Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2017 i BBC Music Magazine

ONLINE Let’s Prom again As this issue hits the shelves, the BBC Proms have just started. If you’re unable to keep up with every concert day-by-day, don’t worry. Simply head over to the BBC iPlayer and BBC Proms websites to catch highlights, behind-the-scenes interviews and a good deal more! www.bbc.co.uk/iplayerwww.bbc.co.uk/proms ON STAGE Tasty Appl German baritone Benjamin Appl clearly has a neat line in ironic timing, choosing to sing Schubert’s chilly Winterreise in the heat of August. But given the prospect of hearing this terrific former Radio 3 New Generation Artist amid the glorious scenery of Lake District Summer Music, we’ll gladly overlook such unseasonality. See p88 ON AIR Auld Reekie awaits As the Edinburgh Festival reaches 70 (here are Peter Pears and Kathleen Ferrier overlooking the city in 1947),…

WHERE’S BEECHAM? Reading the June issue, I was surprised not to see the name of my late husband in the list of musicians who have been commemorated with Blue Plaques. I, in the company of the then Mayor of Westminster, unveiled a plaque to Sir Thomas at 31 Grove End Road, St John’s Wood, London NW8. The ceremony took place on 29 April 1979 – 100 years since Sir Thomas was born. Shirley, Lady Beecham, Suffolk MAKING A CASE While I agree that there is a need for high quality concert halls in the South West, I disagree with Penny Adie (Letters, July) that Exeter is the right location. The Great Hall at Exeter University already provides a large venue for orchestral concerts. I believe a much better…

Following his victory in the 15th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas, pianist Yekwon Sunwoo says that he is ‘extremely delighted and a little bit overwhelmed’ by a success that will no doubt change the course of his career. The 28 year-old follows in the footsteps of fine players such as Radu Lupu and Olga Kern in taking first prize in the famous event, named after the American pianist who himself leapt to fame by winning the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in 1958. Sunwoo’s victory earns him $50,000 and three years of professional concert management. ‘For this competition you have to prepare a huge repertoire,’ Sunwoo, 28, tells BBC Music Magazine. ‘That, though, helps people understand that the artist has the strength to be a concert pianist…

Pianists Charles Owen and Katya Apekisheva are following up their five-star Stravinsky recording with a disc dedicated to another Russian composer. The duo has been at Kings Place in London recording Rachmaninov’s Suites Nos 1, 2 and 6. Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano have turned to Bach for their latest disc, to be released on Glossa. Variations on variations features string versions of the Goldberg Variations, the Passcaglia BWV 582 (a work Schumann greatly admired) and the Aria Variata, BWV 989. Period instrument group Cristofori and director Arthur Schoonderwoerd are working their way through Mozart’s piano concertos. But for their latest recording, made in Besançon, France with the Gesualdo Consort Amsterdam, they’ve taken a Mozart detour to record the Requiem. It’ll be out on the Accent label. James Ehnes has…

Five female composers are to get recognition in British concert halls thanks to a new scheme to fund performances of their music. Donated by Diana Ambache and managed by the Association of British Orchestras, ‘Sirens’ allocates money to ensembles who are redressing the gender balance by championing works by women that have fallen into obscurity. The recipients of the first batch of funding are the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra who will be performing works by Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983, above) and Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944), plus the Philharmonia, LPO and Southbank Sinfonia, who will be championing Maria Antonia Walpurgis (1724-80), Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) and Dorothy Howell (1898-1982).…

@susanbu1 Sandra Bullock gate is over! Normal service has been resumed. If anyone needs me, I shall be in my trailer After Grange Park Opera’s press office mistakenly casts her famous near-namesake in Janácek’s Jen∞fa, soprano Susan Bullock (left)clears things up. @Sviceridor New favourite thing? Norwegian buses. Clean, spacious, punctual and with v friendly, helpful drivers #skyss Tusen takk Baritone Roderick Williams approves of Bergen’s public transport and teaches us the Norwegian for ‘thank you’. @RevRichardColes I went to see a composer in hospital this morning who told me that Brahms was one of the first people in Vienna to be on the phone Something else we didn’t know, this time from Reverend Richard Coles. Wagner also enjoyed giving people a ring. @maestromena We have the @CAOsasuna…

Oliver Condy Editor As we went to press with this issue, the 30-degree June heat provided an unwelcome distraction from the deadlines. As something of a balm, the turbulence of Bax’s November Woods has been my companion, the wild late autumnal scenes of swirling leaves and, as the composer put it, ‘screaming of wind and cracking of strained branches’ doing a rather better job than our rather feeble office fan. Jeremy Pound Deputy editor I first heard Croatian composer Boris Papandopulo’s Second Piano Concerto on Radio 3 a couple of years ago, and rushed to get hold of the recording by Oliver Triendl and the Zagreb Soloists. At the time I was especially taken with the Shostakovich-like bounce of its opening movement, but now it’s the melancholic, folky central movement…

We’ve long admired Alice Sara Ott’s mercurial touch in Chopin and Grieg. And regular readers may well remember when she told us of her quick-figured mastery of Rubik’s Cube. Little did we know, however, of her flair as a designer. The German accessories label JOST evidently did, as they recently asked the pianist to create a new range of travel bags. The resulting collection, we learn, pays homage to Ott’s German-Japanese roots in featuring leather origami tags and origami-patterned lining, and consists of a carry-all, two briefcases, a clutch bag, a bucket bag, a cosmetic bag and a purse – everything, in fact, to ‘meet the demands of a high-level artist working across the globe’. Everything? We’d like to suggest a couple of additions. A Rubik’s Cube holder, for instance.…

Composers get commissioned by Glyndebourne on the basis of real enthusiasm from the top I have an irritating newspaper colleague who describes my summers as ‘one long round of champers and hampers’. It’s true that anyone who reports on the opera scene has to spend a fair number of days in June, July and August preposterously clad in a dinner jacket or a glamorous frock (not necessarily depending on gender) and dashing round various idyllic estates in leafy shires. And I’m not hypocritical enough to claim that this branch of journalism is as gruelling as covering the Syrian war or even the interminable Brexit discussions. What I do find irksome is the assumption that because the artform disparagingly known as ‘country house opera’ is largely associated with lavish picnics and…

Why is this festival special? Edinburgh is a melting pot, where every imaginable type of performance goes on in the same place at the same time, and the sacred and the profane go hand in hand. Its original aim was to be a place for people from all over the world to meet, talk and collaborate. That is still our mission today. What challenges lie ahead? We are right in the middle of a moment when Britain needs to redefine its relationships with countries all over the world. This gives the international aspect of the Edinburgh Festival renewed importance. In fact, our outward-looking focus makes Edinburgh the perfect place to have a discussion about Britain’s place in the world, and for artists to express their anxieties about the future. How…

To understand Chopin’s pianos is to understand his music. Among the many pianos Chopin played throughout his career, he treasured his two French instruments the most – an Erard and a Pleyel. With their light touch and a resonant tone, they were able to bring his beautiful, operatic melodies to stunning life; it’s no wonder that Chopin instructed his students to ‘sing with your fingers’. His music was written with these instruments in mind, and so it’s arguable that only these kinds of pianos, with their wooden frames, light hammers, delicate action and intimate sound, can truly immerse us in Chopin’s musical world. For several years, the Chopin Institute has been championing this very idea with an acclaimed series of recordings, The Real Chopin, a groundbreaking project to record the…

THE LIFE 1843 THE TIMES 1843  Edvard Grieg is born into a musical middle-class family in BERGEN , the fourth of five children. His mother is a sought-after local pianist, and Grieg starts piano lessons at age six. 1858  Violinist OLE BULL persuades Grieg’s parents to send him to Leipzig Conservatory. The young man, however, dislikes its narrow-minded teaching methods. 1868  The year after he marries his cousin NINA , their daughter Alexandra is born. He completes his Piano Concerto in A minor while on holiday in Søllerød. 1879  At a concert in Copenhagen attended by Danish royalty, he conducts the premiere of his The Mountain Thrall and is also soloist in his Piano Concerto. 1883  He embarks on an extended European tour amid rumours that his marriage is on…

Recording of the Month Some of JS Bach’s most beautiful vocal music is featured on this sublime new Harmonia Mundi recording by soprano Carolyn Sampson and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, p56 Dazzling debuts One of my favourite things about this job is listening to recordings by rising stars. Turn to our Chamber Choice, and you’ll find a name familiar from the 2016 BBC Music Magazine Awards – the Schumann Quartet. Our Newcomers of the Year have made their second recording, and it’s a fascinating listen. And a couple of other debut discs have caught my ear recently, from soprano Louise Alder and guitarist Sean Shibe. In fact, I’ll be bringing along Shibe’s disc to chat about with the rest of the team on our revamped First Listen podcast. Join…

What was it like to work with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra? They’re wonderful. I lived in Freiburg for ten years and I was a regular soloist with them, so I know them quite well. It’s a really friendly atmosphere and there’s a lot of mutual respect. The way they work is very democratic – everyone has an opinion and voices it. It works really well for small chamber projects like this. It’s not just me or the concertmaster Petra having our say. Why did you choose these particular cantatas? They’re very contrasting, and I think that’s a strength. Weichet nur is very beautiful, and one of the more famous wedding cantatas. I had a bit of a shock when I went to Japan once and thought I was doing the…

The performances are highly polished yet full of wit and spirit SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 1; Scherzo, Op. 1; Theme and Variations, Op. 3; Scherzo, Op. 7; Five Fragments, Op. 42 Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg/Gustavo Gimeno Pentatone PTC 5186 622 (hybrid CD/SACD) 68:33 mins There are already dozens of sparkling and characterful recordings of Shostakovich’s inspired and lively First Symphony, yet I have no hesitation in highly recommending this album. For one, the performances throughout by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg under Gustavo Gimeno are excellent, highly polished yet full of subtle nuance, wit and spirit, beautifully captured in SACD sound. Secondly, the Symphony is unusually coupled with three of Shostakovich’s earliest orchestral works. One can hear the teenage composer evolving from a talented disciple of the Russian nationalist school: the…

DONIZETTI DVD Lucrezia Borgia Sutherland, Kraus, Howells; ROH Chorus & Orchestra/Bonynge Opus Arte OA 1237 (1980) 147 mins John Copley’s flamboyant staging of Donizetti’s tragedy finds Sutherland offering remarkable technical feats though few words and less acting; Alfredo Kraus’s stylish Gennaro partially makes up for her deficiencies. PERFORMANCE ★★★ PICTURE & SOUND ★★★ VERDI DVD Il Trovatore Cappuccilli, Kabaivanska, Cossotto, Domingo, Van Dam; Vienna State Opera Chorus & Orchestra/Karajan Arthaus Musik 109334 (1978) 151 mins A truly glamorous cast and conductor for this Vienna production, directed by Karajan himself in old-fashioned style. Fine music-making, though the dark-toned visuals are pure period-piece. PERFORMANCE ★★★★ PICTURE & SOUND ★★★ VERDI DVD Un Ballo in Maschera Domingo, Ricciarelli, Cappuccilli, Grist, Bainbridge; Royal Opera House Chorus & Orchestra/Claudio Abbado Opus Arte OA 1236 D…

George Guest tackled an extraordinary range of repertoire Hear My Prayer in 1958 was the Argo label’s first recording of the Choir of St John’s College Cambridge, and it tells us much about what followed over the next 23 years (Decca 483 1252; 42 CDs). All the key ingredients are there: adventurous programming, passion that contrasted with the comparative coolness of King’s College Choir down the road, the ‘continental sound’ of the boys, keenly focused and with vibrato. As the notes explain, the different acoustic challenges of King’s and John’s led directly to the different treble sounds. Since Argo was recording both choirs, there had to be an intelligent division of labour. Organist and choirmaster George Guest tackled an extraordinary range of repertoire, from the Tudor church music of Tallis…

Both his parents were pianists, his father being a student of Liszt’s and teacher at Copenhagen’s Royal Academy of Music; yet Langgaard yet never gained recognition in official Danish music circles. His musical talent was recognised early, and initially he made a success as an organist and pianist. Yet he found himself out of work from 1917 and was rejected for every organist’s post he applied for until, aged 46, he finally was given the post of organist in Ribe in southwest Jutland. His most experimental music was composed 1916-24.…

LUXURIOUS HEADPHONES Bowers & Wilkins P9 Signature £699 Launched to celebrate Bowers & Wilkins’s 50th anniversary, the P9 Signature is a large, exquisitely engineered pair of over-ear headphones that look beautiful and perform brilliantly. The combination of Saffiano calf leather and a precision-engineered all-metal construction goes some way to explaining the rather fulsome price tag, but it’s the 40mm angled speakers and exceptional suspension – the intricate detailing around the ear-cups prevents unwanted vibrations – that has me coming back for more. The 1970s-style brown might not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s a welcome change from black, and while you’ll never forget you’re wearing the 413g headphones, they can’t be faulted for comfort unless you’ve got a very small head. They even fold down and fit into a luxurious…

BEETHOVEN BY HEART Keeping up its Proms tradition of playing symphonic works from memory, Nicholas Collon’s Aurora Orchestra is performing Beethoven’s Eroica without scores. Beforehand, with the help of Radio 3’s Tom Service, the orchestra will also be illuminating various parts of this greatest of works. Proms 2017; Prom 10: BBC Four: 18 Aug, time tbc EAST MEETS WEST A Late Night Prom sees the first complete live performance of Passages, a 1990 collaboration between Philip Glass and the legendary sitar-playing composer Ravi Shankar. Shankar’s daughter Anoushka (above), a sitar virtuoso, is performing with the Britten Sinfonia under Karen Kamensek. Proms 2017; Prom 41; BBC Four: 18 Aug, time tbc REFORMATION SPIRIT The BBC TV cameras are rolling into action for the final Reformation Day Prom, as John Butt’s Dunedin…

BORN IN ESPOO, FINLAND, in 1976, Pekka Kuusisto learned the violin from a young age and studied in Helsinki and the US. His big breakthrough came when he won the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in 1995. He has since played at major concert halls and festivals across the globe, including a memorable BBC Proms debut last year. This summer he gives the world premiere of Daniel Bjarnason’s Violin Concerto in Los Angeles, and then tours it with the Philharmonia in venues across Europe. My mum is a music teacher and she used to sing in a choir that my father conducted – that’s how they met. My big brother is a violinist too, so I was by no means the first musician in the family! I started playing the…

Helen Wallace Writer and critic ‘Growing up with seven musically-gifted siblings, Sheku Kanneh-Mason thought he was perfectly normal. Happiest performing, but free of ego, this modest, centred musician is anything but. I predict a great future.’ Page 22 Jessica Duchen Author, writer and critic ‘After visiting Bergen, I thought I’d overdosed on Edvard Grieg – but the better I get to know him, the more I find to love. If you think you like his Piano Concerto, just wait until you hear the songs.’ Page 48 Kate Bolton-Porciatti Academic, writer and critic ‘It was Schumann’s “daily bread”, Hans von Bülow’s “Old Testament”, and today it stands as the keyboard player’s Everest: Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier . From over 80 years of recordings, we select the most…

In the section on Dame Clara Butt in your recent feature on Blue Plaques (June issue) it was stated that London’s theatres and concert halls were closed for the duration of World War Two. This was not the case. Although entertainment venues were closed initially, they soon returned to business as usual. In fact, it was when the Queen’s Hall was destroyed the night following a concert in an air raid during the London Blitz that the Proms were first transferred to the Royal Albert Hall. They continued there until about three weeks into the 1944 season when they were suspended due to the Doodlebug attacks. During the war the gallery was closed and the cheapest seats were located in a block at the rear of the arena. They had…

 When Francisco Fullana was 11 years old his family moved to Madrid. For two years, he had been flying to the capital from his native Majorca to take violin lessons at the Madrid Conservatoire, but now his parents decided it was time to invest in their son’s future. ‘I didn’t really think about it at the time,’ he says, ‘but now, looking back, it seems like a huge commitment for such a young person.’ ‘I had all these things I wanted to express, butI didn’t have the tools’ Full-time at the conservatoire, completing his high school education at home with his teacher parents and practising the violin for around four hours each day, eventually led to an even bigger move – at 16, he headed over to New York to…

THIS MONTH James Ehnes violinist Canadian violinist James Ehnes was recently named Instrumentalist of the Year by the Royal Philharmonic Society. Alongside his solo career he leads the Ehnes Quartet. This November he is performing Bach’s complete solo Sonatas and Partitas at Wigmore Hall. My finest moment Elgar Violin Concerto James Ehnes (violin), Philharmonia Orchestra/Sir Andrew Davis Onyx ONYX4025 (2008) When I think about the recordings I’ve done, one that’s very special for me is the Elgar Concerto I made with the Philharmonia and conductor Sir Andrew Davis. It was recorded live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. I don’t listen to my recordings very much but that was one that I randomly heard on a flight a few years later. It was very special playing the…

After the success of its high-profile launch back in January – attended by German chancellor Angela Merkel, no less – Hamburg’s stunning new Elbphilharmonie concert hall, built on top of an old warehouse on the banks of the Elbe, has now bagged itself a big-name maestro. From the beginning of the 2019-20 season, Alan Gilbert will be taking the reins of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra (previously NDR Symphony Orchestra) as its new chief conductor, a role he takes over from Thomas Hengelbrock. Gilbert comes to Hamburg from across the Pond, where he has been music director of the New York Philharmonic since 2009. He is, however, a familiar face with Hamburg audiences, having previously served as the NDR Symphony Orchestra’s principal guest conductor from 2004-15. ‘Very little would have tempted…

Not one, but three cathedrals keep alive the traditions of French Catholicism and its organ music Ididn’t expect to find Nelson’s Column in Montreal. But there he is, overlooking the spot where the city was founded 375 years ago. Erected in 1808, the column boasts bas reliefs of the battles of the Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar, the brief description of each battle ending with the words ‘without the loss of a single British ship’. Montreal is very much a French-speaking city, and Nelson is just one aspect of its vibrant multi-culture: Robbie Burns stands in front of the Sun Life Building (‘the largest building in the British Empire’), totem poles keep watch outside the museum, and not one but three cathedrals keep alive the traditions of French Catholicism and its…

Malcolm Lewis Cirencester Tucked away in the 12-CD Louis Frémaux box set The Complete CBSO Recordings is a wonderful disc of arias sung by a Birmingham singer, David Hughes . The tenor collapsed on stage in October 1972 while singing Pinkerton in Madam Butterfly at the Coliseum and died, at the age of just 47, two days later. At 15, he sold programmes at Birmingham Town Hall – then the home of the CBSO – and went on to become a pop star in the first UK charts in 1952. He later found fame with Sadler’s Wells Opera. What a voice! Just listen to his diction. This is a fine tribute to a forgotten name. Bruce Engle Kentucky, US I have long marveled at the brilliance of St John’s College…

CONCERT DRESS-MAKING Up until now, I’ve tended to created concert outfits by making significant alterations to clothes – like turning a dress into a skirt or a skirt into a dress, for instance, or adding embroidery and beading, or using collage techniques with different fabrics. Now, however, I’m making one from scratch. I’ve been really enjoying discovering ankara fabrics, which are wax-printed fabrics from Africa – they are so vibrant, with some incredible colours. It is, though, an ongoing project that I have to fit round learning notes and concert engagements, so it might take a while! When making a dress to perform in, you have to take account of various practical things. For instance, I don’t like anything bulky under where my violin goes, as it would change the…

The children at Stroud Green Primary School in north London are offered an unusual treat each Friday lunchtime. Natalie Clein comes to play the cello. Clein’s three-year-old daughter is one of the pupils and, when she’s not preparing for a concert at home or abroad, she has a strict date at the school. ‘We live opposite, and I go and play for the kids. I’ve performed Kodály, done folk songs with a singer who lives locally, anything really. My kids get it naturally at home, because of what I do, but most of the others have probably never seen a musician playing live. But it should be normal. That should be what they all get. ‘One day I hope I’ll start some kind of charity to try to help this.…

Claude Debussy In 1905, Debussy and his new lover, singer Emma Bardac, escaped ‘en vacance’ to England where they frolicked in Eastbourne. While there, Debussy put the finishing touches to his orchestral tone poem La Mer while in his blissful art-free bubble. To his publisher, Auguste Durand 26 July 1905, Grand Hotel Eastbourne Here I am more or less settled in. It’s a charming, peaceful spot. The sea unfurls itself with an utterly British correctness. In the foreground is a well-groomed lawn on which little chips off important, imperialist blocks are rushing around. What a place for working in! No noise, no pianos, or only delightful mechanical ones, no musicians talking about painting and no painters talking about music. In fact, a splendid place for cultivating…

George Hall writer, editor, translator George writes widely on classical music and opera for The Guardian , the Financial Times , The Stage and several other publications, and has been a contributor to various reference books. Nicholas Anderson Baroque specialist Terry Blain writer, critic Kate Bolton-Porciatti lecturer, The British Institute; L’Istituto Lorenzo de’Medici Garry Booth jazz writer & critic Geoff Brown critic, The Times Anthony Burton writer, editor Michael Church , critic, Independent and The i Christopher Cook broadcaster, critic Elinor Cooper journalist Martin Cotton radio & recording producer Christopher Dingle professor of music, Birmingham Conservatoire Misha Donat producer, writer Jessica Duchen critic, novelist Rebecca…

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3 (Eroica); Coriolan Overture NDR Symphony Orchestra/ Klaus Tennstedt Profil PH16022 (1979) 59:39 mins Tennstedt is at his most convincing in projecting the pathos of the Eroica’s Funeral March and the stark tragedy of Coriolan. The Scherzo, however, is a bit too stolid. PERFORMANCE ★★★ RECORDING ★★★★ BRAHMS • MOZART Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 27*; Brahms: Symphony No. 2 Robert Casadesus (piano); *Swiss Festival Orchestra; Vienna Philharmonic/Carl Schuricht Audite 95.645 (1962) 68:26 mins Although brass overpower strings in some orchestral tuttis, Schuricht’s Brahms is wonderfully fluid. Worth hearing for the Vienna Philharmonic’s glorious cellos in the second subject of the first movement. PERFORMANCE ★★★★ RECORDING ★★ BRUCKNER Symphonies Nos 7 & 9; Adagio Berlin Philharmonic/Wilhelm Furtwängler Praga Digitals PRD/DSD 350125 (hybrid CD/SACD) (1944) 79:56 mins No interpretation…

DEBUSSY L’enfant prodigue (1908 version); Symphony in B minor – finale (orch. C Matthews) RAVEL L’enfant et les sortilèges Roberto Alagna, Karina Gauvin, Jean-François Lapointe, Chloé Briot, Nathalie Stutzmann, Sabine Devieilhe, Jodie Devos, Jean-François Lapointe, Nicolas Courjal, Julie Pasturaud; Choeur et Maîtrise de Radio France; Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France/ Mikko Franck Erato 9029589692 88:54 mins (2 discs) For a start, a strange combination. Did someone in marketing think, ‘Wow! Two works beginning with “L’enfant” – that’s a must!’? Sadly, there is a great gulf between their musical values – Debussy’s cantata being a very early work, albeit winner of the Prix de Rome in 1884, while Ravel’s opera is a solid masterpiece from his maturity – one that is fully echoed in the performances. For me to suggest that…

JS BACH • PERGOLESI Pergolesi: Stabat Mater; JS Bach: Cantatas – Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54; Vernügte Ruh! beliebte Seelenlust!, BWV 170 Lucy Crowe (soprano), Tim Mead (countertenor); La Nuova Musica/ David Bates Harmonia Mundi HMM 907589 64:16 mins Two of Bach’s most radiant cantatas for alto solo provide a contemplative frame for Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater – a work Bach so admired that he made his own German arrangement. Despite this connection, though, their sound worlds are poles apart: Bach’s – abstract and reflective; Pergolesi’s – sensuous, emotional, quasi-operatic. Countertenor Tim Mead offers articulate readings of the cantatas, his voice (with its faint echoes of the young Andreas Scholl) is beautifully controlled, its reedy, instrumental quality yielding lovely dialogues with the ensemble. Particularly effective is the way countertenor and…

GOUNOD Mors et Vita Hendricks, Denize, Aler, Van Dam; Orch du Capitole de Toulouse/Plasson Erato 9029589514 (1992) 155:74 mins (2 discs) Despite a recessed recording, Plasson’s remains a serviceable rendition of Gounod’s grandiose conspectus of human spiritual experience. No texts or translations. PERFORMANCE ★★★★ RECORDING ★★★ JANÁCEK Lord, Have Mercy on Us; Diary of One who Disappeared; Glagolitic Mass Soloists; Radoslav Kvapil (piano); Czech Phil Choir; Czech Phil/Neumann Praga Digitals PRD 250 382 (1964-78) 78:50 mins This lean, incisive Glagolitic Mass from 1978 has an authentic tang, but the sound is dry and unflattering. The couplings are interesting, especially the fervent tenor Miroslav Frydlewicz in the Diary. PERFORMANCE ★★★★★ RECORDING ★★★★ ORFF Carmina Burana Walmsley-Clark, Graham-Hall, Maxwell; LSO & Chorus/Richard Hickox Alto ALC 1336 (1986) 63:30 mins A muscular Carmina,…

JS BACH Various works including Cello Suites Nos 3 and 6 Yo-Yo Ma (cello) Sony 88985345442 (1982-2015) 78:37 mins Apart from a complete suite despatched with svelte elegance, and a sonata at times gaudily gussied-up, this is a compilation of ‘pops’ aimed at the sweet-of-tooth. PERFORMANCE ★★★ RECORDING ★★★★ JS BACH Six Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin James Ehnes (violin) Analekta AN 8772-3 (1999-2000) 72:96 mins (2 discs) Dazzlingly secure and fearlessly focused, Ehnes’s Bach is a force to be reckoned with, though an undifferentiated consistency of intensity and firmness of tone can undermine the impulse towards dance and soliloquy. PERFORMANCE ★★★★ RECORDING ★★★★★ JS BACH The Art of Fugue Marie-Claire Alain (organ) Erato 9029589517 (1992) 97:45 mins (2 discs) Counter-intuitively the final uncompleted fugue proves deliberately anti-climactic in…

DARYL RUNSWICK The Jazz Years Daryl Runswick (bass), Jim Philip, Stan Sulzmann, Alan Skidmore (sax), Mick Pyne, Tony Hymas, Mike McNaught (piano), Spike Wells (drums) et al ASC asccd 167/168 120 mins Coming alongside his recent 70th birthday celebrations, this exploratory borehole into the jazz stratum of Daryl Runswick’s career redeems itself from self-indulgence by being both original (none of this material has appeared before) and an invaluable snapshot of 1970s British modern jazz in live performance. Furthermore, Runswick’s varied work as a jazz bassist and pianist for an impressive clutch of household names, a bandleader, a contemporary composer in numerous idioms, a singer, an arranger and more besides defies concise summary, so it helpful to see this partitioned guide to his Jazz Years. This is energetic stuff from various…

THE COURAGE OF COMPOSERS AND THE TYRANNY OF TASTE: Reflections on New Music Bálint András Varga University of Rochester Press 978-1-58046-593-9 272pp (hb) £25.00 rrp In the introduction to this remarkable volume, Bálint András Varga notes that he feels a certain ‘duty to act as a bottle’, preserving composers’ messages for future generations. Featuring exchanges with 33 composers, music critics and festival directors, the collection is something of a time capsule, capturing a wealth of ideas about contemporary music. Varga is already the author of several compelling sets of interviews, including Three Questions for Sixty-Five Composers (2011) exploring influence and style, and From Boulanger to Stockhausen (2013) which plumbs Varga’s archive of interviews with musicians. This latest work focuses on the tension between artistic integrity – the…

1 MOZART’S LA CLEMENZA DI TITO Glyndebourne, 26 July – 26 Aug Tel: +44 (0)1273 815000 Web: www.glyndebourne.com Glyndebourne might like to style itself as a house for Mozart but his opera seria swansong La clemenza di Tito receives only its second ever festival staging as music director Robin Ticciati conducts a new production by German director Claus Guth. Tenor Steve Davislim takes the title role with mezzo-soprano Alice Coote as the volatile Vitellia and mezzo Anna Stéphany as her hapless lover Sesto. 2 TÊTE-À-TÊTE FESTIVAL The Place & RADA Studios, London, 25 July – 13 Aug Tel: +44 (0)20 7121 1100 Web: www.tete-a-tete.org.uk Notching up its first decade, the Tête-à-Tête Festival of contemporary opera promises to be as fearless and provocative…

Each week Michael Berkeley talks to a guest about their favourite music, one of whose choices are below MARK PADMORE Tenor JS BACH ‘Ach Herr, lass dein lieb Engelein’ from St John Passion, BWV 245 Dunedin Players, Dunedin Consort/John Butt ‘Bach’s music is some of the greatest ever written. There’s such richness in the writing. One of the things I remember about the Passions is that Bach only heard the St John four times and therefore it was fresh for him every time. We need to recapture that innocence.’ JOHN CAGE Experiences No. 2 Robert Wyatt (vocalist) ‘I shared a bedroom with my brother Chris and one of the groups that he loved was Soft Machine (who were from Canterbury where we grew up).…

 The winners of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (see pp10 & 11) all, should they so choose, have glittering careers ahead of them. But so do those who didn’t walk off with a prize. It’s very important that runners-up don’t lose heart. It’s all too easy for them to feel a sense of futility – months, sometimes years of preparation ending at the quarter- or semi-finals, with apparently nothing to show for it. And it’s true that voting systems in competitions (I know from one or two bitter jury experiences) can ironically work against the judges’ decisions, point-scoring systems, in some cases, allowing their second choices to rise to the top. It is what it is, as they say. Today’s competitions, however,…

Kissin returns Evgeny Kissin is releasing his first solo recital album for more than ten years after signing a new exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. The Russian pianist returns to Beethoven for two discs featuring performances from over the past decade. Out this August, the set features the Piano Sonatas Nos 14, 23, 26 and 32 as well as the 32 Variations in C minor. ‘Live recordings always surpass studio albums for me, because I feel more inspired when playing for an audience,’ explains Kissin, who recently took a sabbatical from public performance but is now back playing. The pianist worked with DG 25 years ago on recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan and Claudio Abbado. Life and love Louise Alder won the audience prize at this year’s…

JARVIS COCKER Singer & songwriter Many years ago, a girlfriend of mine had a seven-inch EP of the closing moments of Delius’s Hassan, conducted by Thomas Beecham. I recently managed to track down a copy of it. The recording has such atmosphere, and I think they must have got the chorus to file out of the theatre at the end, as you hear their voices fading into the distance – you really get a sense of going on a journey somewhere. There’s a great tune to it, and it’s stuck with me ever since. I hadn’t heard John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil before the Bella Union label released cellist Steven Isserlis’s recording of it on vinyl on Record Store Day three years ago. I thought it sounded interesting and…

PIANO MARATHONS… An ice bath, a masseur and a beer were all in order for Anna Tilbrook on 22 June as she played the piano for 24 hours non-stop. On the hottest day (and night) of the year, Tilbrook was joined in St Mary’s Church, Hendon by musical friends including soprano Lesley Garrett and tenor James Gilchrist to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. …AND PIANO SPRINTS In Lisbon, meanwhile, Domingos-Antonio Gomes has broken the record for playing the same piano key the most number of times in a minute, managing a staggering 824 individual hits. Were he to keep up that speed for the length of Tilbrook’s 24-hour stint, that would be 1,186,560 notes in total. MERRY RAFFERTY Just as we celebrate classical musicians awarded Queen’s Birthday Honours on…

FOR HIS PERFORMANCE in the 2016 BBC Young Musician final and his debut at the Royal Festival Hall soon afterwards, Sheku Kanneh-Mason was lent a cello made in 1610 by Antonio and Girolamo Amati (the sons of Andrea Amati), by dealer and restorer Florian Leonhard. Based in Cremona, the Amati brothers worked separately, dividing their father’s business in two in 1588. Their principal achievements included subtle changes to the structure of stringed instruments, improving their strength and the resonance of sound through the f-holes. Their designs became the blueprint with which violins, violas and cellos were subsequently made. Kanneh-Mason has since been given the £500,000 instrument on permanent loan, thanks to an anonymous private sponsor. ‘I can hardly believe that I can continue to develop my relationship with this cello,…

If there is one reader of BBC Music Magazine who has never heard Grieg’s Piano Concerto, I shall, as they say, eat my hat. Edvard Hagerup Grieg put the music of his homeland onto the international map for the first time, writing works that can immediately embed themselves in our consciousness. The Peer Gynt incidental music, the ‘Wedding Day at Troldhaugen’, numerous inspired songs and, of course, that Piano Concerto are just a few examples. But how did a boy from a Nordic backwater grow to become not only his country’s national hero, but one of the most popular composers in the world? While there isn’t a formula behind Grieg’s magic blend, there could be a secret weapon: balance. One might attribute it to his splendid compositional technique: rarely does…

JS Bach English Suites According to Bach’s early biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel, these six keyboard suites were composed ‘for an Englishman of rank’, but their nickname is something of a misnomer. Stylistically, they are closer to French rather than English keyboard style, with their introductory préludes and popular French dances like the bourrée, gavotte, menuet and passepied, not to mention their distinctly Gallic-flavoured ornamentation. Many of the dance types Bach uses here also pervade the preludes and fugues of the ‘48’ (Book One of which was written at around the same time as the Suites), and Bach elaborates them with the same contrapuntal ingenuity to produce some of his most felicitous and spirited keyboard works. Recommended recording: Richard Egarr (harpsichord) Harmonia Mundi HMU 907591-2 JS Bach Inventions & Sinfonias…

FLEURS Songs by Boulanger, Chabrier, Britten, Debussy, Fauré, Gounod, Hahn et al Sampson (soprano), Middleton (piano) BIS BIS-2102 (hybrid CD/SACD) ‘A sweetly scented posy, this. Sampson’s floribunda of a recital should be just the thing for the giftshop of every botanical garden. Perfect, too, for all who love her fragrant, light-filled, warmly communicative soprano.’ May 2015 NOT JUST DOWLAND Vocal works by Caccini, Dowland, Ferrabosco, Monteverdi et al Sampson (soprano), Wordsworth (lute, theorbo) Wigmore Hall Live WHLive 0034 ‘With iconic Dowland heading up the English contingent, a pervasive melancholy finds Sampson oppressed into a benumbed hush at the beginning of In darkness let me dwell, petering out in a bleak resignation at the end.’ May 2010 JS BACH Wedding Cantata, BWV 210; Coffee Cantata, BWV 211 Sampson (soprano) et al;…

ANTHEIL Symphony No. 4 (1942); Symphony No. 5 (Joyous); Over the Plains BBC Philharmonic/John Storgårds Chandos CHAN 10941 65:45 mins Long after his ground-breaking Ballet mécanique had won him fame and notoriety in 1920s Paris and New York, the American composer George Antheil turned with characteristic enthusiasm to the genre of the symphony. The Fourth – premiered by Leopold Stokowski in a coast-to-coast broadcast – was mostly written in 1942, and traces the progress of the Second World War through that year, beginning with the world in a state of tension and ending with a glimpse of future victory. The Fifth – first performed by Eugene Ormandy in Philadelphia – is a post-war piece from 1947/48, reflecting the ‘youthful optimistic joy’ of the American character. The two works aren’t easy…

ANTHEIL Piano Concerto No. 1; A Jazz Symphony; Capital of the World Suite; Archipelago Rhumba Frank Dupree (piano); Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz/ Karl-Heinz Steffens Capriccio C 5309 56:05 mins Capriccio’s imaginative ‘Modern Times’ series of composer portraits now presents the self-styled ‘Bad Boy of Music’, the American George Antheil. The main work is the single-movement Piano Concerto No. 1, written in 1922 when the young pianist-composer was trying to make a name for himself in Europe. It’s a lively collage of different styles, chiefly indebted to Stravinsky whom Antheil hero-worshipped at the time, with some near-quotations from Petrushka and much use of that work’s film-like jump-cuts. Frank Dupree is an able and idiomatic soloist, and the orchestra supports him with flair, if not always with complete rhythmic precision. Dupree is also…

Mezzo Julie Boulianne sings with terrific bravura and agility ALMA OPPRESSA Handel: Ariodante – Qui d’amor nel suo linguaggio; Con l’ali di costanza; Giulio Cesare – Cara speme; Lotario, HWV 26 – Gavotte; Arianna – Salda quercia; Imeneo – Se potessero i sospir’ miei; Rinaldo – Lascia ch’io pianga; Vivaldi: La Fida Ninfa – Alma oppressa; Dite, oimè! Ditelo, al fine; Andromeda liberata – Sovente il sole; Armida al campo d’Egitto, RV699 – Overture Julie Boulianne (mezzo-soprano); Clavecin en Concert/Luc Beauséjour Analekta AN 2 8780 56:04 mins This sequence helter-skelters through the highs and lows of human emotion as it explores the furores of the ‘oppressed soul’. Director Luc Beauséjour has cherry-picked these explosive outpourings of ‘passion, love, misfortunes, hopes, and longings’ from operas and pastoral dramas by Handel and…

The instrumentalists particularly are on superb form MONTEVERDI Night, Stories of Lovers and Warriors: selections from the Madrigals Books 6 and 8; Sinfonias Concerto Italiano/Rinaldo Alessandrini Naïve OP30566 68:22 mins The theatre of night, a beguiling setting for Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano’s disc of much-loved madrigals to commemorate Monteverdi’s 450-year anniversary. Of course, these maestros of madrigals recorded much of this repertoire to great acclaim some 20 or more years ago, but the cover of darkness provides an elegant context for fresh interpretations – with striking new takes on ornamentation and dissonance, pace and affect. The instrumentalists particularly are on superb form, not only in the characteristically inventive continuo, but also in spicing the madrigalian textures and creating a sonorous tone in short sinfonias that punctate the varied programme.…

BRAHMS String Sextets Nos 1 & 2 Renaud Capuçon, Christoph Koncz (violin), Gérard Caussé, Marie Chilemme (viola), Gautier Capuçon, Clemens Hagen (cello) Erato 9029588837 76:49 mins Brahms avoided going before the public with a symphony until his middle years – he neatly side-stepped the issue by composing two orchestral serenades. He similarly delayed his string quartet debut by luxuriating in the richly-upholstered world of the string sextet – two violins, two violas and two cellos. Both sextets are intimately bound up with his feelings for Agathe von Siebold, the enchanting daughter of a university professor whom he jilted on the point of becoming engaged as he felt unable to commit to a long-term relationship. Brahms’s feelings for Agathe spill over in the B flat Sextet, arguably the most rapturously lyrical…

The man and his legacy are probed in quietly persuasive terms MAXIMUM REGER DVD Works plus documentary – Max Reger: The Last Giant Frauke May (mezzo-soprano), Julius Berger (cello), Markus Becker, Rudolf Meister (piano), Graham Barber, Bernhard Haas (organ) et al; Aris Quartett; WDR Funkhausorchester/ Wayne Marshall Fugue State Films FSFDVD011 (6 discs) ‘In this country, Max Reger appears to be regarded as one who wilfully pens ugly and ultra-discordant music out of sheer wantonness and for no purpose or object.’ So wrote a somewhat disenchanted British music critic in 1912. Of course, audiences nowadays are used to much higher levels of dissonance than anything ever conceived by Reger. Yet for many, the composer still remains a marginalised and forbidding figure, tarred with the brush of writing music of such…

• Composed in 1948 when Richard Strauss was 84 and near the end of his life, the Four Last Songs deal with the subject of death, with a sense of reflective acceptance rather than fear. As with many of Strauss’s 200-or-so songs, they’re scored for soprano, with the orchestral accompaniments featuring a prominent horn part. No coincidence that his wife Pauline de Ahna was a famous soprano and his father, Franz, a fine horn player. • The Four Last Songs – ‘Frühling’ (Spring), ‘September’, ‘Beim Schlafengehen’ (Going to sleep) and ‘Im Abendrot’ (At Sunset) – were not given a title until after Strauss’s death when Ernst Roth, chief editor at Boosey & Hawkes, published them in 1950. It’s not known if Strauss intended them to be a cycle and in…