Lucy Crowe, La Nuova Musica
David Bates
Highlight of the Month
VIVALDI / HANDEL
Dixit Dominus
VIVALDI in furore iustissimae irae
David Bates directs La Nuova Musica in a pair of contrasting settings of Psalm 109. Rounding out the programme is Vivaldi's dazzling motet for solo voice, "In furore iustissimae irae", featuring soprano Lucy Crowe. After a highly-praised performance of excerpts from these works on Radio 3's In Tune, La Nuova Musica are certain to impress with this recording.
8/10 recording – 7/10 music
‘Their [La Nuova Musica] passion and understanding of the style of music which they are playing is clearly evident in their phrasing and dynamic approach … a special mention should go to the countertenor Christopher Lowrey, who has an exceptional voice and whose upper range is extremely impressive.’
Pete Trewin, Hi-Fi + - March 2013
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The Edge of Light
Gloria Cheng / Calder Quartet
Messiaen: Préludes (1929, solo piano), Pièce pour Piano et Cordes (1991)
Saariaho: Ballade (2005, solo piano — first recording), Prelude (2006, solo piano - first recording).
Je sens un deuxième coeur (2004, piano trio)
Grammy® Award-winner Gloria Cheng brings an exquisite array of touch to this programme which couples the first mature works of Olivier Messiaen with the darkly radiant music of Kaija Saariaho. The Calder Quartet joins Ms. Cheng for Saariaho's 2003 trio 'Je sens un deuxième coeur' and Messiaen's 'Pièce pour piano et quatuor à cordes'. Saariaho attended this first recording of her ‘Ballade’ and ‘Prelude’.
"This album portrays the connections I perceived between, as Peter Sellars describes in his liner notes, 'these mosteminine works in Messiaen's entire catalogue,' and the deeply expressive, passionate music of Kaija Saariaho. I am thrilled to have the Calder Quartet, with whom I've joyfully collaborated for many years, join me in this endeavor." - GLORIA CHENG
“One of our most gratifying Messiaen pianists...she phrased with warmth and made the piano resound in a way that made Messiaen irresistible.” Los Angeles Times
CD REVIEW
‘Messiaen’s piano Préludes, written when he was 20, were the first mature compositions he acknowledged. Comprising eight pieces lasting 35 minutes, they look backwards to Debussy in their post-Impressionist sensations and forward to Messiaen’s signature harmonies – bright, ecstatic and verging on the dissonant. By pairing them with a Prelude and Ballade by Kaija Saariaho, Gloria Cheng points to family resemblances, and joins the Calders for Saariaho’s uncharacteristically open-hearted Je sens un deuxième coeur.’
Andrew Clark, FT – 8 March 2013
Petra Müllejans
Gottfried von de Goltz
Anne Katharina Schreiber
Freiburger Barockorchester
Johann Sebastian Bach
VIOLIN CONCERTOS
Bach’s three well-known Violin Concertos are paired here with a splendid concerto for three violins, reconstructed from the surviving version for three harpsichords, BWV 1064. The composer’s fascination with the Italian solo concerto, which resulted in numerous arrangements and compositions, dates to his second Weimar period from 1708 to 1717. However, current research has revealed that Bach wrote the violin concertos around 1720, during his engagement as Kapellmeister in Cöthen. On this recording, soloists Petra Müllejans, Gottfried von der Goltz, and Anne Katharina Schreiber are backed by the matchless Freiburger Barockorchester in dazzling readings of these evergreen favorites.
viewFreiburger Barockorchester
Johann Sebastian Bach
VIOLIN CONCERTOS
Freiburger Barockorchester
Petra Müllejans
Gottfried von der Goltz
The Freiburger Barockorchester celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2012. This recording of Bach Violin Concertos celebrates all of their successes and strengths in this repertoire.
Probably written for the virtuoso Kapelle at Cöthen (BWV1042) or the concerts of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum which the composer often directed himself from the violin, Bach’s three well-known violin concertos are joined here by the splendid Concerto for three violins BWV1064, reconstructed from the surviving version for three harpsichords. A dazzling firework display under the bows of the matchless violinists of the Freiburger Barockorchester.
DISC OF THE WEEK
‘A recent Radio 3 programme consigned David and Igor Oistrakh’s famous 1960s recording of Bach’s so-called Double Concerto to its critical Room 101. That’s a reflection of the developments in Bach scholarship in the past half a century, during which players and audiences have come to prefer period instruments and baroque performance practice. The Oistrakhs’ disc, however antediluvian in style, was hugely influential in its day, and that influence lingers to some extent in these beautiful performances from Germany’s outstanding baroque band — some might say Europe’s or the world’s. They may be playing on period instruments, and there are far fewer ripieno violins than in the Oistrakhs’ heyday, but the expressive shaping of the melodic lines in the slow movements of the three well-known concertos, by Petra Müllejans (violin 1 in the D minor, soloist in the A minor) and Gottfried von der Goltz, has more in common with the Oistrakhs than with the more totalitarian period-instrument versions. In the outer fast movements, they relish their opportunities as soloists and seem inspired by the spirit of the dance that informs Bach’s vivaces and allegros. They justify the back transcription of the D major concerto for three violins (from the C major work for three harpsichords), with Anne Katharina Schreiber the other soloist.’
Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times – 21 March 2013
*****
‘Any recording of Bach's violin concertos should, to my mind, by turns make you want to dance and move you to tears, something that this new CD does in spades. The glorious Double Concerto abounds in sinuous, highly reactive playing from the two soloists and the orchestra. Tempos are perfectly chosen (never rushed in the faster movements, as some period-instrument groups are wont to do) and the melting slow movement is a sensual delight. Ornamentation, too, invariably sounds natural and spontaneous, very much growing out of Bach's lines rather than stuck-on like glitter. The sense of ensemble and soloists operating as one is hardly surprising, for the two solo violinists have long been the orchestra's artistic directors … Petra Müllejans and Gottfried von der Goltz are joined by Anne Katharina Schreiber, and hyper-reactivity and an infectious joyousness are again the order of the day. In von der Goltz's hands the outer movements of the E major Concerto sparkle and shimmer while the Adagio centrepiece has a bright-eyed emotional directness … you shouldn't hesitate to add this one to your collection.’
Harriet Smith, Sinfini – 19 March 2013
IRR OUTSTANDING
‘Analysing quite why this disc is so impressive – how it is that it becomes an obsession from which you turn away only with the greatest reluctance, how it manages to enervate every sinew of your body (my heart just about stopped with the final flourish from Gottfried von der Goltz in the E major Concerto at 7’21”) and how it burrows so deeply into your consciousness that you can think of just about nothing else – is an impossible task … an altogether higher level of excellence … a riveting and utterly absorbing account … utterly breathtaking … what distinguishes this disc – along with the absolutely top-notch recorded sound – is the utterly committed, and beautifully detailed playing of the Freiburger Barockorchester. If the three soloists are elevated by the brilliance of this music, the orchestra is raised to almost inconceivable levels of musical excellence … an absolutely glorious recording.’
Marc Rochester, International Record Review – April 2013
A RECORDING OF THE MONTH
‘A delight, an aural and musical treat, and a riposte to anyone who may think we already have enough of the Bach concertos.’
Simon Thompson, MusicWeb International – April 2013
‘wonderful violinists … I find these performances dynamic and original in a way just another recording of these same works never could have been … All-in-all, a wonderful disc.’
Brian Clark, Early Music Review – April 2013
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