Volume 30 Issue 4 | December 2024 & January 2025

CLASSICAL AND

CLASSICAL AND BEYONDScherzi ForastieriFlute Alors!ATMA ACD2 2818 (atmaclassique.com/en/product/scherzi-forastieri)! Speaking as aformer recorderplayer, I can say,with good authority,that it can be a frustratinginstrument:limits to timbreand dynamics canquickly outweighthe joys of how easy it is to make your firstdecent sounds. The Montreal-based recorderquartet Flûte Alors! is a shining example ofthe other side of this coin, revealing for yearsnow how astonishing this instrument can bewhen it’s well played.Although known for its eclectic repertoire,the latest offering from the quartetfocuses solely on Italian music of the earlyBaroque. The title is taken from a collection ofcanzoni written in 1611 by Giovanni Cangiasiand translates roughly as “pleasantries of aforeigner.” Of the 18 tracks on this CD, ten areby Cangiasi and they really are very cheerfuland inventive. Like most music from thisperiod, the curiosity for modern ears liesin all the ways in which the conventions ofthe high baroque have not yet been formed:vestiges of renaissance harmonies and danceforms present themselves again and again.I particularly liked the “clucking hens”of Cangiasi’s La Furugada and the athleticand sinuous theme of Nicolò Corradini’s LaBizzarra; both of these feature that lightspeedtonguing only possible on the recorder.Execution throughout is spectacular: virtuosicand tasteful ornaments, spot-on tuning,infallible passage work. Yes, the colours arelimited but the group has selected interestingand varied music and as far as takingthe listener back in time, it is thoroughly anddelightfully convincing.Fraser JacksonMore Bach, Please!Concerto Italiano; Rinaldo AlessandriniNaïve OP8454 (arkivmusic.com/products/more-bach-please)! Over the years,composers andperformers asdiverse as AntonWebern, ProcolHarem and theModern JazzQuartet have alldrawn inspiration from the music of J.S Bach.The Rome-based Baroque ensemble ConcertoItaliano directed by Rinaldo Alessandri isthe latest ensemble to refashion the musicof the Leipzig cantor in this intriguing Naïvelabel recording titled More Bach, Please!.The aim of the endeavour was to create threenew works based upon pre-existing materialby Bach with Alessandrini drawing from anumber of sources.The Ouverture in the French Style BWV831for solo keyboard was originally publishedin 1735 as the second half of the Clavier-Übung (paired with the Italian Concerto).Here, the appeal is three-fold. Not onlyare Alessandrini’s arrangements meticulouslyconstructed but the movements werethoughtfully chosen. Furthermore, theplaying itself is stylish and elegant with theten-member ensemble producing a warmlycohesive sound in which violinist BorisBegelman and violist Ettore Belli deliverparticularly polished performances.The Partita for flute, strings and continuoand the eight-movement Ouverture in GMajor for strings and continuo utilize varioussources including those from the ViolinSonata BWV1016, the keyboard PartitasBWV825 and 828 and the Ouverture BWV820.Again, the ensemble performs with a solidconviction with flutist Laura Pontecorvo’ssensitive and controlled tone meldingperfectly with the string ensemble.How could Bach not have approved of thesearrangements? He himself frequently transcribedand reused his own music (and thatof others). With modern technology AI canundoubtedly produce a competent refashioningof a composer’s work, but there isstill ample room for the human touch andcreativity, as this recording so admirablydemonstrates.Richard HaskellSchumann: Carnaval and KinderszenenEdna SternOrchid Classics ORC100338 (edna-stern.com/recordings)The Young SchumannCharles OwenAvie Records AV2647 (avie-records.com/releases/the-young-schumann-carnaval-op-9-•-papillons-op-2-•-intermezzi-op-4-•-abegg-variations-op-1)! The evergreenCarnaval is themain work on twonew recordings ofmusic for solo pianoby RobertSchumann. There isan exciting sense ofyouthful impetuousnessin Edna Stern’s recording, with fastmovements taken very quickly and slowermovements treated flexibly, with a generoususe of rubato throughout. The quirkiness ofSchumann’s language is brought to the fore asStern emphasizes Schumann’s many suddenaccents and contrasts of dynamics. Listen tothe sense of improvisation in the Valse nobleand the breathtaking abandon Stern brings tothe infamously difficult Paganini. The finalpages of the closing March are truly thrilling.This is high-octane playing, capturing a senseof live performance on the wing in a warmlyrecorded acoustic.In comparison,Charles Owen’sperformanceprizes sensitivityof phrasing andclarity of textureover sheer visceralexcitement. Accentsand inner voicesare less prominent,and tempos are less extreme. This is a carefullyconsidered performance, though thisserious-mindedness doesn’t always translateinto the same thrill of excitement thatStern produces. Owen fills out his albumwith Schumann’s first two published works,the Abegg Variations, Op.1 and Papillons,Op.2. I find Papillons, in particular, a muchfresher performance, with light textures anddancing rhythms that emphasize this music’sroots in the ballroom. Owen also includes therarely heard Intermezzi, Op.4, in a committedperformance that makes one wish these sixpieces were heard more often. The confidentswagger of the first piece, the syncopatedplayfulness of the second, and the variedmoods of the fifth are all vintage Schumann.The clarity of the recorded sound complementsOwen’s overall textural precision andbeauty of tone.Stern’s coupling is the popular and oftenrecordedKinderszenen, Op.15. These “Scenesfrom Childhood” can sound overly preciousin the wrong hands, but Stern manages anappealing freshness and innocent charm.There is originality too, in Stern’s owncomposition which ends her recording. Thetitle, To-nal or not-to-nal, refers to the pullin contemporary writing between tonaland atonal harmonies. In five short sectionsinspired by literary quotations (Schumann,too, took much inspiration from the literatureof his time), Stern’s work is a constantlyshifting kaleidoscope of textures and colours.Lovers of Schumann’s piano music willenjoy the contrasting approaches Stern andOwen bring to these inspired works.Stephen RungeChamber Works by Frederick BlockARC EnsembleChandos CHAN 20358 (shop.rcmusic.com/products/chamber-works-by-frederickblock)! After fleeingfrom Europe toNew York Cityin 1940, ViennabornFriedrichBloch (1899-1945)resumed composingas “FrederickBlock.” In the58 | February & March 2025 thewholenote.com

few remaining years before his death fromcancer, Block busily composed many works,including three symphonies, his seventhopera and the brief, five-movement Suite,Op.73 for clarinet and piano (1944) in whichjaunty playfulness alternates with wistfullyricism.Far more substantial are three works datingfrom 1928-1930, filled with the lush songfulnessof Viennese late-Romanticism. In thePiano Quintet, Op.19, two buoyant movements,with melodies resembling those ofErich Korngold, frame a nostalgia-perfumedslow movement. The sweet, slightly decadentsentimentality of a fin-de-siècle Vienneseballroom permeates the four lively movementsof Block’s String Quartet, Op.23.Echoes of Korngold re-emerge in theopening Andante of Block’s Piano TrioNo.2, Op.26, followed by a sprightly scherzomarked Molto vivace, a ruminative Adagioand the cheerful Vivace-Tango, not only predatingbut also, for me, more entertainingthan anything by Astor Piazzolla.This is the latest in the Music in Exileseries curated by Simon Wynberg, artisticdirector of Toronto’s ARC Ensemble, devotedto unheralded composers displaced orsuppressed by war or dictatorship. Wynbergdiscovered Block’s compositions whileexploring archives at the New York PublicLibrary. Thanks to him, and the ensemble’sfine musicians – violinists Erika Raumand Marie Bérard, violist Steven Dann, cellistThomas Wiebe, clarinetist Joaquin Valdepeñasand pianist Kevin Ahfat – the music of yetanother deserving composer lives again.Michael SchulmanWorks for Piano and Orchestra – Prokofiev;Rimsky-Korsakov; TsfasmanZlata Chochieva; BBC Scottish SymphonyOrchestra; Karl-Heinz SteffensNaïve V8448 (zlatachochieva.com/music)! Recordingsof two of thethree composers(certainly notthese compositions,though), maybe abundant andvaried. They may beperformed with attention to historical practicesor conceived as a series of romanticflights. But what strikes you through herperformances of Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev,Tsfasman is that Zlata Chochieva doesn’timpose doctrinaire impulses on these threeorchestral works but explores – with the BBCScottish Symphony Orchestra conducted byKarl-Heinz Steffans – a range of expressiveand rhythmic nuances.Her playing is absorbing and sensitive,full of insightful phrasing, reflective subtletyand joie de vivre. Rimsky-Korsakov’s PianoConcerto in C-sharp Minor, Op.30: Note thatthe choice of this work (not operatic extractsfrom Scheherazade) puts a spotlight on thecomposer’s genius for infusing his workswith primary instrumental colours, andprogressive harmonies, particularly in thethird, Allegro movement.Prokofiev, on the other hand, was a geniusof the piano, but his concertos – among themost inventive ever written – are rarelyperformed. This Piano Concerto No.2 in GMinor, Op.16 is a case in point. It begins asan almost backward-looking compositionbut the performer in him soon takes overand by the time we get to the Finale - Allegrotempestoso movement we are presented withthe composer’s barnstorming prowess.Tsfasman’s Jazz Suite is a glowing echo ofhis idol, Gershwin. Consummate performancesby pianist and orchestra bring analluring dénouement to this programme.Raul da GamaMODERN AND CONTEMPORARYTwo Orchestras, One Symphony: JacquesHetu – Symphony No.5National Arts Centre Orchestra Canada;Orchestre Symphonique du Québec;Toronto Mendelssohn Choir; AlexanderShelleyAnalekta AN2 8890 (nac-cna.ca/en/orchestra/recordings/hetu-5)! The combinedforces of twoorchestras and asymphonic choir,all under thesuperb leadershipof conductorAlexander Shelley,came together inMarch, 2024 for this magnificent recordingof Jacques Hétu’s bold work. Indeed, it wasa work the composer was never to hear inperformance, as he passed away three weeksbefore its premiere in February, 2010.This recording is a reminder of Hétu’s skilland significance as one of Canada’s finestcomposers. Having studied as a young manwith Clermont Pépin and Jean-PapineauCouture in Canada and Lukas Foss atTanglewood, he went to Paris in 1961, wonthe Prix D’Europe and furthered his studieswith Henri Dutilleux and Olivier Messiaen.Paris is the subject of the fifth symphony,with programmatic titles depicting pre-WorldWar II, the Invasion, the Occupation and,finally, a complex and glorious choral finaleto the text of Liberté by Paul Elouard (brilliantlyset previously by Francis Poulenc inhis cantata Figure humaine). Hétu’s setting isdefiant and harmonically thrilling. The wholesymphony packs an emotional punch andpossesses an anti-totalitarian message that’simportant to hear at this particular time.The performance is sincere and committed,with some fine wind and brass solo work.The choir’s sound is full and strong. Therecording was the culmination of a numberof live performances during an extensive tourthrough Ontario and Québec. It is a tributeto the close association that the NACO hadwith the composer over many years, havingpremiered his third symphony in 1971 (underMario Bernardi’s direction) and taken it ona tour of Europe in 1990. Alexander Shelleycontinues to develop important large-scaleprojects at the National Arts Centre for whichwe can be grateful and proud.Larry BeckwithThree of Twelve and AnotherGraham FlettRedshift Records (redshiftmusicsociety.bandcamp.com/album/three-of-twelveand-another)! Ontariocomposer GrahamFlett’s albumof two electricguitar workshas an intriguingbackstory. Thecomposer writes,“One summer Ihappened uponan old 12-string guitar that was extremelybut very intriguingly out-of-tune. Hearing itmade me consider how an ensemble of suchout-of-tune guitars might sound.” Inspiredby that untuned chance encounter Flettbegan to explore four separate, yet relatedguitar tunings of the conventional 6-stringelectric guitar. In the final score he meticulouslystipulates the tuning of each of the 24strings of the four guitars, their web of interrelationshipstaking into consideration stringharmonics and other acoustic phenomena.There’s also poetry. Flett took inspirationfrom W.H. Auden’s Twelve Songs. Thus,the three movements of his Music for FourRetuned Electric Guitars are tagged withAuden’s poetic phrases characterising eachmovement: the silent statue; the smokelesshill; the hot sun. Stillness, heat and perhapsnegative space are being evoked.The second work Unadorned, for solo electricguitar, is no less complex sounding. HereFlett explores a continuous series of threenotechords employing many harmonicgroupings. The use of messa di voce - amusical swell here applied to a guitar noteor chord - removes the initial attack of theplucked guitar strings, leaving puffs of sonicclouds to linger, gently pulse or grate againsteach other. It’s an album signature.Spain-based guitarist Elliot Simpson, whotook on the considerable task of retuning andthen multi-tracking the guitars, renders theseenigmatic, challenging works with commitment,elegant musicianship and attentionto detail.Andrew Timarthewholenote.com February & March 2025 | 59