András Schiff / Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment JOHANNES BRAHMS Piano Concertos

 

PIANO CONCERTOS

 

Ruby Hughes / Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment / Laurence Cummings HANDEL'S LAST PRIMA DONNA

The Borletti-Buitoni Trust has helped bring to fruition another interesting music project, this time for British soprano Ruby Hughes ( 2014 BBT award winner) who pays tribute to Handel’s last prima donna , the Italian soprano Giulia Frasi . For her debut recording on the Chandos label Ruby has chosen a selection of celebrated music composed for Frasi by Handel from his last works Susanna, Solomon Theodora and Jephtha plus other composers of the era whose works are much less familiar, including several modern premieres . The recording was made with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment conducted by Laurence Cummings and will be released on 2 March 2018 , in time for International Women’s Day (8 March) and Ruby’s recital A Celebration of Frasi on 7 April at the London Handel Festival. 

Ruby Hughes has a particular affinity with music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods and, while exploring further her favourite Handel roles, she discovered that most of them had been composed for Frasi. Her investigation into the life and work of this Italian soprano, whose London career spanned over three decades, was aided by musicologist and Handel specialist David Vickers , who se research into Frasi’s career helped Ruby choose the music for the album.

Giulia Frasi, noted for her remarkably clear, sweet voice and precise English diction, arrived in London as a young singer in 1742 to join Lord Middlesex ’s Italian Opera Company. She was soon noticed by Handel and from 1748 became the principal soprano in all his oratorios at Covent Garden until his death in 1759 . Her star rose to the highest ranks of the London musical scene and she also worked for charitable causes, singing in the annual performances of Messiah at the Foundling Hospital (from 1750) , the annual charity concerts at the King’s Theatre in aid of the Fund for Decay’d Musicians and Their Families (later the Royal Society of Musicians ), and nine consecutive meetings of the Three Choirs Festival.

In addition to working regularly for Handel, Frasi appeared in Italian operas by Galuppi, Porpora, Gluck, Hasse, Ciampi and Terradellas (a neglected period of London opera history) and she worked frequently with English composers, most notably Thomas Arne, William Boyce and Philip Hayes, and also und er the co-direction of John Stanley and John Christopher Smith (Handel’s joint successors of oratorio concert season s at Covent Garden). 

As well as possessing a voice similarly praised for its beauty and clarity, Ruby also has an empathy with the vividly dramatic roles Frasi championed - women reacting to distressing events with virtuous

dignity and selflessness, such as the nobly blameless and chaste title-heroines in Susanna and Theodora and the valiant Iphis in Handel’s last oratorio Jephtha. Besides roles of moral stoicism and pathos, another side to Frasi’s dramatic colours is evident in roles of seductive temptresses in Arne’s Judgem ent of Paris and Handel’s The Choice of Hercules.

Ruby Hughes comments: “I have become utterly fascinated by Frasi, an ambitious and indomitable woman who so inspired Handel in his last years . I believe that, with this CD, we have captured the diversity of changing styles, tastes and activities in mid-eighteenth century musical culture as well as provided a remarkable insight into the career of Giulia Frasi.”

Choir and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment / Elizabeth Kenny / Steven Devine HENRY PURCELL Dido & Aeneas

Here is England’s first great opera presented with a truly cohesive sense of theatrical purpose, one which unusually allows the drama to unfold in a close identification with each of the cameo characters… we have a supremely wide-ranging, tragic and experienced queen from the start, inhabiting the shadows of ‘Ah! Belinda’ with early signs of deplorable fate, which are accentuated by an extended symphony luxuriating poignantly on this resonating conceit… Lucy Crow’s Belinda is a splendid foil for Connolly’s self-absorption, with her astute and increasingly desperate buoying up.

(Gramophone Editor’s Choice)

There are many recordings of Dido and Aeneas, and I am convinced that this one must rank among the finest. Sarah Connolly assembled the cast and played a major part in the artistic decisions, including the insertion of pieces of additional music. She brings to the role of Dido a regal gravity that is indispensable for a convincing portrayal… The success or failure of a performance of Dido can depend on the celebrated lament. Here Sarah Connolly takes a very slow tempo, but the dramatic tension and musical direction are never in jeopardy. It is an exquisitely eloquent reading. (American Record Guide) 

From the outset, Connolly exudes imposing presence, pathos and unassailable dignity; her Act III Lament consummates a deeply-felt empathy with the role… Purcell year will doubtless bring a crop of highly cherishable performances; Connolly’s Dido already sets the bar decidedly high. (BBC Music Magazine 'Choice')

The Choir of Trinity College Cambrdige / Orchestra of The Age of Enlightenment / Stephen Layton BACH Christmas Oratorio

 Two new Christmas Oratorio recordings in time for Christmas, and both from forces that give regular concert presentations of the piece, one at St Thomas’s Church, Leipzig, and the other at St John’s Smith Square in London. As such they are not greatly challenging to ‘normal’ expectations, but then that is the point: what you get here are good, sound performances that will not upset anyone and will surely give pleasure to most who hear them.

I mean that about not upsetting anyone: not so long ago a recording of this music by the 84-strong Leipzig Thomanerchor and the Gewandhaus Orchestra would have stayed many a buying hand, but things are different now. Germany has become the place where ‘modern-instrument’ orchestras play Baroque music best; and, except for a slight blandness in the continuo, the once-stodgy Gewandhaus’s grasp of current Baroque stylistic orthodoxy under Thomas cantor Biller seems total, while their technical ease (particularly in the brass) is a genuine enhancement. As for the Thomanerchor, the relevance to listeners of its tradition as ‘Bach’s choir’ is probably more romantic than realistic but the thrill of it is still there and can perhaps be detected in a recording at least partly made at live concerts in St Thomas’s. What we can say is that they have a typically fruity German boy sound, never seem like 84 singers (in a good way), and, despite strong underlying discipline, seem able to enjoy the more joyous moments with true enthusiasm. Except for the tenderly comforting Ingeborg Danz, the soloists (including two boy sopranos) are adequate without offering any particular insights.

Older, though not by all that much, are the 38 mixed voices of Trinity College Choir, again very well trained, especially in matters of firm text enunciation. They are less raw in the lower voices, more focused overall than the Thomaners and more agile, too, in numbers such as ‘Ehre sei Gott’ or the opening of Part 5. The soloist line-up here is in general superior both technically and interpretatively, especially the ever-incisive James Gilchrist. Newcomer Katherine Watson’s fresh-voiced sound is a world away from the Leipzig boys but lestyn Davies’s impressive messa di voce in ‘Schlafe, mein Liebster’ is not the start of a performance to match the protective warmth of Danz. If not quite at its best, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment sounds thoroughly at home (David Blackadder gives a very suave trumpet solo in ‘Grosser Herr’), and Stephen Layton conducts with care and expertise. But of the two recordings it is somehow the Leipzig one that has that little bit more heart. (Gramophone)

Alina Ibragimova MENDELSSOHN Violin Concertos

Felix Mendelssohn was, famously, one of the most extraordinarily precocious composing talents the world has ever seen. Presented in this new Hyperion release, alongside his well-loved mature Violin Concerto in E minor, is the earlier D minor concerto, written when he was just 13.

The soloist is young Russian star Alina Ibragimova, 2007 graduate of BBC Radio 3's New Generation Artists scheme, partnered by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (on period-instruments) under Vladimir Jurowski.

Ibragimova adopts a historically-informed style on her 1775 Anselmo Bellosio violin, the sound lighter than we are used to hearing in Mendelssohn's mid-19th century E minor masterpiece. But her svelte, unforced tone is just right in this context – and, with sparing use of vibrato, she conjures some beguilingly sweet tones. In the brooding opening movement she is marvellously fleet-footed, never underpowered.

Clear orchestral textures and crisp articulation heighten the intensity of the romantic sweep. The first movement brims with fervent passion – Jurowski driving forward excitingly, but also allowing space for reflection. Refreshingly, Ibragimova takes the sumptuous Andante at a genuine, gently flowing, “walking pace”, her violin singing eloquently and tenderly, followed by a daringly fast finale that she’s never in any danger of not pulling off.

Her absolute unanimity with the woodwind, which joins her in the scampering main theme, is breathtaking, and her occasional discrete use of portamento feels completely apt. This is a delightful, compelling performance from beginning to end, the equal of any in the catalogue.

The early D minor concerto, scored for string orchestra, is less distinctively Mendelssohnian, displaying, unsurprisingly, the juvenile composer's classical heritage. But it is also forward-looking – there are shades of Weber in the cloak-and-dagger stalking motif that opens the first movement.

An attractive work in its own right, Ibragimova approaches the concerto with no less commitment than the E minor, and the result is a rewarding experience. With rhythmically taught OAE strings, the folk-like dancing finale is an exhilarating ride.

Sandwiched between the two concertos is an atmospheric account of the famous Hebrides overture, Jurowski tangibly evoking romantic Highland mists and an adventurous spirit with pungent woodwind, churning cellos and majestic brass. (Graham Rogers)