The Insider's Review of New Classical Recordings
Issue No.128 December 2001
Suggested list price: $1.95
Reminder: TC's freshness index is a percentage estimate of how much of a disc devoted to collected items similar in style and/or setting holds the listener's interest. The index is preceded by the following symbol: 
.
ALIAVOX
El Cancionero de Montecassino is a manuscript containing 141 sacred and profane compositions written between 1430 and 1480 (AV9816A+B). Jordi Savall and his splendid Capella Reial de Catalunya offer vibrant selections from it on two cds, one devoted to sacred music by Dufay, Cornago and a number of anonymous pieces, the other to vocal and instrumental music of a more popular nature, in a variety of languages, 80%.
Bach's Musical Offering is fascinatingly performed by Savall and his instrumental group, Le Concert des Nations (AV9817). Although the playing is excellent; it is the imaginative way the score is treated that gives this reading its ultimate distinction. On a theme given to him by Frederick the Great, Bach created two large-scaled fugues (Ricercare), ten canons and a lovely trio sonata. The first fugue is clearly for a keyboard instrument, the great six-voiced fugue (one of Bach's most haunting contrapuntal achievements) is on six nameless staves, although it uncannily fits under the fingers for keyboard. After the King's theme is played by a solo flute, Savall's version opens (as does the printed score) with the keyboard fugue. It is followed by five of the canons, the six-voiced fugue on the clavecin, the trio sonata, the remaining canons, and the six-voiced fugue played on stringed instruments. Comments: the use of clavichord, rather than harpsichord, lends an intimate warmth; Savall's choice of instruments for the canons (most are not specified) is very successful; the canons themselves are repeated many times more than in most performances, allowing their magnificent complexity to register on the listener; placing the sonata in the middle of the performance rather than at the end is refreshing; repeating the six-voiced fugue not only rounds out the work beautifully, but makes it seem the last of the great series of "string consort" pieces that started as early as Dowland. Highly recommended.
BBC
DVDs of productions originally for television, Alfred Brendel in Portrait (OA 0811D, 2 dvds) and the Balanchine ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream (OA0810D) are impressive. The first Brendel disc presents the pianist in a 49-minute recital (Haydn, Mozart, Schubert) in which the Haydn comes off best. The second disc is more fascinating, for it presents the man as a well-rounded, inquisitive individual, as well as an extremely thoughtful musician. One of his concepts is brilliant, that of an interpretive boundary, within which it is possible to offer many different convincing performances of a given work. Over the line, violence can be done to the stylistic fabric. Conversations with Simon Rattle about their upcoming collaboration on the Beethoven piano concerts are interesting, but the working out of some Schubert songs with baritone Matthias Goerne provides a fascinating meeting of equals. The tone struck in this production is welcome — respectful of the man and his work, but no laying on of adulation. The 94-minute Midsummer Night's Dream, danced by the Pacific Northwest Ballet, with guest stars Patricia Barker, Paul Gibson and Seth Belliston, is a pleasure to watch. The leads are dramatically supple in the tasteful, narratively clear, brilliant choreography. Mendelssohn's music always seems to have inspired Balanchine to superb spatial placement of his dancers. If there is a weakness to the DVD, it is in the music. Stewart Kershaw, the PNB's regular conductor, as is usually the case with traveling ballet companies, leads local musicians (the BBC Concert Orchestra) who may not have had time to get used to his conducting. Even if not ragged, the playing lacks the lightness and precision Mendelssohn requires. The accents are heavy; dancers like clearly defined beats. There are few dynamics observed below forte; dancers like to hear the music. Above all, aside from the excerpts from The First Walpurgis Night (concluding the first act beautifully), the overtures to Beautiful Melusine and Son and Stranger, and the Andante from his early String Symphony hardly equal the composer's MND music in quality. For balletomanes, rather than music lovers.BEL CANTO
Two VHSs feature "Great Conductors," with one far superior to the other. The names on Volume 1 (51) are impressive: Klemperer, Walter, Schurich, Kleiber, Fricsay and others. But the sound is blurry, and the pictures, badly focused, spend too much time on architecture and audience to make much of the conducting. Volume 2 (6003), a Japanese production, offers better sound and imaging, and an absorbing group of conductors: Nikisch, Mascagni, Strauss, Furtwängler, Toscanini, Abendroth, Stravinsky, et al. at considerably greater length.
•For information or purchase: 800-347-5056 or www.belcantosociety.org; BCS recognizes the deficiencies of these releases and offers them at a greatly reduced price.
BLACK BOX
Felicity Lott and pianist Graham Johnson offer, under the title "Summertime," a lovely recital of songs the lyrics of which might reasonably be associated with it (BBM3007). Gershwin's is a given; there are several beauties by Berlioz, Barber, Schubert, Brahms and Fauré, unusual ones by Bridge, Quilter, Warlock et al., and — with a distinct falling-off of quality, entries by Liza Lehmann, Fraser-Simson and John Rutter.
William Walton's well-known String Quartet in A Minor is coupled with his first, written 25 years earlier (1922) (BBM1035). Both are excellently played by the Emperor String Quartet, which approaches the A Minor less acerbically than most other quartets. The earlier effort has its moments, but rambles; the disc is recommended to Waltonians who want every note the man wrote, rather than general listeners who will find other couplings of the A Minor of greater interest.
Johann Strauss II probably would not have been pleased with Christopher Warren-Green's performances of a number of his best-known works with the Johann Strauss Orchestra (BBM1059). Sounding as if the players were reading their parts for the first time, devoid of charm, the disc is hardly worth your attention.
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON
Haydn's string quartets are a glory of the repertory; the Emerson String Quartet's "Haydn Project" offers seven wonderful examples (Op. 20, no. 5; Op. 33, no. 2; Op. 54, no. 1; Op. 64, no. 5; Op. 74, no. 3; Op. 76, no. 2; Op. 77, no. 1) (289 471 327-2, 2 cds). The playing is elegant, pretty, and feelingful, but curiously lacking in inner tension. An air of lax civility does not do violence to Haydn's musical ambiance, but it one-sidedly ignores its more dramatic elements. A bonus cd offers single movements from the Emerson's many other recordings.
Rodion Shchedrin's familiar Bizet-based ballet, Carmen Suite (strings and percussion) and his two little Concertos for Orchestra are straightforwardly played by Pletnev and the Russian National Orchestra (289 471 136-2). TC has never found Shchedrin's Carmen as impressive as others have; the considerable charm of the score derives from Bizet's beautiful melodies more than the treatment they are accorded, but there is no denying the pleasant listening it offers. The first concerto, an 8-minute work subtitled "Naughty Limericks," is a brash, jazzy "perpetual motion" type of piece. Pletnev ignores the score's softer dynamic markings, delivering an insensately loud, almost brutal reading. The 10-minute second concerto, "The Chimes," full of bell imitations, is better performed.
Bruckner's first mass, in D Minor, is the least often performed of his three (289 459 674-2). Although full of lovely passages, it has neither the monumentality that characterizes the mature Bruckner, nor the hallmark methods (blocks of material, for example) by which he achieved it. John Eliot Gardiner leads a fluent, but occasionally ponderous (e.g., "Agnus Dei") performance, with respectable soloists (Orgonasova, Fink, Prégardien, Schulte), his Monteverdi Choir and the Vienna Philharmonic, which plays beautifully. Also included are five Bruckner motets.
Verdi's Otello, recorded and filmed in 1974, by Vickers, Freni and Glossop, with Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic, is now available on DVD (073 006-9). Directed by Karajan, it engages the listener visually. Vickers is strong, vocally and histrionically. Freni sings well, but is oddly unconvincing dramatically. Glossop's Iago is hardly the total embodiment of evil, but comes across effectively. The Berlin plays with the silkiness Karajan always drew from it, even when he whips up the stormier sections of the score. While the above description is more respectful than enthusiastic, it must be said that the whole dvd seems greater than the sum of its parts; Karajan's sheer classiness adds something incalculable. Very good analog sound, titles available in the original Italian, English, French, German and Chinese.
DORIAN
Bach's six lovely sonatas for violin and harpsichord (the harpsichord part is fully composed, not — as was more usual — left to the improvisatory skills of the continuo players) are robustly played by Baroque violinist Micaela Comberti and Colin Tilney (Nos. 1, 2, 3 [DOR-93233]; Nos. 4, 5, 6 [DOR-93234]). They play with considerable feeling, and none of the scratchiness often encountered in such enthusiastic performances. Each disc also contains a lesser-known Bach harpsichord suite (BWV 818a, 819a).
Piffaro, one of the finest Renaissance period-instrument groups, offers a rousing program of 15th and 16th-century German music, most of which, in accordance with the custom, was adapted from vocal works (primarily by Ludwig Senfl), in splendid sound (xCD-90292) 75%.
Villa-Lobos's string quartets are an astonishing combination of suave Brazilian folk elements, exciting rhythms, and barren note spinning. The excellent traversal by the Cuarteto Latinoamericano has now reached Volume 5 with Nos. 5, 10 and 13 (DOR-93211). Although the above characterizations fit the music, listening is hardly a chore — it is just difficult to accept the works as serious chamber music writing; arranged for piano, the results would make much the same effect, 75%.
Borodin's two string quartets receive fluent but mannered readings from the St.Petersburg String Quartet (DOR-90307). The opening of the Second Quartet, in particular, induces the musical equivalent of seasickness. The playing is best in the scherzos and the less lyrical portions of the fast movements, where conditions are less conducive to excessive rubato.
•TC's current favorite for these pieces is a sleeper, the Lark Quartet (Arabesque).
"Madrid, 1752" offers music for the Spanish Royal Chapel by José de Nebra and Francisco Courcelle (DOR-93237). Courcelle is the more colorful of the two, but neither can sustain the listener's interest. The Bourbons were clearly not the Hapsburgs when it came to appreciating music; far better composers were available for hire in Europe, had they cared. Uneventful performances by six vocal soloists and the Madrid Barroco.
EMI
Handel's four Coronation Anthems and Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne are elegantly performed by Susan Gritton, Robin Blaze, Michael George, the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, with Stephen Cleobury and the Academy of Ancient Music (72434 5 57140 2). Festive as they are, the performances have a refined intimacy not often encountered in this music.
Puccini's Messa di Gloria was written at the age of 22 (7243 5 57159 2). He was not a child prodigy; it has no special distinction musically, but demonstrates that he had gone far in mastering his craft. Its quasi-operatic style offers plenty of opportunities for Alagna and Hampson to sing out pleasantly. The excellent performance (Pappano and London Symphony Chorus and Orchestra) does as much for the work as can be done, but it is of more appeal to the complete Puccinian than to the general listener. The disc also includes the composer's Opus 1 (Preludio sinfonico) and the Cristantemi for strings.
Three reissues offer superb performances. The Flagstad/Furtwängler 1951 performance of Wagner's Tristan and Isolde has been excellently remastered (7243 5 67626 2, 3 cds, mono). Flagstad's voice is gorgeous, but her characterization of Isolde is not particularly convincing. Ludwig Suthaus is, on the balance, a fine Tristan, but there is something missing (a sort of inner vigor?) in his presentation. Blanche Thebom is an excellent Brangäne, and as Kurwenal, young Fischer-Dieskau displays none of the mannerisms he later incorporated into his singing. The true glory of the performance is not the singing, but the conductor's sheer command of the score. Not only is this one of the most highly-articulated performances of the score, but one that is molded into a mighty musical edifice.
Nathan Milstein offers simple, beautiful readings of the Beethoven and Brahms violin concertos, with Steinberg and the Pittsburgh (7243 5 67584 2). Every note is strongly in place, every phrase superbly arched, and never do his interpretive nuances impede the music's flow.
Beecham, and refined soloists from his Royal Philharmonic (clarinetist Jack Brymer, bassoonist Gwydion Brooke) give pointed, elegant readings of Mozart's concertos for the respective instruments, as well as his Symphony No. 41. The interpretations run against the grain of the more ascetic period-practice ideas that have taken hold (not without some reasonability) in the latter half of the 20th century, but by their own warm standards, are as classy as you can get. Excellent remastered sound.
GMN
Kurt Weill's two symphonies are firmly played by the Hong Kong Philharmonic (GMNC0100). David Atherton shapes the sometimes amorphous music (especially in the First) very convincingly. The considerable textural clarity he achieves is unfortunately negated by what seems an artificially-induced reverb in the recording.
Takemitsu's complete solo piano music has been recorded several times since his recent death. Like most of his work, it is atmospheric, often delicately colored and textured, but decorative rather than profound, and curiously non-memorable. Paul Crossley plays it more convincingly than any of the others (GMNC0114).
HYPERION
Volumes 26 and 27 of the ongoing "Romantic Piano Concerto" series are winners indeed. Litolff wrote five works entitled Concerto symphonique for piano and orchestra. A rousing disc offers Nos. 3 and 5, strongly played by Peter Donohoe, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Litton) (CDA67210). Both are straightforward, cleanly-written works, at best reminiscent of Saint-Saëns and otherwise of the general competence of Vieuxtemps, for example. (The First C.s. is lost, Nos. 2 and 4 appeared earlier in the series.) Saint-Saëns's complete works for piano and orchestra, are impressively played by Stephen Hough, with the City of Birmingham Orchestra (Oramo) (CDA67331/2, 2 cds). Hough plays with precision, delicacy and rhythmic bounce. Above all, he takes the music seriously. This composer has always been looked down on by critics who regard involuted compositional methods as a prerequisite for musical value. S.-S., from first to last (the First Concerto was written in 1858, at the age of 23, the Fifth in 1898; he was composing as late as 1918, and died in 1920) was one of the most facile and listenable composers. Although his textures can become overly static, he was also capable of great originality, often at the same time. A brilliant pianist, his writing for the instrument is precise and virtuosic. The First Concerto, with its "Romantic" horn calls, nonetheless contains a finale with more than a whiff of the Parisian follies to it (something similar pops up in the Third and Fifth as well). The Second, famously (and rather accurately) described as "beginning like Bach and ending like Offenbach" is his most popular. The Third contains a very atmospheric and original opening. In its slow movement, what starts out as a seemingly decorative figuration proves to be the main material, a very modern concept for its time. The Fourth is a refined structure — two movements, incorporating sonata and scherzo elements. It is in that way similar to his well-known Third Symphony, but unlike the symphony, it is primarily based on the concept of variations, giving greater feeling of coherence between the two large sections. The Fifth, subtitled "Egyptian," contains, in its slow movement, colorful parallel dissonances (augmented intervals give the "Middle Eastern" tinge) and obviously was a model for Falla's "Nights in the Gardens of Spain." Wedding Cake, Allegro appassionata, Rhapsodie d'Auvergne, and Africa (the last two are of real interest) colorful shorter works, are also included in this well-recorded set.
Holst's much-recorded The Planets receives another notable reading, from Mark Elder and the Hallé Orchestra (CDA67270). The beautifully-recorded disc also contains the composer's Lyric Movement for Viola and Small Orchestra, the original version of Neptune (last of The Planets) and a novelty, Colin Matthews's Pluto — the Renewer. Commissioned by the Hallé (Pluto had not yet been discovered when Holst wrote The Planets), it proves an impressive continuation (rather than imitation) of the Holst, even if it lacks profile.
NAXOS
Jeno Jandó's keen sense of rhythm and clean technique serve him well in the first ten Haydn sonatas (8.553824, Volume 10 of a complete traversal), early works with rather commonplace materials, but not without refined touches (No. 2 offers uneven phrase lengths of 10 and 13 bars). He starts an important new series devoted to Bartók's piano music with splendid performances of three important works: the Sonata, the Suite, Op. 14 and Fifteen Hungarian Folksongs (8.554717). He seems to have a special affinity for the playful pulsations of these pieces, as well as finding underlying connections in the sonata that make it quite dramatic. The disc includes the Seven Sketches, Op. 9b and shorter pieces.
Other impressive contemporary music releases offer music by Poulenc (8.553615, Volume 5 of his "complete chamber music"), Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time (8.554824) and William Schuman's Violin Concerto (8.559083) Poulenc's delightful Histoire de Babar, appears in two performances of the original version for piano and narrator (in French and in English) The narrators are two gifted children, the pianist Alezandre Tharaud, whose acute playing has sparked the series. Several short instrumental suites are included as well. Messiaen's haunting work, written in a POW camp in 1941, is powerfully, yet unexaggeratedly played by the Amici Ensemble (Valdepeñas et al.) along with his far less striking Theme and Variations for violin and piano. Schuman's concerto, one of his less ponderous, more convincing large-scaled works is exceptionally well played by Philip Quint. The excellently-recorded disc also contains the composer's New England Triptych and his clever orchestration of Ives's wry Variations on America. José Serebrier leads the Bournemouth Symphony in crisply effective performances.
The Vlach Quartet Prague offers splendid Dvorák readings of two early quartets (Nos. 5 and 7) (8.553377) and the two string quintets, Op. 1 and Op. 97 (8.553376). The gem here is the Op. 97 quintet, along with the Bruckner, the finest of the later 19th-century viola quintets (Brahms's two, for all their gorgeous moments, are often thick and surprisingly unwieldy to perform). The performances, by the Vlach Quartet Prague, are sprightly sprung, beautifully nuanced, warm and tender.
Norwegian performers shine on discs devoted to piano music by Sibelius (Vol. 2, 8.554808; Vol. 3, 8.554814) with Håvard Gimse, and the Grieg Violin Sonatas (8.553904N) with Henning Kraggerud and pianist Helge Kjekshus. Sibelius's piano writing is quite tame, but often contains some of his wonderfully brooding melodies. Gimse, perhaps Norway's most gifted emerging pianist, keeps the music very much alive. Among other works, Vol. 2 contains the Kyllikki, Op. 41, Vol. 3 the three Sonatinas. Recordings of all three Grieg sonatas are becoming very common, but these performers manage to balance a lovely sensitivity to the folk elements with the general virtuosity the works require.
Several sets might be very appealing gifts for interested children: The "Life and Works" of Beethoven (8.558024-27, 4 cds) and of Chopin (8.558001-04, 4 cds). Both contain narration, many musical examples and complete performances, attractive printed materials. An introduction to Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 2 (8.558030-31, 2 cds) will appeal to more advanced listeners, child or adult. It includes a complete performance by Jandó, with the BRT Philharmonic (Rahbari).
OPUS111
Vivaldi's Juditha triumphans is a large-scaled "sacred military oratorio," written in 1716 for the Ospedale della Pietà, and therefore requiring an all-female cast (OP 30341, 3 cds). Considering the effect of this restriction on his ability to create contrasts, he did a remarkable job of differentiating the five major roles in terms of tessitura, and, to a lesser extent, materials. There is much wonderful music to be found here; Vivaldi shaped lovely melodies for the voice, and provided colorful instrumental effects. The soloists (Magdalena Kozena, Maria José Trullu, et al.) are first rate, as is the chorus (St.Cecilia Academy) and orchestra (Academia Montis Regalis), effectively led by Alessandro de Marchi. There is only one problem, intrinsic to the conventions of Vivaldi's time and place, but real nonetheless. In two long acts, there are a handful of
choruses. Otherwise, there are only recitatives followed by arias, all of them "da capo," which means that most of each aria is immediately repeated. Even with some cleverly varied ornamentation the second time around, it begins to feel a bit like fighting a windmill. Fine recording, 70%.
Luca Marenzio was one of the great madrigal composers of the late-16th century. Rinaldo Alessandri and his Concerto Italiano offer a well-recorded program of 27 (OP 30245). The sonic ambiance is very robust, almost Stokowskian in concept; some of the more polyphonic numbers seem overly homogenized, but when the particular piece fits (e.g., No. 9), the results are exciting 75%.
PHILIPS
Dvorák's Eighth and Ninth ("New World") Symphonies receive yet another coupling, this time by Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra (289 464 640-2). Believe it or not, this is a "New World" with a difference, one of the most significant of the near-hundred that have been available. Instead of treating the composer as a slightly less important contemporary of Brahms, this probingly-detailed version finds Mahlerian connections, especially in the pensive, bittersweet moments. (The idea is not far-fetched: both were born in what became Czechoslovakia, Dvorák died only nine years before Mahler, and the "New World" is palpably Central-European, despite the spiritual-like slow movement theme.) The Eighth also receives an unusually strong, if not quite as distinctive, performance. Recommended, in an enormous field.
Reissues include Borodin's Second Symphony and Rimsky's Schehérazade, strongly played by Kondrashin and the Concertgebouw (289 464 735-2, analog) and Handel's Water and Fireworks Music, rousingly played by Gardiner and his English Baroque Soloists (289 464 706-2). The Russian repertory is well done, and well remastered, but not significantly better than many later versions. If you don't mind a certain aggressiveness, the Handel performances are among the most exciting and best recorded of the many that exist.
REFERENCE
Respighi's orchestration is usually resplendent, and in his ballet Belkis, Queen of Sheba, he pulls out all the stops (RR-95CD). Unfortunately, compositionwise, he left them all in place; the work is a sort of low-level version of his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov's "Schehérazade," all gesture with no substance. Excerpts from Dance of the Gnomes prove oddly reminiscent of Stravinsky, via Rimsky. Only in the Pines of Rome do his structures seem convincing, perhaps because it is so familiar. All three works are swimmingly played by Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra, and stunningly recorded.
Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances is his most colorful orchestral work, and it responds well to the kind of brilliant sonic reproduction offered by Reference's superb recording (RR-96CD). The performance, by Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra. is disappointing; every note is in place, but it lacks vitality, and the couplings — Vocalise and Respighi's orchestration of five of Rachmaninov's Études-Tableaux don't compensate for the lack.
•TC current Symphonic Dances favorite, Pletnev/Russian National (Deutsche Grammophon).
A reissue offers a 2-cd collection of performances by the Chicago Pro Musica, originally spread over 3 discs (RR-2102). Highlights include Walton's Facade (the chamber settings, without poetic narration) and an amusing chamber version of Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel by Franz Hasenöhrl. Easley Blackwood's chamber version of Rimsky's Capriccio Espagnol doesn't quite make the grade. Although the players, predominantly from the Chicago Symphony, are first rate, there is a rather bland aspect to performances of Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat Suite, Weill's Threepenny Opera Suite and other colorful works, all of which are available in more satisfying performances elsewhere. Great sound.
SONY
Esa-Pekka Salonen has conducted lots of contemporary music, and his own sounds like all of it (SK 89158). Nonetheless, on a disc devoted to his pleasantly-eclectic compositions [LA Variations, Five Images after Sappho (Upshaw), Giro, Gambit, Mania for cello and ensemble (Karttunen)] the variations prove an impressive 20 minutes of music that does not bog down. Fine performances by the LA Philharmonic and London Sinfonietta. Salonen also leads a disc devoted to works by his (Finnish) compatriot Kaija Saariaho (SK 60817). Graal Théâtre, for violin and orchestra (Kremer), Château de L'Âme, for voice and orchestra (Upshaw) and Amers, for cello and orchestra (Karttunen) share aggressive use of a quasi-avant-gardish idiom that had been described (when it first appeared in the 1960s) as "stretch and chatter," to which she has added "scrape and tinkle." There is less to her music than meets the ear; her use of a Messaien-like surface sound — before it reaches interminable lengths — provides an effective veneer. Fine performances by varied orchestras.
Some time ago, a Japanese millionaire paid for a cd of piano music by his autistic little boy, whose "compositions" were written out and arranged by his music teacher. TC was reminded of this by a new cd devoted to Op. 1-10 of the piano music of William Joel (CK 85397). There are differences, however. Joel's works are not quite as simplistic, but then, he is not autistic, and not one, but four arrangers have worked over his "Fantasies and Delusions" (as the disc is titled). His father is probably not a millionaire; under his stage name Billy, Joel certainly is.
TACTUS
Salomone Rossi wrote music for the Gonzaga court, as well as for the Mantua synagogue of which he was a member. A splendid disc offers his first book of madrigals, skilled pieces in the style of the day (c.f., Monteverdi) (TC 57103). Fine performances by Ut Musica Poësis, 70%.
•Only 46 minutes of music on this disc.
Tartini's six sonatas for violin and continuo, published in Paris in 1748, are well played by Enrico Casazza and Roberto Loreggian (organ and harpsichord). These are among the better pieces by this uneven composer, 80%.
Vivaldi cantatas for soprano and continuo (RV 655, 657, 658, 659, 660, 669) are pleasantly sung by Elena Cecchi Fedi (TC 672208). The sheer competence of this music somewhat offsets the fact that it all seems cut from the same bolt, 70%.
VIRGIN
Vivaldi's Opus 8, ("The Contest of Harmony and Invention") consists of 12 violin concertos, four of which comprise the (in)famous Four Seasons. The entire Op. 8 is superbly played by Fabio Biondi and his Europa Galante (7243 5 45465 2, 2 cds). Elegance, precision and imaginative sonics contribute to the set's success. Biondi's use of the original manuscripts may account for the many changes of figurations found in the published scores. He is an excellent violinist, and his free treatment of the vuota (totally unaccompanied) passages in the Four Seasons is unusual and convincing, providing a reason to experience these performances despite the hundred others.
•The Op. 8 is available in a superb Dover Publications edition, $10.95. TC's favorite Seasons is still the recent Chung/St.Luke's (EMI, TC Issue 121). It lacks the period "authenticity" of Biondi's, but is as inventively funny as Vivaldi's score.
Boccherini's cello quintets are among his most colorful music (7243 5 45421 2). Biondi (with five other soloists from Europa Galante) offers colorful performances of Op. 25, nos. 1, 4 and 6. Some of this music approaches Haydn in its excellence (e.g., the minuet of Op. 25, no. 1) and is well worth investigating.
HAPPY LISTENING AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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