Iberia y Francia

Imogen Cooper, piano

CHANDOS CHAN 20119

An interesting collection and a well arranged programme which leads us tactfully from the familiar to the rare, through Ravel and de Falla to Albeniz and Mompou via unfamiliar pieces of Debussy. Within the context, Debussy’s L’Isle joyeuse seems overtly modern.

Romantic piano concerto: 79

Markus Becker, piano, Rundfunk-sinfonieorchester Berlin, Constantin Trinks

HYPERION CDA 68258

Pfitzner’s E flat major piano concerto is a four movement bombastic work which has its moments but often seems over the top. By contrast the lesser known Tag und Nacgtstucke by Walter Braunfels is a more subtle impressionistic piece which weaves the piano part into the orchestration rather than sets up a contest of might.

Puccini: Le Villi

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Marco Angius

DYNAMIC 37840

Puccini’s Le Villi is rarely performed and even with the quality of the singing here it is easy to see why. While there is some good music in it, the structure fails to hold the attention even though it is essentially a one act work. It feels as though the composer could not quite make up his mind whether to write a full ballet score or an opera and ended up with an unhappy compromise.

Paul Gunn: A Beekeeper’s Garden

Paul Gunn, piano with soloists

Available from www.paulgunn.bandcamp.com

I came across Paul Gunn and the members of his band almost by accident at an open event at the Opus Theatre in Hastings. It is worth listing the instrumentalists involved. Paul Gunn himself plays both a Steinway and an Arturia American digital piano. He also composed most of the tracks. Helen Thomas plays an early nineteenth century cello; Leslee Booth is on Bass and David Rohomans on Drums. Bjorn Dahlberg is on sax and clarinet, Ben Cummings on trumpet and flugelhorn. The constant changes of dynamic and tonal qualities across this range of instruments is enlightening and persuasive. The style is relaxed but always gently challenging expectation. I particularly enjoyed Creole Dance and Two Part Invention, but you really need to hear the cd or better catch the group live. Recording available from the address above.

British Tone Poems: Vol 2

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Rumon Gamba

CHANDOS CHAN 10981

Most of these works will be unfamiliar but are certainly worth more than a cursory listen. I particularly enjoyed Foulds’ April-England which sits happily alongside works by Vaughan Williams and Arthur Bliss. Hymen Cowen’s Reverie and Hadley’s Kinder Scout are here recorded for the first time, and all of these short works could easily hold their own in the concert hall.

Brahms: Violin Sonatas,

Alina Ibragimova, violin; Cedric Tiberchien, piano

HYPERION CDA 68200

A lovely disc, and seductively indulgent. The second movement of the Sonata No1 in G major is sheer delight. Added to the three Brahms’ sonatas is the short but beautiful Andante molto by Clara Schumann. Worth every penny!

Schumann: Songs of Love and Death

Simon Wolfisch, baritone; Edward Rushton, piano

RESONUS RES 10247

As well as Dichterliebe this recording includes 12 settings of Justinus Kerner and 5 songs taken from Hans Christian Andersen. There is an intensity to Simon Wolfisch’ singing which is entirely in keeping with the scores and splendidly supported by Edward Rushton.

Rossini; Sigismondo

Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Munchner Rundfunkorchester, Keri-Lynn Wilson

BR KLASSIK 900327

Sigismondo did not go down well in Venice when it was first heard in 1814. The story is even more complex than we are used to in opera plots and involve levels of mental confusion and misunderstanding which certainly confused the first night audience hoping for another noble tale like Tancredi or a comedy. In the event they got neither but on can’t object to the score itself with is a strongly focussed as any of the later works. Keri-Lynn Wilson drives the score with vigour and the live performance helps the tension the presentation inevitably has.

Weber: Oberon

Philharmonisches orchester Gleissen, Michael Hofstetter

OEHMS OC 984

A live performance of a work which combines a glorious score – here sympathetically performed – with essential narrative which, however well done, lowers the temperature. Would that somebody could find an answer to allow a dramatic format for Weber’s final work which overcame the problems with the text.

Joseph Marx: Eine Herbstsymphonie

Grazer Philharmoniker, Johannes Wildner

CPO 555 262-2

A surprisingly romantic work – think Ravel or Scriabin – which had something of a tortured start. It is difficult today to sense the complaints made at its premiere in 1922 of modernism made against it. It does not sound difficult to our ears today and if anything seems to look back to the late nineteenth century rather than what we now consider modern. It is a fascinating exception and one from a composer highly regarded in his own day but almost forgotten now.