New and Notable CD/DVD Acquisitions
Jan. 15-Jan. 31, 2006

Contemporary music

Society of Composers, Inc. Soundscapes (CD 14078). Despite the current popularity of electro-acoustic music, this offering from the Society of Composers steers clear of electronic and acoustic instrumental combinations. Only one piece uses electronics at all, David Congo’s computer-generated Chronos II. The rest of the works stick to traditional acoustic media (Gregory Hunter’s Three Pieces for clarinet and piano, Arthur Gottschalk’s Contrary Variants for flute, and Stephen Wilcox’s uniquely titled Lego Dominatrix for solo piano. One work, Adrián Pertout’s Görűşmeler, does use “sampled harmonium in an otherwise-exotic and truly “global” ensemble of er hu, harmonium, cajón, and bombo.

Cage, John. Will you give me to tell you (CD 14079). This CD incorporates a number of Cage’s chamber works played by two Norwegian ensembles. The percussion ensemble and mezzo soprano Hilde Torgersen also perform an improvised version of Cage’s Aria, which they title “sub Aria” and rather candidly admit that Cage probably would have hated.

Chen Yi. Momentum (CD 14080). This CD several orchestral or semi-orchestral works: Momentum for orchestra, Chinese Folk Dance Suite for violin and orchestra, Dunhuang Fantasy for organ and chamber winds, Romance and Dance for two violins and string orchestra, and Tu for orchestra.

Skalkottas, Nikos. 36 Greek dances ; The return of Ulysses (CD 14081). Performed by the BBC Symphony under Nikos Christodoulou.

Furrer, Beat. Die Blinden (CD 14058). Opera performed by Klangforum Wien with other vocalists and instrumentalists.

Baroque music

Zipoli, Domenico. Cantate e Sonate (CD 14118). Elena Cecchi Fedi sings wonderfully throughout, effortlessly spinning out well-articulated firoture with as sensitive a feel for the text as this virtuoso vocal music allows. Her recitatives are well shaped and tasteful. There are a couple of problems with the recording, though. Fedi’s voice only really rings in the high register; otherwise she tends to be slightly buried by the sometimes-overactive continuo. Cellist Bettina Hoffmann doesn’t help by performing the occasional passagework for cello with almost unseemly gusto and failing to drop her volume level much when accompanying Fedi. Also, the distant recording sound takes some getting used to, but its dry acoustic is well suited to this music, despite some reservations about the balance.

Stefani, Agostino. Scherzi musicali (CD 14144). This set of 17 th-century cantatas, recorded in a beautifully intimate acoustic, contain numerous surprises, from the polyphonic violin figures introducing Fileno to the fluid recitative-arioso-aria structures of the cantatas themselves. Two obbligato instruments accompany each cantata: 2 violins in the first and 3 rd and 5th, oboes in the second (with bassoon continuo), recorders in the fourth, and bassoon and oboe in the 6 th. The vocal-ensemble balance is excellent, and the vocalists acquit themselves well throughout, despite music of the utmost vocal transparency.

Blavet, Michel. L’insinuante (CD 14150). The conception of this CD is brilliant, with substantial multi-movement solo sonatas interspersed with short works for two flutes unaccompanied. The harpsichord could be considered slightly too “forward” in this recording, but this is a matter of taste. Frank Theuns and Marc Hantaї play well throughout (Blavet calls for breathtaking virtuosity in some of the sonatas); their loose coordination of trills adds an interesting human touch to the duos. Gambist Martin Bauer provides a sensitive and technically assured bass line.

Buonamente, Giovanni Battista. Balli, Sonate & Canzoni (CD 14151). The ever-reliable Monica Huggett and Bruce Dickey lead Galatea through a lively set of sonatas and balli. Huggett’s warm tone and her interaction with the other violinists of Galatea work well in this strongly vocally inspired music. Although the combination of cornetto and violin in duet (as in Sonata Quarta a 2) seems slightly odd, Huggett and Dickey pull it off magnificently. The dance tunes are generally played at a stately pace (belying the astonishingly fast passagi sometimes demanded of the soloists). The performers bring an invigorating combination of good humor, freedom, gravitas and schwung, not to mention wonderful group articulation, to these dance movements.

Couperin, F. Concerts Royaux (CD 14149). As the names of the performers (two of the Kuijken brothers plus Robert Kohnen on harpsichord) indicate, this CD should be a wonder, and it succeeds on all levels. Barthold’s flute playing is assured and stylish throughout, especially in the faster movements where his articulation shines, and Wieland Kuijken and Kohnen proved assured continuo playing that never threatens to overwhelm the flute.

Blasco de Nebra, Manuel. Sonatas & pastorelas (CD 14116). Cerasi is an effective interpreter of these pieces written by a contemporary of Scarlatti. The album notes describe Blasco de Nebra as “quirky,” and the unusual rhythmic displacements combined with musical material of utter banality is immediately arresting (the “Pastorela” movement from Pastorela I in G major is almost laugh-out-loud funny, and if you don’t get that joke, the jerky, near-pointillist Minuet that follows should drive it home). Cerasi’s decision to perform this odd little piece using a lute stop was a stroke of genius. Cerasi is a graceful performer on both harpsichord and fortepiano (although her phrasing and articulation on the latter tend to a certain uniformity), and her performances demonstrate that Blasco de Nebra was capable not only of musical diversion, but considerable depth as well.

Scarlatti, A. Messa per il SS.mo Natale (1707) (CD 14107). The Ensemble vocale Festina Lente and I Musici di Santa Pelagia, conducted by Michele Gasbarro, perform this mass which is a combination of an “authentic” Scarlatti mass (with certain parts lost) with organ interludes by Bernardo Pasquini. Maurizio Fornero performs well on the lovely-sounding restored organ of the Chiesa Parrochiale SS. Cosma E Damiano di Torre Paponi, but the highlights of this disc are certainly the wonderful polychoral mass movements by Scarlatti. While to some extent restricting himself to the strict style of Palestrina, Scarlatti’s impulse for decoration, elaborate vocal writing, and colorful use of the instrumental ensemble (here restricted to strings, although the ensemble is reconstructed from lists of performers and it is apparently not entirely clear what the instrumentation was or how it was laid out in the original performance) is never far from the surface. This premiere recording also features excellent sound quality and a well-balanced acoustic.

Renaissance music

Jerusalem, Ignacio. Musicisti pugliesi in archive iberici (CD 14119). Ensemble Albalonga performs some of the earliest Italian music extant in the New World, with some Latin material and sacred and secular songs in Spanish.

Dammonis, Innocentius. O stella matutina: laude di Innocentius Dammonis (CD 14117).

Diruta, Il Transilvano (CD 14120). These works, primarily from the late 16 th and early 17 th centuries, were vocal works transcribed for organ by Diruta, interspersed with some of his own compositions. Diruta’s skill as a transcriber made this collection a landmark in the development of organ technique.

Willaert, Adrian. Mottetti et ricercari (CD 14108). The Accademia della Selva takes the unusual approach of setting many of these works for solo male alto accompanied by cornetti, trombones, and organ.

World/ethnic/pop music

Choubi Choubi! Folk and Pop sounds from Iraq (CD 14077). While Arabic classical music throve in Iraq until recent times (Baghdad was a chief center of maqam learning until the second Gulf War), Iraqi popular music has been largely ignored. This album begins to address this lacuna with a cross-section of Iraqi pop songs, from the Ba’athist folk-rock (!) of Ja’afar Hassan to choubis and other fast dance styles using the zanbour drum. Aside from voice and percussion, instrumentation ranges from fiddles, ouds, and traditional double reeds to synthesizers and electric guitars. Many of the recordings and performances are crude, but the driving rhythms remain infectious throughout.

Lost sounds: Blacks and the birth of the recording industry 1891-1922 (CD 14069). This 2 CD set features many gospel recordings (mainly male quartets) that were the mainstay of early Black recordings, but there is also plenty of secular material, and it gets very secular indeed; apparently, graphic innuendo was hardly new with hokum blues. This set covers styles from early gospel quartets to relatively sophisticated tracks by James Europe, Eubie Blake, and Harry T. Burleigh. While much of the lyrical content today seems grotesquely racist and stereotypical, these recordings also help provide an invaluable glimpse of African-American culture around the turn of the century.

Marassa Duo. Marassa Duo (CD 14070). Our own James Armstrong and Nicholas Papador weave richly lyrical tracks using marimba, Caribbean folk percussion instruments, and steel drum. The constantly shifting sonorities are striking and inventive, and the overall mood is generally lyrical and introspective, playing Santeria and Caribbean-inspired sounds off of Western classical and jazz styles. “Africa” and “Summer Evening Serenity” are particular standouts. The overall production and mixing (all done locally) is excellent.

The Who covered (CD 14075). It’s sometimes difficult to see the point of covers, and certain tracks on this Mojo album fall into that category (personally, I find Snuff’s version of “I can’t explain” thoroughly otiose in view of the classic original, and the Bards’ version of “My Generation” is either a sophisticated send-up or simply not very good; I’m not sure). However, some of the cuts on this album are absolutely fantastic. Richard Thompson is thoroughly compelling in his live cover of “Legal Matter” (a song he was born to sing; the angry, sarcastic edge in his voice has an unmistakably personal tone). The Waco Brothers bring their heavy alt/rock-country approach to “Baba O’Riley” with surprisingly good results. Other standouts include the hilariously effective “I Can See for Miles” by Lord Sitar (a sitar instrumental backed by a full brass and rhythm section) and Petra Haden’s version of “Armenia, City in the Sky,” in which she uses only her voice to create a layered psychedelic soundscape behind (and beyond) the evocative lyrics.

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Updated: 13 Dec. 2005