Lorin Maazel (1930–2014) was perhaps the most interesting musician of his time. The very number of his engagements as Principal Conductor made him exceptional. After studying piano, violin, harmony, counterpoint and composition, and making his first appearances as a youthful conductor in the USA, where his family had moved from France in 1932, he played the violin in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and studied philosophy, economics, literature, French and Russian in his spare time. He went to Italy on a scholarship in the early 1950s, was repeatedly engaged – often by broadcasting stations – as a conductor, was the first American and at the same time the youngest conductor at the Bayreuth Festival when he conducted Lohengrin there in 1960, made his BBC concert debut with Mahler’s Second Symphony in London and directed the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin as its Principal Conductor (1964-75), was appointed General Music Director of the city’s Deutsche Oper (1965-71), then headed the Cleveland Orchestra (1972-82), the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1988-96), Orchestre National de France (1988-90) and finally from 1993 the Symphony Orchestra of Bavarian Radio. He made his New York Met debut with Don Giovanni (1962) and debuted at the Salzburg Festival with The Marriage of Figaro (1963). He made a memorable appearance in London in 1988 when in a single day he performed all nine Beethoven symphonies with three different orchestras in aid of charity.
“Nobody plays the piano better than Leonard Pennario,” wrote the eminent critic Andrew Porter in London’s New Statesman in 1952, when the competition would have included none less than Horowitz in his prime. That year, Pennario began recording for Capitol Records in Los Angeles, and a decade later he moved to RCA Victor, for which label he made a series of distinguished albums. To mark the tenth anniversary of Pennario’s death, Sony Classical is now pleased to reissue all of the pianist’s RCA recordings together for the first time in a single box.
Born in 1924 in Buffalo, New York, Pennario gave his first public performance there at the age of seven, later moving with his family to Los Angeles, where his teachers included the legendary Isabella Vengerova. His breakthrough came in 1936, when he made his orchestral debut deputizing for an indisposed soloist with the Dallas Symphony. On that memorable occasion, the twelve-year-old performed the Grieg Piano Concerto, a work he had never heard, let alone played, until a few days earlier.
Dazzling concertos would, of course, feature prominently in Pennario’s discography, and his first RCA Victor releases in 1964 included Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and the Franck Symphonic Variations with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops (High Fidelity: “immense dexterity and bravura”) and the two Liszt concertos with René Leibowitz conducting the London Symphony (Gramophone: “magisterial accounts of both works … it is a constant delight to listen to his effortless brilliance and power … vivid ‘hi-fi’ recording”).
Among the acclaimed solo recital albums in this set are a collection of popular short pieces by Beethoven, Schubert, Dvorák, Tchaikovsky, Rubinstein, Grieg, Falla, Debussy, Gershwin and Rachmaninoff which Pennario plays “with admirable care and impeccable taste” (High Fidelity) as well as both books of Debussy Préludes: “This is a most beautifully played set” (Gramophone).
Although Pennario became best known as a formidable virtuoso, he was also renowned for his performances of chamber music, and RCA documents his participation in the famous series given by Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky. Their performance of the Mendelssohn C minor Piano Trio was praised by High Fidelity for its “conception of restraint and grandeur … consistently maintained throughout all four movements”, and in the coupling of cello sonatas by Mendelssohn and Strauss, wroteGramophone, “Pennario plays admirably, matching Piatigorsky’s forceful musical characterization.”
REVIEW:
A notable characteristic of Pennario’s playing is his extraordinary articulation at extreme speed. As examples of transcendent technique and breathtaking clarity, the two Rachmaninov transcriptions on Disc 2 are hard to beat.
One could hardly complain about the quality of music-making here, yet without exception the piano could have been more forwardly placed. Was he too self-effacing for stardom? Too modest for his own good? Moot points, but Leonard Pennario demands to be heard, reassessed and, on this evidence alone, admitted to the piano Hall of Fame.
– Gramophone
SET CONTENTS:
DISC 1: Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 Franck: The Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra, M. 46 Litolff: Concerto symphonique No. 4, Op. 102: Scherzo Piano: Leonard Pennario Conductor: Arthur Fiedler Orchestra: Boston Pops Orchestra
DISC 2: Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, S. 124 Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S. 125 Piano: Leonard Pennario Conductor: René Leibowitz Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
DISC 3: J. Strauss Jr.- Pennario: Kaiser-Walzer, Op. 437 Mendelssohn-Rachmaninoff: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61: No 1 Scherzo Saint-Saëns-Liszt: Danse macabre, Op. 40 Shostakovich: The Age Of Gold Ballet, Op. 22b: Polka Prokofiev: The Love for Three Oranges, Op. 33: March Ravel: La Valse, M. 72 Kreisler-Rachmaninoff: Liebesleid Gounod-Liszt: Faust: Waltz
DISC 4: Dvořák: 8 Humoresques, Op. 101, No. 7 in G-Flat Tchaikovsky: 2 Pieces, Op. 10, No. 2: Humoresque Rachmaninoff: 7 Morceaux de salon, Op. 10, No. 5: Humoresque in G Rachmaninoff: Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3, No. 4: Polichinelle in F-Sharp Minor Debussy: Children' Corner, L. 113, No. 6: Golliwog's Cake-walk Gershwin: 3 Preludes, IGG 25 Schubert: Moments musicaux, D. 780, No. 3 in F Minor Beethoven: Für Elise, WoO 59 Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, Op. 37a, No. 11: On the Troika in E Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Op. 43, No. 6 "To Spring" Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Op. 43, No. 1 "Butterfly" Falla: Piezas Españolas, IMF 10, No. 4: Andaluza Rubinstein: 6 Soirées à Saint-Petersbourg, Op. 44, No. 1: Romance in E-Flat Tchaikovsky: 6 Pieces, Op. 19, No. 2: Scherzo humoristique in D
DISC 5: Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 1 Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 40 Piano: Leonard Pennario Conductor: André Previn Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
DISC 6: Debussy: Préludes, Livre 1, L. 117
DISC 7: Debussy: Préludes, Livre 2, L. 123
DISC 8: Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 R. Strauss: Burleske in D Minor Piano: Leonard Pennario Conductor: Seiji Ozawa Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
DISC 9: Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata No. 2, Op. 58 R. Strauss: Cello Sonata, Op. 6 Cello: Gregor Piatigorsky Piano: Leonard Pennario
DISC 10: Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 66 Arensky: Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 32 Turina: Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 35 Cello: Gregor Piatigorsky Violin: Jascha Heifetz Piano: Leonard Pennario
DISC 11: Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 70 Brahms: Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, Op. 87 Cello: Gregor Piatigorsky Violin: Jascha Heifetz Piano: Leonard Pennario
DISC 12: Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 65 Franck: Piano Quintet in F Minor, M. 7, FWV 7 Cello: Gregor Piatigorsky Violin: Jascha Heifetz Piano: Leonard Pennario
Best of Idil Biret / Selections from the Complete Studio Recordings
Idil Biret Archive
CD
$32.99Feb 08, 2019
“The Turkish pianist Idil Biret celebrated her 75th birthday in November 2016. To approach and honor this milestone, her own label (IBA), distributed by the now-venerable Naxos, has been releasing a series of comprehensive sets traversing her entire career. The word “comprehensive” is not used lightly; in this set alone, the ninth in the series, we hear performances from her earliest radio broadcasts in 1949 to July of 2016, allowing Biret’s changing approaches to these composers’ works full documentation and exploration; it’s quite a journey, and I have heard no other pianist that has made the complex but still intuitively simple interpretive decisions Biret has made. With these enduring compositions as multisided sculptures to be reexamined, the set constitutes a voyage through the developing art of a child prodigy. It goes a long way toward answering questions about where the preternaturally gifted interpreter goes when convention and career opportunity become subservient to artistic pursuit. May it be an example to those embarking on a similar journey.” (Prof. Marc Medwin)
Naples '44 is an unflinching autobiographical account of a year in Naples after the armistice and Allied landings in Sorrento in 1943. Working as a British counterintelligence officer under the Allied occupation, Lewis documents the rich pageant of life in the city and it's surrounding areas. There is suffering and squalor: criminal gangs are on the rise, along with typhus and black market commerce, and the female population is forced into part-time prostitution, simply to obtain food. Corruption is rife as a Genovese crime family member makes his way into the US army administration, and local hospitals, short on supplies, buy equipment back from those who stole it. There is farce and humor too, witnessed in the Roman uncle paid handsomely to simply appear at funerals and lend an air of gravitas, and in Lewis's own experience of vetting proposed marriages between British soldiers and local women. Unsparing, penetrating and profoundly humane, Naples '44 is a moving portrait of the costs of war, and the resilience of a society under extreme stress.
Written from the perspective of an unbeliever, Fear and Trembling explores the paradox of faith, the nature of Christianity and the complexity of human emotion. Kierkegaard examines the biblical story of Abraham, instructed to sacrifice his son Isaac, and forces us to consider Abraham's state of mind. What drove Abraham, and what made him carry out such an absurd and extreme request from God? Kierkegaard argues that Abraham's agreement to sacrifice Isaac, and his suspension of reason, elevated him to the highest level of faith. He explores more comprehensible alternatives, but in each one Abraham fails the test of faith, thus showing that true faith cannot be explained, understood, or made rational. His thesis is a compelling counterpoint to Hegel, who maintained that reason was the highest form of thought, and proved a significant source of inspiration to later existentialist philosophers such as Camus and Sartre.
The St. Thomas Boys Choir, whose history dates back to the year 1212, is the oldest cultural establishment in the city of Leipzig. Outliving all political, municipal, religious, and educational controversy for 800 years, musica sacra has shaped the choir's past. Through the influence of the many St. Thomas Cantors, including the most famous- Johann Sebastian Bach (Thomas Cantor 1723-1750)- the city of Leipzig and the St. Thomas Church became the center of Protestant church music. The St. Thomas Church is home to the Boys Choir. A choir rich in tradition, they are committed to continuing this musical legacy. This release contains the award-winning two-hour documentary “Die Thomaner – A Year in the Life of the St. Thomas Boys Choir Leipzig” by Paul Smaczny and Günter Atteln as well as the breathtaking recordings of two of Johann Sebastian Bach’s major choral works: the St. Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor.
Claudio Abbado-The Last Years features rarely released video recordings of the legendary conductor doing what he was known for in the final years of his life. This release has Abbado conducting the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the Orchestra Mozart as they perform works from Mahler, Bruckner, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, and Shoenberg. His last-ever video recording is included, where he performs Brahms' Tragic Overture, Schoenberg's "Song of the Wood Dove," and Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. These recordings were made in two beautiful halls- the Concert Hall of the KKL Luzern and the Haus fur Mozart, Salzburg. Among the numerous awards and honors Claudio Abbado received during his long career are the Evening Standard Opera Award for his Boris Godunov at Covent Garden; the Legion d'Honneur from the French Ministry of Culture; the Gran Croce, the highest honor of Italy, and the highest civilian honor of Germany, the Bundesverdienstkreuz (1992). In 1985 he was awarded the Gold Medal by the International Gustav Mahler Society, presented in recognition of his service to the music of Gustav Mahler. He is an honorary member of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna and received honorary degrees from the universities of Cambridge, Aberdeen and Ferrara. In 1994 Claudio Abbado was awarded the International Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, Germany's most prestigious music award.
Frank Merrick was a tireless champion of the causes in which he believed and these causes extended well beyond the field of music. Although his name is associated with the piano music of a range of composers as diverse as John Field and Prokofiev, Schubert and Arnold Bax, he also campaigned with the suffragettes, was imprisoned during the First World War as a Conscientious Objector and over many years advocated the use of the universal language Esperanto. Between 1898-1901 Frank Merrick studied in Vienna with the celebrated teacher, Theodor Leschetizky, and he made his London debut aged 16 in 1903. This release features a selection of the best performances transferred from the 'Frank Merrick Society' and the 'Rare Recorded Edition' LPs of the 1960s.
Wagner: Gotterdammerung / Zweden, Barkmin, Brenna, Hong Kong Philharmonic
Naxos
CD
$21.48$42.99Save 50%Nov 09, 2018
‘Gotterdammerung’ (Twilight of the Gods) is the epic fourth and final opera of Wagner’s great Ring cycle, with a plot that depicts the fall of heroes, gods, and the entire world. As ever with the Ring, the joys of love are all too fragile and fleeting, and the drama of ‘Gotterdammerung’ revolves around dark and unsettling reversals of fortune and illusions of hope that synthesize thrilling and powerful grand opera traditions with Wagner’s revolutionary techniques. Containing all of the Ring’s essential elements, ‘Gotterdammerung’ possesses a profoundly satisfying sense of inevitability that makes it both a towering climax and a unified summation of the Ring’s abundant variety.
Journal of the Plague Year / Daniel Defoe (unabridged) [9 CDs]
Naxos AudioBooks
CD
$32.97$65.98Save 50%Nov 09, 2018
First published in March 1722, 57 years after the event that struck more than 100, 000 people, A Journal of the Plague Year is a compelling portrait of life during London's horrific bubonic plague. Through the eyes of H.F. (speculated to be Defoe's uncle, Henry Foe, from whose journals the book was supposedly adapted) we witness great grief, depravity and despair: crazed sufferers roam the streets, unearthly screams resound across the city, death carts dump their grisly loads into mass graves, and quackery and skulduggery feed on fear. But there is kindness and courage too, as mutual support and caring are upheld through the worst of days. Defoe's Journal is considered one of the most accurate accounts of the plague, and includes many contemporary theories about the disease, along with rolls of the dead and a literary mapping of London, street by street, parish by parish. It is a fascinating and intimate account from one of the earliest proponents of the novel.
The Lost Music of Canterbury / Metcalfe, Blue Heron
Blue Heron Renaissance Choir
CD
$74.99Oct 19, 2018
Winner of the 2018 Gramophone Classical Music Award for Early Music, Volume 5 of Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks contains the world premiere recording of a Mass by an anonymous English composer from the first half of the 16th century. Since the source of the cantus firmus has not been identified, the Mass remains without a name (""sine nomine""). The release also includes an antiphon addressed to St. Augustine of Canterbury which is the only surviving work of Hugh Sturmy, a short and dramatic Ave Maria mater dei by Robert Hunt, whose Stabat mater is a highlight of vol. 3 of the series, and the sonorous and captivating Ve nobis miseris by John Mason, for men's voices in five parts. This recording is part of a 5-release project which began in 2010.
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Excerpts of reviews from previously released volumes included in this set:
The anonymously-composed Mass in particular is superb. Whoever wrote it almost certainly knew Taverner's Gloria tibi Trinitas, for echoes of it abound, yet it is no slavish imitation. For this piece alone the disc is worth owning. This is one of the discoveries of the year.
Robert Jones's Missa Spes nostra, the album's centerpiece, has an almost folk-like quality, though upon other occasions Jones relishes the passing dissonances his juxtapositions invite. It is a highly individualized work, and amply repays repeated listening.
They blend beautifully, but the emphasis isn’t on a homogenous sound; instead, it’s on one that allows each voice part to be heard in its distinct contribution and with a fitting weight, given the shifting balance of musical thought. The texts are enunciated with great clarity, and a degree of emphasis that very subtly seconds moments of intensity.
Father Goriot / Honorá de Balzac (unabridged) [10 CDs]
Naxos AudioBooks
CD
$33.97$67.98Save 50%Oct 12, 2018
Impoverished young aristocrat Eugène de Rastignac is determined to climb the social ladder and impress himself on Parisian high society. While staying at the Maison Vauquer, a boarding house in Paris's rue Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève, he encounters Jean-Joachim Goriot, a retired vermicelli maker who has spent his entire fortune supporting his two daughters. The boarders strike up a friendship and Goriot learns of Rastignac's feelings for his daughter Delphine. He begins to see Rastignac as the ideal son-in-law, and the perfect substitute for Delphine's domineering husband. But Rastignac has other opportunities too, as the notorious criminal Vautrin, 'The Death Dodger', offers to murder the brother of a wealthy woman, giving the ambitious young lawyer a clear path to her fortune... Profound and realistic, Father Goriot is a startling glimpse into the vanity and selfishness of 19th-century Paris. It is considered one of the finest works of Balzac's La Comédie Humaine.
Clarissa - The History of a Young Lady, Vol. 1 (Unabridged)
Naxos AudioBooks
CD
$81.95$163.98Save 50%Jun 08, 2018
A milestone in the history of the novel, Samuel Richardson's epistolary and elaborate Clarissa follows the life of a chaste young woman desperate to protect her virtue. When beautiful Clarissa Harlowe is forced to marry the rich but repulsive Mr. Solmes, she refuses, much to her family's chagrin. She escapes their persecution with the help of Mr. Lovelace, a dashing and seductive rake, but soon finds herself in a far worse dilemma. Lovelace is a devil in disguise: he promptly imprisons Clarissa, and is determined to break her will. Terrifying and enlightening, Clarissa weaves a tapestry of narrative experimentation into a gripping morality tale of good triumphing over evil. The recording is divided into three volumes, the present release being the first. Clarissa is one of the longest novels in the English canon; many critics agree that it is one of the greatest and most influential in English. For this first ever unabridged recording, a carefully selected cast of readers bring to life Richardson's intricate narrative.
The Trio Sonata Through Two Centuries / London Baroque
BIS
CD
$79.99Oct 05, 2018
Formed in 1978, London Baroque enjoys the position of being one of the most experienced and long-lived baroque chamber groups. Combining 8 albums originally released between 2003 and 2013, the present set of trio sonatas can be seen as the fruit of all those years of research, experiment and discovery. The trio sonata was the primary vehicle for chamber music in the seventeenth and at least half of the eighteenth centuries. Its history mirrors other developments throughout the whole of the baroque era. This set is chiefly concerned with those for two violins and continuo, with occasional digressions into those for violin, bass viol and continuo, and one with viola replacing the second violin. Like the string quartet in later ages, most composers (with some notable and regrettable exceptions) tried their hand in the form. The customary addition of a figured bass part played on a harpsichord or organ around 1600 meant that middle parts of the old contrapuntal style could be excluded and chamber music soon began to favor the trio sonata texture. 150 years later, with the string quartet, the process was reversed as the viola took over the middle ground previously occupied by the keyboard.
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Excerpts from reviews of previously released volumes included in this set:
London Baroque is one of the older ensembles in the world of historical performance practice. It is still going strong, and it is remarkable how it has kept its high standard over so many years. That also applies to the Bis trio sonatas series: eight discs, intelligently put together and forming a lively documentation of an important part of music history. The playing is again of the highest quality.
London Baroque’s program-opening performance of Albinoni’s Balletto in G features a fresh, unsentimental treatment of the composer’s characteristically slow first-movement Preludio Largo, followed by sprite deliveries of the second and third movements and a dashing Vivaldi-esque concluding Gavotta Presto. Their performance of Giuseppe Sammartini’s Sonata V is equally inspired. Locatelli’s Sonata in D major also receives a captivating, distinguished performance featuring plenty of thrilling fiddling, especially in the Allegro molto finale. London Baroque performs Vivaldi’s famous Op. 1 No. 12 trio sonata “La Folia” with the leaner continuo of just a cello and harpsichord backing the two violins originally specified by the composer. How refreshing!
Listening to these virtuoso performers swing through much of Couperin’s glorious music is often dazzling. It’s been more than a decade since London Baroque began its European trio sonata recording odyssey for BIS, with by and large great success. And here is another wonderful installment, warmly recommended.
Alexander Brailowsky plays Chopin: Complete RCA Recordings
Sony Masterworks
CD
$36.98Sep 21, 2018
Sony Classical is pleased to announce the first release of Alexander Brailowsky’s complete RCA Victor recordings, many of them never before available in the digital medium.
Born in 1896 in Kiev, Brailowsky studied at the conservatory in his native city, then part of the Russian empire. In 1911, he went to Vienna to become a pupil of the legendary Theodor Leschetizky, who taught many of the 20th century’s outstanding pianists. During World War I Brailowsky also studied with Busoni in Switzerland, and in 1919 made his debut in Paris. Five years later came his first appearance in New York where he settled, then making regular coast-to-coast tours of North America while continuing to visit Europe.
There was one composer with whom Alexander Brailowsky was associated throughout his career – and has remained associated through recordings since his death in 1976: Frederic Chopin. Brailowsky was the first pianist to present Chopin’s entire 169 solo works as a cycle, performing this feat before capacity audiences in New York, Brussels, Zurich, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Paris. At the end of his 1938 Chopin series in New York, one reviewer noted that “there are few enough pianists who have the prodigious memory, the physical strength, the comprehensive technique required for such an undertaking; there are far fewer who have – plus all these – the requisite musicianship. Mr. Brailowsky is one of these latter few.”
Not surprisingly, Sony Classical’s new comprehensive reissue of Brailowsky’s RCA albums largely comprises music by Chopin. Both piano concertos are included – No. 1 with William Steinberg conducting the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra in 1949 and No. 2 with Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1954. High Fidelity later wrote of these two performances: “Brailowsky’s energetically contoured, sharply etched clarity represents an emerging modernity of outlook that points to present-day Chopin players.” The set also features Brailowsky’s two traversals of the Waltzes, as well as his complete recordings of the Etudes, Preludes, and Nocturnes, plus Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3, the Ecossaises, and Berceuse. Of Brailowsky’s Nocturnes recording, Gramophone’s reviewer wrote: “He could sing beautifully at the keyboard. His nocturnes as a whole have a touching humanity and simplicity … The mono RCA sound is quite velvety.”
Benjamin Schmid - The Complete Oehms Classics Recordings
Oehms Classics
CD
$23.98$47.99Save 50%Sep 14, 2018
It was a long-standing wish to combine all 18 albums recorded by Benjamin Schmid into one release because they yield an impressive mirror of this unique violinist’s concert activities. The desire was given new impetus by the two magnificent new albums Benjamin Schmid approved for release by OehmsClassics on the occasion of his fiftieth birthday in 2018. The prize-winning recordings of this set, covering almost five centuries, explain why Benjamin Schmid has been perceived by the music public not just as ‘the specialist’ in one individual field. Benjamin Schmid, a native of Vienna, has won a number of awards including the 1992 Carl Flesch Competition in London, where he also won the Mozart, Beethoven and audience prizes. Since then he has been a guest soloist in the world’s most renowned concert halls with prestigious orchestras. His soloistic quality, the range of his repertoire, and especially his improvisatory abilities in jazz make him a violinist with a unique profile.
Set contents in addition to individually listed works:
DISC 2: My favourite Paganini (Works by Paganini & others, arr. by F. Kreisler, etc)
DISC 3: Bach:Reflected (Improvisations on J. S. Bach)
DISC 7: Hommage à Grappelli
DISC 12: Fritz Kreisler - Originals and Adaptations for Jazz-Trio
DISC 20: Pièces de concert (Works of Bazzini, Saint-Saëns, Paganini, and more)
Intended to be a defense of the Christian religion, Pensees is a penetrating collection of thoughts on faith, reason, and theology. Unfinished at the time of Pascal's death, the book consists of philosophical fragments on the 'wretchedness' of man and the controversial schisms of the church at the time. It includes the philosopher's infamous wager encouraging belief over agnosticism, as well as his thoughts on numerous other topics, including the great essayist Montaigne and the Stoic teacher Epictetus. Endlessly quotable, Pensees overflows with pearls of wisdom, with each elusive sentence pregnant with a universe of thought. Peter Wickham's elegant and personable reading makes Pascal's work immediately approachable and accessible.
Traditionally, Switzerland has an important and impressive heritage regarding festivals for classical music, among them the famous Lucerne Festival, rooting back to the so-called "Concert de Gala" in the gardens of Richard Wagner's villa at Tribschen in 1938 conducted by Arturo Toscanini. This release features the fascinating variety and the many facets of the classical festival scene in Switzerland. The selection of the works takes the importance of big names and well known works into account, but also presents modern or even avant-garde approaches or less well known chamber music works.
The world’s leading orchestras, conductors and soloists, outstanding concert venues like the KKL Culture and Convention Centre by the renowned architect Jean Nouvel in Lucerne, a breathtaking landscape: there are many reasons for falling in love with the Swiss music festivals. The Swiss festivals now draw more than 500,000 classical music enthusiasts to the shores of Lake Lucerne or the Verbier mountains every year. And the numbers of visitors is growing from year to year. With this release, you will understand why.
CONTENTS:
DISC 1: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37 Francesco Piemontesi, piano Chamber Orchestra of Europe / Roger Norrington, conductor
Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E-Flat Major, K. 543 Francesco Piemontesi, piano Le Cercle de L'Harmonie / Jérémie Rhorer, conductor
DISC 2: Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550 Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551, "Jupiter" Le Cercle de L'Harmonie / Jérémie Rhorer, conductor
DISC 3: Elgar: Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47 Schumann Quartett CHAARTS Chamber Artists Felix Froschhammer, concert master
Kancheli: Chiaroscuro for Violin and Orchestra Sebastian Bohren, violin CHAARTS Chamber Artists Andreas Fleck, conductor
Schumann: Dein Angesicht, Op. 127 No. 2 Lehn' deine Wang' an meine Wang', Op. 142 No. 2 Es leuchtet meine Liebe, Op. 127 No. 3 Mein Wagen rollet langsam, Op. 142 No. 4 Ian Bostridge, tenor Saskia Giorgini, piano
Ralph Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge: V. Bredon Hill Ian Bostridge, tenor Casal Quartett
Purcell: The Fairy Queen, Z. 629: O Let Me Weep Regula Mühlemann, soprano Robin Müller, violin CHAARTS Chamber Artists
DISC 4: Brahms: Piano Trio No.1, Op. 8 Jonian-Ilias Kadesha, violin Vashti Hunter, cello Joonas Ahonen, piano
Blum: Luzerner Kreisel Silke Gäng, mezzo-soprano Oliwia Grabowska, piano
Gesualdo: Madrigals, Libro 6: II. Beltà poi che t'assenti Davos Festival Kammerchor
Dalbavie: Palimpseste für Flöte, Klarinette, Violine, Viola, Violoncello und Klavier Àgnes Vass, flute Joonas Ahonen, piano
Dickkopf: Paris Davos Festival Männerchor
DISC 5: Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 Lily Francis, violin Festival Orchestra / Willem de Bordes, conductor
Enescu: Romanian Rhapsodies, Op. 11: No. 1 in A Major Jonian-Ilias Kadesha, violin Festival Orchestra / Daniel Bard, concert master
DISC 6: Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 5 in D Major, Op. 70 No. 1 "Ghost" Candida Thompson, violin Xenia Jankovic, cello Paolo Giacometti, piano
Enescu: Octet in C Major, Op. 7 Daniel Bard, violin
DISC 7: Bach: Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227 Britten: Hymn to St. Caecilia Gabrieli Consort & Players Paul McCreesh, conductor
DISC 8: Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 Elgar: They Are at Rest Gabrieli Consort & Players Paul McCreesh, conductor
DISC 9: Haydn: Symphony No. 6 in D Major, Hob. I:6 "Le Matin" CHAARTS Chamber Artists Gregory Ahss, concert master
Sollima: Fecit Neap 17 Giovanni Sollima, cello CHAARTS Chamber Artists Gregory Ahss, concert master
Schönberg: Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 Felix Froschhammer, violin Gregory Ahss, violin Lawrence Power, viola Razvan Popovici, viola Maximilian Hornung, cello Andreas Fleck, cello
DISC 10: Webern: Sechs Stücke für großes Orchester, Op. 6 Orchestra of the Lucerne Festival Academy / Susanna Mälkki, conductor
Neuwirth: Trurliade - Zone Zero Victor Hanna, percussion Orchestra of the Lucerne Festival Academy / Susanna Mälkki, conductor
Rihm: Gruss-Moment für Pierre Boulez Ligeti: San Francisco Polyphony Orchestra of the Lucerne Festival Academy / Matthias Pintscher, conductor
DISC 11: Shostakovich: From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79 Shostakovich: Cello Sonata in D Minor, Op 40 Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19 Bloch: From Jewish Life, IEB 6 Sol Gabetta, violin Bertrand Chamayou, piano
DISC 12: Mahler: Symphony No. 5 UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra / James Levine, conductor
DISC 13: Bach: Concerto for 4 Keyboards in A Minor, BWV 1065 Martha Argerich, piano Evgeny Kissin, piano James Levine, piano Mikhail Pletnev, piano
Haydn: Symphony No. 88 in G Major, Hob. I:88 Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra / András Schiff, conductor
Rachmaninoff: Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19 Lynn Harrell, cello Yuja Wang, piano
Ysaye: Sonata for 2 Violins in A Minor, Op. posth. Joshua Bell, violin Leonidas Kavakos, violin
Great artists are usually individuals solely dedicated to their artistic fulfillment throughout the course of their life; some of them even seem to live in another world. Daniel Barenboim, born in Buenos Aires in 1942, is the supreme example in our time of an exception to this rule. As pianist, conductor and opera director he is a cosmopolitan in music, but at the same time he is a humanist who sees himself as a politically aware contemporary citizen active above all in the search for solutions to religious and national problems. His parents were music teachers, moving first to Israel, then to Europe. Daniel Barenboim gave his first concert when he was seven, and was giving piano recitals in Vienna and Salzburg at the age of ten; he sought advice as a pianist from Edwin Fischer, and as a conductor from Igor Markevitch; his London concert debut of 1955 was conducted by Josef Krips. Six years later he was standing on the conductor’s rostrum himself. As successor to Georg Solti in 1975, he assumed the position- which he held till 1989- of Director of the Orchestre de Paris and in 1981, he celebrated the first of his many Bayreuth triumphs with his Tristan premiere. He took the Berlin Philharmonic on their first tour of Israel in 1990 and since 1992 he has been General Music Director of Berlin’s Staatsoper unter den Linden and its orchestra, the Staatskapelle. The recordings on the present album were made in 1959, at the beginning of a great career.
One of the greatest achievements in musical composition history, The Well-Tempered Clavier of Johann Sebastian Bach is a collection of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys. It seem both books, composed two decades apart, were written primarily for educative personal and private use in the home – probably to be played on the intimate clavichord. One of the most famous works written for the keyboard, The Well-Tempered Clavier is simply enjoyable music of the highest craftsmanship. Alexandra Papstefanou graduated from Athens Conservatoire, where she studied piano under Aliki Vatikioti. She followed her studies with Olga Zhukova at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, with Peter Solymos, at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest and, on a scholarship from the Alexander Onassis Foundation, at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, USA, with the highly influential teacher György Sebok. She has also taken lessons from Alfred Brendel. Papastefanou was a finalist at the Clara Haskil Competition in Switzerland and received the Liebstoeckl and Fazioli Prizes at the International Geneva Competition, as well as the Spyros Motsenigos Prize from the Academy of Athens. She has performed all of Bach’s keyboard works and, in a series of recitals, has presented his complete Well-Tempered Clavier, Goldberg Variations, The Art of Fugue, and The Musical Offering as well as his keyboard concertos.
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