Le Parnasse de la Viole
(Pièces de Viole by Sainte Colombe the Younger and Marin Maria).
Jordi Savall, Pierre Hantal; Rolf Lislevand, Xavier Diaz-Latorre, Philipe
Pierlot. Three-CD set (Alia Vox, 9829)
Alia Vox celebrates its
fifth anniversary this year—and to commemorate the occasion, the
label has released a rich three-CD box set of 17th-century French viol
music headlined by the great early music champion Jordi Savall. The
release marks the first time in over ten years—since his soundtrack
for the film Tous le Matins du Monde (All Mornings of the World)—that
Savall has played music from this repertoire.
Renowned for his adherence to historical purity and his interpretation
of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music, Savall first began working
with the viola da gamba in 1965. He has since been a forceful advocate
in reviving the reputation of this obscure instrument and its repertoire,
both of which nearly disappeared from the music scene at the close of
the 18th century.
For this collection, Savall researched and chose the music of Sainte
Colombe the Younger and Marin Marias. The two are considered the most
outstanding pupils of the greatest master of the French viol school,
Sainte Colombe the Elder.
The six suites for solo bass viol by Colombe the Younger showcase the
difficult style of "self accompaniment" evident in viol music
of this period. The two suites from Marias' Second Livre de Pièces
de Viole—exceptional masterpieces of chamber music—are
especially noteworthy. Savall mirrors Marias' notoriety as an ascetic
in his diligent and simultaneously light and sweeping performance.
"We are shown an astonishing world full of emotion and tenderness,
of fantasy and enchantment, of grief and joy, which is brought within
our grasp, thanks to the charms of that profoundly fragile soul that
both the viol, and we, as human beings, have in common," Savall
writes in the CD's liner notes.
This connection between
the human voice and the resonance of the viol creates an intimacy and
sumptuousness that remains consistent throughout this recording. Through
this textured sonority, Savall proves without a doubt that he is indeed
master of this repertoire.
Franck: Violin Sonata;
Rachmaninov: Cello Sonata. Renaud Capuçon, violin; Alexandre
Gurning, piano; Gautier Capuçon, cello; Lilya Zilberstein, piano
(EMI, 5-57505-2)
Face á Face. Duos for Violin and Cello. Renaud Capuçon,
violin; Gautier Capuçon, cello. (Virgin Classics, 54557620)
The French-born Capuçon brothers, violinist Renaud, 27, and cellist
Gauthier, 22, are phenomenal players. They revel in their dazzling virtuosity
with unabashed, often mischievous relish; their tone is gorgeous, rich,
and vibrant, and they have an abandon, exuberance, and impetuosity befitting
their youth. And now they are back with two simultaneous releases, including
one that features the world premiere of a work by Eric Tanguy.
The sonatas were recorded live at pianist Martha Argerich's Lugano Festival
2002. Paired with Alexandre Gurning, a splendid Belgian-born pianist,
Renaud sounds beautiful on the Franck, but surprisingly lacks charm
and elegance. Everything he does is exaggerated: tempi, liberties, dynamics,
contrasts; even the delicate, dreamy opening throbs with intensity.
The headlong tempestuousness of the second movement swallows the theme's
16th-notes and blurs the piano part; the Finale's opening is lovely,
leisurely, and serene, but the dramatic middle sections are twice as
fast. Gautier's Rachmaninov is equally all-out, but not excessive. His
tone is like a dark warm velvet; his romantic expressiveness never gets
sentimental, even his slides are discreet. The brilliant Russian pianist,
Lilya Zilberstein, is in her element, unleashing a sizzling temperament
without overwhelming Gautier's playing. Their approach is spacious yet
flowing; every line, every note is important, the melodies soar, the
climaxes have tremendous sweep.
In Face á Face, the brothers' virtuosity is breathtaking,
their rapport and tonal homogeneity uncanny: They take over and trade
lines literally imperceptibly. In its premiere recording, Eric Tanguy's
Sonata, written for them, is a marathon run-around relieved by a dark,
passionate, singing slow movement. The Duos by Zoltán Kodály
and Erwin Schulhoff, who perished in the Holocaust, are both very difficult,
full of gypsy influences and abrupt, mercurial mood and character changes;
the brothers capture their improvisatory freedom and emotional impact
brilliantly. The program is flanked by fireworks: Handel-Halvorsen's
"Passacaglia," and "Variations Brillantes sur God Save
the King," written by two virtuosos, violinist Joseph Ghys and
cellist Adrien-François Servais. Its pyrotechnics are so incredible
that the piece seems a parody of its own genre; and naturally, the playing
is stunning.
—Edith
Eisler
Brahms: Sonata for Two Pianos,
Op. 34b; Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No.1. Martha Argerich, Lilya Zilberstein,
piano, Renaud Capuçon, violin, Gautier Capuçon, cello.
(EMI Classics, 5-57504-2)
The Capuçon brothers are busy indeed. Recorded at the 2002 Lugano
Festival's Martha Argerich Project, these performances have the electricity
of live concerts and all the carefree spontaneity of music-making among
friends. Pianist Argerich is clearly the guiding spirit; her matchless
virtuosity, vitality, exuberance, and romantic sensibility make the
Mendelssohn glow with passionate ardor and give wings to its fast movements,
especially the Scherzo, taken at headlong, reckless speeds. However,
it is clear that the young Capuçon brothers are highly accomplished
players: fleet of finger and bow, warm and soaring in tone, rhythmically
flexible, emotionally concentrated. String players should cherish the
opportunity to hear the rarely played Brahms Sonata, an earlier version
of his piano quintet. The Sonata provides a new perspective to its more
famous incarnation and illuminates many of that piece’s textural
and balance problems, especially in this wonderfully warm, lucid, rivetingly
expressive, exciting performance.
—E.E.
Francoeur: Cello Sonata
in E; Bach: Suite No. 1 for Solo Cello; Beethoven: Variations on a Theme
by Mozart; Mendelssohn: Variations Concertantes; Chopin: Introduction
and Polonaise; Vieuxtemps: Souvenir d'Amérique. Zuill Bailey,
cello; Simone Dinnerstein, piano. (Delos, 3326)
Korngold: Cello Concerto. Zuill Bailey, cello; Wendy Nielsen,
soprano; Caspar Richter conducting the Bruckner Orchestra Linz. (ASV,
1146)
Zuill Bailey is best known
for playing a homicidal cellist on the HBO prison series Oz,
so it stands to reason that his debut on Delos is a killer CD. Aside
from the ubiquitous Bach suite, the program features unjustly neglected
music. Piatigorsky recorded the first two movements of François
Francoeur's delightful Baroque sonata years ago, but Bailey pursues
all five short movements, and the results are electrifying, especially
when he rips through the Allegro vivo. Yet Bailey knows when to reduce
the voltage, and his overall approach is elegant and playful. His Bach
is more inclined to sing than dance, which is surprising considering
how light-footed the remainder of the disc is: He plays the Beethoven,
for example, with a real spring and good humor, careful not to upstage
pianist Dinnerstein. The Mendelssohn allows him to alternate between
quiet lyricism and muscular, extroverted playing, with incisive attacks
and immaculate articulation. Bailey wraps things up with his own idiomatic
arrangement of Vieuxtemps' goofy, difficult variations on Souvenir d'Amerique
("Yankee Doodle").
Bailey plays on only about
13 minutes of the ASV disc. He plays Erich Wolfgang Korngold's rich,
decadent late-Romantic cello concerto without embarrassment—not
only that, but with conviction. Korngold fans should also be attracted
to this collection because it includes a number of short works omitted
from Werner Andreas Albert's 1993 survey on the CPO label. ASV's recorded
sound has less presence than CPO's, which is a shame, because Bailey
is one cellist whose performances get up close to the music, and the
audience.
—James
Reel
Above the Starrs: Verse Anthems & Consort Music, Thomas
Tomkins. Fretwork: Richard Boothby, Richard Campbell, Wendy Gillespie,
Julia Hodgson, William Hunt, Susanna Pell, viols; Emma Kirkby, soprano;
Catherine King, alto; Charles Daniels, tenor; Donald Greig, baritone;
Richard Wistreich, Jonathan Arnold, basses. (Harmonica Mundi, 907320)
Thomas Tomkins' (1572–1656) music proved quite popular for nearly
an entire generation prior to the 1642 civil war in England (after which
choirs were disbanded in favor of more puritanical worship). Tompkins
launched his musical career as the appointed organist at Worcester Cathedral,
beginning in 1597. He went on to champion the verse-anthem repertoire,
and his music displays a mix of chorus, solo, and ensemble. This new
collection of both choral and viol consort music, recently packaged
by the acclaimed British early music ensemble Fretwork, concatenates
the charming vocal tunes of Tomkins with his quieter and more introspective
viol works. This 20-track CD covers a wide range of stylings, from sacred
and uplifting chorales to the quiet languor of the viol consort.
—H.K.S.
Dvorák: Violin Concerto
Op. 53, Piano Quintet Op. 81. Sarah Chang, violin; Leif Ove Andsnes,
piano; Alexander Kerr, violin; Wolfram Christ, viola; Georg Faust, cello;
Colin Davis conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. (EMI Classics,
5-57521-2)
Though Antonin Dvorák's violin concerto is often dismissed as
inferior to his cello concerto, it is still a great piece: original
in form, rich in harmony, overflowing with golden melodies masterfully
orchestrated. Sarah Chang plays it with consummate technical ease, a
gorgeous, vibrant, flawlessly beautiful tone, and a heartfelt, but unsentimental
expressiveness born of a loving affinity for the music. The first movement,
though brilliant, sounds a bit prosaic and tame, but the second has
a refreshing warmth and a celestial shimmer, and the third, with its
spiky, idiomatic cross-rhythms, dances with sprightly exuberance. Chang's
interplay with the wonderful orchestral soloists is marvelous, and Colin
Davis brings out every line and color with affectionate care. In the
popular piano quintet, Chang proves to be an excellent chamber-music
player. Unfortunately, the performance is marred by lack of homogeneity
and balance between the strings. The viola and cello sound dry, unable
to match Chang's luscious, soaring tone.
—E.E.
Bach: The Art of Fugue.
Emerson String Quartet: Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, violins; Lawrence
Dutton, viola; David Finckel, cello. (Deutsche Grammophon, 474-495-2)
Johann Sebastian Bach's valedictory work, nearly two dozen D-minor fugues
and canons all on the same theme, was surely intended more for study
and personal use than public performance as a set. In the wrong hands,
tedium can set in after just a few pieces, but the Emerson Quartet sustains
one's interest through sheer commitment, integrity, and taste. The players
don't eschew vibrato, but neither do they produce the thick, quivering
tone that would turn this music to mush. The voicing is always absolutely
clear and perfectly balanced, and the overall approach is modestly expressive—enough
to demonstrate that they are both thinking about and feeling the music,
but not so much that conservative listeners could accuse them of over-dramatizing.
The result is Bach that sounds both modern (one passage about 90 seconds
into the disc could pass for icy Shostakovich) and timeless.
—J.R.
Italian Violin Sonatas (music
of Veracini, Locatelli, Mascitti, Geminiani, and Tartini). Fabio
Biondi, violin; Europa Galante: Maurizio Naddeo, cello; Giangiacomo
Pinardi, theorbo; Sergio Ciomei, keyboards. (Virgin Veritas, 5-45588-2)
Gone are the days when the few violinists who assayed Baroque sonatas
like these played them dutifully and cautiously. Italian violinist Biondi
and his colleagues deliver this music with fearless joy; you can imagine
them whooping after every take. The group's general vigor does not prevent
Biondi from maintaining a supple line, even during the most virtuosic
passages. He offers an especially feline tone in the Veracini, but gleefully
chews up the allegros of the Locatelli, a sonata that can bite back
with its high technical demands. Biondi makes the most of Geminiani's
quirky harmonies and odd phrase lengths, as if he were improvising the
sonata on the spot, then turns around and gives us a beautiful, singing
Largo at the top of the Tartini sonata. Frankly, these works are not
uniformly interesting, but Fabio Biondi's playing remains fascinating
throughout.
—J.
R.
Bridgehampton Chamber
Music Festival, Marya Martin, Artistic Director. William Grant Still:
Folk Suite No. 1; Joseph Suk: Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale "Saint
Wenceslas"; Gareth Farr: Kembang Suling; Dvorák: Quartet
No. 2. In E-flat Major. (Available from the Bridgehampton Festival:
307 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY, 10001 or www.bcmf.org)
This splendidly performed, imaginative international program is a total
delight. Grant Still used a beloved spiritual and Brazilian and Hebraic
music for his appealingly folksy three-movement Suite, played here with
idiomatic empathy and flair by flutist Marya Martin, pianist Jeremy
Denk, violinists Scott St. John and Karen Gomyo, violist Kirsten Johnson,
and cellist Carter Brey. The same string players make Suk's melancholy,
hauntingly lovely Chorale deeply moving, starting with a bleak unvibrated
tone, then building up to a passionate dramatic climax. New Zealand
composer Gareth Farr's Kembang Suling (Three Musical Snapshots from
Asia) for flute and marimba is hypnotic—full of strange, eerie
sounds, runs, and endlessly repeated figures. Violinist Ani Kavafian,
violist Cynthia Phelps, Brey, and Denk capture all the romanticism,
warmth, poetry, and exuberance of Dvorák's great Quartet and
sound beautiful.
—E.
E.
Ride. Andy Leftwich,
fiddle, mandolin, guitar; various artists. (Skaggs Family Records, 2009)
There's a whole, heapin' helping of mandolin on this album. But don't
let that stop you from enjoying the red-hot solo debut from Andy Leftwich,
the 21-year-old fiddle phenom for bluegrass and country great Ricky
Skaggs' Kentucky Thunder Band. You can't blame Leftwich for showing
off his fast and fluid mandolin chops; Skaggs plays a pretty mean mando
of his own. But Leftwich is no slouch on the fiddle. During the past
two years, his stick has graced a half-dozen albums, including the Chieftains
Grammy-nominated Down the Old Plank Road. Here he cruises from
ballads to barn burners to spirituals, both original and traditional,
and really delivers the goods on his fiddle version of the Django Reinhardt
classic "Minor Swing" (with Skaggs contributing mandolin and
guitar).
—
G.C.
Briefly Noted
Walk On. Ray Brown.
(Telarc, 83515)
This two-CD set features one disc of the late bassist's last sessions
with his trio (pianist Geoffrey Keezer and drummer Karriem Riggins)
and another containing 10 previously unreleased tracks from various
configurations, including outtakes from the incredible Super Bass sessions
with fellow bassists John Clayton and Christian McBride. Brown's dreamy
solo on the Hoagy Carmichael chestnut "Stardust"—a four
minute and 47 second master class in jazz double bass—is worth
the price of admission alone.
The Unfortunate Rake, Vol. 2. The Crooked Jades. (Copper Creek,
2005)
This string-driven
San Francisco–based trad outfit is one of the best of the new
generation of string bands, infusing old-timey hillbilly standards and
originals with remarkable verve. You owe it to yourself to experience
the exhilarating twin fiddle attack of band member Stephanie Prausnitz
and guest Adam Tanner on the 1920s trad tune "Johnson Gal."
Thirteen Ways.
Eighth Blackbird. (Cedille, 90000067)
The most captivating contemporary chamber ensemble release since last
year's The Shock of the Old by the Common Sense Composers'
Ensemble and American Baroque. This sextet of strings (violinist/violist
Matt Albert and cellist Nicholas Photinos), winds, percussion, and piano
soars on the wings of four 20th-century compositions by Joan Tower,
George Perle, David Schober, and Thomas Albert. Imaginative and inventive
and intriguing. If this is the future of chamber music then it is a
bright outlook indeed.
Shostakovich String Quartets, No. 10, 12, and 14. St. Petersburg
String Quartet. (Hyperion, CDA67156)
One listen and it's easy to see why this powerfully rendered recording
has drawn rave reviews as a benchmark performance by a passionate young
group that has shown over and over again its sensitivity for great Russian
chamber music works.
—G.C.
