Limelight Featured Recording – November 2014 Maria Callas was one of the very greatest artists of all time – a woman whose life mimicked her art and vice versa to such an extent that she captured a public’s imagination above and beyond the bounds of most opera singers. She was fortunate to fly her highest at a time the gramophone record was coming of age, straddling the 78, to mono LP, to stereo era. But, and it’s a big but, her fortunes over the years have been mixed. Her legacy has been nipped, tucked and generally madeover a bit like an aging celeb going under the knife – it can sound fine across a crowded record store but up close and personal it’s a fright.  The 1997, 2000 and 2002 EMI remasters focused on removing tape hiss but took a degree of life and immediacy with it. Many fans were up in arms, screaming about artificial enhancement and false ambience. With the subsequent demise of EMI, Warner Classics have become keepers of the flame as far as the Callas recorded legacy is concerned and what we have here is their first back-to-basics attempt to… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from…

Limelight Editor’s Choice – Chamber – September, 2014 Was there really any doubt that this latest release from the Takács Quartet would be superb? Their previous discs of Brahms (including the Piano Quintet, Op 34 with Stephen Hough, and recordings of the string quartets) have been revelatory. In writing these two quintets, Brahms chose to follow Mozart’s example in his choice of configuration for the strings with doubled viola, rather than the Schubertian choice of a second cello. Here, the Takács Quartet is joined by violist Lawrence Power to give powerful, dark-toned performances of Brahms’s string quintets. “Here is a marvellous example of how to work closely with other players in chamber music” The first quintet (in F Major, Op 88) was thought of by Brahms as one of his best works – he wrote to Clara Schumann boasting about it, and wrote to his publisher Simrock, saying simply, “You have never before had such a beautiful work from me”. It’s in this first quintet that Lawrence Power particularly shines, his tone enriching the texture most beautifully. The additional viola is given several extensive solos, and they’re played with passion and verve. In… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from…

Cameron Carpenter is one of those classical music anomalies: he plays the music, but his approach is anything but classical. He’ll play anything, from Bach to Bacharach, plus his own daring inventions thrown in for good measure, with a questionable (and frequently controversial) sense of style. This debut disc features his mighty digital touring organ, and begins with the famous Prelude from Bach’s Cello Suite No 1, played only on the foot pedals (why use hands?). This mutates into a monstrous elaboration that barrels and snarls with echoes of Bach blended with circus kitsch. Think Wurlitzer gone wild. Next is a transcription of Bernstein’s raucous Candide Overture. It’s a brilliant work, which then jumps to the serene Rachmaninov Vocalise. Then one of his own compositions, followed by Piazzolla’s Oblivion. Not to mention his paraphrases of songs like Bacharach’s Alfie and Newley and Bricusse’s Pure Imagination. The program on the whole is baffling. Carpenter says each work “offers a different taste of ecstasy”, and while he does show off the colour range of the touring organ (and his own reckless brand of virtuosity), it’s a bit of a mess that misses out on the visual magic of his live shows. There…

Arcangelo Corelli was a surprisingly un-prolific composer; his reputation and influence was out of all proportion to the quantity of his output but it was a case of “never mind the length, feel the quality”. His prodigious melodic invention with virtuosic flourishes and sensuous harmonic progressions are like a Bernini marble rendered in sound and his own playing made him the reigning superstar of the day and the darling of the Roman courts. The bulk of his work are the four dozen trio sonatas which set the mould for later composers, yet we have had surprisingly few good recordings in this flourishing era of Baroque-mania. This set of the Church Sonatas is a follow up to The Avison Ensemble’s set of Chamber Sonatas released last year and completes their much-welcome survey of Corelli’s complete published works. This excellent group of veterans of the British early music scene led by Pavlo Beznosiuk deliver refined performances. The continuo is varied and colourful with cello supported by harpsichord, organ and archlute, yet is not distractingly busy and the two violinists, while lean-toned, blend nicely with impeccable intonation and transparent textures that allow the interplay of Corelli’s part writing to come through clearly without……

Hush Live in Concert is the 14th in a series of albums released to calm and comfort families facing stressful medical procedures. It’s a compilation of Hush Foundation recordings selected by former ABC Classic FM presenter Emma Ayres. Composer/pianist Paul Grabowsky states in the notes: “music has its roots in healing, dreaming, and story-telling”. Opening with two of his jazzy Ten Healing Songs, it becomes apparent from the outset that this is anything but the conventionally soothing Debussy for Daydreaming or Relaxation Made Easy style album. Andrea Keller’s A Castle for All is oddly uplifting as it cycles repetitively through the same series of chords. Brass, wind, and percussion instruments appear to improvise around Keller’s piano, and while it has plenty of musical tension, the overall feel is not a dark one. Tony Gould’s Gentle Conversations is as it sounds – a smattering of percussion, a gentle pulse, and a layering of instruments simulate just that. Though magnificently portrayed by the Grigoryan brothers, Songs with Strings is perhaps a touch too intense and emotionally confronting for an album attempting to reduce stress. Mark Isaacs’ romantic and visually evocative The Wind in the Willows is more fitting; one can just imagine a…

Limelight Editor’s Choice – Orchestra – September 2014 Deutsche Grammophon’s reboot of period performance imprint Archiv has definitely got off to a flying start, with stylish Spanish conductor Pablo Heras-Casado and acclaimed period instrument band Concerto Köln serving up fiery musical tapas from Baroque rock star Farinelli’s Spanish sojourn. In 1737 King Philip V invites Carlo Broschi aka Farinelli, the greatest castrato of all time, to Madrid to sing solely for him. He accepts. After Philip’s death, Ferdinand VI appoints Farinelli artistic director of the palace theatres in Madrid’s Buen Retiro and Aranjuez. In his new role as impresario, Farinelli collaborates closely with librettist Pietro Metastasio and uses his extensive Neapolitan contacts to secure the services of some of the finest composers and musicians of the day. The results are game-changing. “Farinelli secured the services of the finest composers and musicians of the day” In his 12 years in the job, Farinelli succeeded, as Michael Church writes in his program notes, in raising the profile of Spanish music from “a kind of provinciality to being a major presence in the European mainstream”. Heras-Casado, whose own Aranjuez-based group La Compania Teatro del Principe… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month…

Simon Tedeschi has become something of a household name here in Australia. Known for thinking outside the classical box, he’s shown himself to be an artist of expert ability with some impressively diverse tastes. He collaborated with Australian jazz great James Morrison on his previous album with ABC Classics, Gershwin: Take Two, and this, his most recent release on the label continues his foray into the world of jazz. This compilation of local piano music has been chosen specially by Tedeschi, in what he calls a musical “self-portrait”. There’s something refreshing about the collection – it’s the perfect soundtrack for a lazy afternoon. You’ll find it has a soothing warmness, and at times an irresistible groove that instills it with a playful energy. Tedeschi’s performance is nuanced and sensitive, and perfectly suits the demands of the piano writing. The disc opens with a Barcarolle by pianist-composer Mark Isaacs, whose music adds a calming touch to the album. He has five miniatures peppered throughout the collection, including the title track, Tender Earth – a stunningly gentle soliloquy brought to life through Tedeschi’s thoughtful approach and delicate touch. Mike Nock’s music offers some welcome contrasts. The cutely named… Continue reading Get unlimited digital…

John Casken’s orchestral music is monumental in breadth and vision, and makes for enjoyable listening. 

I must admit I wasn’t familiar with the composers on this disc, but they’re both discoveries that I’m happy to have made. Performing here on two magnificent Ruckers keyboards from the early 17th century, Karen Flint plays these French Baroque works with an exquisitely light touch, presenting Lebègue and Hardel’s dances in the best possible way. The complete harpsichord works of Lebègue consist of his 1677 Les Pièces de Clavessin, and the 1687 Second Livre de Clavessin. Notably, it’s in the earlier collection that the very first unmeasured preludes (a form of prelude where each note’s duration is at the performer’s discretion) are contained. Most of the three discs are devoted to Lebègue’s music, but the potential dullness of a standardised sound is allayed through clever use of the two harpsichords. Although it’s not stated which one is used where, the benefit is clear in the pleasantly twangy Suitte en F ut fa, a very different sound from the richer instrument used elsewhere. Poor Jacques Hardel left only about 20 minutes of music, but it is extraordinarily beautiful. The noble Courante d’Ardelle, transcribed from a lute original, is particularly affecting. The liner notes are extraordinarily detailed in their descriptions of…

Switzerland is not a country that we associate with composers. Other than than Raff, we must wait until the 20th century and composers like Othmar Schoeck, Les Six’s Honegger and Frank Martin in order to find familiar names. So it was with interest to discover this fourth disc in an ongoing series devoted to the symphonic repertoire of Fritz Brun – a Lucerne-raised musician who may be Switzerland’s finest twentieth-century symphonist, writing between 1902 and his death in 1959 ten well constructed if conservatively Romantic symphonies in the style of Brahms. The English label Guild has finally taken the opportunity to record a complete traversal of his major works with six of his ten symphonies already released. Symphony No 1 – a prize winning student work – whilst bringing up suggestions of Brahms also  hints at Tchaikovsky, Wagner and Bruckner with the large forces of the Moscow Symphony relishing the attractive qualities of this large-scale tonal work. The Swiss conductor – simply known as Adriano – certainly knows the full worth of this symphony as with the others by this composer already recorded. By contrasting the early symphony with the much later Overture (from 1950), it is obvious that Brun…

The advantage a recording has over a live performance is the same as that of a printed score: freed from the shackles of time and place, one can feed as much or as little as, hunger dictates. This is often crucial with collections of works that weren’t intended to be listened to at one sitting. Yet there’s an assumption that people will listen through from beginning to end. So how to ensure the variety necessary to maintain interest? The wonderful Gywn Roberts takes her cue from historical uncertainty: for much of the Baroque period, the word “flute” could have meant either a recorder or the transverse flute proper. Thus, in this selection of works from Neapolitan composer Francesco Mancini’s 1724 collection “Solos for a flute with a Thorough Bass for the Harpsichord or for the Bass Violin” she uses a variety of instruments: two alto recorders, a voice flute (slightly lower in pitch than a treble recorder) and a transverse flute. Not only that: the continuo section continually, if you’ll excuse the pun, changes in colour and texture as Richard Stone and Adam Pearl, accompanied for the most part by Lisa Terry on cello, employ various combinations of harpsichord, organ,……

Last year’s celebration of Australia’s musical elite diaspora, the Australian World Orchestra, (plus a few resident players) featured Zubin Mehta on the podium. I’ve always regarded Mehta as a superb “technician” but, apart from a wunderkind debut Bruckner Ninth, while still in his twenties with the Vienna Philharmonic, I’ve never found his interpretations particularly engaging. However, my reactions to this two CD set of the occasion has somewhat changed my thinking. Their performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, in its centenary year, is very fine- without challenging Doráti’s, Bernstein’s first New York version or Igor Markevich’s old Philharmonia (stereo) version where the orchestral shriek at the opening of the second section is truly blood curdling. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the treacherous opening bassoon passage so beautifully shaped. The woodwind is also beautifully captured throughout. Mehta’s tempi are steady rather than headlong. The performance of  Mahler’s First Symphony was a treat. Mehta included the discarded Blumine (“Flowers’) movement ( as he did in his Israel Philharmonic recording in the late eighties) although Mahler was probably right to remove it, as it sounds genuinely, as distinct from faux, naïve. The string playing was of a caliber we seldom hear…