CD Reviews - December 2016

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.

Mozart, W. A. 2016. Mozart's Last Symphonies. Richard Tognetti, Australian Chamber Orchestra. Compact Discs (2). ABC Classics 481 2880.

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.

Various. 2016. In Time - Music for Solo Percussion. Alex Petcu, Ioana Petcu-Colan, Michael McHale. Compact Disc. RTÉ lyric fm CD151.

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.

Various. 2016. Irish Piano Concertos. Michael McHale, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Courtney Lewis. Compact Disc. RTÉ lyric fm CD150.

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.

Ibert, J. 2016. Neeme Järvi conducts Ibert. Neeme Järvi, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Hybrid Super Audio Compact Disc. Chandos CHSA 5168.

(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene, December 2016)

CD Reviews - April 2013

Jacques Ibert (1890-1962) was born in Paris, won the Prix de Rome at the Paris Conservatoire in 1919, and was destined for great things.  Perhaps because his musical style was highly eclectic, with a tendency for lightness and humour, he is not remembered as one of the ‘greats’, despite a vast catalogue of ballets, operas, film music (including Invitation to the Dance with Gene Kelly) and a considerable output of chamber music.  The Bridge String Quartet have been joined by friends to record an interesting selection of these chamber works, including a première recording of the Souvenir for quartet and double bass.  Ibert often collaborated with other composers, and this brief single movement work is a case in point, possibly based on music by August Gay.  The disc opens with his most substantial chamber work, the String Quartet.  This was composed through the Second World War, when his music was banned by the Vichy government, and he was exiled to Switzerland.  Whilst not explicitly reflecting the times, there is a restless anxiety in this music.  Other gems in this collection include the brief but striking Ghirlarzana for solo cello, sensitively played by Lucy Wilding, and a delightful Trio for violin, cello and harp (with Bryn Lewis on the harp here).  Ibert’s daughter was a celebrated harpist, and he wrote a number of works for the instrument – also included here is the well-known Entr’acte, which exists in a number of forms, but here is played by violin and harp.  If Ibert is new to you, or if you only know his well-known orchestral Divertissement, then this disc is definitely worth exploration.

Ibert, J. Chamber Music. Bridge Quartet, Michael Dussek, Bryn Lewis, Richard Alsop. 2013. Compact Disc. Somm SOMMCD 0122.

Clarinettist Michael Collins seems to be churning out recordings at a phenomenal rate, all of interesting repertoire and with playing of an incredibly high standard.  His new disc of British Clarinet Concertos is no exception.  The three works on offer here are by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) and Sir Malcom Arnold (1921-2006).  The works span 72 years, from 1902 (Stanford) to 1974 (Arnold), with the Finzi smack in the middle (1948).  In the Stanford Clarinet Concerto, Op. 80, there are some beautiful melodies, particularly in the central slow movement, but the legacy of Brahms is very evident – but it receives a top-notch performance here, with Collins executing the not inconsiderable demands with panache.  The Finzi Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra, Op. 31 has more individuality for me, and is full of mournful lyricism and again some pleasing melodies, but the interest is in the contrast between the purely string orchestra and the solo clarinet, with surprising variety and richness in the string writing.  This is clearly a work close to Collins’ heart – he played it in the concerto final of the very first BBC Young Musician of the Year competition back in 1978.  Arnold’s Clarinet Concerto No. 2, Op. 115 was commissioned by the great Benny Goodman, and unsurprisingly contains many jazz influences, with a Cadenza in the first movement where the soloist is instructed to improvise ‘as jazzy and way-out as you please’.  Here, Collins plays a cadenza written by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, who died recently.  So three highly contrasting works, all played expertly, with strong support from the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with Collins conducted from the clarinet. 

Various. British Clarinet Concertos. BBC Symphony Orchestra, Michael Collins. Compact Disc. Chandos CHAN 10739.

Juanjo Mena and the BBC Philharmonic have released a a great disc of orchestral works by Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826), and are joined by bassonist Karen Geoghegan for a performance of his Bassoon Concerto.  The rest of the disc is given over to his two Symphonies, and the programme opens with Berlioz’s orchestration of Weber’s piano waltz, Invitation to the Dance.  The symphonies have never made it into the mainstream repertoire, which is perhaps a shame.  There are some great musical ideas here, and whilst both works lack a sense of real development of the material, there is some characteristically deft writing for wind instruments, particularly for the oboe and bassoon in the Allegro of the second symphony. The Bassoon Concerto deserves to be as well known as the clarinet concertos, and Geoghegan certainly argues its case well here.  As ever with her playing, she manages to bring out a remarkable lyrical line from an instrument perhaps sometimes stereotyped as a little cumbersome.  The Invitation to the Dance is a great showpiece, and Berlioz’s lively orchestration popularised the work beyond its solo piano beginnings.  The playing throughout on this disc is lively and sprightly, with particularly tight wind playing. 

Weber, C. M von. Symphonies 1 and 2, etc. Karen Geoghegan, BBC Philharmonic, Juanjo Mena. 2013. Compact Disc. Chandos CHAN 10748.

Pianist Martin Helmchen has recorded a selection of solo works by Robert Schumann (1810-1856).  The two substantial collections here are the Waldszenen, and the 18 Symphonische Etüden, and he finishes the disc off with the Arabeske in C.  Whilst the Symphonic Etudes are more overtly virtuosic pieces, the ‘Forest Scenes’ are of a more intimate nature, and are perfect examples of Schumman’s ability to convey character and imagery in such simple forms.  Helmschen’s playing is incredibly precise, and no detail is left out.  The same applies to the Symphonic Etudes, which exist in a few different forms, as Schumann reviewed the work, deleted some variations, and then Brahms added five variations that Schumann had deleted back in after his death – Helmchen includes these here.  There are myriad coded references in the music to a young woman, Ernestine, who Schumann took a shine to, even though he had by now begun seeing the love of his life, Clara.  The work is more extrovert in feel, and Helmchen responds to this with more energy in his playing.  He closes the disc with a beautifully light and delicate performance of the Arabeske. 

Schumann, R. Symphonische Etüden, etc. Martin Helmchen. Super Audio Compact Disc. Pentatone PTC 5186 452.

(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene magazine, April 2013)