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Presto News - 24th August 2009Bruckner from the Concertgebouw |
 I’ve been reading a very interesting short article this week by Fergus McWilliam, a horn player in the Berlin Philharmonic who has been there for 24 years and has seen the orchestra evolve under three different music directors (Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado and Simon Rattle). He makes an interesting point about performing traditions, and how he thinks it has been essential for his orchestra to have changed and developed over the time that he has been there. He says: “I think any institution that wears its traditions proudly on its chest must necessarily be aware that tradition is a living process. A performing tradition is not to be mummified, like a fly in a piece of amber or an exhibit behind glass in a museum, but instead is something that lives. By definition, it must evolve and adapt.”  Mariss Jansons Now I’ve always been a keen supporter of differing orchestral traditions and the fact that on a lot of older recordings you can really hear differences in the sounds and the playing styles of orchestras around the world. While even today there is still something special about hearing a Russian orchestra playing Tchaikovsky, or a Czech orchestra playing Dvorak, those differences are a lot less profound than they used to be, and on the whole I’d say that this is a bad thing. One thing that seems not to be diminishing though is the way certain orchestras are still closely associated with certain composers, and I can’t think of a closer relationship than that between the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Anton Bruckner. Since its formation in 1888 the Concertgebouw has had only six chief conductors, setting it apart from orchestras of similar age and calibre. The Bruckner tradition really started with Eduard van Beinum whose tenure ran from 1945-59, (although it is possible that Willem Mengelberg conducted some Bruckner during his 50 year tenure before van Beinum). During those years van Beinum conducted over one hundred performances of Bruckner symphonies, and since him both Bernard Haitink (1959-85) and Riccardo Chailly (1988-2004) continued the Bruckner tradition and have also both produced complete recordings of Bruckner’s Symphonies. It is therefore not surprising that the Bruckner performance tradition is continuing under the baton of the orchestra’s current chief conductor Mariss Jansons. Out today on the orchestra’s own label is a new release of Bruckner's Third and Fourth Symphonies, and it is right up there with the very best versions of the past. Jansons seems to have an innate ability to get just the right tempos - where nothing hurries but neither does it drag – so important in Bruckner where the phrases go on for such a long time as passages gradually build and then decline. The balance is superb, the brass sound is rich rather than cutting and the strings sing lustrously throughout. I’ve decided against giving you a sample this week as I don’t think Bruckner works in small fragments, so you’ll have to take my word for it that it comes thoroughly recommended.
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 Bruckner - Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons (chief conductor) |
Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
New Releases24th August 2009 |
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. |
 Handel: Organ Concertos, Op. 7 Nos. 1-6, HWV306-311Richard Egarr (harpsichord, organs & direction), Academy of Ancient MusicHandel's last great published set of instrumental concertos arrived posthumously in 1761. Played here on a chamber organ with real-time improvisations and enlarged continuo support, these magnificent concertos (including the beloved The Cuckoo and The Nightingale) show Handel at his glorious and compositional best, and allow a concentrated view of his style from the last 20 years of his life. |
 Pergolesi: Stabat MaterRachel Harnisch, Sara Mingardo & Julia Kleiter, Orchestra Mozart, Claudio AbbadoPergolesi Year 2010 celebrates the birth 300 years ago of a first rank composer whose death at 26 robbed music of a singular voice. The release of this first volume of a three album all-Pergolesi project, featuring Orchestra Mozart conducted by Claudio Abbado, whets the appetite for succeeding volumes while creating a buzz for the commemoration year itself. |
 John Ward - Consort music for five and six violsEmilia Benjamin (tenor viol) & Mikko Perkola (bass viol), PhantasmPhantasm’s bold and passionate style of consort playing does full justice to John Ward’s Consort music for five and six viols, recorded here complete for the very first time. Recorded in the warm acoustic of Wadham College Chapel Oxford, this recording reveals works that seduce the listener with lyrical melodies and music of great charm. |
 Verdi: RequiemChristine Brewer, Karen Cargill, Stuart Neill & John Relyea, London Symphony Chorus & London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin DavisSir Colin Davis's series of choral masterworks continues with Verdi's Requiem, a work that Sir Colin has been conducting for much of his long career. It is also his second recording of Verdi's late works for LSO Live, having previously conducted the Grammy Award-winning recording of Falstaff in 2004. The Requiem was recorded in January 2009 at concerts dedicated to Richard Hickox who had been President of the London Symphony Chorus and studied with Sir Colin before his own successful career. |
 Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-10 (complete)Isabelle Faust (violin) & Alexander Melnikov (piano)Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov have long cherished the prospect of recording the ten sonatas for violin and piano composed between 1797 and 1812. And the behind-the-scenes bonus documentary filmed on this occasion, gives an insight into the impressive work on documentation and interpretation that enabled them to get as close as possible to the composer's intentions. |
 Duphly - Harpsichord worksElisabeth Joyé (harpsichord du château d'Assas)Jacques Duphly published four harpsichord collections (1744-68), modelled chiefly on those of Rameau. Book 3 includes a sombre rondeau in bass-viol range called 'La Forqueray' after the late virtuoso of that instrument, a brilliant chaconne of 285 bars, and a savage tirade entitled 'La Médée'. Book 4 contains the enchanting rondeau, 'La Pothouin'. D'Aquin wrote that 'in general his pieces are sweet and amiable: they take after their father'. Born in 1715, the year of Louis XIV's death, he died on July 15, 1789, the day after the storming of the Bastille, in an apartment in the Hôtel de Juigné, lonely, forgotten and without a harpsichord. |
 Dvorak: Piano Trios Nos. 1-4 (Complete)Guarneri Trio PragueJust 15 years separate Dvorák’s piano trios and all four were written before his 50th birthday. The early trios reflect his rediscovery of Czech folk music after emerging from his self-confessed Wagnerian 'mad period'. The grand F minor trio reflects Dvorák’s deep search for harmony between his German and Slavic passions, while the Dumky trio displays a lively, free and beautiful understanding of the Czech spirit. For over 20 years, Guarneri Trio Prague has been a tireless proponent of the Slavic tradition. |
 Mahler: Symphony No. 4 - DVDJuliane Banse (soprano), Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, Claudio AbbadoWhat makes Abbado's Mahler performances so remarkable is that their impact is never achieved at the expense of the multiple sensitivities, subtleties and extreme sophistication. Together with one of the world's leading youth orchestras - the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester - Abbado performs Mahler's Fourth Symphony and Schoenberg's Pelleas und Melisande, the latter being preceded by an introduction that offers fascinating insights into this unparalleled composition. There is an introduction to Pelleas und Melisande by Alberica Archinto and Elli Stern. |
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