Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphony (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring 

Marc-André Hamelin, piano; Nathalie Forget, ondes Martenot; Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Gustavo Gimeno, conductor. Harmonia Mundi 905336

 

Those relatively new to classical music who may be unfamiliar with the Turangalîla Symphony.by the late French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) are in for quite the ear- and mind-expanding experience when they first encounter this expansive, expressive, exhilarating 10-movement, 80-minute piece that is scored for piano, ondes Martenot, and orchestra. Nor may many music lovers reading this review be familiar with the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument with a sound similar to that of a theremin (more information here ). In general, Messiaen blends the sounds of the ondes Martenot and the piano with the sound of the orchestra rather than featuring either instrument in a concerto-like fashion, even though in concert performance, both instruments take their place in front of the orchestra, as they would for a concerto. There are passages, however, where Hamelin, one of the world’s finest pianists, has some moments in the spotlight, and Forget on the ondes Martenot gets a few chances of her own to lead the proceedings briefly. There are moments that are boisterous, there are passages that are tender. In terms of size and spectacle, this symphony has some parallels to the works of Mahler, but Messiaen’s musical language is much different.  

 

Spanish-born conductor Gustavo Gimeno (b. 1976), who is the Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, leads his assembled forces in a performance that never goes over the top. There were times when I might have wished for a bit more emotion and excitement; on the other hand, I could also appreciate hearing everything laid out clearly before me. Same for the sonics, which are clean and unexaggerated. My personal favorite recording for both performance and sound is the Wit on Naxos, a 2-CD release which also features an exciting orchestral version of Messian’s L’ascension – but has the distinct disadvantage of spreading the symphony onto two discs (advantage: streaming). The Chung on DG is a delightful performance with so-so sonics. All things considered, this new release from Toronto is a safe bet for those wishing to explore Messiaen’s grand musical testament of love.

Éventail (CD Review)

by Karl Nehring

Ravel: Pièce en forme de Habanera; Saint-Saëns: Sonate, op.166; André Jolivet: Controversia*; Messiaen: Vocalise-Étude; Morceau de lecture; Ravel: Deux Mélodies hébraïques; Kaddisch; Milhaud: Vocalise-Étude; Debussy: Syrinx; Koechlin:  Le repos de Tityre, op. 216/10; Jolivet: Chant pour les piroguiers de l'Orénoque; Debussy: Petite pièce; Saint-Saëns: Le Rossignol; Robert Casadesus: Sonate, op.23. Heinz Holliger, oboe, oboe d’amore; Anton Kernjak, piano; Alice Belugou, harp*. ECM New Series 2694

Swiss oboist, composer, and conductor Heinz Holliger (b. 1939) has enjoyed a long and illustrious musical career. Many composers have written works for him, including Frank Martin, Olivier Messiaen, Witold Lutoslawski, Luciano Berio, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Elliott Carter, Hans Werner Henze, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Isang Yun. A glance at the ECM website reveals that Éventail  (“Fan”) is the latest of more that two dozen recordings he has made for the label in those roles of composer, conductor, and performer. Introducing his latest recording, Holliger writes: “The fan that opens like cautious butterfly wings, barely opening or timidly closing again, is the reflection of the innermost stirrings of the soul. Through Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem Éventail and its wonderful settings by Ravel and Debussy, the fan opening fold by fold (‘pli selon pli’) became a symbol for the most hidden words, sounds, and colours of French music. The closeness of the oboe to the human voice inspired my idea of opening up the richly coloured fan of French music through the still far too little known collection of Vocalises-Études… It contains works by the most important French composers… ‘songs without words’ in the truest sense.”

 

This truly is a communicative collection of music with charm and aesthetic appeal. Certainly different listeners will find different favorites from among the selections to be found here; for me, there are two that especially stand out. The first is Controversia by André Jolivet (1905-1974), a composer whose work I have run across only seldomly over the years. To learn more about him, I checked Wikipedia, where I found the following fascinating characterization: “Known for his devotion to French culture and musical thought, Jolivet drew on his interest in acoustics and atonality, as well as both ancient and modern musical influences, particularly on instruments used in ancient times.” Controversiais a bracing and energetic piece, stimulating but rewarding. The other especially interesting piece is Ravel’s Kaddisch. Now, this is a piece with which I am more familiar. The most moving performance I ever heard was from a broadcast of a special memorial concert by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for the victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting. In that performance, the Ravel piece was played by a solo clarinet, and my goodness, it was moving. Holliger delivers a fine performance as well, playing with warmth and expressiveness. These two are of course not the only two noteworthy tracks: rest assured that the album is a delight from start to finish. With notes by Holliger on all the music in the program and the usual rich, spacious ECM sound quality, Éventail is a highly recommendable release.

Recent Releases No. 58 (CD Reviews)

 by Karl Nehring

What Music Tells Me. Beethoven: Egmont Overture; Wagner (1813-1883); Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral (from Lohengrin); Messiaen: Apparition de L’eglise Éternelle (Apparition of the Eternal Church); Healey Willan (1880-1968): How They So Softly Rest; William C. White (b.1983): Flood of Waters (Noah and the Flood); Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn (“St. Anthony Variations”); Mahler: Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” – Urlicht, Finale (Andante). Chicago Brass and Organ Ensemble; Stephen Squires, conductor. MSR Classics MS 1750

 

This is one of those releases that on first glance, I simply did not quite know what to expect. Having grown up in northwest Indiana I was familiar with the gargoyles that look down upon downtown Chicago pedestrians, so the name of the ensemble struck me as perfectly appropriate, but the musical program, although intriguing, left me hesitant as to how it would come across when played by organ and brass. Well, only one way to find out, so I stuck the disc in my CD player and hit PLAY button. Here we go… From the familiar opening measures of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, I was delighted by how enjoyable it was to hear this familiar music presented this in this different sonority. It just sounded right. Somehow the energy of the brass and the organ captured the fervor of Beethoven’s score in a fresh, exciting way that did not sound at all gimmicky or contrived. And so it went through the rest of the program, with highlights including the Messiaen, whose spiritually informed music lends itself especially well to being arranged for brass and organ, and the Brahms, upon which this arrangement throws a new light. The most ambitious arrangement is the Mahler, which is certainly interesting to hear, but try as I might, I could never quite get past the lack of voices. Still, I admire the audacity and skill of these players in presenting this magnificent music in this form. Fans of the composer Mahler will no doubt recognize his influence on the title of this release; indeed, let me close my review of this highly recommendable release with these words from its liner notes: “Leader Rodney Holmes has curated this collection of masterworks following the inspiration of Gustav Mahler who said, If a composer could say what he had to say in words, he would not bother trying to say it in music.”

 

Luminous. Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004): Toccata; Samuel Coleridge Taylor (1875-1912): 24 Negro Melodies, Op. 24 – No. 1, At the Dawn of the Day; No. 3, Take Nabandji; No. 4, They Would Not Lend Me a Child; No. 8, The Bamboula; No. 12, Don’t Be Weary, Traveler; N0. 13, Going Up; Ulysses Kay (1917-1995): 8 Inventions – I. Allegro; II. Moderato; III. Andantino; IV. Scherzando; V. Grave; VI. Moderato; VII. Larghetto; VIII. Presto: Nnenna Ogwo (b. 1970) Benediction; Brahms: Chaconne (from J.S. Bach’s Violin Partita No. 2, BWV 1004) arranged for the left hand alone. Nnenna Ogwo, piano. MSR Classics MS 1819 

An American pianist of Caribbean and African descent, Nnenna Ogwo (b. 1970) has put together an album that is refreshing and stimulating, featuring a program that is somewhat off the beaten path yet comfortable and eminently listenable, an album that can be enjoyed by a wide variety of music lovers. Much of the reason Luminous is such an accessible release is that it is a deeply personal release. In her program notes, Ogwo explains, “The program has all the elements of music that bring the art to such vibrant life; joy and pain, song and dance, the substantive and the ephemeral. This album is the utterance that I could not make when my mother left this plane of existence. It is music that she loved or that I know she would have loved. It is a curation that reflects my cultural heritage, my personal history at the instrument and the depth of my love and admiration for her. I hope it speaks to you.” The program opens energetically with Perkinson’s Toccata, which sounds something like a cross between Bach and ragtime – it’s a fun piece. The Melodies of Coleridge-Taylor are expressive, colorful, but not excessively showy. Especially fascinating are the 8 Invention of Ulysses Kay, all but one under two minutes in length, each a compelling little jewel. Wonderful! Ogwo’s Benediction is a brief (1:51), heartfelt, calming piece; given its title and mood, I’m surprised it was not placed at the end of the program. Instead, the program ends with the Brahms transcription of the Bach, played with the left hand. There are times when the piano sounds something like a harpsichord. Although this transcription is interesting, it feels a bit out of sync with the rest of the program. Still, all things considered, Ms. Ogwo has delivered an album that is well worth a listen.

Messiaen: Des canyons aux étoiles… (CD Review)

 by Karl Nehring

Messiaen: Des canyons aux étoiles… Jason Hardink, piano; Stefan Dohr, piano; Keith Carrick, xylorimba; Eric Hopkins, glockenspiel; Utah Symphony; Thierry Fischer, music director. Hyperion CDA68316

 

Sometimes it is fun to listen to something that seems a bit crazy. Something out of the ordinary, wildly imaginative, bold and brash and a bearing boatload of excitement. For those times, crank up your stereo system and give a listen to this new release of Des canyons aux étoiles… (“from the canyons to the stars…”) by the French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1929). He wrote the piece as the result of a commission from Alice Tully, who requested that Messiaen compose an orchestral work honoring the USA’s Bicentennial celebration of 1976. The CD booklet recounts that upon receiving the commission, Messiaen “consulted an encyclopedia in search of  a suitable subject. What he found was the canyon territory of southern Utah. In the spring of 1973  he paid the region a visit – as the Utah Symphony would do fifty years later, to give a performance of the work in the canyons and under the stars, a performance to which this studio recording relates. Messiaen, when he was there, noted down not only bird songs, as was his custom, but also rock colours: ‘All possible varieties of red, orange and violet, these astonishing forms caused by erosion.’ The birds and rocks, the songs and the colours would guide his imagination through what became a concert-length work for an orchestra full of woodwind, brass, and percussion sections with a modest complement of just thirteen strings and a solo piano.” 

You can begin to get a sense of what Messiaen is up to in this piece by taking a look at the titles he gave to each of its sections. These sections are organized in to three main parts, and on this recording, Parts I and II appear on CD 1 (47:06), while Part III fills up CD 2 (45:12). An examination of the titles of each of the dozen sections offers an insight into the creative imagination of the composer as well as hints at the variety of the musical sounds to be found in then score. Part 1: Le Désert ("The desert"); Les orioles ("The orioles"); Ce qui est écrit sur les étoiles ("What is written in the stars"); Le Cossyphe d'Heuglin ("The white-browed robin-chat"); Cedar Breaks et le don de crainte ("Cedar Breaks and the gift of awe"); Part 2: Appel interstellaire ("Interstellar call"); Bryce Canyon et les rochers rouge-orange("Bryce Canyon and the red-orange rocks"); Part 3: Les Ressuscités et le chant de l'étoile Aldebaran ("The resurrected and the song of the star Aldebaran"); Le Moqueur polyglotte ("The mockingbird"); La Grive des bois ("The wood thrush"); Omao, leiothrix, elepaio, shama ("ʻōmaʻo, leiothrix, ʻelepaio, shama"); Zion Park et la cité céleste ("Zion Park and the celestial city"). (For those who might understandably might be wondering, ʻōmaʻo etc. are bird species.)  The opening notes from the horn set the tone – for the duration of the 90 minutes, much of the music involves a solo instrument or small groups of instruments, with two of the movements (Le Cossyphe d'Heuglin  and Le Moqueur polyglotte) being for solo piano. Along the way, there is a solo passages for wind machine; a part for an instrument that Messiaen invented, the geophone (a large flat drum filled with lead beads that can be rotated to sound like shifting sand); and as the liner notes explain about a puzzling sound, “a weird glissando played on the mouthpiece of a trumpet.”

Some of the sonorities may be unfamiliar, but at the same time there are the unmistakable sounds of nature, such as wind and birds. Messiaen does not attempt to portray the grandeur of nature by writing music for huge forces; instead, he focuses on small details – birds, sounds, colors, rock formations in a canyon – and attempts to communicate the wonders he encounters through music by means of specific orchestral instruments or combinations thereof. Granted, this might all sound a bit crazy, but as I asserted at the beginning of this review, sometimes it can be fun to listen to something a bit crazy, especially when that something is crazily colorful and imaginative musical composition presented in a carefully crafted performance that has been convincingly captured by the engineering team. Although this may not be a release that will appeal to everyone, but for Messiaen fans and those with an inclination for musical exploration, this new release from Hyperion is well worth an audition. 

Images (CD review)

Anna Lapwood, Organ of Ely Cathedral. Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin (arr. Erwin Wiersinga); Patrick Gowers: An Occasional Trumpet Voluntary; Debussy: Andante from String Quartet in G Minor (arr. Alexandre Guilmant); Kerensa Briggs: Light in Darkness; Nadia Boulanger: III. Improvisation from Trois Improvisations; Owain Park: Images; Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes (arr.Lapwood); Messiaen: Vocalise-Étude (arr. Lapwood); Cheryl Frances-Hoad: Taking Your Leave. Signum Classics SIGCD688.
 
By Karl W. Nehring
 

Having followed Anna Lapwood on Twitter for quite some time, and having seen and heard some videos she had posted there of her working on her arrangements of Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, I have been looking forward to auditioning this new release for some time now. Her posts on Twitter show her to be a charming and unpretentious artist, devoted not only to her craft, but also to helping other musicians, especially young musicians, express themselves through music. She is skilled not only as an organist, but as a conductor and broadcaster. Earlier this year, for example, she appeared at the BBC Proms both as a presenter for BBC Television and as soloist in the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony. In 2016, when she was just 21, she was appointed Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge University, where in 2018 she established the Pembroke College Girls’ Choir for girls aged 11 to 18. According to the liner notes, Ms. Lapwood conducted the Chapel Choir and Girls’ Choir in a recording titled All Things Are Quite Silent that was “released in 2020 to widespread critical acclaim, praised for their clarity, blend and beauty of sound.”
 
When that fateful day came when her long-awaited album arrived at my door, I was delighted to discover that the opening piece on the program was a transcription for organ of one of my favorite pieces by one of my favorite composers, Le Tombeau de Couperin by Maurice Ravel. Ravel originally composed it in six movements for piano (Prelude, Fugue, Forlane, Rigaudon, Menuet, Toccata) and then later orchestrated four of the movements (Prelude, Forlaane, Menuet, Rigadoun). The orchestral version is probably the one that is more familiar to the typical classical listener. I have auditioned many and still own several versions of both the piano and orchestral versions of Le Tombeau, a composition that I have requested be played at my wake. No, until received this recording, I had never imagined hearing this music being played on an organ, but what do you know, it works surprisingly well. My only quibble – and it is a minor one, I must say – is that the opening measures of the Forlane seemed to feel a bit heavier, a bit less dance-like, than they should to my ears, but other than that, hearing this music presented in this way was a delightful surprise. Immediately following the Ravel on the program is a brief piece by Patrick Gowers (1936-2014) featuring a repetitive theme that becomes quite grand at the end, when the organ volume is cranked up into a fanfare-like climax. It is quite a sonic and musical contrast, then, when we next hear an arrangement for organ of music from Debussy’s String Quartet. Once again, to hear this music played on the organ this is something quite unexpected, but also once again, it is something quite entrancing. Whereas the music from a string quartet emanates from a small space on stage or better yet, in a room (it is chamber music, remember), the sound of the organ (even from a recording) can seem to originate from the dark recesses of a vast space, thus transforming our perception and understanding of the music.
 

Light in Darkness by Kerensa Briggs (b. 1991) continues in a musical direction similar to that of the Debussy, sustaining much the same mood and sonority (an audio system with extended bass response will enhance your enjoyment, by the way). This is music for reflection and contemplation. The following brief piece by Nadia Boulanger (1887-1976) continues in a similar tranquil mood, but after a quiet but somewhat restless-sounding first couple of minutes, Images by Owain Park (b. 1993) cranks up the volume for a spell and begins to ratchet up the tension. As the plural title implies, it is not a piece that sustains a single mood.
 
We then come to the centerpiece of the album, Ms. Lapwood’s arrangement and performance of Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from his opera Peter Grimes. This is music that in its orchestral guise is doubtless familiar to many readers of Classical Candor, two of the finest recordings being those of Andre Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra on EMI and Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony on Reference Recordings. Once again, it is remarkable to hear how effective these transcriptions for organ turn out to be. You quickly find yourself forgetting that this is not an orchestra -– you just let yourself be drawn into and swept away by the music. How I would love to hear this in a live organ recital someday… My only regret is that Ms. Lapwood did not press on further and include a transcription of the Passacaglia, but surely I should not be so greedy. Brava, Ms. Lapwood!
 
After the power and fury of Britten’s Storm, we are given a chance to catch our breath and slow down our heart rate to the gentle sounds of Olivier Messiaen’s (1908-1992) Vocalise-Étude, written when the composer was a young man of 27. This is intimate music of serene repose. The album then closes with the appropriately titled Taking Your Leave by Cheryl Frances-Hoad (b.1980), a boisterous, energetic piece that showcases that other, more outgoing and demonstrative dimension of organ and organist, a fun way to end the album.
 
Images was recorded by the veteran engineer Mike Hatch, who has done his usual fine job of capturing a convincing sonic portrait. There is a page in the liner notes devoted to the history of the organ at Ely Cathedral as well as a complete listing of its specifications for those interested in the details of the instrument. In addition, Ms. Lapwood offers informative and charming notes on all of the selections included on the album. In every way, this is truly a first-class production for which I offer a highly enthusiastic recommendation.
 
KWN

New Releases, No. 12 (CD Reviews)

By Karl W. Nehring

Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time; Kurt Rohde: one wing*. Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (Jerome Simas, clarinet; *Anna Presler, violin; Tanya Tomkins, cello; *Eric Zivian, piano). AVIE AV2452.

It was a real blessing to receive this CD for review, for I had almost forgotten what an amazing piece of music this is. I can’t quite remember what my first encounter with Messiaen’s music was. It may have been his organ music, or it may have been his massive, sprawling Turangalila Symphony. But the Messiaen composition that has made the deepest impression on me is his Quartet for the End of Time, which I first purchased on LP back in the late 1970s on LP in the form of the famous release by Tashi (Richard Stoltzman, clarinet; Fred Sherry, cello, Ida Kafavian, violin, Peter Serkin, piano), the recording that has long stood as the touchstone version (now of course available on CD). It is not a mellifluous piece that falls easily on the ear, especially on first hearing; however, it is a piece of great beauty that rewards serious, repeated listening, and there are many lyrical passages of deep, affecting beauty. Messiaen wrote the piece while a prisoner of war in a German concentration camp and it was first performed by his fellow prisoners. I won’t go into the full story here but it is a fascinating tale well worth investigating for those so inclined.

Messiaen was a devout Roman Catholic and something of a mystic, his work often based on religious imagery and containing sounds and inspirations from nature, especially birds. He wrote in the preface of the score to the Quartet it had been inspired by text from the Book of Revelation. You can get a feel for both the religious and nature-derived inspirations in Messiaen’s work by perusing a quick summary of the eight movements of this work and the titles that Messiaen gave them. I. “Liturgie de cristal” (“Crystal Liturgy”). Messiaen describes the opening of the quartet: “Between three and four in the morning, the awakening of birds: a solo blackbird or nightingale improvises, surrounded by a shimmer of sound, by a halo of trills lost very high in the trees. Transpose this onto a religious plane and you have the harmonious silence of Heaven.” This movement features the full quartet. II. "Vocalise, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps" (“Vocalise, for the Angel Announcing the End of Time”). Messiaen writes: “The first and third parts (very short) evoke the power of this mighty angel, a rainbow upon his head and clothed with a cloud, who sets one foot on the sea and one foot on the earth. In the middle section are the impalpable harmonies of heaven. In the piano, sweet cascades of blue-orange chords, enclosing in their distant chimes the almost plainchant song of the violin and cello.” III. "Abîme des oiseaux" (“The Abyss of the Birds”). Messiaen writes: “The abyss is Time with its sadness, its weariness. The birds are the opposite to Time; they are our desire for light, for stars, for rainbows, and for jubilant songs.” This movement is for solo clarinet. IV. "Intermède" (“Interlude”). Messiaen writes: “Scherzo, of a more individual character than the other movements, but linked to them nevertheless by certain melodic recollections.” This movement is a trio for violin, cello, and clarinet. V. "Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus" (“Praise to the Eternity of Jesus”). Messiaen writes: “Jesus is considered here as the Word. A broad phrase, ‘infinitely slow’, on the cello, magnifies with love and reverence the eternity of the Word, powerful and gentle, ‘whose time never runs out’. This movement is for cello and piano. VI. "Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes" (“Dance of Wrath, for the Seven Trumpets”). Messiaen writes: “Rhythmically, the most characteristic piece of the series. The four instruments in unison imitate gongs and trumpets (the first six trumpets of the Apocalypse followed by various disasters, the trumpet of the seventh angel announcing consummation of the mystery of God) Use of added values, of augmented or diminished rhythms, of non-retrogradable rhythms. Music of stone, formidable granite sound; irresistible movement of steel, huge blocks of purple rage, icy drunkenness. Listen especially to all the terrible fortissimo of the augmentation of the theme and changes of register of its different notes, towards the end of the piece.” VII. "Fouillis d'arcs-en-ciel, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps" (“Tangle of Rainbows, for the Angel Announcing the End of Time”). Messiaen writes: “Recurring here are certain passages from the second movement. The angel appears in full force, especially the rainbow that covers him (the rainbow, symbol of peace, wisdom, and all luminescent and sonorous vibration). – In my dreams, I hear and see ordered chords and melodies, known colors and shapes; then, after this transitional stage, I pass through the unreal and suffer, with ecstasy, a tournament; a roundabout co-penetration of superhuman sounds and colors. These swords of fire, this blue-orange lava, these sudden stars: there is the tangle, there are the rainbows!” This movement also features all four instruments. VIII. "Louange à l'Immortalité de Jésus" (“Praise for the Immortality of Jesus”). Messiaen writes: “Large violin solo, counterpart to the violoncello solo of the 5th movement. Why this second eulogy? It is especially aimed at the second aspect of Jesus, Jesus the Man, the Word made flesh, immortally risen for our communication of his life. It is all love. Its slow ascent to the acutely extreme is the ascent of man to his god, the child of God to his Father, the being made divine towards Paradise.” This final movement is for violin and piano.

This new recording by the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble comes along at a time when this music seems especially relevant as we look around us and consider the toll of the pandemic and the rising threats of racism, anti-semitism, voter suppression, distrust of science, scapegoating, and so on so forth. Sigh… This is an ominous time; perhaps some visionary music might be what we need. In any event, I had hoped to do a direct comparison of the new Avie release to the venerable Tashi recording, but Serkin and friends seem to have disappeared (temporarily, I hope) somewhere in a hidden pile of CDs somewhere in the chaos of my collection (and to make things worse, the Tashi CD appears to be out of print, although it can be streamed, thank goodness) so instead I pulled out another live recording for comparison, one of those BBC Music Magazine discs featuring an all-star cast of Michael Collins (clarinet), Isabelle van Keulen (cello), Paul Watkins (cello), and Lars Vogt (piano). Without going into a lot of detail, let me simply say that both musically and sonically, although I might have had a slight preference for the BBC production (Michael Collins is hard to beat when it comes to clarinet tone), the new Avie release is certainly of excellent quality, communicating the both the other-worldliness and raw immediacy that are both prominent features of Messiaen’s remarkable music. As a bonus, the Left Coast disc concludes with a performance of Kurt Rohde’s One Wing, a brief composition for violin and piano that seems to fit in perfectly after the final movement of the Messiaen, which was also for violin and piano. Especially effective is the way Rohde concludes the piece, which is to say, most inconclusively, leaving the listener to question and contemplate. You can enjoy a video performance of One Wing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uc_eONtA8A

Lonely Shadows: Dominik Wania, piano. ECM 2686 086 9583.

Polish pianist Dominik Wania (b. 1981) has added a solid contribution to the list of outstanding solo piano albums on the ECM label (e.g., Keith Jarrett’s Köln Concert and Paul Bley’s Open, To Love). Wania says in his liner notes that “I felt from the beginning that this would include fully improvised music. I didn’t want to prepare anything in advance, no forms or melodic sketches or harmonic layers. I was fully dependent on the creative process of playing here and now.” However, the album consists of 11 distinct tracks: Lonely Shadows; New Life Experience; Melting Spirit; Towards the Light; Relativity; Liquid Fluid; Think Twice; AG76; Subjective Objectivity; Indifferent Attitude; and All What Remains. The cuts do not sound loose and disorganized, they are for the most part pleasant, melodious, and ingratiating, sounding as if they were composed beforehand. In an interview with London Jazz News, Wania explained that “what’s on this album, although fully improvised, seems to have a specific form and everything works together as if this were almost finished compositions. Taking advantage of the perfect conditions that I had there, I tried to introduce as much substance as possible into what I was playing, and the music developed in some direction, it pursued its goal.” Wania has a deft touch at the keyboard, capable of painting sound portraits in subtle pastel shades. Nowhere is this more evident than on my personal favorite cut on the album, the oddly named AG76, which Wania notes “is kind of a homage for the outstanding Polish painter Zdzislaw Beksinski. It was played with a specific way of using the escapement lever of the piano, which makes the timbre of the sound very delicate and hazy.” By contrast, the very next track, Subjective Objectivity, is the one track on the album that sounds somewhat skittish and, well, improvised. All things considered, this is a beautifully recorded album that should delight jazz and classical fans alike. One final note about to help put things in clearer perspective: Wania did his doctoral dissertation on the influence of the French composer Maurice Ravel on jazz pianists such as Bill Evans, and he says that he considers himself a pianist, not a jazz pianist. As you listen to this album you can certainly hear the influence of Maurice Ravel on Dominik Wania, and that’s a good thing.

John Robertson: Virtuosity. Concerto for Clarinet and Strings; Hinemoa & Tutanekai; Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra; Symphony No. 3. Mihail Zhivkov, clarinet; Kremera Acheva, flute; Fernando Serrano Montoya, trumpet; Anthony Armoré, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra. (Navona NV6223).
John Robertson: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5; Meditation: In Flanders Fields. Anthony Armoré, Bratislava Symphony Orchestra. (Navona NV6325).

Composer John Robertson (b.1943) is a New Zealand-born Canadian composer who writes listenable, enjoyable, but serious and worthwhile orchestral music worthy of wider recognition, and these two discs on the Navona label are well worth seeking out by classical music lovers looking for music that is composed and performed by musicians who might not be household names but are to judge from the compositions, performances, and engineering on these two releases, top-tier in every respect and deserving of wider recognition in households hither and yon. Virtuosity leads off with a lyrical concerto for clarinet and strings that sounds rather pastoral in nature; indeed, you could imagine it had been composed by a well-known English composer. Although not a concerto, Hinemoa & Tutanekai features a prominent solo flute part, as the music is meant to evoke a Maori legend in which two lovers from warring tribes are forbidden from seeing each other. As recounted in the liner notes, “Sitting disconsolate on the beach at night , where all the canoes have been pulled up to stop her from using one to get to Tutanekai who lives on an island in the lake, Hinemoa hears his flute sound across the water. At last, unable to resist the sound, she rushes into the water and swims to the island to be with him.” The sound of the flute over strings is again lyrical and lovely, expressing longing without lapsing into melodrama. Robertson originally composed his Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra for a Cuban trumpeter; not surprisingly, then, it is a more lively piece than the preceding two, and features a sprinkling of Latin rhythms, most notably in its lively finale. Interestingly, Symphony No. 3 opens with a prominent role for trumpet, so there seems to be a feeling of connection with the concerto that preceded it. The feeling of the music, however, seems more abstract, more introverted, but that is not to say harmonically dissonant or rhythmically disjointed. Although the title of this release is Virtuosity, the music and the performances are not about flashy displays of technique. It is about good music played well, which is a more rewarding form of virtuosity.  

Opening the other disc by Robertson under consideration here, Symphony No. 4 features some wonderfully lyrical writing for the woodwinds, but not at the neglect of the other sections of the orchestra, as the strings, brass, and percussion all get their chance to shine. The overall mood of this symphony is somewhat lighthearted, but the next piece, a meditation on the poem “In Flanders Fields,” written from the perspective of World War I war dead, here recited by conductor Anthony Armoré over somber music played by strings and trumpet. (Confession time: When I first heard this track, I thought sounded hokey. On repeated listening, I was moved, and now find it noble and dignified. I must have been in some sort of stuck-up mood that first time, shame on me. As a veteran son of a veteran with a son on active duty, I have no right to be stuck up over a recitation of “Flanders Fields,” none whatsoever). Symphony No. 5 sounds denser, more intense than No. 4. It is a remarkable work, a symphony that blends the lighthearted and the serious in a way that brings to mind the music of Malcolm Arnold, an underrated giant of the 20th century. Truly, this is a work that deserves wider exposure, not only as a recording, but in the concert hall.

KWN

Messiaen: L'Ascension (CD review)

Also, Ives: Orchestral Set Number 2. Leopold Stokowski, London Symphony Orchestra. HDTT remastered.

This 1970 Decca release, remastered by HDTT (High Definition Tape Transfers), combines a very popular but somewhat controversial conductor with an equally popular but almost equally controversial recording format. I suspect that despite the high quality of the performance and sound, the listening public may still find the disc at least slightly suspect. Let me explain.

First, the conductor. English-born U.S. orchestra conductor Leopold Stokowski (1882–1977) established an enormous following with his often highly idiosyncratic interpretations of the basic classical repertoire. His long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his starring role in Disney's Fantasia didn't hurt his reputation, either. People then and now found his music making enormous entertaining. But it was sometimes this same eccentricity so many folks thought charming that at the same time annoyed other people. His unusual tempo changes, his stops and starts and pauses and elongations, could at times twist familiar music into something unbearable to dedicated classical music lovers. Add to that his own orchestral arrangements and transcriptions of well-known music, and it could be too much for some listeners.

Second, there was Decca's Phase 4 sound. Stokowski lived into his mid nineties, long enough to have made a number of stereo recordings for companies like RCA, EMI, and Decca. By the time of this Messiaen disc, Decca was well into their Phase 4 era. According to Decca, "Phase 4 was a special series of recordings from the '60s and '70s which presented music in spectacularly vivid sound." And according to Wikipedia, this sound "was characterised by an aggressive use of the highest and lowest frequencies and a daring use of tape saturation and out-of-phase sound to convey a lively and impactful hall ambiance, plus considerable bar-to-bar rebalancing by the recording staff of orchestral voices, known as 'spotlighting.' In the 1960s and 1970s, the company developed its 'Phase 4' process, which produced even greater sonic impact through even more interventionist engineering techniques." The fact is, Phase 4 sound used multi-miking to the extreme, often producing a close-up, compartmentalized sound field that dazzled some listeners with its clarity and detail yet exasperated others, especially audiophiles with its frequently unnatural perspective.

Leopold Stokowski

Fortunately, neither the performances on the program nor the sound on this HDTT remastering should concern Stokowski or Phase 4 critics. Both hold up pretty well.

First up on the agenda is L'Ascension ("The Ascension" of Christ into Heaven after the Resurrection) by the French composer and organist Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992). He wrote the orchestral suite between 1932-33, the composer describing its four brief movements as "meditations for orchestra." He labeled the sections "Majesté du Christ demandant sa gloire à son Père" ("The majesty of Christ demanding its glory of the Father"), "Alleluias sereins d'une âme qui désire le ciel" ("Serene alleluias of a soul that longs for heaven"), "Alleluia sur la trompette, alleluia sur la cymbale" ("Alleluia on the trumpet, alleluia on the cymbal"), and "Prière du Christ montant vers son Père" ("Prayer of Christ ascending towards his Father").

Stokowski handles the score with a characteristic élan, most often elevating it to graceful heights. It's fairly quiet music, yet it has a distinctive rhythmic drive, which the conductor invariably observes. The orchestra, always on its toes at a moment's notice, plays compellingly for the old man and, if anything, sounds almost too lush and luxuriant for the relative modesty of the music. Or perhaps it's just the richness of the Phase 4 sound that sometimes overwhelms the score. In any case, it's a lovely interpretation, with just the right mixture of wonder and inspiration to keep a listener transfixed.

The other item on the program is also a modern piece but quite different from the Messiaen. It's the Orchestral Set No. 2 by American composer Charles Ives (1874-1954). He wrote it between 1915 and 1919, a three-movement suite based on musical reminiscences: "An Elegy to Our Forefathers," a kind of memory of Stephen Foster music; "The Rockstrewn Hills Join in the People's Outdoor Meeting," memories of camp-revival meetings; and "From Hanover Square North at the End of a Tragic Day, The Voice of the People Again Arose," a recollection of the day news broke of the sinking of the Lusitania, a catalyst for the U.S. entering World War I.

Here, Stokowski seems to relish in indulging the composer's eccentricities. The reading is crammed full of grand sweeps and dramatic gestures, the conductor capturing the atmospheric theatrics of Ives's vision of Americana. If the Messiaen work is spiritually uplifting, the Ives is just plain fun.

The only catch to the album: its length. The two pieces combined total just a little over thirty-five minutes. If that doesn't bother you, and it's quality of performance and sound over quantity of material, the length shouldn't be a problem.

Producer Tony d'Amato and engineer Arthur Lilley recorded the music for Decca Records at Kingsway Hall, London, in June 1970. HDTT remastered it in 2016 from a London 4-track tape, and they make it available in a wide number of formats, from CD and DVD to various HD digital downloads.

The remastered sound conveys all of the characteristics of Phase 4 described earlier, yet it exhibits a good deal of orchestral depth and warmth as well. The result is that the sonics may be a tad too close for comfort and too spotlighted, yet they also sound fairly natural, with the ambience of Kingsway Hall in ample evidence. While the strings tend to appear too hard and steely at times, it's only in isolated instances that it happens, the rest of time sounding just fine.

For further information on HDTT products, prices, discs, and downloads in a variety of formats, you can visit their Web site at http://www.highdeftapetransfers.com/.

JJP

To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click on the forward arrow: