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

set culminates with Harl McDonald’s Concerto for Two Pianos and
Orchestra. This is especially good, played with the Philadelphia
Orchestra and conducted by the composer (1944).
Included in this little box from Marston, is a 46-page booklet and
appreciation of the duo. There are lots of photographs of the artists at
various stages of their career. Marston, well known for issuing such
valuable performances, does us a service and deserves our thanks
for undertaking this venture. Marston is very highly regarded in the
business of reissues and has certainly excelled in this one. I cannot
overstate the satisfaction and pleasure of hearing these performances
so famous and popular in their day. Truly, this is the art of duo
piano playing.
If you search YouTube, you can find Ward Marston’s channel, called
Past Forward, where he introduces the release of this new box set and
plays Luboshutz’s marvellous transcription of Mozart’s overture from
Le Nozze di Figaro. While listening we are treated to photos from the
booklet, and even a few that appear not to have been included.
Romanian pianist Clara Haskil (1895-1960)
was a close friend and admirer of Herbert
Von Karajan; sadly they never formally
recorded together despite their deep mutual
admiration. However, there is a recording
of live performances from Salzburg made
during a 1956 tour in celebration of Mozart’s
bicentenary, Mozart: Piano Concerto No.
20, Symphony No. 39 & Nine Variations on
a Minuet by Duport (ICA Classics arkivmusic.com/products/mozartpiano-concerto-no-20-symphony-no-39-9-variations-on-a-minuetby-duport).
The collaboration of the two in this live concert is quite
a unique experience. Karajan conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra
and lucky for us, one of the compositions on which they collaborated
was the Mozart Piano Concerto No.20 in D Minor K466. What do we
hear in this recording? Do we hear Karajan or do we hear Haskil? The
fact is, we hear both of them and they are, together, far greater than
the sum. The Philharmonia Orchestra under Karajan’s direction play
with incomparable precision as was his style at the time. The orchestra
was very familiar with his conducting and were certainly up to the
mark. As a bonus, there is solo recording of the Nine Variations on a
Minuet by Duport K573, also a live performance, taken from a recital
in Besançon in September of that same year. For many, this little gem
will be worth the price of the whole album, mono only, but in rather
good sound.
Anyone looking for an incredible biography might want to pick up
Jerome Spycket’s Clara Haskil (Lausanne, 1975). Haskil’s story begins
in Bucharest in 1895 and ends in Brussels in 1960. In between there is
every element imaginable of a compelling and powerful life story.
As for Mozart’s Symphony No.39 which provides the heart of this
CD, we have a great example of Karajan’s obsession with precision,
highlighting the excellence of the orchestra.
OTHER FINE VINTAGES
Live at Room at the Top
Pepper Adams; Tommy Banks Trio
Reel to Real Recordings RTR CD-008 (cellarlive.com)
! Undoubtedly the best – if not the only –
exceptional jazz session featuring a member
of the Canadian Senate, this set includes
pianist Tommy Banks, who was in the Upper
House from 2000-2011. While this date took
place in 1972, Banks (1936-2018) exhibits
the supportive and organizational skills that
made him one of Alberta’s most accomplished
musicians for years.
Of course the adaptive skills of Banks, bassist Bobby Cairns and
drummer Tom Doran were stretched to the maximum on backing
baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams (1930-1986), then a sometime
visitor to Edmonton’s clubs, arguably the U.S.’s pre-eminent hard
bopper on his instrument. Making the most of the trio’s rhythmic and
improvisational talents, Adams elevates this program of two originals
and five jazz-songbook standards to ferocious extended interactions.
During Oleo, for instance, his unbroken line of earthy and empathetic
variations is an object lesson in how to make the familiar exclusive.
Banks’ speedy bop timing with blues underscoring keeps the piece
moving. Here and elsewhere, excitement is torqued by thumping bass
and crashing drum breaks, with both trading fours with the soloists.
Sticking to mid-range tones, Adams uses squeaks and glissandi to
advance his parts with the brightness of a higher-pitched instrument.
The few times he emphasizes the baritone’s glottal rasp are during
stop-time sequences. The resulting excitement gets added oomph
when Banks’ solo slyly interjects song quotes.
Judging from their protracted applause the audience was impressed
by the music. You can be too.
Ken Waxman
What we're listening to this month: New to the Listening Room
40 Philip Glass: complete String
Quartets – Vol. 1
Quatuor Molinari
41 Im Wald
Benedetto Boccuzzi
42 Bach and Bartók
Karl Stobbe
45 Brian Field - Choral and
Orchestral Works
Brian Field
46 Carlo Monza: Opera in Musica
Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante
46 Fantasias
Mélisande McNabney
48 Slavic Heart
Anna Petrova
48 Fables
Philip Chiu
50 Richard Strauss Arvo Part
I Musici de Montréal
50 Port of Call: Buenos Aires
Louise Besette
50 Transfiguration
Stéphane Tétreault, Valérie Milot
53 Across Time
Frederic Hand
53 Nebraska Impromptu
Marti Epstein
55 Venez donc chez moi
Laura Anglade & Sam Kirmayer
56 Avery Raquel
Avery Raquel
56 Chronotope
George Crotty Trio
59 Confluence
Mina Gajić & Zachary Carrettin
59 Ottoman Spendours
Lamia Yared
59 Home
Les Arrivants
Previously reviewed in Vol. 27 no. 7
43 Beethoven Cello Sonatas Vol. 1
Yegor Dyachkov, cello Jean Saulnier,
piano
51 The Art of Chopin
Alan Hobbins
Previously reviewed in Vol. 27 no. 6
56 Mulberry Street Symphony
Anders Koppel
Read the reviews here, then visit
thewholenote.com/listening
62 | July 1 - September 20, 2022 thewholenote.com