That great orchestral war-horse, Mussorgsky’s Night on a Bare Mountain , comes off equally well and the orchestra playing with a winning combination of sheer gusto and precision.
We are and though, left with the question of exactly which orchestra we have had the pleasure of listening to: while the back cover of the jewel case states that both works have been played by the Canadians under Barshai and the inner notes suggest (unbelievably) that one of them may have been performed by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta under Norman Del Mar!
Another Canadian orchestra ” the Toronto SO conducted by Andrew Davis ” pops up on the all- Beethoven programme , consisting of the “Emperor” Concerto and the Fantasia for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra , and the King Stephen Overture , and the King Stephen Overture .
Anton Kuerti provides a vibrant and characterful solo contribution in the Concerto (though the slow movement is distinctly short on poetry), and the orchestra rises to the occasion well.
The far less frequently heard (and recorded)Fantasia goes with a swing ” the members of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir adding their contribution with not only enthusiasm but also some subtlety ” and the Overture rounds off a generally recommendable disc.
The “Aspects”"Baroque Sampler”(), with the Toronto SO again under Andrew Davis, is a collection of such favourites as Pachelbel’s Canon , Albinoni’s Adagio , and Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary .
Purists may not be too keen on the “big band” approach, but these are nonetheless vital and energetic performances which convey much enthusiasm, and would probably serve as a more palatable introduction to seventeenth and eighteenth century music for the newcomer than some of the odder products of the “authentic”movement.
Oddly enough, great claims of “authenticity”(“First recordings of the original… Scores”) are made on a disc of the original music of George Gershwin ().
Alicia Zizzo is the soloist in the Rhapsody in Blue and the Piano Concerto in F , and also plays the original 1919 piano version of the Lullaby ; she is accompanied by the George Gershwin Festival Orchestra under Michael Charry, and they contribute the Cuban Overture of 1932 as well.
The latter is certainly played with great energy although even such a generally obvious piece such as this would have benefitted from heightened sensitivity: Gershwin was, after all, influenced not just by the vibrant colours of the tropics but by their warmth as well.
Zizzo plays the Concerto well enough, capturing the atmosphere of Broadway effectively, while still relating the work to its classical roots (natural son of Rachmaninov in places), and the orchestra, clearly happier in this idiom than int he Overture , provides fine support.
The Rhapsody in Blue brings the most effective performances on the disc, but even at this price level the competition is so intense (Gwenneth Pryor on Pickwick ; Jerome Lowenthal on Vanguard ; CfP’s Daniel Blumenthal) that only a general recommendation can be given.
The Scott Joplin revival of the ’60s and ’70s ” with the complete piano works on an RCA boxed set, and the naive but worthy opera Treemonisha on DG no less!” seems to have run its course.
But John Arpin’s well recorded selection of fourteen piano rags, waltzes and dances () can still be welcomed.
The opening Maple Leaf Rag is an unfortunately hard-driven introduction to the set, but matters improve thereafter with more subtlety and refinement in the less fraught pieces.
For really top class Joplin you need pay only a little more for a selection from Dick Hyman’s complete survey mentioned above, but at less than a fiver, Arpin’s disc will do very nicely for a representative sample of Joplin ” which is really all I can take in a single sitting!
The remaining two discs in my “Aspects” batch are both based on the musical theatre:”Broadway Favourites!(), features the Winnipeg SO under Erich Kunzel in a very well played selection of numbers from My Fair Lady, Lady Be Good, Annie Get Your Gun, The Fantasticks, Man of La Mancha, Guys and Dolls, Cats and a suite of waltzes based on the music of Richard Rodgers.
All very “Friday Night is Music Night” and, as listening figures show and there’s clearly nothing wrong with that! The talented baritone is left scandalously anonymous.
The artists on the disc entitled “Films and Shows”(), are, on the other hand, far from anonymous and include Sarah Brightman no less. There are selections from Oliver!,
Snoopy, The Wizard of Oz,, and The Nightingale ” all sung, in general, with commitment and enthusiasm.
The boys of King’s College School (not King’s college, as listed on the cover) perform with appropriate gusto in the Lionel Bart numbers, and there are strong contributions from the adult professionals and the National So under John Owen Edwards.
The songs from Snoopy and The Nightingale are not so immediately appealing to anyone who doesn’t know the shows, but the casts are strong and put the numbers across with confidence and verve.
The music of The Wizard of Oz is, of course, more familiar to most people, and it’s performed well here: Gillian Beven’s Dorothy, very much in the Judy Garland mould, is featured in every strong, providing sound foundation for each, and my only real grouch was that the children’s chorus was far less easy on the ear than that used in Oliver .
If “Aspects” is a bargain priced label and then the other new exclusive Woolworths series “The Classics”is in the middle range (currently £7.99 per disc).
Our first taste features the clarinetist James Campbell and the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada conducted by Franz-Paul Decker:Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto K622 is coupled with the big one by Copland, and the Weber’s Concertino for clarinet and orchestra.
The opening of the Mozart reveals an excellent orchestral ensemble, and the soloist’s contribution is individual and well-characterised, making this a very desirable version indeed.
Copland’s lovely, lyrical work, with a strong element of jazz in the final section and receives another excellent performance ” although it fails to dislodge the uniquely authoritative account recorded by Benny Goodman (who commissioned the work) and the composer ” and Decker is equally masterly and convincing in the very different requirements of Weber’s lighthearted Concertino .
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