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Music
for Strings Includes Jacques
COHEN (b. 1969) Yigdal Salomon
CUELLAR (b. 1990) Suite for Strings Malcolm
ARNOLD (1921–2006) Variations on a Ukrainian Folksong 
Isis
Ensemble/Jacques Cohen
rec. 2007 MERIDIAN CDE84561 [61:35] 
[BBr]
Shows
exactly how rewarding music can be created from the simplest of
means ... see Full Review
A Night at the
Opera
Anthony Goldstone (piano) rec 2008; 2005
DIVINE ART DDA25067 [79.27]
The
grand manner with an aristocratic flourish
... see Full
Review
RECORDING OF THE MONTH
The
Rise of the North Italian Violin Concerto:
1690-1740 Volume Three - The Golden Age
Antonio Vivaldi
(1678-1741)
Concerto for violin, 2 oboes, bassoon, 2 horns,
strings and continuo Pietro
Locatelli (1695-1764) Concerto
da Chiesa in C, Concerto for 4 Violins, strings
and continuo Giovanni
Battista Sammartini (c.1700-1775)
Concerto à più Stromenti in
E-Flat, Giuseppe
Tartini (1692-1770)
Concerto for violin, strings and continuo
Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto for violin, 2 oboes, bassoon, 2 horns,
timpani, strings and continuo
La Serenissima/Adrian Chandler (violin) rec.
2008. DDD.
AVIE AV2154 [79:25]
[BW]
Buy
the CD or the download, but get this recording
somehow ... see
Full Review
BARGAIN
OF THE MONTH Rostropovich
plays Cello Works
Mstislav Rostropovich (cello); Various accompanists
rec. 1969-1995
WARNER ERATO 2564696817 [9 CDs: 9:55:00][RB]
A
zanily variegated, enterprising selection … glorious playing ... see
Full Review
Saxophone
Concertos Takashi YOSHIMATSU
(b. 1953) Saxophone Concerto “Albireo Mode” Toshiyuki
HONDA (b. 1957) Concerto du vent
Jacques IBERT (1890–1962) Concertino da camera Lars-Erik
LARSSON (1908–1986) Concerto for Saxophone and String Orchestra
Nobuya Sugawa (saxophone)
BBC Philharmonic/Yutaka Sado rec. 2007
CHANDOS CHAN10466 [77:02]
[HC]
A
very fine release with much to enjoy here ... see Full
Review
Erwin
Schrott (bass-baritone) Arias
by Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi, Meyerbeer & Gounod Orquestra
de la Comunitat Valenciana/Riccardo Frizza
rec. 2008 DECCA 478 0473 [52:39] [GF]
An
auspicious recording debut ... see Full Review
Andrés
Segovia - The 1950s American Recordings
Vol. 5 Includes
Mario
CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO (1895–1968)
Capriccio diabolico, Guitar Quintet Alexandre
TANSMAN (1897–1986) Cavatina
Andrés Segovia (guitar), Quintetto Chigiano
rec. 1954–1956
NAXOS 8.111313 [76:30]
[GF]
It
is extra valuable to have these works played
by their dedicatee ... see Full
Review
Spanish
Piano Includes Enrique
GRANADOS (1867–1916) Allegro di Concierto Isaac
ALBENIZ (1860–1909) Asturias Federico
MOMPOU (1893–1987) Canción Xavier
MONTSALVATGE (1912–2002) Sonatine pour Yvette Manuel
de FALLA (1876–1946) Danza Yoko
Suzuki (piano)
rec. 2007 COLUMNA MÚSICA 1CM0189 [66:00] [BBr]
A
pianist of brilliance and insight and I now want more ... see Full
Review
The Golden Age of Light Music Stringin’
Along
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD 5146 [77:36]
[BBr]
What
a wonderful series this is, full of surprises
... see Full
Review
Time
of the Templars
Music for a Knight; Music of the Church;
Music of the Mediterranean
NAXOS 8.503192 [3 CDs: 65:34 + 75:25 + 67:24]
[ST]
A
widely sampled dip into medieval music at very little cost ...
see Full Review
Anna Tomowa-Sintow
sings Tchaikovsky, Verdi & Strauss
Anna Tomowa-Sintow (soprano); Gewandhausorchester
Leipzig/Kurt Masur rec. 1974
BERLIN CLASSICS 0013942BC [53:36][GF] 
Constantly
illuminating … these Strauss arias can be compared with the best ...
see Full Review
Anna Tomowa-Sintow -
soprano Music by Piotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893), Giuseppe
VERDI (1813-1901) and Richard
STRAUSS (1864-1949) Anna Tomowa-Sintow (soprano); Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra/Kurt Masur rec. 1974 BERLIN CLASSICS
REFERENCE 0013942BC [53.36][RJF]
An
excellent if short selection showing distinction and much promise
... see Full Review
Trumpet Masque
Jonathan
Freeman-Attwood (trumpet); Daniel Ben-Pienaar (piano) rec. 2007
LINN RECORDS CKD310 
[72:57][BW]
Thoroughly
enjoyable … only die-hard period-performance advocates will object
... see Full Review
La Voce nel Violino Includes
Giovanni Battista FONTANA (1589? -
1630?) Sonata II Claudio MONTEVERDI
(1567 - 1643) Mentre vaga angioletta, madrigal Dario
CASTELLO (1st half 17th Century) Sonata II Giovanni
Antonio PANDOLFO MEALLI (fl 1660 - 1690) Sonata II La
Cesta Imaginarium rec.
2006 ZIGZAG TERRITOIRES
ZZT 071102 [60:31]
[JV]
An
original programme concept performed brilliantly
- not to be missed ... see Full
Review
Music
for Cardinal Wolsey Richard
Pygott (c.1485-1549)
Missa Veni sancte spiritus Gloria
[10:07] Credo [10:53] Sanctus
[10:29] Agnus Dei [9:10] John
Mason (b.?-1548)
O rex gloriose [11:34]
Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford/Stephen
Darlington. rec. Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire,
21-22 March 1994. DDD.
NIMBUS
NI5578 [52:20]
Thomas Ashwell
(c.1482-after
1513, perhaps 1527) Missa Jesu Christe
(6 parts) (before 1513?) Gloria [12:59]
Credo [11:16] Sanctus [10:19]
Agnus Dei [8:59] Hugh
Aston (c.1485-1558)
Missa Videte manus meas (6 parts)
Gloria [13:25] Credo [12:39]
Sanctus [12:34] Agnus Dei [10:31]
Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford/Stephen
Darlington.
METRONOME
MET1030/1031 [43:33+49:49]
[BW]
Attractive
minor music, well performed and recorded ...
see Full
Review
Click
for alphabetical listings by composer:
[Part
1 New] [Part
2 A-B] [Part
3 C-L]
[Part 4 M-R]
[Part 5 S-Z]
[Part 6 Misc A-L]
[Part 7 Misc M-Z]
[Recommended
recordings]
I was full of admiration for Benjamin Pasternack’s previous CD of
Copland’s solo piano music; indeed, it became one of my discs of the
year and has been played often since (see review).
So this new release already created some anticipation, as I have always
had a soft spot for the rarely heard Piano Concerto as well as looking
forward to the other works here.
In fact, the planning on this new Naxos release is very intelligent indeed. I
don’t recall having heard the suite from Copland’s little-known opera The
Tender Land before, but suffice to say it is full of what might be termed
the best of his popular style. As befits the subject matter – the vicissitudes
of a simple farming family in the Depression-hit South of the 1930s – the music
is redolent of Appalachian Spring, the film music to Of Mice and Men and
other ‘wide-open’ scores of the 1940s and 1950s. The Suite he extracted from
the opera, which was not a success after its New York premiere in 1954, is in
three movements. The Introduction is replete with those open fourths and fifths
in the brass, the Love Music that follows it enjoying the simplest and
most affecting of melodic lines. The lively rhythms of the Party Scene which
follows could be out of Billy the Kid, whilst the ringing affirmation
of the Finale: The Promise of Living, are about as American as Copland
ever got. It is well worth making an acquaintance with and note writer Joseph
Horowitz admits to preferring it to the flawed opera.
The Piano Concerto is firmly rooted in the 1920s,
though once again the glorious introductory bars, where
horns, trumpets and trombones exchange bold fanfares, points
to his later style. It’s usually referred to as his jazziest
work, and there are lots of elements to back this up, particularly
the second movement, where Copland clearly has Gershwin
in his sights, though with very different results. But
the opening movement, for all its ‘blue note’ leaning,
has more in common with the angular dissonance of the Piano
Variations, written just a few short years later. The Concerto
is a marvellous work, full of New York swagger but tightly
constructed – rather like the more popular Clarinet Concerto – and
it’s a real mystery why it doesn’t crop up on more concert
programmes. There have been some good recordings over the
years, including the benchmark version from the composer
himself with Bernstein at the helm, though it does sound
rather aggressively bright by modern standards. I’ve tended
to stick by an excellent RCA recording from Garrick Ohlsson
and the San Francisco Symphony under Tilson-Thomas, part
of an excellent Copland survey he undertook in the early
1990s (Copland – The Modernist, c/w Orchestral Variations, Symphonic
Ode and Short Symphony). I have to say this
newcomer runs it close, with orchestral playing every bit
as solid and assured. The string tone of the Elgin Symphony
Orchestra, another new name to me, is superb and the brass
and wind sections are easily as sonorous and colourful
as their more famous counterparts. Pasternack shows once
again that he is completely inside Copland’s style, and
the very tricky passages of the second movement are just
as effective as Ohlsson’s more overtly virtuosic reading.
The disc rounds off its rarity value in style with arrangements
of Copland’s popular Old American Songs, originally
for voice and piano but here transcribed to include chorus
and orchestra by Irving Fine, R. Wilding-White and Glenn
Koponen. It works very well, with the St Charles Singers
relishing the allusions to folk ballads, minstrel tunes,
hymns and children’s tunes. The lyrics – included in
the booklet - may be pure cornball in places (‘My pig
says ‘So this new release already created some anticipation, as I have always
had a soft spot for the rarely heard Piano Concerto as well as looking
forward to the other works here.
