Music to my ears
What the classical world has been listening to this month
Doric String Quartet
Alex Redington (violin): I have been kept company by violinist Nathan Milstein on my travels, and in particular his recording of sonatas by Tartini and Pergolesi with Leopold Mittman. There is an honesty and aristocratic beauty in his playing and the lightness and brilliance of his technique is captivating. I am a huge advocate of period performance but when listening to Milstein I am reminded that great music will always shine through when played with integrity, no matter what the stylistic approach is.
Ying Xue (violin): Lately I have been listening to a lot of jazz recordings and have been especially drawn to Yusef Lateef’s album Eastern Sounds. The opening track, The Plum Blossom, is played on an instrument called a xun (Chinese globular flute) which, when mixed together with the other more standard jazz instruments, takes you into a unique world of sound. I love the spark it creates when eastern and western cultures meet.
John Myerscough (cello): I have been trying to fix a big hole in my musical knowledge, namely the Mozart Piano Concertos. In the recordings by pianist Malcolm Bilson and conductor John Eliot Gardiner, I have been particularly blown away by the E flat major Concerto, K482. Their approach is full of drama, elegance and beauty, and having read and listened to some of Bilson’s thoughts on performance practice, these performances seem to perfectly synthesise brain and heart. And also…
Hélène Clément (viola): I have been very taken by Louis Theroux’s documentary Mothers on the Edge. It is inspiring to witness both the huge courage and tenacity that people are capable of in the most unsettling situations, and the gentleness and tact with which Theroux interviews them. It was yet another reminder that communication is the beginning of, the point of and the key to everything, whether it is communication through people or through the arts.
The Doric Quartet will be giving the European premiere of Brett Dean’s new quartet at the Edinburgh Festival, 20 August
Dalia Stasevska Conductor
I would recommend conductor Yannick Nézet-séguin’s Deutsche Grammophon recordings of Mozart’s operas to anyone. His approach is so fresh, so modern and of its time, but he also really looks into the score in depth and picks all sorts of things up. I find these recordings very moving – I have been listening to them for a long time now and keep coming back to them. While I especially like Così fan tutte and Don Giovanni, they are all equally fine.
Finland, my home country, has an extremely rich opera culture and it’s great to see it thriving. Sebastian Fagerlund is one of the most important Finnish composers of our time, and his Autumn Sonata, which has recently been recorded by Finnish National Opera, is a masterpiece. It is based
on an Ingmar Bergman film and tells of a mother and her daughter and the difficult times they face. The mother is a concert pianist, so in a way the story touches all of us musicians who travel.
It’s very important to me to get inspiration from all sorts of music and I will happily listen to rock, pop, classical, electronica or whatever. I’ve been addicted to Björk’s Utopia for the last couple of months, listening to it on an almost daily basis. For me, Björk represents a performer who never wants to stop developing – art is a constant playground where your imagination can be limitless.
And also…
I’m fascinated by Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens and Homo Deus and how, in them, he represents humanity and our relationships with nature and each other, and with religion, the arts and thought. It’s extremely philosophical and yet, at the same time, is also like reading a biology book in the way he talks about how the mind works. He questions a lot of our behaviour in a very interesting way and really stretches the mind. Dalia Stasevska conducts the
BBC Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms, 6 August Isata Kanneh-mason Pianist Mitsuko Uchida has always been one of my favourite pianists. Her recording of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 with the
Cleveland Orchestra is a recording I listened to when I was younger and have recently rediscovered. It’s like going back to childhood. I love Mozart and, although this is a work that is performed so much, Uchida brings it to life in a way that few other people do. Her playing is so pure.
My brother Sheku recently introduced me to Mirga Gra inyt tyla’s recording with the CBSO of Weinberg’s Symphony No. 21. I don’t know any of Weinberg’s music really, so I was really surprised by this piece and the orchestra really brought it to life. I had no idea Weinberg had written so many symphonies! Gra inyt -tyla is an amazing woman as well – I’ve seen her conduct live a few times and she has such energy.
I’ve recently started learning Franck’s Sonata for Violin and Piano and in looking around for a recording I came across
David Oistrakh’s. It’s a really old recording and he’s got that old-school style of violin playing which I love. It’s got a subtle crackle in the background too. My parents have a record player which is great to listen to when I’m with them, but usually I just listen on Spotify or Youtube. Oistrakh plays the sonata, particularly the third movement, with so much passion.
And also…
I first read Jessica Duchen’s book Alicia’s Gift when I was eleven. I read it time and again, and each time I came back to it I discover something new and understood it on a deeper level. The main character is a piano prodigy, and it’s all about her journey through life with the piano, so I’ve always related to it.
Isata Kanneh-mason’s new recording of Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto plus other works will be reviewed next issue.