Classical Music - La Scena Musicale

Gifts
Barenboim West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
Warner Classics 2564
62190-5 (CD + DVD)
On one hand, Daniel
Barenboim’s West-
Eastern Divan Orchestra is
a purely musical Arab-
Israeli peace initiative.
On the other, these
youthful musicians from Israel and Arab countries
make marvelous music together, if this 2004
Geneva concert – Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.
5, Verdi’s Force of Destiny Overture and
Sibelius’s Valse Triste – are anything to go by.
This recording is recommended for the
tremendous performances alone – but there’s
more: a film of the above concert, a documentary
on the orchestra and 83 minutes of wideranging
conversations between Israel-born
Barenboim and Palestinian-American scholar
Edward Said, on which their book Parallels and
Paradoxes is based. Robert Jordan
Glenn Gould at the Movies
Sony
In 1972 I attended, with
my future wife Peg, a
piano student, a showing
of Slaughterhouse-Five,
directed by George Roy
Hill from Kurt Vonnegut's
novel. The soundtrack
was performed by Glenn Gould and contained
a number of newly recorded Bach pieces from
the Goldberg Variations and Brandenburg
Concerto, as well as some incidental music
composed by Gould. The movie remains, the
perfect blend of image and music, and contains
some splendid playing by Gould. It was also my
introduction to the piano pieces of Bach. The
original soundtrack is now out of print, though
Sony has released it, with other Gould film work
(from The Wars, and Thirty-Two Short Films
About Glenn Gould) on Glenn Gould at the
Movies. Gordon Morash
THE MUSIC SCENE STAFF’S
ANNUAL GIFT SUGGESTIONS
Christmas Wish
G.F. Handel: Saul
Rosemary Joshua, Emma Bell, Lawrence Zazzo,
Jeremy Ovenden, Gidon Saks, etc., RIAS-
Kammerchor, Concerto
Koln/Rene Jacobs
Harmonia Mundi HMC
801877.78
Although the oratorio
“Messiah” by Handel is
the one closely associated
with Christmas, this new recording of his
“Saul” would be a welcome addition to any
music lover’s collection on Christmas morning.
Over the last few years, conductor Rene Jacobs
has released a number of stellar recordings –
last year’s Grammy-award winning release of
“Le Nozze di Figaro” by Mozart, would be just
one. “Saul” is one of the most dramatic oratorios
composed by Handel, and Jacobs and his
talented forces beautifully catch his brilliant
depiction and characterization here. Rick
Phillips
Rossini: Il Turco in Italia
Bartoli, Raimondi, Widmer, Rumetz, Macias, Chorus
and Orchestra of the Zurich Opera House/Franz
Welser-Möst (140 min)
Arthaus 100 369
This could be the funniest
opera production
ever. It is shrewdly directed
by Cesare Lievi to
achieve a buffa-with-avengeance
effect.
Costumes and scenery,
body language and even
facial expressions tastefully
induce laughter. The wayward Donna
Florilla might even come to be regarded as the
definitive stage role for Cecilia Bartoli because
Lievi fully exploits her tendency to comic excess.
Ruggero Raimondi is perfect as the Turk and
Paolo Rumetz gives a Chaplinesque portrayal of
the long-suffering Don Geronio. Franz Welser-
Möst makes the score sparkle and even seizes
control of the stage action to bring the opera to
an end. Stephen Habington
Bernstein: Wonderful Town
Criswell, McDonald, Hampson, European Voices,
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
(76 min) EuroArts 2052298
Why not celebrate the
New Year as they did in
the Berlin Philharmonic in
2002? Simon Rattle dispensed
with the traditional
lashings of Wagner
and Verdi to present a
semi-staged performance
of Lenny’s breeziest musical
comedy. The imported
American singers are idiomatically perfect
and the BPO shows that it can really swing.
The fun is extended with a complete encore of
Conga! S H
Carl Davis: A Christmas Carol
Kerridge, Walker, Choir and the Northern Ballet
Theatre, BBC Philharmonic/John Pryce-Jones
(86 min) Arthaus 101 193
This DVD captures a
1992 performance of the
ballet based on Dickens’
A Christmas Carol. It is a
generous entertainment
which also answers the
question, “How do you
create a ballet from a
story as familiar as this?”
It takes a good score tailored
to the concept. Here Carl Davis (his
music is a Yuletide pastiche of Aaron Copeland
and Sir Arthur Bliss) meshes very well with
Massimo Morricone's choreography. Newly
released, this DVD could easily become a season
standard.S H
BPO Europa-Konzert 2002 Palermo
Gil Shaham (violin) Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra/Claudio Abbado (112 min)
EuroArts 2051987
Every year, the BPO is
somewhere else in Europe
as musical ambassadors
for the capital of a united
Germany. In 2002, the
destination was the glorious
Teatro Massimo in
Palermo. The concert
opens with Beethoven’s
Egmont Overture and
concludes with Verdi’s Overture to I vespri
Siciliani. In between, there is a sumptuous
account of the Brahms Violin Concerto with Gil
Shaham as the soloist and an incandescent
Dvořák Symphony No 9, From the New World.
The BPO is in top form and Abbado surpasses
his previous recordings of the principal works.
SH
Gala Reopening of the Teatro La Fenice
Vocal soloists, Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro
La Fenice/Riccardo Muti
(66 min) TDK DVW-CORLF
The Gran Teatro La Fenice
was built in 1792 and
destroyed by fire (for the
second time) in 1996.
The reopening of the theatre,
restored to its former
splendour, called for
a special concert programme
of pieces with
38 Winter 2006