Wagner, Siegfried, Soloists, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) has over the years been many things to many people. Not all of them involve uses to which we would like to see him put. Like Nietzsche he was posthumously recreated as a poster child for fascism. There is no reasonable reconstruction that would make either of them Brown Shirts. Neither were they saints. But if Gesualdo could murder his wife and lover and still be listened to with awe and respect, Wagner is personally guilty of far less. Mostly he was used to represent an ideology he was not a part of.

And as we look back today, we see him as a towering genius of his age. Many readers will know him as an orchestrator whose coloristic and expressive innovations had much to do with or made possible the orchestral sound of Bruckner, Mahler, Richard Strauss and beyond. His prelude to Tristan und Isolde  gave cogent form to a modernist, harmonically advanced future. The forest scene of Siegfried, as Debussy himself indirectly pointed out in his music reviews, was supremely coloristic and a precursor to the Impressionist musical palate. The leitmotivic manipulation of operatic characterization was a revelation. And of course the Ring Cycle was a triumphant epic masterpiece of musical drama. There is much more to say but not in this space. The days when a critic could jokingly suggest that "Wagner's music is better than it sounds" has passed us. The music sounds for us today as eloquently as any past master does.

The Ring Cycle, seemingly against all odds due to its enormous length and its four intertwined operas, thrives in Beyreuth but also in the opera houses of the world.

Siegfried happens to be my personal favorite among the four extraordinary operas in the Cycle. That may have to do with the fact that it was the first one I immersed myself in. Yet dramatically it has so much, and so also musico-dramatically.. My initial version was a wonderful one with Knappertsbusch and a sterling Beyreuth cast. Moving as I had to, and in the LP days an entire Ring on disc was akin to moving part of a chimney, I ended up abandoning the Phillips and eventually got the Solti version, which was phenomenal as well. Then more moving and now I have a chance to review a new version with good soloists, the Hong Kong Philharmonic and conductor Jaap van Zweden (Naxos 8.660413-16) on four CDs.

There are sometimes little things that endear you to a particular version, perhaps more via familiarity  than inherent necessity. So I miss the superbly spooky Knappertsbusch treatment of the encounter of Siegfried and Fafner the dragon in the treasure-laden lair.  And then I miss the percussive chorus of elfen sword forgers on the Solti. On the other hand this Naxos version is a real bargain. And in the end it is surprisingly good.

There is so much to get right in Siegfried. The wonderful orchestral parts, the interaction of Mime and Siegfried, the love scene, Fafner, the Wanderer's appearance, the sword hammering, the forest scene, the heroic Siegfried. So much to get right and so much that is irreplaceable musically. It may be Wagner's most deft juxtaposing of leitmotifs, ever. This is opera as epic symphony, music drama as stunningly paradigmatic, in tremendous advance. All gets a crisp treatment, not overblown but in no way sterile, either. The cast is quite good, the orchestra responsive and precise. They get everything right. And even if you know the opera inside-out as I do, there is enough different and rather modern in the reading that you well should be glad to have it as a refreshing alternate to versions you have lived through most thoroughly. And if you need a first version, you cannot go wrong with this one and the Naxos price.

The CD age means you can have an entire Ring in four volumes and not have to move the furniture to the attic! This van Zweden Siegfried takes up little room and sounds great, too. So I recommend it!

Larry Polansky, freeHorn

There are people no doubt who go through life listening to only one thing, one narrow pathway to one musical place. I suppose we should appreciate the single-minded zeal. Yet they are missing out on everything else! As anybody who reads my blogs no doubt understands, I advocate continually a listening mind that expands boundaries, that challenges the singular answer and goes forward in search of the multifold, as elusive as that search might sometimes be.

So after a couple of days of Debussy on these pages I switch gears to return to the present moment. It does connect. Yet at first blush they seem to be two worlds apart. Impressionism and new ambience are not as far removed from one another as one might initially think. And so we encounter today radical tonality ambience and another worthwhile Cold Blue EP (Cold Blue CB 0049), this one by Larry Polansky. It is called freeHorn after the 20-minute title work.

There are three works in all. Common to the entire program is the electric guitar and fretless electric guitar of Larry Polansky and Giacomo Fiore.

It is "freeHorn" that stands out as the most elaborate and satisfying of the three works. The two guitars meld with a chamber ensemble of computer audio, tenor sax, horn, trumpet, piano, electric violin and cello.  It involves as the composer describes "a continuous modulation between three different harmonic series" as set up and followed by the musicians via a computer audio roadmap. It sets up a drone and overtone backdrop that does suggest the natural sounding of the horn and its overtonal realization of the pitches it produces in a pre-tempered unforced sounding.

From the ongoing hum of fundamental and overtonal constancy are the punctuations of the chamber instruments that reinforce now one, now another, now eventually virtually all possibilities of a harmonic series and in the process creates vivid sound color templates while moving from harmonic series to other harmonic series. It mesmerizes and then intrudes with details that then recede into the harmonic smear. Altogether the work makes present a thing of atomized beauty joined together by the adhesive of a gestalt totality, if you'll pardon my verbose suggestion..

"ii-v-i" works within a three-part modulation as did "freeHorn," only it is the fretless and fretted guitar that work with soundings and broken arpeggiations while the modulations are made possible by retunings of the strings as the performance moves forward. It fascinates and gives us pronounced motion in the minimal chamber combination.

"minimaj" concludes the program. It is Polansky's recomposed/arranged version of Carl Ruggles's "Angels" for guitar(s). There is pronounced contrapuntal-harmonic movement. It is a very lovely way to end the program.

"freeHorn" is the main event yet the other two works reveal an equally sensuous immersion in sonic sunshine.

I cannot and will not tell you what to buy, what to hear. I do suggest with a big smile that you allow this music to enter your life. It is not quite like other things being made today, and all the better for that. Another Cold Blue gem is this one.

Debussy, Images, Jeux, Michael Tilson Thomas, San Francisco Symphony

Debussy, I imagine everyone knows who reads this, was a supreme colorist and poet of the symphonic idiom. He demands an equally poetic performance to allow the music to breathe with life. Judging by the release at hand Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony are up there among the greatest living exponents of such music.

They get a good workout with this disc of Images pour orchestre, Jeux, La plus que lente (SFSmedia SFS069). The 24-bit audio shines with great resolution and projection.

Images is a good a test as any work from the master of light and shade. The liquidity, folk limpidity and folk atmosphere of the music should be brought out without too much passion, with a careful attention to a wholeness that rises out of the ever-shifting orchestration. Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony give their undivided attention and artistry to it all, with the result landing us into magic territory. They do complete justice to the music, which lets us feel each image in broad relief.

Jeux gets faithful attention from its ravishingly mysterious opening to its athletic yet luminous core.

La plus que lente is not quite as often performed as the other works here.  The schmaltz factor is more integral to this short work yet Thomas and company avoid the temptation to indulge too much in the affective element. Just enough.

The pristine audio and superbly balanced reading of this music captures Debussy's considerable atmospheric charm in as faithful a way as I've heard. Anyone hankering for new versions of these works are well served, as are those seeking a very characteristic performances of someone relatively unknown to them. Highly recommended and a pure pleasure to hear.

Momo Kodama, Point and Line, Piano Etudes of Debussy and Hosokawa

If I get to this review a bit late it has nothing to do with the quality of the music. Chance and the scrambling of my personal life are to blame. In order to make an omelet, one has to break a few eggs as NY Mayor Wagner said many years ago. And if you break a few eggs while you contemplate what kind of eggs you want, it may not end up as an omelet.

So we go. Pianist Momo Kodama is a beautiful force for contemporary pianism. The music reverberates  with resolve and intention, like a well planned omelet, so to say.  She comes through strikingly on her recent album Point and Line (ECM New Series 2509). She juxtaposes in enlightening fashion Debussy's celebrated "Etudes Pour Piano" with Hosokawa's somewhat less known but very compelling "Etudes I-VI for Piano."

One might assert that Debussy's etudes are more line oriented while Hosokawa veers toward the point, but not exactly. Both make use of point and line. Hosokawa at times is more the abstracted modernist whose points of pianistic articulation contrast with a more horizontal spreading out of line-points with Debussy. Again, though, you end up thanks to Ms. Kodama experiencing the all in the all, the line-point enactment differences and similarities contained within each.

In the process the sheer sensuous beauty of the Debussy shines forth without a lot romantic effusiveness or blundering passion, as perhaps we have heard all-too-often from even the most distinguished performers in the past. No, Ms. Kodama gives us a remarkably focused, dreaming, precise yet limpidly poetic performance that allows us to experience at a leisurely pace the incredible projective aura of the music as Debussy set it down so many years ago.

It was a great idea to intermingle the Debussy and the Hosokawa movements one against the other. The not-so-familiar Hosokawa becomes an active contrast to the very familiar Debussy as point and line each vivify the other. Momo Kodama performs the Hosokawa with the same poetic care and in the process spells out the wonder of this more abstracted music to make both approaches live and sing to us one against the other.

As you listen, and then listen again, there is a crystalline clarity to it all fitting to this season (or for that matter any season). I must say Momo Kodama brings alive the Debussy with a sincerity that rings true. She has given us one of the great performances of the work, I have no doubt. And then the Hosokawa both heightens and extends the pleasure of the moment in ways one cannot have anticipated but feels in time as totally right, nearly inevitable.

This is essential! Do not doubt yourself. Just hear it!

Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker, Marinsky Orchestra, Valery Gergiev

When I was a little kid, my Dad knew nothing much about classical music, but he did know Tchaikovsky, so we had an LP of the New York Philharmonic doing his 5th Symphony, and then around the holidays we had a recording of the Nutcracker (the Suite, actually) and he put it on every year. I was completely taken by it.

When I became a man, whatever that is supposed to mean, I too had a recording of the Nutcracker (complete ballet) and it remains music that I respond to in the same way I did when I was young. The version I had was so-so. Now in the mail I have gotten a much better performance, a very fine performance by the Marinsky Orchestra (Marinsky 0593-LP) in a deluxe, high quality vinyl two-LP set. One record is in green, the other red. (Please ignore the above cover image's mention of Sym No. 4. It is the only image of the cover I could find online. Must be the CD version.)

It is a great last minute gift for someone on your list, or for that matter yourself. The music is handled with love and respect. There is a rather glorious sonority and the warmth of an excellent analog production. And of course there is perhaps no better way to experience Tchaikovsky's remarkable melodic gift.

I grew up when shiny new LPs were an integral part of the holidays.  So it takes me back. But then I have never abandoned vinyl, so there is a place for it in my stacks. The point though is you. If you have a turntable again or you never did NOT have one, it is equally welcome.

It easily fits in with your celebratory home rituals, whatever they might be. So grab it if it sounds right for you.

Allan Pettersson, Symphony No. 14, Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra, Christian Lindberg

There is nothing comparable in the modern new music literature to the later music of composer Allan Pettersson (1911-1980).. Like his compatriot Ingmar Bergman, he had a rather somber, even gloomy vision of the expressive arts, being the symphonic counterpart to Bergman's films in spirit. Pettersson himself draws the analogy in "The Song of Life." More on that (the video) in a minute.

As I've argued for some time, we allow and even embrace the darkness of mood of filmmakers (horror, Bergman), playwrights (tragedies...what could be darker than Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex?") and visual artists ("Guernica") where we have less tolerance for such things in music.Why?  Pettersson's later symphonic music has come under some fire over the years because it expresses undoubtedly in musical terms his frame of mind during his protracted period of suffering from a very painful illness. Some say it is self-indulgent. What is indulgence if not self expression, an aesthetic aim he had in common with all the "greats"? And it is noble and greatly dramatic music!

The Symphony No. 14 was one of the very last works, completed in 1978 (along with his 15th and the Violin Concerto). As such it is a culmination of his later style, a sprawling, single-movement work that stands at times at the very edge of tonality with chromatic melody lines that stretch endlessly forward and have some relationship to his ongoing pain and frame of mind of his last years. Yet if we did not know that, the music would still give us pause and speak to us eloquently.

So we have a recent recording of the 14th (BIS 2230 SACD) in the remarkable series of Pettersson's Symphonies by the Norkkoping Symphony under Christian Lindberg. The SACD sound quality is excellent, as is the performance. And the 14th is quite the seminal work, encompassing everything that late Pettersson was all about. It is most definitely not chipper fare, yet there is transcendance. All the suffering undergoes transformation by the very nature of the symphonic medium. The orchestra is large, the music beautifully unrelenting.

Is this akin to Bruckner in hell? Not exactly. The expansive sound has something far beyond Bruckner, yet has a hugeness, an epic grandeur not dissimilar. Pettersson's scoring for flutes, French horn, and above all the strings has a heroic quality and often enough seems central to his expressionist project. Think of Bruckner's scoring of the horns over a thick carpet of strings and you might find it enlightening.

Pettersson is one of the 20th century's most enigmatic composers, which is saying a great deal since enigma is an important part of the modernist project at times. He is irreducible to the modernism of his era, yet decidedly a parallel to "mainstream avant garde" music as represented by others in the later part of the century.

The 14th and its performance here is definitive Pettersson, an ideal point of departure if you do not know his music, and an affirmation for those that do. A wonderful bonus is the DVD included in the release--the very informing and moving video "The Song of Life," a lengthy series of conversational interviews with the composer from 1973-80. It is essential watching.

So take a plunge with this one if you can. Excellent in very many ways!

Augusta Read Thomas, Ritual Incantations

The advent of women among New Music composers has obtained a steady-state condition. There was a time when Ruth Crawford Seeger, Amy Beach and perhaps a handful of others were all we were aware of. That has changed. There are many now. And there is much good to hear, thankfully.

We have another worthy one in Augusta Read Thomas. Other than an anthology that includes Thomas (by Alarm Will Sound in a May 19, 2016 review here) I have not discussed her music much and have not experienced it a great deal until the present new release Ritual Incantations (Nimbus Alliance 6355). I notice from the CD booklet that there are at least six other Thomas CDs on the Nimbus label.

The current release provides us with a varied program of compositions, from solo piano to choral to symphonic. Five of eight works are in world premier recordings. Throughout one gets the impression of a lively and inventive musical mind at work, a modern contemporary composer that seeks a sort of middle ground between traditional tonal and high modern possibilities.

That the music is unself-consciously lucid and unpretentiously expressive is perhaps the first thing I noticed on listening.

There are too many varied compositions to comment upon in detail in this space. Suffice to say there is a memorability and worthiness to them all. The title work for cello and orchestra is the most ambitious, but there is much to be appreciated in the entire program, especially in "Chi" for string quartet, "Klee Musings" for piano trio, "Dappled Things" for male glee club, and "Eurythmy Etudes" for solo piano. The 1999 through 2017 provence of the compositions allows you to follow Ms. Thomas' development over time. The performances are uniformly good.

All in all Ritual Incantations gives us a varied and rewarding glimpse of a composer of true merit. I do recommend you hear this one.