MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS
Download: Classicsonline


Christopher ROUSE (b. 1949)
Iscariot (1989) [15:20]
Clarinet Concerto (2001) [19:14]
Symphony No.1 (1986) [26:44]
Martin Fröst (clarinet)
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra/Alan Gilbert
rec. Stockholm Concert Hall, January 2005 (Iscariot, Clarinet Concerto) and March 2006 (Symphony No.1). DDD
BIS BISCD1386 [62:35]
Experience Classicsonline

Dedicated to John Adams who conducted its first performance, Iscariot is a short work scored for chamber orchestra. It is structured as a series of strophes mainly for strings. These are contrasted with antistrophes for woodwind, brass and percussion “always with the celesta nearby playing music derived from the chorale Es ist genug that will eventually be stated in a recognisable fashion at the end of the piece”. The piece opens with a massive bass drum stroke followed by slow-moving, cluster-like progressions in the strings that may bring Ives’ The Unanswered Question to mind. The music then unfolds in a succession of strophes and antistrophes before reaching its unresolved ending. It is a rather enigmatic piece described by the composer as his most privately autobiographical piece without – tantalisingly enough – offering any clue. “Let each listener make of Iscariot what he or she may!”
 
The somewhat more recent Clarinet Concerto dedicated to Augusta Read Thomas is a completely different work. It is cast in one movement, falling into several contrasting sections. It opens with a forceful call to arms in the brass. The clarinet enters with some florid, capricious gestures. It then turns to embrace more melodic material but never unequivocally; it was the composer’s wish to write “a rather prickly work”, in elements of chance and unpredictability were present. The composer explains that he even chose to roll a pair of dice every twelve bars. If he rolled two sixes, he would at that point introduce a slapstick stroke that would usher in a small three-movement ‘micro-concerto’ of more tonal harmony. Such playing with numerology, however, must not be carried too far. Thus the music unfolds in a kaleidoscopic manner alternating in the clarinet part the warmly melodic with the fancifully skittish material. In the background the orchestra groans or erupts without any apparent logic. A referee whistle brings the abrupt close. Rouse’s Clarinet Concerto is a highly virtuosic piece calling for immaculate technique and committed musicality. Martin Fröst meets both requirements seemingly without effort.
 
The Symphony No.1, dedicated to John Harbison, is undoubtedly the most substantial work in this most welcome composer’s portrait. Unlike other music by Rouse at that time, the music moves at a relatively slow pace throughout. This adds considerably to the dark-hued character of much of the thematic material. Though in one huge single span, this work falls into four distinct sections played without a break. The music alludes to the Adagio of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, albeit “turned upside down, played backwards and in other ways corrupted in an attempt to say ‘no’, symbolically, to the heroic ideal of the nineteenth century”. The extended introduction leads into the Allegro section, the tempo of which nevertheless remains slow. The impression of speeding-up is suggested by an increase of dynamics rather than by a real increase of tempo. This builds to a mighty climax violently hammered out. There follows a long slow section “more diatonic in harmony and consoling in mood”. This hard-won peace is brutally disrupted by a brief dissonant orchestral shriek. Some soft music ensues in an attempt to restore the contemplative mood of the slow section, thus ushering in the long elegiac coda. There is something of Allan Pettersson’s grief-stricken symphonies here. The work ends in utter darkness, unresolved, unappeased. Like Iscariot, the First Symphony is a strongly personal statement from a composer whose music is often triggered by emotional stimuli rather than by purely formal calculations. I have always felt – and still do – that Christopher Rouse is first and foremost an intuitive. His often violent, let alone aggressive but always strongly expressive music often reflects our brutish times in much the same way as a humanist attempts to introduce consolation or reason for hope.
 
This is a splendid release and a most welcome addition to Rouse’s growing discography.
 
Hubert Culot
 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.