Timeless And Contemporary

Unlike the offering in the previous post, Into This World This Day Did Come is a wonderful disk of carols contemporary and medieval sung by the Choir of Gonville & Caius College Cambridge under the direction of Geoffrey Webber. The contemporary composers featured are Diana Burrell, Judith Bingham, Stuart Macrae, Richard Causton, Francis Pott, Gabriel Jackson, Howard Skempton ( who contributes the title setting ), William Sweeney and Robin Holloway. Named composers from the past are John Dunstaple and John Redford and there are also carols from the 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th centuries. The contemporary settings fit in perfectly with the ancient offerings, showing both the restraint shown by the composers featured in portraying these texts in a way that remains true to their musical beliefs while remaining accessible to a wide audience and also the radical nature and dissonances of the medieval carols and sacred songs. The choir are a young choir but seem to be coming from a much more open environment than the Rodolfus, relishing the challenges and showing a sense of genuine joy and committment throughout. Instrumental contributions are sparse but Diana Burrell's Creator of the Stars of Night features atmospheric use of oboe and organ pedals and there are two purely instrumental organ pieces by Judith Bingham that punctuate the disk in a very effective way, adding to the sense of a service. The organist here is Matthew Fletcher. In truth, this could be listened to as an outstanding choral disk at any time but I shall certainly resurrect it annually in December.

Not Such A Merry Christmas

The Christmas Edition of BBC Music magazine doesn't feature a Christmas themed free cover disk every year but this is one of those years when it does. The disk is titled A Choral Christmas and is a specially recorded programme by the Rodolfus Choir directed by Ralph Allwood. The first ever edition of BBC Music that I bought eleven years ago also featured a marvellous Christmas themed disk of choral music from the Hyperion label and I return to that each year at this time. Sadly, that is not going to be the case with this offering from the Rodolfus Choir. The programme is well thought out ranging from Ravenscroft and Byrd from Tudor times, including continental European works by masters such as Victoria and Palestrina, moving on to early 20th century England with Vaughan Williams, Holst, Parry, Warlock and Leighton, taking a diversion with Tchaikovsky and Poulenc and ending with the saccharine sound of contemporary America personified by Lauridsen and Whitacre. My problem lies with the English collegiate sound of the choir which washes all of the colour and individuality out of the material and produces a bland homogenised sound in which all works appear to share a similar background and culture. Exceptions which show more life are Vaugham Williams's The Truth Sent From Above, where the ancient melody withstands the choir's blandness and John Tavener's lively Today The Virgin, which introduces ( belatedly since it is the final track ) a welcome change of pace.

The Fire's Still There

In the days of vinyl, it was accepted as a truism that when a band released a double album, a fantastic single album could be made from the material. If that was true for LPs, then it ought to apply double in the case of CDs. This is a live double CD, Eric Capton and Steve Winwood Live At Madison Square Garden ( in 2008 / 9 )and in fact it would make a superb one and a half CDs. It is not too much of a hardship to put up with the disposable half a disk of routine run throughs. Clapton and Winwood have known each other for 45 years but have only recently teamed up again for the first time since the short lived Blind Faith debacle. They do in fact complement each other very well. Winwood is the stronger singer in his Ray Charles style and it is a delight to hear the neglected sound of the Hammond organ played so effectively. He occasionally joins Clapton for duelling guitar bouts, most tellingly on Can't Find My Way Home. The material is taken from the back catalogue of Traffic and Blind Faith and Clapton's Derek and the Dominoes period ( thankfully no Layla ) and a couple from more recent solo albums. Perhaps the main reasons for investing in this set though are the two blistering blues workouts, Otis Rush's Double Trouble where Clapton's vocal is to be heard to best advantage and especially an epic version of Hendrix's Voodoo Chile. If there is a suspicion on one or two of the journeyman uptempo numbers that Clapton is going through the motions while playing through the changes, these two tracks remind any doubters what an electrifying and emotional blues guitarist he is. These two long tracks make time stand still, as was once memorably written on the sleeve notes of the Bluesbreakers' Beano album.

Mysterious Or Mystical ?

Misterioso is the title given to one of those typical ECM New Series disks of contemporary Eastern European chamber music. It features various combinations of a trio of performers comprising Alexei Lubimov on piano, Alexander Trostiansky on violin and clarinettist Kyrill Rybakov. The disk follows a nice symmetry, beginning and ending with sonatas for violin and piano and by Valentin Silvestrov and Galina Ustvolskaya respectively with three pieces in the middle of the disk featuring various combinations including clarinet. After Silvestrov's opening sonata which has the title Post Scriptum is another piece by him, the title piece of the disk Misterioso. This is a work for one player, Rybakov, who has to play both clarinet and piano, sometimes consecutively but at other times in tandem. A virtuosic feat but one can't help wondering about the point when a pianist is on hand to perform. Maybe the idea is to get one single perspective on the work. Both Silvestrov pieces inhabit the same kind of introspective meditative world that is epitomised by the third work on the disk, Arvo Part's familiar Spiegel Im Spiegel but here played in it's less familar version for clarinet and piano. Preceding the final violin and piano sonata by Ustvolskaya is a trio for clarinet, violin and piano. Ustvolskaya's sound world is spikier and more pessimistic perhaps but still fits the spiritual nature of the rest of the programme. All three players devote themselves scrupulously to this low key but demanding repertoire, demanding of discipline as much as technique.

We Are Talking Now Of Summer Evenings

It was listening to an edition of BBC Radio 3's Building a Library feature on Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 that encouraged me to acquire this disk. It is the "winning" performance by soprano Dawn Upshaw with the Orchestra of St Luke's conducted by David Zinman. Knoxville is unusual since it is a setting of prose from an essay by James Agee as opposed to a setting of poetry. It works perectly though and one is in no way reminded of any lack of rhyme or rhythm in the text. Upshaw's voice and delivery contain just the right note of knowing innocence required for the subject matter of a child's musing on a lazy summer evening as the old order is on the cusp of passing. Barber's chamber orchestra setting is one of his most notable achievements. The disk is filled with other works from 20th century America. There is an aria and recitative from Gian Carlo Menotti's The Old Man and the Thief and settings of poetry from 16th century India by John Harbison in Mirabai Songs. Both of these occupy some kind of middle ground between art song and Broadway, given idiomatic performances but not strictly to my taste. The other notable work is an extract from Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress with the recitative and aria No Word From Tom. I probably couldn't take a recording of the entire work but am glad to have this sample.

Squeeze My Lemon

The first two Led Zeppelin albums were recorded and released within a year and could really have been one double album, representing as they did the band's initial live set with its origin in the days when they were the "New Yardbirds" and vying for attention with Jeff Beck's band who were operating in much the same area musically. What Led Zepellin II did highlight was the birth of Robert Plant as the strutting rock god, especially with Whole Lotta Love and The Lemon Song. It's an image he has been trying to live down more or less ever since, with a lot of success musically if not in the popular imagination. It is probably the most riff heavy of all the Zepellin albums and perhaps the least varied and containing the least folk elements, though Thank You is a more laid back track. It's still a very powerful album and the material on it was the basis for extended half hour long workouts on stage showcasing Plant, Page and Bonham in solo action. It remains slightly shameful that there are still no writing credits given to Willie Dixon on the album, though the Stones were equally guilty in this regard. Strange given the respect both bands had for the original blues pioneers. One suspects the heavy hand of management.

Plugging A Gap

Filling in a glaring gap in my collection, this disk includes Elgar's Cello Concerto. It is not the obvious Du Pre / Barbirolli selection since I preferred the fillers on this disk where it is played by Paul Tortelier with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Groves. This is not a heart on sleeve full on emotional rendition but one that has obviously studied the score and still manages to bring out the valedictory feeling inherent in the work. Both Tortelier and Groves are at the end of long careers at the time of this recording in 1988 but there is no diminution in their talents. The aforementioned fillers are Elgar's Serenade For Strings played by the strings of the RPO and two other works featuring Tortelier as soloist. Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme is typically attractive and melodic, though at nearly 20 minutes does occasionally threaten to outstay its welcome. In contrast, the Rondo in G minor by Dvorak is a model of concision. The recorded sound isn't quite state of the art ( strange to be saying that of a recording as recent as 1988 ) but is more than adequate.

The Essence Of Spain

On this two disk set, Artur Pizarro tackles two epics ( THE two epics ? ) of Spanish piano music, Goyescas by Granados and Albeniz's Iberia. He tackles them and he wins, giving convincing performances which handle all the many technical difficulties and capture the mood and essence of the pieces. Not being a pianist, I tend to find it difficult to write at length about solo piano pieces which is not to say that I do not enjoy them thoroughly. Pizarro explains in his booklet notes that he has very direct links to this music both in terms of familial background and of his teachers. A lot is made of nationality in music ( Pizarro is Portugueese rather than Spanish but close enough given the links mentioned above ) but I do feel that it helps in this instance to keep in touch with the folk elements that are undoubtedly there. The other comparisons are with the French impressionistic school of Debussy and Ravel, both of whom wrote Spanish flavoured pieces of course, and Pizarro is also an accomplished performer of their works as evidenced in the recent BBC music free disk. All in all, as good a modern performance and recording of these works as you are likely to find.

And It's Still All Greek To Him

This disk of piano trios and cello works by Nikos Skalkottas augments the disk of orchestral pieces I already have. The performers are Maria Kitsopoulos cello, Maria Asteriadou piano and Georgios Demertzis violin, who all are firmly at home in this repertoire. Skalkottas operated broadly in two idioms; a serial style ( he studied with Schoenberg ) and a folk influenced style relating to his native Greece. The music on this disk reflects those two approaches to some extent, though leaning more towards the atonal. That said, there is nothing that would be at all formidable to those familiar with such other composers from the first half of the 20th century as Bartok, Janacek or Shostakovich. Skalkottas retains his own distinct voice though. The substantial Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello, the Largo for Cello and Piano and the Serenata and Sonatina for Piano and Cello are all atonal works with a similar feel. As the name implies, the brief Tender Melody for Cello and Piano is less hard edged and the wildly rhythmic Bolero for Cello and Piano betrays some of those folk influences which come to the fore on the other extended piece, Eight variations for Piano Trio ( on a Greek Folk Tune ) The BIS record label have done Skalkottas proud but concert programmers sadly continue to fight shy.

Unknown But Worthwhile

Not being a full blown opera fan, it is less easy to come to terms with the work of Benjamin Britten but this disk is an extremely useful addition. Titled Unknown Britten, it does contain one well known work in the song cycle for chamber orchestra Les Illuminations. The "unknown" element here comes with the addition of three rejected settings of Auden's poetry that have been orchestrated by Colin Matthews. You can't really see the join and the whole is given a satisfying performance by the Northern Sinfonia under Thomas Zehetmair with the excellent soprano soloist Sandrine Piau. The remainder of the disk is instrumental. There is a spiky juvenile work in a Rondo Concertante for piano and strings with Rolf Hind the pianist, which hints at an early flirtation with the Second Viennese School along with the influence of his teacher Frank Bridge and even has some unexpected jazz touches. The same strings of the Northern Sinfonia also perform an untitled fragment of the same vintage and betraying similar influences. There are two later works in mature Britten style with a piece In Memorium of Dennis Brain, an elegy for four horns and strings, and Variations for solo piano played once more by Rolf Hind which could easily be widely programmed with some success. The disk finishes with another completion by Colin Matthews of unfinished sketches for a Clarinet Concerto which was commissioned by Benny Goodman but fell victim to wartime disruption. Matthews makes a convincing case for it being seen now as a fine addition to the standard clarinet repertoire and it gets a committed performance here from Michael Collins with the Northern Sinfonia.

Voluntary Trumpets

The latest BBC Music magazine free disk is a showcase for trumpeter Alison Balsom. It is repertoire that I did not have in my collection, despite two of the featured pieces being the most famous for trumpet. These are the concertos by Hummel and, of course, Haydn. Balsom is accompanied on both of these by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Hummel conducted by Stefan Solyom and the Haydn by Douglas Boyd. I have to admit that my preference regarding solo trumpet is for a jazz context as opposed to within classical music but I am pleased to have this disk as a sample. Balsom is undoubtedly a serious musician and both concertos are tuneful good natured works. The other two pieces on the disk go back to the baroque with Balsom transcribing for trumpet an oboe concerto by Albinoni and a violin concerto by Vivaldi. I don't know either in their original form but both work perfectly well for trumpet and it is a valid way of expanding what must be a somewhat restricted repertoire. The Albinoni again features a stripped down BBC Scottish SO under Baldur Bronnimann, while the Vivaldi is played with an instrumental trio of violin, harpsichord and cello.

I'm H.A.P.P.Y., Yes I am, I know I am

This release couples the first two albums by the 1970s British soul band Kokomo, the first self titled album and the second Rise and Shine. The band never became enormously successful, getting stuck between a rock and a hard place as the brand of soul they epitomised morphed into disco and their natural club habitat became overwhelmed by punk and new wave. But live they were tremendous and provided me with some great evenings on the club scene in and around London. They had an extremely tight rhythm section and solo expertise in such as guitarists Jim Mullen ( for the first album only ) and Neil Hubbard and reedman Mel Collins. Keyboard player Tony O'Malley provided characterful gravelly vocals but the distinguishing factor of the band was the vocal trio of Dyan Birch, Paddie McHugh and Frank Collins and especially the vocal arrangements of Collins which drove the music along and gave a marvellous feelgood factor to many tracks. The trio were also fine solo singers in the showcases they got and it is no surprise that they continued as an entity post Kokomo, working with many other major recording artists in a backing capacity. Rise and Shine is a highly competant album with stand out anthems in the title track and Use Your Imagination. But their masterpiece remains the first album with highlights such as the soaring vocal by McHigh on Aretha Franklin's Angel, the bouncing southern beat of I'm Sorry Baby and the irresistable funk of It Ain't Cool and Sweet Sugar Thing. And all that before mentioning the band's live show stopper and piece de resistance which is the cover of Bobby Womack's I Can Understand It and the extended coda of Jim Mullen's guitar solo and Frank Collins's vocal arrangement.

Medieval Power Games

Another lavish concept project from Jordi Savall and co, presented in hardback book form and with three cd's on this occasion. Le Royaume Oublie, or the lost kingdom, is about the Albigensian crusades against the supposed heresy of the Cathars in the kingdom of Occitan which streteched across southern France to the border regions with Spain and the Pyrenees which was its heartland. The music on the three disks traces the aspects of this lost culture from the folk styles of the troubadours through Sephardic Jewish influences and sacred music adopted from plainchant. It moves on to include songs of the Crusaders and music associated with the following persecution unleashed by the Spanish Inquisition. The three disks end with Turkish music representing the fall to the Ottomans of the final stronghold of the heresy in Bosnia and with a heartfelt lament played by Jordi Savall himself. The musicians are drawn from Hesperion XXI and La Capella Reial de Catalunya, with the various array of guests that one is almost tempted now to describe as the usual suspects. The destruction of the Cathars was much more to do with politics and power, at least on the part of the Catholic church, than with any deeply held beliefs about religious dogma. And while not all of the music featured is downbeat, there is a pervading melancholy for a culture that was lost.

Victim Of Circumstance

It is idle but nonetheless interesting to ponder how 20th century music may have developed without WW2 and the modernist rejection of all that had gone before which sprang out of it ( I am aware that the fate of European art music will be some way down most people's list of the consequences of WW2 )These thoughts sprang to mind after listening to this disk of music by Hindemith, music which sounds of the 20th century while growing out of a long tradition but which was cut adrift post war. Now , of course, there is a more tolerant and eclectic climate where all music can hopefully be judged on its own merits. The main work here is Mathis der Maler, the symphony which in fact pre-dated the ill fated ( as in falling foul of the Nazis ) opera on the same theme. It follows on from and is in the same line as Mahler, early Schoenberg etc. The performers here are the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jiri Belohlavek. The other two works on the disk could almost be seen as Stravinskian neo-classicist pieces; the Concerto for Winds, Harp and Orchestra ( with soloists from the orchestra ) and Konzertmusik for Brass and Strings. The only other work by Hindemith that I have is the Symphonic Metamorphoses which shares a disk with pieces by Janacek and Prokofiev, so I am happy to supplement that with this disk.

Knock Me Down Wiv A Fevver

With Ian Dury ( and the Blockheads ), I've taken the "definitive album" route rather than the "best of" compilation. And that has to mean New Boots and Panties. Dury was very much a one off, imagining this Cockney / Essex argot and milieux that was almost but not quite totally realistic. Dury's art and poetry lay in the gap between what was imagined and what was real. He had this great grasp of language but was fortunate to meet an ideal musical partner in Chaz Jankel who could set the words in perfect context. In songs like Abracadabra and Clever Trevor the riffs and solos evolve organically from the rhythm and sound of the lyrics. The Blockheads were a powerful live band and their contribution to the album is not to underestimated. But the strength of the recording lies with the songs and Ian Dury's persona. Although they would have baulked at the term, New Boots and Panties is really a concept album and it is important how the tracks are scheduled, becoming ever more dark and disturbing as they journey from the warm hearted and cheeky ( Abracadabra, Billericay Dickie ) to the insecure and disturbed ( Clevor Trevor, If I Was With a Woman )and ending with the total desolation of Plaistow Patricia and Blackmail Man. Which makes it unfortunate that for the cd release they have tacked Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, which wasn't on the vinyl album, onto the end of the disk. I'm pleased to have a recording of what became Dury's anthem but tend to play it as a seperate entity.

A Story That Has To Be Told

It is not so often now that I have any new addition to what might be called core repertoire but this disk fills in one of the remaining gaps in my collection of Shostakovich symphonies. This is Symphony No 13 "Babi Yar" by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir conducted by Mark Wigglesworth with the bass soloist Jan-Hendrik Rootering. As with almost all Shostakovich symphonies, there is a political subtext. This was a late work with the composer pushing the boundaries of what might be acceptable to the Soviet authorities post Stalin by setting texts referring to the massacre of Ukrainian Jews in WW2 at Babi Yar. Some distillation was ordered at the time but this is the original setting with any later sops to the sensibilities of the Soviets removed. Pushing the boundaries of what might be considered a symphony as opposed to an orchestral song cycle, subsequent movements set texts concerning other satirical but less contentious sides of Soviet life, such as the strength of the working women and the office politics required to sustain a career. It could be looked upon as an unremittingly bleak work but I feel that there are also segments which show hope in the resilience of the human spirit and the performances here are excellent in good recorded sound. Which makes it all the more regrettable that the continued existence of this orchestra is in grave doubt thanks to ideological cuts imposed on the arts by the new coalition Dutch government.

East Meets West In An Unexpected Way

The flute is an instrument that adapts well to a far eastern sound world and this disk Whirling Dance by Sharon Bezaly explores contemporary and traditional Chinese repertoire with the Taipei Chinese Orchestra conducted by Chung Yiu-Kwong. The conductor's own pieces, the title track and a flute concerto, form the most contemporary works, the other pieces are either traditional or from earlier in the 20th century and have been arranged especially for this disk, in same cases transposing from the bamboo flute to Bezaly's modern instrument. The disk avoids any crossover or fusion trap with Bezaly merging seamlessly with the orchestra which is a Chinese orchestra in terms of instrumentation as well as just name, not a western symphony or chamber orchestra though it resembles the latter in size. There are portions of the disk that come close to the cliched western idea of Chinese music from their opera tradition or the times of Mao but several other occasions reminded me oddly of nothing more than the wide open spaces American sound of Copland. An unexpected way to find east meeting west and good to see the burgeoning Chinese classical music scene spreading beyond the mainland and also encompassing its own tradition.

Despite All The Computations

The fact that this post is about The Very Best of the Velvet Underground makes it obvious that on this occasion I have taken the route of getting a compilation disk instead of one definitive album. It is a representative selection of tracks with no obvious omissions, my only quibble would be with track sequencing which is a bit all over the place both chronologically and stylistically. The Velvet Underground are one of the most written about bands, appealing as they do to the sensibilities of rock critics. I don't propose to go into the history, influence and mystique of the band since I wouldn't have anything new to add. But some things did strike me about the music revisiting it in this fashion. One thing was how little of the music was in any way a sonic assault on the senses despite the hard core reputation the band had. Secondly, I was struck by the fact that every track was written by Lou Reed. Not being a lifelong devotee of the band, I had expected that one or two of the iconic numbers may have come from John Cale. Instead, I presume the Cale influences came in the musical additions of his violin contributions and the almost English ( Welsh ? ) folk like melodies of All Tomorrow's Parties and Venus In Furs. Looked upon as being quintessentially New York, I did nevertheless also pick up one or two psychedelic west coast inflections that again possibly came from Cale. What could never be confused with the west coast however are tracks like Heroin, which must be one of the most genuinely scary rock songs ever written with the refusal to be judgemental and instead to illustrate in both words and music the attraction of that rush.

Those Other French Impressionists

This month's free cover disk offering from BBC Music magazine is a fine recital by pianist Artur Pizarro of, as the title has it, Debussy and Ravel piano masterpieces. It is certainly full of wonderful music, whether every piece on it is really a masterpiece is perhaps open to question with some of the Debussy being lesser known and relatively recently rediscovered works. They are none the less interesting for that however. The Ravel works are more well known and established within the repertoire. There is the Sonatine, Pavane pour une infante defunte and the beautiful Forlane movement from Le Tombeau de Couperin. Pizarro is very much at home in this repertoire and the performances are of a very high quality. Many of the Debussy pieces are now seen as a link between his early more romantically inclined pieces and the more revolutionary impressionist style with which he is most commonly associated. As a general rule, these BBC Music freebies tend to be more treasurable when they feature chamber works or solo instrumental recitals than when they recycle performances by the BBC orchestras, though several of those fill in gaps in one's collection.

Uber Cool

In the history of jazz, there are the innovators and the followers. Often the followers are supreme craftsman and better players than the innovators in a purely technical sense. One such I feel is trumpeter Chet Baker. His music is in danger of being overlooked and relegated to being of secondary importance compared to his melodramatic and self destructive lifestyle and his "uber cool" image. Even when his music is being considered, it is often the smokey vocals he put on disk that garner the attention. I have gone for a purely instrumental set however, a compilation of sides cut twenty years apart in 1962 and 1982 and here given the title White Blues. The earlier recording session has him accompanied by a basic bass, drums and piano rhythm section while the later numbers add guitar and the journeyman sax and flute of Bobby Jasper. It is Baker's soulful, melodic and passionate playing that ignite the sessions though. My remark about him not being an innovator is illustrated by the reworkings of Monk's tunes Round Midnight and Well You Needn't with the themes simply stated, all the edginess taken out and a standard run through of the changes ensuing. However, the more mainstream material is a perfect showcase for the qualities of Baker's playing mentioned above, while the standards Over The Rainbow and These Foolish Things have not fared any better in other hands.

A Fine Way To Bow out

Right up to the very end of his long and distinguished career, Sir Charles Mackerras was making music of the very highest quality. One of his last recordings was this much lauded double cd set of Mozart symphonies with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. The symphonies featured are numbers 38 to 41 which include the named symphonies Prague ( 38 ) and Jupiter ( 41 ) It is not necessary to place these works in any historical context regarding the development of the symphony, they are just works that stand up completely on their own as supreme pieces of music. The approach of Mackerras and the SCO is not hard core period instrument but it is tinged with historically informed articulation. The music definitely responds to the clarity of a chamber orchestra and the state of the art Linn recording quality brings out all the different lines within the music with the stellar contributions of the woodwind section being most notable. In the booklet notes, Mackerras refers to the Master ( Mozart ) saying goodbye to the symphonic form with the Jupiter. In fact, Sir Charles made one further foray himself with a second recording of earlier Mozart symphonies but for me, this set is a very appropriate farewell from him as a tailpiece to an estimable recorded legacy.

Mathematical Rather Than Musical

An interesting disk of contemporary English classical music ( well, relatively contemporary since the pieces on the disk were written between 1990 and 2000 ) It is a disk of pieces by Julian Anderson titled Alhambra Fantasy and is performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta both conducted by the Godfather of the English contemporary scene Oliver Knussen. In his booklet notes, Anderson talks of wanting to relate to the voice and to use "le grande ligne" approach espoused by Nadia Boulanger and to rehabilitate melody and mode. He also speaks of studying the traditional musics of Eastern Europe and Indonesia. I found that it takes repeated listening for such concerns and themes to emerge. There is much use made of percussion, almost a given in the contemporary scene and perhaps showing gamelan influences as well as current pop styles such as house music. The titles given to the pieces suggest programmatic music but buried deep. Khorovod has eastern European folk musics underpinning rhythms but not coming to the fore overtly in terms of melody. The title track shows more affinity with the mathematical structure and architecture of the Alhambra than with any Spanish or moorish musical feel. Anderson continues to benefit from being composer in residence on the South Bank but I notice that some of these works are being programmed in the current season. While it is good to see contemporary pieces having a life beyond their premiere, I wonder what direction his new work has taken.

Bosphorus Blends

This disk by Jordi Savall could be looked upon as a companion to the project on Jerusalem. This time the city is Istanbul, with particular consideration given to the writings and music passed down from the 18th century by Moldovan prince Dimitri Cantemir in his Book of the Science of Music. This time, the release is on a single disk without the lavish book presentation but there are still copious booklet notes. It is also a single disk this time and is entirely instrumental with Hesperion XXI joined by musicians from Turkey, Armenia, Lebanon etc. If there were still such things as record stores, they would have done well to file this under world or early music rather than classical. The pieces come from the Sephardic Jewish and Armenian traditions with fine playing on such instruments as oud, kamacheh, ney and duduk. It's good that it seems no longer necessary to explain what these instruments are and to compare them with western equivalents. These improvisational pieces are contrasted with more through composed dance pieces from the Turkish court and the Sufi dervish tradition. It is interesting to ponder and compare the differing attitude of tolerance and co-existence displayed in Istanbul through much of its existence with the continual strife in Jerusalem. Both recorded projects by Savall and his ensembles are worthy of close study however.

A Tale Of Two Cities In One

Another lavish book style release of two cd's by Jordi Savall is this one titled Jerusalem : The Town of the Two Peaces - Earthly Peace and Celestial Peace. As the book and the music on the disks illustrate, the history of the city is sadly and continually at odds with this concept and ideal. But it is another superbly put together project featuring Savall's Hesperion XXI and La Capella Real de Catalunya with guest appearances from featured singers and musicians and particularly the ensemble Al-Darwish from Galilee. The music is divided into segments, beginning with the apocalyptic associations with Jerusalem, then moving chronologically through history and the domination variously of Jewish, Crusader, Arab and Ottoman cultures, sections on the city as a place of pilgrimage for these various groups and also as a place to be exiled from. The final segment brings these strands together as a combination of the contributing musicians and as a beacon and symbol of hope for some peaceful settlement in our time. Riding over all however is the musical excellence contained herein. Folk and sacred elements combine and the whole makes a convincing drama. I particularly enjoyed the lively Crusader hymns and folk songs but the melancholic overall feel of the majority of the music is the lasting memory. We all know that musicians and ordinary people can c-exist peacefully and in harmony but how to convince politicians and religious leaders ?

Seperated More In Time Than Style

Two violin concertos make up this month's free cd offering from BBC Music magazine. I was going to call them two contrasting violin concertos since they were written over two hundred years apart but in fact they do not really inhabit radically different sound worlds. First up is Mozart's Violin Concerto No 4 played by Hilary Hahn and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis at the Last Night of the Proms in 2000. It is a well remembered performance and although there are not too many virtuosic fireworks, it is worthy of the esteem in which it is held. I do have another commercial recording of this work but the other piece featured on the disk is my only copy. It is Korngold's Violin Concerto, again with the BBC Symphony this time conducted by Jiri Belohlavek with the orchestra's leader Andrew Haveron as soloist. It is a romantic work with plenty of melody, written after WW2 but with no obvious reference to the traumas of that period. It is hard to resist the temptation to say that it often sounds like film music. But of course, Korngold instigated that tradition and style of film music in the early days of the talkies in Hollywood and is really only staying true to his musical roots. Haveron's performance more than stands comparison with Hahn's in the Mozart.

One Offs, Even If They Founded A Genre

Another elderly rock album to revisit is the eponymous first album by Led Zeppelin. I saw them live on two or three occasions at festivals around 1969 / 70 and each time was irritated by them and the adulation that they received. I was going through a blues purist phase and they weren't Fleetwood Mac or Chicken Shack, I thought they were pulling the blues around far too much and being self indulgent in crowd pleasing pyrotechnics. I gradually realised that I was missing the point, Zeppelin never were a blues band nor anything like it, even if some band members particularly Robert Plant held a great affection for the genre. There are two more or less straight blues renditions on this first album but they are the weakest tracks. Those two tracks and the two short bursts of Good Times Bad Times and Communication Breakdown, which betray the band's origins as the New Yardbirds, are the kind of things often found on a first album but the way the band was to develop is already fully formed with the folky Black Mountain Side and the thundering Dazed and Confused and How Many More Times. As is often the case, Led Zep were far more musical and innovative than the myriad of copyists that sprung up in their wake and took the lowest common denominator from their sound.

Wot, No Windmils ?

Another lavish production from Jordi Savall with Montserrat Figueras, Hesperion XXI and La Capella Real de Catalunya is this two disk set, again presented together with a hardback book, Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quijote de la Mancha Raomances y Musicas. The disks consist of atmospheric readings from the text in a spacious acoustic, often accompanied by solo harp, viol, guitar etc, and ballads that are relevant to the ideas and events portrayed in the book. Some of these ballads are written by Cervantes himself and it is a feature of the book how often music is mentioned, either in the form of song or as dance to accompany the action. These dance numbers and lively songs also feature, as does some sacred choral music from the period. The readings are of course in Spanish and although there are translations of the text in the accompanying book, it is not necessary to know exactly what is being said to delight in their delivery. The disks follow the narrative of the book and highlight many of the memorable events, though there have to be omissions of course. No tilting at windmills for instance. A significant musician amongst the many featured in the two ensembles is Andrew Lawrence-King. Several times I was reminded of Missa Mexicana, the disk his group the Harp Consort made of Spanish American sacred music and folk dance amalgams. The disks end with Don Quijote regaining some sanity at his death and with a poignant requiem. Listening is a very civilised way to lose oneself in a world for an evening.

Caucasian Melancholy

American Viola player of Armenian descent Kim Kashkashian has carved a niche for herself in the realm of contemporary Caucasian melancholy. The title piece of this disk, Neharot, Neharot, is by Israeli composer Betty Olivero. The title refers to rivers in Hebrew and specifically, rivers of tears shed by widows of war and conflict. The solo viola echoes the human voice and is surrounded by two string ensembles, accordion and percussion along with taped voices. Influences in the work range from fragments of Kurdish melody to Monteverdi. The Munchener Kammerorchester under Alexander Liebreich accompany. The middle section of the disk centres on pieces by Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian, a substantial work that is a kind of viola concerto in all but name accompanied by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project conducted by Gil Rose, a shorter piece with Kashkashian simply accompanied by understated percussion and a solo piano piece played by Mansurian and based on the music of legendary Armenian composer and folk musicologist Komitas. The disk ends with a work by another Israeli, Eitan Steinberg for viola and string quartet which sees Kashkashian joined by the Kuss Quartet. The overall feel remains melancholic but this evocation of a kabbalistic prayer to be said over a Sabbath meal also gives solace and reminds that there are more things binding humanity than there are dividing it.

Music From The Cradles Of Civilisation

I have an ambivalent attitude to the Kronos Quartet. On paper, they should be an ensemble that I would embrace wholeheartedly. Adventurous repertoire, forever searching for new fields to plough, open minded and far reaching in their outlook. But I can't help being a little put off by a hint of desperation in their attempts to be trendier than thou, with every ethnic culture ripe for plunder, any culture acceptable apart from one's own. That said, I have taken the plunge again with this disk, Floodplain. The conceit here is to take music from cultures associated with the floodplains of great rivers and to try to establish some link. The links are tenuous in many circumstances from the Danube, to the Nile, Euphrates, Indus, Ganges, Volga and so on. But even if the concept doesn't completely hang together, there is fine music throughout. Guest artist appearances are limited, from the somewhat spurious noodlings of Ramallah Underground to the much more potent vocals of Azerbaijani father and daughter duo Alim Qasimov and Fargana Qasimova. The pieces rooted in traditional folk musics or the classical traditions of Persia and India work far better than those incorporating Arab pop. Showing the same strenghs and weaknesses as Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road project and the work of Osvaldo Golijov, in the final analysis the disk still holds together as a work full of soul and humanity.

Echoing Down The Centuries

Tenor John Potter has a track record of participation in projects that link early music with the contemporary through such collaborations as those of the Hilliard Ensemble and the Dowland Project. Whereas the Dowland Project is very much his baby, on this disk his particiapation is perhaps more that of a hired hand for electronic composer Ambrose Field. The disk is titled Being Dufay and it takes the music of Dufay from the 15th century as a jumping off point for improvisations and compositions using electronica that melds found sounds from everyday life with manipulations and distortions of Potter's vocals which are occasionally allowed to sing the theme uninterrupted and pure. The effect is one of music echoing down the centuries through some kind of time machine, forever in the ether, neither here nor there. Field's stated aim is to remove the mechanical and atificial from the electronics and incorporate them into a human whole, personal and expressive. To a very large extent this succeeds, though if I am being honest, I will admit to being likely to spin my disk of unadulterated Dufay with more frequency than this one, intriguing as it is.

When The Gods Meddle, Look Out

The subject matter for French baroque opera tends towards the loopy and Semele by Marin Marais is no exception. Princess Semele is promised by her father as a prize to a victorious general but she loves a more humble boy who turns out to be the god Jupiter in disguise, who has become smitten by this human. Semele is delighted when this is revealed but the general is miffed and asks Jupiter's godly wife Juno to intervene. All ends badly and the city is destroyed along with everyone in it when Jupiter is forced to reveal himself in all his awesome godliness. But hey, Semele gets installed at Juno's right hand in the land of the gods so all is not necessarily lost. So far, so silly but once one has read the synopsis it can thankfully be ignored in this fine performance by Le Concert Spirituel under Herve Niquet. Aided by a fine chorus and soloists, Marais's fine music is done full justice. The whole is built upon the essence of the dance and while there are no real standout arias, the pace moves smartly along and there are memorable tunes in the instrumental interludes of preludes and dances. This is a work that is unlikely to enter the performance repertoire which makes this recording all the more important as a document. It can be listened to as delightful baroque music making without bothering too much about the work's standing as an opera.

Just Watch Me Now

I won't bore anyone with my tales of the times that I worked with David Bowie ( very marginally as a concert DJ ) But nostalgia inspired me to reconnect with The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars. Of course, Bowie has had a long chameleon like career but for me this and the preceding Hunky Dory remain the peaks of his output. They are certainly the most consistent with no weak tracks ( well, maybe the one he didn't write, It Ain't Easy, is close to being a filler ) One thing that struck me on listening to this for the first time in years was the way that it is very much a band album despite Bowie's dominance. Mick Ronson's importance as guitarist and arranger is widely acknowledged but on this digitally remastered version the contributions of the rhythm section of Trevor Bolder and Woody Woodmansey are highlighted strongly. Bowie's vocals are strong and characterful throughout and there are some fine tunes for singalongs. The lyrics are witty and knowing, notably the use of what was already outdated slang such as out of sight, far out, blow our minds etc. The song Star spells out the entire blueprint of the Ziggy project ( just watch me now ) and Bowie followed it masterfully aided by Svengali manager Tony Defries. People may point to links back to the Velvet Undeground ( though not as overtly as on Hunky Dory ) but it was noticeable to me how proto-punk many of the tracks were such as Hang On To Yourself and Suffragette City. While Soul Love was a nod to Bowie's own mod roots. Not just nostalgia then but a landmark in pop rock music and a document on the inner workings of the biz for those who want to examine it.

What's The Problem ?

Another anniversary linked disc this month from BBC Music magazine with a performance of Mahlers's Symphony No 7 by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. It is a live recording from a shared cycle of all Mahler symphonies that the BBC Phil and the Halle gave in Manchester. I've already posted about the work in relation to the commercial recording I have by Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic, also a live recording. I'm not one for comparative listening to competing performances. Suffice to say this recording holds its' own very well and I would be happy to have it as my only version had it worked out that way. I wasn't aware at any point of why it should be considered to be Mahler's problem symphony, all five movements containing many fine moments.

The Home Of The Concept Album

It would be easy to become obsessive about collecting the sumptuously packaged and meticulously researched releases from Jordi Savall's Alia Vox label, even without considering the musical content. The concept album is alive and well and residing in Catalonia. The premise behind this two disk set ( packaged together with an illustrated 300 page book ) is the life and times of St Francis Xavier, one of the founding lights of the Jesuits. Titled The Route To The Orient, it paints a musical portrait of the travels of Francis from southern France and northern Spain through to Rome and then travels to spread Christ's word in Africa, India, Indonesia, Japan and finally the borders of China where he succumbed to a tropical disease. Wisely perhaps, no time is spent on the more contentious of the Jesuits evangelical methods. Savall's core ensembles Hesperion XXI and La Capella Real De Catalunya are augmented by invited musicians playing oud and percussion from North Africa, sarod and tabla from India and shinobue and shakuhachi from Japan. The music ranges from French troubadour roots to Gregorian chant, courtly viol consorts and the improvisations of the invited musicians around the themes of the chants, which weave a narrative thread throughout the two disks. There is no hint of contrivance in the links posited and the entire project holds together perfectly.

Yes, It's "That" Theme !

This month's free disk with BBC Music magazine is romantic Russian fare. The feature piece is Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini performed live by Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis. Perhaps surprisingly, this is the first recording that I have of this piece. It is a bit of a mystery to me why Paganini's theme has been so attractive to other composers writing variations ( it may have been spoilt for me by a notorious theme tune to a tv arts series ! ) But Rachmaninov's variations stand above all others, particularly because of the master stroke of the inversion variation and the gorgeous melody that it produces. This live recording dates from seven years ago but even then Trpceski demonstrates the promise that he is now beginning to fulfil. The disk also includes Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 3 with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Not one of the more frequently played of Tchaikovsky's symphonies but shown here to be a solid mainstream work with some typical Tchaikovsky melodies and with some sections reminiscent of Mendelssohn to my ears and demonstrating Tchaikovsky's admiration for the central European school.

The Last Real Rock Band ?

It is always silly to make absolutist statements and calling the Clash the last real rock band is obviously an absolutist statement. Open to all sorts of challenges of course and there has been rock music made since that I have enjoyed but it is a statement that reflects my basic feeling. Punk rock really did blow away a lot of the pretensions of rock music and create a new year zero, so it is ironic that the Clash's finest moment is a subsequent album that had nothing to do with punk, London Calling. On vinyl in those days and released as a double album, therefore being criticised for being sprawling and unfocused, it now fits happily on a single cd and doesn't feel in any way overlong. As with any album, some tracks are more essential than others but there are no real weaknesses. There are some damn good tunes and singalongs and lyrically it hits hard at the emerging Thatcherite ethos. Influences range from rockabilly to reggae but remain dinstinctly local, this is a London band that has yet to go global as it later would. One reason for describing the Clash as the last real rock band is the way in which the four members all contributed hugely to the group sound and in their own way were each indispensable. Topper Headon drove the rhythms with a ferocity and precision that few matched, while also being able to supply the subtlety required of the band's forays into reggae. Paul Simonon completed a fine rhythm section and began to supply songwriting and vocal asides too, while the core of the band remained the tensions between the Lennon / McCartney dichotomy of Mick Jones and Joe Strummer. The one supplied the musical chops and the other the street cred and outlaw chic. Naive, heart on sleeve, contradictory; the Clash were all of these things but remained a beacon for an under represented section of British youth and have left a lasting legacy and sense of loyalty.

Belated But Well Deserved Exposure

Imogen Holst is of course remembered as the daughter of Gustav who worked as an invaluable aide to Britten and as a gifted administrator at such prestigious locations as Dartington and Aldeburgh. But throughout her life she composed very fine chamber music and it is a delight to have this disk by Court Lane Music of String Chamber Music to set the record straight to at least some extent. The pieces range in date of composition from 1928 to 1982 ( giving some kind of numerical symmetry there ! ) Court Lane Music consist of five musicians ( violin, viola, two cellos and piano ) who perform the works in various combinations and it is pleasing that their initiative in recording and releasing this disk on their own label has been rewarded with recognition in music magazine awards and critical acclaim. As well as numerical symmetry, the works follow other chronological patterns. The earliest piece, the Phantasy Quartet, has an undoubted English pastoral feel akin perhaps to Vaughan Williams or even her father. While the latest work, a String Quintet, also has its inspiration in nature with a programmatic journey of the Thames from Cricklade to London and the changing landscape that accompanies it. In between, the works are spikier and are far from oblivious to the modernist influences that she came into close contact with during her administrative working life. Books could be written about the difficulties of being a woman composer in the classical / serious music world and it is in many ways scandalous that this disk represents world premiere recordings of this thoroughly admirable music which should have been much more widely known much earlier. But it is certainbly good to have it now available and it is to be hoped that it will now be played more often in a live context.

Passion Beneath The Surface

This disk of late Stravinsky sandwiches the ballet music Agon between two sacred choral works, Canticum Sacrum and his very final completed work Requiem Canticles. The performers are the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart with chorus master Celso Antunes and the SWR SO Baden Baden and Freiburg conducted by Michael Gielen. Soloists in the Canticum are tenor Christian Elsner and baritone Rudolf Rosen. Rosen is a soloist as a bass in the Canticles together with mezzo soprano Stella Doufexis. Canticum Sacrum shows Stravinsky adopting elements of twelve tone serialism which fitted in well with his late move away from the sensual to the abstract. The piece is also representative of his late return to the Russian Orthodox faith but again in an ascetic rather than passionate way. Agon is also in this vein, achieving a completely abstract and non-programmtic ballet that mixes tonality and twelve tone technioques. There are also references back to 17th century French dance within the music. The final Requiem Canticles ultimately became his own requiem and is concise in form, including only parts of the traditional requiem mass. At this late stage, there are features of Russian traditional liturgy and national symbols and a fairly recognisable quotation right back to the Rite of Spring. The deep feeling beneath the abstract surface is here apparent. Rarely performed works given exemplary performances by the German forces assembled here.

Spanning The Centuries

The vocal ensemble The Orlando Consort put together intriguing projects for their recorded output. The thrust of this disk, Scattered Rhymes, is early 14th century choral music of astonishing rhythmic ingenuity and radical harmonic language, together with two contemporary composers' take on it. The main 14th century work in question is Messe De Nostre Dame by Guillaume De Machaut. Filled with extremes of dissonance and passion, it is still an outstanding and most individual work, here given a performance by the Consort that more than does it justice. The title track of the disk is a response to this sound world by US based British composer Tarik O'Regan, who manages to combine the sound world and rhythms of De Machaut with a genuinely contemporary feel, somewhat minimalist in style without going to repetitive extremes. On this track, The Orlando Consort are joined by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under director Paul Hillier and the two ensembles combine wonderfully with overlapping lines of music. O'Regan also offers his variation on another secular theme by De Machout, Douce dame Jolie, while fellow Brit Gavin Bryars is represented with a fine piece titled Super Flumina and the 14th century's side of the concept is held up by Dufay's Ave Maria Celorum.

More Than Just Britten's Teacher

The Piano Trio No 2 by Frank Bridge is one of those works which did not receive a favourable critical reception when premiered but which with the passage of time has been shown to be a masterful work of great merit. It was written in 1928 and the criticism directed against it was for leaning too far in the direction of modernism. It is certainly a work that is aware of the developments in Paris and Vienna post WW1and is also a reflection of the extreme upheaval of that period when compared to the earlier Bridge chamber works included on this disk from more innocent times circa 1907 / 08. The trio on this recording, Jack Liebeck violin, Alexander Chaushian cello and pianist Ashley Wass, play superbly and give the piece the status and respect that it deserves. There seems a growing respect for Bridge's chamber music among a younger generation of British players. Of the early works, the Phantasie Trio in C Minor is impeccably crafted in a single span and is well worth hearing in its' own right. Not so profound but joyful and exuberant music that certainly has a place. The contemporaneous Nine Miniatures for Piano Trio can be described as charming and if that seems close to damning with faint praise, then I would admit that they grabbed me less than the other two works on the disk. Well worth exploring though, especially at super budget price.

Sleaze, Misogyny And Signs Of The Times

For a band with such a very long career and such elevated status ( I don't like to overuse terms like legendary and iconic ) The Rolling Stones are an odd case as far as recordings are concerned. Ostensibly a blues rock band, they lack the virtuosity that others with those roots exhibit and the ego of Keith Richards has tended to inhibit more talented soloists who have passed through the band such as Mick Taylor. What Richards does offer of course is rock star attitude to the nth degree and a masterclass in the underrated art of the rhythm guitar. This is on show throughout Let It Bleed, one of the trio of albums made as the sixties merged into the seventies that represent the very best of the Stones's patchy recorded output. It holds together very well as a coherent album with a consitent feel both musically and in lyrical content. Preoccupations seem to be a glorification of the slightly sleazy bad boy image of the Stones, with the misogyny that the band is often accused of being much to the fore. For all that, there is a drive and energy that is irresistible and those preoccupations were very much of the time and could apply to much in blues history. Musically, Jagger offers telling harmonica breaks, there is fine mandolin work from Ry Cooder on the Robert Johnson song Love In Vain and distinctive and invaluable work from the two pianists on board, Ian Stewart and Nicky Hopkins. One of the other highlights is the bold use of the London Bach Choir on the inexorably building You Can't Always Get What You Want.

From The Archives

This month's edition of BBC Music magazine is the annual one that ties in with the upcoming season of Proms concerts. One of the two items on the free cover disk is a vintage live recording from the Last Night way back in 1953. It features the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Chorus conducted by Basil Cameron performing Serenade To Music by Vaughan Wiliams. The text is taken from Shakespeare's Merchant Of Venice when Lorenzo extols the virtues of music. It was commissioned as a celebration piece and is a little soft centred, maybe the closest that Vaughan Williams came to an establishment work in an Elgarian vein. The orchestral playing holds up very well for the vintage but the singing by the BBC Chorus is almost as period in style as the contemporary plum voiced BBC continuity anouncer introducing the disk from the archives. The other work on the disk is another live recording but from Maida Vale not from the Proms. This has Sir Adrian Boult conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Vaughan Williams's Pastoral Symphony. I already have a commercial recording of this major symphony which I have already posted about, suffice it to say that I don't think that these days there is any need to explain and defend Vaughan Williams against cowpat charges. Anyone listening to the work and hearing a simple evocation of English rural bliss clearly isn't listening closely enough.

Seperating The Music From The Diagnosis

There is always a tendency to look for hints of his oncoming depressive illness when considering Schumann's late music. Wise heads try to ignore this and focus on the music itself and I intend to follow that course ! This is a superb disk of the three violin sonatas played by violinist Carolin Widmann and pianist Denes Varjon. The recording is wonderfully clear and perfectly balanced and the playing exquisite and finely judged. The violin sonata was a form that Schumann came to late, it being fair to say that he was more comfortable composing for the piano than for the violin. Although I am among those who love his earlier string quartets. The composition of the violin sonatas was prompted by the well documented friendship with the renowned violinist Joachim, although in the end they were first played by Clara and another violinist Wasielewski. I value all three sonatas but they do vary with the first being more traditional, following established patterns and the third being to some extent cobbled together ( it was originally written as a salon amusemnent with a first movement by Dietrich and the third by Brahms while Schumann supplied the other two and subsequently rewrote those of his colleagues ) This disk re-orders the sonatas to finish with the second which is the most profound and Schuman's masterpiece in the genre which stands alongside any by other composers.

But I Ain't, So I Won't

When posting recently about Emmylou Harris, I mentioned the decision to choose one definitive album release rather than some career retrospective. I have gone the other way with Chicken Shack : The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions. My motivation was purely financial, this three disk box set was as cheap as buying their definitive first album, Forty Blue Fingers Freshly Packed And Ready To Serve. That is included in its' entirety anyway and is undoubtedly their finest hour, together with both sides of their first couple of single releases. The other two disks contain a smattering of fine tracks, together with some dubious attempts to take this masterful blues band down the road of hard rock / heavy metal that are much more disposable. But at their best Chicken Shack were fighting for the position of the foremost British blues band. While Fleetwood Mac edged that live, it could legitimately be argued that Chicken Shack recorded better, especially that first album. The rhythm section rivalled that of Fleetwood Mac and Christine Perfect ( later McVie and later of Fleetwood Mac ) provided fine blues piano and occasional distinctive vocals that were not in the shouting Janis Joplin vein but which had their own attractive winsome quality. But it seems somewhat perverse that I have got this far into a post about Chicken Shack before mentioning Stan Webb. Essentially, Stan was Chicken Shack and was a very distinctive front man, singer, humourist and blazing guitarist. Edgy, spiky guitar playing which combined both BB and Freddie King's styles with touches of the simpler and more menacing John Lee Hooker and Howling Wolf. Vocally indebted to Buddy Guy he also showed a wry humour, try the track King Of The World. Still going strong around the circuit, catch him if you ge the chance.

An Accidental Diversion

I acquired this disk as a freebie since someone had it as an unwanted gift. It is certainly not something that I would have bought but it has interest and is worth hanging onto. It is titled Piano Music Volume Two : 1966-2007 and features compositions by Americam Composer Phillip Ramey. The performer on the disk is pianist Mirian Conti. I have to admit to never having heard of Ramey until being offered this disk. There are first recordings of many of the works here which suggest that his music is not widely performed but he seems an interesting character. There seem dual American and Russian links to his music which dabbles in atonality and serial techniques as well as pianistic colour effects and tone-clusters. The American links are through associations with more famous colleagues such as Copland and Barber, while he studied with the Russian Alexander Tcherepnin and wrote works featured here with titles such as Leningrad Rag ( Mutations on Scott Joplin ) and Homage to Prokofiev, one of his set of Diversions. Ramey also spent much time in Morocco although there is no eveidence in this music of the influence of North African modes. Overall, there is a bit of a dry academic feel to this disk but it is not without interest.

Life Affirming Exuberance

El Sistema, the music scheme for young people that has as its' flagship the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, is beginning to show the way for similar such schemes around the world. The Simon Bolivars under conductor Gustavo Dudamel are without doubt a very good orchestra. Whether they deserve the major label releases for core repertoire that have been afforded them is a matter for debate perhaps but this disk, Fiesta, featuring their speciality Latin American programme is a constant delight and a wonderful feelgood disk in every way. It features very pleasant orchestral showpieces from fellow Venezuelans Inocente Carreno, Antonio Estevez, Aldemaro Romero and Evencio Castellanos. The orchestra obviously have a great patriotic pride concerning these pieces but I think that it is undeniable that the outsatanding music on the disk and what makes it special are the works by the non Venezuelans. There are two works by Mexicans. Revueltas's Sensemaya is decribed with some justification as a latin Rite of Spring. Danzon No 2 by Arturo Marquez is almost the orchestra's signature tune, a melody that gets right under the skin. The other standouts are the perennial encores. Argentinian Alberto Ginastra's dances from the ballet Estancia are irresistable especially the dynamic Danza Final ( Malambo ) which is accompanied live by flowing movements and showmanship from the band. The disk finishes as do many performances with Bernstein's Mambo from West Side story. A great disk and fine souvenir for anyone who has seen them live. I just wonder how they manage to move away from the expectation that every concert will end with these showpieces and how they overcome any disappointment when they fail to perform their "greatest hits". But the squeals from the obviously very young audience at the end of Mambo which comes from a live concert recording are evidence of their ability to bring new audiences to classical music.

Tracing Missing Links

Several ensembles have recently been investigating the common heritage from medieval times of music around the Mediterranean; from Gregorian chant and early Christian church music, the troubadours of southern France, the Arabic influences of Al-Andalus in Spain and the music of the middle east proper to Sephardic Jewish contributions. I have already posted about some of these and one of the most impressive is the Nour Ensemble and this exceptional disk, Alba. The core of the ensemble originates from Iran and the influence here is of classical Persian music and Kurdish folk music. But vocalists have joined from Europe to portray also the links with Gregorian plainsong and Spanish cantigas. It is fascinating to contrast the pure modal vocal lines from the European side with the more embellished and melismatic Iranian style. The instrumental contrasts are no less vivid, the oud and dazzling percussion interweaving with tin whistle like sounds and often using clearly western melodies as a jumping off point for improvisations. Another attraction of the disk is the quality of the recording, made in the wonderful acoustic of the Ardeshir Babakan Castle in Iran. The disk is lavishly packaged in a booklet that is informative and beautifully illustrated.

Watching The River Flow

This is another of NMC's enterprising 25 minute "singles". It features two orchestral pieces by Martin Butler performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The conductor for Fixed Doubles is Martyn Brabbins and for the title piece of the disk, O Rio, it is Arturo Tamayo. Fixed Doubles is an energetic piece, rhythmically active with contrasting lines evolving in a repetitive nature over static harmony ( the "fixed" part of the title of the work )O Rio began with a desire to explore Latin American dance rhythms but these end up fairly deeply subsumed in the orchestral soundscape, with a subsidiary idea taking over involving an indigenous indian creation myth and the onward progress of a giant river to the sea, with the meandering and delta formations reflected in the music. Both pieces have an irresistable forward momentum and rhythmic drive that remains a constant in Butler's orchestral work as shown in a recording I have acquired of the premiere of his Saxophone Concerto given last year at the Prestaigne Festival by Australian saxophonist Amy Dickson. Written for soprano sax and string orchestra, there are jazz and North African elements interwoven with the riffing strings.

Rocking The Salon

A disk of harpsichord music entitled A French Collection - Pieces de Clavecin and not a Rameau or Couperin ( Louis or Francois ) in sight. American harpsichordist Skip Sempe has put together an enterprising collection of pieces to show the ecxtent of Parisian salon repertoire in the Age of Enlightenment. There is a Couperin included, Armand-Louis. Other names, little known outside a coterie of cognescenti I would suggest, are Marchand, Duphly, Balbastre, Corrette and Royer. The latter is responsible for the closing tour de force on the disk, La Marche des Scythes. It might be thought that music written for the salon would have a certain restraint and intimacy but there is some thunderous stuff here, often loud and taken at a breakneck speed. Those skeletons on the tin roof were getting extremely frisky ! That is not to say that there isn't also tastefulness and refinement, often within the same piece as the high energy display segments. Sempe pulls off these pieces with some aplomb. I did however find the whole recital a bit of an ordeal to sit through at one sitting, not helped by a rather bright and harsh recorded sound. A fine disk but one perhaps best sampled in smaller doses.

Land Of Song

The promotion of the choral music of their native region does not end with the Baltic Voices series for the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir under the direction of Paul Hillier. This disk entitled simply Songs, is of music by one time member of the choir Toivo Tulev. It also features the participation of a guest soloist, counter tenor Robin Blaze, and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. It is inevitable that Tulev will be compared to fellow Estonians from an older generation such as Part, there is a definite touch of what those less well disposed to the style have labelled holy minimalism. It is easy to apply words like mystic and there are definite roots in Gregorian chant. Some of the works are based around pre-existing compositions by such as Josquin Desprez, others use texts from both the King James bible and the poems of such as Elizabethan Thomas Traherne. The choir sing wonderfully throughout and as well as Robin Blaze there are other teling solo contributions from individual members. The Tallinn Chamber Orchestra are utilised in an understated contemplative role but are augmented interestingly by the use of instruments such as the duduk which give a novel feel in this context. A standout piece for me is Leave Alas This Tormenting, which has a long lengthy instrumental introduction before using solo soprano, percussion and pre-recorded vocal quartet which includes the "live" soprano duetting with herself. Fragments of the musical material come from a madrigal by another Elizabethan, Thomas Morley.

Improvisation Without A Net

My ventures into the world of jazz rarely stray as far out as to encompass free improv but this disk, Tarfala, is pretty much in that vein. It is a live trio recording by bassist Barry Guy, Mats Gustafsson on temor and baritone sax and fluteophone and percussionist Raymond Strid. The booklet lists them all as composers but the four pieces performed sound spontaneous with little formal imposed structure that can be discerned. It is not an easy listen, particularly when Gustafsson is in his loudest, angriest flow of squawks and distortions. He tends not to "do" lyrical but there is much to be admired in the ferocity of his playing. Occasionally he will turn the volume down from eleven and there is delight to be taken from the interplay with Guy and Strid, who also contribute much thoughtful reaction to each others playing. They are not a rhythm section in the conventional jazz sense but continually improvise themselves. Guy is a master of the upright bass, both bowed and plucked and using advanced techniques to get sounds out of the instrument that are most unexpected. Without the benefit of visual clues, it is fun to imagine exactly what is being hit, shaken and caressed by Strid to produce the percussive effects that he contributes. Repeated listening causes some basic themes to very occasionally become more concrete. Is it fanciful to hear a bit of the beginning of Zawinul's In a Silent Way at one point ? I definitely got a glimpse of the main riff from Coltrane's A Love Supreme !

Cinderella Concerto

This month's cover disk with BBC Music magazine features music by Tchaikovsky, so no apparent anniversary tie in this time ! The featured work is his Piano Concerto No 2 which is much less frequently performed than his first. It does lack the big tunes of number one, although there are melodies aplenty, and the epic length of the first movement could be looked on as a problem. As could the need for two additional soloists of the first rank to play the violin and cello parts in the slow movement, where it is remarked that at times Tchaikovsky seems to have forgotten he is writing a piano concerto, so prominent are these two solo string parts. The piano soloist here is a celebrated one, John Lill. He is accompanied by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Walter Weller and the violin and cello soloists from the orchestra get name checks, Lesley Hatfield and John Senter respectively. The balance in the live concert recording is a bit wayward at times but Lill gives a fine performance. The first movement has many passages of cascading clusters of notes in a typical romantic style and there are notable cadenzas too. After that, it is a lengthy and sinuous unwinding in he slow movement with its' notable solo string passages. This eventually gives way to a fiery finale with more bravura piano. The disk is filled out by the BBC NOW, under Roberto Minczuk this time. performing Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italien. The folk melodies and martial brass sections get perfectly serviceable workouts in a slightly clearer acoustic.

A Whiff Of Patchouli

For most bands who came to the fore in the hippy / underground scene of the late sixties, it was no hardship to move to a much more hard nosed commercial environment as the seventies commenced. There were one or two bands who had bought into the lifestyle wholesale however and who stayed true to their roots and beliefs. One such was Quintessence, who genuinely believed in the spirituality that pervaded their music. Some of it may have been half baked and not fully formed but there was a real search for a viable communal way of living that embraced elements of Hinduism and Buddhism. Musically, there were elements of mystical chant and the jazzy flute of Raja Ram prompted superficial comparisons with Jethro Tull. But in reality, they were the closest that the London scene had to the Grateful Dead with guitarist Alan Mostert a known devotee of Jerry Garcia. Shiva's vocals were a rich mix of Jim Morrison and David LaFlamme from It's A Beautiful Day and made an interesting contrast with the blues shouter prevalent at the time. They were in their element as a live act, gigging relentlessly. But this disk In Blissful Company, which was their first studio album, is a decent representation of what the band was about. Look beyond the slightly risible lyrics of Notting Hill Gate and Giants and enjoy the musicality and picture the extended live workouts such tracks received. Brilliant in their own right are Gange Mai and the stunning Midnight Mode. It took some balls to end an album with about four minutes of slowly fading hypnotic drone and Tibetan cow bells.

Hurdy Gurdy Woman

This is a disk of songs from 13th century France by the ensemble Sinfonye which is the project of composer and instrumentalist Stevie Wishart. Sinfonye consists of Wishart and two other vocalists, Vivian Ellis and Jocelyn West, with instrumental textures provided solely by Wishart on hurdy gurdy and medieval fiddle. Titled Three Sisters, which is a translation of one of the songs featured as well as reference to the members of the eensemble themselves, the songs are all in the troubadour tradition of chivalrous love but share many of the musical characteristics of very early church music and Gregorian chant. Many of the interweaving vocal lines by the three singers in fact tell differing stories simultaneously, although this effect is lost on those such as myself without the language skills to appreciate it. The first track on the disk, Azeruz, differs from the others in that it is a new composition by Wishart in the spirit of a medieval motet and has the most continual instrumental accompaniment of any of the other tracks. This is attractive enough while straying perilously close to a kind of Enya territory in parts. The disk takes a while to build an authentic medieval atmosphere on the back of this, especially when one might be expecting larger vocal forces in the chant like aspects. But that mood is eventually successfully built and maintained. The hurdy gurdy and fiddle don't feature on every track, some are acapella, but are very evocative where they are used with the distinctive hurdy gurdy being especially attractive.

Bringing The Harpsichord Up To Date

The free disk with this month's issue of BBC Music magazine features current BBC New Generation Artist scheme member harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani. He performs two works. One is familiar material for his instrument, a fine performance of Bach's Partita No 4 in D, BWV 828. Coincidentally, I just recently acquired a recording of this by Murray Perahia on modern concert grand and I think comparing the two just proves how adaptable Bach's music is and that it is a joy to be able to hear both options without any preconceived dogma. The other work performed is much less frequently peformed repertoire. It is a performance of Poulenc's Concert Champetre, with Esfahani on harpsichord accompanied bythe BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Martyn Brabbins. The influence of Bach is buried fairly deeply in this piece but is still there, as is the influence of neo-classical Stravinsky. But there are elements in the orchestration that are very much Poulenc's own. It is a large orchestra and makes considerable use of percussion too and so it is interesting that the balance with the relatively fragile sound of the harpsichord works so well for the most part. Written for the pioneer in resurrecting the harpsichord, Wanda Landowska, it is good to have a new musician in Esfahani who is keen to explore the more unusual contexts in which the instrument can be heard.

Out Of Kindness I Suppose

When replacing old rock albums with a representative disk of an artist, it is often a choice between some career retrospective package of greatest hits or an extant album with a coherent feel to it. In the case of Emmylou Harris, I decided on the latter course and acquired this disk Luxury Liner. Her third solo album, it boasts the Hot Band in an unbeatable lineup which includes the country guitar picking of Albert Lee, harmony vocals and guitar of Rodney Crowell, tasteful piano and pedal steel of Glen D Hardin and Hank DeVito respectively, bluegrass licks from Ricky Skaggs and a rhythm section of bassist Emory Gordy and John Ware on drums. But it is the element that these musos are providing the backing to which is the pearl here and that is Emmylou's voice, pure soaring and soulful and restoring dignity and credibility to country music. The songs featured are all strong too and still provide part of her live set to this day. The title song is a rip roaring country boogie, there is a tongue in cheek country swing version of Chuck Berry's C'est La Vie ( You Never Can Tell ), a slow burning Tulsa Queen and heartbreaking ballads like Making Believe and When I Stop Dreaming. But the absolute standout and clinching reason for my purchase is the definitive version of the Townes Van Zandt song Pancho and Lefty. A four minute spaghetti western with a memorable tune in a superb arrangement and crystalline vocals that touch the heart.

Superior Chamber Jazz

It could be said that trumpeter Enrico Rava and pianist Stefano Bollani occupy typical ECM jazz territory. I think that their form of Euro jazz remains closer to the source than some of the more new age offerings on the label, though I like much of both styles. This disk, titled The Third Man, sees Rava playing mainly slow introspective syle trumpet, sometimes literally muted but more often just muted in style. Such outbreaks of fireworks as they are come from clusters of piano playing by Bollani who also provides what percussive effects there are in the absence of a conventional rhythm section. It could be described as chamber jazz which would be fair to the musicianship but there is plenty of traditional jazz interplay and improvisation between the two players. The emotional content is also higher than imposing the term chamber jazz might imply. Late night or lazy sunny afternoon listening rather than music to leap around to but if you know what you are getting it is quietly rewarding.

Who Won ? Apollo Or Pan ?

This disk of early 17th century music from Italy is distinguished particularly by the unusual instrumentation. Titled The Contest of Apollo and Pan, it is an anthology of instrumental works by Dario Castello and contemporaries. The performers go under the name of Apollo and Pan for this disk, though I don't think that it is a regularly performing ensemble, rather musicians from various larger leading early music groups who get together on an occasional basis to perform in this guise. They comprise of violinists Tassilo Erhardt and Ben Sansom, Steven Devine on harpsichord and organ and the dulcian of Sally Holman. It is the dulcian, a forerunner of he bassoon, which lends particular distinction to many of the tracks with an individual burbling sound adding great character to the music, whether as lead instrument or part of the continuo. The pieces featured by Castello are some of the earliest examples of sonata form. Also represented are Merula, Marini, Bertoli, Buonamente, Frescobaldi ( solo harpsichord works played beautifully by Devine ), Rossi, De Rore and Turini. A very intelligently thought out programme showing the roots of much of the classical period but thoroughly enjoyable in its own right and far from being merely an academic exercise.

Recreating A Medieval Sound World

Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI rarely release a disk that is not a well thought out programme of interesting and enterprising repertoire with a lavish accompanying booklet and this is no exception. The title is Estampies & Danses Royales - Le Manuscrit du Roi circa 1270 - 1320. It is an attempt to interpet the music from this medieval document which details both courtly dance music and troubador songsfrom the south of France and all along that north western Mediterranean corridor leading from Italy into Catalonia. It is also music associated with the doomed so called heretical cultures of the Albigensians. Savall and his band are expert at capturing the atmospheric nature of this corner of early music and the dance element is contagious. The notation of the document leaves room for discussion and interpretation as to how the music should sound but as performed here, it is beguiling and surprisingly complex and this disk makes a convincing case for it.

Not In The Least Forbidding

Karlheinz Stockhausen has one of the more forbidding reputations among 20th century composers and doesn't get much radio play to encourage investigation of his work. One recent release that did garner some publicity and an attendant prom concert was the recording of the vocal work Stimmung by the Theatre Of Voices under the direction of Paul Hillier. Stimmung has the literal meaning of tuning but can also be used in the sense of tuning into one's soul. Stimme as the root syllable means voice. And the work is a purely vocal piece that features continual wordplay, some of it on spiritual themes with the names being intoned of various gods and dieties from numerous cultures. Other words chanted are days of the week in various languages. The whole offers a beguiling and intoxicating mix, hypnotic and stimulating all at the same time and not in the least a "difficult" listen. Or at least, only as difficult or challenging as the listener wishes to make it, the layers are multuple. Stockhausen doesn't seem to get lumped in with the minimalist school of composers but this piece does have that kind of repetitive feel and there are also obvious similarities to Berio's Sinfonia. The performance is committed and expert.

The Heart Of England

I didn't particularly feel it necessary to own a second disk if June Tabor's chamber folk style but ended up with this one, A Quiet Eye, because I wanted a recording of the Maggie Holland song A Place Called England and the Maggie Holland version was very difficult to obtain. It is a fine song trying to find a positive spin to this badly wounded nation and June Tabor renders a fine version along with her session musicians. The entire disk has what has been described as this chamber folk fell with tasteful jazzy and string accompaniments, largely the work of arranger and pianist Huw Warren. The songs are an eclectic selection too, including the WW2 standard I'll Be Seeing You, Richard Thompson's Waltzings's For Dreamers and even The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face alongside traditional folk songs such as The Gardener. The other standout track is the Bill Caddick song The writing Of Tipperary, segued into It's A Long Way To Tipperary itself. The effect is can be compared to that of The Band Played Waltzing Matilda by the Pogues, covering similar ground concerning WW1 and having the same devastating effect when the familiar tune comes in at the end. A contemporary version of a lieder recital.

Roots Of Spanish Guitar

I would not have thought that the technical challenges of recording solo guitar music were that great but this disk by baroque guitarist Gordon Ferries, entitled Marionas - The Guitar Music of Francisco Guerau, suffers from a very bright and over resonant church recording. The result is that it becomes wearing on the ears to listen to the whole disk at one sitting and is best dipped into and sampled in smaller doses. The other possible limitation of such a disk, that of a certain monotony and similarity in the pieces performed, is not a problem here. The music is an intoxicating mix of Spanish, dance and passion with the roots of some aspects of flamenco clearly evident and an Arabic and Sephardic influence noticeable among the more familiar baroque dance forms from northern Europe. Ferries has sublime technique and uses it in the service of the music to exploit all the timbre and expression of which the instrument is capable. The earlier caveat notwithstanding, this is an unusual and stimulating disk.

Not All Bombast !

The April edition of BBC Music magazine had a free cover disk of rarely performed Berlioz. Despite a printing error on the jewel case ( corrected within the actual magazine ) it was simple enough to discern that the first piece was the Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale, taken from a live 2009 Proms concert performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Thierry Fischer and with the highlighted solo trombone part of Donal Bannister. The lengthy first movement is a most impressive funeral march with unique use of heavy percussion emphasis. I did not previously know the piece at all and so can make no comparitive judgement on the performance but it seems a fine one to me. The Triomphale aspect of the work that is the finale appeals less to me, seeming to prefigure the pomp style of an Elgar. But it is a work I am glad to have heard. The other piece is equally substantial, Berlioz's Te Deum, also taken from a live Proms concert of 2009. The performers here are the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Susanna Malkki with notable solo contributions from organist Simon Preston and tenor Jorg Schneider. The chorus is enormous, comprising the BBC Symphony Chorus, the Crouch End Festival Chorus, the Choristers of St Paul's Cathedral and the Trinity Boy's Choir. Chorus masters were respectively Stephen Jackson, David Temple, Andrew Carwood and David Swinson. The orchestra is equally large with multiple forces in many areas and the whole seems an attempt to forge a link between sacred music and theatrical spectacle on a grand scale. Within it though are moments of calm and reflection, it is certainly not all bombast. Berlioz remains a composer with whom I am struggling to come to terms but I am finding more there gradually. I don't think I am alone on this journey for those who never "got" this composer immediately.

Variations OnThat Key Motif

It is probably fair to call this a historic recording since originally it was just released on two long playing vinyl albums in a limited edition of only 100 in 1964 and now makes a first appearance on disk. Passacaglia on DSCH for piano by Ronald Stevenson is certainly a gruelling test for any pianist and is possibly the longest continuous movement in the repertoire for solo piano, clocking in here as played by the composer at close on 75 minutes. It weaves continuous variations over an unvarying ground bass made up of the key Shostakovich DSCH motif. The motif will be immediately familiar to those who know the output of Shostakovich but Stevenson imparts so much of himself into this work which invites comparison with Shostakovich's own 24 preludes and fugues, as well as the more venerable Diabelli and Goldberg variations by Beethoven and Bach. Stevenson conjures an extraordinary range of colour and texture from the piano, it really can be said to mimic an orchestra and the piece runs a gamut from tempestuous to peaceful. Various techniques such as plucking and strumming the internal strings of the piano are used sparingly and in no way feel at all gimmmicky, everything here is in service of the music. Shostakovich received a bound copy of the score but sadly his reaction to the music doesn't appear to have been documented.

You Are Quite Correct Sir

It could be argued that Damn Right, I've Got The Blues, made several decades into an illustrious career, is the first real Buddy Guy album and perhaps to this day still the best. Although acknowledged by white blues rock musicians as a major influence and inspiration, record companies had been careless in their recording of him with too many time constraints and novelty crossover attempts. The often indisciplined and erratic live performances hadn't helped the cause either. But finally with this album, the resources were made available to record an extended and thought through project of undistilled Chicago blues in state of the art sound. There are the obligatory guest appearances from such as Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck and both contribute characteristic solos to the two tracks they appear on but the spotlight is firmly on Guy and his mainly white backing band who offer tight and funky support. Neil Hubbard's guitar contributions are more important than those of the two superstars since they underpin the sound and allow Buddy Guy the freedom to demonstrate his genius. The piano of Pete Wingfield and soulful organ of the erstwhile Wynder K Frog ( Mick Weaver ) are also important and Little Feat's Richie Hayward makes the ideal drummer. But the album is rightly and firmly Buddy Guy's. His underrated voice is allowed to show how heartfelt and interpretative it can be but the real joy is to have a document of the blistering electric guitar tradition of which he is now one of the last remaining true exponents.

I'd Prefer The Real Thing Thanks

The latest free cover disk with BBC Music magazine has the title Great American Classics and features pieces by Bernstein, Gershwin, Grofe and Ellington. On the whole it isn't really repertoire that grabs me. The Bernstein piece is Chichester Psalms with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, National Youth Choirs of Scotland and Great Britain, the Rodolfus choir, boy treble Sam Adams Nye and conductor Martin Brabbins. It is a performance from the BBC Proms of 2006. The work is a curious mix of the Jewish cantor tradition and Broadway with some more traditional sacred music gestures thrown in. It is followed by Gershwin's Second Rhapsody for piano and orchestra, played by soloist Peter Jablonski with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Eric Stern. Jablonski does the piece proud but it tends to come across as like the more famous Rhapsody in Blue but without the tunes. That rhapsody was orchestrated by Ferde Grofe since Gershwin was struggling with the time scale of the commission and Grofe is represented on this disk by his Mississippi Suite played by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Keith Lockhart. This is really light music with risible native American pastiches and watered down jazz. The disk cloese with Duke Ellington's Harlem, again from a BBC Proms of 2008 and again with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales this time conducted by Kristjan Jarvi. An early attempt by Ellington to create orchestral jazz and gain credibility with classical audiences and players, I think he succeeded more later in his career. The piece works best when it is more or less full on jazz such as in the closing percussion section. This disk has been enthusiastically received in some quarters, it is simply the case that it is not the kind of thing that floats my boat.

Provencal Passion

The main work on this disk of music by Bizet is L'Arlesienne. It is a project by Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre - Grenoble. I don't often comment on the presentation but the package is in the form of a hardback book with fine reproductions of stunning Provencal based paintings by Van Gogh, Gauguin and Joan Mitchell. After some deliberation as descibed in the notes, Minkowski decided to present the two versions of the suite produced from Bizet's incidental music to the stage play based on the tragic tale of unrequited love for the flighty girl from Arles. These two suites are Bizet's own plus that arranged after his death by Ernest Guiraud. Sandwiched between these two versions are the original incidental music with vocal additions sung by the Choeur de l'Opera National de Lyon under chorus master Alan Woodbridge. Bizet's wonderfully evocative and melodic music is given a totally idiomatic and life enhancing performance and the closing Farandole, for all its familiarity, sends shivers of pleasure down the spine. Also on the disk are the even more familiar Prelude and Entractes from Carmen, which are given equally committed prformances and provide a lively opener to the main event.

Songs Without Words With A Latin Lilt

The disk Asturiana by the duo of violist Kim Kashkashian and pianist Robert Levin is subtitled Songs from Spain and Argentina. As the players make clear, these songs become songs without words in that long and honourable tradition and Kashkashian in particular strives to make the viola emulate the human voice as well as she possibly can. Transcriptions have been made by Kashkashian and Levin of songs by Manuel de Falla, Enrique Granados, Carlos Guastavino, Alberto Ginastera, Xavier Montsalvatge and Carlos Lopez Buchardo. The most overtly Spanish sounding, defining Spanish as thought of in the popular imagination, are the seven folk and dance settings by de Falla, while those of Guastavino refer obliquely to popular latin dance forms. Some of the other pieces are more generally melancholy without any specific regional characteristics. The playing is ardent and characterful throughout, Kashkashian's viola letting loose to wear its heart on its sleeve on several occasions and Levin's piano underpinning sensitively and taking advantage too of the opportunities it gets to take the limelight. This makes a tuneful, colourful, imaginative and atmospheric disk that is well worth hearing.

Doing What It Says On The Tin

Sometimes there is a fine disk but not very much to say about it. A case in point in this disk of Murray Perahia playing Bach Partitas for solo piano numbers 2, 3 and 4. It does pretty much what it says on the tin. Most will be familiar with the soundworld that this is likely to contain. I could talk about how Bach composed these as teaching aids and never envisaged a performing tradition. Which is pertinent I feel to any arguments about the validity of playing his keyboard pieces on a modern concert grand. The finger exercises and so on are just as valid whatever the keyboard is attached to. I just feel that Bach transcends such thoughts and whatever one's preferences his music can be enjoyed on many platforms. I love Perahia's way with Bach, crystalline clarity but a warm timbre and ego kept very firmly in check so that all technique is devoted to the cause of the music. The sort of disk to convince one that for a short time all is well with the world.

Exquisite Melancholy

The Dowland Project have released three disks, of which I have two and the latest is the third in the series entitled Romaria. The Project is very much the brainchild of tenor John Potter, although he is at pains to point out the instrumental nature of the ensemble which on this disk is completed by Milos Valent on violin and viola, Stephen Stubbs playing baroque guitar and vihuela and the multi-instrumentalist talents of John Surman, here on soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, tenor and bass recorders. The programme on the disk is of what are described as love songs from the 12th century to the present. The emphasis is on the earlier material, the present being represented by two instrumental tracks composed and improvised by Valent, Surman and Stubbs. Otherwise, Potter's tenor is employed on Gregorian chant, items from the Carmina Burana Manuscript, a piece from the tail end of the troubadour tradition by Oswald von Wolkenstein and works by Orlando di Lasso and Josquin Desprez. The sound world is one of exquisite melancholy for the most part, apt perhaps in view of the ensemble's origins with Dowland even though he is not represented here by any songs. On the final instrumental track of the disk, there is just a hint of Surman's other side where some bluesy licks begin to edge into the tastefulness and restraint of much of the other contributions. It is nevertheless a rewarding and interesting area to develop. The playing throughout is wonderful.

Solo Viola Da Gamba To Die For

Carl Friedrich Abel was an acclaimed virtuoso on the viola da gamba as well as being a successful composer and musical entrepreneur in association with J C Bach and their renowned subscription concerts. It could fairly be said that he was the last of the famed viola da gamba players until the revival of interest in period instruments and early music in the 1960s and 70s, since the instrument became superceded by the cello. Abel left what is known as the Drexel Manuscript which is a treasure trove of solo viola da gamba material for present day enthusiasts and this disk is titled after that manuscript and performed by Paolo Pandolfo. A review described it as probably the best viola da gamba playing you would ever hear and it is hard to disagree. The extracts from the manuscript chosen to be played here are three complete suites, each with dance based segments alonside more abstract movements, plus two further pieces comprising an allegretto and an allegro. Should the idea of eighty minutes of solo viola da gamba music sound daunting, think Bach solo cello suites for the obvious comparison and these works in no way suffer when that comparison is made.

Mid Century Mode

The Swiss composer Frank Martin is one of those mid 20th century composers like Britten and others whose music is clearly of the 20th century without pinning its colours to any particular modernist stance or methodology. This attractive disk showcases music with a sacred inspiration and also a nod towards the influence of Bach, although the latter is buried and in no way overt. The featured work is Polyptyque - Six images de la Passion du Christ written for violin and two string orchestras. The soloist is Muriel Cantoreggi and her violin "sings" the part beautifully, acting in some way as the evangelist through the various stages of the Passion narrative. Christ in Gethsemane is largely solo and achingly poignant but Martin has chosen to end on the hope of the resurrection and a radiant F sharp major finish. The orchestral support on the disk is provided by the excellent German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra under Christoph Poppen. The other sacred piece on the disk is Maria-Tryptychon for soprano, violin and orchestra where Juliane Banse joins Cantoreggi and the orchestra. This comprises an Ave Maria, Magnificat and Stabat Mater which takes a Bachian structure os a series of arias and instrumental obbligato. The final piece is simply titled Passacaille and is a set of variations with the woodwind getting much gorgeous writing and that most Bachian of instruments the oboe standing out.