With so many downloading options available these days, CD sales have slumped, and many stores (in central Taipei, at least) have closed. But CDs are still being issued, so we will continue to review them, albeit only from time to time.
Few things could be more worthy of notice than a new CD from the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela under Gustavo Dudamel. He has himself gone on to graze new pastures, but it is wonderful to see that he retains his connection with the youth orchestra he so sensationally led to international fame, and still returns home to record with it.
This new live CD contains Stravinsky’s famous Rite of Spring and a companion piece by a less well-known South American composer, Silvestre Revueltas’ La Noce de los Mayas (Night of the Maya). It should be said at once that the second is by far the more enjoyable work, and it’s as if Dudamel and Deutsche Grammophon decided to pair it with the Stravinsky item simply to attract potential customers already familiar with the earlier and pioneering ballet score. But what Dudamel clearly really wanted to do was use his celebrity to give exposure on the world stage to a homegrown product, and this he very successfully does.
The Mexican composer Revueltas originally wrote this piece as a film score, but here it amply justifies itself as an orchestral work in its own right. Dudamel’s natural exuberance has found a very fitting vehicle, and the CD is worth acquiring for this work alone.
Beijing-born Yuja Wang (王羽佳) gave two concerts in Taiwan (one in Hsinchu, one in Taipei) in June, and her debut CD might provide a fitting memory of those occasions for some patrons. It contains renditions of Chopin and Scriabin (their second piano sonatas in both cases), Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B Minor, and two works by Gyorgy Ligeti, his fourth and 10th etudes. In accord with Wang’s reputation, this is rather a daunting selection, with no concessions whatsoever to popular taste. Her recently issued second CD, entitled Transformations and containing items by Stravinsky, Brahms, Scarlatti and Ravel, should prove more accessible, but we have yet to hear it.
The San Francisco Symphony’s recording of Mahler’s gigantic choral Symphony No. 8, plus the Adagio from his uncompleted Symphony No. 10, both conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, provides powerful versions of both works, part of Tilson Thomas’ project of recording all Mahler’s symphonies. Local forces are everywhere in evidence, with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, the Pacific Boychoir and the San Francisco Girls Chorus all contributing to the massive undertaking.
I personally find the Adagio from the 10th Symphony rather depressing, but the 8th Symphony as performed here on this two-disc set is stupendous. Some people find Mahler’s attempt to outdo everything else that had ever been composed before, with organ, three choirs, and texts from the Medieval hymn Veni Creator Spiritus and Goethe’s Faust, too much to take. But if you want an enthusiastic rendition that feels totally committed to the venture, this could well be the recording to suit your needs. San Francisco is a place for optimism and hope like few others, after all.
Tilson Thomas has been trying to get this symphony right for several years, and now seems to have succeeded. Everything comes together here, and though some will still prefer the Bernstein or Solti versions, this new one is worthy of comparison with them and is a very welcome addition to the catalog. The performance is everywhere dynamic, with the sound quality crystal clear throughout, needless to say. All in all, these two CDs are the finest of all the items reviewed here this month.
Lastly, Richard Stoltzman’s recordings of Mozart’s two celebrated late works for clarinet, the Clarinet Concerto and the Clarinet Quintet. They were made in 1991, but have just been re-released on the budget RCA Red Seal label. So how do they sound, and how do they compare with the very famous older recordings of Jack Brymer from the 1960s?
By and large these are fine issues. Stoltzman’s origins were in jazz, but he plays these works with strength and grace, adding appropriate authentic period-style “decoration” here and there, but never too much. The recording quality is excellent, and if the Brymer versions (and he made three attempts at the concerto) still have the edge, it’s hard to say exactly why. There’s something in the simplicity of Brymer’s approach that is inexpressibly moving. But these Stoltzman versions, with the English Chamber Orchestra and the Tokyo String Quartet, rate at least eight out of 10, with the old Brymer recordings worth perhaps the maximum 10 out of 10.
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