Fantasy

Approfondimenti

For generations of composers, the Fantasy has been a tool to express and explore musical ideas that do not necessarily fit into the mold of a more typical formal structure. This Stone Records album demonstrates just how far-reaching the Fantasy can be as it showcases the works of three highly diverse composers -- Oliver Messiaen, Arnold Schoenberg, and Franz Schubert -- and their Fantasies for violin and piano. Not surprisingly, Schubert's Fantasy is based upon one of his many Lied (which is also included on this recording). Schoenberg's Phantasy is a late work demonstrating the composer's mature and vetted twelve-tone system. Messiaen's Fantasie, by contrast, is an early work in which the composer's search for his voice can still be heard; it is presented alongside La mort du nombre (which includes both a soprano and tenor part) and Theme et Variations, a work Messiaen premiered with his first wife. Though these works make up a nicely diversified program, the execution here by violinist Kaoru Yamada and pianist Sholto Kynoch are unilaterally bland. Yamada's tone is exceedingly timid and insecure. Even the clearly vocal qualities of Schubert's Fantasy are played with flat, almost amateurish apprehensiveness. Schoenberg's Phantasy lacks the direction needed to guide listeners through serial music, and Messiaen's Fantasie is lacking in the rhythmic vitality and huge dynamic range written into the score. Surprisingly, the high points of the album come from soprano Rhona McKail and tenor Nicky Spence, whose performances in the Messiaen and Schubert Sie mir gegrusst are far more musically gratifying.
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