HOROWITZ PLAYS SCRIABIN

Love Song

V10: RUBINSTEIN COLLECTION

This second set of Les Pleiades, ‘the collection of Ricercar re-releases’ is again devoted to the German Baroque religious repertoire. + Focusing on the Nativity repertoire, it extends from the early 17th c. to the generation of Bach: Schütz’s Christmas Oratorio, Yuletide cantatas by Christoph Graupner, Scheidt, Selle, Tunder, Lübeck, Buxtehude, Bruhns and more, recorded by world-class artists. + Also in this set one finds the evocation of Nativity scenes, from the Annunciation up to the Presentation in the Temple, as well as the reconstruction of a Lutheran Christmas service.

Rubinstein Collection, Vol 21 - Brahms: Sonata No. 3 in F M

WAGNER, R.: Walkure (Die) / Gotterdammerung (excerpts) (Furt

MICHELANGELI IN LONDON - THE J

Music and Arts has unearthed what it calls "lost Feuermann," recordings the great cellist made during tours of Japan in 1934 and 1936. The 1936 sessions are mostly fluff, the sort of ear candy that makes for nice encores, and were staples of the 78 rpm era. Feuermann, of course, elevates them to the realm of high art. His seamless legato makes fascinating listening experiences of Mendelssohn's Spring Song and Rubenstein's Melody, and he sings Godard's Berceuse and Schubert's Serenade with bel canto phrasing worthy of a Golden Age tenor. His tonal command is complete, ranging from rich, dark tones in Tchaikowsky's Valse sentimentale to the light and airy in Schumann's Zigeunerleben. Unfortunately, the transfers obscure much of Feuermann's golden tonal resources through aggressive noise-reduction techniques. Compare, for example, the wooden mid-and lower registers in the Spring Song to the multi-colored hues of the same Japanese recording on Pearl 9446. The 1934 sessions sound much better, more vibrant and alive, with unobjectionable 78 surface noise. Those recordings offer real novelties--arrangements of Japanese folk songs, one by a composer named Taki on the back of the jewel box, and three by a man the skimpy booklet notes identify as "eminent Japanese composer and conductor" Kosaku Yamada. These are also of the bob-bon persuasion, and frankly imitative. Yamada"s Karatachi no Hana reminds one of "Old Folks at Home," while Ojoro Takashima sounds more Jewish than Ernest Bloch's Prayer from the 1936 set, making it a perfect choice for a "name the composer" quiz. The disc is filled out with three European recordings made early in Feuermann's tragically brief career--a saccharine Bach--Gounod Ave Maria, a gorgeously played Bruch Kol Nidrei, and the second and third movements of Haydn's Concerto in D disfigured by a scrappy orchestra and a slow movement of such gross sentimentality that its only redeeming features are Feuermann's rich tone and its suitability as a torture device for aficionados of the authentic instruments school. But this interpretation too, is authentic in the sense that it's the way Haydn was done at a certain place and a certain time. There's some wonderful cello playing on this disc and it will be welcomed by all who admire Feuermann's art, both for his playing and for the opportunity to hear some of his most rare recordings.

--Dan Davis, ClassicsToday.com

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 24: Mendelssohn: Piano Trio, Op.

Includes work(s) by Wadada Leo Smith.

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 73: Brahms Piano Trio No. 3; Sch

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 54: All Schubert: Sonata, D. 960

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 65: Brahms: Piano Quartets Nos.

"Today Rubinstein is best remembered as the ideal Chopin interpreter. He recorded much of the composer’s output several times over, first for EMI in the 1930s, in recordings many still treasure for their spontaneity and verve. For RCA, his monophonic Chopin recordings from the 1940s and their stereo remakes remain the standards by which other pianists are judged. And yet despite that identification with Chopin, Rubinstein always claimed Brahms was his favorite composer, and his golden-toned RCA recordings of the Op. 5 Sonata, the Ballades, and selected samples of Brahms’ autumnal late works retain their primacy, as do his Brahms recordings in partnership with chamber groups and outstanding soloists like Heifetz and Henryk Szeryng."

-- Dan Davis, Listen Magazine [5, 2009]

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 55

CHRISTMAS WITH MOZART

Mahler’s cantata Das klagende Lied today constitutes a veritable rarity in concert programmes – in an age that without contradiction recognizes Mahler as one oft he most eminent milestones in the music history of the late 19th and early 20th century. Based on a horror tale written by Mahler himself, this large-scale, vocal symphonic work forms the beginning of Mahler’s more familiar oeuvre. Mahler, at the age of only 20, submitted the score for the Beethoven Prize at the Society of the Friends of Music in Vienna. He did not receive this prize, however, and subsequently made several revisions. It was finally premiered by the composer in Vienna on 17 February 1901 only. The ‚mixed version‘ (also employed for this recording) consisting of the original first movement and the revised version of the other two parts, became customary in the course of the great Mahler Renaissance in the 1960s. The presented live capture with the 2019 deceased Michael Gielen – like Mahler not only a conductor but also a composer – with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra was taken in June 1990 in the Konzerthaus Vienna.

REVIEW:

This performance of Mahler’s youthful horror story realizes every gruesome detail with positively sadistic relish. There are other fine versions in the catalog, but this live version is the most graphic, exciting, and true to Mahler’s youthful vision. Impactful live sound, great singing, great conducting—this is now the one to get.

– ClassicsToday.com

Kissin, one of the most well known and best selling pianist performs one of the piano's most popular works, Mussorgsky's Picture at an Exhibition.

MOZART: 7 PIANO CONCERTOS, RON

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Also available from Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra on Chandos: Walton: Symphony 1, Violin Concerto / Little and Walton: Symphony No 2, Cello Concerto / Watkins

In this third volume of Edward Gardner’s Walton series with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, James Ehnes leaves his violin to tackle the taxing soloist role in the Viola Concerto. In a recent Strad interview, Ehnes confesses: ‘This is a piece I have loved since I was a teenager, so it is wonderful that the opportunity has come my way to record it... With Walton’s Viola Concerto, none of the writing is impossible but a lot of it is close. And in a way that is exactly where you want it to be: on the edge of technical limitations. There’s a tremendous amount of excitement in that.’ This album in surround sound also features two much later works: the 1957 Partita for Orchestra and the Sonata for String Orchestra, adapted in 1971 from the String Quartet in A minor of 1945 – 47. There is a striking contrast between the uncomfortable modernism of the up-and-coming young composer’s Viola Concerto and the relaxed brilliance of the mature Partita. But the Sonata shows Walton late in his life re-engaging as an arranger with his earlier manner, and so with the characteristic vein of restless unease that runs through most of his output.

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Ehnes and Gardner take us back to pre-Menuhin tempos, only a fraction slower than William Primrose’s pioneering 1946 recording. There’s a grand sweep to the performance which is wholly engaging in its refusal to wallow. Ehnes’s burnished viola tone is noble and warm. Gardner conducts a lithe performance of the Sonata for string orchestra, and a suitably boisterous Partita to fill out the disc.

– Gramophone

REVIEWS:
The Wire (p.63) - "[T]he nostalgic aura of old-time electronics, and the beauty of the playing and the pieces, has its own special appeal."

First some housekeeping. This version of the suite from The Cunning LIttle Vixen is allegedly the “final” edition prepared by Charles Mackerras, consisting largely of the Talich score (that is, most of Act 1) but with Janácek’s original orchestration restored. According to Janácek scholar John Tyrrell, who wrote the otherwise comprehensive notes, Mackerras planned to conduct the “final” version of his edition, but his death intervened and it was only premiered at his memorial concert in 2010. What Tyrrell does not make clear is that Mackerras played and recorded his “almost final” version of the suite with the Czech Philharmonic for Supraphon. It differs in no major way from that offered here. So if you think that this recording features something new, it doesn’t, for the most part.

That said, this release represents an auspicious beginning to a new series of Janácek orchestral works. Gardner really is a good conductor. He plays the Sinfonietta swiftly and, happily, without an inappropriate effort to polish the music’s rough edges. There are a couple of quirky touches. The second movement starts quickly and then settles down to a marginally slower tempo for the rest. The fourth movement, too, after those two sudden eruptions towards the end, is taken very slowly for the last appearances of the main theme. I’m not sure that I like it because it sits oddly with the overall spunky tenor of the performance, but it’s not wrong, and it may improve on repetition.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet plays a mean Capriccio, another swift performance, especially in the third movement, which the brass handle with aplomb. This is such a weird piece that you can do almost anything with it (or to it) and have it come out successfully, but Bavouzet’s fluidity in the spiky solo part, and the excellence of the ensemble generally, disarm criticism. Finally, Mackerras’ version of the Vixen suite is surely the way to play it, and Gardner doesn’t put a foot wrong. The SACD sonics are quite good–occasionally a touch low level, perhaps, but that’s easily remedied.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

Non-keyboardists increasingly lay claim to Bach's Goldberg Variations on disc, from string trios and cimbalom duos, to guitar renditions and synthesizer blowouts. The challenge to both performers and arrangers is to render Bach's keyboard-specific textures with results that are technically plausible and musically convincing. A brass quintet arrangement by Arthur Frackenpohl, newly recorded by the Canadian Brass, succeeds on both counts--for the most part. The slower variations acquire an attractive ceremonial dimension in this medium, benefiting from a brass player's ability to change dynamics on a single note (which of course you can't do on piano or harpsichord). I also like how the double keyboard cross-handed variations are deployed to splendid antiphonal effect although the neccesarily slower tempos weaken Bach's original bravura intentions. Repeats are observed in each half of the opening Aria and a few select "A" sections elsewhere. "A" and "B" section da capos are respectively assigned to higher and lower instruments. The Canadian Brass achieve a blend that's akin to the dark smoothness of aged Scotch whisky, purring out rounded legato lines in which no breath seems to transpire. An electric blanket of resonance reinforces the ensemble's slick perfectionism, which probably will appeal more to brass fanciers than Bach lovers.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com