MusicWeb Reviewer's Log: January
2007
Reviewer: Patrick C Waller
Last month I railed
against the Gramophone's downward
slide. John Quinn, Rob Barnett and Paul
Serotsky have since added their views
on the bulletin board (link 1). My subscription
doesn't expire for a few months and
the January issue has since arrived.
It seems that the editor was proud that
their awful image of Beethoven made
it as a news story in the infamous British
tabloid The Sun. If you want
to go downmarket, I suppose this is
the ultimate accolade! Changes are clearly
afoot on Radio 3 too but I will reserve
judgement on those until after they
come into effect in February. Meanwhile,
Len arranged for me to be sent some
copies the International Record Review
which seems a much more solid read
and to which I shall now transfer my
allegiance. Rather reminiscent of how
the Gramophone used to be, the
only disappointment is the rather slim
breadth of coverage but it would be
hard for any paper magazine to compete
with MusicWeb on that.
Some cracking discs
have come my way recently and most of
them have been on the remarkably productive
Naxos label. Pride of place goes to
Shostakovich's rather
neglected ballet The Golden Age
(link 2) - a stunning centenary offering.
The Naxos label is notable for several
very valuable series (American Classics
perhaps takes the palm) and they have
recently embarked on two more worthwhile
projects. A disc of music for saxophone
and orchestra from Greece (link 3) is
the first "Greek Classic"
and all Martinů's
piano music is also in the offing (link
4). Most of the time it is hard to fault
Naxos on artistic or technical grounds
these days but I think they miss a trick
or two in telling us about what's on
the way. For example, George Koukl does
a fine job on the
first Martinů disc and I would
assume he's going to record the rest
of the canon but this is not made clear
in the documentation nor on the Naxos
website. To comment on the scope of
the Greek Classics series would also
involve complete guesswork at the
moment. But back to the music and Carl Stamitz's orchestral quartets
were certainly worth resurrecting from
oblivion, particularly in the very capable
hands of Donald Armstrong and his New
Zealand chamber forces (link 5).
The other disc I have
reviewed was on the MDG label and called
Oboe Solo (link 6). This was particularly
entrancing, the unfettered oboe sound
being particularly attractive in a varied
programme from Yeon-Hee Kwak. Her playing
is really quite remarkable, bringing
to mind Heinz Holliger in his prime.
I have also been listening
to some discs of the winning performances
from the 2005 International Chopin
competition. Christopher Howell recently
reviewed in detail a comprehensive 15
disc set from the competition (link
7) but I have only heard the winner,
Rafał
Blechacz, i.e. discs 6, 13 and
15 from that set. Pretty stunning they
are too, in particular the Concerto
No 1 from the final. Marvellous, natural
playing from Blechacz is well-supported
and the only black mark is for the audience
who behaved as if they were at the opera
and clapped well before the music had
finished. The recorded sound is excellent
and the separate three CD Blechacz compilation
is certainly worth having. It is a pity
though that it could have easily been
fitted onto two discs. Indeed, virtually
all the works played would fit onto
a single disc, there being duplication
of some of the shorter pieces (a good
selection of mazurkas, etudes, nocturnes
and waltzes). If you fancy ploughing
through the larger set, perhaps you
should be trying to win it in the MusicWeb
Christmas Challenge (link 8), more of
which below.
Ginastera
is a composer I have been meaning to
hear more of for some time. Naxos's
recent release of a disc of his two
early ballet scores Panambí
and Estancia was a good opportunity
and what a fine disc this is (see link
9 for a 1999 review of the original
Conifer disc). The work of Uruguayan-born
conductor Gisèle Ben-Dor was
new to me apart from once hearing her
rehearse in St. David's Cathedral in
Wales entirely by accident. A few years
ago we were visiting the town and wanted
to see the Cathedral. Unbeknown to us
the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
was giving a concert that evening. Literally,
as we entered, Ben-Dor's arms were raised
to signal the beginning of Beethoven's
Seventh Symphony. Needless to say we
sat and listened and during the course
of running through the work we were
joined by many others who applauded
enthusiastically at the end of the movements.
Back to Ginastera, I have now also heard
his First and Second Piano Concertos
on another recommendable Naxos disc
(8.555283).
Talking of ex-Conifer
recordings, these form the basis of
the substantial Arnold collection
recently released coincidentally around
the time of his death (they were intended
to celebrate his 85th birthday). There are three
boxes and 13 discs in total (links 10-12), and I feel lucky to
have received them all as a surprise Christmas present. I still am
only about half way through listening to them and have mostly been
hearing works which are unfamiliar such as the piano music played
by Benjamin Frith, music for brass band and some of the concertos.
Amongst the surprises there are the Viola and Recorder Concertos,
the former with a deeply-felt slow movement and the latter
irrepressible in spirit. Handley is the conductor for the
symphonies, I have so far only heard the Fifth. Fine though this
version is I don't think I shall be parting with my disc of Arnold
conducting this work - surely
no one can match the feeling he imparts
to the slow movement. As Rob Barnett's
reviews made clear, these boxes are
essential items for lovers of Arnold
music.
York Bowen is
another composer having something of
a renaissance. I recently stumbled across
and enjoyed a disc of his second and
third quartets and Phantasy quintet
for bass clarinet and string quartet
(link 13). Of lesser interest I found
were the two quartets of John
Ireland - these are student
works and even the Maggini's can't manage
to make them sound like Ireland (link
14).
I thought the Viennese
New Year's day concert for 2007 seemed
a little low key under Zubin Mehta,
perhaps that was intended. Not that
this could be said about Paul Paray's
1959 disc of overtures by Suppé
and Auber (link 15). This
has been around for a while but I have
only just caught up with it. The sound
has stunning immediacy for its 1959
vintage and the music is perfect for
blowing any cobwebs away.
There is still time
to enter the MusicWeb Challenge to find
the most prolific composer of all time
(link 8). Winning one of the attractive
prizes on offer will clearly require
some ingenuity as demonstrated by an
answer received from Paul Serotsky.
This might have been looked upon favourably
by the judges but Paul is disqualified
as a MusicWeb Reviewer, his answer exceeds
the maximum word count and his composer
exceeds even our tolerance of obscurity.
Nevertheless it had us chuckling and
is reproduced below, with permission:
Measure of "prolific":
It can't be TOTAL AMOUNT of music,
because some composers live longer,
i.e.
have longer composing careers.
Therefore it must be the average
RATE of production.
Note: what proportion of his working
life a composer devotes to composition
is the composer's choice, and therefore
shouldn't enter into the equation.
Measure of "amount":
1. It can't be number of opuses,
because some composers (e.g. Haydn)
sometimes included several works
per opus.
2. It can't be number of works, because
many short works can be written in
the same time as fewer much longer
ones
3. It can't be total playing time,
because this depends on speed of
performance.
4. It can't be number of bars, because
not all bars are equal in length, or
indeed "height" (i.e. a piano score
has two staves, a symphonic score has
"many").
Therefore it must be the number of
individual NOTES, including rests and
accents.
Note: we could go further, and consider
the number of pen-strokes per note
(e.g. a double-dotted demisemiquaver
takes longer to write down than a
semibreve), or take into account
the numbers and lengths of tempo and
dynamic markings etc. Each individual
clef symbol, key signature and
bar-line should count as one note.
Thus, a composer's "prolificness
quotient" (heck, let's call it "PQ"!)
=
(Number of Notes)/(length of composing
career).
The most prolific composer is the
one with the highest PQ.
N.B.
1. It is entirely possible that THE
most prolific composer is the
little-known Cistercian monk Minimus
Musicus (c. 1490-1517), who wrote but
one work consisting of a single,
completely empty bar (apparently, he
became
so excited at the prospect of composing
that, in the three seconds it took
him to set that down he suffered
a massive coronary. He had the presence
of
mind to write the double bar-line
as he died . His PQ is astronomical.
2. At present it is, of course, entirely
specious to propose any sort of
definitive answer. First, somebody
must do an awful lot of counting!
3. I would suggest that minimalist
composers, and users of Sibelius 7
(especially if they are also minimalists),
be disqualified. The same goes
for composers who "program" music
loops and what-have-you.
A shorter response
from North American Seen and Heard
editor Marc Bridle also suggested the
answer might be based on the number
of notes.... "in which case
Richard Strauss must reckon. Beecham
once said that you could lose a couple
of thousand notes from Ein Heldenleben
and still hear the music."! Have
fun and make sure you enter by 22 January.
Patrick C Waller
Links
1.http://members2.boardhost.com/MusicWebUK/msg/1165306391.html
2.http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Dec06/shostakovich_Golden_8570217-18.htm
3.http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Dec06/Impressions_8557992.htm
4.http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Dec06/Martinu_piano1_8557914.htm
5http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Dec06/Stamitz_Quartets_8557671.htm
6.http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Dec06/Oboe_Solo_MDG%2060314232.htm
7.http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Dec06/Chopin_15th_DUX0068_DUX0066.htm
8.http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Dec06/Christmas_Challenge.htm
9.http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/feb99/ginastera.htm
10.http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Nov06/Arnold_symphonies_4765337.htm
11.http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Nov06/Arnold_Concertos_4765343.htm
12.http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Nov06/Arnold_orchestral_4765348.htm
13.http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/Mar03/Bowen_Quartets.htm
14.http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Aug06/Ireland_Maggini_8557777.htm
15.http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Dec04/Suppe_Auber.htm
