CD Reviews (The Straits Times, January 2012)

RACHMANINOV
Piano Concerto No.2 / Paganini Rhapsody
YUJA WANG, Piano
Mahler Chamber Orchestra / Claudio Abbado
Deutsche Grammophon 477 9308 / *****

It is curious to note that the last two Deutsche Grammophon recordings of these Rachmaninov concertos were recorded by young Chinese pianists in their 20s. First it was Lang Lang in 2004, with his idiosyncratic pacing that almost wrecked the opening of the Second Piano Concerto, but no such fears exist for Yuja Wang. Her totally idiomatic readings are a pleasure from start to finish, rekindling fond memories of her teacher Gary Graffman’s legendary recording with Leonard Bernstein’s New York Philharmonic (reissued on Sony Classical) from the 1960s.

She does not merely master the notes but owns the music, knowing instinctually when to broaden the tempos to savour the aromas and to when step on the gas to go for broke. This is a characteristic of live performances where liberties are taken, such as rounding up the last movement’s final cadenza with an ecstatic chord, and the feel of spontaneity keeps the listener hooked. The Paganini Rhapsody is no less exciting, with the build-up to the glorious 18th Variation a perfectly rising arch. The highly responsive Mahler Chamber Orchestra is somewhat a misnomer, because it does “big” works too. This is the new recording of the Rachmaninov warhorses to have.

RUFINATSCHA
The Bride of Messina Overture / Symphony No.6
BBC Philharmonic / Gianandrea Noseda
Chandos 10665 / ****1/2

Johann Rufinatscha (1812-1993) was born in South Tyrol along the Austrian-Italian border but spent much of his professional life in Vienna. His orchestral music is distinguished by its academic vigour, written in the early Romantic idiom of the Central European school that spanned Schubert to Brahms. The Bride Of Messina Overture opens with Beethovenian overtones of tragedy and expends a good 14 minutes making it a tone poem of sorts. His ambitious and last symphony, the Sixth Symphony in D major (1865), runs close to an hour, but is well worth hearing.

There is a lightness of spirit that suggests Schubert and breadth of scope that looks towards Bruckner and early Mahler. Like many composer before and after him, its Scherzo is a lively country dance followed by an expansive Schumann-influenced slow movement that displays a more serious side. The celebratory finale is one the young Brahms might have written, and it is an enjoyable romp to cap an unlikely symphonic legacy. This is Volume One of a projected cycle, and the quality of playing – responsive and committed - from the Manchester-based orchestra makes further instalments a welcome prospect.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, September 2011)

MAHLER Symphony No.10
The Philharmonia / London Symphony
Berthold Goldschmidt
Testament 1457 (3 CDs) / ****1/2

When Gustav Mahler died in 1911, he left his Tenth Symphony unfinished. All that existed was a fully orchestrated Adagio, a brief Purgatorio third movement and sketches of three other movements. A number of scholars and musicologists took their turn to “complete” it, but it is Deryck Cooke’s performing version that is most often heard and recorded today. 

This album is a valuable historical document as it presents for the first time on record the World Premiere, performed at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts in 1964 by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Berthold Goldschmidt. The monoaural sound and sometimes ragged playing should not be an impediment to enjoyment and illumination.

But first listen to the 35-minute lecture-demonstration by Cooke himself, a highly lucid and eloquent account of his reconstruction with illustrations on the piano and orchestral fragments. 

Follow up with a 1960 performance of bleeding chunks by The Philharmonic Orchestra for BBC’s Third Programme. It was after this when further sketches were found and with approval from Mahler’s widow that the completed Cooke version became a part of history itself. One does not need to be an aficionado or specialist to appreciate the value of this ground-breaking production.

VERDI Four Sacred Pieces

Hymn of the Nations
Orchestra & Chorus of Teatro Regio, Turin
GIANANDREA NOSEDA
Chandos 10659 / ****1/2

The Requiem Mass was indisputably Giuseppe Verdi’s greatest choral work. This enjoyable album is a handy supplement, gathering his other choral music which share a similar vein of piety and patriotism. First listen to his Four Sacred Pieces, disparate works incorporating his Stabat Mater and Te Deum, some of his most substantial music in traditional settings. 

The Ave Maria and Laudi alla Vergine Maria, both sung a cappella, are gems of intimacy and conciseness. The chorus of Turin’s royal theatre provide good, solid, old-fashioned performances in the best tradition of Italian opera houses.

If Libera me, Domine sounds familiar, it is because this was originally conceived for a projected requiem in memory of Rossini. The requiem did not come to fruition, so Verdi reused it with some changes for his definitive Requiem in memory of Manzoni. 

The curiosity of this disc is the vulgar Hymn of the Nations, composed for the London International Exhibition in 1862. It combines heroic tenor aria (with the excellent Francesco Meli) with a triumphal march (foretelling the pomposity of Aida) and the national anthems of Britain, France and Italy thrown into a contrapuntal fray. Tacky, but who could deny Verdi’s craftsmanship here? Here are the sublime and ridiculous contained within 71 memorable minutes.