Joséphine Olech / Odense Symphony Orchestra / Anna Skryleva FLUTE CONCERTOS

 

FLUTE CONCERTOS

 

Ragnhild Hemsing / Tor Espen Aspaas NORTHERN TIMBRE

NORTHERN TIMBRE

Hélène Collerette NORIGINE

                                                                        NORIGINE

Clara Andrada / Frankfurt Radio Symphony / Jaime Martín FLUTE CONCERTOS

                                                                   FLUTE CONCERTOS

Les Vents Français MODERNISTE

‘Modern: Designating the most innovative forms of art in a given period, particularly those of the 20th century.’ This definition from the French Larousse dictionary explains the performers’ choice of title – Modernistes – for this new anthology of music for wind instruments: what draws the attention in these works – in different ways at different times and in different fields – are their innovative, progressive and adventurous qualities. Four of the composers featured on this album can legitimately be associated with what is very broadly known as Modernism, referring to the general proliferation of new ideas and new musical aesthetics at the turn of the 20th century and beyond. As for the two works by Philippe Hersant and Thierry Escaich, they call on us to reflect on what modernity means to us today. And, while it is easy to set Modernism in opposition to traditionalism, it is also interesting to distinguish between a composer’s personality and his or her approach to composing.

Lisa Jacobs / Bremer Philharmoniker / Mikhail Agrest CARL NIELSEN Violin Concerto Op.33 JOHAN HALVORSEN Andante Religioso JOHAN SVENDSEN Romance Op.26

Lisa Jacobs: Since the first time I performed the Nielsen violin concerto in 2007, I have been overwhelmed from the very first note. Such an incredible connection with the whimsical Nordic nature that is displayed in this music, such a natural use of the violin as both a lyrical and virtuoso instrument and such an originality.’
Fanned by the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, the longing for pure wilderness and the cultivation of rural life, the Nordic National Romanticism arises. All three composers on this disc are descendants of this Nordic Romanticism. Although they did not all have the same nationality, their lives are intertwined.
In their compositions, Svendsen and Halvorsen remain in form and harmony close to the music of their good friend Edvard Grieg and the distinctive Nordic use of melody; Carl Nielsen, however, goes on a voyage of discovery towards a new idiom with a strong desire for renewal on the one hand and a great need for the revival of the pure archaic on the other.
His violin concerto clearly shows this conflict. In a neo-classical 4-part form, reminiscent of the set-up of the Baroque concerto grosso, with seemingly simple classical-like themes and references to both Bach and Mozart, he takes the listeners on an incredible adventure throughout Nordic landscapes of pure wilderness and takes all sorts of harmonic and rhythmic twists and turns.

Ensemble Ouranos QUINTETTES À VENT

From the moment we first created Ensemble Ouranos, we were deeply convinced that we should forge our group's artistic identity through an engaged exploration of repertoire. This remains the predominant goal of our work to this day: that each member's language join in one breath to form the ensemble. The choice to bring these three pieces together in one album stems from two desires on our part. Firstly, our wish was to offer up the many facets of the wind quintet and the diversity of its musical languages. The wealth of possibilities is inherent to this ensemble makeup and the very nature of wind instruments, at once soloistic in their individual voices and deeply orchestral when one melds their particular sounds. Secondly, we also wanted to highlight the idea of folk material as an essential part of musical discourse. Upon inspection, this omnipresent and protean folklore appears clearly as a linking thread between these three works. It is fascinating to discover at which point each of the three composers transcends his national heritage to transmit, in his own way, his inner life.
(Ensemble Ouranos)

Liya Petrova / Odense Symphony Orchestra / Kristiina Poska PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No. 1 - NIELSEN Violin Concerto

After Liya Petrova won joint first prize at the 2016 Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition, jury President Nikolaj Znaider declared he had been 'absolutely blown away by how she had absorbed the Nielsen violin concerto - how it had become hers'. From her debut album on Orchid Classics you can hear just why she made such an impression on those who heard her performance. The Strad praised the 'iron will' Petrova brought to Nielsen's concerto; a fortitude which is matched on this recording by the sensitivity in her approach to the first violin concerto of Sergei Prokofiev.

Andrew Rangell FROM THE EARLY 20TH...

Andrew Rangell, who has previously recorded J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Eastern European folk music for the Steinway & Sons label, now turns his attention to composers of the early 20th century for his latest album release.

The centerpiece of the album is Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata, whose “monumental cussedness, tenderness, and imaginative daring epitomize the character and gifts of its Yankee creator,” in Rangell’s words. Rangell makes the work his own through several idiosyncratic executional decisions, including playing on piano the optional viola part at the end of the “Emerson” movement; using his own forearm instead of a block of wood for the black-key tone clusters in “Hawthorne”; and in “Thoreau,” whistling the optional flute solo. “I hope there may be, in this species of self-reliance, something of Emerson,” writes Rangell.

Framing the Concord Sonata are three shorter works from Ives’ contemporaries, including the final piano works of Arnold Schoenberg and Carl Nielsen; and George Enescu’s “Carillon Nocturne,” written at the same time as the Concord, and which Rangell sees as a spiritual counterpart to Ives’ “Thoreau” meditation.

Jiyoon Lee / Odense Symphony Orchestra / Kristiina Poska KORNGOLD - NIELSEN Violin Concertos

Orchid Classics releases the debut album of Jiyoon Lee, the 26 year old South Korean violinist who won joint first prize of the 2016 Carl Nielsen International Competition. The album was recorded in Odense, home of the Carl Nielsen Competition in Denmark, together with the Odense Symphony Orchestra and conductor Kristiina Poska in June 2017 as a part of the competition prize. 

Alongside the Nielsen violin concerto, which Jiyoon Lee performed at the finals of the 2016 competition, she has chosen to record Korngold’s violin concerto. "To understand the musical language of Carl Nielsen was the most challenging part" explains Jiyoon, "but his music is fascinating and the the concerto is a wonderful piece for the violin. It might seem a little exotic at first, but once you understand it, you really can appreciate his musical world."

It was Jiyoon’s performance at the Carl Nielsen Violin Competition which led the President of the Jury, Nikolaj Znaider, to comment "When you sit on a jury you are looking for somebody who makes you forget that it is a competition and I remember very clearly hearing Jiyoon play for the first time in 2016 and she did just that. Her playing was immediately a breath of fresh air. She is a terrific violinist and I can see her going very far. She has lightness in her playing and yet is a musician who takes her craft very seriously."

Such praise has marked the 26 year old violinist out as a genuine talent to watch. Born in 1992 in South Korea, Jiyoon comes from a musical family. She studied with Nam-Yun Kim at the Korean National University of Arts in Seoul and moved to Berlin to continue her studies with Kolja Blacher at the Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’. Alongside her growing list of solo engagements, Jiyoon Lee was this month appointed the youngest ever concert-master of the Staatskapelle Berlin and is a devoted chamber musician who participates in music festival across the world, including both Verbier and Tanglewood. On 24 June she performs at the Boulez Saal in a chamber music programme together with Antonio Pappano and returns in February 2018 for a solo recital in the "Rising Stars" programme. With pianist Henry Kramer, Jiyoon will release a second CD on the Champs Hill label early this autumn entitled "Myths", featuring works by Szymanowski, Stravinsky, Bartok, Ravel and Wieniawski.

Since the 2016 Carl Nielsen Violin Competition Nikolaj Znaider has invited Jiyoon Lee to perform as soloist in concerts which he has conducted with both the Poznan Philharmonic (Mozart Concerto in G Major, KV216) and Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra in South Korea (Mendelssohn Violin Concerto). Jiyoon returns to Denmark in March 2019 to perform with the Carl Nielsen National Academy Orchestra and Marek Janowski as a part of the celebrations to launch the next Carl Nielsen International Competition.

Emmanuel Pahud SOLO

Interweaving the Baroque era and the 20th and 21st centuries, the newest addition to Emmanuel Pahud's Warner Classics catalogue is an imaginative 2-CD collection of music for unaccompanied flute. Among the composers are Telemann, Nielsen, Honegger, Varèse, Berio, Takemitsu, Pärt, Pintscher and Widmann. "Most of the pieces are about exploring new paths," says Pahud. "The power of this music often lies in the contrast between a simple line and the most refined complexities, between a note so quiet as to be barely perceptible and the loudest, most extreme notes playable on the instrument."

Martin Fröst / Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Osmo Vänskä NIELSEN & AHO Clarinet Concertos

Fearsomely talented Swedish clarinetist Martin Fröst continues his conquest of the major concerto repertoire for his instrument with this recording of Carl Nielsen's 1928 Clarinet Concerto, paired with a new concerto by Finland's Kalevi Aho. The Nielsen concerto is a dense work in which the clarinet and the orchestra spend a lot of time going their separate ways, with the path of the clarinet being very twisted indeed. Difficult arabesques on the clarinet are interrupted without warning by heraldic blasts from the orchestral horns. The concerto was greeted by early reviewers as a radical modern work, and an instrumentalist wanting to push the clarinet into uncomfortable territory can still make it sound that way. Fröst, however, places the concerto into a sphere that includes many of Nielsen's other well-known works: for him it is not so much a radical work as one that has the characteristic Nielsen combination of being both a bit conservative and quite intellectually challenging. As the clarinet seems to fall into disputes with individual members of the orchestra, Fröst is implacable rather than furious, and he has the technical chops to make this approach work. The Aho concerto is a lyrical piece that makes a good companion for the thornier Nielsen. It offers plenty of chances for cantabile display, not only on the part of Fröst but also for Finland's Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä, whose high string tones have an impressive precision and smoothness. The Super Audio sound from Sweden's BIS label is well-nigh flawless, and this is an original and immensely satisfying recording that both asserts the continuing relevance of classic repertoire and adds vital new music to the literature. (James Manheim)

Philharmonia Orchestra / Paavo Järvi NIELSEN Flute Concerto - Clarinet Concert - Aladdin Suite

Carl Nielsen's two late woodwind concertos are performed here by the Philharmonia Orchestra with its own principals, in live recordings (no applause) at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Both works were conceived as portraits of their first soloists. Samuel Coles neatly personifies the fastidious Gilbert Jespersen, maintaining elegance and integrity in response to the intrusions of the orchestra, including a particularly obnoxious bass trombone. The controlled orchestral playing and the natural sound balance create a nice sense of chamber-music interplay between the soloist and his colleagues—including, sensibly, a solo violin rather than a whole section for the flickering runs at 2:35 in the first movement. Mark van de Wiel is equally convincing as the choleric Aage Oxenvad, responding angrily to the orchestra, and in the virtuoso cadenzas equally capable of picking a fight with himself. Unfortunately, the side drum, which frequently eggs him on, all but disappears from the balance at lower dynamic levels.

A rival account of the concertos by the New York Philharmonic with its principals under Alan Gilbert, on Dacapo, boasts equally fine solo and orchestral playing, but the recording shines more of a spotlight on the soloists (and on a larger-than-life trombone). That disc completes the set of Nielsen's concertos with an outstanding account of the Violin Concerto by Nikolaj Znaider. This one adds a colourful studio recording of the Suite from the music for the play Aladdin, with its Ivesian depiction of 'The Marketplace in Ispahan' in four superimposed, unrelated strands of music. (BBC Music Magazine)

Kojo / Sundqvist / Aalto / Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra EÖTVÖS - NIELSEN - SALLINEN Levitation

Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto is an unusual and uncompromising work. Cast in a single movement, and with a strange orchestra of strings, two horns, two bassoons and side drum, it casts a powerful spell. The opening is pastoral and almost neo-classical in atmosphere, giving no clue to the highly dramatic nature of what is to follow. Conflict is at the heart of much of the music, with repeated and sudden changes of mood. (The booklet notes offer a clue to this, in that Aage Oxenvaad, for whom the work was written, suffered from bipolar disorder.) The musical language, too, ranges very widely, from sweet and gentle harmonies to passages where the clarinet screams wildly in a highly chromatic upper register. The work closes in a kind of calm, though all is not resolved. The work has become a classic but has lost little of its power to surprise and challenge. If you are mainly looking for this remarkable work I feel duty bound to recommend an alternative performance from the many distinguished ones available, that by Martin Fröst on BIS. It is coupled with the concerto by Kalevi Aho, complicating an already difficult choice, as the present performance also has very worthwhile and generous couplings. And it is, in any event, a very fine performance. Christoffer Sundqvist is the principal clarinettist of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and his technical mastery is never in doubt. He is brilliant in the more virtuoso passages, and exquisitely tender where required, as in the introspective unaccompanied passage in the first section of the work, as beautifully played here as I have ever heard it. I don’t think he has quite the range of tone colour as Fröst, and the orchestral contribution is not quite so vivid, but the difference is marginal, and Sundqvist’s performance, taken on its own terms, will not disappoint.
And then there is the rest of the programme. The notes tell us that each of the four movements of Peter Eöstvös’s piece explores different aspects of the subject of levitation. The first movement has street furniture - phone boxes and road signs - flying about in a hurricane, whereas the second evokes a recurring dream the composer has of his own body floating, horizontally, over a landscape. The third movement describes gondolas on - or presumably above - Venetian waterways, and the last has Petrushka, buoyant, high above the world that has dealt so cruelly with him. Since the notes, and presumably the composer, give so detailed a “programme” it seems logical to comment on it. In fact, there is not much in the way of contrast in this work. Each movement is a kind of mood painting, with no themes as such, but fragments, motifs, mostly without any discernible pulse. If there were no gaps between the movements I’m not sure that I should know which one I was in, at least, not for the first few hearings. Thus the first-movement conjures up the gentlest, most beguiling hurricane you could imagine, and you will listen in vain, in the third movement “barcarola”, for any suggestion of the characteristic rhythm that normally goes with the name. The writing for the three solo instruments - two clarinets and accordion - is completely without show or bravado. All this does not stop this piece creating a powerful impression. The sounds the composer finds within the ensemble are exquisite and, for the most part, astonishingly tranquil, restful, tender and subtle. Maybe it’s another of those pieces that one would appreciate more, or at any rate no less, if the composer gave no information about it. I enjoyed it enormously the first time I heard it, and it positively compels the listener to return to it.
Getting to know the music of Aulis Sallinen - I would recommend the opera The King Goes Forth To France (Ondine) or any of the symphonies in the admirable CPO series - is an ongoing pleasure that continues with the double concerto on this disc. Its three movements deal with issues related to man’s relationship with animals. The first is a gentle lament for two dolphins drowned in a fisherman’s net in the Baltic Sea, and the third pays homage to the noble bull destined to die in the arena. Only the middle movement, “Les Jeux”, which deals with games, seems to stretch the theme somewhat, the parallels between animals and humans appearing to extend no further than the fact that playing of any kind is unimportant for the survival of a species. The work opens with a duet, accompanied only by timpani, for the two soloists. Other instruments are added gradually, and the movement progresses, via a series of ravishing sounds, to create an unforgettable atmosphere of gentle sadness and regret. Anger at man’s treatment of animals appears in the final movement only in one or two rare passages of display for the soloists. Otherwise this is an expression of deep sorrow that we should be capable of such things. The middle movement is a rapid, colourful scherzo, brilliant and witty, beautifully written for the whole ensemble. The programme is revealed by the composer in the booklet note, with almost no reference to the music. At least the message is a simple one - no complex theorising, nor, thank goodness, any attempt to transform the shape of a dolphin into a musical cipher! And the music itself is at once challenging yet easy enough on the ear to be enjoyed even at first acquaintance, so commentary is scarcely necessary. Even so - and once again - there is no doubt in my mind that the work can be enjoyed just as much by a listener unaware of the message behind it. 

This is a beautifully recorded CD, and the performances from all concerned are exemplary. The side-drum player in the Nielsen is named in the booklet, but not - a serious omission - the accordionist in the Eötvös. Sallinen provides the short commentary on his own work, whereas the informative notes on the other two pieces are by Jouni Kaipainen. All the notes are translated into English by Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, whom many readers will know as a distinguished composer in his own right, especially of choral music. (William Hedley / MusicWeb International)

Bine Bryndorf CARL NIELSEN The Organ Works

This CD is considerably enriched by Bine Bryndorf’s detailed and informative booklet-notes. Another plus point is that she plays the fine three-manual, 44-stop organ in Copenhagen’s former St Nicholas church. Dating from 1930, this instrument is exactly contemporaneous with Nielsen’s organ works. It has lovely soft registers and a well-blended tutti – ideal for this repertoire.

The 29 Little Preludes and a few miscellaneous works are concise pieces, suitable for liturgical use. They are straightforward compositions, with Baroque-like fugal textures and chordal writing in the manner of Bach and Mendelssohn. Only the occasional unusual harmonies and sudden key changes place this music in the early 20th century. Bryndorf’s excellent performances have calm, unhurried tempos, and her imaginative use of the organ gives each of the 29 Preludes their own unique tone colour. The CD also includes the majestic Festival Prelude for the New Century and six of Nielsen’s Hymns and Spiritual Songs. These latter pieces have simple chorale melodies, which are beautifully sung by the baritone Torsten Nielsen.

In contrast, Commotio occupies a more complex musical landscape. Given that it was inspired by the playing of the virtuoso German organist Karl Straube – a noted interpreter of Max Reger – it’s no surprise to find florid contrapuntal writing and extremely varied dynamics. However, Nielsen’s adventurous harmonic language belongs firmly in the 20th century. One can detect an awareness of Schoenberg’s atonal style, alongside pre-echoes of Hindemith’s organ sonatas and Sorabji’s symphonies. Bryndorf’s controlled, measured tempos (possibly a touch too slow in places) and carefully chosen dynamics enable Nielsen’s visionary composition to be heard with exemplary clarity. (Christopher Nickol / Gramophone)

Juliette Bausor / Royal Northern Sinfonia / Jaime Martin MOZART - NIELSEN Flute Concertos

Widely recognised as one of Britain’s leading flute players, Juliette Bausor began her studies with Anna Pope at the junior department of the Royal Academy of Music and Purcell School of Music, before going on to study with Philippa Davies, Paul Edmund Davies and Samuel Coles at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She continued her tuition at the Conservatoire Nationale Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Paris, with Sophie Cherrier and Vincent Lucas.

Following international success in competitions, including early recognition in reaching the televised Concerto Final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year and winning the Gold Medal in both the Shell LSO Competition and the Royal Over-Seas League Competition, Juliette has appeared as a concerto soloist with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Academy of St Martins in the Fields, European Union Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and London Mozart Players, with conductors including Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Thomas Zehetmair, Mario Venzago and Sir Neville Marriner. Success on an international scale is reflected in tours around Europe and beyond, to Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the United Arab Emirates, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Australia and New Zealand.

The Young Danish String Quartet CARL NIELSEN String Quartets Vol. 2

This admirable coupling by the Young Danish String Quartet of Carl Nielsen's string quartets in F minor and E flat major bolsters the notion that Danish performers are still best suited to represent Nielsen's uniquely Danish compositional voice. Both works here are youthful compositions written in a style fusing those of Grieg and Brahms. The Young Danish String Quartet rips into the big theme of the F minor quartet's opening Allegro non troppo ma energico with rhythmic power yet still express the following Un poco adagio's warm heart with yearning lines and lushly balanced sonorities. With lucidly articulated lines and effervescently buoyant rhythms, the young Danish players' interpretation of the E flat quartet's unique combination of a pastoral tone with learned counterpoint is wonderfully poised between the natural and the intellectual. If your shelf can hold only one disc of Nielsen's F minor and E flat major quartets, this disc will securely fill the spot. Dacapo's super audio digital sound is all enveloping with the four players of the quartet sitting comfortably around the listener in an otherwise empty hall. (James Leonard)

The Young Danish String Quartet / Tim Frederiksen CARL NIELSEN String Quartets Vol. 1

I’m not sure what the members of the Danish Quartet, who recorded the Nielsen quartets more than effectively in 1992 (Kontrapunkt, 10/93), think about a “young” incarnation appearing 15 years later. But I hope they would doff their caps in admiration, because these new recordings are top-notch, and I’m happy to echo and endorse the enthusiasm they have already generated in Denmark.

The benchmark recording has been that of the Kontra Quartet, sympathetic interpretations of works which do not enshrine the absolute finest of Nielsen, for all that he was an orchestral violinist and an experienced and enthusiastic performer of string quartets. But the new Quartet, all in their early twenties, bring a freshness and energy plus a level of sheer accomplishment that I don’t ever remember hearing in these works. Far from defensiveness or special pleading, they simply assume that they are playing high quality music and that their job is therefore to give it their all. The results are joyous, effervescent.
The First Quartet is the most striking beneficiary, since it can too easily sound texturally over-written and structurally effortful, as in the finale’s contrived “Résumé”. Such reservations are hard to entertain while listening to this thoroughly infectious account. Nielsen asks for energy in the first movement, and that is what the Young Danish Quartet give him, along with large-scale sweep and mellifluous tone throughout. The Fourth Quartet, a tough-minded cousin to the comic opera Maskarade, is interpretatively more challenging, and the Young Danish Quartet may in future find more subtly shaded routes through it; in the meantime their expressive candour and passion are entirely to the good. They are joined in the Quintet by Tim Frederiksen, under whom they studied at the Royal Conservatory in Copenhagen, and without quite transmuting base metal into gold, they display the various facets of what was a breakthrough piece for the young Nielsen to their best advantage. (David Fanning / Gramophone)