Categories
Recording

Songs of Love, War and Melancholy

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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Recording

Louis Spohr: Symphonies 7 & 9

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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Recording

Niels Gade: Chamber works Vol. 1

Ensemble MidtVest
62:23
cpo 777 164-2
Piano Trio in F, op. 42, String Sextet in E flat, op. 44 & early version of op. 44/i

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his is the first volume in a series to be dedicated to all of Gade’s chamber music, sponsored – apart from state and local government funding – by the “friends of the ensemble”. As Finn Egeland Hansen’s interesting booklet note explains, the repertoire is dominated by strings (there is only one work that does not feature the violin!) As well as five works for string quartet, he wrote a quintet and an octet, as well as the sextet on the present CD. Completed in 1863, it seems not to have satisfied Gade and, as well as amending to movements 2 to 4, he composed an entirely new first movement the following year. In the name of completeness, the original version is also included. The piano trio that fills the remainder of the disc shares various characteristics – the “slow” movement (in both cases and Andantino) is placed third, after a scherzo and trio in five sections; both have elements reminiscent of Mendelssohn’s “Midsummernight’s Dream” or his octet, though the sextet has the intensity and rich harmonies of Brahms, whose first sextet appeared only a few years earlier. Although they play on modern instruments, Ensemble MidtVest embrace all the positive elements of the HIP creed – the texture is clear so all the individual voices are audible, no one part dominates the sound. Gade’s music is tuneful and readily accessible – on this evidence, Ensemble MidtVest’s series can only attract more admirers.

Brian Clark

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Beethoven and the art of arrangement

Ensemble DeNOTE
69:07
Omnibus Classics CC5007
Grand Trio op. 38 (after the Septet op. 20) & Piano Quartet op. 16 (after quintet for piano and winds)

Following the 18th-century tradition of arranging larger-scale compositions for chamber ensemble, we have on this disc Beethoven’s own arrangement of the six-movement Septet op. 20, which he calls Grand Trio op. 38, and a lost quintet for piano and winds arranged as a piano quartet, op. 16. Many such arrangements tend to lose their instrumental colour, which no doubt is why we hear so little of Salomon’s arrangements of Haydn’s London symphonies nowadays. Here the Septet arrangement is dominated by the mellow tone of the Jane Booth’s period clarinet and (presumably a copy of) a Viennese-sounding fortepiano played by John Irving. The keyboard part naturally has much of the work to do, leaving the cello line more or less intact. The less well-known piano quartet (for string trio and fortepiano) is performed by Marcus Barcham-Stevens, Peter Collyer and Ruth Alford. Such is the ensemble’s attention to period ‘authenticity’ that the pitch used is A=430, and the keyboard tuning to a suitable Classical period temperament, which adds to the subtlety of the exquisite fortepiano playing. The string playing is always stylish, and free from excessive vibrato. The booklet, all in English, gives a general account of the background of the works and extensive performers’ biographies.

Ian Graham-Jones

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Recording

András Schiff plays Schubert

Brodmann fortepiano c. 1820
145:43 (2 CDs)
ECM Records 481 1572
Sonatas in G D894 & B flat D960, Moments musicaux D780, Impromptus D935, Ungarische Melodie D817, Allegretto in c D915

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he two discs inside this simple cardboard box come in blank white card covers. It took my simple intelligence a while to fathom out which disc was which, before I realised that there was one small centimetre long stripe on one side of one cover, and two on the other! I did wonder what sort of over-zealous economy drive might have necessitated this. Another, more obvious means of distinguishing which disc was which and which way to open the cardboard (let alone what items were on each disc) might have got your reviewer off to a better start. There were few economies evident in the booklet, however, with its 40 pages in both German and English. Schiff gives an account of his “conversion” to HIP and an account (with a photo) of his instrument, a Viennese fortepiano by Franz Brodmann c. 1820. There are reproductions of facsimile pages, together with 14 pages of notes on the music by Mischa Donat. The only thing lacking (a minor point) was the total disc timings. Besides the two sonatas, the gentle G Major and Schubert’s last keyboard work, the great B flat sonata, the recording includes the six Moments Musicaux (op. 94) complete, but only the second set of four Impromptus (op. 142), together with two miscellaneous pieces, a Hungarian Melody (D. 780) and an Allegretto in C minor (D. 915). The gentle, mellow quality of the instrument is evident from the start, even in the fortissimo climaxes, and the use of the una corda and moderator pedals on the instrument is particularly effective. For those who appreciate the subtleties that the best of these historical instruments of the period can produce, this is a performance to be treasured.

Ian Graham-Jones

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Recording

Weber: Silvana

Michaela Kaune Mechthilde, Ines Krapp Clärchen, Ferdinand von Bothmer Graf Rudolf, Jörg Schärner Albert von Cleeburg, Detlef Roth Graf Adelhart, Andreas Burkhart Fust von Grimmbach, Simon Pauly Krips, Tareq Nazmi Kurt, Marko Cilic (spoken) herald/Ulrich, Rut Nothelfer cello, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Ulf Schirmer
141:34 (2 CDs)
cpo 777 727-2

An opera in which the heroine doesn’t sing? Well, I suppose many of us will have experienced performances that inspired the feeling that it might be an improvement, but this is the only example I know of where the part was written in such a way. The first of Weber’s operas to achieve some success, Silvana has its roots in the composer’s first operatic venture, Das Waldmädchen of 1800. The immature teenage work was discarded, but Weber incorporated fragments of it when he returned to a re-worked version of what is an archetypal Romantic story. A naïve mute girl is discovered living in a wild forest by Rudolf, a hunting nobleman. He of course falls in love with her and after many twists and turns eventually discovers she is the noble sister of the woman to whom he is unwillingly engaged. Fortunately she too wants to marry someone else, so all ends well, especially as Silvana has only been playing mute. Silvana created little impression when first given in Frankfurt in 1810, but achieved greater success when it was staged in Berlin two years later.

Both as literature and drama Silvana is fatally crippled by a quite abominable libretto. Characters appear and disappear, only to play no further part in the proceedings, while a line like ‘shall I ruffle my hair in my rage?’ is sadly not unique. Musically, too, the opera is hardly distinguished, though the forest setting of the first and third acts inspires the evocation of nature in all its sublime awesomeness that would reach full maturity in Der Freischütz a decade later. There are also many felicitous touches of orchestration, the touching scene in which Rudolph attempts to question the silent Silvana enhanced by an expressive cello solo.

The present performance of the original 1810 version is taken live from a production in Munich in 2010. The singing is variable, the demanding role of Rudolph in particular needing an heroic tenor in the Jonas Kaufmann mould, qualities regrettably not in evidence in the strained, over-parted singing of Ferdinand von Bothmer. The main female singing role is that Silvana’s sister Mechthilde, Michaela Kaune progressing from an unsteady start in the scene with her blustering father Adelhart to give a dramatically compelling and more tonally secure account of her big act 2 recitative and aria. The only other major role is that of the squire Krips, a Papageno-like character, well if not memorably sung by Simon Pauly, while the singing of the smaller roles does nothing to add or detract from the overall competency. The experienced Ulf Schirmer directs with sensitivity and due regard for Weber’s fresh, bright orchestral palette, while drawing fine playing from his Munich Radio forces, though period winds (in particular) would doubtless have provided greater piquancy. The booklet includes a translation of the sung parts, but does not print the spoken dialogue in German or English, a synopsis being provided in another part of the text.

Brian Robins

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Recording

Jadassohn: Symphonies 1-4

Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt, Howard Griffiths
127:34 (2 CDs)
cpo 777 607-2
+Cavatine op. 69 (Klaudyna Schulze-Broniewska violin), Cavatine op. 120 (Thomas Georgi cello)

[dropcap]J[/dropcap]adassohn’s name came up frequently when I was looking into musical life in late 19th-century Dundee; as one of the Leipzig conservatory’s professors, he taught many of the Scots students and wrote annual reports on their progress. My curiosity to hear his little-known music was piqued by the Naxos lists and they kindly sent me a review copy. The excellent booklet notes suggest that Jadassohn realised that he was not keeping pace with changes in musical fashion and that his symphonies found little favour with later audiences. There is nothing “wrong” with any of these four substantial works, and indeed there is much to admire and enjoy – he had a keen ear for instrumental colour (his textbook, “A course in instruction of instrumentation” is still readily available!) and also a strong feeling for musical architecture; every part of his creation has its rightful place. And yet there is something unchallenging and comfortable about it all; there are no great shocks or surprises. That is not to say that the music is dull or monotonous – not in the least! The most attractive material is perhaps to be found in the two solo works, like slow movements from unwritten concertos, beautifully rendered by members of the orchestra. If you find the listening experience a little intense, simply turn to the back of the booklet, where a photo of director Howard Griffiths about to perform an expelliarmus charm on someone will soon lighten your mood!

Brian Clark

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Bach/Mendelssohn: Matthäus Passion (1841)

Jörg Dürmüller Evangelist, Tenor arias, Marcos Fink Jesus, Judith can Wanroij, Helena Rasker, Maarten Koningsberger SAB, Elske te Lindert Ancilla 1, Chantal Nijsingh Ancilla 2, Minou Tuijp Testis 1, Arjen van Gijssel Testis 2, The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Consensus Vocalis, Jan Willem de Vriend
111:39 (2 CDs)
Challenge Classics CC72661

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hough entirely recognizable as the Matthew Passion, and giving us an insight into the important role Mendelssohn played in the transmission of the performing tradition, there are some surprises in this live performance, captured on CD. The first is the overall length: the playing time of this version is 1:50 as opposed to 2.40 for Paul McCreesh’s OVPP performance of the whole work. The second is how very few full arias Mendelssohn retained: in his early1828/9 version he cut 10 arias, 4 recitatives and 5 chorales (though by 1841 – this version – he had restored 4 arias though frequently with shortened da capos) since he was keen to enhance the drama of what he believed to be the essential Passion story. Third, the Evangelist’s part is accompanied by two ‘cellos double stopping and a bass, replacing the fortepiano that Mendelssohn had played himself in 1829. For this he had used an unfigured bass part, so there are some rather tame harmonies; and some of the vocal part is smoothed out and cut too.

For 1841, Mendelssohn added a substantial organ part – a precursor of the exiting organ part played by Dr Peasgood in the Bach Choir performances in the Albert Hall I was taken to in the early 1950s. Most of the choruses are taken at a brisk pace, as Mendelssohn had suggested in his metronome markings. Where did the funereal 12 beats in a bar in the opening chorus of the Reginald Jacques’ Bach Choir performances that I remember come from?

Other things you would expect: clarinets or basset horns for oboes da caccia – effective with flutes for recorders in O Schmerz, for example – as used by Vaughan Williams in his Leith Hill festival performances in the mid 50s, and German-sounding broad-toned oboes rather than the thin French sound favoured by many modern orchestras. Having just returned from an illuminating day singing Brahms and Mozart with the OAE, I caught myself wishing that de Vriend had used 1840s period instruments for a performance that probably has its chief interest for readers of the EMR in recapturing Mendelssohn’s sound-world.

So this is not really an 1841 performance in the expected sense of the word, but a good and clear account of the 1841 Mendelssohn version on modern instruments, played with a good deal of awareness of historical performance style.

David Stancliffe

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Book

Schubert’s Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession

by Ian Bostridge
Faber and Faber, 2014
528 pp, £20.00
ISBN 9780571282807

The shocking impact on its first hearers of Schubert’s Winterreise is well documented; his friends were ‘dumb­founded’ by the overwhel­ming power of the grief expressed in the 24 settings of Wilhelm Muller’s poems. It is hugely popular today, but you have to prepare yourself for a performance – rather like going to King Lear – and Bostridge notes that silence usually follows the closing song, The Hurdy-Gurdy Man… the “sort of silence that otherwise only a Bach Passion can summon up”.

This guide to its grip on us, by someone as experienced in singing it and as authoritative about its background as Ian Bostridge, is a most welcome arrival. The book looks at each song in order, giving the text in the original German and then in translation, after which Bostridge explores its historical context then finding “new and unexpected connections – both contemporary and long dead – literary, visual, psychological, scientific and political”. There is a refreshing lack of musical analysis which will recommend him to the general reader, but his wide knowledge of history and art and above all his personal engagement with this great work as an ‘obsessed’ singer make his insights absolutely fascinating.

The range of associations, anecdotes and illustrations make the book an unfolding treasury: behind the songs are perhaps the failed love and dread of approaching death of the tragically young composer, and the repression and censorship of the Biedermeier world of Schubert and his friends.

But they were written in the wake of the “Winter journey to end all winter journeys”, Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow, which Bostridge describes in horrifying detail. This is linked to much later history… for example, the first performance by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, given when he was a schoolboy on January 30th 1943 and interrupted by a British bombing raid. The terrible conditions of the trenches in Stalingrad are considered, and Bostridge imagines German officers and soldiers listening to a recording made by Hans Hotter: “the Winterreise might have been a consoling companion in that other winter journey in 1942, abstract emotions allowing an escape from the concrete”

More contemporary resonances are struck with C. S. Lewis, Krapp’s Last Tape, Bob Dylan and Amy Winehouse. There are some unique insights given into 19th century marriage laws in Austria, and into changing attitudes to tears and weeping. Snippets of autobiography, illustrating the writer’s own journey, are revealing and touching.

Ian Bostridge’s scholarship and mastery of such a wide range of material (the bibliography alone runs to 10 pages) is hugely impressive but his touch is light; this is immensely readable, enjoyable and enlightening. His ‘obsession’ reaches out to the mind and heart of the reader, ensuring a much deeper response to this transcendental work.

Cathy Martins

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Categories
Recording

Mozart · Mendelssohn

Chiaroscuro Quartet
58:06
Aparté AP092
K421 + op. 13

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]hiaroscuro is a period instrument quartet that is not frightened of its pianissimos. So many ensembles pay little attention to the full range of dynamics that are available on their instruments. These players, however, all emanating from the Royal College of Music in London but now in a residency in France, are able to immediately captivate the attention of the listener. Through their use of wide-ranging dynamics, the discreet use of rubato and impeccable intonation and attention to detail, they are able to convey the dramatic intensity of the fine D minor work’s first movement, as well as the skittishness of the minuet’s trio section and the last movement’s variations. The booklet notes relate ideas and compositional principles in Mendels-sohn’s second string quartet of 1827 to material from Beethoven’s late string quartets, but I would need a more careful study of the scores to see any but a general relationship. For those that, like me, only enjoy classical quartets on gut strings and with only the most sympathetic use of vibrato, this is an impressive CD, and I look forward to hearing more from these players.

Ian Graham-Jones

[wp-review]

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