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November 7th-13th, 2005
NAXOS DISCS SELECTED TOPS BY AMAZON.COM
NAXOS REVIEWS: BRAHMS, ZWILICH, FUCHS
DVD ROUND-UP: ARTHAUS AND TDK
NAXOS DISCS SELECTED TOPS BY AMAZON.COM
Three Naxos CDs made the Amazon.com
editor’s list of the best classical recordings in 2005. Here they
are, and here’s what the Amazon.com editorial reviewers had to say about them:
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AARON COPLAND: Solo Piano Music
Banjamin Pasternack, piano
8.559184
“A riveting, intense performance, more austere and thus grander than
any since the composer's own magnificent version from 78s . . . The recorded
sound is excellent and so are the program notes.” -- Leslie Gerber
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NAXOS REVIEWS: BRAHMS, ZWILICH, FUCHS
Featured on Minnesota Public Radio, November 8th, 2005
“New classical tracks: Brahms' Hungarian Dances”
by Julie
Amacher, Minnesota Public Radio (from the MPR web site)
November 8, 2005
The second installment in this Naxos series features the Symphony No. 2 in
D major. It's a joyous symphony, but it also has its moments of melancholy.
The gentle, serene opening of the first movement leads to sad, reflective low
brass chords.
Brahms does love his brass instruments. He even wrote to a friend that he
had tried to get through the first movement "without trombones, "but
he just couldn't do it. Listen for more low brass instruments in the slow movement.
It really does add a sense of reflective calm to the sound of the sumptuous
orchestra.
When it comes to conducting a Brahms symphony, Alsop says the challenge is
one of balance and proportion. She strives for the right blend of tradition
and innovation. I think Alsop has managed to create that balance with the help
of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. They have great chemistry. According to
Alsop, her experiences with the LPO are "always filled with joy."
I can really hear that in the fearsome finale. Right in the middle of the
movement, Brahms pauses, giving the woodwinds and strings a chance to slow things
down. It sounds like the calm before the storm, because you know this is the
finale; when will it pounce on us? I can just see the orchestra members eyeing
the listener with raised eyebrow s as they lightly pick up the pace. Then, the
beautiful melody pours in, setting the stage for the horns to take it home with
a blaze of glory.
The London Philharmonic is an orchestra with tremendous artistic integrity
and a great sense of humor. Marin Alsop says that's the perfect combination
for her.
Alsop and the LPO will complete their cycle of the four Brahms symphonies
in 2006. Alsop is also performing music by Brahms throughout this season in
appearances with various orchestras.
This new release finishes up with more Brahms: several of the Hungarian Dances.
If someone on your holiday shopping list is just starting to dip a toe in classical
waters, the Hungarian Dances will inspire total immersion. They're filled with
catchy melodies, and many different moods. I can't help but smile when I listen
to them. Something tells me you'll be smiling too, right along with Marin Alsop
and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
From a review by Lawson Taitte
Dallas Morning News, Saturday, November 12th, 2005
The violin concerto has had a great run as a genre over the last century.
Ms. Zwilich's first try at the form lives up to the high standards of her predecessors.
It's stormily dramatic, but with high-lying lyrical solos that have real substance.
Pamela Frank is among those formidable players who have taken refuge at Naxos
after losing a major-label contract. The concerto's difficulties don't faze
her, and she plays the lyrical episodes meltingly.
From a review by Frank Oteri
New Music Box (Newmusicbox.com)
As Garry
Kvistad, one of the members of the percussion quintet Nexus, reminded me at the
release party for this new Ellen Taaffe Zwilich disc on Naxos, there is no such
thing as a percussion instrument with an indeterminate pitch. Every instrument
has a pitch, but most composers who write for percussion ignore this and accept
whatever the pitch of the percussion instrument used in a performance happens
to be. Not so, says Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, who worked meticulously with Nexus's
extensive instrumentarium of percussion instruments from around the world. But
none of these instruments are used for effect or to conjure some sort of
tourist exoticism. Rather, Zwilich emphasized the pitch capabilities of a
family of instruments not usually treated as melodic and created a piece where
every resulting pitch is carefully worked out. The result is one of the most
melodious and harmonious of percussion concertos and one of Zwilich's most
exciting compositions to date. I was thrilled that this remarkable piece, which
is also very exciting to watch, was part of NewMusicBox's first-ever Webcast of
an orchestral concert a little over a year ago, but I'm even more thrilled that
it's finally available on CD. Now if only I could hear it live. Wherever you
are, demand that your local orchestra programs this blockbuster piece!
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Kenneth FUCHS (b. 1956)
An American Place; Eventide (Concerto for English horn); Out of the Dark (Suite for Chamber Orchestra)
JoAnn Falletta, London Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Stacy (English horn)
8.559224
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Review by Victor Carr, Jr.
ClassicsToday.com
Kenneth Fuchs' An American Place is a bright, big-hearted, neo-romantic work
in the style of John Adams' Harmonielehre. Adams' finale is an unmistakable
influence as both works open with motor rhythms chugging along in the strings
while woodwinds and high percussion chirp and tingle above as the music builds
to a spirit-lifting sunrise. Fuchs pretty much goes his own way from there as
the piece travels through a series of engaging episodes--some featuring wonderful
brass writing--and closes in a similar atmosphere to its opening. Eventide is
a concerto for English horn, harp, percussion, and strings inspired by Negro
spirituals such as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Mary Had a
Baby", though Fuchs does not quote them directly, at least not in a manner
that's easily recognizable. The work is reminiscent of the pastoral mood-music
of Vaughan Williams, though the English horn writing occasionally brings to
mind jazz saxophonist Kenny G--a tribute perhaps to the free spirited, highly
virtuosic playing of soloist Thomas Stacy.
The
pleasantries end with Out of the Dark, which is a set of three pieces based on
works by expressionist painter Helen Frankenthaler. Heart of November begins in
thorny string paroxysms, while Out of the Dark moves somewhat away from the
gnarly harmonies of the previous piece. Summer Banner gradually reintroduces
consonance, and the work ends in a blissful, subdued atmosphere (with fine solo
work by hornist Timothy Jones). Jo Ann Falletta leads first-rate performances
with the London Symphony Orchestra, captured in excellent sound--another fine
addition to Naxos' American Classics series.
DVD ROUND-UP: ARTHAUS AND TDK
Review by John Sunier
Audiophile Audition (audaud.com)
Rating:
Please take into account that the MJQ has been probably my favorite jazz group
all my life when I say this is the most enjoyable jazz concert on DVD I have
ever seen. It was expertly taped during a music festival in Freiburg Germany
in l987 and memorializes the world’s longest-running jazz combo in great form.
They were together for so long that some of us thought they would always be
around; yet sadly all four of them have now passed on.
John Lewis was the leader of the MJQ and composed most of the music. He
made no bones about strongly appreciating European classical music and especially
Bach, and his music is full of classical forms such as fugues. The MJQ
epitomized the “chamber jazz” style, and not only in their sound. Lewis
insisted from the start that they wear tuxedos and carry themselves onstage
as if they were a string quartet. This was criticized by some jazz aficionados
but raised the MJQ in the minds of most audiences and got their more serious
listening attention. In the 50s and 60s they were right up there with
the Dave Brubeck Quartet in popularity.
The camera focuses frequently on Lewis’ right hand work. We see the precise
and controlled single-line improvisations he spins out in the upper registers
of the piano. The phrase a fan observed about Milt Jackson: “If he ever
did once play a non-swinging note, it must have been in private” can certainly
apply as well to his bandmate Lewis. We also see the eye contact between
Lewis and Jackson at various points in the music. There are many sheets of music
manuscript on the piano in front of Lewis for pieces such as the concluding
Dubrovnik Suite. There are also a couple of flies plaguing him and walking
on the manuscripts like moving whole notes. Ah, the challenges of live performance!
There is also a humorous translation problem (or maybe just a hearing problem)
on one of the tunes: although correct in the provided note booklet and on the
back of the box, the next-to-last tune is identified onscreen with the superimposed
title “Backgroove” (Bags’ Groove). Speaking of Bags, it’s great to see him in
action, hitting every note with the same precision and care as Lewis does on
the piano. His valued contribution to the group is the singing, flowing sound
he achieves on the vibes. Ellington’s Rockin’ in Rhythm gets the concert off
to a swinging start with a tune probably familiar to most of the audience. The
1987 version of Lewis’ big hit Django is quite different and more exploratory
from the many versions I have in my collection. (In fact I once
put together a mix tape of 90 minutes of different treatments of Django.) I
realized perhaps for the first time that the piece has almost none of the gypsy
jazz sound of its dedicatee’s music - it is more of a blues elegy or threnody.
The DTS 5.1 surround is excellent and the spatial origin of the sounds seems
to be more in accord with the onscreen images than with many music videos -
the vibes toward the right channel and the piano toward the left. The
PCM stereo option is also very transparent and may be preferred by some users,
either with or without Pro Logic II processing.
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