The latest releases reviewed.
SCHUBERT: QUARTET IN D MINOR (DEATH AND THE MAIDEN); QUARTET IN A MINOR (ROSAMUNDE) Takács String Quartet Hyperion CDA 67585 ****
This recording of two late Schubert quartets marks an auspicious debut for the Takács Quartet on the Hyperion label. The group's current line-up (Edward Dusinberre, Károly Schranz, Geraldine Walther and András Fejér) take the opening movement of the Death and the Maiden Quartet by the scruff of the neck, but without engaging in any unnecessary violence in the process. The balance they achieve between urgency and refinement of expression is often exemplary, and the desolation behind the variations of the slow movement is every bit as persuasive as the drive of the outer movements. The Quartet in A minor is hardly less fine, and the sound quality is first-rate, too. www.hyperion-records.co.uk Michael Dervan
DECCA & PHILIPS RECORDINGS 1956-1964 Pierre Monteux Decca Original Masters 475 7798 (7 CDs) *****
Monteux conducted the premières of Stravinsky's Petrushka and Rite of Spring in 1911 and 1913. By the end of his long life - he died in 1964 - he had recorded each work a number of times, the versions here being made with the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra in the mid 1950s. The sound is sharpish, even raw, the finish sometimes rough and raucous, the manner individualistic, the overall effect distinctive, bracing - the choice of a French band was Monteux's own. Monteux the French sensualist is generously captured in Debussy and Ravel with the London Symphony Orchestra, with whom he also taped a blazing Sibelius Second Symphony, a full-blooded Elgar Enigma Variations and recorded Mozart's D major Flute Concerto with his son Claude. There's also a soberly lucid Brahms Second Symphony and a joyously witty Haydn Clock Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic. www.deccaclassics.com Michael Dervan
ARNOLD: WIND CONCERTOS Janet Hilton (clarinet), Gordon Hunt (oboe), Richard Adeney (flute), Alan Civil (horn), John Wallace (trumpet), Bournemouth Sinfonietta/Norman Del Mar, Ronald Thomas EMI Classics 370 5632 ***
Malcolm Arnold, who died on September 23rd, less than a month short of his 85th birthday, was a composer whose facility was as legendary as his skill as a trumpeter had been in his youth. The facility served him well in a career which encompassed well over a hundred film scores, including the Oscar-winning Bridge on the River Kwai, a commission he fulfilled in just 10 days. The selection of six wind concertos here (two for flute, one each for clarinet, oboe, horn, and trumpet), recorded in 1979 and 1984, show Arnold's ingratiating side, geared to pleasing soloists and charming rather than challenging audiences. The target may be lowish, but, with most of the recordings made in the presence of the composer, it's met with panache. www.emiclassics.com Michael Dervan
SATIE: PIANO MUSIC; MÉLODIES Marjanna Kweksilber (soprano), Reinbert de Leeuw (piano) Philips 475 7706 (3 CDs plus bonus DVD) *****
No one quite gets inside the piano writing of Erik Satie the way Dutchman Reinbert de Leeuw does. He makes the harmony glow with a kind of interior light, relishing every moment for its own sake, while also managing to keep a hold on overall shape, often in spite of amazingly slow speeds. Satie, he makes you feel, wrote music of precious fragility, which needs special nourishing. This collection brings together the two discs he recorded in the 1990s, with an earlier recording of songs featuring the almost unimaginably pure-voiced Marjanne Kweksilber. The set doesn't offer texts or translations, but does include a bonus DVD of Tim Southam's moody film fantasy, Satie and Suzanne, acrobatically choreographed by Debra Brown, about the only known amorous relationship in the composer's life. www.deccaclassics.com Michael Dervan
