Marco Aurélio Yano - Oboe Concerto
Year: 1991
Alex Klein/Oboe
Paul Freeman/Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Rating: 4 Stars (5 stars for the middle movement)
This is a truly wonderful modern concerto. While the whole thing is a marvel, the lyricism and expression of the middle movement is beyond sublime. It's not often that it's the middle movement of a concerto that really gets me going, but that's certainly the case here. Klein really makes that little woodwind sing!
Heinrich Schütz - Motets for Double Chorus Year: 1619 - 1671
Rudolph Mauersberger / Kruezchor Dresden
Rating: 4.5 Stars
As is often the case, Saturday Night jazz vocals gave way to Sunday morning classical vocals. This set of motets proved to be 54 minutes of gorgeous early baroque polyphony. What a lovely way to start the day.
My favorite overture comes from Czech composer Leoš Janáček's opera From the House of the Dead. It's relatively short, but that opening theme is so intense, says so much, and creates a mood so well, that just under six minutes is all it takes to set the scene perfectly. And like any great overture, it can stand alone, independent of the larger score. This is so very near perfection it never gets old. And it's oh, so Czech.... a very good thing in my ear.
As much as I love the overture, Janacek's Sinfonietta enthralls me even more. This is straight up perfection. A better deployment of brass you'll never hear. The Czech melody and meter meld with the brass in an edgy, heroic fusion that stirs the soul.... and then comes the timpani to take it next level. I wish this was more common in the repertoire of American orchestras; I'd love to catch a live reading of this.
Rued Langgaard - Symphony #4 "Løvfald" (Leaf Fall) Year: 1917
Thomas Dausgaard / Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Rating: 3.75 Stars
This is a very nice, traditionally tonal early 20th century symphony. Given the associated title, one would expect it to be impressionist or pastoral, and it is to some degree, but the Danish composer also gives us heroic Nordic vibes in equal measure. I swear I hear the seeds of some John Williams soundtracks in here as well.
Howard Hanson - Symphony #2 "Romantic" Year: 1930
Howard Hanson / Eastman Rochester Orchestra
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Howard Hanson - Lament for Beowulf Year: 1930
Howard Hanson / Eastman Rochester Orchestra
Eastman School of Music Chorus
Rating: 4 Stars
Howard Hanson's first two symphonies are fascinating in how well the one composer delivers two superb exams of what they are intended to be, as indicated in the nicknames.
In the first, he gives us that heroic Nordic vibe as if he was Sibelius or Greig himself. Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony do a fine job of bringing Northern Europe to North America.
While the first is merely excellent, the second is elevated into the rarified air of the most elite. He brilliantly infuses his very American ethos and tunesmithing into the grand European romantic tradition and the result is beyond special. There are so many grand melodies, especially in that glorious first movement, all lashed together with such elegant Coherence! Tjis is one of those pieces I could listen to daily if I didn't have so much else in the queue. Although the sound quality is a little rough, this recording of the composer conducting his own work is a masterful performance and makes for a great listen.
The Lament for Beowulf that rounds out the second disc carries all the intensity befitting its subject matter and is a welcome addition, no easy feat following the glorious 2nd symphony.
George Frideric Handel - Concerto Grosso, Op 6 #4 Year: 1739
Sir Neville Marriner / Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Rating: 4.75 Stars
Leave it to Handel to remind me there's more to baroque than just Bach. This concerto grosso is flat out incredible. Starting with the most glorious of lyrical slow openings and the progressing to most masterful uptempo counterpoint, this piece finds multiple ways to enthrall the listener. Fast or slow,, lovely lyric or lively counterpoint, Marriner and the ASMIF bring out every exquisite detail in perfect balance.
Frank Martin - Petite Symphonie Concertante Year: 1945
Pavel Šnajdr / Brno Contemporary Orchestra
Rating: 4 Stars
In The Insiders Guide to Classical Recordings, Record Shelf host Jum Svejda says "It's both astonishing and inexplicable that the music of Frank Martin, the greatest composer that Switzerland has ever produced and one of the most distinctive musical voices of the twentieth century, isn't far better known. Like the work of any truly major composer, Martins music creates and inhabits a unic sonic world, with a refined sense of color and texture. An emotional range and depth, and a rigorous--tnough by no means rigid--internal logic and order unmistakably its own."
Johannes Brahms - Violin Sonata #2 Year: 1886
Pinchas Zukerman / Violin
Marc Neikrug / Piano
Rating: 4 Stars
Brahms is universally known for his large scale works for big orchestra: grand symphonies and epic concertos. There's also some highly regarded quintets, quartets and the occasional trio. Well, it turns out he could write for Miller chamber music packages as well, as this lovely sonata for violin and piano attest. This is genteel music but with real heart. Zuckerman wings every bit of lyricism he can out of the score and Niekrug's piano accompaniment is flawless, both supportive of the violin and with its own flair for the dramatic when appropriate.
Florence Price - Symphony #4 Year: 1945
John Jeter / Fort Smith Symphony Orchestra
Rating: 4 Stars
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Florence Price is a composer who deserves to be far better known. Making it in the world of classical composition in early 20th Century America as either a person of color ot as a woman was near impossible, as both even worse. Yet her music is so good,, it had do shine through. There does seem to be a rediscovery taking place in the last few years, and hopefully that will continue. Her work is quintessentially American, yet exceptionally well structured, full of romantic fmdrama, and as exquisitely balanced as acknowledged American masters, and even stands well alongside the great European romantic masters.
The fourth symphony is a prime example of that romantic American spirit set in a logical but emotionally satisfying structure. In addition, there is originality and inventiveness, and even wit and charm. A marvelous work.
Virgil Thomson - Autumn Concertino for Harp, String Orchestra and Percussion Year: 1964
Sir Neville Marriner / Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
Ann Mason Stockton / Harp
Rating: 4 Stars
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This is just beautiful. Lush, melodic, uplifting, as radiant as that sunlight beaming through the clouds on the cover
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