Latest releases reviewed
HANDEL: SAUL
Rosemary Joshua, Emma Bell, Lawrence Zazzo, Jeremy Ovenden, Michael Slattery, Finnur Bjarnason, Henry Waddington, Gidon Saks, RIAS- Kammerchor, Concerto Köln/René Jacobs Harmonia Mundi HMC 901877.78 (2 CDs)
*****
The enemies of Handel's Messiah, who worry about that oratorio unjustly taking attention away from the composer's other works, will surely rejoice at René Jacobs's new recording of Handel's fourth English oratorio, Saul. For sheer musical variety and drama, Saul is a real humdinger, and Jacobs, a distinguished counter tenor before he turned to conducting, is a true man of the theatre. Soloists, chorus, orchestra and continuo players are all keenly attuned to the conductor's high-voltage style (he provides the harpsichord continuo himself), and the recording has an immediacy to match. This performance offers real, edge-of-the-seat thrills. www.harmoniamundi.com
Michael Dervan
FRANCK: PIÈCE HÉROÏQUE; PRÉLUDE, FUGUE ET VARIATION; TROIS CHORALS
Olivier Latry (organ) Deutsche Grammophon 477 5418
****
There's a rare luxuriousness about Olivier Latry's new selection of César Franck's organ music, recorded on the great Cavaillé-Coll organ of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The sound is smooth and full, weighty and clear, and fabulously rich in texture. The playing, even when fleet, has a sense of spaciousness about it, partly a function of the depth of perspective chosen by the recording engineer. If the snarl and bite of the 19th-century organ-as-orchestra sound is what you're after, this disc is probably not for you. But if you've a taste for careful colouring, astute shaping, and an indulgent attitude to the heady chromaticism of which Franck was so fond, then you won't be disappointed. I've only listened to the disc as a CD, but it is also encoded for SACD Surround and SACD stereo. www.dgclassics.com
Michael Dervan
LIGETI: STRING QUARTETS
Artemis Quartet Virgin Classics 336 9342
****
György Ligeti's two string quartets date from 1954 and 1968 and are both staples of the modern repertoire. The Second, with its manic theatre, disruptive violence, and strange ticking mechanisms, encapsulates many of the composer's hallmark techniques with extraordinary lucidity and was the first to take hold of audiences' imaginations. The First (subtitled Métamorphoses nocturnes) is more conventional, written when the composer had not yet fully emerged from the shadow of Bartók. The Artemis Quartet play both with a nervous immediacy that is highly engaging. The disc is being issued as part of the German ensemble's new contract with Virgin Classics, although the recordings, which date from 1999, have been available before on the Ars Musici label. At full price the playing time of 43 minutes may seem rather short. But you won't be short-changed by the quality of the music-making. www.virginclassics.com Michael Dervan
LISZT: A FAUST SYMPHONY; LES PRÉLUDES; TASSO; ORPHEUS; PSALM 13
Beecham Choral Society, Royal Philharmonic/Thomas Beecham, Philharmonia/Constantin Silvestri EMI Classics Gemini 476 9272 (2 CDs)
****
Liszt's Faust Symphony is made up of three character studies, Faust, Gretchen and Mephistopheles. It's the tenderness of Gretchen that the ardently romantic Thomas Beecham responded to most remarkably in his 1958 recording. Needless to say, there's no lack of excitement and even swagger in the Berliozian diablerie that's to be found in the outer movements. The early stereo recording still sounds well, and in this new low-price re-issue it finds itself in the company of more vintage Liszt from the EMI vaults. Beecham provides the symphonic poem Orpheus and the rarely heard Psalm XIII. Two further symphonic poems, Les Préludes and Tasso, were recorded under the Romanian conductor Constantin Silvestri, who brings a thrilling fire to the latter. www.emiclassics.com
Michael Dervan
