MusicWeb Reviewer’s Log: June 2006
Reviewer: Patrick C Waller
Arthur Butterworth’s
Desert Island Discs (link 1) provoked
a few thoughts about recorded music
that it would be impossible to live
without. As he says, most of us probably
would have hundreds of potential choices.
My first instinct would be to see how
far the rules could be stretched. If,
for example, one was allowed eight items,
I would choose Hyperion’s Complete Schubert
Song Edition, Scott Ross’s recording
of 555 Scarlatti Sonatas
(link 2) and a complete recording of
Wagner’s Ring - it would
have to be Solti’s. I have written elsewhere
on MusicWeb about my all-time favourite
work – Bruckner’s 8th
symphony (link 3) but, if a complete
set of the symphonies was allowed, I
would bring along Stanisław
Skrowaczewski’s recordings for Oehms
which is excellent but currently rather
expensive for the real world (link 4).
After all, there would be no need to
worry about money! If had managed to
get that far, there would be exactly
100 CDs in the bag and I would
still have four choices left.
But I would expect
to have been rumbled by now although
I am not sure whether the restriction
would be to eight pieces of music (leaving
in the whole Ring, hopefully) or eight
discs in which case Wagner becomes very
difficult. If it were eight discs I
would be tempted to burn them myself
from a variety of sources, at least
ensuring I had 640 minutes of music
and allowing quite a wide range of choice.
Arthur clearly played it by the book,
choosing just eight pieces and I see
that he didn’t specify the versions.
I would certainly do some agonising
about that. For example, my single Schubert
song recording would have to be the
cycle Die Schöne Müllerin
but I am not sure whether I would pick
Ian Bostridge’s recent traversal (link
5) or one of Fischer-Dieskau’s. I was
also amused by Arthur’s point about
music to actively avoid. I would probably
try to get along with almost anything
thrust upon me and I’d certainly take
some Mahler. I suspect
it would be Das Lied von der Erde
leaving a very difficult choice between
Ferrier and Walter or Baker and Haitink
- with apologies to the tenors. The
former probably wins out as the relevant
disc also includes Ich bin der Welt
abhanden gekommen – my favourite
Mahler song. The snag is that I much
prefer Baker to Ferrier for that work.
Maybe I’ll try to escape after all –
I haven’t even mentioned Beethoven,
Sibelius or Vaughan
Williams yet and I am certainly
not going willingly without them!
A further reason for
escaping is that, marooned on a desert
island, the only live music would presumably
come from the natives. Without being
prejudicial about the quality of that,
missing out on concerts such as that
recently given by Davey Chamber Ensemble
(Juliet Davey, violin; Lucy White viola;
Ursula Hess, cello and Nicola Grunberg,
piano) in Hampstead, London would be
a pity. Given in the elegant surroundings
of Burgh House, a packed audience enjoyed
some excellent music-making. We made
the mistake of trying to negotiate the
North Circular Car Park on a wet Sunday
afternoon and almost missed the beginning.
That would have been a pity since Mahler’s
single movement for Piano Quartet, written
when he was sixteen, was a rarity worth
catching. I have not heard it before
although I am fairly sure it has been
recorded - must look out for it. Next
was Schubert’s movement for String Trio
D471 and this was followed by the work
we had travelled up to hear – the first
public performance of Cornish composer
Judith Bailey’s Light
– in memory of Isabel. Written at
the suggestion of the performers for
the unusual combination violin, viola
and piano, this is in four movements,
each prefaced by a quotation. The work
made a profound impression and was very
well received in the presence of the
composer. The first half was rounded
off by Mozart’s Kegelstatt (Skittles)
Clarinet Trio K498 with Jane Plessner
joining the ensemble on clarinet. She
returned to open the second half with
two of Bruch’s Op.83 pieces and the
programme was completed by a fizzing
performance of Mozart’s G minor Piano
Quartet K478. All the musicians made
excellent contributions to this memorable
occasion. Notably, violist Lucy White
was made to work hard – she was the
only performer who took part in every
work.
My other live event
this month involved no travelling tribulations
but "came to us" whilst we
were on holiday on Cornwall – a musical
play called Mrs Brunel given
by the remarkable Mikron Theatre company
(see link 6).
And so to some discs.
The most worthwhile CD to come my way
for review this month was Alexandra
Oehler’s recording of piano sonatas
by Beethoven protégé Ferdinand
Ries (link 7). It is surely
a compliment to suggest that a piece
of music - in this case the Grande
Sonate Fantaisie Op. 26 - sounds
Beethovenian. Anyone who regrets that
Beethoven wrote just 32 piano sonatas
should try to hear this disc. Curiously,
the only Symphony of English-born Edinburgh
academic Donald Tovey
is much more Germanic than English.
Tovey’s music has so far been little
recorded and the recent release of this
work on the Toccata Classics label is
therefore very welcome (see links 8
and 9). One composer whose music definitely
does not sound Beethovenian is Henri
Herz (1803-1888). Famous in
his day but largely forgotten since,
his third, fourth and fifth Piano Concertos
have been accorded their first recordings
in Tasmania by Howard Shelley. Relatively
trivial but delightful stuff, as Dominy
Clements says, this is a "winner"
(link 10).
I also enjoyed the
recent release in Naxos’s American Classics
series of Roy Harris’s
third and fourth symphonies with the
Colorado Symphony conducted by Marin
Alsop (link 11). Back on the home front,
I came across a delightful disc from
2001 of English Oboe Concertos by Michael
Hurd, Kenneth Leighton,
William Blezard, John
Gardner and Philip Lane
played by Jill Crowther (see link 12).
All were worthwhile and, as expected,
the Leighton made the biggest impression
but the Gardner, which dates from 1990
was not far behind.
Two recent re-releases
of baroque music by Hyperion in their
2-for-1 Dyad series caught my attention.
Albinoni’s oboe concertos
have long been favourites but his sonatas
Opp. 4 and 6 were new to me (CDD22048).
Both this and Locatelli’s violin sonatas
Op. 8 (CDD 22057) are played by the
Locatelli Trio and they are splendid
bargains.
Finally, to return
to the desert island, there is one other
matter to consider – the single luxury.
In this respect is it difficult to be
original and I would want to copy the
choice of someone I heard on the programme
many years ago. He was a singer but
I can’t for certain remember who it
was; it may have been Benjamin Luxon.
Listening to music in the heat would
be thirsty work and a never-ending pint
of beer the perfect luxury. Of course,
one would have to give some consideration
to the precise choice of ale …
Patrick C Waller
Links
1. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/May06/Desert_Island_discs.htm
2. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Nov05/Scarlatti_sonatas_2564620922.htm
3. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Oct04/Bruckner8_Waller.htm
4. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/July05/Bruckner_Symphonies_OC207.htm
5. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Apr05/Schubert_Mullerin_5578272.htm
6. http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2006/Jan-Jun06/brunel0705.htm
7. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/May06/Ries_Piano_7771362.htm
8. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/May06/Tovey_tocc0033.htm
9. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Apr06/Tovey_symphony_tocc0033.htm
10. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/May06/Herz_345_CDA67537.htm
11. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/May06/Harris_Symphonies34_8559227.htm
12. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2001/July01/Englishoboes.htm
