New Zealand Listener - November 5, 2016

NOVEMBER 5 2016 http://www.listener.co.nz

by PAUL GOODSON

B

arry Douglas has produced his

sixth – and final – record-

ing of the complete

Brahms works for solo

piano. He unquestionably ranks

among the finest UK pianists

of his generation, and this disc

concludes a project launched with

volume one in 2012.

My only grizzle is best dealt

with at the outset and put to

rest. Instead of recording pieces

in their entire published sets as

Brahms conceived them, Douglas

has chosen to break them up and

distribute them among the six

CDs. This approach makes for

imaginative programme planning

of the recital variety, but risks compro-

mising the organic continuity of the

composer’s conception.

This is the only disc of the six I have

heard to date, but if Douglas’ pianism

characterises the entire series, then he

warrants an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Some of us may have our Brahmsian

demigods (mine is Radu Lupu), but

pretenders to the throne would have

to travel a long way to trump this disc

(and, presumably, its predecessors).

BRAHMS WORKS FOR SOLO

PIANO VOLUME SIX, Barry

Douglas (Chandos)

T

his CD of early period

sacred choral music

clocks up a couple of

“firsts”: the first studio recording of the

Sistine Chapel Choir and the first time a

recording has been made in the chapel.

The results are impressive in terms of pro-

gramming, aesthetics and musicality.

Along with some of the mainstays of

liturgical ceremony by Victoria, Lassus

and Palestrina, this disc includes the origi-

nal 1661 version of Allegri’s celebrated

Miserere, as well as a seldom-heard Nunc

Dimittis attributed to Palestrina.

The defining tonal characteristics of this

all-male choir are warmth and poise, with

no hint of that hooty mellifluousness

that jaded reviewers sometimes ascribe to

the more rarefied English cathedral and

Oxbridge college choirs. The sumptuous

chapel acoustic cloaks these performances

in a velvet mantle.

CANTATE DOMINO, Sistine Chapel Choir/

Massimo Palombella (Deutsche

Grammophon)

C

Ds of operatic excerpts

appear so regularly on the

classical charts that it sug-

gests recording companies are as

eager to churn them out as the

public is to buy them. It was only

a matter of time before soprano

Anna Netrebko – a nom de jour on

the operatic circuit – would be

deemed ripe for plucking.

This collection of arias from

late 19th and early 20th-century

Italian operas features heroines

whose emotional temperatures

swing wildly between optimism and fatal-

ism – and everything in-between. These

roles are as far apart from the world of

simpering soubrettes as it’s possible to be.

Netrebko injects the requisite inten-

sity and passion into these

characterisations.

Her opulent high-register

passages are brilliant without

a trace of shrillness, and her

burnished lower notes surge

through the more

densely orchestrated

sections with ease. l

VERISMO, Anna

Netrebko with

Orchestra

dell’Accademia

Nazionale di Santa

Cecilia/Antonio

Pappano (Deutsche

Grammophon)

Enthusiastic

thumbs-up

One of the UK’s

finest pianists,

Barry Douglas does

Brahms proud.

CLASSICAL

Barry Douglas: imaginative

programme planning.

9 days of wonderful collaborative

chamber music. An excitingly

different concert programme. With

International guest artists including:

Dénes Várjon - Piano (Hungary),

Matthew Barley - Cello (England),

James Campbell - Clarinet (Canada),

Ian Rosenbaum - Marimba (New York),

Goldner String Quartet (Australia)

and the New Zealand String Quartet.

All performing in beautiful concert

venues that are renowned for their

acoustics.