Naxos Slatkin

Regarded as one of the most brilliant composers of her generation, Cindy McTee demonstrates her prodigious skills at orchestral writing in this 2013 Naxos release, recorded by Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.For the perpetual motion piece Circuits (1990), McTee uses timbres in a dynamic way, keeping tone colors cycling in constant rotation, almost in synchronization with the changes of rhythmic cells

William Bolcom’s ambitious setting of William Blake’s complete Songs of Innocence and Experience for soloists, multiple choral forces, and orchestra occupied the composer on and off, beginning as far back as the late 1950s, with most of the work completed between 1973-74 and 1979-82. The composer’s renowned eclectic bent makes itself felt in the work’s nearly two-and-one-half-hour length. Musical eras, styles, and performance practices leapfrog back and forth in unpredictable progressions, keeping the listener in a constant state of suspense ……

Jed Distler@ClassicsToday.com

This is the second instalment in our series devoted to Tchaikovsky’s three great ballets. The first recording, of The Sleeping Beauty, was praised upon its release, described by a reviewer in American Record Guide as ‘one of the finest I’ve heard’. Here Neeme Järvi and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra present the complete version of Swan Lake, with the pre-eminent James Ehnes lending his magic to the violin solos. This was Tchaikovsky’s first full-length ballet, but its premiere in 1877, staged at Moscow’s Bolshoy Theatre, was by no means a resounding success. According to most accounts, the choreography was inept, the shabby sets and costumes were borrowed from other productions, and the orchestral playing was poor. Most ballet companies today base their productions on the 1895 revival by the distinguished choreographer Marius Petipa. Although this revival has been seen as more ‘danceable’, one may argue that the overall cuts and reordering ultimately destroyed Tchaikovsky’s ground plan of drama and tonality. Here we present Tchaikovsky’s original Bolshoy score of twenty-nine numbers across four acts, along with two supplementary numbers which Tchaikovsky provided not long after the premiere.

Kees Bakels’ Vaughan Williams cycle is much better than many British critics like to admit. It’s strange, but you would think that it would be a source of pride for foreign musicians to conduct native composers like Vaughan Williams and Elgar. Unfortunately, what usually happens is that the “outsider” takes the music and promptly outclasses the home-grown talent. Such was the case with Slatkin’s Vaughan Williams cycle, which eclipsed the efforts of the likes of Boult and Handley, and it’s pretty much the case here.

Solti’s recording of Elgar 1 blew across the face of British music in the early Seventies like a blast of fresh air. Immersing himself in Elgar’s own brisk interpretations, Solti forced us to reassess the provincial tradition of Boult and Barbirolli. Hearing it again now, one is struck, if anything, by the lavish attention to detail and by a sense of loving devotion to the music; the slow movement is positively reverential. More recent readings (Slatkin, Davis, etc) show how things have developed, and Hurst’s Naxos account is a strong budget contender. But Solti’s version is deeply felt and gloriously played.