11 Nov 2010
El Nuevo Mundo: Folias Criollas
Our modern globalized perspective makes us alert to the cultural richness of difference, much as it ironically also seems to blur distinctions with ease of access.
Recently in Recordings
Ariane et Barbe-Bleue on Blu-Ray
Paul Dukas’ Ariane et Barbe-Bleue, first heard in 1907, once seemed important. Arturo Toscanini conducted the Met premiere in 1911 with Farrar and later arranged some of its music for a 1947 recording with his NBC Symphony.
Kaufmann Wagner
The economics of the recording companies dictate much that is not ideal. Wagner’s operas were not composed as they were in order to permit the extraction of bleeding chunks, even on those occasions when strophic song forms do occur.
Mahler: Symphony No. 8
Among the recent recordings of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, Valery Gergiev’s release on the LSO Live label is an excellent addition to the discography of this work.
Songs by Zemlinsky
While not unknown, the songs of Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942) deserve to be heard more frequently.
Gustav Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Rückert-Lieder, Kindertotenlieder.
Recorded on 5 and 6 May 2008 and 17 and 18 January 2009 at the Lisztzentrum (Raiding, Austria), this recent Bridge release makes available the piano-vocal versions of three song cycles by Gustav Mahler, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Rückert-Lieder, and Kindertotenlieder performed by mezzo-soprano Hermine Haselböck, accompanied by Russell Ryan.
Kathleen Ferrier: A Film by Diane Perelsztejn
Contraltos rarely achieve the acclaim and renown of sopranos. Assigned few leading roles in opera, they are condemned to playing the villain or the grandmother, or to stealing the castrati’s trousers in en travesti roles.
1612 Italian Vespers
Following their 2011 Decca recording of Striggio’s Mass in 40 Parts (1566), I Fagiolini continue their quest to unearth lost treasures of the High Renaissance and early Baroque, with this collection of world-premiere recordings, ‘reconstructions’ and ‘reconstitutions’ of music by Giovanni and Andrea Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Palestrina, and their less well-known compatriots Viadana, Barbarino and Soriano.
Eternal Echoes: Songs and Dances for the Soul
Eternal Echoes is an album of khazones [Jewish cantorial music] for cantorial soloist, solo violin and a blended instrumental ensemble comprising a small orchestra and the Klezmer Conservatory Band.
Mahler: Symphony no. 3 / Kindertotenlieder
Michael Tilson Thomas’s recording of Mahler’s Third Symphony is an outstanding contribution to the composer’s discography.
Oliver Knussen’s Symphonies from NMC
Oliver Knussen burst into British music with an unprecedented flourish. In 1967, the London Symphony Orchestra premiered Knussen’s First Symphony, with István Kertész scheduled to conduct.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio
Based on performances given in Summer 2010 at the Lucerne Festival, this recording of Beethoven’s Fidelio is an admirable recording that captures the vitality of the work as conducted by Claudio Abbado.
Stanisław Moniuszko: Flis
Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872) was one of the most popular composers of his day in Poland, and of the many works he wrote for the stage, two are performed from time to time, Halka (1848) and Strazny dwór [The Haunted Manor] (1865).
Stanisław Moniuszko: Pieśni Songs
The Polish alto Jadwiga Rappé is a familiar voice in various stage and concert works, and the recent release of a selection of songs by Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872) is an opportunity to hear her performing artsongs.
Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge: Serate Musicali
Originally released on multiple discs in 1981 this reissue on two CDs is a comprehensive collection of art songs by Italian and French composers from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Richard Strauss: Salome
An exciting contribution to the discography of this popular opera, the live performance of Richard Strauss’s Salome from the Festspielhaus at Baden-Baden is a compelling DVD.
Lulu by Gran Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona
Released in late 2011, Deutsche Grammophon’s DVD of the new staging of Berg’s Lulu at the Gran Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona is an excellent contribution to the discography of this fascinating opera.
Lulu by the Metropolitan Opera
A recent release by the Metropolitan Opera, this two-disc set makes available on DVD the famous performance of Berg’s Lulu that was broadcast on 20 December 1980 as part of the PBS series “Live from the Met.”
Elmer Gantry the Opera
The novels of Sinclair Lewis once shot across the American literary skies like comets, alarming and fascinating readers of that era, but their tails didn’t extend far behind them.
Historical Performances from Covent Garden: Barbiere, La traviata and Tosca
Once the province of only the most dedicated opera fanatics, mid-20th century recordings of privately taped live performances have become more widely available.
Lucia and the glass harmonica
Flute players in opera orchestra around the world must look forward to the frequent appearances of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, knowing that while the stage spotlight in the mad scene will be on the soprano, the orchestral spotlight will be on their instrument.
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Recordings
Multicultural, we savor the admixture of diversity, and in the savoring seem to relax the complex boundaries of identity. Although this takes place now on an unprecedented scale, the history of colonialism and trade remind us that cultural intertwining is a conspicuous strand in the fabric of the past, as well. And it is the cultural intertwining of the “Andalusian Caribbean” that is vibrantly explored in the recording, El Nuevo Mundo, by the inestimable Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras.
In the exploration, traditional Latin American music in a variety of forms sits easily in the company of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music from both the Spanish “old” and “new” worlds in what can only be perceived as a musical family reunion, a reunion where resemblance rings true even among the more distant cousins, and kinship remains evident throughout the generations. The performance forces themselves underscore the theme, as well, for Savall’s well-known early music ensembles, La Capella Reial de Catalunya and Hesperion XXI, are joined by the Mexican traditional ensemble Tembembe Ensamble Continuo, a collaboration begun several years ago as part of the Festival Cervantino.
Solo turns are ample and shared: harpist Andrew Lawrence-King, for instance, improvises a “Danza de Moctezuma,” while gambist Savall takes a turn with smile-inducing, improvised “Canarios”; Figueras brings her hauntingly sinuous and sensuous voice to one of the most memorable works on the program, the cantata-like “Niña como en tus mudanzas.” In addition to the solo work, the ensemble playing is endlessly engaging with its abundance of “pluckery” and irresistible rhythmic animation.
One of the finest examples of the principle underlying the program, and also one of the finest of the performances, is the paired “Xicochi Conetzintle” and “Xochipitzahuatl,” the former an early baroque Christmas lullaby by Gaspar Fernandes from the cathedral at Oaxaca, the latter a traditional “son” in honor of Mary. The Fernandes piece is elegant in its rendition and memorable in its rhythmic undulations and cross-rhythms. The “son” blends seamlessly into the patterned sway—as “cousins” might easily do—only to yield place to an equally seamless return to the lullaby. In the motion back and forth we discern something of the flow of the musical currents shaping the music of el nuevo mundo; in the interplay of sounds we can take great delight.
Steven Plank