Talk about religious experiences; well, you'll have one when you hear this disc! The great French composer Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937) was organist at the Church of Saint Sulpice in Paris, France from 1870 until his retirement in 1934. In 1878 he decided to write something that would fill the vast spaces as well as compliment the phenomenal acoustics of this magnificent edifice.

The outcome was a mass scored for two choirs and both of the church's organs (grand and choir), which were the work of Aristide Cavaille-Coll, who was one of the greatest organ builders of all time. His instruments have such a refreshing clarity, articulateness and piquancy that they can make others sound like ranks of tuned jugs instead of pipes.

But returning to the mass, in Widor's day it would have been incorporated into a complete liturgical service, and that's what's been recreated on this spectacular sounding hybrid, CD(2)/SACD(2/5.0), release.

The disc begins with the tolling of call-to-service bells and then, as Widor would have done, the organist here, Daniel Roth, improvises a stately prelude on the grand organ. This is followed by the towering kyrie and euphoric gloria sections of the mass. Better nail your speakers down, because the sound of megalithic chords reverberating through those immense hallowed spaces might just rearrange them. In any case it will certainly make your hair stand on end!

Next there's an airy, offertorial improvisation by Roth prefacing a truly lovely Ave Maria by Philippe Bellenot, who was Widor's trusted assistant at Saint Sulpice for more than fifty years. Then a more subdued, but very moving sanctus and benedictus, each followed by improvisations, lead into a heavenly agnus dei, which concludes the mass.

The service then continues with more music by Bellenot as well as Louis Lefebure-Wely, who was organist at this church before Charles-Marie, and ends with another, absolutely radiant piece by Widor, Quam dilecta.

Note that there is a Roth improvisation between each of these selections. The one for the postlude is so sonically stupendous that it just might tweak any local seismometers! Beware of flying voice coils and make sure your speakers are still well secured, because you’ll immediately want to play this fabulous disc all over again! (Y060507)

-- Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found (CLOFO.com)

This is one of the best Franz Lehar (1870-1948) releases to appear in a long time. By leaving out the dialogue, which is frequently of little consequence in operettas, CPO has managed to get all three acts onto one disc.

Originally composed in 1914 and known as Endlich allein, Lehar extensively revised it, and it was reborn as Schon ist die Welt in 1930. It's a lighthearted tale about an imaginary European princess who much to her family's chagrin rejects their marriage plans for her. Then, by accident, she meets and falls in love with the very prince they'd chosen to be her husband. All this happens somewhere in the Swiss Alps where she's gone on tour with a mountain guide, who is the prince in disguise.

To paraphrase the rather awkwardly translated English version of the album notes -- CPO, this isn't the only instance of this! -- the plot involves the highest of society on the loftiest of peaks. In fact the great love scene in act two takes place on some ideally beautiful, mountain plateau. If one were to consider Lehar the Richard Wagner of operetta, then this would be his Tristan und Isolde.

Maybe that's stretching things a bit, but the music, particularly for the second act, certainly ranks with Lehar's best. Interestingly enough he left this part of the operetta practically unchanged in 1930, which is not surprising considering that even in 1914 it had the reputation of containing striking, highly colorful orchestral effects. This is what prompted two other great Austrian composers, Franz Schreker and Joseph Marx, to see it. And, when you hear it, you'll understand why they couldn't have been disappointed!

It's worth getting this disc for the concluding "rumba-aria" alone. It's very much in the spirit of those French operetta numbers that Susan Graham sang on her highly acclaimed disc of a few years back. In fact the very first one, C'est ca la vie from Moises Simons' Toi c'est moi dating from 1934, is just such an aria. Do you suppose Simons knew Lehar's?

The tenor role of the prince was written for the great Richard Tauber. While Zoran Todorovic, who sings it here, may not be quite his equal, you'll find he gives a convincing performance. Soprano Elena Mosuc is cast as the princess and perfectly suited to the part. The support provided by the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Munich Radio Orchestra under conductor Ulf Schirmer is very much in the great Viennese operetta tradition, and the sound is superb.

Schmaltz and schlagobers, yes, but you'll love it! Be advised that over the past couple of years CPO has released a number of other, delightful Lehar oddities that are equally well worth your attention. (P060506)

-- Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found (CLOFO.com)

Inspired by the life and times of the great Dutch painter Jan Vermeer (1632-1675), this is like no other opera you've ever heard, and several of us have found it absolutely spellbinding! With an English libretto by British film writer-director Peter Greenaway and set to the music of Netherlands composer Louis Andriessen (b 1939), it's a multimedia event. It involves not only singers, but cinematic presentations on several screens, brief electronic music inserts (more like sound effects) and stage actions requiring numerous extras.

Modeled after American composer John Cage's "Six Melodies," it's in an equal number of scenes and takes place at the painter's home in Delft. There are only three main soloists (two sopranos and a mezzo) in the roles of his wife, model and mother-in-law. It's their letters to the artist, who's away on a trip for the entire opera, which constitute the subject matter for this highly original creation. There are also two child soloists and a small female chorus who introduce and elaborate on these missives.

The stage action involving the singers is basically static, but the events surrounding them are quite horrific and based on historical fact. For the purposes of this recording they are alluded to through the use of short, very clever, electronic "sontages." These include: a massive explosion involving gunpowder that was stored in the city; civil unrest in the form of street fights between Protestants and Catholics; the ghastly murder of two political figures; and, finally a devastating flood brought about by the Dutch themselves as they attempt to thwart an invasion by the French. The opera ends when everything is swept away by this last calamity.

Several of us find this Andriessen's best music yet. While it's definitely contemporary and challenging, there's a listener friendly aspect to it probably directly attributable to the exclusive use of female and children's voices as well as the inclusion of several, brilliantly written, orchestral interludes. One in the fifth scene is a very catchy recreation of a Renaissance dance sequence that would have had Tielman Susato cutting a rug.

On that note, the scoring is very inventive and involves the use of more strings than is usually the case with this composer, plus some highly colorful instrumentation that even includes a cimbalom (shades of Igor Stravinsky's "Renard"). Oddly enough, every now and then there's some double-reed scoring reminiscent of Thomas Newman's highly individual title music for the former HBO series Six Feet Under. Also, there's a haunting idee fixe that runs through the whole work in the form of periodic references to an old German song from the 1500s, Mein junges Leben hat ein End. Many will recognize this as the basis for that celebrated set of variations by the same name from another Dutch composer, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621).

As documented in the album notes, there are a multitude of other thematic quotations and structural intricacies also present that will appeal to perspicacious listeners.

The singing is superb and the orchestral accompaniment ideal, as is the recorded sound.

Those liking this should definitely investigate some of Andriessen's other operas on the Nonesuch label. (P060505)

-- Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found (CLOFO.com)

Here's another winning disc from BIS of Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) rarities, which include five world premiere recordings (*).

The program begins with an overture and a Scene de ballet, which were written while the composer was a student of Karl Goldmark and Robert Fuchs in Vienna. They were originally conceived as the first two movements of a symphony that was never completed. The former is a highly energetic piece with so much forward momentum that it literally sweeps the listener along. Finnish folk music influences are rife and it will remind many of the Karelia Overture and Suite that would appear two years later.

Scene... is a more exotic sounding affair and in some places anticipates Claude Debussy's Images and even Jacques Ibert's Escales.

With the exception of a brief, delightful dance interlude entitled Pan and Echo, from here on the disc is entirely devoted to works for voice and orchestra. The first of these for bass-baritone is an arrangement that Sibelius made just before he died of Kullervo's Lament (*) from the third movement of Kullervo.

Two songs for baritone, Serenade and In the Night (*), follow. Both are lovely, nocturnal reveries in pastoral settings.

Next there are two, quite different versions of Impromptu for women's chorus. It's a kind of Hellenic paean to youth and the spirit of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky seems to waft through the first version (*). The second, written eight years later, is a unique Sibelius creation.

Then come three songs for soprano. The melody for Autumn Evening may sound familiar, but many will find this rendition (*), which is accompanied only by strings, has a black-and-white starkness that makes it much more affecting than the one with full orchestra. Duke Magnus (*) is a delightful little ditty about an encounter between a mortal and a water-nymph. Luonnotar is a haunting work that's somewhere between a song and a tone poem. It may remind you of the symphonic fantasy Pohjola's Daughter.

The concert comes to a rousing conclusion with Vainamoinen's Song, which is a "cantatetta," if you will, for mixed chorus and orchestra. It's a stirring, nationalistically inspired work, which will leave you highly disposed towards things Finnish.

The soloists are all superb and Osmo Vanska and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra couldn't be in better form.

The BIS boys have really outdone themselves with this demonstration quality release of some little-known, but truly great music.

Make sure you check out the other recent releases in their continuing Sibelius series. (Y060504)

-- Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found (CLOFO.com)

This performance of Carl Nielsen's second symphony absolutely sweeps the competition away, and that of the fourth is no slouch either! Both feature the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with the former symphony, subtitled "The Four Temperaments," conducted by Morton Gould and the latter, known as "The Inextinguishable," under the baton of Jean Martinon.

Those of us who remember the old RCA LP of this second have for years been anxiously anticipating its release on CD. Rumor had it that some sort of litigation was preventing this; but, finally here it is, and you'll find it was well worth the wait. Most think of Gould as a composer, but he was also a very gifted conductor, as you'll discover when you hear this disc. In fact, prior to this recording many considered Nielsen's second was kind of a yawner. But Gould changed all that by making its four movements the musical epitome of their markings, which are "choleric," "phlegmatic," "melancholic" and "sanguine." If there was ever a temperamental performance, this is it!

While the second concerns itself with human dispositions, the fourth symphony attempts to express in musical terms the irrepressibility of Mother Nature. Observant listeners will note a thematic link between the two in the form of a brief, Nielsenesque motif in the last movement of the second [track-4, beginning at 01:10] that appears in slightly modified form at the beginning of the fourth [track-5, beginning 1:05].

Like its predecessor, it's also in four movements, but they're played without a break. The work concludes with one of the most spectacular passages in all of symphonic music where two timpanists, placed to the left and right for this recording, try to outdo each other in a battle of thunderous proportions. Carl must have had a thing for drums, because in the first part of his next symphony (the fifth), while there are no dueling timpani, he instructs the side-drum to improvise "as if at all costs to stop the progress of the orchestra."

The concert concludes with a magnificent rendition of his Helios Overture and a tiny, ethereal excerpt entitled The Fog is Lifting from the incidental music he wrote for Helge Rode's drama The Mother.

If you're looking for another, different take on the human condition, check out Paul Hindemith's The Four Temperaments, which is in the form of a theme and variations for piano and orchestra.

And speaking of nature, if you're in the mood for an even greater in-your-face experience, try "Hekla" by Icelandic composer Jon Leifs. Requiring twenty-two percussionists, it recreates a volcanic eruption and is said to have the widest dynamic range of any classical work. After that, you'll probably want to take an aspirin; but, please don't call us in the morning! (P060503)

-- Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found (CLOFO.com)

Back in the 1950s this music by Austrian born Hans Gal (1890-1987) would probably have been considered old fashioned, but today's broader minded audiences will find it most appealing. Of late romantic persuasion, it's very much a summing up of what's come before.

Dating from 1916, the first of his four string quartets is an extremely well-written work. While the first movement recalls Franz Schubert in places, there's a degree of chromaticism that puts it in the company of chamber music by some of his other countrymen such as Josef Labor, Walter Rabl, Franz Schmidt and Joseph Marx.

The fourth is much more harmonically advanced, which is not surprising when you consider that it was written sixty years later. While its four movements are quite disparate in mood, Gal achieves an amazing sense of unity between them by the use of sophisticated development and interconnecting thematic devices. The first movement evolves into a kind of melodic lacrosse game between the four instruments. Next there's a delightfully quirky burlesque followed by a subdued elegy in which the instruments seem to be talking to one another. The fourth is a truly capricious capriccio where mercurial and lyrical elements alternate with one another.

The Improvisation, Variations and Finale on a Theme by Mozart takes as it's subject the tune for the Don's serenade Deh, vieni alla finestra from act two of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni. It begins with a deconstruction of the theme that sounds like things might be headed into twelve-tone territory, but not for long as the aria's melody emerges from these ominous beginnings. Then come seven extremely clever variations followed by a fugue, out of which the original subject materializes ending this winsome creation.

The members of the Edinburgh Quartet obviously love this music, because they give it their all, and the sound is simply superb.

"Vol I" is printed on the album cover, so let's just hope that the Meridian folks will soon release "Vol II" with the remaining two quartets. In the meantime, you're most urgently encouraged to investigate the relatively unknown, but really wonderful string quartets of another late romantic Austrian composer, Ernst Toch. (P060502)

-- Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found (CLOFO.com)

Many of us were very disappointed when the Olympia label went belly up, and along with it, plans to release the complete string quartets of Sergey Taneyev (1856-1915). Well, Hallelujah! Because that's just what the Northern Flowers folks are in the process of doing, and here's their first installment of what will eventually be five discs devoted to all nine of them.

Because of publishing peculiarities, quartets seven through nine were composed first. So, as Chico might have said to Groucho in A Day at the Races, one will get you four and four will get you seven as far as the order in which the quartets here were written. Sergei may not have been the tunesmith that some of his Russian contemporaries were, but he was a highly educated, well-traveled man whose music has an organizational integrity second to none. In fact his appraoch might be compared to that of Ludwig van Beethoven, who was possessed with achieving structural perfection in his scores, as opposed to that of someone like Franz Schubert, who was more inclined to go with the melodic flow.

Taneyev's academic associations are remarkable in that he studied with Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who was also a devoted friend, and Nikolai Rubinstein; while his students included such greats as Sergei Rachmaninov, Alexander Scriabin, Nikolai Medtner and Reinhold Gliere. He was the reigning Russian authority on counterpoint and even published a very highly regarded book on the subject. This discipline is much in evidence throughout all of his quartets.

The first one is dedicated to Tchaikovsky and certainly demonstrates what a great debt he owed his teacher. There's a much greater degree of emotionality and pathos here than is usually the case in his music; however, he can't resist closing with a wonderfully cheeky finale worthy of the father of this art form, Franz Joseph Haydn.

The fourth is a structural masterpiece when you consider that from a tiny acorn of three opening measures, there grows a great oak of four movements. This remarkable achievement shows just what a master builder Taneyev was!

You'll find the performances full of Slavic soul, and the recorded sound acceptable. A word of caution though, some listeners have reported tracking problems with this disc.

Those liking these quartets, particularly the first, should certainly investigate Tchaikovsky's. (P060501)

-- Bob McQuiston, Classical Lost and Found (CLOFO.com)