Music to my ears
What the classical world has been listening to this month
Martin James Bartlett Pianist Everyone knows Luciano Pavarotti’s performance of ‘Nessun dorma’, but not so many are aware of the recording of the whole of Puccini’s Turandot with him in it, conducted by Zubin Mehta with a cast including Joan Sutherland and Montserrat Caballé. Pavarotti is on top form as Calaf – he’s young, his voice is so powerful and he takes every phrase to the limit of what he can do. Caballé is unmatched as Liù, and Sutherland, while not an obvious choice as Turandot, brings a rare humanity to the role.
One of my all-time favourite pianists is Shura Cherkassky, who is not as well known as I think he should be. In his recording of Godowsky’s piano transcription of Strauss’s Wine, Women and Song
– my three loves! – his playing has so much sparkle and effervescence and there is so much exuberance in his fingers. That silvery touch is something that, from when I first heard it, I wanted to cultivate in my own playing.
Although she wrote it when she was quite young, Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides Now’ has a feeling of deep retrospection and takes a nostalgic look at life. I love the way that she shows the different ways we think of clouds, from
‘ice cream castles in the air’ when we are young and innocent to something that brings bad weather as we get older and more cynical. But despite that idea of getting tarnished through life’s experience, there’s still a thread of optimism that runs through it all. And also…
Because I’ve been travelling so much, I’ve had a lot of time for reading. I particularly love Donna Tartt’s A Secret History. She has such a clever way of setting out the narrative, her style of writing captivates me and there are beautiful quotations, references to Latin, Greek, Plato, wine… I just love the historical, hedonistic element to the whole book.
Marin James Bartlett’s Love and Death CD is reviewed on p96 Fenella Humphreys Violinist I’d seen people tweeting about a new disc of works by Edmund Finnis called The Air, Turning, so I had a listen for myself. Performed by clarinettist Mark Simpson, pianist Víkingur Ólafsson and others, it is brilliant playing of stunning music, recorded in exceptional sound. Finnis’s world is so beautiful, and also very varied and imaginative. I love seeing what the NMC label does in general, as they produce some incredible discs.
Just after Christmas, I was given a record player and have spent the last few months trawling charity shops on the hunt for interesting vinyls. One amazing one that I found is The Historical Jam Session – Esquire Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, 18 January, 1944 which has the likes of Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum and Billie Holiday on it. It’s an extraordinary collection of exceptional players. You find yourself taken back into a completely different world, helped by the scratchy vinyl sound.
Last year, I was doing a string trio project based on Bach’s Goldberg Variations, so I bought loads of recordings of the original work for keyboard to see how different pianists and harpsichordists approached it.
One that really stood out for me and to which I still really like to
return in moments of calm is the recording by Mahan Esfahani. He takes a very imaginative approach, but the music is always exquisitely played and has an almost cleansing feel to it.
And also…
Last weekend I found myself at Farleys House, an incredible little museum/gallery in Sussex. It was the home of Lee Miller and Roland Penrose who, as well as leading pretty extraordinary lives, were supporters and friends of a number of the great 20th-century modern and surrealist artists, including Picasso, Ernst, Miró, Man Ray and many others whose works hang on the walls. I came back out into the beautiful countryside feeling like I was looking at the world afresh. Fenella Humphreys’s new disc of Richter, Pärt and Vasks will be reviewed in a future issue
Lise Davidsen Soprano
When I start to study a new role I like to listen to different recordings to hear what other artists have done and to find inspiration, but once I start rehearsing I don’t listen to any recordings of the piece at all. I’m currently studying to play the part of Ellen Orford for the first time so I’m listening to Britten’s Peter Grimes a lot. Britten has such a unique sound and style, and I love the way he uses language and makes the voices so colourful. My favourite recording is the Royal Opera House one conducted by Sir Colin Davis.
My ‘go to’ album is mezzosoprano Anne Sofie von Otter’s Music For A While – Baroque Melodies. I can listen to it for ever. The first song on it, Benedetto Ferrari’s ‘Amanti io vo se dire’, always gets me in a good mood. It was a song I sang a lot when I started studying, but I never managed to do it properly because I was never good enough. Anne Sofie is brilliant, however, and I love the way she does it! She’s an ever-lasting inspiration.
I have also been enjoying listening to baritone Matthias Goerne and pianist Leif
Ove Andsnes’s new disc of Schumann’s Liederkreis Op. 24 and Kernerlieder. I haven’t performed much Schumann yet myself so, as I start to study some of the composer’s other songs, it’s very inspiring to listen to two such wonderful artists who seem innately to understand each other. And also…
I’ve been engrossed by Norske Vinnerskaller by Arne Jørstad Riise. It translates as ‘Norwegian winning brains’ and consists of interviews with Norwegian athletes telling how they used mental training as part of their work to win medals. Though its focus is on sport rather than music, I feel there is a lot to learn from such training as a singer.
Lise Davidsen’s debut disc of Wagner and Strauss songs will be reviewed in a future issue