MusicWeb Reviewer’s
Log: April 2006
Reviewer: Patrick
C Waller
After around five months,
I have finished listening to Scott Ross’s
complete Scarlatti harpsichord
sonata recordings (link
1 ). This is a wonderful
set and reviewing it was an experience
I enjoyed very much. After you have
been through it once, it is difficult
to know what to do with such a large
set (34 CDs in this case) - other than
just to start again. I am reminded of
two anecdotes – first by analogy with
walking a long distance footpath. Over
a period of about seven years I walked
the South West Coast Path, an experience
I can also recommend. Near the beginning
I recall meeting someone coming the
other way who had almost finished. We
got talking and I asked him what he
thought was the best part of the walk.
His response was that there were so
many good parts he couldn’t tell me
or even remember all of them. So it
is with Scarlatti’s sonatas. Whether
or not anyone ever reads the notes I
made going through the discs, they will
be useful to me as reminders. The second
tale which springs to mind comes from
one of the last time I stood in the
Proms queue - now I usually spoil myself
with a seat - probably in about 1991
and in the cause of Simon Rattle’s Mahler
9. I got talking to a chap who like
me had collected about 300 CDs, which
seemed quite a lot at the time. The
"how do you decide what to listen
to" question came up and he said
– I file mine in the order I bought
them and I just keep listening to them
strictly in that order. If he is still
doing that 15 years later I’ll be impressed
– what do you do when you have half
an hour and it is Wagner’s Ring
sitting there next in the queue? Keeping
listening to Scarlatti in Kirkpatrick
order is more realistic but I shall
be allowing myself plenty of exceptions.
Is it a small step or a giant leap from the harpsichord
to the piano? Schubert’s piano music is another
love of mine and the release of Radu Lupu’s sonata recordings
proved irresistible since the four discs were very cheap (Decca
475 7074). His version of the Impromptus is a long time favourite
disc and the sonata recordings are in the same mould. This is
truly beautiful playing that left me entranced. Lupu’s colouring
and ability to convey just the right mood are striking. There
are no idiosyncratic tempi and rubato is used sparingly. It is
sad that Lupu’s self-criticism have restricted his recordings
– like Uchida’s recently finished series this is far from complete.
The most serious omission is No. 17 (D850) – the other late sonatas
are there along with Nos. 13 and 14 and a couple of early works.
Just about all of this is as good as it gets - and far preferable
to Uchida in my view - but I will cite two movements that were
particularly arresting. In the scherzo of No. 16 D845 – a grade
7 piece as my wife reminded me – there is grace beyond measure.
It may only take grade 7 to play the notes but requires the highest
artistry to play like this. Secondly in the slow movement of the
great final sonata in B flat (D960) Lupu brings great pathos and
a feeling that time is standing still. Normally it is the first
movement of this work that transports me (and Lupu did that) –
here that feeling continued.
Yet more piano music
has come my way recently and Alexander
Paley’s readings of Balakirev’s
complete oeuvre in a 6CD Brilliant box
(92617) is another amazing bargain from
this label. Only the first piece on
the first disc - Islamey – is
well known but there are two sonatas,
several nocturnes, mazurkas and waltzes
(with undoubted debts to Chopin), a
shedload of transcriptions and a final
disc of miscellanea that I particularly
enjoyed. Some of the transcriptions
are surprises – for example the cavatina
from Beethoven’s String Quartet Op.130.
Alexander Paley is a reliable guide
and, even though the early 1990s sound
is a bit inconsistent and never out
of the top-drawer, this is well worth
seeking out. Whatever you do, don’t
buy one of the still available single
discs (on Ess.a.y) – the cost will be
about as much as the whole set.
One of my discs of
the year for 2005 was Leon McCawley’s
survey of the piano music of Hans
Gal (link
2). This made me keen to hear
more of the composer and I therefore
picked up a recent release on Meridian
of two string quartets, numbers 1 and
4 (CDE 84530) played by the Edinburgh
Quartet. These works were written over
fifty years apart, the first dating
from 1916. If fairly traditional in
form, they both contain much imaginative
music. The playing is excellent and
there is an encore in the form of the
Improvisation, Variations and Finale
on a theme by Mozart (taken from
Don Giovanni). All four of Gal’s
quartets were first played in London
as recently as 1987 and this is music
waiting to be rediscovered. I hope that
numbers 2 and 3 are on their way from
the same source.
Whilst on the subject
of string quartets, Naxos has recently
issued two discs of Pleyel’s Op.2 quartets.
I mentioned the first of these last
month, and the second has since been
reviewed appreciatively by Göran
Forsling (link
3). I also enjoyed this
disc and my review is waiting in the
wings.
The Naxos release of
Bo Linde’s concertos for
violin and cello (link
4) was a February bargain
of the month. I confess to not having
heard of the composer before. He was
a pupil of Lars-Erik Larsson and died
young (aged 37), the concertos dating
from 1958 and 1965. I was particularly
taken with the powerfully expressive
cello concerto, superbly rendered by
Maria Kliegel. In three movements, this
ends with a memorable and poignant Lento,
ma tempo flessible. This disc is
a must for lovers of Scandinavian music.
Another positively reviewed disc on
the same label which I have enjoyed
hearing is In-Ju Bang’s recordings of
Kabalevsky’s first two
piano concertos (link
5). I continue to be amazed
at the quantity of relatively obscure
but worthwhile music that Naxos is recording,
not to mention the usual high standards
of performance and production. William
Bolcom is a case in point
and, of several recent releases of his
music, the four violin sonatas have
most impressed me. A review is on its
way.
Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s
guitar concertos are amongst
the most important in the repertoire
and it is surprising that Brilliant
can claim they have issued the first
complete collection. Perhaps to show
that they can do more than make up big
boxes of recordings licensed in, this
seems to be their own new recording
and it comes on a single disc at bargain
price (7615). The soloist in the better
known first concerto is Lorenzo Micheli
whilst Massimo Felici takes over for
the second and the two join forces for
the double concerto. I enjoyed everything
about this disc – highly recommended.
After spending much
time last month listening to the Sibelius
symphonies of Anthony Collins (link
6), I wanted to hear Kullervo
again and the LSO Live release of Sir
Colin Davis’s recent Barbican performance
neatly filled a gap in my collection
(LSO0074). Having been rather uncomplimentary
about his Sibelius in my review, I am
glad to say that there are no reservations
here. In addition to fine contributions
from orchestra and conductor there is
also some excellent singing from the
London Symphony Chorus and soloists
Peter Mattei and Monica Groop. The recorded
sound gives no cause for complaint and
there is a real sense of occasion.
Finally, since I am
writing this at midday on the first
of April, I am now able to remind you
of the MusicWeb tradition of April fools.
Of course I am hoping that you got caught
out by at least one but, if you missed
them and fancy a chuckle, click on link
7 below.
Patrick C Waller
Links
1. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Nov05/Scarlatti_sonatas_2564620922.htm
2. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Oct05/Gal_av2064.htm
3. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Mar06/Pleyel2_8557497.htm
4. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Feb06/Linde_8557855.htm
5. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Mar06/Kabalevsky_concertos_8557683.htm
6. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Mar06/Collins_Sibelius_14PD8.htm
7. http://www.musicweb-international.com/April_Fools.htm
