Gift Guide: Classical music selections

Gift Guide: Classical recordings

Music is as much a part of holiday tradition for many people as trees and candles and worship services. And the experience of unwrapping a CD and reading the liner notes in anticipation of hearing those first wonderful notes can elevate the day into something even more special.

Here are recent noteworthy recordings that should enliven the holiday experience.

Compiled by The Bee's Edward Ortiz

Chopin: 24 Preludes, Nocturnes, Mazurkas and Scherzos
Maurizio Pollini; Deutsche Grammophon; CD and download

Reasons to listen: The 70-year-old Pollini's bond with Chopin's music has stood the test of time. This excellent CD offers trademark Pollini performing Chopin's 24 preludes – the ones he first explored on vinyl in 1974. Here is the telltale austerity. He delivers the preludes as a set of powerful but small-scaled gestures. It's a caress, not an embrace. The B-flat minor Scherzo is the highlight. A fine no-nonsense introduction to Chopin.
A Late Quartet
Angelo Badalamenti, Brentano String Quartet; Decca; CD

Reasons to listen: Badalamenti, who has written music for many David Lynch projects, ("Twin Peaks," "Mulholland Drive"), is charged with the soundtrack and has written earnest and hypnotic music – some of which stands on its own – like the swirling and hopeful theme introduced in "A Jog in the Park." Also included in this recording is the Brentano String Quartet in a layered, bracing performance of Beethoven's String Quartet #14, Op. 131, (upon which the film is structured). It also includes Anne Sofie Von Otter singing Korngold's "Marrietta's Song" from "Die Tote Stadt."
Bach and Beyond, Part 1
Jennifer Koh, violin; Cedille; CD and download

Reasons to listen: Koh's stellar tone, coupled with an intuitive sense for plumbing works of living composers, is noteworthy. The proof is found on this CD, which includes a smart arrangement. Koh begins with a radiant performance of Bach's Partita No. 3, followed by Eugène Ysaÿe's Sonata No. 2. This gives way to Kaija Saariaho's pensive "Nocturne." Then comes a highlight of this CD – Missy Mazzoli's pliant and compelling "Dissolve, O My Heart." This, in turn, is capped by a sonorous Bach's Partita No. 2. That's as circular a musical evolution as you're going to get – and Koh delivers.
American Mavericks
San Francisco Symphony, pianist Jeremy Denk; SFS media; CD and download

Reasons to listen: When historians write of Michael Tilson Thomas' tenure with the San Francisco Symphony, they'll write glowingly about how the orchestra blossomed by performing a swath of the 20th century repertoire. These form the crux of this CD, which shows the orchestra in top form with musical modernism. From the bewitching solo that opens Henry Cowell's slinky "Synchrony" to the percussive eloquence of Edgard Varèse's "Amériques," there is urgency in the playing. The music plays on the ear as if part of an esteemed contemporary musical fabric. The captivating pianist Denk does not disappoint on Cowell's Piano Concerto.
Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, the Four Seasons
Daniel Hope, violin; Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin; Duetsche Grammophon; CD and download

Reasons to listen: A brilliant reconception of one of the most iconic works in the classical canon. The genre-bending Richter undertakes a note-by-note exploration of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," and the result is an injection of much-needed life to a well-trod work. The CD begins, with the first movement of Spring, with music that cascades in bright, gleaming notes, like light snow. It then gives way to violin music with underpinnings suggesting Sigur Rós as much as Vivaldi. As the seasons progress, it is as if Richter is channeling Philip Glass and Arvo Pärt – and imprinting these voices into Vivaldi's musical DNA. An interesting portal into how a work of art lives on best through interpretation.
Elgar Cello Concerto; Elliot Carter
Alisa Weilerstein, cello, Daniel Barenboim; Staatskapelle Berlin; Decca; CD

Reasons to listen: Here, firebrand cellist Weilerstein is led by Daniel Barenboim in Elgar's iconic Cello concerto – in a performance that lives in the shadow of the great cellist Jacqueline du Pré. Barenboim coaxes a highly emotional, and at times too emotional, reading from Weilerstein and the Staatskapelle. However, the highlight here is Eliot Carter's Cello Concerto, which the late composer wrote when he was 93. In this work, Weilerstein's great talent shines through. She performs the seven movements with a bold command of the complex rhythms and she honors each of Carter's musical ideas – the Staatskapelle plays brilliantly, too.
Songs of Innocence and Experience
Walter Zimmermann; Sonar Quartet; Mode; Two-disc CD set and download

Reasons to listen: This recording introduces Zimmerman's complete quartets – and lays the brilliance of his music bare. His "10 Franconian Dances" mines dance music from the German hinterlands circa the 1930s. In some parts the violin plays as a whisper, and the music conjures quiet, fog-laden landscapes. In the four-movement "Festina Lente" musical notes appear like a slowly appearing armanda of ships. The iconoclastic "Songs of Innocence & Experience" offers 20 ritornellos based on William Blake's cycle of poems "Songs of Innocence." Each poem is condensed with children singing them. These were recorded by Zimmermann on the streets of Nuremberg. The inaccuracies and pauses oddly deepen the depth of this enchanting music.

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