Volume 21 Issue 1 - September 2015

probably the biggest name of the five. She always plays with fire and
passion, and her technique is astonishing; nothing in these fiendishly
difficult works seems to give her the slightest problem. It’s a truly
marvellous disc.
Montage, a collection of Canadian works, is
the latest CD from New Brunswick’s Saint John
String Quartet (SJSQ005 sjsq.ca). Vancouver’s
Anthony Genge (b.1952) is represented by his
atmospheric and somewhat minimalist String
Quartet No.2, and the late Eldon Rathburn by
the brief Subway Thoughts.
There are three works by the New
Brunswick-based Martin Kutnowski (b.1968): the strongly tonal
and melodic six Selections from “Watercolours for Ten Fingers”;
Peter Emberley’s Dream, built on a New Brunswick folk song; and
Five Argentinian Folk Pieces, drawing on the composer’s native
Argentinian heritage.
Little Suite for String Quartet by Talivaldis Kenins (1919-2008) is
a solid piece; the Fantasia on Themes of Beethoven by Michael R.
Miller (b.1932) is quite fascinating and intriguing; and the Pastorale by
Richard Kidd (b.1954) is a lovely final track.
I have just one complaint: the gap between the works is ridiculously
short – mostly less than three seconds. You can’t tell when one work
has ended and the next one has begun, and the mood of one work
doesn’t have a chance to subside before the new work arrives. One
wonders why.
It’s always a pleasure to receive a new CD
by the English cellist Steven Isserlis, and his
latest recital disc with pianist Stephen Hough
of Cello Sonatas by Mendelssohn, Grieg and
Hough (Hyperion CDA68079) is no exception.
The Grieg is a lovely work that Isserlis says
has always been popular with cellists, although
not necessarily with music critics; the slow
movement and the beautiful second themes
from the two outer movements in particular are quintessential Grieg.
Hough’s Sonata for Cello and Piano Left Hand “Les Adieux” is a quite
remarkable work, not least for the range and fullness of the piano
part. The Mendelssohn is the best-known sonata of the three, and the
performance here is a pure delight.
The Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky Violin
Concertos are paired on the new CD from
Arabella Steinbacher and the Orchestre de
la Suisse Romande under Charles Dutoit
(PentaTone PTC 5186 504). Steinbacher has
a really lovely tone and plays with undeniable
intelligence and great accuracy, but she
seems to linger occasionally in the first movements
of both concertos, almost to the point
of losing momentum at times. There are some lovely moments in the
Mendelssohn slow movement and a nice bounce to the finale. The
Tchaikovsky has some really thoughtful playing with no sign of stress
or strain, but again seems to be held back somewhat in places; the
codas, though, always pick up the pace.
The always interesting Gidon Kremer is
back with New Seasons, a CD featuring his
own string ensemble the Kremerata Baltica
in works by Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, Giya
Kancheli and Shigeru Umebayashi (Deutsche
Grammophon 4794817). Kremer notes that
he has always been interested in the subject of
seasons in music, and feels that the composers
here are all “saying something about a better world, creating new
seasons that will remain valid forever.”
I’m not sure how much that relates to two of the works – Pärt’s
Estonian Lullaby and Umebayashi’s Yumeji’s Theme from the 2000
movie In the Mood for Love are less than six minutes in combined
length – but there’s no doubting the relevance of the main work
here. Glass’s Violin Concerto No.2 “The American Four Seasons” is an
attractive and accessible work in which the familiar repeated patterns
and sequences, while still clearly Glass, seem to provide links to Vivaldi.
Kancheli’s Ex contrario is a hauntingly beautiful work in which
Kremer and the ensemble are joined by solo cello, keyboard (sampler),
bass guitar and performance CD; there’s a clear harpsichord sound,
but nothing else from the latter three seems to stand out. Which is just
the way it should be.
Violinist Sarah Plum and pianist Timothy
Lovelace are the partners on Béla Bartók
Works for Violin and Piano Volume 1 (Blue
Griffin Recording BGR373), which features the
Violin Sonata No.2, the two Rhapsodies, and
the Romanian Folk Dances and Hungarian
Folk Tunes, the latter two works transcribed
for violin and piano from the original piano
works by Zoltán Székely and Joseph Szigeti. There’s some fine playing
here, but it seems a bit pedestrian at times, as if it needs more of
a Hungarian bite to really take off. The Rhapsody No.2 is the most
successful of the five works.
The movie world was shocked by the
sudden death of James Horner this past June.
Known almost entirely for his numerous
movie scores, Horner was classically trained,
and Pas de Deux, the debut CD of Mari and
Hakon Samuelsen, the Norwegian sister and
brother violin and cello duo, marked Horner’s
first work for the concert hall in over 30 years
(Mercury Classics 481 1487).
The title work is a double concerto for violin, cello and orchestra
written specifically for the Samuelsens, and it clearly shows the
two musical worlds that Horner could inhabit. I’m not sure how
much development of material there is, but it’s a sweeping, rich and
sonorous work, with strong themes and some beautiful orchestration.
Perhaps inevitably, the movie world seems to predominate, although
there are hints of classical influence – some Tchaikovsky-like wind
writing, some string passages reminiscent of Vaughan Williams; in
particular, the opening of the middle movement sounds for all the
world like Henryk Górecki.
Mari Samuelsen goes solo in Arvo Pärt’s Fratres for violin, string
orchestra and percussion, and her brother is joined by cellist Alisa
Weilerstein in Giovanni Silloma’s Violoncelles, Vibrez! Paul Bateman’s
arrangement of Ludovico Einaudi’s Divenire completes the disc. I
ruffled some feathers recently with my comments about Einaudi’s
music, so let’s just say that this is the somewhat repetitive but oddly
beguiling piece with the abrupt ending that you hear a great deal on
Classical FM radio, and leave it at that.
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Vasily
Petrenko in Pas de Deux, and by Clark Rundell in the remaining three
works. Performances by all concerned are excellent throughout.
Rossini - La gazza ladra
‘The Thieving Magpie’ marked a
culmination of the convergence
of serious and comic elements in
Rossini’s work: a tragic opera with
a happy ending.
Praised for her “impeccably pure
and iridescent voice” soprano
Adrianne Pieczonka is primarily
known for her vocally opulent and
interpretively intense Strauss and
Wagner.
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