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Presto News - 2nd June 2008Time to re-evaluate Miaskovsky |
 Born in 1881 and living until 1950, Miaskovsky is broadly speaking a contemporary of Prokofiev, yet unlike the latter he remained in Russia throughout his life. During this time he did his best to avoid overt confrontation with the Soviet State and is sometimes referred to as the "father of the Soviet symphony". However, late in his life (particularly after the Zhdanov Decree in 1947) this became impossible and he was singled out, along with Shostakovich, Khachaturian and Prokofiev, as one of the principal offenders in writing music of anti-Soviet and formalist tendencies.  During his lifetime he was also well known - and often performed - outside Russia. His symphonies were regularly played in Europe and America during the 1920s and 30s and in 1935 a CBS radio poll of the top contemporary composers put him in the top ten along with Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky, Sibelius, Ravel, Manuel de Falla and Fritz Kreisler. It is somewhat surprising then that these days he is relatively little known and rarely performed. However I’m very pleased to say that all that is about to change as Warner Classics have just released a box set containing his complete 27 symphonies. After the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the 1980s, Russian conductor Evgeny Svetlanov undertook the formidable project of recording the composer’s complete orchestral music with the orchestra he had led for nearly three decades - the Russian Federation Academic Symphony Orchestra (previously known as the USSR State Symphony Orchestra). The recordings were made in the early 1990s in a partnership between Svetlanov and the UK's Olympia Records, and the first ten volumes were issued to critical acclaim. However, Olympia went out of business soon after that and collectors have been waiting for the remainder since. Last year budget label Alto bought up the rights to the remaining few and have now got up to volume 13 but it is still not yet complete and the first 10 volumes are currently unavailable. This box set then represents a hugely important release. It is the only complete set of the symphonies available and will almost inevitably cause a major re-evaluation of Miaskovsky's work. I’ve listened to several of the symphonies over the past week and been constantly impressed by both the lush romantic language of the early symphonies and the more powerful and generally more anguished later ones. Coming on 16 discs, there is a lot of listening here but we’ve managed to secure a fantastic price and I’m convinced your investment in time would be amply rewarded in enjoyment.
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 Miaskovsky: Complete Symphonies & Orchestral WorksSvetlanov Edition Volume 35USSR State Symphony & Orchestra Symphony Orchestra of the Russian Federation, Evgeny Svetlanov |
Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
New Releases2nd June 2008 |
This is just the pick of the recent releases. The New Releases and Future Releases pages are always available for browsing all the new and forthcoming releases. |
 Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms, Symphony in C, Symphony in 3 movementsBerliner Philharmoniker & Rundfunkchor Berlin, Sir Simon RattleFor some people this is unknown repertoire from a composer best known for his ballet scores. As Sir Simon says: “If you know only Firebird, Petrushka, the Rite of Spring, and nothing more, you have only a little tiny portion of Stravinsky’s output. And so you can get completely staggered by what you come across throughout his life.” Perhaps the best-known of the works on this recording is the Symphony of Psalms, which uses a choir throughout singing Latin-language psalm settings against a background of a slightly unconventional orchestra without clarinets, violins or violas, but with two pianos. |
 Karen Geoghegan - Bassoon ConcertosKaren Geoghegan (bassoon), Orchestra of Opera North, Benjamin WallfischCurrently studying at the Royal Academy of Music with John Orford, nineteen-year-old Karen Geoghegan came to the attention of the British public late last year following her appearance as a finalist on Classical Star, a BBC reality programme. She proved immensely popular with the public and judges alike, and brought much needed attention to the bassoon, which has generally been neglected as a solo instrument. The cellist Matthew Barley who was mentor and presenter of the show says of Karen, ‘with her sound and focus she is already one of the great wind players in the country’. Chandos’ Managing Director, Ralph Couzens, was so impressed by Karen’s performance that he contacted Karen the day following the broadcast, and offered her a contract. |
 Schubert: Piano Quintet "Trout" & Mozart: Piano Quartet in E-flatPinchas Zukerman (violin), Jethro Marks (viola), Amanda Forsyth (cello), Joel Quarrington (double bass), Yefim Bronfman (piano)Two masterpieces of chamber music, Schubert’s Trout Quintet and Mozart’s Piano Quartet in E flat, recorded by three-time Grammy-winning violinist, conductor, and music director Pinchas Zukerman. For this recording he has teamed up with the Zukerman Chamber Players, in distinguished collaboration with guest artists including the Grammy-winning pianist Yefim Bronfman. Schubert’s quintet in A Major, D.667 “The Trout”, was composed in 1819 when Schubert was 22 years old. The piece is known as the Trout because the fourth movement is a set of variations on Schubert's earlier Lied "Die Forelle" (The Trout). |
.jpg) Britten: Owen WingravePeter Colman-Wright (baritone), Robin Leggate (tenor), Elizabeth Connell (soprano), Janice Watson (soprano), Sarah Fox (soprano), Alan Opie (baritone) & James Gilchrist (tenor), City of London Sinfonia & Tiffin Boys Choir, Richard HickoxFollowing the success of his recent performance of the opera at London’s Cadagon Hall, the seasoned Britten performer Richard Hickox has committed the composer’s rarely recorded Owen Wingrave to disc. Commissioned by BBC television in 1966, the work is something of a Cinderella among Britten’s operas, despite its imaginative, closely knit score. One possible reason is that it was composed for television rather than the theatre. Like its 1954 predecessor, The Turn of the Screw, Owen Wingrave is based on a ghost story by Henry James. Britten read the story while he was working on The Turn of the Screw, and even then conceived the idea of setting it as an opera. The music employs the relatively spare textures that Britten adopted in his later years. |
 Lidarti - Violin ConcertosFrancesco D’Orazio (violin), Auser MusiciThe eighteenth-century Italian composer Christian Joseph Lidarti’s three violin concertos are all recorded here for the first time. These charming works constitute an important Italian bridge between the baroque violin literature and the music of the classical period. They are virtuoso works of great technical difficulty, clearly written for the finest players of the day. |
 Nielsen - Complete Piano MusicMartin Roscoe (piano)Nielsen’s piano works are among the most original and characteristic in the repertoire. There is no mistaking his idiosyncratic musical voice, his sense of joy of discovery and invention, and spirit of imagination and adventure. Nielsen’s complete piano music encompasses the full diversity and range of his creative output. Though he never aspired to brilliance as a performer, Nielsen’s piano works are nevertheless marked by his intimate knowledge of the instrument and his awareness of the its creative and expressive capabilities. From the symbolist-inspired music of the 1890s to the highly modernist Three Pieces, these works constantly attest to the richness of his imaginative vision. |
 Bach - Cantatas Volume 39Carolyn Sampson, Robin Blaze, Gerd Türk, Peter Kooij & Dmitry Badiarov (violoncello da spalla), Bach Collegium Japan & Concerto Palatino, Masaaki SuzukiAfter two volumes concentrating on solo cantatas, the full forces of Bach Collegium Japan return in this programme of five cantatas dated 1725. The choir instantly makes its presence felt in the first movement of the opening work, BWV68. All in all, another impressive installment in this highly acclaimed cycle. |
 Kraus - La Primavera |
 Brahms & Joachim - Hungarian DancesHagai Shaham (violin) & Arnon Erez (piano)The forty-year friendship between Brahms and Joseph Joachim, violinist and composer, was one of the most significant and fruitful relationships in nineteenth-century music. Their admiration of each other’s artistry was profound and unwavering, and bore sustained creative fruit on Brahms’s side of which his Violin Concerto and Double Concerto are only the most famous examples. Joachim’s transcriptions of Brahms’s famous Hungarian Dances - originally written for piano duet or solo piano - are technically challenging for any violinist, and superbly idiomatic, constituting a kind of gypsy ‘Art of the Violin’. They represent the summit of Brahms’s ‘Hungarian’ art, and Joachim’s powers of transcription match them with violin writing of the greatest fastidiousness and authentic feeling. The brilliant Hagai Shaham, acclaimed for his recordings of Hubay, is the ideal performer. |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 31st May 2008 |
Building a Library - Messiaen: La Nativité du Seigneur |
 First ChoiceMessiaen - The Organ Works Vol. 1Gillian Weir (Organ of Århus Cathedral, Denmark) |
 Historic ChoiceMessiaen Organ Works (4 discs)Olivier Messiaen (organ) |
 Also RecommendedMessiaen - Organ Works (Complete)Olivier Latry |
Disc of the Week |
 Beethoven - Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 5François-Frédéric Guy (piano), Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Philippe Jordan |
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