2012-06-10

Classical, June 3 | The Sunday Times

Classical, June 3
Stphane Denve conducts a superb Debussy set for Chandos, plus; Humperdinck, Piers Hellawell and Friedrich Cerha
Hugh Canning, David Cairns, Paul Driver and Stephen Pettitt
Published: 3 June 2012

Pick of the week

Classical CD of the Week: Debussy Orchestral Works (Tom Finnie)

Debussy Orchestral Works Royal Scottish National Orchestra, cond Stphane Denve Chandos CHAN5102 (2CDs) The French conductors all-too-brief tenure with the RSNO has primarily been documented by Naxos. This superb Debussy set for Chandos makes me wish I had seen more of his concerts in Scotland. I recall an outstanding but sadly ill-attended Pellas et Mlisande, in which Natalie Dessay made her debut in the female lead, and these accounts of Debussys orchestral masterpieces Images, Jeux, Nocturne, La Mer, Prlude laprs-midi dun faune confirm Denves masterly reputation in his native repertoire. He cites Charles Munch and his great Boston Symphony recordings of this repertoire as his model, but his Debussy is his own, muscular yet
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Classical, June 3 | The Sunday Times

transparent, colouristic yet atmospheric and mysterious. The RSNOs playing has moved up a notch under his baton, with luscious string sounds and superb wind soloists. Even that symphonic warhorse La Mer sounds freshly reimagined by the young Frenchman, whose sense of the musics ebb and flow, with surging climaxes, is unerring. On this two disc-set an ideal way to acquire Debussys orchestral masterpieces even the makeweights are compelling, and the rare Marche Ecossaise is an apt souvenir of Denve's Scottish sojourn. HC

Round-up
Humperdinck Hnsel und Gretel Cast, London Philharmonic Orchestra, cond Robin Ticciati Glyndebourne GFOCD015-10 Glyndebournes soon-to-be music director, Robin Ticciati, makes his debut opera recording with this little neo-Wagnerian masterpiece. He has followed in the footsteps of Colin Davis at Covent Garden, and his Glyndebourne account is unusually spacious for such a youthful conductor, but the LPO and principal singers sustain his tempi admirably. Alice Cootes coltish Hnsel and Lydia Teuschers diamantine Gretel are near-ideal siblings; as their parents, Irmgard Vilsmairs hochdramatisch Gertrud dominates William Dazeleys lyrical Peter. Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke steals the limelight with his Mime-like Rosine Leckermaul. HC

Haydn, Schumann Quartet in E flat, Op 64, No 6;Quartet in A minor, Op 41, No 1 Elias String Quartet WHLive 0051 The Elias Quartet, founded in 1998 at the Royal Northern College, have won golden opinions, and listening to this live 2010 recording from Wigmore Hall, you can see why. They make a beautiful sound, burnished yet translucent, and play with vigour and subtlety. On the strength of these performances, I find their fluid, yielding style more suited to Schumann than to Haydn. But perhaps I am only saying that I like the lovely opening movement of the Haydn, tender and intimate though it is, attacked more robustly. The Schumann is a delight. As an encore, they add a haunting, Gaelic-inspired Lament by the quartets second violin, Donald Grant. DC

Piers Hellawell Airs, Waters RTE National SO, Fidelio Trio Delphian DCD34114 These six diverse pieces reveal the vividness of Hellawells ideas, the deftness of their execution and exploration, and his effective use of abrupt contrasts. Agricolas (2008) is a hugely attractive clarinet concerto, a mosaic of encounters subtly united by a harmonic ground. Robert Plane plays the solo part with a flair matched by Pierre-Andr Valades forces. Orchestra and conductor are equally good in Degrees of Separation (2004), a gradual dissipation of a burst of energy. Mary Dullea comes to the fore on two cleverly shaped piano works. SP

Friedrich Cerha Konzert fr Schlagzeug und Orchester, Impulse Wiener Philharmoniker, cond Peter Etvs, Pierre Boulez Kairos 0013242KAI This first recording of the Austrian composers percussion concerto, premiered in 2009, when he was 83, is coupled with a large orchestral essay, Impulse (1993), in splendid live accounts. Cerha had the electrifying soloist Martin Grubinger in mind: he makes the perhaps odd idea of putting
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Classical, June 3 | The Sunday Times

percussion in a concerto role seem violently necessary. The half-hour work could share its companions title, for it is launched by ferocious drumming, but if the outer movements are uncalm, the central is becalmed, floaty. Impulse is complex, variegated, polynomial (to use Cerhas word), post-Bergianly turbulent in the main, and gripping. PD

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