Jos van Immerseel’s Symphonie fantastique: ‘Anything Immerseel and these players record is essential listening’

TRACK 6

WOLKENSTEIN

‘Songs of Myself’

Andreas Scholl counterten/bar Shield of Harmony / Crawford Young

Harmonia Mundi

If this repertoire is earlier than one often expects from Andreas Scholl, this is also one of his most intriguing album ideas. The 14th-century knight’s squire Oswald von Wolkenstein was one of the first composers to set down his music but still nobody knows the precise pitch or voice that was intended. So this is a musical adventure in all sorts of ways. It is also quite wonderfully sung.

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TRACK 7

HAYDN

Piano Sonatas, Vol 1

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet pf

Chandos

If Debussy specialists have been feeling rather put out that Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has waltzed in and got so much attention for his brilliant series on Chandos (and I don’t know that they have), it is on this evidence the turn of Haydn pianists. Bavouzet inhabits this very different world with idiomatic fluidity, profound understanding and wit, and this promises to be another unmissable series. We’ll clear space for it on these pages for some time to come!

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Recording of the month

TRACK 8

LORD

To Notice Such Things

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Clark Rundell

Avie

We can leave the “rock icon dipping a toe in classical waters” descriptions behind now when writing about Jon Lord. With several well- reviewed classical albums under his belt, we can take him on his own terms. This enjoyable and pictorial new work is an affectionate (and occasionally unflinching) portrait of John Mortimer that grows in stature as it proceeds. Lovely, colourful and involving.

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TRACK 11

BERLIOZ

Symphonie fantastique

Anima Eterna Brugge / Jos van Immerseel

Zig-Zag Territoires

Confession time. Berlioz’s

Symphonie fantastique has

never seemed to me as sinister or, for that matter, wildly frightening as it is surely intended to be, or as the striking cover for this recording suggests. Jos van Immerseel and Anima Eterna, though, come closer than most to awakening that spirit in me. It might be a timing thing, of course. What

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TRACK 9

MAHLER

Symphony No 9

Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra / Roger Norrington

Hänssler Classic

Lush and lavish this Mahler is not. But then, you wouldn’t expect that, would you, from the baton of Roger Norrington? Instead, what we get is an interpetation pared back to its interpretative bones, disturbing and profound. As Edward Seckerson suggests in his review, there is no place to hide with Norrington’s Mahler. And it certainly demands to be heard.

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to me, now, sounds often rather beautiful, even jolly (I’m just making this worse for myself, aren’t I?) doubtless sounded shockingly visceral to 19th-century ears. Anima Eterna, with

their usual practice of scrupulous research into historical instruments, arguably bring that sound and shock to life once again here. Textures (which can all too easily blur in this work) are kept crystal-clear; one can hear all the intricacies, the details fitting together like some kind of devilishly

TRACK 10

BEETHOVEN

Symphony No 9

Soloists; Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen / Paavo Järvi

RCA Red Seal

Paavo Järvi’s Beethoven symphony cycle has been very fine, but to my mind somewhat in the shadow of Osmo Vänskä’s revelatory rethinking of these works for BIS and indeed David Zinman’s superb and still fairly recent traversal. But Järvi has risen to the challenge where many cycles fall down, with a Ninth that is at once muscular and musical. Very impressive indeed.

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ingenious puzzle – when the cogs all fit together, a spike springs out. The hallucinatory thrill lies in the sounds Immerseel draws from his players, as well as tempi that sometimes seem to deliberately wrong-foot. Anything Jos van

Immerseel and these players record is essential listening. For Symphonie fantastique refuseniks this could be a revelation. For those who love this work, don’t hesitate!

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