Presto Editor's Choices,
Presto Editor's Choices - January 2018
Two towering accounts of core repertoire have been monopolising my attention over the past few weeks (Martin Helmchen’s revelatory reading of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations on Alpha and Isabelle Faust and Kristian Bezuidenhout’s Bach violin sonatas on Harmonia Mundi), but otherwise I’ve made good on that New Year’s resolution to explore unfamiliar music – Martinů’s madrigals have proved a very welcome discovery, along with some impressive juvenilia by Gounod, and Jake Heggie’s touching, funny opera-within-an-opera Great Scott. (Chris will testify that the latter had me chuckling every thirty seconds on a recent train-journey back from London, but even if in-jokes about obscure bel canto don’t float your boat there’s so much to enjoy about Heggie’s immediately appealing writing and Joyce DiDonato’s loveable all-American heroine – complete with her trademark vocal fireworks, of course).
I haven’t been so captivated by a recording of the Diabellis since Igor Levit’s remarkable account on Sony three years ago. Helmchen’s is a very different affair, less muscular and more buoyant, but equally mesmerising in its spontaneity – it’s as if the variations are being extemporised on the spot – and its awareness of the quirky humour and curious radicalism of the work.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Wilson’s life-long immersion in the sound-world of American music of the 30s and 40s continues to pay huge dividends in the third instalment of Chandos’s splendid Copland series – if Vol. 1 boasted the Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 makes an equally vivid case for four comparative rarities, with the more acerbic movements of Statements making a particularly strong impact.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
JS Bach: Sonatas for Violin & Harpsichord
Isabelle Faust (violin) & Kristian Bezuidenhout (harpsichord)
These scrupulously prepared and researched accounts wear their intelligence lightly: vibrato and rubato are both applied with taste and discretion, but Faust is never afraid to let the music dance, and her synergy with Bezuidenhout (placed forward in the balance, to great effect) equals that with Alexander Melnikov on her recent recording of the Franck sonata.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
I discovered these delightful, quirky miniatures with Manfred Honeck’s recent observation that Martinů ‘remained passionately in love with Czech folk music throughout his life’ ringing in my ears. The secular works for upper voices are especially appealing – The Primrose (settings of five Moravian folk poems with piano and violin, which have a slight Ceremony of Carols vibe) is a great place to start.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
It was eventually Fernand which won Gounod the prestigious Prix de Rome, but his two ‘failed’ attempts are equally worth hearing – particularly the superbly dramatic Marie Stuart et Rizzio, sung with full-throttle operatic gusto here by Gabrielle Philiponet and Sébastian Droy and shot through with the melodic richness that would later make Faust and Roméo et Juliette repertoire staples. Hervé Niquet’s drive and clarity wards off any danger of these youthful apprentice-pieces feeling stodgy or overblown.
Available Formats: 2 CDs + book, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The Anglo-French mezzo’s debut solo recording is a seriously class act, showcasing a richly coloured, beautifully even voice and bags of character – especially in Berio’s madcap folk-songs, where she has a whale of a time as a Sicilian fishwife! Watch out for her Charlotte to Juan Diego Flórez’s Werther, out on DVD and Blu-ray next month…
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
My expectations always run extremely high with this artist, but he excels himself here with singing that simply exudes joy and revels in the capabilities of his remarkable instrument: the vocal virtuosity on display in ‘Crude furie’, ‘Dopo notte’ and ‘Venti, turbini’ (the latter capped with a ringing top D!) will take your breath away. I'm addicted.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Heggie: Great Scott
Joyce DiDonato, Ailyn Pérez, Frederica von Stade, Nathan Gunn, Anthony Roth Costanzo; Dallas Opera, Patrick Summers
I couldn’t stop smiling at the musical jokes which abound in this warm, witty opera-about-opera (shades of Ariadne auf Naxos in the conceit!) which sees Joyce DiDonato’s fictional diva Arden Scott returning to her home-town to resurrect a bel canto opera worthy of her real-life Stella di Napoli album. To quote Oklahoma!, ‘plenty of heart and plenty of hope!’.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
