Classical



Stravinsky, Pulcinella, Symphony in Three Movements and Four Etudes performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and soloists conducted by Pierre Boulez (CSO-Resound). Now that Pierre Boulez will hit his 85th birthday in March, it’s a good time to remember that one of the great stories about music of the concert hall in the late 20th century is that one of its steeliest avant-gardists, theoreticians and acousticians— the composer of some decidedly inhospitable music—suddenly turned up as a superb conductor, often of the least likely pieces in the repertoire for a composer of such austerity. A great Debussy conductor maybe, but a lush explorer of the late Romantics? Here, in preparation for his 85th, is a recent performance of some music you might think more attuned to his sensibility—the emblematic neo-classicism of Igor Stravinsky after he decided to stop shocking the bourgeoisie with the savageries and astringencies of “The Rite of Spring” and “Les Noces.” Not surprisingly, Boulez is a fine Stravinsky conductor— a specialist in instrumental clarity for a composer for whom lucidity was paramount. ???( Jeff Simon)



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Sweelinck, Psaumes francais and Canciones sacrae, Cappella Amsterdam, Daniel Reuss (Harmonia Mundi France). Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, who looks like he belongs on an old cigar box, was in fact a Dutch master, a stellar Renaissance organist and organ builder and the leading composer of Holland’s Renaissance musical “golden age.” Glenn Gould liked to play his keyboard music, and his sacred music is heard now and then in Buffalo choral concerts and organ recitals. Sweelinck was caught in the Reformation, and the choral music on this disc straddles both sides. There are psalms and prayers in French, written for the Calvinists. But the Calvinists apparently were tolerant and allowed Sweelinck to continue writing Catholic music, hence the Magnificat and a “De Profundis,” which really does sound as if it emerges from the depths. The music’s placid nature and gentle polyphony made me think of Palestrina. The Cappella Amsterdam display a sound that is magnificently smooth and seamless. The concluding “Te Deum” is stellar in its low-key jubilation. ???( Mary Kunz Goldman)



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Schumann, Lieder, Maria Stuart, Op. 315, Rueckert-Lieder, Liederkreis, Bernarda Fink, mezzo soprano, Anthony Spiri, piano (Harmonia Mundi USA). Schubert and Schumann were both inspired by the romance of Scotland, which they glimpsed through Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott. The Scottish- inspired songs here, including not only the “Mary Stuart” songs but a “Highlands Lullaby” and “Highland Widow,” have a similar lilt to what Schubert put into his Scottish-inspired songs. They are wonderful songs, not often heard, and a reminder that Schumann, like Schubert, was young when he was writing. The set also includes the better-known “Liederkreis” and 10 Rueckert songs. Bernarda Fink has a bright mezzo, with an almost soprano sound, and fills the songs with feelings of youth and glory. Anthony Spiri brings out the soul of the songs through their intricate piano parts. One highlight is their ringing performance of “Waldesgespraech,” in which Schumann brings to life the German legend of the Lorelei. ????( M. K. G.)



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Caroline Goulding, “Caroline Goulding” (Telarc). At 15, phenom violinist Caroline Goulding played Mozart at Artpark, and showed grace and polish. All of 17 now, she joins the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in another Mozart concerto this weekend, including a concert at 2 p. m. today. On this debut CD, Goulding displays her astonishing range of styles. Four pieces by Fritz Kreisler enchant, and John Corigliano’s Red Violin Caprices for Solo Violin bring out her assertive side. Four jazzy pieces by Paul Schoenfield could be the highlight. They show fine rhythmic intuition. Goulding adds a couple of curiosities—Heifetz’s arrangements of tunes from “Porgy and Bess” and Henri Vieuxtemps’ 19th century variations on “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” Just as a show of strength, she winds up with Cape Breton fiddling, which must be child’s play after everything else. Christopher O’Riley, who “discovered” Goulding on “From the Top,” is her witty accompanist. A warm and wonderful disc. ????( M. K. G.)



Pop



Corinne Bailey Rae, “The Sea” (Good Groove/Virgin). Anyone who has been through a serious loss knows about the baffling part: After it’s over, you are still you. You are you, plus the loss, plus the pain and confusion the loss causes. The process of healing is taking it in is what’s necessary, incorporating what’s been felt and learned, and figuring out how to be the person you’ve always been is what’s different now.



“The Sea,” Corinne Bailey Rae’s sometimes hard to absorb but ultimately deeply rewarding second album, is about that process. Rae’s husband, saxophonist Jason Rae, accidentally overdosed on methadone and alcohol in March 2008. Rae grieved for him by doing nothing for months, then returned to making music. Though she’s known for the kind of delicacy that’s often dismissed as “lite” —her 2006 self-titled debut was a careful exploration of the feminine psyche set within arrangements that melded Laurel Canyon folk with early-1970s boho soul—Rae searches for the pinpricks and love sighs that intensify gentle emotions. On “The Sea,” her carefulness complicates what might have been a blunt expression of pain.



Although Rae is famous for the more marketable charm of bouncy singles like the Gram-my- nominated “Put Your Records On,” she told interviewers that she hoped her next work would be more akin to the avant-pop of critical darling Joanna Newsom. It’s cruel to say that her personal calamity might have bought her the chance to take that risk, but it does seem possible. “The Sea” isn’t a perfect album. The catchiest song, “Paris Nights / New York Mornings,” sounds like an outtake from Rae’s debut. “Paper Dolls” seems similarly out of place—it’s a rocker invoking Rae’s post-punk youth that distracts from the thornier, more expansive songs around it. Repeated listens might help integrate those sonic sore thumbs into the overall mood of “The Sea.” Even without such closure, though, “The Sea” is remarkable. It’s a step toward something—Rae’s inner peace, and her next artistic breakthrough— that has its own rewards. ????( Ann Powers, Los Angeles Times)



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Whitney Houston, “The Deluxe Anniversary Edition” (Arista/Legacy, disc plus DVD). Is this where “American Idol” began? Think about it—the exploitable power balladry, the troubled diva-to-be already peering out from behind the curtain of ambition. The show itself now features judges who practically plead with the heavens not to have to hear one more Whitney Houston song from a contestant. It helps to remember, though, that once upon a time Whitney Houston actually seemed to spring gorgeously out of the very bloodstream of American popular music (Dionne Warwick is her aunt, treasured backup singer Cissy Houston her mother). Listen to this disc now and you’ll vaguely remember what wowed everyone in 1985. But you’ll spot just as much all the layers of diva-ness waiting to accumulate; and you won’t thrill to ’80s synthesizer sounds, either. On the DVD, you get Whitney on “The Merv Griffin Show,” the first Soul Train Awards, etc. You get five bonus tracks, too, including dance remixes and an a capella version of “How Will I Know.” This, sadly, is not a disc that has aged at all well. But then, even more sadly, neither has Whitney Houston. ???( J. S.)



Jazz



Abdullah Ibrahim and the WDR Big Band of Cologne, “Bombella” (Sunnyside). Here is a jazz career worth celebrating and this is an awfully good way to do it. Abdullah Ibrahim was 75 on his last birthday and the WDR Big Band has become one of the most joyous showcases in the world for great jazz composers (its disc with Joe Zawinul just before his death was one of the finest of his life). Ibrahim’s melodies are among the glories of jazz in the past 40 years, and these are orchestral arrangements of them, rather than drearily conventional “Big Band” arrangements full of obnoxious blaring brass and voicings that were neither original nor all that appealing when they were invented 70 years ago. (Listen, for instance, to his tribute to his wife, “Song to Sathima.”) One of Ibrahim’s happiest recordings in the last decade, and with a career like this, that’s saying an enormous amount. To be released next week. ????( J. S.)