Barry Forshaw
ROXANNA PANUFNIK: LOVE SONGS & LULLABIES, Matthew Barley, cello, Mary Bevan, soprano et al/Signum Classics
Forthcoming in September is a beguiling collection of Roxanna Panufnik’s works and arrangements, synthesising a wide variety of musical traditions with contemporary influences, and showcasing a talented selection of musicians including cellist Matthew Barley and soprano Mary Bevan. Panufnik, daughter of a famous composer father, is one of the UK’s most well-regarded contemporary composers. Her work demonstrates a reluctance to be categorised, and she was recently the recipient of a well-deserved OBE. One of her most fruitful collaborations has been with the musicologist and writer Jessica Duchen (whose recent biography of the pianist Myra Hess was published to great acclaim), and it is Duchen who provides the words for one of the most seductive entries on this set, ‘When I Wake Up’, which is an extract from the opera Duchen that Duchen and Panufnik composed together, ‘Dalia’, about a Syrian refugee girl finding her feet in Anew locale. For listeners new to the music of the composer, this is perhaps the perfect introduction.
SCENES FROM FINLAND: PALMGREN, ENGLUND, TUUKANEN, SIBELIUS, Oulu Sinfonia, Rumon Gamba/Chandos
Mention the words ‘Finnish music’ to many listeners, and the composer’s name that will immediately spring to mind is, of course, Jean Sibelius. The latter is inevitably represented on this beautifully played set, but the revelation for many will be the unfamiliar names whose music is showcased here: Palmgren, Englund and Tuukanen, all of whom prove to be well worth the attention of discerning listeners. It’s a moot question as to whether or not there is a specific national identity discernible in serious music from Finland, but the musical rewards here are many, and this disc once again proves that Chandos is a label more than prepared to strike out into unfamiliar territory with splendid results. The Oulu Sinfonia under Rumon Gamba are on top form.
AMERICAN TUNES #1: PREVIN: VIOLIN CONCERTO 2, etc./Alpha Classics
Anne-Sophie Mutter has released American Tunes #1, the second album in her ASM Forte Forward series on Alpha Classics. This is a really winning collection of contemporary American music, most notable for the violinist’s dedication to the music of her ex-partner Andre Previn, whose own serious music has only fitfully achieved the attention it deserved. This excellent (if not notably accessible) album – with Anne-Sophie Mutter displaying her customary peerless technique – may go some way to remedying that situation. The album’s release aligns with her upcoming 50th-anniversary concerts at the 2026 Lucerne Festival, marking exactly half a century since her international debut as a 13-year-old prodigy on August 23, 1976. The disc contains Previn: Concerto No. 2 for Violin and String Orchestra with Two Harpsichord Interludes, Sebastian Currier’s Ringtone Variations for Violin and Double Bass, and Previn’s Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano.
BRITISH MUSIC FOR STRINGS, Sudwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim, Douglas Bostock/CPO
This writer is part of a coterie who has long followed the music of Imogen Holst, daughter of the celebrated composer of The Planets. Her neglect over the years is perhaps unsurprising; she did, of course, spend much of her time as part of the Benjamin Britten coterie, providing invaluable musical input for that composer. But her own miniatures –rather different from her father’s sprawling canvases – is truly beguiling, as her short piece here, The Unfortunate Traveller, proves. There are other excellent composers in the mix here, including Gordon Jacob, Eugene Goosens and a female composer who is gleaning more attention lately, Dorothy Howells. None of these pieces are groundbreaking or strikingly unusual, but this is extremely civilised music played with great sympathy by the Sudwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim under Douglas Bostock.
SIBELIUS, GOLDMARK: WORKS FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA, Sueye Pulk violin RSO, Valentin Egle/BIS SACD
The Sibelius violin concerto has been particularly lucky over the years with many distinguished recordings on disc. This new take by Sueye Pulk and the RSO under Valentin Egle deserves to be place in the upper echelons, with immense sensitivity displayed towards the composer’s distinctive and unusual orchestration The Goldmark concerto, #2 is extremely well played, though the piece remains marginal. Nevertheless, it makes a good makeweight for this impressive disc, recorded in in the customary BIS wide-ranging surround sound canvas.