Some Independent Label Recordings: January
February 2017
By Brian Wilson
An acute case of January-itis has left me in arrears again, hence this
attempt to catch up. So large has the backlog become that I’ve had to
divide this survey – part two to follow shortly.
Index – Part 1
BACH
Suites – Zefiro – Arcana
- Arias – Heynis – Beulah (+ BRAHMS, HANDEL)
BASSANI
Giona
– Les Nations - Tactus
BRAHMS
Symphony No.1; Violin Concerto; Alto Rhapsody – Beinum – Beulah
- Symphony No.2 – Monteux – Beulah (+ ELGAR)
CACCINI, Francesca – Alcina – Allabastrina – Glossa
CESARINI
– Cantatas – Varnerin – Aparté
DELIBES
– Le roi s’amuse – Beecham – Beulah (+ HANDEL)
ELGAR
– Enigma Variations – Monteux – Beulah (+ BRAHMS)
- Enigma Variations; In the South, etc. – Brabbins – Hyperion
FRANCK
– Symphony – Barbirolli – Beulah (+ VAUGHAN WILLIAMS)
HANDEL
– Love in Bath – Beecham – Beulah (+ DELIBES)
HAYDN, Michael
– Mass and Vespers – Aarburg - Tudor
LULLY
– Armide – Herreweghe – Harmonia Mundi
MENDELSSOHN
– Midsummer Night’s Dream Music – Gardiner – LSO Live
- Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4 – Gardiner – LSO Live
MONTEVERDI
– Madrigals Book VI – Concerto Italiano - Arcana
MOZART, Leopold
– Peasants’ Wedding, etc – Stadlmaier – Tudor; Németh - Hungaroton
MOZART, Wolfgang
– Piano Concertos Nos. 8 and 9 – Dubourg – Tudor
- Mass in c minor; Exsultate, jubilate – Suzuki – BIS
SCHUBERT
– String Quartets Nos. 12 and 15 – Doric Quartet – Chandos
STRAUSS Family, etc. New Year’s Concert – Vienna Philharmonic – Sony
TALLIS
– Spem in alium, etc. – Cardinall’s Musick - Hyperion
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
– Symphony No.7 – Barbirolli – Beulah (+ FRANCK)
WAGNER
– Die Walküre – van Zweden – Naxos
Overtures
– Beecham – Beulah
Queen Mary’s Big Belly
– Gallicantus – Signum
Virgin and Child
– Contrapunctus – Signum
***
RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Thomas TALLIS (c.1505-1585)
In ieiunio et fletu
[4:56]
Blessed are those that be undefiled [4:32]
Purge me, O Lord [2:14]
Spem in alium
[10:21]
God grant with grace - No. 8 of 9 Psalm Tunes [4:59]
O Lord, open thou our lips - Preces and Responses II [1:07]
Wherewithal shall a young man [2:21]
O do well unto they servant [2:34]
My soul cleaveth to the dust
Magnificat
- Short Service ‘Dorian’ [3:16]
Nunc dimittis
- Short Service ‘Dorian’ [1:59]
The Lord be with you - Preces and Responses II [5:05]
O sacrum convivium
[3:49]
Remember not, O Lord God [3:36]
Hear the voice and prayer [3:17]
Verily, verily I say unto you [2:20]
O Lord, in thee is all my trust [[3:43]
Hodie nobis cælorum rex
[3:41]
Sing and glorify [9:45]
The Cardinall’s Musick/Andrew Carwood
rec. 9 -11 November 2015, St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb,
London
Texts and English translations included
HYPERION CDA68156
[76:59]
Reviewed as 24/96 download with pdf booklet from
hyperion-records.co.uk
For CD availability please see review links below.
Two of my colleagues have already praised this, the final volume of a most
distinguished series –
review
–
review.
It remains only for me to award Recording of the Month
status in honour of the whole enterprise and to note that this could well
be the place to start collecting for those who have not yet done so, with
Tallis’s best-known work Spem in alium both in its original form and
in the arrangement made after his death to an English text – known as a contrafactum – in honour of James I’s son,
Henry. The 24-bit
recording costs very little more than the CD; though the 16-bit is much
less, the extra is worth paying.
This series as a whole is on a par with the equally distinguished Signum
series recorded by Chapelle du Roi and Alexander Dixon, the individual
volumes of which can also be downloaded inexpensively from
Hyperion, while the whole set is available very inexpensively from Brilliant
Classics (10 CDs around £27).
Three works by Thomas TALLIS feature on a new release from Signum – Virgin and Child: Music from the Baldwin Partbooks II.
Owen Rees directs Contrapunctus on SIGCD474 [75:18] reviewed as a
24/96 download with pdf booklet from
hyperion-records.co.uk.
As well as TALLIS’s Gaude gloriosa, Magnificat a5
and Videte miraculum we have John TAVERNER Mater Christi sanctissima, Robert WHITE Tota pulchra es and Regina cæli and Robert FAYRFAX Ave Dei Patris filia.
Volume I of this series, entitled In the Midst of Life, was released
in 2015 (SIGCD408). I praised that –
review
– and its successor is equally attractive. CD from
Amazon UK
–
Presto
In 1555 Queen Mary believed herself to be pregnant, to the delight of all
those – possibly the majority – who had welcomed her return not only to the
moderated Catholicism of the latter part of the reign of her father Henry
VIII but also to the Roman obedience. Any child would have displaced as
heir apparent Mary’s moderately Protestant half-sister Elizabeth but either
she miscarried or it was a false pregnancy. A further episode in 1558
turned out to be the tumour which killed her.
Signum have recorded a collection of music from Mary’s reign under the
title of Queen Mary’s Big Belly: Hope for an heir in Catholic England.
Alongside works by the comparatively well-known composers, Thomas TALLIS – Like as the doleful Dove, O sacrum convivium, Quod chorus vatum, When shall my sorrowful sighing slack and Loquebantur variis linguis – and John SHEPPARD – Christi virgo dilectissima, Deus misereatur, Vain, all our life I
and II, Martyr Dei qui unicum and Libera nos, salve nos –
there is music by William MUNDY – Exsurge Christe – Christopher TYE – Peccavimus cum patribus nostris – Orlande de LASSUS – Te spectant, Reginalde, Poli and Philip van der WILDER – Pater Noster – A Fansy
attributed to Anthony NEWMAN, the anonymous New Ballad of the Marigold and the Litany of the Sarum Rite.
Gallicantus are directed by Gabriel Crouch on SIGNUM SIGCD464
[77:38] reviewed as a 24/96 download with pdf booklet from
hyperion-records.co.uk.
Texts and translations are included, though with no attempt to convey the
pun in the Lassus: Poli meaning both the heavens and Reginald Pole
who returned England to the Roman fold. CD from
Amazon UK
–
Presto
Several of the works are not otherwise available and I suspect are first
recordings, though not claimed as such. That alone makes the album valuable
but it also forms a mini history lesson and, more importantly still, the
performances are as good as on Gallicantus’ earlier Signum recordings, SIGCD295: Recording of the Month –
review
– and SIGCD339: Recording of the Month –
review
–
review.
Strongly recommended on all counts.
Claudio MONTEVERDI (1567-1643)
Il Sesto Libro de Madrigali
(1614)
Lamento d’Arianna
[15:31]
Zefiro torna e ’l bel tempo rimena
[3:40]
Una donna fra l’altre – Concertato nel clavicimbalo
[3:48]
A Dio Florida bella – Concertato
[4:27]
Sestina: Lagrime d’amante al sepolcro dell’amata
[17:35]
Ohimè il bel viso
[5:17]
Qui rise Tirsi – Concertato
[6:38]
Misero Alceo – Concertato
[5:15]
«Batto» qui pianse Ergasto – Concertato
[4:00]
Presso un fiume tranquillo – Dialogo a 7. concertato
[5:40]
Concerto Italiano/Rinaldo Alessandrini
rec. Convent of Saint Dominic (Sala Bolognini), Bologna, 28-31 May 1992.
Texts and translations included.
ARCANA A425
[72:50]
Reviewed from mp3 press preview. CD from
Amazon UK
–
Presto
I’m not sure why Arcana have chosen to reissue this 1992 recording, first
released on A66. Concerto Italiano and Rinaldo Alessandrini recorded this
Sixth Book of Monteverdi madrigals again for Naïve/Opus111 and those more
sprightly performances, released in 2006, are generally preferable to their
earlier recording. They remain my benchmark for Book 6 – and, indeed, for
Books 7-8 – with a selection from Books 6-8 from Arcangelo on Hyperion
another strong recommendation –
review.
The madrigals of Book VI are concerned with love, separation and loss. The
opening sequence, collectively known as the Lament of Arianna, is
all that remains of Monteverdi’s opera Arianna. It’s a seminal work
in that it was much imitated, not least by Monteverdi himself who converted
it into the Virgin Mary’s lament, Il Pianto della Madonna. There’s a
very fine recent recording of that, together with settings of other sacred
texts from Selva Morale, Fiori Musicali, Madrigals Books IV
and V and elsewhere on Glossa (La Compagnia dei Madrigale: GCD922805
[68:20] – available on CD or as a 16- and 24-bit download from
eclassical.com,
with pdf booklet).
Originally released on Opus 111, Alessandrini’s later recording of Book VI
is now available at mid-price on the Naïve Baroque Voices label (OP30522) but that’s reported as out of stock at the UK distributor
as I write.
ArkivMusic
have it in stock, however. The original release on OP30423 is
available as a download in mp3 or lossless format from
eclassical.com
or
Presto,
though neither offers the booklet.
The Arcana performances may be slow but Delitiæ Musicæ and Marco Longhini
on a 2-CD Naxos release are slower still, taking 88 minutes for the whole
collection, hence the need for a second disc completed with a few
miscellaneous madrigals. I’m afraid that Longhini’s approach is not for me
–
review.
Qui rise Tirsi offers a good test: Thyrsis’s smiles are largely
lost at Longhini’s 8:19. Alessandrini on Arcana is much more to the point
at 6:38 and even more so on Naïve at 5:20.
The strongest competition for the Naïve recording comes from La Venexiana
on Glossa. In detailed comparison throughout Book VI they yield slightly to
Alessandrini on Naive but for those looking to purchase the whole set of
eight books their 12-CD set is offered at an attractive price – normally
around £46 but on offer as I write for £36.56 (Glossa GCD920929).
DISCOVERY OF THE MONTH
Francesca CACCINI (1587-c.1641)
La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola di Alcina
Commedia in musica
(Florence, 1625)
Elena Biscuola (mezzo, Alcina); Mauro Borgioni (baritone, Ruggiero);
Gabriella Martellacci (contralto, Melissa); Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli
(soprano, Sirena); Emanuela Galli (soprano, La nunzia Oreste); Raffaele
Giordani (tenor, Un pastore, Nettuno); Yiannis Vassilakis (baritone,
Astolfo)
Allabastrina, La Pifarescha/Elena Sartori (harpsichord)
rec. Salone d’Onore di Casa Romei, Ferrara, Italy, 29-31 August and 1
September 2016. DDD.
Texts and translation included.
GLOSSA GCD923902
[79:10]
Reviewed as streamed from Qobuz
and
Naxos Music Library
(both with pdf booklet). CD from
Amazon UK
–
Presto
Giulio Caccini’s work has been comparatively well recognised in recent
years, not least with two recordings of his Euridice, which vies for
the title of the first ever opera. Now we have the first recording of his
daughter Francesca’s Alcina, the first opera composed by a woman.
The plot is based on an episode from Ariosto’s Orlando furioso which
would be the subject of several later operas, notably by Handel. It’s
significant that, like Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653), another artistic
daughter of an artistic father – a painter in her case – Francesca chose a
strong female character in the form of Alcina. To connect the two there are
two short pieces by Francesca on What Artemisia Heard, a collection
of music from the time of Artemisia Gentileschi (Sono Luminus DSL92915 –
review).
Though much influenced by her father’s music and that of his rival Peri,
Francesca’s output is well worth hearing and the Glossa performance and
recording will certainly encourage exploration of her other works. Apart
from a collection on Brilliant Classics (94461 –
review)
and another on Analekta (AN29966 –
review), you’ll have to search in anthologies such as La Lira d’Orfeo
(Resonus RES10124 –
review)
and Firenze 1616 (Alpha 120 –
review).
Another heathen sorceress from Italian renaissance epic who attempts to
lead a Christian hero astray is Armida, who features in Tasso’s La Gerusalemme Liberata. Both Christoph Gluck and Jean-Baptiste LULLY composed operas entitled Armide, tragédie en musique. Robert Hugill was not enthusiastic about the
only current CD version of the Lully, from Naxos –
review
– greatly preferring Philippe Herreweghe (his second recording, 1993) with
a strong cast on Harmonia Mundi HMC901456.57. The good news is that,
though out of stock on disc, it’s available for subscribers to stream from Qobuz,
where it can also be purchased for download for £8.49 – the least expensive
source that I can find. Subscribers to
Naxos Music Library
can also stream it. There’s no booklet from any download or streaming
source but the
score
is available online, as is the
libretto of the (cut) Naxos version.
Gluck used the same text, without the prologue, and his
libretto is online.
Giovanni Battista BASSANI (1647/1650?-1716)
Giona
(Jonah)
Laura Antonaz (Speranza), Margherita Rotondi (Obbedienza) (soprano), Carlo
Vistoli (Giona) (alto), Raffaele Giordani (Atrebate) (tenor), Mauro
Borgioni (Testo) (bass)
Ensemble Les Nations/Maria Luisa Baldassari
rec. July 2014 at the Chiesa di S. Maria della Natività, Rontana
Brisighella (Ravenna), Italy, DDD
Texts without translations available from the Tactus website
TACTUS TC640290
[47:57 + 40:49]
Reviewed as streamed with pdf booklet from Qobuz
and
Naxos Music Library. For CD purchase details please see
review by Johan van Veen.
I need only echo my colleague’s recommendation – at least listen to the
streamed version if you can: a subscription to either of the services from
which I listened need not cost too much and both are very useful. The Qobuz
can also be downloaded for a reasonable £11.99.
There are no other recordings of this oratorio on the prophet Jonah, nor
ever likely to be, but this is not the only work devoted to him: there are
nine recordings of Carissimi’s Jonas, including one on another
Tactus album, one of a Jonas by Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre and
three of Rudolf Tobias’ Des Jona Sendung.
DISCOVERY OF THE MONTH
Carlo Francesco CESARINI (1666-1741?) Cantatas
Le Cantate da camera della Biblioteca Casanatense di Roma
Filli, no’l niego, io dissi (La Gelosia), per soprano, 2 violini e
basso continuo
[11:58]
Già gl’augelli canori (L’Arianna), per soprano e basso continuo
[12:04]
Fetonte, e non ti basta, per soprano e basso continuo
[10:56]
Penso di non mirarvi, per soprano e basso continuo
[12:01]
V’è una bella tutta ingegno, per soprano e basso continuo
[7:34]
Oh dell’Adria reina, per soprano, 2 violini e basso continuo
[14:24]
Stéphanie Varnerin (soprano)
L’Astrée (Academia Montis Regalis)/Giorgio Tabacco
rec. Église Bon Secours, Paris, 18-24 May, 2016.
Texts and translations included
APARTÉ AP136
[68:57]
Reviewed as 24/96 download with pdf booklet from
eclassical.com.
CD from
Amazon UK
–
ArkivMusic
–
Presto
This is a double discovery: the music of Cesarini, hitherto available only
on a small handful of recital CDs, and the powerful and expressive voice of
Stéphanie Varnerin. There doesn’t seem to be anything else by her in the
current catalogue but I hope that we shall hear more of her. L’Astrée and
Giorgio Tabacco, who have been mentioned with credit in these pages, offer
excellent support – slightly less flamboyant than some early-music groups
but none the worse for that. Add that to the fact that these previously
unknown cantatas were well worth rescuing and you have a very enjoyable
offering. The 24-bit download is more expensive at $18.62 than the CD
(around £12.75 and on special offer as I write for £11.50) but it is worth
the extra for the high quality sound. Highly recommended.
REISSUE OF THE MONTH
George Frideric HANDEL (1685-1759)
Love in Bath
(ballet, arr. Beecham) [47:44]
Léo DELIBES (1836-1891)
Le Roi s’amuse
[15:56]
Camille SAINT-SAENS (1835-1921)
Samson et Dalila: Danse des Prêtresses; Bacchanale [9:44]
Ilse Hollweg (soprano); Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Thomas Beecham
rec. c.1956. ADD/stereo
BEULAH 7PDR4
[73:25] - from
iTunes
(mp3) or wait until available in lossless sound for the same price from
Qobuz.
Alternative transfer of this recording of Love in Bath NAXOS CLASSICAL ARCHIVES 9.80915 [46:38] - from
Presto
(mp3 and lossless)
The unavailability of Love in Bath except as a download coupled on a
budget twofer with Solomon, (Warner Gemini 5865162) makes the Beulah
reissue of this delightful music, originally concocted from a wide range of
Handel’s music as The Great Elopement, all the more welcome and the
inclusion of the Delibes, another ballet which Beecham brings off superbly,
clinches it. The Warner coupling, Solomon, is another ‘Handel arr.
Beecham’ concoction but far less amenable than Love in Bath. Both
have received quite a hammering from purists but for me Love in Bath is too full of sheer delectation and delight to be
criticised.
As for Le Roi s’amuse, I fell in love with the music years ago when
BBC2 used it as theme music for a dramatisation of Kenilworth.
Beecham’s is the most complete recording of the music and easily the best.
It remains available from Warner on a single CD or as part of Beecham conducts French Music (download only) but many will find the
Beulah coupling ideal.
8PDR4
[83:24] a well-filled second RPO/Beecham album brings reissues of Overtures: to BEETHOVEN’s Ruins of Athens, BERLIOZ’ Le Corsaire and Le Carnaval Romain, BRAHMS’ Academic Festival, MENDELSSOHN’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, ROSSINI’s La Cambiale di Matrimonio and La Gazza Laddra, SUPPÉ’s Poet and Peasant, BOCCHERINI’s Overture in D and MÉHUL’s Timoléon. Carnaval Romain and the last two were recorded
in 1953/4 in mono, the rest in stereo in 1959/60. Some of these are
available otherwise coupled – Le Corsaire, for example, with
Beecham’s superb Symphonie Fantastique and the Brahms and Suppé as
part of Warner’s multi-disc Beecham: The Later Tradition, now
download only – but it’s very convenient and enjoyable to have them
collected by Beulah in such good transfers. Collections of overtures, once
very popular, are much less in fashion nowadays. The Boccherini Overture is
currently available only in another transfer of the Beecham recording
(Somm) and in two Giulini recordings. The Beulah album is available from
iTunes
but I recommend waiting for it to be available from Qobuz in better quality
for the same price.
Beecham’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture, Op.21, is
only seconds faster than that which opens a new recording of the complete Felix MENDELSSOHN incidental music, Op.61, from the LSO and Sir John
Eliot Gardiner on LSO Live LSO0795 [55:03] - reviewed as a 24/96
download with pdf booklet from
hyperion-records.co.uk.
SACD/blu-ray from
Amazon UK
–
ArkivMusic
–
Presto.
What the new recording lacks in energy by comparison with Beecham it makes
up for in evoking the magic of the music and the recording, of course, is
much better, good though the Beulah transfer is. Some cuts to the music –
no rude mechanicals, thus enhancing the magic of the playing – and the
inclusion of narration, somewhat irksome on repeated hearing, however, mean
that this will not be to all tastes, especially as the cuts make for a
short album. The live Barbican recording (February 2016) is better than
many from this source. Recent recordings on Chandos and BIS which I
reviewed in
Download News 2016/1
offer more music, without narration, and better value.
MENDELSSOHN’S Symphony No.1, the other item in the programme that evening, performed with the Scherzo from the Octet, has recently been released with Symphony No.4 (Italian) on LSO Live LSO0769 [62:11] –
reviewed as 24/96 download with pdf booklet from
hyperion records.co.uk.
SACD/blu-ray from
Amazon UK
–
ArkivMusic
–
Presto.
The performances compete strongly with Chandos’s recent very fine
Birmingham series from Gardiner’s near-namesake Edward Gardner, differently
coupled.
Eclassical.com also offer LSO Live downloads in 16- and 24-bit but
sometimes without booklets and at prices in US$ which make them
uncompetitive with the Hyperion or the SACD/blu-ray releases, especially
for UK purchasers.
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Ouvertures
(Suites)
Cantata BWV119 ‘Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn’ (arr. A. Bernardini for
orchestra) [4:40]
Orchestral Suite No.1 in C, BWV1066 [23:50]
Orchestral Suite No.3 in D major, BWV1068 [21:10]
Cantata BWV194 ‘Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest’ (arr. A. Bernardini for
orchestra) [4:26]
Orchestral Suite No.4 in D, BWV1069 [22:43]
Ensemble Zefiro/Alfredo Bernardini
rec. Gustav Mahler Hall, Kulturzentrum Grand Hotel, Dobbiaco, 6-9 November
2015. DDD.
ARCANA A400
[76:49]
Reviewed as 24/96 download with pdf booklet from
eclassical.com.
CD from
Amazon UK
–
ArkivMusic
–
Presto
An attractive release from an ensemble whose work I have appreciated
before, most recently in Trio Sonatas by Zelenka –
DL News 2016/7
– but there’s just one serious obstacle in the way of my recommending these
stylish and energetic new recordings. With many fine versions of all four
orchestral suites, in all price ranges and with a choice of period and
modern instruments, the omission of No.2 from this Arcana release is a
serious handicap. Several recommendable recordings fit all four on one CD:
Boston Baroque and Martin Pearlman (Telarc, full-price); La Petite
Bande/Sigiswald Kuijken (Accent full-price –
review
–
Download News 2014/3,
inadvertently omitted from the Index); Virtuosi Saxoniae/Ludwig Güttler
(Brilliant Classics, budget price); Academy of St Martin/Neville Marriner
(Decca mid-price or Eloquence lower mid-price) and even, despite a
reputation for ponderous speeds, Karl Münchinger with the Stuttgart Chamber
Orchestra (Eloquence, lower mid-price). Perhaps best of all, especially for
those in search of period performance, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra run
to two CDs but include alternative dances for not much more than the price
of one CD (Harmonia Mundi HMC902113/4 –
DL News 2013/18). The BIS recording with the Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki is
also offered as 2-for-1 (BIS-SACD-1431 –
DL News 2014/15). The 3-for-2 set of these recordings with the Brandenburg Concertos, an
even better purchase, seems to be hard to obtain in the UK at present
(BIS-SACD-1771/2).
Ensemble Sonnerie and Monica Huggett offer a rather different experience in
the form of an attempted reconstruction of the original versions of these
suites (Avie AV2171 –
review
–
Download Roundup).
Leopold MOZART (1719-1787)
Divertimento in D: Die Bauernhochzeit (Peasant Wedding) [18:06]
Paolo SALULINI (1709-1780)
Concerto for dulcimer and harpsichord in G [13:58]
Niccolò JOMMELLI (1714-1774)
Sinfonia in G [8:01]
Benedetto MARCELLO (1686-1739)
Recorder Sonata in F, Op.2/12 [13:55]
Karl-Heinz Schickhaus (dulcimer); Johannes Schickhaus (harpsichord);
Christian Ohlenroth (recorder)
Munich Chamber Orchestra/Hans Stadlmaier
rec. 1986, 1991.
TUDOR712
[54:00] Reviewed as lossless download from
eclassical.com
(NO booklet) and as streamed from Naxos Music Library (with booklet).
Leopold MOZART
Divertimento in D: Die Bauernhochzeit (Peasant Wedding) [16:24]
Symphony in G, Eisen G3 (Sinfonia Pastorale) [11:40]
Georg DRUSCHETZKY (1745-1819)
Partita for rustic instruments in B-flat [20:54]
Capella Savaria/Pál Németh – released 1999.
HUNGAROTON HCD12874
[48:58] Reviewed as lossless download from
eclassical.com
(NO booklet).
As presented in the play and film Amadeus Mozart senior comes over
as a humourless character but much of his extant music belies that image,
none more so than Die Bauernhochzeit. As performed on Tudor it
comes over as enjoyable but a rather sedate affair by comparison with the
classic DG Archiv performance directed by Eduard Melkus, rustic
instruments, crackers, whoops and swoops included, now available only as a
special
Presto CD or download. That Melkus version remains my benchmark, especially as it’s coupled with
an equally fun recording of the Musikalische Schlittenfahrt or
Musical Sleigh-ride. The dulcimer features prominently on Tudor, no doubt
because a player was on hand for the concerto for that instrument, the only
available recording of it and the Jommelli, thus making this a vital
recording for those seeking stylish accounts of those two works. But the
lack of rustic instruments and sheer fun otherwise rules it out.
The Hungaroton recording comes much closer to rivalling Melkus: here again
are the hurdy-gurdy and the noises of merry-making and livelier tempi. The
opening marcia villanesca, for example, is almost 30% faster than
on Tudor, though still a little slower than Melkus, which subscribers can
stream from Qobuz.
If you choose the Melkus you will also obtain the
Sleigh-ride, otherwise
available on another Hungaroton recording of older vintage from the Liszt
Chamber Orchestra, with the Toy Symphony, Wolfgang Amadeus’s Les Petits Riens and
Süssmary’s Das Namensfest
(HCD32228 – download from
eclassical.com
with pdf booklet).
There’s another Tudor recording of Leopold’s music, available for
subscribers to stream from
Naxos Music Library.
Once again, however, the performances of Sleigh-ride and Toy Symphony directed by Hans Stadlmair are rather sedate, with
rather coy children’s voices in the latter, though the performances of two
symphonies Eisen D26 and Jagd-symphonie are
worth
having. (TUDOR 737). I enjoyed this much less than Dominy Clements:
his comment about the Toy Symphony being rather sedate is
understated –
review.
The best, though not ideal, recommendation for the Toy Symphony
and Die Bauernhochzeit, comes from Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam
Baroque Orchestra, coupled with music by Mozart junior (Challenge Classics CC72189 –
review). Nothing quite rivals Melkus, however, in Die Bauernhochzeit and
the Sleigh-ride, and I’m very pleased that Presto have restored his
recording to circulation. It can also be streamed from Qobuz.
Michael HAYDN (1737-1806)
Missa sub titulo Sancti Leopoldi in festo Innocentium, Klafsky I/24, MH837 [20:12]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Andante
in F, K616* [5:32]
Michael HAYDN
Vesperae pro festo Sanctorum Innocentium, Klafsky IV/5, MH548 [27:17]
Joseph HAYDN (1732-1809)
Music for flute clock, HobXIX (arr. for organ)* [6:02]
Rico Zela, August Schram, Lambros Tsimitselis (boy sopranos), Olivier
Messerli (boy alto), Daniel Winiger (organ), Georges Athanasiadès (organ,
Stiftsbasilika Klosterneuburg*); Zürcher Sängerknaben, Capella
Concertante/Alphons von Aarburg
rec. Refomierte Kirche, Zürich-Altstetten, 27-28 December 1989. DDD.
TUDOR 754
[59:19]
Reviewed as lossless download from
eclassical.com
(NO booklet). Also available to stream from
Naxos Music Library
(with backcover image).
The two Michael Haydn works which form the major part of this album were
recorded back in 1989 but were recently released as a download only,
perhaps inspired by recent renewed interest in Joseph’s younger brother and
friend of Mozart, father and son.
I had expected to find that these were the only recordings of the St Leopold Mass
for Holy Innocents (28 December), and the Vespers for that day but the
Hannover Girls Choir on Carus 83.355 couple the Mass with Michael Haydn’s Missa Sancti Aloysii, MH257, and Koessler’s Missa in f minor and the American Boychoir and the New York
Collegium conducted by James Litton offer both Michael Haydn works on
Linn
CKD152, which I downloaded for comparison from
hyperion-records.co.uk. It’s also available from
linnrecords.com
and from dealers on CD. At 76:59 it contains more music than the Tudor,
with plainsong propers for the Mass and antiphons for Vespers but I should
point out that at £12.00 the lossless download is more expensive than the
CD which can be found for as little as £9.
The lack of texts with any download source of the Tudor recording is
regrettable but even if you choose that version it remains possible to
download the booklet, with texts and notes, from Hyperion. On the whole the Linn recording on CD or download is
probably the best option.
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Piano Concerto No.9 in E-flat, K271 (Jeunehomme) [34:02]
Piano Concerto No.8 in C, K246 (Lützow) [22:21]
Evelyne Dubourg (piano); Munich Chamber Orchestra/Hans Stadlmair
rec. Munich, May 1980.
TUDOR 703
[56:23]
Reviewed as lossless download from
eclassical.com
(NO booklet)
This is another elderly recording which has recently been reissued in
download-only format. The performances are very decent in a slightly
old-fashioned style, with accomplished, nimble pianism matched by
sympathetic orchestral support. The sound is a little dry but not badly
dated.
If the coupling appeals, this is well worth having for the sake of No.8,
the less well-known of these two concertos, but even that has over 50
recordings to its credit and one of them comes from Mitsuko Uchida and
Geoffrey Tate with the ECO and it’s coupled with No.9. (Download only,
available from
Presto
in mp3 and lossless, or stream for subscribers from Qobuz).
The extra stylishness of the Philips recording gives it the edge and
there’s an even better recording of No.9 with Uchida playing and conducting
the Cleveland Orchestra (Decca 4783539, with No.21 –
review
–
review
–
Download News 2012/24). Bargain lovers will also find details of Alfred Brendel’s very fine
earlier recording of No.9, with the ASMF and Neville Marriner, coupled with
Nos. 15, 22 and 27, in
Download News 2012/24.
Ignore the hmvdigital links: the Brendel/Marriner twofer can be purchased
on CD or downloaded in mp3 or lossless from
Presto.
The budget Uchida/Tate twofer containing No.9 referred to in DL News
seems to have been deleted in all formats.
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Mass in c minor, K427 (completed by Franz Beyer) [52:15]
Exsultate, jubilate, K165 [13:50]
Exsultate, jubilate
(Salzburg version, with flutes – excerpt) [4:24]
Carolyn Sampson (soprano); Olivia Vermeulen (mezzo); Makoto Sakurada
(tenor); Christian Immler (baritone)
Bach Collegium Japan/Masaaki Suzuki
rec. November 2015, Saitama Arts Theatre, Concert Hall, Japan
Texts and translations included
BIS BIS-2171 SACD
[71:17]
Reviewed as 24/96 download with pdf booklet from
eclassical.com.
SACD from
Amazon UK
–
ArkivMusic
–
Presto
Stephen Greenbank made this a very well-deserved Recording of the Month –
review.
It’s received similar accolades elsewhere. There’s not much that I need
to add except that with the mid-price reissue of the McCreesh version (DG
Virtuoso) currently out of stock in the UK* except as a special CD from
Presto
this becomes my version of choice alongside John Eliot Gardiner (Philips –
Download Roundup
**). Among older releases, however, I shall not be ditching Ferenc Fricsay,
formerly on DG and now an excellent bargain on Alto ALC1235, also with Exsultate, Jubilate. Harry Christophers with the Handel and Haydn
Society is also well worth considering (Coro COR16084, again with Exsultate, Jubilate plus Haydn Symphony No.85 –
Download News 2012/22). I liked that more than my colleague Johan van Veen –
review
– but the new recording is preferable. Carolyn Sampson may not efface
memories of Emma Kirkby in Exsultate, jubilate but she comes very
close.
*
Amazon UK
had just three copies left when I checked.
ArkivMusic
have the original Archiv CD to special order.
** Ignore the defunct Passionato download link. CD and download available
from
Presto.
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
String Quartet No.12 in c minor (fragment), D703 (Quartettsatz)
(1820) [9:05]
String Quartet No.15 in G, D887 (1826) [52:14]
Doric String Quartet [Alex Redington, Jonathan Stone (violin), Hélène
Clément (viola), John Myerscough (cello)]
rec. Potton Hall, Dunwich, Suffolk; 23 – 25 May 2016. DDD.
CHANDOS CHAN10931
[61:19]
Reviewed as 24/96 download with pdf booklet from
eclassical.com. CD from
Amazon UK
–
ArkivMusic
–
Presto
The Wihan Quartet offer the identical coupling on a Nimbus Alliance
recording which I could be happy with for my putative Desert Island, though
I recommend reversing the playing order, with the Quartettsatz
first, as on the new Chandos album. (NI6221 –
Download News 2013/12). The Wihans bring out both the intense and lyrical aspects of Schubert’s
great final quartet, as do the Kodály Quartet on a very fine budget-price
recording (NAXOS 8.557125, with German Dances). The
inexpensive ASV Resonance set of the late Schubert quartets and String
Quintet from the Lindsays, which I mentioned in 2013, remains available as
a download.
Without in any way dismissing the Quartettsatz, I’m pleased that
Chandos have placed it first and that the Doric Quartet perform it so
sensitively, though I might have liked a little more of the ‘innovatory
wildness’ referred to in the booklet at times and a touch more lyricism at
others. No.15 receives a performance which stresses its connection with
Beethoven’s late quartets: Bayan Northcott in the notes refers to
Schubert’s attendance in 1826 at the premiere of the latter’s Op.130, in
its original form with the Große Fuge finale, a work with which
D887 has much in common, not least in that both represent the String
Quartet in its highest form. Strangely, Arthur Hutchings, whose Schubert
volume in the Dent Master Musicians series is often so perceptive, connects
D887 with Beethoven’s middle-period Op.59 quartets rather than the later
works, even going so far as to deny to Schubert the ‘spiritual
(his italics) adventures’ of his hero’s final output. I can only think that
to be because when Dent published the first edition in 1945 the work was a
comparative rarity, but by the time of the 1973 revision there should have
been ample opportunity to hear it: the Amadeus Quartet on DG, for example,
made a very fine LP recording – the Heliodor label reissue (478433) was my
introduction to the work c.1966.
If the Doric Quartet bring out the intensity of the music occasionally at
the expense of the lyricism, it certainly didn’t spoil my enjoyment and
appreciation of a very fine account. The 24-bit recording is very good:
there’s no SACD, so the 24/96 is the best available format.
Sir John Barbirolli Symphonies: Volume 5
César FRANCK (1822-1890)
Symphony in d minor [37:32]
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir John Barbirolli – rec. 1962 ADD/stereo
Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1972-1958)
Symphony No.7 ‘Antartica’ [38:17]
Margaret Ritchie (soprano)
Hallé Choir and Orchestra /Sir John Barbirolli – rec. 1953 ADD/mono
BEULAH 5PDR17
[65:49]
Sir John Barbirolli’s Antartica appeared on HMV ALP1102 mere
months before Sir Adrian Boult’s now much better known Decca recording;
they shared Margaret Ritchie in the soprano role. Though the Boult is the
one which has become a classic – in many ways preferable to more recent
recordings, even Boult’s own – the Barbirolli stayed at full price in the
catalogue well into the stereo era: it was still advertised as such in 1966
and it was until recently available in a Warner British Composers set (now
download only). Like Barbirolli’s Eighth (4PDR17, with Elgar Symphony No.2
–
DL News 2016/6), this deserves to be heard by every VW enthusiast and the recording has
come up well for its age, though not quite as well as the Decca Boult. The
Beulah transfer is good for its age, a trifle dry but no more so than the
Warner reissue, streamed via Qobuz.
Barbirolli recorded the Franck Symphony with the New York Philharmonic in
the days of 78s and that remains available on Guild but his Czech Philharmonic version
is rarer. I wish I could be more
enthusiastic about it: the performance has a vitality that sometimes
challenges even the classic Beecham (Warner, download only) and Munch (RCA
and Sony, download only or 86-CD set) recordings but the Supraphon
recording seems to have been problematic, even for Beulah who have made
much older Supraphons sound very acceptable. I suspect that the original LP
was a ‘swinger’, with the central hole not quite accurately placed, or
slightly warped. It’s not a gross problem but the pitch is just
sufficiently off to be the musical equivalent of that slightly rough tooth
that your tongue keeps getting attracted to.
I asked a colleague to listen in case my ears were just not attuned to this
recording and he confirmed my reservations.
The reissue is well worth having for the Vaughan Williams but the Franck is
a rare misfire for Beulah. The Supraphon CD, coupled with Dusík’s 2-piano
concerto, seems no longer to be available in the UK but subscribers can
stream it from Qobuz,
where it’s also available to download. Though labelled ‘Archiv’ – which
makes me suspect it’s actually older than 1962, the year in which it was
released in the UK – it doesn’t sound at all bad. [My thanks to my
colleague John Quinn who tells me that Michael Kennedy’s biography of
Barbirolli confirms the March 1962 date.]
Van Beinum conducts Brahms
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Symphony No.1 in c minor, Op.68 [41:17]
Concertgebouw Orchestra/Eduard van Beinum – rec. 1951. ADD/mono
Violin Concerto in D, Op.77 [38:25]
Arthur Grumiaux (violin); Concertgebouw Orchestra/Eduard van Beinum – rec.
1958. ADD/stereo
BEULAH 5PD17
[79:43]
I recall reading a review of van Beinum’s Brahms – not these recordings, I
think, but it applies to them – to the effect that he couldn’t put a foot
wrong. It’s certainly true of his recording of the First Symphony: I’d be
hard pressed, for example, to name a more affectionate account of the ‘big
tune’ in the finale. The recording has come up well for its age, though
it’s inevitably rather thin. It’s also been reissued by Beulah with
Solomon’s recording of the Second Piano Concerto – Proms Music 2016 Volume 4 –
review.
If you already have that earlier Beulah release, you may wish to know that
this recording of the Violin Concerto has been reissued by Australian
Philips Eloquence – Bargain of the Month:
review.
I doubt, however, that the Eloquence transfer has come up sounding better
than the Beulah. At nearly 22 minutes this is one of those performances
where the first movement sounds almost as slow as the real slow movement
but most seem to like it so and it’s certainly not the worst offender.
Listen to Heifetz and Reiner (RCA) and you may never wholly enjoy any other
account but there’s no lack of passion in Grumiaux’s playing or the
accompaniment throughout.
The Eloquence reissue also contains the Alto Rhapsody, Op.53 performed by Aafje Heynis with van
Beinum and the Academic Festival and Tragic Overtures. That 1958 recording
of the Rhapsody is also included on another Beulah release: The Art of Aafje Heynis (1PS8).
The Beulah also includes BACH (Christmas Oratorio, St John and St Matthew Passions) and HANDEL (Judas Maccabaeus, Samson, Messiah) arias from a 1961 recording with the VSO conducted by
Hans Gillesberger. The Brahms is beautifully sung and accompanied but the
recording sounds much older than 1958. I checked and it was indeed recorded
in February 1958 and issued later that year on a 10” LP. The fault clearly
lies with the original recording, not with Beulah’s transfer, because the
Eloquence CD sounds no better. I’m amazed to see that Janet Baker’s
recording of the Alto Rhapsody is now download only, in several
couplings, or as part of a multi-disc set.
The VSO and Gillesberger may not have been in the top league but they offer
mainly stylish accompaniment in the other items. At the time Heynis was
compared with Kathleen Ferrier but I prefer her voice to Ferrier’s and she
is much better recorded than Ferrier. The rest of the Beulah recording is
better than the Brahms: Philips quality had improved immeasurably in three
short years. Recommended for all but the Brahms.
RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Sir Edward ELGAR (1857-1934)
Variations on an original Theme (Enigma)* [29:22]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Symphony No.2 in D, Op.73** [43:50]
London Symphony Orchestra*; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra**/Pierre Monteux
– rec. 1958/1959 ADD/stereo
BEULAH 1PDR39
[73:12] Download from
iTunes
– but better quality for the same price due shortly from Qobuz
I can’t resist giving Beulah the accolade twice this month – see Handel
above. I’ve been hoping for some time that they would reissue their
recording of the Enigma Variations to replace the earlier release
on 1BX181 –
DL Roundup February 2012/2). It was a
Recording of the Year
and I see no reason not to stand by my very firm recommendation in its new
guise.
The Brahms is one of two versions which Monteux recorded around the same
time. Originally on RCA, this is preferable to his LSO Philips recording
made shortly afterwards. Monteux’s more relaxed and caressing account makes
a fascinating adjunct to Klemperer’s rugged recording of around the same
time, also recently reissued by Beulah. Even if you bought the original
Beulah reissue of the Elgar, the modest price of the new download is worth
paying for the Brahms. Both recordings are available on Eloquence but
differently coupled, adding to the value of the Beulah release. The
transfer is very good, with a touch of brightness on the upper strings
reflecting the Decca sound of the time.
There’s a recent Hyperion release offering the Enigma Variations, In the South and some shorter
pieces which Gwyn Parry-Jones thought ‘outstandingly fine’ (BBC Scottish
Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins CDA68101 –
review
and CD purchase details: reviewed as 24/96 download with pdf booklet from
hyperion-records.co.uk). On paper the new Hyperion looks like one of the slowest Enigmas
on record, at 33:15, but it never outstays its welcome. In fact I found in
it the same vitality which marks the 1936 Boult and the Monteux. The former
I heard as a raw copy of the 78s; there is a commercial release on Warner
but it comes in a large box, so a tidied-up download from Beulah would be
well worth considering. The 78 sound is more than tolerable but if you want
something akin to Boult’s Elgar, his protégé Vernon Handley is your man,
and at a very attractive price: London Philharmonic Orchestra; Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Vernon Handley (with Serenade for Strings; VAUGHAN WILLIAMS The Lark Ascending; Greensleeves and ‘Tallis’ Fantasias) Classics for Pleasure
5748802
or Warner National Gallery 6782712. Both are offered at super-budget price;
the National Gallery album is download only.
I need hardly add that the Hyperion 24-bit download offers the best sound
of all these.
***
Two brief mentions of recordings due to receive more detailed treatment in
forthcoming reviews:
Despite the many adverse comments which have appeared on the Message Board
I enjoyed the audio-only recording of the New Year’s Concert 2017 from the Vienna Philharmonic.
Despite the antics of Gustavo Dudamel – contrast the calm and minimalist
manner in which Willi Boskovsky used to direct proceedings – the VPO played
with their usual panache. Give the DVD and Blu-ray a miss this year for the
Sony CD or download. (88985376152). Alternatively, as the
DVD is less expensive than the CD, buy it and play it audio only.
The second helping of Naxos’s new WAGNER Ring cycle from Hong Kong, Die Walküre, is every bit as good as Marc
Rochester says in his
review.
You should be aware, however, that the Blu-ray audio version is both of
better quality than the CDs, is complete on one disc and, paradoxically,
costs half the price (NBD0051). If you don’t yet own a
Blu-ray player or it’s not linked to your audio system save £10 on this
recording and put it towards obtaining one, preferably one which will also
plays SACDs. You would have to turn to the complete Decca Ring
recording with Solti for a better version of Walküre – and incidentally that’s available at a
very reasonable price on a single Blu-ray disc: yes, the whole Ring in first-class sound on one disc in a hard-back book with
texts and translations for around £64 –
review.
Some Independent Label Recordings Jan-Feb 2017 [BW]
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