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YUN: Concerto for Cello and Oerchesrtra (1976). Concerto No. 1 for Violin
and Orchestra (1981). . Interludium in A (1981).. Clissees for Solo Cello
(1970). Fanfare and Memorial (1979). Konrase, Two Pieces for Solo Violn
(1987). Gasa for Violin and Piano (1963). GORDON:The House Without a Christmas Tree CALLAERTS: Organ Music Korean composer Isang Yun (1917-1995) survived political rejection, being kidnapped from Berlin by South Koreans and imprisonment for supposed espionage. In spite of his tragic life, he gained the respect of the musical world, and a world-wide petition for the South Korean government to free him was signed by many including Herbert von Karajan, Igor Stravinsky and Hans Werner Henze. His music combines Eastern and Western music traditions and there is no question he is a master of orchestration. Pentatone's 2-disk set offers two of his major works, the 30-minute Cello Concerto written in 1976, and the 40-minute Violin concerto dating from 1981. We also have five shorter woks as listed above Program notes are by the conductor Dennis Russell Davies and Matt Haimovitz, and give detailed information about each work. Some sections of the complex scores also are there. Davies and his crew, and the fine Linz Bruckner Orchestra are to be commended for peforming this very challenging music. The average listener will find it, as I did, very much of a challenge, and not "music" I would wish to experience very often. The multi-track recording is excellent throughout placing the listener right in the middle of what some might find mind an exercise in cacophony. Still, this is an important issue; there are few other recordings available of this Korean composer's work. The House Without a Christmas Tree is a chamber opera based on Gail Rock'd book and the 1972 television movie of the same name. Addie lives with her father in a house that has not had a Christmas tree since the death of his wife many years earlier. Addie wins a Christmas tree at her school and brings it home, but her father rejects it. Eventually he changes his mind and the tree is decorated with ornaments unused for years including a star made by his late wife. The score is by Ricky Ian Gordon whose music has been performed by many leading artists (including Renée Fleming). Libretto is by Royce Vavrek. It is surely an accessible opera that for some will have personal meaning. It serves its purpose well—to bring opera to a wider audience. Surely this performance from the Houston Opera Company's 2017 season is what the composer/librettist intended. Pentatone's engineers have done their usual expert job. This is handsome production with extensive program notes and complete libretto. The Aeolus SACD offers organ music that surely will be new to all. We have woks of Joseph Calleerts (1830 - 1901) who spent all of his life in Antwerp. He was organist at several organizations and won a prize from the Brussels Royal Conservatory in 1856. His music includes an opera (Le Retour imprévu),a symphony, concertos for piano, violin and organ, and many works for solo organ. This superb recording includes many of them, as detailed above, and it is remarkable that Callaert's music isn't better known—there seem to be no previous recordings. There are some gems here for the organist, and all are played with virtuosity by peter Van de Velda on the Pierre Schyven organ of Antwerp's Our Lady's Cathedral. Excellent, wide-ranging audio. Recommended! We would welcome more examples of Callaert's music. R.E.B. (December 2018) |