BBC Music Magazine Choices,
BBC Music Magazine - March 2018 Choices
This week’s Recording of the Month is an intelligently-planned solo debut album from a cellist who won BBC Musician of the Year in the not-too-distant past – no, not our recent interviewee Sheku Kanneh-Mason, but his predecessor by four years Laura van der Heijden. She presents a fascinating programme of works which were all composed in 1948 in response to a decree issued by the Communist Party’s Committee for Artistic Affairs in order to quash elitism and ‘Formalism’ in art; three of the four works here were written with the collaboration of Mstislav Rostropovich.
Elsewhere there’s praise for Jonathan Cohen’s effervescent triptych of Magnificats from three members of the Bach dynasty, a vivid and coherent contemporary staging of La bohème from Turin, and arresting advocacy for Charles-Valentin Alkan’s formidable Etudes Op. 35 from the young British pianist Mark Viner – read Katherine’s extensive interview with him about the recording here). about his mission to bring this extraordinary music to a wider audience here.
Recording of the Month
'As these heartfelt performances demonstrate, these are not cowed and dutifully conservative works…Van der Heijden plays with attractively songful tone throughout, rich yet grainy in her instrument’s bass register. She is well-matched by Limonov’s sensitive piano playing, their phrasing very much hand in glove and yet spontaneous-sounding'.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Orchestral Choice
'This is very nearly my perfect Bruckner Six…The slow movement is relatively fast-paced, and when I first heard it I couldn’t help wishing that it would expand just a bit more. But Bernard Haitink’s feeling for the way this music sings is so persuasive…that in the end I just surrendered and accepted it on its own terms…The music feels fresh, alert, expressive at all times.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Concerto Choice
Terry Riley: The Palmian Chord Ryddle & At the Royal Majestic
Tracy Silverman (electric violin), Todd Wilson (organ), Nashville Symphony, Giancarlo Guerrero
'The impression given is of a mercurial improvisation by Silverman, an ideal narrator for what amounts to a kaleidoscopic musical autobiography…Riley revels in his gargantuan resources, particularly the banks of percussion. Only he could ennoble theatre organ and electric violin with such bold seriousness and sense of celestial play.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Chamber Choice
'I cannot imagine these Mendelssohn pieces played with a deeper understanding, not just of their supreme logic but of the opportunities within that logic for expressive freedoms, always bearing in mind that these demand the utmost tact and accuracy of timing…The virtuosity is always the means to an expressive end. A disc to treasure.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Instrumental Choice
'Technically Viner is amazingly accurate, yet nothing sounds glib; he never makes a single ugly sound and his pedalling is so surely judged that…each and every note can be heard…the playing makes a wonderful artistic case for an ultra-idiosyncratic idiom…One near-intractable technical challenge after another emerges as the vehicle for a haunting work of art…In short, Viner’s recording is a remarkable release in every respect.'
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Choral & Song Choice
'You would be hard-pressed to find a more illuminating disc than this latest offering from Arcangelo…There’s nothing overfamiliar about the captivating freshness and buoyancy that both chorus and instrumentalists bring to a much-loved warhorse…Cohen plays the theatricality of the JC Bach to the hilt, while acknowledging the homage to JS in the opening of CPE’s setting.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Opera Choice
Puccini: La Bohème (DVD)
Irina Lungu (Mimì), Giorgio Berrugi (Rodolfo), Kelebogile Besong (Musetta), Massimo Cavalletti (Marcello); Teatro Regio di Torino, Gianandrea Noseda
'The voices could be more beautiful but it’s hard to think of a modern-dress production of La bohème that more perfectly captures the rhythm of the city in Puccini’s youthful Parisian romance…On stage and in the pit, timing is faultless…The intimacy of Act I, the bustle and spectacle of Act II, the irreconcilable emotional tangle of Act III, and the awful, inevitable tragedy of Act IV are handled exquisitely by Gianandrea Noseda.'
Available Format: DVD Video
Puccini: La Bohème (Blu-ray)
Irina Lungu (Mimì), Giorgio Berrugi (Rodolfo), Kelebogile Besong (Musetta), Massimo Cavalletti (Marcello); Teatro Regio di Torino, Gianandrea Noseda
SOUND FORMAT: Blu-ray: PCM Stereo, DTS-HD MA 5.1
PICTURE: 16:9, HD
SUBTITLES: Italian (original language), German, English, French, Spanish, Korean, Japanese
Available Format: Blu-ray
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
