Alice Sara Ott has won several piano competitions and has landed a recording contract with DG. That company has always been generous with up-and-coming pianists, and on the basis of this disc alone Ott should be one of the stayers. Her clarity of articulation and wide dynamic range make her a standout. Ott gives a delightful performance of the C Major Sonata, Op 2 No 3. She is playful and spontaneous in the outer movements, and thoughtful in the Adagio, where she is adept at pointing the passages that hint at the Beethoven to come. The big C Major Sonata Op 53, Waldstein, operates on a larger canvas. At first I thought she was underplaying the drama, but as the work progresses Ott’s individual approach becomes clear. She opts to look inward; her central Adagio molto is a meditation, not the rich outpouring of song we get from Barenboim. Under Ott, the first appearance of the finale’s main theme is as delicate as Debussy’s snowflakes, while the coda dazzles without the try-hard bluster of some other pianists. Altogether it is a refreshing take on a masterpiece, stunningly brought off. She personifies grazioso in the Andante favori, and uses the fiery…

The wind quintet offers such a kaleidoscope of colours and characterisation that it’s surprising only a handful of composers have made significant contributions to the genre. Happily, there are superb arrangements to be had, and for their second album the New Sydney Wind Quintet has chosen some real gems. Ravel’s fairytale suite Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose), originally for piano four hands, is the perfect candidate for arrangement. NSWQ’s accomplished orchestral players understand the composer’s rich palette: they are agile and enchanting in the Empress of the Pagodas and bassoonist Andrew Barnes teases out the humour in Beauty and the Beast. Balanced tone in the languid movements comes at the expense of dynamic and dramatic variation, but the quintet throw themselves impressively into the final trills and fanfare. Of the three Percy Grainger miniatures, Lisbon demonstrates how naturally NSWQ’s soloistic passages bend the ear as they emerge from delicately blended textures. Two works by another Australian composer, Lyle Chan, seize the opportunity for mercurial, mischievous wind writing. Passage is fun for players and listeners alike with its jaunty, jazz-inflected syncopation and swing. His rather docile Calcium Light Night, however, yields an uninspired performance. Carl Nielsen’s quintet is the main event of any disc…

In his notes to this anthology, Russian pianist Yevgeny Sudbin opines that, in a way, the very young are sometimes best fitted to play Chopin, as they can be free from the accretions of conceptions and misconceptions about that composer. As an example, he cites the young Evgeny Kissin – anyone who has heard that prodigy’s sublime recording of the Second Piano Concerto recorded when he was only 12 years old would have to agree. At 31, Sudbin is somewhat older, but he approaches Chopin in what seems a wonderfully youthful and transparent way, removed from “accepted” practice or conceptions. This is a far cry from the delicate Chopin of drawing rooms or Hollywood’s image of the neurotic consumptive genius. Here instead are highly-charged, powerful accounts of some of Chopin’s strongest works, including a spectacular reading of the Ballade No 4 – Chopin with muscle. Sudbin’s pianism is assured and constantly exciting. So is his inventiveness, as shown when he closes this recital with his own paraphrase À la Minute, a witty reinvention of the Minute Waltz as Rachmaninov might have imagined it. The program opens with another major piece, the Fantaisie in F Minor, and the recital, which also comprises…

Haydn’s much-feted sojourn in London in 1791 was the occasion for the writing of his final opera, based on Ovid’s treatment of the Orpheus myth. Alas, operatic politics at the Haymarket meant that the first staging had to wait until 1951 with no less a leading lady than Maria Callas. Since then, revivals have been patchy so we must thank Sydney-based Pinchgut Opera for this live recording. Antony Walker and the excellent Orchestra of the Antipodes give the best reading of the score since Doráti. Dramatic pacing is spot on with sprightly tempi and fine instrumental contributions to Haydn’s ambitious orchestration, while Cantillation offer characterful singing. Elena Xanthoudakis has a light, pretty voice, able to cope with the flashy coloratura in both her roles – the Sybil’s showcase aria rightly brings the house down. It’s a pity that in her lower register she falls short of her recorded rival, Bartoli. Derek Welton offers fine support as her father, Creonte; his vengeance aria is particularly effective. Only the fluttery tenor of Andrew Goodwin lets the side down, struggling with coloratura and lacking power low in the voice. The CD also misses a certain depth, perhaps… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from…

What happens to a BBC Young Musician of the Year winner nine years on? In Jennifer Pike’s case, she signs a contract with Chandos. The youngest-ever winner of the BBC award at 12, Pike has matured into a confident and expressive musician. This program brings together three of the best-known violin sonatas by French composers (more or less; César Franck was Belgian). Throughout, Pike is alert to every nuance of light and shade. In Debussy’s offering she takes a cool, modern approach: exquisitely detailed, but eschewing old-fashioned portamenti in the yearning, falling phrases of the second movement. Her Ravel is technically brilliant, the third movement’s Perpetuum mobile dashed off as though it were the easiest thing in the world. In the bluesy second movement, she does not dig deeply into the strings and sex it up in the manner of the sultry Maria Bachmann (Endeavour Classics/Allegro), but allows the movement to build naturally to a bracing conclusion. Pike is most at home in Franck’s sonata, spinning a poised legato line in the first movement and finding plenty of heart for the climaxes of the Recitativo-Fantasia. In all this she has the huge advantage of Martin Roscoe’s support. He is one…

Long ago, I heard a magnificent Rachmaninov 2 with Tadaaki Otaka, and that predisposed me favourably to this release. By and large, he and the MSO don’t disappoint. I suppose this reading could best be described as “middle-of-the-road Romantic”. The tempo in the first movement is steady, (reminiscent of Klemperer’s magnificent traversal – without his gothic touches) although the Largo, at a few seconds under 12’, is on the flowing rather than fast side. In the Scherzo, he delineates every strand – again, like Klemperer – and highlights the delightful way various instruments mimic each other. In the Finale, the work’s ambivalent ending is emphasised. Recently, in this very publication, Mark Wigglesworth opined that the New World Symphony is essentially Czech (or Bohemian) and was inspired by homesickness as much as the wide open prairies and “big sky” of America. The MSO plays well, and I especially like the forward, fruity woodwind which give the work a “Czech” feel. I have two reservations: Otaka omits the first-movement exposition repeat. This, I feel, is a mistake because it renders the movement too short in relation to the subsequent slow movement. Second, I think he slows down a little too much for…

Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak is the real and dazzling deal. Her choice of repertoire for Gioia! may be on the conventional side, but if she invites comparison with the greats, she well and truly lives up to it, with performances whose technical brilliance is matched by stylish, sensitive artistry. The arias here represent some of the mainstays of Kurzak’s career – Violetta, Lucia, Susanna and so on – and her mastery of them is thrillingly apparent. Flawless coloratura and silvery top notes are underpinned by a timbre of surprising warmth and depth, and by a vivid and versatile vocal presence. She’s remarkably good at teenagers and coquettes, but a full-blooded and ferociously well-sung rendition of Violetta’s Act I aria proves they’re far from the limit of her talents, and as Musetta and Lauretta, she manages Puccini’s lyrical legatos as perfectly as any of the fireworks. Having aced all these repertoire favourites, Kurzak concludes with a rare treat from her native land: an aria from Moniuszko’s The Haunted Manor, sung with radiant beauty. Omer Meir Wellber’s leadership of the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana is strong and dramatically astute, but the laurels here belong overwhelmingly to Kurzak. A sensational début.  

These two young Americans – Zuill Bailey (cello) and Awadagin Pratt (piano) – could have been born to perform these works. There is an absolute commitment in their performances; Bailey in particular stands out as one of the pre-eminent cellists of his generation, whose immaculate technical skills only serve his deep musicianship. The Brahms chamber music is somehow contradictory. On one hand the works embody Romanticism in full flight, yet the essence of Brahms is his rigorous intellectual honesty, even austerity. The two aspects should clash. Here, with these performers, the one illuminates the other. Brahms was a perfectionist and almost had to be forced to make some of his works available for performance. There are examples here, including the famous Sonatensatz, part of a scherzo written solely as a three-movement party diversion for the famous violinist Joachim, who was challenged to name which composer wrote each movement. Only after Brahms had died did Joachim realise the now-famous contribution deserved publication. The two Brahms Sonatas for Cello and Piano are presented here alongside eight short works. The sonatas show another contradictory aspect to Brahms’s oeuvre in that the First is seemingly the more thoughtful, while the Second, an older man’s…

This new Christmas disc from superb Danish choir Ars Nova Copenhagen and its smaller cousin the Theatre of Voices must surely contain some of the most gorgeous choral singing ever committed to disc. Not only that – by taking the traditional English Nine Lessons and Carols format and adapting it for a continental audience by including chant, motets, dialogues and traditional folk carols, Dorset-born conductor Paul Hillier, who has been resident in Denmark for nearly ten years, creates a “Christmas oratorio” of truly universal and indeed secular appeal. Here are classics known to all – including Veni veni Emmanuel, In dulci Jubilo, We Three Kings and We Wish You a Merry Christmas – some in attractive new arrangements by Hillier – together with lesser-known works and dialogues taken from the early 17th-century Italian oratorio repertoire by Biasio Tomasi, Alessandro Grandi and Giovanni Francesco Anerio.  The narrative structure is further strengthened by the works – all from Italian, German, Danish, English and American sources – being grouped together under headings such as Advent, Annunciation, Nativity and Epiphany. Hillier, himself an accomplished singer, formed the Theatre of Voices in 1990 and has been conducting the Grammy Award-winning chamber choir Ars Nova Copenhagen…

It’s hard to believe such an accomplished, distinctive Australian work only had its European premiere last year with Olding, the SSO and Ashkenazy at the Edinburgh Festival – the present disc makes a strong case for its reappraisal abroad. Ross Edwards’ 1986 concerto remains his finest work, composed when his “maninyas” style of dance rhythms, inspired by insect life in the Australian bush, was still fresh and immediately gripping. The Adelaide Symphony imbues the hushed opening strains with subtle warmth while violinist Adele Anthony introduces delicate pizzicato, as gentle and exploratory as a cicada opening its wings for the first time. The orchestra’s crisp syncopations grow lively and buoyant throughout the movement. By contrast, the soloist’s contemplative, extended cadenza is a dazzling display of her interpretive powers: impeccable intonation and finely judged portamenti add a personal touch. The final movement, marked “ecstatic”, basks in Edwards’ unique brand of mysticism in nature as indigenous wooden clapping sticks beat out the pulse of life and Anthony takes darting, fervent passages at a rapid pace. The Sibelius Violin Concerto is the work with which Adelaide-born Anthony won the ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition at the age of 13. It’s a surprisingly effective… Continue reading…

It’s unusual to see an album based on who wrote the lyrics, rather than who composed the music. But Barbra Streisand has a debt to pay: Alan and Marilyn Bergman have furnished the words for some of her most enduring hits: A Child is Born, The Way We Were, all the lyrics for Yentl… Also, the trio have been friends for half a century, and were all born in the same hospital in Brooklyn. So this disc is almost a family affair.  But don’t expect any nostalgia: Barbra has chosen for this album ten Bergman tracks she’s never recorded before. Although not exactly household names, the Bergmans are songwriting royalty, having won every conceivable award for the craft. In 1983 they even had the rare distinction of having three of their songs among the five nominated in the Academy Awards’ Best Song category (How Do You Keep the Music Playing? from Best Friends, It Might Be You from Tootsie and If We Were in Love from Yes, Giorgio). The list of composers they have lured as collaborators on this album alone attests to the calibre of their lyrics: Michel Legrand (Windmills of your Mind), Sergio Mendes (So Many Stars); John Williams (The Same…

Percussionists are a resourceful bunch. Not only must they master an endless battery of instruments (there will always be new objects to hit), they’re often required to build their repertoire from scratch. Here Claire Edwardes sets out to expand the range of short pieces available for marimba by arranging various piano miniatures alongside newly-composed Australian works. It’s a win-win: Aussies get more exposure and percussionists get a whole lot more music to play.  Edwardes has already proven her entrepreneurship. She started out as a pianist, only switching to percussion at university. She won the ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer Award and spent a decade within Europe’s new music scene. Since returning home she’s co-directed the innovative Ensemble Offspring and premiered more than her share of new works.  This CD lays the old and the new side by side, a rewarding strategy that brings freshness and surprise. It’s revealing to hear the snaking counterpoint of JS Bach alongside the bounce of Matthias Schmitt, for instance, or the brittle Russians Shostakovich and Kabalevsky bookending Gerard Brophy’s loose energy. Some composers are especially well served by their percussive transformation; I wouldn’t have imagined Schumann’s rich pianism suiting the marimba but his three children’s pieces sound…