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.