BBC Music - October 2014 (UK)

gs tin lis 110 io e p ad se ll r de Fu insi

THE WORLD’S BEST-SELLING CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE 110 reviews by world experts of the best new CDs, DVDs and books

The mystery of

BRAHMS What are the hidden secrets of music’s most complex genius?

PLUS! MY FAVOURITE BRAHMS We talk to Evgeny Kissin, Riccardo Chailly, John Eliot Gardiner and more…

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Allegri’s Miserere The saxophone On his 200th birthday, we salute Berg’s Violin Concerto Adolphe Sax’s great invention Strauss’s Don Quixote

Robert Schumann

and many more Hilliard Ensemble

Germany’s arch-Romantic explored

As they tour for the final time, we meet the brilliant choral group

Poulenc’s Organ Concerto

Dead good?

We select the finest recordings

Richard Morrison What makes a ‘Marmite’ composer?

vk.com/englishlibrary

How obituaries can make – or break – a musician’s reputation

M AR IA CALLAS REMASTERED TH E COM P LE TE S TUDI O R E CO R DIN GS ( 1949 – 19 69 )

‘Maria Callas as you have never heard her before’ This 69-CD deluxe box set contains all the studio recordings that she made for both EMI/Columbia and the Italian label Cetra between 1949 and 1969. Each recording has been painstakingly remastered in 24-bit/96kHz sound at Abbey Road Studios, using the original tapes, and the entire collection has been curated with the greatest of care. The 26 complete operas and 13 recital albums contained in the box will also be made available as separate releases. Also Available

0825646339945

Conceived as a true collector’s edition, CALLAS REMASTERED presents each individual opera or recital CD in its original artwork. It also contains a 132-page hardback book with essays, a biography and chronology, rarely-seen photos and reproductions of revealing letters written by Maria Callas, Walter Legge and other EMI executives. The opera librettos and aria texts are provided on a CD-ROM.

AVAILABLE FROM 22 SEPTEMBER 2014 Maria Callas – PURE A collection of her greatest arias

www.warnerclassics.com Warner Classics UK. A division of Warner Music UK Ltd. vk.com/englishlibrary

Marketed and distributed by

OCTOBER 2014 THE MONTH IN MUSIC

THE MONTH IN MUSIC MARGARET MALANDRUCCOLO/DG

The recordings, concerts, broadcasts and websites exciting us this October

ON DISC Double Brahms

ON STAGE Con motor

ONLINE Ten out of ten

What better way to celebrate our Brahms issue than with two new recordings of the composer’s glorious Cello Sonatas? The first sees Jonathan Aasgaard and Martin Roscoe turn to the complete cello and piano music, while cellist Paul Watkins and pianist Ian Brown are joined by Michael Collins for the Clarinet Trio to complete their disc. See p92

For many years, car enthusiasts have brrrmmmed their way to Beaulieu, home to the famous National Car Museum. Now, they are set to be joined by lovers of all things tuneful, as the Hampshire village hosts its first ever three-day Vintage Music festival. Pianist David Owen Norris is at the heart of the fun, which begins on 10 October. See p108

The first cinema screening in the BBC’s Ten Pieces initiative takes place this month, so why not take a look at the project’s website? Teachers and parents will find useful links for cinema bookings, newsletters and resources, including arrangements of the pieces and teachers’ notes. For kids, there’s a range of great videos. See www.bbc.co.uk/tenpieces

ON AIR Brahms goes west Radio 3 is heading to Bristol for a week of ‘Brahms Experience’ concerts that feature some of his finest works. Presenter Tom Service is keen to ‘reveal another Brahms… a multi-dimensional virtuoso’. Tune in for sonatas from violinist Daniel Hope (pictured), while Tadaaki Otaka conducts the First Symphony. See p110

vk.com/englishlibrary

page 44: Sonny Rollins, one of the saxophone’s finest jazz exponents

page 22:

page 68:

The enigmatic, complex art of Johannes Brahms

Poulenc’s effervescent Organ Concerto

CONTENTS EVERY MONTH

64 Composer of the Month

FEATURES

3 A Month in Music

Julian Haylock explains why Robert Schumann was the quintessential German Romantic

22 Johannes Brahms

What we’re all looking forward to in October, including Radio 3’s Brahms Experience

68 Building a Library

A look at the life and music of the great German composer, who looked back as well as forward…

Terry Blain explores the finest recordings of Francis Poulenc’s colourful Organ Concerto

30 James Naughtie meets…

6 Letters 10 The Full Score

104 Audio

The latest news from the classical music world

A guide to the best new hi-fi, plus expert advice

21 Richard Morrison

106 Live Events 110 Radio & TV 114 Crossword and Quiz 116 Music that Changed Me

Is Wagner the ultimate Marmite composer? And which other great composers divide audiences?

62 Musical Destinations Kate Bolton visits the Puccini Festival in the northern Italian town of Torre del Lago

Pianist Melvyn Tan

4

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

vk.com/englishlibrary

The Hilliard Ensemble

44 The Saxophone Mervyn Cooke celebrates the bicentenarian Adolphe Sax’s most famous invention

48 Dead Good Pianist David Owen Norris examines the curious notion of the ‘competitive obituary’

52 El Sistema in the UK Helen Wallace on a music education revolution

OCTOBER REVIEWS The important new recordings, DVDs and books reviewed

Welcome

‘Brahms was my father’s favourite composer, so I imbibed his music from early on. I adore his warmth and intensity, the emotional impact strengthened by his technical rigour – and I recommend a read of his moving letters.’ Page 22

Ivan Hewett Critic and lecturer ‘Brahms’s resigned nobility and deep brown varnished colours attract me to his music, as does his rumbustiousness, too, in masterpieces like the finale of the Horn Trio. For me, this wonderful composer is an anchor in a confusing world.’ Page 22

Bayan Northcott Author and critic ‘I love Brahms’s ability to draw something personal and new from the oldest traditions; his ever memorable material, rich textures and concentrated forms; his lyrical warmth and intimacy; his humanity... it goes on and on!’ Page 22

74 Recording of the Month Benjamin Grosvenor Dances 76 Orchestral 81 Concerto 84 Opera 88 Choral & Song 92 Chamber 96 Instrumental 99 Brief Notes 100 Jazz 103 Books

VISIT CLASSICAL-MUSIC.COM FOR THE LATEST FROM THE MUSIC WORLD

COVER: GETTY THIS PAGE: GETTY, STEVE RAWLINGS

!

Jessica Duchen Critic, author and playwright

be ur cri o r bs for offe Su e p8 stic Se anta f

THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS

n Download a free track every week from one of the best reviewed recordings from a recent issue n Read the latest classical music news n Listen to clips from BBC Music Magazine’s choice recordings n Listen to the fortnightly BBC Music Magazine podcast n Discover more about the lives of the great composers n Plus: the official chart, interviews, competitions, radio and TV highlights, a preview of our monthly cover CD and much more! The licence to publish this magazine was acquired from BBC Worldwide by Immediate Media Company on 1 November 2011. We remain committed to making a magazine of the highest editorial quality, one that complies with BBC editorial and commercial guidelines and connects with BBC programmes.

As Richard Morrison explains on p21, Brahms is a composer that divides audiences. But the problem with those dissenting voices is that they can’t quite make up their minds why they don’t like him. A Leipzig critic, for instance, labelled the 1858 First Piano Concerto ‘waste, barren dreariness’, whereas George Bernard Shaw, famous for his dislike of the German composer, referred to him as ‘nothing more than a sentimental voluptuary’. Even some of today’s critics have trouble with this seemingly enigmatic musician, with one calling for a door of Boston’s then new Symphony Hall to be inscribed with ‘Exit in case of Brahms’. It’s true that Brahms’s music contains much contradiction, but it also seems to me that what many see as the composer’s weaknesses are what constitute many of his strengths. Wagner saw Brahms’s ‘Classical-Romantic’ make-up as subordinate to his own brand of progressive

It’s Brahms’s slow movements that captivate many of today’s musicians Romanticism, but it’s those Classical, even Baroque, touches that anchor Brahms’s music and give it shape. Brahms gave life to old-fashioned forms including, most memorably, his noble use of the passacaglia in his Fourth Symphony, and it was those once-archaic forms, including, too, the chaconne, fugue and variations, that aided him in his expression. But, as you’ll read on p28, it’s the serenity and charm of Brahms’s slow movements that captivate many of today’s great musicians. Yes, he can be whimsical, boisterous and tragic, but his lonely everyday existence also found a voice in some of Western music’s most exquisitely beautiful moments. Thank you all for your feedback following our change to the cover CD’s packaging. The cardboard sleeve was welcomed by many, but it disappointed many more of you, so we’ve taken the decision to return to the plastic case. I do hope you continue to enjoy the wonderful offerings on our disc, which this month features my favourite Brahms Symphony, the Third. For those who still think of the composer as ‘dry’, listen to the horn solo in the symphony’s third movement, surely some of the instrument’s most glorious bars in all music.

Oliver Condy Editor

vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

5

LETTERS Write to: The editor, BBC Music Magazine, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol, BS1 3BN or email: [email protected] LETTER OF THE MONTH up all night!: the corn crake makes its presence felt

A CACOPHONOUS CROAKER The article Feathered Friends by Elizabeth Davis (September) made me appreciate how lucky I am to be able to hear most of the birdsongs on your list (except the nightingale, which doesn’t venture this far north into Scotland). For a few weeks in the summer it would be hard to miss the persistent call of the cuckoo on Kilmacolm Golf Course, and it always inspires one of our members to recite the following: ‘The cuckoo comes in April, Sings it song in May, Changes its tune in the middle of June, And in July flies away.’ On a recent holiday on the Isle of Harris I was fortunate/unfortunate enough to be kept awake half the night by the rasp of an elusive corn crake – for any aspiring composers who want to depict this bird in music, I would suggest that even a comb and paper might be too mellifluous in this case. Joy Monteith, Greenock

THINKSTOCK

Every month the editor will award a SolarDAB 2 Roberts radio (retail value £80 – see www.robertsradio.co.uk) to the writer of the best letter received. The editor reserves the right to shorten letters for publication.

6

THE EDITOR REPLIES: Next month, we report on the CD release of Richard Blackford’s Great Animal Orchestra, a work that features recordings of real-life animals and birds (but no corn crakes…)

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

TOP SCORES

RAVEL RESPONSE

What fun the BBC Music Magazine team have been having in charity shops searching out old scores (Hidden Treasures, September). I thought you may be interested in my recent purchase of an autographed full score of Andrzej Panufnik’s Thames Pageant, which I picked up for 75p in the shop at the Museum of Mechanical Music in Brentford. I got in touch with your writer Jessica Duchen who forwarded the picture to Panufnik’s wife, Camilla, to see if she knew who the conductor might have been when the score was signed. She thinks it was Michael Stuckey who was director of music at King’s House School in Richmond and also conducted the recording of the work. He was a friend of Andrew Lloyd Webber and used to recruit children for his productions, but died suddenly of a virus at 32. I’d really like to know who ‘Robin’, to whom the autograph was addressed, was too – I can’t imagine why anyone would give away such a memento and wonder if he may also have died. Perhaps a reader may be able to shed some light?

I was interested in your Hidden Treasures feature on long-forgotten scores – I couldn’t wait to get home to listen to the extracts online. My mother is a piano teacher and we always had piles of old sheet music at home which she inherited from her grandmother – the feature has inspired me to dig some out next time I visit and give them a go, and to keep my eyes out for some more hidden gems in charity shops.

In response to Roger Nichols’s letter about my August article, Malady Makers, I learned of the nurse seeing a blood test, positive for syphilis in Ravel’s case, from Nichols’s own superb biography, in which the reference was to Madeleine Grey. The further link to Dr Zwang was not given. In questioning the nurse’s competence or reason (aka motive) for this disclosure, I was following basic, clinical forensic principles. When Nichols looked over my section on Ravel for a forthcoming book, he took no issue on this point. Ravel’s clinical course, as described in many leading medical and musical journals, is that of pre-senile dementia. Alajouanine’s masterly account in 1948 was based on his own examination of Ravel. Contrastingly, the accounts are not redolent of the successive changes of syphilis. Had a syphilis blood test been positive, it is extremely unlikely that Professor Vincent would have operated (fatally as it turned out) on Ravel’s brain. The Italian paper suggesting ‘co-morbidities’ is interesting, speculative and adds little of substance. Ravel’s illness preceded his taxi accident by at least five years. The link between brain changes and whiplash injury remains debatable. It is a mantra of basic clinical practice to never make three diagnoses when one would do. In an English civil court, the cause of death would be surgical complications. In court and on a strong balance of probabilities, the cause of Ravel’s disintegration would be pre-senile dementia. Syphilis is a red herring.

Rachel Howlett, London

Jonathan Noble, Cheltenham

Jo Forrest, Surrey

DIGGING DEEP

vk.com/englishlibrary

CHILLY CAGE In response to Michael Browne’s letter (September), John Cage’s 4'33" is, as many will know, based on the number of seconds in that time – 4 minutes 33 seconds, or 273 seconds. Absolute Zero is -273ºC. According to thermodynamics, it is the coldest temperature that can exist, and the point at which all movement, right down to sub-atomic levels, ceases. Many, meanwhile, will not realise that Cage’s work has been played on a wide range of solo instruments and by several ensembles, and that some performers choose to play it slower, or faster. Roger Steer, via email

MISSING CRITIC Steven Johnson’s article on the art of the music critic (Critical Thinking, August) mentioned the late William Mann in the context of ‘powerful pundits’. Back in the 1970s, I sat in front of Mann at a concert in London’s Royal Festival Hall, and made a special point of looking for his review in The Times the next day. He dealt fairly and objectively with the first half of the concert, and included comments on the symphony which followed the interval – somewhat surprising really, as Mann had gone home at half-time.

NEED TO GET IN TOUCH?



Subscriptions and back issues 0844 844 0252 (outside UK, see p115) General enquiries +44 (0)117 314 7355



Subscriptions and back issues [email protected] General enquiries [email protected]



Subscriptions and back issues BBC Music Magazine, PO Box 279, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8DF General enquiries BBC Music Magazine, Immediate Media Company Ltd, 9th Floor, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol, BS1 3BN

Subs rates £64.87 (UK) £65 (Eire, Europe) £74 (Rest of World) ABC Reg No. 3122

EDITORIAL Editor Oliver Condy Deputy editor Jeremy Pound Production editor Neil McKim Reviews editor Rebecca Franks Digital editor & staff writer

Rosie Pentreath Cover CD editor Alice Pearson Listings editor Paul Riley Consultant editor Helen Wallace Contributing editor Nick Shave Art editor Dav Ludford Picture editor Sarah Kennett Office assistant Polly Bartlett Thanks to Jenny Price, Eliot McGuire,

Nathan Dearden MARKETING Subscriptions director Jacky Perales-Morris Direct marketing assistant Chris Day Press & PR manager Carolyn Wray

ADVERTISING Senior advertising manager

Tom Drew +44 (0)117 933 8043 Deputy advertising manager

Kevin Taylor +44 (0)117 933 8007 Senior account manager

Rebecca Yirrell +44 (0)117 314 8364 Classified sales executive

Georgia Riley +44 (0)117 314 8754 Brand sales executive

Patrick Hoyte, Wootton Courtenay

Richard Sawyer +44 (0)117 314 8841 Inserts Laurence Robertson +353 876 902208

FRIEND OR FOE?

Joanna Marshall +44 (0)20 433 2183 Simon Goodman +44 (0)20 433 1277

SYNDICATION & LICENSING

When your Critical Thinking feature appeared, I happened to be reading Imogen Holst’s biography of her father Gustav, and came across the following passage. ‘All artists must be good critics,’ Holst once wrote, ‘for art implies selection. And a sympathetic critic’s disapproval is the most interesting and stimulating experience I know.’ This is in striking contrast to a comment in a lecture given by Dr David McK Williams to the International Congress of Organists in 1957: ‘Opinions lead to criticism, and when an artist turns critic, he is at his worst.’ Roy Large, Newcastle upon Tyne

PRODUCTION Production director Sarah Powell Production coordinator

Emily Mounter Ad coordinator Erin Edwards Ad designer James Croft Reprographics Tony Hunt, Chris Sutch

PUBLISHING Publisher Andrew Davies Chairman Stephen Alexander Deputy chairman Peter Phippen CEO Tom Bureau Managing director Andy Marshall

BBC WORLDWIDE MAGAZINES UNIT Director of UK publishing Nicholas Brett Head of UK publishing Chris Kerwin Head of editorial, UK publishing

Jenny Potter UK Publishing coordinator Eva Abramik

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Peter Alward, Tess Alps, Graham Dixon, Roger Wright This magazine is published by Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited under licence from BBC Worldwide

vk.com/englishlibrary

FREE ONE MONTH TRIAL to the digital edition

Available from

vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC Music Magazine is a must-read for anyone with a passion for classical music. Every issue brings the world of classical music to life, from interviews with the greatest artists and features on fascinating subjects, to all the latest news and opinions from around the music world.

Have BBC Music Magazine delivered straight to your device when you take out a one month FREE trial* subscription to the digital edition. Simply return to the home page to subscribe. *After your one month trial your subscription will continue at £2.99 per month

vk.com/englishlibrary

TheFullScore

OUR PICK OF THE MONTH’S NEWS, VIEWS AND INTERVIEWS

Conductors call for significant change Orchestras need to adapt to survive, say leading maestros

concerned conductors: (clockwise from main) Iván Fischer, Ilan Volkov and Pinchas Zukerman

MARCO BORGGREVE, CHERYL MAZAK

I

s the symphony orchestra as we know it set to be a thing of the past? It would seem so. With a number of major ensembles across the globe struggling to balance the books, and in some cases actually having to close altogether, three leading conductors have independently said that orchestras need fundamentally to change the way they are run, or face a bleak future. The recent economic downturn has proved particularly tough for even the world’s most prestigious orchestras – the bankruptcy of Philadelphia Orchestra was just the highest profile of a number of such instances in the US, while several ensembles in Europe have also faced uncertain futures. It’s a trend, reckons

10

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

conductor Iván Fischer, that will continue unless orchestras take a serious look at themselves. ‘Symphony orchestras in their present form have only a few more decades left, at most,’ Fischer told Richard Morrison at The Times before his

‘The animal has got so big, we have to feed it more. But how do you feed it more?’ Budapest Festival Orchestra’s appearance at this year’s BBC Proms. ‘Their financing is already a vulnerability. Will Americanstyle civic pride, or the goodwill of European politicians, really be enough to feed these large beasts that are basically the same now as they were a

century ago? And is that rigid formation really appropriate for today, or are we simply stuck with it?’ The unwieldy size of full-time orchestras, and their potentially crippling wage rquirements, is something that similarly concerns Pinchas Zukerman, the leading violinist and conductor of the National Arts Center Orchestra, Ottawa. ‘We need to change the model somewhat,’ Zukerman, whose orchestra tours the UK this month, tells BBC Music Magazine. ‘The animal has got so big, we have to feed it more. But how are you going to feed it more? We need to come closer to an understanding of what the future holds, or we are going to have no entity called “culture” at all.’ Worrying thoughts, but what is the answer? Ilan Volkov, chief conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, believes player involvement may be the answer. ‘Orchestras are going through a big change now, looking for new audiences while struggling financially,’ says Volkov, who was also chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 2003-9. ‘The routine of orchestra life is a strength but it can also be deadly so it’s a matter of finding a new balance, giving individual musicians more responsibility and changing the repertoire. To do this one must be radical and inventive – otherwise it will never change.’

For more news and artist interviews visit www.classical-music.com vk.com/englishlibrary

TheFullScore A grand new venue for the South West? Two Moors Festival sets out its ambitious plans for a world-class concert hall The Two Moors Festival has revealed its ambitions to build a world-class concert hall in the west of England. As it prepares to stage its 2014 event this month, the festival has set out its vision for a 1,800-seat venue at a location near the M5 motorway – the exact site has yet to be named, but close to the Devon town of Tiverton would appear to be the favoured option. The aim, it says, is to fill something of a void in the region. ‘Facilities for large-scale music making in the South West are scarce,’ explain the Festival’s organisers, ‘and there is no first-class concert hall, let alone one of national and international standing.’ As well as the main auditorium, the proposed venue would also boast three or four smaller performance rooms which could stage not just music but visual arts as well. As a whole, the complex would also be able to host conferences, trade fairs and exhibitions. The big ‘if’, of course, is whether the millions of pounds needed for such

give me moor: could Exmoor soon be home to a world-class concert hall?

a building – no exact figure has been cited – can be raised. If it does happen, it will complete a remarkable journey for a festival that started life in the most inauspicious of circumstances – it was first set up in 2001 to provide some much needed light relief in an area that had recently been devastated by the foot and mouth crisis. Since then, its reputation

has grown year on year, as musicians of world-class stature make their way to various venues in Dartmoor and Exmoor each October. Having a similarly worldclass venue at its disposal would take both the festival, and music in the region in general, to another level still. This year’s Two Moors Festival runs from 15-25 October

RISING STAR Great artists of tomorrow singing and playing at the same time to create this kind of didgeridoo sound.’ Recorder player With recorder players having reached the final in each of the last two BBC Young Musician If you are under the impression that the recorder competitions, people are evidently starting to is a fairly limited instrument, Miriam Nerval appreciate the recorder’s true worth. As one of will quickly put you straight. ‘There are three the instrument’s most exciting young players, different families of recorder – the medieval, the Nerval, 23, is in the ideal position to enjoy this renaissance and the baroque – and each of those reappraisal. A graduate of the Guildhall, she has has numerous different since become a City Music sizes,’ she explains. ‘You have ‘Recorder players have Foundation artist – a scheme so many different timbres at that, as well as helping with so many timbres at your disposal.’ funding and performance their disposal’ And that’s before we’ve opportunities, also provides even got onto the different her with two significant ways those instruments can be played. ‘You can mentors in Michala Petri, arguably the world’s shake the recorder, scream into the recorder most famous recorder player, and Ian Ritchie, – numerous things that you don’t think of former director of the City of London Festival. when you have this idea of the recorder as just It seems a world away, she says, from when a producer of beautiful baroque music,’ she she was first learning the instrument at home continues. ‘There’s a wealth of contemporary on the Isle of Wight: ‘There was no specialist music that is beginning to challenge the recorder teacher on the island. I was taught by recorder’s pre-conceived limitations. My a viola player and we tended to make it up as favourite piece to perform is the Voice of the we went along. I didn’t really realise that you Crocodile by Benjamin Thorn which involves could go and study music at a higher level. It

THINKSTOCK

Miriam Nerval

For more news and artist interviews visit www.classical-music.com

vk.com/englishlibrary

early lessons: ‘I was taught by a viola player’ was only when Piers Adams brought his recorder roadshow to the island – when I was about 16 – that I thought “Oh my goodness, it is possible to spend the rest of my life playing the recorder and to make a career out of it”.’ Interview by Jeremy Pound

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

11

BBC Music Recording news THE OFFICIAL CLASSICAL CHART The UK’s best-selling specialist classical releases Chart for week ending 9 August

 RE

H NEW

_

H NEW

H NEW

1

Piano Reflections Ji Liu (piano) Classic FM CFMD33 The young pianist’s debut album moves from Mendelssohn to Debussy, Chopin to Wencheng

2

Dances Benjamin Grosvenor (piano) Decca 478 5334 This superb recital includes JS Bach and Chopin, and is our Recording of the Month (see p74)

3

Rimsky-Korsakov Sheherazade Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic/ Sascha Goetzel Onyx Classics ONYX4124 Turkish instruments join the symphony orchestra for a colourful Oriental spectacular

5

My Beloved’s Voice Jesus College Choir, Cambridge/Mark Williams Signum Classics SIGCD370 The Cambridge choir explores choral works inspired by the Song of Solomon

_

6

Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez Milo Karadaglic; LPO/Nézet-Séguin Mercury Classics 481 0811 The Montenegrin guitarist retains his long-held place in the top ten with his spellbinding Rodrigo

_

8

NEW

Fauré firsts A collection of 30 forgotten pieces by Fauré has been recorded for the first time. Trumpeter Jonathan Freeman-Attwood and pianist Roy Howat have recorded Fauré’s complete Vocalises (Linn Records), music that was first published only in 2013. The Vocalises are all brief pieces, none longer than two and a half minutes, written as sightreading tests for singers at the Paris Conservatoire, and then consigned to the French National Archives. Wordless and tricky to sing, the Vocalises lie within the trumpet range – hence this unusual world premiere. In these examination pieces, Fauré retains ‘his craft, integrity and dialect’, says Freeman-Attwood. We’ll be reviewing the disc next month.

4

H

H

Fauré’s exam pieces are recorded at last

Bruckner Symphony No. 9 Lucerne Festival Orchestra/Claudio Abbado Deutsche Grammaphon 479 3441 The late Claudio Abbado’s Bruckner showcases the world-class Lucerne Festival Orchestra

7

NEW

testing tunes:

Harpsichord debut on DG Mahan Esfahani has signed exclusively to Deutsche Grammophon. The American-Iranian harpsichordist burst onto the recording scene earlier this year with his solo debut disc featuring CPE Bach’s Württemberg Sonatas (Hyperion Records). It was our Recording of the Month in February. His name may also be familiar to BBC Music Magazine readers from his appearance as a Radio 3 New Generation Artist on our cover CD in 2010, for which he performed JS Bach’s Fourth Partita and Poulenc’s Concert champêtre. His first recording for the Yellow Label looks set to be similarly ear-opening, juxtaposing Baroque and minimalist music. It’ll be released in 2015, marking the first time in 30 years DG has released a solo harpsichord disc.

In Praise of St Columba Gonville and Caius Choir, Cambridge/ Geoffrey Webber Delphian DCD34137 Our Choral & Song Choice this month, this is an illuminating exploration of the Celtic Church

Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos 3 & 4 Maria João Pires (piano); Swedish Radio SO/Daniel Harding Onyx Classics ONYX4125 Two of Beethoven’s best-loved Concertos in fresh, understated performances by Pires

Wagner from Seattle

9

Mozart Piano Concertos Nos 18 & 19 Mitsuko Uchida (piano/director); Cleveland Orchestra Decca 478 6763 Superlative accounts of Mozart from one of the great pianists of our day, Mitsuko Uchida

_

Seattle Opera is to release a live recording of one of its annual Wagner’s Ring cycle performances for the first time. Since the 1970s the American company has staged a complete Ring cycle each summer, sparked by a desire to give American audiences the chance to hear Wagner’s music – often ignored elsewhere in the country at the time. Over the years the event has became known around the world. Avie is releasing a 14-CD set of the 2013 production, conducted by Asher Fisch. The cast includes Stefan Vinke as Siegfried, Greer Grimsley as Wotan, Alwyn Mellor as Brünnhilde, Stephanie Blythe as Fricka, Stuart Skelton as Siegmund and Margaret Jane Wray as Sieglinde. The boxset includes librettos in both German and English.

10

Elgar Symphony No. 2 Staatskapelle Berlin/Daniel Barenboim Decca 478 6677 The Staatskapelle Berlin strings are on glowing form for Daniel Barenboim’s excellent Elgar Visit our website at www.classical-music.com for weekly chart updates, and download the regular Radio 3 specialist chart podcast from iTunes

12

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

For more news and artist interviews visit www.classical-music.com

vk.com/englishlibrary

TheFullScore

__

REWIND Artists talk about their past recordings… we recorded it. I’ll never forget that feeling – she was a strong presence. It’s a piece of history.

STUDIOSECRETS We reveal who’s recording what, and where

My fondest memory

THIS MONTH RAPHAEL WALLFISCH

THINKSTOCK, BENJAMIN EALOVEGA, DARIO ACOSTA

The great British cellist has over 70 recordings to his name. He has three discs out now – British cello music (Naxos), Schumann’s Cello Concerto (Nimbus), Panufnik’s Cello Concerto (CPO) – and a disc of concertos written for him by Joubert, Simpson and Wright is out this October (Lyrita).

Bloch Schelomo; Voice in the Wilderness • Caplet Ephiphanie • Ravel Deux mélodies hébraïques; Kaddish Raphael Wallfisch (cello); BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Benjamin Wallfisch Nimbus NI5913 It’s particularly great to play with members of my family. It’s an incredible enjoyment to share something with the people that are closest to you. Recently in 2013 I recorded Bloch, Caplet and Ravel with my son Benjamin, who is a great conductor. These are works that I totally adore so to record them with him was special. It’s also music that is particularly wrapped up in the Jewish tradition, and we dedicated this to the members of our family who didn’t survive the Holocaust. I’ve recorded with my father, too – another of my fondest memories. My first encounter with Brahms was hearing my father, Peter, practising the First Piano Sonata and many Intermezzos. Back in the 1980s I recorded the two Brahms Cello Sonatas with him – it’s certainly a testament to his playing, although I was quite young at the time. He was a particularly wonderful Brahms player.

My finest moment

I’d like another go at…

Dvorˇák Cello Concerto • Dohnányi Konzertstück Raphael Wallfisch (cello); London Symphony Orchestra/Charles Mackerras Chandos CHAN10715X Charles Mackerras was such a great musician and exponent of Czech music. This 1988 recording was a really good performance of the Dvoπák Cello Concerto and very well received. We also recorded the Dohnányi Konzertstück which at the time was not well represented in the catalogue. There is a famous recording by János Starker, but his has cuts and I think mine was the first complete performance. Somehow we had a chamber music rapport. I think the piece has had a bit more attention since. It’s a similar story with the Finzi concerto, which I recorded with Vernon Handley. It’s a total masterpiece and almost my favourite British Concerto. This was a special recording not only because of Handley, but because Joy Finzi, the composer’s widow, was the only person sitting in the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall when

Brahms Double Concerto for Violin & Cello in A minor • Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 Lydia Mordkovitch (violin), Raphael Wallfisch (cello); LSO/Neeme Järvi Chandos CHAN8667 I’m not ashamed to say that this recording back in 1988 was a little frustrating. I think Neeme Järvi would be the first to admit that at the time he was impatient. I think we had two recording sessions to do the Brahms Double Concerto, which is barely enough when you’ve never played it in concert with the orchestra. He was very keen to start another recording in the last half an hour of the second session but I think he should have let us have the full time. The Brahms is a good recording, and Lydia Mordkovitch played wonderfully, but I think it could have been better. A piece like that requires really everybody to be happy on every level and when you have two soloists it’s a more complex thing. I’m hoping I’ll record it again next year.

For more news and artist interviews visit www.classical-music.com

vk.com/englishlibrary

heroic sounds: tenor Bryan Hymel Bryan Hymel has just made his debut solo recording in Prague. The American tenor has chosen to record Verdi, Meyerbeer and Berlioz, following his acclaimed performance in Berlioz’s Les Troyens at Covent Garden. He performs with the Prague Philharmonic and conductor Emmanuel Villaume. Magdalen College Choir and Daniel Hyde have been busy recording their second disc for Opus Arte. Recorded in their Oxford chapel, the CD features choral works by a former choir member, composer Matthew Martin. ‘A very promising debut,’ was how our critic described Alexandra Dariescu’s first recording, a recital of Romantic piano music. So it’s good to hear that she has recorded Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 at Henry Wood Hall in London with the RPO and Darrell Ang (Signum). Viola player Kim Kashkashian, flautist Marina Piccinini and harpist Sivan Magen have joined forces to form a trio. Their first disc, recorded in Lugano by ECM, features Debussy’s Sonata for flute, viola and harp, Takemitsu’s And then I knew ‘twas Wind and Gubaidulina’s Garten von Freuden und Traurigkeiten. Cellist Viola de Hoog has been occupied with JS Bach for her new recording of the Cello Suites on the Vivat label. She uses two different cellos, recording the first five Suites on an 18th-century Guadagnini and the sixth on an 18th-century fivestring cello from Bohemia.

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

13

TheFullScore #48 MOTET

DISCOVERING MUSIC

A SACRED CHORAL PIECE, Stephen Johnson gets to grips with usually unaccompanied, in several classical music’s technical terms parts – that’s about as close as one can get to a definition of ‘motet’ without excluding whole swathes of repertoire. But as with that other hugely important European musical form, the symphony, the motet’s formal fluidity is a sign not of inherent vagueness, but of strength and health – the ability to survive and thrive in times of huge cultural shifts. In essence, the medieval motet represents the first great flowering of that distinctly Western innovation, polyphony. The term ‘motet’ appears to derive from the French ‘mots’ – ‘words’ – though the jury is still out on that. It is, however, in that very profusion of texts, sung simultaneously to dynamically and Dufay, wove faster-flowing lines setting contrasting vocal lines, that the motet words that relate to the chant’s main ideas emerged as a medium for complex virtuosic or images. Mind you, the relation could be composition. A Latin plainchant, generally pretty tangential. The extra texts might be in sung in relatively slow notes, provided the another language, or a motet in praise of the basis – the ‘cantus firmus’ – around which Blessed Virgin might also include words from composers like the biographically shadowy Pérotin (c1200), and later Machaut, Dunstaple a contemporary pop song, possibly hymning

Puccini pad for sale

female attributes a long way removed from virginal purity. Even so, there seems to have been an assumption, confirmed by theorists like Johannes de Grocheo, that the motet was a form for connoisseurs, and definitely not for ‘the vulgar’. Take those last two characteristics together and you can understand the Church’s attempts to rein composers in – as famously at the Council of Trent (1545-63). If the medieval motet was still hierarchical (cantus firmus firmly at the centre) the motet that emerged from it and flowered during the Renaissance and baroque periods was more egalitarian – ‘humanist’ you might even say. Motifs were shared between the parts, so that each voice has a taste of what it is to be ‘first among equals’. In the hands of such masters as Palestrina, Victoria and Byrd, motets could convey an impressive range of ideas and feelings, from sublime, luminous order to intense, even painful emotions. Since then, great things have been added by Schütz, Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Bruckner, Poulenc and Messiaen, but few would argue that these surpass the masterpieces of the late Renaissance.

APP REVIEW Every issue we explore a recent digital product

ABRSM Piano Practice Partner Free

IMMOBILIARE.IT ILLUSTRATION: ADAM HOWLING

opera plot: buy your own bit of Puccini Do you have a spare £320,000? If so, you could become the proud owner of a house once lived in by Puccini himself. Sadly, it’s not the composer’s grand residence at Torre del Lago (see p62) that’s up for sale, but a more modest building in the village Caprino Bergamasco, just north of Milan. Priced at 400,000, the three-storey house comes with two bathrooms, an outhouse and a touch of infamy: it was to here that Puccini headed in 1886 to escape the scandal of having made Emilia Bonturi, a married woman, pregnant. While there, he composed Edgar, one of his not so successful operas.

14

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

The ABRSM’s Piano Practice Partner app is a useful solution to tedious but necessary hours spent playing (and hearing) a single line of a piano piece. Available from iTunes and Google Play, the app plays one hand while you get to grips with the other, so you can hear the piece in its entirety from the very beginning – something immeasurably valuable for learning new repertoire. There is a dial to change the speed of the music and you can select a count-in for works with rests or syncopated entries. One thing missing from the timing dial is a beatsper-minute indication – it would be useful to know how close you are playing to the composer’s intended metronome marking. Covering Grades 1-3 of the 2015-16 ABRSM syllabus, the app is brilliantly easy to navigate and inviting to use. What’s more, you can even choose the look of the hands you are practising alongside – one day

you may like to duet with a skeleton the next, a hook-handed pirate! In a world dominated by smartphones and tablets, incorporating an app into daily practice is a canny move for ABRSM to make. Rosie Pentreath HHHH

For more news and artist interviews visit www.classical-music.com vk.com/englishlibrary

Andris Nelsons says Nein nicht ein berliner: Andris Nelsons won’t be Germany-bound

Notes from the piano stool David Owen Norris

I

Conductor Andris Nelsons has ruled himself out of the race to become the next principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The highly rated Latvian, 35, has been mentioned regularly as a possible successor to Sir Simon Rattle when the latter leaves the post – arguably the most prestigious in the world – in 2018, but in a recent interview he has insisted that such a move is not on his agenda. ‘I still feel too young,’ he told German daily Die Welt. ‘That’s why it was both a strategic decision and also a statement of intent when, in May 2013, I opted to become the new chief conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra this autumn.’ And so the guessing games continue…

TWITTER ROOM Who’s saying what on the micro-blogging site @alexdariescu Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 has 1136 bars. Just counted them… Pianist Alexandra Dariescu finds a novel way of putting off practising

MARCO BORGGREVE, LONDON STUDIOS, BENJAMIN HARTE

@MatthewTrusler Quite like someone practising piano while I eat my breakfast. @ashley_wass tells me I should feel privileged. #trioproblems Apaches Trio violinist Matthew Trusler finds that sharing a house with one’s fellow musicians has its advantages… @ashley_wass People normally pay good money for that @MatthewTrusler. You just have to do the washing up. #trioproblems …as does his fellow Apaches Trio member, and expert delegator, pianist Ashley Wass @danieltongpiano You can’t just put ‘serves 2’ on a pizza and expect me to share it with someone. Pianist Daniel Tong (right) doesn’t take his Italian food-eating lightly @TamsinWaleyCohe And now I am going to eat a huge pizza in the Ligurian mountains. …ditto Tong’s regular playing partner, violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen

took my square piano to the York Early Music Festival to pay tribute to that supreme musical tourist, the writer Charles Burney. It was a chance to catch up with lots of old friends, among them Philip Scowcroft, whose own musical writings include fascinating lists of the music referred to by novelists such as Jane Austen and Agatha Christie, JB Priestley and Dorothy Sayers. We chatted about Sayers’s Lord Peter Wimsey and his lunch at the Godolphin School: Salisbury boasts a blue plaque about this entirely fictional event. A practical musician was Wimsey, ready with a Scarlatti Sonata at the drop of a final ‘g’, and bang up to date with the latest Russians, with whom one senses he had more sympathy than did his creator. Recent detectives are rather more consumers of music, with Ian Rankin and Peter Robinson both using classic rock songs as handy indicators of their anti-hero’s mood. Tricky for those of us who don’t know the words. But the Master of Baker Street tops them all. Guy Warrack’s Sherlock Holmes and Music is well worth finding, and I myself have

I was able to reveal that Dr Watson was a choirboy at the Chapel Royal under Thomas Helmore contributed a trifling monograph on Holmes’s work on Mendelssohn, in which I was able to reveal that Dr Watson was a choirboy at the Chapel Royal under Thomas Helmore. Among televised detectives, for all the excellence of Christopher Gunning’s saxophone for Poirot, or Barrington Pheloung’s increasingly Beethovenian scores for the successors of Morse, it’s the Holmes music that most sticks in my mind. For the brief 1960s series with Douglas Wilmer and Nigel Stock, John Addison wrote a melody for horn that’s haunted me for 50 years. But it was Patrick Gowers who hit the jackpot with a concerto for Holmes’s own instrument, the violin, and endless variations thereupon. His brilliant excursions into the style of Purcell for The Musgrave Ritual leave me open-mouthed every time. The danger of huge success in one field is that it can obscure achievements in others. So what a treat it was earlier this year to hear Gowers’s moving Salisbury Cantata in St Gabriel’s Church in Pimlico. It’s a meditation on Psalm 139, first performed in Salisbury Cathedral in 1991. The performance was quite a family affair – the various Gowerses include violinists, novelists, Suzuki experts, organ scholars and choral specialists, not to mention mathematicians – and most of the enormous audience seemed to have walked straight out of the pages of Who’s Who. Best of all, Patrick Gowers, who had a serious stroke 13 years ago, was there to hear it himself. One of those great occasions when you’re glad you were there. n David Owen Norris is a pianist, composer and radio presenter

vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

15

TheFullScore

MUSIC TO MY EARS What the classical world has been listening to this month SANDRINE PIAU soprano

OUR CHOICES

I’m a very big fan of all three composers on Lise de la Salle’s disc of piano concertos by Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Liszt. When I was much younger, I was a fan of this music long before I became a Baroque singer. I started out by studying the harp at the Paris Conservatoire and specialised in modern and contemporary music. I was crazy about the Third Viennese school, Bartók, Shostakovich and so on, and still am. And Lise de la Salle’s playing here is excellent. QI’ve recently discovered Behind the lines, a recital disc by the soprano Anna Prohaska. I really rate both her interpretation and how she’s picked the different composers for the disc – it’s a dark album, and I love sad things. I also love her voice because she never just sings like an opera singer. She has a real control of her vibrato, and the way she sings along with the piano and her expression of the texts are both really great. QAs a high soprano, my voice always needs to be very clear and pure, and I have to work so hard to have the right technique. And so I love hearing pop and rock singers who can sing what they want and it doesn’t matter how. I particularly like Tom Waits, because his voice is totally destroyed! You can hear

The BBC Music team’s current favourites Oliver Condy Editor At the Edinburgh Festival in August, I attended a stunning performance by the Hebrides Ensemble of Stravinsky’s 1918 chamber masterpiece The Soldier’s Tale. Scored for a septet of instruments (violin, double bass, four wind and percussion), the original music incorporates jazz, tango, ragtime, folk and even a Lutheran chorale. Actor Graham F Valentine’s narration elevated the fable’s text to hilarious new heights.

Jeremy Pound Deputy editor Did you know that a great way to enjoy CDs is to take the wrapping off them first? I recently discovered this, to my shame, when the glories of the Schubert Ensemble’s Enescu Piano Quartets disc were finally allowed to fill the Pound household after three years trapped in cellophane. These are wonderful late Romantic works – lush, harmonically adventurous and ever-so-slightly folky.

Rebecca Franks Reviews editor

pick and mix: Lise de la Salle performs Romantic concertos

16

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

After hearing the Danish String Quartet play some of their folk song arrangements at last year’s Lammermuir Festival, I’ve been looking forward to their new CD. Wood Works showcases traditional tunes from all over Scandinavia, moving from bittersweet songs to jigs and polkas, in imaginative and atmospheric arrangements. In a CD of gems, I particularly enjoyed the ‘Sønderho Bridal Trilogy’ from the Faroe Islands.

his whole life in that voice. My favourite album of his is Big Time, and especially the song ‘Underground’. QI love the cello so much. It’s hard to say why, but it’s just like a low voice, the continuation of one’s body perhaps, and is very sensual. I’ve been listening to Ophélie Gaillard’s new disc of CPE Bach with the Pulcinella Orchestra. The sound is great anyway, but these musicians go beyond just good sound. I like the interpretations and the musicality is wonderful – there is always such elegance with her. Sandrine Piau’s new disc of Mozart arias will be reviewed in a future issue

DAVID PUTTNAM film producer SACHA PUTTNAM composer & pianist David Puttnam: Music has always been with me as a background to my life, as it has to my movies. Having a soundtrack to one’s life says something about you – the frame of mind and the place in life that you’re in. Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna is one of those pieces that just feels as though it’s organically me. Lauridsen is also almost exactly the same age as me, and so it’s nice to feel I’m promoting my own generation! Q I live, and do most of my work, in a relatively remote place overlooking the sea on the west coast of Ireland, and the music that I’ve been most attracted to has undoubtedly been that which has fitted that environment. I listen a lot to Officium by saxophonist Jan Garbarek with the Hilliard Ensemble. Garbarek’s soaring solos above the choral music always make me sit up and take notice. I particularly like the ending, too, which I find very moving. Sacha Puttnam: Recently, I was listening to Vaughan Williams’s Sinfonia Antartica on Radio 3 and following the score as I went. I’ve borrowed so much from Vaughan Williams – as a film composer, one needs shorthand ways of getting to a feeling immediately, and his parallel sixth chords are a way of delving right into modal music and even back into Tudor music. Andrew Davis conducts this work fantastically well. Q While Vaughan Williams is a composer I can

For more news and artist interviews visit www.classical-music.com

vk.com/englishlibrary

understand easily, I will admit that the music of JS Bach is beyond me – I am still learning my way with it. I am growing into it, however, through his St Matthew Passion conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. I really like what the early music movement has achieved in general, and love the detail that Gardiner brings, particularly to ornamentation. ‘Puttnam Plays Puttnam: Classic Film Music’, is out now on Decca

OUR CHOICES The BBC Music team’s current favourites Neil McKim Production editor I’ve been intrigued by a piece by Xenakis. Metastasis draws on his experience as an architect, looking at elements of sound as building materials, with a score plotted on millimetre graph paper. I’ve been listening to it on YouTube, while watching a cursor move across the music. It’s packed with surprises, with 61 musicians performing creepy glissando effects.

TRISH CLOWES saxophonist I am writing quite a lot of orchestral music at the moment so have been thinking a lot about textures and sounds, and a couple of classical things have caught my ear. One is Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. I have been checking out lots of different recordings, but Russian conductor Kirill Kondrashin’s version is one that stands out. He was a good friend of Shostakovich’s so is likely to have conducted it close to the way the composer intended – the context of a piece is really important. Q I always keep a recording of Wayne Shorter or Iain Ballamy nearby. They are both highly individual saxophone players – the sounds they make and the language they both use is completely original. They are very different to anyone else and are committed to doing completely new things all the time while maintaining a real lineage to their work. They are from completely different generations and countries, of course, but have always endlessly inspired me. Q The track ‘Breathtaking’ from Norma Winstone, Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor’s trio album Azimuth

Rosie Pentreath Staff writer I have just re-watched Paolo Sorrentino’s film La grande bellezza (The great beauty) about fictional arts journalist Jep Gambardella’s life in Rome. When not attending decadent parties, Gambardella wanders through the city in stunning scenes that are accompanied by a fantastic soundtrack. It includes John Tavener’s The Lamb and Arvo Pärt’s setting of Robert Burns’s poem My Heart’s in the Highlands.

jazz leader: Wayne Shorter, a musician who helped shape modern jazz

85 is stunning. They are playing around some spokenword lyrics that go all the way through the piece and develop into a sung part. Their individual sounds as players are beautiful and the way they improvise is amazing – these three have worked together for years so there is incredible communication between them. Q I have recently been playing Beck’s 2006 album The Information. I particularly love the track ‘Cellphone’s Dead’, which has an interesting tune and an awesome little bass line that reminds me of the one from Herbie Hancock’s ‘Chameleon’. The whole disc develops in a logical way like all good albums should – for example, that bass line comes back in some of the later tracks. Trish Clowes’s new album ‘Pocket Compass’ is released on 10 November on Basho Records

AND MUSIC TO YOUR EARS… been listening to their Vespro della beata Vergine by Adriaen Willaert. A recording to cherish.

You tell us what you’ve been enjoying on disc and in the concert hall

ANTOINE LE GRAND, LYNN GOLDSMITH, GETTY, ALAMY

Tom Halliwell, St Davids In the recesses of my record collection I recently re-discovered the First Piano Concerto by Giovanni Simone Mayr (1763-1845), played by Maria Littauer. The second movement is a lovely lilting lullaby – so gentle and reflective, and a pure delight. My recording is on a Decca Turnabout LP from 1973 – it’s available on auction sites, such as Amazon but, as far as I know, is not on CD.

Mary Margaret Wagner, Michigan, US The Pine Mountain Music Festival, near the shores of the majestic Lake Superior, has again provided wonderful music for summer in Michigan’s

Upper Peninsula. Carrie Dlutkowski wowed us with the ‘Méditation’ from Massenet’s Thaïs on violin, then turned that violin into a fiddle and even clogged as she played Canadian fiddle tunes.

Yu Wei Choong, Penang, Malaysia I have been listening to Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich (pictured right) playing Mozart, Schubert and Stravinsky piano duets. I keep returning to the Mozart Sonata in D in particular. Although Murray Perahia and Radu Lupu’s performance of the same piece is polished and clean, I find this new recording lives on the edge. The tempos are very fast and I keep thinking to myself that the piece is going to get derailed… This is real live excitement. Marvellous stuff.

Emile Manefeldt, Worcester, South Africa I have been reading Orfeo, the fascinating Daniel Barenboim and book by Richard Powers (recently reviewed in BBC Martha Argerich Music Magazine). I found the descriptions of the composing and first performances Roger Kesteloot, in the book gripping and had to buy Antwerp, Belgium Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of In July, Dirk Snellings, Time for myself. It was a weird leader and bass singer and wonderful experience and it of Capilla Flamenca opened a whole new world of modern passed away. His early music ensemble music to me. has, regrettably, since been dissolved. Tell us what concerts or recordings On a warm summer evening, as a small you’ve been enjoying by emailing us at tribute to all Capilla Flamenca singers [email protected] and the ensemble’s founder, I have

For more news and artist interviews visit www.classical-music.com

vk.com/englishlibrary

edge of perfection:

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

17

TheFullScore NEWSINBRIEF

Music with baa lines Trumpeter’s idea is shear brilliance

nash recruit: cellist Adrian Brendel

NEW NASHER When the Nash Ensemble celebrates its 50th birthday with a concert at Wigmore Hall on 18 October, the occasion will be given an extra lift by the addition of a new face to the group’s esteemed ranks. Adrian Brendel, son of pianist Alfred, has been named as the Nash’s new cellist, a role he takes on from Paul Watkins, now of the Emerson Quartet.

How’s this for woolly thinking? Thanks to a chance moment watching BBC’s Countryfile, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales’s principal trumpet Andy Everton has invented a brilliant way of keeping his fellow players’ hearing in tip-top condition. After seeing on the programme how West Country company The Woolly Shepherd has been using wool to make panels that hang from ceilings and soften the noise in rooms with strident acoustics (a bit like the ‘mushrooms’ in the Albert Hall, but fluffy), Turner

liaised with the company about using the same design for orchestral screens – Andy’s version, however, would stand upright between players, thus protecting the ears of one section from the fortissimo blasts of another. Brilliant, but we’d like to take the concept even further. Why not add legs for ease of movement and a vocal facility that, activated with a gentle tug of a tail, adds an extra timbre to the orchestral palette? We’ll call our invention the ‘sheep’. Patent pending.

GOOGLE ARIAS The Teatro Lirico di Cagliari in Sardinia has broken new ground by being the first opera house to stage a full-scale production involving the use of Google Glass. For the run of Puccini’s Turandot, singers and musicians all wore the innovative headsets, capturing images that were then published on the company’s Facebook page and giving the audience a unique on-stage perspective.

A FRISCH START Roger Frisch, the co-leader of the Minnesota Orchestra, is back in action after career-saving brain surgery in the spring. Remarkably, Frisch actually played the violin during his operation so that surgeons could locate the exact position of a brain tremor that they needed to eradicate.

JACK LIEBECK ILLUSTRATION: JONTY CLARK

SCARING MOGGY Colorado hiker Kyra Kopestonsky has been regaling her local press with a tale of bravery. Stuck for other options when faced by a mountain lion that had her clearly lined up for dinner, Kopestonsky says she resorted to singing opera to shoo it away. And it worked! Which, you might agree, may or may not speak volumes about the standard of her singing…

18

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

AFTER HOURS Musicians and their hobbies PAVEL KOLESNIKOV Pianist

PERFUME COLLECTING I’ve been collecting vintage perfumes for about four years, but I loved perfume for a long time before that: since my childhood it has been one of my ways of exploring the world. For me, perfume is a form of art. Like music, it is very abstract, with a single note or harmony having no particular meaning until it is combined with others and its surroundings. The collecting started by accident when a good friend of mine gave me some of her old bottles. Now it’s like looking for a treasure – sometimes I find a bottle in an antique shop or at a flea market, and many of them come from careful eBay searches. Vintage perfumes often use materials like bergamot that are restricted now: it must be like trying to rewrite a symphony by Beethoven in the limits of one octave on one instrument.

top notes: Pavel Kolesnikov has a sniff

Often we smell old perfumes like Shalimar by Guerlain and know they smell better, but don’t know why – it will be because they use those older ingredients. I have about 100 bottles in my collection now – some are about 100 years old and, having not been spoiled by heat or light, smell as precious as they did on the day they were created.

For more news and artist interviews visit www.classical-music.com

vk.com/englishlibrary

e

Farewell to… CARLO BERGONZI supreme verdian:

Born 1924 Tenor At around six years old, Carlo Bergonzi was taken to see Verdi’s Il trovatore. This was his first encounter with a composer who would lie at the very heart of his career – a tenor of exceptional grace and ease, Bergonzi was, in many people’s opinion, simply peerless in many of Verdi’s best known roles. Born in Vidalenzo, northern Italy, Bergonzi initially trained to be a cheesemaker. When, after World War II, he did begin his singing career, it was as a baritone – only after having made his debut, as Figaro in Rossini’s Barber of Seville in 1948, did he decide to make the move up to the tenor ranks. By 1951 he had made his first appearance in a tenor role, in Giordano’s Andrea Chénier in Bari, and in 1953 he sang at La Scala in Milan for the first time. Debuts at the New York Met and London’s Covent Garden soon followed. While particularly at home in Verdi, he also excelled in the likes of Puccini and Donizetti. His ability to characterise a part so brilliantly with his voice was something of a blessing, as his acting skills were decidedly limited. ‘I know I don’t look like Rudolph Valentino,’ he once remarked, ‘but I have tried to learn to act through the voice.’ As well as many acclaimed recordings, he also leaves behind the I due Foscari Hotel in the town of Busseto, which he opened in the 1960s.

PETER SCULTHORPE Born 1929 Composer

ALAMY, GETTY

One of Australia’s most distinguished and distinctive composers, Peter Sculthorpe’s work evoked the Australian landscape as well as his personal concerns with global conservation and ecology. Often inspired by aboriginal culture and music from Asia,

distinctive voice: Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe

the great Italian tenor Carlo Bergonzi

he was not afraid to address contemporary political issues in his music. Of his 18 string quartets, for instance, Op. 16 (2006) addresses the plight of asylum-seekers in Australia’s detention centres, while his 2003 Requiem laments the death of women and children in the Iraq War. Other important compositions include his stage work Rites of Passage, originally commissioned for the opening of the Sydney Opera House in 1973. Born in Tasmania in 1929, Sculthorpe studied in Melbourne and then Oxford. He later worked as a visiting professor at the University of Sussex in the 1970s.

FRANS BRÜGGEN Born 1934 Recorder player, flautist and conductor As a player, conductor and scholar, Frans Brüggen’s influence on the period instrument movement was immense. As Nicholas Williams wrote in a BBC Music Magazine review of Brüggen’s recording of Mozart’s Symphonies Nos 40 & 41 with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, the ensemble he co-founded in 1981, ‘his approach to authenticity is by now itself a part of history’. As well as conducting his period-instrument orchestra, Brüggen was also joint principal guest conductor of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment from 1992 onwards and director of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra from 1991-4. Born in Amsterdam in 1934, he studied at the University of Amsterdam and at the age of 21 was appointed professor at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. He also went on to hold positions at Harvard

For more news and artist interviews visit www.classical-music.com

vk.com/englishlibrary

and Berkeley universities. His research into, and practice of, period instrument performance saw him make a number of important recordings of 18th-century repertoire, not just as a conductor but as a recorder player and flautist too.

Also remembered… A student of John Barbirolli, conductor Frank Shipway (b1935) will be best remembered as the first chief conductor of the new Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI in Italy in 1991. He was a regular guest conductor with many of the world’s leading orchestras – notably the Philharmonia Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra – and earlier this year, his recording of Strauss’s Eine Alpensinfonie with the Sa ˜o Paulo Symphony Orchestra was shortlisted for the BBC Music Magazine Orchestral Award. Hungarian conductor Arpad Joo (b1948) won acclaim for his performances of music by his fellow countrymen, most notably Kodály, of whom he was a pupil, and Bartók, whose complete works he recorded with the Budapest Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras. As principal conductor of the Orquesta Sinfonica De Radio Television Española from 1987, he also recorded the complete orchestral works of Liszt. Thierry Scherz (born 1971) was director of the Sommets Musicaux festival in Gstaad, Switzerland. Founded by Scherz in 2001, the festival became established as an important discoverer and promoter of young musical talent.

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

19

New Releases Disc of the Month Haydn Piano Concertos, Hob. XVIII: 3, 4, and 11 His acclaimed ongoing series devoted to Haydn’s sonatas has established Jean-Efflam Bavouzet as one of the world’s finest interpreters of Haydn’s keyboard music. He is joined by the conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy and the Manchester Camerata in these bold and imaginative interpretations of three concertos by Haydn, each featuring Bavouzet’s own highly individual cadenzas. CHAN 10808

Mendelssohn in Birmingham Vol. 2 Opulently recorded in Birmingham’s historic Town Hall, Edward Gardner and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra continue their series devoted to Mendelssohn’s symphonies. Volume 2 presents the youthful Symphony No. 1, Symphony No. 3, inspired by Mendelssohn’s travels in Scotland, and the Overture to Ruy Blas.

Bax

Celtic Reflections

Orchestral Works Sir Andrew Davis is among the foremost interpreters of British music today and here turns to works by Sir Arnold Bax. Philip Dukes is the soloist in the passionately lyrical Phantasy for Viola and Orchestra, heard here alongside the Overture, Elegy, and Rondo and Four Orchestral Pieces. CHAN 10829

Barry Douglas explores the melodies of his native Ireland through his own arrangements, from ancient folk tunes passed down through the ages to pieces by contemporary songwriters. On four pieces, including two compositions of her own, he is joined by Eimear McGeown, a renowned and passionate exponent of the traditional Irish flute. CHAN 10821

CHSA 5139

AVAILABLE AT MID-PRICE

Czech Music for Violin and Piano

Thomas Tomkins

RimskyKorsakov

Sacred Choral Music

Sheherazade

The violinist Jennifer Pike and pianist Tom Poster, two of the most outstanding musicians of their generation, here perform a collection of Czech works. Dvorˇák’s Romantic Pieces and Nocturne in B major stand alongside Suk’s Four Pieces. Janácˇek’s strikingly original Sonata and rarely performed Romance and Dumka are also included.

The Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge has been a cornerstone of the great English choral tradition since the 1670s. Here, with its director, Andrew Nethsingha, it performs sacred pieces by Thomas Tomkins, a pupil of William Byrd and one of the most accomplished and versatile English composers of his era.

CHAN 10827

CHAN 0804

www.chandos.net www.theclassicalshop.net (24-bit studio quality, lossless, MP3)

Chandos is delighted to be working with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for the first time in this new live recording of RimskyKorsakov’s dazzling symphonic suite Sheherazade. It is conducted by Peter Oundjian who this year celebrates ten years as the Orchestra’s Music Director. CHSA 5145

STAY IN THE KNOW

New releases Reviews t Special offers t Artist features t

Chandos Records, Chandos House, 1 Commerce Park, Commerce Way, Colchester, Essex CO2 8HX. Tel: 01206 225200

vk.com/englishlibrary

TheFullScore PPA Columnist of the Year

The Richard Morrison column

Love them or hate them, what makes someone a ‘Marmite’ composer?

S

o, in this issue we’re celebrating Brahms. Thank goodness Benjamin Britten isn’t alive. He once told an interviewer that he played through all of Brahms’s piano music every now and then ‘to see if I am right about him’. Right about his music being among the finest composed in the 19th century? Actually, no. ‘I usually find,’ Britten continued, ‘that I underestimated last time how bad it was.’ Britten wasn’t always entirely honest about the influences on him, and a psychologist might suggest more than a touch of an Oedipus complex about him taking the trouble to play through all of Brahms’s piano music (a prodigious feat in itself) simply to remind himself that he detests it. Or maybe Britten was asserting himself as an individual, rather than (as his mother dearly wished) ‘the fourth B’ – after Bach, Beethoven and… Brahms. Either way, Brahms seems to be one of those creative giants who have an extraordinarily polarising effect. Usually people either love or hate his music. He is a Marmite composer. In my experience of playing the musical Marmite game (which, I confess, comprises one merrily inebriated session in a pub) it’s quite easy to agree on a list of Marmite composers but much more difficult to say why certain names are on it and others aren’t. Nearly everyone, for instance, would agree that Wagner is the ultimate Marmite composer,

inspiring extremes of adulation or disgust that nobody else in music history comes close to matching. But why should that be? Because his works are so long and make such demands on listeners and performers alike? The symphonies of Bruckner and Mahler are just as epic in their field, yet neither of those gents divides listeners to anything like the same extent. Because Wagner was such a strongwilled individual who made a huge impact on musical form and language? Beethoven was at least as strong-willed and influential, yet

recent brilliant English National Opera productions of The Damnation of Faust and Benvenuto Cellini dazzled everyone, but half the audience still thought that the music was weird and unconvincing. Chopin is a Marmite composer too, and always has been. For every listener who sits hypnotised through those ineffable etudes and impromptus, there will be another who finds the whole experience enervating and effete. My 19th-century predecessor, JW Davison, who had a 32-year reign of terror as The Times’s music

Nearly everyone would agree that Wagner is the ultimate Marmite composer I rarely come across anyone who detests his music as Wagner-haters detest Wagner’s. Because Wagner was a reprehensible character? So was Mozart, but you would never call him a Marmite composer. Because Wagner was anti-Semitic? So was nearly everyone else in the 19th century. Perhaps it is a combination of all these things that makes Wagner primus inter pares in the yeast-extract league. But who else features, and why? Strangely, I think Bach doesn’t but Handel does – especially his operas, which some people (me included) find sublime and others insufferably dull and protracted. Berlioz is definitely on it; Terry Gilliam’s

critic, was one of them. He hated Chopin with the incandescent passion that Spurs supporters reserve for Arsenal. Mind you, he also hated Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Wagner, Schubert, Schumann and Liszt – reserving for the latter (very definitely another Marmite composer) some of his most vitriolic sentences. ‘Turn your eyes, reader, to any one composition that bears the name of Liszt if you are unlucky enough to have such a thing on your pianoforte and answer frankly, when you have examined it, if it contains one bar of genuine music. Composition indeed! – decomposition is the proper word for such hateful fungi which choke up and poison the

For more news and artist interviews visit www.classical-music.com

vk.com/englishlibrary

fertile plains of harmony…’ And so on, for splenetic paragraph after paragraph. At least you can’t accuse him of sitting on the fence. Some composers qualify for the Marmite label only in the sense that musical snobs strongly disapprove of their popularity – Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Carl Orff and, in our own day, John Rutter would fall into that category. For others, the reverse is true. The cognoscenti revere such pioneers as Schoenberg, Scriabin and Harrison Birtwistle, but by and large the appearance of these names on a poster rarely sets pulses racing among the general public. Then there are those private passions – violent hatred or consuming loves for a certain composer – that are inexplicable except by prying into the deepest, darkest recesses of the subconscious. The late Hans Werner Henze once told me that he lost his virginity to an American soldier in Germany in 1945 while William Walton’s First Symphony was playing on the radio. Somewhat gobsmacked, I stammered a question which (I now realise) could have been more felicitously phrased: ‘It took him a long time to finish, didn’t it?’ Henze stared at the ceiling for about 30 seconds, lost in his memories, and then said: ‘Oh, you mean Walton.’ But I never discovered whether he loved the composer or detested him. n Richard Morrison is chief music critic and columnist of The Times BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

21

JOHANNES BRAHMS COVER FEATURE

vk.com/englishlibrary

‘A The enigma of

imez-vous Brahms?’ – do you like Brahms? That title of a recent festival of Brahms’s music at London’s Barbican points to a problem with the composer. At one level, Brahms’s position in the pantheon of great composers is absolutely secure. Everyone acknowledges the mastery of this composer who would write learned canons and fugues for fun. But some doubt that Brahms had that other quality necessary to the great composer, the burning inspiration and daring that justifies all the hard-won technique. Though everyone respects Brahms, not everyone loves him. There’s something about the dark and often thorny sound of his music which seems to repel easy affection. For players, it can often feel wilfully difficult under the hands. Like the man himself, Brahms’s music seems to delight in being prickly. And yet – again like the man himself – the stern surface hides a wealth of tender feeling. There are few more intimate utterances in

Brahms How do you describe the music of Brahms? That very question has had both audiences and critics alike searching for an answer, and has often divided them into fiercely opposing camps along the way…

Brahms’s stern surface hides a wealth of tender feeling

vk.com/englishlibrary

GETTY

private space: Johannes Brahms in his studio at his Viennese home

all music than the late piano Intermezzos, and few more radiantly joyous ones than the great G major Sextet. More precious for those who love his music are those ambiguous, understated states of mingled joy and sorrow that run through so many of his works. ‘Understated’ can be a euphemism for inhibited and buttoned-up, two epithets often applied to Brahms. But for those who love the music, it’s precisely Brahms’s suspicion of ‘letting go’ that make him treasurable. Brahms’s refusal to revel in straightforward states of feeling and his craftsman’s pride in making every piece as perfect as it could be are two sides of the same coin. They show an unflinching respect for truth, both musical and emotional. Brahms is a model of what a proper, grown-up composer should be, which is why, in an era which prefers quick gratifications, his music now seems peculiarly precious. It epitomises what classical music stands for. Over the following six pages, three leading writers – Ivan Hewett, Bayan Northcott and Jessica Duchen – take a look at the essence of this enigmatic composer. In short, they ask, > ‘What is it that makes Brahms Brahms?’. BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

23

Brahms, the composer Morning rituals, regular pub visits and the outdoors all helped Brahms find inspiration Brahms was dismissive of the Romantic notion of inspiration. ‘A thought, an idea, is simply an inspiration from above, for which I am not responsible,’ he remarked. ‘It is a present, a gift, which I ought even to despise until I have made it my own by right of hard work.’ And hard work, the ceaseless pursuit of mastery, was the rule of his life. Habitually rising at dawn, he would dose himself with a poisonously strong cup of black coffee, smoke an equally strong cigar, then play a Bach fugue or complete a counterpoint exercise or two to get his mind in gear, and compose steadily through a long morning, taking a late lunch at a local hostelry and then a long afternoon walk. When he was in Vienna and not conducting or playing, the evening might find him at the opera or theatre, of which he was an avid fan. Much of his creative work, however, was done on extended summer holidays at a succession of Austrian spas and lakes, where he could wander at ease in shirtsleeves and no tie. Once a work was in draft, he would invite the comments of a few trusted friends, Clara Schumann above all, sometimes taking their advice, sometimes not. Confessing to Joseph Joachim that, ‘My things really are written with an appalling lack of practicability,’ he allowed the great violinist to rejig extensively the solo part in the Violin Concerto (1878).

seems to have kept was for the Variations on a Theme of Haydn (1873), a work that was especially close to his heart. It is not least characteristic of Brahms’s view of the composer as a consecrated craftsman that, around 1890, he actually spoke of retiring, telling his friends that his radiant String Quintet No. 2 would be his last work. But it only needed the melting artistry of the clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld to set him going again – until the shock of Clara Schumann’s death inspired the stoical Four Serious Songs (1896) that presaged his own demise. Bayan Northcott

Classical or Romantic? major triad: Brahms late in life; (below) friends Robert and Clara Schumann

Sometimes his incessant urge to improve would extend beyond the first performance: the German Requiem (1867) acquired an additional movement and the First Symphony was extensively revised. ‘I never cool down over a work, once begun, until it is perfected, unassailable,’ he claimed. One early work, the rhapsodic Piano Trio No. 1 (1854), he totally recomposed as late as 1889. And when he finally committed a score to print, he would habitually do away with the sketches, as if to forestall future scholars prying into all his doubts and reworkings. Almost the only complete set of sketches he

The Red Hedgehog

spike path: The Red Hedgehog circa 1900; (right) the sign outside today

Brahms expressed a good deal of passion in his music, but counterpoint was never far behind Brahms can seem the strictest, most structuredriven composer of the late 19th century. A perfectionist – he burned many works with which he was not satisfied – he adhered to principles of form and counterpoint that would have been familiar to Beethoven, even to Bach (ie the closing passacaglia of Symphony No. 4). Yet the spirit he encases in these forms remains Romantic. Brahms’s personal voice is rich in texture: soaring, impassioned, raw in its tenderness. Brahms’s writing, generally speaking, grew more restrained as he grew older. His early works were another matter. Literary inspiration is supposedly antithetical to the ‘pure music’ on which he later focused. But at the age of 20 he based the first of his Op. 10 Ballades for piano on the Scottish ballad Edward, Edward; and in the Piano Sonata No. 3 (1853), he quotes a

Brahms’s Viennese watering hole A COMPOSER WELL KNOWN for his unfailing devotion to routines, Brahms is said to have paid a daily visit to the Red Hedgehog tavern in Vienna, stubbornly refusing to pay to eat or drink anywhere else. The small pub, formally located on the Wildpretmarkt in the heart of the city, was a melting pot of artistic creativity during the 19th century. It was a regular haunt of artists, thinkers and composers, from Schubert in the first half of the century to, 50 years later, Johann Strauss II and Brahms himself. It was a place where he would likely have encountered the folk music that so often inspired his own work. The Austrian silhouette artist Otto Böhler immortalised the composer’s penchant for the place in his famous illustration (right) of the large and bearded Brahms – hands behind his back and smoking a cigar – being pursued by a small red hedgehog on his way to lunch.

24

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

vk.com/englishlibrary

JOHANNES BRAHMS COVER FEATURE love poem by CO Sternau at the head of the Andante second movement. He identified with ETA Hoffmann’s fictional Johannes Kreisler – an idealistic Kapellmeister, also inspiration for Schumann’s Kreisleriana – often referring to himself as ‘Kreisler’ in his letters. As for Romantic sentiments, try Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther: for the Piano Quartet No. 3 (1875), Brahms told his publisher that the ideal cover illustration would show Goethe’s eponymous hero pressing a gun to his own head. Under the spell of Robert and Clara Schumann, the youthful Brahms began to use musical ciphers – notes that stand for the letters of words. The idea goes back to Bach; Schumann and Brahms, though, used the idea within a Romantic ethos to express personal, emotional connections, rather than religious symbolism. Prime here was Brahms’s recurring motto F-A-F – ‘frei aber froh’, free but happy. This was a slogan derived from his friend Joseph Joachim’s equivalent, F-A-E – ‘frei aber einsam’, free but lonely. Elsewhere, his music is peppered with references to Clara. The second movement of the Piano Concerto No. 1 (1858) is a type of requiem for Schumann, its melody setting the words ‘Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini’; he once wrote to Clara that this movement was a ‘tender portrait’ of her. The powerful horn solo in the introduction to the First Symphony’s (1876) finale apparently derives from an alphorn melody that he heard in Switzerland; he included it in a postcard to Clara in 1868, setting the words: ‘Hoch auf’m Berg, tief im Tal, grüß ich dich, viel tausendmal!’ (High in the hills, deep in the valleys, I greet you many thousand times). Ironically, perhaps, Clara’s rather nonexperimental musical tastes, besides increasing divisions from the ‘progressive’ Romantics Liszt and Wagner, may have prompted Brahms’s later inclination towards supposedly ‘pure’ music. He rejected Robert Schumann’s tendency to rhapsodic streamof-consciousness writing almost as if rejecting that composer’s unfortunate fate. In his Clarinet Quintet (1891), he achieved perhaps the perfect blend of form and content: this introverted, emotional music is cradled within a construct of absolute classical rigour. So is Brahms Classical or Romantic? In fact, he’s a supreme blend of both. Jessica Duchen

AKG, GETTY

The remaker of tradition Contrary to what Richard Wagner claimed, traditional forms were making a comeback Late in life, Brahms remarked: ‘Neither Schumann, Wagner nor I were properly schooled. Talent was the decisive factor. Each

of us had to find his own way. Schumann took one way, Wagner another, and I a third. But none of us really learnt what is right.’ Evidently Brahms felt that talent was not enough unless nurtured by ‘what is right’, by which he meant the strict contrapuntal disciplines upon which Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven had based the masterpieces that were by then regarded as the core of the classical repertoire. Brahms’s own teacher in Hamburg, Eduard Marxsen, was actually rather liberal by the standards of his day. But this only seems to have reinforced Brahms’s feeling that, after Mendelssohn, the old tried principles of training had somehow got lost; and that composers like himself, who aspired to contribute something masterly and new to the classical canon, would have to rediscover those principles through incessant self-instruction, scouring the music of the past for models and procedures that might be developed further. Already in his twenties, he was swapping counterpoint exercises with Joachim and composing a Mass in strict canons and a

Brahms succeeded in re-establishing the classical symphony baroque suite – a sarabande and gavotte from which were eventually to turn up in the haunting middle movement of his String Quintet No 1 in F major (1883). Soon he was cultivating a circle of musicologists who were then studying and bringing to publication swathes of earlier music – such as Gustav Nottebohm, who was investigating Beethoven’s sketches, and Philipp Spitta, the biographer of Bach and editor of Schütz. In due course he became half a musicologist himself, editing Mozart’s Requiem and, with the Handel scholar Friedrich Chrysander, an edition of Couperin. Meanwhile, he avidly collected and minutely studied composers’ manuscripts from the 16th century up to Wagner, including the autographs of Haydn’s Six Quartets, Op. 20 and Mozart’s Great G minor Symphony, no less. Some of the Baroque and Renaissance items, he transcribed and conducted during his years as a choral director in Vienna. The major effect of all this, of course, was on his composing. By intensifying the motivic procedures of Beethoven and enriching his textures with the contrapuntal ingenuities of Bach, he succeeded with the triumph of the Symphony No. 1 in virtually re-establishing

vk.com/englishlibrary

Divided Opinions What others thought of Brahms ‘I have been studying Brahms’s … symphony [No. 1]; My view is that it is sombre and cold, and full of pretensions to being deep without real depth.’ Pyotr Tchaikovsky (letter to Nadezhda von Meck, 1877) ‘I know a famous composer you can meet at concert masquerades… today disguised as a ballad singer, tomorrow in Handel’s Hallelujah Wig, another time as a Jewish Czardas fiddler, and again as a veritable symphonist got up as No. 10.’ Richard Wagner (On Poetry and Composition, 1879) ‘His [German] Requiem is patiently borne only by the corpse.’ George Bernard Shaw (above, The Star, 1894) ‘A landscape, torn by mists and clouds, in which I can see ruins of old churches, as well as of Greek temples – that is Brahms.’ Edvard Grieg (letter to Henry Finck, 1900) ‘I have a great feeling for Brahms; you always sense the overpowering wisdom of this great artist even in his least inspiring works.’ Igor Stravinsky (interview in the Boston Herald, 1939) ‘It is the purpose of this essay to prove that Brahms, the classicist, the academician, was a great innovator in the realm of musical language, that in fact, he was a great progressive.’ Arnold Schoenberg (above, Brahms the Progressive, 1947) ‘I play through all his music every so often to see if I am right about him; I usually find that I underestimated last time how bad it was!’ Benjamin Britten (talking to Lord Harewood, c1950) ‘The depth of his feeling of loss gave an intensity to Brahms’s work that no other imitator of the classical tradition ever reached.’ Charles Rosen (The Classical Style, 1971)

the classical symphony at a time when Wagner was proclaiming it had been subsumed into the music drama. Brahms similarly expanded and deepened the scope of the concerto form in his two vast Piano Concertos. And in his Symphony No. 4, he elevated for the first time the baroque passacaglia or chaconne form of variations on a repeating bass, a genre virtually ignored by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, to the function of symphonic finale – an epitome of his propensity to sound at once old and new. Bayan Northcott > BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

25

Brahms on disc Six of the very best recordings Symphonies Nos 1-4 Gewandhaus Orchestra/ Riccardo Chailly Decca 478 5344 (3 discs) £14.99

With the Gewandhaus and Chailly on magnificent form, this recording adds orchestral rarities to a topnotch Symphony cycle.

Ein deutsches Requiem Dorothea Röschmann, Thomas Quasthoff; Berlin Philharmonic, Rundfunkchor Berlin/Simon Rattle Warner 365 3932 £11.99

A superb live performance that captures the human spirit at the heart of the German Requiem.

Four Serious Songs plus other Lieder Dietrich FischerDieskau (baritone), Jörg Demus (piano) Australian Eloquence 480 3527 £14.99

A masterly anthology of Brahms’s often neglected Lieder, including the Four Serious Songs, written in the last year of his life.

Rhapsodies, Op. 79; Intermezzos, Op. 117 etc Radu Lupu (piano) Decca 417 5992 £14.99

An exquisite selection of some of the composer’s most beautiful, autumnal piano music, played by a superlative Brahmsian.

String Quartets Nos 1-3; Piano Quintet in F minor Emerson String Quartet; Leon Fleisher (piano) DG 477 6458 £22.99

The Emersons bring intelligence and passion to Brahms’s three Quartets. Leon Fleisher joins for a coruscating Piano Quintet.

Violin Sonatas Anthony Marwood (violin), Aleksandar Madzar (piano) Wigmore Hall Live WHLive0050 £10.99

GETTY

Warm and lyrical live performances add up to one of the best modern recordings of the Sonatas.

26

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

The inhibited spirit? Brahms was an emotionally complex soul, which is reflected in much of his music What was wrong with Brahms? His aggressively defensive remarks and tendency to regard women either as angels or playthings, suggest a conflicted personality. Some have felt that this got into his music, causing him to defuse his climaxes or interrupt the flow of his expression with displays of learned artifice. Yet the slim, fair-haired, blue-eyed 20 year-old who turned up on the Düsseldorf doorstep of Robert and Clara Schumann in 1853, armed with a satchel of amazing pieces with which he began dazzling them at the piano, must have struck them as the freest spirit of German Romanticism. Within months, however, Schumann was confined in an asylum, with Brahms ‘replacing’ him as Clara’s main support. Whether, after Schumann’s death, Brahms flunked his proposal or, more likely, she refused him, not wanting more children, he was thereafter to elevate her to the status

As Brahms matured, his music seemed to turn ever inward of muse to whom no other women could compare – and settled into a bachelor routine. These traumas were not helped by the public expectations thrust upon him in Schumann’s last article, hailing the unknown young composer as the musical masterspirit of the age. No wonder he developed so fraught a wariness about having to measure up to Beethoven. In 1860, he and three other composers drafted a manifesto deploring the ‘Music of the Future’ pretensions of the followers of Liszt. It was prematurely leaked, provoking derision – no wonder he refused, thereafter, to give interviews or write programme notes ‘explaining’ himself, ever. Of course, for those who love his music, any intermittent expressive hitches or selfconscious nods to tradition are prices worth paying for the richness of ideas, invention and feeling with which he renewed the classical forms. Indeed, his very ‘inhibitions’ seem to have enabled him to convey moods of regret, longing and wistful nostalgia unexplored by any previous composer. One still hears the unbridled young Romantic in the epic sweep of the Piano Concerto No. 1 and the savage drive that overtakes the finale of the Piano Quintet. And after he had strenuously risen to the classical

vk.com/englishlibrary

challenge in the contrapuntal intricacies of the German Requiem and heroic Symphony No. 1, his more relaxed vein of lyricism – heard already in the Schubertian Sextet No. 1 – flowed forth with greater ease. The First Symphony cost him 15 years of struggle; the Second (1877) was completed in a few months. All the same, as he matured, his music seemed to turn ever inward. In his final decade, he stopped orchestral composition, concentrating on piano works and the late chamber works, epitomised by the autumnal Clarinet Quintet (1891), redolent of his increasing apprehension that he was the last master of a great tradition. Bayan Northcott

The progressive An ultra-Romantic, yes, but Brahms was also more forward-looking than most of us think Brahms a progressive? Surely not. Everything about the man breathes an air of tradition and poignant longing for the past. Brahms revered his great forebears, and like theirs, his music is unashamedly aimed at an elite (‘Brahms does not write for the people, but for a parterre of kings,’ wrote the critic Louis Ehlert.) However it’s no contradiction to say Brahms also showed modern traits. The poet TS Eliot also wrote for elites, and revered tradition, but no one would say this disqualifies him from being a founding father of literary modernism. To say Brahms was actually a progenitor of modern music would be too much. But look under the formal regularity and bourgeois solidity of his music, and you can see fascinating pre-echoes of the Viennese modernism that lay around the corner. One of the hallmarks of that modernism (particularly in the music of the so-called Second Viennese School of Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg and Anton Webern) was the extreme concentration of their music. There’s no padding or note-filling; everything can be referred back to one germinating motif. This way of thinking led eventually to the 12-note technique in the 1920s. Look closely at Brahms, and that extreme concentration can already be heard. In his essay ‘Brahms the Progressive’, Schoenberg showed how Brahms’s Fourth Symphony is obsessed with one interval, the falling third. The third song of the Four Serious Songs (1896) shows a similar obsession. Another example of motivic concentration not mentioned by Schoenberg is the extraordinary late piano Intermezzo Op. 118 No. 6 which begins with a sad plaint made of just three notes. Apart from one angry outburst, this inconsolable melody saturates the music. This piece also displays the rhythmic fluidity of Brahms’s later music, a quality

JOHANNES BRAHMS COVER FEATURE that fascinated Stravinsky in his old age. In the Capriccio Op. 76 No. 3 (1878) there are moments when the left hand suggests a fivequaver beat meter while the right hand pushes against it with a triple-beat crotchet meter. This rhythmic ambiguity had long been a feature of Brahms’s music. His favourite rhythmic device was the ‘hemiola’, whereby a bar of six beats is divided sometimes into two or three main beats. This arose from his fondness for similar patterns in Baroque music, but in his own music this ancient device takes on a modern-sounding emotional complexity. Even more striking in this piece is the way the harmony seems to be groping around for a home key, and never finding it. If a defining quality of early musical modernism is anxiety, a sense that all the stable signposts of music are dissolving away, then it’s in this sad late utterance of Brahms, as much as in Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, that the coming of modern music can be glimpsed. Ivan Hewett

The folk tradition Hungarian folk music imbued the music of Brahms, including some of his most famous masterpieces In Brahms’s time, little distinction was drawn between genuine Hungarian folk music and the country’s tradition of Gypsy players. Like many others, the young Brahms was entranced by the latter’s exotic virtuoso style and could scarcely resist romanticising it. musical portraits: Brahms (left) with Joseph Joachim and (above, right) with Eduard Reményi, circa 1854

It was this idiom, within Hungarian dance forms, that he would have understood as Hungarian when he toured, in his teens, as pianist for the Hungarian violinist Ede (or Eduard) Reményi. They would finish their recitals with Gypsy showpieces for which Brahms might improvise accompaniments; and Reményi, so the story goes, would improvise for Brahms in spare moments. Among Brahms’s early successes were his two sets of Hungarian Dances for piano duet – pieces which he premiered himself with Clara Schumann as his partner at a friend’s salon concert in 1868. Later Reményi, recognising some of the melodies as those he had played on tour, accused him of plagiarism. It was through Reményi, though, that in 1853 Brahms got to know another Hungarian violinist, Joseph Joachim (who arranged the Hungarian Dances for violin and piano). His long, if chequered friendship with Joachim was a vital source of multiple influences. For example, it was thanks to Joachim that Brahms stayed with Liszt for three weeks in Weimar, where he would have been steeped in the Hungarian composer-pianist’s no doubt copious playing. Joachim himself was anything but a Gypsy fiddler. As a 12-year-old child prodigy he performed the Beethoven Violin Concerto under the baton of Mendelssohn; later in life he was well known for fastidiousness in his musical approach and a certain cantankerousness beyond it – indeed, the ‘war of the Romantics’, which split traditional and ‘progressive’ strands of compositional development, can be traced in part to a vicious fallout between Joachim and Liszt. But his Hungarian origins, and his use of Hungarian idioms in his music, helped to keep Brahms entranced by that Gypsy style. One famous example is the finale of the 1861 Piano Quartet No.1, marked ‘Rondo alla Zingarese’. Besides the high-octane, stampedout rhythms and headlong dashes from musical pillar to post, the piano tackles a cadenza full of rhapsodic, violin-like arabesques. Joachim told Brahms: ‘In the last movement you beat me on my own turf.’ The same year, Brahms wrote his Variations on a Theme of Handel for solo piano, two variations of which (Nos 13 and 14) might suggest the two contrasting parts of a typical slow-fast Hungarian dance. It is nevertheless the Violin Concerto – written in 1878 for Joachim – that shows

vk.com/englishlibrary

The Brahms Experience

best out west: the Skampa Quartet in Bristol FROM 6-10 OCTOBER, Radio 3 will be in Bristol to broadcast five Live in Concert programmes for ‘The Brahms Experience’. Taking place in the city’s St George’s and Colston Hall venues, the concerts will highlight a wide range of Brahms’s repertoire, from solo piano music to orchestral works. The broadcast concerts are as follows: Monday 6 October 7.30pm (St George’s) The Skampa Quartet perform Brahms’s String Quartet No. 2 and Dvoπák’s ‘American’ String Quartet before being joined by clarinettist Robert Plane for Brahms’s sublime Clarinet Quintet. Tuesday 7 October 7.30pm (St George’s) Violinist Daniel Hope and pianist Sebastian Knauer’s recital of Schumann, Joachim, Mendelssohn and, of course, Brahms, is rounded off by his Sonata No. 1 Op. 78. Wednesday 8 October 7.30pm (Colston Hall) Violinist Veronika Eberle, cellist Andreas Brantelid and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales perform the Double Concerto. The First Symphony fills the second half. Thursday 9 October 7.30pm (St George’s) An evening of choral Brahms from the BBC Singers is rounded off by the German Requiem, in the version accompanied by two pianos. Pianists Charles Owens and Katya Apekisheva do the honours. Friday 10 October 7.30pm (St George’s) Just one piano this time. The brilliant Stephen Kovacevich takes the stage for solo works including the Op. 110 Piano Sonata.

most clearly the way that Hungarian influence, via Joachim, melded together with the composer’s unmistakable personal language. For the finale, Brahms, with Joachim’s own ‘Hungarian’ Violin Concerto in mind, produced a movement amply flavoured with folksy strength and flourishes aplenty. Frequently Brahms’s Hungarian musical idioms stand as a tribute to his friend – and nowhere is this more evident than here. Jessica Duchen n BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

27

Juliane Banse soprano The song Die Mainacht is about the moon rising up one night in May. The colours and the light that reflect from the moon stir up all kinds of emotions. So it’s all about the power of the moon, reminding someone of what he has lost. I love it so much. It’s very moving, very touching. It has a simple melody at the beginning before the song gradually becomes dramatic, with a depressive feeling and atmosphere. It has so many aspects of Brahms on just four pages of music, which makes it really interesting every time I sing it. But it’s not trying to be intellectual; it’s just very open, very honest, very clear. Every time I read through it, it reaches me somehow.

Renaud Capuçon violinist

back to brahms: the German composer takes a stroll for inspiration

Brahma Brahms and ndMe From conductors and pianists to horn players and sopranos, ten great Brahmsians reveal their all-time favourite work by the German composer 28

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

vk.com/englishlibrary

The Piano Quartet Op. 26 is a mix of a piano concerto and chamber music, with one of the most amazing slow movements. You can feel his youth in it and you can sense, in the slow movement, his tenderness. There’s a phrase in that movement when the violin and cello play together which seems to come from the sky. What I love to do is to play Op. 25 in the first part of a concert, then Op. 26 – and then you have an idea of what Brahms can be. Playing Brahms’s chamber music is like taking a bath with essential oils. And he makes you feel like you’re embracing somebody very warmly.

Riccardo Chailly conductor

The majesty and the mysteriousness of the fourth movement of the First Symphony still remains for me a superior piece of mastery. The darkness, the complexity and the almost mystic start to the movement blossoms with Brahms’s big chorale-like melody in the major

FAVOURITE BRAHMS WORKS COVER FEATURE key. It’s so soft compared to the huge chorale in Beethoven Nine – Beethoven was a great fatherfigure presence in Brahms’s life, but he was just an example for Brahms. The young composer had the ingenuity to build his own universe. When the melody appears, it’s like the sun shining suddenly after this dark introduction. I want to mention the horn melody near the start which is straight from the Alps, and is a miracle of sound for me.

my most favourite of Brahms works is his Violin Sonata No. 3. Why? When it comes to love, we cannot explain it. But I remember when I heard it for the first time – not even all of it (it so happened that I came to the concert late). So I was just under 13 years old when I heard Vladimir Spivakov perform this work in Yaruban in Armenia. Something struck my heart as I listened to it and I fell in love with it for the rest of my life.

Paul Watkins cellist

Michael Collins clarinet

SUSI KNOLL, MAT HENNEK, NINA LARGE, PAUL MITCHELL, BEN EALOVEGA, MARCO BORGGREVE, GETTY

For me, the Clarinet Quintet documents all the feelings associated with Brahms: it’s like his life story. From the first phrase to the last there’s so much expectation. It takes you through this long journey and when you get to the last chord you feel that you’ve reached the end. It really touches my heart because, even before I played the clarinet, it was the first thing I heard on LP. I can visualise myself even now as a little kid staring up into space listening to this incredible piece of music. Brahms’s string writing is amazing – so well crafted and thought out, and the clarinet part is equally brilliant. Put the whole thing together and you’ve got a work of genius.

Barry Douglas pianist There is something very substantial about the F Minor Piano Sonata because it’s got all his youthful enthusiasm and skill and pianistic prowess. But it is also pointing to something very apocalyptic towards the end of his life. In many ways it is quite Wagnerian, although he was polls apart from Wagner. The Sonata itself comes from a sort of late19th century, music-charmer tradition, but there is something in the second movement which reminds me very much of Wagner. I think it’s got this incredible kaleidoscope of different moods and atmospheres and skills. And as with a lot of

sparking passions: Vladimir Spivakov’s Brahms Sonata playing inspired Evgeny Kissin

Brahms’s piano works, it’s sort of like a coiled spring. There’s a lot going on that is ready to burst.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner conductor

The Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 52 are some of my favourite Brahms pieces of all. It’s Brahms unfettered by academic convention or constraints. He’s just letting his hair down. It’s the most exuberant, lyrical and smiley series of choral waltzes that you can possibly imagine. I first heard them on a recording that my teacher Nadia Boulanger made with her star pupil Dinu Lipatti. Even though she wasn’t a great fan of Brahms, her playing with Lipatti has all the right ingredients of virtuosity and enchantment – it’s just beautiful. They are the greatest fun to perform too. When we do them with the Monteverdi Choir, everyone is just beaming from ear to ear.

David Pyatt horn player The Horn Trio is probably the finest piece of music ever written for the horn, in terms of the quality of the writing. Brahms innately understood what makes the horn the horn. He knew what it took to bring out the instrument’s most satisfying lyrical side, in a way that other composers before and after didn’t really get. The slow movement is remarkable: it’s very contained, very calm, almost icy calm, until this extraordinary outburst in the last couple of lines of the movement where this huge anguish comes out, and then it goes away again. It’s extraordinary.

Evgeny Kissin piano I’ve played many Brahms piano works, and in the 2015/16 season I’m going to include the wonderful Op. 117 Three Intermezzi in my repertoire. But

vk.com/englishlibrary

Brahms’s F major Cello Sonata is one of the first pieces of Brahms I tackled as a kid. It’s so symphonic and dynamic and heroic and touching… The slow movement is one of Brahms’s finest – it’s simply structured, but he creates an incredible sound world with low writing for the piano in the left hand, the cello singing in its prime register on the A-string, and a pizzicato colour that he uses all throughout. The piano part is hugely virtuosic and full of colour, but he keeps the cello in the right part of its range so it has a chance to come through. The whole Sonata is incredibly imaginative and daringly modern.

Tabea Zimmermann violist

The Viola Sonata Op. 120 No. 2 in E flat major was originally a clarinet sonata but Brahms saw it and made his own little changes to allow it to be played on the viola. The instruments are practically the same register and it’s only in playing techniques that we are very different. The last movement of the second sonata is a variations movement which I think is a perfect example of a mix of beauty but subtlety of complexity. It’s the late Brahms that I love – the mood, the slowness and the width of the space between the notes. Virtuosity has absolutely no room there, and that’s what I love about this Sonata. BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

29

THE JAMES NAUGHTIE INTERVIEW FEATURE

The James Naughtie interview

THE HILLIARD ENSEMBLE As they reach the end of their journey together after 40 years as a group, the pioneering vocal ensemble can look back at many shared moments of exploration, achievement and sheer enjoyment PHOTOGR A PH Y M A RT I N HU N T E R

T

he Hilliard Ensemble’s first concert was in the county museum in Dorchester in early 1974, and it didn’t go smoothly. The countertenor David James had a mishap en route, his early Mini Countryman breaking down on Salisbury Plain. For their second engagement, soon afterwards, the four singers managed to double-book themselves (‘We had to call in the B-team’) and were told at the venue that they’d be blacklisted and might never work again. The person who said that is long gone; they’re still singing. But this year, that long story comes to an end. Although they show little sign of wear and tear – and together they laugh a lot like friends of more recent vintage who’ve just taken to the road – they’ve decided that four decades is enough. Each port of call in this valedictory season is a farewell – Prague, Vienna, Japan, Amsterdam, Berlin – and at Wigmore Hall on 20 December they will sing together for the last time as the Hilliards. ‘Mind you,’ David James says, ‘one or two of us might end up being booked for the same performance, an oratorio or something, without knowing: “Oh, I didn’t know you were singing tenor in this?” You never know.’ He laughs. They obviously hope it might happen. We are talking in Edinburgh, before their last festival appearance, and the programme

30

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

The combination is characteristic. Having started the group with a commitment to early music, it wasn’t long before they discovered that they could straddle the centuries without any awkwardness. The tenor Rogers Covey-Crump remembers listening to the Radio 3 series Pied Piper, in which period instrument pioneer David Munrow deliberately combined his enthusiasm for Baroque and earlier music with the contemporary (a good deal of it outside the forty years on: classical tradition). The Hilliards are one of says all,’ that’s ‘It’s music, the many products of the movement that baritone Gordon Jones was given such zest and style by Munrow, co-founder of the Early Music Consort at Greyfriars Kirk tells the Hilliard story with Christopher Hogwood. When Munrow perfectly (perhaps like something painted died in 1976, still in his mid-30s, they were by their eponymous patron, the Elizabethan already established as an exciting ensemble – miniaturist, Nicholas). They are singing crystal clear in tone, perfectly balanced and music from the 15th-century Burgundian a model of a cappella performance that many court – Dufay’s Missa L’ homme armé, which others would replicate. turned a popular song into a mass – and Six It’s hard to remember how revolutionary Songs for Peace by the contemporary German this was. Even the 16th-century composers composer Werner Heider, which he wrote for who were pillars of English church music were the Hilliards eight years ago, setting a variety stuck on the fringes of the concert repertoire. of different texts. Gordon Jones, the baritone, ‘You’d have had difficulty getting an audience says it’s ‘the perfect club sandwich’: five for a concert of Byrd and Tallis in 1973,’ parts of a Renaissance mass celebrating the James says. ‘Now you’d fill a hall everywhere.’ glories of war based on a ‘pugilistic’ folk song, Yet the growth of popularity of early music interspersed with six laments for a war-torn in the 1970s, amounting to a revolution, > 21st-century world. doesn’t mean that if they sing a Dufay mass

vk.com/englishlibrary

vk.com/englishlibrary

For information on Steinway & Sons pianos or to arrange a private appointment to visit our London showrooms, please call 0207 487 3391 or email [email protected]

vk.com/englishlibrary WWW.STEINWAYHALL.CO.UK

THE JAMES NAUGHTIE INTERVIEW FEATURE

past masters: David James reflects on the appeal of Tallis and Byrd

today, the audience will know what it is. Covey-Crump says he still thinks that in one of the Hilliards’ audiences you could count on the fingers of one hand the people who would be able to identify it. ‘They’d maybe be 400 years out,’ says Jones, and that is the point. ‘It’s music, that’s all,’ he continues. The reason for the ease with which they have inhabited two different spheres – the Renaissance and the contemporary – is their understanding that performances aren’t academic exercises but organic explorations. With a cast of four, it’s inevitable that the ensemble behaves like a string quartet – as James puts it – with each singer responding to the other in a way that would be much more difficult with a larger group, and all-butimpossible in a choir. With early music, where the notes are left on the page with almost no clues to dynamics or tempo, that means that they are not bound to a script: they can take the notes and run with them, creating the fresh textures and soaring exuberance that have become their hallmark. It’s not an act of replication, keeping the composer’s instructions in your mind all the time, but of creation. I suggest that it would be nice if we didn’t get into a discussion about authenticity. ‘Exactly,’ someone replies, and there’s a grunt of ‘Boring!’, so we pass on. Not, however, before Jones says that not only do we not know what singers and choirs sounded like in, say, the 16th century, ‘but as one of my former colleagues would have said, there really is no

evidence that any of this music was ever sung at all!’. Which is a nice way of making the point that, if you get hung up on the theology of performance, you might as well strangle the music. ‘What’s important to us is whether or not the music is interesting, not when it was written.’ However, this shouldn’t sound flippant, because the Hilliards, for all their collective joie de vivre, have been deeply serious

‘What’s important is whether or not the music is interesting’ musicians for their time together. The tenor Steven Harrold is the baby of the group as it now is, and he’s been a part of it for 16 years. So there is continuity and concentration here. Reading Covey-Crump’s fascinating reflections on pitch and tuning reveals something of the precision with which they’ve developed the style and repertoire over the years, and the care with which they’ve worked at their interpretations. Try this for size, as he talks about how our ears recognise familiar tuning systems: ‘The Pythagorean division or tuning of the scale dictates five just major tones (major seconds) with the ratio 9:8 and two impure semitones (minor seconds) which are not tuneable, ratio 256:243. This scale

vk.com/englishlibrary

throws up a big problem for performers in that the major third (Pythagorean “ditone”) is not tuneable, for example: ascending the scale through two pure 9:8 tones from C gives us an E that is wildly sharp. It has a ratio 81:64 but that ratio is too complex for the ear.’ He can say that again. We’ll leave that one there. The Hilliards’ success has been remarkable, and built on a performance style that can cross awkward boundaries (although, sharing their profound dislike of the word ‘crossover’, I don’t use it). Listening to Il Cor Tristo, their 2012 disc on the ECM label, you hear a perfect example, in which a setting of Cantos from Dante’s Inferno by the contemporary British composer Roger March sits side-byside with Italian music from the end of the 15th century. The line appears seamless as they cross the centuries. By the time the group encountered the minimalism of Arvo Pärt in the mid-1980s, they were ready to turn it into a natural collaboration. They discovered that his habit of leaving the score bare of too many instructions meant that they could approach it in the same way as a Renaissance score – with its ‘white’ notes and nothing else – and the first time the composer heard them sing his music he was aware that they were made for each other. Their relationship became part of the reason for Pärt’s extraordinary success in the 1990s, when the combination of his accessible spirituality and melodic brilliance brought him a huge audience far beyond the confines > BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

33

THE JAMES NAUGHTIE INTERVIEW FEATURE thing. That influences the way I feel about it. Whatever happens, it will be different.’ But there has been nothing static in the Hilliards’ story. Sometimes, Covey-Crump will listen to an old recording and find it revealing: ‘Did we really sing in that way? Was that us? We wouldn’t do it like that now. The tempo changes are often astonishing. Quite shocking, really.’ Well, hardly shocking, just human. As James says, their 40-year journey – with so many collaborations with other singers along the way and changes in their own ensemble – has been one of discovery. In their final concerts they will be singing works that have become indelibly associated with their name – Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories, for example – but in the last few years they have never given the impression of hankering after the past or glories gone. Instead, these singers have succeeded in going out on a high. I listened recently to some material, recorded but not yet released, which is a thrilling amalgam of ensemble singing and moments of solo exuberance. Their voices are mature now, but they retain

‘ECM started as a jazz label, but we came to be quite at home there’

last hurrah: (from left) David James, Steven Harrold, Rogers Covey-Crump and Gordon Jones

of those who’d count themselves concertgoers, and in that period the Hilliards were selling discs in great numbers. At a time when the classical recording industry was adapting to the CD revolution – and smaller companies were realising the opportunities for innovation that it provided – they were riding a high tide. ‘The small companies were willing to take risks,’ says Jones. ‘They wanted to fill their catalogues, and they were exploring the repertoire. It was an adventure. Remember that ECM started as a jazz label, but we came to be quite at home there. There was nothing strange about it at all.’ Their willingness to be part of that adventure led, in 1994, to their first collaboration with the Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek. Gregorian chant was all the rage, and their recording together, Officium, became a huge success

34

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

for ECM. The meeting of a group originally formed to sing early music and a jazzman (albeit one with classical longings) was not only inspirational for them both, but wildly popular. They found themselves in the charts alongside rock and pop. Two albums followed, Mnemosyne and Officium Novum, and for two decades they’ve been singing and playing together. He will join the four singers for the last two months of this farewell series of concerts. It’s obvious that it was difficult for them to call it a day, and they had to deal with one awkward question. If the youngest of them, Harrold, were to carry on singing with three new colleagues, would the Hilliard name be portable? He wouldn’t want to, and all of them agree instinctively: no. ‘We’ve been a stable unit, in my case for nearly 16 years,’ Harrold says, ‘and that’s the most important

vk.com/englishlibrary

the sparkle that has provided them with such loyal audiences across Europe and beyond. When they talk about some of these last concerts – Prague seems to have been especially moving – they do so with no trace of pomposity, but it has evidently been deeply satisfying to them to take their leave in such a way. At Wigmore Hall on 20 December you can bet on a few tears… but they’ve arranged to have lunch together the next day. That speaks of a camaraderie that has survived the years of touring, and probably more than 4,000 concerts since the ensemble was established. ‘We do know each other rather well,’ says James, unnecessarily. Indeed, when they’re on the road, they often rehearse in a hotel room together, working on new repertoire. It makes sense, making use of the wasted hours while they’re waiting to perform. And what will they miss? ‘The places, the buildings, the music.’ And above all, says Jones, the audiences. That relationship has been precious. The Hilliards have been a beacon of excellence for audiences old and new, and they have opened doors to worlds that many people had never explored. That achievement will survive them. n

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

2014/2015

NEW SEASON GUIDE A look ahead to the very best in live performance for the upcoming season

vk.com/englishlibrary

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

'307832,%00 BRISTOL

DŝůŽƓĞǁŝƐ�ĂŶĚ ƐŽƉƌĂŶŽ^ĂƌĂŚ&Ždž�>ĂƐƚƐĞĂƐŽŶŽǀĞƌϮϱϬ�ϬϬϬƉĞŽƉůĞŚĞĂƌĚƚŚĞ,ĂůůĠ�ŽĨ ǁŚŝĐŚŵŽƌĞƚŚĂŶϰϰ�ϬϬϬǁĞƌĞŝŶƐƉŝƌĞĚďLJŝƚƐĞĚƵĐĂƟŽŶƉƌŽŐƌĂŵŵĞ�

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS 3'87,378%/3:-',�6%:)07MV1EVO)PHIVXLI,EPPqERHXLI,EPPq'LSMV KMZIEVEVIGSQTPIXITIVJSVQERGISJ6EZIP´WKVIEXFEPPIXWGSVIDaphnis et Chloé :MOXSVME1YPPSZENSMRWXSTIVJSVQ7LSWXEOSZMGL´W*MVWX:MSPMR'SRGIVXS

CONTACT DETAILS | BUY TICKETS TEL: +44 (0) EMAIL: MRJS$LEPPIGSYO WEB:[[[LEPPIGSYO

.92)BEETHOVEN MISSA SOLEMNIS )PM^EFIXL0PI[IPP]R7YWER&MGOPI]ERH %PPER'PE]XSRNSMRXLI,EPPqERH1EVO)PHIVXSTIVJSVQSRISJXLIQSRYQIRXEP QEWXIVTMIGIWSJXLIGLSVEPVITIVXSMVI&IIXLSZIR´WMissa Solemnis 3'8¯1%=SHOSTAKOVICH CONCERTOS 3ZIV½ZIGSRGIVXWXLI,EPPq[MPP TIVJSVQEPPWM\SJXLI7SZMIXGSQTSWIV´WGSRGIVXSW[MXLWSPSMWXWMRGPYHMRKZMSPMRMWX ,IRRMRK/VEKKIVYHGIPPMWX%PMWE;IMPIVWXIMRERHTMERMWX&IRNEQMR+VSWZIRSV

vk.com/englishlibrary

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

>ŽŶĚŽŶWŚŝůŚĂƌŵŽŶŝĐ KƌĐŚĞƐƚƌĂ�ƐƐĞĂƐŽŶ ďĞŐŝŶƐŽŶϮϰ^ĞƉƚĞŵďĞƌ

Based at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall, the LPO has forged its reputation as an orchestra of exceptional verve and vitality

t

ŝƚŚƚŚĞĞdžĐŝƟŶŐZƵƐƐŝĂŶsůĂĚŝŵŝƌ:ƵƌŽǁƐŬŝĂƐŝƚƐWƌŝŶĐŝƉĂů ŽŶĚƵĐƚŽƌ�>ŽŶĚŽŶWŚŝůŚĂƌŵŽŶŝĐKƌĐŚĞƐƚƌĂƐĞĂƐŽŶƐĂƌĞ ĂŵŽŶŐƚŚĞŵŽƐƚŝŵĂŐŝŶĂƟǀĞůLJƉƌŽŐƌĂŵŵĞĚĂƌŽƵŶĚ�ĂƐĨĂŵŝůŝĂƌ ƌĞƉĞƌƚŽŝƌĞƌƵďƐƐŚŽƵůĚĞƌƐǁŝƚŚŶĞǁĐŽŵŵŝƐƐŝŽŶƐĂŶĚƐĐŝŶƟůůĂƟŶŐǁŽƌŬƐ ĨƌŽŵƚŚĞƉĂƐƚƚŚĂƚĚĞƐĞƌǀĞƚŽďĞďĞƩĞƌŬŶŽǁŶ�dŚĞϮϬϭϰ�ϭϱƐĞĂƐŽŶŝƐŶŽ ĚŝīĞƌĞŶƚ�ůŽŶŐƐŝĚĞĂŶƵŵďĞƌŽĨŚŝŐŚ�ƉƌŽĮůĞŐƵĞƐƚĐŽŶĚƵĐƚŽƌƐ�:ƵƌŽǁƐŬŝ ŚŝŵƐĞůĨĐŽŶĚƵĐƚƐƚĞŶĐŽŶĐĞƌƚƐĨĞĂƚƵƌŝŶŐǁŽƌŬƐďLJWƌŽŬŽĮĞǀ�^ŚŽƐƚĂŬŽǀŝĐŚ� ^ƚƌĂǀŝŶƐŬLJ�sĞƌĚŝĂŶĚtĂŐŶĞƌ�ƉůƵƐŶĞǁŵƵƐŝĐĨƌŽŵ,ĂƌƌŝƐŽŶŝƌƚǁŝƐƚůĞ� :ƵůŝĂŶŶĚĞƌƐŽŶĂŶĚƚŚĞ>WK�ƐŽŵƉŽƐĞƌ�ŝŶ�ZĞƐŝĚĞŶĐĞ�DĂŐŶƵƐ>ŝŶĚďĞƌŐ�

Julian Calverley

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS 24 SEPT7,378%/3:-',´7:-7-323*;%6.IER)J¾EQ&EZSY^IXTIVJSVQW 4VSOS½IZ´W4MERS'SRGIVXS2SFIJSVIXLIXIVVMJ]MRKZMWMSRWSJ;SVPH;EV-- GSRNYVIHYTF]7LSWXEOSZMGL´W7]QTLSR]2SVSYRHSJJXLITVSKVEQQI

CONTACT DETAILS | BUY TICKETS TEL: +44 (0)20 7840 4242 ;)&PTSSVKYO ;)&WSYXLFEROGIRXVIGSYO

12 NOV COLOURFUL FRENCH FAVOURITES .YERNS1IRE[MIPHWXLIFEXSREW /EXMEERH1EVMIPPI0EFrUYITIVJSVQ4SYPIRG´W'SRGIVXSJSV8[S4MERSW3XLIV +EPPMGXVIEXWMRGPYHI4MIVRq´WVEVIP]LIEVHRamuntchoERH(IFYWW]´WLa Mer 6 DEC BALLET AND BIRDSONG 4MERMWX4MIVVI0EYVIRX%MQEVHNSMRWXLI043JSV 1IWWMEIR´WOiseaux exotiquesERHE&MVX[MWXPI9/TVIQMIVI7XVEZMRWO]´W7]QTLSRMIW SJ;MRH-RWXVYQIRXWERHOrpheusFIKMRERHIRHXLMWYRMUYIP]GSPSYVJYPGSRGIVX

YEAR OF CZECH MUSIC 2014 With a host of major anniversaries falling in one year, 2014 provides the ideal chance to celebrate the Czech Republic’s composers and performers

z

ĞĂƌƐĞŶĚŝŶŐŝŶƚŚĞŶƵŵďĞƌ�ϰ�ďƌŝŶŐĂŚŽƐƚŽĨĂŶŶŝǀĞƌƐĂƌŝĞƐĨŽƌ ůŽǀĞƌƐŽĨnjĞĐŚŵƵƐŝĐ�/ŶĨĂĐƚ�ŚĞĂĚĞĚďLJƚŚĞůŝŬĞƐŽĨǀŽƌֹ ĄŬ;Ěϭ�Ϭϰ�� :ĂŶĄĐֹĞŬ;ďϭ�ϱϰ��^ŵĞƚĂŶĂ;ďϭ�Ϯϰ�Ěϭ��ϰ�ĂŶĚ^ƵŬ;ďϭ�ϳϰ��ƚŚĞƌĞĂƌĞ ŵŽƌĞƚŚĂŶϲϬŽĨƚŚĞŵ�ĐĐŽƌĚŝŶŐůLJ�ǁŝƚŚnjĞĐŚƐŽƉƌĂŶŽDĂŐĚĂůĞŶĂHIRIĊO*MFMGL´W;EKRIV WX]PISTIVEXIPPMRKSJYRVIUYMXIHPSZIMRXLIWLEHS[SJFEVFEVMER&EPXMGGYPXWERH 'LVMWXMERQMWWMSRWMWGSRHYGXIHF].SLR*MSVIEXXLI2EXMSREP8LIEXVI4VEKYI

njĞĐŚŵƵƐŝĐƉĂƚƌŽŶƐ ^ŝŵŽŶZĂƩůĞĂŶĚ DĂŐĚĂůĞŶĂ

GETTY

THE SAXOPHONE FEATURE reformed its provision of military music in 1845 and the nation’s bands adopted saxophones into their ranks; but even then a powerful musical trade union attempted to prevent Sax from being granted a patent for his designs. Helped by the patronage of Napoleon III, Sax established a saxophone class at the Paris Conservatoire in 1857, and this encouraged classical musicians to take it seriously. But the venture folded in 1870 after France was defeated by Prussia, and it was not until 1942 that the class resumed under the leadership of saxophonist Marcel Mule. Among many other achievements, Mule popularised the format of the saxophone quartet, which proved ideal for innovative chamber music and would reach a peak of popularity with the all-female British group The Fairer Sax in the 1980s and the ongoing experimentations of (among others) the Rova Saxophone Quartet in San Francisco. A few isolated instances aside, Sax’s orchestra-specific instruments failed to make their mark in the 19th century, in spite of widespread appearances by the first generation of virtuosos, including fellow Belgians Louis-Adolphe Mayeur and the enigmatic Souallé (whose playing Berlioz likened to the expressive qualities of the greatest singers of the day). Henri Wuille took the instrument to the US in the 1850s and it was here that the military-band versions found an environment in which they could flourish, as they were also to do in similar ensembles across Europe. In the US, soloist Edouard Lefèbre became a celebrity with Patrick Gilmore’s and John Philip Sousa’s bands, and the catchy and enormously popular music they played was a significant influence on the development of ragtime at the end of the century. When (composed) ragtime fused with the (improvised) blues to create early jazz in the 1910s, the instrumentation of marching bands became crucial to the dissemination of the new music. Cornets, clarinets and trombones could all be cheaply acquired owing to a huge surplus of second-hand military instruments in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War in 1898; the saxophone fell into the same category, but was slower to establish itself as a leading voice in jazz, starting to come into its own in dance bands during the 1920s. Early players in New Orleans adapted clarinet technique, most memorably Sidney Bechet, who promoted the soprano saxophone in a series of recordings from 1923. Barney Bigard adapted his clarinet style for use on the tenor sax, but it was not until the intense rendition of ‘Body and Soul’ recorded by Coleman Hawkins in October 1939 that this instrument’s lyrical powers were brought to a

46

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

peak. By the early 1940s, Lester Young (with Count Basie) and Ben Webster (with Duke Ellington) had explored different brands of lyricism on the tenor, while the family as a whole became a vital member of swing era big bands. A typical saxophone section comprised two altos, two tenors and a baritone; the music of Glenn Miller is the most striking

The saxophone came into its own in dance bands in the 1920s example of the dense parallel harmonies they were often called upon to provide, competing in antiphony with the brass. The alto saxophone – already the favoured solo member of the family in its occasional classical outings – established itself in jazz at an earlier stage than its tenor cousin, in the

hands of Jimmy Dorsey (another clarinettist from New Orleans) and later in the suavely elegant playing of Ellington’s Johnny Hodges. The baritone saxophone was less popular as a solo instrument, although Gerry Mulligan was an outstanding player of the West Coast school from the 1950s onwards. In Ellington’s orchestra, Harry Carney also showed it was capable of a fluency and delicacy that belied its cumbersome appearance, later to delight fans of the instrument’s most famous fictional exponent, Lisa Simpson (see box, below). Jazz saxophone playing was transformed in the 1940s by the seminal bebop innovator Charlie Parker, a notoriously wayward talent who frequently pawned his alto to support the drug addiction which deprived jazz of many of its luminaries in the postwar years. Parker’s innovations affected not just saxophonists but the melodic idiom of all manner of instruments, from piano to trombone and double bass. The complexities of bebop were ideally suited for music-making in small groups, and it was in this context that the

FIVE CELEBRITY SAXOPHONISTS solo stars: astronaut Ronald McNair practises while in orbit; (below) President Bill Clinton works on his technique

Ronald McNair Astronaut

Bill Clinton US President Music’s loss was politics’ gain in 1962, when the first tenor saxophone in the Arkansas state band decided he’d gone as far as he could with the instrument. ‘I loved music and thought I could be very good,’ wrote Bill Clinton many years later, ‘but I knew I would never be John Coltrane or Stan Getz.’

In January 1986, Ronald McNair, a very accomplished saxophonist, was planning to make musical history by being the first person to record a piece of new music up in space – the work in question was by composer Jean Michel Jarre, with whom he had been collaborating. Tragically, the mission it was intended for ended in catastrophe, when the Challenger space shuttle exploded soon after take-off, killing all seven crew.

Lisa Simpson Cartoon schoolgirl Simpsons fans have become familiar with the baritone saxophone. In each episode’s opening sequence, Lisa, Bart Simpson’s younger sister, plays an impromptu solo in her school band before heading with her sax down the corridor. Don’t pretend you haven’t seen it.

Alastair Cook Cricketer A chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral as a youngster, England’s current cricket captain went on to take up the saxophone at school. He still plays today and, in 2008, gamely put his skills to the test by agreeing to record a solo for the soundtrack of the BBC’s animated TV series Freefonix.

vk.com/englishlibrary

Jude Law Actor Jude Law prepared for the part of Dickie Greenleaf in the 1999 film The Talented Mr Ripley by learning the saxophone, an instrument he’s shown playing during a night out at a jazz club. That’s ‘playing’ in the loosest sense – Law puts lips to sax in ‘Tu vuò fà l’americano’ and ‘My funny Valentine’, but his fingers don’t move a great deal…

GUEST APPEARANCES Five great moments for the saxophone in classical music When Ravel arranged the work for orchestra in 1922, he allotted the role of the troubadour to the alto sax. Brilliantly imaginative, it captures the music’s mood to perfection.

Glazunov Saxophone Concerto (1934) As with Elisa Hall, persistence paid off for saxophonist Sigurd Raschèr, who badgered Glazunov to write him a concerto. The Russian composer relented and the result – three short, pleasingly lyrical movements – was premiered by Raschèr himself in Sweden in November 1934. Glazunov himself almost certainly never heard it played in concert.

bad impression: Elisa Hall, whose Debussy (right) commission was left unfinished

Debussy Rapsodie for Alto Saxophone (1919) Debussy had to be dragged kicking and screaming into completing the commission for saxophone he’d accepted from the American player Elisa Hall in 1903. After much procrastination, the composer sent Hall a draft of his Rapsodie in 1911… but with large gaps in it. He left it still unfinished at his death in 1918, at which point Jean RogerDucasse completed the ten-minute work for its debut the following year.

Musorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Ravel, 1922) In ‘The Old Castle’, the second of the Viktor Hartmann pictures in Musorgsky’s famous 1874 work for solo piano, a troubadour sings his mournful song in front of said castle.

saxophone family continued to flourish in the 1950s. Its earthy tone made it an ideal voice for the emerging hard-bop style, exemplified by the exuberant work of Sonny Rollins. In the hands of John Coltrane the tenor acquired a brash energy, its timbres embracing harsh sonorities and sound effects as part of a growing move in jazz in the early 1960s towards avant-garde expressionism. Coltrane’s sometimes aggressive reediness led poet and arch-conservative jazz critic Philip Larkin to describe his ‘wilful and hideous distortion of tone’ as a combination of ‘squeals, squeaks, Bronx cheers and throttled slate-pencil noises’. Apart from the pioneering work of Bechet and its occasional use by Coltrane, the soprano saxophone was less familiar until the 1970s when Wayne Shorter’s hauntingly

Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet (1935) Little surprise that Prokofiev, a composer who was never averse to exploring the orchestra’s full range of colours, introduced the saxophone to its ranks on a few occasions. One was in his 1934 film score for Lieutenant Kijé, but the more famous instance is when, in the ballet Romeo and Juliet, a tenor sax is heard taking up the main tune of the ‘Dance of the Knights’, giving it a lighter, jauntier touch.

Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 6 (1947) A couple of minutes into the third movement of the Sixth Symphony – one of Vaughan Williams’s most snarlingly aggressive – a sinuous tenor sax is played against an accompaniment of snare drum and scurrying strings. It seems almost jazzy at first, but as its motif is repeated again and again before being taken up by the full orchestra, it starts to sound deeply unsettling.

ethereal tone was showcased in the jazzrock group Weather Report. In Europe, the inimitable talents of Norwegian performer Jan Garbarek found expression on both soprano and tenor in a unique sound-world that synthesized elements borrowed from European folk music and jazz-rock; his ECM album, Officium, uniting medieval Latin vocal music with atmospheric saxophone improvisations, became an instant bestseller in 1993, and showed that much remained to be done in applying the saxophone’s potential to artistic experiments that crossed the boundaries between the popular and elite. The saxophone’s spectacular success in the world of jazz has

vk.com/englishlibrary

sometimes been a distinct drawback outside this milieu. The school of much-imitated symphonic jazz developed by Gershwin, Copland and Bernstein so strongly tapped jazz associations that it can still be difficult today to hear the instrument’s timbre in a classical context and not be immediately transported away to the world of jazz. Furthermore, jazz’s notoriously insalubrious associations throughout its history – first with prostitution, then illicit alcohol, then hard drugs – meant that in Hollywood film music in particular the sound of a bluesy saxophone became a rigidly stereotyped marker for sex, corruption and crime. It is easy enough to see how the saxophone’s distinctive sonority – a seductive blend of warmth and brassiness deriving from its unique combination of a single-reed mouthpiece and conical metal body – became quickly typecast in this way. So it can be refreshing to go back to the origins of French film music and find composers such as Auric and Jaubert writing movie scores in the 1930s which featured saxophones prominently but avoided jazz

The sax has had a slow journey towards widespread acceptance associations by continuing to cultivate a limpid manner of playing ideally suited to the neo-classical chamber-music temperament of the times. And this is a reminder that the eventual acceptance of his invention in the classical world of which Sax had dreamed a century before was mostly driven by forwardthinking French musicians and composers who gladly nurtured its potential, including Bizet, Thomas, Massenet, Delibes, Debussy, Ravel and Milhaud. In doing so they were inspired by leading virtuosos such as Mule and Sigurd Rascher, who commissioned concertos from both Glazunov and Ibert. But on the whole, the saxophone has had a slow journey towards widespread acceptance, and one national newspaper felt it had only come of age last year, when the versatile Amy Dickson’s album Dusk and Dawn reached the top of the UK classical charts. In the words of one critic, Dickson had finally ‘elevated the saxophone from the nightclub to the concert hall’. Or, in other words, she simply put it back where Adolphe Sax had always intended it to be. n BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

47

OBITUARIES FEATURE

Death becomes them Nothing propels a composer into the limelight quite as effectively as the simple act of dying. David Owen Norris explores the extraordinary lengths to which obituary writers have gone to glorify, or damn, the recently deceased IL LUS T R AT ION JON T Y CL A R K

T

homas Tallis’s epitaph in St Alfege’s Church in Greenwich reads: ‘As he did live, So also did he die, In mild and quiet sort, (O! happy man).’ Happy man indeed, as some post mortem tributes are noticeably more equivocal. Berlioz said of Chopin: ‘He was dying all his life’. Or, take the French newspaper announcement: ‘Charles Valentin Alkan has just died. It was necessary for him to die in order to suspect his existence.’ All good clean fun, but for real insight into what a composer meant to his contemporaries, you need to become acquainted with the phenomenon of the competitive obituary. I discovered the delights of competitive obituaries when I made a radio programme on the deaths of Elgar, Holst and Delius, all of which happened in 1934. Edward Elgar’s death, in February of that year, prompted a good deal of backchat. ‘England’s greatest composer since Purcell,’ said the Daily Mirror. ‘Why drag Purcell into it?’ asked The Musical Times. The Scotsman opined that ‘British music’ was the poorer. Down in London, The Times was crisp: ‘In these days when

48

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

the term “British composer” is on everyone’s lips, it is worthwhile remarking that Elgar by descent, upbringing, and education was entirely English.’ Gustav Holst’s death in May brought up the question of nationality again. ‘Much of his work revealed his Swedish origin, though he was born in Cheltenham,’ puzzled the

Death is certainly an opportunity to settle old scores Daily Express, only to be slapped down by The Times: ‘His ancestry was Swedish, and until the War he bore the name of “von Holst”; but his grandfather had come to England in 1807, and his mother and grandmother were Englishwomen. He may therefore rightly be considered to belong to the West of England.’ The death of Frederick Delius in June put a further cat among the nationalist pigeons.

vk.com/englishlibrary

The Daily Telegraph set out the facts: ‘Delius was born in Bradford. The name Frederick was only adopted in later life, and some of his earlier compositions were published and performed under the name of Fritz Delius. Both parents were of German birth, but his father became a naturalised Englishman.’ In a breathless front-page article, the Daily Express threw the comparison of choice in the teeth of the Elgar-lovers: ‘Delius, considered by many connoisseurs to be the greatest musician England has produced since … Purcell.’ Ha! Take that. The Daily Mirror also decided that Delius was front-page news, a pinnacle Elgar had not achieved. ‘Delius, the Composer, dead’ screamed the headline, subtly helping out those readers who were thinking ‘Who?’ and going on to explain: ‘It is Delius who has given the world as profound a picture in music of English air and sky, cliffs,

green lawns and golden light, as did Spenser, Chaucer, or Wordsworth in verse.’ The Times, though, wasn’t so sure. ‘As a result of the advocacy of friends we have heard his music; we have admired it, and some of it we have come to love, yet Delius remained a foreigner.’ This sent the Delius acolyte, composer Bernard van Dieren, into a paroxysm: ‘Though it may start with Nietzsche, and invite us to the fjords, [Delius’s music] leads us nearer to the heart of what is most English in England than ever did Morrisdancing, shepherd-piping, sea-shantying, folk-singing tone-poems with evocative titles and quotations to emphasize the over-localcoloured ambitions of … other composers.’ Who can he have meant? Death is certainly an opportunity to settle old scores. Even the universally loved Holst stirred up indignation.

‘Not sufficiently subtle or profound,’ said The Times, prompting a letter to the editor from Bishop Bell of Chichester. ‘A Prince of music!’ huffed the Right Reverend. It’s pretty clear that Delius’s friends learned from the to-ing and fro-ing over Elgar and Holst. Those front pages, and the ubiquitous phrase ‘neglected genius’, didn’t happen by accident. Had Delius died in January, what might his reputation have been? When Debussy died in 1918, The Musical Times carried its official obituary (‘… this distinguished composer … widespread and profound regret … made his own world and language … a tribute to his independence and originality’ and so on) on the very same page as an article by Ernest Newman which began: ‘Few people, I imagine, who are not blinded by partisanship will deny that the Debussy of the last years had been a great

disappointment.’ The editor tried to make up for that by appending ‘Some recollections of Debussy’ which massaged the sensibilities of his readers. ‘The last time I saw Debussy,’ wrote G Jean-Aubry, ‘we spoke at great length of his coming to England. These were the last words I heard from his lips: “How I should like to go back to England with you.”’ And Jean-Aubry quotes this delicious Debussyian insight: ‘It always seemed to me that English people have a merely “official” taste for music, the exigencies of which have, so far, been quite sufficiently met by Handel and Sullivan.’ Sir Hubert Parry, dying in the autumn of the same year, got more fulsome treatment. His fellow composer, the aged Sir Frederick Bridge, told a special meeting of the (not yet Royal) Musical Association that he had known Parry since he was a boy at Eton, that it was he, Sir Frederick, who had asked him to >

vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

49

THINKSTOCK, GETTY

OBITUARIES FEATURE write I was Glad, and that Sir Charles Stanford thought Parry ‘the greatest man since Purcell’. ‘Hubert Parry was a joy of my musical life,’ sighed Robin Legge in The Musical Times. ‘It seems impossible even now to believe that never more will one see that cheery, honest, open, beaming countenance, and, ye gods! how rare are these things in our profession.’ Six years later The Musical Times reported: ‘Barely a week had passed after the death of Sir Frederick Bridge when the musical world suffered two further blows in the loss of Sir Walter Parratt and Sir Charles Stanford.’ Stanford’s unsigned obituary contains the phrase: ‘His numbered works approach the two hundred mark, and we believe a good deal is still in manuscript. As is inevitable in so vast an output there is much that is unoriginal, but impeccable workmanship is always evident. The matter may be perfunctory, the manner never.’ Or, as R Vaughan-Williams (sic) put it in a special number of Music & Letters: ‘A composer cannot always be master of his inspiration, but he can see to it that his tools are always of tempered steel.’ A few pages on, one Ivor Gurney was forthright. ‘[Stanford] was a stiff master, though a very kind man … and most glad to be pleased. England will bury many in the Abbey of Westminster much lesser than he. He was a born poet, but had to overcome foreign form and influence. He wrote oratorios instead of string quartets, violin sonatas and such … When England is less foolish she will think more of him. Had he been wiser, he would have talked of Elizabethans at his lessons instead of the lesser string quartets of Beethoven, or the

grave concerns: Richard Strauss (left) and family memorial in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

deader things that industry and not conscience got out of the German masters.’ Talking of the German masters, there were divided opinions when Richard Strauss died in 1949. ‘[His death] is a sharp reminder to us

‘Stanford was a stiff master, though a very kind man’ of the impermanence of fame,’ wrote Rollo Myers in The Musical Times. ‘For few could deny that Strauss was as famous in his day as any great musician has ever been. His day, however, was not, when all is told, a long one.’

Dead clever

posers Carefully chosen words about deceased com ‘The world will not have such a talent again in a hundred years’ Haydn mourns the death of Mozart ’ ‘Once dead he will live for a long time oz Composer Stephen Heller on Berli ‘Here lyes Henry Purcell Esqre, who left this Lyfe and is gone to that Blessed Place where only his Harmony can be exceeded’ Purcell’s epitaph in London’s Westminster Abbey ‘The Mozart of the Champs-Elysées’ Rossini (left) affords Offenbach high praise

‘I found nothing worthy to remark but the elasticity of his fingers’ playing Sir Isaac New ton (right) on Handel’s s after ‘He was knighted in 1998, three year most the of one as Gay Times hailed him influential of all gay musicians’ rd Rodney Pink News stakes its claim on Richa on gniti reco nal natio inter ett’s Benn g ‘The world persisted to the end in callin avoid to r orde in ist pian test grea the him as one the trouble of considering his claim rs’ pose com of le rkab rema most the of in Saint-Saëns in typically catty form his appraisal of Liszt

vk.com/englishlibrary

But in a special edition of Tempo (‘A Quarterly Review of Modern Music’), Gustave Samazeuilh wrote: ‘By the range, the diversity, the burning vitality of his work … Richard Strauss is not only beyond doubt the most famous musician in his own country, but is one of the greatest of his epoch.’ And the enthusiastic official notice in this bastion of all things modern tutted: ‘Many of his obituarists have shown themselves singularly ill-informed about their subject.’ So much for Rollo Myers. In 1963, however, Tempo was decidedly less well disposed towards another German, Paul Hindemith: ‘Although his innate creative genius could not be repressed, it was made to struggle for survival against the theoretical restraints that he insisted on imposing upon it.’ This time, the Musical Times started off well. ‘Hindemith was clearly a great composer,’ it ventured, before spoiling it by continuing ‘If one does not feel this in the bones, there is evidence in the history of music to indicate that a composer with so individual and developed a style must be regarded as such.’ Perspectives on New Music had no time for this shilly-shallying. ‘Among his colleagues and former students Hindemith leaves few friends; indeed, some of his students feel that he ruined them creatively,’ it snarled. But it’s not all controversy. At its best, an obituary is a sort of resurrection. Here’s Ned Rorem’s tribute to Poulenc in Tempo, the same year Hindemith died: ‘Like his name he was both dapper and ungainly. His clothes came from Lanvin but were unpressed; his hands were scrubbed, but the fingernails were bitten to the bone. His physiognomy showed a cross between weasel and trumpet, and featured a large nose through which he wittily spoke.’ And so on for page upon splendid page. I’m practising lots of Poulenc at present, and Rorem is more help than all the proper books, I can tell you. n

THE ONLY THING TO EXPECT IS EXCELLENCE

Featured: HD 800 headphones (main) and HDVD 800 headphone amplifier (below)

Sound can’t be sold to you in a catalogue, or explained in a sentence – it’s something you have to experience. Which is why you’ll only be able to find our most exclusive headphones at Club Orpheus retailers. And the specialists you’ll find there are as obsessed with quality as you are; their knowledge, experience, first-class service and the exclusive products they give you access to have all been designed for one reason – to find you the sound you’ve been searching for. We promise an experience you won’t forget. To find out more about Club Orpheus, please visit: sennheiser.com/cluborpheus

www.canterburyhifi.co.uk 01227 765315 [email protected]

vk.com/englishlibrary

EDUCATION FEATURE

Working the system El Sistema, a Venezuelan education initiative, is now over here, breathing new life into the way children play music together, says Helen Wallace

J

oshua, (11) and his sister Adiya (14) live in west London. Until 18 months ago, neither had attended an instrumental lesson. This summer, however, both performed, as a proficient violinist and cellist in the Sistema Europe orchestral summer camp in Istanbul. No money has changed hands. How did it happen? The answer lies in the El Sistemainspired Nucleo Project in Ladbroke Grove. Violinist Lucy Maguire, who played in the Chacao Youth Orchestra and trained in Venezuela’s Propatria Nucleo, set up her ‘nucleo’ in 2013 with four children in a basement flat. She now runs a six-day-week programme for 130 children including a junior string orchestra, two choirs and musicianship lessons for pre-schoolers. And she does this single-handed, unpaid and with the help of a few volunteer parents. If it sounds too good, or too crazy, to be true, that’s in the spirit of El Sistema, the social action-through-music programme built by José Antonio Abreu in Venezuela over the last 40 years. ‘There’s a lack of concern for what might be considered “reasonable” or “sensible”. It’s about having big ambitions, improving at a fast rate, and putting the orchestra first, learning everything through playing together,’ says Maguire. ‘Most instruments have been

52

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

donated. When we needed a French horn player, I asked advice, started someone off, and now that child can teach the next one.’ Sistema projects share an intensive, immersive structure, which means between four to six sessions of rehearsal per week, with the children practising together, not in isolation. If that sounds like a big commitment from children as young as seven, it is, but no more than would be demanded of a cathedral chorister, for example. ‘Few children are wild about practising,’ says Maguire, ‘but when it involves seeing your friends, it’s more fun.’ ‘Community is fundamental to a Sistema project,’ says Julian Lloyd Webber, chair and founder of the charity Sistema England.

vk.com/englishlibrary

‘These are “social action” projects which use music as a tool. We want to reach out to parents to get involved too. Children themselves start mentoring each other and helping out, taking on responsibilities in their section. But the musical aspiration has to be high, or the transformation won’t happen.’ Sistema England currently supports eight projects, six being ‘In Harmony’ programmes administered by the Arts Council in Lambeth, Nottingham, Telford, Newcastle, Liverpool and Leeds, plus Maguire’s Nucleo Project and Sistema in Norwich. Echoing that vaulting ambition, In Harmony Lambeth, founded in 2009, reaches 482 children in the Lambeth area and, now in partnership with the Southbank Centre and Lambeth Council, offers mentoring from LPO players and opportunities both to perform and attend events at the Royal Festival Hall. All the In Harmony projects have identified a small group of primary schools in relatively disadvantaged areas through which they begin

life-changing experience: youngsters from In Harmony Liverpool’s West Everton Children’s Orchestra; (far left) Julian Lloyd Webber inspires a cellist

the programme. Academic achievement in two Lambeth schools showed an improvement in Key Stage 1 after two years of the project. Speaking in his Kensington flat, which he shares with cellist wife Jiaxin Cheng and threeyear-old daughter Jasmine, Lloyd Webber takes me back to the moment the fire was lit. ‘I went to hear the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra play at the Proms in 2007. Like a lot of people, I was blown away. It was so inspiring. As luck would have it, I was interviewed by The Observer, which quoted me calling for the programme to be started here.’ The next thing he knew, Lord Adonis, then Minister for Schools, was asking him to lead a series of Sistema pilot projects in England (Sistema Scotland had already been founded). He jumped at the chance, and the three In Harmony projects were born in Liverpool (in association with the RLPO), Norwich and Lambeth. ‘I was attracted to this because I’ve always believed that music is for everyone, not just the people who can afford instruments and lessons.’ Two

years later a new government came in and Lloyd Webber found himself fighting for its survival: ‘I went in to see education secretary Michael Gove with a lot of statistics and figures and evangelised for the whole programme, showing how attainment had been raised, how behaviour had improved. We now have

had to teach an already lively and established scene. Board member Marshall Marcus, CEO of the European Youth Orchestra, is perhaps best placed to answer: ‘I taught violin in Venezuela in the 1970s. I became aware of the incredible power of El Sistema to develop kids as whole people. We have had this idea that access and excellence are mutually exclusive, but it proves they can go hand in hand. Britain has a tradition of music education which is possibly the most diverse and creative in the world. But we can still learn from this intensive, open-access project which puts the joy of music-making in an orchestra at the heart of everything.’ The very idea of an orchestra might seem a strikingly old-fashioned concept today: is it not a rigidly hierarchical, 19th-century throwback? Shouldn’t kids today be learning group responsibility through choirs or gamelan or steel bands? Marcus defends it: ‘Yes, choirs are also important to any Sistema project, and other ensembles too. There’s a great Mariachi Sistema in New Mexico, for example. But the orchestra is still the greatest metaphor for society that I know: the scale of joint endeavour, the sheer scope and sophistication of what can be achieved sets it apart.’ For Lloyd Webber the ultimate aim is to give all British children access to one of these projects. ‘We have to start where the need is greatest, but I’d like to see it grow into every neighbourhood. We’re open to all sorts of partnerships.’ In Harmony Nottingham has been set up through the local Music Hub and the university’s music department, the Leeds branch draws on the expertise of Opera North, and Telford has input from the CBSO. Lloyd Webber, whose recent retirement from the cello has sharpened his appetite for a leadership role, knows there is a long way to go: ‘Teachers are undervalued in this country. This kind of group teaching has to be inspirational. We’ve set up exchanges with the Venezuelans to experience best practice and to spread the word.’ Marcus is keen to point out there is no fixed method that the Venezuelans have patented: ‘There’s no franchise. It’s an attitude of mind. El Sistema grows on resourceful teachers coming up with new ideas and disseminating them.’ The movement is rapidly expanding worldwide, but if Lloyd Webber’s dream is to be realised, Abreu has shown that continuous long-term investment – in his case 40 years – is needed. Sistema England is helping Lucy Maguire find funding for an assistant but, she warns, it needs to be someone who would volunteer anyway: ‘It’s more than a job – their life needs to depend on it!’ n For more information and to donate to Sistema England visit www.ihse.org.uk

REYNALDO TROMBETTA

‘I was attracted to this because I’ve always believed that music is for everyone’ funding until 2018, change of government depending. Study after study has shown the positive effect music-learning has on nearly every aspect of a child’s social and intellectual development, yet we have to rehearse these arguments afresh every time.’ Some of those working at the coal face of British music education asked what El Sistema

vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

53

BBC Music Magazine Education Guide • See the online version at www.classical-music.com

Education Guide

Study music at the Guildhall School – Rated the UK’s No. 1 Music Institution (Guardian University Guide 2014) – New state-of-the-art 600-seat Milton Court Concert Hall – World-class training in the heart of the City of London – Partnerships with leading ensembles including a new postgraduate course in Orchestral Artistry in association with the London Symphony Orchestra and Historical Performance study in association with the Academy of Ancient Music

Watch video tours, book on to an open day and apply online at gsmd.ac.uk

vk.com/englishlibrary

Education Guide

T 01992 706353 E [email protected] Haileybury Hertford Hertfordshire SG13 7NU

Dedication, enthusiasm and passion for music thrive at Haileybury. We offer music at GCSE, A Level and IB Diploma. Choirs, ensembles, bands, orchestras, concerts, events, recitals, workshops, music tours and world-class visiting performers provide opportunity and a wide repertoire. Scholarships are available at 11+, 13+ and 16+. Our next 2014 Open Mornings are: 11+ 26 September and 7 November, 13+ 11 October and 16+ 13 September.

haileybury.com

@HaileyburyUK

www.facebook.com/HaileyburyUK

Reg. Charity no. 310013

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING FOR CREATIVE MUSICIANS Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance provides an inspiring environment and outstanding training for composers, instrumentalists, singers and musical theatre artists.

MUSIC PROGRAMMES INCLUDE: • BMus (Hons) Performance /Jazz / Composition • BA (Hons) Musical Theatre Performance Photo: Chris Nash

• Junior Study Year / Semester Abroad • Independent one year study programmes • Wide range of postgraduate programmes at Diploma, Masters and Doctoral levels

Contact us now for details of our full range of study programmes Tel: +44 (0)20 8305 4444 Email: [email protected] trinitylaban.ac.uk/music-bbc

TRINITY LABAN CONSERVATOIRE OF MUSIC & DANCE

vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC Music Magazine Education Guide • See the online version at www.classical-music.com

Haileybury is a leading independent boarding & day school for girls and boys aged 11-18. For further information or to attend an Open Morning you are warmly invited to contact the Registrar, Mrs Iona Hutchinson

BBC Music Magazine Education Guide • See the online version at www.classical-music.com

Education Guide

Piano Teaching for the 21st Century

“The course that inspires professionals”...

Enhance your professional teaching skills October 2014 - June 2015 now booking Comprising two residential weekends, four single Sundays and independent study spread over the academic year, the course is for:

From singing to saxophone, Elgar to guitar, piano playing to Puccini and much more. Choose from over 500 music courses at City Lit in Covent Garden. [email protected] 020 7831 7831

• Those new to the profession • Those entering piano teaching following careers in other fields • Advanced players wishing to add a teaching component to their professional portfolio

Course Venue... The Purcell School of Music Aldenham Road Bushey Herts WD23 2TS For all enquiries please contact... Jennie Parke Matheson, PTC Administrator, on 07831 164 430 or [email protected]

www.pianoteacherscourse.org

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Where London learns... www.citylit.ac.uk/music EPTA UK is a registered charity No.293698

Music Scholarships Offered at 11+ and 16+ 1,300 boys and girls aged 4-18 who are taught in single-sex classes at key stages of their education. Forest School is located on the very edge of Epping Forest and is the only diamond structure school in London. The Music Department is one of the largest in London with a huge array of orchestras, bands and choirs and more than 45 specialist music staff. www.forest.org.uk [email protected] 020 8520 1744

vk.com/englishlibrary

Education Guide P

Singing Tuition/Vocal Coaching For Professional Singers/Advanced Students

Soloist with the Royal Opera Covent Garden, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera and Opera Holland Park.

Specialises in... Role and audition preparation � Careful repertoire selection Enunciation and diction � Acting through the voice Vocal technique with special emphasis on breath control and resonance

Creative writing

Directing

Performing arts

Stage management

Music technology

Dance

Journalism

Film and video

Are you a musical maestro, all about the ‘drama’ or keen to make an impact behind the scenes? Meet experts from universities, colleges, and conservatoires – all in one place.

FREE EVENTS this October in Manchester and London

Currently...

To book, visit www.ucasevents.com/compose

Preparing clients for roles at La Monnaie � Opera De Lyon Dutch National Opera � Welsh National Opera � Opera Holland Park Mid Wales Opera � Tutoring singers at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Unleash your potential

Central London teaching studio www.willallenby.com 07958652651

An inspiring school experience CHOR ISTER EXPER IENCE Tuesday 14th October 2014, 2–6 pm Visit the School to discover more about life in the Cathedral Choir and why being a chorister at St Paul’s is the experience of a lifetime. — 100% tuition fees for all choristers — Assistance with boarding fees available — One of the top preparatory schools in the country — The finest musical education — An amazing start to life If your son will be in Year 2 or Year 3 at school from September 2014 and shows musical promise, do get in touch. He could become one of the next generation of choristers at St Paul’s.

Whole School Open Day Saturday 27th September Independent co-educational day and boarding school for ages 3 - 18

For more information please contact: Clare Morgan, Registrar, St Paul’s Cathedral School 020 7248 5156 · [email protected]

St Thomas Hill, Canterbury, Kent CT2 8HU

vk.com/englishlibrary

www.stedmunds.org.uk 01227 475601

BBC Music Magazine Education Guide • See the online version at www.classical-music.com

W A

illiam Robert llenby

BBC Music Magazine Education Guide • See the online version at www.classical-music.com

Education Guide

vk.com/englishlibrary

Education Guide

TALENTED

PEOPLE www.facebook.com/royalcollegeofmusic

ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC, LONDON

www.twitter.com/rcmlatest

020 7591 4300

www.youtube.com/RCMLondon

www.rcm.ac.uk

to advertise in our next Education Guide call Isabel Higuero on

0117 314 7407 vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC Music Magazine Education Guide • See the online version at www.classical-music.com

EXTRAORDINARILY

BBC Music Magazine Education Guide • See the online version at www.classical-music.com

Education Guide

BE PART OF AN INCREDIBLE MUSICAL JOURNEY Pro Corda’s world class Chamber Music courses for young musicians aged 5 – 18. National Schools Festival and Workshop Series. Start your journey – www.procorda.com.

For more details: Email us: [email protected] Call us: 01728 831354 search for ‘Pro Corda’ @procorda

vk.com/englishlibrary

JOIN THE DISCUSSION Follow us on Twitter

vk.com/englishlibrary

MUSICAL DESTINATIONS

PUCCINI’S LAKESIDE HOME Torre del Lago: Italy With its uniquely atmospheric lakeside setting, the Tuscan town that Puccini called home still lives and breathes the music of the great opera composer, as Kate Bolton discovers

‘S

upreme joy, paradise, Eden’. So Puccini described the settlement of Torre del Lago on the shores of Lake Massaciuccoli. When the composer moved here at the end of the 19th century, it was a haven of primitive countryside, marsh and wetlands where he could indulge his passions for hunting waterfowl and boating. Today, his spirit is everywhere palpable. His lakeside villa is furnished as he knew it, with his writing desk and Förster upright piano at which he would compose, sporting his hat. In the gunroom are his rifles and long leather boots for hunting in the marshlands. The former dining room is now a chapel-mausoleum where the composer and his family rest.

LOCAL HERO Giacomo Puccini Unlikely as it may seem, Italy’s most Romantic composer – a chain smoker, lover of women and fast cars, hunting and boating – began life as a church chorister and organist in the provincial Tuscan town of Lucca. As an impressionable 18 year-old, he walked some 20 miles to Pisa to see Verdi’s Aida, an event that inspired him to turn to opera. Settling in Torre del Lago in the 1890s, here he composed his most beloved stage works: La bohème, Tosca, Madam Butterfly, La fanciulla del West, La rondine and the three short operas of Il trittico.

Local artist friends decorated the opulent Art nouveau interior: among them, Ferruccio Pagni, one of the Macchiaioli, the so-called Tuscan ‘Impressionists’ drawn here by the pristine landscape and ever-changing light. Pagni later wrote a biography of the composer, in which he recalls the night Puccini finished La bohème as his friends were playing cards: ‘The vision then appeared to us: “Rodolfo”, “Marcello”, “Schaunard”, “Colleen”, were images of us, or we were their reincarnations. “Mimì” was our lover of

The Puccini Festival remains refreshingly free of glitz and Gucci some time or some dream, and all this agony was our very own agony.’ Pagni’s paintings of Lake Massaciuccoli capture not only the ‘peaceful country, luxurious and extraordinary sunsets’ that Puccini so loved, but also the melancholy of its marshlands that haunted the composer and which can be sensed in his tragic heroines and in the pervasive morbidity of his music. His own life was shattered with scandal and tragedy: elopement, affairs, jealousies, slander, a suicide. In the last 100 years, the population of the town has increased a hundredfold, and one approaches the lake through a grid of residential streets named ‘Via Butterfly’, ‘Via Tosca’ and ‘Via Turandot’. In winter, the place sleeps, wrapped in nostalgic mists – on the boulevard, a

vk.com/englishlibrary

statue of the composer, smoking his habitual cigarette, is a solitary presence. In summer, the haze lifts to unveil the azures of Lake Massaciuccoli, swathed with bullrushes and sawtooth-sedge, framed by the Apuan Alps. The water splinters into tangled marshes and floating peat islands, which you can navigate in small rafts, as Puccini would have done. The evenings are enlivened by the thousands of international visitors to the unique Puccini Festival, an event that remains refreshingly free of glitz and Gucci handbags. Behind a handful of listless fishing boats, the new amphitheatre (inaugurated in 2008) rises like a great blue steamer. Some 3,500 seats fan out into a turquoise, openair arena. The stage reveals glimpses of the lake behind – for the 2014 festival, it makes the perfect backdrop to suggest Nagasaki harbour and Cio-Cio San’s vision of a white ship returning to port in Renzo Giacchieri’s

TORRE DEL LAGO MUSICAL DESTINATIONS

il trittico: Puccini aboard his boat off the coast of Torre del Lago; (left) the composer’s villa today; (above) a performance of Madam Butterfly from 2014’s Puccini Festival

water sounds:

GETTY, THINKSTOCK

a gondola moored up on the banks of Lake Massaciuccoli

new production of Madam Butterfly. And for her nocturnal vigil at the end of Act II, the star-lit sky provides a glimmering canopy. A stone’s throw from the theatre, the clapboard Chalet del Lago, once frequented by Puccini, is an idyllic spot for dining by the water. Sitting here, it is not difficult to imagine the rustic ‘wood cabin with thatched roof’, known as Club La Bohème, where Puccini and his friends – painters, writers, fishermen, shoemakers – would gather in the evenings to play cards and banter. With the distilled light of evening, the lake takes on the colours of a Macchiaioli painting. A forest fire blazes on the horizon; a white boat comes into port. In the words of Butterfly herself: ‘One beautiful day, we will see a strand of smoke on the extreme horizon of the sea. And then the boat appears and the boat is white…’ One can see how, for Puccini, this place offered a world of inspiration. n

TORRE DEL LAGO 4 MUSICAL HIGHLIGHTS Puccini Festival Founded in 1930, the world’s only festival devoted to Puccini runs throughout July and August in an open-air, lakeside arena. It offers a fine opportunity to hear leading Italian opera singers, while upcoming young performers are spotlighted in the Puccini 2.0 Project.

www.puccinifestival.it Villa Museo Puccini The Villa Puccini, built in 1900 on the edge of Lake Massaciuccoli, is today a housemuseum and mausoleum containing the composer’s remains. Open all year, it leaves a haunting impression of the composer’s life at Torre del Lago.

in the round: the Puccini Festival’s outdoor amphitheatre

world premieres and some unusual chamber operas alongside the classics. Pisa is just a short drive from Torre del Lago.

www.teatrodipisa.pi.it

www.giacomopuccini.it/en

Teatro del Giglio, Lucca

Teatro Verdi, Pisa

Around 15 miles from Torre del Lago, Lucca’s historic theatre offers varied seasons of opera, dance and concerts throughout the year.

A handsome example of 19th-century Italian theatre architecture, the Teatro Verdi’s innovative programming includes operatic

vk.com/englishlibrary

www.teatrodelgiglio.it

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

63

COMPOSER OF THE MONTH

ROBERT SCHUMANN The arch-Romantic

Taking his inspirations from everything around him, Germany’s ultimate Romantic lavished his talents on them to take music into completely new territory, says Julian Haylock

THINKSTOCK

‘I

’m affected by everything that goes on in the world and think it all over in my own way – politics, literature and people – and then I long to express my feelings and find an outlet for them in music. That is why my compositions are sometimes difficult to understand, because they are connected with different interests; and sometimes striking, because everything extraordinary that happens impresses me, and impels me to express it in music.’ So saying, Robert Schumann encapsulated his artistic vision as the defining composer of the Romantic era. From now on, composing was not merely a craft but a cathartic, uncontrollable surge of inspiration – the transcendent product of a creative genius’s boundless imagination. Nurtured by his father’s passion for literature and his mother’s Romantic idealism, Schumann’s heightened teenage sensitivities were fuelled by the fantasy novels of Jean Paul, whose stream-of-consciousness style had a profound effect on his own creative outlook. No less influential were the Romantic landscapes conjured into being by notable German artists of the period, especially Carl Ferdinand von Kügelgen, Andreas Achenbach and Caspar David Friedrich. Left distraught by the sudden death of his father and sister Emilie’s suicide in quick succession, Schumann began withdrawing into alternative dreamworlds populated by his family and friends, masked by adopted personas and assumed names. Over time, the fine dividing line between the real and imaginary became increasingly blurred, but for now his Romantic sensibilities continued absorbing fresh experiences like a sponge. Spellbound by violin virtuoso Paganini’s superhuman technical prowess and ghoulish stage presence, Schumann entertained the romanticised notion of becoming a world-

64

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

SCHUMANN’S STYLE A child’s view Schumann adored his eight children (tragically one died in infancy), often taking time out to play with them. He felt a sense of kinship with their world of make-believe, celebrated in two solo piano collections, the Album for the Young intended for inexperienced little fingers and Kinderszenen (‘Scenes from Childhood’) for the grown-ups.

Quick march Schumann became so obsessed with Beethoven’s trailblazing reappropriation of march style in his Op. 101 Piano Sonata, that its martialistic dotted rhythms permeated many of his own compositions, including the Scherzo of his D minor Piano Trio and the central movement of his C major Fantasie, with its precarious ‘leaping’ coda.

Melodic transformation One of the great challenges facing Romantic composers was how to structure their free-ranging ideas. Schumann’s favoured solution was to present a recurring theme in different guises, most notably in the first movement of his Piano Concerto in which the wistful opening theme is exquisitely transformed from a chorale into a Chopinesque nocturne.

Structural ingenuity No less resourceful was Schumann’s inventiveness with multi-movement structures. In the ‘Rhenish’ Symphony (No. 3), the first four movements are distinguished by a gradual reduction in tempo towards a noble evocation of Cologne Cathedral (right). The result is that when the exhilarating finale surges away it feels like a sudden on-rush of musical oxygen.

vk.com/englishlibrary

class virtuoso. Yet despite intensive lessons with renowned pedagogue Friedrich Wieck – whose piano-prodigy daughter Clara he would later marry in the face of blistering paternal opposition – it became quickly apparent that he was neither temperamentally nor physically up to the task. Out of desperation, he devised a Heath Robinsonlike mechanical device from a cigar box, designed to strengthen his playing, but he over-used it, and virtually crippled the index and middle fingers of his right hand. Schumann was by now a creative timebomb, primed and awaiting activation – it was his failure to realise his virtuoso ambitions that triggered an initial explosion of piano masterworks that would change the face of music. Deeply autobiographical in content, each opus was like a public confessional of his Romantic tendencies and fertile imagination. His love of ciphers and codes inspired his very first published work, the ‘Abegg’ Variations, based on an exact musical translation of A-B (B flat in German nomenclature)-E-G-G, the surname of an attractive young lady he had recently met at a ball. In much the same vein, all 21 miniatures which combine to make up Carnaval are derived from the same basic musical motto A-S-C-H (A-E flat-C-B in German), the name of the town where Schumann’s then fiancée Ernestine von Fricken was born. Carnaval also embraces another of Schumann’s novel Romantic tendencies – the creation of suites of picturesque miniatures that share a common theme: in this case, characters at a masked ball, including the popular pantomime figures Pierrot and Harlequin and the composers Paganini and Chopin. Along the way we also encounter Schumann’s two most potent alter-egos: Florestan, an >

ILLUSTRATION: RISKO

ROBERT SCHUMANN COMPOSER OF THE MONTH

vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

65

extrovert who personifies the lively, ebullient side of the composer’s personality, and the introspective Eusebius, who reflects gently on the world around him. These aliases were no passing fancies but an integral part of Schumann’s psychological make-up. In another piano collection Davidsbündlertänze (‘Dances of the League of David’), the mood of each piece is dictated by the presence of ‘F’, ‘E’ or even both (as marked in the manuscript). Indeed, so vital was the presence of these multiple personalities that Schumann invariably signed off his pieces of musical criticism using either moniker in the groundbreaking journal he co-founded in 1834: the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik The tantalising dualism of Schumann’s poetic fantasies – the sensation that nothing is ever quite as it seems – made itself felt in other ways, not least in his early piano collection Papillons. This is presented as a set of 12 delightful miniatures (preceded by a six-bar Introduction) evoking the elusive flutterings of butterflies in flight. Yet the music’s true

GETTY, THINKSTOCK

Schumann expressed the sheer joy of being alive and in love inspiration turns out to be the masked ball scene from Jean Paul’s Flegeljahre (‘Teenage Years’) – Schumann’s personal copy of the novel clearly identifies ten passages that correspond exactly with pieces in Papillons. For over a decade Schumann’s musical life revolved around the piano to the near-total exclusion of other genres, via a virtually uninterrupted run of 26 opuses. In addition to fantastical albums of miniature tone-poems – including Kreisleriana and Carnaval – he also proved himself the master of large-scale forms, fuelled by a natural lyrical tendency, most notably in the first two Sonatas, C major Fantasie and Symphonic Studies. His melodic genius blossomed as he turned to a form of expression that literally gave voice to his chimerical inspiration: the Romantic lied. Intoxicated by his enraptured feelings for Clara Wieck, Schumann’s creative facility went into overdrive as he expressed the sheer joy of being alive and in love. Now able to indulge fully his predisposition for exquisite dreamscapes, Schumann began composing with an exultant surge that appeared genuinely inexhaustible. For days, he was held in a state of incandescent flow, barely daring to rest in case the inspiration dried up. ‘Since yesterday morning I have written 27 pages of music,’ Schumann reported excitedly to Clara, ‘of which all I can tell you is that,

66

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

LIFE&TIMES A quick guide to the main events in the life of Robert Schumann

THE LIFE

1810

THE TIMES 1810

The people of Munich are invited to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of SaxeHildburghausen in what will become a tradition as the annual Oktoberfest.

1813

1810

The BATTLE OF LEIPZIG between France and an alliance of Prussia, Russia, Austria and Sweden sees the end of Napoleon’s presence in Germany.

Robert Schumann is born on 8 June in ZWICKAU, Germany. His father, August, is an author, lexicographer and translator, and Robert reads widely from a young age.

1828

1825

He attends Leipzig University to study law but fails to attend lectures. Instead he throws himself into music, and studies piano with Friedrich Wieck.

Jean Paul, the German Romantic novelist whose best known works include Titan (1803) and Der Komet (1822), dies aged 62.

1835

His composing and writing careers flourish, as he completes Carnaval and the Symphonic Etudes for piano and edits the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik.

1829 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT, Prussia’s influential explorer and meteorologist, follows his groundbreaking expeditions to South America with one across Russia.

1840

Against her father’s wishes, he marries CLARA WIECK. In an extraordinary ‘year of song’ he composes masterpieces including the Frauenliebe und -leben and Dichterliebe.

1839

The Leipzig-Dresden line, Germany’s first long-distance railway, opens. Its landmarks include the 513-metre Oberau Tunnel.

1844

1847

After a tour of Russia with Clara, he suffers from depression and other illnesses. He moves with the family to Dresden.

Particularly renowned for his series of atmospheric sea paintings, German artist Andreas Achenbach paints his Clearing Up – Coast Of Sicily.

1850

Schumann moves to Düsseldorf as music director. Three years later, Brahms arrives at the Schumanns’ house, bearing a letter of introduction from violinist JOSEPH JOACHIM.

1854

Conductor and composer Karl Wilhelm sets Max Schneckenburger’s patriotic poem DIE WACHT AM RHEIN (‘The Watch on the Rhine’) to music. It later becomes the marching tune of the Prussian armies in the Franco-German War.

1854

After a failed suicide attempt, he lives out his last two years at an asylum in Endenich, near Bonn. He dies alone on 29

1856 vk.com/englishlibrary

ROBERT SCHUMANN COMPOSER OF THE MONTH while composing them, I was laughing and crying with joy. Farewell, my Clara! Sounds and music are killing me at this moment and I feel that I could die of them. Ah, Clara, what divine happiness there is in composing for the voice! I would like to sing like the nightingale and die of it!’ Between March and July of 1840, Schumann composed a staggering 140 songsettings of superlative quality, including the two Liederkreis collections Opp. 24 and 39 and the song-cycles Dichterliebe (‘A Poet’s Love’) to words by Heinrich Heine, and Frauenliebe und -leben (‘A Women’s Life and Loves’), completed in just two days. Whether evoking subtle metaphors for springtime breezes and the rustling of leaves, or distilling poetic essences in a series of heart-rending piano postludes that literally take up where words leave off, one can only sit in amazement at the fertility of his imagination. Schumann confessed in a letter to Clara: ‘all my music goes to you’. No bride-to-be has ever been blessed with such a heartfelt musical courtship as Clara Wieck. Having revitalised and redefined the realms of piano and song, Schumann now turned his hand to chamber and orchestral music with an equally sure touch. Thus far he had demonstrated a natural inclination towards the comfortable middle-register of the voice and piano, free of pyrotechnical artifice, and his multi-instrumental writing is similarly unflashy. The polar opposite of Berlioz, Schumann was not remotely interested in instrumental colour for its own sake, nor (despite his undoubted fascination with virtuosity) did he resort to ‘special effects’, although his music is often extremely taxing to play effectively. This tendency reached its apogee in the Piano Concerto which, when compared to the glitter and brilliance of Chopin and Liszt, appears lacking in virtuoso flamboyance. Yet here again Schumann was setting a new Romantic agenda – a desire to rethink tradition in a thoroughly contemporary idiom that proudly retains its links with the great masters of the past. Accordingly, the Concerto (in his own words) ‘fuses elements of the symphony, concerto and large-scale sonata’, skilfully interweaving soloist and orchestra in one dramatic sweep. ‘It is impossible to think of one without the other,’ said Clara, who gave the premiere in January 1846. In his symphonies, string quartets, violin sonatas, piano trios, quartets and quintets, Schumann pointed the way forward by breathing new life into Beethoven archetypes. If his predecessor had built masterworks out of embryonic motifs and tectonic harmonic

extemporised in one continuous sweep. Exhausted, close to nervous collapse, and with encroaching paralysis and a speech impairment, he made a half-hearted attempt at suicide in February 1854 by throwing himself in the Rhine. He was still coherent enough, however, to request being committed to an asylum on his own terms (he felt this was the safest place to be), although it seems the treatment he received there pushed him over the edge. Forbidden to compose or see Clara for fear that either might over-excite him, and despite periods of remission, his tenuous grip on reality ebbed slowly away over the two years remaining to him. It is one of music’s most poignant ironies that the exuberant imagination which had activated his insatiable creative genius was in part responsible for hastening his demise at the early age of 46. Q

clowning glories: Vera Fokina and Mikhail Fokine in a 1910 ballet version of Carnaval, orchestrated by Glazunov; (left) Schumann’s wife, Clara

structures, Schumann was more concerned with the quality of his melodic inspiration and how to run with it over long stretches. His ingenuity in adapting lyrical ideas to the rigours of sonata form set a template for the remainder of the century and beyond, acting as a vital exemplar for the Nationalist schools then fastemerging, from Borodin and Tchaikovsky to Grieg, Dvoπák and Elgar. Another of Schumann’s Romantic tendencies – a lifelong fascination with the nature and causes of madness – sadly foreshadowed his own demise. Prone to mood-swings throughout his life, he appears to have suffered from a bi-polar disorder, although it has been suggested that his problems may have stemmed from receiving mercury treatment for syphilis during his teenage years. By the time he arrived in Dresden to take up a new post in 1844, he was having trouble sleeping due to ongoing problems with tinnitus (distracting aural sensitivity to internal sounds) and complained of an increasing number of phobias, including metal objects and medicines. Schumann struggled on for a further decade, producing highly original music, including a glorious Cello Concerto which creates the sublime impression of being

vk.com/englishlibrary

Composer of the Week is broadcast on Radio 3 at 12pm, Mon to Fri, repeated at 6.30pm, Upcoming programmes are: 29 September – 3 October Dyson 6-10 October Brahms 13-17 October Debussy 20-24 October JS Bach 27-31 October Khachaturian

ROBERT SCHUMANN RECOMMENDED RECORDINGS Piano Concerto Leif Ove Andsnes (piano); Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Mariss Jansons EMI 503 4192 £5.99 A spirited, virtuoso performance guaranteed to blow away musical cobwebs.

Fantasie in C Maurizio Pollini (piano) DG 447 4512 £9.99 Majestic virtuosity that illuminates Schumann’s textures with laser precision.

Symphonies Nos 1-4 Dresden Staatskapelle/ Wolfgang Sawallisch EMI 567 7682 (2 discs) £13.99 A deeply satisfying set of performances that get right to the heart of the matter.

Frauenliebe und -Leben; 15 Lieder Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Bengt Forsberg (piano) DG 445 8812 (Available from www.prestoclassical.co.uk) Astonishingly insightful singing from von Otter at the height of her powers.

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

67

BUILDING A LIBRARY

ORGAN CONCERTO Francis Poulenc From darkest introspection to the bright fun of the fair, Poulenc’s concerto explores the various shades of the organ to the full. Terry Blain picks the best recordings

‘N

ot the amusing Poulenc,’ wrote the composer. ‘More like Poulenc halfway to the cloister.’ He was referring to the Organ Concerto he completed in 1938 for the Princesse Edmond de Polignac, heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune. The work is indeed a far cry from the playful boulevardier persona evident in Poulenc’s earlier music. Darker hued and full of dramatic mood shifts, it has a striking element of sober introspection, born of painful episodes in Poulenc’s private life (a close friend died in 1935) and the re-awakening of his religious sensibility. Poulenc was not an organist, but fellow-composer Maurice Duruflé advised him on technical issues, and gave both the private premiere, at the Princesse’s Parisian salon, and the first public performance. The concerto’s combination of restless existential anxiety, along with what the Princesse termed the ‘profound beauty’ of its quieter sections, makes it one of Poulenc’s most gripping and enduringly relevant pieces.

THE BEST RECORDING MAURICE DURUFLÉ

GETTY ILLUSTRATION: STEVE RAWLINGS/DEBUTART

CHOICE

Maurice Duruflé (organ) Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire/ Georges Prêtre (1961) EMI 695 5842 £10.99

68

A FAMOUS RECORDING, and a great one: when the composer and organist Maurice Duruflé (right) teamed up with conductor Georges Prêtre at the Église Saint-Étiennedu-Mont in Paris in February 1961, they made a statement about the Poulenc Organ Concerto that other performers have struggled to equal since. The Andante introduction is premonitory of a wonderfully characterful performance: Duruflé scrunching out Poulenc’s dissonant chordings, Prêtre eking detail from the string accompaniment which in other versions goes for little. The succeeding Allegro giocoso fizzes with dynamism and a swirling energy, organ and orchestra locked hand-in-glove in a dramatic collaboration. In

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

vk.com/englishlibrary

the extended Andante moderato episode Duruflé fields delicious registrations on the instrument he played as ‘titulaire’ for over half a century, and the pedal notes are fulsomely captured by the EMI engineering. Duruflé conjures a fabulous swell in the run-up to the giddy ‘fairground’ music, which is both tangily Parisian and edged with nerviness, as Poulenc intended. The extended coda is reflective, bordering on a quiet tragedy. The analogue sound occasionally flares in tutti, but there’s an ideal balance between strings and solo instrument, and no other version has such a satisfyingly burnished tonal coloration. This classic performance demands a place in every collector’s library.

ORGAN CONCERTO FRANCIS POULENC BUILDING A LIBRARY Building a Library is broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at 9.30am each Saturday as part of CD Review. A highlights podcast is available at www.bbc.co.uk/radio3

yet also finds a tenderness and elegance glossed over in other interpretations. The Academy strings, under Iona Brown’s direction, deliver cleaner accents and sharper delineation of rhythms than any rival version, while soloist George Malcolm’s account of the organ part is full of vim and combustible temperament. The sound, of richly satisfying late analogue vintage, is another major advantage. The couplings on this two-disc set – including the Sextet, Concert champêtre and Gloria – are irresistible, and complement a version of the Organ Concerto which never lets one down for viscerality and musical insight. Ian Tracey (organ) BBC Philharmonic/ Yan Pascal Tortelier (1993) Chandos CHAN 9271 £12.99

THREE MORE GREAT RECORDINGS Peter King (organ) BBC National Orchestra of Wales/François-Xavier Roth (2007) Regent REGCD257 £14.99

This is the modern digital recording which comes closest to the definitive Duruflé-Prêtre version. It’s a similarly well-balanced piece of engineering, with telling interleaving of strings and organ textures, and punchy timpani. The Bath Abbey acoustic is astutely harnessed, blending amplitude with a pleasing element of clarity and focus. The Klais organ is warmly voiced and sumptuous in tutti, if without the added spice and personality of Duruflé’s instrument. If the results are occasionally a

little risk-averse and circumspect, Peter King’s is a generally commanding interpretation. Conductor François-Xavier Roth’s affection for detail in slower passages can skirt languor, but he draws consistently expressive playing from his string section. The couplings of substantial works by Respighi and Rheinberger are a significant bonus. George Malcolm (organ) Academy of St Martin-inthe-Fields/Iona Brown (1977) Decca 448 2702 £9.99

If the Duruflé-Prêtre CD did not exist, this bristling Decca recording would amply replace it. It has a similar fire in its belly,

The Gothic ambience of this recording is its unique selling point: Chandos has boldly placed the performers in the cavernous acoustic of Liverpool Cathedral, strongly enhancing the impression that the work is, as Poulenc himself put it, ‘on the fringe of my religious music’. The lurch between snarling, surging tutti featuring the venue’s five-manual Willis organ and interludes of melancholy introspection is accordingly rendered more wrenchingly than in any other recording: the effect is virtually manic-depressive, in a musical setting. There’s a marginal loss of intensity in the work’s closing stages – the crazy ‘fairground’ episode is tame – but overall this is a powerful interpretation. The couplings (Guilmant, Widor) set Poulenc’s work in the context of the great 19th-century French organ tradition.

AND ONE TO AVOID… Olivier Latry, Christoph Eschenbach, the Philadelphia Orchestra – the name-check here has quality written all over it, but the results are disappointing. The sound is a problem: even on the SACD, it’s stuffy and airless, with little of the headroom the organ in particular needs to blossom acoustically. Eschenbach’s speeds are also a problem, adding ten per cent to typical timings for the concerto, and feeling sluggish. There’s a serious lack of sparkle, and in Poulenc that is simply ruinous.

If you enjoy Poulenc’s Organ Concerto and would like to try out similar works, see overleaf… vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

69

ORGAN CONCERTO FRANCIS POULENC BUILDING A LIBRARY

SO, WHERE NEXT…? We suggest works to explore after Poulenc’s Organ Concerto Poulenc Concert Champêtre If the organ concerto was out of fashion at the start of the 20th century, then a harpsichord concerto most certainly was too. Written in 1928 for harpsichordist Wanda Landowska, the Concert Champêtre is a virtuosic, largescale orchestral work, which propelled the instrument into its revival. Like the Organ Concerto, the piece begins with a slow opening section before the harpsichord theme enters in a jolly, playful style, typical of a French Gavotte – this, alongside the frequent use of dotted rhythms in the style of a French Overture, makes the work Neo-Baroque in style. Proud, war-like fanfares are also prominent throughout and the various orchestral styles and textures make this one of Poulenc’s most intriguing early orchestral works. Recommended recording: Pascal Rogé (harpsichord); Orchestre National de France/Charles Dutoit Decca 476 2181 (see apple.com/iTunes)

Lefébure-Wély Sortie in B flat

close contemporary: Dupré’s Concerto predates Poulenc’s by four years

JS Bach Fantasia and Fugue in G minor BWV 542 From the opening of Bach’s dramatic organ masterpiece, it’s clear where Poulenc got his inspiration, even if the French composer swiftly and cheekily steers from church to fairground within a matter of bars. The Fantasia’s initial imposing chords on full organ, its improvisatory passages and more serene moments amid the storms are all, in fact, almost entirely aped by Poulenc. Bach, however, stays resolutely in serious mode, conjuring a wealth of colours and key changes within the Fantasia’s short few minutes before unleashing one of his greatest ever fugues, an exquisitely constructed fourpart tour de force that demands much from both manual and pedal technique. Recommended recording: Peter Hurford (organ) Decca 443 4852 £9.99

ALAMY

Guilmant Organ Symphony No. 2 Like Poulenc, fellow countryman Alexandre Guilmant composed his Second Organ Symphony with Baroque techniques in mind. Just as Poulenc utilises the French Overture style with its dotted rhythms, Guilmant takes up the idea of a Fugue – a fabulously written four-part example of which can be heard in the strings at the start of the final movement. Guilmant first wrote the Symphony in 1906

70

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

as his solo Organ Sonata No. 8, but then adapted it when he was professor at the Paris Conservatoire later that year. Enriched by luxurious, sweeping melodies (especially in the second movement) and now bolstered by a large-scale orchestra, the work is quintessentially late-Romantic. Recommended recording: Edgar Krapp (organ); Bamberg Symphony Orchestra/ Sebastian Weigle Arts 476 622 £11.99

Dupré Organ Concerto Marcel Dupré, who became organist at St Sulpice in Paris after Widor, was a major figure in shaping the trajectory of French organ music, often regarded as something of a bridge between Vierne and Messiaen. His 1934 Organ Concerto was completed before Poulenc’s, and shares with it the exotic, fruity harmonies and textures particular to the French 20th-century school. There’s a medieval feel to some of the first movement’s open organ chords, which mirror Poulenc’s own appropriation of Baroque techniques near the start of his work, and in the final movement, Dupré’s use of chromaticism and major/minor clashes remind the listener of Poulenc’s rebellious side. Recommended recording: Daniel Jay McKinley (organ); Columbus Indiana Philharmonic/David Bowden Naxos 8.553922 £6.99

vk.com/englishlibrary

The more playful parts of Poulenc’s Organ Concerto are said to resemble a fairground organ, and it’s quite likely the composer may have heard the music of 19th-century organist Louis Alfred James Lefébure-Wély, famous for his two jaunty Sorties, in E flat and B flat majors. While both works might not be what one would call ‘serious’, they are nonetheless well written and admirably succinct in their frivolity. Lefébure-Wély, whose organ skills were celebrated by Saint-Saëns and César Franck, was organist at Paris’s La Madeleine before moving to St Sulpice. Despite these lofty positions, he reaped considerable success by giving his audiences what they wanted, including the B flat Sortie which maintains a comic level of swagger from start to finish. Recommended recording: David Sanger (organ) Meridian CDE84296 £16.99

Langlais Organ Concerto No. 2 The French organist Jean Langlais was one of Marcel Dupré’s last composition pupils at the Paris Conservatoire. He would later follow in the footsteps of César Franck and Charles Tournemire when he became organist of the Basilica Sainte Clotilde in 1945, a post he held for 42 years. His Organ Concerto No. 2 opens with a set of variations on a meandering theme that is reminiscent of the serene second phrase of the opening of the Poulenc and, like Poulenc’s monumental Concerto, Langlais’s explores the huge range of colours the organ is capable of. The second movement is a calm and introspective interlude that paves the way for a menacing and virtuosic finale. Recommended recording: Kjell Johnsen (organ); Stockholm Royal Orchestra/ Kjell Ingebretsen Proprius PRCD 9085 £12.99

Next month: Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto

presents

supported by:

New Releases from

in cooperation with:

SIGCD388

Wagner Without Words Ll r Williams piano

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF HANDCRAFTED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

www.cremonamondomusica.it

Pianist Ll r Williams explores Wagner’s rich and evocative soundworld through a programme of operatic arrangements by Franz Liszt and Glenn Gould, as well as performing Wagner’s less well-known original works for piano.

September 26th-28th, 2014 CREMONA EXHIBITION CENTRE - ITALY IV Edition

in cooperation with:

SIGCD390

THE ONLY EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO THE PIANO www.cremonapianoforte.it

Julian Bliss Nielsen Clarinet Concerto Mozart Clarinet Concerto Royal Northern Sinfonia Mario Venzago conductor Julian Bliss performs the Clarinet Concertos of Mozart and Nielsen alongside arrangements of two Mozart arias, Der Liebe himmlisches Gefühl and Non che non sei capace.

Find the instrument of your dreams and sink into great music! SIGCD397

: Nothing LOW except the prices !

Alessio Bax plays Beethoven Hammerklavier & Moonlight Sonatas The Ruins of Athens Alessio Bax returns to disc on Signum with two masterworks of Beethoven’s piano repertoire, as well as two new arrangements from Die Ruinen von Athen.

ALC 1261 ‘No praise Too high ... poetry’ (Gram)

ALC 1286 ‘red-bloodied commitment’ (Gram)

SIGDVD012 SIGDVD012

LOVE in London James piano LOVERhodes in London James Rhodes piano The second release from his new own-

ALC 1279 ’sensitive interpreter’ (Gram)

ALC 1268 ‘eloquently done...beautiful’ (Penguin)

ALSO: 1259- Albéniz: Iberia on 1CD/ De Larrocha; 1264 – Boyce Symphonies & ‘Toy Symphony’ / Wurttemburg Faerber;  0DUWLQĥ 2UFKHVWUDO :RUNV  0DFNHUUDVHWF 4003 (box) – Bach Well-Tempered Clavier / Richter; ALC 1269 – Victoria Tenebrae Lamentations /Trinity College Cambridge

www.altocd.com

label Instrumental Records, the inimitable The second release from his new ownJames Rhodes performs live in an label Instrumental Records, the inimitable intimate concert recorded at the Arts James Rhodes performs live in an Theatre, London, featuring works by intimate concert recorded at the Arts Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Prokofiev. Theatre, London, featuring works by Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Prokofiev.

Available from all good retailers and online at WWW.SIGNUMRECORDS.COM Available from all good retailers and online at www.musicalconcepts.net Distributed in the UK by harmonia mundi WWW.SIGNUMRECORDS.COM vk.com/englishlibrary Distributed in the UK by harmonia mundi

London Symphony Orchestra Living Music

A genuinely historic Orchestra – in its element right here and now. London should be very proud. Fiona Woolf CBE The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of the City of London (2013/14)

London’s Symphony Orchestra LSO SEASON 2014/15 HIGHLIGHTS REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIANS

GREAT BRITISH CONDUCTORS

BREATHTAKING SYMPHONIES

CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS 2014

MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS 70TH BIRTHDAY

LSO Artist Portrait: Denis Matsuev Sun 21 & Tue 23 Sep 2014

Sir John Eliot Gardiner Thu 2 Oct 2014

Bruckner Symphony No 8 with Bernard Haitink Thu 23 Oct 2014

LSO On Film: The Magic and Majesty of Alexandre Desplat Thu 11 Dec 2014

Shostakovich Symphony No 5 Thu 12 Mar 2015

Sir Antonio Pappano Thu 16 & Sun 19 Oct 2014 Gergiev conducts Rachmaninov Tue 11 & Thu 13 Nov 2014, 19 Feb 2015

Daniel Harding Sun 26 Oct & Sun 7 Dec 2014 Sir Simon Rattle Sun 11 & Thu 15 Jan, Thu 2 & Sun 5 Jul 2015

Mahler Symphony No 1 with Nikolaj Znaider Thu 18 Dec 2014

Christmas Celebration with LSO Brass & Chorus Thu 18 Dec 2014

Sibelius Symphony No 2 Sun 15 Mar 2015

Mahler Symphony No 6 with Gianandrea Noseda Sun 15 Feb 2015

vk.com/englishlibrary

020 7638 8891 lso.co.uk

CONTENTS 74 Recording of the Month 76 Orchestral A rare chance to hear Beethoven’s complete ballet Creatures of Prometheus

81 Concerto Natalie Clein brings an ideal airy sound to SaintSaëns’s Cello Concertos

84 Opera Glyndebourne’s witty and clever production of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos

REVIEWS

110 CDs, Books & DVDs rated by expert critics

Recording of the Month Benjamin Grosvenor’s playing dances and dazzles in a recital disc featuring Bach’s Fourth Partita and two Chopin Polonaises as well as works by Scriabin, Granados and Albéniz, p74 lord of the dance: British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor

88 Choral & Song Gonville and Caius College Choir delves into the world of the Celtic Church

92 Chamber The Avison Ensemble ends its Corelli series in style with the Church Sonatas

96 Instrumental Pianist Khatia Buniatishvili’s ‘Motherland’ recital is full of poetry and expression

99 Brief Notes A quick look at 16 new recordings, including works by Rameau, Beethoven and Röntgen

100 Jazz Arve Henriksen’s album The Nature of Connections is a subtle masterpiece

103 Books An in-depth look at the life and legacy of the pioneering LaSalle String Quartet

The ‘what ifs’ of opera The history of opera is littered with unfinished works. Sometimes there’s enough of the score that someone else can finish the opera, or it feels complete as is. Others are tantalising fragments. I recently saw Welsh National Opera’s staging of Debussy’s Fall of the House of Usher. The opera’s oppressive power came through despite its incompleteness – I left wishing Debussy had finished it. Another operatic ‘what if’ is Rachmaninov’s Monna Vanna. He abandoned the project after finding another composer held the copyright to Maeterlinck’s text, but it’s intriguing to hear what he did write in a new recording conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy (p85).

DECCA/SOPHIE WRIGHT

Rebecca Franks Reviews Editor

Our Recording of the Month features in one of the BBC Music Magazine podcasts free from iTunes or www.classical-music.com vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

73

RECORDING OF THE MONTH FURTHER LISTENING Benjamin Grosvenor

CHOICE

RHAPSODY IN BLUE Concertos and short pieces by Saint-Saëns, Ravel and Gershwin Decca 478 3527 65:45 mins

BBC Music Direct

£14.99

‘His playing of the Godowsky version of Saint-Saëns’s Swan is a high point, with its apparently effortless distinction between the many filigree lines and its aristocratic elegance. A champagne disc – fizz and finesse.’ October 2012

CHOPIN • LISZT • RAVEL Includes Chopin: Scherzos Nos 1-4; Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit Decca 478 3206 65:15 mins

BBC Music Direct

£14.99

‘He is a master of mood and atmosphere, with the ability to coordinate colour and structure to a rare degree. Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit consistently reveals his exceptional versatility and resourcefulness in this regard.’ October 2011

THIS AND THAT

debonair virtuosity: Grosvenor uncovers new depths in Chopin

Works by Kapustin, Scarlatti, Albéniz, Moszkowski, Chopin and Brahms etc Galton Concert Productions 700123 61:30 mins

Dancing with genius Jeremy Siepmann applauds Benjamin Grosvenor’s extraordinary recital

OPERAOMNIA, SOPHIE WRIGHT

DANCES JS Bach: Partita No. 4; Chopin: Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise brillante; Polonaise in F sharp minor; Scriabin: Mazurkas; Valse in A flat; Granados: 8 Valses poéticos; Schulz-Evler: Arabesques on By the Beautiful Blue Danube; Albéniz: Tango arr. Godowsky; Gould: Boogie-Woogie Etude Benjamin Grosvenor (piano) Decca 478 5334 81:09 mins (2 discs)

BBC Music Direct

74

£14.99

The quality of this playing is is just one possibility, and he offers altogether exceptional. Pianist us a very enticing opportunity to Benjamin Grosvenor takes nothing open our minds, especially in those for granted in music. Nor should familiar composers (and works) most we in listening to him. If you know burdened with tradition – in this case how Bach ‘goes’, if you know how Bach and his great idolater, Chopin. Chopin ‘goes’, or Some, like how anyone else me, may be Grosvenor takes us disconcerted ‘goes’, then this almost certainly unexpectedly into by Grosvenor’s isn’t for you. omission of all another world Not that he does repeats in the anything wildly grand and spacious idiosyncratic, let alone provocatively Bach Partita No. 4, enhancing, iconoclastic, à la Glenn Gould. At if that’s quite the right word, an the same time, mercifully, the young underlying feeling of rush, but British pianist shows no sign of being elsewhere revelations abound. In a budding prophet. Rather, he plainly the embedded Mazurka of Chopin’s understands that every interpretation F sharp minor Polonaise, where most

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

Available at benjamingrosvenor.co.uk

‘He brings a juicy, jazzy brilliance to the opening Kapustin etude … he’s an entertainer, with a virtuosity which allows him to tackle Cziffra’s volcanic reworkings of Brahms and Strauss II comfortably.’ November 2010

pianists (including several great ones) are repetitious to a fault, Grosvenor unexpectedly takes us into another world. It’s full of glinting lights, mysterious depths, expectations, frustrations, hopes and doubts, like the shattered shadows of a sinister, quasi-Mendelssohnian scherzo, glimpsed by moonlight in a forest. In sheer colour and variety, in the depth of its characterisation and the exceptional range and refinement of its pianism, Grosvenor here imparts

All discs can be ordered from www.classical-music.com/shop

vk.com/englishlibrary

RECORDING OF THE MONTH REVIEWS a power and tragic stature to the surrounding polonaise which no amount of ‘bigness’ (the usual route taken by pianists) can achieve. And the variety and stylishness of the rest of this enterprising ‘Dances’ recital programme is matched by the performances throughout. Grosvenor brings effortless, Chopinesque urbanity and lyricism to all the Scriabin items, which are as seductive as they are persuasive, and an object lesson in the very essence of style. The Granados Waltzes are played with buoyant, aristocratic grace and psychological ambiguity, and he is (rightly) almost insolently effortless, bringing debonair virtuosity and swagger when it comes to the

Schultz-Evler Arabesques and the sassy swing of Morton Gould’s boogie-woogie tribute. Nor do the treats end with the CD. Two stunning bonus tracks – Liszt’s virtuosic, goblinesque Gnomenreigen and a ravishingly subtle Bach transcription by Wilhelm Kempff – are available as downloads. All in all, a world of piano styles evoked as few could even hope to try. HHHHH HHHHH

PERFORMANCE RECORDING

THIS MONTH’S CRITICS Our critics number many of the top music specialists whose knowledge and enthusiasm are second to none Erik Levi professor, broadcaster and performer Currently professor of music at Royal Holloway, University of London, Erik is author of several books, including Music in the Third Reich (1994) and Mozart and the Nazis (2010). His other interests encompass films, politics and supporting Manchester United.

ON THE PODCAST Hear excerpts and a discussion of this recording on the BBC Music Magazine podcast, available free on iTunes or at www.classical-music.com

Q&A BENJAMIN GROSVENOR The British pianist talks to REBECCA FRANKS about how Busoni inspired his ‘Dances’ recording I understand the idea for ‘Dances’ came from a 1909 letter from Busoni to his pupil Egon Petri, suggesting a dance theme for a recital? I was trying to think of an idea that could be used for both a CD and a concert, and I thought there could be a lot of scope with a themed recital. An essay in Alfred Brendel’s On Music refers to this letter, and I then found a copy of it in a book of Busoni’s correspondence. Petri’s programme had dance as its backbone but was interestingly varied, with original works and transcriptions. I thought it was a good idea.

With so many dance-inspired works to choose from, how did you come up with this programme? Dances tend to be miniatures so the problem is that it could end up too bitty. I wanted a substantial work, and the Bach Fourth Partita filled that role. And I wanted to look into Chopin because he explored more dance forms than any other composer. The tragic F sharp minor Polonaise is angry and rhythmically insistent, while the Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise brillante is quicksilver with the emotions always changing. It’s witty and light but also has great pathos and melancholy. This pair shows how widely a particular dance form can be used.

And then we move into the worlds of Scriabin and Granados… The early Scriabin Mazurkas are Chopinesque in style, while the ecstatic Waltz in A flat is from his middle period. I have always been interested in Spanish music, so I started to explore Granados’s output. I found these Waltzes which I hadn’t heard before – they’re not the most distinctly Spanish of his works – they are more Schumannesque in their writing – but they are beautiful. And then I thought I would stay with the dance form for the rest of the recital.

To order CDs call BBC Music Direct +44 (0)1322 297 515; prices include P&P

John Allison editor, Opera; critic, Sunday Telegraph Nicholas Anderson Baroque specialist Terry Blain writer Kate Bolton lecturer, New York University, Florence Garry Booth jazz writer & critic Geoff Brown critic, The Times Anthony Burton writer, editor Michael Church critic, The Independent Christopher Cook broadcaster, critic Martin Cotton radio & recording producer Christopher Dingle Professor of Music, Birmingham Conservatoire Misha Donat producer, writer Jessica Duchen critic, novelist Hilary Finch critic, The Times

George Hall writer, editor, translator Malcolm Hayes biographer, composer Julian Haylock writer, editor Ivan Hewett broadcaster, critic Daniel Jaffé writer, critic Erica Jeal critic, The Guardian Stephen Johnson writer, BBC Radio 3 broadcaster Berta Joncus senior lecturer, University of London Max Loppert critic, Opera Jon Lusk world music journalist Andrew McGregor presenter, BBC Radio 3’s CD Review David Nice writer, biographer Roger Nichols French music specialist Bayan Northcott composer, writer

Tim Parry writer, editor Anna Picard writer, critic George Pratt emeritus professor of music, University of Huddersfield Anthony Pryer lecturer, Goldsmiths College, London Paul Riley journalist Michael Scott Rohan author, editor Nick Shave contributing editor, BBC Music Jeremy Siepmann biographer, editor Jan Smaczny professor of music, Queen’s, Belfast Geoffrey Smith presenter, Radio 3 Michael Tanner critic, The Spectator Roger Thomas critic Helen Wallace consultant editor, BBC Music Barry Witherden critic

Key to symbols Star ratings are provided for both the performance itself and either the recording’s sound quality or a DVD’s presentation Outstanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HHHHH Excellent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HHHH Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HHH Disappointing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH Poor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H BBC Music Direct You can now buy CDs, DVDs or Books reviewed in this issue from BBC Music Direct. The prices are given at the head of each review, and are inclusive of p&p for orders placed from within the UK. There are three simple ways to order l Order online at www.classical-music.com/shop l Call +44 (0)1322 297 515 l Fax your order details to +44 (0)1689 888 800

vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

75

ORCHESTRAL A spacious Beethoven Eroica in Claudio Abbado’s last filmed performance; the first ever full recording of Hindemith’s ballet Nobilissima visione; plus Mikhail Pletnev’s vivid Tchaikovsky

ORCHESTRAL CHOICE

Playing with musical fire Martin Cotton applauds Beethoven’s Creatures of Prometheus on disc BRAHMS DVD Tragic Overture

SCHOENBERG Orchestral Interlude; ‘Song of the Wood Dove’ from Gurrelieder

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3 Mihoko Fujimura (mezzo-soprano); Lucerne Festival Orchestra/ Claudio Abbado Accentus ACC 20282 100:12 mins

BBC Music Direct

alert musicality: George Petrou brings out the ballet in Beethoven

quite a shock to hear the overture (the only part that’s familiar) move seamlessly into the introductory section of the ballet, a tempest that foreshadows the Pastoral Symphony. One aspect of the score that militates against its complete

BEETHOVEN The Creatures of Prometheus Armonia Atenea/George Petrou Decca 478 6755 65:02 mins

PAUL BARENDREGT, STEVE SHERMAN

BBC Music Direct

£14.99

A fierce energy leaps out of the opening chords of Beethoven’s only ballet score – it’s an immensely exciting start to a recording that has you on the edge of your seat. Primary colours abound in the orchestral texture, and the faster section of the overture keeps the music on a tight rein, with rhythms and phrasing precise and alert. It’s

76

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

Period instruments give a lightness and transparency of texture performance in the concert hall is its episodic nature: the 16 shortish sections have little chance to develop. Exceptions are a more extended Adagio about a third of the way through, where Beethoven uses a harp as a background to a series of solos for wind and cello, and a later dance featuring the basset horn.

The grainy sound of the period instruments gives a lightness and transparency to the texture, and George Petrou keeps the music moving so that you can easily imagine it being danced. That’s a hallmark of the whole ballet: playing that’s subtle and individual – chamber music on a large scale – and a high level of listening inform the performance. Capture all that in a recording that gives space to the sound, but not too much clouding resonance, and you have a winner. PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHHH HHHHH

ON THE WEBSITE Hear extracts from this recording and the rest of this month’s choices on the BBC Music Magazine website www.classical-music.com

£20.99

This programme – the opening evening of last year’s Lucerne festival – was Claudio Abbado’s final filmed recording. It shows him as fragile as he always was during his final years, and economical with gestures, but as wholly in command as ever. Most memorable, perhaps, is the Eroica Symphony, with all four movements more spacious than on any of Abbado’s previous recordings of the piece. The funeral-march second movement is so slow that it ought not to work at all, and yet each phrase is so meticulously shaped that the performance emerges as a profoundly moving document – with hindsight, almost a requiem for the conductor himself. The vast opening movement is broadly conceived, too, and in the scherzo Abbado takes an unusually elegiac view of the trio, with its famous passages for the three horns, which is played at a markedly slower tempo than the scherzo itself. There’s no such lingering in Brahms’s great Tragic Overture, where the music sounds almost cheerful, despite its title. As for the ‘Song of the Wood Dove’ from Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, Abbado gives us not only the song itself, but also the whole of the long, deliriously Romantic, orchestral transition that precedes it in the oratorio. Mihoko Fujimara isn’t perhaps

All discs can be ordered from www.classical-music.com/shop

vk.com/englishlibrary

ORCHESTRAL REVIEWS concert suite. Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony prove ideal exponents, capturing the essence of the music in a searing performance, and making the Five Pieces – despite their pedagogical origin – more than a mere filler. John Allison

the warmest of mezzos, but, after a slightly shaky start, she acquits herself well. It’s a pity there’s no supplementary material on the DVD, but the concert itself is undoubtedly a precious document. Misha Donat PERFORMANCE PICTURE & SOUND

HHHHH HHHH

PERFORMANCE RECORDING

DVO∏ÁK

MAHLER

Symphony No. 6; American Suite

noble visions:

Lucerne Symphony Orchestra/ James Gaffigan Harmonia Mundi HMC 902188 67:52 mins

BBC Music Direct

Gerard Schwarz conducts Hindemith

£15.99

Dvoπák’s Sixth Symphony is, at last, developing the profile it deserves. Composed in 1880, it was a decided nod in the direction of approving Viennese friends, including Brahms and the critic Eduard Hanslick. Notwithstanding Dvoπák’s need to perform to high expectations, there is no way in which this Symphony is inhibited, still less dominated by Brahms’s style. The end-loaded first movement, culminating in glorious fanfares, has a marvellous sense of powerful development. The scherzo is among one of his most exciting and the finale has a unique, free-wheeling infectiousness. The American Suite, originally for solo piano and composed for orchestra in 1894, is full of simple, ear-catching melodies. James Gaffigan’s tempo in the first movement of the Symphony is on the fast side, but this imparts a strong sense of direction. The short-term climaxes are well-built and the incandescent conclusion to the movement is magnificently handled. The up-tempo approach fares less well in the Adagio, which at times feels rushed, although there is some fine solo playing. The Furiant scherzo is appropriately exciting, but lacks nuance. Taken at a much more measured tempo, the finale is beautifully judged with plenty of enjoyable detail, not least some superb brass ensemble playing. As a whole, this is an enjoyable performance, but the string sound needs more substance and the recording could have had more depth. Gaffigan’s performance of the American Suite is as delightful as the music: melody is well to the fore with no sense of this unpretentious music being patronised. Jan Smaczny PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHH

HHHHH HHHHH

sounds ravishing as delivered by the LSO. Those who love Haydn should hear this set. Bayan Northcott PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHHH

Symphony No. 6 Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne/Markus Stenz Oehms Classics OC 651 68:08 mins (2 discs)

BBC Music Direct

£28.99

MAHLER Symphonies Nos 9 & 10 Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne/Stenz Oehms OC 654 101:31 mins (2 discs)

HAYDN

BBC Music Direct

Symphonies Nos 92, 93 & 97-99

One of the two most challenging Mahler cycles of recent years – the other comes from Jonathan Nott in Bamberg – reaches its conclusion with the two most shattering titans, the Sixth and Ninth Symphonies, the latter twinned with the Adagio from the Tenth. It’s a shame that Markus Stenz didn’t use Deryck Cooke’s full performing version when it came to the Tenth: it would have suited the conductor’s analytical approach down to the ground. Everything we’ve come to expect from previous instalments reaches its apotheosis with these works. They may have been recorded in a studio – the rest were spliced together from live performances in Cologne’s Philharmonie – but there’s still the same vividness and tendency to let each instrumental department shine. Most of Stenz’s tempo changes feel perfectly right. There’s a very clear and emotionally rich path to the climax of the Sixth’s great Andante, placed second (I still prefer third place, though the segue here from scherzo to finale is striking); and the billowing at Nicht schleppen (‘don’t drag’), usually taken as a cue to speed, sounds perfect. Stenz also negotiates very clear and easy distinctions between the different paces of Mahler’s two most complex scherzos; the three strains of the Ninth’s part clumsy, part demonicpeasant ländler have never been better delineated. Not everyone will like the dogged pace of the Sixth’s opening march, strongly contrasted with a much

LSO/Sir Colin Davis LSO Live LSO0702 132:54 mins (2 discs)

BBC Music Direct

£14.99

Sir Colin Davis’s elegant recordings of all 12 of Haydn’s ‘London’ Symphonies with the golden-toned Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra have remained favourites since they appeared in the early 1980s. This new selection, recorded live in the Barbican in 2010-11, deploys an equally large orchestral line-up and makes as few concessions to ‘period’ performance. The performance is notably warmer and more personal, however; it glows with affection for this life-enhancing music. Nothing in the faster passages is overly driven, yet, by crisp articulation of invention, the sonata-allegros and presto finales sustain a more purposeful sense of momentum than other, more speedy accounts. Minuets are spacious, and some of the slow introductions are very slow – and in the sternly Baroque beginning of No. 98, oddly sostenuto – but a sense of expectancy is always maintained. Slowest of all is the Adagio second movement of No. 99, but so long-phrased is Sir Colin’s contouring of line, so judicious his measuring of pauses, that the piece unfolds with a sublime serenity that is quite special. Somehow the recording team have got the Barbican’s boxy acoustics to seem flattering to Haydn; scarcely a detail is unclear and the woodwind counterpoint in Nos 92, 97 and 99

HINDEMITH Nobilissima visione; Five Pieces for String Orchestra Ko-ichiro Yamamoto (trombone); Emma McGrath (violin); Seattle Symphony Orchestra/Gerard Schwarz Naxos 8.572763 58:37 mins

BBC Music Direct

£14.99

As ballet subjects go, the life of St Francis of Assisi is one of the more unlikely, and it is not hard to see why Hindemith’s Nobilissima visione (‘The Noblest Vision’) has never really caught on. Yet that is a pity, since the score epitomises both the serious integrity and melodic verve of Hindemith’s music. Commissioned by Léonide Massine (and premiered in London in 1938 with him in the role of the saint), the work is a counterpart to the composer’s great opera that immediately preceded it: like Mathis der Maler, one of its themes is the renunciation of worldly struggle in favour of spiritual selflessness. Both works also make use of quasi-folksong material, and Hindemith’s versions of the 13th-century ‘Ce fut en mai’ (‘It was in May’) thread their way through the score. Hindemith’s influence on Tippett is tangible here. Astonishingly, this recording – a belated spin-off of last year’s Hindemith anniversary – is the first to be made of the complete ballet, as opposed to the well-known

To order CDs call BBC Music Direct +44 (0)1322 297 515; prices include P&P

vk.com/englishlibrary

£28.99

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

77

REVIEWS ORCHESTRAL

REISSUES Reviewed by Bayan Northcott

MOZART Divertimentos; Seranata Notturna Freiburger Barockorchester/Müllejans Harmonia Mundi HMA1951809 (2004) 59:25 mins

BBC Music Direct

£8.99

Spirited and finely nuanced readings of these early Mozart charmers – though not everyone will warm to the edgy vibrato-less period-string sound. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHHH

HAYDN Symphonies Nos 49 & 80; Violin Concerto No. 1 Freiburger Barockorchester/ Gottfried von der Goltz Harmonia Mundi HMA1952029 (2008) 69:19 mins

BBC Music Direct

£8.99

Fiercely driven period performances in the stormier movements of the Symphonies. Von der Goltz articulates a clean, if less than affecting line through the early, Baroque-style Violin Concerto. PERFORMANCE HHH RECORDING HHHH

more flexible lyric stretch. And maybe the opening of the Ninth needs to be more inward-looking, but the mighty emotional span – leading to climactic optimism, collapse and rebirth – is superbly handled. The Sixth’s finale is just as impressive; the Ninth’s death hymn sounds more angry than nostalgic, but that interpretation is valid, too. And if there’s one reason to keep this Cologne Mahler on the shelves alongside the best versions, it’s the recorded clarity of its instrumental timbres. Note the bogey-ghost threats of lower woodwind and double basses in the Sixth, the muted trombones burrowing under the love of life in the Ninth and the way in which, even at the most fraught moments, all departments are in perfect balance. Oddly, the most controversial movement on the four discs is the Adagio of the Tenth, where Stenz clearly wants to paper over the stopstart nature of a fraught farewell to life with two clearly demarcated tempos. But that, too, has its fascination, and it really is worth hearing all three performances. David Nice PERFORMANCES RECORDING

HHHH HHHHH

MOZART Les petits riens; Idomeneo: Ballet Music; Ein musikalischer Spass Wiener Mozart Ensemble/Boskovsky Eloquence 480 7403 (1967, 1971) 76:36 mins

BBC Music Direct

£11.99

Ballet scores plus the Musical Joke drawn from Decca’s famed ‘Complete Mozart’ collection; Boskovsky’s echt-Viennese readings now sound suavely traditional in approach but no less loving. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHHH

CPE BACH Berlin Symphonies Klaus Kirbach (harpsichord); Kammerorchester CPE Bach/Haenchen Brilliant 94777 (1985) 53:03 mins

BBC Music Direct

£6.99

Mostly from the 1750s, these short three-movement works are already full of Bach’s later quirks. Lively readings though the recording rather favours strings and clanking harpsichord over the winds. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHH

78

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Sheherazade Toronto Symphony/Peter Oundjian Chandos CHSA 5145 45:20 mins

BBC Music Direct

£9.99

The main hero of this recording is the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s lead violinist, Jonathan Crow. His Sheherazade, while a beauty, is not the usual beguiling but vacant dolly bird. Rather, she is a feisty, fearless and engaging storyteller, artfully using her narrative skill to engage the sultan’s attention enough to divert him from his murderous intent. Crow’s playing is almost enough to make this recording a prime version of Rimsky-Korsakov’s bestloved work, and it hardly seems to matter that certain details are glossed over: both Crow and the Toronto’s principal oboist miss the odd grace note in their solos; and in the finale, Crow ignores Rimsky’s specified harmonic on the highest note of his opening solo. More fatal is the lack of any real grit or menace in the orchestra’s characterisation of the music, whether in the fanfares

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

of ‘The Kalender Prince’, or in the barbaric splendour of the ‘Festival at Baghdad’, or in the glossily played but far from awe-inspiring shipwreck that follows. Crow’s playing apart, there’s little here to stir the imagination of the child that’s in all of us, let alone shatter lazy preconceptions. Daniel Jaffé PERFORMANCE RECORDING

the opening. The suggestion to slacken the pace here is not indicated in the score, but I find the gesture surprisingly convincing. Erik Levi PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHHH HHHHH

HHH HHHHH

MUSIC FOR ALFRED HITCHCOCK Works by Herrmann, Waxman, Tiomkin, Benjamin and Elfman

TCHAIKOVSKY Manfred Symphony Norbert Gembaczka (organ); Russian National Orchestra/Mikhail Pletnev Pentatone PTC 5186 387 59:29 mins

BBC Music Direct

£14.99

Mikhail Pletnev’s second Tchaikovsky cycle has been wildly inconsistent in offering some marvellous performances alongside ones that seem more routine. But both conductor and orchestra are on particularly fine form in Manfred, delivering an insightful and compelling reading that takes its place among the finest available recordings of this work. In contrast to his 1993 Deutsche Grammophon recording, Pletnev adopts a far more spacious approach to the outer movements, a tactic that works particularly well in projecting the halting and brooding atmosphere of the opening Lento lugubre. Pentatone’s SACD recording captures all the intricate detail of Tchaikovsky’s fabulous orchestration to spectacular effect, highlighting the distinctive timbres of the Russian National Orchestra with ominous low brass chords and gloomy and disorientated viola ostinatos at the outset, as well as terrifying piccolo runs at the final climax. The two middle movements are equally vivid, although for all its textural clarity and balletic grace, one might argue that Pletnev’s depiction of the cascading waterfall in the Vivace con spirito could perhaps have benefited from even greater forward momentum, as is the case with Jurowski’s pulsating account on the LPO label. In the Finale, Pletnev works hard to bring cohesion to the disparate elements of the music and generates tremendous high-voltage tension and hair-raising orchestral virtuosity in the bacchanal. More controversial is his decision to slam down the brake pedal in the unison down-bowed string passages near

Klaudia Kidon (soprano); Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Concert Choir/John Mauceri Toccata TOCC 0241 81:00 mins

BBC Music Direct

£12.99

Alfred Hitchcock’s musical knowledge may not have been encyclopaedic, yet the film director certainly valued the added textures and emotional counterpoint possible with an imaginative soundtrack score. The present CD, taken from live Copenhagen performances by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, offers ten suites and cues from his Hollywood output – music sometimes bustling with more narrative activity than a Strauss symphonic poem. Four items are listed as first recordings. Franz Waxman’s eight-minute Rebecca suite, one of several edited by John Mauceri, typically takes us from ominous romance and a mad ballroom waltz to a powerful conflagration. Dimitri Tiomkin’s Strangers on a Train selection spins intricate variations as characters act the purring psychopath, commit murder, and play tennis. The slashing strings of Bernard Herrmann’s Pyscho score, revisited in his own slightly over-extended concert ‘narrative’, takes us inside Hitchcock’s dark heart, where every note increases the tension. The concert recordings contain some ambient noises and quirks of balance (lots of bass tones). But the pluses are powerful: the orchestra’s flair, the vivid colours and audible adrenalin. Even the most dedicated film buff should deepen their appreciation as Hitchcock’s composers run the gamut from formal fugues through aching Romanticism to skittish jazz. Geoff Brown PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHH

Hear the BBC Music team give its verdict on this CD on our ‘First Listen’ podcast, available from iTunes & www.classical-music.com

All discs can be ordered from www.classical-music.com/shop

vk.com/englishlibrary

London Symphony Orchestra LSO Live

Brahms

Symphonies Nos 3 & 4 Valery Gergiev London Symphony Orchestra

Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra bring to a close their celebrated Brahms’ cycle with the release of Symphonies No 3 and 4.

SACD LSO0737

‘Gergiev produces a gripping, architecturally secure account of the First Symphony. Gergiev’s account of the Second is refined and sensitive.’ **** Performance ***** Recording BBC Music Magazine on LSO0733

London Symphony Orchestra LSO Live

Brahms Symphonies Nos 3 & 4 Valery Gergiev

London Symphony Orchestra

Available now on SACD and download Distributed in the UK by Proper Note, The New Powerhouse, Gateway Business Centre, Kangley Bridge Road, London SE26 5AN, Tel: 020 8676 5114, Fax: 020 8676 5169

To view the complete LSO Live catalogue or order online visit lso.co.uk Distributed in the UK by harmonia mundi UK

vk.com/englishlibrary

LSO Live – the energy and emotion you only experience live

SU ����-�

SU ����-�

NEW FROM ONYX

Leoš Janáček Glagolitic Mass, The Eternal Gospel Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra / Tomáš Netopil Prague Philharmonic Choir / Lukáš Vasílek

ONYX 4129 James Ehnes & The Seattle Chamber Music Society American Chamber Music

SU ����-�

SU ����-�

Václav Neumann Early Recordings / 1953–68 Prague Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

Ida Haendel / Prague Recordings 1957–65 Alfréd Holeček – piano Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Karel Ančerl Prague Symphony Orchestra / Václav Smetáček

Jan Dismas Zelenka Lamentatio ZWV 53 Collegium Marianum / Jana Semerádová Damien Guillon – tenor, Daniel Johannsen – tenor, Tomáš Král – bass

James Ehnes and friends hit the road for a journey through some of the masterpieces of 20th century chamber music – Copland’s Violin Sonata, Barber’s String Quartet with its famous Adagio, plus works by Bernstein, Carter and Ives.

SUPRAPHON a. s. www.supraphon.com | [email protected]

www.facebook.com/SupraphonClassics Distributed and marketed in the UK by RSK ENTERTAINMENT www.rskentertainment.co.uk | [email protected] Distributed and marketed in the US by NAXOS OF AMERICA Inc. www.naxos.com | [email protected]

ONYX 4118 Denis Kozhukhin Haydn – Piano Sonatas

ONYX 4135 Simon Trpcˇeski · Vasily Petrenko Tchaikovsky – Piano Concertos 1 & 2

‘A stunning tour de force’ said BBC Music Magazine of Kozhukhin's debut disc of Prokofiev Sonatas 6–8. Here Denis turns to another composer close to his heart – Joseph Haydn.

‘It is not simply that Simon Trpcˇeski has a phenomenal technique, crucially he has the intelligence to know how to apply it and at the same time can convey such joy in doing so’ The Daily Telegraph. This release of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concertos 1&2 marks the debut on ONYX of Simon Trpcˇeski, and the RLPO and Vasily Petrenko. Look out for more exciting releases from them by visiting our website.

vk.com/englishlibrary

www.onyxclassics.com

CONCERTO Maria João Pires finds poetry in Beethoven’s Concertos under Daniel Harding; Angela Hewitt brings clarity to Mozart; plus Nicola Benedetti returns to her Scottish roots with Bruch

CONCERTO CHOICE

Sparkling Saint-Saëns Helen Wallace enjoys concertos and a carnival from Natalie Clein golden timbre: Natalie Clein shines in Saint-Saëns

Trio in B minor for flute, violin and continuo

Cello Concertos Nos 1 & 2; La muse et le poète, Op. 132; Allegro appassionato, Op. 43; Le cygne from Carnaval des animaux

Lisa Batiashvili (violin), François Leleux (oboe & oboe d’amore), Emmanuel Pahud (flute), Sebastian Klinger (cello), Peter Kofler (harpsichord); Kammerorchester des Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks/Rodos√aw Szulc Deutsche Grammophon 479 2479 69:19 mins

Natalie Clein (cello); Antje Weithaas (violin); BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Manze Hyperion CDA 68002 59:49 mins

£12.99

Saint-Saëns’s First Cello Concerto was dedicated to the great cellist Franchomme, famous for his ‘light’ bowing technique that came to be identified with the French style. It is the light airiness of Natalie Clein’s approach that works so well here. While I have sometimes found her lacking in heft in Brahms and Rachmaninov, here she finds

Saint-Saëns would have approved of this musical champagne

SUSSIE AHLBURG

Violin and Oboe Concerto in C minor, BWV 1060r; Sinfonia from ‘Ich Steh mit einem fuss im Grabe’; Violin Concerto in E, BWV 1042; Violin Sonata No. 2, BWV 1003; ‘Erbarme dich’ from St Matthew Passion

CPE BACH

SAINT-SAËNS

BBC Music Direct

JS BACH

a golden timbre and fleet elegance, matched by Andrew Manze and the effervescent BBC Scottish forces. This is as close as you’ll get to musical champagne; I’ve a feeling Saint-Saëns would have approved. The First Concerto’s opening and closing movements flow with wonderfully natural ebullience, while Clein conjures magic in the delicate Allegretto ballet in a reading of subtle delight. Saint-Saëns’s Second Concerto is fiendishly difficult, with much of its virtuosity reserved for the soloist’s long accompanying

BBC Music Direct

episodes. The composer himself confessed it was ‘too difficult’ to achieve popularity. Yet Clein has the measure of it, delivering the dizzying double-stops with airborne grace and tight precision; only occasionally do the virtuosic figures seem to lose musical direction. She revels in the spacious cadenza of its curious, short fast movement, combining limpid vocalise with insouciant runs. Her Allegro appassionato is refreshingly unemphatic, while she presents Le cygne with unselfconscious simplicity. She’s joined by the superb violinist Antje Weithaas for La muse et le poète, a rhapsodic ‘conversation’

between the two instruments which began life as a piano trio. Steven Isserlis’s imaginative performances of both concertos with Christoph Eschenbach (RCA), remain compelling, but if you seek something less sinewy, with an orchestral recording of crisp transparency, Clein’s disc comes highly recommended. PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHHH

ON THE WEBSITE Hear extracts from this recording and the rest of this month’s choices on the BBC Music Magazine website www.classical-music.com

To order CDs call BBC Music Direct +44 (0)1322 297 515; prices include P&P

vk.com/englishlibrary

£14.99

Lisa Batiashvili has fought shy of committing Bach to disc thus far, and this curiously programmed debut insists on keeping things in the family twice over. After the intense concentration of Papa Johann Sebastian’s great A minor Sonata for solo violin – played with conspicuously warm tone and statuesque gravitas, though without the light and shade of a Rachel Podger – Carl Philip Emmanuel’s elegant Trio Sonata WQ 143 acts as a palate-cleansing sorbet. It relaxes the mood artfully and is dispatched with airy grace and charm – flautist Emmanuel Pahud is particularly seductive on the ear. The trouble is that the spirited jig that concludes it couldn’t be less appropriate in setting the scene for the final track, one of the Matthew Passion’s most imploring arias, with oboe d’amore replacing alto. Cut adrift from its context – and wordless – ‘Erbarme dich’ is reduced to the role of lollipop encore. It’s wrong on so many levels. Not least because while Bach was happy to adapt his secular music to sacred purposes, he studiously avoided traffic in the opposite BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

81

REVIEWS CONCERTO direction. Presumably Batiashvili wanted to bring the disc full circle by underscoring the family ties closer to home. Both the aria and the cheerfully bustling account of the double concerto for oboe and violin gainfully implicate her husband François Leleux. Stylistically Batiashvili buries much of the high cholesterol Romanticism of the Russian School beneath insights from period instrument performance, but like the programme itself, the mix doesn’t always convince. Paul Riley HHH HHHH

PERFORMANCE RECORDING

BEETHOVEN Piano Concertos Nos 3 & 4 Maria João Pires (piano); Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Daniel Harding Onyx 4125 71:30 mins

BBC Music Direct

£14.99

These subtly musical performances of two of the most familiar works in the concerto repertoire have much to offer, though whether they are sufficiently exceptional to stand out in what is a very crowded field is another matter. Certainly, the quietly expressive way in which Maria João Pires plays such moments as the start

of the central section in the first movement of the Piano Concerto No. 3, with its understated bare octaves, gives us a fine example of the self-effacing poetry that is one of the hallmarks of her style. On the other hand, there are pianists who make more of the solo opening of the slow movement in the same work: the sudden switch of key on to a wholly unexpected chord halfway through the melody, for instance; or the manner in which Beethoven wanted the whole passage saturated in sustaining pedal. It’s true that on a modern concert-grand his controversial pedal-markings need to be interpreted with some caution, but a certain degree of harmonic blurring is called for in order to convey the ethereal effect he intended. In the G major Fourth Concerto, Pires and Daniel Harding take a decidedly elegiac view of the expansive opening movement, offering a performance of mellowness and beauty. In the famous middle movement, Harding encourages the strings to play their angry outbursts at a definite fortissimo, rather than the plain forte Beethoven suggests, and perhaps they sound a touch gruffer than necessary. But these are generally fine performances, and Pires’s many admirers will not be disappointed. Misha Donat PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHHHH

straitjacketed approach from Slatkin. He does make the following ‘Serenade’ dance, and there is some characterful wind-playing. But the final ‘Orgy of the Brigands’ is too tame, with rhythms not tight enough and contrast lacking. This also affects the two overtures: Le carnaval romain doesn’t leap out of the starting blocks as it should, nor does it come to a completely thrilling conclusion, although the wind playing in the quieter central section is affecting. Benvenuto Cellini is more alert, but there’s still some lack of orchestral ensemble, giving Berlioz’s rhythmic writing an unwanted soggy feel. The unassuming Rêverie et caprice comes off best, with the orchestra’s leader blending with his colleagues, and encouraging them to a flexibility and expressiveness which don’t always surface elsewhere. Martin Cotton PERFORMANCE RECORDING

Peter Lieberson 1946-2011 Although Lieberson’s published catalogue features over 50 works, including music for piano solo, chamber ensemble and orchestra, it’s through his settings of poetry by 20th-century poet and politician Pablo Neruda that the American composer is best known. His beautiful series of five Neruda Songs, for which he won the 2008 Grawemeyer Award, were written for his second wife, mezzo Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who died of cancer in 2006 aged just 52. Peter Lieberson, who studied composition with Milton Babbitt among others, died of cancer himself just five years later.

82

BERLIOZ Harold in Italy; Overture: Le carnaval romain; Rêverie et caprice; Overture: Benvenuto Cellini Lise Berthaud (viola); Giovanni Radivo (violin); Orchestre National de Lyon/ Leonard Slatkin Naxos 8.573297 70:31 mins

BBC Music Direct

£6.99

Lise Berthaud and particularly Leonard Slatkin take a less muscular view of Harold in Italy than some of their predecessors. The slightly distant and bass-light orchestral sound tends to make the music less striking than it might be, although Berthaud’s rich tone is always heard to advantage, and she shapes the phrases with affection. The central movements come off better, with the less heavy texture of the ‘March of the Pilgrims’ more evenly captured by the recording, although I could have done with a less rhythmically

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHHHH

HHH HHH

LIEBERSON Piano Concerto No. 3; Viola Concerto Steven Beck (piano); Roberto Díaz (viola); Odense Symphony Orchestra/ Scott Yoo Bridge 9412 55:53 mins

BRUCH

BBC Music Direct

Scottish Fantasy; plus traditional folk tunes and songs

Of the two works here by the American composer (who died in 2011 aged 64), the Viola Concerto is the more welcome, since the instrument still has a relatively small repertoire. Lieberson’s piece, which lasts just under half an hour, was originally premiered in 1993 with only two movements; a critic complained that it had ‘a big empty spot’, so Lieberson subsequently added what is now the finale. The newly completed piece was first performed in 2006. The result proves well worth seeking out. Lieberson’s was a diverse style that had firm roots in modernism, but here there is more heart-on-sleeve post-Romanticism than one would expect, especially in the Adagio. Programme-note writer Matthew Mendez suggests this could be linked to Lieberson’s awareness of his then wife (former viola player turned mezzo) Lorraine Hunt Lieberson’s life-threatening illness. Either way, the music has an emotional power that violist Roberto Díaz articulates eloquently. The more colourful Third Piano Concerto (2003) wears its Schoenbergian traits more ostentatiously while mixing in other styles, notably in the jazzy finale. The result is less consistent, however, even with the advocacy of Steven Beck’s accomplished

Nicola Benedetti (violin); Julie Fowlis (folk singer), Phil Cunningham, Aly Bain (folk musicians); BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Rory Macdonald Decca 478 6690 75 mins

BBC Music Direct

BACKGROUND TO…

Rather than couple the Fantasy with more Bruch, Benedetti – like Oistrakh, who went for the Hindemith Concerto – breaks with convention by extending the Scottish theme with a series of expert arrangements of popular melodies and evocative pieces by Phil Cunningham and James Scott Skinner. Benedetti’s personal sense of identification with this music is palpable as she shapes these timeless phrases with a devoted intensity and (where appropriate) folk-band rejoicing that is highly contagious. The recorded sound is excellent. Julian Haylock

£14.99

Originally titled ‘Fantasia for the Violin with Orchestra and Harp, freely using Scottish Folk Melodies’, Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy alludes to several popular melodies – including ‘Auld Rob Morris’, ‘The Dusty Miller’, ‘I’m Down for the Lack of Johnnie and Scots wha hae’ – and opens with a haunting soundscape evoking ‘an old bard contemplating a ruined castle and lamenting the glorious times of old’. For Nicola Benedetti this is very much home territory – her first entry emerges imperceptibly as though through an early morning mist, before soaring aloft with a chaste tenderness that captures the reflective mood to perfection. Judged by the very highest standards – Jascha Heifetz (RCA), Itzhak Perlman (EMI/ Warner) and David Oistrakh (Decca) – the scherzo might have exhilarated with a greater sense of forward momentum. That said, the slow movement glows with a real sense of poetic sensitivity and Benedetti relishes the finale’s ‘Scotch snap’ rhythms.

£12.99

All discs can be ordered from www.classical-music.com/shop

vk.com/englishlibrary

CONCERTO REVIEWS pianism and the skilled playing of the Odense Symphony Orchestra under Scott Yoo. George Hall PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHH HHHH

ORCHESTRAL REVIEWS

REISSUES Reviewed by Erik Levi

HAYDN Cello Concertos Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello); Freiburger Barockorchester/Petra Müllejans HM HMG 501816 (2004) 68:42 mins

BBC Music Direct

MOZART Piano Concertos Nos 22 & 24 Angela Hewitt (piano); National Arts Centre Orchestra/Hannu Lintu Hyperion CDA 68049 63:20 mins

BBC Music Direct

£12.99

Replete with all the Angela Hewitt virtues – among them, unfailing clarity, innate elegance, an unerring sense of proportion, a finely honed mastery of style, melodic finesse and an unobtrusive grasp of harmonic rhythm – these are exemplary performances. Stylistically, they are very much of their time, falling midway between the ‘Beethovenian’, ‘revisionist’ tendency of the mid20th century, repudiating the earlier, essentially miniaturist ‘Dresden China’ tradition, and the sometimes rather antiseptic, musicologically‘enlightened’ approach of the century’s final third. The prevailing tonal palette, from soloist and orchestra alike, is appropriately lean but always beautifully focused and elegantly applied. Operatic in the best sense, Hewitt is more concerned with dialogue, not only between the two hands but within all levels of the texture, than with conventional notions of ‘vocal’ cantabile. But what finally renders Mozart’s operas supreme (and I maintain, loosely, that he never wrote anything but opera) is not the matchless subtlety and characterisation of the dialogue, but the continuous development of the individual characters and the relationships between them. What I most miss here, and I recognise that I may be in a small minority, is precisely that feeling of development, which necessarily relies on vivid and varied characterisation in the first place. I feel this throughout, though never more so than in the C minor Concerto, especially the slow movement, where the uniquely Mozartian tension between harmonically loaded melody and the essentially neutral, often nearstatic nature of metre is spoiled by an excessive sense of symmetry. Jeremy Siepmann PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHHH

£10.99

Stellar performances from Queyras offering an instinctive feeling for the musical line in Haydn’s slow movements and virtuosic exhilaration in his Finales. PERFORMANCE HHHHH RECORDING HHHHH

SABINE MEYER Works by Weber, Baermann, Mendelssohn, Krommer and Rossini Meyer (clarinet); Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn/Faerber Warner 960 5562 (1985, 1988) 76:59 mins

BBC Music Direct

£9.99

Weber’s Clarinet Quintet played here with string orchestra is tremendous fun, as is the inventive Krommer Concerto. Meyer plays the rest with great panache. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHHH

MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto

BRAHMS Violin Concerto Johanna Martzy (violin); RadioSinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR/ Hans Müller-Kray, Günter Wand Hanssler 94.226 (1959, 1964) 65:55 mins

BBC Music Direct

£9.99

Martzy left few commercial recordings, but these historical broadcasts demonstrate her commanding musicianship, at its most compelling in Mendelssohn. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHHH

VADIM REPIN Tchaikovsky: Violin concerto; plus works by Beethoven and Ysaÿe Repin (violin); Academic SO of the Novosibirsk State Phil/Katz Melodyia MEL CD 10 02121 (1984, 1986) 58:49 mins

BBC Music Direct

£11.99

The teenage Repin delivers astonishing technical fireworks in the finale of the Tchaikovsky and is poetic in Beethoven’s Romances. But he is too close to the mic. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHH

To order CDs call BBC Music Direct 01322 297 515; prices include P&P

vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

6083

OPERA John Tomlinson captures sorrow and cynicism in Birtwistle’s Gawain; Soile Isokoski is radiant in Rachmaninov and Richard Strauss; plus film-maker Hal Hartley and Louis Andriessen collaborate on Dante

OPERA CHOICE

Myth meets mirth in Strauss David Nice applauds a sassy wartime Ariadne auf Naxos

R STRAUSS DVD Ariadne auf Naxos Soile Isokoski, Laura Claycomb, Sergey Skorokhodov, Thomas Allen, Kate Lindsey, Gabriela Istoc, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke et al; LPO/ Vladimir Jurowski; dir. Katharina Thoma (Glyndebourne, 2013) Opus Arte OA1135D (DVD); Opus Arte OABD7145D (Blu-ray) 121:00 mins

BBC Music Direct (DVD) £28.99 BBC Music Direct (Blu-ray) £34.99

Love it or hate it – and I loved it on seeing it live – Katharina Thoma’s Glyndebourne vision of Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s ‘pretty hybrid’, mixing mythology and comedy, has ideal energy and pace. That’s partly thanks to Vladimir Jurowski’s sense of direction in the pit, but you can tell that all the performers

ALASTAIR MUIR, BEN EALOVEGA

Isokoski’s suicidal patient rings truer than any heroine I’ve seen are committed to the same vision. Many objected to the setting: it links a prologue set in a country house, in the thick of the Second World War, with an opera set not on a Greek desert island, but in the same house converted into a hospital. The commedia dell’arte troupe is a group of entertainers sent to cheer everyone up (they succeed). As Vladimir Jurowski points out in one of three short films (including plenty about the

84

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

luminously sung: Soile Isokoski in Ariadne auf Naxos

backstage Prologue but little about the main opera), Ariadne and Bacchus have rarely been so ‘absolutely human’. Soile Isokoski’s suicidal patient rings truer than any heroine I’ve ever seen – and perhaps this is the role’s most luminously sung performance. Her redemptive god, Sergei Skorokhodov as a wounded airman, has lungs of steel and can act, too. Laura Claycomb is a decoration-perfect Zerbinetta, and she makes every gesture meaningful even when the showgirl goes into nymphomaniac meltdown. Completing an equal female trio is Kate Lindsey’s believable Composer. Lovely performances from the

nurse-nymphs, as well – the Echo, Gabriela Istoc, has a special otherworldly charm – while there are experienced star turns from Thomas Allen as the Music Master and Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke as his opposite number, the Dancing Master. François Roussillon’s film direction completes the pleasure. PERFORMANCE PICTURE & SOUND EXTRAS

HHHHH HHHHH HHH

ON THE WEBSITE Hear extracts from this recording and the rest of this month’s choices on the BBC Music Magazine website www.classical-music.com

ANDRIESSEN La commedia Claron McFadden, Cristina Zavalloni, Jeroen Willems, Marcel Beekman; Dutch Natioal Opera; Asko Ensemble; Schoenberg Ensemble/Reinbert de Leeuw; dir. Hal Hartley (Amsterdam, 2008) Nonesuch 534877 103:05 mins (2 CDs & 1 DVD)

BBC Music Direct

£24.99

Very few composers have dared to approach Dante’s Divine Comedy, and Louis Andriessen in his ‘film opera’ La commedia is wise enough not to tackle it head on. Instead he performs an ironic commentary on the original, including texts variously from the Bible, a German theologian and a 17th-century Dutch dramatist, divided into five movements. Andriessen’s music can be heard unadorned on two CDs, while the complete opera can be seen on the DVD. I’m not sure this adds much to the experience. The film flashes back and forth between the production at the Netherlands Opera, in full colour, and Hal Hartley’s accompanying black-and-white film. These show a group of musicians in Amsterdam, who sometimes chat amiably, at other times seem to be lost in the sand dunes on the Dutch coast. The meaning of these images, and their connection to the music and the texts, entirely escaped me. The one good thing about the film is the riveting presence of Jeroen Willems as Lucifer. But mostly it seems a very limp adjunct to Andriessen’s exceptionally powerful music. Stylistically the piece is a mishmash: big band jazz, heavy rock beats and swinging neo-medieval songs follow one another abruptly. All these take on that unmistakable harshly tender tone of Andriessen’s music, given extra weight here by the extraordinary voice of Cristina Zavalloni as Dante. One striking feature of the score is Andriessen’s rough way with boys’ voices: whereas Britten used them as a symbol of lost innocence, these boys sound as if they have never been innocent. The remarkable thing is how this bleak, disillusioned soundworld gains amplitude and weight, until in Part 4 (The Garden of Earthly Delights), it becomes grand and moving. Zavelloni’s piercingly intense, harsh voice has much to do with that, and also the wonderful playing of the ASKO and Schoenberg Ensembles.

To order CDs call BBC Music Direct +44 (0)1322 297 515 prices include P&P vk.com/englishlibrary

REVIEWS OPERA shocking as the composer evidently intends it to be, or simply an overthe-top circus, there’s no debating the astonishing technical apparatus that makes it all happen. Davies’s conducting secures a performance of ceaseless brilliance to match. Malcolm Hayes

Conductor Reinbert de Leeuw paces the work with a sure hand. The recording seems at times a little distant and uninvolving, but that barely detracts from the impact of this wonderful piece. Ivan Hewett PERFORMANCE RECORDING/ PICTURE & SOUND

HHHH HHH

PERFORMANCE RECORDING

easy artistry:

BIRTWISTLE

Ashkenazy plays and conducts Rachmaninov

Gawain Marie Angel, Anne Howells, Francois Le Roux, Richard Greager, Penelope Walmsley-Clark, Omar Ebrahim et al; Royal Opera House/Elgar Howarth NMC NMC D200 (1996) 136:19 mins

BBC Music Direct

£28.99

Like all Birtwistle’s operas, Gawain is peopled by creatures who lack much in the way of an inner life. They’re outsized characters, more mythic personage than human being, and they’re driven usually by one overmastering need or desire. It’s hard for a merely human singer to embody them, especially when, as here, they’re up against an overpowering orchestral score. On this recording, John Tomlinson pulls off the feat magnificently. There’s a deep, grainy quality to his voice that catches the sorrow and cynicism of the Green Knight perfectly, and he’s in fresher voice in this 1994 recording than he was in the recent revival by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Another strength of this recording is the weirdly intense vocal sound of Marie Angel as the scheming Morgan le Fay, which lends a glint of strangeness to the doom-laden atmosphere. François Le Roux as Gawain is too soft-grained in tone to quite hold his own in this company. As for the orchestral playing, it catches both the dark fatalistic quality of the score and its moments of beauty. The twice-repeated lullaby in the second act is especially ravishing. The only disappointment for confirmed Gawain fans is that the recording contains the shortened version of the long Turning of the Seasons interlude used at the 1994 revival, rather than the full-length one heard at the premiere and at a recent Barbican performance. But for those who thought the original was over-extended, that will be a bonus. Ivan Hewett PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHHHH

HHHH HHHH

HANDEL

MAXWELL DAVIES

Arias including Quando mai, spietata sorte; Mi lusinga il dolce affetto; Verdi prati; Sta nell’Ircana; There, in myrtle shades; Cease, ruler of the day; Where shall I fly?

Resurrection

Alice Coote (mezzo soprano); The English Concert/Harry Bicket Hyperion CDA 67979 68:31 mins

BBC Music Direct

£12.99

Alice Coote has chosen arias from four of Handel’s greatest operas, and from Hercules, one of his most dramatic oratorios. Her warmly textured voice, especially in the middle range lends itself alluringly to Handel’s portrayal of tenderness, intimacy and melancholy. Thus it is that Ruggiero’s ‘Mi lusinga il dolce affetto’ (Alcina) and Ariodante’s ‘Scherza infida!’ steal the show. Handel, of course has a lot to do with it, for these are among his finer arias. The wealth of virtues in Cootes’s recital include her intuitive sense of apposite, well-proportioned ornamentation and a sure feeling for just tempo. She is not afraid to take her time where text and music require it, as you will discover in ‘Scherza infida!’, which comes in at almost three minutes longer than some. Coote sustains it effectively and is sympathetically accompanied by bassoonist Peter Whelan with other members of the English Concert. Occasionally I found her vibrato and vocal portamentos a little intrusive. But expressive singing with eloquent instrumental partnership make for a rewarding encounter. Nicholas Anderson PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHHHH

Della Jones, Christopher Robson, Martyn Hill, Neil Jenkins, Henry Herford, Gerald Finley, Jonathan Best, Mary Carewe; Blaze; Electric Vocal Quartet; BBC Philharmonic/Maxwell Davies Naxos 8.660359-60 (1994) 87:16 mins (2 discs)

BBC Music Direct

£11.99

The denunciatory, virtuosically constructed, manically inventive polemic that is Maxwell Davies’s opera Resurrection was completed in 1987 after more than 20 years in the making. Everything about the work, not least the title, is ironic. Davies’s libretto draws on a startling range of resources and imagery, from Dürer’s woodcut illustrations of the biblical Revelation of St John to consumer kitsch at its tackiest. The ‘Hero’ is a silent dummy whose notional existence and humanity are relentlessly taken apart (literally as well as symbolically) by the corrupt authoritarian modern society around it/him; and the eventual ‘resurrection’ is of Antichrist. Maxwell Davies’s matching panoply of stylistic musical masks is magpie-like even by his standards: besides the soloists in their multiple roles of the Hero/Dummy’s family, tormenting authority figures, surgeons, politicians, Greek gods, and such like, there’s also a separate vocal quartet singing televisionadvertising jingles, plus a rock band belting out items of the kind of baleful cheesiness that unerringly secures nul points at the Eurovision Song Contest. Whether you find all that as emotionally and intellectually

To order CDs call BBC Music Direct +44 (0)1322 297 515; prices include P&P

vk.com/englishlibrary

RACHMANINOV Monna Vanna, Act I; Songs*: By my window, Op. 26/10 Sad night, Op. 26/12; The lilacs, Op. 21/5; The rat-catcher, Op. 38/4; Vocalise, Op. 34/14; How nice this place is, Op. 21/7; Dream, Op. 38/5 Evgeniya Dushina, Vladimir Avtomonov, Dmitry Ivanchey, Edward Arutyunanyan, Mikhail Golovushkin, Moscow Conservatory Students Choir & Symphony Orchestra/Vladimir Ashkenazy; Soile Isokoski (soprano)*; Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano)* Ondine ODE 1249 57:18 mins

BBC Music Direct

£12.99

Does what exists of Monna Vanna, Rachmaninov’s unfinished opera based on Maeterlinck’s Renaissanceset fantasy, point the way to a greater achievement than his three preceding one-act operas? Probably not: Aleko, his astoundingly precocious student work, teems with inspiration and The Miserly Knight, as Glyndebourne has shown, encases a great operatic monologue. We’ve had a recording from Igor Buketoff, who undertook the first orchestration – Gennady Belov made a marginally more idiomatic one, used here – but the Moscow Conservatory forces under Ashkenazy are more finely tuned to Rachmaninov’s special form of Russian speech melody. There’s only one major role here, that of the besieged Guido Colonna, railing against the dispatch of his wife, Monna Vanna, to a mercenary enemy stark naked under a cloak. Vladimir Avtomonov sings with stentorian assurance and solid technique, though perhaps not enough subtlety. The most attractive music goes to Guido’s art-loving father Marco, fluidly delivered by Dmitry Ivanchey. In Rachmaninov’s songs lie his most inspired vocal writing and Soile Isokoski is radiant in ‘By my window’. Even the wordless Vocalise conveys luminous meaning; and ‘The Dream’, one of Rachmaninov’s last songs and a masterpiece, makes BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

85

REVIEWS OPERA one wish for much more. Ashkenazy rounds off the giddying harmonies of the coda with artistry. David Nice

REISSUES SPECIAL ‘lyric purity’: the late tenor Carlo Bergonzi

PERFORMANCE (OPERA) (SONGS) RECORDING

HHHH HHHHH HHHHH

Karg’s Aricia: four performances of great integrity. Under William Christie, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment delivers musky strings, beguiling recorders, meaty bassoons and an earthy musette. The choral singing is excellent. Anna Picard PERFORMANCE PICTURE & SOUND EXTRAS

HHHH HHHHH HHHH

RAMEAU DVD Hippolyte et Aricie

Celebrating a great Verdi tenor

LEBRECHT

Carlo Bergonzi offers pure opera magic in this Decca box-set, says CD Review’s Andrew McGregor The great Italian chorus, and a vivid John Culshaw tenor Carlo recording. Then came La traviata Bergonzi had just in 1962, Bergonzi’s Alfredo nearly celebrated his upstaging Joan Sutherland’s 90th birthday Violetta. 1965 brought four when he died complete operas in as many earlier this year, so this handsome months, and Verdi’s Don Carlo birthday box-set immediately with Solti and a top-notch cast became a memorial to The Verdi still has to be one of the finest. Tenor (Decca 478 7373; 17 CDs). Bergonzi’s Verdi series for Bergonzi began as a baritone, Deutsche Grammophon is also until he realised that there was a here; not at his best as the Duke hidden tenor waiting to be in Rigoletto in 1964, but two years released for Verdi’s anniversary in earlier at La Scala, Bergonzi was 1951. By 1956 he’d landed a in wonderful voice for Verdi’s Il contract with Decca, and a debut trovatore conducted by Tullio recital that Serafin. They’ve brought him to a Carlo Bergonzi and also included the global audience – three-LP Renata Tebaldi are famous the bonus disc in set of 31 Verdi spine-tingling in Aida Arias Bergonzi the box, and the only Puccini. recorded for Immediately you hear the lovely Decca in the 1970s, showcasing his classic style. Bergonzi sobs line and the lyric purity of tone. and showboats a little more than Bergonzi’s first two opera in the complete recordings, but recordings were Puccini, then it’s still a great Verdi showcase, came the 15 years of Verdi and includes Bergonzi in a role recordings focused on in this set, he wouldn’t – couldn’t – perform beginning with Aida in Vienna in 1959. The control from Bergonzi’s on stage: Otello, which pushes Radames and Renata Tebaldi’s him right to the edge of his vocal Aida is still spine-tingling. In powers, perhaps slightly beyond. 1960 Jussi Björling was recording But then, you also get Bergonzi’s Riccardo in Verdi’s Un ballo in famous diminuendo ending to maschera, but after a bust-up ‘Celeste Aida’ – which you don’t with the conductor Georg Solti, get in the complete opera … and Bergonzi was brought in to record you would want to have this on the tenor parts with the Santa your shelves, wouldn’t you? Cecilia forces in Rome, splendid BBC Music Direct £49.99

86

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

Ed Lyon, Christiane Karg, Sarah Connolly, Stéphane Degout, François Lis, Katherine Watson, Julie Pasturaud, Samuel Boden, Aimery Lefèvre, Loïc Felix, Ana Quintans, Emmanuelle de Negri et al; Glyndebourne Chorus; Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/William Christie; dir. Jonathan Kent (Glyndebourne, 2013) Opus Arte OA1143D (DVD); Opus Arte OABD7150D (blu-ray) 186:00 mins

BBC Music Direct (DVD) BBC Music Direct (Blu-ray)

£28.99 £34.99

Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie scandalised Paris in 1733 with its violent dissonance. The tragédielyrique had already advanced in the decades since the death of its Italian-born creator, Lully, becoming more lavish in its orchestration and brazen in its characterisation, most strikingly in Charpentier’s Médée (1693). Something of this earlier, bloodier antiheroine can be heard in Rameau’s Phaedra, the cougar queen whose burning lust for her stepson exemplifies the chaos wrought when Jupiter grants Cupid dominion over Diana. Yet the central tragedy of Hippolyte et Aricie is not hers, nor is it that of the young lovers she separates. Instead, shame and sorrow rest on the head of cuckolded Theseus. The Prologue and five acts of Jonathan Kent’s hyperactive 2013 Glyndebourne production are linked by Nina Dunn’s videos of the face of a grieving, raging elderly man. Is this Theseus in old age? Or could it be Hippolytus? Kent, his designer Paul Brown and choreographer Ashley Page rarely present imagery as spare or severe as this on the stage, favouring an eclectic mixture of the contemporary and the Baroque. A giant fridge stocked with French comestibles represents Diana’s realm; its hot, filthy reverse, complete with dancing flies, is Hades. On DVD there is greater focus on the patient anguish of Stéphane Degout’s Theseus, the ugly neediness of Sarah Conolly’s Phaedra, the innocence and sincerity of Ed Lyon’s Hippolytus and Christiane

R STRAUSS Elektra Evelyn Herlitzius, Waltraud Meier, Anne Schwanewilms, Frank van Aken, René Pape, Bonita Hyman, Andrea Hill, Silvia Hablowetz, Marie-Eve Munger, Roberta Alexander; Staatskapelle Dresden/ Christian Thielemann Deutsche Grammophon 479 3387 104:15 mins (2 discs)

BBC Music Direct

£22.99

Evelyn Herlitzius has become a serial Elektra lately, starring in Marc Albrecht’s stage recording, Esa-Pekka Salonen’s DVD (Opera Choice, September 2014), and now this Berlin concert performance, based on a Dresden staging. Hiding her intense acting, though, spotlights her vocal performance. I found her voice slightly underpowered for Albrecht. It seems larger here, but it’s also acquired a broader vibrato. She isn’t afraid to push it to its limits, either, with results not always as beautiful or as nuanced as they should be, for example in the final edgy confrontation with Frank van Aken’s petulant Aegisthus. Generally, though, she does convey Elektra’s switchback emotions with some power, finding moving tenderness and regret in the recognition scene. René Pape, an equally recurrent Orestes, is sonorous but restrained. So is Waltraud Meier’s light-voiced Klytaemnestra, less Hoffmansthal’s hag-ridden grotesque than a mundane woman in hysterical denial. Anne Schwanewilms sings Chrysothemis more robustly than for Albrecht, but less touchingly. As a conductor, Thielemann seems to favour Teutonically rich sonorities over dramatic thrust. Here, with the Staatskapelle’s glowing brass and sturdy strings, he certainly brings out Elektra’s dark grandeur, building the opera’s four quasi-symphonic scenes to a thunderous climax. Especially at the beginning, though, one misses the intensity of Valery Gergiev or Georg Solti, or Strauss’s

All discs can be ordered from www.classical-music.com/shop vk.com/englishlibrary

OPERA REVIEWS associate Karl Böhm, also with the Staatskapelle. Along with splendid DVDs by Böhm and Gatti, they’re more recommendable. Michael Scott Rohan PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHHHH

REISSUES Reviewed by Malcolm Hayes

PROKOFIEV Semyon Kotko The All-Union Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra/Zhukov Melodyia MELCD1002120 (1960) 183:43 mins

BBC Music Direct

ZEMLINSKY A Florentine Tragedy, Op. 16; Six Maeterlinck Songs, Op. 13 Heike Wessels, Sergey Skorokhodov, Albert Dohmen, Petra Lang; London Philharmonic Orchestra/ Vladimir Jurowski London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO-0078 74:12 mins

BBC Music Direct

£9.99

Zemlinsky’s one-act opera A Florentine Tragedy shares much in common with Strauss’s Salome not only through its connection to Oscar Wilde, but also in terms of its lush post-Wagnerian musical language. First staged in 1917, it never achieved the sensational success of the earlier work, partly because of the changing cultural climate during the First World War. Nonetheless, it remains powerful, heady stuff, given added spice as the opera’s love-triangle scenario unequivocally alludes to the composer’s own aborted affair with Alma Mahler Schindler. This live recording made in the Royal Festival Hall in September 2012 serves the music admirably, even if some inner detail in Zemlinsky’s dense score is sometimes lost. Jurowski demonstrates a masterly control of dramatic pace, ratcheting up the tension slowly but surely so that the final denouement reaches a devastating climax. The LPO proves superbly responsive to Jurowski’s demands. The opera’s protagonists – Albert Dohmen as Simone, Sergey Skorokhodav as Guido Bardi and Heike Wessels as Simone’s unfaithful wife, Bianca – vividly project the mendacious nature of the drama. The more delicately perfumed Maeterlinck Lieder, recorded live in the same venue two years earlier, are not quite so riveting, partly because of Petra Lang’s unrelievedly dark timbre. Nevertheless, it’s definitely worth hearing these haunting songs particularly when clothed in Zemlinsky’s ravishing and highly evocative orchestration. Erik Levi PERFORMANCE (A FLORENTINE HHHHH TRAGEDY) (MAETERLINCK SONGS) HHHH RECORDING HHHH

£22.99 (3 discs)

Heroic Ukrainian peasantry in the 1918 Civil War, depicted at vast length, with fine moments among much that’s routine. Decent singing and playing; reasonable sound. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHH

VERDI Don Carlo Raimondi, Carreras, Cappuccilli, Salminen, Freni et al; Vienna State Opera/Herbert von Karajan Orfeo C876133D (1979) 169:03 mins

BBC Music Direct

£32.99 (3 discs)

An authentic 1970s Karajan-fest: rich sound, great power and a total effect that’s obstinately uninvolving. The shining exception is Mirella Freni’s wonderful Elisabetta. No libretto. PERFORMANCE HHH RECORDING HHHH

BRITTEN The Rape of Lucretia Pierard, Rozario, Gunson, Rigby, Robson, Maxwell, Opie, Miles; City of London Sinfonia/Richard Hickox Chandos CHAN241-51 (1993) 116:26 mins

BBC Music Direct

£12.99 (2 discs)

Hickox allows his singers plenty of space with no loss of tension; they respond impressively, with Catherine Pierard exceptional as the Female Chorus. No libretto. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHHH

WALTON Troilus and Cressida Howarth, Howard, Davies, Robson et al; Chorus of Opera North; English Northern Philharmonia/Richard Hickox Chandos CHAN241-50 (1995) 133:11 mins

BBC Music Direct

£12.99 (2 discs)

Walton’s problematical grand opera gets the performance of its dreams, headed by Judith Howarth’s inspired Cressida, plus superb orchestral playing and recorded sound. Libretto included. PERFORMANCE HHHHH RECORDING HHHHH

vk.com/englishlibrary

CHORAL & SONG Philippe Herreweghe offers a superlative account of Haydn’s Seasons; Georg Solti impresses with Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis at the Proms; plus folk from Nora Gubisch and Alain Altinoglu

CHORAL & SONG CHOICE

Irish horns and hymns Barry Witherden is moved by a recreation of Celtic medieval music

JS BACH Secular Cantatas Vol. 4: Zerreisset, zersprenget, zertrummert die Gruft, BWV 205; Vereinigte Zwietracht der wechselnden Saiten, BWV 207 Joanne Lunn (soprano), Robin Blaze (countertenor), Wolfram Lattke (tenor), Roderick Williams (baritone); Bach Collegium Japan/Masaaki Suzuki BIS BIS-2001 (hybrid CD/SACD) 73:06 mins

BBC Music Direct

intuitive readings: Geoffrey Webber directs Celtic treasures

IN PRAISE OF SAINT COLUMBA: The Sound World of the Celtic Church

YAO LIANG, MICHIEL HENDRYCKX

Selected Celtic choral works Barnaby Brown (triple pipes & lyre); Simon O’Dwyer, Malachy Frame (medieval Irish horns); Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge/ Geoffrey Webber Delphian DCD34137 76:15 mins

BBC Music Direct

£14.99

This recital spotlights three intriguing areas: 7th-century hymns from Iona, 10th-century chants from Irish monastic foundations in Switzerland (the influence of Celtic missionaries spread widely

88

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

in Europe) and 14th-century antiphons from Inchcolm, the abbey on an island in the Firth of Forth, honouring St Columba. As Geoffrey Webber freely admits, since most of the source manuscripts predate modern notation, these performances

Chants float and weave with clarity and precision are ‘imaginative speculations, based as much on intuition as on reason’. They are certainly none the worse for that in terms of musical conviction and beauty of tone. Gonville and Caius College Choir produces a full sound, and contains some fine soloists. Chants, psalms, antiphons and

hymns ancient and modern-ish (one piece draws on traditional singing collected from Harris in 1965) receive performances of grace: melodies float and weave with clarity, precision and feeling. They are joined on several tracks by the glorious textures of Sardinian triple pipes and medieval Irish horns. Such a practice may have been frowned on by the Church establishment of the time, but it sounds entirely appropriate and deeply affecting to these agnostic ears. PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHHH HHHHH

ON THE WEBSITE Hear extracts from this recording and the rest of this month’s choices on the BBC Music Magazine website www.classical-music.com

£12.99

Innocent ears encountering the exuberantly brass-impregnated opening track might want to consult Masaaki Suzuki’s production notes before reaching for the off switch. ‘Fruity’ doesn’t begin to cover the intonation issuing from the trumpets and horns which, lacking ‘tone holes’, find themselves unable to adjust certain overtones. Uber-authentic, the sound recalls the pioneering days of the period instrument revival when mainstream colleagues sniffed at the ubiquitously precarious tuning. It would be a shame not to persevere though. The music is vintage Bach, and the brassy edginess is less raw in BWV 207. Both allegorical cantatas celebrate illustrious Leipzig academics – BWV 207 exploring the four academic virtues of Happiness, Gratitude, Diligence and Honour, (including a respray of two movements from Brandenburg Concerto No. 1), while BWV 205 throws the musical kitchen sink at a conceit which invokes Aeolus to the sound of strings, flutes, oboes and the aforementioned brass, with solo viola d’amore, viola da gamba and oboe d’amore for colouristic good measure. Suzuki’s energising precision is infectious, and he’s served by a fine team of soloists including Roderick Williams’s avuncular Aeolus, and the silvery Pallas of Joanna Lunn. The opening chorus of BWV 205 is buffeted by strong gusts from the timpani as storms champ at the bit waiting to be unleashed

All discs can be ordered from www.classical-music.com/shop

vk.com/englishlibrary

CHORAL & SONG REVIEWS by Aeolus, but elsewhere Suzuki sometimes champions tasteful musical values over dramatic ones, and the elaborately accompanied long recitative leading to BWV 207’s final chorus flags. Richly rewarding nonetheless, and a welcome addition to the ongoing rehabilitation of Bach’s undervalued secular cantatas. Paul Riley PERFORMANCE RECORDING

criticism – that Haydn’s four seasonal sections, however replete with picturesque invention, remain disparate rather than adding up to a meaningful whole – is entirely put to flight by Herreweghe’s steady control of tempo and internal transition, gradation of vocal-choral and instrumental texture, and command of the larger four-panelled structure. The singing of the choir and the three first-rate German-language soloists (among whom the baritone Florian Boesch stands out) adds to this sense of stylistic unity, and in every way, the performance hangs together, each part moving naturally to its thrilling climax. Indeed, while I wouldn’t insist on the clear superiority of this latest Seasons over favoured recordings already in existence (conducted, for instance, by Colin Davis, Böhm, Karajan or Marriner or, in period style, Gardiner or Jacobs), its allround technical excellence and, more significant, Herreweghe’s comprehensively unifying vision have added something precious to my understanding of the work. Max Loppert

hot on haydn: Herreweghe raises The Seasons to new heights

HHHH HHHHH

BEETHOVEN Missa Solemnis Helen Donath (soprano), Doris Soffel (mezzo–soprano), Siegfried Jerusalem (tenor), Hans Sotin (bass); Edinburgh Festival Chorus; London Philharmonic/ Sir Georg Solti LPO LPO 0077 79:57 mins

BBC Music Direct

This 1982 Proms performance of Beethoven’s choral masterpiece has a lot going for it – not least, an impressive lineup of soloists, and the Edinburgh Festival Chorus on fine form. Then there is Georg Solti’s deep affection for the music, which comes across not only in its more reflective moments, such as the Kyrie and Sanctus, but also in a thrilling account of the Gloria. On the other hand, there are times when Solti’s pulse seems to beat too slowly: the lumbering account of the ‘Et vitam venturi’ fugue, for instance; or that hair-raising passage in the Agnus Dei where Beethoven conjures up the sounds of war in the midst of a devout prayer for peace. Although he failed to provide metronome markings for the Missa solemnis, despite having promised to do so on more than one occasion, he marked the latter section Allegro molto, and Solti’s tempo is surely too relaxed, as it is, too, in the presto interjection towards the close of the work where the military sounds return in different guise. For the rest, though, this is a sympathetic performance, with Solti well served by the LPO, of which he was principal conductor. Alas, Solti is less well-served by the engineers. The Royal Albert Hall ought to have been an ideal venue for the piece, but the sound as captured here is congested, with the soloists often placed too close, and much orchestral detail obscured. Recommended, then, but with reservations. Misha Donat PERFORMANCE RECORDING

(texts by Vikram Seth) also have many moments of interest, though perhaps don’t cohere quite so convincingly as a sequence. Still, this is a richly stimulating recital. Terry Blain

£9.99

HHHH HHH

DOVE Out of Winter; Cut My Shadow; Ariel; All You Who Sleep Tonight

PERFORMANCE RECORDING

PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHHH

HHHHH HHHHH

Claire Booth (soprano), Patricia Bardon (mezzo-soprano), Nicky Spence (tenor); Andrew Matthews-Owen (piano) Naxos 8.573080 70 mins

BBC Music Direct

£6.99

Elan, intelligence and passionate engagement: Scottish tenor Nicky Spence brings it all to his exemplary performance of Out of Winter, the opening cycle on this disc of songs by Jonathan Dove. Spence’s enunciation of the text (by the late Robert Tear, in response to Britten’s Winter Words) has crystal clarity, while his singing runs the full gamut from the aching lyricism of Song I to the elated peroration of Song VI’s conclusion. Andrew Matthews-Owen is an immaculate accompanist, showing a particularly clean pair of fingers in the dashing virtuosity of Song III. Dove’s settings are acutely sensitive to word and situation, throughcomposed in operatic fashion, with meaning dictating structure, rather than vice versa. The cycle as a whole deserves wide exposure in recital. The unaccompanied Ariel, setting five movements from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, is like opera without the orchestra, and soprano Claire Booth shows a technical accomplishment comparable to Spence’s in meeting its many challenges. The pithy slices of life in the 13-song All You Who Sleep Tonight

MOZART HAYDN

Requiem

Christina Landshamer (soprano), Maximilian Schmitt (tenor), Florian Boesch (baritone); Collegium Vocale Gent; Orchestre des Champs-Elysées/ Philippe Herreweghe Outhere LPH 013 120:09 mins (2 discs)

Genia Kuhmeier (soprano), Bernada Fink (contralto), Mark Padmore (tenor), Gerald Finley (bass); Netherlands Radio Choir; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/ Mariss Jansons RCO Live RCO-14002 47:35 mins

BBC Music Direct

BBC Music Direct

The Seasons

£24.99

Philippe Herreweghe, a conductor capable (according to one Guardian reviewer) of achieving ‘perfect poise and balance’, whose vast discography stretches from Lassus to Mozart to Berlioz to Weill, makes with this new Seasons a late start on Haydn recording. Happily, it’s also an inspired one. Once rated unfavourably in comparison with its sibling The Creation, this oratorio has in recent years come to be recognised as one of Western art’s supreme, most panoramically inclusive depictions of man and his world. In parallel, it has benefited from a spate of top-class recordings, which probably helped transform received opinion. This superb set could well complete the process. The old

To order CDs call BBC Music Direct +44 (0)1322 297 515; prices include P&P

vk.com/englishlibrary

£14.99

Mozart’s Requiem may be the most frustrating of all incomplete works by a great master, though competition is fairly stiff. It begins so stupendously, and maintains its high level until the end of the ‘Dies irae’, and from there on, until the first few bars of the overwhelming ‘Lacrimosa’ – Mozart only completed the first few harrowing bars – is a rough ride, before petering out. So what do you do? Many hands have made heavy work of the rest, and there are even recordings which give you a choice of what follows. Mozart’s widow Constanze asked Süssmayr to finish the job, and though no one can be very enthusiastic about his efforts, they have stood the test of time, to the extent of his still being the most frequently performed BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

89

REVIEWS CHORAL & SONG

REISSUES Reviewed by Kate Bolton

DE RORE Missa Doulce mémoire; O altitudo divitiarum; Fratres: Scitote; Illuxit nunc sacra dies; Missa a note negre The Brabant Ensemble/Stephen Rice Hyperion CDA 67913 74:36 mins

BBC Music Direct

£12.99

Rore’s extraordinary music shocks with its exploratory chromaticisms and extreme sonorities. These are highly expressive performances – the Mass more intense than the Tallis Scholars’. PERFORMANCE HHHHH SOUND HHHHH

LE CHANT DE VIRGILE Works by Desprez, Mouton, Willaert, De Orto, Vaet, Gerarde, Lassus, etc Huelgas Ensemble Harmonia Mundi HMA 1951739 65:32 mins

BBC Music Direct

£8.99

version. And it is the one which Mariss Jansons has chosen in this live performance from the Concertgebouw in September 2011. It’s a surprisingly traditional-style performance, to me very welcomely so. Moderately large forces are employed, orchestrally and chorally, and there is an impressive line-up of soloists. One only wishes that they had more to do. They are a fine team, too, though perhaps Gerald Finley stands out without trying to. Mariss Janssons conducts without strong personal insights, but there are few conductors who attempt them without distorting a work which is a blend of the Baroque and the early Romantic. It’s so hard, now, to separate the work from the unbearably tragic circumstances in which it was composed, and perhaps one shouldn’t even try. The innumerable recordings of it bear witness more to its genesis than to its intrinsic merit, and this recording has an honourable place among them. Michael Tanner

These Renaissance settings of Classical poetry are infused with a sense of nostalgia and melancholy, their fluid melodies delicately painted here by candid voices and wistful instruments. PERFORMANCE HHHHH SOUND HHHH

PERFORMANCE RECORDING

LASSUS

Lieder including An den Mond in einer Herbstnacht, D 614; Hoffnung, D 295; Im Jänner 1817, D 876; Abschied, D 475; Herbst, D 945

Lagrime di San Pietro Ensemble Vocal Européen/ Philippe Herrewghe Harmonia Mundi HMA 1951483 (1994) 59:30 mins

BBC Music Direct

£8.99

‘The Tears of St Peter’ – Lassus’s swan song – reflect on the stages of human grief in 21 concentrated, at times austere spiritual madrigals. These are transcendent accounts. PERFORMANCE HHHHH SOUND HHHHH

CHANT CORSE Manuscrits franciscains Ensemble Organum/Marcel Pérès Harmonia Mundi HMA1951495 (1994) 58:30 mins

BBC Music Direct

£8.99

The exotic, plaintive soundworld of Corsican polyphonic chant is robustly captured by native singers immersed in the oral traditions that influenced this rich and strange repertoire. PERFORMANCE HHHHH SOUND HHHHH

90

HHHH HHHH

Christian Gerhaher (baritone); Gerold Huber (piano) Sony Classical 88883712172 77:23 mins

£15.99

Rather like Matthias Goerne, Christian Gerhaher is always tempted in his programming to play to his strengths – or to indulge his personal and artistic tendencies, depending how you see it. So, here we have the title ‘Nachtviolen’ conjuring the dark, soulful eyes of the flower – and of a Schubert song which, like so many in this selection, breathes the air of the wistful, the world-weary, the melancholy. In the very first song, ‘An den Mond in einer Herbstnacht’, the sad steps of the moon are perfectly paced by Gerhaher’s fine accompanist, Gerold Huber. And the words are ideally weighed and measured in that instantly recognisable clear and focused baritone. Gerhaher’s singing is deeply expressive; yet he is far too intelligent a musician ever to be for a moment self-indulgent or self-conscious. What the author of the excellent notes refers to here

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHHH

with an unexpectedly searing Beiden Grenadiere. The sameness of colour which often besets young singers is mostly avoided, with Eric Schneider’s sympathetic accompaniment. Well worth hearing. Michael Scott Rohan PERFORMANCE RECORDING

BEHIND THE LINES German Folksong; works by Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Traill, Ives, Cavendis, Schubert, Rihm, Schumann, Liszt, Poulenc, Mahler and Weill

BBC Music Direct

£14.99

This young Austrian soprano (half Anglo-Irish) confirms a growing reputation. The voice itself is fairly light and limpid, though not without metal; a Baroque and modern specialist, her operatic roles so far are almost all soubrette-ish. Her diction, though, is exceptional throughout an impressive span of languages (almost too clear to sound natural in Russian). And there’s evidence of real imagination behind her programmes and her interpretations. Several recitals lately have centred on World War I’s sorrows and pities, but this is probably the most eclectic – 25 songs from German, French, English and Russian composers, each with its own shade on war, especially from a female viewpoint. They range from Germanic modernities, Eisler and Rihm, eccentric Ives and Weill – for which she assumes a mild American accent – to elegiac Quilter, tormented Liszt and satirical Poulenc. She adopts a ‘white’, almost countertenor tone for Cavendish’s beautiful Elizabethan lament, and makes a brave stab at Scottishness in Traill’s My Luve’s in Germanie. She sounds most at ease, though, in Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann,

HHHH HHHH

FOLK SONGS Works by Berio, Brahms, Falla, Granados and Obradors Nora Gubisch (mezzo soprano); Alain Altinoglu (piano); Gérard Caussé (viola); Raphaël Perraud (cello); Bastien Pelat (flute); Raphaël Sévère (clarinet); Iris Torossian (harp); Adrien Perruchon, Camille Basle (percussion) Naive V 5365 60:05 mins

BBC Music Direct

Anna Prohaska (soprano); Eric Schneider (piano) Deutsche Grammophon 479 2472 76:04 mins

SCHUBERT

BBC Music Direct

as Schubert’s own ‘higher form of simplicity’, his ‘mellow detachment’, is exactly what Gerhaher excels in incarnating in his performances. This makes us listen to songs such as ‘Abschied’, ‘Der Wanderer’ and ‘Fruhlingsglaube’ with refreshed ears. And, at full throttle, Gerhaher imperceptibly, and therefore chillingly, ratchets up the dramatic tension of ‘Der Zwerg’. This disc is accompanied by a richly referential song-by-song commentary in the manner of pianist Graham Johnson, but here written by Christian Wildhagen, who deserves a mention as part of the all-round excellence of this production. Hilary Finch

£14.99

Married couple mezzo-soprano Nora Gubisch and conductor/ pianist Alain Altinoglu have put together this diverse programme with some thought, though personal connections predominate – Gubisch’s ancestry is German and Spanish (hence Brahms alongside Falla, Obradors and Granados), while Altinoglu’s Armenian mother links to one of the Berio Folk Songs. In any case it’s an attractive collection, which Gubisch voices with earthiness and subtlety, as required. Fierce and vital in the Falla Seven Popular Spanish Songs, Gubisch uncovers their demotic, everyday roots while Altinoglu’s beautifully imagined accompaniments emphasise the guitar-like figurations of the piano parts. An early hero of Gubisch’s, the leading French viola player Gérard Caussé comes on board for the two Brahms songs with viola obbligato, and also makes a distinctive contribution to the Berio, whose French premiere he took part in many years ago with the original soloist, Cathy Berberian. Here, as in the Spanish repertoire, Gubisch’s rich and widely ranging voice is an asset, with the mezzo getting right inside the music, just as her pianist does, as well as characterising the words; the distinctive sounds of American English, though, as in a couple of the Berio items, defeat her. Other than that, this recital will equally excite and give pleasure. George Hall PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHHH HHHH

All discs can be ordered from www.classical-music.com/shop

vk.com/englishlibrary

vk.com/englishlibrary

CHAMBER Del Sol Quartet explore works by Erickson; Gringolts Quartet shed fresh light on Brahms; plus piano duo Ursula von Lerber and Christian Erbslöh give striking accounts of Stravinsky

CHAMBER CHOICE

Chaste and faultless Corelli Kate Bolton applauds the Avison Ensemble’s Church Sonatas

BRAHMS Cello Sonatas Nos 1 & 2; Clarinet Trio in A minor Michael Collins (clarinet); Paul Watkins (cello); Ian Brown (piano) Chandos CHAN 10825 81:20 mins

BBC Music Direct

lucid accounts: The Avison Ensemble plays Corelli

1680s, consist of so-called ‘church sonatas’ (sonate da chiesa) – the term something of a misnomer since they seem not to have been played in church, though their muted serenity would have been a fine complement to private devotion. An obsessive perfectionist, Corelli

CORELLI Church Sonatas, Opp. 1 & 3 The Avison Ensemble: Pavlo Beznosiuk (director/violin); Caroline Balding (violin); Richard Tunnicliffe (cello); Paula Chateauneuf (archlute); Roger Hamilton (harpsichord/organ) Linn Records CKD 414 (hybrid CD/SACD) 148 mins (2 discs)

BBC Music Direct

£18.99

The Avison Ensemble began their complete Corelli series in 2012 with the celebrated Concerti Grossi Op. 6, before turning their sights to the earlier, and more intimate, violin and trio sonatas. This two-disc set, comprising the Trio Sonatas Opp. 1 and 3, brings the cycle to a close. Both collections, dating from the

92

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

Everything seems right in these sincere and poised accounts polished these works into gleaming gems. As a composer who played the violin, he wrote for the instrument idiomatically – Corelli was never flashy, unlike his more flamboyant younger contemporary Vivaldi. I have enjoyed every one of the discs in this series from Linn Records so far, and this last set more than lives up to expectations. The five members of The Avison

Ensemble parley with the familiarity of old friends, yet their playing always retains that sense of gracious etiquette associated with the noble Roman academies for which the music was intended. Nothing is forced or exaggerated or overly mannered; tempos, ensemble and balance – all seem effortlessly and intuitively right. The string sound is lucid, while a chamber organ and an archlute add warmth to the continuo. These are, in sum, sincere and poised accounts, a fitting tribute to the ‘chaste and faultless’ character of the composer and his music. PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHHH HHHHH

ON THE WEBSITE Hear extracts from this recording and the rest of this month’s choices on the BBC Music Magazine website www.classical-music.com

£12.99

I can’t think of a better way of presenting Brahms’s Cello Sonatas than with the darkly passionate Clarinet Trio, especially when played by three such rewarding artists. They get under the skin of this long-limbed melancholy masterpiece, performing with a lovely flexible sense of timing. Collins floats exquisitely limpid lines in the graceful, contrapuntal Adagio, allowing it effortlessly to unfold. The always sensitive Ian Brown brings his velvety sound to the minuet and trio, which moves easily into its delightful ländler episode. Watkins is warmly spontaneous, unleashing ardent melodies without fuss. It is only in the Allegro that I sensed a lack of forward drive, some overly deliberate gestures and a bright hardness to Collins’s sound in the forte passages, though he brings a huge range of colour overall. Watkins and Brown’s traversal of the Sonatas share that supple rhythmic flexibility. The E minor’s opening is big-boned and generous, with a sense of depth and spaciousness that gives the piece an almost orchestral scale. The final fugue is perhaps too steady for my taste. Their tendency not to drive forwards makes the Allegro vivace of the Second Sonata less exciting than it can be, though both dive headlong into the development with the first hint of real abandon. Watkins’s Adagio affettuoso is powerfully, and lovingly, delivered, Brown creating a glistening delicacy as a foil. The high-voltage scherzo is a little stolid, redeemed by the sweetness of their trio. No one for me has matched

To order CDs call BBC Music Direct +44 (0)1322 297 515; prices include P&P vk.com/englishlibrary

CHAMBER REVIEWS as to whether it’s coherent enough to be memorable, but again it’s given a performance which tends to sweep such cavils aside. The Third Quartet, Solstice, comes from almost 30 years later, and the language is more tonally based, with repetitive rhythmic phrases based around drones, sometimes quite oriental sounding. It’s immediately appealing, and just as you’ve had enough of one musical gesture or texture, another comes along. Much of the allure comes from the controlled, spacious performance, and that’s also apparent in the Fourth Quartet,Corfu. Written shortly after Solstice, it’s even slower, and more ecstatic in its wide-ranging, often modal lines. Worth exploring. Martin Cotton

the inspiration of Steven Isserlis and Stephen Hough’s recording (Hyperion) but this is a fine addition. Helen Wallace PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHHH

BRAHMS Cello Sonatas Nos 1 & 2; F-A-E Scherzo (arr. Forbes); Violin Sonata No. 1 (arr. Brahms); Hungarian Dances Nos 1-7 (arr. Piatti); Lieder (arr. anon); Second Movement of Piano Concerto No. 2 (arr. Garben)

refined tones: Del Sol play Erickson’s quartets

Jonathan Aasgaard (cello); Martin Roscoe (piano) Avie AV2300 129: 53 mins (2 discs)

BBC Music Direct

£20.99

The best performance here is an extraordinary rendition of the First Violin Sonata. Transferred to the cello’s upper strings, and played with limpid elegance, its musing character is given an amplified radiance I’d not heard before. It’s puzzling, because Jonathan Aasgaard’s rather careful readings of the two Cello Sonatas never achieve that warmth or fluency. The challenge in the finale of the First Cello Sonata is to whip up a storm around the Bachinspired fugue and rescue it from academicism. Here it is accurate and polite but doesn’t lift off the page. Aasgard, who is principal cellist of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, fares better in the gracefully sunny finale of the Second Sonata. Indeed, his lyrical playing is always sensitive and well-shaped but we miss a sense of power unleashed in the majestic opening of Sonata No. 2. Roscoe contributes to this with his wonderfully clear and light, but sometimes self-effacing, playing. He seems too eager not to dominate Aasgard, rather to the detriment of the stormy character of these two great first movements, and especially the fiery scherzo of the F major Sonata and Forbes’s arrangement of the F-A-E Sonata. There’s a sense of holding back and playing safe when the music itself is going for broke. The Hungarian Dances are beautifully executed, but they never catapult us into the whirl of a real dance. More pleasing is the fine selection of Lied transcriptions, and a luminous rendition of the cello solo from the Piano Concerto No. 2. Helen Wallace PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHH HHHHH

BRAHMS Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34; String Quartet in C minor, Op. 51 No. 1; String Quartet in A minor, Op. 51 No. 2; String Quartet in B flat major Op. 67 Gringolts Quartet; Peter Laul (piano) Orchid ORC100042 140:11 mins (2 discs)

BBC Music Direct

£20.99

Brahms’s String Quartets have come in for more critical stick than any of his other chamber works – perhaps more than all the others put together. The recurring theme is that they’re really orchestral works manqué: Brahms may have wrestled Beethoven to the ground when it came to writing symphonies, but here the giant shadow proved too inhibiting. Listen to the Gringolts Quartet in the Op. 51 No. 2 and Op. 67 Quartets and you may conclude that they’ve simply not been played right. There’s so much sensitive give and take between the four instruments here, so much intimacy and subtle variation of colour, that the feeling is these are Romantic chamber gems comparable with Schumann’s three Quartets. In the first movement of Op. 67 the shifts in rhythmic patterns are handled with the kind of supple freedom even the most refined orchestral conductor could hardly match. There’s humour, too, especially in the finale, with its teasingly ‘incomplete’ theme. Ilya Gringolts and his team can’t quite perform the same miracle with Op. 51, No. 1, but by going all out for Sturm und Drang, while at the same time working hard to keep the

textures clear (aided by the admirable recordings), they show that it’s still remarkable music, however you choose to categorise it in genre terms. The only let-down is the Piano Quintet, which feels overly fastidious in places. The approach is very similar, but the piano in particular feels somewhat eviscerated – maybe the recording doesn’t help so much this time. Overall, though, a warm recommendation. Stephen Johnson PERFORMANCE (QUARTETS) (PIANO QUINTET) RECORDING (QUARTETS) (PIANO QUINTET)

HHHHH HHH HHHHH HHHH

HHHHH HHHHH

PERFORMANCE RECORDING

RUBINSTEIN Piano Quartet in F, Op. 55; Piano Quartet in C, Op. 66 Leslie Howard (piano); Rita Manning (violin); Morgan Goff (viola); Justin Pearson (cello) Hyperion CDA 68018 76:28 mins

BBC Music Direct

£12.99

Start at the beginning of this CD and you won’t be impressed.

BACKGROUND TO… Anton Rubinstein

ERICKSON String Quartet No. 1; String Quartet No. 2; Solstice; Corfu Del Sol Quartet New World Records 80753-2 83:39 mins (2 discs)

BBC Music Direct

£30.99

There’s visceral rhythmic excitement in the opening movement of the First Quartet, written when the composer was in his early thirties. He plainly knew his Berg, and there’s a similarly enigmatic relationship with tonality, although the language is more linear and austere. What could be a dry piece is lifted off the page by the passionate advocacy of the Del Sol Quartet, who bring accuracy and tonal refinement to the music, enhanced by the lively recording. In the one-movement Second Quartet, contrapuntal writing gives way to something more free-flowing and lyrical, and a wider range of sonorities. The question does niggle

To order CDs call BBC Music Direct +44 (0)1322 297 515; prices include P&P

vk.com/englishlibrary

1829-94 Russian pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein was, in truth, a rather finer pianist than he was a composer (as our review, above, of performances of two of his Piano Quartets bears out) although his once-famous Melody in F still features on concert programmes from time to time. His finest achievements, however, were away from the manuscript paper. Rubinstein was one of the great piano soloists and gave 215 recitals alone during a one-year trip to the US in 1872-3. And in 1862, he founded the St Petersburg Conservatoire which he directed until 1867, and again from 1887-90.

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

93

REVIEWS CHAMBER Anton Rubinstein’s F major Piano Quartet, originally composed as a Quintet for piano and wind in 1855, is big-boned and rather ordinary, just like the playing. Leslie Howard does communicate the brothers Rubinstein’s virtuoso bravura – Anton was as fine a pianist as Nikolay, for whom Tchaikovsky wrote his First Piano Concerto – and the first movement’s quieter centerpiece is arresting. The rest is second-rate imitation Schumann and Brahms. The C major work of the mid1860s, however, is as distinctive a Russian chamber piece as the many we’re rediscovering by Arensky, Taneyev and Glazunov. The first movement’s repeated-note themes are as memorable as the quizzical figure that takes off in the scherzo. The mostly sombre slow movement boasts a ravishing major-key transformation, and the lively finale even squeezes in a Russian folk figure shared at one stage by Tchaikovsky. Howard could be a little more crystalline, and the Potton Hall acoustic is dry, but this is an impassioned, convincing first recording. David Nice PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHH

After this, the little Tango, in Victor Babin’s two-piano arrangement, is suitably intent, and the Satie-esque treatment of popular styles in the sets of Easy Pieces is nicely deadpan. It has been suggested that Stravinsky was inspired to compose his Concerto in E flat Dumbarton Oaks after he and his son Soulima played through Max Reger’s piano duet transcriptions of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. No wonder his transcription of his own 15-instrument score back into twopiano medium works so well. And the performance here is a delight: witty, well paced, thoroughly musical – as is the whole disc. Hopeless documentation, though: merely a minutely printed bilingual folded leaflet. Bayan Northcott PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHH

Ursula von Lerber, Christian Erbslöh (piano) Fondation Igor Stravinsky FIS Records 2013 55:79 mins

www.fondation-Igor-Stravinsky.org

Stravinsky worked on his piano version of The Rite of Spring at the same time as the full score. Written for four hands, it makes for a fascinating alternative, suggesting how much of the material emerged from the movement of Stravinsky’s hands at the keyboard. It also reveals different emphases and clarifies details that are obscured in the tumult of the full score. Playing with unanimity, due sensitivity to balances and tremendous energy, the duo team of Ursula von Lerber and Christian Erbslöh offer a dynamic and convincing account. The Geneva recording is closely miked, as if directly from behind the players – it sounds a bit clangorous in climaxes, but captures the full left-to-right range of the keyboard.

94

HHH HHHH

Turn to p44 for our 200th birthday celebration of Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone

PAVANS AND FANTASIES FROM THE AGE OF DOWLAND John Holloway (violin, viola); Monika Baer (violin, viola); Renate Steinmann (viola); Susanna Hefti (viola); Martin Zeller (bass violin) ECM New Series ECM 481 0430 mins

BBC Music Direct

A TRIBUTE TO SAX Works by Demersseman, Singelée, Gershwin, Porter, Rodgers, Schwartz, Arlen, Kern, Legrand et al

BBC Music Direct

The Rite of Spring; Tango; Three Easy Pieces; Five Easy Pieces; Dumbarton Oaks

PERFORMANCE RECORDING

Works by Dowland, Jenkins, Lawes, Locke, Morley and Purcell

The Sax Players; Steve Houben (alto saxophone); Michel Benita (double bass) Ricercar RIC 341 190:50 mins (2 discs)

STRAVINSKY

original 19th-century instruments. Sax invented the saxophone to provide marching bands with a substitute for strings, and its origins as a compromise are pretty clear from these pieces, diverting and well-played though they are. Barry Witherden

£32.99

These discs come in a slim hardback book containing essays by Jérôme Lejeune and Jon-Pol Schroeder, comprising probably the best concise yet comprehensive historical survey and assessment of Adolphe Sax’s inventions I have read in 50 years of sax addiction. The decision to represent the whole of jazz with just a single musician playing a single member of the family is, therefore, all the more bizarre. The saxophone was just a curiosity until jazz musicians developed a grammar and highly individual styles and sounds. The greats, from Sidney Bechet to Albert Ayler and beyond, are immediately identifiable from their radically different approaches and sounds. This programme gives no idea of the richness and variety the saxophone is capable of. I intend no criticism of Houben, who is a thoughtful, sensitive player and gives a fine recital, but no one musician can demonstrate the full potential of the instrument as it was realised through the jazz tradition of the last 90 years. The other disc spotlights pieces by contemporaries of Sax, using

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

£32.99

‘Back to the future’ could be the subtitle of John Holloway’s new disc exploring Dowland’s Lachrimae Pavans. The work enshrines the heart and soul of the English viol consort, but it was a world coming under sustained assault from the upstart violin, and, as the preface insists, Dowland himself was prepared to countenance performances with violin consort. This is the less familiar route Holloway and his colleagues have chosen, deploying four violas atop a bass violin. But they’ve also interpreted the preface to mean that the music is self-sufficient without the realised lute part. That puts clear water between themselves and The Parley of Instruments’ 1992 recording which also tried the violin option for size. The result is predictably brighter, more edgy than viol performances, and the playing is superbly fastidious and concentrated. But the absence of lute, while focusing attention on the skill of the part-writing, tends to incur an element of austerity, particularly telling at cadences. More contentiously perhaps, Holloway cuts the ‘Passionate Pavans’ with fantasies, airs and a lamento that, while carrying the story beyond Dowland’s time, dilute the cumulative singlemindedness of the ‘Seaven Teares’ as a cycle. It’s a drawback swiftly remedied by reprogramming the playing order. Paul Riley PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHHH

REISSUES Reviewed by Julian Haylock

BEETHOVEN Septet; Quintet for Piano and Winds Vienna Octet (members) Alto ALC 1243 (1959, 1960) 66:27 mins

BBC Music Direct

£6.99

Affectionate performances that radiate charm from every musical pore, bringing the young lion’s lighter side fully to life, even if the Quintet is now beginning to sound its age. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHH

BRAHMS Piano Quartets Nos 1-3 The Schubert Ensemble Nimbus NI 6279 (1997) 125:27 mins (2 discs)

BBC Music Direct

£15.99

Beautifully engineered, these disarmingly natural and eloquent performances bring out the music’s inherent drama with a deft touch while indulging Brahms’s lyrical instincts to the full. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHHHH

BRAHMS String Sextets Nos 1 & 2 Talich Quartet La Dolce Vita LDV 253 (2006, 2007) 79:57 mins

BBC Music Direct

£10.99

Meticulously balanced, deeply felt chamber-scale performances that may lack the charismatic surge of the LPO principals in the String Sextet No. 1 (EMI), but capture the String Sextet No. 2’s introspective poetic fantasy with alacrity. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHHH

HAYDN String Quartets, Op. 33 Cuarteto Casals Harmonia Mundi HMG 502022.23 (2009) 106:43 mins (2 discs)

BBC Music Direct

£14.99

Astonishingly insightful playing, musically captivating and technically blemishless. Each and every phrase rings so completely true that one can’t imagine the music being played any other way. PERFORMANCE HHHHH RECORDING HHHHH

All discs can be ordered from www.classical-music.com/shop

vk.com/englishlibrary

Queyras Alexander Melnikov

Leoš Janáček Glagolitic Mass, The Eternal Gospel Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra / Tomáš Netopil Prague Philharmonic Choir / Lukáš Vasílek

play

Beethoven Complete Works for cello and piano

Ida Haendel / Prague Recordings 1957–65 Alfréd Holeček – piano Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Karel Ančerl Prague Symphony Orchestra / Václav Smetáček

Jan Dismas Zelenka Lamentatio ZWV 53 Collegium Marianum / Jana Semerádová Damien Guillon – tenor, Daniel Johannsen – tenor, Tomáš Král – bass

SUPRAPHON a. s. www.supraphon.com | [email protected]

HMC 902183.84

SU ����-�

SU ����-�

Václav Neumann Early Recordings / 1953–68 Prague Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

Joseph Karl Stieler, Ludwig van Beethoven, 1819 akg-images / Beethoven-Haus Bonn

SU ����-�

SU ����-�

Jean-Guihen

2 CD Beethoven’s works for cello and piano were written between 1796 and 1815. He in effect created the sonata for cello with an independent piano part in his op.5, intended for Jean-Louis Duport and dedicated to Frederick William II of Prussia; like the delightful variations on themes by Handel and Mozart, they represent his first-period style, as Op.69 typifies the second. The two sublime Sonatas op.102, for their part, already herald the unprecedented stylistic freedom of the composer’s final decade. ‘A magnetic cellist pure and simple’ The Strad on Jean-Guihen Queyras

www.facebook.com/SupraphonClassics Distributed and marketed in the UK by RSK ENTERTAINMENT www.rskentertainment.co.uk | [email protected] Distributed and marketed in the US by NAXOS OF AMERICA Inc. www.naxos.com | [email protected]

‘Quicksilver, intellectually virtuosic pianism’ Philip Clark on Alexander Melnikov

IN CONCERT Beethoven Complete works for cello and piano 30 November and 1 December 2014 - Wigmore Hall (London)

harmoniamundi.com also on your Smartphone & iPhone

vk.com/englishlibrary

INSTRUMENTAL Pierre-Laurent Aimard brings intellectual rigour to Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier; Joseph Moog champions Scharwenka’s underrated Piano Sonata; plus Federico Colli makes a superb debut

INSTRUMENTAL CHOICE

Sounds of home Jessica Duchen is drawn into Khatia Buniatishvili’s nostalgic recital

JS BACH The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano) DG 479 2784 55:21 mins (2 discs)

BBC Music Direct

MOTHERLAND Works by JS Bach, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Ligeti, Liszt, Brahms, Ravel, Chopin, Scriabin, Scarlatti, Grieg, Handel and Pärt Khatia Buniatishvili (piano); Gvantsa Buniatishvili (piano) Sony Classical 88883734622 66 mins

BBC Music Direct

£15.99

The content of Khatia Buniatishvili’s concept album on the idea of homesickness fortunately outweighs its laid-on-with-trowel packaging. Behind the flowers, butterflies and soulful photos there lies some very classy piano playing. Buniatishvili has developed something of a reputation for edgeof-the-seat virtuoso risk-taking.

ESTHER HAASE

Khatia Buniatishvili’s phrasing sings wonderfully in Chopin This CD is the absolute antithesis of that: a selection of short pieces evoking atmospheres of longing, sorrow and nostalgia. Universal emotions are at work here; even if you leave the theme aside, you will find something on this CD to enjoy, discover or identify with. Buniatishvili’s playing is eloquent indeed: her voicing is expertly balanced in the opening Bach transcription and the Ravel Pavane, the phrasing sings wonderfully in the Tchaikovsky, Chopin and Scriabin; the fingerwork is scintillating in the Mendelssohn

96

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

eloquent interpreter: Khatia Buniatishvili shows her poetic side

and Scarlatti. There is a lively guest appearance by Buniatishvili’s pianist sister, Gvantsa, in the Dvoπák Slavonic Dance in E minor, Op. 72 No. 2 for piano duet, and the very high, delicate, otherworldly music of Pärt’s Für Alina makes for a moving conclusion. The booklet’s explanation of the choice of pieces is a little long-winded; if the disc were truly successful as a coherent collection, so much exposition would not be

necessary. Occasionally, too, there isn’t quite enough contrast between these very different pieces. But on the whole these are performances that get under your skin. PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHHHH

ON THE WEBSITE Hear extracts from this recording and the rest of this month’s choices on the BBC Music Magazine website www.classical-music.com

£15.99

When it comes to recording JS Bach, Pierre-Laurent Aimard does not plump for the innocent delights of a French Suite or the bravado of the youthful toccatas. His first Deutsche Grammophon recording was the Art of Fugue, and he again displays his penchant for the didactic with the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier. His Bach is resolutely head-driven – and it’s curious. His preeminently ascetic use of the sustaining pedal creates clarity tinged with dryness, yet he’s prone to Romantically portentous rallentandos. And while Bach gives a distinct personality to each prelude-and-fugue pairing, there are stretches when Aimard seems bent on not differentiating between them: tempos converge, expressive differences blur. What energises him is the counterpoint, though the interweaving lines are often held at arm’s length for admiration rather than ‘lived’; the two darkest preludes are oddly detached emotionally – the B flat minor more grey than black, the E flat minor stiffly gauche. A pity, because there’s much to savour in Aimard’s intellectual rigour – the A major fugue, for example, is fashioned with impish eccentricity, its ‘French’ D major companion is seized upon with zeal, and the E major Fugue is bright and exhilarating. Beware, however, the opening of the B major Fugue which unsettlingly drops a beat at the end of the statement of its theme – whether a momentary lapse or a careless edit, it jars in the context of Aimard’s otherwise unimpeachable fastidiousness. Paul Riley PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHH HHH

All discs can be ordered from www.classical-music.com/shop

vk.com/englishlibrary

REVIEWS INSTRUMENTAL

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 23

SCRIABIN Sonata No. 10

MUSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition Federico Colli (piano) Champs Hill CHRCD079 69:24 mins

BBC Music Direct

£11.99

Winner of the Leeds Piano Competition in 2012, Federico Colli launches his recording career with a well-chosen programme featuring three hugely demanding works that respond equally well to his special brand of poetic intensity. Countless are the versions of the Appassionata that thrash about restlessly, articulated by sforzandos hammered home with ferocity. How refreshing to experience, therefore, a thoughtful Appassionata that conveys its profoundly revolutionary zeal through ingenious fluctuations of texture and revelatory harmonic tectonics. Colli may not offer the last word in shoulder-pumping fortissimos, yet his refusal to take the easy rhetorical way out reveals felicities and subtleties that often pass by unacknowledged. Colli’s captivating ability to illuminate even the most densely packed musical terrain pays special dividends in Scriabin’s singlemovement final Sonata, which for once emerges as a structure of

BACKGROUND TO… Franz Xaver Scharwenka c.1850-1924 Although Scharwenka showed talent as a pianist as a child, it wasn’t until he was 15 that the Polish-born German moved to Berlin to study music formally. A pupil of Kullak, he soon developed the virtuoso technique and singing style that made him one of the leading Chopin players of his day. His four piano concertos and many piano pieces are in a tuneful lateRomantic style. He also opened a succesful music conservatory in Berlin, with a branch in New York.

supreme logic, propelled rather than merely embellished by mystical ripplings and flutterings. Turning to Musorgsky’s groundbreaking Pictures at an Exhibition, some may feel that the psychotic changeability of ‘The Gnome’’s distorted gyrations are a shade underplayed here in the interests of musical continuity, yet the haunting, pedal-pointed introspection of ‘The Old Castle’ and spectral weightlessness of ‘Con mortuis in lingua mortua’ are magically conveyed. Colli excels in conjuring up the massive, clangourous sonorities required for ‘Bydlo’ and ‘The Great Gate of Kiev’ without any harshness of tone, yet also possesses a deft, fleet-fingered touch ideal for ‘The Tuileries’ and ‘The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks’. A highly accomplished debut that bodes well for the future. Julian Haylock HHHH HHHH

PERFORMANCE RECORDING

STANFORD Organ works, Vol. 2 Simon Niemi´nski (organ) Resonus RES10130 68:05 mins

Download only: resonusclassics.com

Despite a huge compositional output, Charles Villiers Stanford’s reputation rests today largely – and not unfairly – on his church music. Some of his symphonies, operas and string quartets really deserve to be better known, but it is harder to make a convincing case for his organ music, which seldom rises above the generic in its inspiration. Since some of the best pieces were already ‘used up’ in the first volume of Resonus’s survey, this new release traverses some quite unrewarding thickets, notwithstanding sensitive performances from organist Simon Niemi´nski, who is always alert to the musical possibilities of the material. The most significant piece is the Organ Sonata No. 1, the first of five sonatas Stanford wrote for the instrument during late World War I. Its three compact movements are unconventional in their structure, and Niemi´nski makes the most of the work’s rhapsodic opening and its grandiose conclusion. The music sounds ‘in period’ thanks to the 1913 organ of the Freemasons’ Hall in Edinburgh, yet the instrument’s diapason-rich tone is sometimes muddy and seldom exciting; it’s a

town-hall sound and much of the music, not least the opening March Eroica, seems designed for a townhall audience. Two world premiere recordings, including of The Angelus, Op. 194 (the composer’s last opus number), will appeal to Stanford completists. John Allison PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHH HHH

REISSUES Reviewed by Paul Riley

PURCELL Harpsichord Suites Nos 1-8; Ground in G minor; A New Ground in E minor; Hornpipe in E minor Kenneth Gilbert (harpsichord) Harmonia Mundi HMA 19514996 (1994) 66:52 mins

BBC Music Direct

TCHAIKOVSKY Grande sonate, Op. 37; Romanze, Op. 5; Aveu passionné

SCHARWENKA Piano Sonata No. 2; Nos 1 & 2 from ‘Im Freien’, 5 Tonbilder Op. 38 Joseph Moog (piano) Onyx ONYX 4126 66:05 mins

BBC Music Direct

£14.99

Tchaikovsky’s sprawling G major Sonata has length while lacking in quality. Despite being championed by a handful of truly great virtuosos (most notably Sviatoslav Richter, Shura Cherkassky and Mikhail Pletnev), it has manfully failed to make friends, much less influence people. While it behoves us, I suppose, to heed to the arguments of such stellar artists, they all in practice refute Alfred Brendel’s contention that you can’t play a piece better than it is. Had it not been by Tchaikovsky, I can’t help wondering, would this bombast even have made it into the 20th century (let alone into ours)? For me, alas, it comes close to exemplifying all the worst excesses of Romantic piano music. Joseph Moog, obviously, disagrees, and gives a strong performance: rich and lavishly varied in sound, powerful, panoramically phrased with an impressive command of largescale structure, and characterised with enough sleight-of-hand to persuade us (almost) that the Scherzo could even be the work of Schumann on an off day. The Scharwenka, composed in 1877 and here receiving its second ever recording, is positively heroic in its obscurity, but deserves to be better known. Far more expertly crafted, and more pianistically idiomatic than Tchaikovsky’s quasiorchestral floundering, it too receives a performance of exceptional polish, authority and conviction. Jeremy Siepmann PERFORMANCE RECORDING

To order CDs call BBC Music Direct +44 (0)1322 297 515; prices include P&P

vk.com/englishlibrary

HHHH HHHH

£8.99

Gilbert offers an urbane and stylish alternative to Richard Egarr’s more theatrical set. Instrument and recording are beautifully married. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHHHH

JS BACH Prelude et fugue BWV 870; French Suite No. 5; Toccata BWV 912; English Suite; No. 3; Suite in A minor, BWV 818 Céline Frisch (harpsichord) Harmonia Mundi HMA 1951707 (2000) 63:17 mins

BBC Music Direct

£8.99

A Harmonia Mundi ‘Young Artist’ when this anthology was first released, Frisch oozes youthful impetuosity. The rarely performed A minor Suite is full of vitality. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHHH

LISZT • WAGNER Liszt: Sonata in B minor; Trübe Wolken; Unstern! Sinistre, disastro etc; Wagner: Venezia: Lento assai Paul Lewis (piano) Harmonia Mundi HMA 1951845 (2004) 60:00 mins

BBC Music Direct

£8.99

Not for Lewis an empty display of pyrotechnics or sentimental indulgence. The Sonata is rigorous and driven by architectural acuity. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHHH

RACHMANINOV Etudes-tableaux Opp 33 & 39 Nicholas Angelich (piano) Harmonia Mundi HMA 1951547 (1995) 65:40 mins

BBC Music Direct

£8.99

Rachmaninov’s enigmatic studies are not the easiest nuts to crack, but Angelich’s insightful colours have the measure of their limpid introspection and fantasy. PERFORMANCE HHHH RECORDING HHHH

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

97

Brilliant Classics is proud to present the most comprehensive Schubert Edition ever released…

94870

69 CD Box

Schubert Edition Artists include: Alfred Brendel • György Pauk • Soile Isokoski • Robert Holl Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau • Siegfried Lorenz • Gundula Janowitz Peter Schreier • Berlin Philharmonic Octet • Brandis Quartet Staatskapelle Dresden • Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin

94940

J.S. Bach Complete Edition

95010

Mozart Complete Edition

www.brilliantclassics.com

vk.com/englishlibrary

www.rskentertainment.co.uk

BRIEF NOTES Your quick listening guide to more new releases, including symphonies by Christopher Gunning and visceral Beethoven from the Cremona Quartet Beethoven String Quartets, Op. 18 No. 4; Op. 59 No. 1; Op. 133 Cremona Quartet Audite 92.682 £14.99 Early, middle and late Beethoven is projected with visceral excitement and pulsating energy by this gifted quartet. Occasionally I missed a more lyrical approach, especially in Op. 59 No. 1. (EL) ++++

Lyris Quartet; Håkan Rosengren (clarinet), Clive Greensmith (cello), Mikhail Korzhev (piano) Toccata TOCC 0220 £12.99 Excellent performances of lithe music. The string quartets impress: they and the Clarinet Trio are first recordings of works from Schurmann’s eighth decade and after. (TB) ++++

Michi Gaigg conducts Rameau

REINHARD WINKLER

Warlock Choral music including The Full Heart, Corpus Christi & Bethlehem Down

Jacobson Theme and Variations; The Music Room; Mosaic; The Song of Songs

Czech NSO/Marek ≤tilec Naxos 8.573197 £6.99 Fibich was one of the great innovators of Czech Romanticism. His fine orchestration and melodic gifts are on show in these elegantly performed symphonic poems. (JS) ++++

Julian Jacobson (piano), Jennifer Johnston (mezzo), Raphael Wallfisch (cello), Mariko Brown (piano) Naxos 8.571351 £6.99 A familiar Englishmusic syndrome: an idiom of real fluency and command thwarted by low creative horizons. Decent performances throughout. (MH) +++

Grundman A Mortuis Resurgere

Mahler Symphony No. 9

Susana Cordón (soprano); Brodsky Quartet Chandos CHSA 5138 £12.99 Not even the Brodsky Quartet’s high-class advocacy can make a persuasive case for this overlong, diffuse, Resurrection-related counterpart to Haydn’s Seven Last Words. (MH) +++

Danish National Symphony Orchestra/Michael Schønwandt Challenge CC72636 £14.99 This live recording has its moments, especially in the Adagio. But ensemble can be crumbly, and brass lords it over strings in the recorded balance. (TB) +++

Gunning Symphonies Nos 6 & 7; Night Voyage

Rebel • Rameau Les elémens; Castor et Pollux Suite

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/ Christopher Gunning Discovery DMV112 £15.99 A fine composer for television, Gunning here impresses with two symphonic statements of superb economy, plus the swishier Night Voyage. (MH) +++++

L’Orfeo Barockorchester/Michi Gaigg CPO 777 914-2 £10.99 Les elémens opens with French Baroque music’s greatest shocker: grinding chords prelude eruptions of instrumental colour. Rameau’s Castor et Pollux dances add to these superb performances. (JS) +++++

Fibich Othello; Zaboj, Slavoj and Ludek; Toman and the Wood Nymph; The Tempest; The Spring

Debussy Quartet Evidence EVCD001 £15.99 An excellent pairing, touched by poignancy and drama. The Debussy Quartet are certainly dramatic, but ensemble is occasionally lacking and the sound rather shallow. (JS) +++

Schurmann Chamber music, Vol. 2

baroque shocks:

Brahms German Requiem Vocal Concert Dresden; Dresden Kreuzchor; Dresden Philharmonie/ Roderich Kreile Berlin Classics 0300569BC £14.99 Using boy trebles yields unique limpidity in this live recording, especially in the sublime concluding movement. But it lacks distinctiveness overall. (TB) +++

Schubert Quartet No. 14; JanáΩek Quartet No. 1

Röntgen Late String Trios Offenburg String Trio Naxos 8.573384 £6.99 Composed during the 1920s, these late fruits of Röntgen’s prolific chamber output are resourceful and nostalgic in style. These performances would benefit from a wider dynamic range. (EL) +++

Röntgen Chamber Music, Vol. 1 Atsuko Sahara (violin), John Lenehan (piano) Toccata TOCC 0024 £12.99 Julius Röntgen’s melodic fecundity is heard in the Brahmsian E major Sonata and the Grieg-inspired Aus Jotunheim, whereas darker resonances infuse the later Sonata trilogica. (EL) ++++

Rott Balde ruhest du auch! Lieder-Reise für Bariton und Orchester; Symphony in E Michael Volle (baritone); Münchner Symphoniker/Hansjörg Albrecht Oehms Classics OC 1803 £10.99 Fascinating thematic links to some of Mahler’s Symphonies permeate the Scherzo and Finale of Rott’s 1880 Symphony. It’s expansively performed by the Munich orchestra and captured in luxuriant sound. (EL) ++++

To order CDs call BBC Music Direct +44 (0)1322 297 515; prices include P&P

vk.com/englishlibrary

Rachel Haworth (organ); The Carice Singers/George Parris Naxos 8.573227 £6.99 It’s good to have so many of Warlock’s choral settings on one disc, sensitively performed by this technically confident group of singers. No texts, but still it’s a very valuable collection. (TB) +++

A Forgotten English Romantic Greville Cooke, Holst and Vaughan Williams Piano Music Duncan Honeybourne (piano) EM Records EMR CD022 £15.99 English-music beachcombers will appreciate these undemanding creations, among which occasionally (as in Reef’s End) something more individual rises to the surface. Fine performances, but too closely recorded. (MH) +++

From Bohemia to Wessex Martinu˚: Cello Sonata No. 2; Barton Armstrong: Cello Sonata; Thompson: Cello Sonatina Lionel Handy (cello), Nigel Clayton (piano) Sleeveless Records SLV1011 £13.99 Strong melodic and rhythmic lines in Martinu˚’s Sonata put the companion works into perspective. Thompson’s three-movement Sonatina is lyrically captivating. Eloquent performances. (JS) ++++ Critics: Terry Blain (TB), Malcolm Hayes (MH), Erik Levi (EL), Jan Smaczny (JS)

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

99

JAZZ Arve Henriksen works with strings; a long-awaited release by Partisans; Andrew McCormack’s trio; plus legends Ahmad Jamal and Yusef Lateef

JAZZ CHOICE

Northern star Roger Thomas enjoys the latest release by Norwegian trumpeter Arve Henriksen

PARTISANS Swamp Julian Siegel (sax, clarinet), Phil Robson (guitar), Thaddeus Kelly (bass) etc Whirlwind Recordings WR4657 53 mins

BBC Music Direct

£13.99

full of surprises: Arve Henriksen draws from many sources

ARVE HENRIKSEN The Nature of Connections Arve Henriksen (trumpet), Nils Økland, Gjermund Larsen (violin), Svante Henryson (cello), Mats Eilertson (bass), Audun Kleive (drums) Rune Grammofon RCD2161 43 mins

BBC Music Direct

£13.99

Connections indeed. This excellent album is like an elegant railway system linking jazz, folk, tango, Berlin cabaret music, middleeastern music and the chamber music style of the post-serialist 20th-century conservatoire. But to describe it as such gives the impression of overcooking when

in fact the whole project is a masterpiece of subtlety. Henriksen’s take on the lineage of the cool, spacey trumpet is less than conventional here, seeing him summoning woodwind-like tones from the instrument which float benignly over the sound of a string-driven ensemble that in its turn adds a rich and not entirely predictable harmonic foundation to the music. The surprises, when they come, are effective but discreet: a gamelan-like riff is played as pizzicato harmonics, a delicate curlicue of a bass line underpins what sounds like a Gaelic lament, and a close-knit ensemble passage develops from a single phrase. The recorded sound balances detail and warmth. PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHHH HHHHH

Hear an excerpt of this recording at www.classical-music.com

1601 0 0

BBB C CMM UU S ISCI CMM AA GG AA ZZ IN IN EE

It’s been five years since By Proxy, the last album by Partisans. But with input from its core writing duo, saxist Julian Siegel and guitarist Phil Robson, this heavyweight jazz quartet continues to carve its own niche, with an eclectic jazz mix, as though it never had a break. Swamp’s opener ‘Flip the Sneck’, apparently a reference to a door latch, revisits threads of previous discs, as African ‘hi-life’ rhythms collide with guitarist Robson’s distorted rock-style solos. And ‘Low Glow’ has a rippling jazz groove that gently builds under Siegel’s complex bop sax runs. For the title track, the band injects a 1970s cinematic quality, launching into a broodingly percussive tumbling groove, before a loose and funky close. And, by way of contrast the band swings on ‘Overview’ and in ‘Icicle Architects’ Siegel leads in on reflective clarinet. All in all, Swamp has definitely been worth the wait. Neil McKim PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHHH HHHHH

ANDREW MCCORMACK First Light Andrew McCormack (piano), Zack Lober (bass), Colin Stranahan (drums) Edition EDN1052 47 mins

BBC Music Direct

£13.99

Recent publicity suggests that McCormack is now at the pinnacle of his compositional and pianistic

vk.com/englishlibrary

powers. That remains to be seen (he may scale greater heights in the future) but if he never achieves anything better than this album he has ample reason to be proud. The opener, ‘Prospect Park’, is a joyous, dancing piece which engages you. It’s followed by ‘Gotham Soul’, a slow, slightly mysterious ballad edged with a rueful feel. This features a thoughtful, melodic solo by Lober, as does ‘Leap of Faith’, which reminds me a little of the work of the late, great, unjustly overlooked Mike Taylor. McCormack continues to ring the changes in mood, structure and tempo, making for a constantly interesting programme. The considerable degree of balance and integration of melody, harmony and rhythm, of composition and improvisation, of exploration, individuality and tradition is impressively maintained throughout. Barry Witherden PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHHH HHHHH

AHMAD JAMAL • YUSEF LATEEF Live at the Olympia June 27, 2012 Ahmad Jamal (piano), Yusef Lateef (sax, flutes, vocals) etc Jazz Village JV 570053.55 107 mins (2 discs) + DVD

BBC Music Direct

£20.99

Pianist Ahmad Jamal and his guest star here, the late Yusef Lateef, are arguably the most influential jazz musicians ever – at least indirectly. Miles Davis credited Jamal with shaping his approach, while that other jazz titan, John Coltrane, acknowledged Lateef (who died last year) as a role model. So, what a treat to hear (and see) these venerable players together, in a sparkling show that belies their combined 173 years. The first CD is a live reprise of Jamal’s Blue Moon CD, a classic from the same year as this Paris concert. It has the leader meandering through a programme of post-war standards, the rhythm section responding to Jamal’s tart two-handed, party time thrills and spills. ‘The Gentle Giant’, 93-year-old Lateef, joins the quartet in the second half, adding worldly tone colours to Jamal’s twinkling Americana with his assorted reeds, flutes and vocal effects. It’s touching and toe tapping in equal measure. Garry Booth PERFORMANCE RECORDING

HHHH HHHHH

JAZZ REVIEWS

BACK ISSUES

JAZZ STARTER COLLECTION political edge: Haden founded the Liberation Music Orchestra

JULY 2014

AUGUST 2014

SEPTEMBER 2014

Join us for our complete guide to this year’s BBC Proms! Plus an exclusive interview with conductor Sir Andrew Davis

We meet violinist Tasmin Little as she prepares for her 20th Prom; plus a cover CD of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata

An in-depth look at the life of Maria Callas, the legendary soprano; plus our free cover CD features Callas herself

No. 171 Charlie Haden n We’re sorry, but issues of BBC Music published more than 12 months ago are no longer available.

GETTY

Geoffrey Smith, presenter of Geoffrey Smith’s Jazz, on the career of the bassist and modern jazz pioneer When Charlie Haden died in July, the first image I recalled was his appearance at the 2008 BBC Jazz Awards. Amid the hyperactive star turns, from fusion to free, Haden stopped the show with an unaccompanied bass solo, a spontaneous meditation at once simple and lyrical, abstract and profound. His magnificent tone gave every note the purity of song. Song was in his blood. His Midwestern family combined farming with a country music radio show, in which ‘Cowboy Charlie’ was featured from the age of two. At 14, a Jazz at the Philharmonic concert with saxist Charlie Parker changed his life. He took up the bass and made for Los Angeles, where, in 1957, he met Ornette Coleman, when the altoist was still dismissed as an outlandish primitive. But Coleman’s passionate, bluesy freedom spoke to Haden’s country roots. By 1959 he was a member of the Coleman quartet that took New York by storm and created such landmark discs as The Shape of Jazz to Come. Haden’s instinct for lyricism and spontaneity provided the perfect foil for Coleman’s free-range flights, while his rich sound and

down-home pulse gave the group an unshakeable core. His talent for inspired interaction made him an ideal partner for a host of artists, including Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny, across a wide spectrum of styles. To Haden, all music was one, and in 1969 he embodied his commitment to music, humanity and freedom in his Liberation Music Orchestra with arranger Carla Bley, mixing politics and jazz. In his long career, song remained at the centre of his art. Launched in 1987, his Quartet West celebrated the great standards of the 1940s, particularly those associated with film. In 2008, he paid homage to where it all began, with the CD Rambling Boy, evoking the days and tunes of the Haden family radio show. But a good place to begin appreciating his talent might be one of his late duo albums with Keith Jarrett. As the pianist put it, ‘When we play together, it’s like two people singing’. Geoffrey Smith’s essential guide to jazz, the ‘100 Jazz Legends’ iPad app, is available on iTunes for £4.99 CD CHOICE

BBC Music Magazine and CD slipcases are perfect for storing your collection. Subscribers can save up to 30% when ordering both together.

UP TO

30%

OFF FOR S SUBSCRIBER

TO ORDER CALL

0844 844 0260 BACK ISSUE PRICES

SUBSCRIBERS n n n

NON-SUBSCRIBERS

UK – £4.48 per copy Europe – £5.28 per copy Rest of world – £6.08 per copy

n n n

UK – £5.60 per copy Europe – £6.60 per copy Rest of world – £7.60 per copy

SLIPCASE PRICES t SUBSCRIBERS LOCATION

UK Europe Rest of World

MAGAZINE & CD HOLDER Save 30%

MAGAZINE HOLDER Save 20%

CD HOLDER Save 20%

£11.50 £14.00 £16.20

£6.80 £8.00 £9.15

£6.40 £7.15 £8.75

MAGAZINE HOLDER £8.50 £10.00 £11.50

CD HOLDER £8.00 £9.00 £11.00

t NON-SUBSCRIBERS Jasmine Keith Jarrett/ Charlie Haden ECM 273 3485 £14.99

LOCATION UK Europe Rest of World

vk.com/englishlibrary

MAGAZINE & CD HOLDER £16.50 £20.20 £23.25

KEEP UP TO DATE Find us on Facebook

vk.com/englishlibrary

BOOKS The question of why music moves us is explored in detail in a learned history of absolute music; plus violinist Walter Levin talks about the life and legacy of his groundbreaking ensemble, the LaSalle Quartet

ABSOLUTE MUSIC: The History of an Idea Mark Evan Bonds Oxford University Press ISBN 978-0-19934363 375pp

BBC Music Direct

BOOKS CHOICE

A history of pioneers Malcolm Hayes enjoys an insider’s account of the LaSalle Quartet ahead of the game: The LaSalle Quartet premiered new works

THE LASALLE QUARTET: Conversations with Walter Levin Robert Spruytenburg Boydell Press ISBN 978-1-84383-835-7 398pp

BBC Music Direct

£25

How did the name come about? I always wondered too. The answer comes in one of the myriad anecdotes provided by Walter Levin, the LaSalle Quartet’s leader (and only constant member during its 1946-88 lifetime), in this long sequence of interviews by formidably knowledgeable admirer Robert Spruytenburg. The Juilliard Quartet’s leader Robert

The LaSalle Quartet made some truly classic recordings Mann was on the telephone placing a date for the brilliant and still nameless young ensemble he and his colleagues were mentoring: asked who they were, Mann glanced out of his New York apartment window, saw the street sign at the corner of Broadway and LaSalle, and decided that the Broadway Quartet wouldn’t be quite the right choice. The rest is musical history. With their trademark repertory of both traditional and modern works, the LaSalles eventually signed with Deutsche Grammophon to make

some truly classic recordings – the complete quartets of Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and Zemlinsky, plus new pieces by Lutos⌅awski, Ligeti, Nono and others. Levin’s reminiscing is engaging, very occasionally barbed (he disliked Ligeti personally), and indicates a musical mind of phenomenal acuteness and experience. His early life story (Berlin to America, via upbringing in Palestine) is a remarkable epic in itself, as is that of his pianist wife Evi (Bulgaria to America, via fascist Italy and Spain); as he says, ‘Maybe there’s something like providence

after all.’ Circles are intriguingly squared – while the LaSalle repertory favoured an intellectual streak, Levin also insists: ‘Opera has to do with the rhetoric of music, with its inflections … as a string player you have to know all these things that come from the art of singing.’ There are blind spots: Janácˇek is never mentioned at all, Shostakovich only dismissively. Given the range of achievement in the Quartet’s chosen territory, that’s fair enough. Altogether a feast of fascinating reading, for stringplaying pundits and interested punters alike. HHHH

vk.com/englishlibrary

£22.99

Anyone for whom music occupies a central role in their lives must sometime have asked themselves ‘What is music and why does it move us?’ So a book of which those questions are the opening words is promising. Mark Evan Bonds, a professor of music at the University of North Carolina, has made a close study of what Western writers have thought about music from Pythagoras to the middle of the 20th century. He is staggeringly learned, referring to or quoting and discussing hundreds of figures, most of whose names will be known by only a tiny group of scholars. The subtitle of his book is ‘The History of an Idea’, and though he shows a well-developed capacity to criticise for inconsistency and poor argument, he is content to set down conflicting views without decisively favouring one or another. The major combatants in this never-ending conflict are those who think that in some sense music, or at least instrumental music, is selfsufficient, doesn’t refer to anything outside itself, and moves us simply as a set of sounds. And then there are those, beginning with Pythagoras and Plato, who think music is something which reflects a reality outside itself; some even think it mirrors the structure of the world, while the most common view has been that it is expressive of feelings. Wagner, who coined the term ‘absolute music’ in 1846, thought that music needed words in order to clarify what it was expressing, and claimed hostility to absolute music. The Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick took the opposite line. Both were inconsistent, as everyone who has written on the subject has been. Instead of adjudicating, Bonds brings in ever more names, leaving his book one that can only be referred to, not read through. And he stops in 1945, just when much new thinking was starting to be done on the subject. Worst of all, he doesn’t mention Edmund Gurney, whose The Power of Sound is the most impressive contribution ever made to musical aesthetics. Michael Tanner HHH BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

103

AUDIO ROUND-UP Every issue, our audio expert Michael Brook takes a look at the best new audio and video equipment to help you get the most out of recorded classical music

CHOICE surround yourself: the Philips Fidelio E5 offers detachable surround-sound

This also includes ‘NFC’ (Near Field Communication), a wireless standard Philips Fidelio E5 that is becoming increasingly popular. £699 Setting it up is very easy ,and you’ll have it all up and running in 15-20 minutes. There are plenty of options for It’s the on-demand element of enhancing a television’s sound, ranging the system, however, that really gets from a soundbar to a full 5.1 surroundmy vote. Yes, it’ll beef up your TV’s sound speaker system. In between sound, whether in stereo or surround lies the Philips Fidelio E5, a compact speaker system that offers on-demand mode, but you can give your Blu-ray surround-sound or simple two-channel music discs the necessary power and presence, too. This is stereo (with a subwoofer). The Philips Fidelio E5 achieved by simply the The Philips is versatile for more undocking two lightweight, Fidelio E5 dual or less anyone to use gorgeously putstereo speaker together rear units have the speakers, combined, of course, with smaller rear speakers ‘docked’ on top the wireless subwoofer that can be of them. But as they’re wireless (as placed anywhere. The result is a system is the subwoofer) you can unattach them and place them around the room that’s versatile enough for more or less anyone to use. for around ten hours of use before If I really had to pick fault, I’d they need to be returned to the parent point to the lack of the level of finespeakers for charging. That takes tuning you’d get with a ‘proper’ four hours. 5.1 surround-sound system. But The means of connecting the Philips the Fidelio E5 offers so much more Fidelio E5 to your music system range convenience, so I’ll forgive it that. from a simple 3.5mm jack to digital www.philips.co.uk HHHHH options, HDMI and even Bluetooth. SURROUND-SOUND SYSTEM

SPORTS EARPHONES

Sennheiser CX685 £50 It doesn’t matter how much you spend on a pair of conventional earphones for exercise. Just take them out running and it is likely to be only a matter of weeks before they are rendered useless by sweat continually getting into them. So if you want to listen to music while out exercising, a dedicated pair of sports earphones is the best option, designed to deal with the effects of excess moisture while out and about. This is where Sennheiser’s CX685 comes in, with its extreme sweat-resistance taking even the heaviest of exertion in its stride. As one might expect, Sennheiser hasn’t skimped on technical excellence, and its unique ‘slide-to-fit’ in-ear mechanism creates a snug fit. Admittedly, in terms of sound reproduction, they’re not the most accomplished earphones, but their rugged design makes up for any audio shortcomings. www.sennheiser.co.uk HHHH AUDIOPHILE-GRADE WIRELESS SPEAKERS

Dynaudio Xeo 6 £2,700 I reviewed Dynaudio’s wireless Xeo 5 floorstanding speakers back in 2012 and was impressed by their performance. Dynaudio has steered clear of widespread wireless formats like Bluetooth to ensure its Xeo speakers suffer none of the quality loss that competing wire-free models exhibit, and has instead developed its own proprietary system. The Xeo 6s sport a wireless transmitter hub and a remote control – and that’s it, bar the speakers themselves. But, given the Xeo’s onboard amplification, they require power, so you’ll need an electrical outlet near each one. That extra effort is repaid tenfold, however, by their incredible dynamic range, bringing out the best in all but the most compressed digital files. There’s a premium to pay for all this performance, but for true ‘hi-fi’ digital reproduction, the Xeo 6 is worth the outlay. www.dynaudio.com/uk

HHHHH

104

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC MUSIC AUDIO NEWS Michael Brook’s round-up of this month’s biggest audio stories Bose takes on Beats Noise-cancelling headphone pioneer Bose is pursuing legal action to protect the technology featured in its ‘QuietComfort’ range. Bose claims that its rival, Beats Electronics, has infringed five of its patents, and is seeking compensation plus a ban of imports and sales of certain Beats headphone models. The patent dispute comes amid Beats’s acquisition by Apple, which may explain the timing. ‘It’s not uncommon, because when companies are being taken over, they don’t want the uncertainty of litigation, so they are more likely to be inclined to settle,’ says Ilya Kazi from the UK’s Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys. www.bose.co.uk

On the ball Nakamichi, famed for its legendary Dragon cassette deck, has launched the NBS 10 wireless stereo speaker ball. The £59 compact speaker fits in the palm of your hand, comes in five striking colours – black, blue, pink, yellow and purple – and is designed for indoor and outdoor use. Thanks to A2DP, a wireless technology for transmitting stereo music via Bluetooth, it’s compatible with most mobile devices as well as iOS, Android, Mac and PC. And if you’re still stuck, there’s a good old-fashioned 3.5mm jack with which to connect your device. www.nakamichi.com

Beware before you share In the ongoing battle to prevent illegal file-sharing, Creative Content UK, a scheme that has been welcomed by the government, aims to inform users if their online connections are being used to share copyrighted music and to suggest legal alternatives. The initiative will send out ‘educational notices’ to internet users who have been detected by copyright owners and will be supported by a three-year education programme run by the creative sector and the government. Online piracy is estimated to cost the global music industry £7bn each year, despite the legal streaming and download services that now exist. www.gov.uk

Whatever the weather... Tackling the changeable British climate head-on, audio company Creative has developed the £50 Muvo Mini wireless outdoor speaker, built to withstand whatever horrors the weather can throw at it. It comes in a choice of four colours and boasts room(or garden-) filling sound, all wrapped up in a ‘grip-friendly’ rubber case. Bluetooth wireless technology takes care of connectivity and the internal battery provides up to ten hours from a single charge. The Muvo has also been awarded an IP66 ‘ingress protection’ rating, which means it is totally dust-proof and can withstand powerful jets of water and even heavy seas. uk.creative.com

vk.com/englishlibrary

LIVE CHOICE 20 UNMISSABLE EVENTS FOR OCTOBER 2014 The BBC Music Magazine guide to the very best concerts and opera – including highlights from the UK’s amateur scene For detailed concert listings visit www.classical-music.com/whats-on

1CUMNOCK TRYST

Cumnock, Ayrshire, 2-5 October Tel: +44 (0)1563 554900 Web: www.thecumnocktryst.com Inspired by the community aspect of Britten’s Aldeburgh Festival and Maxwell Davies in Orkney, James MacMillan unveils a new festival in his hometown of Cumnock. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, violinist Nicola Benedetti and The Sixteen are among those bound for Ayrshire, and the Palladian splendour of Dumfries House supplies the backdrop to a promenading finale that includes the premiere of a new piece by MacMillan himself.

RICHARD CANNON, PETER KNUTSON, MARCO BORGGREVE

PHILHARMONIC 2 LONDON ORCHESTRA

Southbank Centre, London, 3 October Tel: 0844 875 0073 (UK only) Web: www.southbankcentre.co.uk ‘Rachmaninov Inside Out’ is an 11-concert survey of the Russian’s music that will carry the LPO through to next April. All six versions of the four Piano Concertos are included and there’s a rare chance to hear the cantata Spring, as well as the opera The Miserly Knight. Here, conductor Vladimir Jurowski raises the curtain with the 17-year-old student’s Piano Concerto No. 1, performed by Alexander Ghindin, plus the swansong Symphonic Dances, and The Isle of the Dead.

NATIONAL 3 BBC ORCHESTRA OF WALES

St David’s Hall, Cardiff, 3 October Tel: 0800 052 1812 (UK only) Web: www.bbc.co.uk/bbcnow The grass is green in Cardiff, where BBC National Orchestra of Wales opens its season with the Bosch-inspired The Garden of Delights by B Tommy Andersson, the ensemble’s new composer-in-association.

106

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

key performance: Kristian Bezuidenhout plays Bach sonatas

4 TETBURY FESTIVAL

St Mary’s Church, Tetbury, 2-5 October Tel: +44 (0)1666 503552 Web: tetburymusicfestival.org.uk Works by JS Bach sit at either end of this year’s small but exquisitely formed Gloucestershire festival. Between violin sonatas – solo and accompanied – played by violinist Rachel Podger and harpsichordist Kristian Bezuidenhout (above), and the Dunedin Consort’s St John Passion, Cuarteto Casals tackles Ligeti, mezzo Ann Murray polishes her Purcell, while Trio Apaches moors up for Sally Beamish’s ingenious piano trio transcription of Debussy’s orchestral masterpiece La Mer.

vk.com/englishlibrary

Soprano Ann Petersen then invites us to reflect wistfully back on times past as she sings Strauss’s Four Last Songs, before Sibelius’s Second Symphony ends the evening with a burst of Mediterranean sun. See ‘Backstage with’, right

5 SWANSEA FESTIVAL

Swansea, 4-18 October Tel: +44 (0)1792 475715 Web: www.swanseafestival.org It’s a very busy month for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (see above and below), which also heads west for the Swansea Festival. Here, the celebrations revolve around the re-opening of the city’s restored Brangwyn Hall and the 100th anniversary of the birth of local-based poet Dylan Thomas. The BBC National Orchestra and Chorus lead the way with John Corigliano’s ‘memory play’ A Dylan Thomas Trilogy, while Swansea-born soprano Elin Manahan Thomas gives a Dylan Thomas-inspired song recital touching on Lutyens, Stravinsky, Richard Rodney Bennett and Poulenc.

OCTOBER 2014 LIVE EVENTS

BACKSTAGE WITH…

artful approach: Andersson is inspired by Hieronymus Bosch

B Tommy Andersson The BBC National Orchestra of Wales is beginning its new season with your The Garden of Delights. Can you tell us about it? I wrote this piece in 2009, and it is inspired by the Hieronymus Bosch triptych of the same name. I’ve tried to capture above all the liveliness and energy that you find in the painting’s central panel, but also the serenity of the left-hand panel. The work is basically a romantic Adagio, which is surrounded by a very intense beginning and intense ending.

wintry setting: chilly Schubert in the hands of Sir Thomas Allen (Choice 8)

6 BRAHMS IN BRISTOL

Colston Hall & St George’s, Bristol, 6-10 October Tel: 0845 402400 Web: www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk, www.colstonhall.org BBC Radio 3 descends on Bristol for an immersive Brahms week that includes the late piano works played by Stephen Kovacevich and Daniel Hope’s tribute to fellow violinist Joseph Joachim. The Brahms Double Concerto is at the heart of a BBC National Orchestra of Wales concert at Colston Hall, and back at St George’s, the BBC Singers partner the Geistliches Lied with the German Requiem in its piano duo incarnation.

OF LONDON 7CITY SINFONIA

Southwark Cathedral, London, 8 October Tel: +44 (0)20 7377 1362 Web: www.cityoflondonsinfonia.co.uk The City of London Sinfonia is brushing up its Shakespeare this month. It takes Walton’s

music for Henry V and Richard III to Cadogan Hall, explores Korngold’s Much Ado and Shostakovich’s Hamlet at Shoreditch’s Village Underground, and begins in Southwark where, conducted by Stephen Layton, Shakespearean Purcell, Vaughan Williams, Finzi and Mendelssohn surround the premiere of a new piece by Owain Park.

8 THE SCHUBERT PROJECT

Oxford, 10 October – 1 November Tel: +44 (0)1865 305305 Web: www.oxfordlieder.co.uk Oxford Lieder Festival is organising the mother of all Schubertiads. Spread over some 60 concerts, a lieder A-list of singers such as Christiane Karg, Sarah Connolly, Christoph Prégardien and Christopher Maltman perform Schubert’s entire song output alongside chamber music, a new play by Iain Burnside and a Viennese Coffee Morning at the Ashmolean Museum. Winterreise braves the cold twice over with tenor and baritone perspectives from Ian Bostridge and > Sir Thomas Allen (above).

vk.com/englishlibrary

The performance also marks the start of your years as BBC NOW’s composer-in-association. Why did you decide to start with this work? I think it was actually conductor Thomas Søndergård’s choice. He has conducted it before, with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra a couple of years ago, and it was a big success. I think the work itself captures the listener’s attention very easily and so makes a very good introduction to my work. What will the post of composer-inassociation involve? The orchestra will play quite a few of my compositions over the year, and will also premiere a new piece later in the season. In February they are performing a full portrait concert, in which they will be playing only my music, which is fantastic. As I am also a conductor, they have invited me to conduct a concert of Swedish music in January. Are you a passionate advocate of music from your home country? Yes. I believe that both the audience and orchestra will really like it. Swedish music is not very well known outside Scandinavia, as it always falls in the shadow of Sibelius, Nielsen and Grieg from our neighbouring countries. I think this is possibly because we in Sweden have not been very good at appreciating our own cultural heritage – we are too quick to adopt things from abroad. See Choice No. 3

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

107

OCTOBER 2014 LIVE EVENTS

9THE HALLÉ

Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, 9 October Tel: 0844 907 9000 (UK only) Web: www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk The complete concertos of Shostakovich are threaded through the Hallé’s concerts between now and May (when Benjamin Grosvenor will play both Piano Concertos in a single programme). First off, Viktoria Mullova is the soloist as Mark Elder conducts the Violin Concerto No. 1 – ahead of a performance of Ravel’s shimmering ‘choreographic symphony in three parts’, Daphnis et Chloé.

Why not visit… Ardnamurchan Point The remote inspiration for the Master of the Queen’s Music

MUSIC 10 VINTAGE FESTIVAL

Beaulieu, Hampshire, 10-12 October Tel: +44 (0)7979 546591 Web: www.vintagemusic.org.uk It’s not just the cars that are vintage in Beaulieu. To christen Palace House’s newly restored 1825 Broadwood piano, the first Vintage Music Festival road-tests it with two concerts featuring David Owen Norris and Thomas Guthrie: one devoted to the Schumanns, the other ‘A Musical Wind in the Willows’. In the Abbey Church, meanwhile, La Serenissima promises an evening of Vivaldi.

11 EX CATHEDRA

Town Hall, Birmingham, 12 October Tel: +44 (0)121 345 0498 Web: www.thsh.co.uk Conductor Jeffrey Skidmore’s Birminghambased choir signed off last season with Venetian music written to celebrate the birth of Louis XIV. They pick up where they left off, but this time they track the Sun King to Versailles. A programme of works by MichelRichard de Lalande includes his setting of the De Profundis sung at Louis’s funeral in 1715.

CHRIS CHRISTODOULOU, THINKSTOCK, RICHARD CANNON, KAUPO KIKKAS

12 I DUE FOSCARI

Royal Opera House, London, from 14 October Tel: +44 (0)20 7304 4000 Web: www.roh.org.uk Plácido Domingo continues his fruitful trespass into baritone territory as he revisits the role of Doge Francesco Foscari in Verdi’s early tragedy – unseen at Covent Garden for nearly 20 years. Francesco Meli plays the Doge’s ill-fated son Jacopo, with Maria Agresti as Lucrezia, in a production by Thaddeus Strassberger previously seen in Los Angeles. Antonio Pappano conducts.

13 TWO MOORS FESTIVAL Various venues, Exmoor and Dartmoor, 15-25 October Tel: +44 (0)1643 831006 Web: www.thetwomoorsfestival.com With Dowland from tenor Mark Padmore, and Schubert and Strauss sung by soprano

108

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

isolated location: Ardnamurchan Point, the backdrop for Judith Weir’s (left) work

S

ir Peter Maxwell Davies, the outgoing Master of the Queen’s Music, is well known for having regularly explored some of Scotland’s more remote corners in his music. His successor, Judith Weir (left), has done likewise, though only one of her works is named after a specific place. In 1990, Weir wrote Ardnamurchan Point, a ten-minute work for two pianos that extols the virtues of a place that, she has admitted, she’s not set eyes on: ‘Ardnamurchan Point is on a very far distant part of the western Scottish coastline. We’d sometimes drive to this place for a beautiful day out. But once you get there, the road bends and winds so much, and we would always set off home before we got to Ardnamurchan Point.’ Those who do complete the journey will find a lighthouse that is open to visitors, and superb west coast views out towards the islands of Coll and Barra. l Where is it?: Ardnamurchan Point is on the B8007, 60 miles from Fort William l For more information: : For details on visiting Ardnamurchan Lighthouse go to www.ardnamurchanlighthouse.com

Kate Royal on the last night, Two Moors is a festival with a song in its heart. Even violinist Viktoria Mullova is getting into the spirit with a programme championing Brazilian song in new arrangements, while pianist Angela Hewitt is inspired by Spain, and it’s back to Bach for harpsichordist Trevor Pinnock.

14 BELFAST FESTIVAL

Queen’s University, Belfast, 16 October – 1 November Tel: +44 (0)28 9097 1197 Web: www.belfastfestival.com There’s Enescu from The Schubert Ensemble, pianist Roland Pöntinen’s Prokofiev and an evening of ‘songs, games and dances at the Café de Paris’ in the company of the Quercas Ensemble. Belfast Festival likes to cast its net widely. But homegrown talent dominates the Ulster Orchestra finale, with Barry Douglas the soloist in Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto and a work by Simon Mawhinney.

vk.com/englishlibrary

TOURING 15 ENGLISH OPERA

Hackney Empire, London 17, 18 October Tel: +44 (0)20 8985 2424 Web: www.englishtouringopera.org.uk English Touring Opera’s extensive autumn tour looks back in time and up into the great beyond. The company will be hoping for lift-off with Haydn’s effervescent operatic take on Carlo Goldoni’s Life on the Moon – Christopher Bucknall conducts Cal McCrystal’s new production. It accompanies a revival of Handel’s Ottone, which tells the story of the 10th-century Holy Roman Emperor.

SYMPHONY 16 LONDON ORCHESTRA

Barbican, London, 23, 30 October Tel: +44 (0)20 7638 8891 Web: www.barbican.org.uk Conductor Bernard Haitink celebrated his 85th birthday at the Barbican earlier this year

OCTOBER 2014 LIVE EVENTS

OVER TO YOU! The non-professional events to catch this month

fine finnish: violinist Anna-Liisa Bezrodny

Glasgow Orchestral Society aldeburgh premiere: Spira Mirabilis tackle a new work by Colin Matthews (Choice 18)

with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Now he returns at the helm of the LSO for two further concerts, the first featuring a single work: Bruckner’s epic Symphony No. 8. In the second, Mitsuko Uchida is the soloist for Mozart’s E flat Piano Concerto K482 which is framed by Debussy’s Prélude á l’après-midi d’un faune and Brahms’s Fourth Symphony.

17 BERG’S WOZZECK

City Halls, Glasgow, 23 October Tel: +44 (0)141 353 8000 Web: www.glasgowconcerthalls.com Marking the centenary of the first staging of Büchner’s Woyzeck, conductor Donald Runnicles and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra give a semi-staged performance of the harrowing opera Alban Berg felt moved to compose having attended the play’s premiere. Roman Trekel is the downtrodden Wozzeck with Elena Zhidkova as Marie, his fatally flirtatious common-law wife bowled over by the dashing Drum Major.

18

SPIRA MIRABILIS

Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh, 24-26 October Tel: +44 (0)1728 687110 Web: www.aldeburgh.co.uk As part of a Britten Weekend that finds The Cardinall’s Musick anticipating Christmas and Aldeburgh Brass investigating ‘Soviet Britten’, the conductor-less chamber orchestra Spira Mirabilis (above) embraces its first commission, premiering a new work specially written for the group by Colin Matthews.

With tenor Christoph Prégardien, its first concert is otherwise devoted to Britten’s ‘little night music’, the Nocturne.

ROYAL LIVERPOOL 19 PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Liverpool Cathedral, 25 October Tel: +44 (0)151 709 3789 Web: www.liverpoolphil.com The RLPO has plenty to celebrate this season, what with its 175th birthday and the reopening of the refurbished Philharmonic Hall next month. Under the lofty vaults of Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral, Vasily Petrenko conducts Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra alongside Vaughan Williams’s seductive Serenade to Music and the premiere of a new setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis by Nico Muhly.

ARTS 20 NATIONAL CENTRE ORCHESTRA

Salisbury Cathedral, 29 October Tel: +44 (0)1722 320333 Web: www.salisburycathedral.org.uk As the centenary of the outbreak of World War I continues to be remembered, violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman brings Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra to Salisbury, where upwards of 30,000 Canadian troops were stationed before being despatched to the Western Front. Part of a ten-concert UK tour, Zukerman plays the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 and directs Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 19 October Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man heralds Glasgow Orchestral Society’s evening of 20th-century music from France and the US, before Stephen Broad conducts the orchestra in Copland’s Third Symphony. Geoffrey Tanti is the soloist in Poulenc’s Piano Concerto and Honegger’s Pacific 231 goes full steam ahead.

Orchestra North East Durham Cathedral, 11 October Finnish violinist Anna-Liisa Bezrodny (above) will be bringing the majesty of her homeland to Durham with Sibelius’s Violin Concerto. Then, it’s over to Germany as Timothy Henty conducts a Romantic double of Wagner’s Tannhäuser overture and Brahms’s Fourth Symphony.

Manchester Chamber Choir Manchester Cathedral, 18 October Bart Van Reyn conducts Manchester Chamber Choir in a deftly chosen selection of Romantic choral works for single and double choir – alongside Schumann, Brahms and Mendelssohn come less familiar pieces by Rheinberger, Cornelius and Wolf.

Ten Tors Orchestra St Andrews, Plymouth, 4 October Conductor Simon Ible and the Ten Tors Orchestra, named after Dartmoor’s stunning scenery, are painting their own vivid musical picture in an evening of ‘Classical Masters’. These range from Haydn’s Symphony No. 83, ‘The Hen’, to Handel’s ‘Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’ from his 1748 oratorio Solomon. Send us your concert details to [email protected]

For details of events in your area, visit our online concert diary at www.classical-music.com/whats-on

vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

109

RADIO & TV LISTINGS This issue we provide full listings for BBC Radio 3 introduced by acting director of the BBC Proms, Edward Blakeman, plus highlights of classical music programmes on television

nash-ional treasures: the Nash Ensemble celebrates its 50th birthday at Wigmore Hall

DIRECTOR’S CHOICE Edward Blakeman, acting director of the BBC Proms, picks out three great moments to tune into in October

HANYA CHLALA, CHRISTIAN RUVOLO

BRAHMS IN BRISTOL Join Radio 3 for its celebration of all things Brahms, as it heads to Bristol for a week of live concerts. Hosted by Tom Service, the ‘Brahms Experience’ aims to shed light on the composer as a ‘multi-dimensional virtuoso’. In the intimate setting of St George’s, Daniel Hope and pianist Sebastian Knauer perform Brahms’s Violin Sonatas, alongside works by near-contemporaries such as Schumann and Mendelssohn. And, thinking small-scale,

110

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

the composer’s Requiem is performed in a version accompanied by two pianos. Over in the 2,000-seat Colston Hall, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales will perform his First Symphony. Each day The Essay will take a look at Brahms in the wider context of his era. Live in Concert; 6-10 October; 7.30pm

NASH ENSEMBLE AT 50 To mark the 50th anniversary of the Nash Ensemble, Radio 3 is broadcasting live from Wigmore Hall, where it has been chamber ensemble-in-residence since 2010. For this anniversary concert, the ensemble is focusing on one of its many strengths, French music. Among this appetising all-French programme, works by Fauré and Ravel are framed by chamber arrangements, including Debussy’s Prélude a l’après-midi d’un faune. And the icing on the birthday cake is supplied by soprano

vk.com/englishlibrary

Kate Royal, singing an arrangement of Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été. Live in Concert; 18 October; 7.30pm

MUSICAL THOUGHTS Radio 3’s presenters will be getting their thinking hats on for a weekend of live broadcasts from Sage Gateshead (31 Oct – 2 Nov). The Free Thinking Festival takes a theme of ‘The Limits of Knowledge’ and features plenty of musical input. Baritone Thomas Allen is dropping in on CD Review to share musical choices while pianist and scholar Kenneth Hamilton explores Chopin’s 24 Preludes in Building A Library. And in a live concert Alexandre Bloch is raising the baton with the Royal Northern Sinfonia for Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony No. 1, which doffs its cap to the stylistic influence of Haydn. Live in Concert; 31 October; 7.30pm

OCTOBER 2014 RADIO & TV LISTINGS 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-12.30am Late Junction

OCTOBER’S RADIO 3 LISTINGS

10 FRIDAY

Schedules may be subject to alteration; for up-to-date listings see Radio Times 1 WEDNESDAY 6.30-9am Breakfast with Petroc Trelawny 9am-12 noon Essential Classics 12 noon-1pm Composer of the Week Dyson 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 2-3.30pm Afternoon on 3 3.30-4.30pm Choral Evensong from Winchester Cathedral 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Dyson (rpt) 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from The Lighthouse, Poole. Prokofiev Symphony No. 1, Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 R Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra. Robert Levin (pno), Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Kirill Karabits 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay

2 THURSDAY 6.30-9am Breakfast with Petroc Trelawny 9am-12 noon Essential Classics 12 noon-1pm Composer of the Week Dyson 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Dyson (rpt) 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. Satie Parade, Milhaud Le Boeuf sur le toit, Le Group des Six Les Maries de la Tour Eiffel, Cole Porter Within the Quota. BBC Concert Orchestra/Keith Lockhart 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-12.30am Late Junction

3 FRIDAY 6.30-9am Breakfast with Petroc Trelawny 9am-12 noon Essential Classics 12 noon-1pm Composer of the Week Dyson 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 2-3.30pm Afternoon on 3 3.30-4.30pm Choral Evensong 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Dyson (rpt) 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from St David’s Hall, Cardiff. B Tommy Andersson Garden of Delights, R Strauss Four Last Songs, Sibelius Symphony No. 2. Ann Petersen (sop), BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Thomas Søndergård 10-10.45pm The Verb

10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-1am World on 3

4 SATURDAY 7-9am Breakfast with Victoria Meakin 9am-12.15pm CD Review – Building a Library with Ivan Hewett: Brahms Piano Quartet in G minor 12.15-1pm Music Matters 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 2-4pm Saturday Classics 4-5pm Sound of Cinema 5-6pm Jazz Record Requests 6-9.30pm Opera on 3 from English National Opera. Handel Xerxes Alice Coote (Xerxes), Andrew Watts (Arsamenes), Sarah Tynan (Romilda), Rhian Lois (Atalanta) etc 9.30-10pm Between the Ears More than a Desert 10pm-12 midnight Hear and Now 12 midnight-1am Geoffrey Smith’s Jazz

5 SUNDAY 7-9am Breakfast with Victoria Meakin 9am-12 noon Sunday Morning 12 noon-1pm Private Passions Roy Foster 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 2-3pm The Early Music Show Lucie Skeaping talks to the Brabant Ensemble’s Stephen Rice about the French Renaissance composer Pierre de Manchicourt 3-4pm Choral Evensong from Winchester Cathedral (rpt) 4-5.30pm The Choir 5.30-6.45m Words and Music 6.45-7.30pm Sunday Feature Global Classical Music 3/3 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from the Barbican, London. Tavener Little Ceremonial, Akhmatova – Requiem, The Protecting Veil. Nicolas Altstaedt (cello), Marie Arnet (sop), Brindley Sherratt (bass), BBC Symphony Orchestra/ Alexander Vedernikov 10-11.30pm Drama on 3

6 MONDAY 6.30-9am Breakfast with Petroc Trelawny 9am-12 noon Essential Classics 12 noon-1pm Composer of the Week Brahms 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Wigmore Hall. Wolf songs from Italienisches Liederbuch, Mahler songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Henk Neven (bar), Hans Eijsackers (pno) 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune

carl calling: Sabine Meyer plays Nielsen (11 October)

6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Brahms (rpt) CHOICE 7.30-10.45pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from St George’s, Bristol. Bristol Brahms Week. Brahms String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 52 No. 2, Dvorˇák String Quartet Op. 96 ‘American’, Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115. Skampa Quartet, Robert Plane (cl) 10.45-11pm The Essay Brahms and his World 11pm-12.30am Jazz on 3

7 TUESDAY 6.30-9am Breakfast with Petroc Trelawny 9am-12 noon Essential Classics 12 noon-1pm Composer of the Week Brahms 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Brahms (rpt) CHOICE 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from St George’s, Bristol. Bristol Brahms Week. Brahms Scherzo in C minor from the FAE Sonata, Schumann Romanze, Brahms Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in D minor, Op. 108, Mendelssohn Two Lieder: Auf Flügeln des Gesanges, Hexenlied, Joachim Romanze in C, Brahms Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in G, Op. 78. Daniel Hope (vln), Sebastian Knauer (pno) 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay

8 WEDNESDAY 6.30-9am Breakfast with Petroc Trelawny 9am-12 noon Essential Classics 12 noon-1pm Composer of

vk.com/englishlibrary

the Week Brahms 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff 2-3.30pm Afternoon on 3 3.30-4.30pm Choral Evensong from Westminster Cathedral 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Brahms (rpt) CHOICE 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from Colston Hall, Bristol. Bristol Brahms Week. Brahms Academic Festival Overture, Double Concerto in A minor Op. 102, Symphony No. 1 in C minor. Andreas Brantelid (cello), Veronika Eberle (vln), BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Tadaaki Otaka. 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay

9 THURSDAY 6.30-9am Breakfast with Petroc Trelawny 9am-12 noon Essential Classics 12 noon-1pm Composer of the Week Brahms 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune a live broadcast with CBBC (at 5.30pm). Suzy Klein and Blue Peter’s Barney Harwood explore the BBC’s ‘Ten Pieces’ initiative, along with the BBC Philharmonic (see box, p113). 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Brahms (rpt) CHOICE 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from St George’s, Bristol. Bristol Brahms Week. Brahms Geistlisches Lied, Op. 30, Variations on a Theme of Haydn (version for two pianos), Requiem (version for two pianos) Charles Owen, Katya Apekisheva (pno), BBC Singers/ David Hill

6.30-9am Breakfast with Petroc Trelawny 9am-12 noon Essential Classics 12 noon-1pm Composer of the Week Brahms 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Brahms (rpt) CHOICE 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from St George’s, Bristol. Bristol Brahms Week. JS Bach Partita No. 4, Brahms Ballade, Op. 10 No. 4, Intermezzo in B minor, Op. 119, Rhapsody in E flat, Op. 119, Intermezzo in A, Op. 76 No. 6, Intermezzo in A minor, Op. 76 No. 7, Capriccio in D minor, Op. 117 No. 7, Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 31, Op. 110. Stephen Kovacevich (pno) 10-10.45pm The Verb 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-1am World on 3

11 SATURDAY 7-9am Breakfast 9am-12.15pm CD Review – Building a Library with Stephen Johnson: Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 12.15-1pm Music Matters 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert European Broadcasting Union 2-4pm Saturday Classics music director Paul Daniel 2/3 4-5pm Sound of Cinema 5-6pm Jazz Record Requests 6-7.30pm Jazz Line-Up 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. Sibelius Rakastava, Nielsen Clarinet Concerto, Op. 57, Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Op. 43, Sabine Meyer (clarinet, pictured above), BBC Philharmonic/John Storgårds 10-10.30pm Between the Ears Coma Songs 10.30pm-12 midnight Hear and Now 12 midnight-1am Geoffrey Smith’s Jazz

12 SUNDAY 7-9am Breakfast 9am-12 noon Sunday Morning 12 noon-1pm Private Passions Joan Armatrading (rpt) 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 2-3pm The Early Music Show Piers Adams celebrates CPE Bach’s 300th anniversary in Hamburg 3-4pm Choral Evensong from Westminster Cathedral (rpt) 4-5.30pm The Choir 5.30-6.45m Words and Music 6.45-7.30pm Sunday Feature – Who was Richard Strauss? 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from Wigmore Hall, London. Songs by Peterson-Berger, Brahms, Chausson, Berlioz, Schumann, >

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

111

OCTOBER 2014 RADIO & TV LISTINGS Saint-Saëns, Delius, Nystroem and Koch. Katarina Karnéus (mz), Joseph Middleton (pno) 10-11.30pm Drama on 3 Hide the Moon by Martyn Wade

13 MONDAY 6.30-9am Breakfast with Clemency Burton-Hill 9am-12 noon Essential Classics 12 noon-1pm Composer of the Week Debussy 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Wigmore Hall, London. Webern Langsamer Satz, Beethoven String Quartet in C Sharp minor, Op. 131. Cremona Quartet 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Debussy (rpt) 7.30-10.45pm Opera on 3 from the European Broadcasting Union 10.45-11pm The Essay A Body of Essays 11pm-12.30am Jazz on 3 presented by Jez Nelson

14 TUESDAY 6.30-1pm As Monday 13 October 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Clandeboye Festival, N. Ireland 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Debussy (rpt) 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham. Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1, Wagner Overture – The Flying Dutchman, Sibelius Symphony No. 5. Paul Lewis (pno), Hallé/Sir Mark Elder 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-12.30am Late Junction

MARCO BORGGREVE, GETTY, BBC

15 WEDNESDAY 6.30-1pm As Monday 13 October 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Clandeboye Festival, N. Ireland 2-3.30pm Afternoon on 3 3.30-4.30pm Choral Evensong from Royal Holloway, University of London 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Debussy (rpt) 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from Wigmore Hall, London. Handel Suite No. 5 in E, HWV430, CPE Bach Fantasia in F sharp minor, Wq 67, Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 28 in A, Op. 101, Thomas Adès Mazurkas, Schumann Fantasy in C, Op. 17. Danny Driver (pno) 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay

16 THURSDAY 6.30-1pm As Monday 13 October 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Clandeboye Festival, N. Ireland 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.45pm In Tune 6.45-7.45pm Composer of

112

the Week Debussy (rpt) 7.45-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from Ulster Hall, Belfast. Haydn Symphony No. 87, R Strauss Intermezzo – Four Symphonic Interludes, Wagner Lohengrin – Prelude to Act I, Bartók Violin Concerto No. 2. Valeriy Sokolov (vln), Ulster Orchestra/Jac van Steen 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-12.30am Late Junction

london finale: Robin Ticciati conducts Haydn (17 October)

17 FRIDAY 6.30-1pm As Monday 13 October 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Clandeboye Festival, N. Ireland 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Debussy (rpt) 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from City Halls, Glasgow. Hosokawa Meditation, Mahler Kindertotenlieder, Blumine, Haydn Symphony No. 104 ‘London’. Karen Cargill (mz), Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Robin Ticciati (right) 10-10.45pm The Verb 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-1am World on 3

18 SATURDAY 7-9am Breakfast 9am-12.15pm CD Review – Building a Library with Berta Joncus: Mozart Die Entführung aus dem Serail 12.15-1pm Music Matters 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 2-4pm Saturday Classics 4-5pm Sound of Cinema 5-6pm Jazz Record Requests 6-7.30pm Jazz Line-Up CHOICE 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from Wigmore Hall, London. Nash Ensemble 50th Birthday. Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (arr. David Walter), Fauré Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 15, Ravel Introduction and Allegro, Berlioz Les nuits d’été, Op. 7 for voice & ensemble (arr. David Matthews). Kate Royal (sop), Nash Ensemble/ Paul Watkins 10pm-12 midnight Hear and Now 12 midnight-1am Geoffrey Smith’s Jazz

19 SUNDAY 7-9am Breakfast 9am-12 noon Sunday Morning 12 noon-1pm Private Passions Kate Gross 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 2-3pm The Early Music Show (rpt) Lucie Skeaping introduces a programme of sacred choral music by German composer Hans Leo Hassler who died in 1612. The music was recorded by the BBC Singers, conducted by Andrew Griffiths 3-4pm Choral Evensong from Royal Holloway (rpt) 4-5.30pm The Choir 5.30-6.45m Words and Music 6.45-7.30pm Sunday Feature Enter the Dragon: Chinese theatre in the 21st century

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from Wigmore Hall. Scarlatti Sonatas, Granados Danzas españolas Nos 4, 5 & 6, Quejas, o La maja y el ruisenor, Op. 11 No. 4 and El Pelele Op. 11 No. 7 from Goyescas, Scarlatti Sonatas, Albéniz Asturias, Sevilla, Castilla (from Suite española), Falla Fantasia Baetica. Angela Hewitt (pno) 10-11.30pm Drama on 3 Rhinoceros in Love by Liao Yimei

20 MONDAY 6.30-9am Breakfast with Petroc Trelawny 9am-12 noon Essential Classics 12 noon-1pm Composer of the Week JS Bach 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Wigmore Hall, London. Philippe Hersant Pavane pour alto seul, Schumann Adagio and Allegro in A flat, Op. 70, Shostakovich Viola Sonata Op. 147. Lise Berthaud (vla), Adam Laloum (pno) 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week JS Bach (rpt) 7.30-10.45pm Opera on 3 from Welsh National Opera. Rossini Moses in Egypt. Miklós Sebestyén (Mose), David Alegret (Osiride), Christine Rice (Amaltea), Barry Banks (Aronne) etc 10.45-11pm The Essay Shaping the Air 11pm-12.30am Jazz on 3 presented by Jez Nelson

21 TUESDAY 6.30-1pm As Monday 20 October 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert featuring New Generation Artists 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week JS Bach (rpt) 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from Milton Court. Striggio

vk.com/englishlibrary

PRIVATE PASSIONS Each week Michael Berkeley talks to a guest about their favourite music. Here is one from a recent episode. MILES JUPP Comedian and actor HANDEL ‘Eternal Source of Light Divine’ from Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne Orchestra of St Luke’s/John Nelson

‘I heard this on the radio. I just stopped and listened to the whole of it and I found it completely enchanting.’ GEOFFREY BURGON Nunc Dimittis St Paul’s Cathedral Choir/Barry Rose

‘I sang this at school, at Evensong at St George’s Windsor, in early 1989. I was told it had been used as the theme for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. I saw the video and looked forward to hearing it at the end.’ BIZET ‘Au fond du temple saint’ (or ‘The Pearl Fishers’ Duet’) from Les pêcheurs de perles Bryn Terfel (bass baritone), Andrea Bocelli (tenor), Florence Maggio Musicale Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda

‘I went to the South Bank Awards for [BBC TV’s] Rev and heard Bryn Terfel singing this duet. What is amazing is you can’t see his technique: he opens his mouth and out comes this astonishing sound. It’s extraordinary.’ CHOPIN Prelude in D flat, Op. 28 No. 15 (Raindrop) Daniel Barenboim (piano)

‘I was taught piano by a man who introduced me to the music of Chopin. I brought some tapes: I know it’s not the way all gloomy teenagers behave but I enjoyed it.’ JOHN HUGHES Cwm Rhondda (Guide me, O thou great Redeemer) Dunvant, The Band of the Welsh Guards

‘In purely hymn terms this is what I would call a proper stonker. We sang this at my wedding in Monmouth. I find the sound of a group of people singing this completely glorious.’ Private Passions is on Radio 3 every Sunday at 12 noon and is also available to download as a podcast.

OCTOBER 2014 RADIO & TV LISTINGS

24 FRIDAY 6.30-1pm As Monday 20 October 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert featuring New Generation Artists 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6pm In Tune 6-7pm Composer of the Week JS Bach (rpt) 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from the Barbican, London. R Strauss Don Juan, Grieg Piano Concerto, Sibelius En Saga, Stravinsky Firebird Suite (1945 version). Javier Perianes (pno), BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo 10-10.45pm The Verb 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-1am World on 3

25 SATURDAY 7-9am Breakfast 9am-12.15pm CD Review

7-9am Breakfast 9am-12 noon Sunday Morning 12 noon-1pm Private Passions David Lan 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 2-3pm The Early Music Show Lucie Skeaping presents highlights from a concert recorded by the European Broadcasting Union 3-4pm Choral Evensong from Chelmsford Cathedral (rpt) 4-6.45pm Radio 3 Live in Concert Children in Need, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 6.45-7.30pm Sunday Feature – Joan Littlewood 7.30-8.45m Words and Music 10-11.30pm Drama on 3

27 MONDAY 6.30-9am Breakfast with Clemency Burton-Hill 9am-12 noon Essential Classics 12 noon-1pm Composer of the Week Khachaturian 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Wigmore Hall. Beethoven Fantasia in G minor, Op. 77, Berg Piano Sonata Op. 1, Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2 ‘The Tempest’. Elisabeth Leonskaja (pno) 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Khachaturian (rpt) 7.30-10.45pm Opera on 3 from Opera North. Monteverdi The Coronation of Poppea. Sandra Piques Eddy (Poppea), James Laing (Nerone), Catherine Hopper (Ottavia), James Creswell (Seneca), Christopher Ainslie (Ottone) etc 10.45-11pm The Essay World War One – Round the World 11pm-12.30am Jazz on 3 presented by Jez Nelson

28 TUESDAY 6.30-1pm As Monday 27 October 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Lammermuir Festival, Scotland 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Khachaturian (rpt) 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live in Concert from Royal Festival Hall. Schubert Piano Sonata in C, D279,

29 WEDNESDAY 6.30-1pm As Monday 27 October 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Lammermuir Festival, Scotland 2-3.30pm Afternoon on 3 3.30-4.30pm Choral Evensong the Royal School of Church Music Millennium Youth Choir in Gloucester Cathedral 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Khachaturian (rpt) 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live in Concert from Royal Festival Hall, London. Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3, Symphony No. 2. Pavel Kolesnikov (pno), London Philharmonic/Vassily Sinaisky 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-12.30am Late Junction

WEEKLY TV AND RADIO HIGHLIGHTS On our website each week we pick the best of the classical music programmes on radio, TV and iPlayer. So to plan your weekly listening and viewing, head to the website or sign up to our weekly newsletter to be sent information about the week's classical programmes directly to your inbox.

TV HIGHLIGHTS tuning in: Blue Peter’s Barney Harwood

30 THURSDAY 6.30-1pm As Monday 27 October 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Lammermuir Festival, Scotland 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week Khachaturian (rpt) 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live in Concert from Prichard-Jones Hall, Bangor. Dylan Thomas at 100. Jeffery Lewis new work, Elgar Cello Concerto, Mark-Anthony Turnage When I woke, D Jones Symphony No. 4, In memory of Dylan Thomas. Thomas Carroll (cello), Roderick Williams (bar), BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Grant Llewellyn 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-12.30am late Junction

31 FRIDAY 6.30-1pm As Monday 27 October 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from Lammermuir Festival, Scotland 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week CHOICE 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from the Sage Gateshead. Free Thinking. Beethoven Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello & Piano, Bruch Concerto for Viola & Clarinet, Prokofiev Symphony No. 1. Alexandra Soumm (vln), Lise Berthaud (vla), Jakob Koranyi (cello), Dionysis Grammenos (cl), Alexander Dariescu (pno). Royal Northern Sinfonia/Alexandre Bloch 10-10.45pm The Verb 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-1am World on 3 Radio 3 is available on Freeview channel 703, by satellite and online

vk.com/englishlibrary

BLUE PETER MEETS RADIO 3 Young television viewers who are familiar with Blue Peter’s current crop of presenters – Barney, Lindsey, Radzi (and Iggy the puppy) – are perhaps less likely to be familiar with Radio 3’s In Tune. But this is set to change as the station joins forces with the long-running flagship children’s TV programme for a special live ‘simulcast’ to promote the BBC’s ‘Ten Pieces’ initiative. This nationwide project which aims to fire-up children’s interest in classical music has selected ten works, ranging from favourites such as Holst’s ‘Mars’ (from The Planets) or Handel’s Zadok the Priest to contemporary works such as Anna Meredith’s Connect It. Blue Peter’s Barney Harwood (above) will be joining In Tune’s Suzy Klein and the BBC Philharmonic for this great opportunity to introduce children to these works. Blue Peter; CBBC; Thursday 9 October: 5.30pm

QUIZ ANSWERS from p114

23 THURSDAY 6.30-1pm As Monday 20 October 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert featuring New Generation Artists 2-4.30pm Afternoon on 3 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week JS Bach (rpt) 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. R Strauss Intermezzo – Waltz Scene, Chopin Piano Concerto No. 2, Brett Dean Testament – music for orchestra, Beethoven Symphony No. 1. Sunwook Kim (pno), Hallé/ Olari Elts 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-12.30am Late Junction

26 SUNDAY

Allegretto in C, D346, Brahms Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118, Schumann Kinderszenen, Op. 15, Fantasie in C, Op. 117. Arcadi Volodos (pno) 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-12.30am Late Junction

Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel 6. Percy Grainger 7. Malcolm Arnold 8. Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice 9. Anna Netrebko 10. Renée Fleming

22 WEDNESDAY 6.30-1pm As Monday 20 October 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert featuring New Generation Artists 2-3.30pm Afternoon on 3 3.30-4.30pm Choral Evensong from Chelmsford Cathedral 4.30-6.30pm In Tune 6.30-7.30pm Composer of the Week JS Bach (rpt) 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live In Concert from Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Rossini An Italian Girl in Algiers – Overture, Berlioz Harold in Italy, Stravinsky Apollo, Ravel Daphnis et Chloé – Suite No. 2. Renaud Capuçon (vln), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/ Alain Altinoglu 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-12.30am Late Junction

– Building a Library with Sarah Devonald: R Strauss Oboe Concerto 12.15-1pm Music Matters 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 2-4pm Saturday Classics music 4-5pm Sound of Cinema 5-6pm Jazz Record Requests 6-7.30pm Jazz Line-Up 7.30-10pm Radio 3 Live in concert from Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. Colin Matthews Grand Barcarolle, Schubert Symphony No. 2, Beethoven Violin Concerto. Renaud Capuçon (vln), BBC Philharmonic/Juanjo Mena 10pm-12 midnight Hear and Now 12 midnight-1am Geoffrey Smith’s Jazz

1. Aristophanes’s The Wasps 2. Martin∞ 3. Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges 4. Weill and Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera 5. The Gingerbread Witch;

Ecce beatem lucem, Knut Nystedt Stabat mater, Tallis Spem in Alium, R Walker I have thee by the hand, O Man, C Vine Inner World, Dutilleux Trois strophes sur le nom de SACHER, I Moody The Land that is Not, G Jackson Sanctum est verum lumen. Nicolas Altstaedt (cello), BBC Singers/Stephen Cleobury 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-12.30am Late Junction

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

113

October prize crossword No. 273 The first correct solution of our monthly crossword to be picked at random will win a copy of The Oxford Companion to Music worth £40 (available at bookstores or www.oup.co.uk). Send your answers to: BBC Music Magazine, Crossword 273, PO Box 501, Leicester, LE94 0AA to arrive by 1 October (solution in our Christmas issue). Crossword set by Paul Henderson ACROSS 1 Computer peripheral as a rule used in reliable recording (9) 6 Hurries back to see antique violin (5) 9 Csardas movement – produced in quantity by Flemish composer? (5) 10 Attack working brass instrument (9) 11 Rossini hero captured in foremost of stereo audio recordings, with big-name cast? (7) 12 Ancient Eastern lute, a source of many troubles (7) 14 Spain shunning gala events Tom arranged for Catalan composer (12) 18 Judge éclat on horn jazzy – from this saxophonist? (4,8) 21 Cavalli heroine unexpectedly stoical (7) 22 First month getting excellent debut for key Bohemian composer (7) 23 Run a variety of UK comics, showing popular genre (4,5) 25 Giovanni’s target rejected an appearance of acceptance (5) 26 Soprano Bullock’s sex appeal featured in tabloid? (5) 27 Live company’s ending in overseas recording studio (5,4) DOWN 1 Identical mischievous spirit in English religious work that’s turned up (8) 2 Failing to observe one genius in action, missing end of concerto (8) 3 Doubtless excited about musical work’s string effects (6-5) 4 Poor artist, heading off French composer (5) 5 Instrument not heard in clattering pub domain (4-5) 6 Some risk augmenting a form of reggae (3) 7 They broadcast performer’s last farewell from Madrid (6) 8 Light music composer’s completed (we

Your name & address

THE

QUIZ

Are you domesticated enough to cope with this month’s quiz?

PICTURE THIS 5. This baking fanatic (below) finds herself popped into the oven at the end of an 1893 opera. Name the character and the opera.

2. Originally titled ‘Temptation of the Saintly Pot’, which Czech composer’s 1927 ballet La revue de cuisine depicts characters such as ‘Dishcloth’ and ‘Twirling Stick’ dancing their way through a day in the kitchen?

JULY WINNER John Bramman, Leeds Immediate Media Company Limited, publisher of BBC Music Magazine, may contact you with details of our products and services or to undertake research. Please write ‘Do Not Contact’ if you prefer not to receive such information by post or phone. Please write your email address on your postcard if you prefer to receive such information by e-mail.

6. Who in 1929 composed an orchestral setting of Illinois folksong ‘Spoon River’ including what he described as the ‘Tuneful Percussion’ of bells, chimes, marimba, xylophone and vibraphone?

8. In Disney’s 1940 Fantasia, which famous orchestral work accompanies Mickey Mouse as he struggles to deal with an out-of-control army of brooms and buckets? 9. Now a famous singer, which Russian soprano’s first job in an opera house was as a floor cleaner at St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre?

3. And characters such as Le théière (a Wedgewood teapot) and La tasse chinoise (a broken cup) appear in which opera, premiered in Monte Carlo in 1925?

10. And which leading soprano co-authored and published The Opera Lover’s Cookbook: Menus for Elegant Entertaining in 2006?

4. Often performed today as a popular song, ‘The Ballad of Mack the Knife’ originally appeared in which 1928 opera?

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

JULY SOLUTION NO. 270

7. Scored for various solo instruments including a vacuum cleaner and a floor polisher, whose A Grand Grand Overture was premiered at the Royal Festival Hall in November 1956?

1. ‘The March Past of the Kitchen Utensils’ forms part of the incidental music written by Vaughan Williams for a production of which play in 1909?

114

hear) 60 per cent of canon (6) 13 Porter song available 24/7? (5,3,3) 15 Harsichordist’s country was OK after revolution (9) 16 Fellow’s expression of ability is fading away in performance (8) 17 Where you’ll find Pique Dame getting applause from sailor? (4-4) 19 More than one piece of music hits the target? (6) 20 Adopts string technique by chance in additional item (6) 22 English composer’s sharp comment about company (5) 24 Some romantic player (3)

See p113 for answers

vk.com/englishlibrary

NEXT MONTH in BBC Music Magazine Volume 22 No. 13 BBC Music Magazine (ISSN 0966-7180) (USPS 018-168) is published 13 times a year by Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited under licence from BBC Worldwide, 9th Floor, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol BS1 3BN, UK. © Immediate Media Company Bristol Limited, 2014 Printed by William Gibbons & Sons Ltd, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 3XT. Not for resale. All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without written permission. Every effort has been made to secure permission for copyright material. In the event of any material being used inadvertently, or where it proved impossible to trace the copyright owner, acknowledgement will be made in a future issue. MSS, photographs and artwork are accepted on the basis that BBC Music Magazine and its agents do not accept liability for loss or damage to same. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher. ISSN 0966-7180. GST Registration No. 898993548RT

Mitsuko Uchida The Japanese-British pianist shares her thoughts with Nick Shave on her incredible concert career

Distributed in the US by Circulation Specialists, Inc., 2 Corporate Drive, Suite 945, Shelton CT 06484-6238. Periodicals postage paid at Seneca, SC and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BBC MUSIC, PO Box 669, Selmer, TN 38375-0669. Immediate Media Company Ltd is working to ensure that all of its paper is sourced from well-managed forests. This magazine can be recycled, for use in newspapers and packaging. Please remove any gifts, samples or wrapping and dispose of it at your local collection point.

Subscriptions and back numbers

On sale from 1 October 2014 (UK)

Petrenko on Shostakovich

Online subscriptions www.classical-music.com Subscription prices for one year (13 issues): UK £62.40 Europe/Eire £65 US $99 Canada $131.40 Rest of World £74

UK, Europe, Rest of World BBC Music Magazine, PO Box 279, Sittingbourne, Kent ME9 8DF, UK

Orders/enquiries/back issues 0844 844 0252 (UK) or +44 (0)1795 414749 (Europe, Rest of World) e-mail: [email protected]

US/Canada BBC Music Magazine, PO Box 669, Selmer, TN 38375-0669 Toll-free order line: 1-866 461 4730 e-mail: [email protected]

GETTY, DAN REST

South Africa

Schumann Symphony No. 1 Schubert Symphony No. 4 Gianandrea Noseda conducts the BBC Philharmonic PLUS The opening movement to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, as part of the BBC’s ‘Ten Pieces’

Á

BBC Music Service, Jacklin Enterprises, Private Bag 6, CENTURION, 0046 For sales prices: Tel (+27) 011 265 4303; Fax (+27) 011 314 2984; e-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

Having recorded all 15 of the great composer’s symphonies, the brilliant Russian conductor presents his insider’s guide to each one

Music in the wild We investigate the whoops, squawks and howls of Richard Blackford’s Great Animal Orchestra

Beethoven’s Fifth The first of our monthly collectible guides to each of the BBC’s educational ‘Ten Pieces’ Competition terms and conditions Winners will be the senders of the first correct entries drawn at random. All entrants are deemed to have accepted the rules (see opposite) and agreed to be bound by them. The prizes shall be as stated and no cash alternatives will be offered. Competitions are open to UK residents only, except employees of Immediate Media Company Limited, the promoter and their agents. No purchase necessary. Only one entry per competition per person. Proof of postage is not proof of entry. Immediate Media Company Limited accepts no responsibility for entries lost or damaged in the post. Entrants agree to take part in any publicity related to these competitions. The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Entrants’ personal details will not be used by Immediate Media Company Limited, publisher of BBC Music Magazine, for any other purpose than for contacting competition winners.

Jan-Dec 2013 40,827

vk.com/englishlibrary

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

115

MUSIC THAT CHANGED ME

Melvyn Tan Pianist

SHEILA ROCK

W

hen I was about eight, Qantas Airlines went on strike, and a stewardess called Pat Wood was stranded in Singapore. She happened to be a friend of my piano teacher, and heard me play. A few years later, Pat read about the Menuhin School and thought I should apply. We made a tape, and then heard nothing for six months. Then came a telegram saying they would accept me; I was desperate to go but my parents couldn’t afford it. So Pat talked me up to all the First Class passengers. Someone from the Straits Times joined forces with the Lee Foundation to sponsor me: she changed my life. At the school, chamber music was put at the heart of everything. It was a wonderful feeling to play sonatas and trios with others. Menuhin coached me in FRANCK’s Violin Sonata, which is enormously important to me, and shaped my whole view of French music from this period. I valued the lack of ego in his playing, the way he let the music speak. I was also fortunate to have lessons with pianist VLADO PERLEMUTER, whose recordings I’d grown up with. I still love his Debussy Images. When I went to the Royal College of Music, I asked to conduct but was told I would have to learn the harpsichord. That turned out to be a blessing. Clive Bennett, a BBC producer, heard me and asked if I’d ever thought of playing fortepiano? He took me to the Colt Clavier collection where Christopher Hogwood was recording. I was intrigued. He gave me a broadcast, of Clementi, and eventually I fell in love with its soundworld: the clarity, the transparency that I could never achieve on the modern piano. It was a double discovery: I also had to learn Mozart and Beethoven through the fortepiano from scratch. Then along came conductor Roger Norrington. We bonded over Weber’s Konzertstück, an outrageous, sparkling piece that suited us both. We performed it with the London Classical Players: it was a key moment. EMI decided to take me on for the BEETHOVEN Concertos recording, and then the Sonatas, which established me. Roger revealed the humour in Beethoven for me. It’s so cheeky and brilliant. We were on a voyage of

116

BBC M USIC M AG A Z I N E

mentored by menuhin: ‘I valued the lack of ego in his playing – he let the music speak’

MELVYN TAN was born in Singapore in 1956. At the age of 12 he entered the Yehudi Menuhin School and subsequently studied piano and harpsichord at the Royal College of Music. The fortepiano became his main instrument and he made acclaimed recordings of Beethoven’s Concertos, with Roger Norrington and the London Classical Players, and Sonatas. He later switched his attentions to the modern piano, on which he gives a recital of Chopin, Liszt and Field at London’s Wigmore Hall on 5 October.

piano now. It’s a compromise, but I’ve made peace with myself. For composer Jonathan Dove’s last year as director of the Spitalfields Festival he asked me to play MESSIAEN’s Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jésus. I thought, ‘You must be crazy!’ But he insisted. So I bought the music and realised this was something I had to do. It changed my musical outlook and took me to somewhere entirely new technically. Sometimes it takes someone else to point you in a new direction. Director Jonathan Mills asked me to learn JOHN CAGE’s Sonatas and Interludes for the Edinburgh Festival. Preparing the pianos took me the most time but it was so much fun. I loved the soundworld of the piano, with its Balinese, Chinese and Indian elements. I just can’t get enough of it. n Interview by Helen Wallace

MELVYN TAN MUSIC CHOICE Franck Violin Sonata Yehudi Menuhin (violin), Hephzibah Menuhin (piano) Documents Yehudi Menuhin 290593 (download from www.prestoclassical.co.uk)

Vlado Perlemuter Piano works by Bach, Chopin and Debussy Nimbus NI5080 £15.99

Beethoven Piano Concertos

discovery in the 1980s. Audiences didn’t know what to expect, which was exciting! By the end of the 1990s touring had become a nightmare. I became intensely anxious about the instruments as they would break or go out of tune. In 1996 I was due to play Mozart’s K271 Concerto at the Cologne Philharmonie. I arrived at the rehearsal to find the fortepiano was unplayable. I thought, ‘Hang on! Why don’t I just do it on that Steinway?’ It became a solution to a problem. I do still play Schubert, Mozart on the fortepiano when conditions are right, but having played it for so long, I know how to approach this music on the modern

vk.com/englishlibrary

Melvyn Tan (piano); London Classical Players/ Roger Norrington Virgin 083 4232 £24.99

Messiaen Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jésus Yvonne Loriod (piano) Apex 2564699865 £9.99

John Cage Sonatas and Interludes Margaret Leng Tan (prepared piano) Mode 158 (DVD) £14.99

For information on Steinway & Sons pianos or to arrange a private appointment to visit our London showrooms, please call 0207 487 3391 or email [email protected]

vk.com/englishlibrary WWW.STEINWAYHALL.CO.UK

M AR IA CALLAS REMASTERED TH E COM P LE TE S TUDI O R E CO R DIN GS ( 1949 – 19 69 )

‘Maria Callas as you have never heard her before’ This 69-CD deluxe box set contains all the studio recordings that she made for both EMI/Columbia and the Italian label Cetra between 1949 and 1969. Each recording has been painstakingly remastered in 24-bit/96kHz sound at Abbey Road Studios, using the original tapes, and the entire collection has been curated with the greatest of care. The 26 complete operas and 13 recital albums contained in the box will also be made available as separate releases. Also Available

0825646339945

Conceived as a true collector’s edition, CALLAS REMASTERED presents each individual opera or recital CD in its original artwork. It also contains a 132-page hardback book with essays, a biography and chronology, rarely-seen photos and reproductions of revealing letters written by Maria Callas, Walter Legge and other EMI executives. The opera librettos and aria texts are provided on a CD-ROM.

AVAILABLE FROM 22 SEPTEMBER 2014 Maria Callas – PURE A collection of her greatest arias

www.warnerclassics.com Warner Classics UK. A division of Warner Music UK Ltd. vk.com/englishlibrary

Marketed and distributed by