Suite on Verses of Michelangelo, op. 145, transcription for bass and organ by Hans Peter Eisenmann§; Passacaglia for organ from Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk; Two pieces from Bolt, op. 27; Two pieces from Limpid Stream, op. 39; Boris Tishchenko: D. D. Shostakovich, No. 12 from Twelve Portraits for Organ‡.
Alexander Naoumenko (bass), Herve Desarbre (organ), Alexei Korzoune (timpani).
Le Chant du Monde LDC 77781124. DDD. TT 70:21.
Recorded in concert at the Glinka Museum, Moscow, 24 May 1999.
§World première recording of transcription.
‡World première recording.

The arrangement of the Michelangelo Verses for organ and bass voice is an inspiration worthy of attention, though this particular realization is a bit of a mixed bag. The organ setting adapts remarkably well to the sombre, funereal tones that characterize many of the eleven contained sonnets, sometimes conferring surprising benefits. The setting of the first song, Truth, is almost too good to be true; its sustained lines and long notes seem better suited to the instrument's characteristics than to the original piano setting. This is likewise true of the third song, Love, whose quick note filigrees find unexpected new life in the idiosyncratic timbres of the organ. The ninth song, Night, is particularly effective in organ garb, and the chilling return of the leading motif of the work in the tenth song, Death, makes a stunning impact. The final song, with its ominously innocent Beethoven quote, also sits well in the pipes.

Where timbre varies widely from the original, one might have expected a more imaginative exploitation of the various stops of the instrument. A bit of sonic claustrophobia sets in, for example, in the sparse textures of the fourth song, Separation. At other times it is the interpreter who seems to be lacking rather than the arrangement. The dramatic interjections of the accompaniment in the seventh song, To The Exile, lack the impact of the standard versions, and should have elicited more audacious playing on the part of the organist.

The performance also runs into trouble in the fifth song, Anger, whose explosive figures claim their intended fury in the piano and orchestral versions of the work, but here are severely reduced in effectiveness. A similar shortcoming plagues the eighth song, Creativity, whose accentuated percussive attacks need an organist with a greater sense of drama to carry out their full effect. The resulting loss is no small matter. The dramatic contrast of these more volatile songs discharges the latent tension of the surrounding songs. The former not only provide necessary counterbalance, they serve the more important aesthetic function of defining the suite's overall emotional intensity.

There are clearly moments of revelation in this unique rendition, particularly in the outer songs where subdued timbre and mood predominate. The recital is well recorded, and the reverberant, never cavernous, church-like acoustic is appropriate to the work's lofty lyricism. Yet the whole does not equal the sum of its parts. Its shortcomings obviously lie somewhere between performance and transcription, and to a certain degree, in the overextended scope of the composition itself.

Bass Alexander Naoumenko sings with admirable focus and conviction. He is a preferable choice to Fischer-Dieskau's baritone in his recordings of the composer's orchestration of the work on London (433 319-2) and of the original piano arrangement on Teldec (8 44138; sung in Italian), and a strong competitor to Sergei Leiferkus in Järvi's rendition of the orchestral version on Deutsche Grammophon (447 085-2). Naoumenko's expressiveness, however, is often unmatched by organist Herve Desarbre, whose pacing is often mechanical, and whose participation lacks the necessary vibrancy, especially in the middle handful of songs that require more engaging accompaniment.

The solo organ works of Shostakovich on the disc further confirm Desarbre's lack of idiomatic grasp of this music. He fails to make a convincing case in his bone dry, matter-of-fact reading of the Passacaglia from Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, a rendition that pales next to the full blooded version by Maria Makarova on the quintessential disc of Shostakovich's solo organ music, Olympia OCD 585.

The remaining Shostakovich works on the programme consist of four short miniatures taken from the composer's ballet scores Bolt and Limpid Stream. Aside from the insipid musical quality of these Atovmyan-derived trifles, Desarbre's account could have been dispatched with more wit and playfulness.

The other major work on the disc is D. D. Shostakovich, the last of Twelve Organ Portraits by one of Shostakovich's favourite composition students, Boris Tishchenko. Such an auspicious title leads one to higher expectations than are met in this boisterous 12-minute tour-de-force. The material all seems to derive from the elder composer's four-note monogram, and consists of dissonant flourishes, fugal episodes, and passages of frenzied physical gesture that alternate in a careening, timpani-reinforced bustle. While it works up a lather of sustained activity, none of its ideas achieves enough thematic distinction to give direction or profile to this meandering portrait.

The only evidence of an audience during these live performances is the applause that springs up after each work. Therein lies a small blemish. The applause is spliced in without sufficient pause, robbing the music's final notes of their natural breathing room. The intrusion is most out of place in the wake of the final, reflective bars of the Michelangelo suite. On a more important note, I hope one day we get to sample the outcome of this promising version of the Michelangelo suite with an organist, perhaps Maria Makarova, who has a stronger connection to the idiom than found here. In the meantime, the curious and the completist will be intrigued by the novelty and variety of this album. The rest may move on.

Louis Blois
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DSCH No. 14.
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