Aldo and Yannick double down

Mozart Piano Concerto K. 466; Rachmaninov Piano Concerto no. 2

These two recordings were made during Yannick Nezet-Seguin's tenure as the LPO's Principal Guest Conductor, before Aldo Ciccolini's death in 2015. The Rachmaninov is from 2009, while the Mozart dates from 2011. These are fascinating performances, with one master at the end of a glittering career and the other at the beginning of his. The Rachmaninov is bright and brash and lush, but also tender and lyrical. I don't think a Romantic concerto could be more beautifully played by an orchestra than what we hear from the LPO musicians. They have the measure of this music, and the producers and engineers have come through with marvellous sound from the live recording in Royal Festival Hall. Romantic Rachmaninov is almost a redundant phrase, but Romantic Mozart approaches the oxymoronic in these Historically Informed Performance days. From its portentiously measured beginning to Ciccolini's incautious rubato to Nezet-Seguin's great swells from the strings, this is Mozart according to the Old Rites of the early days of recording. To be sure, the D minor concerto of 1785 points the way to Don Giovanni and the Requiem, and also to Beethoven, whose favourite Mozart concerto it was. My measured response? This Mozart is old fashioned and anachronistic, but within its own sound world, gorgeously played. It's inappropriately beautiful.

This disc will be released on March 2, 2018.

The pain of unending longing

Just as Orpheus’ lyre opened the gates of the underworld, music unlocks for mankind an unknown realm—a world with nothing in common with the surrounding outer world of the senses. Here we abandon definite feelings and surrender to an inexpressible longing....

Only a week ago I was quoting E.T.A. Hoffmann's 1813 essay "Beethoven’s Instrumental
Music", in a review of a fine recording of Hoffmann's Symphony. But E.T.A. is at best only a minor composer; it's really in literature that he made his mark. The Beethoven essay is a landmark of music journalism because of its timing; it was an early appreciation of the cosmic significance of the Fifth Symphony. But the master of fantasy Hoffmann paints such a fantastic picture of why instrumental music is so romantic. Here's where he turns on the big guns:

Glowing rays shoot through the deep night of this realm, and we sense giant shadows surging to and fro, closing in on us until they destroy us, but not the pain of unending longing in which every desire that has risen quickly in joyful tones sinks and expires. 

Fifteen years ago Jane Coop rounded up a first group of especially romantic piano pieces, and CBC Records published it in their Musica Viva series. It's been a popular album since then (as was volume 2), and you can still order it from Amazon as a CD-R or on MP3. But on April 29, 2016, Skylark Music is re-releasing this disc, which is excellent news.

The music Coop has chosen comes from the gods of High Romanticism, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Brahms; the special god who perfectly distilled Romanticism, Debussy; and a late master who turned Romanticism up to 11, Rachmaninoff. Is there a more perfect piece to express "the pain of unending longing" than Brahms' A major Intermezzo, op. 118, no. 2? Nope; it always breaks my heart!



And is there a more perfect final quote from E.T.A. Hoffmann to end this review by letting everyone know how touched I am by Coop's playing? No, there isn't.

Romantic taste is rare, romantic talent even rarer, and perhaps for this reason there are so few who are able to sweep the lyre with tones that unveil the wonderful realm of the romantic.

An impressive debut

This is Marita Solberg's debut solo album, and it's a real winner. I know her only from two Grieg discs on BIS: the complete Peer Gynt from 2009, and Grieg Orchestral Songs from 2010. Listening to those again, it's clear to see that with such a strong, pure voice Solberg had a great future in opera. I'm actually a bit surprised that Solveig's Song isn't included in the this program; it seems to be a bit of a signature song:



Other than that omission, I'm impressed with the program, which shows off Solberg's voice and her range.

The aria by Catalani from La Wally, made famous in Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1981 film Diva, is a great opener. It shows off the powerful yet creamy quality of Solberg's voice while the more controlled Mozart arias that follow, the Countess's arias Dove sono and Porgi amor from The Marriage of Figaro, demonstrate her dramatic intelligence. Two other songs stand out: the drop-dead gorgeous Song to the moon from Dvorak's Rusalka, and an affecting Ave Maria from Verdi's Otello. The strong accompaniment from conductor John Fiore and the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra contributes to an outstanding disc, and they're given their own little encore near the end: the beautiful Interlude from Richard Strauss's Die Liebe der Danae.

An impressive, nearly perfect, debut!

Available for pre-order at Amazon; the release date is April 8, 2016.

A splendid recording of a problematic symphony

From October 11, 2013:

Like the first two discs in the latest Naxos Rachmaninov Symphonies series, this third and final CD was recorded in Orchestra Hall, the home of the Detroit Symphony. The new disc, which includes the First Symphony and the tone poem The Isle of the Dead, features a picture of the Hall on the CD cover, and the venue provides another splendid, atmospheric recording by producer Blanton Alspaugh and the Naxos crew.

Rachmaninov's First Symphony was not a success at its premiere, due to a combination of his own inexperience writing orchestral music and an ill-prepared performance. A hatchet job by the influential critic Cesar Cui was a blow to the young composer's self-esteem, and kept the work out of the repertoire until after Rachmaninov's death. Leonard Slatkin mentions in a note in the CD liner that he had a special advantage in preparing a recording of this Symphony. Eugene Ormandy, who had worked closely with Rachmaninov and who made excellent recordings of the symphonies in Philadelphia in the 1970s, gave him some tips on the best ways to overcome the worst of the problems in the First Symphony.

The results are impressive. Taking his cue from Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Slatkin calls on the Detroit musicians, especially the string players, to add a sonic sheen to the music which more than makes up for any difficulties in scoring or structure. The DSO sounds drop dead gorgeous when the young composer brings out the lovely melodies that will be his stock in trade for the rest of his career. But Slatkin also makes sure that the piece is taut when it needs to be, and that the music flows. He makes an excellent case for this work.

Isle of the Dead is a more mature, and much more assured piece than the Symphony. It receives a strong enough performance here, though I found the symphony more memorable.

Beauty with a backbone

June 20, 2013:

I haven't been bowled over by the last two Leonard Slatkin discs I've reviewed. I found his Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique somewhat over-refined, and he seemed disengaged in his view of Ravel: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1. But he finds the mark in this new CD of Rachmaninov's Third Symphony. A certain amount of reserve is an advantage in a work that can seem over-ripe and flacid when the conductor is too self-indulgent. Slatkin finds the back-bone in this highly romantic music, and he has the tools to produce a thrilling reading of the piece. Those tools include a rich string sound and strong brass from the Detroit players, and a vivid and absolutely lifelike sound from the Naxos engineers. With a similarly taut, lively and intelligent reading of the Symphonic Dances included, this disc is a real winner. It might even win some new fans for a composer whose reputation in this century seems lower than it was in the last.

Fine Rachmaninov playing from pianist & orchestra

From January 30, 2012:

While the 3rd Piano Concerto, with its big tunes and over-the-top virtuosity, is the more popular work on this new disc from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's own label, the greater work is the op. 45 Symphonic Dances. It requires as much virtuosity from the orchestra as the Concerto needs from the pianist. That's a tall order, but Robert Spano has his musicians hitting on all cylinders, with a tightly-disciplined and well-prepared reading of this important 20th century score. Spano's version is perhaps a bit more careful than other famous recordings, or white-hot live performances, fondly remembered, by favourite conductors. But I think it makes an excellent case for a masterpiece by a composer who doesn't have the reputation he once did. In this case, dialing things up to '11' in the Spinal Tap manner doesn't necessarily provide any gains. A well-balanced recording, with some deficiencies noted in B. Guerrero's review above, gives us a clear feel for the back-bone of the work as well as its surface sheen.

Even better, the Atlanta engineers have attained the perfect balance between piano and orchestra, allowing both the delicacy and the power of Garrick Ohlsson's playing to come through in the 3rd Piano Concerto. This disc is a triumph of virtuosity, musicality, and technology. Kudos to Ohlsson and Spano, and the musical & technical team in Atlanta!