Volume 23 Issue 3 - November 2017

Although transcriptions served a specific purpose in the pre-gramophone
days, making otherwise unavailable music available for home
performance, in many instances since then they have served primarily
to enlarge the repertoire for certain instrumentations, not always with
complete success. Any misgivings you may have in that respect are simply
blown away by Quarrington’s playing, however, with his astonishing
agility, his sensitivity and delicacy and the warmth and richness of his tonal
colour dispelling any lingering doubts. Granted, part of the attraction is
listening to him doing the impossible on what is usually considered a large
and unwieldy instrument, but his performances go way beyond the novelty
attraction – this is pure music-making of the highest order.
The title track is one of seven short pieces here, but the two
major works are the “Arpeggione” Sonata in A Minor D821 and the
Violin Sonatina in D Major D384. Both are completely satisfying
in all respects, with the final Allegro vivace movement of the latter
providing a simply dazzling end to the disc.
With the sensitive accompaniment of David Jalbert the CD is
an absolute delight, as well as an absolute wonder, from beginning
to end.
Concert Note: Pianists David Jalbert and Wonny Song perform music
inspired by dance, theatre and visual art on January 14 for Mooredale
Concerts and Music & Truffles at Walter Hall.
The American Euclid Quartet presents two
works separated by almost exactly 100 years
on American Quartets, featuring works
by Antonín Dvořák and Wynton Marsalis
(Afinat Records AR1701).
The Dvořák is the String Quartet No.12 in
F Major Op.96, “American,” written during
the composer’s three years as director of the
National Conservatory of Music of America
in New York and first performed in 1894. The performance here is
warm, effusive, vibrant and dynamic.
It seems a long journey from such a completely familiar and
frequently heard work to the Marsalis String Quartet No.1 “At the
Octoroon Balls,” written at the request of the Chamber Music Society
of Lincoln Center in 1995, but what a fascinating contrast it presents.
The quartet is named for the legendary 18th- and 19th-century balls
in the composer’s native New Orleans, described in the booklet notes
as being “…given as a way to facilitate long-term relationships between
wealthy White men and usually fair-skinned women of colour.” The
work has been called Marsalis’ conscious exploration of the American
Creole contradictions and compromises – cultural, social and political
– exemplified by life in New Orleans.
It’s a long (almost 45 minutes) but utterly engrossing work
of seven sections, the longest of which – at ten minutes – is the
astonishing opening Come Long Fiddler for solo violin, recalling,
in dazzling fashion, the old Black country dance fiddle tradition.
Blues, jazz, African, folk, spiritual and ragtime influences abound
in the remaining sections, with simply terrific writing and playing:
Mating Calls and Delta Rhythms; Creole Contradanzas; Many Gone;
Hellbound Highball; Blue Lights on the Bayou.
Finally, with Rampart St. Row House Rag, here we are at what
Dvořák envisioned and encouraged – the use of New World musical
material as the basis for classical composition. It makes perfect sense
of an apparently diverse program on an outstanding CD.
There are another two excellent sets of the
cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach to
add to the already extensive list: Six Cello
Suites BWV 1007-1012 by the Australian
cellist Richard Narroway (Sono Luminus
SLE-70010); and Suiten für Violoncello by
the Swiss cellist Thomas Demenga (ECM
New Series 2530/31).
There are several immediate differences: at
the time of the recordings (2015 and 2014 respectively) Narroway was
24, Demenga 59; it’s the first recording of the suites for Narroway, the
second for Demenga; Narroway uses a modern cello and bow, Demenga
a Baroque bow and gut strings on 18th-century instruments; Narroway
plays at modern pitch, Demenga down a full tone.
There are also similarities though: both
players are fully aware of early performance
issues and have made extensive study
of contemporary sources; and both see these
works as essentially dance suites, with lively
– but not necessarily fast – tempos.
Narroway has a lovely rich sound that never
overwhelms, with beautiful phrasing and
a fine rhythmic sense that is given room to
breathe and expand. It’s all bursting with life and sounds quite effortless.
Demenga’s tone can sound a bit tight at times, but again there is
freedom in the phrasing and rhythms. On the down side, there is a fair
amount of noise from the left-hand fingers hitting the fingerboard. You
may or may not find that to be distracting, but it does mean that with
Demenga you are frequently aware of the presence of the performer;
with Narroway, however, rarely if ever are you aware of anything but the
music, and it’s his recordings that I will keep returning to.
There’s more immensely satisfying quartet playing on Last Leaf, a
recital of Nordic folk tunes all arranged by the Danish String Quartet
(ECM New Series 2550). There’s a wide range of sources for the 16
short pieces here, from ancient hymn tunes and medieval ballads to
L/R The WholeNote.com/Listening L/R
Ternion Quartet
Anne Mette Iversen
Original, global, modern jazz.
Unconditionally here and now! Silke
Eberhard, Geo roy De Masure, Anne
Mette Iversen, Roland Schneider.
Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records.
SHOSTAKOVICH
Altius Quartet
Following on its genre-bending
release DRESS CODE, Altius Quartet
puts the tuxedo back on for Dmitri
Shostakovich’s string quartets.
Tafelmusik
Beethoven Symphonies 1–9 Box Set
Tafelmusik’s cycle marks the first
time a North American orchestra
has recorded all nine Beethoven
symphonies on period instruments.
Toy Piano Composers
The debut album from a Torontobased
collective that presents
imaginative new music to curious
audiences in a playful concert
environment.
thewholenote.com November 2017 | 69