Packard Dream Cars at "Art of the Car"

The annual Art of the Car Concours was held today on the grounds of the Kansas City Art Institute. Hundreds of antique and collector cars were on display. This year was quite special in that several concept and "dream" cars was displayed. Notably the rare alignment of four dream cars from the late, great Packard Motor Car company. These incredible monuments of style and elegance from one of the legends of luxury motoring are owned by the same collector but rarely displayed all together in public. So for this round, I am focusing on the Packards, all owned by noted collector Ralph Marano; maybe some others will show up in another post. 

The Pan American

Based on a 1951 250 Convertible, the Packard Pan American was the inspiration for the production Caribbean convertible. One of 6 made.

Based on a "Bathtub" "Pregnant Elephant" 1948 chassis, this classy convertible sports a body by Italian Carrozzeria Vignale. Sleek and low, the pictures do not do it justice. Only the characteristic grill identifies it as a Packard. 

The hood is longer than it looks in the photo. Very well proportioned.

Rear view of the jaunty Vignale.

Fine from any angle, I had seen the car in Collectible Automobile painted red.
Much more elegant in black.

The 1955 Request was a concept based on a production 400 Hardtop. The name came
from the many requests to return to a traditional upright, classic grille. I love it. Would it
have saved Packard if it was put into production? Probably not... but what a way to go.

The rear of The Request was pretty stock '55 400. The bronze and white paint scheme was unique
to The Request.

The Panther, sometimes the Panther Daytona. Another concept sleek convertible this time from 1954. Updated with
"cathedral taillights from 55-56. 

Panther's top is removable. Four made, two known to exist.

The wheel covers are unique to the car and cost a small fortune, or so I was told.

Blogger does some strange things, I could not get the caption under The Request to work without it sending the picture elsewhere. Sorry for the large font.... oh well...

Kansas City Symphony records Saint-Saëns

In addition to being uniformly excellent, the Kansas City Symphony can also be called “gutsy”. New releases from former recording giants New York, Berlin, London, Philadelphia and Chicago are often newsworthy events due to their relative rarity. Yet here is our local band releasing its 6^th professional recording with a 7^th in the future. How things have changed.

The Kansas City Symphony is also gutsy in its choice of works to record. Often, regional orchestras record works that perhaps they have premiered, have a local connection or are not exactly standard repertoire. The Kansas City recordings have featured works by Britten, Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Prokofiev and Bartok, to name a few, that are standard repertoire or have “definitive” recordings. This disc from Reference Recordings is a blend of the familiar and rare: an all Saint-Saëns disc featuring the less known “La Muse et le Poete”, op 132 for Violin, Cello and Orchestra combined with the popular and very frequently recorded Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso for Violin and Orchestra op. 28 and the Symphony # 3 “Organ” op 78. Concertmaster Noah Geller handles the violin solos, Principal Mark Gibbs cello on “La Muse” with with local organist and Organ Conservator Jan Kraybill in the Symphony. Music Director Michael Stern was on the podium.

The Organ Symphony may be the top billing on the cover, but the warmest, most vivid sonics and top rank, stellar performances belong to the other two works.

The rare gem on the disc is "La Muse et le Poète", for solo violin, solo cello and orchestra. A late work from 1910, “La Muse...” reflects the influence of Debussy, Ravel and their contemporaries with its denser harmonies, lush orchestration and rhapsodic form. Despite the programmatic title, the work is more of a spirited conversation than a dramatic encounter, though the violin seems to be the “Muse” inspiring the more reflective cello “Poète”. Both soloists are treated to many virtuoso passages, which Geller and Gibbs negotiated with poise and flair. The violin and cello are closely miked, with every nuance of phrase and tone exposed, but they are also well integrated into the orchestral fabric. Since Gibbs and Geller work together frequently as section Principals, they instinctively converse and play off each other, essential (but not always heard in performances I sampled) in keeping the work focused. This charming and passionate performance stands up nicely to the competition, notably a Joshua Bell/Steven Isserlis recording and an all French affair on Erato coupled with the Third Violin Concerto and First Cello concerto.

The “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso” is a much earlier (1863) and more popular work, written in a Spanish influenced style for the virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate. There is plenty of competition for this always entertaining chestnut, but on first hearing this performance stands well with the rest. Geller's tone was always precise and clear. The dramatic introduction was pleading and romantic, a perfect foil for the more animated rondo to follow. His rubato in the familiar rondo theme was just right, the many double stops perfectly executed (and clearly captured), and one has to hear the violin's spine-tingling downward run from the cold, clear stratosphere to the sensuously warm and expressive rondo theme. Stern and the orchestra are not to be forgotten, albeit Saint-Saëns' writing favors the soloists, always providing sympathetic and enthusiastic orchestra accompaniment.

The well known Symphony # 3 “Organ” completes the disc's program. The orchestra chose this work to inaugurate The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts' 102 rank Casavant organ in June 2012, with Paul Jacobs on the organ, and this performance was quite similar. The Kauffman Center's Casavant is well tuned for symphonic performances, thus it was integrated into the whole orchestral fabric, not drowning out everything within hearing distance. Stern lead a stately performance, with a quite slow second movement that might not find favor with all but certainly accentuated the lushness of the movement. The organ's grand entrance in the final movement was powerful but not earth shattering; again it was more integrated to the texture. Rarely in a recording have the duo pianists' contributions been so perfectly embedded in the sonic texture, yet clear and bell like. Another “must listen” spot. Stern kept the symphony's final moments under control as well, not letting the tympani muddy everything with a frenzy of uncoordinated sound and fury. A cool-ish performance that never really took off and frankly would have benefited from a more white hot approach. Far from a poor performance, it just pales in comparison to a lot of the competition, mostly the never duplicated Munch/Boston Symphony on RCA.

Of course the renowned sonics of Reference Recordings, created by Recording Engineer Keith O. Johnson and produced by David Frost are of demonstration quality and surely the organ in the Symphony can cause some leases to be broken or at least a few knocks on the ceiling when the volume is unleashed. (thankfully none here yet at least). Best not to think of this recording as a “sonic extravaganza” (anyone remember the LP of the Virgil Fox/Ormandy/Philadelphia “Organ Symphony” recording with a cover like an 1890's circus poster?) but an example of how state-of-the-art recording technology can realistically capture the sound, texture and deft coordination of expansive orchestral forces combined with solo instruments of vastly varying sound quality and volume.

Inextinguishable

Continuing the theme of works written around and in response to World War I, the Kansas City Symphony led by Music Director Michael Stern gave the local audience the somewhat rare opportunity to experience the Nielsen Symphony # 4 “Inextinguishable”, written in 1916 at the height of the war. Nielsen is a tough nut to crack and his music gives up its secrets, power and genius reluctantly. I should know. I have tried and tried to appreciate and understand, even enjoy, the music of a composer many classical music cognoscenti rank in high esteem.

Taken at face value, the symphony can become a series of disjointed episodes that have little organic flow. What the “Inextinguishable” needs, it appears, is a committed, forceful and almost reckless (ready to skitter off the road any second) performance that makes this symphony more than just a somewhat conservative, yet quirky, early 20^th century work. The conductor has to keep all the horsepower in control, throttling back at times to allow the orchestral engine to accelerate to full speed. Stern and the Kansas City Symphony did just that. And made a believer out of me after all.

A good example is the first measures of the symphony. The white hot outburst from the full orchestra and the all-important tympani seamlessly decelerates to a calmer, almost wistful section that in abruptly interrupted by an agitated episode... the world is starting to crumble. Every section of the orchestra marched in lock step to Stern's urgent vision of the work. The always admirable winds of the orchestra were in full bloom, especially the clarinets in the above mentioned slow theme. The tympani was well integrated (a real problem in some performances, it is not really a tympani concerto), the brass solid and the strings lush. The violas' “machine gun” figures were well done and again integrated into the whole, not just some poorly placed interruption. The very end of the movement glowed with Straussian grandeur, never overwrought, but powerful and rich.

Moving on with out pause, the winds are again prominent in the quietly energetic second movement. Stern brings out Nielsen's humanity in this more relaxed episode, yet never lets the tension completely down... the world is still at battle. Finely balanced in ensemble and perfectly animated in tempo, Stern integrated this movement in the whole scheme of the symphony, making it more than just a charming scherzo.

The searing third section follows without pause. Intense with finely tuned release and tension, the deeply moving section flows via a shimmering bridge passage (with lovely oboe solo from Principal Kristina Fulton ) to the climactic finale.

Stern let the forces loose in what has to be the most insanely dramatic eight minutes in the orchestral literature, and maybe the most thrilling eight minutes of the KCS season. Stern flicked through the many gear changes in the movement, never losing momentum. Note must be made of the thrilling horn passages, that soared over it all with precise and clear intonation, brushing aside the days when Kansas City Symphony horn solos made one cringe. Stern brought back the wistful “inextinguishable” theme from the first movement in full glory. The dueling tympani were fine but the extra tympani on the right just seemed to be a little timid, lessening the thunderous impact of the passages. Some of the audience just seemed to not get it (or were shell shocked) and the response was muted in comparison to the easier to handle opening half. But hey.. took me years to see what this incredible work had to offer.

Opening the concert was Richard Strauss' 1888 “Don Juan” op.20. In 1880's Weimar this bold and ardent tone poem dazzled the audiences as easily as it does still today. From the soaring opening (one of the most exciting in all orchestral literature) through the tender love music and on to the climatic fall from power and his death, Stern brought “Don Juan” to vivid life. As in the Nielsen, the winds, especially the horns were well balanced and colorful. The strings, however, could use some strength to be more lush as befits a Strauss tone poem, but one could not quibble over their commitment and frequent beauty. The final stab of the trumpet, signaling Don Juan's demise brought the work to a powerful close. A fine and certainly challenging curtain raiser in every (positive) sense of the word.

Pianist Steven Lin joined the orchestra for the Mozart Piano Concerto # 20 in D minor K466. Lin, winner of many awards and recipient of excellent reviews world wide, was clearly an audience favorite here as well, receiving a most sincere and prolonged ovation. The opening movement of the concerto is one of Mozart's most dramatic solidly in the dark of D minor. One hears the foreshadowing of Beethoven in this big boned, lengthy concerto and Stern and Lin took pains to keep that in the forefront.

The Romanze second movement was lyrical and “romantic” without being fussy. The more agitated central section contrasted well with the more graceful sections that surround it. Stern kept the orchestral balance in line and in sync with the soloist. The rippling, energetic finale spun forth in a controlled torrent, Lin enjoying every soaring phrase and dazzling run. Throughout the performance Lin was technically brilliant and sparkling, but just did not mine the underlying drama and tragedy and even elegance and grace that marks fine Mozart 20 performance. With time and maturity, Lin will be an even better Mozart interpreter, with his commanding technique combined with a deeper more dramatic vision, he will be one to turn to.

For me this was a expertly performed, intelligent and challenging program; each work having an underpinning of tragedy and conflict intertwined with “inextinguishable” human spirit and redemption.

Bucket List II: A Mad King and other Englishmen sing

Before he tried to save the Orkney Islands from mining destruction, became "Master of the Queen's Musick" and infamous for a nasty break up with his partner, Peter Maxwell Davies was a true bad boy and maverick. Nothing demonstrated that reputation better than the "Eight Songs for a Mad King", for baritone and six instruments. Eight Songs is one of those pieces more talked about than performed due to the daunting task of finding a singer that can (or is willing) to sing/perform the insane (pun intended) role of the Mad King George III. Lucky for us the newEar Contemporary Music Ensemble felt up to the task and found a singer willing to learn the part.

Saturday April 25th concert featured the Eight Songs paired with a sampling of works by contemporary English Composers. "A Purcell Garland" a collaborative effort of Colin Matthews, George Benjamin and Oliver Knussen on three Fantasias by Henry Purcell and Johnathan Harvey's Sting Trio opened the program.

The three Fantasias that compose "A Purcell Garland" are a look back at England's first great composer through Contemporary eyes and techniques. In the more modern voice, the bass instruments (piano and cello) have a melodic component that would not be assigned to them in Purcell's time, thus deepening the texture and emphasizing the inherent drama and pathos of these short pieces. Even using modern instruments (Violin, Viola, Cello, Clarinet and Piano/Celeste), the harmonic language and spare use of vibrato recalls the sounds of a 17th century ensemble.

Matthew's arrangement of "Fantasia 13" is the most expansive since the original breaks off after about 30 bars. The composed section, an agitated fantasy, references and comments on Purcell's original, before returning to the somber mood of the opening. Benjamin's "7th Fantasia" is more straightforward, more of an orchestration in contemporary sound than an arrangement. In this performance, pianist Robert Pherigo used a harpsichord rather than a celeste to good effect. Knussen's re-working of the familiar "Fantasia upon One Note" expands the theme with the constantly sounding C fading in and out of the texture. In this performance, newEar included the optional part for viola, adding depth of sound and texture to the piece. These three inventive and colorful exercises affectionately looked back to the heritage of Purcell and his importance as the foundation of English music tradition, providing an appropriate and informative opening to the program.

Johnathan Harvey (1939-2012) was a prolific composer of chamber, electronic and vocal works and an active teacher, but actually this was my introduction to his music. The "String Trio" from 2004 is terse and gritty a la Ferneyhough and ultimately a most satisfyingly challenging piece. The work begins with echoes of Bartok in its rustic, folk-like sound world and drumming sounds from the cello but soon evolves into Harvey's trademark spatialism as the three instruments, engage and disengage in a short motives and long, linear passages evolving eventually to a wild, skittish dance. Slower and more contemplative sections introduce a spiritual aspect, inspired by his liturgical drama based the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This spiritual and pastoral aspect provides a foundation to experience the work as a long melodic whole and not just a series of disconnected sounds and episodes. Not easy listening, frequent quiet passages in harmonics and delicate pizzicato requires concentration and possibly several "listens" (thankfully a fine performance is available on CD with Harvey's 4 String Quartets with the incomparable Arditti String Quartet) to reveal the argument of this intense essay. Sunho Kim, Violin, Nell French, Viola, and Larry Figg, Cello were technically brilliant, especially in the exposed, threadbare passages of harmonics and extreme pianissimo. The tight ensemble reveled in the innate lyricism of the work as well. As fine a performance of this thorny work as one could imagine, well done.

The "Eight Songs for a Mad King" (1969) put the then 35 year-old Peter Maxwell Davies on the map. Written for "The Pierrot Players" (a group he founded) and actor Roy Hart who was known for his immense vocal range and ability, "Eight Songs" pushes the performers to extremities of technique and emotion. Maxwell Davies’ librettist, Randolph Stow, created eight monologues that King George III, slowly descending into complete madness, shouts, sings, screams, whispers and growls to his beloved caged birds. The instruments (violin, cello, flute (d. piccolo), clarinet, piano (d. harpsichord) and percussion) representing his caged birds, often engage in solo dialog with the variously lucid King. Bass-Baritone Kenn Kumpf, singer, teacher and composer from Chicago, portrayed King George.

"Eight Songs" is as intense to experience as it must be to prepare and perform. The King not only sings to his birds (the first performance famously had each of the instruments in bird cages) but frequently addresses the audience as if they were members of the Court witnessing the sad, demented King's rants. Due to space limitations, there was no attempt at "staging" with this performance, but the intimacy of the space brought the King directly into our presence. While the King may be mad, and the vocal part more of a set of instructions rather than a musical score, the work is quite a logically laid out musical structure. Each of the songs is based on one of the eight tunes from a music box once owned by the King, interwoven with references to not only Handel but to musical forms and characteristics of King George's era.

Rarely performed, (newEar's Andrew Granade said they wanted to perform it because not only was it a Kansas City premiere but also because "it was fun"), this performance was spectacular in about every way. The instrumental balance was excellent, never overwhelming the singer yet always present and technically without fault. Kumpf was simply brilliant with his panoply of vocal sounds in every possible octave while maintaining quite understandable diction, essential for the audience to pick up on the irony and even wit of the libretto. In the climactic 7th song where the King grabs, strums and ultimately smashes her violin, Sunho Kim spent the rest of the piece in pitiful sulking, adding a touch of amusement to the otherwise tense piece. For the eighth song, "The Review, a Spanish March", the bass drum marched the now fully mad King off the stage and out the door as he "died howling.... howling..howling...." Totally brilliant.

The program notes were informative and intelligent with the full text of "Eight Songs" provided.

Mad Kings and Englishmen was easily one of the best performed and intelligently programmed concerts in recent newEar memory; a complete musical experience from nostalgically elegant court dances all the way to insane in-your-face theatre.

Back to Basics

I envisioned this blog as something in between. There is room, I thought, for someone to review and comment upon classical music concerts and the occasional recording from an informed listener's perspective. More than "I liked" or "I didn't like" but less than the technical reviews who excoriate a performance where the "second bassoon misses the quiet back beats that are essential to the architecture..." and so on.

But I noticed that in my recent writing, I was starting to lean towards the latter... and not being a trained musician, was failing miserably.

Thus I am going to head back to what I think I do best, comment on what I heard but from the informed listener's aspect. I know a lot about music, I know what I like. I can tell good from bad, committed from apathetic and when a performer or ensemble communicates their message. That is what made "Puggingham Palace" and now "Pictures on Silence" what it is... whatever that is. It made it fun for me, and being selfish, that is what I am going to do.

Back to basics, and if lean towards the extremes as I mentioned above... call me on it.

A Concord Essay

I love the term “bucket list” and think everyone should have one. For the un-initiated, the term comes from a movie where two terminally ill men go off on an adventure to do things they always wanted to do before they euphemistically “kick the bucket”. One of life's greatest pleasures is to cross off something on one's list.

This past Saturday February 21st, I got to do just that. I heard a live, complete performance of a work on my music “bucket list”, the Piano Sonata No. 2 (Concord, Mass., 1840-1860) by Charles Ives. In St Joseph, Missouri of all places, performed by the remarkable, über-talented and shall we say brave pianist Robert Pherigo. Assisting in this insane genius work was Rico McNeela in the tiny, but often omitted viola line in the first movement and Lyra Pherigo in the more important but also sometimes omitted flute part in the Thoreau movement.

As was typical of the feisty and innovative composer, Ives broke most of the piano sonata rules. The sonata is programmatic to a point, something rather unusual for a piano sonata, being a musical portrait of transcendentalist authors who lived in Concord, Massachusetts, around 1840-1860: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, the Alcott's Louisa May and her father Bronson, and Henry David Thoreau. Most classical sonatas were in three movements, but Ives included four, stretching the work to almost symphonic stature. Few, if any, piano sonatas have parts for viola and flute scattered about either. Early material exists from around 1904 and it seems the work was conceived as a piano concerto. Work on the solo sonata started in earnest around 1910-11 and was mostly finished around 1915. Ives tended to fiddle with his music off and on thus the work was revised in 1947, the edition that seems to be played the most.

Like icing on a tasty cake was the informative pre-concert talk by author and composer Kyle Gann, one of the foremost authorities on Charles Ives, the Concord Sonata and Vice President of the Charles Ives society. Gann focused on the work's background and the personages that inspired it while highlighting the recurring themes and motives that tie the sprawling work into a quite logical and organic whole.

More than a recital or concert, this was an old fashioned “happening” for those who remember what that meant.

The performance? I make no bones that I am nowhere near qualified to judge, just looking at the score gives me a headache. I found it technically excellent to my ears, having heard the work many times in recordings and Robert negotiated the work from memory without a visible sweat or concern. A Hamelin, Fitzpatrick, Denk or Kalish might bring more polish, technical brilliance and more experience with the complex score (Hamelin's “Alcotts” will bring goose-bumps, but this one was not far behind) but Pherigo brought the work and Concord, Mass. to life for the appreciative audience, many of whom I am sure, like me, had never had the opportunity to hear it live. Even Gann said it had been a while for him. Certainly far far far and did I say far from a slam-bang run through, Robert found the humor, the lyricism, the tenderness, nobility and humanity in this complex score. On that damp, winter night in St Joseph Robert brought the work to life, let us glimpse the world of the denizens of Concord and communicated Ives own commentary on them and on humanity itself.

Kansas City Symphony: Old and New

The Kansas City Symphony concerts for the weekend of January 16-18 likely attracted two different types of listeners; those who never tire of hearing the standard repertoire again and again and, quite oppositely, those looking to hear new works fresh from the composer's pen. A new concerto by composer, conductor, pianist, jazz and pop artist Andre Previn just premiered last November was sandwiched in between two giants of the orchestra repertoire, the Mozart Symphony no. 35 “Haffner” and Brahms' Symphony No. 1. Michael Stern, music director conducted, with Jaime Laredo, Violin and Sharon Robinson, Cello as solos in the Previn.

The Cincinnati Symphony plus a consortium of orchestras, including the Kansas City Symphony, commissioned Previn to write the Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra for Laredo and Robinson. Orchestras in Austin, Detroit, Los Angeles, Canada and Europe are scheduled to perform the work over the next few months.

The Double Concerto, clocking a compact 20 minutes is certainly bright, colorful (yet fairly conventionally scored) with little, if any, qualities that would offend the most conservative of listeners. Yet immediately afterward it was difficult, if not impossible, to really remember anything about the work.

The first movement “Quasi Allegretto” immediately introduces the violin and cello echoing the Brahms Double Concerto. There the comparison ends. Glowing, busy and certainly virtuosic, the movement lacks organization and seems to move from one episode and mood to another. Laredo and Robinson, long time collaborators and spouses, dig in to the busy music, keeping their lines and glowing tones above all the fray.

Part bluesy nocturne, part-heart-on sleeve romantic fantasy, the second movement marked “slow” has more emotional gravitas and, due to the slower tempo, seems to be more organized. Chains of lovely melodies abound, major key statements and swelling dynamics morph into minor key angst... yet again the movement leaves little lasting impression. The final movement, “Presto” is a fun, skittish romp ending in big honking C major chords for all assembled. The prestige and orchestras behind this work will ensure that many will hear it but to me the Double Concerto is “gone in 60 seconds”... here one second, gone the next.

Mozart's “Haffner” Symphony No. 35 in D, K.385 opened the program. Stern and the symphony reminded the audience that the work began as a serenade (not to be confused with the Serenade also known as “Haffner” in the same key, K.250) with a sprightly and spirited performance. Mozart asked that the first movement be “played with fire” and the last “as fast as possible; Stern and his forces certainly obeyed Mozart's command. Stern's graceful but not fussy “Andante” 2^nd movement contrasted nicely with the energetic 1^st, 3^rd and 4^th movements. Mozart added flutes and clarinets to the symphony's orchestration giving it a more mellow yet full texture. This touch benefited the always excellent KCS woodwinds, allowing them to contribute to an appropriately propulsive opener.

When I was introduced to the Brahms Symphony No. 1 in c op 68. my classical music mentor Herbert Glass told me that the work needs to start off “like a force of nature” or else it is a failure. Dr. Glass was a geologist by profession so he knew much about forces of nature, of course. And he is right and so was Stern and the KCS in their performance. Right from the start this was a powerful and forward performance. Not a glacier force but one like a flowing river, relentless but with control.

I am known to readers and friends as not a big fan of Brahms. Perhaps I have been exposed to too much glacier-like performances. Brahms had to be big, heavy, bulky and sometimes sweet, like a good German dinner. Stern has always gotten Johannes up from the table and out for a brisk jog in the woods, all to great benefit. Trust me, there is still great majesty and throughout, the final pages of the first movement, the opening of the finale, and the climatic pages of the “allegretto” 3^rd movement, are just a few. Stern also is keen to note the change in mood and temperature the middle two movements bring to the work. He does not allow them to wallow but provides just enough contrast and release of tension to make the final movement even more persuasive.

Special mention must be made to the excellent brass performances in this work. Not all that long ago, the anticipation of a prolonged horn or trumpet solo caused great anxiety among the regulars in the hall. Not now. The horns, introducing the alphorn inspired theme, emerged glowing and golden from the low strings and tympani, followed by the dulcet flute. A minor bobble of the trumpet and trombone chorale there after marred little, the whole episode was breathtaking. The chorale theme, an homage to Beethoven, demonstrated the excellent sound of Helzberg Hall, one could hear the darker husk of the violas, bringing out a texture not often captured on a recording. Stern milked the drama from the movement's final pages, not a headlong dash but an unleashing of the once bottled up force of nature.

Best CDs of 2014... Number 14

What a dolt I am! I forgot one. Not until I was rummaging around in my CDs (after HRH Olive the Pug knocked a few over) did I remember this recording that I planned to add to my list. I can't very well knock one off  the list after publishing it, so I will just do this supplement and add #14 to the list:

Darius Milhaud The Oresteia of Aeschylus: Agamemnon, Les choëphores, Les euménides
University of Michigan Percussion Ensemble, University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, University of  Michigan Choral Union, Kenneth Kiesler, Conductor
Naxos 660349 3 discs

A long time ago, a strange LP of a strange sounding work "Les choëphores" caught my eye. Even though conducted by the New York Philharmonic and Leonard Bernstein, it was only available as a "Columbia Special Products" LP and thus really hard to get. My local record store tried and was told it did not exist. It finally made an appearance on CD a few years ago and I picked up a copy, but it soon disappeared from the catalog. I didn't know about the Markevitch version that was on DG occasionally. My curiosity was only partly satisfied, what about the rest of the trilogy? All the years of not being able to get it made me so damn curious about it.. you know what it is like when you can't have something.... it makes it all the more intriguing.

Finally, here it is in all its. Strange, percussive, fascinating, dramatic, violent and in-your-face glory. Great sound, great performances (the Markevitch "Les chöephores" is better than the Bernstein and in some ways better than this performance, if you want to explore them) and great fun. But good grief, NO TEXTS. What a shame, but still a landmark recording.

I should be shot for forgetting this!

Baker's Dozen Best Recordings 2014

Well! Here we are again. It is time to reflect on the past 12 months, review the defining events of 2014, recall celebrities who have passed away and of course the best of this and that. I concentrate on the latter, leaving the obits and news analysis to the talking heads of the TV. So yes, the best recordings of 2014 list is here. As usual, since the list is mine, I make the rules. These are not always brand new recordings, sometimes they are ones I heard for the first time in 2014 or dusted off my shelf. No pop or jazz, since that is not really my thing, and I am sure I have missed some “blockbusters” because the artists or repertoire were not of interest to me. No “Dude” or Sir Simon Le Rat (sic) or other “big names” recording more Mahler or whatever they are into now. You are more likely to find recordings of Havergal Brian (none this year though) or Morton Feldman (one this time around) than Bach, Beethoven or Brahms. So with all that, here are my baker's dozen favorite recordings, as usual listed in no particular order.

Britten: Works for String Orchestra Camerata Nordica, Terje Tonnesen, Director

BIS 2060

Britten tuned 100 in 2013 and of course big box releases were plentiful. With all the big guns firing, this 2013 release escaped me until this year. I have been slow to appreciate all of Britten's works; the “War Requiem”, “Peter Grimes” and “Sinfonia da Requiem” are givens, but much of his work long has baffled or left me cold. But this charming, well performed and enlightening disc opened the string orchestra works to my enjoyment. There is nothing “simple” about the “Simple Symphony”, the Bridge Variations is a masterpiece and Lachrymae is simply beyond description. Get this disc.

Yevhen (Yeven or Evgeny) Stankovych (Stankovich): Symphonies 1, 2 and 4 Theodore Kuchar, Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra

Naxos 8555741

These are actually 1995 Marco Polo recordings re-released on Naxos. I enjoy exploring the vast unknown of 20th century Russian/Soviet Bloc music. A lot of junk was produced (even by the big names) but there are many, many jewels buried in the trash heap. Ukrainian Yevhen Stankovych (seemingly the preferred spelling) is prolific yet lyrical, dramatic and listenable. Unlike many, the ghost of Shostakovich and Prokofiev is not overwhelming, but still always there. One of the jewels hidden in the pile.

Brahms and Schumann Piano Quintets Joyce Yang, Piano/Alexander String Quartet

Foghorn Classics FCL2014

The talented Alexanders and brilliant Joyce Yang take on two towers of 19th century chamber music, the Brahms Piano Quintet in f Op 34 and the Schumann Piano Quintet in Eb op 44. Frankly any recording that elicits a positive comment about Brahms from me is worth noting. No stodgy, elegant (read dull and technical) readings here, these are gutsy, lively, exciting and maybe even a bit edgy performances. Excellent production, including concise yet informative notes.

Bartók And Kodály Complete String Quartets Alexander String Quartet

Foghorn Classics FCL2009 (3 discs)

While we have the excellent Alexanders in front of us, mention must be made of this always intelligent, intense, musical, satisfying and well recorded set. Add this to the list of recordings that challenge and maybe surpass the classic Julliard recording of the Bartók cycle. Combine the fine and less well known Kodály quartets and you have a special release indeed.

Troubadour Blue: Nils Bultmann Works for Viola. Nils Bultmann, Hank Dutt violas, Parry Karp cello, Stephen Kent, didjeridu.

Innova 851

Thanks to I Care if You Listen and my fellow contributor Jarrett Goodchild, I had the notion to listen to this disc of works by San Francisco based composer/violist Nils Bultmann. Bultmann is one of the rare composers who can open your ear while not assaulting it, his music is tonal but inventive, rhythmic and visceral. The works on this recordings will both challenge and please. One simply has to hear “From the Depths” an imaginative and strikingly beautiful set of duos for viola and didjeridu and the “10 Viola Duets” for 2 violas are as often amusing as they are fascinating.

Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center: Music by Babbit, Arel, Davidovsky, Luening, El-Dabh, Ussachevsky.

Columbia/Sony 3268 (Available as an ArchivMusic on demand CD)

I remember this recording, released in 1964, from my teen years as I explored classical music. I don't think I ever owned a copy, but heard it at the library where probably most of the copies ended up. But it, along with other trail blazing recordings, led me to daydream about being an electronic music composer, which of course did not come to pass. This disc was on the cutting edge of the avant garde in the 60's, but now we giggle at the almost absurd series of bleeps, buzzes, warbles and squeals that comprise the works' electronic elements. The big names of the early electronic era are here and the compositions are representative of their time.... 50 years ago... seems like yesterday. Nostalgia for the radicals out there.

American Masters: Violin Works by Mason Bates, John Corigliano and Samuel Barber. Anne Akiko Meyers, Violin, Leonard Slatkin London Symphony Orchestra

eOne 7791

Three works for violin and orchestra from three American masters who share much more than is obvious. Barber (Violin Concerto 1939) was a mentor to Corigliano (Lullaby for Natalie 2010) who was Mason Bates' (Concerto for Violin “Archeopteryx” 2012) teacher. I reviewed this disc for I Care if You Listen in November and frankly I think I was too hard on the Bates Concerto. Further listening reveals a finely crafted, tuneful work that fits and compliments the other two works. The Barber is an utter masterpiece so maybe the others pale in comparison, but in that case, so do many others. Fine, fine recording. A keeper for sure.

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski: The Complete Oehms Classics Recordings. Music of Bruckner Brahms, Beethoven, Berlioz, Schumann, Skrowaczewski and others.  Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra,  Bavarian Radio Chorus,  Saarbrücken Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Oehms Classics 90

The great Stanislaw Skrowaczweski turned 90 in 2013 and Oehms released this wonderful set of his recordings for them late last year. Complete Beethoven, Brahms, and Bruckner and Schumann Symphonies plus some Bartok, Berlioz, the two Chopin Piano Concerti and some of Skrowaczewski's own excellent compositions. I first heard him when he was the Music Director at Minnesota and always find his performances suave, exciting and musical. My conducting god, I drove 4 hours one way to hear him do Bruckner 8 and would do it again in a heartbeat. Lucky the performance here is first rate so I can stay in tonight.

Organ Polychrome: The French School. Jan Kraybill, Organ. Casavant Organ, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Kansas City, MO                                         Reference Recordings RR133

A hallmark of a great concert hall is a great organ. Not used every day, but when a work requires an organ it is nice to have one around. The Casavant here is a fine “symphonic” organ and blends well with the orchestra. As a solo it is a fine instrument, especially under the control of Jan Kraybill, who oversees it and two other wonderful organs in Kansas City. Great, idiomatic performances of many of the French masters, including Widor (thankfully not the overdone “Toccata”), Vierne, Gigout, Guilmant, Franck, Alain... et al. Lease breaking sonics to boot.

Morton Feldman String Quartet #1, Three Pieces for String Quartet, Structures for String Quartet. Flux String Quartet                                                                               Mode 269 3 discs and DVD

At a mere 90 minutes instead of the 6 hours required for String Quartet # 2, # 1 is a trifle. But what a trifle; serene, glowing, glacial, energetic, softly ringing.... one incredible sound after another. Feldman is an acquired taste, but like that of scotch, anchovies or whatever... it is worth it for those in the know. The recording perfectly captures all the subtle changes in dynamics and harmonics. The DVD allows you to hear the whole quartet without interruption. Three Pieces and Structures are also vintage Feldman and are much, much shorter. It is a cold, misty dark December evening as I write this... I think I will pull this disc out... it fits.

Miraculous Metamorphoses: Bartok, Miraculous Mandarin Suite, Prokofiev, Love for Three Oranges Suite, Hindemith, Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes by Carl Maria von Weber. Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern. 
Reference Recordings RR132

Performances that can stand with the best of them and sonics that sound fabulous even on my computer speakers combine for another Reference Recordings/Kansas City Symphony “hit”. One also has to give the Kansas City Symphony, Reference Recordings and all involved great credit for daring to record major standard repertoire pieces that often have some very heady competition.

Shostakovich Symphony # 14 (1969) Gal James, Soprano, Alexander Vinogradov Bass Vasily Petrenko Royal Liverpool Philharmonic                                                         Naxos 8.573132

Overall, an excellent performance but I still can not live without the Barshai led performances with Vishnevskaya/Reshetin or with Simoni/Vaneev in the Cologne recording. Barshai was there at the beginning and had the music in his veins. The Curtin/Estes Ormandy is a sentimental favorite, with some of the most impressively ghoulish cover art ever devised. I thought the Liverpool strings were a bit weak and James less impressive than Vinogradov, but other critics disagreed. Overall a fine addition to the Shostakovich canon.

Shostakovich Symphony # 13 “Babi Yar” Alexander Vinogradov, Bass, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Chorus                                                                               Naxos 8.573218 

If the 14th was a fine recording, then the powerful 13th was perfection. Vinogradov is dark, brooding, frightening and frightened with deep voice that is still clarion clear. The chorus is not as idiomatic as a fine Russian ensemble, but is clear and present, well blended with the other forces. This is also one recording that does not let down after the long and dramatic first movement, the other four are equal in their drama and pathos. Great performance and a fitting end to a fine cycle. Petrenko is just 38 so he may yet have an even finer cycle in store some day.

Terrain of the Heart, Song Cycles of Mark Abel

“Terrain of the Heart”

Song Cycles of Mark Abel

Jamie Chamberlin, Soprano

Ariel Pisturino, Soprano

Victoria Kirsch, Piano

Delos 3438

Look around the rock music world of New York City in the late 70's and you would likely run into a fellow named Mark Abel. He might be leading a group he created, making a record with another or maybe producing an album or two. Originally from Connecticut, Abel had studied music in California before heading back to the east coast. He returned to the Bay Area in 1983, not to produce music but to work in news journalism, eventually becoming Foreign Editor of the respected San Francisco Chronicle. Musically, during his two decades in journalism, Abel moved away from rock and pop and began to explore classical forms and concepts becoming especially focused on solo vocal music. Thus Abel melds his experience in classical, rock and song writing music into songs that are sophisticated, accessible, original and tuneful.

An accomplished writer, Abel often writes his own texts for his songs. “Terrain of the Heart” showcases three of Abel's song cycles, two of which are settings of his own text. “The Dark Eyed Chameleon” and “Rainbow Songs” use his own poetry. “Five Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke” obviously set poems by the Bohemian novelist-poet.

Musically, nothing in these three cycles would be out of place in a contemporary musical. Frequently tonally ambiguous, and contemporary in sound, they are nonetheless well crafted, emotionally complex and engaging lyric songs in the truest sense of the form.

At nearly a half hour, “ The Dark Eyed Chameleon” (2007) is the most substantial and most emotionally affecting of the three song cycles. The nearly half hour cycle tells the tale of the composer's painful break up of a long term relationship. Hints of past tragedy and loss, misunderstandings, longing, realizing the inevitable (“underneath us the ground is always shifting, unstable like our California”) and the final break (The fatal blow is struck by telephone..) permeate the lyrics to the five songs. Very theatrical in nature, “Chameleon” could be envisioned as a one actor play, but Abel's accompanying music, alternatively wistful, agonized and even confused, propels the story forward as much as the lyrics. Soprano Jamie Chamberlin, along with pianist Victoria Kirsch totally understand and are committed to the work. Chamberlin negotiates the many chromatic leaps and rapid changes of emotion and texture. Kirsch is a sensitive yet propulsive accompanist and a full partner in telling the story.

For the “Five Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke” (2004) Ariel Pisturino, soprano, takes over the vocal duties. Pisturino is gifted with a big, but clear and slightly bright voice that perfectly suits the darkly expressive poetry. Her's is a voice tailor made for art song. Of the three cycles, “Five Poems” is the most “classical” influenced, more adventurous and flexible in tempi and dynamics, befitting the more hauntingly symbolic nature of the lyrics. “In this town the last house stands” is shaded and ultimately enigmatic, the vocal lines lyrical but unsettled at the same time. The longest of the five songs, “All of you undisturbed cities” is punctuated with relentless ostinati over which Pisturino weaves the jagged melodic line, laced with impending doom. In the remaining songs,“My life is not this steeply sloping hour”,“You darkness, that I come from” and “I live my life in growing orbits”, Abel's stark and expressionistic music works in tandem with the often mysterious poetry to deliver a most satisfying yet challenging musical experience. “Five Poems” is certainly a fine addition to the song repertoire and worth repeated hearings in recordings and in recitals or concerts.

Chamberlin returns with her lighter voice (should I say less “operatic” and more “Broadway” voice and start that whole argument??) in the final four “Rainbow Songs”. More light hearted and fanciful than the other cycles, “Rainbow” could be dismissed as fluff and nothing new but for the colorful and atmospheric “La Sonnambula”, depicting a woman wandering through desolate streets looking for her lover, but doomed to never find him. “La Sonnambula” is a touch more sophisticated than many of the other songs, growing in drama, dynamics and lyrical intensity from a shadowy figure in the piano. To my ears, it is the single most effective song on the disc.

Abel's music in each of the cycles is highly chromatic and linear, the linearity and incessant forward motion showing the formidable influences of the composer's rock music roots. While appropriate to the lyrics, which, with the exception of the Rilke songs, are also rock influenced and linear in nature, the chromatic and declamatory sound world can lead to a numbing sameness if one listens to the whole 73 minute CD in one sitting. Probably best to get into this music by listening to one cycle at a time.

Delos' notes and bios are of their usual high standard as is the stellar sound engineering. There is frequently a lot going on in the songs, lyrically and musically, so the close and somewhat dry sound works well to keep everything clear. Mark Abel's website (www.markabelmusic.com) has perusal scores for all the songs for those wanting to follow along.

Perhaps this music is more influenced by Sondheim than Schubert, but that was not the composer's intention. Put all that aside, and listen to some fine, easily approachable and frequently satisfying songs.

Kansas City Symphony Verdi Requiem

The May 30 through June 1 performances of the Verdi Requiem could be summarized as “redemptive”, not just for the departed soul but for the Kansas City Symphony and Chorus, led by Music Director Michael Stern. The symphony's last performance of Verdi's 1874 masterpiece in May 2008 was problematic to be kind; the main culprits being the chorus and the totally unenthusiastic soloists. The performance was leaden, loud rather than powerful and overall disappointing. This time around in the much friendlier and spacious Helzberg Hall, a rejuvenated chorus, a seasoned orchestra and more committed soloists combined for a powerful, expressive performance.

The chorus has, in my experience, never made a more subtly expressive entrance than that of the opening, practically whispered “Requiem”. Clear, perfectly balanced, quietly powerful with excellent diction, it set the tone for the rest of the work. Most impressive was their brisk and precisely executed “Sanctus” a wickedly complex eight part fugue for double chorus. Diction was excellent throughout, despite the sheer size of the chorus, something that is not always the case. One could easily make out the Latin and if anyone was not clear of the meaning, the translations were available on a screen high above the stage.

The solo quartet was 1000% (sic) better than those in the 2008 performances. Tenor Dimitri Pittas was strong and lyrical (giving a very fine reading of the “Ingemisco” section of the “Dies Irae”) but a bit strained at times and not always able to float above the fray. Bass Jordan Bisch possessed a dark but slightly unwieldy voice and seemed a bit tentative at times. Tamara Mumford, mezzo-soprano, was quite fine with a clear yet burnished tone. The star of the quartet, soprano Amber Wagner dug into her many long solos with gusto and with resigned sweetness when needed. She alone could consistently float over the huge forces. Mumford and Wagner were superb in the “Agnus Dei” (in my opinion the most moving and sublime of all the sections of the work), sweetly blended and perfectly together, the chorus equally well integrated with the solo lines.

Stern kept the performance moving, critical in the long, episodic Dies Irae section. He viewed the work not as “Verdi's greatest opera” but as a powerful statement of the awe and fear present in the liturgy of the requiem mass. The orchestra sometimes plays second fiddle to the vocalists, but in every moment the excellent ensemble work, singing tone and steady rhythm of the orchestra provided a firm foundation for the text and drama. The stunning bass drum blows in the “Dies Irae” were powerful and resonant, whereas they can often be a muddy thud.

Much of this season has been devoted to encore performances of past seasons' favorites, re-imagined for the new concert hall. If a work ever needed a second chance it was the Verdi Requiem. It got that chance, and we were richly rewarded for it.

newEar Distant Travels

http://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2014/05/newear-distant-travels-kansas-city/

My latest review on I Care if you Listen.

A "Tasty" Flute Recital by Luisa Sello

The contemporary music gurus Larry and Arlene Dunn saw the program for this concert and declared it "tasty". Indeed the April 28th concert, part of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory Performance Series was quite a full meal. Italian flutist Luisa Sello's guest artist recital included four US premieres of compositions written for her, two charming turn of the twentieth century works by Casella and Chaminade and sonatas for flute and keyboard by J.S. Bach.

Sello opened the program with a fluid and elegant performance of Bach's "Sonata for Flute and Obbligato Keyboard" BWV 1030 with Karen Kushner on the piano. Purists would cringe at the modern flute and piano, but this was a crisp, clear and light performance devoid of any romantic mannerisms, yet never starkly dry either. Sello, in her remarks, compared the sonata to the languages Bach would hear in his contacts with other musicians.  The opening Andante was formal, economical German, the following Andante, Sello noted, was infused with the melodic sensuality of Spain. In the concluding Presto, Sello heard and vividly communicated the hard, chewy consonants of English invoking the rhythm of a gigue.

The Bach was a fitting opener since the next piece, Kansas City based composer Mara Gibson's "Flone", is based on Bach, specifically the "Partita for Flute" BWV 1013. Atavistic fluttering and the pizzicato of tapped keys evoke earth sounds as the theme from the Allemande of the Partita emerges and takes flight. The theme is embellished by a myriad of effects and vocalizations from Sello until it climaxes and deconstructs into fragments, returning to the earth music of the opening. A most compelling and fascinating work, with undoubtedly the best and most clever title for a piece in my memory.

Like "Flone", "Erbarme dich"  (2005) by German composer Rainer Bischof is also based on Bach;  the work's subtitle is Sicilliano on Bach's Matthaus-Passion. In this case, Bischof deconstructs the Bach fragment from its whole, returning it to nature sounds and elements of dance whereas Gibson's "Flone" has Bach emerge from the elements. "Flone" works best in this case, the Bichoff, no doubt definitively performed, sounding as if the flute is just superimposing sound effects over the Bach tune.

The charming "Barcarolla e Scherzo" for flute and piano (1903) was a revelation. Alfredo Casella (1883-1947) was a contemporary of Respighi and once as highly regarded. He was conductor of the Boston Pops for a period in the late 1920's and was instrumental in re-introducing Vivaldi to audiences. His Third Symphony (1939) was written for the Chicago Symphony and well received. But Casella thereafter returned enthusiastically to Fascist Italy and soon his reputation all but vanished. Sello's performance of this seldom heard impressionistic fantasy was liquid and flowing, the flute and piano in perfect communication. Cécile Chaminade's  Concertino, op 107 was heard in its arrangement for flute and piano. A lovely, romantic work, exquisitely performed but paling in comparison to the more adventurous and sensuous Casella.

If the Casella was a musical rocking of a little barque, Narong Prangcharoen's 2014 compostion "Lom" (Thai for "wind") provided the wind and the waves. The breathy flute evoked bamboo flutes, storms, breezes and the atmospheric sounds of nature in the work's short span. Provocative and elementally melodic, as is all the music I have heard from this fine composer who is also on the UMKC faculty.

One can always count on the prolific James Mobberly to provide a challenging and frequently humorous work for a contemporary music recital. "Respiri", (2014) also making its US premiere, was a barnstorming tour-de-force, chock full of his trademark bursts of energy, startling contrasts of tempo and volume and every musical trick in the book. Sello was inspired to doff her heels in preparation for the action. Breathing and vocalizations from the flutist plus rock-inspired key tapping take primacy over traditional melody or pitches. Sello was in total command of the flute, even ending the exhilarating piece with a little dance. One has to hand it to Mobberly, his works leave you with a satisfied smile all while challenging the ear and mind.

Karen Kushner returned to accompany Sello in the closing bookend; a charming and graceful performance of the Andante from the Bach "Sonata for Flute and Continuo" BWV 1034.

A star-studded evening for contemporary music with Gibson, Prangcharoen and Mobberly in attendance along with renowned composers Chen Yi and Zhou Long listening along in the White Recital Hall at the James C. Olsen Performing Arts Center on the UMKC campus.

Road Trip Music from The Alexander String Quartet

The road between my current home and my home town is not the most exciting in the world. Vast stretches of fertile farmland are punctuated by a few trees here and there that usually indicate the location of a small stream or a town. The winter bleakness can be starkly picturesque, the summer corn an endless wave of green, but after traversing it for as long as I have, the bloom is off the rose.

Thus faced with a trip home that would involve some late night driving, I grabbed some CDs to keep my mind alert and my bleary eyes open. One of my selections this time was a new disc sent for my perusal by the Alexander String Quartet. Readers will know I have been exploring some of their recent releases on their Foghorn Classics label and have been highly impressed by their musicality and repertoire selections. This is a bit of a different animal from the Brahms and Bartók cycles of late, a single disc released late summer 2013 of arrangements for string quartet of songs by Jerome Kern and George Gershwin. Clarinet Joan Enric Lluna joins the quartet in the Gershwin "Porgy and Bess" selections.

Usually this is not my type of thing. I prefer to hear Gershwin, Kern, Rodgers, et. al., as originally written, voice and piano preferably. I half expected the usual schmaltzy, overblown and stiff results that all to often characterize classical music's forays into "pop" idioms. But leave it to the Alexanders to find and so superbly record picture perfect arrangements of these miniature masterpieces.

Carl Davis’ (noted composer and arranger, working frequently in TV and film) arrangement of Porgy and Bess selections for clarinet and string quartet is nothing less than suave, sophisticated and totally enjoyable. Davis started with Heifetz’s arrangement of these selections for violin and piano with the clarinet taking the solo violin parts and then linking the song via brief cadenzas. Lluna is fully in tune with the sound and rhythms of Gershwin, classically elegant in "Bess You is my Woman Now", just a touch bluesy and sentimental in "Summertime" and brash and sassy in "A Woman is a Sometime Thing" and "It ain't Necessarily So". The quartet does not take a back seat to the clarinet solo but is an equal partner in stating the lush melodies and setting the moods. They also swing and sass while at the same time exhibiting their usual tight and taught ensemble.

The Kern selections have a similar pedigree. Kern's assistant Charles Miller transcribed the six songs selected and arranged by Kern for string quartet in 1942. They were first recorded on 78's in 1948 and likely are making their CD debut on this recording.

The songs ("All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight", "Bill", "The Song Is You", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "Once in a Blue Moon") are well known to anyone familiar with American song. As with the Gershwin, these are sophisticated, classical inspired arrangements, suggesting comparisons to Schubert and Schumann rather than to the "easy listening" channel or Muzak. The Alexanders capture the pathos, longing, and sadness in "Smoke.." and "Bill", the tenderness in "The Way.." and the elegance and economy of scale in each of these classic works.  The lyrics are rarely missed or, for that matter, needed.

The disc ends with the only work originally written for quartet, the charming and familiar "Lullaby" by Gershwin. Frequently heard in a full string orchestra arrangement, the original presented here is just fine, thank you, basking in lazy and languid light.

This disc, (an all too short 48 minutes, but each one a jewel) was not the sleepy elevator music so often made from these fine examples of the song writers art, but engaging enough to entertain and delight while negotiating the mind numbing Interstate Highway. Fine production and the usual complete notes too.

Gershwin and Kern
Alexander String Quartet
Joan Enric Lluna Clarinet
Foghorn Classics  CD 2008

First Listen: Petrenko's Shostakovich Symphony # 14

I have loved the enigmatic and moving Shostakovich 14^th Symphony since I first heard the RCA Ormandy, Curtin/Estes, Philadelphia recording on vinyl back in the 70's as a classical music crazed teenager. I frankly have heard it so many times, words and musical passages are imprinted on my mind. Whether you wish to think of it as a symphony or a song cycle a la “Das Lied von der Erde” matters little. It is really, if you look at it all closely, Shostakovich's most intimate and emotional masterpiece.

Vasily Petrenko began his Royal Liverpool cycle on Naxos in 2009 with an excellent 11^th Symphony. It seems only the incredible and under-performed “Babi Yar” 13^th is left after the release of the 14^th this month (April 2014). Most have been quite good, challenging the highly regarded Kondrashin and Barshai recordings. Naxos' bargain price is a plus, since the Kondrashin is hard to find (and the complete cycle is now priced in the stratosphere) and Barshai is most easily available in a complete cycle not individually.

So what is my first impression of the sometimes chilling, sometimes nostalgic and often neurotic 14^th? First and foremost, the all-important vocal soloists, Gal James, Soprano and Alexander Vinogradov, bass, are usually in good form. Only hiccup (pun intended) is James' unconvincing “Kha, kha, kha, kha, kha. I ya khokhochu” sobs in “Madam, posmotrite!” Vinogradov gives us an overall powerful performance, with a most expressively eloquent “O Delvig, Delvig”. The important and colorful percussion is uniformly excellent throughout.

The weak points are the sometimes tentative, weak Liverpool strings, especially noted at the very beginning of the symphony and in the last climactic death rattle at the end. They redeem themselves with a gut wrenching col legno episode in “At the Santé Prison” movement, the abandoned prisoner pacing in his gloomy has rarely been so realistically portrayed. The "Lorelei" episode is exciting, but a touch frenetic. 

Petrenko gives us a well paced performance, around 50 minutes, leading to a rather skimpy disc. But really, what else could accompany a work like this? Sound, played through my computer speakers via the Naxos Music Library, seems to be good. Finally, it appears the usual fine, informative performance notes are included with this recording, another plus of the Petrenko cycle.

Overall, an excellent performance but I still can not live without the Barshai led performances with Vishnevskaya/Reshetin or with Simoni/Vaneev in the Cologne recording. Barshai was there at the beginning and has the music in his veins. The Curtin/Estes Ormandy is a sentimental favorite, with some of the most impressively ghoulish cover art ever devised. Avoid Bernstein's and the Haitink sung (in a version sanctioned by the composer) in the original languages... it just doesn't sound right.

Shostakovich Symphony # 14 (1969)

Gal James, Soprano, Alexander Vinogradov Bass

Vasily Petrenko Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

Naxos 8.573132

Kodály and Bartók Quartets from The Alexander String Quartet

In this generous and lavishly presented three disc album, the Alexander String Quartet programs eight of the 20^th century's most fascinating string quartets from two composers linked as contemporaries and countrymen, Béla Bartók and Zoltan Kodály. Bartók's canon of six quartets have long been a part of the standard repertoire for all the great string quartet ensembles of the past 50 years. Kodály's have been less fortunate, with just a few recordings of his two quartet essays. Combining the two composers' quartet oeuvre is a brilliant stroke, making this recording more than just another Bartók cycle.

Kodály's two string quartets were almost exact contemporaries to Bartók's First and Second Quartets. Paring them allows for some illuminating comparisons. Even Bartók's earliest quartets tend to be highly contrapuntal and more harmonically and structurally complex. Kodály who played violin, viola and cello, produced quartets that were idiomatic and well grounded in form and style. Yet unlike Bartók, his works did not break new ground. Both of Kodály's works, the First Quartet, in particular, sound more like the quartets of Debussy and Ravel and have been combined with them on recordings. French in spirit they may be, but thoroughly tinged with the rhythms, sounds and pungent harmonies of Hungarian folk music, they are unique and totally satisfying works. The third movement of the 1^st quartet lets loose with some distinctly Hungarian-like music, very reminiscent of Kodály's masterpiece, the Sonata for Solo Cello.

The Alexanders dig into this music with technically secure, well paced performances; especially important in the Kodály 1^st, which at approx 38 minutes can descend into longeurs if not careful. Given their French inclinations, Kodály's quartets come across a tad more relaxed and melodic than Bartók's. The Alexanders realize this, bringing out the innate lyricism and tenderness of the music especially in the second quartet's somewhat threadbare “andante quasi-recitativo” section.

Thoroughly enjoyable, interesting and colorful works that are shamefully neglected. Perhaps this new recording (and one by the Dante Quartet on Hyperion, that I have not heard) will open some eyes and ears to the satisfying charms of these two works.

My (and I am not alone) benchmark for the Bartók quartets is the classic 1963 Julliard set on Sony (Columbia). The Takács and Emerson cycles give them a run for their money in more modern sound and similar performances. Thus the Alexander's cycle on their own Foghorn Classics label enters into some good company and faces some strong competition.

Bartók's quartets are often described as tough, dense and gritty and that would generally be true. The Alexanders' performances are dramatic, lean and intense, but never unpleasant or forced. Clean, clear and on pitch pizzicati are noteworthy throughout the three discs, especially important in the 4^th quartet's all pizzicato movement, which comes off swimmingly. The quartet has a fine feel for the folk music elements and relish them at every turn without exaggerating or even detaching them from the overall texture.

Highlights: the mysterious, skittering, hair raising “Prima Parte: Moderato” of the 3^rd Quartet. The deeply expressive “Lento” opening movement of the 1^st Quartet, with dark, resonant cello and redwood-like viola passages. The aforementioned 4^th Quartet scherzo (along with the controlled mayhem of its “Prestissimo con sordino” movement, and the whole dramatic and even demonic 4^th quartet for that matter) and the slightly jazz tinged 5th Quartet's scherzo.

As with every Foghorn Classics release I have encountered, complete, legible and intelligent notes are part of the package. Add these always intelligent, intense, musical, satisfying and well recorded performances to the list of recordings that challenge and may surpass the classic Julliard recording. Combine the fine and rare Kodály quartets and you have a special release indeed.

Bartók And Kodály String Quartets Foghorn Classics #2009 3 discs

A Brahms and Schumann Revelation from The Alexander Qt and Joyce Yang

Brahms Schumann Piano Quintets

Joyce Yang, Piano/Alexander String Quartet

Foghorn Classics FCL2014

First off, I was most impressed with this recording of two towering masterpieces of the Quintet form, the Schumann Quintet for piano & Strings in E-Flat Major, Op. 44 and the Brahms Quintet for Piano and Strings in F Minor, Op. 34 performed by the terrific Alexander Quartet with Joyce Yang piano. In a nutshell, these are gutsy, lively, exciting and maybe even a bit edgy performances. That statement merits a bit of full disclosure on my part. I generally am not a huge fan of the music of Brahms or Schumann yet I fully realize their genius and popularity. My “thing” is 20^th and 21^st century music, so I (and maybe others so inclined) relate to and enjoy these very visceral, very “modern” performances.

However... these are not dry, hard or cold readings; on the contrary, there is plenty of Romantic warmth and passion. Both quintets are products of young composers and were seen as adventurous, exuberant works at their debuts. The Alexander Quartet and Yang simply allow the composers' youthful energy to shine through.

As the notes to the recording state “The piano quintet is an unusual form. It combines two completely different sonorities: the percussive sound of the piano and the sustained, resonant sound of the string quartet.” Thus, a recording of a piano quintet requires first rate sonics, detailed, out front and bright yet balanced. This Judy Sherman produced disc more than meets that requirement. Although bright and close, the piano rarely comes across too forward or overwhelming. The strings are solid and never mushy and the viola's darker color is always distinct from the other strings.

Brahms composed his only Piano Quintet between 1862 and 1864 when he was around 30 years old. As did several of his works, it had a protracted birth, starting as a sting quintet, then arranged for two pianos and finally recast in its definitive form in 1864.

The first movement of this massive work is a musical adventure unto itself. From the dramatic, arresting opening measures, musical ideas, melodic lines, intriguing harmonic progressions and pulsing cross rhythms flow forth. The forces here bring out all of the music's complexity but always drives the movement forward, never letting the details bog everything down.

The tender “Andante, poco Adagio” leans more to the andante side than the adagio yet still maintains an almost Schubertian lilt. Listen to the gently rocking flow of the very beginning, the recording captures the gentle interplay of the piano and strings. Worth the price of the disc itself.

The C minor scherzo is a revelatory study in musical drama. Moving forward like an elemental force of nature, Yang and the Alexanders pounce into this darkly brooding movement. The devilish syncopated march is muscular and tight, emerging from the murky, funereal opening. The lyrical trio is but a quick respite from the drama before all plunges back into the fray. Totally mesmerizing playing.

The ensemble deftly negotiates its way through the episodic rondo finale. Tender at times, powerful when needed ending with a satisfyingly rushing coda. A fitting a powerful end to a most recommended performance.

Unlike Brahms, the 32 year old Schumann took only a few weeks to complete his Piano Quintet in the fall of 1842, the crowning achievement of his celebrated “Chamber Music Year”.

The energetic and virtuosic “Allegro brillante” opening movement is certainly “brillante” in the hands of Yang and the Alexanders; intelligently paced, sparkling and technically perfect. The deftly contrasted second theme is dolce but never cloying.

The second movement is often referred to as a “funeral march” but Schumann only alludes to a funereal mode, calling the movement “In modo d'una Marcia”. If it is a funeral march, the Yang/Alexander quintet make it a most stumblingly macabre one, likely as Schumann intended.

If one can not imagine a missile streaking towards the heavens while listening to the opening moments of the scherzo, then there is something wrong with you. The ensemble launches the ascending theme with power, grace and firecracker intensity, yet brings welcome contrast to the lyrical trios. Just simply some of the most exciting chamber playing on record.

Whereas the Brahms ends in a bit of a disappointing finale, the Schumann concludes with a dramatic double fugue including the main theme of the first movement. Every entrance and melodic line is precise and clear never bogging down in an unintelligible mess.

San Francisco based Foghorn Classics provides concise but intelligent notes including bios on the artists and a listing of their instrument makers to complete this attractive package. Yang and the Alexander Quartet rouse these grand old gentlemen from their “La-Z-Boys” and make them feel young again to everyone's great benefit. Most recommended.

Brett Dean and Beethoven in St Louis

A trip to St Louis for this concert with the St Louis Symphony, read about it at I Care I You Listen

http://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2014/02/st-louis-symphony-conncects-brett-dean-beethoven/

Miraculous Metamorphoses: KC Symphony Hindemith, Bartók, Prokofiev

Gone forever, it seems, are the days when the major orchestras of the US and Europe churned out new recordings by the dozens every month for the great labels of the era…Columbia, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca… conducted by the giants of the time. Filling that gap are smaller labels like Reference Recordings who produce a few expertly prepared recordings each year. Lucky for all us recorded music fans, Reference has forged a bond with the Kansas City Symphony culminating in a series of well received recordings. Their newly released 4th (a 5th is “in the can”) collaboration was recorded in February 2012 at the then brand new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City.

I also have to give the Kansas City Symphony, Reference Recordings and all involved great credit for daring to record major standard repertoire pieces that often have some very heady competition. No unknown composers or works on this latest disc containing three 20^th century orchestral showpieces, Prokofiev’s “Love for Three Oranges” Suite, Bartók’s “Miraculous Mandarin” Suite and Hindemith’s “Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber.” The program, titled “Miraculous Metamorphoses”, captures some of the best playing yet heard from the Symphony. The ensemble is crisp and visceral, lyrical when called upon combined with Stern's trademark brisk yet not excessive tempi.

Michael Stern’s very first concert as Music Director included a performance of the Hindemith “Metamorphosis” that wowed the audience. This one is even better with the orchestra's now trademark sparkling winds, burnished brass and ringing, clean percussion. One of Hindemith's more colorful and splashy scores, “Metamorphosis” can easily become mere fluff in the wrong hands. Stern relishes the driving, dancing rhythms of the opening movement (reminding us of its origins as a ballet score) followed soon thereafter by a tender and elegant Andantino 3rd movement. The liner notes describe the “Turandot Scherzo” second movement as “giving the percussion a stunning workout”. The percussion of the Kansas City Symphony are more than up to the task at hand and the sonics let the pitched percussion glow while capturing the deep resonance of the drums.

The clarion horn calls over the chattering winds in the march finale are just breathtaking simply one of those recording moments you just have to put on repeat and relish as long as you can. But do not linger too long, the mad rush to the climax is thrilling and powerful.

The Prokofiev “Love for Three Oranges Suite” verily crackled with wit and snap. The whole set is brisk and fresh and the usual clear Reference Recordings sound highlighted the often clever wind and string detail to advantage. The tender elegance of “The Prince and the Princess” movement was nicely contrasted with its more sardonic suite mates, for example the almost too familiar “March” with its absurd wit. Stern fully realizes “Love for Three Oranges” is a charming and farcical romp full of jesters, witches, royalty and magic but never degenerates into mere silliness. Far from dry and foursquare, this is a fine performance that would stand with my favorite Dorati/London or Marriner/London performances.

The violent and complex score of the Bartók “Miraculous Mandarin Suite” was breathtakingly realized by Stern and his forces aided by the stellar recording. Note, for example, the clear ting of the tambourine and the rumbling organ pedals making themselves heard through the din of the street in the opening prelude. The seduction games sections are wonderfully sleazy and decadent. The details that Stern and the recording bring into focus are instrumental in setting this mood, not just an end into themselves. The concluding “chase” fugue is bracing and quick, but not too wild, controlled brutality would be a good description. The important, driving percussion is clearly heard along with the gutsy, frantic strings bringing the suite and the program to an exciting close.

Readable, enlightening CD booklets are almost a surprise in this day of skimpy multi-lingual booklets or no information at all when listening to a download or music service. “Miraculous Metamorphoses'” notes by Richard Freed are intelligent and informative and also include bios of Stern, the recording crew, a brief history of the orchestra and a roster of the musicians.

Produced and engineered by two of the recording world's geniuses, David Frost and Keith O. Johnson, “Miraculous Metamorphoses” has an envious pedigree. I noted that the sound on this release, the first from Helzberg Hall in the Kauffman Center, is a bit dryer, cooler and less reverberant than the previous recordings in the cavernous Community of Christ Auditorium. Details abound however, most welcome in the thickly scored Bartók, and you still want to reach out and touch the instruments that seem to be right with you.

Performances that can stand with the best of them and sonics that sound fabulous even on my built-in computer speakers combine for another Reference Recordings/Kansas City Symphony “hit”.

“Miraculous Metamorphoses”

Hindemith, Prokofiev, Bartók

Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern Music Director and Conductor

Reference Recordings RR-132