Volume 16 Issue 5 - February 2011

Gerhaher’s chilling account of the militantmasterpiece Revelge, delivers a generallymundane though admirably dapper performance.Boulez redeems himself utterly howeverwith his supple, near-ideal rendition ofthe posthumous Adagio from the incompleteTenth Symphony. This highly chromatic,searching movement culminating in a shattering,ten-note dissonance points to the futureand as such is clearly dear to his heart.The Cleveland Orchestra yet again distin-—Daniel FoleyUrban VariationsThe Junction TrioIndependent TJTCD20110(www.myspace.com/thejunctiontrio)In their coverphoto they look grittyand hard-edged,staring expressionlessinto the camera,in the style of punkrockers. A part ofJamie Thompson’sUrban Flute Project,which has a history of fseekingoutunusualunusualurban performance spaces, where acousticstrump décor, this presentation of theJunction Trio seems appropriate enough.Even a cursory listening to the CD, however,reveals that art trumps the visuals, withaccomplished readings of music by Bach,Borodin, Haydn and Vivaldi.The highlights of the CD for me, however,were the two compositions by the trio’sis his arrangement of Radiohead’s song,Where I End and You Begin, which it is nomistake to refer to as a “composition.” In thetradition of so many composers, Scheininrock concert beginnings – contemporary“folk?” – and transformed it into an exquisitepiece of chamber music, which, to myears anyway, sounds more contemporarythan the original! In his other work on thedisc, Flutter, built on a repeated ostinatopattern introduced by the unaccompaniedother instruments, including percussion,played by the ensemble’s versatile cellist,Lucas Tensen. Best of all in these two worksby Scheinin, the players seem most at homeingbehind the sounds. Kudos to the JunctionTrio for bringing us something that is bothclassical and contemporary.—Allan PulkerThere’s more on the web!Check thewholenote.com formore reviews by Alex Baran,Geoff Chapman, BruceSurtees, and Ken WaxmanStrings AttachedDESPITE HIS UNDISPUTED talents,I’ve always been a bit unsure of howI feel about the playing of the Frenchviolinist Renaud Capuçonstarted listening to his new 3-CD set of theBeethoven – Complete Sonatas for Violin& Piano with Frank Braley (Virgin Classics9 64200 1) I didn’t think that was goingto change, but I was wrong. True, theearly Op.12 sonatas do seem to get off toa lacklustre start, but Capuçon and Braleyhave been working on this project for 14years, and it soon shows. The second CDopens with a beautifulreading of the“Spring” sonata,and the qualitynever lags. There’s aminor – and a marvellous“Kreutzer”,with a particularlysuperb opening movement. ment Throughout,tempos seem perfectly judged, and there’s awonderful range of dynamics. The balancesiblya bit far back, but it actually enablesthe individual players to be clearly heard,and their obvious understanding to emerge.And what an understanding it is. I realized Ididn’t know some of these sonatas as well asI thought; this outstanding set is a tremendousand welcome way to put that right.You only have to listen to Mozart’s stringquintets to appreciate that the string quartetdoes not have sole claim to the ‘perfectstring family’ designation, and the samecomposer’s Divertimento in E flat K563, forViolin, Viola and Cello, proves conclusivelythat ‘one less’ can be just as satisfying as‘one more’. Violinist Frank Peter Zimmermannonly formed the Trio Zimmermannwith violist Antoine Tamestit and cellistChristian Poltera in 2007, but their playingon this Super Audio CD (BIS-SACD-1817) issimply remarkable;you would thinkthey had spent a lifetimeplaying together.Despite its title,this Divertimento isa large-scale stringtrio. A maturework from 1788,TERRY ROBBINSits 6-movement structure turefollowsthatofthethat of thewhimsical Divertimento popular in Vienna atthe time, but musically and emotionally it’sin a different world. The Mozart scholar AlfredEinstein went so far as to call this workmanifested itself in this world.” Listeningto this enthralling and beautifully recordedperformance, it’s hard to disagree. Schu-single Allegro openingmovement fora work started andabandoned in 1816 –completes a marvellousCD.When I saw thatthe latest CD fromCanadian violin sensationJames Ehnes was the MendelssohnViolin Concerto (ONYX 4060)thought was “Do we really need another recordingof probably the most popular – andmost frequently recorded – concerto in therepertoire?” Well as it turns out, yes, we do.The Mendelssohn is also probably the mostperfect of all violin concertos, and simplycan’t be avoided by any player who reachesthe top rank. The real challenge, of course,the music speak for itself. This CD reunitesEhnes with the Philharmonia Orchestra,partners in his 2007 recording of theElgar concerto, but this time with VladimirAshkenazy conducting. The qualities mostoften mentioned in Ehnes reviews – his impeccabletechnique and sumptuous tone – arefully evident here in another top-notch performance.Ehnes joins forces with membersof the Seattle Chamber Music Society for asimply astonishing work written for doublestring quartet when Mendelssohn was only16. Both performances were recorded live inconcert, the concerto – with an occasionallymuddy orchestral sound – at the WarwickArts Centre in the UK, and the Octet atBenaroya Hall in Seattle.It’s somewhatsurprising that theYsaÿe Six Sonatasfor Solo ViolinOp.27 aren’t betterknown. EugèneYsaÿe – a colossusof a performer, inall respects – isist,and the sonatas, written in 1923 when hewas 64, not only summed up the polyphonicachievements of the preceding 200 yearsbut also introduced new techniques thatof – a colleague of Ysaÿe’s: Joseph Szigeti;Jacques Thibaud; George Enescu; FritzKreisler; Mathieu Crickboom; and ManuelQuiroga. Consequently, they differ greatlyin form and content, but this simply makesthe startling originality and individuality ofthese remarkable works even more apparent.February 1 - March 7, 2011 thewholenote.com 65