MusicWeb Reviewer’s Log: October 2005
Reviewer: Patrick C Waller
To start this month,
two discs not [yet] reviewed on MusicWeb
which I have come across that seem to
be very worthwhile. Sergei Taneyev
was a pretty unfamiliar name to me until
DG issued his Piano Quintet and Trio
(477 4519) played by an all-star ensemble
including Vadim Repin and Mikhail Pletnev.
This is really interesting stuff and
definitely the product of an individual
mind. Both works are quite extended
and the disc plays for 82’34’’ – the
longest I have ever come across. I am
not complaining but did not know that
this was possible. York Bowen
is, in my view a significant composer
yet to emerge from the shadows and I
already treasure a disc of his piano
music played by Stephen Hough. On the
same label – Hyperion – his Viola Concerto
has recently been issued finely played
by rising star Laurence Power (CDA67546).
The coupling is another Viola Concerto
by Cecil Forsyth (if you’ve
heard of him before you are doing better
than me), which was possibly the first
foray into the genre by a British composer.
The sound is excellent and the front
cover picture of the disc (an 1859 picture
by John Linnell) most attractive and
apposite. This is deeply sonorous music
- if they have not already done so,
lovers of English music and/or the viola
should investigate this urgently.
I write just after
having heard that Naxos has won the
Gramophone’s label of the year
award, and deservedly so in my view.
Their recent disc of Finzi’s
songs with the baritone Roderick Williams
accompanied by Iain Burnside has no
fewer than 5 reviews on MusicWeb (a
record?), so I’ll just add a link to
the latest of them - from which all
the others can be accessed (link 1),
and say that I greatly enjoyed this
too. Kurt Weill’s symphonies
are little known works that are hardly
known but Marin Alsop’s splendid disc
with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
should put that right (link 2). Tutti
bravi said Kevin Sutton and I couldn’t
agree more. Two Naxos discs I reviewed
recently both contained relative rarities.
First, Berwald’s tone
poems (links 3 & 4), and, secondly,
Hummel concertos for violin
(a completion), and the unusual combination
of violin and piano (links 5 and 6).
The range, quality and accessibility
(at budget price) of these four discs
– which are just those I have happened
to come across in the past month – amply
illustrate the justification of this
award.
I was intrigued by
Peter Lawson’s review of the 1921 multi-arranger
chamber version of Bruckner’s
7th symphony (link 7). This
was given the "Recording of the
Month" accolade and I couldn’t
resist investigating further. The instrumentation
is for ten players on nine instruments
(there is a piano duo), including just
one brass instrument (the horn) and
a harmonium. There was no conductor
and, sensibly, the work is taken quite
fast (less than 60 minutes overall).
Unsurprisingly, some of the transitions
are not perfectly managed but there
is much fine playing. I agree with Peter
that, despite inevitable losses, there
are gains from hearing the work in this
form.
MusicWeb seems to be
increasingly offering multiple reviews
of the same disc. Very often, I suspect
that they are written at about the same
time and are quite independent of each
other. Despite that, reviewers often
seem to come to similar conclusions.
Occasionally they have radically different
views and this was the case in respect
of Jonathan Nott’s recent record of
Schubert’s Symphonies
Nos 1, 3 & 8. I received this disc
for review and was just starting to
listen to it when Evan Dickerson’s negative
view was published on the site (link
8). Maybe this brought out the devil’s
advocate in me (link 9) but it does
illustrate how much personal taste can
come into reviewing.
Come September, come
the Last Night of the Proms and, whatever
you think about the second half, the
first part is usually a special concert
in itself. With Andreas Scholl and John
Williams as soloists, this was no exception.
The first half concluded with Lambert’s
Rio Grande – rousing
stuff which was just right for the occasion.
Well done to Paul Daniel on his first
last night (paradoxically this is not
a contradiction), he presided with great
aplomb.
Post Proms and their
earlier Beethoven splurge, BBC Radio
3 are continuing to set aside their
schedules for complete composer bashes.
J.S. Bach is promised soon (over a fortnight)
and recently they did Webern’s
complete oeuvre in a single day. You
can get the whole of his 31 opus output
on 3CDs but so far I only have one disc
– Karajan’s orchestral offerings of
the Passacaglia, 5 Movements, 6 Pieces
and the Symphony. The last of these
plays for just 10 minutes. This may
be music on a postage stamp scale but
it is powerful stuff and seems to me
to be the most accessible from the Second
Viennese School. On this day I heard
for the first time In Sommerwind
and some of the songs. I must explore
this music further soon.
A little while back
I revisited Barbirolli’s wonderful 1960s
recording of Puccini’s
Madama Butterfly, a recording
I have had on CD for many years. Renata
Scotto and Carlo Bergonzi were the principals
and both were in fine voice. When I
put disc 2, which starts in the middle
of Act 2, into my best CD player it
completely failed to recognize the disc.
There was no problem playing the CD
in several other players but the sound
was much inferior judging from the first
disc. Transient glitches are not uncommon
but this was not a problem I have come
across previously. Since this set is
currently on a special offer, the solution
was to invest in the latest remastering
(an EMI "Great Recording of the
Century"). This sounds fantastic
and is a considerable improvement from
the 1980s offering.
Finally, for those
who ponder the economics of recorded
music, sets that were previously out
of the price range (and storage space
capacity) of most individuals and destined
for libraries only are becoming different
propositions thanks to massive price
cuts and slimline packaging. For example,
Mozart’s complete output is now being
offered by Brilliant Classics for barely
more than one pound per CD, Scott Ross’s
complete Scarlatti sonatas on Warner
classics for £2-3 per disc and Hyperion’s
Schubert complete song collection for
£4-5 per disc. I don’t know much about
the first of these but from what I know
of the latter two, they are top-notch
offerings so it is not just a question
of quantity before quality. Clearly
it’s a buyer’s market at the moment.
I suggest we all get our credit cards
out and enjoy - just in case those who
predict ultimate meltdown are right.
And if you fancy any of the above monsters
to see you through 2006, get them on
your Christmas list soon.
Patrick C Waller
Links
1.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Aug05/finzi_songsJQ_8557644.htm
2.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Sep05/weill_symphonies_8557481.htm
3.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Aug05/Berwald_8555370.htm
4.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Sep05/berwald_tonepoems_8555370.htm
5.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Aug05/hummel_violinconcerto_8557595.htm
6.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Sep05/Hummel_concertos_8557595.htm
7.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/July05/Bruckner7_Eisler_60313132.htm
8.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Aug05/schubert_nott_TUDOR7141.htm
9.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Sep05/Schubert1_Tudor7141.htm
