The Sixteen continues its exploration of Henry Purcell’s Welcome Songs for Charles II. As with Robert King’s pioneering Purcell series begun over thirty years ago for Hyperion, Harry Christophers is recording two Welcome Songs per disc.
In February this year, Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho made a highly lauded debut recital at Wigmore Hall - a concert which both celebrated Opera Rara’s 50th anniversary and honoured the career of the Italian soprano Rosina Storchio (1872-1945), the star of verismo who created the title roles in Leoncavallo’s La bohème and Zazà, Mascagni’s Lodoletta and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
Collapsology. Or, perhaps we should use the French word ‘Collapsologie’ because this is a transdisciplinary idea pretty much advocated by a series of French theorists - and apparently, mostly French theorists. It in essence focuses on the imminent collapse of modern society and all its layers - a series of escalating crises on a global scale: environmental, economic, geopolitical, governmental; the list is extensive.
Amongst an avalanche of new Mahler recordings appearing at the moment (Das Lied von der Erde seems to be the most favoured, with three) this 1991 Mahler Second from the 2nd Kassel MahlerFest is one of the more interesting releases.
If there is one myth, it seems believed by some people today, that probably needs shattering it is that post-war recordings or performances of Wagner operas were always of exceptional quality. This 1949 Hamburg Tristan und Isolde is one of those recordings - though quite who is to blame for its many problems takes quite some unearthing.
The voices of six women composers are celebrated by baritone Jeremy Huw Williams and soprano Yunah Lee on this characteristically ambitious and valuable release by Lontano Records Ltd (Lorelt).
As Paul Spicer, conductor of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir, observes, the worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary is as ‘old as Christianity itself’, and programmes devoted to settings of texts which venerate the Virgin Mary are commonplace.
Ethel Smyth’s last large-scale work, written in 1930 by the then 72-year-old composer who was increasingly afflicted and depressed by her worsening deafness, was The Prison – a ‘symphony’ for soprano and bass-baritone soloists, chorus and orchestra.
‘Hamilton Harty is Irish to the core, but he is not a musical nationalist.’
‘After silence, that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music.’ Aldous Huxley’s words have inspired VOCES8’s new disc, After Silence, a ‘double album in four chapters’ which marks the ensemble’s 15th anniversary.
A song-cycle is a narrative, a journey, not necessarily literal or linear, but one which carries performer and listener through time and across an emotional terrain. Through complement and contrast, poetry and music crystallise diverse sentiments and somehow cohere variability into an aesthetic unity.
One of the nicest things about being lucky enough to enjoy opera, music and theatre, week in week out, in London’s fringe theatres, music conservatoires, and international concert halls and opera houses, is the opportunity to encounter striking performances by young talented musicians and then watch with pleasure as they fulfil those sparks of promise.
“It’s forbidden, and where’s the art in that?”
Dublin-born John F. Larchet (1884-1967) might well be described as the father of post-Independence Irish music, given the immense influenced that he had upon Irish musical life during the first half of the 20th century - as a composer, musician, administrator and teacher.
The English Civil War is raging. The daughter of a Puritan aristocrat has fallen in love with the son of a Royalist supporter of the House of Stuart. Will love triumph over political expediency and religious dogma?
Beethoven Symphony no 9 (the Choral Symphony) in D minor, Op. 125, and the Choral Fantasy in C minor, Op. 80 with soloist Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pablo Heras-Casado conducting the Freiburger Barockorchester, new from Harmonia Mundi.
A Louise Brooks look-a-like, in bobbed black wig and floor-sweeping leather trench-coat, cheeks purple-rouged and eyes shadowed in black, Barbara Hannigan issues taut gestures which elicit fire-cracker punch from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
‘Signor Piatti in a fantasia on themes from Beatrice di Tenda had also his triumph. Difficulties, declared to be insuperable, were vanquished by him with consummate skill and precision. He certainly is amazing, his tone magnificent, and his style excellent. His resources appear to be inexhaustible; and altogether for variety, it is the greatest specimen of violoncello playing that has been heard in this country.’
Baritone Roderick Williams seems to have been a pretty constant ‘companion’, on my laptop screen and through my stereo speakers, during the past few ‘lock-down’ months.
Melodramas can be a difficult genre for composers. Before Richard Strauss’s Enoch Arden the concept of the melodrama was its compact size – Weber’s Wolf’s Glen scene in Der Freischütz, Georg Benda’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Medea or even Leonore’s grave scene in Beethoven’s Fidelio.
The initial reception of Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 1 marked an unhappy yet decisive moment in the composer's life, one that propelled his stylistic development and the trajectory of his career in new directions.
The March 1897 premiere under the direction of Aleksandr Glasunov was a spectacular failure that prompted a shower of criticism, including Cesar Cui's oft-cited quip that the work would thrill "the inhabitants of hell." The symphony's reception deeply affected Rachmaninov, plunging him into a long depression, during which time he all but ceased composing and instead began to hone his skills as a conductor. Although the symphony was never performed again during the composer's lifetime, it has made a comeback since its rediscovery in 1945. And rightly so: As this recording aptly demonstrates, the work has much to offer the listener (a majority of the initial negative reception was likely the result of Glasunov's supposed intoxicated state at the premiere and the disastrous outcome this undoubtedly had on the performance). This work will be refreshing and perhaps a bit surprising to those familiar only with Rachmaninov's later output. The debt to Chaikovsky and Borodin is quite distinct, especially noticeable in Rachmaninov's concern for formal and motivic unity, although the seeds of the rapturous melody and thick, sonorous textures of his more mature orchestral style lurk not far beneath the surface.
In this recording, Mariss Jansons leads the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, where he has been Associate Principal Conductor since 1985. One of Russia's most venerable and highly respected ensembles, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic (known during Soviet times as the Leningrad Philharmonic), cultivated its unsurpassed skill during five decades under the baton of the legendary Evgeny Mravinsky. Listeners of Jansons recording will not be disappointed: the orchestra still packs a mighty punch and its dark, string-dominated sound is the perfect match for Rachmaninov's music. The orchestra's precision shines through most remarkably in the symphony's extroverted finale, and also makes for some thrilling passages in the development of the first movement.
Paired with the First Symphony on this recording is the composer's symphonic poem The Isle of the Dead (Ostrov myortvykh). The work dates from a period of increasing political unrest in Imperial Russia that prompted Rachmaninov to resign from his conducting post at the Bolshoi Theater in February 1906 and spend an increasing amount of time abroad. After first exiling himself to Pisa, the composer then settled briefly in Dresden, where he completed The Isle of the Dead in 1909. The work draws its title and inspiration from a painting by Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin, whose eerily gloomy depiction of a pall-draped casket being transported by boat to a remote island captured Rachmaninov's imagination. The work bears a number of distinctive features: The opening section is set in 5/8 meter, evocative of the gentle lilting of the boat depicted in Böcklin's painting. The Isle of the Dead is also one of the first works in which Rachmaninov quotes the Dies irae — the chant that laces so many of his later compositions. Moreover, the soaring melody and luxurious textures that were latent in the First Symphony reveal themselves in full-blown magnificence in The Isle of the Dead, making the two works offered on this CD a most satisfying pairing. As with the symphony, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic performs beautifully in this work and Jansons delivers Rachmaninov's rich sonorities brilliantly, if at times the woodwind and brass color is a bit covered. The current recording is one of EMI's recent re-releases on their budget line "Encore," making this CD an all-around exceptional buy.
Kevin Michael Bartig
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill