This week's Classical CDs reviewed by MICHAEL DERVAN
ROMANCENDRES
Christoph Richter (cello), Dénes Várjon (piano), SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, Radio - Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR/Heinz Holliger
ECM New Series 476 3225 ****
Swiss oboist and composer Heinz Holliger, 70 this year, has obsessions about Robert Schumann and Friedrich Hölderlin. Holliger's Romancendresrefer to a set of cello Romanceswritten in 1853, which the composer's widow, Clara, burned much later, at the end of her life. Holliger has written a
piece that's at once reconstruction (from surviving descriptions) and deconstruction – vital, ghostly, rich. In Gesänge der Frühe,for choir, orchestra and tape (which adds narration), Holliger blends music by Schumann, poetry by Hölderlin (both of whom ended up in asylums), and contemporary letters (no translations provided) with fantastical, time-warping acuity. The disc opens with Romancesby Clara herself. www.ecmrecords.com
HAYDN IN LONDON
La Gaia Scienza
Winter & Winter 910 156-2 ****
This CD of Haydn in London celebrates not only the great success of the composer's London visits of the 1790s, but also his earlier fame in the English capital. The London publisher John Bland visited Haydn in Vienna in 1789 and commissioned trios "for the Harpsichord or Piano Forte, German Flute & Violoncello". The performances by Italian period instruments ensemble La Gaia Scienza are a delight, the lines are sharp and clean, the instrumental balances ideal, and a magical cushioning effect from the silvery-toned fortepiano's una corda pedal. The London visits themselves are represented through a 1793 curiosity, an arrangement (adding violin to the ensemble) by Ludwig Wenceslaus Lachnith of Haydn's SurpriseSymphony. http://tinyurl.com/ c43gv9
BENEDICT: PIANO CONCERTOS IN C MINOR AND E FLAT; MACFARREN: CONCERTSTÜCK IN E MINOR
Tasmanian SO/Howard Shelley (piano)
Hyperion CDA 67720 ***
If you've ever wondered what else the composer of The Lily of Killarneywrote, then here's the answer. In the straight-line version of music history, you might expect Julius Benedict, composing between 1837 and 1867 to have had the likes of Liszt and Brahms as models. But the manner is closer to Mendelssohn: light, deft, nicely turned, with plenty of mild, Beethovenian surprises, but little sense of churn or grip in the harmonic language. Gentlemanly, you might say. The 1881 Concertstückby Walter Macfarren (1826-1905) stirs with a stronger romantic sensibility, but not much individuality of imagination. The performances by Howard Shelley are impeccably turned. www.tinyurl.com/5jub7c
THUILLE: SEXTET OP 6; PIANO QUINTET OP 20
Chantily Quintet, Gigli Quartet, Gianluca Luisi (piano)
Naxos 8.670790 ****
Austrian composer Ludwig Thuille (1861-1907), a close friend of Richard Strauss, was influenced by Brahms, and wrote operas on fantastical subjects. His Sextet for piano and wind (1891) is written with a light touch (there’s even a Gavotte instead of a Scherzo) that’s been attributed to his Savoyard ancestry. The Piano Quintet with strings (1901) is conceived on an altogether larger scale – it plays for 43 minutes – and stirs altogether darker passions. Both works are highly regarded and receive convincing performances here. They combine assurance and adventure in ways not common from little- known composers. Don’t be surprised to find Thuille turning up soon at an Irish chamber music festival. www.naxosdirect.ie
