Gramophone Choices,
Gramophone Editor's Choices - November 2020
Thomas Dausgaard’s ‘startling’ accounts of Nielsen’s first two symphonies with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra (released in July on the orchestra’s own label) takes pride of place this month, with Andrew Mellor praising the Danish conductor’s willingness to ‘work with the music’s vibrant, life-affirming central conceits’ in both works.
Editor’s Choices include the final instalment of The Tallis Scholars’ mighty survey of Josquin’s Masses on Gimell (check out our special offer marking the label’s fortieth anniversary here), and the world premiere recording of Malcolm Arnold’s one-act comic opera The Dancing Master on Resonus, which Katherine recently discussed with conductor John Andrews.
Recording of the Month
'Speed requires confidence, and you can feel the Seattle Symphony’s building with this further exploration of what remains an alien aesthetic to so many orchestras. More to the point, Nielsen’s first two symphonies can take it...Fresh, fascinating but not uncontroversial accounts, which is just what this neglected early Nielsen needs.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'Hughes gives us a very direct performance of [No.1], free of any interpretative exaggeration. The playing of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is first class in all departments...Hughes’s account of the Third Symphony is equally compelling, clarity and expression once again hallmarks of the interpretation...Altogether a terrific start to Rubicon’s new cycle of the Sibelius symphonies.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Tavener: No longer mourn for me
Steven Isserlis (cello), Matthew Rose (bass), Abi Sampa (vocals), Philharmonia Orchestra, Trinity Boys Choir, Omer Meir Wellber
'Here is a disc that proves to be much more than the sum of its parts. At first sight, it appears to be something of a patchwork, with arrangements for cello ensemble of two of Tavener’s choral works (the Preces and Responses and No longer mourn for me) surrounding three more substantial compositions. But in fact Steven Isserlis has understood how to draw out the vocal quality in both those pieces and adapt it superbly for the eight cellos.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'La Rêveuse bring us a disc of splendid music-making...The theme of the disc makes for a lovely coherence between works... There is enough variety, both timbral and affectual, to keep one in sonic rapture...Yet it is the individual and plentiful moments of beauty that make this album so enthralling.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
'David Hill’s gorgeously coherent programme from Peterborough showcases some of the best of the genre by a septet of English-born composers...Needless to say that [his] enthusiasm for this generous programme shines through. This, combined with Gary Cole’s immaculate engineering, makes this album a cause for celebration.'
Available Format: CD
Josquin: Masses Hercules Dux Ferrarie, D'ung aultre amer & Missa Faysant regretz
The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips
'Who better to navigate such extraordinary music than the masters of tranquillity and clarity themselves, The Tallis Scholars? Their exacting style delineates the distinctive sound world of each Mass while maintaining a consistent sonic beauty...This glossily perfect performance [of Missa Faysant regretz] pings with relish and crackles with energy. A superb end to a magnificent cycle of recordings.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
'Kantorow is obviously an outstanding pianist and musician with an agile technique that allows him perfect clarity in the most complex textures, abundant sensitivity and refinement, and maturity well beyond his years...Arrival finally at the 11th Liszt Rhapsody feels like the achievement of an oasis of purest classicism and succinct expression, and provides a showcase for Kantorow’s ability to maintain clarity and poise at breakneck speed.'
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Erinnerung: Mahler Lieder
Christiane Karg (soprano), Malcolm Martineau (piano), Gustav Mahler (piano roll)
'Karg’s artistry, distinguished by natural intelligence and vivid sense of communication, is an ideal complement to Martineau’s. Her voice is beautiful, more velvety than diamantine, and, with her supremely sensitive partner, she never has need to push it...This is lieder performance of wonderful freshness and intelligence; a delightful album, highly recommended.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
'Page and his players once again demonstrate their total identification with this music in playing of dizzying drive and accuracy. Comprehensive notes by the conductor give not only the musical and historical background but welcome explanations of the dramatic situations of the operatic pieces. Once again, high artistry conspires with scholarship and strength of concept to create a programme that scintillates from start to finish.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Malcolm Arnold: The Dancing Master
Mark Wilde, Ed Lyon, Fiona Kimm, Graeme Broadbent, Catherine Carby, Eleanor Dennis; BBC Concert Orchestra, John Andrews
'Here’s a tonic for a melancholy year: a one-act comic opera by Malcolm Arnold, unstaged in the composer’s lifetime and never commercially recorded. Andrews and his collaborators make generous amends in this new recording of what turns out to be an absolute zinger of a score...It all has that bracing, sophisticated freshness so typical of Arnold’s music in the 1950s, and Andrews and the BBC Concert Orchestra sound like they’re loving every bar: letting it be its own vivid, lively self.'
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
DVD/Blu-ray of the Month
Hans Werner Henze: Der Prinz von Homburg
Robin Adams (Friedrich Artur), Vera-Lotte Bocker (Princess Natalie), Stefan Margita (Friedrich Wilhelm), Helene Schneiderman (The Electress), Moritz Kallenberg (Count Hohenzollern), Michael Ebbecke (Field Marshall Dorfling); Staatsoper Stuttgart, Cornelius Meister
'The Prince is beautifully pitched by Robin Adams as a Schumannlike character...His love interest, largely invented by Bachmann, is Princess Natalie, a high lyric soprano part sung with crystalline control by Vera-Lotte Böcker. In her duets with the Prince and the Elector Henze’s inspiration rises highest, and this staging rises with him: like few post-war composers he could write opera for characters who change over the course of a couple of hours, who know themselves better at the end of it, and we are changed a little for knowing them.'
Available Format: DVD Video
Hans Werner Henze: Der Prinz von Homburg (Blu-ray)
Robin Adams (Friedrich Artur), Vera-Lotte Bocker (Princess Natalie), Stefan Margita (Friedrich Wilhelm), Helene Schneiderman (The Electress), Moritz Kallenberg (Count Hohenzollern), Michael Ebbecke (Field Marshall Dorfling); Staatsoper Stuttgart, Cornelius Meister
Picture format: 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo
Available Format: Blu-ray
Reissue/Archive Issue of the Month
'This well-rounded set argues for a more prominent position among 20th-century pianists than Tagliaferro has generally been accorded in the anglophone literature. It also affords the pleasure of hearing an artist whose every gesture seems deeply considered in performances that nevertheless exude spontaneity and the joy of making music.'
Available Formats: 3 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Chris O'Reilly - Chief Executive
