Volume 30 Issue 3 | December 2024 & January 2025

Souvenirs, the new CD

Souvenirs, the new CD from the Swedish-Norwegian violinist Johan Dalene withpianist Peter Friis Johansson is a recitalof pieces that have been with him sincehis childhood, and that he has played incompetitions and concerts (BIS-2770 johandalene.com/recordings/souvenirs).Three virtuoso works form the foundationof the programme: Ravel’s Tzigane openingthe disc with Bizet’s arrangement of Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso Op.28 at its centre andthe “other” Carmen Fantasy, by Franz Waxman and not Sarasate,as the final track. In between are Massenet’s Méditation from Thaïs,Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Falla’s Spanish Dance No.1,Kreisler’s dazzling solo Recitative and Scherzo-Caprice Op.6 and thedelightful Allegro molto by the Swedish violinist/composer AmandaMaier, who died of tuberculosis in 1894 at the age of 41.Dalene is clearly in his element here in works that he has knownand loved for years, ably supported by Johansson.Navigator of Silences sees Americanviolinist Francesca Anderegg join Brazilianpianist Erika Ribeiro on an album describedas exhibiting the cadence and choreographyof Brazilian instrumental music, blendingsamba, chôro and forró with classical musicand inspiration from folk, Indigenousand African traditions (RezurrectionRecordz RZRC-0122 rezrecordz.com/navigator-of-silences).Included are works by Yamandu Costa, Radamés Gnattali, LéaFreire, André Mehmari, Luca Raele, Toninho Horta, Bianca Gismonti,Salomão Soares and Clarice Asad, most of them in arrangements andtranscriptions by the performers. It’s a selection of really lovely pieceswith Anderegg’s strong, warm and bright violin and Ribeiro’s rich,resonant piano providing gorgeous playing on a highly entertainingCD.On the 2CD release Corelli Violin SonatasOp.5 violinist Rachel Barton Pine is joinedby period instrument specialists DavidSchrader, John Mark Rozendaal andBrandon Acker in historically informedperformances of Arcangelo Corelli’sseminal set of 12 sonatas for violin andcontinuo from 1700 (Cedille Records CDR90000 2320 cedillerecords.org/albums/corelli-violin-sonatas-op-5).Pine’s research led to her holding the violin against her chest, andnot on her collarbone, the resulting difference in position for theleft hand and – in particular – the bowing arm creating a noticeablydifferent and extremely effective sound.To capture the nuances of Corelli’s music the performers used avariety of period instruments, Schrader alternating between harpsichordand positive organ, Rozendaal between cello and viola da gambaand Acker between theorbo, archlute and baroque guitar to produce24 different combinations throughout the recital. In addition, Pineplays the final “Follia” variations on an original-condition six-stringGagliano viola d’amore, made from the same tree as her originalconditionGagliano violin. It provides a dazzling conclusion to a quitesuperb release.All of the works on Shapes in CollectiveSpace, the new CD from Tallā Rouge,the Cajun-Persian duo of violists AriaCheregosha and Laura Spaulding, areworld-premiere recordings. Motivatedin part by experiencing a close relativelose their memory to dementia, thealbum is described as a search for lightin the passage of time, reflecting on life’s fleeting yet profoundmoments and drawing from a kaleidoscope of diverse Americaninfluences (Bright Shiny Things BSTC-202 brightshiny.ninja/shapes-in-collective-space).Works include Karl Mitze’s Seesaw, Kian Ravaei’s four IranianinfluencedNavazi, Gemma Peacocke’s Fluorescein, Gala Flagello’sBurn as Brightly, Akshaya Avril Tucker’s Breathing Sunlight andLeilehua Lanzilotti’s silhouette, mirror. The title track by inti figgisvizuetais a particularly fascinating and inventive soundscape.The playing throughout an engrossing CD is of the highest level.Partita party – a collaborative work forviola is the new CD from violist Atar Aradand four other violist-composers, all ofwhom studied with Arad. Inspired by Bach’sPartita No.2 for Solo Violin, it features fivemovements, each played by the particularcomposer (SBOV Music SBO224 sbovmusic.com/partita-party).The concept of an innovative celebrationof Bach’s masterpiece featuring new compositions for solo viola wasinspired by Arad’s pandemic work on Bach’s monumental Chaconne,Arad having written his own Ciaccona as a commission for the2021 Hindemith International Viola Competition. Duncan Steele’sAllemanda opens the collection, followed by Yuval Gotlibovich’sCorrente, Melia Watras’ Sarabanda and Rose Wollman’s terrificGiga (the closest to the Bach original); Arad’s original Ciacconaends the disc.It’s a brief – just short of 25 minutes – but fascinating CD, rightlydescribed in the publicity release as an exciting new addition to theviola repertoire and a celebration of Bach’s enduring legacy.The Calidore String Quartet continuesits Beethoven project with the 3-CD setBeethoven The Middle Quartets, thesecond issue in their recording of thecomplete cycle, having issued The LateQuartets in February 2023 and with thefinal volume The Early Quartets plannedfor January 2025 (Signum ClassicsSIGCD872 signumrecords.com/product/beethoven-quartets-vol-2-middle-string-quartets/SIGCD872).This set contains the three “Razumovsky” quartets Op.59 and theOp.74 and Op.95 works. CD1 has the String Quartet in F Major, Op.59No.1; CD2 has the String Quartets in E Minor Op.59 No.2 and in CMajor Op.59 No.3. The final disc has the String Quartet No.10 in E-flatMajor Op.74 “Harp” and the String Quartet No.11 in F Minor Op.95“Serioso.”The first set generated extremely positive reviews, and it’s easy tohear why. The quartet members have been together for 14 years,having immersed themselves in Beethoven’s quartets during thattime. The unity of the ensemble playing is of the highest quality, andthere’s a wonderfully varied dynamic range.The outstanding series of complete stringquartets of the Danish composer VagnHolmboe (1909-96) continues with VagnHolmboe String Quartets Vol.3, Denmark’sNightingale String Quartet again presentingsuperb performances of warmth, depth andsensitivity. Included on this current discare two works from the peak of his creativity–String Quartets No.4, Op.63 (1953-54) and No.5, Op.66 (1955) – together with the String Quartet No.16,Op.146 from 1981 (Dacapo Records 8.226214 hbdirect.com/products/holmboe-string-quartets-vol-3).Holmboe’s 21 numbered quartets preoccupied him throughoutalmost half a century, moving from early influences of Bartók andShostakovich to his distinctive personal method of metamorphosis ofthematic and motivic fragments. The Nightingale Quartet’s committed46 | December 2024 & January 2025 thewholenote.com

performances of these strongly tonal and immediately accessibleworks continue to make the strongest case for their recognition as oneof the major quartet series of the 20th century.The Quatuor Diotima celebrates the bicentennialof the birth of Anton Brucknerwith Bruckner & Klose String Quartets,presenting the three works Bruckner wroteas composition exercises when studyingwith Otto Kitzler in 1861-63 togetherwith the only string quartet written byhis student Friedrich Klose (1862-1942)(Pentatone PTC5187217 pentatonemusic.com/product/bruckner-klose-string-quartets).The main Bruckner work is his String Quartet in C Minor, WAB111,with the Rondo in C Minor, WAB208 a possible alternative finale.The Theme with Variations in E-flat, WAB210 is the third work. Theyare solid and accomplished pieces – as you would expect from acomposer nearing 40 years of age – and despite tending to sound moreconcerned with structure than content have a great deal to offer.Klose studied with Bruckner from January 1886 to July 1889 andwrote his lengthy String Quartet in E-flat in 1908-11. Subtitled “Atribute paid in four instalments to my stern German schoolmasters” itclearly references classical forms and structures, but with what thebooklet note calls “an almost unprecedented wealth of musical ideas.”Sibelius: Works for Violin and Orchestrais the new CD from James Ehnes and theBergen Philharmonic Orchestra underEdward Gardner (Chandos CHSA 5267chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHSA%205267).Ehnes’ playing in the Violin ConcertoOp.47 is, as always, seemingly effortlessperfection, with a smooth warmth – no icyFinnish landscape here – but also strengthand power. Gardner and the orchestra provide spirited accompaniment,but this is perhaps one concerto that doesn’t need a sheen ofperfection to be most effective. Still, Ehnes is always a force to bereckoned with.He certainly shines throughout the short pieces which, althoughbeautifully written, don’t come close to the concerto in stature: theTwo Serenades Op.69; the Two Pieces Op.77; the Two HumoresquesOp.87; the Four Humoresques Op.89 and the Suite in D Minor Op.117.There’s a tragic modern-day relevance to the new CD Thomas deHartmann Rediscovered, with one of the two concertos by theUkrainian composer (1884-1956) written in 1943 in occupied Francedescribed as mourning the destruction of Ukraine by war (PentatoneWhat we're listening to this month:PTC5187076 pentatonemusic.com/product/thomas-de-hartmann-rediscovered).Joshua Bell is the soloist in the 1943Violin Concerto Op.66, with the UkrainianINSO-Lviv Symphony Orchestra underDalia Stasevska. It’s the world-premierecommercial recording of a cinematic,four-movement work, with Bell callingit heart-wrenching and uplifting, andcommenting that he was “astonished thatsuch a powerful work could have escaped me and most classical musiclisteners until now.”The Cello Concerto Op.57 from 1935 is a lush, Romantic work withan even more cinematic feel than the violin concerto, at times evokingHollywood biblical epics. Matt Haimovitz is the soloist, with the MDRLeipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra under Dennis Russell Davies.Haimovitz notes that de Hartmann was deeply affected by Jewishmusic and culture, and while Ukrainian folk idioms pervade the finalethe prayerful middle movement channels the voice of a Jewish cantor.Goodness knows where the viola repertoirewould be without Lionel Tertis. Not only didthe English violist almost single-handedlyestablish the viola as a solo concert instrument,he was also the recipient of numerousworks written specifically for him. Twoof these are presented on the outstandingCD York Bowen & William Walton ViolaConcertos, with soloist Diyang Mei, principalviola of the Berlin Philharmoniker, and the Deutsche RadioPhilharmonie conducted by Brett Dean, himself a violist (SWR MusicSWR19158CD naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=SWR19158CD).The orchestral music of Bowen is surely overdue for reappraisal, hisstrongly tonal and Romantic style resulting in his larger works beingessentially ignored following his death in 1961. The Viola Concertoin C Minor, Op.25 from 1907 is the real gem here, a rhapsodic workthat sweeps you along with it, leaving you wondering how on earth itisn’t at the front and centre of the concerto repertoire. It’s wonderfulplaying from all concerned.Walton’s Concerto in A Minor was written in 1929 at ThomasBeecham’s suggestion but surprisingly premiered by Paul Hindemithand not Tertis, who initially found the work to be too modern. It’s notlacking for top-notch recordings, but this superb performance willtake some beating.Nightscapes, the first album from harpist Magdalena Hoffmann wasreviewed here in April 2022, and the beautifully nuanced and virtuosicplaying noted at that time is once again fully evident in her newCD Fantasia (Deutsche Grammophon 00028948659128 deutsch-thewholenote.com/listeningWhere Waters MeetSherryl Sewepagaham + CanadianChamber ChoirThis collaborative album useswater as a symbol of life, action andtransformation, reflecting upon amulti-year creative journey unitingIndigenous and settler artists.Envols - Canadian Works forEnglish HornMelanie HarelFrom simply wanting to expand myknowledge of the repertoire forthe English Horn, I embarked ona search for works by Canadiancomposers.Plucked & StruckPercussiaThis new music gem for a uniqueinstrumentation is by turnspassionate and lively, delicate andintrospective. Experience it foryourself!MetalofonicoJon NelsonThe versatile and tirelesstrumpeter's second New Focusalbum features works for brassensemble by luminaries ofcomposition, both new and old.thewholenote.com December 2024 & January 2025 | 47