JS BACH – ORGELBUCHLEIN BWV 599 – 644
STEPHEN FARR, Organ of StadtKirche, Waltershausen, Germany

RESONUS RES10259  79’02

Unlike some ‘complete’ recordings these sublime chorale settings make for a beautiful programme in their own right. As performed on this organ in Stephen Farr’s continuing project to record the organ works of Bach they make for delightful listening.

FRANCIS POULENC – PIANO CONCERTO & CONCERT CHAMPETRE & other works

MARK BEBBINGTON, piano

JOHN ROBERTS, oboe, JONATHAN DAVIES, bassoon

ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA, JAN LATHAM-KOENIG, conductor

RESONUS RES10256  72’32

This CD presents a balanced programme of works for soloists and orchestra by a composer whose music always sounds fresh and exciting without straying too far from the melodic. A good overview and an entertaining listen.

THEY THAT IN SHIPS UNTO THE SEA GO DOWN – MUSIC FOR THE MAYFLOWER

PASSAMEZZO

RESONUS RES10263  61’23

The Coronavirus pandemic may have put paid to the outdoor celebrations but here we have a wonderful disc that commemorates the setting out for the New World of the Pilgrim Fathers on the Mayflower 400 years ago. These sacred and secular works are taken from books that travelled on the voyage, mostly vocal but with the occasional instrumental piece including music by Dowland, Campion & Richard Allison. A delightful disc with some very interesting settings.

JUAN ESQUIVEL – MISSA HORTUS CONCLUSUS & other works

DE PROFUNDIS, EAMONN DOUGAN, conductor

HYPERION CDA68326 69’29

A disc of music by this still relatively unknown composer from the Spanish Baroque is a very welcome addition. The main work is complimented by a number of other liturgical settings. Included before the Mass is Hortus conclusus by Rodrigo de Ceballos which gives its name to the setting. De Profundis present seem very at home with this music.

STANFORD-GRAY-WOOD-PARRY  – SONGS OF FAREWELL

CHOIR OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY, JAMES O’DONNELL, conductor

HYPERION CDA68301 64’45

The classic Anglican cathedral sound is presented well in this CD from Westminster Abbey. Parry’s substantial Songs of Farewell fills the 2^nd half but the lesser known and shorter works that lead up to them are equally enjoyable. Together they make for a very satisfying sequence. Recorded not in the Abbey, but at All Hallows, Gospel Oak. Choir, soloists and organist all produce a beautiful blended sound.

HERBERT HOWELLS – MISSA SABRINENSIS

THE BACH CHOIR, BBC CONCERT ORCHESTRA

HELENA DIX, CHRISTINE RICE, BENJAMIN HULETT, RODERICK WILLIAMS

DAVID HILL, conductor

HYPERION CDA68294 71’32

I didn’t know this work. Rather than being part of the Anglican choral tradition this is a large scale concert work for choir, soloists and orchestra, written originally for the Three Choirs Festival at Worcester. After a few initial performances It was not revisited until the composer’s 90^th birthday but remains The booklet makes for interesting reading, referring to the near loss of the manuscript when the composer’s bag was stolen from a train! This work deserves to be better known. A lovely bonus track is Michael: A Fanfare setting – a lovely arrangement, originally by the composer, of his well-loved hymn tune for All my hope on God is founded. Choir and orchestra are in good voice.

JANCEVSKIS – AETERNUM

THE MIXED CHOIR OF RIGA CATHEDRAL SCHOOL, JURGIS CABULIS, conductor

HYPERION CDA68328  56’59

I highly recommend this CD of choral music from a Latvian composer who is not yet 30. At times ethereal and relaxing and at other times experimental and more challenging there is great variety and some enthralling performances. The choir of young voices is put through its paces, with demands including some unusual vocal effects as part of the highly disciplined but arresting sound. Unusual texts sit alongside traditional ones. The two longer works here are a setting of O lux beata Trinitas  and When (text from Romeo & Juliet).

FADING

THE GESUALDO SIX, OWAIN PARK, conductor

HYPERION CDA68285 64’06

Another beautiful choral disc with interesting programming. Much of the music here is based around the service of Compline which marks the end of the day. Alongside classic English settings by Tallis, Tye & Byrd are contemporary compositions of traditional and contemporary texts. Composers include Joanna Marsh, Veljo Tormis and Owain Park himself. The exquisite blend of The Gesualdo Six enables the music to breathe and soar.

WIDOR – ORGAN SYMPHONIES 1 (Nos. 1 & 2, Op 13)

WOLFGANG RUBSAM, Skinner organ of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, University of Chicago

NAXOS 8.574161 84’01

WIDOR – ORGAN SYMPHONIES 2 (Nos. 3 & 4, Op 13)

WOLFGANG RUBSAM, Skinner organ of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, University of Chicago

NAXOS 8.574195 78’03

The Naxos Organ Encyclopedia Series is already an impressive achievement with a range of repertoire, well known and less familiar. It is surprising that it is only now that these works have been recorded as part of the project. It is good to have them presented in sequential order in this format with a substantial and interesting American organ being put through its paces by Mr Rubsam. The 2^nd disc includes an original  movement from the 2^nd Symphony that was subsequently replaced – fascinating to compare the two.

TWO LUTES WITH GRACE – PLECTRUM LUTE DUOS OF THE LATE 15^TH CENTURY

MARC LEWTON, lute, PAUL KIEFFER, lute, GRACE NEWCOMBE, voice

NAXOS 8.573854 61’38

Here we have a lovely collection of the earliest surviving repertoire for lute duo, some of it also for voice. This is a very enjoyable programme and an opportunity to hear fine performances of music few are likely to be familiar with.

ANTONIO VERACINI – SONATE DA CAMERA OP 2

ENSEMBLE OPERA QVINTA

DYNAMIC CDS7860 69’03

Here is another release of unusual repertoire. Veracini lived in Florence from late 17^th until the early 18^th. This music for violin and chamber group has been recorded and released in its entirety for the first time.

TCHAIKOVSKY – ALL-NIGHT VIGIL; SACRED CHORAL WORKS

LATVIAN RADIO CHOIR, SIGVARDS KLAVA, conductor

ONDINE ODE 1352-2  53’33

The bulk of this CD returns us to much more familiar ground with this setting of the Vigil, first performed in a concert setting. Four other short works that follow are far less familiar and make for an interesting conclusion. They include A Jurists’ Song, written for the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in St Petersburg, where the composer had studied.

SP

Wagner: Der Fliegende Hollander

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Fabio Luisi

UNITEL 753808

This production by Paul Curran took me back almost half a century to Wieland Wagner’s production which we saw in Bayreuth. Here the sea is the real protagonist and the video projections by Otto Driscoll give a dramatic impact Wieland could only dream of. If the acting is not quite up to the impact of the settings – singers tend to look to the conductor at key moments rather than at each other – then the singing is not in doubt, with Marjorie Owens’ Senata as fine as one could wish for today. The ages of the cast are a little odd as well. This may not matter within a large opera house but close up the Dutchman (finely and ruggedly sung by Thomas Gazheli) looks old enough to be Senta’s grandfather, Bernhard Berchtold as Erik could be her father and only the Steerman (a wonderful naturalistic performance from Timothy Oliver) looks to be her age. The chorus are splendid and don’t over play their hand while the exposed pit makes Wagner’s orchestration all the more thrilling. A pity it is in the three act version as it would have worked well as a single act given the dramatic impact.

Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet

Ural Opera Ballet, Ekaterinburg, Pavel Klinichev

BELAIR BAC 180

I have got so used to Kenneth Macmillan’s splendid version for the Royal Ballet that it comes as something of a shock to engage with an approach which is so vibrant and yet so different. The Ural Opera Ballet bring a sense of youth and vitality, together with Vyacheslav Samadurov’s fluid and yet always virile choreography, creating a world which is totally convincing. One never feels the dance is simply padding or marking the time before the next dramatic moment. Characterisation is very strong with Igor Bulytsyn a rumbustious Mercutio alongside Alexandr Merkushev’s boyishly naïve Romeo and Ekaterina Sapagova’s Juliet just on the cusp of womanhood. This, together with fine playing under Pavel Klinichev, makes for a most effective and moving interpretation.

JS Bach: The Toccatas

Masaaki Suzuki, harpsichord

BIS 2221

We are more familiar with Masaaki Susuki as the director of the Bach Collegium, Japan, but this is one of a number of recordings of solo music he has issued. It may seem strange to label it The Toccatas when there are potentially so many collections which could be given this title. All the more so as the seven works recorded were not necessarily designed as a collection by the composer himself. However they certainly work well together and the order of the performance has been decided by Masaaki Suzuki, opening with the G minor BWV915 and concluding with the F sharp minor BWV910. These are fine performances, with a clarity and precision, but without any lack of humanity in the playing.

Elgar and Beach Piano Quintets

Takacs Quartet, Garrick Ohlsson, piano

HYPERION CDA 68295

An interesting combination, the Elgar more familiar and immediate, and Amy Beach’s almost unknown. Yet they sit very comfortably alongside each other and in any concert programme would seem perfectly appropriate. Both are in minor keys and introspective in tone and approach, though always engaging.

Shostakovich: Violin Concertos

Alina Ibragimova, violin; State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, Vladimir Jurowski

HYPERION CDA 68313

David Oistrakh, for whom the first concerto was written, asked the composer to redraft the opening of the final movement to allow him some slight respite after the rigours of the cadenza. Alina Ibragimova choses here to give us the original version, and splendidly so. One can sense why Oistrakh asked for the rewrite but the original is certainly convincing and it is good to have it available.

Bassoon Concertos

Bram van Sambeek, bassoon; Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Alexei Ogrintchouk

BIS 2467

A charming combination. The Mozart and Weber concerti are very familiar but I had never come across Edouard Du Puy though his composition sits snuggly between his more famous brethren. Bram van Sambeek brings a lightness of touch and gentle humour to the solo part which makes this a very attractive disc.

Max Reger: Clarinet Quintet, String Sextet

Thorsten Johanns, clarinet; Diogenes Quartet; Roland Glassl, viola; Wen-Sinn Yang, cello

CPO 555 340-2

I have known Reger best from his organ compositions, so this opened new doors for me. The String Sextet reminded me of late Richard Strauss in its mellow romanticism and the Clarinet Quintet has a freshness of touch which is engaging.

Franck: Le Chasseur Maudit

RCS voices; Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Jean-Luc Tingaud

NAXOS 8.573955

This is Franck at his most Wagnerian which is not necessarily to all tastes though fine if you are happy to indulge in late romantic angst. Les Eolides is particularly atmospheric, but the whole is a tribute to Franck’s superb orchestrations.

Haydn: Ops 20 No 1, 4 & 6

Dudok Quartet, Amsterdam

RESONUS RES 10262

This is the second cd covering Op20 and is as impressive as the first with its intelligence and humanity. Worth seeking out immediately.