Järvi and the Philharmonia hammer home the terrors of war in Prokofiev 6

James Ehnes
© Benjamin Ealovega

James Ehnes (violin)

The Philharmonia

Paavo Järvi (conductor) 

3pm, Sunday 26 November 2023

Royal Festival Hall, London

★★★★

Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35

Encore:

Eugene Ysaÿe (1858-1931): Sonata for Solo Violin in D minor 'Ballade', Op 27 No. 3

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): Symphony No. 6 in E flat minor, Op. 111

Paavo Järvi
© Kaupo Kikkas

Debussy:

Järvi’s take on Faune was languorous and warm, yet with a kind of mystical reverence.

Tchaikovsky:

'Ehnes’ unquestionable virtuosity is such that this performance felt almost understated, in a good way. Nothing appeared to be any effort at all, so even in the craziest runs every note was clearly articulated'.

'Järvi et al had great fun with the finale’s rustic drones, and Ehnes’ gunshot spiccato got faster and faster, with a frankly crazy but exhilarating race to the end'.

Prokofiev:

'Järvi put the Philharmonia through their paces, with some particularly unforgiving tempo, especially in the finale, but they were up to the challenge'.

'This was surely Prokofiev’s anger at the horrors of war, and Järvi and the Philharmonia duly delivered the required sense of terror'. 

Read my full review on Bachtrack here.

Prom 26: Lyrical virtuosity from Ehnes, with majestic Sibelius from Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic

John Storgårds & the BBC Philharmonic
© BBC/Mark Allan

James Ehnes (violin)
BBC Philharmonic
John Storgårds (conductor)

7.30pm, Thursday 3 August 2023

BBC Prom 26

Royal Albert Hall, London

★★★★

Gerald Barry (b.1952): Kafka's Earplugs

William Walton (1902-1983): Violin Concerto

Encore:

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Sonata No. 3 for solo violin in C major, BWV1005, IV. Allegro assai

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957): Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39

James Ehnes & the BBC Philharmonic
© BBC/Mark Allan

Barry:

'Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic managed to effectively keep a lid on things throughout, yet occasionally allowing tantalising glimpses to break through the texture'.

Walton:

'Ehnes was suitably wild in its virtuosic passages, but he also gave us delicate decorative adornments to the horn’s canzonetta theme'.

Bach: 

'Ehnes then treated us to a fleet-of-foot account of the finale to J.S. Bach’s Sonata no. 3 in C major, BWV 1005, with seamlessly smooth string crossing and sensitive use of echo effects'.

Sibelius:

'With a sense of urgency, Storgård steered the orchestra to a sunlit climax'.

'Storgårds’ drive and the tightness of the BBC Philharmonic’s ensemble, as well as strong solo work from many, made for a memorable performance here'. 

Read my full review on Bachtrack here.

Impressive and inspiring Anglo-American cooperation - BBC Prom 6

Edward Gardner
© Chris Christodoulou

James Ehnes (violin)
Orchestra of the Royal Academy of Music and The Juilliard School
Edward Gardner (conductor)

Monday 22 July, 7.30 pm

BBC Prom 6

Royal Albert Hall, London

★★★★


Anna Thorvaldsdottir (b.1977): Metacosmos (UK premiere)

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): Violin Concerto, Op. 15

Encore:
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Andante, from Sonata in A minor for solo violin, BWV1003

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): The Rite of Spring

Encore:
Oliver Knussen (1952-2018): Flourish with Fireworks, Op. 22

Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Edward Gardner
& the Orchestra of the Royal Academy of Music
and The Julliard School
© Chris Christodoulou

Thorvaldsdottir:
'A remarkable piece, showing such command of large orchestral forces ... unsettlingly moving'.

Britten:
'Ehnes held the Royal Albert Hall rapt ... he delivered the preceding Scherzo with flourish and a dancing step'.

Stravinsky:
'Gardner marshalled forces for the final onslaught and elicited a wild, terrifying final sacrificial dance from the massed orchestral forces'.

Knussen:
'The combined student forces demonstrated considerable virtuosic command to conclude an impressive night’s performance'.

Read my full review on Bachtrack here.

CD Reviews - January 2016

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)

CD Reviews - April 2015

The Tallis Scholars have recorded their first CD of contemporary music since their famous recording of music by Sir John Tavener back in 1984 (my review of its recent release is here), unless you count their single track download of the piece they commissioned from Eric Whitacre to celebrate their 40^th anniversary in 2013 (and a review of that here too).  However, they have performed works by contemporary composers frequently in concert, and their Director Peter Phillips sees a close link between the music of Arvo Pärt (b.1935) and the renaissance polyphony repertoire with which The Tallis Scholars are mostly associated.  So, as a tribute to Pärt in his 80^th year, they have released an album of his music.  It’s entitled Tintinnabuli, which is Pärt’s own composition technique, formed after he experienced a block in composing in the early 1970s.  He had been composing in the neo-classical style, and then using serialism, but reached a compositional dead end, as well as getting into trouble with the Soviet authorities.  He turned to early, particularly medieval music for inspiration, and his new style combined simple meditative harmonies with the clustered overtones bells make when struck. The Tallis Scholars have recorded eight of Pärt’s most significant a capella works here, the most well known being his setting of the Magnificat, which they precede on the disc with his Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen ('Seven Magnificat Antiphons'). The Tallis Scholars’ pure sound is well suited to this music, and the sopranos in particular produce an appropriately ringing sound. Most of the works here were written for larger choral forces, but The Tallis Scholars bring an intensity which means that the sudden fortissimi perhaps don’t create the wall of sound we might expect, but still achieve a sense of power – the climax of the Magnificat is a case in point.  Rhythmic interest is rare in Pärt, with the sixth Magnificat-Antiphon, and the curiosity of ‘Which Was the Son of…’ stand out. In the latter piece, a daring setting of the genealogy of Christ, so basically just a list of names, Pärt actually achieves considerable interest in varying the textures and The Tallis Scholars relish the slightly tongue-in-cheek fun – Pärt was mildly mocking the Icelandic way of organizing family names (the work was commissioned by the City of Reykjavík). There are some delightfully simple textual settings here, such as I Am the True Vine, and The Woman with the Alabaster Box.  As well as the bell-like quality of the perfectly blended sopranos, the basses also deserve mention for their rich tone and anchoring drones.  A stunning release, and a fitting 80^th birthday present. You can watch The Tallis Scholars in a video about the recording below:

Pärt, A. 2015. Tintinnabuli. The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips. Compact Disc. Gimell CDGIM 049.

Violinist James Ehnes has reached his third volume of chamber works for violin by Béla Bartók (1881-1945), and this disk is dominated by the set of Forty-four Duos for Two Violins, for which he is joined by fellow violinist Amy Schwartz Moretti.  The Duos appeared in four books, and were intended for students of the instrument to play either with their teacher or with fellow students (I remember attempting a few with my own teacher many years ago!).  They draw on a whole range of folk traditions, as one would expect from Bartók, but they also make extensive use of canon between the two violins, as well as bitonal harmonies and unexpected dissonances to shake up their seeming simplicity.  Rarely longer than a minute each, these spiky miniatures make for a surprisingly rewarding listen, as the folk melodies fly by one after the other. My highlights include ‘Wedding Song’ and ‘Pillow Dance’ from Book 1, the ‘Soldier’s Song’ from Book 2, the ‘Dance from Máramos’ from Book 3, and the slightly more substantial ‘Prelude and Canon’ which opens Book 4 – but you will certainly find your own favourites here. The two violinists are perfectly blended, to the extent that you will be hard pressed to know who is playing which line.  The disc begins however with Contrasts, a trio for violin, clarinet and piano, and for this Ehnes is joined by Michael Collins on clarinet, and Andrew Armstrong on piano.  The work was requested by Bartók’s compatriot, violinist Joseph Szigeti, who wanted a work to perform with Benny Goodman (and who recorded the work with the composer in 1940).  Bartók swaps around our preconceptions of the instruments here, often giving the jazzier lines to the violin, and the folk melodies to the clarinet, especially in the opening ‘Recruiting Dance’ movement. Again in the last movement he marries complex Bulgarian folk rhythms with jazz. The middle movement ‘Relaxation’ has a strange otherworldly feel, not least because of the unusual retuning of the strings of the violin required. Collins excels in his virtuosic cadenza in the first movement, and Ehnes responds with equal élan to his cadenza in the finale, ‘Fast Dance’.  In between, Ehnes and Armstrong perform the Sonatina, which is actually a transcription by Gertler of an original solo piano work.  Bartók used melodies here that he had recorded from Romanian village fiddlers, so the transcription by the young 18-year-old student was entirely appropriate, and Bartók gave his approval.  In its three short movements, he crams in five different folk tunes, including ‘Bagpipes’ and a ‘Bear Dance’.  A great disc of endlessly fascinating music, excellently performed by Ehnes and friends.

Bartók, B. 2014. Chamber Works for Violin, Volume 3. James Ehnes, Michael Collins, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Andrew Armstrong. Compact Disc. Chandos CHAN10820.

Chinese pianist Xiayin Wang has recorded three American Piano Concertos with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by Peter Oundjian.  George Gershwin’s (1898-1937) Concerto in F major will probably be the best-known work here, but the disc begins with the Concerto, Op. 38 by Samuel Barber (1910-1981).  The short two-movement Concerto by Aaron Copland (1900-1990) follows, and they finish with the Gershwin.  There is a thread of jazz influence throughout all three works, although in very different ways. The Barber Concerto is the latest work here, composed in 1962, and it is in the last movement especially, in 5/8 time, that jazz rhythms come to the fore.  It is an incredibly challenging work for the pianist, and Wang is completely on top of its demands.  The central movement has a typically sad extended lyrical melody, whereas the first movement is more confidently strident.  Wang and the RSNO under Oundjian judge these contrasts well, and this was definitely the highlight of the disc for me.  I have to confess to not being a fan of Copland, and I find his attempts at jazz unconvincing, and reviewers of his Concerto’s première felt much the same.  He’s at his best when he sticks to his French influenced post-impressionism (ironically considered distinctively American).  Anyway, his short two movement Concerto has a bluesy first movement, followed without break by a ‘snappy number’, as Copland referred to it. His attempts at humour here, with its swaggering, almost drunken feel I’m afraid just don’t work for me, and the competent performance from Wang and the RSNO doesn’t convince otherwise.  The Gershwin Concerto, composed one year earlier than Copland’s in 1925, is so much more successful – it is what it is, a joyous exploration of jazz, blues and dance.  Occasionally Wang could perhaps relax into the idiom a little more, although in the slow movement there is more of a sense of style.  Overall, it’s the Barber – both the work and the performance – that wins out on this disc.

Various. 2014. American Piano Concertos. Xiayin Wang, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Peter Oundjian. Hybrid Super Audio Compact Disc. Chandos CHSA 5128.

(Edited versions of some of these reviews first appeared in GScene, April 2015)