'Dreaming and Singing' from fine Music Makers in a watery themed Prom - Prom 53

Sir Andrew Davis
© BBC/Chris Chrisodoulou

Stacey Tappan (soprano)
Dame Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano)
Anthony Gregory (tenor)

BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Andrew Davis (conductor)

Thursday 29 August 2019, 7pm

BBC Prom 53

Royal Albert Hall, London

★★★★

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

Hugh Wood (b.1932): Scenes from Comus

Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934): The Music Makers, Op. 69

Dame Sarah Connolly & the BBCSO
© BBC/Chris Chrisodoulou

Vaughan Williams:
A 'richly warm and affectionate reading of this well-loved piece'.

Wood:
'Davis was positively swinging with the offbeats and frequent beat changes'.

Elgar:'
The BBC Symphony Chorus 'delivered the text with excellent precision, and flawless tuning throughout.

Connolly 'gave an impassioned and commanding performance here. ... her final lines ... brought a tear to many an eye'.

Read my full review on Bachtrack here.

CD Reviews - July 2019

Edward Elgar's The Music Makers has received a frankly stunning reading from the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Sir Andrew Davis, with Dame Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano).  From the orchestra's opening introduction, with its Enigma theme quotation, to the sequence of dramatic choruses delivered with excellent precision and clear diction, the combined BBC forces here are exemplary, and Davis manages the rapid tour through extremes of dynamics with rhythmic energy and drive.  Setting the Ode by Arthur O'Shaughnessy in its entirety, Elgar draws on a great deal of self quotation, including The Dream of Gerontius, the Sea Pictures, both his Symphonies and the Violin Concerto, as well as the Enigma Variations. Yet it is a work of remarkable coherency and feeling, and Connolly's heartfelt passion, backed by the full sound of the chorus, whips us along with the emotionally charged (if rather self-indulgent) text.  This is an excellent recording, with full dynamic range, rich orchestral textures and fine singing from soloist and chorus. The Spirit of England is setting of three poems by Laurence Binyon, written between 1915 & 1917. Composed for soprano or tenor soloist, chorus and orchestra, it is often performed with two soloists, and this is in fact the first recording with a tenor (Andrew Staples) taking all three sections.  This is Elgar in more ostensibly patriotic mode, and Staples' suitably declamatory delivery is supported by the incisive chorus in the opening 'The Fourth of August' (the date of declaration of war on Germany).  There are tender moments, but this is full-on Elgar, yet Davis never allows the weighty orchestration to totally overpower proceedings.  'To Women' has more stillness in its dark colours, and here Staples is allowed to show a greater dynamic range, in some particularly tender moments.  The final setting, 'For the Fallen', contains considerable variety in Elgar's detailed setting of the text, with dark irony in its almost jaunty march rhythms.  Once again, the chorus excels in its precision and diction throughout, and great tenderness when Staples joins them for the repetitions of 'We will remember them'.  Overall as a work, The Spirit of England has perhaps not travelled through the years as well as The Music Makers, but this is an excellent recording from all concerned. 

Elgar, E. 2018. The Music Makers, The Spirit of England. Dame Sarah Connolly, Andrew Staples, BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Sir Andrew Davis. Super Audio Hybrid Compact Disc. Chandos CHSA 5215.

Ibrahim Aziz is a viola da gamba player from Malaysia, now living in London. He has recorded a fascinating programme, Risonanze, exploring what he sees as the particular resonances of the instrument, a member of the viol family and a fretted cousin of the cello, although with perhaps a darker tone and less power of projection.  He starts with a transcription of the Cello Suite No. 2 by J S Bach, and immediately we hear the difference - perhaps a less consistently warm tone, but a definite ringing, enhanced by a highly resonant recording. Aziz makes his instrument sing, particularly in the final dancing Gigue.  He follows this with 'Suite Estiu', by the Spanish composer, Carlos Martínez Gil (b.1959).  Estiu, an anagram of suite, also means summer in Catalan, and the five movements here correspond to the five senses, and the composer's recollections of the sensations of summers spent in northern Spain.  We begin in the sound world of Bach, but slowly, use of pizzicato, more jagged rhythms, or slightly unexpected harmonies in the rocking 'Roces' (meaning 'brushing lightly) take us in a subtly different direction, ultimately feeling like meditations on the earlier soundworld.  Next, Three unaccompanied pieces by composer and virtuoso gamba player, Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787).  The first is a beautifully rippling study, 'Arpeggio', and Aziz maintains a beautifully steady flow throughout its shifting harmonies.  A somewhat gentle 'Allegro' is followed by softly singing 'Adagio', and here again Aziz brings out a beautifully resonant tone.  Rebecca Rowe (b.1970), herself a viola gamba player, wrote 'Journeying' for Aziz in 2018.  Rowe uses resonant, spread chords, and there's a moody, almost eastern flavour to the brief snatches of melodic line, and Aziz performs this with assurance. The remainder of the disc is given over to the Sonata No. 5 by Johann Schenck (1660-1712).  We're back in Bach territory, although as a gamba player, Schenck’s set of seven movements, a suite in all but name, perhaps better captures the idiomatic resonance of the instrument that Aziz refers to. Aziz definitely achieves his aim of demonstrating the resonant qualities of his instrument, as well as his own considerable talent.

Various. 2019. Risonanze - Music for viola da gamba. Ibrahim Aziz. Compact Disc. First Hand Records. FHR83.

Flauguissimo Duo, Yu-Wei Hu (flute) and Johan Löfving (guitar) are alumni of Brighton Early Music Festival's BREMF Live! scheme, so will be familiar to some, and they specialise in historically-informed performance of 18th and 19th century music.  Music for the two instruments flourished in the salon culture of the time, and their debut recording takes inspiration from the fashion of taking tunes popular in the opera houses into domestic settings.  So the centrepiece of this disc entitled 'A Salon Opera' is their own arrangement of the Dance of the Blessed Spirits from Gluck's (1714-1787) opera, Orfeo ed Euridice.  Hu is allowed to shine in the opera's beautifully lyrical flute solo, and her breath control in its long sustained lines is impressive.  However, the Cantabile from virtuoso violinist-composer Paganini (1782-1840) is their delightful opener, allowing the duo to establish their delicate, sophisticated soundworld.  The recording is close, which suits the intimacy of the instruments and the repertoire.  Marginally less successful for me are the arrangements of three Schubert songs. Whilst it is certainly authentic to include such arrangements in a recreation of a domestic music-making gathering, it is hard not to miss the nuance of Schubert's expert setting of text. The arrangements here can't be faulted, and Hu's lyrical line is matched nicely by Löfving's deft accompaniment, with a suitably emphatic central section in Frühlingstraum from Winterreise, but it is hard to capture the full emotional contrast of love and loss inherent in Müller's text.  An die Nachtigall and Heidenröslein fair better, with their lighter melodies subtly ornamented by the flute.  Francesca Molino's (1768/75-1847) Notturno is a delight, with a particularly operatic Rondo, in which Hu enjoys the operatic coloratura to the full.  Fernando Sor's (1778-1839) Introduction and Variations on a Theme of Mozart, Op. 9 for guitar takes it's theme from Mozart's The Magic Flute, and after a dramatic introduction, the theme is presented in increasingly virtuosic variations, and here Löfving plays with great delicacy and bright tone.  After the Gluck, a dramatic Tarantelle for guitar by Johann Mertz (1806-1856) provides some welcome edge and rhythmic energy in an otherwise mostly lyrical programme, performed here with humour and bite.  They conclude with the Grande Serenade by Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829), with a graceful opening theme and variations movement, allowing both instruments to shine in turn.  Following a dainty minuet and slightly livelier trio, then a jaunty march, is an operatic 'Brillante' finale. Overall, a pleasing collection, performed with style.

Various. 2019. A Salon Opera. Flauguissimo Duo. Compact Disc. Resonus Classics. RES10233.

(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene, July 2019)

Fuel to the Proms fire on the First Night - Prom 1

© BBC/Chris Christodoulou

BBC Prom 1

Igor Levit (piano)

Edward Gardner (conductor)

BBC Proms Youth Choir

BBC Symphony Chorus

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Friday 14 July 2017

Royal Albert Hall, London

★★★★

Tom Coult: St John's Dance

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37

John Adams: Harmonium

© BBC/Chris Christodoulou

'Mass hysteria, Schiller’s Ode to Joy and Wild Nights – a heady mix for this year’s opening night of the BBC Proms'.

Coult: 'The overlaying structure ... is deftly constructed, and Coult’s writing has great energy and drive, making this a successful concert opener'.

Beethoven: 'Levit made the long lyrical lines of the Largo sing'.

Adams: 'A highly impressive performance of this modern choral classic, testament to the input of the array of chorus directors involved, as well as to Gardner and the BBCSO’s command of the work's massive orchestral demands'.

Read my full review on Backtrack here.

CD Reviews - February 2014

The Italian, all male Renaissance polyphony group, Odhecaton were new to me, but they have been around since 1998 and have a number of discs behind them, as well as several awards.  Their latest recording, entitled De Passione, consists of music by Franco-Flemish composers Josquin des Prez (c.1450/55–1521), Jacob Obrecht (1457/8-1505), Loyset Compère (c.1440-1518) and Gaspar van Weerbecke (c.1445-after 1516), all published by Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice in 1503.  The 11 singers are directed by Paolo Da Col, and the motets they have chosen for this collection all focus on texts relating to the passion and Holy Week.  The substantial works by Josquin (O Domine Iesu Christe, Miserere mei Deus, and Qui velatus facie fuisti) are familiar to me, and they receive assured and beautifully sustained performances here.  Compère’s equally substantial In nomine Iesu was new to me, however, and is beautifully rich in texture, with Odhecaton exploiting the composer’s use of the lower registers of all the voice parts.  I really enjoyed the sound world of all male voices, and the countertenors consistently avoided the common tendency for a slightly hooty sound on top, blending perfectly with the lower voices.  Obrecht’s subtle Parce Domine opens the disc, and van Weerbecke’s dark, sonorous Tenebrae factae sunt is an added treat.  This is followed on the disc by a startling contrast – which certainly surprised me on first listening, as I hadn’t read the notes beforehand.  Sardinian singer Clara Murtas sings a solo traditional lament, O tristu fatale die.  The style is a sudden change, but somehow finds a fitting place here, the mother of Jesus’ lament almost providing a release after the contained and controlled polyphony.  To follow this and close the disc, Odhecaton return with Josquin’s Miserere mei Deus.  Highly recommended.

Various, 2012. De Passione, Motets by Josquin, Obrecht, Weerbecke, Compère. Clara Murtas, Odhecaton, Paolo Da Col. Compact Disc. Cantus C9637.

Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra continue the series of Orchestral Works by Gustav Holst (1874-1934) they took over following the sad death of Richard Hickox.  The latest volume contains two works, The Mystic Trumpeter, and his First Choral Symphony.  Both works employ a soprano soloist, here the great Susan Gritton, and they are joined in the Choral Symphony by the BBC Symphony Chorus.  The Mystic Trumpeter is the shorter work here, and perhaps because of this, is the more successful in my mind.  The text is by Walt Whitman, and Holst achieves a real sense of structure, guided by the poem, building to suitable peaks, before subsiding into peace and tranquility at its close.  The First Choral Symphony, at over 50 minutes long, however, struggles to maintain coherency for me.  There is great music here, and the first three movements succeed to a great extent in creating a variety of textures and moods from the diverse texts by Keats – the seven beats to a bar Baccahanal, the relaxed calm of the second movement’s Ode, and the delicate orchestral textures at the close of the third movement.  But having explored this variety, one gets the sense that Holst didn’t quite know how to conclude this mammoth work, and the finale dissapoints.  However, the performance here cannot be faulted and Gritton in particular is in fine form.  Credit also to the BBC Symphony Chorus, who produce a well-disciplined and rich sound throughout. 

Holst, G. 2013. Orchestral Works, Volume 3. Susan Gritton, BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis. Hybrid Super Audio Compact Disc. Chandos CHSA 5127.

Another continuing Chandos series with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, this time with Edward Gardner conducting two works by Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937).  His Stabat Mater from 1925/6, with solo voices in addition to the chorus and orchestra, is a striking and affecting work, with a stunningly beautiful lament from the solo soprano (here impressively sung by Lucy Crowe), and a fiendish fourth movement for just female choral voices, later joined by the female soloists.  Szymanowksi makes great use of these different forces, using choral chanting, a duet between solo alto (Pamela Helen Stephen) and clarinet, and melody in the final sixth movement for the solo soprano that is to die for.  The other piece here is the Choral Ballet, Harnasie, which is rooted in the culture of the Podhale region in the Tatra mountains in Poland.  Whilst there are moments reminiscent of Stravinsky and Janáček here, the overall effect is of a totally individual sound, and without even looking at the texts, images of folk dancing, revelry and wedding scenes are immediately conjured up.  In fact the story is of a bride who is abducted by a robber (Harnás).  I can’t profess to understanding Polish, but the BBC Symphony Chorus sound totally convincing and authentically unison in their diction, which must have been a considerable challenge.  There is real excitement and life in this music, which is fully expressed in this commanding performance from all concerned.

Szymanowski, K. 2013. Muzyka Polska, Volume Seven. Lucy Crowe, Pamela Helen Stephen, Robert Murray, Gábor Bretz, BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Edward Gardner.  Hybrid Super Audio Compact Disc. Chandos CHSA 5123.

(These reviews first appeared in GScene, February 2014)