BBC Music Magazine - March 2024

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Jakub See p100
Józef
Orliński
The star countertenor
on dancing into the
underworld with Gluck
Also in this issue…

From Mozart to Megadeth
with Rachel Barton Pine
The radical composer
who dragged Italy into
the 20th century
How to get back into
practice… in 100 days
100 reviews by the
world’s finest critics
Recordings & books – see p70
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Subscribe today to This month’s cover artist Jakub Józef Orliński hasn’t
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See p10 for our fantastic offer On page 26, he speaks to Rebecca Franks about adding yet
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operatic recording project. Read on to be inspired, and
perhaps a little intimidated…
Charlotte Smith Editor
THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS
Rebecca Franks Steve Wright Misha Donat

Writer and editor Content producer, BBC Music Writer and composer
‘He’s a star countertenor, a brilliant ‘What makes a piece of music an ‘I was privileged to know
breakdancer and, it turns out, one ideal studying companion? While Dallapiccola in his last years,
of those dream interviewees who is drawing up my shortlist, I found and to spend time with him in
full of enthusiasm. Meeting Jakub myself mulling (and discussing) this both Florence and London. His
Józef Orliński to hear about his latest passion question constantly. “Vocals: yes or no?” proved a immaculate appearance and perfectly chiselled
– Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice – was a treat.’ Page 26 particularly lively talking point…’ Page 56 music seemed to go hand in hand!’ Page 62
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Contents
MARCH 2024
See p100
FEATURES
26 Cover: Jakub Józef Orliðski
The breakdancing countertenor tells Rebecca Franks
how he’s headed to Gluck for his directorial debut
38 On a wing and a prayer
Andrew Green on Ernest Lough, whose 1920s recording
of Mendelssohn made him an instant treble superstar
42 Quiet revolutionaries
The groundbreaking string collective 12 Ensemble
explain their unique method and magic to Stephen Moss
46 Time to retune
Lapsed violinist Ariane Todes reveals what it took to
get her practising again after a long lockdown lay-off
50 Alternative Ulster
Tom Stewart takes a look at how Northern Ireland’s
contemporary music scene is thriving against the odds
56 15 musical works to study to
Steve Wright gives his essential at-desk listening guide
EVERY MONTH
8 Letters
12 The Full Score 26 Jakub
The latest news and interviews from the music world Józef Orliðski
25 Richard Morrison
34 The BBC Music Magazine Interview
COVER: JOHN MILLAR THIS PAGE: JOHN MILLAR, LISA-MARIE MAZZUCCO, TING RU LAI, PETE WOODHEAD
Violinist Rachel Barton Pine talks to Charlotte Smith Art editor Dav Ludford
Brian Eno’s The Pearl
60 Musical Destinations Thanks to
Steve Wright enjoys the Tyrolean hills in Toblach, Italy Jenny Price, Hannah Nepilova,
Subscriptions £64.87 (UK); £65 (Europe); Rebecca Franks
62 Composer of the Month £74 (Rest of World) ABC Reg No. 3122 MARKETING
Subscriptions director
EDITORIAL
Dallapiccola, Italy’s great modernist, by Misha Donat Plus the classical work or album we would Jacky Perales-Morris
66 Building a Library recommend studying to (see p56)
Editor Charlotte Smith
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Subscriptions marketing coordinator
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in A minor, E major and D minor ADVERTISING
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34 Rachel
Barton Pine
March reviews
Your guide to the best new recordings and books
50 Music in
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Timothy Ridout
and Frank Dupree
celebrate Lionel Tertis
70 Recording of the Month

A Lionel Tertis Celebration
Timothy Ridout (viola)
‘These recordings constitute a deft salute
not just to Lionel Tertis the man and
musician, but also to his enduring legacy’
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Email: music@classical-music.com Social media: contact us on Facebook and Twitter
L ET T ER Sound opinions good engineer is lost. He’s

of the While I’m as susceptible as right. On this occasion, it was
MONTH anyone to a name-check, I Oscar Torres whose beautiful
feel I should put things right engineering prompted Jessica’s
apropos Jessica Duchen’s admiring words.
appreciative review of Trio Andrew Keener, New Malden
Isimsiz’s Rubicon recording,
which I produced, of piano Short changed?
trios by Brahms, Korngold As always, there are plenty
and Coll: ‘… excellent recorded of wonderful things among
sound … I’m not at all surprised the nominees for this year’s
to see Andrew Keener credited BBC Music Magazine
here’ (February issue). Jessica is Awards. However, I was a
Strauss master: by no means the first reviewer little surprised to see that the
the late, great to mix up the roles of producer list includes Isabelle Faust’s
Hermann Baumann
and engineer. The producer recording of Stravinsky’s
is the musical supervisor of a Violin Concerto. I have nothing
Horn of plenty recording session, counsellor against the performance,
It was lovely to read Owen Mortimer’s Building a Library to the artist if the artist is which is wonderful. However,
piece on Strauss’s Horn Concerto No. 2 (January). I was open to such things, sees to it is the only substantive work
privileged to perform the solo part in 2001 with the it that everything is covered on the disc, accompanied by
Sidcup Symphony Orchestra – a great experience. While well in one take or another, some interesting, but minor
I appreciate there are a number of recordings available, and strives to balance today’s miniatures, the entirety lasting
I do take issue with the omission of, for me, the greatest: demand for accuracy with under 44 minutes. Paying
Hermann Baumann’s wonderful 1984 performance with preserving the flow of the full price essentially for a
the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Kurt Masur. His music. And yes, I suppose the 25-minute work is decidedly
phrasing and tone is immaculate – with a slight vibrato – producer carries the can in the short shrift. This example of
and his technique sounds effortless. On first hearing this last analysis. Good producing shrinkflation may not bother
version I immediately wanted to play on an Alexander should, in a sense, be ‘invisible’, your jury, who get their copies
horn, as Baumann does, and showing up only if he or she for free, but surely your awards
WIN! £50 VOUCHER managed to get hold of one has let something pass which should give some thought to
FOR PRESTO MUSIC soon after. When Baumann is a distraction – such as an those of us trying to build a
died a few weeks ago, audible edit, incompatible collection on a limited budget.
Every month we will award horn playing lost a giant. I takes etc. It’s a ‘people job’ too. Cecilia Phillips, Cornwall
the best letter with a £50 recommend for anyone to The engineer’s role, seated
voucher for Presto Music,
seek out his recordings. His at the mixing desk, requires Not Oscar
the UK’s leading e-commerce
site for classical and jazz playing is sublime and one no less of a human touch, but I enjoyed reading the February
recordings, printed music, of the finest examples of it is the engineer who mixes issues articles on George
music books and musical the middle-European horn and balances the sound. No Gershwin and his friend
instruments. Please note: the playing style – one that you less than a producer, the and colleague Oscar Levant.
editor reserves the right to
shorten letters for publication.
do not often hear in the UK, role demands a high degree The first left a number of
and well worth a listen. of musical discernment. questions unanswered – most
David Hammond, The great EMI producer importantly, does the original
Clacton-on-Sea Christopher Bishop has said two-piano version of Rhapsody
GETTY
that a producer without a in Blue given to Ferde Grofé

to orchestrate still survive? Our friends are all aboard: but should
Yellow Submarine have been included
If so, it would demonstrate in our boat-inspired pieces feature?
whether or not Gershwin
gave detailed instruction as
to instrumentation. In the Lovely Landscapes
article on Oscar Levant, the I read with interest the
picture which purports to occasional views about the
show Fred Astaire, Nanette BBC Music Magazine cover CD.
Fabray and Levant in The Band Despite being a ‘streamer’, I
Wagon does not in fact include still get excited as I rip open the
Levant – the performer on envelope each month – while
the right is British film star streaming is convenient, I still
Jack Buchanan. value a physical product. It is
Bryan Kesselman, Ruislip impossible to please everyone
with so much choice these
Regional bias days, and I differ in opinion
In all my years of reading to the reader in your February
your magazine I cannot recall issue, as I loved your recent
having been annoyed by any Symphonic Landscapes disc
of its content. However, that silence are different things. green, sound effects depicting (January). I listened to the
record was broken by Richard Sound (think the squeak of the operating of the vessel individual movements of the
Morrison’s opinion piece on fretting guitar chords) and and an element of fantasy – works differently due to their
Levelling Up (February). The silence (like the pauses found the land of submarine. This compilation with other works.
north of England is by no in vast numbers of pieces) fantasy aspect was given full The concept and cover photo
means a cultural desert, but both feature in music. On their expression by the release in were also superb.
what we see here cannot be own, they don’t pass the test for 1968 of a critically acclaimed Geoff Davies, Chester
compared in any meaningful what is music. So by all means animated film of the same
way with what is on offer have ‘sound art’, ‘silence art’ name, in which the music Moby’s melodist
to London audiences. If even, but trying to draw music, loving inhabitants of the Matt Herring’s Composer of
Richard Morrison is seriously musicians or music lovers into fantasy land, Pepperland, are the Month collage honouring
suggesting any equivalence works such as these is only to under siege and the Beatles sail Bernard Herrmann
between attending a live trade on the extraordinary to their rescue in their Yellow (Christmas) includes Moby
performance and a screening, dedication and hard work put Submarine. The song has stood Dick with Gregory Peck
then I can only assume that in by composers and musicians the test of time. It ‘surfaced’ portraying Captain Ahab,
his article has been printed too throughout the ages. again – no pun intended – a which is sadly ironic. When
early and that it should have Rory Stephens, Galway, Ireland few weeks ago when sung Ray Bradbury began writing
appeared in the April edition. by myself and a group of my the screenplay for Moby Dick
I am sure that, as a Yorkshire Under the sea 70-year-old friends as part of with John Huston, he urged
boy, he will also know that I enjoyed reading the wide- our Christmas Party singalong. him to hire Herrmann, but
Manchester is closer to ranging feature by Jeremy For three very enjoyable when the director heard
Newcastle than London. Pound on how boats have minutes, we all did indeed ‘live the composer’s Moby Dick
Vaughan Jones , inspired composers across the in a Yellow Submarine’. cantata he was not impressed.
Newcastle upon Tyne ages (January). I would like to Tadhg Nash, Co. Cork, Ireland Eventually, he gave the
suggest that one other vessel, The editor replies: assignment to concert
Silence is not golden albeit a fictional one, could In December, we suggested composer Philip Sainton, who
I generally enjoy reading be added to the list – namely George Martin’s score for The had never before scored a film
through BBC Music Magazine, ‘Yellow Submarine’, which Beatles: Yellow Submarine film and never scored another, but
but I take serious exception featured in the Beatles album in the ‘Continue the journey’ whose 1956 soundtrack is still
to Nick Shave’s words about Revolver, released in 1966. section of Building a Library. greatly admired. Sainton will
Cage’s 4'33" (January) – ‘The For now nigh-on 60 years, Though we did so primarily probably never be a subject of
beauty of 4'33" … is that it millions of people young to illustrate the use of the Composer of the Month, yet an
can be interpreted on so and old have, metaphorically flexatone, the score itself article about this talented but
many levels’ etc. 4'33" is not speaking, sailed the seas is brilliantly constructed, neglected musician might not
a piece of music, but a piece aboard this iconic boat. Its demonstrating Martin’s be out of place in a future issue.
of performance art – drama, catchy melody masks some often overlooked skills as a Preston Neal Jones,
if you will. Music, sound and simple imagery: blue sky, sea of composer and orchestrator. Hollywood, CA, US

Thefullscore
Our pick of the month’s news, views and interviews
Kanneh-Mason’s ‘Rule, Britannia!’ views spark furore

Cellist subjected to racist abuse after speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs
so much wonderful British music. The

Looking to the future: wealth of folk music from this country
Sheku Kanneh-Mason is astonishing. I think that would be a
shared his ideas on the
Last Night of the Proms
wonderful thing to take its place. I think
there’s so much worth celebrating.’
It is not the first time in recent years
that ‘Rule, Britannia!’ at the Last Night of
the Proms has come under discussion.
In 2020, the BBC proposed featuring an
orchestra-only version of Arne’s tune,
ostensibly to fall in line with Covid
restrictions, but that idea was eventually
scrapped, with the song being performed
instead by a small group of singers. And as
with 2020, reaction to the story has once
again ranged from the reasoned to the
extreme – while some have argued that the
song’s words, written by James Thomson
in 1740, have more to do with Britain
defending itself against foreign aggression
than with the slave trade, others have
responded by subjecting the cellist to racist
abuse on social media.
Kanneh-Mason has since received
messages of support from organisations
including the Musicians’ Union and the
Sheku Kanneh-Mason has sparked Kanneh-Mason, who hit the headlines Royal Philharmonic Society, while on X/
furious debate about ‘Rule, Britannia!’ by winning the BBC Young Musician Twitter his mother Kadiatu has expressed
by questioning its suitability for the competition in 2016 and then went on to her ‘horror, rage, heartbreak’ at the abuse
Last Night of the Proms. Interviewed perform at the wedding of Prince Harry aimed at ‘someone trying to engage in a
for BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, conversation about music and inclusion’.
the British cellist, 24, said that hearing it ‘British folk music The BBC itself has also issued a
sung on the big occasion made him feel response to the cellist’s views. ‘The Proms
‘uncomfortable’, and that other options would be a wonderful are built on longstanding traditions that
should be considered to replace it. thing to take its place’ were established by co-founder Sir Henry
‘I don’t think it should be included,’ he Wood, and which are loved by people
told presenter Lauren Laverne. ‘I think and Meghan Markle two years later, around the world,’ said a spokesperson.
maybe some people don’t realise how played at the Last Night of the Proms in ‘One of these traditions is the Last Night
uncomfortable a song like that can make 2023 but says he did not stick around festivities. Other traditions include
a lot of people feel, even if it makes [those to hear the traditional revelries at the promoting new music, accessibility and
singing it] feel good. I think that’s somehow end. Asked what should replace the opening up the world of classical music to
OLLIE ALI
a big misunderstanding about it.’ song, Kanneh-Mason replied, ‘There is as many people as possible.’

Thefullscore
SoundBites
Big Wig: pianist

Igor Levit is duly
recognised
Wigmore honour
Wigmore Hall has named Igor Levit as
the latest recipient of its Wigmore Medal,
awarded for outstanding contributions not
just to the London venue itself but to the
classical music world in general. At just
36, the Russian-born German becomes the
youngest musician to receive the prestigious
You ant seen nothin’ yet, promises insect-loving trio prize, and follows in the footsteps of the likes
of fellow pianist Angela Hewitt, cellist Steven
Creating a bit of a buzz in the BBC Music “down” to these creatures’ level but also to Isserlis and countertenor Iestyn Davies.
Mag office is a press release for INSECTUM, reframe our relationship with them’. On the
the new recording from percussionist Susie arthropodic tracklist, then, are new works Philadelphia guest
Ibarra, cellist Jeffrey Zeigler and pianist such as Fly buzzing, Army Ants and Mosquito. Conductor Marin Alsop has covered an
Graham Reynolds. Created in consultation We were hoping that maybe there might impressive geographical spread with the
with eminent entomologists, the album, we also be an Antiphon in Bee major for French posts she has held over the course of her
are told, ‘aims not only to bring audiences Hornet but, alas, no. Maybe next time? glittering career, but her latest appointment
brings her a little closer to home. The
Philadelphia Orchestra has announced that
the New York-born Alsop, whose CV includes
THE MONTH IN NUMBERS positions in Bournemouth, Sao Paulo and
Vienna, will begin as its new principal guest
conductor later on this year.
2 30,500
…pounds to be paid by the Nevis
Striking differences
Life continues to be a rollercoaster for
English National Opera which, having
…cups for Ray Chen (pictured below), Ensemble charity to musicians left out recently dealt with the reaction to its future
the beneficiary of a bra thrown from of pocket after its closure last year. move from London to Manchester, has also
the audience after he had played had to avert a musicians’ strike. Singers and
Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in Munich. orchestra members had planned a walk-out
24
…hours of music by female and
to coincide with the February opening of The
Handmaid’s Tale in protest at proposed cuts
to the workforce, but an interim agreement
was agreed while negotiations continue.
non-binary composers to be played
continuously in a record-breaking Think while you plink
concert by Donne Foundation. Playing a musical instrument or singing
in a choir is linked to better memory and
GETTY, JOHN MAC ILLUSTRATION: JONTY CLARK
thinking skills in those over 40, new research
54
…Oscar nominations for John Williams,
has found. The study, carried out at Exeter
University, reviewed data from more than
1000 adults, looking at a range of people
with different experiences of music. But for
whose nod for the score for Indiana proof, look no further than the 50-something
Jones and the Dial of Destiny takes the writer of this column who, himself a regular
composer past his own current record. choir singer and piano player, never loses
concentration mid-way through a…

Thefullscore
RisingStars TIMEPIECE This month in history
Three to look out for…
Lucy Fitz Gibbon Soprano
Born: Davis, CA, US Solemn masses: mourners
Career highlight: My line the streets for Beethoven’s
summers at the Marlboro funeral procession; (right)
Beethoven’s grave today;
Music Festival in (below right) an invitation to
Vermont. This unique the funeral itself
event creates an idealised
environment in which
to explore music, share
communal meals and Shakespeare readings,
and wander through the glorious woods.
Musical hero: Contralto Marian Anderson
broke down barriers and highlighted
injustices – all while singing a wide array of
repertoire, from Bach to Britten, with deep
personal conviction and beauty.
Dream concert: I love introducing audiences
to new music. A dream programme would
pair long-ignored British composer Adela
Maddison’s Cinq mélodies with new song
cycles being written for me by American
composers Elizabeth Ogonek and Tyson
Gholston Davis.
Fergus McCreadie Pianist

Born: Inverness, Scotland
Career highlight:
Winning the Scottish
Album of the Year award
for Forest Floor – the first
jazz album to win it. In
reality, though, the best
thing for me happens
every time I step on stage with my trio.
Musical hero: I’m so inspired by pianist
Keith Jarrett’s approach to improvising and
playing. He likens an improvised concert MARCH 1827
to picking up a blank canvas. You keep all
options open.
Dream concert: I’d love to play the Village
Vanguard in New York. It’s such a seminal
Thousands gather in Vienna
jazz venue, where so many great albums have
been recorded. for Beethoven’s final farewell
Jonian Kadesha Violinist
W
Born: Athens, Greece hen Beethoven wrote the was immediately summoned when
Career highlight: last notes of the alternative he arrived back at his apartment in
Performing as a soloist finale for his Op. 130 Schwarzspanierstrasse.
with the Chamber String Quartet in the autumn of Though concerning, news of
Orchestra of Europe 1826 – the original ‘Grosse Fuge’ had Beethoven’s indisposition would not
under the baton of
been deemed outlandishly difficult by necessarily have alarmed his friends
András Schiff.
Musical heros: Cellist audiences and critics – he could not and associates – he had prevailed over
Steven Isserlis, pianist and conductor András possibly have imagined it would be numerous illnesses in the past three
Schiff, violinist Gidon Kremer and composer the final piece of music he completed. decades, many of them abdominal.
György Kurtág all have common qualities Soon after finishing it, the composer But this new one quickly became
that inspire me: dignity, vulnerability, hitched a ride on a milk cart from more serious, with lung inflammation,
honesty, passion, musical intelligence and a his brother’s country residence to spitting blood, jaundice, vomiting and
measure of wildness.
Dream concert: The more the time passes,
his home in Vienna. Overnighting diarrhoea among the symptoms.
the less I care about this. For me, a ‘dream in an unheated inn room in freezing By March 1827, the doctors despaired
concert’ is like happiness: you seek it, and it weather, he contracted a hacking cough of a recovery and Beethoven himself
may or may not happen. with pains in his side, and a doctor knew that the end was near. ‘Pity,

Thefullscore
according to one Beethoven biographer,

‘one of the grandest Vienna ever put on
for a commoner’. When the coffin was
shifted to the courtyard of Beethoven’s
building, crowds thronged around it,
making progress difficult. Beethoven’s
fellow composers Czerny, Hummel and
Schubert (a torchbearer) were among the
official mourners, and it’s estimated that
anything from 10,000 to 30,000 people
attended the funeral procession. The
route to the nearby Church of the Holy
Trinity in Alsergasse (the Alserkirche),
normally a ten-minute stroll, took a
strenuous hour to negotiate. Bright spark: physicist Alessandro Volta
On the way, a group of singers and
four trombonists performed a ‘Miserere’ Also in March 1827…
arranged by the composer Ignaz von 5th: The Italian chemist and physicist
Seyfried from two Equale for four Alessandro Volta dies in Como, aged 82. As
trombones Beethoven had written well as discovering and isolating methane in
the 1770s, in 1800 Volta went on to invent
the voltaic pile, an early form of electric
Beethoven’s funeral was battery. His many admirers included Napoleon
‘one of the grandest Vienna Bonaparte, and the SI unit of electric potential
will later be named ‘the volt’ in his honour.
ever put on for a commoner’ 7th: In what will later be known as the
‘Shrigley Abduction’, Edward Gibbon
15 years previously. At the service of Wakefield, a 30-year-old aspiring politician,
tricks Ellen Turner, the 15-year-old daughter of
blessing in the Alserkirche another
a wealthy Cheshire mill owner, into travelling
choral piece was sung – Seyfried’s own with him to Scotland where he marries her at
setting of ‘Libera me Domine’, originally Gretna Green. Tried and jailed for three years,
composed ‘in continuation of Mozart’s Wakefield will nonetheless go on to enjoy a
pity, too late,’ he whispered, when Requiem’. Beethoven himself had successful career in colonial development.
a case of his favourite wine arrived seemingly left no indications of what 9th: The bass Franz Xaver Gerl dies in
belatedly from his publisher Schott. should be played at his own funeral. Mannheim. A leading member of Emanuel
Beethoven died on 26 March, aged 56, From the Alserkirche the cortège Schikaneder’s theatre company, Gerl enjoyed
his finest moment when, in 1790, he sang the
by one account raising his clenched wound its way to the cemetery at role of Sarastro in the premiere of Mozart’s The
fist skyward in a final defiant gesture. Währing, a suburb of Vienna about Magic Flute. Renowned for his command of
Speculation about the cause of death one-and-a-half miles away. At its low notes that other basses could not reach,
has proliferated since his passing, gates, an actor delivered a grandiose he was also an accomplished composer.
the most recent medical evidence oration penned by the dramatist Franz 10th: Louise Bertin’s Le Loup-garou (‘The
identifying liver disease and hepatitis B Grillparzer – ‘As Behemoth storms Werewolf’) enjoys a rapturous reception at its
as likely culprits. through the sea, so he flew over and premiere at the Salle Feydeau in Paris, as part
Although in life Beethoven had across the borders of his art’ – and at the of a charity event for the victims of the recent
harsh winter. Bertin’s one-act comic opera
railed angrily about a lack of support graveside Hummel dropped three laurel
BELLATRIX PHOTOGRAPHY, DAVE STAPLETON, ANDREJ GRILC, GETTY
tells the story of a young count who has been

for himself and for his music, his wreaths on to the coffin. exiled until he finds true love but, when he
death produced an outpouring of Währing was not, however, does return to his village, is suspected of being
grief and respectful recognition. A Beethoven’s final resting place. The a werewolf. All ends well, however.
steady stream of visitors arrived at the cemetery closed in 1873, and in 1888 16th: The inaugural issue of Freedom’s
Schwarzspanierstrasse apartment to the composer’s remains were moved Journal, the first ever newspaper owned
view Beethoven in an oak coffin flanked to a more prominent location at and run by African Americans, is published.
Founded by the priests John Wilk and Peter
by burning candles, his head crowned Vienna’s Zentralfriedhof, where they
Williams, and the orator and abolitionist
by a garland of white roses, his hands remain today. A replica of the Währing William Hamilton among others, the weekly
clasping a cross and a white lily. headstone accompanied them, with publication is edited by Samuel Cornish. It
The funeral itself took place on one word only deemed necessary for is on sale every Friday, advertised at $3 for a
the afternoon of 29 March and was, identification: ‘Beethoven’. Terry Blain year-long subscription.

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MEET THE COMPOSER
Singing out: Three works to discover

‘Why not use my music to
bring awareness to issues Two Black Churches (2020)
that are alive today?’ This uncompromising two-movement
song-set reflects on the terror and
tragedy of the 1963 bombing of a church
in Birmingham, Alabama and the 2015
shooting at a church in Charleston.
UNKNOWN (2021)
A bold dramatic song cycle written to
commemorate the centenary of the
founding of the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery,
based on poems by Marcus Amaker.
The Cook-Off (2023)
This comedic chamber opera is set
around a fictional TV cooking competition.
First staged in Chicago in May 2023,
it receives its first fully staged production
in Nashville this year.
for runaway enslaved Africans. They’re very

powerful and dehumanised these people so
much. I’d just finished a series of justice pieces
about Black pain and I didn’t know if I could
do it; I thought maybe I needed to take a break
and do something more joyful. But I thought it
Shawn E Okpebholo was important and I was so thankful that I did

because it has been an amazing experience.
My music is always about something,

The American composer, 42, is becoming increasingly acclaimed for whether it’s a response to something, inspired
his thought-provoking works. While at home in a variety of musical by something, a study on something – it could
forms, he has leaned progressively towards composing for the voice, be a sacred piece or a piece about climate
change. So while I do feel a pressure to
and his latest cycle, Songs in Flight, is performed on 11 March at represent, I write all sorts of music and a lot of
Wheaton College in Chicago, where Okpebholo is based today. it doesn’t have anything specifically to do with
justice issues. I am fortunate to be in a position
where my music is out there and performed
all over the world, so why not use it to bring
I am here today because people took time composer and euphonium player, offered to awareness to issues that are alive today?
and said, ‘You know what? This kid has give me euphonium lessons. Those lasted
something…’ My mom was a single mom and maybe a month or two before I said, ‘Mr If you had asked me a few years ago what
couldn’t afford music lessons – we lived in Curnow, I really do appreciate this, but I’d my comfort zone is, I would have said
government housing in one of the poorest areas rather you teach me composition,’ and he said instrumental writing, really intense
of Lexington, Kentucky. The Salvation Army he’d much rather do that anyway! chamber music or even orchestral music.
church bus would come through and so we I love colours, I like to orchestrate and I feel
went to a Wednesday night programme, like I am a deeply spiritual, religious person. really comfortable doing it; I love harmony, I
a boy scout/girl scout thing. When I was eight And so my faith is important in terms of love counterpoint. But my catalogue in recent
they gave me a baritone horn, my twin sister an inspiration. It’s funny because there are times has been art song. I’ve written a lot of it –
alto horn (or tenor horn) and my younger sister people with different faiths than me, or no maybe five song cycles – and then on top of that
a cornet, plus we sang in the choir. People saw faith at all, who write brilliant music; but there are my two collections of negro spirituals
promise in me and they invested their time – for me I can go to that space or place and I’m and slave songs, and of course my opera The
they didn’t have to do this and I am so grateful. convinced that when I’m at a loss, when I Cook-Off. And so, maybe I was in denial, and
There are so many people in our country that need something, my faith will help me create maybe that is my comfort zone.
don’t have the opportunity. I’m no smarter, something out of nothing. I don’t think I can
no more talented, no more driven; I was just do that on my own. I love art song because I get to work with
afforded the opportunity and I took it. poetry. Whether it’s Songs in Flight for three
Songs in Flight is a very special work. It’s or four voices and piano, or just one voice and
When I was a teenager I wrote a little setting based on a project spearheaded by Cornell piano, the piano is not an accompaniment
of a hymn for euphonium and piano. James University called ‘Freedom on the Move’, – if I am writing a song for tenor and piano
Curnow, who was a very prominent local which is a huge collection of newspaper ads I call them duets.

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Music to my ears
Right up there: Janine Jansen dazzles in Sibelius
The BBC Music Magazine

team’s current favourites...
Charlotte Smith Editor
Inspired by the Berlin Philharmonic Digital
Concert Hall’s 15th-anniversary broadcast in
January, I’ve been delving into its archives to
unearth a wealth of performances. First up was
Martha Argerich in Beethoven’s Second Piano
Concerto under Daniel Barenboim – a magnetic
A joyful jigsaw: Christopher
display of athleticism belying her 82 years.
Glynn records Mozart sonata
Janine Jansen in Sibelius’s Violin Concerto fragments with Rachel
under Sakari Oramo also had me transfixed. Podger; (opposite) with
soprano Claire Booth
Jeremy Pound Deputy editor
As most of March falls in Lent, I plan to spend
it teetotal, accompanied by some alcohol-free
listening. As far as I’m aware, no-one has ever
written a piece inspired by lime cordial or zero
per cent IPA, so I’ll head instead for JS Bach’s
Coffee Cantata BWV 211. Masaaki Suzuki and
Bach Collegium Japan’s 2004 recording is a
wonderfully aromatic blend, ideal for kicking me
REWIND
Great artists talk about their past recordings
into action first thing in the morning.
ANDREW WILKINSON, BENJAMIN EALOVEGA, LUKAS BECK/WIENER KONZERTHAUS, STEWEN QWIGLEY, GERARD COLLETT
Steve Wright Acting reviews editor This month: CHRISTOPHER GLYNN Pianist
I’ve been revelling in a 2023 release from the
Orchestre Pasdeloup, featuring works by female
composers from across the 19th, 20th and MY FINEST MOMENT goes to song recitals, which is quite a
21st centuries. Fanny Mendelssohn’s Overture
in C is a superb distillation of Classical grace
Schubert in English, Vol. 4 sad thing. So I commissioned Jeremy
and Romantic excitement; Tailleferre’s Petite Roderick Williams (baritone), Rowan Sams to create translations of The
suite pour orchestre shimmers, meditates and Pierce (soprano), Christopher Glynn (piano) Winter Journey and other Schubert song
gladdens; and Anna Clyne’s Restless Oceans Signum Classics SIGCD770 (2023) cycles and started experimenting with
packs bags of excitement into just four minutes. The Schubert in performing them – and this series with
Freya Parr Content producer English series is a Signum came out of it.
While our reviews editor Michael Beek takes project I set up to Volume four is a miscellany – lots
a well-earned sabbatical, I’ve returned to the present Schubert’s of very storytelling songs like ‘The
BBC Music Magazine fold this month and have songs in English, Trout’ and ‘The Wanderer’ – with two
traded in my Japanese punk and acid house for which hadn’t been wonderful singers: Roderick Williams,
some delightful new treats from the classical done before, or at whose way with the English language is
music world. Sean Shibe’s latest album
Profesión sees the guitarist at his most lyrical,
least not for a long time. It was really second to none, and Rowan Pierce. I had
with a vibrant and colourful recording quality about finding new audiences for lieder, a hunch Rowan would be a wonderful
that stopped me in my tracks. Even on the because I’m very aware that only a small Schubert singer and I think that turned
tinniest headphones, Shibe’s playing sparkles. sub-set of the classical music audience out to be the case.

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and in the end we really had no choice
because it was virtually impossible to
rehearse them.
We got together in November in a very
cold church in Upper Norwood, with
a very unhappy fortepiano which kept
sticking and going out of tune; but luckily
the recording came out really well. When
I play it back I can hear how happy we
were to just be making music. It was
emotional, because we’d had so many
concerts cancelled – it had been going
on for almost a year at that point. So it’s a
very fond memory, because we loved the
material and we were so happy to be able
to do it. Strong character: composer Dorothy Howell
I’D LIKE ANOTHER GO AT… MyHero

Grainger Folk Music
Claire Booth (soprano), Conductor Rebecca
Christopher Glynn (piano) Miller salutes the
Avie AV2372 (2017) neglected genius of
We had a great time, and I think of all I was just reflecting that often it’s Dorothy Howell
the recordings I’ve made this is the only performing the repertoire that gives
time that the first edit came through and you the chance to make a recording, but My love of Dorothy Howell’s music started
I thought it was exactly what we were sometimes it’s the other way round. This accidentally. I had a recording of female-
trying to do. It had a naturalness to it that was very much the composed piano concertos scheduled with
the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra,
felt precisely what we were aiming for, case here. I’ve always
but the recording rights for one work were
so I was really pleased with how it came loved the music of suddenly withdrawn. Enter Dorothy.
out. That naturalness and directness feel Percy Grainger, but Permission from the Howell Estate
such a big part of Schubert. trying to get concert required a visit to meet and convince
promoters to take Merryn and Columb Howell (Dorothy’s niece
MY FONDEST MEMORY it before it was on and nephew). So we trotted off to Bewdley,
Mozart Violin Sonata Fragments disc was almost impossible. It tended to Worcestershire, and shared an afternoon of
affectionate anecdotes of ‘Auntie D’.
(completed by Tim Jones) be quite a hard sell! Then Claire Booth
After recording her stunning Piano
Rachel Podger (violin), and I made this album and it did well; Concerto, I returned to Bewdley, seeking
Christopher Glynn (piano) suddenly, we were being asked to do it more of Dorothy’s orchestral creations.
Channel Classics CCSSA42721 (2021) in all directions. So as a result we did Merryn unearthed several brown paper
This recording nearly didn’t happen lots of performances after we made the packages wrapped in string, and beneath
because it was scheduled just as recording, and although I’m very proud the dust lay wonderful treasures – scores
Covid hit, and I think we rescheduled of the recording – I think it works really with Henry Wood’s original blue pencil and
notes from Dorothy stuck inside! Some
it about four times. We ended up well – we’ve changed the way we do the hadn’t seen the light of day for 80 years.
recording it in the middle of the music quite a lot. Her music jumped off the page: oozing
second or third lockdown. I learned some of the Grainger piano vibrant colour and strong character.
It was completions of fragments of solos for the project, and I’m proud of Dorothy Howell’s career rocket-launched
Mozart violin sonatas that Tim Jones what they sound like, but I play them in 1919 when her tone poem Lamia so
made, and it was very differently now. Playing live, you dazzled Henry Wood that he programmed
it five times that Proms season – she
just fascinating realise how bold you can be with the
was promptly acclaimed as ‘the English
because he would music, and understand its eccentricity; Strauss’. But the press subsequently
take 16 unfinished until you do it in front of an audience, turned vicious, weighing heavily on her.
bars of Mozart and you don’t realise how far you can go. She eventually abandoned orchestral
make not only one Grainger was a total one off, but you composition, and her reputation faded. On
completion but don’t realise just how much he was until her deathbed, surrounded by her scores,
multiple completions, and we chose you play his music. I’d definitely go back she said to Merryn, ‘just burn all of this, no
one is interested’. Thankfully, he didn’t.
two of each one to record. He tried to and do it with Claire and it would be
I’m overjoyed to have finally recorded her
work like Mozart worked: very fast, very wonderful to do a live recording. orchestral works. I hope it will help revive
spontaneously, not giving himself too Christopher Glynn’s ‘Schumann in her reputation, talent and story.
much time to revise. I wanted to bring English, Vol. 1’ is out on Signum Classics Miller’s Dorothy Howell: Orchestral
that spontaneity into the performance, on 8 March Works is out this month on Signum Classics

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THE LISTENING SERVICE
Petite... but a lot of pluck

Despite its diminutive size,
the ukulele has always
punched above its weight
as a unifying musical force
– even during decades of
disfavour, says Tom Service
ILLUSTRATION: MARIA CORTE MAIDAGAN
T
he ukulele: the sound of
pseudo-tropical holidays and
the strains of George Formby
cleaning windows; a slight, four-string
cousin of the guitar designed to make a
soundworld of jingly-jangly innuendo.
What else is there to say?
A whole lot! Because the ukulele plays
everything from massed Beethoven to
solo Bach, as well as being the choice
of thousands of schoolchildren and
families, as it knocks the recorder off
the top spot as the classroom’s favourite
musical instrument.
And the ukulele is the sonic soul of
Hawaii, where the instrument was born.
Ukulele means ‘jumping flea’, named
after one of its first virtuosos, Colonel The sound of the ukulele was too and Daniel Estrem playing Bach with
Edward William Purvis, who was small intimate and too quiet for the bombast a unique combination of gentleness
in stature, fidgety by nature – and the of rock’n’roll, and the instrument was and epic ambition, including Estrem’s
vice-chamberlain of King Kalākaua overlooked by generations of classical recording of the Second Violin Partita
in the late-19th century. His fingers composers. In Hawaii, however, it never with its labyrinthine Chaconne.
moved like fleas across the instrument, went away, and the legacy of ukulele Most epically of all, the Ukulele
which was invented by Portuguese icon IZ – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – who Orchestra of Great Britain created a
immigrants, who came to Hawaii to mass performance of Beethoven’s ‘Ode
work on the sugar plantations and who What happened to turn to Joy’ at their BBC Prom in 2009.
made a diminutive and portable four- Audience members were invited to
string, based on Madeira guitars like the the ukulele from a musical bring their ukuleles along too, making
machete and the cavaquinho. essential to a novelty? a thousands-strong performance, one
What started in Hawaii quickly swept of the most irresistible moments of
the globe: from Japan to Europe to the died tragically young in 1997, but whose participatory music there’s ever been
US, the world was gripped by ukulele albums are still the biggest selling of at the Proms. As Joe Brown sings: ‘I
mania in the early decades of the 20th any Hawaiian musician, is taken on by like ukuleles… that little jumping flea
century. The ukulele was cheap to today’s Hawaiian ukulele adventurers will cheer you up and chase away your
manufacture, quick to learn, and in the like Taimane, who crosses genres from blues.’ From Hawaii to the Albert Hall,
hands of millions of players it crossed classical to rock to flamenco. the ukulele was made to do just that.
genres from jazz to country. So what Yet it’s taken until the later-20th and
happened to turn it from a musical early-21st centuries for the ukulele to Tom Service explores how
essential to a novelty instrument by the reclaim its rightful place. As for the music works in The Listening
mid-decades of the 20th century? classical ukulele? Listen to John King Service on Sundays at 5pm

FAREWELL TO…
Rare versatility:
contralto Ewa Podleś
ranged from Handel
to Penderecki
Ewa Podleś Born 1952 Contralto

With her outstandingly rich and dark lower register, Ewa Podleś
became best known for her performances of Baroque opera but, also
blessed with a rare agility across a huge range, excelled in coloratura
roles by the likes of Rossini and Donizetti too. She herself once
acknowledged in an interview that she had ‘a very rare voice’. That
voice took the Polish contralto from studies at the Warsaw Academy
of Music to victory in the International Tchaikovsky Competition
in Moscow in 1977, a moment that launched her career in earnest.
Over the next four decades, her vocal power and versatility saw her
acclaimed in repertoire ranging from Handel to Shostakovich, both
on the world’s great stages and in a large number of recordings that
included the Te Deum by her compatriot Penderecki, conducted by the
composer himself. She retired from singing in 2017.
Peter Schickele Born 1935 Composer and entertainer

As a performer and composer, Peter Schickele won no fewer than
five Grammy awards, four in the Best Comedy Album category and
one for Best Classical Crossover Album. Though his large number of
compositions included significant pieces for orchestra, choral and
chamber ensembles, it was through his alter ego P.D.Q.Bach that
Schickele enjoyed his greatest acclaim. Invented as a joke in 1954,
the ‘last and oddest’ of JS Bach’s children would see the Iowa-born,
Juilliard School-educated Schickele appear live on stage and on air,
introducing works such as Fanfare for the Common Cold, Oedipus
Tex and The Short-Tempered Clavier to appreciative audiences. From
1992-99, he also broadcast the classical music educational programme
Schickele Mix on radio stations across the US.
Tony Holt Born 1940 Baritone

Tony Holt spent the majority of his performing career gracing the
sound of the King’s Singers with his elegantly bright baritone voice.
Though the founder members of the six-man vocal ensemble all
attended the Cambridge college from which the group took its name,
when Holt joined in January 1970, he was something of an interloper,
having studied at Christ Church, Oxford as a choral scholar. Singing
first baritone, he would go on to be a member of the King’s Singers until
1987, a period in which the group enjoyed an international profile,
appearing regularly on TV both in Britain and abroad and recording
several best-selling discs. After leaving the King’s Singers, he moved to
the US, where he became a greatly respected teacher at St Olaf College
GET T Y
in Northfield, Minnesota.
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THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN ship in the distance in a misty fliegender

Holländer-ish light, and then it approaches
in a similarly Wagnerian way, ready for the
Pick a theme… and name your seven favourite examples shipmen and captain to enjoy hospitality
on the island. It’s quite a heroic ballad.
Robert Schumann
Hochländers Abschied
This month, Dumfries-born tenor Nicky Spence (Highlander’s Farewell)
tells us about his best-loved Scottish Songs ‘My heart is in the Highlands,’ says the
Burns poem that inspired this musical
setting. It’s an emotionally charged
W
ith regular appearances at Trad Brose and Butter statement, particularly given the
the Royal Opera House and It would be easy to come up with a Highlands’ history: during the Clearances
English National Opera, Nicky catalogue of ‘woe is me, my sheep has of the 19th century, the crofters were given
Spence has also sung in venues all over died, my lover’s left, I’ve got no food for my half an hour to remove their belongings
the world. Specialising in psychologically baby’-type ballads. But this next song – before their houses were burned to the
complex roles, he has a particular apparently one of the favourite airs of ground, with many of them ending up
attraction to the music of Janáček and Charles II when he was in exile – is very in Canada. I think what drew Robert
Wagner, and has sung a good deal of uplifting. It’s an example of port à beul: Schumann to this poem was the imagery
contemporary repertoire. But he also casts a rhythmical mouth music that people of the landscape and that romanticised
his net well beyond the world of classical danced to during the Jacobite rising, when idea of Scotland. But I love that sense of
music. On 24 April he joins soprano musical instruments were banned. And it’s belonging; of knowing where your heart
Eleanor Dennis and pianist Dylan Perez a spicy one. Burns was a very naughty man, is. I’ve lived in London for 25 years, but my
for a survey of Scottish song as part of the and this song is all about sex, basically. heart is definitely in Scotland.
Scotland Unwrapped season at London’s
Kings Place. Anon/Kennedy-Fraser Trad The Wee Cooper o’ Fife
Kishmul’s Galley This song about a barrel maker from Fife
Robert Burns Ae Fond Kiss Collected by another Scottish legend, and his wife is a bit S&M in a tongue-in-
I grew up in Dumfries and Galloway, where Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, this is one of cheek way – think ‘50 Shades of Scotland’.
Robert Burns is part of the fabric, and I the Gaelic waulking songs that ladies I once sang it in a competition where an
sang his songs on my gran’s knee (‘poor sang to keep the time while ailing soprano had left a chair in the
granny’ I used to say, because I was a rather shrinking woven cloth. You can middle of the stage. I did a little
chunky little lad). I loved the simplicity just imagine them singing it dance, failed to spot the chair
and honesty of his songs and the fact that while whacking bits of cloth and ended up falling over it into
they were so ahead of his time. This one, on stone. It tells of a ship, or the audience, all while singing
set to a Gallic tune, is Sting’s favourite love galley, as it glides towards this ridiculous song. Then I had
song and contains the most beautiful lyrics: Kishmul castle on the Isle of to pick myself up and finish. I
‘Had we never lov’d sae kindly, Had we Barra. The islanders see the managed to style it out and won!
never lov’d sae blindly, Never met-or never That’s my forte: styling stuff out.
parted, We had ne’er been broken-hearted.’
Robert Burns A Red, Red Rose
Emily Smith Edward of Morton This was one of the first songs I sang as a
Emily Smith is one of my favourite Scottish young boy, working out my voice, and it’s
singers and just so happened to go to school quite difficult, with a range of almost two
with me. She normally does quite lilting octaves. If you don’t choose the right key,
numbers, but this one is very dramatic. It you’re either in a place where only dogs
tells the story of Edward of Morton, who is can hear you or trying to do a Barry White
thrown into jail after refusing the advances impression. But it’s really beautiful. I spend
of a Lady Morton. Sentenced to death, he’s so much time away from my family, I often
KI PRICE, LAURA SPARROW, GETTY
attached to a horse which is made to run want to remind them of how much I love
until he dies, and his head falls off in the them. So I find something very reassuring
village near to where I grew up. The song is about this song’s message of ‘I love you so
like a miniature opera: it has three minutes much even though you’re so far away’.
to set out its stall and it’s really exciting. Interview by Hannah Nepilova

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Scottish and proud:
Nicky Spence’s heart
lies north of the border;
(opposite below)
Emily Smith spins a
macabre yarn; legendary
poet Robert Burns

THE S OU N D OF C L ASS ICAL
march Releases
DOLBY ATMOS SPATIAL AUDIO SURROUND-SOUND HYBRID
DOLBY ATMOS SPATIAL SACD
AUDIO
SURROUND-SOUND HYBRID SACD

CHAN 20286
CHSA 5349
MOZART RACHMANINOFF
PIANO CONCERTOS, VOL. 9 ALL-NIGHT VIGIL
-HDQ(̯DP%DYRX]HW_0DQFKHVWHU 3D75$0,QVWLWXWH0DOH&KRLU
&DPHUDWD_*£ERU7DN£FV1DJ\ (NDWHULQD$QWRQHQNR
The three concertos featured on this In celebration of the 150th anniversary of
album were composed together in WKHELUWKRI5DFKPDQLQR̫3D75$0,QVWLWXWH
1782 – 83, shortly after Mozart had Male Choir invites you to experience the
left Salzburg to establish himself as a extraordinary beauty of his choral tour de
freelance composer and performer in force, the All-Night Vigil.
Vienna.
ALREADY AVAILABLE
DOLBY ATMOS SPATIAL AUDIO

DOLBY ATMOS SPATIAL AUDIO
RECORDING OF THE MONTH
BRAHMS & BUSONI

VIOLIN CONCERTOS
Francesca Dego
CHSA 5301
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska
CHSA 5331
The celebrated violinist Francesca Dego is joined by the

BBC Symphony Orchestra and their Principal Guest Conductor SYMPHONIC DANCES AND OTHER
Dalia Stasevska for this recording of the violin concertos TCHAIKOVSKY WORKS
by Brahms and Busoni, marking the 100th anniversary ORCHESTRAL WORKS, VOL. 2 -XQL'DKUspeaker
0DUL(ULNVPRHQ_$VWULG1RUGVWDG
of Busoni’s death. BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
$OSHVK&KDXKDQ (GZDUG*DUGQHU
CHSA 5333
Volume 1 of this series met with widespread Edward Gardner leads his Bergen
critical acclaim and awards, declared forces in the Symphonic Dances, the
Recording of the Week by both The Times and Funeral March for Rikard Nordraak,
Presto Music, and made Orchestral Choice by Before a Southern Convent, and the
the magazine BBC Music. This second volume epic narrative Bergliot, based on a
– with the same forces – again mixes well- Norse saga.
known and less-often-heard Tchaikovsky.
W W W. C H A N D O S . N E T S TAY I N T H E K N O W
[mP3 * lossless * studio * surround]
[SACD * CD * USB]
Chandos
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Opinion
Richard Morrison
Performers should help audiences
to experience music from the inside
O
ne great moment at last rehearsal directed by Georg Solti, I passengers used to be, before aircraft
summer’s BBC Proms came experienced the frisson of being on the security became a big thing) didn’t give
in the concert where the receiving end of one of his terrifying you much insight into how to fly the
Aurora Orchestra gave its astonishing howls of anger. He hadn’t been told that plane. But it did provide a wonderful
presentation from memory of a journalist would be staring at him. I new perspective on cruising above the
Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The still tremble at the memory. The first clouds. And new perspectives are what
dramatic deconstruction of the work horn, incidentally, found it hilarious. I orchestras should be thinking about
was stunning enough, the performance later discovered that he and Solti had a giving their audiences.
that followed awe-inspiring. But mutual hatred going back years. In fact, many already do that sort
what then happened was even more But I digress. My point is that in a of thing, but almost entirely in an
remarkable. As an encore the musicians normal concert set-up the audience’s educational context. A player or group
spread themselves through the audience awareness of the music is constrained by of players will go into a school and
in the Albert Hall, then delivered some what, in the theatre, is called the ‘fourth dazzle the pupils with an up-close
of the work’s most hair-raising passages wall’ – that invisible but nevertheless demonstration of their skills. My feeling
right next to their spellbound listeners. is that they should be giving their adult
So, it felt as if we were experiencing audiences more opportunities to be
the music as the musicians did: from You could almost see dazzled at close quarters too.
the inside. And, more than that, we Remember what happened in the
enjoyed the visceral thrill of being ‘up their sinews straining pandemic? ‘Proper’ concerts weren’t
close and personal’ to these brilliant possible, so many top musicians gave
players operating at the very limits of and feel the energy impromptu recitals, perhaps in their
their powers. You could almost see front gardens, in hospital courtyards
their sinews straining and feel the pulsing through them or in local parks. They won lots of
concentration and energy pulsing new admirers, not just because they
through them as they negotiated those perceptible barrier between stage and were performing a public service but
shifting time-signatures and primordial stalls. We listeners are hearing the music because the listeners felt the kind of
sounds at breakneck speed. In my loud and clear, no question, but only as personal connection with them that
imagination I felt as if I was following passive recipients. isn’t possible across the ‘fourth wall’
a tightrope walker along a high wire – Maybe we are also (as I am) active of a concert hall. There was a lot of
except, of course, that if something went musicians too, in which case we talk at the time, I recall, about this
wrong nobody was likely to die. know full well the thrill and terror phenomenon being an unexpected
I have had similar experiences in the of performing in public. But the vast silver lining at a terrible time – and
past. The much missed opera director majority of people who attend classical how it could have a permanent effect
Graham Vick did some extraordinary music concerts won’t make music on professional musicmaking.
warehouse productions with his themselves at anything like the level that But as Covid receded, we all went back
Birmingham Opera Company in which those professional performers on stage to business as usual and forgot about
the performers encircled or mingled are making it. So why don’t we give them those revelations. We shouldn’t have
with the audience and you were treated more opportunities to experience what done. Musicians need to re-establish
as a participant in the drama. And, as that Rite of Spring audience experienced their emotional links with their
a journalist, I have also had privileged in the Albert Hall? The sense of being audiences. Letting the punters feel what
access to rehearsals where I was invited right at the heart of the musicmaking it’s like to be on the inside, now and
to sit in an orchestra’s ranks. That was OK, in some ways it would be a fake again, would be a great way to do that.
certainly an eye-opener. Placed next to experience. Being invited to sit in the Richard Morrison is chief music critic
the first horn in a London Philharmonic cockpit of a jumbo-jet (as selected and a columnist of The Times

Man of the moment:
countertenor Jakub
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in a handstand on two hands, then just
one. It’s thrilling to watch, his acrobatics having his morning coffee (‘just But we’re not here to talk about
unexpectedly capturing the spirit of the a tiny one’) at home in Warsaw, Monteverdi, Caccini and their
music. A brilliant dancer in an opera preparing to embark on a 17th-century friends.
COREY WEAVER/MATTHEW WASHBURN/SAN FRANCISCO OPERA, GETTY, RICHARD DUMAS
production is no surprise, perhaps, but 21-concert European tour Orliński is excited to

if you’ve ever encountered Jakub Józef for his Beyond programme. tell me about a rather
Orliński before, you’ll have guessed by He’s fizzing with energy different recording that’s
now that this whirling figure is no stunt – and I don’t think it’s the out this April on his
double. He is also the same person who, caffeine; that’s simply his label Warner Classics.
later, sings with bewitching beauty about character. He sings, he This time, Orliński has
love and loss, joy and sorrow. Orliński’s breakdances, he lives life at landed not on a clutch of
voice is something special. So transfixing full throttle, full of enthusiasm arias, but a whole opera. And it’s
are his performances that more than 11 and curiosity. Since his first album, Anima not an obscure discovery by the likes of
million people have watched him sing Sacra, in 2018, he has earned a reputation Saracini or Pallavacino, but a work that
rare Vivaldi on YouTube, casually dressed, for digging up rarely known Baroque gems arguably changed the direction of musical
not expecting to be filmed, apparently and giving them the Midas touch. Beyond history: Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice. It’s the
hungover – and yet singing from the heart. is classic Orliński. ‘Not just lavish, but piece in which the German composer
I’ve caught up with the Polish groundbreaking,’ wrote The Sunday Times, put into practice his desire to shake up
countertenor, 33, on Zoom, while he’s naming it one of the best albums of 2023. the opera world. As he later explained,

Defying gravity: (left) Orliński singing and
breakdancing as Orfeo in Matthew Ozawa’s
experimental production for San Francisco
Opera, 2022; (opposite below) opera
composer Christoph Willibald Gluck
god of love, takes pity on the heartbroken,

suicidal Orfeo and brings Euridice back
to life yet again.
‘As a character, Orfeo shows bravery,
true love and passion, and he’s a very
dramatic character, which I love,’ says
Orliński. ‘In Baroque operas, you have to
have it all musically: there are slow pieces,
fast pieces, low notes, high notes – so many
things you have to do vocally. But also High and mighty:
star countertenors
emotionally, you are all over the place.’ Reginald Mobley and
Take the start, for example, says Orliński, (below) Alfred Deller
when Orfeo cries out for Euridice, who
has died after being bitten by a snake. ‘His
scream out for her is very painful, very Upwardly mobile
strong. I have experiences of losing my The rise of the countertenor
grandma and my friend, and when I sing
In the 31 years
it, the sense of loss really strikes me,’ he since BBC Music
reflects. That’s also one of the challenges was launched, only
of the opera: learning to pace its emotional one countertenor
journey. ‘If you start too emotionally, it’s other than Jakub
dangerous. You learn by experience how Józef Orliński has
to manage the emotions so that listeners had the cover of
will feel them, but as a singer you won’t the magazine to
be drowned by them.’ themselves – the
It’s a skill Orliński has been perfecting German Andreas
ever since that viral Vivaldi video Scholl, in 1998 and then again in 2005.
Still fairly slim pickings, then, but at least
propelled him to international fame – an
the voice type enjoys a far higher profile
unexpected bonus of his debut at the today that it did, say, a century ago.
Aix-en-Provence Festival, where it was Deeply unfashionable until the mid-20th
filmed. Success has followed success, century, countertenors have Alfred Deller
he wanted to offer listeners ‘simplicity, with bookings at the world’s major opera (1912-79; above) to thank for thrusting
truth and naturalness’. Lengthy da capo houses and six albums to his name, plus them back into the limelight. Though
arias and recitativo secco (unaccompanied appearances on the covers of Vogue and renowned largely for his performances of
recitative) were out; music that expressed Elle (he’s also a model). And during that early music, Deller enjoyed the approval
the meaning of the words was in. The time, the character of Orfeo took hold of composers such as Tippett and Britten,
result was a compact, popular opera about of his imagination. It began back in the latter of whom wrote the role of
Oberon in 1960’s A Midsummer Night’s
Orpheus (Orfeo, in Italian) – ancient Greek 2021, when he sang at the Metropolitan
Dream with him in mind, just as he later
hero, son of a Muse, part-human, part- Opera in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice, a fashioned the part of Apollo in Death in
divine and a musician of extravagant skill. contemporary opera which tells the story Venice (1973) for countertenor James
‘To be honest, I can’t deny it. It’s going from the nymph’s point of view. Bowman (1941-2023).
to be great. Orfeo ed Euridice is Gluck’s ‘In my opinion, it’s phenomenal. By this stage, the efforts of Deller, his
masterpiece,’ says Orliński. ‘It’s one of the Eurydice is based on a fantastic play by contemporary John Whitworth (1921-
most phenomenal pieces, not only because Sarah Ruhl – if you have a chance, please 2013) and, across the Atlantic, Russell
the story is beautiful, not only because read it. I strongly suggest it to everyone,’ Oberlin (1928-2016) – plus a resurgence
the music is genius, but also because it’s Orliński says. ‘I went for a walk through in the popularity of Baroque opera – had
presented in a very accessible way.’ The Central Park and read it – and I was gone. started to make countertenors household
story is not short on drama either. Orfeo It’s so beautifully written.’ While he was names. Those following in their famous
falsetto footsteps have included the Brits
loses his great love, Euridice, and embarks in New York – a familiar city, as Orliński
Michael Chance (b.1955) and Iestyn
on a perilous journey to the underworld trained at the Juilliard School – he also Davies (b.1979), Belgian countertenor-
to save her, employing his musical gifts headed to Broadway to see the ‘extremely turned-conductor René Jacobs (b.1946),
along the way. Just when we believe he has cool and super-fun’ (his words) musical the US’s Reginald Mobley (b.1977; above),
succeeded, he does the one thing he’s been Hadestown, yet another modern update of Frenchman Philippe Jaroussky (b.1978),
told not do to (turn back to look at her) – the ancient myth. Fired up, Orliński was Japan’s Yoshikazu Mera (b.1971) and, of
and loses her forever. Until, that is Amore, ready to turn to Gluck’s opera. course, cover stars Scholl and Orliński.

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His first foray into the underworld
was in Paris a year later, when he took the
lead role in the revival of a Robert Carsen
production that has attracted a host of
leading countertenors – including Philippe
Jaroussky, David Daniels and Carlo Vistoli
– over the years. Even though Orliński
had worked with Carsen on Handel’s
Rinaldo at Glyndebourne, he wasn’t sure
what to expect. ‘The production was not
as modern as I thought it might be, but it
is very deep,’ he says. ‘I think people loved
it. We had a fantastic cast. And after these
performances, we did a few concerts in
Paris with the same people, which was
great as everybody knew the piece so well.’
From there, Orliński hopped on Bold and visionary:
taking on the new
a plane to San Francisco. Same role, role of artistic director;
totally different production. This time (above) at Les Victoires
the director was Matthew Ozawa. ‘His de la Musique Classique
in Dijon, France, 2023
idea was to project brain scans while the
brain does different activities – while
it’s stressed, scared and so on – to show
the different levels of what was actually pitch the performers sing at, which is
happening inside your head. Carsen’s
production was very literal. Orfeo loses ‘If you believe in less of a fixed constant than one might
imagine. ‘For listeners, it might mean
Euridice and he goes to hell. In Ozawa’s,
people don’t know if Orfeo really lost her or what you present to almost nothing, but for a singer it is a huge
challenge. You’ve put the whole role in
not. We are inside his memories.’ Cast your your voice, your body, in that certain pitch.
mind back to that whirling breakdancer in the public, you send Suddenly, if something is a little bit lower
red: that was Orliński in this Orfeo. It was or higher, it’s very difficult. Your muscle
hailed as a triumph by the critics. this honest energy’ memory drags you up and down. I felt like
Doing two Orfeo productions back- I had to prepare the role three times.’
to-back meant that Orliński spent six and fellow Warner artists Elsa Dreisig Orliński also had his work cut out for
months immersed in the opera. Ideas and Fatma Said took the roles of Euridice other reasons. As well as singing the title
sparked, inspiration absorbed, he was and Amore. ‘We were laughing that this is role, he took on the task of being a ‘semi-
finally ready to make his own recording. the Warner Classics Greatest, you know – artistic director’ and was also involved
He gathered together his dream team in boom! Super-nice team,’ he says. with the sound engineering. ‘From the very
Warsaw, his home city, where he’d spent Not that the story was quite that simple. beginning, I said to the whole team that I
his formative years singing in a Gregorian ‘A fun fact is that in Paris I sang Orfeo at had a very clear idea of what I wanted from
JOHN MILLAR, GETTY
choir, skateboarding and becoming a classical pitch, with A=430 (Hz). In San the piece,’ he says. ‘Of course, with Stefan –
breakdancer. His friend Stefan Plewniak Francisco, at 440. And then we recorded who knew this piece really by heart, word
was on conducting duty, while friends it in 415,’ he explains, referring to the by word – we had to make our visions

Celestial wingman: Let the ideas grow:
Vincent Deliau as ‘I was aiming for different
Jupiter in Orphée versions so we could pick
aux enfers, 2009 which we preferred’
Tales of the underworld

Operas about Orpheus
Peri Euridice (1600)
Euridice finds its place in the history books
as the first opera that’s survived to the
present day, even if singers aren’t racing the same, so we were not fighting on the discipline of breakdancing fit into his life?
to perform it anymore. With a libretto by recording,’ he laughs. ‘We had meetings, ‘It’s super-important. To maintain the
Rinuccini and music by Jacopo Peri (and
and it was very possible. But we right away good shape of my voice, I also need to keep
some by Caccini), the first performance
took place at the wedding of King Henry IV
said to each other, “Let’s not be closed. If we myself in good shape. I have to practise
of France and Marie de Medici. hear somebody has an idea and it works, for my voice and my body,’ he says. ‘For
Monteverdi L’Orfeo (1607) we go there. We really explore.” example, even though Orfeo ed Euridice is a
The first opera that the public and history ‘With Elsa, for instance, it was very short opera, I’m on stage for the entire
have agreed was any good arrived on the phenomenal that I could ask anything time. No going out, no drinking water. You
scene in 1607. Monteverdi’s exploration of her. I could say, “Hey can we try it this have to start the opera with a lot of energy,
of the power of music and love is still as way?” And she would say, “Sure. Cool. but you have to finish the same way.’
moving today as it was when it was first Done”. In the recording booth, I was I’m reminded again of the dancer in
performed in Mantua. playing a role of ears. I was aiming for red, spinning seemingly effortlessly
Offenbach Orphée aux enfers (1858) different versions so we could pick which but presumably using a huge amount of
Can hell be funny? Jacques Offenbach we preferred at a later date.’ energy. ‘As the curtain was going up, I was
gave it his best shot with this comic opera, Thoroughness is at the root of Orliński’s already dancing like crazy in the middle,’
in which Orpheus swaps his soothing
work. ‘Preparation is absolutely crucial. he recalls. ‘It was very difficult because
lyre for a violin that irritates Eurydice.
The French composer scored a hit with
Because if you’ve prepared well, you can I was doing all these flips and tricks and
the ‘Galop infernal’ in the final scene. It’s explore even more while performing. just had the overture before having to sing.’
better known now as the can-can. You can really feel the freedom of letting None of it, however, was a gimmick – his
Birtwistle The Mask of Orpheus (1986) go and trying things,’ he says. ‘You learn breakdancing indicated that, possibly,
Not one but two conductors are needed how to be a logical singer so that by your Orfeo had descended into madness.
to wrestle with the massive orchestra voice and your breaths you can lead the And that authenticity is surely
Birtwistle uses for this landmark opera. whole orchestra. It means that if you do a Orliński’s secret. ‘I truly trust that if you
The central act contains some of his rallentando at the end, the players know as an artist believe in what you do and
‘most sensuously lyrical and light-dappled exactly where to put the chord below what you present to the public, then you
music turning to a nightmare of rhythmic you because it’s logical. I’ve learned by send this honest energy,’ he says. ‘The
distortion, layering and electronic experience to be free but also to be precise, audience knows that you are the character,
sampling,’ wrote critic Hilary Finch.
and then if you have good musicians who and that you’re living the story. All the
Christina Pluhar Orfeo Chamán (2014) listen to you, it’s like magic. That’s how you tools we use as singers – a pianissimo, a
Baroque opera, indigenous South
can really make music every single time ritenuto, an accelerando – are not party
American folk music, popular song styles,
Renaissance instruments and modern and it doesn’t get boring. It’s still so alive. tricks. As you long as you treat them
And oh my gosh, I love it. It’s exciting.’ as meaningful, you will touch people.
JOHN MILLAR, GETTY
choreography are all effectively melded by

Christina Pluhar, said our critic when the Given that music clearly gives Orliński You have to be honest with the art.’
first recording of Orfeo Chamán came out the emotional and intellectual challenges Gluck’s ‘Orfeo ed Euridice’ is out on
in 2016 (Erato 9029596969). he craves, how does the demanding Warner Classics on 26 April 2024.

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Rachel Barton Pine
I self-identified as
a violinist at five.
I had no concept of
career, but I knew
that was my calling
THE BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE INTERVIEW
Rachel Barton Pine

dutifully taken on by her mother, that
The American violinist takes
inspiration from Scottish folk
allowed Pine to up the ante to eight hours of
to thrash metal – and, as she practice per day and to make her solo debut
tells Charlotte Smith, she’s with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
now making new musical at the age of ten, before becoming the
discoveries through parenthoodyoungest ever gold medal winner of the
International Johann Sebastian Bach
PHOTOGRAPHY: LISA-MARIE MAZZUCCO
Competition in 1992. This strong parental
support is more remarkable considering
R
achel Barton Pine is a violinist neither of Pine’s parents were musicians –
through and through. As a three though her mother sang in the church choir
year-old, the precocious youngster – nor were they wealthy.
pestered her bemused parents for lessons Today, aged 49, Pine’s passion for the
following a performance by string students violin is undiminished. Since 2021 she
at her family’s church – and by the time has, on the advice of her medical team,
she was five, she was ‘self-identifying’ not performed seated due to injuries sustained
as someone who plays the violin, but as a in an incident with a suburban Chicago
violinist. ‘I had no concept of career,’ she commuter train in 1995 – but her playing
says. ‘But I knew that was what I was meant ability is unaffected. We meet in the
to do with my life. That was my calling.’ lobby of her Edinburgh hotel, following
True to her word, Pine never wavered her performance the previous evening of
from this belief. For her, the violin wasn’t Florence Price’s Second Violin Concerto
just a means of entertainment, but a way to with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
‘nurture your soul and uplift your spirit’. (RSNO) at Usher Hall. Though a relatively
By the time she was eight, and practising at short work at under 15 minutes, the
her own instigation for many hours a day, concerto’s sophisticated structure and
her primary school headteacher suggested increasingly busy violin part presents no
home schooling to her parents – a proposal, easy task for the soloist – and Pine’s

She will rock you: (right) Rachel Barton Pine is a
self-described ‘metalhead’; (opposite) composers
José White Lafitte and Joseph Bologne, Chevalier
de Saint Georges; (far right) Barton Pine with
guitarist Keri Kelli and bassist Chuck Garric, 2007
barnstorming encore of Liszt’s Mephisto

Waltz No. 1 in Nathan Milstein’s fiendish
arrangement certainly gave last night’s
crowd their money’s worth. I’m surprised
therefore to learn that Pine visited Sandy
Bell’s, an Edinburgh bar famous for its
daily folk music sessions, after the concert,
where she jammed for several hours with
local musicians. And she’s due to travel to
Glasgow to repeat the Price performance
this evening – though she’ll be keeping
things fresh with a different encore.
Pine recorded the Price concerto
recently with the RSNO as a special 25th
anniversary addition to her 1997 album
Violin Concertos by Black Composers
Through the Centuries for Cedille Records.
Typical of her curiosity and commitment,
what began as an interesting one-off
project for a budding recording artist has
turned into a multi-year mission, aimed
at introducing long-forgotten works by
Black composers not only to leading
concert halls, but to violin students at the
beginning of their educational journey.
Growing up in musically diverse
Chicago, Pine was exposed to Black
classical musicians early on, ‘unlike so
many colleagues of my generation who
didn’t know that any Black composers I’m particularly intrigued by her love of
existed until they got to university’. A trip
to the Centre for Black Music Research at
‘I would play a cover metal, the inspiration for her August 2023
release, Dependent Arising, which pairs
Columbia College turned up wonderful of Metallica or Led Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto
concertos by the likes of Joseph Bologne, with the titular work by Earl Maneein, a
Chevalier de Saint Georges. An enormous Zeppelin followed by violinist-composer known for his fusion of
replica of Bologne’s portrait, with his classical music, heavy metal and punk.
‘white Mozart-style wig and sword’, so a Paganini caprice’ ‘My mom says I must have been a
gripped the young musician as she entered metalhead since I was a tiny baby,’ Pine
the archive that it became the cover image That sea change has also helped to laughs. ‘She would be carrying me through
for her album. provide a boost for her Rachel Barton the neighbourhood and if there were
Yet despite much interest in her 1997 Pine Foundation, which for over 20 years work crews breaking the pavement with
recording, Pine describes spending years has doggedly collected over 900 works a jackhammer, I would make her stop to
attempting to persuade orchestras to by Black composers from the 18th to 21st listen. When I was ten, Santa Claus bought
programme, for example, the Concerto centuries. The Foundation’s second and me a transistor radio and I discovered a
in F sharp minor by José White Lafitte, third volumes for violin students, featuring station that played music by metal bands
an immensely talented 19th-century 31 meticulously researched and edited like Megadeth, Anthrax, Iron Maiden and
Cuban-French violinist and composer works, were released at the end of 2023 by Black Sabbath. I just loved that music!’
who overcame enormous odds to become Subito Music Corporation. Metal also provided a way to relax
an influential figure in Paris. ‘Then, all That a love of music can encompass between relentless hours of practice. ‘I
of a sudden, in 2021 there was a total sea a diversity of styles is central to Pine’s was able to listen to metal and turn off
change!’ she exclaims. ‘The world woke ethos. Although she tells me that blues my brain, which is not to say it’s brainless
up and it was amazing. I didn’t have to is her second favourite genre after music,’ she says. ‘But my brain wasn’t
convince anybody. My management classical, and that Scottish folk music trying to analyse it.’ It wasn’t until years
was getting calls asking to book me for is her fourth – both having formed the later, however, when she started to perform
the José White.’ basis for boundary-defying albums – rock covers on her violin, that she really

Rachel Barton Pine
written on the page and

how open this might be
to suggestion.’ So proud is Pine of her work
with living composers that her next album,
due for release in late 2024, will be devoted
to solo works written for her throughout
her career, and will feature accompanying School of rock
conversations with each composer. The wisdom of metal
Pine is also learning important lessons
Rachel Barton Pine made it her
from her daughter Sylvia, now 12 and
mission to teach metal lovers about
also a violinist, but who at the age of classical music – but, she says, metal
four identified as a composer – much to has also taught her to be a better
her mother’s surprise. Pine herself is no classical musician. Performing a
stranger to composition, having published six-string electric violin in her own
a volume of her own cadenzas and violin 2008-14 metal band Earthen Grave
virtuoso pieces on Carl Fischer Music’s ‘really helped me grow as an artist, as
Masters Collection in 2009. But she’s it provided real-time feedback,’ she
modest about her own composing skills. explains. ‘Classical music is a subtle
‘Composing-wise I’m more of a Heifetz and nuanced art form that requires
and less of a Kreisler,’ she shrugs, referring silence from the audience, or you
miss the detail. So, you might sense
to her ability to compose mostly for her
if the crowd is with you, but you don’t
own instrument. ‘But Sylvia has original really know until you reach the end of
noted the connection between the two melodies pouring out of her all day long.’ the piece, when they either applaud
genres. ‘I realised I must have been drawn Appealing to her friend, composer Jessie politely or enthusiastically. But metal
to metal because it’s probably the closest Montgomery, Pine was advised to steer her is so loud that the audience can show
to classical of all the sub-genres of rock. daughter towards classical improvisation their appreciation in the moment. That
There are plenty of fans out there who as well as composition lessons. The enabled me to adjust my performance
listen to classical, metal and nothing else.’ advice appears to have paid off, with to bring the crowd with me in real time.
So, in her early 20s, Pine embarked Sylvia’s recent acceptance to the Chicago ‘As a classical musician, we’re
on another mission – to win over metal Symphony’s Young Composers Initiative. playing very difficult and precise
material. If we fluff a run or miss a
listeners to classical. ‘I started going to rock It has also inspired Pine to attempt
shift, it’s like an Olympic figure skater
radio stations,’ she remembers. ‘I would improvisation herself. trying a triple jump and falling on their
play a cover of Metallica, AC/DC or Led When Sylvia told her mother that she rear end. So sometimes on stage,
Zeppelin and then I would play a Paganini would improvise her own cadenza to you’re thinking so much about the
caprice and talk about how a lot of bands Mozart’s Fifth Concerto for an upcoming technique that you can’t get past it.
were classically inspired – but also about concert, just as performers did in Classical But in other genres of music, a little
how classical music isn’t just one genre and times, Pine felt a pang of inferiority. Due bit of sloppiness adds flavour – and in
if you don’t like, say, Baroque music, you to play Mozart’s Fifth herself on a Baroque the great metal bands they really pour
might still enjoy a Mahler symphony.’ violin for the first time in December, she their whole selves into the music.
Working with composers from admits that her own cadenza, composed ‘So as a teenager, I realised you
numerous genres, from Billy Childs and some years ago, is less suited to the have either practised enough or you
haven’t; you’re either going to nail
Mohammed Fairouz to José Serebrier and period set-up. ‘So, I’m thinking, if my 12
it or you aren’t. It’s now up to your
Augusta Read Thomas, has also helped year-old can do the period-appropriate
GETTY, LISA-MARIE MAZZUCCO
autonomic nervous system. So, why

Pine to become ‘a better interpreter of the improvisation, I ought to manage it too!’ bother to think about the technique?
music of dead composers – because having she laughs. ‘By the time this article comes The only thing you can control is how
now worked with such a quantity of living out, I may or may not have attempted it… involved in the music you are. That
composers over the years, I’ve gotten to But that’s the beauty of parenthood; it was the huge inspiration from my
know the relationship between what’s stretches you in unexpected ways.’ favourite metal bands.’

Ernest Lough
On a wing and a prayer

The treble Ernest Lough’s solo singing earned instant acclaim
on HMV’s 1927 release of Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer.
$QGUHZb*UHHQ tells the story of the recording’s phenomenal success
une-December, 1927: 316,997. The tender years.’ Spot on. Well over a quarter of a
J initial sales figures were staggering.

HMV’s innocent-seeming recording of
Mendelssohn’s motet Hear My Prayer
featuring the treble Ernest Lough and the choir
million more sales followed in 1928. Crowds
flocked to Temple Church services in the hope
of hearing Lough sing ‘live’.
HMV catalogue number C1329 went on
of London’s Temple Church ‘took off like a selling for decades. It was Lough’s delivery of
rocket’ recalled John Whittle, a sound engineer that ‘O for the wings of a dove’ finale to the
for the company. ‘The accountants couldn’t motet that especially tugged at the emotions.
believe it.’ Part of the explanation was the critical Missionaries in Africa used his winning
acclaim for the recording – in the Westminster tones as an evangelising tool. In the 1950s, the
Gazette, for example: ‘This boy has a voice of young David Jones (David Bowie to you and
beautiful quality and sings with a maturity of me) was captivated by repeated listenings of
style and phrasing most unusual for one of such Hear My Prayer on the family gramophone.

An early bloomer: (main pic) Lough (front left) at the City
of London School Sports Day, 1925; (opposite below) a
music sheet for the HMV release of Hear My Prayer
Actor/filmmaker Richard Attenborough had a

similar childhood experience and later used the
recording to haunting effect in the 1964 thriller
movie Séance on a Wet Afternoon.
‘Master E Lough’, as the record label had
him – ‘Fluff’ to fellow choristers – was the
quintessential ‘household name’ between the
wars. Yet Lough insisted the spotlight could
easily have fallen on another of the exceptional
Temple Church boy soloists – Ronald Mallett,
perhaps, or Douglas Horton. Robin Lough,
one of his three sons, recalls: ‘My father was so
modest about the recording’s success. It drove
our mother mad! He said it was “a team job”, but
it was his voice that made the recording famous.’ Words and meaning:
George Thalben-Ball trained
Exactly when and why 15-year-old Lough his choristers to focus on the
was chosen as the Hear My Prayer soloist text’s emotional content
by legendary Temple Church organist and
choirmaster George Thalben-Ball isn’t clear.
Premeditated or spur-of-the-moment? Ernest’s pioneering location recording session. Balancing
version, according to son Graham, was that ‘it the sound using just one microphone was a real
challenge. The diminutive Lough ‘balanced’ on a
&URZGVĠRFNHGWR couple of bibles to attain optimum positioning.
There was no conductor. The Thalben-Ball
Temple Church in the way. As usual, he played the organ while the
aforementioned Ron Mallett ‘started and
hope of hearing Ernest finished everything’ (as Ernest put it) ‘with a
Lough sing ‘live’

nod of the head’. It worked a treat. Just as it did
second time around, as Graham Lough explains.
Further recordings ‘Six months later they had to re-record Hear My
was a case of which boy’s voice Thalben-Ball felt Mendelssohn
Prayer because the original wax disc wore out,
was in the best shape on the day’. Peter, the oldest Lobgesang – I waited for given the huge number of pressings HMV had to
of the Lough brothers, nonetheless cautions that the Lord (duet and chorus) make. My father said he could tell the difference
‘No one knows where the truth lies. What we Ernest Lough sings with between the recordings, but it’s not easy.’
can say is that in the still troubled world after his outstanding fellow Ernest Lough was born in Forest Gate, East
the Great War, here was a voice that had such Temple Church chorister, London, in November 1911. ‘His father was an
wonderful purity, a totally unique sound.’ Ronald Mallett, who later accountant for a linen manufacturer,’ Peter
The recording dramatically fulfilled Thalben- sadly died in a Japanese Lough recounts. ‘His mother was a housewife.
Ball’s ambition of bringing the talents of his concentration camp. Neither of them was musical, but young Ernest
singers to a wider public. Previous attempts William Henry Monk was in the local parish church choir. An uncle
Abide with Me
to stir record company interest had come to Ernest Lough as a baritone who sang in Southwark Cathedral choir spotted
nothing. Then, one Sunday – as Peter Lough in Monk’s ‘Eventide’ setting his talent and arranged for an audition there. My
relates – Lord Justice Bankes, chairman of the of the Henry Francis Lyte father didn’t pass it!’
Inns of Court ‘benchers’ who oversaw the Temple hymn, still demonstrating Undaunted, the 12-year-old boy was put
Church, heard the choir sing Hear My Prayer in a immaculate diction, sense in front of Dr Thalben-Ball, who recognised
service. ‘He conveyed how much he’d enjoyed it of line and feeling for mood. potential and duly drew it out. ‘My father always
to Thalben-Ball, who replied that if a recording David Evans said he owed everything to “Doctor”,’ Robin
was made, Bankes could hear it whenever he For the Beauty of the Earth Lough recalls. Robin and brother Graham are
liked. So the Lord Justice gave the notion his Ernest Lough with son in an ideal position to analyse the legendary
Robin, who demonstrates
blessing.’ And Thalben-Ball set to work on HMV. choirmaster’s training skills, having sung under
RECORDEDCHURCHMUSIC.ORG, GETTY
the same feeling for words

This was a time when HMV was looking to and emotion as made his
him in later years. The secret was his focus
exploit the new electrical recording processes. father famous. on words. ‘If, say, we were practising a psalm,’
Decent quality location recording was now a All numbers can be found on Graham explains, ‘he’d ask, “What do the words
possibility. A company van was kitted out with the LP ‘The Ernest Lough Album: mean?” The emotion that’s so obvious in my
the necessary gear and in March 1927 it rolled up My Life in Music’ (above) father’s singing has everything to do with this
at the Temple Church for what effectively was a HMV CLP1675 approach.’ Adds Robin: ‘Too often in other

Ernest Lough
A whole lotta Lough:
(right) an older Lough in 1932;
(far right) as a treble (second
left) at choir camp in 1926
choristers’ recordings
of Hear My Prayer I feel
they don’t know what
they’re singing about.’
It was the ingrained
Thalben-Ball training
that made possible the
recording Ernest Lough
prized above Hear My
Prayer. The Temple
Church choir had just completed a recording
session when the HMV engineer announced
there was a spare wax disc. Did the choir have
anything oven-ready? Nothing, Thalben-Ball
replied, but then asked Ernest if he knew the
aria ‘Hear Ye, Israel’ from Mendelssohn’s Elijah.
No, he didn’t. Not a problem – Thalben-Ball set
about teaching him the notes. ‘Within half an
hour he said, “I think we can record this,”’ Ernest We find the company utilising his boyhood
remembered. Robin Lough tells of once meeting fame at trade fairs, hence one local newspaper’s
none other than Benjamin Britten when working trumpeting: ‘Famous Boy Soprano as Technical
on a film. ‘During a tea break he said, “You’re Expert. Visitors to the [HMV] stall will be
Ernest Lough’s son.” I agreed I was. Then he said, interested to meet Ernest Lough, world-famous
‘‘Well, I never thought Hear My Prayer was his for his record of Hear My Prayer.’
best recording. ‘Hear Ye, Israel’ is far better.”’ After wartime service in the Auxiliary
When, finally, Ernest forsook the boy chorister Fire Service, Ernest worked as an advertising
ranks, the press seized on the moment. ‘Too Old executive, most notably with the market-leading
at 17’ was one headline. ‘Famous Voice Breaking’, Ogilvy & Mather outfit. Music, though, lit up
another. Seventeen! Lough is representative of leisure hours for the rest of his life. The Temple
a time when ‘boy sopranos’ of more advanced Church remained at the heart of things and he
age were able to deliver especially mature and was a dedicated member of the Bach Choir. He
insightful performances, not least in oratorio. Fighting fires sang as a soloist in local concerts and recitals.
How many copies of Hear My Prayer have been On Auxiliary Fire Service ‘One of the songs we so enjoyed was the comic
sold over the years? Several million, it seems. during the Blitz, Lough number, “Phil the Fluter’s Ball”,’ Robin Lough
‘HMV couldn’t keep track, apparently,’ says once had to put out the remembers. ‘A rare chance to hear his lighter
Graham Lough. ‘When the company awarded blaze at a record production side, putting on an Irish accent and joking about.’
my father a gold disc in 1962 it marked 35 years factory. On eventually Ernest Lough’s continuing fame brought him
since the recording, not sales.’ Ernest made no entering the building, he an appearance on Desert Island Discs. Fan mail
spotted a clump of discs
sort of fortune from those sales. Royalties were continued to arrive from far and near. ‘Father
which had been melted
shared around the choir members. together. On top was his
might say after supper, “I’m going to write letters
HMV attempted to exploit the young star’s own Hear My Prayer. tonight,”’ says Robin. ‘He believed in responding
celebrity by recording him as a youthful By a desperate irony, personally to all the mail he received.’ And there
baritone, but sales were unremarkable. Thalben- he attended the fire which was a special way of corresponding with wider
Ball offered the opinion that his adult voice ravaged his beloved family at Christmas, Peter Lough recalls. ‘We all
wasn’t distinctive enough. However, the fully Temple Church in 1941 went with father to the HMV studios to record
mature voice that Robin Lough heard ringing (pictured above). ‘To watch greetings and songs for relatives in this country
out behind him in the Temple Church choir, to it burn was terrible,’ he and abroad, with my mother playing the piano.’
which his father remained devoted, was ‘truly understatedly recalled. Ernest Lough died in February 2000. At his
wonderful. He retained in his singing all the A kind of added celebrity funeral they played, yes, his ‘Hear Ye, Israel’,
came his way during
narrative skills he learnt as a boy. But he never as the most potent example of his art as a boy
GETTY, RECORDEDCHURCHMUSIC.ORG
the war in the shape

fretted that he’d missed out on a soloist’s career.’ of a propaganda film chorister. His ashes are to be found, with those of
In any case, the intervention of war in 1939 showcasing the AFS’s his beloved Julie, in the columbarium at Temple
would have made such a career impractical. Up work. There he is, acting Church. ‘Sometimes I’ll just sit in the church and
to that point, Ernest had been working for HMV, out a scenario in which think of how this is where it all took place,’ says
starting out packing boxes. Here he met his his control room suffers Graham Lough. ‘The spirit of Hear My Prayer is
wife, known as Julie, an accomplished pianist. a direct hit. still very much there.’

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VISIONS
Choristers of
The Choir of King’s
College, Cambridge
Hannah Perowne
Britten Sinfonia Available 22 March
Stream | Download
Daniel Hyde kingscollegerecordings.com
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I
f you were making your first disc, what music often feels battered and defensive, prefer
would its centrepiece be? You could go to go on the attack.
the popular route – something safe and I meet their joint artistic directors Max
universally loved that would guarantee Ruisi and Eloisa-Fleur Thom at the offices of
you an audience – or you could opt for the their record label, Platoon, in the middle of
urgent, keening sounds of Lutosławski’s Musique a hipsterish set of studios in north London.
funèbre, the Polish composer’s homage to Bartók, Platoon is owned by Apple Music (which also
completed in 1958. UK-based string group recently bought Swedish label BIS), and a lot of
12 Ensemble opted for the latter for their debut the confidence of this enterprise comes from
RAPHAEL NEAL, GETTY
disc, Resurrection, in 2018, and that choice the fact that cash is not in short supply. Money
exemplifies the ambition and confidence of doesn’t just talk, it can also help you explore less
their music making. They do things entirely well-trodden areas of the repertoire and present
their own way and, at a time when classical your findings with total self-belief.

(QVHPEOH
Musical disciples: (main pic) 12 Ensemble hit the ‘sweet
spot’ between orchestral and chamber playing; (left)
artistic directors Max Ruisi and Eloisa-Fleur Thom;
(opposite below) Vivier, Lutosławski and Richard Strauss
Ruisi at the Guildhall – and quickly realised

their shared interests. ‘It was chamber music
and small ensemble playing that was really
getting us excited,’ says Ruisi. ‘We wanted to
have a voice and have input, and that’s still
important to both of us. We also realised there
was all this incredible rep and this powerful
feeling you get from mass strings. But it seemed
to us at that time that the choice was either to
join a symphony orchestra or play chamber
music, and we thought that what we did
Max Ruisi is a cellist, a product of a prodigious really hit a sweet spot.’
musical family (one brother, Roberto, was ‘The group is a mix,’ explains Thom. ‘Everyone
appointed leader of the Hallé Orchestra in has studied a bit in London but also in Europe.’
2022; another, Alessandro, is first violin of the The emphasis on ‘12’ is a misnomer. Different
Ruisi Quartet). Eloisa-Fleur Thom is a violinist. pieces demand different forces, and the true core
12 Ensemble are proudly conductorless and seek of the group numbers around six to eight – key
to reach decisions collaboratively, but Ruisi and principals who define the approach and the
Thom are the artistic brain of the group, running sound. Better perhaps to think of the number
the show from their flat in Hackney, life partners as reflecting its foundation date – 2012, when
as well as musical partners. a bunch of eager musicians fresh out of college
Their latest release, Metamorphosis, is on the decided to go their own way.
surface positively crowd-pleasing compared Have the key players all stuck with the
with the Lutosławski. Its cornerstone, as the project? ‘We’ve developed as it’s gone along,’
album’s name suggests, is Richard Strauss’s says Thom, ‘and everyone has their own life
path. But we have a core of the same people. We
Ł:HZDQWHGWRKDYH started very much as a fun thing to do, and the
group has developed over the years far beyond
DbYRLFHDQGKDYH what we could have dreamed at the time. We
didn’t think of anything in a business way. It
LQSXWbDQGWKDWłVVWLOO was all about the music, all about the people
playing. We have a core of people and that
LPSRUWDQWWRXVERWKł obviously fluctuates at times [almost doubling
in size for Metamorphosen], but that’s also
Metamorphosen, his work for 23 solo strings – 12 exciting because even more ideas and more
Ensemble naturally have to grow a little to play it. personality come into it.’
But the truly revelatory performance on the disc Not having a conductor was a founding
is of the late Canadian composer Claude Vivier’s principle. ‘We wanted to keep the chamber
Zipangu, a work for 13 strings written in 1980. It music aspect to it and be in charge of the music,’
is quite extraordinary: astringent, discordant, she explains. ‘You have to be very present in
at times terrifying (and hard to divorce from the rehearsals and in performance. Everyone is as
self-destructive composer’s tragic life story – he responsible as everyone else. We help to guide
was murdered by a young hustler in Paris in and direct, but the aim is to allow people to
1983), yet, as you listen more closely, strangely express what they’re feeling. We prepare a lot
alluring. ‘Once you attune your ears,’ Ruisi says, before projects in terms of how we think we
‘it’s straight-up conventionally beautiful.’ might want to shape the music, but we never
Helping us, perhaps forcing us, to open and set it in concrete. There are no bad ideas.’ The
attune our ears might be the mission statement aim is musical democracy, but within limits,
of 12 Ensemble – and of the generation of thirty- given that true musical democracy might never
something classical musicians represented by arrive at a resolution.
Ruisi and Thom. ‘It feels so alien and abrasive,’ Ruisi says he could have gone the conventional
Ruisi says of Zipangu, ‘but once you reach the string quartet route – he plays alongside his
end, the whole lower strings bit, heart-breaking brother Alessandro in the Ruisi Quartet – but
as well.’ he wanted something more. ‘We [he and Thom]
Ruisi and Thom met when they were music were keen to have a chance to mould something
students – Thom was at the Royal Academy, in our own vision: the way of delivering

Artistic democrats:
12 Ensemble take to
the stage at De Doelen,
Rotterdam; (below)
composer Oliver Leith
is a frequent collaborator
music. To me, being a musician goes way beyond may point a way forward for an industry which
practising and performing. There’s an artistry needs to find a new, evangelical sense of purpose
to the whole thing. We wanted autonomy over and to express it with complete freedom.
what music we’re playing, how we’re going to ‘This is something on the minds of everyone
play it, how we’re going to programme it. Making from our generation of musicians,’ says Thom.
a programme is sometimes just as artistic as ‘We don’t want this to seem like a dying art.
performing. The idea of going along and being We want to draw audiences in and change the
told to do this programme or that programme… perception by being ourselves and having a
well that’s fine, but why not have the chance personality.’ They had no worries about kicking
to control that too?’ off their recording career with a challenging
Their vision is not just bold but quietly piece of Lutosławski. ‘We were young and
revolutionary and rather inspiring. We’ve met optimistic,’ says Ruisi. ‘It’s just music we enjoy
at a time of a torrent of bad news in the classical playing.’ That also applies to their collaborations
music world, with the travails of ENO, the with pop performers such as Radiohead’s Jonny
Cheltenham Music Festival, Dartington and the
proposed closure of the music course at Oxford
Classical Greenwood. ‘We genuinely love his music,
and don’t see an issue with it.’
Brookes University, and here are two young music is big art. ‘You can exist in all these spaces at the same
musicians – Ruisi is 36, Thom 35 – proposing a time,’ Ruisi insists. ‘There are loads of great
total makeover for the artform, and doing it with It needs to be classical works and they don’t have to be messed
the complete self-confidence of gilded youth.
‘Classical music is big art,’ says Ruisi. ‘It needs
back in the same around with.’ Schubert’s ‘Death and the Maiden’
Quartet was the main piece on their second disc,
to be back in the same conversation as film stars conversation as in an arrangement for string orchestra they did
and philosophers, and you can do that without themselves. ‘We are disappointed when we get
diluting it. People find that really challenging film stars and reviews and they call us the “edgy new music
with us, because they see that we do new music
and we do Strauss and Beethoven, and they
philosophers people”. Yes, we do new music, but we love Bach,
we love our Dowland arrangements, we love
ask, “Well, what are you?”’ This refusal to be Shostakovich, we love Beethoven. It’s all music
pigeonholed or consigned to a museum, and to we believe in deeply, and we’re just going to try
do things in a distinctive way, is refreshing, and and realise it with as much honesty as we can.’

12 Ensemble
Their reputation for championing new

music is, though, far from misplaced, and they
particularly enjoy developing relationships
with living composers, notably Oliver Leith.
‘We’ve become partners in our careers now,’
says Ruisi of their collaborations with Leith,
with whom they worked on his opera Last Days,
which was well received when it premiered at
the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre in
the autumn of 2022.
Ruisi believes the success of Last Days,
which was inspired by Gus Van Sant’s 2005
film based loosely on the death of Nirvana
frontman Kurt Cobain, shows what can be
achieved if classical music displays imagination
and self-belief. ‘It’s a good example of what
is possible,’ he says. ‘It became quite a big, String champions:
culturally significant event – in fashion, in 12 Ensemble
literature and in the visual arts. Everybody was recording at Abbey
Road Studios, London
talking about this small opera in the Linbury
Theatre. That made us go, “Wow! This is what
we should be doing.”’ The world on a string
They are wary of gimmicks – playing concerts Ralph Vaughan Williams
Key works for string ensemble Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
in car parks or warehouses for instance. ‘We
Richard Strauss Metamorphosen 12 Ensemble have no reservations
want to get people back into the concert hall about this piece, which Ruisi describes
rather than take classical music out of the This work for 23 solo strings is the
centrepiece of 12 Ensemble’s new as having ‘incredible power and scale’.
concert hall and put it on in a field,’ says Ruisi. Arnold Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht
disc (below). Written at the end of
‘That’s fine and we’ve done bits of that in the the Second World War, Strauss’s Schoenberg wrote ‘Transfigured Night’
past, but what would be really cool would be shattering piece has been read as an for string sextet in 1899 and arranged
to get people excited about going back into the elegy for Munich, for German culture, it for string orchestra in 1917, further
concert hall, where these pieces sound amazing.’ for civilisation itself. Works for string revising it in 1943. A deeply felt piece
Ruisi and Thom do all the business planning ensemble lend themselves to deep of late Romanticism.
themselves and have no agent. ‘There are emotion, and never more so than Béla Bartók
moments when we question ourselves and our here. ‘We used to joke that we only Divertimento for String Orchestra
sanity,’ says Ruisi. ‘We’ve had managers in the programme music that makes people Bartók’s energetic exercise in the
past, but it just didn’t work out. Such a big part cry,’ says Ruisi. ‘It’s a good concert if concerto grosso form was written
everyone is in tears by the end.’ at the instigation of his patron Paul
of this group is the artist-led personality coming
Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings Sacher. The three-movement work,
through. They were trying to squeeze us in
More emoting, based on the second lasting around 25 minutes, was
spaces, and it never felt like us.’ composed in just 15 days in 1939.
movement of Barber’s String Quartet
Despite, or perhaps because of, resolutely and premiered in 1938. This has Dmitri Shostakovich
doing their own thing, they are riding the crest become the go-to piece for orchestras Chamber Symphony in C Minor
DE DOELEN/TAUFAADIA PUTRA, BRANDON SHEER, WWW.MANCHESTERCOLLECTIVE.CO.UK
of a wave. ‘We don’t get any funding,’ says Ruisi. at moments of loss or suffering, This is an arrangement for string
‘We’re not reliant on any public or private money. notably at the Last Night of the Proms orchestra by conductor Rudolf Barshai
We don’t do a season. We just do a few things in 2001 when it was played as a of Shostakovich’s Quartet No. 8, Op.
that we want to do really well, and it’s working. mark of respect 110, an adaptation
We do some film scores that we want to do, and to the victims of of which the
that helps us stay afloat. That’s been our model, the September composer greatly
and people have come to us. We’ve done three 11 attacks. approved. He said
Edward Elgar it sounded better
Proms and now have a residency at Wigmore
Introduction and than the original
Hall, which gives us hope that you can do and gave it the
Allegro for Strings
exactly what you want and still succeed.’ opus number 110a.
A little ‘twee’ for 12
‘Metamorphosis’ is released on digital and vinyl Ensemble’s tastes Barshai went on
on 1 March. The works on the disc will be played – they prefer more to orchestrate
on that day at a concert at LSO St Luke’s, London. visceral works. But and record four
Platoon will also release an album of Oliver Leith’s powerful, lyrical and other Shostakovich
opera ‘Last Days’ on 5 April. the essence of Elgar. string quartets.

Time to retune
Amateur violinist Ariane Todes reveals how, after
losing the will to practise during the pandemic,
she was inspired by Hilary Hahn on social media
to reconnect with her beloved four-stringed friend
ILLUSTRATION: MARIA CORTE MAIDAGAN
I
t all started on 2 January last year. and it doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Well, the
Scrolling idly through Instagram, I first thing to note about picking up the violin
came across a post from the American after a lapse is that it always sounds much better
violinist Hilary Hahn with the hashtag than one expects. This is an illusion. It might be
#100daysofpractice. She had explained in a a helpful illusion, to stop one from putting the
previous post, ‘Last time, in January 2022 — thing down instantly, but it is nevertheless not
which feels like years ago! — we embarked on a an accurate perception – it’s just sloppy listening.
gentle 100 days, and it was really rewarding. This Like any muscle, the ears need exercise. Still, I
time, it feels right to explore the intersection of allow myself to enjoy the feeling of the violin in
self-motivation and self-compassion. What do my hands and some semblance of competence,
you think? Might you join?’
Not normally one to hoist my decisions to
hashtags or crazes (‘I did sit-ups for 17 days and
On the second day, I
this is what happened!’; ‘I drank beetroot juice for
three weeks and look at me now!’), I had a strange
start about the basics:
impulse. It was nearly three years on from
lockdown, during which I had taken my violin
trying to make a
out of its case barely two or three times over an nice sound, in tune
entire year (I still haven’t worked out whether
through sadness or laziness). I was back to my and put the violin down after half an hour
amateur orchestras and chamber music with feeling like I’ve reconnected.
friends, and had enough form to participate, but Having thus consciously lured myself into
not enough to feel on top of my game. My hands Hilary’s trap, I set my course. The second day,
felt sluggish and my musical focus slapdash. I start about the basics: trying to make a nice
Could this be the nudge I needed? ‘Yes, Hilary,’ I sound, in tune. (It’s like the old joke: you only
thought. ‘I think I might.’ need two things to play the violin well: a good
Fearing my own talent for procrastination, I right hand and a good left hand.) I play long notes
decided to ease myself in gently – slowly, slowly, on open strings, holding each bow as long as
catchy monkey. Day one, I foozle around playing possible, listening for every bump in the texture
bits of concertos and pieces I learnt when I was that muddies the sound. More than being a
young (still embedded in my memory when technical fix for the hands, this is about setting
most names now are beyond instant recall). I one’s attention, in the same way one tries to
enjoy it. My fingers know where they’re going become aware of one’s breath when meditating,

Returning to practice
attempting to ignore conscious thoughts about

dinner plans or work issues (some might call
it mindfulness).
With this hyper-focus, I move on to intonation
exercises from Simon Fischer’s Basics book. I
play the same note sequences in every position
on every string, trying to make them as identical
as possible, and making sure they resonate
maximally with open strings to check they’re in
tune. There’s something strangely calming about
this exercise – the focus of it and being forced
to remember patterns and precisely where the
fingers fall are an absolute antidote to scrolling
mindlessly through social media.
Fischer’s instruction for this exercise is that
it doesn’t have to be played straight through
perfectly, just ‘with care’. This is a relief. There’s
an old adage that an amateur practises to get
something right, whereas a professional practises
until they never get it wrong, which explains
why I’m happier as an amateur than when I once
thought I might become a professional. Now, as
I practise, I’m not planning to audition or sell
tickets – I’m here for the fun of the process, the
feeling of improving. As a student I might have
spent an hour desperately practising just two
lines of a Kreutzer study; now I play through the
whole thing, trying to be aware, but not perfect –
and even enjoying the music that I never realised
was there.
The strange alchemy of #100daysofpractice is
how things seem to get better all by themselves.
If you play something through a few times
carefully, focusing intently on the result – just
noticing rather than negatively self-talking
– and then leave it, coming back the next day
and the next, the chances are it will be better.
Consistency is everything. This is a lesson it’s
taken me too long to learn. As a teenager I would
not pick up my violin all week and then expect
to catch up by practising three hours on a Friday
night before my lesson at Junior Guildhall
the next morning. Tears and tantrums ensued,
not to mention frustrated teachers. Of course,
it’s not that they didn’t explain this to me, but
youth is indeed wasted on the young, and I
wasn’t listening.
With the wisdom of age, I now understand
the idea of ‘trusting the process’ – especially
through knitting and Couch to 5k. It’s easy to
be overwhelmed by goals and to overthink
problems to the point of paralysis. There’s a
certain calm to surrendering to a plan – not
necessarily understanding the point of each step
or even having a clear belief in the outcome, but
nevertheless following instructions, whether

Returning to practice
Instagram encouragement: Hilary Hahn has urged fellow
violinists to rekindle the love with her #100daysofpractice
regime; (far left) playing daily is the key to improvement
in some manner. It ceases even to be a decision.

Indeed, there’s a certain peace in not being
allowed to have a decision to make. I bypass all
the usual excuses (‘What’s the point?’, ‘My poor
neighbours’, ‘I don’t feel like it’, ‘No one wants to
hear me’, ‘I’m too busy’, ‘It’s too cold’ etc etc) on
my way to my violin case.
Paradoxically, I don’t study music.
Occasionally I’ll get out Bach’s Sonatas and
Transferable skills Partitas – the holy grail of violinists – and read
The plusses of practice through movements reverentially, double-
Music-making and finger- backing over tricky bits to improve them, but
training aside, practising an generally playing just for pleasure. I might take
instrument demands and out a Wieniawski or Sarasate showpiece I learnt
exercises qualities that stand as a teenager to check my progress, but I don’t
one in fine stead for life: set out to learn new music or perfect anything
Awareness & honesty to performance level. Maybe that’s a throwback
Whether listening to one’s to the pressures of being a student, or fear of
sound and intonation or failure – I clearly still have work to do (or maybe
observing any slight physical therapy!), but in the meantime, I enjoy the
tension, one has to focus combination of focusing on violin playing and
absolutely, honing in closely
that’s a pattern or diet or exercise regime. And so, dipping into music.
to isolate issues. Initially, it’s
enough just to notice – often
with the far sight of 100 days, I don’t necessarily Among the fraught conversations about
just doing so makes the know what I’m doing or what the outcome will music education and government policy, some
problem go away. be, but I know I’m at the start of something that people make the argument that we shouldn’t
Problem-solving & creativity will take me somewhere if I just hang in there instrumentalise music education – music
If a problem persists, one and enjoy the moment. should be an end in itself, rather than something
learns to analyse the possible I build up a smorgasbord of exercises from mobilised to make people happier, more clever
causes. These are often not various books (Dounis, Kreutzer, Fischer, Dont) or better capitalists. I understand this and
simple or obvious – a shift believe in music for music’s sake. But also, life
three bars back might cause
a problem in the current
Sometimes, I’ll pick is essentially a constant process of practice – of
trying to be better; taking on new challenges;
bar. One experiments with
solutions or alternatives to up my violin and do understanding and repeating the good things
and dropping the bad; learning to listen and to
bypass the problem.
Conscience & responsibility ğYHPLQXWHVRIVLOHQW actually hear; balancing humility and objectivity
with self-esteem and pride – or, as Hilary puts
Once you are aware of
a problem, it’s up to you OHIWKDQGSUDFWLFH it, the intersection of self-motivation and self-
compassion. There are so many transferable
whether you want to fix it –
your choice. – strength, speed, trills, vibrato, bowing at the lessons and skills one can learn from the
Humility & self-sufficiency heel, at the tip, arpeggios, double stops. I mix and processes of music, whether alone in a room or in
Alone in a room with a violin, match, trying to do at least three different things a group. It may sound like a cliché, but the world
there is no one else to blame in any session, moving on fairly quickly. If I’m would be an infinitely better place if everyone
or impress. Arrogance serves learning an orchestral part for a concert with had access to these possibilities.
no purpose. my group Corinthian Chamber Orchestra, or I So, the burning question: did I make it to
Self-worth & positivity have a rehearsal, I count that. Sometimes, if I’m #100days? Well no; I went on holiday six days
That said, you have to believe out late and have no time, I’ll pick up my violin short. When I got home, I went back to my usual
in yourself and what you’re and do five minutes of silent left-hand practice. sporadic bursts of activity. But my attitude has
doing. Very often, the sheer And that’s all fine. Hahn herself includes score fundamentally changed. Sometimes I pick up
faith that you are going to
study and reading, so I don’t feel guilty if my my violin for five minutes just to futz around. I
hit a high note is enough to
make it happen. Negative engagement is minimal. It’s all about showing know that’s better than doing nothing, even if it’s
self-talk costs success. up. More often than not, once I’ve forced myself not as good as doing an hour. And as I write, I’m
begrudgingly to open the case and do one on day nine of a new streak, building up again. If
GETTY, DANA VAN LEEUWEN
Consistency & patience

Improving is largely about exercise, I find myself still there an hour later. you have an instrument in your attic or a piano
showing up every day, The power of the hashtag and the commitment gathering dust in the corner, why don’t you see
knowing that if you put the is that there comes a tipping point, where it where the hashtag takes you? You can thank me
work in, things will get better. would be more upsetting not to pick up the violin in 100 days – and Hilary Hahn, of course.

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Northern Ireland
AlternativeUlster
Despite limited access to funding, contemporary
composers in Northern Ireland are finding ways to
present highly creative and timely works, with much
to say about their homeland, writes Tom Stewart
A
n opera might not be where you’d first
expect to hear the long and distinctly
nasal vowels of a strong Belfast
accent. But even if you knew nothing
else about Conor Mitchell’s Abomination, from
the sound of the singers alone there’s only one
place you could be. The same goes for the plot.
The opera is a blistering, high-camp account
of homophobia at the heart of the Democratic
Unionist Party (DUP), centred on a 2008 Radio
Ulster interview with DUP MP Iris Robinson
the day after a gay man was attacked in Belfast.
Homosexuality was shamefully wicked and
vile, she said. It made her nauseous; it was an
abomination. The libretto, also by Mitchell,
sets Robinson’s words verbatim alongside those
of her similar-minded colleagues and pours
musical scorn on their prejudices. Performed by
Mitchell’s own Belfast Ensemble, Abomination
was a big critical success, drawing big audiences
The nation’s artists
to a recent run in London, where I saw it at the have no shortage of
Queen Elizabeth Hall, as well as in Dublin,
Brighton and Belfast. distinctive political
The uniquely Northern Irish scenario
Mitchell skewers in his opera is one example material to draw on
of the opportunities presented to the nation’s
artists, who have no shortage of distinctive work to fruition. ‘Northern Ireland a weird place,’
political and cultural material to draw on. As Mitchell says from his home in Belfast. ‘Drive
the people I spoke to for this article told me, south for half an hour and you’re in an incredibly
however, the challenges are many and varied culturally vibrant country where they’ve really
PETE WOODHEAD
too. In particular, singularly precarious funding tied the arts to the economy and their national
arrangements and a lack of strong cultural brand. Over the water, the rest of the UK seems
leadership can make it difficult to bring new pretty clear about what it is, too.’ He uses gay

Politics of shame:
John Porter in Conor Mitchell’s
Abomination: A DUP Opera at
London’s Southbank Centre,
May 2023; (opposite) Rebecca
Caine as Iris Robinson

Northern Ireland
Pulling strings: composer Úna Monaghan performs at

Contemporary Music Centre’s delegate programme NMDX
rights as an example: Britain had equal marriage

and there was a gay Taoiseach in Dublin but
people tolerated severe bigotry from politicians
in the North. His response was to tackle it head
on: ‘I always try to put a Northern Irish question
at the centre of my work. The North runs Loudly does it: members of the
through my music like a stick of rock.’ London Symphony Orchestra in
Anselm McDonnell’s The Union
At around £4.70 annually for each of its 1.9 is our God at St Luke’s, London
million residents, Northern Ireland has by far the
lowest public expenditure on arts and culture
of any UK nation. It’s less than half the £10 or so
spent for each person in Wales, the next lowest.
The figure in England is around £12.10, while
The devolved in your career,’ he says. McDonnell, who studied
at Queen’s University Belfast and is currently
Scotland comes out on top with £17.70 in 2021, administration on a 15-month placement with the London
the latest year for which figures are available. Symphony Orchestra Jerwood Composer+
Citizens of the Republic of Ireland, meanwhile, doesn’t see scheme, made an active decision not to follow
enjoy a per capita public arts and culture spend
of £22.50, some four times higher than their
culture as many of his peers to the Republic, England or
continental Europe. ‘I’m not from a financially
cousins in the North. An announcement by culture, but advantaged background and I’ve always known
the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI) I’d have to take a very pragmatic approach.
last month that it intended to slash its annual instead as a Basically, I’ll write anything for anyone – from
spending by a further ten per cent was greeted
with understandable horror by individuals
vehicle for very avant-garde stuff to music for primary
school choirs and everything in between.’
and organisations alike. Following a rally and community Although this has meant making as many as 90
well-supported petition, the proposed cuts were applications for work and funding in a single
reduced to five per cent of the total budget, but a cohesion and year, McDonnell enjoys the challenge. ‘Lots of
final decision has not yet been made. people setting up together can access bigger pots
Belfast-based composer Anselm McDonnell dialogue of money reserved for organisations, but right
says that the lack of funding places a ‘hard now I’m addicted to the variety that comes with
ceiling’ on what can be achieved inside Northern working the way I do.’
Ireland. ‘The maximum amount the ACNI McDonnell is speaking from Paris, where
award is something like ten grand, and that’s for he is part-way through a residency at the city’s
a lifetime achievement award. Down South you Centre Culturel Irlandais, sponsored by the
can be looking at money like that from early on Dublin-based Contemporary Music Centre

Tackling the big issues:
a recording session for
music by Áine Mallon
(below) at WR Audio
studio, Manchester
rather than a dedicated arts or

culture ministry. ‘The devolved
administration doesn’t see
culture in Northern Ireland as
culture; they see it as a vehicle
for community cohesion and
dialogue,’ says Mitchell, who
wants this to change. ‘We need
a minister for culture and for
the administration of cultural funding to be
properly at arm’s length.’ That said, the fact a
serving DUP councillor was chair of ACNI at the
time it decided to fund Abomination suggests that Writing on walls
the arts in Northern Ireland are not held hostage Politics and art have often
by a model that excludes politically challenging come together in Northern
(CMC), which supports composers from across work. ‘They took a big chance backing the piece Ireland – not least through
the island of Ireland with funding, artist and I felt it was a very significant thing for them the region’s murals, which
development programmes and by publishing to have done. The arts here are seen as an engine depict past and present
their music. CMC director Evonne Ferguson for developing community dialogue, which political and religious
explains that her organisation is one example of is difficult when you’re challenging a large divisions. Although the first
how Northern Ireland’s unique political history proportion of that community,’ he says. What murals by Ulster loyalists
appeared at the beginning
allows composers and other artists to access did the DUP make of the piece? ‘They didn’t
of the 20th century, it
support from the Republic as well as the North. respond but I have noticed that their language was in the late 1970s
‘CMC develops vital connections for composers has softened somewhat. Perhaps the piece drew that Irish Republican wall
and performers of new music in Ireland,’ she a line under what people in power can get away paintings began to take
tells me. ‘We connect artists with audience with saying without being challenged.’ off, as the IRA fought for
opportunities across the island and through our As I look into the forces working to support a greater political voice.
international networks. These opportunities new music and its creators in Northern Ireland, Since the 1998 Good Friday
are available to all the composers we represent, a one organisation comes up again and again. Agreement, the number
quarter of whom are from or based in the North. Moving on Music was founded in Belfast of commemorative murals
Many also extend to the broader community in 1995, three years before the Good Friday has grown, and there are
KEVIN LEIGHTON, AMAL SAMSUDEEN, GETTY
many that portray events

of artists and performers.’ Despite the lack of Agreement that brought an uneasy end to the
from Irish history, such
funding available north of the border, Northern Troubles. ‘We work across experimental, folk, as the Great Famine.
Irish composers seem to be less disadvantaged jazz, contemporary classical and other music In Belfast alone there
than might be immediately apparent. that’s very interesting but can be difficult to sell,’ are around 300 high-
Northern Ireland is unique among the four says Moving on Music creative producer Paula quality murals on display,
UK nations in having its cultural activities Kiernan. Funded primarily by ACNI, the PRS alongside many others in
overseen by the Department for Communities Foundation and Belfast City Council, Moving need of repair.

Northern Ireland
Public support:
Voice for a nation: Conor Mitchell conductor Ryan McAdams
and Crash Ensemble
applaud composer Anselm
Community goals McDonnell at the premiere
The Belfast Ensemble of Honnold at the New Music
Dublin festival, 2023
‘Northern Ireland today is
completely unrecognisable
from where I grew up in the
80s and 90s,’ says Conor on Music is a promoter and artist development that introduced her to Evonne Ferguson and led
Mitchell. ‘Belfast is an organisation that stages 30 to 40 performances her to a similar programme run by CMC. ‘The
incredibly sophisticated and across Northern Ireland each year alongside ecosystem covers the whole island.’ Does that
modern city that’s home outreach work, masterclasses and an artist island feature in her work? ‘I think Northern
to independent theatre development scheme for early-career composers. Irish composers today are speaking about bigger
companies, a symphony ‘Particularly when you look at these things,’ she says, adding that her own artistic
orchestra and an opera underrepresented genres there’s a real lack of preoccupation is the treatment of women in
company – but not one
industry support in NI,’ she explains, adding modern society. ‘A lot of that is due to my own
of them has Belfast in its
name. Why? It’s bizarre. that in many cases the required labels and experience and the processing of my own
And why are there so few management agencies simply do not exist. experience as a woman in the world. I don’t live
people in Northern Ireland in NI anymore, but I do live in my body as a
with Northern Irish accents
talking about Northern Irish
‘Storytelling is at the woman. But I’m telling a story, and storytelling
is at the heart of Irish music; it’s the core of
art? We don’t need other
people to voice our concerns,
heart of Irish music; what Irish culture is.’
In a sectarian society, asking someone
we need to carve out our
own path.
it’s at the core of what their name or where they went to school can
reveal which ‘side’ they are on. ‘Music can be
‘I founded the Belfast
Ensemble in 2017 because Irish culture is’ a shibboleth like that too,’ McDonnell says.
‘You can get very visceral responses from
I wanted to create an
indigenous company focused ‘There’s a huge amount of talent and activity people in Northern Ireland by playing certain
on making new art here in the North – the real challenge is the lack of tunes, whether they’re protestant marches or
in the North, bringing in a funding.’ Moving on Music is emblematic of republican rebel songs. Composers like me quote
more European aesthetic a drive to make things work in spite of strong these, but the references aren’t likely to get picked
and more opportunities headwinds. ‘Because we’re such a small place it up if our music is played anywhere else.’
for multimedia projects. can feel like there are things we’re missing out For McDonnell, the value of this work
I’ve been really pleasantly on but you go to other parts of the UK and you was explained well by Nobel Prize-winning
surprised that musicians, realise we’re doing alright really!’ Northern Irish poet Seamus Heaney. ‘He said
audiences and Arts Council Among the composers to have benefitted the point of poetry, given everything the North
Northern Ireland have got
from Moving on Music’s artist development has gone though, was to preserve history in a
NEIL HARRISON, MOLLY KEANE
behind us in the way that

they have. We’re making work programme is County Armagh-born Áine way that stopped these things from happening
on a big scale and taking Mallon, who is now based in Manchester. ‘It was again.’ New music can play an important role in
it to the wider world. It’s a the first training opportunity I got, which was healing and bringing people together, he adds.
challenge to what people really wonderful,’ she says. The scheme consisted ‘Northern Ireland can really fly the flag for the
think Belfast can be.’ of mentoring, a commission and a showcase role of art in a post-conflict society.’

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FIFTEEN OF NOTE
15 musical works to study to

What is the best music to aid a little learning? Steve Wright takes a
break from his maths homework to make an at-desk listening list
ILLUSTRATION: DAVID LYTTLETON
I
s music a useful study aid? It’s by action – the aural equivalent of a double symphonies are fine examples. The Fifth’s
no means a given: for every fan of espresso shot, if you like. gradual accretion of tension, and the vast
background sound, you’ll find a sonic edifices it crafts so imperturbably,
refusenik who insists on complete
silence. The right sort of music, though,
really can prove useful in ushering in a
3 Debussy: Images
More solo pianism: this time, though,
from the more serene end of the spectrum.
are highly satisfying on both an emotional
and an intellectual plane.
calm, contemplative atmosphere that helps

even the most fiendish French verb to
percolate the brain. Here are some study
Debussy’s six Images are glorious examples
of musical scene-painting, depicting
(among others) the play of sunlight on
6 Ludovico Einaudi:
Le Onde (The Waves)
If it’s meditative, evenly paced music that
soundtracks you might like to consider… water and the sound of church bells you’re after, few composers come more
through the trees. This is music at its most highly recommended than Ludovico
1 Bach: Goldberg Variations

‘Bach is best’, runs the old adage, and
you could probably tack the phrase ‘…for
gently contemplative, ushering in a mood
of receptive quietism.
Einaudi. Cohesion, simplicity and
optimism are the prevailing moods in the
Italian’s music: all fine accompaniments to
studying to’ on the end. Much of the great
man’s output is excellent for swotting to, 4 Philip Glass:
Music in Twelve Parts
an afternoon of calm, focused study.
with its rigorous internal discipline and

precision-tooled structures. But which of
his many works to choose? We’ll go for the
Glass’s music, concentrating as it does on
repetition and slow build-up of drama and
narrative, can make for a perfect study
7 Beethoven:
Diabelli Variations
There’s something intellectually satisfying
much-loved Goldberg Variations for piano, soundtrack. There are many options, about the theme-and-variations form.
reasoning that solo instrumental work – but we’ll suggest Music in Twelve Parts – A theme is laid out, and then worked on
without the attention-grabbing clamour and not just because this monumental, methodically and painstakingly – mined
of multiple voices – makes the ideal 12-movement work clocks in at around for possible combinations, alternate modes
companion to a long, book-bound evening. four hours, so you won’t get those jarring of expression. There are many theme-
gear changes every few minutes as your and-variations examples, but as an aid
2 Chopin: Etudes
Clue’s in the name, perhaps? Well,
yes and no: Chopin’s Etudes are not so
music player seeks something ‘similar’.
This is the piece in which Glass’s musical
signatures – minimalist soundscapes,
to creative thinking Beethoven’s Diabelli
Variations works a treat. Beethoven
takes a simple waltz by the 19th-century
much music to study to (étudier) as actual slow but inexorable momentum, almost composer Anton Diabelli, then proceeds
proper ‘studies’ for pianists to hone their imperceptible changes in the musical to harvest it for no fewer than 33
skills on. However, they also make a fine argument – are heard most eloquently. It interpretations, each one as ingenious and
sonic backdrop to a long session with, say, all plays off as one immense intellectual satisfying as its neighbours. The miracle
complex cell structures or the imports and exercise in sonic, motivic possibility. here is how Beethoven seizes upon some
exports of Argentina. There’s something of the waltz’s simplest patterns and motifs,
about those nimble, keyboard-spanning
arpeggios, as heard in Op. 10 No. 1 or
Op. 25 No.11, that shakes off the cerebral
5 Bruckner: Symphony No. 5
If we’re talking about music that
builds its drama steadily and inexorably,
and from these basic kernels constructs
music of huge imagination and ingenuity.
Any Diabelli-inspired study session should
cobwebs and gets the brain fired up for Bruckner’s monumental, slow-burn find you in similarly fertile form.

Fifteen works to study to

Fifteen works to study to
8 Recomposed by Max Richter:

Vivaldi – The Four Seasons
Listening to Max Richter’s 2012
definitely needs a mention. Like Bach’s
before it, Mozart’s music testifies to a
supremely organised and sophisticated
reimagining of Vivaldi’s much-loved mind, able to coordinate several different
The Four Seasons is a hugely satisfying patterns or musical arguments at a time.
experience. Richter borrows, adds, This is nowhere more evident than in the
reinvents and transposes irresistibly, so astonishing final movement of his last
that an oh-so-familiar masterpiece is both symphony, the ‘Jupiter’ No. 41. This tour-
comfortingly present and also strangely, de-force of classical choreography is a
thrillingly renewed. This is music that fugue containing no fewer than five voices,
will float by unobtrusively – yet also all wrapping around each other seamlessly
suggest myriad new sonic (and, we’d bet, and, increasingly, joyously. This is clearly
intellectual) possibilities. the product of a brilliant mind. And there’s
surely a chance that some of that dazzling
9 Vaughan Williams:
Tuba Concerto
OK, the science bit. Studies of brain
intellect and machine-tooled precision
will rub off as you pore over those thermal
physics textbooks…
activity in different sound environments
have demonstrated that a sonic frequency
of 40Hz is particularly beneficial to
mental performance. And, for the even-
Cage’s legendarily 13 Missy Mazzoli:
These Worlds in Us
There’s a sort of cosmic serenity to These
more-science bit, this is probably because noteless minimalist Worlds in Us, a short 2006 orchestral
our brain cells themselves communicate piece by the New York-based composer
at that self-same 40Hz – sound at this composition is indeed Missy Mazzoli. In particular, its rhythmic
frequency appears to produce unusually patterns and cyclical structure are
high levels of cognition, clarity and the sound of silence inspired by Balinese music, which has its
alertness. But what sort of music is actually own particular tension and inexorable
played at 40Hz? Well, the tuba and double high spirits, the ‘Classical’ is jampacked logic. Calm with a sense of wonder: the
bass are among the only instruments to with uplifting melodies, while the final perfect study soundtrack, as well as being
get down this low (elsewhere, the bassoon movement will have you grinning with joy unusually beautiful and atmospheric in
spans down to 60Hz, while the violin as you put the finishing touches to your its own right.
bottoms out at around 200Hz). Casting own magnum opus.
around for pieces for these instruments,
we come first to Vaughan Williams’s Tuba
Concerto. Written two years before his 11 Webern:
Six Pieces for Orchestra
14 Anything by
Hildegard von Bingen
We’ve maintained a strict no-vocals
Eighth Symphony, the work inhabits a Composers are, in general, an intelligent policy thus far, but we’ll relax that rule
similarly playful soundworld. Come for bunch – the kind of mental rigour and to allow in some of the beatific sounds of
the brain-enhancing low notes; stay for the compartmentalisation required to the 12th-century abbess and polymath
wonderful music. orchestrate a symphony, say, is not given Hildegard von Bingen. The combination
to us all. But even in such company, of heavenly voices floating over a medieval
10 Prokofiev:
Symphony No. 1
Not all study sessions need to be
Anton Webern stands out. The Austrian
12-tone pioneer wrote music of impressive
sophistication and complexity, and
harp or fiddle drone makes for a suitably
serene backdrop, allowing the mind to
zone in on the task at hand. Canticles of
soundtracked with peaceful melodies. Yes, studied for a PhD in musicology. We’re Ecstasy, the 1993 release from the early
such patient, evenly paced music may be hoping that some of that intellect rubs music ensemble Sequentia, makes an
just the thing for a session on calculus or off on you every time you sit down to excellent introduction to the work of the
the valencies of various chemical elements. study with his music in the background. (literally) visionary abbess.
But what about those more emotionally For a gentle start, though, go with one of
involving tasks? Rounding off a piece of
creative writing, for example, or building
to the final, doubt-shattering climax of
his shorter and comparatively accessible
pieces – the atmospheric Six Pieces for
Orchestra, Op. 6, from 1909.
15 And finally…
Cage: 4'33"
Silence in the library, please! If the very
a thesis? In this case, something more idea of music for study is anathema to
rousing may be a better fit. And music
doesn’t come much more exhilarating
than Prokofiev’s ‘Classical’ Symphony.
12 Mozart: Symphony No. 41
If we’re talking clever composers,
Mozart – thought to have an IQ of around
you, we’ve got you covered too – thanks
to 4'33", John Cage’s legendarily noteless
minimalist composition from 1952. The
Essentially 20 minutes of symphonic 150-155, safely in ‘genius’ territory – sound of silence indeed.

Prague
Spring
Berliner
Philharmoniker
& Kirill Petrenko
Riccardo Chailly
& Filarmonica
della Scala
Jakub Hrůša
& Orchestra of the
Academy of Santa Cecilia
David Robertson
& Czech
Philharmonic
Orchestre
Philharmonique
de Radio
France
Collegium Vocale
Gent & Philippe
Klangforum Herreweghe
Wien
12. 5. — 3. 6. 2024
festival.cz/en
Financial support Financial support
Festival partner General media partner

MUSICAL DESTINATIONS
South Tyrol Italy

Steve Wright finds mountains, Mahler and magical musical
partnerships in Italy’s ruggedly beautiful northernmost region
Perfect intervals:
members of Ensemble
Diderot explore Mahler’s
hut; (right) Ensemble
Diderot with producer
Claudio Becker-Foss during
a break from recording
I
kept having to remind myself, during
my trip to the twin cultural hotspots of
Bolzano and Toblach, which country
I was in. Both, in fact, are in Italy, though
the Austrian border lies close by. Not that
you’d know from the language (primarily
German) or the cuisine (hearty).
It’s more helpful to think of the region
as South Tyrol, a rugged land of scree-
sloped mountain peaks and, it turns out,
a thriving classical music scene. The
formerly Austrian region was ceded to the
Italians after World War I, which gives
South Tyrol its intriguing dual identity:
Italy’s northernmost (and wealthiest)
district, it still feels culturally Germanic,
with (according to a 2011 census) more
than 60 per cent of the population using
German as their first language.
Wherever you find yourself in this
austerely beautiful region, and whatever
languages and dialects surround you,
culture (and classical music in particular)
should be high on your agenda. When
I spent three days in Bolzano and Toblach
as a guest of Johannes Pramsohler, the
South Tyrolean-born violinist and founder
of the multi-award-winning period
performance group Ensemble Diderot,
our packed schedule was divided equally

MUSICAL DESTINATIONS
Climb every mountain: Country retreat:

Toblach’s Cultural Centre; the hut where Mahler
(right) the Tre Cime di (below) composed
Lavaredo range of peaks
Cabin fever
between musical performance and high- glamour to it. Nowadays, as well as a base Mahler and the hut
altitude exhilaration. for nature and culture seekers alike, it’s The tiny wooden
My first South Tyrolese evening was an HQ for musicians using the on-site lodge outside
spent at Bolzano’s Walterhaus concert recording studio. The Centre’s handsome Toblach was the last
hall, watching the Ensemble’s captivating concert hall also hosts classical concerts of three composing
rendition of Bach’s Art of Fugue, throughout the year – I was lucky to catch huts where Mahler
transposed for string quartet and light the Bundesjugendorchester (German sought refuge and
show. This was seriously impressive stuff: Youth Orchestra) in some thrilling inspiration during his
a stunning exposition of counterpoint the performances of Strauss, Sibelius and lifetime. From 1893-96, the young
Mahler took summers at Steinbach
Art may be, but it can come across as a dry, Salonen, plus a world premiere for Daniel
am Attersee, where he had a hut built
theoretical exercise rather than a living, Nelson’s dark-hued, atmospheric Concerto with views of the lake. It was during
breathing piece of music. Not so in the for Accordion and Orchestra. this period that Mahler composed
Ensemble’s hands: visuals, choreography Pramsohler and Ensemble Diderot his Second and Third Symphonies,
and expressive playing breathed immense as well as songs from Des Knaben
life and even sensuality into a work that’s Wunderhorn. Later, from 1900-07, the
often more admired than loved. The Cultural composer had a villa (and, naturally,
Concerts this adventurous are part of composing hut) built on the shores of
the cultural menu in Bolzano, which as Centre in Toblach the Wörthersee, near the present-day
Slovenian border. During these years,
well as its beautiful setting in a basin of the
South Tyrolean foothills boasts a packed
is a veritable hive of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh
Symphonies came into being.
cultural calendar (spearheaded by the
Bolzano-Bozen classical music festival)
musical activity
and several impressive music venues. have a special relationship with the place:
The next day it was off to Toblach, a artists in residence, they spend several these spartan surroundings that Mahler
90-minute drive up into the Dolomites. months there each summer, and have composed his Ninth Symphony and Das
The contrast was striking. Bolzano, South recorded several of their acclaimed albums Lied von der Erde. And, in his honour,
Tyrol’s capital, is a large, historic city of original-instrument Baroque music Toblach’s annual Gustav Mahler Music
set in the mellow green foothills before among the mountains and forests. Weeks are dedicated to his output – and to
the mountains truly begin. Toblach (or Toblach owes much of its gold-plated the wider joys of music making.
Dobbiaco, as its far fewer Italian residents musical DNA to its associations with a There was also time for a mountain hike
know it) is a proper mountain town, certain mountain-rambling composer. that Mahler would have loved, around
dominated by several enormous timber- Yes, Gustav Mahler, that keen hiker the bases of the Tre Cime (Three Peaks).
clad hotels that fill up with skiers in winter and nature lover, spent the summers This trio of imposing summits sits at the
GETTY, ENSEMBLE DIDEROT, AUDAX RECORDS
and hikers in summer. Oh, and classical from 1908-10 in the town, and in the centrepiece of a vast moonscape of basins,
music lovers all year round, for the town’s meadows just beyond you can find the causeways and scree slopes that seems
Cultural Centre is a veritable hive of last of the three composers’ huts to which plucked straight from Middle Earth. A
musical activity. he regularly retreated (see right). This reminder, if I’d needed it, that South Tyrol
Dating from Toblach’s spa resort one is a small, simple wooden structure: makes a perfect destination for anyone
heyday in the early decades of the 20th just big enough to house a writing desk, seeking their fix of nature or culture.
century, this palatial, wooden-clad and blessed with widescreen views of Further info: ensemblediderot.com;
behemoth has a Grand Budapest Hotel the forested hills opposite. It was in kulturzentrum-toblach.eu

Composer of the month
Composer of the Week
is broadcast on Radio 3
at 12pm, Monday to
Friday. Programmes in March are:
26 February – 1 March Smetana
Luigi Dallapiccola
4-8 March Johanna Senfter
11-15 March Morricone Misha Donat charts the life of a composer
18-22 March Mozart
25-29 March Stanford whose 12-note explorations were never made
at the expense of his natural Italian lyricism
ILLUSTRATION: MATT HERRING
O
ne hundred years ago, on 1 April Dallapiccola was the first significant
1924, Schoenberg arrived in figure in his country to adopt the 12-note
Dallapiccola’s style Florence to direct his Pierrot method of composition Schoenberg
12-note technique lunaire – one of the seminal works of early had formulated in the early 1920s, as a
Dallapiccola was 20th-century modernism – at the Palazzo means of binding together music that no
the first important Pitti. Most of the audience had never been longer relied on the traditional major and
Italian composer exposed to contemporary music, and to minor keys. (In Schoenberg’s scheme,
to embrace
them the event seemed like no more than a single ‘row’ containing all 12 notes of
Schoenberg’s
(pictured left) an elaborate April Fool; but at least two of the chromatic spectrum acts in various
12-note method those present sat listening intently. permutations as a sort of matrix, governing
of composition, One of them was Italy’s most famous the music.) In so doing, he may be said to
and it became fundamental to his living composer. Although terminally ill have dragged Italian music belatedly into
way of thinking. Even the shapes of with throat cancer, he had driven in his the 20th century.
the 12-note rows he used could carry brand new Lancia all the way from his At the time that Dallapiccola was
symbolic meaning – as for instance, in home in Torre del Lago, some 50 miles finding his feet as a composer, Italy was
the opera Ulisse, with their wave-like away, and after the performance asked to going through its darkest period. At
formations suggesting the sea.
Canons Dallapiccola was fascinated by
canons of every kind. They permeate
his music, their intricacy often lending
Dallapiccola may be said to have dragged
it a seemingly metaphysical layer.
In the Sonatina canonica for violin
Italian music belatedly into the 20th century
and piano even Paganini’s solo violin
Caprices are subjected to canonic be presented to Schoenberg. The other was first, even Dallapiccola was a fervent
treatment in a sort of black humour. a 20-year-old music student named Luigi admirer of Mussolini, but his eyes
Self-quotation Continuity of thought Dallapiccola. Not for a further 25 years did were soon opened. On 1 September
and subject matter in Dallapiccola’s Dallapiccola summon up the courage to 1938, Mussolini announced in a radio
output is underlined by quotations contact Schoenberg and explain how that broadcast that henceforth Italy would
from one work to another. The Canti evening had been a defining moment in embrace Hitler’s racist agenda. ‘I wanted
di liberazione quote from both the his life. In reply, Schoenberg regretted that to protest,’ Dallapiccola later said, ‘but
Canti di prigionia and the opera Il Dallapiccola had not come to see him, as I wasn’t so naïve as not to know that in
prigioniero; and at the end of Ulisse, he always liked meeting young musicians; a totalitarian regime the individual is
a string of self-quotations passes but, he admitted, he had been particularly impotent. Only through music could I
across the music’s surface, as proud that the composer of La bohème had express my indignation.’ Dallapiccola’s
though in summation of the
taken the trouble of coming to hear Pierrot. wife was Jewish, and the couple found
composer’s life’s work.
There is something symbolic about themselves having to take refuge for a
‘Eye’ music In Dallapiccola, the look the way the paths of Puccini, Schoenberg while in the hills outside Florence. On
of the music on the page sometimes
and Dallapiccola crossed for that brief the very day of Mussolini’s proclamation,
tells its own story: as it does in Sicut
umbra…, where the shapes of the
moment in 1924. Not that Puccini’s Dallapiccola began work on his Canti di
stars are ‘drawn’ into the score; or operas held much interest for either later Prigionia (‘Songs of Imprisonment’) – the
in the Christmas Concerto of 1956, composer, but it is in Dallapiccola’s music first of three ‘protest’ works concerned
whose spherical phrase-markings that Italianate warmth and lyricism find at a fundamental level with ideas of
suggest the ‘round circle’ of divine love common ground with the rigorous musical captivity and freedom. The one-act opera
GETTY
in the work’s 13th-century text. language of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern. Il prigioniero (‘The Prisoner’) followed

COMPOSER OF THE MONTH

COMPOSER OF THE MONTH
scored for oboe, clarinet

and trumpet. The melody
and its accompaniment are
heard again in the opening
bars of Volo di notte, as well
as towards the end of the
between 1943 and ’48, and the triptych was Italy. But Dallapiccola had opera, as the pilot Fabien
completed with the Canti di liberazione somehow managed to acquire faces his death under a
(‘Songs of Freedom’) of 1951-55. a score of Berg’s Wozzeck, and starlit sky.
A hatred of tyranny and oppression in 1934 he had heard the same The protagonists
had been instilled in Dallapiccola from composer’s concert-aria Der Wein of Dallapiccola’s two
an early age. He was born on 3 February at a contemporary music festival in Venice. subsequent operas also meet their end
1904, in a frontier town on the Istrian The two works left an indelible impression under the stars. In Il prigioniero, the
peninsula near Trieste. At the time it was on him – as did Lulu, of which he heard the prisoner attempting to make his escape
part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and first broadcast performance in 1937, at the from the dungeons of Saragossa realises
the authorities were quick to stamp on any time when he was working on his own first too late that he has been subjected to the
suspected irredentist sympathies among most unendurable torture of all – hope. As
the Italian population. Dallapiccola’s he emerges into a starlit garden he falls into
father – a classics teacher at the only Internment left a deep the arms of the Grand Inquisitor himself,
Italian-language school – was regarded
as ‘politically unreliable’, and the school
scar on Dallapiccola, and we hear a quotation from Mary
Stuart’s prayer in Canti di prigionia. At
was closed down. The entire family was
deported to Graz in Austria.
who was to cherish the end of Dallapiccola’s only full-length
opera, Ulisse, Ulysses takes to the sea again
The experience of internment left a
deep scar on Dallapiccola, who was to
the value of liberty for a final voyage. As he confronts his
own imminent death a veritable string of
cherish the value of liberty for the rest of one-act opera, Volo di notte, based on the quotations from Dallapiccola’s works of
his life. The Canti di prigionia set texts by novel Vol de nuit (‘Night Flight’) by Antoine the preceding three decades, including
three condemned prisoners: Mary Stuart, de Saint-Exupéry. the stellar moments from his two earlier
Boethius and Savonarola. Mary Stuart’s Dallapiccola’s first tentative step operas, floats across the music’s surface.
fervent prayer for freedom on the eve of along the path towards the new musical Dallapiccola lived in Florence for more
her execution struck a particularly strong language that so fascinated him was a than 50 years, until his death in 1975,
chord. ‘I wanted,’ Dallapiccola said, ‘the memorable one. At the beginning of his and his scores have an air of Florentine
divine word “libera” to be shouted by Tre laudi of 1936-7 the soprano enters craftsmanship about them. Even the
everyone.’ When his only child was born with a serene, floating melody setting the look of the music on the page can carry
shortly after the liberation of Florence words ‘Altissima luce con gran splendore’ symbolic significance, as it does in some
from Nazi occupation in August 1944, she (‘Light from on high with great splendour’). music of the Italian Renaissance. One
was named Annalibera. The melody is a 12-note one, and it is of the 12-note rows that run through Il
Dallapiccola’s progress towards 12-note immediately restated in retrograde form prigioniero is associated with the notion
music was a gradual one, and it was made (ie backwards); but the music is not in of hope, and its progressively widening
difficult by the lack of performances and other respects serial, and the vocal line melodic intervals suggest growing
the unavailability of scores of the music unfolds against the background of a optimism. As the prisoner stumbles his
GETTY
of Schoenberg and his followers in fascist quietly reiterated B major chord, delicately way through the labyrinth of Saragossa’s

Captivating performance: (far left) a rehearsal of
Dallapiccola’s The Prisoner in Toulouse, 2015; (left)
Dallapiccola in c.1960; poet Juan Ramón Jiménez,
whose words Dallapiccola set in Sicut umbra… DALLAPICCOLA Life&Times
subterranean corridors, a web of intricate
contrapuntal studies mirrors his struggle.
In the late piece Sicut umbra… for mezzo-
soprano and chamber ensemble, the words
1904
LIFE: Luigi Dallapiccola is born on
by the Nobel Prize-winning Spanish poet 3 February in Pisino d’Istria (Pazin,
Juan Ramón Jiménez, ‘Hay que buscar, Croatia), where is father is a classics
para saber tu tumba, por el firmamento’ teacher at an Italian-language school.
(‘You have to search the firmament to TIMES: Puccini’s Madam Butterfly
know your tomb’) prompt Dallapiccola flops horribly at its premiere at La
to form melodic lines out of the shapes Scala in Milan, but a revised version
of various constellations. The Cinque is received much more favourably in
canti of 1956 for baritone and chamber Brescia three months later.
ensemble use a 12-note row whose sinuous
line suggests the shape of a crucifix – at
the work’s mid-point a single tutti chord
in an otherwise sparsely scored passage
enables Dallapiccola to ‘draw’ an actual
cross on the page. It’s true that such devices
1944
LIFE: Following the Nazis’ occupation of
are more for the eye than the ear, but they Italy in late 1943, he is briefly forced to go
nevertheless cast a palpable metaphysical into hiding in and around Florence due to
his outspoken opposition to Fascism.
shadow over the music.
Dallapiccola was forever fascinated by TIMES: As part of Operation Shingle, Allied
canons of every conceivable kind. They forces land at the coastal towns of Anzio
and Nettuno, just south of Rome. The
are heard at their most serenely simple in
ensuing Battle of Anzio
the Wartime series of Greek Lyrics he wrote lasts for five months.
as a mental refuge from the turmoil that
surrounded him. More complex are the
Goethe-Lieder of 1953 for voice and three
clarinets. In one of them, the character of
1934
LIFE: Having taught at Florence
1951
LIFE: He is invited
Suleika contemplates her reflection: ‘The Conservatory since 1930, he is by conductor Serge
mirror tells me I am beautiful. You tell officially appointed as a professor of Koussevitsky to
me it is also my fate to age.’ Dallapiccola piano, a post he will continue to hold give a course at the
writes a mirror-canon, with the answering until his retirement in 1967. Tanglewood music festival, the first of
voice not only upside-down, but also in a TIMES: Chosen to host the FIFA numerous visits he will make to the US in
refracted rhythm that suggests the process World Cup, Italy goes on to win the the coming years.
of aging, as though in a distorted looking- tournament, beating Czechoslovakia TIMES: Strong winds lead to drifting
glass. Another of Goethe’s poems describes 2-1 in the final at Rome’s Stadium of snow and then a series of calamitous
the image of the sickle-moon embracing the National Fascist Party. avalanches in the Italian, Swiss and
the sun – an enigma that is represented Austrian Alps. More than 200 people are
in Dallapiccola’s setting by a crab-canon,
with the soprano and clarinet presenting 1968 killed during the ‘Winter of Terror’.
the same melodic line running in opposite

directions simultaneously.
In one sense, Dallapiccola’s music
LIFE: His final
opera Ulisse,
which he has
1975
LIFE: He dies of edema of the lungs on
follows Italian tradition: the bulk of his been working 19 February in Florence. Though he has
on for around composed little of late, he leaves a recent
output is vocal. He read widely (his libretto
eight years, sketch of a vocal
for Ulisse, for instance, draws on literary is premiered work on his piano.
sources ranging from Aeschylus and – in German,
Dante to Friedrich Hölderlin, James Joyce, TIMES: Italy and
under the title Yugoslavia sign the
Thomas Mann and others) and always Odysseus – at Deutsche Oper, Berlin, Treaty of Osimo,
looked deeply into the texts he was setting, conducted by Lorin Maazel. by which the Free
seeking musical metaphors to mirror the TIMES: A protest march culminates Territory of Trieste is
poetic imagery. His exquisitely chiselled in militants and police clashing at the divided between the
works may sometimes be undemonstrative Battle of Valle Giulia at the Sapienza two countries, with
in their perfection, but that perfection University of Rome, as the ‘Sessatonto’ Italy receiving the city
itself is a quality to be treasured. (‘68’) unrest grips Italy. of Trieste itself.

Building a library
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The Queen of Spades
George Hall heads over to the card table to find out which recording
of Tchaikovsky’s darkly disturbing opera holds the winning hand
The work
Following his death in a duel at just 37 Pushkin has Hermann consigned to a
years old in 1837, Alexander Pushkin mental hospital, in the opera he stabs
quickly became – and has remained – a himself to death. They also added to the
cornerstone of Russian literature. Among narrative Prince Yeletsky, Lisa’s wealthy
the various composers subsequently (though ultimately rejected) fiancé.
inspired by his poems, plays and novels Tchaikovsky went abroad – in this case
was Tchaikovsky, three of whose ten to Florence – to compose this major piece
operas are founded upon Pushkin’s works: for St Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, a
Evgeny Onegin (1879), Mazeppa (1884) and task which took him just 44 days between
The Queen of Spades (1890). 30 January and 14 March 1890 in what
The last of these is based on a short must have been an overwhelming burst
story which, published in 1834 and a of concentrated inspiration and sheer
mere 10,000 words long, tells a haunted hard work; the orchestration followed,
and haunting tale: a young outsider army to be completed in June. Both during
officer Hermann becomes obsessed by the creative process and afterwards,
The composer
Tchaikovsky regarded The Queen of
For all the ups and downs of his career Spades as his greatest single achievement
thus far, at the time of the premiere of
The Queen of Spades the 50-year-old the rumour that an elderly Countess holds Tchaikovsky regarded the result as his
Tchaikovsky enjoyed both significant the secret to winning at cards; gaining greatest single achievement.
respect and no little celebrity. admittance to the old lady’s bedroom The Queen of Spades premiered at the
Championed by Tsar Alexander III, he through a half-hearted interest in her Mariinsky in December that same year,
used his standing to promote Russian lonely granddaughter Lisa, he frightens with Eduard Nápravník conducting. In
music at home and abroad, where he the Countess to death; but when she the crucial roles of Hermann and Lisa was
was increasingly in demand. Though reluctantly appears to him as a ghost, she the remarkable husband-and-wife team
the perpetually hard-to-please critics gives him – on condition that he marry of Nikolay Figner and Medea Mei-Figner
were sniffy about his Fifth Symphony Lisa – the secret formula: three, seven, ace; (the latter Italian-born and trained), both
at its premiere in August 1888,
unfortunately, Hermann abandons Lisa, hugely admired singing actors who in 1901
the public largely gave it a warmer
reception. Five years later, in October and the last of the three cards ruins him by would record extracts from their creator
1993, the enthusiastically greeted turning out to be… the Queen of Spades. roles with piano accompaniment. The
premiere of his Sixth Symphony would In making their adaptation, Tchaikovsky opera proved an instant success and soon
precede his death by just nine days. and his librettist brother Modest began a slow but steady progress around
understood as cultured Russians that major international stages, eventually
Pushkin’s original was already a literary becoming the second most frequently
Building a Library
classic and their version is accordingly performed of Tchaikovsky’s lyric works
is broadcast on Radio 3
at 9.30am each Saturday broadly faithful to this respected source. after Evgeny Onegin.
as part of Record Review. A highlights They nevertheless expanded the original The opera is set in St Petersburg at
podcast is available on BBC Sounds. as well as altering the ending: whereas the close of the 18th century, when

BUILDING A LIBRARY
Vengeful return:
Felicity Palmer is The
Countess in The Queen
of Spades at English
National Opera, 2015;
(below) Alexander Pushkin
Catherine the Great was on the throne characters in turn – most obviously with
(1762-96). One of the opera’s most obvious the increasingly unhinged Hermann.
additions to Pushkin is the large-scale The composer was profoundly moved
divertissement in the second act when by his unhappy protagonist’s fate. ‘When
wealthy guests at a private house are I arrived at the death of Hermann and the
entertained by the pastoral The Faithful final chorus,’ Tchaikovsky subsequently
Shepherdess: this allows Tchaikovsky wrote, ‘I was overcome with such pity for
to indulge in a pastiche of his beloved Hermann that I began to weep bitterly.
Mozart. In the scene’s final bars, the This crying lasted for a terribly long time
Empress herself is hailed by the guests just … Later I thought about the reason for this,
before her (unseen) arrival. One of this since I’ve never before broken into tears
episode’s dramatic functions is to show over the fate of one of my heroes. It seems
the impecunious Hermann the wealthy to me that he was with me all the time like
lifestyle which his hoped-for win at the a real living person … I felt the deepest
gambling tables would automatically sympathy for his misfortune. Now I
guarantee him. believe that this intimate, warm feeling for
Anomalies exist within the opera the opera’s hero is reflected in the music
regarding time. How old is the aged very much to its advantage.’
Countess who holds the secret of the cards? Exemplifying, meanwhile, Hermann’s
She supposedly learned it during her dating from the first decade of the 19th fixation with the particular numbers of
glamorous youth in Paris many decades century – some years after the timescale of the fateful cards, the opera is constructed
earlier, though the opera from which she the opera itself! in three acts with a total of seven scenes,
recalls and sings an extract in her bedroom More important than such while important thematic elements use
is a recent one – Grétry’s Richard Coeur- discrepancies, though, is the heady late- either three or seven notes.
de-Lion (1784) was premiered within just a Romantic style with which Tchaikovsky
few years of the period when The Queen of clothes a piece that looks forward to Turn the page to discover our
Spades is set. Meanwhile, the pastiche duet 20th-century notions of obsession recommended recordings of
and parlour song sung by Lisa and Pauline and mental illness, with the composer Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades
GETTY
in the opera’s second scene both set lyrics identifying musically with each of his

Master of many moods:
conductor Valery Gergiev’s Three other
interpretation is full of colour
great recordings
Vladimir Fedoseyev
(conductor)
A deeply unsettling
live performance
from 1989 once
again possesses
a high degree of authenticity. Vitaly
Tarashchenko’s melancholy Hermann
rises to the major vocal challenges with
authority, while Natalia Datsko’s Lisa is
suffused with barely contained passion.
Arkhipova is once again the commanding
Countess: a grande dame who expects
to be treated as such. In refulgent voice,
Dmitri Hvorostovsky is a top-quality
Yeletsky, and Grigory Gritsyuk’s large-
scale Tomsky bursts with character.
(Pan Classics PC10430)
Alexander Melik-
Pashaev (conductor)
Though compromised
by its period (1950)
sound, an earlier echt-
Russian account is
notable for Alexander Melik-Pashaev’s
The best
powerful conducting, his Bolshoi
g An invariably thrilling account forces providing bags of colour and

recordin character. Even if his tone is not in itself
especially beautiful, Georgi Nelepp’s
Hermann offers considerable variety,
with the text. From the opening scene of while Evgeniya Smolenskaya conveys
this Kirov account onwards, the listener Lisa’s disturbed nature. Evgenia
experiences an authentically Russian Verbitskaya’s Countess maintains a
set of colours in terms of choral sound, big personality and an entirely viable
an orchestra of ideal range and quality, voice. Pavel Lisitsian’s Yeletsky is sung
and even a boys’ chorus that provides with exceptional beauty while Aleksey
precisely the raw vitality required. All
Valery Gergiev (conductor) Grigorian maintains vocal

Gegam Grigorian (Hermann) et al; Kirov Opera and beautiful tone, and full of feeling. His
Decca 438 1412 control even as Hermann is an introverted view of the character, but
falls apart psychologically also something of a slow burn, Hermann’s
This performance was recorded live in card-obsessed psychosis only gradually
1992 in the very theatre where The Queen of these elements place Valery Gergiev’s kicking in; Grigorian also maintains vocal
of Spades was premiered. Of all European interpretation in a special category; and musical control even as the mentally
traditions, the Russians – largely, of course, equally, it benefits from a company made vulnerable individual falls steadily apart
as a consequence of long-term artistic up of an ensemble of artists who have psychologically. At the end, incidentally,
isolation following the 1917 Revolution – performed the work together regularly. and matching the associated Kirov stage
have held on most tightly to their national Gergiev’s conducting is invariably production (available on DVD), this
musical attributes and sense of style. exciting, capturing impressively the work’s Hermann shoots rather than stabs himself.
There are obvious advantages when extraordinary diversity of mood. In a similar manner to Grigorian, Maria
a Russian ensemble presents a Russian Turning to the principals, Gegam Guleghina’s Lisa begins in a contained
opera, not only with respect to Slavic vocal Grigorian presents a dynamic Hermann in manner, almost imperceptibly giving in
qualities and an intimate relationship a thrillingly sung reading founded on firm to her self-destructive instincts while

BUILDING A LIBRARY
Shining Tsar:
Bryn Terfel as Boris
Godunov at the Royal
Opera House, 2019;
(below) Rimsky-Korsakov
Petrovich Ivanov’s Tomsky is an effective
presence. (Naxos 9.81055-57)
Mariss Jansons
(conductor)
Jansons oversees
a strong live
performance (2014)
with the excellent
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Suffused with gloom, Misha Didyk’s
distinctly baritonal Hermann possesses
conviction, and Tatiana Serjan brings
interiority to Lisa in an interpretation
notable for a timidity of spirit that sets
her up for her terrible downfall. Larissa
Diadkova’s Countess is expertly crafted
and Alexey Shishlyaev’s Tomsky makes
a proper mark in all his scenes, though
Alexey Markov’s Yeletsky is at times Continue the journey…
ungainly. (BR Klassik 900129)
Five further works to explore after Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades
And one to avoid…
S
A mix of Russians even years before Russia’s defeat in the Russo-
and non-Russians The Queen of Japanese War and its subject
proves unconvincing Spades, Tchaikovsky matter – a caustic tale of
in Seiji Ozawa’s 1991 had turned to crassness and ineptitude in
account, which fails to Pushkin’s poem Poltava the conduct of war – did not
capture the lairiness of for his opera Mazeppa. go unnoticed by the censors.
this psychological melodrama. Vladimir The title character is a However, moments such as
Atlantov’s Hermann is engaged but Cossack hetman (military the lavish Wedding March
undisciplined, while at this stage in commander) who falls in in Act III have ensured its
her career Mirella Freni’s vocal colours love with the much younger enduring popularity. (Gennady
are not appropriate for Lisa. Dmitri Maria against the backdrop Pishchayev et al; Bolshoi/Yevgeny
Hvorostovsky’s open-hearted Yeletsky is of the battle for Ukrainian Akulov Melodiya RCID14773061)
peerlessly lyrical and Sergei Leiferkus’s independence from Rimsky’s Mozart
Tomsky compelling, but Maureen Peter the Great’s Rimsky’s caustic tale and Salieri was
Forrester’s Countess is too soft-grained.
Russia – a grisly tale of ineptitude did not go dedicated to
involving betrayal,
The amateur chorus doesn’t make an
execution and, finally,
unnoticed by the censors the memory of
Dargomyzhsky,
operatic sound, let alone a Russian one.
descent into madness. whose own Rusalka
(Sergei Leiferkus et al; Gothenburg SO/Neeme and The Stone Guest also have their
Järvi Deutsche Grammophon E477 5637) origins in Pushkin. In fact, The Stone
Heading a century further back to the Guest scarcely deviates from the exact
retaining an aptly refined lyricism: early 1600s, Pushkin’s historical drama words of Pushkin’s 1830 drama on the
Boris Godunov provided the inspiration fate of Don Juan, a story long familiar to
desperation only enters into the picture
for Musorgsky’s 1874 opera of the same opera goers in the guise of Mozart’s Don
in the penultimate scene, at the close of name. Boris, aware that he has become Giovanni. (Nikolai Vassiliev et al; Bolshoi/
which her belief in Hermann’s love for her Tsar through nefarious means, feels the Andrey Chistjakov Brilliant Classics 94028BR)
has vanished and she commits suicide. weight of both his crime and the course Pushkin is not just the territory
Irina Arkhipova brings a certain hauteur of inevitability as another false pretender of Russian composers. Try also
to the Countess – quite rightly, there is no mounts a bid to dethrone him. A score of Leoncavallo’s Zingari, based on the
sense of caricature – and to the enriched stunning individuality and power charts 1824 narrative poem The Gypsies. A
lyricism of his Yeletsky, Vladimir Chernov the descent of Russia itself into chaos. huge hit at its premiere in London in
adds a touch of melancholy, appropriate (Vladimir Vaneyev et al; Kirov Orchestra and 1912 but then condemned to obscurity,
Chorus/Valery Gergiev Decca 478 3447) the Italian’s compelling two-act tale of
in this of all operas. Nikolai Putilin is Like Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov fading passion, burning jealousy and
an excellent Tomsky and there is strong made three operatic visits to Pushkin: gruesome revenge has recently enjoyed
casting in smaller roles, most notably for Mozart and Salieri, The Tale of Tsar something of a revival. (Krassimira
Olga Borodina’s Pauline. The result is a Saltan and The Golden Cockerel. The Stoyanova et al; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/
GETTY
distinguished ensemble achievement. last of these was completed soon after Carlo Rizzi Opera Rara 9293800612)

Reviews
Recordings and books rated by expert critics
RECORDING OF THE MONTH

Welcome
This month’s reviews
feature an inviting mix
A master violist salutes
of new discoveries and
fresh takes on enduring
favourites. We’ve world-
his legendary forebear
premiere recordings of
Elena Firsova’s 2020
Paul Riley applauds a handsome tribute
Piano Concerto and Edmund Finnis’s to Lionel Tertis, the performer and teacher
first solo piano cycle, plus compelling
new-work compilations for both violin who brought the viola out of the shadows
and voice. Elsewhere, much-loved works
emerge in fresh colours. Two Nordic
masterpieces, Sibelius’s Symphony No. 4 commissioning, composing,
and Grieg’s Symphonic Dances, both and arranging. Self-taught and
get thrilling new readings, while the a latecomer (he didn’t take up
inimitable spirit of Venice is evoked in a the instrument until he was 19),
Tertis’s achievement is roundly
captivating album of music from across
celebrated across two discs,
the centuries. Lully’s opera Atys enjoys a each with a stand-out pianist.
new benchmark recording, while Lionel Bookending the tribute
Tertis, who did so much to bring the viola are two landmark sonatas:
centre stage, is beautifully celebrated in A Lionel Tertis one premiered in 1905 and
our Recording of the Month. Celebration dedicated to Tertis by the
Steve Wright Acting reviews editor Works by Tertis, Bowen, young York Bowen, the other by
Brahms, Bridge, Schumann, Tertis’s sometime pupil Rebecca
Vaughan Williams et al Clarke, who composed it at the
(trans. Tertis et al) end of the First World War.
This month’s critics Timothy Ridout (viola), Frank Other original compositions
Dupree, James Baillieu (piano) include Frank Bridge’s haunted
John Allison, Nicholas Anderson, Michael Beek,
Terry Blain, Kate Bolton-Porciatti, Geoff Brown, Harmonia Mundi Pensiero and a substantial,
Michael Church, Christopher Cook, Martin HMM905376.77 big-boned Rhapsody by Elgar’s
Cotton, Christopher Dingle, Misha Donat, 128:00 mins (2 discs) friend and confidant WH Reed.
Jessica Duchen, Rebecca Franks, George Hall, If violists owe Lionel Tertis an Then there’s First Meeting:
Malcolm Hayes, Claire Jackson, Stephen Johnson, inescapable debt of gratitude, Souvenir, Eric Coates’s tender
Berta Joncus, John-Pierre Joyce, Nicholas
with this release Timothy pen portrait performed in a
Kenyon, Ashutosh Khandekar, Erik Levi,
Andrew McGregor, David Nice, Roger Nichols, Ridout repays those dues new transcription by conductor
Ingrid Pearson, Steph Power, Paul Riley, Anne handsomely. Inspired by the John Wilson – who restores
Templer, Roger Thomas, Sarah Urwin Jones, Kate violinist Fritz Kreisler – and the original key, thereby
Wakeling, Alexandra Wilson arguably doing for the viola accentuating its smouldering,
what his contemporary dark-hued nostalgia.
Casals, also born in 1876, was A few interlopers aside, the
KEY TO STAR RATINGS accomplishing for the cello programme in effect takes
+++++ Outstanding – Tertis set about raising the the temperature of early
++++ Excellent instrument’s profile, in the 20th-century English chamber
+++ Good
++ Disappointing process tackling the problem of music, admitting miniatures
+ Poor solo repertoire head-on through by Wolstenholme and Tertis to

Recording of the Month Reviews
Performer’s notes
Timothy Ridout
ICE
CHO
Just how important is Lionel

Tertis in the story of the viola?
Tertis is the father of modern
viola playing. There were pieces
written for viola before him – but
in the late-19th century, while
the piano, cello and violin all had
their great virtuosos, the viola was
left behind. He was the first viola
professor at the Royal Academy of
Music – before him, the role didn’t
exist. He commissioned so much,
and encouraged people to think
of the viola as a solo instrument.
How did the project come about?
As well as commissioning, Tertis
produced many arrangements
for viola, and as a student at the
A continuing legacy:
Academy I wanted to record an
Timothy Ridout and
Frank Dupree pay album of these. A couple of years
tribute to Lionel Tertis ago, the Tertis Foundation asked if
I would be interested in recording
some pieces connected with him.
So this was a golden opportunity.
broaden the scope. Toothsome and James Baillieu who – the music husbands its What are your memories of the
arrangements muster an shoulders the Rebecca Clarke, most intense resources for a recording sessions?
affectionate, schmaltz-light Ridout nurtures readings that passage resolutely marked fff We recorded in Wyastone
account of Kreisler’s Liebesleid seethe with fiery, dramatic molto vibrato. Rebecca Clarke, Concert Hall in Monmouthshire
ahead of a stylish performance insight, voluptuous passion and meanwhile, whips up a scherzo in January. So my memories are
of Praeludium & Allegro – a ear-grabbing empathy. of impishly teasing vivacity; of the wonderful space – and of
the cold! Our producer Andrew
flamboyant injection of C minor turbulence is met and while never losing sight Keener helped me so much
Baroque ‘pasticherie’ to end with protean resolve as Bowen, of the bigger picture, Ridout with pacing and giving the right
disc one on an ebullient note. and Baillieu boldly interrogate attention to different elements.
Irresistible, too, is the stoic The readings seethe every shifting refinement of the Does the viola enjoy the
nobility conjured by Fauré’s first movement’s complex skein prominence it deserves?
Elégie, in which Ridout’s with fiery, dramatic of introspection, ruggedness Thanks to players like Tertis,
colours are wonderfully insight and ear- and gossamer solo asides. William Primrose, Yuri Bashmet,
nuanced, and his careful grabbing empathy From imposing sonatas to Tabea Zimmermann and
restraint allows Frank salon bonbons, these recordings Lawrence Power, it does enjoy
Dupree’s pianism to shine with fresh out of music college and constitute a deft salute not just more prominence now. There is
translucent luminosity at the filled with the intoxicated to Tertis the man and multi- still more to be done, though. I
start of the middle section. ardour of a young composer faceted musician, but also to his have a litmus test for this: when
I take my instrument through
The two sonatas, however, flexing his muscles, makes enduring legacy which lives on
airport security and I tell staff
steal the show, Ridout bedfellows of Grieg, Brahms in distinguished successors –
TING RU LAI, JIYANG CHEN
it’s a viola, I am still greeted by

surrendering to their and Elgar, as he wrestles to forge not least among them Timothy baffled faces. So there is more
indefatigable underpinning his own voice. In the Finale – Ridout himself. awareness to be raised! It’s such
volatility. And together with broached with unstoppable PERFORMANCE +++++ a beautiful instrument, and we
Frank Dupree in the Bowen, aplomb by Ridout and Dupree RECORDING +++++ should see and hear more of it.

Orchestral
ORCHESTRAL CHOICE
A wealth of fresh, enchanting dances

The Bergen Philharmonic relishes Grieg’s folk-inspired music, says David Nice
the ‘melodrama’ Bergliot, to an

olde-Norse heroic scenario by his
distinguished friend Bjørnstjerne
Grieg Bjørnson, is strangely compelling.
Symphonic Dances etc The speaker holds sway for the most
Bergen Philharmonic/ part, Juni Dahr mesmerising as the
Edward Gardner et al widow of the slain Tambarskjelve,
Chandos CHSA 5301 63:48 mins beaten by Harald Hardrada. The
Grieg’s dances may not be as orchestra comes to the fore in three
symphonic as Rachmaninov’s, of plaintive laments, more original
which Edward Gardner is a vivid perhaps than the early Funeral
interpreter. The melodies aren’t his March for Grieg’s friend and fellow
own, either, and there are reams composer Rikard Nordraak.
of repeats. But what he does with Conviction wins the brief Before a
folk material is so Southern Convent
enchanting that, The tunes chosen a place in the sun.
in this beautiful
incarnation
are all winners and It’s a scene from
Bjørnson’s Arnljot
with the Bergen palpably Norwegian Gelline in which a
players delivering chieftain’s daughter
so freshly and responding so well seeks refuge among Italian nuns
to Gardner’s rhythmic drive in after the murder of her father, but
the livelier sequences, you’ll be carries its own revelation without any
compelled throughout. The tunes further necessary context. Soprano
chosen are all winners and palpably Mari Eriksmoen and mezzo Astrid
Flawless Grieg:
Norwegian; loveliest of all is the oboe Nordstad set the dramatic mood Edward Gardner
melody – not the famous one, from from the start, and the female chorus, and his Bergen band
the earlier Norwegian Dances, but uncredited in the booklet, sings with are on top form
equally fine – which weathers its four conviction. Faultless performances
appearances most attractively. in very natural sound throughout.
You can access thousands of reviews from our extensive archive on
Most Grieg compendiums PERFORMANCE +++++
the BBC Music Magazine website at www.classical-music.com
include oddities, among which RECORDING +++++
Franck • Chausson tensions between the two extremes is not perfect. But he’s wrong to Lalo
Franck: Symphony in D minor, become a guide for the rhetoric. say that Chausson writes ‘crotchet
Symphony in G minor; Le Roi
Chausson: Symphony in B flat major Franck’s long lines are intelligently becomes quaver’ when he in fact
d’Ys – Overture; Namouna –
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra/ and variously phrased, so there are writes ‘quaver becomes crotchet’,
Suites and Valse de la Cigarette
Jean-Luc Tingaud no places where the argument flags. and in any case Tingaud obeys
Estonian National SO/Neeme Järvi
Naxos 8.574536 71:08 mins The only downside is that, from neither instruction, nor does he
The pairing time to time, the first violins are observe the presto at the end of the Chandos CHAN20183 77:22 mins
of the Franck swamped by the brass. first movement, while I dispute that There is more
and Chausson Tingaud’s performance of the grave must be more ‘an indication to Lalo than
symphonies Chausson is more arguable. He has of character than of tempo’. So what the Symphonie
is a favourite studied the two autographs of the we have is a generally well-played espagnole. Cellists
standby and work in the Bibliothèque nationale version of this symphony, doing have ensured
understandably so: at around 70 – the original draft and the copy its best to disguise Chausson’s that the D minor
minutes they fill a CD and share a sent to the printer – but has drawn shortwindedness and persistent Concerto is not entirely absent from
musical language. conclusions from them that must be reliance on chromatic sevenths, the concert hall but, as this welcome
Conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud doubted. For a start proofs, whether which may or may not have the orchestral disc shows, there are
understands that the Franck is accepted or corrected, are missing, composer’s final imprimatur. rewarding things to be found by
essentially a work of contrasts, so we have no final, definitive text. Roger Nichols peering beyond those works, notably
and offers us a wide range of both Tingaud is undoubtedly right PERFORMANCE ++++ his ballet Namouna. Written at
tempos and dynamics, so that in saying the 1897 published score RECORDING ++++ speed, Debussy and Chabrier deeply

Orchestral Reviews
admired Namouna, and it is easy to The Kölner Akademie is in period
see why from the suites presented instrument guise, and the sound is
here. The luminosity and distinctive often suitably thrilling and zippy.
range of colour to Lalo’s textures Willens and his orchestra find
suggest an affinity with Russian the humorous contrast between
composers, whether that’s the the quiet strings and the clashing
glimmering strings of the ‘Prelude’ percussion in the overture for Die
or the Spanish and Moroccan Entführung aus dem Serail – subtlety
exoticisms in later numbers. is not the driving motif in this dance
Conductor Neeme Järvi is a of delicacy and brashness.
trusted guide through the byways of The Kölner woodwinds are
French repertoire, bringing vigorous pinpoint accurate in Così fan Tutte
joie de vivre to the livelier pieces, despite the fast-forward speed – but
such as ‘Fête foraine’, yet sustaining here as elsewhere, sometimes one is
the controlled insouciance of left wondering if matters needed to
‘Dolce far niente (La Sieste)’. And move on quite so quickly. The dark
the Estonian National Symphony timbre of Don Giovanni provides
Orchestra plays as if this music is respite and magnitude, and it is
firmly in their blood. An occasional fascinating to listen to the ways
imprecision in the brass, such in which Mozart played with the
as at the climax of the ‘Prelude’, musical form of the overture itself,
does not detract from the overall not least as we come to La clemenza
momentousness of their gestures. di Tito and Die Zauberflöte. Yet
Lalo’s magnum opus, the opera Le despite the virtuosic and enjoyable
Roi d’Ys, is a fine work, the overture exposition by Willens and the
being admirably paced here. Lalo Kölner Akademie, there is still that ‘Trusted guide’:
was tagged as a Wagnerian by nagging sense that we are constantly Neeme Järvi
contemporary audiences, ignorantly beginning and never quite getting to conducts a lively
tour of Lalo
so in terms of the broad thrust the place we were promised.
of his music, though the near Sarah Urwin Jones
direct quotation from the opera PERFORMANCE +++
Tannhäuser in this overture and RECORDING ++++ which naturally knows the original Rheinland-Pfalz/Gregor Bühl
the broad sweep of the ‘Prelude’ to scores well. To these Rizzi adds two Capriccio C5514 56:02 mins
Namouna are guilty as charged. Puccini early orchestral works, the Preludio Two principal
It is tempting to suggest the Symphonic Suites sinfonico first performed at a student impressions
decidedly episodic Symphony in (arr. Carlo Rizzi) concert at the Milan Conservatory remain after
G minor would benefit from a little Welsh National Opera Orchestra/ in July 1882, and the Capriccio listening to this
more of that spirit. Nonetheless, Carlo Rizzi sinfonico, Puccini’s graduation piece collection of
the Namouna music makes the disc Signum Classics SIGCD778 70:15 mins from the Conservatory, premiered Miklós Rózsa’s
worthwhile. If only we could have Conductor Carlo exactly a year later. In fact, we music intended for the concert
the full ballet. Christopher Dingle Rizzi insists that hear the Preludio twice, both in its hall. The immediate and endearing
PERFORMANCE ++++ his symphonic original form (restored here by Rizzi) one is the consistent Hungarian
RECORDING ++++ suites from two and in a later version that cuts some inflections: a characteristic just as
of the composer’s 90 seconds off the piece. audible in his many film scores,
Mozart most popular Neither is a distinguished whether the subject’s the amorous
Overtures operas – Tosca and Madam Butterfly example of Puccini’s art, though life of Sherlock Holmes or the epic
Kölner Akademie/Michael – are not arrangements, but rather already his flair for orchestral adventures of Ben-Hur.
Alexander Willens ‘the music of Puccini’. Purely writing is readily apparent. Points The second impression left
BIS BIS-2062 62:26 mins instrumental versions of operatic of interest include the distinctly by Gregor Bühl’s pick of pieces
A disc full of music, of course, are nothing new. Wagnerian opening of the Preludio, originating (though not always
overtures might As one of today’s leading Puccini with its obvious reminiscence of the finalised) in the 1930s, 1950s and
be in danger of interpreters, Rizzi is well qualified Lohengrin prelude, and a chunk of ’70s is of music with some key
seeming like to create new pieces of this type, the Capriccio which 13 years later ingredients missing. Perhaps one
a perpetual which are in effect opera without Puccini recycled as the opening of them is real individuality, or at
starter that voices. This is possible because musical gesture of La bohème, where any rate some force strong enough
never gets on to the main course, (as Puccini expert Roger Parker he recalls, perhaps, his own student to bind together the lurching moods
but Michael Alexander Willens comments in his liner notes) life in Milan as he describes that of and speed changes and titbits of
keeps things moving at such a pace the composer’s frequently self- his four Bohemians in their Parisian striking orchestration featured in
that the thought barely crosses sufficient orchestral underpinning attic. George Hall many of the tracks.
one’s mind – at least at first. And if means that the ‘musical substance of PERFORMANCE ++++ The 1956 Overture to a Symphony
Mozart always spun a clever line entire arias can be delivered without RECORDING ++++ Concert (a very Hungarian
between innovation, the musical the voice being present’. symphony concert) overworks its
constructs of the day and audience Though not in dramatic order, Rózsa central motif and appears more
expectations in a particular place, the technically impeccable result Overture to a Symphony manufactured than creatively
there is enough structural diversity has been ingeniously assembled Concert; Hungarian Serenade; inspired. The Hungarian Serenade,
here to stave off any feeling of being and is finely performed by the Tripartita expanded in the 1940s from a 1932
GETTY
shortchanged, operatically. Welsh National Opera Orchestra, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie original, is far more natural and

Orchestral Reviews
attractive, without shaking off the American and English
signs of slight material fussed over a Stirring Sibelius:
little too much. The 1972 Tripartita Susanna Mälkki Orchestral Music
exploits a sterner musical language explores the Works by Ives, Smyth, Still,
than either, but also goes in for music’s depths Shaw and Elgar
elegiac tenderness (its best feature) Lausanne Chamber Orchestra/
and a hard-driven rhythmic romp. Joshua Weilerstein
Throughout, Bühl’s orchestra Claves CD 3091 102:21 mins (2 discs)
makes the best of whatever is
on offer, but they can’t hide the Decades ago,
lingering gaps in these works that I used to have
stop their elements fusing. The fun with an old
ultimate missing ingredient, I friend concocting
suppose, is a narrative, or some imaginary
other clear purpose for this music’s Prom concerts
existence. You could also call it the featuring horrid combinations
movies. Geoff Brown of irreconcilable works. Yoking
PERFORMANCE +++ Charles Ives with Ethel Smyth,
RECORDING +++ however, was one trick we missed,
though it rushed into Joshua
Sibelius Weilerstein’s head for this strange
Karelia Suite; Rakastava; and unsatisfying orchestral
Lemminkäinen assemblage recorded in 2020-21
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra/ just after his stint as the Lausanne
Susanna Mälkki Chamber Orchestra’s artistic
BIS BIS-2638 78:38 mins director ended.
One of the the suite Rakastava is finely played open on a shadowy inner world, In his note, Weilerstein
sadnesses in by the Helsinki Philharmonic being somehow forbidding and establishes three areas of similarity
today’s classical Orchestra’s string section, the rather compelling at the same time. between his five British and
concert scene forthright result misses the music’s Rouvali works to bring out American composers: ‘folk music,
is how little the whispered tenderness. detail, sometimes creating a kind of classical idioms, and a generally
shorter orchestral But there are major strengths chamber-opera dialogue between warm and Romantic sensibility’.
works of so many composers here too. Mälkki and the instruments and orchestral Some of that is true: but listening
are performed. Sibelius’s ‘The orchestra remarkably conjure sections, yet his grasp of the to the results involves so many
Swan of Tuonela’, from his suite the dark, swirling soundworld of long line holds fast throughout. disorientating stylistic jolts that
Lemminkäinen, used to feature ‘Lemminkäinen in Tuonela’ (the The austere, haunted first common ground soon disappears.
regularly in programmes, and yet Hades of Finnish legend). And movement yields effortlessly to the In Weilerstein’s hands, Ives’s
today even this is a rarity. No such the concluding ‘Lemminkäinen’s agitated, increasingly desperate sharply impressionistic Three
issues apply in Sibelius’s native Return’ canters along in roistering merrymaking of the scherzo, which Places in New England proves of no
Finland; and this survey style. Malcolm Hayes then dissipates eerily into the Largo, matter: the performance begins by
attractively presents some of the PERFORMANCE ++++ with its agonising slow struggle being pedantic, unatmospheric, and
byways of Sibelius’s music as a RECORDING ++++ towards the light that ultimately oddly balanced, and improves only
prelude to Lemminkäinen, one of his fails. Rouvali takes his time there: slightly. Conductor and orchestra
major creations. Sibelius not quite as largo as Osmo Vänskä appear more at home with the
A choice early example of Symphony No. 4; The Wood (there’s a tiny increase in tempo in orthodox 19th-century European
Sibelius’s gift for popular-touch Nymph; Valse Triste the middle section), but close. He padding of Smyth’s breezily
orchestral music was Karelia, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra/ also allows a degree of slowing down confident works: a first recording of
celebrating the history and culture Santtu-Matias Rouvali in the ‘things fall apart’ coda, but not the Suite for Strings, arranged from
of the region then in eastern Alpha Classics ALPHA1008 64:29 mins enough to lose momentum. her String Quintet and a Brahmsian
Finland (now part of the Russian Sibelius’s Fourth It’s a strong Fourth, worthy of Serenade that needs livelier material
Federation). Susanna Mälkki’s Symphony: dark comparison with the best, but the and judicious weeding.
thoughtful approach to this three- Nordic pastoral, performance of The Wood Nymph Of the shorter pieces filling out
movement suite likeably brings out or even darker is simply the best to appear so far. the album, the orchestral expansion
the music’s deeper side, for instance spiritual odyssey? Symphonic drive and storytelling of Caroline Shaw’s 2011 string
in the central ‘Ballade’, without in Interpretations are balanced magnificently quartet piece Entr’acte, with its
any way inflating it. The results tend to veer towards one view throughout, right up to the opulently hesitating and haunting repetitions
are equally fine in Lemminkäinen’s or the other. It’s one of the many grim ending. Early Sibelius it may and pizzicato flings, is easily the
four-movement portrait of the life impressive features of Santtu- be, but it’s gripping, atmospheric most enjoyable. Still’s Mother and
and exploits (mostly romantic) of Matias Rouvali’s new version and utterly unique. Child of 1943 is nobly designed
the Finnish folk-hero. There are with the Gothenburg Symphony Finally comes a Valse Triste if overladen with syrup. Elgar’s
moments when Sibelius’s flair Orchestra that it manages to dance with more than usual stress on the ‘Chanson de nuit’ and ‘Chanson de
for atmosphere isn’t conveyed: imaginatively between both. The programmatic element, and it’s matin’, tacked on like encores at the
the wonderful scene-setting at feeling of space, the damp chill in none the worse for that. Everything end, add little to the proceedings
the start of the suite’s opening the air, the sense of nature awe- is beautifully recorded by Alpha except the comfort of familiarity.
movement, ‘Lemminkäinen and inspiring and inimical – it’s all Classics too. Stephen Johnson Geoff Brown
JIYANG CHEN
the Maidens of the Island’, doesn’t there from the start. But so, too, PERFORMANCE +++++ PERFORMANCE ++
come across as it could.’ And while is the sense of a door swinging RECORDING +++++ RECORDING +++

Concerto
CONCERTO CHOICE
A lifelong journey with the Red Priest

This double album displays the true variety of Vivaldi, says John-Pierre Joyce
from The Four Seasons, which bristles

with unvarnished rusticity.
The musicologist Olivier Fourés,
Vivaldi who reconstructed some of the
Concerti per una vita unfinished pieces, says the album
Le Consort/Théotime Langlois de completes the recording to date of
Swarte (violin) all Vivaldi’s known instrumental
Harmonia Mundi HMM902373.74 148 compositions. Debatable, but there
mins (2 discs) is no doubt about the exceptional
Anyone who believes the old joke playing of both soloist and orchestra,
that Vivaldi wrote the same concerto directed by Langlois de Swarte
400 times should listen to this. It himself – alternately exuberant,
follows on from the same performers’ wayward, introspective and
2022 recording of concertos by melancholic, they move seamlessly
Leclair, Locatelli between the various
and Vivaldi, but The playing of both genres and playing
this time focuses
exclusively on the
soloist and orchestra styles that marked
the changes in
Red Priest’s output. is exceptional Vivaldi’s career.
The album’s Authenticists
title, Concertos for a Life, describes won’t be pleased by the addition of a
a programme that traces Vivaldi’s guitar, psaltery and ottavino spinet in
40-year output from a transcribed continuo passages, or by the beefing
aria by his teacher Giovanni Legrenzi up of the string section in three
to the valedictory chaconne from horn concerto movements. But the
his RV 583 Violin Concerto. In exquisite simplicity of the Andante Baroque splendour:
between are works relating to his from the Violin Concerto RV 267a Théotime Langlois is
performers, pupils and dedicatees. – Vivaldi’s tribute to his pupil Anna an admirable soloist
Some are claimed as ‘world premiere’ Maria – is enough to win over even
recordings; others are presented in the hardest of traditionalists.
unfamiliar guises – like the Genoa PERFORMANCE +++++
manuscript version of ‘Summer’ RECORDING +++++
Olav Berg • Crusell • way the soloist first enters, with an Berg expressed himself unhappy PERFORMANCE +++++
Weber elaborate cadenza. The concerto’s with the piece and decided instead RECORDING ++++
Bassoon Concertos centrepiece consists of variations to write a new one specially for this
Dag Jensen (bassoon); on a theme by the popular opera recording. It’s in a single movement, N Boulanger • Fauré •
Kammerakademie Potsdam/Gregor composer Boieldieu. and largely based on recurring Hahn
Bühl On a higher level is the concerto chromatic cells. Berg’s writing for Concertos etc
CPO 555 576-2 63:29 mins by Weber, with its fine slow percussion is striking, and so is the William Youn (piano); Berlin Radio
The 19th-century movement and witty finale. Weber’s concerto’s ending which leaves the SO/Valentin Uryupin
Finnish composer Andante e Rondo ongarese is his own music fading out with the bassoon Sony Classical G010005158252Y
Bernhard arrangement of a piece he originally left alone with just a piano. 87:01 mins
Henrik Crusell wrote for viola. There’s nothing Jensen plays brilliantly (the Releases
was himself a particularly Hungarian about the speed at which he rattles off the presenting less
clarinettist, but he good-natured rondo, though its last variation in the Crusell has to than familiar
wrote the concerto recorded here for ending, with a three-octave sweep be heard to be believed) and he’s repertory are
his son-in-law Frans Carl Preumayr, up the bassoon finishing on a top C, ably supported by the Potsdam always welcome,
who came from a prominent family is spectacular. Kammerakademie. Perhaps the and this one
MARCO BORGGREVE
of bassoon players. It’s somewhat The Norwegian Olav Berg is fortissimo passages in the first explores some intriguing byways
let down by a repetitive polonaise now in his mid-70s, and when Dag movement of the Weber concerto of the musical world of Paris in the
finale, but its single-movement form Jensen told him he was planning to could have done with more passion, late-19th and early-20th centuries.
is quite original, and so, too, is the record his early bassoon concerto, but it’s a small point. Misha Donat The quality on offer varies. The

Concerto Reviews
rippling fluency of Hahn’s idiom robust and varied tone from the
seems to have led him to bypass the soloist. He is always light on his
need to put together a convincing feet, and generally impeccable
three-movement design in his Piano in phrasing and intonation, but a
Concerto of 1931; his method was sense of individuality isn’t always
evidently to let one idea follow the present, even in his cadenzas.
next, and proclaim the result ‘free Maybe that’s the point he’s making,
fantasy’. The result is outwardly and perhaps we’re all too used to
agreeable and inwardly bland. virtuoso fireworks, but there’s a
Fauré’s way of conjuring his dimension missing. On the plus
music, as if it was improvised in the side is the bright, clean recording,
moment and then written down, and the complete unanimity of
resembles Hahn’s approach to intent from all the players, with the
that extent. But he does this using exact measuring of rests in the slow
fewer notes, and with a much surer movements giving the music space
sense of purpose; the whimsical to breathe. The finale of the Second
opening melody of his early Ballade, Concerto catches the changes of
presented first by the piano and then mood and pace with charm, and this
together with a solo flute, could have holds even more in the Rondeau of
been written by no other composer. the Third. Not quite there overall.
The rest of the work happily sustains Martin Cotton
this level, and while the Fantaisie of Crisp performer: PERFORMANCE ++++
Fauré’s old age is a patchier creation, pianist Herbert RECORDING +++++
its later stages find an impressive Schuch is sharp-
surge and flow. edged in Schulhoff Stravinsky
The idiom of the young Nadia Violin Concerto*; Scherzo à
Boulanger’s Fantaisie variée la Russe; Apollon Musagète;
is strikingly at odds with her Royal Liverpool Philharmonic the concerto to Liverpool later this Orchestral Suites
subsequent lifelong work as a Orchestra, the Gothenburg year – date as yet to be announced. *James Ehnes; BBC Philharmonic/
teacher committed to neo-classical Symphony and the Berlin Radio Claire Jackson Andrew Davis
musical values; this is music with Symphony Orchestra – is short and PERFORMANCE ++++ Chandos CHSA5340 69:56 mins
a sombre and powerful emotional sweet, skipping between mystic, RECORDING +++ Kudos to Andrew
charge. William Youn’s playing Scriabin-sourced pianism and an Davis, the BBC
throughout is accomplished and accessible, narrative-driven score Mozart Philharmonic
stylish, with a full-value orchestral based on the life-long presence of Violin Concertos Nos 1-3 and Chandos
contribution to match. But his looming death. Polish Baltic Philharmonic for so intelligent
brilliant-edged, very modern Tension is flung, fully formed Orchestra/Robert Kwiatkowski a programme,
keyboard tone is some distance rather than built, into the compact (violin) two very different masterpieces
away from the mellower soundworld middle Allegro, which, with its CD Accord ACD329 66:24 mins framing a quirky divertissement.
that these composers would have central three-note motif, calls to Precise was Yet where Davis so often excels is in
known, and feels particularly mind the ‘Dun, Dun Duuun’ sting the first word concerto partnerships, and that’s
at odds with his likeable solo composed by Dick Walter that has that came to the big attraction here. His Elgar
arrangements of songs by Hahn and become shorthand for ‘something mind when Violin Concerto with James Ehnes
Fauré. Malcolm Hayes scary is about to happen’. Firsova listening to the was the deepest I’ve encountered
PERFORMANCE +++ doesn’t focus on diabolic intervals opening tutti of in live performance, and there’s
RECORDING ++++ for long, however; the final the First Concerto. Tight rhythms perfect dialogue throughout this
Andante is the longest and most and articulation combined with most concertante of works, every
Elena Firsova important movement (following controlled dynamics set the mood, cue and change of colour picked
Piano Concerto a similar format to the composer’s and Kwiatkowski carries on in up with perfect focus. It helps that
Yefim Bronfman (piano); Royal 2017 Double Concerto for violin the same way when he enters. the sound brings the woodwind as
Concertgebouw Orchestra/Jakub and cello), where the previously There’s more than a nod to the now much up front as the violinist; there
Hrůša scattered melodic crumbs lead to a inescapable influence of historically are wonderful contributions from
RCO Digital EP 17:73 mins perfectly risen loaf. informed performance, but neither the BBC Philharmonic, bassoons
Silk-spun Bronfman – recorded during orchestra nor soloist is averse to especially. But when Ehnes needs to
melodies hang performances in 2022 with using vibrato, although it’s never take centre stage, in the second Aria
undisturbed the Royal Concertgebouw over-indulgent. In his sleeve note, he does so magisterially.
across an Orchestra and Jakub Hrůša at the Kwiatkowski makes the case for It depends what you want
orchestral Concertgebouw Amsterdam – is composing his own cadenzas, from Stravinsky’s first ballet for
pathway that is nicely forefronted and on form avoiding an over-romantic or Balanchine, Apollon Musagète.
dotted with flickering woodwind. throughout, saving his greatest virtuoso approach, and in this There’s a not inappropriate
Work on the spider’s web is restraint for the pendulous upper- movement it’s brief and to the point. remoteness which comes into its
interrupted as the builder, here octave grand finale. Representing The Adagio could be more yielding own for the framing beauties and the
pianist Yefim Bronfman, crashes a ticking second hand and, by in phrasing at times, but the final exquisite ‘Pas de deux’. Otherwise,
into a corner in a clatter of chords. implication, the creeping onset of Presto is sprightly and energetic. for me it’s a slightly faceless middle
Elena Firsova’s first piano concerto our demise, the short rhythmic This template holds in the other way between sprightly, very
– co-commissioned by the Royal section is more terrifying than any concertos, but as they continued, danceable chamber versions – more
Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Lisztian fireworks. Bronfman brings I found myself wanting more élan needed in two of the variations

Concerto Reviews
– and the lushness of full orchestral improvisational approach from bar leave a smile on the face and it is a musicality: Kobekina is thoroughly
strings. I thought for one moment we 505 – but it works, and Chuang’s lovely example of the clear honesty conversant with Baroque style and
might get the luxury of Ehnes in the fine orchestra plays along perfectly. of this project – refreshing in spirit she draws a mellifluous, multi-hued
significant violin solo, but it’s taken Nicholas Kenyon and performance. Anne Templer sound, never over-egging it with too
with similar poise by BBC Phil PERFORMANCE +++++ PERFORMANCE ++++ much vibrato.
leader Zoë Beyers. Combinations of RECORDING +++++ RECORDING ++++ We also hear arrangements of
instruments register ideally in the popular Baroque vocal works:
shorter pieces, though I’ve always Earthcycle Venice plangent opera arias from Arianna
found the Second Suite surplus to Vivaldi: The Four Seasons; plus Concertos etc by Vivaldi, Strozzi, and Orfeo by the Cremonese-
need. David Nice works by David Gordon and Monteverdi, György Kurtág et al Venetian Monteverdi, and laments
PERFORMANCE ++++ Trad, arr. David Le Page Anastasia Kobekina (cello); by Dowland and Barbara Strozzi,
RECORDING +++++ Orchestra of the Swan/David Le Page Kammerorchester Basel/Julia who paint melancholy shades over
(violin) Schröder this portrait of Venice. Kobekina
Berlin 1923 Signum Classics SIGCD789 81:44 mins Sony Classical G010005107218G 72:35 makes the cello sing and sigh and
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1; (2 discs) mins weep with real pathos. Monteverdi’s
Schulhoff: Piano Concerto The Orchestra Taking a leaf ‘Lamento’ from Arianna is also the
Herbert Schuch (piano); WDR of the Swan’s from the Italo inspiration behind Ariadne’s Lament
Sinfonieorchester/Tung-Chieh musical director Calvino novel by Vladimir Kobekin (Anastasia’s
Chuang David Le Page Invisible Cities, father), a yearningly beautiful
CAvi-music AVI 8553539 72:29 mins says of this album this kaleidoscopic work for viols and solo cello
Erwin Schulhoff that it is a ‘timely ‘concept which, with its ‘antique’ timbres
is one of the most project which finds a compelling album’ evokes the haunting and contemporary harmonies,
fascinating of way to engage with Humanity’s most beauty of Venice and its lingering telescopes past and present.
those composers urgent threat (climate change)… impressions in the memory. The Other contemporary works bring
caught up in the Earthcycle contemplates our impact repertoire lurches from Baroque to to mind the Serenissima’s soaring
turbulent mix with Earth’s environment and the contemporary, fuses ‘dream, myth Gothic architecture, its rocking
of post-war musical styles, veering disruption of its natural rhythms…’ and drama’ and above all showcases gondolas, its shimmering light,
from austere 12-note writing to Thus, the backbone of this the breathtaking versatility of flitting shadows and, ultimately,
jazz influences and neo-classical recording is set out, with Vivaldi’s the young Russian-born cellist its misty, nebulous, dream-like
skittishness. His 1923 Concerto for Four Seasons as ‘a perpetually Anastasia Kobekina. qualities. To them all, Kobekina
Piano and Small Orchestra is not as engaging jumping off point for Unsurprisingly, Vivaldi falls and her colleagues bring lyricism
rare as this recording claims: there creative projects’ – 300 years after under the spotlight – but jazzed up and poetry, rhythmic drive and a
are good versions by Claire-Marie it was written, performed in its as never before. The Red Priest’s remarkable range of colours and
le Guay, Frank-Immo Zichner and entirety, and interspersed with cello concertos flaunt Kobekina’s expressive effects. Though the disc
Aleksandar Madžar. But this new traditional tunes sung by Jackie electrifying virtuosity and the is something of a potpourri, it’s
one is uncommonly effective, well Oates and pieces composed by high-octane playing of the Basel impossible not to be intoxicated by
recorded, sharp-edged and witty, keyboardist David Gordon. It is Chamber Orchestra under violinist it. Kate Bolton-Porciatti
with Herbert Schuch a crisp soloist. these nuggets of brightness and Julia Schröder’s spirited direction. PERFORMANCE +++++
If the work is too wild to fully originality that lift the recording Yet beyond the fireworks there’s real RECORDING +++++
add up, it deserves more outings above yet another exploration
and would make a great piece of Vivaldi’s most famous
for the BBC Proms (where, mea composition, and the new pieces
Stunning versatility:
culpa among others, not a note of and arrangements add a particular
Anastasia Kobekina
Schulhoff has been heard). vitality, which feels firmly rooted in wows in her Venice-
However, perhaps the selling the British Isles. inspired album
point of this new recording is Outstanding pieces are ones that
that it also includes Schulhoff’s bring out the versatile qualities of
cadenza to Beethoven’s First Piano all the musicians, exemplified by
Concerto. This is a wacky little David Gordon’s The Elephant and
essay in overlapping themes and the Moth beginning intriguingly,
bell-like descending chromatic but spilling over with charm when
thirds. It shows a lack of confidence the pizzicato strings enter with
in the project for Schuch to the harpsichord. Outstanding
give Beethoven’s own cadenza extemporisation from David Le
precedence in the full performance, Page on violin playfully swoops
with Schulhoff’s only on an added and falls and the piano solo, with
track of the first movement. walking bass and lush string chords,
But both work well in vividly warms the soul. Jackie Oates’s voice
expanding the musical language towards the end startles with jazz
of the concerto, and the playing is timbres, fulsome chords in the
exceptionally fresh. strings, ending in a percussive,
FELIX BROEDE, JULIA ALTUKHOVA
Schuch has a way of maintaining ambiguous spoken word. Later, a

pulse and energy while finding cheerful performance of The Bright
room for rubato, and his gentle Phoebus – arranged by Jackie Oates
pulling back in some episodes and Le Page – shows a remarkably
is spine-tingling. In the riotous unpretentious presentation of this
finale he takes a big risk with the folk tune. Its wassail-like qualities

Opera
OPERA CHOICE Berlioz
The Damnation of Faust
Karen Cargill, John Irvin,
An enchanting exercise in Christopher Purves et al; LPO/
Edward Gardner
aesthetic experimentation London Philharmonic Orchestra LPO-

0128 127:58 mins
Berlioz’s légende
dramatique tells
Berta Joncus is bewitched by the magic of director an episodic
Christophe Rousset in his latest adventure with Lully version of
Goethe’s Faust
with many gaps
and some surprise inclusions – the
famous Hungarian March, for
instance, appears more or less out of
nowhere – but here and throughout,
the alternate brilliance and beauty
of Berlioz’s writing ensures that the
listener is continuously captivated.
Recorded live at the Royal
Festival Hall in February 2023,
this performance by the London
Philharmonic under its principal
conductor offers consistently
high orchestral standards and
focused participation from the
assembled choirs, who show skill
in impersonating the many groups
they are called upon to play, ranging
from Christians celebrating Easter
to a Chorus of the Damned – though
the initial Chorus of Peasants sound
just a bit too well-bred.
None of the three soloists is a
Perfectly cast:
Reinoud Van native Francophone but all provide
Mechelen is a vocally solid contributions, especially
sinuous Atys Karen Cargill’s impassioned and
rich-voiced characterisation of
Marguerite – a further feather in
the Scottish mezzo’s cap. American
Lully of climaxes. Tenor Reinoud Van Mechelen is her ideal tenor John Irvin offers bright tone
Atys partner as Atys: vocally sinuous, interpretatively and easy production in the title
Reinoud Van Mechelen et al; Choeur de Chambre de precocious, energetically sexy. Philippe Estèphe as role, though his rather too extrovert
Namur; Les Talens Lyriques/Christophe Rousset Célénus and Ambroisine Bré as Cybèle render audible, interpretation needs more nuance
Château de Versailles CVS126 172:48 mins (3 discs) through their fine handling of line, the dissolution of and dynamic variety, including at
Christophe Rousset’s latest Lully production is a their characters’ authority. The Choeur de Chambre times more introspection.
bold experiment, in which he de Namur embraces extremes Though he’s a relatively
liberates the artists he directs to The ultimate glory is of characterisation, from lightweight Mephistopheles,
take risks within the aesthetic violent devils to languid
parameters he defines. Rousset
Christophe Rousset’s nymphs, with infectious relish.
Christopher Purves is characterful,
with a nice sense of irony, and makes
leads the assembled musicians playing of the harpsichord The instrumentalists of Les a good deal of the text. Jonathan
in the creation of a propulsive Talens Lyriques brilliantly Lemalu is the vigorous Brander in
drama in which Lully, inspired by Philippe Quinault’s tease out the drama, as for instance by edging a sunny the scene in Auerbach’s cellar.
text, gloriously fused words with music. dance with the menace of approaching crisis, but the Never less than spirited, Gardner
The story treats the collusion of King Célénus with ultimate glory is Rousset’s playing of the harpsichord, brings a blend of energy and control
the sorceress Cybèle to win their respective objects to which he gives its own affective voice – rejoicing, to his task. The other famous
of desire, the nymph Sangaride and her secret lover chiding, urging, weeping – to match the action. orchestral sections – in addition
Atys. Cybèle, discovering Atys’s passion for Sangaride, PERFORMANCE +++++ to the march, there’s the Ballet
induces a madness in which Atys kills his lover, and RECORDING +++++ des Sylphes and the Minuet of the
later himself. This leaves both Cybèle and Célénus Will-o’-the-Wisps – are done with
with matter for repentance. You can access thousands of reviews from our
extensive archive on the BBC Music Magazine delicacy, plus in the latter case a
Soprano Marie Lys is deeply moving as Sangaride, touch of the sinister. George Hall
website at www.classical-music.com
thanks to her luminous colours and delicate handling PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING ++++

Opera Reviews
Handel PERFORMANCE +++++

Alcina RECORDING ++++ Luminous mezzo:
Karen Cargill shines
Magdalena Kožená et al; Paderewski as Marguerite in
Les Musiciens du Louvre/
Manru Berlioz’s Faust
Marc Minkowski
Thomas Mohr, Romelia Lichtenstein
Pentatone PTC 5187 084 192:25 mins et al; Chöre der Oper Halle;
(3 discs) Staatskapelle Halle/Michael
Predatory Alcina Wendeberg
has fallen in love CPO 555 553-2 138:42 mins (2 discs)
with Ruggiero, Composed to
and has detained advance the cause
him on her of an independent
enchanted Poland, Ignacy
island. Blinded by obsession, he Paderewski’s
doesn’t know the danger which Manru is deeply
awaits him when she tires of her political. On the other hand, Alfred
infatuation, because she turns her Nossig, whose libretto is based
discarded lovers into trees and wild on a popular Polish novel, was a
beasts. Ruggiero’s jilted partner passionate advocate for the Jewish
Bradamante arrives (cross-dressed people to have their own state.
and disguised as ‘Riccardo’) to And given that his hero Manru is a
rescue him. But she too is in Roma, who has deserted his people
danger, because Alcina’s randy to marry a Polish girl, Ulana, the
and imperious sister Morgana Holocaust and the recent history of
fancies ‘Riccardo’, and has sacked the Romani in Europe casts an ugly
her lover Oronte… modern shadow across the opera.
Despite the complexity of its plot, Politics also appear to have
Alcina was a runaway success, but undone Manru after its first
much of its original appeal would triumphant performances in
have lain in the spectacle. Here, we Dresden in 1901. Originally
have to make do with the sound sung in German, the opera was
alone, but Marc Minkowski and his subsequently performed in Polish –
singers and instrumentalists have and then the work slipped between
woven such a wonderful spell that two linguistic stools.
no listener could feel short-changed. However, the music falls between Verdi Musicale Fiorentino in 2022.
The orchestra plays with fastidious more stools than you’ll find in a Ernani Live recordings come with
attention to Handel’s ever-changing Warsaw bar. Wagner races through Maria José Siri, Xenia Tziouvaras inevitable compromises, and in
palette, and its support for the both score and the plot, with Manru et al; Orchestra e Coro del Maggio this case the sound of scurrying,
singers – particularly with the deserting Ulana and his child after Musicale Fiorentino/James Conlon banging and applause proves a
obbligatos – is unfailingly sensitive. a heavy day à la Siegfried in his Naxos 8.660534-35 126:43 mins (2 discs) not inconsiderable distraction.
And the singers are top-notch. forge while Ulana begs a Tristan-like Although it was However, the performance itself
Originally the ‘lost boy’, Oberto was potion from the villain of the piece, Verdi’s most is not compromised: notable is the
sung by a celebrated treble, but the Urok. Then there’s a harvest festival popular opera discipline exhibited by the chorus,
countertenor Alois Mühlbacher is with a short ballet that seems a until Il trovatore crisply in sync with the spirited,
sweetly moving in Oberto’s search refugee from Smetana’s The Bartered and La traviata characterful playing from the Coro
for his father. In the soubrette role, Bride, and music for violin and appeared on the del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Erin Morley is vocally dazzling cimbalom that mimics the invented scene, Ernani gets an outing only under conductor James Conlon.
as the opportunistic Morgana, ‘gypsy’ music so relished in Central comparatively rarely nowadays, Outstanding among the roster of
while mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Europe’s cafes. either on stage or on disc. This is principals is Maria José Siri, whose
DeShong’s Bradamante gravely Halle Opera field a dependable early Verdi, so complicated plot performance is unfailingly vibrant:
grounds the action. cast, with Romelia Lichtenstein twists and swashbuckling are the energised in the florid passages,
The moments of greatest beauty impressive as Ulana, a properly order of the day, the gist of the lush and velvety at sentimental
belong – as if by right – to contralto dramatic soprano with a velvety opera’s drama being not so much moments. Tenor Francesco Meli
Anna Bonitatibus as Ruggiero and lower register. The tessitura lies a love triangle as a love square, as has a generous, open tone that
Magdalena Kožená in the title role. uncomfortably high for Manru the unhappy heroine is variously suits the valiant nature of the title
Bonitatibus’s delivery of ‘Verdi prati’ and Thomas Mohr, like many a pursued by three men. Some of role, and each of the lower-voiced
– a farewell to youth and beauty – is heldentenor, tires by the third act the music could be called ‘generic male principals – Roberto Frontali
as arresting as could be desired. when he rejoins his people. As Urok, heroic’, as is to be expected from (Carlo), Vitalij Kowaljow (Silva) –
Kožená, meanwhile, runs the Levent Bakirci is a suitably Hagen- a work written during Verdi’s brings a distinctive characterisation
gamut of regal emotion – light and like villain. Michael Wendeberg so-called ‘galley years’; nevertheless, to his role. Overall, a fine
girlish, then plangently despairing, in the pit works tirelessly to keep the score is packed with engaging performance with a real sense of
and finally accepting defeat with everything together, yet Manru melodies and there is much for the drama, so long as you can blank out
SENNE VANDERVEN
grace – with a gloriously elegant stubbornly remains a cultural newcomer to the opera to enjoy. those scampering feet.
tone, and with a coloratura perfectly footnote. Christopher Cook This recording was made Alexandra Wilson
measured even at the heights of PERFORMANCE +++ live in the Sala Zubin Mehta at PERFORMANCE ++++
passion. Michael Church RECORDING +++ Florence’s Teatro del Maggio RECORDING +++

Choral & Song
a CHORAL & SONG CHOICE Fanny Mendelssohn •
Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn: Die erste
A powerful meditation Walpurgisnacht; Vom Himmel hoch;
Fanny Mendelssohn:
on life and death Hiob; Gartenlieder

Julia Doyle (soprano), Jess Dandy
(contralto) et al; Crouch End Festival
Chorus; London Mozart Players/
Paul Riley finds balm for the soul in soprano Ruby David Temple
Hughes’s latest imaginatively programmed album Chandos CHSA5318 (CD/SACD)
71:53 mins
Of the many
current
recordings to
pair the sibling
composers
Felix and Fanny
Mendelssohn, this is one of the
most unusual yet, featuring choral
rarities by both – and the music
offers some surprises.
Felix’s cantata Vom Himmel hoch,
though written while the composer
was in Italy and exploring music
in Rome, is so Lutheran that he
seems to be trying to become Bach.
It’s full of deliberately rousing,
celebratory sounds, but memorable
for sadly little else. As for Die erste
Walpurgisnacht, a secular cantata
based on Goethe in which a druid
village plays a practical joke to
scare off the Christians, it has some
Haunting voice: pleasingly spooky moments, but I’m
Ruby Hughes not sure I’d necessarily go rushing to
sings with ‘enrapt hear it again.
understatement’ Fanny fares rather better. Her
Hiob, a cantata on Old Testament
words, feels slightly too truncated,
if anything, and it’s infuriating to
End of My Days in Vaughan Williams’s plangent Housman-setting see that it lay unpublished until
Works by Tavener, Dowland, Ravel, Brian Elias, Along the Field or, for voice alone, in Elias’s innocent, 1992. Still, the one really wonderful
Caroline Shaw, Errollyn Wallen et al fluid Meet me in the Green Glen . discovery is her Gartenlieder, six a
Ruby Hughes (soprano); Manchester Collective It’s offset by the citrussy instrumental spritz of cappella choral settings of nature-
BIS BIS-2628 66:30 mins Shaw’s Valencia. An evocative arrangement of the related poems that turn out to be
Imaginative, sensitive programming has been a old Shetland folk song ‘Da Day Dawn’ perfectly sets stunningly beautiful.
constant feature of Ruby the scene for Ravel’s dolorous The performances unfortunately
Hughes’s collaborations; and Errollyn Wallen’s setting of Kaddisch. Hughes floats don’t always help the works’ causes.
this latest with the perennially seductively over Jake Heggie’s
adventurous Manchester
her poem End of My Days sultry fleshing out of Debussy’s
Among the soloists, there’s a
welcome spotlight for Jess Dandy’s
Collective is no exception. A stares mortality in the face Trois chansons de Bilitis (see molasses-dark contralto, but the
product of the first lockdown, ‘Background to’, p81) – rising team proves uneven, with Ashley
it’s a meditation on life and death whose title is taken powerfully to their few but fastidiously-plotted Riches’s occasionally overdone
from Wallen’s setting of her own poem, which stares climaxes. And although enrapt understatement is vibrato and Mark Le Brocq’s
mortality in the face with vivacious equanimity. often her default mode, Hughes unleashes a chilling energetically effortful tenor
Predictably eclectic, the disc unites John Dowland outburst in the first of Tavener’s Akhmatova Songs. A contrasting with Julia Doyle’s
and Tavener, and makes fellow travellers of Debussy disc to concentrate the mind and enfold the soul. rather underpowered soprano.
and Caroline Shaw, Brian Elias and Mahler (the PERFORMANCE +++++ The ensemble, meanwhile, is a tad
‘Resurrection’ Symphony’s ‘Urlicht’ movement RECORDING +++++ loose at the seams, both within
surprisingly resilient when repurposed for soprano the London Mozart Players and in
and string quartet rather than the refulgence of full You can access thousands of reviews from our
extensive archive on the BBC Music Magazine their coordination with the Crouch
orchestra). Then again, some of the most affecting End Festival Chorus; and the latter,
website at www.classical-music.com
numbers are pared back: whether to voice and violin though performing with plenty of
enthusiasm, sometimes seem to

Choral & Song Reviews
struggle with higher tessituras and Philip WJ Stopford
German diction. Overall, then, there ‘Agile voice’:
are good moments, but too few of Sacred choral music
Adriana González
them. Jessica Duchen Grace Davidson (soprano), Rupert soars in delicious
PERFORMANCE ++ Jeffcoat (organ); Choir of St Luke’s French duets
RECORDING +++ Chelsea; Chelsea Camerata/
Jeremy Summerly
Puccini Naxos 8.574548 70:23 mins
Orchestral songs and works Listening to the
Charles Castronovo (tenor); Munich music of Philip
Radio Orchestra/Ivan Repušić Stopford, it seems
BR Klassik 900349 68:27 mins as if time has been
A relatively frozen in 1950s
minor element middle England.
within his output, The 46-year-old composer’s
Puccini’s songs anthems and carols, mostly written
remain little over the past two decades, would
known – though make a fitting soundtrack to
occasionally a singer will include a Downton Abbey: sentimental stuff,
handful in recital. tinged with dewy-eyed nostalgia.
The most worthwhile element Stopford’s most substantial work
of this collection is the vocalism to date, The Missa Deus Nobiscum
of American Charles Castronovo, for chorus and orchestra, was first
whose tonal qualities are as performed in 2018 during his time
Italianate as his name and who is as director of music at St Anne’s
in easy command of his appealing Cathedral, Belfast, and is the main
lyric tenor. Other facets are event on this premiere recording
disappointing. The songs were from Naxos. In this half-hour long There are so was so riveting and luminous in
mostly written for voice and setting of the Mass, you’ll find all many fascinating the role in a crazy, unfathomable
piano, and the disc could have the hallmarks that have endeared but ultimately Salzburg production in 2018; has
simply involved a pianist; instead, Stopford to his thousands of fans self-defeating something been lost since then?
chamber-like arrangements are in Britain and America: lush anomalies about The recorded sound, at least, is
used that rarely suggest the richer vocal harmonies, honeyed string this odd release. admirable throughout.
qualities of Puccini’s orchestral textures, jaunty ceremonial brass The only constant is Mikko Franck’s I wanted this to succeed, as I did
writing. Curiously, the orchestra is and a cheesy sprinkling of stardust painstaking but winged guidance Lise Davidsen’s and Rachel Willis-
set back in the sound picture. from riffs on the harp and cymbals. of the Orchestre Philharmonique Sørensen’s recorded forays; but the
The booklet provides insufficient Steeped in the Anglican tradition, de Radio France, including an only relatively recent success story
information – not even the dates the ghosts of Wesley, Stanford and especially singerly and nuanced in these demanding songs has been
of composition. Why did Puccini Parry linger, and the legacy of John violin solo in ‘Beim Schlafengehen’. that of Anja Harteros. David Nice
set the Spanish text ‘Dios y Patria’? Rutter looms large. What a pity that Asmik Grigorian PERFORMANCE +++
What is the origin of his ‘Inno a The Mass comes with a doesn’t blossom for him as often as RECORDING +++++
Roma’, later taken up by the Fascists smattering of short anthems she does in the piano version (the
– not Puccini’s intention for a piece from Stopford’s recent oeuvre, all arrangements are not by Strauss, A deux voix
he described as ‘una porcheria’ despatched with tenderness and who conceived these exclusively as Songs by Viardot, Widor,
(‘rubbish’)? We are not told. care by choral supremo Jeremy songs with orchestra). Words are Delibes, Chaminade et al
Worse, texts and translations are Summerly and his well-drilled too often unclear, tone reined in Adriana González (soprano),
not provided, disappointing given ensemble at St Luke’s Chelsea. Grace until such moments of tantalising Marina Viotti (mezzo-soprano),
the songs’ rarity. Davidson’s solo soprano in the Mass opulence on words like ‘Tausend’ Iñaki Encina Oyón (piano)
Though they vary in style and is a particular delight. Too much at and ‘Frieden’. Audax ADX11209 62:59 mins (2 discs)
quality, the best are enjoyable. once, and it all becomes bland and How much brighter and more ‘Smile and the
Never one to waste a good musical soporific. But it’s not easy to write open the voice sounds against world smiles
idea, Puccini recycled material: choral music as sincerely meant as Markus Hinterhäuser’s lacy piano with you: weep
anyone knowing Manon Lescaut, La this: genuinely tuneful and popular, part (courtesy of arrangers Max and you weep
bohème or La rondine will encounter as well as being attractive and Wolff and John Gribben); but sadly alone,’ says the
something familiar from these accessible to singers from across the this turns out to be an indulgence. adage. In step
theatrical contexts. amateur and professional spectrum. ‘September’ takes nearly two with this, while musical laments are
The same applies to the Capriccio Ashutosh Khandekar minutes longer than the orchestral regularly for solo voice, duets claim
sinfonico, one of three orchestral PERFORMANCE +++ track, and loses its line and soaring the opposite areas of love, happiness
fillers, the others being the Preludio RECORDING ++++ as a result . (Whose idea – the and the open air.
sinfonico and the attractive (and soprano’s or her pianist’s?) This collection of 22 French duets
PHIL SHARP, MARINE CESSAT BEGLER
pleasingly arranged) memorial piece R Strauss Grigorian’s justification for the follows the pattern, only one of them
Crisantemi, though Carlo Rizzi’s Four Last Songs two versions side by side is that being in the minor throughout,
recent recordings of the first two on Asmik Grigorian (soprano), Markus ‘they each require different colours’, four moving from minor to
Signum (reviewed, p73) outshine Hinterhäuser (piano); Orchestre and that turns out to be the case. major, the other 17 in the major
those available here. George Hall Philharmonique de Radio France/ But wouldn’t we have been better throughout. Also, as usual with
PERFORMANCE +++ Mikko Franck off with, say, the final scene from duets, mellifluous thirds and sixths
RECORDING +++ Alpha Classics ALPHA1046 44:15 mins Salome as companion? Grigorian abound, helping to give us a feast of

Choral & Song Reviews
know its connotations from the La artfully blends nonchalance with
Baltic brilliance: bohème Act III quartet. Some songs hints of a broken heart. The French
soprano Vida were reused almost note-for-note; songs are elegantly done too with
Miknevičiūtė others merely hint at operas to come. Tosti chronicling a complete love
makes an impact Less familiar numbers, whether affair in just three stanzas in 3/4
written as sacred or patriotic hymns time in ‘Petite valse romantique’.
or to celebrate the launch of a ship, There are times when a lighter
are equally gorgeous. tone would have benefitted
Angela Gheorghiu, interpretation, and Camarena hits
sympathetically accompanied here his top notes pretty hard with a
by Vincenzo Scalera, is celebrated tad too much vibrato. However,
for her many Puccini interpretations Rodríguez is an exemplary partner.
on album and on stage. Here there The extended postlude to ‘Che dici,
are occasional intonation issues, o parola del Saggio’ is masterly
particularly in the lower range or and proof, were it needed, that a
where a note is approached from whole album of Tosti songs is not
below. But Gheorghiu’s dramatic like consuming a whole box of rose
conviction and the rich, blooming and violet creams at a single sitting.
tone for which her voice is well Christopher Cook
known are still there in abundance, PERFORMANCE +++
allowing her to give a meaningful RECORDING ++++
and deeply expressive performance
of this enjoyable body of music. Songs of Fate
Alexandra Wilson Works by Weinberg, Raminta
PERFORMANCE ++++ Šerkšnytė, Giedrius Kuprevičius,
RECORDING ++++ Jēkabs Jančevskis
Vida Miknevičiūtė (soprano); Gidon
Sogno Kremer (violin); Kremerata Baltica
Tosti: Songs ECM ECM 2745 55:64 mins
Javier Camarena (tenor), Songs of Fate
French music at its most delectable Ángel Rodríguez (piano) presents a
A te, Puccini
– and if it can be described as ‘easy Pentatone PTC 5187 184 81:51 mins fascinating
Puccini: Songs
listening’, perhaps this is something The higher and expertly
Angela Gheorghiu (soprano),
we can all do with, given the present minded may performed
Vincenzo Scalera (piano)
state of the world. wrinkle programme of
Signum Classics SIGCD780 50:25 mins
Not everything, though, is exactly their noses at unfamiliar repertoire that mirrors,
as it should be. In particular, and This year marks Francesco Tosti’s as well as celebrates Gidon Kremer’s
in company with many other the centenary songs as being Jewish and Baltic heritage.
recordings these days, dynamic of Puccini’s too sugary, yet singers from Enrico Central to the programme is a
markings are patchily observed. In death, providing Caruso to Maria Callas have always sequence of relatively early but
Lalo’s ‘Dansons!’, on the last page the an obvious loved them. You can tell it’s a Tosti immensely attractive works by
vocalists sing fortissimo throughout marketing song within four bars and, in the Mieczysław Weinberg, the Polish-
their phrases, while the piano opportunity for record labels to best Italian tradition, he offers Jewish composer who has been
should start with an fp, followed by showcase his works. The operas, of a singer every opportunity for championed by Kremer in recent
a crescendo: for the pianist to ignore course, hardly need a helping hand, personal interpretation. years. The lyrical side of his output
this, as here, loses an important but his song output is surprisingly All credit to Mexican tenor Javier is featured here in the reflective Aria
subtlety. Similarly, the opening little known. This album presents Camarena and Ángel Rodríguez, for string quartet and the Nocturne
of Chaminade’s ‘Duo d’étoiles’ is a range of highly varied numbers, his keyboard companion, for arranged for violin and string
marked pianissimo leggeriss[imo], from ‘A te’, a charming parlour song putting together a programme that orchestra by Andrei Pushkarov.
the pianist giving us a solid mezzo composed in 1875 when Puccini makes it clear that not all Tosti In contrast, the Kujawiak for
forte, while in Massenet’s ‘Joie’ he was just 16, to the ‘Inno a Roma’, songs are the same, despite the violin and orchestra, following
underplays the final fortissimo written to mark the end of the First rippling arpeggios that run through a similar line of expression to
which is unique in the song. World War. What different worlds so many of them. There are salon the better-known Rhapsody on
The singers are more accurate these were, politically, socially numbers like ‘Malià’, which is not Moldavian Themes, is more upbeat
with their dynamics, if not and musically, yet the composer’s beyond the abilities of a musically in character. Yet it’s the Three Jewish
impeccable. Both possess agile inherent lyric romanticism remains educated Victorian family. There Songs, played in stunningly effective
voices, heard to great effect in ever-present. are Neapolitan-style flourishes arrangements for voice and string
Fauré’s ‘Tarantelle’, and elsewhere Puccini was, it seems, as keen like ‘Marechiare’ which effortlessly orchestra by Veniamin Basner,
Adriana González floats her high a recycler as any of his musical carry you south across the Alps. And that make the greatest impact,
notes beautifully. forebears and the album allows the there are heavy-duty late Romantic particularly when the singing of
Outstanding among the listener to play an amusing game songs, with texts by the poet soprano Vida Miknevičiūtė is so
MIGLE GOLUBECKAITE, GETTY
contributors are the bigger names: of ‘name that tune’. The voice of D’Annunzio that invoke Wagnerian hypnotically affecting.
Fauré, Delibes, Gounod and Franck, Des Grieux pops up unexpectedly thoughts of Night and Death. Miknevičiūtė also delivers
who is more successful here than in in a song about a father imagining Camarena undoubtedly feels an deeply felt performances of two
his solo songs. Roger Nichols meeting his daughter’s ghost. A affinity with this repertoire. In the movements (‘David’s Lamentation’
PERFORMANCE ++++ simple song about sun and love story of Nina in ‘L’ultima canzone’, and ‘Postlude’) from the Chamber
RECORDING ++++ takes on a sombre tone because we who is marrying someone else, he Symphony Star of David and

the Penultimate Kaddish by explores the plight of those children
: The UK’s super budget label !
contemporary Lithuanian composer who fell from ships as part of the
Giedrius Kuprevičius. Especially Transatlantic slave trade, and the
mesmerising is the ‘Postlude’, in possibilities of magical rebirth
which soprano and unaccompanied through nature. This glorious work
violin engage in intimate yet opens to shimmering textures
anguished conversation. and soft bird whistles, before the
Framing these contributions score shifts from lullaby to ecstatic
are two remarkable recent works. celebration, which the choir rises
This too shall pass by Lithuanian to meet in this genuinely spine-
Raminta Šerkšnyté is atmospheric tingling performance.
and ethereal. But I was even more Will Harmer’s deft settings of ALC 1488 ‘rhapsodic ALC 1493 ‘Villa-Lobos
impressed by Jēkabs Jančevskis’s Renaissance madrigal texts are very Intensity, drama’(Gram) Melodic lullaby themes’
Lignum which, according to its accomplished, from the spritely
young Latvian composer, seeks lilt of ‘Spring in All Her Glory’ to
to ‘represent a kind of dialogue the succulent harmonies of ‘Sing
with trees’. Scored for string We at Pleasure’, while his intricate
orchestra, chimes, wind chimes Fireworks puts the choir through
and svilpaunieki (a Latvian folk- its paces in a fizzing exploration of
instrument that sounds like an the history and chemistry of these
ocarina), Jančevskis’s work utilises ‘hissing dragons’ of the sky.
a distinctive yet accessible range of Emily Hazrati demonstrates real
sonorities, and certainly makes an imaginative flair. One Thousand
immediate impact on first hearing. Threads is inspired by Hazrati’s
Erik Levi Iranian heritage and reimagines ‘a ALC 1469 ‘the more ALC 1496 ‘Critic’s
PERFORMANCE +++++ fraying Persian rug’ through sound, collectable Grainger’ Choice 1993’ (Gram)
RECORDING +++++ while the delicate khãné (meditations
on home) is an affecting exploration ALSO: ALC 1482- Leontyne Price ‘Personal Choice’; 1489-11
Young Composers 5 of possible meanings of home.
Famous (UK) Cathedral Organs; 1486- Byrd Anthems, Motets,
Services / Hereford Cathedral Choir; ALN 1988 Popular Sonnets
Works by Millicent B James, In RainFlow’rs, Alex Tay conjures
Alex Tay, Will Harmer and a mercurial flow of different moods ZZZDOWRFGFRPRI¯FH#DOWRFGFRP
Emily Hazrati through florid sonorities and
National Youth Choir/Emily Dickens; creative use of breath. Elliptical,
National Youth Choir Fellowship intricate and poignant, it is a work
>jĝ ľQDP^
Ensemble/Ben Parry that demands to be listened to again
NMC NMC DL3056 43:07 mins and again. Opening to a wash of
Now in its fifth mobile phone samples, his DEEP
year, the excellent (HUH?!) is a ‘teasing love letter’
National Youth
Choir Young
to Generation Z. NYC delivers
another enjoyable performance,
&Dj8mĝĆĝĝ8)88DĝĆĝOZU&ľ ZĝĆĝU6H8ĝĆĝZmUD
Composers even if they don’t always sound
scheme supports entirely in control of Tay’s
a crop of emerging composers to unapologetically tricksy score.
write new works for this outstanding A rewarding introduction to
young choir. four promising young composers.
Two fine works by Millicent Kate Wakeling
B James bookend the album. PERFORMANCE ++++
Children of the Forest, the standout, RECORDING ++++
D^Zĝ>Dj
BACKGROUND TO…
Debussy’s
Trois chansons de Bilitis
This triptych of songs for female voice and
piano grew out of an intriguing case of
‘pseudotranslation’ concerning Debussy’s friend
Pierre Louÿs. The poet claimed to have translated
the collection, published in 1894 as Les chansons
de Bilitis, from the ancient Greek. The poems, said
ľuĝj Õ ìè«ĝlMYUMW
Louÿs, were found on a tomb in Cyprus, signed by
a courtesan named Bilitis. They were, in fact, his own creations… but even
scholars were deceived. Debussy took three poems – La flûte de Pan, La
chevelure and Le tombeau des Naïades – and created beautiful miniatures.
Chamber
CHAMBER CHOICE
A dark ride with Weinberg and Schubert

Trio con Brio excel in an imaginatively programmed pair of works, says Erik Levi
between the two composers than

might have been imagined. Yes,
Weinberg’s work is much bleaker,
The Passenger exploring a bewildering range of
Weinberg: Piano Trio; Schubert: emotions from the wild unfettered
Piano Trio No. 2 frenzy of the second movement
Trio con Brio Copenhagen scherzo to the deeply unsettled,
Orchid Classics ORC100282 74:03 mins almost schizophrenic changes of
Admirers of Weinberg’s 1945 Piano mood in the Finale. But there are
Trio are almost spoilt for choice also extremely dark elements in
when it comes to fine recordings the Schubert, not least in the death-
of this powerful work. Many of the ridden climax of the slow movement.
current front-runners come from the Trio con Brio deliver Weinberg’s
likes of violinists Gidon Kremer and music with tremendous emotional
Linus Roth, who commitment
have invested a The Trio’s demonic and insight. The
great deal of energy
in attempting to
energy almost takes demonic energy
they conjure up in
place the composer your breath away the scherzo almost
more firmly in our takes your breath
musical consciousness. away, as does their ability to convey
Their endeavours have surely paid mournful introspection in the more
dividends with this warmly recorded reflective moments. The Schubert
release, which places the work not requires different interpretative
in the obvious context of Russian, skills, such as grace and elegance as A perfect platform:
Soviet or Polish repertory, but in well as a subtlety and variety of tonal Trio con Brio showcase
disparate composers
tandem with one of the greatest colouring in balancing the three
to stunning effect
Austro-German chamber works of instruments – qualities which are
the 19th century. The pairing of trios evident throughout every bar in this
by such seemingly disparate figures outstanding performance.
as Weinberg and Schubert, however, PERFORMANCE +++++
reveals far more connections RECORDING +++++
WF Bach • JG Goldberg The violinist Johannes Pramsohler Ensemble Diderot has also chosen Beach • John Corigliano
Trio Sonatas and his Ensemble Diderot have one by WF Bach, with a masterly Beach: Violin Sonata, Op.34; John
Ensemble Diderot chosen four of the trio sonatas concluding Ciacona. Corigliano: Violin Sonata
Audax ADX11203 56:23 mins for their new release. A fifth, in C As they have demonstrated in Usha Kapoor (violin), Edward Leung
Johann Gottlieb minor, is featured on one of their their earlier recordings on this (piano)
Goldberg is previous discs. label, the players bring expressive Resonus RES10321 60:51 mins
best known for Goldberg’s style is an interesting refinement to the music. Tempos Amy Beach and
the attachment blend of counterpoint and are effectively judged and all is John Corigliano
of his name to chromaticism, bringing to mind engagingly enlivened by their were respectively
Bach’s Goldberg some of JS Bach’s later compositions infectious enthusiasm and evenly 29 and 25
Variations. Born in 1727, he was a – indeed, the C major trio sonata balanced ensemble. An example of years old upon
child prodigy who may have studied was mistakenly identified by the their playing at its most persuasive is completing their
with Bach’s eldest son Wilhelm 19th-century Bach Gesellschaft provided by the Allegro assai finale Sonatas for Violin and Piano. In
Friedemann in Dresden and also, as a work, BWV 1037, by the great of the A minor Sonata, incorrectly very different ways, both works
perhaps, with JS Bach in Leipzig. composer. The piece in question allotted the key of C major in the combine taut succinctness with
He died at the age of 29 having is the first item in the present booklet. The programme has been emotional expansiveness and a
left two ambitious harpsichord recording and readers may at recorded in a warmly responsive striking capacity for invention. Yet
concertos, several delightful once understand how such an acoustic. Nicholas Anderson while Corigliano (b.1938) would
keyboard polonaises, a couple of error came about. In addition to PERFORMANCE ++++ go on to become one of the US’s
sacred cantatas and five trio sonatas. the four Goldberg trio sonatas, RECORDING ++++ most celebrated composers, Beach

Chamber Reviews
(1867-1944) is only now attaining that too often can seem to lack it.
wider recognition. A brilliant Poltéra’s tone leaps and glows – Mixed emotions:
pianist, she was already forbidden yes, cellos really can sparkle; and Bertrand Chamayou
by her husband to formally study Brautigam’s, enhanced by a modern and Sol Gabetta
capture Mendelssohn’s
composition or to give more than copy of an 1868 Streicher piano,
many moods
two recitals annually. has both a pinpoint clarity and
With full-bodied, Brahmsian extra resonance.
writing for both instruments, The programme is well-planned,
it’s tempting to imagine Beach’s placing the Schumann Fünf Stücke
Sonata (1896) as a champing at the im Volkston between the two
creative bit. However, Usha Kapoor Brahms sonatas for a change of
and Edward Leung bring melodic flavour. The musicians continue to
sweetness rather than tempestuous rid us of all possible cobwebs here,
drama to the fore. Contrasts are setting about the opening piece with
nonetheless legion and well made, as such stomping flair that all it lacks is
skipping themes give rise to dreamy, a trombone and an accordion; they
long-breathing phrases via deft also bring a sincere tenderness and
changes of rhythmic and harmonic lyrical flow to the gentler pieces.
direction. The third movement The Brahms F minor Sonata,
Largo con dolore proves especially which postdates its sibling work by
satisfying in its final, luminous nearly a quarter-century, is the more
arrival at chords reminiscent of flamboyant and open-hearted of
Ravel – and the whole is poignantly the pair, and here you might expect
set off by the ensuing, graceful Poltéra and Brautigam to be on
performance of Beach’s earlier home turf. Nevertheless, they do
Romance for Violin and Piano. not play it safe; there’s a pervasive The Little Consort – convivial Mendelssohn’s
Faster, more forthright recordings sense of pushing at boundaries, with pieces for amateur music-making Variations
of Corigliano’s virtuoso Sonata risks being taken in most directions, whose fleeting movements fizz and Concertantes
(1964) also exist. Yet Kapoor and and Poltéra occasionally comes a dissolve like little bonbons. packs a lot of
Leung persuade with a rendition little bit close to forcing the tone or With their ever-changing affects variety into its
that favours Stravinskian scamper tackling a swoop too far. But the and tempos, these consorts require nine minutes,
over extrovert show, bringing an recording’s overwhelming passion, alert and agile players and, in this with its simple theme expanding
urbane Copland to mind at points of vivacity and joy, as well as its sterling respect, Phantasm is unrivalled. into elegant whimsy at one extreme,
lopsided polytonality in the opening sound quality, has stayed with me The playing here is technically and minor-key turbulence at the
and closing Allegros. The highlight for days. Jessica Duchen flawless: lines are articulated with other. The players here capture
of the disc is surely the inner PERFORMANCE +++++ a remarkable lightness of touch; its changing moods, and the
movements, the Andantino finding RECORDING +++++ rhythms are balletic and buoyant, plangent song-like quality of the
unexpected tenderness and the subtly animated by Elizabeth Assai Tranquillo, with a range of
Lento’s cadenza a questioning which Locke Kenny’s graceful theorbo playing. tone and expression on the period
finds lovely response in the piano’s Locke: Consorts Flat and Sharp Though Locke’s writing is instruments which they use for all
ghostly rejoining. Steph Power Phantasm sometimes angular and quirky, his the composer’s works: Chamayou in
PERFORMANCE ++++ Linn Records CKD737 57:17 mins textures are open and luminous particular conjures real depth from
RECORDING ++++ The biographer – even his contrapuntal writing his 1859 Blüthner.
Roger North is never dense. These qualities The First Sonata is a happy
Brahms • R Schumann hailed Matthew are perfectly captured by the fine work, with a typically soaring
Brahms: Cello Sonatas Nos 1 & Locke as the recording: the sound is airy yet Mendelssohnian theme in the
2; R Schumann: Fünf Stücke im ‘Ultimus intimate, and the balance between first movement, conveyed with a
Volkston, Op. 102 Heroum’, ‘the viols and theorbo is beautifully sure sense of pacing and balance.
Christian Poltéra (cello), Ronald last of the heroes’, since his viol judged. The ensemble Fretwork has Although in the minor, the
Brautigam (piano) consorts are among the swansongs also recently recorded these works; Andante comes across as nostalgic
BIS BIS-2427 (CD/SACD) 63:44 mins of the great English viol tradition. their sound, by comparison, is rather than menacing, and there’s
Brahms’s father Despite his cranky and combative bigger, edgier and less homogenous contrast between the lyrical and
was a double personality, Locke’s consorts are than Phantasm’s gossamer fabric. the impulsive in the Allegro Assai
bassist, as people luminous, lyrical, often playful, Kate Bolton-Porciatti finale. The Second Sonata explores
often recall when marrying his ‘art and contrivance’ PERFORMANCE +++++ a wider emotional spectrum – the
listening to the with ‘light and airy musick’. RECORDING +++++ first movement never lets up its
E minor Cello Phantasm’s new disc makes a momentum, despite an ebb and
Sonata, given its deep-set opening companion to their 2018 recording Mendelssohn flow in tonality and mood. Gabetta
and supposedly glum, crepuscular of the first two suites from The Flat Cello Sonatas Nos 1 & 2; is as persuasive in long lines as in
nature. How wonderful, then, to Consort, which Locke dedicated Variations Concertantes; Assai frantic tremolando, and Chamayou’s
NIKOLAJ LUND, MARCO BORGGREVE
find Christian Poltéra and Ronald to his ‘cousin Kemble’. We’re now Tranquillo in B minor; Lied virtuoso arpeggios flow effortlessly.
Brautigam simply blowing all those treated to the last three suites ohne Worte; plus works by There’s contrast between the
preconceptions out of the window. from the same collection – a trio Jörg Widmann, Heinz Holliger, phantasmagoric scherzando and the
The duo fill their phrasing, of works which epitomise the Francisco Coll, Wolfgang Rihm free-flowing Adagio, where the full
rhythm and sense of momentum capricious, restless, mercurial Sol Gabetta (cello), Bertrand range of Gabetta’s expressive playing
with bracing fresh air, bringing character of Locke’s idiom. The Chamayou (piano) comes into focus, before the finale
maximum exhilaration to a work disc also includes five suites from Sony Classical 19439934002 83:50 mins re-establishes the happy mood.

Chamber Reviews
Lied ohne Worte was PERFORMANCE ++++
Mendelssohn’s last composition RECORDING ++++
for cello, and inspired Gabetta to
ask four contemporary composers Upheaval
to write their take on the genre. Works by Bosmans, Pejačević,
Jörg Widmann’s romantic theme L Boulanger, N Boulanger
is gently subverted by rhythmic Janne Fredens (cello), Søren
and harmonic distortions; Heinz Rastogi (piano)
Holliger is more overtly fractured OUR Recordings 6.220683 60:53 mins
and dissonant, especially in the And so the
explosive middle section; Francisco musical
Coll traces a dark, lyrical dialogue; discoveries
and Wolfgang Rihm floats off gently keep on coming.
into the ether. All beautifully played, The ominous,
but a pity that they are banished to weighty piano
the second disc, where many will chords and emphatic cello line
ignore them. Martin Cotton beginning Upheaval immediately
PERFORMANCE +++++ proclaim that Janne Fredens and
RECORDING +++++ Søren Rastogi mean business. If the
Nostalgic view: up-close intensity of the sound is
British Music for Tom Poster and Elena confronting at first, it soon proves
Viola & Piano Urioste explore late-
Romantic France
well suited to this chamber duo
repertoire, taking us into the heart of
R Clarke: Viola Sonata; Britten:
two little-known cello sonatas.
Lachrymae for viola and piano;
The major discovery here is
Bowen: Phantasy for Viola and Piano
impressive. The eventual emergence within a rapidly changing world. Henriëtte Bosmans’s Cello Sonata
Izabel Markova (viola), Alla Belova
of the Dowland melody on which The notion of late Romanticism in A minor, a darkly hued, deeply
(piano), Irene Puccia (piano)
Lachrymae is based is seamlessly rarely gets applied to French expressive work completed by the
Claves CD3073 53:59 mins managed, the tune itself delivered music, but it fits the enthralling Dutch composer in 1919. There
The Viola Sonata with a moving dignity. combination of lilting nostalgia, are several other recordings out
of 1919 is by far York Bowen’s Phantasy, fiery passion and playfulness of Mel there, but Fredens’s passionate
Rebecca Clarke’s contemporaneous with Clarke’s Bonis’s masterful F sharp minor commitment to the music and her
best known Sonata, exudes a marked Brahmsian Sonata. Written just before World autumnal tone feel like an ideal
composition – influence. Markova relishes War I, the work’s opening movement match for the sonata’s late-Romantic
‘that one little this, phrasing with a rich-toned brings to mind Elgar as much as style. A restless spirit blows through
whiff of success that I’ve had in generosity which suits the music’s Franck or Fauré, while the Greek- the second movement Allegretto,
my life,’ as she herself put it – temper and a controlled fieriness at folksong-inflected slow movement while the Adagio shows off the
and the Bulgarian violist Izabel its peroration. Markova was just 25 disrupts any sense of cosiness. cello’s vocal, lyrical qualities.
Markova’s new recording competes years old when this debut recording Although completed in 1916, Fredens and Rastogi tap right
impressively with the three-dozen was made, and on its evidence ideas for Fauré’s Second Violin into the emotional core of each
others currently available. The she is an artist we’ll be hearing Sonata percolated during the movement, though perhaps at times
sonata’s assertive opening motif considerably more of in the future. genesis of his opera Penelope, the piano could be more forward in
announces Markova as a confident Terry Blain unsurprisingly having strong the sound. The finale takes us to a
and decisive presence, commanding PERFORMANCE ++++ kinship with its musical themes. fiery, near apocalyptic end, recalling
in her integration of the music’s RECORDING ++++ Typically for the composer’s later the striding opening. It’s a bold,
simmering drama with its many style, what looks straightforward appealing work.
more lyrical moments. Le Temps retrouvé on the page turns out to be Six years earlier, in Croatia, Dora
Both Markova and her pianist Works by Fauré, Hahn, Bonis, L disconcertingly elusive, the Allegro Pejačević finished her Cello Sonata
here, the Italian Irene Puccia, excel Boulanger non troppo opening movement’s in E minor, and with its similar roots
in the mercurial Vivace middle Elena Urioste (violin), Tom Poster rhythms just as radical in their quiet in the Germanic chamber tradition
movement, etching out subtle (piano) ambiguity as Stravinsky’s more it makes a strong partner to the
gradations of mischief and caprice Chandos CHAN20275 71:17 mins bombastic innovations. Urioste and Bosmans. Her writing has a fluidity
while avoiding the impression that There are no mere Poster are not the first to veer close and lyricism to it, and its scale is
the writing is merely virtuosic. And curiosities here. to becoming untethered as multiple more intimate than the extrovert
in the broad rhapsodic sweep of the The latest disc threads interweave at the climax, Bosmans sonata. The performance
Adagio finale, Markova summons from violinist but few match their burnished is equally thoughtful.
an almost cello-like richness of Elena Urioste radiance in the slow movement. To end, we have two works by the
tone from her instrument, yet with and pianist Tom As for Hahn’s Sonata, so affecting Boulanger sisters. Lili’s Nocturne
all the dynamic nuance needed to Poster may bring together under- is the final movement’s yearning and Nadia’s Trois pièces are too
lend expressivity to Clarke’s richly played French works from the 1910s beauty that it would be easy to well known to be described as
expansive paragraphs. and 1920s, but as their wonderfully overlook the touchingly wry discoveries but, lively and engaging,
Even more precise detailing is vivid performances attest, these are bonhomie of the first movement they round out this fascinating
needed in Britten’s Lachrymae, all first-rate pieces deserving a firm or the middle movement’s hell-for- portrait of early 20th-century
and the refined poetry Markova place in the repertoire. leather car journey. With the Lili European chamber music.
brings to the quieter-voiced Reflecting the disc’s title, taken Boulanger as a touching postscript, Rebecca Franks
JOHN MILLAR
pizzicato, multi-stopped and sul from Proust, the works on Le Temps this is a disc to cherish. PERFORMANCE ++++
ponticello ‘reflections’ is particularly retrouvé evoke a sense of nostalgia Christopher Dingle RECORDING ++++

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Instrumental
INSTRUMENTAL CHOICE
A Baroque recital with a modern twist

Ingrid Pearson enjoys Ada Witczyk’s imaginative fusion of past and present
the intimate, tactile nature of the

connection between instrument Now and then:
and player, and the appeal of a gut- Ada Witczyk plays
New Baroque stringed sonority unencumbered by contemporary works
Works by Oscar Gorman-Tysoe, continuous vibrato. for Baroque violin
Erik Valdemar Sköld, Massimo Witczyk’s repertoire is judiciously
de Lillo, Samuel Howley, Alex chosen, and impeccably executed on
Petshaft a Parisian-made violin by Nicolas
Ada Witczyk (baroque violin) Augustin Chappuy from c.1770.
First Hand FHR160D 24:14 mins Oscar Gorman-Tysoe’s Aeolian
In 2020, as a response to Covid Dance blends various modes in
lockdowns, the Polish-British gentle melodic lines with a folk-like
violinist Ada Witczyk co-founded character, and the plight of nature
the Růžičková Composition is delicately presented through the
Competition. As a tranquillity of Erik
vehicle for fostering Judiciously chosen, Valdemar Sköld’s
the creation of new
works for historical
Witczyk’s repertoire is Landvættir Massimo de
Song.
instruments, the impeccably executed Lillo’s E sempre

annual competition sarà fuoco is a
commemorates the legacy of Czech compelling juxtaposition of tuneful
harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková. melancholy and rhythmic agility, and
New Baroque, available only evoking winter’s chill, Sam Howley’s
on digital platforms, features bowed and plucked sonorities in
five miniatures for solo violin Winter Solstice capture a vast, bleak
commissioned from Růžičková landscape. Rounding off this superb
Competition laureates – we hear collection, Alex Petshaft’s This Last
music by composers based in Night of Nights takes us on a journey
England, Wales, Italy, Sweden and of melodic poignancy. Here’s hoping
the US. Lasting between three-and- further collaborations are planned!
a-half and six minutes, these highly PERFORMANCE +++++
idiomatic works are a testament to RECORDING +++++
Alkan • Mendelssohn Levit explains. ‘I spent the first video of himself dedicating a concert threateningly, then marches off into
Mendelssohn: Lieder ohne Worte; four or five weeks after the attack in Brussels to the Ukrainian people, the distance. Michael Church
Alkan: 25 Préludes, Op.31 No. 8 on 7 October in a mixture of and playing the country’s national PERFORMANCE +++
Igor Levit (piano) speechlessness and total paralysis. anthem – and then reactivated his RECORDING +++
Sony Classical 19658878982 43:20 mins And it became clear that I had no Twitter account.
This recording, other tools than to react as an artist.’ There’s an early recording of Bartók • Janáček •
which exists only Hence his decision to record this Horowitz extracting lovely poetry Szymanowski
in digital form, selection of Mendelssohn’s Lieder from some of Mendelssohn’s Piano Works
was produced ohne Worte, and to donate the tender little pieces. Designed Piotr Anderszewski (piano)
at very short proceeds to organisations dedicated for children and amateurs, their Warner Classics 5419789127 58:21 mins
notice in early to helping young people in Berlin charms are generally underrated It takes a
December, with Igor Levit and avoid anti-Semitic persecution. by professionals – but Levit finds pianist of Piotr
his team committing to donate This isn’t the first time Levit beauty in them, expressed with a Anderszewski’s
all of the profits to two German has been overt in his response warm touch and pleasing emotional rare musical
organisations: OFEK Advice Centre to politics. The day after Russia directness. He doesn’t explain intelligence to
for Anti-Semitic Violence and invaded Ukraine, he deleted his why he’s concluded this miniature come up with a
Discrimination, and the Kreuzberg Twitter account and instructed his recital with a prelude by Alkan, but programme as simple and direct
Initiative Against Anti-Semitism. agent to announce that he would it doesn’t feel inappropriate, with as this, one featuring a trio of
‘I made this recording out of a ‘only react with music to political a plaintive melody over a sinister Central European composers who
very, very strong inner necessity,’ events’. Two days later he posted a bass rumble which approaches shaped the musical identity of their

Instrumental Reviews
countries in the early 20th century. The pair first talked of
As Anderszewski puts it, there is collaborating while still effectively Polished Finnis:
‘no room here for stylisation or youths themselves, fellow postgrads Clare Hammond
decorum; these works draw upon at London’s Guildhall. Yet the sparkles in Youth
the very roots of music.’ intervening years lend the cycle
The Polish pianist is most a sense of wisdom and gently
successful in conveying that in self-aware nostalgia that can only
Bartók’s 14 Bagatelles (1908), come with experience. Dedicated
an outstanding account of the to Finnis’s nieces and nephews, it’s
Hungarian composer’s early followed by the brief but exquisite
collection in which folk song mixes Lullaby for Emmeline (2018), written
so seamlessly alongside original for the birth of Hammond’s second
ideas that it can be hard to tell child and forming here a kind of
one from the other. From the very tender coda.
spare opening piece onwards, Each miniature invites the listener
Anderszewski adopts quite into intensely private worlds which
deliberate tempos, but still finds the shimmer with light and colour.
nervous, spiky energy required for Many of the cycle’s individual
example in No. 2 (one of Bartók’s titles are unknowable – yet to what
own recital favourites) and No. 14. ‘Bloom’ and ‘Spin’ may specifically
The mysterious textures in No. 3 are refer is incidental to their respective
blurred to hypnotic effect. piquant arpeggios and asymmetric
Somehow, that deliberate chords, the latter finally tumbling
approach works less well in the suggestively down the keyboard.
second book of Janáček’s On Central are the homages to visual
an Overgrown Path (1900-11) artists threaded throughout, of
– recorded, oddly, seven years which ‘Frankenthaler’ is perhaps
before the rest of the programme. key. Finnis has described the
Anderszewski is emphatic, where abstract expressionist’s ‘radiant
the Czech composer calls for a more colour fields on canvasses that,
lyrical sense of fantasy. He switches despite being flat, seem to extend
the order of the third and fourth for miles’. His response seems an
pieces, putting the vigorous Vivo at echo in sound, while ‘Hammershøi spiked during the 2020-21 crisis, Schubert
the centre of things. Windows’ pours its own light and Glass appears to have made
With Szymanowski’s Mazurkas, through textures elegant as the the most of the time to refocus on Piano Sonata in A major, D959;
more rarefied and later works artist’s celebrated interiors, and his pianism. His Etudes, written Moments musicaux, Op. 94,
(1926-31) from the period of the ‘Buren’ beautifully evokes the for that very purpose, explore D780
Polish composer’s retreat into the sunbeam-wrought patterns beloved idea kernels that are carefully Adam Laloum (piano)
mountains, the only disappointment of the once-called ‘stripe guy’. dissected; their complexity is such Harmonia Mundi HMM902386
is that Anderszewski plays only a Steph Power that the composer once revealed 76:19 mins
small selection from the original PERFORMANCE +++++ that he cannot play the entirety of Dating from
cycle of 20 pieces. He certainly gives RECORDING +++++ Book 2. And why would he need to, about three
a performance that draws ‘upon the when brilliant pianists including months before
very roots of music’. John Allison Philip Glass Vicky Chow (Cantaloupe), Maki Schubert’s death,
PERFORMANCE ++++ Solo – Piano Works Namekawa (OM) and Víkingur the Sonata in A
RECORDING ++++ Philip Glass (piano) Ólafsson (DG) can on his behalf? major D959 is
Orange Mountain Music OMM0168 For this recording, Glass sticks the middle one of his three big last
Edmund Finnis 53:54 mins with music he’s more comfortable sonatas, in some ways themselves
Youth; Lullaby for Emmeline The pandemic with: Metamorphosis 1-5 (except for the response to a death – that of
Clare Hammond (piano) hangover lingers, No. 4), which he recorded (including Beethoven. The A major work is the
Pentatone PTC 5187 197 (Digital EP) as the details No. 4) for Sony back in 1989. most gentle of the trio, something
16:30 mins of various There’s liquidity to the shimmering highlighted again in this lovely,
Memory, image, shenanigans repetition, and the resonant sound lyrical recording by Adam Laloum.
sensation and that took place of Glass’s Baldwin piano is closely As the heroic opening quickly
sound – in Youth come to light nearly four years after captured. The gentle hum induced dissolves into something more
(2017), Edmund the initial lockdown. But there are by the sustaining pedal (a little too relaxed, the French pianist relishes
Finnis brings joyous discoveries too – like this obvious in ‘Truman Sleeps’) is a the dreamy spaciousness of the
these elements recording of solo Glass piano works, reminder of the intimacy of this music, though his performance
simply but rapturously together to made by the composer in his home recital. The evergreen ‘Mad Rush’, is far from one-dimensional: he
form what is, remarkably, his first studio in early 2021. It is a snapshot meanwhile, soothes through subtle also summons up, however briefly
ever composition for solo piano. A of Philip Glass at 84, reconnecting undulations and broken chords that, required, all the necessary drama
cycle of ten miniatures, the piece with pieces created throughout his in less expert hands, tend towards and intensity. The Andantino is full
was commissioned by pianist Clare career, most now rarely performed – lumpy porridge. Here, in contrast, of poignancy, the Scherzo delicately
Hammond, who matches perfectly by the pianist-composer himself, at we have the ultimate interpreter. playful. His playing has a notably
PHILIP GATWARD
their balance of wonder, reflection least – in public. Claire Jackson singing tone and the Steinway is
and playful flashes of heat in coolly Like banana bread and PERFORMANCE +++++ very naturally recorded – so much
compressed, ambiguous emotion. birdwatching, the piano’s popularity RECORDING ++++ so that we hear plenty of the pianist’s

Instrumental Reviews
breathing, but it feels like a true as Angela Hewitt, make the piano
performance. Laloum has previously Food for thought: dance; others, like Bartlett, make it
recorded the epic C minor Sonata, Andreas Staier’s sing. Rebecca Franks
D958 for the same label, yet is Méditation is insightful PERFORMANCE ++++
probably more at home with the sort and intriguing RECORDING ++++
of pianism called for here.
The salon origins of the six Méditation
Moments musicaux should not be Works by Fischer, Fux, JS Bach,
taken as judgement on their musical L Couperin, Froberger, Andreas
value – quite the opposite and, just as Staier
with Chopin’s so-called salon works, Andreas Staier (harpsichord)
they are miniature masterpieces. Alpha Classics ALPHA1012 66:57 mins
Laloum embraces their wide range of Méditation
emotions with discretion, avoiding is a thought-
the banal in even the most popular provoking
of the set, the military march that anthology of
is a reminder of the Napoleonic keyboard pieces
upheavals Schubert had witnessed that share
from Vienna. All receive beautifully interrelated themes, motifs and
judged performances. John Allison ideas. Some of the contents are open
PERFORMANCE ++++ to conjecture, but there is a basis of
RECORDING ++++ hard fact too, providing interesting
tangents and subjective insights
In Blue into 17th- and early 18th-century
Works by Gershwin, Still, harpsichord repertoire.
J Perry, Aaron Jay Kernis, That is not all, for the programme
Andrew Armstrong that foreshadow melodies heard in any great shakes on the dancefloor, further includes six pieces by Staier
Andrew Armstrong (piano) Porgy and Bess, and I Got Rhythm. he’s certainly at home conjuring himself. In his own words, ‘given
Rubicon RCD1112 69:06 mins Armstrong shades phrases with a up Baroque gavottes and ghostly that my concept of music has been
For several years painterly touch; some detail is lost in waltzes on the keyboard. influenced not only by Byrd, Bach
now, evenings at quieter sections due to the recording. Not that this is uniformly the most and Schubert but also by the music
my home have Perhaps most interesting is toe-tapping dance-inspired piano of the 20th and 21st centuries, how
been punctuated Nadia Boulanger pupil Julia Perry’s album I’ve ever heard, though it is could I best express and realise this
with shrieks, minuscule Prelude, which moves a lovely programme, built around in notational form?’ In keeping with
tantrums and through harmonic centres with Ravel’s neo-classical Le tombeau the remainder of the recital, these
tears that often only subside subtle confidence; Armstrong’s de Couperin and the transcription pieces are linked by threads which
well into the night. The children percussive take on the largely of the cataclysmic La valse. There’s refer to an ancient cantus firmus on
beyond our shared wall probably chord-based language recommends much rewarding playing; Bartlett is the one hand and a specific sequence
wouldn’t recognise the structure of this lesser-known piece. Similarly, a highly expressive musician. If his of intervals on the other. Readers are
Aaron Jay Kernis’s Before Sleep and William Grant Still’s rarely Romantic Rameau remains rather likely to be intrigued by this, even if
Dreams, which tracks the progress heard Three Visions– conjuring earthbound, his Couperin flickers they are not invariably convinced.
of aspirational bedtime hygiene, apocalyptic horsemen, heavenly with a cosy firelight warmth. His Staier begins with a Prelude
with movements including ‘Play lights and luminous peace through two Hahn miniatures are deliciously and Fugue from Johann Caspar
Before Lullaby’ and ‘Lights Before shifting styles – benefits from bittersweet and whirlingly joyful, Ferdinand Fischer’s Ariadne musica,
Sleep’. Pianist Andrew Armstrong Armstrong’s Debussyian approach. while Debussy’s Arabesque No. 1 a collection which was a likely
juxtaposes naivety in simple ‘Radiant Pinnacle’ stands out for its slips by like liquid sunshine. source of inspiration for Bach’s Well-
staccato melodies with concern shimmering lyricism and Satie-like Bartlett enjoys a good rubato, and Tempered Clavier and which forms
borne by the parent, depicted emblems that bring Gallic charm how you feel about that is possibly a a leitmotif in the first half of the
in nostalgia-twinged twinkling to this all-American album. matter of taste. At times, the pulling programme. Of greater substance are
tunes. Like Debussy’s Children’s Claire Jackson back is almost imperceptible and the Louis Couperin’s elegiac Pavane and
Corner, the suite can be mined PERFORMANCE ++++ effect magical (in the early stretches Froberger’s Méditation sur ma mort
for deeper meaning – or simply RECORDING +++ of the Prélude from Le tombeau). At future from which the disc borrows
enjoyed as the intended night-time others, it feels superfluous – in that its title. Staier’s own pieces are based
aid. Armstrong’s central Lullaby is La Danse same piece, he twins a crescendo on six chords which conceal the
blissfully calm – I’ll be certain to Works by Couperin, Debussy, with a drawing out of the tempo far aforementioned cantus firmus and
turn it up loudly tonight. Ravel, Rameau, Hahn less convincingly. After the chaste sequence of intervals.
The album title In Blue naturally Martin James Bartlett (piano) lines of the Fugato, the enigmatic lilt Following these arresting,
relates to Gershwin’s Rhapsody, Warner Classics 5419789680 60:10 mins of the Forlane sags. The Rigaudon often aurally challenging pieces
heard here in the composer’s In his own words, peps up matters with hearty and he concludes with Bach’s warmly
own arrangement for solo piano. Martin James nimble fingerwork, while the silvery coloured E major Prelude and its
Armstrong’s performance is hugely Bartlett is ‘rather Toccata sparkles. Fugue from Book Two of the ‘48’,
enjoyable: the iconic clarinet awful at dancing’, La valse is all rumbling menace whose subject bears relationship
glissandos are featherlight, although but that hasn’t in Bartlett’s hands, packed with with music by Fischer, Froberger
I would prefer a little more bite to put him off lacing punchy bass chords and roaring and Fux found elsewhere in the
ANDREJ GRILC
the sprawling orchestral motif. up his dance shoes and gathering glissandos. His vision of the piece is programme. Nicholas Anderson
Two other Gershwin works are a troupe of French composers for rather choppy, but it’s often exciting PERFORMANCE +++++
also included: the Three Preludes this album. And whether or not he’s nonetheless. Some pianists, such RECORDING +++++

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Jazz
Roger Thomas is transported to chordless trio heaven, via sparse audio haikus
March round-up fuzziness of the genre, but with

JAZZ CHOICE It’s intriguing how the absence of Reading The Air the supposedly
an instrument from an otherwise confirmed
From fine to sublime... conventional jazz ensemble (see
Jazz Choice)
leftfielder has
stretched things
pushes the music even further by
The follow-up to this generation-spanning in particular creating an album
directions. of songs that
trio’s debut album is a stunning achievement The group sound oddly conventional in a Scott
convened by Walker/Peter Blegvad avant-ballad
John Etheridge on Blue Spirits sort of way. Breathy, euphonious
Live is one take on the organ trio, vocal parts convey texts that are
the absence of a bass instrument poignantly emotive, and the roster
allowing his guitar, organist Pete of co-performers tasked with
Whittaker’s left hand and indeed delivering the subtle instrumental
George Double’s bass drum to hold accompaniments includes Arve
down the lower end if necessary. Henriksen and Eivind Aarset.
The music shifts from pastoral It all adds up to an interesting
reflection and bluesy meandering experiment that invites repeated
to animated intricacy with ease. listening. (Punkt Editions 377 947 3)
Etheridge’s typical fluency and ++++
Whittaker’s wonderfully warbly Arve Henriksen is also one
organ timbre that occasionally half of the duo on Touch of
evokes a stereotypical American Time, alongside pianist Harmen
funeral parlour (in a good way) Fraanje, where
place a distinctive stamp on the the trumpeter’s
performance, although the album flute-like tone
loses a star for a slightly constricted on the opening
recorded sound that seems a bit track pretty
odd for a live album. (Dyad Records much sets the
In perfect harmony: DY033) ++++ mood for this album of barely-there
QOW Trio bring a
remarkable sense of Occasional unsubtle edits also audio haikus. These ten mostly
integration to their new cause some minor production short tracks are full of subtle,
recording project infelicities on Emerald City Nights aerated fragments that seem to
Vol. III: Live at the Penthouse, imply rather than state melody
the third volume in a collection and harmony, where the most
of late 1960s live performances subtracted of musical gestures
QOW Trio from pianist assume significance against a
The Hold Up Ahmad Jamal backdrop of contemplative near-
Riley Stone-Lonergan (tenor saxophone), Eddie with bassist Jamil stillness. (ECM 2794) ++++
Myer (bass), Spike Wells (drums) Nasser and Finally, another from ECM,
Ubuntu UBU 151 mins drummer Frank this time by John Surman, whose
I’m a great fan of the chordless trio format Gant, but long career has found him at home
epitomised by this particular instrumental these small irritants are swept in countless musical contexts.
combination, and was unsurprised to have away in this exuberant outing Words Unspoken, released in the
enjoyed this multigenerational group’s excellent debut recording – from a musician who at various saxophonist’s
but this new release sees the band transcend mere excellence and times has been both dismissed 80th year, also
move into the realms of the extraordinary. The album mixes classics as a conformist and hailed as an features Rob Luft,
by the likes of Monk and Ellington/Strayhorn with spirited originals innovator. This set is very much Rob Waring and
from Stone-Lonergan, which works nicely. What’s truly remarkable, an example of the latter, full of Thomas Strønen
though, is the sense of integration that results. These are musicians imaginative thematic development, on guitar,
working together with the kind of intuition that only comes from jump-scare dynamics and good- vibraphone and drums respectively.
an intensive focus on the material and a profound collective self- humoured perversity, such as It’s very much an ensemble set,
awareness, allowing each track to come alive on its own terms via ‘Misty’ rendered as clattery, full of interlocking lines, rolling-
LISA INDIGBURNS WORMSLEY
a superbly detailed recorded sound that leaves an aching sense of rollicking bossa nova. Good to and-tumbling cyclic elements and
an imagined live audience. The whole can sometimes feel a little have. (Jazz Detective/Elemental subtle yet unpredictable melodic
overstuffed (the CD Red Book did jazz programming no favours) and DDJD 006) ++++ excursions, all of which bring
Stone-Lonergan arguably overstates some of the thematic elements That both Jamal and Jan Bang a freshly minted quality to this
on occasion, but the wonderful moment-by-moment detail pushes can fit under the jazz umbrella lively and engaging album.
such nit-picking aside. Massively recommended. +++++ testifies to the breadth and/or (ECM 2789) +++++

Brief notes
This month’s selection includes Puccini at the organ and Chopin for four cellos
Dvořák String Quartet No. 2; shows why. Throughout, the format

Bagatelles; Rondo in G minor is pretty much the same: melody
Fine Arts Quartet et al in the right hand, chords chugging
Naxos 8.574513 away in the left, plus the occasional
Dvořák sought to pedal note for good measure.
destroy his String Sophisticated it’s not. That said, his
Quartet No. 2, but famed knack for a good tune is here
it was revived at the in abundance and no piece ever
beginning of the 20th outstays its welcome. In its own way,
century. The fairly workmanlike it’s rather charming. (JP) +++
performances here, though perfectly
fine, do little to convey a sense of Rosner Orchestral Music, Vol. 4
energy and direction. The Rondo in London Philharmonic Orchestra/
G minor, though, has become more Nick Palmer
popular in recent years – and this Toccata Classics TOCC0710
performance is lovely. (CS) +++ Rosner’s soundworld
is compellingly
Mozart Requiem (for piano solo) individual, with
Vadym Kholodenko (piano) the rhythms and
NIFCCD NIFCCD150 harmonies of
Mozart in mid-19th- Renaissance polyphony overlaid
century attire, as the with exotic modalities and
famous Requiem dissonances, all richly clothed in
is performed on an late-Romantic orchestration. The
1858 Erard in the solo Concerto Grosso No. 2 is Rosner’s
piano transcription by Liszt’s pupil own very particular take on neo-
Karl Klindworth. Impossible, of classicism, while the Variations on
Triumphant return: course, to match the varied colours a Theme by Frank Martin evoke that
Benjamin Schmid wows of soloists, choir and orchestra, composer’s haunting, rhythmically
in Mozart concertos but Vadym Kholodenko manages driven style. (SW) ++++
eloquently with the resources at his
fingertips, displaying impressive Ysaÿe Violin Concerto; Poème
Bacewicz Complete Symphonic of Brahms works for chorus and agility too. (JP) ++++ concertant etc
Works, Vol. 2 orchestra gently lures us into the Philippe Graffin (violin); RLPO/
WDR Sinfonieorchester/ world of the composer at his most Mozart Violin Concertos Nos 3-5 Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Łukasz Borowicz benign. Agnieszka Rehlis is a Benjamin Schmid (violin); Orchestra Avie AV2650
CPO 555660-2 warmly expressive soloist in the Musica Vitae Featuring two world
Bacewicz’s music is Alto Rhapsody, while the exquisite Gramola 99307 premiere recordings,
always absorbing, Four Songs Op. 17 for female voices, In 1990, Benjamin this album
with great rhythmic horn and harp makes a rare but very Schmid recorded represents some
drive and underlying welcome appearance. (JP) ++++ Mozart’s Concertos serious detective
tension. The works Nos 1 & 2, and here, work on the part of soloist Philippe
on this beautifully performed disc Dvořák Symphonies Nos 7 & 8 over 30 years later, Graffin, who has pieced together
add playfulness and sonic adventure Deutsche Radio Philharmonie/ he completes the set. These are various manuscripts to reconstruct
to that drama: both the Symphony Pietari Inkinen highly personal interpretations with the Violin Concerto and Poème
No. 2 and Musica sinfonica in tre SWR SWR19130CD delightfully surprising phrasing concertant. Both works are dark and
movimenti have a neo-classical zip, Prominent and articulation. Schmid’s tone has virtuosic, and Graffin rises to the
and creative musical figures (a string woodwinds give this all the delicacy of fizzing Mozart, challenge, his fragile yet defiant
quintet’s tremolandos and trills, for Seventh Symphony but with a steely core, beautifully instrument soaring above brooding
example) abound. Delightful. a more than complemented by the rounded orchestral forces. (CS) ++++
(SW) +++++ usually peaceable bloom of Musica Vitae. A triumph.
atmosphere, although brass (CS) +++++ Le Berger Innocent Works by
Brahms Orchestral & Vocal Works and strings raise the emotional Lemaire, Dupuits et al
Orquesta y Coro Comunidad de temperature at all the right Puccini Complete Organ Works Monika Mauch (soprano), Tobie Miller
Madrid/Marzena Diakun moments. The lovable Scherzo, with Paolo Bottini (organ) (hurdy gurdy); Ensemble Danguy
IBS Classical IBS132023 its roots in Bohemian folk dance, Da Vinci Classics C00815 (2CD) Ricercar RIC448
From Schicksalslied’s swings as it should. Excitement is Puccini is not a The rural delights of
gorgeous opening expertly dialled up in the Eighth’s composer one 18th-century France
onwards, this melody-packed first movement and instantly associates are celebrated in a
sumptuously boisterous finale. Limpid sound with the organ, and programme of works
performed album throughout. (SW)++++ this release amply that would have once

Brief notes Reviews
been played at the court of Louis XV well in the cellos’ singing tones.
to remind the king of the joys of the But it’s often a case of too much of On the case:
great outdoors. While the pieces by a good thing in an overly resonant Philippe Graffin
the likes of Dupuits and Lemaire recording that misses the piano’s applied detective
rarely have the ears pricking up cool restraint. (CS) +++ work to Ysaÿe
with rapt attention, instruments
such as the musette and hurdy- Les Choses de la Vie: Cinema II
gurdy certainly create a distinctive Works by Legrand, Delerue,
soundworld. (JP) +++ Alexandre Desplat et al
Renaud Capuçon (violin); Les Siècles/
Breve Works by Gershwin, Duncan Ward
Mozart, Piazzolla et al Erato 5419779910
Euclid Quartet Capuçon follows his
Afinat AF2401 first album of hit
Maybe it’s just cinema themes with
the group’s name this second edition
playing tricks with of French gems.
the mind, but does The sound is beautifully balanced,
some of the Euclid Capuçon’s razor-sharp tone
Quartet’s playing here sound just a contrasting perfectly with the warm
little too mathematically precise? orchestral strings of Les Siècles – so
The programme itself consists of the sentiment is never turgid. And
short, often unfamiliar, works that the chance to explore soundtracks
span 250 years and two continents, off the beaten path is a welcome one.
from Mozart to the Mexican (CS) ++++
Javier Álvarez (1956-2023). And RISE: Revolutionary Russian The Silk Road Works by
wonderful it is too, allowing the Clarnival French music for Cello Music Works by Saint-Saëns, Caplet, Kverndokk
Euclids to demonstrate just how clarinet quartet Shostakovich, Weinberg et al and Karabey
much wit, invention and sheer French Touch James Kreiling (piano), Liubov Oslo Kammerakademi/David
beauty can be packed into five- Clarinet & Saxophone Classics CC0081 Ulybysheva (cello) Friedemann Strunck
minute bursts. (JP) ++++ A varied musical Odradek ODRCD422 LAWO Classics LWC1271
menu, from a Breton A captivating survey Most intriguing
Chopin Project Works arranged dance suite via tango of 20th-century among this selection
for cello quartet and mazurka to Russian music for of music inspired by
Polish Cello Quartet Debussy and Berlioz, cello, demonstrating cultural migration
CD Accord ACD326 ensures that the fairly uniform varying responses to is Gisle Kverndokk’s
Chopin’s most soundstage never palls in this decades of turbulence and unrest. eponymous ten-movement suite
famous piano centuries-spanning smorgasbord Romantic lyricism still haunts from 2017, inspired by an imagined
works arranged for of music for clarinet quartet. Goedicke’s Three Improvisations journey from Venice to China. The
cello quartet? Yes, Most adventurous is Maxime and Gretchaninov’s Cello musics of Armenia, Uzbekistan
there’s method in Aulio’s Arachnophobie, which Sonata; the second CD’s works by and other exotic waypoints are
the madness: the group cites the uses glissandos, slaps and more to Tcherepnin, Kabalevsky, Weinberg colourfully distilled, and the Oslo
vocal quality of Chopin’s works, conjure encounters with our eight- and Shostakovich inhabit a sparser, Kammerakademi’s keen dynamics
which should theoretically translate legged friends/foes. (SW) +++ more watchful world. Kreiling and and phrasing transpose us right into
Ulybysheva are clear-eyed guides each musical tableau. (SW) ++++
to these changing landscapes.
Briny Bryn: (SW) ++++ Winter
Terfel breathes in Works by Max Richter, Philip
the sea air for his Sea Songs Glass, Nils Frahm et al
new album Bryn Terfel (baritone), Sting, Simon Lavinia Meijer (harp)
Keenlyside; Calan, The Fisherman’s Sony Classical G010005169665Q
Friends The winter depicted
Deutsche Grammophon 486 4884 here by Dutch
Marking a 30-year harpist Lavinia
partnership Meijer is one of icy,
between Bryn chilly, contemplative
Terfel and Deutsche stillness – don’t go expecting
LIENBACHER, CELF CALON, MARIJE VAN DEN BERG
Grammophon, stormy scenes or lively frolics in the

this spirited album showcases snow. No little studio tinkering has
the impressive talents of a diverse been added to her arrangements
range of artists. The folk songs and of composers including Britten,
shanties are by turns toe-tappingly Rachmaninov, Schubert and Meijer
infectious and unexpectedly herself, but it all makes for an
moving, and the performances atmospheric and, at times, almost
gloriously, uproariously rendered. hypnotic listen. (JP) ++++
Sure to bring a smile to the most Jeremy Pound (JP), Charlotte Smith
jaded of critics. (CS) ++++ (CS), Steve Wright (SW)

Books
Our critics cast their eyes over the latest selection of books on all things music
The Cambridge Companion to are explored, and Bandy is

Amy Beach frequently insightful. His ‘coda’
Ed. E Douglas Bomberger contains interesting thoughts
Cambridge 268pp (pb) £22.99 on interpretation, although the
Amy Beach (née only jarring note is his detailed
Cheney) could suggestions of how, in a certain
hum 40 tunes piano sonata, the performer might
before her first effectively ‘pretend’ to be the
birthday and composer making it up on the spot
harmonise her and feigning surprise at his own
mother’s songs by invention. Cue images of Dudley
the age of two. She Moore doing his Beethoven skit,
became a first-rate as if the piece were playing the
pianist but when, at the age of 18, performer. Sarah Urwin Jones
she married Henry Harris Aubrey ++++
Beach, her performing career was
thwarted – unacceptable, you see, The Horn
for the wife of a respected Boston Renato Meucci; Gabriele
doctor. However, she was allowed Rocchetti
to compose. And compose she Yale 416pp (hb) £35
did: over 100 songs, piano pieces, Introducing this impressively
chamber works, a Mass, a Piano researched history of the orchestral
Concerto (described as ‘fearless’, horn, the authors state that, since
‘triumphant’) and the ‘Gaelic’ Setting the standard: copious information on the modern
Symphony (performed by major Amy Beach has been instrument is now available online,
described as ‘America’s
US orchestras). She’s recently been they have minimised replicating
greatest Romantic composer’
described as ‘America’s greatest this in favour of an exhaustive
Romantic composer’. study of its earlier evolution and
This new three-part, multi- development. The result is not really
authored book explores Beach’s 2009 documentary film by Scott Mozart the Performer a self-contained book as such, more
life and music through a variety Hicks. Austrian photographer Dorian Bandy an extended
of lenses. Beyond the initial Andreas H Bitesnich has amassed Chicago 288pp (hb) £32 reference portal
biographical information, a sizeable archive, presented in this Here, Dorian Bandy, an assistant to numerous
interesting chapters place her in beautifully curated selection. The professor at Quebec’s McGill other specialised
the context of women’s clubs at the size of an LP, everything about it University (and performer himself), studies
time and show how the MacDowell is high quality, not least of all the looks to break new ground with online. Many
artist colony became central to weighty paper stock. this study of the influence of of the listed
her creative life. Some general It’s the photos which matter, Mozart’s own performance style illustrations are
overstatement tells us little, missing though, and Bitesnich’s portraits on his compositions. The book is similarly online
the opportunity to probe more and candid presented as a theme and variations only, and the print quality of the
deeply; there are also some overlaps observations that treat, in order, Mozart as limited number included is poor.
and repetitions between chapters. – snapped pianist, improviser, decorator and With that reservation, this is a
This companion is most interesting from 2012-16 dramatist. Bandy inserts a ‘coda’ too, fascinating story of how the horn
when it shows us what made Beach’s in Linz and on performing Mozart. evolved from a hunting accessory
music distinctive. A useful reference New York Though a to a mellow-toned and much-loved
book. Rebecca Franks +++ – are rather touch laborious feature of the orchestra. There is
captivating. in his academic intriguing information on how the
Dots on Paper – An Intimate Many document the creative tendency to technique of hand-stopping the
Portrait of Philip Glass relationship (and warm friendship) go over what natural horn – obtaining additional
Andreas H Bitesnich (photos) between Glass and conductor one intends to chromatic notes by adjusting the
teNeues 96pp (hb) £90 Dennis Russell Davies, though investigate and right hand’s position inside the bell
Bach, Beethoven, Bernstein: the majority are of the composer – what one will – became so skilled that it held back
all faces we know from busts or posed or at work. Much thought has show, Bandy the advent of the modern valved
endless footage. But is there a living gone into the layouts, with space is unfailingly horn by several decades. And the
composer with as familiar a face seemingly as important as pictures; in-depth in excavating each facet differences between the true double
(and name for that matter) as Philip juxtapositions are apt and it feels at of Mozart’s performing practice or horn, the double compensating
Glass? He’s a figure whom other times as if we’re privy to an artist’s his posited compositional decision- horn, the Viennese single horn in F,
artists seem keen to capture, from most private moments of creative making through specific examples. and the more recently arrived triple
the iconic 1969 portrait by Chuck concentration. A lovely thing. Many interesting ideas horn? This is where to find out.
GETTY
Close to the quietly engrossing Michael Beek +++++ and philosophical alleyways Malcolm Hayes +++

Audio choice
Chris Haslam chooses the best hi-fi equipment for your classical music listening
THIS MONTH: TV SPEAKERS
Head to the bar:

the impressively
compact Sonos Ray
Rhapsody in Bluetooth:
the Sony HT-AX7
speaker provides an
immersive experience
BEST IN TEST
Sony HT-AX7 £499
Appreciating that many of us no longer
watch on a traditional TV, Sony has created
this innovative fabric-covered Bluetooth
BEST BUY speaker to enhance the audio from any
screen, be that tablet, smartphone, laptop or
even a Bluetooth-enabled smart television.
STEREO PERFORMER This Portable Theatre System has a battery life of 30 hours and
when you want to enjoy a more immersive experience, the two
Audio Pro A28 £440 ‘pucks’ on top of the main speaker unit lift off and become wireless
These may look like normal stereo bookshelf speakers, but there’s so satellite speakers that you position around you.
much more going on. They’re active, so there is no need for a separate I’m a fan of established brands taking a chance on something
amplifier; there’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity – with Spotify new, and think Sony has done a superb job here. Compared to the
Connect – and they can slip seamlessly into a multiroom set-up, sounds from mobile devices, the audio upgrade is an immeasurable
with Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast and Audio Pro’s own multi-room improvement. This was especially true when I paired it with my
systems onboard; and they portable projector (the Nebula Capsule) and watched Beethoven’s
have a HDMI ARC input, Ninth - Symphony for the World (Netflix) on an 80" screen, in spatial
meaning you can plug audio, while lazing in bed.
them directly into your Innovation comes at a price, and if you only want to listen to music
TV, Blu-Ray or AV system there are better options available – there’s no Wi-Fi, no HDMI or
and enjoy a brilliantly Optical outputs – but I love the wireless simplicity and the fact the
wide soundbar-beating satellite speakers effectively pull you into the onscreen action, even if
soundstage. audiopro.com you are (and whisper it) watching on your smartphone. sony.co.uk
NEED TO KNOW What connectivity do I need? The inputs Can my existing speakers work with the TV?
TV speaker, soundbar or surround sound needed will depend on the age and intelligence Very possibly, if they have the right inputs.
system? All TVs will benefit from separate of your TV – the latest smart designs often Apple’s impressive HomePod speakers work
speakers. Soundbars are the most practical come with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for wireless wirelessly with your TV, but only if you have an
upgrade for cinefiles, while a more complex convenience. If you have an older model, be Apple TV box plugged into the back. Likewise,
multi-speaker surround-sound system will offer sure your chosen speaker or soundbar has Amazon’s Echo devices can be connected via
the best in immersive theatre. either an HDMI or optical cable. Bluetooth or if you’re using Fire TV.

From the archives
Andrew McGregor looks over this month’s reissued and live archive recordings
March round-up architecture: that feeling that we’re

ARCHIVE CHOICE The Schumann Trilogy: three in safe hands, the destination
albums, three concertos and anticipated
Limitless imagination three piano trios from friends and
chamber music
even as we
set out on the
partners Isabelle journey. The airy,
The Berlin Philharmonic offers a superlative Faust, Jean- almost velvety
Guihen Queyras string sound
showcase of Unsuk Chin’s orchestral music and Alexander is impressive, the long phrases
Melnikov. Playing beautifully moulded, and the
their period set-ups, they reveal the climaxes carefully placed.
lyrical beauty of the trios as well as (BR Klassik 900218) ++++
Schumann’s poetry and power, and The Vox label dates back to
their conversational interactions 1945, established by a descendant
and intimacy. The concertos with of Felix Mendelssohn. Vox built a
the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra catalogue of considerable quality in
are outstanding, the freshness of the LP era, introducing audiences
the sound illuminating them with to new talents alongside established
unusual richness and radiance, names, before selling up in the
and the bonus BluRay offers all 1980s. Naxos has been reviving Vox,
three concertos live in Berlin. Truly remastering and reissuing some of
inspirational Schumann, and the best-sounding recordings, such
superb value for money. (Harmonia as American virtuoso pianist Abbey
Mundi HMX2904095.98; 3 CDs + Simon playing Chopin in 1973.
BluRay) +++++ The Hamburg
Hungarian violinist Joseph Symphony
Szigeti was a child prodigy famed Orchestra under
for his musicianship and virtuosity, Heribert Beissel
from solo Bach to his friend makes a satisfying
Bartók, so why wouldn’t we want sound in this
to eavesdrop on impressively engineered recording
Home ground: a Szigeti recital of the First Piano Concerto, but it’s
Unsuk Chin has a in 1957, with his Simon’s sense of line and colour,
bond with Berlin
own broadcast the easy fluency of his playing and
introductions natural rubato that impresses most,
to masterpieces and the sheer elegance and vivacity
Unsuk Chin by Ravel, Honegger, Ives and of Chopin’s Andante spianato and
Violin Concerto No. 1; Prokofiev? Because we’re forced to Grande Polonaise brillante. (VOX
Cello Concerto etc confront the frailties of Szigeti in his NX-3032CD) ++++
Berlin Phil/Myung-Whun sixties, hands ravaged by arthritis. Also on Vox you’ll find Abbey
Chung; Simon Rattle et al It’s inescapable in the scratchy tone, Simon playing Rachmaninov
Berlin Phil BPHR 230411 uncertain intonation, shaky bowing with the St Louis Symphony
(Live 2005-22) 118:43 mins and uneven vibrato. Seek out Orchestra and Leonard Slatkin,
(2 discs + BluRay) Szigeti’s early recordings instead: whose recordings of Rachmaninov
If you’re new to Korean composer Unsuk Chin, the magical world of this is not a good way to encounter a from 1977 have a vitality that’s
her imagination will unfold around you in this luxurious edition from great violinist. (Biddulph 85039-2) + perfect for the
the Berlin Philharmonic. Chin has made her home in Berlin, and the There seems to be an infinite First Symphony.
orchestra has been championing her music for almost 20 years. supply of previously unreleased They play with
It’s easy to hear why they find it so satisfying: the way Chin tests Bruckner emerging from Bernard a passion and
the limits of these superlative players with her exotic combinations Haitink’s long relationship with commitment
of eastern and western sounds, the multi-layered harmonies and the Bavarian Radio Symphony that’s rarer in
shimmering details, the emotional range from the ravishing beauty Orchestra. But there’s no better time Slatkin’s later recordings in Detroit,
of the Violin Concerto’s slow movement to the pulverising climaxes to celebrate the qualities of their and while they may not be as
of the Cello Concerto. Christian Tetzlaff and Alban Gerhardt are concert broadcasts than Bruckner’s polished as the Detroit Symphony,
wonderful soloists, and in Le Silence des Sirènes, soprano Barbara 200th anniversary year, and in the remastered recording has an
Hannigan is eerily, searingly seductive as she lures sailors to their this Symphony No. 7 from 1981 we impressive warmth and bloom.
deaths. Chorós Chordón was written for Rattle and the Berliners hear Haitink’s grasp of symphonic (VOX NX-3029CD) +++
for their last tour of Asia together, its musical processes expressing
Chin’s fascination for cosmology and astronomy. Exhilarating Andrew McGregor is the presenter of Radio 3’s Record Review,
performances, excellent recordings and presentation. +++++ broadcast each Saturday morning from 9am until 11.45am

Triumphant return:
Victoria de los Ángeles
Reviews Index
on her travels in the 1960s
Alkan 25 Préludes Op. 31 No. 8 88 Philip Stopford
Bacewicz Symphony No. 2 94 Sacred Choral Music 85
Musica sinfonica in 3 movimenti 94 R Strauss Four Last Songs 81
JS Bach Trio Sonata 84 Stravinsky Violin Concerto 76
Bartók 14 Bagatelles 88 Scherzo à la Russe 76
Beach Violin Sonata 84 Apollon Musagète 76
Olav Berg Bassoon Concerto 75 Orchestral Suites 76
Berlioz The Damnation of Faust 78 Szymanowski Mazurkas 88
N Boulanger Fantaisie variée 75 Unsuk Chin
Brahms Cello Sonatas Nos 1 & 2 85 Violin Concerto No. 1 98
Schicksalslied 94 Cello Concerto 98
Alto Rhapsody 94 Le Silence des Sirènes 98
Bruckner Symphony No. 7 98 Chorós Chordón 98
Chausson Verdi Ernani 79
Symphony in B flat major 72 Vivaldi Concerti per una vita 75
Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 98 Weber Bassoon Concerto 75
Andante spianato 98 Ysaÿe Violin Concerto 94
Grande Polonaise brillante 98 Poème concertant 94
John Corigliano Violin Sonata 84
Crusell Bassoon Concerto 75 COLLECTIONS
Dvořák Symphony No. 7 94 American and English Orchestral
Symphony No. 8 94 Music Lausanne Chamber
String Quartet No. 2 94 Orchestra, Joshua Weilerstein 74
Bagatelles 94 A te, Puccini Angela Gheorghiu,
Unboxed Rondo in G minor
Fauré Ballade
Edmund Finnis Youth
94
75
89
Vincenzo Scalera
Le Berger Innocent Monika
Mauch, Tobie Miller et al
82
94
This month’s round-up features one of history’s Lullaby for Emmeline 89 Berlin 1923 Herbert Schuch,
WDR Sinfonieorchester et al 77
great sopranos and a top American string quartet Elena Firsova Piano Concerto
Franck Symphony in D minor
76
72 Breve Euclid Quartet 95
Philip Glass Metamorphosis 89 British Music for Viola and Piano
The great Spanish soprano Victoria de los Ángeles (1923- Izabel Markova, Alla Belova et al 86
Goldberg Four Trio Sonatas 84
2005) rivalled the likes of Maria Callas and Elisabeth Grieg Symphonic Dances 72 Chopin Project
Schwarzkopf as one of the 20th century’s most treasured Bergliot 72 Polish Cello Quartet 95
female voices. So the release of Victoria de los Ángeles: The Before a Southern Convent 72 Les Choses de la Vie: Cinema II
Warner Classics Edition (Warner Classics 5419722928) is cause Hahn Piano Concerto 75 Renaud Capuçon, Les Siècles et al 95
Handel Alcina 79 Clarnival French Touch 95
for celebration. The 59-CD box draws together recordings Complete Decca Recordings
Janáček On an Overgrown Path 88
made between 1948 and 1977, and spans complete operas, Lalo Symphony in G minor 72 Medieval Ensemble of London 99
arias and a rich treasury of song. You’ll find some of de los Le Roi d’Ys - Overture 72 La Danse Martin James Bartlett 90
Ángeles’s most celebrated roles within, such as Puccini’s Namouna - Suites 72 A Deux Voix Adriana González,
Madam Butterfly and Mimì (La bohème), Massenet’s Manon, Locke Consorts 85 Marina Viotti et al 80
Lully Atys 78 End of My Days Ruby Hughes,
Gounod’s Marguerite (Faust) and Bizet’s Carmen. Rarities, Manchester Collective 80
Fanny Mendelssohn Hiob 80
meanwhile, include a first CD appearance for a 1964 song Gartenlieder 80 Earthcycle Orchestra of the Swan,
recital with pianist Gerald Moore at the Royal Festival Hall. Felix Mendelssohn David Le Page 77
Next, to the Medieval Ensemble of London, a pioneer of Cello Sonatas Nos 1 & 2 85 In Blue Andrew Armstrong 90
the period instrument movement. Between 1980 and 1985 Die erste Walpurgisnacht 80 Méditation Andreas Staier 90
Liede ohne Worte 88 New Baroque Ada Witczyk 88
the Ensemble released an acclaimed set of recordings on The Passenger
Mozart Violin Concertos Nos 1-3 76
L’Oiseau-Lyre’s Florilegium series, and these have now been Overtures 73 Trio con Brio Copenhagen 84
brought together on The Medieval Ensemble of London: Requiem (for piano solo) 94 RISE: Revolutionary Russian
Complete Decca Recordings (Decca 485 4676). The group’s Violin Concertos Nos 3-5 94 Cello Music James Kreiling,
recorded output notably included the complete secular works Paderewski Manru 79 Liubov Ulybysheva 95
Puccini The Schumann Trilogy Isabelle
of certain late Medieval and Renaissance composers: so, Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras,
Orchestral Songs and Works 81
within, are no fewer than six albums of music by Guillaume Symphonic Suites (arr. Rizzi) 73 Alexander Melnikov 98
DuFay. The 14-CD set also includes music by Ockeghem, Complete Organ Works 94 Sea Songs Bryn Terfel, Sting, Simon
Machaut, Josquin des Prez and others. Rachmaninov Symphony No. 1 98 Keenlyside et al 95
Hitting their stride at around the same time, the Cleveland Prince Rostislav 98 The Silk Road
Rosner Concerto Grosso No. 2 94 Oslo Kammerakademi/David
Quartet are today remembered as one of America’s finest Friedemann Strunck 95
Variations on a Theme by Frank
string quartets. The 23-CD Cleveland Quartet – The Complete Martin 94 Sogno Javier Camarena, Ángel
RCA Album Collection (RCA Red Seal 9439998052) draws Rózsa Rodríguez 82
together recordings from 1972-87, most never previously Overture to a Symphony Concert 73 Songs of Fate Vida Miknevičiūtė,
available on CD. There’s plenty of standard string quartet Hungarian Serenade 73 Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica 82
Tripartita 73 Joseph Szigeti: Recital at USC
repertoire within, including the Clevelanders’ acclaimed Carlo Bussotti 98
Schubert Piano Sonata D959 89
Beethoven cycle. Alongside these are beautiful performances Moments Musicaux D780 89 Le Temps retrouvé Elena Urioste,
of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet (with Richard Stoltzmann) Schumann Tom Poster 86
and String Sextets, with violist Pinchas Zukerman and cellist Funf Stücke im Volkston 85 Upheaval Janne Fredens, Søren
Rastogi 86
PRISKA KETTERER, GETTY
Bernard Greenhouse. Emmanuel Ax looks in for the Brahms Sibelius Karelia Suite 74
Rakastava 74 Venice Anastasia Kobekina,
and Schumann Piano Quintets (and the latter’s Piano Quartet), Kammerorchester Basel 77
Lemminkäinen 74
while Barry Tuckwell swells the ranks for Schubert’s Octet. Symphony No. 4 74 Winter Lavinia Meijer 95
Chamber music recordings to treasure. Steve Wright The Wood Nymph 74 Young Composers 5 National Youth
Valse Triste 74 Choir/Emily Dickens 83

TV&Radio
Your guide to what’s on BBC Radio 3 this month, plus TV highlights
MARCH’S RADIO 3 LISTINGS

Schedules may be subject to alteration. For up-to-date listings see BBC Sounds and iPlayer
1 FRIDAY Johanna Senfter

Three to look out for 6.30-9am Breakfast 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
9am-12pm Essential Classics 2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert
12-1pm Composer of the Week 4.30-5pm New Gen Artists
Female focus: Smetana 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
honouring 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 7.30-10pm In Concert EBU
composers 2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert 10-10.45pm Music Matters
such as Clara 4.30-5pm The Listening Service 10.45-11pm The Essay
Schumann 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape Édith Piaf in Five Songs
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks
from Lighthouse, Poole. Elgar In
the South, Liszt Piano Concerto 5 TUESDAY
No. 2, Brahms Symphony 6.30-9am Breakfast
No. 2. Pavel Kolesnikov (piano), 9am-12pm Essential Classics
Bournemouth Symphony 12-1pm Composer of the Week
Orchestra/Alpesh Chauhan Johanna Senfter
10-10.45pm The Verb 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
10.45-11pm The Essay 2-5pm Afternoon Concert
11pm-1am Late Junction 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
Here’s looking at you:
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
2 SATURDAY from Bridgewater Hall. Bruckner
Breakfast at Tiffany’s,
starring (l-r) Patricia Neal,
7-9am Breakfast Os justi; Symphony No.8. Hallé Audrey Hepburn and
9-11.45am Record Review Youth Choir, Hallé/Mark Elder George Peppard,
11.45am-12.30pm Music 10-10.45pm Free Thinking features a soundtrack
Sam Jackson, the controller of Matters 10.45-11pm The Essay by Henry Mancini
BBC Radio 3, selects three 12.30-1pm This Classical Life Édith Piaf in Five Songs
1-3pm Inside Music 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks
programme highlights for 3-4pm Sound of Cinema
the month of March 4-5pm Music Planet 6 WEDNESDAY
5-6.30pm J to Z 6.30-9am Breakfast
Celebrating women in music 6.30-10pm Opera on 3 9am-12pm Essential Classics 10-10.45pm Free Thinking
2024 is the 10th year of Radio 3’s commitment to 10pm-12am New Music Show 12-1pm Composer of the Week 10.45-11pm The Essay
commissioning, championing and rediscovering 12-1am Freeness Johanna Senfter Édith Piaf in Five Songs
female composers and integrating their music into 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 11-11.30pm Night Tracks Mix
3 SUNDAY 2-4pm Afternoon Concert 11.30pm-12.30am
our broadcasts. For 24 hours, all the music we play
will be written by women from across the centuries. 7-9am Breakfast 4-5pm Choral Evensong Unclassified with Elizabeth Alker
International Women’s Day, 8 March, all day 9am-12pm Sunday Morning 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
12-1pm Private Passions 7.30-10pm RPS Awards 8 FRIDAY
In scoring position 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert rpt 10-10.45pm Free Thinking CHOICE 6.30-9am
2-3pm The Early Music Show 10.45-11pm The Essay Breakfast
Radio 3 marks cinema’s biggest awards day by 3-4pm Choral Evensong Édith Piaf in Five Songs 9am-12pm Essential Classics
showcasing some of the finest film music ever 4-5pm Jazz Record Requests 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks 12-1pm Composer of the Week
written. We’ll explore the depth of the genre from 5-5.30pm The Listening Service Johanna Senfter
Breakfast through to Drama on 3, including special 5.30-6.45pm Words and Music 7 THURSDAY 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
editions of Private Passions, Jazz Record Requests 6.45-7.30pm Between the Ears 6.30-9am Breakfast 2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert
and Words and Music, spanning over 100 years of Sounds First 9am-12pm Essential Classics 4.30-5pm The Listening Service
composition for the big-screen. 7.30-9pm Drama on 3 12-1pm Composer of the Week 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
Radio 3 at the Oscars, 10 March, all day The Dog in the Manger Johanna Senfter 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
9-11.30pm Record Review Extra 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert from St Martin-in-the-Fields.
Stand-out Stanford 11.30pm-12am Slow Radio 2-5pm Afternoon Concert BBC Singers/Ellie Slorach
A centenary celebration of the Irishman who wrote Wild Isles 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape 10-10.45pm The Verb
some of British church music’s most beloved tunes – 12-12.30am Classical Fix 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert 10.45-11pm The Essay
Donald Macleod chats to biographer Jeremy Dibble live from Glasgow City Halls. Édith Piaf in Five Songs
4 MONDAY Sarah Gibson Warp and Weft, 11pm-1am Late Junction
about Charles Villiers Stanford’s remarkable career.
6.30-9am Breakfast Barber Violin Concerto, Brahms
Composer of the Week, 25-29 March, 12 noon 9am-12pm Essential Classics Symphony No.4. Geneva Lewis 9 SATURDAY
12-1pm Composer of the Week (violin), BBC SSO/Gemma New 7-9am Breakfast

March TV&Radio
9am-12pm Essential Classics
12-1pm Composer of the Week
Ennio Morricone
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert
4.30-5pm The Listening Service
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
live from Barbican. Pärt Cantus
in Memoriam Benjamin Britten,
Britten Sinfonia da Requiem,
Rautavaara Into the Heart of
Light ‘Canto V’, Macmillan Fiat
Lux. Mary Bevan (sop), Roderick
Williams (bar), BBC Symphony
Chorus & Orch/James MacMillan
10-10.45pm The Verb
10.45-11pm The Essay
Museum in the Making
11pm-1am Late Junction
16 SATURDAY
7-9am Breakfast
9-11.45am Record Review
11.45am-12.30pm Music
Matters
12.30-1pm This Classical Life
1-3pm Inside Music
3-4pm Sound of Cinema
4-5pm Music Planet
5-6.30pm J to Z
6.30-10pm Opera on 3 from
New York Met. Puccini Turandot.
10pm-12am New Music Show
12-1am Freeness
17 SUNDAY
7-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm Sunday Morning
12-1pm Private Passions
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert rpt
2-3pm The Early Music Show
3-4pm Choral Evensong
4-5pm Jazz Record Requests
5-5.30pm The Listening Service
5.30-6.45pm Words and Music
6.45-7.30pm Sunday Feature
7.30-9pm Drama on 3
9pm-11pm Record Review Extra
9-11.45am Record Review 9pm-11pm Record Review Extra 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 11pm-12am Sun Night Series
11.45am-12.30pm Music 11pm-12am Sun Night Series 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert 10.45-11pm The Essay Sofi Jeannin: Singing Together
Matters Sofi Jeannin: Singing Together from Liverpool Philharmonic Museum in the Making 12-12.30am Classical Fix
12.30-1pm This Classical Life 12-12.30am Classical Fix Hall. Korngold Violin Concerto, 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks
1-3pm Inside Music Bruckner Symphony No.7. Johan
18 MONDAY
3-4pm Sound of Cinema 11 MONDAY Dalene (violin), Royal Liverpool
14 THURSDAY 6.30-9am Breakfast
4-5pm Music Planet 6.30-9am Breakfast Phil/Domingo Hindoyan 6.30-9am Breakfast 9am-12pm Essential Classics
5-6.30pm J to Z 9am-12pm Essential Classics 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 9am-12pm Essential Classics 12-1pm Composer of the Week
6.30-10pm Opera on 3 12-1pm Composer of the Week 10.45-11pm The Essay 12-1pm Composer of the Week Mozart
10pm-12am New Music Show Ennio Morricone Museum in the Making Ennio Morricone 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
12-1am Freeness 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert
2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert 2-5pm Afternoon Concert 4.30-5pm New Gen Artists
10 SUNDAY 4.30-5pm New Gen Artists 13 WEDNESDAY 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
CHOICE 7-9am 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape 6.30-9am Breakfast 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert 7.30-10pm In Concert EBU
Breakfast 7.30-10pm In Concert EBU 9am-12pm Essential Classics Grace Williams Elegy for Strings, 10-10.45pm Music Matters
9am-12pm Sunday Morning 10-10.45pm Music Matters 12-1pm Composer of the Week Nielsen Violin Concerto, Walton 10.45-11pm The Essay
12-1pm Private Passions 10.45-11pm The Essay Ennio Morricone Symphony No. 1. Liya Petrova New Generation Thinkers
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert rpt Museum in the Making 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert (vn), BBC NOW/Martyn Brabbins 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks
2-3pm The Early Music Show 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks 2-4pm Afternoon Concert 10-10.45pm Free Thinking
3-4pm Choral Evensong 4-5pm Choral Evensong 10.45-11pm The Essay 19 TUESDAY
4-5pm Jazz Record Requests 12 TUESDAY 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape Museum in the Making 6.30-9am Breakfast
5-5.30pm The Listening Service 6.30-9am Breakfast 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert 11-11.30pm Night Tracks Mix 9am-12pm Essential Classics
5.30-6.45pm Words and Music 9am-12pm Essential Classics from Royal Festival Hall. Haydn 11.30pm-12.30am 12-1pm Composer of the Week
6.45-7.30pm Between the Ears 12-1pm Composer of the Week The Creation. Louise Alder (sop), Unclassified with Elizabeth Alker Mozart
Mancini Ennio Morricone Allan Clayton (ten), Michael 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
7.30-9pm Drama on 3 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert Mofidian (bass). London PO/ 15 FRIDAY 2-5pm Afternoon Concert
GETTY
Benny and Hitch 2-5pm Afternoon Concert Edward Gardner 6.30-9am Breakfast 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape

March TV&Radio
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape CHOICE 12-1pm New Generation Thinkers
Memorable mentor: 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert Composer of the 11-11.30pm Night Tracks Mix
Marin Alsop and live from Glasgow City Halls. Week Stanford 11.30pm-12.30am
Leonard Bernstein Verdi Requiem. Miah Persson 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert Unclassified with Elizabeth Alker
(sop), Alice Coote (mez), 2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert
Leonardo Capalbo (ten), 4.30-5pm New Gen Artists
29 FRIDAY
William Thomas (bass). 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape 6.30-9am Breakfast
BBC Scottish SO/ 7.30-10pm In Concert EBU 9am-12pm Essential Classics
Ryan Wigglesworth 10-10.45pm Music Matters CHOICE 12-1pm
10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10.45-11pm The Essay Composer of the
10.45-11pm The Essay New Generation Thinkers Week Stanford
New Generation Thinkers 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
11-11.30pm Night Tracks Mix 2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert
11.30pm-12.30am 26 TUESDAY 4.30-5pm The Listening Service
Unclassified with Elizabeth Alker 6.30-9am Breakfast 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
9am-12pm Essential Classics 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
22 FRIDAY CHOICE12-1pm live from King’s College
6.30-9am Breakfast Composer of the Cambridge. Stanford Stabat
9am-12pm Essential Classics Week Stanford Mater. The Bach Choir, BBC
12-1pm Composer of the Week 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert Concert Orchestra/Daniel Hyde
Mozart 2-5pm Afternoon Concert 10-10.45pm The Verb
TV CHOICE 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape 10.45-11pm The Essay
2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert New Generation Thinkers
Leonard Bernstein 4.30-5pm The Listening Service from Barbican. Beethoven 11pm-1am Late Junction
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape Grosse Fuge, Op.133, Bartók
Remembered 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert Divertimento, Tavener Protecting
30 SATURDAY
live from Glasgow City Halls. Veil. Guy Johnston (vc), Britten 7-9am Breakfast
At nine years old, Marin Alsop had a moment that Works by Berlioz, MacMillan and Sinfonia/Thomas Gould 9-11.45am Record Review
changed her life forever. From her concert hall seat, Maxwell Davies. Karen Cargill 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 11.45am-12.30pm Music
the sight of Leonard Bernstein, baton in hand, (sop), Robert Jordan (bagpipes), 10.45-11pm The Essay Matters
stopped her in her tracks. Seeing him ‘having the Scottish Chamber Chorus & New Generation Thinkers 12.30-1pm This Classical Life
best fun’ on stage inspired her to pursue music and Orchestra/Maxim Emelyanychev 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks 1-3pm Inside Music
10-10.45pm The Verb 3-4pm Sound of Cinema
to ultimately become one of the most pioneering 27 WEDNESDAY
10.45-11pm The Essay 4-5pm Music Planet
and accomplished female conductors in the world. New Generation Thinkers 6.30-9am Breakfast 5-6.30pm J to Z
In this short documentary, she pays homage to 11pm-1am Late Junction 9am-12pm Essential Classics 6.30-10pm Opera on 3 from
her creative hero and most influential teacher, who CHOICE 12-1pm ROH. Wagner Flying Dutchman
23 SATURDAY Composer of the 10pm-12am New Music Show
taught her ‘just as much about being a citizen of
the world’ as he did about music. Filled with great 7-9am Breakfast Week Stanford 12-1am Freeness
9-11.45am Record Review 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
anecdotes and colourful archive material of the two 31 SUNDAY
11.45am-12.30pm Music 2-4pm Afternoon Concert
working together, we get a real sense of Bernstein’s Matters 4-5pm Choral Evensong 7-9am Breakfast
infectious joy and rule-breaking wisdom. 12.30-1pm This Classical Life 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape 9am-12pm Sunday Morning
Alsop also unpacks two of his best-loved 1-3pm Inside Music 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert 12-1pm Private Passions
compositions – West Side Story and Mass – which, 3-4pm Sound of Cinema live from Birmingham Symphony 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert rpt
for her, encapsulate his creative mission: for music 4-5pm Music Planet Hall. Gershwin Rhapsody in 2-3pm The Early Music Show
5-6.30pm J to Z Blue plus works by Ives and 3-4pm Choral Evensong
to help make the world a better place.
6.30-10pm Opera on 3 from NY Frank Zappa. Stewart Goodyear 4-5pm Jazz Record Requests
Available on BBC iPlayer now Met. Gounod Roméo et Juliette (piano), CBSO/Ilan Volkov 5-5.30pm The Listening Service
10pm-12am New Music Show 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 5.30-6.45pm Words and Music
12-1am Freeness 10.45-11pm The Essay 6.45-7.30pm Sunday Feature
New Generation Thinkers 7.30-9pm Drama on 3 When We
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert 4-5pm Choral Evensong 24 SUNDAY 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks Dead Awaken
from Royal Festival Hall. Glinka 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape 7-9am Breakfast 9pm-11.30pm Record Review
Capriccio Brillante, Kapustin 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert 9am-12pm Sunday Morning 28 THURSDAY 11.30pm-12am Slow Radio
Piano Concerto No.5, Borodin live from Barbican. Brahms 12-1pm Private Passions 6.30-9am Breakfast Millennial Loop
Symphony No. 2, Rimsky- Variations on a Theme by Haydn, 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert rpt 9am-12pm Essential Classics 12-12.30am Classical Fix
Korsakov Capriccio Español. Yiu Violin Concerto, Haydn 2-3pm The Early Music Show CHOICE 12-1pm
Frank Dupree (pf), Philharmonia/ Symphony No.94. Esther Yoo 3-4pm Choral Evensong Composer of the
Santtu-Matias Rouvali (violin), BBC SO/Andrew Davis 4-5pm Jazz Record Requests Week Stanford 10. Jean Sibelius
10-10.45pm Free Thinking 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 5-5.30pm The Listening Service 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 9. Auguste Escoffier
8. Frederick Delius
10.45-11pm The Essay 10.45-11pm The Essay 5.30-6.45pm Words and Music 2-5pm Afternoon Concert 7. Arthur Sullivan
New Generation Thinkers New Generation Thinkers 6.45-7.30pm Sunday Feature 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape 6. Elizabeth Poston
11pm-12.30am Night Tracks 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks 7.30-9pm Drama on 3 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert 5. Giselle
9pm-11pm Record Review Extra from Barbican. Roy Harris
20 WEDNESDAY 21 THURSDAY 11pm-12am Sun Night Series Symphony No.3, Adams New
4. Britten’s Albert Herring
No. 2)
6.30-9am Breakfast 6.30-9am Breakfast Sofi Jeannin: Singing Together Work, Gershwin Piano Concerto; London Symphony (Symphony
9am-12pm Essential Classics 9am-12pm Essential Classics 12-12.30am Classical Fix (arr. Rose) Girl Crazy Overture; 3. Vaughan Williams’s A
12-1pm Composer of the Week 12-1pm Composer of the Week Strike Up the Band. Kirill Gerstein 2. The Celesta
Mozart Mozart
25 MONDAY (piano), LSO/Simon Rattle
1. Sergei Prokofiev
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 6.30-9am Breakfast 10-10.45pm Free Thinking QUIZ ANSWERS from p 104
2-4pm Afternoon Concert 2-5pm Afternoon Concert 9am-12pm Essential Classics 10.45-11pm The Essay
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PRIZE CROSSWORD NO. 396
Crossword set by Paul Henderson
The first correct solution of our crossword ACROSS

picked at random will win a copy of 1/8 Composer saved shrill clarinets
for dancing (7,8,8)
The Oxford Companion to Music. A 9 Former King of Belgium,
runner-up will win Who Knew? Answers a composer skilled in bass
to Questions about Classical Music (see accompaniment (7)
oup.co.uk). Send answers to: BBC Music 10 Openings for the organist Cameron
Magazine, Crossword 396/March 2024, Carpenter about this audacious
THE QUIZ PO Box 501, Leicester, LE94 0AA to arrive work by Bach? (7)
11 Communist suppressing a lot of
by 19 Mar 2024 (solution in June 2024 issue).
While away a fruitful few hymn, like most hymns? (6)
minutes with our 10 questions 12 Trumpets etc not performing
– upset? (5,3)
14 Sure USA will be upset about old
1. Whose opera The Love for Three philosopher-composer (8)
Oranges was premiered at the 15 Only one piano required for meal?
Auditorium Theatre, Chicago on Excellent (5)
18 Love to get behind German car
30 December 1921?
stereo system? (5)
2. For which recently invented 20 Tenor getting comfort, having
instrument did Tchaikovsky score lost a soprano, a valuable friend (8)
the solo part of the Dance of the 23 Peculiar language about region
Sugar Plum Fairy in his ballet The in madrigalian song (8)
25 Satisfied, mostly regarding
Nutcracker in 1892?
spoken words in opera (6)
3. The first movement of which 27 Schubert work in store for
orchestral work of 1914 quotes ‘have English composer (7)
a banana’ from the popular song 28 Film about composer, article
‘Let’s All Go Down the Strand’? produced by America (7)
29 Lute’s ministrant, possibly? (15)
4. First performed by tenor Peter
Pears in 1947, which operatic title DOWN
character gets drunk when his 1 Presides over church songs (6)
lemonade is spiked with rum at the 2 Church staff accommodating
Loxford village May Day festival? a recording venue (5,4)
3 Generosity shown in playing
5. ‘Entrée joyeuse des vendangeurs Elgar on ship (7)
et vendangeuses’ (Entry of the 4 Wrong to seize rocker’s
grape pickers) features at the fourth drum (4)
beginning of which 1841 ballet by 5 Short pieces resulted in playing (10)
Adolphe Adam? 6 Look – soprano limited by
economies – they can be
6. The composer pictured above Your name & address devastating (7)
is best known for her carol Jesus 7 Source of inspiration in
Christ the apple tree. Who is she? opera today (5)
8 See 1 across
7. Premiered in March 1951, 13 Timpanist’s liquid container
Pineapple Poll is a ballet featuring finally had spirits (10)
music by which composer, arranged 16 Italian composer replies
for the purpose by conductor distractedly about attempt (9)
Charles Mackerras? 17 Man is unexpectedly claiming
‘Cag’? I claimed ‘Cav’ (not ‘Pag’) (8)
8. Before establishing himself CHRISTMAS SOLUTION CHRISTMAS WINNER 19 Study number penned by
as a composer, who spent a year No. 393 John Pitcathley, Wishaw alternative Irish singer (7)
from 1884-5 managing an orange Our Media, publisher of BBC Music 21 Czech composer satisfied with
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Music that changed me
Patrick Doyle
Composer
Patrick Doyle has scored some of My schoolfriend introduced me to
the biggest films in modern cinema PROKOFIEV’s Violin Concerto No. 1,
history and his music has reached a performed by David Oistrakh. I was
global audience of over a billion people. obsessed and carried the vinyl recording
From Sense and Sensibility and Bridget with me everywhere I went. Prokofiev is
Jones’s Diary to Harry Potter and a highly original composer. There was
the Goblet of Fire and Murder on the something so striking about the dramatic
Orient Express, his film scores have and deceptive simplicity of this haunting
earned him a multitude of awards. piece, alongside Oistrakh’s incredible
Beyond film, he is recognised for playing. The melodies, twists and turns
his music for the concert hall and are captivating. I have studied music of all
recently composed King Charles genres my whole life, and my film work is
III Coronation March, performed live at influenced by the great dramatic writers
Westminster Abbey on 6 May 2023. of the classical music world I was first
introduced to as a teenager.
I
grew up in Birkenshaw, Lanarkshire, I remember hearing ELGAR’s
the seventh of 13 children. My Introduction and Allegro for Strings,
childhood was full of music and Op. 47 when I was studying with the
mayhem! When I was five, I would listen Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Junior
for hours on end to the music on the Orchestra. I leaped out of bed every
television ‘test card’ – an old signal-testing Saturday morning to enter this magical
static broadcast, when we only had two The choices world of music. It was such a revelation
channels. They played popular classical Verdi Aida – ‘Celeste Aida’ to hear this incredible piece week after
music and I was amazed that people in an Jussi Björling (tenor); Rome Opera/ week, performed live. It stands up to
orchestra were all doing different things at Jonel Perlea Pristine PACO127 this day as one of the greatest string
the same time. I was hooked. Beethoven Symphony No. 6 pieces ever written. What’s incredible is
My father was a wonderful tenor and Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle that it lay quietly for 25 years until John
sang in choirs for many years. Both my Berliner Philharmoniker BPHR160091 Barbirolli’s recording relaunched the piece
parents were amazing singers. My father Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 in the 1950s. I believe Elgar said to him,
listened to great tenors on a 1960s record David Oistrakh (violin); LSO/Lovro von ‘I’d never realised I had composed such a
player and always at full blast! At first, I Matačič Warner Classics 2435628882 big work,’ which I found very humbling.
hated it. Until suddenly one day I had a Elgar Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47 BERLIOZ’s Symphonie Fantastique
musical epiphany while my father was Allegri String Quartet; Sinfonia of London/ was, as everyone knows, one of the most
listening to VERDI’s ‘Celeste Aida’ sung by John Barbirolli seminal moments in musical history.
Jussi Björling, the Swedish tenor and one Warner Classics 9029643842 Berlioz was a pioneer of programme
of the greatest to have ever lived. When I Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique music and he was inspired by Beethoven,
heard this man sustain the last note, which Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle whom he championed all his life. His
is a top B flat, I realised, ‘That’s a human Warner Classics 9029544819 orchestrations and ideas were decades
being.’ How extraordinary this vocal skill ahead of the curve and still dazzle today. I
was. I looked at my father in a different and buy our household a brand new piano, loved the famous Valse from a very young
light. I have loved opera ever since. much to the relief of all. It changed my life. age but when my career as a film composer
Aged 11, I asked my parents if I could I studied several pieces of classical began, I immersed myself in this piece of
learn to play the piano. My parents said music in high school and a favourite was inspiring original musical storytelling. I
yes, but bought an old, dilapidated, honky- BEETHOVEN’s Symphony No. 6. It tells have always said he was the very first film
tonk with several keys missing. I drove a colourful story of life in the countryside, composer and was delighted recently to
everyone mad practising every day for and it vividly awakened my imagination. hear Simon Rattle, who conducted my first
over a year. At least it convinced them I Beethoven was a genius and an innovator. I film Henry V, say the self-same thing.
was serious! They later managed to save up never tire of hearing this iconic music. Interview by Abi Doyle

“Illuminating....Glass’ melodies are
always graceful, [with] stimulating
and beguiling idiosyncrasies.”
—New York Classical Review
“Truth in Our Time is

a breath of fresh air.”
—Globe and Mail
TRUTH IN featuring the world premiere
OUR TIME recording of PHILIP

Symphony No. 13
GLASS’s
New Album by Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra
Philip Glass: Symphony No. 13 ALEXANDER SHELLEY Scan to Listen

Conductor
Nicole Lizée: Zeiss after Dark
Featuring
Yaovi Hoyi: Strange Absurdity
JAMES EHNES
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9 Violin
Korngold: Violin Concerto YAO
Slam Poet / Spoken Word Artist

BBC Music Magazine - March 2024

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BBC Music Magazine - March 2024

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GAMBLING WITH TCHAIKOVSKY ACADEMIC OVERTURES

The world’s best-selling classical music magazine Full March

Jakub See p100

Also in this issue…

SUBSCRIPTIONS ‘Practice,’ so the saying goes,

Charlotte Smith Editor

THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS

Rebecca Franks Steve Wright Misha Donat

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 3

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70 Recording of the Month

Brand sales executive Group managing director

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Have your say…

L ET T ER Sound opinions good engineer is lost. He’s

that a producer without a in Blue given to Ferde Grofé

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Kanneh-Mason’s ‘Rule, Britannia!’ views spark furore

so much wonderful British music. The

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Big Wig: pianist

thinking skills in those over 40, new research

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Fergus McCreadie Pianist

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according to one Beethoven biographer,

tells the story of a young count who has been

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Singing out: Three works to discover

for runaway enslaved Africans. They’re very

Shawn E Okpebholo was important and I was so thankful that I did

My music is always about something,

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Right up there: Janine Jansen dazzles in Sibelius

The BBC Music Magazine

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I’D LIKE ANOTHER GO AT… MyHero

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Petite... but a lot of pluck

ILLUSTRATION: MARIA CORTE MAIDAGAN

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Ewa Podleś Born 1952 Contralto

Peter Schickele Born 1935 Composer and entertainer

Tony Holt Born 1940 Baritone

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN ship in the distance in a misty fliegender

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SURROUND-SOUND HYBRID SACD

SURROUND-SOUND HYBRID SACD

BRAHMS & BUSONI

The celebrated violinist Francesca Dego is joined by the

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Star countertenor, breakdancer and

production is no surprise, perhaps, but 21-concert European tour Orliński is excited to

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god of love, takes pity on the heartbroken,

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The Berliner Philharmoniker Kirill Petrenko conducts

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Tales of the underworld

choreography are all effectively melded by