Pieces. Op. 3; Symphonic Suite, Op. 8; Humoresque-Bagatelles, Op. 11; Piano Music for Young and Old, Op. 53; Chaconne, Op. 32; Theme & Variations, Op. 40; Suite, Op. 45; 3 Piano Pieces, Op. 59
Hyp. CDA 76591/2. Martin Roscoe
Apart from Grieg, no Scandinavian composer has written for the piano with more individuality or understanding than Nielsen. Even though the early Op. 3 Pieces are Schumannesque, they speak with distinctive and touching personal accents, and all five are strong on both humour and character. Nielsen’s greatest piano music is clustered into a period of four years (1916–20), with his final thoughts in the medium, the Three Pieces, Op. 59, of 1928 being composed in the immediate wake of the Clarinet Concerto, music that already breathes the air of other planets. Apart from Leif Ove Andsnes, no pianist of international standing has championed it on record and, with the exception of John Ogdon and John McCabe, it has almost been the exclusive preserve of Nordic artists. The Suite is not only Nielsen’s greatest keyboard work but arguably the mightiest ever written in Scandinavia. Martin Roscoe is right inside this music and guides us through its marvels with great subtlety and authority. Hyperion give him vivid and natural recorded sound and there are outstanding notes by Daniel Grimley.
Aladdin (complete incidental music), Op. 34
Chan. 9135. Ejsing, Paevatalu, Danish Nat. R. Chamber Ch. & SO, Rozhdestvensky
Until now the Aladdin music has been known only from the 20-minute, seven-movement suite, but the complete score runs to four times its length. Some numbers are choral, and there are songs and a short piece for solo flute. Thirteen of the movements are designed to accompany spoken dialogue and, although not all of it is of equal musical interest and substance, most of it is characteristically Nielsenesque, and much of it is delightful. The two soloists, Mette Ejsing and Guido Paevatalu, are very good and the Danish Radio forces respond keenly to Rozhdestvensky’s baton. This is not top-drawer Nielsen but, given such a persuasive performance and excellent recording, one is almost lulled into the belief that it is.
Maskarade (complete)
Dacapo (ADD) SACD 6.220507/8 (2). Hansen, Plesner, Landy, Johansen, Serensen, Bastian, Brodersen, Haugland, Danish Nat. R. Ch. & SO, Frandsen
Nielsen’s second and last opera now comes realistically remastered on SACD, and must be considered a triumphant success in its new format, with the rear speakers (used discreetly) adding to the atmospheric feeling. But it still sounds admirable through a normal stereo set-up. Frandsen’s performance is distinguished by good – sometimes very good – singing and alert orchestral support. Above all, the sound is musical, the images are well located and firm, and the overall presentation is vivid. But the deleted Decca set remains first choice.
Symphony 1 (Sinfonia austera); Symphony 2
Chan. 9450. Danish Nat. SO, Segerstam
Per Nørgård is the leading Danish composer of his generation. The Sinfonia austera, Nørgård’s First Symphony, comes from 1955 and has a strong atmosphere with something of Holmboe’s sense of power and forward movement, impressive and compelling. The Second (1970) is different in kind, static in feeling and hypnotic in effect. The ‘infinite series’ which shaped his Voyage into the Golden Screen dominates the whole piece. There are some striking and imaginative effects here. Very good performances too from Leif Segerstam and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
Symphony 6 (At the End of the Day); Terrains vagues
Chan. 9904. Danish Nat. SO, Dausgaard
Written in 1998–9 to celebrate the millennium in the Danish National Orchestra’s first concert in January 2000, Nørgård’s Sixth Symphony is a powerful and violent piece that makes no compromises. One takes it on trust even at a first hearing that, as the composer claims, it is tautly structured; from the opening onwards it demonstrates a vivid feeling for orchestral colour, presented with an energy too often missing in new music of the late twentieth century. Nørgård has said that this was to be the last of his symphonies, and the hushed close suggests something valedictory, but the vitality of invention not just in the symphony but in the substantial orchestral work with which it is coupled, written even more recently, suggested that he might change his mind, which he did with his Seventh Symphony (2006). Neither work makes for easy listening, but in this superbly engineered recording the power of the writing comes over most persuasively, demanding attention.
‘Music for the Last Night of the Proms’: ARNE: Rule Britannia (with Sarah Walker). WALTON: Crown Imperial. STANFORD: Songs of the Sea (with Thomas Allen). VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Serenade to Music (with Felicity Lott, Lisa Milne, Rosa Mannion, Yvonne Kenny, Ann Murray, Diana Montague, Della Jones, Catherine Wyn Rogers, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, John Mark Ainsley, Toby Spence, Timothy Robinson, Stephen Roberts, Christopher Maltman, Michael George, Robert Lloyd). ELGAR: Pomp and Circumstance March 1. PARRY: Jerusalem. WOOD: Fantasia on British Sea Songs
Australian Decca Eloquence 480 0476-8
It is easy to respond to the popular music of the last night of the Proms, particularly Rule Britannia and Jerusalem, heard here in Elgar’s wonderfully rich arrangement; and, on the words, ‘Bring me my arrows of desire’, the sweeping strings bring a truly gulp-inducing moment. Sarah Walker is the vibrant mezzo in Arne’s Rule Britannia, heard in Sir Malcolm Sargent’s expert arrangement. It is easy, too, to overlook the skill of Sir Henry Wood’s Fantasia on British Sea Songs, with their catchy tunes dressed in colourful orchestrations. Thomas Allen is in top voice for Stanford’s briny Songs of the Sea, with the opening Drake’s Drum making an unforgettable impression – surely one of the most telling sea-song settings in all English music. Crown Imperial comes off very well too, with one of Walton’s finest tunes as its centrepiece and truly breathtaking Waltonian brass chords in the coda. In composing the first Pomp and Circumstance March, Elgar was very proud of the ‘damned good tune’ which was to become ‘Land of hope and glory’, and rightly so. In complete contrast, Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music – one of the most haunting of the composer’s vocal works, has an astonishingly distinguished line-up of solo singers and brings another dimension to the programme. The (studio) sound is excellent and this surprisingly little-known CD is one of Sir Roger Norrington’s most successful recordings, resurrected on Australian Decca Eloquence.
Alma redemptoris Mater; Ave Maria; Credo ‘De village’; Fors seulement; Gaude Maria; Intemerata Dei Mater (2 versions); Masses: Au travail suis; Celeste beneficium; Cuiusvis toni; De plus en plus; Ecce ancilla Domini; Fors seulement; L’Homme armé; Mi-mi; Prolationum; Quinti toni; Sine nomine (2 settings à 3 & à 5); Requiem. Salve Regina; S’elle m’amera/Petite camusette.
ASV Gaudeamus CD GAX 550 (5). Clerks’ Group, Wickham
This admirable bargain box collects together the survey by Edward Wickham’s Clerks’ Group of Ockeghem’s major religious works, including twelve Mass settings and the Requiem. A treasure chest. All the performances are of the highest order and have refreshing enthusiasm. The recording is fi rst class too.
Alma redemptoris Mater; Ave Maria; Missa L’Homme armé
Naxos 8.554297. Oxford Camerata, Summerly (with JOSQUIN DESPREZ: Memor esto verbi tui)
On Naxos, the soaring opening Ave Maria, gloriously sung, immediately sets the seal on the inspirational power of Ockeghem’s music. It is followed by the plainchant, Alma redemptoris Mater and then by its polyphonic setting, simple and flowing and harmonically rich. The robust ballad, L’Homme armé (‘The armed man must be feared’) must have been hugely popular in its day since so many composers used it as a basis for a Mass. In Ockeghem’s setting the work’s dramatic and emotional peak is readily found in the extended Sanctus, resolved in the sublime melancholy of the Agnus Dei. It is sung superbly here and is marvellously paced. Josquin’s setting of sixteen verses from Psalm 119, Memor esto verbi tui, with its expressively fertile imitative devices, makes an eloquent postlude and the recording, made in the Chapel of Hertford College, Oxford, could hardly be better. It dates from February 1997, thus aptly commemorating the 500th anniversary of Ockeghem’s death.
(i) Cello Concerto (Concerto militaire). Les Fées du Rhin: Overture, Ballet & Grande Valse. Orphée aux enfers: Overture. Le Voyage dans la Lune: Ballet des Flocons de neige
DG 477 6403. Les Musiciens du Louvre, Minkowski, (i) with Pernoo
Long before he scored his big success as a composer of operettas with Orpheus in the Underworld, Offenbach was renowned as the ‘Liszt of the Cello’, an outstanding virtuoso. This 45-minute Concerto militaire is the most important of his compositions from that period, here recorded complete for the first time. After the composer’s death, the score, badly edited, had the three movements sold separately, and it has been thanks to the outstanding detective work of the editor, Jean-Christophe Keck, that the Concerto has now been fully restored. Both the first movement and the finale introduce military themes, with timpani prominent in both, and with the main theme of the finale anticipating the style of Offenbach’s operettas. That finale, 20 minutes long, offers a wide range of invention, including one funeral procession episode. The sound, recorded live in Grenoble, tends to be plummy, but there is ample detail to bring out the fine quality of the performance by both the soloist, Jérôme Pernoo, and the orchestra of period instruments under Marc Minkowski. The sparkling fill-ups add to the attractions of the disc, with the ballet from Les Fées du Rhin offering the first version of what later became the Barcarolle in the Tales of Hoffmann.
Gaîté Parisienne
Australian Decca Eloquence (ADD) 476 2724. ROHCG O, Solti – GOUNOD: Faust: ballet music. RESPIGHI: Rossiniana
Solti’s 1959 Gaîté Parisienne is the most brilliant committed to disc. While I.M. feels that the music-making is just that bit too hard driven, there is no doubting the sheer virtuosity of this remarkable orchestra and their bravura is infectious. Solti is far from unstylish here, but rather than allowing Offenbach’s brand of champagne to bubble up to the surface gradually, Solti tends to whack you over the head with it! Exciting music-making, never dull, and vintage Decca sound.
Overtures: Barbe-Bleue; La Belle Hélène; La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein; Le Mariage aux lanternes; Orfée aux enfers (with ADAM: Si j’étais Roi. BOIELDIEU: Le Calife de Bagdad; La Dame Blanche. HÉROLD: Zampa)
Australian Decca Eloquence mono 476 2757. LPO, Martinon
Martinon’s LP collection of Offenbach overtures is quite the best ever committed to disc and now it has made it on to CD. Under Martinon, these overtures explode like a shaken bottle of ice-cold champagne, with the Can-can finales of Orfée and La Grande Duchesse going like the devil. While no one has captured the whirlwind Offenbach spirit as Martinon does, it is for the elegance that one especially relishes this collection, with the simple, folk-like tunes of Barbe-Bleue so beautifully phrased, and so gentle, it makes the sharply pointed strings in the lively finale even more effective. Nowhere is this rhythmic sharpness more apparent than in the deliciously crisp finale of the rare Le Mariage aux lanternes, a work of Mozartian charm. The engaging oboe tune in La Belle Hélène is beautifully phrased, and in that opera’s famous waltz you can see how Offenbach once beat Johann Strauss in a waltz-writing competition. In the rollicking good tune at 1 minute 27 seconds in La Grande Duchesse (‘I love the military’), the strings play with carefree vivacity as well as polish. Decca has handsomely coupled the Offenbach items with Martinon’s contemporary LP of once popular French overtures, with the orchestra giving of their very best. The White Lady is especially enjoyable, with a delightful bassoon passage underpinning the second subject. The early 1950s sound is vivid, but rather too bright: the original LXT LP (before it was re-cut) was undoubtedly warmer and sounded better balanced, but this transfer is well ahead in sound compared to the edgy Ace of Clubs and Eclipse LP versions, last seen around 30 years ago. This reissue needs to be snapped up before it disappears again.
La Belle Hélène (complete, DVD & CD versions)
TDK DVD DV-OPLBH; CD Virgin 5 45477-2 (2). Lott, Beuron, Sénéchal, Le Roux, Naouri, Todorovitch, Ch. & Musiciens du Louvre, Grenoble, Minkowski (Stage Director: Laurent Pelly)
The new production of La Belle Hélène staged by Laurent Pelly, with costumes by Chantal Thomas, retains all the mythological characters, but they appear to Hélène as in her dream of being the most beautiful woman in the world and falling in love with the virile young Paris. Her double bed, to which she retires at the beginning, becomes the focus of the action until Act III, which takes place on the beach at Naples, from where she finally sails away with Paris. The whole production fizzes and has touches of romantic naughtiness which only the French can bring off with real style. There is an additional ‘Behind the Scenes’ sequence, narrating the background to this brilliantly successful production.
Favouring brisk speeds and light textures, using the period instruments of Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski gives a winning sparkle to this delectable send-up of the classical story. He also has the benefit of offering a more complete, more authentic text than any predecessor. It was recorded after the highly successful stage production at the Châtelet Théâtre in Paris in September 2000, when Felicity Lott was hailed as an outstanding star in the role of Hélène. That is true, even if vocally there are moments when her voice is not at its sweetest, not as rounded as it might be; but her feeling for the idiom and her characterization are unerring. Outstanding in the cast is the seductively honeyed tenor of Yann Beuron as Paris. His ‘Judgement of Paris’ solo in Act I has rarely been matched, with exquisite pianissimo singing in the final stanza, enhanced by Minkowski’s persuasive rubato. An excellent supporting cast, including such stalwarts of the repertory as Michel Sénéchal and François Le Roux. Although the CDs are in every way recommendable, the live performance on DVD is sheer delight, adding an extra dimension to Offenbach’s scintillating score.
Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann; complete, CD version)
Decca (ADD) 417 363-2 (2). Sutherland, Domingo, Tourangeau, Bacquier, R. Suisse Romande & Lausanne Pro Art Ch., SRO, Bonynge
Offenbach’s final work, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, was a posthumous triumph for the composer. In this marvellous opéra comique, Offenbach fully captured the sense of the grotesque in the E. T. A. Hoffmann stories as well as a sense of irony and humour. Of course Offenbach was nothing if not a man of the theatre, so the work is highly theatrical and entertaining, brimming with good tunes, rollicking choruses and many instantly memorable numbers. Offenbach longed to write one serious masterpiece and in this story of disillusioned love at its centre he achieved it, sadly dying before the work was performed. It survived in somewhat corrupt forms, but Bonynge’s solution to the textual problems is undoubtedly the most successful. This recording, from 1971, is one of the supreme achievements of the many Sutherland/Bonynge/Decca recordings. Joan Sutherland gives a virtuoso performance in four heroine roles, not only as Olympia, Giulietta and Antonia, but also as Stella in the Epilogue, which is given even greater weight by the restoration of the Quartet, a magnificent, thrilling climax. Bonynge opts for spoken dialogue, and puts the Antonia scene last, as being the more substantial. His direction is unfailingly sympathetic, while Sutherland is impressive in each role, notably as the doll Olympia and in the pathos of the Antonia scene. As Giulietta she hardly sounds like a femme fatale, but still produces beautiful singing. Domingo gives one of his finest performances on record (his famous Kleinzach aria in the Prologue goes with a real swing) and so too does Gabriel Bacquier. Huguette Tourangeau is outstanding as La Muse and Nicklausse. It is a memorable set in every way, with a superb supporting cast, with such people as Hugues Cuénod adding much character and an authentic flavour to the performance as a whole. The Decca recording is outstanding, rich, full and vividly atmospheric.
‘The World of Offenbach’: Overtures: La Belle Hélène; La Fille du tambour-major; Orpheus in the Underworld. Excerpts: Le Papillon; Contes d’Hoffmann; La Grande Duchesse; La Périchole; Robinson Crusoé
Decca Australian Eloquences 480 5318. Crespin, Sutherland, Domingo, Sumi Jo, Tourangeau; Various Orchestras, cond. Ansermet, Bonynge, Lombard
Opening and closing delightfully with the Barcarolle, and vividly recorded, this is an Unmissable and generous ‘lucky dip’ to match and even surpass ‘The World of Borodin’, creating an unforgettably entertaining 74 minutes. The overtures and operatta excerpts are equally diverting, marvellously sung, and are topped off with Sumi’s Jo’s sparkling Valse tyrolienne.