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Classical Music

Vivaldi: L'Estro Armonico, Op 3
Europa Galante, Fabio Biondi
Virgin Veritas 7243 5 45315-2 Reviewed by JMH
Although the Seasons will always be Vivaldi's most popular opus, L'Estro Armonico remains his greatest instrumental work. Quite apart from it's sheer inventiveness, the music has a freshness and festive sun-drenched splendour Vivaldi never surpassed. It's also Vivaldi at his most imaginative and daring, finding opportunities to excite and amaze at every turn. Speaking personally, my favourite L'Estro has long been Claudio Scimone's Erato set from the 1970s - performances that really capture the euphonic brilliance of this warm sensuous music in ways that elude most scratchy-thin period instrument performances. The old Erato set still gives enormous pleasure, but Biondi and Europa Galante go even further with a combination of stylish virtuoso brilliance and crisp lively attack that is absolutely captivating. There are one or two quirky moments - the relaxed opening to the first concerto for example - but for the most part the interpretations are exciting and challenging, giving a fresh slant on the work. The playing is quite breathtaking for its cutting-edge sharpness and panache. It sounds as though everyone's really enjoying the music, and delighting in the opportunities it gives for displays of finger dexterity! The recording too is exemplary; sharp and lucid, with excellent focus and attack, but tonally sweet and natural, and wholly unexaggerated.

Beethoven: Piano sonatas 22, 23 'Appasionata', 24, 27
Maurizio Pollini (piano)
DG 474 451-2 Reviewed by JMH
Given a career spanning over 40 years, you'd think Maurizio Pollini would have recorded all the Beethoven sonatas by now. But no; having begun recording Beethoven for DG back in 1976, he's not even half-way through! I heard him play the Appasionata live in London's Royal Festival hall way back in 1979, and the effect was overwhelming. At last he's recorded the work, and the performance is mightily impressive: lucid, crystalline and muscular. Pollini's incredible dexterity clarifies even the densest textures, making usually hidden inner lines audible. His fabulous technique rarely sounds stretched; the coda of the Appasionata is superbly articulated, but one doesn't feel the pianist struggling against overwhelming forces. The other sonatas are quite beautifully played; the combination of direct simplicity allied to powerful intellectual control and flawless technique results in commanding performances. If Pollini s interpretations lack a certain warmth and sense of personal involvement, there's no doubting the hand of a master. For a limited period DG are including a bonus disc containing exciting live performances of sonatas 23 and 24 recorded June 2002 in Vienna's Musikverein. Technically, although not as immaculate as the studio performance, the live Appasionata conveys more of Beethoven's power and rage - the final moments are a tour de force few pianists could match.

Brahms: Violin Concerto
Beethoven: Symphony no. 5
Kyung Wha Chung (violin), VPO, Sir Simon Rattle
EMI 7243 5 57165-2 Reviewed by JMH
That Kyung Wha Chung has waited over thirty years to record the Brahms concerto seems remarkable. But the long wait has been well worthwhile. She gives a performance of stunning mastery, by turns soaring and passionate, lyrical and honey-sweet. The Vienna Philharmonic under Rattle play with exquisite concentration and refinement. From the opening measures one senses this is going to be an outstanding performance: the hushed intensity of the orchestral playing promises great things to come. It's their way of providing a perfect backdrop to an artist they clearly like and admire. Although Chung's technique is well-nigh flawless, there's a necessary sense of struggle. The Brahms concerto is no easy ride (what was it Hubermann said about it being a Concerto for Violin Against Orchestra?), and it must sound as though the soloist is grappling with near insurmountable odds. The finale brings playing of incredible passion and presence, underlining the reasons why Kyung Wha Chung has held her place among elite violinists for over thirty years. Beethoven's fifth symphony is played with a mixture of fire and ice, being fast but not especially furious. There's a slightly reigned-in feeling to the performance, as though Rattle and the orchestra couldn't fully let themselves go. Sound is a little dry and close in the symphony, richer and more spacious in the concerto. Recommended for the Brahms.

Jean Sibelius: Symphonies 1 and 7
Helsinki Philharmonic orchestra, Leif Segerstam
Ondine ODE 10072 Reviewed by JMH
With this issue, Segerstam begins a new cycle of the Sibelius symphonies for Ondine. He's passed this way before, recording an excellent and at times very characterful set of Sibelius symphonies for Chandos between 1990 and 1992. The new accounts of symphonies 1 and 7 are faster than the Chandos versions: more direct and straightforward, with fewer mannerisms. Is that a good thing? Well, yes and no. It depends on whether you find Segerstam's wilfulness illuminating or annoying. I tend towards the former view, and like Segerstam's romantic heart-on-sleeve approach. That said, there's a taut bracing quality with the new performances that's very engaging and exciting. It's as though Segerstam feels less need to impose his personality on the music, being more inclined to let things speak for themselves. Certainly, the new Helsinki performance of the first symphony gains in dramatic urgency. For all Sibelius' romantic leanings, there's a strong classical streak in his music. The new Seventh is more organic than the earlier one, growing and expanding with an inexorable logic that sounds idiomatic and inevitable. The Ondine recordings are technically good; less reverberant than the Chandos ones, with excellent detail and natural balances. The sound isn't quite as outstanding as Segerstam's earlier Ondine recording of the Sibelius Legends, but really there's nothing to complain about.

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto no 3
Prokofiev: Piano concerto no 3
Mikhail Pletnev (piano), Russian National Orchestral, Mstislav Rostropovich
DG 471 576-2 Reviewed by JMH
Interpretatively, these are commanding, authoritative performances. Pletnev has sufficient technique to make the immense difficulties of both concertos seem like child's play, and his interpretations are refined and powerful. But against such musical virtues must be set at least one drawback; a couple of small cuts in the Rachmaninov concerto. Neither is especially large (the first comes in the opening movement's cadenza; the second in the finale), but purists will object. Clearly, Pletnev believes these cuts make the concerto more cohesive, and certainly he plays the music with none of the soggy Romantic baggage that bog down other pianists. Everything is clean-cut and sharply profiled. Musically, Prokofiev's third piano concerto is quite different of course, and lends itself admirably to Pletnev's steely approach. His playing is very staccato at times, almost to the point of brusqueness. But it suits the spiky brilliance of Prokofiev's diamondhard music perfectly. It's amazing to hear the solo part articulated so cleanly at such speed! The recordings are crisp and detailed, with excellent clarity and forward but natural balances. Those who can forgive Pletnev for making cuts in the Rachmaninov will find this a disc to treasure.

Toru Takemitsu: Quotation of Dream
Paul Crossley, Peter Serkin (pianos), London Sinfonietta, Knussen
DG 453 495-2 Reviewed by JMH
Whether or not you choose to investigate the various 'meanings' of the individual pieces included on this well-filled CD (each one has an evocative title), one thing's certain; Takemitsu is a master of orchestral colour, and always draws ravishing sonorities from the forces he writes for. Even when the music gets loud, there's something very ordered and concordant about the writing helped in no small measure by the meticulous refinement of the present performances under Oliver Knussen. Somehow, even discordant passages sound harmonious and strangely beautiful. In the second piece on the disc, Quotation of Dream, Takemitsu borrows from Debussy's La Mer, seamlessly shifting between his world and that of the great French composer. Indeed, many of the pieces on the disc have a sensuous French feel, calling to mind Ravel, Messian, and even Dukas the brass fanfare Day Signal that opens the disc suggests the start of La Peri. Although the disc contains seven separate works, the choice of pieces (and the order in which they're played) creates a complimentary feeling -as though one were listening to a single work. DG's sound is beautifully clear and lucid. Detail tells effortlessly, doing justice to Takemitsu's richly coloured tonal palette with its many subtle hues.

Audiophile Recordings

Aretha Franklin - Soul '69
4 Men With Beards / Atlantic 4M111 Reviewed by RP
This record label goes from strength to strength and along the way disproves the old maxim that you shouldn't trust a man with a beard. These unshaven blokes consistently select magnificent albums to reissue and an underrated Soul '69 is no exception. Here the Queen of Soul takes the raw power and immediacy of that medium and expands its horizons to embrace the subtleties and sophistication of jazz. Hence the inclusion of bassist Ron Carter for 'Elusive Butterfly', guitarist Kenny Burrell on 'if You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody', 'Bring It On Home To Me', 'Ramblin' and 'Crazy He Calls Me' and saxophonists like Pepper Adams, King Curtis and Frank Wess elsewhere. But of course we are irresistibly drawn back time and again to Aretha's intelligent and dynamic vocal delivery which often possess both tremendous rhythmic impact and contrasting moments of delicacy for songs like the beautifully crafted 'Tracks Of My Tears'. Their transfer of these awkward Atlantic master tapes has been expertly handled. It certainly couldn't have been easy managing the transient peaks of those raucous trumpet and trombone obbligatos.
Supplier: The Cherished Record Company - www.cherished-record-company.co.uk (44)(0)1579 363603

Franz Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies 1, 4, 5, Battle of the Huns
Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Hermann Scherchen
Speakers Corner / Westminster WST-14100 Reviewed by JMH
You can tell this is an early twin-channel recording; the word STEREO is emblazoned on the top half of the cover in letters larger than those identifying composer, music, and artists! The soundstage is wide and deep, with the orchestra placed in a spacious but not too reverberant acoustic. There's a little congestion in climaxes, and massed violins and brass are a touch thin at the top. Otherwise, the sound is clean and well balanced -pretty good for 1959, if less impressive than the best Decca LPs of the period. Scherchen's performances are carefully considered rather than wild or exciting, and a bit more gypsy fervour would not have been missed in the Hungarian Rhapsodies. Anyone knowing the Ivan Fischer set of all six Rhapsodies on Philips CD will find Scherchen very plain. Hunnenschlacht is played with quiet dignity, but the organ is not an impressive instrument (it sounds like a portable!) and it lacks the power and grandeur needed to bolster the climaxes as Liszt intended. It's also out of tune with the orchestra - a common occurrence in many recordings during the analogue era. The LP transfer is cut at a nice high level, and the cover art's nice. But musically the results are a bit mixed.

Gram Parsons - Grievous Angel
Rhino / Warner M52171 Reviewed by RP
The brief but influential career of International Submarine Band founder and ex-Byrds vocalist Gram Parsons is almost as remarkable as those events surrounding his death. Like many geniuses he had a self-destructive side and it was these excesses and the drug dependency that eventually killed him in September 1973. The theft of his body after the funeral and its cremation in the desert by his road manager, Philip Kaufman, simply added to a sense of mystique which permeated the two solo albums recorded with Emmylou Harris. The Parsons/Harris relationship, both in and out of the studio, has rightly been seen as a pivotal moment in the development of contemporary country rock. On Grievous Angel the touching lyricism for 'In My Hour Of Darkness', combined with those plaintive duets heard in 'Hearts On Fire' and 'Love Hurts', reveals the beautiful and poignant sentiments embedded within the writing. Their voices dovetail perfectly to take this music away from the hick country roots with a well wrought expression of sorrow and vulnerability. The Linda Ronstadt collaboration, 'Brass Buttons', is equally effective. Terrific guitar playing from Bernie Leadon and Herb Pederson which is well supported by the cream of California's session musicians who later became Emmylou's Hot Band.
Supplier: The Cherished Record Company - www.cherished-record-company.co.uk (44)(0)1579 363603

Johannes Brahms: Violin Concerto
Erica Morini, London Philharmonic, Artur Rodzinski
Speakers Corner / Westminster WST 14037 Reviewed by JMH
One of the legendary names from the past, Erica Morini was 61 years old and nearing the end of an illustrious career when she made this stereo recording of the Brahms concerto for Westminster in 1956. It's a lyrical, full-blooded, if somewhat fragile performance, played from the heart. Technically, the solo playing is very good, but Morini's technique is not as powerful and assured as one routinely expects today. It takes one back forty or fifty years, to the days when Heifetz (with his unassailable virtuosity) stood head and shoulders above virtually all his contemporaries. Then, such technical perfection was regarded as exceptional, whereas nowadays it's taken for granted. Yet perfection can sometimes be boring and soulless. Morini's Brahms concerto may not be the finest on records, but it's a real performance with none of the rough edges taken out. I never heard the original LP, but would guess that this new Speakers Corner 180g vinyl re-issue is almost certainly superior. The disc is cut at a nice high level, and the sound has good body and depth. Like other Westminsters, the upper treble is a bit congested and thin. But the basic sound is pretty good, especially given its vintage.

Linda Hoyle - Pieces of Me
Akarma AK 220 Reviewed by RP
Pieces of Me, released in 1971, is an enigmatic album. This was the only solo release by Linda Hoyle who had earlier found some limited success as lead singer of the progressive band, Affinity. It is a marvellously versatile showcase for her singing and song writing abilities. She is a vocally dextrous performer, one equally at home with jazz, blues, rock or folk idioms. An opening Vietnam protest song, Nina Simone's 'Backlash Blues', is given the brash and intensely expressive treatment you'd expect from that of a Janis Joplin. She then effortlessly switches to the folk "flowers in your hair" persona on a radiant and tonally rich 'Paper Tulips' whose gentle cadences wash over you in waves of nostalgia. Her soulful, emotionally engaging, dynamic and above all else, intelligent shaping of these songs and that for those rockier numbers heard elsewhere on this LP are underpinned by a stellar band that includes British jazz-rock guitarist Chris Spedding, keyboards king Karl Jenkins and drummer John Marshall. Overall, this is a brilliant choice for re-issue, which Akarma has lovingly recreated as a tactile gatefold sleeved edition. It only leaves you to digest these lyrically binding songs and wonder why Hoyle's career ended so abruptly here.
Supplier: The Cherished Record Company - www.cherished-record-company.co.uk (44)(0)1579 363603

Maria Muldaur - Richland Woman Blues
Grooveland GLS 108 Reviewed by RP
Over the last decade Maria Muldaurs soulful voice which is noted for its jazz tinged delivery has enjoyed something of resurgence. Here we are treated to a glorious celebration of the early blues where traditional Muldaur arrangements of songs familiar in the 1920's and 1930's comfortably rest alongside Leadbelly's 'Grasshoppers In My Pillow', John Hurt's title track and two Bessie Smith numbers, 'My Man Blues' and 'Lonesome Desert Blues'. Beautifully sparse acoustic sets (with no more than three terrific musicians to a song) eloquently tap directly back into music from around the Delta that redefined the portrayal of a human spirit in adversity. The singing (which includes spots for Bonnie Raitt, Angela Strehli, Tracy Nelson and Taj Mahal) is simply amazing. Muldaurs rich nicotine and whiskey stained sounding vocals are just totally intoxicating. The Playing - breathtaking - as Roly Salley (bass), Amos Garrett (12 string), Dave Mathews (piano), Roy Rogers (slide) and Ernie Hawkins (guitar) instinctively give masterful performances in, respectively, 'Me And My Chauffeur Blues', 'Grasshoppers', 'Far Away Blues', 'Soul Of A Man' and 'I Belong To That Band'. The bonus disc in this set is a four-track LP. Cut at 45rpm, it is sonically stunning and doesn't duplicate any of the thirteen songs from the main album.
Supplier: The Cherished Record Company - www.cherished-record-company.co.uk (44)(0)1579 363603

Sarah McLachlan - Touch
Classic / Arista RTH 2004 Reviewed by RP

Sarah McLachlan - Solace
Classic / Arista RTH 2005 Reviewed by RP
With the vinyl release of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and Surfacing Classic Records had a pair of sure fire audiophile hits on their hands. Fumbling was inspired by those disturbing scenes McLachlan witnessed during a World Vision charity tour to both Thailand and Cambodia during the early Nineteen Nineties. It provided the clay from which she was able to shape an unsettling vision of the darker sides to a human condition. Blending these experiences with her earthy and poetic approach to the songwriter's craft and wrapping it all up in the most sophisticated of production values was to prove to be an irresistible combination. Surfacing, which on its release reached the dizzy heights of number two in the US album charts, was an equally reflective and well thought out offering, one that also had the added benefit of a hit single in 'Adia'. By the time of these LP transfers Sarah McLachlan had fully blossomed into a complete folk-rock performer. Now Classic has travelled back into the Arista vaults to transfer her earliest recordings. The 1988 debut, Touch, which marked the twenty-year old McLachlan's emergence from a Nova Scotia folk scene, unveiled these fledgling talents on a much wider Canadian stage. Like Solace, it too was recorded at the Mushroom Studios in Vancouver with McLachlan receiving the song writing credits throughout for both. A dreamy-sounding opener, 'Out Of The Shadows', and the later 'Uphill Battle', 'Strange World' and 'Sad Clown' are all strongly held songs that showcase her more serious concerns even if they do lack that incisive edge found in the disturbed vision of Fumbling. Perhaps I have unfairly compared these two albums. They were, after all, separated by six years. But I do find Touch to be a less persuasive album. The charming degree of innocence sometimes borders on naivety. Surprisingly good work in the studio, which includes Greg Reely's solid engineering, does spread an amiable degree of warmth throughout an acoustic that certainly suits those flowery almost perfumed lead vocals. Sarah McLachlan definitely shines in this role of youthful folk singer. Plenty of attention is also given to the reproduction of her classical guitar, twelve-string and keyboard playing. This versatility, together with bass, percussion and the electric guitar of Stephen Niklev, has an accurate and lifelike presence that has undoubtedly aided its selection for reissue. Solace, which appeared after a three years hiatus is a worthy follow up disc which reveals her developing maturity as a writer and performer. Its title thematically suggests that this will be the music of consolation, comfort and reconciliation and in songs like 'Shelter', 'Mercy' and 'Home' she cultivates this atmosphere. They and that internal dialogue which occurs elsewhere within tracks such as 'Into The Fire', 'The Path Of Thorns' and a plaintive love song like 'I Will Not Forget You', raises the issues of homelessness, heartbreak or even life's frustrations in general. Though McLachlan may not always offer a concrete answer to these issues, she does instinctively step in to apply the Savalon, a plaster and give the unfortunate ones in question a consoling hug or pat on the head. All, while rhythmically cradling the listener with musical cadences that echo those sentiments found in her lyrics. Does 2009 vinyl enhance this experience? No, to my mind it does not. Unless you use a tonearm like the JMW 12.5, where dialling in the precise VTA for any slab of vinyl can be done easily in seconds, then I think you might find there's a genuine weight problem here. Old Decca engineers have down the years been at pains to explain to me that the optimum vinyl weight is anywhere between 140g and 160g. Above this and the vinyl is technically more difficult to work with. Sonically, these new Classic heavyweight cuts remind me of the Mobile Fidelity LPs that appeared in the 1990s. They sound plump and by that I mean there is a slight loss of fine definition. That space above, between, below and around the vocal and instrumental images is less tangible.
Supplier: The Cherished Record Company - www.cherished-record-company.co.uk (44)(0)1579 363603

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