The Edge of LightHarmonia Mundi
Sometimes composers are best understood by what they do least. Neither Olivier Messiaen nor Kaija Saariaho wrote much for piano. Both use large orchestras and unconventional instruments to describe the world they inhabit. Messiaen (1908-1992) evokes wonderment at the idea of love and the glories of nature. Saariaho (born 1952) explores human intimacies. For both composers, the piano was a working tool rather than a means of expression.Or so one is led to believe. But this remarkable cache of little-known piano music connects the two composers in unexpected ways, tracing their common heritage in the impressionistic pianism of Claude Debussy. Messiaen’s Eight Préludes are an early set, written after his mother’s death in 1929. Rather than mourning his loss, he seeks meaning in a kaleidoscope of colours. His piano quintet is a three-minute valediction from the year before his death. Together, the two pieces bookend his life with the intensity of confession.Saariaho’s piano works, solo and quintet, are sandwiched between two of her operas. With titles such as ‘I unveil my skin’ and ‘Open up to me, fast’, the intent is transparent and the emotion clinical. Gloria Cheng drives the keyboard, the Calder Quartet provide energetic strings. No sworn fan of either composer, I warmed to this album on first hearing, and keep returning to it.Three cello concerto CDsMoeranNaxosErnest Moeran’s post-war concerto of 1945 is reminiscent all too frequently of Elgar’s, replacing its emotional wrench with gentle nostalgia. Guy Johnston gives a lovely, lyrical account. The filler is Moeran’s Merrie England Serenade in G. The Ulster Orchestra is conducted by JoAnn Falletta.Strauss: Don QuixoteHyperionThere hasn’t been a fresher performance in years of these ‘fantastic variations’. Alban Gerhardt is the dominant Don, Lawrence Power’s viola his Sancho Panza. Markus Stenz conducts the excellent Gurzenich Orchestra of Cologne. Till Eulenspiegel is the filler. Lovely.Bloch, Bridge, HoughBisSteven Isserlis’s attack on Bloch’s Schelomo is fiercer by half than Natalie Clein’s recent stunner, and maybe more authentic; the Kings of Israel were not softies. His account of Frank Bridge’s Oration is vigorous and eloquent. The slight let-down is the rambling third piece, Stephen Hough’s The Loneliest Wilderness. Hugh Wolf conducts the DSO Berlin.___Norman Lebrecht is a regular presenter on BBC Radio 3 and a contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and other publications. He has written 12 books about music, the most recent being Why Mahler? He hosts the blog Slipped Disc.
