Palestrina’s name was synonymous with musical perfection even before his death in 1594, and his reputation as one of the great masters of late-Renaissance, post-Tridentine church polyphony is still as great as it ever was. The Sixteen’s name could equally be said to be synonymous with musical perfection, and the UK choir’s recordings of English, Spanish and Italian Renaissance masterpieces are prized for their combination of passion and precision. This first volume in a projected series dedicated to a selection of Palestrina’s 104 masses and great motet cycle of the biblical Song of Songs takes as its theme the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven. The centrepiece is the Missa Assumpta Est Maria; also included are a selection of shorter works such as the motet on which the mass is based and three of the Song of Songs most closely associated with Marian devotion. The performances are, as one would expect, first-rate, and an antidote to the sometimes bloodless approach to this music by The Tallis Scholars. Palestrina’s music moves swiftly and seamlessly between densely woven yet sharply delineated polyphony and rich homophony; furthermore, each part hovers or trembles, drops in or out, plunges or soars according to the…

An outstanding debut for spirited young guitarist, Zane Banks.

Were it not for those vastly entertaining orchestral works which form the composer’s Roman Triptych, we might know little more about him than we do about his less illustrious contemporaries Malipiero, Casella and Pizetti. Colourful explosions of orchestral brilliance such as The Fountains of Rome are what propelled the composer to public notice.  What is most striking about the pieces on this CD is how unlike those famous works they are, in sound and style. In fact, apart from Rossiniana, which is reasonably well known, the other items on this album don’t sound like Respighi at all; nor do they sound particularly Italian. A good percentage of this music has been rescued by conductor Salvatore Di Vittorio, who is credited with completing some of the orchestrations. How much is down to him is difficult to ascertain from the notes. Clearly, he has reinvigorated works such as the Aria and Violin Concerto, completing the latter’s last movement – which the composer had barely begun. It is quite beautiful and well worth our attention, but don’t go expecting The Pines of Rome with violin obbligato. It is far more subdued and ruminative, and none the worse for that. The orchestral playing is…

Christine Brewer is best known for her towering assumptions of Wagner and Richard Strauss’s most dramatic heroines. This charming new release by Hyperion finds the American soprano in a more intimate mode, however, paying tribute to the art of the recital encore as perfected by some of Brewer’s grandest predecessors – Kirsten Flagstad, Eileen Farrell, Helen Traubel and Eleanor Steber. Inspired by her teacher, who had heard all these ladies in recital and collected their encores, Brewer brings warmth and affection to this varied selection of final flourishes. These songs, with their sentimental lyrics and often predictable musical forms (you’ll see the crescendi coming a mile off), might be an acquired taste for some, but for others they’ll be heartwarmingly familiar, and Brewer’s golden soprano and good humour should be difficult for even hardened cynics to resist. A program like this risks being too much of a good thing – there’s a reason, after all, that these songs were used as encores and not core repertoire – but the innate heft of Brewer’s voice more or less counterbalances the repertoire’s most sugary excesses, and the selection strikes a balance between showpieces and simple ballads. Roger Vignoles enters wonderfully into the…

Circumstances financial and personal forced Herbert Howells to turn from his early career as a well-regarded rival of Vaughan Williams and Holst to dedicate himself almost exclusively to church music. Here he could create without being exposed to the public gaze of the concert hall, which he found unbearable. His early orchestral compositions are splendid but rarely heard; on the other hand his contribution to the Anglican liturgy is one of the most significant in post-WWII Britain. The content of this attractive CD attests to this.  From the 1940s when he was organist at St John’s College Oxford, he began a course of composition for the church in a style that endures to this day. The Winchester Service exemplifies this perfectly, the Magnificat moving quietly to exalted heights; the setting of the Nunc dimittis more darkly hued than usual. Two of his organ works are placed between the choral offerings. I find them less distinguished but they work well within the program. This selection is from the latter part of the composer’s life. It includes settings of Jubilate Deo, Te Deum, and Exultate Deo. The performances are sensitive and robust, in the best English tradition. To hear this quintessentially British…

Ingrid Fliter is an impressive Argentinian pianist who recently toured Australia. Following two acclaimed Chopin discs, her new recital of three of Beethoven’s Sturm und Drang sonatas is also something of a winner. Fliter plays Beethoven with an appropriately Classical demeanour. She limits the dynamic extremes and does not overdo the rubato, but within that spectrum she points detail and gets the balance right. The opening of her Pathétique is slow without being solemn, then bracingly fleet once the Allegro begins. The lovely slow movement is meltingly played. Fliter transforms the stop/start passages of the Tempest sonata’s first movement into episodes of genuine urgency and repose. This is a gripping performance. The Appassionata poses a greater challenge, both emotionally and technically. In spite of her easy flowing pianism, which takes every technical hurdle in its stride, I fear Fliter often settles for a generalised sound here – big and loud, or slow and soft as the case may be –  whereas Paul Lewis, whose Appassionata is one the best recordings in his Beethoven survey, maps the emotional contours of this forward-looking work with unwavering focus, making something unique and specific of every moment.

Despite its rather bizarre Scottish setting, Ariodante is one of Handel’s more convincing opera seria with a plot lifted from Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso. No magic here, no cross-dressing – just a highly effective tale of love, jealousy and betrayal. As a result it has held its own on the stage and there are fine recordings against which to measure this newcomer. Alan Curtis has had a long, perhaps hit-and-miss career championing lesser-known Handel, but in this case I am pleased to announce a palpable hit. Il Complesso Barocco is in excellent form with vigorous but flexible tempi and ravishing orchestral colour. And this recording is blessed with no less than three quite perfect female voices. Heading the list is probably the greatest Handel mezzo of today: Joyce DiDonato in superlative voice, thrilling in attack and responsive to text. Her great Act 2 aria, Scherza infida, is utterly riveting and most moving. The other cast members are not overshadowed in the slightest. Ginevra is given an intense and elegant reading by the remarkable Karina Gauvin, bringing a refreshing depth to her character, while the insinuating Polinesso is sung with great panache by silky-toned contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux. There are excellent performances too…

I’ve always found Richard Strauss’s character a real mystery: a smug, rather banal bourgeois with a narcissistic streak, he wrote sublime music which itself often teeters on the edge of banality. I enjoyed this Heldenleben but, at 47 minutes, the hero, while not exactly an arthritic Colonel Blimp, isn’t a young buck full of rising sap, either. This is surprising, considering Yannick Nézet-Séguin is one of the most athletic conductors around today. The opening lacks the self-confident swagger that Beecham brought to it for EMI (at the age of 80). In the second movement, the “battle” rages effectively enough, although I can never escape the feeling that Mahler depicts his critics far more bitingly in the Rondo burlesque of his Ninth Symphony. Strauss’s wife Pauline, a granite-jawed termagant in real life, comes across relatively sympathetically in the extended (and ravishingly played) violin solo of the third movement. The ending, depicting the hero’s retrospective contemplation, is simply too slow, although the Rotterdam Philharmonic’s horns are glorious. The orchestra, which plays well throughout, also sounds very distant and was recorded at a curiously low level. I’d prefer any of Karajan’s readings, or Fritz Reiner’s legendary RCA one. The… Continue reading Get unlimited…

Argentinean cellist Sol Gabetta was named Gramophone Young Artist of the Year in 2010, but she had turned heads internationally as one to watch even before the release of the Vivaldi Project album in 2007, her first foray into Baroque music played on gut strings. On that recording she opted for the Italian group Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca but for this second instalment she has formed her own Cappella Gabetta. Ensemble playing in the opening Cello Concerto RV423 is crisp and clean bordering on dispassionate, but the Cappella perks up for the taut unison introduction to the G minor RV416, and in the final Allegro Gabetta dashes off rapid virtuosic passages with brio and finesse. She is equally at ease with the gold-spun cantabile lines of the RV420 Andante. The bold Allegro doesn’t have the cracking pace of Han-Na Chang and the London Chamber Orchestra for EMI – as a result Gabetta’s intonation is more precise, her phrasing more subtle and expansive. The Sonata for Cello and Continuo RV42 breaks from the homogenous string orchestra sound for a sombre, more intimate setting, stylish and warm enough to leave me hoping for Gabetta’s Bach Cello Suites on… Continue reading Get…

This live Lucia from the Mariinsky Theatre boasts remarkable music-making from the orchestra, coupled with some impassioned singing from the star principals and the chorus. But it ultimately falls short in musical and dramatic cohesion, perhaps because it was a concert presentation. Dessay’s performance is engaging throughout, yet she only really thrives during her signature mad scene, where she employs a wide palette of vocal colours to convey Lucia’s descent into insanity. Beczala demonstrates outstanding technical control throughout the demanding role of Edgardo, but his phrasing is unimaginative and his performance low on dramatic insight. The dark, rich baritone of Vladislav Sulimsky adds depth to the oft-overlooked role of Enrico and contrasts nicely with the light tonal qualities of Dessay and Beczala. The chorus has some great moments (even if its Italian diction leaves much to be desired) and the orchestra delivers some thrilling climaxes, but more lyrical sensitivity in the Act 1 love duet would have created a more satisfying musical performance overall. The highlight of this recording is Dessay’s mad scene, including the original chilling glass harmonica accompaniment, played by Sascha Reckert.

The first thing I noticed was the spectacular fidelity of the recording and how beautifully the harp arpeggios are captured at the very beginning of Harold in Italy. One unique feature of this recording of Berlioz’s strange concertante work/tone-poem hybrid is the restoration of virtuosic passages in the first movement, expressly composed for the dedicatee, Paganini, and later suppressed by Berlioz (why has it taken so long for someone to restore them?). Carpenter’s tone is sumptuous but the quintessentially elegiac voice of his viola is enlivened with wonderfully mercurial flashes from both the soloist and Ashkenazy with the hyper-alert orchestra. The pilgrims seem a happy band and the Serenade of the Abruzzi mountaineer to his sweetheart is winsomely played by the American violist. The final movement, The Brigands’ Orgy, is particularly dramatic. I don’t think anyone can surpass Charles Munch in his old Boston performance on RCA, but these forces come close. Among modern competitors, I’d put Sir Colin Davis and Tabea Zimmermann (LSO Live) and Lorin Maazel’s New York Philharmonic version with Cynthia Phelps (Deutsche Grammophon) on the same level. The only problem I had with this release was the choice of fill-ups. The Beatrice and Benedict overture is fine…

Grosvenor finds plenty of poetry in the lyricism of Chopin, Liszt and Ravel.