Halle Orchestra & Chorus; Sir Mark Elder

CD HLD 7534   65.08; 49.21

This recording was made live in the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, in May this year, and the performance was repeated at this summer’s Proms. As such it reflects the reivew which I wrote at the time and which is published under national reviews. Sir Mark Elder brings a surprising lightness of touch to the work, which is helped by the youthful voices, particularly of the apostles themselves.

We have not had a recent recording of The Apostles which makes this a valuable undertaking. BH

The Sixteen, Harry Christophers

CORO COR 16103              73:36, 48:19, 40:44

Saul is one of the earliest of Handel’s oratorios and has not fared as well over the years, being remembered mainly for its funeral march. This is a pity for it is a magnificent score and here gets a superlative performance. Most impressive is the lightness of touch with Harry Christophers brings to the score. There is a high sense of dramatic action in process, with the clash between Christopher Purves’ Saul and Sarah Connolly’s David at its heart. Numbers are never rushed but there is a sense of inevitability about the narrative which carries us swiftly towards its tragic climax. Handel not only draws on the organ continuo to fine effect but includes a carillon for special effects.

The Sixteen have a strong vocal line-up with many soloists in the making, and bring vivacity and joy to their choral items. BH

BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jirí Belohlávek

CHANDOS CHSA 5109     79:32

It is all too easy to miss concerts on Radio 3 even if one uses the internet service, so it is good that some of the best are still being issued on CD. This recording, dating from earlier this year, brings together two reasonably unfamiliar works by Suk. I heard A Summer’s Tale in Prague a few years ago and was glad to be reacquainted with it. The late romanticism of the scoring is captivating throughout and Jirí Belohlávek has an innate feel for the dance rhythms which underpin it.

Prague is a more extrovert work and one which would easily fit into the most conservative of concert programmes. Perhaps we could persuade somebody to put in into next season? BH

Early Opera Company, Christian Curnyn

CHACONNE CHAN 0788 63:16

It may come as something of a surprise to learn that Alceste appears to be the only play for which Handel composed incidental music. Certainly it is the only one which survives in a form worth performing as a whole. The idea for the collaboration came from the writer Thomas Smollett who had persuaded John Rich of Covent Garden to mount his play, promising the most elaborate scenery ever seen and incidental music by the revered Handel.

In the event things went from bad to worse with all participants blaming the other for the eventual need to abandon the project. Handel’s music, completed in January 1750, was held to be too difficult for the actors to perform, though it is comparable to any of his oratorio of the same period.

This new recording allows us to judge the quality of the work for ourselves and its joyful choruses and florid airs delight throughout. There is no sense of a rushed job or of extensive borrowing from other works to fill it out. Many of the airs remind me of Semele and anyone who enjoys that will certainly like this.

Lucy Crowe, Benjamin Hulett and Andrew Foster-Williams bring youthful sounding voices to solo parts and the Early Opera Company under Christian Curnyn give authentic support with bright attack and well sprung rhythms. BH

Les Passions, Orchestre Baroque de Montauban, Choeur de chambre les elements, Jean-Marc Andrieu

LIGIA LIDI 0202246-12         

This is the third disc in the series following Jean-Marc Andrieu’s tireless work to re-establish Jean Gilles’ reputation as one of the glories of French Baroque. While the recording was made earlier this year in St Pierre-des-Chartreux, Toulouse, the first modern performance was given as part of the summer festival at La Chaise-Dieu, which is reviewed separately.

I have been an enthusiast for Jean Gilles since I was first introduced to his scores and this new disc is no less rewarding than the other two. The joy of the writing leaps from the page and is caught in the enthusiasm of both singing and playing. There are also some novel touches. The solo serpent can be clearly heard in the Te Deum and the voices parts constantly shift between soloists and chorus. There seems to be far less regimentation than might be found in a north German score of the same period.

A full account of the live performance will appear later but for now I can heartily recommend the new issue. If this is your first encounter with Jean Gilles you will of course need the other discs which can be obtained from administration@les-passions.fr

Eroica Quartet

RESONUS RES10107        54’57”

This is a familiar combination but none the less welcome. The use of gut strings throughout, though again hardly a unique occurrence, does give an extra warmth and sensitivity to the playing.

The Ravel is marked by high levels of contrast, particularly the sense of attack in the final movement set against the gentle pizzicato of the second movement. The booklet has a very useful article on the background to the work, which includes the impact of the composer himself on early recording of the work. The influence is reflect in this recording but recognises that there were times when even the composer was unsure about dynamics and tempi. Both are convincing within the context of this new disc.

The Debussy is equally appealing and I particularly enjoyed the rather languorous approach to the Andantino.

That neither work was successful when first performed may seem strange to modern ears but this recording gives us some insight into the way they sounded when originally placed before the public. BH

Eroica Quartet

RESONUS RES10101        36’15”

It may seem surprising that, for such a familiar work, this is the first time that the 1825 version has been recorded. Mendelssohn’s fair copy is dated 15 October 1825, when he was only sixteen,  but was not published until 1832 by which time the composer had made substantial changes, including deleting some of the most radical scoring. Though in once sense a more polished work, the revised score is also less challenging than its original.

As such it is well worth hearing, if only to compare with the more familiar version. However this is no academic recording. The playing is as fresh as the score implies, with brisk tempi and an open excitement to the playing in the extensive first movement.

The scherzo shows the most revision with a cut towards the end which excises the repeat of the first subject. While driving the music forward this effectively unbalances the movement but the composer obviously felt this was worth risking. Listeners can judge for themselves but I am glad to have both versions available. The following movements are close to those with which we are familiar in the revision.

Playing and recording throughout are of a very high quality, with the ensemble able to move with ease from a relaxed intimacy to near orchestral authority.

For those who have loved the work for years this is an essential addition. BH

 Soloists/London Philharmonic Orchestra/Richard Hickox

CHANDOS CHAN 10728X               54.34

This reissue is part of a series to commemorate Richard Hickox, but is very welcome in its own right. Vaughan Williams’ operas are undervalued today – though a new production of Pilgrim’s Progress by ENO this autumn is timely. A Cotswold Romance is effectively a shortened version of Hugh the Drover, a work I first encountered when involved in a production at St Pancras Town Hall in the late 1960s. It is a remarkable piece, looking back to the security of Edwardian and even Victorian composition but also forward to music theatre of the later twentieth century.

Rosa Mannion and Thomas Randle bring an innocent clarity to their characters and the approach is brisk, bright and captivating.

The Death of Tintagiles is all but forgotten today, and so this recording is all the more valuable. A rare venture into the theatre, the play by Maeterlinck, for which this was the incidental music, was a disaster. Vaughan Williams vowed never to write for the theatre again and so this score vanished. A pity for it pre-echoes both his opera Riders to the Sea and the Sinfonia Antarctica. Its brooding darkness is unlike anything until the end of his career. A welcome reissue. BH

Rütti, Concerto for Organ, Strings & Percussion; Tongues of Fire:  Arensky, Variations on a theme of Tchaikovsky: Poulenc, Concerto for Organ, Timpani and Strings

Martin Heini, organ; Mario Schubiger, percussion; State Philharmonic Orchestra of Novosibirsk; Rainer Held

GUILD GMCD 7386          74.08

This is an exciting recording but it is not quite clear who the target audience are supposed to be. The two concerti are organ based and in marked contrast to the reflective work by Arensky which is for chamber orchestra alone.

While I thoroughly endorse the desire to broaden the audience for organ music across a wider range of listeners, I rather doubt the string enthusiast would be immediately drawn to the balance of works here. This would be a pity for they all have much to offer.

If the Poulenc is familiar it is also given a remarkably spiky reading, with a real intensity of approach from Martin Heini. He is playing the Goll organ of 1996 in the Pfarrkirche St Katharina at Horw, Switzerland which looks and sounds metallically north-german in style. This certainly suits Poulenc’s quasi medieval writing and the sparsity of romantic overtones.

The Arensky, arranged from a string quartet, makes a pleasing interlude before the Poulenc and after the most interesting sections of the recording – the works by Carl Rütti.

The Concerto for Organ Strings and Percussion is immediately persuasive, with its heady harmonies and jazz orientated rhythms. Surely this is a work which would win over organ sceptics? And as such needs to be far more familiar.

Tongues of Fire is based on the Latin hymn Veni sancte spiritus and includes bird song in a rather more familiar fashion than is often the case in works by Messiaen.

Well worth buying – soon. BH

Charles-Marie Widor: Organ Symphonies No 6 & 5

Joseph Nolan; Cavaille-Coll organ of La Madeleine, Paris

SIGNUM SIGCD 292        72.35

The most encouraging thing about this new release is that it is Vol 1 which implies we will eventually get all of Widor’s symphonies from Joseph Nolan. While there are many recordings of these works, Joseph Nolan brings an enthusiasm and vitality to them which are enhanced by the acoustic of La Madeleine.

It is a cliché that the building is the most important stop on any organ but for this recording it seems particularly important. We are always aware of the position of the instrument within the building and the rich sonorities which the space creates. All the more important for a symphonic organ – inaugurated in 1842 – which needs a generous acoustic and a sympathetic recording if the full ambience of the instrument is to flourish.

It certainly does here, not only in the more dramatic movements – the recording ends with the Toccata everybody knows – but in the quieter, more lyrical passages. I particularly enjoyed the bright registration for the Intermezzo  from the Sixth Symphony.

In the Fifth Symphony, the Allegro cantabile has a beautiful solo voice and the Adagio creates a gentle sense of drift which is very appealing.

The booklet gives us satisfactory notes on the works and the organ itself, but I would have liked a breakdown of the registration to have been included. It may be too late for future issues, but would be the icing on the cake. Here’s to the second volume. BH