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FUSSELL: Cynbeline (Drama after Shakespeare) MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K 414. Piano Concerto No. 17 in
G K. 453. SCHUMANN: String Quartets Op. 41 American composer Charles Fussell, born in 1938 in North Carolina, was a close friend and associate of Virgil Thomson. Perhaps his best-known work is Wilde, for baritone and orchestra based on the life of Oscar Wilde, which has been recorded on BMOP. Asidee from that little of Fusselll's music has been recorded . On this new disk he turns to Shakespeare. Fussell was so taken by a performance of Cymbaline that he was inspired to write incidental music and songs for it. The result was a small-scale production for an ensemble of ten players, two singers and a narrator. Profuse program notes describe in detail the composer's intent. The complete text is provided. We can be sure this is a totally authoritative performance and, as usual with recordings on BMOP audio is excellent. An unusual issue, and those who love Shakespeare surely will wish to investigate it. Alfred Brendel was a Mozart specialist and recorded much of the composer's solo piano works s well as all of the piano concertos. These were recorded in the early 70's in Londonst Wembly Town Hall, with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. It was a distinguished collaboration and recordings were welcomed by colletors. But now, thanks to SACD, it is possible to experience some of them via the four-channes in which they originally were recorded. Engineers captured the sounds of Mozar in a most realistic way, and on this SACD we have Concertos 14 and 17. Elegant indeed. Let us hope eventually other recordings in the series will be issued multi-channel. Robert Schumann was intrigued by string quartet chamber music but didn't get around to writing a quartet until 1842 when he wrote three of them, his Op. 41. He presented them to his beloved Clara as a 23rd birthday present and she was delighted. Since then all three have become stapes of the repertory, and here we have fine performances of all three on a single disk in sterling readings by the Engegard Quartet. They were recorded December 2016 in Norway's Jar Kirke, and the BIS engineers have presented the four players most realistically. A quality issue! RE.B. (September 2018) |