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RECORDINGS OF THE YEAR Concerto Bartók Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2 Christian Tetzlaff vn Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Hannu Lintu Ondine F ODE1317-2 (5/18) Producer Laura Heikinheimo Engineers Anna-Kaisa Kemppi & Enno Mäemets Bartók’s two violin concertos capture a great composer at very different phases in his career: the First as a young, headstrong late-Romantic madly in love with a beautiful violinist; the Second as gutsy and thoughtful (‘formal sophistication and phantasmagorical invention’ is how I described the work in these pages), writing a masterpiece in full maturity where elements of folk music, jazz and modernist daring are melded with the greatest skill. Both works have been repeatedly recorded, the Second including its world premiere (1939) and first American broadcast (1943), but with Christian Tetzlaff, Hannu Lintu and his Finnish forces you feel as if you’re eavesdropping on animated conversation, whether on the vicissitudes of helpless infatuation or the urgency and pathos of a Europe poised on the edge of war. Among many credible rivals, there are notable Hungarians playing on local ground, not least Barnabás Kelemen (under Zoltán Kocsis) who plays the rustic card with matchless panache. But between them, Tetzlaff and Lintu offer you heightened dynamics, playful badinage, fine orchestral playing and a level of emotional engagement that keeps both works aglow in your mind’s ear long after the CD is back on the shelf. Furthermore, the engineering is superb. Rob Cowan Choral Pärt Magnificat. Nunc dimittis Schnittke Psalms of Repentance Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir / Kaspars Putniņš BIS F Í BIS2292 (3/18) Producer & Engineer Jens Braun Alfred Schnittke’s remarkable Psalms of Repentance (or better, ‘Verses of Repentance’) is one of the most challenging works in the choral repertoire. It is music that plumbs the depths and ascends the heights, a spiritual and emotional rollercoaster. Though there have been other recordings of the work, this is the one that truly grasps the music and transmits its simultaneously visceral and ethereal essence to the listener. The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir is no stranger to challenging repertoire, but under the direction of Kaspars Putniņ≈ it has reached new heights: technical mastery is here matched by a profound understanding of the complexity of the composer’s approach to these ancient texts. The text (in Slavonic) is beautifully projected, the pacing is perfect, the choral blend outstanding. Such qualities are also essential in the far more transparent music of Arvo Pärt, and his shining Magnificat and Nunc dimittis provide a wonderful counterfoil to the hard-won consolations of Schnittke’s work. This is music that requires not hard-edged precision, but precision constantly aware of its fragility. The Estonians are keenly aware of this, and their performance is correspondingly deft and moving. Producer and engineer Jens Braun has captured these sessions to perfection: this is a truly outstanding recording of truly outstanding music. Ivan Moody 34 GRAMOPHONE RECORDINGS OF THE YEAR 2018 Click on a CD cover to buy/stream from gramophone.co.uk
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RECORDINGS OF THE YEAR Recital ‘Agitata’ Sacred music by Brevi, Caldara, Gregori, Jommelli, Porpora, Stradella, Torelli & Vivaldi Delphine Galou contr Accademia Bizantina / Ottavio Dantone hpd Alpha F ALPHA371 (1/18) Producer Laure Casenave Engineer Vincent Mons The recordings of French contralto Delphine Galou have until now consisted mainly of accomplished contributions to operas by Vivaldi, Caldara and Stradella, and it is to such composers as these that she turns in this, her first solo recital disc. But this is not yet another Baroque opera cherry-pick. Instead it is sacred music – much less well-known in almost all cases – that provides the material for an intelligently planned cache of treasurable finds, some of which must surely be receiving first recordings. Not that there was always much of a stylistic difference between sacred and secular. Porpora and Jommelli were among the great names of 18th-century opera, and the sheer vocal glitter and virtuosity of their music here – and in a sizzling aria from Vivaldi’s oratorio Juditha triumphans – make them as thrilling as anything out of the opera house. But there is more solemn stuff too, including a haunting Lamentations setting by Stradella, a powerful Passion cantata by Torelli, and a motet by Giovanni Battista Brevi that yearns ardently for the Sacrament. All are memorably sung by Galou, who weds vocal agility across her entire compass to touching expressive intimacy and human warmth. With the experienced support of the eversuperb Ottavio Dantone and Accademia Bizantina, she has hit on a real winner. Lindsay Kemp Contemporary Dusapin String Quartets Nos 6a & 7 Arditti Quartet (Irvine Arditti, Ashot Sarkissjan vns Ralf Ehlers va Lucas Fels vc) aOrchestre Philharmonique de Radio France / Pascal Rophé Aeon F AECD1753 (8/17) Producer Kaisa Pousset Engineers Radio France & Moritz Bergfeld Sponsored by Pascal Dusapin might not be a familiar name to listeners on this side of the Channel, but the French composer (b1955) is well established among the leading composers of his generation. His dramatic works currently have few equals for their diversity and impact, but he has been prolific in all major genres – not least the string quartet, of which he has so far written seven. Having recorded the first five, the Arditti Quartet (second to none among ensembles focusing on contemporary music) has added the latest two – both written in 2009 – which themselves typify Dusapin’s distinctive and recreative manner, not least the Sixth, with the quartet joined by orchestra for what seems less a concerto grosso-like interplay than variations on the way in which these sources can integrate deftly and with humour. The variation procedure is pursued more fully in the Seventh Quartet, unfolding as a series of 21 variations not on an actual theme but on the merest gesture at the outset. What follows are 36 minutes as unpredictable and intriguing as they are engaging: further proof that Dusapin is a figure whose ambition and charisma should set him fair across the decades to come. Richard Whitehouse gramophone.co.uk Click on a CD cover to buy/stream from GRAMOPHONE RECORDINGS OF THE YEAR 2018 35

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RECORDINGS OF THE YEAR

Concerto

Bartók Violin Concertos Nos 1 & 2 Christian Tetzlaff vn Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Hannu Lintu Ondine F ODE1317-2 (5/18) Producer Laura Heikinheimo Engineers Anna-Kaisa Kemppi & Enno Mäemets

Bartók’s two violin concertos capture a great composer at very different phases in his career: the First as a young, headstrong late-Romantic madly in love with a beautiful violinist; the Second as gutsy and thoughtful (‘formal sophistication and phantasmagorical invention’ is how I described the work in these pages), writing a masterpiece in full maturity where elements of folk music, jazz and modernist daring are melded with the greatest skill. Both works have been repeatedly recorded, the Second including its world premiere (1939) and first American broadcast (1943), but with Christian Tetzlaff, Hannu Lintu and his Finnish forces you feel as if you’re eavesdropping on animated conversation, whether on the vicissitudes of helpless infatuation or the urgency and pathos of a Europe poised on the edge of war. Among many credible rivals, there are notable Hungarians playing on local ground, not least Barnabás Kelemen (under Zoltán Kocsis) who plays the rustic card with matchless panache.

But between them, Tetzlaff and Lintu offer you heightened dynamics, playful badinage, fine orchestral playing and a level of emotional engagement that keeps both works aglow in your mind’s ear long after the CD is back on the shelf. Furthermore, the engineering is superb. Rob Cowan

Choral

Pärt Magnificat. Nunc dimittis Schnittke Psalms of Repentance Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir / Kaspars Putniņš BIS F Í BIS2292 (3/18) Producer & Engineer Jens Braun

Alfred Schnittke’s remarkable Psalms of Repentance (or better, ‘Verses of Repentance’) is one of the most challenging works in the choral repertoire. It is music that plumbs the depths and ascends the heights, a spiritual and emotional rollercoaster. Though there have been other recordings of the work, this is the one that truly grasps the music and transmits its simultaneously visceral and ethereal essence to the listener. The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir is no stranger to challenging repertoire, but under the direction of Kaspars Putniņ≈ it has reached new heights: technical mastery is here matched by a profound understanding of the complexity of the composer’s approach to these ancient texts. The text (in Slavonic) is beautifully projected, the pacing is perfect, the choral blend outstanding.

Such qualities are also essential in the far more transparent music of Arvo Pärt, and his shining Magnificat and Nunc dimittis provide a wonderful counterfoil to the hard-won consolations of Schnittke’s work. This is music that requires not hard-edged precision, but precision constantly aware of its fragility. The Estonians are keenly aware of this, and their performance is correspondingly deft and moving. Producer and engineer Jens Braun has captured these sessions to perfection: this is a truly outstanding recording of truly outstanding music. Ivan Moody

34 GRAMOPHONE RECORDINGS OF THE YEAR 2018

Click on a CD cover to buy/stream from gramophone.co.uk

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