April classical CD reviews of Schubert, Holst and Nielsen recordings
April classical CD reviews bring a varied group of recordings that reward attentive listening, some returning to well-known repertoire with a fresh sense of perspective, others confirming their place within an already crowded catalogue. The continuing presence of composers such as Schubert within the European tradition, preserved in collections such as those held by the British Library, still shapes how this music is approached today. These are not performances that always declare themselves immediately, but several reveal their qualities more fully over time. What follows moves from the intimacy of Schubert’s piano writing to the broader scale of orchestral works, each approached with a clear sense of intent, if not always with equal conviction.
Eric Lu, pianist, recorded Schubert’s Impromptus D.899 and 935 for Warner Classics
Image credit | Warner Classics
Schubert
Impromptus D.899 and 935
Eric Lu – Piano
Warner Classics 5021732869319
Eric Lu is a 29-year-old American pianist who won the 2018 Leeds Piano Competition and last year’s Chopin Competition in Warsaw, which is enough of a launch to any career. He does play beautifully, his Schubert having a limpid quality that makes these two late sets of impromptus, four pieces in each set, gorgeous listening on CD. Schubert did not write them to be listened to in 70 minutes of exquisite sound on a modern Steinway, of course, but he might have liked much of this. They were written in 1827, the year before he died, and they have something of the feeling of a cycle; he worked on Winterreise at much the same time. There is a reverence to Lu’s interpretation which is admirable but means that he can linger a little too long, be at times too careful. There are angry moments in these works, despairing ones as well, not just wonderfully crafted melodies. I would not want him to bang the keys, but perhaps emotion could be released with more vehemence.
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London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano performing Holst’s The Planets and Bax’s Tintagel
Image credit | LSO Live
Holst / Bax
The Planets / Tintagel
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Antonio Pappano – Conductor
LSO Live LSO0904
Pappano has started his time as the LSO’s Principal Conductor with the same reliability he showed in his many years at Covent Garden. This should be just the repertoire for him – the drama of The Planets and Arnold Bax’s late Romantic tone poem of the Cornish coast in all its fury of storm and legend. Perhaps it is just word association with Pappano’s Italian half, but I sense an affinity with Respighi in his interpretation of Holst’s masterpiece. There are times, though, when I wish the LSO’s recordings had been made in the studio at Abbey Road rather than at a live performance in the Barbican. It is a dry hall, and the engineer has to make sure audience noise is cut out. The result can sound a touch constrained, and Pappano’s care to reveal the detail and subtlety of the music means some of the necessary urgency is not quite achieved. The Planets performance comes nowhere near the clarity and intensity of Sir Adrian Boult’s 1978 Abbey Road recording with the LPO, but by then Boult had been conducting the work for 60 years. Pappano’s is fine but not definitive in a crowded market. In Tintagel he finds the expansiveness for the riot of sea and wind but allows the tension to relax too much in the more tranquil sections, so this disc is more interesting as a document of the concert than as a library addition.
Danish National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Herbert Blomstedt performing Nielsen’s symphonies and orchestral works
Image credit | Warner Classics
Nielsen
Symphonies 1–6 and orchestral works
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Herbert Blomstedt – Conductor
Warner Classics 5021732957771 (5 CDs)
For the DNSO, playing Nielsen is as much in their blood as the Czech Philharmonic playing Dvořák or the LSO playing Elgar. They know how the music should go, reflecting time, symphonic evolution and the Nordic land and seascape. These recordings of so much of his orchestral music have become the reference points by which others are judged. They have been remastered for this collection so they can be listened to in surround sound if you have an SACD player. Astonishingly, Herbert Blomstedt is still conducting at the age of 98, but these sessions took place between 1973 and 1975. His approach is respectful of Nielsen’s concern for structure but lets the composer’s monumental and experimental sides have full expression too. Whenever I come back to Nielsen’s music, I am fascinated by its breadth and inventiveness. The early symphonies have plenty of late Romantic bite; the later works – like the Fifth Symphony – move firmly into 20th-century territory. The Sixth Symphony, Sinfonia Semplice, has hints of neoclassicism but with disruptive elements undermining the comfort zone. This set also includes the clarinet, flute and violin concertos, all strongly characterised works, alongside a disc of smaller orchestral pieces, including the Helios Overture and rarer repertoire.
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[Image Credit | The Kennedy Center]
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