Cure For Arachnophobes

Time for another marvellous disk from Christina Pluhar's ensemble L'Arpeggiata. This one is called La Tarentella - Antidotum Tarantulae and revolves around the belief in southern Europe, particularly Italy, that the sting of the tarantula spider could only be cured by singing and dancing. Once again, L'Arpeggiata come up with a seamless mix of folk and early music sounds. Amongst the harp, archlute, chitarrone, baroque guitar, viol and psaltery, there are also bagpipe type sounds and wild percussion. This mix is also evident in the singing which again features Marco Beasley, about whom I have enthused before and Lucilla Galeazzi. This time though there is also the wild earthy folk style of Alfio Antico from deep in that southern Italian countryside. As well as performing the rites to cure that spider sting, the lyrics are often deeply sensuous and full of Mediterranean connection to the earth and its' bounties. The disk is beautifully presented with erudite and informative notes. Interestingly, the photos of the various tarantulas show spiders completely unlike the furry beasts beloved of Bond movies.

Film Music Classic

Hamlet, Music For The 1964 Film by Shostakovich played by the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra under Dmitry Yablonsky. The film was directed by Grigori Kozintsev. Naxos bill this as the first complete recording of the published film score. there is also a suite extracted from the music by arranger Lev Atovmian and I'm not certain that wouldn't be as viable a proposition as this premiere of the complete work. Listening to the disk through without the visual cue points leaves many disconnected snippets lasting around a minute or less that aren't really of any great significance. There is plenty of powerful music in the more substantial sections of the eight suites however, with primarily a brooding menacing feel typical of late Shostakovich. The Russian orchestra gives a performance that certainly isn't of budget standard despite being on Naxos ( to be fair that is often the case with this invaluable record label ).

G Strings And Violins

It's time once again for the latest issue BBC Music mag cover disk. This month it is music by JS Bach. The Orchestral Suite No 3 is played by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra directed by Nicholas Kraemer from the harpsichord. They are then joined by soloist Alina Ibragimova in the Violin Concerto No 1 and No 2. The disk is rounded out by Ibragimova solo on the Chaconne from Partita No 2. This is the orchestral suite that features the air on a g string theme and while the BBCSSO may not quite have the period instrument style down pat, they give an enjoyable enough rendition. They provide committed support for Ibragimova in the concertos. She is a current BBC Young Generation artist and looks set for a fine career covering music from the baroque to contemporary music. She works at times with Kremerata Baltica which she directs from the violin and that ensemble is ideal for exploring a wide range of repertoire.

Classic FM Territory

Not much to say about this one which was another very early purchase when I was still feeling my way with classical music. On the Philips label, the title is The Classic Collection and it is a two cd set "160 min+ featuring music from 30 composers". Very much Classic FM territory I would guess, the thirty composers comprise most of the expected "greats", a couple of one hit wonders like Albinoni and Boccherini and just the odd off the wall candidate like Satie ( but then again, that selection is Gymnopodie No 1 ! ) A good standard of performance from the Philips roster but really only the sort of thing you might put on as background while working on something else, or at that mythical dinner party.

Much More Than Just "That" Theme

A great big iconic work today, Shostakovich's 7th Symphony, the Leningrad, played by the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy. It is a work that comes with a huge amount of baggage of course. Written at least in part in the besieged city of Leningrad during WW2, the symphony caused a sensation both within Russia and also in the US and Britain as a symbol of heroic resistance to the Nazi juggernaut. The ambiguities surfaced later. Was the work just as much or maybe even more of a comment on Stalin's tyranny as it was on the German invasion ? Was the long, repetitive and relentless march theme in the first movement a powerful evocation of the threat of and resistance too the invaders or was it musically banal in the extreme ? It is a feature of the symphony that can be picked on while the rest of the work is overlooked. Personally, I find it powerful but then I like Bolero and Prokofiev's battle on the ice to which it bears many similarities. I feel that whatever Shostakovich's views of the Stalinist regime, there is still a germ in the symphony that speaks of the struggle of the Russian people and those besieged in Leningrad in particular. I'm glad I have it played by Russian forces and the disk includes a brief spoken broadcast that the composer made from the city in 1941.

Putting England In The Mainstream

This is one of an excellent series called Panorama put out by Deutsche Grammophon, raiding their archives to put together budget priced double cd's featuring various composers or themes. DG's archives are of a pretty high quality and so these issues make very good introductions. The one in question today is George Frideric Handel and the performers The English Concert under Trevor Pinnock. The booklet makes a point of saying "on authentic instruments". I'm not sure what constitutes inauthentic instruments but this in fact means the recordings are from the early days of the period instrument movement in the early to mid eighties and although research into performance practice continues, they hold up well. Disk one features the complete ceremonial Water Music and Music For The Royal Fireworks, while disk two is more intimate three Concerti Grosso, a Concerto a Due Cori and the Harp Concerto with soloist Ursula Holliger. Disk two puts Handel firmly in the European mainstream, as would be expected from his German roots and his time in Italy. Disk one manages to evoke some kind of timeless Englishness despite Handel only being an adopted son and the court the music was written for essentially a German one. This is a fine example of Handel's insrumental craft to place alongside the many operatic and choral masterpieces.

But He Didn't Write Anything For Guitar ?

Vivaldi Guitar Concertos played by Los Romeros accompanied by the Academy of st Martin in the Fields directed by Iona Brown. In fact, Vivaldi didn't write for the guitar and these are all transcriptions of concertos originally written for combinations of violin, lute and mandolin. Transcribing is a time honoured craft however and these all work perfectly well. Vivaldi was so prolific that there is that sense of sameness and familiarity but it is in the context of very high class hack work. This disk was recorded back in 1984 and I have to admit to knowing nothing of Los Romeros who are four presumably from the same family since they all share the surname Romero. It was one of the very early purchases that I made when embarking on a classical collection and to be honest I wouldn't bother with it now, preferring Vivaldi with a little more Italianate bite. It is a perfectly unobjectionable release however.

Heavyweight Concerto Coupling

The latest one off the shelf of the BBC music magazine covermount disks features what were at the time ( 2001 ) BBC Young Generation artists in two heavyweight late 19th century concertos. The Dvorak cello concerto is played by Alban Gerhardt and the Grieg piano concerto by Francois-Frederic Guy. Both are supported by the BBC Philharmonic orchestra conducted by Neeme Jarvi. The performance of the Grieg is a little run of the mill but I do have another version by Steven Kovacevich on a best of Grieg double cd. This is the only performance that I have of Dvorak's cello concerto and it is a very serviceable one from Gerhardt. It is a full blown romantic concerto with many memorable themes and a subtext of being a musical tribute to a late sister in law. It is deserving of its' place among the very top cello concertos. The Grieg is even more popular and crammed with tunes and is a perennial on the concert platform. In this performance, however, it doesn't quite seem suited to Guy's style and lacks a little passion.

Yemeni Beats

Post number two hundred in this venture and probably the first full blown "world music" disk to be considered. I have several in this genre in fact, just the way they have come off the shelf that has made an entry take so long. Anyway, this disk is titled Sakat and is by DuOuD and Abdulatif Yagoub. The music is Yemeni in origin, although this is something of a fusion album with assorted ouds and percussion augmented by keyboards, sampling and the occasional trumpet solo. None of this overwhelms however and the authenticity of the middle eastern sound shines through. Sung in that typically gutteral Arab voice, the lyrics as translated in the booklet notes are poetic and lovelorn and not the sort that might immediately be associated with Islamic culture until you remember 1001 nights etc. Most of the tracks are upbeat and danceable with an occasional techno feel but the main drive of the album is the sound of the oud which I love. A close cousin of the lute or mandolin, the oud has a wonderully soulful and bluesy feel and the playing here from Abdulatif Yagoub, Mehdi Haddab and Smadj is easily virtuosic. I try to resist the casual appellation of the term blues to all kinds of styles from around the world but have to concede it is that underlying bluesy feel that attracts ears such as mine which have long been attuned to it.

A Land Down Under

The Australian Chamber Orchestra led from the violin by Richard Tognetti, performing smaller scale works by Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe than on the other disk of his music that I have. There are six string pieces on this disk, one with adde3d percussion. The music is rooted in western classical tradition but the programmatic aspect has been influenced by the harshness of much of the Australian landscape and by aboriginal melodies and instrumentation and exotic bird song. Unlike his large orchestral piece Earth Cry, there is no didgeridoo feature but the bass and cello impersonate the sound quite effectively at several points. Tognetti solos on violin on the piece Irkanda I, being joined by the rest of the string orchestra for the expanded Irkanda IV. Significant solo cello contributions are made by Emma-Jane Murphy on Lament and Cello Dreaming. Second Sonata for strings does what it says on tghe tin and the closing piece Djilile translates as "whistling duck on the billabong", which risks sounding a cliche but somehow encapsulates Sculthorpe's creative response to the abiding influence of Australia.

Orthodox Take On The Passion

Ok, so it's not Easter but the music doesn't really require topicality. Passio ( St John Passion ) by Arvo Part, performed by the ensemble Tonus Peregrinus Directed by Antony Pitts. This piece is in Part's tintinabuli style where the melody and the accompaniment are one. In this setting it is the text itself which determines the musical structure and even of the duration of the silences between the words which Part specifies for the performers. This gives a feeling of space and repose and time to contemplate the message, even if not every listener will share Part's convictions.The performance is mostly unaccompanied, with only the simplest and subtlest interjections by the organ from time to time. There is of course more of an orthodox Christian feel to the setting as opposed to a latin one and although that isn't native to Tonus Peregrinus, they give a convincing and sincere reading. This disk can be listened to as relaxing chill out music but there is a lot more depth there for those who might seek it.

Pet Sounds

A double bill of narrative 20th century ballet music, Stravinsky's Petrushka and Bartok's The Miraculous Mandarin, played by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano. Petrushka is one of my favourite pieces. I suspect that goes back to my roots in rock music and jazz, since the myriad of tunes and rhythmic pulses through the piece make it easy to get a handle on. I've retained my affection for the piece though even as my tastes and knowledge have developed. The folk influences give a very Russian feel of course, as with all three of Stravinsky's early ballet works. I also recall seeing a fine tv broadcast of the actual ballet as opposed to a concert performance simply of the music. I can't say the same for The Miraculous Mandarin which definitely now seems to exist purely as a concert piece and is rarely danced. I'm not sure why, modern audiences wouldn't be put off by the rather tawdry subject matter. But my main impetus for buying this disk was Petrushka. I found it impossible to find a release of it that wasn't coupled with something I already had and even with this one it duplicates the Mandarin which I have on an all Bartok disk. But this is a fine value budget release and Petrushka repays repeated listening for me.

Get Carter

Contemporary music from the nonogenarian American composer Elliott Carter. The disk contains his Clarinet Concerto and Symphonia: Sum Fluxae Pretium Spei. Played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Oliver Knussen with Michael Collins the clarinet soloist. I sometimes question the enjoyment and satisfaction that I get from such music but am prepared to remain open minded and can see the worth that is clearly there. I do wonder though when and if there will be any change in direction since "new music" has been ploughing similar furrows for over fifty years now. As Knussen's sleeve notes say, these works are erected on a scaffolding of giant polyrhythms, two pendulums that start together and drift further and further apart triggering musical incidents as they proceed. My layman's take on it is that the music is forever in a kind of stasis, it seems to start, is there and then finishes without any sense of a journey or progression. If it were programmatic, the visual picture it would conjure up would be of some kind of primordial soup of drifting gas and dust clouds. Not altogether unpleasant though !

Schubertiad

This disk contains the two noted masterpieces of Schubert's chamber music, the Trout piano quintet and the Death and the Maiden sring quartet. The performers on the Trout quintet are a pick up group led by James Levine on piano, whereas Death and the Maiden is played by the established Hagen Quartet. both are fine performances, Levine is better known as a conductor esepcially of opera but he also is a noted chamber collaborator when the chance arises. The Trout is a joyfully sunny piece full of life and delight in nature. Crammed with tunes, it is a piece that it is easy to be seduced by and was perfect for those evening gathering of friends known as Schubertiads. Death and the Maiden is altogether different, composed late when Schubert suspected he was mortally ill. Based on an earlier song in which Death courts a young girl, it is a more serious angst driven work but even here, it finishes with some sense of optimism, sadly not realised in real life, that troubles and illness can be danced away. There is no doubt that the early demise of Schubert was just as big a loss to the world of music as that of Mozart.

LA Jazbos

What might seem quite a run of the mill jazz album but one that I enjoy and find strangely satisfying. The name in the frame is Charlie Haden and the title of the cd Quartet West, because of the LA location and noir inspiration behind the project. Beside Haden on bass, the remaining members of the quartet are Ernie Watts on assorted sax, Alan Broadbent on piano and Billy Higgins on drums. All have possibly played more adventurous and groundbreaking music but the subtlety and easy groove displayed here go far beyond any kind of cocktail jazz. Among some originals, there are reworkings of material by such as Charlie Parker, Billy Strayhorn, Ornette Coleman and Pat Metheny as well as an exquisite reading of the standard My Foolish Heart. There is also a seven minute solo bass workout for Haden which deftly incorporates folk and old r'n'b themes and swings like mad. There were other albums by the Quartet West grouping and they seemed to provide a solid back to the roots home for these musicians.

A Civilised Way To Pass The time

Mozart violin concertos played by Viktoria Mullova directing the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and an absolute delight. There are three concertos on the disk, nos 1, 3 and 4. Not much point in me posting about the quality of Mozart, except to say what a perfectly civilised way it seeems to spend an hour on a Sunday afternoon. It maybe more interesting to write a little about Mullova, whose career has progressed in a very interesting way when it could have been strictly that of a star soloist travelling the circuit and churning out the main romantic concerto repertoire. She still performs those from time to time but is much more interested in contemporary commissions, collaborative efforts with multi genre musicians and exploring the baroque and period instrument scene. On this record she is playing her Strad with gut strings and baroque bow and producing a wonderfully expressive tone and texture that seems a million miles away from her original "ice queen" reputation back in the Soviet days.

Rhiannon.... But Not Stevie Nicks

This is the second disk that I have of music by James MacMillan, titled The Birds Of Rhiannon and featuring the composer conducting the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Singers under chorus master Stephen Betteridge. The title track is described as a dramatic concerto for orchestra with a mystical coda for choir and is based on an ancient Welsh legendin a mediaeval anthology of tales called The Mabinogion. It is about a warrior king who sacrifices his life to bring peace to two warring peoples and the birds are angel like beings who appear at the king's execution. The disk also features three sacred settings of the magnificat, Nunc Dimittis and an Exsultet. These feature contemplative choral settings interspersed with violent clashing organ passages played by Jonathan Scott. A common feature of MacMillan's music, I have yet to perceive the intention behind these disruptive elements. The remaining pieces on the disk are unaccompanied choral works with embellished folk melodies setting texts by the 19th century Gaelic poet Evan MacColl and by Burns. The Gaelic setting has interweaving lines whereas the Burns is deceptively simple and unadorned.

All About 1905, Or Is It ?

Another live recording ( although there is no evidence of an audience on the disk ) from the LSO live label featuring the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich performing Shostakovich's Symphony No 11, The Year 1905. This is an atmospheric symphony recounting the events surrounding the first Russian Revolution of 1905 when unarmed protesters were gunned down in St Petersburg. It was praised by the Soviet authorities at the premiers in 1957 for its' "social realism" but as ever with Shostakovich, there has been a reevaluation and it is now seen as also being a reflection on the brutality of the Soviet regime. The symphony has a cinematic feel depicting winter cold and military might in contrastingly subdued and clamourous sections. Rostropovich is mainly known for his cello playing and teaching of course but, at least in this repertoire with which he was so closely connected, his conducting also has much to commend it. And the LSO is currently in a very fine state as far as playing standards are concerned.

Later...But Not With Holland

This is a recording made live in Budapest by the Hungarian violinist Roby Lakatos and his band. Titled Later With Lakotos, it documents a fine gig. I guess you might call the music fusion or crossover, mixing as it does elements of classical, gypsy, folk and jazz. There is the spirit of Django and Grappelli and the Hot Club, Franz Liszt and the concert hall and countless generations of gypsy fiddlers around forest camp fires. Lakatos himself is the driving force, a phenomenal improvising player who only occasionally goes over the top into showboating. His band back him up very capably however. There's no percussion but a rhythm section of second violin, double bass and guitar. The guitar, Ernest Bango, doubles on cimbalom and has his standout feature with Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No 2. Kalman Cseki contributes sophisticated jazz piano touches throughout. As well as the Liszt, the Austro-Hungarian empire is evoked by Johann Strauss's Tritsch-Tratsch Polka and other material ranges through folk songs from Russia and Moldova, tango, Fiddler On The roof, Django's Nuages and even a few originals. The record label DG pushed the boat out on this release with quite a lavish booklet but they don't seem to have followed through in the half dozen or so years since its' release.

A Deep Soul Masterpiece

It's easy to bandy about terms like masterpiece but in its' given genre that term applies to Hot Buttered Soul by Isaac Hayes. Prior to this recording, Hayes was known only for his song writing partnership at Stax with David Porter, which made it an even braver decision to release an album of only four tracks, including an 18 minute 40 second epic. That epic is an inspired reworking of the Jimmy Webb song, By The Time I Get To Phoenix. Hayes takes the song to church and launches it with a long, slow smouldering spoken monologue over spare bass and drums. This sets the scene and tells the sad tale of a relationship coming apart at the seams. When the song finally comes in, there is a danger that it would be an anti climax but it is superbly styled with Hayes mellow soulful voice and an arrangement that builds remorslessly with members of the Bar Kays joining in one by one to build to the full band plus strings, before subsiding again to a gentle resigned conclusion. The other three tracks on the album suffer slightly by comparison but the leisurely expansion of Walk On By is also impressive, despite the dated fuzz guitar sound, and the ridiculously titled Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic ends with a wonderfully funky electric piano workout, presumably played by Hayes himself although the sparse booklet notes don't say. This album led ultimately to the soundtrack album for Shaft and a period of superstardom but if you only know Isaac Hayes for Chef in South Park, do yourself a favour and catch up with this recipe.

Ellingtonia

This one is a double cd called Impulsively Ellington - A Tribute To Duke Ellington. On the Impulse label, hence the title, it is a compilation rather than custom recorded album, bringing together performances of pieces associated with the Ellington band ove the years. The overall feel of the record is mainstream Cotton Club era Ellington, not touching on any of his more esoteric genre ventures. The performances are mainly straight ahead too but all swing and are well worth hearing. There are a reasonable variety of artists, some like Johnny Hodges and Paul Gonsalves mainstays of Ellington's band but most with no direct connection and ranging through names like Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Charles Mingus, Ben Webster, Clark Terry etc. Most of the expected numbers are featured such as Cotton Tail, Caravan, Mood Indigo, Satin Doll. Some even get a second outing but strangely, nobody tackles Take the A Train. Amongst all the straight ahead swing of the disk, it is amusing that it finishes with Archie Shepp dismantling In a Sentimental Mood in a burst of free blowing before alighting beautifully on the theme. maybe an Ellington album with no Ellington is a little perverse but there is plenty here to enjoy.

Desperate

An album by the Eagles ? That's way down on street credibility isn't it ? Well, probably but I'll stand by Desperado as the one album that holds up. Recorded by the original band line up before LA excess kicked in, it's a genuine concept album but one that relies strictly on songs and music and not on gimmicks. A story unfolds and you can see the western movie play out in your head. Tuneful, fine harmonies, well played, brief enough not to outstay its' welcome. Like today's post !

Space Cowboy

Anthology, The Best of the Steve Miller Band 1968 - 1972. Which were certainly the peak years for Steve Miller. I've already posted about the individual album Number 5, so comments made about Miller there hold true for this anthology. There are tracks from Number 5 duplicated here but also heavily represented are the companion albums to that ( three and four chronologically ) Your Saving Grace and Brave New World. This collection is an excellent summing up of the band at this time. Aside from Steve Miller, it also highlights the organ playing and song writing skills of Ben Sidran and particularly the matchless rock piano playing of Nicky Hopkins. More influenced by classical and gospel than by blues and jazz, Hopkins was a unique talent who never quite found his niche to settle in. Maybe he would have done better accepting the gig with the Steve Miller Band than plumping for Quicksilver Messenger Service instead. And lifestyle wise, he may have done better not being house pianist on many Stones records, although musically his contribution to those was considerable.

Total Joy

I would recommend this disk to everyone as a total life enhancing joy. All'Improvviso by L'Arpegiatta led by Christine Pluhar with Gianluigi Trovesi on clarinet and the beautiful voices of Marco Beasley and Lucilla Galeazzi. I suppose it could be called a crossover disk of early music, world music and a little jazz but it is such a seamless and timeless mix that there doesn't seem anything contrived about it and there is a joyous timeless feel. There is a subtitle of Ciacone, Bergamasche...& un po'di Follie also Les Chants de la Terre. The base for the music is in the 16th and 17th centuries and these traditions are scrupulously respected but the players are allowed to improvise freely and all have enough taste nit to include anything totally incongruous. As well as the featured clarinet which gives the occasional jazzy tinge, the regular members of L'Arpegiatta are solidly there in support with such as theorbo, baroque harp and guitar, psaltery, contra bass and various early variants on violin and viola. I've waxed lyrical before about the voice of Marco Beasley and Lucilla Galeazzi has a similar style that sits outside of any regular genre. You will not regret buying this record.

16th Century Improvisations

Andrew Lawrence-King and the Harp Consort are a kind of English equivalent to Jordi Savall's Hesperion XXI and often explore similar kinds of material. I would be tempted to take any recording by either on trust. This one from Lawrence-King is entitled El Arte de Fantasia based on works documented by Luis Venegas de Henestrosa from the 16th century Spanish court of Charles V. They were a sophisticated collection of Spanish romances, French chansons, popular dances such as villancicos and polyphonic fantasias. Henestrosa transcribed these for harp, keyboards and vihuela. Lawrence-King plays Spanish double harp, renaissance harp, organ, harpsichord and psaltery with members of the Harp consort playing viola da gamba, vihuela, renaiisance guitar and percussion. There is a gentle improvisatory nature to much of the music as was the practice at the time. Another practice at the time was the mixing of the sacred and the more exuberant folk elements. Interesting to compare with the music coming out of the contemporaneous and competitive Elizabethan court.

Da Finzi Code

This is a very fine disk highlighting the music of the early 20th century English composer Gerald Finzi. The performers are the Academy of St Martin in the Fields directed by Sir Neville Marriner. The works are Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra with soloist Andrew Marriner, Neville's son, Romance for String Orchestra, nocturne and Dies Natalis a cantata for tenor solo and string orchestra sung by Ian Bostridge. Finzi is perhaps best known for song settings but he did produce significant larger works too and with the exception of the cello concerto these are included here. Of Jewish Italian descent, he longed to be accepted as an English country gentleman and with some compromises given the social climate of the times, he succeeded in living that life to a large extent. The music is superficially pastoral but as with a lot of the English composers damned with that faint preise, there is a much tougher streak hidden beneath the surface. the clarinet concerto and Dies Natalis are the two main works here and both receive admirable performances by the soloists. Dies Natalis sets texts by the 17th century writer Thomas Traherne, not sacred texts as such but certainly spiritual, which would fit well with Finzi's outlook.

Solid Core Repertoire

As far as solid core repertoire is concerned, you can't get much more rock solid than this; Bruckner Symphony No 9 by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta. Although having said that, when this recording was made back in 1965, Bruckner wasn't yet the staple he has since become both on disk and in concert. The ninth symphony was his final symphony and was unfinished at the time of his death, with a fourth movement apparently planned. However, what there is of the symphony is substantial enough, three movements lasting over an hour and the third seems to bring about a sense of completeness and reconciliation that might even have become distorted should Bruckner have completed the fourth. He was after all notorious for continually revising his work. There is that massive feel to the work typical of Bruckner, it almost comes as a shock when he manages to produce a reasonably brisk scherzo. Dedicated to God, the symphony makes a fitting end to a sometimes troubled life. As ever, it is ironic to hear the Vienna band in Bruckner given the history of their treatment of him on several occasions at the time. The committment shown here is some kind of payback.

American Impressionism

A disk in Naxos's American Classics series which features orchestral music by the relatively little known Charles Griffes. He died from pneumonia aged only 35 in 1920 before producing any defining magnum opus but he did produce beautifully distinctive miniatures such as those featured here. Perhaps the most obvious influence at firts hearing is that of Debussy and to a lesser extent Ravel. but the Russian school of composers like Mussorgsky and Scriabin is also present as an influence as is post romantic Germany. Griffes blended these characteristics to produce his own voice. The works here reflect a passion for verse and as well as three song settings, other pieces have an obvious literary link. The performers are the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by JoAnn Falletta. Titles are The White Peacock, Three Poems Of Fiona McCleod ( sung by soprano Barbara Quintiliani ), Bacchanale, Clouds, Three Tone Pictures, Poem for Flute and Orchestra ( soloist Carol Wincenc ) and The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan, which is the nearest Griffes came to a "greatest hit".

19th Century Dance Music

As I proceed with this venture, there are bound to be some disks about which there's little new to say, since they are similar to others already considered. Such is the case with this one of music from Dvorak played by the Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Ivan Fischer. The main work is a suite of short orchestral settings called Legends and the disk also has a Nocturne, Miniatures and the Prague Waltzes. The similarity that I mentioned is to Dvorak's Slavonic Dances and Brahms's Hungarian Dances, both of which I have posted about. And the same applies here, plenty of melody, maybe a bit close to light music for modern ears to take in one largish sitting. It was an early purchase in my exploration of classical music and I perhaps wouldn't have purchased it now as my tastes have matured. Well played and warm hearted for all that.

Baltic Voyage

My posting has slowed a little recently because of the BBC Proms season; most of my free listening time has been spent with those concerts rather than taking the next cd on the shelf. But still on a BBC theme; the last post was the latest BBC Music mag cover disk and today we go back to such a disk from a few years ago entitled Baltic Voyage, Heroic Symphonies From Estonia. This features the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra playing music by Villem Kapp, Arvo Part and Eduard Tubin. Each piece is conducted by a different member of the Estonian Jarvi conducting dynasty, father Neeme and sons Paavo and Kristjan. There is a strong Baltic connection of course with Finland and neighbouring Lithuania and Latvia but it should also be remembered that Estonia was part of the USSR for most of the 20th century when thes pieces were being composed. These disparate influences are evident here in the two symphonies featured, Kapp's Symphony No 2 with a slightly Sibelian sound world and Tubin's Symphony No 3 with a finale that could come from Shostakovich. The shorter Part piece is the Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten, a work in his tintabuli style which I have already considered in a recording by the Britten Sinfonia.

Late Sibelius

A brief diversion from taking the next one on the shelf to consider the newly issued cover disk from BBC Music magazine. This one features the final two symphonies of Sibelius, Nos 6 and 7, plus the tone poem En Saga. The conductor in the symphonies is the visually striking Finn and Sibelius specialist Leif Segerstam with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. En Saga is conducted by Stefan Solyom. As it happens, I don't have any other recordings of these particular symphonies, although I do have En Saga on a recording of tone poems by the Lahti forces under Vanska. What strikes me about listening to this disk is the absence of the expected cold northern feel to the pieces. En Saga has an oddly Spanich sounding tinge to me, the sixth symphony is sometimes referred to as Sibelius's pastoral and it has that spring like aspect, while the seventh turned out to be Sibelius's final symphony even though he lived for another thirty years or so. I don't find anything particularly valedictory about it however.

Mose Knows

This disk is called Introducing Mose Allison, which seems a strange title to use concerning a guy who has been playing professionally since the late forties. But I guess it's a variant on "best of" or "greatest hits" or "anthology" or whatever. Allison is a bluesy jazz singer and pianist with a distinctive vocal delivery and knack for writing quirky humourous songs with an often satirical bite. from Mississippi, his work has a blues tinge but nothing like the delta or later Chicago blues styles. Pretty much a one off in the furrow he has ploughed, he has nonetheless been influential particularly with sixties British acts. The Yardbirds covered his material, as did John Mayall who used him as a model for a white blues voice. But the most long term disciple in terms of wit and sophistication as well as vocal style was Georgie Fame. Mose Allison has been around a number of different record labels over the years which means there are some gaps in this "best of" since the rights weren't available. It is however, the best available place to make a start.

Expanded Chamber Music

Some unusual music on a disk by the Scottish Ensemble led by Clio Gould. The recording consists of arrangements of string quartets by Ravel and Shostakovich made by Rudolf Barshai for a small string orchestra. The Ravel is a petite symphonie a cordes d'apres le quatour en Fa majeur while the Shostakovich is chamber symphony from string quartet no 10. The music is beautifully played and in superb sound from the audiophile Linn label. The Ravel responds naturally to the increased forces with the luxuriant laid back feel being reinforced. For the Shostakovich, on first listen it appears that all the sharp angles and rough edges have been smoothed out by the addition of the orchestrations but in time, the underlying bleakness and honesty of his later music remains apparent and the orchestrations add poignancy. Shostakovich declared that Barshai's arrangement was "okay", which is enough indication of his acceptance of the venture.

Angelic Visions

Another disk of music by Rautavaara. Symphony No 7 Angel of Light and a second piece called Angels and Visitations. played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Hannu Koivula. Rautavaara has written many works in an "Angel series". Apparently, the references should not be taken in any pictorial or programmatic way but more in a mythical or spiritual way. Certainly there is nothing cutesy about the angels depicted, they exude instead that sense of power and awe that is central to the ancient angel culture but often overlooked. As to the works here, the symphony is a meditative work on the whole with nods to his predecessors in Nordic classicism such as Nielsen and Sibelius and that same clean sense of a northern landscape. Angels and Visitations is a harsher more disjointed piece, leaving a sense that the visitation was not necessarily one meant to bring comfort. There is nothing "budget" about the quality of the interpetations in these Naxos releases.