The Anniveraries Start Here

The BBC love anniversaries and in 2009 they are plugging four "composers of the year" who all have anniversaries of some sort. One of the composers is Handel and the latest BBC Music magazine was a Handel special, including the cover disk. The works featured are two Concerti Grossi ( Op 3 Nos 1 and 2 ) and two Chandos Anthems ( As Pants The Hart and The Lord Is My Light ). The Concerti Grossi are taken from a forthcoming Harmonia Mundi release I believe and are played by the Academy of Ancient Music directed by Richard Egarr. Handel was a great recycler of material and these pieces were cobbled together from existing orchestral movements from various operas, oratorios and anthems in order to suit a passing fashion for Concert Grossi. That doesn't make the music any the less engaging and it is repertoire which ideally suits the AAM. The choral Chandos Anthems are performed by the BBC Singers and the Orchestra of the Sixteen under the direction of Harry Christophers. They are so called because they were written for the Duke of Chandos at a time when Handel had a brief period under his patronage. They are typical Handelian oratorio syle woks on a smaller scale and there are notable solo contributions from sopranos Eleanor Meynell and Elizabeth Poole, tenors Daniel Auchincloss and Andrew Murgatroyd, Anthony Robson on oboe and organist Laurence Cummings.

Fantastical Tales

This month's BBC Music magazine cover disk goes under the title of An Enchanted Christmas with music by Ravel, Prokofiev and Suk. In truth, there isn't much that is inherantly Christmassy about the pieces, it is just that they are based on folk / fairy tales that for some reason are looked upon as being seasonal. The Ravel and Prokofiev pieces are familiar enough and I have both in other commercial recordings. They both get perfectly serviceable workouts; Ravel's Mother Goose Suite from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ilan Volkov and Prokofiev's The Love For Three Oranges ( Symphonic Suite )from the BBC Philharmonic under Sir Edward Downes. Incidentally, the accompanying notes claim that the march from the Three Oranges suite is Prokofiev's most famous melody. Really ? The troika from Lt Kije ? The Montagues and Capulets ? Peter and the Wolf ? Whatever, the work which I didn't know is the one by Suk, Pohadka - A Fairy Tale. This is championed here by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jakub Hrusa. It is a symphonic poem telling the tale of an ill starred love affair, powerful curses and unfortunate transformations and ultimate redemption and happy ending. Because of his family connection it is easy to think of Suk in terms of his father in law Dvorak but the melodic and folk influenced writing and orchestration prefigures Strauss and has more in common with the 19th century Russian school.

France and French Influence

The BBC Music Magazine offering this time around has a French theme with music by Poulenc, Messiaen and Stravinsky. Stravinsky ? Well, the excuse is that he was resident in Paris when the work concerned was composed. That work is the Symphony of Psalms performed here by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Sir Andrew Davis. I already own two other recordings of this work but hearing it in the context here reveals certain connections with the sound world of Messiaen that had previously not occured to me. Stravinsky had magpie tendencies but which way any influence may have gone I am not expert enough to suggest. The Poulenc piece is his Gloria, also played by the BBCSO and Chorus under Davis and with soprano Christine Brewer taking the solo part. Poulenc had ambiguous relations with his religious beliefs and that is reflected by the less than reverent settings of some of the texts here. Not really my cup of tea but given a decent performance. The most compelling performance on the disk however is reserved for the instrumental piece by Messiaen, L'Ascension, performed by the BBC scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. Some of Messaien's indiosyncracies are evident, such as bird song interludes, but the piece has a sober relentless drive that is most impressive.

Quintessentially English ?

Another new BBC Music magazine cover cd, this one going under the title Visions Of England and featuring music by Vaughan Williams, Delius, Butterworth and Finzi. Largely familiar fare presented in decent enough performances and hanging together quite well as a programme without being in any way essential. The disk commences with Delius's orchestral setting of the folk tune Brigg Fair played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis, quintessential English pastoralism but more to do with the source material than with Delius. There follows song settings of the verse of A E Houseman by respectively Vaughan Williams and George Butterworth. The VW is On Wenlock Edge sung by tenor Andrew Kennedy accomnpanied by the Royal String Quartet and pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips, while the Butterworth settings are also from A Shropshire Lad sung by baritone Jonathan Lemalu accompanied by pianist Iain Burnside. Both of these suites seem to be rights of passage for any rising English ( or English speaking ) singer. The disk concludes with a collection of Finzi orchestral songs Let Us Garlands Bring, also sung by Lemalu with The BBCSO under conductor Jac van Steen. Finzi isnb't exactly neglected but is perhaps under performed when compared with the other works on this disk. He does not suffer in any comparison that might be made.

Rising Mezzo

I'm a bit late posting about the latest BBC music magazine cover disk which features mezzo soprano Christianne Stotijn. The works featured are Brahms's Alto Rhapsody with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Jac van Steen, Mahler's Ruckert-Lieder with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Yasuo Shinozaki and Mahler Songs accompanied by pianist Julius Drake, the latter items extracted from a commercial release. There are no texts supplied in the booklet for obvious reasons of room in such a free giveaway but Stotijn sings expressively throughout. Brahms famously never wrote an opera but there is an operatic intensity to the Rhapsody that makes a very effective work. The Ruckert-Lieder fit into Mahler's Knaben Wunderhorn sound world and that of several of the symphonies. Certain recurring themes and motifs also crop up in the piano accompaniment. All in all, this is a worthwhile release and another of the superior magazine offerings.

Jazz Influenced But Not Jazz

Another month, another BBC Music mag cover disk. This one features two piano concertos with links to jazz. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales plays Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F ( conductor David Charles Abell and soloist Peter Donohoe ) and Ravel's Piano Concerto in G ( Francois Xavier Roth conducting and Jean-Philippe Collard at the piano ). The Ravel is a favourite piece about which I posted back near the beginning of this blog. I don't have any other recording of the Gershwin and have to admit that it isn't repertoire that appeals to me, a bit too close to music theatre in which he was obviously a master but which I can take in only small doses when in a particular mood. Donohoe swings nicely though and even if the BBCNOW are a bit insecure at times in the live concert recordings,the Ravel receives an accomplished performance from Collard. Ravel's subtle use of jazz inflected chords and blue notes convinces much more than Gershwin's pastiche, the very Rhapsody In Blueish brass and woodwind motif in the first movement of the Ravel notwithstanding !

Proms Commissions By Numbers

The BBC Proms season got under way this weekend and the current edition of BBC Music magazine is the spcial Proms issue. Of course the cover disk reflects this and is given the title Great Proms Premieres. I think there is a certain hyperbole in the use of he term "great" here. The most celebrated work featured is Walton's Viola Concerto. I have a version by Maxim Vengerov that I have already posted about and this performance by Nobuko Imai with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Tadaaki Otaka from the 1990s is very competitive. Another 1990s recording is of John Ireland's Piano Concerto played by Kathryn Stott accompanied by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis. The actual premiere of this was in 1930, a year after the Walton, and apparently was a Proms staple for many years. Hard to see why now, a reflection of changes in programming fashion I guess. It is easy to see why it would appeal to soloists and the slow movement is particularly characterful but on the whole it sounda routine to modern ears. The other two works on the disk are recordings of the actual premieres. From 1942 we have another Ireland piece, Epic March, with Proms founder Sir Henry Wood conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Of obvious historic interest and recorded in the Albert Hall shortly after the destruction in the Blitz of the original Proms location the Queen's Hall, the music itself is reminiscent of the film music then current and seems imbued with the stoicism and defiance of the time. The disk concludes with a work premiered just last year, ...onyt agoraf y drws...by Welsh composer Guto Puw. In many ways, this is contemporary proms commissioning by numbers, the sort of work of which there are maybe half a dozen examples each year. It ticks the local outreach box ( Welsh composer, Welsh title, Welsh mythological theme, played by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by David Atherton ) it is of the requisite length ( a 17 minute pipe opener ) and contains presentational gimmicks ( three piccolos situated in different locations around the arena to represent the birds of the witch Rhiannon who inhabit the story ) The title translates as ...unless I open the door... refers to a story from the Welsh epic the Mabinogion and has a Duke Bluebeardish " don't open the door" tale at its' heart. The music contains spells of static shimmering sound interrupted by violent eruptions, another modern music commonplace that gets a bit wearing. There is a feeling that there is a certain amount of "does the face fit" involved in contemporary Proms commissions but it is nevertheless admirable that such commissions are still undertaken.