Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - July 2020
Pride of place this month goes to the Cleveland Orchestra, celebrating their hundredth birthday with live recordings of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15 (performed by string orchestra), Strauss’s Aus Italien, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 3 and Varèse’s Amériques, plus two new centenary commissions: Bernd Richard Deutsch’s organ concerto Okeanos, and Johannes Maria Staud’s Stromab.
Elsewhere, there’s some unanimity with BBC Music Magazine this month, with Alina Ibragimova’s Shostakovich concertos with Vladimir Jurowski and the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia 'Evgeny Svetlanov' on Hyperion and Vox Clamantis’s album of music by their compatriot Cyrillus Kreek on ECM both mentioned in despatches; you can read Katherine’s interview with Alina here, and David’s recent conversation with Vox Clamantis director Jaan-Eik Tulve here.
Recording of the Month
A New Century: Orchestral Works by Beethoven, Varèse, Staud, R. Strauss, Deutsch & Prokofiev
Paul Jacobs (piano) Cleveland Orchestra, Franz Welser-Möst
'Cast your eyes over the contents. There’s nothing standard, let alone safe, about it. Even before considering the performances – which are quite something – every other aspect of the set manifests pride, care and sound...Like the set as a whole, [the Beethoven] adds up to more than the sum of its parts. What slows down the ear, tunes it into the pace of the musical argument, is the sheer beauty of the playing, like heightened naturalism on a canvas...Szell notwithstanding, I fancy that the orchestra has never sounded finer on disc.'
Available Formats: 3 SACDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Editor's Choices
Shostakovich: Violin Concertos
Alina Ibragimova (violin) State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia 'Evgeny Svetlanov', Vladimir Jurowski
'If there’s one factor above all that sets these performances apart it’s the osmosis between soloist and conductor. There’s a musical and intellectual friction going on here and it has to do with the balance between head and heart...Ibragimova’s playing has an unvarnished truth about it. It’s the kind of playing that looks you unblinkingly in the eye and tells it like it is. She’s not afraid to ‘invade your space’ or apply pressure to the sound until its rawness is almost unbearable.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
'[Beach's] Piano Quintet, the most widely performed of her chamber works...is a highly developed work which should be considered part of that canon of quintets led by Schumann and Brahms...This is highly accomplished writing and reveals Beach’s true imagination as a master of instrumental form...Ohlsson and the Takács are to be congratulated for the warmth of their interpretation and for their ability to encompass the challenging range of Elgar’s complex moods.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'I’ve said before that I don’t think James Ehnes is capable of making an unmusical sound…And it’s also fair to say that I don’t think Armstrong is capable of making an unmusical sound, either...these remain chamber performances, captured by Onyx in a realistic but lucid acoustic...The fact that two artists of such extraordinary technical skill can demonstrate their whole range without straining the intimate spirit of the duo-sonata medium is just another miracle of this captivating cycle.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Weilerstein’s special qualities? Her resolve to allow each movement of each suite to shine on its own terms. Hers is not an overview systematically imposed but more a way to facilitate the cycle’s immense expressive range piecemeal. Not that the best of her rivals don’t; but with Weilerstein you enjoy the sensation of being escorted through a Baroque dance hall by an all-encompassing commentator with a comprehensive understanding of what she plays.'
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Bavouzet’s keen intelligence and pristine musicianship are evident throughout, not least in his vivid delineation of the individual characters of these four composer-pianists…In Hummel’s overtly virtuoso Op 20 Sonata from 1807, Bavouzet’s focus is on its extraordinary pathos and startlingly original formal procedures...In the Andante cantabile, Bavouzet gives full vent to Wölfl’s unabashedly operatically inspired writing.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Our Father In The Heavens: Anthems by Sir Edward Bairstow
Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum, Simon Bell
'The unaccompanied pieces fare particularly well, especially the disc’s title-track...In comparison to the Westminster Abbey Choir’s disc of music by Bairstow, Harris and Stanford, the Tewkesbury choristers have the edge, with their vitality of tone, clarity of diction and willingness to stir up the underlying dramatic impetus...Bairstow’s organ parts are masterpieces in their own right, chock-full of colour and sumptuous quasi-orchestral detail. Carleton Etherington clearly relishes the challenge..Let us hear more Bairstow from these wonderful executants.'
Available Format: CD
Elgar: Sea Pictures & The Music Makers
Kathryn Rudge (mezzo), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily Petrenko
'This glowingly idiomatic account of Sea Pictures can only enhance [Rudge's] growing reputation. With her sensitivity to the text, freshness of timbre and secure vocal technique, she once again proves herself a strongly intuitive interpreter of this repertoire...Under Petrenko’s malleable lead the joint RLPO forces give of their fervent, articulate best...No question about it, Petrenko’s abundantly communicative conception demands to be heard.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Their clarity, their precision, their sheer musicianship make them easily one of the best vocal ensembles currently active anywhere in the world...Two of the most impressive works are Bless the Lord, my soul and By the rivers of Babylon, both of which are absolutely ideal vehicles for Vox Clamantis, whose precise placing of chords, assisted by impeccable tuning, means that every harmonic detail is as clear as a bell. Highly recommended.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Make no mistake, Romaniw is a great talent. The plush richness of her soprano is astonishing...Romaniw taps into the melancholy of the Russian songs especially well…The selection from Janáček’s Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs positively burst with character – aided by the Czech pianist Lada Valešová as ever-attentive partner – while the five Novák songs that close the disc are a revelation...Strongly recommended. Remember the name; you’ll not forget the voice.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Respighi: La bella dormente nel bosco (DVD)
Veta Pilipenko, Angela Nisi, Antonio Gandia, Vincenzo Taormina, Shoushik Barsoumian, Lara Rotili, Claudia Urru, Enrico Zara, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Lirico Di Cagliari, Donato Renzetti
'One of his finest operas, at once ravishingly beautiful and capable, I suspect, of casting its considerable spell on adults and children alike...Angela Nisi makes a fine, silvery-toned Princess, tellingly naive in her opening scenes but wakening to more adult emotions when faced with Antonio Gandía’s ardent, handsome-voiced Prince. Shoushik Barsoumian does ravishing things with the Blue Fairy’s coloratura...The staging, meanwhile, is a thing of great charm…The whole thing provides some much-needed magic at a time when we really could do with it most. I loved every second of it.'
Available Format: DVD Video
Respighi: La bella dormente nel bosco (Blu-ray)
Veta Pilipenko, Angela Nisi, Antonio Gandia, Vincenzo Taormina, Shoushik Barsoumian, Lara Rotili, Claudia Urru, Enrico Zara, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Lirico Di Cagliari, Donato Renzetti
Picture Format: HD 16:9
Sound Format: PCM Stereo and DTS 5.1
Available Format: Blu-ray
Reissue/Archive Issue of the Month
Friedrich Gulda: Piano Concertos by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Strauss
Friedrich Gulda (piano), Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Südwestrundfunk-Orchester Baden-Baden, Joseph Keilberth, Hans Müller-Kray, Hans Rosbaud
'[The Mozart concertos with Rosbaud are] sincerely expressed, perfectly balanced and precisely executed. The transfers, taken from clean original mono tapes, are excellent.'
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
