CD REVIEW: ANTON GARCIA ABRIL Orchestral Works (Marco Polo)

 

Viewing my CD collection in an
alphabetical order, Abril was the very first name.

ANTON GARCIA ABRIL

Orchestral Works

Madrid Symphony Orchestra

Enrique Garcia Asensio (Conductor)

Marco Polo 8.223849

I must have bought this disc during the height of Tower Records @ Pacific Place on Scotts Road during the mid-1990s, when almost every single recording was available under one roof. Oh, how I miss those halcyon days. And the joy of discovering musical rarities. Just the mere appearance of the words Piano Concerto on the cover must have caught my attention, and one by a Spanish composer unknown to me. And I wasn’t disappointed.

Anton Garcia Abril (1933-2021) was a well-regarded creator and Madrid-based pedagogue, whose music was largely conservative, so there is nothing here that sounds more radical than the Granados, de Falla or Turina which we love. The three orchestral works on this album were recorded live in concert in December 1994.

Soler was more than a Scarlatti imitator.

Three Sonatas for orchestra (1984) is a homage to Padre Antonio Soler, composer of short single-movement keyboard sonatas which rivalled those of Scarlatti. This Soleriana is short and pleasing, in the fast-slow-fast form. 

The far more ambitious Hemeroscopium (1969-1972) is a single-movement concerto for orchestra that plays for some 23 minutes. The title refers to a watch tower that presides over old towns and cities, and this rhapsodic work with Spanish idioms and rhythms does not overstay its welcome. The lush orchestration is reminiscent of Respighi’s or Villa-Lobos', which the orchestra masters with comfortable aplomb.

Guillermo Gonzalez is Spain's
best pianist not named Larrocha.

Finally the Piano Concerto (1966, revised 1994) is a half-hour three-movement enjoyable ride with many virtuoso flourishes for the keyboard. The flashy solo part is well realised by veteran pianist Guillermo Gonzalez, best known for his Albeniz Iberia recording on Naxos. Iberian rhythms rule in the festive opening Allegro and Allegro deciso finale, while the central Corale has the concerto’s most reflective and beautifully lyrical moments. Given its easy accessibility on the ears, there should be no excuse why this isn’t as popular as Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain or Albeniz’s Piano Concerto. Pianists with an adventurous streak can further widen their repertoire here.

SSO'S FORGOTTEN RECORDINGS: VERDI SINFONIAS & PRELUDES on HONG KONG RECORDS / MARCO POLO

Honestly, this is a terrible likeness
of what the young Verdi looked like.
(See the photograph below)

VERDI

Sinfonias and Preludes
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Choo Hoey (Conductor)
Hong Kong Records
Marco Polo 6.220184

Recorded in August 1983, this album of overtures and preludes from early operas by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) was SSO’s second recording of Western classical repertoire after its take on Respighi’s Concerto Gregoriano. There is nothing remotely familiar here for most listeners – no La Traviata, I Vespri Siciliani, Nabucco or La Forza del Destino. Thus this is mostly an album of discovery as were those SSO concerts conducted by Choo Hoey in 1983 which opened with overtures to Joan of Arc and The Battle of Legnano.

Make no mistake, this is still very good music by a future great composer. The Overture to Il Finto Stanislao (The False Stanislaus, 1840), also known as Un Giorno di Regno (A Day for the King) opens the collection, in a comedic tone befitting the opera buffo. The resemblance to Rossini’s overtures is striking here. By contrast, the Overture to Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc, 1845) is serious and dramatic, while showcasing some fine woodwind solo-playing. The Prelude to I Masnadieri (The Robbers, 1847) is dominated by a cello solo, by then-principal Chiu Chun Chiu.

The stories of these obscure operas are more often than not convoluted and forgettable, but the music is much more easily enjoyed. The Overture to Alzira (1845) with its drum roll and French horn solo, the trumpet solo in the Overture to Aroldo (1857) displayed the of prowess of SSO’s principal musicians even in those early years. 

Perhaps most memorable of these is the Overture to Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio (Count of Saint Boniface, 1839), Verdi’s first opera, where the influence of bel canto was strong. Also enjoy the brass ensemble in the opening of the Overture to La Battaglia di Legnano (The Battle of Legnano, 1849), which true to its title, is filled with much martial music. The SSO performs these works well, and given the rarity of such repertoire, this album is worth listening to.

This album exists only on vinyl LP, and to my knowledge, has never been released on CD. Now a collector’s item, I have to thank Ng Siew Eng to gifting this album to me after a spot of spring-cleaning.

SSO'S FORGOTTEN RECORDINGS: DU MINGXIN'S TEN XINJIANG DANCES & THE SONG OF GUAN YANG on MARCO POLO

 

DU MINGXIN

TEN XINJIANG DANCES

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Takako Nishizaki (Violin)

Choo Hoey (Conductor)

   Marco Polo 8.223903

   Marco Polo 8.225814

THE SONG OF YANG GUAN

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Takako Nishizaki (Violin)

Choo Hoey (Conductor)

   Hong Kong Records 8.240361

   Marco Polo 8.225813

After the success of the Choo Hoey-led Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s recorded collaborations with Japanese violinist Takako Nishizaki in the Hung Hu Violin Concerto (1981) and Respighi Concerto Gregoriano (1983) albums, it was a matter of time more music came from this partnership. The Chinese and Asian Evergreens (1984) disc sold particularly well, thus albums of more Chinese music particularly old / ancient Chinese tunes became imperative.

The 1985 was a busy year for recording at Victoria Concert Hall. In the month of June came the Ten Xinjiang Dances by famous Chinese composer Du Mingxin (born 1928, still living), who was responsible for the Socialist Realist ballets Red Detachment of Women (1964, China’s most famous ballet) and The Mermaid. 

Described as A Xinjiang Musical Tour (its title in Chinese), the suite for violin and orchestra comprised ten movements based on Kazakh, Uyghur, Tajik and Tartar folksongs, Central Asian ethnicities resident in China’s westernmost province. Just imagine these to be Oriental versions of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances or Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances, lushly orchestrated with virtuoso solo flourishes, and one cannot go far wrong. An all-round easy listen for some 46 minutes.

The month of October saw the recording of The Song of Yang Guan, the title being its opening track Yang Guan Sandie (陽關三疊), the famous guqin tune inspired by a Tang dynasty poem. Other familiar melodies include Listening to the Pines (聽松), Riding in the Open Grassland (奔驰在千里草原), The Shepherd Girl (牧羊姑娘) and River of Sorrow (江河水). 

It would seem ungrateful to claim that these albums were merely vehicles for Nishizaki’s violin virtuosity. She plays all the melodies well and is every way idiomatic, unafraid to display her vibrato. She is very much her own and does not try to replace the erhu. SSO’s accompaniment is lively and alert, Choo Hoey being the most ardent advocate of Chinese orchestral music during the orchestra’s early years.

These recordings were originally issued on LP on Klaus Heymann’s Hong Kong Records label, and CD on Marco Polo. It is a matter of time these appear on Naxos, but digital downloads and online streaming are now possible.

SSO'S FORGOTTEN RECORDINGS: LACHNER & SPOHR SYMPHONIES on MARCO POLO / NAXOS

 

LACHNER Symphony No.1

SPOHR Symphony No.2

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Choo Hoey (Conductor)

   Marco Polo 8.220360

   Naxos 8.573507

This is SSO’s very first symphony album, recorded in June 1985. It coupled two rather obscure symphonies by German composers Lachner and Spohr, which now looks like an album the German label CPO (Classik Produktion Osnabruck) might put out today. It seemed like the Hong Kong-based Marco Polo label had the idea first, and SSO under founding music director Choo Hoey became part of the story. I do not remember attending any concert in which SSO performed either of these symphonies, and this album just appeared out of the blue.

Franz Lachner (1803-1890) was close friend of Schubert, and also wrote eight completed symphonies. He was a student of Simon Sechter, who also taught Bruckner, and gave a single lesson to Schubert. Composed in 1828 (the year of Schubert’s death), his First Symphony in E flat major is an ambitious 35 minutes in four movements. Although shorter than Schubert’s “Great” C major Symphony, it has similarly lofty ideas. The musical content is very enjoyable, even if not ultimately memorable. The third movement’s Scherzo is proto-Bruckner, with that feel of an outdoor hunting trip further enlivened with a play of counterpoint. The finale is also a Schubertian romp, with a touch of Berlioz’s pomp, that will win many friends.

It is hard to believe that Ludwig Spohr (1784-1859), a violin virtuoso who composed 15 violin concertos, was once spoken in the same breath as Beethoven and Mozart. He was a contemporary of Carl Maria von Weber, whose music his Second Symphony in D minor (1820), particularly in the spirited and playful finale, resembles. A solid half hour, the Sturm und Drang elements are there but underplayed, the idiom being a transition from Classical to Romantic. Schumann and Mendelssohn also belong to this period. That alone makes this music, and performance, worth listening to.

Of all of SSO’s early recordings, this is the one I played the most times, gaining more insight with each listen. Originally released on the full-priced Marco Polo label, it can now be enjoyed in the budget-to-mid-priced Naxos label. The original drab cover art of composer portraiture by Chai Ben-Shan (which used to accompany all the early Marco Polo releases) has now been replaced by a nice photo of Vienna’s Upper Belvedere Palace. The SSO performs with zeal and commitment, and that was typical of its early years.