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)

Salve! Gaude!

BREMF Consort of Voices, Saturday 1 March 2014 Dispel the gloom of winter with a performance of music composed for the magnificent choirs of pre-Reformation and Marian England.  Works by Eton Choirbook composers John Browne, William Cornysh and Robert Fayrfax; and great ceremonial motets by John Taverner, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd and William Mundy. BREMF Consort of Voices, directed by Deborah Roberts. Saturday 1 March, 6pm, St Paul's Church, West Street, Brighton BN1 2RE. Tickets £12 (£10 conc.) from here or on the door. More details on Facebook here. Update - Latest 7 gave the concert a 4.5* review - here.

CD Reviews - January 2014

Brothers Paul and Huw Watkins continue their survey of British Works for Cello and Piano, with Sonatas from York Bowen (1884-1961), Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953) and John Ireland (1879-1962).  All three were written for the same cellist, Beatrice Harrison, and composed within three years of each other (1921-23).  Sometimes known as ‘the English Rachmaninov’, Bowen’s Sonata is full of rich and virtuosic writing for both instruments, yet he also shows great subtlety, especially in his use of a recurring bell-like figure, which he makes use of in each of the three movements.  The rhapsodic central slow movement provides the emotional heart here, and the energetic finale brings the work to a dramatic close.  Bax’s Sonata is the most substantial of the three works here, coming in at just over half an hour long.  For the central slow movement, Bax reuses music from an earlier symphonic poem, Spring Fire, and the writing is particularly expressive and evocative.  He rounds the work off with a lively, folk-inspired dance.  Rather than driving straight to a lively finish, however, Bax places an Epilogue before the final climax, giving him the opportunity to pull together threads from the whole sonata, creating a very satisfying conclusion.  Ireland’s Sonata finishes the disc here, and in contrast, it is more contained and concise.  In fact much of the sonata’s musical material is derived from just a few of the cello’s opening bars.  This economical use of material creates an intensity that is particularly noticeable in the slow movement, with both players getting to play its beautiful singing melody.  The finale is somewhat brief, but highly virtuosic, with a dashing finish.  The Watkins brothers inhabit this music convincingly, certainly making one wonder why these works are not heard more often.  I enjoyed this second volume even more than the first, so await a third with anticipation.

Various. 2013. British Works for Cello and Piano, Volume 2. Paul Watkins, Huw Watkins. Compact Disc. Chandos CHAN 10792.

A couple of years ago I enjoyed discovering the Piano Quartets of Romanian composer George Enescu (1881-1955) performed by the Schubert Ensemble.  They have returned with another disc of his chamber music, with his Piano Quintet, the Piano Trio, and a brief Aria and Scherzino for solo violin, accompanied by a sextet ensemble.  As with the first disc, I find his music intriguing and difficult to pin down.  There are influences of his French teachers Jules Massenet, and especially Gabriel Fauré, and one can also sense the influences of his time studying and performing as a young man in Vienna.  But somehow the combination of these influences with his strong use of Romanian folk melodies and idioms create a highly individual and fascinating sound world.  His writing for the violin is particularly strong, and he was a highly accomplished violinist and teacher, counting Yehudi Menuhin amongst his pupils.  The Piano Quintet is the most substantial work on offer here, and it was unknown in Enescu’s lifetime – in fact he never even heard it performed.  It was only discovered and performed in the 1960s.  The structure is in itself interesting, with essentially two large-scale parts, each further split into two, to create its four movements.  The music moves from extremes of intensity and darkness (particularly in the slow second movement) to lightness and dance-like folksiness, as in the opening to the third movement.  The Piano Trio has complex origins, being completed from Enescu’s original manuscript by Pascal Bentoiu, considered the authority on Enescu’s music.  Furthermore, the Schubert Ensemble has further revised the edition as a result of their process of exploration of this music, and there are some interesting notes on this process with the CD.  In this Trio, Enescu manages to balance an overarching structure with allowing space for expression and evolving musical ideas.  The set of variations, which forms the middle movement, is particularly inventive, and the influence of folk music is again never far away.  The Schubert Ensemble is joined by Romanian violinist Remus Azoitei for the solo part in the youthful Aria and Scherzino that closes the disc.  Here again one can hear the combined influences of Vienna and Paris, with luscious melodies and gorgeously intense harmonies.  The Schubert Ensemble has clearly fallen in love with this music, and on the basis of these two discs, so have I. 

Enescu, G. 2013. Piano Trio, Piano Quintet, Aria and Scherzino. Remus Azotei, Schubert Ensemble. Compact Disc. Chandos CHAN 10790.

(These reviews first appeared in GScene, January 2014)

CD Reviews - December 2013

Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) was born in Dublin, but was one of the founding professors of the Royal College of Music in London at the age of 29.  However, his music has perhaps always been overshadowed by the success of his pupils, such as Holst and Vaughan Williams.  He left us with a considerable body of music, including seven symphonies, but it is perhaps for his choral music that he is best known.  Even within this repertoire, however, his sacred music is more well known than his many secular partsongs.  The Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir, conducted by Paul Spicer, have released a disc of 25 of these part songs, and they demonstrate the great variety, and command of his choral writing, as well as his ability to use harmony and choral textures to illuminate a text.  On the disc, they have broken up the songs from their sets, which is a good idea, as the variety comes from the different texts and changes in Stanford’s style over the twenty years these songs span.  His settings of Mary Coleridge are the most interesting and successful, but he also set texts by Tennyson, May Byron and anonymous Elizabethan texts.  The most well-known of the partsongs, The Blue Bird, receives an accomplished performance here, with a crystal clear solo from Natalie Hyde.  The Swallow (lightly reflective) and The Haven (dark and atmospheric), two more Coleridge settings, are sensitively performed here.  A few of the songs feel very dated and time-bound now, not least the sycophantic hymn to Queen Victoria, Out in the Windy West.  However, Stanford also shows how far the format can be stretched, with ambitious double choir textures in On Time, similar in some ways to his well-known double-choir Magnificat.  The voices here are strong, full of energy and precision, and incredibly well-drilled.  Occasionally, the higher voices sound a little strident, and I miss the mellower tones that more mature voices would bring.  But these are highly accomplished performances, making this a great collection of Stanford’s partsongs, many not previously available on CD.

Stanford, Sir C. V. 2013. Part Songs. Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir, Paul Spicer. Compact Disc. Somm SOMMCD 0128.

The Hickox Legacy series continues, with a rerelease includind three works by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) - his Cantata misericordium, and two shorter works, Deus in adjutorium meum, and a Chorale after an Old French Carol.  These are sandwiched between the Requiem da camera by Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) and Two Psalms by Gustav Holst (1987-1934).  The great champion of English music, the late Richard Hickox, conducted the City of London Sinfonia, and The Britten Singers in these recordings from 1991.  Finzi's Requiem da camera, dedicated to his teacher who was killed in action in 1918, is as much of a protest against the pointless of war as Britten's later War Requiem, and deserves to be performed more.  Britten's Cantata misericordium came hot on the heels of his War Requiem, the success of which explains why this later work hasn’t achieved the same status.  Yet it follows the War Requiem remarkably well, being composed for a ceremony to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Red Cross.   It receives a solid performance here, with John Mark Ainsley (tenor) and Stephen Varcoe (baritone) as soloists.  The two Holst Psalms which complete the disc, although well performed, seem slightly out of place in the company of Finzi & Britten's weightier, solemn works.

Various. 2013. Britten, Finzi, Holst: Works for Chorus and Orchestra. John Mark Ainsley, Stephen Varcoe, The Britten Singers, City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox. First released 1991. Compact Disc.  Chandos CHAN10783X.

Finally, a disc of piano transcriptions of orchestral works by Frederick Delius (1862-1934).  Delius was born in Bradford, the son of German parents, but lived the latter part of his life in France, after a spell in the USA.  As such, his music shows the influence of both African-American and more significantly, French music, and later embraced a much more individual and chromatic style.  In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, the transcription of orchestral works for piano solo or duet had become very popular.  In the days before mass availability of recordings, this was often the only way people could ‘hear’ the works at home that they had perhaps heard performed in the concert hall, and domestic piano playing was a significant form of home entertainment.  In this second volume of transcriptions for two pianos, pianists Simon Callaghan and Hiroaki Takenouchi perform five works, all in transcriptions made by friends and fellow composers of Delius.  Paris – The Song of a Great City has a great feel of the cafés, dance halls and night clubs of Paris, jazz harmonies and rhythms mixed with lyrical, atmospheric nocturnal scene painting.  Summer Night on the River is the second of Two pieces for Small Orchestra, the first being the well-known On hearing the first Cuckoo in Spring.  Delius’ amenuensis, Eric Fenby said of this piece: ‘One can almost see the gnats and dragonflies darting over the waterlilies, and the faint white mist hovering over willow-tressed banks and overhanging trees’.  The arrangement by Philip Heseltine (otherwise known as the composer Peter Warlock) captures this idyllic scene perfectly.  The Song of the High Hills, for wordless chorus and large orchestra is a wonderful work, and Percy Grainger’s transcription inevitably cannot capture the magic of the incredibly quiet entry by the choir 10 minutes in, but nevertheless, it does manage to communicate the sense of joy and wonder in nature.  Overall, these are fascinating takes on the orchestral works, and the range of colours and textures achieved by the two pianists here in these delightful performances is highly impressive.

Delius, F. 2013. Orchestral Music arranged for Two Pianos, Volume 2. Simon Callaghan, Hiroaki Takenouchi.  Compact Disc.  Somm SOMMCD0129.

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