October Editor’s Choices
RECORDINGS OF THE YEAR
JS BACH ‘Harpsichord Concertos, Vol 3’ Il Pomo d’Oro / Francesco Corti hpd Pentatone A fascinating series continues with Francesco Corti joined by colleagues – including on a second harpsichord – for Volume 3. Scintillating playing, and excellently recorded.
‘SECRET LOVE LETTERS’ Lisa Batiashvili vn Philadelphia Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin DG
Szymanowski’s First Violin Concerto receives a beautifully coloured performance here – just part of a compelling album from the superb Lisa Batiashvili.
DEL CINQUE Sonatas for Two and Three Cellos Ludovico Minasi, Cristina Vidoni, Teodoro Baù vcs et al
Arcana Ermenegildo Del Cinque proved a joyous discovery for our esteemed critic – and for me too – thanks to this excellent advocacy.
F & F MENDELSSOHN Chamber Works Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective Chandos Another superb album from the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, with a real rarity, and steeped throughout in a highly engaging collaborative spirit.
PROKOFIEV. A & N TCHEREPNIN Piano Works Alexander Gadjiev pf AVI-Music Alexander Gadjiev –
the second-placed pianist at last year’s Chopin Competition – further enhances his reputation with an adventurous and brilliantly played Russian programme.
SENFL Choral Works Singer Pur; Ensemble Leones Oehms Singer Pur offer us a vivid and characterful programme of works by Ludwig Senfl, drawing on the Swiss Renaissance composer’s sacred and secular music for a highly engaging album.
WOLF Italienisches Liederbuch Carolyn Sampson sop Allan Clayton ten Joseph Middleton pf BIS
Carolyn Sampson and Allan Clayton’s ability to embody and communicate characters is well matched here in Wolf by the equally poetic pianist Joseph Middleton.
‘LIEDER’ Matthias Goerne bar Daniil Trifonov pf DG More superb lieder from another singer of intelligence and insight, baritone Matthias Goerne, his partner here in Schumann, Brahms, Berg and others the renowned virtuoso Daniil Trifonov.
LAMPE The Dragon of Wantley Sols; The Brook Street Band / John Andrews Resonus A delightful piece of 18th-century comic opera heritage, The Dragon of Wantley couldn’t ask for a better introduction to modern audiences than John Andrews’s lively performance.
There are some lovely things to note: the way Tetelman’s voice blooms as phrases grow; the slight sob in the voice; beautiful mezza-voce. His tenor has a real Italianate ring and he brings drama to Jacopo’s ‘Non maledirmi, o prode’ from Verdi’s I due Foscari, another role he has performed on stage recently at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
Tetelman attacks the high B flat at the end of Don José’s Flower Song from Carmen a little loudly but then diminuendos quite wonderfully. There are two poets here: Andrea Chénier’s ‘Come un bel dì di maggio’ is gorgeously sung with plenty of glamour to the top notes, while Werther’s ‘Pourquoi me réveiller’ is ardent, with some exquisite floated head notes. Pinkerton’s ‘Addio, fiorito asil’ confirms Tetelman’s Puccinian credentials – alas there is no room for his Rodolfo or Cavaradossi here, though gramophone.co.uk
I hope that Vienna Tosca will make it to DVD soon.
He closes with Trovatore’s Manrico. ‘Ah! Sì, ben mio, coll’essere’ is one of Verdi’s toughest tenor arias to sing well but Tetelman has the requisite sense of line, aided by conductor Karel Mark Chichon setting a flowing tempo. It is followed by a steely ‘Di quella pira’, top notes gleaming, the final C held thrillingly to the very end of the cabaletta (and the disc).
No stinting from DG on the supporting cast: Turiddu’s anguished farewell to his mum in Cavalleria rusticana has a brief phrase for Mamma Lucia (Magdalena Łukawska) and the Trovatore excerpts include a Ruiz (José Simerilla Romero), a Leonora (Vida Miknevi∂iu¯te˙) and a chorus (Capella Cracoviensis). Miknevi∂iu¯te˙ is more gainfully employed in a long scene from Act 3 of Francesca da Rimini, where she and Tetelman are gripping as Dante’s doomed lovers. What ardent music this is, Paolo declaring his love as Francesca reads him the tale of Guinevere and Lancelot, leading to the moment when they finally kiss. Miknevi∂iu¯te˙ is very fine (it was Sara Jakubiak who sang the role at the Deutsche Oper) and Tetelman is completely inside the role of Paolo, as viewers of Naxos’s DVD will already know.
Caveats? The Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria is not the subtlest backing band – the tutti at the end of Flotow’s ‘M’appari’ is a bit foursquare – although there is some fine clarinet-playing in the Forza excerpt that made me regret that the prelude was excised. And although DG has included aria texts, you won’t find any translations or even synopses here. But as for the tenor, this is a fabulous debut disc. I hope you share my excitement, because Tetelman is the real deal.
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