RECORDING OF THE MONTH RECORDING OF THE MONTH BARGAIN OF THE MONTH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS A London Symphony Oboe Concerto £11 post free World-wide RACHMANINOV Elegy, Preludes, Piano concerto 3 £12 post free World-wide CHAUSSON, DEBUSSY RACHMANINOV TRios 2CDs £16 post free World-wide

BUY NOW    AmazonUK   AmazonUS

Benjamin LEES (b.1924) Horn Concerto (1991) [24.12] Leonardo BALADA (b.1933) Music for Oboe and Orchestra: Lament from the Cradle of the Earth (1993) [20.42] Ellen Taaffe ZWILICH (b.1939) Bassoon Concerto (1993) [16.54] William Caballero (horn) Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida (oboe) Nancy Goeres (bassoon) Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Lorin Maazel rec. 10-12 May 1996, Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh, PA, USA NEW WORLD RECORDS 80503-2 [61.48]

Three works for solo instruments and orchestra and all dating from the first half of the 1990s. Lees' style in the Horn Concerto is becoming more familiar to me. Loosely speaking he touches on late Vaughan Williams with other elements from the ‘softer end’ - from Randall Thompson and at the more ‘scarifying end’ from William Schuman. He is certainly not 'difficult' and he never veers far from tonality. During the long cadenza the natural tones of the horn reminds the listener of Britten's Serenade. William Caballero is fully equal to the demands of the score which include the sunny chiming directness and evolving nobility of the 'calmly' middle movement. The aggressive writing of the finale reminds me of Herrmann's On Dangerous Ground and North by North-West. Lees solves the finale problem with a very satisfying sign-off. The single movement Balada piece is more exotic with the instrument chanting with its piping; sometimes sweet and sometimes caustically penetrating sound. Fury is not absent as you can hear at 7.05 and 12.20. At 15.20 the composer seems to confide in us glimpses of chaos and of Breughel’s ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’. There is an easy singing at 8.40 rising like a variant of the start of Beethoven 5. At 13.58 there is a sweetly chanting Chinese effect pizzicato. Very much a fantasy concertstück. The Zwilich concerto goes with the grain of the bassoon’s oakily singing soul. with spitting thundering percussion and much quirky variety along the way. Incidentally what quirk of marketing prompts the instruction on the casing to file under Classical/Zwilich rather than Classical/Lees. Good notes as usual from New World and high end acoustics. Nothing here seems at all humdrum; no doubt each work was recorded in the wake of concert performances which usually helps. The soloists are easily a match for the many dimensions of each work. The Lees is one of the finest Horn Concertos I have heard. Seek out this disc and I doubt you will be at all disappointed. Rob Barnett   Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage There will be NO VAT Rises [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Return to Index

Reviews from previous months Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.