{"id":1872,"date":"2020-09-23T11:03:16","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T10:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cdchoice.co.uk\/?p=1872"},"modified":"2020-09-23T11:11:09","modified_gmt":"2020-09-23T10:11:09","slug":"a-peter-grimes-for-the-ages-and-other-new-releases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.cdchoice.co.uk\/?p=1872","title":{"rendered":"A Peter Grimes for the Ages and other new releases"},"content":{"rendered":"

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BRITTEN: PETER GRIMES, Soloists, Bergen Philharmonic, Edward Gardner\/Chandos SACD<\/strong>, This new surround sound recording is a Peter Grimes for the ages. Many opera lovers of a certain age came to know the piece — the greatest of British operas — through its inaugural recording under the composer with Peter Pears (for whom the central role of the conflicted, tragic fisherman of the title was created) as the definitive interpreter. However, Pears was to some degree supplanted by the more macho and brutal iteration from the great Wagnerian tenor Jon Vickers, whose performance under Colin Davis became the new gold standard for the opera. Now we have Stuart Skelton in the role for Chandos, and his is a remarkable and searing interpretation, perhaps owing more to Vickers in its forceful impact than Pears, but still finding the sensitivity required for the role as the protagonist slips into madness. All of the parts here are sung with great vividness (though not, perhaps, displacing their predecessors), but in one respect the set is a clear winner: the perfectly attuned conducting by Edward Gardner is captured in phenomenally wide-ranging Chandos sound. A new generation who will grow to know the piece with this performance will find that they are in the best of hands.<\/p>\n

BREINER: SLOVAK DANCES, Stanislav Pal\u00fach, Violin \u2022 Boris Lenko, Accordion, Marian Friedl, Folk instruments, Slovak Philharmonic, Peter Breiner\/Naxos<\/strong>\u00a0 Peter Breiner is celebrated as one of the world\u2019s great orchestrators, with such achievements as his remarkable series of suites from the operas of Janacek (for Naxos) to his credit. But his talents as a composer are also to be noted, and when he had pointed out to this writer that a new disc of his charming Slovak Dances was in the offing, my appetite was whetted — and here it is, well worth the wait. The music is full of colour and invention and, while closer to light music than (for instance) Dvorak\u2019s dances in a similar idiom, Breiner\u2019s are both winning and beguiling. Utilising traditions inaugurated by Brahms and Dvo\u0159\u00e1k and showcasing leading folk music soloists, Breiner\u2019s Slovak Dances are an exuberant and kaleidoscopic monument rooted in Slovak musical folklore. They comprise 16 symphonic fantasias on songs that evoke varying emotions with an autobiographical element that follows Breiner\u2019s life from his origins in Humenn\u00e9 and Ko\u0161ice to New York.<\/p>\n

HANS ROTT: COMPLETE ORCHESTRAL WORKS, VOL. 1 (HAMLET OVERTURE; PASTORAL PRELUDE; PRELUDE TO JULIUS CASAR; ORCHESTRAL SUITES), G\u00fcrzenich Orchester K\u00f6ln, Christopher Ward\/Capriccio \u00a0<\/strong>Admirers of Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler are usually keen to collect every note of the great German composers\u2019 orchestral music. But there is a point when it is necessary to look further , however many times one is happy to play the Resurrection Symphony or Also Sprach Zarathustra. And here is a composer who will be new to many, but whose music moves in the same world as the late romantic masterpieces of his countrymen. A contemporary of Mahler — and yet, unknown to most people of his day — Hans Rott\u2019s music gets a benevolent celebration with this new recording of his Orchestral Works on \u00a0Capriccio. The first in a new volume — and featuring world premiere recordings — these works are expertly performed by Christopher Ward and Gurzenich Orchester Koln, who seek to preserve Rott\u2019s fascinating legacy on disc.<\/p>\n

GOLDBERG VARIATIONS, Parker Ramsay harp\/King\u2019s College<\/strong>\u00a0 Exquisite though the harp is as an instrument, there is the danger that an entire program utilising only that instrument will run the risk of aural fatigue on part of the listener. But such is Parker Ramsay\u2019s skill at this arrangement of Bach\u2019s masterpiece that the harpist manages to ride out the possible danger in performances of great musicality and sensitivity. Certainly best listened to in segments rather than complete, this is nevertheless a marked achievement.<\/p>\n

BRAHMS: SYMPHONY NO. 4, etc., Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard\/BIS <\/strong>This Brahms series has won considerable acclaim, and it\u2019s not hard to see why, such is the commitment and mastery of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under Thomas Dausgaard, who never for a moment give the impression of reduced forces. This final volume in the series is one of the best. Begun in 2012 with the release of Symphony No. 1, Thomas Dausgaard\u2019s four-disc traversal of the symphonies of Johannes Brahms is here brought to a close with the composer\u2019s final work in the genre. The E minor Symphony is sometimes described as Brahms\u2019 \u2018elegiac symphony\u2019, and has been called \u2018one of the greatest orchestral works since Beethoven\u2019. Typical for the composer is the striking degree of motivic relationships throughout the work. This includes the finale in which Brahms demonstrates his full mastery in a towering Passacaglia consisting of 30 variations and a coda.<\/p>\n

PROKOFIEV, KHACHATURIAN: ORCHESTRAL SUITES, Zagreb Philharmonic, Dmitrij Kitajenko\/OEHMS CLASSICS<\/strong>\u00a0 The music of Prokofiev and Khachaturian has long been celebrated as among the most winning of Soviet achievements, with both composers negotiating (with different degrees of success) the philistine demands of their totalitarian Soviet masters. Here is further proof of just what they managed to achieve. Celebrating the legacy of esteemed Russian composers with this new release of orchestral suites by Sergei Prokofiev and Aram Khachaturian, this is a beguiling disc performed by the Zagreb Philharmonic and Dmitrij Kitajenko. The recording sheds light on forgotten works by well-known composers.<\/p>\n

VICTORIA BORISOVA-OLLAS: ANGELUS – ORCHESTRAL WORKS, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Sakari Oramo, Andrey Boreyko, Martin Brabbins\/BIS SACD<\/strong> \u00a0With a new orthodoxy demanding that gender parity is achieved in so many artistic fields (from the cinema to music), there is obviously a danger of box-ticking \u2013 i.e., that composers who meet the current gender requirements will be given attention on the basis of their sex alone. But this disc demonstrates that, regardless of the sex of a composer, seriousness and invention remain paramount. Born in Russia, Victoria Borisova-Ollas has lived in Sweden since 1993. In the international music press, she has been described as \u2018a composer with a sparkling individual voice\u2019 and an \u2018orchestrator of the greatest virtuosity\u2019. This is borne out by this well filled disc which features five works from 2003 \u2013 2013, in performances by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (RSPO) with which Borisova-Ollas enjoys a collaboration of long standing. Angelus, which opens the disc, is also the longest work with a duration of some 22 minutes.<\/p>\n

ZEMLINSKY: DIE SEEJUNGFRAU, etc., Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Mark Albecht\/PentaTone<\/strong>\u00a0 These once underrated late romantic masterpiece are coming out from the shadows to be recognised for their considerable virtues, pointed up in performances of real sensitivity.<\/p>\n

KALAFATI: SYMPHONY IN A MINOR, L\u00c9GENDE*, POLONAISE IN F MAJOR, Choir of the Music Department of the University of Athens *, Athens Philharmonia Orchestra, Nikos Maliaras\/Naxos<\/strong>\u00a0 Not perhaps to every taste, this is still colourful and attractive music possessing its own individual character. Vasily Kalafati settled permanently in St Petersburg where he counted Rimsky-Korsakov among his teachers, and later included Igor Stravinsky among a distinguished roll-call of his own students. Kalafati\u2019s style incorporated elements of the Russian National School into traditional forms, as can be heard in the wide-ranging contrasts and Romantic lyricism of his only Symphony. The Polonaise has a celebratory character with exceptionally bright orchestration, while the ingenious L\u00e9gende commemorates Schubert by transforming his themes into a colourful late-Romantic idiom.<\/p>\n

MENDELSOHN: CELLO SONATAS, Soloists (on period instruments)\/Vivat<\/strong>\u00a0 Those who need persuading of this aspect of Mendelsohn\u2019s achievement need look no further \u2013 the performances here by Hoog, Root and Balyan do the best possible service to the music with the use of period instruments shedding new light.<\/p>\n

VLADIGEROV: PIANO CONCERTOS 1-5, Soloists, BNRSO, Alexander Vladigerov\/Capriccio\u00a0 <\/strong>Under the astute direction of the composer, this set of 20th<\/sup> century piano concertos frequently demonstrates the influence of Vladigerov\u2019s favourite modern composers, but is none the worse for that. The emphasis here is on orchestral colour and pianistic flourish, both in plentiful supply, with the various pianists involved clearly inspired by the guiding presence of the composer.<\/p>\n

SCHREKER: COMPLETE ORCHESTRAL WORKS VOL. 1, Bochumer Symphoniker, Steven Sloane\/CPO \u00a0<\/strong>The review of the Hans Rott disc above invoked the names of Richard Strauss and Mahler, and that same comparison may be drawn in this first disc in a welcome new series of the orchestral works of another underrated composer. Such is the achievement of the music on this first disc in the series that many will find themselves hungry for more by Franz Schreker. Following the release of several operas by the composer during past years on CPO (some of them in premiere recordings), CPO now turns to the orchestral works of a man who in some circles continues to be dismissed as a mere \u2018sound magician\u2019, even though he was a melodist and harmonist of the first water and had learned his craft so thoroughly at the Vienna Conservatory that he himself became a sought-after teacher. The present program traces Schreker\u2019s path from his studies with Robert Fuchs to his first enduring success \u2013 the captivating pantomime The Birthday of the Infanta (1908) after the fairy tale by Oscar Wilde, which definitely numbers among the finest created.<\/p>\n

CHERNIVTSI: CONTEMPORARY UKRAINIAN ORGAN MUSIC, Gail Archer, organ\/Swan Studios\u00a0 <\/strong>Organ aficionados will be intrigued by this unusual disc which supplies a programme of unfamiliar music played by Gail Archer, a virtuoso organist who provides the perfect entr\u00e9e to these composers. Gail Archer is known for enthralling listeners with her musicality, sensitivity, and visceral quality, Here, she introduces listeners to rarely performed works by six 19th-21st century Ukrainian composers. The organ literature of Eastern Europe is little known in the West, both in Western Europe and the United States. Archer is dedicated to drawing attention to Ukrainian modern composers through ongoing research and performances.<\/p>\n

SCHUBERT: SYMPHONIES 2 & 3, B\u2019rock orchestra, Ren\u00e9 Jacobs\/PentaTone<\/strong>\u00a0 With performances as seductive as these, these two Schubert symphonies \u2013 by no means as popular as others in the composer\u2019s sequence — may achieve the kind of recognition they deserve. The performances are superbly pointed and full of character.<\/p>\n

STRAUSS: DEATH AND TRANSFIGURATION DON JUAN, SIX LIEDER, Louise Alder, Deutches Symphonie Orchester Berlin Robin Ticciati\/LInn<\/strong> \u00a0Robin Ticciati continues his nigh-unbroken series of remarkable orchestral performances with this latest disc, containing some of his very best work on disc. The Strauss lieder are sensitively sung by Louise Alder. The only regret is that Linn has abandoned its once superb surround sound. Nevertheless, the recording here is perfectly at the service of the music.<\/p>\n

BEETHOVEN ARRANGED by Andreas N. Tarkmann, Arcay\u00fcrek, Ludwig Chamber Players\/CPO<\/strong> \u00a0Many music listeners will have virtually the complete works of arguably the greatest of all classical composers, but here is something new. Beethoven\u2019s artistic greatness is measured not only by his symphonies, piano sonatas, and string quartets but also in the smaller dimensions of songs, duos, and ensemble music. Beethoven also set standards, created new things, and encouraged experiments in these secondary or occasional works \u2013 and did so with an impact felt right through to the present, as the arrangements by Andreas N. Tarkmann on this CD demonstrate s\u2013 for example, in the dialogue form between voice or cello and piano and the sound world of winds and strings. Tarkmann has arranged the twelve variations on a theme from Judas Maccabaeus for octet and fully exploits expanded tone-colour resources such as the juxtaposition of wind and string choirs already in the theme.<\/p>\n

HAROLD SHAPERO: ORCHESTRAL WORKS: Sinfonia in C Minor (1948), Credo for Orchestra (1955), Partita in C for Piano and Small Orchestra (1960), On Green Mountain for Jazz Ensemble (1957), Serenade in D for String Orchestra (1945), Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), Vivian Choi (piano), Gil Rose\/BMOP SACD\u00a0 <\/strong>Listeners of an adventurous bent may be inclined to seek out this unusual and little-known music, recorded here in wide-ranging surround sound. Known as the nation\u2019s foremost label launched by an orchestra and devoted exclusively to new music. Harold Shapero: Orchestral Works, <\/em>conducted by Gil Rose and performed by the intrepid Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) and celebrated Australian pianist Vivian Choi. A central figure of the mid-century musical landscape, Harold Shapero(1920-2013) advanced a unique vision for American music that incorporated the neoclassicism of Stravinsky, the clean elegance of Copland, and the edginess of serialism, all with a highly personal stamp.<\/p>\n

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BRITTEN: PETER GRIMES, Soloists, Bergen Philharmonic, Edward Gardner\/Chandos SACD, This new surround sound recording is a Peter Grimes for the ages. Many opera lovers of a certain age came to know the piece — the greatest of British operas — … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-classical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cdchoice.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cdchoice.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cdchoice.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cdchoice.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cdchoice.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1872"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.cdchoice.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1875,"href":"http:\/\/www.cdchoice.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872\/revisions\/1875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cdchoice.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cdchoice.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cdchoice.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}