Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon
Year: 2010
Artists: Hilary Hahn, Matthias Goerne, Christine Schäfer, Münchener Kammerorchester & Alexander Liebreich

First, the good news: Hilary Hahn is featured in this collection of Bach cantatas and choral works. For the most part, her playing is as composed, clear and thoughtful as always; her violin sings, laughs and sparkles.

Now, the bad news. Although one might expect otherwise from a record whose title implies balance between instrument and voice, these recordings are weighed down by the two vocalists. The nature of baroque music is contrapuntal and bright; Mr. Goerne’s fruity vibrato overpowers all distinctions, and lack of expression lends a leaden quality to his pieces. What may be lovely in the concert hall translates into loud mush. Ms. Schäfer, on the other hand, prefers to skip half of her notes and manages to miss the rest, rather like a hurdler who decides that it is quicker to barrel down the course than to attempt those athletic jumps. Furthermore, both vocalists lack the pleasing subtlety and cooperation that Bach demands of his performers. Perhaps it is not entirely their fault; these two vocalists seem to have preferred Romantic leider to Lutheran liturgy in their past work, and these have different vocal techniques and requirements.

Other little indignities are present in this package. The cover art is atrocious. Who picked that font? Why is it purple? Why is a disembodied bust of old Bach hovering, god-like, in the corner? Why do the artists look photoshopped onto the generic white of an indeterminate church hall? Why do they look like they are guilty of a great secret? Why is the violinist separated from the vocalists? Why is everyone in black? Why are there no artist biographies? And if they are so famous, why are there no promotional covers for the other two artists?

One of your esteemed reviewers believes that this CD is palatable in the right historical context. The other reviewer finds this a difficult recording to digest.

The last few concerts and gatherings I’ve attended have shaken my faith in the concert hall. Not that I was much of a believer to begin with.

First, the observations:

• Miserable, drab locations with poor acoustics and minimal creature comforts hurt most small-scale, ‘intimate’ venues. Anything on the street, or in a mall is drowned out by the pointless cacophony of the background traffic; anything in a poorly designed church deadens the sounds before it even arrives. 
• Many performers seem, well, like they could use some more rehearsal time before appearing on stage. This is particularly true in any chamber or orchestral music. Aligning various musical visions takes time. 
• Lack of specificity in the programmes detract from the performance. Going to a Mozart concert to hear Random Piece X is not nearly as exciting as going to a Mozart concert to heard the Jupiter Symphony. 
• Live performers make mistakes. Part of this ties in with the practice time.

This boils down to value for time and money. If I spend $80 and two hours of time — which can never be returned — on any artist, I would like to get my money’s worth.  The live music experience is a luxury in the day of high-fidelity speakers and high-quality recordings. I don’t wish to spend my resources on missed notes and sulky performers and dubious interpretations when I could just as well be home, enjoying definitive recordings from the masters of the last eighty years. 

Furthermore, classical music has lost much of its cultural and social relevance. In the day of the great composers, classical music was the dance music (of the middle and upper classes). Operas and major concerts served not only as entertainment, but also as social gathering points. Much of that has been lost in the modern classical music establishment in North America. Most attendees are older couples, perhaps with some children, and these units do not seem to socialize with each other. Somehow classical music is no longer a group phenomenon, but something disconnected and increasingly hard to justify in the present-day world.

Here’s a link to a story in The Economist newspaper about the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death. It seems a little odd to celebrate a composer’s death (as compared to, say, the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth). Handel’s music wasn’t that bad.

Released 2009 by EMI music

The trumpet has largely played a supporting role in most classical music, blaring the occasional brassy fanfare. More often it is associated with jazz and brass bands. So when this recording by Alison Balsom appeared, my curiosity was piqued. How could a brass instrument with only three ‘buttons’ produce such round tender notes spanning a three-octave range?

And yet it does. Miss Balsom’s playing is dexterous and nuanced, and easily steals the show. Trills and octave jumps are surefooted, rhythms precisely delineated and dynamics entirely within context. The occasional intake of breath is audible, but does not detract from the record. The orchestra (the Deutsche Kammerphilharmoniker) is well balanced, enough to support but never so loud as to overwhelm, and is spare enough to reflect the early classical/baroque origins of these works. The technical aspects of the recording have resulted in a rich full sound, in which even the harpsichord can be heard in its rightful place.

The compositions are very typical of their time of composition, brightly glossed and easy to digest. Overall a highly satisfactory purchase.

Here’s a nice site that discusses how the trumpet makes all those notes with only three valves.

I picked up 2007 release from Deutsche Grammophon with great excitement earlier this year. As the first Polish native in 30 years to win the 2005 International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition, Mr. Blechacz caused great excitement, both in his native country and around the world. He followed this up with several well-reviewed recitals and signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon.

My initial impression was highly favourable. Mr. Blechacz shines in the more rapid passages and technically he sounds competent. However, somewhat to my own astonishment, towards the end of the disc, my attention wandered away from the music.

Repeat screenings have diminished my pleasure in this recording, and I have not made it through the entire disc at a single sitting. Largely this stems from a difference in my interpretation of Chopin’s works. To me, Chopin should be fluid and lyrical, at times passionate, vital or pensive. Percussive is not a word I associate with Chopin, and yet many of these Preludes have a grating, forced quality to them (Prelude 4, 9, 20, 22, 24).

The slower Preludes have a lugubrious character, the result of a muddiness from the lower registers (Prelude 2), and missing notes in some of the higher chords (Prelude 6). I found it difficult to distinguish the details of the chord progressions and lower voices, and in other areas, the music loses its forward impetus, bogging down in a haze of sound. I cannot tell if the piano and recording setup was to Mr. Blechacz’s satisfaction, but the sound and voicing is audibly uneven. I disagree with some of the tempi chosen, particularly 4, 6 and 15.

That said, many Preludes continue to enthrall (1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 16), and there is much to appreciate in this new musician. Hopefully his interpretive skills will grow alongside the technical promise that this recording shows.

On a more practical note: I would download this CD from any vendor of your choosing (Deutsche Grammophon, iTunes, what have you), but the flaws in at least a third of the tracks prevent me from recommending a purchase of this in CD format. While it is worth the time to listen to these tracks, and is a fine debut effort, I do not consider this a definitive recording of the Preludes.

As of late I have become increasingly frustrated by the dwindling classical selection at music selling establishments. I live in Ottawa, Canada a city with a metropolitan area of over one million people and there is only a single music store that has an acceptable classical section where one can find most recent recordings and many popular recordings. Unfortunately even at this the best store in area it is unlikely one will find anything even on the fringes of obscure. For example a few months ago I was looking for “Mendelssohn: The Complete String Quartets” to no avail, previous to that I was after “Glass: Etudes for Piano, Vol. 1, Nos. 1-10″ again no luck. These are not “obscure” recordings by my estimation, but in a city of one million, not available. Probably one in four visits I find what I am looking for.

If the above was the standard shop or the middle of the road store I wouldn’t be complaining but in Ottawa, at any other shop, the classical section ranges from a full shelf, to a single row on a shelf, to nothing at all. But then there is my personal music store pet peeve - The Naxos Shelf. Nothing against Naxos because they do have some good recordings and I applaud them for their dedication to Classical, thank god for companies like them, but in my opinion the shelf does not sufficiently constitute a classical music section. Ten years ago CDs stores often had a completely soundproof area separate from the rest of the store for Classical / New age crowd. I don’t know when it started happening but it seems classical sections are being removed or scaled down, and as a result I buy less music. Logic indicates that this wouldn’t be happening if people were buying but perhaps this is a localized manifestation of Say’s Law (which states that there can be no demand without supply). More study required.

In any event I end up ordering CDs from the Internet that end up costing me $5 - $10 more when shipping is added, not to mention the wasted fuel and time going to the brick and mortar establishments to be disappointed. I wonder if this is the case in other cities or what the situation is like in Europe… If you have some insight feel free to comment.