Recent Releases No. 81 (CD Reviews)

by Karl Nehring

 

Martinu: (CD1) Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2; (CD2) Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 (CD3) Symphonies No. 5 & No. 6 “Fantaisies Symphoniques.” Bamberger Symphoniker; Jakub Hrusa, conductor. Deutsche Grammophon 486 7810

First, please allow me to apologize for not including the appropriate diacritical marks in the names of the composer and conductor; frustratingly enough, my computer did not make those available for me, alas. However, I hope that sharp-eyed readers will be able discern the correct typography from the album cover image. Moving on to another consideration, I was surprised to discover that (a) at the time I write this, there are only three listings for Martinu reviews on the Classical Candor website [it will show four when this review is posted, of course] and (b) of those three, none was for any of his symphonies. But what we have here is a fine new release that includes first-rate performances in excellent recorded sound quality of not just some but rather of all six of his symphonies. For fans of these works, this set will be a welcome breath of fresh air, something for which they have been waiting for a long time indeed. For those unfamiliar with Martinu’s symphonies, they are certainly pleasant, if not particularly memorable. To be honest, I have listened over and over and over again to this set, trying and trying and trying to get a handle on it. But the best I can say is what I just said: it is pleasant, at times quite interesting, but to these ears at least, is never quite memorable. For me, Martinu never quite seems to know just where he is going with his symphonies. I can enjoy them, but never do I feel they are moving me emotionally or intellectually. But having listened to other Martinu symphony recordings, I can recognize this one as especially fine; as a result, I recommend it highly to longtime Martinu fans as well as those newcomers looking to explore his music. It’s a superb account.

 

Walton: Orb and Sceptre; Symphony No. 1 in B flat minor; Symphony No. 2. City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; Kazuki Yamada, conductor. Deutsche Grammophon 486 8227

The English composer Sir William Walton (1902-1983) wrote music in a variety of formats, including film scores, operas, concertos, and symphonies. Back in 2018, when my old friend and colleague from The $ensible Sound audio magazine days invited me to contribute to Classical Candor, my very first review (which you can read here) was of a recording of Walton’s Viola Concerto, which is a bit ironic, given that in the course of my otherwise quite positive review I did happen to mention that “although I have a fair number of recordings of Walton's music in my CD collection, I must confess that I seldom play any of them.” But one that I do play and enjoy from time to time is the Previn/LSO recording of the First Symphony. Compared to Previn, Yamada seems a bit less intense, missing some of the fire and drama inherent in the music, especially in the opening movement. The advantage of this new release from DG is having both symphonies on one disc, in excellent sound and smooth, professional performances. However, the vintage Previn recordings are still the gold standard. 

 

Marilyn Crispell/Anders Jormin: Memento. Crispell/Jormin: For the Children; Crispell/Jormin: Dialogue; Crispell/Jormin: Embracing the Otherness; Crispell/Jormin: Contemplation in D; Jormin: Three Shades of a House – Morning; Three Shades of a House – Evening; Crispell: Song; Crispell: Memento; Crispell: Beach at Newquay; Jormin: The Dark Light; Crispell: Dragonfly. Marilyn Crispell, piano; Anders Jormin, double bass. ECM 2867

American pianist Marilyn Crispell (b. 1976) was trained as a classical pianist, beginning her studies at age seven at Peabody Conservatory, then later graduating from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1968. It was not until 1975 that she developed an interest in jazz, her interest having been triggered by her exposure to John Coltrane’s legendary recording A Love Supreme, which she found spellbinding. She began to hang with jazz musicians playing in an intense style that left little space between the notes. But this began to change in the early 1990s when on a trip to Europe she encountered an ensemble that included bassist and composer Anders Jormin (b. 1957). Hearing this more lyrical style of music touched something deep inside her, and before long she wound up touring and recording with Jormin’s Bortom Quintet. Since then, both Crispell and Jormin have appeared on numerous ECM albums, both as leaders and supporting players; in fact, we have reviewed some albums featuring Jormin on double bass, and those reviews can be found (here) and (here). Throughout Memento, you can feel the joy and empathy these two musicians share as they unite to create music. From Crispell’s opening piano notes of For the Children, soon joined by Jormin’s bowed bass, the music simply flows. Never is there a hint of note-spinning for the sake of virtuoso display from either player; rather, the atmosphere is one of contemplative beauty throughout. Memento is an ideal fusion of jazz and chamber music, recommended highly to fans of both genres.

 

Miroslav Vitous: Mountain Call. Miroslav Vitous/Michel Portal: New Energy; Second Touch; On the Way; Vitous: Unexpected Solutions; Tribal Dance; Vitous/Portal: Rehearsal in Theatre; Discussion; Vitous: Epilogue; Vitous/Portal: Delusion; Vitous: Evolution – Path Begins/Nature Opening/Fulfillment Final; Rhapsody – In You/Fun and Games/Africa/In Me/Lullaby; Mountain Call. Miroslav Vitous, double bass; Michel Portal, clarinet, bass clarinet; Jack DeJohnette, drums; Bob Mintzer, bass clarinet; Esperanza Spalding, voice; Gary Campbell, soprano and tenor saxophones; Members of the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Miroslav Vitous. ECM 2763

It was quite a pleasant surprise to find this CD by the veteran Czech bassist Miroslav Vitous (b. 1947), who had a long and distinguished career in jazz having played with a veritable who's who of jazz stars such as Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Herbie Mann, Roy Ayers, Billy Cobham, Jan Garbarekand others. In 1970, he teamed with keyboardist Joe Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter to form the core of Weather Report, the jazz fusion super group. Recent back problems have forced Vitous to give up playing the double bass, although he is still active as a composer. Mountain Call consists of music that was recorded in by Vitous in Prague at various sessions from 2003 through 2010. Sadly enough, the two musicians given top cover billing along with Vitous are no longer with us, French clarinetist and composer Michel Portal (1935-2026) the revered American drum demigod Jack DeJohnette (1942-2025). Such a delight it is to hear the interplay between Portal and Vitous as the dance and weave their way through the first four tracks; DeJohnette proves that he too is an able dance partner. Some listeners may find themselves put off by Spalding’s vocals; those tracks are brief, and then the album end with an impassioned duet featuring Portal on bass clarinet and Vitous wringing sheer passion from his bass. For the many fans of Miroslav Vitous who have missed hearing him for quite some time now, ECM has given us quite the treasure.

In Memoriam: Sonny Rollins

by Karl Nehring

On May 25, we lost a giant in the world of jazz, Sonny Rollins, the “Saxophone Colossus,” who was widely regarded as the greatest improviser on his instrument; moreover, he was widely regarded as a wise, kind, generous human being. Even those not generally familiar with jazz history may recall the famous story of Sonny Rollins and “the bridge.” In the summer of 1959, Rollins, who was already recognized as a great young talent and had released two widely acclaimed LPs. Saxophone Colossus and Way Out West, abruptly stopped touring in 1959 and instead began a daily routine of practicing his horn on the Williamsburg Bridge over New York City’s East River, often playing as much as 14-15 hours, refining his craft for two years until finally going back on tour in the fall of 1961. Then in early 1962, he stepped into the studio to record an album titled The Bridge, which featured guitar virtuoso Jim Hall. Sonny was finally forced to hang up his horn in 2014 because of respiratory illness, but he remained a beloved elder statesman in the jazz community. 

In the wake of his passing, many tributes to Sonny Rollins have been posted, two of which I have included here. The first is by bassist Christian McBride (you can read Christian's tribute here), while the second is by the Detroit based jazz critic Mark Stryker, kindly made available courtesy of pianist and author Ethan Iverson (which can be found here). Stryker offers recommendations about Rollins’s recordings; ideally, late one evening soon you will look over his list, find an album that sounds promising, and give Sonny a listen.

Bill Frisell: In My Dreams (Streaming and Concert Review)

by Karl Nehring

Bill Frisell: In My Dreams. Frisell: Trapped in the Sky; When We Go; In My Dreams; Strayhorn/Ellington: Isfahan; Frisell: Give Me a Home (interpolation of "Home on the Range"); Why?; Curtis (A Year and a Day) [dedicated to Curtis Fowlkes]; Stephen Foster: Hard Times; Frisell: Again; Never Too Late; Brewster M. Higley/Daniel E. Kelley: Home on the Range. Bill Frisell, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, loops; Jenny Scheinman, violin; Eyvind Kang, viola; Hank Roberts, cello; Thomas Morgan, double bass; Rudy Royston, drums. Blue Note 8813766

The last time we reviewed an album featuring the American guitarist Bill Frisell (b.1951), he was contributing as part of a quartet led by the veteran drummer Andrew Cyrille (you can read our review of that compelling 2021 ECM release here). I had first become acquainted with Frisell’s playing four decades ago, from the 1986 album Bass Desires (ECM 1299) (Marc Johnson, double bass; Bill Frisell, guitar and guitar synthesizer; John Scofield, guitar; Peter Erkine, drums) and 1987’s Strange Meeting (Antilles New Directions 90627-2) by Power Tools (Frisell, electric guitar; Ronald Shannon Jackson, drums; Melving Gibbs, electric bass). Throughout the 1980s, Frisell played on numerous ECM albums both as sideman and leader, having originally been recommended to the label by Pat Metheny, who had found himself unable to make a recording gig and suggested that ECM founder Manfred Eicher consider Frisell as a worthy substitute. Frisell has gone on to make many fine recordings for other labels as well, most notably Nonesuch, some of my personal favorites being 1997’s country-tinged Nashville, 2001’s foggily mystical Blues Dream, and the extended live jams featured in 2005’s East/West. In 2019, he signed with the venerable Blue Note label, for which he has released several recordings, including the fascinating Orchestras (Blue Note 583733 2-CD) from 2024, which features his trio (Frisell, guitar; Thomas Morgan, double bass; Rudy Royston, drums) together with the Brussels Philharmonic and the Umbria Jazz Orchestra.

I must admit that that when I first auditioned his latest release, In My Dreams, I was a bit underwhelmed. I was expecting the music to be energetic, with some extended passages of virtuoso finesse; instead, what I discovered was something that struck me as laid back in the extreme. Part of my expectation stemmed from having seen the Bill Frisell Trio (Frisell, guitar and loops; Greg Tardy, clarinet and saxophone; Tim Angulon, drums and percussion) in 2024 perform a live show that was an amazing two hours of stunning musicianship. I shall never forget their opening number. With Tardy on clarinet, the three musicians played 45 minutes of music that had a classical feel about it, as though long passages could have been composed by – or at least inspired by – Debussy. They went on for more than another hour, playing music both fast and slow, tough and tender. Throughout the show, although Frisell never played fast and flashy – that’s never been his style – his playing was generally energetic and assertive. But what I heard when first I streamed In My Dreams seemed to border on the lethargic.

 

Some months before the release of the new album, some friends and I had purchased tickets to see Frisell and his band in concert. We were excited to see that he was going to be bringing Scheinman, Kang, Roberts, and crew; we anticipated a rollicking, high-energy evening. However, when the album came out featuring the same lineup, but sounding overly buttoned-down, at least as far as I was concerned, I found myself losing some of my initial enthusiasm for the upcoming concert, especially given that Frisell’s tour and concert likewise were titled In My Dreams. Still, because Frisell is one of my musical heroes and because live music is always rewarding, I figured that seeing the band play In My Dreams in the flesh would beat hearing it at home. As the musicians took the stage and Frisell introduced his bandmates, a large screen behind the stage began displaying a striking, colorful abstract art image, and as the musicians began to play, the image on the screen began to change, scrolling slowly from right to left as new art worked its way across the screen as the musicians played. What they played was of course similar to what I had heard on the album, but with more drama and depth. It was an amazing evening, one that exceeded my expectations. But what was especially gratifying is how seeing Frisell and company in concert changed my perception of the album, for when I went back and listened to it in the wake of my concert experience I was now able to hear it on its own terms, without preconceived notions of what I wanted it to sound like. Listening to it with fresh ears, I heard music that communicated in simple, direct ways, but was simultaneously subtle and sophisticated. In My Dreams is a remarkable amalgam of chamber music and jazz, easily and enthusiastically recommendable to fans of both genres.                                                                                                                                                                                                     

 

Premieres (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

Premieres. Scott Wheeler: Birds of America; Avner Dorman: Nigunim (Violin Concerto No. 2); Bright Sheng: Let Fly. Gil Shaham, violin; The Orchestra Now; Leon Botstein, conductor. Canary Classics CC26

Our first encounter with The Orchestra Now conducted by Leon Botstein did not go all that well, as we found their previous release, Transcription as Translation (AVIE AV2822), to be less than inspiring listening (you can find our review of that CD here). This time around, however, we find these same musicians on a different label and taking a different musical approach; rather than transcriptions of works from the past, they are teaming with violin virtuoso Gil Shaham (b. 1971) to present three contemporary concertos for violin and orchestra. Each of these works was in fact written expressly for Shaham, who writes, “it is an honor to have premiered and been a part of the creation of the three compositions featured on this album. I treasure my friendships with Avner, Bright, and Scott, whose inspired music has already resonated with so many, and with Leon, whose singular artistry and vision made this project happen."

Birds of America is American composer Scott Wheeler’s (b. 1952) second violin concerto. It is in the typical three-movement, fast-slow-fast format, with all three movements incorporating bird-inspired sounds and themes. Although that description might make it seem as though the music might sound gimmicky or superficial, the piece sounds at once serious and playful, pleasant and substantial. Nigunim by Israeli composer Avner Dorman (b. 1975) is in four movements with a slow-fast-slow-fast pattern. It is a more intense-sounding, driven work than Birds. There are clearly discernible Jewish influences and elements, such as Klezmer music. Let Fly by Chinese American composer Bright Sheng (b. 1955) is in three movements, played without a break, with the soloist asked to insert a brief cadenza between the second and third movements. The work’s title has a dual origin: “first, it is the aural image of the violin melody just flying off in the air, an everlasting sensation when I first saw Gil Shaham perform a concert. The second inspiration of the title came from my daughter Fayfay (homonym for ‘to fly’ in Chinese). I wrote a child rhyme named after her when she was born on November 15th, 2010. And the first phrase of the song appears a few times in the composition.” It’s a rhapsodic piece, flowing and free, with Shaham given plenty of opportunity to shine. With three substantial concertos, excellent engineering, and informative program notes, Premieres is a recommendable release.

 

Concert Report: Pat Metheny Side-Eye III+ 

 

In my recent review of the latest release from the veteran American guitarist and composer Pat Metheny (b. 1954), titled Side-Eye III+ (you can find that review here), I mentioned that I was looking forward to attending a live concert in April by the touring version of this band. And so it was that on a pleasant spring evening in Cincinnati that my wife, one of my sons, and I sat down in our front-row balcony seats to enjoy another evening of music from Metheny’s electric band. Our son Isaac, now in his 50s, had been just a young kid when we took him and his older brother to see the Pat Metheny Group (Metheny, guitar; Lyle Mays, keyboards; Steve Rodby, bass; Paul Wertico, drums; Pedro Aznar, guitar, vocals; Naná Vasconcelos, percussion) back in the fall of 1981. Since then, sad to say, both Lyle Mays (1953-2020) and Naná Vasconcelos (1944-2016) have passed on; they are both dearly missed. Around 2019 or so, Metheny embarked on what he came to call his Side-Eye project, seeking out and jamming with talented young musicians who were familiar with his music, which led to some recordings and tours. The most recent incarnation of Side-Eye is Side-Eye III, which includes Metheny plus Chris Fishman on piano, organ, and synthesizers and Joe Dyson on drums. For the recent studio album, Metheny augmented the core trio with a number of other musicians, hence the designation “III+” in the title. For the concert tour, the trio was expanded to a quintet with the addition of Leonard Patton, percussion and vocals, and Jermain Paul, bass. Metheny and his band put on quite a show, playing for more than two hours. There were tunes from the new album, such as “In On It,” “Urban and Western,” and “SE-O;” there was a solo acoustic guitar segment from Pat, alone on stage, and there were even some old Pat Metheny Group favorites, including a couple we had hear back in 1981, “Phase Dance” and “Are You Going With Me?” The two musical and emotional highlights of the evening for me were also Pat Metheny Group tunes, both from the same 1984 album, Metheny’s final release on Manfred Eicher’s ECM label, First Circle (ECM 1278), “The First Circle” and “Más Allá (Beyond),” both of which on this night featured the moving vocal contributions of Leonard Patton. “The First Circle” is a kinetic, propulsive song that just keeps cranking up the energy level until you think you are going to burst with sheer joyful excitement; “Más Allá,” on the other hand, is more reflective. On the 1984 ECM album, it was sung by a young Pedro Aznar, then soon after the passing of his old bandmate and friend Lyle Mays in 2020, the mature Pedro Aznar, now an established musician in his native Argentina, recorded the tune on YouTube in tribute (you can watch that video here). Hearing Side-Eye III+ with Leonard Patton singing this tender melody brought back memories of Pedro, of Lyle – and with those memories came tears of both sadness and joy. Such is the power of music. Should you ever get the opportunity to catch Pat Metheny in concert – whether solo or in a group – do not hesitate, because he is one of the master musicians of our time.

Recent Releases No. 81 (CD/Streaming Reviews)

 by Karl Nehring

Pat Metheny: Side-eye III+. Metheny: In on It; Don’t Look Down; Make a New World; Urban and Western; SE-O; Our Old Street; Risk and Reward; So Far So Good. Pat Metheny, guitars, sounds, synths; Joe Dyson; drums; Chris Fishman, keyboards, piano, organ; + Daryl Johns, bass; with Brandee Younger, harp; Luis Conte, percussion; Vincent Petrani, accordion; vocals – Mark Kibble, Natalie Litza, Kim Fleming, Kim Mont, San Franklin, Stephanie Hall, Joel Kivbble, Terry White, Armand Hutton; Leonard Patton (vocal on SE-O); James Francies (organ on Urban and Western). Green Hill GHD6626

Guitarist Pat Metheny (b.1954) has enjoyed a long and productive career that has taken him to venues large and small all around the globe. In addition to leading his own ensembles, he has played with a veritable who’s who of jazz musicians. He was turned on to jazz at an early age by his older brother Mike (who became a jazz trumpeter) when Mike brought home records by trumpeter Miles Davis and guitarist Wes Montgomery. He began practicing in earnest, honing his skills by sitting in at local venues in the Kansas City area. While still a teenager, Metheny was recruited by vibraphone master Gary Burton to join his group; in addition, at age 18 Metheny became the youngest guitar instructor ever at the University of Miami and then at 19 taught at Berklee. In 1975, with the encouragement of Burton, Metheny made his first recording as a leader, Bright Size Life, for the ECM label. He has made dozens of recordings over the years, both in group and solo settings, to date earning him an impressive 20 Grammy awards; moreover, he is the only artist ever to have won Grammys in 10 different categories.

In 1977, he formed the Pat Metheny Group, which began as a quartet built around the nucleus of Metheny on guitar and the prodigiously gifted keyboard player and composer Lyle Mays (1953-2020). By the time I took my young sons to their first-ever concert in the fall of 1981 to see the PMG, the original bassist and drummer had been replaced and the group was now a sextet. Over the ensuing decades, Metheny has made some memorable music, never resting on his laurels or being content to play his familiar compositions over and over again. He has always strived to create something new, pushing himself as a composer and arranger as well as a guitarist. From his earlier albums with his Pat Metheny Group (Still Life Talking and We Live Here are noteworthy examples highlighting his melodic gifts, along with those of his gifted keyboard companion, the late Lyle Mays) through his final album with the group, The Way Up, which is virtually a through-composed symphonic-style piece by Metheny that strains against the limitations of a small jazz ensemble, Metheny followers could sense that he was more than just a guitarist, he was a composer whose chosen instrument was the guitar. 

 

In 2020 he returned to the studio with a new group to release From This Place, a flowingly lyrical album that included some symphonic accompaniment. At 76 minutes, it was an impressive achievement, emphasizing once again Metheny’s gift for composition as well as his prowess on the guitar. Then in 2021, he released his first overtly classical recording, Road to the Sun, which finds Metheny stepping back as a performer and forward as a composer, penning a solo piece for classical guitarist Jason Vieaux and an ensemble piece for the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. He does perform one composition, however, but not one of his own: Für Alina by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, which Metheny performs on his one-of-a kind custom-made 42-string “Pikasso” guitar (you can read our review of that album here).

 

On this new 2026 release, Metheny has returned to the group format. “Side-eye” refers to a concept where Metheny has searched out promising young musicians and when he has found those especially promising, has appeared with them in live shows and in some cases, as with this current configuration, Side-eye III, taken them on tour and made a recording. (I’ve got tickets for their live show in Cincinnati in April.) Side-eye III + finds Metheny expanding his musical palette by augmenting his basic guitar/keyboard/drums trio format not only with bass, but also with additional instruments – check out the organ grooves on Urban and Western and SE-O – and voices, the latter offering subtle texture and depth to several of Metheny’s tunes. Metheny is a master of melody, which seems to flow through him from on high through his mind to his fingers, whether picking or strumming. My only quibble is the mix of the drums, which is a bit too forward for my taste. Other than that, Side-eye III+ is both a musical and sonic knockout.

 

Sarah Kirkland Snider: Forward Into Light. Snider: Forward Into Light; Drink the Wild Ayre; Eye of Mnemosyne; Something for the Dark. Metropolis Ensemble; Andrew Cyr, Artistic Director/Conductor. Nonesuch 075597893243

 

American composer Sarah Kirkland Snider (b. 1973) writes, “I love writing music for orchestra. I delight in having a large palette of colors and an oversized canvas on which to explore remote psychological interiors and discursive narrative journeys.” The title piece that opens the program on this CD certainly draws on a large palette of instrumental colors as she crafts what she describes as a “meditation on perseverance, bravery, and alliance, informed by the American women's suffrage movement… Rather than narrate history, the piece distills the inner weather of belief and doubt: what it means to endure isolation, harassment, incarceration, even force-feeding, in service of a larger ideal.” The piece is intricately crafted, contains some interesting sonorities, but its lack of meaningful melodic content holds it back from making a lasting impression. Much the same can be said for the final two pieces on the program, Eye of Mnemosyneand Something for the Dark. Both are well-crafted but on the abstract side; neither is likely to inspire much repeat listening. The highlight of the program is Drink the Wild Ayre, which is a reimagining of a piece that Snider originally composed for the Emerson String Quartet’s final season. The version here is for harp and strings; although not suffused with hummable melodies, Drink the Wild Ayre has a sense of flow and coherence that holds up to repeated listening and provides genuine musical enjoyment.

 

Streaming Summaries:

 

Huw Watkins: Fanfare for the Hallé; Symphony No. 2; Concerto for Orchestra. Hallé Orchestra; Sir Mark Elder, conductor, Hallé CDHLL7569

 

British pianist and composer Huw Watkins (b.1976) first came to my attention as a chamber musician when I had seen on Twitter (now X), where I followed him, that he was doing some chamber recordings as a pianist. When I recently came across this new orchestral release, I was surprised, for I had no idea that he was a composer – and of symphonies, no less! This was a release that I definitely had to hear. Although I was not quite sure what to expect, what I had seen from Watkins on Twitter a few years ago led me to believe that what I was about to hear would not be discordant and jarring. Other than that, I wasn’t sure what to expect. To be honest, I hoped I wouldn’t find it dry, boring, and quickly forgettable. Although the brief (1:42) opening Fanfare for the Hallé might not be all that memorable, neither is it dry or boring – it’s a joyous little romp for 11 brass instruments, a fun way to open the program. Moreover, the musical mood established by the fanfare seems to carry over into the opening of movement of the symphony, making for a smooth transition, carrying listeners right along and inviting them to listen closely as the music unfolds. 

Symphony No. 2 (composed during the COVID lockdown) is in three movements, which broadly speaking are in the familiar fast-slow-fast pattern. To my ears, the ending seems abrupt – the music just seems to end, as though Watkins could not quite figure out what to do for the final bars – but please don’t take that as a major criticism, for other than that, the final movement is excellent. The music throughout the symphony is tonal, melodic, engaging – in short, it is a work that invites repeated listening. The same can be said for the Concerto for Orchestra, also in three movements, also well worth a listen – or several. It will be fascinating to see what the future holds in store for Huw Watkins.

 

Pekka Kuusisto: Willows. Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending; Caroline Shaw: Plan & Elevation – I. the Ellipse; II. The Cutting Garden; III. The Herbaceous Border; IV. The Orangery; V. The Beech Tree; Ellen Reid/Kuusisto: Desiderium; (Traditional): Weeping Mary (Arr. by Nico Muhly based on an arrangement by Thomas Bartlett); Kedron (Arr. by Nico Muhly) [Adapted for Chamber Orchestra by Bernard Rofe; Saro (Arr. by Nico Muhly) [Adapted for Chamber Orchestra by Bernard Rofe]; How Come That Blood (Arr. by Nico Muhly) [Adapted for Chamber Orchestra by Bernard Rofe); Way Go, Lily (Arr. by Nico Muhly) [Adapted for Chamber Orchestra by Bernard Rofe]; Wedding Dress (Arr. by Nico Muhly) [Adapted for Chamber Orchestra by Bernard Rofe]. Pekka Kuusisto, violinist and conductor; Norwegian Chamber Orchestra; Sam Amidon, guitar, banjo, vocals. Platoon PLAT29192

 

Back in 1995, the Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto (b. 1976) became the first musician from Finland to win the International Sibelius Violin Competition, where he was also awarded a medal for the best performance of the eminent Finnish master’s Violin Concerto. Although his name may not be immediately familiar to many readers, we have reviewed several of his previous appearances on various recordings: as soloist in a violin concerto by Icelandic composer Daniel Bjarnson (you can read that review here), as soloist in a violin concerto by Nico Muhly and a pair of works by American composer Philip Glass (that review may be found here), and together with violinist Colin Jacobsen, he shares the solo violin spotlight on the composition Prince of Clouds by the British composer (currently residing in New York) Anna Clyne (that review is here).

What Kuusisto has brought us here is an eclectic blend, a mixed bag, a strange brew. For those who might be interested, there is a YouTube video of an interview with Kuusisto in which he explains some of the background behind the making of Willows (you can find that video here), with an emphasis on The Lark Ascending, which opens the program. It’s an unusual performance of the familiar Ralph Vaughan Williams piece; interestingly, Kuusisto plays with an aura of rawness rather than sweetness. As you listen to this Lark, you can feel an undertone of raw emotion, stirring feelings of grief, loss, lament. However, these feelings are subtle, as Kuusisto’s playing is not mawkish or exaggerated. It’s a beautiful performance: different, but beautiful. No matter how many versions of RVW’s beloved masterpiece you have heard, I would urge you to give this one a serious audition. I’m not saying it’s the best, but it’s certainly one of the most moving and memorable.

It’s also the highlight of the release. Plan and Elevation by the Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Caroline Shaw (b. 1982) unfolds over five relatively brief movements that are miniature sketches fore string orchestra. After the emotional intensity of The Lark Ascending, their more measured tone serves lighten the mood. Buth things get intense once again in Desiderium, by another Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Ellen Reid (b. 1983). Desiderium is a Latin term that refers to an intense desire or longing, especially in terms of a feeling of loss or something or someone lost or gone. Arranged and performed here on solo violin by Kuusisto, it is certainly intense; probably easier to absorb if seen in concert rather than heard in recording. The program closes, oddly enough, with folk songs sung by Kuusisto’s friend Sam Amidon, an American-born singer who now resides in England. Perhaps one or maybe two songs followed by another instrumental composition might have made sense, but ending the album with a half-dozen just seems, well, strange. 

 

Overall, then, Willows is very much a mixed bag. Still, Kuusisto’s performance of The Lark Ascending is well worth giving a listen. 

Recent Releases No. 80 (CD Reviews)

by Karl Nehring

Víkingur Ólafsson: Opus 109. Bach: Prelude in E Major, BWV 854; Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 27 in E Minor, Op. 90; Bach: Partita No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830; Schubert: Piano Sonata in E minor, D566; Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109; Bach: French Suite No. 6 in E, BWV 817: Sarabande. Víkingur Ólafsson, piano. Deutsche Grammophon 486 7411

 

We have reviewed several previous releases from the Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson (b. 1984) here at Classical Candor, each of them having some sort of unusual twist that set it apart from the standard piano recording. On Bach: Works and Reworks (DG 4837769) we got not only a piano recital but the sound of the piano combined with other (often electronic) instruments; on Debussy-Rameau (DG 479 7701), the pianist explored connections between two composers separated by a century-and-a-half; his Philip Glass album (DG  479 6918) included an arrangement a piano etude for piano quintet; and his Reflections album (DG 00289 483 9222) was a reimagining of his Debussy-Rameau album, this time with Ólafsson on piano accompanied by other musicians (with some electronic manipulation of sonic textures). This latest release is a straightforward piano recital without any added instruments or electronic manipulation. The pianist includes a liner note essay in which he explains his somewhat unusual program, which he assembled for a combination of musical and personal reasons. Although the album is titled Opus 109, the Bach Partita No. 6 seems to come across as the centerpiece. Ólafsson plays lyrically and expressively throughout; if the idea of Bach, Schubert, and Beethoven played together on the same program is an appealing one, then Opus 109 is warmly recommended. 

 

Close. Steve Tibbetts: We Begin, Pt. 1; We Begin, Pt. 2; We Begin, Pt. 3; Away, Pt. 1; Away, Pt. 2; Away, Pt. 3; Remember, Pt. 1; Remember, Pt. 2; Somewhere, Pt. 1; Somewhere, Pt. 2; Somewhere, Pt. 3; Anywhere; Everywhere, Pt. 1; Everywhere, Pt. 2; Everywhere, Pt. 3; Everywhere, Pt. 4; Everywhere, Pt. 5; Remember and; Remember and Wish; We End. Steve Tibbetts, guitar, percussion, piano; Marc Anderson, percussion, gongs, handpan, loops; JT Bates, drums. ECM 2858

 

Wisconsin-born, Minnesota-based guitarist Steve Tibbetts (b. 1954) has been recording his imaginative music since the mid-1970s. He released his self-titled first album in 1976 on the tiny independent Frammis label, which was followed in 1980 by YR, also on Frammis. YR marked his first collaboration with percussionist Marc Anderson, a collaboration that continues to this day. In 1982, the pair spent three days in Oslo recording the album Northern Song for producer Manfred Eicher’s ECM label, the label for which Tibbetts has since recorded seven more albums. In 2022, we reviewed his ECM release titled Hellbound Train, a two-CD sampling of tracks from his first seven ECM releases. I felt certain that I must have reviewed his previous release, Life Of, but when I checked, I discovered that much to my surprise, that this May 2018 album had been released several months before I ever started writing for Classical Candor. (It turned out my first contribution was an October 2018 review of Walton’s Viola Concerto.) As on his previous album, Tibbetts here plays plenty of moody 12-string, but also does some plugging in. The presence of both percussionists provides a steady rumbling pulse throughout the album; the net effect being one of reflection and quiet mystery. The cover photo is of a backyard at night; the liner photo is the same backyard in daylight. The music on the disc falls somewhere between. “Music is a twilight language,” Tibbetts affirms. “The job is to translate some shadow into sound.” 

 

Transcription as Translation. Smetana: String Quartet No. 1 “From My Life” (orch. George Szell); Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29, Op. 106 “Hammerklavier” (orch. Felix Weingartner). The Orchestra Now; Leon Botstein, conductor. AVIE AV2822

 

The late American conductor Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) made a much-heralded recording of a transcription he made of Beethoven’s Op. 131 string quartet with the Vienna Philharmonic – but for strings only. When it comes to transcribing piano works for full orchestra, perhaps the most noteworthy example is Ravel’s transcription of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. On this release from AVIE, we get two transcriptions for orchestra made by orchestral conductors. The first, by George Szell, takes Smetana’s String Quartet No. 1 from an intimate piece of chamber music and makes it into something of an orchestral showpiece. According to the liner notes, Szell made his arrangement in 1939-40, soon after his arrival in the United States, and conducted it at his debut with the orchestra in 1944 and several times thereafter. It’s a pleasant enough listening experience, if not particularly memorable. Fans of the Smetana quartet may find this performance of interest to gain some additional insight. The Weingartner transcription of the “Hammerklavier,” on the other hand, comes across as less successful. The music never seems to catch fire; something seems to have been lost in translation. To be fair to Maestro Botstein and the orchestra, however, the original sonata is a daunting challenge for even the finest of pianists, so to expect an orchestral transcription to succeed in captivating an audience is – to be candid – in all likelihood an exercise in wishful thinking.

Belonging on ECM and Blue Note (CD Reviews)

 by Karl Nehring

Keith Jarrett: Belonging. Spiral Dance (4:11); Blossom (12:15); ‘Long as You Know You’re Living Yours (6:14); Belonging (2:15); The Windup (8:27); Solstice (13:13). Keith Jarrett, piano; Jan Garbarek, saxophones; Palle Danielsson, bass; Jon Christensen, drums. ECM 1050

 

Branford Marsalis Quartet: Belonging. Keith Jarrett: Spiral Dance (6:21); Blossom (11:02); ‘Long as You Know You’re Living Yours (8:56); Belonging (7:36); The Windup (12:41); Solstice (14:20). Branford Marsalis, saxophones; Joey Calderazzo, piano; Eric Revis, bass; Justin Faulkner, drums. Blue Note 00602475486596

 

In the world of classical music we think nothing of there being numerous recordings of the same repertoire. Whether we want to listen to a recording of a Beethoven symphony, Schubert song, Mozart string quartet, or Stravinsky ballet score, we have an almost overwhelming number of versions from which to choose. In the heyday of record stores, a shopper looking for a version of, say, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony could flip through a dozen or so competing versions on LP, then later, on CD. Today, the choices are even wider on streaming services, where entering “Beethoven Symphony No. 5” as a search term will yield an overwhelming number of choices (I just tried it on Amazon Music and got way more than 100). In the jazz world, however, things are different. Although there are certainly many recordings to be found of many jazz tunes – ‘Round Midnight by Thelonious Monk and Take the A Train by Duke Ellington, for example – to have a jazz album be recorded by two different ensembles is a rare occurrence indeed.

The original Belonging album was recorded in Oslo in two days in April, 1974. All the tunes were written by Jarrett. This was the debut of what came to be known as his “European Quartet,” as opposed to his “American Quartet,” which featured Dewey Redman (saxophone), Charlie Haden (double bass), and Paul Motian (drums). Because Jarrett was under contract to ABC/Impulse for that group, he was unable to attach his name to his European ensemble for either recording or touring, so the album cover simply lists the names of the musicians. Of the six tunes, three are ballads (Blossom, Belonging, Solstice), while the other three are more hard driving (Spiral Dance, ‘Long As You Know You’re Living Yours, The Windup). “It was the fastest album I’ve ever done,” Jan Garbarek would later say, referring to Jarrett’s emphasis on first takes in the studio to capture the spirit of the pieces. The music flows spontaneously and organically, drawing the listener in. “The album Belonging ranks with the greatest quartet recordings in jazz,” wrote Keith Jarett biographer Ian Carr, “because everything about it is superlative: the compositions, the free-flowing interplay, the level of inspiration and the brilliantly focused improvising of all four musicians.” It is one of those albums that although by no means “easy listening jazz” (e.g., Kenny G), can appeal to a wide variety of listeners, even those not familiar with the idiom. Not long after Belonging was released, I gave a copy of the LP to a couple who did not listen to much jazz at all. They loved it. 

As a side note, it turned out that there were some people who may have loved the album a bit too much. The tune 'Long as You Know You're Living Yours wound up being the subject of a lawsuit between Jarrett and the rock group Steely Dan. Jarrett alleged that the title track from their 1980 album Gaucho had stolen from the song (I must say that the first time I heard the Steely Dan song, the music immediately struck me as an homage to Keith Jarrett). Co-writer Donald Fagen of Steely Dan, a huge jazz buff, later admitted he'd loved the track from Belonging and was strongly influenced by it. Jarrett sued for copyright infringement and was then added as a co-author of the song.

 

Half a century later, Belonging has been named Downbeat magazine’s 2025 Recording of the Year – but for a recording by the Branford Marsalis Quartet on the venerable Blue Note label rather than Keith Jarrett and his European ensemble on ECM. Marsalis admits that he was into other music when Belonging was released in 1974. “I was a freshman in high school, listening to R&B,” he recalls. “I didn’t know Belonging existed.” That changed once he shifted his focus to jazz, although he was only familiar with Jarrett’s solo piano music until pianist Kenny Kirkland introduced him to the Jarrett’s European Quartet. “We were sitting on a plane sometime in the 80s and Kenny put his headphones on my ears and played [Jarrett’s 1979 album] My Song. When he tried to take the headphones back after five minutes I slapped his hand away; and when we got to the next city, I went out and bought every recording by that band.” 

A similar discovery occurred when Marsalis decided to include the tune The Windup from Belonging on his band’s most recent album, 2019’s The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul. “We were all listening to The Windup for the last record, and Revis said that we should just record Belonging, the whole album is so great and we could do things with it. We all liked the idea, and then the pandemic came. When the pandemic ended, we all still felt that yeah, we should do this.” The quartet applied Marsalis’s previous approach to classics by Charles Mingus, the Modern Jazz Quartet, John Coltrane, and others – neither slavish devotion to the originals nor extreme deconstructions. “On the composition Belonging, I clearly played things that Jan played on the record,” Marsalis points out. “I didn’t try to reject the idea when it occurred, but at no point did we plan to consciously pay tribute. I’m always listening to the whole record, not just the saxophone solos, and the most impressive thing about Belonging for me is how it all fits together.”

If you go back and look at the headers for the two albums above, you’ll note that I have taken the unusual step of including the timings for each tune. If you compare the two albums, you’ll see that Marsalis’s band stretched out the tunes longer in every instance except for one, the ballad Blossom. The title track, Belonging, is the most notable example of this more expansive approach, coming it at more than three times as long as interpreted by Branford and his crew. In general, the newer album has a more propulsive feel, both in performance and sound. Marsalis’s saxophone sound is warmer and fuller than that of Garbarek, and Faulkner takes a more aggressive approach to his drumkit than did Christensen. It is fascinating to play these two albums back-to-back and compare the two approaches: the more lyrical original versus the more expansive, energetic tribute. Both the Jarrett 1974 ECM original and Marsalis 2025 Blue Note tribute version are recordings that deserve a place in the collection of jazz fans, and both are well worth a listen by those unfamiliar with jazz but willing to give it a try.

 

Live Concert Report: Immanuel Wilkins 

 

On a bitterly cold night in central Ohio, we ventured once again to the Performance Space inside the Wexner Center for the Arts on the campus of The Ohio State University campus to enjoy an evening of music, this time featuring a jazz ensemble led by alto saxophone player Immanuel Wilkins. The rest of his band included a keyboardist who played both piano and organ, a double bass player, a drummer, plus one male and two female vocalists (When he first took the stage, Wilkins introduced his bandmates, but I really couldn’t catch their names, and there was no printed program identifying them, alas). The vocalists often used their voices as instruments, weaving them together and playing off each other rather than just “singing songs.” There were some lyrics from time to time; however, the PA system made it hard to follow just what was being sung. Musically, however, the sound of the vocals blended in with the sound of the instruments in a natural-sounding way. Wilkins rarely stepped front and center but rather blew his lines as a part of the whole rather than being the solo focus. The musical mood was warmly communicative.

A Concert Report from Ethan Iverson:

 

Pianist and composer Ethan Iverson recently attended an exciting concert at Zankel Hall in New York. Below is a brief excerpt from his report on the concert followed by a link to his full Substack post. And once again I would advise music fans to subscribe to Ethan’s Substack, Transitional Technology, which offers a world of insight into music and culture.

 

“Last night American music leveled up! Pianistic virtuosity, groove rhythm, and long-term structural control aligned in a way that had never quite been previously achieved. 

 

A century ago jazz happened, and for a moment it looked like the American classical composers (Gershwin, Copland, Barber) were going to make blues and ragtime part of the sonata and symphony idiom. But that blend was elbowed out first by disjunct high modernism (Babbitt and Carter) and then straight up and down minimalism (Glass and Reich). A lot was left on the table, and in the current free-for-all of postmodernism, bright lights such as Derek Bermel and Tania León have been working on bringing back soulful syncopation to formal composition. 

 

But there are two sides to this fusion: Writing the music is one thing, playing it is another. That’s the unprecedented part: Aaron Diehl and Timo Andres can play the beat for real. The concert concluded with my lips from speaking by Julia Wolfe, a long process piece based on a fragment of Aretha Franklin. It’s an intellectual gambit, an atomizing of a riff, a deconstruction of an emotion: part noise, part space. But as the piece evolves, the beat starts coming out. By midpoint, the audience at Zankel was helplessly grooving to the syncopated rhythm. I have never heard this hall turned into a club before.” 

 You can find Ethan's complete concert report here.

 

Recent Releases No. 75 (CD Reviews)

by Karl Nehring

Debussy: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune L87 (arr. David Walter); Violin Sonata in G minor L148; Sonata for flute, viola and harp L145; Cello Sonata in D minor L144; String Quartet in G minor L91. The Nash Ensemble. Hyperion CDA68463

 

Those classical music fans who are familiar with previous recordings by the venerable British chamber collective known as the Nash Ensemble have no doubt come to expect quality work from the group. The Nash is the resident Chamber Ensemble at London’s famous Wigmore Hall, where every year since 1979 it has presented a series devoted to exploring the many different nooks and crannies of the chamber music catalog. Current members of the Ensemble include Philippa Davies, flute; Gareth Hulse, oboe; Richard Hosford, clarinet; John McDougall, bassoon; Richard Watkins, horn; Benjamin Nabarro, violin; Jonathan Stone, violin; Lawrence Power, viola; Adrian Brendel, cello; Graham Mitchell, double bass; Lucy Wakeford, harp; and Richard Benjafield, percussion. Here, the British group presents French music and does so quite persuasively. This generously filled disc (77+ minutes) opens with a delightfully transparent arrangement – not too thin, not too thick – of Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune for the combination of string quintet, wind quintet, and crotales (small tuned cymbals). Although the remainder of the program might be of music that many fans of Debussy might already have in their collection, the quality of the performances, the quality of the engineering, the quality of the liner notes, and the particularly noteworthy version of Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune combine to make this highly recommendable release.

 

Knaifel: Chapter Eight. Canticum Canticorum for cathedral, choirs, and cello – 1. Stanza I-VII 2. Stanza VIII-XXII 3. Stanza XXIII-XXXII. Patrick Demenga, cello; State Choir Latvija; Riga Cathedral Boys Choir; Youth Choir Kamer; Andres Mustonen, conductor. ECM New Series 2637 485 9853

Alexander Knaifel (1943-2024) was born in 1943 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, but grew up in St Petersburg. He studied with Rostropovich and his relationship with him remained close until the great cellist’s death. He was born into a Jewish family, but was also attracted by the Orthodox church and Buddhism; he has spoken of seeking to convey something of the heart of faith by "speaking in a low voice, hoping to hear a voice within oneself.” Although some critics have found echoes of Arvo Pärt, John Tavener, and Henryck Górecki in Knaifel’s quest for beauty, he has a style that is entirely his own, with its own expressive power. Of his personal quest for beauty, Knaifel once observed: "The sounds are, for me, signs of the existence of beauty. Beauty is the most important thing for me – it is energy, unrepeatable.” There is abundant beauty to be found in Chapter Eight, but it is beauty of a subtle sort. Knaifel considered the acoustic environment in which the piece would be played – a cathedral – to be instrumental in producing the sound he envisioned. Although the listing in the header above of three choirs and a cello soloist might give the impression that this is going to be some sort of sonic spectacular, with soaring vocal soloists, complex contrapuntal choral lines, and virtuosic flights of fancy from the cello, the music is restrained, contemplative, yet powerful in its own way. Rostropovich said of Chapter Eight, “It is amazing with what a deep sense of beauty this composition for church, choruses, and cello is imbued.” The performance on this album was recorded in Lucerne’s Jesuitenkirche, built in the Baroque era, and long renowned for its exceptional acoustic properties. With that beautiful sound faithfully captured by the ECM engineering team, this is a release to be treasured.

 

Live Concert Report: Stanley Clarke

 

I recently attended a show featuring the legendary bassist Stanley Clarke (b. 1951), a virtuoso on both the electric and acoustic bass. Music fans of a certain age may recall that Clarke first gained exposure in the 1970s as the bass player with the jazz fusion group Return to Forever, which along with Clarke featured the late Chick Corea on keyboards, Al DiMeola on guitar, and Lenny White on drums. He has since gone on to make many recordings as a leader and has toured the world with many bands that he has assembled over the years. On this night in Cincinnati, in a venue where my son and I had purchased front-row center seats, the band Clarke led onto the stage included Cameron Graves, piano, synths; Emilio Modeste, saxophone; Evan Garr, violin; and Jeremiah Collier, drums.  Clarke opened the show on acoustic bass (amplified), after announcing to the crowd that he and his band were going to begin by“warming up.” They immediately launched into a high-energy fusion number, with Collier whacking the daylights out of his drumkit and Clarke laying down lightning fast and powerful riffs on his bass. And so it went through the evening, Clarke and Collier laying down the bottom (Clarke occasionally picking up the electric bass), with some flashy solos being traded among the violin, saxophone and keyboard. Collier on drums deserves special notice, for he was simply amazing – energetic, emphatic, but never overbearing. He and Clarke had an amazing musical rapport, driving the music along from the bottom up.

 

As the show ended, I screwed up my courage and shouted, “Hey Stanley!” to the man on the stage who stood no more than ten feet from me. To my surprise, he walked over to me, and I quickly told him I had seen him 50 years ago with Return to Forever in Salt Lake City. And that he was one of my musical heroes. He gave me a quick smile, stuck out his hand and gave me a firm handshake, then quickly turned away to exit the stage with his bandmates. I was thrilled! What makes this little episode strange is that while I was shaking the hand of one of my all-time hero bass players, I was wearing my Jack Casady t-shirt, Jack Casady being one of my all-time hero bass players (Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna). Stranger yet, in 1970, while dating the young woman who is now my wife, we attended a Jefferson Airplane concert at the old Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. Before the show, a few of the band members wandered over to the boundary of the seated area, and I was able to shake hands with my hero, Jack Casady. Like a giddy teenager, all I could think to say was, “I really dig your music.” Well, little did I dream that 55 years later I would be wearing a t-shirt with his likeness on it as I shook the hand of another of my bass player heroes. Life can be can take some strange and delightful turns...