Gaspard Le Roux: "Pieces de Clavecin" Lisa Crawford, Mitzi Meyerson (harpsichords) (Harmonia Mundi)
Not much is known about Gaspard Le Roux, whose Pieces de Clavecin of 1705 can lay claim to forming the earliest major undertaking for two harpsichords. These attractive suites for solo harpsichord were also presented by the composer in versions for trio, with instructions (and examples) to convert the material into pieces for two harpsichords. The quality of the music ("a summation of 17th-century French keyboard traditions," says The New Grove) is quite out of keeping with the obscurity into which Le Roux has fallen. The American Crawford/Meyerson duo play 18th-century French harpsichords from the Russell Collection in Edinburgh and their nicely-sprung music-making has been ravishingly recorded.
Michael Dervan
Nielsen: String Quartets Vol 1. Zapolski Quartet (Chandos)
The Zapolski Quartet, named after its Russian leader, Alexander Zapolski, is the latest Danish string quartet to essay on disc the quartet output of Denmark's major composer, Carl Nielsen. A professional violinist for 16 years, Nielsen abandoned the medium early on, writing the last and most popular of his quartets, No 4, in 1906, when four of his six symphonies were yet to be written. With a buttery, melting quality to their tone, the Zapolskis take an approach that seems to aim more for coquetry in the phrasing than the simple elegance of clear linearity. The genial Fourth (which was revised in 1919) is coupled with the less characteristic First, where the dissolution of the presentation (the recording is not always sharply focused) undermines the fabric rather more. Also included is Zapolski's own quartet arrangement of Nielsen's Op 1, the Little Suite for string orchestra.
Michael Dervan
Natalie Dessay: "Vocalises" (EMI)
For the first 20 minutes of this soprano virtuoso selection, Natalie Dessay hardly touches the ground at all as she sails through some fiendishly difficult stuff - the Vocalises by Rachmaninov and Ravel, Delibes' Les filles de Cadix, etc. Dessay, whose lungs appear to be made of some tough but totally liquid substance, negotiates it all with unfailing stylishness and beauty, but the overall effect is somewhat numbing as the voice soars higher and higher in mainly wordless pieces, many of which register as barely-disguised technical exercises (except for Reinhold Gliere's bizarre Concerto for Soprano and Orchestra - 14 minutes of non-verbal singing, it might be the soundtrack to a car commercial from hell). It would be good to hear this unquestionably magnificent voice singing something with a bit more heart.
Arminta Wallace
