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Monthly Archive: May 2011

Classical CD Reviews Part 1 of 2

by | May 12, 2011 | Classical CD Reviews

Part 1 of 2  [Part 2] Soir, dit-elle – Works by BRYARS, POWER, IVAN MOODY, ANDREW SMITH, OLEH HARKAVYY – Trio Mediaeval – ECM CD 1869/ 476 1241: This second album by the Trio Mediaeval brings their three gorgeous voices (coloratura, soprano, contralto) to the public in an a capella style that has had adherents from the twelfth century through today. Recorded in April, 2003, in Propstei St. Gerold, Austria, this ear-opening performance owes a debt to Hildegard von Bingen (and those women who followed her in plainsong and chant), and Leonel Power (c.1370-1445). Yet, it is also modern in its harmonic sense, benefitting from the works of modern composers Gavin Bryars (b. 1943), Oleh Harkavyy (b. 1968), Ivan Moody (b. 1964), and Andrew Smith (b. 1970). Alternating old and new, simple and subtly complex, this album achieves a kind of timelessness. It is a kind of meditation music, and listening to it helps me find my center, helps me stay grounded in the present. Trio Mediaeval features Norwegian Linn Andrea Fuglseth, whose musical pedigree includes having sung with a handful of highly regarded vocal groups, having studied with many noted practitioners of period singing, and having won prizes at […]

Classical CD Reviews, Part 1 of 2

by | May 12, 2011 | Classical CD Reviews

Part 1 of 2  [Part 2] Soir, dit-elle – Works by BRYARS, POWER, IVAN MOODY, ANDREW SMITH, OLEH HARKAVYY – Trio Mediaeval – ECM CD 1869/ 476 1241: This second album by the Trio Mediaeval brings their three gorgeous voices (coloratura, soprano, contralto) to the public in an a capella style that has had adherents from the twelfth century through today. Recorded in April, 2003, in Propstei St. Gerold, Austria, this ear-opening performance owes a debt to Hildegard von Bingen (and those women who followed her in plainsong and chant), and Leonel Power (c.1370-1445). Yet, it is also modern in its harmonic sense, benefitting from the works of modern composers Gavin Bryars (b. 1943), Oleh Harkavyy (b. 1968), Ivan Moody (b. 1964), and Andrew Smith (b. 1970). Alternating old and new, simple and subtly complex, this album achieves a kind of timelessness. It is a kind of meditation music, and listening to it helps me find my center, helps me stay grounded in the present. Trio Mediaeval features Norwegian Linn Andrea Fuglseth, whose musical pedigree includes having sung with a handful of highly regarded vocal groups, having studied with many noted practitioners of period singing, and having won prizes at […]

Classical CD Reviews, Part 2 of 2

by | May 10, 2011 | Classical CD Reviews

March 2004 Pt. 2 of 2   [Pt. 1] BRAHMS: Double Concerto in A Minor, Op. 102; Symphony No. 2 in d Major, Op. 73 – Gordan Nikolitch, violin; Tim High, cello; Bernard Haitink conducts London Symphony Orchestra – LSO 0043 74:50 (Distrib. Harmonia Mundi): Recorded live in May 17-18, 2003 at the Barbican Center, London, this disc bespeaks some lovely playing and infinite, warm sympathy between conductor and orchestra. The soloists in the Double Concerto are principals from the LSO, and they play fervently and passionately, without lapsing into the academic mode of musical acumen without poetry. I am not too find of the rather staid, imperial tempo of the outer movements, which is a bit too Elgarian for my taste. The tone of the piece becomes elegiac, without the occasional bristle of unbuttoned gypsy style the Vivace non troppo can tolerate. Still, if one accepts its status as ‘orchestral chamber music,’ the rendition certainly works. The D Major Symphony has had many expert renditions; this one tries hard to be the most sonically compelling. For sheer loveliness of orchestral tone, Haitink evokes a palette we associate with the homogeneity Koussevitzky and Mengelberg achieved with their respective ensembles. The […]

Classical CD Reviews, Part 2 of 2

by | May 10, 2011 | Classical CD Reviews

October 2004 Pt. 2 of 2   [Pt. 1] ELVIS COSTELLO: Il Sogno (ballet after Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”) – London Sym. Orch./Michael Tilson Thomas (with Peter Erskine, percussion; John Harle, saxophone; Chris Laurence, doublebass) – DGG CD 00289 471 5772 ****: Improbable but true: rocker Elvis Costello, who has been developing his classical chops for some years now, has followed his musical curiosity directly into a major length original ballet which he wrote without computers or musical collaborators – even writing half of it directly into the full orchestral score without sketches first! Costello has always had a passion for classical music and has toured with the Brodsky String Quartet, arranging works in a classical style for them and for other chamber groups and small orchestra. He wrote a set of songs for vocalist Anne Sofie von Otter with the Brodsky Quartet. Costello’s musical curiosity about music has moved him to investigate every idiom imaginable, and a bit of many of them find their way into Il Sogno. These include sweeping Romantic string writing, courtly dance music, jazzy swing sounds, the lilt of folk music, and musical evocations of impending …something. Sometimes the score sounds like very high […]

Reissue CD Reviews, Part 2 of 2

by | May 10, 2011 | Classical Reissue Reviews

May 2004, Pt. 2 of 2 [Pt. 1] PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op. 100; Symphony No. 7 in C# Minor, Op. 131 – Jean Martinon conducts Paris Conservatory Orchestra – Testament SBT 1296 72:05 (Distrib. Harmonia Mundi): Inscriptions from November 1957 reissued from the Decca originals, featuring the late Jean Martinon (1910-1976), the able composer-conductor whose estimate in France was under-rated, but whose repute in Britain and the United States was high, especially in French music and in modern works. Martinon took his cue from Charles Munch, his mentor and professional guide, but Martinon’s touch and colors were slightly more classical than Munch’s penchant for colossal, romantic intensity. Martinon reminds me more of the classical chastity I hear in Roger Desormiere, whose sensibilities almost match Martinon’s exactly. Both traverse modernism with elements of the classical ballet, qualities apparant in the Prokofiev C# Minor Symphony, the composer’s swan-song that here, in this pristine rendition, might be an homage to Tchaikovsky. The Prokofiev Fifth Symphony has had its eloquent interpreters, in the manner of Koussevitzky, Mravinsky, Stokowski and Celibidache. The slow build-up in the return of the main theme of the Allegro marcato second movement provides the acid test for the […]