Music Therapy

“Art thou troubled? Music shall calm thee” said an aria by Handel from Rodelinda, sung in English by Kathleen Ferrier on a 78 rpm record of my long-distant youth.

Well, up to a point. Depends on the music. Feeling a bit troubled of late, I turned to Schubert (fourth symphony) and Brahms (second symphony) and felt even more troubled. Luckily, to calm me, I did not turn to Shostakovich, Prokofiev or Rachmaninov. Instead, I alighted on Handel sung by Véronique Gens and all my troubles and cares vanished. One can generalise; but the music of the 18^th century is usually a lot more calming than the troubled music of much of the 19^th century, not to mention the stress and turmoil of the 20^th. As if Véronique Gens were not enough, I then alighted on the wonderful Simone Kermes singing Handel, with a band conducted by the late highly-lamented Alan Curtis.

“Art thou troubled? Handel shall calm thee”. Handel's (or Mozart's) music should be freely available in any national health therapy programme.

Beethoven Re-visited

In my young years, I somewhat overdosed on Beethoven symphonies, particularly the 3^rd, 5^th, 6^th and 7^th. As a result, I rarely turn to them now, though yesterday I took out the 7^th symphony for an airing. The conductor was Otto Klemperer, and the orchestra in 1960 the Philharmonia. The sound is still excellent for its time. Klemperer is my Beethoven conductor; his somewhat grim character seems to chime well with the temperamental Beethoven. With Klemperer you get a first-rate sense of form and balance, you hear all the parts of the music, you get a conductor immersed in the music rather than in self-promotion. With the Philharmonia in 1960 you get fine orchestral playing, though without the distinctive sound of that era in Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Leningrad or Philadelphia.

In my peak Beethoven years in the 1950s, it was Karajan, Furtwängler and Toscanini who led the field. Furtwängler and Toscanini never made it into the stereo era, when recorded orchestral sound really became a lot better. Karajan was always a bit too concerned with Karajan and beautiful sound for my liking, and frantic Italian Toscanini much too concerned with being Toscanini, the fastest conductor on Earth. So for the Beethoven symphonies I am happy with my EMI Klemperer box, apart from the 9^th symphony for which one needs Furtwängler.

Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien in Brahms

Alina Ibragimova. Arabella Steinbacher. Tianwa Yang. Vilde Frang. Ning Feng. Janine Jansen. Sueye Park. Nazrin Rashidova. Renaud Capuçon. Simone Lamsma. Julia Fischer. Patricia Kopatchinskaja. Lisa Batiashvili. James Ehnes. Akiko Suwanai. Katrin Scholz . . . . The list of eminent violinists of the younger generation goes on and on, heavily oriented nowadays to young women.

For very many works with violin, Alina Ibragimova and Lisa Batiashvili are usually among my top three, four or five for choice of recording. I have been faithful to both for going on a couple of decades now, and they have rarely disappointed (apart from Ibragimova in Bach's works for violin and orchestra, where she has always been let down in recordings by the choice of accompanying band). A gift from a friend of Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien playing the three violin and piano sonatas of Brahms gives me an opportunity for a quick re-appraisal of Ibragimova, and her favourite duo partner.

She reminds me of Arthur Grumiaux who, for his recordings of 50 or 60 years ago, is always an excellent choice for any of the German classics, or the Franco-Belgian repertoire. Like Grumiaux, Ibragimova is a sensitive musician who sees the artist as a medium for the music, rather than the music as a vehicle to showcase the player. Her violin, a Bellosio of circa 1775, suits her playing like a glove. Her partnership with Tiberghien is as sympathetic as was the partnership of Grumiaux and Clara Haskil. The tempi adopted by Ibragimova and Tiberghien in the Brahms sonatas are entirely uncontroversial. We sit back and enjoy the music, and the playing. Like Grumiaux, Ibragimova appears to play almost everything but, like Grumiaux, I note her especially for her playing of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and the Franco-Belgian repertoire. I have scores of recordings of the three Brahms violin and piano sonatas, but this new one from Ibragimova and Tiberghien goes straight into the top four or five.

David Fray plays Bach

I first heard the piano playing of David Fray a couple of months ago when he played the keyboard part to Renaud Capuçon's rendition of some of Bach's sonatas for violin and keyboard. I loved the CD, but also remarked highly favourably on Fray's playing of the keyboard parts. I therefore snapped up a new (recorded 2012) CD where Fray plays Bach's second and sixth keyboard partitas, plus the C minor Toccata BWV 911.

This is my kind of Bach playing. Fray brings out Bach's counterpoint and part-writing with real professional talent. The sound is bright; the rhythms are pointed, the tempi are well chosen. More !