Bach sheds light in a impressively dark outing from the Australian Chamber Orchestra

The Australian Chamber Orchestra at the Barbican
© Mark Allan/Barbican

Alexander Melnikov (piano)

Jeroen Berwaerts (trumpet)

Australian Chamber Orchestra

Richard Tognetti (director)

7.30pm, Friday 21 March 2025

Barbican Hall, London

★★★★

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1850): The Musical Offering, BWV1079: Ricercar a 6 (arr. Richard Tognetti (b.1965)

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto no. 3 in G major, BWV1048

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Piano Concerto no. 1 in C minor for piano, trumpet and string orchestra, Op.35

Encore:

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963): Sonata for Trumpet & Piano, 3rd movement, extract

Sofia Gubaidulina (1931-2025): Reflections on the theme B-A-C-H, for string quartet (arr. for strings)

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Chamber Symphony in C minor, Op.110a (arr. Rudolf Barshai (1924-2010))

Encore:

Thomas Adès (b.1971): Arcadiana, Op.12 No.6: Albion

Jeroen Berwaerts & the ACO
© Mark Allan/BarbicanBach:Bach:

Bach:

'The Third Brandenburg Concerto had lively pace, brightness and understated dynamics, allowing for joyful interplay of solo lines'. 

Shostakovich:

'All concerned certainly delivered excitement, but also the darker uncertainty that lurks beneath its surface frivolity'.

Hindemith:

'Berwaerts delivered Hindemith’s drawn-out setting with stately solemnity and impressive control, over strangely lilting piano rhythms from Melnikov'.

Gubaidulina:

'The ACO ratcheted it up with searing intensity to a screeching climax, with eery glissandi peppering the route along the way'. 

Alexander Melnikov
© Mark Allan/Barbican

Shostakovich:

'The ensemble here brought intensity and commitment, and the second movement’s wild dance was indeed disturbing'. 

Read my full review on Bachtrack here.

Summer, Song and Strawberries - The Baroque Collective Singers

Baroque Collective Singers
John Hancorn, director

Sunday 2 July, 6.30pm

St Michael's Church, 158 High Street, Lewes BN7 1XU

The Baroque Collective Singers perform a cappella music for a summer evening, including Tudor madrigals - Wilbye's plangent 'Draw On, Sweet Night', neglected genius Weelkes's 'Hark all ye lovely saints' and, for light relief and some 'fa la las', John Bennet's 'All Creatures Now' - and French and English part songs.

The programme also features stunning choral music by Eric Whitacre, Britten, Janequin and Hindemith - plus prosecco and strawberries!


Details on Facebook here.

Tickets here.

The Baroque Collective Singers

John Hancorn

CD Reviews - August 2014

Viola player Barbara Buntrock and pianist Daniel Heide have released an intriguing set of three works, all composed in 1919.  First, the Sonata by Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), for which the composer won joint first prize in the Sprague Coolidge competition, sharing the position with Ernest Bloch (1880-1959), whose Suite for Viola and Piano is also here.  They are separated on the disc by the Sonata, Op. 11 No. 4 by Paul Hindemith (1895-1963).  The Clarke Sonata is a beautiful piece, unusual in that its emotional heart is a slow third movement.  There are elements of Vaughan Williams and Debussy here, but Clarke definitely has a voice of her own.  Sadly she left her studies at the Royal College of Music due to an inappropriate proposal from a professor and being thrown out by her father, and struggled to get her music taken seriously, even having to use a male pseudonym at times.  When she won the competition, rumours spread that her piece was actually by Bloch, as it couldn’t possibly have been composed by a woman.  She more or less stopped composing in the fifties after her marriage, but left a fine body of chamber, vocal and choral works which is gradually gaining the recognition it deserves (Check out the Rebecca Clarke Society for more).  The Hindemith Sonata by comparison is a darker work - there are still the late Romantic touches here, as well as hints of Debussy, but Hindemith’s drier, complex harmonic language is emerging too. The final work on this disc is the Suite by Bloch.  Unlike many of his works which draw on Jewish traditional music, Bloch’s main influence here is Java and the Far East.  Over these three works, all composed in the same year, there is a huge range of styles and soundworlds, which Buntrock and Heide capture well.  Buntrock produces beautiful warmth in the Clarke, a greater edge to her sound in the Hindemith, and brings out the ethereal exoticism in the Bloch, with Heide providing strong accompaniment throughout. Highly recommended.

Various. 2014. 1919 Viola Sonatas: Clarke, Hindemith, Bloch. Barbara Buntrock, Daniel Heide. Compact Disc. Avi Music 8553304.

Next, live performances from the Ensemble Epomeo, and members of the Orchestra of the Swan, conducted by Kenneth Woods.  First, the Ensemble Epomeo (with which Kenneth Woods plays the cello) and friends perform Verklärte Nacht (‘Transfigured Night’) by Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951) in its original string sextet version.  Schönberg later orchestrated the work, and it became one of his most performed works.  Unlike his later music, it is tonal, although highly chromatic, with a late Romantic stamp, and a strong Wagnerian flavour.  The orchestral version is extremely lush, but the sextet version, whilst obviously pared down in texture, actually has a greater intensity.  The poem by Dehmel which inspired the work is about a woman who walks with her lover in a moonlit forest, and confesses she is pregnant by another man.  Her lover ultimately forgives her and the intensity of their love and the beauty of the moonlight brings them together.  In this live recording, there are some occasional background noises, and in fact noises from the players themselves at time, with some rather heavy breathing in places.  However, they capture the build of intensity in the music, and one can sense that this must have been a captivating performance to experience live.  Despite the relative containment of the sextet version, the climaxes could take more passion, but otherwise this is an exciting performance.  The disc continues with another chamber version of a work better known as an orchestral piece.  Brahms (1833-1897) originally scored his Serenade Op. 11 for wind and string octet, then expanded it to a nonet, before fully orchestrating it in the version known today.  Brahms destroyed the original chamber version, but Alan Boustead reconstructed it, and here it is performed by members of the Orchestra of the Swan.  Another enjoyable live performance, combining sensitivity and warmth in the Adagio, spirit and fun in the second Scherzo, with a rousing gypsy-infused Finale.  The wind players in particular stand out for me in this lively recording.

Various. 2014. Brahms Serenade no. 1 in D major, Schönberg Verklärte Nacht. Orchestra of the Swan, Kenneth Woods, Ensemble Epomeo and friends. Compact Disc. Somm SOMMCD 0139.

Montreal based group VivaVoce, conducted by Peter Schubert have recorded motets based around Scenes from the Gospels, by composers including Josquin, Palestrina and Gombert.  As an ensemble, they produce a very clear, pure and even sound, which is perhaps less resonant than the fuller sounds of English ensembles we are more used to, such as The Sixteen and The Tallis Scholars.  They aim for a beauty of overall sound, I think, rather than inflecting the music with significant expression.  This works better for me in the more rhythmically interesting pieces, such as Domine, si tu es by Nicolas Gombert (1495-c.1560), or In illo tempore stabant by Adrian Willaert (c.1490-1592), but the longer, soaring lines of Palestrina’s (1525-1594) In diebus illis left me wanting more depth to the sound.  However, there is great variety in their programme, and a composer new to me was Michele Pesenti, or Michael of Verona (c.1470-c.1524), whose Tulerunt Dominum meum contains some beautiful word painting, taking the sopranos souring upwards on the word ‘spes’ (‘hope’), before bringing us back down to earth at the end.  To win a copy of this CD, email me at nbclassical@hotmail.co.uk - draw at end of August (UK only).

Various. 2014. Scenes from the Gospels: Motets from Josquin to Palestrina. VivaVoce, Peter Schubert. Compact Disc. Atma Classique. ACD2 2695.

(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene, August 2014)

CD Reviews - March 2014

Violinist Tasmin Little and the BBC Philharmonic, under Sir Andrew Davis, have gone for some canny programming with their latest disc of works for violin and orchestra by British composers.  Getting top billing is the ever-popular The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams, and it receives a beautifully sensitive performance from Little and the orchestra, without a hint of routine – a remarkable achievement in itself.  We are also treated to expanded arrangements of three popular Elgar salon pieces – the two Chanson (de matin & de nuit), and Salut d’amour.  Once again, these are lovingly yet not over-indulgently performed.  However, they head the disc with what could be regarded as the real ‘meat’ here – E J Moeran’s (1894-1950) Violin Concerto.  This is definitely a work that demonstrates how the performing canon often persists in ignoring works that deserve better exposure.  Moeran gives the solo violin plenty to do, and there is some really demanding material here.  However, the Irish tinges throughout, the lively dancing middle Scherzo, and a particularly beautiful slow final movement make this a very enjoyable and accessible piece that surely could be more regularly performed.  Here’s hoping Little’s advocacy, and clear love of the music, brings it greater recognition.  Delius’s (1862-1934) Légende was published in the composer’s lifetime as a work for violin and piano, and although the composer himself produced an orchestral version, it was only published in 1985.  This short single movement work is delightful, with singing lines for the violin, and skillful orchestration, particularly in the use of the wind section.  This is placed next to a similar length, single movement from Holst (1874-1934), A Song of the Night.  Unfortunately, this work suffers from the juxtoposition, and despite some interesting writing for brass, and a striking opening cadenza for the violin, it didn’t hold my interest – the performance cannot be faulted, however.  Throughout the disc, Little manages to combine a consistently smooth and sweet tone with an easy command of the considerable demands these pieces place on the soloist.  A well crafted programme of winning performances, highly recommended.  Little performed The Lark Ascending with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under David Hill in Brighton on 8 March 2014 - my review here.

Various, 2013. The Lark Ascending, E. J. Moeran Violin Concerto and works by Delius, Elgar, Holst. Tasmin Little, BBC Philharmonic, Sir Andrew Davis. Compact Disc. Chandos CHAN 10796.

I have reviewed live recordings from the annual Heimbach Festival which takes place in an Art Nouveau style Hydroelectric Power Station.  Despite this unlikely setting, it draws some great chamber performers, and the recordings have real excitement and energy, and the latest, a collection of chamber works from the early 20^th century, is no exception.  The disc opens with Two Pieces for Piano Trio by Lili Boulanger (1893-1918).  She was the first female winner of the prestigious composing award, the Prix de Rome, at the age of 19.  Sadly, she died just 5 years later, and her life was blighted by illness.  Her older sister, Nadia (1887-1979), is better known, as she went on to become the the most celebrated composition teacher of the last century, with students including Copland, Philip Glass, Piazzolla and even Quincy Jones.  In fact, she composed a limited output herself, as the tragic death of her sister led her to vow to stop composing, devoting herself to teaching, conducting and to promoting the work of Lili.  Here, her early Three Pieces for Cello and Piano are already more challenging harmonically, in contrast to the more lyrical soundworld of Lili’s work.  Debussy is represented on this disc by an early Scherzo for Cello and Piano, and his more substantial Violin Sonata.  The Violin Sonata is performed here by Alina Ibragimova (violin), with Lars Vogt, the Artistic Director of the festival, on piano.  Ibragimova produces a slightly more rounded sound for me than cellist Gustav Rivinius, who plays the Debussy Scherzo, as well as the Nadia Boulanger pieces.  At times, I find his tone a little brittle – although to be fair, this is perhaps more suited to the astringency of Boulanger’s writing.  The final work on the disc is Paul Hindemith’s (1895-1963) Trio for Violin, Viola and Cello.  This is certainly a terbulent work, reflecting the times (the German composer wrote this in 1933) as well as the shifting styles in Hindemith’s work.  Sometimes his music can be almost unbearably dry and cerebral, yet here there is real energy and life, and the live performance from Christian Tetzlaff (violin), Volker Jacobsen (viola) and Bartholomew LaFolette (cello) communicates this well.  A fascinating insight into lesser known twentieth century chamber repertoire here.

Various, 2013. Boulanger, Hindemith, Debussy. Wanzhen Li, Gunilla Süssmann, Alina Ibragimova, Lars Vogt, Gustav Rivinius, Anna Rita Hitaj, Christian Tetzlaff, Volker Jacobsen, Bartholomew LaFolette. Compact Disc. Avi 8553295.

French pianist Jean Efflam-Bavouzet enters the middle period of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas in his second volume set for Chandos.  The ‘biggies’ here are perhaps the ‘Tempest’ (Op. 31 No. 2), the ‘Moonlight’ (Op. 27 No. 2), the ‘Grande Sonate’ (Op. 26), and of course the ‘Waldstein’ (Op. 53), which heralds the final period sonatas which will presumably form the final volume in due course.  As with Volume 1, Bavouzet’s playing is commanding, and following his ongoing Haydn cycle, it is interesting to hear him bring the articulation and joy of that repertoire into his Beethoven playing, whilst also having the power and gravitas required for the increasingly extreme writing in Beethoven’s sonatas.  I particularly like his ‘Tempest’, and the slow/fast contrasts in the first movement are especially senstively judged.  I personally like a darker, more menacing ‘Moonlight’ than Bavouzet gives, and the finale here could be wilder and less tamed.  However, his ‘Waldstein’ is a towering performance, particularly throughout the incredibly challenging Rondo finale.

Beethoven, 2014. Beethoven Piano Sonatas, Volume 2. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. Compact Disc (3). Chandos CHAN 10798(3).

Finally, chamber music by Heinrich Hofmann (1842-1902).  Previously unkown to me, this German Romantic composer was apparently one of the most frequently performed German composers of the day, and yet is almost completely forgotten today.  Works such as his Sympnohy in E flat and his cantata, Märchen von der schönen Melusina, were widely performed in England and the USA too.  Having listened to this new CD from the Berolina Ensemble of three of his chamber works, I can see why the music was very popular, but I can also perhaps understand why it hasn’t stood the test of time.  The String Sextet is lively, with lyrical tunes and a rousing finish.  The Serenade for Flute and String Quintet has great writing for the flute, with a touching slow movement and dance-like finale.  The Octet, for the unusual line-up of flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon and string quartet, is the most interesting piece here, with greater complexity of ideas – yet there are still no great surprises.  And therein lies the crux – music that doesn’t surprise may be popular in its day, but it is unlikely to achieve longevity.  These are convincing performances, and the wind players in the Octet particularly deserve mention for their lyricism.  But I am not inspired to seek out more of Hofmann’s work on the back of this.

Hofmann, 2013. Chamber Music - Octet, Serenade, Sextet. Berolina Ensemble. Compact Disc. MDG 948 1808-6.

(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene, March 2014)