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Music Notes: Compact Disc Holiday Suggestions
By
David Amos
As
we are nearing the calendar year festivities, vacations, and family reunions,
gift giving takes on a new meaning and challenges us to give someone special
something relevant of lasting value and hopefully, repeated use. I have prepared
a modest list of a few compact discs that I have admired recently, and I submit
it to you for consideration.
Admittedly,
my tastes for the unusual are reflected here. I will list the record label and
number, and if you wish to buy any of them, you can visit your nearby friendly
Tower Records store, or order on line from either Amazon.com, or Arkivmusic.com.
I am sure that other services also carry these albums.
The ArtistLed label (# 10501-2) has released a fine album featuring the music of
Johannes Brahms. Performed by cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han, it
contains the two Sonatas for Piano and
Cello (Opus 38 and 99), and the Six
Pieces For Piano Solo, Opus 118, a set of miniature masterpieces composed
near the end of his life. You may remember Finckel and Wu Han’s many memorable
performances in SummerFests of years past (www.artistled.com, or call
888-artledcd).
I have found some fascinating CDs released on the Swedish BIS label. Here are
three of them:
Leo
Rosenbluth Sings Jewish Liturgical Music. (BIS # 5179757). This is a
collection of many of the prayers familiar to us, including Yom Kippur’s Kol
Nidre. What interested me is that although so many of the tunes were
familiar and recognizable, they had a different twist to them, a touch of the
unfamiliar, and that translated to me as very refreshing. Baritone Rosenbluth,
the organ, flute, and the Chamber Choir of Royal Conservatory of Stockholm give
us solid, satisfying performances.
The
next BIS album (#5179784) is unusual indeed. If you ever thought of the tuba as
a clumsy, slow instrument that only gives us umpah-umpah-umps, you may be in for
quite a treat. Titled Tuba Carnival,
tubist Oystein Baadsvik performs many familiar works that you will recognize,
but with such virtuosity and vitality that you may never think of the tuba in
the same way again. Most entertaining. Together with a chamber orchestra,
Baadsvik plays music by Vivaldi (yes, one of the Four
Seasons with the violin solo part played on the tuba!), Grieg, and other fun
works, including the Csardas by Monti.
Another
unusual BIS recording (#5179695) is a collection of classical concertos composed
for the trombone and performed by one of the great exponents of this instrument
today, Christian Lindberg. Accompanied by the Australian Chamber Orchestra,
Lindberg gives us stunning interpretations of concertos by Michael Haydn,
Leopold Mozart, Johann Albrechtsberger, and Georg Wagenseil. If you enjoy
repertory from the Baroque-Rococo-Classical periods, this CD is satisfying.
In
a future issue of the Jewish Times, I
am going to write about the not very well known but significant New Jewish Music
School, which originated in Russia at the beginning of the 20th
century. This album will give you a good taste of its many composers, all of
whom influenced Jewish and secular music for over 75 years. Do the names Joseph
Achron, Joel Engel, Michail Gnesin, Alexander Krejn, Pesach Lvov, Moshe Milner,
Solomon Rosowsky, Lazare Saminsky, and Alexander Wepnik mean anything to you? I
was unfamiliar with most of them, until recently. Read on. But this disc, a
Hanssler Classic (#5180754) has many treasures, performed by mezzo soprano
Helene Schneiderman and pianist Jascha Memstov. The works are for voice and
piano, or solo piano. A real gem.
Composer
Micah Levy has created a delightful disc that is a children’s story, all about
The Probable Untrue Story of Mary (Who) Had a Little Lamb. A good
gift for young children, it is a narration with beautiful music composed by
Levy, with a little help from Vivaldi, taking us, old and young, through the
instruments of the orchestra, as well as Klezmer, Jazz, Country, and Sacred. A
good learning tool and substantial material, all wrapped up in an entertaining
package. Order on line at www.Sonusnovus.com,
or call 443-203 0006.
An
album titled Gesher is a compilation of the Shabbat service highlights. Produced
by multi-platinum songwriter and producer Michael Hunter Ochs and sung by
Cantorial Soloist Daniel Leanse, it is a contemporary collection of Sabbath
prayers with a modern touch of Rock and Gospel. Far different from the
traditional interpretations, you may or may not find its contents relevant to
your concept of prayer and worship. It is certainly upbeat, and a departure from
the traditional. Visit www.geshermusic.com
or call 615-485 7172.
Apropos
of the New Jewish School of Music from Russia, I could not help but include my
latest compact disc. It happens to contain two Piano Concertos by Isidor Achron,
brother of Joseph, and Heifetz’ accompanist for many years, and Lazare
Saminsky’s The Vow, Rhapsodic Variations on a Dual Theme, meaning the famous Kol
Nidre melody. The wonderful pianist is Barry Goldsmith, and I was most
pleased to direct the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Additionally, the disc
contains what I am told is the first recorded performance of a tone poem by
Ernest Bloch: Helvetia, the Land of Mountains and its People. It is on the Kleos
label, #KL5134. www.heliconrecords.com.
Happy
Holidays!