Polished Bruckner and beatific Beethoven from Simone Young and the SSO.

This Bruckner Three augurs well for what I hope will be a complete Bruckner symphonic cycle. The Third is, with the Second, probably the most tinkered with. The best performance of this work I’ve ever heard was with this very orchestra under Kurt Sanderling on an Electrola LP. This orchestra has just the right Teutonic heft but, in the hands of Nelsons, assumes a real finesse (influenced by his work with the Boston Symphony?) in the softer Gesangsperioden (lyrical passages). For Bruckner anoraks, this is the 1889 version, described somewhat fancifully by one critic as the “Wham, bam, thank you ma’am” one, a sentiment one doubts the resolutely chaste composer ever experienced. Bruckner was far, at this stage, from exploring, consciously or otherwise, the pyschological undercurrents apparent in the Eighth and Ninth symphonies. Nelsons’ take has neither the (impressive) tempo  idiosyncrasies of Jochum, nor the glamorised sheen and sleek legato of Karajan, nor yet the craggy implacability of Klemperer. The great recording producer Walter Legge, once said that Moghul architecture was monumental but finished with the lapidary detail of a jewel – something that all successful Bruckner conductors always achieve. Nelsons is aware of the need to… Continue reading Get…

On the final disc of Yevgeny Sudbin’s Beethoven concerto cycle with Osmo Vänskä, the Russian pianist gives a vivacious account of Beethoven’s first two published forays into the genre – Sudbin has been working backwards through the concertos. He’s accompanied on this release by the Finnish Tapiola Sinfonietta, rather than the Minnesota Orchestra, with whom he recorded the rest of the series. The First Concerto’s Allegro con brio is brilliantly articulate – every note is alive and charged with energy. Sudbin deliberately eschews Beethoven’s cadenzas in the first movement for one he describes as a “cocktail of material” based on one by Friedman – a shimmery, almost gushily romantic flourish that bounces into the final tutti. Sudbin traces crystalline melodies in the pulsing Largo and the Tapiola’s clarinet player draws clean lines in the prominent solo part. The finale barrels along with a relentless joy and a jocular cadenza (all Sudbin). The Tapiola’s sound is full and healthy – a little too healthy, perhaps, though this gives moments like the fugal section in the first movement of Piano Concerto No 2 plenty of heft. There are some dreamlike moments in the Adagio, before the comically bright Rondo… Continue reading Get…

Howard Shelley’s relationship with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra goes way back. The British performer has recorded about 13 albums with the TSO, and returns for Czerny’s Piano Concertos released on Hyperion. As usual, Shelley adopts equally the roles of conductor and pianist. The Concerto in F Major, Op. 28 that launches the album hints at quaintness, interspersed with thick orchestral power. And this is all before we hear Shelley press the keys, entering after an agreeable three minutes. His performance is majestic – yet there’s a humbleness and reliability, and that marks the essence of Shelley. The Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 214 gets off to a cunning start. The first movement has the mighty ending of a finale, then settles into a somewhat peaceful Adagio con moto. The Rondo Brillant in B Flat is a standout, showcasing Shelley’s virtuosity across the instrument’s range. Two concertos are recorded here for the first time. A child prodigy who grew up to perform Beethoven’s concertos, Czerny’s own are buried among his countless studies; along with chamber music, masses, symphonies, and more. When it comes down to it, Czerny’s works on this album are fairly unremarkable – but that doesn’t deem them…

The second release in Andrew Manze’s complete traversal of Vaughan Williams’ symphonies, is as impressive as its predecessor. Despite the name “Pastoral”, the Third was a wartime symphony. Parts were written while Vaughan Williams was stationed at Écoivres during World War I, and its elegaic, melancholy mood is directly related to that experience. Manze’s recording embraces a post-war reading of the work in one very specific way: he employs a tenor for the wordless vocalise in the final movement, rather than a soprano. The ghostly sound of a man’s voice produces an almost tangible link to the unknown soldier that came to represent the casualties of the Great War. And how deeply contemplative is Manze’s pacing of the magical orchestral passage following the tenor’s appearance? The Fourth, composed between 1931 and 1934, seems with its harsh harmonic clashes to represent the threat of war once more, but the composer indicated that his point was purely musical. This was his first symphony to follow a traditional, recognisably symphonic form, namely that of Beethoven’s Fifth. Manze treats it that way. His urgency and clarity point out the symphony’s structural coherence, helped by a fresh and open sound. Manze reveals… Continue reading Get…

“There has never been in the history of music a child prodigy to equal Mendelssohn,” pianist and author Charles Rosen once wrote. “As a teenager, he was a much better composer than either Beethoven or Mozart at the same age.” And yet, as Rosen continues, “Mendelssohn’s precocity was a curse as well as a gift. Because of it, he never matched the extravagance of his greater contemporaries.” That may be true. Though what does extravagance have to do with genius? Anyway, as those of us who love Felix Mendelssohn’s music know, there’s a lot more to admire in his substantial oeuvre than those great masterpieces of his teenage years, the Octet and the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Violin Concerto and maybe some of the Songs Without Words. Like the five symphonies, for instance, which achieve a startling unity and variety within single works and in relation to each other through Mendelssohn elegantly working out the implications of existing models. The First wears its debt to Mozart on its sleeve but is impeccably crafted and exhilarating to listen to. The Second, the extraordinary symphony-cantata known as the Hymn of Praise, seeks to reconcile the Baroque… Continue reading Get…

The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and Elder Conservatorium are offering a new postgraduate programme for conductors. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

An excellent account of Prokofiev Five and a first-rate horn concerto.

The ASO’s portrait of Elgar is as poignant and uplifting as ever.

Sergio Tiempo is Artist in Residence, with Stephen Hough, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and Bernstein’s 100 among the highlights. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

How did Rosetti’s Requiem come to be chosen for Mozart’s memorial and why has it largely disappeared? Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

How a boy playing flamenco passing his front door set this master on the path to musical fame and fortune.