Hilary Hahn: Eclipse (CD review)

Music of Dvorak, Ginastera, and Sarasate. Hilary Hahn, violin; Andres Orzco-Estrada, Frankfurt Radio Symphony. DG 486 2383.

By John J. Puccio

Hilary Hahn was probably born with a violin in her hand. Well, that’s close. She began playing the violin before she was four years old and made her concert stage debut at age eleven with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She has played with virtually every major symphony orchestra since then, recorded a number of albums (mostly for DG and Sony), and won an appropriate number of awards. So, yes, any new recording from her is a welcome event.

On the current recording she turns her prodigious talent to the works of Dvorak (Violin Concerto), Ginastera (Violin Concerto), and Sarasate (Carmen Fantasy). She says she chose these three composers because she wanted to do a “deep dive in the Dvorak Violin Concerto,” has an “obsession with the tantalizing, magical weirdness of Ginastera’s Violin Concerto,” and has an “inhabitation of Sarastate’s spirited Carmen Fantasy.”

The program begins with the Violin Concerto in A minor, op. 53 by the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904). He wrote it in 1879, intending it for the eminent Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, but Joachim, a noted traditionalist, objected to a number of elements in the concerto and never played it in public.

Anyhow, Dvorak begins the concerto with an Allegro ma non troppo (fast, but not too much), the "ma non troppo" marking used in all three movements, and the violin entering almost immediately. Joachim may have felt that the orchestra dominated the proceedings too much, but Dvorak made some revisions before premiering it. Here, both soloist and orchestra share equal billing, with Ms. Hahn’s virtuosic playing heading up a spirited account of the music. It’s perhaps a bit intimidating compared to, say, Itzhak Perlman’s rendering for EMI/Warner, who is a tick more relaxed though no slower. Still, Ms. Hahn gives us a bracing interpretation, and it may be enough for some listeners, especially fans, to enjoy.

The slow central section, the Adagio ma non troppo, is the impassioned heart of the work. Again, Dvorak's marking indicates he didn't want the soloist or orchestra to take things too slowly, possibly not to make the music too sentimental. The movement became so popular that concert violinists often perform it as a stand-alone item. It’s in this slower section that Ms. Hahn shows us her mastery of subtlety and nuance, with a lovely handling of the more delicate aspects of the movement.

In the Finale Dvorak returns to the tuneful Czech folk melodies of the opening movement, and Ms. Hahn takes special delight in them. Still, I did not find Ms. Hahn’s overall reading quite as light-footed, as nimble, as dexterous as those of Perlman (EMI/Warner), Mutter (DG), or Barton Pine (Avie), so I could not count it among the best recorded performances available. Still, there is no question it’s a formidable version, vigorous and heady.

In addition to the Dvorak concerto, Ms. Hahn performs the Violin Concerto, op. 30 by the Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983). For me, this was the highlight of the album. The piece is divided into eleven short segments, each of them a little weirder than the previous one, and each of them rendered with consummate skill. It’s as though Ms. Hahn is relishing every bizarre moment of the score, and she communicates her enthusiasm easily to the listener. The Dvorak may be the album’s draw, but the Ginastera is the keeper.

Ms. Hahn closes the show with a genuine show-stopper, the Carmen Fantasy by the Spanish violinist, conductor, and composer Pablo Sarasate (1844-1908). It is, of course, a well-known violin fantasy in five brief movements, adapted from the music of Bizet’s opera Carmen. The piece requires a good deal of delicacy from the violinist as well as an abundance of musical gymnastics, all of which Ms. Hahn negotiates with ease.

Producers Christoph Clasen and Hilary Hahn and engineer Philipp Knop recorded the album at hr-Sendesaal and Alte Oper, Frankfurt, Germany in April and June 2021. The miking has nicely captured the violin in regard to the orchestra, not too far in front and centrally positioned. The violin tone is also realistically rendered, if a touch bright at the upper end. So is the orchestra, which can be very dynamic but somewhat forward and, at times, a trifle intrusive. To my ears it’s more of a “hi-fi” sound than a purely natural one.

JJP

Sarasate: Opera Phantasies, Volume 2 (SACD review)

Volker Reinhold, violin; Ralph Zedler, piano. MDG 903 1909-6.



You'll remember that about a year earlier, violinist Volker Reinhold and pianist Ralph Zedler made a recording of six opera fantasies by the Spanish composer and virtuoso violinist Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908). With the present album they have given us seven more of Sarasate's fantasies, completing the number the composer wrote. Although the selections on volume two are not quite as famous as those on volume one, it is perhaps understandable, and the works are certainly as commendable.



First, however, a word about the artists, of whom you may not know much more than I told you last time. Since 1989 violinist Volker Reinhold has been the concertmaster of the Mecklenburg State Orchestra, which performs operas, operettas, musicals, ballets, and concerts at the Mecklenburg State Theater in Schwerin, Germany. According to his Web site, Mr. Reinhold "has gone on to perform a wide range of solo assignments and to dedicate himself intensively to chamber music. Additionally, for some years he has often assisted as a concertmaster with several Northern German orchestras. He has a special predilection for the virtuosic violin literature, above all Fritz Kreisler and also Pablo de Sarasate. He has incorporated practically all of the former's music into his repertoire. For many years he has performed successfully with his regular piano partner Ralph Zedler. Mr. Reinhold performs on a 'Mougeot,' a French violin from the nineteenth century."



"In 1999 pianist Ralph Zedler graduated from Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. He worked regularly in the singing classes of Liselotte Hammes, Klesie Kelly, Kurt Moll, Edda Moser. From the autumn of 1999 to January 2011 Mr. Zedler was engaged at the Mecklenburg State Theatre in Schwerin as soloist and Ballettrepetitor, participating in over seventy productions of opera, operetta, musical, oratorio, and ballet. Since 2011 he has worked at capital Opera, the smallest Opera Berlin devoting himself to the repertoire of forgotten one-act plays. Mr. Zedler's concert career has taken him along with prominent figures such as singers Agnes Giebel, Ulrich Hielscher, Jean van Ree, and Edda Moser."



On the album under review, Reinhold and Zedler offer, as I say, seven more Sarasate fantasies. Since Sarasate loved to dazzle his audiences with his virtuosic pyrotechnics, what better way to do so than by playing some of his own transcriptions of already famous music. The program Reinhold and Zedler present here includes concert-fantasy arrangements for violin and piano of La Dame Blanche by Francois-Adrien Boieldieu; two fantasies on Faust by Charles Gounod; Mirelle by Gounod; Mignon by Ambrose Thomas; Don Juan (Don Giovanni) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; and Zampa by Ferdinand Herold.

Volker Reinhold

Volker Reinhold plays a mean fiddle; yet he is no extrovert showman for its own sake. Now, understand, Sarasate arranged these pieces to show off his brilliant playing ability, so understandably there is going to be plenty of opportunity for any soloist to demonstrate his worth. But, as I say, while Reinhold is a consummate violinist, he never seems to want to draw too much attention to himself but rather to the music. This means that while you may find greater pyrotechnics from other violinists, you'll find none who demonstrate the value of the music better than Reinhold.



In addition, Ralph Zedler's piano accompaniment always complements Reinhold's violin. There is neither a lagging letdown in Zedler's playing nor any attempt at upstaging. It is, after all, the violin that should be center stage in these pieces, and even though Zedler is an excellent pianist, he recognizes that it's his job to accompany the violin, which he does with admirable skill and attentiveness.



The opening number, La Dame Blanche, is a good example of how the two men enrich one another's skills. When the violin comes to the fore, the piano gently recedes into the background and vice versa, each artist giving the other plenty of room to shine. Again, neither man tries to give a bravura performance, just an honest representation of the music. And that honesty works because the resultant performance is delightful.



In Faust, by the time we get to the famous waltz segment, we get the charmer we have come to expect. Reinhold and Zedler don't try to force us to hear it in any other way than how we hope to hear it, lilting and light. There's no puffery about it, no attempt overemphasize it through excessive tempo or dynamic changes; it's just beautiful music, pure and simple.



And so it goes. Each selection is delectable, as we might anticipate from Sarasate and from the two performers. The Gavotte from Mignon has an appropriate cockiness; Don Juan is dramatically musical, even if Sarasate purposely left out some of the opera's more-familiar music; and Zampa is alternately tranquil, passionate, and stirring.



Mr. Reinhold and Mr. Zedler fill out the disc with a generous seventy-seven-plus minutes of material, and the label, MDG, provide the disc with some attractive cover art.



Producers Werner Dabringhaus and Reimund Grimm and recording and mixing engineer Holger Schlegel recorded the music at the Konzerthaus der Abtei Marienmunster in February 2015. Yet again they made the album in just about every audio format you can think of on a single disc: CD, SACD, DVD, 2.0, 5.1, and 2+2+2. That last one still puzzles me. It appears that 2+2+2 utilizes all six channels on an SACD layer to present music not just in two channels front and two channels back but two channels up and down as well. So 2+2+2 captures all the reflected sound of a musical event in true three dimension. However, I have my SACD player hooked up only to two channels, so that's the way I listened, in two-channel SACD.



The instruments appear at a modest distance, providing an ultraclean sound, and there is a modicum of room reflection to dampen any hint of hardness or brightness that might otherwise creep into play. There is also a good sense of the two performers being side by side instead of miked too far apart for a greater (but not as realistic) stereo spread. The sound is slightly warm, full, resonant, and, in fact, quite natural.



JJP

Sarasate: Carmen-Fantasie (SACD review)

Also, Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen; Tartini: "Devil's Trill"; Ravel: Tzigane, Massenet: "Meditation"; Faure: Berceuse. Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin; James Levine, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. DG 00289 477 5721.



When SACD came out in 1999, any number of record companies jumped on it, many of them in an effort to repackage some of their older material in the new format. Hybrid Super Audio Compact Discs have, after all, the potential for reproducing multiple channels, not just two channels like regular CDs and, because of their greater storage capacity, reproduce things on the SACD layer in what is theoretically better sound. The discs, as you know, have several layers, enabling them, for instance, to include multitrack SACD recordings and two-channel SACD recordings on a high-density layer and conventional two-channel CD recordings on a separate layer. Such is the case with this 2005 DG release of Anne-Sophie Mutter, James Levine, and the Vienna Philharmonic playing, among other things, Pablo de Sarasate's Carmen-Fantasie.



DG initially made the recording in 1992, issuing it in 1993 only on CD in regular two-track stereo. But with the advent of SACD, the company went back into the vaults for the original multichannel tracks and transferred them to this hybrid surround-sound SACD, along with SACD stereo and CD stereo versions as well. But first, the music.



Ms. Mutter was a child prodigy who proved herself one of the world's foremost violinists. While she usually tackles things heavier than the material on this disc, it's a pleasure to hear her let her hair down, so to speak. The Carmen-Fantasie is delightful, as are the other popular favorites that accompany it: Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen, Tartini's "Devil's Trill," Ravel's Tzigane, Massenet's "Meditation" from Thais, and Faure's Berceuse. Although Ms. Mutter's account of the Sarasate piece may not display the all-out thrills of Ruggiero Ricci's famous recording with Pierino Gamba and the LSO on Decca (and remastered on JVC), it offers the elegant, refined playing that we have come to expect from her.

Anne-Sophie Mutter

The only minor snag for some listener's may be DG's actual sound; not the multiple channels (I listened only to the SACD two-channel layer from a Sony SACD player) or the possibly improved SACD audio quality, mind you, but the closeness of the miking. I can't remember hearing a more closely miked DG recording in my life. Combined with a very high output level and some extremely wide dynamics, the disc practically blows you out of your seat until you can run and adjust the volume. Even then, there is no getting around the closeness of the violin. However, this said, I have seldom heard a DG recording with more clarity and definition, either, so maybe there is compensation in all things, as Emerson said. The sonics may not be entirely natural, but they do carry an impact. Unfortunately, the impact comes mainly in the violin parts, because the orchestra sometimes gets lost in the background; nor is there much deep bass response to remind us that they are there.



Be that as it may, these are beautiful performances by a totally committed and assured artist, and the Vienna Philharmonic is still one of the world's great ensembles. If I still prefer the accounts of the Carmen-Fantasie by Itzhak Perlman on EMI (coupled with an equally good Paganini Violin Concerto) and with the aforementioned Ricci, it is only because I have enjoyed their recordings for many years and find them comfortable old friends. However, if you have an SACD player, the fun of experimenting with the various modes may be half your entertainment. Whichever way you play the Mutter disc, you'll hear a great violinist enjoying herself with some familiar old chestnuts.



JJP



To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

Sarasate: Opera Phantasies (SACD review)

Volker Reinhold, violin; Ralph Zedler, piano. MDG 903 1819-6.



First, a word about the artists, about whom you may not know much. Since 1989 violinist Volker Reinhold has been the concertmaster of the Mecklenburg State Orchestra, which performs operas, operettas, musicals, ballet, and concerts at the Mecklenburg State Theater in Schwerin, Germany. According to his Web site, Mr. Reinhold "has gone on to perform a wide range of solo assignments and to dedicate himself intensively to chamber music. Additionally, for some years he has often assisted as a concertmaster with several Northern German orchestras. He has a special predilection for the virtuosic violin literature, above all Fritz Kreisler and also Pablo de Sarasate. He has incorporated practically all of the former's music into his repertoire. For many years he has performed successfully with his regular piano partner Ralph Zedler." Mr. Reinhold performs on a 'Mougeot,' a French violin from the nineteenth century."



In 1999 pianist Ralph Zedler graduated from Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. He worked regularly in the singing classes of Liselotte Hammes, Klesie Kelly, Kurt Moll, Edda Moser. From the autumn of 1999 to January 2011 Mr. Zedler was engaged at the Mecklenburg State Theatre in Schwerin as soloist and Ballettrepetitor, participating in over seventy productions of opera, operetta, musical, oratorio, and ballet. Since 2011 he has worked at capital Opera, the smallest Opera Berlin devoting himself to the repertoire of forgotten one-act plays. Mr. Zedler's concert career has taken him along with prominent figures such as singers Agnes Giebel, Ulrich Hielscher, Jean van Ree, and Edda Moser.



On the present album, Reinhold and Zedler devote themselves to six of the opera fantasies of the Spanish composer and virtuoso violinist Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908). As you know, Sarasate loved to dazzle his audiences, and what better way to do so than by playing some of his own transcriptions of already famous music. The program Reinhold and Zedler present here includes concert-fantasy arrangements for violin and piano of Carmen (Bizet), Die Zauberflote (Mozart), Der Freischutz (Weber), Martha (Flotow), La forza del destino (Verdi), and Romeo et Juliette (Gounod).



First up on the agenda is Sarasate's Concert Fantasy on Bizet's Carmen, as good a curtain raiser as any. Just don't expect a whiz-bang, gung-ho interpretation along the lines of a Ruggiero Ricci in his famous old Decca set. Reinhold and Zedler are more moderate than that; they don't try to generate a ton of excitement or dazzle the listener with their pyrotechnic skills. Their Carmen Fantasy sets the tone for the rest of the program by sounding traditional, well judged, thoughtful, and expressive. Now, this doesn't mean that the musicians don't have a good time with it. Indeed, it's all quite vital and pleasantly exhilarating. They simply don't go after the "wow" factor that must be so tempting in a work like this (although, to be fair, they end the piece in a flurry of emotional flair).



And so it goes, with Reinhold's violin carrying the day and Zedler's piano accompaniment always lending firm support. I can't say I liked some of the more-literal passages they take, yet they more than make up for it with the tasteful sensitivity of their playing. As this is mostly opera music, the players ensure that we hear the singers behind the notes, the violin and piano doubling for any number of voices from quiet solos to big choral numbers.



Of all the works on the disc, I think I enjoyed the Magic Flute Fantasy best of all. There's a delicacy as well as a zest about Mozart's music that Reinhold and Zedler capture brilliantly. Here, it also becomes clear that the two performers have been collaborating for years, their parts working beautifully, seamlessly, effortlessly together.



Another thing the players do well is make these fantasies work as a whole. Under the sympathetic guidance of Reinhold and Zedler these are not merely medley pastiches of starts and stops on familiar tunes. Instead, each fantasy sounds like a self-contained work with flawless transitions to help it appear all of a piece. Fascinating.



Producers Werner Dabringhaus and Reimund Grimm and recording and mixing engineer Holger Schlegel made the album in just about every audio format you can think of on a single disc: CD, SACD, DVD, 2.0, 5.1, and 2+2+2. OK, that last one got me, too. Unfamiliar with the format and with no information about it in the accompanying booklet, I had to look it up. Turns out that 2+2+2 utilizes all six channels on an SACD layer to present music not just in two channels front and two channels back but two channels up and down as well. So 2+2+2 captures all the reflected sound of a musical event in a true three dimensions. However, I have my SACD player hooked up only in two channels, so that's the way I listened: first in two-channel SACD and then for a few minutes in regular two-channel CD. In these modes, the sound was quite good. I can only imagine how much more interesting 2+2+2 might be.



Anyway, the two-channel stereo is very dynamic, with huge outbursts from the piano especially. It's never more or less than natural, and it makes a vivid impression on the listener. The engineers have picked up the room ambience nicely, with a mild and unobtrusive resonance lending a lifelike air to the proceedings. There is also a pleasing bloom on the instruments that further lends to the realism of the presentation.



JJP



To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

Sarasate: Music for Violin and Orchestra, Volume 4 (CD review)

Fantasies on Don Giovanni and Der Freischutz. Tianwa Yang, violin; Ernest Martinez Izquierdo, Orquesta Sinfonica de Navarra. Naxos 8.572276.



Spanish composer and violinist Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués (1844-1908) had a talent as big as his name. He was one of those composer-virtuosos who dominated the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, people like Mozart, Chopin, Paganini, and Liszt, who not only wrote great music but dazzled audiences with their virtuosic playing of it. I suppose the only one close to them in the twentieth century might be Sergei Rachmaninov; you get the idea. Anyway, to celebrate the music of Sarasate, Naxos embarked a few years ago on a series of discs with violinist Tianwa Yang, of which this one is number four. It contains two longer works--Fantasies on Don Giovanni and Der Freischutz--and six shorter pieces.



First up are two of the short pieces to set the stage: the Introduction et Tarantelle, Op. 43, and the Jota de San Fermin, Op. 36. These are sprightly works, with Ms. Yang showing off her dexterity and intense performing skill and the Symphony Orchestra of Navarre under Ernest Martinez Izquierdo most congenial in their support. Sarasate was solidly in the Romantic vein right up until the day he died, so expect a flow of lush melodies throughout. A jota, incidentally, according to my Random House Dictionary is "a Spanish dance in triple meter, performed by a couple and marked by complex rhythms executed with the heels and castanets."



Certainly, one must include the Introduction et Tarantelle among Sarasate's most-popular pieces, and when you hear Yang play it, you understand why. It's lilting and soaring and tuneful, with parts for both lovely slow playing and flashy fast showmanship. The jota also has enough variety and virtuosity to keep one engaged, and again Yang's playing is sensitive and alert. If there is any minor issue, it's that one almost forgets there's an orchestra playing behind her. Yet if you make yourself conscious of it, it plays along with enthusiasm.



Next, we find the centerpieces of the program: the Fantaisie sur le Don Juan de Mozart, Op. 51, and Fantaisie sur Der Freischutz de Weber, Op. 14, each about ten or twelve minutes long. Sarasate did a number of fantasies (around eight, I believe), and here we get an earlier and a later such work. The Mozart and Weber fantasies are, of course, medley pastiches, and as such some listeners may look down on them for their lack of originality. But Yang plays them with great dignity and refinement, and one cannot help admire their sheer elegance. And who can deny that Sarasate wasn't passing along great music?



To conclude the album, we get three more short pieces--the Jota de Pamplona, Op. 50, the Airs ecossais, Op. 34, the L'Esprit follet, Op. 48--and the longer (relatively speaking at eleven minutes) Le Reve, Op. 53. Of these final works, the Jota de Pamplona has a jaunty bounce, and Yang captures what seems to me a genuine Spanish flavor with her expressive playing. In Airs ecossais ("Scottish Airs") as the name implies Sarasate gives us a break from Spain and a whiff of Scottish atmosphere, with much in the way of Scottish folk tunes. Yang seems equally at home in the music as she did in the Spanish-flavored numbers. Then Yang delivers the penultimate item, Le Reve, exquisitely and even does a little showing off of her own in the closing track, L'Esprit follet ("The Will-o-the-Wisp"), which sounds as though she must have four hands and twenty digits to execute it.



Understand, as this is volume four in a series, Yang had already done a lot of Sarasate's most-popular material in earlier editions, things like the Carmen Fantasy and Zigeunerweisen. Nevertheless, a big part of the composer's music is entertaining enough to warrant a listen, and Yang's playing is so felicitous it's hard not to want to hear more. This is a delightful album in every way: good music, a good soloist, good accompaniment, and audio reproduction that is up to the task.



Producer and engineer Sean Lewis recorded this fourth volume of Sarasate's music at Baranain Concert Hall, Pamplona, Spain in November 2009, and Naxos released the disc in late 2013. I gather from these dates that Ms. Yang and the orchestra recorded all of the Sarasate music at about the same time, and Naxos released the various editions a year apart.



The violin is clearly out in front, perhaps a tad more so than one would hear a soloist in a live concert. Nevertheless, the violin has a pleasantly smooth, rounded sound that is pleasant to hear--not bright or edgy as some close-up violins can be. The orchestra appears spread out behind the soloist in a fairly resonant acoustic that provides a pleasing ambient glow for the music making. Clarity, dynamics, and frequency response are all more than adequate for the occasion and offer further satisfaction by way of easy listening.



JJP



To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

Sarasate: Carmen Fantaisie (XRCD24 review)

Also, Zigeunerweisen;
Saint-Saens: Havanaise; Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. Ruggiero Ricci,
violin; Pierino Gamba, London Symphony Orchestra. JVC JVCXR-0227-2.

This disc has “audiophile” written all over it. It
features some of the most virtuosic violin music ever written, performed in
brilliant style by some of the most-talented players of their era, and recorded
in some of the best state-of-the-art Decca sound of the late Fifties. It’s a
heady combination, done up in some of today’s best state-of-the-art remastering
and transfer techniques. Expensive, but maybe worth every penny.

Spanish violinist and composer Pablo Martín Melitón de
Sarasate y Navascués (1844-1908) dazzled audiences for decades with his playing
and left the rest of us several basic-repertoire violin items performed
brilliantly on this disc by violinist Ruggiero Ricci, with Pierino Gamba the
London Symphony Orchestra in accompaniment.

Ricci's handling of Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy (based, of course, on music from Bizet’s opera) is
one of vigor, precision, and sheer brilliance. While Ricci’s version does not
display the sultry sensuousness of Perlman's account with Lawrence Foster from
a decade or so later, which remains my favorite interpretation, Ricci's reading
probably makes a more vivid and more-lasting impression. His sheer virtuosity
and showmanship carry the day, making this a classic performance in anyone's
book.

Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen
("Gypsy Airs") comes next, with again Ricci reaching for the stars.
He imparts plenty of atmosphere and color to the familiar Hungarian violin
tunes, making this rendition among the best you'll find anywhere. Similar to
the Carmen Fantasy, Zigeunerwisen tends to sound like the
collection of bits and pieces that it is, yet what glorious bits and pieces
they are, with Ricci making the most of each little showpiece. The violin
sounds soulful, mournful, melancholy, bright, exciting, tuneful, and zesty by turns.

Rounding out the album are two works by Camille
Saint-Saens (1835-1921): the Havanaise
and the Introduction and Rondo capriccioso.
As with the Sarasate music, they are pieces that show off the skills of the
performer, and again Ricci shines in the process with intensely rhythmic
playing. Throughout all of the performances, Maestro Pierino Gamba's
accompaniment with the LSO demonstrates only the finest collaboration, never
upstaging the soloist yet always supportive and sympathetic.

Decca producer James Walker and engineers Alan Reeve and
J. Timms recorded the music in September, 1959, at Kingsway Hall, London, the
venue for many of Decca’s finest productions. Producer Akira Taguchi, executive
producer Kevin Berg, and remastering engineer Alan Yoshida remastered the music
in 2004 at Ocean Way Recording, Hollywood, California. The remastering uses
XRCD 24-bit super analog processing, K2 super coding, DVD K2 laser, a K2
rubidium clock, and JVC’s extended pit cutting to ensure the best possible audiophile
playback. What do you mean, How does it sound?

The remastered audio is extremely lifelike and alive: A
fairly close violin, yet one with a rich, lustrous, realistic tone. A good
sense of orchestral depth, with wide dynamics and a strong impact. Well-shaped
percussion attacks. Quick transient response. Sharply etched yet smoothly
rendered definition. And well-extended frequency extremes complete the picture.
As I said up front, it's audiophile all the way and an improvement on the
sometimes harder, glassier sound of the original Decca release.

Any quibbles? Well, the disc duplicates the original LP,
which means there isn't a lot of material on it, about thirty-eight minutes in
all. For the price of this audiophile disc, it's short measure, but thought of
in terms of pure sensory pleasure, maybe it's a bargain.

JJP




To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

Should you feel inclined to shop around for the disc, here are a couple of suggestions:



Elusive Disc or

Classical Expressions (HQCD review)

Music of
Khachaturian, Granados, Saraste, Rachmaninov, Schubert, Debussy, and others. Richard
Amoroso, The Not-So-Classical Chamber Ensemble. HDTT DTR1.

In their own words, “Direct-to-Tape Recording Company
(DTR) was founded in 1979 with the goal of capturing the sound of a performance
as you would hear it if you were there.

Although the recording media have changed from the open
reel and cassette tapes we originally used in 1979 to PCM digital in 1982 and
later to Digital Audio Tape (DAT) and now to hard disk recorders, our
philosophy has remained the same. DTR recordings are normally recorded with two
microphones to capture a natural sound and the acoustic space of a performance.
We use no equalization, compression, limiting, or other electronic tricks and
gimmicks that can spoil the sound. Very few splices (if any) are used within
each movement or piece in order to capture the musical ‘soul’ of a performance.
The results of these efforts are recordings which duplicate, as closely as
possible, the sound you would hear if you were at a live performance.

The music we are recording (primarily classical, jazz, and
light classical) is served best by our recording techniques. By using only two
microphones we avoid the myriad problems which occur with multitrack
recording.”

Now the folks at HDTT (High Definition Tape Transfers)
have begun remastering some of DTR’s material, apparently making it better than
ever (although I can only assume this because I had no standard-issue DTR disc
on hand with which to make comparisons. I can only say that DTR’s recording
techniques produce quite realistic outcomes and that HDTT’s processing produces
an excellent remastering. For the audiophile, the HDTT product seems well worth
investigating.

The present recording, Classical
Expressions, features The Not-So-Classical Chamber Ensemble lead by Richard
Amoroso. To suggest that they are a somewhat unusual ensemble for playing
classical music would itself be somewhat unusual. Maestro Amoroso is not only
the leader of the group but the chief arranger and cellist. Other members at
the time of this recording included Ronald Amoroso, classical accordion;
Patrick Mercuri and Regecca Mercuri, mandolin and guitars; Walter Pfeil, harp;
Nick Mastripolito, piano; Nick D’Amico, marimba; John Leitham, string bass; and
Harvey Price, percussion. They are all experienced musicians who either perform
regularly in major symphony orchestras or teach music at major universities or
both. So, of course, they perform well. It’s just that their blend of
instruments (cello, accordion, mandolin, guitar, harp, piano, marimba, bass,
and percussion in various combinations) can produce some musical results that
are a little odd.

Fortunately, they don’t call themselves the
tongue-in-cheek “Not-So-Classical Chamber Ensemble” for nothing. While their
sound seems better suited to pop music, their enthusiasm, gusto, and pure
musicianship carry the day. The sound may be a tad quirky for classical music,
but different is not necessarily bad. They are, in fact, quite a lot of fun to
listen to, and they have chosen to perform numbers on this album that
complement their sound and style.

You can judge for yourself the quality of the performances
from the opening track (reproduced below at much lower audio quality), Aram
Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" from his ballet Gayaneh. Yes, the instrument amalgam produces some bizarre-sounding
results if you're used to hearing this material in symphonic form, but, again
yes, it is definitely a kick to enjoy. The performers sound as they're having
as good a time as the listener, too.

And so it goes through a dozen brief tracks, some no more
than three or four minutes each, which is the only real shortcoming of the
album: it's only about thirty-three minutes long. Still, each item is of
interest for one reason or another. In part this is because of the ingenuity
and creativity of the players, and in part because each item uses a different
arrangement of instruments, from solos to duets to trios to full ensemble.

A good example of the diversity on the program is the
second track, "Nostalgia," by Eloysa Barroso, originally a piano
piece, here arranged by Laurindo Almeida for two guitars. It's sweet and light
and impeccably performed.

Walter Pfeil, formerly the principal harpist with the
Minneapolis, Baltimore, and St. Louis Symphonies, demonstrates his skills in a
solo performance of "Whirlwind" by Carlos Salzedo. It's gorgeous, and
it pretty much stole the show for me.

The album continues through short works by Enrique
Granados ("Orientale - Spanish Dance No. 2"); Pablo de Sarasate
("Zapateado," another showstopper); Sergei Rachmaninov ("Prelude
in G," arranged by Richard Amoroso); and so on.

Among my favorites, besides "Nostalgia": Maurice
Ravel's "Piece in the Form of a Habanera," delightfully transcribed
for cello and harp; George Gershwin's "Prelude II," arranged for
cello and guitar, a wonderfully bluesy little work; and Claude Debussy's
"Girl with the Flaxen Hair," improbably but beautifully transcribed
for cello and accordion.

Finally, for a bit of excitement, we have Schubert's
"The Bee," Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" and
Zequinha's "Tico Tico." The album presents an unusual assortment of
tunes, as I've said, played on an unusual merging of instruments, yet it works.
I just wish the program were longer.

Producer and engineer Bob Sellman recorded the music for
DTR in 1981 using a direct-to-tape method that involved two Schoeps microphones
and open-reel recording equipment. As a booklet note points out, Sellman used
“no compression, equalization or limiting during its recording or editing. No
splices or edits were made within any pieces.” HDTT remastered the original
tapes in 2013, and I listened to it on an HQCD. The sound is about as realistic
as you're going to find. There's an especially good sense of depth and space
that lends to the illusion of being in the same room or hall with the
performers. There's reasonably good transparency to the midrange, a
well-extended high end, quick transient response, and plenty of air around the
instruments. Never will you hear anything hard, shrill, bright, edgy, or dull.
You may, however, hear a very slight tape noise in the background, but unless
you're playing the music way too loud, you shouldn't notice it.

For further information on the various formats,
configurations, blank HQCD discs, and prices of HDTT products, you can visit
their Web site at http://www.highdeftapetransfers.com/storefront.php.

To listen to a selection from this album, click here:

JJP

Sarasate: Music for Violin and Orchestra, Vol. 1 (CD review)

Tianwa Yang, violin; Ernest Martinez Izquierdo, Orquesta Sinfonia de Navarra.  Naxos 8.572191.



Pablo Sarasate (1844-1908) was a virtuosic Spanish violinist who was also a noted composer (or vice versa).  On this disc we get seven of his short violin works for orchestral accompaniment, played by violinist Tianwa Yang, who previously recorded several highly regarded Naxos albums of Sarasate's music for violin and piano.  The addition of the orchestra only makes a good thing better.



The album begins with Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs), one of the most famous pieces of "gypsy" music in existence, coming to life and showing its stuff in the second half after a lengthy introduction.  It's the kind of work that puts a violinist's full range of abilities on display, and Ms. Yang comes though unscathed.  Both she and the Orquesta Sinfonia de Navarra shine, lighting up the room with their electricity.  One hardly notices the orchestra, though, what with Ms. Yang putting on such an exhibition of technical prowess.



The Airs espagnols that follows is, for me, an even better piece of music than Zigeunerweisen, although it never attained the popularity.  The Airs espagnols perfectly captures the spirit of the Spanish countryside in a series of delightful folk tunes and original melodies.  For this brief, ten-minute, work alone the disc is worth its budget price.



The other music falls in line, with the Peteneras: Capriccio espagnol among the most multifaceted and lively, and the Nocturnes-serenade acting as a sort of calming rest stop in the procession of pyrotechnics on display in the rest of the music.



The sound that Naxos engineers capture is close and highly impressive, suiting the sweep of the music-making.  Although it does not exhibit a lot of orchestral depth, it does produce a clear, sharply defined presence, with excellent dynamics.  Fortunately, there are no traces of edginess, brightness, or glassiness to the sonics, so despite the closeness of the recording, things remain fairly smooth and warm throughout.



Trivia note:  Sarasate himself founded the Navarra Symphony Orchestra in 1879, making it the oldest active ensemble in Spain and, therefore, wholly appropriate to playing the man's music.



JJP