Daily Archives: 16 August, 2022

CDs August 2022

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PLINIO FERNANDES – SAUDADE
PLINIO FERNANDES, guitar
DECCA GOLD (impossible to read the issue number-so small!)

A lovely album, the first solo release on a major label by this Brazilian guitarist including fine performances of arrangements of popular songs by Antonio Carlos Jobim and a number of Preludes by Villa-Lobos. On three tracks he is joined by another renowned musicians -Sheku (cello) & Braimah (violin) Kanneh-Mason and Maria Rita (voice).

MOONSTRIKE
APOLLO CHAMBER PLAYERS
JOHN HERRINGTON, narrator
AZICA ACD-71352 59’45

This is a remarkably fresh release of wonderful performances of three new commissions of ‘globally-inspired’ music reflecting specific cultures. Jennifer Higdon’s In the shadow of the mountain (2020) is inspired by the composer’s upbringing in the Appalachian mountains. Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s MoonStrike (2019) brings together three American Indian legends and combines them with the founder of the Apollo Chamber Players’ love of space. This features narration from Chikasaw astronaut John Herrington, the first American Indian citizen to fly in space. Pierre Jalbert’s L’esprit du Nord (Spirit of the North) (2019) ends the disk, this work drawing on French-Canadian musical traditions.

MOTHER SISTER DAUGHTER
MUSICA SECRETA, LAURIE STRAS, director
LUCKY MUSIC LCKY001

Beautifully produced all round this CD brings fine performances of a well planned and researched programme with the focus on devotional music created and performed by women of the convent where Galileo Galilei’s daughter resided. The larger part of the programme consists of three sets of Vespers – those of St Lucy and two of St Clare. A further Renaissance liturgical sequence, parts of a Mass of the Blessed Virgin and a contemporary composition, The veiled Sisters, by Joanna Marsh, completes the disc. Recorded in Cambridgeshire the singers (a female ensemble in existence for over thirty years)) are complemented with reproduction period instruments.

JOHANN PACHELBEL – HEXACHORDUM APOLLINIS; CHACONNE IN C MAJOR
ENRICO BISSOLO, harpsichord
DYNAMIC CDS7961 58’38

The title work on this disc is a fascinating composition. A set of 6 arias with variations written for either harpsichord or organ. Mathematically complex with symbolism relating to numerology and the Kabbalah the booklet notes point out some interesting features and point to a work that should perhaps be more widely known and appreciated. The Chaconne is a more known work.
BOHUSLAV MARTINU – SYMPHONIES 5 & 6
RADIO-SINFONIEORCESTER STUTTGART DES SWR
ROGER NORRINGTON, conductor
SWR CLASSIC SWR19119CD 60’18

As with his other four symphonies these date from the latter part of Martinu’s life, during his time in America. These are two substantial works. No 6 is alternately titled Fantaisies symphoniques. Both of these works have innovations and show a progression in the composer’s writing. Extending ideas of structure and of harmonic progression and influenced by his move to the US Martinu, however, never abandons the foundations of his Czech beginnings.

EDWARD GERMAN – BRITISH LIGHT MUSIC 10
SLOVAK RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ADRIAN LEAPER, conductor
NAXOS 8.555171 67’28

I got to know some of Edward German’s music first of all through popular piano transcriptions and still only know a couple of his works. Here we have them – suites from Henry VIII and Merrie England together with incidental music from a number of other productions – Nell Gwyn, Romeo & Juliet, Tom Jones as well as The Tempter and Gipsy Suite. As with other release in this strand the music is melodic and often quite memorable. Another lovely release.

JOHN BURGE – SINFONIA ANTIQUA – ONE SAIL
JOANNA G’FROERER, flute, RACHEL MERCER, cello
THIRTEEN STRINGS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, KEVIN MALLON, conductor
NAXOS 8.579073 64’23

This highly enjoyable disk brings a compilation of the Canadian composer’s work all of which has been commissioned by Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra. There is a lot of rhythmic energy to be found here as well as reflection and interesting shifts of harmony. Burge’s music seems to spring out of earlier traditions but with fresh things still to say. Alongside the two title works are also Forgotten Dreams and Upper Canada Fiddle Suite.

KONSTANTIN VASSILIEV – GUITAR WORKS 1
YURI LIBERZON, guitar, PATRICK O’CONNELL, guitar
NAXOS 8.574315 71’30

Inventive and at times quite mesmerising, this is a wonderful collection from highly talented guitarists of Vassiliev’s music. It is good to see this release from Naxos which shines a light on this contemporary composer whose sound world crosses the boundaries of jazz, contemporary Western styles and Russian traditional music. Very enjoyable.

TOURNAMENT FOR TWENTY FINGERS
EMMA ABBATE & JULIAN PERKINS, piano four hands
BIS BIS-2578 69’47
This is a fabulous compilation of twentieth century British piano duets performed brilliantly by Emma Abbate & Julian Perkins. There is a special link between performers and one of the composers, Stephen Dodgson (Tournament for Twenty Fingers and Sonata for piano duet). The piano on which these recordings was made was bequeathed by him to the duo. Beginning with Lennox Berkeley – Palm Court Waltz, Sonatina in E flat and Theme and variations there is a huge variety of mood and structure in this programme. Richard Arnell’s Sonatina for piano duet and Constant Lambert’s Trois pieces negres pour les touches blanches complete the disk. A very welcome release of little heard repertoire.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH – 6 SUITES FOR CELLO SOLO
DAVID STROMBERG, baroque cello, cello piccolo
OEHMS 0C498 (2CDs) 60’03 & 79’30

This is a lovely production. These fresh recordings of the 6 solo cello suites are the result of meticulous research and preparation by cellist David Stromberg. The first five suites are performed on a baroque cello which, according to the notes, has a slightly different tuning for number five. The sixth was apparently originally written for a five-stringed instrument which is used here. Straightforward and very accessible notes are included in the accompanying booklet.

KLAS TORSTENSSON – LANTERN LECTURES
NORRBOTTEN NEO, CHRISTIAN KARLSEN, conductor
BIS BIS-2516 71’06

Contemporary Swedish born composer Klas Torstensson has spent much of his working life in the Netherlands. Here is an exciting performance of a work completed in 2002. The title of the work harks back to eductional slide lectures, with each movement centred on a natural Nordic phenomenon. Between each movement is a shorter Brass Link. The music is often percussive and with striking contrasts of timbre and dynamic.

SP

BBC Proms 2022 Prom 39: BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo 15th August

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ConstantinHartwig.jpgThis all-English programme was a high octane concert at the end of which orchestra members must have been very tired although they sustained the stamina until the very last bar.

We began with a new work, a BBC co-commission, by Mark-Anthony Turnage. Time Flies comprises three movements each representing the cities and time zones of the work’s commissioners. Thus we get “London Time” (hint of “Pop Goes the Weasel”), an initially bell-like “Hamburg Time” which finally dies away on an evocative flute motif, followed by “Tokyo Time” in which off beat jazzy rhythms showcase excellent work by the brass section. The whole work – which uses seven percussionists – would make a good teaching exercise if you were trying to teach children about instruments of the orchestra. It features, among other novelties a celesta, soprano saxophone and marimba.

Sakari Oramo is a businesslike, unshowy conductor who maestro-managed all this (and the works which followed) with a strong down beat and encouraging smiles. And of course Turnage was there to take well deserved applause in the end – looking insouciantly arty in a Sinatra-style trilby hat,

Now I just love a bit of tuba. Continuous exposure to Tubby when I was a child has a lot to answer for. So it was a real thrill to see and hear Vaughan Williams’s delightful 1954 concerto live and beautifully played by Constantin Hartwig. He brought lots of wit and rubato to the first movement cadenza with especially in those lower registers which always seem so unlikely. Then Hartwig played the second movement with great tenderness and lyricism – milking the melodies for the maximum levels of RVW-esque pastoral beauty. Why doesn’t this concerto get more outings? It really should.

The encore misfired somewhat, however. Hartwig told the audience that he wasn’t going to tell us what it was because we’d all recognise it after the first six notes. I don’t think many people did. Paul McCartney’s Blackbird seemed almost to have disappeared in Lars Holmgaard’s arguably over complex arrangement. Perhaps we were distracted by the sudden, welcome sound of rain drumming loudly on the roof of the Albert Hall – the first in London for many weeks.

And so to Elgar’s First Symphony. There is a famous film of Elgar conducting Pomp and Circumstance March Number One and telling the orchestra briskly: “Please play this as if you’ve never heard it before” before setting off at a smart, unsentimental pace. I was reminded of that at the opening of this performance of the first symphony. It may be marked with Elgar’s characterisitic noblimente but Oramo allowed the big melody at the beginning to sing out on its own terms without any saccharine wallowing. And the split rhythms later in the movement were delivered with contrasting incisive crispness. Getting that mood shift right is probably the key to delivering Elgar successfully.

Oramo is very good indeed at dramatic dynamics and I particularly liked his warm and spirited transition into the adagio, played with an unusual secretive magicality and some splendid string playing. If you play them as softly as this, the pianissimo passages in all movements require terrific control and we certainly got it in this emotionally charged – but never cloying – rendering.

Susan Elkin

Hastings All Saints Organ Series 2022 – 6 Jamie Rogers 15th August

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New Assistant Director of Music appointedJamie Rogers, Assistant Director of Music at Canterbury Cathedral, made his first visit to Hastings with a programme that drew heavily on the concept of freely improvised works. Opening with a spirited performance of Bairstow’s Allegro Giocoso- a work that sounds more modern than it is – his programme also included a Fuga in C by Buxtehude and a Prelude in E by his contemporary Bruhns. From the same period we also heard Prelude & Fugue in G by JS Bach. The choice to play this with much sparser registration than would normally be expected was an interesting one but it did result at times in rather indeterminate lower registers.

At times in other pieces there was also a lack of clarity due to the speed of the player and the response of the organ’s action. Jamie made great use however of the tonal qualities of the organ with a wide range of registration choices from varied combinations to well chosen solo stops. I applaud his decision to play two single movements from Sonatas by Percy Whitlock and William Harris instead of a complete Sonata. Together with the opening piece, this made for a good representation of the early 20th century English cathedral tradition.

There was an increase in drama and excitement in the last two pieces, both well known Romantic pieces with very familiar composers. Franck’s quirky Piece Heroique is a particular favourite of mine and was performed on this occasion with very suitable contrasting sections and a good balance between melancholy and exuberance. The best was definitely saved until last with a masterly execution of Liszt’s tour de force, Fantasia & Fugue on B-A-C-H. This work shows off the versatility of the ‘King of Instruments’ and needs a very skilful player to do it justice. There was no doubt that here the piece was in very good hands (and feet!)

A cheeky jazz inspired rendition of The Lady is a Tramp by his near-namesake allowed Jamie to share his other great musical love with the audience. This provided a satisfying further link with the idea of improvisation and a lovely end to the evening’s music.

There are two more concerts left in the series. Details from
oldtownparishhastings.org.uk

Stephen Page