Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2017 i BBC Music Magazine

ON STAGE A date with Jonas It’s tenor time at the Barbican, as Jonas Kaufmann arrives for a four-date London residency. The much-adored German’s ‘to do’ list includes Wagner, Schubert, Elgar, Korngold and Richard Strauss, but he will also be holding masterclasses with students and be appearing in conversation too. We expect this may prove quite a popular event. See p96 ONLINE Swedish stream The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra is by no means the first orchestra to launch online concerts, but its new GSOplay website is one of the best. There, you’ll find artist interviews, performances of major works and behind-the-scenes videos, all for free. There’s also an app so you can stream straight from your device. www.gso.se/en/gsoplay ON AIR Neeme that tune Philip Glass is not the only major musical…

HALL OF PLENTY I was surprised to read in Richard Morrison’s column (January) that the Royal Festival Hall (RFH) is offering fewer and fewer classical concerts. His assertion that ‘in the whole of January there will be just 12 classical concerts in the RFH’ is simply not true: there are 17 classical concerts which, as it happens, is more than at the Barbican Hall in the same period. But perhaps more important than the number of concerts is the quality and range of the music and the artists. In January you can hear three great world-renowned pianists – Martha Argerich, Mitsuko Uchida (pictured opposite) and Paul Lewis – and watch seven different orchestras under the batons of conductors from Andris Nelsons to John Wilson. Our programme is not confined to…

Along with the code behind Elgar’s Enigma Variations, the secret of what makes Antonio Stradivari’s violins sound so superior has long been one of the great mysteries of classical music. But now scientists at National Taiwan University believe they may have the answer to the latter: it’s all to do with fungicide. According to the researchers, who published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a chemical may have been added to the maple used in Stradivarius violins to prevent it from rotting – analysis of shavings from the great Italian’s instruments has revealed traces of aluminium, calcium, copper, sodium, potassium and zinc. This, in turn, gave the wood uniquely resonant qualities. As with the Enigma, this is by no means the first time an explanation…

Chart for week ending 29 December 2016 1 My World Nigel Kennedy (violin); Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra et al Neue Meister Neue Meister 0300878NM The brilliant British violinist marks his 60th birthday with a disc of his own compositions 2 The Lost Songs of St Kilda Trevor Morrison (piano); Scottish Festival Orchestra/James MacMillan Decca 481 2795 Long lost music from an abandoned archipelago 3 Jubilo: Fasch, Corelli, Torelli and Bach Alison Balsom (trumpet); Academy of Ancient Music/Pavlo Beznosiuk Warner Classics 9029592465 A brass-filled celebration of the festive season 4 Winter Works by Alexander, Arnalds, Bingham, Dale, Holst, Pärt, Pott, Praetorius, Rachmaninov and Vasks Voces8 Decca 483 0968 A hugely atmospheric disc of hibernal works 5 Liszt Transcendental Daniil Trifonov (piano) Deutsche Grammophon 94795529 The young…

VÍKINGUR ÓLAFSSON pianist I have been listening to pianist Maria João Pires for many years. I was thinking about what makes her so special – it’s difficult to put into words, just like it is difficult to describe why nature is beautiful. When she sits at the piano, you have this feeling that the channels open up and she is somehow like a river. People associate her with the Austrian classics, but on my Deutsche Grammophon set of her complete solo recordings, her Bach is monumentally good. I believe that Kirill Kondrashin’s recording of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15 was the third ever made of that work. For me, I don’t think it will ever be surpassed. It was made when Shostakovich was still alive, and there is this sense of…

Music in 12 Parts Philip Glass Ensemble Orange Mountain Music OMM0049 Composed between 1971 and ’74, the longest and most ambitious piece for the Philip Glass Ensemble is a summation of the composer’s early style and essential listening. Einstein on the Beach Philip Glass Ensemble Orange Mountain Music (available to stream or download) To get a full experience of the 1976 Philip Glass-Robert Wilson opera, go for the DVD of the 2012 Théâtre du Châtelet revival, released in Oct by Opus Arte. But as an aural experience, the Philip Glass Ensemble’s 1993 recording will evoke those mesmerising images. Kronos Quartet Performs Philip Glass (String Quartets 2-5) Kronos Quartet Nonesuch 7559793562 For Glass at his most intimate, the Kronos Quartet’s survey of the Quartets Nos 2-5 is a must-own, and a…

Early years: Born in 1974, Ermonela Jaho studied at the conservatoire in her home city of Tirana, the Albanian capital. She then moved to Rome where she spent five years at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Big break: It was as Violetta in La traviata that Jaho got her big break in 2008, replacing an indisposed Anna Netrebko at Covent Garden. Jaho received a standing ovation, her performance described as ‘potent’ and ‘immensely moving’. Notable roles: Jaho has since sung Violetta at many of the world’s great opera houses, including Opera Bastille, Paris, and Vienna State Opera. Her repertoire also includes Puccini’s Suor Angelica and Madam Butterfly plus Massenet’s Manon, with which she made her La Scala debut in 2012.…

• The Philippines’ most successful musical film to date, 1996’s Do Re Mi revolves around three female singers, Donna Cruz, Regine Velasquez and Mikee Cojuangco, as they attempt to make it in the recording industry. • The Norwegian entry in the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest, ‘Do Re Mi’, was a jaunty number performed by Jahn Teigen encouraging everyone to sing an octave together. Teigen’s efforts placed him an underwhelming ninth, alas. • Do Re Mi is also a musical, written in 1960 by Jule Steyn, about a con man who tries to go straight by carving out a career in the music business. It spawned a hit, ‘Make Someone Happy’, recorded by Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin and many more. • Folk singer Woody Guthrie’s song ‘Do Re Mi’ was a…

Lully is one of the great conundrums of musical history. Textbooks do duty to his key role as the founder of French opera, while waxing less than enthusiastic about his music. There is no doubt that his musical reach was long – he not only dominated French music during his lifetime, but set the agenda for it in the century after his death. And here is one of the great ironies of Lully’s extraordinary career. While he was the unchallenged champion of French musical style, vigorously supported by Louis XIV, as a bastion against the advance of Italian music, he was himself an Italian. The son of a Florentine miller, the 14-year-old Giovanni Battista Lulli was sent to Paris as a ‘garçon de chambre’ to Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, a…

Te Deum, Miserere Le Concert Spirituel/ Hervé Niquet Naxos 8.503229 Lully’s ‘grand motets’ sound fresh and new in Niquet’s expert hands. Cadmus et Hermione André Morsch, Claire Lefilliâtre etc; Le Poème Harmonique/Dumestre Alpha ALPHA701 (DVD) Filmed at Paris’s Opéra Comique, this marvellous DVD really brings Lully’s first opera to life. Armide Stéphanie D’Oustrac, Paul Agnew etc; Les Arts Florissants/William Christie fRA FRA005 (DVD) Lully is revealed as the great dramatist he was with a scintillating performance. l’Orchestre Du Roi Soleil – opera and ballet suites Le Concert des Nations/ Jordi Savall Alia Vox AV9807 Savall and co. inject plenty of energy into Lully’s music.…

Leonard Bernstein (conductor) Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (1988) DG 427 6972 For wall-to-wall angst with a touch of Hollywood thrown in, it has to be Leonard Bernstein. This live recording is the finer of the two he made, with far superior sound quality. The opening is as frenetically headlong as John Barbirolli’s with the New Philharmonia (1967) is trenchantly deliberate, as Bernstein wears his Mahlerian heart on his sleeve. Like Nott, Bernstein places the Scherzo before the Andante , which almost drowns in aching nostalgia. Bernstein then really comes into his own in the vast finale, which has rarely sounded so overwhelming – one is left utterly drained. This is the ‘hottest’ account of the Sixth Symphony on disc so, for an interesting comparison of the same orchestra at the other…

Nick Shave journalist, editor Nick studied music at Oxford University and as a pianist focused mainly on 20th century repertoire. He has contributed to books and magazines, ranging from Gramophone to The Faber book of Drink, Drinkers and Drinking , and he now works at The Guardian on the literary Review. Rob Ainsley critic, writer John Allison editor, Opera; critic, Sunday Telegraph Nicholas Anderson Baroque specialist Terry Blain writer, critic Kate Bolton-Porciatti lecturer, New York University, Florence Garry Booth jazz writer & critic Geoff Brown critic, The Times Anthony Burton writer, editor Michael Church writer, critic, The Independent Christopher Cook broadcaster, critic Elinor Cooper journalist Martin…

BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique Dresdner Philharmonic/Herbert Kegel Berlin 0300840BC (1984) 57:42 mins Stuck inside East Germany, Herbert Kegel didn’t receive enough global fame for his penetrating interpretations. This one’s a revelation for its sharp focus, instrumental detail, leisurely speeds, and dramatic impact. PERFORMANCE **** RECORDING **** IRELAND A Downland Suite; Orchestral Poem; Concertino Pastorale, etc City of London Sinfonia/Richard Hickox Chandos CHAN 10912 X (1994) 63:50 mins The mature Ireland is only glimpsed in the 1902 Orchestral Poem, but Hickox ensures you keep listening. Plenty of rewards in the Concertino’s worried lyricism and the Downland Suite (string version). PERFORMANCE **** RECORDING *** STARS AND STRIPES Sousa: Stars and Stripes ballet (arr. Kay); King Cotton; Semper Fidelis, etc National Philharmonic Orchestra/ Henry Lewis; Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/Georg Solti Eloquence 480 6875…

AVISON Concertos Nos 3, 5, 6, 9, 11 & 12 Cafe Zimmermann Alpha ALPHA 315 (2002) 76:37 mins Avison’s resprays of selected Domenico Scarlatti sonatas make for agreeable if not overly distinctive concerti grossi. Café Zimmermann’s stylish gusto restore some of the keyboard originals’ edginess. PERFORMANCE **** RECORDING **** JS BACH Brandenburg Concertos Melkus (violin), Harnoncourt (cello, viola da gamba), Leonhardt (harpsichord); Vienna Chamber Orchestra/Josef Mertin Supraphon SU 4213-2 (1950) 108:08 mins Despite mustering Harnoncourt and Leonhardt, this pioneering 1950 recording of the Brandenburgs, the first to deploy period instruments, is one for the curious rather than the library. PERFORMANCE ** RECORDING ** JS BACH · VIVALDI JS Bach: Violin Concertos, etc; Vivaldi The Four Seasons Accardo, Batjer (violin); Chamber Orchestra of Europe; I Solisti di Napoli Eloquence 482 5091…

Marlis Petersen is intelligent as the super-sexualised Lulu BERG DVD Lulu Marlis Petersen, Susan Graham, Daniel Brenna, Paul Groves, Johan Reuter, Martin Winkler, Franz Grundheber, Elizabeth DeSchong, Alan Oke; Metropolitan Opera/Lothar Koenigs; dir. William Kentridge (New York, 2015) Nonesuch 0075597945379 (Blu-ray plus DVD) 182 mins William Kentridge’s staging of Lulu, co-produced with New York’s Metropolitan Opera and Dutch National Opera, was English National Opera’s surprise hit last autumn. After Mark Wigglesworth’s savage, lyrical account of the score, it is fascinating to now hear Lothar Koenigs’s pristine approach in this live recording from New York, with Marlis Petersen as the supersexualised young woman who claims that she ‘never pretended to be anything but what men see in me’, in her tenth and final production of Berg’s unfinished opera. So richly allusive…

The 15 singers sound in complete, comfortable possession of the music PÄRT The Deer’s Cry; Von Angesicht zu Angesicht; Alleluia-Tropus; Veni creator; Drei Hirtenkinder aus Fátima; And One of the Pharisees; Da pacem Domine; Most Holy Mother of God; Virgencita; Sei gelobt, du Baum; Habitare fratres in unum; Summa; Prayer after the Canon Vox Clamantis/Jaan-Eik Tulve ECM 481 2449 62:22 mins On the printed page, Arvo Pärt’s The Deer’s Cry does not look difficult: not too many notes, no tricky harmonic side-steps to negotiate. And yet the level of artistry necessary to achieve the kind of living, breathing performance given here by the Estonian choir Vox Clamantis is a rarity. ‘Christ with me’, the ground-chant repeated by the lower voices, thrums like a heartbeat, the rests are filled with rapt…

This collection comes with an icy vodka shot of Stravinsky ROSTROPOVICH ENCORES Works by Rostropovich, Chopin, Prokofiev, Sinding, Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Scriabin, Popper, Debussy & Ravel Alban Gerhardt (cello), Markus Becker (piano) Hyperion CDA 68136 70:20 mins As a boy Alban Gerhardt linked his alarm clock to Slava’s inhumanly speedy Popper Elfentanz. Here he matches him note-for-note, with a degree of eye-watering finesse that would have surely made his hero smile. The same can be said for the mercurial moto perpetuo of Christian Sinding’s Presto and the student Rostropovich’s own hilarious, gravity-defying Humoresque (a killer encore, it needs reinstating). While Gerhardt’s disc of Casal’s encores disc glowed with old-fashioned refinement, this collection comes with an icy vodka shot of Prokofiev and Stravinsky: fabulous, high-kicking arrangements from his mentor’s Cinderella (a vampish…

Colouring is subtle, conversational banter deftly managed ITALIAN LUTE VIRTUOSI OF THE RENAISSANCE Works by Aquila, Arcadelt, Despres, Festa, Janequin, da Mantova, da Milano, Rippe, Passereau, Richafort & Sermisy Jakob Lindberg (lute) BIS BIS-2202 (hybrid CD/SACD) 81:11 mins Back in 2012 Jakob Lindberg saluted the chitarrone with a disc devoted to Castaldi, Kapsberger and Piccinini. Now he turns to its more compact cousin the lute and addresses another Italian trinity, giants of their age, who flourished in the first half of the 16th century: Francesco da Milano, Marco dall’Aquila and Alberto da Mantova. While da Mantova enjoyed renown in the form of a salary double that of his colleagues at the French court where he ended his days, da Milano basked in the sobriquet ‘Il Divino’ – and the astrologer…

When Chet Baker died in 1988, in a mysterious fall from an Amsterdam hotel, those who knew him weren’t much surprised. In fact, most had expected him to meet some kind of haphazard, violent end long before. After all, he’d been a dedicated drug addict for almost 30 years, the sole object of his life feeding his insatiable habit whatever the cost to himself and others. You could read his story in his face – by the 1970s, the clean-cut good looks of the poster boy of jazz in the 1950s had become a raddled, wrinkled mask. But what was surprising was that the quality of his music remained largely unaffected. The airy, effortless trumpet solos and vocals which had made him a huge star with West Coast youth (as…

CUTTING-EDGE DAB RADIO Pure Evoke H6 £199.95 Meet the Swiss Army Knife of digital radios. The Pure H6 (above) crams in DAB, DAB+ and FM radio, alongside obligatory Bluetooth for wireless music-streaming from tablets. The most striking feature, though, is the H6’s 2.8-inch screen that lets you view DAB station information and slideshow artwork in colour. The screen uses TFT technology – standing for ‘thin-film-transistor’, an LCD variant – to enhance image quality. This, combined with the built-in stereo speakers, make the H6 a sizeable beast, but its bedroom pretensions are given away by its built-in alarm clock and Pure’s trademark ‘Snoozehandle’. You can get a few more precious minutes in bed with a tap of the metal handle at the top of the unit. When tested, the H6 delivers…

Brian Wise Music journalist and writer ‘In conversation, the composer Philip Glass can be funny and contrarian, idealistic and remarkably direct about the business side of his extraordinary career. At 80, he seems to have the energy of a man half his age.’ Page 22 Laura Barisonzi Photographer ‘As a former violist who once played with Philip Glass and his ensemble during college, photographing him at Juilliard was an amazing experience. Violists warming up for auditions were our shoot soundtrack.’ Page 22 and cover Jan Smaczny Lecturer and writer ‘Lifting the lid on Lully’s career as a composer exposes the heights and depths of Louis XIV’s court, the most richly coloured in 17th-century Europe. Along the way there is brilliance and virtuosity, plus much that is repellant.’ Page…

‘For me, the recorder’s sound is so close to the human voice’ Lucie Horsch was five years old the first time she played the recorder. ‘My parents thought I would use it as most people use the recorder – just for learning how to read notes, as a starter instrument – then move onto a stringed instrument after,’ she says, ‘but I stuck to the recorder, because it turned out to be a real instrument!’ Now she is 17 and has released her debut recording, of works by Vivaldi for the Decca label, Horsch is determined to introduce the full potential of her instrument to a much wider audience. ‘Most people think that the limits of the recorder are at a school level, which is illogical! You have to get…

THIS MONTH Vincent Coq pianist of Trio Wanderer Trio Wanderer – violinist Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian, cellist Raphaël Pidoux and pianist Vincent Coq – celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Its latest disc, of Dvoπák trios, is out now on Harmonia Mundi. My finest moment Brahms Complete piano trios Trio Wanderer Harmonia Mundi HMC901915/16 (2006) I spoke with my colleagues about this, of course, as we are a trio! It was difficult to agree, but we chose the Brahms piano trios. These were pieces we played a lot and I think what we did in this recording was really what we wanted at that time – we were very happy with the style, tempos and sound. It was recorded in La Chaux de Fonds which has a wonderful concert hall…

Six years after its estimated completion date and around ›500m (£430m) over budget, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie (above) has opened. At a concert to begin a three-week festival on 11 Jan, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and conductor Thomas Hengelbrock were joined by bass-baritone Bryn Terfel and countertenor Philippe Jaroussky among others. A stunning sight on the Elbe river, the new hall, which incorporates a hotel and apartments, has been one of the most anticipated venues in recent years, but also one of the most fraught – the foundation stone was laid in April 2007, at which point the building was projected to cost ›250m (£215m).…

@PeterHDonohoe One of my least favourite Moments Musicaux is the rallentando in the Orange ringtone. It is bad enough without the rall, but with it… Pianist Peter Donohoe (left) hones in on life’s really important matters @fatboyclayton Top travelling tip #76: bag too heavy? Remove Wagner’s Meistersinger score and save yourself 2.8lbs. That’s 1.27kg. Meaty. Lengthy operas are no friend of the flying tenor, as Allan Clayton discovers @nicholascollon Southern Rail strikes due to CHANGE IN ROLE OF CONDUCTORS. Yikes! Maestro Nicholas Collon is rightly alarmed @ed_lyon Musiciansplaining: like mansplaining, only when an instrumentalist/conductor talks about music to a singer. Tenor Ed Lyon does his bit to add to the many glories of the English language @fhvln Thanking autocorrect for the help, but I’m fairly sure I want to order…

Oliver Condy Editor The piano works of the Russian composer Scriabin hold endless fascination for me, especially Garrick Ohlsson’s mesmerising Hyperion recording of the complete Poèmes. Evoking Chopin, Liszt and Debussy, these tantalising miniatures soar free of any kind of tonal and structural frame. And yet they seem perfectly formed, coming in to rest often just seconds after their tempestuous, dreamy adventures have begun. Jeremy Pound Deputy editor One of my surprise favourite discs of 2016 is Ensemble Mare Balticum’s album Ice and Longboats – Ancient Music of Scandinavia. No, this is not an album of Viking drinking songs that make me want to grow a long shaggy beard and wield a battle axe. In fact, it consists of meditative, and often haunting, works for voices and historic instruments, immaculately…

GARDNER STAYS ON Edward Gardner, who has proved a great success in his first year as chief conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, has decided to extend his stay. The British maestro has agreed an extension to his contract, keeping him with the Norwegian ensemble until at least 2021. ORCHESTRAL HOPS Bottoms up in Brum, meanwhile. Timed perfectly to toast the OBE awarded to chief executive Stephen Maddock (see p10), the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra has teamed up with Wye Valley Brewery to launch a new bespoke beer. Called ‘Podium’, the beer is, we are told, a premium golden ale that ‘boasts a symphony of hops’. OVERNIGHT PLAY Nearby Birmingham Conservatoire, meanwhile, has announced plans for an all-night piano concert at the Town Hall on 3 March. The performers…

Nobody should get a medal merely for services to their own careers A lifetime skulking round the outskirts of the British Establishment and I’m still baffled by some of its tribal rites. Swan-upping, for instance, remains an esoteric mystery. And I will never fathom the joys of foot-beagling. But there’s one twice-yearly ritual that bewilders me more than any other, and that’s the Honours List. Even in my small area of supposed expertise, classical music, I can’t detect any logic controlling the elevation of some luminaries to CBEs, DBEs and knighthoods, while others – no less talented, industrious and inspiring – are bracketed alongside the lollipop-ladies down among the MBEs or, worse still, never given a gong at all. If I ruled the world nobody would get a medal merely…

Gidon Kremer Violinist Philip Glass’s music is always recognisable; it has a signature and it speaks of his personality. I always appreciate that in composers. Philip’s music has a lot of positive energy, which gives me an opportunity to build a bridge to listeners. His music is somewhat more accessible than others’, but that’s not why I play it. I believe in it so I’m happy to deliver his message. Yes, you can find that he is repetitious in his models and idioms, but wasn’t Vivaldi repetitious as well? Wasn’t Mozart? I’m speaking superficially, but still I think in many pieces by Philip you can find his refinement in dealing with the same models. The challenge when you’re dealing with minimalistic idioms is that you have to be maximally expressive.…

OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS, our panel of expert critics has been listening to all the recordings given five stars in our reviews section throughout last year. After many hours of rewarding listening and a day of lively discussions, the jury whittled down over 200 recordings to a shortlist for you, our readers, to vote on. So here, over the next three pages, are the 21 nominations, all superb recordings that will give you a lifetime of happy listening. Now it’s time to read about them, head to our voting website at www.classical-music.com/awards, listen to the clips and choose your favourites. INSTRUMENTAL NOMINEES JS Bach Goldberg Variations Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord) Deutsche Grammophon 479 5929 Reviewed December 2016 Even music-lovers who normally hate the sound of the harpsichord find themselves mesmerised…

‘Hammond could expand her voice to heroic heights’ Slip into one of the dressing rooms at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and there it remains after all these years. A giant signed photograph of the legendary Australian soprano Dame Joan Hammond as Leonora in Beethoven’s opera Fidelio, during the post-war Covent Garden staging. Hammond saw that Fidelio as ‘the greatest moment of my career.’ Which was saying something. That career encompassed 571 operatic performances, countless recitals, radio broadcasts and TV appearances, plus constant visits to the recording studio. How many classical musicians can boast a gold disc for a million sales of a recording of one short number? Hammond could, thanks to the blockbuster success of her ‘O My Beloved Father’ (‘O mio babbino caro’) from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi.…

Melody Lully’s gift for melody, praised during his lifetime and prized after his death, was for the French the epitome of good taste, encompassing beauty, delicacy and charm. His melodies range from folk-like simplicity to those in which the drama is enhanced by expressive vocal leaps. Dance Dances not only made up the substance of Lully’s ballets, but also ornamented and extended the drama in his operas. They range from lively loures and bourrées to the more stately, often celebratory chaconnes that crowned key moments in his operas. Orchestral colour For Lully, the orchestral palette was one of primary colours. Against a background of a five-part string orchestra could be added the thrilling grandeur of trumpets and drums for dramatic effect; to soften the canvas there were recorders, flutes and…

Dvoπák Symphony No. 7 Although not generally known for his angst, Dvorák’s Seventh Symphony shows the Czech composer at his darkest, inhabiting a similarly gloomy soundworld to Mahler’s Sixth. The composers were acquainted, by correspondence at least, as Mahler presented the world premiere of Dvorák’s tone poem A Hero’s Song with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1898. The choice of key for the Seventh Symphony – D minor – suggests that Dvorák was seeking to express something more eternal and elemental than music – this is also the key of Mozart’s Requiem and Schubert’s Death and the Maiden. The finale in particular is a furious, pounding affair, whose ‘triumphant’ major key ending belies an overwhelming sense of unease. Recommended recording: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra/ Marin Alsop Naxos 8.572112 Casella Symphony No.…

BRAHMS Piano Sonatas Nos 1 & 2; Scherzo, Op. 4 Alexander Melnikov (piano) Harmonia Mundi HMC 902086 69:23 mins ‘Melnikov has opted for an 1875 Bösendorfer. He shows himself a formidable Brahmsian, and the piano’s “nobility” is best displayed in the intensely sensitive readings of the slow movements.’ March 2011 SHOSTAKOVICH 24 Preludes & Fugues, Op. 87; plus bonus DVD film by Christian Leblé Alexander Melnikov (piano) Harmonia Mundi HMC 902019.20 151:15 mins (3 discs) ‘Certainly one’s bound to feel, listening to such superb playing, that this is indeed one of the greatest contrapuntal cycles since Bach. A magnificent achievement.’ June 2010 RACHMANINOV Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39; Corelli Variations; 6 Poems, Op. 38 Alexander Melnikov (piano); Elena Brilova (soprano) Harmonia Mundi HMC 901978 74:34 mins ‘Melnikov shows unerring judgment in programming…

BARTÓK • STRAVINSKY Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3; The Miraculous Mandarin – Suite; Stravinsky: The Firebird; Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet – Montagues and Capulets Yefim Bronfman (piano); London Symphony Orchestra/Valery Gergiev LSO Live LSO 5078 96:57 mins This latest in the LSO Live’s Gergiev series reproduces a concert not from the orchestra’s London Barbican home but from the Newark Performing Arts Center during its whistle-stop New York and New Jersey visit of October 2015. Complaints about the sound qualities of Barbican-made recordings since the series began have been regular. Unfortunately, the Newark hall seems on this evidence hardly more welcoming as a recording environment. The three main works on offer plus the Prokofiev encore come across with clarity and balance – bravo the engineers! – but also a disappointingly limited…

AHO • FAGERLUND Aho: Solo V; Bassoon Concerto; Fagerlund: Bassoon Concerto (Mana); Woodlands Bram van Sambeek (bassoon); Lahti Symphony Orchestra/ Dima Slobodeniouk, Okko Kamu BIS BIS-2206 76:12 mins Seventy-six minutes is an awful lot of solo bassoon. So what better tribute to the brilliant young Dutch bassoonist Bram van Sambeek, and to these two composers, that the end result is a truly captivating disc. In his concerto, Mana, and in the extended solo Woodlands, Sebastian Fagerlund (b1972) makes use of quite a few flavoursome and fruity sound effects. None of this is exactly new: composers were putting instruments through all sorts of bizarre sonic invention tests back in the 1960s. What is new, and impressive, is that Fagerlund draws the whole bulging sound palette into coherent musical arguments with momentum…

Gidon Kremer has been an ambassador for Schnittke Intensity and restless energy come from Gidon Kremer in waves when you meet him. Open this box of his complete concertos on DG and Phillips, and it’s there in the recordings too (DG 479 6316; 22 CDs). Kremer is a seeker after truth rather than superficial beauty, playing with extremes, pushing himself to seek an honesty of expression that eschews conventional perfection. His notorious account of the Beethoven Concerto with cadenzas by Schnittke is an excellent example, not just for the obvious challenge of those contemporary interpolations, but the way Kremer strives to remind us of the timeless modernity of Beethoven. The Brahms with Bernstein is notable for the Reger cadenza, and Kremer’s steely first entry against the velvet of the Vienna…

MOZART Arias Peter Schreier (tenor); Staatskapelle Dresden/Otmar Suitner Berlin 0300754BC (1967) 51:53 mins Mozart was a specialism of the renowned lyric tenor, who recorded this collection of arias from five operas when he was just 32, his artistry and musicianship shining through every note. PERFORMANCE **** RECORDING **** GREAT BASS ARIAS Works by Nicolai, Lortzing, Beethoven, Weber, Cornelius, Wagner & Verdi Otto Edelmann, Arnold van Mill; Vienna Philharmonic/Rudolf Moralt Eloquence 482 0200 (1951/62) 57:41 mins Both well worth exploring, two fine voices are brought together here: the fruity bass of Van Mill, and the dark-toned bass-baritone Edelmann, particularly admired in Wagner. PERFORMANCE **** RECORDING *** CARRERAS: A Life in Music Works by Costa, Grieg, Schubert, Satie, Leigh, Verdi, Leoncavallo, Elgar et al Jose Carreras (tenor) Sony 88985332012 (1990-2010)…

MOZART Last Masonic Works: Requiem, etc Soloists; Westminster Choir; New York Phil/Walter; Vienna Volksoper Chorus & Orchestra/Maag Praga Digital DSD 350 131 (hybrid CD/ SACD) (1956/59) 78:31 mins The title is a misnomer, since the Requiem is not a Masonic work. It receives an excellent traditional account under Bruno Walter, with noble soloists. The other two works are insignificant. PERFORMANCE **** RECORDING *** MOZART Lieder: An Chloe; Ich würd auf meinem Pfad; Sei du mein Trost, etc Peter Schreier (tenor), Werba (piano), Gebhardt (mandolin) Belvedere 08022 (1978) 72:48 mins The greatest Mozart tenor of his time, Schreier in 1978 was at his peak, and these delightful songs, two of them accompanied by mandolin, make this a memorable and clearly warmly appreciated concert. PERFORMANCE ***** RECORDING **** MOZART Lieder: Die Verschweigung;…

JS BACH Viola da Gamba Sonatas Nos. 1-3, BWV1027-1029; Trio in D minor, BWV583; Trio, BWV528A’, etc Les Basses Réunies Alpha ALPHA 316 (2008) 58:29 mins An outstanding release, featuring some of JS Bach’s most poignant music (including the sonatas BWV1027 and 1029) in three groups of trio realisations, played here with profoundly haunting sensitivity. PERFORMANCE ***** RECORDING ***** JS BACH A Musical Offering Concentus Musicus Wien/ Nikolaus Harnoncourt Warner 9029593162 (1970) 46:41 mins Given the radical advances in period instrument performance that have occurred since this was recorded, Harnoncourt sounds closer here to Marriner than, say, Goebel or Savall. PERFORMANCE **** RECORDING **** BRAHMS String Quartets Nos 1 &2; String Quintets Nos 1 & 2 Budapest Quartet; Trampler (viola) Praga Digital PRD 250 348 (1958-63) 158:29 mins These…

BARTÓK THE PIANIST Bartók, Liszt, Kodály and Scarlatti Bela Bartók (piano) Hungaroton HCD 32790-91 (1929/36) 146:37 mins (2 discs) Bartók performed as a pianist for four decades and, as these recordings from Hungaroton’s 1981 Bartók centenary edition show, he had a clear and radiant tone and unshakeable technical brilliance. PERFORMANCE ***** RECORDING *** HAYDN Piano Sonatas Nos 13, 33, 35, 39, 43, 47, 50, 53 and 61 Alain Planès (piano) Harmonia Mundi HMG 501762-63 (2002/04) 138:31 mins (2 discs) A sparkling array of Haydn’s sonatas drawn from across his compositional life, these performances by Alain Planès are pleasingly down-to-earth, full of energy and played with clarity, verve and sensitivity. PERFORMANCE **** RECORDING **** SHOSTAKOVICH From Jewish Folk Poetry; Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 2; Concertino for Two Pianos; Piano Quintet;…

DONNY MCCASLIN Beyond Now Donny McCaslin (sax), Jason Lindner (keyboards), Tim Lefebvre (bass) et al Motema 234310 63:04mins Saxophone player Donny McCaslin was catapulted to international fame last year as a result of David Bowie asking him to play on what would be his swansong album Blackstar. It was a characteristically perceptive move by Bowie: McCaslin had already made a name for himself in hip jazz circles stateside, both as a fierce improviser as well as for his wide-ranging alternative rock influences. Beyond Now is directly informed by his experience as sideman and soloist to the dying starman. In among a programme that includes five turbulent original pieces and obscure covers (electro DJ Deadmau5, for example), there’s a monumental version of Bowie’s ‘Warszawa’ and a gothic take on the apocalyptic…

ABSOLUTELY ON MUSIC: conversations with Seiji Ozawa Haruki Murakami Harvill Secker ISBN 978-1-846-55918-1 352pp (hb) Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa trained under Herbert von Karajan before he was taken under the wing of Leonard Bernstein as an assistant conductor at the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1960s. He was music director of the Toronto, the San Francisco and, for 29 years, the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The internationally bestselling Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, too, has established his name in the west. This oddly titled series of six conversations took place between them following Ozawa’s diagnosis with oesophageal cancer in 2009 and the major surgery that led the conductor, now 81, to restrict his musical activities. The dynamic is that of an enthusiast – Murakami, though untrained, is passionate about classical…

SOUNDBAR Q Acoustics M3 £299.95 The sub-£500 soundbar market is a hotly contested one and the gulf in quality, at this price point, between one soundbar and the next can be vast. When it comes to home cinema, Q Acoustics has a well-established heritage, so I was expecting big things from the M3, a wall-mountable soundbar that costs just under £300. As soon as you unpack the M3, there’s a sense that this is something special: it’s compact without feeling flimsy and has enough heft to convince you that there’s some serious technology under the hood. I was advised to run the M3 in for 48 hours before putting it to the test, so I did exactly that, finding the sonic performance mellowed after two days. The M3 comes with…

• Based in Bavaria, Hartmann was a lifelong socialist who refused to allow his works to be played in Germany during the Nazi era. His Concerto funèbre was completed in 1939 and was originally titled Musik der Trauer (‘music of mourning’). It was premiered in the Swiss city of St Gallen in 1940 with violinist Karl Neracher as soloist. The work reflects on the turbulent events leading to World War II. • The piece, for solo violin and string orchestra, consists of four movements, framed by two chorales – which Hartmann included as a contrasting ‘expression of hope’ against ‘the intellectual and spiritual hopelessness of the period’. While the Adagio second movement is intended as a lamentation, the intense staccato rhythms of the third movement evoke guns of war. •…

The drama of Handel’s beautiful music made its mark February seems rather an in-between sort of month, so to stave off any possible blues, and cheaper than therapy, I recommend a dose of operatic magic by our favourite adoptee, Handel. Alcina opened in London in April 1735. It was one of Handel’s last great operatic successes, and certainly one of his finest – yet it was written at a time of crisis and hostility. Popular taste for Italian opera seria was now on the wane and it didn’t help that a rival outfit, the ‘Opera of the Nobility’, had set up shop at the Haymarket theatre and was busy poaching some of his best singers. They even organised concerts and balls to clash with Handel’s operas, and hired boys to…

 Awards fever is upon us once more. No, I don’t mean the Oscars or the Baftas, but the BBC Music Magazine Awards, our annual celebration of the year’s best recordings. This year will be our 12th, and this issue I have the pleasure of introducing 21 superb shortlisted discs from 2016 for you to vote on. Your task is no easy one, however – from a Mozart opera recorded in Siberia to dreamy Satie songs, and from burnished Sibelius symphonies to passionate Tchaikovsky, the line-up comprises not just brilliantly executed performances, but highly imaginative programmes and novel approaches to old warhorses. The record industry may have drastically changed over the past decade, but the fire in its belly remains, with musicians on the constant search for new ways to thrill…

A bold step forward A new record label championing young artists has been launched. Rubicon Classics plans to be ‘daring and different, creative and collaborative’, with around 12 recordings a year, largely featuring young performers. First up is an all-Chopin disc from pianist Julien Brocal (above), who studied with Maria João Pires (see p46). It will be followed by recordings from artists including guitarist Craig Ogden, pianists Sonya Bach, Esther Birringer and Danny Driver, violinist Chloë Hanslip and trombonist Peter Moore. ‘Rubicon Classics is about taking risks,’ says founder Matthew Cosgrove. ‘It takes its name from Julius Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon… We want to follow his lead, to be bold, to be unafraid to try things and give a platform to exciting young artists.’ Celebrating Slava Mstislav Rostropovich’s recordings…

Denis Kozhukhin has taken on perhaps the most fiendish of Rachmaninov’s piano concertos, the Third. He has recorded it with the Houston Symphony Orchestra and conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada, for Pentatone. It will be coupled with another of the Russian’s concertos. His Mozart Mass in C minor was our Recording of the Month last issue, and now Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan have turned to Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis , also for BIS. The soloists are Ann-Helen Moen, Roxana Constantinescu, James Gilchrist and Benjamin Bevan, and it was recorded in Saitama, Japan. Mark Padmore is to return to Schubert’s Winterreise , seven years after his acclaimed performance of the song cycle with pianist Paul Lewis. What’s different? This time he’ll be accompanied by a fortepianist, Kristian Bezuidenhout. The disc, recorded…

Beethoven Greatest Hits FREE An all-about-Beethoven app is a prospect most classical music listeners could potentially get excited about. The premise of this one is simple: it collects all of Beethoven’s ‘best works’ in one place – a playlist homage to the great composer, in effect. But while the interface is straightforward and easy to use, the app falls short in many places. Only three ‘greatest hits’ are offered with the free version of the app – the rest are unlocked with a £2.29 fee. Even then, there is little information about the provenance of the recordings, with no information about who is performing or when the tracks were recorded. And the tracks themselves are in an entirely random order. Worse still, the accompanying biography and ‘interesting facts’ that are…

When was it that crotchet rests stopped being the mirror image of quaver rests, I wonder? I recently came across a 19th-century edition of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier where the First Prelude (the one that Gounod embellished) was provided with two right-hand staves, one showing what Bach wrote, the other showing how it should be played. Have a guess before you read on. Yes, simply a sticky-fingered holding-down of the notes so that they build into chords, without the use of the pedal. Lots of ties and extra stems to make it clear, but basically, hold the notes down. As Bach would have done, more than likely; but clearly the editor, one Adolphe Wouters, realised that pianists of his time had forgotten that. In the same vein, 19th-century German and English…

Bernie Hac Aix-en-Provence, France The ‘mediathèque’ in central Marseilles has an enormous selection CDs – thousands of them – allowing me to discover many pieces of music I would otherwise not listen to. One I picked at random has the somewhat cheesy title of Amuse-Bouche – French Choral Delicacies by I Fagiolini , conducted by Robert Hollingworth. Don’t be put off! It’s a very luminous, sensuous recording (on Decca) whose ‘plat de résistance’ is a selection of songs by Poulenc, while other pieces include Jean Françaix’s Ode à la gastronomie. Between courses, Anna Markland plays Satie’s piano music. All in all, a real delight with I Fagiolini’s perfectly accomplished and articulated singing keeping me listening and wanting to hear more! Michael Morreale Toronto, Canada There’s so much energy and life…

PILOT The plane I fly was made in Texas and is a Mooney Acclaim – it’s a four-seat low-wing single-engine propeller plane. The longest trip I’ve done is five-and-a-half hours, which covers around 1,200 miles. I can get pretty much across the US without stopping. If it’s only a couple of hours, however, I’ll usually fly home after finishing a performance. Everyone’s going home anyway, so I can just nick off to the airport, and even with the pre-flight stuff, flying is much quicker than driving. I can do Minnesota, where I live, to Chicago in around an hour and 20 minutes, whereas on the road it would take around six hours to drive. My plane has a very good autopilot, so while, of course, you need to survive to…

‘When I have to cry, I do cry. For sure. If I have to scream, I scream for real.’ Ermonela Jaho speaks of the stage as if it’s the one place where you are compelled never to deceive. All the artifice and artistry and the technical preparations count for little, she says, without genuine emotion. We’re sitting in the Royal Opera House, where she returns in March to sing Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s Madam Butterfly. From the beginning of our conversation she speaks about opera as an emotional outlet that’s only truly satisfying when a singer forgets about all the patient work that has led up to the performance and finds, by a process that she describes as mysterious and exciting, the truth about a character’s feelings. This means that she…

Is doh re mi still as familiar in society as ABC? This is a piece about nomenclature. A sub-editor on a different publication recently reworded my phrase ‘mi-doh-soh motif’ as ‘three-note motif’ on the grounds of obscurity. Was she right? As much as anyone, I try to avoid writing complex technicalities and am conscious of the responsibility of the music writer to explain and not baffle. My contention is that doh re mi is almost as familiar in society as ABC and that its application as a means of describing melody is easy to understand. For the reader it identifies a simple motif and for the writer it supplies him with seven monosyllabic synonyms for those otherwise notoriously clumsy musicological names of the different notes: tonic, supertonic, mediant, subdominant, dominant,…

Paul Robeson Opera singer and American football player (left) Robeson played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) in his student days. As a tackle or an end, he played first for the Akron Pros, and then the Milwaukee Badgers. Charles Ives Composer, athlete & American football player Lightning quick, Ives used his pace to good effect as a player in Yale University’s American football team. His track and field coach rued that his love of music got in the way of him being a great athlete. Vanessa-Mae Violinist and skier Vanessa-Mae’s qualification to represent Thailand in the giant slalom was one of the more intriguing stories of the 2014 Winter Olympics. She didn’t trouble the leaders, but did at least get down safely. José Cura Tenor and rugby player…

Humber Bridge soundscape From 1 Apr to 31 Dec, the world’s longest bridge you can walk (or cycle) across becomes a giant sonic installation. Just borrow free headphones and stroll to an interactive, specially-composed mix of jazz, collaged sounds of the bridge itself, and Opera North’s orchestra and chorus. New Music Biennial Here’s a chance to explore and enjoy music from a range of contemporary classical styles (30 Jun – 2 Jul), run by the PRS Foundation and broadcast on Radio 3. hull2017.co.uk Hull University After a £10m refurbishment and newly adjustable acoustics, the university’s 400-seat Middleton Hall is now a significant venue for chamber and medium-size orchestral concerts, and will host the Big Chamber Weekend (see left). Other 2017 artists include baritone Roderick Williams (below) in Schubert’s…

THE LIFE 1632 Giovanni Battista Lulli is born in Florence to a family of millers. The middle of three children, he learns the guitar and violin from the local Franciscan monks. 1646 He leaves Italy for Paris to become Italian tutor to Louis XIV’s cousin ANNE MARIE LOUISE D’ORLÉANS . Here he studies harpsichord, composition and dancing. 1652 His music for the ballet Mascarade de la Foire Saint-Germain is performed in the Palais de Tuileries. He is now working as both a composer and dancer at court and coming to the attention of the King. 1661 Put in charge of music at court, he is naturalised as a Frenchman, changing his name to Jean-Baptiste Lully. He begins collaborating with the playwright MOLIÈRE , producing lavish stage works. 1673 He produces…

AT THE SIXTH’S premiere, Mahler placed the Andante first of the work’s central two movements, but then had second, and even third, thoughts. Some recordings place the Andante before the Scherzo; some the other way round. Conductor Jonathan Nott (pictured) here makes the best case for the latter arrangement. Even up against great orchestras such as the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics, in repertoire that is meat and drink to them, the Bambergers’ superbly thought-through performance reigns supreme. While conductors including Leonard Bernstein (see right) and Klaus Tennstedt go for broke from the opening bars, leaving us begging for mercy long before we reach the first movement’s coda, Nott holds back right up until the Finale’s cataclysmic descent into the abyss – only then does he launch Mahler’s orchestral onslaught in…

Recording of the Month Alexander Melnikov launches his cycle of Prokofiev’s complete piano sonatas with breathtaking accounts of Nos 2, 6 and 8, revealing the genius of the Russian composer, p66 A feast of recordings to explore We’re not far into 2017, but already there are plenty of fascinating and worthwhile recordings to listen to, as you will see from the wealth of reviews on the following pages. There’s everything from anniversary celebrations of well-loved figures – Alban Gerhardt’s homage to Rostropovich, for instance (p82) – to unexpected discoveries, such as Elin Manahan Thomas’s portrait of Welsh composer Morfydd Owen (p79). Meanwhile new ensembles, like the British choir ORA, are starting to make their name on disc (p80). We’re also saluting the best recordings from 2016 this month, by…

This is the first volume of the complete Prokofiev sonatas. How did you choose where to start? I just thought about which sonatas would go nicely together. It’s like with food: do you leave the best of the dish for the end or eat the best immediately? With food I postpone the best, but here I did the opposite. My favourite sonatas are basically the three on this disc, plus No. 4. What influence did Sviatoslav Richter have on your Prokofiev? Most of us who play Prokofiev cannot get away from the spell of Richter. He’s definitely one of the most important performers of this music, probably the most important! As a child I heard him playing it live and on recordings, and then one does think that’s how it…

Kopatchinskaja is the dynamic leader of a most brilliant group SCHUBERT Death and the Maiden Quartet; plus works by Nörmiger, Dowland, Gesualdo and Kurtág Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra/ Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin) Alpha Classics Alpha 265 59:04 mins This must have been an enthralling concert. It’s almost impossible to imagine Schubert’s Death and the Maiden in a string orchestral arrangement better played, with Kopatchinskaja a dynamic leader of a group of vertiginous brilliance. But this isn’t just the quartet: in a ‘collaborative exploration’, movements are interleaved with pieces from Byzantine Chant to Kurtág via Dowland. Firstly, the quartet: despite a wonderful range of colours, details in an en masse performance are bound to be less sharply-etched. While there is a thrill to the deep bass underpinning, the first and last movements…

Petrenko matches Giltburg’s dashing virtuosity and subtlety SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 2; String Quartet No. 8 (arr. Giltburg); String Quartet No. 2 – Waltz (arr. Giltburg) Boris Giltburg (piano); Rhys Owens (trumpet); Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Vasily Petrenko Naxos 8.573666 69:47 mins This recording of Shostakovich’s two piano concertos is a delight from start to finish. Having performed these works together in the RLPO’s 2015-16 concert season, Boris Giltburg and Vasily Petrenko are a tight unit, the pianist’s dashing virtuosity and subtlety of touch matched by equally incisive interpolations from the orchestra. Trumpeter Rhys Owens brilliantly characterises the satirical outbursts in the outer movements of the First Concerto, but is no less compelling in drawing us into the darker tones of the Lento. Petrenko’s atmospheric control of muted dynamics…

HANDEL DVD Alcina; Tamerlano Sandrine Piau, Maite Beaumont, Angelique Noldus, Sabina Puértolas, Chloé Briot, Daniel Behle, Giovanni Furlanetto, Edouard Higuet, Choeur de Chambre de l’Imep/Benoit Giaux; Christophe Dumaux, Jeremy Ovenden, Sophie Karthäuser, Delphine Galou, Ann Hallenberg, Nathan Berg, Caroline D’Haese; Les Talens Lyriques/Christophe Rousset; dir. Pierre Audi (Brussels, 2015) Alpha ALPHA 715 378:58 mins (2 discs) The two Handel opera productions brought together here originated at Sweden’s Drottningholm Palace Theatre in 2000 and 2003 respectively, before moving on to Amsterdam and finally Brussels, where they were filmed in February 2015. They’re both the work of director Pierre Audi in collaboration with the Anglo-Irish designer (and more recently himself an opera director) Patrick Kinmonth. The deal at Drottningholm, of course, is that the sets are provided for you in terms of…

CHERUBINI Requiem in C minor PLANTADE Messe des morts in D minor Le Concert Spirituel/Hervé Niquet Alpha ALPHA 251 69:14 mins After the restoration of the French monarchy in 1815, the remains of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were removed from their common grave and reinterred at the Basilica of St Denis in Paris. Further restitution was made to the late monarch in the form of a Requiem Mass, performed on 21 January 1816. Though some sources suggest that he may have worked on it earlier, most commentators agree that Cherubini’s C minor Requiem (his first of two) was commissioned for this memorial service. Seven years later, on the 30th anniversary of the execution of Marie-Antoinette, a Requiem almost certainly composed earlier by Cherubini’s now forgotten contemporary Charles-Henri Plantade (1764-1839) was…

BARTÓK String Quartets Nos 2, 4 and 6 Jerusalem Quartet Harmonia Mundi HMC 902235 78:51 mins Predictably, there is some fine playing here, with details in these intricately complex pieces emerging with remarkable clarity. Just occasionally, that clarity is perhaps achieved at the expense of impetuosity: the scurrying second movement of the Fourth Quartet is taken at a tempo that’s a notch below its ‘prestissimo’ marking; and the tempo fluctuations of the Arab-inflected violin melody in the central Scherzo of the Quartet No. 2 are a little underplayed. The rhapsodic cello theme that forms the kernel of the slow movement in No. 4 – this time very much Hungarian in flavour – is very well handled by Kyril Zlotnikov, but he doesn’t quite achieve the sense of parlando rubato that,…

JS BACH Partitas Nos 1-6 Charles Owen (piano) Avie AV 2366 142:16 mins (2 discs) Tackling Bach’s keyboard music on the piano always requires a certain philosophical standpoint from which to start. The one that Charles Owen seems to take is well proven and generally reliable: keeping expression within careful parameters of volume and resonance, concentrating on purity and clarity rather than excessively imaginative reinterpretation, and, while not attempting to imitate a harpsichord, also avoiding the trap of imagining Bach a 19th-century composer. Yet the Partitas contain some of Johann Sebastian’s most ingenious keyboard writing. For instance, the glittery Gigue in the Partita No. 1 with its rapid hand-crossing, the leaps in the Capriccio finale of No. 2 or the florid, meditative Allemande of No. 4 all set the instrument…

SUN RA Singles: The Definitive 45s Collection Sun Ra and his Arkestra, including Sun Ra (keyboards), Marshall Allen, John Gilmore (saxophone) et al Strut148CD (2 discs) 224 mins Strut continues its mapping of the Sun Ra universe with this extraordinary collection. Beginning with his work with vocal groups then progressing to the output of the Arkestra, these CDs chart an alternative course through one of the most prolific discographies in the history of recorded music. Ra’s singles were often pressed in just double-figure quantities for sale at live performances, so to have them available at all, let alone chronologically ordered and annotated as carefully as possible given their obscurity, is a joy. The most enlightening items are transitional in nature, such as where his piano accompaniments start to take on…

The State of Music gained Virgil Thomson instant notoriety THOMSON: the State of Music and Other Writings Virgil Thomson, ed. Tim Page Library of America ISBN 978-1-59853-467-2 1170pp (hb) Two years ago, the critical columns of the American composer, wit and sometime reviewer for the New York Herald Tribune, Virgil Thomson (1896-1989), were collected in a volume of the august Library of America, thus attaining canonical status (February 2015). Now comes a second volume encompassing the four books he also managed to publish in his long and busy career. The first of these was The State of Music, published in 1938, in which he mordantly anatomised the ins and outs of his profession: how composers and performers promote themselves, how they finagle a living, how their in-group…

WAGNER’S DAS RHEINGOLD From its slowly building opening of E flat arpeggios, evoking the majestic grandeur of the river Rhine, Das Rheingold – Wagner’s first opera in his epic Ring cycle – sets the scene for an unfolding mythological drama that pushes its performers and audiences beyond anything that had been experienced previously in the opera world. The groundbreaking score demands an orchestra of over 100 musicians. This month, BBC Four is broadcasting Opera North’s acclaimed 2016 production, starring bass-baritone Jo Pohlheim as Alberich, the power-obsessed dwarf who forges a magic ring from the gold he’s stolen from the depths of the Rhine, while bass-baritone Michael Druiett is Wotan, the chief god who captures the ring and is subject to its curse. Das Rheingold was filmed at Leeds Town Hall…

NICKY CAMPBELL IS FAMILIAR to millions of radio listeners as the co-host of BBC Radio 5 live’s Breakfast programme. Born in Edinburgh, he graduated from Aberdeen University before launching his media career in local radio. He joined BBC Radio 1 in 1987 and has since hosted a number of programmes on TV and radio. These include the BBC’s consumer affairs programme Watchdog and, for ITV, Wheel of Fortune and Long Lost Family. He also narrates CBeebies’ Our Story. He received an OBE in 2015. When I was growing up, I had a baby grand piano in my room – it was a family heirloom. From an early age, I would sit down and plonk away. One day we had a music test at school and my parents were advised that…