Live "Lied"

This month's BBC Music magazine cover disk is another that duplicates repertoire I already have and so limits what I can post about it. It features Mahler's Das Lied Von Der Erde and is a live recording from a Prom concert of 2008 given by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under new principle conductor Donald Runnicles with soloists mezzo Karen Cargill and tenor Johan Botha. The performance has rather a ragged and uncertain start with problems of tempo but gains in confidence and authority as it goes on. Whether Das Lied is a symphony in al but name or an orchestral song cycle is of secondary importance since it remains one of Mahler's great achievements and is to be considered at least the equal of his other output.

One Of The Major Piano Concertos

Brahms is the featured composer for this month's BBC Music magazine free cover cd. The main work is the Piano Concerto No 1 performed by Nelson Goerner with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christoph Konig. The makeweight is a performance by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Richard Hickox of the Academic Festival Overture. The overture is a genre that I find dificult to take seriously as great art, while recognising the fun and brio of many operatic ones. Despite the analysis of the sleeve notes, I can't see the Academic as more than a potboiler. Maybe I am out of sympathy with the source material of student drinking songs ! The piano concerto on the other hand is a fine work, full of subtexts surrounding the relationship with the Schumanns and reminiscent of the first symphony in the agonies that the composition caused Brahms and the length of time he took to complete it. A huge first movement, a moving slow movement and an energetic and ultimately triumphant finale are all given a fine reading by Goerner. at 40, he is adding maturity and experience to youthful promise and technical expertise.

Who Knows Where The Time Goes ?

This will only be a short post since the BBC music magazine cover disk for this month is a performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No 11, a work I have already blogged about. It is played here by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by new principle conductor Kirill Karabits. Perhaps the most noteworthy comparison to make with the commercial recording of the work I have by the LSO under Rostropovich is in the timings; Karabits completes the journey in a sprightly 60 minutes compared to the stately 72 minutes of Rostropovich. This reading doesn't feel in any way rushed though and is a respectable enough performance conveying the universality of the theme and not just the focus on the year 1905.

Surpassing My Expectations

The current edition of BBC Music magazine is their dedicated Proms issue but curiously, the cover disk bears no relation to any of the themes or performers at this years Proms, nor is it taken from a Proms broadcast though it is a live BBC orchestra performance. It is the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir adrian Boult playing Walton's Symphony No 1 from a 1975 concert, so almost considered vintage these days. Some have suggested that this isn't a particularly recommendable performance of the work but since it is a piece that I didn't previously know, I found the playing to be perfectly acceptable. Walton is not a composer for whom I have had much time, perhaps his biography shows a not particularly attractive character. But I was surprised to be very impressed with the first movement of this symphony in particular. Expressive, emotional, atmospheric with what seemed to me slightly Spanish flavours, it was a most compelling start. The work continues with an edgy presto and a fine slow movement. It was only in the finale that I felt things being written more for effect than from the heart. Walton famously took a long time over the gestation of this work, wanting to make an impact with his first foray into the symphonic world, and he struggled for a suitably triumphant resolution, seeming to me to fall back into ceremonial pomp in parts. All in all though, a fine symphony and memorable first movement that I wil look out for again.

Father Of The Symphony ?

The BBC is really going overboard this year with the anniversary concept. Of the four composers they have targeted, we have now had the BBC music magazine cover disk offerings for Handel and Mendelssohn and this month it is the turn of Haydn with Purcell no doubt due to make an appearance in the autumn. The Haydn disk has four symphonies, numbers 22, 26, 67 and 80. The performers are the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Nicholas Kraemer. These happen to be the only recordings of Haydn symphonies that I have, I suspect that the mere concept of someone having written over a hundred has put me off even attempting to get a perspective on their ouevre. So on that basis I was pleased to have the disk. I have read some criticism of the playing from other sources but to my inexpert ears it sounds perfectly acceptable, veering towards the historically informed end of modern instrument performances. The two earlier symphonies show a Bachian church influence with chorale developments while the sleeve notes eliablyy inform me that the later two symphonies owe something to the world of opera buffa and are edging towards the mature style shown in Paris and London. If I get the opportunity I shall progress to investigating these even later works, I'm pretty sure the upcoming Proms may provide chances for that !

It's Those Anniversaries Again

The BBC is now in full swing with its' "celebrations" of the composers it has deemed to be Composers of the Year based on death / birth anniversaries. This month's BBC Music magazine cover disk plays a part, featuring Mendelssohn. The work is one that I wasn't familiar with and this is the first recording that I have. It is his Symphony No 2, subtitled Lobgesang or Hymn of Praise. It also serves as a further nod towards the late Richard Hickox who is the conductor here of the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales. Soloists are Veronique Gens, soprano, Pamela Helen Stephen, mezzo and the tenor Robert Tear. As can be seen from the presence of chorus and soloists, this is a choral symphony taking the form of a substantial sinfonia as introduction and then an almost oratorio like final two thirds. There are both forward and backward influences apparent. It is clear that Mendelssohn had been influenced by exposure to the oratorio heritage of Handel. But the work also looks forward to the oratorio style that he pioneered himself with Elijah and which lead on to a genre in England pursued by Elgar and even Walton among others. This is not an area of mussic of which I am particularly fond but I found the disk more amenable on second hearing and am glad to have it. I was also struck by the use of leitmotif recurring throughout the work and ponder on who that may have influenced ( though such an influence would never have been admitted ! )

Youthful Take On Core Repertoire

The current monthly cover disk from BBC Music magazine features the young Czech players of the Pavel Haas Quartet, members of the BBC new Generation Artists scheme. They have already released commercial recordings of Czech repertoire which have been very well received and on this disk they play three Beethoven quartets, one each from his early, middle and late periods. The booklet notes make clear that in some ways these distinctions are arbitrary but the PHQ seem comfortable in each of them. These are not performances in aspic, they take some liberties with tempo and dynamics and these might not be "library" choices for the pieces performed ( Op 18 no 4, Op 135 and Op 95 Quartetto Serioso ) But since I already own a complete cycle of the quartets by the Takacs Quartet, I am happy to have these as an addition and look forward to hearing what repertoire they tackle next.