Rachel Barton Pine, Yo-Yo Ma deliver passionate recordings
For the top classical recordings of the year, I conversed with John von Rhein, who retired as the Chicago Tribune’s classical music critic in July.
What follows are five picks, with comments:
Rachel Barton Pine: “Blues Dialogues” (Cedille). The definition of classical music keeps expanding, thanks to new generations of musicians uninterested in the strictures of old. Chicago violinist Pine underscores the point with “Blues Dialogues,” a revelatory recording bringing welcome exposure to music of black composers. Most of this repertoire may be unfamiliar to many listeners, with works by David Baker, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, William Grant Still and others who are rarely performed by a soloist of Pine’s gifts and stature. In her hands, this music takes on new luminosity, her sensitive readings accompanied by pianist Matthew Hagle.
Igor Levit: “Life” (Sony Classical). Even if you didn’t know that this double album represents pianist Levit’s response to — and contemplation of — the death of a close friend, it would be impossible not to be moved by the solemnity of his performances of large-scaled solo works by Busoni, Bach/Brahms, Schumann, Liszt and Rzewski. When taking on virtuosic passages, Levit conveys a degree of gravitas not often encountered in such fare. That he concludes with jazz pianist Bill Evans’ “Peace Piece” tells you a great deal about the breadth of Levit’s interests and the hopeful outcomes of this journey.
Miguel Zenon featuring Spektral Quartet: “Yo Soy La Tradicion” (Miel Music). In 2016, alto saxophonist and MacArthur Fellowship winner Zenon partnered with Chicago’s enterprising Spektral Quartet for the world premiere of his suite “Yo Soy La Tradicion” (“I Am Tradition”). Commissioned by the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, the piece wove the rhythms, cadences and song structures of Zenon’s native Puerto Rico into a sprawling work that intertwined classical, jazz, blues and folkloric vocabularies. By turns complex and accessible, historic and contemporary, “Yo Soy La Tradicion” represents a major contribution from composer Zenon, in an uncommonly sensitive collaboration with the Spektrals.
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (Brattle Media). “Benjamin Zander is not the first conductor on recording to offer a
Ninth Symphony that adheres to Beethoven’s controversially fast metronome markings,” says von Rhein, “but he is the first to provide a spoken explanation of why he believes the composer’s tempo and dynamic indications should be respected. His disquisition (lasting an hour and 40 minutes longer than the symphony) accompanies an exhilarating if sometimes hectic reading by the Philharmonia Orchestra, Chorus and soloists on this three-CD set. His Ninth provides stimulation for the ear and mind, whether or not you buy each and every point Zander argues.”
Yo-Yo Ma: “Six Evolutions: Bach Cello Suites” (Sony Classical). The singular cellist takes on a landmark of the solo repertory for his third and what he asserts in the liner notes “will be my last recording of the suites.” That remains to be seen, but regardless, the tonal depth, intellectual clarity and emotional directness of this version radiate from every track. Music scholar Nicolas Slonimsky called Bach the “supreme arbiter and lawgiver of music.” In this recording we hear those laws articulated — passionately, by Ma.
Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.