CLASSICAL

Latest CD releases reviewed

VOICES OF LIGHT
Dawn Upshaw (soprano), Gilbert Kalish (piano) Nonesuch 7559-79812-2
***

Voices of Light spreads selected songs from Messiaen's often ecstatic cycles around and between Fauré's reserved La Chanson d'Eve, Debussy's early Chansons de Bilitis, and Osvaldo Golijov's retro-styled, 1999 Lúa descolorida, which was written for and premiered by Upshaw. The attractive concept serves to highlight the forward-looking aspects of Fauré's 1910 cycle, which heralded the composer's spare, late style. The performances are in the singer's familiar, never-sing-louder-than-lovely style, with the concentration often on the beautiful shape of the moment rather than the shape of the beautiful longer line. Kalish is a sensitive partner, and Michael Steinberg's extensive, detailed notes are exemplary. www.nonesuch.com

Michael Dervan

MENDELSSOHN: TRIO IN D MINOR OP 49; DVORAK: DUMKY TRIO
Beaux Arts Trio Warner Classics 2564 61492-2
***

The Beaux Arts Trio, 50 years old this year, has experienced a range of personnel changes over the years. Only pianist Menahem Pressler, now 81, remains from the original line-up. Violinist Daniel Guilet was succeeded by Isidore Cohen, Ida Kavafian, Young Uck Kim and Daniel Hope, cellist Bernard Greenhouse by Peter Wiley and Antonio Meneses. The trio has already recorded all of the standard repertoire, much of it more than once. This new release continues the trend which saw the group's recorded performances becoming more ruminative and analytical over the years. Pressler's technique is still in remarkable shape for his age, but his legato has dried out a bit and, even at slower tempos than of yore, passage-work doesn't always have the requisite smoothness. If you like your music-making to sound probing and explicatory rather than free and spontaneous you may prefer these new performances to their predecessors. www.warnerclassics.com

Michael Dervan

ORFF: CARMINA BURANA
Sally Matthews (soprano), Lawrence Brownlee (tenor), Christian Gerhaher (baritone), Knaben des Staats-und Domchors Berlin, Rundfunkchor Berlin, BPO/Simon Rattle EMI 557 8882
***

Carl Orff himself pointed out the static construction and lack of development in Carmina Burana. His 1936 "dramatic cantata", originally conceived for the stage, sets medieval texts of love, lust, and alcoholic excess in a style where rhythm, melody and harmony are pared down to catchy effect, the orchestration is vividly coloured and the driving force is the primitive, ritualised chanting of the words. Simon Rattle's Berlin recording, taped at concerts last December, nudges a lot of the detail around in a way that softens, and even prettifies the primitivism and occasional brutality of the music. The performance is full of sharp observations, the choral and solo singing is strong (especially by the tenor Lawrence Brownlee), though Christian Gerhaher's intentional mis-alignments of the drunken abbot will hardly be to everyone's taste. www.emiclassics.com

Michael Dervan

COMPLETE EARLY BERLIN PHILHARMONIC RECORDINGS, 1957-1962
Lorin Maazel Deutsche Grammophon Original Masters 477 5254 (8 CDs)
***

Lorin Maazel created a sensation by conducting at the New York World's Fair in 1939 at the age of nine, and began his recording career with the Berlin Philharmonic at the age of 27. This set documents his Berlin work between 1957 and 1962, adding previously unreleased Mozart symphonies (1, 28 & 41) with France's national radio orchestra. Maazel's desire to make a strong impression brings more than a whiff of youthful iconoclasm, especially in his inflating and turbo-charging of symphonies by Beethoven (5 & 6) and Schubert (2-6 & 8) and Brahms (the Third, and also the Tragic Overture). The sheer pizazz of a man whose technique is still a matter of awe to colleagues is best experienced inmore showy repertoire, Romeo and Juliet excerpts by Prokofiev, Respighi's Pines of Rome, Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio espagnol, Mussorgsky's Night on the Bare Mountain. www.dgclassics.com

Michael Dervan