Howard Hanson - Symphony #7, "A Sea Symphony" Year: 1977
Seattle Symphony/Gerard Schwarz
Seattle Chorale/Richard Sparks
Rating: 3.75 Stars
As a huge Hanson fan, and a fan of Gerard Schwarz directing Hanson symphonies, this was an obvious acquisition, especially at a fund raiser for a single dollar!
The opening tone 12-minute "Mosaics" was a perfect appetizer. Part variations and part tone poem, this is an incredible listen that, within a few bars was clearly identifiable not only as Hanson, but as Schwarz directing Hanson.... and the combo is totally captivating. A real gem this one.
The following piano concerto was disappointing... at least to my ear something of a disaster even. Tempi are unforgivably rushed in multiple places, and orchestration is muddled more often than not, robbing the piece of the clarity required to let it shine. A adore this piece and have a no-name conductor/orchestra, bargain-basement disc with a performance of this piano concerto that puts this one to shame. A shocking turn of events!
The 5th symphony here is a single movement, clocking in at just over 15 minutes, but there's a lot of drama packed into that quarter hour, and Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony are well back on top! A magnificent reading of a powerful piece.
The 7th symphony is a choral symphony with lots of voices throughout. It kind of reminded me of Holst's Cloud Messenger, but with the theme shifting from skyward to nautical. Another solid listen.
A 75% really lovely disc; I'm just glad I'd heard other versions of the piano concerto before this one, or I might have remained sour on what is otherwise a magnificent piece of music.
Luigi Cherubini - String Quartet #5 Year: 1835
Quartetto David
Rating: 3.75 Stars
Luigi Cherubini - String Quartet #6 Year: 1837
Quartetto David
Rating: 4.25 Stars
There are days I think I could spend a whole lifetime listening to nothing but string quartets. I started to think this some decades ago when I first started listening to classical music and heard my first Haydn quartet. It seemed so counterintuitive that I could be so captivated by just four instruments when there are whole symphonies out there! But captivated I was, and captivated I remain. After all these years, I'm just now getting around to hearing some Italian excursions into the form, and yes, I'm quite loving it.
The Donizetti quartets hit me about how I expected, full of Italian melody, almost Barber Seville-ish at times, but neatly packaged into the quartet form, all of which was a good thing. The interesting thing about these quartets was the temporal balance, with each having a relatively long first movement (8-9 minutes) followed by three relatively short movements (2-4 minutes each) such that the first movement takes up nearly half of the entire quartet. It works though and I loved the pacing of each one. Of note was the second movement (largo) of the first quartet which, after a long opening full of bouncing Italian melody, comes in with some heavy minor key pathos. It's only 3 1/2 minutes, but there's a lot of drama packed into that short duration. It's positively glorious, but you're still quite ready for the appearance of the upbeat menuetto that follows! The quartet of the three is definitely the most consistent, balanced, and mature of the three, indicating that Donizetti was learning along the way. It appears Donizetti wrote a total of 18 string quartets. I shall have to explore some of his later works in the form!
Moving forward with Donizetti's contemporary Luigi Cherubini, we find some rather different but possibly even more rewarding quartets. Although a couple decades younger than Donizetti, these were written a couple decades after the aforementioned quartets. As such, these are the product of a more senior composer, steeped in earlier tradition, but delivered with greater mastery. The #6 in particular engaged me to the highest degree with its deft exposition of reflection, call and response, and most delightfully to my ear, knotty counterpoint. These were the last two of Cherubini's six quartets and I have no idea if his earlier ventures into the form would hold up as well, but it's going to be fun finding out!
Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda - Symphony #5 in B Minor Year: 1840
Das Neue Orchester/Christoph Spering
Rating: 4.25 Stars
Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda - Symphony #7 in G Minor Year: 1841
Das Neue Orchester/Christoph Spering
Rating: 4 Stars
Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda - Overture #16 in A Minor Year: 1863
Das Neue Orchester/Christoph Spering
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda - Concertino for Oboe in F Major Year: 1840
Queensland Symphony Orchestra/Werner Andreas Albert
Diana Doherty/Oboe
Rating: 3.75 Stars
I had no idea what to expect with Kalliwoda; the name was unknown to me, but I'm a fan of the period, and I somehow always seem to love every CPO disc I've picked up blind, so with this used at a mere dollar, it was an easy roll of the dice. Well, not just his symphony #7, but the #5 as well also came up a seven on that roll of the dice. Two symphonies I instantly fell in love with.
The 5th was interesting as it presented a most delightful dichotomy. On one hand the melodies had a familiar ring to them. Of course, I'd never heard nary a one, but they all had that comfortable feeling, like coming home musically, even as they reside primarily in minor keys. Yet while there was that false but welcome familiarity, clearly this composer was coloring outside the lines structurally. This gave those otherwise familiar sounding melodies an exciting, even slightly edgy home in which to reside, making this a surprisingly unique listen.
The 7th symphony is more in keeping with traditional form, but brings greater mastery of that form, making it a highly satisfying listen in a more formal sense. I couldn't help but love it just as much as the 5th. Throughout both, Kalliwoda proves to be a master of orchestral color. While these symphonies are brilliant examples of purely abstract music, one can hear hints of impressionism strategically embedded within, further enhancing the listening experience.
Both pieces decline the usual slow second movement and go directly into a scherzo. The 5th then has the most glorious, almost danceable, allegretto as its third movement while the fourth gives us lovely, lyrical adagio, and both bring things home with Vibrant finales.
The CD filler, the orchestral overture #16 (Kalliwoda wrote 24 such pieces) serves its purpose well, so well that it almost seems incomplete without a full opera or theatrical production to follow.
I then stumbled upon a youtube of a Kalliwoda Oboe Concertino and had to keep riding the wave, especially because I love me some oboe, and I hadn't listened to any in a while. True to form, that creative and colorful orchestration was present along with clever melodies for the solo instrument.
While researching Kalliwoda, I may have stumbled on some explanation for my immediate love for his composing; dude was born in Prague! Sure, this music is much more in the Viennese tradition, but I always seem to fall in love with those Bohemians (even when they're not doing anything overtly Bohemian)! I'm convinced there is something in the wavelength of my brain that imprints on Czech themes and moods. Maybe it's in the DNA: my Father claimed strong Bohemian blood and influence to go with his German surname, and I apparently had some genuine gypsies in my bloodline as recently as three generations ago.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - The Complete Keyboard Concertos - Volume 1 Year: 1735-1737
Concerto Armonico/Péter Szüts
Harpsichord Miklós Spányi
Rating: 4 Stars
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - The Complete Keyboard Concertos - Volume 2 Year: 1738-1740
Concerto Armonico/Péter Szüts
Harpsichord Miklós Spányi
Rating: 4 Stars
Got harpsichord? Well, there's a lot here! 60 - 67 minutes of harpsichord per disc, over two hours total. These are not the quickie harpsichord pieces of the baroque, but rather longer concerti of the early classical period still hanging on to the quill rather than the hammer. Apparently there is no record of what specific type of keyboard the younger Bach intended for these pieces, but in these recordings, Miklós Spányi's performance certainly sells me on the earlier instrument, one for which he has a real gift. Not to be a mere sidekick, conductor Péter Szüts ensures the Concerto Armonico is an equal partner in the presentation and the result is wonderfully balanced performances that bring out the melodic life of these pieces, not just the virtuosity of the soloist. Also of interest is that the all of the cadenzas in these pieces were genuinely improvised live in the recording session. I think this adds even more life to these performances, and definitely appeals to me also being a jazz fan.
Franz Lachner - Nonet in F Year: 1875
Consortium Classicum/Dieter Klöcker
Rating: 4.255 Stars
Franz Lachner - Octet Op. 156 in B Flat Major Year: 1850
Consortium Classicum/Dieter Klöcker
Rating: 3.75 Stars
The nonet that opens this album is the latter of the two pieces by a quarter century. Lachner was 72 years old when he wrote this, and it is a marvel of mature balance, and the ensemble is very effective in bringing out not only the compositional skill, but the heart and the joy that infuses that composition throughout. The ensemble employs four strings and five winds who are in perfect balance throughout, alternating between supporting each other and playing off of each other in beautiful exercises in compare and contrast. It is a mature but spirited musical discussion more about an elevated life than the drama which so often interferes with it. The liner notes claim Lachner used Beethoven and Shubert as his template, but I clearly hear Haydn in there as well. This The piece is early romantic in it's beauty but classical in its soul, and that is a most pleasing combination to my ear.
By comparison, the earlier octet seems, for lack of a better word, a rather frivolous composition. Now to be clear, this is not a negative criticism; the piece is beautifully constructed and makes great use of the winds as expressions of joy; maybe Lachner was serious about this or maybe it is just escapist, giving unrelentingly upbeat bliss, as though there are no dark sides to life (even the minor key passages are never dark or threatening). Either way, it's a fine listen.
I do love this whole disc, but that nonet is going to get extra spin time!
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