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C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concertos by Jean-Guihen Queyras – A Review

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

C.P.E. Bach probably is the best known of the Bach sons, but still is one of those underrated composer that don’t get played enough today.

His music really sits on this very interesting time of transition between baroque music, that his father still epitomises, and the Wiener Klassik period of Haydn and Mozart.

I’m also a bit responsible for not mentioning him enough, so far I’ve reviewed only one album by this composer, his excellent cembalo concertos with Andreas Staier.

Jean-Guihen Queyras

Queyras is one of the best cello players of our generation. He’s been featured on this blog already a couple of times, and typically getting very favourite reviews, e.g. here.

He plays both chamber music (often with Isabelle Faust) and performs as a soloist for orchestral works.

C.P.E. Bach – Cello Concertos – Jean-Guihen Queyras – Riccardo Minasi – Ensemble Resonanz (Harmonia Mundi 2018)

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Cello Concertos Jean-Guihen Queyras Ensemble Resonanz Riccardo Minasi Harmonia Mundi 2018 24 48

I knew Riccardo Minasi from his past recordings with Il Giardino Armonico and several other baroque ensembles where he was still playing the violin. And I’ve mentioned his excellent activities with the Pomo d’Oro here, but had never heard of Ensemble Resonanz. It turns out its been active since 1994 and is located in Hamburg. Well, you never stop learning.

So, how do they play? Well I must admit for these works I have only a handful of other versions, including for example a recent release on Erato with Truls Mørk, and Ophelie Gaillard on Aparté.

How does this recording compare? Well, it really hasn’t have to hide. It is joyful, energetic, and nuanced. This really is a prime example that this composer deserves to be heard more!

Queyras’ sound on the cello is beautiful, not too heavy, but with a nice singing tone. He really nicely integrates with Ensemble Resonanz, the soloist never being the dominant player, but it is more a marriage of equals.

Overall: Very enjoyable!

My rating: 4 stars

You can find it here (Qobuz) and here (Prostudiomaster)

Why Music Gives Me Goose Bumps

No new album review today, but a slightly different topic, still related to music.

Goose bumps

One of my very early and quite popular blog posts was about the emotional impact of music. I called it “Top 10 Music That Gives Me Goose Bumps”, followed by two posts with readers suggestions to the same topic (you’ll find them here and here, please do check them out as they give some excellent music recommendations).

To me, emotional music up to a point that it triggers physical reaction, is totally normal. Right? Music touches us very deeply, that’s why we all listen to it, and crazy people like me even spend a significant amount of there spare time writing about it (with a much larger chunk of the same spare time spent listening to it).

So, this must be a universal thing, right?

Turns out it’s not.

Some science

I actually have a science background (even if I moved out of science early in my career). So I’m still very interested in science, even if today instead of having a subscription to Science (yes, I had that in my early years, a bit over the top I admit if you’re not in acacemia), I now follow science more via the layman’s press and increasingly also via social media.

I came across this article Brain connectivity reflects human aesthetic responses to music, published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience late 2016.

It already starts with an interesting statement: Humans routinely experience pleasure in response to higher order stimuli that confer no clear evolutionary advantage. They then quickly explain that it is highly unlikely that our appreciation of arts has no evolutionary advantage, because otherwise it would not have survived that long.

Later in that article they describe the fact that not everyone experiences intense emotional responses to music. It’s hard for me to believe when you’re so passionate about a topic, but by observation, I must admit they are right.

And here comes the fun part: Real-time ratings of experienced pleasure and psychophysiological measures recorded during music listening showed quantifiable differences between individuals who report experiencing chills and individuals who do not. Ok, chills probably is the better word than goose bumps (clearly showing that I’m not a native speaker).

So, what are those differences? Well, it turns out it’s all about white matter connectivity. Turns out, if you’re reading this blog, your brain is probably wired somewhat differently to the average population.

I assume we should just enjoy the fact that our brains have developed such a powerful connectivity, and go back to enjoying music immediately!

Jazz Loves Disney – Who Would Have Thought This Actually Is A Great Album?

Verve

Verve obviously is one of the great classic record labels of the Jazz history, where Norman Granz to produce all the classics from Billie Holiday to Ella Fitzgerald to Oscar Peterson.

These days, Verve, as most other traditional Jazz labels, is part of one of the big players, in this case Universal Music. However, in spite of being part of this large multinational company, and some major restructuring, Verve still puts out some beautiful recordings

They also able to pull together artists from other labels to do some great compilations. Interestingly enough, these compilations aren’t best-of’s of previously recorded material, but actually new productions that were done just for these albums. A great example is the beautiful album Autour de Nina, reviewed here.

Walt Disney

Well, I must admit, for my side, I’m not a huge disney fan. OK, I liked the Jungle Book as a kid, but hated Mickey Mouse.

That said, Disney truly cared about music in his movies.

Did you actually know that the Jazz standard Someday My Price Will Come made famous by Miles Davis actually came from Disney’s Snow White? I must admit, I completely forgot about that.

Walt Disney’s movie A Silly Symphony from 1935 is another great example of the usage of classical music in a movie.

Anyway, I wasn’t prepared at all to actually like the following album:

Jazz Loves Disney (Verve 2016)

Jazz Loves Disney 24/44 Verve 2016 Gregory Porter Jamie Cullum Stacey Kent Melody Gardot

Well, first of all, look at the names of the artists here: We’ve got Melody Gardot and Stacey Kent, two of the best current Jazz singers out there, but the other names are equally impressive.

As usual with this kind of album, the production is quite perfectionist. So this could all feel as artificial as being trapped as a character of Arielle, but it actually doesn’t.

It really swings nicely, and really shows a whole new aspect of these songs.

My absolute favorite is The Bear Necessities in a beautiful duet by Raphael Gualazzi and Melody Gardot (yes, Jungle Book again), but there really isn’t a really weak track on this album

Check out these trailers to get an impression: