Latest CD releases reviewed
RILEY/SCODANIBBIO: DIAMOND FIDDLE LANGUAGE
Terry Riley (synthesizer, voice), Stefano Scodanibbio (double bass) Wergo WER 6675
***
Terry Riley, composer in 1964 of the first minimalist classic, In C, has been eclipsed in public awareness by Philip Glass, Steve Reich and John Adams. He turns 70 next month, so you can expect a raised public profile around that landmark occasion. Many of his lifelong preoccupations are reflected on this new Wergo CD, three concert improvisations with longtime collaborator, double bassist Stefano Scodanibbio. The influences of Indian music and jazz, the fascination with unorthodox keyboard tunings and pitch bending, even the sugared prettiness of the cascading techniques of A Rain- bow in Curved Air, can all be felt. The duo work extremely well together, and their multi-faceted music-making has an elaboration of surface that often renders it scarcely recognisable as the output of just two performers. www.uk.hmboutique.com Michael Dervan
BOWEN: VIOLA CONCERTO IN C MINOR; FORSYTH: VIOLA CONCERTO IN G MINOR
Lawrence Power (viola), BBC Scottish SO/Martyn Brabbins Hyperion CDA 67546
***
The two forgotten English composers represented here, Cecil Forsyth and York Bowen, were born, respectively, four years before and 10 years after Arnold Schoenberg. But the viola concertos they wrote in 1903 and 1908 have as little to do with the musical struggles of the early 20th century as a typical Ealing comedy with the darker realities of the 1950s. The Ealing connection comes to mind because Bowen's concerto is an unusual mixture of perky and poignant, and in Lawrence Power's deft performance easily adds up to more than the sum of its parts. The concerto by Forsyth (now best remembered for his book on orchestration) seems to have higher aspirations, but remains diffuse, firing at too many angles for its own good. Power and Brabbins play it for all it is worth. www.hyperion-records.co.uk
Michael Dervan
SHANKAR: SITAR CONCERTOS AND OTHER WORKS
Ravi Shankar (sitar), Yehudi Menuhin (violin), London Symphony Orchestra/ André Previn, London Philharmonic Orchestra/Zubin Mehta EMI Classics Gemini 586 5552 (2 CDs)
***
For many people in the 1960s Ravi Shankar was Indian music. But the earliest Western connection on this two-CD set is Yehudi Menuhin, who first encountered Shankar's playing in 1952. The "West Meets East" collaborations between the two date from the late 1960s and actually stand the test of time much better than either of the two concertos for sitar and orchestra. Menuhin straddles the two musical worlds with a flexibility that an orchestra can't really match, and the exotic mix of sitar and orchestral colour doesn't quite compensate for what comes to feel like a thinness of material in such extended works. The collection also includes a collaboration with flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal, and the other Indian musicians involved are Alla Rakha (tabla) and Kamala Chakravarti (tanpura).
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Michael Dervan
STRAVINSKY: THREE GREEK BALLETS
London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St Luke's/Robert Craft Naxos 8.557502
****
By curious coincidence, the three Stravinsky ballets recorded here have all been performed by the RTÉ NSO over the last 18 months, Agon and Orpheus at the RTÉ Living Music Festivals, Apollo (this disc adheres to Stravinsky's preferred title) in the orchestra's just-ended Stravinsky series. Craft and the LSO are a bit smooth for my taste in the rarefied, strings-only Apollo ("white on white" was Balanchine's memorable description), but delicately moody and finely-nuanced in the equally elusive Orpheus. With the Orchestra of St Luke's, Craft finds in Agon a kind of giddy sensuality that fits the music like a glove. Anyone who's formed the view that Agon is a fundamentally rebarbative piece will be most pleasantly surprised. www.naxos.com Michael Dervan
