Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2019 i BBC Music Magazine

Roger Nichols Author and critic ‘I’ve always loved Berlioz since being given L’Enfance du Christ as a set work for my degree – and not least because so many of his French successors regarded him with undisguised distaste!’ Elinor Cooper Conductor and singer ‘If Elizabethan Catholic composers like Byrd and Tallis were able to stay in England, there were a handful of less fortunate composers who fled abroad rather than live under religious persecution.’ Claire Jackson Writer and critic ‘Chopin’s “Funeral March” Sonata is a cultural cornerstone, featured in ceremonial occasions and comic parodies. Comparing archival recordings with current offerings has produced an intriguing shortlist.’…

The irresistible rise of Vivaldi  Your interesting article on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (January) had a curious omission: no mention of the 1951 Decca LP by Karl Münchinger and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. The Record Guide by E Sackville-West and D Shawe-Taylor of that year lists all that was previously available of Vivaldi’s music on records in Britain – just 14 minutes! (Bernadino Molinari’s 1942 recording, made in Italy, was still not available here). Then the follow-up Record Year in 1952 by the same authors lists that new Decca LP, and they said it was ‘an early example of programme music which lends colour to the contention that Vivaldi is still an underestimated composer’. That LP was a sensation, and for the general public turned Vivaldi from an unknown composer into…

250,000 …euros richer. Rebecca Saunders (above) has won the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Prize, awarded for lifelong service to music. She is the first female composer to do so. 24 …hours of contemporary music. Seattle Symphony is opening its new Octave 9 venue with a day-long concert of today’s composers. 12 …years; now it’s time for a change. Violinist Daniel Rowland is to leave the Brodsky Quartet in May. 273 …minutes of silence. Lots of times. Mute Records is to release a box-set featuring over 50 versions of John Cage’s 4'33". Artists taking part include Moby, Erasure and New Order.…

As popular uprisings spread throughout a discontented Europe in 1848, Charles Steinweg, the 19-year-old son of a German craftsman, headed out into the streets to join the fray. It was a decision that would have far-reaching implications. Not for the political reasons that Steinweg may have wished – the authoritarian regimes that the rebellions were aimed at remained largely intact – but, in a roundabout way, for the piano industry. When recriminations and arrests followed the events of 1848, Heinrich Steinweg, who had been making and selling pianos in the small mid-German town of Seesen since 1836, reckoned it might be best if, for his own safety, his son got himself out of the country for a while. But Heinrich also had another motives. With business looking decidedly slow at…

On 24 March, Oslo’s Trinity Church will be staging the European premiere of Upon this Handful of Earth by Gisle Kverndokk (left). The opera, which will be performed by a cast of over 100 people, takes its title from a 3,500-year-old Sanskrit text but addresses a very current subject – the challenges posed by climate change. Covering various other environmental themes along the way, including fracking and oil pollution, Kverndokk’s piece provides much food for thought, though is by no means the first to address environmental issues… In the score of his Become Ocean, John Luther Adams explains the title thus: ‘As the polar ice melts and sea level rises, we humans find ourselves facing the prospect that once again we may quite literally become ocean.’ The work was first…

Oliver Condy Editor When I’m supposed to be working, I sometimes end up surfing YouTube instead for musical inspiration. Transcriptions of old jazz performances have held something of a fascination for me ever since I saw Andrew Litton bravely and brilliantly perform a selection of Oscar Peterson solos a few years ago. This time, my imagination has been caught by young American jazz pianist Eldar, whose performance of a transcription of Art Tatum’s Tiger Rag is quite spectacular. He even performs it on Tatum’s old Steinway B, which adds further magic to it all. Absolutely thrilling. Jeremy Pound Deputy editor For me, few experiences in this world are as traumatic as that of having a haircut. I have, therefore, found myself in empathy with tenor José Cura’s recently…

1803 Hector Berlioz is born on 11 December in the southern French town of La Côte-Saint-André. His father is a doctor. 1804 The 35-year-old Napoleon Bonaparte (right) is crowned emperor of France on 2 December. 1815 Defeated by the Duke of Wellington’s forces at Waterloo, Napoleon is exiled to St Helena, where he dies six years later. 1821 Berlioz is sent to Paris to study at the Ecole de Médecine. 1825 His first major work, the Messe solennelle, is performed at the Church of Saint-Roch (left). 1830 The July Revolution in France leads to the abdication of King Charles X. In October, Berlioz wins the Prix the Rome with his cantata La mort de Sardanapale. 1833 He marries actress Harriet Smithson, the inspiration behind his 1830 Symphonie fantastique. 1842 He…

Byrd’s Catholicism was officially hidden, but it still resulted in a fascinating musical conversation with the Spanish composer Philippe de Monte (above). It’s believed the pair met in the English court in 1554, when Byrd was just 11. Thirty years later, De Monte sent Byrd his eight-part motet Super flumina Babylonis, which sets Psalm 137, a tale of suffering exiles. Byrd replied by setting the next four verses in his motet Quomodo cantabimus, using the same key and number of parts as De Monte. ‘How shall we sing the Lord’s Song in a strange land?’ the text asks. Byrd answers with ingenious writing, hinting at deep faith without breaking the Church of England’s limitations.…

1813 LIFE: Alkan is born in Paris on 30 November. His exceptional ability at the piano is detected at an early age, not least by the composer Cherubini. TIMES: At the Battle of Leipzig, Napoleon’s French army is comprehensively defeated by the coalition forces of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden. Napoleon is forced to retreat to France. 1848 LIFE: He is passed over for the post of head of piano at Paris Conservatoire. In a letter to George Sand, he describes the appointment of Antoine Marmontel as ‘the shameful nomination’. TIMES: An economic crisis leads to the February Revolution in France. As Louis Philippe I is forced to abdicate as king, the short-lived Second French Republic is created. 1873 LIFE: After 20 years away from the stage and public life…

Hélène Grimaud (piano) Deutsche Grammophon E477 5325 For the Sonata’s opening Grave, the French pianist Hélène Grimaud carefully places its lower notes rather than emphasise their percussive qualities as many of her colleagues have done. This seemingly nonchalant approach, however, yields a more subtle, thoughtful type of drama; and she spins the doppio movimento part of the first movement into an effective foreshadowing of the third movement’s march. There are no dizzying tempos here, but there is an understated urgency and propulsion to the music. Grimaud lends an understated urgency and propulsion to the music The march itself is quietly provocative; Grimaud maintains a sense of restraint throughout the movement, pulling back with a deep sensitivity. Unlike other readings, where the rubato threatens to undermine the entire thrust of the…

R Schumann Sechs Gesänge, Op. 107; Romanzen und Balladen, Op. 49; Warnung, Op. 119 No. 2; Drei Gesänge, Op. 83; Gedichte von Justinus Kerner, Op. 35, and more Christian Gerhaher (baritone); Gerold Huber (piano) Sony 19075889192 72 mins The face staring out from the cover of Christian Gerhaher’s new Schumann album might look more ‘lived in’ than that gracing his revelatory 2004 Dichterliebe on RCA. And some of the voice’s youthful freshness has almost inevitably been ambushed by the passage of time. But Gerhaher’s remains one of the most intelligent, preternaturally expressive baritones of our time – and when it comes to Schumann, ‘lived in’ can only but pay rich dividends in a wide-ranging recital that opens on the cusp of the 1850s, and augments the 12 Kerner Lieder with…

Arriaga Los esclavos felices – Overture; Herminie; Overture, Op. 20; Air de Médée; Symphony in D minor Berit Norbakken Solset (soprano); BBC Philharmonic/Juanjo Mena Chandos CHAN 20077 68:09 mins Sharing a birthday with Mozart wasn’t enough for Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga: the Spanish composer, from the Basque region, also shared Mozart’s first two baptismal names, his early death (in Arriaga’s case, in 1826, just shy of his 20th birthday), and prodigious early ability. Had he not caved in to tuberculosis or overwork while studying and teaching in Paris at the École royale de Musique, who knows what he might have gone on to achieve? The musical evidence here, scintillatingly performed from critical editions established in 2006 by the conductor and harpsichordist Christophe Rousset, certainly suggest the potential for great things. Elements…

Beethoven Choral Fantasia Mozart Piano Concertos Eloquence 482 8533 (1954-63) 159:46 mins (2 discs) Andor Foldes’s crystalline fingerwork and unaffected playing gets to the heart of the music. Close focus sound, particularly in the earlier recordings. ★★★★ Chopin Etudes, Mazurkas, Préludes Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 Eloquence 482 8710 (1945) 60:16 mins Nikolai Orloff is past his best, though there are some tender moments in Chopin’s less demanding pieces. Good orchestral shaping from Anatole Fistoulari . ★★ Martin Concerto for seven wind instruments; Violin Concerto; In Terra Pax, etc Eloquence 482 4997 (1956-64) 134:43 mins The Petite Symphonie Concertante and Violin Concerto sound restricted under Ernest Ansermet . In Terra Pax, however, blazes with conviction. ★★★★ Richter Discoveries! Vol. 1: JS Bach Concerto No. 4 in A; Toccata in G…

Vivaldi Il Giustino Delphine Galou, Emöke Baráth, Silke Gäng, Ana Maria Labin, Ariana Vendittelli, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Alessandro Giangrande, Verónica Cangemi, Rahel Maas; Accademia Bizantina/Ottavio Dantone Naïve OP 30571 187:00 mins Delphine Galou declaims with even-toned clarity Reinhard Strohm, whose edition of Vivaldi’s mid-period opera is used here, describes Il Giustino as exuberant. The composer wrote it, not for his native Venice, but for Rome where it was premiered during the 1724 carnival season. Niccolo Beregan’s 1683 libretto, set in the sixth century AD at the time of Emperor Justin I, alludes metaphorically to the defence of the Holy Roman Empire against the Ottomans. It was revised by Pietro Pariati, set by Albinoni in 1711, then by Vivaldi with adjustments, and finally, in 1737 by Handel, who clearly knew Vivaldi’s…

Beethoven Mass in C; Ode to Joy Alto ALC 1368 (2006) 70:47 mins Originally released on the LSO Live label, Colin Davis’s Mass in C boasts fired-up choral singing, convincing soloists and excellent playing. Broadish tempos, but the dedication is palpable. ★★★★ Hildegard von Bingen Laudes de Sainte Ursule - XIIth Siècle Harmonia Mundi HMO 8901626 (1996) 79:05 mins Low pitch, chest voice performances shorn of ethereal trappings from Marcel Pérès’s seven female singers. For those of an ascetic disposition. ★★★ Neukomm Missa solemnis; Requiem Accent ACC 24344 (2008) 130:32 mins Haydn pupil Sigismund Neukomm’s Missa solemnis follows his teacher’s idiom, but his austere and darker Requiem is more interesting. Namur Chamber Choir gives sympathetic live accounts. ★★★★ Compostela Ad vesperas Sancti Iacobi; Codex Calixtinus Harmonia Mundi HMO 8905301 (2004)…

Beach • C Schumann • Smyth C Schumann: Drei Romanzen; Beach: Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 34; Romance; Invocation; Smyth: Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 7 Tasmin Little (violin), John Lenehan (piano) Chandos CHAN 20030 71:27 mins This album makes a seemingly effortless case for their music The assumption that women don’t – or can’t – compose has historically been so pervasive that, regardless of their work’s actual merits, the many who have done so have often been mocked or ignored during their lifetime, and quickly forgotten thereafter. Others still have become figures of largely social curiosity – like Clara Schumann (née Wieck, 1819-96), Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) and Amy Beach (née Cheney, 1867-1944); wonderfully gifted composers of diverse backgrounds and outlook who are far too little heard today.…

Berlioz Symphonie fantastique Jean-François Heisser, Marie-Josèphe Jude (piano) Harmonia Mundi HMM 902503 52:28 mins Before the convenience of recordings, orchestral repertoire was heard most frequently on the piano. Moreover, rival instrument makers constantly experimented in an attempt to gain an edge in a lucrative, yet highly competitive market. One ingenious innovation was the double piano, known in France as ‘vis-à-vis’ (face-to-face), where two instruments (with separate keyboards and sets of strings) are combined in one cabinet. This intriguing disc features a fine example, made by Pleyel in 1928 to a design that dated back to the 1890s, being put through its paces in Jean-François Heisser’s transcription of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique for two pianos. So, neither this curious hybrid instrument nor the skilful transcription are from the same historical period as…

Boccherini Stabat Mater etc Orchester Le Phénix et al Coviello Classics COV 91813 Boccherini’s take on the Stabat mater is largely restrained and reflective, with little in the way of showpiece dramatics. Soprano Núria Rial is an effortlessly elegant solosist. (JP) ★★★★ Crumb Makrokosmos etc Yoshiko Shimizu (piano) et al Kairos 0015029KAI A brilliant exploration of George Crumb’s Makrokosmos, inspired by Bartók. Beauty, violence, peace and strange sounds emerge out of mysterious nocturnal worlds. (RF) ★★★★ Daugherty Night Owl Virginia Symphony Orchestra/JoAnn Falletta Hampton Road Classics 012 Recorded at its live premiere, this is an evocative tone poem based on photos of an American landscape, its people and a long-gone steam railroad. Short at 24 minutes, but a total joy. (MB) ★★★★ Debussy Préludes, Book 1 etc Javier Perianes (piano) Harmonia Mundi HMM…

LONDON Total Immersion: Ligeti Barbican, 2 March Tel: +44 (0)20 7638 8891 Web: www.barbican.org.uk A screening of the 1976 documentary All Clouds are Clocks heralds the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s immersive day given over to Ligeti. A lecture and chamber music recital are followed by the BBC Singers in a concert of choral works – Lux Aeterna and the Nonsense Madrigals among them – before conductor Sakari Oramo showcases the violin and piano concertos. Ensemble Modern and Orchestra The Roundhouse, 6 March Tel: +44 (0)330 6789 222 Web: www.roundhouse.org.uk Following an evening at Wigmore Hall culminating in George Benjamin’s opera Into the Little Hill, the composer-conductor and Germany’s leading contemporary music group decamp to the Roundhouse. An invigorating line-up there moves through Berlioz, Messiaen, Ustvolskaya and Ligeti to Benjamin’s 2002 orchestral…

I’ve a confession to make. Before we started putting this magazine together, I didn’t get on with Berlioz’s music at all. I’ve always appreciated his greatness, his extraordinary orchestrations, his innovative use of symphonic form, and his downright dogged opinions, but the music itself has never struck a chord with me. I’ve always loved French music, so I’m not sure where I’ve been going wrong. So this issue has been something of a saviour – there’s nothing quite like a handful of great artists (p36) extolling the virtues of a composer to make you realise the error of your ways. And so it’s with fresh ears that I’m diving into Roméo et Juliette and, of course, revelling in the Mediterranean warmth of Harold’s travels in Italy, courtesy of our superb…

Anaïs Gaudemard Harpist Born: Lyons, France Career highlight: It’s always moving to win awards and be rewarded for your efforts, but it was recording my first album of harp concertos that helped move my career along. Still, the best is yet to come. Musical hero: Composer Nadia Boulanger, because of the breadth of her knowledge and the openness of her mind. She was an extraordinary pedagogue, and had a different approach for every student. Dream concert: A ‘carte blanche’ concert that I would share with artists I admire: musicians, dancers, writer and actors. Perhaps in the ancient theatre of Taormina in Sicily. Kian Soltani Cellist Born: Bregenz, Austria Career highlight: Receiving the Credit-Suisse Award and then making my debut playing Dvorák Cello Concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic at…

Rheinberger Organ Sonatas Roger Sayer (organ) Priory PRCD1165 Rheinberger’s 20 organ sonatas were all in vogue once upon a time, but have now gone off the radar. I absolutely couldn’t stand his music when I was younger; it seemed so academic and stuck in its way, but it’s not true. Although it’s heavily Germanic and Romantic, it’s actually like Brahms; there’s a lot of classicism and it’s full of melody and great craftsmanship. People feel they have to mess around with it, but it’s truly honest music. Karg-Elert Jesu, meine Freude Stefan Engels (organ) Priory PRCD1074 Karg-Elert pushed the organ in a direction no one else did. He’s in the same time zone as Reger, but he’s much more adventurous and throws the textbook out the window. Jesu, meine Freude…

As the son of a man who conducted a very fine brass band, I was exposed at a tender age to one of the most terrifying rituals in the artistic firmament. I’m referring to the brass band contest, in which as many as 20 ensembles follow each other onto the stage, play exactly the same, technically fiendish (but usually musically arid) 11-minute ‘testpiece’, and be marked out of 100 with microscopic exactitude by an adjudicator. What then follows is akin to the day of judgment: alcohol-fuelled ecstasy for the winning band and its supporters; anguished despondency for the losers, especially if you happen to be, say, the soprano cornet player who fluffed a single top note, costing your band not just marks on the day, but the possibility of humiliating…

Spiritual practices and philosophies from the East have long interested Western composers. Beethoven read translations of Hindu Sanskrit scriptures in the 1810s, jotting down phrases from the Rig-Veda and Bhagavad Gita. Forty years later, Wagner became curious about Buddhism. He sketched an opera Die Sieger based on the religion’s legends, and although he didn’t complete the work, British composer Jonathan Harvey turned the episode into his 2006 opera Wagner Dream. Gustav Holst went a step further, teaching himself Sanskrit and experimenting with ragas. His operas Sita and Savitri were inspired by ancient Indian texts. Western interest in the mind-body connection flourished in the second half of the 20th century. In the US, Steve Reich and Philip Glass explored yoga and transcendental meditation, while fellow American Pauline Oliveros became a karate…

The World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC) is the reference point, advocacy organisation and standards body for the most important 122 music competitions across 40 countries. Supporting young musicians is our priority and the WFIMC members are key to the industry’s future. Via our network of associate organisations, the WFIMC talks directly with agents, presenters and the media to highlight new artists and engage passionate audiences. Over the next few pages, we look at the breadth of the WFIMC membership and consider disciplines, repertoire and models that deserve this spotlight. Enjoy our members’ stories, hear their plans and make sure to visit our website at www.wfimc.org…

MARCH 2019 21-30 BELGRADE SERBIA International Jeunesses Musicales Competition • Piano Deadline passed 21-31 ODENSE DENMARK Carl Nielsen International Music Competition • Violin, Flute, Clarinet Deadline passed 22-31 ÉPINAL FRANCE Épinal International Piano Competition • Piano Deadline passed 23 March – 4 April BARCELONA SPAIN Maria Canals International Music Competition • Piano Deadline passed 24-31 BERLIN GERMANY International Max Rostal Competition • Violin, viola Deadline passed 24-30 SEOUL SOUTH KOREA Seoul International Music Competition • Voice Deadline passed 31 March – 4 July WEIMAR GERMANY International Joseph Joachim Chamber Music Competition • Various ensembles Deadline passed APRIL 2019 23-27 LYON FRANCE Concours International de Musique de Chambre • Voice, Piano Deadline passed 24 April – 3 May JAÉN SPAIN International Piano Competition ‘Prize Jaén’ • Piano Apply by 13 March…

Very unusually among the virtuoso composer-pianists of the 19th century, Charles-Valentin Alkan spent much of his life as an apparent recluse. He shunned the concert platform in favour of keeping his own company, reading, studying and creating some of the most spectacularly demanding piano music ever written. Choosing a life like this meant that rumours flourished about him during his lifetime, as they have ever since. For instance, the story that he died when reaching for a volume at the top of one of his bookshelves, which then toppled forwards and crushed him, is now known to be a fabrication. Alkan was a Parisian celebrity, admired and liked by Liszt, Chopin and George Sand Charles-Valentin Morhange was one of six children of a music teacher who lived and worked in…

The work Schumann infamously compared the disparate movements to ‘four unruly children’ Chopin’s Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor Op. 35 (1839) brings four seasons into one day, drawing extreme contrasts within its compact form. The work is often named after its third movement, the March funèbre (‘Funeral March’), which was composed two years prior to the sonata proper, and is considered as a piece in its own right. The march has been cut and pasted multiple times, and several orchestral versions exist, including two created by Henry Wood that appeared in early instalments of the Proms. The Sonata has a whiff of music’s ominous ‘Curse of the Ninth Symphony’ to it: Elgar’s orchestration, for instance, pre-empted his own death, with the finished version first performed at a memorial…

Alfred Cortot (piano) Cortot’s 1928 recording of the Second Sonata (originally for HMV) is one of the earliest studio recordings of the work. He takes dizzying tempos at various points: both the scherzo and the finale are rapid and threaten to run away – yet Cortot never comes undone. Cortot went on to record the sonata again in 1953, providing a discography of duplicates. But high fidelity isn’t everything, and it is the 1928 performance – unedited, and far from note-perfect – that is his most distinctive. (Naxos 8.111065) Cédric Tiberghien (piano) It is difficult to chose between Hyperion label mates Cédric Tiberghien and Marc-André Hamelin’s recordings. The two pianists are highly accomplished Chopinists and both recordings are immaculately presented in terms of sound engineering. Tiberghien nudges ahead with his…

The Berlioz releases are coming thick and fast and we’ve a handful of reviews of new recordings this month – including the mighty Symphonie fantastique  for piano four hands. Look out for a page on Berlioz box-sets next month. This month’s sections are full of unexpected delights, including the first opera with an Irish libretto, a new opera composed by an 11-year-old girl and a box set of Sony’s landmark Black Composers Series. One of my favourites this issue is Tasmin Little and John Lenehan’s glittering account of works for violin and piano by Amy Beach, Clara Schumann and Ethel Smyth (see p105) which gave Christian Gerhaher’s Frage a run for his money for our Recording of the Month spot. That disc, incidentally, is sublime, and a very worthy choice.…

Britten • Mendelssohn • Tchaikovsky Britten: Violin Concerto; Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor; Tchaikovsky: Sérénade mélancolique Sebastian Bohren (violin); Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Andrew Litton Sony 19075871142 69:01 mins At first I found it hard to pin down the recording perspective in the Mendelssohn Concerto, with the orchestra sometimes close, then retreating and losing power in the tuttis. The quieter passages are better balanced, and find soloist Sebastian Bohren in a more natural relationship with the orchestra, with more ingratiating tone. Otherwise, this is a workmanlike, straight-down-the-middle performance of the Concerto, which could have greater tonal variety and shape – the slow movement needs more flexibility and tenderness; but there’s no lack of technical prowess, and the finale fizzes along. Bohren seems more temperamentally and tonally attuned to the Britten Concerto,…

Édouard Lalo (1823-92) Born in Lille, Lalo studied at the local conservatoire before heading to Paris to continue his studies. A string player, he performed and taught in the French capital where he also co-founded the Armingaud Quartet. Best known for his chamber and symphonic works, most notably the Symphonie espagnole, Lalo also turned his hand to opera and song following his marriage to a singer. Such works were less well received; indeed his opera Le roi d’Ys was considered unperformable and received its premiere performance 13 years after it was written.…

Berlioz Roméo et Juliette Sasha Cooke (mezzo-soprano), Nicholas Phan (tenor), Luca Pisaroni (bass-baritone); San Francisco Symphony Chorus & Orchestra/ Michael Tilson Thomas SFS Media SFS 0074 (hybrid CD/SACD) 104:31 mins (2 discs) There is much to admire: buoyant energy, sparkling lightness (in the Queen Mab Scherzo), mostly well-balanced textures and acceptable if not quite native French. Yet after one hearing I felt something was missing. Listening again, and comparing it with the Vienna Philharmonic version under Colin Davis, I pinned it down to ‘intimacy’. Of course there are long stretches, the opening fight music for one, where intimacy is the last thing that’s called for, and in these the present recording is unexceptionable. But Berlioz, asked near the end of his life what he liked best out of everything he’d…

Orlando Di Lasso (1532-94) A master of sacred music, Lasso (aka Lassus) was a much sought-after choirboy in Mons, kidnapped several times for other choirs. Years in the service of a General took him to Rome where he followed Palestrina as chapel master at St John Lateran. A court position in Bavaria swiftly followed, which led to him being made a nobleman by Emperor Maximilian. Despite his long association with the church – and a knighthood from Pope Gregory XIII – Lasso was very much at home with secular music and had a deep understanding of international modes, composing many madrigals.…

Haydn String Quartets, Op. 50 Divox CDX-21801 (1995/99) 118:30 mins (2 discs) The Amati Quartet bring astonishing new clarity and beauty to Haydn’s masterpieces in this outstanding double-disc, marrying a vivid sense of drama and humour with absolute technical precision. ★★★★★ Mozart The Flute Quartets Claudio Records CR 3603-2 (1968) 47:23 mins Venerable flautist Christopher Hyde-Smith plays Mozart’s delightful flute quartets with a gentle and unfussy charm, matched by elegant performances from the Cummings Trio. ★★★★ Los Angeles Brass Quintet: works by JS Bach, Bartók, Hindemith, Schmidt, Cheetham etc. Crystal Records CD102 (1967) 52:37 mins Recorded during the heyday of the Los Angeles Brass Quintet (now disbanded), this enjoyable disc showcases an appealing array of music, including Hindemith’s triumphant Morgenmusik and Alex Wilder’s mischievous Quintet No. 1. ★★★ Brass Roots:…

Liszt Années de pèlerinage, 3ème année; Bagatelle sans tonalité; Wiegenlied (Chant du berceau); Vierter Mephisto-Waltzer; La Lugubre Gondola II, etc Cédric Tiberghien (piano) Hyperion CDA 68202 80:15 mins One piece elides into the next, and time stops In the final decades of his life, Liszt abandoned much of his signature virtuosity for a deeply spiritual, improvisatory style, unmoored from traditional harmonies and forms. These often substantial, relatively unknown works require patience, but offer great rewards, especially in this mesmerising performance. The recital balances six late works with the seven vast pieces which constitute the third and final volume of the Années de pèlerinage. There are many discoveries, such as the Wiegenlied, which was only published in the 1950s. Tiberghien brings the tenderest, most delicate and exploratory touch to this fragile…

March round-up The SNJO (see Jazz Choice) typifies the music’s strengths beyond the allegedly London-centric nature of British culture; indeed, anything that can transport the weary listener away from Westminster has to be a good thing. Several further examples present themselves this month, too. Leeds College of Music is actually where jazz education at tertiary level began in the UK many decades ago; alumni include the spirited 12-piece Nubiyan Twist, a band that takes the multifarious roots of the current generation of musicians in jazz, hip-hop, Africana and more, and effortlessly allows them to grow back into the ancestral unity that always bound these genres together. Fronted by singer Nubiya Brandon and with each track featuring a member or guest, Jungle Run is a vibrant, vivacious album marred slightly by…

Bach’s Famous Choir – The Saint Thomas School in Leipzig, 1212-1804 Michael Maul (trans. Richard Howe) Boydell Press 978-1-783-27169-6; 462pp (hb) £55 Why on earth did such grandmasters as JS Bach and George Phillip Telemann apply to run a municipal school choir in 1722? What was so special about this particular place that musicians sought to leave their posts running professional orchestras to don the ‘dusty robes’ of a cantor and teach schoolboys to sing? These are the questions that drive Michael Maul’s impressive 2012 study of the St Thomas School in Leipzig, now published in an excellent new translation by Richard Howe. St Thomas School was no ordinary place. From the late 16th century onwards the school developed a stellar reputation for music, recruiting students from all…

19. Lighthouse Where: Poole Opened: 1978 Seats: 1,500 The name’s an unlikely one, given that most lighthouses are erected to warn people to stay well away. Thankfully, this particular Lighthouse has largely succeeded in its aim to do quite the opposite, and last April celebrated 40 years of welcoming people through its doors. Situated in the affluent town of Poole on England’s south coast – hence the real reason for the title – Lighthouse prides itself on being the largest arts centre in the country outside London. As well as a 1,500-seat main concert hall, it boasts two theatres, a cinema and art galleries. The result of a 1965 government initiative to promote culture in regional towns, the venue entered the planning stage in 1972 and opened its doors on…

Alan Davey , the controller of BBC Radio 3, picks out three great moments to tune into in March International Women’s Day For the fifth year running, Radio 3 is playing tribute to greate female musicians throughout International Women’s Day. Celebrated female conductors such as Marin Alsop and Rebecca Miller have been invited to share the music they love and their experiences of working in the music industry. 8 March Free Thinking Festival The weekend of thought-provoking discussions and music returns to Radio 3, this year celebrating the theme of ‘emotion’. All programmes over the weekend will be broadcast live from Radio 3’s pop-up studio at Sage Gateshead, with appearances from leading musicians and academics. 29-31 March Mahan Esfahani on Bach In what promises to be a fascinating three-part series,…

Reading Arts On Saturday 9 March, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s residency at The Hexagon in Reading springs back into life with the esteemed Jennifer Pike performing Mozart’s exquisite and intimate Third Violin Concerto. Sibelius’ Karelia Suite opens the concert with hunting fanfares and shimmering violins before the evening concludes with Dvorák’s exhilarating and theatrical Symphony No.8. 0118 960 6060 (box office) www.readingarts.com English Chamber Orchestra at Cadogan Hall Jessica Cottis conducts the ECO with tenor Ben Johnson and horn player Ben Goldscheider in Britten’s Serenade (16 March), while Mendelssohn’s dramatic D minor Violin Concerto is a highlight of leader Stephanie Gonley’s concert (16 April). The season concludes with Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto, directed from the keyboard by the captivating Behzod Abduraimov (22 May). 020 7730 4500 (box office)…

Music director of the Los Angeles Opera and principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in Turin, James Conlon has conducted most of the world’s major orchestras since his debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1974. Alongside Grammy-winning recordings, writings and TV appearances he has created the OREL foundation, a website dedicated to suppressed composers. In 2019 Conlon focuses on Verdi, giving 35 performances of seven works, including five different operas in Europe and the US. Ican’t live without MOZART. I saw Don Giovanni when I was 12 and it stunned me, although I couldn’t possibly have understood it. Mozart has been a major part of my life ever since. Symphony No. 40 was the first piece I conducted at the High School of Music and Art in…

A grade relief Andrew Stewart’s Grade Britain feature (February) took me back to 1960 and my Grade 5 organ exam at Ingoldisthorpe Parish Church in Norfolk. The exam was progressing quite well when I was suddenly aware that the examiner was wandering around the church as I played the set pieces. I was concerned that he might not be giving much attention to my efforts. At the end of a challenging Bach fugue he returned to the chancel and his first words to me were ‘Do you know the history of the stained glass windows?’ I’m afraid I didn’t, but thankfully I passed with Merit. Jonathan Russell, via email Ace of bass I’d like to stake a claim for the biggest gap between Associated Board exams! In my mid-teens I…

The House of Commons already boasts its fair share of musical talent, not least former professional cellist Thangam Debbonaire and Cambridge choral scholar Sir Bernard Jenkin. But should we be adding Jeremy Corbyn to this harmonious throng? At a rally in Hastings, the Labour leader was seen clutching a score as he prepared to deliver his speech, prompting speculation that he might be honing his instrumental skills in his spare time. The music on the score was Perigoso, a jaunty choro by the Brazilian Orlando Silveira (1922-93), but with only a treble clef to go on, we can only guess at the instrument in question. We will try to find out more……

Baton changes The Ulster Orchestra has announced that Daniele Rustioni is to be its new chief conductor. The Italian, who was formerly the principal conductor at Opéra National de Lyon, will succeed Rafael Payare in September. And in another maestro move, Dalia Stasevska is to become the new principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. There, she will be joining her fellow Finn Sakari Oramo, the orchestra’s chief conductor. Little farewell If either Rustioni or Stasevska want to conduct Tasmin Little in their new positions, they’ll need to be quick about it. The popular violinist has announced that she is to retire from the stage in the summer of 2020, bringing an end to a top-flight career of more than 30 years. In ‘bowing out’ (her pun), she says…

Cala Records has embarked on a collaboration with Signum Classics. Founded in 1990, Cala has an impressive back catalogue of releases, including those in its popular ‘New York Legends’ and ‘London Sound’ series. All its future recordings (and reissues) will be released as Cala Signum. Nonesuch and New Amsterdam Records also join forces this year to release around three albums per year. The partnership reflects the New York-based labels’ shared values, supporting the new work of several generations of American composers. The first releases will be by composers Caroline Shaw, William Brittelle and Daniel Wohl. Following the success of their recording of Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas Nos 6 and 9, violinist James Ehnes and pianist Andrew Armstrong return to the studio to capture more of the master’s works for…

Video games have become the most sophisticated of modern entertainments, and demand complex and rich soundtracks to match, suggests Tom Service In which medium can you find the greatest creativity in contemporary composition? Of course, it’s there in concert halls and on festival programmes, but if you really want to know where the frontiers of the art-form are, I think you need to get playing. And I mean really playing, immersing yourself in an environment in which music is a continually evolving, self-generating Pandora’s Box of wonders that are never the same over countless hours. I’m talking, of course, about video games. It’s no accident that we use the same verb about participating in music and gaming: we play games, just as we are do instruments or pieces of music.…

Hiew Tzejia, Glasgow Prokofiev’s Winter Bonfire has been such a discovery for me over the past few months. I heard the entire piece performed by Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the RSNO Junior Chorus conducted by Thomas Søndergård in Glasgow and it was heart-warming beyond words. As for recordings, I can’t stop listening to Fauré’s Ballade in F sharp Op. 19 recorded by Yuja Wang, as well as Ravel’s Valses Nobles et Sentimentales recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the late Claudio Abbado. There is just so much poise and elegance!…

Carlos Fariñas (1934-2002) Alongside Leo Brouwer, Fariñas was one of Cuba’s most important avant-garde voices but composed in a variety of styles. He studied with Copland in the US and returned to Cuba to found a computer and electroacoustic music department at the Instituto Superior del Arte. Leo Brouwer (b1939) Brouwer is one of Cuba’s greatest guitarists and a prolific composer for the concert platform and film. In the 1960s, with fellow composer Juan Blanco, Brouwer helped develop Cuba’s modern voice, although his later works are more traditional. Ernesto Lecuona (1896-1963) Cuban-born Lecuona made his name in New York writing for musicals, films and radio. His salon piano pieces incorporate Afro-Cuban rhythms, but fragments of a string quartet suggest a more sophisticated, modernist side. Manuel Saumell (1818-70) The first composer…

Franz Schubert Even in his lifetime, only two of the famous lieder composer’s operas were put on. But there are ten completed examples, and Alfonso und Estrella and Fierrabras have both enjoyed major productions in recent years. Alma Deutscher There aren’t many 11 year-olds who have two operas to their name. When Cinderella, which followed The Sweeper of Dreams, was premiered in 2016, The Daily Telegraph described it as a ‘lively comic opera’ (see p96). Scott Joplin The king of piano rags, Scott Joplin also wrote two ragtime operas, but only Treemonisha still exists in vocal score; it is occasionally performed and has been recorded. Pierre Boulez Despite his infamous remark about blowing up opera houses, Boulez discussed projects with several librettists. He complained that they always died before a…

Romantic splendour With his huge keyboard technique – described by Liszt as the finest he had ever known – and physical stamina to match, Alkan could create enormous musical structures sustained by the surging imaginative range that flourished in the Romantic era. His Symphony and Concerto, both for solo piano, are major examples. Classical affinities Alkan also had a different strand to his make-up – a winsome lyrical sense relating the Classical masters, and extending to a liking for Mendelssohn (pictured above), whose early Romantic style exuded Classical poise. Ultimate virtuosity Not all of Alkan’s works depend on pyrotechnics, but when they do, the physical demands are legendary. Wide, rapid, switchback leaps up and down the keyboard are a speciality. Figuration hurtling along unbroken at full-tilt for demandingly long periods…

Chopin was 29 when he completed his Second Piano Sonata. Polish by birth, he left his home country shortly before the November Uprising of 1830 and, by way of Vienna and Munich, eventually settled in Paris. Although a child prodigy as both a pianist and a composer (his first published work was a Polonaise in G minor written at the age of seven), he was a reluctant performer and preferred playing in Parisian salons to giving recitals in concert halls. In 1835, Chopin obtained French citizenship. He died in the capital 14 years later and is buried in Père Lachaise cemetery. Building a Library is broadcast on Radio 3 at 9.30am each Saturday as part of Record Review . A highlights podcast is available at bbc.co.uk/radio3…

Why Frage ? Frage (Question) is actually a very good approach to Schumann. As soon as you think you have an answer to his works and what they may mean, you are possibly on the wrong track. You have to keep yourself open-minded with Schumann and so I agreed that this was a good title for the album. It’s also the title of a song in the Kerner Lieder. What can you tell us about the larger Schumann project? We have already recorded a lot of songs, and in the end we will record them all; so the album is an opening to this idea. Gerold and I have a special love for Schumann’s songs. Everybody knows Schubert invented them – and he’s really like the Godfather.…

Berlioz Harold in Italy; Overtures Alto ALC1369 (2000-03) 68:04 mins Top-flight Berlioz performances with Sir Colin Davis’s incisive conducting, a live-wire LSO, and Tabea Zimmermann the lustrous-toned viola soloist in Harold in Italy. ★★★★★ Musorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition Ravel La Valse Respighi Rossiniana Eloquence 482 4983 (1958/67) 66:50 mins Ernest Ansermet conjures clean-as-a-whistle sonorities from his Suisse Romande Orchestra in Pictures at an Exhibition and La valse; Respighi’s Rossiniana suite charms. ★★★★ Shostakovich Symphony No. 11 ‘The Year 1905’ Alto ALC 1366 (2002) 72:33 mins Mstislav Rostropovich’s ultra-spacious, sometimes ultra-slow way with this symphony takes ten minutes longer than the recorded average, but impresses nonetheless. Powerful LSO playing. ★★★ Tchaikovsky Swan Lake; The Nutcracker Eloquence 482 5225 (1951/52) 137:47 mins (2 discs) Anatole Fistoulari’s high-octane conducting has the LSO…

Joseph & Michael Haydn J Haydn: Concerto per il Corno da caccia in D, Hob. VIId; M Haydn: Concerto per il Corno principale in D, MH 53; Concertino per il Corno e Trombone, MH 86; Concertino per il Corno in D, MH 134 Premysl Vojta (horn), Fabrice Millischer (trombone); Haydn Ensemble Prague/Martin Petrák Avi 8553146 64:34 mins The Haydn Ensemble Prague responds with colour and precision This is complicated. The Horn Concerto, MH 53 was once tentatively ascribed to Joseph Haydn and has since been catalogued as by his younger brother Michael, but may be by neither. Similarly, the Concertino, MH 134 could be Michael’s hand-copy of a concerto by somebody else. Neither work is of any great substance, though the middle movement of MH 53 has a pleasing melancholy…

Deutscher Cinderella (DVD) Vanessa Becerra, Jonas Hacker, Mary Dunleavy, Nathan Stark; Alma Deutscher (violin, piano, organ); Opera San José/Jane Glover; dir. Brad Dalton (San José, 2017) Sony DVD : 19075895049; Blu-ray : 19075895059 157 mins (2 discs) Alma Deutscher (b2005) completed Cinderella, her first full-length opera, before she was a teenager; the work premiered in Vienna in 2016. Deutscher, now 13, is a prodigious violinist, pianist and composer who has attracted international attention for her unusual talents – most recently, an hour-long BBC documentary surrounding the making of the Viennese Cinderella. The work was subsequently picked up by Opera San José: it is their performance at the California Theatre in San José – with embellished orchestration – that is presented here. In this engaging version of…

Sullivan The Light of the World Natalya Romaniw, Eleanor Dennis (soprano), Kitty Whately (mezzo-soprano), Robert Murray (tenor), Ben McAteer (baritone), Neal Davies (bass-baritone); Kinder Children’s Choir; BBC Symphony Chorus; BBC Concert Orchestra/John Andrews Dutton 7356 (hybrid CD/SACD) 146:19 mins (2 discs) It’s Ben McAteer’s emphatic Jesus that impresses most Over the last few decades there’s been a revival of interest in Arthur Sullivan’s serious scores. The latest to receive a full-scale studio recording is the oratorio The Light of the World, launched at the Birmingham Festival in 1873 when the composer was 31 – so predating all the Gilbert & Sullivan operas with the exception of the lost Thespis (1871). In the tradition of the post-Mendelssohn English oratorio, it’s an uneven work that nevertheless contains imaginative touches along the way,…

Bartók • R Schumann Bartók: Hungarian Folktunes; Violin Sonata Schumann: Violin Sonata No. 1; Three Romances Stephen Waarts (violin), Gabriele Carcano (piano) Rubicon RCD1027 73:17 mins Though they might seem an unlikely pair, Schumann and Bartók are linked by several threads: notably the Hungarian violinists Joseph Joachim (friend to Schumann, admired by Bartók) and his great-niece Jelly d’Arányi, for whom Bartók’s Violin Sonata No. 1 was written, and who gave the UK premiere of the Schumann Violin Concerto in 1938. Stephen Waarts and Gabriele Carcano also find musical affinities between the composers. Bartók’s style – whether in the modernist Sonata or the breezy folksong arrangements – is not just earth and fire, but poise, lyricism and elegance as well. Perhaps his works receive the more successful performances here: the folksong…

Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979) As a violinist, Rebecca Clarke was one of the first women to join a professional ensemble in 1912. As a composer she was well supported in the US – where she spent much time – and wrote a Violin Sonata (1919), Piano Trio (1921) and Rhapsody for Cello and Piano (1927). The 1920s and ’30s saw little composing, but plenty of performing in England. With her return to the US during World War II, Clarke returned to composing whilst working as a nanny. She wrote a Prelude, Allegro and Pastorale for the 1942 ISCM festival in California, at which she was the only woman composer.…

Nino Rota (1911-79) A prolific composer, Nino Rota was born in Milan and was a young prodigy with works premiered in his hometown and Paris as early as 1923. It was at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory where he studied and, after a short period at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, Rota returned to Italy to study literature. Despite composing chamber and orchestral works, ballet and a number of operas, it is for his film scores that he is perhaps best remembered today. His film career started in the ’40s and continued through to his death; he composed regularly for Fellini and won an Oscar for The Godfather Part II .…

March round-up When Radio France launched its Ocora label in 1957 it was intended as a benign off-shoot of the French colonial project – an exercise in musical stocktaking. But the archive it has built up over the last 60 years is now uniquely precious, since almost all the other ethnographic labels have bitten the dust. The six discs of The World of Traditional Music traverse the globe in ways which bring out unexpected connections between seemingly alien musics. This box of tricks can set the mind racing in many directions. (Ocora C 560277-82 ★★★★★ ) No apologies for the inclusion of two more Ocora products, as it is now almost alone in continuing to market the results of hardcore research, even if it was done in earlier times. Thus…

THIS MONTH: DAB RADIOS BEST CLOCK-RADIO Tangent Spectrum £175 The Danes have a habit of making great-sounding, good-looking hi-fi, and this high-quality design from Tangent certainly ticks my boxes. Its unconventional cube design actually looks great on my sideboard, with walnut trim, metal buttons and colour display giving it a premium finish, and thanks to the two full-range stereo speakers on each side of the cabinet there’s a surprisingly big, impressively detailed hi-fi sound to be enjoyed whether you’re playing FM, DAB, DAB+ or streaming over Bluetooth. tangent-audio.com CAR UPGRADE Pure Highway 600 £149 A practical kit for anyone without in-car DAB, this discrete bundle can transmit over FM or via the line-in, can handle your hands-free calling, boasts a bright display and intuitive controls, and has Bluetooth for streaming…