Updated yesterday at 9:00 am.
Alessandrini rhymes with Monteverdi
Most who have encountered Monteverdi's madrigals have lost their teeth, especially the British ensembles, whose disembodied purity is light years away from the Cremonese composer's flesh-and-blood theatre. About thirty years ago, Rinaldo Alessandrini's nine masterful books of madrigals and his Concerto Italiano were finally published in full by Naive. If the time involved in the process inevitably leads to some – forgivable – inconsistencies in the reproduction, be it in terms of personnel or sound recording, then the physical effort of the singers and the adequacy between text and vocal color leaves you speechless. One of the boxes of the year!
Classical music
Monteverdi – everything in Madrigali
Rinaldo Alessandrini
Naive, believing group
Lars Vogt, still alive
Since his tragic and early death in September 2022 at the age of 51, a few testimonies to the art of the pianist Lars Vogt have continued to appear here and there, including his moving recording of Mozart's Concertos Nos. 9 and 24, which we honored here at the beginning of the month, but also a CD dedicated to Schubert's chamber music (on Ondine). The German musician is anything but new for the Viennese composer, and it shows. The various pieces, including the two trios and the “Arpeggione” sonata (version for cello and piano), produced with two lifelong accomplices, brother and sister Christian and Tanja Tetzlaff (violinist and cellist respectively), breathe life.
Classical music
Shubert – chamber works
Christian Tetzlaff, Tanja Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt
Ondine
Altinoglu makes Franck laugh
Franck is another composer who is difficult to do justice to. His widely recorded Symphony in D minor is no exception. The music of the Belgian composer, exiled in Paris and never able to pursue an operatic career, is permeated with a fire that contrasts with the epic image of “Pater Seraphicus” that clung to the musician during his lifetime. One of the contenders in the race to succeed Kent Nagano, the Frenchman Alain Altinoglu, has in a sense solved the squaring of the circle (at Alpha) by delving into the chromatic meanders of the score without sacrificing the main line and without to lose lyricism. The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra brings the Franconian orchestration ideally to life, completely in chiaroscuro. In addition, the “Symphonic Piece” from the oratorio “The Redemption” and the symphonic poem “The Cursed Hunter”.
Classical music
Franck – Symphony in D minor – Redemption – The Cursed Hunter
Cesar Franck, Alain Altinoglu
Alpha Classic
Tchaikovsky shines in the City of Steel
Pittsburgh may only be the 27th largest city in the United States, but its symphony orchestra, which includes the Reiners, Maazels and Prévins of the world, is a gem among the country's orchestras, especially since the arrival of Austrian Manfred Honeck is their most recent recording achievement Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 (under the Reference label), which they recorded back in 2006 (interesting but less successful), when the conductor was part of the selection process that would soon put him at the top of the Pennsylvania phalanx. This new version is a marvel of cohesion and enthusiasm, all in a recording that ideally highlights the Russian composer's orchestral sound. The conductor, who unusually signs the text of the libretto, also offers an arrangement of Schulhoff's Five Pieces for string quartet.
Classical music
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 5 & Schulhoff – Five Pieces
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Manfred Honeck
Reference shots
A living Roman panorama
Respighi's three major symphonic cycles (Pines of Rome, Fountains of Rome and Roman Festivals), which are among the highlights of orchestral work in the 20th century, represent various elements of the folklore of the Italian capital (Trevi Fountain) in a kind of Italian impressionism, Janiculum pines, Epiphany, etc.). It is a real masterpiece that the American conductor Robert Treviño tackles these three scores in a new recording (Ondine) made with the National Symphony Orchestra of the Italian Radio, of which he is principal guest conductor. Far from creating a cold mosaic (like Ozawa at Deutsche Grammophon), he emphasizes sensual Respighian poetry in abundance. Fascinating!
Classical music
Respighi – Roman Trilogy
Ottorino Respighi, RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Robert Trevino
Ondine