MusicWeb Reviewer’s Log: November 2005
Reviewer: Patrick C Waller
It is curious that
the complete piano music of two Edinburgh
academics – Hans Gál
and Kenneth Leighton –
should appear one after the other. I
reviewed the Leighton set in June when
it was a Recording of the Month (link).
Jonathan Woolf reviewed the more recent
Gál release (link)
and was also positive. Although somewhat
quirky, if anything, Gál’s music
is more immediately accessible and I
liked everything about this new Avie
set. There are twenty-four preludes
and twenty-four fugues (one per key
of course) but they are separate works
written twenty years apart. The latter
were a ninetieth birthday present to
himself! Gál’s style struck me
as far from academic and hopefully this
will be the start of an exploration
of his oeuvre on disc. There
are symphonies and quartets out there
that hardly anyone knows which are surely
worth hearing. I should also mention
the pianism of Leon McCawley which is
most impressive, the exemplary production
by Simon Fox-Gál (the composer’s
grandson) and handsome documentation.
This is a major achievement and on my
shortlist for one of the records of
the year.
Any disc by Marc-André
Hamelin is an event – the Gramophone
recently reproduced a quote suggesting
that he is "the greatest living
pianist". It also suggested that
it is about time he concentrated on
mainstream repertoire rather than by-ways
such as Scharwenka’s first
piano concerto (see link
for Terry Barfoot’s review). I couldn’t
agree less and am delighted that Hyperion
has completed its Scharwenka "set"
– Nos 2 and 3 are played by Seta Tanyel
and No 4 by Stephen Hough. All are in
the Romantic Piano Concerto series which
has now reached Volume 38. The coupling
is Anton Rubinstein’s
4th concerto, another bravura
work and, for me, slightly less interesting
than the Scharwenka. One notable thing
about Scharwenka’s first concerto is
that all three movements are allegros.
There is some stunning pianism on this
most compelling disc and strong support
comes from BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
(no mean band at all) under Michael
Stern (son of the late violinist Isaac).
Hyperion also has a
Romantic Violin Concerto series ongoing
and has just started on the cello version
of the genre. Volume 1 contains works
by Dohnanyi, Enescu and
d’Albert that were entirely
new to me. Gerhard Albrecht is the soloist
and does a fine job. The Enescu is an
unusual work (called Sinfonie Concertante)
which is worth resurrecting even though
the very end is unconvincing. The recording
was made in Caird Hall in Dundee and
is superbly engineered. There is a perfect
balance between soloist and orchestra
and this is among the best sounding
discs I have ever heard. A most auspicious
start to the series.
Whilst on the subject
of the cello, one of the most interesting
discs I have reviewed recently was Astor
Piazzolla’s Tangos arranged
for cello and piano (link).
Superbly realized by the Argentinian
team of Eduardo Vassallo and Cristina
Filoso, this is compulsive stuff.
It has been a good
month for Hyperion – their release of
little known works by Janáček
was very positively received
by Evan Dickerson (link)
– a Recording of the Month. The
major works are the choral piece The
Eternal Gospel and an orchestral
suite arranged from the opera "The
Excursions of Mr. Brouček".
The latter is something of a Cinderella
amongst his operas (it was not included
in the marvellous Mackerras/Decca series
- which incidentally can now be bought
in single box fairly cheaply), presumably
because of the unreal plot
rather than any deficiency in the music.
All the works are highly characteristic
of the composer, and Ilan Volkov and
the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
seem well at home in the idiom. This
disc will be essential for admirers
of Janáček.
Staying where we were
geographically but moving back to the
piano, and the music of Dvořák.
... A while ago Naxos issued a complete
set and it was something I meant to
get around to buying. After reading
Jonathan Woolf’s review (link)
of the Inna Poroshina’s set for Brilliant
Classics which he compared favourably
with the Naxos, I went for that instead.
For one thing it was £10 cheaper, the
presentation was also much more attractive
and in slimline format. This is not
the greatest piano sound I have heard
by any means – there is a touch of hardness
but it is certainly tolerable. Poroshina’s
playing is idiomatic and this is an
excellent bargain.
I have been listening
to some Naxos discs, including the ongoing
series of symphonies by William
Schuman played by the Seattle
Symphony under Gerard Schwarz (review).
Numbers 7 and 10 are included on the
latest release and the latter (his last)
is subtitled American Muse and
was written in 1976 for the bicentennial
of the USA. The opening movement is
uncompromisingly marked con fuoco
and hardly the stuff of celebration
but this is a particularly powerful
work. Edmund Rubbra’s
Violin Concerto is also very worthwhile
in a new recording by Krysia Osostowicz
(review).
Finally the complete works for solo
piano and violin/piano of Luigi
Dallapiccola which fit
onto a single disc (review).
Whether starting from scratch or using
material from Paganini and Tartini,
Dallapiccola’s music is atmospheric
and compelling.
I recently dug out
and re-listened to one of last year’s
most interesting issues – David Zinman’s
Zurich set of Schumann
symphonies. John Phillips was most enthusiastic
(review)
and there is no doubt that this is quite
special. The second symphony receives
a particularly compelling performance
and only in parts of the Rhenish
does Zinman’s lean and sprightly approach
seem at all underpowered. This set is
also a considerable bargain (under £10)
and should be snapped up quickly because
occasionally record companies do strange
things like re-issuing their successes
in a higher price band.
I had been hoping to
go to one of the Bournemouth Symphony
Orchestra’s recent performances of Mahler’s
Resurrection symphony under Marin
Alsop. Unfortunately, in the end, I
had to listen to a radio broadcast.
This seemed to me to get better as it
went on. In particular the first movement
sounded slightly under-characterised
whereas Alsop held the finale’s rather
wayward structure together well. There
was some fine singing from soloists,
Sally Matthews and Karen Cargill, and
also from the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus.
I see that the same soloists have also
been performing the work (in a new edition)
under the amateur conductor and Resurrection
symphony specialist Gilbert Kaplan.
Jim Pritchard was not impressed (review).
Finally, it was interesting
to hear the top men from Naxos (Klaus
Heymann) and Hyperion (Simon Perry)
interviewed on BBC Radio 3’s CD review
in consecutive weeks. Perhaps unsurprisingly
(given Naxos’s recent label of the year
award from the Gramophone and Hyperion’s
legal woes), Heymann seemed much more
upbeat. They had diametrically opposite
views on the future of CD versus downloads.
Heymann sees the major current challenge
as how to manage the transition to downloading,
Perry thinks it won’t take off in the
classical world. Personally I have yet
to be convinced about downloads but
once you start ...
Patrick C Waller
