This first volume of Brahms’ complete songs spans a period of nearly 25 years. A prolific composer of Lieder, Brahms’ adherence to traditional form was accompanied by a modern approach to compositional style. Thematically, most songs explore ideas of love, loneliness and solitude, perfectly exemplified by the Vier Gesänge, Op.43. In a similar way the Sechs Lieder, Op.86 share a common theme of a farewell to life. This volume contains some of his greatest songs, including Die Mainacht, as well as little-known jewels such as Versunken.

Classical Music

Distinguished international pianist Jorge Federico Osorio brings his flair for French music to works of the Baroque, Romantic, and early 20th century eras by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Emmanuel Chabrier, Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel. Fittingly, Osorio opens The French Album with Fauré’s exquisite Pavane and concludes with the ever-popular Pavane pour une enfante défunte by Fauré’s student, Ravel. The Mexican-born, European-trained pianist offers eight of Debussy’s pictorial Préludes, each with its unique sound world, including the mystical La Cathédrale engloutie, one of the most stunning pieces ever composed for piano. Another audience favorite is Debussy’s evocative Claire de lune from his Suite bergamasque. Providing contrast, Rameau’s whimsical Les Tricotets conjures the back-and-forth motion of knitting needles. A set of Spanish-flavored works include Chabrier’s Cuban-inspired Habanera; Debussy’s lively La Puerta del Vino, depicting sailors carousing and enjoying their wine, and La soirée dans Grenade, where the piano imitates the sound of a guitar; and Ravel’s Alborado del gracioso, brimming with Iberian rhythms.

REVIEW:

What appears to be a hodgepodge of French pieces actually emerges as a carefully crafted program. Pianist Jorge Federico Osorio begins with Fauré’s famous Pavane, where his elegant phrasing and fluid “walking” tempo assiduously segue into a well-contrasted Debussy group. He brings a strong rhythmic profile and dry-point clarity to works dominated by rapid passagework such as Les collines d’Anacapri, Ce qu’a vu le vent d’Ouest, and Feux d’artifice, as well as Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso.

While Osorio certainly embraces the sensual undercurrents in Clair de lune, Voiles, Feuilles mortes, and La cathédrale engloutie, the climaxes have plenty of backbone. The pianist similarly integrates curvaceous lilt and unsentimental grit in Chabrier’s Habanera and Debussy’s habanera-like La Puerta del Vino and La soirée dans Grenade. Three selections from Rameau’s G major Suite stand out for Osorio’s care over ornaments, although his slightly heavy way with the final selection, Ravel’s Pavane, misses the animation and flexibility of the old Gieseking and Casadesus recordings. All told, an enjoyable and well-put-together recital.

– ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

Vincent Persichetti's organ music holds an important place in 20th-century repertoire. Steeped in tradition and yet open to the currents of modernity, he developed a thoroughly distinctive musical language. The selections from his Hymns and Responses for the Church Year, Op. 68explore traditional form with a refreshing harmonic palette, while the Dryden Liturgical Suite contrasts meditative elements with virtuoso bravura. Persichetti's most extensive organ piece, the Auden Variations, is supremely contrapuntal and accomplished, whereas the Sonata for Organ, though convention-ally structured, daringly explores free tonality.

All three of the works in this program reveal a young composer on the threshold of greatness, serving as his passport to the vast new world of orchestral music prevailing at the beginning of the 20th century. Inspired by the tone poems of Richard Strauss, Bartók’s Kossuth dramatically commemorates the struggle for Hungarian independence in 1848 with an alluring and provocative orchestration. The Two Portraits set moods of love and painful heartbreak into stark contrast, while the First Suite is a showcase of symphonic effects which caused a sensation in Vienna at its première in 1905.

In 1998, Sir Charles Mackerras, one of the last century’s most versatile and enterprising opera conductors, made a new recording of Lucia di Lammermoor, following Donizetti's original autograph score and offering a reading in keeping with performance practice in the composer’s time. Acclaim for the set included the review of MusicWeb International.com: “In the eponymous role the Hungarian soprano Andrea Rost is distinctly in the leggiero tradition of light flexible voices… Bruce Ford is his usual dependable self, singing ardently and expressively… The recording quality in this version is outstanding and well balanced. Adherents of period bands will find much to enjoy under Sir Charles Mackerras’s ever idiomatic and sympathetic baton.” And Classic CD, hailing it as “Disc of the Month” gave it 5 stars and declared it the “preferred version” of Lucia.

Also available on Blu-ray

The foremost voices in Verdi interpretation today have gathered in the historic Teatro Regiotoday have gathered in the historic Teatro Regio di Parma to present I Lombardi, for the uninitiated a hidden treasure nestled in Verdi's vast catalogue. For the first time Blu-ray video and audio unite to bring this gem to sparkling new heights of picture and sound.

Giuseppe Verdi
I LOMBARDI ALLA PRIMA CROCIATA

Arvino – Roberto de Biasio
Pagano – Michele Pertusi
Viclinda – Cristina Giannelli
Giselda – Dimitra Theodossiou
Pirro – Roberto Tagliavini
Un priore – Gregory Bonfatti
Acciano – Valdis Jansons
Oronte – Francesco Meli
Sofia – Daniela Pini

Parma Teatro Regio Chorus and Orchestra
(chorus master: Martino Faggiani)
Daniele Callegari, conductor

Lamberto Puggelli, stage director
Paolo Bregni, set designer
Santuzza Calí, costume designer
Andrea Borelli, lighting designer

Recorded live from the Teatro Regio di Parma, 2009

Bonus:
- Introduction to I Lombardi alla prima crociata

Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: Italian, English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese
Running time: 144 mins (opera) + 10 mins (bonus)
No. of DVDs: 1

R E V I E W:

VERDI I Lombardi alla prima crociata • Daniele Callegari, cond; Dimitra Theodossiou ( Giselda ); Francesco Meli ( Oronte ); Roberto de Biasio ( Arvino ); Michele Pertusi ( Pagano ); Teatro Regio di Parma O & Ch • UNITEL CLASSICA 720608 (DVD: 154:00 Text and Translation) Live: Teatro Regio, Parma 1/2009


It takes some courage to produce this opera, whose title translates as “The Lombards at the first Crusade,” in these times of tensions between the worlds of Islam and those of Western religions. Portraying the Crusaders as heroes in their defeat of the infidel Muslims, and depicting with glory their taking of Jerusalem, could easily result in a fatwa being called down upon an impresario’s head. There is no doubt that I winced uneasily at moments during I Lombardi.


However, the element of religious war really serves as a backdrop to stories of love gone wrong, and to Verdi’s interest in character exploration. Verdi shows here, in only his fourth opera, an already highly developed talent for drawing strong character differences with the music he creates for each. He also shows here his strong melodic gift, and his imagination. For its time, I Lombardi is daring in the scope of its choral writing. Indeed, the chorus is a fifth principal in the opera. And then there is that remarkable trio at the end of the third act, with a concertante violin solo and a little orchestral prelude at its beginning. This is very innovative writing. So despite some basic dramatic silliness (all the key characters wind up at the same place, whether they have gone there to do battle or have been exiled; Giselda inexplicably is in love with the leader of the infidels, who at his death converts to Christianity for her!), the sweep and inspiration of Verdi’s music carries the listener/viewer along.


I am only aware of one other video, a 1984 La Scala production with José Carreras in one of the two lead tenor roles (Oronte). He is in great voice, but he is not enough to save the performance from the squally Ghena Dimitrova, thin-voiced Carlo Bini, and wooden singing of bass Silvano Carroli. Parma, on the other hand, assembled a first-rate cast, and conductor Callegari has both the moment-to-moment details and the long line in perfect balance. His ability to keep things moving, while lingering when lingering is needed, is one of the reasons for this performance’s success.


If one singer stands out in an excellent cast, it is Dimitra Theodossiou. The Greek soprano is onstage for much of the opera, and she dominates when she is. She reminds me, in her approach to this music, of Caballé, though she may lack the Spanish soprano’s remarkably distinct beauty of tone. Theodossiou floats glorious pianissimi , soars over the entire ensemble when required, sculpts long phrases naturally, and is deeply inside the character. Giselda may well be the opera world’s first anti-war activist, and we identify strongly with her horror at the mentality of the Crusaders. This is a truly triumphant performance, and marks the arrival of a major Verdi soprano for our time.


The remainder of the cast is very good, if not quite as outstanding as Theodossiou. One difficulty in casting I Lombardi is the need for two good tenors. Complicating things is the fact that the one with the smaller role gets the good aria! In Meli and De Biasio, Parma has found two good ones. Meli has the lighter color, de Biasio a bit more tonal richness. But both sing beautifully, using the full range of dynamics available to them, and both have strong top notes produced without strain. Michele Pertusi has a dual role—that of Pagano (Arvino’s brother) and then disguised as a hermit (who undergoes a dramatically absurd transformation from a vicious murderer to a man of peace). He starts off with a touch of tonal unsteadiness in his first scenes, but quickly warms up and gives a performance of great distinction. These three men, two tenors and a bass, share the load fairly equally, and it is a great strength of this performance that they are all very good.


The stage production is extremely traditional—no “Eurotrash” here. We get simple backdrops that create the illusion of location (a castle, a cave, Jerusalem) and very elaborate and effective period costumes. There is no attempt, thank Heaven, to bring contemporary relevance to the opera by updating it into the current Mid-East cauldron. I don’t know if anyone was tempted, but we must all be grateful that they avoided that trap. This is probably I Lombardi as Verdi and his librettist, Solera, imagined it—although I doubt that they imagined a performance any better.


Special kudos to the unnamed concertmaster who plays the solo in the third act gorgeously. Tiziano Mancini’s direction for the camera would have benefited from a bit more patience. His camera shots jump from one to another too often—particularly during Giselda’s solos. He should have trusted the music to hold us. But this is only a minor annoyance in what is overall a DVD that any opera lover will want.


FANFARE: Henry Fogel

Lullabies for Mila is dedicated to Alessio Bax’s daughter, Mila. The album begins with a moving dedication: “This album is not only a carefully curated playlist of soothing classics to calm a baby and perhaps make him or her fall asleep quicker. It is also a gift from parents to their children, with the hope that they will share music with their loved ones, not just to entertain them but also to enrich their lives.”; This disc compiles works from Bax’s past Signum albums, including performances with Southbank Sinfonia and Lucille Chung. It also contains a new recording of the Grieg’s Nocturne from his Lyric Pieces.; Alessio Bax is a celebrated and award-winning pianist. Gramophone says “His playing quivers with an almost hypnotic intensity,” and the Dallas Morning News calls it “an out of body experience.” He has performed as a soloist with over 100 orchestras.

Vocal Recital: Wunderlich, Fritz - SCHUMANN, R. / SCHUBERT,

Three examples of Leonard Bernstein’s vocal art can be heard in this recording. His Symphony No. 3 ‘Kaddish’ shuns traditional symphonic ideas in favor of an eclectic theatrical and oratorio-like form with a prominent rôle for speaker. For this recording, Marin Alsop has returned to the work’s original narrative text, heard before the 1977 revision. The Lark – heard in a concert version with added narration – derives from Lillian Hellman’s adaptation of L’Alouette on the life of Joan of Arc, and it was this music that Bernstein reworked into his Missa Brevis many years later. Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony since 2007 and Principal Conductor the São Paulo Symphony since 2013, the NYC-born Marin Alsop is recognized across the world for her innovative programming as well as her bold, audience-expanding community and education outreach initiatives.

REVIEWS:

Under Alsop's baton, the Baltimore Symphony realizes Bernstein’s extraordinary orchestral effects in ways that will both scarify you and tug at your heartstrings; and while the text is still the embarrassment it always was, narrator Claire Bloom delivers it as if it were Shakespearian prose. She believes in the part and gives it a powerful reading. Soprano Kelley Nassief will melt your heart in her “Kaddish 2” movement solo, and both the boy and adult choirs are superb. I’m really glad to have this performance, especially since my Columbia LP has disappeared and this is now the only recording I have of the original 1963 work. It’s a fantastic performance and a spectacular recording.

– Fanfare

Kaddish is recorded here in a performance of great conviction from Marin Alsop, with the wonderful Claire Bloom achieving a happy medium between the declamatory and the confidential. There are instances of pure gold - a consoling lullaby at the heart of the piece (featuring limpid soprano Kelley Nassief) which Bernstein called his 'Pietà'.

- Gramophone Magazine

Prior to becoming Principle Guest Conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Andrey Boreyko served as chief conductor of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra from and is currently in the same position with the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra. In his first recording for Henssler CLASSIC, Maestro Boreyko delivered what has come to be regarded as one of the definitive recordings of Shostakovich's difficult and emotionally searing Fourth Symphony. For this new release, Boreyko returns with what will surely become benchmark versions of two equally difficult Shostakovich scores.

Vaughan Williams, R.: Mass in G Minor / Silence and Music /

John Huston’s 1956 film adaptation of Melville’s epic novel Moby Dick is a genuine grand movie adventure. For it, Phillip Sainton (1897-1967) produced one of the most vibrant “sea scores” ever written, from the shimmering, rhapsodic depictions of the becalmed ocean to the thrilling, earth-shaking whale motif. Including music omitted from the soundtrack, this recording was widely acclaimed upon its original release, with Gramophone considering the score to be “music of richly stocked imagination…” “… anyone who enjoys Finzi and Howells will find Sainton’s music equally appealing …” (ClassicsToday)

Mozart himself saw the advantages of creating more accessible versions of his concertos in reduced instrumentation. Ignaz Lachner followed common 19th-century practice by leaving the piano parts of these concertos intact and making splendid transcriptions of the orchestra parts using only a string quartet with added bass. K. 488 and K. 491 are two of Mozart’s greatest and most popular piano concertos. These chamber versions throw an intense and intimate new light on familiar music. Alon Goldstein is one of the most original and sensitive pianists of his generation, admired for his musical intelligence and dynamic personality. His career as a soloist has taken him all over the world, working with leading orchestras and conductors. The Fine Arts Quartet ranks among the most distinguished ensembles in chamber music today, with an illustrious history of performing success and an extensive legacy of over 200 recorded works.

Including some of the most beautiful baroque Christmas music on offer, this programme makes for the perfect Christmas collection. 'This is period-instrument performance at its best', wrote American Record Guide on the CD's original release. It is re-issued here for the first time. Three popular favourites, Corelli's gorgeous concerto for Christmas Eve, an idyllic Christmas concerto by Vivaldi, and Manfredini's Concerto grosso are complemented by two little-known cantatas by Telemann and Scarlatti. Each of the Italian composers has his own voice, contrasting tremendously with the more rugged German style of Telemann. Susan Gritton is the soloist in Scarlatti's cantata, described by Classic CD as 'ravishing and ravishingly sung... worth anyone's CD token'. This is a disc of intimate Christmas music, which will make an ideal stocking filler. As Classic CD wrote at the time of the original release, 'This is a delightful addition to the Christmas market, and the careful selection of its items and superb recording ensure that, like the traditional puppy, it's not just for Christmas'.

REVIEW:

These Baroque concertos and cantatas are all associated with Christmas, although some only marginally. The Scarlatti and Telemann cantatas were written for Christmas. The Manfredini and Corelli concertos probably received their associations with Christmas because each contains a pastorale movement, shepherds’ music in 12/8 time that Italian folk tradition associated with Christmas (the “Pifa” from Handel’s Messiah is another example). The Vivaldi concerto, one of his typical string concertos, seems to have received its seasonal connection from Vivaldi’s practice of programming it at Christmas time.

All of this music is delightful to hear. Many of Fanfare’s readers will probably have one or more of these works already, especially the concertos. The two cantatas are less often encountered, especially the Telemann, from the first movement of which we get the English carol Good Christian Men Rejoice. The playing and singing are excellent in all respects. Susan Gritton makes a major contribution in the solos of the Scarlatti cantata. Members of Collegium 90’s choir are equally good as soloists in the Telemann. Presiding over all, Simon Standage directs lively performances that respect the score and never stray into extremes of tempo.

This collection was issued 10 years ago under the title “Per la notte di natale.” In this reissue, Chandos provides full notes along with texts and translations, for which I commend them. Anyone looking for an enjoyable collection of Baroque music associated with Christmas need look no further.

-- Fanfare

An eclectic collection, colourful and often arresting.

Mussorgsky’s Pictures were originally composed for the piano. In that form he created a spacious canvas necessitating something of a symphonic sound from the piano. This proved exquisitely demanding and only a few brave pianists, including Prokofiev, dared to scale its fearsome crags. Maurice Ravel, to whom we owe its renown, was paid 10,000 francs to orchestrate it for Serge Koussevitzky. But as one might look at and interpret a picture in many different ways so then different sonic paint brushes might offer alternative views and insights? Thus Leonard Slatkin’s notion to bring together an eclectic selection of arrangements, some quite outlandish, might seem fresh and appealing?

D. Wilson-Ochoa is the Nashville Symphony’s Principal Music Librarian and former horn player. His neat opening ‘Promenade’ [1] was arranged, using woodwinds, at first, then pizzicato strings. This walking bass/cello line leads into the orchestral build-up, to give the impression of the visitor arriving at the gallery with mounting excitement and anticipation of seeing its treasures. Sergey Gorchakov’s portrait of Gnomus [2] is simpler, more sober and menacing than Ravel’s; his colours darker. Walter Goehr’s ‘Promenade’ [3] is calmly introspective as the visitor passes thoughtfully on; it features sensitive use of solo strings, double woodwind and muted brass. Emile Naoumoff’s entrancing arrangement of Il vecchio castello [4] has, at its heart, a glistening piano solo with woodwinds and cellos sounding the lilting Italian Sicilienne – absolutely gorgeous. Van Keulen’s ‘Promenade’ [5] is a much grander walk while his Tuileries [6] is a perky arrangement full of childish mischief and high spirits. Wind and brass are delicately mixed - woodwinds supported by muted trombones and trumpet – to create an appealing pastel. Conductor/pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy makes an impact with four horns in unison. Low strings and heavy percussion are used to underline the heaviness of Bydlo his picture of the Polish cart on enormous wheels [7].

Carl Simpson’s ‘Promenade’ [8] is brief and straightforward but with an unexpected cheeky cheep anticipating – Ballet of the unhatched chicks [9]. Lucien Cailliet was a student of Vincent D’Indy, His arrangement exerts his imaginative faculties to the full, out Ravel-ing Ravel. He makes exuberant use of wood-block, rattle and a flutter-tonguing blast from the trumpet. Sir Henry Wood’s vision of the Two Jews … [10] markedly underlines the differences between the two: the rich one glowering and overwhelming and the cowering pauper. The next ‘Promenade’ [11] (and the one that Ravel left out) is by Lawrence Leonard. It’s grand too , in terms of its rich harmonies and orchestrations; carrying on the self-regarded magnificence - one might say - of the rich Jew. Leo Funtek’s picture of French women arguing around a market square in Limoges, Le marché [12] makes for a snappy riot of colour. Funtek surmounts its challenges of articulation through its brief 1:26 of presto writing. The Catacombae [13] of John Boyd, demonstrates his experience with wind, brass and percussion. It is a haunted subterranean vision and is more menacing than Ravel’s portrait. It leads seamlessly into Ravel’s own arrangement of Con mortuis in lingua mortua [14]. As David Nice says, “the French master’s subtle halos and shadows remain uniquely evocative.’ That wonderful orchestrator, Leopold Stokowski, adds his characteristically vivid colouring to The hut on fowl’s legs (Baba-Yaga) [15]. This is a satanic portrait using four trumpets and eight horns supported by shrill whistling upper woods, to evoke Baba-Yaga’s terror-filling flight.

The concluding The Bogatyr Gate at Kiev [16] is the most substantial picture. Douglas Gamley paints this massive gate in resplendent colours using to fine effect the chorus of the Nashville Symphony and an organ. What magnificence - magnificence to rival 1812!

Liszt’s first surviving piano concerto was sketched out in 1832, when the composer was 21. It was only orchestrated 17 years later, with the help of the young composer Joachim Raff. Its first performance in 1853 at Weimar was conducted by Berlioz. Revisions followed in 1857. Its three movements are cyclically connected. This striking live recording of Peng Peng’s articulate and polished reading is sturdy in the portentous episodes and sensitively shaded in the quieter and more introspective passages. Slatkin gives sterling support.

Rob Mathes’s arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra under its conductor Leonard Slatkin. It was conceived as a eulogy on the tragedy of 9/11. This performance - part grandiloquent, part restrained - is affecting.

Instead of the familiar Ravel orchestrations of Mussorgsky’s Pictures here is an eclectic collection of alternatives, always colourful and often arresting.

-- Ian Lace, MusicWeb International

Antonín Dvořák’s music, imbued with the spirit of Bohemia, reflects a love of his native land. His String Sextet, written in the distinctive style which brought him international fame, was an immediate success at its premiere. Composed just eight years earlier, his String Quartet No.4, unpublished until 1968, features pioneering, wild outer movements, highly unusual for the time, which foreshadowed the modernist innovations of composers decades later. A moving Andante religioso, which Dvořák made use of in future works, lies at its heart. The Polonaise exploits both the soulful and virtuoso character of the cello.

REVIEW:

It’s about time that Dvořák’s fascinating and gripping Fourth Quartet got some individual attention apart from big boxes of the chamber works. A single movement more than 30 minutes long, in three extended sections, the music reveals the influence of Wagner and the New German School. It represents a road not taken, as Dvořák never followed it up, and immediately afterward returned to a path at once more “classical”, formally speaking, while pursuing its harmonic audacities within the bounds of a Czech nationalist style. This last point is important. Dvořák never gave up his love for adventurous harmony. He merely ceased imitating Wagner’s particular version of it, and in the process he found himself.

In any case, the central Andante religioso survived to become the lovely Notturno for string orchestra. It sounds like a cross between Rachmaninov and the Siegfried Idyll, only it predates both! There’s no question that Dvořák was very good at what he was doing. The quartet’s outer sections also invite comparison to late Beethoven, with their sometimes gnarly counterpoint and sense of struggle. In short, the work deserves to return to the repertoire, and the only reason I can see that it hasn’t is because it doesn’t sound like typical Dvořák. Happily, the Fine Arts Quartet does an excellent job allowing the music to unfold on its own terms, offering sensitive, well-balanced, and timbrally vibrant playing that sustains the piece over its entire length.

The Sextet of 1878 (eight years after the Fourth Quartet) shows the composer in full nationalist mode, with a “Dumka” slow movement and a “Furiant” for a scherzo. Its concluding theme and variations is especially outstanding. Here is yet another work that, however frequently recorded, has not received the attention that it deserves in concert, perhaps because sextets are awkward to program. The concluding Polonaise in A major makes a fine encore to an unusually well-rounded program, one that presents Dvořák as a composer of much wider range than many would have us believe. The title of the disc, Spirit of Bohemia, is typically silly and not entirely relevant, but with fine engineering I can recommend this release without hesitation.

– ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)

In the 1860s Johannes Brahms composed one of the most beautiful song cycles of the romantic era: Die schöne Magelone. Now baritone Christian Gerhaher, a lied singer of international renown, has joined forces with his longstanding accompanist Gerold Huber to record Brahms’s masterpiece. For Gerhaher, named singer of the year in 2016 by the German trade journal Opernwelt and awarded the coveted Wigmore Medal in England for “outstanding musicianship in opera, oratorio and song”, the project is a dream come true.

The 15 poems that Brahms fashioned into “romances” are taken from Ludwig Tieck’s novella The Wondrous Romance of Magelone the Fair and Peter Count of Provence (1797). Inspired by a medieval legend, it tells of the love of the valiant knight Peter of Provence for Magelone, the daughter of the King of Naples.

In 2011 Christian Gerhaher commissioned the well-known German writer Martin Walser to produce a new version of the text, which he then premièred in Coburg together with Gerold Huber and Walser himself.

-----

REVIEWS:

It is quite clear that the singer and his longstanding accompanist are absolutely at one—they have been performing together since the beginning. Sound is good and all is clear and well defined. For those seeking a commanding and modern German singer in Brahms—no quibbles, this is for you.

– Fanfare

Gerhaher is more compelling in this music even than Fischer-Dieskau is in his classic recording with Sviatoslav Richter. Gerhaher and Gerold Huber sound more athletic in the vigorous songs, and the baritone is more rapt and spiritual in the famous Ruhe.

– Sunday Times (UK)

Schoenberg' polyphonic tone poem Pelleas und Melisande is often compared to Debussy' opera based on the same text by Maurice Maeterlinck. According to the composer, "The first performance, 1905, in Vienna, under my own direction, provoked riots amo.

Paganini’s violin, the legendary ‘il Cannone’, made by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù in 1743, is one of the most important musical instruments in the history of Western music. Paganini was the greatest virtuoso of his time, acclaimed throughout Europe and an inspiration to performers and composers alike. On his death, he bequeathed ‘il Cannone’ to his home city of Genoa, where it is permanently housed under high security in the Town Hall. It has been heard on record just a handful of times. Francesca Dego was given the honor of recording with it after the success of her first performance on the instrument, in October 2019, when she was invited to play Paganini’s First Violin Concerto at the Paganini Celebratory Concert at Teatro Carlo Felice, in Genoa. Francesca Dego comments: ‘Spending a few enchanted days recording with this priceless treasure was unforgettable. I was overwhelmed when I was first handed the instrument that had caressed the ears of Schumann, Schubert, Goethe, Rossini, Bellini, Berlioz, Chopin, Heine, and so many more. I remember standing in that very room as a young girl, hypnotized, staring at history behind glass, fingers tingling at the thought of touching it. And suddenly there I was, holding Paganini’s violin. I feel so privileged to be able to share the soul of ‘il Cannone’ in a new recording. I remember thinking long and hard about the ideal programme and carefully selecting a series of works paying homage to Paganini. The ‘Cannon’ has pretty much only ever been used to record music by Paganini, so the idea of its celebrated tone teaming up with composers who idolized the Italian virtuoso throughout history is really exciting to me!’

REVIEWS:

Dego has an expressive touch, skittering over the strings, yet finding plenty of attack in Szymanowski’s Trois Caprices. Corigliano’s Red Violin Caprices are at times spellbinding, descending into a guttural, harried chase. Leonardi accompanies sensitively throughout.

– BBC Music Magazine

If you’re keen to hear Paganini’s favourite plaything (or favourite fourstringed one, at any rate), performed with technical finesse and strong musicality while shown off by suitably polished engineering, then this amply does that job.

– Gramophone