Kenny Wheeler - Songs for Quintet

“Recorded nine months prior to his death in September 2014, Kenny Wheeler’s ‘Songs for Quintet’ is the acclaimed jazz trumpeter's last studio album. Produced by ECM’s Manfred Eicher at London’s Abbey Road Studios with a handful of Wheeler’s closest musical associates, ‘Songs for Quintet’ is an intimate, lyrical session that exemplifies all that made Wheeler such a distinctive voice in jazz. Joining Wheeler here are tenor saxophonist Stan Sulzmann, guitarist John Parricelli, bassist Chris Laurence, and drummer Martin France. These musicians all played with Wheeler in various configurations over the last ten years of his life, resulting in an album made with love by a band of like-minded and sympathetic artists who clearly share a deep affection for Wheeler’s music. Mixing acoustic and electric sounds, Wheeler and his band play with a hushed yet vigorous interplay and reverence for melodicism while still allowing plenty of room to flirt with modal dissonance and the occasional bristle of electric guitar fuzz. Wheeler (who would have been 85 years old at the time of release) plays flügelhorn throughout and delves into each number with a warm fragility that belies his adventurous harmonies and free-flowing lyrical ideas. In many ways, the album fits alongside the best of his ECM works such as 1975's ‘Gnu High’ and 1977's ‘Deer Wan’. And while there are certainly newer compositions here, it’s fascinating to hear Wheeler return to older material, such as the expansive ‘Nonetheless’ from 1996’s ‘Angel Song’ and ‘Old Time’, a frenetic carry-over from his Azimuth trio. Ultimately, ‘Songs for Quintet’ is a beautiful and poignantly subtle farewell from one of the quiet giants of jazz.” (Review by Matt Collar for AllMusic. See here.)

Performers: Kenny Wheeler (fl-h), Stan Sulzmann (t-sx), John Parricelli (gt), Chris Laurence (bs), Martin France (dr)

1. Seventy-Six

2. Jigsaw

3. The Long Waiting

4. Canter No.1

5. Sly Eyes

6. 1076

7. Old Time

8. Pretty Liddle Waltz

9. Nonetheless

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Dave Holland - Prism

“Bassist Dave Holland has been at the forefront of experimental, forward-thinking jazz ever since his formative years playing in Miles Davis’ fusion ensemble. His 2013 album, ‘Prism’, finds Holland returning to his crossover funk roots with an able-bodied quartet. Featured here are former Tonight Show guitarist Kevin Eubanks, pianist/Rhodes keyboardist Craig Taborn, and drummer Eric Harland. All of these musicians have reputations for playing adventurous, genre-bending styles of jazz, making them perfectly suited for the project at hand. Holland’s fourth outing on his own Dare2 Records, ‘Prism’ follows his 2008 sextet date ‘Pass It On’, his 2010 octet album ‘Pathways’, and his 2010 flamenco-inspired ‘Hands’. All of those records were equally engaging and progressive in their own ways, but none showcased Holland's interest in the angular, knotty funk and fusion he explores here. Tracks like the expansive ‘The Watcher’ and the roiling ‘Spirals’ feature explosive, frenetic soloing from the band as well as moments of layered group interplay. Elsewhere, cuts like ‘The Empty Chair’ and ‘Evolution’ explore a more minimalist, modal sense of atmosphere that allow for extended and far-reaching improvisational moments. For fans of Davis’ ‘Bitches Brew’ period, during which Holland was a member of the band, there is plenty of expansive, abstract soloing, Rhodes keyboard squelch, and fuzz-laden guitar. We also get several introspective songs on ‘Prism’, with the poignant, midtempo Eubanks feature ‘The Color of Iris’, and the gorgeous Harland-penned ‘Breathe’. Of course, Holland's bass is the grounding force for the ensemble, and thankfully, he gets plenty of room to stretch out from beginning to end.” (Review by Matt Collar for AllMusic. See here.)

Performers: Dave Holland (bs), Kevin Eubanks (gt), Craig Taborn (e-pi), Eric Harland (dr)

1. The Watcher

2. The Empty Chair

3. Spirals

4. Choir

5. The Color Of Iris

6. A New Day

7. The True Meaning Of Determination

8. Evolution

9. Breathe

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Vomir - Enragement Contraint

70-minute HNW assault by Romain Perrot, released as a CDr on Dutch label Muzikaal Kabaal in 2013.

1. Enragement Contraint

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Giacomo Carissimi - Complete Motets of Arion Romanus

"'A 17th-century Arion': In 1670, the dedication of a cycle of 'sacred songs' to the Bishop of Costanza, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire Franz Joseph, marked the consecration of Giacomo Carissimi as the 'Roman Arion' and represented a definitive confirmation of his fame and important as maestro of maestros, the inventor of a new way of making and listening to music. Arion, born in Lesbos and resident in Corinth at the court of the tyrant Periander in the 7th century B.C., has to all intents and purpose become a myth, and his enormous fame has stripped him of his concrete reality and made him an emblematic figure surrounded by divine power, a symbol of a new concept of music and poetry destine to remain as an example for centuries to come.

"A singer of matchless gifts, a lyric poet of the utmost refinement and sensibility, Arion is recorded as a flesh-and-blood historical figure by Herodotus, who describes him as the inventor of the dithyramb, the ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honour of Dionysus, characterised by variable metres and extravagant form that reach almost orgiastic lengths. This would place him at the very origins of tragedy according to the doctrines elaborated by Aristotle. In actual fact, throughout the long evolution of poetic form, the form of the dithyramb has been exploited brilliantly in moder works, and it is in the 17th century that it enjoyed a kind of revival enriched with exhilerating new meaning. In that sense Carissimi was an exemplary figure, gifted with charisma and surrounded by intrigue to a much greater extent than so many of his contemporaries were, and in this sense the comparison with Arion takes on a deeper significance.

"Athanius Kircher had already explained with convincing precision that the defining quality of Carissimi's music was its capacity to make the listener feel an enormous range of emotions, and ultimately reach spiritual fulfilment. It was the range of liveliness and the density of content that Kircher saw as the essence of Carissimi's creative genius, hence Arion as a metaphor for changing emotions and the utmost skill in the elaboration of form. Just as Arion was miraculously saved by a dolphin that guided him through the treacherous waters that were about to submerge him, Carissimi had plunged into the difficult waters of oratorio through which he guided the listener on a path that seems to avoid difficulty or danger such is its gentle, reassuring smoothness, belying spontaneous expression of passion. Compared with the many musicians of generations immediately previous to his, Carissimi seems far superior to those whose scholarly efforts seemed to be a vain attempt to vindicate their mediocre work. At that time Carissimi, the maestro of maestros, was considered a composer truly able to mould personalities as diverse as the French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier or Giovanni Paolo Colonna from Bologna, thanks to the incomparable fascination held by his creative powers and the extraordinary facility with which he seemed to teach others to take charge of sound and musical texture. It is this perfect synthesis of doctrine, which is converted into expressive substance, and the endless freshness of his inspiration that make of this man the Arion of the 17th century, inevitable destined for imperishable fame. (Claudio Strinati. From the liner notes.)

"'Jacomo Carissimi 'sive' Arion Romanus: the 'Melopoet's' dive': Within the specific double-faceted tradition promoted by the Ensemble Seicentonovecento, with the 'sive' of our title our intention today is to suggest a reflection that will help us to reveal one of the metaphors of the Maestro of the San'Apollinare church; thus, in addition to the 'Vir frugi' suggested by Lino Bianchi and the 'Magister humilitatus' I discussed elsewhere, this 'sive Arion' can be considered the key to an understanding 'in reverse order' - from maestro to work/from work to maestro. Plutarch tells the story of a journey made by the famous musician and poet Arion during which the sailors on the ship that was carrying him from Sicily plotted to kill him in order to steal his money. In a dream Apollo promised to help the artist who, as soon as he saw he was in danger, sang one of his hymns, threw himself into the sea and was rescued by a dolphin that had been attracted by his singing. The god then transformed his protégé's lyre and the faithful animal who had saved him into constellations of the boreal sky. The dolphin is the symbol of regeneration, of wisdom, of conversion (in a number of legends dolphins are considered pirates who have been transformed by their repentance), and has an important role in rites of passage and as a psychopomp to lead the soul of the deceased to the afterlife: Christ the Saviour Himself is known to have been represented by a dolphin.

"In Arion's plunge into the sea we see man's self-abandonment into the arms of divine Providence: the longing to reach the gates of salvation - 'in this aiming for a future that contains the notion of returning' - has further echoes in some texts set by hte 'Melopoet' Carissimi: this is the case with one of the motets for solo voice in the collection 'Convertere ad me qui relinquis me peccando ad fontem pietatis abyssus egestatis revertere'. The title of the collection 'Arion Romanus sive Liber primus sacrarum cantonium' refers to the supernatural qualites of the mythical canto and of our composer alike: the poetic dedication 'to the Feast of the Pentecost' where the works of Carissimi, known as 'musical models' even in their time, are defined as 'composed of art and special sweetness merged together', as well as many other philosophical elements displayed in typical laudatory style, extols the rose as 'King' and 'Eye' of flowers. It shows an important relationship between the flower's geometrical principles as symbol of the golden numbers 5 and 12 and those of music which, like 'Orpheus's potion', revives the body and achieves the reconciliation of the universe 'mostly because Music is considered as being either Mistress, or comparison and symbol of a government which through its laws is perfect and absolute'.

"Carissimi's works, as 'models' both new and old, are defined as Gems, Pearls, Marguerites, Roses 'worthy to be woven or to bestow victory on Apollo's crown', while the example they set is recognised as a gift from Heaven. Just as Palestrina was elected as a renewer of polyphonic singing, so Carissimi, as tastes evolved, seems like a kind of fixed star and - 'Sicut stella' - his theories and 'models' appear as golden precepts: 'Every note of his was a gem because it gave a glow to the most precious of art.'

"Giovanni Barrista Mocchi, a loyal student of Carissimi's at the Jesuit German-Hungarian College, ensured the publication in Costanza - the city of the 15th century Council which managed the feat of restoring the unity of the Church after its schism - of a new Catholic and 'Roman' 'icon'. The 'Notice' to further readers and performers is below:

"'To the Musicians. Take note of two things. Don't be frightened by the difficulty of one or two of the songs in this collection: there are no difficulties that cannot be easily overcome even by a student [...] Few of you can use as an excuse their excessive length, which can immediately by remedied by omitting a few verses from the songs for solo voice. Finally I would point out that it was be a good thing to engage Singers, Melopoets and Composers at whatever fee they ask on behalf of those who will thus savour the art of music more deeply than hearing it from raucous lips. I trust you are well and look upon my effort with favour [...] J.B.M.'

"'After us will already be what it once was: '[...] my Arion crowned with music flowers will sing everywhere'.' (Flavio Colusso. From the liner notes.)

"'Reflections on the texts and music of the 'Arion Romanus': 'Arion Romanus' is the title of a published collection of 28 motets by Giacomo Carissimi compiled by Giovanni Battista Mocchi. (The attribution of some of these motets to the composer is currently in doubt). Mocchi (c. 1620-1688) was born in Marino, as was Carissimi, and was a singer at the German College in Rome in the 1630s under Carissimi's direction. For several months in 1646 he studied composition with Carissimi; around that date, like many other Italian musicians of the time but unlike his illustrious teacher, he left Italy to cross the Alps. Subsequently, even when he held the post of 'maestro di cappella' for the Palatine counts in Neuberg, he frequently returned to Rome to keep up his contacts with his teacher and other Roman composers.

"For his project dedicated to Carissimi, Mocchi turned in 1670 to the printer David Hautt the younger in Constance. He was official printer to the local diocesan bishop, Johann Franz, to whom the publication was dedicated. It appears that the Bishop was a fervent Marian devotee and this, as we shall see, had a certain relevance to the content of 'Arion'.

"Rather unusually for Roman musical circles, the only publications entirely devoted to Carissimi's music while he was alive were produced in Germany (the other was printed by Fridericum Friessem in Cologne in 1666): otherwise Carissimi's works featured only in anthologies. Why did the Maestro of Sant'Apollinare not personally promote the publication of his works? Carissimi, the famous maestro of a Jesuit college that was certainly not short of funds, had many admirers and patrons, including Queen Christina of Sweden, who named him 'Maestro di Cappella of the Court Ensemble'. The composer was probably very frugal (he did not have to pay for anthologies) and perhaps even too humble to turn to wealthy patrons, however willingly they might certainly have supported him.

"Looking at the texts set to music in the 1670 publication, we note that none of the 28 motets has strictly liturgical texts. This does not means that these sacred pieces were not appropriate for liturgical use, even in the 17th century: it would be perfectly proper for them to replace the Responsory or to be sung during Communion; in the Office of Hours they can be sung instead of the antiphons, especially the Marian motets as an antiphon before the Magnificat. In any case they were all suitable for the musical forces attached to cardinals, princes and patricians, not least of which were those belonging to Christina of Sweden.

"The use of texts set to music normally meant altering, combining, paraphrasing or transforming textual material that already existed. We also find snatches of biblical texts that haven't been altered that are also present in liturgy, notable from the Psalms and the Song of Songs, but also from Isaiah. We can spot references to Ecclesiastes 17:21 or 23 ('Convertere ad me', a spiritual song appropriate to the period of All Souls) or to Numbers 12:17 (the central section of 'Sicut Mater'). In 'Convertere' the concluding allusion to the Song of Songs does not refer to the Madonna, as is usually the case, but to the human soul that has to start loving God. Other motets that feature Psalm texts, include 'Benedicte gentes', which starts with a direct quote from Psalm 6:8-9 (start) and from Psalm 61:9, and then continues to paraphrase freely. Taking these quotes as a guide the motet is appropriate for Lent, the period following Easter or the Feast of St. Joseph. As far as the prophet Isaiah is concerned we must once again turn to the 'Sicut Mater', which begind with a quote from 66:13 and ends with 35:2. The central sections of the motet, on the other hand, are less specific and the motet, which is stated as 'De Tempore', is appropriate for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany; the conclusion draws particular attention to Mary's status as the Mother of God, which is unusual for Carissimi. At least seven motets in our publication are dedicated to the Madonna. It is not surprise to find references to the Song of Songs, but in 'Salve Virgo' we also find references to the antiphon 'Salve Regina', to the 'Ave Maria' and to the Gospel according to St. Luke.

"In three cases we find references to spiritual literature of the Middle Ages. 'Panem caelestem' shows clear assonance with the prose and mystic poetry of the Franciscan St. Bonaventura (c. 1217-1274): a similar case if 'O quam dilecta Mensa', which also has a refrain taken from two rhyming verses of the 'Giubilo' attributed to St. Bernard of Chiaravalle (1090-1153), who re-founded the Cistercian Order: both motets are liturgically suited to the Feast of Corpus Domini. The same thing seems to go for 'Ave dulcissime Angelorum panis'.

"Who collected or wrote these texts? We know for example that Domenico Mazzocchi and Alessandro Stradello themselves wrote the text of some of their sacred music: we can presume that the same went for Carissimi. We must, however, consider that he also had as eminent colleagues Jesuit father who could act as consultants and even as authors of sacred and spiritual texts set to music.

"Carissimi's motets are usually made up of several sections: that is, they are divided up into a series of sections of variable structure. The main formal elements are: monody in recitative style, the concertato (lively or alternatively more contemplative and closer to the madrigal), the arioso in 4/4 with moving bass, the arioso section in 3/2, the aria and the madrigal proper.

"The 'Arion Romanus' offers us the peerless art of Giacomo Carissimi made accessible in ever possible way to small ensembles. As regards the four 'unica' in this publication and in particular the precious 'Panem caelestem' and 'Benedicte gentes', we are grateful to the pupil Giovanni Battista Mocchi and the printer David Hautt for saving these masterpieces that would otherwise have been lost forever." (Wolfgang Witzenmann. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Ensemble Seicentonovecento, Flavio Colusso

1.1. Mortalis Homo

1.2. Sicut Stella Matutina

1.3. Convertere Ad Me

1.4.  Domine Deus Meus

1.5. Panem Coelestem Angelorum

1.6. Anima Nostra Sustinet Dominum

1.7. Laudemus Virum Gloriosum

1.8. O Dulcissime Jesu

2.1. Sicut Mater Consolatur

2.2. Ecce Sponsus Venit

2.3. Hymnum Jucunditatis Cantemus

2.4. Viderunt Te Domine

2.5. Quis Est Hic Vir

2.6. Omnes Gentes Gaudete Cum Maria (Victore)

2.7. O Beatum Virum

2.8. Egredimini Filiae Sion, Et Videte

2.9. Benedicite Gentes

2.10. O Beatum Virum

2.11. Gaudeat Terra, Jubilent Montes

2.12. Salve, Virgo Immaculata

3.1. Audite, Sancti (Justi)

3.2. Quo Tam Laetus Progrederis

3.3. Quasi Aquila

3.4. Exurge, Cor Meum, In Cithara

3.5. Ardens Est Cor Nostrum (Meum)

3.6. Ave Dulcissime Angelorum Panis

3.7. Desiderata Nobis

3.8. O Quam Dilecta Sunt Tabernacula

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Vasculae - Effort Towards Regression

Dense, driving harsh noise underwritten by a deep rumbling wall in this 2014 release from Jon Borges' Vasculae project. Well executed and in keeping with the generally high quality of this project and Borges' others. Recorded 2012-13 and released on the always stellar Heavy Psych label the following year.

A. The Undeterred

B. An Aesthetic Framework

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Carl Nielsen - Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5

"Despite being born in the same year, Nielsen and Sibelius, the twin peaks of Nordic symphonism, pursued wholly independent paths. Where Sibelius's First Symphony (1899, rev. 1900) took Borodin and Tchaikovsky as its starting point, Nielsen's (1891-94) paid homage to Berlioz, Grieg and Svendsen. And while Sibelius gradually stripped away elements of Romanticism and went ever deeper into elemental representations of Nature and movement, Nielsen accumulated, explored ever wider horizones, and rather than moving away from his roots made symphonic dramas from confronting them with new, often inimical forces.

"The Dane's Third Symphony (1911) celebrated a conglomeration of positive values - freedom, creative energy, oneness with Nature, and, in the finale, what Nielsen himself dubbed the 'healthy morale' of the ordinary working man - all under the umbrella title of 'Sinfonia espansiva'. At its core, his next symphony, 'The Inextinguishable' (1914-16) is a defence of those same values against elements that threaten their very existence. By the time of its composition, Europe was being torn apart by a war in which Denmark remained neutral but which caused Nielsen to question the 'national feeling' he had previously regarded as wholesome and which he now likened to a 'kind of spiritual syphilis'. There were conflicts, too, in his personal life. His marriage, to the prominent sculptress Ann-Marie Brodersen, was entireing a period of turmoil, brought about by the revelation of his infidelities; and on 30th May 1914 he resigned his position as assistant conductor at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen, thereby becoming a freelance musician for more or less the first time in over twenty years. For all these reasons Nielsen felt compelled to re-examine his values as a composer and human being, and in this respect 'The Inextinguishable' is a classic mid-life-crisis piece.

"On 3rd May 1914, Carl Nielsen wrote in a state of high agitation to his wife: 'I have an idea for a new work, which has no programme but which is meant to express what we understand by the life-urge or life-manifestation; that's to say: everything that moves, that craves life, that can be called neither good nor evil, neither high nor low, neither great nor small, but simply: 'That which is life' or 'That which craves life' - I mean, no definite idea about anything 'grandiose' or 'fine and delicate' or about warm or cold (powerful maybe) but simply Life and Movement, but varied, very varied, but holding together, and as though always flowing in one large movement, in a single stream. I need a word or a short title to say it all.'

"The word he was looking for was 'Inextinguishable'. But he was not to find it until he had completed the symphony nearly two years after that semi-coherent outburst of enthusiasm. His thoughts crystallised in a short preface to the score: 'With the title 'The Inextinguishable' the composer has sought to indicate in one word what only music has the power to express in full: 'The Elemental Will of Life'. Music -is- Life and, like it, inextinguishable.' And in 1920 Nielsen sent his Dutch composer-conductor friend Julius Röntgen an explanatory note that further clarified his intentions: 'If the whole world was destroyed, Nature would once again begin to beget new life and push forward with the strong and fine forces that are to be found in the very stuff of existence... These 'inextinguishable' forces are what I have tried to represent.'

"In Danish 'Det Uudslukkelige' is a neuter noun, non an adjectival description. So we should think of this not as a hubristic Inextinguishable Symphony, but rather as one whose subject matter is That which is Inextinguishable. Nielsen might almost as well have named it the Life Force, as Bernard Shaw put it, or 'élan vital', in a formulation popularised around the time of its composition by the philosopher Henri Bergson.

"The turbulence of the opening bars immediately suggests how much is at stake, as the strings and woodwin view with one another and brass and timpani strive to maintain law and order. When this tumult subsides, a long-drawn clarinet theme in winding Sibelian thirds seems to come from another world ('not quite like me', as once Nielsen remarked). Rather than remaining merely a haven for escapist reverie, this theme will prove highly adaptable, marking out its Darwinian fitness for eventual survival.

"In the pastoral-idyllic slow movement the woodwind behave as an idealised village band, charmingly not quite sure whether they should be playing two or three beats to the bar. Here, one senses, are the values of simplicity and openness the symphony needs to defend. The tensely dramatic third movement then begins with a passionate accompanied recitative for the violins, soaring over timpani and lower strings, 'like an eagle on the wind' according to the composer; succeeding contrasts between passionate declamation and hymn-like serenity are eventually swallowed up in a radiant climax. In the finale, launched by a torrent of string scales in the manner of Beethoven's third 'Leonora' Overture, the element of antagonism resurfaces. Two sets of timpani, spatially separated, battle it out with the rest of the orchestra, before the triumphant return of the first movement's Sibelian clarinet theme, no blazened across the entire orchestra in searing affirmation.

"After its enthusiastically received première on 1st February 1916, 'The Inextinguishable' rapidly established itself as a milestone in the Nordic symphonic repertoire, one that was frequently called upon to conduct. During these years he was living an itinerant life, hoping to re-cement his marriage but for the time being excluded from the family home in Copenhagen. In between major symphonic projects, much of his energy was devoted to a lavish staging of 'Aladdin', which demanded some 90 minutes of incidental music, and his representation of its polarities of Good and Evil, as well as its oriental setting, gave him new impetus for symphonic explorations (witness the music for 'The Market at Ispahan', which he composed for four discrete mini-orchestras in four different keys).

"For the 'Fifth Symphony' we have no preliminary statements of the kind Nielsen wrestly with apropos 'The Inextinguishable'. But he did reflect with hindsight on its content. Interviews for a Copenhagen newspaper just before the première on 24th January 1922, he was asked about the meaning of his new work. Using terms echoed by composers down the ages, he responded cagily: 'Long explanations and indications as to what music 'represents' are just evil; they distract the listener.' Pressed as to whether the Great War had affected his composition, he again deflected the question, replying that although he was not conscious of any such influence, 'One thing is certain: not one of us is the same as we were before the war. So maybe so!'

"As so many composers have discovered, these evasive tactics left the Fifth Symphony defenceless against critics eager to supply their own interpretations. Some related the extraordinarily vivid drama of the piece to his music for 'Aladdin', hearing pastoral dream-world and Arabian marches in the first movement of the symphony. And one of Nielsen's staunchest supporters found himself thoroughly repelled, calling the work a 'Sinfonie filmatique', this dirty trenches-music [...] this clenched first in the face of a defenceless, novelty snobbish, titillation-sick public [...] who lovingly lick the hand stained with the blood of their own noses!' Two years later in Stockholm, a large section of the audience walked out, in protest at the cacophony of the first movement, while a proportion of the remainder tried to hiss down the performance.

"Few among those early listeners could have guessed that Nielsen's Fifth Symphony would one day mark his posthumous international breakthrough - which can be dated quite precisely to the 1950 Edinburgh Festival - and go on to be hailed as one of the greatest symphonies of the twentieth century (not least by the celebrated Mahler scholar and broadcaster Deryck Cooke).

"Nielsen did in fact leave a few more sporadic clues as to his preoccupations while composing the work. These all have to do with primordial oppositions. At the end of his pencil draft score he wrote the motto: 'Dark, resting forces - Awakened forces', which could apply equally well to the contrast between the two main sections of the first movement and to that between the two movements themselves. He told a confidant that it was 'something very primitive I wanted to express: the division of dark and light, the battle between evil and good. A title such as 'Dreams and Deeds' could maybe sum up the inner picture I had in front of my eyes when composing.' And to his newspaper interviewer he explained that the symphony was ultimately concerned with the same elemental opposition as in his previous three, namely 'resting forces in contrast to active ones'.

"If 'The Inextinguishable' enshrined a conflict between Nielsen's essentially positive outlook on life and fearsome odds stacked against it, the Fifth Symphony revisits this arena with an even more comprehensive symphonic mastery.

"The first movement falls into two large sections. Nielsen's 'resting forces' express themselves initially as a kind of wandering indifference. He once described this state as 'Vegetative Nature', and the title 'Vegetative' actually stands at the head of his pencil draft score. Pairs of bassoons, and later horns, flutes and clarinets, drift aimlessly around an oscillating viola line that waits at first passively, then more anxiously, for something to happen. That line reacts to shivers on the cymbal as the wandering melody transfers to strings. An increasing sense of foreboding is registered by harsh accents in the cellos, and a kind of paralysis gradually steals over the music. The stage is set for the entrance of the side drum. From this point the struggle between conflicting forces ebbs and flows, eventually reaching stalemate and dying away under stabbing repeated notes on violins and celesta.

"As if waking from a bad dream, a warm G major tune breaks in on violas and cellos, supported by bassoons and horns. This unfolds in two glorious waves of increasingly contrapuntal activity, reaching an ecstatic climax. However, what promises to be a similarly positive third wave is soon clutched by fearful reminisces, and a mounting sense of alarm takes over. Woodwind and strings hurl what Nielsen called the 'evil motif' - a transformation of the violas' wave line - at one another, and at the high point the side drum returns at an unrelated faster tempo, with the instruction to disturb the orchestra at all costs. Pandemonium ensues, until a tidal wave of G major engulfs all the combatants and a battle-scarred tranquility concludes the first movement.

"The second movement begins with what the pioneering Nielsen scholar Robert Simpson aptly called 'a fount of regenerative energy'. At first this music seems to be irresistable in its onward sweep, but eventually it too succumbs to a terrifying loss of energy. That this has happened without the presence of the first movement's obvious tokens of ill-will - such as the percussion, the skirling clarinet and the dinning side drum - is all the more disheartening. The implication is that an even greater effort of will-power than in the first movement will be needed in order to regain a positive frame of mind.

"Nielsen's strategy is first of all to let evil forces rip, which he does in a fugue from hell that starts quietly on the violins but soon develops a nightmarish momentum and eventually blows itself to smithereens. The air having finally been cleared, another fugue begins, again on the violins but this time slowly and calmly transofrming the opening theme of the second movement and thinking its way through to enlightenment. It only remains for the 'fount of energy' to return and to find a way to avoid its previous path to ruin. This having been achieved, along with the revelation of the key of E flat major (also the key of the magnificent conclusion to the recent Fifth Symphony by Nielsen's Finnish neighbour, Sibelius) the final pages hold the banner of the Life Force triumphantly aloft. (David Fanning, 2013. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Kungliga Filharmonikerna, Sakari Oramo

1. Symphony No. 4, Op. 29, FS 76 'Det Uudslukkelige': I. Allegro –

2. Symphony No. 4, Op. 29, FS 76 'Det Uudslukkelige': II. Poco Allegretto –

3. Symphony No. 4, Op. 29, FS 76 'Det Uudslukkelige': III. Poco Adagio Quasi Andante –

4. Symphony No. 4, Op. 29, FS 76 'Det Uudslukkelige': IV. Allegro

5. Symphony No. 5, Op. 50 FS 97: I. Tempo Giusto –

6. Symphony No. 5, Op. 50 FS 97: II. Allegro – Presto – Andante Un Poco Tranquillo – Allegro

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Carl Nielsen - Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3

"Nielsen's childhood, so eloquently evoked in the memoirs he published after his 60th birthday, played a formative role in his musical personality on many levels. It gave him enduring respect for the values of ordinary country folk, delight in the endless variety of nature and relish for the inner strength of his early musical loves, Bach and Mozart. Later, his training at the Royal Conservatoire in Copenhagen, principally as a violinist, nurtured his early compositional efforts, especially in the fields of chamber music and song.

"But so far as larger forms such as the symphony are concerned, it was his employment in the Royal Opera Orchestra from 1889 that gave him the material basis and his scholarship-funded travels in Europe from 1890-91 that provided the decisive inspiration. In the course of that study-trip he began to sense the kind of orchestral music he wanted to write (emulating the likes of Beethoven and Brahms) and also the kind he didn't (essentially anything that smacked of self-indulgence of gratuitous effect).

"Two 'upbeats' preceded the symphony he finally set to work on in the summer of 1891. One was a complete symphonic first movement, composed in 1888 and named (not by Nielsen himself, it seems) 'Symphonic Rhapsody', for its delayed first performance. Despite its athletic, swinging triple-time motion, which was to become a hallmark of several of his mature symphonies, he agreed with some of the critics that this piece was not strong enough to stand alone, and he made no more than a concept - but an ambitious one - for a symphony with the programme 'From earth you have come; to earth you shall return'.

"Nielsen's definitive 'First Symphony', which took shape over a period of two and a half years, is far removed from such grandiose ambitions, or indeed from any kind of programme (he was highly amused when a well-meaning lady interpreted his idiosyncratic designation for the first movement, 'orgoglioso' - 'proudly' - as meaning 'organ-like'). Thoroughly classical in its proportions and discipline, the work owes much to the benchmark of Schumann, widely adopted by symphonists all over Europe at the time. At the same time it displays affinities with the fieriness of Berlioz - the very opening bars are a close cousin to the 'Orgy of the Brigands' from the Frenchman's 'Harold in Italy' Symphony, also with the lyrical tone of Grieg, and with the rhythmic vitality of Grieg's fellow-Norwegian Johan Svendsen, who conducted the première on 14th March 1894.

"In his review of that performance, Charles Kjerulf, the most influential Danish critic of the time, summed up the symphony's character as 'a child playing with dynamite'. The dynamite is perhaps most clearly to be found in the compact, propulsive rhythmical units of the first movement, which carry something close to a Beethovian generative force. In fact Nielsen had recently been so impressed with Beethoven's Fifth that he had set himself the task of writing out its first movement from memory, in full score. The childlike quality surfaces especially at movements when the pace slackens and pastoral relaxation takes over, as it does most obviously in the second movement - a deeply felt 'Andante', but one that conveys a sense of wonder at the beauty of the world, rather than projecting individualistic soul-states.

"Next comes a scherzo-substitute, somewhat Brahmsian in its initially easy-going character, though as it proceeds the tone darkens. In fact, this third movement functions as a kind of crucible, in which the symphony's musical constituents are as it were melted down and reshaped, with implications not only for the dramatic contrasts in the middle of the movement but also for the ultimate destination of the finale.

"Nominally in G minor, the symphony might have concluded quite conventionally in G major, or even placed the entire last movement entirely in that key. In fact Nielsen's finale works round to a coda in C major, making this possibly the first ever symphony to end in a key other than its home tonic. This phenomenon generally known as 'progressive tonality', is not something Nielsen worked out with scientific precision - though with hindsight the destination tonality reflects harmonic relationships subtly implanted earlier in the work, all the way back to its opening chord. Rather, it is the technical manifestation of a sense of adventure and a refusal to be tied down that are there for all to hear and that would lead Nielsen into all sort of mould-breaking advnetures in his later symphonies.

"In 1906, at the halfway point between his Second and Third Symphonies, Nielsen scored a national triumph with his comic opera 'Maskarade' - an immensely tuneful and heart-warming score that soon came to be recognized as the Danish national opera 'par excellence'. Then in December the following year his song 'Jens vejmand' ('Jens the Road-mender') suddenly became a smash hit after its first public performance. Nielsen had already resigned his post as second violinist in the Royal Opera Orchestra, and early in 1908 he was appointed assistant conductor, a post he would hold until June 1914.

"He was clearly coming into his prime as composer, performer and national icon, and his growing recognition brought with it increasingly regular commissions for incidental music and cantatas. There was even a measure of international success. In the autumn of 1906 the Chicago Symphony Orchestra udner Frederick Stock successfully performed his First Symphony. Interest in neighbouring Sweden and Norway was on the ride, and Nielsen gained an influential Czech supporter in the shape of the author Max Brod, who sang his praises in the German musical press and who perceptively noted an affinity - entirely coincidental - with his compatriot and friend Leoš Janáček.

"Curiously, Nielsen had very little contact with his symphonic opposite number and exact contemporary in Finland, Jean Sibelius. Nevertheless, not least among many significant musical impressions in these years was Sibelius's Second Symphony, whose influence may well be reflected in the long pedal-points and intense high string writing in the second movement of the 'Sinfonia espansiva'. Such ideas are one obvious aspect of 'expansiveness'. But Nielsen's idea with his unusual title is embodied above all in the character of the first movement.

"In later life Nielsen wrote three programme notes for the piece. The nearest he came to explaining his concept of the 'expansive' was in March 1931, seven months before his death: 'The first movement was meant as a burst of energy and life-affirmation thrown out into the wide world, which we humans not only desire to know in all its multifarious effects, but which we want to conquer and make our own.' To express that urge, Nielsen hit on a vigorous, muscular triple-time pulse that ultimately goes back to the first movement of Beethoven's 'Eroica', from where it passed down to him through Schumann's 'Rhenish' Symphony and Brahms's Third. Nielsen himself had adumbrated it in his 'Symphonic Rhapsody'. This kind of writing, with its highly arched thematic contours, its thrusting rhythms and propulsive harmony, gives the sensation of being composed as if in the future tense - always urgently looking forward. A significant operatic counterpart is the opening scene of Nielsen's biblical opera 'Saul and David', where exactly this musical character depicts the Israelites anxiously awaiting the delayed arrival of the prophet Samuel.

"In complete contrast to the phenomenal energy of the 'Allegro espansivo', the pastoral slow movement evokes the rolling countryside of Nielsen's native island of Funen. Here, in the concluding stages, vocalises for solo soprano and baritone are added to heighten the sense of lyrical ecstasy, expressed in a fragment of text found in Nielsen's draft score: 'All thoughts have vanished: I am lying beneath the heavens.' As he put it in one of his programme notes, the presence of the voices is 'only to highlight the peaceful atmosphere you might imagine in Paradise before the Fall'.

"In the third movement the opposed forces so far encountered are held in an uneasy balance, the moods being poised 'between dream and wakefulness', as a pupil of Nielsen put it in an analysis that came out - with the composer's approval - soon after the first published score. As so often with Nielsen, this stage of the symphony is something of a melting-pot, in which difficult issues are worked out - here notably in some convulsive fugal writing - that will enable the finale to consolidate, rather than having to fight all its battles from scratch.

"Originally headed 'pomposo' - which in Nielsen's understanding stood for grandeur but not self-aggrandisement - this finale is in fact a remarkable non-conflictual affair, at least by comparison with its counterparts in the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies. The music strides out, in the composer's words, as 'a hymn to work and the healthy enjoyment of daily life', in which the 'the orchestra sings its introductory theme in so commonplace a fashion that you might well call it 'healthy-popular''. The conclusion comes 'like a man who, uninterestingly [in the sense of undermonstratively], but healthily and at his ease, reaches the goal of his travels'.

"The première of the 'Sinfonia espansiva' took place in Copenhagen on 28th February 1912, in a concert that also included Nielsen's new Violin Concerto. The event was a triumph, not only delighting his uspporters but also winning over those Danish critics who had previously been sceptical of his abilities, and the symphony went on to enjoy many performances in different countries, often under the composer's own baton. Two months after the première, Nielsen conducted it in Amsterdam. During the most restful parts of the finale, he asked the famous Concertgebouw Orchestra to play as 'boringly' as possible, and he stretched lazily to make his point. The musicians immediately imitated his gesture, and everyone burst out laughing. 'Bravo, gentlemen,' said Nielsen. 'I see we understand eachother.' And the laughter resumed. (David Fanning, 2014. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Kungliga Filharmonikerna, Sakari Oramo

1. Symphony No. 1 In G Minor, Op. 7, FS 16: I. Allegro Orgoglioso

2. Symphony No. 1 In G minor, Op. 7, FS 16: II. Andante

3. Symphony No. 1 In G minor, Op. 7, FS 16: III. Allegro Comodo - Andante Sostenuto - Tempo I

4. Symphony No. 1 In G minor, Op. 7, FS 16: IV. Finale: Allegro Con Fuoco

5. Symphony No. 3, Op. 27, FS 60 'Sinfonia Espansiva': I. Allegro Espansivo

6. Symphony No. 3, Op. 27, FS 60 'Sinfonia Espansiva': II. Andante Pastorale

7. Symphony No. 3, Op. 27, FS 60 'Sinfonia Espansiva': III. Allegretto Un Poco

8. Symphony No. 3, Op. 27, FS 60 'Sinfonia Espansiva': IV. Finale: Allegro

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Lera Auerbach / Dmitri Shostakovich - Arcanum

"Lera Auerbach’s involvement with Shostakovich's piano 'Preludes op. 34' began at the turn of the present century, when she transcribed five of them that the composer’s friend Dmitri Tsyganov (leader of the Beethoven Quartet) had left out of his own arrangement for violin and piano. A few years later she redid the lot for cello and piano, and in 2010 she completed a viola arrangement for the present soloist. It should be noted that these versions are not adjustments of each other: each is a freshly thought out and highly idiomatic transcription.

"As opposed to Shostakovich’s violist friend Evgeny Strakhov, whose arrangement of seven preludes is transposed to keys that allow for maximum instrumental effect, Auerbach keeps to the original keys throughout, with no loss of brilliance either. While Strakhov spotlit the viola unashamedly, Auerbach integrates it into the texture in an inconspicuous, perfectly natural way. Kashkashian’s playing is characterised by a bel canto quality that suits Shostakovich’s tongue-in-cheek trifles to a T. If once or twice (or thrice) an exaggerated glissando seems to go way over the top, one can well imagine the composer laughing approvingly!

"Following their Shostakovich collaboration, Auerbach wrote 'Arcanum', a piece of a completely different hue, for Kashkashian. The four movements’ Latin titles suggest a valedictory atmosphere that is reinforced by funeral march rhythms, tolling sounds and an ending similar to Shostakovich’s valedictory Viola Sonata in its otherworldliness. Kashkashian and the composer achieve a definitive reading that is captured in ECM’s eminently listenable house sound." (Carlos María Solare. From The Strad website. See here.)

 

Performers: Kim Kashkashian, Lera Auerbach

1. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 1 In C Major. Moderato

2. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 2 In A Minor. Allegretto

3. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 3 In G Major. Andante

4. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 4 In E Minor. Moderato

5. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 5 In D Major. Allegro Vivace

6. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 6 In B Minor. Allegretto

7. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 7 In A Major. Andante

8. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 8 In F-Sharp Minor. Allegretto

9. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 9 In E Major. Presto

10. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 10 In C-Sharp Minor. Moderato Non Troppo

11. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 11 In B Major. Allegretto

12. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 12 In G-Sharp Minor. Allegro Non Troppo

13. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 13 In F-Sharp Major. Moderato

14. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 14 In E-Flat Minor. Adagio

15. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 15 In D-Flat Major. Allegretto

16. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 16 In B-Flat Minor. Andantino

17. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 17 In A-Flat Major. Largo

18. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 18 In F Minor. Allegretto

19. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 19 In E-Flat Major. Andantino

20. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 20 In C Minor. Allegretto Furioso

21. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 21 In F-Flat Major. Allegretto Poco Moderato

22. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 22 In G Minor. Adagio

23. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 23 In F Major. Moderato

24. Dmitri Shostakovich - 24 Preludes, Op. 34: No. 24 In D Minor. Allegretto

25. Lera Auerbach - Arcanum: I. Advenio

26. Lera Auerbach - Arcanum: II. Cinis

27. Lera Auerbach - Arcanum: III. Postremo

28. Lera Auerbach - Arcanum: IV. Adempte

 

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Hong Chulki + Aaron Dilloway

 

 

Live collaborative performance from sound artists/noise musicians Hong Chulki and Aaron Dilloway. Makes use of sparse, intricate sound. Recorded in Oberlin, Ohio and released in 2013 as a cassette on experimental label Idiopathic Records. 

 

A. Untitled

B. Untitled

 

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Skin Graft - Intruder

Low fidelity, crashing rumbles trouble the ears in this wretchedly captivating 2013 release from Wyatt Howland's psych-infused noise project Skin Graft. Run of one hundred cassettes released on US experimental label Heavy Psych.

 

A1. Parasitic

A2. Nervous Force

A3. Unknown

B1. Trespass

B2. Something Unwelcome Is Here

 

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Kaija Saariaho - Le Passion de Simone

"I have been reading Simone Weil’s writings since my youth. The Finnish translation of her book Gravity and Grace was one of the few things I packed into my suitcase when I travelled to Germany in 1981 to continue my studies in composition. Later, I began to read her writings in the original French and also learned more about her life. 

 

"The combination of Weil’s severe asceticism and her passionate quest for truth has appealed to me ever since I first read her thoughts. La passion de Simone was specifically the result of collaboration with Amin Maalouf and Peter Sellars; together we chose the different parts of Weil’s work and life for the libretto before I began composing. Whereas I have always been fascinated by Simone’s striving for abstract (mathematical) and spiritual-intellectual goals, Peter is interested in her social awareness and political activities. Amin brought out the gaping discrepancy between her philosophy and her life, showing the fate of the frail human being amongst great ideas. In addition to Simone Weil’s life and ideas, many general questions of human existence are presented in Amin’s text. 

 

"La Passion consists of 15 stations. The idea for the form of the text and the entire work came from the Passion play tradition. This outer form is, however, the only similarity to the traditional oratorio, at least in my opinion. The 15 movements are different in character and structure, and they shed light on different moments in Simone Weil’s life and interpret some of her ideas. The soprano has the crucial role of the narrator. Weil’s own texts are presented in the electronics surrounding the audience. The choir and orchestra create the world in which live both the soprano part and the spoken words in the electronics part." (Kaija Saariaho. From her website. See here.)

 

Performers: Radion Sinfoniaorkesteri, Tapiolan Kamarikuoro, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Dawn Upshaw

1. Première Station

2. Deuxième Station

3. Troisième Station

4. Quatrième Station

5. Cinquième Station

6. Sixième Station

7. Septième Station

8. Huitième Station

9. Neuvième Station

10. Dixième Station

11. Onzième Station

12. Douzième Station

13. Treizième Station

14. Quatorzième Station

15. Ultime Station

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The New Blockaders - Eine Kleine Nichstmusick

Self-released CD from English noise veterans The New Blockaders (as 'TNB Orchestra'), released in 2013 in an edition of 50 copies. This is a very dense, very intricate noise assault. The sounds are often layered and reward close listening. The cover features unique burnt fragments of sheet music, with some copies having the CD booklet partially burnt also.

1. Eine Kleine Nichtsmusik (Part 1)

2. Eine Kleine Nichtsmusik (Part 2)

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Tourette - Cendrier du Voyage

Release from French noise artist Benjamin Clement. The noise here is very lo-fi and fuzzy, morphing through the ears with a calm intensity. Originally released on 'Foyer Second' in 2013 (according to Discogs, the first and only release on this label), then re-issued on Italian label Archivio Diafònico in 2015. The title is taken from the title of a book of poetry by Jacques Dupin.

A1. Untitled

A2. Untitled

B1. Untitled

B2. Untitled

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Antoine Brumel - Missa de Beata Virgine; Motets

"Antoine Brumel (c. 1460-1512/13) is famous for one piece, and otherwise little known and rarely performed today. His 'Missa Et ecce terrae motus', alias the 'Earthquake' Mass, is justly feted due to its status as the first twelve-voice Mass-setting, and is notable for its vitality of rhythm as well as its almost obsessive repetition of small motivic cells. But the rest of his output is poorly represented in the recording catalogues, an omission which this album aims partially to rectify. His compositions are quite unlike those of his contemporaries in the way in which he handles voices: at times he appears to be conceptualizing a vocal ensemble as a primarily rhythmic entity, creating wild syncopations and using the same figure in different relationships to the underlying tactus so that the straightforward pulse is broken up with cross-rhythms. This is not to say that he lacks lyricism: the 'Agnus Dei' of the 'Missa de beata virgin' and the motet 'Beata es, Marta', for example, achieve an inward spirituality to equal any of his contemporaries.

"Like most church musicians of his generation, Brumel was employed primarily as a singer, though he latterly became a master of choristers and was also a priest. Possibly from the village of Brunelles near Chartres, he is known to have held positions, from 1483 onwards, at the cathedrals of Chartres, Laon, and Notre-Dame de Paris (1498-1500, when he resigned after an administrative dispute). He also worked in Geneva, at the Savoyard court in Chambery, and from 1505 at Ferrara in Northern Italy, where he was paid the substantial sum of 100 ducats per annum. After the Ferrarese chapel was disbanded in 1510 he remained in Italy and appears to have resided in Mantua. It is possible that he was present at the coronation of Pope Leo X in 1513, but the account is not contemporaneous and he may already have died by this point." (Stephen Rice. From the liner notes.)

Performers: The Brabant Ensemble, Stephen Rice

1. Nato Canunt Omnia

2. Beata Es, Maria

3. Lauda Sion Salvatorem

4. Ave Caelorum Domina

5. Missa De Beata Virgine: Kyrie

6. Missa De Beata Virgine: Gloria

7. Missa De Beata Virgine: Credo

8. Missa De Beata Virgine: Sanctus & Benedictus

9. Missa De Beata Virgine: Agnus Dei

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Johannes Brahms - Sonatas for Clarinet & Piano; 6 Klavierstücke, Op. 118

"The aspiration of instrumental music to gain its independence by shaking off the influence of vocal music and extra-musical references, a central issue in the aesthetic debates that raged in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, had to struggle against somewhat more conservative listening habits on the part of the public. Those extra-musical elements (deriving in large part from the heritage of eighteenth century rhetoric, from the commedia dell’arte and the theatre in general, from literature, and from opera, which remained extremely popular) were still very present, and emerge clearly when one analyses thereactions of audiences and performers, who continued to associate music with gestures, movements, expressions, characters, images.

"Although Brahms himself did not feel close to the world of opera and did not encourage frequent recourse to such external references, there are many hints to suggest that things did not always go as he would have wished. For example, in his score of the Brahms sonatas, the celebrated English clarinettist Charles Draper (1869-1952) [...] noted his impressions of the character of certain episodes: 'Trouble ahead!', 'Prayer', 'old man grumbling'. The critic and musicologist Alexander Berrsche (1880-1940), a fierce guardian of Brahmsian tradition, nonetheless used expressions like 'the frightened fluttering of a bird' in his reviews of the composer’s symphonies. Again, in her 1905 biography of Brahms, Florence May (1845-1923) has this to say of the 'Quintet, op.115': 'Here "the brooks of life are flowing as at high noon", though the tone of gentle loving regret which pervades the four movements, and holds the heart of the listener in firm grip, suggests the composer’s feeling that evening is not far from him in which no man may work.'

"Is it possible today to adopt a similar viewpoint on the music of Brahms, and to imagine a link between music and moods, feelings, characters, to go so far as actually to reconstruct a virtual dramatic action on the basis of his music? Can today’s musicians and listeners conjure up, from these sounds alone, images drawn from multiple experiences, lodged in our memories from the operas, the literature, the plays we have known? Many of these art forms have over time acquired an expressive, often dramatic dimension, and have become part of a collective imagination which earlier listeners were doubtless capable of calling upon.

"In the examples that follow, the association of musical gestures with concrete personalities, characters and images is totally arbitrary and without direct historical reference. It is merely a personal attempt to make those gestures tangible, as a contemporary musician or listener might have done: trouble ahead, prayers, old men grumbling, frightened birds, but also funeral bells, Orpheus and his lyre, Eurydice, Susanna and Figaro, love duets, tears and smiles, conflicts and reconciliations, farewells and welcomes.

"Op. 120 no. 1, first movement. At 4'28" (tr. 1), the sudden sforzando in the piano and the wide intervals in the clarinet suggest two people weeping and sobbing. Later on (6'37"), one has the impression, as in the second movement of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, of hearing Orpheus' lyre and his despairing song. All of a sudden the lyre falls silent, trombones and bassoons announce the end (7'17"), and funeral bells (7'24") accompany the abandonment of all hope, evoked by the final lament on the clarinet (7'30"). Often, around a cadence, a modulation will underline a frustration, or perhaps a surprise, introducing a new mood, a new protagonist, as in this same movement (2'57") or at 3'35" in the finale (tr. 4).

"In the Andante of op. 120 no. 1 (tr. 2), at what is perhaps one of the most moving moments in the First Sonata, two characters exchange roles: the clarinet takes over the piano line, plays the bass (2'03"), then abruptly falls silent (2'15"), leaving the piano alone, in search of its companion; the piano then hesitates among several keys, and is finally reunited with the clarinet in a consolatory A-flat major, a meeting indicated by the return of the main theme, now presented in an intimate, murmuring tone, embraced by warm arpeggios. At the very end of the movement (3'59"), the clarinet evokes the resigned attitude of someone departing into the distance – perhaps Eurydice's gentle farewell to Orpheus?

"The wide intervals in the clarinet, comical and arrogant, which boldly interrupt the piano’s attempt to start up a fugue at the beginning of the finale (tr. 4, 0'06") and the rapid detached notes that follow, as if in mockery (0'13"), are gestures typical of commedia dell'arte and opera buffa. Shortly after this the wild 'Hungarian' section (2'11") reminds us of the cafés of Budapest and Vienna and their Gypsy musicians.

"The appoggiaturas of the clarinet theme that opens op. 120 no. 2 (tr. 11) emphasise its feminine, sensual character, notably the spectacular leap at 0'12", which may remind us of the vocal virtuosity of Susanna or Fiordiligi. The second theme, a tight-knit canon, seems more evocative of the badinage of two lovers than the art of counterpoint (0'56"). Towards the end of the movement (6'42"), the touching interrupted cadence leads us into a calm, exotic E major, but the protagonists’ disquiet suddenly increases (6'48") until we reach the surprising piano subito at 6'54". This inaugurates a change of character with the wistful plaint of the clarinet, which, exhausted, is struck dumb (7'01"), followed by the piano, which also has its moment of doubt and hesitation (7'03").

"After a brief silence charged with expectation, release comes with the grandiose, even pompous coda (7'05"), built entirely from repeated elements (here again are the characteristic topoi of opera buffa), seemingly leading up to a reconciliation. But this is to some extent thwarted by the final gesture: an improbable intruder (7'39"), a comic A natural that is quite out of place in E-flat major; a smile, a nod before the door closes once and for all." (Lorenzo Coppola, tr. Charles Johnston. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Lorenzo Coppola, Andreas Staier

1. Sonata, Op. 120 No. 1 In F Minor: I. Allegro Appassionato

2. Sonata, Op. 120 No. 1 In F Minor: II. Andante Un Poco Adagio

3. Sonata, Op. 120 No. 1 In F Minor: III. Allegro Grazioso

4. Sonata, Op. 120 No. 1 In F Minor: IV. Vivace

5. Sechs Klavierstucke, Op. 118: I. Intermezzo. Allegro Non Assai, Ma Molto Appassionato

6. Sechs Klavierstucke, Op. 118: II. Intermezzo. Andante Teneramente

7. Sechs Klavierstucke, Op. 118: III. Ballade. Allegro Energico

8. Sechs Klavierstucke, Op. 118: IV. Intermezzo. Allegretto Un Poco Agitato

9. Sechs Klavierstucke, Op. 118: V. Romanze. Andante

10. Sechs Klavierstucke, Op. 118: VI. Intermezzo. Andante, Largo E Mesto

11. Sonata, Op. 120 No. 2 In E-Flat Major: I. Allegro Amabile

12. Sonata, Op. 120 No. 2 In E-Flat Major: II. Allegro Appassionato

13. Sonata, Op. 120 No. 2 In E-Flat Major: III. Andante Con Moto - Allegro - Piu Tranquillo

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Kevin Drumm - Tannenbaum

Ambient/drone from Kevin Drumm, released on Dominick Fernow's Hospital Productions in 2013. Initially in an edition of 49 as a 2xCD/2xC20 package, then a month later in a run of 500 with just the CDs, then finally as a complete digital release: both in 2013 on Hospital and in 2016 on Drumm's bandcamp (still available here, for a very reasonable price). Comprised of slow, extended drone pieces that lull the ear into a seemingly false sense of auditory security. 

1. Night Side
2. Winter Ice
3. Taurean
4. Gradual Extinction
5. Return
6. Grace
7. Dimming The Gas Lights

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Kevin Drumm - Quiet Nights

Another self released Kevin Drumm album. We start off with calm ambience then ever-so-slowly plunge into dark, unsettling sound work throughout the hour. Presumably a very limited CDr run, with each package signed by Drumm; it was released simultaneously (for a very reasonable price) on his Bandcamp here.

1. Quiet Nights

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Pain Nail - Magneettinen Kohtalo

Title meaning 'magnetic destiny'. Pain Nail is a collaborative effort between Finnish noise/P.E./metal kingpin Mikko Aspa and countryman/noise/metal artist Marko Kokkonen. This is a droning, ominous power electronics/death industrial album with supernatural/pagan themes, compiling material recorded over six years from 2006 to 2012. Issued twice as an LP by Aspa's Freak Animal label in 2013 and 2015, and once as a cassette in 2013.

1. 6th Sense
2. Sinetit Lohkeavat
3. Blissful Silence
4. Descension - Ascension
5. Church Of Ash
6. Miekan Valta
7. One Glance
8. Tyhjyyden Kammo

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Johann Sebastian Bach - St. John Passion

"The arias of the St John Passion draw on operatic convention in order to convey the emotions being felt by individuals  at various points in the story. Often the instrumental accompaniment and thematic material have symbolic or pictorial significance. Sometimes the motifs are overtly pictorial, as in "Eilt, ihr angefochtnen Seelen" (CD 2, track 28), where the rushing upward scales illustrate the text's exhortation that we "hasten ... to Golgotha" ("elk nach Golgatha"). In other arias, by contrast, it is hard to describe the effect of Bach's music in words. In "Erwage, wie sein blutgefarbter Rucken" (CD 2, track 12), some listeners might interpret the dactylic (long—short—short) motifs as suggesting the rhythms of scourging, or as merely illustrating the text's exhortation that we contemplate Jesus's bloodstained back.

"[...] At the moment of Jesus's crucifixion comes one of the most poignant arias in the Passion. "Es ist vollbracht!" (CD 2, track 38) sets one of Jesus's Seven Last Words on the Cross:It is finished!" Bach's aria isolates the two contrasting meanings inherent in this utterance. The aria starts molt'adagio with a lamenting obbligato played by a viola da gamba in the key of B minor; this suggests the despair and resignation in the words "It is finished!" By contrast, the middle section of the aria interprets these words triumphantly, as indicating that Christ's work on earth is gloriously completed. Here the key turns to D major, and the voice and strings imitate the fanfares of trumpets on the words"Der Held aus Juda siegt mit Macht" ("The hero of Judah is victorious in power"). With this aria, Bach reflects a central feature of John's Gospel, which portrays Christ as glorious and victorious, even in death." (Stephen Rose. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Academy Of Ancient Music, Choir Of The AAM, Richard Egarr

1.1. Teil I: 'Herr, Unser Herrscher'
1.2. Teil I: 'Jesus Ging Mit Seinen Jüngern'
1.3. Teil I: 'Jesum Von Nazareth!'
1.4. Teil I: 'Jesus Spricht Zu Ihnen'
1.5. Teil I: 'Jesum Von Nazareth!'
1.6. Teil I: 'Jesus Antwortete'
1.7. Teil I: 'O Große Lieb'
1.8. Teil I: 'Auf Daß, Das Wort Erfüllet Würde'
1.9. Teil I: 'Dein Will Gescheh, Herr Gott, Zugleich'
1.10. Teil I: 'Die Schar Aber Und Der Oberhauptmann'
1.11. Teil I: 'Von Den Stricken Meiner Sünden'
1.12. Teil I: 'Simon Petrus Aber Folgete Jesu Nach'
1.13. Teil I: 'Ich Folge Dir Gleichfalls'
1.14. Teil I: 'Derselbige Jünger'
1.15. Teil I: 'Wer Hat Dich So Geschlagen'
1.16. Teil I: 'Und Hannas Sandte Ihn Gebunden'
1.17. Teil I: 'Bist Du Nicht Seiner Jünger Einer?'
1.18. Teil I: 'Er Leugnete Aber Und Sprach'
1.19. Teil I: 'Ach, Mein Sinn'
1.20. Teil I: 'Petrus, Der Nicht Denkt Zurück'

2.1. Teil II: 'Christus, Der Uns Selig Macht'
2.2. Teil II: 'Da Führeten Sie Jesum'
2.3. Teil II: 'Wäre Dieser Nicht Ein Übeltäter'
2.4. Teil II: 'Da Sprach Pilatus Zu Ihnen'
2.5. Teil II: 'Wir Dürfen Niemand Töten'
2.6. Teil II: 'Auf Daß Erfüllet Würde Das Wort'
2.7. Teil II: 'Ach Großer König'
2.8. Teil II: 'Da Sprach Pilatus Zu Ihm'
2.9. Teil II: 'Nicht Diesen, Sondern Barrabam!'
2.10. Teil II: 'Barrabas Aber War Ein Mörder'
2.11. Teil II: 'Betrachte, Meine Seel'
2.12. Teil II: 'Erwäge, Wie Sein Blutgefärbter Rücken'
2.13. Teil II: 'Und Die Kriegsknechte Flochten Eine Krone'
2.14. Teil II: 'Sei Gegrüßet, Lieber Jüdenkönig!'
2.15. Teil II: 'Und Gaben Ihm Backenstreiche'
2.16. Teil II: 'Kreuzige, Kreuzige!'
2.17. Teil II: 'Pilatus Sprach Zu Ihnen'
2.18. Teil II: 'Wir Haben Ein Gesetz'
2.19. Teil II: 'Da Pilatus Das Wort Hörete'
2.20. Teil II: 'Durch Dein Gefängnis, Gottes Sohn'
2.21. Teil II: 'Die Jüden Aber Schrieen Und Sprachen'
2.22. Teil II: 'Lässest Du Diesen Los'
2.23. Teil II: 'Da Pilatus Das Wort Hörete'
2.24. Teil II: 'Weg, Weg Mit Dem, Kreuzige Ihn!'
2.25. Teil II: 'Spricht Pilatus Zu Ihnen'
2.26. Teil II: 'Wir Haben Keinen König'
2.27. Teil II: 'Da Überantwortete Er Ihn'
2.28. Teil II: 'Eilt, Ihr Angefochtnen Seelen'
2.29. Teil II: 'Allda Kreuzigten Sie Ihn'
2.30. Teil II: 'Schreibe Nicht “Der Jüden König”'
2.31.  Teil II: 'Pilatus Antwortet'
2.32. Teil II: 'In Meines Herzens Grunde'
2.33. Teil II: 'Die Kriegsknechte Aber'
2.34. Teil II: 'Lasset Uns Den Nicht Zerteilen'
2.35. Teil II: 'Auf Daß Erfüllet Würde Die Schrift'
2.36. Teil II: 'Er Nahm Alles Wohl In Acht'
2.37. Teil II: 'Und Von Stund An Nahm Sie Der Jünger'
2.38. Teil II: 'Es Ist Vollbracht!'
2.39. Teil II: 'Und Neiget Das Haupt'
2.40. Teil II: 'Mein Teurer Heiland, Laß Dich Fragen'
2.41. Teil II: 'Und Der Vorhang Im Tempel Zerriß'
2.42. Teil II: 'Mein Herz, Indem Die Ganze Welt'
2.43. Teil II: 'Zerfließe, Mein Herze'
2.44. Teil II: 'Die Jüden Aber, Dieweil Es Der Rüsttag War'
2.45. Teil II: 'O Hilf, Christe, Gottes Sohn'
2.46. Teil II: 'Darnach Bat Pilatum'
2.47. Teil II: 'Ruht Wohl, Ihr Heiligen Gebeine'
2.48. Teil II: 'Ach Herr, Laß Dein Lieb Engelein'

mp3, 320kbps

Georg Philipp Telemann - 12 Fantasias

"Georg Philipp Telemann's Twelve Fantasias for Solo Flute TWV 40:2-13 are a rich source of information on the different stylistic forms, emotions and rhetoric conventions employed in Baroque music. They offer the performer the opportunity to play the operatic, orchestral and chamber-music repertoire of the time on a solo melody instrument. These theatrical miniatures form part of the canon of the Late Baroque repertoire for a melody instrument without continuo, similar to Bach's Solo pour la flute traversiere, BWV 1013, which was written at about the same time, or the same composer's partitas and sonatas for solo violin and his solo cello suites. Playing solo demands that the performer take on several different functions at the same time: that of the treble, of a continuo player, or two melody parts simultaneously, as in a trio sonata. There is no other instrument here to cover up sound and articulation, rhythm or emotion. Thus these pieces challenge the virtuoso to engage as finely and clearly as possible in a dialogue with himself, in the rhetorical sense of the word.

"[...] And indeed, Telemann does depict emotions like love, tenderness, flattery and sadness, as well as rashness, fury and despair, in the first of his 12 fantasias. It is as if he wanted to compose a kind of musical heading with the message: Look here, this is how life is! And when a kind of birdsong closes the collection, it does so on an Arcardian note. It's as if we can heard the nightingale singing at Orpheus's tomb." (Dorothee Oberlinger. From the liner notes.)

Performer: Dorothee Oberlinger

1. Fantasia No. 1 In A Major: I. Vivace
2. Fantasia No. 1 In A Major: II. Allegro
3. Fantasia No. 2 In A Minor: I. Grave
4. Fantasia No. 2 In A Minor: II. Vivace
5. Fantasia No. 2 In A Minor: III. Adagio
6. Fantasia No. 2 In A Minor: IV. Allegro
7. Fantasia No. 3 In D Minor: I. Largo. Vivace. Largo. Vivace
8. Fantasia No. 3 In D Minor: II. Allegro
9. Fantasia No. 4 In E-Flat Major: I. Andante
10. Fantasia No. 4 In E-Flat Major: II. Allegro
11. Fantasia No. 4 In E-Flat Major: III. Presto
12. Fantasia No. 5 In C Major: I. Presto. Largo. Presto. Dolce
13. Fantasia No. 5 In C Major: II. Allegro
14. Fantasia No. 5 In C Major: III. Allegro
15. Fantasia No. 6 In D Minor: I. Dolce
16. Fantasia No. 6 In D Minor: II. Allegro
17. Fantasia No. 6 In D Minor: III. Spirituoso
18. Fantasia No. 7 In F Major: I. Alla Francese
19. Fantasia No. 7 In F Major: II. Presto
20. Fantasia No. 8 In E Minor: I. Largo
21. Fantasia No. 8 In E Minor: II. Spirituoso
22. Fantasia No. 8 In E Minor: III. Allegro
23. Fantasia No. 9 In E Major: I. Affetuoso
24. Fantasia No. 9 In E Major: II. Allegro
25. Fantasia No. 9 In E Major: III. Grave
26. Fantasia No. 9 In E Major: IV. Vivace
27. Fantasia No. 10 In F-Sharp Minor: I. A Tempo Giusto
28. Fantasia No. 10 In F-Sharp Minor: II. Presto
29. Fantasia No. 10 In F-Sharp Minor: III. Moderato
30. Fantasia No. 11 In C Major: I. Allegro
31. Fantasia No. 11 In C Major: II. Adagio
32. Fantasia No. 11 In C Major: III. Vivace
33. Fantasia No. 11 In C Major: IV. Allegro

mp3, 320kbps