Phoenix in Flight. Orchestra: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Kirk Trevor. Clarinetist: Richard Stoltzman. Navona Records CD NV801
This month seemed as though many of the releases I received were featuring very pleasant beautiful music and a great deal of it is on the first listed recording by Navona records. These are not the most famous pieces of music but they are particularly excellent listening and reveal to a great extent, the flexibility and beauty of the clarinet. Stoltzman and his beautiful playing a great selection of music should make everyone a lover of the clarinet. It's about time, the clarinet so seldom is a featured musical instrument as violins and pianos usually get the headlines. Beautiful music beautifully played and recorded sums it up easily and there is quite a bit of it right here. Featured are: Carl Maria Von Weber's Concertino for Clarinet and Orchestra, Bottesini's Duetto (double bass), Debussy's Premier Rhapsody, Tchaikovsky's Herbstlied and Von Weber's Concerto for Clarinet. As an aside for those interested, some months ago I reviewed the Dallas Wind Symphony concert and the following clarinet players were using various clarinets including: B-Flat Clarinet, E-Flat Clarinet, Contra-alto Clarinet and Bass Clarinet!
Eric Wolfgang Korngold. String Sextet in D major op.10. Piano Quintet in E major op.15. Performing Group: camerata freden. Tacet Audio B198 (CD, Stereo, 5.1 Multi and Blu-ray)
Korngold's chamber music pieces are also downright lovely music making. First the very well recorded release covers a bit of added audio information as the Tacet company is always trying to improve recorded sound. Korngold is better known for his movie or film music though here his chamber music efforts can stand with most anybody's. See if you agree. Someone who can compose music (for films) for millions of people to enjoy, hopefully can do the same for just thousands with his chamber music efforts.
Next up is the lovely singer with a very lovely soprano voice, Renée Fleming, in recital with Maciej Pikulski on piano. Again, more beautiful music with a pleasing beautiful soprano voice here, instead of the musical instruments as in the previous recordings. The title of this recital is: "Vienna At The Turn of the 20th Century". It was recorded live from the Golden Hall of the Musikverein of Vienna in 2012. I shall list the various songs that Renée is singing:
1 Hugo Wolf Five songs to texts by Johann von Goethe
2 Gustav Mahler Five songs to texts by Friedrich Ruckert
3 Arnold Schoenberg Erwartung and Jane Grey
4 Alexander Zemlinsky Five Songs to poems by Richard Dehmel
5 E.W. Korngold Sterbelied, Das Heldengrab am Pruth, Wasdu mir bist
Das eilende Bachiein and Frag mich oft(Walzer aus Wien)
6 Richard Strauss Zueignung
7 E.W. Korngold Gluck, das mir verblieb (Marietta's Song)
8 Johann Strauss ll I'm in love with Vienna( Tiomkin adaptation)
9 George Gershwin Summertime
(encores) ART HAUS MUSIK BLU-ray 108-117.
This month it seemed as though many of the releases I received were featuring very pleasant, beautiful music and a great deal of it is on the first listed recording by the Navona company as opposed to simply well known or even famous music. While not more famous recordings, or music, Staltzman and his beautiful playing a great and varied selection of music should make everyone a lover of the clarinet. It's about time, the clarinet so seldom is the featured musical instrument as violins and pianos usually get the headings. Beautiful music, beautifully played and recorded sums it up easily and there's quite a bit of it right here. Korngold's chamber music pieces are also downright lovely music making and well recorded. The release covers a bit of added audio information as the Tacet company is always trying to improve recorded sound. Next up is the lovely singer with a very lovely soprano voice, Renée Fleming in recital with Maciej Pikulski on piano. At this point that I decided to quote "change gears" unquote and the last recording has full blast orchestra classical music typically recorded as usual by way of Gerard Schwarz and the excellent Seattle Symphony Orchestra for release by Naxos company.
Composer: Rimsky-Korsakov, The Snow Maiden Suite. Sadko-Musical Picture and Mlada Suite. Le Coq d'or Suite. Naxos CD 8.572787
Schwarz leading the Seattle Symphony orchestra in particularly colorful music is a well known specialty for many years. As they have recordings going back for quite some years now, I believe that they claim their home recording hall is of great help for their fine sounding results. I am surprised that they are not using some of the newer recording techniques commonly used now for the best quality claimed for SACD and Blu-ray releases. The deep bass response heard on this release is excellent just the way it is and seems to need little help for enjoyment. As usual, Schwartz with the Seattle Orchestra is tough to beat in this sort of classical music.
