CD Reviews (The Straits Times, December 2015)

TCHAIKOVSKY

The Nutcracker

STEWART GOODYEAR, Piano

Steinway & Sons 30040 / ****1/2 

Here is an unusual version of Piotr Tchaikovsky's popular ballet The Nutcracker for the festive season. The entire ballet in 24 movements has been arranged for piano solo by Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear. Some of the dances like the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Trepak (Russian Dance) and Pas de deux, and numbers like the Miniature Overture and March are very popular and music lovers are already well-served by the extremely handy Nutcracker Suite in eight movements.

However, Goodyear’s transcription is a very pianistic one that is also highly virtuosic. Unlike Mikhail Pletnev’s famous concert suite which takes liberties by adding lots more notes or Percy Grainger’s florid version of the Waltz Of the Flowers, Goodyear is more faithful to the original orchestral score and closely follows the sequence of the story. 

By packing all the music into the album’s 82 minutes, there is a harried and hectic quality to some of the faster movements. One would have liked more breathing space but that means having to spill onto a second disc. This is nevertheless a very good listen from a very good pianist.

CINEMA

ANDREA BOCELLI

Universal 00028948121441 / ***1/2

Never thought this pair of ears might enjoy a disc by the massively-hyped vocal superstar Andrea Bocelli. That is probably because the album is produced by David Foster, and Bocelli is not singing the classics or attempting major opera house roles, but songs made famous by movies.

His English is highly accented, such as in Leonard Bernstein's Maria (from West Side Story), Henry Mancini's Moon River (Breakfast At Tiffany's) and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Music Of The Night (Phantom Of the Opera), which does not help. He is clearly out of his depth in Jerome Kern's Ol' Man River (Show Boat), usually sung by a bass, or baritone at the very least. So it is a relief to hear the songs in Italian, despite the English versions being better known.

He is joined by popstars Ariana Grande in Ennio Morricone's (Once Upon A Time In America), Nicole Scherzinger in No Llores Por Mi Argentina (Don't Cry For Me Argentina from Evita), and Karen Mok in Irving Berlin's Cheek To Cheek (Top Hat). The orchestrations are redolent of film music and the amplified Bocelli completely dominates the airwaves. Good if you adore him, but not a disaster if you are a neutral. Easy listening, nonetheless.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, April-May 2010)

BARTOK Concertos for
Viola, Violin & Two Pianos
London Symphony / Berlin Philharmonic
PIERRE BOULEZ
Deutsche Grammophon 477 7440
****1/2

The Hungarian composer Bela Bartok (1881-1945) wrote eight works which he designated as concertos. Here are the three least familiar ones. The Double Piano Concerto (1942) was adapted from the Sonata for two pianos and percussion (1937). The orchestral adds little more to the textures dominated by the two keyboards acting as further percussion instruments. It is a rowdy rollicking affair, but pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich achieve the right blend of virtuosity, and sensitivity in the quiet “night music” segment.

The First Violin Concerto was rediscovered in 1957, having been composed five decades before. Its two movements contrast lyricism (inspired by an infatuation with a lady violinist) and folk-like gawkiness. The Viola Concerto (1945) was left uncompleted at Bartok’s death and reconstructed by Tibor Serly. It is a dark and forbidding work which finds occasional rays of sunshine. Violinist Gidon Kremer and violist Yuri Bashmet provide gripping performances that surpass the pioneering efforts by Yehudi Menuhin. With better recorded sound, these are firm recommendations for today.

MISSING YOU
SUMI JO, Soprano
DAVID FIRMAN, Piano & Conductor
Deutsche Grammophon 476 3306
*****

Subtitled Love Songs From Around The World, this is a ravishing anthology from the Korean superstar in crossover mode. Her voice is silky-smooth, always sensitive and sounding comfortable in languages including Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, Greek, Spanish, French, English and her native Korean. She is joined by tenor Alesandro Safina in De Curtis’ Neapolitan canzonetta Non ti scordar di me and the familiar Besame mucho, blending quite perfectly together.

The unifying theme here is longing and nostalgia, from simple songs like Henry Bishop’s Home, Sweet Home and Stephen Foster’s Beautiful Dreamer to dance numbers like Argentine Carlos Gardel’s Por una cabeza (tango) and Erik Satie’s Je te veux (waltz). She reserves her most treasured Korean song Mother, Sister for the end. This is pure aural candy, and unabashedly so.

BIZET Carmen
ANDREA BOCELLI et al
French Radio Philharmonic
MYUNG-WHUN CHUNG
Decca 475 7646 (2CDs)
***1/2

Only marketing hype, which places the name of Andrea Bocelli topmost on the album cover, will have you believe that the sight-impaired Italian tenor is the glory of this production. Bocelli gives a credible account as Don José, with his big Flower Aria (La fleur que tu m’avais jetée) ringing in the Euros. Stealing the show, however, is mezzo Marina Domashenko’s Carmen who is both commanding and seductive in her full-throated role. So why isn’t she given top billing instead?

Even soprano Eva Mei’s childlike innocence as Micaela is distinctive, as is baritone Bryn Terfel’s brash cameo as Escamillo in the Toreador Song. The choir is excellent in the crowd scenes but the orchestra sounds manically driven when playing on its own. At $50 this 2005 recording is an expensive pop. There are better Carmens at a far lower price.