Audio files
By BILL F. FAUCETT and JUDITH BUHRMAN
Published March 6, 2005
NIELSEN: SYMPHONY NO. 5, STRAVINSKY: RITE OF SPRING, CINCINATTI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, CONDUCTOR PAAVO JARVI (TELARC)
RAVEL: SUITE NO. 2 FROM DAPHNIS ET CHLOE, CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, CONDUCTOR PAAVO JARVI (TELARC)
Count me among the converted.
Several years ago a friend of mine from Cincinnati rambled on and on about the magnificence of his hometown orchestra. I tried to be polite, but probably didn't hide my skepticism very well. After all, I recall mumbling, everyone knows that the orchestra in Ohio is in Cleveland (with all due respect to Toledo). Right?
Well, two recent discs by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, ably lead by Paavo Jarvi, give every indication of creating not only a good in-state musical rivalry, but also show the Cincinnati ensemble to be in the front rank of orchestras in the world.
On one of the discs, Jarvi, the son of the great Estonian conductor Neeme Jarvi of Detroit Symphony fame, paired Stravinsky's riveting The Rite of Spring with Carl Nielsen's lusterless Symphony No. 5.
The Stravinsky, so utterly difficult to play and understand, was illuminated as I have never heard it before. The usual noise and bombast, which can admittedly make for a thrilling performance, was limited by Jarvi. Here he displays a remarkable control of the orchestra and chooses his tempos carefully.
For instance, the "Spring Rounds" section languishes compared to other interpretations, but its slower tempo lends an entirely different character. This is but a single example of Jarvi's innovation, and there are many others.
A second Cincinnati recording includes five selections by Ravel. The Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloe, a beloved orchestral staple, is light, airy, unforced, and gorgeous in Jarvi's hands. He has a keen understanding of the French repertoire, and the substantial technical challenges pose no threat to the players who have been well-drilled.
What is most appealing about Jarvi's conducting is his sense of pace. One never gets the feeling that he is conducting according to the formula of another, but that he has unique and insightful interpretations of his own that he cannot help but present to his listener.
Telarc's sonics are crisp and alive on my modest home sound system, but in the end it is the work of Jarvi and his group that make the experience surpassing. These are two terrific discs any music fan will want to own. Grades: Stravinski, A; Ravel, A-
- BILL F. FAUCETT, Times correspondent
BERLIOZ: REQUIEM, ATLANTA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & CHORUS, CONDUCTOR ROBERT SPANO (TELARC)
In the realm of symphonic choirs, Robert Shaw was king. His powerful, thought-provoking influence still reigns over not only the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the group he led for more than 20 years, but also over choirs nationally and worldwide.
But Robert Spano, ASO's music director since 2001, brings a captivating and altogether different musical vision to the table. His new release of Berlioz's massive Requiem (Grande messe des morts) displays, in addition to a thoroughly competent reading, a perfect willingness to depart from Shaw's notion of choral excellence.
Shaw was renowned for an uncanny ability to elicit a huge, monolithic sound from the scores of vocal and orchestral forces before him. His results were invariably impressive, often breathtaking. But, to my ears, also a bit predictable.
Under Spano, the chorus is edgier in tone and more spontaneous in its presentation. An indefinable immediacy seems to be the goal, not absolute perfection. And in this haunting and sometimes raucous Requiem one imagines that, to Spano, death's journey is simply not predictable.
The best example of this is the "Rex tremendae," where the chorus and orchestra alternate hushed tones and an unrelenting fury that is often strived for by conductors, but which is seldom captured.
Spano also gives the brief "Quid sum miser" section a positively thoughtful and sensitive performance, one eerie in its character yet profound in sentiment and completely mesmerizing.
And in Spano's hands the "Offertorium," a Romantic-era tour de force featuring meandering strings and punctuated brass passages, is a model of dramatic development and pacing.
Norman Mackenzie, Shaw's protege of many years, has prepared the chorus admirably, and tenor Frank Lopardo sings the well-loved solo in the "Sanctus" with power and surety, although it is a bit more operatic than I prefer. Grade: A+
- B.F.F.
VIENNA, CITY OF MY DREAMS: PLACIDO DOMINGO, AMBROSIAN SINGERS, ENGLISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (EMI CLASSICS)
He resides in my topmost tier of tenors, with Jussi Bjorling, Fritz Wunderlich and Jon Vickers, does Placido Domingo. I'd be happy to hear him warm up, never mind sing an aria, so when I noticed this EMI reissue in the stack of CDs to be heard, I put it at the top.
Flashback: 1974. West Germany. Culture shock. New quarters. Puttering to no purpose. The Verdi Requiem half heard on the telly. "Ingemisco" begins. The "who is that?" moment stops me in my tracks. Placido Domingo, that's who. I have treasured him ever since for his musicianship, beauty of instrument, technical prowess, acting and most of all, musical integrity.
This recording was made in 1985, not too long after Domingo had soared to the apogee of fame and fortune he still commands as an operatic leading man. Here he sings 11 arias from as many Viennese operettas, by turns love-giddy, suavely romantic or patroling the border between real emotion and sentimentality - yet never crossing the line.
Two of the Franz Lehar arias vividly demonstrate his gift for characterization. "Dein is mein ganzes Herz" from Das Land des Laechelns (Land of Smiles) glows with passionate and tender love. Then there's Prince Danilo's "Da geh ich zu Maxim" from The Merry Widow, so raffishly delivered we wonder just what or who awaits him at the notorious Maxim's.
The entire album - with selections from Leo Fall, Imre Kalman, two different Strausses and others - is a delightful visit to old Vienna: coffeehouse afternoons of heisse schokolade mit schlag and deep conversation, and evening musicales capped off with schnapps and great slabs of Sacher tort. Delectable. Grade: A.
- JUDITH BUHRMAN, Times correspondent