Volume 27 Issue 8 | July 1 - September 20, 2022

Although it was apparently released in
2020 I only recently received the CD of
Brahms Trio Op.114 and Sonatas Op.120
in the composer’s own viola arrangements
of three of the four late chamber
works inspired by his friendship with clarinetist
Richard Mühlfeld, but I’m including
it because it features some of the loveliest viola playing I’ve heard in
a long time (Le Palais des Dégustateurs PDD023 lepalaisdesdegustateurs.com).
Ettore Causa is the outstanding violist, ably supported by pianist
Boris Berman throughout and by cellist Clive Greensmith in the Trio.
The Steinway D piano adds depth and body to beautifully judged
performances of Brahms at his most autumnal.
VOCAL
Canzone di Notte
Marianne Lambert; Valerie Milot
Fidelio FACD052 (mariannelambert.com)
! The grand
conception of this
disc, intended to
be in praise of bel
canto, is instantly
discernible. Why
would it not be?
Quebec soprano
Marianne Lambert
inhabits this repertoire, sliding into it as if
into a second skin; musical secrets revealed
from the tablet of her heart.
The singer’s lustrous voice soars in melismatic
and arpeggiated leaps, sometimes
with sly, but glorious coloratura. She is an
eminently graceful singer who can generate
genuine pathos, as superbly captured on
Vivaldi’s Sposa, son disprezzata or Rossini’s
Giusto Ciel, in tal periglio!; conjure great
hope as in Mozart’s Ridente la calma and
Rossini’s La promessa; and unfettered joy on
Donaudy’s Vaghissima sembianza.
Lambert is an artist of the first order.
She makes key phrases in these arias come
alive and spring in balletic arcs, cutting
through the still air of this room. She digs
into the meaning of words and phrases and
infuses their poetry with a sense of nostalgia
and melancholy, painting the song’s fluid
melodies with poignant candour.
With radiant chromaticisms and splendid
sonorities the harpist Valérie Milot complements
the plaintive soundworld of the characters
played by the singer. Her notes are ideally
weighed and measured, and fit perfectly
onto Lambert’s vocals as if punctuating these
songs with wistful and melancholy accents.
Together Lambert and Milot create a grand
edifice of song through this well-chosen
repertoire.
Raul da Gama
Brian Field – Choral and Orchestral Works
Budapest Symphonic Orchestra and Choir;
Lviv Philharmonic Society and Chorus;
Composers’ Choir; Heelan Chorale
RMN Classical RMN70709 (brianfield.com)
! I grew up in the
Anglican tradition:
high mass, chant
choir in front, choir
and organ in the
loft behind, masses
by Healey Willan,
smells and bells, the
lot. All this to say,
“I get how American composer Brian Field
can sound so English. His music is shamelessly
ear-friendly, his instrumental writing
idiomatic and choirs seem to revel in the
beautiful sonorities he elicits from them.” I’m
back as a bored altar boy dozing off amidst
incense and anthems. Snapping awake to
assure you this is a very enjoyable recording,
I take issue with one reviewer’s pronouncement
that Field “stretches tonality to and
beyond its limits.” He seems quite content
within tonality’s limits, whatever those are.
Choral excellence from a variety of groups
sets a standard not met by the instrumentalists
of the Budapest Symphonic Orchestra.
While the ensemble’s standards of rhythm
and phrasing are acceptable, they seem casual
regarding intonation; “stretched tonality”
might have masked this, but Field’s tonal
palette deserves more care. Carping aside,
Shiva Tandava is a compelling concerto
grosso and makes a nice change from the very
fine choral writing.
Perhaps more generous liner notes would
explain how the Hindu god of destruction
gets along with the reputedly benign
Christian version, or at least what the title
references. I’d appreciate knowing too,
which choirs sing which of the various
sacred (Christian) texts. His lovely setting
of the Christina Rosetti poem In the Bleak
Midwinter adds just a few pounds of tonal
stretch to Gustav Holst’s version.
Max Christie
Secret Places – A Tribute to Michel Legrand
Sharon Azrieli; Tamir Hendelman
LML Music (sharonazrieli.com)
! The brilliant composer and pianist Michel
Legrand died in 2019, and yet his work
continues to resonate – not only in the films
in which his compositions were heard, but
in the many fine versions of his body of work
What we're listening to this month:
thewholenote.com/listening
Fables
Philip Chiu
Canadian pianist Chiu pairs two
piano transcriptions by Ravel
with Mnidoonskaa (A Multitude
of Insects), a 2021 work by
Anishinaabekwe composer
Barbara"
Richard Strauss Arvo Part
I Musici de Montréal
First I Musici album on ATMA
Classique label, first album with
conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni
and first album in 10 years for the
orchestra.
Port of Call: Buenos Aires
Louise Besette
Travel musically to Buenos Aires
with Astor Piazzolla's tango
performed by renowned pianist
Louise Bessette and her trio.
Transfiguration
Stéphane Tétreault, Valérie Milot
An album and concert experience
featuring harpist Valérie
Milot and cellist Stéphane
Tétreault performing works by
contemporary composers in a
spellbinding cinematic digital
environment.
thewholenote.com July 1 - September 20, 2022 | 45