ALBUM OF THE MOMENT
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG
Pelléas et Mélisande. Transfigured Night.
Montreal Symphony Orchestra,
Rafael Payare.
Pentatone, PTC 5187 218
Interpretation: *****
Technic: ****
This is the third album by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (OSM) and its new conductor Rafael Payare, following Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 and Richard Strauss’ A Hero’s Life. All three are major points of pride, akin to what had not been felt since Charles Dutoit’s Daphnis et Chloé nearly 45 years ago.
Viennese composer Arnold Schoenberg is not widely appreciated by music lovers due to his invention of twelve-tone music, which is often considered difficult to grasp. However, before that, in the early 20th century, he composed highly expressive works like Pelléas et Mélisande, Transfigured Night, and Gurre-Lieder, which extended the musical legacy of Wagner and the orchestral richness of Richard Strauss.
Rafael Payare demonstrates a keen instinct for structure, dynamic shading, evocative colors, and the sensuality of this music. The OSM performs masterfully, and the live recording is admirable — although one occasionally hears the conductor’s breathing grunts.
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EXCELLENT SOUND RECORDING
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”.
Ouverture Coriolan.
Budapest Festival Orchestra,
Ivan Fischer.
Channel, SACD, CCSSA 46524.
Interpretation: ****
Technic: *****
There is much to say about this album. First, no discography is ever fixed. In the past fifteen years, conductors like Osmo Vänskä, Manfred Honeck, and now Iván Fischer have produced at least three Eroica recordings that stand alongside the greatest interpretations.
Second, this proves there is still a place for full symphony orchestras. Some conductors, like Yannick Nézet-Séguin, reduce ensemble sizes to make the winds more audible. However, Fischer’s Eroica remains both powerfully symphonic and clear.
The technical and sonic aspects, managed by Jared Sacks (founder of Channel Classics), perfectly support this artistic vision. Instead of recording in Budapest’s famous concert hall — modeled after Montreal’s Maison symphonique — Fischer and Sacks opted for the stunning Rumbach Synagogue. The venue’s acoustics are masterfully handled, making this recording a gem.
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BOX SETS OF THE MOMENT
ANTON BRUCKNER
Symphonies Nos. 1-9. Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, various conductors.
Deutsche Grammophon, 9 CD, 484 5606.
Interpretations: **** to *****
Technic: ****
Several Bruckner symphony box sets have been released in this commemorative year. For years, various orchestras — Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw — have issued multi-conductor collections. However, these often serve as much to please conductors as to appeal to listeners.
A 2019 Vienna Bruckner set from Eloquence only included Decca recordings, whereas this new release draws from Universal’s entire catalog, making it far superior.
Key highlights include Böhm’s Symphony No. 4, Maazel’s No. 5, and Horst Stein’s No. 6, all excellent choices. For the first three symphonies, the selection is impeccable: Abbado (his second recording for DG), Muti (live in Salzburg), and Haitink (Philips). The later symphonies feature Karajan, Boulez, and Giulini (Nos. 7, 8, and 9). The toughest choice was between Giulini and Bernstein for Symphony No. 9.
While Maazel’s No. 5 is solid, Abbado would have been preferable. However, the set aims to avoid repeating conductors, and Abbado was indispensable for Symphony No. 1. Ultimately, only the complete Bruckner sets by Wand and Jochum surpass this one.
CHRISTOPH VON DOHNANYI
Dohnanyi-Cleveland,
The Complete Decca Recordings.
Decca, 40 CD, 485 4683.
Interpretations: **** to *****
Technic: **** to *****
Record labels often create box sets around conductors, soloists, or orchestras to complement traditional composer-centered collections. Some are particularly valuable when they revive long-unavailable recordings.
If you can find this box set at a reasonable price (currently high for a 40-CD collection, as these reissues once sold for $3 – $4 per CD), don’t hesitate. These recordings, made between 1986 and 1999 — especially in the mid-1990s — were briefly available due to the decline of CD sales from 1994 onward.
Dohnányi was a cerebral yet highly efficient conductor, leading one of the world’s finest orchestras. This set offers exquisite interpretations of Mozart, Schumann, Bartók, Dvořák, Janáček, and operatic highlights from Das Rheingold and Die Walküre. The Bruckner and Mahler recordings are less essential, but the orchestral brilliance remains undeniable.
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RECENT DISCOVERIES
JACQUES HÉTU
Symphonie No. 5.
Toronto Mendelssohn Choir,
National Arts Centre Orchestra,
Quebec Symphonic Orchestra,
Alexander Shelley.
Analekta, AN2 8890.
Interpretation: *****
Technic: ****
Quebec’s true musical patriarch — akin to Sibelius in Finland or Nielsen in Denmark — is Jacques Hétu (1938–2010). During his lifetime, he was often overlooked for not being “modern” enough, composing music that sought to communicate with audiences, much like Shostakovich.
Hétu wrote concertos (including a magnificent Organ Concerto) and accessible orchestral works (On the Banks of the Saint-Maurice exemplifies his musical philosophy).
Late in his life, a miraculous commission came from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra — not just a small contemporary piece, but a full-fledged symphony. Hétu then composed his own Beethoven’s Ninth: a four-movement, 45-minute work with a choral finale set to Paul Éluard’s poem Liberté, depicting Paris before, during, and after World War II.
Shostakovich’s influence is evident in the second movement, while Mahler’s presence is felt in the third. In February 2024, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and a Toronto choir united to celebrate this masterpiece. This post-tour recording now stands as the definitive version.
FREDERICK BLOCK
Piano Trio No. 2. String Quartet Op. 23.
Suite Op. 73. Quintet Op. 19.
ARC Ensemble.
Chandos, CHAN, 20358.
Interpretation:****
Technic: ****
Toronto’s ARC Ensemble has launched a Music in Exile collection on Chandos, highlighting composers displaced by historical events. The most exciting volume so far was dedicated to Walter Kaufmann, a Czech Jew who fled to Bombay before becoming the first conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Kaufmann uniquely infused Indian musical idioms into his compositions.
This new release resurrects, for the first time, the works of Frederick Block (or Friedrich Bloch, 1899 – 1945), an Austrian student of Czech composer Josef Foerster and Hans Gál. A staunch traditionalist, Block rejected Schoenberg’s twelve-tone system, composing instead in the lush, late-Romantic style of Korngold.
The pieces recorded here (from 1928 – 1930, along with a clarinet and piano suite from 1944) reflect an alternative Viennese musical path, akin to that of Korngold, Zemlinsky, and Weigl. This is one of the most compelling releases in the Music in Exile series, with the Piano Trio and String Quartet standing out as first-rate works in the Korngold-Zemlinsky tradition.
more reviews will follow shortly …
