Page 96 - The Strad (February 2020)

Reviews

RECORDINGS

textures of Anderson’s two ensemble arrangement looks at them from
POETRY NEARING SILENCE works featured here – the Tom an alternate angle – using Bach’s
ANDERSON -2+ !2$'U ,' '!8&'& Phillips-inspired Poetry Nearing harpsichord renderings of violin
!&@U ,' 3£3<8 3( 31'+8!2!;'9U Silence, and the sumptuous Van Gogh works as a guide. e results are
8!@'8U 3';8@ '!8-2+ -£'2$'U Blue – but both receive vivid, notably collaborative, lean and even
23;,'8 8!@'8U !2 3+, £<' colourful accounts that make the devotional. e performances aspire
!9, 29'1#£'c !8;@2 8!##-29 composer’s unusual hues shine to be ‘conversations between friends’.
NMC D256 brightly. Recorded sound is close, For all the bustle, there is composure
;,£'ধ$ 6'8(381!2$'9 3( '$£'$ধ$ warm and truthful. too (as in the rst movement of
1<9-$ #@ ! 8-ধ9, $31639'8 DAVID KETTLE BWV1042) and plenty of colour –
instances where the conversation is
‘Hard to pin down’ is the phrase used visited by sudden rushes of sound
in this deeply rewarding disc’s BACH -3£-2 32$'8;39V
T and obvious smiles. Much to savour.
booklet notes to describe the music
T !2& ANDREW MELLOR
of its featured composer, referring !ধ '#8';A'2- l=-3£-2m 2+£-9,
to Julian Anderson’s refusal to adhere !837<' 3£3-9;9c 3,2 £-3; !8&-2'8
to a particular style or -ism, and his SDG 732 CPE BACH Cello Concertos:
willingness to glide e”ortlessly 2+£-9, !837<' 3£3-9;9 £'!&'8 -2 1-238 7 U -2 *!; 1!/38
between contrasting techniques 9,-2'9 -2 ;,' 93£3 963;£-+,; 7 U -2 1!/38 7
across his very varied output. It’s an 3'£ -'£ধ'29 l$'££3m
eclecticism that’s reˆected well in Debretzeni, Gardiner and the English 8$,'9;8! 3( ;,' -+,;''2;, '2;<8@
the repertoire brought together here, Baroque Soloists come to these works GLOSSA GCD921127
each piece given a probing, vibrant via Bach’s cantatas and it shows. !$, 932Z9 -2;8-+<-2+ $32$'8;39 ;'';'8
delivery from the Nash Ensemble Debretzeni’s violin weaves its way 32 ;,' #38&'8 3( !837<' !2& £!99-$!£
under Martyn Brabbins that it through Gardiner’s cantata
would be di—cult to better. Violinists recordings, intertwining with voices Cellists have reason to be grateful to
Benjamin Nabarro and Michael and instruments and grappling with the second of Bach’s sons, who handily
Gurevich bring a remarkable new acoustics on each outing. is is lled a chronological gap in the
sustained intensity to the almost no di”erent. Everything has been concerto repertoire between Vivaldi
La Monte Young-style minimalism sorted out that needs to be: tempos, and Haydn. Composed within the
of Ring Dance’s austere open strings, tempo relations, balance. Sometimes space of a few years shortly after the
peering deeply inside to discover the EBS concertmaster strains at the death of his father, Carl Philipp
the musicality in such bare, more elaborate sequencing (in the Emanuel laid them out as concertos
sparse material. rst movement of BWV1053) but for cello, ˆute or cembalo, although
Violist Lawrence Power, however, her tone is consistently impressive there is reason to suspect that they
is lithe and athletic in Anderson’s – woody with an amber glow. were conceived initially as cello
vigorous work-out Prayer, which e two concertos that don’t exist in concertos, even if their intended
brings a plethora of styles to a single, scoring for violin have been arranged soloist cannot ultimately be identied.
solo piece, from whispered, distant by Debretzeni herself (with Wilfried ey exhibit the range of CPE’s
harmonics to rushing runs and biting Fischer, in the case of BWV1052) and preoccupations: nervy, jittery outer
interjections. Nabarro returns for will be published by Fountayne movements, even anticipating the
Another Prayer, in which Anderson Editions. BWV1052 was probably Sturm und Drang of the following
reimagines the same piece for violin a violin concerto rst, and its decade in the opening Allegro assai
– less a transcription, more a appearance in the Cantata BWV146 of the A minor; amiable galanterie;
wholesale makeover, which Nabarro informs Debretzeni’s own arrangement soulfully sighing Emp ndsamkeit
delivers with a delicious freshness and after the version for keyboard. in slow movements. Baroque-ish
buoyancy. e Nash string players are All four movements of BWV1053 gurations teeter on the verge of a
more embedded within the ensemble appear in cantatas. Debretzeni’s Classical prole, although sequential
94 THE STRAD FEBRUARY 2020 >>>W;,'9;8!&W$31