Any new recording of Charles-Valentin Alkan is an event, which hopes to widen the public appreciation of this still unknown genius of the French Romantic period. After his unsuccessful efforts at a brilliant concert career, Alkan went into reclusion, concentrating on teaching and composing his totally unique oeuvre mainly written for piano solo. One of the greatest virtuosos of his time (even Franz Liszt was nervous to play in his presence) he wrote piano music of the most colossal proportions, scope and difficulty. This new recording by the young and extraordinarily gifted young Italian Vincenzo Maltempo brings together two of Alkan masterworks: The Grande Sonata "Les Quatre Ages" (in which Alkan musically describes the stages of a man's life, from exuberant youth to tragic old age), and the Symphonie pour piano solo, a dramatic four movement work in Classical/Romantic style. As an encore the fiendishly difficult Etude for two hands unisono, a pianistic tour de force.

Composed in the early 19th century, the four grand piano sonatas by Carl Maria von Weber round out the Classical age and herald in the Romantic style. All four of these sonatas are featured on this two-disc set, as well as Weber’s Rondo brilliante in E flat major, Op. 62, and Aufforderung zum Tanz, Op 65. +Pianist Michelangelo Carbonara studied at Lake Como Academy under such pianists as Dimitri Bashkirov, Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank, and Alicia de Larrocha. He has won several international competitions, including the Schubert International Piano Competition.

Classical Music

Classical Music

HOLBORNE The Fruit of Love • François Joubert-Caillet (vl, cond); L’Achéron • RICERCAR 339 (69:09)


In his day, Anthony Holborne (c. 1545–1602) was a highly respected composer and instrumentalist. His patrons included Robert Cecil, the first Earl of Salisbury; Mary Sidney, Countess Pembroke; and Elizabeth I. He wrote dedicatory introductions to publications by Thomas Morley and Giles Farnaby, and Dowland dedicated his song I saw my lady weep to him. Upon Holborne’s death he was quickly forgotten, as were many of his contemporaries, only to experience a considerable revival in the 20th century. Today his music is often recorded in excerpt as part of larger collections, but occasionally in releases devoted entirely to his works.


One of Holborne’s pieces, The Fairie Round , was part of the so-called Voyager Golden Records sent with space probes Voyagers 1 and 2, to represent the cultural achievements of humanity. It was part of the composer’s 1599 publication Pavans, Galliards, Almains, and other short Aeirs both grave and light, in five parts, for Viols, Violins, or other Musicall Winde Instruments . This was to be his only published music not written for solo plucked instruments and, at a total of 65 dances, a very large collection for its time and place. Many of the works are given titles, some clearly drawn from songs, but 53 are either pavans or galliards—the majority of these in paired association. The music thus alternates between the more stately and the more lively, though Holborne’s excellent five-part writing makes it clear these pieces were intended more for listening pleasure than actual dancing.


Publishers of the day realized they could make decent money off the sale of music to a thriving middle and upper class, at a time when music-making was both an important element of private entertainment and a marketable skill to attract good marriages. To maximize sales, composers often indicated that their works could be performed by a wide range of instruments. Holborne’s title above indicates as much, and François Joubert-Caillet takes his cue from this. L’Achéron opts here for a traditional viol consort, abetted by a pair of musicians on plucked string instruments that Holborne was known to specialize in: the lute, cittern, and bandora. Finally, they’ve included the very occasional use of a virginal and ottavino (small spinet). While keyboards aren’t mentioned by Holborne, they are in other sources of the period, and they’re deployed with discretion—most obviously, and to excellent effect, as a solo in the opening statement of Paradizo —and a combination of plucked instruments and ottavino alone perform an unnamed Almain of obviously Italianate origin.


Mention of this brings to mind that other recordings prefer different arrangements. Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI (Alia Vox 9813) give a greater role to lutes, and Pedro Estevan adds a bit of light percussion in such pieces as The Honie-Suckle . Skip Sempé and Capriccio Stravagante (Paradizo 1) opt to mix viols and solo flute, with generally good results. I would place L’Achéron squarely between these two as a balance of dance and abstract listening. Savall clearly wishes to emphasize the dance aspect of Holborne’s music, while Sempé focuses less on rhythms than on rich textures and, at times, almost Romanticized dynamics in the phrasing. Joubert-Caillet is a bit slower than either in many instances, but with more forward impetus than Sempé.


Those three versions are my current favorites; and if I had to choose, this would be my preferred one, with close, richly textured sound. But only by a hair over Savall; so if you have that one, you’re probably good to go. If not, however, I strongly recommend this recording.


FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

The conductor’s Prometheus, the Poem of Fire (without wordless chorus; not uncommon during the period of recording) is Scriabin without the impressionistic gauze that often covers the piece on other recordings. In Mitropoulos’s reading, the work is mercurial, its buoyant rhythms never lost beneath the soaring thematic phrases. The conductor’s management of overlapping instrumental layers is striking: nothing is lost, all voices distinctly heard without sacrifice of impetuosity. It’s a too often made complaint by those of us who were raised in the 78-rpm and LP eras that there are digital releases of a given composition that supply less transparency and color than an old analog reissue; but in the case of this work, it certainly holds true. For all its age, this is a welcome addition to the catalog.

As with Prometheus, so with Pelleas und Melisande. All too readily it is cloaked in an opulent, impressionistic haze, with Karajan/Berlin Phil providing a good example of this bad approach (DG 2GOR 457721). Mitropoulos, by contrast, exhibits commitment, clear-edged detail, and a naturally expressive pulse that makes Karajan sound like a well-oiled machine. He doesn’t round off the corners of this music, but balances the various orchestral lines in a way that brings out its more fiery, dramatic nature.

-- Barry Brenesal, FANFARE

Du Mont: Motets à voix seule - Hayne: Requiem pour Marie de

6 ORGELSONATAS

SONATA - MUSIC FOR TRUMPET AND

THE BEST OF CHRISTMAS IN VIENN

THE BAROQUE LUTE EUGEN M. DOM

Includes work(s) for piano by Edvard Grieg. Soloist: Gerhard Oppitz.

What the legendary conductor always wanted more than anything was to be a composer. And what other works merely hint at is clearly obvious from this huge three-movement work, a child born of the pain of more than twenty years, a statement: Furtweñngler was a man of longing who wanted to outdo Wagner and Bruckner in tonality and the span of feeling. The Clarens Quintet turns this document into an experience. (Kultur-Spiegel)

Includes work(s) by Morton Subotnick. Ensemble: Southwest Chamber Music Society.

Boulez is not a 'tender' conductor; nor would he wish to be found one. But, as I said before, again and again he provides a revelation of the 'meaning' of a particular passage—simply by playing it exactly as it stands: not so simply, by his apparent ability to convey the intentions of the composer's creative mind. Two final examples: the hollow bang on the bass drum in the second scene, during Wozzeck's hallucination; and the celesta/harp trickle, with other motifs exactly poised against it, while Marie in Scene 3 falls into a reverie. Each tells marvellously.

-- Gramophone [2/1967, reviewing the LP release]

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Berry [is] perhaps the best Wozzeck on record... [Boulez] is very good at nail-biting suspense and lucid clarification of complex textures...

-- Gramophone [2/1989]

An outstanding career spanning three decades has made the Auryn Quartet one of the most sought-after and respected ensembles performing around the globe."The Auryn plays with an enviable balance of abandon and discipline" (American Record Guide) and "shared spirituality" (The New York Times).

The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra is a prime example of an ensemble which no longer pays any attention to the separation of historical and modern instruments or historic and modern styles: here the things which belong together have come together, so that music performance can be filled with emotion and expression. 4009850011101 TCET111.2 19541938 .00 23.99 .25 TACET RECORDS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 03/27/2002 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/c/500/9/5/1/7/1997159.jpg 8 2 N BEETHOVEN / ZITTERBART PIANO SONATAS The meticulously prepared releases by the Stuttgart label Tacet deserve attention... this tells me that Gerrit Zitterbart can rank with the most gifted Beethoven performers of his generation... (Frankfurter Rundschau) 4009850001102 TCET11.2 07217012 .00 23.99 .23 TACET RECORDS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 05/23/2000 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/c/500/8/7/1/7/1997178.jpg 12 1 N BOCCHERINI / WESTFAHLISCHER KAMMERCHOR MUNST NEW MUSICAL ADVENT CALENDAR CD with dial: The gift with a difference, for advent and Christmas: With music through the days of December; twenty-four pieces of music to look forward to Christmas with, one for each day; according to the advent custom. An idea by TACET. 4009850010500 TCET105.2 19541846 .00 23.99 .24 TACET RECORDS COMPACT DISCS CLASSICAL CHAMBER MUSIC & RECITALS 10/18/2000 https://media.aent-m.com/graphics/items/sdimages/b/500/6/8/1/7/1997186.jpg 1 1 N DVORAK / AURYN QUARTET AURYN SERIES 32: SEXTET IN A MAJOR OP 48 Eminently balanced and intoned with razor-sharp accuracy, these 2010 renditions of Dvorak's largest chamber work and "household" trios prove enduring." (Audiophile Audition)

Though Toscanini was one of the greatest conductors ever to mount a podium he was scarcely renowned for his skill and sympathy as an accompanist. But here we have recordings by two instrumentalists who in different ways were able to combat the maestro's tendency to impose his will and his way on any performance. In the Third Piano Concerto Toscanini conducts an intensely dramatic opening tutti, and whenever he has his head he creates a rare incandescence in the orchestral part. Rubinstein goes urbanely but determinedly in his own direction, and his playing has typical poise and clarity. The result is hardly a marriage of minds, but the mixture works well to produce a performance which possesses a good deal of vitality and character. The 1944 recording sounds very well for its date, with good piano tone and just a little surface hiss and crackle from the original source. The audience is very quiet until the end, when there is enthusiastic applause. The 1940 sound in the Violin Concerto is again very good, and Heifetz is in superb form, so that he in the end dominates the formidable Toscanini through the wizardry of his technique and the force of his musical personality. In general tempos are on the fast side, and there is a good deal of tension in the performance, but there is some marvellous music-making too, particularly in the slow movement, where Heifetz plays with great poetry and a beautiful quality of tone.

-- Gramophone [3/1988]
reviewing these performances previously reissued as RCA 5756

Johann Schop and his Contemporaries

MUSIC FOR YOU - KOECHLIN: MUSI

Founded 1998, the Bennewitz Quartet, from the Czech Republic, have become one of the classical music world's top international chamber ensembles, a status confirmed not only by prestigious competition victories but also by the acclaim of the critics. Having recently recorded an all-Dvorák program on two CDs (Cypresses) for hanssler in 2012, the ensemble returns to the music of this Bohemian/American master with two quartets for strings, both of which are important milestones in the composer's œuvre: No. 10 in E-flat Major, op. 51, and No. 13 in G Major, op. 106.

I enjoyed this new Sony coupling of Saint-Saëns and Wieniawski concertos very much indeed. They are both highly rewarding works, well crafted in the best sense. Their special charm is that the quality of the invention and the manner in which the themes are discussed is exactly right for the music's modest scale. Julian Rachlin has their full measure and continually beguiles us with the spontaneous melodic flow. He is a Lithuanian prodigy (beginning his concert career at the age of ten!) and is utterly in command of the galaxy of colour his instrument can create in that special way that seems to come so readily and easily to Jewish fiddlers, when they are so naturally gifted. Not for a single bar throughout this music is his virtuosity displayed for its own sake: it is always put at the service of the two composers. The Saint-Saëns was taken from a live concert, although this is not made clear in the presentation material. Both concertos were recorded in the Mann Auditorium and there are subtle differences in the sound, although the balance is basically excellent throughout. In Saint-Saëns the audience absorbion cushions the orchestral textures, but also makes the solo image warmer, more seductive; in the Wieniawski the orchestra] focus is fresher, the body of the string tone has more tangibility, and the violin is made to 'stand tall', more positively up front. But Julian Rachlin's playing can take any amount of scrutiny and in the live performance, where there were no chances for retakes, he is just as technically assured as when recording under studio conditions. Mehta, too, is on top form and so is the orchestra.

The Saint-Saëns comes first and has many delights to offer. The first movement has a splendidly passionate lyrical impulse and the Andantino is sheer delight: it has one of the composer's most delicious inspirations, a siciliano which is relished here by one and all (including us). Note Rachlin's gentle reprise of the lovely lyrical theme, surrounded by delicate touches of woodwind colour at 4'53" and again his re-presentation at 6'41", high up and exquisite. This is what fine fiddling is all about. But the performance reaches its peak in the splendid finale, the longest movement, which has wit and fire and a memorable chorale melody thrown in for good measure. It appears ethereally on the violins at 3'55" (Mehta and his orchestra wonderfully persuasive); then at 4'18" the soloist relishes its beauty. When the brass finally get their teeth into it (843") they let rip with real gusto, and then the soloist admonishes them with a gentle riposte which includes a disarming pianissimo echo. The sinuously flowing opening of the Wieniawski is beautifully and naturally moulded by the orchestra, with fine contributions from the principal oboe and solo horn, and when the soloist arrives the music's rhapsodic feeling continues most pleasingly. The second subject is beguiling enough when it first appears, but at its reprise (6'14") Rachlin's 50110 voce playing makes one's toes curl with pleasure. At 1135" the orchestra's principal clarinet shows what he is made of in the preparation for the glorious Andante, where the violin enters gently but with a simmering, sultry tone. The chimerical finale is full of joy and has the lightest touch from all concerned. I have played this record a lot and shall return to it with much pleasure. Not all music has to move mountains like Beethoven's Eroica.

-- Gramophone [12/1992]

MENDELSSOHN: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT

ELGAR: ENIGMA VARIATIONS, POMP

"Sony's recording provides us with a player's ear perspective on the music... It is always a pleasure to hear these gifted players..." -- Gramophone [11/1993]