Category: Recording

The operatic fantasies of Jacques-François Gallay
Anneke Scott natural horn, Steven Devine piano [Erard 1851], Lucy Crowe soprano
66:41
Resonus RES10153

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is one of two discs this month of which I have to say, ‘This is the most enormous fun’. It is the third of three recitals of Gallay’s music which Anneke Scott has recorded with support from the Gerald Finzi Trust and when I’ve finished writing this I’m going to order the other two. In the 1830s and 1840s Gallay was essentially Mr Horn in Paris, taking the technique of hand-horn playing to frankly unimaginable and barely practical heights – this repertoire would be still be hard with the full panoply of modern valves on the instrument.

But Anneke Scott is equal to it all – bravura does not even begin to describe her playing. The music is based on material from operas by Bellini and Donizetti which Gallay would have played in his position as solo horn of the Théâtre Italien, and is a mixture of moreorless straight transcription and more free treatments. Although her French diction is not of the very best, the three items in which Lucy Crowe joins add another dimension to the listener’s pleasure – the soprano/horn duet cadenza on track 3 is delicious. The booklet is excellent but in English only – German and French speakers must download from the Resonus website. And I must not fail to mention Steven Devine’s playing (on an 1851 Érard) of the quasi-orchestral piano parts – a masterly blend of élan and deference. Time to go shopping. I enjoyed this – a lot.

David Hansell

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NDR Radiophilharmonie, Howard Griffiths
70:48
cpo 777 746-2
+ “Erinnerung an Marienbad” (waltzes for small orchestra, op. 89)

[dropcap]L[/dropcap]ouis Spohr is perhaps best known as the composer of music for his own instrument, the violin. These symphonies (the 7th premiered in 1842 and the 9th from 1850) reveal that he had a far broader imagination than his tuneful and dramatic concertos suggest; the former is scored for two “orchestras” (representing–  in the simplest terms – good and evil) and the latter (which may be autobiographical) is subtitled “Die Jahreszeiten” which starts with Autumn! I requested a review of this disc since, as part of a complete series (and an extended discography from the record company), it represents the current state of performance practice in this repertoire. The recording of the 7th symphony is telling – the smaller of the two orchestras (“the divine in human life”) is beautifully captured (as is the smaller ensemble in the disc’s filler, a series of waltzes), with the solo strings and delicate woodwinds nicely balanced; “the earthly in human life” on the other hand is overpowered to a large degree by a brass section who simply swamp the detail (not an uncommon experience in performances by large orchestras). This was perhaps not so much of a problem in the other symphony because there was no juxtaposition of two ensembles and the ear became used to the more uniform sound. I wonder if period instruments – and a different approach to producing blankets of sound in the brass? – might help to reveal the subtleties of Spohr’s textures. That said, are there any period bands working in this area at all nowadays?

Brian Clark

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