The latest releases reviewed
MacMillan: Tenebrae Responsories; Strathclyde Motets; Missa Brevis; Introit Cappella Nova/Alan Tavener Linn CKD 301 ****
James MacMillan describes his 30-year-old Missa Brevis as "a form of archaic counterpoint given a modern flavour".
That mixture of old and new, an atmosphere that blends the here and now with elsewhere, informs a lot of the choral music on this disc, mostly with a sophistication that's well beyond the scope of the early mass.
The sense of inhabiting different worlds persists through pieces that vary hugely in the technical demands they make of the singers. Some of the flavours seep in through harmonic colouring, others through vocal ornamentation. Scotland's Cappella Nova (for whom the challenging Tenebrae Responsories were written) sing everything here with affecting, communicative directness. www.linnrecords.com Michael Dervan
Elgar: Cello Concerto; In Moonlight; La Capricieuse; Romance; Salut D'Amour; Chanson De Matin; Sospiri Natalie Clein (cello), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Vernon Handley EMI Classics ***
Jacqueline du Pré, who recorded the Elgar Cello Concerto as long ago as 1965, remains the byword for emotional projection in this piece. And Natalie Clein launches into the work as if she has every intention of following in the same heart-wringing style.
She does, however, allow moments of greater inwardness, but her often interesting personal touches sometimes work to fracture the continuity of the music, in spite of the always sensitive contouring of conductor Vernon Handley.
Clein's individuality is better displayed in the selection of short pieces which fill up the disc. Her imaginative charm is altogether more effective in this lighter repertoire. www.emiclassics.com Michael Dervan
Respighi: Fontane Di Roma; Pini Di Roma; Il Tramonto; Feste Romane Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia/Antonio Pappano EMI Classics 394 4292 ***
Respighi's best-known works are the three symphonic poems he wrote in a vivid, pictorial style between 1916 and 1928, depicting Roman fountains, pines and festivals.
They are orchestral showpieces par excellence, and have often been derided as such, and they've also suffered through association with the proliferation of imitations to be found in film scores.
Antonio Pappano's new accounts veer between an impressionism of willowy delicacy and a garish, in-your-face fullness.
The music-making sounds affectionate but there are signs of climactic strain in the playing which limit the overall effectiveness. Mezzo soprano Christine Rice is the soloist in an ardent reading of the Shelley-setting, Il tramonto. www.emiclassics.com Michael Dervan
The Gulda Mozart Tapes II Friedrich Gulda (piano) Deutsche Grammophon 477 7152 (2 CDs) ****
There is nothing pretty about the playing of Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000) in these six Mozart piano sonatas (K284, K310, K331, K457, K570, K576), which complete Deutsche Grammophon's issue of the 16 he recorded in 1982. The style is direct, sometimes blunt, and occasionally surprising in its aggressive thrust.
But Gulda's robust Mozart is often musically exhilarating. The general manner is so rhythmically tight and often so minimalist in inflection that it generates a subtlety along the lines of the Mona Lisa's smile.
The recordings survive only in cassette dubbings, and in addition to a sound quality which can suffer from overloading and other distortions, the final 30 bars of K457 had to be provided, on a Bösendorfer Imperial concert grand matching his father's, by Paul Gulda. www.deutschegrammophon.com Michael Dervan
