by Audiophile Audition | May 31, 2017 | Classical Reissue Reviews
Artur Schnabel: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings = BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58; Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 “Emperor”; Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109; Piano Sonata No. 32 in c minor, Op. 111; SCHUBERT: Four Impromptus, D. 899 – Artur Schnabel, piano/ Chicago Symphony Orchestra/ Frederick Stock – Sony 88985389712 (2 CDs) 70:03; 73:18 (5/19/17) ****:
The master Artur Schnabel’s 1942 RCA recordings come back as an integral, essential release.
The Artur Schnabel (1882-1951) legacy receives a long-delayed comtribution with this reissue of the sparse few recordings the Viennese master made in America. Some years ago, I attended the William Kapell Competition at the University of Maryland that featured a Schnabel symposium, hosted by Karl Ulrich Schnabel and including distinguished ex-pupils and commentators Claude Frank and Harris Goldsmith. Each reminisced on Schnabel’s hegemony in the music of Beethoven, with particular references to movements and passages from selected sonatas. When Alexis Weissenberg played the G Major Concerto in Atlanta, I asked him if his sudden accelerando at the very end of the linking phrase from the Andante con moto to the attacca finale were from Schnabel’s influence, and he quickly retorted, “Yes, and it’s very important.”
Each of the American recordings comes from 1942 (16 June-24 July), the last year for conductor Frederick Stock, who always adds a fierce energy to his chosen repertory. The two Beethoven sonatas remained unpublished until March 1976, when they were received with mixed reviews, mostly on account of the dearth of new repertory that might have surfaced. The Schubert Impromptus had been lauded by son Karl Ulrich Schnabel as superior to the 1950 HMV readings that had, for many, set a standard of warm excellence in Schubert interpretation, especially given the keyboard sound that Schnabel had inherited through teacher Theodor Leschetizky. Though Schnabel had recorded all of the Beethoven concertos with Malcolm Sargent in1932, and two more with Issay Dobrowen, the Stock readings bestow an aggressive thrust and bite into the collaborations that we miss prior. Despite the occasional finger slips and slurred pedal, the performances preserve the experience of a life’s devotion to the Beethoven cause, aided by a youthful enthusiasm nurtured by constant, meditative aesthetic renewal. I well recall having bought RCA LCT-1015 on LP, the “Emperor” Concerto with Schnabel and Stock and then proceeding to air it on my SUNY Binghamton radio show on WHRW. Now, in its restored sound, the largesse of the occasion reminds me how much in thrall I would remain to Schnabel for many years.
The Schnabel realizations of the Beethoven sonatas have always been an anomaly: rife with intellectual edits and justifications for the most contrived performances, the actual playing virtually discards all such mental gymnastic for pure emotion. The liquid tone in the Adagio espessivo portion of the E Major Sonata enjoys a transparency of touch that seems patented. The Prestissimo second movement suffers a rushed tempo and acerbic sforzandos, but the softer passages convey a mystery for all time. The Andante molto and its variations bask in special, aural space, in which silences breath with the same passion as the trills and ariosi. For all of the impassioned furor of the c minor’s Maestoso – Allegro con brio ed espressivo, Schnabel attempts to instill a sense of intimacy, even in spite of the hectic abandon in his playing. The counterpoints assume a personal atmosphere, valedictory and learned, at once. We consistently feel that this music shall always remain greater than it can be realized in sound.
The set of Schubert Impromptus, D. 899 stands as the major contribution unearthed in this set. Rather stentorian, the c minor sets a declamatory yet lyrical sensibility that reigns throughout. The natural arch in Schnabel’s melodic line sets the standard for Schubert instrumental vocalism. The E-flat Major and its Chopinesque runs and roulades enjoys a cheery confidence that exhibits a swaggering elan in Schnabel we often miss in our “serious” assessments of his art. The G-flat provides us a rare moment of a Schnabel nocturne, an ardent song without affectation. It was the 1950 reading of the A-flat Major Impromptu by Schnabel that made me a convert; so, for me to hear his earlier, crisper runs and breathed phrases – especially in that wonderful cello melody that emerges – only compounds my sense of revelation, a consummation devoutly to be wished.
—Gary Lemco
by Audiophile Audition | May 31, 2017 | Jazz CD Reviews
David Weiss & Point of Departure – Wake Up Call [TrackList follows] – Ropeadope RAD-328, 76:08 [2/10/17] ****:
A re-consideration of the early fusion era with remarkable results.
(David Weiss – trumpet, Fender Rhodes (tracks 1, 5); Myron Walden – tenor saxophone (tracks 1, 5-9); J.D. Allen – tenor saxophone (tracks 2-4); Ben Eunson – guitar (solos on tracks 1, 5, 7, 9); Nir Felder – guitar (tracks 2-4, solos on tracks 3-4); Travis Reuter – guitar (tracks 1, 5-9, solos on tracks 6, 8); Matt Clohesy – bass; Kush Abadey – drums)
Trumpeter, composer and band leader David Weiss has a wide-ranging inquisitiveness and acquaintance with both modernistic, forward-seeking jazz and early jazz-fusion. On the 76-minute Wake Up Call, Weiss’ latest album with his ensemble Point of Departure, he showcases his uncanny ability to uncork material which is not always well-known to jazz fans, but which brings to life music which has an essence that goes beyond what is predictable. Notably, there are no originals among the nine tracks on Wake Up Call, and yet Weiss has managed to put compositions by John McLaughlin, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson and others into a cohesive and thematic whole. No easy feat to reinterpret other musicians’ work and make it comfortably fit into a singular compendium. Weiss slices his album into three sections: Prologue; Unfinished Business; and New Beginning.
Weiss not only changes perceptions of other artists’ material, but he alters his group’s line-up. Outgoing tenor saxophonist J.D. Allen is heard on three cuts, while new tenor sax player Myron Walden is featured on six numbers. Drummer Jamire Williams is gone; Kush Abadey now sits behind the drum kit. Guitarist Nir Felder is on three tracks, while new guitarists Ben Eunson and Travis Reuter are used on the remaining material. The one holdover is bassist Matt Clohesy. This larger ensemble provides Weiss a broader sonic palette, which he utilizes to his benefit on extended pieces (the shortest tune is over five minutes in length, most are eight to 12 minutes long).
Weiss’ prologue employs McLaughlin’s “Sanctuary,” from the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s 1973 LP, Birds of Fire. Weiss maintains McLaughlin’s ominous expression but heightens the foreboding mannerisms by stretching the arrangement to nearly ten minutes while supplying room for Walden to deliver stinging sax notes, while Abadey sustains both a ticking and an intensified rhythmic pulse. During “Sanctuary,” Eunson also channels McLaughlin during his comprehensive solo shift. The middle chapter of Weiss’ musical narrative, Unfinished Business, contains three tracks. Up first is Shorter’s slightly obscure “Two Faced,” which comes from Miles Davis’ compilation, Water Babies. Davis’ 1968 recording (not issued until 1976) was early fusion: electric and acoustic instruments balanced via a directional groove. Weiss abbreviates his version by six minutes, but at 12:22 “Two Faced” still has lots of space to preserve a continuum of groove, theme and subtle progression, and the way the band gradually, inextricably escalates the tempo and enthusiasm is something to hear. Allen and Weiss both offer encompassing solos. During the tune’s first half, Weiss suggests Miles Davis’ tone and emotive conveyance. In the second half, Allen takes over and displays his precise control and command of his tenor sax. The remainder of Unfinished Business comprises two Charles Moore tunes. Moore was part of Detroit’s 1960s-and-onward DIY artistic community, and didn’t have much commercial success, which means his “Multidirection” and “Noh Word” are probably unknown to most listeners. The nearly-nine minute “Multidirection” has an energy and conviction like “Two Faced,” but is more assertive and insistent, while conserving a jazz-fusion affirmation. There is a quieter momentum on “Noh Word,” where Allen and Weiss meld beautifully together and then layer in supple soloing.
The New Beginning segment has five interpretations, and this is where Weiss pulls the band into some stimulating musical pathways. A must-hear is Henderson’s “Gazelle,” where Walden blows up a storm. This is Henderson before his funk period, and as such, it’s a track which pushes into bop and neo-bop territory with great results. Kudos to Weiss for presenting this and introducing it to a new audience. Weiss revisits Detroit jazz roots with Kenny Cox’s “Sojourn.” Cox, like Moore, is another artist who remains little known to current jazz fans. “Sojourn” is prime post-bop/pre-fusion. Two of Tony Williams’ pieces, “Pee Wee” and “The Mystic Knights of the Sea,” are also part of the New Beginning portion. Weiss transforms “Pee Wee” from the modulated, modal tune on Miles Davis’ 1967 LP, Sorcerer, and into a sometimes-boisterous workout fronted by Eunson’s declamatory guitar. “The Mystic Knights of the Sea” is another one which Weiss unearthed and big thanks for that. Williams’ fusion-fueled original is from his 1972 release, The Old Bum’s Rush, and is not often encountered by Williams’ aficionados. Eunson flies high on his searing and soaring solo, and Walden establishes a comparable turn for his intense sax improvisation. There is a palpable synthesis which suffuses throughout Wake Up Call, as if all these disparate compositions were always meant to be together, forming a compressive collection. Weiss’ brilliance is how he reveals how elements from different sources can have connections which are not apparent but make complete sense.
TrackList:
I Prologue: Sanctuary
II Unfinished Business: Two Faced, Multidirection, Noh Word
III New Beginning: Gazelle, Sojourn, Pee Wee, Songs Esquecidos, The Mystic Knights of the Sea
—Doug Simpson
by Audiophile Audition | May 31, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews
Sir Charles Villiers STANFORD: 38 Preludes from the Two Sets of 24 Preludes in all the keys for pianoforte, Opp. 163 and 179 – Sam Haywood, piano – Hyperion CDA68183, 69:41 (6/2/17) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****:
Irish composer and organ pedagogue Stanford has some effective statements in his extended homage to Bach, his 48 preludes.
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) survives today more as a pedagogue and musical influence in the academic tradition of Cambridge and the Anglican persuasion, the teacher of such notables as Holst and Vaughan Williams. Highly conservative, Stanford sympathized with his conception of Brahms, as an upholder of classical values in the face of an increasingly chromatic modernism; and so, in reaction to the encroachments of Wagner, Liszt, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Varese, and Busoni, Stanford sought retreat into the music of J.S. Bach. Christopher Howells notes that Stanford “had amassed by the end of [his life] a corpus [of piano music] equal to, or greater than such near contemporaries as Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Grieg or Dvorak.”
Stanford produced two distinct sets of 24 preludes modeled after the Bach WTC, the Op. 163 (in 1918) and the Op. 179 (c. 1921). Australian pianist Sam Haywood has chosen from among the 48 preludes those that appeal to him, since they do not conform to any “deep” or “significant” intention: they embrace a wide spectra of moods and sensibilities, from funereal to capricious, balletic to invocations of nature, a la MacDowell. Soundly constructed, they tend to fall into toccata, rondo, martial, and dance patterns. Stanford has bequeathed a suggestive title to many, like “study,” “tempo di Valse,” “Carillon,” “Humoreque,” “En rondeau,” and “In memoriam MG.”
We can hear the Bach influence at the second offering, the Op. 163, No. 8 in e-flat minor, whose Allegro in crossed-hand figures easily reminds us of the Gigue that concludes Bach’s B-flat Partita. The G-flat Major “Fughetta, Op. 179, No. 15” has a carefree countenance that seems to anticipate Poulenc. The e-flat minor, Op. 179, No. 8 could be attributed to Franck. The No. 38 in f-sharp minor, Op. 179, No. 14 accents the bass line in a manner redolent of both Bach and Faure. The No. 32 in b-flat minor, alla marcia solenne “In memoriam MG” pays Chopinesque homage to Maurice Gray, who fell in WW I. The octave study in a minor, Op. 179, No. 2, marked Allegro con fuoco, imitates Chopin for its onrush of dark energy.
Faure once more exerts an influence in the f minor, Op. 179, No. 12, a kind of barcarolle with declamatory impulses. The C Major, Op. 163, No. 1 imitates a Bach organ prelude, even the same C Major from WTC I. A martial texture applies in No. 17 in A-flat Major, Op. 163, reminiscent of Schubert. Schumann seems to have provided the model for No. 24 in b minor, Op. 163, especially in that Romantic’s night-pieces. Baroque forms appear in the “Gavotte” (No. 41) and “Musette” (No. 42). Their relatively light affect contributes to the various “Humoreques” that appear, such as the E Major, Op. 163, No. 9, which could construed as a piece by Grieg.
The No. 43 in A Major “Alla sarbando” feels less Spanish than a descendant of Bach’s famous Chaconne in Busoni’s transcription. The tripping waltz, No. 10 in e minor, Op. 163 again bows to Schumann. A truly potent moment occurs in No. 38 in c-sharp minor, in which agogic shifts from ¾, 2/4 and 4/4 compete for dominance. The No. 27 in D-flat Major unites Bach with the more adventurous harmonies and angular modes in Liszt. Among the longest of the preludes is No. 16 in g minor, Op. 163, marked “Adagio con fantasia,” a merger of Bach and Chopin. A bit of Debussy, perhaps, emerges in the B Major, Op. 179, No. 23, in which Gallic melody and virtuoso ornaments meld and collide.
It has become obvious, after the better part of the hour of Stanford, that these preludes mean to be heard not as an integral set, but in selected groups. The various moods and musical excursions fit into that same mentality that warrants our listening to Grieg’s Lyric Pieces or Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words. Stanford’s music here does not approach the emotional depths of Bach or Brahms, but it remains light, dexterous, and skillful. Mr. Haywood (rec. 20-22 June 2016) has endeared many of these pieces to us, and several bear more inclusion in main-stream recitals. The excellent piano sound, courtesy of Engineer Ben Connellan, provides further motivation to explore this rarely performed keyboard repertory.
—Gary Lemco
by Audiophile Audition | May 30, 2017 | Pop/Rock/World CD Reviews
Van Morrison – The Authorized Bang Collection – Legacy/Bang 88985424672 – 3 CD set (71:32, 74:31, 35:44) ***1/2
A case of “what could have been” rather than “what was”- Van Morrison – The Authorized Bang Collection
(Van Morrison – guitar and vocals; Eric Gale, Hugh McCracken, Al Gorgoni, Donald Thomas – guitars; Russ Savukas, Bob Bushnell – bass; Herbie Lovelle, Gary Chester – drums; percussion/mallets – George Devens; Artie Butler, Seldon Powell – keyboards;
tambourine and backing vocal – Jeff Barry; Cissy Houston, Dee Dee Warwick, Myrna Smith – backing vocals)
When Bert Berns convinced Van Morrison to leave Belfast after the break-up of Them in 1967, and come stateside to record for his new label, Bang Records, it was a major coup. Van was ready to break out on his own after “Gloria” became a hit and Them’s line-up changes convinced Morrison to go out on his own after a 1966 US tour.
Berns had worked with Them and Morrison on major hits, “Here Comes the Night” and “Baby Please Don’t Go.” Bert also worked with Atlantic Records’ soul division and wrote iconic songs such as “Twist and Shout,” “Under the Boardwalk,” “Cry to Me,” and “Baby Let Me Take You Home.”
However, Van’s experience with Bang Records did not go well. Morrison recorded seventeen tracks for Bang in 1967, split between March and December. It was Van’s understanding that Berns was going to issue singles, such as “Brown Eyed Girl,” and “T. B. Sheets.” Therefore, Van recorded “filler” material with the assumption that some of the songs would be used as B-sides. Berns decided that an album should be issued and Blowin’ Your Mind (with eight tracks) was released after “Brown Eyed Girl” hit the Top Ten in the Summer of 1967.
When the final output for Bang was recorded in December, 1967, new musicians were used and they did not mesh as well as did the March recordings. Berns was not approachable to Morrison, and the material appeared overproduced. Unfortunately, in the midst of finishing up the latest tracks Bert Berns passed away suddenly on Dec. 30, 1967, at age 38, from a heart condition related to his childhood rheumatic fever. The final masters were left in limbo until their remastering for this 3 CD box set.
We are left with the original masters, as well as a disc of alternate takes, and a final disc of 31 rather playful tracks, titled the Contractual Obligation Session. These 31 tracks total only 35:44, and the titles do not need quotation marks around them as you can see with names like Stomp and Scream, Jump and Thump, Blowin’ Your Nose, Nose in Your Blow, Want a Danish, Dum Dum George, etc. Track 10 says it all- (I’m Waiting for) “The Big Royalty Check.” These tracks were made on acoustic guitar, sound similar, but with different “lyrics.” Obviously made with a sarcastic edge, they would not have ever been issued except for a complete collection of Bang recordings.
However, for curious Van Morrison completists (count me in) the issue of this box set has value. We are given stereo and mono mixes of his 17 recorded tracks as well as alternate takes. Highlighted are several versions of “Brown Eyed Girl,” and “Ro Ro Rosey.” They show the beginnings of the path that Morrison took throughout his still continuing recording career–blues driven passionate singing with riff enhanced vocals, all in his inimitable fashion. Here Van is backed by Cissy Houston and Dee Dee Warwick, sister of Dionne, and they help increase the soul quotient.
Sidemen include guitarist, Eric Gale, and bassist, Bob Bushnell, both first rate jazz musicians, a clear indication that both Morrison and producer Bert Berns were looking for a quality product. Van shows his early mastery of the blues idiom and though his career took off after being signed to Warner Bros., he was heading in the right direction with Bang. If Bert Berns had been in better health their partnership might have lasted much longer.
Tracklist:
CD 1:
Brown Eyed Girl
He Ain’t Give You None
T.B. Sheets
Spanish Rose
Goodbye Baby
Ro Ro Rosey
Who Drove the Red Sports Car
Midnight Special
It’s All Right
Send Your Mind
The Smile You Smile
The Back Room
Joe Harper Saturday Morning
Beside You
Madame George
Chick-A-Boom
The Smile You Smile (demo)
CD 2:
Brown Eyed Girl (mono)
Ro Ro Rosey (mono single)
T.B. Sheets (take 2)
Goodbye Baby (takes 10-11)
Send Your Mind (take 3)
Midnight Special (take 7)
He Ain’t Give You None (take 4)
Ro Ro Rosey (take 2)
Who Drove the Red Sports Car (take 6)
Beside You (take 2)
Joe Harper Saturday Morning (take 2)
Beside You (take 5)
Spanish Rose (take 4)
Brown Eyed Girl (takes 1-6)
Brown Eyed Girl (takes 7-11)
CD 3:
Contractual Obligation Session- 31 tracks with silly titles
—Jeff Krow
by Audiophile Audition | May 30, 2017 | Jazz CD Reviews
DR. MiNT – Voices in the Void [TrackList follows] – Orenda 0037, 34:34 [1/27/17] ****:
The doctor is in.
(Daniel Rosenboom – trumpet; Gavin Templeton – saxophone; Alexander Noice – electric guitar, effects; Sam Minaie – electric bass, effects; Caleb Dolister – drums)
Jazz quintet DR. MiNT (yes, it’s officially spelled that way) uses an approach the band has dubbed “archistration.” The process equates to producing compositional structures in real time and allows the border between improvisation and composition to be nebulous and yet cohesive. The modernistic methodology permeates DR. MiNT’s fifth release, the 34-minute Voices in the Void. The ten pieces—which range from 1:29 to nearly seven minutes—have an evolving and involving jazz rock, electronic and freely-flowing improvisational base.
The bi-coastal group is fronted by trumpeter Daniel Rosenboom, saxophonist Gavin Templeton and guitarist Alexander Noice (all three reside in Los Angeles), alongside bassist Sam Minaie and drummer Caleb Dolister (who both live in New York City). The “archistration” style, which emphasizes both structure and exploration, is heard right from the get-go on the heavy-hitting opener “Kingdom in the Middle,” which develops alternatingly via a brief, seven-bar section outlined moments before recording. Templeton’s sax and Rosenboom’s trumpet ride above futuristic digital effects, which creates a wall-of-sound wash. The second track, “spacerobot[dance],” offsets a Stereolab-esque underpinning with a slightly neo-funk groove. While the rhythm players layer a skewed dance beat, Rosenboom and Templeton bring high energy to their sometimes-dueling horns. An IDM (intelligent dance music) inspiration is apparent on the jazz-electronica piece, “Fanfare Mécanique,” where effects and digital manipulation supply a SF incitement, like something which Sun Ra might have fashioned had he integrates some industrial music into his work.
There is both a down-to-earth and interstellar drive to the frantic and skittering “Down to One.” Noice adds riffs reminiscent of late-1970s rock, while Dolister and Minaie provide a drum ‘n’ bass-influenced rhythmic bent. “Down to One” is full-on, 21st century jazz which spirals from metal to jazz to neo-fusion. The tune rises and rises to a crescendo, only to come to a climatic standstill. Noice’s roiling and blistering guitar infuses the shortest cut, the loud, enigmatic “A Bird, an Assassin,” which is evocative of material issued by the RareNoise imprint. Others, such as the four-minute “Nymbists,” surge with knotty details which are skillfully intertwined amid conversant and unusual configurations, a balancing act which DR. MiNT is superbly good at accomplishing. On the flip side, the group can also easily flit into warm, comfortable tones, such as the down-tempo “Empyrean,” where minimalism and delicate filigrees float across the nearly three-minute piece. “Empyrean,” as the title implies, has an ethereal quality. DR. MiNT conclude with another astute, atmospheric number, the pocket-sized 2:41 “Anathema,” where Templeton’s slowly-moving sax and Rosenboom’s drawn-out notes have a graceful elucidation and economy. Whereas some bands which gravitate toward full improvisation tend to be chaotic and too outward-bound, DR. MiNT always maintains a recognizable form, or organized shape, and furnish characteristics which listeners can find exhilaratingly exuberant, while DR. MiNT never loses sight of jazz’s rich background.
TrackList:
Kingdom in the Middle
Spacerobot [dance]
Down to One
The [Two] [Three] Sun Erupts
Fanfare Mécanique
A Bird, an Assassin
Nymbists
Empyrean
n-Drift
Anathema
—Doug Simpson
by Audiophile Audition | May 30, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews
“El Amor Brujo – The Essence of the Music of Manuel De Falla” – Euskal Barrokensemble/Enrike Solinis – Alia Vox AV9921, 57:15, (6/09/2017) Tracklist follows ****:
Absolutely sultry and very authentic sounding.
I have loved the music of Manuel De Falla for many years, having first heard my father’s old vinyl recordings as I was growing up. The appeal for me in de Falla and, really, all Moorish-inspired Catalan music is in its lush, gypsy inspired melodies. Players and singers in that culture write fairly simple yet attractive melodies and the embellishments placed in and on them adds the excitement and the virtuosity which makes it so captivating.
De Falla and other composers and artists grew up listening to this music, themselves, and created beautiful classical music and works of art that became the ‘essence’ of Spain with its rich but somewhat embattled history and traditions. To this day, Spain has produced few classical composers who became well known outside of Spain, let alone any who write in a style which goes outside this iconic stylistic box; beautiful though it is.
So, the Euskal Barrokensemble with this wonderful and sonically rich recording takes De Falla’s score to El Amor Brujo (“Love, the Magician”) and that of works by Rodrigo and others and plays the music in a small scale, very idiomatic way that gets at – literally – the essence of the music and its sources.
The results are absolutely mesmerizing. The large, fully realized, orchestral scores by De Falla et al are concert pleasers but if you hear the core melodies played with a truly authentic ‘gypsy’ or Moorish sound by a small ensemble of this caliber it can make you want to hear more.
The truly impressive aspects of this recording and this music’s present iteration is, therefore, not so much the music itself – sultry and magnificent to be sure. It is in the performances. This is a highly skilled and dedicated ensemble. The instrumentation is authentic, right down to Elies Hernandis’ sackbut/sacabuche as opposed to a modern orchestral trombone. He is a fine player as are all these musicians. I felt that ensemble director and excellent guitarist Enrike Solinis as well as vocalist Maria Jose Perez deserve special mention. Incidentally, to this day, De Falla’s El Amor Brujo – originally performed as the score to a theatre piece/ballet – can be performed with or without a soprano singer.
The audio engineering here by Alia Vox is clear and beautiful. The packaging too is simply gorgeous – the sleeve and booklet are works of art, really, including the cover painting by Jorge Apperley. I also was highly impressed to see the many other albums on Alia Vox by the Euskal Barrokensemble and even the cover art of many of these is enough to make me want to get go get some – knowing that the performances will be exhilarating as well! Highly recommended!
Tracklist:
1 Traditional Taranta del la Siega
2 Manuel De Falla Cancion del Amor Dolido
3 Manuel De Falla Danza Ritual del Fuego
4 Joaquin Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez: Allegro
5 Joaquin Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez: Andante
6 Manuel De Falla Circulo Magico
7 Domenico Scarlatti Sonata K32
8 Domenico Scarlatti Sonata K141
9 Dimitrie Cantemir Escena Bestenigar
10 Manuel De Falla Pantomima
11 Manuel De Falla Cancion del Fuego Fatuo
12 Francisco Tarrega Capricho Arabe
13 Manuel De Falla Danza del Juego del Amor
14 Manuel De Falla Campanas del Amanecer
—Daniel Coombs
by Audiophile Audition | May 29, 2017 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews
A long second chapter of the best-selling book and movie, with more to come.
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Eric Johnson, Kim Basinger
Director: James Foley
Studio: Universal Pictures 61180932 (5/19/7) [2 discs]
Video: 2.40:1 for 16:9 screens, HD color
Audio: English DD 5.1 & 2.0, English SDH, French DD 5.1 & DTS-HD MA 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1 & DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: French, Spanish
Extras: UltraViolet; A Tease to Fifty Shades Freed; Deleted Scenes; Writing Darker; A Darker Direction; Dark Reunion; New Threats; The Masquerade;
Intimate with Darker
Length: 500 min.
Rating: ****
No wonder I had to watch this in pieces over three nights! What a long movie this latest ploy in the international phenomenon is. Billionaire Christian Grey tries to entice a cautious Anatasia Steele back into his life. She was evidently put off by his thorough display of bondage. She demands a new arrangement this time around, and they end up with Christian proposing marriage to her. But shadowy characters from Christian’s past begin to affect the couple. Anatasia’s boss and a former older lover are determined to destroy the couple’s hopes for a happy future together.
There is much more bondage than in the first film, the costumes and settings are extraordinary, and the ending makes no subtle effort to set up clearly a third film about the terrible two who will try to ruin the lives of the couple. I think I’ll skip that one.
—John Sunier
by Audiophile Audition | May 29, 2017 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews
DVORAK: Serenades from Bohemia = Piano Octet-Serenade in E, B. 36; Serenade for Strings in E Major, Op. 22; Serenade in d minor for Woodwinds (arr. Nonet), Op. 44 – Czech Nonet/ Ivan Klansky, piano/ Pavel Huela and Vladimir Klansky, vioins/ Academy of St-Martin-in-the-Fields/ Neville Marriner – Praga Digitals PRD 250 371, 77:21 (4/17/17) [Distr. Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****:
¯The dancing spirit of Bohemia’s native son Dvorak infiltrates this collection of chamber pieces.
Much in the tradition of Mozart and his serenades, divertimentos and cassations, Dvorak conceived his Op. 22 Serenade in an “outdoor” style. English musicologist Nicholas Ingman helped to unearth the 1873 version (rec. September 1998) of the String Serenade in the form of a piano-based Octet, the piano and the double bass here serving in a melodic capacity in the absence of a cello part. The strong presence of the bassoon (Pevel Langpaul), clarinet (Ales Hustoles), and French horn (Vladimira Klanska) contribute to the feeling of Nachtmusik, an evening’s love song rendered by an ensemble of musical equals. With the addition of the winds, along with the deep grumblings of the double bass and keyboard’s active treble, the Scherzo movement, for instance, achieves a sense of contrast that retains an intimacy the strings-only version lacks. At the central core stands the A Major Larghetto, a tender nocturne announced by the solo piano (Ivan Klansky), then in concert with the first violin (Pavel Huela). The addition of the cello (Simona Hecova) converts the slow movement into a lovely trio, inviting the clarinet, French horn, oboe, bassoon, and bass to join them. Most of Dvorak’s counterpoint takes the form of tightly-knit canons, and they infiltrate the energetic Finale: Allegro vivace. The French horn adds a decisive “hunt” sensibility to the playful intercourse of two themes, the second set a fifth higher, staccato. The bassoon’s mutterings with the clarinet, invoke the theme of the Larghetto in the piano. By the coda, the original theme of the first movement reappears, a testament to the organic unity Dvorak had imposed upon this work, which he would revise in 1875 into the string form we generally celebrate.
Neville Marriner leads a November 1965 performance of the “definitive” version of the Op. 22 Serenade for Strings. The gentle pacing of the opening Moderato movement captures its various nuances in harmony and in cross rhythms with an air of delicate nobility, much in the manner of the esteemed reading by Vaclav Talich. An occasional mazurka rhythm manages to inhabit the luxurious Tempo di valse and its easy, swaying lilt. Dvorak’s modal sense of harmony informs the passionate, contrapuntal Scherzo: Vivace movement. Marriner moves this movement with a clear intent to showcase the St.Martins’ virtuoso capacities. The Larghetto in the realization might stand as a prayer in the manner of one of Tchaikovsky’s suites of the Grieg Holberg. Having heard the setting that includes the wind instruments, I miss in this poised treatment some of the flamboyance of the other version. The Finale maintains an aroused energy throughout, especially in the way Marriner effects the antiphons among the string choirs.
The Czech Nonet, founded in 1924, originally comprised members of the Prague Conservatory who adhered to an aesthetic established by Louis Spohr. They perform (in November 1998) an arrangement of Dvorak’s d minor Wind Serenade, Op. 44 by Frantisek Hertl. The opening Menuetto quasi Marcia rather whistles and struts forth, the winds piping and the deep cello’s sounding forth a pompous bass voice echoed in the bassoon. The addition of string voices aligns the music even more to the Mozart cassation model. The Menuetto follows a Slavonic pattern of a sousedska, close to a waltz as cross-fertilized by a laendler, a true “outdoor” sensibility. An ardent love song, the Andante con moto, set in A Major, features the clarinet in perpetual melody against a syncopated environment. The pictorial work of Breughel infuses the last movement Allegro in D, a rustic festive dance, visited by a passing polka or two. A most happy affair, this disc, featuring music by a composer who never knew a false note.
—Gary Lemco
by Audiophile Audition | May 28, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews
DVORAK & SCHUBERT: String Quartets ‘American’ & ‘Death and the Maiden’ – Channel Classics 39147, 64:17 (5/26/17) *****:
The debut recording of a powerhouse Chinese ensemble featuring central works of the string quartet repertoire.
Midway through the Dragon String Quartet’s vivid reading of Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden”, I realized that this was not just another young ensemble straight out of conservatory aiming to establish itself in the Classical World. Rather, we have the assembling of a “supergroup,” comprised of players of international reputation — Ning Feng, first violinist and founder of the group, has earned a large reputation as a soloist with several recordings for the prestigious Channel Classics label; Wang Xiaomao is the concertmaster of the China National Ballet Orchestra; Zheng Wenxiao is the principal Viola of Bayerischen Rundfunks; cellist Qin Liwei is a celebrated solo recording artist with Decca.
The collective choice to move from the bright lights of the big concert stage to the more cloistered world of chamber music shows real commitment. This debut recording arrives four years after the founding of the group in 2012, and the preparation shows. The choice of repertoire is significant: arguable the two most well-known quartets of all, the exact center of the string quartet literature. The pairing is common too, both on the chamber music stage and in recordings. As for recorded versions, there is a superabundance, which raises the question of what new insight or angle this newly formed quartet was hoping to discover.
The group looks as celebratory and mirthful as the Golden State Warriors bench in the fourth quarter of one of their 40 point blowouts. (Compare them with the serious focus of the Emerson quartet on their 2016 issue of the same Dvorak piece.) Their confidence is not misplaced, The dramatic Allegro of the Schubert D. 810 requires the most exact, forward-leaning voice entries. The pauses between two subjects should be hugely consequential. The shimmering semiquavers likewise are testing; one imprecision and they become hectically unpleasant. The Dragon String Quartet negotiates the enormous challenges of the long movement without straining for effect. Out of respect, I instantly decided to measure them by the ultimate standard of the Takács. The performances achieve parity in two areas: the beautifully transparent sonics and the exquisitely individual voices of the instruments. In terms of integration and overall feel for the Schubertian inner world, the Dragon approaches that peerless ensemble.
The many variations on “Death and the Maiden” allow each instrument to shine. Ning Feng’s stunning 1721 Stradivari, on private loan, makes an indelible impression, but no more than Li-Wei’s 1780 Joseph Guadagnini cello. There are viola passages, too, that are among Schubert’s most plangent utterances. In short, this is a feast for the ears.
The Scherzo: Allegro and Presto are animated but should still bear the characteristic cantabile which can easily be compromised by a mere feeling of virtuosity. The group is on the edge here, but one thing is certain; there is tremendous excitement and spirit to their playing.
As for the Dvorak “American”, again we are dealing with the most familiar string quartet music, and it is not easy to set aside listening habits. If there is a point of contact between this 1893 fan favorite and the arch-romantic “Death and the Maiden”, it lies in the Lento movement. Probably Dvorak’s most beautiful “song” ever, it breathes the Schubertian air and evokes melancholy rambles or a receding happiness. I might have tried a comparison with the Takács, but not wanting to burst into tears at the sound of Edward Dusinberre’s fiddle, I resolutely proceeded to the vibrant Molto vivace, the bright optimism of which does a lot to clear the air. Again, there are remarkably keening viola passages. The Finale, a lively folk dance with artful rustic touches, shows off one more virtue of this talented ensemble: their lightness. They are incapable of overemphasis or asperity. One could say that beside their towering artistic genius, they have very good manners.
This could be the group that moves into the spot vacated by the now defunct Tokyo String Quartet. It is a tremendous debut and very well recorded. The liner notes are brief and unambitious in terms of musicological context, but perhaps this relatively uncomplicated and well-known music requires little explanation.
—Fritz Balwit
by Audiophile Audition | May 28, 2017 | Jazz CD Reviews
Joris TEEPE & Don BRADEN: Conversations – Creative Perspective Music 3004, 61:11 (2/17/17) ****:
A well considered and deeply prepared trio outing in the footsteps of the legendary Sonny Rollins trio.
(Don Braden; Tenor Saxophone, Flute/ Joris Teepe; Bass / Gene Jackson; drums (tracks 2,4 and 6) Matt Wilson; drums (tracks 1,7,8 and 9)
Why the Jazz trio, you might ask? Well, for starters, one might only have two musician friends in town. A historically more significant cause involves a principle of subtraction. Perhaps after a period of musical reconnaissance, it becomes clear to a tenor saxophonist that the harmony instruments represent an encumbrance. In order to sort out one’s ideas and construct a personal but maximally efficient language of communication, the piano or guitar with all their chords and attitudes must go. Lessons from history highlight this process and are worth revisiting. In 1956, Sonny Rollins took his sax and an ersatz cowboy outfit, but no pianist , “out West”, in what would be a landmark session. What emerged on Way Out West, was the ultimate “thinking man’s” approach to improvisation on a record of enduring charm. In 1960, Lee Konitz followed with Motion, a remarkable session on which he demonstrated the cliche-free linear approach of the Lennie Tristano school in brainy and dazzling deconstructions of jazz standards. Finally, Joe Henderson dispensed with the over-determining organs and pianos of his Blue Note years in his Village Vanguard performances, allowing his mercurial wit and irony to engage the listener in entirely new ways. All three of these records cast long shadows, but it is the first-named that seems to hover, benevolently it should be said, over this particular session.
Don Braden has more than a couple friends, having played with all the greats in an already lengthy career, so we must assume that he has arrived (for the first time) at the trio concept by the same route as Sonny, Lee, and Joe. His erstwhile colleagues, finger-wiggling virtuosos, boisterous organists, and slashing guitarists, did not get a call this time. Instead, Braden went into the studio with long-time associate Joris Teepe and two drummers, Gene Jackson and Matt Wilson, who split duties on the kit. What emerges is titled “Conversations,” which might be too casual for what seem more like interrogations of the jazz tradition as well as a self-imposed challenge to make a fresh statement in an exposed setting. It is also a great record and worthily takes its place alongside the aforementioned Giants.
Co-leader Joris Teepe demonstrates his big sound and agile lines to great advantage throughout. He also contributes one striking chart, a etude-like duo with fleet contrary motion and sharp turns, in what feels like a dance or a duel. The first track is a perfect triangle of interactions. The tenor delivers the Chick Corea “Humpty Dumpty” line with authority while Joris Teepe’s walking bass reaches high and low with muscular quarter-note strides. Matt Wilson roils up a fine tempest with the sticks. Elvin Jones’ “Three Card Molly” switches out the drummer seat for Gene Jackson, in a mind to nod towards his elder with a huge floating drum sound which overwhelms the slender blues theme. By the end, the Coltrane imitation is persuasive, although scarcely original.
On both “Goodbye Porkpie Hat” and “Footprints,” bass and tenor negotiate charts that are overdetermined in their associations. That they succeed in this has less to do with willful distortions or paraphrase and more to do with their superb interactions and extreme economy. On the latter tune, the group boldly dissects the overfamiliar Shorter theme. Melodic inquiry and clever antiphony ensue in what becomes a very free and somewhat shambling discourse. “Stolen Time” features Don Braden’s flute, providing confident improvisation on a non-memorable tune.
Two standards follow: “It’s You Or No One” and “Our Love is Here to Stay.” The trio is happy to pay homage to the great Sonny Rollins in method and tone while bass and drums swing mightily but without the over-assertion that intrudes elsewhere. (The studio fade on the latter deserves a small fine.) One cannot begin to imagine how an addition of piano would be anything other than dilution.
Fans of Don Braden will not want to miss this outstanding record. Bassists will be knocked backwards by Joris Teepe’s cogitations. Even more, those who have a fondness for the saxophone trio will instantly recognize that this is a hard-won achievement of master musicians.
TrackList:
Humpty Dumpty
Three Card Molly
Goodbye Porkpie Hat
Eddieish
This is New
Footprints
Stolen time
It’s You or No One
Our Love is Here to Stay
We Take No Prisoners
—Fritz Balwit
by Audiophile Audition | May 28, 2017 | Classical Reissue Reviews
Cantelli: New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, Vol. I = HAYDN: Symphony No. 93 in D Major; MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467; RAVEL: Pavane pour une infant defunte; FALLA: El Sombrero des Tres Picos: Suite No. 2; VIVALDI: Concerto Grosso in d minor, Op. 11, No. 3; BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3 in c minor, Op. 37; PISTON: Toccata; COPLAND: El Salon Mexico – Walter Gieseking, piano/ New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra/ Guido Cantelli – Pristine Audio PASC 501 (2 CDs) TT: 2:26:56 [www.pristineclassical.com] *****:
Two explosive, thoroughly engaging concerts from Carnegie Hall remind us of the glories of Guido Cantelli’s work with the baton.
The legacy of Italian virtuoso conductor and Toscanini protégé Guido Cantelli (1920-1956) finds sonorous revival through Pristine’s Andrew Rose, here offering two, live CBS Radio broadcasts from successive weeks in March, 1955 from Carnegie Hall. It would be too facile to consider the gifted Cantelli a merely “youthful version” of Arturo Toscanini, despite their several, superficial similarities. Cantelli maintained his own ideas in relation to repertory and structure, often – say in his powerful rendition of the Schumann Fourth Symphony – revealing a sense of tempo and transition much closer to the German we associate with Wilhelm Furtwangler. Virtually each of the programs included in this Pristine edition had once appeared through the pirate label AS Disc, though not as part of any chronological or integral format.
Cantelli clearly found the first (1791) of the so-called Salomon Symphonies of Haydn exciting and appealing. Having set the work to a recording for EMI, Cantelli programmed the piece for 6 March 1955. While Cantelli drives the first movement Adagio – Allegro assai with a militant fervor, he does not ignore its waltz-like rhythm that likewise pervades its secondary motif. The prominent bassoon part soon makes another appearance in the affecting, falling-fifths Largo cantabile, an etched performance that makes much of its G Major lyricism. The robust Menuetto in D – likewise given ardent realization by Beecham – enjoys a rustic energy mostly attributable to the bassoons and strong string accents. The last movement, marked Presto ma non troppo, typifies Haydn’s fusion of rondo and sonata-form, rife with humorous touches that exploit sudden stops and starts, as well as dynamic shifts involving the cello. The brightness of the New York Philharmonic strings – likely in debt to its principal conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos for their response – quite carry the day. They will prove equally potent in the opening of the next week’s concert of 13 March, whose Vivaldi d minor Concerto from L’Estro Armonico sweeps us away.
Each of the concerts features a major piano soloist: Walter Gieseking (6 March) in the Mozart C Major Concerto, and Rudolf Firkusny (13 March) in the Beethoven c minor Concerto. Given the distinct temper of each work, it becomes moot to compare the soloists on the basis of their relative power. Cantelli favors both with alert accompaniment, more playful, however, in the Mozart, since Gieseking relishes adding his own fioritura and miniature cadenzas from time to time. The liquid drama Cantelli and Firkusny achieve in the late pages of the Beethoven communicate a decided conviction that all but unleashes the audience from any restraint. The lovely song of the Mozart Andante from the C Major Concerto – whose skip of a seventh became for a generation of film-goers via Elvira Madigan – has a wonderful repose and elegance from Gieseking, who had at first demurred from working with Cantelli because of his awe in Herbert von Karajan. Happily, the collaboration proved significant enough for all principals to generate anther appearance together in the Beethoven Emperor.
Cantelli often went further than Toscanini in programming new, and especially American, music. The Toccata of Walter Piston – written for Charles Munch and the BSO – confirms Aaron Copland’s estimate of him as “one of the most expert craftsmen American music can boast.” The Toccata demands that each of the Philharmonic choirs contribute a highly volatile, virtuoso series of riffs, both as soli and in violent, contrapuntal motion. Despite the fierce energy of the work, it remains tonal and marvelously accessible, a well-oiled mechanism with a sense of soul. Copland’s El Salon Mexico, a product of a 1932 visit to a nightclub, courtesy of friend Carlos Chavez. A string of folk tunes and occasionally inebriated riffs combine for an effective, even explosive, ride into the Mexican national idiom. In both the Piston and Copland works, the Philharmonic brass and battery are in full tilt, truly resonant with the power of a first-class ensemble.
The Ravel and Falla works that conclude the 6 March concert, respectively, sing and dance with the same expressive fervor that the orchestra’s dynamic leader, Mitropoulos, typically instills in his players. Cantelli follows Mitropoulos almost literally in his sequence of Falla excerpts from the Three-Cornered Hat, which Mitropoulos had recorded for CBS. The Ravel Pavane suggests that a “prince” of music, and not only a musical princess, passed from us all too soon.
—Gary Lemco
by Audiophile Audition | May 28, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews
“Chamber Works of Henri Marteau and Alexander Zemlinsky” = Henri MARTEAU: Serenade; Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet/Alexander ZEMLINSKY: Trio for clarinet, cello and piano – Mark Lieb, clarinet/Phoenix Ensemble – Navona Records NV6076 [Distr. by Naxos], 77:09, (2/10/2017) ****:
Pleasant and somewhat obscure music played with dedication.
This very pleasant collection of chamber music, featuring clarinetist Mark Lieb, is a very rewarding discovery. First, the Phoenix Ensemble, largely organized and lead by Lieb, is a very fine performing unit. The ensemble is based in New York and has given many concerts intended to bring some lesser known music to diverse and atypical audiences. Lieb and the members of the Phoenix Ensemble have a clear commitment to both the lesser known works from familiar eras and idioms but also to new and contemporary music. They have made several recordings that illustrate this commitment such as their amazing recording of the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings by Morton Feldman and that by Milton Babbitt or their equally attention-getting disc with music by Stockhausen and Schoenberg.
The music on this album is not quite so adventurous as those mentioned above but it is, nonetheless, quite pleasing and interesting. The Trio by Zemlinksy is actually pretty well known, especially to clarinetists. I have played this very beautiful Romantic gem and the performance here by Mark Lieb is excellent; especially the lush middle movement; Andante. Zemlinsky was a contemporary of Mahler and – like Mahler – his music received a bit of a revival from obscurity in the late 1960s and into the 1970s. He is one of the many very talented Jewish-Austrian composers whose music, sadly, made the Nazis’ ‘forbidden music’ list but it is well worth exploring at any time; including the lovely Trio featured here.
The music of Henri Marteau is quite a different matter. I had never heard of this composer and seemingly not many others either. Marteau was a French violinist, born in 1874, and – for most of his career – he was well known as a performer and teacher but hardly at all as a composer. The Serenade, op. 20 as well as the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings are a direct result of the young Marteau being introduced (by the then aging Johannes Brahms) to clarinet virtuoso Richard Muhlfeld; the same clarinetist, known throughout Europe, for whom Brahms wrote all his clarinet masterworks. Both the Serenade as well as the Quintet are lovely works with moments of great beauty and even a little wry humor; the Serenade especially being composed at the same time as Marteau had written a little score to a comedic stage play. Good though these two pieces are they are not of the same artistic merit as the Zemlinsky (let alone any of those iconic clarinet works of Brahms) They are well worth hearing though and kudos to the Phoenix Ensemble for seeking this music out.
I did discover one interesting little fact that listeners may want to be aware of. There is also an Ensemble Phoenix Basel (in Switzerland) whom I am sure are also excellent but the present Phoenix Ensemble is based in New York; and they are genuinely worth exploring in recordings or live sometime.
Mark Lieb studied with Robert Marcellus and David Shifrin and is a very fine clarinetist. The Ensemble as a whole is full of talented and dedicated musicians and the music they choose is a bit outside the mainstream but very interesting indeed. I recommend this disc to anyone!
—Daniel Coombs
by Audiophile Audition | May 26, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews
Steve REICH, “Duet” = Duet for Two Solo Violins, compositions [Tracklist follows] – MDR Leipzig Symphony Orchestra/MDR Leipzig Radio Choir/Kristjan Järvi – Sony Classical 88985366362 (2 CDs), 92:58, (11/11/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****:
Some of Reich’s best works given excellent performances,
As one of the founding composers and one of the best known of America’s minimalism movement, Steve Reich has been incredibly consistent. He continues to write music that is very recognizably of his own signature style and I think always of high quality. The best thing about his output – and of others of his generation, most notably Philip Glass and John Adams – is that he writes in a very personal idiom that has evolved over the years and yet cannot be simplistically labeled as ‘minimalist’ – let alone be confused for music by others such as Glass and Adams. (and the same can and should be said of them, as well)
To me, there are two elements to Steve’s music that help to define his art; almost all of his pieces have a very buoyant and recognizable rhythmic ‘palate’ for rhythms have always been an even bigger hallmark of Reich’s music than other composers and – often – the presence of texts or stories or meaning that evokes Reich’s Jewish culture. In fact, the Daniel Variations, first written for a chamber ensemble, in homage to the late American Jewish reporter, Daniel Pearl. The texts to this moving but hopeful work are taken both from the words of Daniel Pearl as well as from the Old Testament Book of Daniel. This recording represents the premiere recording of the full orchestral version and I believe it to be among Reich’s very best works.
The ‘You Are’ Variations are also an orchestral rendition premiere and here, too, Reich sets several aphorisms for chorus and orchestra; from texts such as that from Rebbe Nachman, a Chasidic mystic; the Hebrew original text of Psalm XVI and the Talmud. This too is a moving but propulsive work that captures your attention well. I have always liked works for chorus and orchestra and – going all the way back to his Desert Music – I think Reich meshes text with music extremely well.
Both of these brilliant full-bodied works comprise the second disc in this two CD collection and were my favorites, although I greatly enjoyed Reich’s Duet and The Four Sections as well. The Duet for two violins and strings was written on 1993 on the request of Yehudi Menuhin. This fairly short work is very enjoyable to listen to and blends the two solo violins beautifully without being a virtuosic concertante type work.
The Four Sections was commissioned and premiered by the San Francisco Symphony and is quite similar to a ‘concerto for orchestra’ in that the title refers to the sections of the orchestra; woodwinds, brass, strings and percussion; each given some really nice and often exciting (and fully ‘Reich-like’) melodic cells and rhythmic patterns to employ. To this purpose I have also felt that, of the founding minimalist composers, Reich writes exceptionally well for mallet and keyboard percussion.
His Clapping Music, written in 1971, is just what it sounds like; providing an opportunity for musical expression without instruments, just the human body. This well-known and fairly brief work is impressive for the synchronicity required – performed here flawlessly by Reich and conductor Kristjan Järvi.
The performances here with the forces of the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony and Chorus under maestro Järvi are dedicated and very impressive. Additionally, I do think this represents some of Reich’s very best music. If I were writing the updated history of western music; post Copland and Stravinsky et al, there is no way to ignore the influence of the then correctly nicknamed minimalist school. There have been hundreds of composers who have adopted some or all of the techniques and philosophies contained in this movement that – essentially – reaffirms the human connection to tonality. Of the key composers—Glass, Adams, Reich, Terry Riley—many consider Steve Reich to be the most influential and artistically consistent. There are times, circumstances and individual works that make me feel that way personally, such as this exemplary collection.
Tracklist:
Duet for Two Solo Violins and String Orchestra
Clapping Music
The Four Sections
Daniel Variations
You Are Variations
—Daniel Coombs
by Audiophile Audition | May 26, 2017 | Jazz CD Reviews, Pop/Rock/World CD Reviews
Anat COHEN & Marcello GONCALVES: Outra Coisa: “The Music of Moacir Santos” – Anzic 0055, 46:45 (4/28/17) *****:
Anat COHEN & Trio Brasileiro: Rosa Dos Ventos – Anzic 0057, 48:40 (4/28/17) ****:
Anat Cohen fronts two small ensembles on a double release of stupendously creative and exciting music which draws its inspiration from choro, jazz and the compositions of Moacir Santos.
Among Anat Cohen’s bona fides in the jazz world are 8 Down Beat Clarinetist of the Year Awards. As exalted as she is modern jazz scene, she would, by her own account, prefer to play Brazilian music. She has made a deep study of the older tradition of Chorinho, which is characterized by a lively rhythms and sophisticated compositions. Like its nearest period equivalent, Ragtime, it relies on embellishment of melodies rather than long passages of improvisation. It is inevitable, however, that Anat Cohen would expand the range of the older form with all manner of improvisational vitality. Yet in the end she is an authentic and especially joyful expression of this pre-bossa nova idiom.
On Rosa dos Ventos, Ms. Cohen collaborates with Trio Brasileiro on a dozen charts which have one foot in the compositional style of Chorinho and the other stretching out to jazz. Two thirds of the trio is made up brothers, Douglas (7 string guitar) and Alexandre Lora (percussion and hand pans). The former is a classically trained guitarist of considerable technical prowess who has made a recording of the Bach flute partitas (played by Maria Piccinnini) on which he arranged the continuo parts for two guitars. Joining them is Dudu Maia, maestro of the 10 string bandolim. All twelve charts are originals by members of the group. Some like Para voce, uma Flor, contain long intricate lines with lilting old-school phrases and melodies doubled by one or both plucked instruments and the clarinet. These tricky unisons are carried out with effortless and sometimes breathless fluidity. Valsa du Sul by Cohen is a choro-waltz with a dizzying swirl of unisons. The first more meditative number features Alexandre Lora’s mesmerizing hand pans. These blend in the most pleasing way with the bandolim and the almost oboe-like purity of the clarinet that floats heavenward above the hypnotic groove. It is a surpassingly beautiful tune and a departure from the almost excessively cheerful bounce of the standard Choro fare.
With Rosa dos Ventos, we might wonder if the medium tempo bustle with its relentless paired melodies will wear us out; the ceaseless upper register virtuosity of the clarinet seems becomes almost too insistent at times. But Teimosa pares things down to clarinet and guitar for its moody theme, afterwhich the bandolim offers some consoling commentary on a bridge. (Dudu Maia is a master of tone on this oversized mandolin.) On the reprise, the duo refuses any concession to nostalgia or sweetness, and the piece ends with keening klezmer intonations on a dark minor chord. It is a spectacular tune.
Das Neves starts off with the typical Bandolim riffs and swing, but if you are a non-musician, I challenge you to figure out this compelling time signature. O Ocidente que se Oriente is the most exotic track with hand pans and droning ostinato against what sounds like tabla. Anat ventures out on a flying carpet of pan echoes and spacious open chords with a simple but affecting solo. This for me is the highlight of the session and shows that this group will not be confined to the chorinho tradition. Choro pesado, a traditional sounding number with bright unisons, and the final Lulubia show the group in relaxed report. There is no sense of exertion as the music flows between instruments. Yet not much is asserted compositionally and it feels like a descent from the glorious heights of the middle of the record.
As good as Rosa Dos Ventos is, our second release, Outra Coisa is even better. This project is the inspiration of Marcello Gonsalves, who also accompanies Anat Cohen on the 7-string guitar. It involves a reworking of the orchestral sounds of Moacir Santos’ compositions for the minimal arrangement of guitar and clarinet.
Immediately, the pieces seem to have more dimension and expressive reach than its companion release. If Gonsalves is less the virtuoso than Douglas Lora, he is nevertheless a compelling musician alert to every nuance of the music which requires contrapuntal and harmonic sophistication, as well as velocity and swing. Perhaps, the most attractive feature of these works is that the arrangements feature the clarinet in the deeper chalumeau register. It is here that the tonal splendor of the Israeli reed player is shown to best advantage. Moreover, slow pieces maintain a perfect tension without leaning on sentiment or simple pleasures of the major-seventh chords. Rather what prevails is an almost Fado tinged melancholy filtered through an ECM-like predilection for space and texture. (One wonders if Anat Cohen will follow her brother Avishai into Manfred Eicher’s legendary studio)
The masterpiece here is Coisa no. 6. Marcello’s bottom string (dropped to an A) is deeply resonant like a theorbo. On a gentle 4/4 pulse with off-beat chords, a melody arises from the quietest reaches of the clarinet. It is a thing of wonder, a hard won economy of notes and a stunning timbral control. Notions of style and genre drop away as the piece modestly moves across its form without any urge to raise its voice from a low whisper. At this point too, that we can hear how perfectly the sound image has been constructed with both instruments in focus.
If this piece sets a standard for duo perfection, then it is nearly matched by two other compositions which have something of the same crepuscular mood but each with its own formal elegance, Nana (Coisa no. 5 and Coisa no. 9). Just once, on Mae Iracema, Marcello bends his fingers to break-neck speed while Anat wails at the top of her instrument on a spinning riff which fragments into a dazzling solo. After that, the clarinet slides down to the amber low register for more thoughtful melodic colloquy with its ever-articulate 7 string companion.
This astonishingly beautiful session comes to an end altogether too soon at 46:45 with two intimate pieces. Paraiso and a fleeting Carrossel. The latter is all sotto voce, but there is neither somnolence nor dreams but rather a rapt attention to, or contemplation of, beauty. Marcello Gonsalves explains in the notes that he spent one year making these arrangements. The care he took on these orchestrations is evident on every number. This is the farthest thing from the jam session on familiar tunes. It is radiant with musical intelligence and communicates perfectly with what should be a wide and deeply appreciative audience. A most memorable recording.
TrackList:
Rosa Dos Ventos:
Baiao da Esperanca
Para Voce, uma flor
Ijexa
Valsa do Sul
Flamenco
Sambale
Rosa dos Ventos
Teimosa
Das Neves
O Ocidente que se OrienteChoro Pesado
Outra Coisa:
Amphibious
Coisa no. 1
Outra Coisa
Coisa no. 6
Coisa no. 10
Nana
Coisa no. 9 Mae Iracema
Odudua
Maracatucute
Paraiso
Carrossel
—Fritz Balwit
by Audiophile Audition | May 25, 2017 | Jazz CD Reviews
Art Pepper – Art Pepper Quartet – Omnivore Recordings/ Tampa OVCD-214/ TP-20 – Mono – Nov. 1956 – 45:59 ****
Classic 1956 West Coast session from Art Pepper…
(Art Pepper – alto sax; Russ Freeman – piano; Ben Tucker – bass; Gary Frommer – drums)
One of my most treasured West Coast jazz LPs is a Japanese pressed audiophile vinyl of the Marty Paich Quartet featuring Art Pepper from 1956. It epitomized early West Coast jazz with cool arrangements, lightly swinging and highly melodic. The LP was issued by Tampa Records and cost me a pretty penny. It was well received when issued, and influenced Tampa to record Pepper with his own quartet shortly after. Now thanks to Art’s widow, Laurie, and Cheryl Pawelski of Omnivore, we get the opportunity to hear this November, 1956 recording in fine remastered (by Michael Graves) sound on CD (also available on Vinyl).
It took quite a bit of legal wrangling and perseverance by Laurie to regain possession of the master tapes, and we get the benefit of her detective work. At the time of this session, Art was in a good space with a relaxed confidence that the immediate future held promise. It did for awhile (roughly two years before his demons returned), and there is a calm lyricism in his playing here, his noted passion still present, but no need for the pressure cooker to blow its top. The seven original LP tracks feature some splendid ballads spiced up with blues tracks and riff driven originals. Pepper wrote all but two tracks- “I Surrender Dear” and “Besame Mucho.”
Art’s band is first rate with Russ Freeman on piano, the great Ben Tucker on bass, and Gary Frommer on drums. They largely comp behind Art, but Freeman gets several solos to highlight his impeccable chops, while Tucker gets some featured solo space on “Blues at Twilight.” However, this is Art’s space to shine, and he takes full advantage to show his gentle side on the sublime “Diane,” written for his wife at the time. Its unabashed romanticism is on full display.
Bright and effervescent is the album’s forte with “Art’s Opus” having Art and Russ trade fours, while “Blues at Twilight” is a classic slow blues providing a chance to caress each chorus. “Besame Mucho” is a bit more uptempo with Art hinting at the gritty passion that would continue to be his trademark, especially in his last years ,some 20+ years later.
There are five bonus tracks, mostly various takes of “Val’s Pal,” as well as full alternate takes of “Pepper Pot” and “Blues at Twilight.”
Laurie Pepper in her enlightening liner notes indicates that this session produced her favorite of Art’s recordings. It’s an interesting choice. With all of the drama that Art either lived through, or brought on himself, the relaxed groove presented on this single day session in November, 1956 may have been as hopeful, and least complicated as Pepper ever experienced. Life and its preying demons just got in the way. For fans of Art Pepper, the resultant chaos produced the opportunity to hear some of his most passionate playing, without having to experience the grief that Art had to endure during large portions of the rest of his life.
Tracklist:
Art’s Opus
I Surrender Dear
Diane
Pepper Pot
Besame Mucho
Blues at Twilight
Val’s Pal
Bonus Tracks: Alternate takes/False starts and Incomplete takes of:
Pepper Pot
Blues at Twilight
Val’s Pal
—Jeff Krow
by Audiophile Audition | May 25, 2017 | Jazz CD Reviews
Eliane Elias – Dance Of Time – ConcordJazz CJ A00027 56:16 ****
Samba Olé
(Eliane Elias – vocals , piano; Marcus Teixeira – acoustic guitar 1-3, 5-10; Conrado Goys – electric guitar 4; Marcelo Mariano – electric bass – 1-10; Edu Ribeiro – drums 1-3, 5-10; Celso de Almeida – drums 4; Marivaldo dos Santos – percussion 2, 3, 9; Gustavo di Silva – percussion 2, 3, 9; Special Guests: Amilton Godoy – piano 11; João Bosco – vocal, guitar 4; Mark Kibble – background vocals 3, 5, 8; Mike Mainieri – vibraphone – 2, 7; Randy Brecker – flugelhorn 8; Toquinho – vocal 9, 12 – guitar 12)
It may be unusual to use a Spanish expression to describe Brazilian music, but the term Olé in the above noted tag line is meant to be used in the (sports) context when one person performs a great feat of skill. A more appropriate recognition could not be found to acknowledge Eliane Elias’ latest release Dance Of Time as it is a superbly performed, constructed, and engineered homage to that particular Brazilian musical form, the samba.
With her pianistic skills firmly in the forefront, accompanied by a tight rhythm section and interspersed with several special guests, Elias dives into a wide range of vocal interpretations of recognizable samba numbers along with several of her own compositions, plus a couple of American standards for good measure.
The sambas offered here follow two principal traditions: the slower choro style with such numbers as “O Pato”, “Sambou Sambou” and “Samba De Orly” and the upbeat flavoured samba-canção as evidenced by “By Hand”, “An Up Dawn”, and “Coisa Feita”. Regardless of the antecedents, Elias covers the ground with her own arrangements that reflect her strong pianistic skills, vocal harmonies, and rhythmic sensibilities that are a gratifying earful. The “Copacabana” performed here is not the popular ear candy version by Barry Manilow , but the samba number written by João de Barro and Albert Ribiero. Offered with animation and a frisky identity it transcends popular culture for authenticity.
The two American songbook standards “ You’re Getting To Be A Habit With Me “ and “Speak Low” are transformed into easy-going sambas with the former arranged with a lovely back beat and some tasteful background vibraphone from Mike Mainieri. On the latter number Randy Brecker sets the stage with his elegant flugelhorn and Mike Kibble’s multi-track background vocals support Elias’ affecting vocal interpretation.
With her quietly suggestive voice, Eliane Elias has delivered a musical paean to her native Brazil and the samba tradition.
Tracklist:
O Pato
You’re Getting To Be A Habit With Me
Copacabana
Coisa Feita
By Hand
Sambou Sambou
Little Paradise
Speak Low
Samba De Orly
Na Batucada Da Vida
An Up Dawn
Not To Cry
—Pierre Giroux
by Audiophile Audition | May 25, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews
PROKOFIEV: Pieces from Cinderella – Pieces for Piano – ZABOROV: Nine Variations on the theme by Dmitri Shostakovich – Variations for piano “Quattrocento” – Ten Apparitions – Suite for Piano “Entrelacs” – Jenny Lin, piano, Steinway & Sons 30055, 62:56, *****
Classic and modern Russian piano scores, played with intelligence and verve
This is the sixth CD of a superb series of recordings on the Steinway & Sons label by the Taiwan born and Austrian raised pianist Jenny Lin. She began her piano studies at age four in Vienna and at age 10 entered the Hochschule für Musik. She came to the United States at age 14 and graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in 1998. Lin has studied with Leon Fleisher and Richard Goode and lives in New York City where she teaches at the 92nd Street Y. Her recording of Stravinsky solo piano works and the album Get Happy (show tunes for piano) demonstrate her proficiency in diverse repertoire. She plays with virtuosity and musical intelligence, and has a unique ability to express the music’s emotional essence. Steinway and Sons has provided her with the most authentic piano sound that I’ve heard in a long time.
This album juxtaposes two works of Prokofiev – the early Four pieces for piano, op.4 (1908) and Six Pieces, Op. 102 of selections from his ballet Cinderella with short pieces written between 2011 and 2012 by the contemporary Franco Russian composer Kirill Zaborov (b. 1970). Born in Minsk, Belarus, Zaborov moved to France at age 11. He studied as a pianist and jazz drummer and from 1994-98 he formed several bands, composing and playing in jazz clubs. At the same time he wrote classical works for piano and string quartet, music for documentary films and multi-media concerts. In his program notes for this CD, Zaborov writes, “In its stylistic expression my music is partially inspired by twentieth-century Russian tradition, a legacy whose spiritual depth constantly nourishes my imagination with crucial aspects of its mysterious essence.” The works here are homages to that tradition.
Zaborov’s music here are all miniatures that tend to merge together into one long suite of works that are both modern and melodic in their contrapuntal ingenuity. In Nine Variations on the theme by Dmitri Shostakovich he uses an accompaniment to a hymn Shostakovich wrote in 1932. Each variation represents an emotional aspect of his grandfather’s life. It’s lovely music filled with emotion, sorrow and fond remembrances. The Variations for piano “Quattrocento” are pleasant miniatures that might appear in a lounge concert, each with a classical title, “whether ephemeral adagios or passionate outbursts.”
Ten Apparitions fly by the ear as brief but ingratiating allusions to rhythm and atmosphere, “like a travel diary in which are recorded, as in a fleeting breath, our most intimate thoughts and passions,” the composer explains. Suite for Piano: “Entrelacs” are somber and contemplative. Lin’s animated and dynamic pianism makes these miniatures come alive.
Prokofiev’s early (1908) Four pieces for piano, op. 4 established him as a composer and pianist not afraid of bold dissonances juxtaposed next to moments of quietude and “hammered rhythms.” Lin’s virtuosity shines in these strikingly different movements. Prokofiev dedicated his ballet Cinderella to Tchaikovsky, emphasizing the “poetic love of Cinderella for the Prince, the birth and flowering of that love, the obstacles it encountered, and, finally the fulfillment of a dream.” In the Six Pieces from Cinderella, Op. 102, the composer chose to express the different aspects of the development of the love affair (waltzes, quarrel and Amoroso) in romantic, classical and modern musical language. Lin’s playing expresses every nuance of the musical story. This is intelligent piano playing of enormous verve and emotional range.
—Robert Moon
by Audiophile Audition | May 25, 2017 | Classical Reissue Reviews, SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews
Sir John BARBIROLLI conducts = SIBELIUS: Symphony No. 6; NIELSEN: Symphony No. 4 – The Hallé Orchestra – HDTT [various formats including hi-res PCM & DSD from www.highdeftapetransfers.com] [Reviewed from DSD64 files], TT: 64:33
Barbirolli shines in two works from Scandinavia.
Sir John Barbirolli (1899-1970) was born in London; his father and grandfather were violinists at La Scala, Milan and young John learned the violin, too. He changed to playing the cello as a small boy and was taught first at Trinity College, London, then at the Royal Academy of Music. By sixteen, he was a cellist in Sir Henry Wood’s Queen’s Hall Orchestra. After the First World War, he continued playing in various orchestras; in addition, he appeared as soloist in concertos (he was an early adopter of Elgar’s Cello Concerto) and in a couple of string quartets.
After gaining a lot of experience conducting in the concert hall and opera house, he formed his own chamber orchestra, the Barbirolli Chamber Orchestra, with whom he made recordings for HMV. He got an excellent reputation as accompanist in London for top soloists, and his recordings with Heifetz, Kreisler and Rubinstein won him much praise internationally. After a few years as chief conductor of the Scottish National Orchestra, he was appointed Toscanini’s successor in New York where he was rather more successful than some naysayers give him credit for. Again, recordings of high quality from Columbia and live concert recordings are testament to his achievements in New York.
A certain amount of homesickness and uneasiness being away from Britain during the early years of the Second World War saw give up the prestigious New York post and return home during the darkest days of the War to a decimated Hallé Orchestra in Manchester and being presented with the job of rebuilding the orchestra almost from scratch. While it never reached the standards of virtuosity of the New York Philharmonic, it certainly produced more than respectable results.
On this release from HDTT, Barbirolli’s affinity for music from Scandinavia is on show. Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4,”The Inextinguishable”, here gets its first stereo recording and a pretty decent performance at that. It’s both taut and exciting, and the timpani, out in the front, are most impressive. Recorded by Pye records18-19 September 1959 in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, the sound had early criticism for somewhat cavernous sound, blunting details. This release, from a commercial reel, while sounding a trifle dated and occasionally a little congested, still sounds well enough overall, and Barbirolli followers will be pleased to have this excellent performance in as good sound as this.
Barbirolli made many recordings of the music of Sibelius over a long period, and the Sixth Symphony offered here comes from the end of Glorious John’s career. During the late 1960s and during 1970 he set down the whole cycle, still much loved all these years later. The Sixth was one of the more successful readings in the cycle and the Hallé, especially the strings, are largely in very good shape. Romantic, intense when needed, Barbirolli’s performance brings the outdoors feeling to the fore. This work featured in his last concert in Manchester around the time of the recording, and Barbirolli, already very ill, was to die a couple of months afterwards.
Recorded rather later than the Nielsen, the sessions for Sibelius’ Sixth date from 21-22 May 1970 and it was set down in the Kingsway Hall. London, and produced by EMI’s famous pair, Christopher Bishop, producer, and Christopher Parker, engineer. The sound quality here is really very good indeed, HDTT’s mastering to DSD ensuring something of an analog feeling to the results. All in all, a welcome reminder of Barbirolli’s art.
—Peter Joelson
by Audiophile Audition | May 24, 2017 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews
KLEIBERG : Mass for Modern Man – Mari Eriksmoen (sop) / Johannes Weisser (bar) / Trondheim SO & Choir / Eivind Gullberg Jensen – Pure Audio Blu-ray – 5.1 surround + stereo + mShuttle / 9.1 Auro-3D + 11.1 Dolby Atmos 48kHz / SACD multichannel and stereo; 2L-136SABD – TT: 67:59 ea. (2 discs) [Distr. by Naxos] *****:
A gripping new work for our time served with excellent sonics
Ståle Kleiberg (b. 1958) is one of Norway’s most distinguished composers. He has written a good deal of music, much of it as the result of a commission, and performances are given around the world.
An earlier work, Requiem – for the Victims of Nazi Persecution, also commissioned by Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, had it US premiere in the National Cathedral in Washington and its recording appeared on Simax on SACD. The Mass for Modern Man succeeds other 2L recordings, Mezzotint, a collection of chamber works, Treble and Bass, concertos for violin and double-bass, and Kleiberg’s opera-oratorio, David and Bathsheba.
As with the Requiem, Kleiberg includes among the traditional Latin texts of the Mass fresh literature to emphasise the contemporary nature of the work. In this case, between the Kyrie eleison, Gloria, Credo and Sanctus, sung by the choir, we are given three large movements dealing with some of the problems faced by so many today, using texts by Jessica Gordon commissioned for this work – Loss of a Homeland – The Refugee, Loss of a Child and Loss of Faith and Hope for the Future. These are sung by the soloists and underscore the traditional Latin texts, and the message at the end is one of hope, yet not without the realisation that the journey will be hard. As Kleiberg points out in his essay included in the booklet, a conflict of emotions exists between The Refugee and Loss of a Child with the Gloria and Credo following. He writes: ‘When a movement about the loss of a child is followed by a Credo, it cannot be a clear and unambiguous Credo, but a hesitant one.’
Kleiberg’s music seems to me to have the flavour of the post-Impressionist, post-Duruflé, for example, an extension of very late Romanticism, included with his own distinctive use of more modern and highly effective aspects of tonality. As with Kleiberg’s earlier Requiem, and, for example, Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, the juxtaposition of familiar and traditional texts with the new, is both effective, each raising the value of the other. The two fine soloists, soprano, Mari Eriksmoen, and baritone, Johannes Weisser communicate Jessica Gordon’s words with great sensitivity. The excellent Trondheim Choir and Trondheim Orchestra are on top form conducted by the very able Eivind Gullberg-Jensen.
Morten Lindberg’s fine sound is up to the usual 2L house standard, in other words, it continues to set the bar for sonic quality. The sense of realism without hi-fi gimmicks can only enhance listening pleasure, blu-ray and SACD equally excellent. The very slightly warmer fingerprint from SACD perhaps suits the content well.
This new work written for our time has impressed greatly.
—Peter Joelson
by Audiophile Audition | May 24, 2017 | Classical Reissue Reviews
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 1 in c minor, Op. 68; WEBER: Invitaton to the Dance, Op. 65 (arr. Berlioz/Stokowski); J. STRAUSS: On the Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz, Op. 314; Tales from the Vienna Woods Waltz, Op. 325; LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (orch. Mueller-Berghaus) – Philadelphia Orchestra/ Leopold Stokowski – Pristine Audio PASC 500, 70:01 [www.pristineclassical.com] ****:
Mark Obert-Thorn initiates an integral survey of the Brahms symphonies by Stokowski, buttressed by virtuoso supporting recordings.
Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977) receives from Mark Obert-Thorn tribute upon the advent of Stokowski’s 135th year of his birth (on 18 April 1882), here in the first electrical recording of any Brahms symphony (25-27 April 1927), the first installment of the complete cycle that Stokowski left for posterity 1927-1933. Stokowski would record the Brahms First Symphony five times, each a reminder of Stokowski’s penchant for imposing a distinct organ sonority on the work’s massive melodic structure. The tendency to “layer” the various orchestral voices in the manner of the organ’s diapason seems to thicken an already generous texture, especially when the Philadelphia strings engage in their monumental capacity. On 30 April 1927 Stokowski lectured from the keyboard his “Outline of Themes,” whereby he provides an enthusiastic bit of commentary, ending with his appreciation of the gramophone as an instrument that would enable listeners to audition such great music as many times as opportunity and taste demanded.
The opening movement, Un poco sostenuto – Allegro delivers both drama and colossal impetus. The performance holds up extremely well by contemporary standards, relatively free from “romantic” rhetoric and bathos. The ensemble’s intonation, especially in the low winds, brass and string line, reveal a directness and precision that few ensembles could rival then or now, and that includes the Mengelberg/Concertgebouw experience. Always, Stokowski’s breathed phrases enjoy a vocal character, balancing the various textures-in-dialogue from individual winds to strings, over a pungent, rolling tympani line.
A bit more of the concession to old-world musical values infuses the Andante sostenuto, with its slides in the string line. But here, too, we have a clarity and nobility of line that transcends the rhetorical moment. The oboe, clarinet, violin solo, and horn entries, clarion and exalted, retain a fervor and affectionate ardor that we seek in the music of Brahms. The huge pedal points, again bolstered by the organ sensibility, quite fill out a monumental sound space in the Brahms idiom. The A-flat Un poco allegretto e grazioso enjoys an almost over-ripe sonority, so its five-bar phrases assume a girth that once more points to an organ swell. Rich, even luxurious, the Philadelphia string sound nearly overwhelms the brass militancy that will later try to quell the underlying tensions (in f minor) in this grudging concession to lyrical beauty, that ends with triplets and a downward arpeggio.
Even in his piano accompaniment discussion of themes, Stokowski highlights the grandly melodic design of the last movement, whose opening Adagio proceeds over a potent tympanic pedal and roll. The pizzicati proceed towards a ferocious building up of layered sound that bursts forth in an Alpine horn call over shimmering Philadelphia strings. Everything moves in preparation for a bucolic evocation that will embrace the familiar hymn-tune that resonates with elements of Beethoven’s Ninth. The tempo of the Allegro non troppo does not drag lugubriously or ponderously, despite the conscious girth of expression. We do hear moments of archaic portamento from time to time, but the impetus of this driven rendition will bear comparison to the ‘classical’ renditions by Weingartner and Toscanini. At moments Stokowski achieves a sense of relative calm and security within the otherwise stormy development, with high arches of string sound. The sumptuous, rolling figures leading to the extended coda announce unequivocally Stokowski’s commitment to organ registrations, huge, pompous, exalted.
Obert-Thorn points out that Stokowski has recorded the Weber Invitation to the Dance in an acoustic version, cut to fit the requirements of the shellacs and Weingartner’s arrangement. Here 7 May 1927) Stokowski utilizes the colorful Berlioz edition, and augmented by Stokowski’s own touches in clarinet and flute, ushering in the cello section and having responses from the oboe. Some of the colors, as in the huge harp glissandos, verge on Hollywood kitsch, but the flair and brio of the moment salvage something like “taste” for this virtuoso performance. The two Strauss waltzes – the first records cut in the Academy of Music 10 June 1926) – suffer huge cuts to accommodate the 78 rpm medium. Connoisseurs would have to turn to Clemens Krauss and Erich Kleiber for the full scores. If the silken elegance of orchestral sheen remains your whole concern, then the drastic cuts will not deter your enjoyment.
The Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (18 November 1926 and 10 March 1927) might have been led by Willem Mengelberg, for all the willful exaggerations and rhythmic licorice-pulls and tugs the music endures. Still, the exuberantenergy and sheer virtuosic exhibition in the performance rather explodes anything like “academic” criticism. Listening to this charismatic razzle-dazzle, one can well hear (and see) the temptation to have cartoon characters hustle through manic melodramas to ingrain this music into our collective consciousness. It’s a circus-ride of epic, quite breathtaking proportions.
—Gary Lemco
by Audiophile Audition | May 23, 2017 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews
Arrangements or Transfigurations = BACH: Prelude and Fugue in e-flat minor, BWV 853; MOZART: 6 Preludes and Fugues, K. 404a: No. 3 in d minor; BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No. 1 in g minor, Op. 25: Intermezzo; Intermezzo (orch. Schoenberg); STRAVINSKY: Three Pieces for String Quartet; Four Etudes for Orchestra; JANACEK: Mlada Suite for Wind Sextet; Mlada (trans. Maratka) for String Quartet – Artists below – Praga Digitals SACD DSD 3501 32, 80:31 (5/26/17) [Distr. Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****:
A series of selected works, from Bach forward, exploit the possibility of new sonorities in these masterly arrangements.
[Wilhelm Kempff, piano (Bach); Grumiaux Trio (Mozart)/ Arthur Rubinstein/ Members of the Guarneri String Quartet (Brahms); Chicago Symphony Orchestra/ Robert Craft/ Tokyo String Quartet (Stravinsky)/ London Symphony Orchestra/ Antal Dorati/ Prague Wind Quintet/ Zemlinsky Quartet]
Culled from over fifty years of recording history, 1961-2016, this disc, compiled by annotator and arranger Krystof Maratka, seeks to illustrate that great composers often like, venerate, and transform works by their predecessors. The musical premise – following the idea that all philosophy is merely a footnote to Plato – seems to be that all music evolves as a footnote to Bach. Wilhelm Kempff plays the meditative Prelude in e-flat minor from WTC I, BWV 853 (rec. 1961), whose dance-motif in the fugue proves no less melancholy in its woven chromaticism. Mozart had engaged in a detailed study of Bach’s work for his own arrangements for string trios in 1782, much at the suggestion of Baron van Swieten, chief librarian at the Court of Vienna in Berlin.
The staid figures of the d minor Prelude and Fugue have a rich sonority from the Grumiaux Trio (rec. 1967) despite their chaste countenance. Eva Czako’s cello often provides a deep foil to Grumiaux’s high tessitura, with the viola of Georg Janzer’s filling in the tenor. A rich mixture of string sonority, we know that such learned writing will peak in Mozart’s Divertimento, K. 563.
The Guarneri String Quartet spent many of its formative years in residence at SUNY Binghamton, where this writer often auditioned their work in rehearsal and in concert. Three members – John Dalley, Michael Tree, and David Soyer – collaborate with veteran Brahms pianist Artur Rubinstein in 1967 to perform the Intermezzo from the 1861 Brahms Piano Quartet No. 1. The Intermezzo projects a quizzical, mysterious air, changing its introspective mood to restrained jollity half-way through the movement but then returning to its cautious figures over the low ostinati and the cello’s deep song. Composer Arnold Schoenberg orchestrated the Brahms work in 1937 for Otto Klemperer and his Los Angeles Philharmonic, and in 1966 George Balanchine arranged the score for ballet at Lincoln Center in New York City. The 1962 recording by Robert Craft and the Chicago Symphony exploits the menace that lurks under the throbbing ostinati below the strings and woodwinds. The middle section, however, does enjoy a more serenade-like sonority. A true advocate of this orchestration had been Sergiu Commissiona, whom I interviewed in Atlanta, and who had taken his cue from his main instructor, Constantin Silvestri.
Igor Stravinsky conceived his Three Pieces for String Quartet in 1914, intended as a conscious rebuke of traditional quartet idioms and the stringed instruments themselves. Taking his cue from the Russian guttural sounds and motifs of peasant music, especially in his Les Noces, Stravinsky eschews anything like the strings’ capacity for legato. The Tokyo String Quartet (rec. 1987) intones the jerky, spastic, and deliberately dissonant aspects of the three movements with an acerbic relish. The British music-hall figure Tich inspired the “Eccentric” movement, much as Debussy found musical fodder in French and British vaudevilles. The last movement comes as a disturbing presence, a dirge-like Canticle, much of which sounds like a modal transposition of the Dies Irae. Despite their anguish, the last 20 measures elicited great fondness from the composer himself. Arranged in 1928, the Four Etudes for Orchestra combine the Three Pieces for String Quartet with a moment from his Four Etudes for Piano, Op. 7. The performance by the London Symphony under Antal Dorati (rec. 1964) highlights their forward-looking sonority, which at times we could mistake for Alban Berg. This rendition omits the final movement, “Madrid.”
Janacek’s 1924 wind serenade Mladi (“Youth”) came as a result of the composer’s desire to celebrate his early years at the Old Brno Monastery. The influence of French music, especially that of Debussy and Roussel, affects the modalities of this music, even beyond Janacek’s natural flair for Bohemian peasant rhythms and airs. The virtuoso writing permeates all parts, but in this performance by the Prague Wind Quintet (rec. 1999), we become alerted to the gifts of flute Jan Riedlbauch, Vlastimil Mares, clarinet, and Vladimir Klanska, French horn, particularly. The Vivace movement sports some fine playing by oboe Jurij Likin, supported by crisp articulation from bassoon Milos Wichterle. The string quartet transcription by Krystof Maratka (b. 1972) has a long explanatory note attached,in which Maratka explains how he used the scores of the Janacek string quartets as a template for the style, given the kinds of adjustments he had to make for a woodwinds to “become” stringed instruments. The Zemlinsky Quartet (rec. 2016, its first world-release) manages to imitate wind sounds as specific points – especially in the first violin Frantisek Soucek’s flute tone, and a more “symphonic” resonance in the cello part from Vladimir Fortin. The textures, naturally, have become clearer and more alert to the interior “antics” of the youth depicted in this often harmonically audacious piece.
—Gary Lemco
by Audiophile Audition | May 23, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews
The aging German master displays his melodic and often explosive temper in three late string works.
BRUCH: String Octet in E-flat Major; String Quintet in a minor; String Octet in B-flat Major – The Nash Ensemble – Hyperion CDA68168, 62:48 (3/31/17) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****:
The three chamber works by Max Bruch (rec. 18-20 April 2016) here performed by the talented Nash Ensemble testify to the resurgence of the composer’s late interest in the medium, all of the pieces having been conceived 1918-1920. Even in the throes of WW I, Bruch managed to find inspiration through his association with violinist Willy Hess, virtuoso and pedagogue at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Berlin. Throughout these string ensemble works, we feel that both Brahms and Mendelssohn have exerted their respective spells and influences upon Bruch, though his own natural capacity for melodic utterance remains his own.
The opening work, the String Quintet in E-flat, proffers four movements, the first of which, Andante con moto, serves an introductory function for the ensuing Allegro. This movement projects a more symphonic cast, with the two violas – Lawrence Power and James Boyd – filling out the often dramatic outbursts. The songful Andante con moto seems to recall motifs we might know from Bruch’s symphonies. A cyclical bridge tune from the work’s beginning leads us to the energetic last movement, broken as it is into two sections, Andante con moto – Allegro ma non troppo vivace – the latter the same tempo designation for the Brahms Violin Concerto, which it resembles not only in its rondo form, but in the highly bravura writing for the lead violin, Stephanie Gonley. The last pages and coda strike us for the richness and breadth of the textures, the coda theme’s having been lifted from the composer’s Symphony No. 3.
The a minor Quintet has a clear date ascribed to the score: 17 November 1918. A short, slow introduction, first-violin heavy, marked by a falling interval of the diminished seventh. The sudden surge of energy that follows easily looks to both Beethoven and Brahms as idols. The lyrical secondary theme allows Bruch to work out his motifs in sonata-form. The middle voices – violas and cello Adrian Brendel – work out the intricacies of development, and the meandering bass line has its own allure. The gradual build up of voices and stretti well recall Mendelssohn and Brahms as models. The first violin intones the better part of serenade and virtuoso solo part in the midst of some thick harmonization before it takes us back – over emotional utterances from the lower strings. The first violin leads us by flowing and circuitous routes to the coda, which has moments of Mediterranean dancing. The Allegro molto that follows, too, enjoys a robust 6/8 tarantella hue. The counter theme is all legato, but the playful atmosphere prevails, although the sliding transition figures definitely mean to exhibit virtuosity. Bruch penchant – like that of Mozart and Schubert – of recasting a good tune used prior comes to the fore in the Adagio non toppo, here recycling a theme from the Serenade on Swedish Folk Tunes (1915). An extended, lushly harmonized love-song marks the Adagio non troppo, once more augmented by concertante first violin writing that exploits the sound of a salon concerto. The solo violin executes runs and roulades galore in the final Allegro, before a bucolic secondary tune calms the atmosphere in the course of three episodes. Molten heat marks the polyphony that ensues, with the tenor instruments in hot pursuit of the violin’s top line. One enchanted episode involves a melodic line over pizzicatos and a weaving bass that bears comparison to the best lyrical writing in Dvorak. The coda vibrates with symphonic impetus.
After the death of his wife Clara Bruch in 1919, Max Bruch felt the need to re-score one of his quintets into the B-flat Major Octet, scored for a double string quartet in the manner of Mendelssohn, but containing only three movements. The opening Allegro moderato makes use of a virile viola lead – Lawrence Power – to declaim a dramatic tune whose broken phrases will supply matter in the supporting parts as the sonata-form works itself out rather expansively. The cello line quite sings ardently while the first violin asserts the usual Bruch capacity for highly versatile filigree. Echo effects and drooping figures play out sonorously, as is Bruch’s wont. The passionate energy becomes significant and compelling, the way many a Mendelssohn overture achieves a ferocious, learned resolution.
The middle movement, an e-flat minor Adagio, bears the imprint of Schubert’s melancholy and mysterious harmony. The lyrical impulse finds a foil in martial figures that soon break up into sighing gestures. Certainly, the music plays as a likely elegy for the departed Clara Bruch. The music does not merely languish, however; the solo violin commands a series of episodes that may possess nostalgia within the figures, but the mood opens out to a sense of loving spaciousness. The last movement, Allegro molto, combines aspects of scherzo and finale. A blistering attack cedes to a series light, flexible interchanges with violin’s dancing over sumptuous harmonies beneath, rather Italianate and heartily dramatic. Violin and cello lines blend affectionately, a tender serenade. The opening firestorm returns, somewhat tempered by the dance elements. A sudden harmonic shift leads to more arioso utterance from the violin; and with the seductive ebbs and flows from the ensemble – reminiscent of Mendelssohn’s concert-rondo for piano and orchestra,
Op. 29 – the lead violin and tutti cascade to an affirmative conclusion.
Throughout the survey of these three quintets, Recording Engineer & Producer Phil Rowland has ensured our ears have missed nothing from an integrated, perfectly balanced body of kindred spirits.
—Gary Lemco
