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The Old Ludwig Van…

C. Jefferson Thom — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 20:59:15 +0000

The Old Ludwig Van… C. Jefferson Thom February 7, 2024 - 15:59

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photo credit: James Holt

Various Works
The Seattle Symphony
Benaroya Hall, Seattle

It's 7:55 pm on a Saturday at Benaroya Hall. The audience saunter to their seats as a steady stream of musicians trickle onto the stage, joining their tuning colleagues. The lights dim. The acknowledgments about First Nation lands are made. Conductor John Edusei raises his baton. We begin.

Starting with "Con brio" by composer Jörg Widmann, this playfully percussive piece was designed to reference Beethoven's symphonies. Instead of being utilized for accent alone, drums here rule with Eric Schweikert leading from his commanding timpani through a disjointed maze of aggressive rhythms. Amidst the jolting movements, woodwind players blow into their instruments sans mouthpieces (a device called "extended techniques"), adding exciting and sometimes comical textures. Posing a stark contrast to the melodic majesty of Beethoven to follow, it is always fascinating to hear the work of a contemporary composer who is still among us.

Then there was Beethoven, specifically "Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major" (a.k.a. "Emperor Concerto"). And so enters the heart-wrenching sounds interwoven with the pulse of the human soul. Pianist Steven Osborne demonstrates the strength of a gentle touch. Seething with an energy that wants to explode, Osborne masterfully releases the fire inside him with the intense precision of a steady stream. With the final note of each solo, he physically pops back from the ivory keys as if propelled by an unseen electrical charge. The piano solos work with the rest of the orchestra in a sort of call-and-response manner, with Osborne lying down a theme and the orchestra then offering their interpretation. This concerto lives up to its common name, possessing more grandeur than most of the crowned heads of European history. Conductor John Edusei navigates these three very different pieces with seeming ease and is hypnotizing as he leads with an evident love for the music he cradles.

The program ended with "Ein Heldenleben" or "A Hero's Life" by Richard Strauss. This was the first time I've had the experience of wandering in and out of the music while listening to The Seattle Symphony. I don't believe this was any fault of the musicians, but rather some disconnect between my ears and Strauss. Powerful moments drew me back in, and Concertmaster Noah Geller plays his violin with great force and passion, yet I struggled to remain continually connected. I will leave it at that.

In the end, it was yet another fantastic night at Benaroya Hall, and I remain enthralled with the emergence of this new relationship in my life and all the beautiful sounds it brings.

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400-Year-Old Venetian Vespers Revived

Steve Holtje — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 06:24:25 +0000

400-Year-Old Venetian Vespers Revived Steve Holtje July 28, 2012 - 02:24

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I Fagiolini/Robert Hollingworth: 1612 Italian Vespers (Decca)

Here's a gimmick I can get behind. Last year, I Fagiolini's Decca debut presented the first recording of Striggio's Mass in 40 Parts and was quite successful by the standards of Renaissance choral albums. In a world where conductors record the same symphony four or five times, focusing on "new" old repertoire is quite refreshing. For their follow-up, the group and founder/director Robert Hollingworth give some more major works their recording premieres, this time focusing on Venetian composers on the cusp between the Renaissance and the Baroque.

The more famous composer to have works returned to the light of day is Giovanni Gabrieli (c.1554/7-1617), whose Magnificat for seven choirs and motet In ecclesiis have been reconstructed by Hugh Keyte from incomplete or truncated sources. They are presented in the context of a Vespers service mostly otherwise drawn from five previously unrecorded four-choir Vesper Psalms, published 400 years ago,and two other works by Lodovico Grossi da Viadana (ca. 1560-1627). In the Psalms, two of the choirs are assigned to brass instruments, a fairly common practice at the time; Venetian music is all about pomp and powerful sonorities, and these works all deliver in full.

Also mixed in are plainchant antiphons, instrumental interludes by Bartolomeo Barbarino (c.1568-c.1617), Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), and Andrea Gabrieli (1532/3-1585), Monteverdi's virtuoso motet for bass vocalist Ab aeterno ordinate sum, and choral works by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525/6-1594), and Francesco Soriano (1548/9-1621). The Palestrina, Quae est ista, is in an earlier style, just a five-part/one-choir a cappella piece, and sticks out like a sore thumb even amid the sort of whiplash this kind of simulation of an actual or at least plausibly possible service always causes with its alternation of plainchant with big, ornate pieces (yes, it's authentic, but that doesn't make it artistic).

The occasion is the Second Vespers of the feast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, in commemoration of the 1571 victory over the Turks in the Battle of Lepanto, of which there is some documentation. Not enough to really justify the inclusion of In ecclesiis, but what the heck, at least it fits stylistically, and Keyte's speculative polychoral expansion of the one-choir version that's come down to us certainly deserves to be heard. The military commemoration aspect of the occasion brings the inclusion of some war-like music, both choral and instrumental, that's quite dramatic.

The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble provides the brass, there's a small authentic-instrument string section at times, three organists (James Johnstone, Catherine Pierron, David Roblou) take turns starring on instrumentals and -- with an assortment of three organs -- anchor the continuo (along with lute [David Miller] and theorbo [Miller and Lynda Sayce). The plainchant is sung by De Profundis (Cambridge) rather than I Fagiolini. All concerned sound fabulous, and whatever cynicism I may have about the overall service-recreation concept, the music is undeniably attractive and historically important in spite of the centuries of neglect some of it has suffered. Nobody who enjoys Venetian polychoral music should be without this album.

Vijay Iyer Separates the Men from the Boys at Castle Clinton Concert

Steve Holtje — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 20:35:21 +0000

Vijay Iyer Separates the Men from the Boys at Castle Clinton Concert Steve Holtje June 25, 2011 - 16:35

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Vijay Iyer Sextet at Castle Clinton, June 23, 2011

A free concert will draw not just the people who know they like the artist, but also the curious, some of whom may be utterly unprepared for what they are about to experience. This show brought to us by the River to River Festival gave folks a chance to hear one of the most praised young jazz pianists, but apparently not all of them were ready for his complex and challenging music. The personnel this night were bassist Stephan Crump, drummer Marcus Gilmore, tenor saxophonist Mark Shim, longtime Iyer collaborator Rudresh Mahanthappa, and guest Graham Haynes, the elder of the band, on cornet (Haynes is Gilmore's uncle).

After the lengthy introduction of the band, the music kicked off with nearly atonal piano tinkling mixed with bass harmonics. Iyer's playing became less atonal, the drums joined delicately, and Haynes added some electronic bleats. Finally the saxes joined the communal noodling. Eventually a modal head burst forth with multiple asymmetrical meters. As though this weren't already indication enough that there would be no "business as usual" from Iyer's crew, the organization of the solos drove home the point further: rather than each instrumentalist taking a long solo, Mahanthappa, Haynes, Iyer, and Shim playing several short solos each in a round-robin arrangement. The moods and backing shifted often as well, generally funky in an off-kilter way that recalled the late-'80s M-BASE movement -- in which Haynes had been a participant.

At the end of the first piece, Crump kept playing, a low-end thrumming that Iyer joined on electric keyboard, to be followed by Gilmore; then they switched to a very sparse sort of oom-pah groove. The horns came in with a brief theme, Iyer took a long electric piano solo, and then it was back to the thrumming section but with light, long horn tones in octaves for a long melody.

Before the next piece, Iyer said that years earlier he'd written two-minute music cues for ESPN, and that maybe we'd recognize some of them. I think he was joking about that being connected to what was then played, but I don't know. Certainly the metrical pattern of 6/6/6/7 didn't seem built for sports-fan consumption. Once again, Iyer's music was as far from head/solos/head predictability as possible. Shim soloed, then he and Mahanthappa traded fours, uptempo and jittery; the trading sections were halved in length, then halved again, and finally were playing simultaneously. By this point the less adventurous portion of the audience began drifting towards the exit. A charted section that ended with a rising chord sequence brought the piece to its conclusion.

"And now for something completely different," Iyer announced: "Hood," a dedication to Detroit techno legend Robert Hood. Aptly for a techno tribute, we were finally given a straightforward 4/4 beat, but even then they overlaid other meters; the hi-hat, bass drum, and bass all played patterns of different lengths, so despite the repetition their relationships to each other thus shifted constantly. With Iyer on electric piano and the horns on short chords, it was reminiscent of Minimalist phase pieces, yet the techno dedication still fit. Iyer soloed over hi-hat and bass, with the piano material very minimal, short cells repeated and then abandoned for complementary cells. Then it was back to the head but with horns this time, building to a more continuous interlocking texture for a climactic ending.

Next came a Haynes feature piece, "Passage." Playing without accompaniment, Haynes looped his lines electronically and added electronic textures like those used in the beginning of the first piece. His cornet sound was electronically altered, edgy and echoey. Iyer eventually added electric piano (a Fender-Rhodes sound), Crumb joined quietly, and Shim occasionally added long notes. Haynes's timbres suggested Miles Davis's atmospheric style near the beginning of his move into fusion. Iyer switched to acoustic and Haynes dropped out; with just the rhythm section trio, it seemed like a new piece. The horns added sustained notes over Iyer's continuing solo; then he switched back to the Fender-Rhodes timbre to bring the piece closer to its opening sound and showing that it had, in fact, been one piece, not a segue.

A lot more of the audience fled at this point, missing the most rhythmically straight-ahead piece yet. Iyer took the chords of Asian Dub Foundation's "Buzzin'" and put an M-BASE-ish riff on top for "Out the Tunnel." Twisty, knotty horns counterbalanced the simpler rhythm. As part of the simpler structure, the solos became longer -- when Shim soloed, it was the longest outing at the forefront yet by anybody but Haynes or the leader. And when Mahanthappa moved into the spotlight, he also had more time to work, doing so at his most boppish, even including a melodic passage. Haynes soloed muted and electronicized, sounding as if heard from a great distance; with Iyer again using his Fender-Rhodes setting, it was rather reminiscent of Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi group. Iyer then soloed accompanied by bass and drums, but at first he played so sparsely that it was almost more a laid-back conversation among equals than a solo, very spacey. Then his playing became more active, more clearly a solo, but Gilmore also upped the ante with a busy sort of bass'n'drum groove. Sustained horn chords joined as the density and intensity peaked, followed by a rhythm trio coda.

Once again there was audience exodus. Then came "Good the Ground," announced as a Gilmore feature. Though he began by himself, he was quickly joined by the band; once again, Iyer organized the structure in a non-standard way: he and Shim alternated seemingly charted figures with Mahanthappa and Haynes until they united for a few bars. Then Iyer soloed in a more flowing style than usual before Shim's solo took things back to this band's knotty norm over an accompaniment with surprising accents; Gilmore -- this had been announced as his feature, after all -- was very active, nearly as featured as Shim except volume-wise. Shim's solo vaulted into cries and screams in the freest and most dissonant/atonal playing yet over heavy chords from Iyer. Then came an actual Gilmore solo for which everyone else dropped out; like his grandfather, drum legend Roy Haynes, he favored a very motivic development of his solo, though with enough technical flash at the end for an effective climax before the head wrapped things up.

The evening's last number, eventually announced as "Franity," started with Iyer in mellow solo ballad mode, melodic but with some half-step side-steps in the chord progression and in 10/4 time. When Crump joined, he only played two or three notes per measure at first; it was only after Gilmore joined that the bass became busier. As density built, so did volume. Mahanthappa soloed in a mantric, Coltrane-like way with an oboe-ish timbre at times. One of Iyer's favorite devices surfaced again, long held notes (by Shim and Haynes) to complement not only Mahanthappa going nuts over them but also invigorating bashing by Gilmore and Iyer for a climax before the horns dropped out and we got the last band ID of the set over the rhythm section. The horns rejoined, buzzing and roiling as Iyer chimed, then a further drop-off to solo piano for a couple of bars for a quiet ending to the evening. All skeptics apparently having walked out already, the remaining audience gave vigorous appreciation for the evening's compellingly challenging creations.

The Best Classical Composers List: This One Goes to 111

Steve Holtje — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 04:38:49 +0000

The Best Classical Composers List: This One Goes to 111 Steve Holtje February 7, 2011 - 23:38

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There was a furor in the classical music community over The New York Times music critic Anthony Tommasini's recent list of the ten greatest classical composers. The author himself characterized the project as "absurd." It's not that his choices were outrageous, though of course there were plenty of commentators chiming in that some of their favorites had been left off. It's that ten is an absurdly small number. One doesn't really learn anything from such a list, and as has already been suggested, some people might get the erroneous impression that in the whole long history of classical music, there haven't been all that many great composers.

Well, I love making lists, and I'm as opinionated as the next guy, so I couldn't resist replying. But not on his terms! What's the point in repeating an absurd exercise? The first thing that was obvious was that the list would be better if it were longer, since one of the best things about lists is how they can stimulate awareness of more than "the usual suspects." Tommasini's list is, I suppose, fine as a starting point for neophytes, but it's more useful, and more fun, to explore some roads less traveled.

I didn't have a preconceived idea of how long it should be. Rather, I went through my collection and eliminated every composer I didn’t think would remotely qualify as "great," then got to work. And it's not as though there weren't hard choices made in putting my list together. Even getting the list down to the 213 people included in my first draft left off some favorites, and after whittling it to 150 choices, the process became agonizing. I settled on 111 because that was the point I was at when I realized that there would be no getting it down to the next nice round number (and because it made for a nice Spinal Tap paraphrased reference.)

Of course, my list reflects my tastes. So yeah, Berlioz is missing. I think he's overrated. But leaving him off this list doesn't mean I think his music has no value – just not as much value as that by the people who are on the list. Only one of the people on Tommasini's list didn't make mine – Verdi – and I am far from sanguine about that. I admit that it is an indefensible choice from any perspective except personal taste; I just don't care about opera as much as Tommasini does, Verdi, though an innovator within the realm of opera, unlike Wagner had negligible compositional impact outside opera, and Verdi's non-operatic work is relatively inconsequential (I count his Requiem as operatic).

Unlike Tommasini, I'm looking at the whole history of "classical" music. Deliberately not including living composers because we haven't had enough time to consider their merits makes no sense. Every person in his or her lifetime gets to consider all but the youngest composers for the same amount of time as s/he can devote to evaluating dead composers. (There is also the silly situation of having automatically eliminated Elliott Carter, born in 1908, while having seriously considered Dmitri Shostakovich, born in 1906, and Benjamin Britten, born in 1913 – both mentioned by Tommasini, though they didn't make his final cut. And when Tommasini wrote his article, Milton Babbitt wasn’t eligible, but now, a week later, Babbitt sadly qualifies.) Is it a little riskier? Perhaps history's judgment will differ. So what? Show some balls. Anyway, we are alive now, and will use the list now, not in 200 years, so I include 15 living composers.

Tommasini also eliminated from consideration all composers before J.S. Bach, finding them too alien (his specific – and I think misguided – words were, "The traditions and styles were so different back then as to have been almost another art form"). I think that should be beside the point. It may be somewhat true relatively speaking, but far too much is lost if six centuries of music are summarily dismissed (I find 21 composers born before 1685 to be worthy of inclusion). What is the point of making a list such as this if one is not comprehensive of eras? His is an outdated attitude; when he was growing up, early music was considered exotic and was rarely performed, but great strides have been made in the decades since. It is significant, I think, that the first composer on my list, Hildegard von Bingen, has become quite popular outside of the early music -- or even classical -- cognoscenti over the past two decades.

Which brings me to another difference between my list and his: I'm not ranking the composers, but instead listing them in chronological order. However, the importance I assign to specific composers can be deduced from how many recording recommendations I make. Anyone with more than one is a major figure; more than two, among the elite. (Don't bother trying to read any significance into who gets his face next to his entry and who doesn't, though, as that's mostly based on availability and layout design.)

What ultimately makes my list better than his, in the most general sense, is that aside from Bach, Tommasini covers less than two centuries. (Mozart was born in 1756; Bartok died in 1945). Even including Bach, his list spans a mere 250 years. Mine spans ten centuries. Granted, that's easier when the list is eleven times longer, but length of the list is part of the problem in the first place. Tommasini's list is mostly useful for learning about Tommasini. I hope mine helps people to learn about classical music. That's why I've included recommended recordings. I'm not necessarily saying these are the best recordings of these pieces, by the way. Sometimes I've chosen recordings primarily because their program is the best overall introduction to the composer (though all of the performances are excellent). If my favorite isn’t on iTunes but another excellent version is, I generally went with the more easily accessible one. (And I mostly avoided albums with music by more than the chosen composer it's recommended for.)

And since my list is so long, this is part one of two. Hey, Tommasini took two articles to justify his tiny little list; my list’s eleven times longer.

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)
The inclusion of Hildegard (pictured above) on this list is not political correctness. First, she is historically important as one of the earliest non-anonymous composers to leave a significant body of work. Second, her work has artistic value due to the great imagination she showed in word-setting and the unfettered melodicism and expressive melismatic writing of her monadic (a single line of music, with no harmonies or counterpoint) songs, so much freer than the chant styles it evolved from.

Voice of the Blood: Sequentia/Joachim Kühn (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi)

Pérotin AKA Perotinus (c.1160-1225)
Pérotin’s predecessor at Notre Dame, Léonin, was the first named composer from whom we have polyphonic music. It was Léonin's polyphonic (and rhythmic, and perhaps notational) innovation in superimposing a faster-moving melody on a chant (organum) that Pérotin built upon when he expanded his music to three and four voices: his Viderunt omnes and Sederunt principles are the earliest written examples of four-part music in Europe. Pérotin’s music and the Notre Dame style in general were hugely influential; even now, Minimalist composer Steve Reich cites Pérotin’s method.

Viderunt omnes; Alleluia posui adiutorium; Dum sigillum summi Patris; Alleluia nativitas; Beata viscera; Sederunt principes: Hilliard Ensemble/Paul Hillier (ECM)

Guillaume de Machaut (c.1300-1377)
Machaut created masterpieces of both liturgical and secular musics (and I picked the recommended recording partly to reflect that), and was a vastly influential figure both musically (the epitome of the Ars Nova) and poetically. His Notre Dame Mass is the first known mass from the pen of a single non-anonymous composer. His extensive works (including around 400 poems, many being song lyrics) contributed to the codification of musical and poetic forms, especially song types.

Notre Dame Mass; “The Lay of the Fountain”; “My end is my beginning”: Hilliard Ensemble/Paul Hillier (Hyperion)

Guillaume Dufay (c.1400-1474)
Dufay was the most famous composer of his time, and at the center of the dominant Burgundian style. He was a bridge from the isorhythmic practices of the late Medieval period and the harmonic and melodic practices of the early Renaissance.

Missa Se la Face Ay Pale: Diabolus in Musica/Antoine Guerber (Alpha)

Johannes Ockeghem (c.1410-1497)
Ockeghem’s contrapuntal mastery led to him being considered Dufay’s successor as greatest living composer; his Missa Prolationum consists entirely of mensuration canons. His is the earliest surviving polyphonic Requiem.

Requiem, Missa Mi-Mi, Missa Prolationum: Hilliard Ensemble/Paul Hillier (Virgin Veritas)

Josquin des Prez (c.1440-1521)
The epitome of the Franco-Flemish school, Josquin was Ockeghem's successor as "the greatest," widely admired for his technical mastery. He was equally likely to write austerely or ornately, and equally adept at either. His influence was amplified by the more widespread promulgation of his works afforded by the invention of music printing (though there was also a brisk trade in misattributed works assigned, after his death, to his name for commercial reasons). His Missa Pange Lingua, perhaps his last work, is a masterpiece of the paraphrase technique and uses a hymn by Thomas Aquinas.

Missa Pange Lingua; Missa La Sol Fa Re Mi; motets: Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips (Gimell)

Pierre de La Rue (c.1460-1518)
In a way, La Rue was the inspiration for this list; while listening to his Requiem, I thought, "Any great composers list that doesn’t include this man doesn’t work for me." Another one of the great Franco-Flemish polyphonists (strongly influenced by Josquin), his trademarks are dense textures, extreme chromaticism, and favoring lower ranges; his Requiem is an extreme example of the latter.

Missa pro defunctis (Requiem); Missa de Beata Virgine: Ensemble Officium/Wilfried Rombach (Christophorus)

Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585)
Tallis is such an iconic English composer that he even has a feast day in the Episcopalian church. But he had to be stylistically versatile, as the changing rulers of England jerked the country's religion back and forth between Roman Catholicism and Anglican Protestantism (from which the Episcopalians split off). This also meant that he moved back and forth between Latin and English texts; being in at the beginning of the Anglican rite and composer of some of the first sacred music using English texts amplified his iconic status. He even showed up as a character in the Showtime historical soap opera The Tudors, played by Joe Van Moyland.

Complete Works, vol. 2: Music at the Reformation: Mass for Four Voices; Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis; Sancte Deus; Conditor Kyrie; Remember not, O Lord God; Hear the voice and prayer; If ye love me; A new commandment; Benedictus; Te Deum for meanes: Chapelle du Roi/Alistair Dixon (Signum, CD)

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594)

Palestrina was the first great Italian-born composer; raised on Franco-Flemish polyphony, he streamlined it somewhat (helping to make texts more intelligible) and de-emphasized dissonance. A prolific composer, he wrote over a hundred masses; the recommended album can be bought as a separate CD (the same program as appears on iTunes) but can also be found in a great five-CD bargain set issued by the budget label Brilliant Classics, which will give you a big dose of the prototypical Italian Renaissance composer.

Missa Papae Marcelli; Stabat Mater; Missa L'homme Armé for 5 voices: Pro Cantione Antiqua/Bruno Turner & Mark Brown (Alto)

Orlando di Lasso [AKA Roland de Lassus] (1532-1594)

Lassus was the ultimate flowering of the Franco-Flemish polyphonic style. Much in demand, and so respected that he was even knighted, he was very musically conservative in his mass settings, yet wildly innovative in some other forms, and prolific in using many forms and languages.

Psalmi Davidis Poenitentiales [Penitential Psalms]: Collegium Vocale Gent/Philippe Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi)

William Byrd (ca.1540-1623)
Unlike Tallis, with whom he published a book of 34 motets after Queen Elizabeth I had granted them the sole permission for printing music and ruled music paper in England, Byrd was barely closeted Catholic; his Latin masses were composed for furtive celebrations of the Catholic Mass. (He wrote for Anglican services as well, and shares an Episcopalian feast day with Tallis.) His secular instrumental compositions, especially for keyboard, also constitute a formidable legacy.

Mass for 5 Voices; Mass for 4 Voices; Mass for 3 Voices: Pro Arte Singers/Paul Hillier (Harmonia Mundi)

The Complete Keyboard Music: Davitt Moroney (Hyperion)

Giovanni Gabrieli (c.1553/56-1612)
After studying with Lassus, Gabrieli became an innovator in spatially oriented music, and a major bridge from Renaissance to Baroque. He and his uncle Andrea famously composed vocal and instrumental music for the space of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, which had a pair of organs at opposite sides as well as multiple lofts for choirs and brass players; they took advantage of this with music written for two, three, or four groups answering/echoing each other, and with carefully specified dynamics (something that had not been previously notated).

The Glory of Gabrieli: Gregg Smith Singers/E. Power Biggs/Edward Tarr Brass Ensemble/Gabrieli Consort La Fenice/Texas Boys Choir (Sony Classical)

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)
"The Orpheus of Amsterdam" came from a family rich in organists, but he was the greatest of all. He may have started as early as age 15 in the organ post he held for rest of his life. His fame brought many pupils, and his influence on several generations of German organists (including J.S. Bach) was vast, particularly his conception of the organ fugue.

Keyboard Music: Fantasia Chromatica; Onder een linde groen; etc.: Christopher Herrick (Hyperion)

John Dowland (1563-1626)
One of the greatest songwriters ever, in any genre, this English composer is especially loved for his melancholy songs. Of all the composers listed so far, he had the style most easily accessible to fans steeped in pop music (singer accompanying himself on lute is plainly analogous to folksinger/guitarist), and both Elvis Costello and Sting have recorded Dowland songs.

Flow My Tears and Other Lute Songs: Steven Rickards/Dorothy Linell (Naxos)

Carlo Gesualdo (c.1566-1613)
Even now that we have acclimated to much more dissonance, Gesualdo's avant-garde harmonies remain both piquant and surprising. He was famous in his time for his madrigals, which contain his most extremely innovative harmonies, but employed a madrigal style (deeply musically expressive of the text) even in sacred music, of which his Tenebrae Responsories are a good example. He also had a distinct taste for texts of torturous emotionality, which some have linked to guilt over his murder of his first wife and her lover when he caught them in the act.

Fifth Book of Madrigals (1611): La Venexiana/Claudio Cavina (Glossa)

Tenebrae Responsories: Feria V - In Coena Domini, Feria VI - In Parasceve, Sabbato Sancto; Benedictus; Miserere: Hilliard Ensemble/Paul Hillier (ECM)

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
The final link from Renaissance to Baroque, Monteverdi changed opera (which was new at the time) from dry and text-focused to musically thrilling, and his Orfeo, the Greek mythic of the bard Orpheus in the Underworld, is the earliest opera to be in the current repertory. He was equally the master of madrigals and of liturgical choral music, and of Renaissance polyphony and Baroque basso continuo, the latter of which he did much to promulgate; the modern conception of tonality and harmony first flowered in Monteverdi’s Fifth Book of Madrigals.

L'Orfeo: Anthony Rolfe Johnson/Julianna Baird/Lynne Dawson/Anne Sofie von Otter/Nancy Argenta/Mary Nichols/John Tomlinson/Diana Montague/Willard White/Monteverdi Choir/English Baroque Soloists/His Majesties Sagbutts & Cornetts/John Eliot Gardiner (Archiv)

Vespers of the Blessed Virgin: Montserrat Figueras/Maria Cristina Kiehr/Livio Picotti/Paolo Costa/Daniele Carnovich/Roberto Abbondanza/Pietro Spagnoli/Gerd Türk/Gian Paolo Fagotto/Guy de Mey/La Capella Reial/Coro del Centro di Musica Antica di Padova/Jordi Savall (Alia Vox)

Madrigals of War and Love (Book 8): Concerto Vocale/René Jacobs (Harmonia Mundi)

Archangelo Corelli (1653-1713)
With easy melodicism of his style and the supportive accompaniment of solo instruments, Corelli made the concerto matter and was a huge influence on all following Baroque concerto composers (Bach even arranged some of Corelli's concertos for keyboard). Corelli also started a line of Italian violin pedagogy that extends to the present day.

12 Concerti Grossi, Op. 6: The English Concert/Trevor Pinnock (Archiv)

Henry Purcell (1658-1695)
Purcell was the culmination of the glorious English musical tradition; following his early death, it would be two centuries before its revival. Composer of the first great English opera, Dido and Aeneas, Purcell has been cited as an influence by Pete Townshend of The Who, and Klaus Nomi took his showpiece "The Cold Song" from Purcell's King Arthur.

Dido and Aeneas; music for The Gordian Knot Unty'd: Lisa Saffer/Lorraine Hunt Lieberson/Michael Dean/Paul Elliott/Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra/Choir of Clare College, Cambridge/Nicholas McGegan (Harmonia Mundi)

François Couperin (1668-1733)
Couperin filtered the influence of Corelli through a French sensibility. He was especially famed as a keyboardist, and his technical writings influenced many, including Bach. Though he was adept in many formats, it is as an exemplar of the great French keyboard tradition that he is most remembered.

Pieces for Two Harpsichords: William Christie & Christophe Rousset (Harmonia Mundi)

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Another great in the history of the concerto, and for far more than just the four violin concertos famously bundled as The Four Seasons. Nonetheless, their fame is well deserved and is a fine example of his excellence in depictional music.

The Four Seasons; Violin Concertos RV 257, 376, 211: Giuliano Carmignola/Venice Baroque Orchestra/Andrea Marcon (Sony Classical)

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
Rameau’s music is perhaps the most graceful and refined in the French keyboard tradition. He was also important in French opera, but his keyboard music communicates most easily with modern listeners.

Music for Hapsichord Vol. 2: Gilbert Rowland (Naxos)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Here is my first agreement with Tommasini, not only for inclusion but in rank: this guy's #1. Master of every then-current genre except for opera (which he could have mastered as well, but nobody was asking (paying) him to); inventor of the keyboard concerto, and the supreme organist/harpsichordist of his time; idol of hundreds of composers to come, and often indirectly their teacher as well, as his acknowledged mastery led to his works being studied continuously after his death in a way and to an extent that surpassed all who came before him.

St. John Passion: Tessa Bonner/Emily van Evera/Caroline Trevor/Rogers Covey-Crump/David Thomas/Taverner Consort & Players/Andrew Parrott (Virgin Veritas)

Great Organ Works: Toccata & Fugue in D minor, BWV 565; Toccata & Fugue in F major, BWV 540; Toccata & Fugue in D minor "Dorian," BWV 538; Fantasia & Fugue in G minor, BWV 542; Fantasia in G major, BWV 572; Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582; Prelude & Fugue in D major, BWV 532; Prelude & Fugue in E-flat major, BWV 552; Trio Sonata No. 3 in D minor, BWV 527; Canonic Variations on “Von Himmel hoch, da komm ich her,” BWV 769; Schübler Chorales, BWV 645-50: Helmut Walcha (Deutsche Grammophon)

Brandenburg Concertos; Orchestral Suites: English Concert/Trevor Pinnock (Archiv)

Complete Harpsichord Concertos: Trevor Pinnock/Kenneth Gilbert/English Concert (Archiv)

Goldberg Variations: Murray Perahia (Sony Classical)

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Handel excelled at everything a composer could do in his time -- unlike Bach, he was a prolific composer of opera. Though not as devoted to fugues as Bach, he was better at selling himself, long maintaining his popularity in England through shifting musical fashions: after Italian opera faded in public esteem, he switched to English oratorio and became even better-loved.

Concerti Grossi, Op. 3; Water Music; Music for the Royal Fireworks: Linde Consort/Cappella Coloniensis/Hans-Martin Linde (Virgin Veritas)

Israel in Egypt: Nancy Argenta/Emily van Evera/Timothy Wilson/Anthony Rolfe Johnson/David Thomas/Jeremy White/Taverner Choir & Players/Andrew Parrott (EMI Classics)

Messiah: Heather Harper/Helen Watts/John Wakefield/John Shirley-Quirk/London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Colin Davis (Philips)

Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
He earns inclusion on the strength of one of the most extensive bodies of work in a single form – keyboard sonatas (555 of them!) – in the history of music. His style was influential on the shift from the Baroque to the Classical era.

Harpsichord Sonatas, K 44, 52-3, 120, 124, 140-1, 144, 147, 426-7, 450, 461, 469, 531: Christophe Rousset (L'Oiseau-Lyre)

Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787)
Gluck is the first composer to earn his way onto this list solely through his operas. It’s not just that they were great, it’s that they changed the history of opera. He stripped away the many superfluities of opera seria to make a more natural, more dramatically effective style.

Orfeo ed Euridice: Anne Sofie von Otter/Barbara Hendricks/Brigitte Fournier/English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner (EMI Classics)

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
So much more than just J.S. Bach's son: a major figure in the formation of the Classical style, a keyboard virtuoso who pioneered a hyper-expressive playing style and whose theoretical writings created the foundation of modern piano technique.

Keyboard Concertos (Complete), Vol. 14: Concertos in A minor, Wq26; E-flat major, Wq40; Sonatina for Keyboard & Orchestra in C major, Wq 101: Miklós Spányi/Opus X/Petri Tapio Mattson (Bis)

Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809)
The man who made symphonies interesting. The form had only recently evolved, yet in Austria largely repeated a small group of clichés; Haydn expanded their breadth and varied their format. His great wit and imaginative innovation made the new form far more interesting. He was, if anything, even more crucial in the development of the string quartet.

Symphonies Nos. 93-104 "London": London Philharmonic Orchestra/Eugen Jochum (Deutsche Grammophon)

The Haydn Project: String Quartets, Op. 20 No. 5; Op. 33 No. 2 "Joke"; Op. 54 No. 1; Op. 64 No. 5 "Lark"; Op. 74 No. 3 "Rider"; Op. 76 No. 2 "Quinten"; Op. 77 No. 1 "Lobkowitz"; Emerson String Quartet (Deutsche Grammophon)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
The second-earliest composer on Tommasini's list, and so graceful in his compositional mastery that his music seems both easier than it really is and utterly timeless. Here's a longer take on his brilliance.

Symphonies Nos. 36, 38-41: Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields/Sir Neville Marriner (Philips)

The Piano Concertos & Rondos K.382 & 386: Murray Perahia/English Chamber Orchestra (Sony Classical)

Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute): Nicolai Gedda/Gundula Janowitz/Walter Berry/Lucia Popp/Gerhard Unger/Gottlob Frick/Ruth-Margaret Pütz/Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/Christa Ludwig/Marga Höffgen/Franz Crass/Philharmonia Chorus & Orchestra/Otto Klemperer (EMI Classics)

Don Giovanni: Cesare Siepi/Anton Dermota/Deszo Ernster/Elisabeth Grümmer/Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/Erna Berger/Walter Berry/Vienna State Opera Chorus/Vienna Philharmonic/Wilhelm Furtwängler (EMI Classics)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Beethoven's #2 on Tommasini’s list, a game-changer who made music about personal expression to a far greater degree than anyone before him. (On his birthday last year, I wrote about various recordings of his symphonies.)

Symphonies Nos. 1-9: Cheryl Studer/Delores Ziegler/Peter Seiffert/James Morris/Westminster Choir/Philadelphia Orchestra/Riccardo Muti (EMI Classics)

Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5; Choral Fantasia for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra: Melvyn Tan/Nancy Argenta/Evelyn Tubb/Mary Nichols/Caroline Trevor/Rufus Müller/Howard Milner/Richard Wistreich/Schütz Choir of London/London Classical Players/Roger Norrington (EMI Classics)

Late String Quartets: Alban Berg Quartet (EMI Classics)

Piano Sonatas Nos. 1-32; Andante favori in F major: Alfred Brendel (Philips)

Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
The man who moved opera into the Romantic era, and proved massively influential in the process. His death at age 39 deprived music of a genius practitioner, but he had already established himself as an icon of the German operatic tradition; as a national tradition, rather than German-born composers writing in Italian style, it could be said to start with Weber.

Der Freischütz: Theo Adam/Edith Mathis/Gundula Janowitz/Peter Schreier/Staatskapelle Dresden/Carlos Kleiber (Deutsche Grammophon)

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
Arguably the greatest Italian composer of opera, and a master of both comic opera and dramatic opera. The choices below are respectively his best in each field. His knack for "hooks" has made excerpts from his operas popular with millions of people who never set foot in an opera house.

Il Barbiere Di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville): Cecilia Bartoli/Coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna/Giuseppe Patanè/Leo Nucci/Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna (Decca)

William Tell: Luciano Pavarotti/Mirella Freni/Nicolai Ghiaurov/Sherrill Milnes/National Philharmonic Orchestra of London/Riccardo Chailly (Decca)

Franz Berwald (1796-1868)
The first "underrated" on my list, a Swedish symphonist of great originality. Unable to support himself by music in his home country, where his harmonic and structural innovations were looked at askance (he was more respected in Germany and Austria), for most of his life he had to compose in his spare time. His spurt of four mature symphonies in three years is particularly impressive under these circumstances.

Symphonies Nos. 1-4; Symphony in A major; Estrella de Soria Overture; The Queen of Golconda Overture: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Roy Goodman (Hyperion)

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
The master of melody is #4 on Tommasini's list. Though Schubert was not a particularly well-known composer in his day, his star has been rising ever since. In the fictional story of Mozart's life, Antonio Salieri was the jealous villain; in the real story of Schubert's life, Salieri was the generous hero, granting him a scholarship at the Imperial seminary school and giving gratis tutoring to the impoverished Schubert, exposing him to the music of Mozart, and letting Schubert lead the school orchestra in original compositions. In his early efforts Schubert was a Classical composer in brief forms, but later on expanded his structural ambitions (Schumann famously lauded the "Great" Symphony’s "heavenly length") and became a full-blown Romantic.

Symphonies Nos. 1-6, 8-9: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Karl Böhm (Deutsche Grammophon)

Piano Sonatas D.958, 959, 960: Murray Perahia (Sony Classical)

Winterreise: Hans Hotter/Gerald Moore (EMI Classics)

Piano Quintet in A major "The Trout"; Arpeggione Sonata: Emanuel Ax/Guarneri Quartet members/Julius Levine; James Levine/Lynn Harrell (RCA Red Seal)

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847)
Despite being even more talented as a child prodigy than Mozart, and despite a huge number of excellent compositions, Mendelssohn somehow doesn' seem to get much respect -- yet audiences love his music. Of the post-Beethoven generation, he was the composer who managed to channel that influence into the least Beethovenesque music. My Mendelssohn guide is here.

Symphonies Nos. 1-5; Overture "The Hebrides" (Fingal's Cave); Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream; Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage; Ruy Blas; Overture for Wind Instruments; Trumpet Overture; Overture "The Fair Melusina"; Scherzo from the Octet: London Symphony Orchestra/Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon)

Octet; String Quintets Nos. 1 & 2; String Quartet No. 2: Hausmusik London (Virgin Veritas)

Songs Without Words: Daniel Barenboim (Deutsche Grammophon)

Frederic Chopin (1810-1849)
The first great Polish composer more or less only wrote for piano. A child prodigy, at age eight he played a public concert and had already begun composing short pieces. He was first published at 15, and by 20 had been hailed as "a genius" by Schumann. He combined spectacular technique with poetic sensibilities and was harmonically advanced for his time, favoring daring modulations. He created a new stylistic vocabulary for the piano, utterly wedded to the instrument's strengths and eschewing pseudo-orchestral effects. So though as a composer he basically only had one focus, he did it so well, and so imaginatively, and so influentially, as to become practically the patron saint of pianists.

The Original Jacket Collection: Rubinstein Plays Chopin: Nocturnes; Mazurkas; Ballades; Scherzos; Polonaises; Sonatas; Waltzes; Preludes; New Etudes; etc.: Arthur Rubinstein (RCA Red Seal)

Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Despite severe mental illness, Schumann managed to leave important bodies of symphonic and pianistic work while becoming the epitome of the tortured Romantic artist. His solo piano work best exemplifies his mercurial personality.

Carnaval; Papillons; Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood); Arabeske: Nelson Freire (Decca)

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Also very important to the history of piano playing, albeit not as sublime as Chopin. Much of his output consisted of gaudy showpieces, but some had their merits, and his Sonata is an altogether more serious and structurally influential matter.

Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; Piano Sonata in B minor: Sviatoslav Richter/London Symphony Orchestra/Kirill Kondrashin (Philips)

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Also on Tommasini's list. Yet another man who changed opera; few have devoted themselves to it so thoroughly, both in the writing of and the writing about. There was grand opera before Wagner, but he took grandness to an entirely new level of length and bombast, along the way (with Tristan und Isolde) sparking succeeding generations' harmonic adventures.

Der Ring des Nibelungen: George London/Gustav Neidlinger/Kirsten Flagstad/Set Svanholm/Birgit Nilsson/Hans Hotter/James King/Régine Crespin/Wolfgang Windgasse/Vienna Philharmonic/Georg Solti (Decca), in its four parts:
Das Rheingold
Die Walküre
Siegfried
Götterdämmerung

Tristan und Isolde: Ludwig Suthaus/Kirsten Flagstad/Blanche Thebom/Josef Greindl/Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau/Rudolf Schock/Edgar Evans/Rhoderick Davies/Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Philharmonia Orchestra/Wilhelm Furtwängler (EMI Classics)

César Franck (1822-1890)
The greatest Belgian composer since the Renaissance has one of the smallest bodies of work of anyone on this list, and only seven compositions regularly heard in concert -- and that’s using a liberal definition of "regularly" (though in addition, organists highly esteem his works for their instrument). Nonetheless, his ideas of cyclical structure became hugely influential on following generations of French composers (he spent the last 17 years of his life teaching at the Paris Conservatoire), and if he had only composed his mighty Symphony in D minor -- the embodiment of those ideas -- he might still be on this list.

Symphony in D minor; Symphonic Variations; “Le Chasseur Maudit”: Boston Symphony Orchestra/Charles Munch; Leonard Pennario/Boston Pops/Arthur Fiedler (RCA Red Seal)

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
In a way, the Wagner of the symphony (and he was certainly as influenced by the operatic maestro as much as any symphonist ever was), expanding its length and its structure. His career was a constant struggle against naysayers, but history has vindicated him. Unsure of himself and something of a country bumpkin (or a holy fool) amidst the Byzantine tangle of intrigue and factionalism that was 19th century Vienna, he revised his symphonies numerous times, and let some of his pupils get in their whacks as well, leading to a welter of confusion regarding multiple editions. Yet somehow, all except some first versions of some of the early symphonies (everything from the Fifth on is safe) generally make an impressive impact regardless.

Symphonies Nos. 1-9: Staatskapelle Dresden/Eugen Jochum (EMI Classics)

(If you're buying CDs, not MP3s, and want the best combination of sound and performance, or if you want a set that includes the unpublished -- until after Bruckner's death -- symphonies called No. 0 "Die Nullte" and Study Symphony in F, go for Stanislaw Skrowaczewski’s 12-CD set on Oehms. It's also available on iTunes in 11 separate downloads. Skrowaczewski’s tempi are also less interventionist than Jochum’s.)

Masses Nos. 1-3: Edith Mathis/Maria Stader/Claudia Hellmann/Marga Schiml/Ernst Haefliger/Wieslaw Ochman/Kim Borg/Karl Ridderbusch/Choir & Symphony Orchestra of Bavarian Radio/Eugen Jochum (Deutsche Grammophon)

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Another on Tommasini's list. No label (of style or format) put on Brahms can adequately encapsulate his many-faceted mastery. He combined Classical and Romantic (not to mention Baroque and Renaissance influences) into a Janus-like style of richness and density that Wagnerians considered reactionary and obsolete, yet Schoenberg later declared revolutionary. Brahms is considered an intellectual composer, but -- particularly in his piano music – often taps deep channels of emotion.

Symphonies Nos. 1-4: North German Radio Symphony Orchestra/Günter Wand (RCA Red Seal)

Concerto for Violin; Sonatas for Violin & Piano, Nos. 1-3: Aaron Rosand/Monte Carlo Orchestra/Hugh Sung (Vox Classics)

Variations and Fugue on a theme by Handel; Rhapsodies, Op. 79; Piano Pieces, Opp. 118-19: Murray Perahia (Sony Classical)

German Requiem: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau/Philharmonia Chorus & Orchestra/Otto Klemperer (EMI Classics)

Camille Saint Saëns (1835-1921)
A child prodigy who also had a lengthy career, Saint Saëns is not respected as much as he should be; it's almost as if he made composing seem so easy that people think his is not worth respecting. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5; Allegro appassionato; Rapsodie d'Avergne; Wedding Cake: Caprice-Valse; "Africa" Fantasy: Stephen Hough/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo (Hyperion)

Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Mostly known for opera (especially his immortal Carmen), Bizet also wrote a fine, if somewhat backward-looking (yet still fresh-sounding) symphony. Nonetheless, it's his theatrical music on which his reputation rightly stands.

Carmen: Angela Gheorghiu/Roberto Alagna/Inva Mula/Thomas Hampson/Elizabeth Vidal/Isabelle Cals/Ludovic Tézier/Nicolas Cavallier/Nicolas Rivenq/Yann Beuron/La Lauzeta, Children's Choir of Toulouse/Choir "Les Éléments"/National Orchestra of the Capitol of Toulouse/Michel Plasson (EMI Classics)

Modeste Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
Eccentric, alcoholic beyond even the standards of musicians, not very good at actually finishing things, almost making Franck look prolific in comparison, Mussorgsky makes this list by the skin of his teeth, on the strength of one epically great opera (below) and one good opera (Khovanshchina), one spectacular piano piece (Pictures at an Exhibition), and the finest Russian songs ever written (notably the short cycles Songs & Dances of Death and Sunless).

Boris Godunov: Nicolai Ghiaurov/Lucia Valentini Terrani/Mihayl Svetlev/Nicola Ghiuselev/Ruggero Raimondi/Philip Langridge/Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala/Claudio Abbado (Sony Classical)

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
An epitome of Romanticism, all the more poetic and warm – and often touching melancholic, not least in his "Pathétique" Symphony -- for being Russian.

Violin Concerto; Romeo & Juliet Fantasy-Overture after Shakespeare; Meditation for Violin and Orchestra: Dmitry Sitkovetsky/Academy of St. Martin in the Fields/Neville Marriner (Hänssler Classic)

Symphonies Nos. 4-6: Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra/Kurt Sanderling, Evgeny Mravinsky (Deutsche Grammophon)

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
No less knowledgeable a composer than Brahms saw Dvořák's talent and shepherded the indigent young composer to fame and fortune. The Czech (specifically Bohemian and Moravian) flavors of his music make it immediately distinctive.

Symphonies Nos. 7-9; Carnival Overture: Cleveland Orchestra/George Szell (Sony Classical Masterworks Heritage)

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
The delicate, inimitably French charms of Fauré's music have proven timeless. There's a large amount of it that remains unheard by the average collector, but there's no denying the powerful draw of the three masterpieces on my recommended recording, and the Requiem in particular is an undeniable and quite distinctive masterpiece.

Requiem; Pavane; Pelléas et Mélisande: Elly Ameling/Bernard Kruysen/Jill Gomez/Netherlands Radio Chorus/Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra/Jean Fournet, David Zinman (Philips)

Leoš Janáček (1854-1928)
One of the three greatest Czech composers, Janáček started out as a Dvořák acolyte but matured into a highly individualistic stylist of unusual imagination.

Glagolitic Mass; The Diary of One Who Disappeared: Evelyn Lear/Hilde Rössl-Majdan/Ernst Haefliger/Franz Crass/Kay Griffel/Women's Choir/Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/Rafael Kubelik (Deutsche Grammophon)

The Makropulos Affair; Lachian Dances: Elisabeth Söderström/Peter Dvorsky/Anna Czaková/Dalibor Jedlicka/Václav Zitek/Ivana Mixová/Vladimir Krejcik/Vienna Philharmonic/Charles Mackerras (Deutsche Grammophon)

Giaccomo Puccini (1858-1924)
The last melodic genius of the great Italian opera tradition; his trademark work (below) is so iconic and universal in appeal that it has been updated and transformed even in modern pop modes.

La Bohème: Plácido Domingo/Monserrat Caballé/Sherrill Milnes/Judith Blegen/Ruggero Raimondi/Vincente Sardinero/Noel Mangin/John Alldis Choir/Wandsworth School Boys' Choir/London Philharmonic Orchestra/Georg Solti (RCA Victor Red Seal)

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Perhaps no omission from Tommasini's list excited more controversy than Mahler's. He made the symphony a form for post-modern expression with his ironic quotations, his rustic peasant dances, and his Freudian juxtapositions; he was also one of the greatest conductors in history and had a superlative command of orchestration. I wrote about him at length here.

Symphonies Nos. 1-9; 10:I: London Philharmonic Orchestra/Klaus Tennstedt (EMI Classics)

Das Lied von der Erde: Christa Ludwig/Fritz Wunderlich/Philharmonia Orchestra/Otto Klemperer (EMI Classics)

The second and final part of this list is here. For those who just can't wait to know how it turns out, I'll reveal now that #111 will be David Lang. - Steve Holtje

ANNIVERSARIES: Beethoven Born 240 Years Ago

Steve Holtje — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 18:02:59 +0000

ANNIVERSARIES: Beethoven Born 240 Years Ago Steve Holtje December 17, 2010 - 13:02

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We don't know for sure what day Ludwig van Beethoven was born, but it is documented that he was baptized on December 17, 1770. Like practically everything about his fascinating life, this has been studied in detail and speculated over. Some folks say that he was probably baptized the day after he was born, and they thus insist that he was born on December 16. Whatever. What is not disputed, even by those who don't like his music (John Cage and Glenn Gould are two examples of great musicians who considered Beethoven's influence malignant), is that Beethoven was one of the most revolutionary and influential composers in history.

By expanding the range of acceptable harmonies and the breadth of musical forms, he spurred the shift from the Classical style to the Romantic era. With his mighty symphonic works he also made high-art music a matter not just for the entertainment of the wealthy and privileged but also the enlightenment of the masses. Most of all, he made music more than light entertainment, and redefined the idea of musical beauty, by deeply imbuing his works with his own personality to a degree unapproached before then but often held up as a model ever since. Not only were many subsequent composers in awe of Beethoven's powers, his music became such an integral part of Western culture that even people who know practically nothing about classical music can recognize the "da-da-da dum" opening of his Fifth Symphony. His Ninth Symphony, which innovatively culminates in a choral setting of Schiller's poem "Ode to Joy," is such a symbol of human brotherhood that it was programmed to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Born into a working class home, with his father's alcoholism requiring that Beethoven support his family, the prodigy composer was an excellent pianist and violinist who also played organ and horn. He was able to study with Franz Joseph Haydn, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, and Antonio Salieri, and made his Vienna debut in 1795 as piano soloist in one of his own concertos, in an era when composers were almost always performers and, often, vice versa. But just as he was becoming popular and well-known, in 1802 he noticed that he was losing his hearing. Yet this indomitable man continued to attain greater and more innovative heights of self-expression.

More than any of his other works, it was Beethoven's nine symphonies that came to symbolize his transformation of music into public utterance for the masses. He expanded symphonic form greatly starting with his Third Symphony, the "Eroica," an urge which culminated in the Ninth, the "Choral," with chorus and vocal soloists. The "Eroica" also was programmatic (something Haydn had occasionally done), and that impulse reached new heights of specificity in the Sixth, named the "Pastoral." No other composer's work has been as extensively recorded as Beethoven's symphonies. Sorting out the most recommendable recordings thus proves both more necessary and more daunting. Respecting a variety of interpretive approaches, the following recommendations abandon pretenses of definitiveness and merely hope to be useful. First come complete sets, followed by a few outstanding performances of individual symphonies.

CYCLES

No Beethoven symphony cycles are perfect. The music is so multi-faceted that not only can no single performance of a given symphony bring out all of the qualities that can be found in the work, no conductor's approach is ideally suited to all of these very different works. Here are my favorites among several main approaches.

Energy

Eileen Farrell, Nan Merriman, Jan Peerce, Norman Scott/Robert Shaw Chorale/NBC Symphony Orchestra/Arturo Toscanini (RCA) 9/Missa Solemnis

These 1949-52 recordings, taped in live performance for broadcast, were issued as a set by RCA soon after the introduction of the LP. They have been controversial classics ever since. Yet though Toscanini's fast tempos in Beethoven were decried by some, he was closer to the metronome indications than most other conductors at the time, anticipating the “period performance” movement.

Toscanini's swift tempos preserve the First's Classical feel well. Grace and elegance are not often attributed to this conductor, but they are here in abundance, though mixed with power and drive. Because of the symphony's smaller dimensions, Toscanini takes the exposition repeat in the first movement, which he does not do in the Second. In the latter, his Allegro con brio after the slower introduction zips along at a very brisk pace; the amazing precision of the strings and winds in the many 64th-note runs truly dazzes at this speed. Though he takes the beautiful main theme of the following Larghetto at a faster speed than many conductors, it sounds natural and unforced.

In the "Eroica," which inaugurated Beethoven's move into the Romantic period, Toscanini's 1949 recording competes with another, from a decade earlier but also with the NBC Symphony. The orchestra -- its style including more portamento at that point -- plays with deeper feeling in the 1939 version. The younger Toscanini's reading also gives the work more breadth, to small degrees in I and III and by nearly a minute in II, the famous Funeral March (in a heart-wrenching reading), and blazes through the finale in bravura fashion. There's plenty of character in both dashingly heroic readings. The Fourth's return to more of a Classical impulse elicits some supremely elegant -- even charming -- playing, with finely gradated dynamics paying big dividends. Toscanini's Fifth is lithely powerful, but the flat sound can't handle dynamic climaxes. No matter. You could listen to this Fifth through paper cups and a string and it would still be moving. It moves briskly throughout, but never sounds rushed, because Toscanini's tempos are varied and flexible.

Toscanini's tempos in the "Pastoral" Symphony (he said, "Germans play everything too slow") seem less startling nowadays than they did over five decades ago. And Toscanini allows this music to emerge in a more relaxed state than elsewhere in the cycle. He sounds happy to be in the country, his brook really burbles, his peasants sound truly merry, and if the recording equipment could have handled the peak volumes, we'd have the storm to end all storms. And when his shepherds rejoice, they don't seem stunned and comatose from the storm. The mysterious stirrings at the start of Seventh mix with the subsequent loping rhythms in complementary contrast, building to multiple climaxes that really pack a punch even with the top dynamics flattened by the recording. His Allegretto moves more quickly than most, with a hushed excitement of anticipation rather than mournful solemnity. Predictably, his Presto really is Presto, but the precision of the NBC Symphony is such that no details are blurred. And nobody has ever played the Allegro con brio with more brio. Beethoven's Eighth took the drama of his Romantic works and condensed them into Classical conciseness. Perhaps because of its Classical tilt, he takes the exposition repeat in the first movement. His approach works well in the small inner movements, where he imbues them with a graceful lilt. And as expected, his Allegro vivace finale gallops along at an exciting clip.

The Ninth is like a symphony with a short (interrupted) finale followed by a coda as long as any of its single movements. It starts in stark terror (I), proceeds into a life-and-death struggle (II) -- both of which Toscanini portrays better than any other conductor -- and ends in overwhelming joy. The third movement offers an unexplained but welcome relief from the struggle, which is then resumed at the opening of IV's alternation of uncertainty and a barely glimpsed heaven. It's when the unprecedented vocals appear in the until-then purely instrumental world of the symphony that joy begins its triumphal dispelling of doubt. By moving rapidly, but not at any sacrifice of emotion, through the twists and turns of this massive work, Toscanini holds together a structure which often threatens to fall apart into unconnected pieces. The incredible discipline of the NBC Symphony and the Robert Shaw Chorale are integral to the success of the performance. The solo quartet of soprano Eileen Farrell, mezzo Nan Merriman, tenor Jan Peerce, and bass Norman Scott also distinguishes itself, though Scott could be improved on and Farrell's terminal vibrato is a bit distracting at times.

Profundity

Vienna Philharmonic, Stockholm Philharmonic, Choir & Orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival/Wilhelm Furtwängler (EMI Classics) 1 & 3, 5 & 7, 6 & 8, 9

The most significant feature of Furtwängler's conducting is how he treats phrasing in an extremely flexible and expressive manner without compromising -- in fact, enhancing -- the structural integrity of the music. Some will find his tempos slow, but he is able to maintain overall tension of the lines; the sense is of time being elongated, not of dragging or bogging down. And he was hardly committed to slow tempos as an overarching philosophy; in fast movements he could move with great alacrity. He was also a masterful manipulator of orchestral color. Time and again, Furtwängler, a composer himself, enters into these classic works and points out features other conductors zip past. He imbues the performances with spontaneity and a life-force that elevates them to transformative events.

His only complete cycle on record is this EMI set, made complete by incorporating concert performances of the Second and Eighth that were not recorded by EMI (and have dimmer sound). The 2000 remastering is superior to the cycle's 1980s incarnation, which in the quest for clean sonics scrubbed away some of the unique patina of the Vienna Phil. The Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth receive some of their noblest readings ever. The Ninth is particularly famous, as this concert performance reopened Bayreuth following its shut-down in the wake of World War II; there is even more of a spiritual aura about it than in most of Furtwängler's performances (and, despite its concert provenance, the sound is quite good). With a largely excellent solo quartet and the fine Bayreuth chorus, even the often problematic finale positively glows. Aside from the Second, Eighth, and Ninth, these are studio recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic in its own hall, the Musikvereinssaal.

Some critics feel Furtwängler's best performances tended to come with "his" orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and that his concerts are more exciting than his studio work. The former assertion is highly debatable, but there's some truth to the latter, so as a supplement to the EMI set, look for the superb four-CD Music & Arts set from 1999. While not including all the symphonies, it is interesting for focusing on passionate recordings made during World War II in which the conductor (whose anti-Nazi bona fides are historically established) seemingly attempts to exorcise through art the myriad evils, fears, and frustrations faced by him and most Germans. This "Eroica" (also with the Vienna Phil) is characterized by bold momentum. The Fourth and Fifth, both with the Berlin Philharmonic, are weighter and more dramatic readings than his later versions. The unique March 1942 Ninth exudes a desperate search for affirmation; its power and catharsis are unmatched. Also included are the "Pastoral" and the Coriolan and Leonore No. 3 overtures.

Authenticity

Luba Orgonasova, Anne Sofie von Otter, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Gilles Cachemaille/Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique/John Eliot Gardiner (Archiv)

As I wrote of these 1991-94 recordings a decade ago for an out-of-print guide, "This is the original-instrument version of the symphonies for people who usually find original-instrument recordings too lightweight for Beethoven. Balances are not tilted too strongly away from the strings, though certainly the winds come through nicely with pungent but not vulgar tone. Tempos are often quick, but never degenerate into a scramble. The Fifth is winningly headstrong, the Seventh aptly dance-like yet also firm and weighty. In the Ninth, all but radical period-performance advocates will probably find Gardiner's speed in the Adagio not, in fact, an Adagio but rather an Andante (and a quick one, at that). However, overall this is quite an effective interpretation, and the soloists are better than usual in period groups. Bass Gilles Cachemaille is more expressive in his first solo than most of the competition, if not quite as imposing in tone. The solo quartet…is well matched and handles Gardiner's breakneck (but exciting and effective) finale tempos with impressive accuracy, as does the chorus and, for that matter, the orchestra."

Beauty

Cheryl Studer, Delores Ziegler, Peter Seiffert, and James Morris/Westminster Choir/Philadelphia Orchestra/Riccardo Muti (EMI Classics)

The predominant characteristic of Muti's cycle is overflowing joy (especially in the Seventh), and it's also one of the very best played and recorded cycles. The sheen of the Philadelphians may not be to everyone's taste, but it is unmatched. There are sets of this cycle with more vividly defined character, but for a budget-priced digital set (in which every performance is commendable and lacking in controversial points, Muti's 1985-88 cycle can't be beat. That description should not be taken as an indication that Muti's direction leads to bland, generic music-making, however, as it's often lively, leaping out of the box with the Fifth and not stumbling even in the often-problematic Ninth, which has a fine solo quartet. Besides the symphonies, this box set includes the Leonore Overture No. 3, the Fidelio Overture, and the Consecration of the House Overture.

Helena Junten, Katarina Karnéus, Daniel Norman, Neal Davies/Minnesota Chorale/Minnesota Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä (Bis)

The newest recommendation offers both the most modern sonics and the most authoritative text. Though the soloists in the Ninth are more operatic than I like, this is nonetheless arguably the best cycle so far that uses Norman Del Mar's painstakingly researched and corrected editions. Vänskä generally finds the middle ground between period stylists' Haydnesque briskness and traditional grandiosity. Acute attention to specifics of phrasing and dynamic contrasts guide his undemonstrative interpretive style. When apt he's quite emphatic, accenting in a lean and limber way. Tempos are often fast, but not always as fast as they seem; the propulsiveness of some movements is largely due to his highly articulated way with rhythm. Every moment is keenly yet subtly characterized, made more vivid through clarity of sonics and clarity of performance. Lyricism is not lacking, highlighted by legato passages made more special by contrast -- legato is not Vänskä's default phrasing. He achieves distinctive without resorting to eccentricities.

INDIVIDUAL WORKS

Symphonies Nos. 3 "Eroica" & 8: Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen/Paavo Järvi (RCA Red Seal)

The most viscerally exciting of all Eroicas. Even ignoring its advantage of excellent SACD sound, it trumps such thrilling worthies as Toscanini and Bernstein. Though using a modern-instrument group, Järvi delivers a period-performance-informed interpretation bursting with rhythmic energy and keen clarity. The Eighth has much of the same character and is fine on those terms, though my personal taste is for a bit more charm and humor.

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 "Eroica": Philharmonia Orchestra/Otto Klemperer (EMI Classics)

The polar opposite of Järvi's. Klemperer’s stolidly granitic Beethoven cycle would have aged better if the Philharmonia had been a better orchestra in the 1950s when he recorded it. Fortunately they’d improved by 1959, when this Eroica was recorded; it’s the set's high point. (Don’t mistake it for his 1955 mono recording, quicker but with scrappier playing.) Klemperer's tempi depict a poised and deliberate hero and provide pathos in the Funeral March. The horns sound wonderful in the Trio of the Scherzo. (Filling out the disc is a strings-only orchestration of the Grosse Fuge -- Great Fugue, originally for string quartet).

Symphonies Nos. 5 in C minor, Op. 67; 7 in A major, Op. 92: Berlin Philharmonic/Arthur Nikisch, Ferenc Fricsay (Deutsche Grammophon)

Volume 20 in Deutsche Grammophon's Complete Beethoven Edition, Historic Recordings, varies wildly -- in interpretive quality, in style, in sound -- but as far as its symphonies go, these are fairly crucial. Nikisch conducting the Fifth in 1913 (the first complete symphony recording in history) overcomes extremely low fidelity and the exigencies of early acoustic recording to deliver a thrilling account in ultra-Romantic style. Back when the musicians had to play into a big recording horn, not only was the size of the orchestra reduced to fit them within its capturing range, reorchestration was required because low-pitched stringed instruments were picked up very poorly by the recording horn, and their lines sometimes had to be reinforced by wind instruments. So the timbres are often surprising, but that's incidental; what's important here is the documentation of a 19th century style of conducting, with wildly fluctuating tempi and heavily inflected phrasing and dynamics that's much freer than we are used to nowadays (though not the quirk-fest that modernists such as Toscanini deprecated the old style as). And how sweetly and rapturously the violins phrase!

Leaping ahead in time to 1960, we get the underrated Fricsay's superb Seventh, envisioned on an imposingly monumental scale but allied with felicitously graceful playing and refulgent timbres. Also noteworthy, though not essential, is Carl Schuricht's 1941 Eroica, which both recalls the broad architecture of his much-praised Bruckner conducting and phrases with singing lyricism. But even DG's own liner notes call Fritz Busch's 1950 Ninth "brightly competent, without being particularly searching or in any way original." These are the only symphonies in this six-CD set, but there is much else (including Fricsay accompanying Annie Fischer in a must-hear Piano Concerto No. 3) that makes it a worthwhile investment.

Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7: Vienna Philharmonic/Carlos Kleiber (Deutsche Grammophon)

These mid-'70s recordings are considered by many to be the best of these works, even more exciting than Toscanini's renditions. Sonically they place the burnished Vienna sound within a great sense of space. These are generally quite quick readings, even aggressive, but perfectly proportioned and never merely rushed or breathless. The engineering is as good as DG ever gave, and the playing is perfect.

Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral": Vienna Philharmonic/Karl Böhm (Deutsche Grammophon)

This is traditionally seen as an amiable, rustic work, but that interpretation is actually fairly difficult to bring off successfully. In this view most movements should convey a genial air, but the storm in the Allegro should be highly dramatic; most conductors get one or the other right, but not both. The underrated Böhm's long-praised performance is the exception.

Symphony No. 9 "Choral": London Bach Choir/London Symphony Orchestra/Pierre Monteux (Westminster/Universal)

This Ninth is fleetly taut without being overdriven or unsmiling. The first two movements are noticeably brisk in an exciting but not overstated or thrill-seeking fashion. Even the following Adagio molto e cantabile moves along with alacrity; while this may not be to all tastes, it has an attractive dance-like lilt. The finale, though appropriately bustling at the beginning and building to a stirring conclusion, has very flexible tempos full of contrasts, with Monteux indulging the friendly collegiality of what is, after all, a glorified drinking song. He's got one of the most successful and well-balanced solo quartets ever recorded in this work: soprano Elisabeth Söderström, contralto Regina Resnik, tenor Jon Vickers (near the beginning of his glorious career), and bass David Ward. One even imagines that at times Monteux relaxes the music's progress to revel in their tones, though certainly the music-making never becomes slack on that account.

Symphony No. 9 "Choral": Charlotte Margiono, Birgit Remmert, Rudolf Schasching, Robert Holl/Arnold Schoenberg Choir/Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Teldec)

Harnoncourt made his reputation in Baroque music as one of the pioneers of period-instrument performance, but doesn't consider use of period instruments useful for music later than Mozart's. But despite the Chamber Orchestra of Europe's use of modern instruments, Harnoncourt's period-performance background is strongly reflected here (and in his entire estimable Beethoven cycle). Forces are reduced, winds/strings are balanced, fast tempos are faster than usual, and most of all, he takes nothing for granted. This results in many striking moments; for instance, I have never heard the bassoon solo in the fourth movement sound more poignant. There's nothing mechanical about his tempos or phrasing; he wields them with Romantic expressiveness.

Sacred and Profane

Dusty Wright — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:38:05 +0000

Sacred and Profane Dusty Wright August 9, 2009 - 10:38

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Rhys Chatham: A Crimson Grail for 200 Electric Guitars (Outdoor Version) (World Premiere)

Damrosch Bandshell, Lincoln Center, NYC

8th August 2009 at

As music impresario Jim Fouratt presciently posted on his Facebook page yesterday, "You will be sorry if you miss this." And he was right. My god, did every music freak and fan show up last night at Lincoln Center's outdoor theater? Well, if you invite 200 guitarists and 16 bassists to play in your band and each one of them invited 6-10 friends -- plus all of the other cultural curious -- you will certainly get a formidable crowd. And as former Joe's Pub booker Bill Bragin has so effectively done since manning the post as director of public programming at Lincoln Center, he aims to please and inspire the culturally ravenous in New York City.

Now all that was missing was the cooperation of Mother Nature. Last year the commissioned piece was canceled due to monsoon weather conditions. But last night the weather was spectacular, the crowd electric in a gathering storm of anticipation.

New York-born, Paris-based, 56-year old minimalist composer Rhys Chatham, along with section leaders David Daniell, John King, Seth Olinsky (Akron/Family), and Ned Sublette, led an over-sized volunteered orchestra in a truly moving and memorable ensemble performance. This piece of music -- "A Crimson Grail" -- had its world premiere in 2005 as a 400-guitar version staged at the Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Paris. And while that concert has already achieved legendary status amongst a certain sect of music literati, the outdoor acoustics of Damrosch Bandshell presented a new set of challenges.

Those challenges were obviously met and conquered. Rhys's music literally surrounded the sardine-packed crowd. I was hoping to sit smack dab in the middle, but even with my cast and crutches affording me a certain advantage, I could not push through. One can only imagine what it must have sounded like in the epicenter of the venue, being completely surrounded by the 200 electric amplifiers. But even from my peripheral vantage the sound and music was magnificent and awe-inspiring Once I shut out the morons too busy texting and calling their friends -- why do these folks even show up for concerts if they can't tune into the programming? (Save your calls and texts for after the show). Nonetheless, I managed to shoehorn my way next to two old ladies sitting on a wall just past the 61st Street entrance near the bandshell seats. Moreover, I had to endure people climbing over us to stand in the bushes behind us for a better vantage. Not that one existed, as the entire perimeter was bathed in white canvas beach cabanas to house all of the guest musicians and their electric amplifiers, thus blocking any real view of the stage.

But what of the music? It was a movement in three parts. Slow, deliberate, percolating, droning. A lone percussionist tapping his hi-hat served as "click" track-like rhythm for all to follow. The four section leaders conducted their 50-person platoons with crisp precision. The first movement was one drawn-out, hypnotic and meditative crescendo, an Eno-like ambient-texture as enormous as a massive blue whale floating above and around us. The second movement of this colossal wall of sound was that of a gigantic swarm of bees that shifted gradually to the sound of hundreds of wailing violins. The third movement was like the ebb and flow of a mountainous sound wave lolling from side to side between the two opposing walls of musicians. The rise and fall of the music tugged and pushed against all of us, musicians included. It was truly awe-inspiring and induced a trance-like, euphoric state.

As the final cascade of music stopped and the last soundwaves from the 200 satiated musicians reverberated into space. I couldn't help but smile at the two women next to me while they smiled back, recognizing the magic that we were so privileged to witness. As I stood up, stretched, and texted my GIANTfingers bandmate Michael Cumella, who was part of the orchestra, I spied Phil Lesh (bassist in the Grateful Dead), grinning ear to ear, making a hasty exit. It was one of those moments that made even the most jaded culture snob take notice.

New York's seminal funk-punk band Liquid Liquid featuring three drummers followed, but I had already relaxed and floated upstream. It did conjure up memories of funked-up, sweaty evenings dancing to them when Fouratt-curated music and live performances at Dancetaria. He was right. If you missed it, you fucked up.

Steve Reich Awarded Pulitzer Prize in Music

Steve Holtje — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:21:40 +0000

Steve Reich Awarded Pulitzer Prize in Music Steve Holtje April 23, 2009 - 14:21

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Steve Reich (1936- ), one of the pioneering Minimalist composers, received a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for his 2007 composition Double Sextet. It's a piece I've only read about, as no recording of it has yet been released. But Pulitzers in the arts are as much about honoring careers as specific pieces, and this can obviously apply in the case of Reich, whose career is now in its fifth decade. His work has been a huge influence not only on classical composers but on rock and electronic music as well. Here's a quick guide to ten albums that, taken as a group, offer a view of his stylistic development while including his most important and most artistically rewarding works.

Early Works Double Edge; Russ Hartenberger; Steve Reich (Nonesuch)

"It's Gonna Rain" and "Come Out" are tape pieces from 1965 and '66 that layer speech samples. There's a political element to them -- the former samples a black street preacher's oration about the Apocalypse and the latter samples a Civil Rights era beating victim -- but their main interest is the way Reich builds towering edifices of rhythmic sound by looping short phrases over themselves. He soon transferred elements of this approach to instrumental music; in "Piano Phase" (1967), two players start playing a pattern in unison, but one deliberately shifts tempo while the other stays steady, putting them out of phase more and more; it's mechanical music for flesh-and-blood performers, but as minimal as its components are, it"s quite a difficult piece to coordinate (as I learned first-hand back in my college days). This problem was solved by slightly altering the technique to have the players move out of phase in steady values of entire beats at a time, as in 1972's percussion duo "Clapping Music," wherein one clapper plays the exact pattern throughout while the other clapper shifts the rhythm by one beat every 12 bars until they are back in sync.

"Phase Patterns"; "Pendulum Music"; "Piano Phase"; "Four Organs" Ensemble Avantgarde (Wergo)

More early works here, including another performance of "Piano Phase." Influenced by John Cage and LaMonte Young, "Pendulum Music" (1968) is not a notated work, though it is, like the phase pieces, determined by a process. Four microphones are suspended within an array of amplifiers and speakers, then set in motion (hence the title). The shifts in feedback as they move in space create the music. Results differ; three versions are offered here. It's a bit like a phase piece, as the rhythms diverge and open out. The feedback is not loud squealing, but instead sounds like synthesized pitched percussion, setting up and varying simple melodic patterns. "Phase Patterns" (1970) is for four electric organs, but despite its title works differently from "Piano Phase." The focus is more on the rhythmic patterns, and it's less a process piece than a composed piece requiring more normal compositional decisions, anticipating the music Reich would write later that decade. Rather than shifting a fixed pattern, the patterns evolve, with motivic breaks clearly defining sections. The effect is still repetitive and meditative, however. "Four Organs" (1970) adds maracas and is built on the same principles.

Drumming Cornelius Cardew, James Preiss, Steve Reich, Steve Chambers, Timothy Ferchen, Bob Becker, Russ Hartenberger, Ben Harms, Glen Velez, Joan La Barbara, Jay Clayton, Leslie Scott (Deutsche Grammophon)

Reich, who had studied jazz drumming in his teens, became fascinated by African and Balinese drumming; in 1971 he spent five weeks in Africa and was tutored by Ghanian master drummer Gideon Alerwoyie. Then came this important transitional piece, Reich's last to use phasing and his first to show concern for orchestration in its shifting combinations of timbres (he even uses voices as percussion). His treatment of rhythm becomes more flexible and complex, which allowed the scale of the work to expand considerably (it's usually between 80 and 90 minutes long, though choosing to take fewer repeats has knocked it down by as much as 30 minutes) and also allows for more variety, though the growth of the patterns is still highly organic. This is a landmark of avant-garde music, and was very well received at its premiere, in contrast to the outrage that greeted "Four Organs." Drumming has had at least six recordings, of which this was the first.

Music for 18 Musicians Steve Reich and Musicians (ECM)

Another landmark, written in 1974-76; it could be said that this is where Reich's music became Post-Minimalist, because the unfolding of the structure is less rigid. Eleven chords are played, then eleven pieces are constructed on those chords. The textures that make Reich's music attractive no longer needed to be justified by the strict systems of the past -- and he added more textures as he expanded his instrumentation, which here includes violin, cello, and two clarinets (doubling on bass clarinet). He also added vastly more harmony; this piece sounds much less static than anything he'd previously done. This is the first of five recordings. Music for a Large Ensemble (1978) and Octet (1979), also highly worthy pieces, work with the same ideas.

Tehillim Steve Reich and Musicians; George Manahan (ECM)

One of the vocal masterpieces of the 20th century, this 1981 work is Reich's first published text-setting vocal piece, setting excerpts of Psalms 19, 34, 18, and 150 (in Hebrew) for four female vocalists, chamber orchestra, and percussion. The underlying percussion beats are highly syncopated and usually steady, but the actual meters in the various sections change frequently, often measure-to-measure, as Reich adheres to the rhythms of the words (he had begun studying cantillation in Israel in 1977). And, accommodating the texts, the twisting, spiraling melodies are much longer than in Reich's earlier music. His usual canonic wizardry is frequently deployed, with the first movement particularly dazzling in its complex vortices. More startling are the homophonic sections, which serve as strong contrasts, and the third movement, Reich's first published slow movement.

The Desert Music Steve Reich and Musicians with Chorus and Members of the Brooklyn Philharmonic/Michael Tilson Thomas (Nonesuch)

Maybe I should have included Reich's 1993 opera, The Cave, instead of this 1984 work that more or less expands on the techniques of Tehillim, but I have a great fondness for The Desert Music, which sets poetry of William Carlos Williams in absolutely entrancing fashion, full of majestic beauty.

Sextet; "Six Marimbas" Steve Reich and Musicians with members of Nexus and the Manhattan Marimba Quartet (Nonesuch)

This isn't as historically important as the other albums on this list, but it's strikingly attractive music, most notably the sound of bowed vibraphone in Sextet (1985). "Six Marimbas" is a 1986 recasting of 1973's "Six Pianos," making it both more practical to perform and more fun to watch.

Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint Kronos Quartet; Pat Metheny (Nonesuch)

The Grammy-winning Different Trains (1988) combines string quartet and tapes containing very short interview excerpts and the sounds of trains, bells, and sirens; the music's melodies are derived from the speaking voices. The subject matter is dark, as the Jewish Reich contrasts his childhood train rides (going between divorced parents on opposite coasts) with the trains that took European Jews to concentration camps, giving the three-movement piece an innate emotionality and socio-political stance. As a side note, Reich put the taped sounds into a digital sampling keyboard for easier use, making this one of the first classical pieces to use that equipment. These ideas were explored further in the aforementioned The Cave. Electric Counterpoint is scored for ten electric guitars and two electric bass guitars pre-recorded separately by one performer. An eleventh guitar part is played live against the combined recording of the other parts. (There is also a version for complete real-time performance by multiple guitarists, but Metheny's distinctive tone is preferable.) Electronic group The Orb sampled part of the third movement for their extended piece Little Fluffy Clouds.

You Are (Variations); Cello Counterpoint Los Angeles Master Chorale; Maya Beiser (Nonesuch)

Reich got his degree in Philosophy at Cornell, and You Are (Variations) (2004) is definitely a philosophical work, even quoting Ludwig Wittgenstein. The four movements alternate English and Hebrew, quoting Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (a Hasidic mystic), Psalm 16, Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, and the Talmud. Reich says, "Starting out, I made an harmonic ground plan with a short cycle of chords that would serve as the underpinning for all the variations...[but] I started to vary the harmonies...they departed further from the original ground plan. I frankly enjoyed this immensely since I was following spontaneous musical intuition." Yes, Reich goes wild here, and it's utterly exhilarating, but still thoroughly Reichian. The effect suggests a much freer take on the musical ideas of Tehillim and The Desert Music. Cello Counterpoint (2003), for eight cellos (here overdubbed by Maya Beiser), is also very freely constructed and, even using technology, a virtuoso showpiece of sorts; it's also much darker in timbre than the vast majority of Reich's music due to the instrument's range.

Daniel Variations Los Angeles Master Chorale/London Sinfonietta/Alan Pierson (Nonesuch)

Daniel Variations (2006) is in memory of Daniel Pearl, the American journalist murdered in Pakistan by jihadists in 2002. It combines text from the Biblical book of Daniel and Pearl's words from the video his captors released and from an off-the-cuff comment Pearl (himself an amateur fiddler) made referencing the title of a song played by the jazz violinist Stuff Smith, "I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music." The words are sung by sopranos and tenors (Los Angeles Master Chorale), while the instrumental forces (including members of the Steve Reich Ensemble) are two clarinets, four vibraphones, percussion, four pianos, and string quartet. The idiom is similar to The Desert Music. While there is tension in the first three movements, and knowledge of the tragedy grants huge emotional import to otherwise innocuous utterances, ultimately the half-hour work is a celebration of the spirit of Pearl, and that comes across in the finale. This CD also includes the 22-minute Variations for Vibes, Pianos & Strings (2005), played by the London Sinfonietta under Alan Pierson. For three string quartets, two pianos, and four vibraphones, it is similar in tintinnabulatory brightness to much of Reich's mature instrumental work featuring vibraphones. It's in three movements, the outer ones fast and sparkling, with distinctive asymmetrical propulsiveness from the accents of the pianos, the middle slow and pensive, emphasizing the strings more.

ANNIVERSARIES: Mendelssohn Born 200 Years Ago

Steve Holtje — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:08:32 +0000

ANNIVERSARIES: Mendelssohn Born 200 Years Ago Steve Holtje February 2, 2009 - 11:08

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Jacob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (February 3, 1809 - November 4, 1847) was probably the greatest child prodigy composer that music has ever seen, even compared to Mozart (an estimation made by famed author Goethe, friend of Mendelssohn's teacher Carl Friedrich Zelter). Felix was born into a well-to-do family, grandson of esteemed philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and son of banker Abraham Mendelssohn. The youngster had every advantage, not least a spectacularly advanced education from an early age. He was almost immediately a superb pianist who entertained the cream of Berlin society at cultural gatherings in the Mendelssohn house, where he sometimes had a small orchestra to test out his compositions.

By the end of his teens, he had written more genuinely great music than most composers achieve in a lifetime of striving, including his First Symphony (age 15), Octet (16), and Overture to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (17). Though acclaimed across Europe in his lifetime, Mendelssohn was disdained by future generations of musicians and critics for whom this Classicist, dedicated to perfection of form but little interested in advancing harmony, was far too conservative and comfortable. Yet there is considerable imagination in his best works (his Violin Concerto in E minor transformed the genre and was much-copied), and nearly everything he wrote is immediately distinctive, "Mendelssohnian" in its graceful textures, moto perpetuo adrenaline, and lack of superfluity.

He died at age 38 after several strokes (he worked far too hard, dashing all over Europe to conduct, founding the Leipzig Conservatory, overseeing ambitious concert series, etc.), but his precocious prolificness had given him a productive 22 years. There are two things I want to avoid in the following recommendations: the pretense that a single recording of a work can be recommended definitively in repertoire that has been so widely recorded, and the inclination to stick with the old-standby classic recordings.

Symphonies Nos. 1; 2 "Lobgesang"; 3 "Scotch"; 4 "Italian"; 5 "Reformation"; Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream; Hebrides Overture "Fingal's Cave"; Die schone Melusine Overture; Trumpet Overture; Overture for Wind Instruments; Ruy Blas Overture; Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage Overture London Symphony Orchestra/Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon)

Mendelssohn's mature Symphonies are a mixed bag in form, emotional impact, and -- some say, though rather overstating it -- quality. The acknowledged masterpieces are the Third and Fourth (in order of publication, not creation), both inspired by his travels; the Second and Fifth are religious in nature, with the Second arguably the most ambitious choral symphony ever, inspired by Beethoven's Ninth but surpassing it in scope, as though an oratorio were grafted onto the first three movements of a symphony. The concert overtures are, like the Symphonies, programmatic (though a Classicist in form, Mendelssohn was a Romantic in subject matter), and the Hebrides Overture (Fingal's Cave) was, like the Third, inspired by Scotland; it's one of his finest works. Though somewhat less expressive in the overtures than some conductors due to his preference for fleet accounts, Abbado delivers vigorous readings of the Symphonies that grant them lean profiles without making them scrawny in sound. There's no question that this is the best complete set of Mendelssohns mature symphonies, and contains the best readings of Nos. 1 and 2.

Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 "Scotch"; selections from A Midsummer Night's Dream London Symphony Orchestra/Peter Maag (London)

This has been the finest recording of the "Scotch" since the day it was made almost a half-century ago. The opening swells with pomp to just the right degree, the strings' singing tone is unsurpassed, every tempo shift is exactly right, and things move along smartly without ever seeming rushed and with all the local color observed fully without becoming sectionalized. Audiophiles need not worry that the 1960 recording date brings inferior sound -- far from it; the sonics are full and rich. Filling out this CD are 41 minutes from A Midsummer Night's Dream (1957, not quite as fine sonically but still more than acceptable), not at quite the same level of excellence but useful for collectors who don't want to spring for the whole piece. Look for the earlier (1995) but alas out-of-print edition (in Decca's series The Classic Sound) that has only the four standard instrumental selections (Overture/Scherzo/Nocturne/Wedding March) from A Midsummer Night's Dream but includes Mendelssohn's other inspiration from his trip to Scotland, the concert overture "The Hebrides" (AKA "Fingal's Cave") in one of the best and most atmospheric performances.

Symphonies Nos. 4 in A major, Op. 90 "Italian"; 5 in D major, Op. 107 "Reformation" Vienna Philharmonic/John Eliot Gardiner (Deutsche Grammophon)

Usually when a little-known alternate version of a symphony appears, it's an early edition that was later changed by the composer. This CD, however, offers Mendelssohn's 1834 revision of his most popular symphony, the "Italian" (so-called because he wrote it following a stay in Venice and Rome). Oddly, his autograph of the 1833 version became the standard version. Gardiner's sprightly account of the 1833 edition does not mitigate against a nicely atmospheric performance, its dynamic and tempo contrasts aptly judged and cleanly defined. When Mendelssohn revised it, he left the first movement untouched, so Gardiner records only the last three 1834 movements. Usually Mendelssohn's revisions involved tightening up his first thoughts, but here he expands his conception somewhat in all three movements as well as making easily noticeable changes in the melodies and orchestrations. The charm of the original is not lost amid the greater complexities, and in a way, the revision's more deliberately archaic sound seems oddly more modern. The Vienna Philharmonic's luxuriant strings and Gardiner's gracefully sprung rhythms present a good case. Between the Italians comes the "Reformation" Symphony, actually an earlier work from 1830 commemorating the tercentenary of the Augsburg Confession, and prominently featuring Martin Luther's famous tune "Ein' Feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress Is Our God") in the fourth movement. Gardiner's account lacks the pomp conductors traditionally bring to this work, though it's not that he's particularly speedy, just that he favors a light touch. Since this work is often criticized for its weighty pretensions, that actually makes it more attractive.

Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 Hilary Hahn/Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra/Hugh Wolff (Sony Classical)

This is one of the cornerstones of the violin concerto literature and has been blessed with an impressive number of superb recorded performances over the years, ranging from the emotive Yehudi Menuhin collaboration with Wilhelm Furtwangler (EMI) to the longtime technical standard set by Jascha Heifetz with Charles Munch (RCA) to the patrician balance of Nathan Milstein (it's hard to choose between his flawless renditions with Bruno Walter, William Steinberg, and Leon Barzin; the first offers the best accompaniment, the last the best sound, and the middle a good compromise). But Hilary Hahn's 2002 recording outshines them all by combining flawless technique, a perfectly proportioned performance that never drags, golden tone, and juicily Romantic inflections. For another fascinating alternative, there's Daniel Hope's recording with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Thomas Hengelbrock (Deutsche Grammophon) of the original 1844 version, with Hope's performance recommended especially to listeners who favor maximum sweetness of tone and Romantic inflections.

Piano Concertos Nos. 1 in G minor, Op. 25; 2 in D minor, Op. 40; Variations serieuses in D minor, Op. 54; Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 14 Jean-Yves Thibaudet/Gewandhausorchester Leipzig/Herbert Blomstedt (Decca)

Mendelssohn was a piano virtuoso, and his two Concertos for Piano and Orchestra Nos. 1 in G minor, Op. 25, and 2 in D minor, Op. 40, are quite popular (especially the First, written at 21) and put the form to excellent use. For decades, there were two main choices: Rudolf Serkin's winning blend of dramatic weight, subtle wit, fleet elegance, and structural awareness (plus the refulgent accompaniment of Eugene Ormandy) in the late 1950s (now combined with Isaac Stern's heartfelt and dramatic reading of the Violin Concerto), and Murray Perahia's supremely polished and lovingly lyrical 1974 accounts (with the light-as-air accompaniment of the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields under its redoubtable leader Neville Marriner), both on Columbia/Sony. But now Thibaudet's 1997 recordings combine the dramatic surge of Serkin with the tonal refinement of Perahia, in impeccable digital sound to boot. These are stormy readings of stunning contrasts and wide dynamic range, about as Romantic as you can get in these works, and the accompaniment by Mendelssohn's own orchestra is keenly attentive. Between the concertos we're given Thibaudet's scintillatingly fiery reading of Mendelssohn's greatest solo piano work, the Serious Variations, and a lovely rendition of another early gem, the Rondo Capriccioso.

Songs without Words Daniel Barenboim (Deutsche Grammophon

Generations of pianists have loved the little gems known as the Songs without Words, which display a relaxed Mendelssohn at his most elegant and charming. Over the course of the eight books of six pieces each (plus, on this two-CD set, the six Children's Pieces, Op. 72, and four other short works similar to Songs without Words), there's a wide variety of moods, from the moody, shadowed gondola songs inspired by Mendelssohn's time in Venice. In larger, more serious works, Daniel Barenboim can be an eccentric pianist, but here he too relaxes, playing warmly and with gorgeous tone while avoiding exaggerated effects in this 1973 recording of the complete set.

Octet, Op. 20; String Quintets Nos. 1-2; String Quartet No. 2 Hausmusik (Virgin Veritas)

There is perhaps no more startling evidence of just how amazing a prodigy Mendelssohn was than his Octet, dazzling in its full but light textures and gossamer themes, utterly organic in its growth. The English group Hausmusik emphasizes those characteristics nicely on this two-CD set. (For a brawnier, more exciting, nearly orchestral interpretation, there's the Marlboro Festival gang's classic 1965 recording with Jaime Laredo, Alexander Schneider, Arnold Steinhardt, John Dalley, violins; Michael Tree, Samuel Rhodes, violas; Leslie Parnas, Davis Soyer, cellos [Sony Classical].) Aside from the Octet, Mendelssohn's chamber music is surprisingly underrated -- and under-performed and under-recorded. It also frequently refutes the hackneyed charge that Mendelssohn is all surface and no depth. The emotionally charged, four-movement String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 displays rich, deep-toned Beethoven-like themes and cyclical organization. The String Quintet No. 1 in A major, Op. 18 (written in 1826 and drastically revised the next decade) and the String Quintet No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 87 (1845) are both full of lovely melodies and often bursting with the hyperkinetic energy that is so typically Mendelssohnian, yet with deeply affecting slow movements of great gravitas.

Piano Trios Nos. 1-2 Isaac Stern/Leonard Rose/Eugene Istomin (Sony Classical)

Of all the chamber music besides the Octet, the two Piano Trios may be the most typically Mendelssohnian. Refulgent melodies that show off the violin and cello to best advantage, gorgeously ruminative Andante movements, and Scherzos with his trademark combination of fleetness and lightness combine to make these dazzling and ingratiating works. The string players are definitely the focus in these classic recordings from 1966 and 1979, with Stern and Rose giving these works a heftier, more Romantic profile than more recent performers. For more lithe and light readings, with a better pianist (Benjamin Frith) balanced more equally, there's a wonderful budget recording by the Gould Piano Trio (Naxos).

Elijah Bryn Terfel, Renee Fleming, etc./Edinburgh Festival Chorus/Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Paul Daniel (Decca)

Some of Mendelssohn's audiences, particularly in England, admired him most for his oratorios, which look back to Handel and Bach yet are quite of their time harmonically. Elijah, by far the more effective in comparison to the also-popular Saint Paul, is best put across by a dramatic reading of the title role, and certainly Bryn Terfel's larger-than-life depiction of the Old Testament prophet is vivid and compelling. This extended work can drag, but Paul Daniel, at the head of an impressive period-instruments band and a clear, well-disciplined choir, presents the work with apt vigor.

A Midsummer Night's Dream Lillian Watson, Delia Wallis/Finchley Children's Music Group/London Symphony Orchestra/Andre Previn (EMI Classics)

Another example of Mendelssohn's precocity: at age 17, inspired by Shakespeare, he wrote his concert overture A Midsummer Night's Dream. He expanded it 17 years later into a much bigger work that could accompany the play. The elegant lightness of his style has often been compared to fairies, and it finds a perfect subject here -- though he also simply but perfectly depicts donkey braying. The dazzling Scherzo and much-used Wedding March are now even more famous than the Overture. Excerpts of these three sections and a few more are common; this CD contains the complete incidental music, with vocal texts in English but minus the narration (which has never received a reading on record that encourages repeated listening). The LSO achieves an apt theater-orchestra tone in this 1977 recording, now at budget price.

Motets RIAS Chamber Choir/Marcus Creed (Harmonia Mundi)

With Psalm 100; Psalms, Op. 78 Nos. 1-3; Motets, Op. 69 Nos. 1-3; Chorale Motet, Op. 23 No. 3; Missa breve; and "Zum Abendsegen," this is an excellent cross-section of Mendelssohn's a capella choral writing. This music at times suggests Bach using early Romantic harmonies, but unlike most of his contemporaries, Mendelssohn handles contrapuntal complexity adroitly. The three mercurial Op. 78 settings, dating from the last year of his life, exhibit variety: women's and men's voices alternating, chordal and contrapuntal writing, choral and solo or one-on-a-part textures, and of course dynamics and tempos. These pieces and the Op. 69 settings (the German texts of familiar English canticles) rank among the finest Romantic choral compositions. The 37-voice RIAS Chamber Choir's creamy blend and phrasing presents the best case for them, and Creed inflects them with apt yet not overdone Romantic fervor and flexibility.

ANNIVERSARIES: Olivier Messiaen Born 100 Years Ago

Steve Holtje — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 06:04:10 +0000

ANNIVERSARIES: Olivier Messiaen Born 100 Years Ago Steve Holtje December 10, 2008 - 01:04

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The great French composer Olivier Eugene Prosper Charles Messiaen was born in Avignon on December 10, 1908. He was the first son of extraordinary parents: Cecile Sauvage, his mother, was a poet of note, and his father, Pierre Messiaen, was an English teacher who translated Shakespeare's plays into French. At the precocious age of eleven Olivier entered the Paris Conservatory, where he studied with Paul Dukas, Charles-Marie Widor, and Marcel Dupree, a famed composer and two famous organists -- and, most crucially, Maurice Emmanuel, who though not as well known as the above-named would prove to have arguably the greatest influence on Messiaen's music through Emmanuel's interests in birdsong and scales and rhythms of other cultures, notably India and ancient Greece. By age 22 he had a prestigious organist post (which he kept for the rest of his life) and had already written a masterpiece. He went on to become "the most influential European musician of the second half of the twentieth century" (David Schiff, The Nation), and even if, despite assuming the unstated "classical" between "European" and "musician," that is perhaps an exaggeration, he inarguably was a revered teacher whose concepts of rhythm and structure influenced nearly all the post-war Serialists either directly (many of them were his students, most famously Pierre Boulez) or indirectly, specifically his extension of the concept of serial music past pitch into rhythm, duration, dynamics, and more (Messiaen never wrote any 12-tone music).

One of the concepts that made his music so distinctive is "modes of limited transposition." He used scales that, after a certain number of chromatic transpositions varying with each mode, are no longer transposable because one is repeating previous versions enharmonically. (The simplest example is that workhorse of Impressionism, the whole-tone scale, which has just two versions.) This meant that he was not working with the cadence-oriented diatonic harmonies of most music, which combined with his love of retrograde rhythms to give his compositions a sense of existing outside time. Furthermore, he emphasized color (timbre) as much as any composer ever did, and created shimmering sounds reflecting his personal sound-color synaesthesia. Finally, his devout and mystical Roman Catholicism strongly dictated his subject matter. Here are ten albums encapsulating his greatness.

Turangalîla-Symphonie; L'ascension Francois Weigel, piano; Thomas Bloch, ondes Martenot; Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra; Antoni Wit, conductor (Naxos)

This epic work, in 10 movements, has to be the most eccentric symphony ever to top the ten-recording mark. It was written in the years following World War II on a remarkably open commission from the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its conductor Serge Koussevitzky (who said, "Write me the work you want to, in the style you want, as long as you want, with the instrumental formation you want") and premiered under Leonard Bernstein in 1949. The title is Sanskrit, very approximately meaning "game of love" though also denoting a rhythmic pattern in ancient Hindu music, but its inspiration is the Tristan and Isolde legend of transcendent love. (Transcendent yet forbidden, something Messiaen learned about first-hand; his first wife, violinist Claire Delbos, was tragically suffering from a degenerative brain disease that affected her memory and eventually left her an institutionalized invalid, and he fell in love with his student Yvonne Loriad, who became his second wife after Claire died.) Despite its worldwide ingredients, it is prototypically French, utilizing the cyclical structure beloved of 20th century French symphonists and emphasizing orchestral color. The movements are: 1. Introduction 2. Chant d'amour [Song of Love ] 3. Turangalîla I 4. Chant d'amour II 5. Joie du sang des Atoiles [Joy in the Blood of the Stars] 6. Jardin du sommeil d'amour [The Garden of Love's Slumber] 7. Turangalîla II 8. Developpement de l'amour [The Growth of love] 9. Turangalîla III 10. Final The orchestra is larger than usual, well over a hundred, with several unusual additions It has a prominent piano part of considerable difficulty, as well as lesser roles for celeste and keyboard glockenspiel, and also features an odd early electronic instrument (invented in 1928), the ondes Martenot, somewhat like a theremin in tone but capable of more control and variety. The piano part was originally played by Yvonne Loriod; eventually her sister, Jeanne, played the ondes Martenot. The latter instrument's large, sweeping glissandi stand out the most, but it also doubles treble instruments' parts at times, reinforcing the orchestral textures at climaxes, of which there are many. There are four main themes that pop up in multiple movements; Messiaen later gave these themes names. They are not just melodies but harmonic passages. The "statue theme" first uses monolithic brass chords in the lower register; the "flower theme" is introduced by two clarinets; the long "love theme" is ardently intense; finally, there is a "chain of chords." (There are many lesser themes as well.) The frequent reappearances of the main themes in shifting contexts ties the massive work together, while Messiaen's imaginative orchestration varies timbre density and colors keep the listener stimulated rather than dulled by these repetitions. The effect is otherworldly yet vibrantly sensual, and -- as compared with his religious-themed works -- a good deal more rhythmically lively overall. Though this 1998 recording is a two-CD set and there are one-disc versions, Naxos is a budget label, so this doesn't cost more. This set also carries the benefit of using Messiaen's 1990 revision. And Wit brings as much emotional breadth, as much scintillation, and as thrilling an orchestral sound to this masterpiece as more famous conductors, along with considerably more fidelity to the score's finer details and a complete understanding of how important profound breadth of tempo can be to producing this music's maximum impact. In comparison to Turangalîla, the much earlier L'ascension (1933) may seem pallid and dry, but it was Messiaen's first orchestral success and was much played. Think of it here as a bonus offering an interesting contrast.

Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum; Chronochromie; La Ville d'en haut Cleveland Orchestra; Pierre Boulez, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)

This 1993 recording brings together three performances led by the composer's most famous student. Chronochromie (1960) seems utterly abstract in its Greek-play-derived structure (Introduction - Strophe I - Antistrophe I - Strophe II - Antistrophe II - Epode - Coda) and serialized treatment of note durations, but despite being percussion-heavy at times this piece relies very strongly on birdsongs (sometimes on xylophone, marimba, and glockenspiel) and depictions of natural elements (rocks, water). La Ville d'en haut [The City on High], i.e. Heaven, is a 1987 piece in one movement for woodwinds, brass, piano, and percussion, including tuned percussion. The contrasts between block chords by brass and the tintinnabulation of the percussion is delightful. Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum (1964), the crucial work here, is also for winds, brass, and percussion, but on a larger scale of five movements, each equipped with a title take from Scripture. It opens ominously for "Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord," with dissonant chords truly crying out. "Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him" brings quiet comfort from woodwind melodies in a mood half pastoral, half meditative, with brass and percussion occasionally interjecting an odd chorale in a traditional Indian rhythm. "The hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God" mixes an Amazonian birdsong, chimes suggestive of time, and a series of crescendos. "It will be raised in glory, with a new name -- with the morning stars singing together, and all the sons of God shouting for joy" is an effervescent movement that undulates, chirps, and chimes in celebration, sounding quite ritualistic and including some chant quotations. Finally, "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude" combines the chants and first-movement melody with mystical gongs and a lengthy grand chorale of slow-moving chords over a gong pulse.

La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur Jesus-Christ Roger Muraaro, piano; Thomas Prevost, flute; Robert Fontaine, clarinet; Eric Leviannois, cello; Francis Petit, marimba; Renaud Mussolini, xylophone; Emmanuel Curt, vibraphone; Radio France Choir & Philharmonic Orchestra; Myung-Whun Chung, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)

A massive work for mixed choir, seven instrumental soloists, and "very large orchestra," The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ took almost four full years to compose (1965-69). Of its content, Messiaen wrote, "Various aspects of the Mystery of the Transfiguration of Christ are presented one after the other by a mosaic made up of Latin texts" taken primarily from the Gospels, then from other parts of Scripture (Genesis, Psalms, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Epistles of Paul), finally from the missal and the Summa theological by St. Thomas Aquinas." The first text is Matthew 17/1-2, dealing with the event of the work's title: "And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart. And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." In the following verses, which show up as the fourth and eighth parts of Messiaen's 14-section work, Moses and Elias appear and speak with Jesus, and then "a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." This combination of nature (the mountain) and brilliant light, not to mention inexplicable religious mystery, fits into many of Messiaen's preoccupations and thus provides fine inspiration for him. The musical emphasis is often on the orchestra more than the chorus, and the vast instrumentation enables Messiaen to create some extremely colorful moments. There's a great deal of percussion, especially in the first movements of parts one and two; the tuned gongs and tam-tams lend a strong Balinese gamelan flavor. This mighty work does not at any point offer the sort of sweetly mellifluous crooning associated with so much religious choral music; the appearance of God in the eighth movement contains some amazingly stark dissonances, huge clashing chords clearly meant to evoke the terror Jesus' disciples must have felt in the face of divine pronouncement. A few of Chung's DG Messiaen recordings have suffered from muddy acoustics and mushy conducting, but certainly this 2001 two-CD set avoids both. Chung contrasts movements dramatically, playing up the ritualistic aspect of the severe choral lines but moving with relative briskness elsewhere. The Philharmonic Orchestra of French Radio plays brilliantly; the only complaint is that men of the Choir of Radio France sometimes sound a bit distant, especially in comparison to the close clarity of the brass and percussion, but that's actually a realistic perspective (the mental adjustment experienced listeners make in a concert hall, where the orchestra would of course be seated in front of the choir, is less effective when listening to the flatter sound of a recording, where a choir's presence always seems diminished unless the microphones help unnaturally). The majesty and splendor of this large work, seconds short of 100 minutes in this recording, is convincingly conveyed.

Ã‰clairs sur l'au-delÃ â€¦ Polish National Radio Orchestra, Katowice; Antoni Wit, conductor (Jade)

This 1993 concert recording is no longer in print on CD, but remains available via iTunes. It was the first recording released of the last piece Messiaen finished. Ã‰clairs sur l'au-delé [Illuminations (or, Lightning flashes) of the beyond"] is for a large orchestra with a considerable amount of percussion, but rarely are all that many people playing at once. It is hauntingly stark. Over an hour in length, it has eleven movements: 1. "Apparition du Christ glorieux" [Vision of Christ Glorified] 2. "La constellation du Sagittaire" [The Constellation of Sagitarius] 3. "L'Oiseau-lyre et la Ville-Fiancée" [The lyre bird and the bridal city] 4. "Les élus marqués du scaeu" [The elect marked with the seal] 5. "Demeurer dans l'Amour" [Abide in love] 6. "Les sept anges aux sept trompettes" [The seven angels with the seven trumpets] 7. "Et Dieu essuiera toute larme de leurs yeux" [And God will wipe away all the tears from their eyes . . .] 8. "Les étoiles et la Gloire" [The stars and the glory] 9. "Plusiers oiseaux des arbres de la Vie" [More birds than there are living trees] 10. "Le chemin de l'invisible" [The way of the invisible] 11. "Le Christ, lumiere du Paradis" [Christ, light of paradise] This is a work of truly unearthly beauty, and a fine valedictory note for Messiaen to leave on.

Quatour pour la fin du temps Tashi: Peter Serkin, piano; Ida Kavafian, violin; Fred Sherry, cello; Richard Stoltzman, clarinet (RCA Victor Gold Seal) Quartet for the End of Time has as legendary a genesis as any piece of its century. Working behind the lines as a medical auxiliary (his eyesight being too bad for him to serve as a soldier), Messiaen was captured at Verdun and imprisoned by the Germans, but had a sympathetic jailer who provided him with materials for composing. His fellow prisoners included a violinist, a cellist, and a clarinetist, and he composed pieces for them. Eventually these were collected as a quartet adding the composer on piano, but -- unusual in quartet literature -- not all the musicians play in any given movement, and one is even for solo clarinet. The premiere took place in the prison camp before five thousand fellow prisoners plus guards. Messiaen later declared, "Never was I listened to with such rapt attention and comprehension." He dedicated the piece "In homage to the Angel of the Apocalypse, who raises his hand towards Heaven saying: 'There shall be no more time'." The opening movement, "Liturgie de cristal" [Liturgy of Crystal], is for full quartet. The clarinet begins solo, playing the song of the blackbird; the piano joins; then the violin impersonates a nightingale. The cello plays a 15-note melody of just five pitches repeatedly in a high, silvery tone. "Vocalise pour l'ange qui annonce la fin du temps" [Vocalise for the Angel who announces the end of Time] opens sternly, depicting the powerful angel briefly, followed by a stately melody under which the piano plays chords in an absolutely regular beat, but with accents varying the rhythmic feeling. The angel returns briefly to end the movement. The extremely slow "AbÃ®me des oiseaux" [The abyss of the birds] is for solo clarinet. Messiaen stated, "The abyss is Time with its sadness, its weariness. The birds are the opposite to Time; they are our desire for light, for stars, for rainbows, and for jubilant songs." The abyss depiction seems very simple, but the slow tempo and extended durations make it a hard test of the player's breath control; the twittering of birds interrupts at times. At over seven minutes, at times hovering near the edge of inaudibility, it nonetheless holds listeners rapt. Violin and cello rejoin, but the piano is omitted, for "IntermÃ¨de" [Interlude], a scherzo that offers a distinct contrast. "Louange Ã l'Ã©ternité de Jésus" [Praise to the eternity of Jesus] is a cello/piano duo of unutterable beauty, the cello spinning out a long, sustained melody with the piano sometimes chiming quiet repeated chords underneath (there is one big crescendo two-thirds in). "Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes" [Dance of fury, for the seven trumpets] returns to quartet format, depicting the Apocalypse, its stages announced by trumpets and gongs imitated by the quartet, which plays in unison for the entire movement as Messiaen varies the rhythm unceasingly and puts the thematic material through vigorous paces. "Fouillis d'arcs-en-ciel, pour l'ange qui annonce la fin du temps" [Cluster of rainbows, for the Angel who announces the end of Time] reuses some material from the second movement, but the angel is depicted even more powerfully this time. Similar in construction to the earlier duo, the slow, ethereal violin/piano duo "Louange Ã immortalité de Jésus" [Praise to the immortality of Jesus], adapted from the organ work "Diptyque," closes the piece with a depiction of Jesus' ascent to Heaven as he moves from flesh-and-blood man to reunite with God. It is worth looking for Messiaen's 1956 mono recording of this piece (with Jean Pasquier, original cellist étienne Pasquier, and André Vacellier), now on import on Accord. But for over three decades, Tashi's 1975 recording has been the best, and since it's just $10, the choice is obvious. In fact, Tashi formed specifically to play this piece.

Visions de l'Amen; Catalogue d'oiseaux VII: La rousserolle efarvatte Peter Serkin, Yuji Takahashi, pianos (RCA Victor)

From 1943, Visions de l'Amen is for two pianos and explores seven different meanings of "amen" -- or states of being to which "amen" applies: "Amen of the Creation," "Amen of the Stars, of the Ringed Planet," "Amen of the Agony of Jesus," "Amen of Desire," "Amen of the Angels, Saints, and Birdsong," "Amen of the Judgement," and "Amen of the Consummation." Since these are abstract moods viewed contemplatively rather than "in the moment," there is often a feeling of vast objectivity, as of situations viewed across space and tinged with icy grandeur. In order to keep the two-piano texture from being muddy, Messiaen often puts the pianists in contrasting registers; the frequent upper-register figures accentuate the icy character. Proceeding slightly more slowly overall than, for instance, the duo Double Edge on New Albion (with no filler) and the composer-approved Erato recording with Katia and Marielle LabÃ¨que, Serkin and Takahashi coordinate well in music which sometimes cuts loose from rhythmic bearings. Serkin distinguishes himself even more in the generous filler, La rousserolle efarvatte, a 28-minute movement from Messiaen's massive birdsong-inspired solo piano cycle Catalogue d'oiseaux. "La rousserolle efarvatte" is primarily based on the reed warbler, but the bird's entire habitat is depicted as most characteristic at various times of the day.

Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus Steven Osborne, piano (Hyperion)

When Messiaen wrote Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus [Twenty View of the Infant Jesus] in 1944 in Nazi-occupied Paris, it was his largest-scale piano work by a wide margin (20 movements lasting over two hours total). It was also hugely controversial, with some critics finding its rhythmic structures and motivic repetitions irritating, its Lisztian pianistic virtuosity and emotional violence unsuited to its religious theme, and Messiaen's commentary ill-advised. In the decades, since, however, it has come to be seen as a milestone of 20th century piano music. The recording by Yvonne Loriod, who premiered it (and later married Messiaen), long set the standard. In recent years there has been a spate of excellent new recordings: the dazzlingly virtuoso (but, to some tastes, rushed) Pierre-Laurent Aimard, an intelligent but short-lived set by Messiaen scholar Peter Hill, and a reflective, budget-priced set from Hakon Austbo. Though costing more than any of the others, this 2001 recording is the one to get, however. Osborne studied Vingt Regards with Loriod at her invitation, and his performance partakes somewhat of the subtle character of her own without slighting the required vehemence in many moments. His command of a wide range of dynamics and tonal colors sets him apart from much of the competition, and Hyperion's top-notch recorded sound conveys it all with both clarity and presence. Osborne's keen understanding of Messiaen's rhythmic language, and the importance of silence and patience, also contributes greatly to this characterful reading. This is a difficult work, gorgeous in some sections (such as No. 15, "The Kiss of the Infant Jesus") but more often almost violent in its emotions, and usually thickly textured and complexly written. Osborne makes it as communicative as anyone yet has, without reducing its implications.

Le banquet céleste; Diptyque (Essai sur la vie terrestre et l'éternité); Apparition de l'Ã‰glise éternelle; L'Acension (4 Meditations); La Nativité du Seigneur (9 Méditations); Les Corps glorieux (7 Visions de la vie des ressuscités); Messe de la PentecÃ´te; Livre d'orgue (7 piéces) Olivier Messiaen, organ (EMI France)

Messiaen was the only top-tier composer of the 20th century to leave a significant body of organ music revered by a larger constituency than just organ buffs. In 1956, he recorded all of his published organ works to that time (he later wrote more, not included here) on the organ that many of them were written to be played on, the 1869 instrument built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris. Messiaen became the organist there in 1931 and three years later oversaw a renovation of the organ that included the addition of new stops he had suggested. With every great organ sounding different not only by virtue of its stops but also its acoustical environment, the importance of hearing Messiaen's post-1930 pieces played on this particular instrument is undeniable, making this four-CD set a must-have item. It is impossible to listen to these pieces and not think how the great French organ tradition influenced the sound of his orchestral works (on the other hand, Cavaillé-Coll organs are highly symphonic). "Le banquet céleste" (1926) is Messiaen's earliest masterpiece, and already finds him using modes of limited transposition. The piece's performance indication is "Very slow, ecstatic," and the music's subject is Holy Communion. As the music oscillates between two rich, long-held chords, intermittent short notes, higher in pitch, are overlaid. "Diptyque (Essai sur la vie terrestre et l'eternité essay on life on earth and eternity] (1930) contrasts the "fruitless agitation" of life with the sublimity of Paradise. The same theme is used for both of the piece's movements; the restlessness of the minor-key first movement is extraordinary; in the second, we are in major and the theme moves very slowly. "Apparition de l'Ã‰glise éternelle" Apparition of the Eternal Church] (1932) is a long crescendo of increasing layers of sound followed by a mirroring decrescendo, with a single rhythmic figure throughout (varied in length). L'Acension [Ascension Day] (1933) is an organ version of an orchestral piece consisting of four movements/meditations. Messiaen considered the third movement to be untranscribable for organ, and wrote an entirely new movement instead: "Transports de joie d'un Ã¢me devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne" [Outburst of joy from a soul before the glory of Christ which is its own glory], which unlike the serenity of the rest of the work is an exuberantly virtuoso showpiece of sparkling colors. Messiaen's best-known organ work, La Nativite du Seigneur [The Nativity of the Savior] (9 Meditations) (1935) is an hour-long cycle the composer called "many-colored, like the stained-glass windows of medieval cathedrals." He also noted, "The pedal forsakes its usual bass role," and much of this piece wafts high in the air, a sonic aurora. Some of Messiaen's most memorable themes are heard, but even the busiest of them seem to spiral rather than conveying forward motion. Les Corps glorieux (Sept Visions de la vie des ressuscites) [The Glorious Bodies: Seven Brief Visions of the Life of the Resurrected] (1939) consists of "The Refinement of the Glorious Bodies," "The Waters of Grace," "The Angel Surrounded by Perfumes," "Battle between Life and Death," "The Strength and Agility of the Glorious Bodies," "The Joy and Revelation/Enlightenment of the Glorious Bodies," and "The Mystery of the Holy Trinity." Messe de la Pentecôte [Mass of the Pentecost] (1950) consists of five pieces timed for the organ's function in the structure of the low mass: entry, offertory, consecration, communion, exit. Among its interesting aspects are the first movement's inventory of Greek metrical feet, including five-beat and seven-beat rhythms; the offertory's mixture of liturgical chant and birdsong plus the gloriously deep and penetrating bottom C of the bassoon 16' stop; more birdsongs in succeeding movements; and the conclusion of the communion on the most extremely separate sounds the organ has, sub-bass 32' and piccolo 1'. Livre d'orgue [Organ Works] (1952) consists of seven pieces and is rhythmically daring thanks to Messiaen's use of Indian patterns and retrograding. Messiaen rarely wrote truly abstract organ music; the first and last pieces of this cycle are the only examples, "Reprises par interversion" with its wide leaps over starkly bare spaces, "Soixante-quatre durees" [64 durations] with its chromatic durations, wherein distinct durations are assigned to 64 pitches -- the sort of technique that fascinated the serialists. And though the intervening pieces have titles describing their topics, without knowing them one might assume them to be abstract as well with their seemingly mathematical contours eliminating most traces of melody. And yet, when he premiered the cycle in 1955, there was a massive crush to get into the church. The performances by the composer are nearly definitive, but tuning problems with some reed stops (it had been twenty years since the previous overhaul of the instrument) and the mono sound slightly flaw the recording, and of course there are many later works not here so fans will want additional performances in modern sound. Olivier Latry's six-CD set of the complete organ works on Deutsche Grammophon, using the Cavaillé-Coll at Notre Dame, solves all these problems and is highly recommendable.

Meditations sur le mystere de la Sainte Trinity Hans-Ola Ericsson, organ (BIS)

I would rather recommend Messiaen's own 1972 recording of this piece on Erato, but right now it's only available in the Warner Classics 18-CD box set Messiaen Edition. Look for a used copy of an earlier edition, where it's in a two-disc set with the orchestral work Trois Petites Liturgies de la Presence Divine (a 1964 recording with Yvonne Loriod, piano; Jeanne Loriod, ondes martenot; Choir of the Maitrise; French Radio Chamber Orchestra; Marcel Couraud, conductor). However, Ericsson does a fine job on the fifth volume (1989) of his traversal of the complete organ works, using a Swedish instrument. He even persuaded the builders to change the intonation specifically for this recording, and the instrument does take on a bit of French dazzle (unlike English organist Christopher Bowers-Broadbent's ECM recording in a Swiss church on an organ that often displays a Germanic severity in its timbres). Messiaen in this 1969 work attempted to use music as language, assigning letters to pitches and then spelling things out, giving "God," "be," and "to have" specific themes, and so on. Presumably realizing that listeners wouldn't be able to apprehend these tactics, he also wrote notes consisting of a large paragraph of explanation for each of the nine meditations (the booklet of Bowers-Broadbent's CD includes these, as did Messiaen's Erato set, of course). What we get is typically dazzling timbres in the service of dense tone-poems, enjoyable with or without recourse to Messiaen's program.

Saint Francois d'Assise Christiane Eda-Pierre, soprano (Angel); Jose van Dam, baritone (St. Francis); Kenneth Riegel, tenor (Leper); Michel Philippe, baritone (Brother Leon); Georges Gauthier, tenor (Brother Massee); Michel Sénéchal, tenor (Brother Ã‰lie); Jean-Philippe Courtis, bass (Brother Bernard); Paris National Opera Chorus & Orchestra; Seiji Ozawa, conductor (Cybellia)

It seems inevitable that a composer so focused on Catholicism and birdsongs would come to treat the story of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals, whose legend says that he conversed with animals and preached to birds, who did not fly away when he approached them. That Messiaen, who wrote the libretto as well as the music, would do so in the form of an opera was a surprise, but even though he composed this piece (from 1975 to 1983) to fulfill a commission from the Paris Opera, he was uncomfortable calling it an opera, and it is more of an oratorio, or a collection of tableaux: Act I, Scene 1: La Croix [The Cross] Francis explains that "perfect joy" comes through enduring suffering. Act I, Scene 2: Les Laudes [The Praises] Following Matins, Francis, alone, prays to God to grant to him the ability to meet and love a leper. Act I, Scene 3: Le baiser au l'apreux [The Kissing of the Leper] Francis gets his wish. The leper is cured after Francis embraces him. Act II, Scene 4: L'ange voyager [The Traveling Angel] An angel disguised as a traveler knocks at the monastery door and asks Brother Elias about Predistination; he refuses to answer and closes the door. The angel knocks again, and Brother Bernardo answers his question.

Afterward the Brothers wonder whether the questioner was an angel. Act II, Scene 5: L'ange musicien [The Angel of Music] The angel plays his viol to give Francis an idea of heavenly bliss. Act II, Scene 6: Le preche aux oiseaux [The Preaching to the Birds] Francis preaches to and blesses a treeful of birds. The birds answer with a mighty chorus of many songs. Act III, Scene 7: Les stigmates [The Stigmata] Francis receives the five stigmata. Act III, Scene 8: La mort et la nouvelle vie [The Death and the New Life] Francis dies and the choir sings of resurrection. Taken from two December 1983 concerts the week after the premiere with the same forces, this remains my favorite (not that there's much competition). It's a four-CD set, lasting nearly four hours; supposedly it can be special-ordered on arkivmusic.com. Alternatively, Kent Nagano's version on Deutsche Grammophon (1998), also with van Dam but with Dawn Upshaw as the Angel, is a fine substitute (as is so often true in opera, with so many facets to be considered, each version is superior in some aspects and inferior in others). Orfeo d'Or has released a 1985 Salzburg Festival production conducted by Lothar Zagrosek, with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the title role, but that contains only half the scenes.