Northern Sinfonia, Richard Hickox - Strauss, Wagner: Symphonic Works (2005)

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Northern Sinfonia, Richard Hickox - Strauss, Wagner: Symphonic Works (2005)

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Richard Hickox was renowned primarily for his unparalleled service to British music, with a vast discography covering not just the obvious Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Delius but composers whose output seldom gets an airing in the concert hall. I make no comment on the worth of much of the music revealed to us-but if we don’t get to hear it we cannot judge at all!
Often referred to disparagingly in some critical circles as “Farmer Dick”, Hickox was a truly internationalist conductor, and he performed and recorded a great deal of music far removed from the British repertory-and with great success too!
I suppose that Wagner and Strauss were obvious choices, their relationship to the music of Elgar being so close that one would expect Hickox to be proficient in both genres-but on this collection just forget proficiency-each reading is inspired!

The recordings were made in 1995 at a time when the Northern Sinfonia-now Royal Northern Sinfonia-was under the artistic direction of Heinrich Schiff-and the technical results from the orchestra and the Couzens led Chandos recording team are dazzling!
This mid-price reissue was remastered at 24 Bits in 2005 and dazzles sonically even more!

The opening Ariadne fragments are a delight-the Opera Overture is followed by a 6 minute orchestral surprise in that in presents the Comedia dell Arte Harlequinade section from the end of Zerbinetta’s great coloratura 18 minute or so aria through to the fanfares that herald the approach of Bacchus.
In the opera this underpins a great of vocal and stage shenanigans, but as presented here “devoid of vocal distractions” by a full chamber orchestra in an expanded orchestration the full genius of Strauss is exposed in a way that has taken me aback. I would venture to suggest that this is at least the equal of either of the waltz suites Strauss confected from Rosenkavalier, and would be an ideal “guest” in the Vienna New Years Day Concert!
Hickox and the Sinfonia do it full justice.
The Duett-Concertino used to be regarded as inconsequential musical doodling by Strauss in his later years, but is now recognised for the compact masterpiece that is. It opens with one of Strauss’s most beautiful melodies, lovingly played on the clarinet here by Robert Plane and joined by the bassoon of Stephen Reay. My absolute favourite version is the COE recording conducted by Alexander Schneider with Richard Hosforth on clarinet, as I fell that there is a touch more lilt to that reading, but we are talking tissue paper thin preferences here.
If such gems were not enough, we have the Wesendonck Lieder in a chamber orchestration by Hans Werner Henze. The songs emerge as entirely different works from the familiar Mottl orchestration, but in so many respects are truer to Wagner! There need be no fear of any eccentric modern dissonances-in fact direct references to Rheingold, Walkure and Tannhauser emerge in the wonderfully transparent scoring. Nor does the orchestration sound underweight-if anything the Mottl now sounds a bit bloated!
The songs are delivered with exquisite tone, assuredness and intelligence by Jard van Nes in glorious voice, and Hickox is impeccable on the podium. I have to say that this version is now my default choice for the songs!

The Siegfried Idyll is magnificent-as fine a version as can be found in the catalogue and I include the likes of Karajan and Maazel in my comparison list!

A final delight is Wagner’s own arrangement of Träume for solo violin and orchestra, with Lesley Hatfield, now Leader of the BBC Welsh National Orchestra delivering a beautifully tender and sensitive performance.
The price is minimal, the artistry superb, the pleasure derived immense and the satisfaction limitless!

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Northern Sinfonia, Richard Hickox - Strauss, Wagner: Symphonic Works (2005)

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