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| © Benjamin Ealovega |
Michael Collins (clarinet, director)
Christine Rice (mezzo-soprano)
London Winds
City of London Sinfonia
Mozart: Serenade no. 10 in B flat major for Winds, 'Gran Partita', K361 (K370a)
Mozart: La clemenza di Tito, K621, 'Parto, ma tu ben mio'
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A, K622
Wigmore Hall
Wednesday 27 January 2016
'A lively and incisive performance from the London Winds, with great ensemble and clear communication between players'.
'This was chamber music making at its best'.
'Christine Rice’s warm voice blended wonderfully with Collins’ smooth tone'.
'The bravura finish from Collins brought the birthday celebrations to a suitably joyful conclusion'.
Read my full review on Backtrack here.
Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra’s second volume of orchestral music by Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) contains the rhapsody, Taras Bulba, based on a collection of
tales by Gogol. The first movement’s romantic cor anglais solo is contrasted
with some typically acerbic brass writing, and the death march to the scaffold
in the middle movement ending in a crazy dance and a wild high clarinet death
cry is highly imaginative. Warlike triumphant brass, organ and bells conclude
the finale of one of Janáček’s most popular orchestral works. The short
single-movement Violin Concerto, ‘The Wandering of a Little Soul’,
contains music the composer later used in his overture for From the House of
the Dead, and has been rescued as a concerto from incomplete drafts. Violinist James Ehnes performs this rhapsodic
work – full of interesting ideas, but perhaps better seen as an early working
out of material better exploited elsewhere. The Danube is a symphony with solo soprano (Susanna Andersson here), again completed by Miloš Štědroň and Leoš
Faltus. It contains some incredibly striking and arresting music, not least in
the virtuosic vocalise for soprano in the third movement. The Ballad of Blaník is poetic and expressive, with Good Friday
singing evoked by clarinets and violas, and a march for peace with bright
trumpets. Jealousy, a brief overture
originally intended for his opera Jenufa, is suitably violent and intense. The Fiddler’s Child, a ballad for
orchestra features the orchestra’s leader, Melina Mandozzi in a typically macabre folk tale, with divided violas representing
the poor villagers, and the oboe the sick child. Imaginative music from a
unique composer, all expertly performed here.
Janáček, L. 2015. Orchestral Works, Volume 2. Susanna Andersson, James Ehnes, Melina Mandozzi, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner. Hybrid Super Audio Compact Disc. Chandos CHSA 5156.
A full disc of lute music,
especially all by one composer, René
Mésangeau (c.1567-1648), is a risk. However, I have been very much enjoying
such a disc which I came across by lutenist Alex McCartney, who has worked with artists such as Emma Kirkby
amongst others. Mésangeau was reportedly the finest lutenist of his day, and
the works he wrote were considered highly influential on the instrument’s
repertoire. McCartney has recorded three of his Suites, each beginning with expressive Préludes, followed by a
selection of dance-based movements, such as Allemandes, Courantes and
Sarabandes. These different dances have their various characters, although
nothing ever gets going in terms of tempi, the Courantes coming closest to any
more rapid movement. However, once you relax into the courtly soundworld, the
stylish ornamentation and subdued tones of the instrument win you over. Like
the guitar, it is a difficult instrument to hear live in recital as it is
relatively quiet, so it comes over well on a recording, although here I would
say the recorded sound is a little boomy at times. However, this is an
enjoyable disc and worth exploration for anyone interested in the instrument –
or guitar lovers who want to try something different too.
Mésangeau, R. 2014. Mésangeau's Experiments. Alex McCartney. Compact Disc. Veteran Musica.
The fact that the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, with
conductor Rumon Gamba, are on their
sixth volume of orchestral music by French composer Vincent d’Indy (1851-1931) is evidence of the size of his
catalogue, yet very few works are regularly performed today. D’Indy studied
under César Franck, and taught many composers, including Satie, Albéniz and
even Cole Porter. He focussed more on the German symphonic tradition than
French contemporaries such as Debussy, Ravel and Fauré, which perhaps explains
why he suffered from a perception of being conservative. Yet his music has a
wealth of unusual ideas, interesting orchestration and a strong sense of
musical drama. This sixth volume begins with a cycle of three overtures, which
together form a substantial symphonic work, Wallenstein, based on a poetic drama by Schiller. The first
overture, which focusses on the triumphant Imperial army, is full of Wagnerian
triumphalism, and the romantically tragic second overture has some beautiful
orchestration, making good use of soulful clarinets and a mournful oboe solo.
The final part of the trilogy, ‘La Mort de Wallenstein’, has a mysterious
sequences of harmonies supposedly linked to Wallenstein’s belief in astrology,
and despite a dramatic brass dominated conclusion, it ends with wind and harps
in astral peace. The other substantial work here couldn’t be more different. The Suite dans le style ancien, was
actually unusually scored for string quartet, two flutes and a trumpet, but
here is played with full strings. I would say that whilst the trumpet fares
well out of this, there are times when the fuller strings obscure the flute
writing a little. It uses traditional dance forms that d’Indy would have been
familiar with as an editor of early music, and it combines a strong sense of
the traditions of forms such as the Sarabande and Menuet with imaginatively
modern ideas of rhythm and harmony. The Entrée is particularly balletic, and
the finale Ronde française contains a highly inventive double fugue. The three
other short works on the disc here include a delightful, if not particularly
profound work for cello and orchestra, the lyrical Lied, played here with a beautifully warm tone by Bryndis Halla Gylfadóttir. Throughout,
Gamba and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra play with strong attention to detail
and convincing warmth.
d'Indy, V. 2015. Orchestral Works, Volume 6. Bryndis Halla Gylfadóttir, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Rumon Gamba. Hybrid Super Audio Compact Disc. Chandos CHSA 5157.
(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene, January 2016)
