Warm, intimate, gentle and yet absorbing, it belies Berlioz’s reputation for overstatement and is known chiefly for the ‘Shepherds’ Farewell’. This recording, almost half a century old, is just perfect with its all-French cast, except obviously for de los Angeles (in radiant voice anyway), and the then standard French-sounding orchestra with its slightly tart woodwind adding the last touch of Gallic authenticity, overlaid with the master touch of Cluytens. The characters in this tableau vivant are much more three-dimensional than those in most oratorios and genuinely interact to create a genuine snapshot of life at the time of Christ’s birth. The Romeo and Juliet excerpts are another story. It’s one of a handful of recordings made by Giulini in the mid-1970s for EMI in Chicago when he seemed a civilising influence able to tame this orchestral beast after the occasional brutality of Decca’s Solti. Giulini brings insights into the extended slow pieces such as ‘Romeo Alone’ and maintains the note-to-note tension without any micro-managing, while the faster, more extrovert numbers radiate a visceral brashness amid the wonderful virtuosity quite appropriately. The Queen Mab scherzo is a model of truly knife-edge ensemble. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per…

Of the abridged versions of the full work, the second of the two Daphnis and Chloé suites is the most popular. The music rises mellifluously with the sun and eventually climaxes in its famous 5/4 beat bacchanal. French-Canadian conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, is quite at home here, coaxing lush and exciting playing from Holland’s second orchestra. The great, arching violin melody in the opening pages of the score has rarely sounded so serenely grand. Ravel’s tribute to the more dissolute side of the waltz is on show in Valses Nobles et Sentimentales and La Valse. We easily forget that when the waltz was new, it was regarded as a decadent development. In La Valse, Ravel has made sure we don’t forget it. The work almost deconstructs the waltz. For me the finest piece on the disc is in the Mother Goose Suite. A ballet score touching on the remembrances of childhood. If ever there was music written to lift one’s spirits skyward, this is it. The progress from the hushed and softly imagined Pavane, the joyous brilliance of ‘Petit Poucet’ and finally the radiant apotheosis of ‘The Magic Garden’, is almost without peer in this style of imaginary composition. Although the…

It’s unlikely that even with the powerful and eloquent advocacy of Gautier Capuçon (who claims to have loved the work since he was a child – some people must have strange childhoods) Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante will ever supplant either the Dvorák or Elgar concertos in the concert hall. This is a pity as the work certainly deserves more acknowledgement than it has ever received. Sure, it has the skittish wit, brittle elegance and lyrical warmth of the composer at his best but I’m tempted to think he just poured too much material into it. Composed for Rostropovich, it first appeared as the composer’s ‘Cello Concerto No 2’ in 1952 but was then renamed with its current title. The Concertante is misleading, as the cello’s part is as demanding as that in any conventional concerto, with what the excellent sleeve noted refers to as “bitingly confrontational exchanges with the orchestra”. For me, the most bizarre section occurred in the last movement where we hear parodies of Mahler, Rossini and Britten. Gautier’s performance is a tour de force. His exquisitely nuanced Rococo Variations take this work to a new level with the Third Variation assuming a gorgeous balletic quality. Continue reading Get…

This is a two-disc CD presentation of a musical setting of the St Mark’s Passion, a text which exists in hundreds of musical settings, with Bach’s at the pinnacle. There’s also a DVD of a performance in Holland in 2008. This modern work – a sort of world-music/classical fusion — comes from composer Osvaldo Golijov, who was born in Argentina from Eastern European Jewish parents, and who has lived in Argentina, Israel and the USA. Expression of a common humanity rather than one strict religious philosophy seems to be key to the work. It pulsates with South American rhythms, but at the same time it sounds as if it would be equally at home in Africa, or New Guinea or anywhere. As you listen, Golijov’s influences seem many, but referential rather than direct. There are allusions to Orff, and even Britten, and Theodorakis too. It’s a fecund work, which has sprung from rich soil. The orchestra is very South American in its basis of percussion and brass. The choral singing is very beautiful, and the small handful of soloists acquit themselves very well, particularly the fine soprano Jessica Rivera. The DVD of the concert performance is worth viewing once to set…

And so it is with the new recording of Berlioz’s most famous composition. This is a valuable addition to the catalogue, for you are unlikely to have ever heard it played before in this fashion. The work has lent itself generously over the last 150 years to huge orchestras and ambitious conducting. Not any more, and a greater contrast with our comfort zone experiences could not be imagined. Much of it is a great improvement. The steely strings, the drier woodwinds, the edgier brass playing, contribute to a more effective nightmare than we usually get. This approach de-romanticises the score very effectively. Similar treatment for Mahler’s 4th Symphony with Roger Norrington and the Stuttgart orchestra, robbed the work of feeling. Curiously, this does not apply to this work, couched as it is in cold dreams and night sweats. However, it must be said that there are times, primarily towards the end of the last two sections, where a more voluptuous orchestral sound is needed, as the performance rattles a bit at the end of those sections. This is more of a problem with the overture, Roman Carnival. Immerseel clearly has no idea what makes the piece work and it goes…

Shostakovich’s Trio Op. 8 predates his first symphony and was begun when the composer was 16. It followed emotional crises caused by the First World War, his struggle with tuberculosis, the death of his father and his love for the daughter of a Moscow professor. It is not surprising that the work is a kaleidoscope of emotions ranging from ecstasy to despair. The Trio Op. 67 dates from the worst period of the Second World War (1944) and reflects the deprivations and horrors suffered by the Soviet people at that time. It is said that at the first performance, by Shostakovich and members of the Beethoven Quartet, members of the audience were moved to tears and left stunned at its conclusion. Further performances were banned probably because the authorities recognised that the Jewish theme in the finale was a reference to the persecution of Jews taking place throughout Europe. The Schnittke Trio (1991) is an arrangement made after the composer had recovered from a serious stroke, of his string Trio of 1985. It is written very much in the style of Shostakovich’s music but is, if anything, even grimmer and more pessimistic than that latter’s 0p. 67. It consists of…

Rare Bach selections played excellently by an oboe legend.

That augurs badly for this disc, which presents new settings of six works by Argentina’s tango-master Astor Piazzolla, alongside four original compositions inspired by Piazzolla by pianist David Gordon and violinist Adam Summerhayes. Piazzolla, an innovative composer and musician who created cutting-edge music inspired by the tango tradition, breathed fresh life into what had become a rather tired musical genre. But although an inspired creator, he set strict limits on his musical expression. He used a bandoneon (an instrument similar to a concertina) as his main instrument. He eschewed strings and percussion, and even disliked jazz-style improvisation. Yet this album presents a string orchestra with piano, and positively glistens with percussive effects from the stringed instruments as well as great expressive jazz riffs. It should be a universe away from Piazzolla’s world. Yet it is not. In their very free interpretations of Piazzolla’s works, and in their own compositions, Gordon and Summerhayes honour the composer by giving us some wildly expressive and continually exciting music which is as thrilling as the tango itself. As an act of homage, this works. As an explosion of raw musical passion, it works even better. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per…

This 3-CD set comes from the 2009 Festival. All the music is capably and sensitively performed.

The longtext was written by one Henry Hamilton, something of a hack. The speeches are relieved by Elgar’s attractive and diverse music but the pretentious exchanges between the voices of Indian cities – as each city argues for its right to be the new capital – requires a deal of patience and historical perspective. Even so, more circumstance and less pomp would have better served Elgar in scoring this curious work. Very little of his original orchestration has survived. As recently as the early 1970s, the full score was lost when the building housing the archive of the music publisher was demolished. All that remained was a piano score and a recording of a suite conducted by Elgar. So the remarkable Anthony Payne again came to the rescue. He is the genius who realised Elgar’s unfinished sketches for his third symphony. Andrew Davis knows how this music works and gets excellent performances from all and sundry. The recording is first-rate and there is some marvellous, undiscovered Elgar for the fans to dine on. Hopefully, Chandos see fit to issuea CD without the tedious spoken text at some point. However, to have the work complete for the first time is very…

A founding member of the Calefax Reed Quintet, he has provided them with arrangements of works by composers as diverse as Bach, Ravel and Rameau. As a soloist, he has arranged Paganini’s Caprices for saxophone and this disc finds him again concentrating on the master violinist’s output. Many of the works on this release are effectively Paganini ‘once removed’ as they are arrangements of other composers’ arrangements. Hekkema is a brilliant saxophonist and he uses his full bag of tricks in attempting to match Paganini’s range. However the result is only partially satisfying, as many of the effects seem forced or not quite right. Frequently the ‘effect’ is heard rather than the musical content but, given that the repertoire for the classical saxophone is severely limited he makes a brave attempt. The highlight is the arrangement of Paganini’s Quartet XV where Hekkema puts aside his bag of tricks and focuses on the music of this wonderful and less well known work. Pianist Eijsacker is a willing and talented partner; the sound is spectacularly captured by Dabringhaus and Grimm’s engineers and the sleeve notes (by Hakkema) are lucid and informative. Ultimately, however, this will be of limited interest to anyone but…

Typically iconoclastic, it opens with a solo piano theme that is answered by the orchestra, before a more traditional ritornello follows – based on the piano theme. The second movement, one of Beethoven’s finest, is a dialogue between an initially angry and strident orchestra and a serene piano that eventually dominates – soothing the orchestra. The final Rondo is a joyous romp. For this recording, pianist Roland Brautigam uses a newly revised score for the outer movements that includes annotations by the composer in 1808, eventually deciphered in 1994. The overall effect of these changes is minimal. Towards the end of 1806, Beethoven also wrote his only Violin Concerto for Franz Clement, which is another strikingly original work with its opening timpani strikes. In 1808, at the request of pianist/composer Muzio Clementi, Beethoven transcribed it for piano. Unfortunately much of the piano transcription is a straight repetition of the violin part with little or no harmonic addition. This can be a little disconcerting for the listener used to the violin version. The cadenzas, however, were newly composed by Beethoven and probably contain the most interesting music in the concerto. Brautigam gives a characteristically reliable performance and the Norrköping Orchestra are…