Newent Orchestral Society
72 years of music making, 1940-2012

Reviews and comment

On music mainly written since the beginning of the 20th C, including CD and DVD releases plus the occasional book; reviewed by Bill Anderton

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Feldman, Piano and String Quartet, Vicki Ray (Piano), Eclipse Quartet, Bridge
Familiarity with Morton Feldman never prepares you for what you hear from his works for the first time. My intitial reaction was boredom with this but that was completely dispelled on a second hearing. The music, as always, is reflective and meditative with ample empty spaces. This lengthy piece (79 minutes) needs to be heard in the right frame of mind. Piano chords spark the quartet into brief life, then eventually it becomes blurred as to whether piano precedes quartet, responds to it, or is part of it. My second listening was with headphones and I lost myself in this sound world, was mesmerised and revitalised by it.

Shostakovich, Symphony No.6; Symphony No.12 "The Year 1917", Royal Phil. Orch., c. Vasily Petrenko, Naxos
One noteworthy point is that Shostakovich's orchestration, as always, is superb. The result is clarity, making it easy to appreciate the combinations of orchestral sections in their complexity and to appreciate the ease with which they intermesh. This is powerful music from a powerful composer, brimming with political and historic significance. Both of these symphonies had their origin in large scale works about Lenin.

Boccherini Symphonies, Neues Berliner Kammerorchester, c. Michael Erxleben, Phoenix Editions
This two-cd set selection (Luigi Boccherini, cellist and composer, 1743-1805) comes from the Classical period and these works are fully formed symphonies, naturally sounding Haydenesque in their style. There has been ample discussion as to whether Haydn or Boccherini was the "founder" of the string quartet. These symphonies are superbly played and recorded and a joy to listen to. The music is an expression of perfection and as such this collection does not disappoint. It is tempting to play the CDs from end to end but the effect is heightened if you exercise restraint and listen to just one or two symphonies in one sitting to absorb the experience to the full.

Michael Nyman In Concert, DVD, Arthaus Musik. The Michael Nyman Band Live at Studio Halle
Michael Nyman is one of the most commercially successful contemporary composers, making a name for his film (most notably, "The Piano") and TV scores. His music is minimalist (he is credited with inventing this term) and full of shifting patterns. He has been criticised for "recycling" which means borrowing motifs from other composers and turning them to his own ends. This is great music, thoroughly entertaining and captivating and is performed in Handel's home town. The Michael Nyman Band were originally formed as a street band and the lineup was designed to make as much noise as possible without amplification. The band now includes a string quartet which, of necessity, is amplified. The sound they make retains the original flavours and is raw and real. Great titles, too, e.g., "Prawn Watching" and "Wheelbarrow Walk".

Elgar: The Violin Music, 3-CD Set from Naxos
As a violinist, I appreciate Elgar's ability to write brilliant music for this instrument so was delighted to receive a set of CDs containing the Concerto, Sonata and a host of Miniatures. Elgar through this music puts the lie to the idea that the English sensibility is lacking in emotional expression and range. On the contrary, it brims with feelings that span the whole gamut of possibilities. The violinist is Marat Bisengaliev, pianist, Benjamin Frith, orchestra, the West Kazakhstan Phil. The cover has a beautiful photo. of the river next to Worcester cathedral.

American Music For Percussion, Vol.2, New England Conservatory Percussion Ensemble,
Naxos American Classics
This won't be to everyone's taste but if you want to try something different, give this a try. The piece by Elliott Carter is combative and demanding but the rest (Child, Cohen, Harbison, Lerdahl) is an inspiring mix of inventiveness, with an incredibly wide range of timbres to suffuse and educate your musical ear.

George Crumb, The Ghosts of Alhambra and Voices From A Forgotten World, Complete Crumb Edition, Vol. 15, Bridge Records.
The first selection is for baritone, guitar and one percussionist. It is a return by Crumb (1929 - ) to his favourite poet, Lorca. The second selection is a cycle of American traditional songs, including Native American, for mezzo-soprano, baritone, piano and four percussionists. I didn't think I was going to like this as old American folk tunes, like "Bringing In The Sheaves" and "House of the Rising Sun" remind me of music lessons at school.  I was wrong as they are mystical rather than earthy or patriotic.  Crumb expresses fantasy, myth, spirituality, wit and humour.

"Uniko", Kronos Quartet, Accordionist, Kimmo Pohjonen, Sampling Artist, Samuli Kosminen, Composer, Kimmo Pohjonen, Ondine.
This is the latest collaborative music from the seminal Kronos Quartet. The CD is packaged not like a classical piece of music but more like a rock music offering. It will certainly appeal to a wide age range. There is an accompanying atmospheric photograph of light playing on rough seas, the waves blown about by high wind. That describes the music better than any words. It has been written for string quartet, accordion, voice and samples. Don't miss this one.  It will take its place in the classics of contemporary music. Read more here.

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957), Symphonies Nos 4 and 5, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, c. Pietari Inkinen, Naxos.
There are two contrasting symphonies on this CD, the 4th is bleak, dark, moody, described by the Finnish composer Sibelius as "psychological", the second is much more open and expansive. Sibelius's music is always comprehensible, never predictable, brimming with deep emotions. These two were written at the height of his enormous popularity, in the first couple of decades of the the 20th C. The 5th was written to the background of Russian Revolution and subsequent Finnish civil war.  There is also a background of drink and cigar smoke. Sibelius said what he had to say, then stopped, spending the last 25 years of his life in compositional silence.

Hans Otte (1926-2007), "Das Buch der Klänge" ("The Book of Sounds"), Ralph van Raat, Piano. Naxos.
This is blissfully peaceful music, suprisingly accessible and undemanding despite its depth. I was reminded of the effect of listening to a fountain in a garden pond, the notes tumbling like drops of water. The music is sculpted sound and produces an effect on the listener that is meditative, drawing you into its world with variations of timbre and resonance.  The result is haunting and hypnotic as the player and listener together discover the piano, reborn as a new instrument.

The Butterfly Lovers Concerto, Soloist, Takako Nishizaki, Conductor, Fan Chengwu, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.  Marco Polo, 50th Anniversary Edition
Typical of Chinese classical music, this beautiful piece is entirely based on a narrative.  It is a musical telling of a folklore tale of thwarted love. The lovers come to share the same grave and at the end rise from it as two butterflies.  Written in 1985 by He Zhanhao and Chen Gang while students at the Shanghai Conservatory, the melodies and style are adapted from traditional Chinese opera.  It is a blend of western and Chinese classical music and the solo violin technique alludes to that of the "Erhu", a Chinese two-string fiddle.   The concerto falls into three sections: Falling In Love (exposition); Refusing to Marry (development); Metamorphosis (recapitulation).  This special boxed set includes a DVD recording as well as the CD and both discs also contain a recording of "The Yellow River", for piano and orchestra, based on the famous "Yellow River Cantata", originally devised by committee!  When I first received this box set, I thought it was over packaged - it is not.  It is superbly packaged, holding within a world of truly magical music.

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007), "Mantra", Pestova/Meyer Piano Duo, Jan Panis, Electronics, Naxos
For anyone fearful of approaching Stockhausen, please listen to this. It is meditative and relaxing, hypnotic even.  Treat it as ambient music to dip in and out of, or for concentrated listening, either way is fine.  The electronics involved fit comfortably with the classical piano and Stockhausen's idea here was of one single musical figure expanded over a long period of time, just under 68 minutes, to be precise.

Philip Glass (1937 -): String Quartets, Nos 1-4.  Carducci Quartet. Naxos
This disc features the first four of Glass's five quartets, ranging from the First escaping from serialist composition without a return to classical means, through the minimalist and expressive Second ("Company") and Third ("Mishima"), both derived from theatre and film scores, to the more expansive manner of his Fourth ("Buczak") and its allusions to the formidable string quartet heritage, in particular those of Schubert and Dvorák.  There are moments of powerful silence in both the First and Fourth, which work perfectly in the context of this magical mesmerising sound world.

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992): Trois Mélodies and Harawi; Hetna Regitze Bruun, Soprano; Kristoffer Hyldig, Piano. Naxos
These songs by Messiaen (composer, organist and ornithologist), have a strange aura about them.  They are full of surprises at every turn and quite mesmerising. Their reason for being sounds gloomy, both being inspired by the loss of loved ones. They are, however, optimistic and look beyond any confining boundaries of depression to the stars - and are beautifully performed.

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): Symphony No.7; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mariss Jansons. BR Klassik
Composed during the summers of 1904/05, this belongs with the 5th and 6th symphonies as being entirely instrumental. The second and fourth movements are labelled as "Nachtmusik" and this is such an evocative symphony that it is hard to avoid the usual suggestion that it expresses dark and light on many levels and in many ways, the final movement being irrepressibly positive and "dawning". It is throughout unmistakably Mahlerian and, even though late in the cycle of his symphonies, would be a wonderful introduction to anyone who has not listened properly to Mahler before.

Ivor Gurney (1890-1937): Songs; Susan Bickley, Mezzo-Soprano; Iain Burnside, Piano; Naxos English Song Series
Poet and composer, Ivor Gurney, composed more than 300 songs. This is a selection of settings of his music to words by such poets as John Masefield, William Shakespeare, W.B. Yeats and Walter de la Mare. His genius was in the way his music combines perfectly with the words and his inspiration was the countryside around Gloucester. There are 30 songs on this CD, each is a testament to the greatness that English music can achieve in this genre.

Tan Dun: Water Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra; Royal Stockholm Orchestra; Conductor, Tan Dun; Water Percussion, David Cossin; Opus Arte DVD
Tan Dun is well know for award-winning film scores and is also composer of a "Paper Concerto". His music is inspired by early childhood memories of village life in China and his compositional concepts involve the notion that every little thing has a life and a soul.  Ancient water ceremonies as well as natural water sounds inspire this concerto, whose performance is visually stunning as well as musically unique. There is an interweaving here of Western and Chinese traditions to create music that has the power of enchantment.

Richard Strauss: Salome; The Royal Opera; Conductor, Edward Downes; with Maria Ewing as Salome; sung in German with English subtitles; Opus Arte DVD
This 1992 production is directed by Peter Hall.  I remember his stunning "Midsummer Night's Dream" from the 1970s, and this, in the simplicity of its deliberately dated production creates the same powerful magic, albeit with completely different subject matter. The original production was in Dresden, 9 December, 1905 and created a near riot. The music itself was controversial enough, but add to this the Dance of the Seven Veils and the portrayal of Jewish elders as buffoons and the mixture was lethal. Today, the most shocking aspect is the final scene when Salome kisses and declares her love to the severed head of John the Baptist. Oh, yes, and the libretto is by Oscar Wilde. Wow!

Morton Feldman (1926-1987): Rothko Chapel (1971); Why Patterns? (1978)
New Albion Records, Inc.
These are examples of the meditative compositional style of American composer, Morton Feldman who explored the use of timbre, silence, voices and a wide range of instruments. The music is not demanding but has the strange effect of being different each time you listen to it, just as no two sunsets or sunrises are the same. This music seems to respond to your mood, as much as the other way round. The two pieces recorded here are a worthy introduction to Feldman and the musical soundscapes he created.

Fear of Music: Why People Get Rothko But Don't Get Stockhausen
by David Stubbs, O Books.
This book caught my attention when I heard James Naughty interviewing the author. It's a short book, too short at 136 pp. The title belies the fact that the main thrust of the content is a parallel history of contemporary art and music with a conclusion that attempts to answer the question inherent in the title, but, of course, fails. That's not a criticism as the content is informative and thought provoking and there never was going to be a clear answer. The author crams in a great deal in this short space and does it with an intense, evocative style, not difficult to read and absorb. I, and I guess most readers, would want to refer back to the text having read it, so it's a shame there's no index. And the spell-checker just wasn't good enough. If you are interested in contemporary music, particularly the kind that challenges the norm, this will prove to be a good investment.

Bartók (1881-1945), Violin Concerto No. 2 (1938), recorded 1953; Sonata No.1 for Violin and Piano, recorded 1947; Philharmonia Orchestra, c. Wilhelm Furtwängler, Violin,
Yehudi Menuhin, Piano, Adolph Baller. Naxos.
Menuhin was a champion of Bartók and these are historic recordings. If you come to the Bartók Violin Concerto with your ear attuned to Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Bruch, it will come as a crunching surprise. Give the whole performance a couple of listenings before making any judgement, as the first hearing could easily evoke a rejection. Subsequent listenings then reveal a musical treasure trove. I love this composer's string quartets and know how innovative and ground-breaking they were. This violin concerto is no less seminal, ranging from great power to calm, lyric beauty. The last movement of the sonata, influenced as is all of Bartók's music by the modes of eastern European folk tradition, is phenomenally exciting.

Stravinsky (1882-1971), "The Rake's Progress", libretto by W.H. Auden. Jayne West, Soprano, Jon Garrison, Tenor, John Cheek, Bass-baritone, Orchestra of St Lukes, conductor, Robert Craft. Naxos.
First performed in 1951, this was Stravinsky's only full length opera and is loosely based on a series of paintings by the English 18th century artist, William Hogarth, depicting the decline into madness of rich merchant, Tom Rakewell. The setting is 18th c. England and there is something peculiarly "English" about this whole opera. This is a result of the neo-classical style in which the music is composed, which is restrained and exceptionally well crafted. The opera marked the end of an era for Stravinsky, who later embarked on composing serial music, somewhat late in the day. There is nothing "difficult" about this opera, remarkable perhaps because Stravinsky was not afraid to present his opera into a world full of post-war avant-garde creativity. There is also little here reminiscent of the unrestrained "Rite". Although the setting is 18th century, the subject matter of greed, materialism, immorality and a fall into madness is certainly relevant today. Robert Craft is Stravinsky's biographer and protagonist. He helped the composer interpet the English score, a language which Stravinsky struggled with. There is no indication of this in the way the music is so closely knit with and unfolds with the libretto. Thomas Adčs has written an insightful piece on this opera: click here.

Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942), Lyric Symphony (1923), Roman Trekel, Baritone, Twyla Robinson, Soprano, Houston Symphony, conductor, Hans Graf. Naxos.
The interest in this piece, historically, lies in the fact that this great composer, whose Lyric Symphony is a romantic masterpiece, was the friend, teacher and brother-in-law of Schoenberg. The symphony is based on a love poem by Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore and the cycle of seven songs is arranged to tell a love story and create a symphonic form. The orchestration is wonderfully, rich and inventive  and the piece is well worth exploring.

On the same CD is Alban Berg's (1885-1935), Three Pieces from the Lyric Suite (arr. for string orchestra, 1929). This was ostensibly written as a tribute to Zemlinsky but the  programme Berg had in mind was music for his illicit lover, Hanna Fuchs-Robettin. This is music by a lover to his loved one. Berg was a pupil of Schoenberg and the great characteristic of his music, exemplified at its best here, is its great economy. This makes every note feel just right and always inevitable after what has gone before. The music in this sense is Mozartian, perfect in its progress to the conclusion of each piece. Try this if you are unsure how to find a way into new music. It is atmospheric and deeply expressive.