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Presto News - 10th January 2011Nielsen Symphonies from Colin Davis and the LSO |
 After the more general newsletters over the holiday period it is great to have the opportunity to get stuck into some real repertoire again this week and, thanks to a terrific new recording from the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis, I’ve got Nielsen’s 4th and 5th Symphonies to tell you about today.  Carl Nielsen Born in 1865, composer Carl Nielsen was the seventh of twelve children from a poor but musical talented family raised on the Danish island of Funen. His parents were both amateur musicians and the young Carl learned the violin, piano and various brass instruments. He went on to study violin at the Royal Conservatory in Copenhagen before gaining a position in the second violins in the prestigious Royal Danish Orchestra. He remained in the orchestra for sixteen years while establishing himself as a composer, but also taught and later conducted as well for a living. In Denmark, Nielsen has been a hugely significant figure ever since his lifetime, and Danish children are still taught many of his songs at school. Abroad it was only after World War II that his reputation started to develop with recordings like those of the symphonies by Leonard Bernstein with the New York Philharmonic particularly significant. Indeed these days Nielsen is probably best known for his six symphonies, and of those I’d say that the 4th and 5th are the best, so if you’re new to the composer this new disc really is a good place to start. Nielsen’s symphonies are full of dramatic tension, with the brass instruments frequently to the fore. The fourth symphony, subtitled ‘The Inextinguishable’ was written during the First World War. Nielsen’s faith in humanity had suffered something of a setback by the war with what he described as the ‘senseless hate’ and horrors which men could inflict on each other. In this symphony Nielsen tries to represent his belief that ultimately ‘music is life, and like it, inextinguishable’. It is a hugely powerful work which ends with the main theme from the first movement returning and triumphing over onslaughts from two sets of timpani set at opposite sides of the stage. The Fifth symphony is equally dramatic and portrays a similar battle between the forces of order and chaos. The music is always direct, dynamic and lyrical and hugely rewarding to listen to. Although Sir Colin Davis says he has been an admirer of the music of Carl Nielsen for many years, he has rarely conducted any of his works. It is something of a surprise therefore to suddenly find him embarking on a complete symphony cycle at the age of 83, but as recent concert reviews suggested he is born for this music, conducting with a vitality and excitement which belies his age. The orchestra play with a warmth and depth of tone offering just the right amount of edge to the sound. He will conduct the remaining symphonies this year, with two further LSO Live releases following in 2012. A great start to the year!
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 Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis |
Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
New Releases10th January 2011 |
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. |
 Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 27Mitsuko Uchida (directing from the keyboard), The Cleveland OrchestraWithout question, Dame Mitsuko Uchida is recognized as among the greatest Mozart interpreters of our time. On her latest disc she continues her series of Mozart concerto recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra, performing two of the composer’s most popular concerti: No.20 (K.466) & No.27 (K.595). Distinctly different from her first recordings of these works, these new recordings see her directing the orchestra from the keyboard, in line with performances of Mozart’s day. |
 Giordano: FedoraAngela Gheorghiu (Fedora), Nino Machaidze (Olga Sukarev), Plácido Domingo (Ipanov), Fabio Maria Capitanucci (De Siriex), Orchestre symphonique et choers de la Monnaie, Alberto VeronesiFedora is an opera in three acts by Umberto Giordano set to an Italian libretto by Arturo Colautti and based on the play Fédora by Victorien Sardou. It is one of the most notable works of Giordano. The opera has seen a resurgence in recent years with, for example, this stunning recording by two of the world’s greatest ever opera singers, Plácido Domingo and Angela Gheorghiu. |
 Higdon & Tchaikovsky: Violin ConcertosHilary Hahn (violin), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vasily PetrenkoIn another original concerto pairing, Grammy award winning violinist, Hilary Hahn, releases the world-premiere recording of Jennifer Higdon’s 2010 Pulitzer Prize winning concerto. Higdon’s masterpiece is stunningly paired with the ever popular Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, one of the most popular romantic violin concertos in the repertoire. |
 Schubert Lieder Volume 5: Nacht und träumeMatthias Goerne (baritone) & Alexander Schmalcz (piano)The fifth exquisite Schubert Lieder recording for harmonia mundi from German baritone Matthias Goerne, a protégé of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. ‘ Matthias Goerne is fast becoming the Fischer-Dieskau auf his generation, the standard-setting singer of the central lieder repertoire. ’ (International Record Review). ‘ In such repertoire Goerne’s mellow, darkly rounded timbre, expressive diction and care for a true, “bound” line are well nigh ideal. ’ (Gramophone). ‘ Even the lesser Schubert Lieder become gems from Goerne’s velvet baritone.’ (The Times). |
 Bach: The Art of Fugue, BWV1080Raphael Alpermann (organ), Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin (Chamber ensemble)Since Bach was more than cryptic in indicating the instrumentation of what is often regarded as his musical testament, The Art of Fugue has been subjected to an infinite variety of arrangements for all sorts of instruments. This recording follows a series of performances in which the musicians of the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin tested a highly unusual concept: rather than play uniformly one after the other the contrapuncti and canons that Bach left us, they have made great efforts to diversify both the instrumentarium and the macrostructure – to the point where we end up, to our delight, experiencing their interpretation as an exciting musical game for several players! |
.jpg) Richard Strauss: Intermezzo, Op. 72Elisabeth Söderström (Christine), Marco Bakker (Storch), Richard Allfrey (Frantzl), Elizabeth Gale (Anna), Alexander Oliver (Baron Lummer) & Thomas Lawlor (Der Notar), Glyndebourne Festival Chorus & London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir John PritchardElisabeth Söderström (1927-2009) stars in this live BBC broadcast of Richard Strauss’s comic and pioneering opera, Intermezzo, recorded at Glyndebourne in 1974. This unique performance is now available on CD for the first time as part of Chandos’ Opera in English historical series. |
 Saint-Saëns: Music for the Prix de RomeBrussels Philharmonic & Flemish Radio Choir, Hervé NiquetCamille Saint-Saëns and the Prix de Rome... surely a strange bringing together of ideas, given that the composer never gained that coveted award and consequently never took up residence in the famous Villa Medici? All the same, Saint-Saëns entered the competition on two separate occasions and, peculiarly in the history of the competition, twelve years apart: firstly in 1852 and then in 1864. On the first occasion he was still an adolescent, devoted to worshipping the memory of the great Mendelssohn; behind him, by the time of the second occasion, were already a number of his masterpieces later to be confirmed by posterity – and he had become acquainted with Verdi and had also discovered Wagner. If the music he composed for the competition in 1864 was not deemed worthy of being awarded a prize, perhaps that was due to it being full of a troubling and disquieting sense of modernity: there is clearly nothing that the cantata Ivanhoé need fear in a comparison with Il Trovatore... |
 Brahms Works for Viola IIMaxim Rysanov (viola), Alice Coote (mezzo-soprano) & Ashley Wass (piano) and othersMaxim Rysanov completes his survey of all Brahms’s chamber works to feature the viola. On this companion CD to ONYX4033 he is joined by Alice Coote and Ashley Wass in the Two Songs op.91, and takes the solo viola part – the clarinet role – in the op.115 Quintet. |
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