Music and Recording Features

TRONDHEIM SOLOISTS: Reflections
Britten: Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge. Stravinsky: Apollon Musagète. Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
Trondheim Soloists; Øyvind Gimse, artistic dir.; Geir Inge Lotsberg, guest leader
2L 2L-125-SABD (SACD/CD+BD). 2016. Morten Lindberg, prod., eng. DDD. TT: 70:16

This recording was nominated for a Grammy for Best Surround Recording. The winner is more than fine (you can look it up), but we wuz robbed! Perhaps the Trondheim Soloists' 2L recordings are now quantities too well known—but as wonderful as was the Grammy winner, from Seattle, if you miss Reflections, you'll miss 2L's best—and, perhaps, the best chamber-orchestra recording ever.

I've been enjoying it from the day it arrived, and the Trondheimers never fail to impress me with the unanimity of their stylish playing. Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge are delightfully brilliant, Vaughan Williams's familiar Tallis Fantasia is serene, and the Stravinsky is elegant. However, 2L has outdone itself in this release by introducing a tiny increment of warmth and weight, to achieve a perfect tonal balance. Add to that their practice of subtly immersing the listener in the ensemble, and the result is a thrilling listening experience.

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Job, Symphony 9
Martin Winter, flugelhorn; Alexander Kagan, violin; Sigurd Malvër Ogaard, organ; Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis
Chandos CHSA 5180 (SACD). 2017. TT: 72:02.

I always think of these two works by Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) together. I was introduced to them in performances conducted by Sir Adrian Boult in recording sessions attended by the composer in the final months of his life, and released on stereo Everest LPs engineered by Joe Kane. Boult was Vaughan Williams's major exponent, and those recordings seemed to possess an explicit sense of mission and engagement. Davis and the Bergen Philharmonic come close to that in their commitment to the music, but also enjoy the advantages of modern multichannel recording.

Despite the 30 years that separate the composition of these works, I hear the same musical language stoked with passion, and speaking in many colors. In 1958, Job was a revelation to me. With liberal use of percussion, each of the scenic descriptions is expressed with distinct flavor and drama. Symphony 9, too, displays wide-ranging orchestration and an exciting interplay of meters.

The BPO plays beautifully, especially the winds and the flugelhorn soloist. Davis's pacing is a bit less flexible than Boult's, but it's convincing, particularly in the more dramatic sections of both works. The perspective on the orchestra is relatively close-up, with great detail and a sense of scale. The bass was a bit light at first hearing, but the overall impression is effective and convincing.

SIBELIUS: Kullervo, Finlandia
KORTEKANGAS: Migrations
Lilli Paasikivi, mezzo-soprano; Tommi Hakala, baritone; YL Male Voice Choir; Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä
BIS BIS-9048 (2 SACD/CDs). 2017. Robert Suff, prod.; Marion Schwebel, eng. DDD. TT: 117:00.

In my May 2007 column, I talked about three new SACD recordings of Kullervo, Sibelius's early bardic masterpiece. Colin Davis with the London Symphony (LSO Live LSO0574) was bland, and Ari Rasilainen with the Rheinland-Pfalz State Philharmonic (CPO 777 196-2) had an outstanding chorus and was stylish, but with distant sound and an only capable orchestra. Therefore, Goldilocks chose as the clear multichannel winner Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony (Telarc SACD-60665). Still, none of these three could replace the best stereo versions.

Now comes a Kullervo that has everything: careful attention to the work's subtly shifting rhythms, control and restraint in the long declamatory passages, and careful inflexion of dramatic power. There is certainly no question of the Minnesota Orchestra's virtuosity, and the YL Male Voice Choir offers another performance as strong and impressive as the one in the Rasilainen recording. The vocal soloists, too, are excellent, but what makes this disc exceptional is Vanska's talent in reducing the episodic nature of the transitions through the hero's life events to produce an integrated narrative. BIS's sound is clean, detailed, and powerful. Like Kullervo, the Migrations of Olli Kortekangas (b. 1955) is somewhat exhortatory, but makes for a modern program pairing. I've been waiting for this one, and it's all that I expected.

BRAHMS: Ein deutsches Requiem
Renate Arends, mezzo-soprano; Thomas Oliemans, bass; The Hague Philharmonic, Rotterdam Symphony Chorus; Jan Willem de Vriend
Challenge Classics/North Star Recordings (SACD/CD). 2016. Bert van der Wolf, eng. TT: 61:22.

Of the many recordings of this work, most people will have their favorites. Mine include the 1955 recording with Fischer-Dieskau and GrÅmmer, and Rudolf Kempe conducting the St. Hedwig's Choir and the Berlin Philharmonic (2 LPs, Electrola/German EMI SMVP 8046/47); and the 1961 version with Fischer-Dieskau, Schwarzkopf, and Otto Klemperer leading the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus (EMI 5 66955 2). Both are rather monumental performances of deep feeling and respect.

Jan Willem de Vriend matches those qualities, but his more tender and reverential approach offers a satisfying alternative. What really sets it apart is that it was recorded in concert, and conveys a sense of the performers' communication with the audience, aided in no small way by a most remarkable recording. The warm acoustic of the Zuiderstrandtheater bathes performers and listener alike, and the relatively distant perspective remains restrainedly intimate. Despite that, the amount and clarity of instrumental detail are retained: especially in the low brass and strings, I could relish the scoring as in no other recording of this work that I have heard. The Hague and Rotterdam forces are excellent, save for a less-than-sublime patina in the violins—and while Thomas Oliemans is outstanding, Dietrich F-D he ain't.—Kalman Rubinson