Innholdsfortegnelse for Christmas 2018 i BBC Music Magazine

Richard Morrison Critic and journalist ‘Going behind the scenes at King’s College, Cambridge, I was surprised by how passionate everyone is about Stephen Cleobury’s last Nine Lessons & Carols. It’s going to be an emotional Christmas Eve.’ Page 32 Dobrinka Tabakova Composer ‘I was thrilled to be invited to write this year’s magazine carol. It’s an upbeat, jolly setting of the Cornish Heavenly sound, inspired by my time as composer-in-residence at Truro Cathedral. I hope you enjoy learning it!’ Page 50 Paul Spicer Author and choral director ‘Herbert Howells has been one of the great influences of my life. He was my composition teacher, I have written his biography and have recorded his choral music. It’s wonderful to introduce him to new readers here.’ Page 62…

Plucky Paganini Your November issue articles on Paganini were interesting and authoritative, but it’s a pity that no mention was made of his dazzling guitar playing and important contribution to the literature of that instrument. Paganini once stated that his guitar was ‘my constant companion on all my travels’ and he was acquainted with many of the leading players of the day, notably Giuliani, Carulli, Legnani and Zani de Ferranti. In a book of 1831, Carulli spoke of Paganini as ‘an excellent performer on the guitar’ while Berlioz, himself a player, called him ‘an incomparable guitarist’. There is no record of Paganini ever giving a public recital on the guitar, so only a small, fortunate handful of souls ever saw him play. Yet he wrote over 100 pieces for solo…

30 …variations. Glenn Gould’s annotated score of Bach’s Goldbergs, a unique insight into the pianist’s working methods, goes up for sale this month. 95 …years old. In his tenth decade, director Franco Zeffirelli has been invited to stage the Royal Opera House Muscat’s new Verdi Rigoletto. 720,000 …pounds. A violin from the early 1700s belonging to English court musician and spy William Corbett has beaten its auction estimate by £420,000. 16 …successful years as music director at the Royal Opera House. And now Antonio Pappano (above) has signed up for five more at Covent Garden.…

10 The closing date is 10 January 2019 Applications for the Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition are now open for pianists aged 13-17, and will close on 10 January 2019 – the same date that tickets go on sale. Competitors will be announced on 13 March 2019, with the final round and awards ceremony taking place on 8 June 2019. 26 nations entered the 2015 junior comp The 160 applications to enter the 2015 Cliburn International Junior Competition came from 26 countries, with 14 nations represented at the finals. Alim Beisembayev, 17, from Kazakhstan took first prize, with Arsenii Mun, 16, from Russia, and 16-year-old Youlan Ji from China scooping second and third prizes. Clayton Stephenson, 16, from the United States, and Tony Yike Yang, 16,…

Who wants a bland ‘beep’ telling you to fasten your seat-belt? Not Lincoln car drivers, we’re told. For its new Aviator SUV range, the motor manufacturers invited three Detroit Symphony Orchestra musicians to compose, play and record the tunes to be used in the cars’ warning systems, ranging from a ‘hard warning’ played on the marimba to a violin-based ‘non-critical alert’. Great idea, but it’s by no means the first time that music has been used as a means to provide an alert… From Roman times, when cornua (horns) were played to instruct troops to attack or retreat, brass instruments continued to play a role in battle, their tunes growing in complexity – when Haydn visited London in the 1790s, he noted some of them down and quoted one in…

Orchid Classics has released a single in aid of the Lenny Trusler Children’s Foundation. ‘From a Fairy to a Child’ was written by Jools Holland as part of Matthew Trusler and Ashley Wass’s 2015 Wonderland project – celebrating 150 years of Lewis Carroll’s first Alice story – but was set aside until this year. Arranged by Carl Davis, it has been recorded by Trusler, Wass and members of the Paris Opera to mark the charity’s tenth anniversary. Download it at ltcf.co.uk . Florilegium and violinist Rachel Podger have been working on separate projects for Channel Classics. Podger has recorded a version of JS Bach’s Cello Suites at the Royal Academy of Music, while Florilegium has laid down pieces by CPE Bach, Benda, Graun and Fasch at St Michael’s Church,…

Francis Lai Born 1932 Composer Francis Lai won fame as one of France’s best-loved film composers, whose score for Love Story in 1970 won him an Academy Award. After formative years performing as a pianist and accordionist in orchestras in and around his native Nice, Lai found work as an accompanist in Marseilles. There he discovered jazz and the chanteuse Claude Goaty, whom he followed to Paris where his song writing career took flight. Living and working among Montmartre’s artistic milieu, Lai wrote the first of some 600 songs, and went on to become accompanist to the legendary Edith Piaf, for whom he would pen C’était pas moi, among others. He also encountered film director Claude Lelouch, the pair forming an indomitable partnership that continued right until Lai’s death. Composing…

Oliver Condy Editor This year’s Bristol Keyboard Festival at St George’s attracted some mightily fine performances – harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani entertained us with his on-stage patter almost as much as he did with his astonishing Bach playing; and the winner of the Leeds Piano Competition, Eric Lu, flew in specially from the US for a spine-tingling performance of Schubert and Chopin. A week of riches indeed. Jeremy Pound Deputy editor As the year trundles towards its conclusion and the weather theoretically turns colder, the BBC Philharmonic’s new recording of Holst’s A Winter Idyll seems a good place to turn. Holst captures all manner of hibernal elements in this symphonic poem, from swirling winds that remind me a little of Bax’s November Woods to the dank darkness of a…

In a modest apartment in an iconic Beaux-Arts building on New York’s Upper West Side, the great Scottish-American composer Thea Musgrave is trying to convince me to have a glass of wine rather than a cup of tea. It’s 5.30pm. ‘Are you going to have one?’ I ask. ‘I already have,’ she shrugs, matter of factly. ‘We always have a wine at four o’clock.’ The novelist Maya Angelou once noted that ‘life loves the liver of it’. Musgrave, who celebrated her 90th birthday in May, is walking proof. ‘We’ is Musgrave and her devoted husband of almost five decades, the American viola player, conductor and founder of Virginia Opera, Peter Mark. All around their home are glimpses into lives well lived: bookshelves crammed with volumes on everything from law to…

It was really during the Romantic era that words and music became more closely intertwined and that composers started to dabble with writing books. Schumann penned criticism and Wagner wrote his librettos, but it was Liszt who wrote a biography, of his fellow pianist-composer Frédéric Chopin. Meanwhile Berlioz, who adored Shakespeare, wrote the unusual Evenings with Orchestra, short stories mingled with sketches and reviews as he imagines the chatter of a Parisian orchestra. Beetween 1919 and 1940, Smyth turned her back on music and wrote ten works of non-fiction. Virgina Woolf, no less, urged her on, writing ‘I was thinking the other night that there’s never been a woman’s autobiography… now why shouldn’t you be the first to tell the truths about herself?’ Fast forward to 2017, and Stephen Hough…

There’s no denying that choral music steals the limelight at Christmas, organ music allotted a few paltry minutes at the end of the service. By then, most of the congregation has headed for the exit and a warming glass of mulled wine, the organist’s final bars accompanied by the clunk of a west-end door. We’re all missing out. The organ repertoire is, in fact, a cornucopia (or should that be cornopean?) of thrilling festive works that deserve wider currency. It is time, then, to shine a light on the very best Christmas organ music – pieces that will hopefully inspire both organists and congregations. From JS Bach’s ingenious, ear-grabbing chorale preludes to Messiaen’s vast nine-movement La Nativité du Seigneur, there are centuries of Christmas organ masterpieces to explore and enjoy.…

Refreshed by a concert or opera at Weiwuying, leave the arts centre and head for Kaohsiung’s Pier-2 Art Centre, a community of arts spaces and shops in some of the city’s former dockside warehouses. A light rail system connects the area. Each year, Pier-2 hosts a major music festival, which turns 10 next year. Browsing complete, take a boat trip to Hongmaogang Cultural Park, former home of the city’s sea fishing community, long since relocated as Kaohsiung’s container port expanded. On your way, you’ll pass the hundreds of cranes on the docksides and fleets of ships leaving and entering the harbour. In contrast, Hongmaogang is a peaceful haven and its rotating seafood restaurant a winner.…

1935 LIFE: He is left devastated when his nine-year-old son, Michael, contracts polio while on holiday and dies at home three days later. Michael is buried in Gloucestershire. TIMES: With his health in decline, Ramsey MacDonald resigns as Prime Minister. He is replaced by Stanley Baldwin, who begins his third term in the post. 1941 LIFE: Howells takes up the post of acting organist at St John’s College, Cambridge, taking over from Robin Orr, who is away on wartime service with the RAF. He remains until 1945. TIMES: As Germany’s Luftwaffe launches a series of air raids on the UK’s ports and docks, Swansea, Belfast, Plymouth and Glasgow are particularly badly hit. 1964 LIFE: His unaccompanied Motet on the Death of President Kennedy is premiered in Washington on the first…

Colin Davis (conductor) Soloists; Tenebrae, London Symphony Orchestra LSO0606 2SACD It is in terms of this vivid quality that Colin Davis’s third recording of the piece scores particularly highly. A devoted interpreter of the composer’s music, of which he was certainly the greatest champion in his day, Davis undertook his final Berlioz cycle as the London Symphony Orchestra’s music director – a post he held from 1995-2006. By then he had already made two recordings of the piece – the first in 1960, with the Goldsborough Orchestra and soloists including Elsie Morrison, Peter Pears and John Cameron (Decca); and the second in 1976 with the LSO and principals including Janet Baker, Eric Tappy and Jules Bastin (Philips). Both of these have much to recommend them, but the result of a…

From a heap of Handel and a hint of Holst to a helping of the Hallé, this month’s review pages are full of heavenly delights. There’s a new recording of a perennial favourite by Rachmaninov – which is a must-listen – plus the latest releases from Bryn Terfel, Carolyn Sampson, James Ehnes and Howard Goodall. If you’re looking for the perfect soundtrack to your festivities then you must take a look at our ‘Christmas Round-up’ for inspiration, or head to the Brief Notes pages where you’ll find a further flurry of seasonal sounds, sacred and secular. Christmas shopping is covered too with plenty of gift ideas, but as stocking-fillers go, the new 222-disc Bach box set will be a bit of a stretch (see a full-page review on p101). It…

Christmas round-up ‘Resonemus Laudibus’ dates from the 14th century, and is one of the earliest Christmas songs to be written down on paper. The Sixteen’s ebulliently pulsing performance gets A Renaissance Christmas off to an energetic start, and the tune’s legacy is traced through later settings by Eccard, Handl and De Lassus. The darker elements of the Christmas story are examined too, notably in George Kirbye’s ‘Vox in Rama’, a lament for Herod’s slaughter of the innocents. This is given a moodily atmospheric reading by Harry Christophers’s singers, as is the brooding plainchant ‘Crudelis Herodes’. (CORO COR16167 ★★★★ ) Five years ago the Bach Collegium Japan started performing an annual Christmas concert, and A Christmas Greeting contains highlights of the repertoire presented. Mainly it is traditional carols – ‘Silent Night’,…

Holst A Winter Idyll; Symphony in F (The Cotswolds); Invocation; A Moorside Suite; Indra; Scherzo Guy Johnston (cello); BBC Philharmonic/Andrew Davis Chandos CHSA 5192 (hybrid CD/SACD) 77:02 mins The quality of the performances is a feast in itself This latest instalment of Chandos’s survey of Holst’s orchestral works is far more than a predictable beachcomber’s delight. The quality of the performances is a feast in itself, the BBC Philharmonic playing with world-class precision that exactly matches the ceaseless quest for clarity in Holst’s idiom. The recorded sound, too, conveys needlepoint detail within a natural-sounding, non-clinical ambience. The two earliest works are the pre-1900 A Winter Idyll and the Cotswolds Symphony – each showing comprehensive mastery of the fresh-air orchestral style of Dvorák or Grieg, and neither conveying any connection between…

JN Howard • Kernis • B Tovey Kernis: Violin Concerto; JN Howard: Violin Concerto; B Tovey: Stream of Limelight James Ehnes (violin), Andrew Armstrong (piano); Seattle Symphony/Ludovic Morlot; Detroit Symphony Orchestra/Cristian Macelaru Onyx ONYX 4189 68:25 mins Ehnes bows, picks and plucks his way to a frenzied finish James Ehnes is one of the great violinists of the day, so it’s no wonder composers are falling over themselves to write new things for him to play. This disc showcases three commissions aimed squarely at the Canadian virtuoso’s dazzling skillset. At the centre is a concerto by James Newton Howard, a name cinemagoers will be familiar with – indeed, with a career spanning over three decades, he is one of the most accomplished of Hollywood’s composers. The work, which follows a…

Born in Finland, Sebastian Fagerlund is one of the country’s busiest composers. After studying at both the Turku Conservatory and Helsinki’s prestigious Sibelius Academy (under composer Erkki Jokinen), Fagerlund has enjoyed commissions from all over the world. With influences as wide-ranging as Eastern music and heavy metal, he composes across a variety of genres, from orchestral works to chamber opera. He was composer in residence at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for its 2016/17 season and this year was appointed guest composer at the Aspen Music Festival.…

Antoine de Févin Missa Ave Maria, Missa Salve sancta parens The Brabant Ensemble/Stephen Rice Hyperion CDA68265 79:13 mins Director Stephen Rice brings perceptive musical insights Priest, singer and composer to ‘good king Louis’ XII of France, Antoine de Févin was highly esteemed in his day, as attest the various plaudits to ‘le gentil Févin’ and the wide circulation of his works in the early 1500s. Since the theorist Glareanus dubbed him ‘a happy imitator of Josquin’, Févin has hovered in the shadow of his more illustrious contemporary. This disc, then, is an important contribution to our understanding of the ‘gentle master musician’, bringing to light two of his Masses and a pair of motets. The Missa Ave Maria quotes and ingeniously re-works Josquin’s terse ‘Hail, Mary’ motet into a sumptuously…

Bartók String Quartets Nos 1-6 Arcadia Quartet Chandos CHAN 10992(2) 160:06 mins (2 discs) More attached to the string quartet than any other genre, Bartók left a testimony that remains both spiritually and technically challenging. Daunting and profoundly satisfying for listeners and players alike, his six quartets were composed at regular intervals across his creative life and comprise a cycle that stands second only to Beethoven’s and surely qualifies as the greatest 20th-century contribution to the quartet literature. No ensemble would want to miss out on tackling it, but especially not the fast-rising Arcadia Quartet with its roots in Transylvania. Born in the westernmost part of present-day Romania, this great Hungarian composer breathes the spirit of multi-ethnic Transylvania. The muted buzz we hear in the first scherzo of the Fourth…

Beethoven Piano Sonatas Nos 30-32 Alexandre Tharaud (piano) Erato 9029563382 61:59 mins plus DVD Tharaud’s Beethoven is unfailingly neat and elegant, but rather misses the point. These three late sonatas should take us into remarkable emotional territory. The triptych dates from 1820 to 1822, after the mighty Hammerklavier Sonata, and during a fruitful period that produced the Missa solemnis and the last string quartets. They find Beethoven wresting the sonata form into structures inseparable from their thematic material, distilling ideas into two movements instead of three and playing with variations and fugues. Tharaud’s first foray into solo Beethoven follows an extensive and often rewarding discography including Couperin and Pécou. This is a very nicely-produced album, well recorded, and his playing is nimble and thoughtful. But the E major Sonata, Op.…

Bach 333 - The New Complete Edition Complete Works Decca/DG 479 8000 222 CDs plus one DVD and two books They’re calling it the largest, most complete, most authoritative and enriched composer set of all time, and let’s get something clear from the outset; unless you have a serious allergy to Bach you will want this set. Whether or not you need it is the issue, so let’s take a couple of tours through the box and see whether that can help you decide. Lift off the lid and you’re presented with a kind of Venetian Rialto Bridge of a layout, the books in the middle and 222 CDs cascading downwards on either side, in four sections, the first of which is dedicated to Bach’s Sacred Cantatas. That in itself…

Christmas round-up Like Jarrett, Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel has classical music in his background, and studied at Berklee and the New England Conservatory. Where The River Goes comprises six compositions by Muthspiel, one by the band’s pianist Brad Mehldau, and ‘Clearing’, an exemplary group improvisation. The quintet (Ambrose Akinmusire, Larry Grenadier and Eric Harland) adds up to something of a dream-team. Regardless of influences, background and other baggage, this is a programme of utterly absorbing, atmospheric, frequently beautiful music, realised by highly-accomplished musicians whose skills are so poised and secure that they never need to grandstand, though they can certainly cut loose when necessary, as on Mehldau’s ‘Blueshead’. It’s missed our Choice status by the merest whisker. ( ECM 675 1712 ★★★★ ) At 23, pianist James Francies has an…

16. Caird Hall Where: Dundee Opened: 1923 Seats: 2,300 Fronted by ten fine Doric columns, Dundee’s Caird Hall is an impressive sight as one heads towards it across City Square. Its presence owes much to the jute trade, as this was how businessman Sir James Caird became wealthy enough in the late 19th century to fund projects that included Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition on the Endurance and, in 1914, providing his home city with a new concert venue, designed by architect James Thomson, and council buildings. Sadly for Caird, he never saw the completion of the building that would bear his name – the First World War halted construction and he had died long before the doors opened in 1923. Many great stars from across the music spectrum – from Dame…

THE 12 BEST CHRISTMAS PROGRAMMES 1 St John’s Advent Carol Service The annual Advent Carol Service from St John’s College, Cambridge returns with the world premiere of Cecilia McDowall’s A Prayer to St John the Baptist. This will be accompanied by the usual traditional Advent carols, as well as works by a selection of contemporary composers including Gabriel Jackson. Radio 3: Choral Evensong; 2 Dec, 3pm 2 Winter Lights Trumpeter Alison Balsom joins the BBC Concert Orchestra in Guy Barker’s concerto The Lanterne of Light at the Southbank Centre, as part of an evening of wintry works. The contemporary programme includes premieres of new pieces by Sarah Jenkins and Dobrinka Tabakova. Radio 3: Live in Concert; 5 Dec, 7.30pm 3 Handel’s Messiah You can’t have Christmas without Handel’s Messiah. Radio…

A STITCH IN TUNE Unique and handmade music themed products for the discerning music lover. Original high quality gifts, all made in England. Bone china mugs, linen tea towels, handmade tote bags, purses, cushions and more. Customised orders taken. Check out the website for more details. 01727 872 372 www.astitchintune.com FROM THE WORKSHOP The Map Box is a home for maps, with any place you choose engraved on the front; a perfect gift for a map lover. Personalised with your message and finished with a light Danish oil. We also offer Mini Maps (coaster sized magnetic maps) and Wall Maps (solid maple relief maps). 0114 4389239 www.fromtheworkshop.co.uk THE BOOK OF EVERYONE The perfect way to celebrate someone special this Christmas. A fact-filled, laughter-packed, nostalgia-conjuring personalised book…

Celebrating his 80th birthday this year, the prolific British composer is best known for his score for the hit 1982 animation The Snowman and its song Walking in the Air. Born in London, Blake studied at the Royal Academy of Music before embarking on a career as a commercial composer. The accolades rolled in, but Blake also pursued his interest in writing music for the concert hall. His piano music has been recorded by Vladimir Ashkenazy, while the late Sir Neville Marriner conducted a disc of Blake’s woodwind concertos. My mother played the piano very well, and my favourite piece was the Chopin Waltz in A minor. My bedroom was next to where the piano was in the living room, and the sound came through the wall at a deafening…

Chopin Nocturne in D flat, Op. 27 No. 2 Solomon (piano) Testament SBT1030 Bartók Piano Concerto No. 3 Julius Katchen (piano); L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande/Ernest Ansermet Testament SBT1300 Howard Brubeck Dialogues New York Phil/Bernstein; Dave Brubeck Quartet Sony G010001223089M Schubert Piano Trio in B flat Isaac Stern (violin), Leonard Rose (cello), Eugene Istomin (piano) Sony G010002681880P Blake The Snowman Peter Auty (treble); Sinfonia of London/ Howard Blake Sony G010001289371Q…

One way to keep tradition alive is to keep changing it. It’s been the task of King’s College’s director of music Stephen Cleobury to preserve the essence of the Festival of Nine Lesson and Carols but to ensure that each service remains fresh. Which is trickier than it sounds. The opening carol, closing voluntary and all readings are identical each year, organists/readers saddled with the responsibility of keeping the ship sailing on smooth waters. But even the most hardened of Nine Lessons veterans don’t want the music to slide far outside their comfort zone – after all, part of Christmas’s magic is its evocation of childhood memories, many of which are tied up with specific carol arrangements. And Daniel Hyde, Cleobury’s successor from 2019, tells me that he’s already been…

Alena Baeva Violinist Born: Osh, Kyrgyzstan Career highlight: Playing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the Russian State Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski. The three-hour rehearsal was so memorable – we completely revised the piece and breathed new life into it. Musical hero: Anyone who transcends the borders of their time, like Beethoven; or their instrument, like pianist Mikhail Pletnev; or their life, like Schubert. Dream concert: One in which all the elements just click together: courageous musicians, an inspiring acoustic and a careful and curious audience all feeling present in the moment. Katie Jeffries-Harris Contralto Born: Peterborough, England Career highlight: Performing for the first time at Milton Abbey as a member of VOCES8. I was introduced as their new alto at their Summer Music Festival this year. Musical hero:…

Sixty years ago Van Cliburn, then a 23-year-old pianist from Texas, stormed to success at the inaugural Moscow International Tchaikovsky Competition. His victory contradicted the Cold War script of Soviet cultural superiority and handed a propaganda coup to the West. He was welcomed home as a hero with a ticker-tape parade in New York – the only musician ever to receive the honour; four years later, in 1962, a competition was established in his name that reflected his artistic ethos, with an emphasis on launching careers.…

1st: Following the death of his brother, Tom, from tuberculosis, the poet John Keats moves to Wentworth Place, a house near Hampstead Heath owned by his friend Charles Armitage Brown. During his stay there, he goes on to write some of his best-known work, including Ode on a Grecian Urn and La Belle Dame sans Merci. 3rd: Karl van Beethoven, the composer’s 12-year-old nephew, runs away from his care to be with his mother, Johanna. Appointed sole guardian of Karl after a protracted legal battle with Johanna two years earlier, Beethoven secures his return with help from the police. Karl is then sent to stay for a period at the house of his boarding school master Giannattasio del Rio, where he remains under strict supervision. 10th: The German-born artist Hubert…

Arriaga String Quartet No. 3 Melos String Quartet SWR 10282 The Spanish composer Arriaga died really young – he was only 19. This quartet is sophisticated and beautiful. It makes you wonder, if he had lived a bit longer, what kind of pieces he would have written, or how his music would have come to life. I was searching Spotify for some new things and I thought ‘wow, this is incredible’. In the Third Quartet he uses tremolo to portray a storm; it’s very cleverly written – like a mixture between Mozart and Schubert – but the sound is fresh. It’s very classical, but with his own language. Erdmann Symphony No. 1 Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra/Israel Yinon Koch-Swann 3-6572-2 Eduard Erdmann was born in Latvia, but taught in Germany and…

As you hit that Great Barrier Reef of washed-up regrets known as middle age, a horrible temptation looms. It’s to try getting ‘down with the kids’ by adopting fashions that are absurdly inappropriate for your spreading girth and creaking knees. There can be only one result. Self-inflicted humiliation. I sometimes feel that about choirs as well as people. The great British choral tradition is overwhelmingly amateur, and nobody is prouder of its quality than I am. It has consumed many of my waking hours for more than 50 years. Its enduring strength means that – unlike in France and Italy, for instance – our historic churches still resonate each Sunday to the sound of polyphony, rather than a tone-deaf cleric crooning infantile refrains into a microphone. It means that the…

‘I wish people would think of me as a musician who writes novels, instead of a novelist who writes music on the side,’ said Anthony Burgess. And the numbers back him up: yes, Burgess wrote an impressive 33 novels, but he also penned over 250 pieces of music, from piano miniatures to three symphonies. His operetta Blooms of Dublin was even broadcast by the BBC. Recently, there’s been some interest in Burgess’s music from performers; curious listeners can now hear pianist Richard Casey’s Burgess album on the Prima Facie label and Stephane Ginsburgh’s The Bad-Tempered Electronic Keyboard (on Grand Piano).…

It’s eight o’clock on a balmy Friday evening at Finchcocks, a beautiful Grade One-listed early-Georgian pile deep in the Kent countryside. The pastel orange light of the setting sun floods across the lawn, over the threshold and into the oak-panelled hall before scattering on the open lid of a black Bösendorfer grand. The vast room is otherwise empty save for a sofa and a couple of armchairs, and is awash with a gorgeous summer haze. Sitting at the piano is jazz musician and tutor Mark Polishook. The weekend’s jazz improvisation course doesn’t officially begin until tomorrow but Polishook is keen to take advantage of the light and give his class of just seven a few things to think about before the morning. He starts to play one or two notes…

‘I have composed out of sheer love of trying to make nice sounds’. So said Herbert Howells in acknowledgement of his instantly recognisable, rich harmonic language and his seemingly endless streams of melody woven together, more often than not, in timeless contrapuntal textures. Howells is known more for his choral and organ music than for his songs, piano, chamber and orchestral music. This is really because of a wholly serendipitous event at King’s College, Cambridge in 1943. Howells was standing in as acting organist at St John’s College, along the road, for Robin Orr who was on active service. Howells felt that he and Vaughan Williams reacted to things in a musically similar way One afternoon he was having tea with Eric Milner-White, dean of King’s, Boris Ord, the college…

Philippe Herreweghe (conductor) Recorded with the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées in 1997, Herreweghe’s approach also offers a reminder that Berlioz was a great opera composer, instilling his diverse scenes with a purposeful sense of development and constantly observant of the score’s smaller points, in which the choral contributions are perfectly scaled. Paul Agnew savours the Narrator’s text while Laurent Naouri provides a psychologically probing Herod. Véronique Gens’s Mary is tender and gentle, and Olivier Lallouette’s Joseph exhibits a real sense of desperation when rejected by the citizens of Sais. (Harmonia Mundi HMG 501632/33) Matthew Best (conductor) Though some may find the acoustic over-resonant, Matthew Best’s 1994 performance with the Corydon Singers and Orchestra maintains a sense of drama without tipping over into the overly theatrical. Alastair Miles is a grand-scale Herod…

JS Bach Prelude and Fughetta in G major; Organ Sonata No. 4; The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I (Excerpts); Concerto in D minor; Fantasia and Fugue in A minor, and other selected keyboard works Víkingur Ólafsson (piano) DG 483 5022 77.25 mins Having heard Víkingur Ólafsson present a selection from this programme in recital, and having admired the clarity, poise and warmth of his playing, I expected this recording to be good; but just how good was still a surprise. And it’s prefaced by an essay which brilliantly explains his rationale. Starting from the premise that there is no single, correct solution to how JS Bach’s keyboard music should be played – the composer left hardly any indications – this young Icelander points out that every element is up for debate,…

Delius Orchestral Favourites Alto ALC 1374 (1958-61) 75:15 mins Thomas Beecham’s championship of the Bradford-born master yields a generous treasury, with some contrast (e.g. ‘Sleigh Ride’) to break the reveries. There may be silkier-sounding recordings, but none so characterful. ★★★★ The New Year Concerts 1951-54 Eloquence 482 7363 154:36 mins (2 discs) Clemens Krauss was a master of waltz uplift and polka character, with Josef Strauss supreme here. Only Carlos Kleiber’s New Year’s Day programmes have shone as bright. ★★★★★ Concertgebouw Lollipops Eloquence 482 5650 (1952-68) 159 mins (2 discs) Random showpieces from Amsterdam. Bernard Haitink’s sane if not intoxicating choices provide firm ballast. Surprisingly light touches from Eduard van Beinum , except for a horrid ‘Trumpet Voluntary’. ★★★ Russia - Romance & Drama Alto ALC 1371 79:07 mins Yuri…

Fagerlund Höstsonaten Anne Sofie von Otter, Erika Sunnegårdh, Helena Juntunen, Tommi Hakala, Nicholas Söderlund; Finnish National Opera Chorus & Orchestra /John Storgårds BIS-2357 (hybrid CD/SACD) 120:08 mins (2 discs) Höstsonaten (Autumn sonata) was commissioned by the Finnish National Opera and premiered in Helsinki in September 2017; this double-disc set splices live recordings undertaken during that run. The libretto, written by Finnish playwright Gunilla Hemming, adapts Ingmar Bergman’s film of the same name; an uncomfortable, restrained portrayal of a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship. Composer Sebastian Fagerlund adds a surrealist gloss via an elastic timescale and clever use of ‘voiceless’ characters (a dead partner; the mute sibling). The opera centres around Charlotte Andergast (mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter) and Eva (soprano Erika Sunnegårdh). Charlotte, a celebrated pianist, returns home after a seven-year tour…

Puccini Passion and Drama Alto ALC 1601 (1950s-60s) 149:28 mins (2 discs) A wonderful assortment of great singers, including Maria Callas, but Puccini is not best sampled like this — the equivalent of guzzling a whole tray of tiramisu, washed down with a bottle of limoncello. ★★★ Puccini Madam Butterfly Warner 9029573591 (1966) 141:67 mins (2 discs) One of the great recordings of Butterfly, this Rome version stars — the only word that will do — Renata Scotto, magnificently supported by John Barbirolli at his most Italianate. ★★★★★ Sullivan HMS Pinafore Eloquence 482 5357 (1971) 96:15 mins (2 discs) One of the least loved of all D’Oyly Carte recordings, this goes, er, overboard with distracting sound effects. Valerie Masterson completists will probably already have it for her superb Josephine. ★★…

Gounod Sacred Choral Music Carus 83.490 (2005) 65:10 mins Much of it written for amateur forces, Gounod’s church music is uneven in quality, though these expertly controlled, well-recorded accounts by the I Vocalisti Chamber Choir give a good idea of its potential. ★★★ Lalande Grands Motets Harmonia Mundi HAF 8901351 (1998) 64:19 mins Court composer to both Louis XIV and Louis XV, Lalande is represented by three examples of a form in which he excelled, delivered by William Christie and his regular forces with delicacy and brilliance. ★★★★★ Rossini Petite Messe solennelle Harmonia Mundi HMG 501724 (2001) 80:24 mins There’s a sense of discipline and neatness to Marcus Creed’s account of Rossini’s ambiguous Mass setting which brings out the frequent musical delights of the score; carefully sung and touchingly played.…

Debussy: The Late Works Violin Sonata; Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp; Cello Sonata; Berceuse héroïque; Pièce pour l’oeuvre du ‘Vêtement du blessé’; Élégie; Les Soirs illuminés par l’ardeur du charbon Magali Mosnier (flute), Isabelle Faust (violin), Antoine Tamestit (viola), Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello), Xavier de Maistre (harp), Alexander Melnikov, Tanguy de Williencourt, Javier Perianes (piano) Harmonia Mundi HMM 902303 54:02 mins Faust and Melnikov deftly trace the Violin Sonata’s contours Debussy’s three late chamber sonatas are among the most exquisite of all his creative progeny, offering a tantalising fusion of the infinite and finite, of pseudo-improvisatory gestures operating within a malleable structural framework. Incredibly it took nearly a century for performing styles to catch up with Debussy’s visionary writing. Until recently this music was almost invariably viewed and experienced through…

The Passinge Mesures Works by Bull, Byrd, Dowland, Farnaby, Gibbons, Inglot and Tomkins Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord) Hyperion CDA68249 77:43 mins Esfahani heightens the harpsichord’s orchestral potential The Passinge Mesures roams through England’s musical landscape around the time of Shakespeare, John Donne and Sir Thomas More. It’s a compendium of keyboard works by the so-called ‘English virginalists’ – Bull, Byrd, Farnaby, Gibbons, Inglot and Tomkins – whose music speaks with a quiet power. There are pastoral evocations of fair Albion alongside darker suggestions of its ‘woods so wild’, dances by turns stately and sprightly, daringly inventive fantasies, and brooding streams of consciousness that capture the melancholy spirit of the age. These works have sometimes been handled as trifles or decorative miniatures, but Iranian-American harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani treats them as profoundly expressive…

Beethoven String Quartets Elias String Quartet Wigmore Hall Live WHLive0092/2 Vibrant, alert, brilliant Beethoven from the Elias String Quartet in their fifth volume of the complete cycle, recorded live at the Wigmore Hall. It’s a series you’ll want on your shelves. (RF) ★★★★ Rhett Brewer The Thaw The Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra/ Stephen Hussey, et al HP Recordings HP3300001 This disc, although lively and dramatic, sadly misses the mark. The swelling violins, wordless singing and electronic accompaniment feel too predictable, the transitions clumsy. (FP) ★★ John Joubert Piano Concerto; Symphony No. 3 BBC National Orchestra of Wales/ William Boughton Lyrita SRCD.367 Martin Jones is scintillating in Joubert’s spiky Piano Concerto, with its flashes of Prokofiev; the Symphony No. 3 is terrifically characterful. (OC) ★★★★ LE Larsson Symphony No. 3, etc Helsingborg…

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral Choir and Orchestra present our much-loved Christmas Celebration, a candle-lit carol service of beautiful Christmas music and seasonal readings, with celebrity readers. Come and join us on Weds 19 & Thurs 20 Dec, 7.30pm - sing your heart out, accompanied by a full orchestra and our world-famous choir, and kick-start your Christmas in style. 0844 844 0444 www.ticketmaster.co.uk Hereford Cathedral With many different services and events taking place during Advent and Christmas, a warm welcome awaits all at Hereford Cathedral this year. Musical highlights include the Christmas Sparkle Organ Concert and the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. Please visit our website for more details. 01432 374 200 www.herefordcathedral.org Derby Cathedral Derby Cathedral is a beautiful Georgian jewel in the heart of…

Defining Bernstein In regard to your 20 works that defined a century cover feature (December), I would have found a place for Leonard Bernstein. For example, there is his Symphony No. 2 ,‘The Age of Anxiety’, inspired by WH Auden’s long poem of that name. This post-Second World War period referred to by the title is the troubled age of psycho-analysis, both Freudian and Jungian. Bernstein was a fully paid-up member, having sessions every week with his ‘shrink’. Or I would nominate Bernstein’s Mass: A Theatre Piece, which gave voice to anti-Vietnam War feelings and the frustration of youth. He set famous lines by Paul Simon: ‘half the people are drowned and the others are swimming in the wrong direction’. But perhaps the most obvious of all his compositions, in…

Painting with Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti’s love of painting is being celebrated with the one-off sale of ‘Life Art’, a new display case that comes complete with artists’ tools, paints and a digital music player. Aimed at the luxury end of the market – just ten are being made and each is selling for a tasty £84,000 – the case (above) is adorned with a picture of Venice painted by the great tenor himself. Devon-sent opportunity Sara Mohr-Pietsch, with whom many of our readers will be familiar as a presenter on Radio 3, has been made the new artistic director of the Dartington International Summer School and Festival, taking over from pianist Joanna MacGregor. Rest assured, however, that when she begins her new job in Devon, Mohr-Pietsch will not be disappearing…

This month: BRYN TERFEL bass-baritone MY FINEST MOMENT Verdi Falstaff Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone), Thomas Hampson (baritone), Adrianne Pieczonka (soprano); Berlin Philharmonic/ Claudio Abbado (2001) Deutsche Grammophon 471 1942 The recording of Falstaff in Berlin, with the Berlin Philharmonic and Claudio Abbado, was tinged with sadness. It was Abbado’s kind of ‘comeback’ recording after he’d had multiple surgeries due to illness. In those five days, he was on incredible form; we had just done six performances at the Easter Festival and transferred it to a concert version in Berlin, and then the recording of the piece. This, for me, was monumental because it was a role that Sir Geraint Evans had sung; the baton was kind of passed to another Welsh singer to sing this iconic role. One of those evenings…

The idea of speed in music makes sense, doesn’t it? We know that some music is faster than others, which is why the prestissimo finales of classical symphonies and Rossini’s operas create such fizzing momentum. This is fast music, as the crotchets and quavers fly by, as opposed to the slow pace of a Bruckner adagio or one of Mahler’s farewells to life, in which the pulse of the music is so drawn-out as to be almost imperceptible. And yet, speed in music is really an illusion. At the most fundamental level, there is no difference between the music we call ‘fast’ and the music we say is ‘slow’. Whether it’s pulsing at 160 beats per minute (the kind of speed that the DJs of Ibiza get to at the…

Clare Orrell, Liverpool Travelling home from work as a primary school headteacher, I listen to downloaded music on my phone. Leading up to the centenary of Armistice Day, it simply had to be Vaughan Williams’s (below) A Pastoral Symphony, evoking the war-torn fields of Flanders, the desolation and the poignant bugle sounds. Roz Trubger, Dorset The pioneering use of Norwegian folk music by Halfdan Kjerulf, (above) who died 150 years ago, significantly influenced Grieg, and his seldom played songs (often reminiscent of Schumann) are skilful, delicate gems of intense feeling. Some of his songs have been bound into a song-cycle reflecting his tragic love affair, and published as Hjertesorg. I recommend ‘Synnoeves Sang’, ‘Die Schwester’ and ‘Spanische Romanze’, sung by soprano Isa Katharina Gericke.…

Christmas is coming… 1. Who began composing Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, his concerto for percussion and orchestra, on the first Sunday of Advent in 1991? 2. Which choir’s Advent Carol Service is traditionally broadcast on BBC Radio 3 every year? 3. In whose 1895 opera Christmas Eve does the blacksmith Vakula hare off last-minute to St Petersburg in the quest for a pair of boots? 4. Whose 1926 masque On Christmas Night was written to accompany a ballet based on Dickens’s A Christmas Carol? 5. Which eponymous 1892 opera character, having shot himself in his study on Christmas Night, dies to the sound of children singing ‘Noël’? Remember the date Which works commonly associated with Christmas were first performed on the following dates? 6. 13 April 1742, The Great Music Hall,…

‘Stephen Cleobury is my old mentor from my days as an organ scholar from 2000 – my years as a student at King’s gave me so much of the training I rely on every day. I was thrown in at the deep end, doing a job that in cathedrals is done by professionals. And I love the building – the smell is always the same, as is the sound. ‘When I arrive as director of music in 2019, there are things that people may want to change, or indeed I may want to change: perhaps adjust the routine of the choir and develop certain aspects of the repertoire. To be honest, I don’t know until I get there. The main challenge with choirs like this is keeping what they already…

The turkey’s been eaten, there’s nothing good on TV, and everyone’s fallen out playing Monopoly. What’s next? Perhaps it’s time to curl up with a cup of cocoa and a good book. Classical bookworms can feast on a wealth of novels about performers, from Vikram Seth’s An Equal Music to Ann Patchett’s operatic thriller Bel Canto. But how about if you head to the ‘composer’ section of the bookshelf? We’re not talking fictionalised artists – the likes of Adrian Leverkühn in Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus – but novels that take a look at the lives and worlds of real people. So read on to find out how we rate ten fictional yarns about the great composers, from Strozzi in London to Elgar in the Amazon… RATINGS GUIDE FACTS: just how…

When I was invited to write a carol for BBC Music Magazine, I had just completed one for the Truro Cathedral Nine Lessons and Carols service and had a previous advent work close to mind – my Alma Redemptoris Mater for the choir of Merton College, Oxford. Both of these works were conceived to be performed in a sacred context. In this new carol, I still wanted to retain some liturgical mystery, but add another, more playful element. While researching texts for the Truro carol, I came across Ralph Dunstan’s collection The Cornish Songbook and was drawn to one of the carols there: Heavenly sound. As well as the upbeat good wishes, it was probably the ‘Hark, hark’ which adds a percussive punctuation and lifts the words, and gave me…

Rich harmonies Howells developed a musical language that is unlike anyone else’s. It includes long melodic lines, intricate counterpoint, rich dissonances and unique cadential progressions. Pathos Howells may have been the ‘golden boy’ of his musical generation and Stanford’s (pictured above) favourite, but his life was clouded by uncertainty and tragedy. The ambiguous reception of certain works and the loss of his son were reflected in his music. His ability to express pathos and deep emotion in his music is incredibly powerful. Connection with a musical past Vaughan Williams described Howells as ‘the reincarnation of a lesser Tudor luminary’ so strong was his connection to the music of composers of that period. Examples of this are everywhere to be seen in Howells’s output, and perhaps most obviously in the suites…

Berlioz had just turned 50 when he began putting the final touches to L’enfance du Christ, but had already packed quite enough for one lifetime into those five decades. Winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome for composition in 1830, he had been inspired by his infatuation for one woman, Harriet Smithson, to write his groundbreaking Symphonie fantastique, then driven to murderous intent by his love for another, Marie Moke – mercifully, he aborted his plans to kill her and her fiancé. While Symphonie fantastique had been a roaring success, 1838’s Benvenuto Cellini then provided him with his first operatic failure.…

How do you make Bach sound so fresh? I think Bach is always the future. He has this incredible ability to adapt to different generations; he becomes a mirror for them, and for every individual as well. When you open a Bach score the structures are so miraculously detailed and, on the other hand, so minimal – you don’t get any instructions how to make sense of it from a performance perspective. You have to find your own way with Bach for it to be successful. If we don’t make Bach sound fresh we are doing something wrong. Some of the transcriptions are revelatory… The Organ Sonata is interesting. I must admit that I did not know it, and I thought it was incredible. I was about to make my…

Beethoven • R Strauss Beethoven: Symphony No. 3; R Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 William Caballero (horn); Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/ Manfred Honeck Reference Recordings FR-728 (hybrid CD/ SACD) 65:17 mins I can’t remember the last time I was so thrilled by a Beethoven symphony performance as by this brilliantly-recorded release. On a technical level alone, the orchestra’s playing is absolutely stunning. The Pittsburgh strings deliver crisp articulation combined with Central European warmth of sound in tandem with wonderfully defined and characterful playing from solo woodwind and brass. But it’s Manfred Honeck’s interpretation that really gripped me. His ambitious objective is to uncover the radical novelties of the Eroica as if experienced for the first time. Although this may seem a tall order, Honeck nonetheless manages to achieve an amazing degree…

Beethoven • Mozart Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 (cadenza Harbison); Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 14 in E flat, K449; Fantasia in C minor; Harbison: Anniversary Waltz David Deveau (piano); Jessica Bodner (viola), Thomas van Dyck (double bass), Borromeo String Quartet Steinway & Sons 30099 65:09 mins The four small, perfectly formed piano concertos Mozart composed between K413 and K449 are perennial delights. In their chamber versions, the players’ conversational exchanges and the blend of their timbres achieve a special, intimate atmosphere: the E flat Concerto K449 with its expressive slow movement fares particularly well. Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto, though, offers a different concept of soloist-orchestra interaction. Despite the clarity of texture here, the work feels diminished without its orchestral sonorities, even with viola and double bass added to the quartet ensemble.…

Miroir(s) Arias by Gounod, Rossini, Puccini, Massenet, Steibelt, R Strauss and Mozart Elsa Dreisig (soprano); Orchestra national de Montpellier Occitanie/Michael Schønwandt Erato 9029563413 70:20 mins The young French-Danish singer Elsa Dreisig has been winning prizes since 2015 and has developed her skills singing roles in the opera houses of Berlin, Paris and Zurich. This is her debut album and it is phenomenally good. Dreisig’s voice is powerful throughout its entire range First there is the concept of juxtaposing arias for the same dramatic character by different composers – Manon (Puccini and Massenet), Juliette (Steibelt and Gounod), Rosina (Mozart and Rossini), Salome (Massenet and Strauss) – which lifts the collection out of the hackneyed ‘competition arias’ category and allows dramatic explorations of character. Next, the stylistic variety enables the marvellous flexibility…

Julian Anderson Heaven is Shy of Earth; The Comedy of Change Susan Bickley (mezzo-soprano); London Sinfonietta; BBC Symphony Chorus & Orchestra/Oliver Knussen Ondine ODE 1313-2 62:21 mins Heaven is Shy of Earth is a substantial work of intriguing paradoxes. Its opening flugelhorn melody evokes Copland’s spacious landscapes, yet the deliciously stretched orchestral tunings place this music in the 21st century. It sets the words of the Mass, yet its point of departure, poems by Emily Dickinson, makes this more a celebration of natural creation. Gloriously uplifting and luminescent, it has dark threads and exudes both a striking simplicity and a numinous complexity. In this searingly beautiful performance, Susan Bickley soars magnificently, while the BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra are on top form, from the fizzing and chattering textures of ‘Gloria…

Wolf’s life was very much one of darkness and light, and both inspired his music. Expelled from the Vienna Conservatory, Wolf was encouraged by Brahms and Wagner, whom he had met; Mahler was also a friend in his youth. Illness led to depression – something that would haunt him his entire life. His settings of poetry by the likes of Goethe, Eichendorff and Ibsen revealed him to be a master of vocal melody. He didn’t think much of the majority of his work, though, and most of it was published posthumously. Wolf ended his days in a Vienna asylum.…

Dutilleux Youthful Pages Indésens INDE 087 (2015) 58:42 mins A feast for fans of the French tradition of wind playing, with pieces for piano, flute, oboe, bassoon and trombone in a conspectus of chamber music written 1942-50, featuring pianist Pascal Godart. ★★★★ Dvorák String Quintets; String Quartets Harmonia Mundi HMG 501509-10 (1997) 133:37 mins (2 discs) In this rewarding album, the Melos Quartet play chamber music from the 1870s and ’80s, crowned by the Piano Quintet in A major with its dumka second movement. ★★★★ Louis-Antoine Dornel Suites for traverso Glossa Cabinet GCD c80806 (2000) 147:82 mins Rameau’s little-known contemporary wrote eloquently for flute. Wilbert Hazelzet and his players expressively convey the airy character of the music, reflecting its Regency elegance and gesture. ★★★★★ Telemann Voyageur virtuose: Sonates en deo…

Born in Naples, Scarlatti spent his early professional years as an organist. Aged 30 he moved to Venice to study with Gasparini, then relocated to Rome, taking his father’s place as music director for Maria Casimira – Poland’s exiled queen. He went on to become director of music at the Vatican’s Julian Chapel. Royal appointments continued with a move to Lisbon to work for the Portuguese royal family. Princess Maria Bárbara, later the Queen of Spain, is the dedicatee of the majority of his harpsichord sonatas and it is for these many works he is most celebrated today.…