Music to my ears
What the classical world has been listening to this month
Zoë Martlew
Cellist and composer
Listening to a Wigmore Hall recital by soprano Ruby Hughes and pianist Joseph Middleton on the BBC iplayer, the piece that really struck me was Bright Travellers by
Helen Grime. It was very lyrical, moving and tender – it’s about the pains and joys of motherhood – and had incredibly delicately realised piano writing. You don’t always associate Helen Grime with this, as she’s better known for robust modernist brilliance.
Looking at one of Varèse’s scores is like having a masterclass in writing for percussion, and because I’m writing a piece that uses a ton of percussion myself,
I’ve been listening to a lot of his music – such as Arcana, performed
READER CHOICE
Ian Lewis Monmouth
The Portuguese composer Joly Braga Santos (1924-88) wrote six symphonies, violin and cello concertos and numerous overtures among many other works. Anyone new to his Concerto for String Orchestra and Symphonies
Nos 2-4 can’t fail to be impressed by the energy and melody. They are full of great music and particularly strong brass writing, and prove that modern composers can write fantastic tunes that audiences want to hear – if they try hard enough. I just wish they were played by UK orchestras.
I recently heard an incredible concert at the Sacher Foundation in Basel, Switzerland, that consisted entirely of chamber works by Oliver Knussen, performed by Ensemble Resonance. It was especially wonderful to hear both his early Study for Metamorphosis and his Cantata Op. 15 for oboe and string trio, a work that has an atmosphere of almost unbearable sadness and is incredibly beautiful. When I returned home I listened again to the fantastic recording by Nicholas Daniel’s Britten Oboe Quartet.
Frederic Rzewski’s Coming Together is a minimalist masterpiece. Because I’m soon going to be playing in it, I put on the 1974 recording with Rzewski himself on the piano. The piece, which is based on the simple idea of a bit of text from a letter read over a repetitive fast sequence, builds up incredible tension over 20 minutes to the point that it becomes almost unbearable. It is incredibly effective.
Zoë Martlew will be performing at the Occupy The Pianos Festival at St John’s Smith Square (see p60)
Luca Buratto Pianist
I’m a super-fan of
Richard Strauss. I love his timbre and colours, his melodies and his varied musical style. Recently I heard the Chicago Symphony Orchestra playing the suite from Le bourgeois gentilhomme, conducted by Riccardo Muti. It was the first time I had heard this orchestra live and the first time I had seen Muti conduct, and it was terrific. The concert also included Kirill Gerstein playing Brahms’s First Piano Concerto. He was very f luid, coherent and somehow organic.
I went to one of Vladimir Jurowski’s concerts last year, and loved how he conducts. I’ve been listening to his Brahms symphony cycle with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on disc. His reading of these pieces is quite
revelatory. The way he manages the orchestra is unique – he can get them to play however he wants, which is pretty spectacular. My impression is that with the LPO, the blend is more about intimacy and different shades than with the Chicago Symphony, which is more about power and strength.
Another obsession of mine is Thomas Adès’s music. I’m learning and listening to a lot of his piano stuff. It’s lucky for
Somehow, Thomas Adès sees harmony and melody through some weird mirror
us that we can listen to him on recordings so we can know what he wants – his idea of sound of colour. I like how contemporary his music feels. Somehow he sees harmony and melody through some weird mirror. He takes a different musical angle, but it is still coherent and engaging and very nice to listen to.
My favourite CD is of Mikhail Pletnev playing Tchaikovsky’s Second Piano Concerto and his own transcription of Sleeping Beauty. I’m always listening to it. Usually I find Tchaikovsky’s music sounds cheesy, somehow, but Pletnev makes me like a lot – the way he plays it is so serious, and what he can do with the piano is unbelievable.
Luca Buratto performs Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto with the London Philarmonic Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall, 27 April
Matthew Gee Trombonist
The trombone is such a lyrical instrument and matches up so well with the colours and expression in singing that I’m naturally drawn to choral music. Lassus’s Lagrime di San Pietro completely cleanses me when I’m nearly burnt out. There’s a great recording by Gallicantus with a fantastic sound and blend – they are more than the sum of their parts.
Schubert’s Lieder have always had a hold over me. I remember studying Der Zwerg at university and the whole class became obsessed with it. The poem is unbelievably dark, and its changes in emotion are matched perfectly by what Schubert creates in the music. When people talk about Schubert being a minimalist, I never understood it, but this piece sums it up perfectly, with the small exchanges in words and emotion. Dietrich Fischer-dieskau’s recording of it is wonderful.
I’ve always enjoyed Schubert’s Winterreise, too, and I love Hans Zender’s reimagining of it for chamber orchestra. It’s such a modern take on what’s essentially perfect music, and he’s brought it to life with so many colours and shades. There’s a brilliant Klangforum recording which I keep going back to. The trombone part is a belter – technically difficult but very expressive.
Another piece I got to know through great trombone writing is Richard Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten – it has a brilliant, demanding orchestral score with a heroic trombone part.
The Philharmonia Orchestra’s recording of the Die Frau symphonic suite with Dudley Bright doing the trombone solo is particularly good. The part is astonishing – there’s lots of lovely countermelodies that you get to fire over the orchestra.
Matthew Gee’s Amazing Sliding Circus will be reviewed next month