Philippe Herreweghe on Haydn and why Making Records Makes Sense

 In a soft, lightly French accented English (except for “Bruckner” and “Mahler”, which he pronounces with a notable Dutch inflection), Philippe Herreweghe sat down after rehearsals with the Salzburg Camerata for their concerts at the Konzerthaus to talk about music. Not Beethoven, or Chopin, which he would go on to perform (and play the hell out of), but Haydn.

Haydn.

Yes!... ?

Is Haydn underrated in a way? Or neglected perhaps? How important is he really in Music?

Well, I have played a lot of Haydn and next week, for example, I am making a recording of

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Best Recordings of 2014 (#9)

Time for a review of classical CDs that were outstanding in 2014 (published in whole on Forbes.com). My lists for the previous years: 2013, 2012, 2011, (2011 – “Almost”), 2010, (2010 – “Almost”), 2009, (2009 – “Almost”), 2008, (2008 - "Almost") 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004.

# 9 - New Release

Mieczysław Weinberg / Benjamin Britten, Violin Concertos, Linus Roth (violin), Mihkel Kütson (conductor), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Challenge SACD 72627

M.Weinberg / B.Britten, Violin Concertos L.Roth / M.Kütson / DSO Berlin (Challenge SACD)

Linus Roth’s concerto disc to follow up the complete Mieczysław Weinberg Violin Sonatas has critics raving. It became a Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice with David Fanning comparing Roth favorably to Lenoid Kogan and Maxim Vengerov, extolling the subtlety, range of color, imagination and summing it up: “In short: an outstanding disc.” In the Financial Times Andrew Clark hones in on the Britten, which he writes “has never sounded so soft, sensuous or soul-bearing—and [this disc] reveals its stature like no other.” Graham Rickson from the artsdesk.com fawns “if any performer can popularize the [Weinberg concerto] it has to be the phenomenal Linus Roth, whose unflagging energy makes this CD one of the best concerto discs in years… [The Britten is] helped by gloriously rich, dark-toned orchestral playing… Unmissable, and recorded in sensational sound too.” I would love to say much the same about the performances (only so much: the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (formerly RIAS) under Mihkel Kütson does play the hell out of both works!), but must recuse myself, having written the liner notes. Instead I limit myself to praising the composer, who has been experiencing one of the most deserving and enduring re-discoveries over the last 15 years.

# 9 – Reissue

Anton Bruckner, Symphony No.2 (1877 version), Carlo Maria Giulini (conductor), Vienna Symphony Orchestra, (Wiener Symphoniker)

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For Your Consideration: 'Birdman'

Birdman, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, M. Keaton

Birdman is Alejandro González Iñárritu's first feature since Biutiful, and although it is just as quirky it will probably reach a broader audience. The screenplay, co-written by the director with three other writers (including two who worked on Biutiful), is a meta-Hollywood story. Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thomas, a washed-up blockbuster movie actor, known for having starred in, and then having tried to break away from, a cinematic superhero franchise called Birdman (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). In an attempt to resurrect his non-superhero career, he has rented out the St. James Theater on Broadway to star in and direct his own adaptation of a Raymond Carver story, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.

Not much is going well in Riggan's life. Separated from his wife (Amy Ryan, of The Wire), he struggles to make a connection to his smart-mouth daughter, Sam, whose attempt at recovery from drug addiction, while she works as her dad's personal assistant, is played with incisive resentment by Emma Stone (Superbad, The Help). When a lighting instrument falls on the head of Riggan's male costar, it looks like the production will go down in flames, causing his manager and producer, Jake (a surprisingly contained but still funny Zach Galifianakis), to lose his cool. Nowhere is this movie better than in the artistic seduction and conflict between Riggan and Mike Shiner, the method-besotted stage actor brought in to take over the role, played with vicious relish by Edward Norton. In fact, the movie is likely to resonate the most with actors and perhaps not all in positive ways, as in the back and forth with the two crazy actresses in the play, Lesley (Naomi Watts, from J. Edgar), who brings Mike, her boyfriend, into the production, and Laura (Andrea Riseborough), who is sleeping with Riggan. "Why don't I have any self-respect?" the former asks the latter after one emotional crisis. "Because you're an actress, honey," is the knowing response.

Other Reviews: New York Times | New Yorker | Washington Post | NPR | Christian Science Monitor TIME | Financial Times | Village Voice | David Edelstein | Richard Brody

In a way, the film is about the collision of acting, an art that relies on human-to-human connection in the most primitive ways, with the technical wizardry of modern cinema. At first, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (The New World, The Tree of Life, Gravity) seems to be obsessed with following the actors physically, with many long tracking shots through the rat warren of corridors in the backstage of this great old Broadway theater. Eventually, you realize that the film is -- or rather seems to be, through digital sleight of hand -- one long Steadicam shot, continuous from beginning to end in a way that is physically impossible.

This technical aspect is also where the movie founders, used to show the extravagances of Riggan's fantasy life (without giving away any of the specifics, which would spoil the effect). Presented subtly and sort of in his mind at first, this element of unreality is blown wide open at about the two-thirds point, where the film loses its edge. It is perhaps to justify the venom of the (fictional) New York Times theater critic (Lindsay Duncan), who threatens to shut down Riggan's play before she has even seen it, solely because she hates all that Hollywood shit. (As always, the critic is right if you think about it.) The original score by newcomer Antonio Sanchez, involving lots of improvised, buzzy, agitated drum breaks, is supplemented by whiffs of our favorite music: pieces of Mahler (9th symphony, the song Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen), Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, and even John Adams (including, if you keep your ears open, a section of the "Chorus of Exiled Palestinians" from The Death of Klinghoffer).

'Little Prince' Drowned in High-Fructose Corn Syrup

John Kapusta (Snake) and Henry Wager (Little Prince) in Rachel Portman's The Little Prince,
Washington National Opera, 2014 (photo by Scott Suchman)
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince is really not a book for children. My own kids have steadfastly resisted it for years, but many adults retrospectively think of it as a magical book for children. It never will be, but that did not prevent composer Rachel Portman and her librettist, British playwright Nicholas Wright, from making this morality tale for preoccupied adults, written in a child-like style, into a children's opera. Even with several dollops of sentimental children's chorus and the sugar-sweet staging of director Francesca Zambello, imported this weekend to Washington National Opera and seen on Friday night in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, this version of The Little Prince is a dull affair.

The opera introduces the children's chorus as a group of kids listening to the Pilot, a stand-in for Saint-Exupéry himself, tell the story of his crash landing. The opening backdrop (sets and costumes by Maria Björnson) shows the author's Drawing Number Two, made when he was a child, the X-ray version of the lumpy thing in his Drawing Number One, which adults thought was a hat but which was, of course, a scary snake digesting an enormous elephant. The Pilot then describes the appearance of the Little Prince, retelling the story of his home planet and the other planets he visited before he arrived on Earth, set as a series of comic vignettes, the Vain Man, the Businessman, and so on, ending with the Lamplighter to conclude the first act. Portman's score is saccharine, Hollywood stuff, leaning heavily on harp and glockenspiel in conjunction with the numerous children's chorus bits, as if the whole thing were a tear-jerking flashback.

Other Articles: Anne Midgette, Washington National Opera’s tuneful ‘Little Prince’ pleases kids — or does it? (Washington Post, December 21) ---, From Grown-Ups, a 'Little Prince' for Children (New York Times, November 14, 2005) Robert Devaney, A Talk With 12-Year-Old 'Little Prince,' His Sister and Mom (The Georgetowner, December 18)

The performances were capable all around, beginning with treble Henry Wager, also seen in last year's regrettable holiday opera The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me, whose pristine high notes as the Little Prince were helped more than a little by amplification (the only voice so treated, somewhat incongruously). The Pilot was given plenty of volume by baritone Christian Bowers, last heard in a supporting role in Moby-Dick, a Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist who, hopefully because of nerves rather than something more fundamental, seemed not always sure of his rhythm.

John Kapusta hammed it up as both the Vain Man, with his yellow fat suit and kazoo, and the smooth-tongued, bright green, menacing Snake, and Miss Ionarts did not even realize that they were played by the same singer. Wei Wu deployed his ample bass voice on the rather boring aria of the King, while Lisa Williamson's Rose was a little warbly. The best supporting part was the Fox, sung beautifully by mezzo-soprano Aleksandra Romano. Ultimately, though, too many things are missing, like the "lovely peal" of the Little Prince's laugh, which the narrator says, "irritated me very much," to make this an effective adaptation of the book. In spite of the libretto's rhymed lines, which reduce a profound but already slightly twee book to doggerel platitudes, the story was still a bit lofty for Miss Ionarts, who liked the colorful presentation but had many questions about just what the story was all about.

Best Recordings of 2014 (#10)

Time for a review of classical CDs that were outstanding in 2014 (published in whole on Forbes.com). My lists for the previous years: 2013, 2012, 2011, (2011 – “Almost”), 2010, (2010 – “Almost”), 2009, (2009 – “Almost”), 2008, (2008 - "Almost") 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004.

# 10 - New Release

Johannes Verhulst, String Quartets op.6/1 & 2, Utrecht String Quartet, M|DG 6031840

J.Verhulst, String Quartets op.6/1 & 2 Utrecht String Quartet (M|DG)

After many mid-level jobs in medium-important Dutch music institutions, Johannes Verhulst eventually became the foremost Dutch musician of his time. But as an arch-conservative whose career only kicked off when he met Mendelssohn in 1836 and subsequently studied in Leipzig, he was soon forgotten. Time to resurrect the man’s music, at least, because these late-youthful String Quartets are minor masterpieces that anyone with a hankering for classical-romantic chamber music ought to give a try. They were Mendelssohn-supervised, approved, and dedicated to him—and you can hear it! Schumann reviewed and loved them, too, and chances are so will you, because the Utrecht String Quartet delivers lively Allegros, wistful Adagios, cogent Scherzos, in delicate, elegant, and simply very, very good performances. One for the stocking-stuffer list.

# 10 – Reissue

J.S.Bach, Goldberg Variations et al., Grigory Sokolov (piano), Melodiya 1002049

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Perchance to Stream: O Antiphons Edition

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to online audio and online video from the week gone by. After clicking to an audio or video stream, you may need to press the "Play" button to start the broadcast. Some of these streams become unavailable after a few days.

• Franck Villard conducts a performance of Offenbach's La Grande duchesse de Gérolstein, with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, recorded at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. [France Musique]


• A performance of Verdi's Rigoletto from the Wiener Staatsoper, with Myung-Whun Chung conducting a cast led by Simon Keenlyside, Erin Morley, and Piotr Beczala. [ORF]


• Juan Diego Flórez headlines the opera gala of the Munich Radio Orchestra. [BR-Klassik]


• Andrew Gourlay conducts the Halle Orchestra in Tchaikovsky's score for The Nutcracker. [BBC3]


• From the Temple Church, the BBC Singers perform Handel's Messiah in a version with wind orchestra accompaniment. [BBC3]


• From the Temple Winter Festival, Gallicantus performs masses by Tallis and Rore at the Temple Church in London. [BBC3]


• Polyphony perform festive 20th-century music for Christmas by Tavener, Howells, and Warlock. [BBC3]


• Also at the Temple Winter Festival, Vox Luminis performs late Renaissance and early Baroque music celebrating the birth of Christ. [BBC3]


• Philippe Herreweghe conducts the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and Groot Omroepkoor, with soprano Christina Landshamer and bass Florian Boesch, in Mendelssohn's settings of Psalm 42, Wie der Hirsch schreit and Schubert's Mass (D. 950), recorded this month in Utrecht. [Avro Klassiek | Part 2]


• The Orchestre National de France, under conductor Daniele Gatti, plays music by Stravinsky (Petrouchka) and Strauss (Don Juan, and the Rosenkavalier Suite), at La Scala in Milan. [France Musique]


• German Baroque music for Christmas, by Schütz, Schein, Scheidt, and Johann Michael Bach, performed by Vox Luminis in the Oratoire du Louvre in Paris. [France Musique]


• Francesco Baroni leads Gambe di Legno in a performance of Pietro Paolo Bencini's Christmas oratorio Gesù nato. [ORF]


• A performance of Telemann's cantata Ino with soprano Dorothea Röschmann, plus Concentus Musicus Wien conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt in music of Bach and Handel. [ORF]


• For the 70th birthday of William Christie, listen to his recording of Charpentier's Pastorale sur la naissance de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ and Luigi Rossi's L'Orfeo, recorded in Vienna in 1990. [ORF]


• Music by Tallis, Byrd, Weelkes, and others performed by Voces8, recorded at the Regensburg Early Music Festival in 2013. [RTBF]


• The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, conducted by Bernard Haitink, performs Brahms symphonies (nos. 3 and 4) and piano concertos (with Emanuel Ax as soloist) at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, over two concerts. [France Musique | Part 2]


• Charles Dutoit conducts the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra in music by Stravinsky, Martin, and Saint-Saëns. [RTBF]


• From a concert recorded last September at the Internationalen Brahmsfestes Mürzzuschlag, the Altenberg Trio plays music by Brahms. [ORF]


• Emmanuel Krivine conducts La Chambre Philharmonique in Mendelssohn's fifth symphony ("Reformation") and Beethoven's fifth piano concerto (with Bertrand Chamayou as soloist), recorded at the Cité de la Musique. [France Musique]


• Excerpts of recitals by pianist Beatrice Rana, recorded in Liège and Zdroj (Poland), with music by Bach, Chopin, and Schumann. [RTBF]


• Jean-Claude Casadesus and pianist Adam Laloum perform music by Albéric Magnard, Ravel, and Debussy, with the Orchestre National de Lille. [ORF]


• More Brahms and Dvorak from the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, with conductor Lionel Bringuier and cellist Daniel Müller-Schott. [France Musique]


• Frank Strobel conducts the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien in Paul Hindemith's score for Arnold Fanck's film Im Kampf mit dem Berge: Eine Alpensymphonie in Bildern, recorded at the Wiener Konzerthaus. [ORF]


• Watch the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, under conductor Tugan Sokhiev, perform music by Webern and Prokofiev, plus yet another percussion concerto, this time by James MacMillan (with the inevitable Colin Currie). [Medici.tv]


• Nikolaus Harnoncourt leads Concentus Musicus Wien in a performance of Mozart's Haffner-Serenade and "Linz" symphony, recorded last October in Graz. [ORF | Part 2]


• Listen to the Quatuor Varèse perform music by Mozart, Dutilleux, and Webern. [France Musique]


• Jérôme Garcin reads his poetry, interspersed with music by Fauré, Debussy, Duparc, and Bach, in celebration of Jean de La Ville de Mirmont, recorded last month in Soissons. [France Musique]


• Karl Richter conducts the ORTF Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus in Haydn's Creation, recorded in 1970 at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. [France Musique]

Dip Your Ears, No. 186 (Detmold’s Mahler Surprise)

G.Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde (Schoenberg/Riehn Chamber Version) Alfredo Perl / Detmold CO / G.Romberger, S.Rügamer M|DG

Downsizing to Effect

I’m sure Detmold’s a nice city, but its reputation comes with overtones of dour, drab, and dismal: Some status-burden to overcome for its chamber orchestra! Add a conductor better unknown as a Beethoven-pianist (Alfredo Perl), and two singers of whom insiders might know Gerhild Romberger but probably not Stephan Rügamer. Further add some mighty competition in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde—even in the chamber version—and you have a non-starter of a new release from MDG, unless you are one of the dozen people who specifically enjoy their (actually amazing) 2+2+2 three dimensional sound setup. Right? Not so! The orchestra, aided by an audiophile recording, sounds darkly rich, with woodwinds and double basses swaying and creaking like old trees. The strings add leathery tenaciousness and delicacy. Gerhild Romberger’s warm, smoky, reedy hue with warmth adds further grittiness, and Stephan Rügamer—still a little strained in “Das Trinklied”—sounds at ease in “Von der Jugend” and colorfully so in “Der Trunkene”. 

Stradivari Christmas

J. Adams, String Quartet, St. Lawrence String Quartet (Nonesuch, 2011)

Charles T. Downey, St. Lawrence String Quartet celebrates ‘A Stradivari Christmas’ at Library of Congress (Washington Post, December 20, 2014)

In the near-perfect acoustics of the Library of Congress’s Coolidge Auditorium on Thursday night, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

On or around Dec. 18 every year since 1936, the library celebrates what might be called “A Stradivari Christmas,” marking the anniversary of the death of Antonio Stradivari, the celebrated Italian instrument maker. A lucky string quartet is picked to play his exquisite instruments, chosen from the library’s collection, an honor that fell this year to the St. Lawrence String Quartet... [Continue reading]

St. Lawrence String Quartet
Stradivari Anniversary Concert
Library of Congress

STRADIVARI ANNIVERSARY CONCERT:
Parker Quartet (2013) | Miró Quartet (2012) | Borromeo Quartet (2011)
Sybarite5 (2010) | Parker Quartet (2009) | Harlem Quartet (2008)
Formosa Quartet (2007) | Ensō Quartet (2006) | Jupiter Quartet (2005)