Gramophone – September 2019

gramophone.co.uk GRAMOPHONE SEPTEMBER 2019 53

theSinfoniaconcertanteishardlyaserious

concerninrepertoireasrare–andas

deserving–asthis.RichardBratby

Copland.Chávez

‘Pan-AmericanRelections’

ChávezSymphonyNo2,‘SinfoníaIndia’

CoplandSymphonyNo 3

TheOrchestraoftheAmericas/

CarlosMiguelPrieto

LinnFCKD604(53’• DDD)

RecordedliveatTheKryzstofPenderecki

EuropeanCentreforMusic,Lusławice,Poland,

July1415, 2018

Theseperformances

wererecordedlive

attheopening

concertsofThe

OrchestraoftheAmericas’ 2018 European

tour.Overall,thequalityoftheplayingis

onquiteahighlevelconsideringthatthis

is,inessence,atraininggroundfor

musiciansunder 30 andthattheorchestra’s

entirerosterchangesfromoneyeartothe

next.Iwasparticularlyimpressedbythe

woodwinds,bothcorporatelyaswellas

inindividualsolos,andthesturdystring

sound(settingasidesomeaudibleinsecurity

inexposed,high-lyingpassagesforthe

violins).Ionlywishthetrumpetsplayed

withgreaterconfidence.But,broadly

speaking,theinterpretationsthemselves

feelratherreticent.Indeed,Iwouldnever

haveguessedthesewereliverecordings

(theaudienceisnearlysilentandapplause

hasbeeneditedout).

CarlosMiguelPrietodisplaysafine

graspofthearchitectureofCopland’s

ThirdSymphony,deftlymanoeuvring

throughthemanysubtleshiftsoftempo,

butoftenseemstoerronthesideof

caution.So,forinstance,whilehehews

closetothecomposer’smetronomemark

fortheAllegromoltosecondmovement,

itneverthelesscomesacrossasslightly

stodgyandlackinginbite.Prietoismost

persuasiveinlyricalmusic.Thecentraltrio

ofthatscherzo-likesecondmovement–at

oncemellifluousandpiquant–isalovely

exampleandshowcasesthestrengthsof

theorchestra’swoodwinds.

MuchthesamecanbesaidforChávez’s

colourfulSinfoníaIndia.Thefastouter

sectionsrequiremorerhythmicdriveand

flairthanPrietoprovides;butthenlisten

tothedisarmingnaturalnesswithwhich

hephrasesthefolksytuneat2'18",orhow

clearlyhearticulatestheexquisitelylayered

texturesat2'58"–capturedwithstunning

transparencybyLinn’sengineers.Fora

morethoroughlysatisfyingaccount,stick

withEduardoMata’sLSOrecording

(Vox,4/00).And,cometothinkofit,

Mata’seloquentlyunaffectedCopland

Thirdstillholdsupwell,too(EMI/

Warner,3/87).AndrewFarach-Colton

Debussy

Berceusehéroïque.DeuxDanses.

Marcheécossaisesurunthèmepopulaire.

Nocturnesa. Printemps.Rapsodieb

bClaudeDelangleasax

aPhilharmonicChamberChoirofEurope;

SingaporeSymphonyOrchestra/ LanShui

BISFÍBIS2232(76’• DDD/DSD)

TheSingapore

Symphony’sDebussy

firstimpressedme

withanexcellent

LamerunderLanShuiinanimaginatively

programmed 2007 discoforchestral

seascapeswhichincludedworksbyBridge

andGlazunov.Thisistheirthirdall-

Debussydiscsinceanditfeaturesseveral

not-quite-rarities,attractivelyperformed.

BenefitingfromBIS’sexcellentSACD

engineeringintheorchestra’sEsplanade

ConcertHall,thediscteemswiththesort

ofdetailthatdebunksthemythofDebussy

asan‘Impressionist’composer,asortof

auralequivalenttoClaudeMonet.Yes,

there’sgauzystring-playing;butwoodwind

contributionsemergewithclarity,asdoes

thepianocontributioninPrintemps,awork

composedduringDebussy’sthirdyearat

theVillaMedicifollowinghis 1884 Prix

deRomevictory.InspiredbyBotticelli’s

Primavera,theoriginalscoreofPrintemps

waslost–soDebussyclaimed–inafire.

HenriBüsserpreparedtheorchestral

versionknowntodayunderthecomposer’s

supervisionin1912.

There’splentyofsurfaceglitterinthis

Singaporeaccount,althoughitdoesn’t

havethesamelevelofsparkleasEmmanuel

Krivine’sLuxembourgPhilharmonic

recordingonadiscthatsharesmuch

ofthesamerepertoire.Certainlythe

Luxembourgersswaggerdownthe

boulevardsofthesecondmovement

withmoreParisianinsouciance.

Iverymuchenjoyedthesmoky

atmosphereinthesaxophoneRapsodie,

smoulderingswirlsconjuredupbysoloist

ClaudeDelangle,andtheclassicalcoolof

theDansesacréeetdanseprofane,languidly

paced,GulnaraMashurovarippling

throughtheharpsolosevocatively.

Nocturnesisthemostfamiliarworkhere

anditfacesstiffcompetitionondisc,not

leastfromFrançois-XavierRothandLes

SièclesontheirexcellentHarmoniaMundi

disclastyear,wherehehidhisladies

choir–LesCrisdeParis–amonghis

players,makingthempartoftheorchestral

texture.ThePhilharmonicChamberChoir

ofEuropesingwellbutsoundalittle

too‘present’tobeseductivein‘Sirènes’.

Elsewhere,though,Shuiandthe

Singaporeansplaymostpersuasively,

withaparticularlylively‘Fêtes’.

Tworarerworksfilloutthedisc.The

Marcheécossaise,basedonaScottishbagpipe

tune,isperkilydispatched,whileShui

capturesthenostalgicnatureoftheBerceuse

héroïqueverywellindeedtocloseamost

temptingtriptychofDebussydiscs.

MarkPullinger

Nocturnes,Marcheécossaise–selectedcomparison:

Siècles,Roth(12/18)(HARM)HMM90 5291

Nocturnes,Printemps,Danses–selectedcomparison:

LuxembourgPO,Krivine(TIMP)1C1173

Elgar

CivicFanfare(threeversions)a. OrganSonata,

Op 28 (orchJacob).SevernSuite,Op87.

TheSpanishLady,Op 89 – SymphonicSuite

(realisedYates)a

aChristopherNickolorg

RoyalScottishNationalOrchestra/ MartinYates

DuttonEpochFÍCDLX7363(78’• DDD/DSD)

It was in the late

summer of 1932 that

Elgar began jotting

down ideas for The

Spanish Lady, a ‘Grand Opera on the

biggest scale’ (as vouchsafed to his close

friend, Billy Reed), based on Ben Jonson’s

Jacobean comedy The Devil is an Ass. We’ve

had various iterations of Elgar’s copious

sketches from Percy Young and John

Longstaff (the latter scored 11 brief

numbers for the Northern Ballet Theatre’s

2000 production, Great Expectations), and

now comes Martin Yates with his own

elaboration. Most gratifying it is, too: some

highly attractive thematic material (with its

unmistakable and often touching allusions

to, among other Elgar masterworks,

Cockaigne, The Wand of Youth, Nursery Suite,

Enigma Variations and Pomp and

Circumstance) has been deftly assimilated

into a four-movement symphonic suite

lasting around 27 minutes that has already

afforded me lots of pleasure. Under Yates’s

watchful lead, the RSNO sound like they

are enjoying themselves enormously.

Yates also presides over a new version

of Gordon Jacob’s gorgeous orchestration

of Elgar’s Organ Sonata. Consigned to

oblivion after Sir Adrian Boult’s June

1947 broadcast world premiere with the

BBC SO, and branded a failure by its rueful

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