{"id":40267,"date":"2016-11-28T10:30:17","date_gmt":"2016-11-28T15:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=40267"},"modified":"2016-11-28T10:34:12","modified_gmt":"2016-11-28T15:34:12","slug":"record-keeping-danse-macabre-osm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/11\/28\/record-keeping-danse-macabre-osm\/","title":{"rendered":"RECORD KEEPING | Danse Macabre Marks A Golden Age On CD For The OSM"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"DANSE
DANSE MACABRE. Saint-Sa\u00ebns: Danse Macabre. Dukas: The Sorcerer\u2019s Apprentice. Dvo\u0159\u00e1k: The Noonday Witch. Mussorgsky\u00a0Rimsky-Korsakov: Night on the Bare Mountain. Balakirev: Tamara. Ives: Hallowe\u2019en. Orchestre symphonique de Montreal\/Kent Nagano. Decca 483 0396. Total Time: 69:26.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Orchestre symphonique de Montreal\u2019s (OSM) Decca recordings enjoyed great acclaim during Charles Dutoit\u2019s tenure (1977-2002) as conductor; perhaps it can recapture its former glory under current conductor, Kent Nagano, who took over the podium in 2006. This is the OSM\u2019s second release with Decca under this new contract. The first, the rarely-heard Ibert-Honegger opera L\u2019Aiglon<\/em>, was well-received and this new CD, comprised of pieces celebrating Halloween \u2014 some very familiar warhorses as well as some novelties such as Balakirev\u2019s Tamara<\/em> and Charles Ives\u2019 brief Hallowe\u2019en<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 is first-rate in nearly every respect.<\/p>\n

Those of us who are of a certain age cannot listen to Dukas\u2019 The Sorcerer\u2019s Apprentice<\/em> without seeing Mickey Mouse as the apprentice in a cartoon version created by Walt Disney for the film Fantasia<\/em>. Here was a case where the visual realization fit the music perfectly and even enhanced it. That said, The Sorcerer\u2019s Apprentice<\/em> minus the visuals, is still vivid and exciting and Kent Nagano and his players make the most of it.<\/p>\n

Mussorgsky\u2019s A Night on the Bare Mountain, <\/em>which was also featured in Fantasia, <\/em>had some pretty frightening images. This piece, without the accompanying visuals, can be repetitive and noisy. Nagano puts it through its paces, but this purely orchestral performance is at its best in the quiet closing pages, and the solos by flutist Timothy Hutchins and clarinetist Todd Cope are wonderfully expressive.<\/p>\n

For me, the highlight of the disc is the rarely heard tone poem, Tamara,<\/em> by Mily Balakirev. Based on a poem by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (1814-1841), it tells the story of the evil Queen Tamara who lures men to her castle on the River Terek, where she seduces and ultimately murders them. A colourful and exciting piece, Nagano and the OSM play it with all the required ferocity. In fact, Kent Nagano, a conductor known for his fastidious preparation and somewhat restrained approach to a lot of repertoire, really lets the orchestra go all out in this performance, to brilliant effect.<\/p>\n

The performance of Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s The Noonday Witch<\/em>, a piece inspired by a harrowing poem by Czech writer Karel Jarom\u00edr Erben (1811-1870), is nearly as good. A mother warns her unruly child that a witch will come and get him if doesn\u2019t behave. Sure enough, the witch appears, and the horrified mother holds her child so tight she smothers him to death. Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s music tells this shocking story through a combination of folkloric melodies and dance rhythms, the charm of which is shattered by coruscating dissonance.<\/p>\n

Charles Ives brief Hallowe\u2019en<\/em> is an amusing addition to this collection of pieces. Apparently meaning to convey the \u201csense and sound of a bonfire,\u201d with children running around throwing on wood, Ives makes use of various solo string players, each performing in a different key; unfortunately, the piece barely lasts long enough to make any particular impression.<\/p>\n

These performances, which were recorded live at the Maison symphonique in Montreal in October 2015, have excellent sound quality. They could well mark the beginning of another Golden Age on CD for the OSM.<\/p>\n

For more Record Keeping see, here<\/a><\/span>.<\/h3>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

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The OSM take on the dark side with Danse Macabre, a compelling second release on the Decca label.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5723,77,5739,51,52],"tags":[4079,994,1858,4485,2542],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/11\/710VeI49tSL._SL1200_.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-att","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40267"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40267"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40270,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40267\/revisions\/40270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40267"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=40267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}