Darkness And Light

Richard Thompson ( notice I didn't say "ex Fairport Convention guitarist Richard Thompson" ) has a hugely impressive body of work built up over forty years from those early Fairport days. This album Hand Of Kindness is now ( I am astonished and a little taken aback to find ) twenty five years old and so is well into his career. It is one of those few old rock albums that I decided to replace from vinyl to cd since it had personal nostalgic value over and above the quality of the music, hence my dismay to realise that it is now 25 years old. I think I am correct in saying that it was the first album since his final split from his wife and erstwhile performing partner Linda and a couple of the tracks ( Tear Stained Letter and A Poisoned Heart and a Twisted Memory ) might well relate to that famously volatile breakup. Musically a lot of the album is a kind of English version of a cajun band, maybe due to the extensive contributions from John Kirkpatrick on accordion and concertina. Fairport cronies Dave Mattacks, Simon Nicol and Dave Pegg provide solid rhythm section support, there is a beautiful Aly Bain violin solo on the most overtly folky track Devonside and Ry Cooder band alumni John Hiatt and Bobby King make cameo appearances. Apart from the relationship songs, which also include How I Wanted To, there are a trio of dark edged songs at the albums heart, Where The Wind Don't Whine, The Wrong Heartbeat and the title track. Devonside, with its' angel of death undertones, is also not a barrel of laughs despite the beauty of the playing but the album isn't without typical Thompson humour, displayed in Both Ends Burning and Two Left Feet. All this and I haven't even mentioned his guitar playing which is as fiery and unique as ever.

Continuing To Explore The Jazz Trio

An album by one of the leading lights of the current jazz scene, Anything Goes by the Brad Mehldau Trio. Jazz purists of the old school are suspicious of any level of popular success by contemporary performers and rightly so in the vast majority of cases. But while Mehldau may not be cutting edge enough for some tastes, I found this disk to be rewarding and inventive, all the more so given what could be the somewhat restrictive form of the piano trio. Most of the material on the disk consists of reinterpretations of standards, a time honoured tradition in jazz but again given a surprising freshness here. Mehldau is the obvious leader but he is generous in the space alloted to what is more than a rhythm section with the bass of Larry Grenadier sometimes taking the melody line and the drums of Jorge Rossy pushing to the fore over the piano on other occasions. This approach is instead of the older one whereby the bassist and drummer get one fixed spot in a set to stretch out on a solo. Mehldau's own playing is more in the thoughtful line of Monk or Bill Evans than in the flashy technique driven tradition of Tatum or Peterson. The standards include Get Happy, The Nearness Of You, Anything Goes, Smile and I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face. There is a Monk piece, Skippy, and Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years adds another viewpoint. Some critics have found the inclusion of a number by the esoteric rock band Radiohead to be worthy of particular comment ( Everything In It's Right Place ) but to me it sounds neither out of place nor especially groundbreaking. Mehldau has recently branched out to perform with another current "name" Pat Metheney and it would be interesting to hear him play with horn players of similar stature at some point.

Highlighting The Similarities

This disk represents the genre of world music in the form that appeals most to me. It is called Under The Olive Tree : Sacred Music Of The Middle East by the Yuval Ron Ensemble featuring Najwa Gibran. There are descriptions od each track and the breadth of vision is best illustrated by quoting some of these; a Jewish Moroccan song, a prayer for the artisans by the Egyptian composer Darwish, three Jewish prayers from Spain, Bosnia and Israel in a medley with a Sufi song from Turkey, a Yemenite Jewish prayer, an Iraqi love song, a lament from the late 5th century dedicated to the Armenian hero Vartan, a folk dance melody from the people of Laz in Turkey, a folk song from the gypsies of the Nile. The playing and singing are extremely soulful and reach to the very depths of this music, with a precussive swing that sounds utterly contemporary and at the same time timeless, with no resort to electronics beyond that of strategically placed microphones. Yuval Ron is the ensemble leader and plays both oud and saz. Najwa Gibron is one of the two featured vocalists and the sound is soulful but a little smoother than some more folk oriented performers from the region. Apart from much percussion and some keyboard fills, the other musical inspiration beyond that of Yuval Ron is supplied by Norik Manoukian on duduk, shvi ( flute ) and clarinet. The booklet notes "the Yuval Ron Ensemble is dedicated to fostering an understanding of Middle Eastern cultures and religions". Amen to that. This disk highlights similarities rather than emphasising differences.

Another Useful Retrospective

Another of the ECM artist retrospectives in the :rarum series where the performers themselves select the featured tracks. This one is John Surman Selected Recordings. Surman is an English saxophonist who started out as a great white hope baritone sax player in fairly straight ahead modern settings post Coltrane but who over the years has developed something more akin to the European ECM house style, gravitating more often to soprano sax and using more varied settings for his playing. Surman also plays bass clarinet and dabbles with various synthesizers, although the synths normally provide insistent background riffs over which to double track solos on one or more of the reed instruments. The selections show a good cross section from basic trio settings to those synth based numbers and a couple with folk influences which acknowledge Surman's west country roots. Some Bachian influences can also be detected; Surman had wide musical training as a child. Some of the tracks come from sessions where Surman was a sideman on someone else's project ( Barre Phillips and John Abercrombie for instance ) and the London based Brass Project also have a track. Other names that crop up include Paul Bley, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette, Terje Rypdal and Miroslav Vitous. The :rarum series is most definitely a great place to start if you become interested in any of the musicians featured.

A Progression Of French Song

A mainly French recital by soprano Dawn Upshaw and pianist Gilbert Kalisch, titled Voices Of Light. The only non-French piece is a song by frequent Upshaw collaborator Osvaldo Golijov. Otherwise, songs by Messiaen are scattered throughout the disk which is centred on the three songs in Chansons de Bilitis by Debussy and the ten parts of La Chanson d'Eve by Faure. Upshaw writes a brief note in the booklet concerning her approach to this recital which began with the Messiaen and then became a search to find other pieces to fit around the songs. I won't attempt to precis the lengthy and authoritative notes by Michael Steinberg that accompany Upshaw's short explanation and explain the literary as well as musical inspirations. For me, some of the Messiaen settings jar somewhat, the writing for voice seeming to follow on the route through Faure and Debussy but the piano accompaniment belonging in the world of birdsong and angularity familiar from Messiaen's other work. For the most part though things mix well and both Upshaw and Kalisch give outstanding performances. The Golijov song is also in a style that is becoming familiar through his other longer works with Dawn Upshaw.

Another Take On "East Meets West"

An unusual disk, probably best treated as a one off rather than an ongoing project. Titled Dream Of The Orient, it is a joint effort by the forces of Concerto Koln directed by Werner Ehrhardt and the Turkish ensemble Sarband directed by Vladimir Ivanoff. The concept originally was that Concerto Koln would record an album of music with a Turkish ( or oriental ) feel of the kind that was fashionable in the years when the Austro-Hungarian empire was under direct threat from the Ottoman empire. Sarband were to add an authentic touch to proceedings by providing the percussive "janissary music" behind works by such as Mozart, Gluck, Kraus and Sussmayr ( the janissaries were a martial sect within the Ottoman empire and their music on the way into battle often unnerved the enemy ) As the project progressed, it was decided that Sarband should also contribute tracks of original Turkish music and finally, that Concerto Koln should also play on some of these tracks. The sleeve notes are honest about the difficulties faced by both sets of performers, particularly in terms of rhythm and spacing within the music. But much common ground and mutual respect was eventually fostered. The whole hangs together as a congruent programme and the quality of the disk is helped to no little extent by the superb recording in SACD which plays just as well on standard equipment.

Gallic Style

This is very much a one off disk in my collection in terms of repertoire and style. Not normally my thing at all but I heard a sample track on Radio 3 and was tempted to give it a punt. As a one off I find it an enjoyable diversion, superior easy listening. The album is French Operetta Arias by American mezzo - soprano Susan Graham with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yves Abel. The track that tempted me to acquire the disk was the first track, C'est la vie, c'est ca l'amour which has a somwhat corny but irresistable latin dance band lilt. The composer of this song was Moises Simons and other composers featured include Andre Messager, Maurice Yvain, Arthur Honegger and Reynaldo Hahn. Hahn and Messager are the most widely represented in these songs from the first half of the 20th century. There is nothing particularly profound here in either lyrical or musical terms but it is in a way a kind of Gallic answer to the Great American Songbook and Susan Graham is obviously having a ball, especially in some of the racier songs. This disk constitutes a break for her from the most serious operatic repertoire but should certainly not be confused with any commercially driven crossover project. The CBSO also seem to enjoy the lighter style under the specialist direction of Abel.

There's That Ambiguity Again

This disk by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink contains Symphony No 6 and Symphony No 12 by Shostakovich. The sixth symphony war written in 1939 when Shostakovich was walking on eggs in his relationship with the Stalin regime. The symphony shows some influence of Mahler both in overall feel and orchestration and is superficially a high spirited piece but as ever with Shostakovich there is considerable ambiguity and is it in the end a pessimistic piece ( how could it be otherwise you may ask being composed at the time and in the location that it was ). Symphony No 12 is subtitled "The Year 1917", has a dedication to "the memory of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" and the four movements also have programmatic titles referring to the revolutionary events of that year. Written in 1961, there was no longer the immediate threat that Stalin posed but it was still necessary to tread a careful path with the Soviet authorities. By taking the initial revolutionary flowering prior to any corruption of ideals, he was on safer ground and able to write a piece of what could be called "musico-historical painting". Non Shostakovichian input comes from folk themes rather than revolutionary songs and that clue indicates where the symphony is really coming from and who the heroic figures really are. Haitink's Shostakovich interpretations are very fine, even if some insist on a more strictly "Russian" approach.

Defining The Sound of A Nation

The commercial recording that I have of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez finally has its' turn to come down from the shelf. The performers on this disk are the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal conducted by Charles Dutoit with the solo guitar of Carlos Bonell. The disk also features these forces on Rodrigo's Fantasia Para un Gentilhombre and sandwiched between these two works is that other perennial companion piece in this repertoire, De Falla's orchestral showpiece El Sombrero de Tres Picos.It is interesting to consider how and why the Rodrigo works in particular have come to sum up the musical mood of a nation so completely, especially given the diverse nature of indigenous Spanish music from the flamenco of the south to the Galician pipes of the north west. Although the two Rodrigo works here are guitar features, there isn't any overt flamenco influence but somehow it does seem quintessentially Spanish. Whether that is because of the continual use of the music in any travelogue or documentary produced about Spain is a kind of chicken and egg what came first question. Dutoit and the Montreal band were specialists in this kind of Franco-Spanish repertoire and the playing here is idiomatic. Despite the familiarity it is good to listen closely to the memorable melodies and delicate writing of Rodrigo and Falla's music provides a fiery upbeat contrast.

Does The Composer Always Know Best ?

This recording comes from EMI's Great Recordings of the century series and that would certainly apply to one of the two featured recordings. The other is much more debateable. The disk is of music by Elgar conducted by the composer himself. That very fact of course means that the recordings are of an elderly vintage but the six years seperating them make a world of difference in terms of sound quality. The performance on the latter recording is on an entirely different plane too. That is of the Violin Concerto and is by a young Yehudi Menuhin with the London Symphony Orchestra. The concerto is a full blooded late romantic work, more in the Austro-German tradition than in any pastoral English vein. Menuhin plays with bags of heart and committment and much vibrato that the composer must obviously have approved of. After all these years still a very recommendable version of the work which reminds me that the one significant Elgar gap in my collection that I wish to fill is the Cello Concerto. Do I go for the famous and perennially available Du Pre or a more contemporary sound ? A decision for another time. The other work on the disk is a 1926 recording of the Enigma Variations with Elgar conducting the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra and is much less satisfactory. Apart from poor sound quality, Elgar's tempos are extremely erratic, most notably in Nimrod where they are all over the place. The composer's intentions or an elderly gentleman leading a less than top rate orchestra ? Whichever is the case, for my own tastes I am glad of a BBC cover disk repertoire duplication in this instance which gives me a presentable modern alternative.

Dmitri Bids Farewell

As well as Mozart, 2006 was also a Shostakovich anniversary year ( his centenary ) and BBC Music magazine celbrated that too with a cover disk of his music. The BBC Philharmonic conducted by Vassily Sinaisky are featured in the piano Concerto No 2 ( soloist Martin Roscoe ) Symphony No 15 and Suite from The Gadfly. The BBC Philharmonic have been in better shape than the BBC Symphony for a few years now and this is a recommendable disk by any standards. The second piano concerto is described by Shostakovich himself as having "no artistic value" having been dashed off to cater for the limited pianistic talents of his son Maxim. He is being disengenous as was often the case, for while it isn't a profound work it has a bright and breezy style iin his more cartoonish mood. Stark contrast is provided by Symphony No 15, his last and a work summing up the wisdom of a lifetime and reflecting on his own impending death. The work is full of quotations from other composers, most obviously Rossini's William Tell, and Shostakovich remarked that he "didn't really know" why he used them. There are also Wagnerian quotes from the Ring and from Tristan and possible references to Glinka and some of his own earlier works. There are many funereal touches but the resigned ending isn't as bleak as that of the 14th symphony. In fact the 15th begins and ends with a chime, like a Russian church ritual, completing the cycle of life maybe. As a further contrast on this disk, the concluding Gadfly suite is Shostakovich in his light music mode, including the famous melody of the violin solo in the romance section. Overall, one of the more collectable of the cover disks.

Celebrating With A Requiem

My perusal of BBC Music mag cover disks has now reached the beginning of 2006, which was a big anniversary year for Mozart. The music magazine marked that with this disk of the Requiem and Symphony No 36 ( Linz ) performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Jiri Belohlavek in the Requiem and Walter Weller in the Symphony. Soloists for the Requiem are Kate Royal soprano, Karen Cargill mezzo, Robert Murray tenor and Matthew Rose bass. The Requiem is given in the Sussmayr completion, the myth and stories surrounding the composition surely needing no repetition here. This is the only version of the Requiem that I have, maybe due to a possibly superstitious reluctance to listen to such subject matter as a means of enjoyment ( alhtough of course there is much more in the repertoire that I do have which is tragic in nature ). This is a live concert recording and the balance suffers a little, while the soloists may not be of the very first rank. A serviceable performance though. The Symphony is similarly the only complete version that I have but isn't sufficiently exciting to deter me from eventually purchasing a more competitive account. This is a routine run through without any guiding vision about how the work should sound.

King Of The Harp

A solo recital on baroque harps may not appear to be that enticing a prospect on first thought but this is a most rewarding disk by Andrew lawrence-King. Titled The Harp Of Ludovico : Fantasias, Arias and Toccatas by Frescobaldi and his Predecessors, there is also music by Mudarra, De Milan, De Macque, Michi Dell'Arpa and Monteverdi. The Ludovico in question was the notable baroque harpist I believe. The harp possibly made its' way to Italy from Spain via Naples which was under Spanish rule for a long period. The music here is designed to be semi improvised, in both a melodic and rhythmic sense and Lawrence-King is harpist of choice in this kind of repertoire. Listening to this disk could be treated as a kind of superior chill out music to relax to but following Lawrence-King's own informative notes and paying closer attention is also a rewarding experience. It is an instrument capable of conjuring up all kinds of musical effects in the same way as any major keyboard instrument. The pieces are all in early baroque style and while they could be transcribed for larger forces, the solo harp is more than adequate.

Who Knows Where The Time Goes ?

For many the story of the English band Fairport Convention is incredibly familiar. Others may not have even heard of them. I belong in the former category and so am not sure how much to regurgitate here when considering this double cd retrospective Fairport Convention : Meet On The Ledge : The Classic Years 1967 - 1975. Starting out as a very young kind of English Jefferson Airplane, later picking up some discernible influences from The Band and then finally coming into their own by more or less inventing the English genre of folk rock, their forty year history has soap opera elements of triumph, tragedy and numerous comings and goings. Although keeping going in some form or another for those forty years, particularly as a live act, these early years are the basis for the band's legendary status. Indeed, stretching it out to 1975 might be a few years too long for some opinion. Musicians such as Richard Thompson and Ashley Hutchings still get referred to as "ex-Fairport Convention" despite having been in the band for only about four years of distinguished forty year careers in music. Concentrating on this release specifically, while many such as Simon Nicol, Ian Matthews and later Trevor Lucas make telling contributions ( keeping the band going subsequently in the case of Nicol ) it must be said that the creative powerhouses were Thompson, Hutchings and the introductions of first Sandy Denny and then Dave Swarbrick. The classic Liege and Lief album is well represented with five tracks, although the pivotal folk rock track predated it and is also included ( A Sailor's Life ) There are also great original songs that don't fall into the strict folk rock category, notably Meet On The Ledge and Who Knows Where The time Goes. It's fair to say that the band didn't really recover from the departures of Thompson, Hutchings and Denny but this disk does show that there were also worthwhile moments in the Trevor Lucas era and during the all too brief return of Sandy Denny prior to her sad early demise. The impish Swarbrick still dances through these latter tracks too, like the brief but joyful Hexamshire Lass.

A Big Band With A Difference

Jazz Jamaica were founded by bassist Gary Crosby to celebrate his Jamaican roots and perform material gleaned from the heritage of ska and reggae in a jazz style. They gig frequently around the UK as a solid live act but in 2001, Crosby was able to put together a thirty piece big band as the Jazz Jamica All Stars for an appearance at the London Jazz Festival and to record this album, Massive. The expanded forces take the music on to an altogether greater artistic level and the members make a sort of who's who of the eighties and nineties UK jazz scene. The sax section includes such as Denys Baptiste, Andy Sheppard, Jason Yarde and Soweto Kinch, while the trumpet section has amongst its' members Guy Barker and veteran Blue Flame Edward Thornton. Trombones include Dennis Rollins and Annie Whitehead and along with piano, vibes ( Orphy Robinson ) and expanded rhythm section , there is even space for the tuba of Andy Grappy. Juliet Roberts, once of Working Week, sings on three tracks. The arrangements are full of fun and verve and invention and while the driving beat throughout is that of ska, the material given this treatment stretches to compositions by Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. Standout tracks for me are the opeing Ball of Fire, the medley of the thme from the Godfather and Al Capone and the tremendous workout given to that perennial favourite of football crowds, Harry J's The Liquidator which somehow morphs into Desmond Dekker's 007 and even Glenn Miller's In The Mood.

Soul Of The Mahgreb

A beautiful recital called Maroc : L'Ame Dansee ( Morocco : The Dancing Soul ) by master oud player Driss El Maloumi. Am album of only oud and percussion support might sound hard to take but there is soul, variety and wordless story telling of great quality. El Maloumi demonstrates both the Arab and Berber styles of oud playing, the arab style perhaps more familiar and linked to the vanished Andalucian connection but the traditional country folk forms of the Berber style being equally compelling. They both have a prediction for formal suite like developments and music as poetry art forms. The playing here bends notes and uses differing techniques to change the sound in the same way that modern electric pedal effects or old time blues slides would do but while the music is clearly soulful, I'll avoid those blues comparisons. The varied numbers are concerned with topics such as meditation, the passage of the moon, memories, childhood, history and rhythmic patterns that percussionist Lahoucine Baquir elucidates expertly. Musique du Monde without any hype or compromise.

Look Beyond The Posturing

Strangely, I don't own any classical recordings featuring violinist Nigel Kennedy, although there is an interesting recent disk of Polish concertos that I may investigate. The only album I have thus far is this one, Nigel Kennedy and the Kroke Band, East Meets East. Kroke are a Polish band dedicated to exploring the musical folk roots of Eastern Europe. Sometimes mistakenly labelled as simply a klezmer band, there are distinct Jewish influences but the scope ranges wider. They provide occasional vocals, viola, flute, percussion, accordion and double bass but the driving force in a solo sense is the electric violin of Kennedy. The fourteen tracks on the disk are linked by a recurring theme that goes through several mutations, not quite in the way of a jazz improvisation, more a traditional theme and variations structure. Kennedy's playing sometimes displays heart on sleeve romanticism with aching lyricism and stacks of vibrato, while at other times he reaches for the effects pedals and launches into Hendrix style fireworks that sound authentic enough to hit the spot with an old hippy like me. This album was toured and I recall seeing a fine live performance broadcast from Womad but Kroke are now back to pursuing their own career and Kennedy will doubtless surprise again after his Polish concertos project. A character that it is easy to dismiss because of his posturings re. clothes and accents, he remains a formidable musician.

Neo-Classical Dance

Austerely titled Igor Stravinsky Orchestral Works and with a suitably austere black and white industrial cover photo, this ECM release is by the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester conducted by Dennis Russell Davies. The works featured are Monumentum pro Gesualdo di Venosa, Danses Concertantes, Concerto in D and Apollon Musagete. These are mid period to late works by Stravinsky, perhaps neo-classical, certainly sidestepping any direct involvement with modernism while remaining firmly entrenched in the 20th century. The brief Gesualdo piece takes three madrigals and recomposes them for instruments. The Danses are written for chamber orchestra and retain the spirit of St Petersburg ballet music. The Concerto was also choreographed as a ballet performance. Dedicated to the Swiss mover and shaker Paul Sacher, it resembles a baroque or early classical symphony with a 20th century twist. Apollon Musagete was a full blown ballet piece and as such is clearly programmatic. The linking thread of the disk is dance and homage to classicism in all its forms and reminds that there is more to Stravinsky than the most famous and frequently performed works.

Taking The Piano East

An intriguing recital by the piano duo of Anthony Goldstone and Caroline Clemmow on an album called Orientale. Described as eight pieces for piano duo inspired by the east, the works range from transcriptions of established orchestral and chamber pieces, to originals to works written specifically for this duo. Some pieces are more obviously and authentically oriental, others have that 19th century exotic idea of the east rather than the reality and a couple don't seem to these ears to sound very eastern at all. But the disk holds together as a very interesting and involving whole. In the exotica camp are pieces by Saint-Saens ( Caprice Arabe ) Borodin ( In The Steppes of Central Asia ) and Gliere ( Orientale ). There are two reminders that the Jewish heritage is an eastern one with Yiddish Dances by Adam Gorb and an arrangement of Hebrew Melody by Joseph Achron. Gorb wrote his work for the duo as did John Mayer, whose Sangit Alamkara Suite has Indian overtones. The pieces by Colin McPhee head still further east with Balinese Ceremonial Music. My favourite works though are the arrangements for two pianos by Nora Day of Beni Mora by Holst. Realised from fragments Holst heard while on a cycling trip in Algeria, these are mysterious and moving pieces that form a central point of peace in the recital. The piano is a quintessentially western instrument but it transfers well to the east on this disk.

Sometimes It's Just The Music

Sometimes a disk is so straightforward in the quality of the music making both in terms or repertoire and performance that little needs to be said. I'll try to find a few things to say about this one however, which is of Bach Keyboard Concertos Nos 3, 5, 6 and 7. Murray Perahia conducts the Academy of St Martin in the Fields from the piano and the performances make any discussions about whether Bach should be played on a modern piano largely redundant. Other approaches have their own attractions and merit but this is simply great music making. The keyboard concertos come out of the same stable in Bach's voluminous output as the Brandenburg Concertos and they have a grace and free flowing inevitability about their composition that is deceptively simple. Many familiar melodies follow each other and it really is music that can be appreciated on a number of levels. Thaty is provides quality uplifting background listening as well as repaying close attention isn't necessarily a bad thing. There is certainly a place for simple sheer enjoyment. A disk to use to convert unbelievers.

Nature Boy

This is a fine representative disk of the music of Toru Takemitsu to compliment the other one I have. Titled I Hear The Water Dreaming, that is one of the featured works together with both parts of Toward The Sea and other pieces entitled Air, And Then I Knew 'Twas Wind and an arrangement of a piece by Satie, Le Fils des Etoiles. The performers are the BBC Symphony Orchetra conducted by Andrew Davies with extensive solos parts for Patrick Gallois on flute. Smaller solo contributions come from Goran Sollscher on guitar, Fabrice Pierre on harp and Pierre Henri Xuereb on viola. As the titles of the pieces would indicate, much of the inspiration for the music lies in nature and the weather. Takemitsu demonstrates the Japanese talent for miniaturism and understatement but the writing for flute also follows a direct line from the Debussy of Prelude L'Apres-Midi. The entire impression is one of calm and serenity. Soloist Gallois was inspired by Takemitsu to take up the wooden flute which somehow takes the sound closer to nature as well as evoking the Japanese bamboo flute or shakuhachi. The disk reflects Takemitsu's reverence for the workings and order of nature and for the concept of sound as a living thing.

The Inventor Of A Genre

An album celebrating the early art of film music. Titled Previn Conducts Korngold, it features compositions by Korngold for several movies, namely The Sea Hawk, Captain Blood, The Prince and the Pauper and Elizabeth and Essex. The ensemble being conducted by Andre Previn is the London Symphony Orchestra, film music veterans themselves as an institution. The movies for which these scores were written date from 1935 to 1940 when "talkies" were still pretty much in their infancy and the group of emigre central European composers who inhabited Hollywood ( many on the run from the Nazis ) more or less invented the film music genre. Korngold was maybe the most prominent of them and the late romanticism of much of his writing fitted these swashbucklers and historical epics like a glove. Korngold himself called then operas without singing and there is much that is similar to the tone poem style of Strauss for instance. His music may sound typically Hollywood but only because he invented typical Hollywood. As Previn states, Korngold's music didn't change from that which he was writing back in Vienna, it was just that the lushness of his harmonies and his extraordinary orchestrations lent themselves o motion pictures. Sadly, in his later life I suspect that Korngold would have swapped some of his wordly success for a few more critical kudos.

Fire And Passion Regardless Of Age

The main work on this disk is Symphony No 6 by Vaughan Williams, written at the age of 75 and around the time of the end of WW2and the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is debateable whether those events are portrayed specifically in the symphony but there is a definite bleak landscape being evoked and a fire and anger that would throw off any misconceptions of RVW as a cuddly old gentleman winding down towards the end of his life. The opening of the symphony was used later for a landmark tv series the World At War and other events are linked to parts of the work; certain almost jazzy touches and the use of solo saxophone ( unusual in classical symphonies ) are thought to pay tribute to a dance band killed in a bombing raid that hit the Cafe Royal in London. The work is given a scintillating performance by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink. The disk continues with the much earlier In The Fen Country, a tone poem depicting the Lincolnshire landscape, more typical and pastoral perhaps but none the less beautiful for that. It provides a tranquil filler between the bleakness of the 6th symphony and the setting of On Wenlock Edge from A E Houseman's A Shropshire Lad, with its' poignant WW1 resonances in Is My Team still Ploughing. These songs are sung here by Ian Bostridge who does not display any of the mannerisms that sometimes mar his performances.

Familiarity Must Not Breed Contempt

The current edition of BBC Music magazine has arrived and the cover disk is of a single work, Beethoven's 9th Symphony ( Choral ) played by the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales conducted by Francois-Xavier Roth. A concert recording, it would have made a fine evening in the hall but for a library recording of such an important work, it lacks that edge of authority. Not much more to add to what I posted back when I considered the commercial recording of the work that I have by the Berlin Phil, the work is so frequently readily available to hear in may forms but familiarity shouldn't dull the scale of the achievement. The soloists singing in the fourth movement here are Susan Gritton soprano, Wendy Dawn Thompson alto, Timothy Robinson tenor and Matthew Rose bass and their eprformances certainly pass muster.

Knowing His Market

I'm not being sniffy about this run of warhorses from BBC Music mag back in 2005. I realise that the magazine will have a rolling readership and many newcomers will have been happy to have recordings of these works. I was just surprised at the time to see so many in close proximity to one another. The warhorse in question here certainly is an old warhorse, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto played by Tasmin Little with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Stefan Solyom. The disk begins with a much less frequently performed Mendelssohn piece, Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage played by the Ulster Orchestra under Nicholas Braithwaite. A much more benign sea in this overture length work that could be seen as a counterpoint to the Hebrides Overture. The disk concludes with Symphony No 1 ( Grand Symphony ) by Carl Czerny in a performance by the Ulster Orchestra conducted on this occasion by Jurjen Hempel. Czerny's symphony is classical in style and being written as late as the 1840s, it was by then something of an anachronism. Well worth hearing however and if Czerny's reputation now is a minor one, he would have been unconcerned since at the time he was one of the wealthiest of all 19th century composers because of his ability to craft music of passion and brilliance without over taxing the technique and interpretative skills of potential middle class players in the burgeoning music societies of the time.

Grim But Not Grimm

From the BBC Music mag part of the shelf and they are still in warhorse mode. This time out it is excerpts from Smetana's Ma Vlast including of course Vltava. Won't add to what I have posted about the commercial recording that I have of this but the performers here are the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britan conducted by Sir Roger Norrington, so no vibrato ! The young orchestra plays excellently though. Also on the disk is more Czech music with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra playing two Dvorak tone poems, The Wood Dove ( conductor Ilan Volkov ) and The Noon Day Witch ( under Alexander Titov ). These are settings of pretty gruesome tales by Erben, a kind of Czech equivalent to the brothers Grimm. Apparently, Dvorak originally set the words but then took them away to leave the bones of the melodies from which the tone poems are fashioned. Late Dvorak, these pieces are impressively scored.

Maybe The First Opera, Albeit A Sacred One

It's been a while since anything came off the shelf by Christina Pluhar's wonderful ensemble L'Arpeggiata. This one is a double cd release of Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo by Emilio De'Cavalieri, often cited as the first printed opera despite its' clerical origins. Cavalieri's father was an architect and lifelong friend of Michelangelo and to call Cavalieri himself a renaiissance man in the modern meaning of the term is no exaggeration, since his talents took in politician, city councillor, diplomat, senator, impresario, choreographer, art collector and organ builder as well as composer. Rappresentatione is a curious piece, commissioned by the papacy as a blast in the counter reformation. It is a dialogue between the soul and the body and the conflict inherent between those two contrasting driving forces in every human. With the soul needing to win out over gross bodily appetites of course. The libretto by Agostino Manni transcends these narrow guidelines and produces a masterly synthesis between tradition and new rhetorical fashions. Very much a sacred opera, the work is much more lively and full of dramatic baroque flourishes than the origin of it might lead one to expect. As ever, L'Arpeggiata are in excellent instumental form giving a timeless rather than strictly historically informed feel to the sound. The vocal forces are much enlarged from on other recordings, with a "chorus of angels" playing a prominent part and the various abstract characters such as time, body, death, intellect played by Marco Beasley, Johannette Zomer, Jan van Elsacker, Stephan MacLeod, Dominique Visse, Nuria Rial and Beatrice Mayo Felip.

Evoking A Time And A Place

This is a rather splendid album, one of those that is much better on this revisit than I remember it being when I last took it from the shelf some time ago. It is by English guitarist Martin Simpson and is called Righteousness and Humidity. Simpson has a varied career, flitting from English traditional folk to his own singer-songwriter style, to collaborations with African and Arab musicians and back to the blues. This album was recorded in Louisiana and is in the main from the bluesier side of his repertoire, while retaining an idividual edge and steering away from cliche. The flavour of the state in which it was recorded permeates the entire disk, not just New Orleans ( the track Easy Money is a reworking of Didn't He Ramble ) or Mississippi delta blues ( Rollin' and Tumblin' gets an outing ) There are other old American tunes like John Hardy and the Coo Coo Bird ( more commonly called the Cuckoo ) and some very evocative instrumentals with fine banjo and mandolin picking as well as virtuoso guitar. Simpson's originals for the disk tap into the common theme of crime, punishment, religion and loss. even the couple of tracks recorded back at his home in Robin Hood's Bay on the north Yorkshire coast have that deep south feel and it was a neat touch not to edit out the natural intervention of a spectacular New Orleans thunderstorm, even if post Katrina ( this album pre-dates the disaster ) it sounds more melacholy.

A Movie Waiting To Be Made

This is the other album that I have by English jazz trumpeter Guy Barker and whereas the earlier one was a fairly disposable impulse buy, this one stands up well as worthwhile ane enjoyable project. Titled Soundtrack, the conceit of the piece is that it is an imaginary score for an as yet unmade film noir. One track, Underdogs, was inspired by a thriller novel that Barker admired and it is a hard driving propulsive piece that grabs hold powerfully. The disk is split into two parts, the first part also containing such as the standard Nature Boy and the beginnings of Barker's take on Mozart ( expanded on a more recent project ) including an interpretation of the Queen of the Night aria. The second half of the album features the imagined soundtrack proper, with recurring motifs and segments called things like "the guy", "the girl", "the chase", "the bad guy" etc. It is more of a abnd work than the orchestrated disk I've already posted about, Barker has recruited a line up including alto and tenor sax, trombone, piano and Hammond organ as well as rhythm section. Some fine playing from all concerned, although with the exception of Denys Baptiste on tenor the names are new to me. But then I don't claim to be fully up to speed with everyone on the British contemporary jazz scene.

What Goes Up.....

Nothing to do with RVW, The Lark Descending by Chris Woods is obviously deliberately titled and it is a powerful collection of songs both traditional and original that give a picture of life in England today( as distinctly opposed to Britain ). In every sense a solo album, all vocals and instrumentation are by Chris Woods, proficient on both guitar and especially fiddle. There are three traditional songs including the dangerously over exposed John Barleycorn, which just about survives yet another outing, the seafaring Our Captain Calls All Hands and Lord Bateman, that rarity, an English folk song with a happy ending. The originals are mainly Woods compositions, although their are two by sometime collaborator Hugh Lupton, including the folk award winning One In a Million ( curiously another happy ending song ) Not everything on the album is as upbeat however. Albion is a dark piece which starts with finding a young male suicide hanging from a tree in a local park. And the other Lupton song, Bleary Winter, mourns the loss of rural identity in England following the enclosure movement. But other places on the disk contain affectionate tributes to his children and the disk ends affirmatively with Walk This World, about continuing and adding to the heritage of music from one's own locality.

Further On Up The Road

This second disk by Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, titled Silk Road Journeys : Beyond The Horizon, isn't quite so wide ranging as the first disk which took in China, the middle east and even a detour north to Finland. To my ears, this disk tends to concentrate on the central Asia / Persian strand of the connections along the route, despite a couple of specially composed pieces by Zhao Jiping and Zhao Lin. It is also a disk that features heavier participation from Yo-Yo Ma himself. Very fine music, definitely in the folk/ ethnic/ world music sohere mare than the classical but art music for all that. The disk is split into three distinct suites, Enchantment, Origins and New Beginnings. As well as the violins, violas, cellos and bass, the musical instruments used are becoming ever more familiar and less exotic as interest in such music grows. Santur, duduk, tabla, ney and kamancheh are all instruments whose distinctive sounds can be heard more and more frequently on western airwaves. Throw in piano, harp, pipa, shakuhachi and more percussion than you can shake a stick at and you get the idea of how this record sounds. There is also the occasional declaimed vocal contribution. An authentic sounding and collaborative achievement.

More To Spain Than The Obvious

It's easy to think of the Spanish composer Rodrigo as a one hit wonder with Concierto de Aranjuez but he wrote a prolific variety of orchestral pieces, concertos and instrumental music for guitar, violin, piano and cello. This disk highlights som of the piano music in a recital by Artur Pizarro. Rodrigo was a virtuoso pinanist himself whose recitals included both his own music and representative selections of Spanish music from the 16th century onwards. The music played here ranges from nostalgic miniatures, tributes to the music of Spain's Golden Age and the composer's native Valencia, to more extended pieces that deploy subtle 20th century harmonies and textures. The jazzy tinge of some of these makes it all the more surprising to hear of the antagonism that Rodrigo reportedly felt for the Davis / Evans interpretation of the Concierto. Pizarro is a fine advocate for the budget Naxos label to have found and my particular favourites are the Cinco Piezas del Siglo XVI ( five 16th century pieces ). There aren't many obvious flamenco tinged Spanish cliches in the music which serves to point out that there is much more to Spanish art music than the few warhorses.

Another Individual Baltic Voice

By one of those occasional coincidences that the spacings on the shelf have thrown up, I find that Sibelius is followed by another Finnish composer with this disk by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vanska of more music by Rautavaara. Somewhat controversially perhaps, I enjoyed the Rautavaara slightly more than the Sibelius this time around, not to say that I didn't enjoy the Sibelius but I was listening to that in slightly less relaxed circumstances. The Rautavaara works featured here are Symphony No 8 ( The Journey ) and Violin Concerto with soloist Jaako Kuusisto. The violin concerto is ostensibly in two movements but the first could be said to include a classical first movement and slow movement combined, while the second movement could be seen to include a scherzo and finale. The solo violin seems to move constantly forward encountering different and contrasting situations in what is becoming a familiar concept in moder violin concertos of which this is an early example, dating as it does from the mid seventies. Kuusisto gives a soulful performance in a work that by the composer's own admission borrows from the Balkans and the cityscape of New York as much as it does from the frozen north. The 8th symphony was written on the cusp of the new millenium and to some extent surveys the dying century on a journey through its many aspects. Motifs proliferate and there is a conscious desire to incorporate melody. Unlike many of Rautavaara's large orchestral pieces, it ends with an affirming fortissimo rather than fading away.

Not As Wintry As The Cover Art

Sir Colin Davis is acknowledged as a bit of a Sibelius specialist and although the repertoire has been reclaimed by Baltic conductors and record labels in recent years, the Colin Davis cycles are still much respected. This disk has him conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in Symphony No 1 and Symphony No 4. Sibelius composed them a decade apart and that is noticeable from the music. The first symphony is still under the influence of the 19th century, especially to the Russian school and with typical youthful touches of exuberance and self indulgence. The fourth is clearly looking forward rather than back but interestingly, forward to paths that other composers were to tread rather than those Sibelius himself was to go on to cultivate. It was seen as a protest against the overt emotional displays and giganiticism of Strauss, Mahler and Scriabin. Saddled with that tem "enigmatic" it is nevertheless a much respected work, notably among other composers. As an aside, this cycle by Colin Davis is packaged with photographs of bleak wintry landscapes, the sort of Sibelian cliche that isn't really borne out in the musical evidence.

Monumentalism Fully Justified

Schoenberg's Gurrelieder is a sumptuous score and it receives a fine performance on this double cd from Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker. Written for enormous forces, as well as the large orchestra there is the participation of the Rundfunkchor Berlin under Simon Halsey, the MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig under Howard Arman and the Ernst Senff Chor Berlin under Sigurd Brauns. There is also an impressively starry cast of soloists with soprano Karita Mattila, mezzo Anne Sofie von Otter, tenors Thomas Moser and Philip Langridge and bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff. Along with Verklarte Nacht, Gurrelieder is an early work of a precocious talent ( even if it was eventually 13 years in the completion ) and these two works on contrasting scale are somehow looked upon as the acceptable face of Schoenberg before serialism really took hold. Whatever your views on his subsequent direction, Gurrelieder is a towering achievement and a summing up of late romanticism. The settings are of texts by Jens Peter Jacobsen and tell the story of a king, his love for one other than his wife, the murder of said love, the cursing against God by the king and the consquent ghostly afterlife inflicted on the king and his subjects. Despite that, it finishes on an upbeat rejoicing for life and sunlight. The size of the forces required mean that it is infrequently staged and this rehearing was the first time I have taken it off the shelf for sometime. I was taken this time by a certain Wagnerian feel to the orchestrations, use of lietmotifs etc but without the bellowing singing and inordinate length. Arguably the sort of repertoire that suits Rattle best, this is a fine representation of the work.

Reclaiming A Requiem

Among the several settings of the Requiem mass, this one by Francois-Joseph Gossec is not the most well known or celebrated but it certainly has great quality. Born and working in France at a time of major upheaval, Gossec was a contemporary of Haydn. He composed symphonic and chamber music and much for the theatre, especially chronicling the revolution. The Requiem predated the revolution and was played more frequently before than after that event, although it wasn't banned as such and still had outings. It is known that Mozart met Gossec and there are parallels between this setting and Mozart's own, they certainly occupy the same sound world. The performance here is by Musica Polyphonica directed by Louis Devos with the Maastricht Conservatory Chamber Choir and soloists Bernadette Degelin and Greta de Reyghere sopranos, Howard Crook tenor and Kurt Widmer bass. As well as Mozart, other admirers of the piece included Berlioz and Devos here uses a rediscovered definitive version which helps place it back among the foremost ranks of classical Requiem settings.

Brazilian Baroque ?

Another of the disks that EMI promote as Gret Recordings of the Century, this features Heitor Villa-Lobos conducting the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Francais in a selection from his own Bachianas Brasileiras ( Nos 1, 2, 5 and 9 ) with the participation of soprano Victoria de los Angeles. Recorded in the late fifties, the sound is a little dated but not enough for it to be an issue. Villa-Lobos was dedicated to promoting the music of his native Brazil, including all strains such as the colonial, urban and native. The Bachianas Brasileiras suites attempt to fuse the soul of Brazil with the spirit of Bach. They don't take existing Bachian themes and superimpose Brazilian flavours but rather apply contrapuntal treatments to folk rhythms and melodic outlines. The various suites have different insrumental makeups. No 1 is for eight cellos, No 5 adds a soprano to this mix ( including a vocalise section with de los Angeles still being considered among the very best interpretations ) and setting a poem concerning twilight and exotic birds which is mirrored in the music. No 9 is dedicated to Aaron Copland and is arranged for string orchestra, and No 2 contains a prominent part for tenor saxophone, hints of Africa and voodoo and the famous depiction of the little country steam train ploughing up a steep gradient. This selection serves very well, the complete suites might outstay their welcome if listened to at one sitting.

Retreading The Familiar

I mentioned that during the period I've now reached in my traversal of the shelf the BBC Music mag cover disks were going through a warhorse phase and this is illustrated here with a disk of music by Tchaikovsky including the Piano Concerto No 1. The performers are the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Alexander Titov with soloist Alexander Melnikov. Perfectly serviceable but lacking the force of nature of the version I have by Martha Argerich. The disk is filled out by the Ulster Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Altschuler playing Suite No 3 in G Op 55. This is a later work, not at all programmatic but an exercise in musical form. Not as dry as that may sound, it still has typical Tchaikovsky angst and passion beneath the surface. The closing theme and variations gives both composer and orchestra a thorough workout.

Yay, No Singing !

This BBC Music mag cover disk titled Wagner Orchestral Music From The Operas duplicates much of the music on the one commercial recording of Wagner that I have, so I won't spend too much time discussing it. I've stated that I fall into the heretical camp that thinks Wagner is ok as long as it is much shorter and played without the singing and the politics. Music included here is from Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal, Rienzi and Lohengrin and the performances by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Sir Edward Downes are very presentable. But I still have trouble getting past the elephant in the room !

Ravishing Late Romanticism

A ravishing recording of Zemlinsky's Lyrical Symphony with the Orchestre de Paris conducted by Christoph Eschenbach with top of the range soloists, Christine Schafer soprano and Matthias Goerne baritone. It is also an SACD recording which seems to give enhanced sound quality even on my non suround sound equipment. This is a work that benefits from all those luxuries too. it shares obvious links with Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde and Schoenberg's Gurrelieder in that it is an ambitious sweeping work full of romanticism and merging symphony and song. The seven songs set here are linked through leitmotifs and variations. The texts form a dramatic narrative and use translations of the writings of Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, dialogues between a prince and girl who are in love but slowly drifting apart because of aesthetic differences. This recording won many plaudits and it is a little disappointing to see that it hasn't been followed up by a revival in interest in staging the work as a concert item.

Seafaring Tradition

Waterson:Carthy comprise the family grouping of husband and wife Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy together with daughter Eliza, plus Tim Van Eyken. The vocal spotlight is shared fairly equally among all four while the instrumental colourings come from The guitar and banjo of Martin, violin of Eliza and melodeons of Tim Van Eyken ( not to forget Norma's triangle ! ) This album is called Fishes and Fine Yellow Sand and is a collection of traditional English folk songs with a nautical theme, an area of rich pickings. One exception is a version of a song written by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, Black Muddy River. The two songs sung by Tim Van Eyken are Twenty One Years On Dartmoor and Napoleon's Death, the latter of particular interest since it highlights the ambivalent feelings of the English working class towards Boney, where their patriotism eventually overcame their admiration for a guy giving a kicking to the aristos. The disk also includes a number of instrumental dance numbers but there is one track that stands head and shoulders above the general enjoyable level and that is Captain Kidd. Sung by Eliza and with fiery fiddle playing that Fairport era Swarbrick would have been proud of, this is the epic tale of the pirate captain that builds and builds to an unrepentant climax on the gallows.

Mainstream British Fare

Another jazz album that was bought on an impulse when it appeared listed in a catalogue with only a small jazz section. Not an essential purchase by any means but solid mainstream British stuff on the whole. The album is by trumpeter Guy Barker and titled What Love Is ( as in the standard You Don't know What Love Is, sadly graced with a vocal by Sting on this occasion ) A bit alarming to have a recording featuring Sting I must admit but it is just the one track and easily overlooked. Guy Barker specialises in concept albums, the thought here being an attempt to recreate the partnership of Miles Davis and Gil Evans with Colin Towns providing the orchestral arrangements played by the London metropolitan Orchestra. Barker also used a core combo of piano, sax, bass and drums but he takes most of the solo duties himself on trumpet. The material includes standards like Mona Lisa and items by such as Ellington / Strayhorn and Sammy Cahn, as well as edgier stuff from Monk and Coleman and a smattering of originals. nothing ground breakingly outstanding but enjoyable listening if in a certain mood and if setting the player to bypass Sting.

Chamber Folk ?

Those who love to label have come up with the tag of "chamber folk" for the recent style of June Tabor. It's not a completely inappropriate label as labels go and this album, At The Wood's Heart, could be said to fit it. A mature collection of songs, virtually all slow tempo, including a good selection of traditional numbers but also ranging over such as the McGarrigles sisters' Heart Like a Wheel, Duke Ellington's Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me and the wonderful recent Bill Caddick song The Cloud Factory. This latter is perhaps the keynote track, looking back on the life of one's parents, some might say sentimental but I think you would have to be pretty cynical not to be moved. Ultimately a celebration of life, despite its' hardships. The other much played song is the Banks Of The Sweet Primroses, a traditional song with an instrumental coda of what is now known as the tune to the hymn setting of John Bunyan To Be a Pilgrim but which is in fact an old English tune called Monk's Gate. The Broomfield Wager is the other standout traditional folk song featured. The chamber feel to the musical settings is leant by the piano of Huw Warren, bass of Tim Harries viola and violin from Mark Emerson and sax contributions from Mark Lockheart and Iain Bellamy. Folk aristocracy is represented by Martin Simpson on guitar and Andy Cutting on diatonic accordion. June Tabor's vocal style can very occasionally get a little too mannered but these are small lapses in what is a fine recording.

We'll Meet Again On The Avenue

The trawl through the Bob Dylan section of the shelf concludes with Blood On The Tracks. I've made clear my admiration of Dylan but I'm not that much of an obssesive to need any of the more recent output, even though that includes plenty of good stuff alongside much treading of water. I'll keep in touch with the man through his quirky radio show and any follow up to the first volume of his selective biography. Blood On The Tracks was a huge return to form on its' release and is a strong contender for best ever album, certainly in the top five. The voice has darkened slightly, a process that has continued markedly down the years, but it is still recognisably that of the early Dylan. Not so much of a band album as Blonde On Blonde or Highway 61, the Nashville musos employed still do a fine job in providing understated but highly appropriate backing, notably on the bluesy Meet Me In The Morning and providing that incredible onward drive to the epic tale of Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts. Why nobody has made a movie from this narrative is beyond me, the song is so visual. It is the standout track on the disc, closely followed by Tangled Up In Blue and Shelter from The Storm. Idiot Wind is another major example of Dylan during this period and even what may seem throwaway songs like You're Gonna Make Me Lonseome When You Go and Buckets Of Rain have fresh and vibrant country and blues feels respectively. Thanks for the body of work Bob.

From Opposite Ends Of The Century

Two 20th century violin concertos given fine committed performances by soloist Anthony Marwood who also directs the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Kurt Weill's Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra is a mid century piece while the Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra, Distant Light, by Latvian Peteris Vasks is from the very end of the century. The Weill concerto has certain influences of neo classicism, from both his teacher Busoni and also Stravinsky. It is in the form of the soloist struggling against the orchestra and the sparse scoring for winds adds to this feel. It may come as a surprise for those who think only of Weil's collaborations with Brecht. Distant Light was written for Gidon Kremer and is in a single span with the various elements of the string orchestra playing in teams that appear and disappear as one behind the main soloist. Geographically situated between the Estonia of Part and Lutoslawski's Poland, there is also a halfway house between these styles in the music but that would be to deny Vasks his own voice which is considerable, based as it is in a spiritual context with the aim of sheer beauty of sound. Marwood is developing into a player to be reckoned with too.