Jacques Ibert: Concertino da camera. Henri Tomasi: Concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra. Maurice Ravel: Pavane pour une Infante défunte. Paule Maurice: Tableaux de Provence. Florent Schmitt: Légende, Op.66. Darius Milhaud: Scaramouche, Op.165c
Claude Delangle, saxophone; Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Lan Shui
Conceived under the sign of the sun, this is a series of works for saxophone and orchestra by French composers with a special affinity for the Mediterranean, its atmosphere and culture(s). From Florent Schmitt’s Légende, with its Orientalistic inspiration, over the Provencal scenes of Paule Maurice to Ravel’s pavane for a dead Spanish princess (arranged by Tami Nodaira), the programme covers the entire length of the Mediterranean basin. Indeed, with the samba rhythms of Milhaud’s Scaramouche it even crosses the Atlantic, in accordance with that composer’s vision of an imaginary, ideal Provence, ‘stretching from Constantinople to Rio de Janeiro’. Painting these varied landscapes is Claude Delangle, who earned the following accolade in American Record Guide for a previous BIS release: ‘Claude Delangle is a performer of wonderfully liquid tone and enviable technique. Through subtle nuances and carefully sculpted phrases, he creates a canvas of colours that conjures images of the great French impressionist painters.’ Claude Delangle’s eight BIS titles include solo works by Japanese and Russian avant-garde composers as well as pioneering research into the earliest music written for the saxophone and an anthology of contemporary responses to the tango. On the disc À la française he and pianist Odile Delangle explored French chamber works for the saxophone, including a duo version of the present Tableaux de Provence which was hailed by reviewers in BBC Music Magazine and International Record Review as ’beautifully evocative’ and ‘a particular revelation … a genuinely major work’. For this programme of sunny French concertos Delangle has joined forces with Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Lan Shui, who also appear on another April 2007 release: Seascapes (BIS-SACD-1447).
Seascapes
BIS-SACD-1447 | EAN 7318599914473 | TT: 79'50
Claude Debussy: La Mer – Trois esquisses symphoniques. Zhou Long: The Deep, Deep Sea for alto flute/piccolo, timpani, harp and strings. Frank Bridge: The Sea – Suite for orchestra. Alexander Glazunov: La Mer – Fantaisie pour grand orchestre, Op.28
Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Lan Shui; Sharon Bezaly, alto flute/piccolo
The sea and Singapore are inextricably bound together – indeed, the first records of a settlement here give it the Javanese name Temasek ('sea town'). Ever since, these islands have provided a base for traders and fishermen, pirates and sailors. With the arrival of the British East India Company in 1819 Singapore quickly developed into one of the most important trading hubs of Asia and, indeed, the world. And although the patterns and methods of world trade and transport have changed, the sea still permeates the daily life of Singaporeans. This also applies to Lan Shui and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, who on this disc perform four works inspired by the sea by composers as varied as Debussy, Glazunov, Frank Bridge and Zhou Long (b. 1953). The latter was the subject of Rhymes, the orchestra’s previous and highly praised disc, of which web site Classics Today wrote: ‘Zhou’s is a personal, distinctive voice; and his beautifully crafted music achieves a remarkable synthesis of Western and Eastern musical traditions with musically rewarding results.’ The reviewer at BBC Music Magazine agreed, calling the result ‘utterly compulsive’ with the addition: ‘Here is orchestral playing of the highest calibre.’ Zhou Long’s The Deep, Deep Sea has as its title a quotation from Tang dynasty poet Li Bai, and was written for flautist Sharon Bezaly who performs it here. If the sea in Zhou Long’s piece is an Asian one, Glazunov used a visit to Crimea and the Black Sea for his inspiration, adding a good pinch of Wagnerism to its not very salty water. Debussy and Bridge on the other hand most probably had the same sea in mind when they composed their works: Debussy finished his La Mer while visiting England in 1904, staying in Eastbourne on the south coast, and Frank Bridge (1879-1949) was born and grew up in Brighton, some thirty kilometres further west.
Please note: The music on this Hybrid Super Audio CD can be played back in Stereo (CD and SACD) as well as in 5.0 Surround sound (SACD).
Nordic Showcase
– Christian Lindberg conducts the Nordic Chamber Orchestra
BIS-CD-1538 | EAN 7318590015384 | TT: 60'46
Carl Nielsen: Suite for string orchestra, Op.1. Johan Svendsen: Romance for violin and orchestra, Op.26. Anders Wesström: Armida Overture. Jón Leifs: Variazioni Pastorali, Op.8 (Variations on a theme of Beethoven). Bo Linde: Concerto piccolo, Op.35, for wind quintet and string orchestra. Jean Sibelius: Impromptu for strings
Nordic Chamber Orchestra / Christian Lindberg; Richard Tognetti, violin [Svendsen]
The idea of a specifically Nordic character in music has as many supporters as it has detractors. One problem in deciding which side to join is that one often ends up comparing a small number of universally known pieces, such as the Grieg's Piano Concerto, Sibelius’ Finlandia and Carl Nielsen’s Fourth Symphony – and quickly realizes that this is the equivalent of comparing apples and pears! Nordic Showcase gives the listener an opportunity to make up her/his own mind, combining as it does less widely exposed music from all five Nordic countries – the most famous pieces being Nielsen’s Little Suite and Svendsen’s Romance. With the exception of the Armida Overture by Swedish composer Anders Wesström (1720-1781), all the works were composed between the end of the 19th and the middle of the 20th century. They are performed here by the Nordic Chamber Orchestra, based in the Swedish city of Sundsvall – more or less the geographic centre of the Nordic countries. Since 2005 the orchestra has been collaborating closely with its new principal conductor, the distinguished trombonist Christian Lindberg, who conducts them here on the team’s first disc. Making a guest appearance in Svendsen’s Romance is eminent Australian violinist Richard Tognetti.
J.S. Bach: Cantatas, Vol.35
BIS-SACD-1571 | EAN 7318599915715 | TT: 70'47
Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein, BWV128; Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding, BWV176; Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen, BWV87; Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten, BWV74
Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki; Yukari Nonoshita, soprano; Robin Blaze, counter-tenor; Makoto Sakurada, tenor; Peter Kooij, bass
The four cantatas on this disc were all first performed in Leipzig in 1725, during the month of May. Just a few weeks earlier, for reasons unknown, Bach had been forced to abandon his projected chorale cantata cycle, in which each cantata for an entire church year was to focus on the text of a well-known hymn, rather than the gospel reading for the relevant day. He now had recourse to the help of the Leipzig poetess Mariane von Ziegler (1695-1760), who apparently wrote the texts of these cantatas especially for the occasion. They – and the music itself – are meditations on biblical events such as the ascension of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Whit Sunday.
Recent instalments in the Bach Collegium Japan cantata cycle have received the same high praise as the entire series. The German web site Klassik Heute summed it up in its review of Volume 32 (BIS-SACD-1501): ‘Once more there is cause to extol the by now well-accustomed merits of Masaaki Suzuki’s complete cycle of Bach cantatas: a profound knowledge of style, a multifaceted art of phrasing, and perfectly-judged choices of tempo and musical character have been the distinguishing features of this series since its inception.’ The same disc caused klassik.com, another German web site, to exclaim: ‘You don’t need to have volumes 1-31 – this disc can stand on its own as yet another completely successful Bach interpretation.’ The following volume (Volume 33, BIS-CD-1541) was made Disc of the Month in BBC Music Magazine, whose reviewer wrote: ‘Suzuki responds magnificently to the musical challenges, and his Bach Collegium to the staggering technical demands… The Bach Collegium chorus, just eight voices in addition to the soloists, contributes to the clarity of texture. Every contrapuntal line is distinctive – a tribute, too, to the sound engineering.’
For a listing of all releases with the Bach Collegium Japan, please click here
For a listing of the cantatas so far released in this series, please click here
Please note: The music on this Hybrid Super Audio CD can be played back in Stereo (CD and SACD) as well as in 5.0 Surround sound (SACD).
Schnittke: Symphony No.0
BIS-CD-1647 | EAN 7318590016473 | TT: 77'35
Alfred Schnittke: Symphony No.0 (1956-57); Nagasaki (1958 – Oratorio for mezzo-soprano, mixed choir and orchestra)
Hanneli Rupert, mezzo-soprano; Cape Town Opera Voice of the Nation; Cape Philharmonic Orchestra / Owain Arwel Hughes
Both works are world première recordings
The very first recording of a work by Alfred Schnittke on BIS (Cello Sonata No.1, on BIS-CD-336) was done in 1986 and was thus one of the earliest recordings of Schnittke’s music. As the composer’s reputation rapidly grew, so did the Schnittke catalogue on BIS, coming to include the major orchestral works, as well as chamber music. The BIS Schnittke Edition now numbers 24 titles and it is with particular pride that we with this instalment add to it the last – or rather the first – of this iconic composer’s 9 completed symphonies. (Symphony No.9 was left unfinished at Schnittke’s death in 1998.) He composed Symphony No.0 (1956-57) while still a student at the Moscow Conservatory, and it was only performed once during his lifetime, by the conservatory orchestra and with Dmitri Shostakovich in the audience. The influence of Shostakovich – which Schnittke himself willingly acknowledged – is audible, but also that of Myaskovsky and the great Russian Romantics, as well as Paul Hindemith and Carl Orff. Even so, the work contains not only some very mature writing by such a young composer but is also an example of a highly original and individual style.
In the opinion of cellist and Schnittke expert Alexander Ivashkin, who has written the liner notes to this release, the oratorio Nagasaki (1958) remains ’one of Schnittke’s most powerful compositions. In spite of many obvious elements taken from Orff’s style, Schnittke’s music speaks in its own language, which is a highly imaginative and original one.’ Schnittke himself would later describe it as ‘a very honest work’, continuing: ‘It might be a fairly naïve piece by modern standards, but it is a work where I was absolutely sincere’. Nagasaki calls for a very large orchestra as well as a choir and is in fact one of the largest orchestral settings in all of Schnittke’s music. On the recommendation of Shostakovich, the work was broadcast in 1959 on Moscow World Service Radio, but it never received a public performance until in November 2006, when it formed the main event at the first Cape Town International Summer Music Festival, performed by the interpreters on this disc. Owain Arwel Hughes will be known to BIS followers for his highly acclaimed recordings of the orchestral music of Rachmaninov and Holmboe, but the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra is making its début on BIS with this exciting release.
Alexander Glazunov: The Complete Symphonies 5 CDs for the price of 2
BIS-CD-1663/64 | EAN 7318591663645 | TT: 343'08
Symphony No.1 in E major, Op.5; Symphony No.2 in F sharp minor, Op.16; Symphony No.3 in D major, Op.33; Symphony No.4 in E flat major, Op.48; Symphony No.5 in B flat major, Op.55; Symphony No.6 in C minor, Op.58; Symphony No.7 in F major, Op.77; Symphony No.8 in E flat major, Op.83; Mazurka in G major, Op.18; From Darkness to Light, Op.53; Ballade in F major, Op.78
BBC National Orchestra of Wales / Tadaaki Otaka
At the age of 16, Glazunov was hailed as the promise of a bright future for Russian music. ‘This boy will put us all in the shade’, predicted Borodin. Some 30 years later he had become the embodiment of stale tradition, at least according to the recollections of Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Shostakovich, who all encountered him as budding composers. As always, the truth lies somewhere between the two – as do the eight symphonies that he composed between 1881 and1906 and that are brought together in this set of discs. This period more or less coincides with Glazunov’s effective career as a composer – even though he lived for another 30 years – and within it he created ‘a large body of work that deserves serious attention not just for its fine construction and fusion of many contemporary currents, but for a truly individual voice that can be satisfying at the highest level’ to quote from the informed liner notes by Andrew Huth.
The recordings included in this set were released separately between 2002 and 2004, and met with very positive reviews at the time. Thus the BBC Music Magazine considered Tadaaki Otaka’s recording of Symphony No.3 ‘a necessary instalment if you're out to collect a first-rate Glazunov cycle’, elected his interpretation of the Fifth ‘Benchmark recording’, and called the Eighth ‘the most handsome … currently in the catalogue’. Other reviewers agreed, describing the contribution made by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales as ‘lively, clear-textured, and radiantly coloured’ while also underlining the importance of ‘the broad, deep sound picture’ and the ‘euphonious recording’ for the success of this cycle.
