Trio Marie-Antoinette: Musik in Versailles

Includes work(s) for recorder by Robert Valentine. Ensemble: Mediolanum Ensemble. Soloist: Susanne Ambos.

Classical Music

The Honegger, Martinu and Rivier pieces are not currently listed in the Gramophone Classical Catalogue, but these fine performances do far more than merely fill gaps. Ravel's Sonata, dating from 1920-22, was an important piece in its composer's development, as he himself acknowledged, and the probable inspiration of the other works here. In turn, Ravel was acquainted with Kodaly's Duo, Op. 7 of 1914, which the Turovskys have already recorded (Chandos ABRD1102, 11/84). The Sonata must have come as a shock after the luxuriance of La valse (1919-20), but its scalingdown of resources led to no loss of musical intensity, and although the writing does not, at least now, sound outre, it is extremely inventive in instrumental terms and the Turovskys make an aptly zestful response.

Afterwards, Rivier's 1937 Sonatina sounds modest indeed, yet its three movements are melodious, graceful and effectively written, without conveying anything of the sense of pushing the boundaries outwards, musically and technically, which makes the Ravel so exhilarating. Honegger's and Martinu's pieces are weightier than Rivier's and the former, dating from 1932, has a quite sombre central Andante, plus an extremely diverse finale. More consistent, and just as capably written, is Martinu's two-movement Duo of 1927. And again, there are strong contrasts, the first movement being thoughtful, the last one effervescent.

The Turovsky's performances are thoughtful, too, and resonantly virtuosic when required, nowhere more so than in Martinu's cadenza. Their recital plays for 63 minutes, and while the recording is thoroughly lifelike on LP it seems to me that on CD the separation of the two instruments is more explicit and the music is projected rather more sharply. Ravel's Sonata exemplifies these points especially well.

-- Gramophone [7/1985]

Classical Music

VIOLINO LATINO • Arabella Steinbacher (vn); Peter von Wienhardt (pn) • ORFEO 686 061 (65:04)


PIAZZOLLA Libertango (arr. Wienhardt). Adios nonino (arr. Calo). Milonga del angel (arr. Calo). Oblivión (arr. Wienhardt). Revirado (arr. Calo). PONCE (arr. Heifetz) Estrellita. FALLA La vida breve: Danse espagnole (arr. Kreisler). Canciones populares españolas: (arr. Kochanski) Nana; Polo. El amor brujo: Ritual Fire Dance. KREISLER La gitana. GINASTERA Pampeana No. 1. Rhapsodie. ALBÉNIZ Tango, op. 165/2. MILHAUD Scaramouche: Brazileira (arr. Heifetz). VILLA LOBOS O canto do cisne negro. WIENHARDT Salsa for BBWL. MOWER Bossa merengova (arr. Wienhardt)


Arabella Steinbacher and Peter von Wienhardt sound like names worlds apart from the program on Orfeo’s CD, “Violino Latino.” But Steinbacher comes out punching in Piazzolla’s Libertango and Milonga del angel . While the description of the tango as a vertical expression of a horizontal desire may not capture the mood of the program or the performances, and if there’s more fire than smoke even in pieces like Falla’s familiar “Danse espagnole,” nobody should object. Stewart Spencer attributes to Daniel Barenboim, Gidon Kremer (who plays this repertoire regularly), Yo-Yo Ma, Mstislav Rostropovich, Emanuel Ax, and Gary Burton the opinion that you can’t play Piazzolla’s compositions without getting your hands dirty. Steinbacher and Wienhardt certainly don’t. Steinbacher plays with an extremely wide dynamic range on the 1736 Muntz Stradivari, a violin that has impressed me in the past as sounding somewhat tubby. That clotting occurs only briefly in moments on the lower registers in Milonga del angel ; otherwise, it’s as steely as a saber (or Steinbacher makes it sound that way). Steinbacher and Wienhardt breathe a dragon’s breath into Kreisler’s Gitana , and play Heifetz’s signature Estrellita and his boffo transcription of Milhaud’s “Brazileira” with the kind of panache with which Heifetz himself wowed audiences. In Falla’s “Ritual Fire Dance,” Steinbacher employs hair-raising timbres to generate extra electricity, but Wienhardt certainly helps turn the crank, keeping the duo’s rhythmic verve from flagging. Albéniz’s Tango may be the only piece on the program to bear unfavorable comparisons with other performances; Arthur Grumiaux brought to this Kreisler transcription a smoldering warmth that haunts my memory almost 20 years after I first heard it. On the other hand, Steinbacher’s more aggressive reading may fit better into the overall program. Nevertheless, she settles into a sultry yet elegant reading of Falla’s “Nana” (she sounds somewhat hoarse in Villa Lobos’s similarly suggestive miniature). The two most recent pieces, a jaunty one by Wienhardt and a jazzy one by Mike Mower hold their own as more recent updates of the program’s older repertoire.


Steinbacher’s way with Piazzolla makes for quite a more passionate affair than did Gidon Kremer’s archer wit. Throughout these miniatures, in fact, Steinbacher recalls Kyung Wha Chung’s fiery intensity. Wienhardt, who made some of the arrangements, as well as Orfeo’s startlingly lifelike recorded sound, add to the excitement of already exciting playing and music. Strongly recommended.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham

Classical Music

The Joachim Wollenweber Edition series is dedicated to bringing public attention forgotten composers of the classical and romantic periods. Including sheet music in tandem with collaborations with top performers and musicologists, the CDs comprise a third wheel of the presentation. Volume 3 of this series is 'Romantic Duos' featuring moving compatibility of the fantastic Anna Kreetta Gribajcevic (viola) with Oliver Triendl (piano) in deeply engaged performances with these chamber pieces by Friedrich Kiel, Carl Reinecke and Prince Reuss and more.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Liszt: Piano Works

Tango del Fuego

When published in 1716, Antonio Vivaldi’s Sonatas, op. 5 were declared as the second part of his op. 2. + The entity contains four solo sonatas and two trio sonatas, which was rather unusual at that time. + The Baltic Baroque, under the direction of Grigori Maltizov, present, most surprisingly, the first recordings of these works to be undertaken and the first on period instruments. + There is a multitude of reasons for their non-representation on record, all of which falling into areas of origin, authorship and relations in music.

STRING QUARTET NO. 4 STRING Q

For Placido Domingo fans, THE YOUNG DOMINGO serves up more than enough satisfying fare. These two disks contain not only the entirety of three opera aria recordings made by Domingo from 1969 (the year following his triumphant debut at the Metropolitan Opera) to 1973. They also include two Ruggero Leoncavallo selections that were originally a part of Domingo's recording of 'I Pagliacci' and (most exciting) "Pourquoi me réveiller?" from Jules Massenet's 'Werther;' a recording that never made it to the original LP for reasons of space.
In the 1969 liner notes to 'Romantic Aria,' the earliest of the three recordings included on this disk, Richard Mohr wrote that Domingo, as a child, "began to dream of being a conductor, an ambition that still haunts him." In recent years, Domingo has moved in the direction of fulfilling that dream, conducting more and singing less. It seems appropriate, then, to begin looking back and taking stock of his remarkable career. While Domingo has kept much of his inimitable vocal luster over the past thirty years, the selections on this disk capture Domingo in his youthful bloom and testify to why he electrified the operatic community when he first came on the scene.

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 74: Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 2

Classical Music

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 51: All Schumann: Carnaval - Fan

Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 7 in B-Flat Major, Op. 97, "Archdu

Classical Music

Leonid Kogan, accompanied by Andrei Mytnik will leave you speechless with these live recordings and radio broadcasts of Brahms' Violin Sonatas. Critics consider these to be some of the best recordings of the three Violin Sonatas As a bonus, Kogan plays Brahms' Hungarian Dances

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Der Musikalische Garten's second recording "A Visit to the Blue House: Trio Sonatas" continues their exploration of the collection of 18th century Basel merchant Lucas Sarasin. Building on the strengths of their debut with the uncommon scordatura tuning, the depth of Lucas Sarasin's music collection is further revealed with these trio sonatas that showcase the breadth of composers working in southwestern Germany and northern Italy, the two centers of instrumental chamber music of the day. The 'Blue House' of the title references Sarasin's home which doubled as a salon and performance space and this recording allows us indeed a visit to eavesdrop during a fertile time of transition that bridged the Baroque and Classical eras.