high-point of Kabalevsky’s piano composi- teacher in Vienna. The alternation between the tions. It is overtly virtuosic, and I hear the two styles of writing in both masses is delight- ghost of Horowitz in almost every bar. Were it ful. not for the exceptionally good modern sonics, LOEWEN it would be easy for a listener to mistake Dossin for the departed legend. Not to say that KESSNER: Clarinet & Guitar Dances; this is simply a good pianist copying an old see BRAHMS one. Dossin surely has spent some time listen- ing to the older recording, and certainly has KHACHATURIAN: Concerto-Rhapsody; been influenced by it, but it is his own inter- Violin Concerto pretation, and quite worthy of comparison. Nicolas Koeckert, v; Royal Philharmonic/ The last sonata is a little bittersweet and Jose Serebrier easily the best recording I have heard of it. The Naxos 570988—64 minutes sonatinas make this a very generous and com- The Concerto-Rhapsody is one of the most plete collection. Anyone fond of the Russian boring pieces I’ve heard in ages; it lacks the piano works of the 20th Century should listen melodic invention, charm, or brilliance of the to this. It will favorably alter any feelings you violin concerto. Nicolas Koeckert plays it well, might have towards Kabalevsky and give you a but it doesn’t help. chance to hear a terrific young pianist. The violin concerto is a solid performance; HARRINGTON recorded sound is good. I like this better than the Leonid Kogan recording with Pierre Mon- KASTALSKY: Brotherly Prayer for the Dead; teux and the Boston Symphony (RCA 63708, see GLAZOUNOV Jan/Feb 2001); Kogan is too matter-of-fact for me. Koeckert uses the original cadenza in I; I KERLL: Non Sine Quare & prefer the Oistrakh cadenza—maybe it’s Renovationis Masses because I cut my teeth on it. II goes slack in Dresden Boychoir/ Matthias Jung this recording, and Koeckert overdoes the Cantate 58031—51 minutes crescendos on the longer notes in III, trying to Johann Caspar Kerll (1626-93) is best known be expressive. today as a composer of music for keyboard This is better than the older Naxos record- instruments, but in his own time his reputa-Sig05arg.qxding with 7/28/2009Mihaela Martin 8:32 (555919, PM Page May/June 130 tion was based heavily on his masses. Kerll’s 2004); I remember it as very dull. David Ois- acclaim stems from his talent for the Concerta- trakh’s 1965 stereo recording with the compos- ta style of composition, an aspect of the stile er conducting is one of the first records I ever moderno that combined basso-continuo bought, and it remains my favorite. It appears accompanied voices with obbligato instru- to be deleted; used copies can be found online mental parts and a further group of ripieni for a hefty price. This Koeckert recording is made up of chorus and instruments. So popu- good for the price. His tone and interpretation lar were his masses that Breitkopf und Härtel are generally good, and the orchestra is solid; were still publishing them in the late 18th Cen- they come barreling out the gate to stunning tury. It is interesting to discover that these effect at the beginning of III. Also, go to ostensibly “modern” works stand on the paro- www.youtube.com/user/NikolaiMadoyev to dy method of composition rooted in the stile see a video of Madoyev performing II with antico. Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra in The Non Sine Quare Mass is a parody of a 2008. Gergiev gets amazing color and detail Magnificat Kerll published earlier in a collec- from the orchestra; let’s hope that makes it to tion titled Modulatio Organico. Like Palestrina, CD. Notes in English. Victoria, and many other composers active in ESTEP the second half of the 16th Century, Kerll reworks the entire polyphonic model of the KLEIBERG: Violin Concerto; Magnificat. The blend of antiquity and moder- Double Bass Concerto Marianne Thorsen, v; Goran Sjolin, db; Trond- nity is apparent immediately in the ‘Kyrie’. heim Symphony/ Daniel Reuss Obbligato violins decorate the homophonic 2L 59 [SACD] 51 minutes introduction performed by the full chorus. The shift into unaccompanied polyphony returns Stale Kleiberg (b. 1958) is a Norwegian com- us to the stile antico. The Renovationis Mass is poser whose music has a neo-romantic flavor a parody mass twice over, as Gregor Hermann that I find most attractive. These two concertos explains in his notes. It takes its material from were written around the turn of the new centu- a parody mass Kerll had previously composed ry and are most pleasant in their blend of dra- on the madrigal ‘V’ingannate Purpensieri’ by matic and pastoral emotions. They do not Giovanni Valentini, who had been Kerll’s have the vagueness of emotional purpose that seems to pervade too much of today’s music. Ilsebill and her husband are returned to their They are evocative of emotional states that tree trunk by the lake. The libretto, supplied by open up the mind without giving that uneasy CPO, suggests that Ilsebill had delusions of ambiguity that seems to reflect the composer’s grandeur. own state of mind without letting the listener The lush, romantic score uses a huge in on what is bothering him or her. These orchestra that includes an “expanded” brass works even have enough relationship in their section, Wagner tubas, Heckelphone, baritone thematic and orchestrational elements to give flute, and a thunder machine. According to the us a feeling of, dare I say it, formal structure! notes, Klose was admired for his orchestration; One can actually recognize a theme when it one critic called it “an almost chamber music- comes around again. Wow! like treatment of the orchestra”. Except for a The performances are beautifully played few isolated passages that might be called and recorded. It will only play on my DVD chamber music, this score seems unremitting- player but sounds fine there. ly loud and then louder. It’s attractively tonal D MOORE and often diatonic, but not very original. The footprints of Wagner and Bruckner are easily KLOSE: Ilsebill discerned, and some harmonies and Sabine Türner (Ilsebill), Norbert Schmittberg sequences reminded me of similar passages in (Fisherman), Jaroslaw Sielicki (Der Wels); Lohengrin and Tannhäuser. But the vocal parts Aachen Opera/ Marcus Bosch lack melodic content (there are no arias or CPO 777057 [2CD] 136 minutes duets); nor is the music readily identifiable with the characters. Friedrich Klose (1862-1942) was a German composer in the romantic tradition whose The singers, all from the Aachen Opera, works, to judge by this opera, were greatly seem quite competent. The dramatic soprano influenced by Wagner and, particularly, by Sabine Türner sometimes sings like an Isolde Bruckner, whom he studied with in Vienna in in the making. The tenor, Norbert Schmit- 1886-9. In fact, he called Ilsebill, his master- tberg, sings very well; his part includes the piece, a Dramatic Symphony; it appears to be opera’s most lyric passages. As the big fish, his only completed opera. Klose also com- Jaroslav Sielicki’s bass is smooth and lyrical. posed chamber music, oratorios, and other Marcus Bosch, the music director in Aachen, choral works, as well as symphonic poems and evidently believes in this opera, and his con- lieder. In 1919, at the height of his career, he ducting shows energy and commitment. Ilse- stopped composing, perhaps because his bill may appeal to some lovers of long neglect- romantic music had gone out of fashion, and ed romantic operas; still, it belongs to the past retired to Switzerland where he wrote, among in both subject and musical style. other literary works, a memoir of Bruckner as a MOSES man130 and pedagogue. He died in Lugano in September/October 2009 1942. KODALY: Solo Cello Sonata; Ilsebill, or The Little Fairy Tale of a Fisher- MAYAZUMI: Bunraku; man and his Wife, was given its premiere in BACH: Chaconne Karlsruhe in 1903, conducted by Felix Mottl. It Ko Iwasaki was initially well received, but after a few per- Camerata 28134—59 minutes formances there and in several other German opera houses, it seems to have vanished. This If one sees only the spine of this release, recording, made in Aachen in 2004, appears to chances are one will not know what is inside, be its first. since it is entirely in Japanese. If one sees the The story, based on a Grimm fairy tale, front cover, one sees nothing but Bach. The deals with a fisherman and his wife Ilsebill transcription from the violin original is by the who live in a tree trunk by a lake. One day, a cellist, who is a warm but not totally accurate steatfish (wels in German), a large catfish of player. But who could be in such a violinistic Central and Eastern Europe, is caught in the piece? It reminds me of the way some double fisherman’s net. In return for its life, it promis- bass players try to master cello music. The es to fulfill all the fisherman’s wishes. When he wonder is that they try it at all! tells his wife about this, she immediately urges Moving on to something more idiomatic, him to ask the fish for a farm. When this is we begin to understand Mr Iwasaki a little bet- granted, Ilsebill asks to be made into a noble ter. He is a rich-toned and highly emotional lady, and then for a castle, and then for the cellist, not always accurate, particularly in power of the Church. All those wishes are high-register double-stops, but unfailingly granted by the fish. After blessing Crusaders, determined and powerful. He has strong com- Ilsebill, now a nun, asks for divine power. That petition in the Kodaly, and I would prefer sev- wish is not granted; instead, in the final scene, eral cellists to this deeply-felt but not very pol-