This substantial set dedicated to the vocal music of Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643) features the great cycle undertaken (to date) by Krijn Koetsveld and the singers of Le Nuove Musiche: all nine books of madrigals, the music in Monteverdi collections such as the Selva Morale e Spirituale (1641), the posthumous Messa a quattro voci ed salmi (1650), and the individual works by Monteverdi compiled in the collections of others, the so-called Fragments. To this is joined the cycle of operas directed by Sergio Vartolo and sung by casts of Italian early music specialists, including the first recording of the five-act version of Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria.

These thoroughly researched, historically informed interpretations demonstrate Monteverdi’s pioneering and transformative role in the emergence and development of staged, dramatic vocal music. Also featured are the grand Vespers – sacred music in the Gregorian plainchant tradition but on an operatic scale – in a fantastic recording with fine Italian soloists and authentic period instruments including the early brass of La Pifarescha. Federico Bardazzi and Ensemble Felice make scrupulous interpretative decisions about the order of movements, interpolating the choral motets within the prescribed sequence of psalms to great effect. Finally, there are Monteverdi’s youthful three-part canzonettas, written when the composer was 17. They are rather simpler than the madrigals, both to sing and to appreciate, but their musical worth is amply demonstrated by the largely female voices of Armoniosoincanto joined by a mixed period-instrument ensemble of flutes, violas, theorbo and harpsichord. They impart just the right light-hearted mood and dramatic impact to the playful, folkloric secular strophic poetry.

CONTENTS:

• Monteverdi: Il primo libro de madrigali, 1587
• Monteverdi: Il secondo libro de madrigali, 1590
• Monteverdi: Il terzo libro de madrigali, 1592
• Monteverdi: Il quarto libro de madrigali, 1603
• Monteverdi: Il quinto libro de madrigali, 1605
• Monteverdi: Il sesto libro de madrigali, 1614
• Monteverdi: Il settimo libro de madrigali, 1619 'Concerto'
• Monteverdi: Il ottavo libro de madrigali, 1638 'Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi'
• Monteverdi: Il nono libro de madrigali, 1651
• Monteverdi: O ciechi il tanto affaticar, SV 252
• Monteverdi: Voi ch'ascoltate
• Monteverdi: È questa vita un lampo
• Monteverdi: Spuntava il dì, SV 255
• Monteverdi: Chi vol che m’innamori
• Monteverdi: Confitebor tibi III alla francese, SV267
• Monteverdi: Gloria a 7, SV 258
• Monteverdi: Crucifixus, SV 259
• Monteverdi: Pianto della Madonna 'Iam moriar, mi fili' (sopra il Lamento dell'Arianna), SV 288
• Monteverdi: Et resurrexit, a quattro
• Monteverdi: Et iterum
• Monteverdi: Laudate Dominum in sancta Eius
• Monteverdi: Salve Regina, SV 285
• Monteverdi: Laudate Dominum
• Monteverdi: Beatus vir (from Selva Morale e Spirituali)
• Monteverdi: Sanctorum meritis (Primo)
• Monteverdi: Dixit [Dominus] Primo
• Monteverdi: Ab aeternum, SV 262
• Monteverdi: Confitebor tibi Domine, SV266
• Monteverdi: Memento Domine David
• Monteverdi: Laudate pueri Primo
• Monteverdi: Salve Regina, SV 284
• Monteverdi: Laudate Dominum omnes gentes II
• Monteverdi: Magnificat Primo
• Monteverdi: Gloria (1641)
• Monteverdi: Dixit Dominus secondo a8 SV 192
• Monteverdi: Deus tuorum militum sors et corona
• Monteverdi: Confitebor tibi, Domine
• Monteverdi: Iste confessor
• Monteverdi: Beatus vir (second setting)
• Monteverdi: Ut queant laxis, hymnus sancti Joannis
• Monteverdi: Laudate pueri (Secondo)
• Monteverdi: Deus tuorum militum sors et corona
• Monteverdi: Credidi propter quod locutus sum, SV 275
• Monteverdi: Jubilet a voce sola in dialogo
• Monteverdi: Magnificat (Secondo)
• Monteverdi: Salve Regina
• Monteverdi: Laudate Dominum
• Monteverdi: Canzonette
• Monteverdi: Vespro della beata Vergine (1610)
• Monteverdi: Cantate Domino
• Monteverdi: O beatae viae
• Monteverdi: Currite populi
• Monteverdi: Ego flos campi
• Monteverdi: Venite, venite
• Monteverdi: Christe, adoramus te
• Monteverdi: O quam pulchra es
• Monteverdi: Salve Regina
• Monteverdi: Fuge, anima mea
• Monteverdi: Sancta Maria
• Monteverdi: Domine, ne il furore
• Monteverdi: Ego dormio
• Monteverdi: Ecce sacrum paratum
• Monteverdi: Salve Regina
• Monteverdi: O bone Jesu, o piissime Jesu
• Monteverdi: En gratulemur hodie, SV 302
• Monteverdi: Laudate Dominum omnes gentes
• Monteverdi: Adoramus te, Christe
• Monteverdi: Messa a 4 voci da Cappella (1650)
• Monteverdi: Dixit [Dominus] Primo
• Monteverdi: Confitebor tibi, Domine
• Monteverdi: Nisi Dominus a 6, SV201
• Monteverdi: Laudate pueri
• Monteverdi: Laetatus sum
• Monteverdi: Lauda Jerusalem a 3, SV202
• Monteverdi: Beatus vir (from Selva Morale e Spirituali)
• Monteverdi: Magnificat Primo
• Monteverdi: Missa 'In illo tempore' (1610)
• Monteverdi: Dixit Dominus II
• Monteverdi: Confitebor tibi Domine II, SV194
• Monteverdi: Nisi Dominus a 6, SV201
• Monteverdi: Laudate Dominum, SV197a
• Monteverdi: Laetatus sum
• Monteverdi: Laetaniae della Beata Vergine a 6 voci
• Monteverdi: Lauda Jerusalem a 5, SV203
• Monteverdi: L'Orfeo
• Monteverdi: Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
• Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea

Following Sony Classical’s 16-CD release of Artur Rodziński’s New York Philharmonic recordings, here is the label’s eagerly awaited 13-disc collection of his complete recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra, which Rodziński headed from 1933 to 1943. The fiery, volatile Polish conductor (1892–1958) – whose lean, propulsive style emulated that of his idol Toscanini – earned a reputation as a builder of great orchestras: he led and developed the Los Angeles Philharmonic before taking up his position in Cleveland. In 1935, he brought nationwide attention to the midwestern orchestra when he conducted it in the US première of Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. During his tenure in Cleveland, Rodziński moulded its orchestra into a brilliant ensemble which his successor, George Szell, would then elevate to international pre-eminence. Meanwhile, Rodziński was also active in Europe, becoming the first naturalized American to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival. There Toscanini admired his work and in 1938 picked him to train his new NBC Symphony Orchestra. In Cleveland between 1939 and 1942, Rodziński conducted a number of important recordings for Columbia Masterworks, all of them contained in this new set.

With dedicatee Louis Krasner as soloist, he made the first studio recording of the Berg Violin Concerto. His other acclaimed 78-sets include the Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade (“among the finest statements ever given this incorrigibly popular score” – High Fidelity), Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, the Fifth Symphony of Tchaikovsky (“Remarkable here is the tension of the second movement and the heroic close to the first” – Gramophone) as well as those of Sibelius and Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet (“Unsullied excitement” – Gramophone), Debussy’s La Mer and the orchestral “scenario” from Jerome Kern’s Show Boat – plus a previously unreleased recording of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Nathan Milstein. Until now, most of these albums have only been released on 78s and reissued on LP. Thus Sony Classical’s meticulously transferred and mastered 13-disc collection of Rodziński’s Cleveland recordings fills a large gap in this still widely admired conductor’s CD discography.

Sony Classical is pleased to announce an important reissue of works by Carlos Chávez, one of the most influential figures in the history of Mexican music. Most of these recordings, which span the years 1938 to 1980, are conducted by Chávez himself and have never appeared before on CD.

CONTENTS:

• Buxtehude: Ciacona in E minor, BuxWV160
• Chávez: Danza a Centeotl (from the Ballet 'Los cuatro soles')
• Chávez: El venado
• Chávez: Huapango de Vera Cruz
• Chávez: La bamba
• Chávez: La paloma azul
• Chávez: Los Cuatro Soles
• Chávez: Pirámide (Ballet in four acts)
• Chávez: Soli I
• Chávez: Soli II
• Chávez: Soli IV
• Chávez: Sones Mariachi for Small Mexican Orchestra
• Chávez: Symphony No. 1 ‘Sinfonía de Antígona'
• Chávez: Symphony No. 2 ‘Sinfonía India'
• Chávez: Symphony No. 3
• Chávez: Symphony No. 4: ‘Sinfonía Romántica'
• Chávez: Symphony No. 5
• Chávez: Symphony No. 6
• Chávez: Violin Concerto
• Chávez: Xochipili
• Chávez: Yaqui Music de Sonora

Sony Classical is pleased to present a special edition of Leonard Bernstein’s American Columbia recordings from the 1950s and 1960s. Some of the conductor-composer’s most celebrated interpretations and works are collected here on these carefully chosen 10 original albums on 11 CDs. 

There is, of course, the still-astonishing album that launched Leonard Bernstein’s international reputation as the most dynamic and charismatic conductor of his era, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring recorded in January 1958 – two months after his appointment as the youngest music director in the New York Philharmonic’s history. Reviewing a 2013 reissue, ClassicsToday.com declared: “It has an excitement, spontaneity, and primal fury that no other version quite matches.” 

The Bernstein recording that launched the “Mahler Renaissance” in the 1960s is also here: his Third Symphony with the New York Philharmonic, which has arguably never been surpassed. And while we’re talking about Third Symphonies, Bernstein’s “Eroica” still sounds “wonderfully vibrant” (Gramophone) a half century after its first release. There is also his reading of Dvořák’s most popular symphony – “There’s no such thing as a ‘definitive’ recording [of the “New World”], but if there were, this one would come close to that imagined ideal” (ClassicsToday) – and two from Haydn’s magnificent “Paris” set: “It’s debatable whether there have been better performances” (ClassicalNet).  

Bernstein himself conducts and plays Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (“The one indispensable recording of this familiar work, paired with an equally fine American in Paris” – New York Times). Bernstein the pianist also accompanies Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, at the peak of his matchless career, in an acclaimed album of Mahler lieder. The ballets Rodeo and Billy the Kid by Bernstein’s mentor and friend Aaron Copland are included: “Even the composer couldn't make [them] dance the way Bernstein does” (New York Times).  

Bernstein the composer is also generously represented. The original Broadway cast recording of Candide from 1956 is included, as is the definitive version of his most famous work: the original Broadway cast recording of West Side Story from 1957. 

The re-masterings in this new collection are the best ever issued of these thrilling recordings by one of the last century’s greatest musicians, selected from the Grammy® award-winning Leonard Bernstein – The Composer and the Leonard Bernstein – Remastered editions. Sony Classical’s new 11-CD Leonard Bernstein box set is the perfect introduction to the work of this American genius.

Past praise of previously released recordings included in this set:

Mahler: Symphony No. 3 / Lipton, Bernstein, NYP

This was the finest performance of Mahler’s Third when it was first issued back in 1962, and in some ways it has never been surpassed. Bernstein catches the riotous vulgarity of the first movement march music like no other conductor–not even his own digital remake reaches the level of sheer abandon he whips up here, and he also has the best of all fifth movements (bright and cheery, with dazzlingly prominent percussion).

-- ClassicsToday.com (10/10; David Hurwitz)

Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 / Bernstein, NYP

There’s no such thing as a “definitive” recording, but if there were, this one would come close to that imagined ideal. Its special qualities haven’t dimmed a bit in decades since it was recorded, and every interpretive decision comes across with the inevitability of fate itself. First, you get the first-movement exposition repeat (very unusual for its time), then there’s the very slow (but still very flowing) Largo, gorgeously played and far from the trudge-fest that Bernstein would make of for DG. The scherzo goes like the wind, the fastest ever, and the finale offers simply the last word in excitement. If you don’t own this performance in some form, then you don’t know the “New World”.

-- ClassicsToday.com (10/10; David Hurwitz)

This collection stands as a valuable time capsule from which one comes away with a fuller understanding of Iturbi’s prominence in American wartime and postwar culture.

The complete RCA Victor Recordings by José Iturbi from 1933 to 1953, include his piano duo recordings with sister Amparo Iturbi as well as Amparo Iturbi’s solo recordings on 16 CDs, restored and remastered from the original lacquer discs and analogue tapes using high-resolution 24 bit/192 kHz mastering technology with about 95% of the recordings appearing on CD for the first time and 23 pieces previously unreleased. As well as a new, captivating essay by Grammy-nominated singer, pianist, and music anthropologist Michael Feinstein on the life and work of José Iturbi and a photo book with previously unseen photos and facsimiles from the Iturbi Archives in Hollywood.

There was a time when classical music was a natural part of Hollywood. From the moments with Jascha Heifetz in They Shall Have Music (1939) to the unrivaled performances of Oscar Levant and Isaac Stern in Humoresque (1946). In its Golden Era, Hollywood adorned itself with the Who's Who of classical music. Today, alongside icons such as Marylin Monroe and James Dean, the names of Leonard Bernstein, Maria Callas and Arturo Toscanini, as well as Rudolf Serkin, Joseph Szigeti, or José Iturbi were immortalized on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. This edition is a loving homage to Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s, made possible through the generous support of the José Iturbi Foundation and the Hollywood Museum Board of Directors, who contributed to the lavish restoration of many previously lost unpublished recordings. The publication was also made possible by contributions of singer, pianist, and music archivist Michael Feinstein, the Ambassador for the Great American Songbook.

REVIEW:

During the 1940s and 1950s the “World’s Most Popular Classical Pianist” mantle fell comfortably upon José Iturbi (1895-1980). His recognition as a radio personality led to a movie career that yielded ten feature films between 1943 and 1951 where the pianist mostly starred as himself. Yet for all of Iturbi’s renown, he was hardly a poseur. He worked with Wanda Landowska in Paris, and gave Stravinsky’s Piano Rag Music its world premiere, as well as the first complete Carnegie Hall performance of Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes.

He also conducted. When Eugene Ormandy assumed the Philadelphia Orchestra’s music directorship in 1936, his chief rival for the position was Iturbi, who wound up taking charge of the Rochester Philharmonic that same year. Once Hollywood beckoned, however, Iturbi became the brunt of intellectual critics, who basically wrote him off as a sell-out and an artistic lightweight.

Time, of course, brings perspective, and Sony/BMG’s lavishly produced 16-CD collection containing Iturbi’s complete RCA Victor recordings invites a fairly thorough examination of the musician behind the personality, plus an opportunity to reassess a largely forgotten body of recorded work. A 188-page coffee table book contains photos in abundance, with all original-jacket artwork represented, including the most politically incorrect cover art ever to grace Dvorák’s “New World” symphony. We get complete session and release discographies, an Iturbi filmography, plus a brilliant in-depth biographical essay by Michael Feinstein, who co-produced this collection with Robert Russ.

It’s a pity that the session discography is not cross-referenced to corresponding CD tracks, not to mention the absence of a discography by composer. This makes it difficult to navigate the contents with ease, especially in works that Iturbi recorded more than once. For example, it took some sleuthing on my part to discover that Discs 5 and 11 each contained the Liszt Liebestraum No. 3, Schumann Arabeske, Debussy Reverie, and Chopin Polonaise in A-flat Op. 53, and that the performances were not identical.

With few notable exceptions, Iturbi’s solo recordings mostly consist of short, encore-length pieces. He’s especially at home in Spanish music: Iturbi’s accentuation, phrasing, and timing throughout Falla’s Ritual Fire Dance define perfection, while he shapes Granados’ Spanish Dance No. 2 (“Oriental’) with sensitivity and tenderness. Classical selections also stand out for Iturbi’s bracing articulation. True, the outer movements of his Mozart K. 331 and 332 sonata recordings are overly facile and insufficiently inflected when measured alongside contemporaneous Mozartean rivals like Schnabel, Gieseking, Fischer, and Haskil. Yet the sheer evenness and poised symmetry of Iturbi’s finger-work easily explains why pianists like Julius Katchen and William Kapell praised his Mozart.

Iturbi also revels in the Haydn C major Theme and Variations’ sly wit. By contrast, introspection and sobriety characterize Iturbi’s measured unfolding of Beethoven’s Andante favori. Similar gravitas elevates Paderewski’s Minuet in G to near-masterpiece status. Iturbi’s virtuosic glitter befits his dashing Saint-Saëns Allegro appassionato more than in his glib Liszt Les jeux d’eaux à la Villa d’Este.

Iturbi’s Chopin hits and misses. His Mazurkas lack the ardency and rhythmic snap that distinguishes a Second Scherzo that gets better as it progresses. Also note the pianist’s dotting the duple rhythms in the A-flat Polonaise’s main theme that Horowitz, Rubinstein, and Lhevinne play straight on their rival RCA versions.

The later recordings reveal Iturbi’s pianism losing some of its erstwhile luster and subtlety, possibly exaggerated by the close microphone placement and twangy patina typical of late 1940s/early 1950s piano recordings stemming from RCA’s Hollywood recording studio. For example, the two Debussy Arabesques recorded in New York in 1939 have a supple elegance missing in their glassy-sounding 1950 Hollywood counterparts (sound clips). The blustery, hard-toned, and harshly engineered Liszt Concerto No. 1, Mendelssohn Concerto No. 1, and Beethoven Concerto No. 3 were non-starters in their day, with the piano way up in the mix, relegating the crackerjack RCA Symphony musicians to doormat status. Still, the Mendelssohn’s outer movements feature some of Iturbi’s most scintillating pianism on disc.

While Iturbi’s two-piano distribution of the solo part of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is surprisingly effective and discreet, he and his pianist sister Amparo turn in a crass, alternately whipped up, and sappily sentimentalized interpretation. Works of Mozart, Debussy, and Milhaud better represent their dazzling ensemble rapport, but again, the boxy, claustrophobic engineering undermines their efforts. Similar dryness typifies Amparo’s idiomatic solo recordings of Spanish repertoire. Still, it’s nice to have her rare 1954 Granados Goyescas back in circulation, although it pales alongside Alicia de Larrocha’s far more nuanced and texturally differentiated interpretation from the following year.

The collection also showcases Iturbi’s work on the podium. His 1940 Rochester Philharmonic versions of the Mozart D minor and Beethoven C minor concertos are more judiciously balanced than his orchestrally superior 1952 RCA Victor Symphony remakes. Each contains lively and engaging outer movements that flank wooden, hard-toned slow movements.

Iturbi’s 1951 Liszt Hungarian Fantasy with the Valencia Symphony Orchestra has a snarling rawness that differs from the sheen and suavity of the 1952 Arrau/Ormandy and late 1940s Solomon and Moiseiwitsch editions. As with many second-tier American orchestras in the 1940s, the Rochester Philharmonic boasted strong strings but less proficient winds and brass. Consequently, Iturbi’s Mendelssohn “Scottish” Symphony took a back seat to Mitropoulos’ powerful 1941 Minneapolis version, while the aforementioned Dvorák New World lacked the Szell/Czech Philharmonic recording’s flavorful ensemble discipline.

The prize of Iturbi’s Rochester discography is a snazzy and brilliantly turned-out Morton Gould “Latin American” Symphonette, which is surprisingly well-engineered for its 1944 vintage. Another delightful curiosity is William J. Reddick’s Espanharlem, a brief orchestral work whose quick changing moods and jazzy underpinnings wouldn’t be out of place in a Carl Stalling Bugs Bunny cartoon soundtrack. There’s also a previously unpublished recording conducted by Werner Janssen of Iturbi’s orchestral composition Soliloquy. The piece amounts to 14 and a half minutes’ worth of rambling 1940s film music clichés filtered through third-rate Lecuona. Why Iturbi is credited as piano soloist when there’s no piano to be heard is anyone’s guess!

Notwithstanding the artistic unevenness of Iturbi’s recorded output he always had the self-respect to keep his technique in world-class repair, unlike his rival classical pianist turned media personality Oscar Levant. Still, music lovers who don’t want to go the whole hog, so to speak, are directed to APR’s 2016 three-disc solo Iturbi compilation. I also hope to see Iturbi’s post-cinema EMI recordings restored. However, beyond purely musical considerations, Sony/BMG’s collection stands as a valuable time capsule from which one comes away with a fuller understanding of Iturbi’s prominence in American wartime and postwar culture.

-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

CONTENTS:

• Mozart: Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra No. 10 in E flat, K365
• Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466
• Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, S124
• Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25
• Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
• Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
• Chambers, J C: All American
• Gould, M: Symphonette No. 4 'Latin-American'
• Reddick: Espanharlem
• Iturbi: Soliloquy
• Mozart: Sonata for 2 pianos in D major, K448
• Chabrier: Trois Valses Romantiques
• Iturbi: Spanish Dance
• Debussy: En blanc et noir
• Milhaud: Scaramouche, suite for two pianos, Op. 165b
• Nepomuceno: La siesta
• Infante: Guadalquivir
• Infante: Sevillana
• Debussy: Suite bergamasque: Clair de lune
• Liszt: Liebestraum, S541 No. 3 (Nocturne in A flat major)
• Debussy: Rêverie
• Beethoven: Für Elise (Bagatelle in A minor, WoO59)
• Schumann: Arabeske in C major, Op. 18
• Debussy: Deux arabesques, L. 66
• Falla: Dance of Terror (from El amor brujo)
• Rachmaninoff: Prelude Op. 3 No. 2 in C sharp minor
• Liszt: Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este, S. 163 No. 4)
• Falla: Ritual Fire Dance (from El amor brujo)
• Saint-Saëns: Allegro appassionato, Op. 70
• Albéniz: Malagueña (No. 3 from Espana, Op. 165)
• Chopin: Étude Op. 10 No. 12 in C minor ‘Revolutionary'
• Chopin: Polonaise No. 6 in A flat major, Op. 53 'Héroïque'
• Debussy: Estampe No. 3 - Jardins sous la pluie
• Schumann: Romance in F sharp major, Op. 28 No. 2
• Chopin: Prelude Op. 28 No. 9 in E major
• Chopin: Prelude Op. 28 No. 10 in C sharp minor
• Chopin: Prelude Op. 28 No. 15 in D flat major ‘Raindrop'
• Chopin: Nocturne No. 9 in B major, Op. 32 No. 1
• López-Chavarri: El viejo castillo moro
• Iturbi: Cancion de cuna
• Granados: Orientale (No. 2 from 12 Danzas españolas)
• Chopin: Mazurka No. 6 in A minor, Op. 7 No. 2
• Chopin: Mazurka No. 7 in F minor, Op. 7 No. 3
• Chopin: Mazurka No. 24 in C major, Op. 33 No. 3
• Chopin: Mazurka No. 27 in E minor, Op. 41 No. 2
• Chopin: Mazurka No. 25 in B minor, Op. 33 No. 4
• Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 31
• Debussy: Children's Corner
• Ravel: Jeux d'eau
• Guastavino: Gato
• Mozart: Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra No. 10 in E flat, K365
• Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466
• Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
• Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
• Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte
• Bach, J S: Passacaglia in C minor, BWV582
• Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K331 'Alla Turca'
• Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 12 in F major, K332
• Chopin: Impromptu No. 4 in C sharp minor, Op. 66 'Fantaisie-Impromptu'
• Chopin: Waltz No. 6 in D flat major, Op. 64 No. 1 'Minute Waltz'
• Chopin: Waltz No. 7 in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2
• Chopin: Mazurka No. 5 in B flat major, Op. 7 No. 1
• Albéniz: Sevilla (from Suite Española, Op. 47)
• Granados: Goyescas: Quejas ó La Maja y el Ruiseñor
• Scarlatti, D: Keyboard Sonata K27 in B minor
• Scarlatti, D: Keyboard Sonata K159 in C major 'La caccia'
• Paradies: Toccata in A
• Iturbi: Pequena danza espanola
• Beethoven: Andante Favori in F, WoO 57
• Albéniz: Cantos de España (5), Op. 232, No. 4
• Lazăr, F: Piano Sonata No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 15: III Tempo di Marcia funebre
• Saint-Saëns: Caprice arabe, Op. 96
• Debussy: L'isle joyeuse
• Infante: Danze andaluse (for 2 pianos): No. 2 Sentimento
• Debussy: Deux arabesques, L. 66
• Bach, J S: Fantasia in C minor, BWV906
• Granados: Danza española, Op. 37 No. 10 'Melancólica'
• Gould, M: Boogie Woogie Etude
• Gould, M: Blues
• Falla: Ritual Fire Dance (from El amor brujo)
• Falla: Dance of Terror (from El amor brujo)
• Debussy: Suite bergamasque: Clair de lune
• Liszt: Liebestraum, S541 No. 3 (Nocturne in A flat major)
• Chopin: Polonaise No. 6 in A flat major, Op. 53 'Héroïque'
• Schumann: Arabeske in C major, Op. 18
• Debussy: Rêverie
• Haydn: Theme and Variations in C major, Hob.XVII:5
• Paderewski: Minuet in G major, Op. 14 No. 1
• Beethoven: Für Elise (Bagatelle in A minor, WoO59)
• Schumann: Träumerei (from Kinderszenen, Op. 15)
• Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte
• Rachmaninoff: Humoresque in G major, Op. 10 No. 5
• Infante: Danses andalouses
• Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, Op. 37b: June (Barcarolle)
• Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, Op. 37b: November (Troika)
• Mussorgsky: Une Larme (A Tear)
• Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 'Scottish'
• Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 'From the New World'
• Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody, S244 No. 14 in F minor
• Falla: El sombrero de tres picos: Dance of the Neighbours (Seguidillas)
• Falla: El sombrero de tres picos: Danza del molinero (farruca)
• Falla: El sombrero de tres picos: Final Dance (Jota)
• Palau Boix: Marche burlesque
• Palau Boix: Hommage a Debussy
• Iturbi: Seguidillas
• Cuesta: Danza valenciana in A major
• Falla: Siete Canciones populares españolas
• Turina: Homenaje a Lope de Vega, Op. 90: I. Cuando tan hermosa os miro
• Granados: Danza española, Op. 37 No. 8 'Sardana'
• Granados: Danza española, Op. 37 No. 12 'Arabesca'
• Granados: Danza española, Op. 37 No. 9 'Romántica'
• Turina: Mujeres Españolas, Series 1, Op. 17: 2. La andaluza sentimental
• Turina: Mujeres Españolas, Series 1, Op. 17: 3. La morena coqueta
• Infante: Pochades andalouses: Canto flamenco
• Infante: ochades andalouses: Danse gitane
• Infante: Pochades andalouses: Aniers sur la route de Seville
• Infante: Pochades andalouses: Tientos
• Albéniz: Granada (from Suite española No. 1, Op. 47)
• Albéniz: Córdoba (No. 4 from Cantos de España, Op. 232)
• Cuesta: Danza valenciana in G major
• Lecuona: Malagueña
• Griffes: The White Peacock
• Infante: Guadalquivir
• Infante: Pochades andalouses: Ritmo
• Mozart: Sonata for 2 pianos in D major, K448: Allegro molto
• Granados: El Pelele
• Granados: Goyescas (piano suite)
• Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales
• Chabrier: Scherzo-valse (No. 10 from Pièces pittoresques)
• Chabrier: Idylle (No. 6 from Pièces pittoresques)
• Chabrier: Bourrée Fantasque
• Schubert: Valses Sentimentales, D 779 Op. 50 (Excerpts)
• Schubert: 12 Valses Nobles, D 969 Op. 77: selection
• López-Chavarri: Danza de las labradoras Valencianas
• Shostakovich: Prelude for piano, Op. 34 No. 2 in A minor
• Shostakovich: Prelude for piano, Op. 34 No. 14 in E flat minor
• Shostakovich: Prelude for piano, Op. 34 No. 24 in D minor
• Fauré: Impromptu No. 3 in A flat major Op. 34
• Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 13 in B flat major, K333

Sony Classical is pleased to announce a new batch of reissues from the CBS/Sony and RCA Victor/BMG back catalogues. This latest instalment of the popular series showcases Mozart and Chopin along with conductor Robert Craft’s pioneering Webern recordings and the global journeys of that irrepressible musical explorer Yo-Yo Ma.

Between 1966 and 1974, Glenn Gould paid repeated visits to Columbia’s New York studio to record the piano sonatas of Mozart. Often revelatory, sometimes quirky, but always stimulating, these controversial readings tell us as much about the performer’s own endlessly fascinating musical mind and his conflicting attitudes to Mozart as they do about the composer’s genius at the keyboard. But no other classical sonatas – not even Beethoven’s – were paid the tribute of an integral recording by Glenn Gould. His delight in playing them can be heard throughout this set. Sony Classical is now reissuing the 18 sonatas and two fantasias in a remastered 4-album box.

REVIEW:

Every time I return to Glenn Gould’s set of the Mozart piano sonatas, I’m both aghast and, in some weird way, inspired. Take K310, where the central Andante cantabile rises to an awesome central climax, played staccato, but where the first movement is less Allegro maestoso than Allegro frenetico! Or there’s that strangest of beasts (in Gould’s hands), K331, the opening theme taken so slowly that it sounds as if a (very) young Glenn is tackling it for the first time, head buried in the music, humming away. Yes, things do return to a semblance of normality, though the finale is less ‘alla turca’ than a proud ‘cock o’ the walk’ Turkish trot. Then there are the two Fantasias, K397 in D minor taken at a deathly slow tempo filled with pregnant pauses, a spooky enactment with dark shadows lurking around every corner. Gould’s approach to Mozart in many respects courts extremes but I challenge you to sample any of it and not want to return, if only for a handful of spot checks. It may be outlandish but it’s also utterly fascinating.

--Gramophone (Rob Cowan)

Sony Classical is pleased to announce a new batch of reissues from the CBS/Sony and RCA Victor/BMG back catalogues. This latest instalment of the popular series showcases Mozart and Chopin along with conductor Robert Craft’s pioneering Webern recordings and the global journeys of that irrepressible musical explorer Yo-Yo Ma.

The supremely versatile Yo-Yo Ma has been aptly referred to as a musical omnivore. In addition to all the significant classical works written for his instrument, the eclectic cellist has passionately embraced the music of Latin America and Asia as well as American bluegrass and jazz. Seven of his most adventurous and acclaimed musical journeys have been collected by Sony Classical in a CD box entitled “Crossing Borders”. They include Appalachia Waltz and Appalachian Journey with Mark O’Connor and Edgar Meyer (Grammy 1998: “Best Classical Crossover Album”); Soul of the Tango – The Music of Astor Piazzolla (Grammy 1997: “Best Classical Crossover Album”); Obrigado Brazil – traditional songs and compositions by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Pixinguinha (Grammy 2000: “Best Classical Crossover Album”); Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet and Japanese Melodies; Anything Goes: the cellist playing mostly Cole Porter with Stephane Grappelli; and, last but not least: Hush, his famous collaboration with Bobby McFerrin.

Review excerpts of previously released volumes included in this set:

Appalachian Journey / Yo-Yo Ma, O'Connor, Meyer

The Mark O’Connor/Yo-Yo Ma/Edgar Meyer power trio took a while to follow up their 1996 hit Appalachia Waltz, yet, no doubt about it, Appalachian Journey was worth the long wait. I love the gnarly funk of the opening cut, “1B”, with hard swinging fiddle and cello lines anchored by Meyer’s earthy, off-center pedal points. The less driving, more reflective reels, and lyrical Duet for Cello and Bass fuse bluegrass, wistful folk tunes, and stark Copland-esque landscapes into organic wholes that sound better with each rehearing. The deliciously virtuosic Caprice for Three proves that players of this caliber can channel their super-chops toward listening out loud. Guest vocal stints by James Taylor and Alison Krauss add the spice of variety to the mix, along with a potential wider audience. And why not? The arrangements are judiciously varied, perfectly paced, and exploit the violin/cello/string bass configuration in ingenuous ways. One wonders how this trio might approach certain pieces over a looser, more extended improvisational time frame. I hope we won’t have to wait another three and a half years to find out. If you’re in a blue mood, this disc will provide an antidote with long-range positive side effects. Fun, fun stuff.

-- ClassicsToday.com (10/10, Jed Distler)

Obrigado Brazil / Yo-Yo Ma:

The music on this enchanting, flavorful CD varies from classical to samba to bossa nova; the combinations range from guitar, flute, and cello to female voice (the remarkable Rosa Passos), cello, guitar, percussion, piano, and bass; to simple cello and piano; to cello and two guitars. The overriding element is rhythm; each selection has a beat which is both infectious and sensual, but the contexts are splendidly varied. It's impossible to get bored or tired listening to this creative CD; it's unique--just like Yo-Yo Ma himself--and endlessly surprising. It may not be quite what we'd call "classical" music, but it is many kinds of music, and they all will delight. The other musicians are as impressive on their instruments as Ma is with his cello, and that's saying a great deal.

-- ClassicsToday.com (Robert Levine)

Silk Road Journeys - When Strangers Meet

Silk Road Journeys is an invigorating, eye-opening ride. To be sure, some pieces fare better than others, but as with any unforgettable trip, you tend to forget the occasional bumps you hit along unknown roads. Our guides are a generally stellar selection of master artists, including the luminary pipa player Wu Man and kemencheh and setar player Kayhan Kalhor. These two musicians in particular can go head-to-head in virtuosity with Yo-Yo Ma any day. Complemented by cleanly articulated sound, Sony Classical has produced a real keeper in its Yo-Yo Ma catalog, but the cellist makes his collaborators the true focus of this album.

Kevin Puts is one of America’s most exciting and important composers. His first opera, Silent Night, with a libretto by Mark Campbell, was commissioned by Minnesota Opera. It premiered in 2011 and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize. A work profound and sweeping emotional power, it has since entered the modern operatic repertoire with remarkable speed, enjoying world-wide performances. The opera is based on Christian Carion’s screen-play for the 2005 French war film Joyeux Noël, and its fictionalized subject is the series of Christmas truces on the Western Front in 1914.

REVIEWS:

American composer Kevin Puts’ first opera, Silent Night, with a libretto by Mark Campbell, was commissioned by Minnesota Opera, the house where this live recording was made. The opera's subject is the Christmas truce on the Western Front in 1914.

Various languages are used in the opera, German, French, English, Italian, and even Latin.

Puts and Campbell have packed the serious theme into a complex score, very colorful and modern in style, with painfully dissonant and wonderfully lyrical moments. Overall, the opera is good for an impressive musical experience, though the question is whether the visuals of the theatrical experience are missing from the audio recording. On the other hand, with just the audio there is more focus on the music, and it is, after all, quite expressive and convincingly performed in this live recording.

-- Pizzicato

As we have already heard in his orchestral works, Puts is a highly compelling and innovative orchestrator, and here he is equally compelling in the field of opera where he works within the conventions of solos, duets and choruses. They are then brought together by the British-born conductor, Courtney Lewis. It is not the type of story you can enjoy, but the opera, which takes two hours, must rank amongst the most outstanding staged in recent times. Add to this the ideally balanced recording, and it becomes self-recommending. The twin disc comes with English. This, and the slim two disc jewel case with notes on the artists, is then presented in a cardboard box.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)

On two highly praised albums, Susanna Mälkki and her players in the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra have released recordings of Béla Bartók’s three scores for the stage – The Miraculous Mandarin, The Wooden Prince and Bluebeard’s Castle, all written before 1918. The team now takes on two of his late orchestral masterpieces. Composed in 1936 for the Basel Chamber Orchestra, Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta is one of the purest examples of Bartók’s mature style, with its synthesis of folk music, classicism and modernism. One immediately striking feature is the unusual instrumentation: two string orchestras seated on opposite sides of the stage, with percussion and keyboard instruments in the middle and towards the back. In 1940, during the Second World War, Bartók emigrated to the U.S.A., where he initially found it difficult to compose. In 1943 he received a prestigious commission from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, however, and in less than eight weeks he composed the Concerto for Orchestra. In it he worked with contrasts between different sections of the orchestra, and the soloistic treatment of these groupings was his reason for calling the work a concerto rather than a symphony.

REVIEW:

There hasn’t been a coupling of these two iconic works this successful in, well, decades. Usually the pieces get divided between different performers, or if it’s the same forces throughout, one work comes off better than the other. Not here. Start with the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. No one (except possibly Reiner) attempts to play it at Bartók’s indicated timings–around six+ minutes per movement. Everyone is slower, and often rightly so, but sometimes rather too much slower. Mälkki sounds just about perfect: in the range of seven minutes per movement, with an eerily flowing opening fugue, a ferocious second movement Allegro, a terrifying Adagio (listen to those timpani glissandos at the bottom of the texture), and a finale that features an imaginative and characterful flexibility of tempo, highlighting its dance-like character. The Helsinki strings play with extraordinary discipline, even if some of the “special effects” such as col legno bowing could resister more strongly. Never mind. It’s a great performance.

So is that of the Concerto for Orchestra. Perhaps the best thing I can say about it is that it sounds like a genuine collaborative effort between conductor and orchestra. Mälkki keeps the music flowing, reveling in the fine ensemble that the Helsinki Philharmonic has become: the brass fugato in the first movement, the “games of pairs” in the second, or the eerie woodwind solos in the brooding Elegia–nothing here is less than world-class. In the finale, Mälkki finds an idea balance between hard-driving forward movement and precision of articulation. She also keep something especially exciting in reserve for the coda, which dashes away thrillingly. BIS has captured the entire production in powerfully present, tactile sound that really lets you hear down through the ensemble, from top to bottom. This really is an exceptional release. If you love this music, be sure to hear it.

– ClassicsToday.com (10/10; David Hurwitz)

This very special release includes the legendary concert of the Original Three Tenors - José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, conducted by Zubin Mehta at the Terme di Caracalla, Rome 1990 on the eve of the Football World Cup in Italy, watched by 1.6 billion spectators worldwide. For the first time available on Blu-ray, digitally remastered! This edition includes the new documentary The Three Tenors - From Caracalla to the World featuring recent interviews with José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Zubin Mehta, Pavarotti‘s widow Nicoletta Mantovani, Lalo Shifrin, Brian Large, Mario Dradi, Paul Potts, Sir Bryn Terfel, Norman Lebrecht, Didier de Cottignies and many more. Previously unpublished backstage material shows the tenors unadorned and offers a fascinating insight into what takes place beyond the spotlight in Rome, 1990 and the sequel in Los Angeles, 1994. The film takes a completely new look at the concert legends. For the first time, they talk about José Carreras‘ struggles with leukemia, their rivalries and friendships, their spectacular contract poker and life as an opera star.

Following up its widely acclaimed reissues of the Juilliard Quartet’s complete Epic and RCA Victor albums – originally issued between 1956 and 1960 – Sony Classical is excited to present a new box set collecting the earliest albums of this august American ensemble. Made between 1949 and 1956 in Columbia’s studio on Manhattan’s 30th St., these landmark recordings are mostly new to CD.

From its first appearances in New York, the Juilliard Quartet was identified as a champion of modern music. Its first recordings for American Columbia, all included here, were dedicated to the works of Alban Berg and Béla Bartók (then only recently deceased), as well as to Arnold Schoenberg (still very much alive), and to active American composers including William Schuman. But the heart of this release comprising 16 newly mastered CDs and also featuring works by Mozart, Ravel, Webern, Milhaud, Copland, Peter Mennin, Alexei Haieff and Andrew Imbrie, are three discs containing the premiere of Béla Bartók’s six quartets on records, which were set down in 1949. They appeared on LP and 78s the following year, bringing the Juilliard Quartet its first real celebrity. Recorded on 78-rpm shellacs rather than on tape, this path-breaking set thus consists of live, unedited performances. When reissued some years ago on CD – the only portion of the new Sony Classical box set ever to have appeared before on silver discs – it was rapturously praised in Fanfare magazine for “its joy of discovery, which remains completely fresh and vivid” even though numerous other traversals of the Bartók cycle had appeared in the meantime.

Another Juilliard milestone was the premiere of Arnold Schoenberg’s four quartets on records, set down in 1951–52. At last, all these historic Juilliard String Quartet recordings are available to today’s music lovers.

REVIEWS:

[An] engrossing 16-disc box set of [the Juilliard Quartet's] earliest recordings for the Columbia label, many appearing on disc for the first time.

What other quartet of that era would have made its recorded debut not with standard repertoire but with a cantata by Darius Milhaud, written just a few years before? There are works here by composers both renowned (Berg, Webern, Copland) and virtually forgotten (Peter Mennin, Alexei Haieff), all rendered in the Juilliard’s trademark sound: X-ray clear and devoid of schmaltz.

Two complete cycles anchor the set: Bartok (the first recording of his six quartets) and Schoenberg. Given how unfamiliar these works were at the time, the Juilliard’s confidence and authority is stunning. Subsequent recordings may have disclosed other aspects of this repertory, but that does not dampen the freshness and sense of discovery audible here.

-- The New York Times

If patience is a virtue, then fans of the Juilliard String Quartet’s earliest records must be saints. For only now have these much-cherished monaural recordings returned to circulation, some 70 years after their debuts, in a new 16-CD set from Sony Classical titled “Juilliard String Quartet: The Early Columbia Recordings, 1949-56.” The quartet, currently observing its 75th anniversary, is still going strong, though the present ensemble naturally comprises personnel entirely different from those selected for the group at its founding in 1946 by the composer William Schuman, then president of the famed Juilliard School in New York.

Sony has been good to the Juilliard, having previously released important sets of recordings from a bit later in the group’s life, specifically the 1950s and ’60s, when the quartet made what quickly became fabled discs for Epic and RCA Victor. The addition of this box means the quartet’s early prime is now thoroughly documented. (That said, good luck acquiring those Epic and RCA reissues, which were quicky snatched up—something worth keeping in mind while pondering this latest one.)

String quartets, with their changing personnel and specialized repertory, have rarely achieved lasting fame, at least among the larger population. They have never in modern times commanded the attention that celebrated instrumental soloists garner, and they haven’t the institutional resources that orchestras command. So releases like this one serve a special purpose. They make us aware of great musicians who might otherwise be, at best, dimly recalled. And, certainly in this case, they return to public attention extraordinary performances that should never have been out of the limelight.

-- The Wall Street Journal

Along with Vivaldi’s ‘Seasons’ or Beethoven’s ‘Fifth’, Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos belong to those works that are so well-known that we risk taking them for granted. In order to (re-)discover the special qualities that can inspire us today, in 2001 Thomas Dausgaard and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra decided to contact six contemporary composer, asking each of them to compose a companion piece to one of the concertos. Seventeen years later, in 2018, it was time to present the result, with a performance at the BBC Proms of all the works – new and old. Recorded over a period of 18 months leading up to this event, the present boxed set provides a unique opportunity to experience six very different musical minds and idioms entering into conversation with Bach: Mark-Anthony Turnage, Steven Mackey, Anders Hillborg, Olga Neuwirth, Uri Caine and Brett Dean. Bach’s concertos are remarkable in that they are all scored for different instrumental combinations, and part of the brief to the group of composers was to reflect this. In her Aello, Olga Neuwirth has for instance used several ‘instruments’ to stand in for Bach’s harpsichord, including a synthesizer, a milk frother and a typewriter. Brett Dean, on the other hand, has stayed very close to Bach’s instrumentation, but has chosen to write his work as a preparation for Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 – an Approach to Bach’s extremely tight canonic writing. In performing the twelve works the orchestra and Dausgaard are joined by leading soloists including Clare Chase, Mahan Esfahani, Håkan Hardenberger, Pekka Kuusisto and Tabea Zimmermann.

Only now are we fully aware of the true immensity of Vivaldi’s concerto repertoire. The violin is by no means the only instrument he favored: the place of the bassoon in his work catalogue is remarkable for its size and stylistic homogeneity, as well as for his solistic treatment of an instrument previously confined to the continuo. Seven new concertos here join the twenty-six already recorded in the first four volumes of the Vivaldi Edition, an anthology Sergio Azzolini embarked on in 2009 with L’Aura Soave, and now builds on with L’Onda Armonica.

Sony Classical is pleased to announce the release of a 17-CD box set collecting the recordings made between 1940 and 1956 for American Columbia by the renowned Hungarian violinist Joseph Szigeti.

Szigeti had a remarkable career. Born in 1892 in Budapest, where he studied with Jenő Hubay, one of most celebrated virtuosos and teachers of that golden era of violin playing, he was praised by the iconic German violinist Joseph Joachim at his Berlin debut in 1905; lived in London for several years following his acclaimed 1907 debut and played chamber music with, among others, Myra Hess and Ferruccio Busoni; was a frequent visitor after the war to the Soviet Union, where he introduced Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto; made his triumphant American debut at Carnegie Hall under Stokowski in 1925; toured the world during the 1930s before finally settling in the US in 1940.

It was in that year that Szigeti renewed his friendship with fellow Hungarian émigré Béla Bartók, and in April the two gave a now-legendary recital in Washington which featured Bartók’s First Violin Rhapsody of 1928 – a work dedicated to and premiered by Szigeti in Europe. In May 1940, Columbia recorded their interpretation of this “vehicle for Szigeti’s biting and wholly magnificent fiddling” (MusicWeb International) in New York. That performance appears here for the first time on CD, along with another important work by Bartók, the classic first recording of his Contrasts for clarinet, violin and piano, written for and performed with Szigeti and Benny Goodman.

The rest of the new collection displays many more treasures of Szigeti’s passionate dedication to chamber music: in Bach, Handel, Tartini, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Dvořák, Debussy, Ravel, Bloch, Busoni, Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Henry Cowell, collaborating with such artists as Andor Foldes – another Hungarian émigré – as well as with Mieczyslaw Horzowski, Myra Hess, Pablo Casals and Igor Stravinsky.

There are, of course, major orchestral works represented in the new Szigeti edition, including two towering concertos in D major – the Brahms, recorded in 1945 with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Beethoven, recorded in 1947 with Bruno Walter and the New York Philharmonic (“an account of impassioned grandeur” – MusicWeb International) – along with Busoni’s early Violin Concerto in D major, recorded in 1954 with Thomas Sherman conducting the Little Orchestra Society. Szigeti’s numerous Bach concerto recordings for Columbia are here as well, conducted by Casals, Fritz Stiedry and George Szell.

As Nathan Milstein, one of his great colleagues, said in a touching tribute to Szigeti, who died in 1973: “He was an incredibly cultured musician. Actually, his talent grew out of his culture. … I always admired him, and he was respected by musicians.” In his late years, Joseph Szigeti finally got the appreciation he deserved from the general public as well. Sony Classical’s new collection his Columbia recordings, many never before released on CD at Sony Classical, can only further enhance that appreciation.

REVIEWS:

Joseph Szigeti (1892-1973) was the violinistic equivalent of a “kunst diva”, just as Gidon Kremer is today. He never had a particularly beautiful tone, while his bowing and intonation grew less dependable with age. Yet Szigeti never put a wrong musical foot forward. His phrasing communicated form, character, architecture, and astute harmonic awareness, with musical considerations always taking precedence over physical expediency.

Sony/BMG’s 17-CD collection of Szigeti’s complete Columbia Masterworks recordings stands out for exemplary remasterings that stem from the best possible source material. His intense yet thoughtful collaborations with Mieczyslaw Horszowski in Beethoven’s Sonatas Nos. 1, 5, 6, and 10 have never sounded so full-bodied and detailed as they do here. The same goes for the 1947 Beethoven Concerto, where the New York Philharmonic turns in firm and insightfully aligned playing under Bruno Walter’s direction. It contrasts to the conductor’s relatively casual and deferential backing in Szigeti’s 1932 recording, which, however, finds Szigeti on far better form.

Rehearing Szigeti’s 1949 Bach Sonata No. 3 in C major for violin solo reminded me just how much more fluent and controlled this performance is in comparison to the violinist’s relatively tenuous Vanguard remake. Likewise, his masterful 1940 account of the D minor concerto based on Bach’s keyboard concerto BWV 1052 is technically, musically, and sonically superior to the bloated 1950 reading under Pablo Casals’ direction. Szigeti’s Casals Festival contributions are admittedly uneven.

His collaborations with Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, and Henry Cowell are both historically important and musically illuminating. Somehow the older Szigeti’s wiry tone imparts welcome character and tension to sonatas by Hindemith, Ravel, and Busoni, as well as the rarely heard Prokofiev solo sonata and Busoni concerto. It must be said, though, that the latter’s final scherzando-like passages are heavy going for the veteran violinist, as are the Busoni sonata’s overextended fugal sequences.

Listeners expecting suaveness and elegance in Brahms’ G major Op. 78 and D minor Op. 108 sonatas with Horszowski may wince at Szigeti’s tremulous and effortful execution. Still, he makes every note count, and the aching fragility that emerges from Op. 78’s outer movements and Op. 108’s deliberately unfolding third movement compels my undivided attention. Yet this Brahms D minor pales next to the power and authority of Szigeti’s great 78 rpm edition with pianist Egon Petri. As for the short encore-type pieces favored in the shellac era, Szigeti plays them dutifully rather than lovingly; he wasn’t a charmer like Kreisler, Elman, Milstein, or Ricci. Or Heifetz, for that matter.

The booklet includes full discographical data, an informative essay by Tully Potter, and Szigeti’s own notes for a 1970 Japanese reissue of his Schubert recordings. Even if just half of this collection represents Szigeti at his best, Sony/BMG’s comprehensive and meticulous production values deserve the highest accolades. In the meantime, a complete edition of Szigeti’s pre-war European 78s is long overdue.

-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

The 31 works, from sonatas to chamber works to concertos, span Bach and Beethoven to Debussy, Ravel, Busoni and Henry Cowell. Bartók is pianist in his own Rhapsody No 1 for Violin and Piano. All the Brahms, including the Trio No 2 in C major with Hess and Casals, is to treasure. Szigeti plays Dvořák with grace and melancholy, and gives bite and attack to Stravinsky. The style may be redolent of another era, yet still this playing speaks to us.

– Guardian (UK)

This is a quite wonderful set, one of the highlights being an all-Busoni disc, the Second Sonata with Mieczysπaw Horszowski and the Violin Concerto with the Little Orchestra Society under Thomas Sherman. No one listening could fail to grasp the profound level of Szigeti's musical understanding.

– Gramophone

SET CONTENTS

DISC 1:
Bartók: Violin Rhapsody No. 1, Sz.87 (Remastered)   
Bartók: Contrasts for Clarinet, Violin and Piano, Sz.111   
Bloch: Three Pictures of Chassidic Life for Violin and Piano (Remastered)   
Milhaud (arr. Lévy): Saudades do Brasil, Op. 67: No. 9, Sumare (Remastered)   
Falla (arr. Levy): El Sombrero de Tres Picos, Parte I, Danza de la molinera (Remastered)   
Mozart: Divertimento No. 15 in B-Flat Major, K. 287, "2. Lodronsche Nachtmusik" (Remastered)   

DISC 2:
Mussorgsky-Rachmaninoff: Sorochintsy Fair, Act III: No. 5, Gopak (Remastered)   
Dvorák (arr. Kreisler): Slavonic Dance in E Minor, Op. 46, No. 2 (Arr. in G Minor) (Remastered)   
Dvorák (arr. Kreisler): Slavonic Dance No. 3 in A-Flat Major, Op. 46, No. 3 (Arr. in E Minor) (Remastered)   
Hubay: Scènes de la Csárda No.4, Op. 32, "Hejre Kati", I. Lento ma non troppo. Allegro moderato (Remastered)   
Hubay: Scènes de la Csárda No.4, Op. 32, "Hejre Kati", II. Allegro molto (Remastered)   
Kodály (arr. Szigeti): Háry János Suite, IZK 26: V. Intermezzo (Remastered)   
Brahms: 21 Hungarian Dances for Orchestra, WoO 1: No. 5 in G Minor (Remastered)   
Debussy: Violin Sonata No.3 in G Minor, L. 140 (Remastered)   
Hubay: The Zephyr, Op. 30, No. 5 (Remastered)   
Schubert, Francois: Bagatelle Op. 13, No. 9, "Die Biene" (Remastered)   
Stravinsky: Duo Concertant for Violin and Piano   
Stravinsky: Pastorale, Song without Words for Violin & Woodwind Quartet   
Stravinsky: Russian Maiden's Song   

DISC 3:
Beethoven (Cadenza: Joseph Joachim): Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61   

DISC 4:
Brahms: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77   
Brahms: Violin Sonata No.3 in D Minor, Op.108: II. Adagio   

DISC 5:
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.1 in D Major, Op. 12, No. 1 (Remastered)   
Schubert: Violin Sonata in D Major, D.384   
Schubert (arr. Friedberg): Piano Sonata No.17 in D Major, D.850: IV. Rondo. Allegretto moderato (Remastered)   
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.7 in C Minor, Op. 30, No. 2 (Remastered)   

DISC 6:
Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No.1 in F Minor, Op. 80 (Remastered)   
Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major, Op. 94bis (Remastered)   

DISC 7:
Bach, J.S.: Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005   
Bach, J.S. (arr. Reitz): Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 1052   

DISC 8:
Schubert: Fantaisie for Piano & Violin in C Major, Op.Posth. 159, D. 934   
Corelli (arr. H. Leonard): Violin Sonata in D Minor, Op.5 No.12 "La Folia" (Variations Serieuses)   
Debussy (arr. Roelens): Suite bergamasque, L. 75: No. 3. Clair de lune   
Lalo (arr. Szigeti): Aubade from "Le Roi d'Ys" (Act III)   
Tchaikovsky: 6 Pieces, Op. 51: No. 6, Valse sentimentale   
Bach, J.S. (arr. Szigeti): Violin Partita No.3 in E Major, BWV 1006: VI. Bourrée (Remastered)   

DISC 9:
Bach, J.S.: Concerto for Flute, Violin and Keyboard in A Minor, BWV 1044 (Remastered)   
Bach, J.S.: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, (arr. BWV 1052/1056) (Remastered)   
Bach, J.S.: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050   

DISC 10:
Schubert: Rondo in B Minor for Piano and Violin, D.895 (Op.70) "Rondeau brillant"   
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.10 in G Major, Op. 96 (Remastered)   
Schubert: Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 162. D. 574 "Grand Duo" (Remastered)   

DISC 11:
Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60   
Brahms: Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major Op. 87   

DISC 12:
Cowell: Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano (1945) (Remastered)   
Shapero: Sonata for Piano Four Hands (1941) (Remastered) (Harold Shapero, piano; Leo Smit, piano)
Cowell: Celestial Vision: How Old Is Song? (Remastered)   

DISC 13:
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.5 in F Major, Op. 24 "Spring"   
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 6 in A Major, Op. 30, No. 1   

DISC 14:
Bach, J.S. (arr. Szigeti): Violin Concerto in G Minor, BWV 1056 (Remastered)   
Handel: Violin Sonata in D Major, HWV 371 (Remastered)   
Tartini (Cadenzas: Szigeti): Violin Concerto in D Minor, D. 45 (Remastered)   
Tartini: Violin Sonata in G Major, B. G19 (Remastered)   

DISC 15:
Ravel: Violin Sonata No.2 in G Major, M. 77   
Hindemith: Violin Sonata in E Major (1939)   
Prokofiev: Sonata for Solo Violin in D Major, Op. 115 (Remastered)   
Prokofiev: Five Melodies for Violin and Piano, Op. 35bis (Remastered)   

DISC 16:
Busoni: Violin Concerto, Op.35a, BV 243   
Busoni: Violin Sonata No.2, Op.36a, BV 244   

DISC 17:
Brahms: Violin Sonata No.1 in G Major, Op. 78 "Regen" (Remastered)   
Brahms: Violin Sonata No.3 in D Minor, Op.108 (Remastered)

In the 1960s and in the decades following, the Budapest String Quartet’s mantle at Columbia was passed on to the Juilliard String Quartet. Over the years, with some changes in personnel, the ensemble repeatedly set down its famously lean, energetic and expressive interpretations of the Beethoven quartets in New York recording studios. These have remained catalogue staples. Less well known is the Beethoven cycle they recorded live in Washington at the Library of Congress in 1982. Gramophone singled out this complete traversal for its special depth and flexibility. Presented here on 9 albums, this is its first Sony release.

REVIEW:

The slow introduction to the C Major Quartet No. 9 is handled wonderfully, which sets up well for the rest of the movement and the work as a whole. These are followed by nice recordings of the “Harp” and “Serioso” quartets, thus bringing the middle period to an end.

The late quartets open with a really nice recording of the Nos. 12 and 13, with the first of these being particularly fine. The final disc of the nine houses the 15th and 16th quartets, which again receive fairly good recordings. Overall, the tempos selected here tend to be slower than in their earlier recording, which is usual for live recordings.

Overall sound quality is, at times, a bit of an issue here, even taking into account the live nature of these recordings, and overall isn't up to the sound quality of the quartet's highly regarded 1960s studio cycle of these works for RCA.

– MusicWeb International