Fortunately, the glorious ones far outnumber the duds. And I was pleased some of the very best featured string quartets. New groups playing Ligeti and Bacewicz; fantastic new string quartet music from Fazil Say and English composer Joseph Phibbs; and an honorable mention of the complete music for string quartet by American John Zorn. (There’s also a marvelous new recording from the Pacifica Quartet playing Korngold on a 2-CD set from Cedille, which I haven’t had a chance to review yet.)
Meanwhile on the orchestral front, conductor JoAnn Falletta and her Buffalo Philharmonic lead the way with two outstanding new recordings. And as expected, Chandos garners two “best-ofs” again this year for some of the most spectacular recorded sound of a full symphony orchestra you’ll hear (Bacewicz orchestral works and the first Walton release).
I have cherry picked the best one-liners from my reviews to include here, but I encourage those interested to reread the entire original reviews of these marvelous releases, as I can’t do them justice in simple little snippets.
Best of the Year
Marmen Quartet plays Ligeti and Bartok – BIS
“Now THIS is Ligeti! I haven’t been this excited about a new recording since Quatuor Diotima’s Ligeti (on Pentatone) 2 years ago.”
Joseph Phibbs String Quartets – Piatti Quartet/RTF-Nimbus Alliance
“It is rare to hear something completely new that is so completely satisfying. The Piatti Quartet’s playing of these String Quartets is beyond awesome; it’s out of this world.”
Karski Quartet plays Bacewicz – Evil Penguin
“When it all comes together, as it most certainly does here in the 4th Quartet (more so than in the coupled 1st Piano Quintet), you have one hell of a recording.”
Fazil Say chamber music – Friedemann Eichhorn/Naxos
“All in all, this is another splendid recording of original chamber music by Fazil Say.” Though the coupling, his new (2nd) Violin Concerto, is decidedly inferior and uninspired.
JoAnn Falletta/Buffalo Philharmonic – Contemporary Landscapes and The French in Spain
Two spectacular orchestral recordings from the fabulous JoAnn Falletta and her terrific Buffalo Philharmonic. The first contains all new music (4 world premieres) on the BPO’s own label; while the 2nd features dazzling performances of Spanish-themed repertoire on Naxos, in one of Falletta’s most exciting records ever. Best of all is the recorded acoustic on both albums – surely one of the most luxurious orchestral halls in the world.
Korngold music for String Quartet – Pacifica Quartet/Cedille (review forthcoming)
Honorable Mention (Best)
Walton Violin Concerto – Charlie Lovell-Jones/Wilson/Chandos
This was so good, it made us all think (hope) Wilson might actually do the 1st Symphony well. Sigh…
Bacewicz Orchestral Works Vol 2 – Oramo/BBC Symphony Orchestra/Chandos
Just as good as their 1st Volume. Marvelous music and impressive orchestral playing with superb recorded sound.
Tchaikovsky Suites 1 & 2 – Julien-Laferriere/Orchestre Consuelo/Mirare
An amazing improvement over this group’s earlier Brahms recording. This is thoroughly rewarding Tchaikovsky – passionate, heartfelt and exciting.
John Zorn complete music for string quartet – JACK Quartet/Tzadik
An incredible string quartet playing some unimaginably difficult music.
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The WORST of the year gives us a little bit of everything that can be bad about the Classical recording industry. We have: a) terrible music that shouldn’t have been recorded (Marsalis in Detroit; Thomas Ades at the Halle; plus a few others I explored in my third “Meh” survey); b) inept recorded sound that shouldn’t have been released on CD (Tchaikovsky 6 in Liverpool; and a Dvorak Cello Concerto from the most unusual and utterly ridiculous of sources – the San Francisco Ballet); and c) abysmal performances that should never have seen the light of day (Bartok Piano Concertos from Capriccio).
And then there’s Chandos, which usually scores big, but when they flop, they flop big! They earn the award for the #1 absolute worst recording of the year, with their star conductor and his razzle-dazzle studio orchestra sightreading their way through Walton’s 1st Symphony. And that’s not all! Chandos also manages to achieve two honorable mentions for mediocrity in Russian repertoire – featuring, you guessed it, John Wilson (again) in Rachmaninoff; along with another one of their very own homeboys, Alpesh Chauhan in Tchaikovsky – both very British, very non-Russian conductors, neither of which, frankly, should ever be allowed anywhere near a Russian score. But Chandos just can’t help themselves. They let Wilson do whatever he wants. I get that; he sells a ton of CDs. But in the case of Chauhan, one wonders why? Who even is he? Why does Chandos keep recording his run-of-the-mill Tchaikovsky?
Worst of the Year
Walton Symphony #1 – Wilson/Sinfonia of London/Chandos.
Wilson has made some bad recordings before, but this one takes the cake. Wilson has zero conception of the piece, zero interpretative vision, and his orchestra breezes through it without giving it a second thought. This is as underpowered a reading as you could ever imagine, and not even Chandos’ recorded sound could salvage it. From my review: “Even by basic, professional orchestral standards, this orchestra fails to deliver.”
Marsalis Blues Symphony – Bignamini/Detroit/Pentatone.
Why Bignamini chose this for his debut recording with the Detroit Symphony is mystifying. It shows neither conductor or orchestra at anything close to being a world class outfit. And it isn’t even musically satisfying. From my review: “That this blues thing goes on for over an hour is absurd. It’s amusing for about the first 5 minutes before becoming tedious, repetitive and interminably boring.”
Thomas Ades at the Halle
I covered this one in my recent “Meh Part 3″ survey. Nonsensical music which never does anything and utterly boring orchestral playing which never sparks any interest pretty much sums it up.
Bartok Piano Concertos – Barto/Eschenbach/Capriccio
Tedious, lethargic monotony. This is as far removed from Bartok as can be imagined. Why Capriccio brought this to market is unconscionable. But they did – music be damned. And they even had to spread it out onto 2 CDs. Absurd.
Tchaikovsky Symphony #6 – Hindoyan/Liverpool/Onyx
Disingenuous at best, deceitful at worst, this release from Onyx combines an older, badly recorded live reading of a lackluster, uninvolving Tchaikovsky 6th with a wonderful new session recording of his Souvenir de Florence. Onyx repeated this formula in their latest Liverpool release, Iberia, and I simply don’t understand why. This orchestra deserves better.
Dvorak Cello Concerto/Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations – John Henry Crawford/Orchid Classics
Why would this promising young cellist hook up with this conductor (Martin West) and an ill-suited ballet orchestra (in San Francisco) to record a concerto in a cramped film studio (Skywalker soundstage) with amateur engineering? That Orchid Classics would have anything to do with this is bewildering.
Rosza/Bartok Violin Concertos – Simovic/LSO
Once again I’m amused by British reviews of Simovic’s dull violin concerto performances when they write inexplicably irresponsible comments like: “He plays with great panache” and “There is real fire in his bow.” NO he DOESN’T and NO there ISN’T! What are they even listening to? It’s the very absence of panache and fire in his bow that makes this about as boring a concert as you’d ever try to stay awake through. That these come from live performances is unbelievable.
Honorable Mention (Worst)
Tchaikovsky Orchestral Works – Chauhan/BBC Scottish SO/Chandos
As mentioned above, this is about as UN-Russian as it gets – refined orchestral sightreading prowess on full display. (And to be fair, this orchestra sightreads extremely well.) Chauhan has no real vision or concept of this music, churning out perfunctory (though well-played) read-throughs with little insight. And for unknown reasons, Chandos continues to show up with their microphones. (And again, to be fair, the recorded sound is, for the most part, superb.)
Rachmaninoff Symphony #1/Symphonic Dances – Wilson/Sinfonia of London/Chandos
If not quite the colossal failure as his Walton 1, his Rach 1 comes pretty close. (And his Symphonic Dances is the worst of all.) I came away thinking this sounds more British than Russian, and in Rachmaninoff, that isn’t good. Nor is the recorded sound. Decidedly mediocre by Chandos standards.
