Kernis: Newly Drawn Sky; Too Hot Toccata; Symphony in Waves
(Cedille CDR90000-105)
Contemporary orchestral music recordings don't get much better than this. Aaron Jay Kernis was lucky in that the music on which his current reputation rests (including Symphony in Waves) was recorded when it was new, by Argo. It deserved to be. His vibrant eclecticism, a mixture of minimalism, lyrical melody, and tart dissonance, with a touch of popular music and jazz idioms, remains a potent and very appealing recipe, and it has worn well. Behind the flash and dazzle is no mere potpourri of undigested influences, but music of substance and wide emotional range, as these performances attest.
There are two premiere recordings on this extremely well-played and recorded disc. The first, Newly Drawn Sky (2005), is a mostly lyrical, meditative tone poem populated by some strikingly beautiful ideas and some audible nature imagery. The booklet notes cite Sibelius as an influence, and the comparison is a good one. At nearly 18 minutes the work is quite substantial, and I'm not 100 percent sure that it sustains its length, but repeated listening will tell. Too Hot Toccata (1996) is closer in style to the pop music-spiced pieces, such as New Era Dance, that alerted the concert-going public to Kernis' arrival as a bright new talent. It's a bubbly showpiece, with plenty of virtuoso licks for individual members of the orchestra.
The major work here, receiving its second recording, is Symphony in Waves (1989). Its five movements add up to a very satisfying whole, and this performance has greater impact and tension, particularly in the long but dramatic central slow movement ("Still Movement"), than Gerard Schwarz's Argo recording with the 92nd St. Y Chamber Orchestra. Perhaps it's the (presumably) larger body of strings, or Carlos Kalmar's more dynamic presence on the podium. Either way, the performance is terrific, and brilliantly engineered for maximum impact. I can't stress enough how gratifying it is to see a first-class independent label picking up where the majors left off, and making sure that Kernis' music remains available to be discovered by curious music lovers.
P.S. A very kind reader pointed out a fact that I should have mentioned: Too Hot Toccata is a recasting of the finale of the Double Concerto for Violin and Guitar, which was also recorded by Argo.
Classics Today, David Hurwitz
http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=11901
Fresobaldi: Works for Organ
(Accent ACC10120)
The organs of San Petronio Bologna, dating from 1531 and 1596, are perfect for this music, together with a wonderful acoustic and a player who understands intimately how this music works. Liuwe Tamminga presents a varied selection of pieces, including several Elevation Toccatas, whose intense and improvisatory style contrasts well with rhythmically dynamic works like the Canzona quinta. The value of meantone tuning is also very evident, and imparts the vibrant colours that the composer would have expected.
Choir and Organ, Douglas Hollick
Weinberg: Clarinet Concerto; Flute Concerto No. 2; Flute Concerto; Fantasia
(Chandos CHSA5064)
This is the finest disc so far in Chandos' ongoing Weinberg series. It contains four marvelous concertante pieces. Unlike the symphonies recorded previously, most of which try very hard to be "serious" and wind up being ugly and depressing (which is not to say that this was not an accurate representation of Soviet life), these works are obviously melodic, elegantly crafted, and often strikingly beautiful without ever pandering or sounding overtly Socialist Realist. The Cello Fantasia, for example, sports moody but haunting outer sections enfolding a memorable central waltz episode. It's enjoyable without being cheap, and it deserves to become a repertory item.
The same observations apply to the Second Flute Concerto and the magnificent Clarinet Concerto, a work that bids fair to challenge the Nielsen for finest 20th century essay in the medium. In each of these works, Weinberg keenly assesses the capabilities of the solo instrument and writes music that's idiomatic, challenging, and perfectly tailored in its relationship of the solo to the larger ensemble. The performers seize the opportunities that Weinberg offers them with obvious relish. Cellist Anders Jonhäll's warm tone makes Weinberg's melodies really sing. Both wind soloists deliver technically superb, polished readings, never hinting at what must have been the music's unfamiliarity. Sympathetic accompaniments and first-class engineering in all formats make this disc mandatory listening for 20th-century music collectors.
Classics Today, David Hurwitz
http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=11895
Henze: Symphonie No. 8; Nachtstücke und Arien; Die Bassariden: Adagio, Fuge und Manadentanz
(Phoenix Edition Phoenix113)
Music critics don’t talk as frequently these days about Hans Werner Henze as much as his generational peers—Pierre Boulez, Elliott Carter and even the small-ensemble composer György Kurtág. Maybe it’s because Henze’s hard to pin down stylistically: The chameleon composer has jumped around from Stravinskyian neoclassicism (mid-1940s) to Darmstadt serialism (late ’40s) to a more conservative, Romantically laced idiom since the 1950s. The three works here—“Nachtstücke und Arien” (1957); Adagio, Fuge und Manadentanz Suite aus der Oper “Die Bassariden” (1964); and the Symphonie No. 8 (1993)—may not feature the creativity from his first two periods, but they’re punchy representations of the music he wrote after his liberating, postwar move to Italy in 1953.
In the “Nachtstücke” arias, soprano Claudia Barainsky belts richly anguished vocals, with almost foggy support from the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln. (According to the liner notes, Boulez stormed out of this premiere because he felt it sounded too pretty.) Particularly lush is the Adagio from the suite of Henze’s opera Die Bassariden, a ghost from late-19th-century Vienna.
Markus Stenz sharply leads the GOK in the austere and pounding Symphonie No. 8, surprisingly inspired by Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. After wandering through ten minutes of what feels like a nuclear plant, with the symphony’s shrieking brass and martial snares, Henze mischievously kicks open the steel doors to reveal a poppy field where twee string work approximates a Classical-era trio. The contrast is awesome. The last movement, a languorous adagio, marches toward a peaceful death when the flutes sputter out a final, futile cry of desperation. Before you dive into Henze’s meatier operas and oratorios, this might be the teaser you need for your fledgling Henze library.
TimeOutChicago, Bryant Manning
http://www.timeout.com/chicago/articles/opera-classical/59011/hans-werner-henze
Scene d'amore
(Ondine ODE1126-2)
Soile Isokoski vowed that she’d never sing opera. Fortunately. She changed her mind after falling in love with Puccini’s La Boheme in the process of making her operatic debut in 1989. Fabulous musicianship, technical command and sheer vocal beauty have made Isokoski a gold-standard star on the international opera circuit. This disc of romantic arias deserves to reach out way beyond existing fans of the Finnish soprano, not least because of her choice of instantly accessible repertoire and emotional involvement from first bar to last. Isokoski’s delivery of long, seemingly endless melodies reaches the heart without mannerism or affection.
Classic FM, Andrew Stewart
Bruckner: Mass in E
(Hänssler CD93.199)
Understated, yet with the necessarily large dynamic range, the Stuttgart Vocal Ensemble’s exemplary reading in a restrained acoustic proves that the lushness of the motets, beloved of so many English choirs, doesn’t depend on a hugely Romantic rendering and a basilica for performance. Though the texts are Latin, here is a strong argument for the lending some vowels a German inflection to revolve the aural kaleidoscope a little. The exquisite Mass no.2 is the 1882 version for eight-part chorus and winds, and makes for essential listening.
Choir and Organ, Matthew Power
|
