Disc of the Week

“… All the works on this imaginatively planned and beautifully recorded SACD, entitled ‘Soirée’, were composed in the 19th and 20th centuries, some of them fairly unfamiliar or rarely performed…The accompaniments are provided not only by Kožená’s husband Sir Simon Rattle, here making his debut, on disc, as a pianist, but also from six ‘friends’ – four string players drawn from Berlin’s finest orchestras plus flautist Kaspar Zehnder and Andrew Marriner, the recently retired Principal Clarinet of the LSO. With such a distinguished ‘supporting cast’ of musicians hopes run high for a most stimulating recital and this is exactly what it proves to be. The stylistic variety of the music demands a considerable degree of vocal flexibility and Magdalena Kožená is never wanting in that aspect of these performances…T he 5.0 multi-channel DSD recording has captured all the nuances of the performances in a warm yet intimate acoustic. Magdelena Kožená’s. distinctive vocal timbre and fine musicianship could hardly be better showcased than on this disc. There can be little doubt that her many admirers will be delighted with the performances on this bold and wide-ranging song collection.” 

“… the SACD recording accorded to Masaaki Suzuki here does full justice to the organ timbre, placing the listener in something like the acoustic in which the pieces were recorded. The organ maker Silbermann was based in Freiberg with his workshop only a stone’s throw away from the cathedral, where he built his first great organ in 1714. One of the finest and best preserved examples of his art, this is the instrument which Masaaki Suzuki has chosen for the third instalment in his traversal of Bach’s organ music, following acclaimed recitals recorded in Gronin.”

“Once again, Gianandrea Noseda demonstrates his mastery of the music of the troubled Russian master Shostakovich with an incendiary performance of this once-suppressed masterpiece that finds the essence both its shattering drama and keening poignancy. The reading is matched by a typically breathtaking LSO Live SACD recording captures the balanced sense of structure that Noseda brings to the piece.”

“…These pieces (it has to be admitted) are hardly major finds, but they still have a modest piquant value for the followers of the composer. Shostakovich was still young when hired to provide incidental music for The Bedbug, a surreal and farcical satire on Communist utopian dreams and bourgeois corruption and vulgarity. The score, newly reconstructed by Mark Fitz-Gerald from rough piano sketches and the 1935 soundtrack, combines symphonic sections with popular songs.”

“…While not perhaps unseating some of the great readings of the past, this is still in the upper echelons of recordings of The Planets, and it goes without saying that the customarily panoramic Reference Recordings aural palette does full justice to the composer’s still astonishing (and much-imitated) orchestration. This hybrid SACD release was recorded in the acoustically splendid Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The producer was the multi-award-winning David Frost, with the legendary Technical Director Keith O. Johnson working with engineer Sean Martin. The results speak for themselves.”

“… Wilson’s performance is characterised by swift, forward moving tempi in all four movements of the work {Symphony in F#] that eschews any trace of a stodginess or glutinous sentimentality. The result is a much tougher and sinewy account of the score than is to be found in rival versions; one that moves the style of the symphony closer to the era in which it was composed rather than an example of fin de siècle romanticism. The playing of the orchestra is clean, lean and superbly disciplined throughout. The scherzo, for example, is played with breathtaking precision and confidence – a whirlwind tour de force…”

“A highly impressive take on Bluebeard’s Castle… Edward Gardner’s is a highly impressive reading of one of the great modern operas. While not displacing some classics is a vivid and colourful reading of Bartok’s operatic masterpiece, the famous opening of the forbidden door (accompanied by a floor-shaking organ) is as vividly dispatched as it has ever been. . Following acclaimed performances around the globe, John Relyea’s interpretation of Duke Bluebeard now appears on record, with Michelle DeYoung as Judith and Edward Gardner leading his Bergen forces with aplomb.”

“…this is an extremely pleasing and collectable disc. This first instalment in a new Brahms series from Edward Gardner showcases the Bergen string section along with impeccable ensemble playing from the orchestra. Recorded in Chandos’ splendid surround sound idiom.”

“…lively and attractive new series by John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic in which the recording quality (while not surround sound) perfectly complements and enhances the dramatic scores…”

“Admirers of the composer Arthur Bliss may find that the most attractive item on this new surround sound disc on the Chandos label is one of his finest pieces, the Meditations on a Theme by John Blow, appearing here in its first incarnation in the SACD medium. Sir Andrew Davis does full justice to the colourful, inventive score… Davis continues his championship of the lesser-known works of Bliss with this coupling of The Enchantress with Mary of Magdala. The always exemplary Dame Sarah Connolly and James Platt are the soloists, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.”

“The performances are well done and enjoyable. Krehl rarely ventures beyond the conservative Leipzig tradition, but his music is superbly crafted and genuine. His sonata forms are robustly developed, his slow movements are tender and affecting, and his scherzos are hearty and exuberant. The Larchmere sports a rather translucent sound, but the ensemble work is very good, and the group’s sonic philosophy fits Krehl’s neo-classical leanings… “

“…for all [Krehl’s] looking backward and academic credentials, the music on this CD never sounds imitative or academic. The performances are similarly un-stodgy, expressive and vivacious. Krehl’s String Quartet Op. 17, published in 1899, is filled with attractive, yearning melodies and unexpected, engaging changes of texture, tempo and rhythm. …we are treated to wistful melodies, imaginative part-writing and frequent, effective changes of mood. Considering Krehl’s obscurity, I was happily surprised by just how good and downright enjoyable this music is, with lovely melodies and attention-holding narratives.”

“The fragments…are well worth hearing, and Sang Woo Kang plays them with care and some delicacy. I am sure that Mozartians will want to hear some recording of the fragments: This is a good one, and it is recorded well.”

“…Kang’s grab bag of fugues, rondos, and fantasias contains music of varying levels of interest. The later rondos and other works need no apology for quality of inspiration, and Kang plays them expressively. What remains of the little heard Suite, K 399 is also a pleasant Bach-Handel-like experience in Kang’s strong hands.”

“…[This] recording from the Konzerthaus in Freiburg leaves little to be wished of clarity and dynamics. The orchestra is not in the Berlin Philharmonic class, but Naxos have a nose for finding orchestras…and there is first-class playing in all departments. The young Dutch conductor Pieter-Jelle de Boer is also an accomplished pianist and composer and he has a fine ear for the sonorities of this music. The Beijing-born soloist Tianwa Yang…has all the qualities that make a great musician. Her playing here is enough bait for acquiring this disc, but an even stronger lure is the opportunity to have both the Castelnuovo-Tedesco concertos. “