Isabelle van Keulen / NDR Radiophilharmonie SERGEI PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No. 1 WILLIAM WALTON Viola Concerto RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS The Lark Ascending

Here is a disc whose contents seem odd as it couples the violin concerto of a (still) Russian composer to the viola concerto of an English one. Instead, the coupling is very clever since Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto, whose premiere was in 1923 (while the composer was still living in France, a few years before his return to Soviet Union) served as a much-admired model to Walton’s Viola Concerto, whose first performance was played by Paul Hindemith in 1929. The similarities between the two works go beyond the three-movements structure slow-quick-slow and concern themes, accompaniments and the rondo form of the virtuoso central Scherzo.

The smart idea of such unusual coupling came to one of the few great living violinists who can really play the viola with equal skill: Isabelle van Keulen. This glorious disc is crowned by the orchestrated version of Vaughan Williams’ masterpiece The Lark Ascending.
One of German radio best orchestras, the NDR Radiophilharmonie, is conducted by Andrew Manze (Prokofiev), Keri-Lynn Wilson (Walton) and Andrew Litton (Vaughan Williams).

Isabelle van Keulen Ensemble ASTOR PIAZZOLLA Ángeles y Diablos

The angel as a symbol of the tango-dance, death and resurrection.

Without losing the romance, the violence, eroticism and devotion of the traditional tango that he saw as empty and hollowed out, Piazzolla renewed and modified it with elements of European art music, Argentine folklore and jazz, and thus tango took on a new meaning and shape.

The writer Alberto Rodriguez Muñoz approached Piazzolla in 1961 with a request to write music for his play Tango del ángel, which is about an angel appearing in an apartment block in Buenos Aires to cleanse the souls of its inhabitants. The titles Introducción al ángel, Milonga del ángel, and Muerte del ángel were created. The latter, a four-part fugue with hard, uncompromising harmonies and rhythms, impressively shows how far Piazzolla pushed the boundaries of traditional tango.

When the play was performed in 1962, even the previously hostile parts of the musical public in Argentina had to admit how fitting and successful this music was and the titles, especially Milonga del ángel, gained extraordinary popularity.

The motives of angel, Ángel, and devil, Diablo, appear in many of the tangos composed by Astor Piazzolla: "In my story, angels and devils mix - you have to have something in everything."

For a concert with his quintet at the Philharmonic Hall in New York in 1965, he wrote the series of Diablo titles: the spooky Tango del diablo, the intimate Romance del diablo and the wild, lashing Vayamos al diablo. (Presto Classical)

Isabelle van Keulen / Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Thomas Dausgaard ALLAN PETTERSSON Violin Concerto No. 2

Andreas K. W. Meyer’s notes provide a timeline for the life of Allan Petterson (1911–1980), “orchestra violinist, composer, oddball.” In any event, he cast his Second Violin Concerto in one, almost hour-long, movement (the recording has been divided into 10 tracks for those who might want to study specific sections). Its elfin opening, with swirling tonal parts in the upper registers surrounding a tempo at figure 41 in the score (the designation of the fourth track) and even more strikingly through most of the a tempo of the seventh and at the beginning of the cantando, tempo IV of the eighth and ninth tracks—and, throughout, woodwind sonorities highlight many passages. Meyer relates that Ida Haendel, the dedicatee, gave the work its premiere on January 25, 1980 (it had been composed between 1977 and 1979).  

It might not strike most listeners that Pettersson based the Concerto on a poem, God Goes over the Meadows , and his own musical setting of it. The text continues (in Susan Marie Praeder’s translation), “but only between thistles,” and this line may offer some insight into the work’s thickets of thorns and brambles. Meyer points out that his song’s folk-like style provided the “material point of departure.” So the intermittent tonality and passages of simpler, less entangled, lyricism may hearken to this fons et origo . Whatever lies at the center of this massive Concerto, however, its accessibility to audiences may depend less upon it than upon the composer’s ear for striking sonorities, for dramatic contrasts, and for soaring, effective writing for the solo instrument. Since Pettersson wrote his First Violin Concerto, according to the notes, in 1949, for Violin and String Quartet, this one represents a quantum leap into complex sonorities while remaining within the genre of the Violin Concerto. Adventurous listeners should find the work, the performance by both soloist and orchestra, and the wide-ranging and stark recorded sound especially rewarding. Strongly recommended to them. (Robert Maxham)

Olli Mustonen / Isabelle van Keulen STRAVINSKY The Works for Piano & Violin

As Brahms had Joachim and Britten had Rostropovich, so, too, did Igor Stravinsky have a significant relationship with a performer who inspired an abundance of music. In Stravinsky's case, it was violinist Samuel Dushkin; the two collaborated together as performers, which resulted in the arrangement of several of Stravinsky's works for violin and piano. It also yielded the masterful and surprisingly lyrical Duo Concertante. The complete works for violin and piano fill two discs on this Newton Classics album featuring violinist Isabelle van Keulen and pianist Olli Mustonen. Equally at home playing standard repertoire as lesser-known modern works, and on the viola as well as the violin, van Keulen offers up some dazzling, nicely stylized performances of Stravinsky and Dushkin's collaborations. Her playing is fiery and brazen while still delivering some warm subtlety when called for in the score. The lyrical moments in Stravinsky's writing are played with a beautiful legato sound and effortless shifts. The well-known Suite Italienne is performed with moments of austere elegance, breathtaking beauty, and flashiness. Van Keulen and Mustonen form an exceptionally tight-knit ensemble wherein pacing, dynamics, balance, and musical intent are completely unified. Originally recorded in 1987-1988, Newton's sound on this is disc is admirably clean and simple. (Mike D. Brownell)

Leopold String Trio BACH Goldberg Variations

The arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, for string trio by Russian violinist and composer Dmitry Sitkovetsky has taken on a life of its town, with multiple performances and even a sort of electronic remix by Karlheinz Essl. The appeal for string chamber groups longing to share in Bach's riches is obvious, and for audiences it appears to be another case of Bach's music standing up to whatever you do to it. Like most other annotators, Hyperion's Nigel Simeone tries to claim that the arrangement is on a par with the numerous transcriptions Bach made of his own works. It is no such thing; the string chamber texture by its nature adds expressive devices that were not of Bach's world, and he would have found Sitkovetsky's version bizarre. If you haven't heard it before, sample the eighth variation (track 9) of this recording by the Leopold String Trio, with its scooping cello attacks at the beginning. Sitkovetsky takes several approaches in breaking up Bach's polyphonic textures among the instruments of the string trio, and once you accept that the work is a sort of textural fantasia on Bach rather than the real thing, it's very enjoyable, and it's obvious that performers are having fun with it. Players have ranged from severe, viol consort-like textures (the Goldberg Trio's recording) to fluttery galant style. The Leopold String Trio comes in around the middle with a reading that keeps the characteristic string trio feel and is unabashedly emotive in the climactic variations, but nevertheless seems to be reacting to Bach's music itself. The recording benefits from lovely sonics, accomplished at that favorite haunt of Hyperion engineers, the Wyastone Estate concert hall, and the bottom line is that if you think hearing the Goldberg Variations played on strings will float your boat, this recording is a good pick. (James Manheim)

Gidon Kremer / Boston Symphony Orchestra / Charles Dutoit SOFIA GUBAIDULINA Offertorium

This entry in DG's Echo 20/21 series of contemporary music reissues is outstanding for its musical quality, engineering, and remarkable performances. Offertorium is aptly subtitled "Violin Concerto" to reflect the role of the solo violin, here played with brilliance and understanding by Gidon Kremer, for whom it was written. It's in three continuous sections, each headed by a fascinating Webernesque deconstruction of the theme from Bach's Musical Offering. The extensive violin part is technically demanding, and the vigorous orchestral interjections range from the hauntingly wispy to the aggressively colorful. "The Homage à T.S. Eliot for Octet and Soprano" can be described as "mystical with backbone," perfectly complementing the texts, drawn from Eliot's Four Quartets. The music itself is haunting, rhythmically alive, and forward-moving. Its 33 minutes fly past, thanks to the Kremer-led all-star octet, Gubaidulina's inventive scoring, and the tension-filled vocal lines. Soprano Christine Whittlesey, a noted performer of modern vocal music, who sings in three of the work's seven movements, offers outstanding vocalism and interpretative intensity. (Dan Davis)

Sharon Kam PORTRAIT - Virtuose Klarinettenmusik

Sharon Kam is one of the world’s leading clarinet soloists and has been working with renowned orchestras in the United States, Europe, and Japan for over 20 years.

Mozart’s clarinet masterpieces have been an object of artistic focus for Ms. Kam since the beginning of her career. At the age of 16, she performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in her orchestral debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Zubin Mehta. A short time later, she performed the Clarinet Quintet with the Guarneri String Quartet in Carnegie Hall, New York.

As part of Mozart’s 250th birthday celebrations at the National Theatre in Prague, her interpretation of the Mozart concerto was televised live in 33 countries and is available on DVD. In the same year, she was able to realize her longtime dream of recording the Concerto and the Clarinet Quintet using the basset clarinet. Contributing to the widely praised disk were eminent string players Isabelle van Keulen, Ulrike-Anima Mathé, Volker Jacobsen and Gustav Rivinus, as well as the Haydn Philharmonie.

As a passionate chamber musician, Sharon Kam regularly works with artists such as Lars Vogt, Christian Tetzlaff, Enrico Pace, Daniel Müller-Schott, Leif Ove Andsnes, Caroline Widmann and the Jerusalem Quartet. She is a frequent guest at festivals in Schleswig-Holstein, Heimbach, Rheingau, Risør, Cork, Verbier, and Delft, as well as the Schubertiade festival. She is also an active performer of contemporary music music and has premiered works by Krzysztof Penderecki (the Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quartet), Herbert Willi (the Clarinet Concerto, at the Salzburg Festival), Iván Erőd and Peter Ruzicka (at Donaueschingen).

Sharon Kam feels at home in a variety of musical genres – from classical to modern music and jazz – a fact reflected in her diverse discography. She received the ECHO “Instrumentalist of the Year” award two times: in 1998, for her Weber recording with the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig and Kurt Masur, and in 2006, for her CD with the Leipzig Radio Orchestra featuring works by Spohr, Weber, Rossini and Mendelssohn. Her “American Classics” disc with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by her husband Gregor Bühl, was awarded the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik Prize.

Isabelle van Keulen / City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Paavo Järvi ERKKI-SVEN TÜÜR Exodus

“There’s something almost physical about the way in which Tüür moves and shapes the sound masses that his textures generate, so that the music offers a variety of perspectives – on one level the intricate construction offers constantly changing patterns and arrays, on another the sheer weight of sound is sculpted into large-scale gestures, so that the ear switches from one to the other.” Andrew Clements’s description, in The Guardian, of Tüür’s “Exodus” can be applied, with no less justification, to the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra and “Aditus”. There is a new physicality to Tüür’s music, the Estonian composer concurs: “This development started with the Cello Concerto (refer to the ECM album Flux, recorded 1998), and one of the main issues now is dealing with the energetic forces in music. All the different compositional tools employed – the different rhythmic patterns, and chord structures and harmonic progressions – are not aims in themselves but ways of forming and focussing the energetic development. I pay very much attention to moving between the different levels of energy – how the energy flows, how the inner drama is building. It’s something I’m working with very consciously for five or six years now.”
All three pieces on the present album are premiere recordings, made with the participation of the composer. Of the genesis of the Violin Concerto, Tüür says, “The very first idea was to build up a continuously changing relationship between the soloist and the orchestra. In the first movement the soloist makes a statement that the orchestra picks up, and changes it in a rather unexpected direction. Then the violin starts again, and again the orchestra picks up the material and transforms it in a different way. It’s always a kind of surrealistic treatment and this was the conceptual basis. And having made my choices about material – scales, rows and harmonic progressions – I almost always followed my spontaneous imagination in the writing I never had a wish to write a concerto for virtuoso soloist where the orchestra is providing accompaniment. The music is always filtered through the orchestra when it returns to the soloist. It’s always developed at a different level.”