Five Artists: Notable And Nearly Missed

By C. MICHAEL BAILEY
January 15, 2020
Sign in to view read count
Every year there is music that always gets away. Here are five notable
releases that were nearly missed.

Uwe Grodd / Gould Piano Trio

Beethoven Grand Symphonies * 1, Arr. Hummel for Flute, Violin, Cello
and Piano, Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 'Eroica'
Naxos Classical
2019

Piano transcriptions and symphonic reductions were very common in

the 17th Century, providing a way to disseminate music for
performances in homes and parlors. These reductions also provided a
needed revenue stream for musicians and composers otherwise
having to rely on external patronage for support. Composer and
pianist Johann Nepomuk Hummel was no exception. A student and
friend of Beethoven, Hummel reorchestrated seven of Beethoven's
nine symphonies for flute, violin, cello, and piano. These
performances are a nice accompaniment to Franz Liszt's piano
transcriptions. The flute with a piano trio provides the smallest
orchestral unit possessing the necessary tonal instruments.

The first of what promises to be multiple CD releases features

Beethoven's first and third symphonies. The performances are paced
briskly, but not harried and are delightful. One can "see" the skeleton
of Beethoven's symphonies in these reductions better than in the
piano transcriptions (that have their own charm that is altogether
different). Symphony No. 1 almost sounds pastoral, begging the
question of Symphony No. 6 will sound like. At once spare and
revealing, Symphony No. 1 reveals Beethoven's sunny Classical
sensibility in a way the full orchestra (save for the early, historically-
performed exercises) never could. Symphony No. 3 is something else
altogether, because it is not Symphony No. 3 at all, but Symphony No.
2, whose performance is quite excellent, but cannot forgive Naxo's
pornographically poor quality control.

Various Artists
Beethoven —Music for Winds -Wind Octet in E flat major, Op. 103 /
Sextet for Winds in E flat major, Op. 71
Naxos Classical
2019

Beethoven is nowhere sunnier than in his winds compositions, of

which his Octet and Sextet remain touchstones in his oeuvre.
Compositions for wind ensemble formed a regular part of 18th Century
entertainment. Beethoven's Octet in E flat major, Op. 103, was scored
for pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons and completed by
1792. The Sextet in E flat major, Op. 71, was scored for pairs of
clarinets, horns and bassoons, was written in 1796. Also included
here are the composer's March in B flat major, WoO 29, for two
clarinets, two horns and two bassoons, was written in 1797—98 and
Rondino in E flat major, WoO 25, for wind octet, was originally
intended as the finale to the Octet, composed in Bonn, before his
departure for Vienna in November 1792.

These performances are lively and animated, provided by a group of

accomplished players, with professorships at leading institutions such
as the Yale and Manhattan Schools of Music, the Juilliard School,
Adelphi University, among others. This recording, forms part of the
Naxos 90-CD box set of Beethoven's complete output that celebrates
the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth in 2020.
 Jennifer Roberts
An Evening with Jennifer Roberts
Self-Produced
2019

Jennifer Roberts is both a singer and actress with a musical theater

background and experience in television and film. Her musical theater
experience is well represented on her live recording An Evening with
Jennifer Roberts. Her liner notes reveal that this performance began
as a cabaret show that morphed into an overall project incubating over
15 years. Classically-trained as a vocalist, excelling in ballads,
Roberts and company assembled a collection from the Great
American Songbook, sprinkled with some modern fare (David
Frishberg's "Sweet Kentucky Ham," Bonnie Raitt's "Home," and Curtis
Mayfield's "People Get Ready." Directing with Roberts is pianist and
music director Tedd Firth, who's playing provides an intimate
Broadway practice session vibe. The two have fun with a mashup of
Maltby and Shire's "Travel" with Kurt Weil's "Little Gray House" giving
the recording a sunny and harried beginning. The showtunes are
treated thusly, with "I Didn't Know About You" and "Mean to Me, the
latter transformed by Roberts's practiced and informed delivery. With
pleasant surprise Roberts exercises her country chops on "Home,"
Firth's piano approaching Floyd Cramer by way of Richard Rodgers.
Experience always wins out, talent alone never being enough.
Jennifer Roberts has a passel of both as amply demonstrated here.
 Mick Kolassa
Uncovers
Endless Blues Records
2019

Uncovers is a slim, four-song EP, featuring Mississippi blues man

Mick Kolassa doing something he does best: covering non-blues
songs in the blues vernacular. Kolassa with Mark Telesca,
released You Can't Do That! -Acoustic Beatles Blues (Swing Suit
Records, 2017), showing his muscle with such material and including
one Beatles's tune here, "I Feel fine" from Beatles '65 (Capitol, 1964).
Guitarist David Dunavent and harmonica player Eric Hughes add a
back porch patois to the song.

Kolassa opens with a full-band treatment of Randy Newman's "Mama

Told Me Not to Come" played in a loping, swinging style. Hughes pulls
out his best overdriven Little Walter on the piece. Very nice drama.
Kolassa is conversational and obviously having a good time. Kolassa
does the same with The Temptation's "I Can't Get Next to You." He
growls his way through the old Boxtops/Joe Cocker tune "The Letter"
that, while effective, suffers from previous, icon-driven interpretations.
But, then again, that never stopped Mick Kolassa from covering a
song. Hey Mick, now finish out an entire recording like this.

Emi Takada
Why Did I Choose You
Self Produced
2019

Emi Takada has already established herself as a formidable vocalists

with previous self-produced releases My Little Cottage (2012) and I'm
All Smiles (2014). She has migrated from music of her native Japan to
the Great American Songbook and doing so with only the merest hint
of accented English. Her repertoire on Why Did I Choose
You continues to address the more covered material, "It Might As Well
Be Spring," "You Must Believe In Spring" (too bad she did not hit the
trifecta by including "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most"), "I'm
IN The Mood for Love, " and "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" are all
here are are performed well. Conspicuous in the musician lineup are
guitarist Satoshi Inoue and bassist Neal Miner, who anchor this combo
while also capably soloing when called upon.

Selections of note include the clever and inspired contrafact mashup

of Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" and Thelonious Monk's "In Walked Bud."
Takada shares vocal chores with Marion Cowings, who also provides
percussion support. "Stormy Weather" is given a morphine-languid
treatment accented pungently by Michael Kanan's blusy piano.
Takada closes the disc fittingly with Taku Izumi's "Miafete Goran Yoru
No Hoshi Wo" bringing everything back home. An entertaining listen.