The latest releases reviewed.
DUBUSSY: JEUX; DEBUSSY/MATTHEWS: 12 PRELUDES; COLIN MATTHEWS: POSTLUDE, MONSIEUR CROCHE
Hallé Orchestra/Mark Elder
Hallé CD HLL 7518 ***
This is a Debussy disc with a difference. It couples the elusive late ballet Jeuxwith orchestrations by Colin Matthews of half of the composer's Préludes for piano. Mark Elder's Jeuxis studious but sounds as if the conductor is trying to pin down elements that need to give the impression of floating, and the result is often matter-of-fact. There's no lack of freedom in Matthews's orchestral recreations of the piano preludes, where he refuses to be tied down by the originals and chooses to make persuasive orchestral statements that are wise to the panoply of 21st-century practice. His own Postlude is appropriately Debussyesque. www.halle.co.uk
DEBUSSY: PRELUDES BOOK 1; CHILDREN'S CORNER
Nelson Freire (piano) Decca 478 1111 ***
Listening to Debussy pure and simple after Colin Matthews’s elaborate orchestrations, one can but marvel at the incredible suggestiveness of the piano originals. Nelson Freire is an unusual guide. His tone is beautifully rounded, and he grades it with a refined musicianly ear. However, for all that, there is at times a want of fantasy in the playing, with brighter rhythms sometimes too chirrupy and some
of the weightier moments sounding just too meaty. Don't get me wrong. Freire can dance daintily. He can blur and smear impressionistically. But the kind of atmosphere that permeates every last moment of the best performances doesn't seem to be part of his gift. Along with the two larger works, the disc also includes D'un cahier d'esquissesand the never-fading Clair de lune.
[ www.deccaclassics.comOpens in new window ]
MOZART: SALZBURG 1773 - SYMPHONIES 25, 26, 29
Le Cercle de l'Harmonie/ Jeremie Rhorer
Virgin Classics 243 8682 ****
These dynamic performances of three early Mozart symphonies, by the period instruments of Le Cercle de l'Harmonie under French conductor Jérémie Rhorer, are pent-up with energy. They move readily into the realm of the snappy and explosive, and highlight contrasts by retreating into pools of calm though the sound still remains sinewy. No one will be left in much doubt about these being Mozart's Sturm und Drangsymphonies, and the effects sought out by the playing are emphasised by the dry clarity of the recording venue, La Ferme de Villefavard in Limousin, which allows for some of the punchier accentuation to tell with a kind of hit-and-run effectiveness. This is Mozart with little hint of prettiness.
www.emiclassics.com
ELGAR: SYMPHONY NO 1; FALSTAFF
London Symphony Orchestra/Edward Elgar
Naxos Historical 8.111256 *****
Elgar may have been in his 70s when he made these recordings of his First Symphony and the "symphonic study," Falstaff,in the early 1930s. But he was still a conductor to be reckoned with, even though the London Symphony Orchestra of the time was not quite the fine body it is today. Elgar conducted with a stride and sweep that were simply visionary, and the nature of his music-making easily transcends moments of rough playing that would not normally pass muster in the recording studio today. The Naxos transfers (by Mark Obert-Thorn) are softer in tone than those of EMI, which made the original recordings. Yet the overall effect is rather more of a piece, and the Naxos transfers are richer in period flavour.
www.naxosdirect.ie
