CD and Book Reviews - my/maSCENA

CD review: Roots of Strings by Nazih Borish

By Justin Bernard on 15 April 2021 CD and Book Reviews

Nazih Borish, oud; Roberto Occhipinti, double bass; Joseph Khoury, percussion – Analekta AN 2 9173 ★★★★★ “Creative by nature, music is not restricted by its geographic origin or by the people who transmit it. It is language, it awakens consciousness.” With these words oudist and composer Nazih Borish partially describes the artistic project that inspired him and gave rise to Roots of Strings, released by Analekta. Accompanied by Roberto Occhipinti on double bass and Joseph Khoury on percussion, this self-taught musician of Syrian origin takes us on a tour of different parts of the musical world. His compositions are marked by…

CD review: Immersion by Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà

By Justin Bernard on 15 April 2021 CD and Book Reviews

Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà – Analekta AN 2 8749 ★★★✩✩ Immersion is the 45th album by violinist Angèle Dubeau. It follows Pulsations, released in 2019, which already gave pride of place to film music and in particular works by Ludovico Einaudi. This composer of music for The Intouchables, among other films, is featured again, but this time along with other composers active in the film industry. Minimalists Philip Glass and Steve Reich are on the lineup. Their influence is felt on other tracks, starting with the first, Flying by Valentin Hadjadj. The persistent repetition of the same motif, which creates…

CD Review: John Luther Adams (Seatle Symphony/Ludovic Morlot)

By Norman Lebrecht on 3 February 2021 CD and Book Reviews

John Luther Adams: The Become Trilogy Seattle Symphony/ Ludovic Morlot Cantaloupe CA2116 (3 CDs) Composers grow middle names to protect themselves against rivals of similar plumage. There were so many Bachs around in J.S.’s time that he was mostly known as Sebastian to ward off all the useless Johanns. Here, too, the opera composer John Adams stamped 10-league boots on the domain and our Luther had to use his middle name to carve out a claim. Pretty big terrain he has staked, too. Adams went to Alaska after college in the late 1970s to work in environmental protection. His music derives,…

CD Review: Godfrey Ridout (various performers)

By Arthur Kaptainis on 3 February 2021 CD and Book Reviews

Godfrey Ridout: The Ascension  (Cantiones Mysticae No. 2); Two Etudes; Concerto Grosso; George III His Lament CBC broadcasts by various performers Centrediscs CMCCD 28220 Total time: 57 minutes Godfrey Ridout (1918-84) stood for neoclassical and sometimes British-inspired lyricism at a time when the academic winds at the University of Toronto were blowing in other directions. He made worthy contributions to the repertoire, some presented in this anthology of archival CBC radio recordings. The Ascension, the soaring second of the three Cantiones Mysticae, is here given an honorable but acoustically recessed performance by Janet Smith (who, like many high sopranos, is…

CD Review: Géométries (Nathan Giroux, composer and pianist)

By Justin Bernard on 3 February 2021 CD and Book Reviews

Géométries Nathan Giroux, composer and pianist Studio Frontenac, 2020 Total time: 40 minutes Montreal pianist, composer and sound artist Nathan Giroux released his first album in December. Entitled Géométries, it comprises original compositions influenced in particular by the impressionism of Debussy, Ravel and Satie. The Préludes are strongly marked by this style. The third is reminiscent of the music of Yann Tiersen in the film Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain. With each new track, Giroux takes us a little further along the eddies to a dreamy and carefree world. The next cycle, Géométrie, opens with music akin to that from…

CD Review: Penderecki (Quatuor Molinari; André Moisan, clarinet)

By Arthur Kaptainis on 3 February 2021 CD and Book Reviews

Penderecki: String Quartets Nos. 1-3; String Trio; Quartet for Clarinet and String Trio; Der unterbrochene Gedanke Quatuor Molinari;  André Moisan, clarinet ATMA ACD22736 Total time: 63 minutes It is well known that Krzysztof Penderecki (1933-2020) started creative life as an avant-gardist and ended up in quite another place. Montreal’s Quatuor Molinari here outlines his progress chronologically. We begin in 1960 with the nervous and non-harmonic plucking and tapping of the six-minute String Quartet No. 1. In its successor score, eight years later, the Polish master adds three minutes along with fierce tremolos, forceful pulses and wailing glissandi that might be…

CD Review: Chebotaryan, Babadjanian, Piazzolla (Trio de l’île)

By Justin Bernard on 2 February 2021 CD and Book Reviews

Gayané Chebotaryan : Piano Trio.  Arno Babadjanian : Trio pour piano, violon et violoncelle. Astor Piazzolla : Las cuatro estaciones porteñas Trio de l’Île Divine Art 25211 Total time : 54 minutes I was already familiar with the Trio de l’Île from live performances and aware of the level of cooperation they achieve on stage. Now the players are on disc with this first album released by Divine Art. Comprising violinist Uliana Drugova, cellist Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy and pianist Patil Harboyan, the group presents piano trios by 20th century composers, but not figures we would call modern or contemporary. In two Armenian composers, Gayané Chebotaryan…

CD Review: Silver Age, Works by Prokofiev, Scriabin and Stravinsky (Daniil Trifonov, Valery Gergiev, Mariinsky Opera Orchestra)

By Paul E. Robinson on 29 January 2021 CD and Book Reviews, Orchestral

Works by Prokofiev, Scriabin and Stravinsky Daniil Trifonov, piano. Mariinsky Opera Orchestra/Valery Gergiev DG 28948353323 (2 CDs) Total Time: 145:20 Someone at Deutsche Grammophon seems to think that the way to market classical music now is to give every album a title, no matter how puzzling or confusing it might be. Daniil Trifonov is a principal victim of this quirkiness. His Rachmaninoff concerto CDs bear titles like “Destinations,” “Departure” and “Arrival.” While the performances are quite good the titles are baffling. DG is at it again with this release. “Silver Age” sheds no light at all on the musical contents.…

CD Review: Ginastera – Bernstein – Moussa (Andrew Wan, Kent Nagano, OSM)

By Michael Schulman on 29 January 2021 CD and Book Reviews, Orchestral

Ginastera: Violin Concerto. Bernstein: Serenade. Moussa: Violin Concerto (Adrano) Andrew Wan, violin. Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Kent Nagano Analekta AN 2 8920 Total time: 76:52 Alberto Ginastera, previously known for colourfully scored evocations of Argentinian folk music, embraced serialism, microtones and aleatorism in his 1963 Violin Concerto. It’s a dark half-hour. The lengthy, brooding, opening Cadenza for solo violin “serves,” wrote Ginastera, “to introduce the basic materials of the entire concerto.” Seven percussionists play dozens of instruments in eerily quiet “night music” and angry fortissimi. The Adagio for 22 Soloists exudes struggle and anguish. The finale, Ginastera wrote, begins “at a flying…

CD Review: Penderecki: String Quartets and Trios (Quatuor Molinari)

By Arthur Kaptainis on 29 January 2021 CD and Book Reviews, Chamber Music

Quatuor Molinari; André Moisan, clarinet. ATMA ACD22736. Total time: 63 minutes. It is well known that Krzysztof Penderecki (1933-2020) started creative life as an avant-gardist and ended up in quite another place. Montreal’s Quatuor Molinari here outlines his progress chronologically. We begin in 1960 with the nervous and non-harmonic plucking and tapping of the six-minute String Quartet No. 1. In its successor score, eight years later, the Polish master adds three minutes along with fierce tremolos, forceful pulses and wailing glissandi that might be compared to the sounds of his celebrated Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima. Both quartets are…

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