Classical

Latest CD releases reviewed

Frances-Marie Uitti (cello), Münchner Kammerorchester/Christoph Poppen ECM New Series 476 3106 ****

The music of the Italian aristocrat Giacinto Scelsi (1905-88) is like a musical analogue of a high-powered microscope. He liked to focus in on just a single note, getting close enough, as it were, for microtonal fissures to reveal themselves and using the new perspectives to fashion an entire piece from the barest of material. A sample of the opening of Ohoi for 16 strings will quickly tell you whether the disorientations of Scelsi's style are for you. As well as three pieces for string ensemble, this new disc includes more straightforwardly melodic works for solo cello played by Frances-Marie Uitti. Utti was a key collaborator during the last 14 years of the life of a man who refused to be photographed and regarded himself more as a receiver than a composer, creating his works through improvisations which he left to others to transcribe. www.ecmrecords.com Michael Dervan

Various performers Decca 475 7431 (9 CDs) *****

This is a set which celebrates the Shostakovich who gloried in the popular music of the 1930s, wrote film and theatre music that Stalin valued, and managed to pen - in the Romance from The Gadfly - a hugely popular sentimental tune, offered here in a choice of orchestrations. It also documents the composer who adopted socialist-realist attitudes to curry official favour (the notorious Song of the Forests, glorifying a reafforestation programme, is included) as well as the more familiar Shostakovich, whose concertos have established themselves as staples of the standard repertoire. Rudolf Barshai's composer-approved orchestrations of four of the string quartets also feature, with Barshai himself conducting. The juxtapositions are fascinating, and the performances, under the likes of Riccardo Chailly, Neeme Järvi and Vladimir Ashkenazy, consistently rewarding. www.deccaclassics.com Michael Dervan

Daniel Müller-Schott (cello), Oslo Philharmonic/André Previn Orfeo C 631 061 A ***

Is it raw prejudice to expect a recording of the two leading British cello concertos of the 20th century to sound less than ideal from a German cellist with a Norwegian orchestra under an American conductor? Well, no, judging by this performance of the Elgar concerto, where the Oslo Philharmonic can sound rather leaden at slow speed, and soloist Daniel Müller-Schott rather heavy-handed. Things go better in the quick movements, but this is not the most persuasive of performances. On the other hand, the prejudice is challenged in the Walton, where everyone manages the right effect of lazily achieved sharpness (Previn has long shone as an interpreter of Walton's music), and Müller-Schott manages to be both insinuating and deft. www.uk.hmboutique.com Michael Dervan

Monteverdi Choir/John Eliot Gardiner Philips 475 7558 ****

The earnest, Teutonic Johannes Brahms was a dab hand at lighter repertoire; witness his Hungarian Dances and the delectable Liebeslieder Waltzes included here. The waltzes, originally for vocal quartet and piano duet, have long been adopted by choral societies. In his lifetime Brahms was a renowned choral conductor, and choral music forms a substantial part of his output. The attractive cross-section here includes the Op 17 Songs for women's voices, two horns and harp, the Op 92 Quartets with piano, as well as the sets of songs for mixed chorus, Op 42 and Op 104. These 1990 recordings find the Monteverdi Choir singing with clear-voiced musical penetration, with only the mezzo soprano solo contribution of Teresa Shaw seeming stylistically out of place. The light-fingered piano playing, on an 1860 instrument by Josef Riedl, is by Robert Levin and John Perry. www.deccaclassics.com Michael Dervan

OPERA

SALIERI: LA GROTTA DI TROFONIO

Soloists: Olivier Lallouette, Raffaella Milanesi, Marioe Arnet; Chur de l'Opera de Lausanne. Les Talents Lyriques/ Christophe Rousset Ambroise

No composer has been more unjustly maligned than Antonio Salieri, in the 19th century by Pushkin and later by the play and film Amadeus. A contemporary of Mozart, Salieri was a competent composer and considerably more famous than the former during his lifetime. This opera, first performed in 1785, a few month's before Mozart's Figaro, had a greater initial success and remained a favourite in Vienna for many years. On the evidence of these discs it is easy to see why, as it is an inventive score set to a witty libretto, anticipating aspects of both Cosi fan Tutte and Don Giovanni. This lavish issue from Harmonia Mundi includes an interesting DVD, setting the composer and this work in its time and context. A welcome issue of a neglected work. www.ambroisiemusic.com

Colman Morrissey