At the end of September we heard of the sad death of pioneering Sri Lankan / British cellist Rohan de Saram, at the age of 85.
As this obituary in the Strad indicates, de Saram was a key figure in contemporary music, holding the position of cellist with the Arditti Quartet from 1979 until 2005, as well as premiering a number of new solo works. The short playlist below gives an indication of his solo recordings, from a cycle of Bach suites to work by Dallapiccola:
In the last few days we have heard of the sad news of the death of cellist Antonio Meneses at the age of 66. There is a fitting tribute to Meneses in an obituary by The Strad magazine, but we wanted to pay tribute in the form of a playlist of some of his finest recordings.
The sequence, which you can listen to below, includes solo Bach – the Solo Cello Suite no.1 – followed by Brahms‘s Cello Sonata no.1 and the MendelssohnSong without Words Op.109, with pianist Gérard Wyss. Meneses made some very fine recordings for the AVIE label, of which Gaspar Cassadó‘s Solo Cello Suite was one – and this is followed by a short illustration of his time as cellist in the Beaux Arts Trio, a lovely movement from Dvořák‘s Dumky Trio.
Finally we get to hear Meneses in the orchestral arena, with a recent recording made for Naxos of the Villa-Lobos Fantasia for cello and orchestra, and one of his most famous recordings, the Brahms Double Concerto with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Berliner Philharmoniker under Herbert von Karajan:
It gives us great pleasure to welcome Krononaut‘s Leo Abrahams (above, front) for the latest Arcana playlist guest turn. The improvisatory duo release Krononaut II on Palomino on 9 August, and Abrahams has generously given us an insight into the working process behind the album. Here is the playlist – and you can read below the detail on his choices:
Schneider TMFirst Of May Ingenious sonic investigations of the guitar from a studio master.
Mazz SwiftHidden In Plain Sight I met Mazz playing in Anohni’s band recently. Their record absolutely blew me away with its sincerity and erudition.
Ovalhmmm So playful and so detailed, all these years on I still have no idea how he did it, but it’s firmly lodged in my subconscious.
Spin MarvelTuesday’s Blues The record that first brought Martin France to my attention. Astonishing drumming – melodic, refined and furious.
John Hassell, Brian EnoDelta Rain Dream One of those records that is responsible for a whole new genre, it is tremendously free.
Sulton NazarOmaded Mehmoni Mo Recorded by Lu Edmonds in the mountains of Tajikistan in the early 2000s, this master of maddoh opened my ears to a whole new culture.
KrononautConvocation This track from the first record gets closest to the till-but-not-static feeling that we were reaching for on the second.
Morton FeldmanPalais de Mari A relatively concise piece from one of my favourite composers, this is deep, concentrated and compelling music.
Our very grateful thanks to Leo for his selection.
In the last week we heard the sad news of the death of the great Cornish baritone Benjamin Luxon, at the age of 87.
A much-loved singer, Luxon excelled in the opera house and the recital room – not to mention as a soloist in many important recordings of choral and vocal works. The playlist compiled below is packed with English music, with cycles from Vaughan Williams (Songs of Travel) and Stanford (Songs of the Sea).
Luxon took on the title role in the first recording of Benjamin Britten‘s TV opera Owen Wingrave in 1971, an excerpt of which you can also hear below:
You can also hear Benjamin Luxon’s Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4
Yesterday we heard the sad news of the death of the British conductor Sir Andrew Davis, at the age of 80.
The warmth of the tributes made on social media to Sir Andrew are an indication of his standing as a highly respected conductor who was for many a friend as well as a fellow musician. As a live performer he excelled at the BBC Proms, becoming the festival’s musical figurehead in the 1990s as chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, a post he held from 1989 until 2000. Yet he also made his mark overseas, through posts held with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (from 1975 until 1988) and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (from 2013).
The playlist below attempts to summarise his considerable contribution to recorded music – and in particular his many outstanding discs of British music. The reader is particularly directed towards an extensive and hugely rewarding series of Elgar for Chandos, but the list below includes early Berlioz, Delius, Elgar, a recent highlight of Stravinsky‘s Violin Concerto recorded with James Ehnes and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and an outstanding version of Vaughan Williams‘ Symphony no.6, capturing a side of the composer seldom heard at the time of recording.
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