Volume 23 Issue 3 - November 2017

middle movement offers Kartvelishvili another opportunity to reveal
the depth of her musicality. With an allusion to a Schumann lied, the
movement is fairly withdrawn until she builds it to a near climax in
the second half before returning to a quiet ending.
Kartvelishvili plays with both impressive might and tender
conviction.
Florian Wittenburg is a German-born
contemporary composer. He is active
throughout Europe but his academic
and early career years were spent in the
Netherlands. Don’t Push the Piano Around
(NurNichtNur 117 01 26) is his latest disc
and it adds to an already substantial discography
and body of works. Pianist Sebastiaan
Oosthout performs on this disc and reveals
a strong affinity for Wittenberg’s music. Wittenberg is highly creative
and takes his artistic inspiration from everything around him. As a
composer, he revels in playing with patterns and sequences. Whether
animal sounds, words, or the spelling of a name, Wittenberg is quick
to place his subject into changing structures where he plays with
progressions and variants.
Oosthout’s grasp of Wittenberg’s language gives him access to the
deep emotion of the music, especially in several of the Quotes. Litany
for one pianist is particularly effective as a thoughtful and searching
work, in which Oosthout is required to whistle along with a few
specific notes he plays. But the most captivating of Wittenberg’s works
on this disc is the opening track Eagle prayer. It’s based on the call of
an African fish eagle, notated and harmonized in a highly engaging
and creative way. This is an intriguing recording worth hearing.
It’s uniquely gratifying to hear the work
of piano duos when they have performed
together for many years. Peter Hill and
Benjamin Frith have been crafting their
sound for more than three decades into
an impressive single voice. Their newest
recording, Russian Works for Piano Four
Hands (Delphian DCD 34191) is an example
of how remarkable the combination of
such talents can become. They have moved far beyond simply playing
together and evolved a unified conception of making music.
This disc presents the music of three composers for whom folk
music played an inspirational role. While Rachmaninov’s Six
morceaux Op.11 quotes no folk material, it’s written in a style that
recalls the dance and energy of folk traditions. Rachmaninov was
just 21 but his writing already shows the now-familiar ability to
think in large-scale terms. He uses the entire range of the keyboard
without hesitation and draws on its dynamic power, amplified under
the hands of two players. Hill and Frith are superb in meeting the
contrasting demands of this piece, from the gentlest moments of the
Romance to the magnificent ending of Slava.
The selections from Tchaikovsky’s Fifty Russian Folk Songs quote
directly from folk material, although much of it very briefly; there is,
however, no mistaking the focus that Hill and Frith bring to this work.
Their touch and tone are wonderfully connected to the often dark
modal nature of the melodies.
Stravinsky’s Petrushka is brilliantly played throughout. Flawless
execution is matched by complete immersion in the music. The piano
duo delivers the Russian Dance with all the wild energy it requires
and Petrushka’s Death with the contrasting gravitas the composer
intended. Hill and Frith are true masters of their art.
VOCAL
Rossini – William Tell
Gerald Finley; Malin Byström; John Osborn;
Royal Opera Hous; Antonio Pappano
Opus Arte OA 1205 D
!!
I first heard
William Tell in
the spring of 1972,
in Florence. That
production was
billed as the first
complete performance
since the
1830s. It was clear
where a major
problem lay. The
principal tenor role
is long, loud and
high. Nicolai Gedda, who was Arnoldo in
1972, had totally lost his voice by the last act.
Since then performances have become
more frequent (in Toronto we recently heard
a concert performance by the Turin opera)
and singers are more able to cope with the
demands that their roles impose. It is also
notable that, whereas the 1972 performance
had been in Italian, companies are now giving
it in French, the language in which William
Tell was composed.
John Osborn has no trouble with the
notorious tenor part, while Gerald Finley is
magnificent in the title role. A blot on the
1972 performance was the soprano who
sang Mathilde, the Habsburg princess. Malin
Byström is much better but her high notes
are shrill and unpleasant. There are good
performances from Eric Halfvarson as the
patriarch Melcthal, from Sofia Fomina in the
travesti role of Tell’s son and from “our own”
Michael Colvin as a very unpleasant army
commander.
The DVDs come with a booklet and
an interesting essay by Jonathan White,
who argues convincingly that the opera is
primarily about the occupation of the land
and the enslavement of its citizens. That
emphasis finds physical expression in a prominently
displayed uprooted tree, an emphasis
that is reinforced by the excellent chorus.
Hans de Groot
Lori Laitman – The Scarlet Letter
Claycomb; Armstrong; MacKenzie;
Belcher; Knapp; Gawrysiak; Opera
Colorado; Ari Pelto
Naxos 8.669034-35
!!
Nathaniel
Hawthorne’s
classic American
novel, abridged
into libretto form
by David Mason,
premiered in 2016
as a two-act opera
composed by Lori Laitman. Strict and stifling
moral codes in a c.1600 Puritan community
result in the punishment of young Hester
Prynne and torment the secret father of her
child, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, as well
as her long-lost husband (now returned
under an assumed name). Operatic fodder
indeed, but strangely juxtaposed with a rather
dismal and restrictive setting.
Laitman’s challenge as a composer to
reconcile the two is an interesting conundrum.
She does indeed provide highly
dramatic moments, such as the crowd’s
raging at Prynne and the taunting of
Dimmesdale by Mistress Hibbons, the
town witch (sung by the formidable mezzo
Margaret Gawrysiak). As Dimmesdale, tenor
Dominic Armstrong’s talents are showcased
with long, dramatic episodes of hysteria and
guilt. Also remarkable is baritone Malcolm
MacKenzie, as the husband bent on revenge.
Prynne, on the other hand, proving to be
much more stalwart of character, is given
a much calmer, gentler musical portrayal.
Soprano Laura Claycomb shines in the lullaby
sung to daughter Pearl; as a singer, she
manages some amazingly high notes without
ever sacrificing Prynne’s aura of tenderness.
The Opera Colorado Chorus does an excellent
job standing in judgement of all. An interesting
project indeed and well executed.
Dianne Wells
72 | November 2017 thewholenote.com