Vivaldi Peaches

Following my lockdown listening to all of Vivaldi’s concertos, I was delighted to turn my attention to his operas for a piece in the February 2021 issue of Opera magazine. To complement that feature, here is a brief playlist of some of my favourite Vivaldi arias and recordings:

Ercole sul Termodonte: Zeffiretti che sussurate (Cecilia Bartoli)

Tito Manlio: Orribile lo scempio (Nicola Ulivieri)

Orlando furioso: Sol da te, mio dolce amore (Philippe Jaroussky)

Farnace: Gelido in ogni vena (Furio Zanasi)

Bajazet: Anch’ il mar par che sommerga (Patrizia Ciofi)

L’Olimpiade: Mentre dormi (Sara Mingardo)

Motezuma: Dov’è la figlia (Vito Priante)

Orlando furioso: Nel profondo (Marie-Nicole Lemieux)

Griselda: Dopo un’orrida procella (Roberta Invernizzi)

La fida ninfa: Alma oppressa (Vivica Genaux)

Argippo: Se lento ancora il fulmine (Delphine Galou)

 

Tito Manlio: Se il cor guerriero (Lorenzo Regazzo)

 

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Top ten Beethoven releases of 2020

After a February symphony cycle at the Barbican, most of my Beethoven this year – understandably – has been either streamed or on disc, so I thought I’d mark the great man’s 250th with a round-up of my favourite recordings released in 2020 (in no particular order, I hasten to add).

Symphony No.7: Kirill Petrenko/Berliner Philharmoniker

Not given a separate CD release yet (it’s only available in a bumper box celebrating the impact Petrenko’s made on the Berlin Phil) but released digitally, this Seventh is outstanding, even finer than the performance that wowed the Prommers back in 2018. It’s a joyous account, exciting without feeling unduly forced, indicative of a partnership that’s being forged with love. 

 

Complete String Quartets: Quatuor Ébène

Having watched the Quatuor Ébène’s outstanding cycle streamed from Paris this year, I couldn’t resist buying their Erato set, recorded in seven cities – and six continents. Playing of revolutionary zeal and intense beauty by one of today’s finest string quartets. One for the ages. (Erato 0190295339814)

 

 

Timpani Concertos 1-5: Jordi Savall/Le Concert des nations

I jest. But only slightly. The microphone placement in Alia Vox’s release of the first five symphonies favours the timps far too much, but that only seems to heighten the drama and crispness of Jordi Savall’s punchy accounts, with an especially fiery Eroica. I do hope they’ve recorded the other four symphonies. (Alia Vox AVSA9937)

 

Symphony No.5: Teodor Currentzis/musicAeterna

Yes, every hairpin dynamic is rehearsed within an inch of its life, but Currentzis’ account of the Fifth is still very exciting. A controversial reading – when does this conductor produce anything else? – but one I’ve enjoyed just as much as their Prom concert of 2018, complete with contrabassoon thrills. The disc is short measure though… Currentzis was apparently unhappy with the planned coupling of the Seventh. (Sony 19075884972)

Symphony No.5: François-Xavier Roth/Les Siècles 

Another Fifth but one that draws less attention to the conductor and more, perhaps, to Beethoven’s revolutionary spirit, especially when paired with a symphony by Gossec. Incendiary playing from Les Siècles. (harmonia mundi HMM902423)

 

 

Piano Concertos Nos.2 & 5: Kristian Bezuidenhout, Freiburger Barockorchester

Also on harmonia mundi, Kristian Bezuidenhout and Pablo Heras-Casado have got stuck into the piano concertos, starting with this excellent pairing of the Second and Fifth. Performed on period instruments, they bristle with life and are the most exciting Beethoven piano concerto releases to come my way since Arthur Schoonderwoerd’s Alpha recordings with chamber accompaniments. (harmonia mundi HMM902411)

Christ on the Mount of Olives: Simon Rattle/LSO

Sounding like a mild expletive, Beethoven’s oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives, saw a boost in its fortunes early in 2020 thanks to the earnest advocacy of Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra, happily captured on LSO Live. Three excellent soloists, but it’s the London Symphony Chorus that takes the palm here, sounding tremendous. (LSO Live LSO0862)

Leonore: René Jacobs/Freiburger Barockorchester

I’ve never been the biggest Fidelio fan (I know, my loss), although Tobias Kratzer’s 2020 staging at Covent Garden had its impressive moments. But René Jacobs makes an excellent case for the opera’s original version, Leonore, with its Singspiel characteristics. Marlis Petersen and Maximilian Schmitt are very fine as Leonore and Florestan and the hardback book that houses it all is superb. (harmonia mundi HMM902414.15)

 

Immortal Beloved: Chen Reiss/Academy of Ancient Music

Apart from Ah! Perfido, Beethoven’s concert arias – a couple of them in Italian – don’t get out much but this collection from Chen Reiss is a real ear-opener, especially with the Israeli soprano on such irresistible form. The disc also includes a lovely memento of her Marzelline, seen streamed from the Wiener Staatsoper this year in Amélie Niermeyer’s new staging of Leonore. (Onyx, ONYX4218)

Piano Trios: Philippe Cassard, David Grimal and Anne Gastinel

Two favourite piano trios – the Ghost and the Archduke – played by three stylish French musicians, sensitively aligned. Fresh, unfussy performances where one senses the delight in the music-making. (La dolce vita LDV76)

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Sun-kissed idylls and sinewy Shostakovich in Singapore

Kahchun Wong/Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore, 26th September 2020

What goes through the mind of an orchestral musician when they only have a few notes to play? Are they compiling a mental shopping list for the homeward supermarket trip? Or are they furiously counting tacet bars until their moment of glory? Two players found themselves in this position in the Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s latest (online) subscription concert: Lim Meng Keh (crotales) in Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (just 10 chimes); and Jon Paul Dante (trumpet) in Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll (13 bars). Bit parts, certainly, but the icing without which the compositional cake wouldn’t be complete.

Lim Meng Keh
© Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Click here to read the full review on Bachtrack.

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Breaking the silence: an Orchestre Métropolitain thanksgiving after the Corona-storm

Yannick Nézet-Séguin/Orchestre Métropolitain

Bourgie Hall, Montréal, 18th September 2020

For obvious reasons, very few orchestras have (yet) to complete a Beethoven symphony cycle in this 250th anniversary year. And so it’s natural, in the words of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, to “break the silence imposed by the pandemic” with Beethoven’s music. The Fifth Symphony, in particular, is being played by orchestras everywhere as their season opener, often in empty halls, beamed digitally to their audiences. A gesture of defiance. Nézet-Séguin’s Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal was one of the first orchestras in North America to reconvene and start making music together. So what better way than a Beethoven cycle?

Yannick Nézet-Séguin
© Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal

Click here to read the full review on Bachtrack.

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A thrilling Waldstein caps Igor Levit’s return to Wigmore Hall

Igor Levit

Wigmore Hall, 16th September 2020

Considering this was my first time seeing Igor Levit play “in the flesh”, his Wigmore Hall recital was just like meeting an old friend. The Russian-born German pianist has been on my screens and in my headphones more than any other pianist during the crazy last six months. His House Concerts, broadcast from his Berlin flat, stemmed from a spur of the moment decision returning from the grocery store (“Typical Igor – act first, think later”) and spanned 52 consecutive evenings. His marathon stream of Erik Satie’s Vexations, a single page of manuscript but performed 840 times, lasted 15 hours).

Igor Levit
© Wigmore Hall

Click here to read the full review on Bachtrack.

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