Winsome Evans and the Renaissance Players have long since proved their dedication to early music in Australia, and in this release, the fifth in a series, they bring to life the music of medieval Spain. The Cantigas de Santa Maria is a collection of poems and music in praise of the Virgin Mary, thought to have been written by King Alfonso X during the 13th century. Therein lies the rub, though – how to accurately perform music so ancient? In the liner notes, Evans argues that Spain at the time took influence from Christian, Judaic, and Islamic beliefs, and as such musical performances would presumably be influenced by the same cultures. Therefore, on this recording there’s a kaleidoscopic range of instruments including Middle Eastern percussion such as the darabuka as well as shawms, the Turkish saz, and psalteries. The resulting arrangements are colourful and inventive, with soprano Mina Kanaridis singing particularly well on the hypnotic Poi-las Figuras. Some of the tracks are a little daunting, though. Beeyto Foi o Dia (Blessed and Fortunate), concerning the birth of Mary, is nearly 25 minutes long – rather a lot of medieval Galician. It’s a fine recording, and an even more impressive bit…

Although this is a debut recording by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Wind Soloists, the six players each boast impressive individual track records. As part of the SCO itself, they previously made a recording of wind concerti by Weber, which in turn inspired the creation of the ensemble on this disc. As the liner notes point out, throughout Mozart’s life, one constant was that he always wrote music for entertainment. Whether that music was designed to be played at parties or banquets, at evenings out or formal ceremonies, it’s abundantly clear that Mozart took all this good-natured music very seriously. The recording opens with the Serenade in E Flat, K375. There’s a well-known letter to his father in which Mozart describes his delight at discovering the musicians performing the work beneath his window as a surprise one evening. Similarly, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Wind Soloists present us as listeners with a pleasant surprise, as they (somewhat unusually) play the original version of this work for pairs of clarinets, horns and bassoons. Normally, the Serenade in E Flat features a pair of oboes as well, but clarinettists Maximiliano Martin and William Stafford produce some wonderfully shaded timbres, creating more than a strong…

★★★★☆ One of classical music’s dilemmas is the relatively small body of high-profile works that get recorded again and again. Thank goodness then for musicians like Josie Ryan and the Emerald City Viols. The repertoire on this CD for soprano and viol consort, is remarkably varied. It begins and ends with compositions by viol player and director Brooke Green, starting with settings of Dorothy Porter’s poetry, and passes through some surprising influences – Nick Cave is not the first name I expected to see referenced in the liner notes! Green utilises modern harmonies and rhythms, but not to the detriment of melody. There’s also a generous helping of more traditional repertoire from Gibbons, Morley, and Dowland, while sprinkled throughout are works by Elena Kats-Chernin and Ross Edwards. The Emerald City Viols give enthusiastic performances, especially excelling in the Renaissance pieces. Gibbons subtly melancholy settings are sung with great aplomb by Josie Ryan. Similarly, three Dowland songs (Flow my tears, In darkness let me dwell, and Can she excuse my wrongs) are performed in a natural and affecting way. Recorded with funding from the online crowdfunding platform Pozible, this is the ancient sound of the viol consort, brought into the 21st century….

A new take on Strauss’ merry pranks lead to decidedly mixed bag.

Inspired by viol-maker Richard Jones’ copies of Venetian instruments, the Rose Consort of Viols presents a globe-trotting recital, centred on Venice (La Serenissima) – a hub for musicians of the time. There’s everything from lively galliards to free-wheeling fantasias, and covering a range of composers from Italy, Germany, France and England. Most of this music is heard far too rarely, and some of it is quite extraordinary. I was once told that Renaissance counterpoint “wasn’t nearly as complex as the Baroque”, and I suspect that such an ignorant statement could be easily shattered by some of the pieces here. For example, the liner notes point out that the tenor viol part of Henricus Isaac’s La my la sol doubles in speed each time it repeats, until it syncs up with the rest of the consort. So much for a lack of complexity! Not all of the works are so logically constructed. The Rose Consort give a fabulously rustic performance of some anonymous dances from the mid-16th century from both Italy and England, and it’s easy to imagine the music as the background to a ball or social event. Furthermore, Delphian have done a fine job in recording the plangent timbre…

Daniel Hope is one of those musicians who can convince in just about any repertoire.

Buy this album on iTunes: Bach: The Art of Fugue – Angela Hewitt Bach’s final work, The Art of Fugue, is a formidable contrapuntal challenge for any musician – it’s essentially the Mount Everest of Baroque intricacy, containing some of his most devilishly complex part-writing. The work, consisting of fourteen fugues and four canons, is written utilising a different permutation of the same theme in each part, so Bach’s single short theme is presented in dozens of different ways. The four-bar theme is heard in augmentation (longer note values), diminution (shorter note values), inverted (upside-down), and in a whole variety of canons. Such an intensely cerebral work will acquire an air of mystery in any case, and the fact that Bach died before he could finish it has only added to its reputation. Perhaps that’s why it has taken renowned Bach pianist Angela Hewitt quite so long to tackle this behemoth; she’s been recording Baroque works on the piano for many years, but she’s only added The Art of Fugue to her repertoire in 2012. It may have taken her a little while, but it’s been well worth waiting for, and I only wish that she had recorded this work…

Entering his fifth decade of performing, it would be natural to expect John Williams to take a creative step back. Instead, it seems that he has undergone a creative resurgence, beginning to publish his own compositions on his own website, and now making recordings himself, too. In the last year, he’s recorded a new CD of solo guitar works, but Williams here turns to concerto repertoire.   This stylistically varied recording begins with a re-visiting of Williams’ collaboration with Chilean group Inti-Illimani. Danza’s Peregrinas is re-worked material from Inti-Illimani’s repertoire, expanded for three soloists and orchestra. The orchestrations here are rather lush, and it’s difficult to resist the rhythmic precision and playfulness of these danzas.   Williams has been a notable supporter of Australian composers, so it’s appropriate that he includes a home-grown work (originally written for him in the 90’s) on this recording with Ross Edwards’ Arafura Dances. Utilising Edwards’ familiar maninyas, the work is an exploration of virtuosic rhythms.   Stephen Goss’s music has been gaining popularity, having been added to the repertoire of some of the major names in the guitar world such as young virtuoso Xuefei Yang. I’ve not yet been converted, finding his works laboured….

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 the slow movement, Brahms writes in the…

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…

In its previous two recordings, the Melbourne Guitar Quartet chose rather unusual material, including an arrangement of Nigel Westlake’s hypnotic percussion work, Omphalo Centric Lecture, and a reimagining of William Walton’s Five Bagatelles, originally for solo guitar. Here, the repertoire is far less adventurous. Reworkings of Albéniz’s Cordoba and Granados’s various Danzas Españolas have been played on guitar since the early 20th century, so the material here isn’t as fresh and unexpected. The arrangement of Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque has a curiously earthbound feel to it – this won’t replace any of the great pianists for favoured recordings of the work, though the famous Clair de Lune is appropriately dreamy. Furthermore, I feel that the extracts from both Debussy and Ravel’s string quartets (in both cases the second movement) are flat-out unsuitable for guitar quartet format. For example, the trill in the Ravel that introduces the soaring theme that should sound effortless, sounds laboured. Were these pieces chosen simply because they feature pizzicatos in the original string quartet versions? In both cases, tempos are on the slow side, exacerbating the issue. The Granados and Albéniz, on the other hand, are played well, benefitting from the extended range provided by the quartet’s…

You certainly couldn’t wish for a better send-off. Though sadly passing away earlier this year, Peter Sculthorpe is celebrated in a wonderful way on this recording. Over the course of his entire career, Sculthorpe always returned to the piano, his own instrument. Before his death, he closely supervised the recording of this superb two-disc set, and specifically chose pianist Tamara-Anna Cislowska as the ideal proponent of his works. The program is organised chronologically, beginning with a set of short works written at the age of just 15. For the first half of the first disc or thereabouts, we’re comfortably in a sort of Debussy-esque territory that many wouldn’t quickly associate with Sculthorpe. These early works have rather delightfully evocative titles such as Falling Leaves, Prelude to a Puppet Show, and a slumbering Siesta. However, while these pieces (mostly written before he turned 20) are very beautiful, his unique compositional voice was yet to emerge. “Koto Music includes a sound that resembles nothing so much as a blues-style slide guitar” By the time we’ve arrived at the mid-1950s with the Sonatina, his familiar stylistic approaches have begun to make an appearance, and with the fully-fledged Sonata of 1963, we’ve come to…