(++++) STRINGS, WITH FEELING

Dvořák: Cello Concerto; Klid (Silent Woods); Rondo in G minor; Romance in F minor; Mazurek in E minor. Zara Nelsova, cello; Ruggiero Ricci, violin; St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Walter Susskind. Vox. $18.99.

Johan Helmrich Roman: Assaggi per Violino Solo. Fabio Biondi, violin. Naïve. $16.99.

Pēteris Vasks: Violin Concerto No. 2, Vakara gaismā (“In Evening Light”); Vientuļais eņģelis (“Lonely Angel”); Schubert: Rondeau brillant in B minor. Sebastian Bohren, violin; Münchener Kammerorchester conducted by Sergej Bolkhovets. AVIE. $19.99.

     There is simply no cello concerto comparable to Dvořák’s for scale, emotional depth and intensity, and the intermingling of soloist with orchestra. So wide-ranging is the concerto that interpretations can differ very significantly indeed while still being equally convincing and equally true to the composer’s intentions. Zara Nelsova’s approach is one of warm lyricism throughout: the concerto becomes an extended song under her hands, exuding beauty and emotionalism from start to finish, the more dramatic elements (such as the martial opening of the finale) downplayed so as to bring the emotive ones always to the forefront. The Vox re-release of Nelsova’s 1974 recording with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under Walter Susskind is very welcome, since no one else handles the concerto quite the way Nelsova did. Her cello, a 1726 Stradivarius, is remarkable for its evenness of tone from its lowest register to its highest, and Nelsova consistently brings forward the Romantic-era capabilities that this decidedly pre-Romantic instrument possesses. Susskind is a very able accompanist, aiding and abetting Nelsova’s approach by avoiding overwhelming orchestral tutti and allowing the concerto to come across as more of a collegial performance than one in which the soloist competes with the ensemble. Although the reading is, thankfully, shorn of excess, it remains appealingly expressive throughout. And Nelsova’s approach carries through to the two shorter cello-and-orchestra works here: Klid (Silent Woods) and Rondo in G minor. The first of these paints the forest in pastels, while the second, more-upbeat piece, originally for cello and piano, nicely caps this set of elegant readings. The CD also includes, a bit oddly, two short works for violin and orchestra, also in performances dating to 1974. Ruggiero Ricci’s songful melodiousness in the Romance in F minor neatly complements Nelsova’s approach for the cello works, but Ricci lets his virtuosity shine forth fully in the Mazurek in E minor, which Dvořák dedicated to Pablo de Sarasate. It would have made more sense musically to have the Ricci performances paired with the composer’s Violin Concerto, which Ricci recorded to very fine effect – but having these smaller gems as encores to the cello works still adds measurably to the overall pleasure of the re-release.

     The solo violin gets its due in a very different way on a Naïve recording in which Fabio Biondi offers all seven of the Assaggi by now-little-known Swedish composer Johan Helmrich Roman (1694-1758). These pieces prove to be fascinating little multi-movement fantasias (“assaggio” means a kind of tryout and is also Italian for “taste,” here indicating a taste of this-and-that in the compositional elements). In three or four movements, each of Roman’s pieces is a stylistic mixture – that is, providing a taste of traditional Baroque polyphony, a bit of melodic inventiveness, and a certain level of harmonic experimentation; all in all, a thoroughly appealing combination. Most of the movements of the Assaggi do not have tempo indications, only numbers, but Biondi seems to feel the underlying pulse of every element of these works perfectly. Roman was acquainted with and influenced by many of the great composers and performers of his time, including Tartini, Handel, Pisendel and Telemann, and the Assaggi from time to time display his familiarity with his contemporaries’ work. Yet Roman’s style is entirely his own and is often highly creative, as in the clever runs in the first movement of the G minor Assaggio catalogued as BeRI 320, and the same work’s brightly bouncy and very short finale; the effective double-stopping in the first movement of the B minor Assaggio, BeRI 324; the dancelike conclusion of the D minor Assaggio, BeRI 311, which features a series of wide leaps; the double-stopping in the second movement of the A major Assaggio, BeRI 301, one of only two of these works in a major key; and elsewhere. Biondi plays the pieces with considerable verve and a firm understanding of period style, and the music is so unceasingly attractive that it is difficult to understand why Roman now languishes in obscurity – perhaps this excellent disc will help lift him from it.

     The violin appears in thoroughly modern guise on a new AVIE disc featuring two works by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks (born 1946), with a piece by Schubert rather incongruously sandwiched between them. The main attraction here is the world première recording of Violin Concerto No. 2, "Vakara gaismā" (“In Evening Light”), a companion piece of sorts to “Distant Light,” the violin concerto that Vasks composed in 1996-97. The new work features the sweeping emotion and aural beauty that characterize many pieces by Vasks, who has a distinctly Romantic temperament even when he employs post-Romantic harmonies and sound characteristics. Each of the concerto’s three movements has a tempo modifier that emphasizes the sweep and warmth that Vasks seeks in the music: con passione in the first movement, cantabile in the second, con amore in the last. There is something pleasantly old-fashioned and salutary in hearing a piece so unashamedly packed with emotional content that, however, never sounds like overwrought film music or an attempt to force the audience into visceral response. Indeed, the music is contemplative rather than emotionally insistent, reflecting its crepuscular title very well: everything is muted and shadowed but not actually dark, and the violin’s meanderings extend the beauty of the orchestral parts to very fine effect. If there is a weakness here, it is a kind of monochromatic insistence: although there are subtle distinctions in mood throughout the concerto, they are subtle, and the piece as a whole offers little in the way of relief or contrast – certainly no exuberance. Perhaps this is why it is followed on the disc by Schubert’s Rondeau brillant in B minor, originally for violin and piano and here arranged by Paul Suits for violin and strings. After the quiet not-quite-gloom of the Vasks concerto, which requires Sebastian Bohren to keep his emotions firmly in check, the Schubert allows – in fact, requires – that they be put fully on display, and the result is a dazzling contrast to Vasks’ quiet thoughtfulness. But then the Schubert ends and the moodiness of Vasks returns, this time in Vientuļais eņģelis, which Vasks labels “Meditation for violin and string orchestra.” A quieter and sadder piece than In Evening Light, this work is supposed to reflect an angel grieving from above at the cruelties that humans visit upon each other. It is an extended, melancholic Adagio in which the solo violin accentuates and expands upon the sound laid down by the string ensemble. This is very effective in small doses, but somewhat too spun-out at almost 14 minutes, although there is an attempt later in the piece to produce a feeling of comfort, as if the angel is helping heal humanity’s self-inflicted wounds. The CD as a whole is very well-played and certainly shows Vasks’ compositional strengths to good advantage. Listeners already familiar with the composer, and especially with his earlier concerto for violin, will find this a (++++) release that complements other recordings of his music very well. For a more-general audience, though, the sameness of mood through most of the disc, although not at the repetitive level of many minimalist compositions, makes it difficult to sustain front-of-mind interest in the music throughout and results in this being a (+++) offering that may serve more as background music than composer and performers would wish.