Recording of the Month

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Recording of January 2019: Into the Fire

Jason Victor Serinus Dec 18, 2018 First Published: Dec 18, 2018 0 comments

Joyce DiDonato: Into the Fire

Works by Heggie, Strauss, Debussy, Gruber, Lekeu

Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano; Brentano String Quartet

Erato 573802 (24/96, CD). 2018. Jeremy Hayes, prod.; Steve Portnoi, balance, mastering. DDD. TT: 77:38

Performance ****½

Sonics ****½

On the 2017 Winter Solstice, the astounding Joyce DiDonatothe coloratura mezzo-soprano from Kansas who zips through impossible runs of Rossinian roulades faster than anyone can shuck corntook a break from opera to present a song recital in London's famed Wigmore Hall. With Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's moving song cycle Into the Fire as its centerpiece, this live recording of DiDonato with the Brentano String Quartet confirms that she is a song interpreter of rare distinction.

Recording of the Month

Bonus Recording of December 2018: La Fenice

Richard Lehnert Dec 11, 2018 First Published: Dec 11, 2018 0 comments

Keith Jarrett: La Fenice

Keith Jarrett, piano

ECM 2601/02 (2 CDs). 2018. Keith Jarrett, prod.; Martin Pearson, eng.; Christoph Stickel, Manfred Eicher, mastering, exec. prod. DDD. TT: 97:47

Performance *****

Sonics *****

This July 2006 concert, performed in Venice's Gran Teatro La Fenice, is Keith Jarrett's seventh recording of the shorter solo-piano improvisations he's explored since the early 2000s, after chronic fatigue syndrome robbed him of the stamina needed to improvise for unbroken stretches of nearly an hour. Despite their many high points, none of its six predecessorsTokyo Solo, Radiance, Carnegie Hall, Testament, Rio, Creationmatched the cumulative power and depth of his best long-form improvisations: Köln, Sun Bear, Bregenz München, Paris. This one does.

Recording of the Month

Recording of December 2018: Where the River Goes

Thomas Conrad Nov 19, 2018 First Published: Nov 19, 2018 0 comments

Wolfgang Muthspiel: Where the River Goes

Wolfgang Muthspiel, electric & acoustic guitars; Ambrose Akinmusire, trumpet; Brad Mehldau, piano; Larry Grenadier, bass; Eric Harland, drums

ECM 2610 (CD). 2018. Manfred Eicher, prod.; Gérard de Haro, Nicolas Baillard, engs. DDD. TT: 48:15

Performance ****½

Sonics ****½

Wolfgang Muthspiel of Austria has been active and respected on the European scene for 30 years. But like so many of the best European jazz musicians, he began to get famous only when he began recording for ECM: His Travel Guide (2013) and Driftwood (2014) were endorsed by critics and embraced by guitar junkies.

Recording of the Month

Bonus Recording of November 2018: J.S. Bach: Six Suites for Viola Solo

Richard Lehnert Oct 30, 2018 First Published: Oct 30, 2018 0 comments

J.S. Bach: Six Suites for Viola Solo, BWV 10071012

Kim Kashkashian, four- & five-string violas

ECM New Series 2553/54 (2 CDs). 2018. Manfred Eicher, prod.; Judy Sherman, eng. DDD. TT: 2:22:35

Performance ****½

Sonics *****

Little is known of the origins of the Solo Suites, usually performed on the cello. No manuscript in Bach's hand survives, and in the copy produced by his second wife, Anna Magdalena, markings for slurs, articulation, and dynamics are sparse even by baroque standards. The suites may actually have been composed for the violoncello da spalla, an instrument smaller than the cello but larger than the viola, and played while held on the shoulder (some modern players use a neckstrap). But what are problems for the musicologist present a world of latitude to the interpreter, in this case master violist Kim Kashkashian, who takes full advantage of them.

Recording of the Month

Recording of November 2018: Bernstein: Arias and Barcarolles

Jason Victor Serinus Oct 18, 2018 First Published: Oct 18, 2018 0 comments

Bernstein: Arias and Barcarolles

Isabel Leonard, mezzo-soprano; Ryan McKinny, bass-baritone; San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas

SFS Media SFS-0073 (24/96 download). 2018. Jack Vad, broadcast & mastering eng., postprod.; Jason O'Connell, post-prod. DDD. TT: 32:54

Performance ****½

Sonics ****

Why name this short digital download or streamingonly release of a live San Francisco Symphony performance from 2017its native 24/96 PCM broadcast sound is a notch lower than the best-recorded titles in SFS Media's series of Davies Symphony Hall broadcasts as our "Recording of the Month"? Because, as the centennial of the birth of Leonard Bernstein (19181990) draws to a close, this new recording of his eight Arias and Barcarolles from conductor Michael Tilson Thomaswhom Bernstein asked to play piano alongside him when the original version of the cycle, for four voices and piano four-hands, premiered in New York City in 1988is definitive and essential listening.

Recording of the Month

Recording of October 2018: Berio, Boulez, Ravel: Orchestral Works

Jason Victor Serinus Sep 11, 2018 First Published: Sep 11, 2018 0 comments

Berio, Boulez, Ravel: Sinfonia, Notations IIV, La Valse

Ludovic Morlot, Seattle Symphony Orchestra; Roomful of Teeth

Seattle Symphony Media SSM 1018 (CD, 2.0- and 5.1-channel downloads at 24/96). 2018. Rosalie Contreras, Elena Dubinets, exec. prods.; Dmitriy Lipay, prod., eng.; Alexander Lipay, eng. DDD. TT: 58:20

Performance ****½

Sonics *****

What ties Luciano Berio's boundary-breaking Sinfonia for Eight Voices and Orchestra (196869) to Pierre Boulez's out-there Notations IIV for Orchestra (1945/1978) to Maurice Ravel's progressively off-kilter La Valse (19061920)? The Seattle Symphony's about-to-depart music director, Ludovic Morlot, cites their "ingenious transformation of pre-existing musical material or styles." I'm also inclined to say that it's their descent into chaos, even madness, which these performances transcend with an impeccably controlled, highly refined aesthetic, which I auditioned in 24/96 2-channel.

Recording of the Month

Bonus Recordings of September 2018 Bruckner & Wagner: Orchestral Works

Richard Lehnert Aug 28, 2018 First Published: Aug 28, 2018 0 comments

Bruckner & Wagner

Andris Nelsons, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

Bruckner: Symphony 4. Wagner: Lohengrin Prelude

Deutsche Grammophon 479 7577 (CD). TT: 79:24

Bruckner: Symphony 7. Wagner: Siegfried's Funeral March

Deutsche Grammophon 479 8494 (CD). TT: 76:48

Both: Everett Porter, prod., eng.; Lauran Jurrius, eng.; Polyhymnia International, mastering. DDD.

Performance ****½

Sonics ****½

In works as vast and challenging as the symphonies of Anton Bruckner, near perfection of interpretation and execution can come in different, even opposed forms. The slow meditations of Celibidache, the crisp classicism of Schaller, the precise power of Skrowaczewski: each is uniquely fulfilling and true to the scores, and none sounds anything like the othersor anything like the Bruckner of Andris Nelsons. Deutsche Grammophon has contracted with Nelsons and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra to record, in concert, Bruckner's symphonies 19. After beginning last year with a polished if impersonal account of Symphony 3, Nelsons's cycle is rapidly advancing in quality and pace of release.

Recording of the Month

Recording of September 2018: Pärt: The Symphonies

Robert Levine Aug 16, 2018 First Published: Aug 16, 2018 0 comments

Pärt: The Symphonies

Tõnu Kaljuste, NFM Wroclaw Philharmonic

ECM 2600 (CD). 2018. Manfred Eicher, prod.; Andrzej Sasin, Aleksandra Nagorko, engs. DDD. TT: 79:40

Performance *****

Sonics *****

Arvo Pärt is now so popular that it's no longer necessary to explain him. His piety is approachably beautiful and welcoming. He was not born composing his airy, contemplative, trademark "tintinnabular" (bell-like) music; up to the early 1970s, he cut his teeth on the 12-tone scale. His four symphonies, presented here on one CD for the first time, take us through that part of his career.

Recording of the Month

Recording of August 2018: The Gershwin Moment

Kalman Rubinson Jul 12, 2018 First Published: Jul 12, 2018 0 comments

Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (1924 jazz-band version, orch. Grofé). ¹ Piano Concerto in F. ² "Summertime." ³ Gershwin-Wild: "Somebody Loves Me," "I Got Rhythm," "Embraceable You."⁴ Oscar Levant: "Blame It On My Youth." ⁵

Kirill Gerstein, piano; ¹⁵ Storm Large, vocal; ³ Gary Burton, vibraphone; ⁵ David Robertson, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra^{1, 2}

Myrios Classics MYR022 (CD, 24/192 FLAC). 2018. Kirill Gerstein, prod.; Stephan Cahen, prod.,1-5 eng.; ^{1, 2, 4, 5} Paul Hennerich, ^{1, 2, 4} Doug Decker, ³ engs. DDD. TT: 73:45

Performance *****

Sonics *** (CD), **** (24/192 FLAC)

I grew up with Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. I was the youngest in a family not particularly interested in music, and whose record collection consisted of pop music and three oddly assorted classical recordings, all on 78rpm discs: Enrico Caruso singing "Vesti la giubba," Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (on four 12" 78s), and the 1927 recording of Rhapsody in Blue with the Paul Whiteman Concert Orchestra and Gershwin at the keyboard.

Recording of the Month

Recording of July 2018: Life Of

Jon Iverson Jun 12, 2018 First Published: Jun 12, 2018 0 comments

Steve Tibbetts: Life Of

Steve Tibbetts, 12-string guitar, piano; Michelle Kinney, cello, drones; Marc Anderson, percussion, handpan

ECM 2599 (CD). 2018. An ECM production; Steve Tibbetts, eng.; Greg Reierson, eng., mastering. DDD. TT: 50:40

Performance *****

Sonics *****

The sound of Steve Tibbetts's guitar music is uniqueone need hear only a measure or two of his new album to identify the distinct tang of his playing. Common wisdom is that a guitarist's sound is in the hands and fingers, but Tibbetts has another trick: his weathered, 50-year-old Martin D12-20 12-string acoustic guitar.