Volume 13 - Issue 10 - July/August 2008

Simeon, to Langlais' Corpus Christi and Durufle'sMesse "Cum Jubilo ", Les ChantresMusiciens carry off the nuances and difficultturns with aplomb. For Cesar Franck's settingof Psalm I 50, the choir is augmented byanother of Pautenaude's excellent choirs,!'ensemble vocal des Voix d'Elles.The second CD features another alumnusof Les Petits chanteurs, Claude! Callender,an accomplished singer who composed thefeatured Messe de Pardon as well as directingthe Ensemble Vocal Vox Luminosa. Thismass on the theme of forgiveness has a joyfulcharacter, full of hope and enthusiasm for thereconciliation of a troubled world. There aresome delightful, almost playful organ passagesfor Jacques Giroux and lovely solos bymezzo Chantal Denis and soprano Andree deRepentigny as well. A service centred aroundthis mass would be sure to cheer the congregationand no doubt organists will be lookingto incorporate this score into their choir'srepertoire.Dianne WellsKenneth Leighton - Organ Concerto;Concerto for String Orchestra;Symphony for StringsJohn Scott; BBC Nat'!. Orchestra of WalesRichard HickoxChandos CHAN 10461Conductor RichardHickox makes areturn visit to Cardifffrom his Australianduties, onceagain directing hisold Welsh orchestra,and this wonderfuldisc is the result. • ,, - @:}Kenneth Leighton ---- - - - -- -- -···-·has been under-represented in recordings lothese many years, so Chandos is doing a goodservice in bringing this out. Leighton's Concertofor String Orchestra Op.39 is thecrowning glory of the project - for many hisdefinitive creation - written when he was at theheight of his creative powers. Here the musicalforces give it the most loving attention.Almost as highly regarded is his late (1970)Concerto for Organ, Strings and Tympani, abreathtaking excursion in moderately dissonanttonal language. Also, Chandos has includedthe early Symphony for Strings Op.3from Leighton's student days.Orchestra, soloists and conductor are at alltimes deftly accurate, precise and expressive.The acoustics of Saint David's Hall,Cardiff, were never better than on those twodays in late November 2006 when this wasrecorded. Perhaps my ears are just too sensitive,but I can hear a high-frequency whistleat the start of several tracks, but otherwisethe recording is without equal. There are twoprecious photographs: one of the 1979 organconcerto performance, which has the appearanceof a 1905 image, and there is Leightonwith his old 1920's Bechstein B. Wonderful.A disc to treasure.John S. GrayEXTENDED PLAY - STRING ROUND-UPBy Terry RobbinsThis has been a great month for outstandingviolin CDs. At the top of the pile is the newSuper Audio disc of the Tchaikovsky & GlazunovViolin Concertos by Vadim Gluzmanand the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra underAndrew Litton (BIS BIS-SACD-1432).From the opening bars of the Glazunov weare treated to performances of depth andbrilliance that never falter. Gluzman is inparticularly glorious form in the Tchaikovsky,with a simply breathtaking finale, as fast asany you'll hear, but with dazzling techniqueand articulation. Tchaikovsky's Souvenir d'unLieu Cher is a perfect link between the twoconcertos, consisting of three Tchaikovskypieces as orchestrated by Glazunov, the first- Meditation - being the original slow movementof the Violin Concerto. As if any furtherties were needed, Gluzman plays theStradivarius violin once owned by LeopoldAuer, who premiered the Glazunov concertoin 1905. The Bergen Philharmonic and Littonare superb partners throughout, supplyingevery nuance of tempo and dynamic youcould wish for in supremely satisfying interpretations.Stunning performances, and awonderful CD.Not far behind comes another outstandingdisc, the Dohnanyi Violin Concertos Nos. 1& 2 with Michael Ludwig and the RoyalScottish National Orchestra under JoAnnFalletta (Naxos 8.570833). I must admit -somewhat shamefully - to not knowing thatDohnanyi wrote any violin concertos, letalone two, and - even more shamefully - tonot knowing Michael Ludwig; how anybodycould not be aware of a player of this worldclassquality is baffling. Ludwig is the Concertmaster,and JoAnn Falletta the MusicDirector, of the Buffalo PhilharmonicOrchestra, and they clearly work well together.The first concerto dates from 1915, and isin the German Romantic tradition of Brahmsand Bruch, while the second, from 1949 whenDohnanyi had moved to the US, is closer toBarber and Korngold in style. Ludwig and theRSNO are superb throughout, and the recordingquality is outstanding. Another 'must buy'disc!Naxos is also the source of the third CD inthis group, one that features works for soloviolin and violin and piano by John Coriglianoand Virgil Thomson in the excellent AmericanClassics series (Corigliano: The RedViolin Caprices; Naxos 8.559364); the performersare Philippe Quint and WilliamWolfram. The Caprices and Thomson's EightPortraits are for solo violin; Corigliano isalso represented by his Violin Sonata from1963 and Thomson by Three Portraits andFive Ladies. Quint is tremendous in the solopieces, although his assorted breathing noisesdo become a bit annoying after a while.Last, but by no means least, is anotherfascinating CD from the American violinistJennifer Koh with her regular accompanistReiko Uchida. Koh always programmes withimagination and intelligence, and this CD,String Poetic (Cedille CDR 90000 103) is nodifferent, presenting a challenging but rewardingcollection sub-titled Americanworks: a 2lst century perspective. The titletrack is the World Premiere Recording of a5-movement suite written for Koh by JenniferHigdon; Lou Harrison's Grand Duo,John Adams' Road Movies, and Carl Ruggles'Mood, a short work completed fromearly sketches found after Ruggles' death in1971, complete the disc. This isn't alwaysmusic that's easy to listen to, but it's hard toimagine better performances.The string quartetsof Carl Nielsenreally should bebetter-known thanthey are, so it'sgood to seethe arrival of theSuper Audio CDNielsen String QuartetsVol.2 by TheYoung Danish String Quartet (DACAPO6.220522). This disc has the F minor Op.5from 1890 and the Eb major Op.14 from1898, and the Young Danish give solid, idiomaticperformances, as you would expectgiven the shared nationality. Gramophonemagazine said that their Volume 1 CD "setbenchmark standards" for Nielsen's quartets- not that there seems to be a great deal ofcompetition. Certainly the tone here is betterthan in the 2-volume Naxos set by the OsloString Quartet, but I would have preferred alittle less reverb and a bit more closeness inthe recording.Ernst Toch was an\ ',1, -.~ ,\. I. i 1 ~"~ •established andhighly successful1' 1.1 ·11 • 1.,111111 · 11composer whenHitler's rise topower in 1933forced him - andmany other Jewishcomposers -to fleeGermany. Tochended up in California in 1935, but never58WWW. THEWHOLENOTE.COM) ULY 1 - SEPT 7 2008