Washington Classical Review Goes Live

The official launch of Washington Classical Review is finally here. The site's first article, I am happy to report, is an exclusive review of the recital by soprano Janai Brugger this past week. This year's winner of the Marian Anderson Vocal Award performed a winning program in the Kennedy Center's Family Theater. In addition to a complete concert calendar, there is also a news article there about the most recent appointments to the National Symphony Orchestra, and a preview of the Washington area season to come will be appearing soon. The next installment of my weekly roundup of streaming video and audio from around the classical Internet will be posted there as well.

Dip Your Ears, No. 214 (The Final Abbado Dud)

#morninglistening to #Abbado’s last concert w/@berlinphil in #Mendelssohn & #Berlioz.#cl… https://t.co/y1xkYB2KDm pic.twitter.com/vINpseVXl1

— Jens F. Laurson (@ClassicalCritic) September 3, 2016

F.Mendelssohn-B., 'Dream', H.Berlioz, Symphonique fantastique C.Abbado / Berlin Philharmonic et al. Berlin Philharmonic H.Berlioz, Symphonique fantastique (E.Varèse, Ionisation) M.Jansons / BRSO BR Klassik

You wouldn’t buy this luxurious, $62 set – “Claudio Abbado – The Last Concert” – for the music it contains: One disc of Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and one of Berlioz’ Symphonique fantastique. So does it make sense to review the performances as if they competed with all the others that are out there? It doesn’t: If just the music were your concern, this set would not competitive because it is a.) very expensive, b.) designed specifically so as not to fit any CD-, book-, or DVD- shelf, and c.) because the performances are, pace Claudio Abbado, middling and very boring. I’m sure the orchestra played their hearts out for him, but it doesn’t amount to any sort of excitement, which is almost shocking, given the repertoire – especially the Berlioz. (Compare this to Mariss Jansons’ recent account with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, for maximum contrast.) The reason to get this might be the enjoyment one gets out its impeccable presentation, the accompanying essays and photos, or the DVD of said concert. But, speaking of the music, you might be tempted to get the $15 mp3 version that Amazon et al. offer. This brings us back to reason C:

The limply conducting Abbado manages the unimaginable and sucks all the life out these two works. They are sapped of energy and zest and fall on the floor like a limp squid; it never sparks any fireworks -- like a damp squib. In the Mendelssohn it’s perhaps less surprising; I’ve always found those London recordings of his – especially the symphonies, however much praised by others – on the boring side (compare those to Dohnanyi/Decca, for example, and Maag/Decca for the ‘Dream’). But even then, not nearly as boring as this. If you want to do yourself and your memory of Abbado a favor, pick any one (or all) of the recordings George Pieler and I assembled in this tribute on Forbes: The 13 Best Recordings of Claudio Abbado: A Remembrance and give this a pass.

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Bernstein via Angers: John Axelrod in Conversation (2011)

Originally published on WETA's website, Tuesday, 5.31.11, in anticipation of the Axelrod-led NSO concerts of Leonard Bernstein’s “Kaddish Symphony”, with text and narration by Samuel Pisar, June 2nd, 3rd and 4th of 2011. Re-posting of this account was largely inspired by this brilliant, marvelously honest and superbly written article in the Houston Press from Shaila Dewan: "Perfect Pitch". I could only wish that anything I have ever or will ever write would still ring so true twenty years later!

Angers is a small and picturesque town to the west of Paris in the Pays de la Loire region with about 160,000 inhabitants, cute (or bountiful) enough to attract ransacking Vikingsin the 9^th century. In its center rises the impressive Cathedral Saint-Maurice of Angers, begun in Romanesque style a thousand years ago and – after fiery interruptions and setbacks – finished in Gothic garb early in the 13^thcentury.

In it the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire performed Hector Berlioz’L’enfance du Christ, some time last month. To be precise, it was the Nantes-division of the bipartite Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire; the Anger division was busy playing film music at an Anger theater that night. Conducting the ONPL was their current music director, Houston-born John Axelrod, “America’s most unknown great conductor”. Or was it “America’s greatest unknown conductor”? That may not be a direct quote, but more or less the gist of his introductory remarks when we meet up after the concert, over the comforting fare of a few Belgian beers and pizza. Intriguing… of sorts.

That concert—Delphine Haidan (mezzo), Donat Havar (tenor), Stefano Palatchi (bass), and a familiar voice from his Washington appearances, baritone François LeRoux were the soloists—was impossible to judge after a tiresome trip to Angers via Paris. With four hours of sleep and eight hours of flying and riding through the countryside (I dream of train-travelling bliss by way of combining French high-speed rail tracks with German trains one day… until then the crammed discomfort of the TGV has to suffice), even the best performance of L’enfance du Christ would have been

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Perchance to Stream: Labor Day 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.

• The Collegium Vocale Gent and Capriccio Stravagante, under Skip Sempé, perform Jean Gilles's Requiem pour les funérailles de Louis XV, recorded last June at the Chapelle Royale in Versailles. [France Musique]


• Listen to a performance of Bruckner's third symphony, and music by Wagner, with Andris Nelsons conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, recorded last June in Leipzig. [France Musique]


• From the Salzburg Festival, a performance of Otto Nicolai's Il templario starring Juan Diego Flórez (Vilfredo d'Ivanhoe), Clémentine Margaine (Rebecca), Luca Salsi (Briano di Bois-Guilbert), and others. Andrés Orozco Estrada conducts the Vienna Philharmonic and Salzburger Bachchor. [Ö1]


• René Jacobs conducts a performance of Gassmann's L´Opera seria at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. [ARTE]


• Christian Gerhaher joins the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester for Bach's Ich habe genug, and Philippe Jordan also conducts Bruckner's ninth symphony. [BBC Proms]


• Listen to the rest of the concerts from the past week at the Proms. [BBC Proms]


• Simon Rattle leads the Berlin Philharmonic in music of Grieg and Beethoven, plus the Mendelssohn violin concerto with soloist Vilde Frang. [Ö1 | Part 2]


• Watch Edgar Moreau play the first cello concerto of Saint-Saëns with the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, under conductor Kazuki Yamada. [ARTE]


• From the Festival de Saint-Denis, the Orchestre National de France performs Beethoven's ninth symphony, conducted by Michele Mariotti and recorded in June at the Basilica of Saint-Denis. [France Musique]


• John Neschling conducts the Orchestre National de France, with pianist Bertrand Chamayou, soprano Malin Hartelius, and baritone Christian Immler, for music by Saint-Saëns and Zemlinsky, recorded at the Festival de Radio France. [Ö1]


• Daniel Harding leads the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in the opening concert of the Musikfest Berlin, with the premiere of Wolfgang Rihm's Poème dansé Tutuguri. [BR-Klassik]


• Andrew Manze conducts the Camerata Salzburg in music by Handel, J.C. Bach, Mozart, and Haydn. [Radio Clásica]


• From 2015, a performance of Berlioz's Les Troyens at the Hamburg Opera, starring Catharina Naglestad (Cassandre), Elena Zhidkova (Didon), and Torsten Kerl (Enée). [Radio Clásica]


• Listen to performances from the Early Music Festival in Utrecht. [AVRO Klassiek]


• Watch a program called Labirinto d'amore at the Festival de Sablé with Anna Reinhold and lutenist Thomas Dunford. [Culturebox]


• Nathalie Stutzmann and Emőke Baráth perform in Il duello amoroso, a selection of airs and duets by Handel, at the Festival de Sablé. [Culturebox]


• Watch three concerts from the International Music Festival "Stars on the Baikal," an event under the artistic direction of pianist Denis Matsuev at the Irkutsk State Musical Theater, near Lake Baikal in southern Siberia. [Medici.tv]


• The Mandelring Quartett plays music by Haydn, Ravel, and Schubert, recorded last month at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg. [Ö1]


• Mezzo-soprano Marie-Claude Chappuis joins Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico for music by Haydn, Vivaldi, Purcell, and Sammartini, recorded in July at the Internationale Festival Geistlicher Musik - Freiburg. [Ö1]


• From the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, a Schubert recital by soprano Christina Landshamer, tenor Maximilian Schmitt, and pianist Gerold Huber. [Ö1]


• Rudolf Buchbinder plays a recital at the Carinthischer Sommer, recorded last month, with music by Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert. [Ö1]


• From the Festival Messiaen au Pays de La Meije, pianist Luis Fernando Pérez performs Albeniz's Ibéria. [France Musique]


• Les Muffati and Vox Luminis perform Telemann's Donnerode, composed in commemoration of the 1755 earthquake in Lisbon, and Almeida's Mass in F Major, recoorded at the Festival de Sablé. [France Musique]


• Violinist Hiro Kurosaki performs Telemann's Zwölf Fantasien für Violine ohne Bass, TWV 40:14-25, recorded last month at the Innsbrucker Festwochen. [Ö1]


• From the Salzburg Festival, Constantinos Carydis leads the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg in an all-Mozart program. [Ö1]


• A recital by tenor Benjamin Bruns and pianist Gerold Huber, recorded last month at the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg. [Ö1]


• Listen to the recording of Stanislaw Moniuszko's opera Halka, starring Barbara Zagorzanka (Halka), Wieslaw Ochmann (Jontek), and others. [Ö1]


• Semyon Bychkov conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in music of Glanert and Brahms, recorded in 2015. [CSO]


• Watch performances by youth orchestras from around the world at the Young Euro Classic. [ARTE]


• From the Radio France archives, listen to Louis Armstrong play the Salle Pleyel in Paris, recorded on March 2, 1948. [France Musique]


• From the Proms, Semyon Bychkov leads the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Thomas Larcher's second symphony, Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder (with Elisabeth Kulmann), and Strauss's Alpine Symphony. [France Musique]


• From the Proms, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra performs music by Mozart, Abrahamsen, and Tchaikovsky, conducted by Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, with soprano Barbara Hannigan. [France Musique]

CD Review: John Jones

J. Jones, Eight Setts of Lessons for the Harpsichord, M. Meyerson (released on May 27, 2016) Glossa GCD921808 | 107'03"

Charles T. Downey, CD reviews: Mitzi Meyerson
Washington Post, September 2

Mitzi Meyerson loves to explore the dusty corners of the harpsichord repertory. Her series of recordings for the Glossa label has resurrected music by Gottlieb Muffat,Claude-Bénigne Balbastre, Georg Böhm, Giovanni Battista Somis and Richard Jones — none of them exactly household names. Her latest discovery is “Eight Setts of Lessons for the Harpsichord,” composed by John Jones in the 1700s (with no relation to Richard Jones). This Jones served as organist and choirmaster at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, where, at the end of a distinguished, four-decade career, he was succeeded by Thomas Attwood, who had studied in Vienna with Mozart.

These harpsichord lessons, a varied mixture of dance pieces and other movements, have never been recorded before. The third set consists entirely of dances, in almost the order standardized by Bach and others. Meyerson gives the two-voice Courante a genial simplicity, which trails off innocently. The Saraband, which she takes after no pause, exchanges melodies between hands, the echo played on a stop with a nasal buzz. The set’s concluding Gavot takes on Scottish bagpipe colors, with some wrong-note grace notes in the opening drone and plenty of Scotch snap rhythms. A lute stop, or something like it, serves as the mandolin-like accompaniment of the Siciliana that opens the fourth set.

Other pieces reveal the Italianate influence of Handel and other composers in London. Although many of the movements are simple in texture, making an impression with liveliness of rhythm and melody, Jones also shows a more organ-like use of counterpoint in the fifth set’s opening movement. The quasi-improvisational opening movement of the sixth set has the feel of an intonatio or toccata, part of an overall impression that Jones’s aim was to cover as broad a range of musical styles as possible.

Throughout these performances, Meyerson did not feel bound by the written score, adding fanciful embellishments or triumphant cadences; truncating repeats or adding partial repeats as tags; and filling in chordal textures. Perhaps because the ending of the eighth set was not grand enough, Meyerson inverted the last two movements, ending with the heavier March. She appends a more virtuosic Brillante in the same key (D), drawn from the 17th grouping of movements in Jones’s later “Lessons for the Harpsichord” — a preview, one hopes, of more Jones to come.

SEE ALSO:

John Jones, Eight Setts of Lessons for the Harpsichord (London, 1754)
---, Lessons for the Harpsichord (London, 1761)
Charles T. Downey, Mitzi Meyerson at LoC (February 25, 2014)

Dip Your Ears, No. 213 (A Seven-Seal One Man Show)

#morninglistening to #FranzSchmidt on @OehmsClassics w/@Phil_Hamburg. Trying to listen wit… https://t.co/CB2lRQTb1y pic.twitter.com/xF3Fx57EsP

— Jens F. Laurson (@ClassicalCritic) August 30, 2016

Franz Schmidt is one of the great 20^th Century romantics and his oratorio, The Book of the Seven Seals is his grandest, certainly most ambitious work. (The symphonies are much more accessible and best to start with; for example No.4, the re-issued Welser-Möst recording of which was on the Best Recordings of 2006 list.) Franz Schmidt has a chapter in Surprised by Beauty and it merits

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Dip Your Ears, No. 212 (Alice Sara in Wonderland)

#morninglistening to #Grieg w/@BRSO, @esapekkasalonen, @alicesaraott on @dgclassics, title… https://t.co/KqyF65in44 pic.twitter.com/8q7TvPuhmQ

— Jens F. Laurson (@ClassicalCritic) August 25, 2016

Alice Sara Ott’s latest release is titled “Wonderland”, because, well “Alice”, you know, finds herself enchanted in Grieg’s Lyric Pieces. It makes for a catchy play on words and suggests a concept album. Not surprising, because these days, every release from Deutsche Grammophon seems to be a little bit of a cross-over release; chasing the Zeitgeist, but with shoelaces tied together. It fits that Alice Sara Ott writes in the generally lucid liner notes how these Lyric Pieces (what with trolls and elves and speluncean royalty and lepidoptera being depicted) are a ‘Wonderland’ to her.

On the cover she’s is surrounded by what are – I think – paper origami butterflies, a reasonably subtle hint at Grieg’s Sommerfugl (op.43/1) and perhaps Alice Sara Ott’s half-Japanese background. In a PR department’s mind she is probably considered the ‘classical’ answer to her ‘romantic’ contemporary pianist colleague Yuja Wang (born in 1988 & 1987 respectively); sharing an instrument, the technical skill (Ott’s perhaps not quite as furiously prodigious), and beauty – where Ott scores high(er) on classical beauty and dress – even with the occasional skin-tight

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Forbes Classical CD of the Week

…Johanna Martzy, a favorite violinist of conductor Ferenc Fricsay to work with (they recorded a famous Dvořák Violin Concerto together), was forgotten after a short, splendid career in the 50s. Perhaps time was not ready for the likes of her – or Erica Morini, another Fricsay collaborator. Or it was her illness, or not giving into the amorous advances of powerful producer Walter Legge (who produced this recording for HMV/EMI), or the birth of her daughter and subsequent focus on motherhood that kept her out of the limelight. Whatever the reasons…

-> Classical CD of the Week: Classical CD Of The Week: Bach Woman in Mad Men Times

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