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August 2013 Informed by our unrivalled panel of critics, we choose the month’s must-hear recordings hoice BEETHOVEN The Complete String Quartets, Vol 2 Belcea Quartet Zig-Zag Territoires ZZT321 Recording of the Month ‘Alongside formidable technical expertise is a pervasive determination to confront the knottiest of issues, caution be damned’ NALEN ANTHONI’S REVIEW IS ON PAGE 40 Tap here to enjoy excerpts on the Gramophone Player CASELLA Orchestral Works, Vol 3 BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / Gianandrea Noseda Chandos CHAN10768 ‘Good news: Vol 3 in Chandos’s Casella series effortlessly maintains the exalted artistic and technical standards of both its predecessors.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 44 JANÁČEK Sinfonietta. The Fiddler’s Child. Taras Bulba Prague Radio SO / Tomáš Netopil Supraphon SU4131 2 ‘Supraphon’s engineering team manage vivid reportage of constantly varying textures that frequently defeat even their most accomplished rivals.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 47 4 GRAMOPHONE AUGUST 2013 SIBELIUS Symphonies – Nos 1 and 4 Minnesota Orchestra / Osmo Vänskä BIS BIS1996 ‘The passion and sweep of the First is electric, rivalling Berglund’s classic Helsinki version and overhauling those by Järvi and (dare I say it) Sir Colin Davis.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 49 KATHERINE BRYAN Flute Works Katherine Bryan l Royal Scottish National Orchestra / Jac van Steen Linn CKD420 ‘Exuberance of spirit coupled with the mellowness of her golden timbre lend the first movement a lightness, energy and mellifluous fluency.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 54 ‘LIVE FROM LUGANO 2012’ Martha Argerich and Friends EMI 721119 2 ‘This collection treads the fine line between the immediacy and drama of live perfomance and the accuracy needed for the repeat listening of recorded performance with great dexterity.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 60 gramophone.co.uk
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CONTENTS eviews MOMPOU Piano Works Arcadi Volodos pf Sony 88765 43326 2 ‘Volodos’s records and appearances may be few and far between; but whether in his torrential if superfine virtuosity or in a more rarefied poetry, his command is phenomenal.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 66 JS BACH Cantatas, Vol 53 Soloists; Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki BIS BIS1991 ‘The flavour of these works is encapsulated in the etched dialogues and textural luminosity of a distilled musical language drifting gently towards a galant sensibility.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 70 MACMILLAN Tenebrae Responsories Choir of Westminster Cathedral / Martin Baker with Peter Stevens org London Brass Hyperion CDA67970 ‘There are excellent recordings of this sequence, but inevitably the sound of the Westminster choristers adds something unique.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 71 WAGNER Opera Extracts Petra Lang sop Budapest Festival Orchestra / Iván Fischer Channel Classics CCSSA32713 ‘Iván Fischer’s work stands as some of the finest new conducting yet put on disc in Wagner’s bicentenary year.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 79 DVD/Blu-ray MAHLER Symphony No 4 Christina Landshamer sop Gewandhaus Orchestra / Riccardo Chailly Accentus ACC20257; ACC10257 ‘The first movement’s complex map of tempo relationships is negotiated with sly cunning.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 47 gramophone.co.uk Reissue/Archive WILHELM KEMPFF Piano Recital – 1962 Wilhelm Kemp f pf Hänssler Classic CD93 720 ‘Familiar Kempff territory, Beethoven’s wistful F major Sonata, those “cool”, crunchy harmonies at the start played with a full understanding of their seductive implication.’ REVIEW ON PAGE 83 Reviewed this month: 7 symphonies by Bruckner; 5 symphonies by Beethoven; 1 symphony by Gál ORCHESTRAL 42 Beethoven symphonies from two San Francisco orchestras; Noseda’s Casella series continues; online performances from the Berlin Phil CHAMBER 56 Marwood plays Schumann live at the Wigmore Hall; championing the string quartets of the ‘Norwegian Berg’; French music round-up INSTRUMENTAL 64 Pascal Amoyel plays Alkan; Bach Cello Suites from Jan Vogler and Hopkinson Smith; last instalment of Guy’s Beethoven sonatas VOCAL MacMillan from Westminster Cathedral; Stopford from Truro Cathedral; choral experiments from two landmark ‘choirbooks’ 70 OPERA 76 Glyndebourne’s 2012 Figaro on screen; rare Strauss opera revived in Germany; Giuseppe Scarlatti’s Dove è amore comes home BOOKS Robert Craft’s second exploration of the professional and private worlds of Igor Stravinsky; Paul Elie’s homage to JS Bach 80 REPLAY 82 A world of Otto Klemperer courtesy of sets from Testament and EMI; Celibidache live in Vienna; more treats from Japanese NHK THE SPECIALIST’S GUIDE David Threasher is your expert guide to rarities and gems of the repertoire scored expressly for two pianos 84 THE GRAMOPHONE COLLECTION 86 Fabrice Fitch examines available recordings of works from the most famous illuminated manuscript collection of sacred English music GRAMOPHONE AUGUST 2013 5

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CONTENTS

eviews

MOMPOU Piano Works Arcadi Volodos pf Sony 88765 43326 2 ‘Volodos’s records and appearances may be few and far between; but whether in his torrential if superfine virtuosity or in a more rarefied poetry, his command is phenomenal.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 66

JS BACH Cantatas, Vol 53 Soloists; Bach Collegium Japan / Masaaki Suzuki BIS BIS1991 ‘The flavour of these works is encapsulated in the etched dialogues and textural luminosity of a distilled musical language drifting gently towards a galant sensibility.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 70

MACMILLAN Tenebrae Responsories Choir of Westminster Cathedral / Martin Baker with Peter Stevens org London Brass Hyperion CDA67970 ‘There are excellent recordings of this sequence, but inevitably the sound of the Westminster choristers adds something unique.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 71

WAGNER Opera Extracts Petra Lang sop Budapest Festival Orchestra / Iván Fischer Channel Classics CCSSA32713 ‘Iván Fischer’s work stands as some of the finest new conducting yet put on disc in Wagner’s bicentenary year.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 79

DVD/Blu-ray MAHLER Symphony No 4 Christina Landshamer sop Gewandhaus Orchestra / Riccardo Chailly Accentus ACC20257; ACC10257 ‘The first movement’s complex map of tempo relationships is negotiated with sly cunning.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 47

gramophone.co.uk

Reissue/Archive WILHELM KEMPFF Piano Recital – 1962 Wilhelm Kemp f pf Hänssler Classic CD93 720 ‘Familiar Kempff territory, Beethoven’s wistful F major Sonata, those “cool”, crunchy harmonies at the start played with a full understanding of their seductive implication.’

REVIEW ON PAGE 83

Reviewed this month: 7 symphonies by Bruckner; 5 symphonies by Beethoven; 1 symphony by Gál

ORCHESTRAL

42

Beethoven symphonies from two San Francisco orchestras; Noseda’s Casella series continues; online performances from the Berlin Phil

CHAMBER

56

Marwood plays Schumann live at the Wigmore Hall; championing the string quartets of the ‘Norwegian Berg’; French music round-up

INSTRUMENTAL

64

Pascal Amoyel plays Alkan; Bach Cello Suites from Jan Vogler and Hopkinson Smith; last instalment of Guy’s Beethoven sonatas

VOCAL

MacMillan from Westminster Cathedral; Stopford from Truro Cathedral; choral experiments from two landmark ‘choirbooks’

70

OPERA

76

Glyndebourne’s 2012 Figaro on screen; rare Strauss opera revived in Germany; Giuseppe Scarlatti’s Dove è amore comes home

BOOKS

Robert Craft’s second exploration of the professional and private worlds of Igor Stravinsky; Paul Elie’s homage to JS Bach

80

REPLAY

82

A world of Otto Klemperer courtesy of sets from Testament and EMI; Celibidache live in Vienna; more treats from Japanese NHK

THE SPECIALIST’S GUIDE

David Threasher is your expert guide to rarities and gems of the repertoire scored expressly for two pianos

84

THE GRAMOPHONE COLLECTION

86

Fabrice Fitch examines available recordings of works from the most famous illuminated manuscript collection of sacred English music

GRAMOPHONE AUGUST 2013 5

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