Choral & Song
Louis Andriessen
The only one
Nora Fischer (soprano); Los Angeles Philharmonic/Esa-Pekka Salonen
Nonesuch 7559791733 19:35 mins
Following the awful news in December 2020 of Louis Andriessen’s dementia, it’s plain that The only one is among the final works of this brilliantly influential composer. There’s no sense of waning powers nor any loss of iconoclastic spirit in its unnervingly surreal 20-some minutes. Composed in 2018 for the genre-straddling vocalist Nora Fischer, it’s effectively operetta-cum-cabaret disguised as an orchestral song cycle.
Five autobiographical poems by Delphine Lecompte are set in English translation. Each grapples with profound alienation encountered in everyday banalities of life routines, ageing and lust, couched in alternating glib detachment and abrasive, sometimes harrowing, intimacy. The anti-narrative is perfect for Andriessen who, true to form, eschews conventional ensemble for one with few strings but added saxophones and electric guitars.
Juxtaposing a slew of styles from motoric post-minimalism and nonchalant pop ditty to Viennese waltz – and even a hint of Symphonie fantastique in the second orchestral interlude – it’s a vivid soundworld, performed with postmodern cool by Fischer and the Los Angeles Philharmonic under conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. Steph Power
PERFORMANCE ★★★★
RECORDING ★★★★
Beethoven
Missa solemnis
Polina Pastirchak (soprano), Sophie Harmsen (mezzo-soprano), Steve Davislim (tenor), Johannes Weisser (baritone); RIAS Kammerchor; Freiburger Barockorchester/René Jacobs
As René Jacobs says in an interesting interview that occupies the bulk of the CD booklet, the is laden with musical symbolism. It’s true that perhaps no work of Beethoven demands more from the listener in terms of unravelling its mysteries. Jacobs penetrates to the heart of the music with his customary insightin the last bar of the Gloria when it clearly needs to end with a shout of joy? And why take the ‘in gloria Dei patris’ fugue so fast as to deny it the Handelian weight Beethoven wanted? But elsewhere Jacobs is superb not only at communicating the music’s visceral excitement, but also at plumbing its emotional depths – not least in his deeply moving account of the Miserere.
