Jan 24, 2024

Recent Releases No. 69 (CD Reviews)

by Karl Nehring

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 19 and 25 (orchestra parts transcribed for string quartet and double bass by Ignaz Lachner). Alon Goldstein, piano; Fine Arts Quartet (Ralph Evans, violin I; Efim Boico, violin II; Gil Sharon, viola; Niklas Schmidt, cello); Lizzie Burns, double bass. Naxos 8.574477

Pianist Alon Goldstein remarks of these two particular pieces that they are his personal favorites from among all of Mozart’s piano concertos, then goes on to explain about the arrangements in which they appear on this recording: “Rearrangement of music was very common in the 18th and 19th centuries. The composer and conductor Ignaz Lachner rearranged 19 Mozart concertos, including the two featured on this recording for piano and string quartet with double bass, most likely for the simple pleasure of domestic use m—having the opportunity to play these beloved works without the need of a full orchestra.” Surely the vast majority of those reading this review are much more likely to be playing this music in their homes through loudspeakers rather than by assembling a group of their chamber music friends to perform it themselves on the appropriate instruments. Those who do listen to this release either by CD (which is how I auditioned it) or through streaming will be rewarded by some richly melodic music abounding in expression, energy, and emotion. What started out as a piano concerto reduces well to a chamber work. Goldstein’s piano part carrying over unchanged. If anything, the work becomes more intimate, more intense, if not quite so rich in color and texture. For those who love the Mozart piano concertos – and I doubt there are many classical music lovers who do not – this recording will not only prove rewarding in its own right, but it will complement and enhance other recordings of these concertos. Highly recommended.

 

Mozart’s Jazz Requiem: The Queen’s Cartoonists (Joel Pierson, piano, arrangements;

Rossen Nedelchev, drums; Mark Phillips, clarinet, alto sax, flute, soprano sax; Greg Hammontree, trumpet, trombone; Drew Pitcher, tenor sax, bass clarinet; Steve Whipple, bass); Special Guests – Jon Singer, xylophone, marimba;; Samantha Lake, tuba (3, 6); Jen Wharton, bass trombone; Tatum Greenblatt, trumpet; Wayne Tucker, trumpet. 7 Train Records (digital release)

 

Well, there are arrangements and then there are arrangements. Ignaz Lachner’s arrangements of Mozart’s piano concertos, for example, kept the piano part intact but reduced the wind and string parts down so they could be played by a small ensemble such as string quartet augmented by a double bass. But what we have here is something completely different. Joel Pierson’s arrangement of Mozart’s unfinished Requiem into Mozart’s Jazz Requiem is meant not as a meticulous downsizing of the score for performing by smaller forces, as was Lachner’s; rather,  it is meant as a kind of jazz tribute to what the musicians of the Queen’s Cartoonist’s esteem as one of the greatest pieces ever written. The entire piece has been re-composed in a boisterous jazz style. Using Mozart’s renowned sense of humor as their guide, the band presents a wildly original take on Vienna’s greatest export. The record is being released as a visual album, with the tracks synchronized to old cartoons, which will be screened at performances of the work. It’s wildly irreverent, enthusiastically energetic – not exactly the characteristics we normally associate with a requiem, n’cest-pas? Obviously, to enjoy this piece, you have to be willing to enter into the spirit of the thing. Some listeners will find this sort of thing sacrilege, others will find it good-natured fun and admire the skill and enthusiasm that the Queen’s Cartoonists bring to their project. For a taste of what they are up to, you can check out this video. Have fun! 

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Meet the Staff

Meet the Staff
John J. Puccio, Founder and Contributor

Understand, I'm just an everyday guy reacting to something I love. And I've been doing it for a very long time, my appreciation for classical music starting with the musical excerpts on the Big Jon and Sparkie radio show in the early Fifties and the purchase of my first recording, The 101 Strings Play the Classics, around 1956. In the late Sixties I began teaching high school English and Film Studies as well as becoming interested in hi-fi, my audio ambitions graduating me from a pair of AR-3 speakers to the Fulton J's recommended by The Stereophile's J. Gordon Holt. In the early Seventies, I began writing for a number of audio magazines, including Audio Excellence, Audio Forum, The Boston Audio Society Speaker, The American Record Guide, and from 1976 until 2008, The $ensible Sound, for which I served as Classical Music Editor.

Today, I'm retired from teaching and use a pair of bi-amped VMPS RM40s loudspeakers for my listening. In addition to writing for the Classical Candor blog, I served as the Movie Review Editor for the Web site Movie Metropolis (formerly DVDTown) from 1997-2013. Music and movies. Life couldn't be better.

Karl Nehring, Editor and Contributor

For more than 20 years I was the editor of The $ensible Sound magazine and a regular contributor to both its equipment and recordings review pages. I would not presume to present myself as some sort of expert on music, but I have a deep love for and appreciation of many types of music, "classical" especially, and have listened to thousands of recordings over the years, many of which still line the walls of my listening room (and occasionally spill onto the furniture and floor, much to the chagrin of my long-suffering wife). I have always taken the approach as a reviewer that what I am trying to do is simply to point out to readers that I have come across a recording that I have found of interest, a recording that I think they might appreciate my having pointed out to them. I suppose that sounds a bit simple-minded, but I know I appreciate reading reviews by others that do the same for me — point out recordings that they think I might enjoy.

For readers who might be wondering about what kind of system I am using to do my listening, I should probably point out that I do a LOT of music listening and employ a variety of means to do so in a variety of environments, as I would imagine many music lovers also do. Starting at the more grandiose end of the scale, the system in which I do my most serious listening comprises Marantz CD 6007 and Onkyo CD 7030 CD players, NAD C 658 streaming preamp/DAC, Legacy Audio PowerBloc2 amplifier, and a pair of Legacy Audio Focus SE loudspeakers. I occasionally do some listening through pair of Sennheiser 560S headphones. I miss the excellent ELS Studio sound system in our 2016 Acura RDX (now my wife's daily driver) on which I had ripped more than a hundred favorite CDs to the hard drive, so now when driving my 2022 Accord EX-L Hybrid I stream music from my phone through its adequate but not outstanding factory system. For more casual listening at home when I am not in my listening room, I often stream music through the phone into a Vizio soundbar system that has tolerably nice sound for such a diminutive physical presence. And finally, at the least grandiose end of the scale, I have an Ultimate Ears Wonderboom II Bluetooth speaker for those occasions where I am somewhere by myself without a sound system but in desperate need of a musical fix. I just can’t imagine life without music and I am humbly grateful for the technology that enables us to enjoy it in so many wonderful ways.

William (Bill) Heck, Webmaster and Contributor

Among my early childhood memories are those of listening to my mother playing records (some even 78 rpm ones!) of both classical music and jazz tunes. I suppose that her love of music was transmitted genetically, and my interest was sustained by years of playing in rock bands – until I realized that this was no way to make a living. The interest in classical music was rekindled in grad school when the university FM station serving as background music for studying happened to play the Brahms First Symphony. As the work came to an end, it struck me forcibly that this was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard, and from that point on, I never looked back. This revelation was to the detriment of my studies, as I subsequently spent way too much time simply listening, but music has remained a significant part of my life. These days, although I still can tell a trumpet from a bassoon and a quarter note from a treble clef, I have to admit that I remain a nonexpert. But I do love music in general and classical music in particular, and I enjoy sharing both information and opinions about it.

The audiophile bug bit about the same time that I returned to classical music. I’ve gone through plenty of equipment, brands from Audio Research to Yamaha, and the best of it has opened new audio insights. Along the way, I reviewed components, and occasionally recordings, for The $ensible Sound magazine. Most recently I’ve moved to my “ultimate system” consisting of a BlueSound Node streamer, an ancient Toshiba multi-format disk player serving as a CD transport, Legacy Wavelet II DAC/preamp/crossover, dual Legacy PowerBloc2 amps, and Legacy Signature SE speakers (biamped), all connected with decently made, no-frills cables. With the arrival of CD and higher resolution streaming, that is now the source for most of my listening.

Ryan Ross, Contributor

I started listening to and studying classical music in earnest nearly three decades ago. This interest grew naturally out of my training as a pianist. I am now a musicologist by profession, specializing in British and other symphonic music of the 19th and 20th centuries. My scholarly work has been published in major music journals, as well as in other outlets. Current research focuses include twentieth-century symphonic historiography, and the music of Jean Sibelius, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Malcolm Arnold.

I am honored to contribute writings to Classical Candor. In an age where the classical recording industry is being subjected to such profound pressures and changes, it is more important than ever for those of us steeped in this cultural tradition to continue to foster its love and exposure. I hope that my readers can find value, no matter how modest, in what I offer here.


Bryan Geyer, Technical Analyst

I initially embraced classical music in 1954 when I mistuned my car radio and heard the Heifetz recording of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. That inspired me to board the new "hi-fi" DIY bandwagon. In 1957 I joined one of the pioneer semiconductor makers and spent the next 32 years marketing transistors and microcircuits to military contractors. Home audio DIY projects remained a personal passion until 1989 when we created our own new photography equipment company. I later (2012) revived my interest in two channel audio when we "downsized" our life and determined that mini-monitors + paired subwoofers were a great way to mate fine music with the space constraints of condo living.

Visitors that view my technical papers on this site may wonder why they appear here, rather than on a site that features audio equipment reviews. My reason is that I tried the latter, and prefer to publish for people who actually want to listen to music; not to equipment. My focus is in describing what's technically beneficial to assure that the sound of the system will accurately replicate the source input signal (i. e. exhibit high accuracy) without inordinate cost and complexity. Conversely, most of the audiophiles of today strive to achieve sound that's euphonic, i.e. be personally satisfying. In essence, audiophiles seek sound that's consistent with their desire; the music is simply a test signal.

Mission Statement

It is the goal of Classical Candor to promote the enjoyment of classical music. Other forms of music come and go--minuets, waltzes, ragtime, blues, jazz, bebop, country-western, rock-'n'-roll, heavy metal, rap, and the rest--but classical music has been around for hundreds of years and will continue to be around for hundreds more. It's no accident that every major city in the world has one or more symphony orchestras.

When I was young, I heard it said that only intellectuals could appreciate classical music, that it required dedicated concentration to appreciate. Nonsense. I'm no intellectual, and I've always loved classical music. Anyone who's ever seen and enjoyed Disney's Fantasia or a Looney Tunes cartoon playing Rossini's William Tell Overture or Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 can attest to the power and joy of classical music, and that's just about everybody.

So, if Classical Candor can expand one's awareness of classical music and bring more joy to one's life, more power to it. It's done its job. --John J. Puccio

Contact Information

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"Their Master's Voice" by Michael Sowa

"Their Master's Voice" by Michael Sowa