Classical CDs: Solo harp, solo trumpet and two discs of orchestral jazz | reviews, news & interviews
Classical CDs: Solo harp, solo trumpet and two discs of orchestral jazz
Classical CDs: Solo harp, solo trumpet and two discs of orchestral jazz
Music with a Czech connection, plus an Israeli bassist and a Norwegian trumpeter
by Graham RicksonSaturday, 03 July 2021
Antoine Reicha’s
L’Arte de varier tantalises before you’ve heard a note; the composer’s Opus 57, its theme followed by 57 variations. Reicha was an exact contemporary of Beethoven and reportedly the two composers discussed their approaches to variation form. Reicha’s Op. 36 set of fugues had ruffled feathers upon their publication in 1804, and this large-scale set of variations on a simple F major theme is similarly intriguing. All but eight of the variations share the theme’s key signature, the theme usually instantly recognisable. Reicha later described variety as “the soul of music”, a statement borne out by what we hear here, the little theme approached and transformed in a dizzying range of ways. We get elegance, austerity, charm and virtuosity. Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven are audible influences, with some sections shooting off in unexpected directions. But the theme is almost always recognisable, making this huge work (almost 87 minutes in Ivan Ilić’s performance) remarkably easy to get one’s head around.