Claudia Abbado, Opening Concert at the 2013 Lucerne Festival (Brahms, Schoenberg, Beethoven)

Brahms, Tragic Overture

Schoenberg, Interlude and Song of the Wood-Dove from Gurreleider

Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 Eroica

Lucerne Festival Orchestra

Mihoko Fujimura, Mezzo-Soprano

Lucerne Festival Orchestra, conducted by Claudio Abbado

Recorded on 16/17 August 2013

Accentus Blu-Ray 10282

(also available on DVD)

This disc represents the last audiovisual recording of Claudio Abbado conducting – although not the last recording tout court, as a CD of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 recorded later in the 2013 festival will soon be released. Abbado died  on 20^th January, 2014 and it is tempting to see this as a valedictory performance – particularly given the bleak programming, with Brahms’s Tragic Overture, an extract from Gurreleider that is all about death and loss, and Eroica symphony with Beethoven’s finest funeral march.

That would be completely wrong, however. This opening concert is really a celebration. It marks 10 years of wonderful music-making by Abbado and his hand-picked selection of musicians. The Lucerne festival has given us some magnificent recordings, particularly of Mahler and Bruckner, two composers with whom Abbado has a particular affinity. And this concert does not disappoint.

Both the Tragic Overture and the orchestral interlude from Gurreleider showcase the LFO’s extremely fine string section, at its best in the late Romantic repertoire. In the ‘Song of the Wood-Dove’ (which is more of a lament than a song) Abbado achieves a skillful and effective balance between the huge orchestra and the dark tone of Mihoko Fujimura’s mezzo-soprano.  But the real highlight of  the performance, unsurprisingly, is the Eroica symphony.

According to the (rather breathless) liner notes, Abbado makes the Funeral March the emotional centerpiece of the symphony. I have to disagree. The Funeral March, played with minimal vibrato, is certainly very powerful, but to describe it as the centerpiece fails to do justice to Abbado’s architectural conception and to the forward momentum that he establishes from the opening bars.  This performance reveals a deeply organic vision of the symphony and none of the movements can be taken on its own terms. The pacing of the scherzo, for example, builds to a perfectly judged transition into the finale.

The Lucerne Festival was obviously very special. This disc is a very worthy celebration of 10 great years that yielded most of the high points of Abbado’s conducting career.

Chailly's Mahler 5 on Blu-Ray

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 5

Riccardo Chailly

Gewandhaus-Orchester

Accentus Music

Blu-Ray: ACC 10284

(Also available as DVD: ACC 20284)

This Blu-Ray disc is the latest in a projected complete Blu-Ray/DVD cycle of Mahler symphonies by the Gewandhaus conducted by their current musical director Riccardo Chailly. Symphonies No. 2, 4, 6, and 8 have already been released. This will be Chailly’s second Mahler cycle. Decca released the first with the Concertgebouw Amsterdam on CD in 2005.

As Chailly stresses in the very worthwhile interview included as a bonus feature, both the Concertgebouw and the Gewandhaus have strong historical links with Mahler through William Mengelberg and Bruno Walter respectively. For this performance Chailly steeped himself in Mengelberg’s annotated score.

Chailly sets himself against the trend for decelerated tempi in Mahler conducting, which he sees as self-indulgence that obscures the formal structure. His approach is classical in inspiration. He underplays Mahler’s ironical moments and resists the temptation to sentimental wallowing in the Adagietto. The performance gives an overwhelming impression of energy and movement. Interestingly, and perhaps an illustration of how much Mahler conducting has changed (since this performance still sounds brisk), he remains much slower than Mengelberg’s famous 1926 recording of the Adagietto, taking 8’39” to Mengelberg’s 7’04”.

In the score Mahler divides the five movements of the 5^th Symphony into three parts – the first two and last two movements each form a block, separated by the middle part which is composed simply of the scherzo.  Chailly takes his organization very much to heart (and structures his interview around it). On his interpretation the scherzo clearly comes across as the symphony’s center of gravity. There is no gap between the first and second movements. The transition is very effective and highlights the continuity in Part I – as he puts it in the interview, the second movement is an attack on the first movement’s funeral march.

There is an equally striking transition from the fourth movement to the finale, reflecting how well integrated the Adagietto is into the overall structure of the symphony. The finale has great power, momentum, and humor. It is Mahler at his sunniest – with Chailly identifying the last two bars as homage to Offenbach.  

This is a very fine performance with excellent Blu-Ray sound and unobtrusive videography.          I recommend it very highly and look forward to the rest of the cycle.

Thielemann's Bruckner 8 with the Staatskapelle Dresden (Blu-ray)

Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 8

Staatskapelle Dresden

Christian Thielemann

C Major 716204        (Blu-Ray)

  

This performance of Bruckner’s 8^th Symphony was recorded in the Semperoper, Dresden on June 10, 2012 and is the first in a projected complete cycle of the Bruckner symphonies. An opera house is an unlikely venue for this most unoperatic of symphonies, but the performance is magnificent and was justly met with that very rare phenomenon – a standing ovation from a European symphony audience.

Thielemann’s interpretation is very weighty and feels slow. Looking at the timings reveal that the performance is no slower than most. What it has, though, is a rare sense of deliberateness and purpose. One way in which this reveals itself is in the balance within and across the four movements. Each of the first three movements is perfectly paced to set up its successor, and the tempo of the finale is exactly right to recapitulate its predecessors.

The first movement is 16’03” but feels slower. There is a great dramatic build up that still respects the movement’s lyrical passages with fine wind playing and well shaped phrasing in the strings. The tension is dissipated in the coda. In the second movement the contrast between the Scherzo and the Trio is well judged. The first occurrence of the Scherzo allows the much slower Trio to be foregrounded, while the reprise of the Scherzo feels much more driving and nicely frames an Adagio that is both lyrical and probing. The balance and dialog between strings, wind, and brass is particularly fine both in this movement and in the wonderfully paced finale.

I only have a couple of quibbles, one with the recording and one with the videography. The first is minor. The harp seems artificially foregrounded in the early parts of the Adagio, temporarily distorting the balance of the music. The second is much more significant. The videographer registers the climax of the Adagio with a pedestrian panning shot around the opera house. This adds nothing to the music and runs a serious risk of distracting the listener/viewer.  

But putting these quibbles to one wide, musically this is most impressive and bodes well for the rest of the cycle. Thielemann is cementing his position as one of the leading contemporary Bruckner conductors. Highly recommended.

Remastered historical Bruckner recordings from Giulini and Schuricht

Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 2 (*)

Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 8 (**)

Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 9 (**)

(*)       Wiener Symphoniker, conduced by Carlo Maria Giulini

Vienna Symphony Orchestra label WS004 (CD)

(**)     Wiener Philharmoniker, conduced by Carl Schuricht

            EMI Classics 50999 9 55984 2 0 (2 discs - Hybrid SACD)

Here are two very welcome reissues of historical recordings from the 1960’s and 1970’s of great Bruckner conductors in Vienna  – a 2-disc set from EMI Classics of Bruckner 8 and 9 from Carl Schuricht conducting the Vienna Philharmonic and a single disc with Bruckner 2 from Carlo Maria Giulini and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, originally issued by Warner and now reissued as the fourth release from the Vienna Symphony’s own label. The Schuricht recordings date from 1963 and 1961 respectively, while the Giulini performance was recorded in December 1974. All three have been remastered, with the Schuricht discs remastered into SACD.

Although only 10 years or so separate the Schuricht recordings from the Giulini recordings, these are two very different eras of Bruckner conducting. Schuricht is from the school of Furtwängler and Knappersbusch – at least in his freedom with tempi, although he is far less monumental  in his approach to Bruckner than either of the others. Giulini is much more measured and in the modern style.

Giulini imbues the 2^nd with real depth. Too often it sounds like a pale shadow of the Bruckner to come, but the emotional intensity of Bruckner’s late symphonies is already there in Giulini’s performance, particularly in the slow movement where he does more than justice to the solemnity of the main theme. At the same time Giulini does not shy away from some of the effects in this symphony that are far cruder than the late Bruckner would have contemplated (e.g. in the Scherzo and Finale, both of which are conducted with great energy and vitality). The end of the Finale is particularly dramatic (as noted in the interesting essay by Robert Freund, horn player with the orchestra and involved in the original recording session). 

Carl Schuricht uses tempo variations in both of these recordings to good effect. His approach to Bruckner is relatively undramatic. His Bruckner is not the Bruckner of the church or of the mountain-tops. And so he uses fluctuating tempi to build (and then dissipate) tension and to carve out the structure of the two symphonies.  His climaxes are understated but nonetheless effective – primarily because of how he builds and moulds the musical line building up to them. To my mind his approach is more successful (even more successful!) in the 9^th than the 8^th., but both performances are recommended.

Isserlis and Mustonen play Martinu, Sibelius and Mustonen

Martinu:         Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1, H277

                        Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 2, H286

                        Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 3, H340

Sibelius           Malincolia, Op. 20

Mustonen       Sonata for Cello and Piano

Stephen Isserlis, cello

Olli Mustonen, piano

BIS 2042

Hybrid SACD

 This attractive disc showcases what for many listeners will be an unfamiliar program. Martinu’s three cello sonatas have been recorded on a number of occasions (including an earlier recording by Stephen Isserlis on Helios with Peter Evans at the keyboard), but remain relatively little known. Malincolia is not one of Sibelius’s better known pieces, to put it mildly. And only real enthusiasts who have played it or heard it live will be familiar with Olli Mustonen’s sonata for cello and piano. Yet the combination works well. 

The three Martinu sonatas complement each other nicely. The first (written in 1939 after the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia) is the most searching, particularly the Lento, which Isserlis and Mustonen play with real depth of feeling. The momentum of the second sonata (written in exile in the US) is nicely captured by the two performers. Likewise for the rhythmically rewarding and even more dynamic third sonata. Isserlis and Mustonen clearly have great affinity for this music (and Isserlis’s program notes in the booklet are thoughtful and informative).

Sibelius’s Malincolia is aptly named. It is an unremitting lament for the composer’s deceased infant daughter. Isserlis illuminatingly describes it as “a tone poem for cello and piano in which the darkness of Finland’s forests alternates with the consoling sound of human chant.” Isserlis plays with lyrical depth and a fine singing line rising above Mustone’s driving piano accompaniment.

Mustonen’s own sonata is appealing, combining catchy phrases for the cello with an energetic and percussive accompaniment for the piano. It is clearly from the same stylistic and emotional universe as the other pieces on the disc (like Sibelius, Mustonen is a Finn). This is the first recording and it rounds out very nicely an interesting and satisfying selection of music for cello and piano. The sound quality is excellent and the disc is recommended.   

Barenboim's La Scala Götterdämmerung on Blu Ray

Richard Wagner, Die Götterdämmerung

Siegfried - Lance Ryan
Gunther - Gerd Grochowski
Alberich - Johannes Martin Kränzle
Hagen - Mikhail Petrenko
Brünnhilde - Iréne Theorin
Gutrune / Die dritte Norn - Anna Samuil
Waltraute / Die zweite Norn - Waltraud Meier
Die erste Norn - Margarita Nekrasova
Woglinde - Aga Mikolaj
Wellgunde - Maria Gortsevskaya
Flosshilde - Anna Lapkovskaja

Milan La Scala Chorus and Orchestra
(chorus master: Bruno Casoni)
Daniel Barenboim, conductor

Guy Cassiers, stage director and set designer
Enrico Bagnoli, set and lighting designer
Tim van Steenbergen, costume designer
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, choreographer

Recorded live at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, June 2013

Arthaus Musik           Blu Ray (108 0930) or DVD (101 696)

                                     

This release brings to an end the La Scala Ring Cycle conducted by Daniel Barenboim and produced by Guy Cassiers. I reviewed the Die Walküre very positively when it came out. This performance is significantly less successful to my mind, largely due to the weak singing of Lance Ryan, but it is very fine nonetheless. I will stick with my earlier judgment that Barenboim’s 1992 Bayreuth Ring Cycle remains his best effort (but for a different view see the reviews by Rob Cummings on this site), but the conducting, production, and most of the singing here is first rate.

One very striking feature of Guy Cassier’s production is the skillful use of light and video – superbly captured on the Blu Ray disc. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more evocative portrayal of Brunnhilde’s rock. But the most distinctive feature of the production is its use of visual leitmotifs that reappear throughout all four dramas. Chief among these is the frieze Les passions humaines commissioned from the Antwerp sculptor Jef Lambeaux by King Leopold II of Belgium. The freize depicts a contorted mass of human bodies – rather appropriate for the Ring. There is a striking evocation of the frieze in the Gibichung palace where pieces of the furniture look rather like Damien Hirst-style limbs in formaldehyde. The leitmotif continues with the depiction of the Tarnhelm as a human sculpture, which works rather effectively when Siegrfried arrives at Brunnhilde’s rock (and somewhat less so when Siegfried first arrives surrounded by ballet dancers at the Gibichung palace). 

As with the earlier dramas in the cycle, Barenboim’s conducting is superlative. Die Götterdämmerung has some of Wagner’s classic set-pieces, including Siegfried’s Rhine Journey and the Funeral March and these come across extremely well, as one might expect. Barenboim’s real strength, though, is his sense of structure – both musical and dramatic . A nice illustration comes in Act II, where he builds unerringly to the dramatic high point of Siegfried’s oath.  This is a part of the drama that is crucial, but can sag in the wrong hands.

As indicated earlier, the real problem with this production is Lance Ryan’s Siegfried. Ryan does not have the contolled power of a true heldentenor and he sounds forced and all-too-often wobbly when he tries to project. He is very much at the “shouty” end of the spectrum and it just doesn’t work for me at all (although the audience at La Scala seemed happy enough). The rest of the cast unfortunately shows up his weaknesses. 

Waltraud Meier is outstanding as the 2^nd Norn and then as Waltraute. The duet between Brunnhilde and Waltraute at the end of Act I is sung with simultaneous strength and delicacy. Nina Stemme was the Brunnhilde in Die Walküre and Siegfried, and sang outstandingly well in both dramas. Here she is replaced by Iréne Theorin, who does not quite have Stemme’s dramatic power, but who gives a very creditable performance. Theorin is a wonderfully furious Brunnhilde in Act II, but by the time of the immolation she is a little lacking in dramatic contrast. Hagen is well sung by Mikhail Petrenko, despite some unfortunate portamento in the early stages of the role. Johannes Martin Kränzle continues his strong run as Alberich (with the Alberich-Hagen duet another high superbly conducted high point of the performance). The principals are rounded out by  Gerd Grochowski as Gunther and Anna Samuil as Gutrune. Both do their roles justice.

The audiovisual quality of the Blu Ray disc is outstanding and the performance is recommended for the production, the conducting, and much of the singing. There are enough great moments for this to be compulsory viewing for dedicated Wagnerians