Original Masters, Janacek
Quartet. The Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon. (Deutsche Grammophon,
474 010-2) Personnel: Janacek Quartet with the Smetana Quartet in the Mendelssohn
Octet and Eva Bernathova in the Brahms and Dvorak Piano Quintets; all recordings,
1956-63
"This box of compact discs,"
writes Tully Potter in the liner notes of Deutsche Grammophon's new seven-CD
Janacek Quartet anthology, "is devoted to a remarkable chamber ensemble which,
over two momentous decades, blazed a trail across the world as an ambassador
for its small nation." Members of the Czech group-violinists Jiri Travnicek
and Adolf Sykora; violist Jiri Kratochv’l; and cellist Karel Krafka-all hailed
from Bohemia and Moravia. They formed an ensemble in 1947, adopting the Janacek
Quartet name in 1949, and enjoyed a worldwide concert career. The quartet-which
still thrives after numerous personnel changes-was remarkable at its inception
not only for its solid, no-frills interpretive gifts, but because its members
played from memory, allowing them to sit closer (unfettered by the clutter
of stands) and therefore project a tighter, more communicative ensemble sound.
The recordings themselves, made
between 1956 and 1963, are assembled in their entirety for the first time
here (conveniently packaged and reasonably priced). The recording sessions
took place during the transition from monaural to stereo recording technology
that broadened the possibilities for home listening but at the same time
had some unfortunate consequences. The Janaceks both benefited from and fell
victims to this advance, as part of their old mono-recorded catalog did not-at
least, until now-make the transfer to stereo and thus was deleted from the
label's catalog shortly after issue. So this set offers not only a fascinating
overview of an important quartet, but also the first time most of us will
get a chance to hear some of these performances at all.
The recordings include works
by Mozart, Haydn, Hofstetter, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Beethoven, Brahms, Smetana,
and Janacek.
In keeping with the Czech tradition
of quartet playing (exemplified today by the unbeatable Prazak Quartet) the
key to the Janacek sound is restraint crossed with pinpoint accuracy, topped
off with a total devotion to the printed score. These are not so much interpretations
as excellent and spot-on readings-so if you prefer red-hot, you might find
these performances a little slow. That's not to say they lack fire-quite
the opposite-but they rely more on a slower build and deeper line than on
a frantic dog-and-pony-show surface. One might wish for a little more zip
and zing in some of the Haydn presto movements, for example, especially the
final movements of both the E-flat-major and D-minor quartets, but the players
seem to have a sharp musical intention behind every move: Holding back is
a conscious choice.
This sort of quiet, restrained
approach works best in adagio movements. The slow build leads to a startling
payoff that takes the listener by surprise. The largo movements of Haydn's
E-flat major, Smetana's "From My Life," and the Beethoven E minor are all
especially beautifully paced and gorgeously rendered. This sort of approach
is also pitch perfect for Brahms, and the group (in collaboration with pianist
Eva Bernathova) rounds the smoky corners of the F-minor piano quintet with
just the right combination of self-possession, sexiness, and dash.
Most remarkable is the collaboration
with the Smetana Quartet on Mendelssohn's masterly Octet, which alone is
worth the price of admission. Here, perhaps following the lead of the older
and slightly more cantankerous Smetanas, the overall effect is gripping,
moving, and thoroughly profound, perhaps one of the most exciting and committed
performances of this work available on record. From the ominous opening to
the mile-a-minute presto finale, this interpretation is an absolute standout.
Like Brahms, Janacek is a composer
of immense surprise, and his namesake group never fails to muster up just
the right energy or lilting beauty to carry it off.
Paris: La belle
époque: Works by Massenet, Fauré, Saint-Saens, Franck.Yo-Yo
Ma, cello, Kathryn Stott, piano. (Sony Classical, ASK 87287)
Obrigado Brazil. Yo-Yo
Ma, cello; Kathryn Stott, Cesar Mariano, and Helio Alves, piano; Ossad
and Sergio Assad, Romero Lubambo, Oscar Castro-Neves, Egberto Gismonti,
guitar; Paquito d'Rivera, clarinet; Rosa Passos, vocals, and others.
(Sony Classical ASK 89935)
Cellists are notorious poachers:
Complaining about the paucity of their repertoire, they freely raid
more fertile fields. For this recent record, Yo-Yo Ma has transcribed
three popular French violin pieces, linked by their connection to Paris,
his native city, and to Marcel Proust's novel In Search of Lost
Time. The transcriptions retain the original keys and piano parts,
and, perhaps to capture the violin's bright tone, they frequently retain
the original pitch as well. But though Ma handles the high register
masterfully, his instrument never sounds really natural, so it is always
a relief when he reverts to his dark, warm, true cello tone. Highlights
are Faure's A-major Sonata-romantic, exuberant, and bright-and Saint-Saens'
brilliant, idiomatic Havanaise; both fully display Ma's inimitable charm
and elegance. Massenet's Meditation is very slow and sentimental, and
the Franck Sonata, in the familiar but basically unsuccessful anonymous
transcription, is a bit exaggerated. Pianist Kathryn Stott is a pillar
of supportive strength.
Ma's latest expedition takes
him to Brazil in the company of some of the best, most brilliant Latin-American
musicians. As in all his projects, Ma immerses himself whole-heartedly in
the music, making its enormously varied styles, idioms, rhythms, and character
so completely his own that it seems to become his native language. His cello
sings as wondrously as ever, in every range, at any speed. Yet he never dominates
an ensemble; instead, he lets a chamber-music spirit prevail. Whether playing
intimate duets with piano, clarinet, or voice (in which he joins in the uppermost
register), or trios with guitarists, Ma melts into the texture of the ensembles
with their basses, drums, and percussion. From tradition-based compositions
and arrangements to classical pieces by Hector Villa-Lobos, the playing here
projects not only authenticity, but also an irresistible sense of companionship
and enjoyment. This record is a total delight.
—Edith
Eisler
Hayren: The Music of Mansurian
and Komitas. Kim Kashkashian, viola; Robyn Schulkowsky, percussion; Tigran
Mansurian, piano, voice. (ECM New Series 1754)
This follow-up to Kim Kashkashian's
striking 2001 recording of Luciano Berio's Voci finds the violist once again
turning to a living composer while traversing a seldom-traveled road in search
of musical treasure. This time she brings her virtuosity and vitality to
a premier work for viola and percussion by Tigran Mansurian, Armenia's leading
contemporary composer. The Mansurian composition, in turn, is framed by Mansurian's
arrangements of the music of Komitas (1869-1935), the Armenian composer,
priest, philosopher, poet, ethnomusicologist, collector of folk songs, and
writer of sacred and secular music. The result is rich and rewarding. But
be forewarned: Kashkashian's playing is sparse. On the other hand, Mansurian
is prominently featured, providing minimalist piano parts and aching, almost
primitive chants that take the listener somewhat aback in their frailty.
This music is mystical, reflective, tender, and colored by plaintive eastern
European melodies and Kashkashian's supremely dark and beautiful tone. This
remarkable recording makes you wish more string players would break from
the pack and venture into this untapped musical realm where the ancient and
the modern coexist with such grace. We can appreciate Kashkashian all the
more for her willingness to explore the wide world around her and to bring
back these gems.
—Greg
Cahill
Benjamin Britten: Violin Concerto;
William Walton: Viola Concerto. Maxim Vengerov, violin and viola; London
Symphony Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropovitch, conductor. (EMI Classics, 5 57510
2)
Western and Eastern Europe meet
on this recording: two great English concertos performed by two great Russian
artists. Moreover, replacing slow movements with sardonic, grotesque Scherzos,
both works show the influence of another Russian: Sergei Prokofiev. Britten's
Violin Concerto, written in 1938 and revised 20 years later, is a consummate,
emotionally overwhelming masterpiece, surely neglected only because of its
fiendishly difficult solo part. Deeply expressive, overflowing with beguilingly
beautiful melodies, but basically dark and somber, it opens with an ominous
drum roll, becomes increasingly lamentatious, and alternates outbursts of
wild anguish with mournful resignation. Walton's Viola Concerto is better
known; discursive, fluctuating between major and minor, it, too, is somber,
full of sustained, lyrical tunes as well as brilliant passage-work. Both
concertos are richly and colorfully orchestrated, but always mindful of the
soloist. On both violin and viola, Vengerov is terrific. His unlimited virtuosity
and seamlessly flowing, vibrantly intense tone, glorious even in the uppermost
register, are riveting. His passionate emotional concentration and expressiveness
are breathtaking.
—E.E.
Ricercar. Christoph Poppen,
violin, conducting the Hilliard Ensemble and Munchener Kammerorcchester.
(ECM New Series 1774)
In the world of art music,
Ricercar (from the Italian ricercare, "to seek or search")-like its
predecessor, Morimur-is high art that engages the listener with the
brilliant intellect of J.S. Bach and challenges us to ponder life's
lofty themes against a backdrop of sublime contrapuntal melodies. The
centerpiece of the recording is Bach's Cantata No. 4 ("Christ lag in
Todesbanden, BWV 4), which served as a context for Morimur's examination
of the hidden messages within the Partita No. 2 for solo violin in D
minor. On Ricercar, two recordings of Bach's Musical Offering, the Fuga
(ricercata) a 6 voci (orchestrated by Anton Webern), act as bookends
to the early Bach cantata. These in turn are interspersed with Webern's
String Quartet (1905) and his Five Movements for String Quartet, Op.
5. While Morimur possessed a clear mission-to investigate the theory
that Bach had hidden in his solo violin work an homage to his deceased
wife through the use of numerological codes-the mission here is less
certain and somewhat less romantic. Violinist Christoph Poppen and ECM
chief Manfred Eicher have sought to establish the connection between
two largely disparate musical figures-Bach and Webern-one a Baroque
master, the other an atonal innovator living centuries later. Still,
as music critic Frederic Koeppel has stated so well, the result is an
album that "strikes an epitome of seeking and searching: for the bare
bones of musical composition, for the geometry and feeling behind creativity
and affinity, even in vastly different modes, for meaning in art and
life." Who wouldn't want to go along for such an exalting ride?
—G.C.
Walton: Facade Suites I &
II; Concerto for Viola and Orchestra; Variations on a Theme by Hindemith.
Paul Neubauer, viola; Andrew Litton conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
(British Music Collection, Decca, 470 200-2)
This recording pays tribute
to British composer William Walton's 100th birthday with splendid performances
of three of his best, most familiar works. Paul Neubauer's playing of the
Viola Concerto is deeply expressive in the lyrical movements and scintillating
in the Scherzo. His masterful technique is always at the service of the music;
his tone is warm and pure in every register and he can vary its intensity
with bow and vibrato. Unfortunately, poor balance makes his playing sound
distant and muffled, not prominent or soloistic enough. The Variations on
a Theme by Hindemith (who premiered the Concerto) are wonderfully contrasted
in character, mood, and color; the brilliantly orchestrated Facade Suites
are a clever parody of international dances.
—E.E.
Beethoven: Quartets: Op.
14, No. 1; Op. 59, No. 3. New Music String Quartet. (Bartok Records,
BR1009)
In the late '40s and '50s, Bela
Bartok's son, Peter, made the first recording of the New Music Quartet-violinists
Broadus Earle, Matthew Raimondi, cellist Claus Adam, and violist Walter Primrose.
Recognize the names? The first three became members of the Yale, Composers,
and Juilliard Quartets, and Primrose became one of the great violists and
a member of the Heifetz-Primrose-Piatigorsky Trio. These quartets are performed
with verve, style, and panache. In a recent interview in Fanfare magazine,
Peter Bartok commented that the players experimented in using the metronome
markings in Beethoven's score (thought by some to be a mistake by the composer).
The result is thrilling: The fleet allegro vivace of the first movement makes
the Andante introduction even more mysterious and foreboding. The last movement
of Op. 59, No. 3, defines virtuosity in the service of music. The early 1950s
monophonic sound is staggering; the cohesion, clarity, and depth of these
performances are powerfully communicated. This reissue is a stunning example
of great quartet playing.
—Robert
Moon
Coming Down from the Red
Lodge. Peter Ostroushko, fiddle. (Red House, 170)
The violin virtuoso penned these
songs for various appearances on A Prairie Home Companion, the popular public
radio program. These ten tunes-featuring a blend of Celtic, jazz, classical,
and American roots music-run the gamut from jaunty jig to graceful waltz
to plaintive hymn. All ably showcase the talents of a musician who has crafted
a rich and distinctive instrumental voice.
—G.C.
Corelli: Violin Sonatas,
Op.5. Andrew Manze, violin; Richard Egarr, harpsichord. (Harmonia
Mundi, 907298.99)
Corelli's 12 Baroque-era
sonatas have been called arguably the finest and most influential set
of its kind. Each of the first six has five movements, opening with
a slow introduction to a very artful fugue. The second six, technically
easier and therefore more accessible to less advanced players, are more
familiar. Five are dance suites preceded by preludes; the final one,
called "Follia," is the most famous and difficult, consisting of 24
variations on an eight-bar ground bass. Extremely inventive, they exploit
every aspect of violin technique and build to a resounding rhythmic
and sonic climax. Manze, surely one of the most brilliant and arresting
personalities in his field, gives a spectacular, exciting performance,
combining utmost virtuosity with an inquisitive intellect and a passionate
heart. The fugal counterpoint is crystal clear, and he brings out mood,
character, and expression with total emotional concentration, underlining
contrasts with dynamics, tempo, tonal variety, and articulation. Choosing
to play without a cello, he and longtime collaborator Richard Egarr
give their imagination free rein in improvising cadenzas and cascades
of melodic and harmonic embellishments. Manze's program notes are wonderful:
scholarly and enlightening, punctuated by wit and humor.
—E.E.
Bela Bartok: Two Sonatas
for Violin and Piano. Robert Mann, violin; Leonid Hambro, piano.
(Bartok Records, BR 1922)
Characterized by dense textures,
percussive outbursts, complex rhythms, and motifs of Hungarian folk
materials, these masterpieces from Béla Bartok's "expressionist"
period resemble music of the Second Viennese School. "There was a time
when I thought I was approaching a species of 12-tone music," Bartok
wrote. "Yet even in works of that period the absolute tonal foundation
is unmistakable." These performances by Mann (founder and first violinist
of the Juilliard String Quartet) and Hambro (pianist of the New York
Philharmonic) are prescient, heartfelt, and flat-out brilliant. Especially
beautiful are the adagio of the First Sonata and the quiet ending of
the Second. The early 1950s mono analog sound has more impact than most
modern digital recordings.
—R.M.
Arvo Part: Orient & Occident.
Tonu Kaljuste conducting the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir.
(ECM New Series, 1795)
Too often called a "mystic
minimalist," Estonian composer Arvo Part has little in common with such
pulse-obsessed composers as Philip Glass and Michael Nyman. Part's music
tends to be slow, ceremonial, and beautiful in its austerity. Yet Part
has often overextended himself; on such previous ECM releases as Miserere
and Trivium, tedium quickly sets in. This new collection, in contrast,
finds Part in top form. By the standards of his chosen aesthetic, these
works are colorful and eventful, without forsaking Part's trademark
purity.
—James
Reel
Learning American
Old-Time Fiddle Appalachian Style with Alan Jabbour (In the Groove Workshops,
PO Box 2632, Amherst, MA, 01004-2632; available on VHS and DVD for $35.)
Alan Jabbour, who
spent many years as the director of the American Folk Life Center at the
Library of Congress, is the doyen of Southern old-time fiddling. This video/DVD
gives fiddle fans the chance to glean some of his knowledge. Jabbour learned
most of the pieces from his mentor, Henry Reed, and a couple from the Hammonds
family; all hail from West Virginia, and all are revered for the authenticity
of their repertoire. Jabbour supplies cogent commentary and easily understood
illustrations of typical bowings. The course is full of insight into the
performance practices of the old-time fiddlers he has studied. Jabbour is
a master of the "upper south sound" heard at most old-time fiddle jams these
days. He has absorbed that sound so well that he shows not a glimmer of his
classical background. The pieces in standard tuning are played at regular
and slow speeds. Importantly, he uses the same bowing in both versions, a
rarity in fiddle-teaching videos. The retuned numbers are played through
at speed a couple of times, without commentary. There are 50 minutes of music
followed by a 15-minute interview with Jabbour concerning his musical biography
and view of the music he plays and, clearly, loves. The camera work is excellent,
always showing both hands clearly. There is music notation for the pieces,
but that was not included in my review copy. This fiddling course contains
the word "shibboleth"! How can you resist?
—Stacy
Phillips
Classic
Sounds on DVD
What a treasure
trove! For many, such past masters as violinists Leonid Kogan and David
Oistrakh are but vague references who often were mentioned for their
virtuosity or teaching skills. But all too few alive today had the pleasure
of hearing these greats in concert. The newly issued and expanded EMI
Classics "Classic Archive" series helps to rectify that situation
with high-quality DVD releases that capture these virtuosi in concert
and at the height of their powers. Each of these truly classic programs
features high-quality stereo sound, bonus selections, and rare film
footage from the BBC, as well as French and Russian TV from the 1940s,
'50s, and '60s. And each disc is accompanied by a comprehensive booklet
discussing the player's career. The first round of Classic Archive releases
include: violinist Leonid Kogan (performing a diverse program that ranges
from Bach and Brahms to Falla and Leclair); violinist David Oistrakh
(Bach's Violin Concerto in A minor, Beethoven's Violin Concerto No.
5 "Spring," and Prokofiev's Five Melodies, Op. 35, among others); violinist
Yehudi Menuhin (Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, Mozart's Violin
Concerto No. 1 in G major, as well as Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1
in G minor); cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and pianist Sviatoslav Richter
(Beethoven's Cello Sonatas); and the Heifetz, Rubinstein, Piatigorsky
Trio (Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto,
first movement, and Walton's Cello Concerto).
