This CD shows tenor David Hobson in his most appealing guise – as a purveyor of song. From pop (Roy Orbison’s Crying) to showtunes (The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha) to folk (O Waly Waly), Hobson is very comfortable in an idiom he describes in the liner notes as his “second home”. There is a natural ease to his voice and delivery that makes him compare very favourably to the likes of crossover crooners such as Clay Aiken and Russell Watson. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The Grammy-winning vocalist describes this album as “definitive” Kurt Elling. One thing’s for certain: his move to producer Don Was results in a more highly produced album, featuring layered backing vocals and other effects which, in a way, detract from Elling’s natural “wow factor”. Even more assured, however, with a maturing grainy crackle around the edges, are the highlights of The Gate – two songs only six years apart in birthdate, but poles apart in DNA – the Davis/Evans Blue in Green and the Lennon/McCartney Norwegian Wood. Laurence Hobgood remains a prized collaborator and foil. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

For those who have followed Jane Monheit’s career since she was a 20-year-old runner-up to Teri Thornton in the 1998 Thelonious Monk Institute vocal competition (Roberta Gambarini was third), this is the album we have been waiting for. At 33, eleven years after her recording debut, she has come of age as a jazz singer. This shows in her sense of dynamics and the confident way she tackles a lyric – with a voice like a shot of whiskey and honey. Her scat singing, especially, befits someone who cites Ella Fitzgerald and Mel Tormé among her early influences. There are many highlights: the spirited feistiness of Everything I Have is Yours with Mark O’Connor’s violin; plumbing the emotional depths in I’ll Be Around; and the romanticism of There’s a Small Hotel with lovely piano by Michael Kanan. They all show she’s the real deal. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Vincent D’Indy wrote a bucketload of music in his productive lifetime, much of which is now forgotten. If one knows music by this composer then it is likely to be his tone poem, Ishtar, or the Symphony on a French Mountain Air, a quasi-piano concerto that is arguably the best thing he ever wrote. He was a mover and shaker in French music. A passionate Wagnerite, he attended the premiere of the Ring Cycle, and Wagner’s influence can be heard in his music. If a case can be made for D’Indy’s lushly attractive (if discursive) music, then Maestro Gamba can do it. His collaborator in this adventure is the Iceland Symphony: a fine ensemble that delivers all that the conductor asks of it, playing the music with sensitivity and a… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Two decades have passed since Latvia achieved independence but we are still hearing a “singing revolution”.

Geoffrey Simon’s London Sound series started many years ago with the first London Cello Sound. This unlikely idea (since adopted by many others) simply took one instrument, multiplied it by 8, 12 or 16, and produced an orchestra of instrumental siblings. We’ve had three or four cello discs, as well as discs of nothing but trumpets, horns, violas (there’s revenge for you), violins, basses and now harps – at least eleven discs so far. In this latest offering there are no fewer than 16 of these magnificent instruments – each one an orchestra in its own right – playing really clever arrangements of everything from Edith Piaf (and no they don’t regret it) to music originally written for the instrument. Of course this stuff must be played at the highest level to work, and so it is. The players are some of the world’s finest, from Skaila Kanga, Professor Emerita of Harp at the Royal Academy of Music and Principal Harp of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, to Virginie Gout-Zschäbitz, solo harp at Deutsche Oper Berlin, who also… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

These are invigorating accounts of three Mozart string quartets that neatly encapsulate the history of his writing for this musical medium. Mozart’s string quartets fall into three major brackets of works spread over 17 or 18 years, each represented here. The first quartet K157 in C major dates from 1772, when Mozart was just 17 years old. The quartet form was undergoing rapid development at this stage and Mozart, fresh from his musical explorations across Europe, was brimming with ideas. His youthful zest is already tempered by deep reflection, as shown in the astonishing depth of the Allegro which makes up the first movement. His prodigious development as a musician is reflected in the clutch of works known as the “Haydn” quartets. Here is Mozart in 1784, not quite 30 but already in his full maturity as a composer. The performance here of the Hunt quartet (K458) shows why this bracket of quartets is regarded as the finest he ever wrote. Mozart evidently thought he had pretty well exhausted his explorations of the genre, for although he was later commissioned… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Lavish collections of Australian composers’ orchestral work are sadly all too rare, making this is a disc to be treasured. It contains four substantial works by Richard Mills written over a two-decade period, beginning with 1989’s Bamaga Diptych and progressing chronologically to 2008’s Symphony of Nocturnes. Richard Mills has long enjoyed a multifaceted career; he first rose through the ranks of the orchestra as a percussionist before making a name as a composer and conductor. His commitment to Australian music has been profound, cemented recently by his exhaustive 20-disc Australian Composers Series leading the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, so the dedicated focus here on his own music is well deserved. The works here are classic Mills: sweeping and confident, full of malleable shapes and exotic turns of phrase. His renowned magic as an orchestrator is abundant here, with bold colours reminiscent of Ravel and Stravinsky shining… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

This is an odd coupling. The notes don’t help explain the collation of these disparate works except for the conductor’s rather vaguely argued affection for both pieces. Brahms comes out of it best as Pasternack gives the great work due weight, although the performance loses energy in the development section of the first movement. Bartók is a different matter. The Miraculous Mandarin was the final stage work of one of the key composers of the 20th century. It is set in a brothel, where thugs use an attractive young girl to draw men in to murder and rob them. The music is remarkable and the composer uses all his skills in conjuring up the lurid world described. Feverish strings rush us forward into the score, and the composer’s trademarks of sliding trombones and exotic percussion are employed to great effect. However, the piece had a rocky start…. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

It’s heartening to see major labels still signing largely unknown talent. In a well-planned and intelligent program to showcase his eclectic virtuosity, Chen raises the curtain with Tartini’s Devil’s Trill Sonata, music which supposedly came to the composer in a dream in which it was played by the devil. The work begins with sweet simplicity and becomes more fearsomely difficult as it progresses. By the end, Chen’s virtuosity is like shards of light refracted through a brilliant prism. The first major work is the famous chaconne from JS Bach’s D minor Partita. For all its structural formality, this sublime movement harbours as wide an array of emotions as any Romantic violin piece, ranging from joy to solemnity and grief. Chen maintains the shape in one great arc but also remembers… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Dance forms are the order of the day in this recital replete with waltzes, polkas and tangos.

Elizabeth Watts caught international attention when she won the Song Prize at the 2007 Cardiff Singer of the World competition, and her star has risen steadily since, particularly in art song and 18th-century repertoire. This release – her second solo disc – is a testament to her talent in both of these specialties, bringing a lieder singer’s sensibility to a selection of Bach’s most beautiful and best-loved vocal music. Watts’s warm, focused soprano has an unforced beauty to it, particularly in its luscious middle register. Her diction is excellent, her phrasing graceful, and she demonstrates scrupulous attention to the text – assets honed in recital and which also make her an elegant Bach singer. That said, it’s not until the second half of this disc that she really shines, the… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in