Timo Andres: Home StretchNonesuch
Not a composer you’d want to take too seriously, Andres spends much of this album messing up a Mozart concerto. The rest consists of two original compositions for keyboard and orchestra – one of them a nostalgic sort of homeward bound piece that provides the title track and the other a languid, rather envious paraphrase on themes of Brian Eno.But it’s Mozart that’s the meat of the album. Andres takes on the so-called Coronation Concerto and subjects it to random deconstruction, bending a theme way out of tune or so far off line that it becomes a completely different subject. These are clever little mind games and, for the first few bends, you will smile and go along with his fancy.But the joke wears out before the concerto does and I’m not sure it bears repetition. Andres, raised in rural Connecticut, has formidable fingers and a quirky mind that bears some comparison to the early Thomas Ades. But the dominant voices on this album belong to others. His own, at the moment, is frustratingly shy.Three symphoniesMendelssohn: Italian, ScottishGlossaWhy is the Orchestra of the 18th Century, conductor Franz Brüggen, playing music by Felix Mendelssohn, who was born in 1809 and looked resolutely into the future. This is early music correctness gone off the scale. The playing is decent, but would sound much better on 19th century instruments.Elgar: 2nd symphonyBisWhy is the Stockholm Philharmonic playing the less tractable of Elgar’s symphonies? Because its conductor, Sakari Oramo, fell in love with the piece while working in Birmingham and wants to teach it to the world. The performance is supple to the point of slickness and very appealing in the first two movements. It loses wit in the Rondo, but the finale has swagger and the sound quality is outstanding. Stockholm is fast becoming a musical destination.Bruckner: 6th symphonyAtmaYannick Nézet-Séguin made his claim to world attention with Bruckner 7,8 and 9, performed by Montreal’s Metropolitain orchestra. The sound texture in the sixth is less appealing and the ceremonial aspects of Bruckner’s music are allowed to overwhelm dramatic coherence. Refer to Klemperer for a recording that leaves no doubts.___Norman Lebrecht is a regular presenter on BBC Radio 3 and a contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and other publications. He has written 12 books about music, the most recent being Why Mahler? He hosts the blog Slipped Disc.
