ALBUM OF THE WEEK
BACH
Cantatas for alto, Sinfonias
Iestyn Davies (countertenor), Arcangelo, cond Jonathan Cohen
Hyperion CDA68111
For Bach, “male alto” meant a teenage boy with an unbroken voice, but he must have had outstanding young soloists in his Weimar and Leipzig choirs when he wrote the solo cantatas Widerstehe doch der Sünde (Just resist sin, BWV54) and Vergnügte Ruh beliebte Seelenlust (Contented rest, beloved joy of the soul, BWV170) in those cities, respectively in circa 1715 and 1726. With the better-known Ich habe genug (BWV82) – evidently a favourite among his own compositions, as he wrote it for bass and revised it for both soprano and alto – this makes an ideal and rewarding programme for Iestyn Davies’s limpid countertenor. If his German is not entirely idiomatic, his words are invariably clear and he relishes the interplay with the Arcangelo ensemble’s soloists: oboe in the ravishing opening aria of BWV170, and organ in Wer Sünde tut, der ist vom Teufel (He who sins is from the devil) in BWV54. Best of all is the rapt singing of Schlummert ein (Go to sleep), in the well-known BWV82. The orchestral items — the Sinfonias to BWV52 and BWV174 — show Bach recycling the opening movements of his First and Third Brandenburg Concertos, with richer orchestration. Overall, a lovely disc. HC
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RACHMANINOV, PROKOFIEV, TCHAIKOVSKY
Cello Sonatas
Nina Kotova, Fabio Bidini
Warner Classics 0190295924607
Kotova has attracted as much attention for her early life as a fashion model and her marriage to the owner of IMG Artists as for her musical accomplishments. There are more extrovert accounts of Rachmaninov’s Sonata – Alisa Weilerstein’s on Decca – and Prokofiev’s, but Kotova plays well, even if she takes a back seat to Bidini’s flamboyant dispatch of the pianist-composers’ piano parts. She’s at her best in the two Tchaikovsky pieces, Romance and Meditation, showing off a melancholic, songful legato. HC
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MOZART
Piano Concertos, K415, K459 and K466
Clara Haskil, Berlin PO, Berlin RIAS Symphony Orchestra, cond Ferenc Fricsay
Praga PRD250347
It’s good to hear K459, the last of the six concertos written in that amazing burst of creativity in 1784, but, though the finale is brilliant, I find that the 1955 recording makes the woodwind too backward in the first movement of so wind-rich a work. The jewel of this generously filled CD (82 minutes) is the live D minor, K466, with the great Haskil at her best, ably partnered by Fricsay and the RIAS orchestra. DC
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POUL RUDERS
Symphony No 5
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, cond Olari Elts
Bridge 9475
This release from Bridge, one of modern music’s most fortunate assets, makes for a bracing, satisfying experience. The prominent Danish composer Poul Ruders (b 1949) wields the orchestra masterfully, and this is a symphony as sonorously arresting as it is intellectually cohesive. It systematically grows from a brass fanfare with the character of a cantus firmus, set beside alarming thuds evocative of club music. The tranquillo sognante centrepiece is marked by dissonant pulsations recalling Morton Feldman’s cluster harmony. PD
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ALBINONI, VIVALDI
Venezia 1700
Thibault Noally (violin), Les Accents
Aparté AP128
Rome: sober and ultra-refined. Venice: spectacular and lavishly expressive. That, broadly, defines the difference between the cities’ music around 1700. Besides the inevitable Vivaldi, this recital of Venetian pieces for violin with continuo includes works by Torelli (for fireworks), Albinoni (for lyricism) and Caldara (for everything). There’s also rarer material by Bonporti and the eclectic Dall’Abaco. Supported by the purring rhythmic-harmonic engine of Les Accents’ continuo players, Thibault Noally excites and beguiles. SP
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