New Worlds: Copland, Dvorak, Ives

The Knights are an orchestra not affiliated with a city or an institution of learning such as a university, and they are committed to taking orchestral music out of the concert hall and directly to the people through playing non-traditional venues such as New York City's landmark restaurant Le Poisson Rouge. Sony's disc New Worlds was inspired by a program prepared by The Knights for the annual Dresden Music Festival, which chose as its theme the concept of "New Worlds" for its 2009 edition. 

These recordings, however, were made in Sony's Legacy Studios in New York and not at the festival itself, and for the better, as they have a great sense of presence while maintaining orchestral depth. This works very well for the splendid version of Charles Ives' The Unanswered Question included; for once, listeners are not straining to hear the string chorus and having the foreground elements smack them in the face, but all is well-balanced. Gabriela Lena Frank's Leyendas is a spicy and effervescently rhythmic confection that utilizes "new music" techniques in a wry and humorous fashion, whereas Dvorák's Silent Woods is indeed woody, wide, and fully achieved in a standard romantic idiom, perhaps the ultimate test of the mettle of a new century orchestra; how well can than they do standard, 19th century fare? If you're The Knights and cello soloist Jan Vogler, about as well as the Czech Philharmonic does Dvorák.

The Golijov is both bristling with energy and tension and played with precision; well done, especially when one considers the rather complex rhythmic profile of the piece. Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring closes out the show, and The Knights' -- and conductor Eric Jacobsen's -- attentiveness to detail pays off in the Copland, which for some established orchestras can sound like a tired old warhorse. That said, it doesn't quite crackle with the electricity encountered in older recordings by Antal Dorati or Copland himself, but The Knights' reading is fresher than many to most interpretations of this very commonly recorded piece. Listen up, orchestras of the classical establishment: here is your competition. In order to keep pace with what The Knights can offer in lithe limberness and immediacy, the big concert orchestras might need to put in some time at the gymnasium; suffice it is to say that New Worlds is a refreshing change over usual orchestral fare. --allmusic.com

Beethoven: Choral Fantasia

“with the aid of a strong team of soloists, Hilary Davan Wetton makes as strong a case as possible for [Der glorreiche Augenblick]...The performance [of the Choral Fantasy] here benefits greatly from the contribution of Leon McCawley, whose account of the long opening piano solo has just the right degree of dramatic intensity and improvisatory freedom. With first-rate recorded sound, the disc is strongly recommended.” --BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 *****

“Davan Wetton rouses his forces to hymn the praises of Vienna and Emperor Franz of Austria, drawing from the City of London Choir the full-bodied outpouring that one expects at celebratory occasions. The Westminster Boys Choir adds pristine treble tones to the concluding chorus. The Royal Philharmonic plays with relish in both the cantata and the Fantasia” --International Record Review, May 2012

“[Wetton] has a comprehensive grasp of the score [of Der glorreiche Augenblick]. From grandeur to contemplation, the mix of many elements is persuasively interpreted...Leon McCawley plays the 26-bar solo introduction [to the Choral Fantasia] with a sense of ad-lib abandon, coruscating in the hailstorm of notes at its fortissimo climax.” --Gramophone Magazine, September 2012

“The choirs are consistently excellent and they make light of Beethoven’s demanding vocal writing. The playing of the Royal Philharmonic is first-rate in every way, revealing an adoption of historically informed performance practice. Hilary Davan Wetton’s enthusiasm and love for both works is obvious” --MusicWeb International, July 2012

Haydn · Danzi · Rosetti: Horn Concertos

Hermann Baumann is one of the world’s greatest horn players. He won the ARD International Music Competition in Munich 1964 (Jessye Norman was second that year, and won in 1965), and from then on he played in some of the greatest orchestras, conductors and ensembles in the world. Claudio Abbado asked him during rehearsals in Rome for Mahler 6 ‘why aren’t you in Berlin?’ He played with Concerto Amsterdam under Jaap Schröder, for Karl Munchinger and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and for Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Concentus Musicus Wien. 

A lifetime of concert giving around the world and an extensive discography has ensured that his stupendous technique and versatility, and characterful playing has been heard and admired by thousands of music lovers.

This extensive survey of his art embraces the major concertos and some rarities, some fascinating chamber works, and a selection of virtuoso showpieces that display the artistry of this multi-faceted musician.

Hofmann: Flute Concertos, Vol. 1

Of all Haydn's Viennese contemporaries Leopold Hofmann was perhaps the most successful and popular composer of concertos. He wrote around sixty solo concertos during a twenty-year period (ca 1758-1778) for a variety of instruments including thirteen for flute. Hofmann's two earliest flute concertos cannot be identified and indeed may not survive; they are known only from their appearance in an inventory of music belonging to the Esterházy family made around 1758. 

The thirteen extant concertos probably date from the 1760s although it is possible that at least a couple of the works were composed during the 1770s. Since his interest in composing flute concertos is impossible to reconcile either with his professional duties as a church musician or as a performer - Hofmann was a fine violinist and keyboard player – it seems likely that most if not all of the works were composed on commission.

Read more...

Meyer & Botessini Concertos

On this record, featuring Edgar Meyer as both composer and bassist, the playing's the thing, and it is spectacular. His performance of four virtuoso concertos, two by himself and two by Bottesini, eclipses his compositions, though his stylistic versatility is in full evidence in both his works. The Concerto for Bass has elements of jazz and blues, and a good deal of textural contrast and imaginative orchestration, but it is repetitive and a bit dreary. 

In the hair-raisingly difficult Bottesini Concerto, Meyer performs every imaginable and many unimaginable technical feats, covering a range of more than six octaves and producing sounds from growls to flutelike harmonics. Apparently craving even more pyrotechnics, he substitutes his own cadenzas for the composer's.

Two equally stunning virtuosos join him for the other works. In his Double Concerto for Cello and Bass, he and Yo-Yo Ma chase each other up the fingerboard to the highest register, where, with their lines answering and interweaving, it is sometimes impossible to tell them apart. The piece is tonal and modal and supposedly classical in form, but quite dissonant. The middle movement alternates motoric outbursts with eerie, unvibrated sustained passages; the finale combines folk-fiddling with blues. Joshua Bell and Meyer play Bottesini's Duo Concertante for Violin and Bass with incredible virtuosity and obvious relish. Bell's tone is ravishingly beautiful and his charm, flair, and style are irresistible. Like his older compatriot Paganini, Bottesini was enthralled by Italian opera. The piece is full of dramatic recitatives and meltingly songful cantilenas, with the soloists bursting into arias and love duets and the orchestra setting the stage and providing the atmosphere. --Edith Eisler

Field: Piano Concerto No. 7, Etc

The performances are outstanding. The London Mozart Players, under the assured direction of Bamert, and soloist O’Rourke, show a great affinity for this wonderful music, and bring out a glorious sense of joy in lively and exciting performances.

“O'Rourke and his partners capture Field's spirit and style to perfection, warmly recorded in a natural acoustic.” --Gramophone Magazine

John Field was born in Dublin, although his family moved to London when he was 10. By then he was already showing great talent as a pianist. He studied with the highly-esteemed composer, teacher and publisher, Clementi.

Penderecki: Sinfoniettas & Oboe Capriccio

“Though none of the pieces on this disc counts among his major works, it adds up to an attractive portrait of the composer...[the Sinfoniettas] inhabit a sound-world suggesting Shostakovich, but without its bleak pessimism. Conductor Antoni Wit sculpts the Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra's playing, and two wind soloists shape every line with purpose.” --BBC Music Magazine, April 2012 ****

“there's plenty of fervent intensity in the way Antoni Wit and the Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra put the music across” --Gramophone Magazine, June 2012

“This collection of works for string orchestra swings effortlessly from courtly baroque pastiche to radical avant garde...Here was a leading enfant terrible producing stately minuets, played with elegant warmth by the Warsaw Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra in the latest of Antoni Wit's excellent Penderecki series for Naxos...All elements combine in the closing, elegiac Sinfonietta No 2” --The Observer, 12th February 2012

“The performances here are really fine throughout: Antoni Wit is an exceptional conductor who has made some outstanding recordings (not just of Polish music) with this admirable orchestra, and the recording quality is first-rate.” International Record Review, June 2012

Mission

“Bartoli's plummy mezzo soars, smoulders and seduces, milking the music's vocal and expressive scope to dramatic effect. It's hard to resist her sparkling personality and infectious passion for this repertoire...the animated playing of I Barocchisti enhance the sheer theatre and scale of Steffani's talent...this is truly a revelatory disc.” --BBC Music Magazine, December 2012 *****

Gramophone Magazine
Editor's Choice - December 2012

“Bartoli is to be both congratulated and thanked for this project...Her dazzlingly virtuoso and urgently expressive performances betoken nothing less than total commitment, with every single aria delivered with as much dramatic intensity and focus as if it had been lifted straight from a fully staged production...it is hard to know what more one could ask for.” --Gramophone Magazine, December 2012

“I can't think of another singer who brings such variety of colour, nuance and pathos to slow numbers...Bartoli's performance of the more bravura numbers...is more questionable...Vocal fireworks have always been essential weapons in the Bartoli armoury, but they are now sounding rusty...I don't want to end on a negative note, as there is much to admire and even love here...'Mission' is in every sense a collector's item.” --International Record Review, December 2012

Brahms: Piano Concertos, Etc

The Decca recording is generally successful in unifying soloist and orchestra, as the work demands, although the piano remains well-projected. Tonally, both piano and strings could be better, but there can be no denying the quality of the Concertgebouw playing: the horns are in especially fine form. Masterly playing, too, from Ashkenazy, after a slightly hesitant start. He proves equal to the capricious moods of the piece, and both he and Haitink are fully responsive to the constant interplay between soloist and orchestra.

This is a performance that succeeds in being dramatic, without becoming hysterical, as can so easily happen in this concerto.

For the Second Concerto, Decca took Ashkenazy and Haitink to Vienna and results were predictably every bit as good as those obtained in Amsterdam. If anything, the balancing is a little better, and there can be no quibbles here about tonal quality. The whole performance is most sensitively moduled, measured yet supple in its responses. The slow movement is quite magica, with lovely solo 'cello contribution from Robert Scheiwein. In all this is a radiant performance of a genial and heart-warming work.
Peter Herring –-Classical Music on Compact Disc

Russian Showpieces

Tchaikovsky wrote prolifically throughout his life, and a large proportion of his pieces are in the standard repertory... Dutoit's approach is consistent throughout the programme, combining refinement (witness the opening of 1812 where the cellos suggest almost a chamber-music approach) with plenty of contrast in the characterization.

Amor Oriental: Handel alla Turca

'Amor Oriental' is many things in one - a modern Handel pasticcio, a combination of European classical music and Oriental Sufi traditions, and last but not least an out-of-the-ordinary fairy-tale with a happy ending. Featuring some of the best-loved Handel arias such as 'Piangero', 'Ombra mai fu', 'Ah crudel' and 'No, no, ch'io non apprezzo' in an oriental giuse.

A remarkably lively and colourful reading of Handel's music.

Vieuxtemps: Violin Concertos 4 & 5

'The orchestra is beautifully balanced and recorded, Martyn Brabbins's direction is alert to Vieuxtemps's delicate romanticism as well as his grand theatrical gestures, and Viviane Hagner … is a most resourceful and spirited advocate … Occasionally, too, her account is technically superior, for instance in the hair-raising, slithering diminished-seventh chords in No 4's finale' --Gramophone

The young virtuoso Viviane Hagner, a former BBC New Generation artist, acclaimed for her highly intelligent musicality and passionate artistry, appears in her Hyperion debut.

Cherubini: Complete String Quartets

"the robust and earthy Scherzo is a winner, along with a finale full of surprises and unbridled virtuosity. Led alternatively by Monica Huggett and Pavlo Beznosiuk, Hausmusik London finds the right balance between classical temperance and pre-romantic outbursts. The pleasant and precise recording helps this second rehabilitation of Cherubini’s string quartets (the other being that of Quartetto David on BIS) to come to life in ideal conditions." --Review Vol.1, classicstoday.com

Luigi Cherubini’s String Quartet No. 2 (1829) actually was a new version of his 1815 Symphony in D which, after its unsuccessful premiere, remained unplayed throughout the 19th century. Its symphonic origin is evident in the dramatic nature of the music–Mendelssohnian in its rich melodic and harmonic character–and in its optimistic athleticism. The slow movement, the emotional core of the work, is freer in form than the rest, and luxuriates in beautiful themes. The 1835 String Quartet No. 5 is certainly more of a chamber music composition in that it possesses greater technical rigor reflecting a Beethoven-like ingenuity. This is particularly evident in the tremolo shadings of the scherzo’s trio. Hausmusik’s richness of tone belies its use of “period” instruments, and the players spare no effort in realizing these wonderful scores, convincing us that Cherubini’s quartets can hold their own in the exalted company of Haydn’s, Mozart’s, and Beethoven’s. CPO’s recording presents the group in a warm and detailed acoustic. --Review Vol.2, classicstoday.com

This is the third and final disc of Cherubini’s String Quartets from Hausmusik London on CPO. Included are the first quartets Cherubini wrote when at the age of 74 he turned to chamber music after a long career of writing large-scale vocal works. His complete mastery of counterpoint and his keen sense of drama are evident everywhere in these lively, highly polished performances. Monica Huggett is a terrific leader in the Quartet No. 3, and she has plenty of opportunity to shine since the first violin gets the lion’s share of the leading lines. Pavlo Beznosiuk takes the lead role in the Quartet No. 4, and his slightly brighter tone adds another spark to the music. Hausmusik’s ensemble playing is impeccable–every bow stroke is where it should be, every dynamic carefully shaded as if one instrument were playing, and it’s all recorded in a clear, natural-sounding acoustic.

There have been a couple of different attempts at these quartets over the years, but all that seems to be available at the moment are versions by the Quartetto David on BIS. The BIS sound is fuller and a little more detailed than this CPO disc, but Huggett & Co. get more out of the music. In their hands, Cherubini sounds much more like a respectable old master than a curmudgeonly has-been. This is an easy recommendation for anyone who appreciates fine, well-played chamber music. --Review Vol.3, classicstoday.com

Hebden: Six Concertos for Strings

Astonishingly alive -- Hebden's counterpoint flows so irresistibly that it seems extraordinary he should have been forgotten for so long.

These concerti grossi for strings were written for Vauxhall Gardens in the 1740s, and most of the movements are astonishingly alive. Hebden's counterpoint flows so irresistibly that it seems extraordinary he should have been forgotten for so long. 

Not all the playing is very polished, but its fresh enthusiasm well matches that of the music. I found myself enjoying this record even more than in 1983, and that wasn't only due to the excellence of the CD quality. Recommended. --Gramophone

Grieg & Schumann: Piano Concertos

Claudio Arrau recorded these concertos twice for Philips, the present performances in 1963, and then again in 1980 with Colin Davis and the Boston Symphony. There’s very little to chose between them. Tempos are almost identical, and contrary to what one might expect, the slow movement of the Schumann concerto is actually a bit faster in the later version.

Arrau’s way with the music is wholly characteristic of the man: serious, even reverential (at the beginning of the Schumann), and played with drop-dead gorgeous tone. The result enhances the stature of both works, but the Grieg in particular. The climax of the finale has an epic grandeur without a hint of bombast that you simply won’t find in any other performance. Dohnányi’s accompaniments are also distinguished: he lets Arrau lead but isn’t afraid to permit the orchestra to assert itself where necessary; and of course the playing of the Concertgebouw is top-notch. If you haven’t heard Arrau in this music, it really doesn’t matter which of his recordings you wind up with, but do try to get at least one of them. --classicstoday.com [4/17/2000]

Czech Choral Music

The Prague Chamber Choir was founded in 1990 and has appeared throughout the world with leading orchestras, and with distinguished conductors including Zubin Mehta and Alberto Zedda. Tours have taken the choir throughout Germany, France and Italy and to Japan and Australia. It was a guest at the World Exhibition in Seville, and its concerts have been broadcast by, among others, the BBC, Bavarian Radio, ORF and RAI. The choir appears regularly at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, and at Wexford.

Bax: Nonet & other chamber music

GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE / CRITICS' CHOICE

'How marvellous it is after all these years to be able to welcome a truly first-rate modern recording of Bax's Nonet. What a bewitching creation it is … This treasurable Hyperion release will certainly figure in my 'Critics' Choice' list at the end of the year … Music-making of exquisite poise and remarkable perception' --Gramophone

'This collection serves Bax admirably and contains some real discoveries' --BBC Music Magazine

'C'est ici la quintessence de la magie baxienne' --Diapason, France

'Lovers of Bax's lushly romantic, turbulently Celtic symphonies and tone poems will find much that is alluring in this selection ... Moments of sweeping rhapsody abound throughout the disc. Seriously smitten Baxians will be thrilled by this new CD' --Classic CD

Opera Intermezzi

“The conductor shows his mastery of phrase and idiom immediately in the opening La Traviata Prelude which is beautifully done, and the same poise gives distinction to the famous Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo and indeed the Puccini items. Where high drama is called for, as in the music of the verismo school, Karajan rises to the occasion and one can hear the resin sizzle as those Berlin string bows bite.” --Stereo Record Guide

Karajan's collection of "Opera Intermezzi" is a real pleasure: fine-spun strings, verismo drama, and space to appreciate the delicate beauty of these gems, from Verdi to Mascagni. --BBC Music Magazine

Bach: Partitas Nos. 1 & 3 · Sonata No.2

Ilya Gringolts goes his own way, turning in performances of swaggering individuality and abundant fantasy. ... each gesture appears as the product of deep reflection in an art that conceals art ... Gringolts comes out punching in the First Partita's Allemande, his jaunty swiftness producing an almost immediate knockout. His breathless Tempo di borea and jazzy ornamentation in its Double might establish him as a simple speed demon if it weren't for phrasing that reveals in cascades of notes profoundly moving and fascinatingly geometrical patterns. ... Obligatory for listeners, it imposes a corresponding obligation on him: He should finish the set while his muse still sings in his ear. --Fanfare, Record Review

Gringolts plays Bach without a safety net. One gets the impression that he is thinking through this music as though it were hot off the press, rather than an 'old master' lying buried under years of interpretative accretions . . . Gringolts's rhythmic, dynamic and phrasal plasticity is such that the opening 'Grave' of the A minor Sonata creates the impression of a brilliant improvisation, thereby allowing the music's greatness to unfold naturally from within rather than having it enforced from without . . . Most importantly, Gringolts never sounds anything less than intoxicated by the music's raw power. The recording is as unflinchingly direct and honest as the playing itself, and the booklet by Jeremy Nicholas contains a typically revealing interview with Gringolts about the music. --International Record Review

Here the accent is on assertiveness, agility, clean lines (largely vibrato-free, of course), informed scholarship and the freedom to extemporise . . . lively, impulsive Bach, occasionally aggressive, stylistically well targeted . . . and technically assured. --Gramophone

Stravaganze: 17th-Century Italian Songs and Dances

An extravagant feast of instrumental and vocal delicates from Italy, with inspired harp contributions from Andrew Lawrence-King...

"Gorgeous" --Fanfare

"Totally charming" --Washington Post

Baroque Adagios

Over 2-and-a-half hours of the most peaceful & relaxing pieces of baroque music including Pachelbel's Canon, Vivaldi's Four Seasons (excerpts), Albinoni's Adagio, Handel's Largo, Bach's Air on a G String and many more beautiful tracks to soothe & calm.

Telemann: Trio Sonatas

"The performances live up fully to the high standard Parnassi musici has set for itself, wonderfully alert and rhythmically buoyant in allegros, while attaining a quiet eloquence in the persuasively phrased slow movements. The two violinists, Margaret MacDuffie and Matthias Fischer, have developed an apparently telepathic understanding, their exchanges in imitative passages one of the many joys of these expertly conceived performances, while the continuo work is intensely alive and positive. A thoroughly rewarding issue". --Fanfare, Michael Carter

"The performances are full of rhythmic vitality, with nicely shaded dynamics bringing expressive charm to the slow movements and the ensemble unerring in terms of intonation. The sound is beautifully smooth and ideally balanced, and completes a first-rate Telemann release." --The Strad

“…these young musicians bring both vibrancy and virtuosity to this little-known corner of Telemann’s œuvre. The music isn’t probed for hidden meaning or profundity; it’s played, and played to perfection, by an ensemble that takes it for what it is: Hausmusik, but of the highest quality. It is clearly evident that the executants not only have studied this material quite extensively, but they also enjoy bringing it to the uninitiated via their sympathetic and animated recording.” --Fanfare, Brian Robins

Schumann: Piano Music

'While there’s no shortage of either visceral excitement or poetic exploration, this remains supremely balanced playing … If you’re already a Hamelin aficionado, of course, you won’t need my urging to buy this disc; but if you’ve been wary because of his usually offbeat repertoire, here’s a chance to see what he can contribute to the mainstream. Top recommendation' --Fanfare, USA

'A dazzling technician fuses technical dexterity and poetry to compelling effect' --Gramophone

‘For me the outstanding performance is the great C major Fantasie…so beautifully voiced and phrased I can only say that it moved me more deeply than any I have heard for a long time’ --Gramophone

Spanish Guitar

A passionate collection of Spanish guitar and orchestral favourites including Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez and Fantasía para un gentilhombre, Torroba’s Sonatina in A, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville Overture and Bizet’s Carmen Suite No.1 (excerpts)

Rolando Saad, guitar

Bloch: Concerto symphonique, etc

Ernest Bloch’s Concerto symphonique remains one of the 20th century’s great undiscovered works for piano and orchestra. Imagine a composition of symphonic dimensions and Franckian cyclical form, wedded to a piano part such as we find in, say, Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto (minus that insane first-movement cadenza, of course). The tunes are terrific and instantly memorable, and the replacement of the slow movement with an enormous scherzo virtually guarantees 40 minutes of non-stop excitement. Why do we never hear this masterpiece in performance?

It has been recorded twice previously, first for Vanguard by Marjorie Mitchell with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra under Vladimir Golschman, and a little more than a decade ago by Micah Yui with the London Symphony Orchestra under David Amos for Laurel Records. Sad to say, this newcomer does not eclipse either of them, though it’s very well recorded and the balances between solo and orchestra are excellent. Halida Dinova plays quite respectably, but the overall impression remains one of heaviness; the finale in particular lumbers along with insufficient contrast between sections, set to tempos that always sound just a bit held back. The Symphony Orchestra of the State Academic Capella of St. Petersburg plays respectably, but it’s no LSO, particularly in the brass department–and the same observations apply to the less than ideally energetic rendition of the Scherzo fantasque.

The early diptych of tone poems Hiver-Printemps fares much better under Alexander Tchernushenko’s more sympathetic direction, but it hardly offers an important reason to purchase the disc. Still, anyone coming new to these works likely would not realize what is missing; but what the Concerto symphonique really needs is a first-rate virtuoso to take it up with a world-class orchestra and simply play the living daylights out of it. Perhaps Marc-André Hamelin could consider it as part of Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto series. Until then, the excellent Laurel recording is the one to get, and if you can’t find it, this will do as a stop-gap until something better comes along. --classicstoday.com