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Tchaikovsky: The Seasons; Balakirev: Islamey / Bronfman

Sony Masterworks

$17.99 Jan 25, 2008

Bronfman's Islamey is a reading of sweep and majesty. A soul-satisfying record that you'll return to often.

If you've seen Yefim Bronfman perform, you know that he's an assertive, brilliant pianist who commands attention, even in a large hall. The soloist is remarkably successful in scaling back his playing for the 12 modest pieces Tchaikovsky produced for serial publication in a monthly music magazine. Bronfman resists the temptation, for instance, to dazzle with a faster tempo in "The Harvest" (August), which he certainly could have undertaken with one hand (or at least a couple of fingers) tied behind his back. Nor does he look for profundity that isn't there in these unassuming miniatures, or "Chopinize" the more lyrical movements. The well-known "Barcarolle" (June) is played with a straightforward sort of melancholy that's exactly right—touching without seeming overwrought. Still, the playing is eventful and involving, and carefully articulated: Listen to the crystalline clarity of February's "Carnival." Sony provides superb sound, utilizing 24-bit encoding and their "Super Bit Mapping" methodology. The performances were taped at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, in New York State, a celebrated venue that has been exploited by a number of labels. The sonic presentation is warm yet immediate and clear, capturing fully the refinement of Bronfman's touch. I prefer Bronfman's Seasons to three others on hand: Antonin Kubalek (on Dorian, recorded 12 years earlier in the same Troy concert hall), Naum Starkman (on PopeMusic) and, by a smaller margin, Luba Edlina (on Chandos). As though to underscore that he was holding back in the Tchaikovsky, which is quite accessible to talented amateurs, the soloist proceeds on to an echt virtuoso vehicle. Islamev, of course, is for major-leaguers: Do not try this at home unless you are a trained professional. Bronfman gives us quite a ride. The work's considerable technical demands are fairly tossed aside as the pianist presents a coherent musical structure, not merely a succession of pianistic feats. This is a reading with sweep and even some majesty. In comparison, Alexander Paley, leading off his admirable six-CD set of Balakirev's complete piano music for ESS.A.Y with Islamey, sounds dutiful and a bit tentative.

One might grouse about the short timing of this disc. Bronfman could have given us more Tchaikovsky, more Balakirev, more something. But what's the better value: a humdrum 75 minutes or a soul-satisfying 50 that you'll return to often? Not a toughie.

-- Andrew Quint, FANFARE [3/1999]

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Tchaikovsky: The Seasons; Balakirev: Islamey / Bronfman
Sony Masterworks Jan 2008
CD
$17.99

Vision.Bach, Vol. 2 / Rademann, Gaechinger Cantorey

Haenssler Classic

$16.49 ~~$32.99~~ Save 50% Mar 01, 2024

The Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart is performing all these cantatas in chronological order exactly 300 years later. The 23 concerts in all are taking place in and around Stuttgart; the refined live recordings are being released in this CD series on the Hänssler Classic label. The performances follow the latest state of Bach research documented in the new 2022 catalogue of Bach’s works BWV 3.

The ensemble of the Bachakademie, the Gaechinger Cantorey, plays under the direction of Hans-Christoph Rademann. For this purpose it comprises the instrumentalists and up to four vocalists per voice, including the soloists (details on the performers via QRCode), all specialists in their field, as Bach himself wished it. This is a vision that only now can be fulfilled in its ideal form. To this day the music will inspire its audience to devotion, challenge them to reflect and make them glad. It addresses questions of faith and comes to terms with particular situations of human life.

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Vision.Bach, Vol. 2 / Rademann, Gaechinger Cantorey
Haenssler Classic Mar 2024
CD
~~$32.99~~ $16.49

Balakirev: Grand Fantasia, 30 Songs / Krimets, Banowetz
Toccata May 2007
CD
$20.99

Balakirev: Orchestral Works / Klinton, Kütson, Niederrheinische Symphoniker

MDG

SACD

$24.99 Jan 06, 2023

The music of Mily Balakirev has largely disappeared from concert halls today. The dewy new recording by the Niederrheinische Symphoniker under the baton of chief conductor Mihkel Kütson comes at just the right time: the 1st Piano Concerto with Dinara Klinton as soloist, plus the 2nd Symphony and two highly original overtures attest to Balakirev's special place in music history, not least as the spiritus rector of the so-called "Mighty Group". With the "Mighty Group", Balakirev and his comrades-in-arms wanted to commit themselves to genuinely Russian music, in contrast to their "Westernised" colleagues Tchaikovsky and Rubinstein. Balakirev even founded his own music school, which dispensed with classical studies with lots of finger exercises and counterpoint lessons - not always to the students' advantage... Because of his commitment to young musicians, Balakirev often left compositions he had begun lying around for decades. It is uncertain whether this is why the one-movement piano concerto remained unfinished. However, the virtuoso work is convincing in every respect: wide-ranging passages of free fantasizing hint at Liszt and Chopin as models. The 2nd Symphony, which Balakirev was only able to complete towards the end of his life, is also formally idiosyncratic. Russian themes demonstrate Balakirev's deep knowledge of folk music, which he studied on his travels through the Caucasus. With the Niederrheinische Symphoniker, all this sounds fresh and unspent - and in the high-quality 3D recording, it is also an acoustic delight.

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Balakirev: Orchestral Works / Klinton, Kütson, Niederrheinische Symphoniker
MDG Jan 2023
SACD
$24.99

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10; Balakirev: Islamey / Sanderling, Kondrashin

ICA Classics

$16.99 Mar 10, 2023

Kurt Sanderling (1912–2011), born in Prussia, fled Germany for the USSR on the invitation of his Jewish relatives living there, to seek artistic and personal refuge from the Nazi regime. He remained in the Soviet Union until 1960, working as assistant conductor and sharing concerts with the legendary Yevgeny Mravinsky, chief conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic. In 1960, he moved to East Berlin to become music director of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra (1960–1977) and the Dresden Staatskapelle (1964–1967) and started conducting around Europe, Japan, the US, and in the UK forming a close rapport with the New Philharmonia (later Philharmonia) in 1972. He developed a strong personal relationship with Shostakovich, which began in 1943 and which lasted for decades. Shostakovich’s Symphony No.10, written in 1953 following the death of Stalin, is regarded by many as his greatest work. The composer said of it, ‘I wrote it right after Stalin’s death and no one has yet guessed what the symphony is about. It’s about Stalin and the Stalin years. The second part of the Scherzo is a musical portrait of Stalin.’ The short filler is a performance of Balakirev’s Islamey, directed by Kirill Kondrashin (1914–1981), one of Russia’s greatest conductors and a close friend of Shostakovich who recorded the entire cycle of the composer’s symphonies with the Moscow Philharmonic.

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Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10; Balakirev: Islamey / Sanderling, Kondrashin
ICA Classics Mar 2023
CD
$16.99

Mussorgsky, M.P.: Pictures At An Exhibition / Ravel, M.: Gas
BIS Apr 2008
SACD
$21.99

Balakirev: Complete Works for Solo Piano / Walker

Grand Piano

$51.99 Sep 10, 2021

These recordings of Balakirev’s complete solo piano works by the much-lauded pianist Nicholas Walker have been hailed as ‘the reference set’ by the American Record Guide. Originally released between 2013 and 2020, these critically acclaimed performances are now collected together for the first time in a 6 album box set. Includes world premiere recordings. Hailed by the London Evening Standard as a 'prodigy, of awesome technical fluency backed by exceptional artistry', Nicholas Walker possesses a rare combination of talents combining sensitivity with 'the flair of a full scale virtuoso and a sparkling intelligence' (BBC Music Magazine). Nicholas Walker teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he devised the celebrated keyboard skills course, the advanced level of which not only helps students to be proficient in all aspects of practical musicianship, but offers them the chance to learn how to improvise in various forms, such as minuets, variations, sonatinas and Mozart-type cadenzas, in addition to devising and performing a virtuoso transcription of their own.

CONTENTS:

Balakirev: Piano Sonata in B flat minor
Balakirev: Piano Sonata No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 5
Balakirev: Piano Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 3 'Grand Sonata'
Balakirev: Waltz No. 1 in G - Valse di Bravura
Balakirev: Nocturne No. 1 in B flat minor
Balakirev: Waltz No. 2 in F minor
Balakirev: Waltz No. 3 in D - Valse Impromptu
Balakirev: Nocturne No. 2 in B minor
Balakirev: Waltz No.4 in B flat
Balakirev: Nocturne No. 3 in D minor
Balakirev: Waltz No. 5 in D flat major
Balakirev: Nocturne in G sharp minor (early version of Nocturne No. 1)
Balakirev: Fantasiestuck
Balakirev: Chant du pêcheur
Balakirev: Waltz No. 7 in G sharp minor
Balakirev: Mazurka No. 1 in A Flat
Balakirev: Mazurka No. 2 in C sharp minor
Balakirev: Sonatina (Esquisses) in G
Balakirev: Berceuse
Balakirev: Mazurka No. 3 in B minor
Balakirev: Mazurka No. 4 in G flat minor
Balakirev: Dumka
Balakirev: Mazurka No. 5 in D
Balakirev: Rêverie in F major
Balakirev: Mazurka No. 6 in A Flat
Balakirev: Piece in F sharp minor
Balakirev: Mazurka No. 7 in E flat minor
Balakirev: Capriccio
Balakirev: Scherzo No. 1 in B minor
Balakirev: Novelette
Balakirev: Pustinya
Balakirev: Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor
Balakirev: Fandango-Etude
Balakirev: Spanish Serenade
Balakirev: Caprice Brilliant Sur La Jota Aragonesa
Berlioz: L'Enfance du Christ, Op. 25: La fuite en Egypte - Overture
Balakirev: Scherzo No. 3 for Piano in F sharp major
Balakirev: Spanish Melody
Taneyev, S: Valse-Caprice No. 1 in A flat
Taneyev, S: Valse-Caprice No. 2 in D flat major
Glinka: Ivan Susanin (A Life for the Tsar): Overture
Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila: Chernamor's March
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 - Romanza (transc Balakirev)
Balakirev: Impromptu on the themes of two Preludes by Chopin
Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 31
Liszt: Mazurka brillante, S221
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2: Allegretto
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 13 in B flat major, Op. 130: Cavatina
Balakirev: Gondellied
Balakirev: Tarantelle in B
Balakirev: Polonaise Brillante
Balakirev: La fileuse
Balakirev: Au Jardin
Glinka: Kamarinskaya
Balakirev: Symphonic Poem 'Tamara'
Balakirev: Polka in F sharp minor
Balakirev: Elegy on the Death of a Mosquito
Balakirev: La Danse De Sorcières (Witches Dance)
Glinka: Ne Govori: Lyubov' Proydyot (Do Not Say: Love Passes Away)
Balakirev: Tyrolienne
Zapol'sky: Reverie
Balakirev: Toccata
Balakirev: The Lark
Balakirev: Islamey - Oriental Fantasy

Past praise of previously released volumes included in this set:

Balakirev: Complete Piano Works Vol 1

Walker presents the works in reverse chronological order, thereby giving us the best and best-known work first. It is a masterly performance, fully on a par with or exceeding ones I have reviewed in recent years: Hinrose (Mirare 181, Nov/Dec 2012), Driver (Hyperion 67806, July/Aug 2011), and Hellaby (Cameo 2081, Sept/Oct 2009). Besides Kentner’s great recording (Naxos 111223, not available in US), I also enjoy Earl Wild’s (Ivory 73005, May/June 2004). Walker finds inner voices and emphasizes some different aspects of the harmony and form, making for a new and well thought out interpretation. He has the full technical capability to handle all of the demands of this score

– American Record Guide

Balakirev: Complete Piano Works Vol 3

This third volume of Balakirev’s complete piano works is built around his seven Mazurkas, joyous and colourful pieces with an unmistakable Slavic tone. This series continues to establish Walker as the new reference for Balakirev’s music.

– Musiq3

Balakirev: Complete Piano Works Vol 5

This one is particularly fascinating for transcription junkies, beginning with the spectacular (and spectacularly difficult) Reminiscences on Glinka’s A Life for the Czar, famous from Earl Wild’s 1969 recording. Walker is quite his equal—and that is saying something—and is also beautifully recorded in a realistic, sympathetic acoustic. Indeed, Walker’s playing throughout this absorbing disc is a pleasure to hear, with a sophisticated tonal palette and eschewing any superficial virtuosity: ‘bravura with integrity’ is how I would describe it. Why don’t we hear more of him?

–Gramophone

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Balakirev: Complete Works for Solo Piano / Walker
Grand Piano Sep 2021
CD
$51.99

The Year That Never Was - Piano Music / Matei Varga

Sono Luminus

$9.49 ~~$18.99~~ Save 50% Jul 08, 2022

Matei Varga writes: “To paraphrase Tolstoy, all happy memories feel more or less the same; but the unhappy times are experienced differently by each one of us. We’ve all had some really tough weeks, which sometimes turned into months, and (with a bit of bad luck) into years… I like to think that “off” years help us grow and prepare for the beautiful things that will undoubtedly come our way (I am an optimist at heart), but living through dark times is a complicated process.

The year 2020 was complicated indeed. The world was put on hold and we hardly remember what we did in February, or May, or September… Many suffered from isolation and the inability to socialize - and they probably prefer to think back to 2020 as a year that never happened… I, on the other hand, felt liberated by the lack of schedules, appointments and the pressure to be productive - that horrid word which is killing our souls, slowly but surely. Instead I embraced seclusion and enjoyed the time off which was forced upon us. Yes, I did miss performing in front of a live audience and traveling to beautiful places, but I found that staying home, with my piano, offered me a better view towards my inner self and a chance to experience the joy of a new discovery. That was for me the Cuban master Ernesto Lecuona…Two years later, the pandemic isn’t over and neither is the collective anxiety- but at least I can offer you this very personal recording, which I hope will take your mind away from current realities. This is music’s most phenomenal power- to bring joy when we really need it!...”

REVIEW:

The Year That Never Was in Romanian pianist Matei Varga’s title here is 2020; he writes of how he came to embrace the COVID-era isolation and explored the work of Ernesto Lecuona, a composer about whom he had previously known little. The output of Cuban composer Lecuona is sometimes categorized as salon music, and while it includes a few classical hits like the opening Andalucía (from the Suite española), much of his large production of some 600 works remains little explored. Here, the excerpts from the Danzas cubanas del siglo XIX and Danzas Afro-Cubanas will be worth the price of admission for Lecuona fans. He wants to expand the notion of salon music to include some of its predecessors, not only Chopin but going back as far as Domenico Scarlatti. That pandemic seems to have produced a boomlet in recordings of salon music, which is probably understandable, and Varga’s release is a novel take on the idea.

-- AllMuic.com (James Manheim)

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The Year That Never Was - Piano Music / Matei Varga
Sono Luminus Jul 2022
CD
~~$18.99~~ $9.49

TCHAIKOVSKY / BALAKIREV / GLAZUNOV: Arrangements for 2 Piano
Naxos Jun 2006
CD
$19.99

Mussorgsky: Pictures at and exhibition - Glazunov: Piano Sonata No. 2 - Balakirev: Islamey / Biret

Idil Biret Archive

$6.49 ~~$12.99~~ Save 50% Sep 24, 2021

In November 1949, at the age of eight, Idil Biret entered the studios of ORTF (Radiodiffusion Television Francaise) in Paris and made her first recordings; these were works by Couperin, Bach, Beethoven and Debussy. In the following decades she made nearly 100 LPs and CDs, released on ten record labels (Pretoria, Vega, Decca, Atlantic/Finnadar, Pantheon, EMI, Naxos, Marco Polo, Alpha, BMP) and many recordings for radio and television stations around the world. These included the complete piano works of Brahms, Chopin and Rachmaninov as well as the Sonatas of Boulez and the Etudes of Ligeti. The Idil Biret Archive (IBA) is now bringing together her past and present recording; as the copyrights are obtained, old recordings no longer available commercially are being released together with her new recordings. The current album features showcases her interpretations of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Glazunov’s Piano Sonata No. 2, recorded in March 2017, and Balakirev’s Islamey “Oriental Fantasy,” recorded in concert at the Lille Festival 1993.

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Mussorgsky: Pictures at and exhibition - Glazunov: Piano Sonata No. 2 - Balakirev: Islamey / Biret
Idil Biret Archive Sep 2021
CD
~~$12.99~~ $6.49

A Tribute to the Mighty Handful

Delos

$18.99 May 13, 2016

The Mighty Handful, also known as The Five, were a group of prominent nineteenth century Russian composers who strived to produce a specifically ‘Russian’ style. The group consisted of Mily Balakirev, Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Alexander Borodin. The Russian Guitar Quartet has chosen works by The Mighty Handful for this new release, reviving the lost tradition of seven-string Russian guitar quartet. These accomplished performers, all with solo careers of their own, perform these arrangements with purpose and passion, leading the listener on a journey through nineteenth century St. Petersburg.

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A Tribute to the Mighty Handful
Delos May 2016
CD
$18.99

Russian Spectacular / Shui, Singapore Symphony

BIS

SACD

$21.99 Apr 09, 2021

This album of orchestral showpieces features four of the five members of the Mighty Handful, a group of Russian composers who, during the second half of the 19th century, collaborated to create a distinct national style. The recorded works illustrate different aspects of their endeavors – both in terms of the musical means they employ and their subject matter. Orientalism is one of the typical features of the music of the group, as witness Balakirev’s Islamey – employing material from the Caucasus Mountains – and Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances, describing the revels of a nomadic eastern tribe during a 12th-century raid into the Russian lands. The most individual of the group was Modest Mussorgsky, with a musical language both powerful and startlingly vivid in imagination. His celebrated Pictures from an Exhibition was composed in 1874 as a tribute to a recently deceased artist friend, and takes in such specifically Russian elements as the fairy-tale witch Baba Yaga and the Great Gate of Kiev. Originally written for the piano it is here performed in the 1922 orchestration by Maurice Ravel. Also by Mussorgsky, the opening Night on the Bare Mountain paints a witch’s Sabbath in bold brushstrokes, and was re-orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov after the composer’s death. It is his version, with more sumptuous orchestral textures and a tighter formal plan that is heard here, performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Lan Shu

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Russian Spectacular / Shui, Singapore Symphony
BIS Apr 2021
SACD
$21.99

A La Russe / Kantorow

BIS

SACD

$21.99 May 05, 2017

Alexandre Kantorow released his first album for BIS in 2016, performing Liszt's piano concertos to critical acclaim: "I'm here to tell you that Alexandre Kantorow is Liszt reincarnated" wrote one impressive reviewer, in Fanfare Magazine. Not yet 20 years old, the French pianist and son of violinist and conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow now explores his Russian roots, in a recital that opens with Rachmaninov's weighty First Piano Sonata, inspired by Goethe's play Faust, and its three main characters, the scholar Faust, his beloved Gretchen and Mephistopheles, the Devil's emissary. The nostalgic intimacy of Méditation and Passé Iointain, from Tchaikovsky's Op. 72 collection, offers respite from the drama, but tension returns with Guido Agosti's virtuosic piano arrangement of three extracts from Stravinsky's Firebird. Kantorow closes his Russian recital with Mily balakirev's "oriental fantasy" Islamey, one of the iconic works of the piano literature. Fiendishly difficult, the piece famously inspired Ravel to write something that would be even harder to play (his gaspard de la nuit). A committed Russian nationalist, Balakirev himself found the inspiration for Islamey during a journey to the Caucasus when he was introduced to the local music tradition.

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A La Russe / Kantorow
BIS May 2017
SACD
$21.99

BALAKIREV: SYMPHONY 1 / SYMPHONIC POEMS TAMARA

ALTO

$11.01 Mar 31, 2017

USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Evgeni Svetlanov Classic Svetlanov from the mid-1970s. "These performances have passion and urgency... a natural feeling for idiomatic phrasing and rhythm... rarely if ever on disc has there been such a radiant account on disc of the lovely slow movement" (Penguin Guide). "... his masterpiece Tamara: this is a very good Tamara and every bit as colorful and mysterious" (Gramophone).

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BALAKIREV: SYMPHONY 1 / SYMPHONIC POEMS TAMARA
ALTO Mar 2017
CD
$11.01

Piano Works by the Mighty Handful / Fisher

Chandos

$21.99 May 31, 2011

"The Mighty Handful, or Mighty Five as they are sometimes called, are Mussorgsky, Balakirev, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and César Cui. Together they embody the nationalist tradition in 19th-century Russian music. They are rarely programmed as a group, so Philip Edward Fisher's decision to fashion a recital from the works of all five has considerable appeal...Borodin's Petite Suite comes over as a work of exquisite grace and melodic charm that deserves to be much better known. It suits Fisher's refined style rather well, too..."

- The Guardian, London

On his first solo recital disc for Chandos, Philip Edward Fisher performs piano works by members of the so-called ‘Mighty Handful’, a group of five Russian composers – César Cui, Alexander Borodin, Mily Balakirev, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov – who in the 1860s banded together in an attempt to create a truly national school of Russian music, free of the perceived stifling influences of Italian opera, German lieder, and other western European forms.

The Mighty Handful were all self-trained amateurs. Borodin combined composing with a career in chemistry; Rimsky-Korsakov was a naval officer; and Mussorgsky had been in the Guards, then in the civil service, before taking up music. They tried to incorporate in their music what they heard in village songs, in Cossack dances, in church chants, and the tolling of church bells; in short, the music of the Mighty Handful was brimming with sounds that echoed Russian life. From the more traditional, Chopin-esque Nocturne by Cui through to the technical innovations and strong Caucasus folk elements of Balakirev’s Islamey, the works here all show the composers’ strong connections with the past and the compositional innovations that would come to influence the likes of Prokofiev and Stravinsky, and help change the course of Russian music for years to come.

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and The Juilliard School, the pianist Philip Edward Fisher is widely recognised as a unique performer of refined style and exceptional versatility. He has performed across Europe, Africa, and North America where he made his New York debut at Alice Tully Hall in 2002, performing Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, and has also appeared at the Merkin Concert Hall and the Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.

At home he has given performances at the Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Centre, and Royal Festival Hall in London, Usher Hall in Edinburgh, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, and Symphony Hall in Birmingham. He has appeared as a soloist with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, and Juilliard Symphony Orchestra, and worked with performers such as exclusive Chandos artist bassoonist Karen Geoghegan, the tenor Robert White, pianist Sara Buechner, and violinists Elmar Oliveira, Philippe Graffin, and Augustin Hadelich. In 2001, Philip Edward Fisher received the Julius Isserlis Award from The Royal Philharmonic Society in London. - Chandos

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Piano Works by the Mighty Handful / Fisher
Chandos May 2011
CD
$21.99

Vladimir Horowitz At Carnegie Hall - The Private Collection - Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Balakirev

Sony Masterworks

$11.98 Sep 01, 2009

VLADIMIR HOROWITZ AT CARNEGIE HALL—THE PRIVATE COLLECTION • Vladimir Horowitz (pn) • RCA 754604, mono (50:10) Live: New York 1945–1950

SCHUMANN Phantasie in C. BALAKIREV Oriental Fantasy, “ Islamey.” CHOPIN Barcarolle. LISZT (arr. Horowitz) Légendes: St. Francis de Paul Walks on Water

This latest treasure trove from the recorded legacy of Vladimir Horowitz, all previously unreleased recordings, is of performances recorded live in concert at Carnegie Hall between 1945 and 1950. (A similar collection of recorded performances, with different repertoire, was released by RCA in the mid 1990s.) The present discs were donated to the Yale Music Library by Horowitz and his wife, along with a wide variety of other valuable archival materials such as concert programs, scores, correspondence, and the like. The interesting background to this CD is that Horowitz hired a private company to record his Carnegie Hall concerts during those five years, apparently for his own use, and would listen to them on occasion. Eventually, they were forgotten, and given to Yale by Horowitz as part of the archive. The restoration of most of the originals has been remarkably successful.

The music world is a great deal richer for having access now to this collection. While some of the works on this disc were favorites of Horowitz, and performed and recorded on other occasions, there are two indisputably important and unique additions here: arrangements by Horowitz of Liszt’s “St. Francis de Paul Walks on Water” from Légendes , and Balakirev’s fabled “Islamey.” Although he performed them in concert, they were never recorded for commercial release. (Actually Horowitz performed “Islamey” during only one concert season, 1950, and the present performance dates from that time.) As most pianists are well aware, “Islamey” is considered one of the most technically demanding works in the keyboard repertoire—in other words, a perfect vehicle for Horowitz. Both the Liszt and Balakirev are absolutely stunning; the sheer technique involved—the tricky fast repeated notes, the cascades of runs and other fast passages, the accuracy of leaps, the control of dynamics—reveal Horowitz at the very peak of his career, demonstrating his absolute supremacy over the keyboard. The same must be said for his beautiful performance of Chopin’s Barcarolle, in which the pianist’s legendary singing right hand and judicious use of rubato create a haunting landscape.

The Schumann Phantasie was one of Horowitz’s favorite works; it was on the program at his 1965 Carnegie Hall “comeback” concert following a 12-year absence from the concert stage, and was issued by Columbia shortly after. The Phantasie heard here was recorded in April 1946, unfortunately accompanied by a good bit of noise from the original lacquer surfaces. Horowitz’s treatment of the first movement is truly like a fantasy, sounding dreamlike and spontaneous. It is a beautiful performance, even though in the treacherous coda of the second movement Horowitz seems to succumb to an attack of nerves, begins to rush, and actually loses it briefly before the final measures, with a memory slip and some wrong notes. But magically, the worst over, he plays the last movement with transfixing tenderness and beauty of sound.

This CD may constitute the final hidden treasures from Horowitz’s recorded legacy; but even if some new treasures are discovered, this one is a must for serious collectors.

FANFARE: Susan Kagan

This is prime Horowitz on staggering, fearless form..."

The second of three releases culled from Vladimir Horowitz's mid-1940s/early-1950s Carnegie Hall recitals offers alternative views of two works long familiar from his commercial discography, along with two showpieces otherwise unavailable in the Horowitz canon. The Schumann Fantasy is a classic example of Horowitz's genius for transforming the composer's busy, often thick textures into lean, translucent, and provocatively contoured sonorities. However, an unsettled quality emerges from the pianist's small yet persistent speed-ups and slow-downs within phrases that he would shape more simply in his 1965 comeback recital. Listeners following the score also will notice booming added octaves, plus a deletion of 19 measures from the second movement that's clearly intentional--not a memory lapse. Horowitz's similarly affetuoso approach to the Chopin Barcarolle flows better here than in his 1957 studio recording, notwithstanding the overly aggressive and tight-fisted coda.

Listeners familiar with Liszt's St. François de Paule marchant sur les flots will notice quite a few textual emendations that ultimately draw more attention to the pianist than the composer. That said, this is prime Horowitz on staggering, fearless form, as he also is throughout Balakirev's Islamey. Simon Barere may be unmatched for sheer speed, yet Horowitz's virtuosity is more expressive in its focused articulation, motoric momentum, and shrewd pedaling. He also omits a few bars here and there. Although words cannot adequately mirror the Horowitz experience, David Dubal's vibrant, refreshingly frank booklet notes come pretty darn close.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

----------------

Also Available: Volume 1 - Vladimir Horowitz At Carnegie Hall - The Private Collection - Music of Mussorgsky & Liszt.

This second release from the Yale archive recordings captures Vladimir Horowitz in his golden prime, playing his signature repertoire in concert at Carnegie Hall, where he celebrated the milestones in his career. Horowitz employed an engineer to make 78-rpm recordings of his Carnegie Hall concerts in this period, and he used them to review and judge his performances. Most of these mono recordings were originally contained on 12 and 16-inch acetate discs. They have been impeccably mastered, with the sound restored, from new transfers made in the Yale archives. Significant press accompanied the original announcement of the donation of these recordings to Yale, where Horowitz performed often through the years and was assistant fellow of Silliman College.

The second Private Collection release includes four works that take the listener deep into the heart of the Romantic age – Schumann’s Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17; Chopin’s lilting Barcarolle, Op. 60; Liszt’s evocative musical meditation Legende No. 2 – St. Francis de Paule Walking on the Waves; and one of the most demanding pieces ever written for solo piano, Russian composer Mily Balakirev’s breathtaking steeplechase Islamey.

- Carnegie Hall Presents Series from Sony Masterworks

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Vladimir Horowitz At Carnegie Hall - The Private Collection - Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, Balakirev
Sony Masterworks Sep 2009
CD
$11.98

BALAKIREV: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 / Piano Concerto in F-Sha
Chandos Oct 2005
CD
$21.99

RACHMANINOV: SYMPHONIES NOS.1-3 SYMPHONIC DANCES

LSO LIVE

SACD

$27.99 Apr 20, 2018

This highly anticipated box set brings together Valery Gergiev's acclaimed cycle of the complete Rachmaninov symphonies, which were recorded alongside the London Symphony Orchestra across 2008 to 2015. These masterful accounts of the Russian's complete symphonies are accompanied by his 1940 composition Symphonic Dances, while two symphonic poems by Mily Balakirev echo the luxurious textures present throughout Rachmaninov's music.

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RACHMANINOV: SYMPHONIES NOS.1-3 SYMPHONIC DANCES
LSO LIVE Apr 2018
SACD
$27.99