Arts and Humanities
12:13 pm
Mon December 31, 2012
Op-Ed: Top Album Picks from WUOL's Daniel Gilliam
Favorite classical albums for 2012:
Rhízōma, Anna Thorvaldsdottir
The expansive sounds from Thorvaldsdottir are exactly what I would imagine Iceland would sound like. Her writing is more than texture, though. There are lines and figures that appear and disappear. She has imagination, and that’s a rarity these days.
Brahms, Alessio Bax
Brahms Ballades, Op. 10, are full of longing and affection, and Bax gives us every ounce of emotion. The lyrical gives way to virtuosity and power as the album moves through the 8 Piano Pieces, Op. 76 and into the Paganini Variations. Bax can deliver both with profundity.
Poèmes, Renée Fleming
It’s hard to resist Fleming’s voice. Then she records an all-French album and I become helpless. Her first Shéhérezade is divine in the literal meaning: directly from the heavens. Two French orchestras, and Alan Gilbert and Seiji Ozawa conduct, perform some of Messiaen of Dutilleux’s most romantic music. Dim the lights and open a bottle for this album.
Baroque Conversations, David Greilsammer
Greilsammer sandwiches modern composers, like Feldman and Lachenmann, in between Baroque keyboard masters like Froberger and Rameau. While Greilsammer doesn’t reinvent the wheel by combining old and new, his choices are complementary. One of the more effective mixtures is the Frescolbaldi-Lachenmann-Sweelinck set.
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos and Shostakovich Preludes, Op. 87 (selections), Ensemble Caprice
Ensemble Caprice plays the Brandenburg Concertos with abandon and precision. The horns in the first concerto will make the hair on your neck stand on end. But it’s the arrangements of Shostakovich, arranged by Matthias Maute for the ensemble, that transport. There’s no reason this recording shouldn’t become a standard for future Brandenburg recordings.
Daniel Gilliam is the program director for 90.5 WUOL.