CD and Other Review

Review: Roots (Martin Fröst)

Recording of the Month – May 2016 The title of Swedish clarinettist Martin Fröst’s Sony Classical debut says it all while implying so much more. Growing out of a live music project Fröst was already working on in Stockholm, Roots is an entirely organic listening experience, resembling (not so much contemplating) an ancient, solitary tree but strolling through a fragrant garden where a profusion of different plants brings forth flowers and fruits in eclectic abundance. Apart from Crusell’s famous Introduction and Variations on a Swedish Air and specially commissioned works by Anders Hillborg, the rest of the music here has undergone multiple metamorphoses, whether through transcription, arrangement, variation, improvisation or a new setting. Unfolding chronologically through time and space, the programme seamlessly connects each work by avoiding spaces between tracks; implicit is the invitation to find further connections in a shared heritage of dance and song, sacred ritual and secular entertainment, as well as folk and art music. Roots opens gently with Hildegard of Bingen, Fröst’s solo clarinet gliding between declamation and song before choir and orchestra enter almost surreptitiously; the following presto from a Telemann concerto originally for recorder and flute thus feels like a rude but not unwelcome…

May 2, 2016
features

Darkest before the dawn?

Paul Stanhope explains how the melancholy music of John Dowland became the inspiration for his upbeat new concerto. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

April 26, 2016
CD and Other Review

Review: Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (La Serenissima/Adrian Chandler)

This recording presents an unusual juxtaposition. On the one hand, we have the ubiquitous Four Seasons, but on the other, two world premiere concertos. The Four Seasons recording is certainly excellent, with effervescent performances from soloist and director Adrian Chandler. Also on the disc are two bassoon concerti (La Notte in B Flat and per Maestro de Morzin in G Minor), in both of which soloist Peter Whelan shines. However, most interesting on this disc is the presence of  a couple of first time recordings. These world premieres (Concerto in D, RV221 and Concerto in G, RV311) are for a strange hybrid instrument a bit like a tromba marina (a one-stringed, box-like instrument designed to imitate the sound of a trumpet). The violin in tromba marina, then, is designed to imitate the tromba marina in turn. Complicating matters, however, is the fact that there are a grand total of none in existence. Chandler details the research involved in recreating the violin in tromba marina, the resulting instrument having only three brass strings and a bridge that has a metal attachment to give a trumpet-like rasp. This bright-toned instrument proves… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe…

April 19, 2016