The latest CD releases reviewed
MOZART: SINFONIA CONCERTANTE IN E FLAT K364; VIOLIN CONCERTOS NOS 4 & 2 Lawrence Power (viola), UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra/Maxim Vengerov (violin) EMI Classics 378 3742***
The orchestral opening of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola is here strikingly individual, bulgingly emphatic in accentuation, stilted in rhythm, and anything but conventionally Mozartean. The unnecessary distractions in the orchestral playing quickly become tiresome. Happily, the orchestral manner in the two violin concertos is altogether less exaggerated, and the actual solo playing - both from Vengerov and viola player Lawrence Power - is also more soberly balanced, with the two musicians working at the top of their game. Vengerov's earnestness and commitment are never in doubt in this, his debut CD directing the UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, whose worldwide tour will reach the NCH on May 4th and 5th. www.emiclassics.com Michael Dervan
BRAHMS: EIN DEUTSCHES REQUIEM Dorothea Röschmann (soprano), Thomas Quasthoff (baritone), Rundfunkchor Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Simon Rattle EMI Classic 365 3932****
The familiar image of the bearded, portly composer Brahms seems to go hand in hand with tonally bulky performances of his music. Brahms was not only beardless but still boyish-looking when he wrote his German Requiem in 1866. And he situated the work well away from the conventions of choral requiems, eschewing the expected texts in favour of biblical words of his own choosing, with the emphasis on comfort and consolation. There's an attractive lightness and translucency in Simon Rattle's performance. This may disconcert listeners who want a more overtly religiose approach. But there's no lack of fire when needed, and, with Röschmann a refined soprano, Quasthoff a committed if sometimes quavery baritone, and first-rate choral singing, it's an attractive package. www.emiclassics.com MD
CORELLI MACHINE Norwegian Chamber Orchestra/Terje Tønnesen Aurora ACD 5039***
This CD takes its title from Olav Anton Thommessen's Corelli Machine (2002), which bounds off from Corelli's actual music in an exuberant 21st-century version of the kind of exercise Michael Tippett carried out in the 1950s. Ketil Hvoslef's Serenata per archi (1991) is an anti-serenade that generates sometimes heated rhetoric through the juxtaposition of contrasting layers and actually has rather more overtly mechanistic moments than Corelli Machine. Magne Hegdal's Form (2000) is rather like a tour of a museum where the displays are unannotated and rather arbitrary in selection. The stylistic variation, says Hegdal, is not a detached play with historical elements but "an expression of breadth, openness, freedom". Xenakis's Aurora (1971) is the odd man out, and sounds it, too, the one work here where the orchestral playing fails to register as fully persuasive. www.aurorarecords.no MD
THE GLORY OF ROSTROPOVICH - 80TH BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE Mstislav Rostropovich Deutsche Grammophon 477 6579 (8 CDs)****
Mstislav Rostropovich, who turned 80 on Tuesday, is more than a giant in the world of music. He has often appeared in headlines for political as well as musical reasons - he was stripped of Soviet citizenship supporting the writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn - and his music-
making matches the generosity of his public persona. DG's tribute concentrates on his cello playing and conducting, including classic versions of the Schumann and Dvorak concertos, Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations, and works written for him by Shostakovich, Messiaen and Bernstein. His always willing spirit and fullness of expression are every bit as persuasive in collaborations with pianist Rudolf Serkin (Brahms) and Martha Argerich (Chopin). His conducting style has unwieldy moments but is unabashed in its expression of a forceful personality. www.deutschegrammophon.com MD
