Presto Editor's Choices,
Presto Editor's Choices - February 2023
Two intelligently-programmed recitals from young British singers (both featuring the indefatigable Joseph Middleton) have caught my attention over the past few weeks: soprano Mary Bevan is joined by 12 Ensemble and the Ruisi Quartet for a rich and varied recital of French-language song (including world premiere recordings of instrumental arrangements old and new), whilst mezzo Kitty Whately is on luminous form in lieder by Gustav Mahler, Johanna Müller-Hermann, Richard Strauss and Margarete Schweikert. Elsewhere, there's hypnotic Mompou from Stephen Hough, the first exhilarating instalment of Maxim Emelyanychev's Mozart symphonies cycle with Il Pomo d'Oro, and two arresting large-scale choral works by Margaret Bonds from The Dessoff Choirs and Malcolm J. Merriweather.
Whately's such an emotionally engaged and engaging singer (and Middleton such a responsive partner) that even familiar songs like Strauss's 'Morgen' sound as fresh as the genuine rarities by Johanna Müller-Hermann and Margarete Schweikert (the latter's 'Totenhausen' stands out, though everything here is more than worthy of your attention). Her high silvery mezzo suggests Octavian would be a perfect fit should the stars align, and throws a different light on Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, usually the province of darker voices.
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Part of the pleasure of this gorgeous, cleverly-curated recital comes from the variety of instrumental forces on the menu; intuitive but never hackneyed, Robin Holloway's arrangements of Debussy and Ravel hit the mark in the same way as Alexander Schmalcz's Schubert orchestrations for Matthias Goerne at the beginning of the year. The rest comes from Bevan's own variety of vocal colour and her ability to shape-shift between styles: she's deliciously laid-back in Augusta Holmès's Sérénades, and brings a febrile energy to 'Villes' from Britten's Les illumination.
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Mozart: The Symphonies - The Beginning and the End
Il Pomo d'Oro, Maxim Emelyanychev (fortepiano/director)
Coupling the First Symphony (written when the composer was just eight) with the Jupiter, this inaugural volume of Emelyanychev's Mozart cycle suggests that the project will be one to watch: Pomo d'Oro are on punchy, pungent form throughout, particularly in the Scherzo of No. 1 where the whooping glissandi and cheeky sforzandi convey an irresistible sense of a preternaturally gifted child having enormous fun. Emelyanychev is also an eloquent soloist in the Piano Concerto No. 23: his ornamentation in the outer movements is quirky but never over-busy, and the dry fortepiano sound brings a spare melancholy to the central Adagio.
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It's great to hear Bartók's one-act fairy-tale ballet in its entirety here, especially in a performance as vivid and colourful as this: Măcelaru gets the balance between spikiness and sensuality just right, and every section of the Cologne orchestra is on peak form, with incisive, edgy work from the woodwinds (particularly in the bucolic early stretches of the piece) and understatedly gorgeous solos from the leader towards the end. And the numerous moments of organised chaos come off brilliantly.
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Hough's 1998 recording of Mompou's piano music was my first introduction to the Spanish-Catalan composer's introspective world, and this sequel is every bit as mesmerising. In Hough's hands, each of these elusive miniatures feels like a tiny meditation, and every subtle shift in mood and texture is immaculately judged - set aside an hour to listen to the whole thing undisturbed and I promise you'll feel your equilibrium shift.
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This intriguingly-titled programme of piano music by the broadcaster, writer and editor Robert Matthew-Walker offers up plenty of fun, particularly in the charming but never saccharine set of Children's Pieces and the madcap Divertimento on a Theme of Mozart for Piano Duet (where 'Good King Wenceslas' is thrown merrily into the mix). The Hamlet-inspired Fantasy Sonata has real depth and complexity, and the emotional heart of the programme is The Fields Are White Already, composed in memory of John McCabe. A very good night indeed!
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Margaret Bonds: Credo, Simon Bore the Cross
Janinah Burnett (soprano), Dashon Burton (bass-baritone), The Dessoff Choirs, Malcolm J. Merriweather
These two large-scale works from the American composer (1913-72) should win many new friends among choral societies looking to diversify their repertoire as well as being immensely rewarding listening on their own terms: the story of Simon of Cyrene is evocatively told, and Bonds's response to the text of the Credo is arresting and imaginative. Both scores make moving use of spirituals as well as harking back to well-known oratorios - the blazing C major chords towards the end of Simon, for instance, echoing the opening of Haydn's Creation.
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If, like me, you enjoyed getting to grips with the Estonian composer's thorny orchestral music via Paavo Järvi's superb triptych of world premiere recordings a couple of years ago, this collection of choral works may come as quite a surprise: these are all pieces which it's much easier to love on first hearing, and Collegium Musicale (low basses on particular great form throughout) are superb advocates. Shades of John Tavener in the Orthodox-influenced Trigolosson Trishagion, and there's something of James MacMillan in the radiant Canticum Canticorum Caritatis (inspired by St Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians).
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Katherine Cooper - Head of Editorial
