Volume 25 Issue 6 - March 2020

to medieval song.
A prize-winning
harpsichordist and
pianist at the start of
her career, she then
decided to learn
20th-century vocal
music in Italy. One
of her specialties is
the songs of the outsider composer, Giacinto
Scelsi (1905-1988), whose reputation leapt to
international prominence only at the end of
his life.
Ogloudoglou, titled after the song by the
same name by Scelsi, is a skillfully curated
album focused tightly on 11 art songs from
1960 to 1990 by what Stowe calls “the experimental
generation.” She renders boundarystretching
songs by Italian composers Scelsi,
Luciano Berio, Luigi Nono, Niccoló Castiglioni
and Sylvano Bussotti, as well as one each by
the Argentine-German Mauricio Kagel and
Americans John Cage and Morton Feldman.
And experiment they did.
Outstanding tracks for me are Nono’s cinematic,
epic La Fabbrica Illuminata for voice
and tape, and the more concise, though
perhaps even more musically compelling,
Sequenza III by Berio. The latter is beautifully
rendered by Stowe – and I’ve heard
Cathy Berberian, for whom it was composed,
perform it live.
Breathtakingly iconoclastic, perhaps even
shocking when brand new, this tough song
repertoire is little programmed today, at
least in Canada. Stowe thus does us a favour,
presenting her recital of songs by seminal
later-generation high modernists with
virtuoso verve. She committedly follows
their demanding performance instructions
and groundbreaking aesthetics, by the end
winning over those who care to listen with her
exhilarating musicality.
Andrew Timar
Paul Moravec – Sanctuary Road
Soloists; Oratorio Society of New York
Chorus and Orchestra; Kent Tritle
Naxos 8.559884 (naxosdirect.com)
!!
Stories of
the plight of the
African slave in the
US have echoed
in the secrecy of
the Underground
Railroad for
hundreds of years,
the best of them
recounted in prose, poetry and, somewhat
recently, also in film. Musical stories – sung
in the style of classic and modern blues and
extended narrative jazz compositions – have
also been heard. However, the operatic stage
with live characters offers a distinctly different
canvas where some of the most uplifting
stories of the escape from slavery have
been told.
In this most recent one, Paul Moravec and
Mark Campbell have come together as musician
and librettist in Sanctuary Road, to
recreate epic narratives of William Still’s book
The Underground Railroad. This is a powerful
work, layered with meaning, rich in detail,
tragedy and triumph and, above all, cathartic
pathos. All of this takes more than the stories
themselves. It takes a fabulous cast, which
Moravec and Campbell have found in the
singers and musicians of the Oratorio Society
of New York Chorus and Orchestra directed by
Kent Tritle.
On Sanctuary Road Still’s narratives rise to a
rarefied realm thanks to compelling performances
by its soloists. Soprano Laquita Mitchell
is radiant, mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-
Davis is mesmerizing, and tenor Joshua Blue,
baritone Malcolm J. Merriweather and bassbaritone
Dashon Burton are spellbinding. Each
of the soloists palpably evokes the suffering
and joy of those who escaped to freedom from
the American South into Canada.
Raul da Gama
CLASSICAL AND BEYOND
Del Signor Graun
Ludovice Ensemble
Veterum Musica VM021
(veterummusica.com)
!!
Music at the
court of Frederick
the Great usually
conjures up images
of JJ Quantz and
CPE Bach – or even
Frederick himself.
That image is now
under challenge
due to this recording of music by the brothers
Graun, who occupied key positions during
Frederick’s rule.
This CD features three sonatas by each
composer. Some movements are highly
spirited. Listen to the Poco Allegro from the
opening to the Sonata in D by Carl Heinrich
and then contrast it with the Largo from the
same sonata; there is an almost hesitant entry
of the flute. And some movements are genteel.
The Adagio from the Sonata in G is thoughtful
and measured.
Then there is the other Graun, Johann
Gottlieb. The Adagio from his Sonata in
D demonstrates how much freedom this
composer allowed his flutist, what with this
movement’s forthright and almost chirpy
playing, something enhanced in the following
Allegro ma non molto. Joana Amorim
obviously appreciates this tuneful opportunity,
although it should not be allowed to
overshadow Fernando Miguel Jalôto’s harpsichord
playing.
Contrasted as they are in their approaches,
these two composers’ works are rarely
performed these days. It is time for them to be
restored to a more popular status.
Michael Schwartz
Schumann – Overture Genoveva;
Symphonies 2 & 4
London Symphony Orchestra; Sir John Eliot
Gardiner
LSO Live LSO0818 (naxosdirect.com)
!!
Sir John Eliot
Gardiner represents
a new breed
of conductors, like
Norrington, Jacobs
and others who
began their careers
in Baroque repertoire
with period
instrument orchestras and then through the
back door, came to the classics and Romantics
and modern symphony orchestras. Gardiner
with the LSO and modern instruments interestingly
now turns to the very Romantic music
of Robert Schumann.
Schumann’s symphonies have been much
maligned in the past by critics saying that he
couldn’t orchestrate, but actually this was
caused, in Gardiner’s words, by “the late
19th century, opulent concept of Schumann”
with muddied textures resulting from the
over-Romantic approach of conductors of
the time. Gardiner intends to rectify this by
bringing “freshness, vivaciousness and clarity”
and clean and transparent textures, using his
previous experiences with period orchestras.
The Fourth is a particular favourite of mine
and also it seems a favourite of conductors. It’s
compact, optimistic, forward-looking and full
of surprises. Note how Schumann links the
movements together with no stops between
them, the “trombone sigh” in the first movement
development or the mysterious transition
between the end of the third and beginning
of the fourth movement. I remember Solti
practically dancing the lovely melody in the
last movement.
The Second is a turbulent affair, a work
of genius; the first movement especially, a
tremendous tour de force of a single strong
rhythmic theme relentlessly driven with
neverending variants towards a strong conclusion
on the brass. Gardiner opts for fast speeds
throughout (except for the heavenly Adagio
espressivo) that can be very exciting, but can
be detrimental to the beauty of the details.
Bernstein’s magisterial reading with the VPO is
still my benchmark.
Janos Gardonyi
Piccolo Concertos
Jean-Louis Beaumadier; Prague RSO; Vahan
Mardirossian
Skarbo DSK3192 (site.skarbo.fr)
! ! How extraordinary
is this
recording of the
Prague Radio
Symphony and
virtuoso piccolo
crusader, Jean-
Louis Beaumadier!
thewholenote.com March 2020 | 81