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Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Musicaeterna, Et Al Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto/stavinsky: Les Noces
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Jun 01, 2016
Kopatchinskaja is a ‘Marmite’ violinist, as anyone who has loved/suffered her Bartók and Prokofiev recordings will attest. And when you read the booklet at HRA and see its (in part informative) notes are couched in the form of artful love letters between soloist and conductor you might fear the worst from this 2014/13 Moscow/Madrid theatres coupling. All the singers in Les Noces are native and MusicAeterna uses period instruments. The authenticity tells in their marvellously sung, energetic Les Noces, and unusual timbres add to the concerto performance.
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Joe Satriani : Shockwave Supernova
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Jun 01, 2016
Satriani’s latest outing fair shoots out of the traps with the explosive opening of the title-track, placed at the beginning of the album as if to say ‘yup, this is what you’re in for – business as usual’. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, at least provided you’re into the highly distinctive Satriani sound, but this 15th studio album is more like a small ensemble jazz outing, just rocked up a bit. Accompanied by Bryan Beller on drums, bassist Marco Minneman and Mike Keneally on keyboards, this of course is a showcase for Satriani’s guitar playing. Shockwave Supernova ranges from blues to more lyrical pieces, all mixed and mastered by long-time collaborator John Cuniberti, who has delivered a dense, somewhat retro sound.
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David Bowie : Blackstar
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Jun 01, 2016
As albums overtaken by events go, this is pretty definitive. Released amidst much hoo-ha as The Dame’s first new work for ages, it almost immediately became a self-obituary, and was thus subjected to even more analysis and interpretation than previous Bowie releases. Recorded apparently in something of a hurry in the final part of Bowie’s life, the artist working when his illness permitted with long-time collaborator Tony Visconti, this may explain its patchwork nature and the variable formats throughout. This may or may not be his swansong, as there are rumours of more recordings having been made.
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Edgar Moreau : Giovincello
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  May 03, 2016
The young Paris Conservatoire trained cellist’s 2014 debut CD Play was of salon pieces. A year on – Moreau almost 21 – he tackles 18th-century concertos with a period orchestra [see also HFN Album Choice Mar ’15]. The punning title means ‘young lad’. With the finale taken at a real lick, the Haydn C major is the one well-known work here.
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Arvo Part : Tabula Rasa
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  May 03, 2016
Perhaps reissued to mark Arvo Pärt’s recent 80th birthday, this was a ground-breaking album release on LP in 1984 and some of the music was soon taken up by other artists: fellow Estonian Neeme Järvi with Cantus, Tasmin Litle with Fratres. ECM’s programme has 12 Berlin Philharmonic cellists playing it and the violin/piano version with Gidon Kremer and Keith Jarrett. Tabula Rasa is for two solo violins, prepared piano (Schnittke playing, no less) and small orchestra. Cantus, a threnody with strings and final tolling bell, written in memory of Britten, especially had a cult following (though it doesn’t inspire me!).
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Lizz Wright : Freedom & Surrender!
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Apr 13, 2016
Take an artist known for her velvety, soulful voice, add in some class musicians and acclaimed producer Larry Klein, who’s worked with the likes of Tracy Chapman, Madeleine Peyroux, Melody Gardot and Joni Mitchell, and you’re probably onto a winner. That’s exactly the case with this, Lizz Wright’s fifth album, mixing a number of self-composed numbers with two covers: a gospelled-up version of the Bee Gees hit ‘To Love Somebody’ and an unnerving take on Nick Drake’s ‘River Man’, accompanied by Till Brönner on flugelhorn. Wright’s classy, expressive vocals are well-served by Klein’s clean production, imbuing the set with a warm, generous sound. Musicians include Dean Parks and Klein on guitars, Pete Kuzma and Kenny Banks on keyboards, Dan Lutz on bass, and Vinnia Colaiuta and Pete Korpula on drums and percussion.
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Kendrick Scott Oracle : We Are The Drum
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Apr 13, 2016
OK, so Scott Oracle’s début album for the famous Blue Note jazz label lives up to its title by opening with drums, but this isn’t a typical drummer’s album, with the tub-thumping all but dominating the mix to the detriment of the other performers. Yes, there are the inevitable drum solos, but this is much more of an ensemble set, with Scott joined by saxophonist John Ellis, keyboardist Taylor Eigsti, guitarist Mike Moreno, and bassist Joe Sanders, along with vocalist Lizz Wright. Scott seemed happy to play his part in the band rather than being the star turn. As he puts it, ‘The accent is on “we” in the title.
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Carmignola, Gabetta, Lazic, Antonini, Et Al : Beethoven Triple Concerto
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Apr 13, 2016
The Milanese Giovanni Antonini, like Frans Brüggen, came to conducting via the baroque recorder; he was also co-founder of Il Giardino Armonico. So it’s not surprising to find his Beethoven the very antithesis of Karajan’s: a dry attack with sharp dynamic differentiation. (Wonderful how the concerto steals in from nowhere!) Recorded in the modern Luxembourg Philharmonie, the players patently give their all for him. The two ‘serious’ overtures are the most satisfying tracks here, but that’s only because Sony has frequently given the soloists too much prominence in the Triple Concerto – Gabetta being one of its ‘star’ signings.
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Eliane Elias : Made In Brazil
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Mar 11, 2016
This album does just what it says on the tin – well, sort of. For while Elias did return to the country of her birth to rehearse and record this set, other elements were recorded in the USA and the UK, giving the whole thing a slightly ‘samba by the numbers’ feel. Yes, it’s desperately commercial, and focuses the attention on the obviously very talented pianist/vocalist. However, the over-lush strings, which swell and shimmer away in the background, and without which the sound would have lost very little, do give this set a bit too much of the ‘latin Diana Krall’ effect.
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Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Manfred Honeck : Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 & Symphony No. 7
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Mar 11, 2016
In a lengthy booklet essay Manfred Honeck explains all his interpretative decisions: live recording, a large orchestra with divided violins, pizzicati continued right to the end of 7(ii) – as suggested to him by Kleiber when Honeck was an orchestral violinist – and various minutiae, with timing/bar reference details. He writes about changing styles since the very first recordings of No 5 in 1910/13. But – oh dear! – the motto theme in the first movement is slowed for every appearance: that’s a write-off for me, I’m afraid. There is also a distracting rhythmic pattern unearthed in the finale, 9m10s-9m 19s.
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Bruno Abgelini, Regis Huby, Claude Tchamitchian, Edward Perraud : Instant Sharings
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Mar 11, 2016
Taking its title from the idea that ‘Music starts and then you have to broadcast, listen, share, make quick decisions… so as to turn this four-person adventure into one’, this album could so easily have become another one of those exercises in indulgent, meandering music. Fortunately, though, pianist Angelini has here partnered with some clearly very talented musicians – Régis Huby on violins and electronics, bassist Claude Tchamitchian and Edward Perraud on drums and percussion – to come up with a constantly interesting set of originals and homages to the likes of Wayne Shorter. Full of sonic light and shade, it was recorded with excellent clarity and powerful dynamics by Gérard de Haro at Studio La Buissonne, on whose house label it’s released, and yes, it delivers a very real sense of musical exploration to keep the listener hooked. AE Sound Quality: 80% Hi-Fi News Lab Report This is an 88.
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Andreas Staier, Freuburger Barockorchester : J.s. Bach: Harpsichord Concertos
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Mar 11, 2016
96kHz/24-bit & 16-bit, FLAC, Harmonia Mundi HMC 902181. 82 (supplied by www. eclassical. com) For these 2013 Freiburg Ensemblehaus recordings of the seven keyboard concertos with strings – BWV1057 more familiar as the Fourth Brandenburg, BWV1054 and 1058 derived from violin concertos – Staier has chosen a modern copy of a 1734 Hass instrument.
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David Gilmour : Rattle That Lock
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Mar 11, 2016
Sounding much more like a Pink Floyd album than last year’s ‘Endless Album’ of cutting-room sweepings [Endless River; reviewed here], David Gilmour’s first solo outing for almost a decade has all the familiar traits and musical clues to keep the faithful more than happy. There’s the soaring guitar, and little things like the title track fading out into steam-hammer-like industrial sounds. Similarly, the track ‘Faces Of Stone’ might well have come from any Floyd album you care to mention. And Mrs Gilmour, Polly Samson, can write perfectly Floydesque lyrics! With exemplary production and sound, and a guest roster encompassing David Crosby and Graham Nash, Robert Wyatt and Jools Holland, this is just what you might expect from David Gilmour as he approaches the ripe age of 70 – although some might suggest that’s both its greatest strength and its major weakness.
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Alexander Melnikov, Pablo Heras Casado, Et Al : Schumann: Piano Concerto Op. 54, Piano Trio No. 2 Op. 80
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Feb 12, 2016
As with their Dvorák series with the Czech PO, Faust/Melnikov/Queyras are coupling a chamber work with a concerto – this time with a period-instrument orchestra. For the Schumann Concerto, Melnikov has elected to play a robust 1837 Érard; then an 1847 Streicher in the Trio – with more body than the one heard in their Trio No 3 [HMC 902196]. Clear and open, this is an attractive recording, with some subtle detailing mostly from Faust. The Concerto is more unsettling.
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Daniel Cacija : Lifeline
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Feb 12, 2016
This début album by Croatian-born but German-resident singer ?a?ija features what could only be described as an eclectic mix of music, from hip-hop influences to standards (some of them recorded live), but with one major unifying factor: the star, here front and centre before a band of anonymous musicians, has a damn fine set of pipes on him. He can cruise through Mingus’s ‘Strollin’’ with consummate ease, slam out the self-arranged ‘No Church In The Wild’ (which credits writers from Kanye West to Phil Manzanera and James Brown), and whip up the audience at the North Sea Jazz Festival with his take on ‘Lush Life’, one of three live tracks closing the album. He’s served well by recordings (again uncredited) fully able to reveal his timbres and techniques, to make a fine showcase for what is clearly a highly impressive voice and some great musicianship. AE Sound Quality: 80% Hi-Fi News Lab Report All tracks present as 88.
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