Volume 27 Issue 4 - February 2022

journey with Powell asking his listeners
to reflect not on the manmade geographical
lines that divide us into nations, but to
focus on what unites, what connects us and
our shared humanity: “if listeners can hear
the connections between countries represented
perhaps they will appreciate that
everything we do ripples across oceans and
through time.”
Why do the Nations offers a rich repertoire
of art songs from well-known composers
(Brahms, Schubert, Verdi) and composers
to discover such as Xavier Montsalvatge
(Spain), Cláudio Santoro (Brazil), Rentarō
Taki (Japan) and Zhao Yuanren (China). Also
of note, Terra e Mare, one of the few works
Puccini wrote outside of opera, and a world
premiere recording of Petits Enfants by Émile
Paladilhe (France).
Sophie Bisson
CLASSICAL AND BEYOND
Early Moderns, The (very) First Viennese
School
Quicksilver
Independent (gemsny.org/online-store/
quicksilver-early-moderns)
! Viennese music
means Mozart
and Haydn. Well,
not according to
Quicksilver. They
have compiled a CD
of music from the
very familiar venue
that is Vienna, but
by mainly unfamiliar composers.
Perhaps the strangest factor is Quicksilver’s
frequent use of the dulcian, ultimately
familiar to Mozart as its descendant the
bassoon, here helping to reinforce this school
of music’s claims to be recognized in its own
right. Dominic Teresi’s vigorous dulcian
playing in Giovanni Battista Buonamente’s
Sonata prima à 3 is a real highlight.
Throughout the CD, the trombone and
dulcian are prominent. This is noteworthy
in the Sonata à 3 attributed to Heinrich I. F.
von Biber, where Greg Ingles’ dignified trombone-playing
proves that Viennese Baroque
does not consist exclusively of violin and cello
chamber music.
This is not to dismiss the stringed element.
Johann Caspar Kerll’s Canzona à 3 in G Minor
combines violins and viola da gamba with
harpsichord/theorbo continuo. The result is a
very lively and highly entertaining composition.
One wonders how these pieces came to
be so neglected.
And yet, there is still room for solo compositions
for more established instruments. Avi
Stein’s harpsichord skills are tested more
and more intensively as Kerll’s Passacaglia
variata unfolds, making demands worthy
of Bach or Couperin on the player. Kerll is
perhaps the most overlooked composer on a
CD of a certainly overlooked school of music.
Michael Schwartz
Bach – English Suites 1-3
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Decca (deccaclassics.com/en)
! Musicians, most
especially those
who perform or
record within a
tradition that has a
crowded and storied
line of artistic interpreters
of seminal
performances, often
stand on the shoulders of those who came
before them. This can be in order to raise
themselves to a heightened vantage point
from which to spot new insights and perspectives.
Or it can be in order to tramp down
those who went before, in an attempt to
assert their own dominance and singularity
of artistic approach. And most certainly, when
performing the music of Johann Sebastian
Bach on solo piano it would be virtually
impossible to avoid the supreme influence
and shadow cast by Canadian pianist
Glenn Gould.
For the Russian-born highly
fêted pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy, who has
been performing and recording the music of
Bach since 1965 (arguably living and working
through the entire period of Gould’s dominance),
his approach to Bach evidences, in his
own words, a “different concept” than that of
Gould. How lucky then are we to now have a
newly released double CD on Decca Records
that combines Ashkenazy’s latest recording
of Bach’s English Suites 1-3 with his first
recording from 1965 of Bach’s Concerto in D
Minor. Not only does the music sparkle with
a straightforward, didactic approach to the
Baroque master that brings forth all of the
beauty and detail of the original compositions
without the idiosyncratic flourishes for which
Gould was both reviled and revered, but there
is bravery in this release as it shows just how
much Ashkenazy’s own development as a
Bach interpreter and world-class performer
has matured, developed and even changed
over the years.
Andrew Scott
Bach – Goldberg Variations
Sarah Hagen
Independent SH004CD (sarahhagen.com)
! Great expectation
always precedes
a new recording of
Bach’s Goldberg
Variations. Glenn
Gould’s benchmark
recordings
(1955 and 1981)
may have thrown
down the gauntlet to anyone recording this
epic composition after him, but it was Bach
who left the door of interpretation slyly
ajar. Yet, playing these wonderfully varied
and emotionally differentiated Goldberg
Variations is one of the most daunting experiences
a pianist could face.
The chords of the “Fundamental Bass”
are the first hurdle because the inspiration
for the entire piece originates in the
accumulation and release of tension by the
harmonies of these chords. In composing
the Goldberg Variations Bach was also probably
thumbing his nose at Johann Adolph
Scheibe who once criticized his compositions
as being fraught with “a turgid and confused
style.” Bach’s playful rebuttal came by way
of the complexity of many voices collaborating
to form the lofty harmonic beauty of the
Goldbergs.
Canadian pianist Sarah Hagen’s Goldberg
Variations are dramatically different.
Naysayers and refusniks beware: her approach
combines unfettered joy, wide awake with
wonder, requisite pedagogy and the ability
to make the instrument bend to her will. The
epic scope of the work is stated right out of
the gate, with an extensive exploration of the
Aria that opens the way to the variable tempi,
harmonic adventure with unlimited changes
in registration and emotion. Hagen’s performance
combines vivid precision of touch
with perfect articulation of line, making
her Goldberg Variations something to absolutely
die for.
Raul da Gama
Concert Note: Sarah Hagen has a very busy
performing schedule planned over the next
three months with two dozen concerts in six
provinces across Canada (COVID-19 permitting).
Please check her website for up-to-date
listings: sarahhagen.com/concerts.
Bach – Goldberg Variations; Hanson –
Romantic Symphony
Cameron Carpenter
Decca Gold
(deccarecordsus.com/labels/decca-gold)
! J.S. Bach’s
Goldberg Variations
have become
ubiquitous in the
classical music
world, brought
to popularity
primarily through
Glenn Gould’s debut
recording in 1955. Originally written for
harpsichord and published in 1741, this virtuosic
masterwork has since been adapted for
a wide range of instruments and ensembles,
from piano to full orchestra. This recording
features renowned American organist
Cameron Carpenter performing his own transcription
on the International Touring Organ,
the American digital concert organ designed
by Carpenter that travels from country to
country with him on his tours.
What makes the organ such a unique
40 | February 2022 thewholenote.com