The Australian Chamber Orchestra are
renowned for their lively and exciting live performances, and under their
director and lead violinist, Richard Tognetti, they have released a live recording of performances of Mozart’s final three Symphonies, Nos. 39-41, given in Sydney
in 2015. As with all good live
recordings, this retains a real sense of energy, and leave you wishing you’d
been there. Tognetti takes the fast
movements at a great lick, particularly the finale of No. 39, which has such
spark, yet without compromising precision and detail. Quick tempi in Mozart can sometimes feel too
frenetic and breathless, but there is always just enough sense of control
here. The darker moods are also given
great presence, particularly in the slow movement of No. 40. And the still shocking harmonic gear changes
in the finale are given enough drama without being overly aggressive. No. 41’s slow movement is treated with
sensitive care and attention, and the finale’s dazzling combination of no fewer
than five themes is suitably jubilant. These are impressive Mozart recordings
by any account, but with the added spice of their live energy, this makes them
worthy of high praise indeed.
I’ve
received two recordings this month featuring Irish pianist Michael McHale. First of
these is in fact a showcase album for fellow Irishman, the percussionist Alex Petcu. This is a real calling-card selection, with a
great variety of styles, as well as a range of percussion instruments. McHale joins him for Piazonore by Alexej Gerassimez, a short piece for vibraphone and piano, loosely based on
Piazzolla’s Libertango theme. This has
great drive, and Gerassimez (another percussionist) blends the piano and
vibraphone well. The Arabesque No. 1 by Debussy also receives a sensitive vibraphone treatment, and then
the instrument becomes ethereal and haunting when bowed in Elliot Cole’s Postlude No. 8. There’s plenty for the marimba too, including
some tasteful Bach, and the
delightful ‘A Little Prayer’ by the
great Evelyn Glennie, here
exploiting the instrument’s resonance to create a remarkably sustained
sound. Petcu also performs Steve Reich’s challenging marimba duet,
Nagoya Marimbas (with himself!), at
a mesmerizing speed. He is joined by
violinist Ioana Petcu-Colan in two
pieces, both with folk influences. ‘Yerkinkn
Ampel A’ is an arrangement of an Armenian folk song, and the Fugue from Prelude and Fugue by Sam Perkin has Andean influences. Once again, Petcu blends well with his
partner, and Petcu-Colan’s sweet tone complements the marimba timbre
effectively. A range of drums and other pitched and non-pitched instruments
also feature on the disc, which makes for a highly engaging and interesting
programme.
The
second disc has Michael McHale centre
stage, performing two Irish Piano Concertos, with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Courtney Lewis. Firstly, he
performs the Piano Concerto No. 3 by
John Field (1782-1837), the Dublin-born
pianist composer who is credited with the ‘invention’ of the Nocturne as a
genre piece. The concerto has just two movements, but apparently Field would
often insert one of his nocturnes in as a middle movement in performance, and
here, McHale himself has arranged the Nocturne
No. 2 for piano and orchestra, and it does act as a convincing central
movement alongside the Concerto. McHale gives a strong performance, showing
particular sensitivity in the fantasia-like section of the opening movement,
and relishes the virtuosic display of the final movement. For the other concerto here, we jump forward
to the present day, with Philip Hammond’s (b.1951) Piano Concerto, written for McHale, and premiered by him
just last year. Hammond describes his
style here as ‘retro-romanticism’, clearly drawing on the Romantic tradition of
the virtuoso concerto. It is a striking
yet accessible work, with a particularly haunting slow middle movement, with
relentless rising scales creating intensity and tension, which then explodes into
the rapid driving finale. McHale’s energetic virtuosity is ably supported by
great precision from the orchestra and Lewis.
Jacques Ibert (1890-1962) is a greatly
underestimated French composer, and it is a real surprise that his music, which
is often lively and full of humour, is not more often heard in the concert
hall. He didn’t restrict himself to any
particular prevailing style, and the variety of his output can be seen in this
disc of his orchestral works from the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, conducted by Neeme Järvi. The rich impressionism of the
opening movement of Escales… (‘Rome-Palerme’) stands in great
contrast to his eastern influenced use of a solo oboe in ‘Tunis-Nefta’, and again to the Spanish heat of ‘Valence’. Ibert’s Divertissement
is perhaps his best-known work, with its wit and circus-like brass vulgarity
and crazy police whistles. Järvi and the
orchestra have fun here, but take a slightly ironic approach, rather than fully
letting go to its excesses. Other gems here
include another atmospheric oboe solo in Féerique,
alongside the full-on Hollywood-esque celebration of Ouverture de fête. The Suite symphonique ‘Paris’ is another
compilation of incidental music, with Ibert deftly shifting action from the
original South American location of a play by Romain, to the busy metropolis of
Paris, and Järvi and the OSR bring out all the detail in Ibert’s lush and
imaginative orchestration. If you don’t
know his music, then Ibert is definitely worth exploring – and this is the
perfect place to start.
(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene, December 2016)
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