Classical releases reviewed

ROYER: PREMIER LIVE DE PIÈCES DE CLAVECIN

Christophe Rousset (harpsichord) Ambroisie AM 151*****

Joseph Nicolas Pancrace Royer (1705-55) was a musical bigwig in the France of his time. It was his misfortune (and ours, as this disc demonstrates) to be overshadowed by the genius of Rameau. Royer's single book of harpsichord pieces, published in 1746, indulges in virtuosic flights of fancy that are sure to leave many listeners wishing for more. Yes, there are tender pieces, and a pounding Tambourin to put beside more famous examples. But the indulgence of Le Vertigo and La Marche des Scythes pursue their delightfully erratic courses with a clamorous energy that is sometimes simply overwhelming. Christophe Rousset, playing a much worked-over mid-18th- century harpsichord, makes the music sound as if were expressly written for him. www.naive classique.com MICHAEL DERVAN

PORPORA: CANTATAS FOR SOPRANO

Elena Cecchi Fedi (soprano), Auser Musici/Carlo Ipata Hyperion CDA 67621 *****

Nicola Porpora (1686-1768) was successful enough to be an operatic rival to Handel in 1730s London, and Haydn declared that he had learned "the true fundamentals of composition from the celebrated Herr Porpora". As a famous singing teacher, Porpora has been pilloried as "a purveyor of bravura arias for the use of his pupils". The four contrasted chamber cantatas on this new CD suggest his musical achievement was much more than that. Soprano Elena Cecchi Fedi's singing is both beautiful and vocally deft, and the playing of the Italian group Auser Musici is emotionally responsive  and dramatically alert to match. The opening cantata, Or si m'aveggio, oh Amore, with its rocketing cello obligato, is particularly fine. www.tinyurl.com/5jub7c MICHAEL DERVAN

LUTOSLAWSKI: ORCHESTRAL WORKS

Polish Chamber Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra/Witold Lutoslawski EMI Classics 215 3182 (3 CDs) ****

These recordings, made in 1976 and 1977, constitute a valuable survey of the Polish composer's orchestral output up to that time. The traditionally conceived works up to the popular Concerto for Orchestra and Musique funèbre were followed in Jeux venétiens by a move into the avant-garde, with Lutoslawski adopting the use of controlled chance procedures under the influence of John Cage. Lutoslawski was a fine conductor of his own music (his mid-1970s appearance in Dublin was talked about for years afterwards); although the playing of the Polish orchestras of the time was not always of the finest, the appealing and intricate finish of his orchestral writing is well conveyed. www.emi classics.com MICHAEL DERVAN

DSJÅNKI-DONG
Nordic Voices Aurora ACD 5055 ****

Every composer that Nordic Voices have collaborated with, says singer Frank Havrøy, are "creative, committed, informed and imbued with a modicum of madness". Anyone hankering after the style of the more far-out music that Celso Antunes used to programme with the National Chamber Choir will find their tastes catered for in this selection of works by Lasse Thoresen (Diphonie I), Asbjørn Schaathun (Verklärung), Henrik Ødegaard (O Magnum Mysterium), David Bratlie (Lamentations), Cecilie Ore (Schwirren), and Kåre Kolberg (Plym-Plym). Whether negotiating microtonal intervals, singing with throaty roughness, venturing into overtone singing, or doing things most singers would baulk at (Havrøy draws comparisons with extreme sports), the selfassurance of Nordic Voices makes most everything sound engaging. www.aurora records.no MICHAEL DERVAN