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Classical Editor: Rob
Barnett
Music Webmaster
Len Mullenger:
Len@musicweb-international.com
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Classical Editor: Rob
Barnett
Music Webmaster |
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Reviews for August 2000 Previous months |
COMPETITION:
WIN a CD
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PART 1 [Part 1] [Part 2]
[Part 3] [Part 4]
GUEST REVIEW FROM INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW
STRAVINSKY Shadow Dances. Tangoa. Suitesa - No. 1; No. 2. Concerto in Db. Concertinob. Octetb. Three Pieces for String Quarteta. Praeludiuma. Ragtimea. Duetc. Fanfare for a New Theatrec. Scherzo à la Russea.
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Producer Christian Gansch. Engineer Wolf-Dieter Katwatky. Date aApril 1996, bDecember 1995, cDecember 1996.
LATEST ADDITIONS
EMI Great Recordings of the Century: Advance information on the September releaseA Survey of the Mahler
Tony Duggan completes his series of comparative reviews of recordings of the Mahler:
Song Cycles
Paul ARCHBOLD; Fabrice FITCH WIND-UP Chamber Music
A good CD for the tough-minded.
These structurally cohesive, organic traversals of Brahms's Symphonies happily marry instrumental incident and passionate statement. A deeply satisfying set well worth investigating.
A mixed disc. Some beautifully spun sonorities vie with missed opportunities. The recording is adequate.
Recommended unreservedly.
The Michael Thompson Wind Quintet relish the virtuosity of these pieces (Thompson himself is jaw-droppingly agile in the Minuetto of Op. 88 No. 6). Most importantly, they maintain interest throughout by careful attention to the inner parts, which always have a good deal of life to them.
Just two stars for Karajan? Sadly, not one of his best says Harry but Arthur thinks more highly of it.
If you love the film music of Miklós Rózsa you will be thoroughly at home here.
BARGAIN OF THE MONTH
Ruth Crawford SEEGER Chamber Works String Quartet; Suites for Wind Quintet, Wind Quintet & Piano & for Piano & Strings; Diaphonic Suites 1-4.
Crotchet (special low price) Amazon UK Amazon USAThis is a valuable and comprehensive collection of forthright, clear-headed music, arranged well in a sequence which varies the instrumentation between wind and strings, and from one voice to six.
RECORDS OF THE MONTH
CHAUSSON Piano Quartet in A, Op.30.SAINT-SAËNS Piano Quartet in B flat Op 41.The performances are exquisite, technically secure, stylistically correct, very warm and mellow. There is a compelling innocence and open-air feel about them.The recording and balance is also exemplary.
HARTMANN Symphonies 1 - 8.
This is wonderful music of intellectual and emotional intensity. Very, very special...... Music for which no adjectives exist and, even if they did, they would not suffice.
Magnus LINDBERG Aura, Engine*
This is music with a wide appeal with something to say and crosses boundaries saying it.
MAHLER Symphony No.7 in E minor
Conducted by Hans ZenderA superb performance full of fascinating things. One which is excellently played and recorded and deserves to be considered alongside the very best versions such as those by Bernstein, Horenstein, Gielen, Scherchen and Abbado. Zender's Mahler Seventh is that good and I recommend it enthusiastically.
PROSPICE Songs with quartet. Piano. H Walford Davies: Prospice; George Butterworth: Love Blows as the Wind Blows; Arthur Somervell: A Broken Arc; Geoffrey Bush: Farewell, Earth's Bliss; Ralph Vaughan Williams: Five Mystical Songs.
Every so often one comes across a recording which has long been available but has somehow failed to attract much notice or be widely subscribed by record stores, and yet on investigation proves to be a complete revelation.DVD Review:
Strauss Elektra
For this is a great performance, one of the finest you will ever hear with a near-perfect cast and playing by the Vienna Philharmonic that is shattering.
ALPHABETICAL LISTING
ANTHEIL Symphony No.4 (1944) 31.36 AARON COPLAND Statements (1935)
A nice disc though short on playing time.
ANTHEIL Symphonies 1 & 6; Archipelago
If you question whether Antheil deserves to be taken seriously (his Bad Boy tag has stuck firmly) try the slow movement of No 6; an extremely beautiful Larghetto, Prokfievian obviously, but good music which Prokofiev himself might have been proud to have conceived and orchestrated so movingly. On this showing the larger works of Antheil are unfairly neglected, fully deserving discovery or rediscovery.
A good CD for the tough-minded.
ARNOLD: Symphony No. 5, Divertimento No. 2, Symphonic Study: 'Machines', Sarabande and Polka, The Belles of St. Trinians.
The best possible case is put forward by the Munich Symphony Orchestra and Bostock, complementing rather than displacing the composer himself in 1972 Bostock importantly avoids unnecessary melodrama so that the music flows eloquently and naturally.
AURIC (1899-1983) Film Music: Lola Montez. Notre-Dame de Paris. Farandole.
An outstanding album; heartily recommended.
BACH Toccata in C Minor BWV 911 Partita No. 2 BWV 826 English Suite No. 2 in A minor BWV 807
The superb and rare artistry of Martha Argerich is demonstrated in this technically watertight collection of Bach recordings that appeared in the middle of the 80's on a now legendary DG LP..... DG's recording is slightly dry but the new transfers have refurbished the sound moderately well. But that is indeed a small price to pay in the light of such fantastic music making.
BACH Art of Fugue, BWV1080 Concerto Italiano - Rinaldo Alessandrini OPUS 111 OPS 30-191 [74.27] recorded digitally in Frascati, Italy, June 1998. [JP]
A reissue of a superb recording which will bring new light to bear on a difficult work. A period performance of the best kind.
BACH Goldberg Variations, BWV988
Instrument made by Bruce Kennedy, Amsterdam 1985, after Michael Mietke, Berlin 1702 - 1704?
recorded digitally in Doopsgezinde Kerk, Haarlem, Netherlands, 9-11 June 1992.A reissue of an award winning recording which has lost nothing of its attraction.
BACH (1685 - 1750) Goldberg Variations
A decent enough Goldberg but there's lots of opposition.
J.S. BACH The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 also including Toccata in F-sharp minor, BWV 910 & Musical Offering: The two ricercres, BWV 1079
...a recording for which I can find little enthusiasm.
J.S. BACH Sonatas for Viola da Gamba, BWV 1027-28-29-30a
It all adds up to an unusual but outstanding Bach recital.
BACH A Musical Offering, BWV1079 , Canons BWV 1072 - 1078, 1086 14 Canons BWV 1087
A fascinating issue in superb recording quality which will bring the listener great pleasure. A period performance of the best kind.
BACH (1685 - 1750) Cantatas for Ascension Day Gott fähret auf mit Jauchen BWV 43 [18.02] Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein BWV 128* [16.30] Wer da gläubet und getauft wird BWV 37 [15.30] Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen BWV 11 [28.13] Oratorio for Ascension Day
Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Christopher Genz* (tenors) Stephen Varcoe, Reinhard Hagen* (basses)
The Monteverdi Choir, The English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner DDD Recorded 10/93 (BWV 11,37,43). 4/99 (BWV 128)There is no reason whatsoever for anyone to whom the works appeal not to buy this splendid disc.
BACH Cantatas BWV 102 & 151 PURCELL Celebrate this Festival
Bach's Susser Trost cantata brought me up with a surprised shock. The heavy vibrato of Heather Harper & Helen Watts, and too that of Richard Adeney in what Philip Reed cites as his 'exceptionlly liquid flute-playing', now sounds anachronistic..... I find Britten's rather heavy manner with the English Chamber Orchestra has been completely eclipsed by the likes of Robert King and his King's Consort....I do not feel able to recommend this CD as a whole to the general collector.
BACH (1695-1750) (recomposed Jirásek after an idea by Carl Orff). St. Luke Passion.
Bach purists will find plenty to outrage them here and should perhaps give this disc a wide berth, but those endowed with open minds may well emerge uplifted after hearing this thought provoking CD.
BACH St. Matthew Passion arr. Mendelssohn Wilfried Jochens (tenor), Peter Lika (bass), Angela Kazimierczuk (soprano), Alison Browner (Alto) Markus Schaefer (tenor) and Franz-Joseph Selig, (bass). Chorus Musicus and Das Neue Orchester - Christoph Spering
OPUS111 OPS 2022-23 [132.25] recorded digitally in 1993 [JP]Wonderful opportunity to hear a stylish performance of a little heard version of a masterpiece in a shortened version which was instrumental in widening our appreciation of Bach's music.
BACH TRANSCRIPTIONS
.this is a super CD - one thoughtfully planned regarding key and mood which encourages continuous listening. This `Bach through the ages' release eloquently testifies to Bach's incorruptible invention and how successfully successors have illuminated his music through the orchestral medium...
[Part 1] [Part 2]
[Part 3] [Part 4]
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