The last days of 2022 are numbered. Time for a review of the past year. Just like last year, we discuss a number of musical highlights from the past twelve months in seven categories.
We start this year's review in March with the opera category. Specifically with the contemporary opera Blue (Pentatone PTC5186967) by Jeanine Tesori (°1961) performed by Washington National Opera Orchestra. Using a libretto written by Tazewell Thompson, this opera addresses injustice in the current United States. The result is artistic social criticism of a high level. Both the text and the music display refined layering. Text intelligibility is important to convey the message. The vocal lines must shine. Many arias are therefore composed in a sort of accompagnato style in which the orchestra has a limited role. But this makes other parts with fuller instrumentation such as I don't know what the hell you talkin' about [track 27] all the more powerful. Essentially a very baroque approach, but Tesori manages to adapt it to her contemporary musical language.
For the second category, solo (vocal), we also find our cd in March. Barbara Hannigan confirms with her cd Dance with me (Alpha Classics ALPHA790) that she is "not only a maverick in the opera world, but above all a musical jack-of-all-trades who is not shy of twentieth-century music." From waltz to tango and from rumba to quickstep… no genre or style is left out. On the cd Dance with me, Hannigan brings a diverse repertoire arranged for the Ludwig Orchestra and the Berlage Saxophone Quartet. The soprano always knows how to color her voice tastefully according to the content of the text. "Moonlight Serenade" [track 01] brings sensuality with coloratura while Hannigan in "Fluffy Ruffles" [track 05] plays her voice "like a tap dancer". The title Dance with me is appropriately chosen because it's hard to sit still when listening to such inspired music.
For the solo (instrumental) category, we move to the next month, April. Harpist Mathilde Wauters released her debut cd Whispers of Tales (Et'cetera KTC 1760) then. With a combination of well-known harp composers (including Tournier, Godefroid, Hasselmans and Renie) as well as some lesser-known names (such as Benjamin Attahir and Frits Celis), Wauters puts together a program. With an album full of narrative music, this Belgian harpist takes us back "to times when long evenings were filled with storytelling. Away from all social media, tv and radio." Wauters creates an atmosphere of Parisian salons and lets us drift away. With this debut cd, she proves "that she can whisper stories like no other with her harp!"
With the fourth category, choral music, we linger a little longer in that beautiful month of April. With Meisterklasse: Carl Reinecke und seine Schüler (Raumklang RK10122), the male choir Amarcord celebrates their pearl jubilee. They map out the musical connections of 19th-century Leipzig (their home base). They do this through the German composer and conductor Carl Reinecke (1824-1910) and his students. With a warm sound and attention to intonation, the vocal ensemble Amarcord performs the selected songs. It is a combination of some well-known names such as Max Bruch and Leoš Janácek, and the discovery of a number of surprising composers including Ethel Smyth and Arthur Sullivan.
For the fifth category, symphonic repertoire, we jump to September for the album Isang Yun – Three Late Works (BIS2642). Traditional Korean music, European avant-garde and impressive knowledge of timbres – these are the three characteristics that perfectly sum up the style of Korean composer Isang Yun (1917-1995). The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä performs no less than three of Yun's orchestral works. For the violin concerto they are accompanied by Korean violinist Sueye Park. Together they deliver an impressive performance with attention to nuances in timbre.
After 20th-century symphonic music, it is time for an encounter with our sixth category, early music. In October, the cd Versi d'Amore (Arcana A536) with madrigals and canzonette by Giaches de Wert (1520-1591) was released. Performed by Voces Suaves with attention to clear vocal lines and text intelligibility, the music of this renaissance composer comes completely to life. This lesser-known polyphonist from our own region is thus tastefully brought into the spotlight.
For our seventh and final category we stay with the same label Arcana. The cd Light & Darkness: Flute Sonatas (Arcana A537) released in November wins the chamber music category. These sonatas for traverso and basso continuo (harpsichord + cello) are composed in galant style by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788). What distinguishes this cd from other recordings of this repertoire is the explicit attention to sound and authenticity. Depending on the date of composition, Manuel Granatiero plays a different traverso that was customary for that specific period. It gives each sonata a different tonal color and a unique way of resonating with the other instruments. A sublime approach.
Information
Tesori: Blue
- WHO: Washington National Opera Orchestra
- WHAT: Blue
- RELEASE: Pentatone PTC5186967
- ORDER: JPC
Dance With Me
- WHO: Barbara Hannigan [soprano], Lucienne Renaudin Vary [trumpet], Berlage Saxophone Quartet, Ludwig Orchestra
- WHAT: Dance With Me
- RELEASE: Alpha Classics ALPHA790
- ORDER: JPC
Whispers of Tales
- WHO: Mathilde Wauters [harp]
- WHAT: Whispers of Tales
- RELEASE: Et'cetera KTC 1760
- ORDER: JPC
Meisterklasse: Carl Reinecke und seine Schüler
- WHO: Amarcord
- WHAT: Meisterklasse: Carl Reinecke und seine Schüler
- RELEASE: Raumklang RK10122 (under NAXOS)
- ORDER: JPC
Yun: Three Late Works
- WHO: Sueye Park [violin], Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra led by Osmo Vänskä
- WHAT: Isang Yun - Three Late Works
- RELEASE: BIS Records BIS2642
- ORDER: JPC
de Wert: Versi d'Amore
- WHO: Voces Suaves
- WHAT: Giaches de Wert: Versi d'Amore
- RELEASE: Arcana A536
- ORDER: JPC
Bach, CPE: Light & Darkness: Flute Sonatas
- WHO: Accademia Ottoboni (Manuel Granatiero [traverso], Yu Yashima, [harpsichord], Marco Ceccato [cello])
- WHAT: Light & Darkness: Flute Sonatas
- RELEASES: Arcana A537
- ORDER: JPC