Brief notes

This month’s selection includes trios, concertos, romances and a brass quartet

Thomas Bangalter Mythologies Orchestre Nat’l Bordeaux Aquitaine Erato 5419745384

Thomas Bangalter (ex-daft Punk) goes orchestral to score this eponymous ballet, a collection of myths ancient and modern. Bangalter is an adept creator of atmosphere and texture: Mythologies’ 23 tracks are arresting sound capsules from possible worlds. (SW)

Boughton Chamber Works

English Piano Trio

EM Records EMR CD081

There’s much to recommend this album of (mostly) world premieres, with strong and steady performances by the English Piano Trio. Boughton’s lyrical flair is to the fore throughout, especially so in the opening Trio of 1948 and the Celtic Prelude (1917), the only item previously recorded. (MB)

Debussy Images oubliées etc Stéphane Tétreault (cello),

Olivier Hébert-bouchard (piano) ATMA Classique ACD22863

These dextrous arrangements of Debussy solo piano music cast the works in gorgeous new light. The cello is never overbearing, instead contributing complimentary colours. Clair de lune, so well-known in its original iteration, is both warm and eerie. A triumph. (CS)

Elmas Piano Sonatas

Heghine Rapyan (piano)

Solo Musica SM 423

Sonata form is filtered through a Middle-eastern soundworld in these sonatas by Armenian composer Elmas. We’re on reasonably familiar ground, though: the bold, restless Sonata No. 1 is a second cousin to Beethoven’s ‘Appassionata’. Compatriot Heghine Rapyan plays with immense conviction. (SW)

Fauré Musique Religieuse Hannoversche Hofkapelle et al Rondeau ROP620607

Recordings of the smaller-scale 1889 version of the Requiem are fairly rare, and it’s nice to have all of Fauré’s choral music on one album. However, for all its youthful exuberance, the choir occasionally lacks polish. ( JP)

Kabalevsky • Shebalin

Cello Sonatas

Marina Tarasova (cello), Ivan Sokolov (piano) Challenge Classics CC 72940

Both these early 1960s works display the probing lyricism associated with their dedicatee, Rostropovich. This is neither facile, authorities-pleasing Communist agitprop or thorny modernism – instead, it resides in a recognisably late-romantic world. Cellist Marina Tarasova inhabits her compatriots’ music. (SW)

Melchers Orchestral Works

Gävle Symphony Orchestra

Ondine ODE1418-2

On this evidence, the Swede Melcher Melchers (18821961) joins the list of largely forgotten lateromantic composers who are well worth exploring. Don’t go expecting a spare, Nordic soundworld, as his craft was honed mainly in Paris; do enjoy orchestral colour aplenty and a splendidly uplifting end to the Symphony in D minor. (JP)

V Novák Orchestral Works Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava Naxos 8.574369 From the gentle organ chords that welcome us into church at the opening of the popular Moravian-slovak Suite to the sound of the mighty instrument unleashed at the thrilling close of De Profundis, this is a terrific display of Novák’s orchestral music, including the previously unrecorded Wallachian Dances. ( JP)

Rachmaninov Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 4; Paganini Rhapsody Boris Giltburg (piano); RLPO

Naxos 8.574528 Giltburg completes his Rachmaninov set with a bravura account of the Paganini Rhapsody and the composer’s First and Fourth concertos. Characterful, sensitive and technically dazzling, he’s in his element in these electrifying works – and the Brussels Phil provides lush accompaniment. (CS)

Raff String Quartets Nos 1 & 5 Mannheimer Streichquartett

CPO 555277-2 The Mannheimers complete their survey of Raff’s eight quartets with a world-premiere recording of the Mendelssohnian No. 5. Next, String Quartet No. 1 nicely contrasts two brooding movements (1 and 3) with their sunnier opposite numbers.

(SW)

Tishchenko String Quartets etc Dania Tchalik (piano), Quatuor Tchalik Alkonost ALK008

The Tchalik siblings perform works by Shostakovich’s pupil Tishchenko on this handsomely recorded album. Unsurprisingly, the music bears more than a passing resemblance to that of his famous mentor – its spare textures augmented by highly expressive playing. (CS)

27 Hebrew Melodies for Recorder Works by Various Composers

Inbar Solomon, Adi Silberberg (recorder etc) Ansonica AR0020

These song arrangements, variously featuring recorders with violin, guitar and clarinet have bags of charm and transport you to another time and place. I’m not sure the sound of two recorders has ever sounded so appealing; sweet, smooth and warmly recorded. (MB)

131 Works by Beethoven, Missy Mazzoli, Sean Neukom

Beo String Quartet Neukraft Records There’s no doubting this American quartet’s chutzpah, presenting 131 as if they have invented the classical concept album. That said, their performances here are dynamic, with the arresting and expressive pieces by Mazzoli and Neukom the most engaging draw. (MB)

In the Shadow Trios by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Martinů

Trio Adorno Arcantus arc22029

The title refers to three works that have been overshadowed by better-known piano trios by the same composers – an explanation that applies better to Mozart’s

K442 and Martinů’s Third than Mendelssohn’s popular Second. They go well together, however, and are played here with elegance and passion. ( JP)

Invocations Works by Byrd, Purcell, Billy Joel et al

Apollo5 VOCES8 Records VCM150

The five-voice Apollo5 are impressively versatile in music ranging from Byrd to Bill Withers by way of Purcell and Gershwin, and there are moments of real beauty. Some of the arrangements are brilliantly imaginative; others try the patience, as does the occasionally over-thetop studio tinkering. (JP)

Live at the Cutty Sark Works by Elgar, Vaughan Williams et al Philharmonia Orchestra et al

Platoon PLAT17563

You probably need to watch footage of this concert to appreciate the location, but the programme and performances are cracking. Sarah Connolly is a knockout in Elgar’s

Sea Pictures, while Grace Williams’s Sea Sketches is a rolling, broiling, cinematic treat. (MB)

Move Works by Caroline Shaw, Nico Muhly, Mason Bynes et al

The Westerlies Westerlies Music WST012 This Brooklyn brass quartet (two trumpets, two trombones) is either brazen, bonkers or both, but this selection does show you should never second guess what these instruments are capable of. The Shaw (an arrangement of Entr’acte) is a highlight, the prolonged ‘parping’ elsewhere perhaps to be taken in smaller doses. (MB)

Romances Songs by Medtner, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky et al Iestyn Morris (countertenor), Nigel Foster (piano) Quartz QTZ2155 Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and all the other Russian big hitters in a less familiar form: song. Rachmaninov’s ‘Morning’ has a quiet wonder; Rimsky-korsakov’s ‘My Spoiled Darling’ a contained mischief. Iestyn Morris’s delivery is limpid, yet alive to changes in mood and atmosphere. (SW)

Two Violas Now Works by Deborah Pritchard, Edwin Roxburgh et al

Peter Mallinson, Matthias Wiesner (viola), Evgenia Startseva (piano) Meridian CDE 84667

The viola’s warm tenor is undoubtedly beautiful – but you can have too much of a good thing. Here, the dissonant tonality, compounded by non-contrasting voices, can be a difficult listen. The piano is a welcome counterpoint when it arrives. (CS)

Unsung Works by N Boulanger, Lyadov, C Schumann et al

Sophie Kauer (cello), Kunal Lahiry (piano) DG (Digital EP)

Building on the success of Kauer’s appearance in Tár, this selection of works, primarily arranged by Max Knoth, showcases her even and polished tone. It’s all a little one-note, however, and more stylistic variety might have gone a long way. (CS)

Reviewers: Michael Beek (MB),

Jeremy Pound (JP), Charlotte Smith (CS),

Steve Wright (SW)