From the archives looks over this month’s reissued and live archive recordings
Andrew Mcgregor
May round-up
‘Poor, sad angel’ was writer George Sand’s description of Frédéric Chopin after their first encounter in Paris, and it’s the title of this recital from Nikolai Lugansky, 24 years old when he recorded it in the mid-90s after his success in the Tchaikovsky Competition. Technical mastery is always at Chopin’s service: the F minor Ballade has impressive sweep, there’s poetry and delicacy in the Nocturnes, character in the Mazurkas and Polonaise… a rewarding recital. (Fineline Classics FL72417)
Conductor Thomas Jensen was a vital presence in Danish music from the 1930s to the 60s, a cellist who played for Sibelius, and a student of Carl Nielsen who became one of the composer’s great evangelists. The Danacord label has been releasing Jensen’s commercial and radio recordings, and Volume 20 offers no fewer than 12 Danish composers: from overtures by Kuhlau and Gade with the Tivoli Orchestra in the 1940s, to live broadcasts of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Riisager’s suite Paradise of
Fools, and a thrilling traversal of Holmboe’s Seventh Symphony. Decent remastering, a huge variety of styles – and a vital window on Danish music. (Danacord DACOCD930; 2 CDS)
Jean-pierre Rampal was a pioneering flautist, with a passion for rediscovering the music of the Baroque. Here's Rampal conducting his former pupil Jean-louis Beaumadier, principal piccolo of the Orchestre National de
France, in the concertos for small flute by Vivaldi. With no period instruments, these slightly polite performances are bass-heavy in places, but things lighten up two decades later for a delightful Vivaldi double concerto with chamber ensemble La Follia, and tucked away at the end there’s a Concerto for Five Flutes by Boismortier, a previously unreleased live performance from the complete flute class of Jean-pierre’s father Joseph, reunited in Marseille. (Indesens IC014)
Pianist and composer Keith Jarrett is an icon in the jazz world, and his stylish performances of JS Bach have brought him huge admiration. But Bach’s son Carl Philipp Emanuel is a different sound world, and in his recordings of CPE’S Württemberg Sonatas, Jarrett shows that he has a real understanding of the mercurial twists and turns in this transitional music. You never doubt for a second that Jarrett’s right when he says he felt there was space for a piano version. Make room for it; the only mystery is why it took so long to release this 1994 recording. (ECM 4858495; 2 CDS)
Things you might know about Latvian conductor Arvīds Jansons: he was associate conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic; he was Mariss Jansons’ father; Barbirolli appointed him the Hallé’s guest conductor (he died while conducting them in 1984); and it’s hard to find his recordings. Start here: Jansons and the Leningrad Philharmonic playing Tchaikovsky live in London in 1971. This was Mravinsky’s orchestra, but it’s Jansons’ sound: more restrained, lyrical, even sweet-toned in comparison, but with muscular vigour, vibrant brass and characterful winds. The Sleeping Beauty excerpts are bewitching, and the Fifth Symphony saves the full force of fate to the end. (ICA Classics ICAC5177; 2 CDS)