The Maiden's Prayer - Leaves From Grandmother's Piano Album
Naxos
Available as
CD
$19.99
Sep 05, 1994
The Maiden's Prayer: Leaves from Grandmother's Piano Album
The Maiden's Prayer - Leaves From Grandmother's Piano Album
$19.99
CD
Naxos
Sep 05, 1994
8550646
Boccherini: Cello Concertos Vol 1 / Hugh, Halstead, Et Al
Naxos
Available as
CD
$19.99
Apr 29, 1999
This is a winner of a disc, the first of a projected series covering all 12 of Boccherini’s cello concertos, beautifully performed on modern instruments but with concern for period practice and superbly recorded. One minor snag is a confusion over numbering. Naxos calls its first selection of works Nos. 1-4, whereas in Gramophone and on the Gramophone Database the new numbering above is used. What many collectors will be concerned about is the Boccherini Cello Concerto beloved of generations in Grutzmacher’s corrupt edition.
When many years ago I questioned Jacqueline du Pre about choosing it for her recording, she promptly justified herself, saying, ‘But the slow movement is so lovely.’ She was quite right, as her classic recording makes clear (EMI, 10/67), but that movement was transferred from another work, in fact No. 7 in G, one of the four works here. Tim Hugh’s dedicated account of this lovely G minor movement is a high spot of this issue, with rapt, hushed playing not just from the soloist but also from the excellent Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Anthony Halstead. It develops into a long cadenza, a sustained meditation lasting almost two minutes out of the six-and-a-half, and I should have liked to have it identified in the notes.
As it is, Hugh offers substantial cadenzas not just in the first movements of each work, but in slow movements and finales too, though none is as extended as the one in the G minor slow movement. Halstead, as a period specialist and a horn virtuoso as well as a conductor, matches his soloist in the dedication of these performances, clarifying textures (not least in the ripe horn parts, presumably played on natural instruments) and encouraging Hugh to choose speeds on the fast side, with easily flowing slow movements and outer movements which test the soloist’s virtuosity to the very limit, without sounding breathless.
The formula in all four works is similar, even though each has its individual delights, with strong, foursquare first movements, slow movements that sound rather Handelian and galloping finales in triple time. Not just for those who know only the old Grutzmacher concerto, all this will be a delightful discovery. And remember, there are two more issues to come.
-- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone [10/1999]
Boccherini: Cello Concertos Vol 1 / Hugh, Halstead, Et Al
$19.99
CD
Naxos
Apr 29, 1999
8553571
Age Of Elegance - Greatest Hits
Sony Masterworks
Available as
CD
$11.98
May 14, 1996
This disc includes both ADD and DDD recordings.
Age Of Elegance - Greatest Hits
$11.98
CD
Sony Masterworks
May 14, 1996
MLK62369
Boccherini: String Quartets Opp 32 & 39 / Borciani Quartet
Naxos
Available as
CD
$19.99
Oct 01, 2001
There's always room in the catalog for enterprising budget-priced performances like these. The string quartets of Luigi Boccherini, though perhaps not as historically significant as his quintets, are engaging and under-valued pieces. If you want to try out a representative selection at minimal cost, you'll find this Naxos disc nicely fits the bill. The Borciani Quartet was formed in 1984 and named after the group's teacher, Paolo Borciani, who was the founding leader of Quartetto Italiano. In these performances the Borcianis successfully emulate the famous clarity and refinement of their models, providing assured, imaginative readings of the first two quartets from Boccherini's Op. 32 set--the best known and most frequently performed of the Boccherini quartets. All six were recorded on period instruments by the Esterházy Quartet for Teldec in 1976. That fine survey had the advantage of completeness, and the lighter instrumental textures brought pleasing clarity and immediacy. However, the Borcianis' well-prepared and naturally spontaneous accounts are equally well played, and the Naxos sound is certainly superior. Better still is the Borciani Quartet's splendid reading of the more substantial A major work, a polished and cultured performance made more compelling by energetically pointed rhythms and marked dynamic contrasts, which listeners will best appreciate during the lyrically expressive slow movement. An excellent disc all round. --Michael Jameson, ClassicsToday.com
Boccherini: String Quartets Opp 32 & 39 / Borciani Quartet
$19.99
CD
Naxos
Oct 01, 2001
8555042
Pablo Casals - The Complete HMV Recordings 1926-1955
WARNER CLASSICS
Available as
CD
$29.55
Aug 25, 2023
The Catalan cellist Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was first to bring to wider notice the works that open this set, J.S. Bach's solo cello suites. Thereafter we hear his celebrated partnership with Horszowski in Beethoven and the groundbreaking piano trio formed with Thibaud and Cortot in Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn. From the symphonic repertoire come the concertos by Dvořák (with George Szell) and Elgar (Adrian Boult). Finally, an enchanting disc of encores and - with Casals's own street-band or cobla - seven examples of the sardana, the national dance of the great artist's beloved homeland.
Pablo Casals - The Complete HMV Recordings 1926-1955
