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Música Andalusí / Ibn Baya Ensemble
1. Bugya
2. Mizan Qa'im Wa-nisk
3. Twisya No. 3 Of The Nuba
4. Mizan D-dary
5. Mawwal Al-Istihlal
6. Mawwal On Tab' Al-Hiyaz Al-Kabir
7. Mawwal On Tab' Raml Al-Maya
Ibn Baya Ensemble: Eduardo Paniagua, Luis Delgado, Gloria Lergo, Mohamed El Arabi Serghimi, Omar Metioui.
Palestrina & Ingegneri: Sacred Works
Farkas: Music for Wind Ensemble / Marosi, Budapest Wind Ensemble
Toccata Classics continues its survey of the music of the Hungarian composer Ferenc Farks with this sparkling album of works for wind ensemble. The chief characteristics of all eight scores recorded here are infectious good humor and a high charge of foot-tapping rhythmic energy. Like his teacher Respighi in Rome, Farkas went back to 16th and 17th century originals and brought them to life in arrangements for modern instruments. Laszlo Marosi enjoys a career leading orchestras and wind bands at concerts and festivals and in recording studios and academies around the world. Although he is very active in his native Hungary, his work is international - he is currently the artistic director of the International Band Festival of Villa Carlos Paz in Argentina. The Budapest Wind Symphony is the elite wind ensemble of Hungary, inviting musicians from the leading orchestras of the country. It draws its members from the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra of the Hungarian State Opera House, the dohnanyi Symphony Orchestra and the Hungarian Central Army Band.
Modern American Vocal Works - Premiere Recordings 1950-1953
This disc is of great historical interest. All the works are heard in their premiere recordings, dating from 1950 to 1954. A young Leontyne Price gives the perfect rendition of Barber's 'Hermit Songs,' imperious, coy and despairing by turns. If Eleanor Steber lacks the naïve, wide-eyed wonder of more recent interpreters of 'Knoxville: Summer of 1915,' such as Dawn Upshaw, it is refreshing to hear a more dramatic performance that may indeed be closer to the composer's wishes. In Copland's folksy 'Old American Songs,' William Warfield sings with verve and complete authority. A special attraction here is that each composer is heard as a piano accompanist in his own works, and as an added bonus, the liner notes feature engaging reminiscences about the three composers by their younger colleague Ned Rorem.
Tchaikovsky: The Seasons; Balakirev: Islamey / Bronfman
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]
Robin Milford: Chamber Music
Basic 100 Vol 5 - Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, Flute Concerto
Busch: Complete Music for Solo Piano
Dvorák, Bartok: Cello Concertos / Starker, Slatkin, St Louis
-- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone [3/1992]
Wagner: Piano Transcriptions For Four Hands / Tal & Groethuysen Duo
Ben-Haim: Chamber Music for Strings
BEN-HAIM String Quartet No. 1, op. 21. String Quintet in e • Carmel Quartet; Shuli Waterman (va) • TOCCATA 0214 (61:37)
Here are two major chamber works by the Israeli composer Paul Ben-Haim (1897–1984), who began his career in Munich as Paul Frankenburger. His lengthy, three-movement String Quintet from 1919, which receives its first recording here, is a representative product of the composer’s early period. Its style might be described as early-20th-century German Romantic with leanings toward Franck and Liszt. It’s an ambitious, expertly scored, three-movement work, though its material might have been equally effectively scored as a symphony. There’s a somewhat Modernistic, Hindemith-like approach to the announcement of themes in the outer movements, before the music moves into nostalgic, 19th-century material reminiscent of Brahms or Mahler (Mahler’s work serving as Frankenburger’s model when, later on, as Ben-Haim, he turned to symphonic writing). In the quintet’s third movement, the music’s eclecticism starts to feel contrived, particularly with the commencement of a fugue two-thirds of the way through, a 19th-century compositional cliché. This is not to make light of a piece that contains much beautiful music, particularly an eloquent slow movement that quotes a theme from one of Frankenburger’s songs set to a Christian Morgenstern text.
Frankenburger/Ben-Haim immigrated to Palestine in 1933, in large part rejecting German musical style in favor of the influence of Debussy and Ravel, but more significantly, incorporating regional folk influences into his music. His close association with the Yemenite singer Bracha Zefira, a “walking anthology of Israeli folk music,” was his main source of inspiration.
The String Quartet No. 1, composed in 1937, was acclaimed at its premiere in 1939 as the first chamber work by an Israeli composer. The work remains popular in Israel, and it’s easy to hear why. The dimensions of its first three movements are more compact than those of the quintet, and the use of modal, ethnic-sounding motives sounds natural and eloquent in the first, third, and fourth. Toccata’s booklet notes compare the quartet’s fourth movement to the Finale of Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2, composed seven years later. In both works, the finale is the most extended movement, and in each, a Jewish dance theme takes on a sense of catastrophe by the end. It’s an apt comparison, though the Ben-Haim Quartet doesn’t achieve (or attempt) the shattering impact of the Shostakovich.
I commend Toccata Classics for the high level of its presentation of two little-known works of very high quality, by a composer who, while hardly unknown, deserves much more attention on recordings. The Carmel Quartet and violist Shuli Waterman play with the technical polish that these colorful, dynamic scores demand, along with obvious commitment and feeling. The recorded sound has good definition and clarity, and the booklet offers two substantial essays by experts on Ben-Haim.
FANFARE: Paul Orgel
Busch: Chamber Music, Vol. 1
Persona / Liona Boyd
-- AllMusic.com
Horowitz Plays Chopin Vol 1
Silvestrov: Symphony No 5, Postludium / Robertson, Lubimov
This Sony-Arkiv re-animation scores over the competition in various areas. Its sound is rich – bathed in warmth yet not smearing detail. Students of the work will find that the version under review is in nine tracks which certainly aids the process of getting to grips with a single span of three quarters of an hour.
-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International
The Feast Of San Rocco - Venice 1608 / Musica Fiata, Et Al
Includes toccata(s) by Giovanni Gabrieli. Ensemble: Cologne Musica Fiata. Conductor: Roland Wilson. Soloists: Graham Nicholson, Sebastian Scharr, François Petit-Laurent, Martin Lubenow, Matthias Sprinz, Yuji Fujimoto, Detlef Reimers, Sebastian Krause, Ole Andersen, Cas Gevers, Henning Plumeyer, Peter Sommer.
Haydn: Eight Notturni / Mozzafiato & L'Archibudelli
BBC Music (4/98, p.73) - Performance: 5 (out of 5), Sound: 5 (out of 5) - "...Haydn's usual playfulness and inventive wit...are expertly realised in the clear sounds and open textures of the players' period instruments on this elegant and enjoyable recording."
Shebalin: Orchestral Music, Vol. 1
Beethoven & Sibelius: Violin Concertos / Tetzlaff, Ticciati, Deutsches Symphony Orchestra Berlin
In this new concerto album one of the greatest violinists of our time, Christian Tetzlaff, performs two standard violin concertos in fresh new interpretations together with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin directed by the orchestra’s exciting new music director, Robin Ticciati.
Christian Tetzlaff is considered one of the world’s leading international violinists and maintains a most extensive performing schedule. Musical America named him ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ in 2005. His recording of the Bartók Violin Concertos (ODE 1317-2) received both Gramophone and ICMA Awards, and the recording was also a finalist for the BBC Music Award in 2019. His recording of the Violin Concertos by Mendelssohn and Schumann, released on Ondine in 2011 (ODE 1195-2), and Bach Sonatas and Partitas released in 2017 (ODE 1299-2D) received the ‘Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik’. In addition, in 2015 ICMA awarded Christian Tetzlaff as the ‘Artist of the Year’, and he also received ECHO ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ award in 2017.
REVIEWS:
Tetzlaff may at times excitedly rush his fences, but in collaboration with Robin Ticciati and his alert Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, he transforms aspects of what so many have treated as a sort of Holy Grail into a beer tankard. If Beethoven’s Concerto emerges as uncompromisingly provocative, Tetzlaff’s Sibelius also errs on the side of danger…In many respects, a real knock-out.
– Gramophone (Editor's Choice)
What I especially admire about these entrancing performances by Tetzlaff is the freshness and vitality he brings so effectively to these masterworks. One senses that he is entirely inside the music emotionally. Throughout both works the sound of Tetzlaff’s violin, a modern instrument made by German luthier Stefan-Peter Greiner, is glorious. Under Robin Ticciati the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin excel with firm and resolute playing in performances which are entirely empathetic to the soloist from start to finish.
– MusicWeb International
Krenek: Chamber Music & Songs, Vol. 1 / Aikin, Fink, Boesch, Ernst Krenek Ensemble
This recording of music by Ernest Krenek follows on from Toccata Classics’ wildly successful recording, in two albums, of his complete piano concertos. It covers almost half a century of his compositions, and shows the sheer range of his creativity. There are early piano fugues written for his teacher, Franz Schreker, via elegant fin de siècle Viennese lyricism to a relaxed application of Schoenberg’s dodecaphonic technique- often enlivened with a surprising degree of charm and a knowing sense of humor. The Ernst Krenek Ensemble is joined here by three of the finest lieder singers currently active, Laura Aikin, Bernarda Fink, and Florian Boesch. The Ernst Krenek Ensemble has set itself the task of introducing Ernst Krenek’s important and extensive chamber music oeuvre to the programmes of international concert halls, although its repertoire also includes works by composers such as Schubert and Beethoven, who provided Krenek with important stimulus. Its musicians delve with special curiosity into Krenek’s less familiar works and reveal the many colorful facets of his substantial output. Concerts have taken the ensemble throughout Europe and the USA.
Busch: Chamber Music, Vol. 2 – Music for Clarinet II
Marlboro Festival 40th Anniversary - Schubert, Mozart: Quintets
-- Blair Sanderson, AllMusic.com
