Elgar: Wand of Youth Suites
Bryden Thompson, Ulster Orchestra
Chandos
Thompson’s excellent orchestra gives these hummable tunes a tumbling child-like playfulness with rhythms that are on springs. Excellent sound has plenty of bloom.
WebTip: Chandos has reissued Thompson’s performance, adding Elgar’s “Dream Children” to the album. Barnesandnoble.com lists its contents correctly; other websites list the original release. One website incorrectly lists Thompson’s orchestra as the Bournemouth Sinfonietta (the ensemble that performs “Dream Children”).
Barber: Knoxville, Summer of 1915
Barbara Hendricks, soprano; Michael Tilson Thomas, London Symphony
EMI
Voice aficionados will choose among Dawn Upshaw’s innocence, Leontyne Price’s eloquence, and Barbara Hendricks’s “American” versus operatic style, according to their tastes—all three are excellent. I go with Hendricks because MTT’s orchestra is by far the most atmospheric, so important in this moody, melancholic work with its sudden sparks of brighter times.
Handel: Concerto Grosso, op. 6 no. 7
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Deutsche Grammophon
No. 7 is one of 12 Concertos in this 3-CD complete set of Opus 6. You’ll be hard-pressed to find the two or three dull spots out of 61 (!) movements. This is superior Handel superbly played by this New York-based ensemble that performs without a conductor. Textures and rhythms ripple in clear, warm, balanced acoustics. This is one complete set I wouldn’t hesitate to buy.
WebTip: For best search results, enter: handel concerto grosso op 6 no 7 orpheus.
Haydn: Symphony No. 100 (“Military”)
Eugen Jochum, London Philharmonic
Deutsche Grammophon or Musical Heritage Society
This recording is available only as part of a box set. The 4-CD album of Haydn’s “London Symphonies” (Nos. 93-104) is the only box set of multiple works about which I can say, “It is superb from start to finish.” Recorded in 1971-73, you’d swear Jochum had a jump on the period-instrument movement. Inner textures are crystal clear, rhythms are buoyantly upturned, tempos are bright but not rushed, and the engineering is superb. As he got older, Jochum, like Haydn, only got better (he died in 1987 at the age of 85).
WebTip: Some websites list the 4-CD box set with just the “London Symphonies”; other list a 5-CD box set that also includes Nos. 88, 91, and a second recording of No. 98.
