Classical CDs
Classical CDs
by Ian Dando
A SOUND CAME FROM HEAVEN, the Graduate Choir (Atoll). This multi-ethnic Auckland choir of 35 has strong Polynesian numbers. That’s a guarantee against bloodless singing and towards a full and rich tone with spontaneous emotional involvement. The choir sounds assured in the deepest classical heavyweights such as the double canon writing in Brahms’ Geistliches Lied and their powerfully declamatory singing in Charles Stanford’s long and pro-active sacred work. This and the rich choral sonority of David Hamilton’s Karanga are the two standout items. They respond superbly to Hamilton’s imaginative changes of colouring and density. Director Terence Maskell has shaped this into one of our most exciting smaller choirs.
REGNART: MISSA SUPER OENIADES NYMPHAE, Cinquecento Renaissance Vokal (Hyperion). Netherlander Jacob Regnart (c1540-1599) is often compared with his better-known compatriot Orlandus Lassus. Both excelled across many genres. Compared with the pithy Lassus, Regnart was more interested in working out contrapuntal ideas. In his parody mass Missa Super Oeniades Nymphae, he unusually has most of the Credo in triple time and uses antiphonal voices in the Gloria to help underline word painting. Refreshing innovations occur in the eight motets, too. In Quare Tristis es, he destabilises tonality by avoiding cadences for the first 15 bars. His music comes across freshly in discerning performances by Cinquecento’s two countertenors, two tenors, one baritone and one bass.
STRAUSS: LIEDER, Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), Helmut Deutsch (piano) (Harmonia Mundi). Kaufmann’s voice, “velvety round the edges but steely in the core” (according to the sleeve), is well suited to the soaring vocal lines you get in Strauss’ many rhapsodic expressions of love, as in his popular Zueignung. His tones nestle warmly into those introspective ones such as the soft Befreit, depicting the tenderness of a husband addressing his dying wife. Deutsch’s billowing playing encompasses the rich sonorities of Strauss’ piano writing. Kaufmann shows his versatility in the many moods of these 28 lieder. This is an impressive debut from Germany’s young tenor.
SCHUBERT: SONATAS FOR VIOLIN & PIANO, Andrew Manze (violin), Richard Egarr (fortepiano) (Harmonia Mundi). The radiant, songlike Schubert emerges in No 4. But there’s little Schubert in the first three. These two discriminating performers at least highlight any small vestiges of Schubert such as No 2’s wide melodic leaps and No 3’s adventurous modulations. However, lack of originality leaves little lasting impression.
