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Maurice Ohana Four CDs from timpani
This collection of performances by mainly Luxembourg musicians is one that I have long admired and they are re-released with new covers and distributed in UK by Discovery. Maurice Ohana (1914-1992) was a true original who has gradually built a substantial posthumous reputation on record. I met him in London at a pre-concert talk at St John's Smith Square which was attended by only about half a dozen people. He took this in his stride, was friendly and interesting in what he told us of his unusually cosmopolitan life and compositions. Harry Halbreich has long been a champion, and his CD liner notes amount to practically a book; he included him amongst his Salon des Refusés at Lisbon. Do check out the links here to some of my earlier reviews. This complete recording of Ohana's chamber music by musicians from Luxembourg is given in chronological order. Ohana has a predeliction for plucked strings, flute & oboe amongst winds, and the cello of string instruments. For players of those, this is music to consider for their repertoires. He loves unusual combinations, and the sequence comes to an arresting finish with Kypris for oboe, viola, double bass and piano, poetic, mysterious, sensual and erotic - "expressing some secret suffering" [Halbreich]. Halbreich characterizes the Chojnacka collection as An Iberian Harpsichord, and the influence of Falla can be felt in the Celestine pieces and Tiento. Elisabeth Chojnacka has long been the foremost interpreter of the contemporary harpsichord. The programme on this CD is greatly various, with alluring combinations of support; an array of exotic percussion for Miroir de Célestine, and Sacral d'Ilx, one of Ohana's most radical compositions, has oboe and horn providing Spanish colour (Debussy had planned that combination for one of his incomplete series of late sonatas). The Sarabande is 'a piece of austere grandeur in the tradition of Falla's Concerto' and brings this absorbing CD to a satisfying conclusion. Halbreich characterizes the Chojnacka collection as An Iberian Harpsichord, with the influence of Falla to be felt in the Celestine pieces and Tiento. His notes are, as always, compendious and timpani's production values are of the highest in all respects. Elisabeth Chojnacka featured Ohana at Cheltenham last year, and is the foremost interpreter of the contemporary harpsichord. The programme on the new CD is greatly various, with alluring combinations of support; an array of exotic percussion for Miroir de Célestine, and Sacral d'Ilx has oboe and horn providing Spanish colour (Debussy had planned that combination for one of his incomplete series of late sonatas). The Sarabande is 'a piece of austere grandeur in the tradition of Falla's Concerto' (Halbreich) and brings this absorbing CD to a satisfying conclusion. I have played it through several times and commend it to musical explorers. Elisabeth Chojnacka is also a key participant in another disc of major Ohana works, recorded in The concertos disc is an important CD in the Ohana revival, with exemplary performances and the usual good notes supplied by Harry Halbreich, who has no doubt been instrumental in bringing this project to fruition - I anticipate that his essays will be brought together as a book in due course.. The Piano Concerto (1981) is a complex virtuoso work, with an independent unbarred solo line, divided into four main sections. Not an easy piece, one needing several hearings, but rewarding to come to know. The second cello concerto is his last orchestral work and it alludes to the world of Blues and Jazz. It falls into two sections, separated by a Blues interlude, with every opportunity for the soloist to display the range of possibilities for his instrument. Also worth considering are Trumpet Concertos by Ohana, Escaich & Bacri [Pierre Verany PV703021] and, for those unfamiliar with Ohana's unusual and somewhat elusive style, a piano solo (and duo with percussion) CD of his Etudes [Harmonia Mundi H/CD 9354]. Peter Grahame Woolf See also timpani overview: http://www.musicalpointers.co.uk/articles/generaltopics/timpani-overview.html and Ohana on other labels: |
best guarded secrets of classical music. But in fact, next to Xenakis and Scelsi, he belongs to the towering figures of alternative or parallel avant-guarde which is sure to dominate the future [Harry Halbreich].
Luxembourg 1998. Chiffres for harpsichord is a concentrated creation which has five sections playing continuously, each of its numerous sub-sections too meticulously characterised by Halbreich in one of his most detailed and comprehensive liner notes. Extraordinarily eventful music, but not hard to apprehend by listeners, including those who are daunted by serialist excesses. Tombeau de Claude Debussy is reckoned by Halbreich to be one of Ohana's greatest masterpieces and thus also one of the greatest musical pieces of the century. It would be foolhardy to dismiss that as hyperbole. And he believes Silenciaire for percussions and strings (illustated) is his most daringly free music , "a contemplation of silence as the source of all creation" [M.Ohana].