Western classics get a new spin in 5 new albums

These works pay rich tributes to the past — from orchestral music by Franz Schreker to arias by Mozart and Handel.

J G Thirlwel: Dystonia

Whether he is producing cartoon scores or serious music, Australian musician J G Thirlwell is an entertainer. A demonstration of his talent comes during the first minute of ‘Ozymandias’, the vivacious centrepiece of his 2023 album. Stabbing staccato and glowering glissandi are followed by vibrato-strewn playing. Then it’s back to the savagery. Crucially, though, he’s not afraid of more vulnerable sonic states. That sensibility pays off handsomely in the penultimate work in the album, ‘Heliophobia’. The sequencing of this album’s five works alternates between intense ragers and intimate meditations.

Der Ferne Klang

This recording of orchestral works of Austrian composer Franz Schreker is welcoming for its range and quality. Conductor and pianist Christoph Eschenbach might not conjure the sense of freedom that enraptures in the most intoxicating accounts of Schreker’s scores, but the control that he brings to these performances is impressive. Take the extraordinary amount of detail to be heard in the wandering ‘Nachtstück’ from ‘Der Ferne Klang’, or the care evident in the ‘Valse Lente’. Only the ‘Romantic suite’ falls short, dragging a little too often in tempo.

Fantasie: Seven Composers, Seven Keyboards

One downside of the period-instrument movement is that its insistence on historical accuracy has put something of a damper on recordings that cross centuries and styles. Enter Alexander Melnikov, a Russian pianist whose latest album traces the development of the fantasy, Western music’s most imaginative and least rule-bound form, from the 18th to 20th centuries.

Each composer is heard on a different keyboard, kicking off with Johann Sebastian Bach’s ‘Chromatic fantasy and fugue’, performed to crisp, punchy effect, and coming full circle with Alfred Schnittke’s grinding ‘Improvisation and Fugue’.

Contra-Tenor

American opera singer Michael Spyres sounds free, fresh and dashing in his new work. The album hits one stupefying climax after another, and for a recital with arias by Mozart, Handel and Gluck, it’s a testament to Spyres’ showmanship that the best moments come in the rarities. His weightless tone beguiles in Sarro’s ‘Fra l’ombre un lampo solo’ and his poise amid the big leaps and tiny twists of arias by Mazzoni and Latilla is riveting.

Elfman: Violin Concerto, Hailstork: Piano Concerto

American conductor JoAnn Falletta’s wide-ranging taste is evident in this multi-artiste project. Danny Elfman’s madcap and noirish gifts — familiar to fans of ‘The Simpsons’ — are on intermittent display throughout his Violin Concerto No 1. Adolphus Hailstork’s Piano Concerto No 1 rewards the orchestra more richly. In the first movement here, he puts folkloric Americana riffs through surprising variations. In the second movement, Hailstork, he crafts themes full of yearning ardour.