Tchaikovky: Symphony No. 4/Leshnoff: Double Concerto
Michael Rusinek, clarinet.  Nancy Goeres, bassoon.
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck
Reference FR-738
Total Time:  63:12
Recording:   (*)***/****
Performance: ****/****

Manfred Honeck pairs a world premiere modern concerto with one of the great classical war horses on this new “Fresh!” live release from Reference Recordings.  As the orchestra’s music director over the past decade, Honeck has continued to raise the orchestra’s profile with often invigorating explorations of classic literature and expansions to the groups repertoire.  Their series of highly-acclaimed releases continues here in amazing Super 5.0 Stereo realization.  The Tchaikovsky was actually recorded in 2016 and is the last of the three later symphonies to appear in the orchestra’s recent releases.

Tchaikovsky’s later symphonies are among his most-performed and popular works.  The fourth (composed over 1877-1878) in particular holds fascination for its motivic development and intensity that seem to expand upon Beethoven’s own exploration of fate and destiny.  This is the third of the symphonies to make it to disc with Honeck and the PSO.  A quick glance at the overall timings for each of the movements suggests a rather traditional performance with just a slight more time taken in parts of the second movement.  What is most striking about the performance, and which is apparent from the opening bars, is the extreme care that is being taken to the shaping of themes.  One can hear parallel articulations across the sections of the orchestra.  Honeck also makes a lot more out of the sudden shifts in dynamics which can make those moments doubly exciting.  The wind playing throughout the symphony is quite exquisite as a result and that sinuous oboe melody in the second movement moves forward without too much pathos.  This allows some of the yearning to grow more as the movement proceeds.  Brass also are on great display here, especially in the powerful opening and conclusion.  The strings do well, but seem a bit lower in the sound picture, sometimes being overwhelmed by other parts of the orchestra.  This is particularly the case in the opening movement.  The second movement also seems to have some sense of balance adjustment that is not distracting (and might be a result of the 5.0 imaging).  Throughout the bass end seems particularly boom-y at times.  The scherzo really lets the strings shine with the pizzicato playfulness casting itself nicely in the outer sections and a light, trio section.  The finale brings us back to those large monolithic brass blocks of sound and crisp, shots that balance against the lyrical contrasts.  There is solid, controlled energy to get us to the exciting conclusion and Honeck lets the music play for itself without adding any additional, artificial urgency.  This makes the final minutes quite satisfying.  (There is just a brief moment, where it feels like the orchestra was getting a bit over-excited and Honeck manage to pull them back).  That makes those final moments really exciting.  Personal favorites of this symphony include Montreux’s classic Boston set, and Gergiev’s Vienna series (also a live recording).  The latter has a bit more passion (though arguably the bassoon solo in Honeck’s recording in the second movement could not be more emotionally plaintive).  Honeck’s is not a “careful” rendition, but a rather deeply thought out interpretation that draws out Tchaikovsky’s emotional core and creates a consistent performance approach across the orchestra.  In that respect, it is certainly a wonderful performance that is worth exploration and the solo work throughout is really worth the price of admission here.

The album is paired with a new work by Jonathan Leshnoff (b. 1973) commissioned by the orchestra and premiered in June 2019 (when the recording was made).  A collection of his orchestral music appeared last year on the Naxos label exploring his lyrical orchestral music with its always engaging thematic ideas.  Leshnoff’s music is a link to the great Neo-Romanticists of the 20^th Century (Creston, Diamond, Harris).  In this new work, he pairs clarinet with bassoon for a rather fascinating exploration of the double concerto genre.  The work is cast in three movements.  The first movement begins with long, descending string lines that shift into the bassoon’s upper, songful register.  The clarinet then enters to twine itself around this idea with some stunningly beautiful, romantic harmonic backgrounds.  A brief off-kilter waltz follows with a delightful lower bassoon staccato line to open and a nice lyrical clarinet commentary to provide a contrast.  It features a delightful section for solo bassoon accompanied with the orchestra’s bassoons as well.  The final movement brings us a more energetic dash that brings the soloists into more dialogue with the larger orchestra in a more traditional fashion, kicked off with a brass chord before the perpetual motion lets the soloists display their technique.  Leshnoff’s music is always quite engaging and the interaction between the soloists here helps create a lot of delightful interplay.  The accessible harmonic style also invites the listener in with its almost cinematic qualities.  Bassoonist Nancy Goeres and clarinetist Michael Rusinek are quite superb interpreters of the work.  They seem more forward in the sound picture and imaged on either side to create a somewhat realistic spatial feel though sometimes they get shifted more to the center.

This is an overall an excellent release.  Really, one should pick this up for Leshnoff’s delightful concerto.  The Tchaikovsky is obviously what will grab the attention of the casual listener at first, but what a great way to introduce a new work to a broader audience.  Of course, it is second on the album so it might not get that first listen it might otherwise have.  It is also rather odd that neither soloist is listed anywhere on the cover or really anywhere.  One sort of discovers by leafing through the booklet who they are and there is a little Q and A section there.  Notes for the Tchaikovsky are fine and a nice overview of this more familiar work.  Whether one is attracted to this release for either repertoire, there will be much to enjoy in both cases.

Windswept: Modern Chamber Music for Winds
Arcadian Winds: Vanessa Holroyd, flute/alto flute. Jennifer Slowick, oboe/English horn.
Mark Miller, clarinet. and Rane Moore, clarinet/bass clarinet. Janet Underhill, bassoon/contrabassoon. Clark Matthews, horn;
Yhasmin Valenzuela, clarinet. Pedroia String Quartet
Navona Records 6245
Total Time:  45:24
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

For their latest Navona release, the Boston-based Arcadian Winds have selected five new works that explore the full range of music for traditional, and on occasion, somewhat modified woodwind quintet.

Jan Jarvlepp’s Woodwind Quintet has a somewhat unassuming title, but each of the three movements gives the listener a little more to listen for with more descriptive titles.  The piece was commissioned for the Bel Canto Quintet in Ottawa by the CBC and premiered in 1995.  “Rollercoaster” uses a blend of pop rhythms with the concept of klangfarbenmelodie whereby the “melody” is more about sound color and texture as it were.  The central movement, “Solitude”, has a relaxed, but darker tone which is enhanced by the use of alto flute and English horn as well as assigning primary material to the bassoon, exploring some of its higher register.  “Pyrotechnics” creates swirling scales while also continuing the early tone color and textural explorations of the opening.  This time though, Jarvlepp picks jazz-like rhythmic ideas to put the players through their paces.  Lest one be concerned about the somewhat “cerebral” explanations here, rest assured that this is a quite tonal exploration of music whose leaps about the wind texture create a rather witty piece that has a great engaging flow.

The remaining works on the album are single-movement affairs.  First is an exploration of darker wind colors in Ferdinando Desena’s Sonourous Earth.  Only the traditional French horn is retained while the rest of the instruments are on the darker side: alto flute, English Horn, contrabassoon, and bass clarinet.  Desena’s lyrical writing is coupled with some slight dissonance as he deconstructs his primary lines and reapplies it in the different instrumental colors.  The music’s dramatic shape is quite engaging, and perhaps a bit reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann’s odder scoring styles for television.

From exploring darker colors melded together we move on to David MacDonald’s Stumpery.  The work is inspired by tree roots as the different instrumental voices are entwined about and spread out with intriguing results as close intervals come together only to move outwards again across the ensemble.

Dirge and Second Line by Craig Peaslee is inspired by New Orleans funeral processions.  The music has a somewhat improvisational feel within the traditional woodwind quintet.  After a somewhat appropriately somber start, the music begins its jazzier celebratory feel with swinging lines and fun syncopations in an almost raucous revel, including some handclapping.

The final piece on the album is a set of Variations on a Commoner Theme, No. 1.  Kenneth A. Kuhn’s work serves as a sort of comic palette cleanser and encore as a serious, simple idea appears only to go through a variety of permutations that embody the banality of the actual theme before it asserts itself for a fun and joyous finale.

Windswept is an excellent collection of new works for woodwind quintet.  The Arcadian players get to show off their technical virtuosity in these works as well as their ability to shape phrases and blend their sounds together.  The pieces tend to move from the more accessible to more intense and then back out again for a pleasant enough program worth exploring by any devotees of wind chamber music.