Bavouzet and Noseda give us a mighty impressive overview of the Prokofiev piano concertos in this cleanly recorded set. While having all the necessary power at his disposal for big climactic moments – such as the monumental cadenza in the Second Concerto – overall, Bavouzet concentrates on the poetry and capriciousness of Prokofiev’s writing. The young composer, in Bavouzet’s hands, sounds more enfant than terrible. The Frenchman’s light-fingered fleetness pays dividends in the First and Third Concertos, but it is in Nos Four and Five where he is truly revelatory. Previously in complete sets of these works I have had the feeling that the Fourth (for left hand only) was not terribly familiar to the musicians and that they performed it rarely in concert. In his booklet note, Bavouzet relates how he studied the piece closely at a time when his right hand was giving him trouble. (Fortunately for him – and for us – he made a full recovery.) His familiarity shows in the way he shapes musical phrases, bringing colour to a work that is sometimes regarded as grey and unmemorable. His pace is an asset in the quirky Fifth Concerto. Bavouzet shines in places where you… Continue…

What new can be offered these days in the ways of Schubert symphonies? Here we have his three middle symphonies, all wonderful, all recorded a zillion times. I came to the third symphony in the 60s through Beecham and his glorious Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The music danced as light as a feather; by contrast, Dausgaard’s approach is punchy and masculine. This heavier approach is particularly appropriate to the Fourth, known as ‘The Tragic’ (Schubert’s Sturm und Drang symphony). The Fifth is noted for its lighter sound as it doesn’t use trumpets, tympani or even clarinets. The catalogue is knee deep in performances of this elegant work, usually regarded as a child of Mozart, whom Schubert worshipped. Dausgaard takes a genial approach compared tohiswaywith3and4.Iran comparisons with Mackerras (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment), which I found curiously heavy handed. He gets better results with the ACO on the Omega label. Beecham and Bruno Walter’s recordings from the 60s are even heavier; but then both were using full old fashioned bands. The splendid Swedish orchestra has been directed for 17 of its 19 years by Dausgaard. It employs contemporary instruments, but draws down on period performance practice. The recorded sound is healthy – not too…

It’s four years since Juan Diego Flórez released an album, but he’s back full of singing in this collection.

Although modern British society is these days avowedly multicultural and secular, it only takes a royal wedding or funeral for millions to tune in and get a dose of good old-fashioned Anglican culture. Arguably, the most memorable element of these services is the hymn singing, where the great and good let rip whilst the choir and organ contribute soaring descants. Such occasions are vividly evoked with this selection of favourites. Vaughan Williams’ arrangement of the Old Hundredth is an obvious curtain raiser and before we reach the rousing finale of Jerusalem, we encounter such beloved items as The Lord’s my shepherd (sung at the Queen’s wedding) and Love divine, all loves excelling in the fine arrangement O’Donnell made for the most recent royal wedding. The absence of a congregation allows for slightly faster tempos and more creative treatments than would otherwise be possible. One such example is Robert Quinney’s idiomatic arrangement of the title track. Quinney delights in adorning Handel’s tune with as many accented dissonances as possible. The result is delicious. I heard the voice of Jesus say and Let all mortal flesh keep silence also receive atmospheric renderings. As usual, O’Donnell draws the very best singing from his choristers…

Having been placed in the top three of the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Sean Chen’s debut CD comes with certain expectations. Although the works he has chosen for this live performance cover well-trodden ground, his powerful technique and highly musical phrasing ensure that even familiar works such as Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata sound bold and fresh-faced. I was particularly taken with his recording of Brahms’ Variations on an Original Theme. It’s a work I’ve heard several times before, and I have to confess that I’ve never been very taken with it. However, Chen’s performance brings out the lightness that is so often missing – there are some wonderfully delicate moments, and his phrasings are remarkably natural. Although an unusual choice for a concert closer (why venture into the 20th century for only a few minutes after over an hour of lush romantic writing?), Bartók’s Etudes close the CD with a wonderfully acidic bite. Perhaps it’s because this is a live recording, but the more bass-heavy passages in the Beethoven and Brahms become rather smudged at times. If you prefer your Romantic music to be cleanly delineated, this may a concern. That being said, there’s an irresistible sense of thrust and drive in the faster movements…

This double CD presents some of Mozart’s best-loved instrumental works but in arrangements that will be unfamiliar to most modern listeners. However, 200 years ago it wasn't so easy to listen to works in their original incarnations. Thus it is in anonymous 19th- century arrangements for string quintet and sextet that members of the Australia Ensemble (basically the Goldner Quartet with another musician or two) present these works. I must admit to having only heard Grieg’s arrangement of the familiar Sonata facile No 16 for two pianos, in a fine live performance by Argerich and Anderszewski (EMI) and while Julie Adam and Daniel Herscovitch may lack some of their flashy virtuosity, they make a convincing and sympathetic case for this and the other three sonatas presented here. The other works date from much earlier in the 19th century by now unknown composers. In the case of the Sinfonia concertante, the work is scored for much reduced forces – in fact one instrument per part. All of these arrangements were made in order that the works be heard and similarly as string players were more common than virtuosic clarinettists, the much loved Clarinet Quintet took on a new life as a string quintet. So, as…

British violinist Tasmin Little has been playing Vaughan Williams’ evocation of a lark in flight for most of her career – she and Sir Andrew Davis recorded it 20 years ago for Teldec – but this new recording on Chandos is something else altogether. It’s not just that Little’s tone is nigh on ideal, capable of an extraordinary ethereal sweetness, but her sense of phrasing makes the whole work into one long melody, seemingly untroubled by bar lines. Davis and Chandos support this flight with a gorgeous cushion of string sound, surpassing any other audio account that can recall. If that sounds like a rave for a new recording of The Lark, it should, but this disc, named for Vaughan Williams’ hit, is a cunning façade for a recording of one of the finest of British violin concertos – that of E J Moeran. It’s criminal that there are only four other versions of this appealing masterpiece in the catalogue – Sammons and Campoli (both with Boult and both in poor sound), Georgiadis on Lyrita and Lydia Mordkovitch’s fine account with Handley, also on Chandos. Little sweeps all before her with the most sensitive and nuanced account to date. Where she stands out… Continue reading…

What an inspired idea! To capture the Zeitgeist of a troubled decade through the medium of a musical genre: in this case, the violin concerto. Gil Shaham explores violin concertos of the 1930s in Volume 1 of a series which contains works by Barber, Stravinsky, Britten, Berg and Karl Amadeus Hartmann, by far the least known of the group. A confirmed socialist, Hartmann was one of the few genuinely anti-Nazi figures in German music throughout the Third Reich and refused to allow his music to be performed there. I’d always considered what little music I’d heard of Hartmann (1905-1963) very difficult, however, this is a real discovery and Gil Shaham makes his Concerto Funèbre into a highly moving threnody, meditation and evocation of the horrors of war, using sources as disparate as a Hussite (Czech protestant) hymn and a Russian revolutionary song bookending an adagio and a Bartókian scherzo which lashes out in anger. Shaham’s tone and intonation throughout this tour de force are impeccable. Stravinsky and Alban Berg reacted to what they considered the excessive emotions of late Romanticism in contrasting ways: Stravinsky adopted neo-Classicism with baroque forms and his Violin Concerto, with its concision, ironic wit and dancing quality is a…

If you are not all Wagnered out by the blitzkrieg of bicentennial CDs, DVDs and live performances, you might find room on your shelf for one more addition featuring British baritone James Rutherford. He has already sung Sachs (at Bayreuth no less), the Dutchman, Wolfram, Kurwenal and Wotan in Die Walküre, next up is Amfortas. This album is by way of his portfolio. He is joined here by the excellent Bergen Philharmonic under their American principal conductor Andrew Litton who gives the band a good workout in the Overture to The Flying Dutchman and the Prelude to Act III of Die Meistersinger. Indeed, Litton proves himself to be something of an inspired Wagnerian here, constantly generating electricity. Rutherford has a generous vibrato which hopefully won’t develop into an uncontrolled mannerism, but he is alert to the textual nuances and there is dramatic depth aplenty. He clearly shows in the closing track, Wotan’s Abscheid, that he can handle the heavy-duty roles. Recorded last year at the Grieg Hall,in Bergen, the production quality is outstanding as you would expect from Swedish label BIS. Highlights include a lovely O du mein holder Abendstern and two lashings of Hans Sachs where his attention to text really…

Despite numerous recordings, it’s a rare treat to hear the composer’s original 1724 version of his St John Passion captured on period instruments. Richard Egarr directs some of Britain’s most stylish voices, accompanied by his own virtuosic musicians from the Academy of Ancient Music, on a journey through the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Christ. Egarr approaches the latter of Bach’s two surviving Passions with great intensity, asserting his view of the work at an unforgiving pace. Simultaneous movements of choir and musicians are mechanically concise, with individual entries uniform in expression – a consistent sound that comes across as well planned and not at all impersonal. The tenor James Gilchrist’s Evangelist is a real highlight – his earnest recitatives are sung with a near-feminine gentleness – I indulged in every word with utter delight. Matthew Rose and Ashley Riches give reliable performances as Jesus and Pilate, while Sarah Connolly’s arias are sung with seemingly as little effort as would be required for the spoken word. The program notes boast a “more muscular” version, and with instruments and voices combined it rarely disappoints. The articulation of the biblical text sometimes gets lost in the richness of the choral sound, but it’s…

Mahan Esfahani, the young Iranian-American harpsichordist, is becoming one of the most ardent promoters of the instrument today. After a formation that included studies with Australian harpsichordist, Peter Watchorn, he has been bringing the music to new audiences, including the first ever solo harpsichord recital presented at the BBC Proms in 2011. Esfahani is clearly captivated by these sonatas from one of the Bach clan’s most notable scions. Written just before Carl Philipp Emmanuel turned 30 and published in the year he married his wife, the sonatas are dedicated to one of his former students, the Duke of Württenmberg. They embody the marvellous (and mischievous) nonconformist musical attitudes of the age by juxtaposing seemingly random and unconnected passages as part of a whole. This presents the performer with numerous expressive possibilities as well as considerable interpretative challenges. Using a beautiful instrument (which includes an unusual four-foot “flute” register) based on the work of Michael Mietke (1671-1719), maker of harpsichords to the Berlin court, Esfahani delights in the extraordinary range of colour, texture and mood in these pieces. All is sensitively recorded by Hyperion’s engineers. Whether it is the caprice and operatic mock-seriousness that opens the Sonata in B Minor or the vocally inspired material of the Sonata in A…

We’re only just beginning to hear about them in Australia, but the British Sitkovetsky Piano Trio have been steadily collecting rave reviews in Europe and America, even being compared by one reviewer to “the Beaux Arts in their heyday”. That is not a compliment to be given lightly, but if like me you are unable to hear them on their visit here with Musica Viva, this album gives ample backing to the critic’s claim. The trio – violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and pianist Wu Qian – all met at that great ‘humidicrib’ for British chamber players, the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey. They formed back in 2007 and, despite all being established soloists in their own right, they still manage to get together to exploit some of the richest repertoire in the chamber music canon. For their debut album on BIS they chose two great Bohemian works, Dvořák's Trio No 3 in F Minor and Smetana’s G Minor work – both of them outpourings of grief – and the melancholic little gem, Josef Suk’s Elegy, much loved by palm court orchestras. Although both major works were composed in tragic circumstances – Dvořák's when his mother died and Smetana’s after the death of his eldest…