Music and Recording Reviews

Ives Denk: The Violin Sonatas; The Piano Sonatas
Jeremy Denk, piano; Stefan Jackiw, violin; Tara Helen O'Connor, flute
Nonesuch 075597899054 (auditioned as 24/44.1, 24/96 WAV). 2024. Adam Abeshouse, prod. and eng.
Performance *****
Sonics ****

One hundred and fifty years after his birth, the music of visionary American composer Charles Ives has gained a degree of public and critical acceptance, but even that acceptance has seemed confined to orchestral works, especially The Unanswered Question and Three Places in New England. One of his thorniest compositions, the stunning, four-movement Piano Sonata No.2 ("Concord, Mass, 1840–1860"), is more respected than embraced with the kind of reverence enjoyed by Beethoven's "Appassionata" sonata and other classics of the European canon.

This recording's remastering of Jeremy Denk's brilliant traversal of the "Concord" sonata, recorded in 2009, may change that. Each of the sonata's four movements is an idiosyncratic musical portrait of a leader of New England's Transcendental Movement: "Emerson," "Hawthorne," "The Alcotts," and "Thoreau." In the first movement, Ives focuses on Ralph Waldo Emerson's statement, "As thoughts surge to his mind, he fills the heavens with them, crowds them in, if necessary, but seldom arranges them along the ground first." These delicious words give Ives a golden opportunity to jump from one thought to another with a clangorous unpredictability similar to his penchant for jumping between snatches of the church hymns he performed as an organist, popular songs, spirituals, and virtually anything else that crossed his mind or path.

The march of ideas across the keyboard is breathtaking, distinguished by Ives's unpredictable and discordant melding of seemingly inhospitable elements. It's the musical equivalent of the chatter that proponents of meditation urge us to rise above. But if you allow yourself to enter it, virtually any of the six sonatas on this recording will leave you whirling around faster than on any carnival ride. Fantastic stuff.—Jason Victor Serinus

Mendelssohn: Piano Trios 1–2
Joshua Bell, violin; Steven Isserlis, cello; Jeremy Denk, piano
Sony Classical 0198028324823 (CD). 2024. Adam Abeshouse, prod. and eng.
Performance *****
Sonics *****

In the 1960s and '70s, Columbia Records featured Eugene Istomin, Isaac Stern, and Leonard Rose—three eminent solo artists—as the Istomin-Stern-Rose Trio, in a distinguished chamber music series. Sony Classical, Columbia's successor, may have done itself one better with Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis, and Jeremy Denk.

This may be "chamber music," but its expressive and dramatic scale rivals that of contemporaneous symphonies. From simple beginnings, the First Trio's opening and the Second's finale work up a head of steam; the Second Trio's turbulence, with the piano bounding all over, recalls the composer's concerti. The two slow movements sing sweetly, like the Songs without Words, while the scherzos—dancey, scurrying, through-composed, relatively short—avoid the Classical A-B-A form.

Both the older and the newer ensembles are attuned to the music's expressive capacity. But where Istomin and company painted with a broad brush, Bell et al. are sensitive to nuances of inflection and shading. Their compact, unified sonority reflects unanimity of purpose in both the music's taut, turbulent drama and its easy, unaffected cantabile, avoiding any hint of sentimentality in the restrained slow movements. They accomplish this while maintaining a "Classical" sense of proportion, projecting clear, satisfying structures.

Pianist Denk could not have avoided standing out. He delivers Mendelssohn's extended passagework, including the seemingly endless sequence in the development of the First, with unruffled, lapidary agility. Cellist Steven Isserlis brings an impressive, dusky resonance to his themes, tapering to an incisive focus elsewhere. And Joshua Bell's pinpoint intonation and pearly tone in alt are breathtaking. Engineering is first-rate.—Stephen Francis Vasta

Schoenberg: Pelleas und Melisande; Verklärte Nacht
Montréal Symphony/Rafael Payare
Pentatone PTC 5187218 (CD). 2024. Martin Sauer, prod.; Philippe Bouvrette, eng.
Performance ***
Sonics ****

At first, Payare's characterful Pelleas suggests the performance of a lifetime. In the exploratory, Expressionist opening, he draws a firm, well-blended sonority. The move into the higher registers doesn't appreciably lighten, but there's a nice quickening and buoyancy to the ensuing section, with a welcome rhythmic alertness. The staccato woodwinds of the scene by the spring have a Mendelssohnian lightness; bubbly, elusive textures mark the scene at the castle tower. Payare projects the score's individual sections more clearly than most other performances.

As matters proceed, the playing becomes less assured, almost as if the piece were recorded in order. Several sections, like the "Reprise," begin with a poised grace but thicken or become effortful as they unfold. The busy accompaniments don't always line up precisely, though they're never "wrong." And the peaks are harsh and clattery—an unfortunate holdover from the Dutoit régime—which renders sustained tuttis almost unlistenable. (Having seen the Montréalers in concert, I've heard that grating edge in the playing.)

The Verklärte Nacht offers the same strengths and weaknesses as the Pelleas. Payare, once again, displays a strong sense of structure, leaning incisively into climaxes and important cadences. The sectional blends are beautiful and expansive although, oddly, ensemble among the solo strings is uneasy. The slowish tempi in the quieter sections "get stuck" more than once. After the big D major arrival, the solo cello and violin do suggest the program's "dialogue," but the more intricate writing—a lot of it—doesn't go much of anywhere. The lead into the ending, while light and clean, doesn't shimmer. It's all a lost opportunity.

The reproduction is excellent, but the booklet lists track 2, unforgivably, as "Principle Theme."—Stephen Francis Vasta

Sibelius: Violin Concerto•Serenades•Humoresques•Earnest Melodies•Suite
James Ehnes, violin; Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner, cond.
Chandos CHSA 5267 (auditioned in 24/96 WAV). 2024. Brian Pidgeon, prod.; Ralph Couzens, eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****

Despite its dark, brooding introduction, inward middle movement, and thrilling climax, Sibelius's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op.47 (1903–1905) took a long time to win a following. Jascha Heifetz is the violinist most closely associated with the work; most veteran audiophiles know the Lithuania-born, Russia-schooled master's second, Living Stereo recording from 1959—not his first, from 1935. With that recording already in the collection, every Sibelius lover will likely ask, "Is Ehnes's recording worth listening to or purchasing?"

Absolutely. The dark lower tones of Ehnes's 1715 "Marsick" Stradivarius are perfect for the first movement, and his high tones soar sweetly. He finds an ideal mate in conductor Edward Gardner, who ensures that the Bergen Philharmonic's volume and tone complement Ehnes's introverted approach. Together, they achieve levels of subtlety untouched by Heifetz's conductor for his stereo effort, Walter Hendl.

Ehnes doesn't try to match Heifetz's virtuosity and speed in the final movement, taking 28 seconds longer, emphasizing lyricism over propulsive brilliance. Gardner is similarly restrained; note the absence of an emphatic final chord. This pays dividends in the second movement, which is much more moving than Heifetz's approach, and in the beautifully executed opening movement.

The longest of the other, less well-known pieces—the second of Sibelius's Two Serenades, Op.69 (1912–13)—is 6:28; most are shorter than 4:00. Many of these works are perfect "filler" for classical radio stations in need of something sweet to fill a time slot; others, particularly the three-movement Suite, Op.117 (1928-29), abound in lovely, charming, joyful music worth playing on repeat.—Jason Victor Serinus

Brian Baumbusch: Polytempo Music
San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Brian Baumbusch, cond.
Holography Records, no catalog number (auditioned as a VR app). 2024. Baumbusch, Eric Dudley, Richard Aldag, prods.; Baumbusch, eng.
Performance ****
Sonics ***½

This isn't so much a record review as a review of a new kind of recording. While the music is available in a variety of formats, you'll need a VR headset for the full experience, the headset called Meta Quest, previously known as Oculus Quest before adopting the name of parent company Meta.

Brian Baumbusch composed this interesting music for 12 musicians, and each recorded their part to a click track individually. This allowed Baumbusch to combine the music in time and in space; think of it as sonic choreography. (It also allowed each musician to play at a different tempo, for interesting musical effects when combined.) Think of it as "immersive audio," like Dolby Atmos, but on steroids.

Baumbusch choreographs the musicians (or rather their sounds), moving them around in 3D space. What's more, while Dolby Atmos allows listeners to rotate, tilting the head up or down or side to side, Baumbusch's technology lets listeners with a VR headset translate as well, navigating a path through the music and the musicians to produce a unique experience each time. If you want to hear a musical line more clearly, just walk up to it—though the musician may also move.

Next, Baumbusch created a visual representation of the music, a simple but enthralling 3D lightshow against a black background, directly from the musical score. In some sense, the lightshow charts the path of the musicians, through time and space but especially relative to each other. Colorful spots and lines swirl, diverge, and come together as you look on and around, exploring—swimming—against a background of seemingly infinite depth. For now, the music is compressed, and the headset drove my headphones poorly, but such things can be improved.—Jim Austin