Alan Holley reviews three new CD’s on the MOVE record label
- Zoe Knighton, cello + Amir Farid, piano | Brahms Cello
- Hamish Strathdee, Guitar | Impulses – A CD of of Guitar
- Australian Chamber Choir | Keys to Heaven
Brahms Cello
Zoe Knighton, cello and Amir Farid, piano
Catalogue number MD 3451
Johannes Brahms 1833–1897
Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor, Op. 38
Sonata No. 2 in F, Op. 99
Songs
Von ewiger Liebe Op. 43, No. 1
Meine Liebe ist grün Op. 63, No. 5
Die Mainacht Op. 43, No. 2
This delightful CD has recently been released and is surely one all music-lovers should consider for Christmas presents, for others and for the giver too!
Zoe Knighton and Amir Farid have such a rapport in the two sonatas by Brahms one would think they have been playing them for years and still they have the excitement that you only associate with a live performance. The fast movements in both sonatas allow Knighton to express the power of the cello and her choice of a strong and demanding bow weight seems to me spot on. There is much virtuosic writing for both performers in both sonatas and all the pyrotechnics are despatched with flair. And for me Brahms is the consummate composer of heartfelt music and it is in the slow sections that Knighton and Farid display the maturity and art required to make this music really sing.
Three little gems to fill out the CD are arrangements for cello and piano of songs by Brahms. They are so convincingly performed that who could say that Brahms did not have the timbre of the cello in his musical imagination when composing these songs. Knighton coaxes an impassioned tone for Von ewiger Liebe and channels youthful exuberance in Meine Liebe ist grün before focussing on the implied love/longing in Die Mainacht.
This grouping could easily be called Three Lovesongs for Cello and Piano. Farid supports here, takes the lead there and is always the perfect partner.
P 2024 Move Records Recorded, edited and mastered at Move Records studio by Martin Wright Recorded, edited and mastered at Move Records studio by Martin Wright and Vaughan McAlley
Impulses
A CD of solo guitar – Hamish Strathdee – guitar
Catalogue number MCD 645
JS Bach – Sarabande & Gigue
Leo Brouwer – Hika, In Memorium Toru Takemitsu
Napoléon Coste – Le Départ, Fantasied Dramatique, Op. 31
Impulses is a CD of less than 20 minutes so it reminds me of the old EPs we had decades ago when a favourite band would have 4 songs instead of the 2 we would have on a single.
Hamish Strathdee is new to me and I am so glad to make up for lost time listening to his performances of Bach and Brouwer. His approach to the Sarabande seems a little slow when comparing it to the speed many pianists play this mvt but he highlights the elegance of the music and does so convincingly. The Gigue is full of light and bounce. A true delight.
Leo Brouwer, born in Cuba in 1939, was a famous performer in the new music scene in the 1970’s and onwards. It is not surprising that this legend dedicated a work to the memory of Japan’s most known classical composer, another legend, Toru Takemitsu. Hika, In Memoriam Toru Takemitsu starts as if channelling ancient Japanese music as interpreted by Takemitsu and then the world of Spanish music most familiar to Brouwer comes in with virtuosic passages superbly handled by Strathdee. Fabulous work and performance.
The third work on the CD is by the incredibly unknown, except to guitarists, Napoléon Coste. From the 1800’s his music is such that it seems to draw on many influences. Idiomatic guitar gestures abound. It is obvious that Strathdee enjoys conveying the energy of the music.
Now based in Queensland Hamish Strathdee is an artist who deserves national prominence.
Keys to Heaven
Australian Chamber Choir – Douglas Lawrence, conductor
Catalogue number MCD 659
Agata della Pietà Arr: Elizabeth Anderson Ecce nunc
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Tue es Petrus
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Missa Aeterna Christi munera
Gregorio Allegri Miserere
Gregorio Allegri Christus resurgens
The reason this CD is of international importance is the inclusion of a work by Agata della Pietà (1712 – 1769) an Italian composer, singer, and teacher of music at the Venetian charitable institution known as the Ospedale della Pietà. She was well educated in music from early life becoming a soprano soloist as well as a fine composer. Harpsichordist, Elizabeth Anderson completed a reconstruction of Ecce nunc a 15 minute work for choir and strings in 2022 and it was first performed by the Australian Chamber Choir in Melbourne in May 2022. This fine addition to the Venetian repertoire in the late baroque appears in a beautifully performed recorded version on the Australian Chamber Choir’s Keys to Heaven CD. It’s a cracker!
Another reason to buy this CD is for the charming performances of all the works. Although this choir is renowned for performing music across the entire time span of western classical music and their presentation of new music by Australian composers is exemplary it is possible that they revel in the music of 1550 to the time of JS Bach (1685 – 1750) so it is no surprise that there is an energy and affection in the performances, some of which were recorded in concert.
Soprano Amelia Jones shines as a soloist in several of the movements and Kristina Lang and Elizabeth Anderson contribute fine solos in this premiere recording of Agata della Pietà Ecce nunc. The string players and organist assembled for this work perform with elegance.
In Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere one needs a soprano with bell-like clarity and precision to sing out in clarion style the high ‘C’s and in Elspeth Bawden the Australian Chamber Choir has a star.
Palestrina’s Tue es Petrus allows for a concerted warmth from the whole choir.
Douglas Lawrence has at his control a wonderful choir and we the listeners are the fortunate beneficiaries. This is a CD that bears repeated listening as it gives at so many levels.
Move CDs can be ordered through music retailers across Australia including Readings.
