Here it is, for all it is worth, my list of best CDs of 2015. Everyone seems to do it, so why not? Since it is my list I make the rules, thus some of these are discs that have been released earlier but I first encountered this year. Fair enough?
In further news, no Havergal Brian this year but we have Handel and Vivaldi instead. Those who know my listening habits might know those two masters are not often on my list, but two great recordings changed that this time around. There are, as usual, discs of 'new" music, 5 out of 13, about a right mix.
Happy listening, there is something for all here from Vivaldi to Gibson.
Edward Burlingame Hill Symphony # 4, Concertino # 1 for Piano and Orchestra, Concertino # 2 for Piano and Orchestra, Divertimento for Piano and Orchestra
Anton Nel, Piano, Austin Symphony
Orchestra, Peter Bey
Bridge 9443
Edward Burlingame Hill, 1872-1960, is
more famous for his pupils, Leonard Bernstein, Elliott Carter, Roger
Sessions, Walter Piston, Randall Thompson, and Virgil Thompson, than
his own work. Bernstein never really championed his teacher; he
recorded Hill's Prelude for Orchestra and that was it. The 4th
Symphony and 2nd Piano Concertino are both world
premieres. Hill's music
combines a bit of Brahms and
jazz with a
French touch now and then, decidedly
conservative, well crafted but really rather average despite the
eclectic influences. The two Concertinos are the highlights
here. Anton Nel, Piano, and the Austin (TX) Symphony under Peter Bay,
are to be thanked for these revealing performances of a neglected
figure in American music.
Antonio Vivaldi Concerti per Flauto
Maurice Steger, recorders, I
Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis
Harmonia Mundi 902190
Vivaldi.....yawn.... yawn. Not so fast,
well actually rather vivaciously fast. This stunning album of the
flute concerti performed on recorders wins the “Most Fun” award
this year. I am not sure if the quick (really quick) tempi, brash
sonorities and virtuoso solo lines are “correct”.... I don't
care; sheer musical excitement from first to last note. I have played
this disc over and over, each track a jewel. A late 2014 release that
I did not get around to hearing until this summer, much to my loss.
Otto Ketting Symphony # 3, Symphony #
4, “Printemps”
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic
Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, JaapVan Zweden,
Thierry Fischer, Otto Ketting
Etcetera 2009
Not a new recording, but as I mention,
sometimes I note recordings that are new to me. Ketting (1935-2012)
was a teacher, composer and trumpet player. The big names in Dutch
music (Haitink, van Zweden, Vonk, Porcelijn) have performed his
works, but recordings remain elusive. This is a great intro to his
powerful, imposing works, that are boldly colorful (even in the
strings and brass only 4th Symphony) and accessible. Check out his
final symphony # 6 on a YouTube performance as well, probably will be
a while before it gets a recording.
Zhou Long/Chen Yi: Symphony 'humen
1839'; Zhou Long: The Rhyme Of Taigu; The Enlightened
New Zealand Symphony, Darrell Ang.
Naxos 8570611
Pulitzer winner and KC based Zhou
Long's music tends to be a bit more elusive and introspective than
the more brash and colorful compositions by wife Chen Yi. but it is
always worth the effort. The attraction here is “The Enlightened”
which was premiered by the KC Symphony in 2005. Glad to see it
finally committed to disc under the fine direction of Ang and the NZ
forces.
Saint-Saëns Symphony # 3, Introduction
and Rondo Capriccioso, La Muse et le Poète"
Noah Geller, Mark Gibbs, Jan Kraybill
Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern
Reference Recordings 136
In an earlier review, I called the
Kansas City Symphony and all associated with this recording “gutsy”
for tackling some pretty established repertoire. Here again,
Reference Recordings, Michael Stern and he Kansas City Symphony have
proved they can compete with the best. The two concertante works are
performed with all the necessary gusto, poise and flair to bring them
off most successfully. The Symphony, the big draw for this incredibly
realistic, audiophile recording, comes off highly successful, with
the organ well integrated into the texture as it should be.
“Woman at the new Piano” new piano
works by Tom Flaherty, Peter Yates, Adam Schoenberg and James
Matheson.
Nadia Shpachenko, Genevieve Feiwen Lee,
piano
Reference Recordings “Fresh” 711
Prodigiously talented, California-based
pianist and teacher, Nadia Shpachenko (with the highly able of
assistance of Genevieve Lee on the two piano works) has recorded a
delightful and diverse program of brand new works she commissioned in
2013 from four outstanding composers. The usual fine and clean
Reference Recordings sound and a most varied and energetic program
make this a must hear and, better yet, own disc.
G. F. Handel, The Messiah
Doyle, Davislim, Zazzo, Neal Davies,
B'rock Belgian Baroque Orchestra Ghent, Bavarian Radio Chorus, Peter
Dijkstra
BR Klassik 900510
The Messiah has been recorded about as
many times as McDonald's has sold a Big Mac. So like a big, greasy
burger, do we really need a new Messiah? In this case, I would say
“heck with the diet, yes we do.” “Period” Messiahs are often
dry, mechanical performances with a chorus of 6 and an orchestra of
4. On the opposite, there are the bloated, bellowing affairs with the
whole town as chorus, soloists who think it is a Wagner opera, a
couple of orchestras, and the biggest local organ for good measure.
Dijkstra's ensemble and chorus is just the right size to propel the
drama forward without overwhelming or getting lost in the whole
affair. The Bavarian Radio Chorus is unmatched, with clear and crisp
diction and tight ensemble. The soloists are uniformly fine, and
Dijkstra takes things at a fair, but not excessive clip. This is how
historically informed music should sound, full of drama and life, not
slow, icy sludge.
Jean Martinon, The Complete Chicago
Symphony Orchestra Recordings
Robert Casadesus, Piano; Benny Goodman,
Clarinet; Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jean Martinon
RCA/Sony 88843062752 (10 discs)
Oh Chicago... you did not know what you
had with Jean Martinon. The caustic critics berated him and compared
him unfairly to Reiner; Martinon being a polar opposite of the
autocratic German. We are richer, however, for what we do have.
Repertoire ranging from Weber (Clarinet Concerti with Benny Goodman)
to the definitive performance of Peter Mennin's Symphony # 7
(tragically neglected) and Martinon's own 4th Symphony. The Nielsen
4th is still a benchmark today, as are the Roussel selections. A
bargain price too.
NOW Ensemble “Dreamfall”
Music of Scott Smallwood, Mark
Dancigers, John Supko, Nathan Williamson, Sarah Kirkland Snider,
Andrea Mazzariello & Judd Greenstein
NOW Ensemble
New Amsterdam 64
Upon first listening, one might think
of this as background music since much of it is consonant and
melodic. Closer listening, which is highly recommended, opens a
larger world of color, drama and sound. The brilliant members of NOW
derive lots of color and textures from such a small ensemble, owing
to the eclectic but well balanced instrumentation. The Gorgeous sound
lets the listener hear all the sonic nuances and intricate rhythms.
ArtIfacts Recent Chamber Works Of Mara
Gibson
Thomas Aber, Michael Hall, Robert
Pherigo, Luisa Sello, Mark Lowrey, Ya-Ting Liou, Blas Gonzalez, Alvin
Wong, Instrumentalists
Available on Spotify, CD Baby, Amazon
or old fashioned CD by contacting www.Maragibson.com
Kansas City based Mara Gibson writes
demanding music requiring concentration and an open ear. A Gibson
composition, either a solo work such as “Flone” for solo flute or
a larger scale work “Moments” scored for clarinet, viola and
piano always opens a world of color, drama and unexpected sound.
These works are making their CD premiere so hopefully many more
listeners will come to appreciate her distinctive voice.
Alan Hovhaness, Symphony # 48 “Vision
of Andromeda”, Prelude and Quadruple Fugue, Soprano Saxophone
Concerto
Greg Banaszak, saxophone, Eastern Music
Festival Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz
Naxos 8559755
So what?? Hovhaness is my guilty
pleasure...sue me. Yeah, I know the story, it all sounds the same,
simplistic, uneven in quality, etc. etc. With performances this
fine, in high class sound and music that is so perfectly melodic,
exotically colorful and ultimately enjoyable, who listens to critics
anyway? Listen and get absorbed in Hovhaness' world.
Vladimir Jurovski Symphony # 5, Russian
Painters: Symphonic Pictures
Michail Jurovski, Norrköping Symphony
Orchestra
CPO 777875
A bit of geneology, Vladimir
Michailovich Jurovski (1915-1972), the composer of these two fine
examples of Soviet era symphonic works, is the father of conductor
Michail Jurovski (1945-) and the grandfather of conductor Vladimir
Michailovich Jurovski (1972-). Got that? Symphony # 5 is one of those
wonderful, colorful, bold, brassy works composed in Shostakovich's
and Prokofiev's shadow toeing the line (usually) of Socialist
Realism. Symphony # 5, (1971, one of his last works) is a big affair
full of drama, but never over done. The recording is marred only by
the inadequate organ in the final bars. “Russian Painters”, an
earlier work, is an update on Mussorgsky, and quite interesting in
its own right.
Patrick Castillo “The Quality of
Mercy”, “Cirque”, “This is the hour of lead”
Abigail Fischer, Mezzo, Karen Kim,
Violin, and Ensemble and electronics.
Innova 926
“This is the hour of lead” sets two
poems (Dickinson and Yeats) that bookend a center section of short
interludes and vocalise. A substantial meditation on death and
loss,“this is the hour of lead” seems more of an opera scena than
a song cycle. “The Quality of Mercy” combines the ensemble, mezzo
(Fischer is excellent, never harsh or screachy) in an “abstract
mediation on reconciliation.” “Cirque” is an austere outing
for solo violin, a nice contrast to the busier larger works. Further
proof that “classical” music is not dead, but evolving quite
well, thank you.
