Paul Frankenburger left his native Germany in 1933 in response to the National Socialists' rise to power. Up to that point he had been fully immersed in the German tradition and his compositions followed in the footsteps of the great German post-Romantics like Mahler. Yet after arriving to the British Mandate of Palestine, not only did he change his name to Paul Ben-Haim, but his compositional style underwent a profound change as well. Devised by the young violinist Itamar Zorman, this album tracks how the music of the region gradually became an integral part of Ben-Haim's compositions. Six works spanning four decades represent different stages in this process of synthesis between East and West, the transformation of Frankenburger into Ben-Haim. Zorman, a prize-winner in the 2011 Tchaikovsky Competition, is supported by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Philippe Bach in the opening Evocation (Yizkor) from 1942, and the Violin Concerto, as well as in the arrangement (by the father of the soloist) of a Toccata, originally composed for the piano. These are interspersed by Three Songs without Words and Berceuse sfaradite, one of Ben-Haim's most popular works, in which Itamar Zorman is partnered by pianist Amy Yang. Also part of the programme is Ben-Haim's last composition for the violin, the Three Studies for Solo Violin, written in 1981 for Yehudi Menuhin.

These hybrid Super Audio CDs play on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Kamu offers an easy sense of movement; intense, quiet dynamics and clarity in perfect equilibrium with atmosphere. There's plenty of excitement too: the scherzo of the Second is truly vivacissimo. Symphonies Three, Seven, and above all Six are just perfect, with all the naturalness I want in these elusive masterpieces.

– BBC Music Magazine

Dukas’ three major orchestral works make a logical and satisfying single program, and they are very well performed and recorded on this fine new disc from Naxos. There’s no guarantee, of course, that a French conductor will do especially well in French music, and no doubt Jean-Luc Tingaud does not wish to be pigeon-holed or limited only to the music of his countrymen, but he does play all three pieces with a certain idiomatic flair that’s both quite memorable and often excitingly fresh.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which opens the program, receives a swift and brilliant reading, but also one notable for its naturalness and unforced musicality. Right from the start, in the slow introduction, you will register the way that Tingaud and the RTÉ wind players skillfully build long phrases from Dukas’ melodic fragments, and ensure that the tension never sags. The climaxes also are perfectly judged. La péri, with its opening fanfare brilliantly played, never lapses into the sort of droopy languor that tempts other artists into overindulgence: the music has both rhythm and impetus as well as lusciousness.

This reading of the Symphony in C major may be the most impressive performance of all. The opening movement is really gripping, and the long coda, which can sound like an artificial appendage, builds in energy right through to the final bars. Kudos to the orchestra for keeping up with some pretty hard-driving conducting here. The central Andante also is beautifully shaped and truly “espressivo”, but with no dead spots, while the lively finale offers a very satisfying conclusion. Although there is no shortage of available recordings of these works, or even discs that present them together, this one is as good as any, and better than most. Give it a shot.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

PIAZZOLLA La muerte del ángel. Melodía en la menor. Tango en la menor. Milonga sin palabras. María de Buenos Aires: Fuga y misterio; Yo soy María 1. Ave María. Oblivion. 1 Aire de la zamba niña. Le Grand Tango. Libertango • Tomas Cotik, 1 Glenn Basham (vn); Tao Lin (pn) • NAXOS 8.573166 (59:35)


Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla (1921–1992) was an Argentine bandoneon player and composer who revolutionized tango music. He brought it from its beginnings as a 19th- and early 20th-century dance to its zenith as modern music for the concert hall. His concept of nuevo tango combined it with elements of jazz and classical music. Fanfare readers already know violinist Thomas Cotik and pianist Tao Lin for their Centaur recording of Schubert. Of course, they take in a completely different approach to the tangos on Naxos. Whereas their Schubert was smooth and silky, their Piazzolla is edgy, sexy, and raw. Cotik and Lin take us from Piazzolla’s Tanguano of 1951 to his 1986 description of a girl performing the Zamba, a native Argentine dance. In between, they document some of the myriad changes in the composer’s musical palette. His fast and rhythmic The Death of the Angel was incidental music for a 1962 play that ended with the angel dying after his fight with a devil. In 1965 a new muse, Norma, tempted the composer who was in the process of divorcing. He thinks of Norma in his smooth Melody in A Minor, but refers to her as poison. The operetta Maria de Buenos Aires is one of Piazzolla’s best-known works. It was performed at Long Beach Opera in California in 2012. The two pieces played here accompany Maria’s wandering through the city of Buenos Aires, first as a streetwalker and later as a ghost. It is during the second stroll that we hear some of the composer’s most evocative music, played by the two violins and piano that accompany her. Glenn Basham of the University of Miami’s Frost Institute plays the second fiddle with a singing tone. Libertango is Piazzolla’s example of the new music of the 1970s. He intertwined rock and jazz influences with melodic tango and came up with a new and most viable form of concert music. By this time, the tango that had once been a dance from the wrong side of town had matured into modern classical music that would soon be played by symphony orchestras all over the world. Tango’s relative, the milonga, has come along with it, adding a bit of spice to the confection from Argentina.


In 1982, Piazzolla wrote his elegant Grand Tango and sent it to the great Russian cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich. The cellist did not recognize his name and set it aside. When he did eventually look at it, he was astonished at the composer’s talent, but it was not until eight years later that he premiered the work. Sofia Gubaidulina arranged the version heard here. The instrumental Ave Maria and the pleasant milonga Oblivion are pieces that Piazzolla wrote for the 1984 Italian film Henry V . The next year he began to write pieces detailing the history of tango from bordello dance music to international concert specialty. He follows its rise to the café, the nightclub, and the 1980s concert hall. Some of the music is sultry while other works are fast, rhythmic, and ornamented to show the exquisite virtuosity of Cotik and Lin. They finish with a rousing dance called Libertango . It is a perfect finale for this CD of catchy, toe-tapping music. Many other artists have recorded Piazzolla’s works, but not with violin and piano. The sound on this disc is clear and the performances precise. I think that lovers of tango music will definitely want this fascinating disc.


FANFARE: Maria Nockin

The irresistible Boulanger Trio, composed of pianist Karla Haltenwanger, violinist Birgit Erz, and cellist Ilona Kindt have won a number of prizes worldwide and built an excellent reputation in the chamber music community. In addition to their traditional repertoire like the Shostakovich here presented, the Trio are in demand as interpreters of modern composers like Peteris Vasks, whose "Episodi e Canto perpetuo" grace this disc.

The love affair between Alan Gilbert and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra began in December 1997 with a performance of Mahler's First Symphony. In 2000 Gilbert became chief conductor and artistic advisor of the orchestra, remaining in that post until 2008 - a period which has been described as 'a golden age' in the history of the orchestra. For his farewell concert as chief conductor, Gilbert chose to close the chapter by performing Mahler's last symphony, No. 9 in D major, and the present recording was made in conjunction with this very special occasion. It was a fitting choice of repertoire in another respect as well: Mahler composed his Ninth in 1909-10, after having accepted the post of music director of the New York Philharmonic, the very orchestra that Gilbert now goes on to take charge of. The symphony is often regarded as the composer's monumental - both in terms of scale and emotional scope - leave-taking of the world. In his insightful liner notes, Arnold Whittall acknowledges the difficult circumstances in Mahler's personal life at the time of composition, but rather than nostalgia he finds in it a momentum propelling the symphonic genre far into the future: 'Mahler's Ninth is one of the crowning glories of symphonic history, and many would argue that it has only rarely been equalled, and probably never surpassed, in the century since its completion.' Please note: The music on this Hybrid Super Audio CD can be played back in Stereo (CD and SACD) as well as in 5.0 Surround sound (SACD).

This album presents extraordinary works of three twentieth-century composers with diverse cultural backgrounds, underlining the versatility and legacy of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in its centenary year. Richard Strauss’ Schlagobers (Whipped Cream, 1924) is a playful ballet set in a Viennese Konditorei, of which the orchestral suite is featured on this album. With its lively mix of Viennese waltzes and modern harmonies, light-versed tunes interspersed by sudden outbreaks of ravishing beauty, all brilliantly orchestrated, it can be considered a further exploration of the composer’s “Rosenkavalier style”. Claude Debussy is featured with Jeux, Poeme danse (1912), another piece created for a ballet performance, built around an erotic nocturnal search for a lost tennis ball that Pierre Boulez characterized as a “Prelude à-l’Apres-midi d’une Faune in sports clothes”. Debussy’s Jeux has been a major source of inspiration for post-war avantgarde composers such as Boulez and Stockhausen, and, therefore, the transition from Jeux to Gyorgi Ligeti’s Melodien, fur Orchester (1971) is not jarring. Melodien has the unmistakable mix of sensuous yet eerie soundscapes that makes most of Ligeti’s works so filmic and appealing. This album adds a significant chapter to the Pentatone discography of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, which already contains the complete Bruckner Symphonies with Marek Janowski, three dance-oriented albums with Kazuki Yamada, and concerto recordings with renowned soloists such as Arabella Steinbacher, Johannes Moser and Denis Kozhukhin. On this album, the OSR’s new chief conductor Jonathan Nott makes his Pentatone debut.

REGER Symphonic Fantasia and Fugue, op. 57, “Inferno.” Pieces for Organ, op. 145 • Edgar Krapp (org) • NAXOS 8.557891 (69:09)


The Symphonic Fantasia and Fugue opens with a violent fury, building to a quick climax, punctuated by chords and keyboard runs before diminishing into a calm meditation—all within the first minute. Throughout this 10-minute Fantasia, the music swells and diminishes, from climax to serenity. Edgar Krapp brings this off superbly. Max Reger considered his op. 57 the most difficult music he ever wrote, but Krapp never breaks a sweat. He has mastered this music and knows every nuance. He lets all the stops out in the Passau Cathedral in Eisenbarth, Germany, making no apologies for the intensity or force of the music. At times he seems carried away in a kind of divine madness, reveling in every decibel. The effect is exciting and dramatic. But the Fugue has a different character, and is not as successful, hampered by Reger’s penchant for thick writing. In the Fantasia (and throughout most of this recording), the sound captured by the Naxos engineers is vivid, clear, and even spectacular. But the Fugue is a little muddled. Yet every climax is captured superbly; Reger—and Krapp—emerge in triumph as if through the clouds. This is a mighty work that deserves to be heard more often.


Reger wrote his seven organ pieces in 1915–16, in the midst of World War I. These pieces are dedicated to key moments in the liturgical year; yet the war clearly lingered in Reger’s mind as he wrote. One senses sadness during the first piece, which was dedicated to those who died in battle. The second piece is a psalm of thanks, titled, “What God does, that is well done.” Dedicated to the German people, this too has dark moments and builds to a treatment of the familiar hymn, Praise to the Lord the Almighty . As this title indicates, there is a sense of recognition of God’s sovereignty at a time of war. But even in moments of triumph, there is a haunting touch of uncertainty. This is great music.


The piece focuses on Christmas, and Reger incorporates familiar choruses, including Silent Night . This, too, has a dark hue; everything is not quite so “calm and bright.” The fourth part focuses on the passion of Christ. The fifth celebrates his resurrection with a form much more like a chorale. The sixth celebrates the Holy Ghost. Fleet keyboard runs are woven into a strong, declaratory conclusion. The seventh is a victory celebration, highlighted by Reger’s adaptation of the hymn, Now thank we all our God (with Deutschland, Deutschland über alles ringing in the pedals). Some may feel that this uncomfortably mixes politics with music, but this did not bother me, and I found it to be stirring music, and highly enjoyable.


This is Volume 7 in the Naxos collection of the organ music of Reger, and the first that features Krapp. All of the recordings in this series that I have heard have been outstanding. This one is too. Highly recommended.


FANFARE: John E. Roos

Back in my college days my music-loving friends and I would amuse ourselves perusing the letters section of Gramophone magazine, and every so often a desperately worded appeal would turn up, lamenting the "dearth of Rubbra symphony recordings." Now it wasn't as if people were lining up for Rubbra symphonies the way they lined up for the launch of, say, the I-Pod, but if the orchestral works weren't exactly thick on the field, the quartets never even made it to the letters section at all (that I noticed). Perhaps they should have; they are fine, if imperfect works.

Rubbra should have been a "natural" for the quartet medium: a gifted contrapuntist and a composer of great seriousness, even nobility, this would seem to be just his cup of tea. However, as with the symphonies, Rubbra's ability to construct his first movements and adagios effectively (and often quite beautifully here) is compromised by his helplessness with finales. His feeling for music was rhetorical rather than dramatic, and in Quartets Nos. 1 and 3 the last movements (of three) disappoint, with the former's being too short and the latter's too light. In the Fourth quartet, which has only two movements, Rubbra wisely says "the heck with it" and places the adagio last.

The Maggini Quartet has made many excellent recordings of the English quartet repertoire for Naxos, and this one is no exception. They bring plenty of expressive intensity to those heartfelt adagios, and phrase Rubbra's intertwining contrapuntal lines with winning clarity, while avoiding excessive density. The engineering is also very good: unobtrusive and natural. This music is well worth getting to know, even if Rubbra's relentless earnestness sometimes seems to overwhelm his inspiration.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Vibrant, striking colors, sensuous harmonies and coruscating wit abound in this irresistible collection played by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under the baton of the young rising star Kazuki Yamada. Hailed by Gramophone magazine as a "gifted, budding maestro" with "interpretative nous, strength of personality and scrupulous attention to detail", this is Yamada's four outing for Pentatone following his three critically acclaimed releases of dance music.

Classical Music

Charles Ives’s ‘Concord Sonata’ is often described as one of the greatest of American piano works. Published in 1920, at the composer’s own expense, it contains radical experiments in harmony and rhythm and would have to wait until 1939 for its first public performance. In the course of its four movements, Ives depicts some of the famous inhabitants of the small town of Concord in Massachusetts, a centre of the mid-19th century transcendentalism movement. Luminaries of the movement such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are alluded to in various ways in music that includes references to Beethoven, religious and patriotic hymns and circus marches, as well as brief ‘guest appearances’ by a viola and a flute. Lasting 47 minutes on the present recording, it is a massive work of a staggering complexity, and a true challenge for any performer – a challenge more than readily accepted by the young Finnish pianist Joonas Ahonen, who has previously recorded Ligeti’s piano concerto for BIS.

For the opening work on the disc, the much shorter Violin Sonata No.4, Ahonen is joined by his compatriot, the celebrated violinist Pekka Kuusisto. Composed during the same period as the Concord Sonata, this piece also has an extra-musical background, namely the composer’s memories as a child of the so-called camp meetings held during the Christian revivalism of the late 19th century.

PENDERECKI Hymne an den heiligen Adalbert 1. Song of the Cherubim 2. Canticum Canticorum Salomonis 3. Kosmogonia 4. Strophen 5 • Antoni Wit, cond; 4,5 Olga Pasichnyk (sop); 4 Rafa? Bartmi?ski (ten); 4 Tomasz Konieczny (bs); 5 Jerzy Artysz (spkr); 1,3-5 Warsaw PO; 1-4 Warsaw P Ch • NAXOS 8.572481 (57:18)


Naxos’s Penderecki releases have been of very good quality, but have tended to jumble together music in wildly different styles. The present release is no exception, going backwards chronologically from the Hymne an den heiligen Adalbert (1997) to Strophen (1959), which was composed when Penderecki was in his mid-20s. One would be forgiven for guessing that at least two different composers, perhaps more, were at work here. In the 1970s, thanks in large part to Hollywood, I was turned on to “old” Penderecki, and had a difficult time accepting the changes his style underwent from that point onward. Now that I am gaining maturity (ha!), I’ve become more open-minded, and if “new” Penderecki is not as innovative and striking as “old” Penderecki, the level of workmanship remains very high, and a distinctive voice remains, albeit a different one.


Having said that, I think this disc is most welcome for the presence of the last two, and oldest, works listed in the headnote, because they have been elusive on CD—in fact, I am not sure they have appeared on CD until now. The first (and only?) recording of the creepily beautiful Kosmogonia (1970) appeared on the Polskie Nagranie/Muza and then the Philips labels. The conductor was Andrzej Markowski, and the soloists were Stefania Woytowicz, Kazimierz Pustelak, and Bernard ?adysz. That recording, if you can find it, remains attractive, as it has a warmth and an emotional quality not quite matched by Wit’s, which seems a little clinical. As I recall, like Naxos, it does not print the work’s texts (which are “in copyright”), but I think the texts dealt with the creation of the universe and ended with . . . was it a quotation from Neil Armstrong? Maybe someone will help me out here. I have Strophen on a Polskie Nagranie/Muza LP (with Canticum Canticorum Salomonis ) and I am glad to replace it with this new version, even though I prefer Stefania Woytowicz to Olga Pasichnyk. The texts are taken from Menander, Sophocles, the Books of Isaiah and Jeremiah, and Omar Khayyam, and if their stagey narration makes Strophen seem a little dated, one has to appreciate the work’s daring, if nothing else.


Canticum Canticorum Salomonis (1973) slightly predates Penderecki’s Magnificat , and listeners will appreciate their stylistic proximity, particularly in the aggressive choral writing. Song of the Cherubim (1986) is much more reined in, with little to remind one of the composer’s avant-garde experimentation 15 years earlier. It is, nevertheless, a fine work, whose stern spirituality speaks for itself. Hymne an der heiligen Adalbert references a bishop who was martyred, in the 10th century. The stark but impressive brass and choral writing play off each other to good effect. This is much closer to Górecki than “old” Penderecki; it’s even (gasp) tonal. Still, it’s tough and demanding in its own way, and I don’t think anyone could reasonably suggest that Penderecki lost his nerve as he passed through middle age—he simply became more appreciative of tradition.


The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, whether they are conducted by Wit or someone else, can be depended upon to bring authenticity and fire to Penderecki’s music. Despite my preference for Markowski’s Kosmogonia , I really have no reservations about these performances. In fact, this Canticum Canticorum Salomonis is the most impressive I’ve heard, eclipsing the composer’s own recording on EMI. (Wit’s slower tempos emphasize the music’s sensuality.) Texts, with the exception of Kosmogonia , are available online. I am looking forward to hearing what Wit does with the Magnificat.


FANFARE: Raymond Tuttle

Classical Music

Classical Music

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

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This CD recommends itself. Cellist Steven Isserlis has recorded Martin?’s three excellent sonatas. His accompanist is composer Olli Mustonen, a master of the idiom who also contributes his own recent sonata to the program. There’s another substantial bonus in Malinconia, a powerfully dark cello piece by Jean Sibelius. It’s all recorded in a hybrid SACD by the BIS engineers.

Those facts alone make it an important release. I feel like my job is simply to let you know that the album exists, so you can look for it. In case you need to read anything else, Isserlis delivers the goods in his usual highly impassioned, expressive style; consider the Sibelius piece, which dates from 1900 but foreshadows the grim, violent power of the Fourth Symphony. It was written after the death of the composer’s daughter, and makes the listener share his grief.

Isserlis writes useful, detailed notes on the fifteen-minute sonata Olli Mustonen composed, which fits into the program well. That is to say, it shares with Martin? a focus on emotional ambivalence and internal conflict, plus excellent craftsmanship. The second movement is a sort of scherzo-in-reverse, slower material bookending an incredibly virtuosic, spinning cello part. We then get the real scherzo, and a finale that at last offers us a long, breathtaking melody teased upward into the highest notes Isserlis can play.

The three Martin? cello sonatas are from late in his career, the first two dating from 1939 and 1941. The first sonata cycles through many moods, with a haunting slow movement that the booklet rightly calls “funereal.” It was premiered by a dream team: Pierre Fournier and Rudolf Firkusný. The second sonata has a lot in common with his symphonies: the opening piano statement sounds reduced from an orchestral original, and the main melodies could have been deployed in the Third or Fourth symphonies. There’s masterful drama in the dialogue and conflict between these instruments; it’s a troubled, brilliant piece that alternates between easy lyricism and abrupt outpourings, with a hint of triumph in the finale.

The third sonata is the most lyrical, and the happiest, with the shadows of wartime years into the past. The finale in particular is a joy, with an unexpected baroque-style piano cadenza. It provides an affirming conclusion to the recital. BIS’s sound is as excellent as ever, and Mustonen and Isserlis have an easy chemistry. Isserlis reports in his liner notes that they’ve been friends since they pulled pranks on one another in school days, and I wonder if the cover photo is another prank. Either way, I hope it’s not the last of this partnership on record. This disc is outstanding, just as you’d expect.

– Brian Reinhart, MusicWeb International

Strauss: Salome, Op. 54, TrV 215 (Live)

Classical Music

Shostakovich was still a young composer when he was hired to provide incidental music for The Bedbug, a surreal and farcical satire on Communist utopian dreams and bourgeois corruption and vulgarity. He produced a terrifically knockabout score that draws on local fireman’s bands and American dance music. Illustrated by Shostakovich’s powerful middle-period music, Love and Hate is a film about female fortitude set in a mining village during the 1919 Civil War. The innovative score, newly reconstructed by Mark Fitz-Gerald from rough piano sketches and the 1935 soundtrack, combines symphonic sections with popular songs.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

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BRIDGE A Fairy Tale Suite. In Autumn. Miniature Pastorals, Set 1. Étude rhapsodique. Graziella. Dramatic Fantasia. 3 Pieces. A Sea Idyll. Miniature Suite. Characteristic Pieces • Mark Bebbington (pn) • SOMM 82 (77:26)


I wonder when Frank Bridge was first led astray by Scriabin, forsaking the Lisztian bravado of the Dramatic Fantasia for the dark, sensuous tendrils of Graziella and the lascivious impressionism of the Characteristic Pieces. Mark Bebbington’s second volume of Bridge piano works stresses the later achievements, from 1917 on, leading up to and away from the big Piano Sonata of 1924. Ravel is a strong presence in the Fairy Tale Suite and elsewhere, but the themes, early and late, are all Bridge, and mostly memorable.


Whatever its roots, whether outrage at the Great War or more personal passions, the best of these miniatures are very good indeed, and demand the very best players. The works, like the Sonata, are simply not well enough known yet, and they need a broader performing tradition. I hope Russian pianists start to pick up on In Autumn, Graziella , and the other late works. Bebbington, like Ashley Wass and Kathryn Stott, has gone far beyond the “mere” technical problems, which are not small, and the competing Bridge cycles complement each other. If you are going to get just one, then I’d go with Wass on Naxos, whose piano I also just prefer in the upper octaves. But Bebbington conveys most of Bridge’s range, and he’s especially good in the mini- Dante Sonata , which is the Fantasia, and in the 1921 Miniature Suite , with its Prokofievisms.


Ideally, I’d like to hear a hypersensitive Slavic Scriabin interpreter have a tilt at Graziella and “Water Nymphs” from the Characteristic Pieces. But all the pianists I’m thinking of are dead. Maybe Tharaud for “Fragrance” and “Bitter Sweet” from the same Ravelian late set. As you’ll gather, the serious competition for Bebbington and Wass is imaginary. The recommendation is real enough, though. Some of the music in this volume is more British and interesting than it is moving, but more than half of it is top-notch. Wass edges it for feel and expressive range, but Bebbington’s runs, trills, graded dynamics, and sweep are no disappointment.


FANFARE: Paul Ingram

This disc is pure pleasure, plain and simple.

The Concierto serenata for harp and orchestra is Rodrigo's finest concerto, the one best suited to its solo instrument, with tunes and timbres that reveal the composer's gracious lyricism (and disguise his near total lack of dramatic tension) to best effect. A harp, of course, sounds sort of like a guitar, and more so--much wider in range, dynamics, and sonorous potential. So it should come as no surprise that the Concierto de Aranjuez works even better in this, the composer's own transcription. The problem with the original version is that the guitar is usually inaudible unless the orchestra is kept down to the point where you wonder why it's there at all. Today of course, amplification helps, but it can't entirely conceal the basic mismatch of timbres.

These performances are splendid. Gwyneth Wentink commands a lovely, liquid tone that doesn't thin out excessively in the instrument's upper register, and she's perfectly balanced against the larger ensemble. Conductor Maximiano Valdes accompanies with spirit, and the orchestra plays this never very difficult music with the sweetness and purity Rodrigo's melodies require. I'm sure some listeners will disagree with me here (particularly guitar enthusiasts) about the relative merits of the two versions of the Concierto de Aranjuez, but Rodrigo's music with harp permits an additional touch of textural opulence otherwise missing in his orchestral writing. This disc is pure pleasure, plain and simple.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Based on Shakespeare’s most famous romantic play, Prokofiev’s realization of Romeo and Juliet as a full-length narrative ballet was audacious in its day. It was written during a period of artistic turmoil under a Soviet regime in which arguments raged over such fundamental aspects as the choice between a happy or tragic ending. Famous movements such as the ‘Dance of the Knights’ have helped maintain Romeo and Juliet as Prokofiev’s best-loved stage work. Marin Alsop’s acclaimed cycle of Prokofiev’s Symphonies has been described as “an outstanding achievement” by BBC Music Magazine. Alsop is an inspiring and powerful voice in the international music scene who passionately believes that “music has the power to change lives.” She is recognized across the world for her innovative programming and for her deep commitment to education and the development of audiences of all ages.

REVIEW:

This recording is typical of Alsop’s clear-headed approach, revealing her thorough mastery of details, balanced phrasing, close attention to the orchestral sound, and fidelity to the score, which provides many challenges in its episodic structure. This first-rate performance may remind listeners of the classic complete recordings by Previn and Ozawa, and even though those recordings are still readily available, Alsop’s shows that Romeo and Juliet can still inspire a fine interpretation in the digital era, making this recording essential listening for Prokofiev fans.

– AllMusicGuide.com (B. Sanderson)

Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier

Classical Music

There was controversy when Alessandro Taverna won bronze at the Leeds International Competition in 2005 - many people thought he should have been awarded the gold. Since then, he's gone from strength to strength, as amply proved by this Medtner album on Somm, which features three of the composer's 14 sonatas - the Reminiscenza, the Romantica and the Minacciosa. The Reminiscenza and Romantica are both exemplary in their dynamic, emotional and architectural control. The Minacciosa's climactic fugue is breathtaking.'' (The Guardian, February 2015) The Guardian's was one of many warm reviews for Alessandro Taverna's debut album on SOMM. His playing on this second album attests to Taverna's close affinity to the music of Debussy and Ravel. He possesses a mesmerising palette of colors ranging from a seductive, ethereal touch in Ondine to ferocity and thrust in Scarbo - and what great brilliance and dynamism he brings to La Valse and I'isle Joyeuse!

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REVIEW:

The Debussy Images are beautifully paced. This is utterly unshowy playing too, which suites the Images well. His L'isle joyeuse is impressive, his technique again utterly in service of the music, resulting in playing that is both lithe and transparent. His Ravel La valse makes a fine finale, full of shimmering delicacy and filigree (with some fantastic glissandos), alive to the darkness of this corrupted dance.

– Gramophone

A very special dance occasion in honour of a celestial alignment of events, the Gala des Étoiles celebrates the Ballet Corp’s time-honoured tradition of a Grand Gala at La Scala as it coincides with Milan’s tenure as host city of EXPO 2015. Symbolically espousing the spirit of the Universal Exposition by bringing together outstanding international talent, La Scala’s étoiles – Svetlana Zakharova, Roberto Bolle and Massimo Murru – extend Milan’s red carpet to a veritable constellation of guest dancers from around the world, including rising stars and luminaries of the ballet universe.