Fiddlers
4. Fiddlers 4: Darol Anger and Michael
Doucet, violin; Bruce Molsky, violin and guitar; Rushad Eggleston, cello.
(Compass 7-4334-2)
It's not every day that
you find a fiddling supergroup, but the newly formed Fiddlers 4 fits
the bill. The result is a remarkable musical melange of three salty
dogs and one fresh face (cellist Rushad Eggleston) that comprises a
true American vernacular string quartet, thanks to the breadth and depth
of these players. Darol Anger—violinist, fiddler, composer, educator,
and producer—is a veteran of the David Grisman Quintet and founding
member of the jazz-oriented Turtle Island String Quartet, who also contributes
to the virtuosic chambergrass groups Psychograss and Newgrange. Cajun
fiddler Michael Doucet is the driving force behind the Grammy-winning
Beausoleil and helped bring Louisiana regional folk music into the mainstream
in 1986 with the Belizaire the Cajun soundtrack. Bruce Molsky,
dubbed the Rembrandt of Appalachian Fiddling, is a brilliant old-time
fiddler and living repository of mountain fiddle tunes. Eggleston, the
first student admitted on a full scholarship to the Berklee School of
Music string program, is a skillful improviser.
Together, Fiddlers 4 moves
through a sometimes dizzying array of styles, alternating between the
'20s jazz of Duke Ellington's "East St. Louis Todalo" (renamed to complement
the players' research into the song's origin as accompaniment for the
toddle dance) to the traditional Cajun tune "You Little Wild Thing (La
Betaille)," featuring Eggleston's pulsing cello.
But Fiddlers 4 also transcends
genre and synthesizes these far-flung influences into a complex style
that blends chamber music and traditional American folk music into a
rich palette that is unique. That is obvious on Anger's "African Solstice,"
a nod to the West African nation of Mali, birthplace of the blues. In
the song (which Molsky describes as "a cycle of tensions"), the strings
craft an arabesque puzzle, moving back and forth from a simple melody
line to a quadruple counterpoint, and from elegant chamber-style playing
to ragged scratching before resolving in a breathy sigh. Super, indeed.
Concerti from
Opus 9, Charles Avison. The Georgian Concert: Simon Jones and Rebekah
Durston, violins; Duncan Druce, viola; Rachel Gray, cello; Jane McDermott,
violone; John Treherne, harpsichord; John Green, organ. (Divine Art
2-4108)
Britain's long compositional
winter between Purcell and Stanford wasn't entirely bleak; small pockets
of warmth settled in the provinces from time to time. One example: Charles
Avison, who spent nearly all his life (1709-1770) playing organ, composing,
writing treatises, and organizing concerts in Newcastle. The Georgian
Concert offers six of Avison's dozen Opus 9 concertos. It's music heavily
influenced by Avison's teacher, Geminiani, with a foretaste of Haydn
in one minuet. These are mostly one-to-a-part performances, with the
bass line reinforced by violone in three of the works. Avison noted
that this four-part music could be played with or without keyboard continuo,
as mini keyboard concertos, or as string quartets. The Georgian Concert
offers all of the above, with poised, measured playing entirely in the
historically informed mainstream. If the ensemble doesn't try anything
daring, neither does Avison. If only it had tried to get more than 46
minutes of music onto the disc.
—James
Reel
Danzón.
The Turtle Island String Quartet: Evan Price, violin; David Balakrishnan,
violin, baritone violin; Danny Seidenberg, viola; Mark Summer, cello;
with Paquito D'Rivera, clarinet. (Koch 7529)
The Turtle Island String
Quartet laid down the gauntlet 17 years ago, establishing itself as
a crossover force with which to be reckoned. Jazz, third stream, classical,
bluegrass, Delta blues, and South Indian ragas all made their way into
the TISQ arsenal. Along the way, the quartet has earned considerable
credibility in the jazz community. The Latin-flavored and often swinging
Danzón—the TISQ's 12th album overall—is arguably
the quartet's finest recording to date. Danzón should
only bolster that classical/jazz crossover reputation, pairing the string
players on three tracks with Cuban-born and jazz reedman Paquito D'Rivera,
whose classical compositions and appearances with symphonies have made
him a much sought-after crossover artist. Cellist Mark Summer establishes
the jazz groove on the opening track (the jazz standard "On Green Dolphin
Street"), playing a vibrant pizzicato. D'Rivera plays clarinet on "You've
Changed" (popularized by Billie Holiday), his own "Wapango" (on which
D'Rivera absolutely soars), and the Dizzy Gillespie chestnut "A Night
in Tunisia" (also recorded by TISQ in 1995). David Balakrishnan also
contributes his "Little Mouse Jumps," originally commissioned by conductor
and violinist Marin Alsop. Summer, Evan Price, and Balakrishnan take
turns at arranging, with Summer working up a beautiful score to D'Rivera's
sultry title track. Meanwhile, the TISQ seamlessly blends a Brazilian
samba with Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" Symphony, and a Ron Carter jazz
waltz with a Beethoven string quartet. But it is the virtuosity that
stands out here. Seventeen years and still the champs of improvisational
string quartets.
—G.C.
Ostinato.
Hespèrion XXI: Jordi Savall, viols de gamba; Manfredo Kraemer,
violin; Pablo Valetti, violin; and many others. (Alia Vox AV9820)
Jordi Savall's latest romp
through the early music genre with musical ensemble Hespèrion
XXI is a buffet of ciaccones, gigues, and ruggerios with a healthy portion
of improvisation. Savall's colorful stylings on the disc's opening track,
"Gallardo Napolitana" by Antonio Valente, illustrate just why he is
known as the major proponent in resuscitating interest in the viola
da gamba. The entire recording exemplifies the traits that put Savall
on the map with impressive performances on viols ranging from bass to
treble. The choice of repertoire emphasizes basso ostinato. The
liner notes explain, "The use of repeated melodic patterns in the low
register, as the basis for successive contrapuntal elaborations by one
or more parts in the upper register, is one of the earliest forms of
instrumental music known in Europe." Despite these underlying thematic
similarities, the collection is musically diverse. The dynamic interplay
between Savall on viola de gamba soprano and Manfredo Kraemer on violin
on "Passacalle," by Andrea Falconiero, is full of verve and vitality.
Conversely, the luminescent duet between Kraemer and Pablo Valetti on
violins in Henry Purcell's Sonata a 2, with Michael Behringer on organ
and Bruno Cocset playing cello, proves to be a dreamy performance salted
with chromatic violin passages executed in deft playing style. Overall,
the disc is a solid exploration of the ostinato dance styles of the
early 16th and 17th centuries. This unwritten tradition forms a vehicle
for Savall and Hespèrion XXI to dish up stellar improvisational
runs within the structured four-part basic harmony (i–iv–vi–V
in minor, and I–V–IV–V in the major mode) of the Passacaglia
and Ciaccona—making for spirited and insightful arrangements.
—Heather
K. Scott
Harmonice
Musices Odhecaton, Ottaviano dei Petrucci. Fretwork: Richard Boothby,
Richard Campbell, Wendy Gillespie, Julia Hodgson, William Hunt, and
Susanna Pell, viols. (Harmonia Mundi HMU 907291)
Fretwork departs from its
usual recorded fare, English consort music, to sample Harmonice Musices
Odhecaton, a collection of 96 polyphonic, diverse pieces lovingly
collected and printed (in three portions, beginning in 1501) by one
Ottaviano dei Petrucci. These are songs and a few dances that had been
popular for a half century at the court of Burgundy, with contributions
from the likes of Obrecht, Agricola, Isaac, and Josquin. If you're inattentive,
it can sound like one 76-minute moan. But listen closely, and you'll
hear Fretwork's customary felicities at work and at play: absolutely
pure intonation honing the austerity of some pieces, pointed articulation
energizing others. With a dynamic range that does dip below mezzo-forte—something
all too rare among viol consorts—balancing a tendency to luxuriate
in the instruments' keening tones, Fretwork turns in sensitive, nuanced
performances. Just sample the opening "La Spagna," in which the group
sounds exactly like a hurdy-gurdy.
—J.R.
Encore.
Gerhard Taschner. Virtuoso pieces by De Falla, Kreisler, Paganini, Sarasate,
Tartini, and others. Violin sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms, Grieg, Schoeck,
and Ravel. Gerhard Taschner, violin; with pianists Edith Farnadi, Martin
Krause, and Hubert Giesen. (MDG Archive 642-0985)
History remembers the German
violinist Gerhard Taschner as a prodigy who in 1941, at the tender age
of 18, became concertmaster for Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Berlin
Philharmonic. This four-CD set of radio performances, made in the 1950s
in superb monophonic sound, reveals an artist who is worth hearing today.
Born in 1922, Taschner studied with Hubay and Huberman, performing Mozart's
fifth Violin Concerto in Prague at age seven. As an orchestral soloist
his strong interpretative ideas often put him at odds with conductors:
He walked out of a concert date with von Karajan in the late 1940s over
interpretative disagreements and never played with him again. By the
early '60s he had developed physical problems, and he retired from the
concert stage at the age of 40. These recordings capture Taschner in
his prime as an artist with prodigious technical skills equal to the
best of his peers. Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy is brilliant and flirtatious;
Kreisler's Praludium and Allegro has a tensile strength that's exciting
but misses the magical sweetness of Kreisler's own performance. The
sonatas on this disc are even better: Dvorak's Sonatina is beautiful,
heartfelt, and idiomatic. Taschner's strong, vibrant tone works best
in the two Beethoven sonatas (Op. 24, and Op. 12, No. 3), where his
partnership with pianist Edith Farnadi results in memorable performances.
Less convincing is the Brahms Op. 78, in which Taschner's thin tone
misses the mark. In the two Grieg sonatas, Taschner effectively moves
between the lyrical and dramatic, contrasting vignettes that are the
essence of these sonatas. Schoeck's Op. 16 is beautifully judged, with
a middle movement that is poignant and a finale that sings. His Ravel
sonata misses the jazzy comical element and is rather straightforward
and serious. Still, this is a fascinating and rewarding memorial to
a forgotten violinist.
—Robert
Moon
