What: Dream Weaving: New Zealand Guitar Music 2 (Naxos) Rating: 4/5 Verdict: New collection of Kiwi guitar music delivers an electric sting in its tail
It's been eight years since the release of Prospero's Dreaming, Gunter Herbig's first collection of New Zealand guitar music, focusing on works by Douglas Lilburn and David Farquhar.
A second volume, Dream Weaving, continues the journey, putting Farquhar in the company of three younger composers. Farquhar (1928-2007) is still best known for his popular Ring Round the Moon but his fluent, idiomatic guitar writing shows the benefits of a composer playing the instrument for which he is writing.
Herbig obviously enjoys the sinuous stylings of a 1951 Musette together with the leaner, dramatic textures of Five Scenes from 20 years late.
Eleven Farquhar transcriptions of short piano pieces by Bela Bartok occasionally point out the difficulty of transmitting the brute force of percussive piano on six strummed strings; however, pianists could well envy Herbig's skill with sighing portamenti.
What a pleasure it is to hear a John Elmsly Suite commissioned by Herbig in 1996. This is exquisitely crafted music, revealing a master guitarist at play, whether shading in scurrying passagework or, in the third piece, teasing our ears with delicate astringencies.
The opening three tracks by Bruce Paine, one of which provides the album with its title, will probably make the most immediate impact on lovers of classical guitar but, beware; this album ends with something of a sting in its tail.
Herbig first recorded John Rimmer's Hauturu: Where the Winds Rest on acoustic guitar 10 years ago. Now this portrait of Little Barrier Island is electrified, on the same Gretsch White Falcon instrument favoured by such rock luminaries as Neil Young. Gentle winds become formidable hurricanes and, though this is an exciting and visceral listen, it may a culture shock for some, after the relatively gentle hour preceding it.
The Romantic Piano Concerto - 70
What: The Romantic Piano Concerto - 70 (Hyperion, through Ode Records) Rating: 4/5 Verdict: Women composers finally get overdue acknowledgement
After 69 volumes of Great Romantic Piano Concertos, Hyperion Records finally acknowledges that, yes Virginia, there are women composers.
The CD had its UK release in March, well timed for International Women's Day, and features works by Amy Beach, Cecile Chaminade and Dorothy Howell - all beautifully delivered by Danny Driver with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Rebecca Miller.
The major asset of the disc is a turn-of-the-century Piano Concerto in C sharp minor by the American Amy Beach (1867-1944) who, for too many years, was known by her married name, Mrs H.H.A. Beach.
This is a solid, imposing score, revealing a woman who looked to Brahms both as soulmate and fellow musical architect. Its mighty first movement is resolutely argued while the subtle rhythmic play of its scherzo makes for an ingratiating intermezzo.
Beach bore with boorish male critics in her time. Adjectives like "manful" were wheeled out for what were considered her successful moments while, in this concerto, one scribe suggested she might have benefited from "painful labour under a pedagogue".
I'm pleased to report that this exemplary performance and recording make such criticisms laughable.
Cecile Chaminade (1857-1944), best known for her delightful piano pieces and songs, is represented by an 1888 Konzertstuck. This is lighter fare and, though lacking Beach's formidable structuring, it deftly balances the elegant and exotic.
Dorothy Howell (1898-1982), after an early success with her 1918 symphonic poem Lamia, retreated into teaching at the Royal Academy of Music. Her 1923 Piano Concerto is skilfully crafted but, despite the fervent advocacy of these performers, there is nebulousness at its core that, for me, never really ignites.
Perhaps the problem is that, in a year that heralded Milhaud's La Creation du monde and Bartok's Dance Suite, romanticism had lost much of its former glow.
