All in Music

Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique—Toronto Symphony/Sir Andrew Davis

The wonderful Toronto Symphony Orchestra is in another Golden Age, built from near bankruptcy 20 years ago by a talented backroom team, superb hires and a brilliant orchestral trainer in Peter Oundjian. Oundjian hired almost half the orchestra present on this recording. He was an inspired choice at the time when it was more of an Iron Age than Golden in The Big Smoke.

Replacing Oundjian is the recently appointed Spaniard Gustavo Gimeno. He was a Concertgebouw section percussionist who jumped into conducting quite late and is enjoying a very fast upward trajectory via Luxembourg and now the plum TSO gig.

Renée Fleming—Lieder

Renée Fleming is a glorious singer of lieder, showcased here in a 2019 CD release of Romantic and late Romantic art songs. Works by Brahms, Schumann and Mahler are included, with the latter represented by his ‘Rückert-Lieder’ in the orchestral version. The Brahms and Schumann songs are accompanied by pianist Hartmut Höll. His playing, and the Münchner Philharmoniker conducted by the very musical Christian Thielemann are spectacular.

In conjunction with a stellar recording by Decca—I’m hard pressed to think of a recent recording with a better piano tone—Fleming in mainstream repertoire is pretty hard to beat.

Mendelssohn—String Symphonies Vol. 3

Just as Rossini had accomplished with his brilliant String Sonatas twenty years earlier, Mendelssohn, too, was absurdly young when writing his wonderful String Symphonies (1821–3).

The repertoire was hitherto unknown to me. The music is charming and belies the youthful years in which they were composed.

There are 12 string symphonies, and record label cpo (based in my old stomping grounds of Osnabrück, Germany) has spread them over three volumes. I’m late to the party with Vol. 3. No matter when the music is performed and recorded so brilliantly. And I have no reason to think the other two volumes are at least as good. So, fans of Mendelssohn and beautiful string music, grab Vol. 1, 2 or all three.

No Filter—Jerome Sabbagh & Greg Tuohey

Last month, I received a very pleasant email from Parisian-born, Manhattan-based tenor sax player Jerome Sabbagh asking if Audiophilia would be interested reviewing his latest release on vinyl. If it’s jazz, blues or classical vinyl, I’m usually a hard yes. No Filter is a collaborative project with guitarist Greg Tuohey (songs are original and about 50/50 on the record between Sabbagh and Tuohey) with bassist Joe Martin and Kush Abadey on drums.

I received the album promptly and scheduled it for some late night listening and a full review session the following day. The album had me at late night. And while this wonderful record was playing, I checked out the back cover. I discovered some serious vinyl and analog shenanigans going on. The LP was recorded live to 1/2 inch, two track analog tape at 30” per second and was mastered and cut by no less than the master himself, Bernie Grundman. The quality shows in the artwork, the gentle and tactile recording quality and the mastery of the performances from all four players (no edits or overdubs on the album).

Brahms: 4 Symphonien—Berliner Philharmoniker/Claudio Abbado/ESOTERIC remaster

I have been a long time fan of Claudio Abbado’s Brahms since my father bought me an early Abbado DG Brahms LP in 1972 (Serenade No. 2; Academic Festival Overture). Grade 8 in Canadian School years. I was never a fan of the Serenade, but Abbado’s Academic was stunning and sounded as such with Karajan’s remarkable band. This new Esoteric release is a remaster of the late 80s, early 90s DG Brahms set recorded at the beginning of Abbado’s reign with the Philharmoniker.

I never owned this particular set, but I very much admire anything Abbado conducted in those days with the LSO, Boston, Chicago, Vienna or Berlin. Such a consistent standard with five great orchestras over a large repertoire. His consistency can be found in this re release through all four symphonies and sundry orchestral works.

Joscho Stephan Trio—Paris - Berlin/Berliner Meister Schallplatten Direct to Disc 180g vinyl

For those of you not familiar with vinyl Direct to Disc technology, think of it as cutting out the recorded medium middle man. New to me Berliner Meister Schallplatten explains the process as:

The recording is made onto a lacquer disc. With a galvanic process this lacquer disc is turned into an extrusion die. Every vinyl disc is thus an original copy of this recording. Because lacquer discs and extrusion dies are destroyed or worn out during the manufacturing and multiplication process, the pressed vinyl discs are ultimately the best possible reproductions of a direct-to-disc recording.

Lacking a storage process on tape or as a computer file, there are very short and direct signal routes. The instruments' sound waves are transformed into electrical oscillations by microphones, and cut into a groove on the lacquer disc by the cutting stylus directly and without any delay. Direct-to-disc recordings do without digitizing the music, and also without a lossy storage on analogue tape.

Brahms: The Four Symphonies—DG Limited Edition 180g vinyl reissue

I usually write music reviews, especially classical, with my classically-trained hat on, commenting on performance, interpretation, comparables, etc. My audiophile nature kicks in at times and posts commentary in each review, for sure, but the main event is always the music.

For this review, it’ll be primarily about the sound.

What is the lover of classical music, Brahms, von Karajan, the Berliner Philharmoniker, and especially of reissue vinyl, getting from yet another version of their legendary performances? Karajan’s Brahms cycle was released originally on vinyl by Deutsche Grammophon in 1964. There were variations/pressings of the vinyl, both individually and in box sets, then on DG CD, followed by lots of different releases in that form. More recently, streaming, and now the limited edition vinyl reissue.

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20/Sonatas K281 & 382—Seong-Jin Cho, piano/DG

Seong-Jin Cho is the young Korean phenom who won the XVII International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015, joining such winning luminaries as Martha Argerich, Maurizio Pollini and Krystian Zimerman. A healthy ratio of winners of this particular competition go on to renown and legendary status.

Even though the 2015 competition was filled with very gifted pianists, Cho was the jury and audience favourite. He’s a very refined musician with a wonderful aesthetic and great technique. A worthy winner.

Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker—DG/Dudamel conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Recordings of The Nutcracker usually come thick and fast around the holidays. Orchestras and ballet companies have made fortunes performing the perennially wonderful music and telling the story. If only Tchaikovsky knew? And, what about Disney?

I usually bin the idea of listening to the ‘Suite’, be it Nutcracker or Firebird—both Russian fairy tales sound much better in their original, ‘full’ guise. As for ‘Suites’, composers and publishers like to cover every financial angle, Stravinsky, especially! As for The Nutcracker, there is so much glorious music in the full ballet, it’s the way I think it should be enjoyed. If you must have the Suite, The Royal Ballet Gala on RCA vinyl or Rostropovich/Berlin/DG on CD are the way to go.

Classical Vinyl Box Sets you may not know that should be in your collection

If you visit the top vinyl sales websites such as Elusive Disc and Acoustic Sounds among others, the quality vinyl lists are fairly similar. All the familiar suspects—RCA, Lyrita, EMI, Mercury, Blue Note, Argo, Decca—populate the must haves. And many fabulous reissues also are cross referenced (Testament, Speakers Corner, Classic Records, etc). 

I’ve been reviewing lots of cartridges and phono stages lately and have been deep diving into my vinyl collection to add a little spice to the reviewing process. 

I began the subject of this list in Vol 1 and continued with Vol 2 with individual record releases. We’ll continue with box sets that may or may not be famous, but should be in any audiophile’s collection.

Vinyl you may not know that should be in your collection Vol. 2

If you visit the top vinyl sales websites such as Elusive Disc and Acoustic Sounds among others, the quality vinyl lists are fairly similar. All the familiar suspects—RCAs, Lyritas, EMIs, Mercurys, Blue Notes, Argos, Deccas—populate the must haves. And many fabulous reissues also are cross referenced (Testament, Speakers Corner, Classic Records, etc). 

I’ve been reviewing lots of cartridges and phono stages lately and have been deep diving into my vinyl collection to add a little spice to the reviewing process. 

I began the subject of this list in Vol 1.

Brahms: The Symphonies—Daniel Barenboim

I began this review period disliking much of what I heard from the first, casual run through of this new set of Brahms Symphonies by Daniel Barenboim and his Staatskapelle Berlin. My ears were perked, but the style was not what I was used to.  

A few weeks later, with many cycles heard under my belt, I felt far more comfortable with Barenboim’s very Romantic and 'urtext'  approach.  

Some of my initial reservations were clouded by my reverence for the Brahms of Karajan and Joachim—full bodied and played with a Ferrari orchestra, the Berlin Phil. 

Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 11 “The Year 1905”

This July 2018 release is the third of Andris Nelsons' DG Shostakovich Symphony cycle and contains live performances of the 4th [1936, but withdrawn 'till 1961] and 11th [1957] Symphonies. Nelsons is performing his Shostakovich cycle with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The first two instalments were remarkable successes, with definitive performances of the 5th and 10th Symphonies.  The 5th was paired with the 8th and 9th, the 10th stood alone. To be fair, not much could follow the 10th, what I consider the greatest symphony of the 20th Century. And therein lies the problem with a complete Shostakovich symphony cycle. Of the fifteen symphonies, I think six (1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10) are masterpieces interspersed with lesser patriotic or dramatic works, and even a couple of jingoistic duds (2 and 3). 

Erica Morini—Milestones of a Legend (13 CD box set)

The violinist Erica Morini was born in Vienna and made her debut in 1916 with both the Berlin Philharmonic and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestras under the baton of the legendary Arthur Nikisch. The critics hailed her as one of the best players before the public and she enjoyed a fifty year career appearing all over the world with every major orchestra and conductor of her day.

Morini retired from playing in 1975 and is reported to have never played the violin again. She died in New York City in 1995 aged ninety one having largely been forgotten by the musical world.

André Cluytens—The Complete Orchestral and Concerto Recordings (65 CD box set)

The Belgian-naturalized, French conductor André Cluytens occupies an interesting position in the pantheon of French maestros. He was the first French conductor to sell a million records and was also the first conductor after the war to record a Beethoven cycle with the Berlin Philharmonic. In 1957 when Cluytens commenced his performances, the Berlin orchestra was still very much under the influence of Furtwängler, who had died fours years before. Yet today it is Pierre Monteux and Charles Munch who are remembered as the great French conductors despite Cluytens making some very fine recordings and dominating the opera houses of Bayrueth and Paris for many seasons until his untimely death in 1967 at the age of sixty two.

His reputation suffered not because of his musical qualities but because he had been charged and convicted of being a collaborator during the World War 2 and this derailed him for some years despite being eventually exonerated of this crime and being allowed to continue his career.

Andy Zimmerman—Half Light; 180g vinyl limited edition, Newvelle Records

Newvelle Records is a relatively new label (started in 2016) devoted to producing top-tier jazz recordings exclusively on 180g translucent blue vinyl, from newly recorded music, and with jazz musicians of the highest caliber. Including beautiful artistic album covers, poetry and stories—these are luxury products.

The founders are jazz pianist and composer Elan Mehler and Parisian business executive Jean-Christophe Morisseau. It is a subscription based model only ($400 per ‘Season’ (year)), delivering 6 records over a year; one every two months—and the number of pressings of each LP is small, only 1000; no digital versions are made available. Importantly, the business part of the model is a collaboration with the musicians themselves: Newvelle gets ownership for the first two years, and then it is handed over to the musicians to do with whatever they please (including making digital versions if they want).

Peter Oundjian conducts Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams (RVW) (1872 – 1958) is the composer who best captures the elegiac nature of 20th Century English classical music. Unique works featuring flowing melodies, gorgeous harmonies, and with few exceptions (the war-like 4th and 6th Symphonies, among them), gentle flowing rhythms. Pieces like The Lark Ascending, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and the masterpiece on this recording, Serenade to Music, represent Vaughan Williams at his pastoral best.

This recent release on the Chandos label features four beautiful works by RVW played by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO), conducted by its outgoing maestro, Peter Oundjian. The recording is a commemorative tribute to Oundjian featuring works closely associated with him during his career. 

Bright Circle—Beth Levin, piano

A delightful, recently released Navona Records CD arrived at the office last week. The latest recording by Brooklyn-based, Serkin-trained pianist Beth Levin called Bright Circle

Bright Circle contains masterpieces of Romantic piano literature by Schubert (Sonata No. 20) and Brahms (Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel), and a wonderfully passionate, neo-romantic piece for solo piano, Ode to Music (2015) by American composer David Del Tredici (b. 1937).

Levin has a fluent technique, produces gorgeous tone with refined musicianship and has bold musical ideas. Throughout the album, ‘gumption’ is what came to mind. Levin has her mind set on the musical images and story arc she wants to convey. And with her gifts, it’s a rich listening experience.  

Strauss: Tod und Verklärung & Vier letzte Lieder—Gundula Janowitz/Karajan—180g DG vinyl reissue

I did not know the Gundula Janowitz version of Strauss’ great final work, Four Last Songs. I owned the performance on just about every format, even cassette, but purchased for the world class performance of Death and Transfiguration, a Side 1 to end all Side 1s. Stupid, I know! 

A favourite of Karajan, Janowitz’ voice has the best of both worlds—as pretty as Kiri and Kathleen with the gravitas and weight of Jesse and Renée. As such, she can float Strauss’ stratospheric demands like a coloratura then dig down for the low register lines with trombone power. All the while interpreting the great German poems by Hesse and von Eichendorff with deep reverence and musicality.