MusicWeb Reviewer’s Log: August
2005
Reviewer: Patrick C Waller
I have often wondered
why about 99% of my music collection
features music written by men. Another
hobby of mine is chess and about 99%
of great players are men. I have yet
to find a good explanation for either
of these phenomena. In chess there is
one female who bucks the trend (Judith
Polgar) but, I wonder, has there been
(or will there be) a truly great female
composer? At the risk of being shot
down in flames, Amy Beach is perhaps
the best suggestion I could offer. I
do have one most interesting multi-composer
disc consisting entirely of 20th
century British female composers who
wrote for the ’cello. Played by Catherine
Wilmers, it contains two short pieces
by Margaret Hubicki. Recently,
I was pleased to review a splendid new
Chandos disc devoted entirely to her
music (link 1).
I also reviewed the
only available recording of the two-piano
arrangement of Bruckner’s 3rd
symphony (link 2) and continue to be
surprised at how good works like this
can be in arrangements for small forces.
Colin Clarke was enthusiastic about
the recently issued chamber version
of Mahler’s 4th
symphony on the Avie Label (link 3).
I can only echo this – splendid playing
from the Manchester Camerata and Douglas
Boyd seems to be well inside Mahler’s
world. Given its generally light textures,
the fourth symphony is probably particularly
suited to such treatment. I wonder if
there are similar versions of his other
symphonies – surely not the second or
eighth? The only reservation I had related
not to the unusual instrumentation but
was whether Kate Royal’s voice really
is ideal for the part; nevertheless
she sings superbly.
Talking of Mahler,
I have a confession to make: I bought
the DVD of Ken Russell’s 1974 film which
stars Robert Powell as the composer.
I saw this in the cinema sometime in
the 1970s when I was getting to know
the music and was very curious to see
it again despite a review in The
Gramophone that was fairly off-putting.
Bernard Haitink’s Amsterdam recordings
were used on the soundtrack – I had
the set on LP and they were an excellent
introduction. Unfortunately the sound
quality here is pretty dreadful – a
question of lack of refurbishment because
the original sound of this set was fine.
Play it through the television rather
than the stereo would be my advice.
This DVD arrived mid-week and I decided
to save it for the weekend. Since it
included a trailer, this was used to
assuage immediate curiosity and I was
soon laughing out loud. The film itself
is not for the purist but is entertaining
and seems less outrageous now than thirty
years ago. The use of music is variably
successful but the conclusion of the
first movement of the sixth is a striking
success at the very end. Powell makes
a plausible Mahler and so is Georgina
Hale as Alma. So as to avoid politics
and religion, I won’t mention Cosima
Wagner.
Have you ever wanted
something for years and then finally
got it? In this case I am referring
to Howard Shelley’s complete Rachmaninov’s
piano music on Hyperion. An 8 CD set
originally issued in a very large box,
quite expensive and involving some duplication,
this has recently become irresistible.
It was the combination of Ian Lace’s
very detailed review (link 4) and the
new packaging/pricing that did for my
money, and I have not been disappointed.
Shelley’s Preludes took the palm on
BBC Radio 3’s Building a library
recently and the whole set is at a similar
level. Buy this and not only is aural
pleasure guaranteed but you’ll be doing
your bit to help keep Hyperion going.
I had to wait about
four months to hear Frederick
Cliffe’s Symphony No 1 (link
5) on the Sterling label after ordering
the disc back in March. There are several
notable things here – written in 1889
it was his opus 1 but is a remarkably
assured and interesting work, and it
was recorded in Sweden. Cliffe eventually
gave up composing but, at least in Christopher
Fifield’s hands, this was as good as
any other British symphony of the time
and well worth resurrecting.
As ever, there are
interesting new CDs recently out on
the Naxos label. Three orchestral discs
I have enjoyed were Guridi’s Sinfonía
pirenaica (link 6), William
Schuman’s Symphonies Nos
4 and 9 (link 7) and Bloch’s
epic rhapsody America (link 8).
All these works were new to me and seem
worth getting to know. It is good to
hear that the Schuman is part of a proposed
complete series.
Also regarding series,
the Chandos Berkeley collection
is an excellent project that I have
been gradually getting to grips with.
Juxtaposing works by Lennox and Michael
on the individual discs, it is directed
by Richard Hickox. Some time ago I heard
Michael Berkeley on the radio say that
it is basically "Dad’s symphonies
and my concertos". Volumes 3 (link
9) and 4 (link 10) are both full of
interest and I was particularly taken
with Michael’s Cello Concerto.
Finally, I always seem
to feel the need to mention Wagner and
the fleeting reference to Cosima above
doesn’t suffice. Aside from a feeling
of anticipation induced by the new EMI
Tristan und Isolde (link 11),
which hopefully I will come back to
next time, the 24-hour Ring (link
12) reviewed by Bill Kenny also caught
my eye. In John Culshaw’s book Ring
Resounding he mentions a US radio
station playing the Decca Ring straight
through in about 15 hours – I wondered
if anyone listened to every note? The
very notion of performing the whole
thing live in a day goes way beyond
that. I expect Wagner would have approved
and hope Bill has recovered.
Patrick C Waller
Links
1. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/July05/hubicki_dedication_CHAN10322.htm
2. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/July05/bruckner3_mahler_33005912.htm
3. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/June05/Mahler4_boyd_AV2669.htm
4. http://www.musicweb-
international.com/classrev/2005/May05/Rachmaninov_Shelley_CDS44041-8.htm
5. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/Nov03/Cliffe_symphony1.htm
6. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/June05/GURIDI_Sinfonia_8557631.htm
7. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/June05/Schuman_4_9_8559254.htm
8. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/June05/Bloch_america_8557151.htm
9. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/Nov03/Berkeley3.htm
10. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Apr04/Berkeley4.htm
11. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Aug05/Wagner_tristan_5580062.htm
12. http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2005/Jul-Dec05/24hour_ring.htm
