The World's Leading Classical Music Group

PORTER: String Quartets Nos. 1 - 4. Ives Quartet. Naxos 8.559305. (65'30”).

This comes very high on my list of the most enjoyable 20th century quartet discs I have had the pleasure of reviewing. William Quincy Porter was born in New Haven in 1897 and showed an affinity to the violin before his teenage years. Mature studies took him to Yale University where he was a pupil of Horatio Parker, the guiding hand a quarter of a century earlier for the young Charles Ives. Porter moved to Paris in 1919 to work with d'Indy, and on his return to the States went to Cleveland to study with Ernest Bloch. A further three year period in Paris finally removed any potential for him to become a true national American composer, his output always indebted to European influences. He was not the world's most prolific composer, but his portfolio contained seven string quartets, the first four included on this disc. He had dropped his first name by the time the twenty-five-year-old was working on the First Quartet, which coincided with his days under Bloch's tuition. It is a rather self-conscious student piece where we can feel influences pulling him in many directions. Yet there is much evidence of a young composer at ease working in the quartet medium and expertly handling the interplay between instruments. For one so young the central Andante is heavily burdened with sadness, the gloom lifted in the proactive finale. Coming just two years later there is a quantum leap forward to the Second Quartet, the debt to Bartok obvious in mood and texture, the outer movements short, while the soulful central Adagio takes its time to unfold. If Porter seems tempted towards atonality, it soon passes, the finale easy on the ear though often quirky. There was now a gap of five years before he completed the Third. Red-blooded, tonal, and pounding rhythms driving the opening movement forward, with memorable themes lodging in the memory. If the previous work had a leaning to Bartok, here we have a score that could well have come from the Hungarian, and I am sure he would have been pleased to own it. The Fourth followed one year later, the style more abstract, atonality now taking hold of the opening movement, with the sadness we find in the slow movement of the First now even more poignant. The finale lifts the gloom, but only fitfully. The sleeve notes give no reason as to why the quartets are here played out of order, maybe placing the opening movement of the Third as the first track was intended to grab our attention - which it surely does. I certainly doubt that we could ever expect more characterful performances, the Ives Quartet so deeply into Porter's style and mood. Though technically demanding, there is a sense of the easy virtuosity that removes thoughts of stress in the performances. Detail is crystal clear even in the most hectic passages, while the recording made last year in California is just about as close as we will get to having the musicians in our listening room. Fervently commended.

MARTINU: Fantaisie et Toccata. Piano Sonata. Etudes and Polkas, Vol 1 - 3. Trois danses tcheques. Giorgio Koukl (piano). Naxos 8.557919. (79'54”).

In the third volume of the complete solo piano output of Bohuslav Martinu we have reached his major works in this genre, the Fantaisie et Toccata and the Sonata forming two towering masterworks of the 20th century. From his maturity and with Martinu's fingerprints all over them, they are more substantial than much that he wrote for the keyboard. As a young man he was a loner living with his family high in a church tower 193 steps above the street. It was to affect his nature such that he was unable to accept formal education, but had somehow taught himself to play the violin to a standard that found him earning a living as a member of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. He had also been composing music which he now realised was worthless, and decided to go to try once again to seek education, this time in Paris with Roussel. he learnt little, but it did at least offer a link to other musicians living in the city. It is oft said with justification that he composed far too much for his own good, but pick and choose from his output and we have one of the  most important musical voices of the 20th century. The Second World War saw his quick departure from Paris, and while awaiting safe passage to the United States, he worked on the pungent, hard hitting and virtuoso Fantaisie et Toccata for the great Czech pianist Rudolf Firkusny, his companion also awaiting the boat to America. After the war Martinu returned to Europe and it was in France that he wrote the three-movement Sonata in 1954, his final major keyboard composition. A few months previous he had completed three volumes of Etudes and Polkas, the title rather belying the serious content that taxes the pianist's dexterity and ability. We go back to 1926 for the Three Czech Dances based on rural folk melodies, written at a time when Martinu was working in a much simpler musical language. The disc poses considerable technical demands for the soloist, the Czech-born Martinu specialist, Giorgio Koukl, untroubled by the complexities of the Fantaisie et Toccata which he plays with clarity and deceptive ease. As with previous volumes, you doubt whether any pianist today could make such an eloquent case for the music.

STANFORD: Clarinet Sonata op.129. Fantasy Nos 1 & 2 for Clarinet and String Quartet. Three Intermezzi for Clarinet and Piano, op. 13. Piano Trio No. 3, op. 158. Robert Plane (clarinet), Mia Cooper (violin), David Adams (viola), Gould Piano Trio. Naxos 8.570416. (74'05”).

While Edward Elgar's music was largely responsible for the renaissance of British music around the world, it did equally generate the widely held belief that nothing of value had been produced there in the previous two centuries. It is only in recent years, and with the help of the recording industry, that the thought has been laid to rest, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford among those now taking their rightful place among the nation's finest composers. By birth he was Irish, his English parents at the time living in Dublin, though his education took him to Cambridge University where, instead of studying law as his father intended, he chose a career in music. In his teenage years he was a highly regarded organist, but turned to composition and moved to study in Leipzig and subsequently in Berlin. Returning to Cambridge he was appointed Professor of Composition, and soon afterwards took the same position at the newly created Royal College of Music in London. His detractors saw a musician simply teaching Germanic traditions, his own music enjoying more acclaim in Germany than in his homeland. Yet he had the good sense to allow his pupils - which included Holst, Vaughan Williams and Bridge - to develop their own style, and though he became a prolific composer, he was writing in an outdated fashion at the beginning of the 20th century. In hindsight we can to some extent ignore the period of composition, and simply enjoy his workmanship and ready flow of melodic invention. There is one early work - the Three Intermezzi - written shortly after his return from Germany, but the remaining pieces on the disc come from later life. With Brahms running through its veins, the Clarinet Sonata was completed in 1911, its three movements concentrating on the lyric aspects of the instrument, while the two Fantasies from 1921 and 1922 uses the clarinet as a member of the chamber group rather than as a solo voice. They were not published until 1996, the general feel being one of comforting music. Robert Plane, who enjoyed tremendous success with the Naxos recording of Finzi's Clarinet concerto, is in superb form, his creamy and smooth tone ideal for the music.The jewel is the Third Piano Trio completed in 1918, the dramatic opening movement coming as a response to the First World War, a thought that would run into the central Adagio, music that is sad without overstatement, while the finale is full of vitality and optimism. It is here receiving its first recording, the performance in every way totally satisfying. Members of the Gould Piano Trio link with Mia Cooper and David Adams as the fine string quartet, their pianist, Benjamin Frith the responsive partner in the sonata. The sound quality is exemplary.

CIMAROSA: Opera Overtures: Voldomiro. La baronessa Stramba. Le stravaganze del conte. In matrimonio segreto. L'infedelta fedele. Il ritorno di Don Calendrino. Il falegname. Cleopatra. In convito. La vergine del sole. Il credulo. L'impresario in augustie. Nicolaus Esterhazy Sinfonia, Alessandro Amoretti (conductor). Naxos 8.570508. (69'06”).

Domenico Cimarosa was one of the most fashionable composers working in Italy in the second half of the 18th century, his success in the theatre leading to the composition of around 65 operas. Life however had not started out well, his father dying shortly after the boy's birth, his early charitable education eventually taking him to study music in the Conservatoire di S. Maria di Loreto. His early career finds him playing in the court of Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg, then moving into imperial service in Vienna, and finally back to Naples. Most of his operas were lighthearted, his overtures the forerunner of Rossini in their bubbly content. They are more interesting in the changes that Cimarosa brought about, the norm for Italian opera at the time being the three-sections of an opening Sinfonia, which he replaced with a single movement where thematic material is allowed to flow quite freely. It was to be Il matrimonio segreto (The secret marriage) from 1791 that ensured his name in posterity. First performed two months after Mozart's death, it proved so popular it eclipsed Mozart's stage works, and was soon heard throughout the world. The disc does not offer the frequently performed version, but gives the first recording of the one Cimarosa used for the opera's Vienna premiere. The 12 tracks take us through much of Cimarosa's career, and in addition to the bubbly humour, several tracks cover his "serious'operas, mainly composed in his St. Petersburg days, the dark and slow opening to La vergine del sole (The Sun Virgin), setting the scene to a dramatic story in Peru. The performances are nicely shaped and sound to have come straight from the theatre, the Hungarian orchestra playing on modern instruments with a sense of period style. The disc was first available on the Marco Polo label in 2002, the sound quality transparent as befits the music.

MEDTNER: Violin Sonata No. 3 in E minor, op.57, "Epica". Three Nocturnes, op.16. Fairy Tale in B flat minor op. 20 no.1. Laurence Kayaleh (violin), Paul Stewart (piano). Naxos 8.570298. (63'47”).

Though there are occasional flurries of interest in Nikolay Medtner, we know precious little of the music that came from the Moscow-born pianist and composer, Rachmaninov once describing him as 'the greatest composer of our time'. It was an outrageous exaggeration but reflected the high opinion of his colleagues while he was working in Russia. That was all to turn sour in 1917 when at thirty-seven, and seen as bourgeois, his wealth and position vanished in the Revolution, though he and his wife here prevented from leaving Russia until 1921. Looking for a new home in Central Europe, the couple eventually arrived in England where they at last found sanctuary. He quickly gained champions, but his soul was still in Russia, and by the time the Second World War was ended his style of composition had long passed into history. If his piano works appear from time to time on disc we know almost nothing of his music for violin and piano which was small enough to be contained within two CDs - of which this is the first one. If Medtner had a problem it was in finding the thematic material that lodges immediately in the listener's memory, though he was highly adapt at creating music where the violin and piano have equal importance. Yet if those memorable melodies eluded him, there was no lack of ideas, many coming so fast that they hardly have time to register in his rhapsodic and eclectic style of writing. The Third Sonata, which in playing time outlasts most 20th century symphonies, was completed in 1938 and shortly after arriving in England. The real opening movement follows an Introduction and is heavy laden with a personal sense of sadness shot through with dramatic outbursts. The Scherzo injects a short spell of joy before the Andante brings contemplation. As if a summary the finale touches all of these many moods. Even in happier times, the Three Nocturnes from 1907 do not bring cheer, the genesis of the music coming from Goethe's poem, Nachtgesang, where it is sleep that comes as a relief from life's experiences. Finally we have Jascha Heifetz's transcription of a lightweight piano piece, Fairy Tale. The Sonata is demanding on both stamina and technical ability, the Kayaleh/Stewart duo well endowed with both. It requires a firm hand to shape and unify the structure which they do admirably, bringing a jazzy mood to the Scherzo, while never allowing the music too sink in self-pity. The remaining tracks are equally well played. Admirable sound quality.

HALFFTER: Crepusculos. Marche joyeuse. Piano Sonata. L'espagnolade. Gruss. Seranata a Dulcinea. Dos piezas cubanas. Preludio y danza. Llanto por Ricardo Vines. Sonate "Homenaje a Domenico Scarlatti'. Nocturno otonal "Ricordando a Chopin. Homenaje a Joaquin Turina. Homenaje a Federico Mompou. Homenaje a Rodolfo Halffter. Suite de las Doncellas. Valencia II - Pasodoble. Panaderos. Boleras de la Cachucha. Tre piezas infantiles. Guillermo Gonzalez (piano). Naxos 8.570006-07 (2CDs). (128'56”).

Born in Madrid in 1905, Ernesto Halffter's early interest in music was welcomed and financially supported by his family, as they had also given to his elder brother, Rodolfo. Ernesto studied piano at the Colegio Aleman in Madrid, but it soon became evident he was a gifted composer, his piano teacher, Fernando Ember, giving the first performance of the teenager's music. He was just seventeen when he composed Crepusculos, premiered by Ember at Madrid's Ritz Hotel in 1922, those opening tracks on the first of the two discs chronicling his piano output through his life to the Homenaje a Joaquin Turina composed in July 1988, the year before he died at the age of 84. He had added some of the most significant music to the 20th century Spanish repertoire, though much of his inspiration came from the time he spent in Paris where he met and worked with the group known as Les Six. Poulenc, Auric and Milhaud had a particular effect on his style of composition, the sheer craftsmanship of his writing evident though he was often working without memorable melodic invention. At his most outgoing - Dos piezas cubanas a perfect example - there is a ready wit and an instantly likeable score, and when he does find a good tune, as in the Boleras de la Cachucha, he certainly knows how to work it. He seems most happy when working in cameos, the responsibility of writing more extended pieces, such as the Sonata, weighing heavily on his sense of responsibility to produce something of magnitude and importance. The second disc opens with a world premiere recording of the Suite de las Doncellas, the piano score that became the ballet, Sonatina, first seen in Madrid in 1928 when Halffter was 23.  The suite consists of seven dances owing much to Manuel de Falla's El amor brujo and the musical world of Scarlatti, and ending with an extended and vivacious dance, the work making significant demands on the performer's technique. The discs come full circle with Tre piezas infantiles the three pieces for four hands lasting little more than two minutes and a work of his young years. The distinguished pianist, Guillermo Gonzales, has been responsible for a number of world premiere performances of Ernesto's works, and knows his way around this music both technically and spiritually. I suppose these will become benchmark recordings, the sound quality, apart from some vibration in the upper octaves, being most attractive. The programme notes are highly detailed and are admirable.

BERG: Piano Sonata op. 1
HINDEMITH: Piano Sonata No. 2.
SCHOENBERG: Drei Klavierstucke.
HARTMANN: Piano Sonata, '27 April 1945'. Allison Brewster Franzetti (piano). Naxos 8.570401. (64'55”).

In the accompanying programme notes Allison Brewster Franzetti expresses her admiration for the Hindemith sonata, a score that is still too rarely performed, though the jewel in her recital is surely Karl Amadeus Hartmann's disturbing sonata that reflects his feelings at the end of the Second World War. The "odd man out'is Alban Berg, whose sonata was composed in 1908 under the influence of Arnold Schoenberg's thoughts on the new world of the Second Viennese School. Before this revelation entered his head Schoenberg was working in tonality through the Three Piano Pieces in 1894, keyboard works unpublished in his lifetime. Hindemith's Second Sonata remains locked into the tonality that rejects Schoenberg's later musical ideology, the three movements having a classical simplicity in their formal structure. Hartmann, who managed to survive in Germany as a pacifist and dissident throughout the Second World War, devised his own style of composition where his roots go back to the era before Schoenberg. After completing the sonata he did revisit the finale and made a major change, Franzetti giving us the possibility of hearing both versions. In some hands the Berg sonata emerges with a degree of lyricism, Franzetti subscribing to this view. In every way she is a superb and meticulous musician, her attention to dynamic detail throughout the disc is exemplary; her playing lucid even in the most complex passages and always cleanly detailed. I like her view of the Hartmann that avoids the angst that the genesis of the music could easily encourage. In total these are highly impressive performances, my only caveat being that thorny subject of piano sound. This Hartmann account is indispensable, but sample the first track and you may well love this Bluthner piano, but it is not my ideal for 20th century music. If I wanted the Berg I would take the earlier Naxos recording (8.553870) which comes as part of a critically acclaimed disc of 20th century piano music. This release is in the Naxos "Limited Edition'range and in some geographic regions you may have to use your Internet provider.

JOSE: Guitar Sonata. PONCE: Theme Varie et Finale. BACH: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BWV 1003. CLERCH: En Volos. Estudio de acordes. Estudio de ligados. TARREGA: Adelita. Mazurca en Sol. Nirse Gonzalez (guitar). Naxos 8.570446. (61'22”).

Born in Caracas in 1981, Nirse Gonzalez must have spent much of his young life taking part in the competitions that has created a long portfolio of successes, the most recent coming as winner of the 2006 Tarrega International Guitar Competition. That result brought about this recording in Naxos's 'Laureate Series'. Two composers in his programme need a few words, particularly so in the case of Antonio Jose whose career was cut short in 1936 when at at the age of 34 he became a victim of the Spanish Civil War. A recent Naxos recording of his orchestral work, Sinfonica castellana, has done much to reinstate his position as one of the most eminent Spanish composers of his time. a fact reinforced by the Guitar Sonata dating from 1933 but not rediscovered until the late 1980's. His knowledge of the instrument was such that he could explore its sonorities and produce a finale that would both display the skill of the performer and excite the listener. Joaquin Clerch is presently Gonzalez's mentor at the Robert Schumann University in Dusseldorf. Born in Cuba in 1965 he has enjoyed a career as a concert guitarist following his student years with the great Leo Brouwer, his compositions including En Volos, a picture of a Greek town, while the two Estudios are functional studies in guitar technique that have a catchy melody. The Ponce needs no introduction, while the two mazurkas by Francisco Tarrega reflect his fascination with the piano music of Chopin. I have an aversion to guitarists strumming through arrangements of Bach, particularly when there is so much original guitar music that needs performances. Throughout the disc I admire the clarity of Gonzalez's playing, his almost noiseless shifts of left hand and the rhythmic exactitude of his right hand with its lovely fleshy soft chords that are a joy. All too often guitar competition winners have a short shelf life, but I hope we will hear a lot more of this young Cuban, his musicianship a cut above others I have heard in recent years. Sound quality from Naxos's guitar headquarters is as immaculate as ever.

WIDOR: Symphony No. 1, op.13 no.1 - Marche pontificale. Symphony No. 2, op.13 no.2 - Salve Regina. Symphony No. 3, op.13 no.3 - Allegro molto. Symphony No. 4, op. 13 no.4 - Andante cantabile. Symphony No. 5, op.42 no.1. Symphony No. 6, op.42 no.2 - Allegro. Symphony gothique, op. 70. Trois Nouvelles Pieces, op. 87 - Mystique. Bach's Memento - Marche du Veilleur; Sicilienne. Robert Delcamp (organ), Naxos 8.570310. (81'01”).

While organ enthusiasts are going to be delighted with a disc packed with Widor's 'Greatest Moments', it will leave them wondering what might have been had Robert Delcamp been entrusted with Widor's complete symphonies. It was Charles-Marie Widor's sixty-four years at the Saint-Suplice in Paris from 1869 that was to bring such a volcanic change to French organ music, the sheer size and scope of his compositions possible at the keyboard of the monster Cavaille-Coll instrument sending shock waves around the organ world. He left behind a massive catalogue of works in many genres including opera and ballet, but it is his organ music by which he will be best remembered, and particularly with the ten solo organ symphonies. The present disc picks out favourite movements from five of the symphonies and gives us the complete Fifth with the 'pop'classic Toccata finale. Yet Widor became so wedded to his Saint-Suplice instrument that it coloured his concept of organ composition to an extent that you really only experience the complete Widor when played on a Cavaille-Coll. Sadly the booklet with this disc tells us nothing about the Martin Pasi organ in the Omaha Cathedral in Nebraska, save for its basic specification. That simply is not good enough. Though the instrument is well able to handle the composer's massive outbursts with that tingle factor all great Widor performances need, I miss the pungency of a Cavaille-Coll's reeds that I love so much. The outstanding Cincinnati musician, Robert Delcamp, has already given Naxos three outstanding volumes of the organ music of Dupre, and though some may be a little disappointed that the famous Toccata is not taken at the furious pace we are accustomed to hearing, we still enjoy his considerable virtuosity. Combine the player, instrument and recording engineer and you have more detail and clarity than we hear in the bulk of Widor recordings, the thundering bass capable of having your speakers jumping around.

GRANADOS: Scarlatti Sonata Transcriptions: K520/L86; K521/L408; K522/LS25; K518/L116; K541/L120; K540/LS17; K102/L89; K546/L312; K190/L250; K110/L469; K534/L11; K535/L262; K553/L425; K555/L477; K554/LS21; K547/LS28; K109/L138; K211/L133; K552/L421; K537/L293; K528/L200; K139/L6; K48/L157; K536/L236. COURCELLE: Harpsichord Sonata. ANNON: Harpsichord Sonata. Douglas Riva (piano). Naxos 8.557939-40 (2CDs). (122'30”).

Domenico Scarlatti was almost totally forgotten until the second half of the 20th century, though there were champions who tried to reinstate his harpsichord works updated as piano pieces. The Spanish publisher Vidal y Limona felt that they had such a duty and entrusted the task of transcribing 26 sonatas to a young Spaniard, Enrique Granados. He took on the assignment with such zeal that he was soon improving on the originals to the point of recomposing, often changed the nature of the piece. In his notes with the discs, Douglas Riva, who is recording the complete Granados for Naxos, at times defends Granados, but has to admit that the results do not always serve the best interests of Scarlatti. I know what he means as I would burn every Scarlatti transcription on the basis of musical heresy. Yet we must not be hard on Granados, who did have the musical honesty of never hiding behind supposed 'authenticity'. He gave us Scarlatti as seen through the eyes of Chopin; variations on a theme of Scarlatti, and an abundance of dynamics that has Scarlatti in the style of Brahms. In fact he often takes us so far from Scarlatti I begin to enjoy these as original pieces. How little the Spanish knew of their great composer comes in the fact they even managed to include two pieces who were not his. My heading shows the order of Granados's work converted back to the catalogue numbers through which we now recognise Scarlatti's music. Maybe Riva wanted to make amends by playing the music in the clipped style of the harpsichord to introduce an element of the original scores. He does so with good taste, as one would expect from someone who has spent considerable time promoting Granados. Turn to track 6 of the second disc, an A minor sonata L109, and sample the innocent charm Riva brings to so many of the sonatas. As always there is excellent clarity in his playing, and though he has to shape the music as Granados imposes, I like his tempos and the subtle way he treats the ornamentation written out by Granados. The sound quality is immaculate from this outstanding UK source - would that all piano recordings were as good.

SCHUMANN: Romanzen und Balladen I, op.67; II, op.75; III, op.145 & IV, op.146. Romanzen I, op 69 & II, op.91. Aquarias, Marc Michael De Smet (conductor). Naxos 8.570456. (72'46).

We have reached that point in Robert Schumann's chequre career where he is working in Dresden and has inherited a local choir. He was married to Clara after having a protracted and bitter legal battle with her father, Friedrich Wieck, who had been his piano teacher and mentor. Many years his junior, Clara had been since marriage their source of income as a concert pianist, accompanied wherever she went by her new husband. After many attempts at finding constant employment - his own career as a pianist cut short by a damaged hand - the couple had settled in Dresden in 1844. In 1847 their friend, Ferdinand Hiller, left Dresden to take up an appointment in Dusseldorf, leaving Schumann the male voice choir, Liedertafel, who prior to Hiller had been conducted by Wagner. Though hardly an earth-shattering job, Schumann soon had the idea of forming a much larger and ambitious group of a hundred mixed male and female voices. It was for this enlarged choir that he set to work on four scores, Romanzen und Balladen, which he completed in 1850, much at the same time as the two Romenzen for female voices. He drew on many sources for the texts, his literary interests creating well balanced pieces. Unless you are deeply involved with the choral world these works will be unknown to you, the scores showing Schumann's craft rather than his inspiration, the pieces falling most amiably on the ear. If they have a drawback it is a real lack of vivid contrast as we move from one song to the next - the Romanzen und Balladen each having five songs, the Romanzen being of six songs. They are here performed by the Belgium group, Aquarias, a highly skilled chamber choir who under their founder, Marc Michael De Smet, produce a silky smooth tone, always well balanced and the  moments of questionable intonation far and few between. You can question with every justification why a small group is singing music Schumann composed for a large choir, but at least their size does bring clarity and the quieter sections are ravishing in their beauty. I don't suppose we are about to be inundated with alternative recordings, and a nice warm sound linked with the Naxos low price will fill a gap in your Schumann collection. A Naxos 'Limited Edition'disc which in certain geographic regions may be more easily obtained by Internet sales.

DE LA RUE: Antiphones. Magnificats I, II, IV - VIII. Salve Regina II, IV & V. VivaVoce, Peter Schubert (artistic director). Naxos 8.557896-97 (2CDs). (119'53”).

No one is quite sure when Pierre de la Rue was born, the first accurate record of his life coming in 1492 when he was listed as a member of the Habsburg-Burgundian chapel where he worked for the rest of his active life. As part of court structure he would have travelled widely through Europe, and would have had every chance to hear composition developments in various countries. He would appear to have been a progressive rather than revolutionary composer, extending the use of polyphony to the more elaborate requirements for special feast days. It is believed that he wrote eight settings of the Magnificat with their preceding Antiphones, but the third of these has not survived. They were written for various numbers of vocal line, with probably no other intention than to provide variation. However much 'learned'writing we have on the subject of music from this era, the real truth is that we know very little of the use and motivation that surrounded it, and far less about the style of performance. So we have 'authentic'performing versions - of which this disc is just one example - the Magnificats here receiving their first recording. One is reasonably certain that the singing style will have markedly changed, and is now more beautiful than it would have been at the time of composition. Whether vibrato, that is inherent in today's singers, had been developed is unknown, but its presence helps the hypnotic quality we find in this music. Let me go no further on my hobbyhorse, for as a modern view of ancient music the quality of the mixed male and female voices creates the most attractive musical tracery, the well judged balance ensuring that there is always transparency. Intonation is spotless, and if the music sags in the second Salve Regina, the performances as a whole are most enjoyable. The Canadian-based VivaVoce was founded in 1998 and is an all-purpose choir with a wide repertoire stretching over five hundred years of composition. The sound quality from the Montreal church adds that bloom of reverberation to the sound that we have now grown to love in such recordings.

PIAZZOLLA: Milonga del Angel. Verano Porteno. Chiquilin de Bachin. Libertango. Oblivion. Balada para un Loco. Maria de Buenos Aires Suite. Enrique Moratalla (vocalist), Maria Rey-Joly (soprano), Horacio Ferrer (reciter), Versus Ensemble. Naxos 8.570523. (52'15”).

Having been designated as the Astor Piazzolla expert by one of the international disc magazines, I find each disc release adds a new dimension to the composer, though by now I am sure many listeners are becoming puzzled. Just over a decade ago there was a decisive move to establish the Argentinean composer in the world of 'classical' music, many musicians from that world taking up his cause. It seemed to work, though not always convincingly, but now with a sudden about turn the music is being reclaimed by dance halls and nightclubs as the sophisticated 'pop'music of yesteryear. This is essentially the content of this disc, the Versus Ensemble stressing that everything Piazzolla composed is based on the dance rhythm of the tango, though it is the presence of the vocalist, Enrique Moratalla, who 'sings'and speaks his way through four of the tracks, that sums up the content. The composer's best known pieces, Milonga del Angel, Libertango and Oblivion are included, together with an attractive suite from the operetta, Maria de Buenos Aires. The Versus Ensemble's lineup of violin, saxophone, guitar, double bass and piano, works well enough, though if you go down the road of this popular approach a bandoneon player is absolutely essential. As a novelty we have on the final track the voice of Horacio Ferrer, the poet who worked with Piazzolla on many projects including the operetta  Maria de Buenos Aires. At times the ensemble gets excitable and embarks on adventurous tempos, but the group - who are Piazzolla competition winners - know their way around the music and will give much pleasure. Sound quality is adequate, but the brief programme notes - that contain no texts for the songs - are way below the quality we have come to expect from Naxos  A limited edition release you may find easy to obtain by your Internet provider.

SCHUBERT: Die junge Nonne, D828. Die Liebe hat gelogen D751. Fruhlingsglaube, D686. Morgenlied, D685. Abendrote, D690. Der Schmetterling, D633. Das Madchen, D652. Der Knabe, D692. Die Rose, D745. Der Wanderer, D649. Die Berge, D634. Der Flurb, D693. Die Vogel, D691. Die Sterne, D684. Die Gebusche, D646. Du liebst mich nacht, D756. Dab sie hier gewesen, D775. Du bist die Ruh, D776. Lachen und Weinen D777. Ariette, D797. Julia Borchert (soprano), Ulrich Eisenlohr (piano). Naxos 8.554797. (59'58”).

For the 24th volume of the complete songs of Schubert, Naxos start a new grouping under the heading 'Romantic Poets'. This first volume is centered on the poems of Friedrich Schlegel and covers the years 1818 to 1823 often  described as his 'Romantic Song Phase'. Schlegel was involved in telepathic spirituality and had a profound effect on Schubert, his cycle of poems, Abendrote (Sunset) attracting the composer to set eleven of the twenty-two to music, (D690, 633, 652, 692, 745, 649, 634, 693, 691, 684 & 646). The fact that they were composed over a period of four years and not in the order in which they appear in Schlegel's cycle, suggests that musically Schubert did not see his setting as being strictly linked, though stylistically his treatment of each song was very similar. In the group we find the piano highlighting the sentiments expressed in the text, many being openly sad, others with that feeling hidden within the words. The 'cycle'is surrounded here by songs that are overtly dramatic (the heading shows the order of performance), The best known poet is Friedrich Ruckert - who was later to inspire Mahler - and here supplies three poems for the group of 'Vier Lieder'which Schubert gathered together under opus 59 (D756, 775, 776 and 777), their strong texture a foretaste of Wagner yet to come. But it is Die junge Nonne (The Young Nun) to words by Craigher that opens the disc with such romantic vehemence. The German soprano, Julie Borchert, whose appearances include Wagner opera at Bayreuth, has the big vocal equipment to express Schubert's musical protestations, and can thin her voice when required. Maybe Schubert had a more agile voice in mind in the Schlegel settings, the 'cycle'calling for a voice to  encompass many varying moods, and frequently with innocence to highlight the double meaning of the words. Ulrich Eisenlohr warms to the very positive role given to the piano, the aggressive Swiss originated recording from 2004 adding to his potency. Play at a very low volume setting for the most attractive results.

BERGER: Eli Eli. Sink or Swim. Miracles and Mud. for amos. Doubles. Livia Sohn (violin), St. Lawrence String Quartet. Naxos 8.559342. (57'27”).

Jonathan Berger was born in the United States in 1954, and became one of the growing breed of American composers looking for new ways of musically speaking within the realms of sounds that meet traditional human concepts of music. I am not fall in love with the disc on first hearing, but it was well worth the effort of gaining familiarity. Berger has built a sizable catalogue of scores, many coming as commissions from both sides of the Atlantic, while at the same he has over sixty publications on a wide range of subjects from music to science. Each of the five works on this disc has a progamme, opening with Eli Eli for string quartet and based on a poem by Hannah Senesh. She died in the Second World War at the age of 23 on a mission to rescue Jews from the Germans. Opening as a dirge the short piece blossoms with sad beauty. The four movements of Sink or Swim for solo violin were inspired by the Scottish American folk-song, The Water is Wide, though you will probably search in vein to find a direct quotation. Flitting between tonality and atonality, there is that sense of the innate Scottish psyche of life's injustice. I learn from the accompanying booklet that on entering a Jewish or Palestine home I would be asked if I wanted coffee 'Nes o botz'(European instant or Arabic), those words converted to English also mean Miracles and Mud, Berger's hope being that one day coexistence will come to the Middle East. It is an extensive piece for string quartet and leads to Berger writing for a sick young boy with variants on tunes Amos enjoyed. Commissioned for the St. Lawrence Quartet, Doubles reshapes the songs - all related to peace and social equality - that Berger enjoyed when he was a teenager. Here is more atonality, often hard-hitting, abrasive and exploring a wide dynamic range. A product of the great pedagogue, Dorothy DeLay, at the Juilliard School of Music, Livia Sohn was multi-prizewinner before embarking on a major solo career in the States. Together for seventeen years I have oft commented elsewhere on the high standards of the St. Lawrence quartet, and I guess these will be benchmark performances.The recordings have been made in a number of venues each with very different acoustics, the earliest dating back to 2002 through to 2005, and one would suspect the St. Lawrence were 'live'performances. It does jolt your ears though overall the sound is satisfying. Aimed at the US market, elsewhere you may find it readily available on Internet.

MA SICONG: Dragon Lantern Dance. Mountain Song. Madrigal. Inner Mongolia Suite. Lullaby. Lantern Festival Dance. Amei Suite. Rondo No. 1. Tone Poem of Tibet. Hsiao-mei Ku (violin), Ning Lu (piano). Naxos 8.570600. (71'05”).

A student of violin and composition in France during the 1920's and 30's, Ma Sicong had become one of the leading pedagogues in his native China until the Red Guards forced him from his employment. Having suffered physical abuse at their hands, he was fortunate enough to find safe passage to the United States where he spent the last twenty years of his life, dying there in 1987 at the age of 75. He left a large catalogue of music from symphonies and concertos to the modest pieces included on this disc. He pioneered the use of Chinese folk music within conventional Western classical frameworks, aiming to give far greater international circulation. Like much Chinese music the colourful titles do not translate into the pictures we understand, their content falling under the heading 'light music'. The usual brevity called for little more than a simple working around the basic melody. the three movements of Tone Poem of Tibet being the one score where we find greater adventure and a much closer affinity to Western idioms. Though he spent much of his time in the States as a composer, this disc - with the exception of the Amei Suite dating from 1981 -  being devoted to music written before arriving there. Tonal, musically uncomplicated, it does at times call for a degree of brilliance from the violinist, as in the hectic finale of the Inner Mongolia Suite. Hsiao-mei Ku was a child prodigy who also suffered at the hands of the Red Guard, but unlike the composer has been able to return there in happier times. Though there are some purple patches in the pieces that need agility, by and large they are not demanding, and she has the inner knowledge of having heard the composer play some of the pieces when a young student. Using the slide up to the note to capture the Chinese folk quality, the Tone Poem of Tibet could probably have benefitted with a few more edits. Ning Lu makes the most of the rather functional accompaniment, the sense of spontaneity characterising the whole disc.  Microphones have been set well back from the musicians, the hall's generous reverberation slightly blurring articulation in fast passages. The disc forms the first release in the new Naxos Chinese Classics series, and is well documented. An auspicious start. You may find in certain geographic regions you have to obtain through Internet.

YAMADA: Nagauta Symphony 'Tsurukame'. Sinfonia 'Inno Meiji'. Choreographic Symphony 'Maria Magdalena'. Volcalists, Yumiko Mizoiri (hichiriki), Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Takuo Yuasa (conductor). Naxos 8.557971. (51'31”).

Born in 1886, Kosaku Yamada was one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century, having written over 1500 scores, many destroyed in the Second World War. He had been trained in Germany with Max Bruch among his tutors, and became known in his native Japan as the first native musician to form a symphony orchestra in the country. Though he became a potent force there, introducing many Western works to his audiences, over the years he became increasingly attracted to conducting in Europe. You do sense in his music a guilt complex that he had become Westernised, and to counter that feeling tried to integrate the two very differing cultures. One such work was the Nagauta Symphony, where he simply grafts on a symphonic backdrop to the 19th century composition,Tsurukame, played and sung by musicians of Nagauta. Western ears are really sailing into uncharted territory with sounds that will provoke strong reactions. I can only add that I respect Yamada's intentions with the fact that the Nagauta vocalists are part of Japanese culture. I was pleased to reach the second track, Sinfonia 'Inno Meiji', and to be reunited with the Yamada I reviewed on a Naxos disc back in June 1993, and who could write the most sensual music described as influenced by Richard Strauss, but in which I find equal quantities of French Impressionism. The Sinfonia has a story of the journey Japan took from 1850 to the creation of a new entity in the 20th century, and emerges as a most attractive score. Maria Magdalena was originally intended as a three-act ballet based on the biblical story, but Yamada progressed no further than an orchestration of second act from his piano draft. There is Scriabin, Rimsky-Korsakov and Strauss here in rather equal measures, and if derivative, Yamada was so skilled in orchestration as to arrive at a highly attractive product. The disc seems to have been derived from a concert, the Tokyo orchestra well versed in producing sensual beauty. Sound quality, which comes from an outstanding Japanese team, is excellent.

NIELSEN: Moderen, Op.41 - Min pige er sa lys som rav; Sa bittert var mit hjerte. Fynsk forar, op.42 - Den milde dag er lys og lang. Maskarade - Ulignelige pige. HARTMANN: Liden Kirsten - Ja, jeg er hjemme. LANGE-MULLER: I mester Sebalds have, op. 13 - Genboens forste vis. Renaissance , op.59 - Serenade. Peter Plus - Elskte, jag lever; Rosens elskov. Romersk serenade. Der var engang, op.25 - Serenade. Gildet pa solhaug, op.32 - Overture; Gudmunds forste vise; Gudmunds anden vise; Danse. WEYSE: Festen pa Kenilworth - Hyrden graesser sine far. Sovedrikken - Skonjomfru, luk du vindue op. Prinsesse Isabella - Natten er sa stille. KUNZEN: Erik Ejegod - Midnattens mane. Mathias Hedegaard (tenor), Ditte Hojgaard Andersen (soprano), Royal Naval Choir Copenhagen, Danish Radio Sinfonietta, Adam Fischer (conductor). Da Capo 8.226012. (55'14”).

If you are not fluent in Danish, let me add that the title of the disc is 'Serenades and Romances'the contents being a series of love songs. Though some of the composers lived into the 20th century, all were wedded to melodic music and well able to provide the pleasing thematic material required. Of course love can come in many guises from the dramatic to the seductive smoothness. As the heading shows, most of the tracks are taken from opera or incidental music to plays, but can stand alone very well, the texts in Danish and English given in the enclosed booklet.They are performed by the tenor, Mathias Hedegaard, a lyric singer who can bring a sense of the heroic when required. The soprano makes two brief appearances, and the orchestra's participation is more than a supportive role, the Danish musicians suitably polished. The Royal Naval Choir - a professional chamber ensemble - sing with an innate feel for the music, and though the engineers have placed the soloists well forward, there is admirable detail. In sum a gorgeous disc that will make relaxing late-night entertainment.

ZIEHRER: Operetta Overtures: Ball bei Hof. Das dumme Herz. Der bleiche Zauberer. Der Fremdenfuhrer. Der Schatzmeister. Der schone Rigo. Die drei Wunsche. Manoverkinder. Ein Deutschmeister. Ein tolles Madel. Konig Jerome. Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Christian Pollack (conductor). Marco Polo 8.225332. (68'36”).

We have to be grateful to Marco Polo for the crumbs they keep offering from the massive output of Carl Michael Ziehrer, particularly when we have a disc containing four world premiere recordings. Ziehrer's life is one of mixed fortunes, and with his threat to the Strauss dynasty vigorously opposed, he was forced to take a job as an army bandmaster on three separate occasions, though he was to raise the quality of Austrian bands to new levels of excellence. He was forty-two before Vienna finally accepted him as major composer of dance music, soon followed by operettas that had some notable successes, Der Landstreicher running for more than 1500 performances. Today you will still find them included in the repertoire of Austrian and German opera houses, though they rarely travel. It is thought that he wrote fifteen, but some were destroyed in a theatre fire and later in the First World War. It was that latter event that broke him physically and financially, his last years spent in poverty, dying in 1922 at the age of 79, nothing having been composed for many years before his demise. More robust in his orchestration than the Strauss family, a trait coming from his work as a bandmaster, and he could produce endless catchy tunes. Just turn to track 3, Die bleiche Zauberer (The White Magician), of which only the overture still survives, to hear the type of instantly memorable melody that fills the disc. I am not going to enumerate all of the tracks, the highly informative booklet giving you all the detail you need to know, each one being essentially in dance form and highlights melodies to be heard in the operetta. Regular readers will know I am addicted to Christian Pollack's Viennese discs, and this is one of his best, the Slovak orchestra in top form, and they enjoy the best sound quality that I have heard from Kosice. Pure unadulterated delight.

PURCELL: Dido and Aeneas. Kirsten Flagstad (Dido), Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Belinda/Second Lady/Attendent Spirit), Eilidh McNab (First Lady), Arda Mandikian (Sorceress), Shiela Rex (First Witch), Anna Pollak (Second Witch), Thomas Hemsley (Aeneas), David Lloyd (Sailor), The Mermaid Singers and Orchestra, Geraint Jones (conductor). Naxos Historical 8.111264. (77'04”).

Under the watchful eye of Geraint Jones, the period expert of his day, two famous sopranos, Kirsten Flagstad and Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, were brought together in March 1952 in London's Abbey Road studios to record Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in the version held in the Library of St. Michael's College, Tenbury. It followed some highly publicised performances that Flagstad made at London's recently created Elizabethan playhouse, the Mermaid Theatre. Our understanding of period style has come a long way since then, and many will look back at this early effort with an indulgent smile, the well padded sound of violins, singers sliding up to notes as a performing practice being just a few of the anachronisms, though at least it offered a harpsichord among the accompanying instruments, a rare enough attribute at that time. The part of Dido did not sit all that comfortably on Flagstad's voice at this late stage in her career, the top notes in the famous When I am laid in earth sounding stressed and pinched. Elizabeth Schwarzkopf was not included in that stage version, but was brought specially into this recording, with the bizarre result that singing the double role of Belinda and the Second Lady involves taking both parts in one air. Arda Mandikian's Sorcerer was much over characterised and more akin to a pantomime witch, while baritone,Thomas Hemsley, is no more than adequate as Aeneas. The chorus was well-rehearsed, the playing neat, and Jones's tempos nicely urgent. It is a timely reminder of the stepping stones we have taken in reaching what we believe is today's informed view of Purcell. As a bonus we have Flagstad in Erbarme dich, mein Gott, from Bach's St.Matthew Passion, Ombra mai fu from Handel's Serse and a 1948 version of When I am laid in earth which sounds just as strained as in this complete Dido. The original sound of the opera was always rather boxy, this transfer doing everything possible to rejuvenate it.

BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 1 in C major, op. 21. Symphony No. 4 in B flat major, op. 60. The Ruins of Athens, op. 113 - Overture. BRAHMS: Variations on a theme of Haydn, op.56a, 'St. Antoni Chorale'. Pablo Casals Orchestra of Barcelona, London Symphony Orchestra, Pablo Casals (conductor). Naxos Historical 8.111262. (77'08”).

The world will remember Pablo Casals as the great cellist of his generation; his role as a concert soloist and as part of the legendary Thibaud-Casals-Cortot Piano Trio are all well documented on disc. We much less think of the Spanish musician as a leading conductor, though he was so intent on this dual career as to form in 1919 his own Barcelona based orchestra, an ensemble of considerable merit as this disc demonstrates. Sadly the CD's contents together with a recording of Beethoven's Coriolan Overture were the sum total of his studio sessions made before the war. We have to accept those performances recorded after 1945 was an old man indulging himself. Yet these two superb symphony recordings show he was a magnificent Beethoven conductor, his fast tempos back in the late 1920's coming four decades before they became fashionable. Indeed if pressed I would probably take his account of the First Symphony before any other, its clear thinking, ideal pace and long sweeping phrases presenting Beethoven unadorned. Of course we have to take the dynamic range he achieved much for granted as the recording obviously narrowed that possibility. I think you will be equally amazed at the immaculately schooled orchestra he had created in Barcelona, a cut above the London Symphony in their Brahms Variations, a performance liberally laced with poor intonation. There is a note of apology with the disc from the restoration engineer, Mark Obert-Thorn, regarding the poor surfaces that were inherent in the original releases, yet the sound on the Barcelona recordings obtained considerable inner detail, and you can feel the electricity that must have been in Casal's reading. After that the Brahms comes as something of a disappointment, some variations sounding laboured, while those given more vivacity only show up the LSO's shortcomings in every department. Still at this low price take the disc for the Beethoven symphonies, and you will have a very pleasant surprise.

SCHUBERT: Die schone Mullerin, D 795. Schwanengesang, D 957 - Der Doppelganger; Liebesbotschaft. Die junge Nonne D 828. STRAUSS: Allerseelen, op.10 no.8. Morgen!, op.27 no.4. Zueignung, Op. 10 no.1. Standchen, op. 27 no.2. Lotte Lehmann (soprano), Paul Ulanowsky (piano). Naxos Historical 8.111096. (75'47”).

Lotte Lehmann was already fifty-two when she made these recordings in Los Angeles, and though still on the operatic stage - to which she had given so much for thirty years - she was now looking increasingly to recitals where her voice was more protected. Born in Germany in 1888 she had been placed under contract by Hamburg State Opera when only twenty-two and was singing the heavy Wagnerian roles two years later. She became a favourite of New York's Metropolitan Opera House after her first appearance there in 1934, and was to stay in the States through the Second World War. By the time these recordings were made in 1941 and 1942 she had moved to the American Columbia label, and it was they who agreed to her singing the Schubert song cycles usually taken by male singers, even though the words were not appropriate to her sex. For some reason on the two session days Die schone Mullerin ended up is minus the song Ungeduld.  I do here have many misgivings with a female voice, but Lehmann's artistry brings rewards, and you cannot blame her for wanting to record it. As for the Richard Strauss - she was a particular favourite of the composer - they have had no equal on CD even if I prefer Morgan in its orchestral garb. I do find Paul Ulanowsky's accompaniment strange as it bursts forth when Lehmann is not singing, only to go into his shell whenever there is a vocal line. As with previous discs in this series - at one time available on Romophone - the transfers are first class.

BACH: Suite for Solo Cello No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007 - Prelude. Suite for Solo Cello No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009 - Courent; Bouree I & II. Suite for Solo Cello No.6 in D major, BWV 1012 - Gavotte I & II. Partita for Solo Violin No. 1 in B minor, BWV 1002 - Bourree. Partita for Solo Violin No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004 - Chaconne. Sonata for Violin No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001 - Sicilienne; Fugue. Suite in E minor, BWV 996 - Bourree. Prelude in C minor, BWV 999. Suite in E major, BWV 1006a - Gavotte en Rondeau. HANDEL: Suite XI, HWV 437, III - Saraband and Variations. Minuet I in D major & Minuet II in D minor. Minuets I & II. Gavotte in G minor. CPE BACH: Siciliana in F sharp minor. GLUCK: Orfeo ed Euridice - Ballet. HAYDN: Minuet and Trio in D major. Andres Segovia (guitar). Naxos Historical 8.111089. (66'42”).

Andres Segovia was totally unique in being self-taught yet becoming the leading guitarist of his time. Indeed it is his remarkable gifts that today has made the instrument acceptable in the concert hall. Born in Spain in 1893, he had fallen in love with the sound of local guitarists playing folk music, but was ten before he could own his own instrument. From therein he perfected his technique so that by the age of 16 he was ready to give his first public solo recital. With his modest finances international touring was difficult, but by the age of thirty he had stunned South America with his virtuosity and had played through much of Europe. The major problem he faced was a lack of guitar music, and those works that were available were be unknown composers. Though many were to write for him, much of his concert programmes had to be devoted to his arrangements of music for other instruments, often in his very free approach. He loved Bach yet made no pretence of 'authenticity'and would add harmonies and rhythmic variants as pleased him and which he thought were appropriate to the guitar. He equally avoided playing complete works, simply choosing those movements he thought were best suited to the instrument, often leading to fragmented recitals. Yet there was such belief in all that he arranged, with the interpretations having an integrity that avoided any personal glorification. Technically he could sometimes be wayward, yet in these New York recordings made over the period 1952 to 1955, there is admirable accuracy, and I would urge all young guitarists - and their recording engineers - to hear the disc, if only to realise how little left hand movement is audible. The transfers are immaculate, and if you want a Segovia memorial disc, this is the one.

SCHUBERT: Litany. CHOPIN: Impromptu in F sharp major, op.36. Etude in A flat major, op.25 no.1. Waltz in C sharp minor, op.64 no.2. Ballade in G minor, op.23 - excerpt. Ballade in G minor, op.23. Berceuse, op. 57. BRAHMS: Wiegenlied, op.49 no.4. LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsody Nos 2 &.11 (2 versions). Concert Paraphrase on Verdi's Rigoletto. WEBER: Invitation to the Dance. HANDEL: Suite No. 5 in E major, HWV 430 - Air and Variations. ALBENIZ: Sous le palmer, op.232 no.3. Alfred Cortot (piano), Naxos Historical 8.111261. (79'02”).

Issued under the title 'Encores'this is a sweeping up exercise in Naxos's on-going series of Cortot recordings, the recordings offering a taste of one of the great and unpredictable pianists of his time. Born in Switzerland in 1877, he moved to Paris as a child and was always considered as a multi-talented French musician. He was to become a highly respected conductor, part of the greatest piano trio of his time, a teacher and, of course, a concert pianist. That he could be totally erratic seemed to only boost his stage image, his tempos often so optimistic that his fingers were unable to cope - the excerpt from Chopin's Ballade recording in 1925 (track 5) a perfect example. While he was generally regarded as the leading Chopin exponent, it was Liszt that afforded him scope to nourish his desire for musical fantasy, his Hungarian Rhapsodies totally free in structure, The delicacy he invests in the filigree passages of the Eleventh are ravishing, then he ruins it with a rush of blood to the head as he dashes to the finishing line. That is, in fact, the story of the whole disc, with tracks that should have been trashed when they were originally made, and moments of absolute magic. Maybe that is the price you pay for a genius and for Cortot fans this is indispensable. The transfers are wonderful and belie their 1925-6 origins.