Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2018 i BBC Music Magazine

Natasha Loges Academic and critic ‘This month’s cover CD of Debussy’s and Mozart’s best-loved songs reveals the contrasts and the correspondences between these two towering figures’ approach to artsong.’ Page 26 Roger Nichols Writer and author ‘Writing my article on Debussy’s reception in the UK took me back to Sundays in Paris in the early 1980s, when was I one of the British musicians who would play the piano for Debussy’s stepdaughter Dolly.’ Page 34 Bayan Northcott Music journalist ‘Surveying the many serial masterpieces of the last 100 years, I’m struck anew by the sheer variety of style, expression, form and character that composers have drawn from the technique.’ Page 46…

Viennese whirl Reading Brian Wise’s feature about 2001: A Space Odyssey (March), I was surprised that there was no mention made of the probable reason that The Blue Danube Waltz is used. That reason is that it’s a musical joke. The music plays as we see the large circular space station rotating sedately into view. The joke? The music is an allusion to another large, circular, gracefully rotating structure, this being the Giant Ferris Wheel in the Prater, Vienna, built 1897, a major landmark which overlooks both the city and the Danube. An ex-colleague, living in Vienna at the time, saw the film when it came out. The moment the space station appeared to a soundtrack of local boy Johann Strauss II, there was a round of laughter and applause.…

As JS Bach approached his 65th birthday, his busy life had started to take its toll on his health. The church authorities in Leipzig had already sounded out a possible successor to him as Cantor at St Thomas’s should the unthinkable happen and, of a more immediate concern, his sight had also deteriorated. After years of poring over manuscripts in semi-darkness not only was he scarcely able to see but, to quote his first biographer Johann Forkel, he also ‘had a very painful disorder in the eyes’. Never fear, however, as help was soon to be at hand. Step forward one John Taylor, the eminent British eye surgeon, on whose glittering CV was listed the post of official oculist to George II and whose previous patients had included the Pope,…

This month: MASAAKI SUZUKI Conductor MY FINEST MOMENT JS Bach Cantatas, Vol. 1 Yumiko Kurisu, Koki Katano, Peter Kooij, Akira Tachikawa; Bach Collegium Japan/Masaaki Suzuki BIS BIS-751 (1995) This was my first experience of making a CD with my group and with the company BIS. It’s a short recording of 48 minutes, with Cantatas BWV 4, 150 and 196. It was not at all easy technically, and it was hard for us all to get through the first session. The producer was Robert von Bahr, the director of BIS, and he was really enthusiastic about making this CD with us. He didn’t have so much recording experience with period instruments, while we had a lot of experience playing on period instruments but not so much experience with how to make…

Noise. We all know what it is, don’t we? For as long as we’ve had music – that is, sounds that we consciously want to hear – we’ve had to put up with noise: those sounds we’d ideally like to turn off. And what goes for coughing and mobile phones in concert halls at transcendent moments of Schubertian bliss or Saariaho-induced mysticism is true in the rest of our lives too. We want to silence the noise of the traffic, the argument next door, the aviation boom and a snoring sleep-mate. What might be a grin-and-bear-it annoyance for most of us can become a physical and psychological torture for others: those afflicted with tinnitus, or who live under an airport flight-path. And music itself can become a noisy problem when…

Oliver Condy Editor A recent trip to Yerevan gave me the chance to hear Penderecki’s Symphony No. 7 ‘Seven Gates of Jerusalem’ played by the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra. Scored for massive forces including a huge battery of percussion, the piece also calls for two tubaphones, an instrument made up of horizontal plastic pipes, bashed with what look like ping-pong bats. Jeremy Pound Deputy editor With Siberian winds and snow swirling around outside, the only way to respond is by sticking on some seriously rowdy music. Khachaturian’s Third Symphony doesn’t do subtlety; it does, however, do a vast orchestra, brass and percussion galore, and organ thrown into the mix. Now that’s what I call a ‘beast from the east’. Rebecca Franks Reviews editor One of my go-to…

Steven Osborne pianist Debussy’s music feels lovely to play, physically and viscerally. There’s so much subtlety that you become very aware of the touch and weight of the keys. He was one of the most daring composers; it’s not that his pieces are formless, but he’s often willing to hold judgment and see what happens. It’s extremely difficult to write in his seemingly open-ended improvisatory style and make it still seem vivid and strong, but he manages to sustain the importance of each moment. He’s got a great instinct in finding meaning in very little gestures, which is somehow bound together by a broader shape that never feels prescriptive. His music fits beautifully into a lot of different programmes, and he is one of the greatest composers for creating a…

Virtually every leading composer has been tempted by Britain, yet not all have made the necessary channel crossing. One who did was Johann Jakob Froberger, who in the early 1650s was robbed by pirates between Calais and Dover. Arriving in London dressed in fisherman’s clothes, Froberger offered to pump the organ for a concert; alas, he botched that job and was given the boot. Froberger expressed his woes in an Allemande Plainte faite à Londres pour passer la mélancholie. Mendelssohn (above, with Albert and Victoria), who first visited England in 1829, had far happier experiences. Though he loved London, he actually found musical inspiration in Scotland. Braving sea sickness to see Fingal’s Cave, he immediately sketched the opening bars of The Hebrides overture. England’s choral tradition has left its mark,…

“The opening theme of Liszt’sFaust Symphony comprises all 12 pitches without repetition” Does your heart sink when you read that a new composition uses ‘serial technique’? Is your mind filled with horrible dissonances at the very thought of the dreaded ‘12-tone row’? Yet if a musical series is defined as an ordered sequence of pitches, then any composition, such as a fugue or sonata, in which defined themes generate much of the texture, could be described as at least partly serial. Indeed, a simple round or canon such as Frère Jacques in which the entire harmonic texture is produced by sequential entries of the same unchanging melody is effectively a serial form. In a sense, then, serial technique has existed in Western music almost back to its beginnings. Granted, the…

Elgar statue, Worcester In the centre of Worcester, four miles from The Firs, a statue of Elgar looks fondly towards the Cathedral, the great man’s head occasionally finding itself adorned with a road cone. Postcode: WR1 2LA Craeg Lea, Malvern Head west to spot the house to which Elgar and family moved in 1899, partly inspired by the views. In the centre of town is another statue of him. Postcode: WR14 4PA Elgar statue, Hereford Carry on west to Hereford for a third statue, again admiring the Cathedral (above). In this instance, he is leaning back on his beloved bicycle. Postcode: HR1 2NB Dan the bulldog, Hereford Now pop over into Bishops Meadow where, next to the River Wye, is the wooden statue of Dan the bulldog (below). Owned by…

An individual voice: Prokofiev was omnivorous in his influences, including contemporaries such as Szymanowski, Honegger, Rachmaninov and, unsurprisingly in Soviet Russia, Shostakovich. Yet he absorbed all these into a recognisable style of his own. Lyricism: Schumann’s piano piece Vogel als Prophet may have inspired Prokofiev’s quirkier themes, with their unexpected leaps in register or sly changes in harmony. Otherwise, his melodic gift seems to owe little to any other composer. Classical form: Prokofiev used classical sonata form throughout his career. In provocation to both the avant garde and what he called ‘classical inclined professors’, he even wrote a ‘Classical’ Symphony in light-hearted homage to Haydn. Musical allusions: Although Prokofiev prized originality, he still made allusions to other works, such as Schumann’s song ‘Wehmut’ in his Piano Sonata No. 7, Wagner’s…

Francis Poulenc was born into a musical, and wealthy, Parisian family. Though mentored at an early age by the pianist Ricardo Viñes and the composer Erik Satie, he did not receive any formal music education. In 1920, he became part of a group of composers named ‘Les Six’ who, over the following three decades, collaborated on various projects. In the 1930s, the death of a close friend in a car crash and a visit to the religious sanctuary at Rocamadour led to his largely light-hearted style becoming inflected with a more serious, religious tone.…

Why did you call this CD ‘Deux’? Our producer suggested it after hearing Polina and me playing. I think it captures the nature of our partnership. I’m not a soloist dragging along an accompanist like a poodle on a leash. We are equally strong, sometimes unanimous, sometimes clashing, giving off sparks. How did you come up with this particular programme? It was really about what we could play together. We were exploring our world. We found it somehow. It came out afterwards that the common denominator is the incredible historical Paris concert when the violinist Jelly d’Aranyi played Bartók’s First Violin Sonata with him, and Ravel and Poulenc acted as page turners. What do the violinists behind these pieces, Jelly d’Aranyi and Ginette Neveu, mean to you? I’m a big…

Debussy The complete works Warner Classics 9029573675 33 CDs Complete works Deutsche Grammophon 479 8642 22 CDs + 2 DVDs Here we have the complete works of Claude Debussy twice – a box each from Warner Classics and Deutsche Grammophon. These are the most comprehensive offerings for Debussy’s centenary, so what divides them, and why is one box bigger than the other? Orchestral works My eyes and ears were drawn straight away by the Warner box, because of the classic recordings made in the 1970s by conductor Jean Martinon and the Orchestre National de l’ORTF. Martinon was part of a French performing tradition through his teachers Roussel and d’Indy, and the orchestra still sounds distinctly ‘French’ with the timbres of the winds and horns, and gorgeous flute solos of Alain…

Love in its many guises is the driving force of Lully’s Alceste Lully Alceste  Judith Van Wanroij, Edwin Crossley-Mercer, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Ambroisine Bré; Les Talens Lyriques/ Christophe Rousset Aparté AP164 150:59 mins (2 discs) Loosely based on Euripides’s drama Alcestis, Lully’s tragédie en musique spans the gamut of human emotion, from high tragedy to frothy comedy. Love in its many guises – passionate, flirtatious, noble and selfless – is the driving force of the opera. The work’s ultimate hero is Alcide (Hercules), a thinly disguised allusion to Louis XIV, whom Lully celebrates in the fawning Prologue and with bellicose and triumphant music. The score is an ever-changing kaleidoscope, with intimate airs and ensembles giving way to declamatory recitatives, vital dances and dramatically charged choruses. Brass and percussion have a…

Born in Philadelphia, Joan La Barbara trained as a classical soprano, but in the course of her studies came to feel that her training imposed a repressive conformity. She starting to sing with jazz and avant garde ensembles, and in 1971 became a vocalist with Steve Reich and Musicians. While still performing with that group, she joined the Philip Glass Ensemble in 1973. She explored extended vocal techniques including circular breathing, multiphonics, clicks and vocal fry, and began to compose for her own voice. She teaches at New York University’s Steinhardt School.…

Organ Music from Westminster Abbey JS Bach, Mozart, Walton, Widor etc Eloquence 482 4933 (1963-5) 95:24 mins The Australian label Eloquence does Simon Preston’s 80th birthday proud with a clutch of re-releases charting the Argo recordings. The Abbey yields meticulous Mozart, skilfully-registered Wagner, and an unshowy, crystal-clear Widor Toccata. ★★★★ 20th-Century Organ Music Elgar, Davies, Hindemith, Howells, etc Eloquence 482 4925 (1967) 120:10 mins Preston could have been born to play the three Hindemith Sonatas that preface Maxwell Davies’s austere Fantasia on O Magnum Mysterium. A magisterial Elgar Sonata adds full-on Romanticism to the mix. ★★★★ Romantic Organ Music Brahms, Franck, Liszt, Reger & Reubke Eloquence 482 4941 (1963-67) 139:07 mins A riveting account of Liszt’s Ad Nos Fantasia caps the snarling majesty of Reubke’s Sonata, both offset by Preston’s…

April round-up For his new studio album Oslo German pianist Michael Wollny has immersed himself in music’s ‘third stream’ – a synthesis between jazz and classical music. As well as including pieces from Fauré, Debussy and others, his trio is joined on three tracks by the Norwegian Wind Ensemble, a 22-piece orchestra known for its ability to improvise. A dynamic live act, the trio’s approach in the studio is to work on individual pieces and develop their sound. On Oslo it’s resulted in fine, modern reworkings that are allowed to swing (Hindemith’s Interludium), or stay austerely spare (Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus). The sound takes on a new dimension with the Norwegian Wind Ensemble on board as conductor Geir Lysne mixes vivid colours in real time to dramatic effect. (ACT 9863-2 ★★★★…

Chopin and his World ed. Jonathan D Bellman & Halina Goldberg Princeton University Press ISBN: 978-0-691-17776-2 384pp (pb) £27.95 rrp This valuable collection of essays is the latest in the series of composer studies under the auspices of the Bard Music Festival. As always, the moving spirit is Leon Botstein, who contributes an erudite study on the consequences of exile for Chopin and other figures. Documents from the period when Poland was ‘a memory, an illusion, and a dream’ include the earliest published essay on Chopin, and the modern musicology comes with plenty of musical examples. Stimulating essays include an exploration of Chopin’s vocabulary for expressing dreams, placing him as a forerunner of Proust; Chopin’s position in relation to his literary colleagues, especially the often overlooked Antoni Malczewski;…

7. Brangwyn Hall Where: Swansea Opened: 1934 Seats: 1,300 Named after the artist Sir Frank Brangwyn, Swansea’s main concert hall was opened in October 1934 as part of the city’s new civic centre which included council amenities and a 160-foot clock tower. Located near the seafront, its striking art-deco exterior is clad in Portland Stone. The idea for the building dates back to 1907 but it took several years for the council to acquire the land. The Grade II-listed complex, designed by architect Sir Percy Thomas, reflects the legend of Swansea’s Viking origins, with features representing a longboat. Inside, the hall has 16 large panels painted by its namesake artist which celebrate the British Empire – these were snapped up by the council after the House of Lords rejected them…

Alan Davey , the controller of BBC Radio 3, picks out three great moments to tune into this April Easter Day Radio 3 celebrates Easter Day with a special Choral Evensong at St Albans Cathedral, featuring the hymn tunes Ellacombe and St Fulbert and the finale of Vierne’s Symphonie No. 5. In Sunday Feature Cerys Matthews explores how the Psalms have influenced music over the centuries. Choral Evensong; 1 April, 3pm From the House of the Dead Janáček’s final work receives its Royal Opera premiere as Mark Wigglesworth conducts a starry cast including bass Willard White and baritone Johan Reuter. Set against the bleak backdrop of a Siberian prison camp, Janáček’s imaginative scoring includes parts for anvil and prisoner’s chains. Opera on 3; 21 April, 6.30pm Mahler and Tippett Radio…

Born in London, violinist Tasmin Little studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School as a child. As a soloist she has played with many of the world’s leading orchestras and made the first of many appearances at the BBC Proms in 1990. A champion of British composers, and in particular Delius, she has made a number of best-selling recordings for the Chandos label. She was awarded the OBE in 2012. From my earliest childhood, music was literally part of the furniture – we had a very beautiful old record player that stood on four spindly legs and I would wake up to the strains of beautiful classical music while my father was making the tea. When I was seven and I hadn’t been learning the violin long, my parents took me…

I grew up on Debussy’s music – Syrinx for solo flute, played over and over by my brother for Grade whatever; the Golliwogg’s Cake Walk, which used to be Grade 6 piano, but I have a suspicion it’s now been shoved into 7 or even 8. And, of course, the Arabesque No. 1, played by every aspiring teenage pianist. Playing his music was always so much fun – serious music that didn’t seem at all serious, jazz that our music teachers would instantly sanction. And Debussy’s innate skill of writing for the piano meant that everything fell nicely under the fingers. Maximum effect, minimum effort. Of course, I’m not talking about the harder pieces – oh no. But in general, I’ll always see Debussy as one of the most gracious…

Symphonic snub Nick van Bloss has accused British ensembles of snubbing him because he suffers from Tourette syndrome. The pianist, who has performed at Wigmore Hall, has written to six orchestras – the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony and the Hallé – to ask whether it his disability that has prevented them from booking him as a soloist. See Richard Morrison, p23. An equal voice The BBC Proms has announced that by 2022 at least half of the new works it commissions each season will be by female composers. The famous summer festival is one of 45 international music events that have agreed to a new pledge called Keychange, which aims to bring about a fairer gender balance among both composers and performers…

Grieg’s Second Piano Concerto has been recorded for the first time, by pianist Mark Bebbington and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Somm. The Norwegian left us some of the right notes, not necessarily in the right order, but Robert Matthew-Walker has turned the 150 existing bars into a single movement. ‘The jaunty opening idea shares a similar character to the main Allegro theme of the A minor Concerto’s Finale,’ says Bebbington, ‘but elsewhere there are tantalising glimpses of what might have been.’ When Mozart spent 15 months in London from 1764, he kept himself busy. He was only eight years old, yet four days after arriving in the city he performed for King George III. It was in the British capital, too, that he began to compose symphonies. Now Ian…

Not often are six British orchestras simultaneously accused of discrimination. So the pianist Nick van Bloss caused a stir when he announced that he had written to the Hallé, Royal Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony demanding to know why they haven’t given him a concerto date, after apparently hearing rumours that they were put off by his ‘backstory’. His backstory is simple. He has Tourette syndrome. Since childhood (he is now 50) he has been afflicted by 30,000 tics and spasms each day. He battled his way through the Royal College of Music in the 1980s and embarked on a career that was cut short when, in the middle of a piano competition, severe tics stopped him from playing for the first time…

Debussy’s music has been served well on disc and has been a natural showpiece for each advance in recording. It’s remarkable, then, that Pierre Monteux’s 1963 account of the Images for orchestra (Decca Eloquence 480 6567) remains unsurpassed, not only for the elderly conductor’s vitality, but also the recorded sound that remains vivid. Another long-standing benchmark is Bernard Haitink’s 1976 La mer (Philips 438 7422) with the Royal Concertgebouw subtly illuminating details without belabouring them, and whipping up a hair-raising conclusion. It appears on a marvellous two-disc set of Debussy’s major orchestral works, while Stéphane Denève’s survey with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra is a wonderful modern equivalent in stunning surround-sound, and features a sensuous Jeux (Chandos CHSA 5102(2)). Given the composer’s precision with orchestral colour, it’s little surprise that…

Schoenberg Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31 (1928) This was his first serial work for full orchestra and a demonstration piece of the possibilities of the 12-tone row. In the mysterious, then turbulent, Introduction, the row is assembled note by note; the expressive, long-phrased Theme, played by the cellos, comprises four successive forms of the row – prime, retrograde-inversion, retrograde, inversion – harmonised by other row forms; Variation 1 has the Theme in the bass – and so on. The score alternates between the harshest and most delicate textures, vividly orchestrated. Berg Violin Concerto (1935) Prompted by the death of the young Manon Gropius and composed in Berg’s last summer, this concerto is a haunting study in ambiguity. For, although 12-tone in structure, it uses a note row comprising a succession…

WELCOME TO OUR GUIDE TO 2018’s finest festivals, home and abroad, large and small. I was lucky, a few months ago, to be on a panel to decide which festival should be the winner of a Royal Philharmonic Society award. Of course, I can’t yet divulge who did win (you’ll find out in the June issue), but a browse through the nominees reminded me just how much vibrancy and joy festivals bring to areas of the country that are otherwise light on culture. As you’ll see on the contents page, I’m hoping to drop into James MacMillan’s Cumnock Tryst this summer – for the past few years MacMillan, as one the UK’s most celebrated musical voices, has set about welcoming world-class musicians to his home town of Cumnock for just…

Edinburgh Festival When: 3-27 August Where: Edinburgh, Scotland Tel: +44 (0)131 473 2000 Web: eif.co.uk Seventieth birthdays inevitably encourage a few backward glances, and last year’s Edinburgh Festival partied with an eye to landmark moments over its illustrious history. In 2018, however, as Scotland’s Year of Young People unfolds apace, the focus is on musical youth with a cavalcade of international ensembles and orchestras enlivening a festival that also hosts the finale of the Eurovision Young Musicians competition. But the Usher Hall isn’t entirely surrendering to the patter of youthful feet. While conductor Marin Alsop devotes the second of two Baltimore Symphony Orchestra programmes to a Bernstein centenary, Simon Rattle brings the London Symphony Orchestra north for Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2 with Krystian Zimerman in the solo piano role. The…

One of the things that draws people to Ravenna is the chance to follow in the footsteps of two somewhat different poets. Dante Alighieri, originally from Florence, completed ‘Paradiso’, the final part of The Divine Comedy, in Ravenna while in exile. He died here in 1321 and was eventually entombed in an 18th-century mausoleum in the city centre (Florence is still cross and wants his body back). The other poet, the colourful Lord Byron, was lured here for racier reasons, mainly in pursuit of the 19-year-old Teresa Gamba who was at the time engaged to Count Guiccioli. Byron, clearly shameless, moved into the couple’s home, Palazzo Guiccioli, and declared himself Teresa’s official lover (although they had what might be called an ‘open’ relationship). He was also something of a political…

A successful performance of the Sonata needs an acute sense of interaction Sharon Bezaly (flute), Ronald Brautigam (piano) BIS SACD 1729 My own score of Poulenc’s Flute Sonata has a number of pencil-marks from my rehearsals with the very man who gave the premiere with the composer at the piano. The most common mark in it is an imperative forward arrow. The timing of the conversation, its natural flow, was extremely important to Jean-Pierre Rampal who, incidentally, always played the piece from his battered copy with its own pencil-markings: he must have performed it hundreds of times, but he never put his copy away. A successful performance of the Sonata, then, needs an acute sense of interaction between the players. All chamber music demands that, you might well argue, but…

This month has been excellent for violinists, and for programmes full of discoveries and insights. Our Recording of the Month (see right) is a duo album from violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and pianist Polina Leschenko, hopefully the first of many from this pairing. Their disc brilliantly highlights juxtapositions and connections between works from France and Hungary. Our Instrumental Choice is a scintillating solo album from Michael Barenboim, who explores music with a devilish theme from Tartini to Sciarrino (p145). And turn to our Chamber Choice for violinist Thomas Albertus Irnberger and pianist Barbara Moser’s showcase of unjustly neglected composers (p140). Beach’s Violin Sonata is the centrepiece of a superb CD that also includes works by Röntgen-Maier and Viardot-Garcia. This month’s critics John Allison, Nicholas Anderson, Terry Blain, Kate Bolton-Porciatti, Garry Booth,…

This performance ofMá vlast rises high above the ordinary Smetana Má vlast Czech Philharmonic/Jiří Bělohlávek Decca 483 3187 76:52 mins As a touchstone of Czech nationalism, Smetana’s Má vlast has iconic status and a venerable recorded history. There are glittering prizes to be won in the right interpretation, but pitfalls, not least in making the final symphonic poems, ‘Tábor’ and ‘Blaník’, too bombastic. This present performance, one of the last recordings made by Jiří Bělohlávek, rises high above the ordinary and reinforces his claim to being one of the finest post-war Czech conductors. Among his great abilities was close attention to the detail of the score without compromising spontaneity. The performance of ‘Vyšehrad’, in which the glories and vicissitudes of the Czechs are predicted, exemplifies these qualities: the glorious melody…

The big jazzy trumpet tune in the finale is done with refinement Bartók Concerto for Orchestra; Piano Concerto No. 3 Javier Perianes (piano); Munich Philharmonic/Pablo Heras-Casado Harmonia Mundi HMM 902262 60:85 mins These two works, composed during the sad years of Bartók’s self-imposed exile in America, were the last orchestral scores he completed (though even so, the Piano Concerto No. 3’s last few bars had to be deciphered from the composer’s shorthand notation by his friend and ex-pupil Tibor Serly). They show a distinct mellowing in the composer’s style – a desire to address himself to a wider audience, perhaps – though without any dilution of his distinctive creative persona. The Third Piano Concerto was intended as a legacy for Bartók’s pianist wife, Ditta Pásztory, though she could never bring…

Auber Le Domino noir etc Eloquence 482 7742 (1995) 144:01 mins Richard Bonynge finds a masterly opéra-comique in Auber’s little performed work. Sumi Jo is magnificent as the heroine Angèle and Bruce Ford a vocally handsome lover, with a properly French supporting cast. ★★★★★ Lehár The Merry Widow Alto ALC 1363 (1953) 79:11 mins This merry widow, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, was about to become the happy wife of producer Walter Legge. She is a magnificently silvery Hannah with the Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Otto Ackermann, even if her Danilo, Eric Kunz, is dull. ★★★ Johann Strauss II Der Zigeunerbaron Eloquence 482 7371 (1951) 95:59 mins A properly Viennese ensemble with conductor Clemens Krauss, but with cuts and shorn of dialogue. Julius Patzak is a serviceable Sándor, home from exile, but Hilde…

Thomas AlbertusIrnberger brings poetic radiance to Beach Ladies’ Night Works by Beach, Le Beau, Röntgen-Maier, Viardot-Garcia, Paradis and Pejaÿcevic, Thomas Albertus Irnberger (violin), Barbara Moser (piano) Gramola 99153 (hybrid CD/SACD) 76:31 mins This enterprising recital collects together a number of distinguished female composers, all far more than footnotes to the musical mainstream. The fact that Amy Beach’s four-movement Sonata isn’t a mainstay of the repertoire is, quite frankly, baffling. Imagine late Grieg flavoured gently by early Brahms and you won’t be too far away from the soundworld of this melodically enchanting, structurally invigorating near-masterpiece. Thomas Albertus Irnberger and Barbara Moser bring to it a poetic radiance and enraptured intensity that sounds especially realistic when the SACD surround track is activated. The tangible, yet gently-cushioned sound-picture proves equally enticing in four…

JS Bach St John Passion Bach Choir & Orchestra, Mainz/Otto Naxos 8.573817-18 The verve of the instrumental playing is invigorating, but the soupy acoustic makes it hard to hear the choral detail. The mixed-bag feeling continues throughout. (RF) ★★★ Banks Five Czech National SO & Choir/Ingman BMG 538356892 Some may be seduced by the lush, filmic orchestral soundworld conjured up by Genesis’s Tony Banks. Others may think he spends a lot of time getting nowhere. (JP) ★★★ Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1; Piano Sonata No. 1 Krieger (piano), LSO/Philip Ryan Mann Decca 481 4871 (CHECK) Released by the Korean division of Decca, Krieger’s performance of the great Brahms concerto doesn’t say much new. That said, it’s perfectly well played. (OC) ★★★ Chopin 21 Nocturnes Francois Dumont (piano) Aevea AE17044 With bell-like melodic lines, Dumont…

Brad Mehldau After Bach Brad Mehldau (piano) Nonesuch 075597931808 70 mins JS Bach’s music has always been the favourite classical muse for jazz players, though it can sometimes be seen as a bit of fun rather than high art. Not for American pianist Brad Mehldau, who’s deadly serious about his After Bach solo project. ‘There is no jazzing up Bach – it’s either the Bach pieces or something from me,’ he declares. This programme, which came out of a commission by New York’s Carnegie Hall and was premiered at London’s Wigmore Hall in 2015, comprises four preludes and one fugue from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, each paired with a response written and performed by Mehldau. The longer original compositions, characteristically urbane, are the main event for jazz ears. Their densely woven…

Rochester Cathedral Growing in Christ since AD604. Rochester Cathedral is an ancient place of pilgrimage – join us for inspiring choral music as we journey through Holy Week. Through daily services sung by the Cathedral Choir, we offer a rich musical tapestry spanning 1,400 years of choral tradition, from plainsong to the present day. 01634 843366 www.rochestercathedral.org Hereford Cathedral The musical centrepiece of Holy Week at Hereford Cathedral is a performance of Bach’s St John Passion by the Cathedral Choir and Marches Baroque, directed by Geraint Bowen, on Tuesday 27 March. Soloists are Ruairi Bowen, Evangelist/ tenor; Malachy Frame, Christus; Zoe Brookshaw, soprano; Alexander Chance, countertenor and Nicholas Mogg, bass. Tickets are £25 and £18. 01432 374210 www.herefordcathedral.org Exeter Cathedral Exeter Cathedral Choir and the University…

Odious comparisons Regarding her String Quartet in E flat, the line ‘Fanny inevitably invited direct comparison with Felix Mendelssohn’ (Building a Library, March) is asking to be queried. It’s traditional (but not unavoidable) to compare the siblings; she was the older, in many ways got there first, and their musical characters are quite different. His Op. 12 String Quartet was written aged 20 in 1829; hers took two movements from her own 1829 Piano Sonata and then (aged 29) she added a new Romanze and whirlwind Finale. To say the ‘thematic materials are closely related’ (to his work) tells us nothing of Fanny’s contribution. Fervent emotional expression is her core quality; and this quartet is among the first significant examples of the genre by a woman. How long will it…

Valentina Peleggi Conductor Born: Florence, Italy Career highlight: My recent appointment as a Charles Mackerras Conducting Fellow at ENO after two years as conductor-in-residence of the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra will be a fantastic opportunity! Musical hero: Conductor Marin Alsop, with whom I had the chance to work in Brazil and at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She is an inspiration for me and for many woman conductors for her honesty, inclusive vision, artistry and ground-breaking ideas. Dream concert: As a kid I fell in love with music after singing Orff’s Carmina Burana conducted by Zubin Mehta. My dream concert could be of any repertoire or in any venue, but it would be the one which touched the hearts of as many people as possible. Tessa Lark Violinist Born:…

1st: The Swedish explorer and scientist Pehr Osbeck, a student of the botanist and zoologist Carl Linnaeus, begins his log as he sets out on the ship Prins Carl to China, where he will study the fauna and flora. Over the next two years, he assembles details of over 600 species to contribute to Linnaeus’s Species Plantarum. 12th: As his groundbreaking experiments with electricity gather pace, the great American scientist, author and statesman Benjamin Franklin pauses to take stock of his life in a letter to his mother Abiah. ‘I would rather have it said “He lived usefully” than “He died rich”,’ he concludes. His correspondence later in the year will contain details of his idea for installing lightning rods to protect buildings from fire and, less auspiciously, his experience…

The ‘Beast from the East’ weather front that covered much of Europe in snow in March proved a pain for the BBC Concert Orchestra, which found itself stuck in a hotel in Skegness. It was a stroke of luck, though, for Lisa and Reece Brown, who were getting married at the hotel that day – on hearing that the couple planned to have a recording of Pachelbel’s Canon at their big occasion, the BBC CO players offered to play it live instead. They are not the first musicians to have made good use of being stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time… When, back in 1917, composer Herbert Howells found himself facing a long train delay at Reading Station, he simply got his manuscript book out. By the…

Weiner Hungarian Folkdance Suite Philharmonia Orchestra/Neeme Järvi Chandos CHAN6625 Weiner is hardly known at all, despite teaching some very famous people at the Liszt Academy in Hungary: János Starker, Fritz Reiner and Georg Solti. His music is deeply Hungarian, and this piece has the most extraordinary selection of Hungarian dances, all filled with colour and vibrancy. Weiner has a way of creating a haunting, mysterious landscape in the midst of a fantasy world. He uses blazing virtuosic solos with clarinet and violin, which are completely captivating. Pizzetti Rondò veneziano BBC Scottish Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä Hyperion CDA67084 Pizzetti is from the period in the early 1900s when Italians were looking back to the 17th and 18th century and rediscovering their orchestral roots. This piece is an impressionist portrait of Venice, and Pizzetti…

Zoë Martlew Cellist and composer Listening to a Wigmore Hall recital by soprano Ruby Hughes and pianist Joseph Middleton on the BBC iPlayer, the piece that really struck me was Bright Travellers by Helen Grime. It was very lyrical, moving and tender – it’s about the pains and joys of motherhood – and had incredibly delicately realised piano writing. You don’t always associate Helen Grime with this, as she’s better known for robust modernist brilliance. Looking at one of Varèse’s scores is like having a masterclass in writing for percussion, and because I’m writing a piece that uses a ton of percussion myself, I’ve been listening to a lot of his music – such as Arcana, performed by the LA Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. It’s like a big old-school Hollywood…

“ Throughout the performance Debussy stayed in the corridor, pacing about in obvious anxiety” On 18 December 1908 an audience gathered at the Cercle musical de Paris for a recital of piano music, including a new piece by a well-known French composer. Some of them may have invested in a copy of it, published a couple of months earlier, but those who hadn’t might have been surprised to see that not only was the overall title in English, but so were those of the six separate movements. And as if this wasn’t enough of an invasion of French territory, the pianist, Harold Bauer by name, was, for all his lessons with Paderewski, a Brit, born in London. Did patriotic music lovers look round the hall trying to spot the 46-year-old…

‘His forte was massive but not hard and his cantabile touch was really beautiful’ Anticipation ran high when it was announced that Sergei Prokofiev was to give his first London recital in 1931 – indeed, his only such appearance in the capital that season. Having left Russia after the Revolution and spent time between Europe and America, the composer-pianist had built something of a reputation as an enfant terrible with such iconoclastic works as his opera The Love for Three Oranges, and his ‘mechanistic’ piano style, exemplified by his staggeringly demanding Toccata which many pianists assumed required a ‘percussive’ touch. In the event, Prokofiev’s Wigmore Hall recital on 17 January confounded expectations, and not simply because neither the Three Oranges March nor the Toccata had featured. The Era critic reported:…

Adam Walker (flute) Poulenc was never concerned about being ‘modern’ – he affected a weary indifference to the 1950s critics who thought him an irrelevance. (Incidentally, how usefully his music demonstrates the difference between ‘modern’ and ‘original’). Unfortunately, even those who love his music can be lulled into inattention by the apparent familiarity of the material (see also ‘The best recording’, left), and Adam Walker and James Baillieu’s 2013 recording shows several such misreadings in the piano. That’s a pity, because they have a wonderful rapport, and right at the outset they show that Poulenc’s tempo marking Allegro malinconico (fast, melancholy) need not be an oxymoron, as some writers have suggested. (Opus Arte OACD9012D) Philippa Davies (flute) These two musicians from the Nash Ensemble have a wonderful understanding of the…

Deux Poulenc: Violin Sonata; Delibes arr. Dohnányi: Waltz from Coppélia; Bartók: Violin Sonata No. 2; Ravel: Tzigane Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin), Polina Leschenko (piano) Alpha Classics Alpha 387 52:57 mins The temptation for the reviewer, when faced with playing of such consummate ease combined with involvement and attention to detail, is to go off the deep end into a sea of purple prose. Simply, this is one of the finest, most musically sensitive recordings to have come my way for some time, and the neat title ‘Deux’ exactly encapsulates the partnership on display. The way that both violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and pianist Polina Leschenko attack the Poulenc Violin Sonata (1943), exposing its violently tragic character from the outset, draws you in immediately. The players spin on a dime in the sudden…

Beethoven Symphony No. 3 Schumann Manfred Overture; Symphony No. 4 Audite 23.441 (1953) 96:49 mins (2 discs) Wilhelm Furtwängler’s intellectually and emotionally penetrating Lucerne Festival Beethoven and Schumann performances (with the Swiss Festival Orchestra) include a compelling previously unreleased account of the Manfred Overture. ★★★★★ Bruckner Symphony No. 4 Alto ALC1358 (2011) 69:08 mins Bernard Haitink’s live 2011 reading of Bruckner’s Romantic Symphony is weighty and monumental. Wonderfully responsive and warmly textured playing by the LSO despite the dry Barbican acoustic. ★★★★★ Holst Hymn of Jesus; Egdon Heath; Perfect Fool – ballet; Welsh Folk Songs, etc Alto ALC 1359 (1962/74) 79:26 mins This enterprising collection includes Adrian Boult’s trenchant Egdon Heath and fervent Hymn of Jesus. A dry recording doesn’t impair enjoyment of the choral folksong arrangements. ★★★★ Mahler Kindertotenlieder…

Liszt Piano Concertos; Annees de Pelerinage; Tannhäuser Overture Audite 97.738 (1971-82) 78:28 mins Recorded live (the concertos) and in the studio (Petrarch Sonnets and Tannhäuser Overture) with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jorge Bolet imparts a velvet-toned nobility to even the most note-saturated outbursts. ★★★★ Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto; Clarinet Concerto; Piano Concerto No. 24; Symphonies Nos 29, 33 & 35 Eloquence 482 5525 (1949-58) 147:11 mins Played by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with a compelling, long-phrased naturalness, Eduard van Beinum proves an intuitive Mozartian, making questions of authenticity gloriously irrelevant. ★★★★ Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5 Vivaldi Four Seasons SWR Music SWR19041CD (1969) 68:49 mins These are masterly, exquisitely sophisticated (both musically and technically) live Stuttgart performances with the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra directed from the violin by Henryk…

Exquisite blend characterises this intense programme Tears of a Lover: Monteverdi and Reflections Monteverdi: Interrotte speranze; Lamento d’Arianna; Ingegneri: Io non hebbi giamai pace ne tregua; Marenzio: Se quel dolor che va inanzi al morire; Rowarth: The Turn Fieri Consort; Aileen Henry (harp) Fieri Records FIER001TOAL 75:07 mins Fierce, proud, and fiery: a product of The Sixteen’s Genesis programme (which provides free training and mentoring to young singers in the art of ensemble singing), the democratic, conductor-less Fieri Consort has found profound direction in this debut recording – adeptly produced by John Rutter. Exquisite blend quickly emerges as a touchstone for the intense programme, established and encapsulated in the opening statement of Monteverdi’s duet Interrotte speranze as Aileen Henry’s Renaissance harp breaks all hope, leaving Josh Cooter and Tom Kelly…

Michael Barenboim’s playing is as subtle as it is high-voltage Michael Barenboim Berio: Sequenza VIII for violin; Paganini: Caprices for solo violin, Op. 1 – No. 1 in E; No. 6 in G minor; No. 9 in E; No. 16 in G minor; No. 17 in E flat; No. 24 in A minor; Sciarrino: 6 Capricci; Tartini: Violin Sonata in G minor (Devil’s Trill) Michael Barenboim (violin) Accentus Music ACC 30431 73:19 mins The mythical association of ultra-virtuoso skill with supernatural – usually demonic – possession is nowhere so strong as in Italian violin traditions. In this ravishingly intense, second solo album, Michael Barenboim dares to face the abyss to explore not just technical but sonic and psychological extremes, linking repertoire from the 18th and 19th centuries with the recent…

In 1959, the entertainment world was intrigued to learn that the Hollywood producer Otto Preminger had commissioned a full-scale soundtrack from Duke Ellington. Anatomy of a Murder (Soundtrack Factory 606373) was a psychological crime thriller set in a bucolic Michigan town, based on a bestseller and boasting a starry cast headed by James Stewart. But it had nothing to do with jazz, except for a cameo appearance by Ellington as a local bandleader named Pie Eye. For the first time ever, Hollywood was hiring a jazz musician not simply to be ‘jazzy’ but to compose a score like any other top-flight professional – albeit one who also happened to be Duke Ellington. Ellington relished his chance ‘to do background music fittingly, immersing himself in the script and creating a kind…

LONDON Purcell from the Ground Up Wigmore Hall, London, 7 & 8 April Tel: +44 (0)20 7935 2141 Web: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk Curated by violinist Hugo Ticciati, and spotlighting his ensemble O/Modernt alongside the likes of La Nuova Musica and The Cardinall’s Musick, a clutch of five ear-opening concerts and a study event forge links between Purcell and a world encompassing Monteverdi to rap, JS Bach to Berg. ‘Transforming Spanish Sexuality’ traces the evolution of the chaconne, while the grand finale ranges over Gibbons and Tavener before cornering into Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10. Handel’s Giulio Cesare St John’s Smith Square, 11 April Tel: +44 (0)20 7222 1061 Web: www.sjss.org.uk Kick-started by two performances of Acis and Galatea, opera looms large in this year’s London Handel Festival.…