Yes, you know by now that I keep track of Bert van der Wolf's recording projects. I've been holding my reviews of the two releases below because I keep hoping to add yet a third release along with them—wishfully the first release from Bert's new High Street Studio recording studio, HERE. But, alas, while Bert's been active, and that first recording from the new studio in the works, nothing additional has yet been released. These two recordings are just too good to keep sitting on. So, I hope you enjoy the commentary below and that you will seek these out. The Channa Malkin Fury/Mercy is a barn burner, filled with felicities—a five star release if there ever was one. And the Vermeulen and Schulze In Heaven release is one of the more intriguingly creative sets of performances I've enjoyed recently.
Vivaldi, Fury/Mercy, Channa Malkin (soprano), La Sfera Armoniosa, Mike Fentross. Challenge Classics | Northstar Recordings (DSD256, DXD*, Stereo, MCh) HERE
These performances are magical. I did not know any of the works, but I was completely enthralled by Channa Malkin's renditions of these pieces. Her voice is marvelous, her shaping of phrases and intonation sublime, her control is phenomenal. Her expressiveness brings great vitality and authenticity to the music. One can feel her giving her performances her complete conviction and total investment of energy, spontaneity, and emotion.
And, no, I don't understand a word of Italian. I was just completely taken away by the emotions being communicated in her singing.
And partnering with her beautifully is the ever excellent early music ensemble, La Sfera Armoniosa, under the direction of Mike Fentross. They match Malkin's energy, while Fentross' continuo playing and direction provide a coherent structure throughout as he does in so many of his other recordings.
Together, these musicians present an emotionally charged, deeply engaging, Vivaldi's vocal and instrumental works as they move between operatic arias, sacred motets, and concerti. It is an album that nourishes the soul as the artists move through the human spectrum of emotions.
Classictic describes the music this way in it's announcement of program presenting the release of the album (HERE):
"FURY / MERCY is a musical ode to the power of anger and how it can change. In our society, anger, especially among women, is still often seen as negative or inappropriate. In Vivaldi's music, on the contrary, anger is given full play. His compositions reveal a full emotional storm: from the implacable anger of God to the rage of a betrayed lover. That anger slowly transforms, through the most beautiful melodies, into a plea for forgiveness—and finally into peace and grace. Vivaldi's music dares to allow every feeling, from fierce anger to deep vulnerability. And he invites us to do the same."
The program opens with music from La fida ninfa, where betrayal and longing unfold through heartbreakingly intimate arias. It then journeys through the thunderous outcry of Armatae face et anguibus from Juditha Triumphans, into the serene and redemptive beauty of the motet In furore iustissimae irae. Along the way, the album draws on lesser-known Vivaldi gems—such as the Concerto in D Minor "Madrigalesco"—all chosen and interpreted with the intent to reveal the transformative power of emotion through music.
Channa Malkin captures it all.
The recording quality is excellent. Bert van der Wolf is so completely reliable in his recording technique and the results he achieves, one can forget just how challenging it is to make a recording with such completely natural and realistic sound. I love being so spoiled by his recordings!
Channa Malkin
Mike Fentross with his theorbo
La Sfera Armoniosa recording session, Waalse Kerk, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 4-6 March, 2025
In Heaven (Songs for a trip in space), Olivia Vermeulen, Jan Philip Schulze. Challenge Classics | Northstar Recordings (DSD256, DXD*, Stereo) HERE
This is the third collaboration between mezzo-soprano Olivia Vermeulen and pianist Jan Philip Schulze (who is also an innovator with the synthesizer). Each has been a creative journey, but I think they've outdone themselves in this release—in the most positive manner possible. Taking music from such diverse composers as David Bowie, George Crumb, Olivier Messiaen, Hugo Wolf, Claude Vivier, Rebecca Clarke, Grace Slick, Gustav Mahler, Camille Saint-Saens, NASA, Johannes Brahms, Ana Sokolovic, and Robert Schubert, these artists evolve a creative musical montage around the central theme of space.
Olivia Vermeulen has a very expressive, highly communicative, and rich voice with which she is able to shape the text of these songs. She easily transitions from German lieder, to modern Grace Slick, to the vocal gymnastics of Olivier Messiaen, to the spoken word (Sprechgesang) style of Eric Idle—member of the British comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band the Rutles.
Jan Philip Schulze creates a musical dreamscape of great color and variety, combining piano, percussion, and synthesizer.
Together, Vermeulen and Schulze create performances that are virtuosic, witty, theatrical, delightfully imaginative, and immensely diverse. A most enjoyable hour and a bit more of creative extravagance. Well worth hearing, and then hearing again.
As one might expect with music with synthesizer and recordings (from NASA), the final music we hear is a studio creation, overdubbed and mixed. But Bert van der Wolf has done a seamless job of assembling all the parts into a final mix that sounds remarkable seamless and holistic. As with all of Bert's releases, there is a very satisfying organic "rightness" to the final production.
Olivia Vermeulen and Jan Philip Schulze, 2025.
* For those who may ask... I'm listening to the DXD iteration, which is the format in which the album was mastered and, thus, the "edit master" from which all other resolutions are derived. As noted several times previously in other articles, in our primary system with the Playback Designs MPD-8 DAC, the edit master almost always sounds best, regardless of resolution. That may not be the case in other systems, so I encourage you to listen and compare for yourself. For example, in Ann's office system with her Teac UD-501 DAC, the DSD256 file will typically sound best.
