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Presto News - 7th July 2008Olivier Messiaen |
 Although the actual centenary of Messiaen's birth doesn't fall until December, the celebrations seem well under way already, with many new discs out recently, and a lot of his music programmed for this year's Proms festival (which starts in just under two weeks). It therefore seems an appropriate moment to devote one of these editorials to him. (Karajan and Vaughan Williams will both have to wait a bit longer!)  Olivier Messiaen Olivier Messiaen was undoubtedly the most original and influential French composer since Debussy (whose music he is said to have very much admired). Indeed he is arguably one of the most original in all music history as, rather than fitting into any particularly ‘school’, he created his own compositional style and totally individual musical voice. He did this by creating his own 'modes of limited transposition', taking rhythmic ideas from Hindu and Greek origins and combining them with his love of nature, particularly bird song. He was a very accomplished ornithologist and his research into bird song inspired much of his work, particularly his Catalogue d'Oiseaux. He also loved the mountains and I suppose this is also mirrored in his use of monolithic, almost architectural, blocks of sound. If his love of nature is clearly audible within many of his composition, it was his devout Catholic faith that was often the inspiration for their creation. Many of his works amount to personal meditations on the mysteries of this faith, such as his Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jésus for solo piano, and his Le nativité du Seigneur for solo organ. Messiaen's output is large and includes a substantial amount for both solo piano and for solo organ (he was the resident organist at the church of La Trinité in Paris from 1931 until his death in 1992). Suggesting a suitable place to start for someone new to his music is not straightforward, and I’d probably steer clear of the solo piano and organ works until familiar with the sound world. Instead, maybe head for the sombre Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps, written while a prisoner in a Nazi prison camp, and his massive Turangalîla Symphony, which celebrates his appreciation of the vitality of life - two completely contrasting works, but undoubtedly two of his finest. If you’re feeling bold, or already familiar with the music of this fabulous composer then now might be a good time to stock up as we’ve secured a very special price on the Messiaen Edition from Warner Classics which includes some of the finest recordings in the catalogue, many of them made by the composer's friends and pupils and even featuring the composer himself. |
 Messiaen EditionAn 18-CD set offering a comprehensive overview of Messiaen’s work in recordings made between 1963 and 2000.Featuring Olivier Messiaen, Yvonne Loriod, Marie-Claire Alain, Katia and Marielle Labeque,Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Kent Nagano, Pierre Boulez and more. |
Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
New Releases7th July 2008 |
This is just the pick of the recent releases. The New Releases and Future Releases pages are always available for browsing all the new and forthcoming releases. |
 Juan Diego Flórez - Bel Canto Spectacular (Limited Edition CD+DVD)Juan Diego FlórezFor the past decade the Peruvian tenor has earned ecstatic critical and public response internationally for a technical prowess and an authoritative style that must surely equal what the public would have heard from the greatest tenors more than 150 years ago. Flórez’s exhilarating vocalism, matched by a magnetic stage presence, has prompted major opera companies to revive many rare works especially for him. This is a celebration of The Belcanto tenor of our times. |
 Birds on Fire - 17th century Jewish Music for ViolsFretworkAlthough the unconverted Jews had been banished from the Kingdom since 1290, England's musical life between 1550 and 1650 was virtually monopolised by the crypto-Jewish dynasties of the Bassano and Lupo families of composers and performers. Adding a contemporary echo, the programme includes the first recording of Birds on Fire by Orlando Gough (born 1953). |
 Rachmaninov - Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3Barry Douglas (piano), Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Evgeny SvetlanovThis recording of Rachmaninov’s first and third piano concertos was made in 1993 following the success of performances of the pieces with the Russian State Symphony Orchestra and Evgeny Svetlanov. As far as I'm aware this is the first time it has been issued on CD. Why it has taken so long to issued I don’t know but it is well worth the wait. |
 Shostakovich - Cello Concertos Nos. 1 & 2Daniel Müller-Schott (cello), Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Yakov KreizbergAs Daniel Müller-Schott intimates in his own perceptive booklet note for this release, the two Shostakovich cello concertos, although separated by just seven years, inhabit very different worlds. “Müller-Schott manages the singular trick of keeping his cello tone rich and gorgeous without lessening the music’s ability to stab the heart. Listen to his lonely eloquence as he climbs up the first concerto’s second movement, and the eerie shiverings at its peak, when cello harmonics join hands with the celesta in an unearthly duet. The second concerto receives an equally febrile performance.” The Times, 27th June 2008 **** |
 Torroba: Luisa FernandaPlácido Domingo, Nancy Herrera, Mariola Cantarero & José Bros, Jesús López CobosWonderfully evocative of Spain, with its characteristic rhythms, melodies and instrumental colours, Moreno Torroba’s melodic gifts are especially striking. There are also reminiscences of Massenet and Gounod, not to mention Puccini’s Tosca! “This near all-Spanish production is vibrant, passionate and convincing. There is some enchanting music, and the stirring Act I aria is full of pride, passion, sorrow and manly wistfulness. But it is Domingo’s well-sketched Vidal that breaks the heart.” The Times, 21st June 2008 **** |
 Stravinsky - L'Oiseau de feu & Le sacre du printempsRoyal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss JansonsTwo of Stravinsky's important ballet-scores brought together on a hybrid SACD, performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under chief conductor Mariss Jansons. Exceptional orchestral detail, the finest recorded sound ever for this repertoire and Jansons' first recording of these works for some years, mean an extraordinary release. |
 Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme JärviWe have now reached the 5th instalment in the cycle of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies with Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi. A conductor with many followers and a series which has been very well received by the press. |
 Tartini - Sonatas for Solo Violin and Violin and SopranoChiara Banchini (violin) & Patrizia Bovi (soprano)Tartini developed a genuine system of thought founded on Nature - physical phenomena perceptible by our senses and determined by mathematical rules. He did not seek to imitate the natural world through its sounds and other outward manifestations, but aimed at aesthetic concepts of much greater sophistication and coherence, through the use of folksongs (notably those of the gondoliers with their references to Tasso and Ariosto), compositional techniques following poetic metres, and musical themes directly inspired by quotations from the verse of Metastasio, Petrarch, and others. To guide us into this poetic atmosphere, Chiara Banchini has called on the voice of Patricia Bovi to evoke the gondoliers’ songs so characteristic of the Venetian memories of Goethe and Rousseau, and asked the musicologist Stefano Aresi to present in the booklet the synaesthetic ideal to which Tartini aspired. Each piece of music is illustrated by an evocative poem or painting. |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 5th July 2008 |
Building a Library - Rachmaninov: Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39 |
 First Choice(coupled with Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 33)Rustem Hayroudinoff (piano) |
Disc of the Week |
 Martinu - Violin Concerto No. 2(coupled with Serenáda No. 2 for strings H216; Toccata and due canzoni H311)Isabelle Faust (violin) & Cedric Tiberghien (piano), The Prague Philharmonia, Jirí Belohlávek |
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