CLASSICAL Features

Paul Meyer (clarinet), David Zinman (conductor), English Chamber Orchestra

Mozart / Busoni / Copland: Clarinet Concertos [HQCD] [Limited Release] (Japan Import)

"His articulation is so clean. The last mov't of the Mozart has a wonderful flow to it. And the articulation never hinders that sense of flow in the least. He carries you along. And the Copland is just as great. The cadenza, I've not heard anyone play it quite that quick and, in my opinion, definitively. The feel throughout is just so relaxed in the first part and so rhythmical after the cadenza."

- Anonymous Reviewer

Shin-ichi Fukuda (guitar)

Tarrega: Danza Odalisca - Guitar Works (Japan Import)

Magdalena Kozena (mezzo-soprano), Andrea Marcon (conductor), Venice Baroque Orchestra

Vivaldi: Arias (Japan Import)

Over the past few years, Magdalena Kozená has almost become the Barack Obama of mezzo-sopranos. With that mesmerising voice, that magnetic personality, everybody wants a piece of her, in whatever repertoire or language. She's as versatile as she's ubiquitous . . . in slower, reflective numbers such as the "sleep" arias from Tito Manlio and L'Olimpiade, both imaginatively coloured and sustained . . .

Record Review / Geoff Brown, The Times (London) / 05 June 2009

Seiji Ozawa (conductor), Saito Kinen Orchestra

Stravinsky: Rake's Progress (Japan Import)

Although this is not a live recording it was made after a series of staged performances in Japan in 1995 and retains a number of ‘effects’ from them (smashing crockery, the clanking of Nick Shadow’s machine for transforming stones into bread, the cutting of cards in the graveyard scene, thunder as Shadow vanishes). More importantly it sounds like a real and sharply acted performance in, I would have said, a fairly small theatre. The cast audibly react to each other and are not afraid of using mezza voce when appropriate... McNair’s, appropriately, is a Mozartian voice: a Pamina, one might say, and her phrasing is often lovely (“Although the heart for love dare anything” is beautifully done), her Lullaby tender and touching... Rolfe Johnson is a debonair Tom... [F]rom “With roses crowned” onwards he gets closer to pathos than any Rake but Alexander Young in the composer’s own recording. He and McNair make an exquisite thing of their quietly sung, poignant “Could it then have been known?”. Adams’s diction and vocal acting are immaculate, Bunnell effectively plays Mother Goose perfectly straight as a foil to Henschel’s broad Baba (though her sincere concern for Anne in their brief scene together adds depth to the character). Bostridge is a suavely precise Sellem; if anyone is planning another recording of this opera he would surely make a splendid Rakewell. The chorus are excellent, their English crisply enunciated.

Ozawa delights in the clean, bright textures of this score and, quite obviously, so do his orchestra: the solo clarinet loves the poised line of his obbligato in “Love, too frequently betrayed”, the two bassoons clearly enjoy themselves greatly in “Since it is not by merit”, and throughout there is real zest to the playing.

- Michael Oliver, Gramophone [6/1997]

Simone Young (conductor), Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 [Urfassung 1887] [SACD Hybrid] (Japan Import)

2 cd set.

Simone Young is almost halfway through her cycle of Bruckner symphonies (2, 3 and 4 have already been released to critical acclaim). Interestingly, they are all being done in the first version. With this SACD release of the Symphony No. 8 she continues that trend with the first version of 1887. As before, it is a convincing account captured in great sound.

Eisuke Tsuchida (piano)

Arima: Sketches of Prints - Piano Works 1 (Japan Import)

Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Ton Koopman (conductor), Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra

Simply Baroque [Blu-spec CD] [Limited Release] (Japan Import)

... Nine movements from Bach sensitively arranged for cello and chamber orchestra, plus an attractive pair of Boccherini cello concertos. Ma’s Stradivarius was altered for the occasion by luthier Charles Beare (using a baroque bridge, a tail-piece in place of an end-pin and gut strings), and Ma himself uses a baroque bow. As superior ‘light’ listening goes, I cannot conceive of a happier 70 minutes’ worth. It also provides an ideal ‘soft-option’ introduction to the sound of period instruments.

The St Matthew Passion’s ‘Erbarme dich’ might seem like a bizarre place to start, and yet Bach’s heart-rending aria becomes a cleverly worked duet for violin and cello, always flowing and discreet, aided by responsive strings and a tactile lute continuo. Koopman’s harpsichord brushes Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring into action with a flourish, answered by a mellifluous mix of solo cello, strings and winds. The sequence had opened in high spirits with ‘Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren’, and the brief but equally invigorating ‘Ertot’ uns durch dein’ Gute’ is placed fourth. Ma weaves a warming tenor line through ‘Ich ruf’ zu dir’, with lute and organ for company, then lightens the mood with a dancing ‘Kommst du nun, Jesu, von Himmel herunter’ (note Charles Toet’s beautifully played solo trombone). Bassoon and cello join forces for a swaggering ‘Lass mein Herz die Munze sein’, before the brief chorale ‘Dein Blut, der edle Saft’ (decorously embellished by a recorder). Last comes the inevitable ‘Air’ from the Third Orchestral Suite, as ‘simply baroque’ as you are likely to get, but tellingly arranged (as a duet for cellos) and superbly played. In fact, Koopman’s ‘second’ cello – his lead cellist Jaap ter Linden – is every bit as eloquent as the star act.

- Gramophone [5/1999]

Stefano Ranzani (conductor), Teatro alla Scala

Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor DVD (Japan Import)

Featuring:

Ernesto Gavazzi (tenor)
Carlo Colombara (bass)
Vincenzo La Scola (tenor)
Renato Bruson (baritone)
Mariella Devia (soprano)
Marco Berti (tenor)
Floriana Sovilla (soprano)

1992 performance.