Classical CDs
graham.rickson
Bach: Christmas Oratorio Thomanerchor Leipzig, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig/Gotthold Schwarz (Accentus)Another year, another new Bach Christmas Oratorio. This one is happily among the best, its plus points including a slimmed down Leipzig Gewandhausorchester as backing band, and the city's Thomanerchor, a group tracing its history as far back as 1212. The choir's bright, clear timbre sits very nicely against modern orchestral instruments, and Gotthold Schwarz’s flowing speeds invariably hit the mark. Patrick Grahl gives us a very human Evangelist, and there's sterling work from soprano Read more ...
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Josquin: Missa Mater Patris, Bauldeweyn: Missa Da pacem The Tallis Scholars/Peter Philips (Gimmell)Josquin's Missa Mater Patris is a late work, the composer's florid style pared down and clarified to the extent that some commentators suggested it was written by someone else. Peter Phillips rightly stresses that clarifying and simplifying ones musical language shouldn't be mistaken for a sign of fading gifts, and listening to The Tallis Scholars’ version is an electrifying, visceral experience. Lean, open textures dominate, giving the music a tremendous sense of space and light, the Read more ...
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Eric Coates: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 BBC Philharmonic/John Wilson (Chandos)One reason to love Eric Coates and his music is discovering that his compositional routine involved waiting “until he was properly dressed in the morning, complete with tie and Harris Tweed coat, and, perhaps, a Turkish cigarette.” Coates came from a Nottingham mining village, taking violin lessons from a pupil of Joachim and studying musical theory with a Nottingham academic. He played in Henry Wood’s Queen’s Hall Orchestra, concentrating on composition after being fired for missing too many rehearsals. Wood’s Read more ...
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Michael Wolters & Paul Norman: Catalogue d’Emojis Cobalt Duo (Birmingham Record Company)“This piece… that you might have paid good money for, was created in utter desperation.” Michael Wolters talks about Catalogue d’Emojis over some mellow guitar noodling during the first Interlude, admitting that his initial idea was “crap.” What he co-created he is actually much better than that. Devised with Paul Norman for one of the concerts held to celebrate the opening of the new Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, this Catalogue aims to do for the humble emoji what Messiaen did for bird song. Read more ...
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Donnacha Dennehy: The Hunger Alarm Will Sound/Alan Pierson, with Katherine Manley and Iarla Ó Lionáird (Nonesuch)The Great Irish Famine of 1845-1852 resulted in the deaths of one million Irish citizens to starvation and prompted a further million to emigrate. In 1851, American social reformer Asenath Nicholson travelled across the Atlantic to document exactly what was happening, traversing the length of Ireland on foot. Nicholson’s text forms a substantial chunk of the libretto of Donnacha Dennehy’s The Hunger, extracts from her report interspersed with lyrics taken from the song Na Read more ...
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Weinberg: 24 Preludes Gidon Kremer (violin) (Accentus)Weinberg wrote this set of 24 instrumental numbers in 1969 for Rostropovich. Exactly why Rostropovich never performed them isn't clear, and they weren't heard in public until 1996. Gidon Kremer's transcriptions for solo violin were completed in 2015, his hope being that “these personal statements of one of the most wonderful composers of the 20th century will inspire listeners to fall in love with this music.” I'd point newcomers to Weinberg in the direction of his 3rd Symphony, or DG’s recent CBSO disc with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla Read more ...
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Haydn: Opus 20 String Quartets, Nos 2, 3 & 5 Dudok Quartet Amsterdam (Resonus)When discussing Haydn’s music it's difficult to avoid using words like ‘elegant’, ‘witty’ and ‘brio’, but I'll do my best. The writer E.T.A Hoffman should shoulder much of the blame for Haydn's typecasting as a simple-minded funster, arguing in 1810 that “his symphonies lead us… to a merry, colourful throng of happy mortals.” Hmm. Two of the three string quartets on this disc are in minor keys. All three are as striking, and as dramatic as anything in the classical chamber repertoire. Exactly what you'd Read more ...
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Iiro Rantala: My Finnish Calendar (ACT)Iiro Rantala’s little commentaries for each of these 12 short pieces are almost worth the CD price alone, offering an astute guide to the typical Finnish psyche alongside handy references to weather and hobbies. This is a journey from darkness to, er, darkness, though there's much light relief along the way. January is the “month of regret”, where Finns lament having overindulged at Christmas and even quitting the booze “won't make them happier people.” Rantala's mellow nocturne makes for beguiling listening, all the more so when set against the Read more ...
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Gabriela Montero: Piano Concerto No 1, ‘Latin Concerto’, Ravel: Concerto in G Gabriela Montero (piano), The Orchestra of the Americas/Carlos Miguel Prieto (Orchid Classics)Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero describes herself as “a globalised, Latin-American woman raised on a diet of European classical music with multiple side-dishes of Pan-American folklore.” Her Piano Concerto No 1 succeeds because the Latin elements are so seamlessly integrated. This is the most viscerally exciting contemporary concerto I've heard, rivalling Stewart Goodyear’s Callaloo in terms of impact. How well, Read more ...
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Ed Lyon - 17th Century Playlist Ed Lyon (tenor), Theatre of the Ayre (Delphian)Lutenist Elizabeth Kenny describes this disc as a baroque mixtape, and it contains discrete songs, not operatic arias. Uniformly catchy, tenor Ed Lyon’s selection demonstrates that earworms aren't a contemporary phenomenon. Baroque composers recognised the importance of grabbing listeners’ attention within a few bars, in order that they would be “held by the ears”. Stefano Landi’s “Passacaglia della Vita” is a good example, the jaunty lute riff softening the blow of the anonymous text (message: we're all Read more ...
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Brahms: Symphony No 3, Dvořák: Symphony No 8 Bamberger Symphoniker/Jakub Hruša (Tudor)Brahms 3 and Dvořák 8 make for an interesting pairing: Brahms at his most autumnal and introspective coupled with Dvořák in ebullient mood. There's a useful interview with Jakub Hruša in this release’s booklet where he describes the differences between the two symphonies and the challenges of performing them in the same concert. Hruša is a serious, thoughtful conductor and it's no surprise that the Brahms suits him so well. He gets the first movement’s opening just right, and how good to hear the low Read more ...
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Floating Islands: Guitar music by Axel Borup-Jørgensen Frederik Munk Larsen (guitar) (OUR Recordings)Carl Nielsen cast a long shadow over the generation of Danish composers who succeeded him, and there's mention here of post-war musicians trying to reconcile “Danishness” with modernity. One of them was Axel Borup-Jørgensen, a maverick modernist who ploughed a very individual furrow from the late 1940s until his death in 2012. I’d urge anyone curious to seek out the OUR label’s glorious Marin, a lavish visual take on one of Borup-Jørgensen’s more extravagant orchestral pieces. Then buy Read more ...