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October 2ndth-October 11th, 2006
NAXOS REVIEWS
- SARASATE: Music for Violin and Piano, Vol. 1
- REINECKE: Flute Concerto / Harp Concerto / Ballade
- MOZART: Violin Sonatas, Vol. 6
- EL-KHOURY: New York, Tears and Hope / The Rivers Engulfed
- VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Willow-Wood / The Sons of Light / Toward the Unknown Region
- ROSSINI: Torvaldo e Dorliska
- SCHUBERT: Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat major / Sonatensatz
- WEILL: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 / Lady in the Dark - Symphonic Nocturne
- RUBBRA: Violin Concerto, Op. 103 / Improvisations, Op. 89
- RIES: Piano Concertos, Vol. 1
- MAYUZUMI: Bugaku / Mandala Symphony / Rumba Rhapsody
- RENDINE: Passio et Resurrectio
- TAKEMITSU: Orchestral Works
- ROSLAVETS: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1, 4 and 6 / 3 Dances
- MEYERBEER: Semiramide
- VERDI: Messa da Requiem (Schwarzkopf, Di Stefano, De Sabata) (1954)
- GUITAR MUSIC OF ARGENTINA, VOL. 1
- WILLAN: Organ Works
- PONSELLE, Rosa: American Recordings, Vol. 1 (1923-1929)
NAXOS REVIEWS
Review by David Vernier
Classics Today, September 2006
If you want to hear some very well-played Sarasate violin music, performed on a disc devoted solely to that composer's Spanish Dances, then this new release from Chinese violinist Tianwa Yang and Naxos will do the job splendidly. Yang was in her 17th year in 2004 when she recorded these stylish, dazzling showpieces--chamber works that also contain an inherent sensual, sultry physicality that requires a soloist with a keen sense of the rhythms and a true feeling for the passion--sometimes playful, sometimes athletic, sometimes erotic--embodied in these dances. Virtuoso they certainly are--and Yang delivers in this aspect of her performances; that is, her technique, which helped her win the prize of "Best Young Violinist in China" in 2004, is sharply developed, confident, and articulate.
Highlights include the energetic, triple-time Jota Aragonesa Op. 27, with its insistent down-beat, varied melodic twists and turns (including a section in harmonics), and sudden fiery outburst at the end. "Zapateado" (Spanish Dance Op. 23 No. 2) also is very exciting in terms of Yang's command of various bowing and fingering techniques--but this also is one place where she shows her occasional tendency to play under pitch, especially (and most unfortunately) on many of the harmonics (here and elsewhere). Because the pitch of unstopped harmonics (which many of these are) is determined by the tuning of the open string and cannot be altered simply by a fine finger adjustment, it suggests that Yang's violin was not always precisely in tune with the piano. At other times (in several places in the Op. 23 No. 1 ("Playera") an occasional note lies a bit flat at the end of a phrase, seemingly due to momentary inattentiveness, not to any fundamental failure of technique.
Aside from these spotty lapses, when you compare Yang's interpretations, which are basically solid and technically very impressive, with other versions, you realize the limitations of her emotional, experiential input to the pieces' expressive aspects. There's plenty of fire but not much heat; and there's undeniable vitality but the seductive, romantic spirit is missing.
For the most accomplished modern performances of many of the works on Yang's program, turn to James Ehnes' CBC recording, released the same year Yang's was made, which also includes works by Wieniawski. Ehnes seems to have thought more carefully about (or at least sensed) proper tempos relative to the particular nature of a given dance--his slower Playera, for instance, and considerably faster Jota Navarra and Zapateado, in each case ideally capturing the innate spirit of the dance in question. Ehnes also supplies the romantic depth and understanding these pieces need--a knowing turn of phrase, a clever shift of dynamics, a particular rhythmic emphasis here, a pulling away there. It's great stuff, and the Wieniawski selections are just as good.
The sound on the two discs also offers different choices--more edgy and gritty for Yang, making no compromise in presenting the instrument's natural character, and warmer, brighter, a bit more distant for Ehnes, yet no less realistic. Another consideration: Yang's program offers several works difficult or impossible to find elsewhere on disc.
Review by Michael Cookson
Musicweb International, October 2006
I was not too familiar with the name of Carl Reinecke before receiving this release but I did remember that he was the teacher of several composers that were well known to me. These included, most notably: Max Bruch; Edvard Grieg; Emil von Rezniček; Christian Sinding; Arthur Sullivan; Charles Villiers Stanford; Leos Janácek; Frederick Delius; Max Bruch; Edvard Grieg; Johan Svendsen; Isaac Albéniz and Felix Weingartner.
Reinecke was born in the town of Altona on the River Elbe, then an important harbour town in Denmark, but now a district of the German city of Hamburg. The year of Reinecke’s birth 1824 is significant in music history in that it is same birth year as Bruckner and Smetana. I am pleased that Naxos with this issue has provided me with opportunity to hear three concertante scores from this versatile composer who has experienced years of virtual neglect. It is also gratifying that Naxos has chosen as soloists the renowned French performers and conductors, flautist Patrick Gallois and harpist Fabrice Pierre.
A quick check on Reinecke’s career revealed that he was a child prodigy on the piano, also played the violin and in addition to performing he began composing at an early age. He embarked on his first concert tour in 1843 and three years later was appointed as Pianist to the Danish Court, where he remained until 1848. In 1860 he moved to Leipzig in Germany, where he conducted the Gewandhaus concerts until 1895 and taught composition at the Conservatory until 1902. One of his most notable conducting accomplishments came in 1869 when he was entrusted with the first performance of Brahms’s German Requiem.
Reinecke’s international career as conductor, accompanist, teacher and composer gave him an esteemed reputation in his day that was in some ways on the same level as that of Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt. He was a prolific composer writing over three hundred works in most genres. In addition to many piano works and much chamber music I noticed three symphonies; four piano concertos, which is not surprising owing to his prowess on the instrument, and also grand and comic operas. He was exceptionally well connected having met Franz Liszt; Hector Berlioz; Felix Mendelssohn; Robert and Clara Schumann; Niels Gade; Ferdinand Hiller and Johannes Brahms.
For many years the Reinecke works that were most likely to be encountered were the Flute Sonata in E major, Op. 167 ‘Undine’ and his Flute Concerto in D major, Op. 283 but now a variety of his scores have been recorded joining the ever-expanding record catalogues.
The opening work on this release is the Harp Concerto, Op. 182. Composed by Reinecke in 1884 and cast in three movements it is scored for harp with pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, trumpets and four French horns, timpani and strings.
The soloist is Fabrice Pierre who acquits himself superbly. In every respect his performance feels well nigh perfect. He gives a happy and carefree reading of the opening movement allegro moderato where Reinecke could easily have been reminiscing about a walking expedition in the Bavarian mountains. In Pierre’s hands the glorious adagio is lyrical and heartfelt. In addition to the harp part there is considerable employment given to the strings in this movement. The expert soloist provides a swift pace in the scherzo-finale, convincingly and confidently drawing the listener into Reinecke’s sound world. The dancing figures between 3.45-4.04 reminded me of a Mendelssohnian world of fairytale enchantment. Throughout the score orchestra and conductor provide the soloist with thoroughly sympathetic support.
I am extremely pleased with this Naxos account, however, I have been hearing excellent reports of advance copies of a forthcoming rival version of the Harp Concerto which may be worth investigating. The performers are harpists Emmanuel Ceysson and Xavier de Maistre with the Rheinland-Pfalz State Philharmonic Orchestra/Hannu Lintu on the Swiss label Claves CD 50-2607. The coupling is Albert Zabel’s Concerto for Harp and Orchestra in C Minor, Op. 35 and Parish-Alvars’s Concerto for 2 Harps and Orchestra in D Minor, Op. 91.
The three movement Flute Concerto, Op. 283 dates from 1908 and is one of Reinecke’s final compositions. Reinecke orchestrated the concerto for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, trumpets, four French horns, timpani, assorted percussion and strings. We are told in the accompanying notes that, “There exist various discrepancies between the orchestral and solo scores of this work. The version recorded on this CD is Patrick Gallois’ own adaptation, which has its basis in both versions.”
Probably composed in 1908 the Ballade for flute and orchestra, Op. 288 is another late work. In Keith Anderson’s view the single movement score, “uses a title that suggests, at least, literary content.” For these performances of the Flute Concerto and the Ballade the soloist and conductor change places from the opening work, with Patrick Gallois now as flute soloist.
The flute is extremely busy in the opening movement of the Flute Concerto where Gallois is controlled and thoughtful. In this allegro movement in addition to the harp part Reinecke has written a significant role for the brass. The slow movement is generally relaxed with the expressive Gallois almost continually employed, the flute line floating gracefully through the often dense orchestration. In the finale: moderato, a movement with considerable virtuoso display, the soloist Gallois is excitable and high-spirited taking the demands easily in his stride. With the ten minute long Ballade for flute and orchestra Gallois provides a sulky and despondent mood in Reinecke’s robust and richly dark orchestral textures. I was impressed with the way Gallois, at point 3:22, expertly switches the atmosphere to one of spirited child-like excitement. In both the Flute Concerto and the Ballade Gallois is given lively and detailed support orchestra and conductor.
The recorded sound from the Örebro Concert Hall in Sweden is first class and I was especially pleased by the clarity and balance provided by Naxos engineer Sean Lewis. The annotation from Keith Anderson is to a high standard, reasonably concise and highly informative. The playing time of fifty-five minutes is not over-generous but here the quality of the performances take precedence. This is rewarding if little known late-Romantic music that is well worth exploring. I believe the Harp Concerto to be a major work and this Naxos release is a gem waiting to be unearthed.
Review by Michael Cookson
Musicweb International, October 2006
To tie in with his 250th birthday celebrations Mozart’s violin sonatas, or the sonatas for keyboard and violin as the composer described them, are currently being given a considerable amount of exposure on disc.
A swift check in the catalogues reveals a large number of recordings. This is not surprising as these scores contain an incredible wealth of high quality material. One wonders why they are not heard more often. For this new volume Nishizaki and Loeb join an impressive list of partnerships to have embarked on a complete cycle.
It is hard to obtain a definitive number, however most reference books credit Mozart with composing over forty such sonatas, over a period of some twenty-five years. With these scores we are witnessing the advance of the modern violin sonata with new life injected into the genre. It is said that Mozart was primarily responsible for bringing the dramatic violin sonata to a state of near perfection in very much the same way that his contemporary Haydn developed the form of the string quartet.
Composed in Vienna in 1781 the Six Variations minor K360 were probably intended for the use of a talented piano pupil the Countess Maria Karolina Thiennes de Rumbeke.
The Andante and Fugue is more commonly known as the Violin Sonata No. 29 K402 and was composed in 1782 for his wife Constanze Weber shortly after their marriage. It was left incomplete at Mozart’s death in 1791 with Abbé Maximilian Stadler completing the score. Stadler was also to complete the unfinished Violin Sonata No. 30 K403 from 1782. That was another work thought to have been intended for his wife Constanze. Stadler’s completed version was later published as the ‘Sonate facile’.
The Sonata No. 17 K570 was composed in 1789 for solo piano. It was published posthumously as a Sonata for piano with violin accompaniment but the arrangement is not thought to be from Mozart’s pen.
The calibre of the Nishizaki-Loeb partnership is outstanding. They provide expressive playing that is light and delicate. Their performances overflow with imagination and a high degree of intimacy. Nishizaki is highly experienced and has sold possibly the most recordings of any violinist. She has the advantage of a technique that is comfortably secure with a pleasing tone that is crisp and cool. There is a purity to her playing, fused with a relaxed manner that is hard to resist. The elaborate piano part in the hands of Loeb is natural and unforced. The duo’s choice of speeds tends to be rather on the slow side for my taste. However, in the allegro of K570 (track 6) the players demonstrate that they can quicken when they choose. I especially enjoyed their sensitive performance of the adagio of the Sonata K570 which is tender and highly compelling. Also impressive is the closing movement rondo of the same Sonata, dazzlingly played with joy and vitality, and totally free of affectation. Something special is also happening in the Sonata, K403 at several points in the allegro - allegretto (track 4) especially at points 1.27-2.11; 3.30-4.09 and 5.18-6.26 where the unison playing is exceptional.
In a competitive market there are numerous alternative versions of complete sets of the Mozart violin sonatas. My preferred versions are the three volumes on period instruments from violinist Rachel Podger and Gary Cooper. These are mature, characterful and near flawless performances, using fortepiano or harpsichord. They’re on Channel Classics.
For those wanting a broad selection of Mozart's violin sonatas performed on modern instruments, I confidently endorse the distinguished partnership of Itzhak Perlman and Daniel Barenboim. They offer aristocratic musicality and impressive refinement in the sonatas 17-28; 32-34 and the sonatina K547. These are on a four disc set from Deutsche Grammophon 463 749-2. I also enjoy the four disc set from Szymon Goldberg and Radu Lupu for their strong personality and vitality (Decca 448 526-2).
The present Naxos recording has a slightly forward balance and is exceptionally clear. At times I could almost imagine being positioned adjacent to Nishizaki. The booklet notes by Keith Anderson are written to his usual high standard. These are excellent performances that are packed with quality music of extraordinary interest.
Review by Gary Higginson
Musicweb International, October 2006
This disc, which mixes orchestral works with piano pieces, is the fourth Naxos CD devoted to music by this striking and increasingly fascinating Lebanese-French composer. Naxos’s example shows the kind of terrific commitment that contemporary composers need. El-Khoury has literally struck the right note with both Naxos and with his growing band of admirers.
The first work on the disc should have received its first performance in New York just as I write (September 2006). It is in memory of the victims of 9/11 and is given the wonderful title of ‘Tears and Hope’ - tragedy and expectation side by side. The composer contacted me as I was preparing this review to say that due to security difficulties its performance has been postponed for twelve months. So you can only hear it on CD at present.
The music was begun a few years ago but started to coalesce when the composer began to consider the terrible events of 9/11. Here is a work in respect of which you may feel that any composer who would write such a composition is either naïve or stupid. But El-Khoury is neither of these things. He has written a heartfelt plea for peace and love across all nations. It starts from a mood of dark despondency, even resignation. Over a long pedal, little scatterings of almost apologetic sounds can be picked out seemingly at random. The music then rises through pain to an uplifting ending. For me the joy at the end is too easily attained. The huge major chord achieved a little too easily but this does not take away the aching beauty of this masterpiece. Perhaps future conductors will just hold back the tempo a little more in the last dozen bars or so to make the final chord even more telling.
The second work is also orchestral. I had the privilege of hearing it open the last Master Prize concert in the Barbican about three years ago. Its birth and original commission is somewhat unusual. ‘The Rivers Engulfed’ (Les Fleuves engloutis) was broadcast a movement at a time. This curious state of affairs is explained in the excellent booklet notes by Gérald Hugon: "the composer had to write a work of about ten minutes comprising five sections each of which was to reflect, in miniature form, a particular state of the piece within the work as a whole … The aim was to allow the progressive entry of listeners into a work through repeated hearings over a weekend in the course of several broadcasts" - would BBC Radio 3 consider such an idea? - "The work was then repeated complete at the end of the weekend." That is why in making up a work of just over thirteen minutes there are five well-contrasted sections all with different titles like ‘ Song of Silence’ and ‘Struggle’. The mood is often sombre but broken by dramatic and powerful passages evoking, as I have noted in his music before, a vast biblical landscape. ‘Tears and Hope’ starts carefully over a deep pedal and gradually sets out on its adventure of sound before almost ending as it began. The work was very adequately recorded at the aforementioned Master Prize final and it is that which is presented here.
Bechara El-Khoury enjoys bipartite forms. It seems to me that these are different from Binary structures. One tends to think of the latter as two equals: A+B. In bipartite form one section may be longer than the other, or carry more weight emotionally even if it is shorter. The ‘Sextet’, here in a version for string orchestra, ’Fragments Oubliés’ and ‘Waves’ fall into this category. Other works to a similarly plan include the 2nd Piano Sonata op. 61 and the ‘Quintet à vent’ Op. 46.
When writing for the piano he is a far more harmonically radical composer than in the orchestral works which can often touch, if not even stray into, tonality. These two piano works are striking in their dissonance and harmonic instability, especially the faster sections. ‘Fragments Oubliés’ begins chromatically, almost like early twelve-tone Schoenberg, feeling its way towards its ideas. After five minutes the fragments flit across the soundscape and eventually coalesce into a rapid and vapid array of notes using the entire keyboard in a quixotic display of fireworks. ‘Waves’ is likewise harmonically unstable and experimental. We are reminded of the good and bad side of the effects of water and floods. Again, good and evil, joys and sufferings are represented. These are two sides of a coin, the theme we met in the first work, Tears and Hope. These are bi-partite contrasts, side by side. Michael Tippett heads the score of ‘A Child of Our Time’ "the darkness declares the glory of the light", and later famously writes "I would know my shadow and my light".
This is what Bechara El-Khoury is constantly exploring and no doubt still will in future works, and, I believe, even more profoundly.
I know that the composer was grateful for and proud, pleased, and excited by the meticulous performances his music received here. He was present at the recordings and you can be sure that what you hear is what he intended and that the performers have likewise found his music moving and exhilarating all at once.
Review by David Hurwitz
Classics Today, September 2006
Here's an enormously useful and enjoyable disc containing some well-known favorites (Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus, Toward the Unknown Region), alongside three rarities. The Voice out of the Whirlwind is a setting of words from the book of Job, and it consists of a vocal arrangement of the Galliard of the Sons of Morning from Ralph Vaughan Williams' eponymous ballet. It works quite well in this vocal setting. Willow-Wood is a very beautiful cantata for baritone, (mostly) wordless female chorus, and orchestra to a text by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Composed in the first decade of the 20th century, the music's sweetness and serenity anticipates the much later Serenade to Music.
The Sons of Light, a choral setting of three poems by the composer's wife, Ursula Wood, comes from the very end of Vaughan Williams' career, and it's full of those glittering sounds familiar from the last three symphonies. It was recorded once before, for Lyrita, but never released on CD, and it deserves to be better known. The performances here are all very good. Baritone Roderick Williams shows some unsteadiness in his lower register but otherwise sings with excellent diction and warm tone. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic plays very well for conductor David Lloyd-Jones, and the chorus, if not the last word in precision, sounds quite comfortable with music that's fun to sing and not too difficult to master. Very good sonics complete an essential addition to the Vaughan Williams discography.
Review by Bob McQuiston
Classical Lost & Found, January 01, 2006
This release was an "Editor's Choice" in Gramophone Magazine (12/05) and features the world premiere recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams's "Willow-Wood" as well as the return to the catalog of his "The Sons of Light." Both are cantatas dating from 1909 and 1951 respectively. The former is a passionate outpouring for baritone, women's voices and orchestra that's not to be missed. Drawn from Dante Gabriel Rossetti's The House of Life, it consists of four interlinked sonnets, which describe a dreamlike, amorous encounter by a rustic well. The latter, scored for four-part chorus and orchestra, originated in response to a request for a work to be sung by a large choir of schoolchildren. It's a highly colorful, energetic piece with zodiacal associations and will appeal to all those who love the "Sinfonia antaractica" (his seventh symphony). "Toward the Unknown Region" and "The Voice out of the Whirlwind," both for chorus and orchestra, as well as "Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus" for strings and harp complete this outstanding program. "Toward..." will remind you of "A sea symphony" (his first symphony), which is understandable considering both were written about the same time and based on Walt Whitman's poetry. The words for "The Voice..." are taken from The Old Testament Book of Job so it's not surprising that it has strong musical associations with the composer's masque for dancing entitled "Job." The "Five Variants..." might be thought of as musical, free associations inspired by old, English folk songs. The performances couldn't be better and the recorded sound is good making this release required listening for all VW enthusiasts.
Classical Lost & Found
Review by Robert Levine
Classics Today, October 2006
Torvaldo e Dorliska was Rossini's 16th opera, premiered in Rome in December, 1815, two months after Elisabetta... and two months before Barbiere. It has an odd tone--it's a so-called "rescue opera". The plot concerns the eponymous hero and heroine, who are married. The evil Duke loves Dorliska and attacks the couple on their wedding day and leaves Torvaldo for dead. Dorliska runs away but winds up (unknowingly) taking refuge at the Duke's castle and is imprisoned. When Torvaldo finds his way there he attempts to rescue her, but he also is taken prisoner. The Duke's embittered henchman, Giorgio (a comic role), helps the couple. The villagers rise up and the Duke is punished, while our heroes live happily.
The opera is not in the top 10 of Rossini's great output--it breaks no new ground--but it's quite enjoyable despite being neither serious nor comic. Torvaldo has a couple of fine arias, as does Dorliska, the first-act finale is excellent, and even the basses and baritones have some good, if not altogether memorable, music.
This performance is very good indeed. Taped live in Bad Wildbad in July, 2003, stage noises do not interfere and there are precious few problems with ensembles, missed notes, etc., perhaps because there were patch-up sessions. Paolo Cigna and Huw Rhys-Evans are our heroine and hero and they're both up to the task. The former has plenty of high-flying and florid music and she sings it all accurately and with the right emphasis, while Rhys-Evans' very light, sweet voice copes well enough without the word "virtuoso" (or "Blake" or "Florez") coming to mind.
Michele Bianchini as the Duke exhibits a good-sized voice that may lack heft in the middle but that otherwise is a pleasure to hear. Mauro Utzeri, as the villain-turned-good guy Giorgio, sings with great character and a light tone (he's billed as a baritone); his duet with the Duke is a high spot. The rest of the cast is just fine.
Alessandro de Marchi leads a tight performance, one in which neither recitatives nor slower passages drag, and he keeps up with the singers nicely. Even a superb conductor would be unable to make the music of our villain, the Duke, sound villainous (this is Rossini's shortcoming in this opera), but he gives the work a respectable amount of drama nonetheless and his orchestra and chorus are excellent. No libretto is supplied but the track-by-track synopsis is very helpful.
There is another live recording of this opera, from Radio Switzerland in 1992 and starring tenor Ernesto Palacio (on Arkadia), but I haven't seen it in years--and at any rate, this Naxos set is better. Calling all Rossinians--who will also enjoy spotting bits and pieces of some of the composer's other operas sprinkled throughout.
Review by Robert J Farr
Musicweb International, August 2006
Researching for my Rossini conspectus, published in two parts by Musicweb-International in November 2005 (Part 1 )and (Part 2 ) I could find no extant recording of Torvaldo e Dorliska, Rossini’s 16th opera. Charles Osborne in The bel canto Operas (Methuen 1994) mentions an LP version under Alberto Zedda with a fine cast including Cuberli, Valentini-Terrani, Dara and Nimsgern, but this seems never to have made it onto CD. Knowing that the opera had been performed at Bad Wildbad, known as the Pesaro of the North, in 2003 and that Naxos had previously recorded from there, Musicweb approached the company for me. Naxos confirmed they had it in the can and I can now welcome its issue as yet another addition to the burgeoning list of Rossini operas readily available on either CD or DVD.
Rossini had already agreed to compose a work to open the Carnival Season at Rome’s Teatro Valle on 26 December 1815 as he prepared his first opera seria for Naples, Elisabetta, Regina d’Inghilterra. This was enthusiastically received at its premiere on 4 October 1815. On his arrival in Rome to rehearse Il Turco in Italia a month later he did not like the libretto prepared for him by Angelo Anelli, the librettist of L’Italiana in Algeri. Instead of turning to the more experienced Jacopo Ferretti he instead commissioned a young but well-read civil servant, inexperienced as a librettist, Cesare Sterbini. He produced a semi-seria libretto that essentially belongs in the category of a ‘rescue opera’ of which the outstanding example is Beethoven’s Fidelio.
The opera is set in and around the castle of the Duke of Ordow (bar). The evil Duke is in love with Dorliska (sop), the wife of the knight Torvaldo (ten). The Duke had attacked the couple on their wedding day with the intent of taking Dorliska for himself. In the struggle Torvaldo was wounded and left for dead. Dorliska having escaped arrives at the castle and seeks shelter not knowing it is the home of the Duke. At first she is given shelter by Giorgio (bass), the castle guardian, and his wife Carlotta (mezzo) but is discovered by the Duke. Torvaldo, who has not been killed, arrives at the castle in disguise to rescue her but she inadvertently reveals his identity and he becomes a prisoner. Giorgio declares that he is an honourable man and with the aid of his wife and disaffected villagers tired of their tyrant Duke, Torvaldo and Dorliska are rescued.
Rossini did not try to import the musical and dramatic initiatives of his Naples opera to Rome; rather he presented a traditional structure with recitative interspersed between the musical numbers. Although there are self-borrowings in places the music has impetus and drama with significant demands on the principal singers. Bad Wildbad has a reputation of giving up-and-coming singers opportunities in this repertoire together with more experienced colleagues. The bass Mauro Bianchini as the Duke, who has sung widely in Italy, the USA and Australasia, has a sonorous big voice. I thought at first (CD 1 tr.2) that the middle of his voice was too low for the role and he had trouble maintaining a legato line. However, his voice warms and his flexibility improves to the benefit of his characterisation. He is a villain one can believe in and his vocal timbre is distinct from the lighter tone of Mauro Utzeri as the good guy Giorgio in their scenes together (CD 2 tr.12). Utzeri has appeared at the Pesaro festival as well as leading Italian houses including La Scala. His lean clear-toned baritone singing is incisive and he brings the character to life. As Torvaldo the Welsh tenor Huw Rhys-Evans hasn’t quite the heady top to his voice of the ideal Rossini tenor. His is a light lyric tenor voice with a metallic edge and rather white tone. Nonetheless his singing is expressive and musical and his hero is believable (CD 1 tr.9). As his wife Dorliska, Paola Cigna is a little stretched at the top of her lyric voice (CD 1 tr.5) but colours and covers her tone well to give a very convincing portrayal. As Ormando and his sister Carlotta, essential to the plot, Giovanni Bellavia (CD 1 tr.12) and Anna-Rita Gemmabella (CD 2 tr.11) are vocally distinctive and sing and portray their roles well.
The Naxos booklet gives a detailed track-listing, an excellent track-related synopsis, artist profiles and an introductory essay, all in English and German. A full libretto in Italian is available on the web. With excellent conducting by Alessandro de Marchi of the skilled orchestra and chorus, this performance from Bad Wildbad fills a gap in the current availability of Rossini operas on record. Like many live recordings there is the intrusion of applause, which can disturb the dramatic flow. However, another characteristic of Bad Wildbad is that the applause is encouraging and never overdone. I never know if the performances are in concert or staged. There are no obvious stage noises although once or twice the balance indicates a singer moving off mike.
Whilst Rossini was preparing Torvaldo e Dorliska for its premiere on 26 December 1815, as the first opera of the Carnival Season at the Teatro Valle in Rome, the composer signed a contract with the rival Teatro Argentina to compose a comic opera for later in the season. With little time for the composition he again turned down a libretto by Ferretti as unsuitable. Instead Cesare Sterbini the apprentice librettist of Torvaldo e Dorliska provided the verses for the work of which Verdi said ‘I cannot help believing that, for abundance of ideas, comic verve and truth of declamation, Il Barbiere di Siviglia is the most beautiful opera buffa in existence’. It was premiered on 20 February 1816. Although Torvaldo e Dorliska has not the musical invention of its successor it does not deserve the neglect it has had in performance or on record. The work is being performed in Pesaro in 2006 with a cast including Michele Pertusi, Bruno Pratico and Francesaco Meli among others. Given the quality of this performance and recording I would not wait with bated breath to see if a recording emerges and would recommend all lovers of Rossini’s operas to investigate this performance.
Review by David Hurwitz
Classics Today, September 2006
There are some splendid piano trios now playing and recording, as recent releases by the likes of the Florestan Trio (Hyperion), the Abegg Trio (Tacet), and the Smetana Trio (Supraphon) attest. On evidence here, the Kungsbacka Trio has nothing to fear from the competition, even in this oft-recorded music. Schubert's Second trio is not the easiest piece to bring off. Despite its typically generous fund of melody and its unusually varied colors and textures, this is a very long piece of music. When played, as here, with the original version of its finale (including repeats), it lasts more than 50 minutes, an extraordinary length even for a mature work that suffers from no significant formal weaknesses.
A successful performance, then, is all about timing and flow, aside from the general requirement of beautiful ensemble playing at all times. Here the Kungsbacka Trio really excels, finding in all four movements ideal tempos that allow for maximum textural clarity without any sacrifice of brilliance. You can hear this most obviously in the second movement, like that of the Ninth Symphony one of Schubert's unforgettable, bittersweet marches, and most particularly in the finale. It's obvious that these players have got it right when the music of the second movement returns amid the development section: it makes you stop and say "Wait a moment--haven't I heard this before?" The scherzo also manages to be unusually lively and characterful, but still "Allegro moderato", and moreover a different Allegro moderato than that of the finale.
In short, this performance offers both technical excellence and interpretive intelligence in equal measure. Pianist Simon Crawford Phillips in particular knows exactly when to accompany and when to be brilliant. His partners play with a warm, rich tone, terrific intonation, and clearly relish Schubert's use of coloristic devices (such as pizzicato) to provide timbral contrast. There are many fine recordings of this trio, including one on Naxos by the excellent Stuttgart Piano Trio, but this one belongs with the best of them. By the way, it also sounds terrific on an iPod and makes a fantastic after-dinner walk or aerobic workout, especially since the coupled early Trio ("Sonatensatz") in B-flat D. 28 brings the disc timing to just a smidge over a full hour. But whether you're relaxing at home or moving about in some fashion, you'll enjoy this very much.
Review by Laurence Vittes
Audiophile Audition, August 25, 2006
Despite a virtual fantasy league galaxy of superstars for competition, beginning with the Busch Trio in 1935, not to mention Horszowki-Schneider-Casals and Rubinstein-Szeryng-Fournier and a host of others, there has not been a completely satisfactory recording of Schubert’s second Piano Trio. Like the first, the writing is full of inspired tunes and harmonies, with each instrument getting many wonderful things to do, but the integration of the three instruments is not handled well by the composer, leading to clunky phrasing and unconvincing momentum, problems which most recordings do not begin to address.
Each movement presents its own challenges, although the emotionally complex slow movement, with its plaintive main theme (including a very curious grace note whose presence and importance remains unresolved), is at least well-known through Stanley Kubrick’s use of it in his film Barry Lyndon.
The lack of a great performance has now been dealt with. This performance is so irresistibly happy and (appropriately) carefree, so relaxed in its handling of the instrumental detail, line and phrasing, that it would be the first choice at any price. Nor are the moments of mystery ignored; the pianist especially is willing to use “white space” to create atmosphere and anticipation. It is a remarkable accomplishment, enhanced by a gorgeous recording made at St. George’s Church, Brand Hill, in Bristol. The performance even includes the usually cut (and very interesting if also very busy) 99 bars.
The Trio (violinist Malin Broman, cellist Jesper Svedberg and pianist Simon Crawford Phillips), formed in 1997, takes its name from the Swedish town in which it gave its first performance and has established an annual chamber music festival, now in its sixth year.
Review by RW
Daily Telegraph, August 26, 2006
Comparing Schubert s two piano trios, Schumann described the E flat as more “spirited, masculine and dramatic” than the “passive, lyrical and feminine” B flat. Even ignoring the sexist stereotyping, it is hard to see how the E flat is more spirited than its companion. It is, though, a more serious and ambitious work, with a haunting C minor andante that would be on many Schubertians’ desert island shortlist.
The Kungsbacka Trio adds to its growing reputation with a performance that combines polish, freshness and inventive characterization. The players catch what Schumann dubbed the “repressed fury” of the first movement, and avoid the trap of sentimentalising the contrasting lyrical theme. The scherzo has an ideal lilt and lightness of touch; and the Kungsbacka’s grace and verve vindicate their choice of Schubert’s dangerously long original version of the finale.
Only the slow tempo for the andante here more a dirge than a melancholy, stoical trudge-raised fleeting doubts. Occasionally, too, the cello suffers in the balance. But this hardly detracts from a sympathetic, thoroughly enjoyable performance. The early Haydnesque trio movement, sprucely played, makes a delightful digestif.
Review by Giv Cornfield
August 2006
Though we may be in the midst of a hot summer, this disc is like a breath of fresh spring air. The music is Schubert at his best: one lovely melody running into another like a string of pearls. One can sense the joy that these wonderful musicians experience as they play this masterpiece of the chamber repertoire. Good taste and virtuosity abound, and the sparklingly live recording is a joy to hear.
Review by Gavin Engelbrecht
Northern Echo, August 17, 2006
The Kungsbacka Trio, who have appeared at the Sage, Gateshead, present extreme points in Schubert’s career as a composer. The Sonatensatz was written in 1812, while Schubert was still at school, and the second of his two completed piano trios, D. 929. The works are played with characteristic sensitivity and verve.
Review by Bob McQuiston
Classical Lost & Found, September 01, 2005
This was an "Editor's Choice" in Gramophone Magazine (09/05) where it was described as "an intriguing musical side-glance at Kurt Weill's output." The first of his two symphonies is a student work that was written in 1921 and may remind you of Paul Hindemith in a couple of places. The Gramophone reviewer said of Marin Alsop's interpretation, "I have never heard this so confidently played as here." If you find it to your tastes, it will probably require repeated listening to sort out the dense, convoluted mass of anguished, thematic material present. The second was written in 1934 just after the composer fled from Germany to escape the rising tide of Nazism. A lot of laughs, it's not; but, it's first-rate Weill and has similarities to other concurrent works of his as well as hints of what was to come. The program ends on a more mundane, but cheerful note with a concert suite from "Lady in the Dark" arranged by Robert Russell Bennett of Victory at Sea fame. The performances are highly satisfactory, the sound, excellent and the price is right.
Classical Lost & Found
Review by Bob McQuiston
Classical Lost & Found, November 25, 2005
Those who know English music will tell you that Edmund Rubbra was one of the finest, modern, symphonists that Britain ever produced. This concerto is a masterpiece and an ideal introduction to him, particularly at this price. It has that solidity of construction, sense of confidence that borders on the religious and rhythmic insistency so characteristic of his creations. As a bonus, his improvisations for violin as well as those on some of Giles Farnaby's virginal pieces are also included. The former is a heartfelt fantasia originally written for the Louisville Orchestra, while the latter finds the composer in a more capricious mood. The performances are totally committed and the sound, desiccatedly detailed. This disc will undoubtedly whet your appetite for more Rubbra and a magnificent, multi-course banquet awaits you in the form of his eleven symphonies.
Classical Lost & Found
Review by Bob McQuiston
Classical Lost & Found, January 16, 2006
This is another magnificent disc of discovery from the adventurous folks at Naxos. Dating from 1806 and 1826 the two romantic piano concertos by the German composer Ferdinand Ries presented here are absolutely delightful. Orchestrally speaking both owe a great debt to Ludwig van Beethoven, which is not surprising considering Ries was closely associated and even studied with him. However, he was still his own man and the piano writing, particularly in the later one, calls to mind such composers as John Field, Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Felix Mendelssohn, and even points the way towards what would come from Frederic Chopin. Granted the gigantic shadow cast by the great Ludwig has certainly obscured his student's considerable body of work, but the magnificent playing of the very talented Christopher Hinterhuber and highly accomplished accompaniment provided by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra under Uwe Grodd may well help bring it into the sunlight. This is some of the most engaging music recently unearthed and you'll be happy to know that this release is only the first volume in what will hopefully be a series of discs devoted to all eight of Ries's piano concertos. Once you've digested everything here, do try his symphonies as well as the music of Alexander Ernst Fesca, Georges Onslow, Ludwig Spohr and Johann Willem Wilms, all of whom were also eclipsed by the man from Bonn.
Classical Lost and Found
Review by Joseph Stevenson
Classics Today, August 2006
Among the more fascinating things about th is program of orchestral works is the sheer diversity of styles used by Japanese composer Toshiro Mayuzumi (1929-1997). The four compositions span only 14 years but they show an aurally adventurous young composer (he was between 19 and 33 years old when he wrote them), rapidly growing in skills and self-assurance while restlessly shifting styles. Just to consider the two mature works--Mandala-Symphony (1960) and Bugaku (1962)--you can readily hear chords and rhythms evoking Stravinsky and Varèse, clouds of string portamentos recalling Ligeti and Xenakis, Webernesque serial-sounding pointillism, and deliberate influences from classic imperial court music and Buddhist chant. Yet it all merges as in a musical melting pot and becomes a unique personal style. These two compositions are first-rate works, avant-garde in some respects but successfully designed to grip the listener's attention.
The other two works are student pieces. Symphonic Mood (1950) is a worthy if texturally simple work that's also adorned by multiple styles. It starts quietly, establishes a rhumba rhythm, then incongruously lays Balinese gamelan figurations on top of that. (The Imperial government until 1945 banned European and North American music, letting South American music in along with that of other Asian traditions.) Mayuzumi was trying to be exotic and used what he knew, and somehow Symphonic Mood makes a virtue out of this musical mismatch.
On the other hand, Rhumba Rhapsody is sheer juvenilia--poorly shaped and of interest only to show how a composer can rescue good ideas from a bad composition, since the second movement of Symphonic Mood retools material from it. Mayuzumi's progress is even more striking when you recall that during this same period he became Japan's first and leading electronic music composer.
One aspect of Mayuzumi's voice holds steady: His music is dynamic and rhythmically powerful at all tempos. Happily, conductor Takuo Yuasa conveys this vital dimension clearly in a performance showing that the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra deserves a high international reputation. The sound is also excellent. Mandala and Bugaku, if mated with works of equal value and with the same technical achievements, would rate a 10/10. Now can we ask someone for a good multi-channel recording of Mayuzumi's masterwork, the Nirvana-Symphony?
Review by Bob McQuiston
Classical Lost & Found, September 01, 2005
Those who love the "Misa Criolla," "Misa Flamenca" and "Missa Luba" will go ape over this release, which is a kind of "Messa Napolitana." Combining dialects and ancient, folk melodies from Southern Italy with elements of the Latin Mass, composer Sergio Rendine has fashioned an extremely moving, neo-romantic, "Easter Cantata" for soloists, chorus and orchestra. This dramatic work very effectively characterizes the religious fervor exhibited by Neapolitans during Holy Week. Following its premiere in 2000 it became so popular that it was taped and broadcast in fifty-eight countries. When you hear this well recorded, impassioned performance by the same people who premiered it, you'll understand why. Victimae paschali laudes! Looking for another, outstanding, folk inspired, choral work? By all means investigate Bohuslav Martinu's "Bouquet of Flowers."
Classical Lost & Found
 
Review by Michael Tumelty
The Herald, August 2006
Criticise the music of Toru Takemitsu at your peril, as once discovered to my discomfort. The Late Japanese composer is, in certain quarters, among the most revered figures in late 20th-century music. This collection, with Marin Alsop in absolute charge of her splendid Bournemouth band and completely au fait with the gleaming, static style of this often exquisite music, is about as good as you’ll get. It includes the major Takemitsu classics: A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden and Spirit Garden. It also includes three film scores for string orchestra which display a refreshingly alternative face to the composer. To my mind, he remains a fatally eclectic composer who borrowed rather too heavily from other styles, but this affordable disc compels me to suggest it’s worth exploring.
Review by David Hurwitz
Classics Today, August 2006
This disc makes an ideal introduction to Toru Takemitsu's very beautiful and personal sound world. It's particularly nice to have the three-movement suite of film music in between the larger concert works because it gives the entire program an additional dollop of stylistic contrast. As with Messiaen, Takemitsu's music, when taken in large doses, can begin to sound monotonous. You basically know what it's going to do after the first couple of minutes, and the only question is how long it's going to do it. The most stop-and-start work in this respect is Spirit Garden, but as with most of this composer's output, the dreamy, lush textures (lots of harp and soft percussion) combined with dissonant but curiously alluring harmony make each moment so aurally arresting that it's pointless to complain. If you like it, just sit back and wallow.
The performances by the Bournemouth Symphony under Marin Alsop are very fine: well detailed, sensitive to dynamics, and most importantly of all, just about perfectly paced. So much of the success of this music depends on keeping it flowing, and that's exactly what happens here. Dreamtime is hypnotic but not comatose, while A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden is particularly well done. Alsop is about a minute slower here than Ozawa (DG) or Otaka (BIS), and substantially more so than Iwaki (ABC Classics), but there's no suggestion of sluggishness, and textural detail registers with admirable clarity and point. This latter work also has more internal contrast than the other pieces on the disc, and Alsop has caught the trick of giving the loud outbursts impact without undue harshness. Naxos' engineering is excellent too. In sum, this is a welcome disc, a compelling tribute to one of the 20th century's major musical voices.
Review by Geoffrey Norris
Daily Telegraph, August 19, 2006
Until comparatively recently, Nikolay Roslavets (1880- 1944) was an obscure figure in Russian music, consigned to oblivion by the Soviet regime for a style of writing that was deemed too complex to contribute to the state’s artistic welfare. Listening to his music nowadays, it is hard to see what all the hiss was about: the Violin Sonata No 6, a late work, has liquid, shifting harmonies cast in a language that would not have frightened Debussy or Ravel, though maybe its intoxicated languor would have been thought seditious at a time when Socialist Realism favoured something much more clear-cut.
The Sonatas No 1 (1913- 14) and No 4 (1924) sound more progressive, if only in the sense that they pick up from where Skryabin left off in their volatile temperament and harmonic ambiguity, with yearning, soaring themes, fluttering frills and challenging, impulsive piano parts that could quite easily pass for Skryabin sonatas. It is possible to imagine this music played with a more winning, less brittle violin tone than that offered by Solomia Soroka, but the disc is at least interesting in focusing on a composer who is only posthumously making his name.
Review by Jeff Simon
The Buffalo News, 3 September 2006
Nikolai Roslavets, Violin Sonatas 1, 4 and 6 and Three Dances performed by violinist Solomia Soroka and pianist Arthur Greene (Naxos). For years, Roslavets (1880-1944) was known as one of the great Soviet "silent composers" along with Mossolov and some others. In other words, he was a vehement modernist - "the Russian Schoenberg" he was erroneously called - who was effectively eliminated from Russian music when Stalin and "socialist realism" wiped out everything but a cagey and tormented Shostakovich and an all-but-bulletproof Prokofiev. But even more than Mossolov, Roslavets was an amazing heir to Scriabin in this music. The kind of ecstatic atonality and chromaticism you find in the best Scriabin - the piano sonatas - is also routine in this very seldom heard violin/piano music. A real find, then.
Review by Robert Hugill
Musicweb International, August 2006
Meyerbeer was born a year before Rossini and died just four years before him. Both studied opera composing in Italy and each wrote operas for the Italian and French stages. Meyerbeer continued to write opera until he died and having found a winning formula, stuck to it; whereas Rossini’s operas helped alter the operatic landscape and he stopped composing early.
Now another fascinating parallel between the composers has come to light, they both wrote operas on the subject of Semiramide the fabled Babylonian queen. Meyerbeer’s opera came first, in 1819 when he set an adaptation of Metastasio’s libretto which was originally written in 1729. Quite why a young German, studying in Turin should be setting a ninety year old opera seria libretto is entirely down to politics. Restoration was in the air, the Congress of Vienna had just finished, various ruling families were returning to their thrones as if the upsets of the Napoleonic era had never happened. Political conservatism was reflected in the choice of librettos; Simone Mayr also wrote an opera based on a Metastasio libretto.
But though the libretto was old, the form of the opera was not. An anonymous adapter, probably Count Lodovico Piossasco Feys, created the libretto for Meyerbeer, adjusting the text so that it had fewer, longer arias, duets and trios and substantial ensembles. The opera deals with Semiramide’s moment of triumph when, after the death of her husband she dresses as a man and pretends to be her own son. When she finally reveals her true self she is acclaimed Queen.
Voltaire, in 1749, produced a tragedy that dealt with the final moments of the queen’s life rather then her triumphal moment. It was this work which gave rise to Rossini’s opera dealing with the legendary queen. Though the two works deal with different aspects of the same story, their construction has much in common. It is almost certain that Rossini’s librettist, Gaetano Rossi, deliberately introduced the dramatic affinities between the two works. But Meyerbeer’s score sounds to our ears, very Rossinian indeed. Both operas deal with similar confusions of identity and sex, with the wrong people falling in love.
Meyerbeer’s Semiramide was a minor hit and had one or two revivals. The composer’s revised version has disappeared and we only have the score for his original version. The opera does not seem to have been performed between the 1820s and the production in July 2005 at the Rossini in Wildbad Festival, during which this recording was made.
The opera’s title role was written for one of the most talented singers of the day, Carolina Bassi. She sang contralto as well as soprano parts and Meyerbeer wrote what is effectively a mezzo-soprano part for her until the moment when the character drops her male disguise and reveals her true self. Then the music encompasses the soprano top A flat and B flats. The booklet states that the version performed ‘incorporates a number of cuts and revisions made to suit the vocal talents of the cast involved’. But they don’t actually say what the revisions are. The singer playing Semiramide, Deborah Riegel, is billed as a soprano and I get the feeling that the part might have been eased up a little for her; but I can’t be sure, which is frustrating.
The opera is conducted by the capable hands of Richard Bonynge, who certainly knows how to pace an opera of this period. He is also adept at being flexible and supporting the singers, you never feel that the pace is too driven, but things never drag either; an art which some younger conductors have not really learned.
As for the singers, they are all very capable. They are all singing parts of fearsome difficulty which require bravura performances. The danger in this sort of music is that singers are over careful and though we get the virtuosity we fail to get the sense of showy bravura that this music requires.
That is not so here, all project the music beautifully. The downside is that there are hints of untidiness and unsteadiness in all parts. Tenor Filippo Adami’s voice is an acquired taste, though he does real wonders with it. Both Deborah Riedel and Fiona James have voices that do not react well to pressure at the top of their range. That said, in their duets they contribute some beautifully relaxed singing. Wojtek Gierlach is billed as a bass, though his part was written for a baritone. Gierlach has an attractive grainy voice and makes a fine contribution though the plum parts go to the higher voices.
The continuo is played on a harpsichord which would seem remarkably anachronistic for an opera premiered in 1819.
Early, Italian Meyerbeer has done rather well recently. Opera Rara have recorded some of his Italian operas and now we have this one from Naxos. What is strange, of course, is that his later French operas have not fared anything like as well in the record catalogues. These are the operas for which he is famous, but modern recordings of them are rare and they don’t stay in the catalogues long. Perhaps someone needs to set up a French version of Opera Rara.
The Rossini in Wildbad festival are to be congratulated on finding a group of singers who could cope so well with such a taxing and unknown score. Having been recorded at live, staged performances helps enormously as the singers project their roles with drama and bravura, even if details get smudged. If you are interested in early Meyerbeer, or influences on Rossini, then do buy it.
Review by George Hall
The Observer, August 2006
Despite period sound, this historic 1954 rerelease contains an electrifying performance of Verdi’s masterpiece of pity and terror with its presentation of suffering humanity trembling at the prospect of the Day of Judgment. Though conductor Victor de Sabata disliked recording, his no-holds-barred approach generates choral singing and playing conceived on an epic scale, with a roof-lifting group of soloists in the shape of the late Elisabeth Schwarzkop, Oralia Dominguez, Giuseppe di Stefano and Cesare Siepi, backed by La Scala forces.
Review by Andy Daly
Musicweb International, June 2002
This is Victor Villadangos’s first recording for Naxos and I hope it is not the last as we are treated to some beautifully clear articulated playing that extracts just the right nuances from this music of the Argentine.
Most of the pieces are new to me, although I am familiar with the "Serie Americana" of Hector Ayala, firstly through an early vinyl recording by Narciso Yepes and recently on CD by Eleftheria Kotzia. This rendition by Victor Villadangos, with its firm rhythms and fine clarity, is, I feel, the superior version.
I well remember Jason Vieaux’s playing three of Pujol’s "Cinco Preludios" (Naxos 8.553449), which was the first time I encountered the name of Máximo Diego Pujol, and thinking what striking music it was. I was not surprised to learn that he has won a number of competitions for composition. With his pieces on this disc he can only justify that status. However, the two composers that I have mentioned do not stand alone here. All the music is of the highest standard and if you enjoy the music of South America and that of Argentina in particular this disc is for you. A bargain at twice the price.
Review by Gary Higginson
Musicweb International, March 2002
There are two ways of listening to music. One, of course, is the dinner party method, basically unnoticed unless the conversation deadens and then the music can open up a new topic. The second is to listen with the CD booklet open carefully following the action, as it were. This CD can offer you both experiences and is therefore of doubly good value.
Argentinian music is proving quite popular nowadays. Factors have been the discovery of Astor Piazzolla just after his death in the early 90s, the burgeoning appeal of Ginastera and now the discovery of these composers and others thanks to companies like Marco Polo, ASV and Naxos. The music is certainly worthy of attention and has the unique and uncanny knack of both being serious in intent and enjoyable to everyman at the same time. This is the perfect balance of the serious and the popular, as this recording demonstrates.
The national music of Argentina is the Tango and it appears in several forms with several names. Many are represented on this CD, sometimes in suites of pieces using the national rhythms of the country and sometimes in Sonatas. Pujol’s Suite has a Tango as its second movement. ‘Del Plata’ means from the river Plate Basin of Buenos Aires and Pujol is using dance rhythms from that area. The longest piece of the disc, Ayala’s ‘Serie Americana’ uses dance rhythms from six South American countries - for example the last one Gato y malambo from Peru.
The regular guitarist's technique of striking the body of the instrument to gain a percussive effect but with chordal overtones is a delightful characteristic of certain pieces especially those where the rhythm dominates, as in Saul’s intriguing ‘Boulevard
Victor Villadongos contributes a brief paragraph to the booklet that I should quote. He writes "The works here included are an expression of the diversity of the genres extant in the republic of Argentina, not folk music, but reflections of a unity in cultural diversity."
The back of the disc tells us ‘the recording brings together pieces written … by the most eminent contemporary composers of Argentina’, indeed the booklet notes inside, so well researched by Keith Anderson give biographical detail on each of them as well as background on the music itself.
Vincent Villadongas has an exemplary pedigree particularly throughout South America and plays not only with virtuosity, which is necessary, but also with a natural musicality and elegant sense of phrasing. The recording is close but not oppressive and although recorded in a church there is no cavernous acoustic.
Review by Bob McQuiston
Classical Lost & Found, February 9, 2006
British born Healey Willan, who moved to Toronto while in his thirties, is considered Canada's most outstanding, church composer to date. He was a romantic at heart and all of his organ music included here stands right up there with the best written during the first half of the twentieth century. The "Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue" is his greatest and most popular piece and a frequent repertoire choice for all serious organists. This recording of it shows it off to better effect than any of the other extant ones for a couple reasons. First, the soloist, Canadian born Patrick Wedd, obviously has a real feel for this music, which is not surprising considering his background is very similar to the composer's. Second, the instrument chosen for this magnificent sounding disc is a newly restored Casavant of formidable size with both English and French tonal characteristics. This is particularly significant considering that a similar instrument by the same builder is in the church where Healey was organist and was what inspired him to write it in the first place. The other selections included here prove beyond a doubt that Willan should not be remembered for this work alone. In fact, you'll find the "Passacaglia and Fugue No. 2" a most welcome discovery and worthy sequel to it. The "Prelude and Fugue in C Minor" is a masterpiece with a stunning conclusion where all of the previous musical ideas are masterfully brought together. Seven other very inventive preludes and also included along with two shorter works. One of the latter, entitled "Epilogue" brings this outstanding recital to a festively joyous conclusion. This is a great release that's not to be missed!
Classical Lost and Found
Review by David Cairns
The Sunday Times, August 13, 2006
She was called “the voice of the century”. And with the opening notes of Aida’s “O patria mia”, heard full and clear through the crackle and needle-hiss of the 1923 recording, you realise why. Not only the voice itself, rich and seamless throughout the compass, but the life force pulsing through it. The soft, sustained high B flat of Leonora’s “Invan la pace”, from La forza del destino, thrills you to the marrow, as does the duet from the Nile scene of Aida, with Martinelli. Most of the disc is Verdi; some are alternative takes, one or two even better than the published versions. Volume 2 will presumably include the famous late-1920s recordings.
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