Norman Stinchcombe reviews the latest classical CD releases
Bach 'Goldberg Variations': Radek Baborák et.al. (Animal Music CD) ★★★★
Bach's aria and thirty variations were composed for a keyboard player called Goldberg to induce sleep for his insomniac aristocratic employer. "Dear Goldberg, do play me one of my variations," he would insist, so Bach's biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel tells us. A good tale but probably apocryphal; what's certain is that it's one of Bach's crowning achievements and was, as the 1741 published score puts it, "Composed for connoisseurs, for the refreshment of their spirits." There are dozens of keyboard recordings to choose from, played on the two manual harpsichord, the instrument Bach composed it for, and the modern concert grand. Musicians cannot resist the Goldberg spell and there are also recordings of transcriptions for an immense variety of soloists and ensembles including: solo harp, solo accordion, guitar duo, string trio, jazz trio, string quartet, and full symphony orchestra. This new one on the Prague-based independent label Animal Music is for an unusual, eyebrow-raising combination for four players: Radek Baborák (horn), Dalibor Karvay (violin), Andrei Pushkarev (marimba) and Petr Valášek (bass clarinet). On paper it sounds bizarre but play the CD, and the transcription by composer Thomás Ille sounds stimulating, serene and sometimes sublime. Babarek says that, "Performed in this line-up, the Goldberg Variations resemble a conversation between four friends discussing one central theme." In the opening Aria each instrument introduces itself, the distinctive voices are established, taking the lead in turn, and preparing us for an epic musical journey ahead, with Karvay's violin soaring languorously, supported by his companions. The quartet provides plenty of colour and tonal variety with Pushkarev's marimba at the forefront in Variation 1, the bass-clarinet tootling below, while in Variation 2 the four instruments weave the music's lines into an engaging, ear-tickling pattern, and Baborák's agile horn is prominent in Variation 6. For those who find the original solo keyboard a little austere the polychrome tonal variety and shading of this splendid recording will change their minds. Even hardcore harpsichord enthusiasts, like this reviewer, will find that this disc provides an hour of many musical pleasures.
Reich, 'The Sextets': Colin Currie Group (Colin Currie Records CD & SACD) ★★★★
Critics often use the words "authoritative" or "definitive" rather loosely as a term of praise. In the case of recordings of Steve Reich's music performed by percussion virtuoso and conductor Colin Currie and his ensemble then those two epithets are accurate and fully deserved. This recording of four Reich works comes with the composer's imprimatur on the inside cover of the CD: "The Colin Currie Group continues to give outstanding performances and make great recordings of more and more of my music." The generously-timed (79.19) disc includes four works; the five-movement 'Sextet'; the three-movement 'Double Sextet'; and the single movement 'Six Marimbas' and 'Dance Patterns'. Nothing here will convert the sceptical to Reich's music, but for those who enjoy the minimalist, hypnotic, rhythmically driven compositions Currie's group's razor-sharp playing and outstanding recording quality will make this an essential purchase. There's a substantial bonus for those listeners with SACD players and a surround-sound system: the 5.1 mixes will envelope them with the contrapuntal lines and interweaving sounds revealed with immense clarity. Just listen to the coruscating zig-zag lines of the vibraphones in the Sextet's second movement. Reich transcribed 'Six Pianos' (1973) as 'Six Marimbas' in 1986 and I prefer this version, which swaps pure percussive power and speed for a more measured and wider spectrum of sound, to great effect.
'Time Stands Still': Kieran White & Cedric Meyer (Somm Recordings CD) ★★★★
John Dowland and John Danyel, two of the most celebrated of Tudor songwriters and lutenists, both died exactly 400 hundred years ago this year and this disc is a fine way to mark that anniversary. There are twelve songs and solo lute pieces from Dowland and eight songs from Danyel sung by Kieran White with lutenist Cedric Meyer. In the notes White's voice is described rather pretentiously as " haute-contre" while his own website describes him simply as "tenor". It is a very fine and high tenor and he and Meyer perform the pieces a tone higher than the original keys to show this off. The songs and lute solos come from the 'First Booke of Songes or Ayres', published in 1597, the 'Second Booke', published in 1600, the 'Third and Last Booke', published in 1603 and 'A Musicall Banque't from 1610. The quality of White's voice, pure, passionate and words always rendered with clarity, reminds one of the young Mark Padmore, another fine British tenor. Few pieces by Danyel have survived, he was reluctant to publish, and most of the songs here conform to the format of lovesick swain lamenting his cruel mistress like 'Let not Cloris think', but 'Mrs M.E. her funeral tears for the death of her husband', is very different, a tripartite study of the psychology of grief, each section ending with the lament 'Pine, fret, consume, swell, burst and die," affectingly rendered by White and Meyer. Dowland's songs are more extroverted and showy and White delivers a beautiful 'Time stands still'. Meyer also shows off his skills in four dextrous lute solos by Dowland's. The recording, made at St Nicholas’ Church, Thames Ditton, is first rate, and full songs texts are included.
Arvo Pärt, Complete Symphonies: Iceland Symphony Orchestra / Ollikainen (Chandos CD & SACD) ★★★★
Many people were introduced to the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt by a disc of his music called 'Collage' conducted by his countryman Neeme Jarvi released by Chandos in 1993. It was an eclectic disc of seven works composed between 1964-1991 spanning a career that took him from an acerbic and austere style to his later religious, mystical and meditative style which led to his high profile in western Europe. That disc included a performance of Symphony No.2 (1966) and the first movement's opening jagged string pizzicatos transforming into a swarm of angry wasps, and its declamatory third movement was a jarring contrast to the serenity of 'Fratres' (1983) and 'Festina Lente' (1988) which preceded and succeeded it on disc. That same contrast is evident on the outstandingly played and recorded disc which generously (76:48) includes all Pärt'sfour symphonies performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra under their Finnish chief conductor Eva Ollikainen. There is a startling difference between the first the first two symphonies (1963 and 1996) and Symphony No.4 'Los Angeles' (2007-8) with the gentler introspective No.3 (1971) a transitional work, the string dominated work sounds almost like Vaughan Williams in particularly ruminative mood with some lovely string playing from the ISO. With No.4, for String Orchestra, Harp, Timpani, and Percussion, we are in familiar late Pärt territory - how different the pizzicato strings sound in the second movement to their use in Symphony No.2. The quality of playing and the revealing high-definition sound make this a bench-mark recording for Pärt's symphonies.
Andrew Downes, A St Luke Passion and Sacred Choral Works: Morgan Pearse, Philharmonia Voices & Philharmonia Orchestra / David Trippett (Prima Facie Records CD) ★★★★
Andrew Downes, who died in 2023 aged 72, was a major figure in the Midlands' musical scene both as a composer and teacher. Born in Birmingham into a musical family, he was head of the School of Composition and Creative Studies at Birmingham Conservatoire from 1992 until 2005, when he retired due to ill health but continued to compose. Choral music was an important part of his output and this new disc is a fine example of it . The major work here is his 'A St Luke Passion, lasting around 36 minutes, which was premiered at St John's Church, Wolverhampton in 1993, is devoted to the death and resurrection of Jesus and scored for baritone soloist, choir, piano duet, percussion and string orchestra. Those unfamiliar with Downes' work and simply looking at the title might expect music that is chaste, austere and forbidding but that's not the case: it's passionate, lively and musically eclectic, nearer to Leonard Bernstein's 1971 rock and gospel 'Mass' that it is to the Bach passions, but Downes nodded to tradition by including unaccompanied choral interludes sung in Latin which help to anchor the work in an ecclesiastical musical context stretching back to Palestrina. As a teacher Downes championed the study of what we now call "World Music" including African drumming and that's heard in the dramatic scene between Pilate and the crowd which leads to Jesus's crucifixion. The raucous visceral music, with players and singers using different time signatures is, as Downes' said, "straight out of African tribal music". Morgan Pearse is a versatile baritone, firm and secure in tone, with an opera singer's feel for drama and his Part I aria, accompanied by a solo violin, is very touching. David Trippett elicits the necessary drama, and hushed contemplation when required, from chorus and orchestra. The 70 minute disc includes Downes' 'Motet and Mass: O Magnum Mysterium', Op. 2 (1973), and a selection of short a cappella works in both Latin and English, showing different aspects of Downes' musical range which all receive fine performances. The booklet includes helpful notes plus the complete texts of the Passion and the other works. It would be a revealing introduction to anyone wanting to explore the composer's work.
Elgar From The Archives Volume 2: Tibor Varga (violin), André Navarra (cello) (Somm Recordings CD) ★★
Somm's archive recordings tend to be a hit and miss affair. Some gems have been unearthed, under-rated conductors highlighting aspects of a work that big-name artists overlook; composers conducting their own works, which are always revealing, though not always to their advantage. Other off-air radio broadcasts seem to have been rescued and restored for no pressing reason, and that's the case here. Lani Spahr's restoration work means that the mono sound is certainly cleaner and brighter than when they first appeared but they also reveal the deficiencies of the originals never intended for repeated listening. The 1956 performance of the Elgar Cello Concerto, with the Munich Philharmonic under Fritz Rieger, and the Elgar Violin Concerto, from 1957 with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, under Jan Koestier, prove that both orchestras were competent provincial bands conducted by modest kapellmeisters, no more no less. What of the soloists? The French cellist André Navarra's approach is the antithesis of heart-on-sleeve; not heartless but emotionally cool and crisply played, although some listeners will prefer that. I believe that he's heard to better effect on the 1957 Halle / Barbirolli EMI recording. Tibor Varga is little known and this performance doesn't inspire one to explore further - unpleasant on the ear and meretricious.
Shostakovich: Malmö Opera Chorus & Orchestra / Mark Fitz-Gerald (Naxos CD) ★★★★
For nearly twenty years the British conductor Mark Fitz-Gerald has been championing Shostakovich's music for films and theatre. His partnership with Naxos has produced impressively researched and reconstructed full scores of Soviet-era film such as 'Odna ('Alone'), 'New Babylon' and 'Ovod' ('The Gadfly') from which the sweet and memorably catchy 'Romance' has become a 'lollipop' in concert and on disc. This latest release is very different, not as substantial, more a musical bran-tub of short items with 43 tracks on a 56 minute disc each grouped by film and, in the case of the two interludes and opening of Act III, discarded fragments from Shostakovich's comic opera 'The Nose'. Fitz-Gerald reconstructed the lively incidental music for 'The Shot' from the original piano scores, portraying the bohemian life of experimental youth theatre in Leningrad during the late 1920s, before the Stalinist cultural purges. All was different by 1934 when Shostakovich completed his music for 'The Human Comedy', a piece of romantic escapism set in Paris. There's also a rarity in 'March of the Anarchists' from the film 'The Vyborg Side'. There was no score or notes available so Fitz-Gerald transcribed it by ear. He gets crisp playing and, to non-Russian speakers, authentic-sounding singing from the Malmö Opera Chorus and Orchestra and soloists Tor Lind (tenor); Kenny Staskus Laersen (flute); Allan Sjølin (balalaika); Jesper Sivbaek (balalaika); Edward Stewart (balalaika). The CD comes with Gerard McBurney’s essays on the films and their music, plus texts for the sung tracks from 'The Shot' and 'The Human Comedy'.
Andrew Downes, who died in 2023 aged 72, was a major figure in the Midlands' musical scene both as a composer and teacher. Born in Birmingham into a musical family, he was head of the School of Composition and Creative Studies at Birmingham Conservatoire from 1992 until 2005, when he retired due to ill health but continued to compose. Choral music was an important part of his output and this new disc is a fine example of it . The major work here is his 'A St Luke Passion, lasting around 36 minutes, which was premiered at St John's Church, Wolverhampton in 1993, is devoted to the death and resurrection of Jesus and scored for baritone soloist, choir, piano duet, percussion and string orchestra. Those unfamiliar with Downes' work and simply looking at the title might expect music that is chaste, austere and forbidding but that's not the case: it's passionate, lively and musically eclectic, nearer to Leonard Bernstein's 1971 rock and gospel 'Mass' that it is to the Bach passions, but Downes nodded to tradition by including unaccompanied choral interludes sung in Latin which help to anchor the work in an ecclesiastical musical context stretching back to Palestrina. As a teacher Downes championed the study of what we now call "World Music" including African drumming and that's heard in the dramatic scene between Pilate and the crowd which leads to Jesus's crucifixion. The raucous visceral music, with players and singers using different time signatures is, as Downes' said, "straight out of African tribal music". Morgan Pearse is a versatile baritone, firm and secure in tone, with an opera singer's feel for drama and his Part I aria, accompanied by a solo violin, is very touching. David Trippett elicits the necessary drama, and hushed contemplation when required, from chorus and orchestra. The 70 minute disc includes Downes' 'Motet and Mass: O Magnum Mysterium', Op. 2 (1973), and a selection of short a cappella works in both Latin and English, showing different aspects of Downes' musical range which all receive fine performances. The booklet includes helpful notes plus the complete texts of the Passion and the other works. It would be a revealing introduction to anyone wanting to explore the composer's work.
Elgar From The Archives Volume 2: Tibor Varga (violin), André Navarra (cello) (Somm Recordings CD) ★★
Somm's archive recordings tend to be a hit and miss affair. Some gems have been unearthed, under-rated conductors highlighting aspects of a work that big-name artists overlook; composers conducting their own works, which are always revealing, though not always to their advantage. Other off-air radio broadcasts seem to have been rescued and restored for no pressing reason, and that's the case here. Lani Spahr's restoration work means that the mono sound is certainly cleaner and brighter than when they first appeared but they also reveal the deficiencies of the originals never intended for repeated listening. The 1956 performance of the Elgar Cello Concerto, with the Munich Philharmonic under Fritz Rieger, and the Elgar Violin Concerto, from 1957 with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, under Jan Koestier, prove that both orchestras were competent provincial bands conducted by modest kapellmeisters, no more no less. What of the soloists? The French cellist André Navarra's approach is the antithesis of heart-on-sleeve; not heartless but emotionally cool and crisply played, although some listeners will prefer that. I believe that he's heard to better effect on the 1957 Halle / Barbirolli EMI recording. Tibor Varga is little known and this performance doesn't inspire one to explore further - unpleasant on the ear and meretricious.
Shostakovich: Malmö Opera Chorus & Orchestra / Mark Fitz-Gerald (Naxos CD) ★★★★
For nearly twenty years the British conductor Mark Fitz-Gerald has been championing Shostakovich's music for films and theatre. His partnership with Naxos has produced impressively researched and reconstructed full scores of Soviet-era film such as 'Odna ('Alone'), 'New Babylon' and 'Ovod' ('The Gadfly') from which the sweet and memorably catchy 'Romance' has become a 'lollipop' in concert and on disc. This latest release is very different, not as substantial, more a musical bran-tub of short items with 43 tracks on a 56 minute disc each grouped by film and, in the case of the two interludes and opening of Act III, discarded fragments from Shostakovich's comic opera 'The Nose'. Fitz-Gerald reconstructed the lively incidental music for 'The Shot' from the original piano scores, portraying the bohemian life of experimental youth theatre in Leningrad during the late 1920s, before the Stalinist cultural purges. All was different by 1934 when Shostakovich completed his music for 'The Human Comedy', a piece of romantic escapism set in Paris. There's also a rarity in 'March of the Anarchists' from the film 'The Vyborg Side'. There was no score or notes available so Fitz-Gerald transcribed it by ear. He gets crisp playing and, to non-Russian speakers, authentic-sounding singing from the Malmö Opera Chorus and Orchestra and soloists Tor Lind (tenor); Kenny Staskus Laersen (flute); Allan Sjølin (balalaika); Jesper Sivbaek (balalaika); Edward Stewart (balalaika). The CD comes with Gerard McBurney’s essays on the films and their music, plus texts for the sung tracks from 'The Shot' and 'The Human Comedy'.