Nothing minimalist about this talent

Beethoven: Triple Concerto. Schumann: Piano Concerto

Martha Argerich, piano; Renaud Capucon, violin; Mischa Maisky, cello. Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky

(EMI Classics)

****

Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky

“Pura Cosa Mentale”

(Megadisc Classics)

****

Who is Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky? Well, the Russian pianist, conductor and composer was better known until recently as Alexandre Rabinovitch, and followers of Martha Argerich might recognize his name as that of her partner on some brilliant two-piano recordings and as the conductor of her most recent disc of Mozart piano concertos. He also has a cult following as a composer of over-the-top Russian Minimalist music, most of it found on obscure European labels like the Belgian Megadisc Classics. But with these two amazing new releases, he confirms that in mainstream repertory as well as his own wild compositions he is a gripping musical personality who deserves to be far better known.

The concerto recording has the distinction of making the regularly dismissed Triple, Beethoven’s least effective concerto, riveting. The energetic, rhapsodic and theatrical soloists deserve most of the credit, but Rabinovitch-Barakovsky creates an atmosphere in which chances can be taken and adrenaline is permitted to flow without restraint. In the Schumann, he is the ideal partner for the mercurial Argerich; it is impossible to tell who is responding to whom at any given moment in a performance of great urgency and beauty. The orchestra isn’t very good, nor the recorded sound, but who cares?

“Pura Cosa Mentale” is a two-disc set that reissues several earlier, hard-to-find Rabinovitch-Barakovsky recordings, including his best-known work, “Musique Populaire,” for two pianos (played by Argerich and the composer). But it also features a new recording of a nearly hourlong 1998 orchestral piece, “Six Intermediary States,” that Rabinovitch-Barakovsky calls a sinfonia based upon the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The notes in the accompanying booklet speak in grand terms about the mystical unity of space and time, about Western and Eastern philosophy, about Pythagoras, Bach and Plato, about purifying the soul. Perhaps that’s all there in the music, but the line that rings truest speaks of Rabinovitch-Barakovsky’s “hedonistic aspiration freely stated.” Boy, is it ever.

Simply put, no one else dares write music like “Six Intermediary States.” The movements, or states, are Life, Dream, Trance, Moment of Death, Reality and Existence: the route of the soul as it leaves the body. The music -- which begins this side of Oz, heads toward outer space and then just keeps going -- is glittery and repetitious. Gorgeous and weird sounds ooze out of the orchestra, and they get ever weirder and more gorgeous in wave after wave of not pure thought but pure aural ecstasy. The effect is almost as though Rabinovitch-Barakovsky, who elicited a winning performance from the Belgrade Philharmonic, has located a previously unknown pleasure point hidden deep in the inner ear.

Another recommendation for this compilation, the best introduction to the composer imaginable, is the reissue of the equally mystical and ecstatic “La Triade,” a concerto for amplified violin and orchestra, also from 1998. Megadisc does not have an American distributor, so the set can be a challenge to find. But it can be ordered through the label’s website, www.megadisc.be. It’s more than worth the trouble.

-- Mark Swed

Discoveries prove amply rewarding

Grieg and Sibelius Songs

Karita Mattila, soprano. City of Birmingham Symphony. Sakari Oramo, conductor

(Warner Classics)

*** 1/2

Mattila’s rich, grief-laden soprano proves irresistibly touching in this collection of haunting, lesser-known repertory by Sibelius and of popular, passionate songs by Grieg. The major discoveries are Sibelius’ two expansive nature scenes -- especially the nine-minute tone poem “Luonnotar” (basically a creation myth) -- indebted to Finnish bardic tradition, which stand in contrast to his more conventional, though attractive, lieder-influenced songs. The shift in style is abrupt and slightly disconcerting but amply rewarding. The Grieg songs are lovingly addressed. Oramo and the Birmingham Symphony provide generous, sensitive support.

-- Chris Pasles

Classic love story erratically sung

Wagner: “Tristan und Isolde”

Deborah Voigt, Thomas Moser, Petra Lang, Peter Weber. Chorus and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera. Christian Thielemann, conductor

(Deutsche Grammophon)

**

Much attention has been lavished on this performance of what many of us consider the greatest love story in opera. It marked Deborah Voigt’s first time on stage as Isolde, and fans of the American soprano flocked to Vienna a year ago to hear it. Now a live recording documenting the occasion has been given a prestigious DG release, even though the performance -- despite a few splendid big moments -- is lacking in character and erratically sung and played. Thankfully, there are interlocking scandals to pique listeners’ curiosity.

Voigt’s profile has, of course, risen to new heights since she was ignominiously dropped by London’s Royal Opera from a production of Richard Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos” because she was too large for the wardrobe. And it happens that the original Ariadne of that production, for whom the now infamous little black dress was designed, was Petra Lang, who sings Isolde’s maid, Brangaene, in this new “Tristan.”

If that isn’t enough, there was the ever-controversial Christian Thielemann in the pit. Thielemann resigned as music director of the Deutsche Oper in Berlin in May after he lost a political battle for state funding with his archenemy, Daniel Barenboim. And it was after a meeting in Copenhagen with the ultraconservative Thielemann last month that Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier pulled out of a new production of Wagner’s “Ring” that Thielemann is scheduled to conduct in Bayreuth in 2006 (although no one is saying what happened at that meeting). Still, Thielemann is a rising Wagner star with old-fashioned ideas about conducting, and the Vienna “Tristan” was notable for being his first Wagner opera with the company.

At his best (mainly in the third act), Thielemann brings real weight to bear on Wagner’s music. He has a slippery way of phrasing that hasn’t been in fashion for years. It can be alluring and exciting, but usually at the expense of transparency. Voigt gets through her demanding part with high notes to spare. But other than in the radiant climaxes, she mostly sings words and notes, bringing little convincing eroticism to this orgiastic music. Thomas Moser is an intelligent Tristan, though too often unpleasant of sound. Lang, whose Covent Garden Ariadne was wonderfully sung, is here back to being a mezzo and straining. Another otherwise fine singer, Robert Holl (King Mark), is in equally poor form, Thielemann’s slow tempos making him sound as if he’s drowning. The first voice you hear in the opera is that of a young sailor; it makes you want to stop right there. If you do, it will add four hours to your life.

-- M.S.

Young pianist Biss makes his bones

Beethoven, Schumann:

Piano Works

Jonathan Biss, piano (EMI)

***

In this impressive debut album, Biss establishes himself as a serious, accomplished artist who puts the composer before the player. No one should be surprised. The 23-year-old American is the grandson of renowned Russian cellist Raya Garbousova -- for whom Barber wrote his Cello Concerto -- and son of Boston Symphony violinist Miriam Fried. Since 1997, he’s studied with pianist Leon Fleisher. Biss already shows poetry, expressivity and a secure sense of style. There is joy and playfulness in his account of Beethoven’s Fantasy in G minor and plenty of drama in the “Appassionata” Sonata. He is probing and personal in Schumann’s mercurial “Davidsbundlertanze.” Even greater depths are sure to come. Biss also wrote the articulate program notes.

-- C.P.