Veljo Tormis - Choral Music

"Imagine this: a post-war totalitarian Britain, where creative artists are housed in their own discrete, genre-defined communities, looked after by the authorities but subtle contained and controlled too. One tenement, somewhere flanking central London and suburbia, has been for decades the shared address of writers and poets - Drabble, McEwan and Amis Jr. occupying one storey, Larkin and Amis Sr. two miscreants together on the fifth floor a while many years back.

"A few minutes' walk away, in a slightly grubbier block of flats, are the state-housed composers. Harris Bristwistle shares, somewhat tensely, a landing with Richard Rodeny Bennet, and together they tolerate the keyboard vamping, up the stairwell and through prefap ceilings, of Michael Nyman one storey below. It is not the happiest of musical communities, but there have been some good parties there over the years.

"Hard to imagine, yes: but the bricks-and-mortar reality is a 150-minute plane ride away, just west of St. Petersburg and a ferry shuttle across the Gulf of Finland from Helsinki. Tallinn's No. 7 Lauteri Street is the residential block of the Estonian Composers' Union. And here, under one roof, lived for several decades many of the country's musical elite - at least until the end of Soviet rule in 1991. Neeme Järvi used to live there, and Arvo Pärt's first wife still does. Her neighbour, sharing a stark, functional landing of stone floor and iron stair balustrades, is one of Estonia's most illustrious figures. Within national boundaries he is widely celebrated - though not in lifestyle a 'celebrity' - and in composer-terms he is an Estonian household name in such a way that only one composer can claim in Britain, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.

"Internationally, Arvo Pärt, an émigré since 1980, may be Estonia's most famous living composer. But Veljo Tormis - five years his senior and his one-time teacher - is the composer Estonia cherishes most on home turf. In November 2000 no fewer than fifty-five choirs marked his seventieth birthday in a concert in Tallinn; and within a period of two months around his August birthday a further twenty-three concerts were given in honour across Estonia.

"2000 was the year Tormis chose, perhaps unusually for a composer, to retire. He now describes himself - even on his Tallinn apartment's doorbell - as 'Composer Emeritus', but he remains fully engaged with a lifelong evangelism for his country's folk-song tradition. Alongside an almost music, shamanic status in Estonia, he is the passionate and practical torch-bearer for folk-singing revival - from kindergarten to pensioner homes - and the integration of an ancient cultural inheritance into thoroughly moden, post-Soviet lives.

"'We must stop treating our own song culture as a museum exhibit or as tourist exotica meant for a chosen few', he wrote in his 1972 manifesto 'Folk Song and Us'. That pamphlet, apart from cleverly aligning personal artistic credo with a certain line-towing Soviet political correctness, was above all a love-letter to Estonia's ancient runic songs, 'regilaul'. This was the folk heritage Tormis had become interested in during the previous decade - duple-metered, single-voiced songs, with alliterative non-rhyming texts and the call-response pattern of soloist and chorus.

"'Regilaul', Tormis wrote, 'is our people's oldest, unique, most highly evolved and complete creation throughout the centuries, an expression of the people's creative genius [...] ancient folks song can be, and indeed is, independent art, not merely as an ornamentation. As important as its aesthetic worth is its ethical value. For regilaul embodies the life values of working people which have evolved over thousands of years. Why should we now abandon this heritage to oblivion or scorn it as archaic?'

"Tormis's father was a Lutheran music teacher and church organist, and from early on he was steeped in Estonia's rich, essentially Germanic, song culture. Early twentieth-century folk revivalism was all part of this, stemming from Estonia's 'National Awakening' in the nineteenth century and the country's first United Song Festival in 1869. Composers from the generation before him, such as Cyrillus Kreek and Mart Saar, created a new body of choral folk-song arrangements, more sentimental and rounded than regilaul's rugged terrain. Much Estonian folk song 'collecting' went on in the early decades of the twentieth century too - an important ethnographical exercise similar to that of Vaughan Williams, Grainger and Cecil Sharp in Britain, and Bartók and Kodály in Hungary and Romania. So Veljo Tormis's towering achievement has been, in the last four decades, to bring back to life this 'primeval' heritage - what he calls his 'musical mother-tongue' - within the broader context of his country's proud and vibrant singing culture. With means as varied as entry-level school songbooks, articles, lectures and several hundred choral arrangements of great character and sophistication, Tormis approaches his ninth decade optimistic that ancient Estonian song will hold its own in the consciousness of younger generations otherwise bombarded by globally homogenized pop culture.

"Less that two decades on from gaining independence, Estonia's capital is a tourist-friendly place of gentrified lanes, towers, turrets and themed taverns just the right side of tacky - a medieval fantasy made affordably real for plane-loads of beered-up, low-fare, stag-weekenders. But for Veljo Tormis, Tallinn is something much more complex, a city of foreign occupation and influence, of imposed political regimes and cultural dictat. Born in the middle of Estonia's twenty-two years of self-rule (1918-40), Tormis subsequently witnessed as a boy the to-and-fro of wartime annexation (Soviet 1940-41, German 1941-44) and then the enforced stability of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1944 to 1991.

"The central paradox then, of a man whose life's work has been almost entirely devoted to defining Estonian musical nationhood is that he is a Soviet artist, the product of a regime dedicated strictly to 'Russifying' its satellite peoples. After teenage studies in organ, conducting and composition in Tallinn, it was the -Moscow- Conservatoire that gave Tormis his rigorous, formative training in the early 1950s. He was present at Prokofiev's funeral in 1953. His teacher was Vissarion Shebalin, and fellow classmates included Rodion Shchedrin, Edison Denisov and Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Shostakovich was Chairman of the Jury for his graduation portfolio in 1956. And there are KGB files on Tormis from 1960 to 1989.

"Tormis the Soviet, Tormis the folk nationalist: the two don't immediately sit well together. But just as Shostakovich famously walked the tightrope of official censure over many decades, Tormis cleverly managed the balancing act too. He learnt early on, in 1948 from his organ teacher Edgar Arro, that a certain kind of nationalism found favour in Moscow, that the right tunes used in the right ways actually fitted with the anti-formalist policies of Socialist Realism. In the same way, the extraordinary phenomenon of Estonian Song Festivals - said to attract nearly a third of the entire population every five years to Tallinn's stadium-like Song Festival Field - was enthusatically adopted in Soviet times. This huge statement of sung nationalism, born in 1869 of German-Swiss origins and the driving force of independence in the late 1980s, became in Soviet Estonia a useful tool of massed cultural (and therefore political) communication.

"The cultural isolation of Soviet-era Eastern-bloc composers led inevitably to a skewed perspective of recent music history. Tormis recalls how the official textbooks stopped with Grieg, and how as a student in Moscow he obtained access to scores of Debussy and Stravinsky as if they were contraband from the decadent West. Later he flirted unenthusiastically with twelve-tone composition technique - though it was Arvo Pärt who became the first Soviet composer to out himself as a serialist with 'Nekrolog' in 1959. The turning-point of Tormis's musical discovery was a rare trip beyond Estonian borders to Hungary in 1962. There, he took the opportunity to buy dozens of scores by Bartók and Kodály, and to study the integration of folk material within their own individual musical voices. From this point, Tormis began to specialize more and more in folk-song-derived choral writing. His output to this point included sonatas, overtures, an epic cantata on the story of Kalevipoeg. From the mid-1960s onwards, apart from some film scores and music theatre works, the Tormis catalogue is almost exclusively music for choirs. Few composers have been so committed to one genre, medium or instrument - Corelli's writing for violin and Chopin's for piano are two other such cases. And Tormis's choral specialism marks him out from Bartók, Kodály, Vaughan Williams and Grainger, whose pioneering interest in folk song was ultimately less purist for their use of only the tunes in instrumental or orchestral works. For Tormis, the words and the music are inseparable.

"With the exception of the second Ernst Enno setting, which was one of the last pieces Tormis wrote before retirement, the works on this disc divide neatly into two: those written before the mid-sixties are 'original' settings, and those written afterwards are arrangements of folk material.

"The two settings of Ernst Enno (1875-1934) effectively bookend Tormis's career. The first was composed when he was only eighteen and is a simple, lifting 6/8 pastoral dedicated to his girlfriend of the time. The second was written in 1998, and is dedicated to his wife of all the intervening decades, Lea. Constructed, superficially, from the same simple materials - the 6/8 metre, the parallel thirds and triadic harmony - this is a work of infinitely greater scope and sophistication. Free of folk song, but imbued with all its influence, this near-final act of pure creation links back to the start with craftsmanship and control.

"The first of  the three 'Kalevipoeg' songs, 'O, my gentle tender mother', was written in 1954 as a tribute to Tormis's mother. She had died the year before while he was away studing in Moscow, so his choice of text and musical response to the disturbing, bitter twist near the end - a suitable anguished climax - is poignant.

"The other two settings of texts from Kreutzwald's nineteenth-century national legend, 'Kalevipoeg' (Kalev's Son), were written in 1960. In 'Daughters of the Meadow Matron', with its rustic calls and charming alto patter, we hear Tormis properly finding his folk-art voice for the first time. With only limited harmonic and melodic range, he creates real character through texture and refined textual essence instead. This is the case, too, with 'The wave rolls', where a satisfying, dramatic architecture is built on the simple foundation of repeated bass patterns.

"'Autumn landscapes', seven settings of poems by Viivi Luik (born 1946), is the last freely composed work on this disc before Tormis's full folk song conversion. Written two years after his visit to Hungary, there is an indebtedness to Kodály, a wider harmonic and textural palette, and greater confidence with colouristic effects such as glissandi, 'parlando' and feather-light staccato.

"In 1966-7 Tormis full found his way into a distinctive folk-song style with the five-part, twenty-nine-song 'Calendar Songs' cycle. His next large project ebgan with a musical-anthropoligical visit to north-western Latvia with some students from Tartu University. This 'expedition', as Tormis calls it, triggered a fascination with tiny, ever-declining populations of kindred Finno-Ugric peoples. The 1969 visit to Livonia was followed the following year by visits to Votia and Izhoria, regions mostly in modern-day Russia near the Estonian border. Eventually, a complete cycle of fifty-one songs 'Unustatud rahvad' ('Forgotten peoples'), compiled between 1970 and 1989, comprised 'Livonian heritage', 'Votic wedding songs', 'Izhorian epic', 'Ingrian evenings', 'Vepsian paths and 'Karelian destiny'. As a vast project of ethnographic, musicological preservation it was some of Tormis's most imaginative writing. 'Livonian heritage''s opening song, 'Walking the birds', is a five-minute drama of drone-based incantation and atmosphere. The other songs contain much vivid nature depiction, and evocations of something primevally connected to the land.

"The looping repetitions of the fourth Livonian song, 'Wee winkie mouse', are heard again in the Ingrian song 'Singing aboard ship' (1983). Here the verses keep on coming from the alto soloist and chorus, as they describe the exodus of young men conscripted to fight, while their sweethearts stay behind weeping on the shore.

"Again, in the 'Three Estonian game songs' (1972), Tormis takes three regilaul melodies of limited melodic range and weaves something mesmeric out of their repetitive, haunting spirit. The 5/8 ostinato of bass paired thirds is a masterly touch in 'The grindstone game' - its nagging, mechanical quality finally overwhelming the dogged tune. Masterly too is the sonorous spacing of Tormis's characteristically parallel chords in 'The finger-binding game'. And with such simple means - the shifting oscillation of adjacent triads - 'The ship game' is given a dream, swaying character and rich harmonic scope.

"In complete contrast to the compact, largely un-embellished four-part settings of 'Four Estonian lullabies' (1989), 'Childhood memory (Herding calls)' is an expansive, dramatic treatment of Tormis's chosen material. 'On small ancient Estonian farmsteads', he writes, 'it was customary to have children herd the cattle. They called out to neighbours' children and so kept in touch on woody pastures. Everybody had his or her token melodies which varied according to the time of day, weather and mood.' This is Tormis's most honest, even sentimental tribute to a rustic childhood - in memory of his sister, and based on herding motifs by the singer Aino Tamm and composer Miina Härma.

"Tormis has said that he is 'more a mediator than a creator' - that 'it is not I who makes use of folk music, but folk music that makes use of me'. It is surely this appealing humility that has enabled the arranger-composer's interventions to be judged so well - allowing the musical personality of one not to smother those of nameless millions that came before him and which, through these melodies, still live on." (Meurig Bowen, 2008. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Holst Singers, Stephen Layton

1. Two Songs To Words By Ernst Enno: Early Summer's Fairy Tale

2. Two Songs To Words By Ernst Enno: Soundlessly Somewhere Murmurings Homeward

3. Three Estonian Game Songs: The Grindstone Game

4. Three Estonian Game Songs: The Finger-Binding Game

5. Three Estonian Game Songs: The Ship Game

6. Three Songs From The Epic 'Kalev's Son': O, My Gentle Tender Mother

7. Three Songs From The Epic 'Kalev's Son': Daughters Of The Meadow Matron

8. Three Songs From The Epic 'Kalev's Son': The Wave Rolls

9. Livonian Heritage: Waking The Birds

10. Livonian Heritage: At Pasture

11. Livonian Heritage: Shrovetide

12. Livonian Heritage: Wee Winkie Mouse (Lullaby)

13. Livonian Heritage: Sang The Father, Sang The Son

14. Singing Aboard Ship

15. Autumn Landscapes: It Is Late Summer

16. Autumn Landscapes: Clouds Are Racing

17. Autumn Landscapes: Pale Light

18. Autumn Landscapes: Painfully Red Are The Leaves

19. Autumn Landscapes: Wind Over The Barrens

20. Autumn Landscapes: Cold Autumn Night

21. Autumn Landscapes: Heather

22. Four Estonian Lullabies: I Sing For My Child

23. Four Estonian Lullabies: It's Time For The Little Berry To Sleep

24. Four Estonian Lullabies: Let The Cradle Swing!

25. Four Estonian Lullabies: Lulling

26. Childhood Memory (Herding Calls)

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Antonio Caldara - La Conversione di Clodoveo, Rè di Francia

"Antonio Caldara is still not very well known by music lovers. Yet he is one of the most interesting and appealing composers of the Italian Baroque, and one of the most prolific in the history of music. He enjoyed great celebrity during his lifetime, and indeed throughout the entire 18th century, before sinking into oblivion. Based in Vienna, he had considerable influence on German composers: on Telemann, on Bach (who copied one of his settings of the 'Magnificat'), on the Mannheim school and, finally, through later generations, on the Viennese composers of the Classical era such as Dittersdorf, Haydn and Mozart.

"The son of a violinist, Caldara was born, probably in 1670, in Venice or possibly in Padua; we do not have more precise information, and this birth date is deduced from the statement in his death certificate that died 'in his 66th year'. Caldara began his studied with Giovanni Legrenzi, 'maestro di cappella' at San Marco in Venice, and as a boy he sang in the basilica's choir. Then, for six years beginning in 1694, he was a gambist and cellist for San Marco; he also played the organ and the harpsichord. In 1689, his first opera, 'L'Argene', was staged in Venice, and shortly after the publisher Sala printed two sets of sonatas in the style of Corelli: opus 1 in 1693, and opus 2 in 1699. Meanwhile, in 1697, his first oratorio, 'Il trionfo della continenza', was performed.

"In May 1699, Caldara was appointed 'maestro di cappella, da chiesa e dal teatro' to Ferdinando Carlo, the Gonzaga Duke of Mantua, who lavished enormous sums on opera productions. Caldara held this post until 1707 and he probably went with his employer to Paris in 1704. During these years, Caldara made brief sojourns in Bologna and in Rome, where he met Corelli and the Scarlattis, both father and son. During a trip to Spain in the summer of 1708, his opera 'Il più bel nome' was staged in Barcelona as part of the festivities to celebrate the wedding of Charles III, the Hapsburg claimant to the Spanish throne. When the French won the War of Succession in Spain three years later, Philippe, Duke of Anjou, supplanted Charles. Caldara had given lessons in counterpoint to Charles and won his admiration and the position as his resident composer. Later, as we will see, the musician was able to take advantage of the patronage of the Hapsburg dynasty.

"Caldara returned to Rome in 1709, where he succeeded Handel as 'maestro di cappella' to Prince Francesco Maria Ruspoli in the Palazzo Bonelli. Over the course of the subsequent years, Caldara composed, for Prince Ruspoli, four operas, three 'intermezzi', 10 oratorios, several 'serenate', and a large number of madrigals, cantatas, and vocal duos. He also worked for Cardinal Ottoboni and for Prince Colonna, rich Roman patrons for the arts. Then, in 1711, he married the singer Caterina Petrolli. In that same year, Charles III of Hapsburg became Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor of the German States, and moved to Vienna. Soon, in 1712, Caldara visited the Austrian capital, seeking a post with the new monarch, his former patron.

"He did not obtain the desired post until 1716, one year after the death of Marc'Antonio Ziani, 'kapellmeister' of the imperial court. Johann Joseph Fux succeeded Ziani and Caldara, who had been given leave by Prince Ruspoli, travelled to Vienna (stopping 'en route' in Salzburg), to help Fux as 'vice-kapellmeister'. He held this position until his death, 20 years later; Fux, though older than Caldara, outlived him by several years. Caldara died in Vienna on December 28, 1736 in the quarters reserved for Italians in the service of the court. Vivaldi died here, in humbler fashion, five years later. We don't know how Caldara managed his affairs, but despite his considerable income, he was so heavily in debt that the emperor deign to make a grant of 12,000 florins to his widow to help her make ends meet.

"Caldara left several hundred works of all sizes. Almost all of these works are vocal: they include more than 80 operas with libretti by Apostolo Zeno and Pietro Metastasio, 38 oratorios, 50 'serenate', 100 or so cantatas, hundreds of motets, more than 20 masses (some of which are written in strict counterpoint and for performance 'a cappella', while other are in the more luxurious concertante style), several sonatas, madrigals, and about 300 vocal canons. Caldara's work did not immediately disappear when he died, as was the case with Vivaldi, and the work of many other musicians of the period who had enjoyed celebrity during their lifetimes. Writing in the 1780s, the English musicologist Charles Burney expressed his high esteem for Caldara. It was only gradually that Caldara slipped into obscurity. In the middle of the 19th century some connoisseurs, such as Brahms and von Köchel, still appreciated Caldara's great skill in polyphony and suppleness of his melodic expression. Closer to our own time, Roland de Candé said that 'his music achieves a magnificent synthesis of the Venitian choral style, the Neapolitan melodic and harmonic style, and the Viennese Baroque, which was at its peak.'

"The oratorio written in Italian, known as 'oratorio volgare', is a close relative of the opera. Towards the end of the 17th century it supplanted the old 'historica sacra' in Latin, the gren in which Giacomo Carissimi had excelled. The Italian-language oratorio featured several historical or symbolic persons who, without the help of a narrator or a chorus, presented themselves through a series of characteristic recitatives and 'da capo' arias. In his 'Dictionnaire de musique', published in 1703, Sébastien de Brossard described this kind of oratorio as 'a kind of sacred opera [...] whose subject is drawn from scripture or from the history of a saint, or which is an allegory on one of the mysteries of religion, or on some point of morality.' He added that 'nothing is more common in Rome, especially during lent, than these kinds of oratorios.' Similar works, but without any stage scenery, were sung in private salons during those periods of the liturgical year when operas were prohibited. In the intermission between the two parts of the work, instead of listening to the sermon that would be delivered if it was being performed in a church, the audience at such private performances was served liquor.

"In composing his oratorios in Rome for Prince Ruspoli, Caldara's style evolved rapidly. The works can be divided into two groups. As Adélaïde de Place noted, 'the first group, those written around the years 1708 and 1710, are still impregnated by Venetian influence, while the later works, composed between 1712 and 1715, are marked by the elegant traits of the early 'galant' style: they are simple in shape, luminous, and supple.' Instrumental accompaniment became lighter. (It is unlikely that this development was driven by a desire on the part of the hyper-rich Roman aristocracy to cut costs.) 'The orchestra tended to be reduced to two string sections supported by the basso continuo, which was more present in the accompaniment than were the violins, while the ranges of the vocal soloists seemed to be moving upwards, sometimes even to the extent that there no low voices at all.' (On March 31, 1715, a German traveler heard an oratorio by Caldara performed by 'a great number of musicians, three female singers, [one of whom was surely the composer's wife], and a little castrato.')

"The oratorio 'La Conversione di Clodoveo, Rè di Francia' belongs to this second, later group. Its libretto is by Sigismundo Capece, who also wrote the libretto for Handel's 'La resurrezione' in 1708. The first performance of 'La Conversione' was given in Rome on April 14, 1715 at the Palazzo Bonelli. The work is scored for four solo voices and an ensemble of strings without viola, to which winds may be added. Its arias are 'accompanied by the orchestra, or by a very lively basso continuo, and they generally take the 'da capo' form and are in a dramatic vocal style, full of melissimas, coloraturas, and 'arioso' passages.' The work is a remarkable example of the concern, typical of the period, that nuances of text and character should be rendered musically and clearly. Its recitatives are free, clever, and expressive. Its arias are sensitive, moving, often set to dance rhythms, and varied: one after another they are either warlike, gracious, tormented, or confiding, depending on a character's emotions.

"The work tells the story of how his love for his wife, the beautiful and pious Clotilde, led the bellicose Clovis to convert to the Christian faith. In the beginning of the first part Clovis, King of the Francs - also known as the Sicambres - wants to go off to war. Clotilde accuses him of only seeking glory and, not hiding her concern, gives him the following advice: 'When you are in greatest danger, do not forget that the God that I worship is the God of battle.' Once Clovis and the captain Uberto have left, Clotilde confides her fears to Remigius, the bishop of Rheims and a future saint. He reassures her with these words: 'It often happens that, by the power of heaven itself, from seeds of sorrow springs a harvest of happiness.' Captain Uberto returns, bearing bad news: faced by certain defeat, Clovis has charges him with the mission of protecting the queen.

"The second part open with the worries of Remigius, who is preparing to flee with Clotilde and Uberto. But Clovis returns and announces his victory, which he attributes to the advice of his queen. Just when he was about to lose the battle, he tells them, and after having vainly called upon Mars, he successfully called on the Christian God for help. Now a member of the true faith, he declares: 'Because of this victory, I worship only your God.' Clotilde then asks Remigius to prepare 'the sacred rite, baptism, by means of which divine grace will pour down on the royal head.' After the ceremony, a love duet, in which the voices follow each other and intertwine in thirds and sixths, joins the two spouses in the same faith and ends the oratorio.

"Since Caldara's work relates one of the founding myths of the history of France, let us leave the final word to the author of the 'Legenda Aurea', Jacques de Voragine, who tells us that 'there was no sacred oil at the baptismal fonts when they reached them, but then a dove appears, carrying a vial of the oil in its beak, and the pope anointed the king with it.' Since then, 'this vial is conserved in the church of Rheims, and used to this day to anoint the kings of France.' Finally, the history books tell us that on the occasion of Clovis' batpism on December 25, 496, soon after his victory at Tolbiac over the Germans, Saint Remigius pronounced his celebrated words: 'Bow down your head, proud Sicambre. Worship what you have burned, and burn what you have worshipped.'" (François Filiatrault, 2010, tr. Sean McCutcheon. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Le Nouvel Opéra, Alexander Weimann, Suzie LeBlanc, Allyson McHardy, Nathalie Paulin, Matthew White

1.1. Parte I: Sinfonia

1.2. Parte I, Scena I: 'Invitto Clodoveo'

1.3. Parte I, Scena I: 'Di Tua Gloria'

1.4. Parte I, Scena I: 'Vanne Uberto'

1.5. Parte I, Scena I: 'Voglio Quel Seno Stringere'

1.6. Parte I, Scena II: 'Clodoveo, Mio Signor'

1.7. Parte I, Scena II: 'Rasserenatevi'

1.8. Parte I, Scena II: 'Con Prove Di Fierezza'

1.9. Parte I, Scena II: 'Volgi Il Cuore'

1.10. Parte I, Scena II: 'Clotilde, Ben Sovente'

1.11. Parte I, Scena II: 'Con Tuoi Begl'occhi'

1.12. Parte I, Scena III: 'Mio Signor, Mio Giesu'

1.13. Parte I, Scena III: 'Se Mesta L'alma'

1.14. Parte I, Scena IV: 'Remigio, Amato Padre'

1.15. Parte I, Scena IV: 'Io Non So'

1.16. Parte I, Scena IV: 'Scaccio Il Vano'

1.17. Parte I, Scena IV: 'Non Sempre Tuona'

1.18. Parte I, Scena V: 'Signora, Infausto Messo'

1.19. Parte I, Scena V: 'Vorrebbe L'Affetto'

1.20. Parte I, Scena V: 'Regina, Sono Del Ciel'

1.21. Parte I, Scena V: 'Picciol Legno'

1.22. Parte I, Scena V: 'A Tuoi Detti Mi Rendo'

1.23. Parte I, Scena V: 'Mio Dio Per Me Svenato'

1.24. Parte I, Scena V: 'Se Tanto Il Cuore Ottiene'

2.1. Parte II, Scena I: 'Agitato Da Speme'

2.2. Parte II, Scena II: 'Clodoveo Superato'

2.3. Parte II, Scena II: 'Quando Il Turbino E Vicino'

2.4. Parte II, Scena II: 'Andiamo'

2.5. Parte II, Scena III: 'Clotilde, Vincesti'

2.6. Parte II, Scena III: 'Mio Sposo'

2.7. Parte II, Scena III: 'Gioisco Che Il Tuo Cuore'

2.8. Parte II, Scena III: 'Clotilde, E Ver'

2.9. Parte II, Scena III: 'Come Cerva Che Ferita'

2.10. Parte II, Scena III: 'Remigio A Questi Accenti'

2.11. Parte II, Scena III: 'Sommo Dio'

2.12. Parte II, Scena IV: 'Con Esempio Si Bello'

2.13. Parte II, Scena IV: 'Che Santo E Bel Piacer'

2.14. Parte II, Scena V: 'Consorte Amato'

2.15. Parte II, Scena V: 'L'amor Mio'

2.16. Parte II, Scena V: 'Quest'e L'altare'

2.17. Parte II, Scena V: 'Santo Amor'

2.18. Parte II, Scena V: 'Signor, Troppa Ostinata'

2.19. Parte II, Scena V: 'V'adoro, O Padre'

2.20. Parte II, Scena VI: 'Mio Redentor'

2.21. Parte II, Scena VI: 'E' Un Piacer'

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Alban Berg - Orchestral Works

 "The works on the present CDs span the creative career of Alban Berg from his first published piece, the Piano Sonata, Op. 1, to the Violin Concerto and the 'Symphonic Pieces from the Opera 'Lulu'', the last works that were fully completed when died at the age of fifty in 1935.

"'Piano Sonata, Op. 1': Before starting his studies with Schoenberg in the autumn of 1904 Berg had been an autodidact whose output consisted almost entirely of songs: a gifted composer but, said Schoenberg in a letter to his publisher Emil Herzka, 'absolutely incapable of writing an instrumental movement or inventing an instrumental theme'.

"Berg continued as a Schoenberg student until 1910 but the single movement Piano Sonata, Op. 1 of 1908, recorded here in the orchestration by Theo Verbey, was, in effect, his graduation piece. In it Berg set out to demonstrate what he had learned from Schoenberg's music and teaching about how to handle an extended post-Wagnerian harmonic language and how to structure a large-scale instrumental movement in such a way that it was both formally clear and thematically integrated. At the heart of Schoenberg's teaching lay the necessity of what Schoenberg would later call 'developing variation': the belief that the logic and coherence of a work depended on all its aspects' being variants of a single, basic idea. It is a principle that stands at the heart of Op. 1 in which, within a clearly defined sonata structure, a wealth of distinctive thematic ideas is generated from a minimum of motivic material.

"'Passacaglia': Although, as one might expect, there exists a number of incomplete student pieces (there are, for example, five unfinished piano sonata movements that pre-date Op. 1) the two symphonic fragments of 1913 are exceptional in that, together, they represent the only work by the mature Berg that we know him to have abandoned. The two fragments consist of forty-one bars of a symphonic movement and the short score of the more substantial Passacaglia included in this set. Berg's manuscript, which runs to 101 bars, consists of a nine-bar Theme and ten Variations (Variation XI peters out after three bars); it contains some instrumental details and some rudimentary dynamic indications which have been amplified in the present realisation by Christian von Borries, in turn slightly modified by Mario Venzago.

"'Three Pieces, Op. 6': The idea of tackling a large-scale symphonic work was probably prompted by Schoenberg's criticism of the aphoristic nature of Berg's two previous works, the 'Altenberg-Lieder', Op. 4 (the performance in March 1913 of two of which had led to a riot and the concert's being abandoned) and the Four Pieces, Op. 5 for clarinet and piano. Schoenberg had urged Berg to write an orchestral suite, and having, for whatever reason, abandoned the symphony, Berg took his advice and turned to the composition of the Three Pieces, Op. 6 for orchestra. It is a work that has much in common with the symphonic fragments, since behind both, as indeed behind 'Wozzeck', stands the musical language of late Mahler - a composer to whom Berg was devoted. The Op. 6 Pieces, written only shortly after Mahler's death and almost immediately after the premier of the Ninth Symphony, is perhaps Berg's most overtly Mahlerian work - an influence which Berg implicitly acknowledges in his adopting, in the last piece, the fateful hammer blows of the finale of Mahler's Sixth Symphony. It is also the work in which the motivic complexity of Berg's music reaches its height. Starting with soft noises on unpitched percussion, the music of the opening 'Präludium' gradually forms itself into a motivic cell consisting of a rising minor third and a semitone, which will, in various forms, dominate the whole work and give rise to a wealth of interrelated melodic figurations. Constantly developing - through extension, inversion, rhythmic transformation - the figurations produce a profusion of material that links the 'Präludium' with the following 'Reigen' (Round Dance) and 'Marsch'. Dedicated to Schoenberg on the occasion of his fortieth birthday, the Op. 6 Pieces take the technique of 'developing variation' to its most extreme point, the 'Marsch' in particular presenting so many variants of its basic material that the more obviously recurring themes act merely as signposts to which the ear clings amid the unrelenting flow of thematic ideas. Completed in the weeks immediately after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo, this final piece, which George Perle has aptly described as a 'marche macabre', possesses an atmosphere that seems to anticipate the horrors of the war which would soon engulf Europe.

"'Wein, Weib und Gesang!': Four months before completing the 'Marsch' of the Op. 6 Berg had attended the first performance in Vienna of Georg Büchner's 'Wozzeck' at the Residenzbühne and, overwhelmed by the experience, had immediately started to jot down ideas for an opera based on the play. He was forced to put the project to one side, first because of the need to finish work on the Op. 6 Pieces and then because of his being called up for military service, and it was only at the end of the First World War that he was able to begin work on the opera in earnest.

"Even then the work on 'Wozzeck' proceeded slowly, not least because of Berg's time-consuming involvement with the Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen (Society for Private Musical Performances) which Schoenberg had founded in November 1918. The Verein was an association for members only (no critics were allowed to attend and no applause was permitted), which concentrated on the rehearsal and performance of a wide range of contemporary music. Berg, Webern and the pianist Eduard Steuermann were 'performance directors', responsible for supervising the rehearsal of new works. The Verein finally closed, due to financial difficulties, in November 1922 but a financial crisis a year earlier had led it to mount a 'Walzerabend' which consisted of arrangements of waltzes by Johann Strauss II for a salon orchestra of piano, harmonium and string quartet. Schoenberg himself was responsible for arranging 'Rosen aus dem Süden' (Roses from the South), Webern for 'Schatzwalzer' (Treasure Waltz) from 'Der Zigeunerbaron' (The Gypsy Baron) and Berg for 'Wein, Weib und Gesang!' (Wine, Women and Song!). The arrangements were performed on 27 May 1921 by an ensemble that included Schoenberg as one of the first violinists, Webern on cello and Berg on harmonium. The manuscripts were auctioned in aid of the Verein at the end of the evening, when, to his undisguised delight, Schoenberg saw his arrangement fetch three times as much as Berg's.

"'Three Fragments from 'Wozzeck'': Once 'Wozzeck' was completed (the short score was finished in October 1921 and the the full score seven months later) a piano score was published, the cost of which was eventually underwritten by Alma Mahler to whom Berg dedicated the score as a token of gratitude, and copies sent to various opera companies and critics. It was, however, difficult to persuade and opera company to take on a complex atonal work by a composer who was little known outside (or even in) his native Vienna.

"The turning point came in August 1923 when the String Quartet, Op. 3 was performed at the ISCM Festival in Salzburg. In the audience was the conductor Hermann Scherchen who suggested that Berg make a concert suite from the music of the opera. The resulting 'Three Fragments from 'Wozzeck'' were performed under Scherchen in Frankfurt in June 1924, by which time Erich Kleiber had resolved to stage the opera at the Staatsoper in Berlin. The Berlin premiere of 'Wozzeck' on 14 December 1925 established Berg overnight as a composer of international standing.

"The 'Three Fragments' centre on the figure of Marie, the common-law wife of Wozzeck, and mother of his child, whose seduction by the Drum-Major inflames the jealousy of the down-beaten Wozzeck and precipitates the ensuing tragedy. The first fragment, taken from Act I, Scenes 2 and 3 of the opera, is a March, heard as Marie watches the military parade led by the Drum Major pass by, followed by a Lullaby as she sings her child to sleep. The second fragment, structed as a theme, a set of variations and a fugue, is the opening scene of Act III, in which, overcome by guilt at having given in to the blandishments of the Drum Major, Marie seeks comfort in reading her Bible the story of the woman taken in adultery. The third fragment comes from the end of the opera, when, after Wozzeck has murdered Marie and drowned himself, the great orchestral Interlude in D minor reflects on the tragedy and the curtain rises to reveal the son of Wozzeck and Marie, now an orphan, playing with other children. A child runs on to announce the discovery of Marie's body and, after a moment's hesitation, Marie's son follows his comrades to see the corpse.

"'Der Wein': In May 1925, seven months before the Berlin premiere of 'Wozzeck', Berg went to Prague to attend a performance of the 'Three Fragments' conducted by Alexander von Zemlinsky, and stayed with the industrialist Herbert Fuchs Robettin and his wife, Hanna. Berg's next work, the 'Lyric Suite' for string quartet, which charts the course of the secret love affair that developed between Berg and Hanna during this short stay, is the most obvious outcome of the relationship between the two, but the concert aria 'Der Wein', written four years later, is also a reflection of the emotional crisis that the affair precipitated. By then already working on his second opera, 'Lulu', Berg was approached by the Czech soprano Ruzena Herlinger (to whom 'Der Wein' is dedicated) with the suggestion that he write a concert aria for her. Berg accepted the commission, partly for financial reasons but also because it offered the opportunity to explore in advance some aspects of the sound world of 'Lulu', most notable the use of the saxophone and, in a 'Tempo di Tango', jazz elements.

"For the text Berg turned to Stefan George's translations of Baudelaire, which had provided the secret, unsung text of the finale of the 'Lyric Suite', and chose three of the five poems of 'Le Vin'. In 'Der Wein' the three poems are arranged to form an ABA structure in which the B section is constructed as a palindrome, with the music turning at its central point and running backwards into the final section - a feature which Berg saw as a symbole of his own situation, the retrograde portion of 'Der Wein der Liebendern' (The Wine of Lovers) leading inexorably to the finale 'wine of the solitary one' - Baudelaire's 'Le Vin du solitaire': 'What follows [The Wine of Lovers]', wrote Berg to Hanna, 'can only by the song of the wind of the solitary one - for that I am and that I remain'.

"'Symphonic Pieces from the Opera, 'Lulu'': After the premiere of 'Wozzeck' Berg had been able to rely on performances of his music to provide a steady income, but by the early 1930s political pressures had become such that, even before the Nazis came to power in Germany in January 1933, many opera houses had withdrawn from commitments to stage the opera and Berg began to experience serious financial difficulties. By mid-1934, by which time he had completed the short score of 'Lulu', it had become clear that no performances of his new opera would be possible in either Germany or Austria. Berg, therefore, suggested to his publishers that he devise an orchestral suite from the opera - a 'propaganda suite' which, since the music was no longer linked to the sensational libretto, might be performed in Germany and attract the attention of non-Austro-German, or even American, opera companies. He consequently began to work on orchestrating the opera, starting with those sections that he wanted to include in the suite.

"Based on two plays by Frank Wedekind, the opera tells, in deliberately shcoking and often absurd terms, the story of the rise and fall of Lulu, a figure who embodies the primal, sensual spirit of womanhood. During the first half of the work she ascends the social ladder, eventually becoming the wife of the wealthy newspaper magnate Dr. Schön, and then, having shot him, descends into the criminal underworld where she ends as a prostitute and is murdered by Jack the Ripper.

"The 'Symphonic Pieces' are taken from Acts II and III of the opera. The first ('Rondo'; 'Hymne'), from Act II, is the music of a love scene between Lulu and Dr. Schön's son, Alwa. In the opera this music is spread over two scenes and is constantly interrupted by other events; in the 'Symphonic Pieces' Berg simply excises the interruptions and turns Alwa's music from the different scenes into a continuous whole. The second piece ('Ostinato') forms the orchestral interlude between the scenes of Act II. In the opera this interlude accompanies a silent film which shows the arrest of Lulu for the murder of Dr. Schön, her trial and imprisonment, and her eventual escape from prison. As the central point of the central act, the 'Ostinato' marks the turning point of the whole work - a significance symbolised by its palindromic structure. The 'Lied der Lulu', which forms the third piece, is Lulu's great aria of self-justification from Act II, Scene 1, the number in which the text (in Berg's own words) stands as 'an explanation of her actions... an explanation of Lulu's nature which stands outside all human conception of morality'. The fourt of the pieces is a set of orchestral variations on a cabaret tune by Wedekind, which acts as a transition between the big society scene of Act III, Scene 1 and the London garret of the final scene. Beginning in a clear C major, with deliberately gaudy orchestration, the variations gradually move through polytonality and free atonality to a twelve-note variation, after which the theme itself is heard briefly played on a barrel organ in the street outside Lulu's London attic. The fifth piece ('Adagio') is the music that ends the opera, as Lulu returns with her final client. It culminates in a strident twelve-note chord as Jack murders her, then stabs the Countess Geschwitz who has rushed to Lulu's aid, and ends with the 'Liebestod' of the Countess as she dies alone on stage.

"'Concerto for Violin and Orchestra': Having completed the orchestration of the 'Symphonic Pieces' Berg went back to the opening Prologue of 'Lulu' and began to score the whole opera chronologically. His work on it was, however, again interrupted when, in February 1935, the American violinist Louis Krasner approached him with a commission for a violin concerto. Berg was reluctant to stop work on the opera but his financial position made refusal almost impossible. Two months later, on 22 April, there occurred the tragedy that was to determine the programme and the final shape of the concerto, when Manon Gropius, the teenage daughter of Alma Mahler and Walter Gropius, died of poliomyelitis. Deeply shaken by the even, Berg wrote to Alma Mahler to announce his intention of dedicating the concerto 'To the memory of an Angel' in commemoration of Manon. The work turned into a tone poem in which the two movements of Part I ('Andante'; 'Allegretto') became a portrait of Manon while the opening 'Allegro' of Part II depicted her illness and death. The final 'Adagio' of Part II, a set of variations on the funeral chorale 'Es ist genug' from Bach's cantata 'O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort', offers some consolation.

"Berg never heard the concerto performed. In August 1935, a few weeks after completing the work, he received an insect sting which gradually led to septicaemia. He attened the Vienna premiere of the 'Symphonic Pieces' on 11 December but was rushed to hospital on 16 December and died one week later." (Douglas Jarman, 2009. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Göteborgs Symfoniker, Mario Venzago, Isabelle van Keulen, Geraldine McGreevy, Robert Murray

1.1. Piano Sonata, Op. 1

1.2. Three Pieces, Op. 6: I. Präludium

1.3. Three Pieces, Op. 6: II. Reigen

1.4. Three Pieces, Op. 6: III. Marsch

1.5. Der Wein

1.6. Passacaglia

1.7. Violin Concerto: I. Andante – Allegretto

1.8. Violin Concerto: II. Allegro – Adagio

2.1. Three Fragments From 'Wozzeck': I. Act I, Scenes 2 And 3

2.2. Three Fragments From 'Wozzeck': II. Act III, Scene I

2.3. Three Fragments From 'Wozzeck': III. Act III, Scenes 4 And 5

2.4. Symphonic Pieces From 'Lulu': I. Rondo

2.5. Symphonic Pieces From 'Lulu': II. Ostinato

2.6. Symphonic Pieces From 'Lulu': III. Lied Der Lulu

2.7. Symphonic Pieces From 'Lulu': IV. Variationen

2.8. Symphonic Pieces From 'Lulu': V. Adagio

2.9. Der Wein

2.10. Wein, Weib Und Gesang!

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Wilhelm Stenhammar - Piano Music

"Stockholm-born Wilhelm Stenhammar was the most outstanding musical personality in Sweden of his time. As a pianist he brought high quality music-making to audience throughout the country through several hundred solo recitals and chamber music concerts; as music director of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra he created Sweden's first truly professional ensemble, persistently championing contemporary Scandinavian composers and introducing his audiences to numerous new works; and as a composer (like Elgar, largely self taught) he created some of the most important and carefully crafted music ever to come out of Sweden, ranging from symphonic works and operas to chamber music and lieder. Yet there is something deeply enigmatic about Stenhammar's character. For most of his life he was town between awareness of his extraordinary artistic talent (and the expectations that came with it) and an extremely destructive self-criticism. This inner struggle manifests itself particularly strongly in his ambiguous relationship with his own instrument, the piano.

"The start of Stenhammar's career was in many ways that of an archetypal Romantic pianist-composer: already as a child he had composed numerous pieces for piano, including three sonatas, the first dating from 1880. His first success as a performer came soon after his first serious piano studies, commencing in 1887 with the former Clara Schumann pupil Richard Andersson. But it was in the early 1890s that he became established as a force to be reckoned with: he appeared as soloist in the first Swedish performance of Brahms's D minor Piano Concerto and, more importantly, gave the premiere in 1894 of his own Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor Op. 1. The latter occasion was so successful that it regiered far beyond the borders of Sweden and led to Stenhammar performing the concerto over the following decade with conductors such as Richard Strauss (the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra) and Hans Richter (the Hallé Orchestra). Curiously however, in recitals Stenhammar hardly ever performed his own solo works, focusing instead mainly on the Viennese classics, and by the early 1900s Stenhammar the composer gradually turned his interest away from the piano in favour of the string quartet, the human voice and the orchestra.

"At the age of nineteen, however, Stenhammar was certainly intent on composing ambitious works for the piano. The 'Piano Sonata in G Minor', composed in the spring and summer of 1890, according to his own list of works up to 1891, marks a clear change from the childhood pieces. While an indebtedness to his predecessors is still obvious - Schumann's Sonata Op. 22 in the same key seems to have served as a particular inspiration - so are to an even larger extent the first occurrences of many of his own musical trademarks. Here we encounter the introspective lyricism so often associated with the Scandinavian Romantics; even more striking, though, is the passionately dramatic and rather severe side that defines Stenhammar among his contemporaries.

"The Sonata follows the traditional Romantic four-movement scheme, but the youthful exuberance that Stenhammar infuses into the textbook model becomes apparent from the very opening of the first movement. The dynamic spectrum of this 'Allegro vivace e passionate', as well as the technical demands it makes on the pianist, makes the composers intentions clear: this is music intended for the concert hall rather than for domestic music-making by amateur musicians, a fact that puts the work in a unique place in the history of Swedish music. The nocturne-like second movement, and the folk-tune-secnted 'Trio' section of the 'Scherzo', might have a more typical Scandinavian flavour with some (for Stenhammar) unusual echoes of Grieg, but with the finale we return to the emotionally charges atmosphere of the beginning. The 'Prestissimo' double thirds of the highly strung coda, find Stenhammar increasing the virtuosic demands on the pianist, and one can not help wondering whether these passages were within reach of Stenhammar's own techniquer. Even if they were, they were certainly far beyond any other contemporary Swedish pianist's ability, and since Stenhammar never performed the Sonata after giving its premiere at a charity concert in May 1891 - and since it remained unpublished until 2008 - the work was forgotten, and remained so until the manuscript was rediscovered in the 1940s. The autograph has the character of a fair copy, complete with a title page in the composers own hand, written in German, a sign that he had intended to present it to a foreign publisher - an important step in the career of a young composer.

"If the G minor Sonata is full of youthful exuberance, then 'Nights of Late Summer' ('Sensommarnätter') Op. 33 seems to inhabit a different world altogether. The descriptive title has often caused the work to be compared with other popular piano miniatures by Stenhammar's contemporaries such as Wilhelm Peterson-Berger and Emil Sjögren. But although the five movements that make up the work are relatively short, the emotional range they inhabit is anything but miniature, nor are their demands on the performer. As in the cae of the G minor Sonata, this is hardly music for amateur pianists.

"Stenhammar certainly shared a love for the Swedish landscape with his late nineteenth-century artist colleagues, and there is no doubt that the title at least partly refers to the nocturnal atmosphere at the time of the year the nights become darker, and feelings of nostalgia and melancholy are evoked. But a psychological interpretation seems equally plausible: nature as a metaphor for the late summer of life. Stenhammar has often been describe as a man who grew old early and while 'Nights of Late Summer' was published in 1914 it had been, in his own words, 'carried in the head for many years'. Ther most likely time of composition seems to be the early 1900s, a time of artistic crisis and lack of self-confidence when the composer was in his early thirties. 'Nights of Late Summer', more than any other of Stenhammar's piano works, reflects the neurotic nature of the composer. The prevailing mood of the first movement is one of introspective gloom and wandering desolation. The restless and agitated second piece continues the C minor key of the first, and builds up to a passionate climax, only to disappear back into the shadows. The almost impressionistic suspended chords of the third piece, which cleverly manages to avoid the tonic of the main key of A-flat major until the final bars, momentarily evoke a calmer, more comforting mindset only to be shattered by the eruptive, almost manic fourth movement. The carefully worked-out key scheme continues from the C-sharp minor of the fourth piece to F-sharp minor in the fifth piece, which initially is archaic and somewhat ironic in character before it loses itself in a chromatic labyrinth and finally dissolves. 'Nights of Late Summer' and the Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor Op. 23, completed in 1907, were to be Stenhammar's last works for piano.

"The 'Three Fantasies' Op. 11 from 1895 have become the most frequently played of Stenhammar's piano pieces. Indeed, they are unique in being the only works of his own which he performed in his recitals. In the years following the composition of the G minor Sonata in 1890 Stenhammar had spent seven months, during 1892 and 1893, in Berlin, studying the piano with Heinrich Barth. (It is interesting to not that he chose not to take any composition lessons, even though he spent a great deal of his time in Berlin composing.) In the veritable was that raged between the followers of Wagner and Brahms, Barth was firmly on the Barhms side. Stenhammar found himself torn between the two camps; as scholar Bo Wallner put it: 'In daytime he played Brahms, in the evenings he indulged in Wagner.' It is no surprise then that these German masters were to serve as his role models during the 1890s.

"It is certainly easier to discern Brahms than Wagner in the musical language of the 'Three Fantasies', particularly in the passionate first piece with its sonorous opening chords and in the elegiac sentiment of the third. The piano-writing in the 'Fantasies' is less demanding and the musical language more immediately communicative than in Stenhammar's other piano works, something has without doubt contributed to their popularity. The two contrasting sections that alternate in the first piece remain static without development, and it is the cumulative effect of these that drives the piece towards is climactic ending. By contrast, development is a strong feature in the playful middle piece, where the musical fabric consists of short syncopated fragments that, by clevery avoiding the strong beats, keep the music aloft without touching the ground. Only in its final bars does it come to rest on a 'pianissimo' E mjaor triad where Stenhammar lets the third (G-sharp) fade away while the other notes in the chord are repeated, thus providing a bridge to the E minor opening of the third 'Fantasy', again in the key of B minor. Its declamatory theme in dactylic rhythm (something of a favourite of Stenhammar's) provides long ascending 'cantabile' lines in the outer section and, inverted, it turns into a dance-like middle section. As a distant echo, the dance motif reappears at the end of the coda as the piece gently fades away in B major.

"In the 'Sonata in A-flat major' Op. 12, composed the same year as the 'Fantasies', Stenhammar once again seems to have turned to the German masters for inspiration, although not Schumann or Brahms this time, but Beethoven, whose piano sonatas would frequently feature in Stenhammar's piano recitals later in life. To infuse his own ideas into an external framework appears to have been a deliberate strategy in several of Stenhammar's early works, and the Sonata Op. 12 has both structural and rhetorical similarities with Beethoven's Sonata Op. 101.

"The lyrical first movement uses two time signatures - 3/4 and 4/4 - and although it incorporates elements of sonata form, Stenhammar once again keeps the themes static. Instead he lets the music move through three tonal centres: A-flat, C and E (where the recapitulation occurs combining the 3/4 and 4/4 meters!) and back to A-flat major. The only motif that undergoes any development at all is the chorale-like theme (foreshadowing the opening of Stenhammar's Piano Concerto No. 2) which introduces each tonal area and which evolves into an extended coda. The 'Scherzo' that follows is the most Beethovenian movement of the Sonata with its dramatic use of dynamics and registers as well as its use of short thematic cells. Stenhammar once again changes the metre to triple time in the restless and eruptive 'Trio' section, a reminiscence of which returns in the coda. The slow and sombre third movement has the character of an intermezzo which leads, via a dramatic transition, straight into a high energized finale, whose daring chromatic modulations juxtaposed with diatonic passages look forward to Stenhammar's later works.

"Stenhammar performed the A-flat major Sonata twice - the second time as a mere twenty-eight-year-old - and for the remaining half of his life, his career as a pianist was largely given to playing other men's music. There is little evidence as to why Stenhammar the composer abandoned his own instrument (with the exception of the exquisite piano parts for his lieder) after 1907, but certainly a few intensive years of counterpoint studies begun around the same time gave him new means of expression, well suited to writing for orchestra and string quartet. By the early 1920s Stenhammar's physical as well as mental health started to deteriorate, and although he carried on touring as a performer he had lost the energy to compose." (Martin Sturfält, 2008. From the liner notes.)

Performer: Martin Sturfält

1. Piano Sonata In G Minor: I. Allegro Vivace E Passionato

2. Piano Sonata In G Minor: II. Romanza: Andante, Quasi Adagio

3. Piano Sonata In G Minor: III. Scherzo: Allegro Molto - Trio: Meno Mosso (Un Pochettino) - Tempo I

4. Piano Sonata In G Minor: IV. Rondo: Allegrissimo - Sostenuto - Tempo I, Ma Più Animato

5. Sensommarnätter, Op. 33: Tranquillo E Soave

6. Sensommarnätter, Op. 33: Poco Presto

7. Sensommarnätter, Op. 33: Piano: Non Troppo Lento

8. Sensommarnätter, Op. 33: Presto Agitato

9. Sensommarnätter, Op. 33: Poco Allegretto

10. Three Fantasies, Op. 11 No. 1: Molto Appassionato - Poco Meno, Ma Agitato - Impetuoso - Presto

11. Three Fantasies, Op. 11 No. 2: Dolce Scherzando

12. Three Fantasies, Op. 11 No. 3: Molto Espressivo E Con Intimissimo Sentimento

13. Piano Sonata In A-Flat Major, Op. 12: I. Moderato, Quasi Andante

14. Piano Sonata In A-Flat Major, Op. 12: II. Molto Vivace - Trio: Presto - Tempo I - Coda: Presto

15. Piano Sonata In A-Flat Major, Op. 12: III. Lento E Mesto

16. Piano Sonata In A-Flat Major, Op. 12: IV. Allegro

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Johan Svendsen - Norwegian Rhapsodies; Romeo and Juliet; Zorahayda

"Born in Christiana (now Oslo) on 30th September 1840, Johan Svendsen learned several instruments and played in his father's regimental band before concentrating on the violin and becoming a pupil of Carl Arnold. In 1863, though he had professional experience as a musician as well as several works behind him, Svendsen began to study at the Leipzig Conservatory where he focused on composition and conducting. Return to Norway in 1867, he directed a concert of his music that drew positive notices (not least from his contemporary Edvard Grieg), but public response was less forthcoming. After two years in Paris, he returned to Leipzig where, after the hiatus caused by the Franco-Prussian war, he became leader and assistant director of the Euterpe orchestra then, in 1872, played in the orchestra assembled to mark the laying of the foundation stone for the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth.

"That year, Svendsen returned to Christiana as joint conductor, along with Grieg, of the Music Society concerts. The next five years saw his most significant achievements as a composer, after which, he wrote only a handful of new works and conducting became dominant in his career. Aside from guest engagements, he remained in Norway until 1883 when he became principal conductor of the Royal Opera in Copenhagen. While this was at first a controversial appointment, his quarter-century there raised orchestral standards to a new level and many younger musicians (not least Carl Nielsen, who played in the orchestra between 1889 and 1905) benefited from his example; his standing, meanwhile, was reflected in the guest engagements he received throughout Europe. Ill-health forced his retirement in 1908, though he continued to live in Copenhagen until his death on 14th June 1911.

"Svendsen's reputation as a composer rests on a relatively small output (apart from occasional pieces and arrangements, his catalogue runs to only 33 works), but he remained pre-eminent among those nineteenth-century Norwegian composers who actively sought to harness the potential of a Romantic Nationalism with that of established classical forms. Although chamber music was to bring him his earliest notable successes, his lasting achievement lies in the orchestral domain. Aside from two symphonies, he also wrote a number of shorter pieces, several of which are featured on this disc.

"Nowhere is the Classical-Romantic fusion of Svendsen's thinking better illustrated than with his four 'Norwegian Rhapsodies'. The first three of these emerged toward the end of 1876, with the final one appearing early the following year. Inspired by the 'Hungarian Rhapsodies' of Liszt, the ways in which folk- and art- music are combined owe more to Austro-German principles, to the extent that the material drawn from Ludvig Lindeman's 'Older and Newer Melodies from the Norwegian Mountains' becomes little more than the starting-point for Svendsen's creations.

"The 'First Norwegian Rhapsody' opens with string chords and horn calls, before a stealthy pizzicato motion supports an atmospheric theme on upper strings. This leads to a lively theme on woodwind (more familiar as the third of Grieg's 'Norwegian Dances'), one that retains its defining rhythm even when heard in a slower and more expressive version on strings. In contrast comes and eloquent melody, initially heard on the viola, that soons works its way across the orchestra before the return of the lively theme on strings. All is now set for a peroration that draws on both of these main themes on its way to a triumphal conclusion.

"The 'Second Norwegian Rhapsody' heads straight into a forcefully syncopated theme that makes way, via subdued transition, to an elegiac melody on the upper strings which continues on solo woodwind against the imaginative backdrop of muted strings. Gaining in ardour, this builds to a brief climax before a further theme, one who rustic quality is emphasized by recourse to a 'drone bass', takes over. Entering quietly, the initial theme once more assumes the limelight, albeit in harness with elements of those that followed, as the pieces towards its close with a breathless good humour.

"The 'Third Norwegian Rhapsody' starts with lively gestures on strings before the first theme, robust and suave by turns, enters on woodwind and is taken up by the strings. A hushed transition on the timpani prepares for the rapt second theme, initially on upper strings before being developed by solo horn then by the lower strings, offset by pert woodwind chords. Reaching an eloquent climax, it makes way for a more energetic theme that shares its predecessor's pathos, and whose ebullience brings about a decisive close to the piece as a whole.

"The 'Fourth Norwegian Rhapsody' begins with a moody opening theme, complemented by a livelier theme who harmonies suggest the influence of Hardanger fiddle music from southern Norway. This, in turn, is contrasted with a soulful melody on lower strings and these two themes alternate in an unforced yet disciplined manner that teases out a fair degree of motivic development. At length the soulful one effect the work's motional apex, but the livelier theme is not to be denied and draws in the whole orchestra as it seed the work to a triumphal close.

"'Romeo and Juliet' enjoyed only a muted reception at its première in October 1876, though it is unlikely that early reviewers were any more familiar than was the composer with Tchaikovsky's fantasy-overture on Shakeseare's play, which did not reach definitive form until four years later. Svenden's piece begins with a musing idea for strings that gains in expansiveness until reaching a brief climax. This slow introduction makes way for a more energetic and impulsive theme brings the full orchestra into play. Its successor is a plaintive melody first heard on oboe then transferred to strings before tailing off into silence. The development centres on the energetic theme, heralding a heightened return of the oboe melody, before its predecessor reappears in what seems set for a triumphal close. What follows, however, is a notably subdued coda, fatalistic rather than tragic in its underlying calm.

"Svendsen enjoyed greater success with 'Zorahayda' in October 1874, which retained its popularity during his lifetime. Inspired by Washington Irving's 'Legend of the Rose of the Alhambra', it recounts the love of a Moorish princess for a Christian knight, and of how her soul is freed when she is baptized with a water from the Alhambra fountain. Searching gestured on the lower strings, prior to the arrival of a thoughtful melody that draws in woodwind and upper string. This is imaginatively rendered by solo violin over a deft 'pizzicato' accompaniment, with brief orchestral interjection, that continues until the oboe sets in motion a more impulsive theme which seems intent on bringing about the climax. Instead, the main theme sees the work through to its close in a mood of dreamy resignation, lower strings and horn-calls prominent as at the beginning." (Richard Whitehouse. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester, Bjarte Engeset

1. Romeo Og Julie, Op. 18

2. Norwegian Rhapsody No. 1, Op. 17

3. Norwegian Rhapsody No. 2, Op. 19

4. Norwegian Rhapsody No. 3. Op. 21

5. Norwegian Rhapsody No. 4, Op. 22

6. Zorahayda, Op. 11

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Zaïmph - Death Blooming Pleasure

Zaïmph is a solo project of New York-based electroacoustic collective member Double Leopards. This release begins with guitar-based 'doom noise' in the vein of a rawer, heavier Sunn O))) sound (see Blue Sabbath Black Cheer); this builds into (still guitar based) noise drone electronic manipulation more closely resembling the likes of Skullflower. Unique here are Bassett's vocals: thick and crepuscular on the opening track and soaring and angelic on the B-side. An edition of three hundred LPs released on Carlos Giffoni's No Fun Productions, recorded in 2007 and released two years later. 

A1. Great Are The Riches Hidden In Tribulation

A2. Of Hildegardes

B. As Well In Death

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Aaron Dilloway - Foul

Live material from noise maestro Aaron Dilloway, released in 2007 on Dilloways own Hanson records (recording date is not listed). Raw, swirling, sometimes rhythmic analogue work with great variety in approach. Re-uses the cover to his 2001 live release "Wolf Eyes".

A. Untitled

B. Untitled

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Carl Nielsen - String Quartets Vol. 2

"Although most of a decade separates the two string quartets by Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) recorded here, like the other two quartets in his official worklist they belong to the more youthful end of his oeuvre. As a mature composer he did at one point in the 1920s consider plans for yet another quartet. But he abandoned them in the middle of bar 31 of what was presumably to have been a first movement, and threw himself into other projects.

"The F minor quartet is from 1890, when the young, still unmarried composer was able to enjoy a regular salary again, now as a violinist in the Royal Danish Orchestra, something he had not done since stopping as a regimental musician in Odense to go to the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. There had also been another stroke of luck: applying for the second time, he had been awarded the biggest grant in Danish cultural life, 'Det Ancherske Legat', worth DKr 1800 – by comparison his annual salary as an orchestra musician was DKr 1200.

"With leave of absence from the Royal Theatre, Nielsen was able to set his course for Germany on 3rd September 1890. In his trunk he had a letter of recommendation from the composer Niels W. Gade, whose name was at least as famous in Germany as in Denmark, as well as the manuscript of the F minor quartet. He had begun work on it that spring, and had in fact meant to finish it before his departure. He had even worked on it in his summer holidays with his parents in the Funen village of Nørre Lyndelse. Nevertheless only the first movement was really finished.

"The remainder of the work was written amidst a tumult of new impressions, for on this first journey outside the borders of his native country the 25-year old composer was hungry for all kind of artistic impulses, and received them in Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin in turn. In Dresden, for example, he was at the 'Gemäldegalerie' on 5th September, where according to his diary he was greatly taken with Rembrandt's 'The Gold Weigher' and Juspe de Ribera's 'Diogenes with His Lantern'. And in the rough draft of the fourth movement of the quartet we find a handwritten remark that clearly documents that he himself felt there was a connection between the two arts: 'The 2nd time the secondary subject does not come; a snatch of the coda in the first part appears as such, but with many odd harmonies. Remember 'odd', little Carl. Think of Ribèra!!' The inspiration could also be of a more outward kind; after an elevated soirée on 26th September at the 'Böhmischer Bahnhof' Nielsen went home and composed an expansion of the first subject of the last movement, which had occured to him on the way.

"More or less finished with the quartet, and armed with Gade's introduction, Nielsen now looked up one of the leading musical personalities of the day in Berlin, the conducter and composer Joseph Joachim (1831-1907). He had known Gade since their youth and promised to listen to and comment on the new work. So after five rehearsals, an ad-hoc ensemble (Nielsen himself, Fini Henriques, Frederik Schnedler-Petersen and the American cellist Paul Henry Morgan) gave the work its informal christening on 18th December at the 'Hochschule für Ausübende Tonkunst', where Joachim was a highly esteemed teacher.

"'It is extremely difficult to play well, since there are so many modulations and often enharmonic affairs that have to be played so purely that the half of it would have been enough. If you add to this the fear of playing for Joachim, you can imagine that it did not go all that well,' Nielsen wrote back afterwards to his old theory teacher from the academy years, Orla Rosenhoff. In other words Nielsen knew very well what made - and still makes - his quartets difficult to play.

"The old master responded with both praise and criticism; he recognized both imagination and talent in the music, but on the whole it was too radical for him, and he wanted to suggest some changes. Nielsen replied that he was afraid the work would lose its character, and the good-natured Joachim seems to have retreated: 'Well, my dear Mr. Nielsen, perhaps I am after all an old philistine. Write as you will, just as long as that is how you feel it.'

"The young Nielsen stood his ground. The Danish newspaper reviewers, who otherwise often scolded him, were nevertheless surprisingly positive when the quartet was given its first public performance in Copenhagen on 8th April 1892. Most unreserved was 'Politiken's Charles Kjerulf: 'Carl Nielsen is clearly a considerable talent; none of his works has shown him as assured as this quartet, which besides the most youthful dauntlessness exhibits a will and skill matched by very few of the works of our other very young composers.

"The F mionor quartet was printed by the publisher Wilhelm Hansen in 1892 and could now be performed by ensembles who did not first have to borrow the manuscipt music from the composer. In October 1894 when Nielsen, in the company of the music publisher Alfred Wilhelm Hansen, ran into the great Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931) in the railway station in Leipzig after hearing him play earlier that evening in the Gewandhaus, the latter immediately declared that Nielsen was not wholly unknown to him - he had recently heard the F minor quartet performed at Nice, had liked it and had procured the music. As proof he hummed the beginning of the first movement! Ysaÿe may have later done more than simply hum: the four string players in one of the top ensembles of the day, the 'Quatuor de Bruxelles', had a shared point of departure in master classes with Ysaÿe, and a few years later they put the F minor quartet on their repertoire. They first played it at a concert in Copenhagen on 13th February 1909, then later the same year they presented it in Mexico City and Buenos Aires. Thus it also became the only one of the four string quartets ever to cross the Atlantic during the composer's lifetime.

"The E-flat major quartet (composed in 1897-98) is associated with a tragicomic episode that meant that the birth of the work was drawn out longer than anticipated. The composer himself was given an account of it, but only far later, in a retrospective article marking his sixtieth birthday in 1925:

"'I had composed a string quartet. The first two movements had already been copied by the music copyist; I had tried them out with my comrades, and we agreed that it was a work with which I had made a great effort. Now I also had the last two movements finished, so I packed it all into a large roll, took my bike and set off along Gothersgade towards Nørrevold, where the music copyist lived. When I got to Rosenborg Brøndanstalt [a mineral water factory], I saw a vehicle with two horses, one of which had fallen over and lay floundering with its legs over the pavement. The driver looked very helpless, as the horse had ended up lying in a strange lopsided position. Since as a young man I had worked with horses and had often myself been a driver, I jumped off my bike, put it up against the Brøndanstalt, shoved my music roll into the hands of a boy who was standing in the crowd, and asked him to hold it for a moment. It was only the work of a couple of minutes to cut one of the traces to the cart over, get a horse blanket under the forelegs of the horse and get it up on its legs; but when I got back the boy had vanished, probably into the Vognmagergade area, with my great work. I rode home in despair and told my wife about my loss. The she got the idea that we should go up into the neighbourhood and arouse some attention about the matter among the young people of the streets, and in time we succeeded in gathering a very large crowd to whom we announced that whoever could find the boy with the roll of music would get a large reward [...] However, I never got my work back, but had to reconstruct it laboriously from various notes and sketches and from memory.

"The episode must have taken place in the autumn of 1898, but cannot be directly documented by contemporary sources. They only mention the preceeding work: 'Finished the work on the first movement of a quartet in E-flat major in December '97. Am work on the andante at present,' the composer had noted in his diary on 6th January 1898. Nevertheless a good part of the year evidently passed before he was ready to saddle up his bicycle with the finished score. He had met his wife Anne Marie, who was a sculptress, in 1891 in Paris, during the above-mentioned study trip. Now in this very year, in the summer of 1898, they had one of their periods of friction, for reasons that are not hard to understand. He spent his holiday from the Royal Theatre on her family's farm in Jutland, where he tried at one and the same time to keep the farm going and to write a string quartet, while she stated at home in Copenhagen to take care of her sculptural work - she was modelling a red stallion - and their three small children. 'Can't you see and get you final movement done and I'll be busy with my horse and we'll never again spend a summer like this year's, will we, my own dearest?' she had written to him on 2nd August in a clear attempt at reconciliation.

"We do not know exactly how long it took Nielsen to reconstruct the last two movements of the quartet, for it is unlikely to have been true when he described the work as in the process of publication in an application for a ministerial composer subsidy dated 7th November 1898. He did not hand in the score to Wilhelm Hansen until the early summer of 1899, and the printed edition was not available until December 1900. On the title page the work was then dedicated to his older colleague Edvard Grieg, who was among the family's circle of friends.

"By then the quartet had already seen a semi-private first performance on 1st May 1899 in the relatively newly-founded 'Vor Forening'. The public one was given by the newly-formed Høeberg Quartet on 4th October 1901, also in Copenhagen. The latter elicited a very clear-sighted review in 'Illustreret Tidende', written by the almost ten-years-older Hother Ploug, who alongside a career in the central administration also worked as a music write and composer:

"'A strange work, like everything that has come from his hand, but more a work for connoisseurs than for the general public. In particular, the energetic first allegro with its enclosed structure and the highly convoluted contrapuntal work proved caviare to the general... Here we meet a young Danish composer with a sense of form and the sculptural not strongly evident in many others at present than perhaps Johan Svendsen and people are repelled by it. In a way this is explicable enough: when one is bottle-fed day in and day out with 'romances' and romance-like music, in the end one forfeits the feeling for stronger fare.'

"Caviare to the general or not - during the composer's lifetime the E-flat major quartet remained the most critically acclaimed, but also the least performed of the works!" (Knud Ketting, 2008. From the liner notes.)

Performers: The Young Danish String Quartet

1. String Quartet In F Minor, Op. 5: I. Allegro Non Troppo Ma Energico

2. String Quartet In F Minor, Op. 5: II. Un Poco Adagio

3. String Quartet In F Minor, Op. 5: III. Allegretto Scherzando

4. String Quartet In F Minor, Op. 5: IV. Allegro Appassionato

5. String Quartet In E-Flat Major, Op. 14: I. Allegro Con Brio

6. String Quartet In E-Flat Major, Op. 14: II Andante Sostenuto

7. String Quartet In E-Flat Major, Op. 14: III Allegretto Pastorale - Presto - Allegretto Pastorale

8. String Quartet In E-Flat Major, Op. 14: IV Allegro Coraggioso

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Mosaic Select 30: Boogie Woogie and Blues Piano

"While most Mosaic limited-edition boxed sets concentrate on recordings by an individual bandleader or a single record label, 'Boogie Woogie and Blues Piano' features sessions by a number of different artists from several labels active in the 1930s and early '40s, when boogie-woogie was very popular. Fifteen different pianists are featured (if one counts Lionel Hampton playing two fingered-duo piano in a band setting), though it is the giants of the genre, Meade "Lux" Lewis, Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, and Jimmy Yancey who are given the most exposure. The first three are individually paired (Johnson and Ammons) and play together as a trio, occasionally accompanying blues vocalist Joe Turner or adding a superfluous rhythm section. Lewis is clearly the most inventive of them all, especially when performing his hit 'Honky Tonk Train Blues' (revived in a big-band setting by rocker Keith Emerson during the '70s) or his lesser-known 'Whistlin' Blues'. Ammons has the strongest rhythmic sense, as displayed in the two takes of 'Shout for Joy'. Johnson is heard in several small group sessions as well, featuring Turner along with alto saxophonist Buster Smith and trumpeter Hot Lips Page. Yancey, who was recorded more sporadically than Lewis, Johnson, and Ammons, is extensively featured, playing solo, accompanying singer Faber Smith and occasionally singing himself. Yancey's slower, blues-drenched style is unmistakable for anyone else, highlighted by his own 'Yancey Stomp' and the two takes of 'Yancey's Bugle Call'. There is a sampling of other pianists, including Joe Sullivan, Mary Lou Williams (who played nearly every style that appeared during her lifetime with authority), Teddy Wilson (who never considered himself a talented boogie-woogie player), Nat King Cole, and Sir Charles Thompson (each of whom duets with Hampton and the more commercial Freddie Slack. The blues piano sessions of Cripple Clarence Lofton wrap this enjoyable collection with a flourish. The sound restoration and Dan Morgenstern's excellent liner notes add to the value of this limited-edition compilation." (Review by Ken Dryden from AllMusic. See here.)

1.1. Meade "Lux" Lewis - Honky Tonk Train Blues

1.2. Meade "Lux" Lewis - Whistlin' Blues

1.3. Meade "Lux" Lewis - Bear Cat Crawl

1.4. Albert Ammons - Shout For Joy

1.5. Albert Ammons - Shout For Joy

1.6. Joe Turner & Pete Johnson - Goin' Away Blues

1.7. Joe Turner & Pete Johnson - Roll 'Em Pete

1.8. Meade "Lux" Lewis, Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Boogie Woogie Prayer (Pt. 1)

1.9. Meade "Lux" Lewis, Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Boogie Woogie Prayer (Pt. 2)

1.10. Pete Johnson - Boogie Woogie

1.11. Harry James - Boo-Woo

1.12. Harry James - Boo-Woo

1.13. Harry James - Woo-Woo

1.14. Harry James - Woo-Woo

1.15. Harry James - Home James

1.16. Harry James - Jesse

1.17. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Boogie Woogie Man

1.18. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Barrel House Boogie

1.19. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Cuttin' The Boogie

1.20. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Foot Pedal Boogie

1.21. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Walkin' The Boogie

1.22. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Sixth Avenue Express

1.23. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Pine Creek

1.24. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Movin' The Boogie

2.1. Pete Johnson - Cherry Red

2.2. Pete Johnson - Baby, Look At You

2.3. Pete Johnson - Jump For Joy

2.4. Pete Johnson - Lovin' Mama Blues

2.5. Meade "Lux" Lewis, Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Cafe Society Rag

2.6. Joe Sullivan - Low Down Dirty Shame

2.7. Joe Sullivan - I Can't Give You Anything But Love

2.8. Joe Sullivan - I Can't Give You Anything But Love

2.9. Benny Carter - Joe Turner Blues

2.10. Benny Carter - Joe Turner Blues

2.11. Benny Carter - Beale Street Blues

2.12. Benny Carter - Beale Street Blues

2.13. Will Bradley - Down The Road A Piece

2.14. Will Bradley - Down The Road A Piece

2.15. Will Bradley - Down The Road A Piece

2.16. Ray McKinley & Freddie Slack - Southpaw Serenade

2.17. Ray McKinley & Freddie Slack - Southpaw Serenade

2.18. Will Bradley - Basin Street Boogie

2.19. Will Bradley - Basin Street Boogie

2.20. Teddy Wilson - A Touch Of Boogie

2.21. Lionel Hampton - The Munson Street Breakdown

2.22. Lionel Hampton - Central Avenue Breakdown

2.23. Lionel Hampton - Bouncing At The Beacon

2.24. Henry "Red" Allen - K.K. Boogie

2.25. Henry "Red" Allen - K.K. Boogie

3.1. Mary Lou Williams - Little Joe From Chicago

3.2. Jimmy Yancey - Yancey Stomp

3.3. Jimmy Yancey - State Street Special

3.4. Jimmy Yancey - Tell 'Em About Me

3.5. Jimmy Yancey - Five O'Clock Blues

3.6. Jimmy Yancey - Slow And Easy Blues

3.7. Jimmy Yancey - The Mellow Blues

3.8. Jimmy Yancey - I Received A Letter

3.9. Jimmy Yancey - East St. Louis Blues

3.10. Jimmy Yancey - Bear Trap Blues

3.11. Jimmy Yancey - Old Quaker Blues

3.12. Jimmy Yancey - Cryin' In My Sleep

3.13. Jimmy Yancey - Death Letter Blues

3.14. Jimmy Yancey - Death Letter Blues

3.15. Jimmy Yancey - Yancey's Bugle Call

3.16. Jimmy Yancey - Yancey's Bugle Call

3.17. Jimmy Yancey - 35th And Dearborn

3.18. Jimmy Yancey - 35th And Dearborn

3.19. Cripple Clarence Lofton - Strut That Thing

3.20. Cripple Clarence Lofton - Monkey Man Blues

3.21. Cripple Clarence Lofton - Policy Blues

3.22. Cripple Clarence Lofton - Brown Skin Gal

3.23. Cripple Clarence Lofton - You Done Tore Your Playhouse Down

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Giacinto Scelsi - Trilogia, I Tre Stadi Dell'uomo

"Most composers' centenaries are marked by a flurry of celebratory discs, but in the case of Giacinto Scelsi, it was the centenary (in 2005) that seems to have prodded the companies into commemorating him. The results are appearing only now, though the Mode collection of orchestral works is the sixth release in its Scelsi series.

"Since his death in 1988, few composers of the 20th century have polarised opinion more radically than Scelsi; there are a number of significant figures, led by the late Gyorgy Ligeti and also including French spectralists such as Grisey and Murail, who have cited him as an important influence, while others have dismissed his music (around 120 pieces published, with more still in manuscript) as little more than the work of a charlatan. Certainly, the sense of holy writ that some of the more extreme Scelsi supporters promote and write about with such rapture is hard to stomach. At the same time, there is something undeniably powerful about the best of his music when you hear it performed with the devotional fervour he seemed to demand of his interpreters.

"One of the most famous of that committed group of musicians has been the singer Michiko Hirayama and her performance of the '20 Canti di Capricorno', which Scelsi composed for her between 1962 and 1972. Released in full for the first time on the Wergo disc, the cycle is totally compelling, with its fractured monodies, each obsessing around a single pitch or small group of notes, and punctuated in some of the numbers by drums, gongs, a wailing saxophone or recorder, creating a self-sufficient and unique sound world. In the massive trilogy for solo cello subtitled 'The Three Ages of Man', Scelsi focuses even more closely on the minutiae of sound, the inner details of a single pitch or timbre, often in a way that suspends all conventional notions of musical time. The demands on the player (Belgium's Arne Deforce in the Aeon recording) are extreme by any standards.

"The orchestral disc is the most varied of the three, and offers perhaps the best introduction to Scelsi's strange, quasi-mystical world. The 'Four Pieces on a Single Note', from 1959, is arguably his best known work; 'Uaxuctum', his 1966 evocation of a Mayan civilisation, includes a chorus and an ondes martenot in the aural mix.

"Most intriguing of all is 'La Nascita del Verbo', for chorus and orchestra. Composed in 1947, it was the last score Scelsi completed before he suffered a complete mental breakdown. What came after his recovery was something totally different from the rather earnest neoclassicism of that work, and couched in its own, personal musical terms." (Review by Andrew Clements from The Guardian. See here.)

Performer: Arne Deforce

1. I. Triphon: Jeunesse

2. I. Triphon: Énergie

3. I. Triphon: Drame

4. II. Dithome: Maturité - Énergie - Pensée

5. III. Ygghur: Vieilesse

6. III. Ygghur: Souvenirs

7. III. Ygghur: Catharsis/Libération

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