CONTENTS
Volume 95 Number 11 57 EDITORIAL Phone 020 7738 5454 Fax 020 7733 2325 email gramophone@markallengroup.com EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Martin Cullingford DEPUTY EDITOR Sarah Kirkup / 020 7501 6365 REVIEWS EDITOR Tim Parry / 020 7501 6367 ONLINE CONTENT EDITOR James McCarthy / 020 7501 6366 SUB-EDITOR David Threasher / 020 7501 6370 SUB-EDITOR Marija �uric´ Speare ART DIRECTOR Dinah Lone / 020 7501 6689 PICTURE EDITOR Sunita Sharma-Gibson / 020 7501 6369 AUDIO EDITOR Andrew Everard EDITORIAL ADMINISTRATOR Libby McPhee THANKS TO Hannah Nepil and Charlotte Gardner EDITOR-IN-CHIEF James Jolly
ADVERTISING Phone 020 7738 5454 Fax 020 7733 2325 email gramophone.ads@markallengroup.com COMMERCIAL MANAGER Esther Zuke / 020 7501 6368 SALES EXECUTIVE Simon Davies / 020 7501 6373
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES 0800 137201 (UK) +44 (0)1722 716997 (overseas) subscriptions@markallengroup.com
PUBLISHING Phone 020 7738 5454 HEAD OF MARKETING AND DIGITAL STRATEGY Luca Da Re / 020 7501 6362 MARKETING MANAGER Edward Craggs / 020 7501 6384 DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Matthew Cianfarani PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Richard Hamshere / 01722 716997 PRODUCTION MANAGER Jon Redmayne CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Sally Boettcher / 01722 716997 SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Chris Hoskins / 01722 716997 EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Martin Cullingford PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Paul Geoghegan CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Ben Allen CHAIRMAN Mark Allen www.markallengroup.com
GRAMOPHONE is published by MA Music Leisure & Travel Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London SE24 0PB, United Kingdom. gramophone.co.uk email gramophone@markallengroup.com or subscriptions@markallengroup.com ISSN 0017-310X.
The January 2018 issue of Gramophone is on sale from January 3; the February issue will be on sale from January 31 (both UK). Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of statements in this magazine but we cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions, or for matters arising from clerical or printers’ errors, or an advertiser not completing his contract. Regarding concert listings, all information is correct at the time of going to press. Letters to the editor requiring a personal reply should be accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope. We have made every effort to secure permission to use copyright material. Where material has been used inadvertently or we have been unable to trace the copyright owner, acknowledgement will be made in a future issue. UK subscription rate £64. Printed in England by Southernprint. North American edition (ISSN 0017-310X): Gramophone, USPS 881080, is published monthly with an additional issue in September by MA Music Leisure & Travel Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London SE24 0PB, United Kingdom. The US annual subscription price is $89. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named Air Business, c/o Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to Gramophone, Worldnet Shipping Inc. (see above). Subscription records are maintained at MA Music Leisure & Travel Ltd, Unit A Buildings 1-5, Dinton Business Park, Catherine Ford Road, Dinton, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP3 5HZ, UK. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent.
© MA Music Leisure & Travel Ltd, 2018. All rights reserved. No part of the Gramophone may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the Publishing Director. The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the editor or Gramophone. Advertisements in the journal do not imply endorsement of the products or services advertised.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
The 12 most highly recommended recordings of the month
7
FOR THE RECORD
The latest classical music news
8
RECORDING OF THE MONTH 30 Teodor Currentzis and MusicAeterna give an account of Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphony that brims with searing intensity
ORCHESTRAL
32
John Adams live from Berlin; Vasily Petrenko with an imaginative spring-themed programme; a generous Grieg coupling; opera arias for flute
CHAMBER
The Gould Trio’s Brahms; string quartets by Graham Fitkin; ‘Homage’ from Vilde Frang
48
INSTRUMENTAL
60
Brilliant’s Alkan Edition; Bach and Ysaÿe from Antje Weithaas; Stephen Hough and Seong-Jin Cho play Debussy
VOCAL
70
Liszt songs for bass; melancholic Dowland from Emma Kirkby; Felicity Palmer returns to song
REISSUES
82
Bumper boxes of Barenboim; Ashkenazy’s choice
OPERA
Bellini’s Norma from the Royal Opera House; Rattle turns to Puccini’s Tosca; ‘The Wagner Project’ from Matthias Goerne’; Nathalie Stutzmann revels in Baroque arias
86
BOOKS
96
The invention of the piano; musical modernism
JAZZ & WORLD MUSIC
98
Reviews from our sister titles Jazzwise and Songlines
REPLAY
The young Mstislav Rostropovich; Willem Mengelberg’s miraculous Tchaikovsky
100
GRAMOPHONE COLLECTION 106 Hugo Shirley listens to the available versions of Giordano’s Andrea Chénier in search of a top choice
NEW RELEASES
REVIEWS INDEX
126
128
MEET THE JÄRVI FAMILY 14 James Jolly meets Neeme Järvi and his sons Paavo and Kristjan and discovers exactly why this family’s conducting gene is so strong
WHEN ROUSSET MET LULLY 20 Richard Lawrence meets Christophe Rousset to talk about the conductor’s ongoing championing of Lully’s operas, in concert and on disc
BRABBINS TACKLES TIPPETT 24 Richard Bratby meets Martyn Brabbins to talk about the launch of his Tippett symphony cycle
CLASSICAL APPS
Editor Martin Cullingford assesses the newest interactive musical apps on the market
28
THE MUSICIAN & THE SCORE 46 Jeremy Nicholas meets Jean-Efflam Bavouzet to discuss the intricacies of the warhorse that is Grieg’s Piano Concerto
ICONS
Tully Potter reflects on the vast legacy of the incomparable Melos Quartet
58
CONTEMPORARY COMPOSERS 68 Richard Whitehouse on the varied output of German composer Matthias Pintscher
MUSICAL CONNECTIONS 99 The Järvi family prompts two listening journeys
CLASSICS RECONSIDERED 102 David Gutman and Andrew Mellor wrestle with the ‘iconic’ status of Bernstein’s Sibelius 5
THE SPECIALIST’S GUIDE 104 Paul Kilbey on when pop meets classical
PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS 112 The best live music on radio and online
HIGH FIDELITY
115
Our monthly offering of audio news and reviews
NOTES & LETTERS
124
MY MUSIC
130
Sir David Eastwood on his vast record collection
4 GRAMOPHONE JANUARY 2018
gramophone.co.uk
