Shadow Dances: Stravinsky Miniatures.
Orpheus CO (DG)
The 12 works collected here as miniatures range over the full span of Stravinsky's post Rite of Spring career. Some are virtually unknown, short enough to ward off all but the most determined of programme planners: a 1918 Duet for two bassoons and a 1964 Fanfare for two trumpets (both under a minute), a 1937 Praeludium for jazz ensemble (under two). Brevity never hindered Stravinsky's powers of invention; witness the unique gestural strength of the Three Pieces for String Quartet of 1914. Dances (jazz and folk), exotic colouring (a Hungarian cimbalom in the 1918 Ragtime), and unfailingly delectable textures abound in this collection which includes the two Suites for small orchestra, the Octet, the Concerto in D for strings, and the Concertino for 12 instruments. The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra play it all with admirably dry Stravinskian wit.
By Michael Dervan
Steven Isserlis plays Saint-Saens (RCA)
This is Steven Isserlis's second RCA collection of Saint-Saens, pairing the little-known and extremely taxing Second Cello Concerto (NDRSO under Christoph Eschenbach) with the Second Cello Sonata (Pascal Devoyon) and two shorter works. Difficult or no, this is music which Isserlis evidently feels grateful to perform. In his programme note he highlights Saint-Saens's "delight in beautiful melodies, in well-rounded forms, and in sunlit musical smiles", which the composer stuck with in the early 20th-century world of Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Futurism. Isserlis and his colleagues (he's joined by Joshua Bell in La Muse et le Poete) meet the music fully on its own terms, bringing out to the utmost both its intrinsic charm and substance. There's nothing here to rival the First Cello Concerto, but it's all a real pleasure while it lasts.
By Michael Dervan
Schnabel, Szigeti and Fournier play Brahms (Arbiter)
Years ago I came across a photo of Artur Schnabel, Joseph Szigeti and Pierre Fournier in rehearsal at the 1947 Edinburgh Festival and, naturally enough, wondered how the highly distinctive personalities of these three great musicians would have functioned in an ensemble. This new CD provides the answer. Their playing of Brahms's B major Trio is white-hot, some of the performance's extraordinary lift arising from the on-the-wing resolution of tension between the impetuosity of Schnabel at the piano and the greater restraint of the two string players. But, in spite of the sometimes execrable, off-air recorded sound, the music stands revealed as I've never heard it before. Szigeti and Schnabel marry intellect and soul with rare insight in the Violin Sonatas in G and A, but the live London 1947 recordings (post-Edinburgh) call for even greater tolerance.
By Michael Dervan
