Robert Craft always conducts splendid late Stravinsky, or selects the best players to do the chamber works full justice, and so it proves here. Granted, the program is a bit of a mish-mash, but that’s only to be expected given the composer and the length of each work. In the Duo, Frautschi and Denk play with just the right crispness and clarity, and you’ll search in vain for a better version of Abraham and Isaac (not that there are all that many). In short, if you’ve been collecting this series, which Naxos hopefully will box up complete someday, then you’ll want to add this disc to your library as well.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

This is singing of Russian song at its finest, intense yet personal, eloquent but never straying into the operatic.

Only a third of the songs on this fourth volume of Conifer's complete Tchaikovsky (previous issues were reviewed in 8/96 and 1/97) are sung by Leiferkus, but they include some of the finest, and the Finest performances. There is a superb irony in his singing of As they reiterated, "Fool!", as he curls his voice around the phrases and hardens his tone into a snarl for the reproach to the drunkard; yet the cavernous pain in one of Tchaikovsky's strangest songs, In dark Hell, matches without any emotional distancing the poem's grim mood. With Exploit he controls the growth of tone towards the climax superbly, then dropping to a hushed, exhausted quality for the quiet final verse.

This is singing of Russian song at its finest, intense yet personal, eloquent but never straying into the operatic. Nina Rautio is not so sure-footed. At her best, she can respond with grace and a fresh sense of colour, as with the pretty Pimpinella. In Sleep she pays close attention to the words, which hold the key (as so often with Tchaikovsky) to phrasing that can be elusive. But when less at ease with a song, she can take refuge in operatic declamation of a kind that loses the idiom, as with Softly the spirit, or snatch at the phrasing, as with Thy radi ant image. The setting of Mignon's Kennst du das Land (in Tyutchev's translation) is more successfully handled, not least because of the beautiful playing ofSemion Skigin. He has the idiom of these songs in his veins, and the skill to match his singers and respond to the best in them. There is no finer Russian song pianist performing today.

-- Gramophone [7/1998]

Based on George Bernard Shaw's play, the 1967 television special Androcles and the Lion recounts the story of Androcles, the simple-hearted Christian tailor whose friendship with a lion saves himself and his friends from martyrdom in the Roman Colosseum. Set to music by Richard Rodgers, the cast includes British comedian Norman Wisdom as Androcles, Noel Coward as Caesar and features Ed Ames, John Cullum and Geoffrey Holder.

Tracks:
1. Opening 4:45 – Orchestra
2. Velvet Paws 5:45 – Norman Wisdom
Dialogue: Norman Wisdom and Patricia Routledge
3. Follow in Our Footsteps 1:52 – Ed Ames and Chorus
4. Strangers 5:00 – Inga Swenson and John Cullum
Dialogue: Inga Swenson and John Cullum
5. A Fine Young Man 6:45 – Ed Ames
Dialogue: Ed Ames and Brian Bedford
Strength Is My Weakness – Norman Wisdom and Ed Ames
Dialogue: Norman Wisdom, Ed Ames, Inga Swenson and Brian Bedford
6. Gladiators’ Ballet 3:07 – Orchestra
7. The Emperor’s Thumb 2:47 – Noel Coward
Dialogue: Noel Coward, Inga Swenson, Kurt Kasznar and Clifford David
8. No More Waiting 4:50 – Inga Swenson and John Cullum
Dialogue: Norman Wisdom, Inga Swenson and John Cullum
9. The Arena Pantomime 3:55 – Norman Wisdom and Orchestra
10. Don’t Be Afraid Of An Animal 4:51 – Noel Coward and Norman Wisdom
Dialogue: Noel Coward, Norman Wisdom and Bill Hickey
11. Reprise: No More Waiting 4:23 – Inga Swenson and John Cullum
Dialogue: Noel Coward, Norman Wisdom, Ed Ames, Inga Swenson and John Cullum
Velvet Paws – Norman Wisdom

RISE & FALL CITY OF MAHAGONNY

Pianist Rudolf Serkin is often recalled as one of the 20th century’s most commanding performers of Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms. But he was always a masterful Schubertian as well. After the war, he became American Columbia’s premier pianist in the Classic-Romantic repertoire. This 5-CD box gathers his recordings of the last two Schubert Sonatas – two different ones of the great B flat, D 960: one from 1975 and a live 1977 performance from Carnegie Hall – as well as the Impromptus, Moments musicaux, the “Trout” Quintet (from the Marlboro Festival with “an enthusiastic group that rises to the work’s challenges and Serkin’s inspired promptings” – AllMusic.com) & the exquisite late chamber songs “Auf dem Strom” and “Der Hirt auf dem Felsen”, in which he is joined by soprano Benita Valente, horn Myron Bloom and clarinet Harold Wright.

With music by Leonard Bernstein and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, On The Town enjoyed a successful Broadway run during the 1940s. The London production opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre in 1963 and starred Elliott Gould along with Don McKay, Carol Arthur, Andrea Jaffeand Gillian Lewis. The Original London Cast Recording of On the Town has never before been available in the U.S.

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Starring in the London production was Elliott Gould, not long after he closed on Broadway in I Can Get It for You Wholesale – his big break as a musical leading man, which was an even bigger break for his wife-to-be Barbra Streisand. Gould played the happy-go-lucky Ozzie (a role created by Adolph Green). As Gaby, the lovestruck hero, the London production featured Don McKay, a Broadway singer/dancer with an attractive, boyish voice who had been the first Tony in the hit West End staging of West Side Story. The trio of sailors on leave was completed by another American, Franklin Kiser, as the nai?ve but determined Chip. A favorite in West End musicals like Salad Days, Gillian Lewis played Claire de Lune (Betty Comden in the original production), and American Carol Arthur was Hildy, the raucous cab driver unforget- tably created by Nancy Walker. American audiences know Arthur as a comedic actress (Blazing Saddles) and as the wife of comedian Dom DeLuise, but on this recording she belts out Hildy’s show-stopping, double-entendre-laced “I Can Cook, Too” with joyous abandon.

The London recording preserved much of Bernstein’s dance music, though some arrangements were updated and smoothed out – “I Can Cook, Too,” for instance, loses its fractured-big-band musical setting. Best of all, the London recording lets us hear this spectacular score with the charm of a cast that was performing the show onstage at the same time. With its Coplandesque ballet music and hyperkinetic invention, the score, oddly enough, may the most challenging aspect of On the Town. The London recording reminds us it is a challenge full of rewards – a heartfelt masterpiece, hilarious and zany, with romantic longing and unbridled hope lurking just beneath the gleaming surface. Maybe its time has come?

-- From the liner notes by David Foil

CAST
Ozzie – Elliott Gould
Chip – Franklin Kiser
Gabey – Don McKay
Hildy – Carol Arthur
Claire – Gillian Lewis
Diana Dream – Meg Walter
Workman – Howarth Nuttall
Policeman – Lewis Henry

MUSICAL NUMBERS:
1. Opening: 10:55
I Feel Like I’m Not Out of Bed Yet – Workman
New York, New York – Chip, Gabey, Ozzie and Chorus
Miss Subways – Policeman, Workman, Chip, Gabey, Ozzie and Chorus
2. Taxi Number: Come Up to My Place 2:15 – Hildy and Chip
3. Carried Away 3:15 – Claire and Ozzie
4. Lonely Town 5:07 – Gabey
5. I Can Cook Too 2:49 – Hildy
6. Lucky to Be Me 2:44 – Gabey
7. Dance: Times Square (Finale Act I) 5:14
8. Night Club Sequence: 4:59
So Long Baby – Chorus
I Wish I Was Dead – Diana Dream
You Got Me – Hildy, Ozzie, Claire, Chip, Gabey
9. Dance: Imaginary Coney Island 8:11
10. Some Other Time 3:48 – Claire, Hildy, Ozzie, Chip
11. Real Coney Island, Finale 4:01

Jonathan Antoine’s solo debut, Tenore, follows the success he achieved with former singing partner, Charlotte Jaconelli, which includes a top 10 debut on the Billboard Classical Crossover chart and over 200,000 albums sold worldwide. Produced by multi-Grammy® nominated music producer, Anna Barry, the forthcoming record is a testament to Jonathan’s rapid progression as a singer and recording artist. “The recording is a tribute to Jonathan’s will to learn and to aim for the stars,” says Barry. Ever since he became a national sensation for his appearance on Britain’s Got Talent in 2012, Jonathan has defined himself through his music. “It gives me a purpose. It gives me point. When I sing, I can just be me,” he says. Tenore is the result of combined natural talent and strong work ethic; it is our first taste of Jonathan Antoine’s potential as he begins his promising solo career.

1 Minuet Rob Moose / Chris Thile 1:45

2 Minim Dustin O'Halloran 2:31

3 Jardim Do Amor Mia Doi Todd Mia Doi Todd 4:16

4 Time Drinks Three Shots (From You Us We All) Shara Worden Shara Worden 1:40

5 Number Man Paul de Jong 3:23

6 The Watchmaker Stuart Bogie / Grey McMurray 5:30

7 Very Own Julianna Barwick 4:04

8 Minim Victor Axelrod / Dustin O'Halloran 3:07

9 Passacaglia Amiina 4:05

10 Contrapunctus I Max Richter 4:20

11 Arioso Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Miguel Atwood-Ferguson 4:15

12 Air Daniel Hope 5:04

13 Cello Suite No.1 Gary Bartz / Ron Carter 3:23

14 Ave Maria Pia Ercole / Fhloston Paradigm 3:08

15 Ludepre Carl Craig / Francesco Tristano 8:07

16 Contrapunctus II Jeff Mills / Kronos Quartet 4:45

17 Contrapunctus II Kronos Quartet 2:29

18 Concerto No.5 Om'Mas Keith 5:40

19 Dear Goldberg Gabriel Kahane Gabriel Kahane 3:58

In her recording of Suites for Keyboard, two-time Debut Audience Award winner Daria van den Bercken approaches Handel’s music with an adventurous spirit that invokes the music’s joy and lightness. As BBC 3 put it, “Her joy in Handel’s ingenuity shines through.” The album is a part of a larger, multimedia initiative called Handel at the Piano. Through videos and non-traditional stages and platforms, van den Bercken directly connects her performance to the public. “I want everybody to hear this music, to get to know this music,” says the pianist. Online videos give everyone a chance to witness her antics; in one particular stunt, van den Bercken ventures out into the streets of Amsterdam for a literal moving performance. Attached to the back of a car, her piano graces the public with every note she plays as they move about the city, sometimes stopping along the way for passersby to listen. Daria van den Bercken’s recording of Handel’s Suites for Keyboard is as uplifting and dynamic as van den Bercken’s approach to public performance. It is as inviting as the pianist herself, who recently hosted an in-home performance for strangers she had approached in the street.

Reviews of some of the earlier releases that make up this set:

Symphonia domestica, Le bourgeois gentilhomme
"Fritz Reiner’s 1956 performance of Richard Strauss’s Symphonia domestica was essentially its first recording in modern stereo sound. As such, it probably introduced the work to many American listeners. Prior to this, recordings conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Clemens Krauss and the composer himself with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra were undoubtedly authoritative, but hardly competitive from a sonic standpoint. Subsequently, fine stereo versions by Rudolf Kempe (EMI), Herbert von Karajan (Deutsche Grammophon), and Zubin Mehta (Decca-London) have been released, but none of them are superior to Reiner’s justly famous Living Stereo interpretation. This represents the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at its peak, and Reiner had no peer as a conductor of the orchestral music of Richard Strauss. If anything, Reiner’s no-nonsense style is even more suited to the charming, chamber-like Le bourgeois gentilhomme Suite."

-- Arthur Lintgen, Fanfare [1/2008]

Scenes From Salome And Elektra
"Solti's now-infamous comment that the Chicago Symphony was a provincial orchestra before he appeared is further discounted by the reissue of these unrivalled performances. None of Reiner's successors as a Strauss conductor, neither Solti himself, Kempe nor Sawallisch, seems quite to achieve the clarity of texture, mastery of line and intensity of feeling displayed in these recordings of 35 years and more ago, nor has any orchestra, certainly not the CSO of Solti's day, evinced the richness and brilliance of sound found here. Above all, Reiner brought to these scores, especially Elektra, a classic grandeur of utterance, a saturated sound that overwhelms the ear without ever deafening it. Perhaps these impressions are enhanced by the superb recording, preferable to so much that passes for good sound today. The fidelity, even balance and deep sonority of this early stereo in Chicago is truly amazing. Just as arresting is the perfect placing of the voices in relation to the orchestra."

-- A.B., Gramophone [5/1993]

Also sprach Zarathustra
"Reiner's 1954 Also sprach is arguably more characteristic than his 1962 RCA remake. That is to say, it is even more intense and extrovert. In his second year with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the conductor was already getting a thrilling response from the strings, although woodwind intonation could be a problem. Confident and well played as it is, the spectacular opening sunrise inevitably lacks the impact of, say, Preyin's Telarc recording (the organ is particularly disappointing). Nor is there the dark solemnity of and detail in the bass familiar from Karajan's DO versions. What we have instead is a measure of raw passion and forward thrust unequalled on disc. In reflective passages, conductor and/or engineers display some reluctance to achieve a real pianissimo, but as the tempo builds Reiner invariably creates great excitement and the orchestral playing is marvellous."

-- David Gutman, Gramophone [12/1992]

Don Quixote, Burleske
Throughout his career Fritz Reiner showed a particular affinity for the music of Richard Strauss. Here he delivers an exceptionally vivid account of Don Quixote – each bizarre episode from the eccentric knight’s adventures is portrayed with razor-sharp insight. One notices, in particular, Reiner’s miraculous attention to detail, his unfailing grip on the structural direction of the work and the superb response from both soloist and orchestra. With its flashes of sardonic wit, the earlier Burleske makes for an excellent coupling, and illustrates Reiner’s formidable prowess as a concerto accompanist. By any standards, a self-recommending issue.

-- Erik Levi, BBC Music Magazine

There are many reasons to recall On Your Toes with warm affection, paramount among them being the fine, rollickingly satirical score of Richard Rodgers and the incisive, enormously adroit and witty lyrics of Lorenz Hart. There is also the colorful and popular dance score titled Slaughter on Tenth Avenue. At this album's original release in 1953, it was a most welcome addition to Columbia’s roster of previously unrecorded Broadway shows.

Introduced to Broadway in April 1936, On Your Toes was the first of the book-show musicals to take ballet seriously. Its plot about the backstage life of a ballet troupe incorporated two large-scale ballets created for the show by George Balanchine, one of which – the amazing Slaughter on Tenth Avenue – received its first full-length recording here.

The story of On Your Toes deals with a young hoofer, the son of vaudevillians, whose mother persuades him to leave the "two-a-day" and take up serious ballet. The young man’s early efforts at the art are laughable. Then, a friend of the hoofer’s presents the troupe with a new work that tells a contemporary story through the medium of ballet, and in this the young man, the leading ballerina and the troupe score a decided triumph. The plot of this successful ballet, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, is a satire on gangster stories.

Cast:
Frankie Frayne - Portia Nelson
Phil Dolan III - Jack Cassidy
Phil Dolan II - Robert Eckles
Lil Dolan - Zamah Cunningham
Peggy Porterfield - Laurel Shelby
Sergei Alexandrovitch - Ray Hyson

2009 marked the 45th anniversary of Terry Riley's minimalist manifesto In C, and to celebrate the occasion Innova offers a group of "remixes" from 15 individual composers and one collaborating duo. Remixes are the fashion for today's classical composers steeped in contemporary pop music and DJ culture, and happily, each of these 16 tracks treats Riley's material with affection and high spirits while projecting their own individual viewpoints.

Certain ones stand out. Jack Dangers' "In C--Semi-Detached" launches into In C more or less according to Hoyle before slow-moving, whooshing textures and sustained chords slowly enter the fray. Mason Bates, in his "Masonic" persona, makes liberal use of popping percussive effects and gorgeous, strategically-placed piano chords, presenting Riley's repeating patterns largely in reverse sequence. DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid's remix is essentially Riley, laced with sustained timbres and subtle rhythmic manipulation. Daniel Bernard Roumain's "Zachary's Dream" features the violinist/composer emerging center-stage in the final few minutes. Perhaps the Mikael Karlsson/Rob Stephenson collaboration "Xenoglossia" strays farthest from the source, with its almost static transparency and collage-like juxtapositions. String-like sonorities in lower and higher registers shift and wander around without going anywhere in David Lang's "simple mix".

Best of all, however, is the original In C itself, where the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble under Bill Ryan presents one of the most colorful, texturally varied, rhythmically incisive, and intensely expressive renditions I've ever experienced, live or on disc. It may be brief (20 minutes), but it has a lot to say. If you're an In C fan, you'll surely want this stimulating and exceptionally well-engineered release.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Precision, finesse, tonal and dynamic colouring and much else too add up to virtuosity of the Michelangeli or Pollini class here.

In case after fifteen months or so anyone may have forgotten, let me start by reminding readers that Emanuel Ax (flow in his twentyseventh year) won the first Artur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Israel in September 1974. Of Polish extraction, he Went with his family to live in Canada in 1959, and did the vital part of his studying with Mieczyslaw Munz, a Polish pianist on the staff of the Juilhard School in New York. The sleeve-note tells us that he began to attract attention at contests in Warsaw in 1970, Lisbon in 1971 and Belgium in 1972. But it was not till Tel Aviv in 1974 that he finally emerged triumphant.

When I first started to play Chopin's B minor Sonata I must confess I was a little surprised that it did not spring off the record with more vitality and intensity. But with repeated hearings, the more I began to appreciate Ax's refusal to play for effect, his total rejection of all self-conscious searchings for new points of emphasis. In the first movement he neither over-drives the first subject nor swoons over the second (but could his cantilena be a little more luminous and magical here?). The whole movement has spaciousness and flexibility emphasising Chopin's romantic, fantasia-like approach to sonata form. For the Scherzo Ax has the right delicacy of touch; there is no trace of steeliness in his brilliance. The Largo is maturely reflective. Ax plays it as if he were "recollecting emotion in tranquillity" rather than making an on-the-spot avowal. The last two chords, incidentally, are very beautifully balanced. I was disappointed at his quiet start to the finale's arresting introduction. Sometimes, too, I wondered if his rhythm was taut enough as the argument unfolds. But the semiquaver episodes are delightfully fleet, and the main theme itself returns each time with cumulative might. The ending is a real victory. I don't think the performance is helped by the rather close, boxy recording. I can also imagine that on the concert platform, as opposed, to in the studio, Ax's whole approach to the Sonata might be more spontaneous, more tingling, with the music's nerve-ends more exposed. But for its mellowness and poise, its balanced musicianship, the performance is still most impressive.

The second side of the disc is designed to show him off as a pianist pure and simple. Since Liszt wrote such a vast amount of original music, I can't imagine what prompted Ax to include four un-Schubertian Schubert transcriptions, though his sonority in all of them is a joy. So is his scintillating fingerwork in Gnomenreigen. The outstanding performance of the whole record for me is nevertheless the A minor Paganini Etude. Precision, finesse, tonal and dynamic colouring and much else too add up to virtuosity of the Michelangeli or Pollini class here.

-- Gramophone [12/1975, reviewing the original LP release]

This is famous 1953 RCA recording of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, starring three of the greatest singers of the day: Zinka Milanov, Jussi Björling and Robert Merrill.

The recording features Renato Cellini conducting the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra with the Robert Shaw Chorale, and features singers Zinka Milanov, Jussi Björling, Robert Merrill.

Who today, or in any day, fills Mascagni’s grateful phrases with quite such full, lustrous tone and with such a wealth of feeling for the text as Milanov? This is verismo singing on the grandest, most authentic scale … Like his soprano, Björling’s singing is an exemplar of the spinto style at its best. As Alfio, Merrill turns in one of his most considerable performances on disc.

- Gramophone Magazine

This work's title, which suggests something slight and diverting, is enormously misleading, for this is one of the greatest masterpieces of Mozart's late period... In many respects this performance leaves the competition far behind. The three brilliant instrumentalists – all in their early 30s – combine the unity of ensemble of the Grumiaux-Czako-Janzer performance with the passion of Stern-Rose-Zukerman.

-- Stephen Wigler, The Orlando Sentinel [12/8/1985]
reviewing the original release of this recording

BRAHMS: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2 I

BACH Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Basso: in G, BWV 1027 ; in D, BWV 1028 ; in g, BWV 1029 . Chorale Preludes from the Orgelbüchlein: “Jesu meine Freude,” BWV 610; “Vom Himmel hoch,” BWV 606; “Gottes Sohn is kommen,” BWV 600; “In dir ist Freude,” BWV 615; “Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich,” BWV 605; “Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes Sohn,” BWV 601; “Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schar,” BWV 607; “Herr Gott, nun schleufz den Himmel auf,” BWV 617 • Jan Vogler (vc); Martin Stadtfeld (pn) • SONY 88697575192 (54:27)


The three sonatas for viola da gamba and basso composed by Johann Sebastian Bach probably during the last year or so he spent in Weimar are repertoire staples, both for early-music practitioners and for performers on modern instruments, such as the viola or the cello. As such they are almost required repertoire and there is a plethora of recordings, both on period instruments and modern, available in the catalog. This particular rendition introduces cellist Jan Vogler and pianist Martin Stadtfeld in another of those attempts to reenvision these venerable works in an unusual and perhaps even unique way. As the rather perfunctory booklet notes state: “Performing these three works on the cello and piano has long since become established as an alternative that combines knowledge of performing practice in Bach’s time with the striving for tonal expression that has analytical clarity [that] benefits the dialogue character of these sonatas.” All right, one supposes, as a generic goal, but it is clear that this particular recording seems more the result of a discussion between the two performers than one more attempt to find a unique reconfiguration of conventional and well-known pieces. Since the three works are short, the two chose a selection of chorale preludes from Bach’s Orgelbüchlein to fill out the disc. And of course, having these performed by the cello/piano duo presents another take on the short practical pieces that Bach attempted to write for the entire liturgical year (he only finalized 46 out of an intended 164 chorales). As they say, they were “taking up the challenge of reproducing on their instruments Bach’s compositional technique that varies between festive splendor and intimate melancholy.” I suppose that is enough to link these various pieces to the gamba sonatas, but to my ear they come off more like encores than the sort of experiment proposed.


I’ve always considered the gamba sonatas to be good if typical representatives of the early 17th-century German style. Two of the works are in the typical four-movement format, while the last, BWV 1029 in G Minor, reflects a more modern three-movement pattern typical of the Italian secular style just coming into vogue. Bach is quite adept at the intricate spinning out of his main themes in the fast movements, altering the motives just enough to provide interest and weaving the continuo and solo lines in subtle ways that avoid mechanical repetition. One hears echoes of the short didactic works from the Anna Magdalena Notebook in the second movement of the G Major, while the Andante of the D Major could have come straight out of a Vivaldi concerto. (It is interesting to note that around this time Bach was angling for another position at Cöthen and studying Vivaldi intensely.) The first movement of the G Minor could almost be a replacement for Brandenburg 6, with close thematic similarities abounding. In short, these are solidly composed and well worth having in one’s collection of Baroque chamber music.


The issue that surrounds this disc is really that it is yet another recording on modern instruments, when so many fine examples of the works on period instruments can be found. I don’t propose to reopen what has to be a real can of worms here, but let me state right out that while idiomatic performances do bring out much of the sound world Bach originally created in these sonatas, he at least would not have particularly objected to their being performed on whatever was available at the time. Moreover, from the benefit of almost three centuries of instrumental development, these still resonate, whether on period instruments or modern. Both Vogler and Stadtfelt are fine performers. Their execution of the sonatas is clean and finely nuanced. Yes, there is more than a little bit of modern vibrato and resonant tone, but because they are rather equally matched, this gives their performance a rounded sound that brings out some of the technical subtleties of the composition. Sometimes they do miss an occasional beat; for example, in the Adagio of the G-Minor Sonata the cello mezza di voce is bland, not at all the resonant increasing vibrato that the sustained tone calls for, but by and large these are decent performances. The only rather weak areas are the chorale preludes. These, unfortunately, do not “vary between festive splendor and intimate melancholy,” but rather sound sort of like background music one might find in a romance film. They are universally romantic in their performance, and neither of the players really has a sense of what these things were supposed to do in real life. They would be good encores after particularly rousing applause, but they don’t really belong with the gamba sonatas. The final word on this disc is that these are all right, especially if you are a budding cellist who has contemplated your own performance of the sonatas. Period-instrument devotees will find this yet another anathema, but if you take it in the spirit of presenting a collaboration between two relatively new names in the field, then you might want to add this to your collection.


FANFARE: Bertil van Boer


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If Bach's viola da gamba and harpsichord sonatas played on the cello and piano hold appeal, then you'll very likely enjoy these direct, clear-lined, slightly dry, yet intelligently interactive and texturally contrasted performances. Jan Vogler applies vibrato discreetly, yet never sacrifices tonal values in the process. Vogler's haunting, alto-like timbre above the staff weaves aural magic in slower movements and in the chorale-prelude transcriptions that bookend the sonatas. With the ghost of Glenn Gould gently hovering above, Martin Stadtfeld's dry-point articulation, rhythmic incisiveness, and sparkling trills significantly contribute to the mix (incidentally, Sony ought to release Stadtfeld's excellent Goldberg Variations in the U.S.). The cover photo seems less worthy of Bach than of Saturday Night Fever.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Among musicians closely associated with Charles Ives and his music, John Kirkpatrick possessed an innate affinity for the composer’s rough and tumble sound world that bordered on clairvoyance. A brilliant and adventurous pianist, Kirkpatrick (1905-1991) gave the complete public premiere of Ives’ “Concord” Sonata in 1938, followed six years later by its first recording. Kirkpatrick remade the work in stereo for Columbia Masterworks in 1968, and its first CD release here sounds better than ever.

The lean, slightly astringent sonority I remember from my well-worn LP copy gains color and tonal heft via digital remastering, with no compromise in regard to the composer’s considerable dynamic range. Kirkpatrick shapes the first two movements’ gnarly, restless keyboard writing with bracing energy and a near-infallible sense of the music’s quirky ebb and flow. The dissonant outbursts, lyrical asides, and wacky popular song quotations emerge with such idiomatic rightness and effortless transitions that it almost seems as if Kirkpatrick is making up the sonata on the spot. He is not, of course, but astute listeners will notice small textual variants based on source material that appeared only after the composer’s death, and the absence of the optional viola and flute parts.

A selection of Ives’ own private piano recordings fills out the disc, and features the composer improvising variants and new material based on the Emerson and Hawthorne movements, along with a straighter yet no less fervent reading of the complete Alcotts movement. While it’s instructive to sample Ives’ “Concord”-based piano recordings as an adjunct to Kirkpatrick’s performance, you also can find them in CRI/New World’s collection of the complete recordings of Ives at the piano. Had I produced this reissue, I would have gone so far as to add Kirkpatrick’s earlier and even more incisive 1945 “Concord”, together with the never-before-reissued “In the Inn” from the First Sonata that filled out Side 10 of the original five-disc 78 rpm album. Still, Sony/BMG and Arkivmusic.com deserve thanks for restoring Kirkpatrick’s stereo “Concord”, a performance that fully deserves its iconic reputation.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Available for the first time in the United States, this set from the Sony Classical Masters Series features Leonard Slatkin conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (featuring Pinchas Zukerman on violin) in the works of Elgar including Symphonies nos. 1 & 2, Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto, and “Enigma” Variations.

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Leonard Slatkin's Elgar recordings are among the best recordings of the works in the past 20 years. Slatkin's understanding of Elgar's music and his ability to articulate both its grandly monumental and deeply intimate qualities is unsurpassed among his contemporaries and his interpretations are marvelously controlled and wonderfully expressive. Of course, Slatkin is aided by the strong and sympathetic playing of the London Philharmonic and by the soulful virtuosity of violinist Pinchas Zukerman and cellist Janos Starker. And RCA does capture all their performances in clear, deep, and warm digital sound. While no one who loves Elgar's music should be without Barbirolli and Boult's recordings, anyone who loves Elgar's music would like Slatkin's recordings.

– All Music Guide

In 1956 at the Rome Opera, the legendary Pierre Monteux conducted one of his very few opera recordings, Verdi’s La traviata, starring soprano Rosanna Carteri as the doomed heroine Violetta, Cesari Valletti and Leonard Warren.

A deeply satisfying performance, rewardingly cast and conducted. Rosanna Carteri has the ideal voice, hovering between lirico and spinto, to satisfy the vocal and dramatic demands of the part. Cesare Valletti is just about an ideal Alfredo, a suitably youthful and emotionally vulnerable portrayal. As father Germont, Leonard Warren – famous in the part at the Metropolitan – sings with the mellow tone and care for words that were his hallmarks.

- Gramophone

The soundtrack of the 1978 movie version of Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway masterpiece, A Little Night Music finally finds its way to CD. Directed by Hal Prince, the all-star cast features Elizabeth Taylor, who sings the famous “Send in the Clowns,” Diana Rigg, Lesley-Ann Down, Len Cariou and Hermione Gingold. This newly-remastered CD is transferred from the original stereo masters, and includes a previously unreleased instrumental cue, along with two other instrumental cues taken from the mono soundtrack of the film. The complete version of "Every Day a Little Death" is also included from the mono soundtrack, as the carriage ride verse written for the film was not included on the stereo master. Featuring liner notes by Sondheim archivist Peter E. Jones.

MUSICAL NUMBERS

1 OVERTURE / NIGHT WALTZ (LOVE TAKES TIME) 4:20
Orchestra, Company
2 THE GLAMOROUS LIFE 4:52
Chloe Franks
3 NOW / SOON / LATER 7:53
Len Cariou, Lesley-Anne Down, Christopher Guard
4 YOU MUST MEET MY WIFE 3:51
Len Cariou, Elizabeth Taylor
5 EVERY DAY A LITTLE DEATH 2:28
Diana Rigg, Lesley-Anne Down
6 NIGHT WALTZ 1:06
Orchestra
7 A WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY 6:04
Company
8 IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WONDERFUL 4:20
Len Cariou, Laurence Guittard
9 SEND IN THE CLOWNS 4:17
Elizabeth, Taylor, Len Cariou
10 POOR OLD FREDERICK 1:53
Orchestra Previously unreleased
11 SEND IN THE CLOWNS (REPRISE) / FINALE 4:31
Elizabeth, Taylor, Len Cariou, Company

BONUS TRACKS

12 EVERY DAY A LITTLE DEATH (FILM VERSION) 4:00
Diana Rigg, Lesley-Anne Down
Previously unreleased, mono recording
13 NIGHT WALTZ (FILM VERSION) 1:47
Orchestra
Previously unreleased, mono recording
14 END CREDITS (FILM VERSION) 1:27
Orchestra
Previously unreleased, mono recording

Italian opera conductor Tullio Serafin enjoyed a long career and an extensive repertoire. He became particularly known for his revival of 19th century bel canto operas, as well as being an authority on composers such as Bellini, Donizetti, and, as this recording proves, Verdi. This release is a 1960 recording of Serafin conducting Verdis Otello in Rome. Based on Shakespeares play Othello, this work was Verdis penultimate opera. The four act work is set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito. This particular recording by RCA was deemed by BBC Music Magazine as the preferred version and benchmark recording of the work. No conductor is more understanding of Verdian pacing than Serafin. (The Penguin Guide)

MOZART: PRUSSIAN QUARTETS

These classic recordings of the Ives Quartets, as far as I know, have not been issued on CD before now. In the 1960s the Juilliard Quartet had few rivals in this repertoire and their performances set standards for those to come. I should note here that Raphael Hillyer, the original violist with the quartet, died very recently at the ripe age of 96. These recordings of the Ives quartets have not lost any of their luster. They are marvelous performances in excellent sound.

The String Quartet No. 1 was the composer’s first major work. Although he wrote it as early as 1896, it did not receive its first public performance until 1957, three years after Ives’ death. This is listener-friendly Ives, filled with snatches of hymns and other familiar tunes and not knotty as his later works, including the String Quartet No. 2, were to become. Although it is unmistakably Ives, it also sounds at times like Brahms and Dvo?ák. The work’s fugal first movement has an interesting history. Apparently Ives decided to detach it from the quartet and use it as the third movement of his Symphony No. 4, where it remains today. However, when the quartet was first published in1961 the first movement returned to its proper place. The quartet has been performed in this four-movement form ever since. According to David Johnson, who wrote the original liner notes, Ives gave the four movements of the quartet, often subtitled, “A Revival Service,” the following “churchly titles”: Fugue,Prelude,Offertory and Postlude. The printed score, though, eliminates these and gives only the tempo markings.

The Quartet No. 2 shows an entirely different side of Charles Ives. Whereas the earlier work was highly melodic and Romantic, the Second Quartet is more aggressively modern-dissonant and largely atonal. It also contains snatches of songs, such as Dixie and Columbia the Gem of the Ocean, and no little humor. Near the end of the second movement, the quartet stops to tune up before closing with two crashing chords. At one point in this movement there is a brief quotation from the Ode to Joy from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Ives retained titles for the three movements: I-Discussions (Andante moderato), II-Arguments (Allegro con spirito), and III-The Call of the Mountains (Adagio). The quartet is also programmatic. Ives wrote the following after the work’s title: “…four men-who converse, discuss, argue, fight, shake hands, shut up-then walk up to the mountain side to view the firmament!”

These being two of Ives’ most important chamber works, it is strange that they have not been recorded more often-especially compared to the songs and symphonies. Of more modern recordings, the one that most closely approaches the benchmark the Juilliard has provided is that by what many consider today’s leading American quartet, the Emersons. Their recording on DG also contains a very brief Scherzo, called “Holding Your Own,” that Ives composed in 1903-04, and Samuel Barber’s String Quartet, Op. 11 containing the original version of his famous Adagio. Those performances are perfectly fine as a whole, even if they do not quite possess the dramatic edge or the nuances of the Juilliard. The main advantage of the Emerson disc is that it contains over an hour of music very well played and recorded. That said, the re-mastering for CD of the Juilliard recording is very successful and the sound is as good as that for the Emerson. I have not heard the accounts by the Blair Quartet on Naxos, but they have received positive reviews as well, including Dominy Clements' review on this website. You pays your money and takes your choice! The notes for the Juilliard CD are from the original LP and the presentation is first class in every way.

-- Leslie Wright, MusicWeb International

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There are several other fine recordings of these two remarkable quartets--not nearly as many as there should be--and they all include additional works that may entice some listeners to choose their fuller programs over this 49-minute recital. But that would be a mistake, for these performances by the Juilliard Quartet are exceptional in their refinement and detail, their vibrant ensemble character, and, especially in the First quartet, their respectful attention to Ives' thematic material, never artificially punching up the spontaneous hymn-tune bits nor overworking the more integrated developmental passages.

The very articulate playing allows unusual but essential clarity among the four parts, and the group's Ivesian sensibility appreciates the background programmatic concept of "A Revival Service" (First quartet) and the underlying "story" of the Second quartet's four men "who converse, discuss, argue, fight, shake hands, shut up--then walk up the mountainside to view the firmament!", but always celebrates each work's most compelling musical attributes.

Although the First quartet was written in 1896, not untypically for Ives' music its premiere wasn't until many decades later--in 1957. The Juilliard's recording followed only nine years after, in 1966--the Second quartet was recorded the following year. But there's a dynamism and freshness in the playing--complemented by sound that's just slightly dry enough to give the strings a nice vibrant edge--that surpasses all subsequent readings on disc.

The Emerson Quartet renditions (DG) are not only often faster, but the interpretations have an overtly academic character in the all-too-conspicuous articulation and phrasing. The Lydian Quartet's (Centaur) fine enough performances are dulled just a bit by the acoustic; the Blair Quartet's (Naxos) readings are very good, the best of the modern recordings of these two unique--and extremely different quartets. But whether you already have or eventually want more than one version, the Juilliard's Ives should not be missed.

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com