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.

Communist Cats

My Name Is Buddy is the second in the so called California trilogy released by Ry Cooder on his return to mainstream, as opposed to world music oriented, recording. It is a socio-political concept album revolving around the depression years of the 1930s and a regular Cooder pre-occupation from back to his earliest albums. There are many threads that will be familiar to long term fans. As well as the depression era setting, Cooder's odd penchant for extra-terestrial visitors makes an appearance on the track Green Dog. Long term musical collaborators make returns such as singers Bobby King and Terry Evans, accordionist Flaco Jimenez, drummer Jim Keltner and Van Dyke Parks on piano. His son Joachim is now a regular contributor and there are significant contributions from old timers Mike and Pete Seeger, one of the formers last recordings. Chieftain Paddy Moloney is on a couple of tracks adding pipes and Roland White's mandolin and Jon Hassell's jazz trumpet deserve mention. The overall feel of the disk is old timey, hillbilly country but despite what one senses is a reluctance for Cooder to unleash many slide guitar licks, the blues also crops up together with a smidgen of gospel and on a couple of tracks some cocktail jazz. It makes for an entertaining and thought provoking whole, although I remain unconvinced by the central conceit of having the protaganists of the saga take the form of cartoon animals; Buddy the red ( communist ) cat who is a dead ringer for Woody Guthrie, Lefty the political rabble raising mouse and the Reverend Toad representing oppressed black minorities. There is also the melancholy feel that even after the credit crunch banking fiasco we have just endured, American society remains no more willing to accept the views and solutions of such as Buddy and his friends.

This Year We Will be Playing Mostly......

Anniversary obsession continues for BBC Music magazine with the new cover disk celebrating Chopin's 200th anniversary. They give the title Chopin Piano Masterpieces including Sonata No 2. In fact, for some variety, they include two orchestrations of Chopin as well as the piano pieces played here by Martin Roscoe. He is featured playing two Nocturnes ( in E flat op 9 and in F sharp op 15 ) and a Polonaise ( in C sharp minor op 26 ) in addition to the highlighted Sonata in B flat minor op 35. This is the sonata featuring the ubiquitous funeral march and it is good to hear it here set in the correct context with the rest of the work. The famous theme is so thoroughly connected with its' subject matter that it is easy to forget that even within that movement there is some lightening of the mood. Roscoe's playing throughout is perfectly respectable and while perhaps not being library sandard recordings of these works they are fine to have. As mentioned the disk also features two orchestrations played by the BBC Philharmonic under Vassily Sinaisky. These are Chopiniana by Glazunov, in four short movements featuring polonaise, nocturne, mazurka and tarantella plus the Nocturne in A flat by Stravinsky. Both of these orchestrations were for the Ballet Russes and serve that purpose admirably.