April 2012/2 Download Roundup
Brian
Wilson
The previous Roundup, April 2012/1 is here.
March 2012/2 is here
and earlier editions are indexed here.
I’m pleased to report that I have it on excellent authority that the
irrational pricing policy at classicsonline.com for EMI and Virgin budget-price
albums is at long last about to be sorted. Some of the most recent additions
seem already to have benefited from the change: 77 minutes of arias and choruses
from the Wolfgang Gönnenwein recording of Bach’s St Matthew Passion,
a recommendable compromise between traditional and period-aware performances,
for just £2.99 – here
– for example.* The new 2-CD recording of Beethoven Piano Sonatas by
rising star HJ Lim is also offered at the competitive price of £7.99
– here
– thereby exactly matching the price of the download from hmvdigital.com,
which is also offered at 320kb/s.** For the time being, however, it’s
still caveat emptor for the older releases, especially of the budget
2-CD sets.
* hmvdigital.com have the complete 3-CD set of this St Matthew, still
well worth considering, for £7.99 – here.
** amazon.co.uk undercut both at £7.49 and throw in the pdf booklet,
but their bit-rates are usually lower, at a maximum 256kb/s.
Download of the Month
Lionel SAINSBURY (b.1958) Violin Concerto
Op.14 (1989) [39:43]
Haydn WOOD (1882-1959) Violin Concerto
in a minor (1928) [26:26]
Adagio from Violin Concerto in b minor (1905) [6:38]
Lorraine McAslan (violin)
BBC Concert Orchestra/Barry Wordsworth (Sainsbury), Gavin Sutherland (Haydn
Wood) – rec. October-December 2009. DDD
World premiere recordings
DUTTON EPOCH CDLX7245 [71:47] – from amazon.co.uk
(mp3)
[Recording of the Month – see review
by Rob Barnett.]
This could just as appropriately have been my Discovery of the Month –
both works receive their world premiere recordings here.
Music and performances are every bit as good as the Recording of the
Month accolade implies; not having heard either work before, I was
purchasing blind. If you’re hesitating, there’s no need to do so.
Don’t those wonderful Dutton covers just make you want to take the plunge,
quite apart from other considerations?
A slight disappointment: the bit-rate is around 225kb/s rather than the anticipated
256kb/s, when the full 320kb/s is rapidly becoming the norm, but fortunately
the recording doesn’t seem to suffer. The strong documentation to which
Rob Barnett refers is not part of the deal, but his review largely helps to
mitigate its absence.
At £6.23, the amazon.co.uk download undercuts the iTunes version (£7.99)
and the CD (the cheapest UK price seems to be £9.49). Amazon, who have
the inexpensive download are asking a ridiculous £23.90 for the CD at
the time of writing!
Bargain of the Month
Lionel SAINSBURY (b.1958) Cello Concerto,
Op.27 (1999)
Raphael Wallfisch (cello); Royal National Scottish Orchestra/Martin Yates
– rec. May 2011. DDD
John FOULDS (1880-1939) Cello Concerto
in G, Op.17 (1908-09)
Raphael Wallfisch (cello); Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Martin Yates –
rec. June 2011. DDD
World Premiere Recordings
DUTTON CDLX7284 [69:48] – from hmvdigital.com
(mp3)
For just £4.74 and at the full 320kb/s bit-rate, too, this makes a better
bargain even than the other Dutton recording of Lionel Sainsbury’s music
which I’ve selected as Download of the Month – you may wish to look
out to see if that also appears on hmvdigital.com.
As with the Sainsbury/Wood coupling on the Violin Concerto album, there’s
no sense that the newer work is in a style that clashes with its older companion
from nine decades previously, though that doesn’t mean that it’s
written in a derivative manner. For all its virtues, however, it’s the
Foulds that really makes this special; we’ve long awaited a recording
of this work. I have no benchmarks but I doubt if these landmark recordings
will ever be bettered. Full marks for both these recordings.
There are no sleeve-notes, but you’ll find an excerpt from them on the
Dutton website here.
Freebie of the Month
NMC Sampler
Howard SKEMPTON Rise Up, My Love: I Rise
Up, My Love [3:39]
Exaudi Chamber Choir/James Weeks
Benjamin BRITTEN The Tocher (Rossini Suite):
I. Allegro brillante [1:53]
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group; Choir of King Edward’s School, Birmingham/Martyn
Brabbins
Judith WEIR El Rey de Francia [1:38]
Schubert Ensemble
Barry GUY After the Rain (for string orchestra):
Chorale [3:04]
City of London Sinfonia/Richard Hickox
Martin BUTLER American Rounds: I [2:44]
Schubert Ensemble
Ed BENNETT Cartoon Music [7:24]
Decibel
Malcolm ARNOLD Severn Bridge Variations
[1:39]
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Jac van Steen
Jonathan HARVEY Ah! Sun-flower [1:56]
Claire Booth (soprano); Huw Watkins (piano)
Stephanie MONTAGUE Midnight Sun [2:44]
Philip Mead (piano)
Tansy DAVIES Inside Out [4:37]
[rout]
NMC [31:18] – from amazon.co.uk
(mp3)
Not all the music here is exactly contemporary, which may actually enhance
its appeal for some – there are tracks by Benjamin Britten from an album
Britten on Film and by Malcolm Arnold, for example. Nor is all the
contemporary music too avant-garde: the opening piece, for example, based
on the Song of Solomon, is very approachable. It’s the first part of
a four-part setting, itself part of an enjoyable programme of Howard Skempton’s
Choral and Chamber Music which I streamed from Naxos Music Library.
Barry Guy’s After the Rain is appealing to the general listener,
too – the complete work takes up a short album. Ed Bennett’s album
My Broken Machines, from which Cartoon is taken, is a different
matter – NMC aptly use the term ‘anarchic’. Judith Weir’s
El Rey de Francia, from a 2-CD set of her music, is also a predictably
tough-ish nut to crack.
I hadn’t heard Malcolm Arnold’s Severn Bridge Variations,
the brief opening section of a collaborative effort with several other composers,
including Michael Tippett and Grace Williams from an album entitled Themes
and Variations.
These are not all recent recordings – After the Rain was recorded
in 1993, for example – but they may well tempt you to explore. If you
buy just one album on CD or as a download the sampler will have served its
purpose. Alternatively, you could explore the NMC catalogue further with another
sampler, New Stock, available as a download in mp3 (£1.99) or
flac (£2.99) from nmcrec.co.uk.
All the music on both samplers is available for download in mp3 and flac from
NMC or classicsonline.com or can be streamed and the booklets accessed from
Naxos Music Library.
Amazon.co.uk might have done NMC better service by identifying the composers
– only three are named; I had to chase up the rest.
Christopher TYE (c.1505-1573)
Quæsumus omnipotens et misericors Deus [6:25]
Missa Euge bone (6vv.) [22:04]
Give almes of thy goods [1:47]
Christ rising [3:40]
Peccavimus cum patribus nostris [11:39]
Western Wynde Mass (4vv.) [24:39]
Nunc dimittis [3:33]
The Choir of Westminster Abbey/James O’Donnell
rec. All Hallows, Gospel Oak, London, 20-22 June 2011. DDD
Pdf booklet with texts and translations included
HYPERION CDA67928 [73:41] – from hyperion-records.co.uk
(mp3 and lossless)
[a version of this review has already appeared on the main MusicWeb International
pages.]
This recording is scheduled for release on CD in May 2012 but is available
in advance for download; my review is based on the lossless version.
We now have three excellent performances of Tye’s masterpiece, the Euge
bone Mass – with a possible fourth if the ASV recording of three
of his Masses were ever to be reissued: it’s currently not available
but some ASV recordings are gradually trickling back into the catalogue. The
two rival recordings come at budget price:
Christopher TYE Kyrie ‘Orbis factor’
[3:39]
Missa Euge bone [26:16]
Quæsumus omnipotens Deus [6:55]
Miserere mei, Deus [9:16]
Omnes gentes, plaudite manibus [4:14]
Peccavimus cum patribus nostris [13:40]
The Choir of Winchester Cathedral/David Hill – rec. March 1990. DDD
Booklet with texts and translations included
HYPERION HELIOS CDH55079 [64:49] – from hyperion-records.co.uk
(on CD, mp3 and lossless downloads.)
Christopher TYE Omnes gentes, plaudite
manibus [5:22]
Kyrie [4:41]
Missa Euge bone [25:36]
William MUNDY (c.1529-c.1591) Magnificat
[9:58]
Christopher TYE Peccavimus cum patribus
nostris [12:47]
Oxford Camerata/Jeremy Summerly – rec.1993. DDD.
Booklet with texts and translations included
NAXOS 8.550937 [58:23] – on CD, download from classicsonline.com
(mp3) or stream from Naxos Music Library
I can fully endorse Gary Higginson’s high opinion of the Winchester version
‘This is a fine disc, the music is attractive and the polyphony never
too impenetrable or over long. The singing is first class… Anyone who
likes English polyphony should get this CD which is most attractively priced.’
(See review
for details.) The Naxos recording has been a valued part of my CD collection
since it was released almost twenty years ago. It would seem, with two such
strong rivals for half the price, that the new Hyperion needs to be especially
good to justify itself.
I think that there is enough that is distinctive to recommend it: the inclusion
of Tye’s other masterpiece, the Western Wynde Mass (though I must
point out the availability of this work on an inexpensive Gimell set listed
below); the interspersing of the Latin and English works and, not least, the
generous playing time. In many ways it’s the inclusion of the English
settings that is most instructive, since there is so little difference in
style between the two, partly because Tye’s Latin settings are less florid,
less elaborate than those of his contemporaries.
In comparison Tallis’s English settings sound a pale imitation of their
Latin counterparts; it was not until Byrd’s Great Service, Second Service
and English anthems that Tye’s talent in both languages was rivalled
and exceeded. I’m not sure that Tye’s setting of the Easter anthem
Christ rising from the dead, which here receives a powerful performance,
doesn’t match Byrd’s English setting of the same text of which you’ll
find several versions on YouTube. They are not really comparable, since the
Byrd 6-part setting with viol accompaniment is more domestic in tone –
there’s a good recording of this and other music, vocal and instrumental,
by Byrd performed by Red Byrd and the Rose Consort on Naxos 8.550604.
The English setting of Nunc Dimittis is odd in that the text doesn’t
correspond to that in any version of the Book of Common Prayer. It predates
even the first Book of 1549 and shows the composer’s way with English
texts at an early date. The simplicity of the setting and the sympathetic
performance which it receives means that it rounds off the programme quietly
and very effectively.
The Euge bone Mass fits the reformers’ desire for one note per
syllable so well – a rule also formulated by the Roman Catholic Council
of Trent – that it’s impossible to say when it was composed: in
the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII or in that of Edward VI, Mary or
Elizabeth. The Naxos notes suggest that of the young reformer King Edward,
whose tutor was Tye’s younger contemporary Mundy, for the Mass and the
associated quæsumus omnipotens Deus – yet the Naxos recording
is the only one of the three not to include that work for comparison.
Like many Tudor settings, Tye’s Euge bone Mass comes without Kyries,
perhaps in this case because these had been replaced in the Book of Common
Prayer by the Ten Commandments. It was usually assumed that these would be
chanted, though, paradoxically, Taverner composed a separate polyphonic setting
of them, not attached to any complete Mass, the Kyrie Leroy. (Find
it sung by The Tallis Scholars with Taverner’s Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas,
etc., on Gimell CDGIM004
– or stream from Naxos Music Library). One reason for this common omission
may have been the late medieval tendency to introduce ‘farced’ tests,
often very elaborate, into the simple nine-fold Kyrie eleison-Christe eleison.
Several of these are included in the Sarum Missal.
O’Donnell simply performs what Tye sets as part of the Euge bone Mass
but Summerly includes a separate setting of the Kyrie and Hill begins
with a setting of one of those farced setting, Kyrie orbis factor.
In this respect, the new recording is less instructive than the two older
ones.
That Euge bone comes in tandem with the Western Wynde Mass on
the new Hyperion, however, swings the balance in the other direction. The
performance rivals that on Gimell; in a sense they are not in competition
because, as you would expect, a cathedral performance with boys’ voices
on the top line is different from that of a small professional group. With
Tye’s reformist tendencies, too, it’s appropriate that Hyperion
have recorded the music at Westminster Abbey rather than the Cathedral. As
you might have expected, James O’Donnell takes the music at a faster
pace than Peter Phillips with the Tallis Scholars but you would never notice
the difference unless you played them serially, a silly game which reviewers
have to play. Even then I certainly couldn’t say that one was unduly
fast or the other unduly slow.
That Gimell recording of the Western Wynde Mass which I’ve mentioned
is on The Tallis Scholars sing Tudor Music (I), Gimell CDGIM209,
2CDs for 1 – see my review
for details. Like the two budget-price recordings of the Euge bone
Mass it sets a very high standard against which the new recording has to compete
and it comes in the company of equally splendid recordings of the music of
Tye’s contemporaries. In fact, it’s so good that you’ll probably
want to purchase the companion 2-CD set of the music of later Tudor composers
too (CDGIM210, reviewed
jointly with Volume 1).
If it’s the two Tye Masses together and in the company of his little-performed
English-texted music that you want, however, the new Hyperion recording is
unrivalled. If you prefer boys’ voices, that’s an added advantage.
With very good recording in an ideal acoustic and notes of the usual high
Hyperion quality, you won’t be disappointed. Even the cover merits special
mention – Christ holding the world in His hand, as in the vision of Julian
of Norwich, from the Westminster Retable. So, despite the strong competition,
this has strong claims of its own.
Michael PRÆTORIUS (1571?-1621) Easter
Mass
Introit – Musæ Sionæ Volume 10: Venite [5:38]
Missodia Sionia (excerpts)
Kyrie [3:26]
Gloria [4:39]
Collect and Epistle [2:39]
Sequence – Musæ Sioniæ Vol. 10: Victimæ paschali
laudes [6:50]
Gospel – Musæ Sioniæ Volume 2: Erstanden ist der
heilige Christ [5:06]
Credo [5:19]
Musæ Sioniæ, Volume 2: Christ ist erstanden [2:11]
Hymn – Hymnodia Sionia: Vita sanctorum [8:05]
Preface [2:58]
Missodia Sionia: Sanctus, Benedictus [3:16]
Lord’s Prayer, Consecration [2:35]
Missodia Sionia: Agnus Dei [ 2:12]
Musæ Sioniæ, Volume 2: Jesus Christus, unser Heiland
[4:19]
Collect, Blessing [3:02]
Musæ Sionæ Volume 10: Hæc est dies [5:56]
Bremen Weser-Renaissance Ensemble/Manfred Cordes – rec. 2011. DDD
Link to promised pdf booklet inoperative
CPO 999953-2 [68:11] – from classicsonline.com
(mp3) or stream from Naxos Music Library
It’s a little late for Easter Sunday, but it should still be what we
used to call Paschal tide when you read this review.
This is a world premiere reconstruction of a Lutheran Easter Mass as prescribed
by the conservative Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel liturgy of 1569. It’s
billed as the first volume in a series, ‘Renaissance in the North’,
to the continuation of which I look forward. If you have heard the DG Archiv
reconstruction of a Christmas Mass with music by Prætorius, as performed
by Paul McCreesh*, you should know what to expect here – containing music
as rich as any written to accompany the Roman rite; with instrumental accompaniment,
it’s Italianate in style and much more elaborate than the limited polyphonic
settings in use in England at the time in the established church or by Catholic
recusants, this is the musical equivalent of a blow-out meal.
I’ve not yet received my download of this from classicsonline.com but
the Naxos Music Library streamed version sounds fine. The promised pdf booklet
of notes failed to materialise from the Naxos Music Library, but you’ll
find some information in German and English on the CPO website – here.
Both classicsonline.com and hmvdigital.com misprint the final track, Hæc
est dies, as Haec edt dies, which suggests that the careless typo
stems from CPO – not what one expects from them.
* the DG Archiv CD appears to be deleted: download from hmvdigital.com –
here.
Jean-Baptiste LULLY (1632-1687) Phaëton,
Atys et Armide Ouvertures avec tous les Airs
Ouverture avec tous les Airs à jouer de l’Opéra de Phaëton
[24:54]
Ouverture avec tous les Airs à jouer de l’Opéra d’Atys
[14:22]
Ouverture, Chaconne et tous les autres Airs à jouer de l’Opéra
d’Armide [23:21]
Barockorchester Capriccio/Dominik Kiefer (leader) – rec. March 2011.
DDD
Pdf booklet included
TUDOR7185 [62:38] – from classicsonline.com
(mp3) or stream from Naxos Music Library
These suites from three of Lully’s operas are taken from the 4-part arrangements
published by Estienne Roger between 1697 and 1712, which is how Lully’s
music came to be known outside France. They should appeal to any lovers of
French baroque music, even those not especially enamoured of singing –
it’s Lully without tears, as it were, for them. With excellent performances
– different instrumental figurations for each of the operas – and
recording and a valuable set of notes, this is strongly recommended. If only
Tudor had given us a more interesting cover – like that of the Naxos
recording listed below, for example – all would have been perfect.
For further listening, try an attractive and inexpensive Naxos collection
of Ballet Music for the Sun King performed by the Aradia Ensemble and Kevin
Mallon (8.554003 [73:19] – from classicsonline.com
– no overlap with the Tudor recording). Those wishing to explore Lully’s
opera-ballets more fully might well start with a 2-CD slightly abridged version
of Phaëton on the budget Warner Apex label directed by Michel
Laplénie and Mark Minkowski (2564621842).
Back in the day, you were either a Lully or a Rameau supporter but today we
can enjoy the music of both. An enjoyable recent 2-CD set celebrating the
tenth anniversary of Le Concert d’Astrée includes excerpts from
one Lully opera, Thésée, together with music from four
Rameau works, plus music by Purcell and Handel. Watch out for my review on
the main Musicweb International pages (Virgin Classics 7307992, around
£13 in the UK or download for £8.99 as 5099973079958 from
classicsonline.com).
Antonio VIVALDI (1678-1741) Orlando
finto pazzo (Orlando feigning madness – complete) (RV727, 1714)
Antonio Abete (bass, Orlando), Gemma Bertagnolli (soprano, Ersilla), Marina
Comparato (mezzo, Tigrinda), Sonia Prina (contralto, Orgille), Martin Oro
(counter-tenor, Grifone), Marianna Pizzolato (mezzo, Brandimarte)
Coro del Teatro Regio di Torino, Academia Montis Regalis/Alessandro de Marchi
– rec. 2003? DDD.
NAÏVE OPUS111 OP30392 [3 CDs: 3:27:00] – from hmvdigital.com
(mp3)
Wonderful music, if not much drama, in Vivaldi’s second opera and his
first for Venice, based on Ariosto’s predecessor in the field of renaissance
epic based on the deeds of Orlando, Boiardo. The performance and recording
– in a good 320kb/s transfer – are all that could be desired. There’s
no libretto but one can be found online and the price is a very generous £7.99
–a third of the cost of the CDs or the classicsonline.com download, which
is uncompetitive at around the same price as the discs. I actually downloaded
it for £6.49, after which the hmvdigital.com price increased immediately!
So why is this not my Bargain of the Month? Though I deleted my old copy of
the HMV download manager and obtained the new version, I had to download this
recording track by track from Google Chrome – a tedious process. Even
more tedious – and downright annoying – was the fact that the tracks
ended up in my download folder in a haphazard manner and required sorting
and re-numbering, a hazardous process if you’re not very careful, though
you can always go back to ‘my downloads’ and obtain the track again
if you mess up. It was worth the effort, but you may prefer to buy the CDs.
The Sinfonia in C, RV112, opens the proceedings and, as well as the complete
opera, there are nine tracks of alternative arias, but without notes it’s
not clear where these fitted.
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Symphony
No.9 in d minor (‘Choral’)
Rebecca von Lipinski (soprano), Anna Grevelius (mezzo), Peter Wedd (tenor),
Roderick Williams (baritone); City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus
Manchester Camerata/Douglas Boyd – rec. live 2011. DDD
AVIE AV2245 [74:33] – from classicsonline.com
(mp3) or stream from Naxos Music Library
This is the final instalment in a series of recordings of the Beethoven symphonies
which has won critical praise, not least on Musicweb International:
· Symphonies 2 and
5: AV0040 – see review
· Symphonies 4 and
7: AV2169 – see review
and March 2010 Roundup
· Symphonies 6 and
8: AV2242
The new release shares the virtues of the earlier volumes: a period-size orchestra
that’s by no means defective in conveying the power of the music, such
an essential feature of the Choral Symphony. With good recording, though no
notes or texts, this is a version to challenge the best. The audience is barely
perceptible until the well-deserved applause at the end.
I also listened to the recording of Nos. 6 and 8 and enjoyed that too.
A Schubert collection
The week-long celebration of Schubert’s music on BBC Radio 3 at the end
of March 2012 may have left many wondering about recommendable downloads of
his music, so here’s a short list of links to older reviews and a few
new ones:
· Symphonies 3, 5
and 6: EMI – Beecham (May 2009 Roundup)
– also included in The Later Tradition : 8 CDs (March 2012/1 Roundup)
· Symphonies 3 and
8 – HDTT – Steinberg (January 2011 Roundup)
· Symphony No.4 –
Beulah – van Beinum (August 2010 Roundup)
· Symphony No.5:
Beulah – Mathieson (November 2010 Roundup)
· Symphony No.8:
Beulah Extra 2BX7-3BX7 – Fistoulari (October 2010 Roundup)
· Symphony No.8;
Grand Duo (orch. Joachim): DG – COE/Abbado (September 2010 Roundup)
[NB: the Passionato link is no longer valid – download from hmvdigital.com
for £7.49 or, for better value, the complete 5-CD set here
for £11.99. Lossless download from deutschegrammophon.com
for £16.49: Bargain of the Month – see review.]
· Symphony No.9:
Signum – Mackerras (November 2008 Roundup)
· Symphony No.9:
Beulah Extra 6BX36 – Weingartner (October 2010 Roundup)
· Symphony No.9:
Krips – Beulah Extra 2-5BX46 (September 2011/1 Roundup)
· ‘Symphony
No.10’: Mackerras – Hyperion (December 2009 Roundup
– mentioned in review of Quartets 13 and 14)
· Arpeggione Sonata:
Beulah 4-6BX75 – Feuermann (January 2012/2 Roundup)
· Octet: Harmonia
Mundi – Music from Aston Magna (October 2008 Roundup
– see below for current availability.)
· Octet: Vienna Octet
– Beulah Extra 5-10BX168 (January 2012/1 Roundup)
· String Quartets
13 and 14 – Takács Quartet: Hyperion (December 2009 Roundup)
· String Quintet
in C: Casals, etc. – Naxos Historical Archives (April 2012/1 Roundup)
· Trout Quintet –
Beulah – Curzon/Vienna Octet (August 2010 Roundup)
· Trout Quintet;
String Trio D471 – Curzon/Vienna Octet (February 2012/2 Roundup)
· String Quartet
14 (Death and the Maiden): Borodin Quartet – Warner Apex (+ SCHUMANN
Piano Quintet with Richter) (August 2011/1 Roundup)
· String Quartets
13 and 14: Hyperion – Takács Quartet (December 2009 Roundup)
· String Quartet
No.15, etc.: Naxos – Kodály Quartet (April 2009 Roundup)
· Piano Duets : Quartz
– Tong/Hasegawa (September 2010 Roundup)
· Grand Duo Sonata,
etc.: Naxos – Schiller/Humphreys (September 2010 Roundup)
· The unauthorised
Piano Duos : Divine Art – Goldstone and Clemmow (December 2010 Roundup)
· Piano Sonatas 10
(D613), 14 (D784) and 21 (D960) : Hough – Hyperion (February 2010 Roundup)
· Piano Sonatas 16,
17 and 20, etc.: Avie – Cooper (August 2009 Roundup)
· Piano Sonatas 15
(D840), 17 (D850) and 18 (D894), etc.: Harmonia Mundi – Lewis (February
2012/1 Roundup)
· Piano Sonata 21
(D960) : Bishop Kovacevich – Hyperion (February 2010 Roundup)
· Lieder Vol.1 (Goethe
and Schiller settings): Janet Baker – Hyperion CDJ33001 (Jan 2010 Roundup)
· Lieder Vol.4 –
Hyperion CDJ33004 (April/1 2012 Roundup)
· Lieder Vol.6 –
Hyperion CDJ33006 (April/1 2012 Roundup)
· Lieder Vol.9 (Schubert
and the Theatre) Hyperion CDJ33009 (Jan 2010 Roundup)
· Lieder Vol.21 (Die
Winterreise) – Hyperion CDA33021 Goerne/Johnson (October 2010 Roundup)
· Die Winterreise:
Harvey – Linn (March 2011/1 Roundup)
· Lieder Vol.25 (Die
schöne Müllerin) – Hyperion CDJ33025 or CDA30020 Bostridge/Johnson
(October 2010 Roundup)
· Lieder Vol.31 –
Hyperion CDJ33013 Brewer/Johnson (October 2010 Roundup)
· Lieder Vol.37 –
Hyperion CDJ33037 (April/1 2012 Roundup)
· Goethe Lieder –
DGG: Fischer-Dieskau (Jan 2010 Roundup)
· Heidenröslein
– Kipnis: Beulah (April 2011/1 Roundup)
· Mass No.6 in E-flat
D950 – Hickox – Chandos (January 2010 Roundup)
· An die Musik,
etc – Verrett at Carnegie Hall – RCA/Sony (March 2011/1 Roundup)
· The 99 Most Essential
Schubert Masterpieces (Amazon) (June 2011/2 Roundup)
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Symphony No.4 in c minor (‘Tragic’) D417 [32:08]
Symphony in C (arr. by Joseph JOACHIM from Grand Duo, D812) [44:07]
Failoni Orchestra/Michael Halász – rec.1994. DDD.
Pdf booklet included.
NAXOS 8.553095 [75:57] – from classicsonline.com
(mp3) or stream from Naxos Music Library
This is the least expensive way to obtain Joachim’s orchestration of
the Grand Duo Sonata; though it’s no longer believed that this
is a reduction of the so-called ‘Gmunden-Gastein Symphony’, now
generally believed to be No.9, it’s an enjoyable work. The performance
is sympathetic, though a shade less distinguished than the Abbado version,
coupled with the ‘Unfinished’ listed above. There are more recommendable
versions of the ‘Tragic’ symphony; the opening of the wonderful
slow movement is just a little too matter of fact and the whole movement too
brisk at 7:59. (Abbado and Böhm, both on DG, take a more leisurely 9:21
and 9:18 respectively). The alternatives, however, mostly come at a higher
price and the difference is not so great as to make you regret the small outlay
of £4.99 on this recording. Try it first if you can from the Naxos Music
Library.
It’s good to see classicsonline.com including booklets for downloads
of their own Naxos recordings – if you downloaded earlier and missed
out on the booklet, it’s available from the Naxos Music Library. In this
case they probably give too much credence to the suggestion that the Grand
Duo was intended as a symphony, but they are still valuable. Alternatively,
you’ll find notes ‘about this recording’ here.
Classicsonline.com also have the highly regarded Pentatone Netherlands CO/Nikolic
coupling of Symphonies No.4 and 5 (PTC5186340 – [67:23] here)
and the classic London Mozart Players/Blech recording of the same coupling
from 1952 for just £1.99 (9.80543 [64:54] – here
– not available in the USA). Sample both from the Naxos Music Library
if you can. For my money Nikolic and Blech are heartfelt but just a little
too ponderous in the slow movement of No.4 – just the opposite of the
fast tempo that I dislike in Halász’s performance, though more
pardonable. The Blech recording is dated but more than bearable. Hmvdigital.com
have Abbado’s Nos. 3 and 4 for £7.49; deutschegrammophon.com also
offer a lossless download for £9.49.
Franz SCHUBERT Symphony No.5 in B flat,
D485 [28:55]
Symphony No.8 in b minor, D759 (‘Unfinished’ – completed Brian
NEWBOULD) [38:16]
Rosamunde – Ballet Music No.2 in G [6:50]
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Charles Mackerras – rec.1992. DDD.
VIRGIN CLASSICS VIRGO 6286052 [74:01] – from hmvdigital.com
(mp3)
[‘In sum, these performances are valuable additions to any library. Mackerras
is in vintage form and the OAE are one of the most tonally appealing period
instrument groups around.’ See review
by Brian Reinhart]
Only the bafflingly irrelevant cover causes any reservations. Forget it and
enjoy these performances: No.5 is almost the equal of Beecham’s EMI recording
(above) and the ‘Unfinished’ comes with the sketch of the third
movement stylishly completed by Brian Newbould and a credible finale from
the Rosamunde music. Both these extra movements sit better with me
than with Brian Reinhart, but those who don’t like them can just edit
them out. I especially like the way that Mackerras pushes the opening movement
quite hard, thereby avoiding the common problem that we have a symphony of
two slow movements – just about the only problem with the Abbado recording
(above).
The recording sounds well (320kb/s) and, though there are no notes, even those
with the parent CDs in this series are pretty skimpy. The hmvdigital.com download
is excellent value at £3.49, which takes care of Brian Reinhart’s
only reservation, namely that the 2-CD set with the Ninth can be obtained
on CD for little more than the single disc of Nos. 5 and 8. That twofer comes
at exactly twice the price from hmvdigital.com, £6.99. The illogicality
of download pricing is illustrated by the fact that classicsonline.com charge
a competitive £3.99 for the single-CD download but an unfeasible £13.98
for the twofer – but see my opening comments on pending changes in this
regard.
If the two extracts from Schubert’s incidental music for Rosamunde
have whetted your appetite for the complete thing, classicsonline.com
have two recordings at a budget £4.99. Peter Maag recorded the music
with the Philharmonia Hungarica for Vox on an LP issued on the Turnabout label
(now on Musical Concepts MCS-ED-9102
[60:57]) and Willi Boskovsky with the Dresden Staatskapelle on an East German
recording issued on LP by HMV (EMI) and now reissued by Berlin Classics (0090042BC
[51:56]).
Boskovsky includes both the ‘real’ Rosamunde Overture, as
performed originally, though intended for Alfonso und Estrella, and
the Overture to Die Zauberharfe, which later took its place and has
now come to be known as the Rosamunde Overture. Turnabout LPs at £0.99
were once staple fare for the impecunious but this one isn’t in the running;
with livelier tempi, better orchestral playing and recording, Boskovsky’s
is the version to go for. Better still, though more expensive, hmvdigital.com
offer the Abbado recording for £7.49.
Franz SCHUBERT Der Hirt auf dem Felsen
(The shepherd on the rock) D965* [12:24]
Octet in F, D803 [61:26]
Ailish Tynan (soprano)*; Michael Martineau (piano)*
Robin O’Neill (bassoon); Daniel Müller-Schott (cello); Michael Collins
(clarinet); Peter Riegelbauer (double bass); Martin Owen (horn); Lars Anders
Tomter (viola): Isabelle van Keulen, Peter Brunt (violin)
WIGMORE HALL LIVE WHLive0017 [73:50] – from classicsonline.com
(mp3) or stream from Naxos Music Library
Octet in F, D803 [59:48]
The Gaudier Ensemble (Marieke Blankestijn, Lesley Hatfield (violin); Iris
Juda (viola); Christoph Marks (cello); Stephen Williams (double-bass); Richard
Hosford (clarinet);
Robin O’Neill (bassoon); Jonathan Williams (horn) – rec. 2001. DDD
Pdf booklet included
HYPERION CDA67339 [59:48] – from hyperion-records.co.uk
(mp3 and lossless)
The Wigmore Hall recording is excellent value – not only does
the download cost a mere £4.99 but the Octet comes with a substantial
coupling in the form of one of Schubert’s most striking and unusual works,
the Shepherd on the Rock, with Michael Collins – also prominent in
the Octet – providing the clarinet obbligato and Ailish Tynan
a stylish soloist. The value wouldn’t count for much if the performance
had not been so good, but it’s one of the best available, though I think
Collins and Friends 'milk’ the music and linger a little too much at
times – and it’s well recorded. There are no notes, but that’s
no great problem for music so well known.
The Gaudier Ensemble are also excellent value – £4.90 for
the download at the time of writing, perhaps because the CD, rather surprisingly
for such a highly rated performance and recording, is now available only from
the Archive Service. I can only assume that the neglect of this version arises
because are so many excellent recordings of the wonderful Octet, including
the inexpensive version Music from Aston Magna on Harmonia Mundi*, listed
above, that something has to give. Hyperion’s loss is your gain if the
download remains at this very low price. This download does come with a book
of words, though there’s no filler. Push me hard and I lean towards this
rather than the Wigmore Hall recording. That means doing without der Hirt
auf dem Felsen – a good excuse for buying Arleen Auger’s performance
on Volume 9 of Hyperion’s complete Schubert Lieder collection (Hyperion
CDJ33009
– see January 2010 Roundup).
The performance of the Octet by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber
Ensemble is also well worth considering, though one might have expected a
reduction in price for a recording of this age: CHAN8585 [59:42] –
from theclassicalshop.net
in mp3 and lossless, or sample first from Naxos Music Library. There’s
a pdf booklet available.
* Still a bargain at £2.52 or less from emusic.com and a reasonable
£4.49 from iTunes, but not such a bargain at £6.99 from amazon.co.uk
and £7.99 from hmvdigital.com, especially as the latter is at a rate
of only 192kb/s.
Franz SCHUBERT Piano Quintet in A (‘Trout’) D667 [39:21]
Johann Nepomuk HUMMEL (1778-1837) Piano
Quintet in E flat, Op.87 [21:14]
The Schubert Ensemble of London (Jacqueline Shave (violin), Roger Tapping
(viola), Jane Salmon (cello) Peter Buckoke (double bass), William Howard (piano))
Pdf booklet included
HYPERION HELIOS CDH55427 [60:38] – from hyperion-records.co.uk
(mp3 and lossless)
[Discounted at the time of writing to £4.20. Check Hyperion’s Downloads
under £4.50 section for regular offers of this kind. You’ll
be surprised how many prime recommendations you’ll find there.]
Piano Quintet in A, D667 (‘The Trout’) [35:02]
Piano Trio No.1 in B-flat, D898/Op.99 [37:56]
The Schubert Ensemble (Simon Blendis (violin); Douglas Paterson (viola); Jane
Salmon (cello); Peter Buckoke (double-bass); William Howard (piano)) –
rec. November 2003. DDD.
CHAMPS HILL RECORDS CHRCD007 [73:00] – from
classicsonline.com (mp3) or stream from Naxos Music Library.
My Trout Quintet of choice remains the Clifford Curzon/Vienna Octet
recording, listed above in reviews of transcriptions from HDTT and Beulah
– both recommendable, though neither can disguise the fact that the recording
is showing its age in terms of very slightly dry sound. On a single CD it’s
deleted, but you can also purchase the Eloquence recording as an mp3 (£5.49)
or lossless download (£6.99) from deutschegrammophon.com. (467
4172 6, coupled with the Death and the Maiden Quartet). That
very slight dryness is certainly not enough to deter me, however, though the
more recent recordings listed above certainly sound better.
The Hyperion Helios recording has much to offer, especially for those
looking for an essentially lyrical view of the work which Sir Jack Westrup
rather dismissively but not wholly inaccurately called ‘holiday music
for amateurs’.
For all my reservations, I enjoyed listening to the Schubert Ensemble of London
(not the same group as the Schubert Ensemble on Champs Hill) in their namesake
and I enjoyed hearing their account of the less well known Hummel even more.
It’s small beer after the Schubert – it might have been better to
have placed it first, something which you can arrange yourself – but
it’s still an enjoyable brew in this fine performance. With recording
and notes of Hyperion’s usual high standard, this is well worth considering
at the price. It won’t be reduced to £4.20 for long, but it’s
still good value at the regular £5.99.
Reviewing the Champs Hill recording on CD – here
– I thought it just a little too tidy – every note in place, like
visiting a home that one used to live in that’s been thoroughly spring-cleaned
but doesn’t seem lived in. If you have just heard the music for the first
time, in concert or on the radio, and are looking for a first-rate version
from which to explore it further, you could do much worse. Seasoned Trout-fanciers,
however, will be looking for something a little more individual, something
to challenge the best versions, all of which are prepared to take a few more
risks.
That remains my feeling; though I don’t wish to imply that it’s
not a good performance in its own right, I enjoyed the accompanying Trio much
more. I see that Byzantion was a little more positive than me – see review.
The beauty of a subscription to the Naxos Music Library is that it allows
you to listen and judge for yourself before buying. You’ll find many
other tasty Trouts there, too – 79 in all, though some are duplicates
of the same recording.
If neither of these recommendations is to your liking, there are two Australian
Eloquence recordings which you may wish to consider, on CD only: Jörg
Demus and the Schubert Quartet, with Dvořák
on 480 0489 – see review
– and a 2-CD set featuring the Melos Ensemble and coupling the Beaux
Arts Trio in the two Piano Trios on 442 9375 – see my review.
Since I wrote about these, Australian Eloquence CDs have become more readily
available in the UK but also now more expensive – they and the few remaining
European Eloquence discs are mid-price rather than budget – though single
discs are still only £5.81 and the 2-CD set just £8.82 direct
from Buywell
in Australia.
Franz SCHUBERT
String Quintet in C, D956 (Op.163) (1828) [50:48]
Die Forelle, D550 [2:02]
Auf dem Wasser zu singen, D774 [3:18]
Der Tod und das Mädchen, D531 [2:27]
An die Musik, D547 [2:47]
An Sylvia, D891 [2:56]
Heidenröslein, D257 [1:50]
Gretchen am Spinnrade, D118* [3:40]
Ellens Gesang III (Ave Maria), D839* [6:46]
Chilingirian Quartet; Jennifer Ward Clark (cello II); Dame Janet Baker; Geoffrey
Parsons (piano); *Gerald Moore (piano)
rec. 1981 (all items except those marked *); *1971. ADD, re-mastered 1996/1998.
CLASSICS FOR PLEASURE 5099922828255 [76:42] – from classicsonline.com
(mp3)
String Trio in B flat, D471: Allegro [11:50]
String Quintet in C, D956 [52:53]
The Raphael Ensemble (Anthony Marwood (violin), Elizabeth Wexler (violin,
Quintet only); James Boyd (viola, Quintet only), Timothy Boulton (viola, Trio
only); Andrea Hess (cello), Michael Stirling (cello, Quintet only)) –
rec. October 1994. DDD
Pdf booklet included.
HYPERION HELIOS CDH55303 [64:24] – from hyperion-records.co.uk
(mp3 and lossless)
Whether you’re looking for a good recording of the String Quintet –
not quite as heartfelt as that with Casals listed above, but much better recorded
– or a sample of the wonderful recordings of Schubert Lieder which Janet
Baker made with Geoffrey Parsons and Gerald Moore, you won’t go far wrong
with the Classics for Pleasure. The CD which I reviewed in 2008 –
review
– was very good value, but it seems no longer to be generally available;
the download is even better value at £4.99 from classicsonline.com or
hmvdigital.com (320kb/s) or £4.39 from amazon.co.uk (256kb/s, I assume).
At the same attractive price classicsonline.com also have the Aeolian Quartet
on Regis (RRC1278)
which I mentioned in the review of the Classics for Pleasure CD, with a Mozart
coupling and, in this case, the pdf booklet included. You’ll find my
review of the Regis CD here.
At the time of writing the Hyperion was even better value than either
the CFP or the Regis – temporarily reduced to £4.20 to coincide
with the BBC Radio 3 Spirit of Schubert series. Even at its normal
price of £5.99, it’s still very competitive, especially if, very
reasonably, you have already invested in one of EMI’s more complete recordings
of Janet Baker’s Schubert.
The single-movement String Trio comes first, so there’s no question of
anti-climax as there is with the other recordings – it’s an attractive
work and it receives strong advocacy here, but it’s no match for the
Quintet; I wouldn’t quite classify it as a miniature gem, as Julian Haylock
does in the notes, though he’s spot-on in describing the Quintet as arguably
Schubert’s greatest chamber work – a contender as one of the greatest
works in that genre of all time, I would add. Otherwise the notes set the
Quintet very well in the context of Schubert’s last year and the inner
compulsion that seems to have motivated it and the last three piano sonatas.
That inner compulsion is well realised in the Raphael Ensemble’s interpretation,
especially in the heartfelt adagio. I didn’t know this recording
when I chose that movement for my mother’s funeral – I see that
Rubinstein had the same idea for his own – but I would have chosen it
if I had. The Raphael Ensemble take 13:40 as against 14:32 from the Chilingirians
and 15:31 from the Aeolians. That seems fast on paper – only the recording
with Casals is faster, at 13:15, so why is it that I find the epithet ‘of
heavenly length’, normally applied to the Ninth Symphony, appropriate
to the Raphael performance of this movement? Maybe it’s because, as one
reviewer of the original full-price issue noted, time seems to stand still
here. Similarly, in the third movement the sheer exuberance of the scherzo
and the inwardness of the andante sostenuto trio section are as well
contrasted here as I have ever heard.
I have no real reservations about the other versions that I’ve mentioned,
but the Raphael Ensemble go to the top of the tree of recent recordings for
me, even rivalling that classic Casals recording. With first-rate sound and
the excellent notes which I’ve already mentioned, you need look no further.
Franz SCHUBERT
String Quartet No.13 in a minor, D804 ‘Rosamunde’ (1824) [36:51]
Quartettsatz (Quartet Movement) in c minor, D703 (1820) [9:31]
String Quartet No.10 in E-flat, D87 (1813) [26:39]
Belcea Quartet (Corina Belcea-Fisher, Laura Samuel (violins); Krzysztof Chorzelski
(viola); Alasdair Tait (cello)) rec. Potton Hall, Suffolk, UK, 8-12 July 2002.
DDD.
EMI CLASSICS ENCORE 2357382 [73:21] – from classicsonline.com
(mp3) or stream from Naxos Music Library
I recommended the CD version of this budget-price recording – see review.
The download from classicsonline.com
is an even better bargain at £3.99, but check before buying: prices
of EMI recordings from this source tend to change at the drop of a hat.* Illogically,
both on CD and as a download, there are two other versions of this same recording
at a higher price – make sure you choose the right one.
* but see my note at the start of this Roundup
Franz SCHUBERT String Quartet No.10 in
E-flat, D87 [23:57]
String Quartet No.8 in B-flat, D112 [26:36]
String Quartet No.9 in g minor, D173 [22:33]
Sorrel Quartet (Gina McCormack, Catherine Yates (violin); Vicci Wardman (viola);
Helen Thatcher (cello)) – rec. December 1997. DDD
Pdf booklet available
CHANDOS CHAN9700 [73:18] – from theclassicalshop.net
(mp3 and lossless)
There’s some overlap with the Belcea recording in the case of D87 and
the download is more expensive, but there’s a lossless option as well
as mp3, not available for the EMI. The early quartets, D112 and D173 are well
worth having in these fine performances and the recording is excellent.
For some reason which eludes me, the booklet can be saved from the Chandos
CD page but can only be viewed, not saved, from their download page.
Franz SCHUBERT String Quartet No.15 in G, D887 [45:10]
Five German Dances with seven trios and a coda, D90 [14:26]
Kodály Quartet (Attila Falvay, Tamás Szabó (violins);
János Fejervári (viola); György Éder (cello)) –
rec. 2002. DDD.
Pdf booklet available
NAXOS 8.557125 [59:36] – from
classicsonline.com (mp3)
I mentioned this recording in my review of the Belcea Quartet CD of Nos. 10,
12 and 13 (above), and wrote about it in more detail in the April 2009 Roundup.
As in the case of their recordings of Haydn, also available from Naxos on
CD, classicsonline.com for downloads and for streaming from the Naxos Music
Library, the Kodály Quartet offer performances and recordings of Schubert
at budget price which have little to fear from their more expensive competitors.
With attractive covers and excellent notes from Keith Anderson, available
to purchasers or to those with access to the Naxos Music Library, you can’t
really go wrong.
This is volume 6 of the series; the other volumes are:
· Volume 1 –
Nos. 12 and 14 – 8.550590 – here.
· Volume 2 –
Nos. 10 and 13 – 8.550591 – here.
· Volume 3 –
Nos. 3, 7 and 9 – 8.550592 – here.
· Volume 4 –
Nos. 1, 4 and 8 – 8.555921 – here.
· Volume 5 –
Nos. 2, 6 and 11 – 8.557107 – here.
· Volume 7 –
No.5, Quartettsatz, String Trio, D471, 5 Minuets and Trios, D89 –
8.557126 – here.
All those which have been reviewed on MusicWeb International have been well
or very well received.
Those who prefer period instruments will find the Quatuor Mosaïques recording
of Nos. 10 and 13 in mp3 (Auvidis E8580) at classicsonline.com –
here
– or stream from Naxos Music Library.
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Adagio and Allegro in A flat for cello and piano, Op.70 (1849) [9:45]
Fantasiestücke for cello and piano, Op.73 (1849) [11:14]
Fünf Stücke im Volkston for cello and piano, Op.102 (1849)
[16:02]
Märchenbilder for cello and piano, Op.113 (transcribed by Alfredo
Piatti, edited by Christian Bellisario) (1851) [15:43]
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Arpeggione Sonata in a minor (arr. for cello and piano) D821 (1824) [25:22]
Antonio Meneses (cello); Gérard Wyss (piano) – rec. 2006. DDD
AVIE AV2112 [78:51] – from classicsonline.com
(mp3) or stream from Naxos Music Library
[‘This Avie disc is an all round success and a most welcome addition
to the catalogue’. See review
by Michael Cookson.]
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Duo in A for cello and piano, D574 (arr. Pieter Wispelwey) [21:33]
Sonata in a minor, ‘Arpeggione’ (arr. for cello and piano) D821
[24:25]
Fantasy in C for cello and piano, D934 (arr. Pieter Wispelwey) [23:51]
Pieter Wispelwey (cello, G.B. Guadagnini, Parma 1760)
Paolo Giacometti (fortepiano, La Grassa, Viennese School 1815) – rec.
July 2009. DDD
Pdf booklet included
ONYX4046 [64:36] – from classicsonline.com
(mp3) or stream from Naxos Music Library
The problem with performing Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata is that
no-one makes and almost no-one plays the beast nowadays – it’s gone
the same way as Vivaldi’s tromba marina and Haydn’s baryton. The
usual solution is to transcribe the music for cello or, more rarely, for viola.
I can’t offer you a recording with the arpeggione, but either of these
versions will do nicely. Go for the Onyx if, like me, you prefer period instruments
– a rare outing for Wispelwey ‘denying myself the glossiness and
comfortable reliability of steel strings and a Steinway’ in favour of
‘poetry and expressiveness’ – and/or if you would like to have
access to an informative set of notes. Actually, you can access those notes
via the Onyx website – here.
Wispelwey and Giacometti are also slightly faster in all three movements.
Moreover, while there are many recordings of the Schumann works on the Avie
recording, I fell in love with the arrangement of the Fantasy in C (originally
for violin and piano), with its variations on the beautiful Sei mir gegrüsst
in the andantino. All of which must not be taken as disparagement
of Meneses and Wyss, who merit all that Michael Cookson says of them.
If you’re looking for the classic version of the arpeggione sonata from
Rostropovich and Britten (Decca Originals 475 8239, with Schumann Fünf
Stücke and Debussy Cello Sonata), that can be downloaded in mp3 and
flac from deutschegrammophon.com
or in mp3 only, but less expensively, from hmvdigital.com.
Both also have the version by Maisky and Argerich.
Hector BERLIOZ (1803-1869)
Symphonie fantastique, Op.14 [54:58]
Overture: Béatrice et Benedict [8:14]
Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Robin Ticciati – rec. 7-10 October, 2011.
DDD/DSD
Pdf booklet included
LINN CKD400 [63:12] – from linnrecords.com
(hybrid SACD, mp3, 16- and 24-bit lossless)
The Symphonie fantastique offers a special challenge – it’s
easy to make it sound good and I don’t know any bad recordings, but it’s
exceptionally difficult to make it sound great. In the April 2012/1 Roundup
Colin Davis’s Concertgebouw recording was Download of the Month,
partly for the sake of the performance and partly for the quality of Linn’s
Studio Master 24/96 transcription of the Decca (formerly Philips) recording.
That Davis recording is one of only a handful that I can think of that does
the trick for me. Could Linn pull off the double with their new recording?
Right from the opening the recorded quality is excellent – as soft as
you could wish yet not so quiet that you need to turn up the volume to a level
where the loud passages knock you out. Later, at the other end of the aural
scale, the full snarling menace of the March to the Scaffold is extremely
well captured, especially the ‘grotesque bassoons’ to which the
excellent sleeve notes refer.
The performance gets off to a slow start, but I think that’s partly the
fault of Berlioz – it’s all too easy for newcomers to be put off
exploring the music further for that perennial disgruntled teenage reason:
‘boring’. If only I’d had £5 for every time as a deputy
head of a large school I’d heard that word uttered as the reason why
someone had been sent to me for disrupting a lesson! Even Beecham sounds a
little tentative, though his is one of the versions that join Davis at the
top of the pile. When Berlioz gets underway, so does Robin Ticciati and the
same is true in the second movement.
The third movement, scène aux champs, provides an interlude
of peace between the whirling ball and the horrendous march to the scaffold,
with Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony no doubt in Berlioz’s
unconscious. I thought it a little too placid in the new recording, to the
extent that I thought that this must be one of the slowest accounts of the
movement – only to be surprised to discover that, of my short-listed
recordings, only Immerseel is slightly faster: Beecham takes longer (16:57
against 16:17) and Dutoit longer still (17:15).
In the march to the scaffold Ticciati neither lingers nor hastens – at
6:35 he’s not one of the fastest marchers – Beecham takes just 5:18
and makes it sound energetic and menacing but not too hurried. He’s not
the slowest either, with van Immerseel a whole minute slower. The extreme
range of tempi shouldn’t make sense – Dutoit’s Philharmonia
recording, faster even than Beecham at 4:37, extends that range even further
– yet somehow all three manage to convey the snarling menace of the music
here; in the case of Immerseel and the new recording the use of smaller forces
helps, the drum strokes coming through more clearly for example, with Immerseel
also having the benefit of period instruments.
Standing on the middle ground isn’t always a virtue, but it is for Ticciati
here, especially when Colin Davis with both the LSO and the Concertgebouw
adopted a very similar timing. Yannick Nézet-Seguin with the Rotterdam
PO stands on exactly the same middle ground in this movement – just three
seconds slower than Ticciati – but Dan Morgan thought his performance
foursquare and uncompetitive (BIS-SACD-1800 – see review).
To be fair, I’m not quite as critical of that performance, though I’ve
heard it only from the Naxos Music Library – perhaps Dan was put off
by the low-level transfer of the SACD layer of which he complains.
Ticciati is a trifle slower than Davis with the Concertgebouw in the witches’
sabbath finale but there’s no shortage of voltage in the new performance,
and the recording brings that out to the full – the end really does sound
cataclysmic. Davis’s latest recording with the LSO on their in-house
label is marginally slower than Ticciati. In both recordings the bells sound
more effective that Immerseel’s pianos, though the latter arrangement
apparently had Berlioz’s support, if only for occasions when suitable
bells were not available.
The Overture sounds an irrelevance after that: it registers as merely pleasant
– try to programme it to play first – but it receives a good performance.
Other versions of the Symphonie worth considering:
· French National
Radio O/Beecham – EMI 5099991870957 (with Le Corsaire and
excerpts from Les Troyens: May 2010 Roundup)
[ignore now invalid passionato.com link – download from classicsonline.com
(mp3)] Also available as part of The French Collection on 5099990993251
– from classicsonline.com.
· Musica Æterna/van
Immerseel – Zig Zag (with Carnaval Romain: May 2010 Roundup)
· Philharmonia O/Dutoit
– Decca Concerts (with Sibelius and Mozart: May 2010 Roundup)
[ignore now invalid passionato.com link – download from hmvdigital.com
(mp3)]
· Boston SO/Munch
– HDTT (August 2010 Roundup)
· Concertgebouw/Davis
– Philips/Decca (Download of the Month: April 2012/1 Roundup)
· LSO/Davis –
Philips Eloquence: still well worth considering – download from hmvdigital.com.
· LSO/Davis –
LSO Live (see review – download from classicsonline.com
or stream from Naxos Music Library.)
All the versions listed do justice to this incredible work but Beecham remains
top dog for my money – even in mp3 the re-mastered EMI recording hardly
shows its 50+ years, even heard directly after the new version in Studio Master.
If it’s period instruments that you want, it has to be van Immerseel
on Zig-Zag. The new Linn version doesn’t quite challenge those recommendations,
but it’s the only option available in (very good) Studio Master sound
and it’s not far behind. I didn’t think the Scottish Chamber Orchestra
could pull it off now that Charles Mackerras is no longer with us and them,
but I think their new recording would have earned his approval. Not quite
a double first for Linn, then, but a very good 2:1.
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
CD 1 [63:26]
Trio No.1 in B for piano, violin and cello Op.8 [35:50]
Trio in E flat for piano, violin and horn Op.40 [27:29]
CD 2 [73:19]
Trio No.2 in C for piano, violin and cello Op.87 [27:29]
Trio No.3 in c minor for piano, violin and cello Op.101 [20:07]
Trio in a minor for piano, clarinet and cello Op.114 [25:22]
The Florestan Trio (Anthony Marwood (violin), Richard Lester (cello), Susan
Tomes (piano)) with Stephen Stirling (horn), Richard Hosford (clarinet)
HYPERION CDA67251/2 [63:26 + 73:19] – from hyperion-records.co.uk
(mp3 and lossless)
CD 1
Piano Trio No. 1 in B, Op.8 (revised version, 1889) [36:52]
Piano Trio No. 2 in C Op.87 [28:55]
CD 2
Trio for violin, horn and piano in E flat, Op.40 [28:20]
Piano Trio No. 3 in c minor, Op.101 [20:46]
Trio in a minor for piano, clarinet and cello, Op.114 [24:50]
CD 3
Piano Trio in A, Op. posth. (possibly spurious?) [32:42]
Piano Trio No. 1 in B, Op.8 [40:46]
Gould Piano Trio (Lucy Gould (violin); Alice Neary (cello), Benjamin Frith
(piano)) with Robert Plane (clarinet), David Pyatt (horn)
QUARTZ QTZ2067 [3 CDs: 213:11] – from quartzmusic.com
(mp3) or stream from Naxos Music Library
[also available separately on QTZ2011
(Trios 1 and 2) and QTZ2042
(Trio No.3; Horn Trio)]
I praised the Hyperion recording when reviewing the Beulah reissue
of the 1928 Myra Hess/Jelly d’Aranyi/Gaspar Cassado of Piano Trio No.2
in the July 2011/1 Roundup.
Hyperion bill this as ‘all of Brahms’s Trios assembled on two CDs’
but Quartz see it rather differently – on three discs they offer
both the original and revised versions of Trio No.1 and to the ‘regular’
trios they add a posthumous work in A without opus number which may or may
not be by Brahms.
Both sets offer excellent performances, well recorded. If you require completeness,
the Quartz recordings will do fine and they come in good mp3 sound –
the bit-rate is only 192kb/s, but sounding fine. For the full-cream 320kb/s
you need to download from classicsonline.com, where the single CDs cost £7.99
against Quartz’s £4.99 and the 3-CD set £23.98 against £4.99
from Quartz. No, that’s not a typo – the 3-CD set really does come
from Quartz at the same unbelievably inexpensive price as the single CDs.
If you want lossless sound, Hyperion can provide that at no extra cost and
there’s a pdf booklet to download and print if you wish. Those Hyperion
notes are offered free to all comers, however, so it’s worth obtaining
them even if you go for the Quartz download. You’ll find notes by Mike
George, Joanna Wyld and Richard Whitehouse on the Quartz web page; click on
’sleeve notes’ – you can’t save or print them as a booklet,
as you can with the Hyperion, but you can cut and paste and then print or
save as a pdf document which you can then drag to the same folder as the music
files.
Frederick DELIUS (1862-1934) English Masterworks
Songs of Sunset (1906/1908) [32:18]
Three Songs to poems by Shelley (1891) (orch. Bo HOLTEN) [2:35 + 3:33
+ 4:04]
North Country Sketches (1913-14) [26:33]
A Late Lark (1923) [5:23]
Henriette Bonde-Hansen (soprano), Johan Reuter, baritone)
Aarhus Cathedral Choir and Aarhus Symphony Orchestra Choir
Aarhus Symphony Orchestra/Bo Holten – rec. October and December 2011.
DDD.
Pdf booklet with texts included
DANACORD DACOCD721 [74:17] – stream from Naxos
Music Library.
This series is progressing slowly but surely – it’s more than a
decade since the first recording appeared – but there is much more cause
to be pleased at its quality than complaining about the delay. The two earlier
volumes are:
· Delius: Danish
Masterworks – DACOCD536 – see review
(*****) and review
(****(*))
· Delius: Norwegian
Masterworks – DACOCD592 – see review
(NB: note incorrect catalogue number) and review
I haven’t yet heard those earlier volumes but it’s been well worth
the wait for the current release. There are several other fine versions of
the Songs of Sunset* and North Country Sketches, but not coupled
together as here, except on an EMI 18-CD set – see review.
With fine performances, good recording, even as heard via the Naxos Music
Library – the classicsonline.com release should sound better when it
appears as it must soon – and excellent notes, this is strongly recommended.
Amazon.co.uk have the download for £7.49 but without notes and presumably
at only 256kb/s.
* not least, of course, Beecham on the Delius-dominated 6-CD EMI collection
of English Music which was my Bargain of the Month in the July
2011/1 Roundup
– see review.
Holten is just a little more relaxed than Beecham.
Sir Hamilton HARTY (1879-1941)
CD 1
Piano Quintet in F, Op.12 (1904)*/** [32:43]
String Quartet No 2 in a minor, Op.5 (1902)* [26:24]
CD 2
String Quartet No 1 in F, Op.1 (1900)* [23:45]
Goldner String Quartet (Dene Olding, Dimity Hall (violin); Irina Morozova
(viola); Julian Smiles (cello))*
Piers Lane (piano)** – rec. June 2011. DDD.
2 CDs for the price of one
HYPERION CDA67927 [59:10 + 23:45] – from hyperion-records.co.uk
(mp3, 16- or 24-bit Studio Master lossless).
[a version of this review
has already appeared on the main MusicWeb International pages.]
This May 2012 release can be pre-ordered or downloaded in mp3, 16-bit lossless
(both at £7.99) or 24-bit Studio Master quality (at £15.60) before
its release date. The availability of some recent Hyperion downloads in Studio
Master versions is an exciting development and brings them into line with
the likes of Linn, Gimell, Channel Classics and thesixteeendigital.com and
at a slightly lower price than the Studio Masters on those labels. My review
for the main MusicWeb International pages was based on the 16-bit version
for the sake of parity with the CD, but I also listened to the Piano Quintet
in Studio Master format, about which see more below.
We have become almost spoiled for choice in the case of Harty’s orchestral
music, though the very skimpy article in the Oxford Companion to Music still
seems to regard his arrangements of Handel’s Fireworks and Water
Music as his greatest achievements. His chamber music has been pretty
well a closed book heretofore. Though these are not claimed as premiere recordings,
I can’t find any rivals in the current catalogue and I don’t remember
ever having encountered any, despite pleas in the letter pages of Gramophone
for these three works. Perhaps their failure quite to squeeze onto one CD
has been the problem – very remiss of the composer not to foresee this
– but Hyperion’s 2-for-1 arrangement neatly solves the problem.
With the download, of course, there’s no need even to change discs. We
must thank the Australian Council for the Arts – thankfully nothing to
do with Barry Humphrey’s Sir Les Patterson cultural attaché persona
– for their sponsorship of antipodeans Piers Lane and the Goldner Quartet
in this music.
All three works are early pieces and I can’t claim that Hyperion have
uncovered lost treasure, though the Piano Quintet is a strong work which in
several respects pre-echoes the Elgar Piano Quintet. I’m not sure that
it merits the description which Hyperion offer in the blurb on their web-page
– ‘a lusciously big-boned work worthy of Tchaikovsky’ –
but it receives a robust performance here which brings out its qualities very
effectively. There’s exuberance and a hint of Irishness in the vivace
second movement and a lovely winding melody in the lento third movement
where, again, the pentatonic mode is suggestive of folk music, slightly wistful
Celtic folk in particular, though no actual folk source exists; it’s
all of Harty’s own making. Neither of the outer movements is of quite
the same quality, but I shall certainly return to this attractive work, perhaps
when relaxing at the end of a trying day.
Piers Lane and the Goldner Quartet have already given us the Elgar Piano Quintet
and String Quartet (Hyperion CDA67857 – see review
in which John France characterised this recording as perfect). The first time
that I heard their Elgar I thought them a little lacking in intensity, but
a second hearing dispelled all but a lingering reservation – see my July
2011/2 Download Roundup
– and I think repeated hearing will do the same for their Harty. I have
no benchmarks here as I did for Elgar, but I characterise their performances,
here as there, primarily in terms of warmth and tenderness of expression.
The two quartets are less interesting than the Piano Quintet but they too
benefit from performances which seem to be idiomatic and which certainly bring
out the appeal of the music. The outer movements of No.2 are particularly
ear-catching.
The recording is very good, with a generally good balance in the Quintet –
the piano perhaps a little too prominent for some tastes. I also listened
to the Studio Master version of the Quintet; though I didn’t expect to
find too much difference, the proof of the pudding was in the eating –
a firmer piano tone in particular, though the strings benefit too, and a better
balance between piano and quartet. It’s twice the price of the 16-bit
download but I think you will appreciate the difference if you have a good
amp and speakers, and, though it’s expensive, Hyperion charge a little
less for their Studio Masters than most other providers.
Jeremy Dibble’s notes are a trifle erudite – I’m not sure that
all his readers would understand a ‘Neapolitan B major and its dominant
F sharp’ – but, as the author of a forthcoming book on Harty, one
to watch out for, he’s clearly authoritative and he’s very informative.
Piers Lane and the Goldners have already given us some desirable Hyperion
recordings of Bloch (CDA67638 – see review),
Dvořák
(CDA67805 – see review)
and, not least the Elgar Piano Quintet to which I’ve referred above.
I’m grateful for their latest offering.
Herbert HOWELLS (1892-1983)
A Hymn for St Cecilia† [3:07]
Salve regina [5:00]
Gloucester Service – Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis‡
[10:59]
Take him, earth, for cherishing [9:01]
St Paul’s Service – Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis†
[12:14]
Requiem [20:18]
All my hope on God is founded (‘Michael’)‡ [3:28]
Simon Bland†, Jeremy Cole‡ organ
The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge/Stephen Layton
rec. Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral and Lincoln Cathedral, 1-6 July 2011. DDD.
Pdf booklet with texts included.
HYPERION CDA67914 [64:09] – from hyperion-records.co.uk
(mp3 and lossless)
Herbert Howells’ church music has already been well served, not least
by Hyperion, whose new recording duplicates parts of their existing catalogue:
· The St. Paul’s
Service and Take him, earth, for cherishing are available on a 2-for-1
Dyad (CDD22038), with the Mattins canticles from the Collegium regale
setting – an attractive recording from 1987 and 1989 with St Paul’s
Cathedral Choir and John Scott.
· The Hymn for
St Cecilia and Salve regina are contained on CDA67494, performed
by Wells Cathedral Choir directed by Malcolm Archer – see June 2011/2
Roundup.
Much of the music here relates to the deaths of President Kennedy (Take
him, earth) and Howells’ son Michael (Requiem and All my
hope). For the Requiem there are some fine rival recordings on
Naxos 8.554659 (St John’s College Choir, Cambridge/Christopher
Robinson, with other music by Howells, including Take him, earth) and
Collegium COLCD118 (Cambridge Singers/John Rutter, music by Howells
and his mentor, Stanford). I recommended both of these, together with a number
of other Howells recordings in the June 2011/2 Roundup,
including another Hyperion recording of the Requiem, at budget price
(CDH55220, Corydon Singers/Matthew Best, with Vaughan Williams’
Mass and Te Deum).
At the risk of causing confusion, I have to say that the new version of the
Requiem is every bit as good as those rival versions, the recording
excellent and the booklet first class. Choice of coupling must be your deciding
factor, but do obtain at least one version of the Requiem.
Work in progress
I’m currently working on an instructive CD from the Concerto Italiano
and Rinaldo Alessandrini, simply entitled ‘1600’ and containing
some of the earliest music composed for instrumental ensemble separately from
accompanying vocal performances. Its main value will be for academics to demonstrate
the development of Italian instrumental music in the 17th century, but there’s
plenty for the rest of us to enjoy: Naïve OP30531 [66:43] –
download from hmvdigital.com
or stream from Naxos Music Library, complete with booklet if you can’t
wait for my full review to appear.