A little Brass and with some Woodwind tossed in for good luck!

Some great brass and woodwind music today. First, by request(s), The Modern Age of Brass with Roger Voisin leading a bunch of his BSO colleagues followed by Frank Glazer and the NY Woodwind Quintet in music by Riegger and Poulenc. Both records date from the mid 50's, the Voisin in mono and the woodwind in stereo, though I have seen the latter's recording date as 1953! The stereo here appears natural.

Brass players are so indebted to Roger V for his pioneering recordings and editions of various works for trumpet and brass. Though admittedly, I have never been a great fan of the bright French school of trumpet playing that he was one of the last proponents of, I recognize him as a tireless promoter of the trumpet and music for brass ensembles. And, as I said previously, Roger was completely and utterly dedicated to music in Boston, especially the next generation of brass players. This important record, from MIT, preserves strong, pioneering excursions into great works. In particular is the masterpiece of Ingolf Dahl, his Music for Brass Instruments, a brilliant work of colors and invention. There is some fine playing by Voisin, Armando Ghitalla and Kauko Kahila here. Great stuff.

The woodwind album features two works, Wallingford Riegger's Concerto for Piano and Woodwind Quintet and Poulenc's "Piano" sextet. We all know Poulenc whose star shines pretty bright these days but Riegger is shamelessly neglected, in fact nearly forgotten. Though Riegger primarily composed within the twelve tone system, he was not orthodox enough to make his output difficult to listen to, The concerto, Op 53 and written in 1953(!) is a marvelous piece of imagination and beauty. I think it to be a great display of Riegger's understanding of the instruments and the colors and sounds that they make. Now, if we can only get a recording of his Music for Brass Choir! The Poulenc is delicious in that French 20th century kind of a way and players like Samual Baron and David Glazer eat it up for all its worth. Frank Glazer's piano conributions are insightful and a pleasant reminder of this fine, and underrated, artist.

Both of these lp's add up to a well filled cd. It all works well together, at least I think so.

Personal note: I will be on vacation through the middle of July. More posts will come after I return.
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Modern French Orchestral Miniatures conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky

I've been looking for this elusive Westminster Gold lp for some time now. As my introduction to the music of  "The Six," I recall playing this over and over again during my teens. For my money, Rozhdestvensky scores a homerun in this repertoire. (I consider Satie the "father" of Les Six)

The "little" symphonies of Milhaud and the Paris Suite of Ibert are the "big" pieces on this lp. Both of these composers wrote in a similar style and both excelled at exploiting the colors of smaller ensembles. I think the interplay of strings and winds in the "little" symphonies is among the most imaginative and stimulating listening that I've ever encountered. However.....it has to be done right and when I say right, I mean the ensemble has to be listening carefully to one another in order to understand the logic behind the compositions. Milhaud's own recording with Radio Luxembourg does not come close to the dynamic that Rozhdestvensky caresses out of these exceptional musicians, the cream of the famed Leningrad Philharmonic.

This record was released by Melodiya in 1964, at the end of the Khrushchev years and the thaw that helped break (at least for a short time) the stranglehold on Soviet arts and artists. This music would have been decidedly bourgeois by Soviet standards and I'll bet that many of these musicians were seeing this fare for the first time. And, early on Rozhdestvensky's career, he was an innovator, an experimentor and a friend of the avant garde. In my opinion, the forces came together well here for an inspired recording session of terrific music.

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Leonid Hambro and Jascha Zayde perform Saint Saens, Debussy, Franck, and Poulenc

I seem to have developed a "thing" for four hand piano music over the last few years. I cannot really explain why this is so but the combination of two like minded individuals, pounding the ivories in great music is, well...so irresistible!

Here we have the contents of two LP's, issued on Columbia and Command Classics, that feature the talents of the all but forgotten piano duo of Leonid Hambro and Jascha Zayde. Hambro is best known for his long association with the legendary Victor Borge while Zayde, I must confess, was totally unknown to me. Turns out that Zayde was a fixture on New York radio for many years while Hambro, after pretty much retiring from concertizing, taught at the university level. Together, they prove to be excellent collaborators and they play with good taste and superb musicianship in this program of French music.

I want to call attention here to the exquisite performance of Carnival of the Animals with words by Ogden Nash recited by the great Noel Coward. This really is, in my opinion, a definitive take on this delightful work, Hambro and Zayde are magnificent and Andre Kostelanetz leads his New York musicians to the manner born. You will enjoy this immensely!

I have another Hambro and Zayde LP, Mozart and Schubert, and I will upload at sometime down the line.

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