Acantus (Gimell)
With cleavage as its cover image, this CD of 14th- and 15th-century simple polyphony from Italy may seem to be aiming at the same market as the Medieval Baebes. Happily, the similarity doesn't go any further than that. Gimell, after all, is the label which was set up specifically to make recordings of the Tallis Scholars. A take-over by PolyGram (itself since taken over by Universal) has led to a broadening of artist base: Anuna are on the way, too. If you can recall the distinctive, forward tones of Musica Reservata's Jantina Noorman and cross them with a Bulgarian women's choir, you'll be setting your expectation in the right area, even though Acantus is a mixed-voice group. I don't know how the scholarly claims stand up, but the music-making is vibrant and vital.
By Michael Dervan
David Oistrakh in Prague (Praga, six CDs)
There was a touching humanity about the playing of David Oistrakh, which probably explains his high rank in public affection. The six discs of Praga's special-priced collection document the great Russian's concert activity in the Czech capital from the 1940s through to 1972, two years before his death. Highlights include a powerfully searching 1957 performance of Shostakovich's First Concerto (Mravinsky electrifying at the helm of the Czech Phil) and an impressive 1947 reading of the folksy Khachaturian with Kubelik (both works were dedicated to Oistrakh). Frida Bauer is an interestingly less astringent partner than Richter in more celebrated recordings of sonatas by Bartok, Prokofiev and Brahms; she comes into her own in Ravel. Concerto repertoire includes the Dvorak (an Oistrakh special) and a melting Glazunov. Recording quality is variable, but often very good.
By Michael Dervan
Schumann: "Scenes from Goethe's Faust". RIAS-Kammerchor, Orchestre des Champs Elysees/Philippe Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi, two CDs)
Scenes from Goethe's Faust is not really a single piece - Schumann didn't even want all three parts to be performed in sequence. Yet it contains enough fine music for its continued neglect in the concert hall to seem shameful. There's a blazing confrontation in the cathedral between Gretchen and an evil spirit (to the background of a Dies irae-chanting chorus), Wagnerian elements surface in Part II (Faust's death is wonderfully done) and Part III essays the challenge of the Ewig-Weibliche more than half a century before Mahler. Baritone William Dazeley and bass Kristinn Sigmundsson shine in Herreweghe's alertly responsive account.
By Michael Dervan
