Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 3 (CD review)

Also, Symphonic Dances. Leonard Slatkin, Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Naxos 8.573051.

Russian pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) completed his Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44 in 1936. It would be his last symphony. These days, we see it as something of a transition for the composer, being less overtly Romantic than his Symphony No. 2, Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3, or the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The Third Symphony is also more concise than his previous works, pointing toward the greater modernity he would reluctantly adopt. Still, it is most definitely Russian in flavor, especially noticeable in the finale’s dance rhythms, and surely it is still Romantic in spirit. Leopold Stokowski conducted the Third Symphony’s premiere in 1936 with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Stokowski’s much-later recording of it for EMI with the London Symphony is still the one to own. Nevertheless, this new rendering from Naxos with Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is no slouch.

The Third Symphony received an odd reception at first. Critics thought that it was still too Romantic in nature, that the composer had never gone beyond the Romantic period, beyond the Second Symphony or the Second and Third Piano Concertos. The public at large, on the other hand, found the Third too modern and not Romantic enough. They expected more of the lush, spacious tunes found in the aforementioned works. Poor Rachmaninov: He couldn’t win for losing. I suppose that battle continues to this day; most critics expect modern composers to produce new, imaginative, innovative material, and many in the public just want something they can whistle on their way home from the concert hall.

Another unusual feature about the Third Symphony is that Rachmaninov wrote it in only three movements. However, the second movement is really a combed Adagio and scherzo, so maybe that gives the work a traditional four-movement arrangement after all. The first-movement Allegro holds many surprises, the two-part Adagio is conservative but committed, and the third-movement Allegro vivace is exhilarating.

Maestro Slatkin catches most of the passion and drama of the first movement while sustaining its lyrical qualities at the same time. He does not linger on or draw out the movement as much as Stokowski did, preferring to step along at a fairly quick gait. Regardless, the movement never seems short of breath, and Slatkin does emphasize the big themes with a gracious hand, making them appear as broadly lyrical as ever.

In the second movement Adagio, Slatkin slows down appropriately and takes his time defining the music’s poetic features. When an allegro vivace section breaks out, Slatkin handles it with a zesty good humor before things settle back to the sweetness of the opening.

Then Slatkin concludes the symphony with all the dash and élan the finale requires. Some conductors allow the movement to sink into the sentimentality of a Hollywood epic, but Slatkin ends it in a straightforward blaze of glory, the veiled Dies irae theme sounding appropriately ominous and resplendently optimistic at the same time.

As a companion piece, the disc includes Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, written in 1940 and among the composer’s last works. Slatkin pulls this quasi-symphony off pretty well, too, but unfortunately for him he has stiff competition from the justly celebrated Reference Recordings disc with Maestro Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra. That recording is so overwhelming colossal, it tends to dwarf everything that comes up against it. Be that as it may, Slatkin brings a nobility and dignity to the score that I often find lacking in other recordings, the conductor ending the piece on a triumphant note, this time with the Dies irae (again) hardly disguised. In all, we get fine, grand, bold, powerful, poetic results from Slatkin and his Detroit forces in both the Third Symphony and the Symphonic Dances.

The Detroit Symphony was one of the stars of early stereo in the late Fifties and early Sixties, thanks to their participation in a number of fine recordings on Mercury Living Presence. This time out, Naxos recorded the music at the Detroit Symphony’s home, Orchestra Hall, in 2011-2012, and the orchestra’s star still shines. Interestingly, though, while the new Naxos digital recording is good, it is not really an improvement over the old Mercurys, which hold up to this day as some of the finest recordings you can find.

Anyway, the Naxos sound has fitting power and strong impact, with a reasonably wide dynamic range. It’s also ultrasmooth, with a mild resonance providing a warm glow around the music. Midrange transparency suffers slightly (especially compared to those old Mercury discs), but it remains pleasing all the same. Bass extension is taut and deep; and even though highs can seem at times a tad soft, they show good extension when necessary. What’s more, the left-to-right stereo spread sounds impressive, with a decent localization of instruments and a modest orchestral depth.

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

JJP

Emerson String Quartet: Journeys (CD review)

Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence; Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht. Emerson String Quartet, augmented by Paul Neubauer, viola II, and Colin Carr, cello II. Sony Classical 88725470602.

The Emerson String Quartet is not the oldest string quartet in existence, but surely it is among the most well known. Formed in 1976 and with only a couple of personnel changes, the group has released over thirty recordings and won three Gramophone Awards and nine Grammys for Best Chamber Music Performance and Best Classical Album. Did I also mention they are among the best at whatever music they attempt?

The Quartet as comprised here includes Philip Setzer, first and second violin; Eugene Drucker, first and second violin; Lawrence Dutton, viola; and David Finckel, cello. Joining them for the two sextets on the disc are Paul Neubauer, second viola; and Colin Carr, second cello.

The first of the selections on the program is the Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70 by Peter Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), which he wrote for string sextet in 1890 and premiered in 1892. He called it a “souvenir of Florence” because he composed a part of the second movement while visiting the city. As with Schoenberg’s Verklarte Night that follows on the disc, we often hear Tchaikovsky’s piece adapted for chamber orchestra, but there’s something a little more intimate about these original sextet arrangements.

The first movement is somewhat stormy, tumultuous in fact. The Emersons attack the opening not just with verve but with absolute rigor. The movement quickly settles down into a rapturous melody that the Emersons infuse with an even further enlightening energy. It’s still quite lyrical but on a spirited scale, especially in that drawn-out second subject with its delicious counterpoint.

The slow second movement, the Adagio cantabile e con moto, is serene, the Romantic centerpiece of the work. The Emersons capture its delicately rhapsodic nature without giving in to the temptations of sentimentalizing it. They bring out all its most lovely contrasts, the strings almost literally singing their parts. It is sublime.

The final two movements, marked Allegretto moderato and Allegro con brio e vivace, increase in tempo and gusto, sounding far more rhythmically vital and “Russian” than the rest of the work. In the Emersons’ hands, these sections bounce along at a zippy yet never breathless pace, the third movement sounding particularly folksy in its presentation. The finale begins with a quick dance tune that the Emersons handle in vivacious style, producing a sunny, warm-hearted result.

The final number on the disc is Verklarte Nacht (“Transfigured Night”), Op. 4, a single-movement sextet written by the Austrian composer and painter Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) in 1899, one of his first important works. Apparently, his inspirations were a poem by Richard Dehmel and his feelings for a young woman, Mathilde von Zemlinsky, whom he would eventually marry. Audiences at first did not appreciate the piece, finding it too eccentric, too avant-garde for them. Today, we recognize Schoenberg’s occasional dissonances as a part of the work’s beauty. Besides, it was only the start of Schoenberg’s modernism.

Anyway, the Emerson players perform Verklarte Nacht with great urgency and drama, charging it with notable expression through their nuance and coloring. One has little trouble following the music’s interrelated themes (especially with the words to Dehmel’s poem reproduced in the accompanying booklet) as its story unfolds in a miniature tone poem. The Emersons emphasize the warmth, stillness, passion, and pathos of the poem, their playing again immaculate.

Sony recorded the Quartet at LeFrak Concert Hall, Queens College, New York, in 2012. The miking puts the players fairly close, creating a wide left-to-right stereo spread; meaning you’re not far away from them. There is nothing hard, bright, or edgy about the recording, though. The sound is smooth and natural, with a pleasantly warm ambient glow around the notes that in no way detracts from the acoustic detailing. For a small chamber work, its sound is impressively big and luxuriant.

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

JJP

Classical Music News of the Week, June 16, 2013

Chicago Duo Piano Festival Celebrates 25 Years July 12-21, the Annual Event Featuring Four Concerts Open to the Public

The Music Institute of Chicago’s annual Chicago Duo Piano Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary July 12–21 at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Avenue, in Evanston. In addition to offering students coaching, lectures, master classes, and recitals, the Festival includes four public performances at Nichols Concert Hall featuring special guest Ukrainian piano duo Olga and Yuri Sherbakov in their Chicago debut, festival Founders/Directors Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem, and Music Institute piano faculty, all performing duo piano repertoire.

Public performances

Gala Opening Concert—Friday, July 12 at 7:30 p.m.

Chicago Duo Piano Festival Founders/Directors and Music Institute faculty piano duo in residence Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem perform a program including Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, in celebration of its 100th anniversary, along with works by Schubert and Ravel.

Faculty Recital—Sunday, July 14 at 4 p.m.

The program includes Music Institute faculty and guest artists Mio Isoda and Matthew Hagle performing Debussy’s En blanc et noir, Xiaomin Liang and Jue He playing a two-piano arrangement of Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, and Andrea Swann and Fiona Queen performing Bartok’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion.

Faculty Extravaganza Concert—Tuesday, July 16 at 7:30 p.m.

In this popular event, members of the Music Institute faculty offer a varied selection of four-hand and two-piano repertoire. Performers include Maya Brodotskaya and Irene Faliks, Inah Chiu and Sung Hoon Mo, Alexander Djordjevic and Mark George, Elaine Felder and Milana Pavchinskaya, Mio Isoda and Matthew Hagle, Katherine Lee and Soo Young Lee, and Xiaomin Liang and Jue He.

Guest Recital: Olga and Yuri Sherbakov (Oleyura Duo)—Friday, July 19 at 7:30 p.m.

Olga and Yuri Sherbakov (Oleyura Duo), a brilliant wife and husband duo from Odessa, Ukraine, making their Chicago debut, are 1st prize winners at the Rome International Competition for Piano Duos in both two piano and piano, four hands categories. They have been featured at the San Francisco International Festival, The First International Piano Duo Festival in Israel, Internazionales Festival Deutsche Musik, Festival of Greek Culture, Festival Musicale delle Nazioni, and Saint-Petersburg Piano Duo Festival. They have performed in prestigious halls in Kiev, Jerusalem, Rome, Moscow, Venice, St. Petersburg, Oslo, and Tel-Aviv and have appeared as guest soloists with The Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra, The Israel Chamber Orchestra, The Crimean Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Norwegian National Opera. They are professors at Odessa State Academy of Music. They teach master classes in Ukraine and abroad. They are founders and artistic directors of the International Piano Duo and Chamber Music Festivals “Crimea Dialogues” and “Odessa Dialogues.” They have performed frequently as guests and soloists with the Odessa Philharmonic Society.

For the Chicago Duo Piano Festival, Olga and Yuri Sherbakov perform works by Ukrainian and Russian composers, including Rachmaninoff's Suite No. 1 for Two Pianos.

Chicago Duo Piano Festival

Called a “duo piano mecca” by Pioneer Press, the Chicago Duo Piano Festival was founded in 1988 by Music Institute of Chicago faculty members Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem. Its mission is to foster a deeper interest in the repertoire, performance, and teaching of music for piano, four hands and two pianos, in a fun and supportive atmosphere. The Festival offers coaching, master classes, concerts with special guest artists, and student recitals for students age 12 through adult. Registration details and a schedule are available at chicagoduopianofestival.org. Fees are $495 for full participants and $265 for auditors. Early registrants receive greater consideration for repertoire requests. The enrollment deadline is May 28, 2013.

The Chicago Duo Piano Festival concerts take place July 12, 16, and 19 at 7:30 p.m. and July 14 at 4 p.m. at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Avenue, Evanston. Tickets for each concert are $30 for adults, $20 for seniors and $10 for students and are available at musicinst.org or 847.905.1500 ext. 108. For even more information: http://www.musicinst.org/chicago-duo-piano-festival

--Jill Chukerman, JAC Communications

PARMA Music Festival August 15-17 in Portsmouth, NH

PARMA Recordings is pleased to announce the 2013 PARMA Music Festival on August 15-17, 2013 in Portsmouth, New Hamphire, featuring Grammy-winning clarinet virtuoso Richard Stoltzman, marimba soloist Mika Stoltzman, the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra (PSO) and the PARMA Orchestra with conductor John Page, and many more. The Festival will also serve as the official host for the 2013 Region 1 Conference of the Society of Composers Incorporated (SCI), one of the largest composer-service organizations in the country.

Daytime and evening performances, listening parties, and panels will be held at multiple venues in Portsmouth over the three days, highlighted by a closing concert event at The Music Hall on Saturday, August 17 featuring the world premieres of “Elegy For Clarinet & Orchestra” (1949) by Lukas Foss with Richard Stoltzman and the PSO, and “Streams” (2010) by Martin Schlumpf with David Taylor, Matthias Müller, and the PARMA Orchestra. Both orchestras will be conducted by Mr. Page.

“If you’ve got a tux, leave it at home – and if you don’t, well that’s perfect, because you’ll be all set,” says PARMA Recordings CEO Bob Lord. “This isn’t about a scene, or a ‘seen-and-be-seen’ for that matter, this is all about the music itself. PARMA’s work encompasses an extraordinarily wide cross-section of styles and presentations, and you’ll hear and see this diversity and eclecticism throughout the Festival.”

A full list of events featuring local, national, and international artists spanning the genres of classical, jazz, rock, and more will be announced in the spring.  You can find more information about PARMA Recordings and events here: http://www.parmarecordings.com/

--Rory Cooper, PARMA Recordings

Woodstock Mozart Festival Presents 27th Season July 27-August 11; Bartók, Haydn, Mozart, Stravinsky and More on Three Programs

Three lively concert programs make up the Woodstock Mozart Festival’s 27th season July 27–August 11, 2013 at the Woodstock Opera House. Single tickets are on sale now.

The program lineup is as follows:

July 27 and 28: San Francisco Symphony Resident Conductor Donato Cabrera and award-winning pianist Vassily Primakov:

Bartók’s Rumanian Dances are the result of the composer’s exploration and collection of folk music from the mountain areas of central Europe, particularly Transylvania in Hungary.

Mozart composed his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G Major, K. 453, No. 17, for his talented pupil Barbara Ployer; the piece was appealing to the general listener of the day, yet filled with subtle interactions that demanded an extremely sensitive interpreter.

Stravinsky’s Concerto in E Flat “Dumbarton Oaks,” the last work he composed completely in Europe, was a commission to celebrate the 30th wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss and derived inspiration from Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos and the gardens at Dumbarton Oaks.

Haydn’s Symphony No. 85 in B-flat Major “La Reine” is one of the composer’s “Paris” symphonies and gained its nickname “The Queen” because Marie Antoinette enjoyed it after recognizing a tune from her Viennese childhood in its second movement.

August 3 and 4: Festival principal cellist Nazar Dzhuryn; French saxophonist and two-time Echo Klassique Award (European Grammy) Winner Daniel Gauthier, with conductor Igor Gruppman:

Mozart’s Symphony No. 17 in G Major, K. 129 is a charming three-movement Salzburg symphony scored for pairs of oboes and horns with strings.

Haydn’s Concerto in C Major for Violoncello and Orchestra, H. VIIb:1 was missing for some time and is thought to be perhaps his first cello concerto.

Mascagni’s Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, an opera that brought him worldwide popularity, is the most famous of the one-act verismo (realism) operas of the late 19th century.

Ibert, composer of Concertino da Camera for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra, often seasoned his blend of Impressionism and neo-Classicism with delightfully humorous touches.

Bizet’s Adagietto from the Incidental Music to L’Arlesienne, a melodrama by Alphonse Daudet, enhanced the dramatic action effectively.

Schulhoff, a Czech composer and pianist of German ancestry who wrote Hot-Sonate for Alto Saxophone, was one of a group of composers suppressed during the Nazi regime; he became interested in American jazz and rough-cut dance forms as a way of lampooning elitist music.

Iturralde, a noted jazz performer and orchestral soloist in Madrid, wrote Pequeña Czarda for solo saxophone.

August 10 and 11: Grammy-winning violinist Igor Gruppman, conductor, and violist Vesna Gruppman:

Mozart’s Divertimento in F Major for Strings, K. 138 is one of three such works that did not adhere to the traditional format or style of a divertimento and are more like symphonies for only strings.

Haydn’s Symphony No. 45 in F-sharp Minor “Farewell” is a product of his sturm und drang (storm and stress) period (1768–72), when he went beyond the usual bounds of classic reserve to exhibit more turbulent passions.

Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat Major, K. 364 (K. 320d) for Violin, Viola and Orchestra, of somewhat mysterious origins, was his last work combining symphony and concerto for multiple soloists and his only solo use of the viola.

Tickets and information:

The 2013 Woodstock Mozart Festival takes place July 27–August 11, Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. at the Woodstock Opera House, 121 Van Buren Street, Woodstock. Pre-concert introductions take place one hour before each of the performances. Tickets are $30–52, $25 for students, per program and are available through the Woodstock Opera House Box Office at 815-338-5300 or at woodstockoperahouse.com. For more information about the Festival, visit mozartfest.org.

--Jill Chukerman, JAC Communications