CD Reviews - September 2017

In 2015, saxophonist Huw Wiggin’s recital was the highlight of the Brighton Festival’s lunchtime concerts, and the following year he returned with the fellow members of the Ferio Saxophone Quartet to wow audiences once again.  So it’s great to see that they now have a recording contract with Chandos and have launched their debut commercial disc with a wonderful programme of original works for the saxophone quartet.  The centerpiece of the disc is a set of six Cíudades (Cities) by the Dutch saxophonist Willem van Merwijk, under his composing pen name of Guillermo Lago (b.1960).  They performed a selection of these at that Festival gig, and the persistent energy of Tokyo, the mournful, eastern inflections of Sarajevo, as well as the bustling Addis Ababa struck me as highly evocative then.  So it’s great to hear the other movements, such as the rhythmically driven Córdoba with its contrasting slow sections, and the Piazzolla-esque slow tango, Montevideo.  The quartet inhabits each of these cities, and communicates their evocative moods well.  They clearly like Lago’s music, as they have since commissioned another work, ‘The Wordsworth Poems’.  Lago’s writing is very atmospheric here too, and the quartet exploits some very quiet playing in the first movement, ‘Composed on Westminster Bridge’, to great effect.  The disc opens with an altogether more sedate affair, a delightful Grand Quatuor concertant by the Belgian composer Jean-Baptise Singelée (1812-1875), with great melodic invention, allowing each instrument to shine. This is followed by an elegant set of variations on a jaunty little theme, the Introduction et variations sur une ronde populaire by Gabriel Pierné (1863-1937).  This earlier, more Romantic repertoire allows the quartet to demonstrate their ability to create a beautifully unified, warm tone, as well as bring each instrument to the fore when required.  The recording is rounded off with a lively Hoe Down by Will Gregory (b.1959) (of Goldfrapp fame), showcasing the baritone sax amid the dancing rhythms.  Even if you don’t think you like the saxophone (although why wouldn’t you?), this deserves attention for the sheer variety of repertoire and the impressive talent of these four players.  Highly recommended.

Various. 2017. Flux: Original Works for Saxophone Quartet. Ferio Saxophone Quartet. Compact Disc. Chandos CHAN 10987.

Johannes Pramsohler and his Ensemble Diderot bring us more rare Baroque repertoire, this time by another forgotten Dresden composer, Giovanni Alberto Ristori (1692-1753).  They are joined by Argentinian soprano, María Savastano, and Spanish oboist Jon Olaberria.  The bulk of the disc is taken up by three cantatas, with libretti written by Bavarian princess Maria Antonia who joined the Dresden court in 1747 when she married her first cousin, the Crown Prince Friedrich Christian.  Ristori’s settings of these three monologues are lively and full of dramatic interest.  There is the familiar story of Dido, abandoned and in despair, as well as the tale of Lavinia (also from the Aeneid) who is promised in marriage to Aeneis, and so is forced to leave her fiancé Turno (who Aeneis then kills!). The final story is a simpler tale of Nice’s woes over her absent shepherd lover Tirsi – and here we have a happy ending, with Tirsi taking the shape of a solo oboe for a final love duet. Savastano has a powerful, dramatic voice, and she gives full vent to the heroines’ passions.  There are long passages of recitative, yet these are filled with emotional word-setting, underpinned with dramatic instrumental flourishes.  In ‘Didone abbandonata’, Dido is a much angrier, even defiant heroine than Purcell’s rather passive characterisation, and again, Savastano relishes the passion in Ristori’s writing. But the height of dramatic pace has to be Lavinia’s final aria from ‘Lavinia a Turno’, with wildly exciting, racing strings, and a tour de force for the soprano.  Savastano’s virtuosity is very impressive here, yet she also demonstrates a gentler side in the final duet of ‘Nice a Tirsi’.  Olaberria’s sensitive playing also sets us up nicely for the final work on the disc, a delightful Oboe Concerto.  The writing for the oboe is delicate yet intricate, and Olaberria makes this sound deceptively easy.  His graceful touch in the slow movement is also lightly matched by the strings, and the courtly finale rounds things off beautifully.  As ever, Pramsohler and the Ensemble play with precision and great energy, making this yet another successful addition to their growing catalogue celebrating unknown gems of the Baroque repertoire.

Ristori, G. A. 2017. Cantatas for Soprano, Oboe Concerto. María Savastano, Jon Olaberria, Ensemble Diderot, Johannes Pramsohler. Compact Disc. Audax Records ADX 13711.

Max Reger (1873-1916) has been receiving a bit more attention of late, following the 100^th anniversary of his death last year.  Unlike the prevailing direction of early twentieth century Germanic music towards the atonality and serialism of the Second Viennese School (Schoenberg et al), Reger admired and very much followed in the footsteps of Brahms, and this is most evident in his three Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano.  In fact, it is said that hearing a private performance of Brahms’ F minor Clarinet Sonata in 1900 led him to state there and then that he would compose two sonatas for the instrument, which he proceeded to do in a matter of months.  He wrote one more Clarinet Sonata in 1908, and all three have been recorded here by clarinetist Michael Collins, with Michael McHale on piano.  They begin with the later work, the Sonata Op. 107, a weighty work at just over half an hour (the earlier Sonatas coming in at about twenty minutes each).  It is full of Reger’s characteristic rich, wandering harmonies, and like late Brahms, he exploits the dark lyricism of the clarinet to great effect.  He ends with a sunnier, playful if slightly rambling finale, although this concludes in a slower, more reflective mood.  The Sonata Op. 49 No. 1 has a turbulent, rather agitated opening movement, and both Collins and McHale give this great passion.  The strange harmonies of the slow movement’s opening bars are followed by some beautiful rhapsodic playing from McHale in particular, with Collins sailing lyrically over the top. Turbulence is never far from the surface, and although Reger never quite finds the moments of sublime beauty that his idol Brahms achieved, this is nevertheless fine chamber music that deserves greater exposure.  The Sonata Op. 49 No. 2 has another extensive first movement, followed by a bright, fleet-footed scherzo, delivered here with dazzling panache, again with McHale having the most virtuosic part to play. Throughout, Collins and McHale bring out the melodic and harmonic interest, never allowing Reger’s slightly rambling style to lose direction. 

Reger, M. 2017. Clarinet Sonatas. Michael Collins, Michael McHale. Compact Disc. Chandos CHAN 10970.

(Edited versions of these reviews first appeared in GScene, September 2017)

CD Reviews April 2016

Clarinettist Emma Johnson was joined by friends for a performance of Schubert’s wonderful Octet in F major, D803 back in October 2014 in Southampton, and a recording of that live performance has just been released.  Johnson is joined by the Carducci Quartet, Chris West (double bass), Philip Gibbon (bassoon) and Michael Thompson (horn).  The Octet is one of Schubert’s most popular chamber works, and rightly so, with so much invention and variety packed into its six movements.  It contains real joy and humour, such as in the variations of the fourth movement and the boisterous finale.  Yet there are also some typically Schubertian sublime moments, particularly in the slow second movement, with its beautiful opening clarinet tune, accompanied by just the lower strings, until the first violin, and then later the bassoon joins in with the tune.  This is a highly engaging performance, with delicacy and lightness of touch from all players.  The tempi are relaxed – a little more pace in the scherzo third movement would have added more energy – but not indulgent.  There is deft articulation throughout, particularly from the clarinet and bassoon in that slow movement.  Emma Johnson, joined by Gibbon & Thompson rounds off the disc with a short Concert Trio for clarinet, bassoon and horn by Swedish contemporary of Schubert, Bernhard Crusell (1775-1838).  This can hardly match the Schubert, and feels a little bit of a let down following the Octet (it might have been better placed as an appetiser on the disc), but it is an enjoyable concert piece, and in its four short movements it gives each instrument the opportunity to shine. There is some beautifully smooth playing from Thompson on the horn here, and Gibbon tackles some complex accompanying passages for the bassoon with ease. Overall, the clarinet takes centre stage most of all – Crusell was an accomplished clarinettist after all. A true mark of a live recording is that it makes you wish you’d been there, and Johnson and her friends certainly achieve that here.

Various. 2016. Emma Johnson & Friends - Schubert Octet D803, Crucell Concert Trio. Emma Johnson, Michael Thompson, Philip Gibbon, The Carducci Quartet, Chris West. Compact Disc. Somm Céleste Series SOMMCD 0156.

It’s five years now since I reviewed a disc of orchestral works by French composer Gabriel Pierné (1863-1937).  More recordings (though sadly few concert performances) of his works have appeared since then, but it’s great to see the same forces from that last recording – the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Juanjo Mena, and pianist Jean-Efllam Bavouzet – reunited for more.  Interestingly, the disc is split into three sections in effect – first come two purely orchestral works, then three works for piano and orchestra, and then the disc is topped off with two solo piano works. The orchestral works which open are the latest and weightest offerings.  The three movement Paysages franciscains, Op.43 is an atmostpheric and contemplative impression of a convent garden and the plain of Assisi, with nature and peaceful evening moods abounding. The emergence of a plainsong hymn from the mist in the final movement is particularly striking.  The second orchestral work, Les Cathédrales, is more sombre in mood, written in 1915 and evoking a French soldier in the trenches contemplating the devastated landscape and the endless days and endless mourning ahead of him. Whilst the work perhaps lacks overall direction, the twisted fragments of the Marseillaise, the growing urgency and the poignant quiet ending with tolling bell and bass drum are highly affecting. Mena and the BBC Philharmonic are on particularly impressive form in these two works, with precision and sensitive expression from all sections.  Jean-Efflam Bavouzet takes great delight in the Scherzo-Caprice, Op. 25 which breaks the sombre mood with its opening flourish.  Thicker, more expansive orchestral textures take hold, but are interrupted by the swirling balletic waltz each time it returns. The Poème symphonique, Op. 37 has definite influences of Franck, with its simple chordal piano chorale, and the long drawn out melodic lines.  A final fanfare heralds the closing piano flourishes. The dramatic piano opening of the Fantaisie-Ballet, Op. 6, for which no known scenario exists, is contrasted by a quirky central section introduced by the woodwind, and the dialogue between piano and orchestra is more conversational here. The episodic nature of the music builds to a lively finish, and a sudden emphatic conclusion.  These are enjoyable concert works, but without the hints of profundity that the later orchestral works suggest. A delicately subtle Nocturne with touches of Fauré, and a Lisztian tour de force Étude de concert round of this enjoyable disc. Bavouzet is a great advocate for Pierné’s piano music, but on this occasion it is the BBC Philharmonic and Mena who deserve the greatest praise.

Pierné, G. 2015. Orchestral Works, Vol. 2. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, BBC Philharmonic, Juanjo Mena. Compact Disc. Chandos CHAN 10871.

There’s not enough space here to go into great detail about the Complete Symphonies of Carl Nielsen (1865-1931), again with the BBC Philharmonic, this time with Finnish conductor John Storgårds. Suffice to say, this is an impressive cycle, showing Storgårds' command of all six symphonies, and once again demonstrating that the BBC Philharmonic are on great form.  The BBC Philharmonic, along with the Hallé of course, were my first exposure to the joys of orchestral music, growing up in Manchester, and in my mind they are often the best of the BBC orchestral stable.  Storgård’s tempi are steady on the whole, but particularly effective in the third symphony, ‘Sinfonia expansiva’, and the defiant and most often performed fourth, ‘The Inextinguishable’.  Nielsen’s use of percussion as a threatening force, here and also to devastating effect in the Symphony No. 5, is visceral, and Storgårds encourages real aggression from the BBC Phil percussion players. If you don’t know Nielsen’s symphonies, you should, and this collection is the perfect place to start.

Nielsen, C. 2015. Complete Symphonies. BBC Philharmonic, John Storgårds. Compact Discs (3). Chandos CHAN 10859(3).

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