In 2012-14, these six albums were issued as individual books, in which format they attracted praise both for the depth of their insights and the excellence of the performances: ‘”Elegant” is the word for this production, equally worthy to give or to keep’ Fanfare (Volume 1). This box makes them available once again at a superbudget price, with a new introductory essay by Peter Quantrill in the booklet, and all the original essays republished at brilliantclassics.com. The result is a highly attractive box for both Bach collectors and for newcomers to the inexhaustible treasure-trove that is his output of cantatas.

The selection of repertoire ranges chronologically from early masterpieces such as Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV4 and the Passacaglia BWV582 to the long period of his maturity as Cantor in Leipzig, when Bach wrote five cycles of cantatas for each feast-day in the church calendar. An important feature of Bach in Context is the use of the church organ as both a continuo and solo instrument. Each album opens with a piece of organ music (a Toccata or Prelude) and ends with another voluntary such as the corresponding fugue.

The albums explore resonant themes which run through Bach’s music, in several cases linked by the chorale hymns on which he based organ and vocal fantasias in his cantatas and motets. Led by the experienced Bach performer Pieter-Jan Belder, who has recorded all of the composer’s harpsichord music for Brilliant Classics, these performances feature one voice per part in a tightly knit vocal consort, according to the theories outlined by Joshua Rifkin, and which have since won wide acceptance. The singers are led by Harry van der Kamp, who has recorded cantatas with many other distinguished early-music directors such as Gustav Leonhardt and Ton Koopman.

Sir Arnold Bax wrote his seven symphonies between 1921 and 1939, embracing a prolific period that drew inspiration from a variety of sources. From the dramatic impact of the Second Symphony through to the seascapes of the Fourth and hints of Sibelius in the later works, Bax’s powerful symphonic world is one of surprising and at times stormy vigor contrasting with the most intense lyrical expressiveness and serenity. The selection of additional orchestral works evoking nature and atmospheric landscapes fascinates and rewards in equal measure, providing an essential overview of Bax’s music in critically acclaimed recordings.

REVIEW:

Listeners should come away mightily impressed by David Lloyd-Jones's clear-headed conducting of this intoxicating repertoire.

-- Gramophone

Past praise of previously released individual volumes included in this set:

Symphony No. 1 - In the Faery Hills - Garden of Fand

This first disc in the Naxos Bax series offers warmly idiomatic readings of two early symphonic poems, as well as the First Symphony…finely detailed. In the two symphonic poems, more specifically inspired by Irish themes, Lloyd-Jones draws equally warm and sympathetic performances from the Scottish Orchestra, bringing inner clarity to the heaviest scoring. First-rate sound...

-- Penguin Guide

Symphony No. 4, Nympholept, Picaresque Comedy Overture

The RSNO handle the difficulties of these scores well, with some wonderful solo playing from oboes and horns. The conductor David Lloyd-Jones allows those refulgent textures time to breathe, without letting the music sprawl.

-- Times of London

Symphony No. 5 - The Tale the Pine-Trees Knew

Lloyd-Jones's intelligent, meticulously observant and purposeful direction pays handsome dividends, and that a well-drilled RSNO in turn responds with sensitivity and enthusiasm. In short, another terrific coupling within what is turning out to be one mightily rewarding enterprise.

-- Gramophone

The publication of this anniversary box set celebrating 60 years of Musiques Nouvelles, a true collector's item, brings the 30-year collection of Cypres to a close in the most beautiful way. The 45 masterpieces recorded here reflect the beautiful aesthetic plurality of the creative music composed in the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles during the decade 2012-2022. They are added to the 25 compositions of the previous box set released by Cypres in 2012 for the 50th anniversary of Musiques Nouvelles. These 12 albums constitute a shimmering and radiant sound showcase of musical creation through 70 composers whose works constitute an exceptional musical heritage testifying to the extraordinary vitality of creative music in French-speaking Belgium. Share our taste for exploration and let us invite you on a prodigious journey through 45 unique and hospitable soundscapes, 45 universes with subtle lights.

Born around 1570, Christian Erbach apparently pursued the career of a musician from his earliest years. By his early 30s he had taken over organist positions in Augsburg previously held by the better known Hans Leo Hassler (the subject of another unrivaled compendium by Manuel Tomadin on Brilliant Classics, 95331). Like Hassler, Erbach was evidently influenced as a composer by Italian and in particular Venetian flavors of polychoral and effervescent writing even in his instrumental output. The predominant forms in this set are toccatas, canzonas and ricercars, as well as instrumental ‘settings’ of the Magnificat and the Ordinary of the Mass for liturgical use. Erlebach himself must have been an organist of tremendous flourish and with an ear for liturgical theatre, to judge from the colorful array of textures he demands in his music. Both his music and his renown as a teacher exercised a formative influence over the next two generations of German organ music – from which eventually emerged its own dominant figure, Johann Sebastian Bach (who also looked over to the other side of the Alps for stylistic inspiration).

In an extensive booklet introduction to Erlebach’s life and works, the organist Manuel Tomadin makes available much research otherwise unavailable in English. He has chosen to make this comprehensive set on a selection of organs in northern Italy and Austria, all of them equipped with the registral possibilities to make the composer’s music sing in its own language, and several of them dating from Erlebach’s own time, based in Bologna, Mantova, Pistoia and farther afield. All the instruments are illustrated in the booklet with color photographs and a detailed registration plan, making the set invaluable for both organ buffs and any listener with a broader interest in the German Baroque.

An outstanding edition for the 200th birthday César Franck's complete organ works At the center of the perception of César Franck as an organ composer are the twelve large-scale works, which are counted among the most radiant contributions to the organ literature. However, it should not be forgotten that with the collection "L'Organiste" he wrote 63 shorter, but compositionally very elaborate pieces, which due to their vignette-like, compact facture do not reach the complexity of his "large" organ works, but are nevertheless very remarkable: Each one of the pieces has a signature all its own, and is in no way inferior to Franck's extensive organ works in terms of harmonic complexity and focus of expression. It is thanks to our interpreter, i.e. Carsten Wiebusch's knowledgeable and tasteful arrangement of this collection originally composed by Franck for harmonium, that these miniatures can fully unfold their coloristic potential on the organ. And last but not least, there was the fascinating task of selecting the appropriate instruments for a Franck complete recording. What today appears so clearly arranged on 4 albums with three organs is the result of a thought process lasting several years, during which many instruments were considered, tested and discarded again in order to impressively reproduce the versatility of Franck's music.

Modernity in Russian music emerged despite its struggles with the Soviet regime in the early 20th century, with the mystical vision of Scriabin’s musical legacy providing a foundation on which to build. In these acclaimed albums we discover Medtner’s life affirming Sonatas, and hear Lourié’s journey from Impressionism to pioneering Cubist conceptions. Mosolov’s works are bold and complex, while Roslavets new tonal system brings ‘fi re and ice’, and Stanchinsky’s sophisticated virtuosity anticipates many aspects of 20th-century style. These remarkable works represent a time of profound change in Russian culture that is still being discovered and assessed today.

Past praise for previously released volumes included in this set:

Mosolov: Complete Works for Solo Piano / Andryushchenko

These are outstanding performances of works that deserve to be heard. The sonatas, in particular, are impressive and, though Scriabin’s spirit runs through much of these compositions they are fine works in their own right.

-- The Classical Reviewer

Louriè: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 1 / Koukl

Arthur Lourie turns out to be a pretty darn good composer—too good to have been left in the attic trunk all these years. The Five Fragile Preludes, Op. 1, have a natural flow to them, and an inevitability that is both rhythmically and harmonically arresting in an impressionism somewhat redolent of Debussy mixed with early Scriabin. While exceedingly brief, they are lovely, perfect jewels. All of this is well described in Anthony Short’s notes, a recording of demonstration quality, and a pianist totally in tune with the music.

-- American Record Guide

Medtner: Complete Piano Sonatas, Vol. 2 / Stewart

Paul Stewart’s love and admiration for Medtner’s music come through strongly in these performances, which require a great range of treatment from the gentlest of touches, sometimes merely brushing the keys, whilst at others displaying a towering emotional intensity. His ability to bring out the poetry in Medtner is impressive and the recording is crisp, which combination makes for a hugely satisfying experience.

-- MusicWeb International

Roslavets: Complete Piano Works / Andryushchenko

For those listeners yet to encounter this fascinating figure, please fear not—Roslavets’ work is appealing on a number of levels and you will find much to enjoy on this terrific pair of discs.

-- MusicWeb International

Louriè: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 2 / Koukl

I am glad to have had the opportunity to hear so much of Lourié’s music which is so interesting and so tuneful and so varied it seems he was a chameleon in more than just his assumed persona but in his music as well and it’s all the better for it; variety is the spice of music as well as of life itself. Giorgio Koukl is nothing if not a consistently impressive advocate of whichever composer’s music he takes it upon himself to focus on and I thoroughly recommend this disc to all lovers of solo piano music.

-- MusicWeb International

Stanchinsky: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 1 / Solovieva

The short-lived Alexey Stanchinsky (1888-1914) has shown up on my Want Lists before, but despite devoted advocacy by a few pianists, his Scriabin-inspired music hasn’t caught on. It’s not clear why: His works are wildly inventive in their treatment of rhythm, harmony, and counterpoint—and while he died before he got to solidify his style, the dizzying sense of adventure in even his earliest works is palpable. May this new release by Olga Solovieva (the first volume of a complete cycle) be the one that turns the tide.

-- Fanfare

In the complete edition compiled by BR-KLASSIK, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the direction of its long-time principal conductor Mariss Jansons explores Mahler's symphonic œuvre. This complete recording of Mahler's impressive symphonies is further enhanced by revealing rehearsal recordings and interesting interviews. In his nine symphonies, Gustav Mahler built up an entire world for himself and his listeners. More than almost any other composer, he tried in his symphonic works to get to the very bottom of the cycle of life, that eternal process of becoming and expiring – so what better complete set of symphonies to express the finest qualities of a modern-day conductor and the unique sound of a leading orchestra?

Mariss Jansons found simple and clear words to express what it was that so fascinated and moved him about Mahler's music throughout his life. He said that the composer’s work always related to what was universal and contained absolutely everything that exists in the world. In his symphonies, said Jansons, Mahler captured nature, faith, love, death, pain, tragedy, happiness, humor, utopia, irony, sarcasm - everything that makes up human existence. Jansons regarded his music as posing questions that ultimately every thinking person has to ask, and everyone can find something in it where they recognize themselves as if in a mirror. There are nevertheless no definitive answers in Mahler, "nothing triumphant that is at one with itself." When he first encountered Mahler’s music, this experience struck Jansons like a bolt from the blue. Gradually, he developed into one of the leading Mahler conductors of his era. The fact that he had the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks as a partner here – an orchestra that can look back on a long Mahler tradition - was certainly a very fortunate coincidence.

Ferdinand Ries was a friend and pupil of Beethoven and was praised by Robert Schumann for his ‘remarkable originality.’ He was also one of the great piano virtuosos of his age and perfectly placed to compose works for his instrument that honor the Classical tradition of Haydn and Mozart while foreshadowing the Romanticism of Schubert and Chopin.

In Susan Kagan, an acknowledged authority on the composer, these works have found an interpreter of sympathy and eloquence who brings the composer’s fluency, poignancy, and drama fully to life: “Ries could not have asked for a better pianist and proponent than he has found in Susan Kagan.” (Fanfare)

As the Italian pianist Giovanni Bellucci remarks in an extensive booklet introduction, this album is the fruit of study over the past 20 years and more, into the worlds of both Beethoven and Liszt and their meeting point in these transcriptions where the Hungarian composer sought to honor his forebear as the original leader of an artistic movement we now think of as Romanticism, where the composer places himself at the front and center of his works. Liszt’s transcriptions diverged from the ready-made arrangements which publishers rapidly produced and reprinted to meet the demands of amateur and domestic audiences. Here, the symphonic world of Beethoven is not merely experienced as a distant echo but translated into the idiom of the virtuoso piano which swept across Europe during the latter half of the 19th century, led by Liszt and Clara Schumann. Thus in these performances, Bellucci seeks a kind of fidelity to the Romantic age of the transcriptions rather than the Classical age of the original works.

Taking broad tempi and probing deeply into textures which, after all, condense the soundworld of an entire orchestra into the span of ten fingers, Bellucci presents an individual and compelling new vision of works which renew themselves at the hands of each new generation’s interpreters. The cycle reaches its climax with the Ninth, recorded live at the2014 Lisztomania Festival in France, with the participation of the Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno and soloists Hana Škarková, Lucie Hilscherová, Michal Lehotský and Martin Gurbal. Other studio sessions have taken place in the famous Salle de Musique at La Chaux de Fonds in Switzerland, between 2018 and 2021.

Born in 1946, Vladimir Martynov is one of several composers from the former USSR whose music taps into a vein of perpetual memory and farewell. Literally so in the case of Der Abschied, an eight-movement cycle for small ensemble which stands on the threshold like a guest at a gathering of friends, unable or unwilling to shut the door behind them and venture out alone. One of Martynov’s most distinguished contemporaries was the Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov, who talked of a ‘genetic aural well’ for Russian music which, like Orthodox prayer, cannot be learnt as a text, but which exists beyond any text. Silvestrov explicitly recognized his own output as ‘meta-music’ or even ‘post-music’, and the same could be said of many pieces in Martynov’s output. Tiny motifs and gestures are layered and expanded across a meditative space in a distinctively Russian form of Minimalism that bears certain similarities with the better-known outputs of Pärt and Schnittke but pursues a consciously more austere path: both the Requiem and Stabat mater are imbued with the timeless qualities of chant and ancient melisma. Martynov’s music began to attract a certain cult following in the West during the 1990s with performances and recordings made principally by the violinist Gidon Kremer and his former partner, Tatiana Grindenko. As both a violinist and conductor, Grindenko has continued to keep Martynov’s flame burning, and she leads most of the performances here, which were made mostly in Moscow over the course of several years and in several cases receive here their first international release.

Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra released Symphonies Nos. 1-4 and a large variety of other works by Johannes Brahms between 2009 and 2021. On this box set you will find all of these highly acclaimed Channel Classics recordings. Brahms worked on his First Symphony for many years, a long process driven by extremely diverse musical impulses. The Guardian reviewed Fischer’s recording as “monumental in every sense of the word”. In the Second Symphony, which took him only a summer to compose, Brahms shows us his masterful skill in developing large-scale architecture from the simplest motifs. Iván Fischer refers to the beginning of Brahms’ Third Symphony as being “A life’s story in ten bars – there is no more magnificent opening of a symphony than the first 34 seconds of Brahms’ Third.” Many consider the Fourth Symphony to be the finest of all romantic symphonies. And what a wonderful start: a fragmented melody like a hovering leaf blown up and down by the wind. Iván Fischer: “Never has tenderness been composed more movingly.” BBC Music Magazine gave this recording a Double 5-Star review, noting that “This is an orchestra whose players listen to each other intently.”

To mark their 30th Anniversary, Britten Sinfonia and Thomas Adès are releasing their acclaimed Beethoven and Barry cycle as a box set. The works were recorded between 2017 and 2019 at Barbican Hall, London and Theatre Royal, Brighton. Thomas Adès: “This collection is the fruit of two parallel passions. After twenty years of performing and often premiering Gerald Barry’s works, I was frantic to record as much of it as possible. I had also loved working on Beethoven Symphonies with Britten Sinfonia, and suddenly an idea was born: why not dare the two firebrands to join hands? As soon as this idea took hold, everything fell into place. I believe Ludwig van Beethoven must be treated as a living composer, and I find Gerald’s music to be entirely classic. So the two complement each other ideally.” Gerald Barry: “Tom Adès decided on this pairing. It startled me. The first record I bought when I was about 13 was Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto. We didn’t have a record player so all I could do was study the cover and advertisements on the back. I could look and see but not hear. I would take the record out and smell it. I used my nose as a stylus going round and round.”

The importance of Christmas inspired many composers to write music for the occasion, some designed to be performed in church services, others for concert or secular celebration. This 6 album set combines oratorios and concertos by Schütz, Telemann, Bach, Corelli, Rinck, Saint-Saëns, Herzogenberg, Clarke, Nicolai. Some of the finest artists and ensembles in the Hanssler catalog are showcased on these recordings, including Iona Brown, Joachim Held, Hannoversche Hofkapelle, Collegium vocale Siegen, Monteverdi-Orchester Munchen, Oregon Bach Festival Chamber Orchestra, and many more.

REVIEWS:

Christmas has inspired many composers to compose magnificent music, on the one hand for church services and on the other hand for festive concerts outside the church. This masterful box with 6 CDs contains oratorios and concertos by Schütz, Telemann, Bach, Corelli, Rinck, Saint-Saëns, Herzogenberg and Clarke, performed by some of the best artists and ensembles in the Hänssler catalogue, including Iona Brown, Joachim Held, Hannoversche Hofkapelle, Collegium vocale Siegen, Monteverdi-Orchester Munchen, and the Oregon Bach Festival Chamber Orchestra.

-- Stretto

As Christmas approaches, an avalanche of familiar Christmas tunes rumbles in the distance. Even in the case of large-scale Christmas compositions, the same works seem to be repeated too often, but Hänssler's six-disc box set reminds us that the repertoire is much wider.

The greatest work is Heinrich von Herzogenberg's (1842–1900) idyllic oratorio "The Birth of Christ" (1894), which spreads the event into a spectacle borrowing familiar and lesser-known Christmas carols based on the Old Testament and the Gospel of Luke. Herzogenberg, who was one of Brahms's supporters, represents full Romanticism at its tenderest, sometimes generously sweet. Schütz's "A Christmas Story" is more familiar and would work better as a period-style performance. Arnold Bruckhorst's (c. 1675–c. 1725) twenty-minute "Christmas History" is, on the other hand, a new acquaintance, as is Christian Heinrich Rinck's (1770–1846) even shorter classic Romantic Christmas Cantata. All performances are homely and competent, without causing great artistic tremors. Saint-Saëns' Christmas Oratorio can be found in more sophisticated recordings, but why, for example, Otto Nicolai's charming Christmas Overture is never heard in concerts?

Telemann's big and handsome oratorio Heilig, heilig, Heilig ist Gott (1747) is useless to look for elsewhere. The documentation only includes lists of works and performance information.

-- Rondo Classic

This six album boxed set comprises Tanya Ekanayaka’s Twelve Piano Prisms performed by the composer (GP785); works by Valentin Silvestrov performed by Elisaveta Blumina (GP639); Philip Glass’ piano music played by Nicholas Horvath (GP692); and Haro Stepanian’s Preludes (GP760) and Baal HaSulam’s Melodies of the Upper Worlds (GP808) performed by Mikael Ayrapetyan, alongside the pianist’s own A Whole in 12 (GP809). These contemplative contemporary piano miniatures have been expertly curated from the Grand Piano discography, and are sure to leave listeners and critics alike extremely satisfied.

Past praise for previously released volumes included in this set:

Stepanian: 26 Preludes for Piano / Ayrapetyan

Haro Stepanian was a fellow student of Aram Khachaturian. Stepanian himself was certainly a fine composer, based on this collection of preludes written between 1947 and 1965. There are three sets of eight here, completed in 1947, 1948, and 1956, plus two individual preludes written near the end of his life. His style is consistently folk derived, nothing one could call revelatory, but simply well-crafted work across a broad spectrum of emotional expression. The young Armenian pianist Mikael Ayrapetyan is a very fine advocate for this decidedly obscure music.

-- Fanfare

Ekanayaka: 12 Piano Prisms

Tanya Ekanayaka certainly hits her musical mark with these piano pieces. At times contemplative, sometimes raucous, these works have been injected generously with beauty and Rachmaninoff-like technique and drama. These works are certainly recommended to pianists to program for recitals: not only do they take the audience on a lovely, dark journey through the music of different cultures via the lens of a classically-trained pianist, but they sound enjoyable to play.

-- American Record Guide

Silvestrov: Piano Works / Blumina

Silvestrov seems well served by pianist Elisaveta Blumina. All is played and recorded with close and calmingly fervent engagement. Silvestrov’s surprising but pleasing commitment is to a vocabulary chronologically distant from the predominance of the twentieth century, let alone the twenty-first. If he occasionally sounds briefly like Einaudi it is only to remind us that once we listen for more than a couple of minutes Silvestrov is not a minimalist. In this context he is just a composer, one strand of whose creativity is inextricably in thrall to a style that, while familiar, serves his expressive needs better than any other. It is one dimension of the man.

-- MusicWeb International

These works were commissioned by the International Bach Academy in Stuttgart to write works to mark Bach Year 2000. Osvaldo Golijov´s Pasión Según San Marcos is the work of one who moves back and forth between different worlds and can scarcely be pigeonholed as representing a specific culture. His work unites the music of South America, Cuba, the West and Jewish tradition to produce an unconventional conception of a “Passion“ in which Jesus is not a light skinned European, but instead a person of color. Sofia Gubaidulina's response was a St John Passion, and subsequently she added a sequel, St John Easter, which was premiered in Hamburg in March 2002. Both those works originally had Russian words, drawn mostly from St John's gospel and the Book of Revelation, but in 2006, prompted by conductor Helmuth Rilling, Gubaidulina collaborated on a German translation of the text, while also making revisions to the score itself.

This set consists of previously released recordings. - ArkivMusic

Heitor Villa-Lobos once confessed that he loved to write string quartets, stating ‘one could say that it is a mania.’ His 17 quartets form a substantial part of his chamber music output, covering a long career that embraced national pride and musical experimentation leading to the rarefied atmosphere of the final masterpieces. Often drawing on the musical folklore of Brazil, these quartets are an outpouring of spontaneous and daring invention. Ranging from austere polyphony to compelling expressiveness and virtuosity, they represent one of the most distinctive bodies of chamber works in 20th-century music.

REVIEWS:

Villa-Lobos once confessed that he loved to write string quartets, stating ‘one could say that it is a mania.’ His 17 quartets form a substantial part of his chamber music output, covering a long career that embraced national pride and musical experimentation leading to the rarefied atmosphere of the final masterpieces. Often drawing on the musical folklore of Brazil, these quartets are an outpouring of spontaneous and daring invention. Ranging from austere polyphony to compelling expressiveness and virtuosity, they represent one of the most distinctive bodies of chamber works in 20th-century music. 6 CDs. Danubius Quartet. Original 1992–1994 Marco Polo releases.

-- Records International

Established in 1983, the Danubius Quartet was a Hungarian group – this set was recorded in Budapest – so while they may lack the Latinamericanlo’s Brazilian ‘accent’, they nevertheless hail from Europe’s great centre of string playing. Their brightly projected sound is ideal for Villa-Lobos’s life-affirming music.

-- Limelight

This new release features poignant soul music for moments of contemplation. Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Catholic hymn to Mary's suffering as Jesus Christ's mother at his crucifixion and has been set to music by many Western composers. This 4 album box presents timeless interpretations of the most important compositions of Stabat Mater. Soloists featured on the release include Margot Guilleaume, Ingeborg Danz, Marta Benackova, Elisabeth Höngen, James Taylor, Thomas Quasthoff and many more.

Friedrich Gulda was born in Vienna on May 16, 1930. He began his musical education at the Grossmann Conservatory and subsequently took private lessons from Felix Pazofsky. From 1942 to 1947 he studied piano at the Vienna Academy of Music under Bruno Seidlhofer and Music Theory and Composition under Joseph Marx. He gave his first public performance in 1944 and, two years later when just 16 years old, won the Geneva International Music Competition. Starting after the Second World War, as a 20-year-old, Gulda established himself as a piano soloist with an excellent international reputation and even performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 1950. In the 1950s he was celebrated and considered the leading interpreter of Beethoven in his generation. He founded his own Klassische Orchester Gulda for chamber music with members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to Beethoven, Gulda’s repertoire encompasses works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Richard Strauss, whose Burleske in D minor and lieder are included in this release, with Gulda accompanying soprano Hilde Güden. Gulda was essentially an out-and-out contrarian who showed that a great genius can sometimes be only a step away from a certain madness. While Karl Böhm or Rubinstein admired him as a magnificently talented interpreter of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, Gulda could also be provocative – including inciting his fellow concert pianists. Asked about Vladimir Horowitz, Gulda once responded: “Horowitz is a master. Because he is able to do – whatever he wants,” but also added: “But what he is after doesn’t interest me” (Joachim Kaiser).

REVIEW:
Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000) was certainly never a conformist pianist. But he was less flamboyant in his youth than in his later years, and he did present new perspectives at the beginning of his career, which helped to provoke a change in thinking. The recordings in this CD box set date from this period.

He recorded the freshly perky Mozart Sonata K. 576 in 1948, and both Concertos K. 503 and 537 in 1955 with the New Symphony Orchestra under Anthony Collins. Gulda’s fresh yet nuanced playing compensates for the weak orchestra’s playing. The Beethoven sonatas Nos. 4, 7, 8 and 19 show the still searching Gulda of 1955 on his way to the 1967 complete recording. The 3rd CD includes the concerto piece by Carl Maria von Weber and the Strauss Burlesque, as well as a set of Strauss songs that Gulda recorded with Hilde Güden in 1956. These are wonderful interpretations of rare freshness and suppleness. Güden’s silvery timbre and her confidently controlled, light vocal line coupled with Gulda’s spontaneous and sensitive playing make for an uncommonly natural performance.

Recorded in 1954, Chopin’s compositions, the 4 Ballades and the 1st Piano Concerto, are among Gulda’s ‘immortal’ recordings. In the 1st Piano Concerto, Gulda collaborates with the more traditional Adrian Boult, but it is precisely the contrast in temperament that leads to special tension and dynamics. This recording has been available several times on various labels, but here it definitely sounds in the best quality so far. Also very exciting are the four ballads, which he plays dramatically and narratively.

Debussy and Ravel, the composers represented on CDs Nos. 5 and 6 of this box, have been Gulda’s recurring preoccupation. The early recordings from 1953 and 1955 may not yet be as stylistically tested on the hard, sharp and pithy of jazz as the late recordings, but their analytically modern style, with clear, precise lines and contours and good transparency, shows the intellectual brilliance of these interpretations.

The bottom line is that this encounter with the young Gulda is a very important one that should help one understand the older musician and could help bring respect to Gulda among those who did not appreciate his later work as much.

-- Pizzicato