In various nooks and crannies
of the music world, there reside dedicated enthusiasts (fanatics?) who
do amazing work preserving, conserving, and promulgating great works
of art from the past, and helping to establish their proper historical
context. Anthony Barnett is one of these rare souls. Barnett, a poet
and percussionist, has spent an enormous amount of time and energy over
the last decade collecting and disseminating beautiful material about
many of the great jazz violinists of the past.
As part of his comprehensive,
multivolume series entitled Violin Improvisation Studies, Barnett
has begun releasing wonderful CDs of extremely rare performances by
Hezekiah "Stuff" Smith and Ray Perry, among others. Three
of these CDs hit my doorstep with a delightful thud recently, and I've
been enjoying digging into the many treasures they contain.
Barnett has done a stellar
job establishing Smith as a truly revolutionary genius deserving of
wider recognition. Conclusive proof can be found in the performances
that Smith did with classical pianist Robert Crum (no relation to the
cartoonist, although both clearly live in phantasmagoric worlds of their
own creation). These rare recordings, Stuff Smith & Robert Crum:
Complete 1944 Rosenkrantz Apartment Transcription Duets, show us
that "free jazz" existed way before the work of saxophonist
Ornette Coleman, indeed even before the famous Tristano-Konitz-Marsh
sessions of the '50s. This is challenging listening musically, and also
because these early home recordings are nowhere near the technical quality
we associate with commercial releases. But stay with it; you'll soon
find yourself transported to a world of pure creative brilliance.
The real treasure in this
group of recordings is a two-disc set called Stuff Smith 1944–1946
Studio, Broadcast, Concert, & Apartment Performances. No one
has done more than Barnett to bring to light Smith's revolutionary,
wildly swinging genius, and there is no better place to capture a glimpse
of this wild man at the peak of his powers than on these two newly released
discs. What I especially love (as a Stuff Smith fanatic), is the opportunity
to compare previously unreleased takes of some of Smith’s hottest
performances, along with ones with which I was already familiar. Most
notable in this regard is Smith playing "Bugle Call Rag" with
a big band under the direction of Paul Baron. When people ask me to
play them a cut of Stuff Smith, I always play a version of this from
an album called The Mad Genius of the Violin, Vol. 1 (Jazz Archives
No. 108). After people hear this performance, they usually agree with
my assessment that Smith makes Jimi Hendrix sound like Lawrence Welk.
Now we have at least two other takes of "Bugle Call Rag" to
listen to, courtesy of Barnett. And check out how rambunctiously creative
Smith is on the newly released airchecks.
Barnett has also made available,
for the first time on CD, performances by the great transitional swing-to-bop
violinist Ray Perry. The result is Ray Perry: Complete 1944 C. W.
French & 1945 Rosenkrantz Apartment Transcriptions. I was familiar
with the first three tracks, which feature Perry with the Boston-based
Sabby Lewis sextet, but was delighted to hear six other cuts featuring
Perry with a trio that also includes pianist Argonne Thornton (aka Sadik
Hakim) and bassist Wilson Myers. Perry was undoubtedly one of the great
unheralded giants of jazz violin. He sails through "Sweet Georgia
Brown" with thick tone, Coleman Hawkins—like vibrato, and
phrasing that conclusively demonstrates the advantages of playing saxophone
as a double.
As you might imagine, reissues
of Stuff Smith airchecks and Ray Perry transcriptions do not sell as
well as something with Madonna's belly-button on it, so if you'd like
to foster the work of the world's greatest jazz violin historian, you
can support Barnett's output by contacting him at: AB Fable, 14 Mount
Street, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1HL England; or on the Internet at www.abar.net.
Future titles in the scheduled
series include Eddie South: Solo, Trio, Orchestra Broadcasts &
Film 1940–1947; Ginger Smock: Studio & Demo Recordings 1946–1958;
and I Like Be I Like Bop: Odds & Svends of Early American &
European Bebop Violin & Contemporary Violin Curiosities.
Bless Anthony Barnett—long
may he thrive!
Berg: Violin Concerto;
Lyric Suite; Three Orchestral Pieces. Rebecca Hirsch, violin; Eri
Klas conducts the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra. (Naxos, 8.554755)
Alban Berg's 1935 Violin
Concerto is the most romantic dodecaphonic music ever written. Dedicated
"to the memory of an angel" (Manon Gropius, 18-year-old daughter
of the former Alma Mahler), the concerto employs tone rows that hint
at a tonality that isn't quite there. Elegiac, sometimes angry, ultimately
beautiful, the concerto is as much a memorial to the Romantic age as
a statement of modernism. Soloist Rebecca Hirsch and conductor Eri Klas
take an appropriately backward-looking approach to the score. Hirsch's
playing is especially warm, with tasteful portamento, and Klas' characterful
conducting actually makes the music in 3/4 time sound like a waltz,
which is something most forward-looking composers don't bother to do.
In Berg's rich string-orchestra expansion of three movements of his
Lyric Suite, Klas takes the expressive markings seriously but doesn't
quite go all the way with them. Similarly, his reading of Berg's Three
Orchestral Pieces is atmospheric, although he could cut loose more at
the work's climaxes.
—James
Reel
Beethoven: Complete Violin
Sonatas. Augustin Dumay, violin; Maria Joao Pires, piano. Three
CDs (Deutsche Grammophon, 471 495-2) Beethoven: Complete Cycle of
Trios, Volume One (Op. 70 Nos. 1 & 2, Op. 97, Op. 44, Op. 121a).
Kalichstein/Laredo/ Robinson Trio. Two CDs (Arabesque, Z6758-2)
These recordings by two
renowned, long-established ensembles illustrate dramatically different
approaches to Beethoven's music—Dumay and Pires have played together
for 12 years, the Trio recently celebrated its Silver Anniversary. Both
groups are distinguished by consummate instrumental mastery, and perfect
ensemble and stylistic unanimity. In the Dumay/Pires Sonatas, the playing
is brilliant, but predominantly loud and aggressive, the sound frequently
strident and clangorous. Though the violinist’s tone can soar,
his vibrato is unvaryingly fast and intense. Tempos are generally sensible,
but subject to drastic changes; the style is heroic, but Beethoven's
text and markings, from dynamics to note lengths, phrasing, and articulation,
are blithely ignored. For utmost contrast, character and expression
are exaggerated and over-projected. Charm, lightness, delicacy, and
emotional continuity are lost.
The performances of the
trios are exactly the opposite: warm, lyrical, and expansive. Even the
"Ghost," which often sounds brittle, is lyrical, bright, and
light; the spectral slow movement sends shivers down the spine. The
"Archduke" is grandly conceived, allowing time to make every
note count. The Variations are deeply expressive and though very slow
are held together by the flow of the long-breathing phrases; the Scherzo
and Finale are impishly humorous. Op. 70 No. 2 is gracious and affectionate,
smooth as silk and warm as velvet, with poised pacing and mood-changes;
the Finale is brilliant. The rarely heard E-flat Variations Op. 44 are
not as insignificant as their neglect might indicate; they are charming
and ingratiating, and the players make the most of their contrasts of
texture, mood, and character. Of course, the "Kakadu" Variations
Op. 121a are far more interesting and arresting, from the perhaps ironically
tragic introduction that prefaces Wenzel Müller’s trite little
tune to Beethoven's miraculous transformations of it. The players capture
their expressive seriousness, smiling delicacy, and mischievous fun
very successfully.
The second volume, comprising
the three trios Op. 1, Op. 11, and the posthumous B-flat major movement,
is scheduled for release later this spring.
—Edith
Eisler
Bliss: String Quartet
No. 1 in B-flat major; String Quartet in A major; Conversations for
Flute, Oboe, Violin, Viola, and Cello. Maggini Quartet: Laurence
Jackson and David Angel, violins; Martin Outram, viola; Michal Kaznowski,
cello; with Nicholas Daniel, oboe; Michael Cox, flute. (Naxos, 8.557108)
Arthur Bliss gained notoriety
between the World Wars as an English proponent of French avant-garde
music as promulgated by Les Six. He grew more conservative later in
life; as Master of the Queen’s Music from 1953 till his death in
1975, he ended up writing orb-and-scepter music for pompous circumstances.
He composed his Quartet In A in 1915, under the spell of Ravel. The
work is pretty but forgettable, employing Ravel's effects and harmonies
without mustering any of the French composer’s tunefulness. Bliss
later withdrew the work, designating his 1941 quartet as "No. 1."
It, too, flirts with Ravel, but in its energy, surging Romanticism,
and bittersweet tenderness it has more in common with the contemporary
(and superior) quartets of Korngold. Conversations is more obviously
influenced by Les Six. Compared to the quartets, the movements are more
concise and show more flashes of humor, but they suffer from the same
amorphous melodic character. The performances by the Maggini Quartet
are just right for this music in its peculiarly English brand of ever-polite
voluptuousness. Yet there's absolutely nothing memorable in these scores;
they are pleasant, yet best relegated to the background.
—J.R.
Lekeu: Violin Sonata
in G. Chausson: Concert for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet. Elmar
Oliveira, violin; Robert Koenig, piano; Vista Nuova Ensemble: Regis
Iandiorio and Abraham Appleman, violins; Sandra Robbins, viola; Maxine
Neuman, cello. (Artek, 0013)
Guillaume Lekeu and Ernest
Chausson both wrote in the chromatic, yearning style of
César Franck, and each produced one chamber work that hovers
just at the edge of the repertory. Lekeu's Violin Sonata is sweeter
and less fevered than Franck's, and, although its themes are not highly
distinctive, it should appeal to anyone who likes Fauré. Elmar
Oliveira, the most significant violinist to have recorded this work
in decades, takes an appropriately ardent approach, but can cool off
when necessary. Chausson's Concert is misleadingly translated as "concerto."
The violin and piano do often emerge from the overall texture with technically
challenging parts, but they aren’t quite soloists. Neither, though,
is this a seamless sextet. It's music of both grand gestures and intimate
sighs, and, like the Lekeu, filled with perfume and longing. This recording
does face a little competition from name performers, but Oliveira and
friends match the best, reveling in the decadence without forsaking
discipline.
—J.R.
Prokofiev: String Quartet
No. 2, Op. 92; Ballade, Op. 15; Adagio from Cinderella, Op. 97b; Cello
Sonata, Op. 119. Prazàk Quartet: Václav Remes and
Vlastimil Holek, violins; Josef Kluson, viola; Michal Kanka, cello;
with Jaromír Klepác, piano. (Praga, 250 174)
Prokofiev's String Quartet
No. 2 is a stew of Kabardian folk tunes in a slightly acidic harmonic
sauce, but little about it sounds folkish; Prokofiev wrote original
themes like these in his ballets and symphonies. It’s instantly
appealing even to cautious listeners. The Prazàk Quartet keeps
the rhythms strongly marked within fairly deliberate tempos, while emphasizing
atmosphere in the slow sections. To fill out this disc, the quartet’s
cellist, Michal Kanka, joins Jaromír Klepác in all the
music Prokofiev completed for cello and piano. This consists of the
very early Ballade, which is largely Rachmaninov with a touch of Scriabin;
the sweeping and passionate Adagio from the ballet Cinderella;
and the familiar Cello Sonata. The latter has been recorded to excellent
effect by Ma and, of course, Rostropovich, but the best version of all
is by David Finckel and his wife, Wu Han, who present it as a series
of intense recitatives. Kanka and Klepác, in contrast, play it
like a long aria, always seeking the lyrical line. This is an equally
valid approach in Prokofiev's late scores, and sweetens an already attractive
disc.
—J.R.
