CD and Book Reviews - my/maSCENA

Lebrecht Weekly | The Cosmos of Paul Ben-Haim (CPO)

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By Norman Lebrecht on 12 April 2025 CD and Book Reviews, Chamber Music, Lebrecht Weekly, Orchestral

If you are looking for neglected stocks in these shaky times, you could do worse than sink a pair of ears into the music of Paul Ben-Haim. It seems to be heading for revival. Lahav Shani is recording the symphonies for DG and other works are popping up all over the place. This 145-minute compilation under review mingles orchestral and chamber music to positive effect, prompting this listener at least to reconsider some aspects of a much-misunderstood composer. A conducting assistant to Bruno Walter in Munich, Paul Frankenburger fled to Palestine when the Nazis seized power and changed his name…

Lebrecht Weekly | Kurtág’s Játékok by Pierre-Laurent Aimard: An Absolute Cracker from Pentatone

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By Norman Lebrecht on 4 April 2025 CD and Book Reviews, Lebrecht Weekly, Piano

It may be a bit early in springtime to be nominating an Album of the Year, but I’ll be very surprised if any release in the next eight months makes me sit up and take note with such awe and excitement as this absolute cracker from the Dutch label Pentatone. The composer turned 99 two months ago. He has been writing this piano series – the Hungarian title means ‘Games – since 1973, adding fresh episodes every now and then. There are 75 complete movements to this suite and another ten in manuscript. Kurtág may yet have more up his…

CD Review | Matthias Goerne, Late Shostakovich Songs

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By John Gilks on 3 April 2025 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music

Shostakovich: Suite on Verses of Michelangelo, October Matthias Goerne, baritone; Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; Mikko Franck, conductor Alpha Classics, 2025 This new CD release from baritone Matthias Goerne and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Mikko Franck contains two late works by Shostakovich. The first and most substantial is the Suite on Verses by Michelangelo Buonarroti, Op. 145a. This was written in 1974, shortly before the composer’s death and sets 11 of Michelangelo’s verses in Russian translation. It was originally scored for voice and piano, but then the composer created the orchestral version heard here. It’s very…

CD Review | Songs of Hope Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra

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By Heather Weinreb on 3 April 2025 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music

Songs of Hope Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra; Danielle MacMillan, mezzo-soprano; Maghan McPhee, soprano; composers Shreya Jha, Elienna Wang, Ted Runcie, Leela Gilday, Daniel Mehdizadeh, Rachel McFarlane, Bruno Degazio, Ronald Royer Akashic Classics, 2025 Songs of Hope is a song cycle of newly composed works, in which each composer addresses the theme “through adversity, hope.” The musical responses to this theme are interesting in their diversity. Shreya Jha’s Walk With Me is about the solace one can find in having a dream about a loved one who has died, while Ronald Royer’s Women of Dante’s Divine Comedy: Three Songs provides a glimpse…

CD Review | Robert Uchida & Philip Chiu, I Can Finally Feel the Sun

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By Justin Bernard on 3 April 2025 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music

I Can Finally Feel the Sun Robert Uchida, violin; Philip Chiu, piano ATMA Classique, 2025 On his latest album for ATMA, violinist Robert Uchida takes us on a musical journey through space and time, from Telemann to contemporary composers, via Bach, Ysaÿe, Debussy and Stravinsky. The artist also evokes the history of the instrument that belonged to his mentor Andrew Dawes who died in 2022: the 1770 “Dawes, de Long Tearse” violin made by Guadagnini, which Uchida inherited. Among the repertoire is a piece by Murray Adaskin composed especially for Dawes. What’s more, Uchida and his piano partner Philip Chiu…

CD Review | Gerald Finley & Lise Davidsen, The Flying Dutchman

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By Joseph So on 3 April 2025 CD and Book Reviews

Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer Lise Davidsen, soprano; Gerald Finley, bass-baritone; Brindley Sherratt, bass; Stanislas de Barbeyrac and Eirik Grøtvedt, tenors; Anna Kissjudit, mezzo-soprano; Orchestra and Chorus of Norwegian National Opera, Edward Gardner, conductor Decca, 2025 Of the 13 operas Wagner composed, his fourth—Der fliegende Holländer, also known as The Flying Dutchman, and premiered in1843)—was his first hit. Legend has it that Wagner and his wife Minna, on their way from Germany to England in 1839, were stranded in southeastern Norway when the ship they were on encountered a fierce storm. This experience provided Wagner with the inspiration for this opera. …

CD Review | Barbara Hannigan, Electric Fields

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By John Gilks on 2 April 2025 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music

Electric Fields Barbara Hannigan, vocals; Katia and Marielle Labèque, pianos; David Chalmin, synths and electronics Alpha Classics, May 2025 Electric Fields is a new recording from Barbara Hannigan, the Labèque sisters and David Chalmin and is due for release in May. It consists of music for voice, two pianos and live electronics based on, or inspired by, music from the medieval period through the Renaissance—specifically, the work of Hildegard von Bingen, Barbara Strozzi and Francesca Caccini. The music is composed or arranged by Chalmin or Bryce Dessner with texts from various sources, though one track is completely improvised. This disc is…

CD Review | James Ehnes, Bach Violin Concertos

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By Justin Bernard on 31 March 2025 CD and Book Reviews, Classical Music

Johann Sebastian Bach: The Complete Violin Concertos James Ehnes, violin; National Arts Centre Orchestra; Alexander Shelley, conductor Analekta, 2025 Bach’s corpus of concertos for violin or with violin is far less extensive than one might expect from such a prolific composer. In his disc notes, James Ehnes points out that only two works of this kind for solo violin exist today. Added to this are the reconstructions of manuscripts, which the performer himself made for this recording, and the concertos for several instruments, including violin. It has to be said that the six sonatas and partitas have largely overshadowed Bach’s…

CD Review | Réflexions, Francis Choinière

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By Benjamin Goron on 31 March 2025 CD and Book Reviews

Réflexions Francis Choinière, piano GFN Productions, 2025 Francis Choinière has swapped his conductor’s baton for the piano keyboard, and now brings us his first solo album of compositions. Revisiting melodies from his youth or working with new material, the young conductor of Orchestre FILMharmonique and the Orchestre Philharmonique et Chœur des Mélomanes has given himself a great gift by recording these five tracks, symbols of reconnection with himself, on the Steinway at Maison symphonique. Here we find a neoclassical language in the vein of Stréliski or Einaudi. Soaring music with timeless echoes—between its arpeggios and harmonic progressions unfolds an ambience…

CD Review | Canadian Mosaic, Canadian Sinfonietta Chamber Players

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By Heather Weinreb on 31 March 2025 CD and Book Reviews

Canadian Mosaic Canadian Sinfonietta Chamber Players, Ronald Royer, conductor; Stephen Tam, flute; Kaye Royer, clarinet; Kristin Day, bassoon; Joyce Lai and Alain Bouvier, violins; Ian Clarke, viola; Andras Weber, cello; Talisa Blackman, piano; composers An-Lun Huang, Ronald Royer, Tak Ng Lai, Michael Pepa, Bruno Degazio Akashic Classics, 2024 This disc presents a diverse collection of music by Canadian composers. While the pieces differ from each other stylistically, there is a subtle, yet solid through line which connects them all. An-Lun Huang’s Seven Canadian Folk Songs in Chinese Style and Tak Ng Lai’s Romance No. 2 for Violin and String Ensemble…

Browsing: CD and Book Reviews

Lebrecht Weekly | The Cosmos of Paul Ben-Haim (CPO)

Lebrecht Weekly | Kurtág’s Játékok by Pierre-Laurent Aimard: An Absolute Cracker from Pentatone

CD Review | Matthias Goerne, Late Shostakovich Songs

CD Review | Songs of Hope Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra

CD Review | Robert Uchida & Philip Chiu, I Can Finally Feel the Sun

CD Review | Gerald Finley & Lise Davidsen, The Flying Dutchman

CD Review | Barbara Hannigan, Electric Fields

CD Review | James Ehnes, Bach Violin Concertos

CD Review | Réflexions, Francis Choinière

CD Review | Canadian Mosaic, Canadian Sinfonietta Chamber Players

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