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Presto News - 1st November 2010Verdi's Otello from the LSO and Colin Davis |
 When New Zealand-born tenor Simon O’Neill was drafted in at a day’s notice to replace the unwell Torsten Kerl for the title role in a concert performance of Verdi’s Otello last December, no one (including him) really knew quite how well it would go. He had never previously sung the role in public and having no plans to do so until 2012 there were a number of passages that he hadn’t even particularly looked at before. His achievement then is all the more remarkable, as this is one of the most dramatically sung and exciting performances you are ever likely to hear. Considering that this is renowned as one of the more difficult roles in the tenor’s operatic repertoire, the commitment and passion with which he throws himself at the role is almost unbelievable.  Gerald Finley and Simon O'Neill The recording has just been released on LSO Live. But it is not just the singing of Simon O’Neill that makes this recording stand out. From the opening crashing storm scene you find yourself on the edge of your seat, as Sir Colin Davis - who conducts as though he is half his age - draws savage and terrifying playing from the London Symphony Orchestra. The dynamic range is immense and performance is characterised by both real theatrical power and emotional intensity. You really do sense that like O’Neill the orchestra are playing just beyond their real comfort zone at times and this is thrilling to hear. Part of the dynamic range comes from the contribution of the London Symphony Chorus, which punctuates proceedings with telling and powerful singing throughout. I’m told that although there were two performances from which to make the CD recording, the bulk of it comes from the first performance, as it was just so much more exciting. O’Neill has a clean, clear, almost effortless voice. He doesn’t have the rich baritonal tones which someone like Domingo brought to this role, but his phrasing is beautiful and his top notes really ring. Anne Schwanenwilms’ Desdemona (Otello’s wife) gets better as the recording goes on and, while her intonation isn’t always spot on, her ‘Ave Maria’ in Act IV is really quite special. The other big success though for me is Gerald Finley's Jago (the villain). Gerald Finley has a wonderful voice and I’m a big fan of his, but I did have two worries before hearing this recording – firstly that his voice might be too light for such a big Verdi role and he would struggle to compete against the power of the LSO, and secondly that he didn’t have the colour in his voice to portray the evilness of his character. I’m pleased to say that these fears were largely unfounded on both accounts. Even in the loudest orchestral passages he still just about manages to cut through. Meanwhile his smooth and velvety tone succeeds where many others have struggled in portraying the calculated and cunning aspect of his villainy (which is vital in order to appreciate why Otello believes his lies). It is an outstanding performance and one to which others will now be compared. The whole performance is exhilarating and it comes very highly recommended.
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 Verdi: OtelloSimon O’Neill (Otello), Gerald Finley (Iago), Anne Schwanewilms (Desdemona), Allan Clayton (Cassio), Ben Johnson (Roderigo), Alexander Tsymbalyuk (Lodovico), Matthew Rose (Montano), Lukas Jakobski (Herald) & Eufemia Tufano (Emilia) London Symphony Chorus & London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis |
Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
New Releases1st November 2010 |
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. |
 Schubert: Piano DuetsPaul Lewis (piano) & Steven Osborne (piano)Schubert is unusual or indeed unique among composers in that some of his greatest works are written for piano duet. He wrote as much music for duet as for solo piano, and reaches emotional depths which take this repertoire far away from its domestic origins. The most celebrated of these pieces, the Fantasie in F minor, with its austere yet heartbreaking opening melody and dramatic double fugue, is one of the great piano achievements of the early 19th century. The rest of the works on this disc are much less well-known but equally fascinating. |
 Jean-Efflam Bavouzet plays Ravel, Debussy & MassenetJean-Efflam Bavouzet (piano), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Yan Pascal TortelierThe exclusive Chandos artist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is a master of this repertoire. This is his second concerto recording for the label, after his survey of the complete piano concertos by Bartók (CHAN10610) which was released in September to high acclaim and voted ‘Orchestral Choice of the Month’ by the magazine BBC Music. Bavouzet’s complete recording of the piano music by Debussy also scooped awards from BBC Music and Gramophone, which wrote: ‘This could well be the finest and most challenging of all Debussy piano cycles.’ On this new release, Bavouzet is accompanied by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Yan Pascal Tortelier, a conductor steeped in the French tradition and utterly at home in this repertoire. The result is a totally idiomatic performance of these French masterpieces for piano and orchestra. |
 Elgar: Violin ConcertoRoyal Scottish National Orchestra, Sir Andrew DavisThe long-awaited and much anticipated recording by Tasmin Little of Elgar’s Violin Concerto will be released this November, 100 years after the work’s first performance. The Violin Concerto is complemented by another piece for violin and orchestra, the charming Interlude from The Crown of India, as well as the rarely recorded but imposing Polonia, an inventive and colourful work incorporating much Polish melodic material. |
 Dvorak: String Quartets Nos. 12 & 13Pavel Haas QuartetIn the wake of the previous, highly acclaimed recordings of the complete quartet works of Janáček, Haas and Prokofiev (Classic FM Gramophone Award, BBC Music Magazine Award, MIDEM Cannes Classical Award, etc.), the ensemble displays its outstanding qualities performing the paramount Dvořák pieces too: equilibrium between precision and spontaneity, remarkable interplay and the “solo” potential of all the musicians. |
 Buxtehude: Membra Jesu nostriEmma Kirkby (soprano), Elin Manahan Thomas (soprano), Michael Chance (counter-tenor), Charles Daniels (tenor) & Peter Harvey (bass), Fretwork & The Purcell QuartetThis new release from Chandos’ early music label, Chaconne, focuses on Buxtehude’s seven cantatas, collectively known as Membra Jesu nostri. These are among Buxtehude’s best-known works, and perfectly exemplify the seventeenth-century preference for musical structures that are broadly symmetrical, but subtly varied in detail. Each of the seven cantatas has roughly the same shape: Biblical passages are set for the whole ensemble and enclose stanzas from the mediaeval poem Rhythmica oratio, which are set as arias for reduced vocal forces and interspersed with instrumental ritornelli. |
 Schumann: Davidsbündlertänze, Kinderszenen, Sonata No. 2Angela Hewitt (piano)Angela Hewitt has earned a richly deserved reputation for her interpretations of Bach and the Baroque, and something of that characteristic clarity illuminates her Schumann performances. Her first disc of this repertoire was praised for its ‘seemingly effortless but always adventurous interpretations... her poise and amplitude lending it an unearthly beauty’ and this second volume, containing some of the composer’s most bewitchingly beautiful music, should be no less lauded. |
 Bellini: I PuritaniJohn Kentish (Bruno), Joan Sutherland (Elvira), Nicola Filacuridi (Arturo), Giuseppe Modesti (Giorgio), Ernest Blanc (Riccardo), David Ward (Valton) & Monica Sinclair (Enrichetta), The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & The Glyndebourne Chorus, Vittorio GuiItalian conductor Vittorio Gui was Glyndebourne’s musical director from 1951 – 1963, and introduced a strong Italian theme in his programming – Rossini and Bellini amongst them. Bellini’s last and arguably richest opera I Puritani, comes from Glyndebourne’s recording archive, dated 1960 and was the first performance of this opera in Britain since 1887. This was Joan Sutherland’s debut in the role of Elvira. This young and extraordinary bel canto talent is the heroine in this production. She has a beauty of tone, her voice fluent and eloquent, the intimate confines of the Glyndebourne opera house allowing the warm glowing colour in Sutherland’s voice to radiate. |
 Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily PetrenkoShostakovich’s monumental Symphony No. 10 ranks among his finest works. From the bleak introspection of the extended opening movement, through the graphic evocation of violence in the explosive Allegro, and the eerie dance-like Allegretto alternating between dark and light, to the final movement’s dramatic climax, this is a work of breathtaking musical contrasts. |
Listen - sound samples available for this item BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 30th October 2010 |
Building a Library - Bach, J S: Organ Works |
 Highly RecommendedBernard Foccroulle (organ) |
Disc of the Week |
 Villa-Lobos: Floresta do Amazonas, W 551Anna Korondi (soprano), Male voices of the Choir of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra & São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, John Neschling |
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