Danish String Quartet: Keel Road (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

Turlough O’Carolan: Mabel Kelly; Danish traditional/Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen: Pericondine/Fair Isle Jig; Ale Carr: Stormpolskan; Danish traditional: Skomager Har Jeg Været; Sørensen: Once a Shoemaker; English traditional: Lovely Joan; O’Carolan: Carolan's Quarrel With The Landlady; Faroese traditional: Regin Smiður; O’Carolan: Captain O'Kane; Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin: Kjølhalling; O’Carolan: Planxty Kelly; English traditional: As I Walked Out; Danish traditional: Marie Louise; Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, Sørensen: The Chat: Sørensen Gale Warning; Norwegian traditional: Når Mitt Øye, Trett Av Møye. Danish String Quartet (Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, violin, clog fiddle, harmonium, spinet, voice, whistle; Frederik Øland, violin, voice, whistle; Asbjørn Nørgaard, viola, voice, whistle; Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, violoncello, bass, voice, whistle) with Nikolaj Busk, piano; Ale Carr, cittern. ECM New Series 2785 487 5884

For the past several years the Danish String Quartet had been engaged in recording a series of five albums for ECM in which they paired the late Beethoven string quartets with Bach fugues plus complementary works by other composers. We reviewed the final two volumes in what ECM termed their Prism series: Volume IV, which in addition to Bach’s Fugue in G minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier (in an arrangement by Viennese composer Emanuel Aloys Förster) paired Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15 with Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 2 (please see our review from 2022 here); and Volume V, which looked both forward and backward from Beethoven’s time, in a program that finds his final string quartet surrounded with works by Bach and Webern (you can find our 2023 review here).

 

Keel Road is something different. Back in 2017, the Danish String Quartet released an album on ECM titled Last Leaf, a program of music based around northern European folk and traditional sources. After their multi-year, five-album deep dive into Bach, late Beethoven, and their connections to other composers, the four Danes have once again returned to music with deep roots in folk and traditional sources. As they explain: “We set out on a musical journey that traverses the North Sea -- for centuries, the main communication channel of Northern Europe, the highway and the internet of bygone eras. And even though known for its swift upsurges and strong gales, brave sailors would again and again travel the keel road, enabling a continuous exchange of goods, culture and music. The musical keel road of this album will take us from Denmark and Norway to shores far away: to the Faroe Islands, to Ireland and England. While folk music represents local traditions and local stories, it is also the music of everywhere and everyone. At the end of the day, our stories and our music remain closely connected.”

 

You know it is going to be a lively, melodic, and downright fun album when you look over the list of compositions and see several by Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738), the legendary harpist from Ireland’s County Meath. Unusual among the itinerant harpists of his day, O’Carolan drew influence not only from local tradition but also from then-contemporary European composers including Vivaldi and Corelli, intuitively seeking his own blend of form and folk spontaneity. Back in my old $ensible Sound days, I reviewed a few albums that featured music by O’Carolan, and I always found myself with a big smile on my face. I daresay that same reaction will come to those who hear his tunes as arranged for string quartet and played in such a lively manner as they are here. And that’s that appealing thing about Keel Road – the sense of spontaneity and joy that the musicians bring to these tunes. In addition to the more traditional compositions on the program, Keel Road interweaves compositions by DSQ members Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen and Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin that also convey a folk spirit in keeping with the overall mood. A brief excerpt from a field recording of the Danish traditional En Skomager Har Jeg Været (“A cobbler I was”) precedes Sørensen’s reflective tune Once a Shoemaker. Guest musicians Ale Carr (cittern) and Nikolaj Busk (piano), of the folk trio Dreamers’ Circus join the DSQ for a performance of Carr’s Stormpolskan.

 

As the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa Holiday season approaches, many of us might find ourselves looking for appropriate gifts for those friends with an appreciation for music. The Keel Road CD should appeal to a wide variety of musical tastes: classical, folk, and world music to name a few. Heck, I’ll bet even a lot of children would like it. (And hey, don’t forget the Deadheads on your list…)  Highly recommended.

Ethan Iverson: Playfair Sonatas (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

(CD1) Fanfare; Violin Sonata – I. Andante-Allegro Moderato II. Blues (for Ornette Coleman) III. Rondo. Allegro; Marimba Sonata – I. Allegro II. Blues (for Eric Dolphy) III. Cadenza IV. Rondo. Presto; Clarinet Sonata – I. Allegro II. Music Hall (for Carla Bley) III. Scherzo-Minuet IV. Rondo. Allegro moderato; (CD2) Trombone Sonata – I. Allegro moderato II. Hymn (for Roswell Rudd) III. Rondo; Alto Saxophone Sonata – I. Allegro II. Melody (for Paul Desmond) III. Allegro; Trumpet Sonata – I. Allegro II. Theme (for Joe Wilder) III. Rondo; Recessional. Ethan Iverson, piano; Miranda Cuckson, violin; Makoto Nakura, marimba; Carol McGonnell, clarinet; Mike Lormand, trombone; Taimur Sullivan, alto saxophone; Tim Leopold, trumpet. Urlicht AudioVisual UAV-5960

 

Although Classical Candor didn’t see the light of Internet day until 2009, its roots go back much farther, with founder John Puccio and current contributor Karl Nehring getting involved in the early days (late 1970s) of an audio magazine that also featured an abundance of music reviews, The $ensible Sound, now sadly but inevitably out of print. John was the magazine’s Classical Music Editor, while Karl started as an equipment and music reviewer and a few years later became Editor. Meanwhile, in the late 1990s pianist Ethan Iverson (b. 1973) was serving as music director for the Mark Morris Dance Group, playing all sorts of classical repertoire for large audiences, including Robert Schumann’s Fünf Stücke im Volkston with Yo-Yo Ma onstage with dancers including Mikhail Baryshnikov. During this era Iverson also met the tenor Mark Padmore; eventually Iverson accompanied Padmore in several performances of Schubert’s Winterreise. He has long been interested in the intersection of jazz and classical music, and his career has been marked by significant milestones in both idioms.

 

In 2002 Iverson left Morris and formed the progressive jazz trio The Bad Plus along with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King. Iverson first came to my attention as the pianist in the jazz trio The Bad Plus back around 2003 when I heaped praise on their major label debut album These Are the Vistas in my “More Jazz Than Not” column in The $ensible Sound. (Could that really have been more than 20 years ago? I can imagine Iverson asking himself the same question from time to time…) I was less enamored of the group’s subsequent albums and did not think that much of it when I read about Iverson leaving the group in 2017. In 2018, I enjoyed an ECM album he recorded as part of a quartet with trumpeter Tom Harrell (Common Practice, ECM 2643). However, one of the Bad Plus’s most celebrated projects during Iverson’s time with them was a version of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring wherein Iverson essentially played the Stravinsky piano part "straight." Their recording for Sony Masterworks garnered a rare five-star review in the jazz magazine DownBeat – not only that, it got a favorable review in Classical Candor back in 2014 from none other than our own John Puccio, which you can read here.

More recently, we have reviewed more albums by Iverson. In February, 2022, we reviewed Every Note Is True, a trio album with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jack DeJohnette for the venerable Blue Note label (you can read our review here). Then earlier this year, we reviewed  Technically Acceptable (see review here), an album on which he plays not only jazz, but also a classical piece, his own Piano Sonata No. 1. On a personal note, in my review of that album, I noted that a highlight was the track Killing Me Softly with His Song – a huge 1970s hit for Roberta Flack – on which Iverson is joined by Simón Willson on bass and Vinnie Sperrazza on drums. On Halloween night 2024 I was able to drive down to Cincinnati, Ohio, to join my son Isaac in attending a performance by the Ethan Iverson Trio in which the highlight of the show was having these same three musicians kill us convincingly with their performance of that very tune. 

Sometime over the past few years I started following Iverson Twitter, where I discovered that in addition to his talents as a musician, he has blossomed into a writer, critic, interviewer, and blogger of note.  I would strongly suggest those with an interest in jazz, classical music, or culture in general to check out his website at ethaniverson.com. We recently posted a portion of an interview that he did with a European publication on the topic of the relationship between jazz and classical music, which you can find here. 

 

Iverson’s background in and love for both jazz and classical music is evident throughout Playfair Sonatas. As you can see from the track listings above, each of the sonatas includes movements designated by the typical European classical terms such as Allegro or Rondo; however, each also contains a movement featuring the name of a prominent jazz figure, such as Blues (for Ornette Coleman) or Hymn (for Roswell Rudd). In the liner notes, Iverson explains, "These dedications came about late in the game. I had scrapped a previous Adagio for clarinet, and wrote a new middle movement I really liked. However, was this ‘oom-pah' rhythm too much like one of Carla Bley's amusing ‘music hall’ pieces? Well, what if I dedicated the movement to her? That would fix the issue of appropriation. As it turned out, Carla passed away the same day I finished ‘Music Hall’ and devised the ‘dedications’ stratagem. The other five salutations to Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Paul Desmond, Joe Wilder, and Roswell Rudd came easily, for they had been in the back of my mind the whole time."

 

After a brief, playful, fanfare by the entire ensemble, the program proper begins with the longest movement of the entire album, the first movement of the Violin Sonata.  What is especially interesting to hear is the interaction between violin and piano, characteristic of both chamber music and jazz, of course. (The dedication of the second movement to the iconoclastic saxophone legend Ornette Coleman reminded me that he also took up the violin later in his career.) It’s a lively piece, informed by the blues but sprightly in spirit. It is followed by what seems at first blush an unlikely candidate for a sonata, the Marimba Sonata. Any doubts I might have had about the aesthetic appeal of sonata for marimba and piano were instantly swept away the first time I heard a preview track on Amazon Music. What fun! Iverson’s piano and Nakura’s marimba combine with exuberant effect. CD1 closes with the Clarinet Sonata, certainly a contrast in sonority to the marimba. The overall mood, though, still has that underlying feeling of playful interaction that feels so jazz-like; indeed, as you listen, you can imagine the two players looking at each other for inspiration and feeding off each other’s energy as they play music that at some moments sounds as though it is flowing spontaneously from them.

 

CD2 continues in much the same way A special highlight is the second movement of the Trombone Sonata, designated Hymn (for Roswell Rudd). The movement evokes a late-night bluesy melancholic atmosphere that slows down time. Iverson writes, “Mahler said the trombone was the voice of God. The orchestral palette requires trombone for climactic passages but solo repertoire is uncommon. However, jazz musicians have made the most of this epic and unwieldy instrument. All three movements of my Trombone Sonata address the blues and the preach; the last movement has some old-time train boogie as well. The middle dedication movement is Hymn (for Roswell Rudd). I have a special affection for Roswell Rudd… in addition to being a wonderful trombonist, Rudd practiced ethnomusicology, assisted Alan Lomax, and wrote the definitive essay on his friend Herbie Nichols, the pianist who may have done the most of anyone in the 1950s to combine classical and jazz tropes. I did not really know Mr. Rudd but I met him briefly and thanked him not just for his music but for his writing, for there is no doubt my own scribbling follows his example.” In the Alto Saxophone Sonata that follows, the sound that saxophonist Taimur Sullivan produces from his instrument is more mellifluous than what listeners accustomed to the sound of the alto sax from old bebop LPs might expect. The piece is structured in traditional fast-slow-fast three-movement form, as is the concluding sonata on the album, the Trumpet Sonata, which features a playful opening movement, a reflective second movement at a much slower tempo, closing with a final Rondo in which Iverson’s piano and Leopold’s trumpet seem to be engaged in an exhilarating dance of delight. 

 

Why are they called the “Playfair” sonatas? It turns out that like Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, they are named for an actual person – in this case, Piers Playfair (left), an entrepeneur with a long history of curating, producing, and commissioning new works, especially at the intersection of jazz and classical music. When Playfair and Iverson became acquainted, they realized that they shared many common ideals about music. When the COVID pandemic forced Iverson to downsize and move his grand piano into a cheap studio space, Playfair asked Iverson if he needed help, and when Iverson admitted that he did, Playfair responded that he would cover six months of studio rent in exchange for six sonatas for various instruments of his choosing. 

 The end result is what we have on this two-disc set: the Playfair Sonatas. Making the physical package particularly attractive is the quirky and delightful cover art by the famed New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast. Delightful art, informative booklet, and rewarding music that brings a dash of jazz seasoning to chamber music make Playfair Sonatas an irresistible release for music lovers of the jazz and classical persuasions alike.

VOCES8: Nightfall (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

Jung Jae-il: Psalm 22:21; Sigur Rós: Fljótavík; Reger: Nachtlied; Taylor Scott Davis: Stardust; Ludovico Einaudi: Experience; Alfvén: Aftonen; Max Richter: On the Nature of Daylight; Caroline Shaw: and the swallow; Kim André Arnesen: Even When He Is Silent; Koji Kondo • Zelda's Lullaby; Dan Forrest: Good Night Dear Heart;  Lucy Walker: O Nata Lux; Kerensa Briggs: Media Vita; Frank Ticheli: There Will Be Rest; Jung Jae-il: Psalm 10:1. VOCES8 (Andrea Haines [1-15], Molly Noon [1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11-13, 15] Maryruth Miller [2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 14], soprano; Katie Jeffries-Harris, Barnaby Smith [artistic director], alto; Blake Morgan, Euan Williamson, tenor; Christopher Moore, baritone; Dominic Carver, bass; with Thomas Gould, violin [2, 5]; Emma Denton, cello [2, 5]; Sam Becker, double bass [2]; Lara Somogy, harp [5]; Lise Vandersmissen, harp [10]; Elsa Bradley, marimba {5]. DECCA 487 0458

 

VOCES8 is an English vocal octet that has made numerous recordings and recital appearances throughout the world. In June of 2025, they plan to mark the 20^th anniversary of their first public performance with a concert at the Barbican Center in London. They will be joined on stage by the VOCES8 Scholars, former members of the ensemble, and special guests, the BBC Singers. They have undergone numerous personnel changes over the years but have remained consistent in their overall sound. Indeed, as you can see from the personnel listing above, while recording Nightfall, there was a change in their soprano section. Unfortunately, the minimal liner sheet included by Decca with the CD provides scarcely any information about either the group or the music other than the names of the performers, the composers, and the titles and timings of the compositions. 

As its title implies, this album comprises a collection of reflective and generally soothing music inspired by the concept of night. Not, it would seem, the fearful darkness of deepest night, but the peace and calm that the night can bring. The program features a mix of choral classics and contemporary arrangements, including new choral versions of popular works by Ludovico Einaudi, the Icelandic alternative band Sigur Rós (see our review of one their albums here) Koji Kondo (composer of Nintendo video game music), Max Richter, plus world premiere works from British composer and 2024 Classic FM Rising Star Lucy Walker, as well as US composer and regular VOCES8 collaborator Taylor Scott Davis. The album opens and closes with contemplative psalm settings by South Korean composer Jung Jae-il, known for his work on Squid Game and Parasite. 

As usual with a VOCES8 recording, the sound is exquisite; almost too much so, as those soprano voices recorded in a reverberant space can become overbearingly intense over the space of an hour. Can there be such a thing as too much beauty? That judgment will lie with the individual lister. Nightfall is a beautiful release; beautifully sung and beautifully recorded. Yes, I dearly wish the producers would have seen fit to include a proper booklet with notes on the composers and their compositions; sadly, in this digital age, such niceties seem to be disappearing. Still, Nightfall is a recommendable release.

Mass of the Eternal Flame: New Music by Ēriks Ešenvalds and Rachel Laurin (CD Review)

 by Karl Nehring

Ešenvalds: Mass of the Eternal Flame; Lux Æterna; Stars; The Heavens’ Flock; O Salutaris Hostia; Salutation; Who Can Sail Without the Wind; Laurin: Dedisti Domine, Op. 85; Diptych, Op. 107 – I. Bucolico II. Con fuoco. The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Houston (Robert Simpson, Canon for Music, conductor); The Treble Choir of Houston at Christ Church Cathedral (Marianna Parnas-Simpson, conductor); Thomas Marvil, organ; Daryl Robinson, organ; with Paragon Brass; Craig Hauschildt, percussion; Laura Smith, harp. Acis APL53868

 

It was back in 2020 that I first came across the music of the music of the contemporary Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds (b. 1977) on a remarkably beautiful Naxos release titled Translations, which featured utterly convincing sonics courtesy of former Stereophile magazine editor, John Atkinson (you can read our review here). Although not particularly long in duration at just over twenty minutes, his Mass of the Eternal Flame is large in its sonic scope and impact. Organ, brass, and chorus combine with great effect, producing a sense of hopeful, positive faith and energy. As Ešenvalds writes in the liner booklet, “it is inspiring to me tom know that in Houston, Texas, there is also a choir with faith in God in their hearts and a true passion for expressing the Good News through music.” You can feel that passion in this recording. 

The other works by Ešenvalds sustain the reverential atmosphere of the Mass, the brief (2:59) Lux Æterna for choir only, then Stars featuring the other-wordly sound of The Treble Choir with their voices augmented by the ringing of water-tuned glasses – a celestial combination indeed! Following the gorgeous The Heavens’ Flock performed by the Cathedral Choir. The Treble Choir continues to weave its spell in O Salutaris Hostia, this time with solo voices added to the mix. The Cathedral Choir returns for the composer’s settings of a poem by the Bengali poet and musician Rabindranath Tagore, Salutation, which adopts a more subdued tone, an attitude of prayer and supplication. The final piece by Ešenvalds, Who Can Sail Without the Wind, finds the Treble Choir accompanied by a harp. As the title implies, it is a song of parting; actually, it is a Swedish folk song, so something of a departure from the more religious orientation of the previous compositions. However, it does not feel entirely out of place.

The program continues with a pair of compositions by the late Canadian composer and organist Rachel Laurin (1961-2023). Dedisti Domine is a motet that she composed for the 50th anniversary of her parish in Ottawa, Canada. It is one of the few choral pieces that she wrote, and features a Latin text sung here by the Cathedral Choir and accompanied by Thomas Mervil on organ. The piece takes the listener back to the more religious atmosphere of the Ešenvalds Mass, but with a somewhat different slant. 

The CD closes with Laurin’s Diptych, a work for organ in two parts, both of which are played by organist Daryl Robinson. The first, designated Bucolico, comprises five minutes of relatively calm, contemplative music, similar to what one might hear played in church. The second section, Con fuoco, gets more energetic, more virtuosic – out of church, into the recital hall, bringing the program to a rousing if somewhat disconnected finish. To be honest, however, I’m a bit puzzled as to why an organ piece was added to the program of choral music; it just doesn’t quite fit in. Unfortunately, in this context it just seems – and sounds – tacked on. It is enjoyable music in itself, but perhaps the producers would have been better advised to leave it off the program and leave us with an all-choral release. Still, this is an album well worth recommending for the sheer excellence of the works it contains by Ēriks Ešenvalds (and the Laurin choral work), which are outstanding.

Sofia Gubaidulina: Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Bayan (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

Also: “Freue Dich! (Rejoice!) Sonata for Violin and Cello. Baiba Skride, violin; Harriet Krijgh, cello; Elsbeth Moser, bayan; NDR Radiophilharmonie; Andrew Manze, conductor. ORFEO C230121

 

Back in 2022 we posted a review that featured CDs with music composed by Florence Price and Sofia Gubaidulina (you can read that review here) in which we began by pointing out what an abrupt shift in both style and mood it was to go from the music of one composer to the other. Surprisingly enough, this new release of two pieces from the Russian-born Gubaidulina (b. 1931), who has lived near Hamburg, Germany, for the past 32 years, features an even greater contrast in musical style and mood. It’s a strange production choice. We have paired together here on the same CD a full-blown concerto for three soloists (violin, cello, and bayan – a Russian cousin of the accordion with buttons only) and orchestra paired with an austere, rather severe, chamber composition for violin and cello. Beyond the obvious fact that they are written by the same person, about the only thing these two compositions have in common to merit their being paired together on the same program is fact that they have performers in common: violinist Baiba Skride and cellist Harriet Krijgh.

(By the way, when I went to look for the album on Amazon, I found the composer listed not as Gubaidulina, but rather as – are you ready for this? – Mozart. Huh? The best I can figure is that the AI “brain” or whatever they now use to put their site together somehow confused “Moser” and “Mozart,” had some sort of foggy mountain breakdown, and forgot all about poor Sofia. Sigh…)

 

At any rate, Gubaidulina discovered the bayan and its musical possibilities in the late 1970s and began writing classical compositions for it. It was the Swiss musician Elsbeth Moyer, who was teaching in Hanover, who suggested to Gubaidulina the idea of a concerto for the bayan plus the violin and cello. It is a fascinating work; not a relaxing, melodic work, but not a forbidding, hostile work either. Lasting nearly half an hour, it explores a variety of sonorities, the bayan adding an unusual contribution to the mix. Those who cannot abide contemporary orchestral music should probably pass this one by, but those who enjoy exploring new dimensions of orchestral sounds should find themselves delighted. The sonata, on the other hand, may not have quite the same widespread degree of appeal, being aimed more specifically at chamber music aficionados. As such, it is a piece that I believe one would have to see being performed in live recital to truly appreciate. As a purely sonic experience,  listening through loudspeakers or headphones, the sheer intensity of the music makes it challenging to follow over its more than half-hour duration. In any event, it certainly seems mismatched with its discmate, for the listener in the mood for an orchestral concerto is unlikely to be looking to follow that listening session with a sonata for two string instruments, and vice versa. 

The liner notes are informative, the engineering is of a high standard, and the music – the concerto especially – is certainly interesting. Although I find the two compositions on this CD mismatched in terms of style and sonority, your taste may surely vary – and the concerto is well worth an audition by anyone with an ear inclined toward contemporary music. It would certainly be be nice for a number of you to step up an prove me wrong, for this release is a fine one.

Adam Abeshouse, R.I.P.

 by Karl Nehring

Less than a fortnight ago, I posted a bittersweet “Appreciation and Lament” column that reported on how a group of musicians had gathered in the studio of producer Adam Abeshouse to play for him one last time, for their dear friend was dying from cancer; this was their way of expressing their love and appreciation for his devotion both to his craft and to them. When I wrote that post, which you can find here or in the column to the left, I had no idea that his death would come so soon; sadly, however, Mr. Abeshouse passed away on October 10. Not only has the classical music world lost a great producer and engineer, but we have lost a great human being. You can get a sense of the regard in which he was held in the musical world from this NPR article that announced his death (to be found here). Another perspective on the man can be found in this obituary from the Jewish Telegraph Agency. Finally, there is an obituary (which you can find here) that contains a link to one of those “movies” that are sometimes assembled as tributes to those who have passed away. Consisting of a series of photographs accompanied by a musical soundtrack, these photos give us a sense of the person’s life. In the case of Adam Abeshouse, there are many, many photos – the movie lasts for a good 45 minutes, and is utterly fascinating. Even if you have never heard of the man, you will wind up loving him. 

Please allow me to close with a suggestion. The next time you plan to listen to some music, type “Abeshouse” into the Classical Candor search box to the left of this post and scroll through the many recordings that pop up. Find one that suits your mood, then give it a listen in honor of our fellow human being who was taken from us far too early.  

Brad Mehldau: Formation (Book Review)

by Karl Nehring

Brad Mehldau: Formation: Building a Personal Canon, Part One. Equinox Publishing Ltd., Sheffield, UK/Bristol, CT. 2023. 293 pp.

 

The American pianist Brad Mehldau (b. 1970) is best known for his work in the jazz arena, perhaps most widely as the leader of his own trio, but also for his work with other prominent jazz musicians such as guitarist Pat Metheny and saxophonist Josh Redman. If you really want to hear some peak jazz Mehldau, a good place to start would be his “The Art of the Trio” albums from the 1990s, especially The Art of the Trio III – Songs, which is a captivating listening experience from start to finish, but very hard to find these days, alas, so you might try Vol. IV, Back at the Vanguard, which is also excellent. However, Mehldau’s musical interests are not restricted to jazz alone. For example, he has composed songs and performed recitals with classical singers such as Renee Fleming, Anne Sofie von Otter, and Ian Bostridge. Other examples of his wide musical interests and talents include an album titled Taming the Dragon, on which he plays a variety of electronic synthesizers while paired with drummer/percussionist Mark Giuliana, and an album in which he performs what is essentially a classical piano concerto of his own composition, accompanied by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Our review of that album, titled Variations on a Melancholy Theme, can be found here. Among the other albums of his that we have reviewed previously are the classically-oriented After Bach II (reviewed here) and Après Fauré (reviewed here).

 

His aptly titled musical autobiography Formation: Building a Personal Canon, Part One offers a remarkably – at times shockingly – candid look at the forces and influences that shaped his musical and personal development. “Part One” signifies that in this volume, Mehldau covers how his personal musical canon came to be formed, or as he puts it in his preface, “how that process played out in tandem with my development as a jazz musician throughout the first twenty-six years of my life. In a second book that is underway, I will focus more directly on the canon itself.” Some of the personal details that Mehldau reveals are on the sordid side. As he explains, “there are detailed descriptions of drug and alcohol abuse in this book. I want to stress that although I describe the pleasure of using them, I hope I will have shown that they were a mistaken path, one that injured me and almost took my life. They are a part of my story. I do not know why I survived when close friends of mine did not. Perhaps because of this, I feel an obligation to tell that story honestly. Drugs and alcohol were painkillers which only caused more pain, and I want to underline: they offered no insights musically, in the least.” 

 

As a child, Mehldau of course enjoyed the rock music of the time – Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Rush, Billy Joel – from the latter came his interest in the piano. His first exposure to classical music were a couple of cassettes the family had of Rudolf Serkin playing Beethoven – the 4^th and 5^th Piano Concertos with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra plus another with him playing the “Moonlight,” Pathétique,” and “Appassionata” Sonatas. Later, he would go on to take piano lessons for a teacher who would introduce him to the classical repertoire, beginning with Bach, Beethoven, and Chopin, then soon moving on to Mozart, Brahms, and Bartók. “Brahms was my favorite and Bach pissed me off then – it was just too damn hard. There was just no place to hide. I came around eventually to Bach and he still provides endless edification and nothing short of spiritual nourishment. Beethoven was and is the model for a paradoxical creature, one with a certain willful inspiration. Brahms gives solace and consolation. The three Bs as they’re called – I’m a happy member of that cliché.”

 

Although the book will doubtless appeal more to the jazz fan than to the classical fan, there is much in its pages to appeal to both. To those with an academic background, I would suggest that you might find his discussion of Adorno to be of interest. It’s a fascinating discussion, covering jazz, swing, Brahms, Beethoven, capitalism, totalitarianism, upbeat, downbeat, Black music… all in a few pithy pages. Mehldau gets worked up, Adorno gets skewered, and bebop lives.

If you’re a jazz fan, you really ought to check this book out. Or if you are a classical fan with at least some interest in jazz, well, you might want to give it a look. It’s fascinating story.

Adam Abeshouse: An Appreciation and Lament

by Karl Nehring

While preparing my recent review of Intermezzo, clarinetist Seunghee Lee’s traversal of music by the Italian composer Michele Mangani, I discovered in reading the liner notes that seven of the tracks were edited, mixed, and mastered by Adam Abeshouse. His is a name that I am always glad to see listed on an new release, for Abeshouse is a top-flight engineer; in fact, I have mentioned his name in some of my past reviews (such as this one), acknowledging his role in bringing satisfying sound into my listening room. Looking back through the Classical Candor archives, I can also find Abehouse’s name mentioned numerous times by John Puccio, acknowledging the engineer’s production values (you cans see some examples of John’s reviews here, here, and here).

Imagine, then, the shock and sadness I felt when I came across a link to an NPR story a few days ago about how a group of musicians -- including such well-known figures as Jeremy Denk, Joshua Bell, Garrick Ohlsson, and Simone Dinnerstein – had recently gathered to play for Abeshouse, who has been diagnosed with cancer and whose time on earth is drawing to a close. It is at once heartbreaking to learn of the plight of Mr. Abeshouse, yet at the same time it is heartwarming to witness the love and devotion these musicians have for their dear colleague and friend. 

We at Classical Candor wish to express our appreciation to Mr. Abeshouse for his outstanding service to music, musicians, and music listeners over these many years. We also want to express our lament and regret that his career – and his very life – has been cut short by this cruel, unexpected disease. We also wish to express our admiration and appreciation for those musicians who made the effort to show their love and appreciation for their beloved producer by gathering in his honor to play for him one final time. In the words of the late sage David Crosby, “everybody’s saying ‘music is love’…”

You can find the NPR story here.

Max Richter: In a Landscape (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

They Will Shade Us With Their Wings; Life Study I; A Colour Field (Holocene); Life Study II; And Some Will Fall; Life Study III; The Poetry of Earth (Geophony); Life Study IV; Only Silent Words; Life Study V; Late and Soon;Life Study VI; Andante; Life Study VII; A time mirror (Biophony); Life Study VIII; Love Song (after JE); Life Study IX; Movement, Before All Flowers. Max Richter, electronics, piano, Hammond organ, electronic percussion; Eloisa-Fleur Thorn & Max Baillie, violins; Connie Pharoah, viola; Max Ruisi & Zara Hudson-Kazdaj, cellos; Martin Robertson & Paul Richards, bass clarinets; David Fuest, contrabass clarinet; Martin Williams & Graeme Blevins, tenor saxophones; Gemma Moore, baritone saxophone. Decca 587 5717 

 

In a Landscape is the ninth solo studio album by the German-born British composer and keyboard performer Max Richter (b. 1966). Our first review of a work by Richter appeared more than a decade ago, when Classical Candor’s founder John Puccio posted his review of Richter’s bold “recomposition” of Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (you can read John's review here). In 2022, Richter released another version of his Seasons recomposition, this time around one of the main differences being we have (other than Richter) musicians playing on gut strings and period instruments: the sort that Vivaldi would have heard and played in his own time. Also, this time around, Richter plays a vintage Moog analog synthesizer rather than the modern digital synth he had employed on the 2014 release (you can read our review here). Then a year later, we reviewed yet another recording of Richter’s Recomposed Four Seasons, this time performed not by Richter himself, but by the Los Angeles-based chamber ensemble Delirium Musicum. You can read our review of this delightful release, which also includes Philip Glass’s American Four Seasons, here.

 

Of course, there’s more to Max Richter’s music than his reimagining of Vivaldi’s greatest hit. One of his most highly publicized musical endeavors was Sleep, an 8-hour “lullaby for a frenetic world” to which listeners at the few liv performances were encouraged to bring cots, sleeping bags, blankets, etc. it is available as a 4-CD set, on an app, plus there is an abbreviated version, From Sleep, which is available on a soothing yet musically satisfying 1-hour CD (our review is available here). But Richter has not only been interested in making music to lull his listeners into states of quiet passivity; quite the opposite, in fact, as revealed by his releases Voices (reviewed here) and Voices 2 (to be found in this set of reviews) with their focus on human rights, plus his later Exiles, with its title composition inspired by a refugee crisis in Syria that involved many thousands of people fleeing for their lives under desperate circumstances (you can find that review here).

The music on In a Landscape is peaceful, introspective, but not somnolent. Richter says of the album that it is about “reconciling polarities, bringing together the electronic and the acoustic, the human and the natural world, the big questions of life and the quiet pleasures of living.” It’s his first solo album recorded at Studio Richter Mahr, the minimalist, eco-conscious creative retreat designed and operated by Richter and his wife, visual artist Yulia Mahr. “The whole building is like an instrument,” he says. “There's an element of exploring the capabilities of the building, how all the spaces sound, all the textures, and trying to discover the fingerprint it has.”

 

He kept the creative process decidedly minimal, writing the notation by hand and restricting the arrangements to just a few instruments: string quintet, grand piano, Hammond organ and MiniMoog, plus tape delays, vocoders, and reverbs. As you can see from the header above, the program comprises 20 tracks: ten musical pieces, which range in duration from 8:33 to 2:16, alternating with nine “Life Studies,” brief ambient field recordings that add an aura of intimacy to the proceedings. Richter’s music is relatively simple in structure, but rich in emotional resonance, capable of engaging both the head and heart of the listener. What’s more, the recorded sound is rich and full. My only quibble is the lack of meaningful liner notes. Other than that, In a Landscape is a meditative masterpiece.

Intermezzo: Works of Michele Mangani (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

Mangani: Executive; Pagina d’Album; Intermezzo; Astor Piazzolla: Tango Étude No. 3 (Arr. Mangani); Mangani: Love Theme; Dancing Doll; Ave Maria; Tre Danze Latine for Clarinet and Piano – I. Contradanza II. Vals Criolio III. Chorinho; Dreaming; Theme for Clarinet; Andante Malinconico; Souvenir. Seunghee Lee, clarinet; Manhattan Chamber Players; Steven Beck, piano. Musica Solis MS202408

 

As Ry Cooder once sang on his treasurable album Paradise and Lunch (well, not really, but it was awfully close), “oh, I’m a fool for a clarinet.” And yes, folks, I really am. I played the clarinet myself, long ago and not particularly well. However, when played by a skilled clarinetist such as Seunghee Lee, I can hardly imagine a sweeter instrumental sound. Lee, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, but who moved at the age of nine to the Chicago area with her family, presents here an engaging program featuring the music of the Italian composer Michele Mangani (b. 1966), someone whose music that has long held an attraction for the clarinetist, perhaps because Mangani is not only a composer, and a conductor, but also a clarinetist himself. He currently resides in Urbino, Italy.

 

Ms. Lee also has other talents beyond the clarinet. 
She collaborated with the noted author Deepak Chopra on his album and book: HOME: Where Everyone is Welcome, a collection of poems and songs inspired by a diverse group of immigrants. She is also a talented golfer, known as “Sunny Kang,” in the golf world. She has been featured in HK Golfer Magazine and has spoken at TEDx Hong Kong about the surprising similarities between golf and music and the mental challenges of viewing both skills through the lens of a perfectionist. 

 

A good introduction to the music to be found on this release can be found in this video introduction to the album by Ms. Lee herself. In it, she remarks that one of the features of Mangani’s music that draws her to it is that it allows her to feel as though she is able to sing through her clarinet. Indeed, Mangani’s music has an expressive, melodic, sweet quality to it that is entertaining but not cloying. The program is divided roughly into halves; from the opening Executive (a performance of which you can view here) through Ave Maria, Ms. Lee is accompanied by the strings of the Manhattan Chamber Players, while the remainder of the program finds Ms. Lee accompanied by the piano of Steven Beck. Included in the first half of the program is the one composition – Astor Piazzolla’s Tango Étude No. 3 – that is not by Mangani himself, but in his arrangement, it fits right in. A particular highlight of the latter collaboration is Andante Maliconico, with its simple but sincere melody played with a full, rich, steady tone by Ms. Lee. All in all, Intermezzo is one of the most pleasant releases to cross my path in quite some time. Highly recommended to those who love melody.

Anna Clyne: Shorthand (Streaming Review)

by Karl Nehring

Shorthand; Three Sisters; Prince of Clouds; Within Her Arms; Shorthand REDUX. Yo-Yo Ma, cello; Avi Avital, mandolin; Colin Jacobsen, Pekka Kuusisto, violins; The Knights; Eric Jacobsen, conductor. Sony Classics

It seems impossible that it was back in early 2020 when I first became acquainted with the music of British-born composer Anna Clyne, who now resides in the Hudson Valley area of New York
. I can’t remember exactly where or when I first saw her name in print, but not long after that, I mentioned her name to Bill Heck during a phone conversation. To my surprise and delight, Bill responded that he and his wife had attended a concert by the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio, where they had both been greatly impressed by a piece titled Within Her Arms – a piece composed by none other than Anna Clyne. Intrigued, I checked Amazon for a recording, but alas, there was none to be found. However, I was soon able to audition it thanks to YouTube, where I was able to track down a video of a live performance. Like Bill and Mary, I too was greatly impressed. I quickly sent the link to another music-loving friend, who was also impressed. How was this wonderful music not yet available on CD?!

Although Within Her Arms was not yet available on disc back in 2020, a few months later I was able to review a new CD release on the AVIE label that paired the venerable Cello Concerto by Sir Edward Elgar with an invigorating new cello concerto by Ms. Clyne titled Dance, a review you can read here. Then early in 2021 AVIE released an all-Clyne orchestral CD titled Mythologies, a release that left no doubt about Clyne’s distinctive and imaginative compositional voice (you can find that review here).

Well, fast-forward three years to the present day, 2024, and it appears that the time has come for Anna Clyne to be more widely acknowledged as a major contemporary composer with this new release featuring her music being played by the well-known superstar soloists Yo-Yo Ma of Sesame Street fame (just [half] kidding) and mandolin virtuoso Avi Avital, supported by the up-and-coming young New York-based chamber orchestra, The Knights. This is certainly an exciting release – but why oh why is there no CD? Call me old-fashioned, but I (and many others) still prefer physical media, thank you. (And don’t tell me about “CD rot,” for the first CD I ever bought, Glenn Gould’s 1981 Goldberg Variations, still plays just fine, thank you.) My fear is that there will be music lovers who will miss out on discovering the remarkable music of this gifted composer simply because they still use CD as their primary source of listening to music. I hope I am wrong – and I will end my rant and return to this rewarding release.

Speaking of the opening composition on the program, Clyne writes, “I wrote Shorthand in 2020 when we were in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic and when I was invited to write a piece for The Knights’ recording project, The Kreutzer Project. I was thrilled to compose this piece as I am a cellist, and I love writing for strings – I can imagine and relate to the physicality of the instruments. Shorthand references two themes from Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata for violin and piano (which inspired Tolstoy’s novella The Kreutzer Sonata): the opening theme, as well as a second theme that Janácek also incorporated in his own String Quartet No. 1, “Kreutzer Sonata” (also inspired by Tolstoy’s novella). That second Beethoven theme inspires the opening material for Shorthand. The title comes from Tolstoy’s comment that ‘Music is the shorthand of emotion. Emotions, which let themselves be described in words with such difficulty, are directly conveyed to man in music, and in that is its power and significance’.” From the opening phrases of Ma’s cello, the emotions do indeed pour forth from this piece, but with sincerity and power, not saccharine and schmaltz. The way The Knights reflect and interact with Ma’s solo part the highlights the beauty of both his playing and Clyne’s writing, both of which are sublime. 

The next work on the program offers a contrasting sonority as the solo instrument shifts from the cello to the mandolin. Clyne writes of her work Three Sisters, which features featuring mandolinist Avi Avital, “in 2016 I was awarded the Hindemith Prize, which provided an opportunity to compose a new work for Avi and string orchestra: Three Sisters. I began work on Three Sisters at an artist retreat in upstate New York in 2017. Alone in a studio in the middle of the woods, dwarfed by a sea of 100-feet pine trees that masked the daylight and harbored the night’s creatures, and situated on an estate littered with haunting stories of ghostly visitations, the music that emerged was itself haunting and ghostly. And so, I fled back home. Saving just a few fragments from my curtailed residence upstate, I continued the work at my home studio in Brooklyn but soon after returning, I had to move apartment unexpectedly. The work was completed in a tiny apartment a little further away from the lights of Manhattan, but which offered something far more beautiful—a rooftop with an unobstructed view of the night sky, decorated with a scattering of jewels on a clear night. And it is the constellation Orion that stared down upon me night after night—the three stars of his belt, the three sisters, shining bright. And so, this work of three portraits unfolded, each portrait sharing the same DNA in varying guises. In addition to my varying whereabouts, the main source of inspiration throughout this journey was Avi’s incredible dexterity and virtuosity, coupled with the tenderness that he brings to the most delicate and sparse of music.” The plucking of the mandolin set against the contrasting sounds of the strings offers a fascinating musical sonority over the work’s three movements, each lasting a little over five minutes, with the movements being cast in the traditional fast-slow-fast concerto arrangement. It’s an utterly delightful work, an unexpected highlight – at least for those of us who never would have expected the mandolin, these days so associated with bluegrass music (sorry, I’m showing my USA provincialism here – but Avi Avital’s playing is completely convincing. Such a wonderful performance of such an enticingly entertaining work this proves to be!

Next on the program is Prince of Clouds, featuring violinists Colin Jacobsen (brother of conductor Eric Jacobsen and a co-director of The Knights) and Pekka Kuusisto. Clyne writes of this work, “originally composed for Jennifer Koh and her mentor at the Curtis Institute of Music, Jaime Laredo, this thread was in the foreground of my imagination as a dialogue between the soloists and ensemble. As a composer, working with such virtuosic, passionate and unique musicians is also another branch of this musical chain. I always imagined this piece having more moments of folk-style-inflections and I’m delighted to have an opportunity to revisit Prince of Clouds with Colin and Pekka.” It’s an intense piece that alternates between lyrical passages and almost violent outbursts from the soloists. Interestingly enough, as I was doing some background research, I ran across a review that John Puccio did of the original recording made back in 2014 by Jennifer Koh and Jaime Laredo, which you can read here.

Within Her Arms is scored for fifteen individual string parts,” explains Clyne, “and the musical material, which begins with a simple A-G-F#-G motif, dances around the ensemble from beginning to end. Weaved into the climax of the piece is the melody from a Taizé prayer, Oh Lord Hear My Prayer. The score includes an outline for where each musician should be positioned on stage, and I orchestrated the music accordingly, so that the musical motifs move around the listener. The score also includes specific indications for unified musical inhalations and exhalations at specific moments in the piece. On October 17th 2008, I was walking up 7th Avenue - just around the corner from Central Park - in New York City, when my father called to share the devastating news that my mother had unexpectedly passed away. For the next few days, the music that forms Within Her Arms poured out of me. Each evening I sat at the piano, in my childhood home, with a candle and a recent photo of her standing on a bridge with a warm smile from a few days before she died. Writing this music allowed me space to reflect on what had happened, and also to find a closeness and peacefulness with her. The title comes from a writing by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist, Thich Nhat Hanh – I found these words in my mother’s very beautiful handwriting during the week following her death. This is my most personal piece of music and I couldn’t imagine a more special group of musicians to record it with.”  It is a composition that is at once calm and intense, swirling with emotion that stirs the soul. The listener can feel longing, but also resolution as the sound of the strings rises and fades. 

The album ends with an abbreviated version of Shorthand, which this time around seems to be the perfect way to follow the emotional tone set by Within Her Arms. There is a sense of looking back with satisfaction toward what has come before, of accepting life’s losses, challenges, and blessings with equanimity. Of course, each lister will have their own reaction to this – or any – music, for such reaction is certainly subjective; however, I feel confident in making the objective judgment that Anna Clyne is a composer whose time has come, and that Shorthand is an album well worth a serious audition. 

Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances etc. (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

Symphonic Dances, Op. 45; Capriccio on Gypsy Themes ‘Caprice Bohémien’, Op. 12; Scherzo in D minor; The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29. St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; Leonard Slatkin, conductor. VOX-NX-3042CD

 

How gratifying it is to see Naxos continuing its release of conductor Leonard Slatkin’s traversal of Rachmaninoff’s (that’s the currently accepted English spelling) symphonic music, which he recorded for the budget Vox label back in the 1970s with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. We reviewed the first of these recordings to be released back in February, 2023, a release that contained Symphony No. 2 along with the haunting Vocalise that review can be seen hereMost classical music lovers of a certain age are no doubt familiar with Vox, a budget label that produced some real gems over the years. Even though Vox was a budget label, the sound quality on some of their releases could be excellent, especially those recorded by the production team at Elite Recordings, led by engineer Marc Aubort and producer Joanna Nickrenz. There is an article at the PS Audio website discussing the fine-sounding Ravel box set Vox released in the 1970s that provides some insight into Elite’s recording process, which you can find here. The main sonic drawback back in the LP days of yore was the often-substandard quality of Vox’s vinyl pressings. But in the past few years, there have been some significant advances in digital technology, allowing the good folks at Naxos, who now own the rights to the Vox treasure trove, the opportunity to give us truly elite versions of the Elite recordings.

Appearing on the back cover of these new “Vox Audiophile Edition” versions is a highlighted statement affirming that “The Elite recordings for Vox legendary producers Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz are considered by audiophiles to be among the finest sounding orchestral recordings.” For these reissues, Naxos engineers have taken those tapes from the vaults and carefully prepared these CDs for release, the end product of their labors being what they describe as “new192 kHz / 24-bit high definition transfers of the original Elite Recordings analogue master tapes.” Of course, all that work would not mean much if the performances captured by Aubort and Nickrenz were no great shakes to begin with; however, these Rachmaninoff recordings by Maestro Slatkin and the SLSO were excellent when they were released, and they are excellent now. These new remasterings onto CD allow today’s listeners to fully enjoy the confident, expressive playing of the SLSO under Slatkin’s leadership captured in transparent, dynamic sound that captures the sense of an orchestra playing in a hall. 

 

The major works on the disc are the opening Symphonic Dances and the closing The Isle of the Dead. Slatkin leads the SLSO in a tight, controlled, yet lyrical reading of the former, made even more enjoyable by the transparent quality of the recording, which offers a convincing illusion of hearing an orchestra in a hall. The sound might lack that last bit of power and excitement that Telarc afforded David Zinman and his Baltimore players, but it is still very, very good. I really don’t have much to say about The Isle of the Dead, however; to be honest, although many folks find it to be one of Rachmaninoff’s most moving works, it is a piece that makes no real impression on me and I seldom give it a listen Slatkin’s version sounds just fine, to be sure, but that’s about all I can say. 

However, I will close with great enthusiasm by pointing out that the other two pieces on the program, the Capriccio on Gypsy Themes and especially the brief (4:49) Scherzo in D minor are delightfully tuneful and refreshing romps that remind you how much a master melodist Rachmaninoff could be. The Scherzo is a piece that almost demands that the listener break into a dance step before those brief five minutes pass by. By including these two extra compositions, Naxos has given a CD containing more than 77 minutes of well-recorded, well-performed music both familiar and unfamiliar. Like the other Slatkin/SLSO “Audiophile Edition” VOX releases, this one is well worth seeking out.