The latest releases reviewed.
MOZART: PIANO QUARTETS Fauré Quartet Deutsche Grammophon 477 5885 *****
Mozart's two piano quartets, written in 1785 and 1786, are among the earliest and unquestionably among the greatest of their kind. The Fauré Quartet from Germany avoid the hyperbole that most performers resort to in these pieces, and get under the skin of the music with undemonstrative ease. Some listeners may miss the sock-it-to-'em drama that's typically stirred up in the opening movement of the G minor quartet. But there's tension aplenty in the Fauré's approach, which predicates instrumental balances on mutuality rather than dominance. The playing is unusually airy - they make rests really matter - and string tone is often light and vibrato shy. In both pieces, the effect is almost like being shown a third dimension in something you had previously only experienced in two. www.dgclassics.com
Michael Dervan
ROLF LISLEVAND: NUOVE MUSICHE Rolf Lislevand, Arianna Savall, Pedro Estevan, Bjørn Kjellemyr, Guido Morini, Marco Ambrosini, Thor-Harald Johnsen ECM New Series 476 3049 ***
This new disc of pieces "from early baroque sources, adapted and arranged by Rolf Lislevand" marries the spirit of improvisation with the manipulations of modern recording technology. It's an ear-tickling collection, featuring the voice of Arianna Savall and six instrumentalists, freely crossing lines between early music, pop music and jazz in a sonic blend that would be impossible to create in a purely acoustic live performance. The musical licence is free and the production values high, though the consistency of artifice does create more than a few moments of aural candy floss. Only one of the composers involved, Frescobaldi, is at all well known. The relative obscurity of the others (Kapsberger, Pellegrini, Piccinini, Narváez, Gianoncelli and anon) should go some way to protecting Lislevand and his collaborators from the accusation of sacrilege. www.ecmrecords.com
Michael Dervan
COMPLETE DECCA RECORDINGS 1951-1960 Various Orchestras/Jean Martinon Original Masters 475 7209 (9 CDs) ****
Old-timers remember the early years of the Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra (as the RTÉ NSO was originally known) as a golden age, due in large part to the work of French conductor Jean Martinon (1910-76). He was a composer, too, and wrote an Irish Symphony in 1948. There's even a photograph of him in action in Dublin in this new set, which collects together 10 years of recordings he made for Decca in London, Paris, Vienna and Tel Aviv. There's a lot of lighter French music here (Adam, Hérold, Boieldieu, Offenbach, Lalo, Massenet, Ibert, Bizet, Françaix), which he does with an unusually sharp ear for its elegance and a quick response to its wit. His handling of Berlioz, Saint-Saëns and Fauré is no less fine. The other major focus is Russian (firmly conceived readings of symphonies by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Borodin and Tchaikovsky), and there are also pieces by Dvorak, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Rossini, and Weinberger. www.deccaclassics.com
Michael Dervan
RAVEL, DEBUSSY, DUPARC Victoria de los Angeles (soprano), Paris Conservatoire Orchestra/Georges Prêtre, Gonzalo Soriano (piano) EMI Classics Great Recordings of the Century 345 8212 *****
There are plenty of singers whose bland beauty of delivery gives sheer gorgeousness of sound a bad name. Victoria de los Angeles was not one of their number. Not for her the delivery of a musical dumb blonde, but rather of a magically radiant beauty. The tone alone was captivating enough to persuade you that hers was the most beautiful of voices, and she also had a grasp of a kind simplicity which captured all essentials. These recordings of orchestral songs by Ravel, Debussy and Duparc (from 1962) and songs with piano by Debussy (1966) have a commanding artlessness that is utterly irresistible. www.emiclassics.com
Michael Dervan
