What the classical world has been listening to this month
Gweneth Ann Rand Soprano
I’ve been listening a lot to Broken Branches, a recent release by guitarist Sean Shibe and tenor Karim Sulayman. The album mixes old and new and delves into both of their musical heritages. They are such wonderful performers and make a special team. It’s also incredible what they’ve managed to cover within one album. One track in particular, ‘Li Beirut’, is just beautiful.
I’ve also been enjoying another recent album: Burnished Gold by soprano Robyn Allegra Parton and pianist Simon Lepper. The music has been cleverly chosen – it’s all associated with the Viennese Secession art movement and inspired in particular by the burnished gold leaf used by Gustav Klimt. My favourite track is ‘Sommertage’ from Berg’s song cycle Sieben frühe Lieder (Seven Early Songs). The playing and singing are both wonderful.
I was taken to The Speakeasy in Dalston to see the Solem Quartet and singer Alice Zawadzki. The first half was a performance of Steve Reich’s Different Trains for string quartet and tape, which sent me down a Reich rabbit hole. Then, the second half featured songs by Kate Bush. The whole evening was magical, but these arrangements were something else altogether. A unique occasion.
And also…
There is a Bounce ping pong bar near my home, where you can eat, drink and – most importantly – play ping pong. My husband took me a few weeks ago, and I have been obsessed ever since. I want to be one of those irritating people who, when asked ‘Do you play ping pong?’, answer ‘ooh… a bit’ – and then proceed to thrash you!
Gweneth Ann Rand appears at the Oxford International Song Festival on 20 October
Zubin Kanga Pianist I always enjoy discovering new and really beautiful approaches to music that I already know. I’ve been listening to pianist Víkingur Ólafsson’s Debussy – Rameau album and I really love his playing; it brings out the colour of the music, the rhythmic clarity and the fact that there are so many Baroque references in Debussy which relate to Rameau. It shows how Rameau is really playing with colour and character study, things that relate to a lot of later keyboard music.
Since I’ve been using synthesizers I’ve been exploring a lot of the synth pioneers, such as Ryuichi Sakamoto. I was listening to his album async from the mid 2010s; it was around the time he was diagnosed with cancer and it’s definitely more sombre and introspective. And, going back, there’s stuff like Thousand Knives, which is from the 1970s when he was a student. It’s amazing and sounds so fresh
