ORCHESTRAL REVIETT/S Mag...further and recreate the music in full Elgarian orchestral dress. The...

ORCHESTRAL REVIETT/S

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ELGAR

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and Aragon' rounds offan enjoyabledisc with elan. Christopher Dingle

, andsplashes offiguration Elgari himself might well have introduced.; It really sounds like Elgar - but does: it sound like the Elgar ofthe Piano: Quinret? For me something of thei music's reticenr, haunted quality' is lost. Vriting these last chamber; works clearlyprepared the way, for therpare, radically thinned-I out orchestral style ofthe Celloi Concerro. I can'r help feel ing rhar: Fraser's sound world, gorgeous as itI is, is closer to the pre-war opulence ofi the Second Symphony, and as such it

i partly obscures the extent to which, Elgar had moved away from his: earlier grand manner.I On iti own terms, though, it'si beautifully realised, performed with, warmth and understanding, andi sympathetically recorded. Same tooi with the Sea Pictures,and Fraser's: chorus-plus strings version should, make this lovely cycle a lot easier ro: programme in concert - and, best ofi all, accessible to amateurs. It says a: lot for Fraser's skill as an orchestrator: that for awhile one hardlynotrces: the absence ofwoodwind, brass, harpi and percussion, and the four-parti opening out ofthe original solo vocal: writing is on the whole well judged,i though one or two details take abit: ofgettingused to. StephenJohnson

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HENDERICKXAi ih; ;;;; ;;ih; w;;;il;;Concerto 'Empty Mind l'; Groove!;Empty Mind | (oboe & electronics)Piet Van Bockstal (oboe), PieterjanVranckx (percussion); Royal FlemishPhi lharmonic/Edo de Waart ,Martyn BrabbinsRoyal Flemish Philhormonic RFP 011l l / m t n s

Visitors to the Turbine Hall arLondon's Tate Modern in 2003were enveloped byAnish Kapoor'svast scsllture Marsyas. Like At theEdge of tbe'Vorld, tLeKapoorworkthat gives Belgian composer \Wim

Henderickxt symphony its name,Marsyas took over and redefi nedthe space it occupied. Despiteits richly variegated, constantlyshifting textures, the same could besaid of Henderickx's music, for itthoroughly fills the acoustic spaceand has at heart an elegant, simplicityof gesture.

In addition to the symphony,this impressive two-disc set fromrhe Royal Flemish Phi lharmonic

RniewedfuDanie[ffi

MUSORGSKY. SCHULLER. RSTRAUSSMusorgsky: Pictures at an Exhbition(orch. Ravel); Khovanshchina -

excerpts; Schuller: Seven Studies onThemes of Paul Kleei Strauss: Don JuanMinneapolis Symphony/Antal Dorit iMinuet428411 (1958-60) 78:42 min:

Polished playing,Pictures brisk andrather relentless,and Kbouanshchinamarginally more

sympathetic. The Schuller - atongue-in-cheek compendium ofmodernist sryles - is engaging, as isthe Strauss despite airless sound.PERFORMANCE ***RECORDING ***

STRAVINSKYPetrushka; The Rite of SpringParis Conservatoire Orchestra/Pierre MonteuxEloquence4S0 8903 (1'956) 68 mins

A virtually completerecording ofPenushha,thotghomitting thedrummed links, and

a Rlle that's fascinatingly detailedyet mutes the more visceral thumpsand crashes. Rat her boxy sound.

the transition to rhe third movement- which, for all its expansiveness,never wallows - is beautifully judged.In the finale, again, Barenboimpushes some passages close to theedge; the fugato halfway throughis a maelstrom. \7hen the marchtheme finally returns it seems to surfin, transformed inro somerhing haleand hearty rather than somethingthat might save the world. Is thatenough? That's arguable - but whattfor certain is that Barenboim hashere made this symphony his own.EricaJealPERFORMANCERECORDING

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Piano Quintet (orch. Fraser);5ea Pictures* (orch. Fraser)English Symphony Orchestra; *Rodolfus

Choir ; .Engl ish Chamber Orchestra/Kenneth WoodsAvieAV2362 60 minsOf Elgart three major late chamberworks, the Piano Quintet is theone whose textures most oftensound

'orchestral'. After hearing

a performance that brought outprecisely that quality, DonaldFraser decided to take things a stepfurther and recreate the music in fullElgarian orchestral dress. The resultis pretty remarkable. Fraser hasn'tjust translated Elgart notes intorich and powerful orchestral terms,he has added (discreetly, it must besaid) the kind oftouches ofcolour

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STRAV.INSKYlgor Stravinsky in US5R: ApollonMusagEte; Orpheus; Ode; FireworksLeningrad Philharmonic/Mravinsky;USSR Symphony, MoscowPhilharmonic/lgor StravinskyProga Digitals PRD 25O 33O (1962/65)79:26 mins

Most attractive ofthese live recordingsis Mravinsky'sairborne and gracefulApollonMusaghe.

Stravinsky himself conductscharacterful accounts of Orpheusand Ode rnd alively Fireworks.PERFORMANCE ****RECORDING ***

TCHAIKOVSKY;;;; i;k.-;;.;;pl'LSO/Pierre MonteuxEloquence4S0 8907 (1962) 59:11 mins

Glossy orchestralplaying, but cuttingall the repeats in theActlwaltz-perhapsto fit the music on LP

- makes it appear more discursivethan usual. Hugh Maguire playsthe violin solos beautifully.

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ETGARSymphony No.1Staatskapel le Ber l in/Daniel BarenboimDecca 478 9353 5l :26 mins

Daniel Barenboimt Elgar SymphonyNo. 1 - so eagerly expected on discafter his recording ofNo. 2 two yearsago - doesn't sound quite like anyoneelset. This is particularly the casein the first movement, a 20-mrnutemusic-drama in itself; as Barenboimheaves back the reins just before thefirst reminiscence of the march, onehalfexpects to hear a Wagner tuba.

The opening march is a coiledspring; once the Allegrobeginsithas asurging, somedmes explosive energy.Barenboim sets subtly differenttempos for passages rhar ofren rundirectiy on from each other, but healso pushes round corners at whichother conductors linger. Then thereare the big, intense passages such asthe brass climax towards the end ofthe movement - this is stretched outalmost to breaking point, but theStaatskapelle Berlin's players sustainit convincingly. The detail is alwaysaudible. even through the glowingfull orchestra - the harp especially isa pleasure.

The second movement goes at alick but the orchestra is crisp, and

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REVIEWS ORCHESTRAL

A historic moment for HaydnCD Reuieu.r's Andrew McGregor is u;on over by the firstcomplete Haydn symphony cycle on period instruments

under Edo de'Waart and MartynBrabbins also incltdes Grooue!,for percussion and orchestra, andEmpty Mind I, in both the oboeand electronics original and areimagined version with orchestra.Henderickx's deep fascination withnon-S7estern culture is apparent, notjust in ragalike melodies, Afrrcandrdmming or metal l ic percussion,but also the layering ofsounds.There are juxtapositions betweendelicately perfumed murmuringsand incessant, whirligig textures,but this does not come across asmusical tourism . Grooue!is absolutelygripping, percussion soloist PieterjanVraackx conveying poetry as wellas effervescent power, while oboisrPiet Van Bocksral is mesmerising inborh versions of Enpry Mind I, andthe surround sound recording makesthis a truly immersive experience .Christopher DinglePERFORMANCE

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Second'World'War. Hammarstriimbalances the orchestral soundjudiciously, with wind lines and theal l - i mportant percussion comingthrough clean and ciear againstlean, expressive strings. Koch's1964 Impulsiis tn a similar vein tothe symphonies, openingwith anambiguous major-minor chord thatcolours the whole piece; while thefolk-inspired Na rdi c C ap r i c cio b owlsby with joyous glee. Rebecca FranhsPERFORMANCE ****RECORDING *****

i A l largo; Cel lo Concerto No.2; Era: Anssi Kart tunen (cel lo) ; F innish Radio: Symphony Orchestra/Hannu LintuI OndineODEl2gl 5 66:28mins

z

It's the best partofhalfa centurysince thehistorically-informedspecialists began

recording Haydn symphonies, yetthere's been no complete cycle onperiod instruments... until now.There have been noble attemDtsto scalethis Everest; DerekSolomons and l 'Estro armonicobarely made it beyond base camp;Roy Coodman's Hanover Bandand Christopher Hogwood withthe Academv of Ancient Music(AAM) cl imbedfurther, withoutsummiting. ThenDecca had thebrainwave oftaking Hogwood'srecordings and f i l l ing most gapsusing Frans Br0ggen's catalogue.

Perhaps the best surprise ishow fresh and invigorating theAAM's first Haydn from 1983 stillsounds. Back then after ThomasBeecham and Antal Doriti'sHaydn, this was a brave newworld of smaller ensembles,a clean athletic string sound,plangent but well-tuned winds,and excit ing hand-stopped horns.Unlike Goodman, Hogwoodwas against routinely using acontinuo keyboard, although thedist inct t imbre of a fortepiano isdetectable in that first session.

Briiggen's 1990s recordings addthe Stilrm und Drang symphonieswith the Orchestra of the Age ofEnlightenment, then the Pars andLondon Symphonies in concertwith his Orchestra of the 18thCentury, with a generally darker,edgier sound, and a satisfyingsense of l ive adrenaline.

Four of the later symphonieswere duplicated. But there wassti l l a gap: Nos 78-81, two ofwhich had never been set downon period instruments. So weget new recordings from OttavioDantone and Accademia Bizantina

(reviewed May2016), whichcomplement theolder discs nicely.

So, herewe have it:

the complete Haydn cycle onperiod instruments, al l 107Symphonies -yes, three extrasincluded: the early Part i tasknown as Symphonies A and B,and the Sinfonia Concertantein Bflat. Some maythinktheapproach is cheating, butfor methe delight of a complete cycle insuch st imulat ing performances,elegantly presented and atbudget price, far outweighs anyreservations. And it's surely betterthan wait ing another 33 years tosee i f any other period ensembleis allowed to reach the end.Decca-47996O4 (35 CDs)

KOCHsvrpr,o"i n". i; sinionia i"ria;lmpuls i ; Nordiskt Capr icc ioSwedish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Per HammarstromBIS BIS-2169 62:48 mins

'Composing symphonies is hard

work and less then lucrative,' wrorethe composer Erland von Koch,

'they

are rarely p layed, especia l ly i f theyare Swedish.' Harsh, but probablytrue: Stenhammar, Atterberg,Berwald and Pettersson, all keySwedish symphonists, are dwarfedby Finlandt Sibelius and Denmark'sNielsen. And itt only more than halfa century on from rhei r composirionthat Koch s Third and FourthSymphonies - he wrote six in total-are being given a first airing on disc.Still, they are given a good showingby the Swedish Radio SymphonyOrchesrra and Per Hammarsrrcim.

Dark undercurrents swirl in bothsymphonies, moments of unsettlingbeauty juxtaposed wi th passages offidgety rhythmic energy. Hints ofother composers' languages echo inKoch's soundworld: snare drum inthe Allegro Modtrato (No.3) suggestsShostakovich, a propulsive motifhints at Sibelius; anguished stringsin the Thirdt,4 dagio espressiuopoint to Bart6k, while the music'sunsentimental character in generalbrings to mind Hindemith, withwhom Koch nearly studied before the

Magnus Lindberg opens his not-quite tone poem frawith deep, sternsounds, deliberately recalling theopening of Sibelius's majesticallyaustere Fourth Symphony. But interms ofsound and expression thatturns out to be a false lead. Soon allis surging ardour, saluting Debussy,Strauss, the early Schoenberg, with aTristanesque languishing four-notefigure lighting the path throughluscious thickets.

Ravel joins the melde in the moreeconomically scored Al largo (thename translates as something like'all

at sea'), but the effect is strikinglysimilar. Lindberg may protest post-modern post-Romanticism, andmay knowingly reference Strauss'sironic prankster Till Eulenspiegel;but although some of his musicalrhinking feels dreamlike, free-associative, more often the effect isn'treally'post' at all - more CentralEuropean late Romanticism with a21st-century accent. And none theworse for that, especially in thesesumptuous, sweeping performances.

Having a single solo voice in thespodight in the Cello Concerto No. 2enables Lindberg to draw his lyricalthread tauter, to think in longerarching melodic paragraphs; but afterthe riotous profu sion ol Era and AlLargothatcan feel a bit restricting.Also the otherwise superb recordingsslightly let the cellist down: in oneor two ofLindberg's richer cello andorchestra textures even the excellentAnssi Karttunen struggles to makehimself heard. Still, this is a sensuousfeast. StephenJohnsonPERFORMANCE *****RECORDING ****

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