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Maria
See p100

Callas
How the iconic Greek
diva transformed opera
in the 20th century

Kirill Karabits
A farewell to Bournemouth
Also in this issue…
Richard Morrison
The origins of diva fever
The brief and colourful life
of Vincenzo Bellini
Lucy Crowe
Soprano Lise Davidsen on
Her finest recordings
her childhood favourites
The orchestra making
symphonic waves in India
and much more…
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world’s finest critics
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SUBSCRIPTIONS One hundred years ago this

& BACK ISSUES month, Maria Kalogeropoulos
Tel: 03330 162 118 – later to become the megastar
Web: buysubscriptions.com/contactus Maria Callas – was born in
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American soprano was marked
by incredible highs and lows – she
was the world’s most renowned
and influential opera singer,
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to intense scrutiny over her weight, a highly publicised
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Yet the quality and recognisability of the Callas tone, her
immense technical ability and range, not to mention her
Subscribe to our podcast phenomenal capacity as an actress, ensure that we are no
less enchanted by her today than we were at the height of her
career. Her special charisma, both on and off stage, plays a
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Subscribe today to On page 26, Ashutosh Khandekar looks back over
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today. Did Callas fit both definitions on occasion? Perhaps.
But such is the fascination of ‘La Divina’.

Charlotte Smith Editor

THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS

Ashutosh Khandekar Owen Mortimer Alexandra Wilson

Journalist and critic
‘Writing an article that celebrates
Maria Callas’s centenary made me
look beyond the vast accumulation
of myth and controversy, and listen
afresh to an exceptional artist who put heart and
soul into her singing.’ Page 26
Journalist and critic
‘It is inspiring to see the Symphony
Orchestra of India’s success in
training young musicians and
commissioning cross-cultural work.
I’m delighted to showcase these initiatives and
introduce the orchestra’s UK tour.’ Page 46
Musicologist and author
‘Bellini was one of those
unfortunate musicians who didn’t
reach middle age. Delving into his
life and career brought it home to
me what an astonishing amount he managed to
achieve in such a short time.’ Page 58

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DECEMBER 2023
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FEATURES
26 Cover: Maria Callas
Ashutosh Khandekar marks the centenary of ‘La Divina’
with a look at what set the soprano apart from all others
38 Marking time
Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, the madcap inventor of the
metronome and much besides, makes Misha Donat tick
42 The first spin
Simon Heighes takes a listen to the first ever near-
complete recording of Handel’s Messiah, made in 1906
46 Rising in the East
The Symphony Orchestra of India is rapidly winning
fans at home and abroad, as Owen Mortimer reports
52 Arias of achievement
Tom Stewart learns how the Glyndebourne Academy is
providing rare opportunities to enter the world of opera

EVERY MONTH
6 Cover disc: on your December CD
Erik Levi introduces Russian and French ballet music
8 Letters
12 The Full Score 26
The latest news and interviews from the music world Maria Callas

25 Richard Morrison
34 The BBC Music Magazine Interview
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Orchestral works
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 Letters
Have your say…
Write to: The editor, BBC Music Magazine, Eagle House, Bristol, BS1 4ST
Email: music@classical-music.com Social media: contact us on Facebook and Twitter
L ET T ER
of the Plucky spirits
MONTH It’s fortuitous that
Sean Shibe (cover,
October) decided
to be a guitarist.
Undoubtedly,
he’s changing the
trajectory of the
instrument and
its repertoire, one
that really had
come to a dead end.
Yes, since Julian
Ever adventurous: Bream there have
the supremely been many fine
gifted Sean Shibe players, many
of whom have
eclipsed Bream’s virtuosic but essentially self-taught,
rather torturous technique, but none of whom would have
had the chutzpah as Bream did to go up to Stravinsky
during an orchestral rehearsal and offer to play Dowland
on the lute in the hope that he could be persuaded to write
something for the guitar. OK, Bream was unsuccessful on
that occasion, but he got round Britten, Walton, Berkeley
et al and so gifted the guitar a present and future that was
not shackled to what Bream coined ‘occasional music’,
essentially the picture-postcard, Spanish stuff. Shibe,
like Bream, is taken seriously by non-guitarist composers
and, like Bream, has the
WIN! £50 VOUCHER need to be collaborative.
FOR PRESTO MUSIC He is his own person with
an intellect, technique,
Every month we will award musicality and vision that
the best letter with a £50 is rare; and an instinct and
voucher for Presto Music,
self-belief to rattle cages
the UK’s leading e-commerce
site for classical and jazz and take the instrument
recordings, printed music, to places others cannot
music books and musical reach, even if they knew
instruments. Please note: the such places existed. And I
editor reserves the right to
have never heard Bach so
RICHARD CANNON, GETTY
shorten letters for publication.
beautifully played on the
guitar – not even by Bream.
Ruth Nunn, Bath
8 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Recorder master
Your Forgotten Voices feature
(November issue) was
fascinating. Two German
emigré composers, Franz
Reizenstein and Hans Gál:
both had distinguished
composing careers in Britain,
though since their deaths
their music is not performed
or broadcast as often as it
deserves, despite the stalwart
encouragement of both their
families in the UK. The story
of Robert Müller-Hartmann
is a sad one, and I doubt if
his name is known now to
many musicians, despite the
Vaughan Williams connection.
But it most certainly was to
me as a young recorder player,
and to numerous others of my
generation, since his delightful
Suite for three recorders,
published by Schott in the days
when they were the publishers
of recorder music, was one of
my favourite recorder consort
pieces, along with works
by Peter Fricker, Imogen
Holst, Edmund Rubbra,
Tippett, Hindemith and, of
course, Britten himself (the
picturesque Alpine Suite). I still
have my well fingered copy of
the Müller-Hartmann Suite,
and it stands up very well in
such distinguished company!
John Turner, Stockport
A taste of fine Rhine
Following Erik Levi’s excellent
article on Schumann’s Fourth
and ‘Rhenish’ symphonies (On
your Cover CD, November),
there was a list of ‘Further
Rhine works’ to which I would
like to add the following:
‘Im Rhein in heiligen
Strome’ from Schumann’s
own Dichterliebe (1840), whose
text also makes reference to
Cologne cathedral; Lurline, an
English opera by Willliam
Wallace (1860); and Die
Rheinnixen, a romantic opera
by Offenbach (1864) which
contains the music made more
famous as the Barcarolle in Les
Contes d’Hoffmann.
Michael Enscot, Atherstone
Happy to clap
In your October issue,
Christopher Mason’s letter
(‘Applause for Thought’)
complains about people
applauding each movement
of a symphony in the concert
hall. I’m really not sure it forces
people to be ‘jerked back to
reality’ after each movement,
as nobody seems to complain
about applause at various
points during an opera. And, if
people are applauding between
movements, it might well be
because they haven’t been
to a concert before and don’t
know the rather antiquated
etiquette. There is much to
worry about within classical
music right now – whether
the withdrawal of funding
from key organisations,
forced relocations, the need
for sponsorship for many
recordings to happen, or the
lack of classical music in
schools, whether in music
lessons or the dwindling
numbers of school orchestras
and choirs. But the good news
is that classical music is back
in the concert hall after Covid,
and audience numbers are
heading back to pre-pandemic
levels. I’d suggest, therefore,
that we should applaud
classical music as often (and as
loudly) as possible – whether
in celebration of its return and
people attending concerts for
the first time, or in an attempt
to boost morale and show
support for those musicians,
organisations and teachers
who are trying to make sure
there is classical music access
for all during these particularly
difficult times.
Shane Brown, Norwich
The editor replies:
The debate over applause
between movements is, I
suspect, one that will never
cease to rage!
From poll to poll
I read with much interest
both your August article on
Britain’s 25 Greatest Composers
as chosen by a poll of leading
musicians and the lively letters
discussion that followed!
As director of the English
Music Festival (EMF), I found
some disparity between
the musicians’ choices and
what I see and hear from our
audiences (music lovers from
all around the world, many
with a special interest in
English music) and so thought
it would be interesting to
conduct our own survey as
a comparison. We received
responses from several
hundred music-lovers, whose
choices were very much more
in line with my expectations.
However, to my surprise
and controversially, we had
no female composers at all
in our top 25 (despite a large
proportion of female voters);
Open wide:
Simon Rattle in mid-
performance flow
nor did any contemporary
composers make it (interesting
that Richard Morrison should
comment in his Opinion
column that it may take the
next generation to start rating
contemporary composers more
highly). For early music we
shared Byrd, Tallis, Purcell and
Handel with your survey; and
our top ten ran: Elgar, Vaughan
Williams, Holst, Walton,
Purcell, Britten, Delius, Finzi,
Bax and Tallis. Our full results
can be read in the EMF’s
Gazette, Spirited, for those who
wish to find out more!
Em Marshall-Luck, director,
The English Music Festival
Acceptable conduct?
Like Richard Morrison
(November), I do not wish to
add to the dissection of Sir John
Eliot Gardiner’s recent conduct,
but I would like to make one
short comment on Morrison’s
conclusion about the need for
behaviour to respect the basis
on which music is made, as
one of the highest expressions
of human civilisation. This
called to mind a passage in Dr
Jacob Bronowski’s The Ascent
of Man (1973), perhaps, even
then, from a more robust
and realistic age. Bronowski
wrote of Joseph Priestley,
the 18th-century discoverer
of oxygen, and asked why
what remained of Priestley’s
laboratory was housed in the
Smithsonian in Washington,
not in his home town of
Birmingham. The short answer
was that Priestley, a supporter
of the French Revolution, was
driven out of his home by the
mob and his laboratory burned
down in 1791, on the second
anniversary of the storming
of the Bastille. Bronowski
continued: ‘I would like to be
able to tell you that the mob
that destroyed Priestley’s house
in Birmingham shattered the
dream of a beautiful, lovable,
charming man. Alas, I doubt
if that would really be true.
I do not think Priestley was
very lovable… I suspect that
he was a rather difficult,
cold, cantankerous, precise,
prim, puritanical man. But the
Ascent of Man is not made by
lovable people. It is made by
people who have two qualities:
an immense integrity, and at
least a little genius. Priestley
had both.’ Bronowski wrote
about the history of science, but
his comments surely extend to
the arts.
Stephen Parker, Barnsley
Play as you gurn
The LSO’s recent majestic
Proms performance of
Mahler’s Ninth Symphony
was almost ruined by Simon
Rattle’s antics. Does he really
imagine they wouldn’t play so
well, or indeed wouldn’t bother,
if he didn’t gurn and grimace
at them?
Derek Robinson, Wirksworth
The editor replies:
Most audience members see
the back of the conductor…
Unloved Stanford
Among the composers listed
in the ‘Close… but No Cigar’
box in your 25 Greatest British
Composers feature, I would
agree the absences of, foremost,
Bax and Delius are regrettable
– after all, the inhibiting limit
was 25 – but, worse still, no
reference was made to absentee
Charles Villiers Stanford,
who must be the most
underestimated, neglected
British (Irish) composer of all
time. For shame! But, to the
credit of a pair of like-minded
souls, Freddie De Tommaso
and Ailish Tynan, Stanford
was at least listed. Hurrah!
Those other 165 musicians
(and most of us) need to get out
more among the repertoire.
James D. Maffett, Lakeland,
FL, US
The editor replies:
You’ll hopefully have been
pleased to see us address
Stanford’s absence with a
Composer of the Month feature
in our October issue.
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 9
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 Thefullscore
Our pick of the month’s news, views and interviews
Much-loved Scottish festival hit by funding removal
Mid Wales Opera also considering future as country’s Arts Council pulls the plug
A double blow to music lovers in rural
areas in the UK has been delivered with
the news that the Lammermuir Festival in
Scotland and Mid Wales Opera (MWO)
are to lose their government funding.
In both instances, the announcements
have been met with dismay from leading
musicians, who have urged the funding
bodies, Creative Scotland and Arts
Council of Wales (ACW) respectively, to
have an urgent rethink.
Founded in 2010, the Lammermuir
Festival takes place each September in
churches and stately homes across East
Lothian, just east of Edinburgh. While
GETTY
Scottish talent features heavily at the
12 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Lammermuir champion:
Nicola Benedetti has
highlighted the need for
music in outlying areas
festival, leading musicians from much
further afield have also appeared regularly
at it, drawn no doubt to an area whose
rugged coastline and hills inspired Walter
‘This will be a hammer
blow to audiences in towns
and rural communities’
Scott’s The Bride of Lammermoor (and, in
turn, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor).
‘Being able to share the best, world-class
music making with audiences not residing
in our cities but in rural areas is a really
important part of our nation’s cultural
fabric,’ says violinist Nicola Benedetti,
who has led the way in calling for Creative
Scotland to reverse its decision. ‘The
Lammermuir Festival has done this
brilliantly over the last 14 festivals, creating
acclaimed events that also enable young
artists to develop in the industry, and
engage young people in the region to give
them deep and extraordinary experiences.’
Benedetti is also one of 362 well-known
figures, including composers James
MacMillan and Stuart MacRae, guitarist
Sean Shibe and conductors Martyn
Brabbins and Sian Edwards – plus several
names from the world of politics – to have
expressed their disappointment in an open
letter to Creative Scotland.
Meanwhile, Mid Wales Opera is
likewise considering its future without the
support of government funding. The well
established company, which specialises
in taking productions into some of the
principality’s more remote locations and
employing performers under the age of 30
to give their early careers a timely boost,
says the decision is likely to have wide-
reaching consequences.
‘We are deeply disappointed and
indeed shocked at the news that – after 35
years of staging remarkable opera across
the length and breadth of Wales – the
Arts Council has decided not to offer
us multi-annual funding,’ says MWO
chair Gareth Williams. ‘Obviously, we
will be considering our next steps over
the coming weeks. This will, however,
be a hammer blow for the young artists
who gain invaluable career development
opportunities from working with us,
as well as to audiences in towns and
rural communities who have few, if any,
opportunities to experience live opera.’

Frightful behaviour comes naturally to Wagner goddess
When Richard Fairman, a critic for
the Financial Times, paid a glowing but
passing compliment to the Royal Opera
House’s make-up team in his review of the
opening night of Wagner’s Das Rheingold in
September, he was probably not expecting
what happened next. Cue a letter in the paper
THE MONTH IN NUMBERS
38
…per cent of respondents described
music as a positive medium for Black
cultural expression in a recent survey.
20
…pounds to be set as the maximum
ticket price for under-30s at any London
Philharmonic concert this season.
450
…singers from across 40 countries are
set to form a joint live-and-online choir
for the world premiere of Karl Jenkins’s
One World in Linz, Austria.
Thefullscore
No need to make up: SoundBites
Rose Knox-Peebles as
Erda in Das Rheingold
Bristol fanfare: composer Mark-Anthony Turnage
The Beacon beckons
After a five-year break that has seen both
a major renovation and a change in name,
Bristol Beacon (formerly called Colston Hall)
is set to welcome classical music audiences
again. On 19 December, the famous West
Country venue – which hosted its first ever
concert back in 1867 – will begin its new life
to the sound of the Bournemouth Symphony
from a member of the cast a couple of days Orchestra under Kirill Karabits playing
later. ‘Your reviewer tells readers that Erda, Beacons, a specially commissioned fanfare by
the earth goddess, was made up to look “quite Mark-Anthony Turnage.
a fright”,’ wrote the correspondent. ‘This
is not so. I wore no make-up – the “fright” Group dynamic
look is all naturally mine. Erda (Rose Knox- Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber has called for
Peebles), London.’ an end to one-to-one musical tuition in the
light of recent allegations of misconduct
against a senior member of staff at London’s
Royal College of Music (RCM). ‘I personally
think groups of three are the best size now
for any lesson,’ says Lloyd Webber, whose
father, William, taught at the RCM for many
years. ‘It would mean there was much more
1
…tenor on the first tee, as Freddie
openness and accountability.’
Lille mix
Joshua Weilerstein has been named as the
De Tommaso (below) launched this next music director of the Orchestre National
year’s Ryder Cup in Rome with a dawn de Lille in northern France. The 35-year-old
rendition of Puccini’s ‘Nessun Dorma’. American, who will succeed Alexandre Bloch
in the role next September, has also recently
begun in post as chief conductor of the
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra in Denmark.
In a statement, his future French employers
describe him as a performer of ‘openness,
excellence and generosity’.
We all beat together
MONIKA RITTERSHAUS, THE RYDER CUP, GETTY
New research has shown that classical
music can make concert-goers’ hearts beat
in sync, as well as causing them to breathe
at the same rate and even sweat to the same
extent. The findings were made by Professor
Wolfgang Tschacher at the University of
Bern, who monitored 132 audience members
during performances of string quintets by
Brahms, Beethoven and Brett Dean.
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 13
Thefullscore
RisingStars TIMEPIECE This month in history
Three to look out for…
Liam Bonthrone Tenor
Born: Perth, Scotland
Career highlights:
Performing at the
Bavarian State Opera as
a member of the Opera
Studio. I’ve been so lucky
to work alongside casts
and creative teams I could
only have dreamed of, learning so much
in operas from Mozart’s Idomeneo to Brett
Dean’s Hamlet.
Musical heroes: My biggest tenor
inspiration is Fritz Wunderlich. As a teenager
I was instantly captivated by that distinctive
rich timbre. I’m also borderline obsessed
with pianist Victor Borge. He possessed a
staggering musical talent, complemented by
pinpoint physical-comedy timing.
Dream concert: To sing with the John
Wilson Orchestra at the Proms – all things
Broadway, film and American Songbook!

Büşra Kayıkçı Pianist/composer

Born: Istanbul, Turkey
Career highlights:
My new album, Places. It
was written during the
lockdowns, out of the blue,
In the mood for a song:
and the songs are about Glenn Miller performs with
being in another place. the Glenn Miller Army Air
I’ve waited a long time to Force Band to entertain
find the best ‘place’ to release this album. the troops, 1944
Musical heroes: Astor Piazzolla and the
Tunisian composer Anouar Brahem have
both had a huge influence on me.
Dream concert: I would love to play a DECEMBER 1944
concert in any of the buildings designed by
my favourite architects – Tadao Ando, Peter
Zumthor, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe or Zaha
Hadid – accompanied by Anouar Brahem
Glenn Miller goes missing
and his band.

Marcin Guitarist
over the English Channel
Born: Kielce, Poland

Career highlights:
During a promotional
video shoot for a guitar,
I played my version of
Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 9
No. 2. My performance
brought one team member
to tears. Among all the awards, concerts and
numbers, that performance on a cheap guitar
is my most treasured highlight.
Musical heroes: The legendary guitarist
Paco de Lucía. He brought flamenco music to
completely new places and audiences.
Dream concert: I would love to perform at
the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
I remember seeing it in a film as a child, and
my dad remarking: ‘Imagine if you played
there some day…’
‘I
n The Mood’, ‘Moonlight
Serenade’, ‘Chattanooga Choo
Choo’. The titles are familiar,
the tunes indelible, and as the early
rumblings of World War II emerged
in Europe they catapulted Glenn
Miller and his Orchestra to heady
levels of celebrity in his native US. The
Orchestra’s euphonious brand of big-
band swing dominated the airwaves,
and for its founder decades more of
media celebrity seemed to beckon.
Then Pearl Harbor happened. The
Japanese bombing of an American naval
base in Hawaii in December 1941 drew
the US into the war, prompting Miller
to offer his services to the military
effort. Initially rejected by the Navy, by
September 1942 he had persuaded the
Army to offer him a commission. He
would, he promised, ‘put a little more
spring into the feet of our marching men
and a little more joy in their hearts’.
And that he did, with the same
irrepressible energy that had made
the original Glenn Miller Orchestra so
successful. Within months of enlisting
with the Army Air Forces (AAF), Miller
had formed a band which broadcast
weekly concerts from New York. The
ensemble was subsequently sent to
Europe to play for the troops. ‘Next to

14 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE


a letter from home, Captain Miller,’
commented General James Doolittle, his
commander, ‘your organisation is the
greatest morale builder in the European
Theater of Operations.’
But a fateful turn to Miller’s life
was looming. In June 1944 he was
sent to London, tasked with providing
broadcast entertainment to the D-Day
forces in their onward push to reclaim
territory in Europe. Miller, as ever,
approached his new assignment with
gusto, and five months later received
approval to billet his AAF musicians
closer to the action in liberated Paris.
Anxious to smooth arrangements for
the band’s arrival in the French capital,
Miller was booked to fly by scheduled
military transport to Paris on Thursday,
14 December. Bad weather intervened,
however, and the flight was cancelled.
Then Miller learned that a US Army
colleague, Lieutenant Colonel Norman
Baessell, was crossing the Channel on
a much smaller aircraft a day later and
arranged to join him.
On 15 December, Miller boarded the
Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman plane at
Twinwood Farm, near Bedford, along
with Baessell and pilot John Morgan.
The flight took off at 1.55pm, but never
reached its destination. Somewhere en
route, the Norseman plunged into the
English Channel, and neither the plane
nor its occupants were ever located.
Because Miller had not informed the
GETTY, SCOTT CADENHEAD, ŞEYMA TUNA
military authorities of his alternative
travel arrangements, it was three days
before they realised he was missing.
What caused the crash? Miller’s
celebrity status meant that conspiracy
theories soon abounded. His plane was
accidentally hit by bombs jettisoned
from Allied aircraft, one suggested.
He was on a secret diplomatic mission
and had been assassinated, claimed
another. It was even rumoured that the
great bandleader died while visiting
a prostitute in Paris. The truth is that
the UC-64A almost certainly crashed
because its fuel lines iced up in freezing
Miller’s celebrity status
meant that conspiracy
theories soon abounded
climactic conditions, causing the plane
to plunge directly into the ocean.
A year and a day after disappearing,
the three occupants of the Norseman
were officially declared dead. Just 40
when the crash happened, Miller was
posthumously awarded a Bronze Star
Medal for his service with the AAF
band. ‘Major Miller conspicuously
blended the abilities of the outstanding
musicians,’ the citation ran, ‘comprising
the group into a harmonious orchestra
whose noteworthy contribution to the
morale of the armed forces has been
little less than sensational.’ Terry Blain
Ready for action:
US troops in Weymouth
before the D-Day landings
Thefullscore
Colourful character:
Wassily Kandinsky
Also in December 1944…
1st: Conducted by Serge Koussevitzky, the
Boston Symphony Orchestra gives the world
premiere of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra
at Boston’s Symphony Hall. The work was
commissioned by Koussevitzky himself, who
the year before had visited the composer in
hospital to make his request.
3rd: With the tide of World War II turning
decisively against Germany, the British Home
Guard is stood down. Set up in 1940 to
provide a first line of defence in the event of
a German invasion, the force was made up of
those who were otherwise ineligible for military
service. It will be formally disbanded in 1945,
but will live on in the TV comedy Dad’s Army
three decades later.
13th: The Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky
dies aged 77 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.
Embracing various styles over a long career
that shifted between Russia, France, the
Soviet Union and Germany, he is perhaps
best distinguished by the vibrant use of colour
in works such as Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue
Rider, 1903), which also gave its name to the
group of progressive artists he formed in 1911.
16th: The Germans launch a surprise dawn
attack on Allied forces in the Ardennes region
of northern Europe with the principal aim
of cutting off access to the Belgian port of
Antwerp. The very bloody Battle of the Bulge
that follows lasts until 28 January, and will
prove to be the last large-scale Axis offensive
of World War II, as the Germans are then
pushed back from the Western Front.
27th: The composer and pianist Amy
Beach dies aged 77. The first ever American
woman to have a symphony published – her
Gaelic Symphony, premiered by the Boston
Symphony Orchestra in 1896 – Beach’s other
major works included her Piano Concerto,
Mass in E flat major and Violin Sonata in A
minor. After making her debut in Boston at 16,
she toured widely as a piano soloist.
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 15
Ro
Thu 7 Dec
Gospel Messiah
with Marin Alsop and the BBC Concert Orchestra

Mon 11 Dec
Christmas with the Royal Choral Society
 Thefullscore
MEET THE COMPOSER
Michael Stimpson

Great Scot! London venue is set to turn blue

For 16 years, Kings Place has run
‘Unwrapped’ seasons linked by a
theme – Nature Unwrapped, for
instance, or Voices Unwrapped.
In 2024, Scotland Unwrapped
will see the likes of pianist Steven
Osborne and tenor Nicky Spence
bring the blue-and-white Saltire
to the London venue, which will
also resound to great Scottish
composers from Robert Carver to
James MacMillan. A quick email
to Kings Place artist director Helen
‘William’ Wallace reveals that
Starting out:
she herself has, yes, Caledonian ‘I’d composed the
heritage. ‘They’ll never take our odd piece, but only
freedom!’ she roars when asked for at a basic level’
further comment. Possibly.

From a virus that left him paralysed and partially sighted to a brain
tumour which impacted his hearing, the British composer’s journey
to success has been anything but easy. A new box set released to
DÉJÀ VU mark Stimpson’s 75th birthday features Tales from the 15th Floor, a
piece for cello and piano based on his time in intensive care.
History just keeps on repeating itself…
My first degree was in Music, but by that time it had
For One Voice – Full Circle, his new
botany and zoology. I had a become apparent to me that
album on Decca, Aled Jones has
place to do a masters with the high-level performing wouldn’t
recorded duets with a new partner:
enivironmentalist David Bellamy, be possible. I’d composed the odd
his 13-year-old self. ‘It’s a real
but during a drunken episode in a piece, but only at a basic level,
privilege to step into the studio again
café in France I decided to change so I decided to do a masters and
with little Aled,’ says the baritone and
to music! My guitar playing was doctorate in composition.
radio presenter about the disc. Nice,
Grade 1 level, but I felt strongly I write straight onto the
though he is not the only boy-turned-
that music was going to be the computer. I have to work within
adult singer with the twin talents
future. My twenties were spent about six inches of the screen,
needed to pull off such a trick…
doing grades and diplomas and with a notehead of three or four
While Aled Jones is best remembered for his version of ‘Walking in trying to become a performer. inches high – I can just about get
the Air’, the treble voice singing it on the 1982 film The Snowman Tales from the 15th Floor is the five lines on a large computer
is that of Peter Auty. Today, Auty enjoys an illustrious career as a based on the time I spent in screen. There’s all sorts of
tenor, not just in the opera house but also in recordings ranging hospital. It was during my techniques that you develop.
from Verdi to Elgar. With his name splashed across the cover, late twenties and was such a I like to write for all mediums.
Jeremy Budd was the star of the Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral’s wild experience, because I was If I’m in one, the next one will be
Hear My Prayer disc of 1990, mopping up the treble solos in unconscious for about four-and- different, to get that contrast.
everything from Allegri to Stanford. The adult Budd is now a bass a-half months in intensive care, I’d like to do another opera. It’s
with The Sixteen, where he admits to occasionally squeaking then totally paralysed. People a lovely medium, but really tough.
the soprano line for fun. Perhaps the most famous recording of said I should write a book about When I did Jesse Owens I had
the treble solo in Allegri’s Miserere was made by Roy Goodman it, but I wrote a piece of music for poems written by Grace Nichols
JIMMY DRISCOLL ILLUSTRATION: JONTY CLARK

with King’s College, Cambridge in 1963. We’re not sure what his cello and piano instead.
singing voice is like today, but as a leading violinist and period Starting over was an odd
ensemble conductor, he could certainly accompany his boyhood experience. A social worker said,
self with aplomb. And then there’s Laurence Kilsby, winner of the ‘here’s your white stick’ and did
Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year in 2009 and treble soloist I want to be a telephone operator
on Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum’s recording of Mozart’s or a piano tuner? I wasn’t keen on
Coronation Mass in C. As a tenor, Kilsby is now making his name either so I began to try and learn
both on the opera stage and as a prize-winning lieder singer. to play again. I did the advanced
course at the Royal Academy of
and John Agard, and they were
wonderful, but it still needed
story development. Building
climaxes over a two-hour period
is very different to, say, building it
into a 20-minute string quartet;
to keep that all in your head is
mind-boggling, but I’d love to
take that challenge on again.

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 17

Thefullscore
StudioSecrets

Bach plan: Ssens Trio will record the Goldbergs

We reveal who’s recording

what and where...
Jack Liebeck has been busy working on his
next release. The violinist was at St Jude’s
Hampstead with Michael Waldron and the
London Choral Sinfonia to record a Vaughan
Williams programme including the Violin
Concerto, Silent Noon, In Windsor Forest and
Vaughan Williams’s own transcriptions of
pieces by JS Bach. The recording is scheduled
for release on Orchid Classics in June.
Russian cellist Marina Tarasova recently
presided over a pair of world-premiere
recordings in Moscow: firstly, Yuri Levitin’s
Sonata for Cello and Piano with pianist
Ivan Sokolov; and then a solo cello sonata
by Vladimir Komarov. The latter, titled
‘Uncertainty’, was dedicated to Tarasova
in 2022. Northern Flowers will release the
album early next year.
Ekkozone Records is a relatively new label
REWIND
Great artists talk about their past recordings
from the percussionist/conductor Mathias
Reumert and it has now been taken on by
the Divine Art label group. Ekkozone will This month: LUCY CROWE Soprano
release new recordings by Reumert and
fellow percussionist Anders Elten, with the
first pair just out; these include works by
MY FINEST MOMENT and having performed it so many times
Philippe Manoury and Louis Franz Aguirre, Handel Rodelinda with an orchestra and conductor that
plus a percussion arrangement of Ravel’s Le Lucy Crowe (soprano) et al; The English you are really familiar with, there’s a
Tombeau de Couperin. Concert/Harry Bicket feeling of trust. I’ve had a long-standing
The thrilling young pianist Yunchan Linn Records CKD658 (2021) relationship with The English Concert,
Lim has just been signed by Decca. The I love the freedom initially with conductor Trevor
19-year-old South Korean, who wowed at
the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano
you get singing Pinnock when I was still at college. I
Competition with a Gold Medal-winning Handel; you can sing just love working with them, and to be
performance, turns his hands to the Chopin different ornaments surrounded by friends and colleagues
Etudes for his debut recording. Decca plans to every night if you that are fantastic musicians is joyful.
release the album next year. want to, which We recorded it in lockdown, so
The Ssens Trio are in the midst of an keeps it exciting and were all socially distanced, which was
online survey of Bach’s Goldberg Variations
the conductor on their toes. It’s never bizarre, but somehow we still managed
(arranged for strings). The trio is sharing a
new video on its social media channels every dull. Having performed Rodelinda in to produce something which sounded
Sunday from September-December, with Madrid, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, fantastic. It was just very special making
the last dropping on New Year’s Eve. The trio I came to the recording knowing her music at that time, and the feeling of
then plans to record it all for Lawo Classics. really intimately. Knowing it that well release, excitement and energy was

18 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE


A much-loved partnership:
Lucy Crowe has enjoyed
a long collaboration with
The English Concert
palpable. We were all chomping at the
bit to be making music again and it
provided us with this escapism – I find
this recording particularly special from
that point of view.
MY FONDEST MEMORY
Janáček
The Cunning Little Vixen
Lucy Crowe (soprano) et al; LSO/
Simon Rattle
LSO Live LSO0850 (2020)
The Vixen has always held a special
place in my heart; she was one of the
first roles I ever
performed and she
has been one of
my favourite roles
BÅRD GUNDERSEN, GETTY, VICTORIA CADISCH, GETTY
ever since. She’s
feisty, strong, smart,
in control, intelligent
and often I find that I’m performing
her when I’m maybe having a bit of a
down time. I perform her and I just
feel stronger, like I’ve grown and I am a
better version of myself.
When I got the call to say Simon Rattle
wanted me for the Vixen with the Berlin
Phil and the LSO, and Peter Sellars
directing, I thought ‘Oh my God!’ And
then to find out they were recording it
with the LSO was the cherry on the top.
In the performance, I was doing quite a
lot of running around and was pretty out
of breath, but luckily in the live recording
I did get to stand and sing through the
arias without being breathless, running
around and jumping on tables. My
nieces were never very interested in my
singing, but then I told them I’d received
a Grammy nomination for this and
they said, ‘What?! That’s amazing!’ It’s
given me massive street-cred with the
younger generation.
I’D LIKE ANOTHER GO AT…
Vivaldi In furore iustissimae irae
Lucy Crowe (soprano); La Nuova Musica/
David Bates
Harmonia Mundi HMU807587 (2013)
I would say I’d want another go at
everything I’ve ever done, but that’s
my problem. I’ve chosen La Nuova
Musica’s Dixit Dominus album; I’m only
in the Vivaldi In furore iustissimae. It’s
a fabulous cantata, but I’d just had my
daughter and she was my first child.
When you sing when you’re pregnant it’s
just brilliant; in fact, most singers you
talk to say that you sing best when you’ve
got a baby in your
tummy, because you
have something to
push back on. It’s an
amazing feeling, up
until the very end
when you lose your
support and it gets too heavy. The thing
is, once your baby is born it takes a lot
of time to get used to it, because you feel
empty and hollow. I recorded this really
soon after having my daughter, and it
takes a lot of time to build back your
pelvic floor, your stomach muscles… and
there’s that lack of sleep – you feel utterly
terrible most of the time. So for a cantata
that needs fire, strength, athleticism and
agility, I didn’t feel quite up to it.
David Bates is a fabulous musician, has
such brilliant ideas and writes brilliant
ornaments, so I’d love the chance to have
another go at it for his sake, so I can make
him proud and show off his skill.
Lucy Crowe sings on a new recording of
Handel’s Messiah, out on 3 Nov on Erato
Thefullscore
Inspiring fellow: Kilar was a warm collaborator
MyHero
Pianist Peter
Jablonski on the
profound impact
the Polish composer
Wojciech Kilar had on his career
In 1997, Wojciech Kilar wrote me a
piano concerto, which I premiered at the
Warsaw Autumn Festival, receiving the
Orpheus Polish music critics’ prize for the
performance. Kilar’s name was already
well known to me – in 1985, aged 14, I
met him at a concert in Kraków, where I
played Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1.
I decided to listen to the second half of
the concert, where Kilar’s symphonic
poems Krzesany and Kościelec 1909 were
performed. I was immediately struck by the
power of the music.
I met Kilar several times to discuss his
concerto. He was polite, quiet and deeply
dedicated to his work. This collaboration
taught me how important it was to support
living composers by enabling them to hear
their music performed.
A few years ago, I received a poignant
invitation to perform Kilar’s concerto with
the Bronisław Huberman Philharmonia,
who were naming their concert hall after
him. It took place in Częstochowa in
southern Poland, famous for its Jasna Góra
Monastery, where Kilar liked to spend long
periods of time composing.
This quiet, introverted man left a
profound mark on the world of music,
collaborating with some of the biggest
names in 20th-century cinema. I went on
to collaborate with many composers, and
I am thankful that Kilar, with his natural
gentleness and warmth, took me under his
wing and showed me how rewarding and
inspiring such a collaboration can be.
Peter Jablonski’s new Chopin album
is out now on the Ondine label; it is
reviewed on p85
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 19
Thefullscore
THE LISTENING SERVICE

The power of redemption

Poulenc hoped his religious
music might atone for
personal sins, but the
compassion of his works
served as a lesson for the
church, says Tom Service

ILLUSTRATION: MARIA CORTE MAIDAGAN

I
n 1962, Francis Poulenc had
composed his last sacred work, his
Sept répons des ténèbres, a piece he
wouldn’t live to hear when it premiered
in New York the next year. ‘I have
finished Les Ténèbres,’ he said. ‘I think
it is beautiful. With the Gloria and the
Stabat Mater, I think I have three good
religious works. May they spare me
a few days in purgatory, if I narrowly
avoid going to hell.’
Ah Francis! It wasn’t you who needed
saving from a hellish afterlife thanks
to the strictures of the Catholic church.
In fact, it’s just the other way round:
Poulenc’s sacred music – composed by
a gay man who had also fathered a child
out of wedlock, making him a persona The glory of Poulenc’s later sacred From the Litanies à la Vierge Noire
non grata according to the church’s music – including the Gloria, written to the Sept répons des ténèbres 25 years
diktats – amounts to a redemption of for Boston in 1961 – is that it dares to later, that generosity of spirit is the
the intolerances of the church. Poulenc admit the earthy and, yes, even the unique expressive treasure of Poulenc’s
fearlessly accepts the whole of human erotic, into the realms of the spiritual. sacred music. Poulenc had the wisdom
life in the sensual and spiritual sounds The music of the Gloria dances and to know that the sacred and the profane,
that his sacred music makes. shouts with sheer unabandoned the sublime and the erotic, the cosmic
His very first sacred work, the Litanies and the personal, are all sacralising
à la Vierge Noire for female voices and Poulenc fearlessly accepts routes to transcendence.
organ – first performed on the BBC in The church of his day censured
1936 – was a shock to the international the whole of human life men like him. But it wasn’t Poulenc
music scene. Poulenc, according to the LQbKLVVDFUHGPXVLF who deserved judgement, but the
critic Ernest Newman, was a ‘farceur church itself. Poulenc’s compassion is a
of the first order’. But the rawness and joyfulness, from the yelping fanfare redemption of the Catholic theology of
ferocity of the Litanies, written in the it opens with to the operatic lyricism the time. And that’s worth much more
immediate aftermath of the tragic death of the third movement, the Domine than a few days spared from purgatory.
of his friend Pierre-Octave Ferroud, Deus. In the final movement, there’s a Poulenc deserves all the heavenly bliss
completely contradicts that image. ‘It’s transformation of the opening gesture, he desires. Whatever else you have faith
not that I’m consumed by the idea of slowed down so that it becomes a in, have faith – in Poulenc!
being a great musician,’ Poulenc wrote, musical monument. The final Amen
‘but all the same it has exasperated me is a prayer for peace and for mercy, Tom Service explores how
to be, for so many people, simply an not an insistent drumming on the music works in The Listening
erotic petit maître.’ door of heaven. Service on Sundays at 5pm

20 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

 FAREWELL TO…

Popular appeal:
mezzo Jacqueline
Dark was a hit with
Australian audiences

Jacqueline Dark Born 1968 Mezzo-soprano

An award-winning mezzo with popular appeal in her native Australia,
Dark will be remembered for her versatility, energy and personality.
Comfortable in everything from Mozart to musicals, the Ballarat-born
singer was acclaimed by critics and loved by audiences. She worked
regularly with Opera Australia, originating roles in a number of world-
premiere productions, plus Melbourne-based company Victorian
Opera and Opera Hong Kong. Dark recently returned to the stage
for a special cabaret show – a thank you to those who had supported
her during her cancer treatment, and was due to perform in a Sydney
production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold at the end of the year.

Felix Ayo Born 1933 Violinist

The Spanish violinist enjoyed a celebrated career as a soloist, chamber
musician and recording artist. At 18 he co-founded I Musici, the
acclaimed Baroque ensemble comprised of fellow students from
Rome’s Santa Cecilia Academy, where Ayo studied with Remy Principe.
Born in Sestao, Ayo took to the violin at the age of six and honed his
skills at the Bilbao conservatory before moving on to teenage studies
in Paris, Siena and Rome. After 16 years with I Musici, Ayo decided to
pursue Romantic repertoire and established the Quartetto Beethoven
di Roma. A much-loved teacher, he gave masterclasses all over the
world, but most regularly at the Santa Cecilia Academy.

Stephen Gould Born 1962 Heldentenor

There is a sense of making up for lost time when it comes to Stephen
Gould’s opera career – though he trained at Chicago’s Lyric Opera,
he found himself working mostly in musical theatre during the
1990s, including a ten-year stretch in a US tour of Phantom of the
Opera. He was encouraged ro return to opera and found his voice in
Europe, lighting up the stage at Bayreuth and in Vienna through some
100 performances at each. Gould will be remembered as a leading
KURT SNEDDON/WWW.BLUEPRINTSTUDIOS.COM

Wagnerian with great energy and vocal heft.

Also remembered…
German-born Slovak soprano Patricia Janečková (born 1998) rose to
fame after winning a television talent show and went on to become a
versatile and popular opera performer.
The American pianist Russell Sherman (born 1930) was a quiet titan
of the keyboard and a much-loved teacher at Boston’s New England
Conservatory of Music.
Thefullscore
Music to my ears
What the classical world has been listening to this month
Aron Goldin Pianist
I studied Robert
Schumann’s
Dichterliebe with
pianist Malcolm
Martineau at the
same time that he
recorded and released it with bass-
baritone Florian Boesch. I would
walk to the Royal Academy
listening to their recording, then a
few minutes later I’d be at the
keyboard with him working on the
cycle; it was a real privilege. I love
the recording because they made
brave creative decisions around
tempo and expression in order to
allow the interior drama of the
songs to burn with a new intensity.
I’ve been listening to an album
by soprano Patricia Petibon and
pianist Susan Manoff called
L’amour, la mort, la mer. I shared a
stage with them at Oxford Lieder
in the Holywell Music Room, and
22 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Susan Manoff perform
Granados and Barber
they performed music from it. It’s
an astonishingly beautiful album;
you’ve got traditional Breton and
Irish songs and songs by Villa-
Lobos and Granados, but you’ve
also got John Lennon and Samuel
Barber, so it’s a really eclectic and
interesting mix of music.
There is a purity
in Poulenc’s Stabat
Mater but also a great
emotional force
I went to Wigmore Hall earlier
this year to see András Schiff
perform Bach and Beethoven. For
me, he is the greatest living pianist
and one of the best of all time.
Certainly, he’s a huge inspiration
to me, and the thing I love most
about him is that his on-stage
presence is so unique – it’s light
and humane and even playful, but
the music he makes is profound
and meditative, and ultimately a
transcendental experience.
And also…
I’m reading a book called
Geography for the Lost by the poet
Kapka Kassabova, a Bulgarian
who now lives in Scotland.
The voices in her poems are of
migrants, and they speak about
what it’s like to feel lost – in the
place you live, with ones you
love, or even in your own history.
Despite the horrors of the world
around us, and those described in
the poems, she is able to find the
stark, magical beauty in it all.
Aron Goldin’s album ‘Homelands’ is
out now on the Rubicon label
Give piece a chance: Stephanie Childress
Patricia Petibon and
Conductor
Lennon alongside I am so impressed
with conductor
Stéphane Denève’s
recording of
Poulenc’s Stabat
Mater with Stuttgart
and North German radio
ensembles. I love Poulenc: he
writes so well for the female voices,
which are so often a major driving
force in his vocal and choral
CRITIC’S CHOICE works. There is a purity there but
also a great emotional force. People
Kate Wakeling
might call his music self-
I recently came across
Quatuor Diotima’s referential – and he does use
magnificent recording certain themes and chord
of Ligeti’s two string progressions a lot – but I love that
quartets, released he doesn’t shy away from his style.
earlier this year. The
First was composed
Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations
in 1953-54, before have been a gap in my knowledge
Ligeti fled Hungary until recently. The theme – a waltz
for Vienna by train, – is so simple, but what he does
concealed under a
pile of postbags. The
with it is incredible. He explores
Second, written in
every nook and cranny, leaves no
stone unturned. I am particularly
1968, is a terrific
exemplar of his fascinated by Piotr Anderszewski’s
‘micropolyphony’, recording. He really finds the
where numerous humour, and makes this music
intersecting lines are
densely packed to almost Mozartian. Variation
create a cloud-like, number 22 begins by quoting an
unsettlingly opaque aria from Don Giovanni – it’s so
collage of sound. blatant, and so vibrant, I laughed
These quartets are a
out loud when I first heard it.
world of their own:
wildly imaginative, I did a deep dive into bebop
percussive, unnerving, during the pandemic. Joe
occasionally deranged. Farnsworth, probably my

favourite living drummer, is very
much part of the bebop lineage.
I love the track ‘The Surrey with
the Fringe on Top’ from his recent
album City of Sounds. It’s such a
little ditty, but what he does with
it is amazing. The way musicians
can mine these very basic chordal
progressions or melodies and
make beautiful, improvisatory
artworks always amazes me.
And also…
I have been running for most of
my life, but I have only recently
discovered hiking. There’s a very
different pace involved, but it’s
similarly about endurance and
Bebop master: drummer Joe Farnsworth
Thefullscore
finding the right pace for that day’s CRITIC’S CHOICE was listening to this astonishing
route or elevation. I spent August music, a cat sauntered across the
in the Rocky Mountains, working road almost at the same speed as
at a music festival. My days were the playing, as if it was embodying
spent hiking with friends, then it. What a moment!
rehearsing. Idyllic. I was in Leeds recently, and as
Stephanie Childress conducts I was walking up from the station
Mozart’s Don Giovanni at there was this fellow busking
Glyndebourne, 12 Nov – 2 Dec on the saxophone. Usually with
Erik Levi a busker you can tell what they
Among my most
Ian McMillan pleasurable recent
are playing, but in this case you
Poet and Radio 3 presenter listening discoveries couldn’t. I like strange music,
At the BBC Proms is a Deutsche and what I particularly liked
over the summer I Grammophon release about this, I guess, was that,
heard the world featuring ravishing like all improvised music, you’ll
orchestral and vocal
premiere of Derrick music by Austrian never hear it again. But then I
Skye’s Nova Plexus. late-Romantic also thought ‘I wonder if he’s just
It had all kinds of composer Franz playing something really badly?’!
influences, including Americana Schreker, with And also…
stellar soloists Chen
and jazz. I always find it exciting to I’m obsessive about football
Reiss and Matthias
hear a work being played for the Goerne partnering the and am a season ticket holder at
very first time – there might be Konzerthausorchester the mighty Barnsley FC. In our
little mistakes in there that we’re Berlin under first match this season we beat
not aware of, there might be bits Christoph Eschenbach. Port Vale 7-0 – I turned to my
Few interpreters have
that the players themselves weren’t lavished so much care
grandson and said ‘It’s like this
expecting. Just to be in the hall at and attention on this every week!’ Sadly, it’s not really.
that time was magnificent. underrated music as What I like so much about football
On my morning stroll, which Eschenbach, whose is that you have no idea how it’s
begins at about 5.15am, I’ve been orchestra delivers going to end. And while it’s not a
an exquisite account
enjoying Radio 3’s New Music of the Chamber
lot like music, both have rhythm,
Show. This morning, there was Symphony and character and excitement.
this wonderful improvisation revels in the glorious Ian McMillan’s Yorkshire dialect
from an Irish musician at a Welsh technicolour scoring adaptation of Rossini’s The Barber
festival that was part Hardanger of the Intermezzo from of Seville is staged at the Bradford
Der ferne Klang.
fiddle, part viola da gamba. As I Opera Festival on 23 November

Our Choices The BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites

Charlotte Smith Editor
Writing an introductory piece on the woodwind
family for our website prompted an exploration
of solo music for the bassoon. Among a myriad
concertos by Vivaldi and Mozart’s famous
Concerto in B flat, I discovered Saint-Saëns’s
Sonata, Op.168, an early Romantic work that
makes full use of the bassoon’s expressive
capabilities. There’s a wonderful live performance
by Theo Plath at Wigmore Hall in 2019 on YouTube.
Jeremy Pound Deputy editor
One of my few achievements of 2022 was to
BERNARD MARTINEZ, GETTY, KAUPO KIKKAS
Michael Beek Reviews editor dunes of Sweden’s Baltic coast,
My Dad plays percussion in the and the storm clouds descending
Brisbane-based band Bayside Brass, over the pine forests. Particularly
and it was great to watch them atmospheric is Symphony No. 3,
compete in this year’s Queensland ‘Västkustbilder’ (West Coast
Band Championships via YouTube. Pictures). Its three movements –
Over two days of competition they ‘Summer haze’, ‘Storm’ and ‘Summer
performed in various categories, Night’ – are by turns serene, gripping
including a march and formal concert and ecstatic.
pieces. The highlights included
Kevin Houben’s visceral Lake of the Alice Pearson
Moon and Edward Gregson’s thrilling Cover CD editor
Partita, which features the ominous I love the perfect combination of

win a raffle prize of tickets to The Sixteen’s
Choral Pilgrimage concert in Tewkesbury Abbey
this September. In the near-perfect acoustic, a
beautifully thought-out programme of Byrd and
works related to him – from his predecessors
and contemporaries to a couple of stunning new
commissions by Dobrinka Tabakova – proved the
ideal way to spend a warm early-Autumn evening.
Dies Irae used in The Shining. It was
wonderful and I was proud.
Steve Wright Content producer
I have been enraptured by the symphonies of Kurt
Atterberg (pictured above) lately. In these big-
boned, dramatic, unashamedly Romantic works,
I can hear the wind whistling across the sand
modern and traditional elements in
Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.
Fans of The Shining (again!) may have already
clocked the exquisite, dark and mysterious Adagio,
which features in Kubrick’s 1980 film. My favourite
recording is by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
under Fritz Reiner, Bartók’s fellow student at the
Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest.

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 23


Richard Morrison
Today, the term ‘diva’ is a long way
removed from its glowing origins
T
o mark the 100th anniversary
of Maria Callas’s birth – much
celebrated elsewhere in this issue
– let’s talk about a word that, in her day,
was still used as an accolade for women
performers, especially opera singers, at
the very top of their profession. Whereas
today it has become an all-purpose term
of abuse applied to just about anybody
who exhibits haughty behaviour.
The word is ‘diva’. It means goddess
in Latin. And until our own era it
meant goddess in showbiz too. In
fact, Callas’s fans nicknamed her ‘La
Divina’, the divine – the ultimate diva.
It implied not just incredible talent but
something perhaps even more powerful:
a charismatic force that reached out and
touched the hearts of millions.
How to explain that? In his
fascinating book Charisma in Politics,
Religion and the Media, the theology
professor David Aberbach suggests
that the public figures with the greatest
mass appeal are likely to be individuals
damaged by unstable or unpleasant
childhoods and by their subsequent
struggles to find happiness. He argues
that their fractured lives make them
irresistible to millions of followers who
have troubled lives of their own.
That was certainly true of Callas, who
was exploited, abused and discarded by
just about everyone who got close to her
– from her own mother to the ghastly
Aristotle Onassis. But it’s also true of
numerous other showbiz divas from her
era. Think of Billie Holiday, Édith Piaf,
Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland. All had
deep emotional scars, and their fans
loved them for it.
As the 20th century moved on,
however, the description ‘diva’ came
to signal another, less sympathetic
character trait. A charitable description
might be ‘uncompromising attitude’.
Uncharitably, the word diva now evoked
arrogance, high-handedness, rudeness
or even megalomania.
Psychologically, it’s easy to see how
the first trait led to the second. The
diva compensates for all the bad things
that have happened to her by inflicting
dictatorial behaviour on those around
her. Demands that seem completely
unreasonable to other people seem
perfectly logical, in fact necessary, in her
mind. Or as Callas once snapped: ‘Don’t
‘Diva’ implied not just
incredible talent, but a
charismatic force that
touched a million hearts
talk to me about rules, dear. I make the
goddam rules.’
Those demands can often be
ludicrous. Kathleen Battle, the soprano
famously fired by the Metropolitan
Opera in New York for subjecting every
other member of the cast to what was
described as ‘withering criticisms’, once
allegedly phoned her agent from the
back of a limousine to demand that he
phone the chauffeur and instruct him to
turn down the air-conditioning.
Sometimes, however, a diva’s
demands seem fuelled by a self-
righteous fervour so powerful that it
terrifies all who encounter her. Such was
the case, I believe, with Jessye Norman.
Since boyhood I had adored her majestic
voice. Then, as a young journalist, I met
her at a press lunch. She not only treated
Opinion
every question as if it were a hand
grenade that needed hurling back at the
questioner, she also said something quite
vile to a waitress who had got her order
wrong. I never stopped being wowed by
her singing, but for a while I cooled to her
as a human being.
Then I read more about her early life.
She grew up in the still-segregated south
of the United States, before training
for a profession in which (despite such
pioneers as Marian Anderson and
Leontyne Price) there were almost no
other black people. Despite her one-in-
a-million voice, the young Norman was
on the receiving end of countless casual
or deliberate racist slights.
It had an effect. She wrapped herself
in an impregnable cloak of entitlement.
What appeared to me like sheer bad
manners and gracelessness was, I later
realised, more the determination of a
proud, hugely talented woman to be
treated with the respect, indeed awe and
reverence, that she felt she deserved.
Treated like a goddess, in other words.
I get the impression that there are
far fewer ‘impossible’ divas around in
opera today than there are in, say, pop
culture. Perhaps that’s just as well. If
every operatic superstar refused to go
on stage unless surrounded by 20 white
kittens and 100 doves (as Mariah Carey
notoriously demanded before switching
on the Christmas lights at the Westfield
shopping centre), opera would be in even
more desperate financial straits than it
is. But nobody who heard Maria Callas
or Jessye Norman in their primes ever
said they were ‘more trouble than they’re
worth’. They were goddesses. Rightly or
wrongly, you forgave them everything.
Richard Morrison is chief music critic
and a columnist of The Times
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 25
Sleeping beauty:
Maria Callas receives a standing
ovation during Bellini’s
La sonnambula at La Scala

26 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

 Maria Callas

for the ages

As we celebrate the centenary of
legendary soprano Maria Callas,
Ashutosh Khandekar explains
why she has remained such a
powerful influence on successive
generations of fans and singers
his woman is a miracle!’ Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s
exclamation still resonates a century after Maria Callas’s
birth, celebrated this December. Recent years have seen
the continuing apotheosis of the singer dubbed ‘La
Divina’ during her lifetime. The mounting tributes are
testament to the enduring breadth and depth of the Callas legend.
Hundreds of books in dozens of languages explore every detail of
a complex, eventful life. Recordings, good and bad, continue to be
ERIO PICCAGLIANI/TEATRO ALLA SCALA

rediscovered, remastered, repackaged and rereleased, as every advance

in technology attempts to capture the ‘real’, unvarnished voice of Callas.
Exhibitions abound, devoted to the photographs, costumes, fashion and
jewellery that show Callas, after her notoriously punishing regime of
weight loss, in perfect tune with the style of the 1950s and ’60s.

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 27


CALLAS’S LIFE AND ART HAVE
been captured in plays, films and
documentaries, portrayed by performers
as diverse as Meryl Streep, Fanny Ardant
and most recently Marina Abramović,
whose 7 Deaths of Maria Callas toured
the world before arriving at English
National Opera earlier this season. In this
work, the celebrated performance artist
portrays Callas on her deathbed in Paris,
revisiting her life through the ‘alter egos’ she
inhabited on stage, exploring the notion of
immortality through art.
Today’s great opera singers continue
to pay homage to their inspirational
idol. One memorable example is Angela
Gheorghiu’s 2019 solo album Homage to
Maria Callas, the cover of which features
the Romanian diva made up to look like La
Divina. Perhaps, though, the most extreme
example of Callas-veneration to date was
her reincarnation as a hologram: a three-
28 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Ave Maria:
Callas in The Barber
of Seville at La
Scala; (right) Marina
Abramović’s 7 Deaths of
Maria Callas in Berlin,
2022; (below right)
Angelina Jolie is
set to star as Callas on
screen; (below) Angela
Gheorghiu’s homage
dimensional replica of the
singer, computer-generated
from film footage of her
performances, was taken
on a world tour in 2019. The
ghoulish experiment served
merely to demonstrate the limitations
of virtual reality: the New York Times
described the show as more like a séance
than a concert.
Meanwhile, the tributes keep coming:
at the Cannes Film Festival this year, it
was announced that the Chilean director
Pablo Larraín would be filming a new
biopic focusing on the singer’s final, lonely
years in Paris before her death in 1977.
Larraín has form in this genre: his biopics
include Spencer, about Princess Diana; and
Jackie, a portrait of the woman who proved
to be a nemesis of Callas in the doomed
love triangle with the Greek shipping
magnate Aristotle Onassis. The new film,
whose release date is yet to be
announced, is entitled Maria
and stars Angelina Jolie.
A centenary is an occasion
for celebration; but it’s also
an opportunity to grasp the
roots of Callas’s genius and what made her
unique. In a 20-year career, Maria Callas
changed the world of opera profoundly.
Her approach to bel canto singing enabled
audiences to rediscover the power of
composers such as Rossini, Donizetti and
Bellini, whose operas were regarded in the
early-19th century as lightweight baubles
devoid of the emotional depth of their
Romantic and Verismo successors.
Of course, there were great singers
preceding Callas who displayed many of
the vocal pyrotechnics and lustre of La
Divina. In fact, Callas emerged from a long
line of great singers who helped construct
the image of the early 20th-century

Steer clear:
Callas surrounded
by fans at the
Stadttheater Cologne
‘Callas set a standard that is hard to
ignore and everyone is trying to emulate’
operatic diva: the histrionic virtuosity of
Luisa Tetrazzini; Amelita Galli-Curci’s
prowess in the recording studio; and the
heart-on-sleeve pathos of Claudia Muzio.
All provided essential ingredients in
the alchemical mix that resulted in the
phenomenon known as ‘Callas’.
In Rupert Christiansen’s Prima Donna,
a wide-ranging study of legendary
operatic divas spanning 300 years, a
chapter entitled ‘The Callas Revolution’
acknowledges that Callas changed
everything. But what form did this
revolution actually take? The singer’s friend
and biographer, the late Dallas-based
writer and critic John Ardoin, asserts:
‘Her influence was to make people more
aware of musical values and to sing more
for expression and not just for display or
show.’ Before Callas, singing was regarded
as something of a circus act – thrilling, but
merely decorative. Callas showed that the
art of bel canto involved more than just a
ERIO PICCAGLIANI/TEATRO ALLA SCALA, GETTY
pretty voice: behind the façade of virtuosity
lay deep reserves of emotion waiting to be
unlocked. Ardoin added: ‘Opera singers
weren’t always musicians…. she made
younger singers more aware of the musical
possibilities of opera. She set a standard
that is hard to ignore, and everyone is
trying to emulate.’
Of course, Callas was more than a vocal
virtuoso. Her status as one of the 20th
century’s cultural icons resonates far
beyond the world of opera. The workings
of history and technology played a
significant role in allowing her to become
an international superstar. In 1958, at the
very height of her fame, the first stereo LPs
were produced for commercial release by
RCA and Decca. Meanwhile, the rise of
commercial jet travel allowed Callas to
forge a career simultaneously on both sides
of the Atlantic. During the Golden Age of
her career at La Scala, from 1951-58, she
flew to the US regularly to rehearse and
appear in Chicago, New York and Dallas.
London in the Swinging Sixties was an
important focus too – it was here that her
acting skills were warmly welcomed in
great dramatic roles such as Norma and
Tosca at the Royal Opera House.
Callas’s triumphs and her struggles as a
celebrity mark her out as a great modern
tragedienne not just of the theatre, but
of the world stage, joining the legendary
ranks of beautiful women whose private
lives went into meltdown under the glare
of publicity: Marilyn Monroe, Jackie O
and of course, Diana, Princess of Wales.
For her part, Callas dealt with the press
with firm but dignified restraint that
Maria Callas
Facing the music:
filmaker Tom Volf
Meeting Maria
An introduction to La Divina
If you’re just setting off on your Callas
journey, prepare yourself for the long
haul: the literature and archival material
is extensive. You’ll find a helpful guide in
John Ardoin, the late music critic of Dallas
Morning News who was a trusted friend
with whom Callas exchanged frank ideas
about singers and singing. His books and
interview material (much of it available
on YouTube) get down to the nitty gritty of
Callas’s unique artistry.
Tony Palmer’s Callas documentary film
was made in 1988, bringing together
a host of friends and distinguished
commentators who worked closely with
her. They articulate her life with insight and
understanding. In 2017, filmmaker Tom
Volf assembled a beautifully constructed
homage to Callas, full of candid and
previously unseen footage of the singer.
Maria by Callas is narrated in the diva’s
own words, featuring fascinating material
from a 1970 television interview with David
Frost, previously thought lost. There are
uncanny parallels with Martin Bashir’s
cross-questioning of Diana, Princess of
Wales, a quarter of a century later.
For pure entertainment, the semi-
fictional biopic Callas Forever (left) has
at its heart a memorable portrayal of La
Divina by French actress Fanny Ardant. The
2002 film includes hyper-real recreations
of a ‘lost’ production
of Carmen, staged by
director Franco Zeffirelli.
It’s kitsch and thinly
scripted, with the actors
lip-synching to the
music; but it can be quite
compelling and brilliantly
shows off the expressive
power of Callas’s singing.
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 29
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just occasionally boiled over
into irritation. Asked about
her reputation for being
temperamental, she replied:
‘Temperamental? What does
that mean? If you mean do
I have high standards and
don’t like it when others fall
short, then perhaps I am.’
One piece of ‘fake news’
especially caught the public
imagination, giving us a
sense of her reputation for being difficult:
Callas was reported in the press as having
hurled a bottle of brandy at Rudolf Bing,
the Metropolitan Opera’s august general
director, when, during the 1958 Met
season, he sacked the diva for attempting
to usurp his own authority. Appearing
in a live television interview with Ed
Murrow, Callas was confronted by Sir
Thomas Beecham who asked her, in his
orotund tones, whether there was any truth
in the bottle-throwing rumours. Callas
advised Beecham not to believe a word the
newspapers printed: ‘I’ve never thrown
anything at anyone,’ she replied wryly. ‘I
wish I had – but it would be a shame for the
bottle, you know…’
Callas was not born great. She achieved
greatness through her single-minded
GETTY
conviction that music was, for her, a
necessity, along with an
uncanny ability to absorb
and entirely assimilate
the advice and teaching
of others who recognised
her potential. Four men
in particular acted as
Svengalis to her Trilby. Her
first husband, Giovanni
Meneghini, provided her
with a degree of financial
security for a time and
helped open doors for her in the Italian
opera world. The great Italian maestro
Tullio Serafin, music director at La Scala,
made her understand her voice’s full
potential as an expressive psychological
vehicle. Serafin taught Callas that
everything you needed to know about a
character and her motivations could be
found in the musical score. It was a lesson
she applied to every note she sang.
Meanwhile, Luchino Visconti – a
20th-century cultural icon in his own
right – showed Callas how to use her
personal allure and make the most of her
dramatic impact on and off stage. Visconti
directed Callas in five classic productions
during her La Scala heyday. It was he who
encouraged Maria to undergo a drastic
course of dieting and massage that resulted
in her slimming down to the svelte,
Maria Callas
A Callas cast:
(clockwise from main)
the singer with Giovanni
Meneghini in Venice; with
Luchino Visconti during a
1958 production of Anna
Bolena; with Tullio Serafin in
London, 1959; with Aristotle
Onassis in Italy, 1960
supermodel figure that consolidated her
status as a style icon. And it was Visconti
who gave her the most important lesson in
how to carry herself on stage and off: ‘He
taught me that the less I move – without
profound reason – the more I can channel
my own personality.’
Under the tutelage of these mentors,
Callas underwent a complete physical
transformation. And then came Aristotle
Onassis, the multi-millionaire playboy
who inspired in her a depth of passion she
had never felt before for any human being,
while ensuring her a place in the jet-set
echelons of super-celebrity.
It was a long way from her humble
origins. Callas’s parents emigrated from
Greece to the US in 1923, joining a host of
hopeful immigrants fleeing the economic
ravages of Europe after the First World
War. Her father ran a pharmacy in New
York, struggling to make ends meet for his
demanding, pregnant wife and their first-
born daughter, Jackie.
Maria Anna Sofia Cecilia
Kalogeropoulos was born in Manhattan
later that year. Her father, George, absented
himself for most of her life but did at least
make one significant contribution to
her career by changing the family name
to ‘Callas’, which has proved a more
memorable handle for stardom.
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 31
Maria Callas
Three’s a crowd:
rehearsing Tosca with
Giuseppe Di Stefano and
Tito Gobbi at La Scala
Celebrate in style
Marking the Callas centenary
How: Stretch out
on the sofa and
listen to the classic
1953 EMI recording
of Puccini’s Tosca
from La Scala
(left), featuring
Callas, Giuseppe
Di Stefano and Tito Gobbi with Victor de
Sabata conducting. It’s absorbing, moving
and thrilling in equal measure, featuring
Callas at the height of her powers. Or, for
the immersive experience, Warner Classics
has released a comprehensive boxed
set of her live and studio recordings, plus
masterclasses, videos and previously
unheard material (see p97).
When: Planning to raise a glass to
celebrate the birthday itself? It might not
be quite that straightforward. The date
is given in official records as 2, 3 or 4
December 1923 (Callas’s mother claimed
she couldn’t quite remember). The singer
liked to plump for 4 December since it
coincided with the Feast of Santa Barbara,
the feisty patron saint of artillerymen
and firefighters. (The actual date is now
accepted as 2 December, but just to be
safe, you could raise a glass on all three…)
Where: Athens is the place to be. A
ERIO PICCAGLIANI/TEATRO ALLA SCALA, ANGUS MCBEAN
long-overdue museum dedicated to Callas
is soon set to open its doors. Meanwhile,
Greek National Opera’s ongoing
celebrations feature a new film about the
Diva and a major exhibition, Unboxing
Callas, drawing on the archives of Greek
National Opera, including recently acquired
material from the estate of Dimitris
Pyromallis, a major collector of Callas
memorabilia. It runs until January 2024.
32 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Upwardly mobile:
Callas’s natural mezzo
register extended into that
of a coloratura soprano
Maria Callas’s voice is described as ‘God
given’, as though it dropped from heaven
Her mother Evangelia (known as
‘Litsa’) pushed her daughter to perform
from an early age, starting singing lessons
when she was just five, motivated by a
keen sense of what her daughter’s talent
might contribute to the family’s flagging
finances. Coolly ambitious, Litsa was
never forgiven by Maria for depriving her
of the love that she would crave for the
rest of her life. But without her mother’s
drive, it is unlikely that Callas’s genius
would have emerged as fully as it did.
When her parents’ marriage broke down,
mother and daughters returned to Greece,
where Maria was enrolled at the Athens
Music Conservatoire .
Callas’s voice is often described as ‘god-
given’ as if it had dropped down from the
heavens fully formed. In reality, she was
taught her craft and perfected it through
hard work. She was lucky to find in Athens
one of the greatest exponents and teachers
of the art of bel canto, the Spanish soprano
Elvira de Hidalgo. It was De Hidalgo who
expanded Callas’s natural mezzo register
up into the stratospheric tessitura of the
coloratura soprano. And it was this hugely
extended range, together with a tonal
quality that encompassed every shade of
dark and light, that enabled her to take
on roles that were considered difficult,
even unsingable at the time: Gioconda, La
Vestale, Medea, Norma and Elvira in
I puritani, opening up rich seams of operatic
repertoire that provided a springboard
for luminaries such as Joan Sutherland,
Montserrat Caballé and Joyce DiDonato.
Listening to Callas on disc, these weighty,
tragic roles still leave us with a deep and
indelible impression of one of opera’s most
influential figures as she sets the bar high
for each successive generation of singers.
But for me, one of the most poignant and
insightful accounts of Callas’s artistry can
be seen and heard in her performance of
‘Non più mesta’, the final virtuosic tour-
de-force from Rossini’s La Cenerentola
televised from Hamburg in 1962 (you’ll
find it on YouTube).
The aria’s florid coloratura seems to just
pour out of her, straight from the heart.
There are no histrionics. Her gestures are
bare – simplicity itself. Her technique
is completely effortless, her breath a
vibrating, uninterrupted stream of sound
that brims with triumph and joy. Banishing
sadness, Cinderella looks forward to a
life of boundless happiness. Sadly, this
was not the fairy-tale ending that awaited
La Divina.
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34 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

There’s no point
pushing to find the
right orchestra. It’s like a
relationship and needs
to happen naturally
THE BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE INTERVIEW
Kirill Karabits
After over a decade at the helm,
the Bournemouth Symphony
Orchestra’s hugely popular
chief conductor explains to
Rebecca Franks what he has
planned for his final season
PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHN MILLAR
B
ack in the late 2000s, the
Bournemouth Symphony
Orchestra (BSO) was on the lookout
for a new chief conductor to follow in
the footsteps of Marin Alsop. A young
Ukrainian had made an impression on
the band, so they invited him back for a
tour to test his mettle. But Kirill Karabits’s
schedule was tight: he’d have to hot-foot
it from a concert in São Paulo, Brazil, to
Poole overnight. Things didn’t quite go to
plan. Before his flight, he was eating with
some Ukrainian acquaintances. ‘And they
gave me fresh peanuts, which I’d never had
before. Twenty minutes later, my face was
unrecognisable,’ he says. Undeterred and
not so unwell he couldn’t fly, he hopped
on the plane and put in his earplugs to get
a good kip. But thanks to his swollen face,
Kirill Karabits
one of them became stuck. ‘And so, I had
to go to hospital in Poole to take it out. All
before the first rehearsal. It was an unusual
start. But it went well, and I thought, if I
can survive this and still finish the week,
something special could happen. Life was
throwing me a test.’
Karabits got the job. And he was right –
something special did happen. He took up
the BSO reins in 2009 and it went so well
that he’s been there ever since. In 2024,
after 15 years together, Karabits will give
his last Bournemouth show. It’s been a busy
time: he reckons that so far, he’s conducted
nearly 400 concerts with the BSO, which
takes programmes on tour around the
south and southwest of England. ‘I’m there
a minimum of nine weeks a year, so in ten
years that’s 90 different programmes,’ he
tells me over a coffee in the BSO’s home
base at The Lighthouse in Poole, a day after
the orchestra’s 2022-23 season finale (this
afternoon he will be heading off to The
Grange Festival in Hampshire to rehearse
Mozart’s Così fan tutte). ‘And we’ve hardly
repeated anything.’
If he finds it hard to pick out highlights
(‘many, many concerts’, he replies), then
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 35
Kirill Karabits
Sea change: (left to right) Karabits will step down
as BSO chief conductor in 2024; Reinhold Glière,
Prokofiev’s first teacher and a featured BSO
composer; rehearsing with Felix Klieser in 2021

the critics can do it for him. How about his

‘Voices from the East’ series, highlighting
composers from eastern Europe and
central Asia? Or the recorded cycle of
Prokofiev symphonies (on the Onyx
label), described as ‘utterly compelling’
and ‘intelligent, patient, characterful,
authoritative’. And then there have
been his performances of Shostakovich
symphonies. In February 2023, The
Guardian wrote his performance of
the Fourth Symphony ‘was Karabits and
his orchestra at their very finest, a perfect
example of what he’s achieved on the
south coast’.
Yet none of these artistic directions
were originally part of Karabits’s plan.
When he arrived at the BSO, after being
unanimously voted for by the musicians,
he had a clear vision for his work with
them. ‘I thought, this will be the place
to practise mainstream repertoire,’ he
says, and kicked off with a Beethoven
symphony cycle. ‘And it was a very
important stone in our relationship. I did
it in a slightly different way to what the
orchestra was used to, but they somehow
went with it. It’s always very exciting to Concerto with Felix Klieser and we’re
do Beethoven: you can break through
and find a new kind of energy. Beethoven
‘I felt very much doing the Harp Concerto in the 2023-24
season,’ he explains. ‘I started my first
pushed the orchestra to its limit. When that the orchestra BBC Prom with his Concerto for
that finished, I knew we were ready for Coloratura Soprano, with Ailish Tynan,
new adventures. And I felt very much that was looking for which was so memorable. He wrote
the orchestra was looking for something beautiful melodies and, sometimes you
different. So, I thought, “Let’s explore something different’ might say his music is a bit naïve, which is
Prokofiev and his relationship to Ukraine, right, but he was so honest. He just wrote
where he was born. Let’s record his Karabits relates this anecdote with a what he felt.’ And, Karabits adds, ‘He
symphonies, with his early compositions twinkle in his blue eyes. He’s one of those gave this quality to some of his students,
he wrote while the family was still living people who manages to be both entirely including Prokofiev. Glière was Prokofiev’s
in Donbas.”’ focused yet disarmingly relaxed, serious first private teacher, and his genius would
The project had a strong personal about his work yet swift to sidestep probably have developed differently
connection to Karabits, who was born any hyperbole. His approach to life is without him.’
in Kyiv in 1976, the son of prominent grounded. Even a soloist’s bow breaking No other conductor has championed
Ukrainian composer Ivan Karabits. mid-performance can’t flummox him. these forgotten voices from the east in
Prokofiev’s life had begun around 700km The night before, Karabits had been the UK in the way Karabits has. The
away in 1890s Sontsivka, a village in rural conducting the UK premiere of Glière’s Glière Violin Concerto, which had lain
Donbas, during the years Ukraine was Violin Concerto at The Lighthouse, when unperformed for years, is the latest in a
subsumed into the Russian empire. While violinist Stefan Jackiw’s bow snapped mid- series of pieces he’s brought to life. ‘It was
the composer is generally described as concerto. With barely a bar lost, Jackiw waiting for us, I’m sure,’ says Karabits,
Russian, there’s more to the story of his swapped with the BSO’s orchestra leader again employing his mix of dry humour,
identity – and for Karabits, exploring – and carried on. Karabits took it in his deadly seriousness and light provocation.
Prokofiev’s Ukrainian roots was ‘really stride. Subsequently, the story went ‘I was thinking: who else? Which other
rewarding. I think it was in The Telegraph round the globe, but for him, it’s the music British orchestra could have done it?’
JOHN MILLAR, GETTY

that an established music journalist wrote that counts. Other works he’s waved a flag for include
“Prokofiev and other Ukrainian music”. ‘Glière is such a symbolic composer for Lyatoshynsky’s Symphony No. 3, and
And that was our achievement!’ me and the orchestra. We’ve done the Horn pieces by Kara Karayev and Avet Terterian.

36 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE


‘We’re talking mainly about the legacy of
the former Soviet Union,’ says Karabits.
‘And there are and were wonderful, really
amazing composers.’ His loyal audience
in Poole – who since the pandemic have
also been joined by international viewers
watching live online – have been happy
to come along for the ride. ‘They’re used
to it now. But I always feel support from
them,’ he says. ‘Even if people don’t believe
me completely in some cases. But the
orchestra has always had this tradition
of doing something different and of
championing new music.’
So, how does Karabits feel as he heads
into his final season with the BSO? ‘It
feels like we’ve grown up together in
some way,’ he says. ‘It’s like a relationship.’
Although Karabits is based in Paris, he’s
felt at home in Poole. ‘I was in hotels at the
beginning, but then I stayed in this one
nice apartment on Poole Quay and I really
liked it. I ask for the same one every time.
It overlooks the harbour and Brownsea
Island, which is one of the most beautiful
places in the world.’ When he’s down on
the south coast he likes to cycle, walk and
fish. ‘I once caught a baby shark! I even
have a picture. I’d never held a shark in my
life. You don’t want to put your
fingers too near.’ (He’s at
pains to add that he returned
the shark to the water.)
And his next, final year with
the BSO will be about enjoying
time with the orchestra. ‘We’ve
done so many challenging
programmes, so I thought we
shouldn’t push it too hard in
the last season,’ he explains. ‘I
think one should relax into it
and just make it a nice, friendly season.’
There will still be a few ‘voices from the
east’ – a strand Karabits will continue to be
involved with as conductor laureate from
next year. A Concerto for Orchestra by his
father is on the line-up (‘I wasn’t insisting
on it, but it came from the orchestra, and
I was very touched,’ he says’), plus there’s
Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, which
Karabits feels is apt. He started his time
at Bournemouth with the 11th Symphony
(released on a BBC Music Magazine cover
CD); it makes sense that Shostakovich is
also there at the end.
And what about after Poole? ‘I didn’t
want to stay at Bournemouth until I had
a new position with another orchestra
and then say, thank you very much,
I’m going elsewhere. I consider it a
separate relationship and I wanted to
follow it in the right way. I’m very much
looking for interesting partnerships and
collaborations, but I’m relaxed about it.
There’s no point pushing and trying hard
to find the orchestra that will like you – if it
happens, it happens. It’s like a relationship.
It needs to happen naturally. So, we’ll see.
I want to feel free about it, and not feel
pressurised in any way.’
Poole party:
Karabits for
the record
Karabits and the BSO
Four unmissable recordings
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 2
Musorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition;
Night on the Bare Mountain
Onyx ONYX 4074
‘The Musorgsky pieces are superbly
performed… Bare Mountain’s
hair-raising opening sounding
genuinely menacing rather than
brash, and every cackle of the
witches as impersonated by strings
and woodwind brought to vivid life.
Pictures, too, is a triumph, with Ravel’s
orchestration telling in every vignette.’
(Daniel Jaffé, Feb 2012)
Lyatoshynsky
Symphony No. 3; Grazhyna
Chandos CHSA 5233
‘Boris Lyatoshynsky was equally
a master of the late-Romantic
symphony orchestra, writing vividly
colourful and boldly dramatic music
evocative of modern Hollywood
blockbuster films.’ (Daniel Jaffé,
Feb 2019)
Komitas Shogher Jan
Terterian Symphonies Nos 3 & 4
Traditional Noobar-Noobar
Chandos CHSA 5241
‘Karabits and his Bournemouth
orchestra plunge into Terterian’s
strange world with total commitment
and vivid instrumental colours,
supported by the usual enveloping
Chandos sound.’ (Geoff Brown, Jan 2020)
Walton Symphonies Nos 1 & 2
Onyx ONYX 4168
‘Brilliant precision in the Scherzo,
successful avoidance of over-
emotive juice-extraction in the slow
movement, an immaculately paced
finale, and warm and super-clear
sound-quality all contribute to a
recording that’s something special.’
(Malcolm Hayes, Jan 2018)
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 37
Marking time
Johann Nepomuk Maelzel invented weird and wonderful devices, but
none were more successful than the metronome, writes Misha Donat
F
ollowing his victory over the Austrian
army at the Battle of Wagram on 5-6
July 1809, Napoleon established his
Viennese headquarters at the palace
of Schönbrunn. Many entertainments were put
on for his benefit over the next few months, and
among those who displayed their talents before
the French Emperor was an inventor called
Johann Nepomuk Maelzel. The recent battle had
been particularly costly in terms of the dead and
wounded, and Napoleon was impressed by the
artificial limbs designed by Maelzel. He asked
the inventor to come up with a collapsible cart
that could be used to transport the wounded
38 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
from the battlefield – and Maelzel readily
agreed. But knowing of Napoleon’s interests
away from the fighting, he mentioned a machine
he could already demonstrate to him.
This was no less than a chess-playing
automaton named the ‘Turk’, after the life-size
model of a turban-clad figure who sat at it.
The invention wasn’t actually Maelzel’s own,
though he was happy enough to take the credit
for it: it had been built by an official in Empress
Maria Theresa’s entourage named Wolfgang
von Kempelen, who caused a sensation when he
first displayed it in 1770. Following Kempelen’s
death in 1804 Maelzel purchased the machine

from his son, and made various refinements to it.
The world’s first chess computer was eventually
revealed to be an elaborate hoax containing a live
player cunningly concealed within its depths
– but not before Napoleon had played against
it and attempted unsuccessfully to fool it by
executing some illegal moves.
The inventions to which Maelzel could more
legitimately lay claim were largely connected
with the world of music, and one of them was
linked to a more serious defeat for Napoleon. On
21 June 1813 the French troops were vanquished
by the Duke of Wellington’s army at the Battle of
Vitoria in Spain. The previous year Maelzel had
built a machine he called a panharmonicon, a
sort-of elaborate music box that could imitate the
sounds of an entire orchestra. Now he planned
to capitalise on his invention by commissioning
Beethoven to compose a piece for it to mark
Wellington’s victory, the news of which reached a
jubilant Vienna only towards the end of July.
Beethoven duly produced his piece, and
Maelzel transferred it onto the studded cylinders
activated by weights that drove his machine.
The cylinders’ capacity was, however, limited,
and the panharmonicon was in any case not
capable of producing the grand effect Beethoven
had in mind. Maelzel suggested it should be
expanded into an actual orchestral piece in
which the ‘Battle Symphony’ would be preceded
by a depiction of the battle itself, and the result
GETTY
– Wellington’s Victory or the Battle of Vitoria –
Johann Nepomuk Maelzel
Original TikTok: (clockwise
from far left) Maelzel’s 1815
metronome; the ‘Turk’, a
hoax chess computer; French
Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte;
the panharmonicon music box;
Johann Nepomuk Maelzel,
wartime and musical inventor
was first performed on 8
December 1813, at a concert
that included the premiere
of Beethoven’s Seventh
Symphony as well as two
marches for an automaton
trumpet player – another of
Maelzel’s inventions – and
orchestra. Such was the
concert’s success that it had to be repeated four
days later. But Maelzel subsequently invoked
Beethoven’s anger by claiming the new piece
as his sole property and having it performed
in Munich without the composer’s knowledge.
Beethoven took out a lawsuit against him,
though it came to nothing.
In the end, Maelzel owes his enduring fame
not to any of his automata, nor, indeed to the
‘Battle Symphony’, but to a relatively simple
device. Again, he had no scruples about taking
the credit for an invention that wasn’t strictly
speaking his own. On a visit to Amsterdam
in 1815 he had called on the inventor Dietrich
Nikolaus Winkel and had been struck by the
compactness of a pendulum system Winkel had
devised for indicating precise musical tempos.
Maelzel made a few improvements to it and took
out a patent for an ‘Instrument or Instruments,
Machine or Machines, for the Improvement of
all Musical Performance, which he denominates
a Metronome or Musical Time-keeper’.
Maelzel was careful to add in his own
description of the device included in the patent
document: ‘Be it known that I do not make any
claim to the invention of beating or counting
the time for musical performance, by means
of a machine regulated by a pendulum; but
for the particular manner and mode which I
have invented of applying a pendulum to such
a machine, whereby the pendulum can with
the greatest facility be made to vibrate a greater
The initials or lesser number of times in a minute at the
pleasure of the performer.’ So closely has his
‘M.M.’ found name become associated with the metronome
in so many ever since that the initials ‘M.M.’ found in so
many scores where the tempo is given are widely
scores stood understood to stand for ‘Maelzel’s metronome’.
Following their dispute over the ‘Battle
for ‘Maelzel’s Symphony’, Beethoven and Maelzel overcame
metronome’ their differences when they met again in 1817,
and Beethoven was sufficiently impressed by the
new-fangled metronome to draw up an elaborate
list of tempo markings for all the symphonies
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 39

Beat of his own drum: Brahms
Fad or fundamental?
Metronome marks
One of the most reluctant
among 19th-century
composers to use
metronome markings was
Brahms. Once asked if the
markings in his German
Requiem should be strictly
adhered to, he said, ‘I think
here as well as with all other
music the metronome is of no
value. As far at least as my
experience goes, everybody
has, sooner or later,
withdrawn his metronome
marks.’ Brahms eventually
did precisely that in the case
of the German Requiem, and
he supplied only three of his
other works (they include
the Piano Concerto No. 2)
with markings. ‘I myself’,
he maintained, ‘have never
believed that my blood and
a mechanical instrument go
well together.’
In the 20th century, many
composers were more
enthusiastic about Maelzel’s
invention. Bartók’s scores
are meticulously marked, and
his indications are largely,
if not invariably, borne out
by his own recordings as
pianist. Stravinsky, who
once notoriously claimed
that music was incapable
of expressing anything,
frequently did away with
any verbal descriptions of
character and tempo, and
instead headed his scores
with unadorned metronome
speeds – a procedure that
would have been anathema
GETTY
to most of his predecessors.
40 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
he had composed thus far (ie Nos 1-8), and to
have it published in the Leipzig Allgemeine
musikalische Zeitung, the leading musical journal
of the day. The next year he did the same for his
string quartets up to the ‘Serioso’ Op. 95, and
for the popular Septet Op. 20. At the same time
he declared: ‘I have long been thinking of giving
up those nonsensical terms of Allegro, Andante,
Many of Beethoven’s
metronome markings
are improbably, if
not impossibly, fast
Adagio, Presto, and Maelzel’s metronome gives
us the best opportunity of doing so. The words
describing the character of a piece are a different
matter: we can never give those up, since the beat
is actually more the body, but the words refer to
the spirit of the piece.’
It’s a fair bet that neither Maelzel nor
Beethoven realised what a can of worms
was being opened up with the advent of the
metronome. It’s true that in theory it allowed
composers to pinpoint the correct tempo
for their music with complete accuracy by
indicating the number of beats per minute; but in
practice, things turned out rather differently. In
particular, it’s well known that composers tend
to hear music in their head at a faster tempo than
Through space and time:
Beethoven (centre)
and Salieri (left) issued
a joint statement in
praise of the newly
invented metronome
they would expect,
or necessarily want,
to experience it in
actual performance,
and a great many
of Beethoven’s
metronome
markings are
improbably, if not
impossibly, fast.
Certainly, they
have been the subject
of heated debate ever since he issued them.
The fact that in 1817 and 1818 he found himself
having to compile long lists of figures within a
short space of time may have contributed to a
speeding up of his mental playbacks of music
he had composed many years earlier, but it’s
interesting to note that despite his endorsement
of Maelzel’s invention (in February 1818 he and
Salieri issued a joint declaration welcoming
it with open arms), only two of the important
works he composed after the device became
available to him include any metronome
markings. Those pieces are the ‘Hammerklavier’
Piano Sonata Op. 106 and the Ninth Symphony,
and their markings are among Beethoven’s most
controversial. Not one of his late string quartets
has any such indications, nor do his last three
piano sonatas or the ‘Diabelli’ Variations. In
the case of the Missa solemnis Beethoven asked
the publishers to wait for the markings he was
about to send them before issuing the work. The
reported success of the first Berlin performance
of his Ninth Symphony, he assured them, had
largely been due to its metronome markings.
However, in view of the contentious nature of
those markings perhaps we should be thankful
that Beethoven never supplied the promised
information for the mass. The tempo heading
of its opening Kyrie contains the words ‘mit
andacht’ (with devotion) – a verbal description
of the music’s spirit of a kind Beethoven knew
he could never do without, and one that offers a
hint to the interpretation of the piece that is more
valuable than an indication of beats per minute
alone could ever be. In Beethoven’s day, tempo
tended in any case to be a good deal more flexible
than it is in our own time, and on the manuscript
of a little song he composed for insertion in a
Viennese magazine early in 1817 he jotted down
the remark, ‘100 according to Maelzel, but this
can only apply for the first bars, for sentiment
also has its own pulse which cannot quite be
expressed by such a mere number.’
Autumn 23
November & December 2023

MOZART Don Giovanni

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CONCERTS:
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TAKE PART:
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Messiah on record
A pioneering venture by the Gramophone and
Typewriter company in 1906 produced the first
recording of Handel’s Messiah; Simon Heighes
takes a listen to the original 25 shellac-disc set
H
andel’s Messiah has been recorded
more often than any other major
choral work. If we want to listen at
home today, the choice is breath-
taking. But winding the clock back, things were
a little different at the beginning of the last
century. Although fledgling record companies
seized on Messiah as a money spinner, they were
only able to offer a few short extracts. The earliest
records and cylinders ran for just a couple of
minutes, so Handel’s music was mercilessly
chopped to fit.
Although radical, this surgery was
surprisingly successful. Because Handel’s style
was fairly repetitive, many of his simpler airs and
choruses actually slimmed down quite easily. In
any case, most listeners already knew the music
well, especially the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus whose
march-like style was especially popular with
brass bands who recorded it regularly – adding a
bit of class to the catalogues of even the humblest
record companies.
The first attempt to record a sizeable chunk
of Messiah was made by the wonderfully
named Gramophone and Typewriter company
(G&T) during the summer of 1906. Their 1907
catalogue must have created quite a stir, offering
customers an unprecedented 25 movements
spread over twelve 10-inch and thirteen longer
playing 12-inch records: all single sided – the
idea of recording on both sides of the record had
GETTY
yet to catch on. This amounted to nearly an hour-
42 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
and-a-half’s music – a rare achievement. And an
expensive one. Customers could buy the records
singly or at a special combined price of £5 15s
6d. Compared with average annual earnings
of around £70, it’s clear that this was a prestige
product aimed at the high end of the market. The first Messiah:
High end or not, the memory of the recording’s (clockwise) one of the discs
importance soon faded. Today, it’s Sir Thomas from the original recording;
an acoustic recording
Beecham’s Messiah of 1927 which is celebrated session in 1907; the
as the first in the field, while the pioneering G&T listings in the Gramophone
Company catalogue
Costing £5 15s 6d,
this was a prestige
product aimed at the
high end of the market
recording of 1906 has been virtually airbrushed
out of the story. Perhaps it was overlooked
because it didn’t include all Handel’s of music
– though neither did Beecham’s – or maybe
because its fragile shellac discs were just very
hard to find.
Today, the prospect of locating any of these
precious records from 1906 is a challenge;
tracking down all 25 would be, well, miraculous.
Against all the odds, though, a complete original
set came to light earlier this year. It’s been like
rediscovering a long-lost film of the silent era.
Just as the visual quality of these early movies is
often remarkably polished, so too early ‘acoustic’
sound recordings can be breathtakingly
beautiful – despite capturing soundwaves with
nothing more than a horn (microphones and
electric recording didn’t emerge until the mid-
1920s). But in both cases, there’s a widely held
misconception that these pioneering ventures
are simply ‘primitive’ – barely watchable, or
listenable to, by modern standards.
Certainly, we need a moment to acclimatise to
a black-and-white soundworld, but the effort is
well worth it. Listening today to the performers
who gathered together in the summer of 1906 to
record the heart and soul of Messiah, a lost world
of Edwardian music making comes vividly
into focus. We are impressed by the intensity of
their conviction, their long sense of familiarity
with the music, and the resonance of traditions
stretching as far back as the 18th century.

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 43

Messiah on record

To record the whole of Messiah would have

been too weighty an undertaking, literally – 25
heavy shellac records was about the practical
limit and, costing around £5, at the price ceiling.
So, some clever pruning was required. In the
end, virtually all of Handel’s major solos were
included – 14 of the 17 airs and all but two of the
expressive accompanied recitatives. Space was
even found for the purely orchestral movements:
the Overture and ‘Pastoral Symphony’. To
achieve this, though, only a fifth of the choruses
could be fitted in.
But for contemporary listeners, any choruses
at all were a novelty. So difficult were they to
record – funnelled down a horn – that orchestral
arrangements had become the norm. The four
included here blazed a trail – the first choruses
from Messiah ever recorded with a choir. To
hear the ‘Hallelujah’ played back for the first
time must have been a thrilling experience; to
record it, though, was surely a real challenge.
The honour went to the London Welsh Choir,
who sound like a team of no more than 12 – just
about the maximum able to crowd in front of a
recording horn.
Their approach is a shock. These are not the
lumbering performances we might expect: the
first recording of the ‘Hallelujah’ is fast and fleet,
conveying Handel’s cumulative build-up of
excitement with bags of energy and enthusiasm.
His signature effect of long sustained notes
(‘King of Kings’) set against jubilant repetitions of
‘for ever and ever’ and ‘Hallelujah’ comes across
with drive and drama. ‘Worthy is the Lamb’
is another exhilarating ride, and like ‘Glory to
God’ and ‘Lift up your heads’, the unusually fast
speeds and lightweight forces anticipate the
historically informed tastes of the present.
These are not Dews (1856-1929) coming towards the end of her
career but whose deep, slightly plangent tone was
A victim of its own success, the original the lumbering ideal for moving airs like ‘He was despised’. The
masters of the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus seem to have tenor John Harrison (1868-1929) – popular in a
worn out because three new recordings followed performances wide range of repertoire – had a light, high tenor
in rapid succession. In 1907 it was sung – a voice which recorded exceptionally well, while
little distantly – by ‘60 selected voices’ from the
we might bass-baritone Charles Knowles ( fl 1899-1925)
Leeds Festival Choir; in 1908, a more vigorous expect: the first probably appealed to traditional tastes with his
performance was given by an anonymous genteel formality – though today we marvel
‘Selected Choir’; and finally, in 1910, yet another recording of the more at his blurring of the virtuoso passages in
‘Select Choir’ recorded a fourth version of the ‘Why do the nations’.
‘Hallelujah’ – perhaps the least successful, since ‘Hallelujah’ is Although Allen was the first soprano to
no copy has yet come to light.
Although we don’t know who the overall
fast and fleet record sections of Richard Strauss’s Elektra
just a few months after its premiere in January
conductor was for the 1906 Messiah – there may 1909 – and she, Harrison and Knowles trod
have been several – the soloists were all well- the boards in Wagner – they all cast off their
known and made a well-balanced team. The Romantic personas for Handel and emerge here
young soprano Maud Perceval Allen (1880-1955) light and focussed with their vibrato well under
brought sweetness, light and a little glamour, control. Allen and Harrison offer the tidiest
contrasting well with the contralto Elizabeth performances, clearly phrased, impeccably

44 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE


enunciated and with precision-
engineered articulation of Handel’s
tricky runs.
If Allen’s sprightly ‘Rejoice greatly’
looks forward to the likes of Emma
Kirkby, Harrison’s recitatives reach
back to the unwritten musical
conventions of Handel’s time: not
learned from a handbook on Baroque
singing but inherited directly
through the aural tradition. Handel would have
expected that on key words, notes adjacent
to those written could be sung to produce an
expressive emphasis. Harrison sprinkles these
appoggiaturas around liberally in ‘Comfort ye’
and even includes a Baroque flourish at the end
of ‘Thou shalt break them’. (His throat-clearing
in ‘Comfort ye’ is a reminder that this was an
innocent age of recording, where beauty and
GETTY
blemishes amiably rubbed shoulders).
For unto us a record is born: (clockwise from left) Messiah
composer Handel; soprano Maud Perceval Allen, bass-
baritone Charles Knowles and contralto Elizabeth Dews
were the soloists in the very first recording in 1906
The lack of space at the business end of the
recording horn, and the difficulty in picking
up subtle sounds, meant that in ‘acoustic’
recordings accompanying ‘orchestras’ were in
reality small bands, designed for maximum
volume and sustaining power. Handel’s original
scoring was often too light and thin to make
much impression, so in 1906 the G&T orchestral
arranger enriched the accompaniment with
ideas from Mozart’s ingenious reorchestration
Hallelujah: the first recording
of 1789 – audibly delighting the enthusiastic
players of the Queen’s Hall Orchestra. Hot off the press
This specially calibrated ‘recording’ band was
dominated by wind and brass – flute, clarinets,
Selling the Messiah
cornet, trumpet, bassoon and tuba – topped In 1906, the recording
off with a couple of violins and viola fitted industry was fresh and
with special metal horns designed to amplify exciting. Adventure and profit
were in the air, especially for
their sound (so-called ‘Stroh’ violins). We are
those prepared to take a few
treated to a lot of unfamiliar sonorities, not least risks. One of the biggest was
Mozart’s added trumpet part to ‘Why do the Gramophone and Typewriter’s
nations’ which adds bite to the scurrying strings; plan to record Messiah – and
fortunately, though, his curious decision to axe engage what today we’d call a
the trumpet part from ‘The trumpet shall sound’ PR expert to promote it.
was firmly ignored. In October 1906, a mere
Given the rapid turnover of recordings six weeks after recording
today, it’s salutary to reflect that this 1906 finished, the young journalist
Messiah was the only option available to record and lecturer Harry Burgess
buyers for over 20 years – remaining in the proudly presented the
25-record set to a capacity
HMV catalogue (largely intact) until the early
audience at the Queen’s Hall,
1920s. A century later, it’s still full of interest. The London. With cutting-edge
infant art of recording strides ahead before our technology – Magic Lantern
very ears, from the groundbreaking handling slides and a large-horned
of the choir to the glowing gramophone – he illustrated
Mozartian accompaniments. With his talk with historic pictures
modestly sized forces, a and extracts from the new
fast pace and animated rhythms, records. This recording of
the choruses breathe the same Messiah, he announced,
air as historically informed was a bold ‘experiment’
because ‘so far, no complete
approaches today; just like those
work of the kind has been
solos sung by clear, vibrato-lite recorded. All concerned
voices and embellished with have put their finest work
18th-century grace. into this – quite the most
Above all, this long-overlooked perfect example of the
Messiah shows us that performing recorder’s art extant.’
traditions often come full circle, The Daily Telegraph
and that the slick, slimline styles agreed, even claiming
of our own time are not so innovative after all. that ‘so accurate was the
Commitment and sincerity, though, rise above reproduction of the timbre of
fashionable change, and they were exactly the various soloists’ voices
that it was difficult to believe
the qualities identified by the first reviewer of
that the singers from whom
the recording back in 1906 when he shrewdly the records were made
singled out its greatest strength – ‘nobility’. Now, were not actually upon the
120 years later – through a gentle layer of dust platform’. Though they were
and crackle – we can still hear it. in the audience – lending star
The full restored recording is available at quality to the first big record
www.clpgs.org.uk/reference-series launch in history.
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 45
Symphony Orchestra of India
When Zubin Mehta made his recent debut
with the Symphony Orchestra of India, it
marked a coming of age for an ensemble
still in its teens. Owen Mortimer reports
on its upcoming UK tour and ground-
breaking training for young musicians
46 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Recent debut:
conducting legend
Zubin Mehta
I
ndia seems to be everywhere in the news
these days. Whether it’s chairing the
G20, putting spacecraft on the moon or
climbing the World Economic League
Table, the subcontinent is fast on its way to
becoming a global superpower. This new-
found confidence is also being reflected in the
world of arts and culture: the latest Cultural
Infrastructure Index points to a tripling of
India’s investment in venues, museums and
galleries since the pandemic. In March this year,
Mumbai welcomed a new arts centre with a

A notable first: (above) the Symphony Orchestra of India
gave the Mumbai premiere of Zakir Hussain’s concerto,
Pyar, in September, featuring (l-r) Hussain himself (tabla),
Niladri Kumar (sitar) and Rakesh Chaurasia (bansuri)
2,000-seat theatre that has already played host
to a Broadway tour of The Sound of Music.
History was made again in August when
Bombay-born conductor Zubin Mehta returned
to his hometown to conduct two concerts by
the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI). Local
media outlets and audiences went wild over
these landmark events, widely seen as a coming
of age for the orchestra founded just 17 years ago.
Both concerts took place at the National Centre
for the Performing Arts (NCPA), the orchestra’s
palm-fringed home at the heart of Mumbai’s
NCPA MUMBAI, GETTY, MARCO BORELLI FONDAZIONE, JACK LIEBECK
downtown financial district overlooking the
Arabian Sea.
Mehta waxed lyrical about the experience:
‘Having conducted orchestras around the
world with centuries-old legacies, I did not
imagine I would be able to conduct an Indian
orchestra. But the SOI compares with any
world-class ensemble and is turning out to be
India’s global ambassador with its tours of the
UK, Switzerland, Russia, Oman and Abu Dhabi,
which have all been well received.’
Welcome to Britain:
(clockwise) SOI tour
conductors Alpesh
Chauhan, Richard Farnes
and Zane Dalal
Reviewing the SOI’s first UK tour in 2019, the
Daily Telegraph described it as a ‘persuasive UK
debut’ while the Guardian praised the ensemble’s
The SOI ‘startling virtuosity and improv’. Four years
on, the SOI will be visiting these shores again
compares with for nine concerts between 29 November and
9 December, featuring three wide-ranging
any world-class programmes under a trio of maestros: Brits
ensemble and is Alpesh Chauhan and Richard Farnes, plus the
SOI’s associate music director Zane Dalal.
turning out to A highlight of the tour is expected to be the
SOI’s newly commissioned concerto for Indian
be India’s global classical instruments by renowned tabla maestro
ambassador Zakir Hussain. Titled Pyar, meaning ‘love’ in
Hindi, this programmatic work tells a story of
two young friends whose relationship is blocked
by their families and society.
‘It’s a story about two people from different
cultures who grow up together in a village,’
explains Hussain. ‘At first things are fine: they
play together and hang out until they reach
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 47
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 Manchester-bound: Nyra Jain

Stages of learning
The SOI Music Academy
‘I began learning the violin at
the NCPA when I was five,’
says Nyra Jain, ‘and went on
to be selected for the SOI
Music Academy – joining it
showed me I was ready to
jump into the world of music
more seriously. For seven
years, we received regular
ear training in solfeggio and
were introduced to music
history, theory, keyboard
studies, chamber music and
Religious accord: singers Kelley O’Connor, Hariharan A and on tour to Switzerland in 2016 and then revived group singing.
Shankar Mahadevan perform Ameen, Amen, Shanti with for its 2019 tour of the UK. ‘I have developed a
the Symphony Orchestra of India at NCPA, 2020 deep passion for the violin
Most recently, in 2020, the SOI picked up a
and am driven to play and
a certain age when societal norms get in the work written by Hussain for America’s National
improve every day. It has
way. Their families start telling them how to Symphony Orchestra in 2011. Ameen, Amen, been an incredible journey
behave, which they find difficult to understand. Shanti features three solo vocalists and tabla, for me – though not without
They ask why barriers are being put up when with each singer representing a different religion: its ups and downs! It was
they are still the same people. This question is Sufi, Hindu and Christian. ‘The message of this particularly challenging when
established in the first movement. The second piece is that despite different ideologies we are my musical commitments
movement sees them trying to come to grips all one,’ explains the SOI’s general manager clashed with school exams,
with being separated and the third movement Xerxes Unvala. but it has been worth
portrays their fight against it.’ Despite Hussain’s extensive experience of it. I hope to improve my
Hussain won’t reveal whether the piece working with orchestras, he admits Pyar had musicality and refine my
has a happy ending but says, ‘It’s about what’s a difficult genesis: ‘It is such a daunting task to skills during my time at
Manchester’s RNCM, where
happening in the world today, where suddenly write for an orchestra. Sometimes I look in the
I am joining the string
people are asking what religion others come from mirror and ask myself what was wrong with performance course this
and which god they worshipped this morning.’ me, getting into this! It’s an incredible discipline autumn. I am very excited to
The three Indian instruments are the sitar, that you have to put yourself through. It’s like start this new chapter, meet
bansuri (bamboo flute) and tabla. ‘The tabla training to climb Mount Everest.’ new people and immerse
plays the role of an advisor to the other soloists,’ He says the biggest challenge has been myself in the world of music!
explains Hussain. ‘It’s almost like a Romeo and reconciling the approach to melodic ‘Over the past decade,
Juliet situation with me playing the role of the improvisation and microtonal tuning found I’ve seen Western classical
priest, Friar Lawrence, mediating between them in Indian classical music with the demands of music grow in India and
and the village. The orchestra is the community.’ a written score and equal temperament. ‘The expect the trend to continue.
The number of Indian
Pyar is Hussain’s fourth orchestral score to interesting point about this concerto is that the
musicians in the SOI has
be championed by the SOI. First came a triple sitar plays well in the key of D while the bansuri
been increasing steadily and
concerto for tabla, banjo and double bass, soars in the key of E,’ explains Hussain. ‘My tabla internationally renowned
GETTY, NCPA MUMBAI

originally commissioned by Leonard Slatkin concerto Peshkar only took five weeks to put musicians such as Lang
and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. This together, but it took several months to achieve Lang, Yo-Yo Ma and Midori
prompted the SOI to commission Peshkar, a the same level of understanding for Pyar. The have given sell-out concerts
concerto for solo tabla which the ensemble took good part is that the other soloists – sitarist at the NCPA.’

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 49

Symphony Orchestra of India
Niladri Kumar and bansuri player Rakesh
Chaurasia – are good friends and superb artists.’
‘I have used a couple of raga scales but am not
adhering to their Indian use, for which there are
many rules,’ adds Hussain. ‘I am more concerned
with being able to use the mode without it
limiting my exploration of Western harmonies
and counterpoint, so if I need to use notes that
are not in the mode, I will – and the connoisseurs
be damned! The result is something new.’
Another novel aspect of the orchestra’s
upcoming UK tour is the inclusion of student
players trained at the SOI Music Academy – the
NCPA’s in-house music school that offers an
11-year pathway from beginner to advanced. ‘The
Academy is aimed at producing professional
standard musicians and has been running
for 12 years,’ says SOI music director Marat
Bisengaliev. ‘Our first full graduate, Nyra Jain
(see p49), is heading to the UK this September to
study at the Royal Northern College of Music.’
Violinist Jain is slated to join the tour along with
double bassist Tivona D’Souza Murphy.
The teachers at the Academy are mainly
drawn from Russia and the old Soviet republics:
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and
Belarus. Along with 16 Indian players, they form
a chamber orchestra of 37 musicians based at the
NCPA year-round. This ensemble enjoys a busy
calendar performing at venues across the city as
well as other musical centres around the country.
The full symphony orchestra comes together
for two seasons per year at the NCPA, in
50 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Familiar faces: (left) Zakir Hussain has written four
orchestral works for the SOI; (below) music director Marat
Bisengaliev will play Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto on tour
February and September, when a regular cohort
of musicians descends on Mumbai from around
the globe. The result, says Bisengaliev, ‘is a very
nice marriage of Western European wind and
brass with the Eastern European school of string
playing. We’ve created a nice mix of these two
top schools, leading many of our reviews to
talk about our signature sound. For me, this is
incredibly important because most orchestras
today sound very similar. With the SOI, I wanted
to develop a distinctive identity.’
British Asian conductor Alpesh Chauhan
first worked with the SOI in September 2022
and will led the UK performances of Hussain’s
Pyar this winter. He echoes Bisengaliev’s
enthusiasm for the ensemble’s internationalism:
‘It’s an interesting way to begin an orchestra.
By contrast, all Western European orchestras
started with players from their own country
and only became truly international after
decades or centuries. India is already starting
from that place, so it has the potential to create
an exciting tradition that’s more intrinsically
international than any orchestra ever before.
Bringing the SOI to the UK from India, with a
piece grounded in Indian traditions, is going to
be extremely interesting – mixing everything
together in a pot!’
If the upcoming UK tour is as well received
as the one in 2019, it will be a big step towards
cementing the orchestra’s international
reputation as a force to be reckoned with –
particularly in the lushly scored Romantic
repertoire that suits Bisengaliev’s preferred
string tone – don’t miss him as the soloist in
Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto if you’re a fan
of full-blooded playing. Also joining the tour
is Moscow-trained pianist Pavel Kolesnikov,
whose Brahms Second Concerto promises
Bringing the drama and poetry in spades.
Bisengaliev says he used to think India would
SOI to the UK go the same way as China, ‘where, when the
economy boomed, they created around 200
from India with a symphony orchestras. But today there is still
only one professional symphony orchestra in
piece grounded in India – the SOI.’ He believes the NCPA’s most
Indian traditions important legacy will be the Academy, ‘because
it will feed the orchestra and keep it alive. Over
is going to time it will also make the SOI a truly Indian
orchestra by providing a base to attract the best
be extremely local musicians. I predict the SOI will still be an
interesting! international orchestra in 20 years’ time, but
with a strong core of Indian players.’
The Symphony Orchestra of India’s nine-concert
tour of the UK runs from 29 Nov – 9 Dec; for
information, see soimumbai.com
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car to the summit at 3,718m. We will also drive along the spectacular north coast route
to visit colonial villages and lush gardens, including Garachico with its 17th-century
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leader Christopher Monckton will give an organ recital.
The Music Programme will include works by four Spanish composers. Celebrated pianist Melvyn Tan will open the festival with
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Ariasofachievement
Glyndebourne Academy has been offering guidance to young singers
who might not otherwise get the chance, as Tom Stewart finds out…
I
n a bright and airy studio at the University
of Chichester, a coach is helping a group of
young singers get to grips with an Italian
tongue twister. As the students repeat the
phrase ‘sotto la panca, la capra crepa’, the coach
shows them how to use their teeth and tongues to
produce the ‘energised’ consonants needed for a
convincingly Italian performance. Unlike most
(English-speaking) instrumentalists, who can
get by with a smattering of musical terms from
other languages, opera singers require a detailed
understanding of at least Italian, German and
52 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
French, perhaps adding in some Russian along
the way. Then there’s breathing, posture and
movement – and that’s before you consider the
music itself.
It’s a big ask, says Mary King, a singer who
set up the Glyndebourne Academy in 2012 to
help people who have faced barriers to receiving
the expert guidance required to embark on a
successful operatic career. Originally a biennial
project, the scheme now brings together around
ten singers aged between 16 and 26 each August
for an intensive week of mentoring and vocal

training followed by a further weekend of
coaching and a chance to sing on Glyndebourne’s
main stage in the autumn. Places on the scheme,
which already has a strong record of helping
young people win places at music college and
on prestigious young artists programmes, are
provided completely free of charge. Many
alumni have now embarked on successful
careers of their own. ‘We knew that people were
coming up against obstacles that stopped them
realising their talent,’ says King. ‘It’s the same
things: socio-economic disadvantage; mental
or physical ill health; being the only child at
school interested in classical music; coming from
a part of the country nowhere near any of the
access schemes. They know they want to sing but
they’re not ready for the next step, which is where
we come in.’
After the Italian class, I join a group of three
students going through repertoire with vocal
coach Yolanda Grant-Thompson and répétiteur
Caroline Jaya-Ratnam. Oscar Bowen-Hill, 22,
GLYNDEBOURNE PRODUCTIONS LTD/SARAH HICKSON/SAM STEPHENSON, GETTY
has brought a song from Finzi’s A Young Man’s
Exhortation and his performance of it fills the
room with a bright and beautiful tenor voice.
Grant-Thompson is impressed. The foundations
are definitely there, she says, suggesting ways he
could enunciate more clearly ‘without sabotaging
the vocal line’. Another member of the group,
25-year-old mezzo Amy Backshall, was studying
music at Durham University when her mother,
a pianist who often played alongside her, was
diagnosed with a brain tumour. ‘Singing was our
thing and after my mum died, I just stopped,’
she tells me. ‘She had always wanted me to
Glyndebourne Academy
Those who can, teach: (clockwise from far left) Yolanda
Grant-Thompson coaching in 2023; Mary King with Ffion
Ó hAlmhain at a 2017 workshop; Oscar Bowen-Hill
earlier this year; Glyndebourne’s picturesque setting
sing but now I had this emotional barrier, so I
got a PGCE instead.’ At the back of her mind,
though, Backshall knew this wasn’t the path
she wanted to take. ‘I’d lost my mum and now
I’d lost my singing too, but I kept feeling nudged
back towards it.’ The Glyndebourne Academy,
she says, has made a singing career feel possible
again. ‘The coaches are just so nurturing, and it’s
so encouraging being around other people who
want the same thing you do.’
Not all participants share Backshall’s long-
held desire to become an opera singer. Because
many people discover their voice later on, or
don’t develop fully until they’re well into their
twenties, this poses less of a problem than it
would for an aspiring instrumentalist. Ffion Ó
hAlmhain, 27, became interested in classical
singing while studying uilleann pipes and
traditional Irish music at the Dublin Institute
of Technology. ‘I could just about read music,
but I was very slow,’ he laughs. He joined a
choir, took up the offer of a few free singing
lessons and quickly found himself cast as the
Commendatore in a student production of Don
Giovanni. ‘Bass voices are few and far between,
so I got lucky – and then I got obsessed with the
whole thing.’
Within a year or so, Ó hAlmhain was in Sussex
for the 2017 Glyndebourne Academy. ‘It was
very intense and there was a lot of music to learn
– a couple of scenes and arias each – and they
explained to us that in the “real world” it would
be much, much more.’ The experience gave him
an idea of the standard he would need to work
to in order to be a successful singer, which only
encouraged him to work harder. ‘Without that
kick you could just think, “Well, it’ll be enough
if I just learn the notes.” In fact, it would be
nowhere near!’ A few years after Glyndebourne,
Ó hAlmhain joined the Irish National Opera
“Elite” is Chorus and has had roles in productions from
Verdi’s Macbeth to Flight, the 1998 opera by
expected in British composer Jonathan Dove. Ó hAlmhain
is now in his second year of a masters degree at
things like the London’s Royal Academy of Music.
FIFA Women’s If high standards drive ambition, the
perception that a career in opera requires
World Cup, which a particular kind of privileged background
can have the opposite effect. ‘There’s still that
we enjoy because mythology of exclusiveness around opera,
which is all very annoying,’ says Stephen
we’re watching Langridge, who was appointed artistic director
the very best at Glyndeboune in 2019 after a long career
working in learning and participation at opera
houses around the world. ‘Elitism is a big no
entry sign whereas “elite” is expected in
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 53
Glyndebourne Academy
Stars of tomorrow
Promoting young talent
If you’re an aspiring young
opera singer or you know
someone who is, it’s worth
noting that pretty much
all the major UK opera
companies have schemes
and programmes for
young people. Unlike the
Glyndebourne Academy and
new Glyndebourne Youth
Academy, launched this
year for talented singers
aged 14-17, most don’t
require applicants to have
faced particular barriers
to singing and most don’t
accept students beyond
university age – but there are
opportunities out there at a
wide range of levels.
Some, like Northern Ireland
Opera’s summer scheme
and ENO’s youth programme,
also welcome young people
interested in things like
writing and set design.
ENO’s Unplugged series, for
example, is designed to show
secondary school students
roles within the creative
GLYNDEBOURNE PRODUCTIONS LTD/JAMES BELLORINI/GRAHAM CARLOW, KIRSTEN MCTERNAN
industries. Others are more
focused on singing: Scottish
Opera, Opera North and the
Royal Opera House all have
dedicated ‘youth companies’,
and some companies have
special provision to support
singers at the start of their
careers – such as Garsington
Opera’s Alvarez Young Artists’
Programme, set up in 2014.
And Welsh National Opera’s
youth opera (pictured above
in a production of The
Pied Piper of Hamelin) has
opportunities for anyone
aged eight to 25.
54 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
things like the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which
we enjoy precisely because we’re watching the
people who are the absolute best at what they
do. The Glyndebourne Academy is our attempt
to show the difference.’ Examples abound of top
singers with less privileged backgrounds, in part,
Langridge says, because you don’t need to go out
and buy a voice to start learning to use it. ‘Think
about Janet Baker or Thomas Allen, for example.
Singing has traditionally been a lot more diverse
‘The Glyndebourne
Academy gave me
VXFKbDSRZHUERRVWł
in that sense than, say, piano playing. The
Welsh choral tradition produced many singers,
and now we’re befitting hugely from the South
African one, too.’
Katerina Piperakis, 21, took part in the 2019
Academy and came from a school where an
interest in classical music was far from the norm.
‘I definitely felt like a bit of an outsider,’ she
says. ‘Some people played in brass bands or did
musical theatre but there was no one who wanted
to do the kind of thing I did.’ The Glyndebourne
scheme gave her a sense of the detail and
dedication required for a successful singing
career. ‘They didn’t hold back introducing us
to all the things we’d need to do – things you’d
never learn in a music class at school, like using
the international phonetic alphabet to get the
sounds of each word perfectly right, or really
making sure each phrase was shaped perfectly.’
Before she came to Glyndebourne, Piperakis had
already won a place at the Royal Birmingham
Conservatoire. ‘I wouldn’t have been ready for it
Fuel for the future: (left) Katerina
Piperakis at the 2019 academy;
(above) Glyndebourne’s Stephen
Langridge; (left) Welsh National Opera
without the Academy, though,’ she says. ‘The
Academy gave me such a power boost. It was
clear what would be expected of me and also
what it was that I wanted to do.’
Music college is the next step for many
Glyndebourne Academy participants but
it’s an unfortunate fact of life, King says,
that auditions can be more a test of teaching
than of talent. ‘A good teacher puts into place
the fundaments of good singing: breathing;
evenness of tone across the range; and
knowledge of what music suits the voice at that
stage. Without one, you might end up singing
something that’s far too difficult with a voice
that doesn’t sound healthy and come across as
a terrible singer.’ With better guidance – the
kind that the Glyndebourne Academy was set
up to provide – young singers are more likely
to use their 10- or 15-minute slot in a way that
demonstrates their potential.
What advice would King give to a young
person who wants to sing but doesn’t know
where to begin? ‘Singing lessons are the obvious
place, but of course not everyone is going to
be able to do that,’ she says. ‘Joining a choir or
a performing group is the next best option.’
She advises against trying to tackle operatic
material too soon. ‘You want to do it, of course,
but you’re a long way from being able to at that
stage. It’s best to wait until you’re properly
trained.’ Watch top singers on YouTube and get
to grips with music theory.
‘It’s all about upping your musical skills
and knowledge,’ she says. ‘The more you
know, the more you discover what you need
to learn next.’
Recruitment for Glyndebourne Academy
2024 opens in November; for details, visit
glyndebourne.com/academy
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MUSICAL DESTINATIONS

Budapest Hungary
The new House of Music is a magnificent addition to a city already
teeming with beautiful and historic venues, writes Simon Broughton

L
ast year, an extraordinary new
building appeared in Budapest’s
City Park, rather like a flying saucer
hovering among the trees. The height of
the building has deliberately been kept
below the tree line and the outline of its
wavy roof is dictated by the surrounding
canopy – several trees actually grow
through said roof. This is the Hungarian
capital’s new House of Music, the creation
of Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, who
was picked from 168 applications in an
international competition.
Inside, you’re in a transitory world as
the park outside is still visible through
the glass walls. The building contains
two performance spaces - the larger
one accommodates 320 seated and 570
standing and has windows facing onto the
park, although they’re often curtained off
for evening performances. There’s also a
small chamber hall.
But there’s much more to the House of
Music than meets the eye. Underground
there’s a museum with a display about the
history of European music and Hungary’s

56 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE


Hungary for more: (left and below left)
Budapest’s stunning House of Music;
(above) the Opera House, whose roof
(above right) is adorned with statues of
composers; (right) Ferenc Erkel
place within it – you can wear
headphones which are
activated according to
where you are standing
among the exhibits.
When it comes to the
local story, there’s an
exploration of Hungarian
folk culture and its roots in Asia; the dance
house (táncház) revival; Ferenc Erkel,
the first great Hungarian composer; and
Bartók and Kodály pioneering the use
of the phonograph to record folk music.
Alongside this there are engaging sections
on music notation, the invention of
polyphony, the growth of musical centres
across Europe, and music technology from
the phonograph to the cloud. You can
spend several hours here.
The performance spaces in the House
of Music are modest, but Budapest has no
shortage of larger venues – all of them on
the eastern, Pest, side of the Danube. The
most attractive concert hall for orchestral
music is at the Liszt Academy, an art
nouveau masterpiece dating from 1907. A
SOU FUJIMOTO ARCHITECTS, ROBERT BANCZIK, GETTY
larger and more contemporary hall seating
1,700 is found within the Palace of Arts
(Müpa), a complex similar to London’s
Southbank Centre which opened in 2005.
One of Budapest’s earliest and most
spectacular halls is the Pesti Vigadó,
completed in 1864. Designed by Frigyes
Feszl, this ‘jewel on the Danube’ was used
for balls, concerts and the signing of the
unification of Buda, Óbuda and
Pest in 1873. In 1875 Liszt played
Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto here
to raise funds for building Wagner’s
Festspielhaus in Bayreuth – Wagner
himself, who was married to
Liszt’s daughter Cosima, played
timps in the performance.
Aside from Liszt and Wagner,
Johann Strauss, Dvořák,
Debussy, Richard Strauss
and Prokofiev all performed
here. Bartók also made his debut
here as a pianist.
Dvořák, Debussy,
Richard Strauss and
Prokofiev all played
at the Pesti Vigadó
After ten years of restoration, the Vigadó
re-opened in 2014 in all its former glory.
From a richly painted foyer, a grand
staircase rises up to the first floor where
the main hall is situated. The staircase
is decorated with figures representing
Music, Dance, Song, Melody, Poetry and
so on. The grand hall, where concerts are
occasionally held, is a flamboyant creation
in Neo-orientalist style.
Reopened last year after a five-year
restoration is the Opera House. Aside from
cleaning the richly decorated interior,
the acoustics have also been improved
and all the seats now have digital panels
which can display subtitles in a choice of
languages. The building dates from 1884
MUSICAL DESTINATIONS
Folk scene:
táncház dancers
strut their stuff
Moving and shaking
The Dance House
Hungary has enjoyed a remarkable
folk revival in the form of the táncház
(dance house) movement which
started in Budapest in 1972. It
involved city musicians playing music
and teaching folk dances they’d
learned mostly in remote villages
in Transylvania, where there’s a
Hungarian population in neighbouring
Romania. It rapidly grew in popularity
and soon there were many clubs in
Budapest featuring different styles of
traditional music. Since 1982, a big
annual dance house celebration has
been held each April, but the essence
of the dance house is in small and
convivial venues such as Fonó.
and is the only theatre building designed
by Hungarian architect Miklós Ybl, who
also created St Stephen’s Basilica nearby.
Emperor Franz Joseph said the opera had
to be smaller than that in Vienna, but
the Budapest building is more beautiful
and, seating 1,000, more intimate with
excellent sightlines.
Either side of the entrance are statues of
Erkel and Liszt, the two main Hungarian
composers of the 19th century. On the
roof are 16 other composers, although the
originals were removed in 1939 after one
of them toppled down. Replacements were
put up in 1966, but because of the political
situation some composers from fraternal
communist states replaced the originals –
hence the statues of Glinka, Tchaikovsky,
Musorgsky, Smetana and Moniuszko.
However, from street level none of them
are really identifiable!
Further info: ligetbudapest.hu
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 57
 Composer of the month
Composer of the Week
is broadcast on Radio 3
at 12pm, Monday to
Friday. Programmes in December are:
27 November – 1 December Rorem
4-8 December Christmas in the
Middle Ages
11-15 December Humperdinck
18-22 December
A Vaughan Williams Christmas
25-29 December Greatest Showstoppers
Bellini’s style
No frills From his earliest works,
Bellini’s melodic style was
characterised by striking simplicity.
‘Casta diva’ from Norma, with its
extended, elegiac vocal arcs – so
unusual at the time that the first
Norma was initially reluctant to sing
it – is the most famous instance of
this direct and expressive cantabile
style, but there are countless other
examples elsewhere.
Restraint The florid decorative writing
of Rossini was something the more
serious, ‘philosophical’ Bellini largely
rejected. Coloratura is never used
in his works for mere effect, only
employed when required to illuminate
a dramatic situation such as Elvira’s
descent into madness in I puritani.
History Many of Bellini’s operas were
based on relatively recent literary
sources, but most were set in earlier
periods, such as Ancient Rome
(Norma) and the English civil war (I
puritani; Antonio Tamburini as Riccardo
in the premiere, below). He returned
most frequently to Medieval themes
(Il pirata, La straniera, I Capuleti e i
Montecchi), which had a particular
appeal to the Romantic imagination.
Words Bellini took a keen interest in
the crafting of his libretti, insisting
on revisions until a text was
perfect. In his settings,
he would often break
up a musical line into
fragments to draw
attention to and
linger expressively
around a certain
short phrase or
word for particular
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dramatic effect.
58 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Vincenzo Bellini
Alexandra Wilson explores the short but
lavishly successful life of an opera composer
fêted from Milan to Paris and far beyond
ILLUSTRATION: MATT HERRING
L
ike so many successful composers
before and after him, the young
Vincenzo Bellini found music to
be a golden ticket – the passport out of
a restricted life to travel opportunities,
wealth and a broadening of cultural
horizons. There was no family money:
Bellini’s immediate forefathers were
musicians too, but of the jobbing kind,
more craftsmen than artists. Playing the
organ, teaching and, in his grandfather’s
case, composing music in the service of a
local nobleman gave them an influence
that extended no further than the local
community in Catania, Sicily. The
surrounding hills were alive with the
Bellini was encouraged to eschew coloratura
and emulate earlier composers’ simpler style
sound of folksong, and of course the
church required a never-ending supply
of quotidian liturgical music, but for an
aspiring opera composer, opportunities
were few. Vincenzo showed exceptional
musical promise, however, and a petition
to the local council resulted in him being
granted the funds to take up a place at
the Naples Conservatoire, where his
grandfather had studied before him.
To a 17 year-old arriving across the
water from Sicily, Naples was a metropolis
of unimaginable riches. At this time, in
the 1810s, it was one of the most highly
respected musical centres on the Italian
peninsula (Italy would not be a united
country for a half-century yet), boasting
an extraordinary reputation for music
education and a superbly well-endowed
opera house, the San Carlo. Bellini
attended regularly and immersed himself
in the operas of Rossini, though was
encouraged by his principal teacher at
the Conservatoire, Niccolò Zingarelli, to
eschew the current vogue for coloratura
and emulate the simpler style of earlier
composers such as Paisiello.
From Naples, Bellini would move on
to other, progressively more important
cultural centres. Success with a juvenile
opera (the short Adelson e Salvini) led to
an opportunity to put an opera of his own
on the stage at the San Carlo. That work,
Bianca e Fernando, impressed the theatre’s
impresario Domenico Barbaja so much
that he passed Bellini’s name on to his
associates at La Scala in Milan. Bellini was
commissioned to write an opera with the
leading librettist of the day, Felice Romani
– a tremendous coup for a young man just
out of music college. The resulting work, Il
pirata (1827), was a triumph.
Wealthy Milan had become a thriving
intellectual capital in the early years of
the 19th century and opera formed the
kernel of the city’s cultural and social
life. The presence of publishers, agents,
singers and instrumentalists, as well as
other composers, gave Bellini numerous
useful contacts. Later, his horizons would
be broadened further when he spent time
in London, supervising the performance
of his works, and when he eventually
moved to Paris, the pre-eminent European
capital of culture. Here, he received the
commission to compose I puritani, which
was premiered at the Théâtre-Italien in
1835. Although Bellini would dutifully
COMPOSER OF THE MONTH

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 59

COMPOSER OF THE MONTH
send money home to support his
family in Sicily, return visits were
few and far between.
Despite ‘only’ writing an
average of an opera a year
– unlike more prolific
contemporaries such
as Donizetti – Bellini
was able to make a living
entirely from the profits
of his compositions, as
one success followed another. Without
the need to take on ancillary teaching,
conservatoire or church work, and
commanding high fees for his operas, he
was able to live the life of a fashionable
dandy. In both Milan and Paris, he moved
in the highest social circles, spending
prolonged periods living as the guest
of one wealthy friend or another, and
enjoying commitment-free love affairs,
including an extended romance with a
married woman, Giuditta Turina.
He also mixed in the top echelons of
artistic society at Parisian salons, meeting
musicians including Rossini, Chopin and
Paer, and literary figures such as Heinrich
Heine, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas
père. At times, however, he found the
social whirl wearying and there were
ominous signs of trouble ahead. The
completion of each opera led to a period
of nervous exhaustion, and by his mid-
twenties he was already suffering regular
and debilitating gastric problems.
Like Verdi after him, Bellini believed
GETTY
that drama should be placed on a par
60 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
with music. In works such as Il pirata
and La straniera (1829) he embraced the
preoccupations of the Romantic era:
violent, thrilling situations that
required passionate music.
Other works, such as La
sonnambula (1831), are
more sentimental and
tender. In the librettist
Felice Romani, with
whom he composed
the majority of his works, Bellini found
a writer of genuine talent who produced
verse of elegance and clarity, far
Bellini showed an
unusual degree of
loyalty to one librettist,
Felice Romani
surpassing the more workaday writing
of many Italian opera librettists of the
time. Romani was in high demand and,
consequently, often overworked, stressed
by his own perfectionism and sometimes
unreliable. Nevertheless, Bellini showed
an unusual degree of loyalty to this single
librettist and when called upon to work
with another writer (Count Carlo Pepoli,
librettist for I puritani) found himself
constantly frustrated by what he regarded
as conventional turns of phrase.
Other important figures in Bellini’s
creative life were the singers who created
his roles. Particularly significant was
Giovanni Battista Rubini, a light-voiced
tenor with an excellent upper range. Also
key was Giuditta Pasta, the sensation of the
1820s who took on a large number of roles
spanning the full alto-mezzo-soprano
range. She possessed a particularly rich
voice and was noted for the way in which
she appeared to inhabit a character. Her
voice could be uneven in places, and was
sometimes described as ‘husky’, but even
this Bellini exploited for striking dramatic
effect in La sonnambula and Norma. A
notably stellar cast of singers was gathered
together for the Parisian premiere of his
final work, I puritani: Rubini once more,
soprano Giulia Grisi, baritone Antonio
Tamburini and bass Luigi Lablache.
With the notable exception of Zaira
(1829), some of whose music was recycled
the next year in I Capuleti e i Montecchi,
and Beatrice di Tenda (1833), over which
Bellini and Romani fell out, most of the
composer’s operas were instant successes.
Interestingly, it was Norma (1831), the work
for which he is best remembered today,
that fared least well at its first outing at La
Scala, leading Bellini to utter the words
‘Fiasco, fiasco, solenne fiasco…’. The
première was marred by singers suffering
from exhaustion after a gruelling rehearsal
period, though Bellini also suspected the
presence of a disruptive claque, a common
menace in the 19th-century opera house.
Within a matter of nights, however, the
performers were back on form, audiences
were happy, and the opera enjoyed a
Bellini cocktail: (far left) Eglise Gutiérrez as Amina
and Celso Albelo as Elvino in La sonnambula at the
Royal Opera House, 2011; (left) Giuditta Pasta as
Norma; (below left) his librettist Felice Romani
prolonged run. By the late 1830s, it was
being staged as far afield as St Petersburg,
Mexico City and Algiers.
The composer would not witness its
long-term success, for Bellini, the beautiful
blond young man characterised in Heine’s
words by ‘languid sadness visible in his
whole appearance’, had died of amoebic
dysentery complicated by liver problems,
alone and isolated at yet another friend’s
beautiful suburban house in Paris at
just 33. This was an era in which many
composers of prodigious output did not
live to see 40, Mendelssohn, Bizet and
Mozart among them. But Bellini was
younger even than them.
His works impressed and influenced
composers as varied as Tchaikovsky and
Wagner, the latter writing that ‘Bellini’s
music comes from the heart and is
intimately bound up with the text’. A few
notable figures dismissed him as a trivial
figure, resorting to a snobbery from which
Italian opera all too commonly suffers:
Schumann, for instance, dismissed him as
‘a butterfly fluttering around the German
oak’ and Berlioz called him ‘a grinning
puppet’. Nevertheless, Bellini’s operas
became ubiquitous across Europe, with
Glinka even witnessing a performance of
Norma by Spanish children and Dickens
seeing an act of it performed by labourers
in the marble quarries of Carrara.
But then fashions changed and, together
with the rest of the bel canto repertoire,
Bellini’s operas were rather neglected
in the early 20th century. When Norma
was put on at Covent Garden in 1929
for the first time in some 30 years as a
vehicle for the American star soprano
Rosa Ponselle, critics grudgingly began
to admit that the work had its merits, The
Musical Times reporting that ‘There is
stately and charming lyrical music in this
neglected opera. Perhaps some of the quick
movements are a little cheap; but Bellini’s
best cantabile subjects are very beautiful.’
Happily, the mid-20th century saw a
revival of interest in his operas: Maria
Callas sang the role of Norma countless
times at La Scala and beyond and was
considered a superlative interpreter of
the role, as was Joan Sutherland. Singers,
particularly women tempted by his strong
and dynamic female roles, would remain
pivotal to his success to the last.
BELLINI Life&Times
1819 1825
LIFE: He wins a
scholarship to
study at the Real
Collegio di Musica
in Naples. He is
taught by Niccolò
Zingarelli, though
regular visits to theatre familiarise him
with the operas of Rossini.
TIMES: Simón Bolívar’s Republican
forces defeat the Spanish royalist
army at the Battle of
Boyacá, leading to the
liberation of New Granada
and the creation of an
independent Gran
Colombia.
1827
LIFE: He leaves Naples for
Milan, where he strikes up a
working partnership with poet
and librettist Felice Romani.
Their first collaboration, Il pirata,
is a big success at La Scala in October.
TIMES: In the Greek War of
Independence, British, French and
Russian forces defeat the Ottoman
fleet at the Battle of Navarino, the
last major naval engagement fought
entirely by sailing ships.
1801
LIFE: Vincenzo Bellini is born on
3 November in Catania, Sicily. He shows
exceptional musical talent from an early
age and is tutored by his grandfather.
TIMES: Jacques-Louis David paints
the first of five versions of Napoleon
Crossing the Alps, an idealised view of
the French first consul leading his forces
through the Great St Bernard Pass.
LIFE: On graduating, he persuades the
city’s superintendent of theatres to
commission an opera for the Teatro San
Carlo, resulting in his Bianca e Fernando,
premiered the following year.
TIMES: Ferdinand I, king of the Two
Sicilies, dies aged 73. King of Naples and
Sicily from the age of nine, he assumed the
new title following restoration at the end of
the Napoleonic Wars.
1833
LIFE: On the
suggestion of soprano
Giuditta Pasta, he
chooses Beatrice
Tenda, a gritty play by
Carlo Tebaldi-Fores,
as the subject for
his next opera. It is
coolly received at its
premiere in Venice.
TIMES: Six years after the first edition of
La revue musicale, the Paris publisher
Joseph-Hippolyte l’Henry launches a rival
weekly music journal called Le Ménestrel
(The Minstrel).
1835
LIFE: After several weeks of illness, he
dies in Paris of amoebic dysentery aged
33. Rossini, who with Cherubini is among
the pall-bearers at his funeral, serves as
executor of his estate.
TIMES: The Corsican Giuseppe Marco
Fieschi attempts to assassinate Louis-
Philippe of France with a home-made
volley gun. Eighteen people die in the
attack, but the king himself survives.
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 61
 Building a library
Aram Khachaturian
Piano Concerto
Claire Jackson delves into the finest recordings of this flamboyant
showpiece, a dazzling array of eastern colour and virtuoso fireworks
The composer
Born in Tbilisi in 1903, Khachaturian
moved in his late teens to Moscow,
where he studied with, among others,
composer Nikolai Myaskovsky. Early
works such his Trio for Clarinet,
Violin and Piano (1932) and First
Symphony (1934) earned the
admiration of the likes of Prokofiev
and Shostakovich before his Piano
Concerto really propelled him into
the limelight. With one brief blip in
1948, he managed to stay on the
right side of the Soviet authorities
as he pursued a composing career
that included various filmscores plus
the very popular ballets Gayane and
Spartacus. He died in 1978.
Building a Library
is broadcast on Radio 3
at 9.30am each Saturday
as part of Record Review. A highlights
podcast is available on BBC Sounds.
62 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
The work
Bold, brash and bombastic – as well as
beguilingly beautiful – Khachaturian’s
Piano Concerto is a showstopper. Like
much of the composer’s music, it draws on
a colourful timbral palette – notably the
flexatone or, less commonly, a musical saw,
which appears in the middle movement
(more on that later). Its melodic and
stylistic freedom is evocative of Gershwin’s
Rhapsody in Blue, with dramatic keyboard
ascents and descents and a rumbling
bass. The whirring motifs frequently
take inspiration from eastern folk music:
although he was born in what is now
Tbilisi, Georgia, Khachaturian identified
The unusual timbre of the flexatone gives
the music a strange, unsettling overtone
closely with his Armenian heritage –
driving rhythms and spiralling cadenzas
fill his Piano Concerto.
The opening Allegro maestoso begins
with a bang. Timpani leads the orchestra
on a stomping hill-walk to the piano entry,
which mimics and expands the theme,
throwing it back to the ensemble. You’ll
know by this point whether this piece
is for you or not: melodic development,
though enjoyable, is not particularly
imaginative. The cadenza concludes with
a jolly orchestral flourish; the twirling
theme reappears and the piano duets with
woodwind. A flute solo underlines the
eastern harmonic influence.
That influence is picked up in the
following Andante con anima, with
its folksy, mysterious melodies. This
movement is famous – or notorious –
for its use of a flexatone, a percussion
instrument that features a small metal
plate that is hit by beaters, creating an
otherworldly tremolo sound. It produces
a similar effect to the older, more
established, musical saw, which is often
used in lieu of it. The unusual timbre
enhances the distinctive harmonies and
gives the music a strange, unsettling
overtone, albeit briefly – the percussion
part comprises two minutes in what is a
half-hour work.
The final Allegro brillante follows a
Lisztian tradition for piano pyrotechnics:
virtuosic passages pour across the
keyboard, pausing to refuel in the lower
octaves, before gathering pace for the final
rush alongside the orchestra. After a quick
revisit of the original theme – we’ve never
lost sight of it on the horizon – there’s a
big, brassy finale. The smell of gunpowder
lingers in the air.
Given the characterful, charismatic
nature of much of the music, this concerto
requires projection from both pianist and
piano – something that was lacking during
its premiere in 1937. Lev Oborin, the work’s
dedicatee, performed it with the Moscow
Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor
Lev Steinberg, but the only piano available
was an upright (not unusual for the time).
Playing in the open-air venue Sokolniki
Park made conditions even more
unfavourable; at one point, a gust of wind
took hold of Steinberg’s glasses and he had

to conduct from memory. Khachaturian
didn’t seem too worried – he later
expressed delight at Oborin’s performance.
The British premiere was more
successful. Though it was originally
offered to Clifford Curzon, it was Moura
Lympany – a versatile pianist who would
secure her place in history playing in Myra
Hess’s National Gallery lunchtime recitals
during the Second World War – who gave
the first performance in 1940. Lympany
then took it to the BBC Proms in 1942, and
again in ’44 and ’49. In 1950 it was taken
on by another pianist, the Australian
Noel Mewton-Wood (whose life was cut
short by suicide at the age of 31 three years
later – Britten’s Canticle III: Still falls the
rain was composed for a concert in his
memory). And then it disappeared from
the Proms entirely – it hasn’t been heard at
the festival since – and, by and large, from
programmes further afield too. Although
not short of recording representation,
when compared with Soviet compatriots
Prokofiev and Shostakovich,
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Khachaturian is far less ubiquitous.
BUILDING A LIBRARY
Khachaturian champions:
Marc-André Hamelin with
conductor Osmo Vänskä at
Royal Festival Hall, 2014;
(below) Moura Lympany
Orchestra and conductor Osmo Vänskä
performed Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto
with the intrepid Marc-André Hamelin,
The Guardian’s reviewer wrote tartly
that even the soloist’s brilliance ‘couldn’t
disguise the concerto’s emptiness; the
piece is memorable for including a
musical saw in the slow movement, not for
Khachaturian’s music’.
The saw seems to be a sticking point
– there’s no denying the sound and the
instrument’s appearance is engaging, or
even amusing. The original flexatone is
more subtle and, while Khachaturian
is taken less seriously for its inclusion,
there were several notable forebears –
Shostakovich’s 1928 opera The Nose, for
instance, features a flexatone, as does
Erwin Schulhoff’s 1925 Symphony
No. 1 – and several would also follow (see
‘Continue the journey…’, p65).
What was deemed frothy and fun –
coveted qualities during World War II Turn the page to discover our
– seems to have been recast as frivolous. recommended recordings of
Reviewing a 2014 concert at Royal Festival Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto
Hall, in which the London Philharmonic
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 63

The best
g Clarity, colour and oodles of flair
recordin
Xiayin Wang (piano)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/
Peter Oundjian
Chandos CHSA5167
Hamelin and the LPO’s 2014 Southbank
performance was broadcast on BBC Radio
3 and, while not currently available as
an official recording, curious listeners
can easily find it online. (Perhaps an
enterprising producer could add it to the
Hyperion Records catalogue, as the work
appears to be missing from the label’s
otherwise extensive piano concerto
collection.) Hamelin’s energy, flair and
technical precision is rarely matched,
which makes Xiayin Wang’s recording
64 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Steely fingered:
Xiayin Wang’s
powerful virtuosity
shines through
for Chandos all the more significant – the
American-Chinese pianist’s 2016 version
with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
(RSNO) is never less than thrilling.
Conductor Peter Oundjian sets a
restrained pace, allowing the swell of
sound to develop at a moderate speed and
Wang has all the stamina,
strength and style for this
free-flowing, complex music
leaving space for the music to breathe.
Wang’s detailed phrases are impeccably
mic’d: every single note of each glissando is
detectable, and the cadenzas – particularly
the all-important long one in the first
movement and the riotous solos in the
Allegro brillante – are clear as a bell.
Crucially, the RSNO is enlarged by a
flexatone rather than a musical saw in the
Andante con anima (player uncredited,
unfortunately). As the plaintive, pared-
Three other
great recordings
Moura Lympany
(piano)
Although the sound
quality isn’t ideal
in Lympany’s 1952
recording with the
London Philharmonic Orchestra under
Anatole Fistoulari, it’s worth exploring
for both its musicianship and historical
significance. As well as being the
first pianist to introduce the work to
British audiences, Lympany made two
recordings with Fistoulari – the earlier
1945 reading (this time with the London
Symphony Orchestra) is also included in
the Moura Lympany: The Decca Legacy
collection for comparative listening.
(Decca 482 9404)
Mikhail Voskresensky
(piano)
Falling somewhere
between Xiayin Wang
and Moura Lympany in
terms of style, Mikhail
Voskresensky imbues Khachaturian’s
work with lush Romanticism without ever
losing the thrust of the music. The former
Moscow Conservatory professor once
studied with the concerto’s dedicatee
Lev Oborin, a lineage that is enhanced
by the presence of Emin Khachaturian,
the composer’s brother, conducting
the USSR Symphony Orchestra in this
lively 1982 recording. There is greater
variation in tempos, especially in the
Allegro brillante, where Voskresensky
back piano melody unfolds across the
upper register, closing back into a simple
scalic passage, the unmistakable eerie
wobble begins. Unlike many other
versions, the flexatone is integrated well
into the orchestral paintbox rather than as
a fluorescent yellow messily daubed across
the top. Its entry is less jarring than the
musical saw, and Oundjian, Chandos and
the flexatonist do not forefront the part
– if anything, it is mildly overpowered by
the strings.
The piano remains the star of the
concerto, although a gorgeously resonant
bass clarinet has its moment in the sun.

pushes and pulls to great effect.
(Audiophile APL101516)
William Kapell (piano)
While Lympany was
introducing audiences
to Khachaturian’s
Piano Concerto in
Britain, William Kapell
was the work’s biggest advocate in the
US. He made the best-selling premiere
recording with the Boston Symphony
Orchestra (BSO) and Serge Koussevitzky
in 1946, securing his name in the
pantheon of pianists. Exaggerated
rubato aside, his melting melodies and
the salty-sweet BSO strings are well
worth the minor inconvenience of an
occasionally fuzzy piano – the recording
has been remastered and rereleased in
multiple formats. (Naxos 8.110673)
And one to avoid…
On paper,
Khachaturian’s Piano
Concerto seems like
a match made in
heaven for the capable
Armenian pianist
Nareh Arghamanyan and the Rundfunk-
Sinfonieorchester Berlin. However,
Arghamanyan’s performance feels
cautious and careful; there’s not enough
jeopardy in the choppy first movement
or humour in the third; every bar is neatly
manicured (give me Kapell’s wild-flower
meadow over this well-kept lawn). The
musical saw in the Andante con anima
sounds like an alien invasion – and a
tuneless one at that.
Careful balance is maintained through
the Allegro brillante, with its pic ‘n’ mix
piano passages, rhythmic chords and, later,
brass explosions. Wang creates tension
in the central cadenza through subtle
rubato, almost plucking the notes from the
keyboard before setting off the fireworks.
A wince-inducing comment from the
Daily Mail’s reviewer claims the pianist
‘may look fragrantly feminine but is a
steely-fingered virtuoso of the old school’.
In other, more appropriate, words, Wang
has the necessary stamina, strength and
style for this free-flowing, complex, multi-
GETTY
faceted music.
Continue the journey…
We suggest five works to explore after Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto
I
n the 1960s, Khachaturian
composed three Concerto-
Rhapsodies, for violin, cello and,
finally, piano and orchestra. Thirty occurring most of the time but unison
years may have passed since the Piano
Concerto, but his love of chucking
everything into the melting pot had not
diminished. Over the 20-minute work’s
frantic single-movement course, we get
percussion galore, oriental, Spanish and
even jazz-like inflections, plus quotes
from other composers. (Stepan Simonian
(piano); Staatsorchester
Rheinische Phil/Daniel Arutiunian keeps things jagged, aggressive
Raiskin CPO 777918-2) tonal, not least in the
Written in 1951,
the Concertino for
dreamily lyrical Andante soloist
Piano and Orchestra
by Khachaturian’s compatriot Alexander
Arutiunian is awash with rhythmic
and harmonic references to popular
Armenian music, though in the Allegro
opening movement the scurrying piano
part also has touches of Shostakovich
to it. Arutiunian keeps things pleasingly
tonal, not least in the dreamily lyrical
Andante that follows.
(Narine Arutiunian (piano);
Moscow CO/C Orbelian
Chandos CHAN 9566)
Of Armenian descent,
the American Alan
Hovhaness immersed
himself in his paternal
heritage. Lousadzak, his
concerto for piano and
strings from 1944, was
described by composer
BUILDING A LIBRARY
Exotic sounds:
Keith Jarrett has recorded
Hovhaness’s Lousadzak;
(below) hear the flexatone
in Yellow Submarine
Lou Harrison as ‘very modern indeed
in its elegant simplicity and adamant
modal integrity … there is almost nothing
melodies and very lengthy drone basses,
which is all very Armenian.’ (Keith Jarrett
(piano); American Composers Orchestra/
Dennis Russell Davies Nimbus NI2512)
Among Khachaturian’s pupils was
Andrei Eshpai, who composed two
piano concertos of his own. His Second,
from 1972, pounds its way through its
opening Allegro, the
rhythms from the
and strings
punctuated by bursts
of strident brass
and percussion. In contrast, the central
Andante drifts eerily by before we
return to full orchestral blood and
thunder for a furiously driven Finale.
(Andrei Eshpai (piano); USSR State Large SO/
Evgeny Svetlanov Albany TROY TROY341)
Finally, should you be smitten with
the sound of the flexatone, you will also
hear it in works such as Ligeti’s Piano
Concerto and Schnittke’s
Viola Concerto. It also
wobbles away in George
Martin’s colourful score
for The Beatles: Yellow
Submarine animated film
(1968), in ‘Sea of Holes’
and then in ‘Pepperland
laid waste’. (George Martin
Orchestra/George Martin
Parlophone CDP 7 46445 2)
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 65
 Reviews
Recordings and books rated by expert critics
Welcome
It seems Goldberg
Variations are like
buses this month, with
two recordings both
deserving of attention.
Rachel Podger and
Brecon Baroque, in
Chad Kelly’s string arrangement of
Bach’s keyboard classic, offer a fresh
take, while Icelandic virtuoso pianist
Víkingur Ólafsson releases his hotly
anticipated recording of the work.
Spoiler alert… both get five-star reviews.
There are further star turns,
with Miloš’s brilliant Baroque and
countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński’s
Beyond – our Choral & Song Choice.
If you’re hungry for staple repertoire,
look no further than mighty Fifths from
Beethoven and Shostakovich; and if you
fancy something more contemporary,
check out our Recording of the Month
featuring works by Dobrinka Tabakova.
Michael Beek Reviews editor
This month’s critics
John Allison, Nicholas Anderson, Terry Blain,
Kate Bolton-Porciatti, Geoff Brown, Michael
Church, Christopher Cook, Martin Cotton,
Christopher Dingle, Misha Donat, Jessica Duchen,
Rebecca Franks, George Hall, Malcolm Hayes,
Claire Jackson, Berta Joncus, John-Pierre Joyce,
Nicholas Kenyon, Ashutosh Khandekar, Erik
Levi, Natasha Loges, Jon Lusk, Andrew McGregor,
David Nice, Roger Nichols, Freya Parr, Ingrid
Pearson, Steph Power, Anthony Pryer, Paul Riley,
Jan Smaczny, Anne Templer, Sarah Urwin Jones,
Kate Wakeling, Helen Wallace, Alexandra Wilson
KEY TO STAR RATINGS
+++++ Outstanding
++++ Excellent
+++ Good
++ Disappointing
+ Poor
66 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
RECORDING OF THE MONTH
A towering showcase
of Tabakova’s mastery
Kate Wakeling is wowed by the Bulgarian-
British composer’s rich soundworlds, as
performed by the Hallé and superb soloists
Dobrinka Tabakova
Concerto for Viola and
Strings*; Concerto for Cello
and Strings**; Orpheus’
Comet; Earth Suite
*Maxim Rysanov (viola),
**Guy Johnston (cello); Hallé
Orchestra/Delyana Lazarova
Hallé CD HLL 7562
79:59 mins
Bulgarian-British composer
Dobrinka Tabakova has
declared it her mission to
write music ‘with a mind and
heart’. Complex but always
richly communicative, her
compositions demonstrate this
blend to a tee and have been
quietly making waves for some
years now. Tabakova’s debut
profile album, String Paths,
was nominated for a Grammy
Award and her second album,
devoted to her choral music,
received very high praise
indeed. This outstanding
recording collects several of
her larger-scale works to mark
the end of Tabakova’s stint
as artist-in-residence with
the Hallé, who here bring a
bravura performance under the
baton of conductor, and fellow
Bulgarian, Delyana Lazarova.
The selection opens with
a glorious burst of energy
in the form of standalone
orchestral work Orpheus’ Comet
(2017). Written for the 50th
anniversary of the Euroradio
‘Music Exchanges’, the piece
draws playfully on the theme
music used for these broadcasts:
the opening of Monteverdi’s
L’Orfeo. Tabakova accordingly
delved into the Orpheus myth
and was drawn especially to
the character of Aristaeus the
beekeeper, represented here in
the taut buzz of French horns at
the work’s opening. The piece as
a whole has all the exuberance
of a fanfare and Tabakova’s
scintillating orchestral textures
and ear for a melody hold
something of the same thrilling
energy and intricacy as John
Adams’s music.

ICE
CHO
Composed in 2004,
Tabakova’s Concerto for Viola
and Strings is a magnificent
showcase for the soloist, and
the piece’s working title ‘The
Song of the Enchanting Viola’
conveys something of the work’s
expressive lyricism. Maxim
Rysanov brings a terrifically
full-bodied performance to
the concerto’s powerful outer
movements, while adventuring
deep into the timbral
possibilities of the instrument
in the work’s more mysterious
inner movements.
The Concerto for Cello and
BILL LAM/THE HALLE, MARCO BORGGREVE
Strings (2008) summons a
rawer emotional energy, by
turns ferocious and tender.
The work is loosely cast in
three separate movements
but, in Tabakova’s words, has
the feeling of ‘one seamless
form. I had a very specific idea
that I wanted to get across: a
vision of ascent through the
three movements.’ Soloist Guy
Johnston here gives a towering
performance that responds to
the score’s every shift in mood
with complete assurance.
Tabakova’s scintillating
textures hold the same
energy and intricacy as
John Adams’s music
The album is completed by
the orchestral work Earth Suite
(2018-20). Each of its three
freestanding movements were
inspired, in the composer’s
words, by ‘the overwhelming
force of nature’, from the fizz
and menace of ‘Tectonic’, to
the deep reach of ‘Pacific’,
Recording of the Month Reviews
Viola enchantment:
Maxim Rysanov gives a
full-bodied performance of
Tabakova’s expressive concerto
which captures something of
the vast scale of the ocean in
its pulsing lower winds and
snaking melodies. ‘Timber
& Steel’ is more playful in its
conceit. Written to celebrate
the 150th ‘birthday’ of Proms
founder Henry Wood, the
work references his nickname,
‘Timber’, in its title, while
also exploring the ‘founding
materials’ of industrialisation.
Wood and metal are
accordingly pitted against one
another musically here, with
the rattle of marimbas heard
against bright flashes of brass.
Beautifully performed and
recorded, this is a first-rate
release, offering a timely
showcase of this exceptionally
talented composer.
PERFORMANCE +++++
RECORDING +++++
Performer’s notes
Delyana Lazarova
You first met Dobrinka Tabakova
when you became the Hallé’s
assistant conductor…?
I moved to Manchester in the
midst of the pandemic and she
contacted me. We grabbed a
virtual drink together on Zoom
and realised we were not only
from the same country, but from
the same city and kind of from the
same neighbourhood! It was quite
amazing. We immediately started
brainstorming what we could do
together. This recording was the
final project to come out of her
season as our artist-in-residence.
Tell us about your time working
with the orchestra…
They are a fantastic group of
musicians; everyone welcomed
me so nicely and Mark Elder was
absolutely wonderful to work with.
Assisting him and seeing how he
works with the orchestra, there
were so many things I could steal,
so to speak. The musicians are so
quick and they play with heart and
somehow we connected; words
are sometimes not the most
important thing, but how we see
music, how we feel music.
And what about this project?
It was really nice, because it
felt like we were one team –
orchestra, composer, conductor
and soloists. It was so new to
everyone, but from the first
moment when we read through
the music we understood the
language, which is quite an
important first step. All of the
pieces are so different to each
other, but at the same time I find
them universal. We took a bit of
time to get the right sound and
the right way of executing all of
the rhythms. ‘Timber & Steel’,
from the Earth Suite, is such a
great movement and a tour de
force for the whole orchestra.
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 67
Orchestral
ORCHESTRAL CHOICE
Mozart’s ‘Paris’ leads an
exhilarating set of readings
The Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin plays with
clarity and sophistication, says Sarah Urwin Jones
Mozart mastered:
Akademie für Alte
Musik Berlin
Mozart
Symphonies Nos 31 (‘Paris’) and 35 (‘Haffner’);
Oboe Concerto*
*Xenia Löffler (oboe);
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin/Bernhard Forck
Pentatone PTC 5187 059 64:50 mins
There can be no denying that Mozart’s second
stay in Paris was a somewhat
tumultuous period. At 21, he was The ‘Haffner’ is played orchestral instrument heard
no longer the child prodigy of
with an invigorating
his successful concert tour some
15 years earlier and Parisian bounce by the orchestra immediacy of the wind sound in
reception was cool. Ever-canny,
and despite his frustration at this new state of affairs, from Die Entführung aus dem Serail. It’s there too in
Mozart adapted his writing to Parisian taste.
The Symphony No. 31 in D Major (‘Paris’) was his
first real French success, begun in stately fashion, and
not without a certain elegant pomp, to appeal to an
audience which was very different to that of his native
UWE ARENS, DAVID IGNASZEWSKI
Salzburg. The excellent period instrument Akademie
für Alte Musik Berlin, under concertmaster Bernhard
Forck, treat it with due sophistication and restraint,
in contrast to the rather dramatic Symphony No. 35,
which bookends this recording.
68 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Written some few years after Mozart’s Paris period,
the result of a commission to celebrate the raising to
the nobility of one Sigmund Haffner extrapolated
as a symphony, it retains the festivity of its original
purpose, the opening Allegro con spirito played by
the Akademie with an invigorating bounce and a
lovely depth of sound. The cleanness of tone on the
recording is fine, with every
in excellent detail, whether
sculpted gut strings or the vital
the intervening Harmoniemusik
the Oboe Concerto, the Andante understated and
poised. The Akademie’s great clarity in this recording
gives a frequently exhilarating sense of the finesse in
Mozart’s musical architecture.
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING +++++
You can access thousands of reviews from our
extensive archive on the BBC Music Magazine
website at www.classical-music.com
Beethoven
Symphonies Nos 5 & 6
Kammerakademie Potsdam/
Antonello Manacorda
Sony Classical G010004944623F (digital)
77:22 mins
How do you make
Beethoven sound
fresh? When a
new recording
of pieces like
the Fifth and
Sixth Symphonies comes out,
that’s almost always the question I
have in mind. The CD shelves and
streaming sites are already stuffed
with Beethoven done in all sorts of
ways, whether it’s monumental and
philosophical or fleet-footed and
agile – it can be hard for an album to
find its space.
But the Kammerakademie
Potsdam bursts onto the scene
with energy and vigour in this
worthwhile follow-up to its
volume of the First, Second and
Seventh Symphonies. Played on
modern instruments but with
a strong awareness of historical
performance, the Fifth and
Sixth show off the orchestra’s
taut ensemble playing, rhythmic
discipline and sense of drama.
Conductor Antonello Manacorda is
no slouch when it comes to tempos
– the opening of the ‘Pastoral’, for
instance, finds his musicians hot-
footing it to the countryside – but
despite his drive, the music rarely
feels rushed.
The Fifth Symphony’s journey
from tragedy to triumph is
paced with assurance, but with
plenty of attention for the score’s
idiosyncratic details to shine: the
curious, poignant oboe solo in the
first movement, for instance, or
the insistent cadences at the end.
And in the Sixth, the orchestra
relishes the music’s pictorial details,
transporting us with lilting ease
to the brook and through insistent
outbursts into the heart of a storm.
Rebecca Franks
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING ++++
Haydn
‘Paris’ Symphonies Nos 84-87;
Violin Concerto No. 1*
*Théotime Langlois de Swarte
(violin); Les Arts Florissants/
William Christie
Harmonia Mundi HAF8905371.72
120:06 mins (2 discs)

Haydn’s ‘Paris’
symphonies,
composed in the
mid-1780s, were
originally played
by a virtuoso
orchestra that could potentially
boast around 40 violins and ten
double-basses. William Christie’s
Les Arts Florissants, with about a
quarter that number, is more than
adequate to convey the grandeur
and exuberance of these great
pieces. Most recordings manage to
accommodate all six symphonies
on a pair of discs, but Christie is
generous with his repeats (the
long second-half repeat in the
opening movement of No. 87 is
surely de trop), and that presumably
wouldn’t have been possible. It
means that we have to do without
the two most famous symphonies
in the series, the ‘Bear’, No. 82
and the ‘Hen’, No. 83, but in their
place Christie includes the much
earlier Violin Concerto in C major
– an attractive-enough piece, but
by no means on a level with the
symphonies. Théotime Langlois
de Swarte plays (and conducts) it
admirably, though his Presto finale
is a bit low on energy and lacks the
required excitement.
Christie’s enthusiasm for the
symphonies is never in doubt, but
he can be curiously down to earth
at times. The opening theme of
the slow movement in No. 84, for
instance, sounds ponderous, and
the remarkable Capriccio (marked
Largo) of No. 86 really needs more
space in which to unfold in all its
depth. The long bassoon cadenza
inserted near the end of the Trio
in the Minuet movement of No. 85
is surely misguided, though the
briefer solo violin cadenzas injected
into the Finale of No. 86 are in even
more questionable taste.
While there’s a good deal to
enjoy here, it’s hard not to feel that
Christie’s real talents lie in music for
the theatre.
Misha Donat
PERFORMANCE +++
RECORDING ++++
Jóhannsson
A Prayer to the Dynamo;
plus suites from Sicario
and The Theory of Everything
(compiled and arranged
by Jóhannsson)
Iceland Symphony Orchestra/
Daníel Bjarnason
DG 486 4870 58:06 mins
Film music is led
– and limited – by
on-screen action;
it’s curious,
then, to see what
composers do
with the same material considered
on its own merits. The two suites
compiled from the scores to Sicario
and The Theory of Everything by
the late Jóhann Jóhannsson both
significantly change the order of
the original music. Moving the
minimalistic piano-led piece that
introduces Eddie Redmayne’s
Stephen Hawking as he navigates
1960s Cambridge University from
the beginning to the end gives
the biopic’s suite a fitting finale
finish. More interesting is A Prayer
to the Dynamo, a four-movement
orchestral piece that features sounds
recorded at an Icelandic powerplant.
The music whirrs creakily into life
through extended notes, never fully
forming a clearly defined shape
(reminiscent of Jóhannsson’s 2015
Drone Mass). It shifts into a chorale-
like expansion, enhanced by slow-
moving brass and bell sounds from
a prepared piano. Conductor Daníel
Bjarnason and the brass section of
the Iceland Symphony Orchestra
achieve a Goldilocks balance; the
horns, while prominent throughout,
are never overpowering.
Surprisingly, neither is the hydro-
electric hum of Elliðaárstöð, the
Reykjavik site whose sounds so
fascinated Jóhannsson (although
the plant has long been closed, the
composer was permitted access to
record during an equipment test).
Bird-like winds (think Messiaen
rather than Mozart) add to the
overall sense of man versus nature.
Or, in Jóhannsson’s case, man versus
time – sadly the Icelandic composer
died in 2018 before he could
complete a planned film about the
power station. Claire Jackson
PERFORMANCE +++
RECORDING ++++
Mendelssohn
Symphony No. 4 ‘Italian’
(1833/34 versions)
Le Concert des Nations/Jordi Savall
Alia Vox AVSA9955 58:23 mins
Mendelssohn
was an inveterate
tinkerer with
his own music.
Partly this
derived from the
clash between Classical and
Romantic impulses that was such an
Multiple Mendelssohn:
Jordi Savall conducts
two versions of the
composer’s ‘Italian’
important feature of his make-up,
but also possibly that he had what
one might call ‘an overactive mind’.
Wagner famously complained
that Mendelssohn ‘informed me
once or twice that an unduly slow
tempo was the devil, and for choice
he would rather things were taken
too fast’. The original version of
the ‘Italian’ Symphony dates from
1833 and is the version generally
known, whereas his revision of
the following year has remained
relatively unknown, not being
published until 2001. Having
both versions on the same album
gives us a splendid opportunity to
compare the two. While the first
movement is unchanged, there are
many new readings in the other
three movements; not that there’s
any overall rationale for them, as
in his changes to the String Octet,
where the ‘Romantic’ original is
‘classicised’, shortened and almost
brought to heel. Were the changes
to the symphony all improvements?
His sister Fanny thought not, and we
may well agree, for instance when,
in the middle section of the third
movement, the delightful rumti-
tumti rhythms on first violins are
replaced by staid, undotted quavers.
It’s sad that the performance (or is
it just the recording?) is seriously
vitiated by a nuisance that was
common a few years ago, but seemed
to have died out, namely the over-
enthusiastic timpanist. Perhaps the
player here felt that, being so slow to
Orchestral Reviews
join the party, they needed to make
their presence felt. Sadly, the racket
destroys many of the climaxes,
where the brass help obliterate
contributions from high violins.
Otherwise the playing is acceptable.
Roger Nichols
PERFORMANCE +++
RECORDING +++
Shostakovich
Symphonies Nos. 5 and 9
Hong Kong Philharmonic/
Jaap van Zweden
Naxos 8.574549 67:10 mins
The finale
in this latest
Shostakovich Five
is a real tour de
force: Hong Kong
Philharmonic
Orchestra principal conductor
(since 2012) Jaap van Zweden starts
at a hell-for-leather pace, keeping
an eye on the ambiguous outcome,
never really slackening even in
meditative contrast. The climax
of the great Adagio is hair-raising
too, the piano clear in the ferocious
tremolos, and the woodwind solos
before that sound appropriately
desolate. There’s more of an
emotional distance in the first two
movements, maybe compounded by
the reverberant acoustic.
That doesn’t serve the Ninth
Symphony’s deceptive neoclassical
start too well, but Van Zweden’s take
is unmistakeable: this is a major
masterpiece in miniature form,
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 69
Orchestral Reviews
driven in the faster sections,
making sure the second movement
feels like much more than an
intermezzo. The unusual, almost
saxophonal bassoon has already
made a mark in the Fifth, and
there’s another star turn from
the trumpeter who emulates the
Soviet sound of the old Melodiya
days. The same team gave us more
Shostakovich earlier on Naxos
in an unusual context, the Tenth
Symphony twinned with the two
fully scored movements from
Mahler’s swansong of the same
number. The unconventional
aspects here make these
interpretations worth investigating
at any price, but the bargain status
makes them all the more attractive.
David Nice
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING +++
Weinberg
Dawn; Symphony No. 12
BBC Philharmonic/John Storgårds
Chandos CHAN20165 73:33 mins
Whether or not
Russia’s cultural
isolation – one
outcome of its
war on Ukraine
– has any effect
on the rediscovery of Mieczysław
Weinberg’s music remains to be
seen, but for now the new releases
keep coming. Poland’s campaign
to reclaim the Warsaw-born
composer who fled east from the
Nazis was certainly stalled by last
year’s invasion, and if that means
continuing neglect of Weinberg’s
songs (some based on Polish poetry)
the musical world will be poorer
for it. But this latest release from
Chandos suggests a certain amount
of barrel scraping.
That’s especially true of the
symphonic poem Dawn, written
in 1957 and dedicated to the
40th anniversary of the Russian
Revolution but not heard until 2019
when the BBC Philharmonic and
John Storgårds gave the premiere;
this is its first recording. It’s solid
socialist-realist stuff, well crafted
yet unmemorable. Weinberg
is often unfairly described as
second-hand Shostakovich, when
in fact their shared influences
– common currency among
Soviet composers of the time
SIMON VAN BOXTEL
– worked both ways, but Dawn
does sound like a second or third
pressing of one of Shostakovich’s
occasional pieces.
70 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
The Symphony No. 12 of 1975/6
was subtitled ‘In memoriam D.
Shostakovich’, yet despite noble
intentions met resistance from
no less a conductor than Kirill
Kondrashin, who declared it too
long. He was right. There are
striking passages, not least in the
scherzo and in the ambiguous
marimba solos that launch an
enigmatic finale, but for all the
dedication of Storgårds and his
orchestra this is one only for
Weinberg completists. John Allison
PERFORMANCE +++
RECORDING ++++
Scotland
Mendelssohn: ‘Scottish’
Symphony; Helen Grime: Elegiac
Inflections; Maxwell Davies:
Strathclyde Concerto No. 10
Västerås Sinfonietta/Simon
Crawford-Phillips
dbProductions dbCD210 78:16 mins
Listening to this
album fresh from
my gloriously
sunny week in
the Highlands
rather brought
home the matter of climate change.
Mendelssohn’s experience of
Scotland was altogether stormier,
and in this vivid recording of his
‘Scottish’ Symphony from the
Västerås Sinfonietta and Simon
Crawford-Phillips, you can almost
feel the wind shivering across the
lochs, or ghosts in the ruined chapel
at Holyrood. It’s neither the most
Shattering Shostakovich:
Jaap van Zweden goes
hell for leather in the
Fifth Symphony
polished account to be found, nor
the best balanced – the small violin
section is too easily overwhelmed
by the woodwind and brass in the
louder sections – but it is a vigorous
and extrovert interpretation.
The recording matches the
symphony with two contemporary
takes on the Scottish landscape.
Helen Grime is the only one of the
three composers who is actually
Scottish. Her two-part Elegiac
Inflections includes the filtering
of Scottish folk ideas through
a personal sieve, transforming
them into abstract ideas; the
Västerås Sinfonietta gives a pretty
good account of her challenging,
Knussen-influenced score.
Finally there’s Peter Maxwell
Davies, who spent the later decades
of his life living on Orkney (which
has helped make the place a magnet
for British musicians). Since his
death in 2016, his music has perhaps
inevitably begun to recede from
view, but his Strathclyde Concerto
is among his most immediate
responses to the harsh-yet-beautiful
landscapes that surrounded him.
The ensemble and Crawford-
Phillips create within it a range
of strong atmospheres, carefully
spotlighting the instrumental solos
and generally making a persuasive
case for keeping the work in the
repertoire. The recorded sound
quality is strong and suitably cool.
Jessica Duchen
PERFORMANCE +++
RECORDING ++++
Sturm und Drang, Vol. 3
Works by Mozart, Schweitzer,
Kozeluch, Paisiello and Haydn
The Mozartists/Ian Page
Signum Classics SIGCD759 71:39 mins
Ian Page’s
programme
notes, expert
and informative
as ever, explain
the background
to the Sturm und Drang (roughly,
‘Storm and Stress’) movement in late
18th-century German literature,
which triggered a parallel trend in
the music of the time. This latest
release in The Mozartists’ ongoing
series features three suitably minor-
key orchestral works: alongside
Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue, K546
are Leopold Kozeluch’s impressive
Symphony in G minor and Haydn’s
Symphony No. 44 (‘Trauer’, or
‘Mourning’). Interleaved with these
are recitative-and-aria extracts
from two operas of the time, Anton
Schweitzer’s Alceste and Giovanni
Paisiello’s Annibale in Torino
(Hannibal in Turin).
The Mozartists’ full-on
commitment to period-style
performance can’t be argued
with on documentary grounds.
But its delivery here does make
for an element of wall-to-wall
relentlessness, which surely isn’t
how it would have come across at
the time of its creation, when an
approach of this kind would have
been a natural style. That said, the
bomb-proof technical standard
of the playing would surely have
delighted Mozart. And winsome
justice is done to the beautiful
slow movements of Kozeluch’s and
Haydn’s symphonies.
But the stand-out feature here
is the sensational contribution of
American soprano Emily Pogorelc,
who is rapidly becoming a star on
the European operatic scene. Her
singing here has superb technical
sureness, state-of-the-art command
of the music’s wild emotional
switchbacks, and firework-display
virtuosity to match. While the
Schweitzer extract amounts to
little beyond expertly written
melodrama, Pogorelc delivers it at
full value. The far finer expressive
range and sensibility of Paisiello’s
idiom reveals her as an artist of
much soul as well as brilliance.
Malcolm Hayes
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING ++++
 HIGHLIGHTS FALL 2023

Rhétorique du Silence Schubert – Meta Time Remembered

David Bergmüller Claire Huangci Matthias Kirschnereit
1CD 0303039BC 3CD 0302967BC 2CD 0302966BC

1CD & 2LP

A Tribute to Bach
Maurice Steger, La Cetra Barockorchester Basel
For his Bach project, Maurice Steger has chosen six compositions that follow six different
musical genres and placed the recorder at the forefront of solo instrumentation.
The result in terms of sound is fascinating: Bach becomes a convincing recorder player
through Maurice Steger's interpretation. 1923 – 100 Years of Radio Apollo & Dionysus
Schumann Quartett Danae Dörken & Kiveli Dörken
1 CD 0303072BC & 2 LP 0303129BC 1CD 0302968BC 1CD 0302969BC

www.europadisc.co.uk www.amazon.com www.prestomusic.com

New on Orchid Classics

ORC100260 ORC100266 ORC100262 ORC100269

Sappho’s Lyre Diabelli Variations Passacaglia Rondos
Tenth Muse Ensemble George Lepauw Pavel Berman, violin Kirill Troussov
An album inspired by the Digitally remastered to mark Maria Meerovitch, piano Rondos by Mozart and Schubert,
ancient Greek poet Sappho of 200 years since the publication Violin sonatas by Shostakovich and performed here live in concert as
Lesbos, “the greatest poet who of Beethoven’s longest work for Respighi, two works characterised part of Kirill Troussov’s Live Series
ever was at all.” piano by their contrasting passacaglia
ÀQDOHV

ÀQGRXWPRUHDWZZZRUFKLGFODVVLFVFRP
Concerto
CONCERTO CHOICE

Assured Beethoven from Alice Sara Ott

There’s delicacy, wit and colour in this First Piano Concerto, says Martin Cotton

recapitulation brings things to heel.

The Largo is flowing but unrushed,
with some delicate touches of rubato,
Beethoven and assured variety of colour and
Piano Concerto No. 1*; balance all round. Finally, the Rondo
‘Moonlight’ Sonata; Für Elise etc really does capture the scherzando
Alice Sara Ott (piano); *Netherlands character, never becoming too heavy,
Radio Philharmonic/ even in the minor key passages, and
Karina Canellakis with enjoyment in the unexpected
DG 486 4898 56:17 mins accents that Beethoven throws in to
The clarity and realism of the propel the music forward.
recording in the concerto are what The ‘Moonlight’ Sonata has a
first impress, with detail in all parts lightness of touch, with a brisk first
of the orchestra, from high winds movement, so that the accompanying
down to timpani triplets don’t get
and double basses, The orchestral tutti bogged down, and
coupled with
stereo separation
combine both energy the melodic lines
have continuity and
that has depth as and sensitivity shape. It’s the same
well as breadth. Of in the Allegretto,
course, such an achievement would and even more impressively in the
be meaningless if the performance Presto, where the opening bars and
was not at the same level, but the similar passages come across at the
orchestral tutti combines energy and quiet dynamic that Beethoven asks
sensitivity, before Ott enters in an for, and the loud chords at the end
almost improvisatory fashion, then of each phrase have a satisfyingly Characterful player:
takes off with delicacy and rhythmic irruptive effect. Ott’s rubato in the Alice Sara Ott brings her
personality to Beethoven
wit. And there’s a beautifully veiled coda jars a little, but that is what gives
quality to the development section, personality to the four short pieces
where a more relaxed tempo doesn’t that end the album.
You can access thousands of reviews from our extensive archive on
deprive the music of direction, but PERFORMANCE +++++
the BBC Music Magazine website at www.classical-music.com
creates an oasis of calm before the RECORDING +++++

himself, for such were a Baroque
composer’s stock-in-trade. While
Bach’s obituary is regrettably silent
on Leipzig’s concert life and his
activities with the city’s Collegium
Musicum, it nevertheless refers
to all sorts of pieces for a variety
of instruments which were in all
likelihood performed there.
In this album, recorder virtuoso
Maurice Steger with La Cetra
Barockorchester Basel has arranged
or transcribed pieces for which,
JULIAN BAUMANN, MARCO BORGGREVE
and continuo, BWV 1057. The
programme makes for thought-
provoking listening, though
my ears, at least, do not always
respond positively. For instance,
in the reworked concerto from the
harpsichord concerto in E major,
BWV 1053 it is impossible to
delete Bach’s own familiar sound
spectrum from our minds. More
successful are the darkly coloured
realisation of the Ricercar à 6,
belonging to the Musical Offering
E major Sonata for traverso flute
and continuo, BWV 1035, translates
to the recorder.
The Basel instrumentalists
and above all the harpsichordist
Sebastian Wienand, who also
played a prominent role in the
reconstructions, provide lively and
stylish support throughout.
Nicholas Anderson
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING ++++

as far as we know, recorders of
various sizes were not originally
envisaged. The exception is a
sparkling performance of Bach’s
own reworking of Brandenburg
Concerto No. 4 as one for
harpsichord, two recorders, strings
and the three sonatas. In the case Bartók
of the G minor piece, BWV 1020 Piano Concertos
authorship and instrumentation (Nos 1-3)
is in perpetual dispute so it is fair Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano);
game for the recorder and it works San Francisco Symphony/
well. Most surprising, perhaps, is Esa-Pekka Salonen
the conviction with which the Pentatone PTC 5187 029 79:27 mins

72 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE


Bartók’s three
piano concertos
always make a
rewarding trilogy
as they are so
different from one
another. The first (1926) is vibrant
with the influence of Stravinsky,
resonant with percussion and
percussiveness; the second followed
in 1930/31 and is, if anything, still
more fiendishly difficult to play.
The third, which was left incomplete
upon Bartók’s death in 1945, was
a gift for his wife, Ditta Pásztory,
and shines with lyricism and love.
They’re not short of fine recordings
and this one promises much, its
pianist feted as probably today’s
finest exponent of contemporary
music for the instrument (Aimard
was the favourite pianist of Ligeti, no
less, and the dedicatee of some of his
Études). There is much playing here
of a clarity, velocity and exactitude
that can make the jaw drop, and
he, Salonen and the San Francisco
Symphony seem to be on the same
conceptual page throughout.
Nevertheless, at times the
result comes across as somewhat
clinical. No. 2 is arguably the most
impressive in the set, with dazzling
pianism aplenty, yet the ‘night
music’ of the second movement
lacks an extra edge of atmospheric
intensity. One could also long for
extra bite in No. 1 and much more
tenderness to No. 3. The sound
quality is not especially helpful
either, with an over-resonance
that interferes with, for example,
the drum-heavy No. 1. Compared
with, for instance, the joie de vivre
that bounds out of Jean-Efflam
Bavouzet’s recording of the three
with the BBC Philharmonic and
Gianandrea Noseda (released via
Chandos in 2010), or the elemental
fieriness that powers Krystian
Zimerman, Pierre Boulez and the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
in No. 1, Aimard and Salonen
seem technically excellent but
emotionally over-restrained.
Jessica Duchen
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING +++
De Falla • Ravel
Ravel: Piano Concertos;
De Falla: Nuits dans les jardins
d’Espagne
Alexandre Tharaud (piano);
Orchestre National de France/
Louis Langrée
Erato 5419766071 60:53 mins
Ravel – Piano
Concertos
declares the cover
of Alexandre
Tharaud’s latest
album. There
is no mention of Manuel de Falla’s
Nights in the Gardens of Spain, but
this heady blend of French and
Spanish sensibilities is more than
a mere filler. Its three movements
teem with evocative melodic
invention and rich colours, arguably
making it the best exemplar of an
impressionist piano concerto given
neither Debussy nor Ravel quite
wrote a work that fits that epithet.
There is much to admire here,
not least the Orchestre National
de France, which is on superlative
form under Louis Langrée. While
losing no finesse, the woodwinds
in particular recapture the
quintessentially French sound that
was in danger of being lost in recent
years, whether in the tangy opening
of the De Falla or the oaky lyricism
of the bassoon in the first movement
of Ravel’s Concerto in G.
Tharaud is the star of the
show, though, and something
special might be expected of this
perennially thoughtful, interesting
and daring pianist. His bravura and
poetry are to the fore in the Left-
Hand Concerto, along with some
extraordinary sonorities in the De
Falla. Sadly, in the Concerto in G,
elements of distinctiveness too often
stray into mannerism. It is not so
A bit of bravura:
Alexandre Tharaud
is poetic with Ravel’s
Left-Hand Concerto
much that the long solo of the slow
movement is played like Chopin,
but that the left hand audibly adjusts
speed rather than having a natural
ebb and flow. As with similar small
bumps in the outer movements,
these moments might intrigue once,
but wane on repeated listening.
Christopher Dingle
PERFORMANCE +++
RECORDING ++++
Mozart
Piano Concertos Nos 14 & 23
Dejan Lazić (piano); Bergen
Philharmonic Orchestra/Jan Willem
de Vriend
Challenge Classics CC 72945 55:08 mins
A stylish opening
tutti grabs
the attention
immediately
in the A major
Concerto: de
Vriend’s background in historically
informed performance produces
minimal vibrato, tight phrasing
and a transparent texture, despite
the modern instruments in
the orchestra. Lazić is equally
scrupulous in his first entry,
mentioning in his note the challenge
of ‘carefully balancing voicing,
phrasing, articulation, rhetoric
and dynamics’ on a modern
concert grand. There’s sometimes
a hardness to his tone, exaggerated
by his forward presence in the
recording, and this shows especially
in his own cadenza, which strays
Concerto Reviews
into Beethovenian rhetoric at times.
The Adagio is shaped persuasively
overall, with finely judged dynamics
and eloquently turned ornaments,
although a more yielding piano
sound wouldn’t come amiss, and
that’s also true in the finale, which
needs to dance more lightly on
its feet.
In the E flat Concerto, the story
is much the same, with crystalline
fingerwork in the first movement,
but some very aggressive chords
that leap out of the texture. Again,
Lazić’s cadenza is inventive, but less
forcefully projected than in the
A major Concerto. For much of the
Andantino, there is the feeling of
a tender dialogue, but at climaxes
the dynamics creep out of the
Classical world into something
more appropriate to the Romantic
period, which chimes in with
Lazić’s view of the work as forward-
looking. The finale here does have
a sense of lightness, helped by the
staccato playing at the outset, with
rhythmic buoyancy from soloist
and orchestra, and that informs
the idiomatic arrangement of the
last movement of the K333 Piano
Sonata, with the composer’s own
cadenza, paradoxically drawing
the most Mozartean of the
performances on the album.
Martin Cotton
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING ++++
Mozart
Violin Concertos
Renaud Capuçon (violin); Orchestre
Chambre de Lausanne
DG 486 4067 117:30 mins (2 discs)
Renaud Capuçon
recorded two of
Mozart’s violin
concertos with
the Scottish
Chamber
Orchestra in 2009, and now returns
to the complete set of five, with
his own fine Lausanne chamber
orchestra. He is a superb violinist in
a particular mode of expressiveness:
you are never likely to hear a
sweeter, more finely spun, more
precisely tuned sound at the top of
the register than here. (How Mozart
must have loved writing lines that
soar high above the stave, notes that
even his favourite sopranos could
not reach!) But there is one matter
of taste in this sound: the vibrato is
constant and intense.
These five concertos for Salzburg
show a rapid maturing of style and
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 73
Concerto Reviews
structure, and while even Capuçon
cannot make a great deal out of
Vigorous Vivaldi:
the first two, the lovely Third, in Fabio Biondi surmounts
G, bounces along genially, and its the composer’s many
Adagio is sustained right through to musical challenges
the ingenuity of turning its opening
phrase into the final cadence. The
final Rondeau however alerts us
to a problem that will recur in Nos
4 and 5: their finales, with their
frankly hilarious interludes, are
delivered with po-faced exactness.
Where is the humour; where are the
unexpected surprises?
What I miss in Capuçon’s playing
here is the sheer wit and brightness
of, for example, Francesca Dego’s
highly praised recent accounts with
Roger Norrington. The rumbustious
‘Turkish’ episode in the Fifth, with
its creepy chromaticism, works well,
but too much else lacks the down-
to-earth humour that must surely
have had them laughing in Salzburg.
Two single movements complete the
release, the Rondo in C (with its high
top-C ending) and the beautiful
Adagio in E, but the Rondo in B flat, Isaac Karabtchevsky. Cellist playing both spirited and soulful, Little is known about Anna
K269 is not included. Antonio Meneses never flinches and always of considerable lustre. Maria, although she was a pupil
Nicholas Kenyon either, least of all in the early cello But the work that really shows of Vivaldi’s at the Ospedale della
PERFORMANCE ++++ concerto of 1915, perhaps the most the composer at his most potent is Pietà orphanage in Venice from an
RECORDING +++++ tangled of the three works presented the 1945 Fantasia. With no concerto early age and later gained fame as
on this enjoyable album. This was rules to observe or ignore, Villa- an instrumental player, not only
Villa-Lobos Villa-Lobos’s first substantial Lobos’s inspiration and imagination of the violin, but also of the viola
Cello Concertos; Fantasia for orchestral work, written with gusto take wing in three varied and d’amore, theorbo, lute, harpsichord
Cello and Orchestra and plenty of forceful contributions concise movements, strikingly and mandolin. Vivaldi wrote at
Antonio Meneses (cello); São Paulo from the brass. Any concerns orchestrated with unusual use least 24 violin concertos for her. Just
Symphony Orchestra/ over balance problems between of the cello’s lowest register; two (including RV 207, recorded on
Isaac Karabtchevsky a solo cello and a busy orchestra possibly a homage, as the booklet this album) were published during
Naxos 8.574531 68:19 mins were breezily left to another day. annotator suggests, to the double- his lifetime. Those that were not
After taking Concerto No. 2 finally arrived in bass expertise of conductor Serge intended for public performance are
charge of Naxos’s 1953, by which time textures and Koussevitzky, the work’s dedicatee. noticeably more experimental and
recordings of construction had become notably Yet even when the Amazon jungle technically demanding.
the 12 boisterous tidier. The soloist now has much seems at its most choking in this The six recorded concertos
symphonies of more space for manoeuvring and latest addition to Naxos’s series range from the swagger of RV
Villa-Lobos, this there’s also room for a chunky ‘The Music of Brazil’, the composer, 229 and the programmatic scene
composer’s output clearly holds no cadenza. Meneses responds to conductor and orchestra always painting of ‘The Posthorn’, RV
terrors for the Brazilian conductor his expanded opportunities with ensure that listening stays engaging. 363, to the lyricism of RV 260
Geoff Brown and the cheerful simplicity of RV
PERFORMANCE ++++ 261. The most emblematic is RV
RECORDING ++++ 179a, which appears in a Venetian
manuscript bearing Anna Maria’s
BACKGROUND TO… Vivaldi name. The Largo from a related
Villa-Lobos’s Concerti per violino XI ‘Per concerto – RV 581 – is added as a
Anna Maria’ heartfelt salutation at the end of the
Cello Concerto No. 1 Fabio Biondi (violin); Europa Galante recording. Fabio Biondi effortlessly
Some mystery surrounds the Brazilian composer’s Naïve OP7368 59:21 mins surmounts the technical difficulties
First Cello Concerto, also his first large-scale This is the 11th and stylistic challenges of each
orchestral work. He played the cello, so it was volume of Naïve’s concerto. He also directs Europa
perhaps an obvious place to start, though the ‘Vivaldi Edition’ Galante with characteristic vigour
musical vernacular of the work is multifaceted, the devoted to the and aplomb. The recording is close
young composer drawing on all manner of styles. Red Priest’s violin and intimate – a little too intimate at
The work was composed for cellist Alfredo Gomes concertos. It is times, with Biondi’s sniffing a touch
EMILE ASHLEY, GETTY

some time between 1913-15, though he didn’t premiere it; in fact Villa- perhaps the most revealing, as it intrusive in RV 207.
Lobos’s concerto went unplayed until May 1919 when he himself conducted showcases six concertos written for John-Pierre Joyce
it at Rio’s Teatro Municipal, with Newton Padua in the soloist’s chair. his star student and favourite soloist, PERFORMANCE +++++
Anna Maria. RECORDING ++++

74 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE


OPERA CHOICE
A deft portrait of Puccini’s leading men
Alexandra Wilson enjoys Jonathan Tetelman’s distinctive take on classic arias
The Great Puccini
Arias from Il Tabarro,
Manon Lescaut, La bohème,
Madam Butterfly etc
Jonathan Tetelman (tenor);
Prague Philharmonia/Carlo Rizzi
DG 486 4683 51:09 mins
This album, released ahead of the
composer’s centenary next year,
features all the predictable Puccini
tenor standards (plus a few less-well-
known arias from
La fanciulla del Carlo Rizzi allows the opener) is ardent
West, La rondine
and Le villi), as
orchestra to luxuriate and
anyone buying a in the music
recording called
The Great Puccini would expect. The
fact that standalone recordings of
‘Nessun dorma’, ‘Che gelida manina’
and ‘E lucevan le stelle’ must run
well into the hundreds makes it
challenging for any tenor recording
this repertoire for the first time to
make an original statement.
Tetelman has already impressed
onstage in the signature tenor roles
from La bohème, Tosca and Madam
Butterfly, but this album sets out
JP Johnson
De Organizer; The Dreamy Kid
(excerpts)
Rabihah Davis Dunn, Olivia
Duval, Emery Stephens et al;
University of Michigan Opera
Theatre and Symphony Orchestra/
Kenneth Kiesler
Naxos 8.669041 66:01 mins
Musicologist
Cody M. Jones
tellingly describes
these works – one
complete, the
other receiving
its world-premiere recording in
linked excerpts – as ‘Two operas of
the “Shadow Culture”’. The term
BEN WOLF
was coined by Naomi André for the
Black opera tradition longstanding
Opera
his stall for what he could also
do with the rest of the repertoire.
Explaining in the sleeve notes for
the CD release that he is fascinated
by the multidimensionality of
Puccini’s men, he adopts a nuanced
approach to characterisation,
bringing a vocally distinctive tone
to each role. His Cavaradossi is as
languid and heroic as you could wish
for; his Luigi edgy and sombre; his
Ruggero youthful. But it is in the role
of Des Grieux that he particularly
captivates. ‘Donna non vidi mai’ (an
enticing album-
expansive,
vowels strikingly
warm and open,
strings effectively
foregrounded. The easygoing ebb
and flow of Carlo Rizzi’s conducting
allows the Prague Philharmonia
to luxuriate in the music. An
accomplished group of supporting
Nuanced approach:
artists, led by soprano Federica
Tetelman brings varied
Lombardi’s soulful Mimì, join tones to each role
Tetelman in making this album of
potentially over-familiar numbers
really say something new.
You can access thousands of reviews from our extensive archive on
PERFORMANCE +++++
the BBC Music Magazine website at www.classical-music.com
RECORDING +++++
in America and elsewhere, parallel era African-American life. The O’Neill’s 1919 play, the intrusion
to – but effectively excluded from – former’s libretto, by Harlem of brutal injustice into its family
dominant white opera narratives. Renaissance poet Langston Hughes deathbed scene is all-too redolent of
Both pieces were written by the (1902-1967), relates an optimistic today’s ‘persistent racist structures
distinguished jazz composer-pianist tale of community solidarity: the that devalue Black lives’. Dreamy
James P. Johnson (1894-1955) eponymous Organiser is eagerly has killed a white man in self-
in the late 1930s, and lovingly awaited at a sharecroppers’ defence but chooses to stay with his
reconstructed from partial scores gathering, which Johnson depicts dying Mammy, knowing he’ll be
by his equally notable younger in evocative jazz- and spiritual- caught by the police, who are finally
peer, James Dapogny (1940-2019). inflected – often paradoxically – ominously – heard storming the
Their passionate performances jaunty – numbers including the stairs. Steph Power
by Kenneth Kiesler’s University ‘Hungry Blues’. Brushing aside PERFORMANCE ++++
of Michigan Opera Theatre the Overseer’s threats, the uplifting RECORDING ++++
and Symphony Orchestra will outcome is the formation of a
undoubtedly help bring Johnson’s union amid vows to bring about Purcell
work, and the wider culture of which workers’ freedom. Dido & Aeneas
he was part, to greater attention. Painfully – yet with nimbly Fleur Barron, Matthew Brook, Giulia
From hope to tragedy, De varying genre-defying styles – The Semenzato, Tim Mead, Nicky Spence
Organizer and The Dreamy Kid Dreamy Kid heads in the opposite et al; La Nuova Musica/David Bates
paint vivid pictures of Jim Crow- direction. A setting of Eugene Pentatone PTC 5187 032 57:33 mins
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 75
Opera Reviews
This Dido &
Aeneas, for which
David Bates
directs La Nuova
Musica, has its
roots in a late-
night Prom where big stars and a big
acoustic dominated. The recording
made four months later – with Fleur
Barron as Dido and Matthew Brook
as Aeneas stepping in – sizzles with
energy. But Bates and his colleagues
inhabit one world, while the title-
role principals inhabit another.
The suspense, vibrancy and
richly layered musical textures of
chorus and band have no equal
in the discography. The Witches’
scene is an exuberant Gothic
festival, with creepily dilating long
notes and weird sound effects –
thumps, jangles, wind machine
noises – tucked deftly into the score.
‘Gitter Ground/Oft she Visits’ is
simply stunning: first, theorbos
and harp spin Purcell’s opening
minor third into an improvised
Xacaras-styled introduction; then,
the Gitter Ground’s repeated bass,
slow-drip entries, and five-beat
(clave) rhythmic patterning flow
seamlessly into ‘Oft she Visits’, in
which Hilary Cronin as the Second
Woman swirls the clave rhythm into
her solo and embellishments. Magic!
Into this sensibility parachute
two opera-house stars. The
gale-force power of Barron’s
mezzo-soprano obliterates Dido’s
fragility, for instance in the heavy
sustained notes of ‘Ah Belinda’.
Dido’s final lament, which should
be a psychodrama of her imploding
will to live, sags as the metric pulse
dissolves, leaving only our wait for
Barron to unleash her muscle. Bass
Brook’s super-sized crescendos
and freighted drama are likewise
grander than the weak-kneed
Aeneas merits. The problem is
neither talent nor sound production
– both are flawless throughout – but
vocal casting. Still, the originality
and brilliance of La Nuova Musica’s
interpretation makes this Dido and
Aeneas well worth acquiring.
Berta Joncus
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING ++++
Smyth
Der Wald
ANTONIO ZAZUETA OLMOS
Natalya Romaniw, Claire Barnett-
Jones, Robert Murray et al;
BBC Singers; BBC Symphony
Orchestra/John Andrews
Resonus RES10324 66:21 mins
76 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
This is the first
recording of
Ethel Smyth’s
second opera –
historically an
important piece,
written at a time when very few
women composed operas, let alone
had them performed.
Der Wald (The Forest) was
premiered in Berlin in April 1901,
then seen at Covent Garden (July
1902) and the Met in New York
(March 1903).
Smyth herself said that The
Wreckers (premiered in 1906) –
revived with conspicuous success
by both Glyndebourne and Houston
Grand Opera in 2022 – was ‘the
work by which I stand or fall’.
Der Wald may not be such an
outstanding piece, but it is well
worth getting to know. While Harry
Brewster’s somewhat naïve libretto
holds it back, Smyth’s score shows
an impressive range of skills.
Written in a late-Romantic idiom
that inevitably owes something to
Wagner – especially in terms of
the demanding vocal writing of the
three central roles – its also reminds
us of Smyth’s devotion to Brahms
(the composer, not the man, whom
she disliked).
The narrative concerns the jealous
love (lust) of the highborn witch
Iolanthe, which destroys peasant girl
Röschen and woodcutter Heinrich,
who perish in a kind of Liebestod – he
stabbed by Iolanthe’s henchmen, she
falling lifeless on his body.
Conductor John Andrews rescues
another lost English opera from
oblivion and leads an excellent
performance: it would be difficult to
imagine finer accounts of the central
roles than those given here by
Natalya Romaniw (Röschen), Robert
Murray (Heinrich), Claire Barnett-
Jones (Iolanthe) and Andrew Shore
(Pedlar), while the invaluable
BBC Singers and BBC Symphony
Orchestra provide ideal support.
George Hall
PERFORMANCE +++++
RECORDING +++++
Weill
L’Opéra de Quat’sous
Comédie-Française;
Chœur Passerelles; Le Balcon/
Maxime Pascal
Alpha Classics ALPHA1015 81:55 mins
If your heart
falls when you
read that text
and songs have
‘…undergone
some cuts and
numerous rearrangements… to
better match the vision of Thomas
Ostermeier….’, be not afraid. Der
Dreigrochenoper, The Threepenny
Opera and now the L’Opéra de
Quat’sous has been evolving for
nearly a century now, with Brecht
himself still rearranging and
rewriting in the 1940s. Thomas
Ostermeier, the much-admired
German theatre director, who
speaks Brecht’s later narrations on
this recording, in a voice that sounds
Into the woods:
soprano Natalya
Romaniw delights in
Ethel Smyth’s Der Wald
as if it’s seen the inside of a good
many whisky bars, is simply the
most recent ‘author’.
What is different is a very
French concern with prosody, a
scrupulous matching of words
to music which is not always the
case in some performances. ‘The
Cannon Song’ with Benjamin
Lavernhe as a swaggering Tiger
Brown is properly explosive and
although Marie Oppert’s Polly is
a touch underpowered in ‘Jenny’s
Song’, her Act 2 number is sweetly
disingenuous. Mrs Peachum –
Véronique Vella – takes the ‘The
Ballad of Sexual Obsession’ at a
funereal pace – not so much le petit
as le grand mort! – but the text is
there even if the orchestrations
are somewhat marred with
insistent drumming by Le Balcon,
as if a contemporary percussion
ensemble had been layered over
Weill’s sinuous dance rhythms
and the Lutheran chorales. Oddly,
Birane Ba’s Macheath is something
of a cypher, but that is perhaps
Ostermeier’s point.
The cast are all singing actors
from the Comédie-Française, yet
they are denied Brecht’s dialogue.
Looking at the production stills
in the accompanying CD booklet
you do wonder if they missed a trick
here. Perhaps it might have been
better to release the recording as
a DVD?
Christopher Cook
PERFORMANCE +++
RECORDING ++++
 Choral & Song
a
CHORAL & SONG CHOICE CPE Bach • Mozart
CPE Bach: Heilig ist Gott;
Mozart: Mass in C Minor ‘Great’
Jakub Józef Orliński digs Anna Dennis, Lucy Crowe (sopranos),
Jess Dandy (contralto), Nicholas

deep for 17th-century gems Mulroy (tenor), Robert Davies

(baritone); Dunedin Consort/
John Butt
Linn Records CKD721 60:11 mins
The countertenor is graceful and agile in this creative Mozart’s ‘Great’
playlist of arias and more, says Kate Bolton-Porciatti Mass in C
minor is, like
his Requiem,
unfinished and
Liquid gold: Orliński shrouded in
carries off the entire
programme with élan
mystery. Written in 1782 when the
composer was 22, the work may
have been a gift to his future wife
Constanze Weber, proof that, after a
bumpy courtship, he was worthy of
her hand.
The Mass has a big-boned
ambition, full of grandeur in the
double-choir choruses, interspersed
with more reflective, intimate
passages for soloists. This period-
instrument performance by the
Dunedin Consort is of the 2018
edition by Dutch musicologist
Clemens Kemme, with added
instrumentation in the work’s
incomplete movements. All of this
is captured with cool clarity in
Linn’s recording.
Conductor John Butt’s vision
for the Great Mass underlines
Mozart’s debt to Bach and Handel,
full of ecclesiastical brilliance in
the Credo and Sanctus thanks to
Kemme’s historically informed
trumpet and timpani additions.
Beyond melodies the Polish countertenor pours out like The instrumental phrasing is highly
Works by Monteverdi, Caccini, Frescobaldi, liquid honey. A particular highlight of the album is detailed, while the choral textures
Kapsberger, Saracini, Netti, Jarzębski et al Francesco Cavalli’s aria ‘Incomprensibil nume’ from are clean and free of vibrato.
Jakub Józef Orliński (countertenor); Il Pomo d’Oro Pompeo Magno, which Orliński and Il Pomo d’Oro The quality of the soprano solo
Erato 5419772645 51:30 mins imbue with real dignity. Providing jaunty interludes singing is essential to the success of
As its title suggests, this album ventures ‘beyond’ are foot-tapping numbers by Cappellini and Sartorio, any performance of this work. Lucy
the leading composers of and a radiant trio sonata by Crowe and Anna Dennis are closely
17th-century Italy – Caccini, Orliński’s bell-like voice is Johann Caspar Kerll. matched in the intertwining lines
Frescobaldi, Monteverdi and Orliński carries off the
Barbara Strozzi – to set them
warm, focused and as limber programme with great élan:
of the Domine Deus. Crowe brings
a focused, luminous beauty to the
alongside their shadowy as his famous break-dancing his bell-like voice is warm, Et incarnatus while Dennis adds
contemporaries: Bernabei, focused and as limber as his lightness to the Laudamus Te.
Moratelli, Netti, Pollarolo, Saracini, Sartorio... the famous break-dancing. Il Pomo d’Oro offers sinewy, The Mass is paired with the
list goes on. Featuring a string of world premieres, high-octane playing and richly textured continuo short double-choir cantata by CPE
the creative and attentively researched programme realisations. Given the litany of unknown works Bach, Heilig ist Gott, published
knits together musical and textual threads into a fast- included here, it’s a pity the programme notes aren’t in 1779 and a clear influence on
moving sequence of cantatas, songs, opera extracts more extensive. Small caveat; great album. Mozart’s work. A highlight is Jess
and sundry instrumental pieces that blur boundaries PERFORMANCE +++++ Dandy’s characterful alto solo in the
been pop and art music. RECORDING ++++ opening ‘Ariette’.
Among the premieres are a spirited cantata by The fascination of this new
HONORATA KARAPUDA

Giovanni Battista Vitali, showcasing Orliński’s grace
and agility, and a short operatic scene from Giovanni
Cesare Netti’s La Filli, whose poignant and lyrical
You can access thousands of reviews from our
extensive archive on the BBC Music Magazine
website at www.classical-music.com
recording is how it places the Great
Mass in its historical sacred context.
However, I missed the secular élan
that infuses this score, looking

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 77

Choral & Song Reviews
forward to Mozart’s emergence Bach’s irrepressible Singet dem
as the operatic genius of the Herrn, a concerto masquerading
Enlightenment Vienna. as a double-choir motet, proves to
Ashutosh Khandekar be a ricocheting explosion of joy
PERFORMANCE ++++ incarnate; and Jesu, meine Freude
RECORDING ++++ is beautifully paced – ‘Gute Nacht,
o Wesen’s unaffected simplicity,
JS Bach quietly compelling. But, for all the
• James MacMillan beguiling purity of sound, Komm,
Motets and Sacred Songs Jesu, Komm is less persuasive.
Tenebrae/Nigel Short There’s little sense of beseeching to
Signum Classics SIGCD773 79:32 mins the opening repetitions of the word
Somewhat ‘Komm’; the colouring of ‘müde’
surprisingly, (weary) misses an expressive trick;
Tenebrae hasn’t and the sheer buoyancy of ‘die Kraft
broached JS Bach verschwindt je mehr und mehr’
on a recording rather contradicts its meaning: my
thus far. And in strength deserts me more and more.
another first, this splicing together A rare misstep in an otherwise
of three of the Thomaskantor’s most absorbing album. Paul Riley
famous motets with the music of PERFORMANCE ++++
James MacMillan isn’t a studio RECORDING +++++
recording: it was captured live at
Snape Maltings last May. Handel
The Scottish composer’s Tenebrae Israel in Egypt
Responsories are programmed (arr. Jeannette Sorrell)
alongside his 2009 setting of the Margaret Carpenter Haigh,
Miserere, plus a premiere recording Molly Netter (soprano) et al;
of ‘I Saw Eternity the Other Night’, a Apollo’s Fire/Jeannette Sorrell
radiant and enrapt setting of words Avie AV2629 74:13 mins
by the metaphysical poet Henry Handel gave us
Vaughan commissioned for the 75th several versions
anniversary of the London Bach of Israel in Egypt,
Society in 2021. and since 2017 we
Nigel Short understands the have Jeannette
theatre inherent in MacMillan’s Sorrell’s. Like
approach to setting his texts, and other Early Music conductors before
he has a firm grasp of narrative, her, Sorrell restored the first part
unswervingly attentive to every of the oratorio, accidentally cut by
finely honed nuance. There’s a laser- its first editors. She went further,
sharp focus to the choir’s tuttis, and creating a new score that also
the interjections that lacerate the trimmed bits from the work’s second
sepulchral soft-grained opening of and third parts. This live recording
‘Tenebrae factus est’ go to the heart comes from Sorrell’s revival of her
of the Good Friday anguish. Short score for a February 2022 concert.
also registers the shifting colours of Sorrell’s interpretation is as
the Miserere with a judicious feel for original as her editing. Israel in
MacMillan’s deft chiaroscuro. Egypt is a series of sweeping choral
BACKGROUND TO…
Handel’s Israel in Egypt
Like his Messiah, Handel’s oratorio Israel in Egypt
draws on texts from the Bible – probably compiled
by that other work’s librettist, Charles Jennens,
though that has never been confirmed. The
composer turned the work around in the space of a
month in late 1738. Unusually for a work designed
to be a crowd-pleaser, Israel in Egypt eschewed
the then-popular format of soloist storytelling,
opting for an almost purely choral palette. That might explain why it wasn’t
exactly a hit when it premiered in 1739, even with early revisions. It went on
to enjoy success with choral societies in the 19th century.
78 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
anthems and similar forms, with
a few solos; it tracks the Jewish
people’s affective journey from
mourning the prophet Joseph’s
death, to suffering under Egyptian
bondage, to thanksgiving for
deliverance. Sorrell navigates this
epic boldly, with edgy tempos,
provocative dynamics and flawless
pacing – this last not-easy task
amid the double-chorus numbers
with which this oratorio is stuffed.
She executes persuasive pivots in
voicing, for instance when she has
the sharply differentiated lines of
the densely contrapuntal ‘Sons of
Israel’ melt into creamy homophony.
Laurels also go to the band
Apollo’s Fire, which restrains its
customary unruliness in service of
the project, and to the choir Apollo’s
Singers, whose superb technique
and dramatic flair, and the soloists
drawn from its ranks, likewise
serve Sorrell’s vision. In ‘Their Land
Brought Forth Frogs’, countertenor
Daniel Moody, with his sweetly
delicate voice, heightens diction to
highlight the weirdness of Handel
setting pestilence to a jaunty tune.
The luminosity of velvet-toned
baritone Edward Vogel’s ‘To God
our strength’ is due partly to his
lightening of vocal texture in the
playful second part of the air. This
recording is a powerful argument
for ‘Sorrell’s’ Israel in Egypt.
Berta Joncus
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING ++++
Schubert
Die schöne Müllerin
Samuel Hasselhorn (baritone),
Ammiel Bushakevitz (piano)
Harmonia Mundi HMM 902720
68:31 mins
This is the first
recording in
a Harmonia
Mundi project
with the young
German baritone
Samuel Hasselhorn and Ammiel
Bushakevitz, the South African-
Israeli pianist intending to record
Schubert’s songs 200 years after
their composition from now
until 2028. The cycle opens well
enough: the brook bubbles its way
through the piano part in the first
songs, spirits are high, there’s the
proper note of hope. By the time
we glimpse the mill it’s clear that
Hasselhorn belongs to that current
school of German baritones for
whom expressivity is paramount.
Words are carefully coloured in
‘Am Feierabend’, and falsetto used
sparingly for effect. But almost a
third of the way through the cycle it
is evident that Hasselhorn mistakes
intimacy – soft singing if you will
– for a kind of crooning. And then
abandoning the legato that should
guide each song he opens up the
voice almost hectoring his listener.
Both ‘Mein!’ and ‘Pause’ fall victim
to this approach. And ‘Die böse
Farbe’ is deeply uncomfortable
despite Bushakevitz’s careful
pianism – how unsettling that all
that one remembers of this song is
the horns calls in the piano part!
That it might all have been
different is revealed in ‘Des Baches
Wiegenlied’, the final song of the
cycle. Pianist and vocalist are at one
as the brook cradles a young man
who has not loved well or wisely;
a Schubertian wanderer. And the
brief piano postlude is perfectly
poised. Christopher Cook
PERFORMANCE ++
RECORDING ++++
John Sheppard
Missa Cantate
The Tallis Scholars/Peter Philips
Gimell CDGIM053 76:22 mins
John Sheppard
(c1515-58) was
certainly an
ingenious and
interesting
composer as
this revelatory recording amply
demonstrates. He lived across the
reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and
Mary when there were turbulent
switches between the catholic and
protestant religions, and here we
get his Latin church music mostly
written in the 1550s under Mary.
The Missa Cantate is a
sophisticated work for six voices,
including two contra-tenor parts
(not ‘countertenor’ as the booklet
has it – a countertenor is a type
of voice, not a part name). It is
performed here with clarity, poise
and excellent tuning. The high
voices are all female singers (not
boys) but they blend perfectly and
lend a very welcome brightness
to the sound. In long polyphonic
sacred works there is always the
challenge of giving some directional
shape to the performance as a whole.
The Tallis Scholars do this with
changes of pace and mood – as in
the slower ‘Et incarnatus est’ section
– though perhaps more could have
been achieved in the jubilant ‘Et

resurrexit’ passage too, and with
slightly more pliancy in the dynamic
shading throughout. Especially
effective is their performance of
Laudam dicite; its fluid chordal
language suits them and they make
the most of its astonishing harmonic
false relations in the ‘Amen’ section.
The joyful Gaude Maria is a little
understated and in the Beata nobis
they slightly chew their words, but
their account of the Missa Cantate
clearly surpasses the recordings
by Harry Christophers and Paul
McCreesh. Anthony Pryer
PEFORMANCE +++++
RECORDING ++++
Bach Motets
Motets by JC Bach and JS Bach
Solomon’s Knot
Prospero Classical PROSP0073
91:00 mins (2 discs)
How to perform
Bach’s motets
has long been
a hot potato.
We know that
Bach sometimes
doubled the vocal strands with
instruments. On the other hand
an accompaniment of keyboard
and string bass instruments was
widely practised and that is what
is favoured here. Only one of the
motets, O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens
Licht, where instruments play an
indispensable role, is omitted while
another, Der Geist hilft omits
Bach’s colla parte string and
GETTY, IAN POTTER
woodwind parts.
The thoughtfully constructed
programme by Solomon’s Knot
further includes four motets by
Bach’s father’s cousin Johann
Christoph, and it was a happy
decision to juxtapose the music of
these two family members. The
performances by this talented
group of singers, eight in all to
accommodate the generally called
for eight-voice double choir, are
sensitive to textual and musical
detail. The reiterated ‘bösen’
(wicked) at the conclusion of Johann
Christoph’s Der Gerechte provides
but one instance. For the most part
intonation is secure and textures
evenly balanced. I detected a few
insecurities but they are a small
price to pay for a transcendently
beautiful reading of Jesu, meine
Freude (BWV 227). Elsewhere,
the vocal declamation is full of
character and the continuo support
where called for of Jan Zahourek
(violone) and Pawel Siwczak is
stylish, though perhaps on occasion
a little too discreet.
Recorded sound is clear with
ideal resonance and the handsomely
produced booklet contains full texts
in German, English and French
as well as an excellent essay by
Stephen Rose. A fatuous description
of the performances by a branch of
the press as ‘a serious kick up the
baroque backside’ does nobody any
favours. Nicholas Anderson
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING ++++
The English Tenor
Works by Britten, Finzi, Gurney,
Quilter, Vaughan Williams
Scott Robert Shaw (tenor), Luba
Podgayskaya (piano), Eva de Vries
(violin), William Drakett (piano),
Choral & Song Reviews
A ‘Great’ soprano:
Anna Dennis brings
lightness to Mozart’s
C minor Mass
Emilie Bastens (harp), James
Williams (piano)
Divine Art DDX 21110 72:28 mins
The ‘English
tenor’ of the title
is actually the
Australian Scott
Robert Shaw,
and this is his
debut solo recital. It reveals a voice
of satisfying tonal smoothness,
deployed to plangent effect in
‘Sleep’ from Ivor Gurney’s Five
Elizabethan Songs. By the end of
Gurney’s cycle, however, a certain
interpretive reticence is evident –
Shaw makes little of the opportunity
to characterise the bird imitations
in ‘Spring’, and generally delivers
text straight, with a narrow range of
dynamics and limited highlighting
of meaning or emotion.
There’s more sap and
individuality in ‘Good-Bye’ from
Vaughan Williams’s cycle Along
The Field. Eva de Vries provides a
spirited violin accompaniment,
though her contribution is at times
diluted by a recorded balance
favouring the voice.
The opposite problem
handicaps Britten’s Eight Folk
Song Arrangements for High Voice
and Harp, where Emilie Bastens’s
harp is a touch too prominent and
rather dry in timbre. Her playing is,
however, excellent, especially in the
jaunty ‘The False Knight Upon the
Road.’ Here, though, Shaw’s limited
differentiation between the song’s
two characters drains interest over
the setting’s seven stanzas.
Finzi’s Let Us Garlands Bring
is the best-known music in
Shaw’s programme, and the
most demanding interpretively.
‘Come Away, Come Away, Death’
has an impressive solemnity,
although Shaw’s reluctance to lean
proactively on individual words
or paint them texturally is an
impediment to deeper involvement.
But some of his caution is cast aside
in the airy, affable account of ‘It Was
a Lover and His Lass’ which closes
the recital, where pianist James
Williams is a chirpy partner.
Terry Blain
PERFORMANCE +++
RECORDING +++
Folk Songs
Works by Bartók, Berio, Ravel
and Montsalvatge
Magdalena Kožená (mezzo); Czech
Philharmonic/Simon Rattle
Pentatone PTC 5187 075 53:04 mins
Folk songs are
supposedly
characterised by
simplicity, but
there is nothing
unsophisticated
about the high-end arrangements
of Bartók, Berio, Ravel or
Montsalvatge. Each finely crafted
song glows with orchestral colour
from subtle to brash.
The opening song, ‘In Prison’ is
a heart-wrenching lament of the
incarcerated, while ‘Virágéknál ég a
világ’ is downright thrilling. Ravel’s
Cinq mélodies populaires grecques –
the best consecutive set – show
off the kaleidoscopic orchestral
colours. Berio’s Folksongs are
musically more uneven. ‘Black is
the Colour’ lacks conviction, while
the gorgeous Armenian melody
‘Loosin yelav’ could be more
guileless. An odd detail: the title of
the Sicilian song ‘A la femminisca’
is mistranslated and Kožená uses
a confusingly harsh sound for this
prayer for good weather for the
beloved at sea. But others work well,
including the perfectly rendered
‘Motettu de tristura’.
Montsalvatge’s 5 Canciones negras
are both appealing and deeply
conflicting documents of Cuban
colonisation. The texts are redolent
of the injustices of slavery, but this
performance polishes the edges off
these sharp words. The texts need to
cut through the musically sensual
surface more for these deceptively
charming, carefully crafted songs to
speak. Natasha Loges
PERFORMANCE +++
RECORDING ++++
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 79
Chamber
CHAMBER CHOICE

An enticing slice of early and late Fauré

Roger Nichols delights in this album from Xavier Phillips and Cédric Tiberghien

as the sudden acceleration of notes

from bar 23 where the pianist’s Perfect partnership:
right-hand melody is given the Cédric Tiberghien (l) and
Fauré apparently contrary indication Xavier Phillips (r) listen
attentively to one another
Cello Sonatas; Élégie, Berceuse, ‘cantabile espressivo’. This too is
Op. 16; Romance, Op. 69 etc one of the universal places where
Xavier Phillips (cello), the performers are 100 per cent in
Cédric Tiberghien (piano) agreement with Fauré – and with
La Dolce Volta LDV102 61:50 mins each other. It is a delight beyond
As a lead-in to the centenary of words, in this culture where
Fauré’s death in 1924, here is another authorship is increasingly going for
recording (see my review of his so little, to find such skill, intelligence
Nocturnes and Barcarolles in the and respect for the composer. One
November issue) that mixes works further detail must suffice. In the
from early and wonderful Andante
late in his life, The performers are in of the Second
and in which the
same pattern of
agreement with Fauré Sonata, transcribed
directly from the
easily accessible and each other Chant funéraire
music in the early and again in C
examples and more taxing fare in the minor, the piano’s measured tread
late ones – most notably in the two is enlightened by three indications:
sonatas of 1917 and 1921 – is audible. ‘sostenuto’, ‘cantando’, then ‘marcato’.
If one is going to give prizes among For each, Tiberghien – with the
the earlier works, surely the top one lightest pedalling – finds a subtly
must go to the Élégie of 1880, in C different colour. Elsewhere too, the
minor like its twin, the cello version players, sharing the phrasing in the
of Après un rêve. Here, we find Fauré many sequences and canons, listen so
the supreme lyricist, matching attentively to each other. Altogether a
memorable melodic lines with his superb recording.
You can access thousands of reviews from our extensive archive on
inimitable harmonic control, but PERFORMANCE +++++
the BBC Music Magazine website at www.classical-music.com
with touches of complexity, such RECORDING +++++

Thomas Adès Listening to Quatuor Diotima and interplay between clarinet and JS Bach
Alchymia Mark Simpson – the commissioners strings is a colourful swirl that never
Goldberg Variations
Mark Simpson (basset clarinet); and original performers at the properly integrates. So far, so Adès.
(arr. Chad Kelly)
Quatuor Diotima London event – again in this new The following movements take us
Rachel Podger (violin);
Orchid Classics ORC100264 recording happily puts any of those into more complex spaces: ‘The
Brecon Baroque
(digital only/EP) 23:29 mins concerns to bed. Scored for string Woods So Wild’ (referencing the
The Kings quartet and basset clarinet – an song used by Byrd) sees a virtuosic Channel Classics CCSSA44923
Place premiere instrument similar in appearance melody passed from Simpson to 81:24 mins
of Alchymia, and timbre to the soprano version, strings, while ‘Lachrymae’, based Johann Sebastian
Thomas Adès’s but with an extended lower range on a John Dowland theme, slowly Bach’s Goldberg
first major (featured in Adès’s 1990 Chamber unfolds through flawless ensemble Variations is
chamber work Symphony, which actually began life playing. In the final ‘Divisions on a recognised by
since the 2010 string piece The Four as a basset clarinet concerto) – the Lute-song’, the reinvented barrel- performers
LYODOH KANEKO, THERESA PEWAL

Quartets, was a stand-out event in
2021. There was, of course, not a
lot of competition in terms of live
concerts that year, and a cynical
critic (what’s that?) might postulate
that the multiple five-star reviews
that followed reflected that reality.
music takes melodic and narrative
inspiration from Tudor and Stuart
London. The opening movement,
‘A Sea-Change’, refers to the part in
Shakespeare’s The Tempest when the
king’s eyes are transformed by water
into pearls; the oil-and-vinegar
organ melody used in the final and audiences
scene of Berg’s opera Lulu twists and alike as a paragon of keyboard
turns itself into clever knots that music. The work is also celebrated
disappear when tugged. for its remarkable contrapuntal
Claire Jackson writing and canonic ingenuity.
PERFORMANCE +++++ First published in 1741 as an Aria
RECORDING ++++ with 30 variations for a two-

80 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE


manual harpsichord, the work
concludes Bach’s Clavier-Übung, a
project that occupied him between
1726 and 1741. Many subsequent
arrangements have sought to
maintain the work’s timbral
homogeneity, but this new release
from Channel Classics heralds a
new approach that is equally radical
and welcome.
Recorded in September 2022,
following the acclaimed online
premiere from Brecon Cathedral
for the 2020 Brecon Baroque
Festival, Chad Kelly’s ‘reimagining’
of the Goldberg Variations reveals
Bach’s music anew. Kelly combines
plucked, bowed and blown
sonorities in his scoring for ten
instrumentalists (strings, woodwind
and harpsichord).
Through a diversity of genres –
aria, concerto, fugue, overture and
trio sonata – Bach’s music is imbued
with timbral and textural elegance
and profundity. Kelly’s varied
instrumental juxtapositions and
their resultant sonorities, together
with Brecon Baroque’s usual stylish
and impeccable playing, make one
reluctant to identify highlights.
The opening Aria and variations
14 and 20 give free reign to Rachel
Podger’s typically bewitching
virtuosity. Ebullient tutti sonorities
include variations 16 and 19, and in
variation eight the soundworld of
the Brandenburg Concertos is close
at hand. Lithe and articulate wind-
playing from Bircher, Lanthier,
Duarte and Klaucke deserves
special mention, especially in
variations 2, 15 and 18.
Ingrid Pearson
PERFORMANCE +++++
RECORDING +++++
Bernstein • Copland
Bernstein: Music for String Quartet;
Copland: Elegies for Violin and Viola
Lucia Lin (violin), Natalie Rose Kress
(violin), Danny Kim (viola),
Ronald Feldman (cello)
Navona NV6557 (EP) 17:16 mins
In 1936, Leonard
Bernstein, a
Harvard student,
turned 18. We
can’t now bring
back to life one of
his musical accomplishments of the
year – a staged production of HMS
Pinafore. But the position is different
with his mysterious and exciting
Music for String Quartet, briefly
performed privately at the time
from an unfinished, dishevelled
Bewitching Bach:
Rachel Podger and
Brecon Baroque are
typically polished
manuscript, later bequeathed to
one of the performers (a friend
and Boston Symphony Orchestra
violinist) before being finally
tracked down, edited, reunited
with another torso found at the
Library of Congress, and given its
world premiere at Tanglewood in
November 2021 by the excellent
current musicians. The dissonant
musings of the three-minute slow
movement (marked Andante, tempo
di sarabande) scarcely suggest the
mature Bernstein. But his future
achievements are easier to glimpse
in the youthful surging motion
and folksy and jazzy inflections of
the opening seven-minute Allegro
vivace. A final fast movement
would seem indicated, for the sake
of balance.
This fascinating EP release is
usefully filled out with Copland’s
two Elegies for violin and viola,
written in Mexico in 1933 but
withdrawn by the composer after
he more or less transcribed the first
elegy as the fourth movement of
his orchestral Statements. Pared
down to two instruments, the spare
harmonies occasionally recall the
‘open air’ Copland of the 1940s, but
the general ambience remains one
of tough modernity, then his chief
mode of address. Performances
from all four musicians are robustly
expressive, whether the famous
composers are frowning, briefly
melodious, or busy practising jazz
calisthenics. Geoff Brown
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING ++++
Mozart and the Organ
Church ‘Epistle’ Sonatas Nos
1-11; No. 15; No. 17; Church
Sonata in G (K274/271d),
Fantasias in F Minor (K594,
K608), Andante in F, K616
Anders Eidsten Dahl (organ), Arvid
Engegård, Atle Sponberg (violin),
Embrik Snerte (bassoon)
Lawo Classics LWC1257 71:07 mins
The organ was not
high on Mozart’s
list of favourite
instruments: if
we are to believe a
letter he wrote to
his wife Constanze, the commission
to write for a mechanical organ in a
Vienna mausoleum in 1791 gave him
a lot of trouble, and he did it only for
the money. However, the result – at
least as reworked for a full-sized
organ with a real player – is sober
and impressive. Anders Eidsten
Dahl’s performance of this
F minor Fantasia, K608 on the
Tomaź Močnik organ in the
Swedish Church, Oslo, is the
highlight of this album: its swirling
turns lead to a Baroque fugue which,
after a quiet central interlude here
on transparent flute, returns with
a thrilling counter-subject. While
Dahl does not have the throwaway
exuberant virtuosity of Simon
Preston, the crisp and reedy sound
of his instrument is compelling. The
Adagio and Allegro, also in F minor,
is by contrast too leaden and moves
too slowly. For those who relish
these details, the temperament of
Chamber Reviews
the organ is that of Neidhardt III
from 1724.
The earlier Church Sonatas,
written to fill a gap in Salzburg
Masses between the Epistle and
Gospel, are very different: these are
light-hearted chirpy interludes that
rather irreligiously breathe the spirit
of opera buffa. There are a couple
(K278 and 329) that make use of
more instruments, but they are
omitted here. So apart from the last,
K336, which sounds like an amiable
organ concerto, the organ mainly
fulfils a role of continuo player,
and is pretty inaudible. The string
and bassoon players are lively and
incisive, but this unbroken sequence
of two- to four-minute pieces is
unsatisfying. Nicholas Kenyon
PERFORMANCE +++
RECORDING ++++
ATOMOS – The Art of
Musical Concentration
Works by Haydn, Beethoven,
Bartók, György Kurtág
and Webern
Cuarteto Quiroga
Cobra COBRA 0088 58:35 mins
The Cuarteto
Quiroga’s new
album sets out
an intriguing
idea: how did
great composers
express themselves concisely,
distilling the essence of their art into
intense utterances of brief duration?
One master of concentrated musical
forms was Webern, and the Quiroga
players include the penultimate
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 81
Chamber Reviews
number from his Six Bagatelles,
Op. 9 as a bonus; but in our own
time there is the Hungarian
composer György Kurtág – his
Secreta, recorded here for the first
time, is a wonderful example of
his ability to say a great deal with
economy of means. It was written
in memory of László Dobszay, a
Hungarian authority on liturgical
chant and folk music who died
in 2011, and Kurtág describes his
piece as funeral music. Its sustained
keening sounds on the threshold
of audibility eventually lead to the
emergence of what sounds like the
ghost of a folk tune in typically
Hungarian short-long rhythm, with
the reiterated melodic interval of
the minor third creating a rather
haunting effect.
Haydn’s isolated D minor
Quartet, Op. 42 is the shortest
among his great string quartets,
and one of the most neglected.
The aggressive manner in which
the Cuarteto Quiroga attack its
very beginning is curiously at
odds with Haydn’s characteristic
‘innocentemente’ marking, but
thereafter the performance is
admirably intimate and expressive.
The players offer remarkably
polished accounts of Beethoven’s
‘Serioso’ Quartet, Op. 95, and
Bartók’s Third Quartet. The final
moments of the Beethoven, where
the music seems to shrug off the
intense drama that has been
unfolding thus far, is dizzyingly fast,
but it does reflect the composer’s
metronome marking. Here – and
throughout the recording – the
playing itself is technically
impeccable. Misha Donat
PERFORMANCE +++++
RECORDING +++++
Between Breaths
Works by Missy Mazzoli, Tyondai
Braxton, Ayanna Woods,
Gemma Peacocke
Third Coast Percussion
Cedille CDR 90000 224 58:58 mins
Third Coast
Percussion’s latest
project Between
Breaths is an
exploration of
the meditative
space craved in modern life by
many, alongside collaborations with
composers examining themes of
GETTY, IGOR STUDIO
tranquility, devastation, ritual
and energy.
These alliances have made highly
detailed and precise demands
82 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Short but sweet:
Cuarteto Quiroga’s survey of
brief-but-weighty works is
curious and rewarding
on the players; sticks used on the
rims, for example; or a vibraphone
played variously with the motor
on or off, bowed or otherwise.
There are also sounds reminiscent
of indigenous peoples; hints of a
log drum and vocals comprising
shouts, whistles and counting.
These probings attempt to wrestle
with vast concepts, as exemplified
by Missy Mazzoli’s Millennium
Canticles, which explores the idea
of humankind renewing itself after
an apocalypse. The five movements
emerge from a dystopian world, with
hints of life that grow and develop.
The ensemble’s own composition
In Practice covers the routines of
musicians rehearsing together,
accompanied by the everyday
detritus of rehearsals. Nevertheless,
touches of Tōru Takemitsu and
even Messiaen manifest alongside
electronic sounds. These are
explored further in Tyondai
Braxton’s expansive Sunny X with
resonances whizzing from ear to ear,
and stretched techniques producing
nature sounds and dramatic pauses.
The most obviously rhythmical
groove appears on Triple Point by
Ayanna Woods. Here, the funky use
of ‘open’ and ‘closed’ triangle, plus
bass drum and rim shots provide
a real sense of motion and melody.
Ending with Gemma Peacocke’s
Death Wish there is a sense that
despite the album grappling with
immeasurable concepts, there was
a limit on the soundscape and a
stronger emphasis on rhythmic
exploration rather than melody.
The effect is contemplative, even
soporific. Anne Templer
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING ++++
Eventail
Works by Ravel, Debussy,
Milhaud, Saint-Saëns,
Casadesus, Koechlin, Jolivet
and Messiaen
Heinz Holliger (oboe), Anton Kernjak
(piano)
ECM ECM 2694 65:08 mins
Heinz Holliger
continues to
amaze. Now in
his eighties, he
still finds the time
and the stamina
alongside his composing and
conducting to extend his reputation
as the foremost oboist of the past
60 years. This beautifully crafted
album of French works, mostly
Vocalises-Etudes and other wordless
songs, is bolstered by a triptych of
larger works.
Beguiling lyricism is to the fore,
whether in Ravel’s Pièce en forme
de Habanera and ‘Kaddisch’ or
Milhaud’s insouciant Vocalise.
The improvisatory arabesques of
Saint-Saëns’s Le rossignol formed
the basis of the central movement
of the composer’s sonata, also heard
here with, as elsewhere, the finely
judged pianism of Anton Kernjak.
Prompted by Koechlin’s haunting Le
repos de Tityre for solo oboe d’amore,
Holliger uses the same instrument
for Debussy’s Syrinx and Petite Pièce,
each sounding at least as effective as
the flute and clarinet originals.
Similar explorations of
French oboe repertoire exist, but
none with Holliger’s personal
connections. Jolivet’s Controversia,
an extraordinary exploration of
harp and oboe sonority, was written
for Holliger and his harpist wife,
Ursula, the latter’s part played
with utter assurance here by the
impressive Alice Belugou. One
moment hauntingly veiled, the
next chittering in the heights,
sweetly singing before morphing
into rasping pleas with no loss
of line, Holliger’s formidable
technique and musicality are on
full display. He closes with the
sonata by Robert Casadesus, a
genuine rarity written for Holliger’s
own teacher, Emile Cassagnaud.
Capturing its alternately dreamy
and pugnaciously playful nature,
Holliger is, as ever, an ideal advocate.
Christopher Dingle
PERFORMANCE +++++
RECORDING ++++
Infinite Voyage
Berg: String Quartet, Op. 3;
Chausson: Chanson perpétuelle*;
Hindemith: Melancholie, Op. 13*;
Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 2 in
F sharp minor
*Barbara Hannigan (soprano);
Emerson String Quartet
Alpha Classics ALPHA1000 72:55 mins
Schoenberg’s
Second String
Quartet adds
a solo soprano
voice in the
last two of its
four movements. This presents an
interesting challenge in finding
works to programme alongside it,
and Barbara Hannigan and the
Emerson Quartet have come up with
quality material – a musical ‘Infinite
Voyage’, inspired by a line from the
concluding Stefan George setting
in Schoenberg’s quartet, ‘l feel air
from another planet’. Hindemith’s
song-cycle Melancholie for soprano
and string quartet was composed in
1918, in a mildly modernist idiom
that’s both searching and appealing.
Chausson’s Chanson perpétuelle
adds a piano for its poetic portrayal
of lovelorn would-be suicide.
And Berg’s String Quartet Op.3 of
1905, written three years before
Schoenberg’s masterwork, explores
a similar post-Romantic world of
harmony and expression.
 Chamber Reviews
The result is a programme whose
musical demands, however, are not
always convincingly met. Hannigan
is a remarkable artist in her unique
way, and it’s down to personal
taste whether you find her non-
vibrato-to-vibrato way of delivering
one individual note after another
vividly expressive, or a relentless
mannerism. While the mournful
emotional world of Hindemith’s
cycle is tellingly conveyed, this
doesn’t quite happen in Chausson’s
setting. Berg’s quartet was recorded
at a different time and location from
the other works, and an element
of dryness in the recorded sound
feels at odds with the music’s
hyper-intense soundworld. Much
the finest experience comes in
Schoenberg’s quartet, where
the Emerson Quartet’s playing
masterfully combines forensic
technical precision and expressive
warmth. And Hannigan’s
identification with Schoenberg’s
extraordinary and exploratory
music is complete and memorable.
Malcolm Hayes
PERFORMANCE +++
RECORDING +++
Smock Alley
Works by Carina Drury,
Giordani, Geminiani, Ireland,
Roseingrave, D Scarlatti et al
Irlandiani
FHR FHR144 61:15 mins
In this, their
second album,
instrumental
group Irlandiani
explores
the Italian
connection with Dublin’s theatre
scene in the 18th century. It is
a reminder that Dublin was an
important centre of music making
and cultural exchange. The area
around the city’s Smock Alley
Theatre in particular became a
meeting point for Italian and Irish
musicians and composers.
The core works are a set of six
cello duos and a cello sonata by
the Naples-born, Dublin-based
composer Tommaso Giordani. They
are simple but attractive works,
reminiscent of Boccherini and
Haydn, but with an unmistakably
‘Irish’ flavour. The faster movements
– especially the Giga of the third
duo – show the influence of popular
jig rhythms and melodies. The
celebrated violinist and composer
Francesco Geminiani also spent
time in Dublin (he died there in
1762) and is represented by one of
his innovative Op. 5 cello sonatas.
Domenico Scarlatti also makes an
appearance, with two keyboard
sonatas that are prefaced by a gently
restrained Introduction by Thomas
Roseingrave, a Dubliner who
met the Scarlattis in Venice and
later published an edition of
Domenico’s sonatas.
Irlandiani also plays
arrangements for cello, violone,
percussion and flute of Irish folk
tunes and songs. They include
the funeral lament Caoineadh,
based on the melody from the Irish
air Caoineadh na dTrí Muire and
adapted by cellist Carina Drury.
Both she and Poppy Walshaw
play the duos and sonatas with
sensitivity and conviction.
Fine playing, too, by Nathaniel
Mander on harpsichord. The
recorded sound from Heath Street
Baptist Church in north London is
warm and well balanced.
John-Pierre Joyce
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING ++++

BACKGROUND TO…
Fauré’s Élégie
This work was pretty much an instant hit when
it was ‘premiered’ at the Société Nationale de
Musique by the composer, with cellist Jules
Loeb, in 1883. It wasn’t actually the music’s first
performance, though, as Fauré had composed
it some three years earlier. Originally envisaged
as the slow movement of a cello sonata, the
composer unveiled his work-in-progress in June
1880 at the salon of Saint-Saëns, no less. For whatever reason, the rest of
the sonata never materialised – the composer was happy enough with his
work to let it stand on its own. He later arranged it for cello and orchestra.
Instrumental
INSTRUMENTAL CHOICE

Angela Hewitt is meticulous in Mozart

The pianist’s second volume of sonatas really sparkles, says Rebecca Franks

in A minor, K310. Or listen to the

deliciously light broken chords in
the Allegro moderato of the Sonata in
Mozart C major, K330. Wherever you turn
Piano Sonatas, K310, K311, in this double album, it’s clear that
K330-333; Fantasias Hewitt has approached this second
Angela Hewitt (piano) volume of Mozart piano sonatas, part
Hyperion CDA68421-2 148:20 mins of a complete set, with her customary
(2 discs) meticulous style.
Mozart made use of the sounds Sandwiched between two groups
offered by the new fortepianos of of three sonatas are two Fantasias,
the time, writes Angela Hewitt in works which Hewitt has been
her engaging booklet notes that playing since she was young. In the
accompany her latest recording. Fantasia in C minor – a fragment
‘The delicate, completed by Abbé
singing, but precise Hewitt’s nimble and Stadler – Hewitt
touch needed to
play the fortepiano
sensitive articulation leans into the
austere moodiness
can and should be brings this to life of the music.
carried over to the The bittersweet
modern piano,’ she says. And on this poignancy of the Fantasia in D minor
album, the Canadian pianist does just is beautifully done. In terms of
that, playing on one of her beloved character, it’s quite the contrast with
Fazioli pianos with the sort of nimble the Sonata in A, K331 that follows,
and sensitive articulation that brings with its lilting theme (not at all Play it again:
Angela Hewitt’s
this music to life. sentimental here) and variations. Mozart deserves
Take the sparkling account of the Two further Sonatas – in F, K332 repeated listening
Sonata in D, K311, written in 1777 and in B flat, K333 – round off an
when the composer was 21, which excellent recital that yields rewards
opens the programme. Or the brittle on every listen.
You can access thousands of reviews from our extensive archive on
sound she conjures for the agitated PERFORMANCE +++++
the BBC Music Magazine website at www.classical-music.com
outer movements of the Sonata RECORDING +++++

JS Bach
French Suites
Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord)
Hyperion CDA68401-2 147:27 mins
(2 discs)
The complexity
of sources
underlying
Bach’s music
has exercised
performers and
scholars for over two centuries.
Even an apparently straightforward
collection like the six French Suites,
assembled for his wife Anna
Magdalena in the early 1720s, show
the hands of different copyists with
versions sometimes growing out of
Bach’s teaching relationship with his
pupils. Mahan Esfahani’s extensive,
often entertaining notes explain
the decisions behind this new
recording including variants and
additions alongside all the familiar
movements. A main beneficiary is
the fourth suite in E flat that gains
an improvisatory prelude, a second
gavotte and a minuet. Esfahani
also includes what he describes as
three ‘Orphan Suites’, comprising
works connected to Bach either by a
single ascription, as in the G minor
Suite, or via the copies of pupils,
presumably based on their teacher’s
work. Whatever their provenance,
the music rarely disappoints.
All credit to Esfahani for this
carefully prepared recording.
While no amount of scholarly
underpinning will save poor
performing, there is much to enjoy the delightful intimacy of these
in playing that displays poise works. Jan Smaczny
and expressive nuance as well as PERFORMANCE +++
virtuosity. Some may find Esfahani’s RECORDING +++
use of rubato excessive, for instance
in the Allemande, Sarabande and JS Bach
first Gavotte of the fourth Suite, Goldberg Variations
and occasionally the playing strays Víkingur Ólafsson (piano)
into over-exuberance, as in the DG 486 4553 67:22 mins
infectious Gigue of the fifth Suite. Víkingur
The harpsichord used is big in Ólafsson won
size and sound, and while initially his spurs five
impressive, its over-resonant timbre years ago with
in a generous recorded ambience his riveting
becomes tiring. More enjoyable compilation
overall are the performances of the album Johann Sebastian Bach, in
first three French Suites and two of which he interwove pieces by Bach
the ‘Orphan Suites’ on a clavichord with transcriptions of chorales by
with a modest, but expressive himself and others. He prefaces this
dynamic range that admirably suits new recording by telling us that he’s

84 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE


dreamed of recording the Goldbergs
for a quarter of a century, and he
admits that at one stage, obsessed
with the work’s formal perfection,
he thought he should reflect that by
mathematical means – measuring
out tempo markings for every
variation in search of the ideal
proportions, and predetermining as
many elements of the interpretation
as possible, down to the articulation
of almost every phrase.
In practice, he says, this all fell
flat, ‘because for all the formal
consistency, this is not a predictable
work… It beckons a kind of
interpretive improvisation.’ Each
variation, he says, must ‘draw us into
its own marvellous little microcosm’.
With the exception of the ‘Black
Pearl’ variation, which lasts almost
ten minutes, this is one of the fastest
sets I have ever heard, yet it’s also
one of the most enjoyable. Ólafsson
draws on a refined palette and his
touch – always flawlessly accurate –
is as light as a feather.
The microcosms are clearly
characterised, yet, as the
kaleidoscope turns, the effect is
seamless. Ólafsson takes pleasure
in making the bass sing sweetly
in the counterpoint, and to weep
as in Variation 21; Variation 15 is
particularly gorgeous as each voice
takes its turn under the microscope,
and the trill-garlanded grace of
Variation 28 is bewitching. There is
just one aberration: Variation 30, so
fast that its ceremonious brilliance
gets lost in its own slipstream.
Michael Church
PERFORMANCE +++++
RECORDING ++++
Byrd
Keyboard Works
Stephen Farr (organ)
Resonus RES10326 66:06 mins
From Leighton
and MacMillan to
JS Bach and John
Bull, Stephen Farr
brings trademark
intellectual
rigour to a wide-ranging repertoire.
Just in time to catch the end of the
anniversary year, his latest release
is single-mindedly devoted to
William Byrd – and he returns
to the Taylor and Boody organ in
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge,
JIMMY KATZ, MARKUS JANS
a chamber instrument of seven
stops, built with the music of the
English Renaissance in mind – and
tuned to a temperament that would
likely have been familiar to Byrd.
It’s a timely release. For many (if
not most), it’s Byrd’s vocal music
that first springs to mind, and over
a decade has passed since Davitt
Moroney’s monumental traversal of
the complete keyboard for Hyperion
– a project that straddled seven
discs and six different instruments
including a muselar virginal.
For non-completists, Farr’s
snapshot is adroitly chosen. Played
with trenchant ebullience, to close
there’s Byrd’s own arrangement
(probably) of his Marian motet
O quam gloriosum est regnum.
Farr opens with ‘A Lesson of
Voluntarie’ from My Ladye Nevells
Booke. It’s unpacked with a stately
inevitability and unswerving
structural command. Characteristic
too is Farr’s adventurous approach
to ornamentation, which always
sounds effortlessly natural. Ut,
re, mi, fa, sol, la (based on the first
six ascending notes of the scale) is
despatched with magisterial dignity,
and the contrapuntal clarity is
captivating – necessary when Byrd’s
fertile imagination takes wing. On
harpsichord Richard Egarr (Linn)
is perhaps a little more ruminative
in the Fantasia, H4/MB13; and
Moroney remains indispensable; but
Farr’s Byrd is a supremely welcome
addition to the ‘aviary’. Paul Riley
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING +++++
Chopin
Complete Mazurkas, Vol. 2
Peter Jablonski (piano)
Ondine ODE 1431-2 73:49 mins
Though the
mazurka is a
country dance
rooted in the
Polish region
of Mazovia,
it can be difficult for modern
listeners to imagine it played on folk
instruments. Thanks to Chopin –
also to some earlier composers and
many following him – it has long
been established as a pianistic form
and perhaps the greatest artistic
manifestation of Polish cultural
identity. It’s unsurprising that Peter
Jablonski, the Swedish pianist
with half-Polish roots, has played
mazurkas by various composers
throughout his career.
Here in the second volume
of Jablonski’s complete Chopin
mazurkas, he finishes his
chronological journey with Opp 50
to 68 – strictly speaking, however,
chronology becomes blurred since
Instrumental Reviews
Back to Bach:
Víkingur Ólafsson
takes on the
beloved Goldbergs
the last two sets were published
posthumously in 1855, comprising
pieces written as early as 1827 and
as late as 1849, the year of Chopin’s
death. Yet date order is unimportant,
and Jablonski opens by gathering up
several early mazurkas also issued
posthumously but without opus
numbers, including the C major
piece of contested authorship.
As the first track, the Mazurka in
B flat major (1826) comes across with
lively charm and vitality, but alas
it’s the sort of liveliness that when
repeated too often begins to sound
studied. Jablonski’s playing can be a
bit spikey and hard-edged, and his
energy unrelenting, especially when
such close recording gives the piano
(not to mention the listener) little
breathing room. Taken individually
the performances are fine, but it is
a relief to reach the last track, the
Mazurka in F minor – sometimes
described as Chopin’s saddest piece
– one in which the ‘Tristan’ chord
is anticipated. Curiously, though,
Jablonski scarcely glances at its tonal
ambiguities. John Allison
PERFORMANCE +++
RECORDING +++
Baroque
Works by D Scarlatti, Vivaldi,
Rameau, Handel, Weiss, JS
Bach, Marcello et al
Miloš Karadaglić (guitar);
Arcangelo/Jonathan Cohen
Sony Classical 19658822942 60:38 mins
The Montenegrin
guitarist Miloš
Karadaglić has
greatly expanded
the repertoire for
his instrument
over the past 20 years, and this is the
latest in a series of groundbreaking
recordings. He tells us in a liner
note that a Baroque album has been
gestating in his mind for the past
ten years; the notion of entering
its soundworld fascinating him
with its mysterious and Protean
possibilities. ‘Everything that I
have ever learnt,’ he says, ‘all the
influences that I have felt, and even
the different musical traditions that
I have known, have all coalesced in
this album.’
By far the finest track here is his
transcription of the Chaconne from
Bach’s Second Partita for Violin,
where the purity of the line and the
implied harmonic textures transfer
from bowed strings to plucked ones
as though that had always been
Bach’s intention. Every note sings in
Miloš’s majestic account.
In a sense, this album represents
an attempt to discover what a guitar
can do with music not designed for
it – and some tracks fall short. Two
transcribed lute pieces by Silvius
Leopold Weiss work perfectly, as
does one of two Scarlatti sonatas,
but the F minor K466 one leaves
me longing to hear it as it should
be heard on the keyboard. More
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 85
Instrumental Reviews
seriously, two Vivaldi concertos for
four violins come across clumsily
in their transcription by Miloš’s
mentor Michael Lewin – the guitar
can’t begin to reflect the string
instruments’ bright ebullience. On
the other hand, a keyboard piece
by Couperin has lovely poise, as
does the Larghetto of a trio sonata
for violin, lute and basso continuo
by Vivaldi.
Michael Church
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING +++
Cascade
Beethoven: Bagatelle in C
major; Six Bagatelles Prokofiev:
Visions fugitives; R Schumann:
Waldszenen
Cordelia Williams (piano)
SOMM Recordings SOMMCD0675
65:10 mins
This album
collects various
miniatures:
Prokofiev’s
Visions fugitives,
Schumann’s
Waldszenen and Beethoven’s
Bagatelles. Williams gives listeners a
keen sense of the strange emotional
landscapes each little piece depicts.
The opening Bagatelle
demonstrates a fine touch and
a well-judged tempo, creating
an appropriately eldritch effect.
Williams can layer textures
subtly, for example in Prokofiev’s
Lentamente (No. 2), and also achieves
exciting contrasts, flipping between
crisp and emollient in the Allegretto
(No. 4). Her Prokofiev is quite soft-
edged, inward and vulnerable.
The Waldszenen convincingly
follow the Visions, connected by
touch and colour. But this is a strange
and unbalanced collection that
needs a greater imaginative range
to sustain interest and bring each
vignette to life. The ‘Jagdlied’, for
instance, could depict the hunt (or
the feel of hunting) more explicitly
(the hunting horn is sometimes lost
in the texture), while the melody of
‘Abschied’ (not Schumann’s best)
needs more songfulness. ‘Vogel als
Prophet’ – which should be chilling
– feels surprisingly benign.
Similarly, Williams’s Beethoven
Op. 126 Bagatelles offer points
of interest yet need more colour
and extremes to make their
strangeness convince. There are
brilliant moments in No. 4, Presto,
but the rapid passages of No. 6
sounded a little tame. The beautiful
86 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Take two: Brandon
Patrick George pairs
contrasting works
transparent sound and elfin quality
of her Prokofiev is less effective here.
The sound quality is clear, if a
touch harsh and shallow in louder
sections; perhaps more layered
recorded sound would have helped
sustain interest through this
lengthy succession of short, sharply
contrasted and mostly odd pieces.
Overall, the Prokoviev miniatures
are most absorbing. Natasha Loges
PERFORMANCE +++
RECORDING +++
In Memoriam II
– The Scordatura Album
JS Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in
C minor; Britten: Cello Suite No.
3 – Passacaglia; Kodály: Sonata for
Solo Cello
Pieter Wispelwey (cello)
Evil Penguin EPRC 0056 60:26 mins
This album
was born out
of tragedy: the
death of Pieter
Wispelwey’s
16-year-old
son Dorian in an accident last year.
As Wispelwey has said, ‘losing
a child is a thousand-fold heart-
break’. Yet he and his oboist wife
did ‘find salvation’ in returning to
making music.
The choice of scordatura solo
works for this album ‘in memoriam’
has deep significance: here is music
for a world retuned. In Bach’s suite
in C minor, which Wispelwey
performed at the funeral, the cello’s
top A string is tuned down to G,
removing the instrument’s ‘shine’,
transforming it into a messenger
of darkness. The diminished
fourth interval that also recurs
in this piece was for Wispelwey
symbolic of the diminishment of
their once four-strong family. This
will always be a sombre work, but
Wispelwey’s reading has wonderful
life and elasticity, the opening fugue
a crisp dance, and inner dances
powerfully focused. At its heart lies
the extraordinary, naked Sarabande.
It’s impossible not to find solace in
its ineluctable harmonic logic, and
impossible not to be profoundly
moved by Wispelwey’s self-effacing
reading, a performance heavy with
held-back tears.
Wispelwey, always a musician of
high ambition and intense idealism,
has recorded and ‘conquered’
Kodály’s great ‘predator’, the solo
sonata, before, but returning to
it he recognises now an ‘orgy of
resilience’. Here is a performance of
blistering energy and lustre from an
artist utterly fluent in its language.
The final Allegro is surely one of
the fastest on record, driven by an
almost diabolical force. The album
closes with a starkly expressive
reading of the Passacaglia from
Britten’s Suite No. 3. Devastating.
Helen Wallace
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING ++++
Twofold
Works by CPE Bach, Seeger,
Debussy, Takemitsu, Reena
Esmail, Shawn E Okpebholo,
Saad Haddad
Brandon Patrick George (flute)
In a Circle ICR029 47:22 mins
Pairing canonical
works for
solo flute with
new composers
for the second
time on album,
Brandon Patrick George wants to
unravel the ‘musical dialogues
that transcend space, time and
identity’. While his debut solo
album brought together works by
Aho, Bach, Boulez and Prokofiev,
this time he is is spreading his
net wider still, with a programme
celebrating the interplay between
European, Hindustani and Japanese
musical traditions.
Clocking in at just over 45
minutes, Twofold is an intimate,
contained portrait of Brandon
Patrick George as a flautist. These
shorter works are exposing, with
nowhere for the soloist to hide.
We begin with CPE Bach’s Sonata
in A minor, a piece that presents
challenges in tone control and octave
leaps. George rises to the occasion,
delivering clear articulation even in
the most challenging of intervals,
before then tackling a work written
in direct response to this sonata:
Saad Haddad’s Tasalsul I. Utilising
the lower registers, the piece plays
with extended technique to express
the microtonality of the nay, an
ancient Arab recorder.
Ruth Crawford Seeger’s rarely
performed Diaphonic Suite sits at
the centre of the album, with four
dynamic, short movements that ask
a great deal of the player. George’s
tone remains consistent throughout
the relentless flowing passages.
Debussy’s Syrinx, one of the flute
repertoire’s most performed – and
best-loved – works follows suit,
before George ends with another
highly lyrical work: Takemitsu’s
Air, a piece directly inspired by the
colourful harmonies and textures
of Debussy’s writing, blending
sounds from east and west. George’s
tone is bold here, with a warm,
fairly slow vibrato that calls to mind
the stylings of Sharon Bezaly. This is
a superb collection.
Freya Parr
PERFORMANCE ++++
RECORDING ++++
 Marches
Symphonies Nos 1–3

Enigma Variations
Cello Concerto

Available 24 November
SACD | Digital

Professional vocal ensemble

St Martin's Voices presents a selection
of contemporary choral works for the
Christmas season, with settings of poetry
IURPWKHÀIWHHQWKFHQWXU\WRWKH
present day in a programme
made entirely of premiere recordings.

This album features works by Cecilia

McDowall, Roderick Williams
and Lucy Walker (among others),
and boasts a major new carol suite by
Bob Chilcott, entitled ‘Mary, Mother’, which
was premiered by the ensemble in 2022.

Christmas from the Chapel Royal Apocalypse:

The Choir of HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Choral Music by David Lancaster
Palace, Carl Jackson (director) Ex Corde Vocal Ensemble,

resonus classics
Paul Gameson (conductor)

www.resonusclassics.com

Isotonic: Commissions for Clarinet Ethel Smyth: Der Wald Coelho: Flores de Musica Vol. 2
William Byrd: Keyboard Works
Robert Plane (clarinet), BBC Philharmonic, Soloists, BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Orchestra André Ferreira (organ)
Stephen Farr (organ)
Gould Piano Trio, John Andrews (conductor)
Geoffrey Paterson (conductor)
Follow us on: @resonusclassics /resonusclassics
World
Jon Lusk shares great partnerships in this month’s survey of World recordings
December round-up
WORLD CHOICE Regular readers of
this round-up will
Kris Drever at his Best be familiar with
Welsh harpist
Catrin Finch.
This collection of cuts by the Scottish musician While best known
for her superb collaborative albums
celebrates his genius and collaborative spirit with Senegalese kora player/
singer Seckou Keita, the third of
which featured in my November
Highly strung: 2022 selection, Finch has recently
Kris Drever is
a guitarist with
found a delightful new partnership
few peers with Irish fiddler/violinist Aoife
Ní Bhriain which is showcased to
exhilarating effect on their newly
released album Double You –
perhaps thus titled because all the
track titles begin with the letter
W. Perhaps most emblematic of
these is ‘Wish’, for the way in which
it marries an Irish and a Welsh
traditional song to spellbinding
effect. Both artists are also deeply
grounded in classical music, as is
evident throughout. (Bendidedig
BENDI11) +++++
Another fine, but extremely
unlikely, recent release pairs
two virtuoso
musicians who
are both widely
acclaimed
maestros of
their chosen
The Best of Kris Drever instruments. Malian kora player
Kris Drever, Lau, Éamonn Coyne et al Toumani Diabaté and Persian
Reveal Records 193CDX (2 discs) spike fiddle (or kamancheh)
This great Scot needs little introduction, player Kayhan Kalhor come from
having most recently graced this page when entirely distinct backgrounds, but
his fourth solo album, Where the World on The Sky Is The Same Colour
Is Thin featured in the November 2021 Everywhere we hear a perfect
issue. A typically prolific genius, Drever is also a keen collaborator, sonic partnership rather than the
although surprisingly little of his work with the brilliant trio Lau (see sound of two giant egos rubbing up
July 2019 issue) is included on this ‘best of’ collection. It does not against one another, which might
include more than one item from his sparkling artistic partnership well have resulted from such an
with the Irish banjo player Éamonn Coyne, whose second album odd combination. (Real World
featured in the July 2013 issue, nor any of his pieces with the Lost CDRW238) +++++
Words Spell Songs Project. Amame takes fewer chances
What you do get in this generous two-disc compilation is a by combining the talents of
handful of previously unreleased songs, including new single, two musicians from the same
‘Catterline’, Drever’s awed tribute to the painter Joan Eardley, nation, though
referencing the fishing village near Stonehaven that she has not similar
immortalised in her work. backgrounds;
A suitably stellar cast of colleagues from an eclectic range of Mari Boine is a
fields contribute guest performances, and as a near-peerless Norwegian Sami
guitarist, Drever’s feel for rhythm is clear on the likes of ‘Scapa Flow folk singer, and
1919’ just as his ability to inhabit/take ownership of others’ songs pianist Bugge Wesseltoft also
shines on his versions of ‘Poor Man’s Son’ and ‘Harvest Gypsies’. hails from Norway. You can read
GETTY
+++++ a review of his highly accessible
88 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Everybody Loves Angels album in
the July 2018 round-up, and his
obvious comfort in diverse pop,
jazz and classical music allow him
to furnish Boine’s conversationally
understated, but hugely charismatic
vocals with a broad range of
settings. When she elides out of
Sami into English on ‘If Tomorrow’s
Mine’ so masterfully, you will
barely notice. Although it sounds as
though they are accompanied by a
bass player and a subtle drummer/
percussionist, these roles are taken
by Wesseltoft through his wizardry
with electronica. (Norse Music
BNM066CD) +++++
Duos- Alone by Vietnamese
pianist and đàn-tranh zither
player Tri Nguyen isn’t really a
collaborative
album, even if
it might sound
like one; it’s a
wonderfully
successful pairing
of two exquisite traditional musical
worlds by the same artist. Thus,
we hear the unlikely combination
of Bach’s aria from the Goldberg
Variations with the instrumental
from ‘Nam Ai – Sadness of the
South’. The album’s first single
‘That Bicycle Ride’ features patterns
reminiscent of Mozart’s Fantasia
in D minor, K397. (Naxos World
NXW76167-2) ++++
Finally, we journey to the little-
known Latin American nation of
Bolivia. Luzmila Carpio’s Inti
Watana - El Retorno del Sol mixes
up traditional folk
instruments like
charango, bombo
and quenas with
violin, electronica
and her own
agreeably eccentric vocals and
mimicry of sounds from the natural
world. It’s a riveting collaboration
with Argentinian producer
Leonardo Martinelli (electronics
and violin) by the artist Rolling
Stone described as ‘one of the most
prolific indigenous singers of South
America’, returning to long held
political stances on the importance
of female empowerment and
respect for our environment. (ZZK
Records ZZK056LPC1) +++++
 WHO
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Brief notes
This month’s selection features echoes, postcards, paths and cyborg pianists

Beethoven Cello Sonatas Henze The Raft of the Medusa Paul Mottram Seven Ages of Man Divergent Paths
Gary Hoffman (cello), David Selig Arnold Schoenberg Chor et al Tim Garland, Jason Rebello et al Works by Ravel and Schoenberg
(piano) La Dolce Volta LDV111.2 (2-discs) Capriccio C5482 Ubuntu UBU0140 Telegraph Quartet
Here, Beethoven’s Written in 1968, What do you get Azica Records ACD-7136027
five cello sonatas, Henze’s darkly when you cross two The first in an
spanning his early, abrasive work for of the UK’s finest intended series
middle and late soloists, chorus and jazz soloists with a exploring string
periods, are joyfully orchestra – with swathe of orchestral quartet repertoire
sinuous – and even the thorny spoken German dialogue – vividly musicians? Mottram’s vivid cycle of the 20th century
later works benefit from a clear conveys the many horrors faced spins an enjoyable musical yarn, pairs vastly different works – and
musical purpose that only supreme by the survivors of a notorious taking us from human gestation while the Ravel’s ghostly delicacy
technical competence and years of 1816 shipwreck that was famously to old age with bags of cinematic suits the Telegraph’s spare,
committed partnership can bring. depicted by painter Théodore character, charm and musicality. unadorned style, the dense and
Outstanding. (CS) +++++ Géricault. (JP) +++ (MB) ++++ stormy Schoenberg feels a little
anaemic. (CS) ++++
Richard Cameron-Wolfe Korngold Chamber Works Carlos Simon brea(d)th
Telesthesia Bruno Monteiro (violin) et al Minnesota Orchestra/Jonathan Taylor Echoes of Bohemia Works by
Antwerp Cello Quartet Etcetera KTC1774 Rush et al Decca 485 4863 (EP) Haas, Reicha, Janáček, Martinů
Antarctica AR055 Written at 13, Composer Simon Orsino Ensemble
This intriguing Korngold’s vivacious, and performer Chandos CHSA5348 (CD/SACD)
work is inspired harmonically Bamuthi Joseph A beguiling album
by the memory adventurous Op. 1 collaborate on this of music for wind
of a close friend. Trio needs no special eloquent, impatient quintet and sextet.
The subtitle – ‘13 ‘juvenilia’ pleading. The Violin call for healing across an America Flutes flutter,
episodes/deliberations on multi- Sonata, from the grand old age of rocked by racial tensions and the bassoons and
planar syzygy’ – refers to post- 16, captivates from its ambitious, pandemic. Bamuthi Joseph’s vocal clarinets march and bustle. The
death ‘sightings’ of that friend, and symphonic opening onwards. delivery is spring-heeled, acerbic; slow movement of Pavel Haas’s
like those near-encounters, the A resonant acoustic sacrifices a Simon’s music has an ageless Quintet has some gorgeously soulful
piece features an array of ‘almost’ scintilla of clarity. (SW) ++++ solemnity. (SW) ++++ oboe writing, while Mladi (‘Youth’)
melodies, frustratingly interrupted. finds Janáček in strikingly mellow
(CS) +++ Leiviskä Symphony No. 1 etc 1923 Works by Janáček, Berg et al mood. (SW) +++++
Oliver Triendl (piano); Staatskapelle Schumann Quartett
Chausson • Ravel Piano Trios Weimar/Ari Rasilainen Berlin Classics 0302968BC Estrellita Works by Liszt, Ravel,
Trio Metral Hänssler Classic HC23050 (2-discs) Collecting works Tchaikovsky, Debussy et al
La Dolce Volta LDV122 Helvi Leiviskä’s associated with a Hee-Young Lim (cello), Chuhui Liang
From the wistful Piano Concerto single year is an (piano) Orchid Classics ORC100227
Romanticism of of 1935 makes no interesting concept, It’s hard not to be
Chausson’s Pas trop huge stylistic leaps but throws up won over by this
lent first movement from, say, Brahms’s some less-than-inspiring oddities. selection drawing
to the fanfares as Second, but builds interesting Though Hindemith’s Minimax together encore
Ravel marches off to war in his dialogues for soloist and orchestra. is a quirky military pastiche, the pieces arranged
closing Animé, these performances The First Symphony (1947) trades Janáček and Berg, both passionate for cello and piano. It’s a beguiling
of two much-loved French trios the Romantics for Impressionism: and tortured, are well served by the programme, many familiar, others
show poise and passion aplenty. the woodwinds ethereal, the Schumanns’ spirited performances. less-known, and all performed with
Recommended. (JP) ++++ harmonies tangy. (SW) +++ (CS) +++ no small amount of warmth and
expression. (MB) ++++
Farrenc Piano Trios Nos 2 & 4; Medtner Violin Sonata No. 3 etc Cyborg Pianist Works by Laura
Sonata No. 1 etc Natalia Lomeiko (violin), Alexander Bowler, Shiva Feshareki et al Fandango
Linos Ensemble Karpeyev (piano) et al Zubin Kanga (piano etc) NMC D279 Works by Márquez and Ginastera
CPO 555538-2 SOMM Recordings SOMMCD00674 Prepare to be Anne Akiko Meyers (violin); LA Phil/
The Linos excel Lomeiko makes dazzled, or dazed. Gustavo Dudamel et al
again in Farrenc. short work of Zubin Kanga’s Platoon Music (digital only)
Her chamber music Medtner’s otherwise take on the future Cut from the
best showcases the epic Third Sonata. of the piano may same cloth as his
composer’s gift for Karpeyev is en pointe, be an acquired taste; fascinating rhythmically
melody, often offset by poignant too, taking what is a dizzyingly developments in technology proffer infectious Danzon
harmonies. Piano and strings are agile part in his stride. Theodore some entertaining results, and while No. 2, Márquez’s
beautifully balanced in the Second Platt is in fine, hefty, voice for there’s inventive and immersive Fandango shows soloist Anne Akiko
Trio; the flute gets a vigorous the Eight Songs, though I would stuff to be found here, much of it Meyers in truly sizzling form. An
workout in the Fourth. have preferred more of Lomeiko’s represents a future some will not be equally lively Ginastera Estancia
(SW) +++++ bewitching violin. (MB) ++++ ready for. (MB) +++ follows. (JP) +++++

90 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

 Brief notes Reviews
Galanterie Works by Abel,
CPE Bach, Telemann et al The month in box-sets
André Lislevand, Emil Duncumb,
Jadran Duncumb Arcana A549
The mid-18th
century was an
age of diminishing
popularity for the
gamba – but the
instrument still had much to say.
Here, the CPE Bach and Telemann
works are clean and elegant, while
the Abel contributions are darkly
complex, performed with skill and
sensitivity. (CS) ++++

Hommage Works by Chopin,

Brahms, Schubert et al
Sergio Tiempo (piano), Martha Argerich
(piano) et al Avanti AVA10552
The flamboyantly
talented Venezuelan
Sergio Tiempo
invites family
and illustrious
friends – including fellow pianist
Martha Argerich and cellist Mischa Remembered fondly:
Maisky, no less – to join him in duo the late Nicholas
performances which, from Schubert Angelich is celebrated
to Francisco Mignone, never fail to by Warner Classics
enthral. (JP) ++++

Postcards from Italy

Works by Morricone, Rota et al
Marco Albonetti (saxophone); Roma
Sinfonietta Chandos CHAN20291
You see ‘saxophone’
on the cover and
think you know what
you’re going to get,
but the sweet and
tender beauty of Albonetti’s soprano
instrument took me by surprise.
Kudos must go, also, to Paolo
Silvestri whose arrangements of
these cinema gems are crafted with
obvious love for the material.
A gorgeous bit of nostalgia.
(MB) +++++
Spanish Impressions Works by
Arbós, Turina, Cassadó et al
Hermitage Piano Trio
Reference Recordings RR-151
While the likes
of Arbós’s lively
‘Bolero’ and Perelló’s
flamenco-inspired
‘Escena Gitana’ may
well have you whirling and olé-ing
around the kitchen, there are also
sultry, stern and seductive moments
in between, all performed with brio.
(JP) ++++
Reviewers: Michael Beek (MB),
MARC RIBES
BBC Legends and Bernstein in pictures
Our round-up also includes Herman Krebbers and Nicholas Angelich
Of all the Leonard Bernstein The BBC Legends series
collections released in recent brought listeners some of the
years, Maestro on Record (Sony very best performances from the
Classical 19658771072) is the most corporation’s treasurable recorded
lavish. Sony goes beyond the archive. ICA Classics have been
standard box, instead presenting releasing out-of-print delights in
12 discs (all previously available) boxed collections, and Volume
either side of an engrossing Four (ICA Classics ICAB5174) lives
collection of photographs of Lenny up to its predecessors. Highlights
at work from 1956-76. The images include 1960s gems such as
are seemingly alive with Bernstein’s Nadia Boulanger overseeing
energy when observed at Fauré’s Requiem and a Royal
work, while the rare moments The photographs are Albert Hall performance
of observed quiet and repose seemingly alive with of Britten’s War Requiem
are somehow equally involving; conducted by Carlo Maria
such was the great icon’s Bernstein’s energy Giulini. Unmissable.
inherent magnetism. The death of pianist
The Herman Krebbers Edition (Eloquence 484 Nicholas Angelich in April 2022 was a devastating
4651) offers a first survey of the Dutch violinist’s loss to all those who appreciated his deeply
recorded legacy. An artist who never sought out insightful performances. He enjoyed a two-
life as a solo star, Krebbers was concertmaster of decade partnership with Warner Classics and
both the Hague Philharmonic and Concertgebouw in Hommage (Warner Classics 5419767618), the
Orchestra, and recordings with both feature in this label shares a wealth of previously unavailable
15-disc set. His talent and versatility stood him material for fans to enjoy. The seven discs take
out from the crowd, though, and he went on to in concert hall and radio recordings made from
record concertos and chamber works. A number 1999-2019, featuring everything from Bach to
of items are available on disc for the first time – Bartók; it’s a testament to the pianist’s versatility

Jeremy Pound (JP), Charlotte Smith (CS), like Bartók’s 44 Duos for Two Violins with fellow at the keyboard. Live highlights include a 2011
Steve Wright (SW) violinist Theo Olaf. performance of Bach’s Golderg Variations.

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 91

Announcing

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90

Our critics cast their eyes over the latest selection of books on all things music
The Life and Music of
Elizabeth Maconchy
Erica Siegel
Boydell 352pp (hb) £75
The core of ‘true
music’, the Irish-
English composer
Elizabeth
Maconchy said
in 1940, was
‘impassioned
argument’,
something
certainly true of her magnificent
cycle of 13 string quartets and
sundry other works beside. Maybe
it’s partly the urgency and grit of
her music that make this first full-
length study of her life and output
both valuable and frustrating.
Erica Siegel, an American music
historian, couldn’t have been
more assiduous in her collection
of available data (we’re almost
drowned in information about
Maconchy’s mixed relationship
with the BBC) or her analyses of key
works, each taking up to eight pages
with bountiful musical examples.
Yet for all the juggling necessary
to sustain the roles of 20th-century
modernist composer, mother and
earner of money, this was a life low
in drama, and Siegel’s scrupulously
scholarly account, rich in footnotes,
cannot muster any narrative drive.
The reader pounces all the more
gratefully on the small details that
flesh out her character (she had two
cats named after Karl Marx and
Holst), or the exhaustive index’s
crisp summary of Maconchy’s
wartime activities: ‘first aid,
gardening, hen-keeping, jam-
making’. Geoff Brown +++
Mozart in Italy –
Coming of Age in the
Land of Opera
Jane Glover
Picador 288pp (hb) £25
Jane Glover has previously written
fresh and popular treatments of
Mozart’s Women and Handel in
London, but her earliest book was a
scholarly survey of Cavalli. Now she
combines research with travelogue
in a compelling account of the years
that Mozart spent learning his
GETTY
operatic craft in Italy.
Seeking artistic freedom:
Nicolas Nabokov was a key
figure in cultural relations
between the US and USSR
She brings vividly to life the
pressures on the young composer,
from commissioning and rehearsals
to the demands of patrons
and singers, and not least the
expectations
of his father
Leopold.
Where
Glover excels
is in narrative:
we are taken
into the swirl
of the Venetian
carnival, the stuffy academic aura
of Bologna, the lofty church music
of Rome and introduced to some of
Mozart’s earliest operas – some of
which like Lucio Silla still await fine
stagings here. We surely need a little
more caution in taking everything
Mozart writes in his exuberant
letters too literally, and it’s an open
question as to how far Wolfgang was
‘destabilised’ by his domineering
father’s death. Glover neatly ties up
this Italian story by drawing
in the later Da Ponte operas, in
which 18th-century Italian opera
reached its peerless heights.
Nicholas Kenyon ++++
The Propaganda of Freedom
– JFK, Shostakovich,
Stravinsky, and the Cultural
Cold War
Joseph Horowitz
Illinois 248pp (hb) £29.99
There are two main strands here:
one exploring the workings of the
Congress for Cultural Freedom
(CCF), covertly funded by the CIA
between 1950-67; and the other
dealing with the
differences of
attitude towards
classical music
in the USSR
and the USA.
Linking these is
Nicolas Nabokov,
Secretary
General of the CCF, whose objective
was to demonstrate that art can
only flourish in an atmosphere of
freedom, and that the Soviet system
stifled true creativity.
Horowitz’s historical research
is far-reaching and detailed, but it
is clear where his sympathies lie.
He sees the cosmopolitan, well-
connected Nabokov, who had the ear
of President Kennedy, as a typical
Books
Russian exile who yearns for what
his country was, while disdaining
what it has become, downplaying
the continuing centrality of culture
in the USSR. But, even behind the
Iron Curtain, there was a connection
with the past which allowed
Shostakovich to speak to his
audience; for Stravinsky in LA there
was a dislocation of language and
tradition, and it took the thaw after
the death of Stalin and increased
cultural exchange to begin to bridge
the gap. Martin Cotton ++++
Two Violins, One Viola,
A Cello And Me
Sonia Simmenauer
Harcamlow Press 160pp (pb) £12.99
It wasn’t until Sonia Simmenauer
accompanied the Alban Berg
Quartett on tour that she really
understood the
life of a ‘string
quartettist’.
Suddenly, the
strange requests
– hotel rooms
away from each
other (and the
lift) – were not
‘diva-like affectations but simple
attempts to create conditions that
made it possible for them to carry
our their profession.’ Working as
part of a string quartet requires
a unique closeness: although a
chamber group might be formed
as a one-off for a festival, few
foursomes are transient. It means
that a damaged finger impacts 40
digits, not ten. As a specialist string
quartet agent representing Brooklyn
Rider, Guarneri String Quartet
and Pavel Haas Quartet, among
others, Simmenauer has seen it all
(musicians detained at airports;
seismic arguments; suicide) – these
observations are distilled into
Two Violins, One Viola, A Cello And
Me, a fascinating memoir newly
translated from German. The
insights from featured musicians
are equally revealing – clarinettist
Jörg Widmann recalls preparations
for Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet as
almost voyeuristic and Quatuor
Ébène’s Raphaël Merlin describes
his own quartet as functioning ‘like
a circus.’ Claire Jackson ++++
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 93
Join the Collective

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Chris Haslam chooses the best hi-fi equipment for your classical music listening
THIS MONTH: MID-RANGE BOOKSHELF SPEAKERS
Great all-rounders:
Klipsch R-40PM
powered speakers
COMPACT YET CONSIDERED
Q Acoustics 5010 £499
The 5010 is the smallest and cheapest of Q
Acoustics’s new 5000 range of speakers, but
when paired with my trusty Marantz HD-
AMP1, I’m struck by the presence, control
and punch from such a modest cabinet
(264 x 160 x 263mm).
Q Acoustics has developed a mid/bass
driver, the C3 Continuous Curved Cone,
which blends the bass of a straight, conic
cone with the high/mid-range frequency
control of a flared cone. The aim is to reduce distortion, integrate
seamlessly with the tweeter and to allow for less-than-ideal
positioning, no matter how quirky the space. qacoustics.co.uk
NEED TO KNOW
What size speakers? Annoyingly, many
‘bookshelf’ speakers struggle to fit on a shelf
once you factor in the connectors and cables.
Bigger speakers don’t guarantee better sound,
but will have more volume. Dedicated stands
and brackets will help them sound better.
Audio choice
Confident sound:
Bowers & Wilkins’s 607
S3 model really sings
BEST IN TEST
Bowers & Wilkins 607 S3 £599
The Bowers & Wilkins 607 S3 replaces the
multi-award-winning 607 S2, and features
an all-new 25mm titanium decoupled
BEST BUY double-dome tweeter and 13cm continuum
mid/bass driver. The relatively compact,
living room-friendly cabinet (300 x 165 x 207mm) has also been
re-engineered with a new speaker terminal back panel that makes
positioning them closer to the wall easier, and a substantially
stiffened internal bracing system that helps minimise vibrations.
I listened to both new and old B&W 607 speakers side-by-side, and
while the older speakers still shine, the difference in scale and energy
with the new design was striking: there’s a confidence to the sound
that belies the size of the speakers.
Playing Bach trios by Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer and Yo-Yo Ma, the
virtuosity of each artist was deftly handled, without losing any of the
energy and swing. Similarly, the richness of the Berlin Philharmonic
in a 24bit hi-res recording of Mozart symphonies conducted by Karl
Böhm blew my socks off (to use an audiophile phrase).
Available in oak, white or black, they look great and fit into my
cluttered living room with consummate ease. They also work well
with relatively modest amplification (30-100W) but, give them a
premium source to play, and they will sing. bowerswilkins.com
Pairing your speaker and amplifier Most Are powered speakers worth it? With the
speakers and amplifiers are compatible these prevalence of one-box streaming speakers,
days, but check that the speakers’ suggested analogue speakers can seem old-fashioned,
wattage matches the RMS (average) amplifier but stereo will always sound better. A happy
output. You may also see ohm ratings, ie 4Ω, 6Ω compromise is a pair of powered speakers with
or 8Ω. As long as you avoid large mismatches amplifier and source input built in. These feature
between value amp and speaker, you’ll be fine. wireless connectivity and sound great.
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 95
From the archives
Erik Levi presents this month’s selection of reissued and archival live recordings
December round-up
ARCHIVE CHOICE Whereas Barbirolli’s Dvořák
performances have been widely
Dynamic ’50s Dvořák available for several years, the 1996
recording of
the Elgar Cello
Over 60 years on, these Hallé recordings of Concerto, by
Canadian-Israeli
the composer’s late symphonies pack a punch cellist Ofra
Harnoy and
the LPO, has only just surfaced.
Whatever reasons prompted the
delay, Harnoy’s performance,
steering a judicious middle-
course between the emotionally
intense Jacqueline Du Pré and the
more measured André Navarra,
is undoubtedly expressive and
technically immaculate, if
perhaps lacking a certain degree
of charisma. On the other hand,
Harnoy works hard to make
something of the Lalo Cello
Concerto, but I find it difficult to
warm to such portentous and vapid
music. (Sony 19658824342) +++
Swiss clarinettist Eduard
Brunner delivers an electrifying
performance of Copland’s Clarinet
Concerto, bringing all the requisite
bitter-sweet lyricism to its opening
Genial and bucolic: movement and relishing the highly-
conductor John Barbirolli
also displays great energy
charged virtuosity of the incredibly
taxing cadenza and jazzy finale.
The Bavarian Radio Symphony are
superbly responsive partners, and
Dvořák the early-1990s recording has great
Symphony No. 7 in D minor; Symphony No. 8 presence. The
in G major; Symphony No. 9 in E minor ‘From rest of the album
the New World’; Scherzo Capriccioso; Legends features energetic
Nos 6 & 7 performances
Hallé Orchestra/John Barbirolli from the Phoenix
Urania WS121112 133:54 mins (2 discs) Symphony of
Originally issued on Pye Records, these suites from the opera The Tender
classic versions of Dvořák’s last three symphonies, recorded in Land and the distinctive film
Manchester’s Free Trade Hall well over 60 years ago, have really stood score for The Red Pony, both works
the test of time. The performances have a freshness, spontaneity and inhabiting a similar soundworld
high level of adrenalin that is quite insatiable. Admittedly, the playing to Copland’s much better-known
of the Hallé Orchestra may not be as manicured as that of its Central ballet, Appalachian Spring. (Alto
European rivals, and on this particular transfer, some of the more ALC 1479) +++++
full-blooded orchestral climaxes can sound a bit shrill. But these are A pioneering recording,
minor quibbles when set against the sheer energy and dynamism of originally released in the early
Barbirolli’s interpretations which offer many thrilling moments, not 1990s and featuring the now-
least the sudden but incredibly exciting accelerando at the end of disbanded Women’s Philharmonic
the first movement of the Seventh. There are marvellous insightful Orchestra, offers an intriguing
passages too in Barbirolli’s genial and bucolic approach to the and musically varied programme.
Eighth Symphony, and tremendous forward momentum in the outer Following a marvellously assured
movements of the ‘New World’ Symphony. A gloriously affectionate and spirited 1830 Overture by
performance of the lesser-known Scherzo Capriccioso makes this an Fanny Mendelssohn are two
GETTY
even more enticing release. +++++ attractive concertante works:
96 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Clara Schumann’s A minor
Piano Concerto, performed by
Angela Cheng,
and Germaine
Tailleferre’s bright
and breezy Harp
Concertino with
Gillian Benet.
But the highlight of this release has
to be the evocative D’un Soir Triste
and D’un Matin de Printemps by Lili
Boulanger which date from 1918,
only a year before her tragically
early death at the age of 24. (Musical
Concepts MC 3111) ++++
Sviatoslav Richter’s peerless
1959 performance of Prokofiev’s
Piano Concerto No. 5 boasts
razor-sharp playing from the
Warsaw Philharmonic, and
sounds remarkably vivid for
its age. Recording quality
throughout the rest of the all-
Prokofiev programme, however,
is more variable.
Dynamic range is
somewhat limited
in the Second
and Ninth Piano
Sonatas, the latter
work dedicated to Richter and here
receiving a particularly affectionate
and characterful interpretation.
On the other hand, the mid-1950s
version of the First Piano Concerto,
has lost none of its sparkle and
youthful energy. (Alto ALC 1485)
+++++
British baritone John Carol
Case established a fine reputation
as one of the leading exponents
of 20th-century English vocal
repertoire, but was an equally
committed interpreter of the
German lied. This 1973 live
recording of
Schubert’s
Winterreise, with
pianist Raymond
Calcraft,
demonstrates
many virtues, in particular Carol
Case’s impeccable clarity of diction
and sensitivity to the schizophrenic
changes of mood. There are some
moments of unsteady intonation
and the variable recording suffers
from distortion in the more frenzied
passages of ‘Der stürmische
Morgen’. (Ariadne 5023) +++
 An iconic legacy:
Callas’s centenary is
celebrated in style
Reviews Index
Thomas Adès Alchymia 80 Orpheus’ Comet 66
CPE Bach Heilig ist Gott 77 Viola Concerto 66
JS Bach French Suites 84 Villa-Lobos Cello Concertos 74
Goldberg Variations 80 & 84 Fantasia for Cello and Orchestra 74
Motets 78 Vivaldi Violin Concertos 74
Bartók Piano Concertos 72 Weill L’opéra de quat’sous 76
Beethoven Cello Sonatas 90 Weinberg Dawn 70
‘Moonlight’ Sonata etc 72 Symphony No. 12 70
Piano Concerto No. 1 72
Symphonies Nos 5 & 6 68 COLLECTIONS
Bernstein 1923 Schumann Quartett 90
Music for String Quartet 81 Amame
Byrd Keyboard Works 85 Mari Boine, Bugge Wesseltoft 88
Richard Cameron-Wolfe ATOMOS Cuarteto Quiroga 81
Telesthesia 90 Bach Motets Solomon’s Knot 79
Chausson Piano Trios 90 Baroque Miloš Karadaglić 85
Chopin Mazurkas 85 BBC Legends, Vol. 4
Copland Various Artists 91
Clarinet Concerto 96 The Best of Kris Drever
Elegies for Violin and Viola 81 Kris Drever et al 88
The Red Pony (suite) 96 Between Breaths
The Tender Land (suite) 96 Third Coast Percussion 82

Unboxed De Falla
Nuits dans le jardin d’Espagne
Dvořák Legends Nos 6 & 7
73
96
Beyond Jakub Józef Orliński;
Il Pomo d’Oro
Cascade Cordelia Williams
77
86
Andrew McGregor dips into Warner Classics’ brand- Scherzo Capriccioso 96 Cyborg Pianist Zubin Kanga 90
Symphonies Nos 7-9 96 Divergent Paths
new collection marking the centenary of Maria Callas Elgar Cello Concerto 96 Telegraph Quartet 90
Farrenc Piano Trios Nos 2 & 4 90 Double You
It’s one of the most famous discographies in Sonata No. 1 etc 90 Catrin Finch, Aoifi Ní Bhriain 88
classical music: La Divina – Maria Callas in All Her Fauré Berceuse 80 Duos-Alone Tri-Nguyen 88
Roles (Warner Classics 5419747395; 134 CDs, 3 Blu-ray Cello Sonatas 80 Echoes of Bohemia
Élégie 80 Orsino Ensemble 90
+ DVD-ROM + NFT). If you don’t already have enough Romance, Op. 69 etc 80 The English Tenor
of the fascinating and hugely influential soprano in Handel Israel in Egypt 78 Scott Robert Shaw et al 79
your life, then start here; it’s the new gold standard Haydn Symphonies Nos 82-87 68 Estrellita
for Callas’s centenary year. But if you’re an opera enthusiast or Violin Concerto No. 1 68 Hee-Young Lim, Chuhui Liang 90
Callas fan you’ll have at least one of the previous Callas editions Henze The Raft of the Medusa 90 Eventail
Jóhannsson Heinz Holliger, Anton Kernjak 82
– do you really need this limited edition, even if you can resist A Prayer to the Dynamo etc 69 Fandango
the handsome presentation, illustrated book and the promise of JP Johnson Anne Akiko Meyers; LA Phil 90
exclusive digital content in the form of an NFT? Let’s get one thing De Organizer 75 Folk Songs
straight from the outset; if you want every officially released live The Dreamy Kid (excerpts) 75 Magdalena Kožená et al 79
Callas performance, then you still need Warner’s Maria Callas Korngold Chamber Works 90 Galanterie André Lislevand, Emil
Lalo Cello Concerto 96 Duncumb, Jadran Duncumb 91
Live 1949-1964, because this new box offers every role, not
Leiviskä Symphony No. 1 etc 90 The Great Puccini Jonathan
every performance. But that’s still 74 characters, in all the studio James MacMillan Sacred Songs 78 Tetelman; Prague Philharmonia 75
recordings plus some of the live ones – they’ve tried to give us two Medtner Eight Songs 90 Herman Krebbers Edition
versions of each role and aria. Violin Sonata No. 3 etc 90 Herman Krebbers et al 91
It’s often enough to hear how Callas’s portrayals developed Mendelssohn Hommage Nicholas Angelich et al 91
Symphony No. 4 ‘Italian’ 69 Hommage Sergio Tiempo et al 91
– three each of Tosca and Norma for example. But some of her
Paul Mottram Infinite Voyage Emerson String
roles weren’t recorded and some broadcasts weren’t preserved. Seven Ages of Man 90 Quartet, Barbara Hannigan 82
As such, there are no major new discoveries here. All the studio Mozart Fantasias 84 In Memoriam II
recitals are included, plus ten live ones, and the compelling Juilliard Mass in C minor ‘Great’ 77 Pieter Wispelwey 86
masterclasses, where Callas could be impatient with her students’ Oboe Concerto 68 Maestro on Record
lack of understanding and musicianship. The remastering has Organ Works 81 Leonard Bernstein et al 91
Piano Concertos Nos 14 & 23 73 La Divina – Maria Callas in All Her
improved, and most things sound better than ever. Piano Sonatas, K310, 311, 330-333 84 Roles Maria Callas et al 97
There’s one disc in this collection that is completely new: Symphonies Nos 31 & 35 68 Postcards from Italy Marco
previously unreleased alternative takes from studio sessions in the Violin Concertos 73 Albonetti; Roma Sinfonietta 91
’60s, and it’s fascinating to eavesdrop as Callas works with such Prokofiev El Retorno del Sol
concentration and commitment. Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 5 96 Luzmila Carpio et al 88
Piano Sonatas Nos 2 & 9 96 Scotland Västerås Sinfonietta 70
These famous recordings have been pored over obsessively Purcell Dido & Aeneas 75 The Sky is the Same Colour
by opera enthusiasts and experts over many years, and they are Ravel Piano Concertos 73 Everywhere Toumani Diabate,
documents of a career that ended shockingly early, effectively over Piano Trios 90 Kayhan Kalhor 88
in her early forties. But the thrill of hearing this extraordinary voice is Schubert Die schöne Müllerin 78 Smock Alley Irlandiani 83
undimmed, a sound and penetration into a character’s psyche that Winterreise 96 Spanish Impressions
John Sheppard Missa Cantate 78 Hermitage Piano Trio 91
can still send shivers down the spine. Maria Callas was one of the Shostakovich Sturm und Drang, Vol. 3
greatest singing actors of all time. Symphonies Nos 5 & 9 69 The Mozartists/Ian Page 70
Carlos Simon brea(d)th 90 A Tribute to Bach Maurice Steger; La
Smyth Der Wald 76 Cetra Barockorchester Basel 72
Andrew McGregor is the presenter of Dobrinka Tabakova Twofold Brandon Patrick George 86
Radio 3’s Record Review, broadcast each Cello Concerto 66 The Women’s Philharmonic
Saturday morning from 9am until 11.45am Earth Suite 66 The Women’s Philharmonic 96

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 97

Live choice
Paul Riley picks the month’s best concert and opera highlights in the UK
Hungarian spice:
pianist Vadym Kholodenko
plays Bartók in Belfast
Ustinov Opera
Ustinov Studio, Bath,
1-23 December
theatreroyal.org.uk
Artistic director Deborah
Warner curates an eye-catching
programme for Bath Theatre
Royal’s intimate Ustinov Studio.
Tenor Ian Bostridge and mezzo
Christine Rice have graced the
autumn line-up, which culminates
in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw,
a gripping operatic take on
Henry James’s novella. Richard
Hetherington directs a new
production by Isabelle Kettle.
Hespèrion XXI
Wigmore Hall, London,
1 December
wigmore-hall.org.uk
Jordi Savall’s adventurous
period instrument ensemble has
explored everything from medieval
rarities to Romantic blockbusters
– reserving a special relish for
west-eastern encounters. As the
400th anniversary year nears
its end, Byrd is at the heart of an
English programme featuring Tye,
Holborne, Dowland and Gibbons.
98 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Ulster Orchestra
Ulster Hall, Belfast, 1 December
ulsterorchestra.org.uk
Schumann’s ‘Rhenish’ Symphony
aside, there’s a pronounced
Hungarian flavour as conductor
Elena Schwarz pairs Dohnányi’s
dance-inspired Symphonic
Minutes with Bartók’s Piano
Concerto No. 3. The soloist is
Vadym Kholodenko.
Patricia Kopatchinskaja
and Friends
Purcell Room, London,
2, 3 December
southbankcentre.co.uk
Kopatchinskaja consigns her violin
to its case with two performances
of Schoenberg’s melodrama
Pierrot Lunaire. Assembling her
own ensemble, she tackles the
daringly expressionistic vocal part
which deploys Sprechstimme
(spoken voice) to enrich Giraud’s
vividly imagined poems.
Quatuor Ébène
John Innes Centre, Norwich,
2 December
norwichchambermusic.org.uk
Schubert’s major-minor-obsessed
string quartet swansong – the
G major D887 – supplies the
climax to Quatuor Ébène’s return
visit to Norwich. G minor Haydn
(Op. 20 No. 3) raises the curtain,
and in between comes the most
compact of Bartók’s six string
quartets: the Third.
BBC Philharmonic
Bridgewater Hall, Manchester,
2 December
bridgewater-hall.co.uk
Inspired by the ever-changing
colours of Senegal’s Lake Retba,
Tippett’s The Rose Lake was the
last major work he completed –
and was premiered shortly after
his 90th birthday. Conducted
by Sir Andrew Davis, it prefaces
music from Humperdinck’s Hansel
and Gretel plus Beethoven’s
Symphony No. 8.
The English Concert
Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden,
2 December
saffronhall.com
Having announced an ambitious
project to record all the
composer’s music and make
it available free online, Handel
looms large in the English
Concert’s current concerns.
A worldwide tour of the opera
Rodelinda headlines the autumn
season and, including Lucy Crowe
and Iestyn Davies, the cast is
compelling. Harry Bicket conducts.
London Symphony Orchestra
Barbican, London, 3 December
barbican.org.uk
For their second concert with
the LSO in almost as many days,
conductor Susanna Mälkki and
pianist Kirill Gerstein square
up to Ravel’s Concerto for the
Left Hand. Bookending it are
Debussy’s Three Nocturnes and
Scriabin’s call to life and audacity:
The Poem of Ecstasy.
Sean Shibe
Concert Hall, Perth, 6 December
perththeatreandconcerthall.com
In October, the Scottish guitarist
premiered a new work by Thomas
Adès, and he includes it in a
wide-ranging recital that spans
the Spain of de Falla and Mompou
and crosses the border into
France for Couperin and Poulenc.
Home isn’t forgotten, however,
as Shibe navigates a selection of
pieces from the lute manuscripts
of Lady Margaret Wemyss.
Manchester Collective
Howard Assembly Room, Leeds,
6 December
manchestercollective.co.uk
Pianist Kathryn Stott joins the
Collective as it grapples with
Messiaen’s apocalyptic wartime
Quartet for the End of Time –
premiered in 1941 at Stalag VIII-A.
She also contributes a mazurka
by Chopin and Caroline Shaw’s
response to it: Gustave le Gray.
City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Hall, Birmingham,
6 December
cbso.co.uk
Former chief conductor Mirga
Gražinytė-Tyla’s foray into the
music of Eastern Europe is

something of a family affair,
bolstered by her pianist sister
Onutė. Framed by Čiurlionis and
Kakhidze, Weinberg’s Clarinet
Concerto and 12 Miniatures for
Flute in turn enfold Igor Loboda’s
Requiem for Ukraine, a solo violin
meditation remembering the
victims of the 2014 invasion.
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Holy Trinity Church,
St Andrews, 6 December
sco.org.uk
Conductor and harpsichordist
Maxim Emelyanychev multitasks
as concertos by JS Bach and
Philip Glass go head-to-head.
A Telemann Concerto for Two
Chalumeaux follows Corelli, while
Respighi and Vaughan Williams
derive creative inspiration from
the 16th century.
Natalie Dessay
Milton Court Concert Hall,
London, 6 December
barbican.org.uk
The soprano is in pursuit of
Goethe’s ‘eternal feminine’
through songs by women
composers: Fanny Mendelssohn,
Clara Schumann and Alma Mahler.
Operatic heroines also feature, in
excerpts from Debussy’s Pelléas
et Mélisande, Massenet’s Le Cid
and Gounod’s Faust. The pianist is
Philippe Cassard.
BBC National Orchestra
of Wales
BBC Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff,
8 December
bbc.co.uk/now
‘Playing Picasso’ is the enticing
title of a concert that corrals music
associated with designs by the
painter. Satie’s Parade (see Cover
CD) is flanked by Stravinsky’s
Pulcinella and Ragtime; and
there’s also the second suite from
de Falla’s The Three-Cornered Hat.
Ryan Bancroft conducts.
Symphony Orchestra of India
Cadogan Hall, London,
8 December
cadoganhall.com
Fresh from November’s Strauss,
Stravinsky and Zakir Hussain,
the orchestra returns to Cadogan
Hall, this time conducted by
Richard Farnes. Prefacing a suite
JEAN-BAPTISTE MILLOT, MATTHEW JOHNSON
drawn from Wagner’s Parsifal,
Pavel Kolesnikov is the soloist in
Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2.
Elias Quartet and
Jonathan Biss
Yoko Ono Lennon Centre,
Liverpool, 10 December
liverpoolphil.com
Influenced by a popular Christmas
carol together with the folk music
of his native Latvia, Pēteris
Vasks’s String Quartet No. 3 is
paired with Fanny Mendelssohn’s
E flat Quartet, the offshoot of
an abandoned piano sonata.
Completing the programme, the
American pianist Jonathan Biss
teams up with the Elias Quartet
for Elgar’s haunting and haunted
Piano Quintet.
Scottish Opera
Usher Hall, Edinburgh,
10 December
scottishopera.org.uk
Director Emma Jenkins relocates
the action to Nazi Germany for her
concert staging of Strauss’s opera
Daphne – a mythological mash-up
of Ovid and Euripides. Hye-Young
Lee takes the title role of the
young heroine, with Brad Cooper
as the murderous Apollo. Stuart
Stratford conducts.
Gildas Quartet
Kings Place, London,
10 December
kingsplace.co.uk
The enterprising young quartet
turns its ‘Surround Sound
Sessions’ spotlight on Britten’s
valedictory String Quartet No. 3,
a work poignantly referencing his
final opera Death in Venice. With
the audience sitting between
them, the group gives a complete
performance played from memory.
(See ‘Backstage with…’, right)
BBC Scottish Symphony
Orchestra
City Halls, Glasgow, 14 December
glasgowconcerthalls.com
‘Muzyka Polska!’ is the rallying cry
as Marta Gardolińska leads the
orchestra in a vibrant celebration
of 20th-century Polish music.
Bomsori Kim is the soloist in
Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto
No.1 which sits between Grażyna
Bacewicz’s Concerto for String
Orchestra and Lutosławski’s folk-
inflected Concerto for Orchestra.
Bournemouth Symphony
Orchestra
Bristol Beacon, 19 December
bristolbeacon.org
Newly reopened, Bristol’s
extensively refurbished concert
hall welcomes back its orchestra-
in-residence to launch a season
that opens with the premiere of
Mark-Anthony Turnage’s fanfare
Beacons. Shostakovich supplies
sparkle, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring
visceral emotion, and pianist
Sunwook Kim is the soloist in
Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto.
December Live
BACKSTAGE WITH…
Gildas Quartet
Far-flung foursome:
‘We decided to expand
the group outwards’
You are performing Britten’s Third String Quartet in ‘surround
sound’ at Kings Place on 10 December. What does that mean?
Anna Menzies (cello): We had this idea that, although we all love
going to chamber music concerts, perhaps the most satisfying
way of experiencing quartet music as an audience member would
be to be right there in the middle of the group with it all going
on around you. Of course, that would not be possible in the way
we normally sit, so we decided to expand the group outwards
so we can fit more people in the middle of us and give them the
experience that we have when we play – that is the aim, at least.
In practice, it means each member of the quartet being quite far
apart from each other with the audience being able to hear the
voices coming from different parts of the room.
What challenges does that bring in terms of cohesion and
communication between the quartet’s players?
Our normal level of communication is one thing you have to
sacrifice when you perform like this, because it is much harder to
play the music from that far apart. It takes quite a bit of rehearsing
in each new venue to get used to how much you might need
to anticipate in that acoustic, plus I’d say we are much more
visual with each other – we have to be more demonstrative. And
because we have to have the freedom to look at each other quite
carefully, and not at the music, we do it from memory. However,
I also think this helps the audience feel a bit more included, as
there is one less barrier between us.
Why have you chosen Britten’s Third String Quartet to perform
in this way?
We’ve performed Britten’s Second Quartet quite a lot like this
and found that the way he writes is very effective in that space –
audiences really seem to like how dialogues pass from one corner
to the other and then across the group. So, we were inspired to do
Britten’s Third, which is completely different but a fascinating and
spatially interesting work too.
Are there some quartets in which performing in this way would
be simply too difficult?
Yes. We have experimented a bit with what’s possible and what’s
not, and there are some works with rigid Classical textures where
there are a lot of very tight accompanying figures between the
inner parts or lower parts – those are so difficult to co-ordinate
from far away that we’ve decided not to try!
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 99
TV&Radio
Your guide to what’s on BBC Radio 3 this month, plus TV highlights

DECEMBER’S RADIO 3 LISTINGS

Schedules may be subject to alteration. For up-to-date listings see BBC Sounds and iPlayer

Maria Callas Claudia Huckle (contralto), Enea

Three to look out for 4-5pm Music Planet Scala (tenor), William Thomas
5-6.30pm J to Z (bass), Hallé Choir, The Hallé/
CHOICE 6.30-10pm Mark Elder.
Sam Jackson, the controller of Opera on 3 Puccini 10-10.45pm Free Thinking
BBC Radio 3, selects three pre- Tosca, with Maria Callas 10.45-11pm The Essay
Christmas station highlights 10pm-12am New Music Show That’s Entertainment
12-1am Freeness 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks
Maria!
3 SUNDAY 6 WEDNESDAY
Radio 3 marks the centenary of
Maria Callas’s birth with three 7-9am Breakfast 6.30-9am Breakfast
special editions. For Record Review, Iain Burnside 9am-12pm Sunday Morning 9am-12pm Essential Classics
reviews the newly released Warner Classics reissue 12-1pm Private Passions 12-1pm Composer of the Week
box set, featuring ‘La Divina’ in all 74 roles for 1-2pm Clive Myrie at Christmas Christmas in the Middle Ages
which audio recordings exist. For Sound of Cinema 2-3pm The Early Music Show 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
3-4pm Choral Evensong 2-4pm Afternoon Concert
Matthew Sweet looks at the legendary soprano’s
4-5pm Jazz Record Requests 4-5pm Choral Evensong
presence on film, while Opera on 3 gives us the 1953
5-5.30pm The Listening Service 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
Puccini Tosca with Callas in the title role. 5.30-6.45pm Words and Music 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In
Maria Callas Centenary, 2 Dec 6.45-7.30pm Sunday Feature Concert live from Symphony
Turning Picasso Hall. Čiurlionis In the Forest,
Horn of plenty 7.30-9pm Drama on 3 Weinberg Clarinet Concerto
Felix Klieser chooses music that is important to 9-11pm Record Review Extra and 12 Miniatures for Flute,
him, demonstrating why he fell in love with the CHOICE 11pm-12am Loboda Requiem for Ukraine,
horn at the age of three, and why he believes it is one Sunday Night Series Kakhidze Brotherhood. Oliver
of the most versatile and expressive of instruments. Round the Horn Janes (clarinet), Marie-Christine
Round the Horn, 3, 10, 17 Dec, 11pm 12-12.30am Classical Fix Zupancic (flute), Onute Gražinytė
(piano), Adam Römer (viola),
4 MONDAY Eugene Tzikindelean (violin),
Sights and sounds
6.30-9am Breakfast City of Birmingham Symphony
For 2023’s final Sound of Cinema, Matthew Sweet
9am-12pm Essential Classics Orchestra/Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla 11.30pm-12.30am
looks back at the partnership between composer 12-1pm Composer of the Week 10-10.45pm Free Thinking Unclassified with Elizabeth Alker
John Williams and director Steven Spielberg. Jaws, Christmas in the Middle Ages 10.45-11pm The Essay
E.T., Schindler’s List… their joint CV is impressive, 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert That’s Entertainment 8 FRIDAY
and Williams’s cinematic scoring unparalleled. 2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks 6.30-9am Breakfast
Sound of Cinema, 30 Dec, 3pm 4.30-5pm New Generation 9am-12pm Essential Classics
Artists 7 THURSDAY 12-1pm Composer of the Week
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape 6.30-9am Breakfast Christmas in the Middle Ages
7.30-10pm In Concert EBU 9am-12pm Essential Classics 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
10-10.45pm Music Matters 12-1pm Composer of the Week 2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert
1 FRIDAY Sakari Oramo 10.45-11pm The Essay Christmas in the Middle Ages 4.30-5pm The Listening Service
6.30-9am Breakfast 10-10.45pm The Verb That’s Entertainment 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
9am-12pm Essential Classics 10.45-11pm The Essay 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks 2-5pm Afternoon Concert 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
12-1pm Composer of the Week 11pm-1am Late Junction 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape live from Barbican. Nielsen An
Rorem 5 TUESDAY 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert Imaginary Journey to the Faroe
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 2 SATURDAY 6.30-9am Breakfast live from City Halls, Glasgow. Islands, Tebogo Monnakgotla
2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert 7-9am Breakfast 9am-12pm Essential Classics Debussy Images pour orchestre, Violin Concerto ‘Globe Skimmer
4.30-5pm The Listening Service CHOICE 9-11.45am 12-1pm Composer of the Week Shostakovich Piano Concertos Surfing the Somali Jet’ (BBC
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape Record Review Christmas in the Middle Ages Nos 1 & 2. Federico Colli (piano), co-commission: UK premiere),
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert Maria Callas 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert Matilda Lloyd (trumpet), BBC Sibelius Symphonies Nos 6 and
live from Barbican. Alice Mary 11.45am-12.30pm Music 2-5pm Afternoon Concert Scottish Symphony Orchestra/ 7. Johan Dalene (violin), BBC
Smith Jason: or The Argonauts Matters 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape Mark Elder Symphony Orchestra/
and the Sirens – Overture, 12.30-1pm This Classical Life 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In 10-10.45pm Free Thinking Sakari Oramo
Ravel Shéhérazade, Beethoven Felix Klieser (horn) Concert from Bridgewater Hall. 10.45-11pm The Essay 10-10.45pm The Verb
Symphony No. 3 ‘Eroica’. Jennifer 1-3pm Inside Music Beethoven Symphony No. 2, That’s Entertainment 10.45-11pm The Essay
Johnston (mezzo-soprano), CHOICE 3-4pm Rossini Stabat Mater. Masabane 11-11.30pm The Night That’s Entertainment
BBC Symphony Orchestra/ Sound of Cinema Cecilia Rangwanasha (soprano), Tracks Mix 11pm-1am Late Junction

100 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE


9 SATURDAY
7-9am Breakfast
9-11.45am Record Review
11.45am-12.30pm Music
Matters
12.30-1pm This Classical Life:
Daniel Shao (flute)
1-3pm Inside Music
3-4pm Sound of Cinema
4-5pm Music Planet
5-6.30pm J to Z
6.30-10pm Opera on 3 from
Metropolitan Opera, New York.
Daniel Catán Florencia en el
Amazonas
10pm-12am New Music Show
12-1am Freeness
10 SUNDAY
7-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm Sunday Morning
12-1pm Private Passions
1-2pm Clive Myrie at Christmas
2-3pm The Early Music Show
3-4pm Choral Evensong
4-5pm Jazz Record Requests
GETTY
5-5.30pm The Listening Service
5.30-6.45pm Words and Music
6.45-7.30pm Sunday
Feature Sounds of the Indian
Subcontinent
7.30-9pm Drama on 3
Pessoa-Pessoa
9-11pm Record Review Extra
CHOICE 11pm-12am
Sunday Night Series
Round the Horn
12-12.30am Classical Fix
11 MONDAY
6.30-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm Essential Classics
12-1pm Composer of the Week
Humperdinck
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert
4.30-5pm New Generation
Artists
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
7.30-10pm In Concert EBU
10-10.45pm Music Matters
10.45-11pm The Essay
The Enormous Condescension
of Posterity
Sound of Cinema celebrates
Spielberg’s long cooperation
11pm-12.30am Night Tracks
12 TUESDAY
6.30-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm Essential Classics
12-1pm Composer of the Week
Humperdinck
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
2-5pm Afternoon Concert
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
from Royal Albert Hall. Too Hot
to Handel: Messiah reimagined.
Vanessa Haynes (mezzo-
soprano), Zwakele Tshabalala
(tenor), London Adventist
Chorale, BBC Symphony Chorus,
BBC Concert Orchestra/Marin
Alsop
10-10.45pm Free Thinking
10.45-11pm The Essay
The Enormous Condescension
of Posterity
11pm-12.30am Night Tracks
13 WEDNESDAY
6.30-9am Breakfast
December TV&Radio
Perfect partnership:
composer John Williams’
(left) and director Steven
9am-12pm Essential Classics
12-1pm Composer of the Week
Humperdinck
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
2-4pm Afternoon Concert
4-5pm Choral Evensong
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
live from Lighthouse, Poole.
Brahms Double Concerto,
Mahler Symphony No. 1. Alina
Ibragimova (violin), Jesper
Svedberg (cello), Bournemouth
Symphony Orchestra/Kerem
Hassan
10-10.45pm Free Thinking
10.45-11pm The Essay
The Enormous Condescension
of Posterity
11pm-12.30am Night Tracks
14 THURSDAY
6.30-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm Essential Classics
12-1pm Composer of the Week
Humperdinck
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
2-5pm Afternoon Concert
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
from Bridgewater Hall. Tippett
The Rose Lake, Humperdinck
Hansel & Gretel (extracts),
Beethoven Symphony No. 8.
Singers TBC, BBC Philharmonic/
Andrew Davis
10-10.45pm Free Thinking
10.45-11pm The Essay
The Enormous Condescension
of Posterity
11-11.30pm Night Tracks Mix
11.30pm-12.30am
Unclassified with Elizabeth Alker
15 FRIDAY
6.30-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm Essential Classics
12-1pm Composer of the Week
Humperdinck
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert
4.30-5pm The Listening Service
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
from Prichard-Jones Hall, Bangor.
Hannah Kendall Spark Catchers,
Glazunov Violin Concerto, Dvořák
Symphony No. 8. Benjamin
Beilman (violin), BBC National
Orchestra of Wales/
Ryan Bancroft
10-10.45pm The Verb
10.45-11pm The Essay
The Enormous Condescension
of Posterity
11pm-1am Late Junction
16 SATURDAY
7-9am Breakfast
9-11.45am Record Review
11.45am-12.30pm Music
Matters
12.30-1pm This Classical Life
Guylaine Eckersley (bassoon)
1-3pm Inside Music
3-4pm Sound of Cinema
4-5pm Music Planet
5-6.30pm J to Z
6.30-10pm Opera on 3 from
Metropolitan Opera, New York.
Mozart The Magic Flute
10pm-12am New Music Show
12-1am Freeness
17 SUNDAY
7-9am Breakfast
9am-11pm European
Broadcasting Union Christmas
Around Europe. Featuring
concerts from Stockholm,
Amsterdam, Copenhagen,
Stuttgart, London and Paris
among others
CHOICE 11pm-12am
Sunday Night Series
Round the Horn
12-12.30am Classical Fix
18 MONDAY
6.30-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm Essential Classics
12-1pm Composer of the Week
A Vaughan Williams Christmas
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 101
December TV&Radio
A Vaughan Williams Christmas
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
2-4pm Afternoon Concert
4-5pm Choral Evensong
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
Seasonal offering TBC
10-10.45pm Free Thinking
10.45-11pm The Essay
The Story of Puddings
11pm-12.30am Night Tracks
21 THURSDAY
6.30-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm Essential Classics
12-1pm Composer of the Week
A Vaughan Williams Christmas
In the spotlight: 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
Nigerian composer 2-5pm Afternoon Concert
Fela Sowande
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
receives well
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In
earned recognition
Concert live from Saffron Hall.
Handel Messiah. Hilary Cronin
(soprano), Helen Charlston
TV CHOICE (mezzo-soprano), Laurence
Kilsby (tenor), Morgan Pearse
The Classical Collection (baritone). BBC Singers, Britten
Sinfonia/Sofi Jeannin
This month is your last chance to catch The 10-10.45pm Free Thinking
Classical Collection, six hour-long programmes 10.45-11pm The Essay
featuring memorable performances from the BBC The Story of Puddings
11-11.30pm Night Tracks Mix
archives. We particularly enjoyed Episode Three, 11.30pm-12.30am
Neglected Masterpieces, featuring performances of Unclassified with Elizabeth Alker
forgotten or excluded works, or music that’s only
now regaining a foothold in the classical canon. 22 FRIDAY
The programme includes performances of the 6.30-9am Breakfast
exuberant ‘Juba Dance’ from Florence Price’s 9am-12pm Essential Classics
12-1pm Composer of the Week
Symphony No. 1, Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast by A Vaughan Williams Christmas
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Elizabeth Maconchy’s 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
1953 coronation overture Proud Thames. You’ll 2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert
also find works by Korngold, Beach, Sowande, Lili 4.30-5pm The Listening Service
Boulanger and Bacewicz, as well as James Price 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
Johnson’s jazzy and uproarious Victory Stride 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
from Milton Court, Barbican.
featuring pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, conductor Contemporary Christmas Carols.
Marin Alsop and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers/Sofi Jeannin
from 2015’s Last Night of The Proms. 10-10.45pm The Verb
Linton Stephens presents, and other performers 10.45-11pm The Essay
include sopranos Renée Fleming and Danielle de The Story of Puddings
Niese, the London Philharmonic and Chineke!. 11pm-1am Late Junction
BBC iPlayer, to 28 December 23 SATURDAY
7-9am Breakfast
9-11.45am Record Review
11.45am-12.30pm Music
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert A Vaughan Williams Christmas Matters
2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert 1-2pm Lunchtime Concert 12.30-1pm This Classical Life
4.30-5pm New Generation 2-5pm Afternoon Concert 1-3pm Inside Music
Artists 5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape 3-4pm Sound of Cinema
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape 7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert 4-5pm Music Planet
7.30-10pm In Concert EBU Seasonal offering TBC 5-6.30pm J to Z
10-10.45pm Music Matters 10-10.45pm Free Thinking 6.30-10pm Opera on 3 from
10.45-11pm The Essay 10.45-11pm The Essay Metropolitan Opera, New York.
The Story of Puddings The Story of Puddings Wagner Tannhäuser
11pm-12.30am Night Tracks 11pm-12.30am Night Tracks 10pm-12am New Music Show
12-1am Freeness
19 TUESDAY 20 WEDNESDAY
6.30-9am Breakfast 6.30-9am Breakfast 24 SUNDAY
9am-12pm Essential Classics 9am-12pm Essential Classics 7-9am Breakfast
12-1pm Composer of the Week 12-1pm Composer of the Week 9am-12pm Sunday Morning
VISIT WWW.CLASSICAL-MUSIC.COM FOR THE VERY LATEST FROM THE MUSIC WORLD
GETTY
102 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
12-1pm Private Passions
1-2pm Clive Myrie at Christmas
2-3pm The Early Music Show
3-4pm Choral Evensong
4-5pm Jazz Record Requests
5-5.30pm The Listening Service
5.30-6.45pm Words and Music
6.45-7.30pm Sunday Feature
While Shepherds Watched
7.30-9pm Drama on 3
9pm-11pm Record Review Extra
11pm-12am Sunday Night
Series
12-12.30am Classical Fix
25 MONDAY
6.30-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm Essential Classics
12-1pm Composer of the Week
Greatest Showstoppers
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert
4.30-5pm New Generation
Artists
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
from Royal Albert Hall. 2023 BBC
Proms repeat TBC
10-11pm Music Matters
11pm-12.30am Night Tracks
26 TUESDAY
6.30-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm Essential Classics
12-1pm Composer of the Week
Greatest Showstoppers
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
2-5pm Afternoon Concert
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
from Royal Albert Hall. 2023 BBC
Proms repeat TBC
10-11pm Free Thinking
11pm-12.30am Night Tracks
27 WEDNESDAY
6.30-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm Essential Classics
12-1pm Composer of the Week
Greatest Showstoppers
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
2-4pm Afternoon Concert
4-5pm Choral Evensong
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
from Royal Albert Hall. 2023 BBC
Proms repeat TBC
10-11pm Free Thinking
11pm-12.30am Night Tracks
28 THURSDAY
6.30-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm Essential Classics
12-1pm Composer of the Week
Greatest Showstoppers
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
2-5pm Afternoon Concert
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
from Royal Albert Hall. 2023 BBC
Proms repeat TBC
10-11pm Free Thinking
11-11.30pm The Night Tracks
Mix
11.30pm-12.30am
Unclassified with Elizabeth Alker
29 FRIDAY
6.30-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm Essential Classics
12-1pm Composer of the Week
Greatest Showstoppers
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert
2-4.30pm Afternoon Concert
4.30-5pm The Listening
Service
5-7.30pm In Tune plus Mixtape
7.30-10pm Radio 3 In Concert
from Royal Albert Hall. 2023 BBC
Proms repeat TBC
10-11pm The Verb
11pm-1am Late Junction
30 SATURDAY
7-9am Breakfast
9-11.45am Record Review
11.45am-12.30pm Music
Matters
12.30-1pm This Classical Life
Laura Cannell (violin/recorder)
1-3pm Inside Music
CHOICE 3-4pm
Sound of Cinema
4-5pm Music Planet
5-6.30pm J to Z
6.30-10pm Opera on 3 from
Royal Opera House. Handel
Jephtha
10pm-12am New Music Show
12-1am Freeness
31 SUNDAY
7-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm Sunday Morning
12-1pm Private Passions
1-2pm Lunchtime Concert rpt
2-3pm The Early Music Show
3-4pm Choral Evensong
4-5pm Jazz Record Requests
5-5.30pm The Listening Service
5.30-6.45pm Words and Music
6.45-7.30pm Sunday Feature/
Between the Ears
7.30-9pm Drama on 3
9pm-12am Radio 3 in Concert
Last Night of the Proms (rpt)
12-12.30am Slow Radio
The Clock
10. ‘Penny Lane’
slang for travelling on foot.
9. 4/4. ‘Waltzing’ is Australian
8. The vibraphone
Sage Gateshead)
Gateshead, UK (formally called
Germany; c) Bilbao, Spain; d)
7. a) Paris, France; b) Hamburg,
6. Marc Chagall
5. John Dowland
4. Sophocles
3. Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker
2. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1. Ludwig van Beethoven
QUIZ ANSWERS from p104
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THE QUIZ
It’s time to put your classical
music knowledge to the test
1. Who was born at Bonngasse 20
in Bonn on (probably) 16 December
1770?
2. And who died at
Rauhensteingasse 8 in Vienna on
5 December 1791?
3. Which famous ballet had its first
ever performance in St Petersburg
on 17 December 1892?
4. Richard Strauss’s Elektra,
Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex and
Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek are
all operas based on plays by whom?
5. Which composer, snubbed for a
court post by Elizabeth I in 1594,
then became embroiled in a plot to
assassinate her while travelling in
Europe the following year?
6. Painted in 1912, The Fiddler
(above) is one of several violin-
related works by which artist?
7. In which towns or cities will
you find the following river-side
concert halls: a) La Seine Musicale;
b) Elbphilharmonie; c) Euskalduna
Hall; d) The Glasshouse
International Centre for Music?
8. The steel marimba was the
precursor of which percussion
instrument, developed by the
Leedy Manufacturing Company
and JC Deagan Inc in the 1920s?
9. In what time signature is the
popular Australian song ‘Waltzing
Matilda’ (and why)?
10. Watching a BBC TV broadcast
of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos
in January 1967 inspired Paul
McCartney to add a piccolo
trumpet solo to which Beatles song?
See p102 for answers
104 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
The BBC Music Magazine
PRIZE CROSSWORD NO. 392
Crossword set by Paul Henderson
The first correct solution of our crossword
picked at random will win a copy of
The Oxford Companion to Music. A
runner-up will win Who Knew? Answers
to Questions about Classical Music (see
oup.co.uk). Send answers to: BBC Music
Magazine, Crossword 392/December 2023,
PO Box 501, Leicester, LE94 0AA to arrive
by 28 Nov 2023 (solution in Feb 2024 issue).
Your name & address
SEPTEMBER SOLUTION SEPTEMBER WINNER
No. 389 Katy Nicolson, Hamilton
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ACROSS
1 Submit then scowl when performing
Sondheim song (4,2,3,6)
9 Studies not so much keeping
soprano working (7)
10 Russian expert on reflexes
attending a ballerina (7)
11 Popular singing, perhaps?
Asking for payment (9)
12/20d I strike back, with La Scala
agitating soprano (5,6)
13 Everything beginning to appear in a
style of music? (4)
14 Showing signs of loving improvising,
following hints of certain artists (10)
18 Stage work with restrictions around
volume for staff (10)
19 Duet: piano and alto with
a lot of passion (4)
21 Leading star in orchestral
phantasy (5)
23 Hear clang reverberating in
saxophone piece by John Harle (9)
26 Recalled some nonpareil ears
immediately – such as Ivry Gitlis? (7)
27 Insolence rebuffed by dour
Vaughan Williams character (7)
28 Violinist: fellows call for attention
and crowd the French player
at last (7,8)
DOWN
1 Conductor, tense, interrupting
performers’ showpieces (5)
2 Remains very unwell, visiting
North-Eastern country music
center (9)
3 One study, half in C, is very
symbolic (6)
4 Some contraltos tickling
Anglo-Italian composer (5)
5 Lone pages scattered from
Lalo’s Symphonie? (9)
6 Beatles song: nothing enlivened
demo (4,2,2)
7 Many an operatic hero in start of
work loves historic Queen (5)
8 Cut part of score leading to fury in
home of Norwegian symphony
orchestra (9)
13 Sonata I’m playing with line using
all twelve tones? (9)
15 Minim alas misused in feature of
Saint-Saëns’s Carnival? (9)
16 Like a premiere in August: starts to
use Royal Albert Hall, ultimately (9)
17 Brazilian composer’s topic for
Christmas carol? (8)
20 See 12 across
22 Middle of opera about Evita? (5)
24 Better sources for early
Russian dance (5)
25 Unconvincing opening to revised
Debussy piece (2,3)
Please note: Because of BBC Music
Magazine’s limited office access
following the Covid-19 pandemic, there
may be a delay in receiving your prize. We
apologise for any inconvenience caused.
 Volume 32 No.2 BBC Music Magazine
(ISSN 0966-7180) (USPS 018-168) is
published 13 times a year by Our Media Ltd
(An Immediate Group Company) under
licence from BBC Worldwide, Eagle House,
Bristol BS1 4ST, UK.
© Our Media Ltd, 2023
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BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 105

 Music that changed me
Lise Davidsen
Described as a ‘one-in-a-million
voice’ by conductor Antonio Pappano,
Lise Davidsen came to international
attention in 2015 when she won the
Operalia, Queen Sonja and Hans Gabor
Belvedere competitions. The Norwegian
lyric-dramatic soprano has since made
her name in the world’s major opera
houses, particularly in Wagner, Richard
Strauss and, most recently, Verdi. She
has recorded three solo albums for
Decca, and this year releases Christmas
from Norway on the label.
I
grew up in Stokke, a tiny little town
in the countryside in the south of
Norway. I didn’t have a typically
musical family. There wasn’t music all
around. But I do remember Christmas
being a big thing. We went to the church,
and everyone would sing in the nativity
play, and my sister and I were part of it.
One year they gave me the solo of ‘Nå er
den hellige time’ (Now is the holy hour)
– and that was the biggest moment of my
life. It’s a poppy, gospel song. My mum has
told me several times that she remembers
me standing in the living room practising
and practising. I loved it so much. We were
all dressed in white robes with candles in
our hands. It was a very grown-up feeling,
being responsible for having a solo.
After the nativity play, as part of
the prelude for the church service on
Christmas Eve, there would be O Helga
Natt, the Swedish version of ADAM’s O
Holy Night. I was asked to sing it – and that
was the next important thing for me. I was
still in high school at the time, so it was a
long time before I became an opera singer.
It’s a popular song in Norway, there are
many versions of it and everyone has their
favourite. That’s why I love it.
I didn’t have singing lessons until I was
16, when I started playing the guitar a bit
and wanted to be a singer-songwriter. It
JAMES HOLE
was a lot of fun. I enjoyed singing without
knowing where it would take me. Bach
106 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
Soprano
The choices
Nå er den hellige time
Oslo Gospel Choir
Kirkelig Kulturverksted FXCD343
Adam O Helga Natt
Lise Davidsen Decca 485 4358
Vivaldi Gloria, RV589 – Laudamus te
Carolyn Watkinson et al; Academy of Ancient
Music, Christ Church Cathedral Choir/
Simon Preston Decca 478 36158
Wagner Tannhäuser – Dich, teure Halle
Birgit Nilsson, Royal Opera House Orchestra/
Sir Edward Downes Decca 483 4106
Richard Strauss Der Rosenkavalier
Renée Fleming et al; Munich Philharmonic/
Christian Thielemann Decca 478 1507
was my way into classical music. I started
properly studying the mezzo-soprano
repertoire and Baroque music at the Grieg
Academy of Music in Bergen. VIVALDI’s
‘Laudamus te’ from the Gloria was a piece
from when I was in the girls’ choir as a
student, which I learnt so much from.
I came from a team sports background,
so I absolutely went into choral singing
with the group mentality. I don’t think I
would be here without the choir. It gave me
confidence. A couple of years after doing
the Vivaldi, which I remember so well
because it was such a big thing, I went to
the Opera Academy at the Royal Danish
Academy of Music in Copenhagen, which
is where I met the teacher Susanna Eken,
who helped me become a soprano.
One of the first arias she gave me was
WAGNER’s ‘Dich, teure Halle’ from
Tannhäuser, which was sort of insane at the
time because it’s such a big aria. She gave it
to me in the spirit of, ‘This is where you’re
going’, to show me where I would be in the
end. I worked on a lot of Verdi and Strauss
with her, though of course what I sang in
concert were Strauss songs and Mozart
arias. Later, this piece followed me through
my career and in my competitions. It’s a
proper showtune in a way. My relationship
with the aria has changed quite a lot since
then. Every production I do adds layers to
what the aria can be. I sang it recently in
Vienna and told the audience that my first
Tannhäuser had been tenor Stephen Gold.
He had just passed away – so the meaning
of it changed again. He was the one I’ve
sung it with the most.
RICHARD STRAUSS’s Der
Rosenkavalier was the first opera I saw,
when I was around 20. We did a few
scenes from it at the Opera Academy
too. It was during those years I realised I
really wanted to sing opera for a living. I
enjoyed it so much. I wanted to keep doing
it even though it was scary. This spring
I sang the Marschallin in Rosenkavalier
at the New York Metropolitan Opera for
the first time – and it was a big deal as I
love this opera and I really wanted to sing
the role. ‘Hab mir’s gelobt’ is the moment
when you realise the Marschallin has let
go of the man she loves. It’s so hard in life
to accept that something is changing, and
she does it with grace. There’s so much
emotion in this trio. 
Interview by Rebecca Franks
 HERMAN KREBBERS
EDITION
Celebrating the centenary of the
birth of the sovereign Dutch violinist
– concerto soloist, chamber musician
and concertmaster.
JOHN MAUCERI
THE SOUND OF HOLLYWOOD
The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra’s complete
Philips albums recorded with John Mauceri,
as well as his Decca recordings of ‘My Fair
Lady’ and ‘Schoenberg in Hollywood’.

HANS SCHMIDT-ISSERSTEDT
EDITION: VOL. 1 EDITION: VOL. 2
The complete Decca recordings of Schmidt-Isserstedt, The Philips, Mercury, Accord and
at the center of which are his legendary recordings of the Deutsche Grammophon recordings
Beethoven symphonies and piano concertos (Backhaus). of Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt.

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