Shostakovich and Mayflower reviews

-

NORMAN STINCHCOMBE REVIEWS 20TH-CENTURY SHOSTAKOVICH AND 17TH-CENTURY PILGRIM FATHERS' MUSIC



SHOSTAKOVICH: Ibramigova / State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia / Jurowski (Hyperion CDA68313) ★★★★★
Shostakovich's first violin concerto was premiered in 1955 by David Oistrakh who prepared a performing edition which differs from Shostakovich's autograph manuscript. Originally the bridge from Passacaglia to finale was to be played solo but Oistrakh asked for a respite and Shostakovich re-scored it for orchestra. Alina Ibragimova plays the original version here which allows, says the booklet notes, to hear "the concerto as originally conceived". Not quite. Ibragimova and conductor Vladimir Jurowski ignore Shostakovich's faster original metronome markings, which Frank Peter Zimmermann and Alan Gilbert observed in their 2016 recording. Zimmerman's timings for the Nocturne and Passacaglia are 9.07 and 11.05 – Ibragimova's are 12.36 and 15.02 so the latter is really a "traditional" performance. On those terms it's a very fine one, Ibragimova playing with a winning combination of passion, power and poetry as she also does in the slighter 1967 second concerto, with trenchant orchestral support under Jurowski.
Norman Stinchcombe

IBRAGIMOVA.jpg

MUSIC FOR THE MAYFLOWER: Passamezzo (Resonus Classics RES10263) ★★★★
In 1620 the "Mayflower" sailed from England with 102 passengers seeking their fortune in the New World. There's a record of the books they took with them, including music books. What songs might passengers have sung to while away the long voyage? Early music group Passamezzo – founded by Renaissance violin and viol player Tamsin Lewis – take up the challenge. Forty passengers were Pilgrims, Protestant dissenters, so there are settings of five Psalms and the Lord's Prayer but there's popular fare too. Up merry mates finds John Dowland less doleful than usual, and Thomas Weelkes' Come Sirrah Jack ho is a catchy sing-along to which one can imagine the ale flowing, and pipes being lit too if Tobias Hulme's Tobacco is Like Love is indicative. Passamezzo's playing and singing is vibrant, characterful and immediate, probably helped by the group's experience of theatrical and dramatic performance, making for a highly enjoyable hour.
Norman Stinchcombe

Popular posts from this blog

Jacquie Lawson e-card music

-
THE MUSIC BEHIND THE E-CARDS MIKE HUGHES-CHAMBERLAIN AND JACQUIE LAWSON E-CARDS by Christopher Morley It's always a joy when an e-greetings card plops into your inbox, not least at festive times of the year. It's easy to understand why the sending of these cyber-messages has become so popular, given the huge cost of postage nowadays At the forefront of this trend are the e-cards produced by Jacquie Lawson, and in addition to the attractive artwork, witty and sensitive storylines, and interactive opportunities offered by these little gems, comes the input of music, atmospheric and appropriate. Whether specially composed or arranged from other sources, these sound-pictures are masterminded by Mike Hughes-Chamberlain, who has made the seamless connection between a musical education and Information Technology in order to create scores for these scores of delightful little gems. He was brought up in Hindhead in Surrey, where his mother founded a music school in 1975.
Read more
-
  Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra 80 th   anniversary concert Birmingham Town Hall   5 stars *****   Eighty years is a ripe age for any orchestra, and two years after Covid scuppered the planned anniversary concert, the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra didn’t stint on what was actually its 82 nd  birthday celebration. The BPO had assembled a chorus specially for the occasion, and with representatives from (among others) Birmingham Bach Choir, Wolverhampton Chamber Choir, Dudley Choral Society and Walsall Choral Society, what was billed as a birthday party for the West Midlands’ pre-eminent amateur orchestra actually served as a much wider showcase for regional amateur music making at its most buoyant.    You wouldn’t have guessed that this was an  ad hoc  choir: tuning was secure, ensemble was tight and the tone glowed, especially up top. With the entire first half devoted to Elgar’s  The Music Makers –  the last masterpiece thar Egar created specifically to be sung here in Birmingh
Read more
-
  A triumphant night for the CBSO’s ‘King Kazuki’ CBSO at Symphony Hall ★★★★★ I doubt if the forthcoming coronation of King Charles III will be greeted with such spontaneous joy or the wholehearted embrace which greeted Kazuki Yamada as he was crowned as the CBSO’s new Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor. The packed Symphony Hall audience overflowed with warmth towards the vibrant, bouncing good humoured man whom they have held in great affection since he became Principal Guest Conductor in 2018. At the end of an exhilarating concert we were engulfed in hundreds of black and white “CBSO” embossed balloons released from the ceiling – general genial mayhem ensued. The madcap bacchanalian atmosphere was entirely fitting following a dynamic performance of Carl Orff’s choral blockbuster ‘Carmina Burana’. This was a triumph for the talented choirs and their Chorus Master Julian Wilkins. Just as a sight they were impressive – I gave up counting at around the 200 mark – with the CBSO Chorus a
Read more