This high-quality production begins with Tim Hugh's lucid, thoughtful, penetrating account of Gerald Finzi's reflective and often elusive Cello concerto. Hugh's measured, noble expressivity gives the unsettled opening movement a powerful sense of line and also real pathos. In contrast, Raphael Wallfisch's 1986 recording for Chandos takes the first movement at a broader pace, but Hugh's urgent arguments seem more alive to dynamic shadings and are more poignantly resigned. Hugh gets more bite and punch into Finzi's "Scotch-Snap" rhythms here, and attains a bleaker, blacker atmosphere than Wallfisch in the coda. Although there are passages where a larger orchestra would have added greater impact, the Northern Sinfonia accompanies Hugh beautifully in the andante, where you'll hear several outstanding contributions from the winds. Hugh's finale, too, generates starker contrasts than Wallfisch's, particularly during the unexpected slow episode part way through, and in the scurrying passagework elsewhere, where soloist and orchestra achieve a chamber-like intimacy.


Peter Donohoe is soloist in Finzi's two works for piano and orchestra, the Eclogue (1929--accompanied by strings alone) and Grand Fantasia and Toccata (1927), both of which were conceived for a piano concerto that never materialized. Donohoe's direct, un-mannered treatment of the Eclogue results in a finely controlled performance that casts ample light on the text without sentimentalizing it. The Nimbus version with Martin Jones and the English String Orchestra under William Boughton is well played too, but the washy acoustic robs the music of inner detailing that registers clearly on the Naxos disc. The Grand Fantasia and Toccata is a demanding virtuoso work inspired by Finzi's love of Bach. What's so compelling about Donohoe's account is that he sees the piece as a kind of neo-Baroque refraction, more closely associated with the 20th century than the 18th. It's a keenly incisive performance; Donohoe's strident accents and penetrating clarity seem ideal, but the loudest passages could still gain from fuller-sounding orchestral support. Phillip Fowke recorded the piece for EMI with Richard Hickox in 1988, but his version hasn't the austere power of Donohoe's. This Naxos release combines performances of impressive stature with pleasingly natural and well-balanced recorded sound. It'll prove hard to beat, especially at budget price.
--Michael Jameson, ClassicsToday.com

"These versions of the Brahms symphonies rank with the very finest available. They are stunning, and they established Levine as a true successor to his mentor, George Szell. His Brahms especially has all of Szell’s precision and care for balance and proportion, with none of his occasional stiffness...after experiencing these performances anew we recall what all of the excitement was about. The “buzz” was entirely justified."

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Complete Flute Quintets

Kraus is all passion and drama. An expressionist aesthetic governs her boldly contrasted dynamics, hard-hitting accents, and faster-than-common slow movements, along with angular phrasings and pedal effects that underline harmonic felicities and underplay bar lines. … [H]er nervous energy always enlivens rather than obliterates Mozart’s intentions. ... It’s good to have these invigorating, often provocative performances available again, especially at budget price.

– ClassicsToday.com

Following Kent Nagano’s acclaimed recording of Bruckner’s original version of the Fourth Symphony, comes the release of Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 in E Major with the Bavarian State Orchestra.

The Seventh Symphony is without a doubt one of the composer’s most popular works; unlike many of his other scores, Bruckner didn’t revise the piece at a later date. It is one of the most moving pieces of funeral music of the 19th century, if not in the entire history of music.

The authentic Horowitz magic revived.

Pianophiles who share an affinity for the legacy of Vladimir Horowitz will find this latest Sony release hard to resist. For the younger generation, this is one of those recitals the “Horowitz sensation” can still be fully appreciated as if it took place just yesterday. Following the release of Deutsche Grammophon’s ‘Horowitz in Hamburg - the Last Concert’ (21 June 1987), Sony has unveiled this legendary Berlin Concert from its archive. It takes us back a year before the Hamburg concert. Captured live and released on digital media for the first time, this is a recital that has both historical and musical values.

Horowitz made his solo début in the Atlantic Hotel in Hamburg on 19 January 1926. According to historical accounts, this event was nothing short of spectacular. The featured programme included Liszt’s B Minor Sonata, the Figaro-Fantasia, plus the Barcarolle and a number of Chopin Études and Mazurkas. Between this time until the early part of the1930s, Horowitz gave performances in Hamburg and Berlin. These included the Second Piano Concertos of both Brahms and Liszt (with Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Berlin Philharmonic), Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 (under Oskar Fried, and later, with Eugen Pabst, also with the BPO). He made his only surviving gramophone recording from that era in Berlin on 9 June 1931 at the Philharmonie’s Beethovensaal, with Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G Minor, Op.23 No.5. Anti-Semitic sentiment and political unrest limited Horowitz’s activities in Germany. His absence was further compounded by his notorious “withdrawal” and “returns” from the public concert-stage during the ensuing years. As a result, Horowitz did not again tread on German soil for 54 years until 1986. Three intriguing accounts by Dr. Norbert Ely, Jürgen Kesting, and Dr.Elmar Weingarten in the accompanying liner-notes recollect the experiences each of these writers had with Horowitz, focusing on how the fulfilment of the Berlin and Hamburg recitals in the latter years of the pianist’s life came to be. It was Dr. Weingarten’s first-hand memories as the Head of the music department of the Berlin Festival (1985-1990) that provided the most vivid account. He recalled how Horowitz spontaneously decided to offer an additional concert to the Berlin public at very short notice, by scribbling on the ‘dining menu of Hotel Kempinski’ the programme of what ultimately constituted his recital on 24 May 1986. Perhaps this later recital will be the topic of a future release from Sony Music, but in the present recording, listeners witness the reunion of a lost bond - the one between Horowitz and his German audience - a bond that had been severed for more than 54 years.

The first sounds on the first disc are of the audience applauding and applauding as Horowitz enters the Grosser Saal of the Berlin Philharmonie. Every recital since the pianist’s return to public performance in 1985 was a world wonder, synonymous with the acclaim received by pop-stars.

Then follows a series of three Sonatas from Scarlatti, a composer to whose works Horowitz brought ample delight and a fabled delicacy of colour on his infamous Steinway D instrument. Horowitz was however at his ideal best with the works of the Romantic composers, particularly those of Schumann, Liszt and Chopin. Kreisleriana evinces finesse and playful elegance - allusions to the world of E.T.A. Hoffmann. This masterly interpretation is both pliable and alive. The lilting dance at the centre of Liszt’s Soirée de Vienne No.6 was a favourite of Horowitz’s. Her it is played with virtuosic delight that even at the age of 83 shows that he remained in command of his fingers. This combines with a radiant and complementary youthfulness. The Sonetto del Petrarca 104 is delivered with a myriad colours and such intimacy that the fading final notes literally took the listeners’ breaths away. It was an experience that seemed almost spiritual.

CD 2 opens with groups of Russian pieces, two each of the Preludes of Rachmaninoff and Études of Scriabin. A glimpse of Horowitz’s love for the Polish dances was represented in two of Chopin’s Mazurkas preparing the ground for an elegantly majestic account of the A Flat Polonaise with its vociferous moments during the notorious left-hand octaves. Unexpectedly, the most impressive readings were saved for the very end of the recital in two of the three encores. These pieces were by far his most beloved: Schumann’s Träumerei and Moszkowski’s Etincelles. In the Träumerei, one can hear the poetic delicacy that washed away all technical impurities, while in the Etincelles, the delicate passages were equipped with a buoyancy and a tenderness that one might not have envisioned possible from the pianoforte.

Those who were able to afford the unprecedented ticket price of more than 300 marks apiece (or the discounted student price at 25 marks) to attend this recital must certainly have their own fantastic recollections to share, but to reiterate one such example from Dr. Norbert Ely who was the radio presenter during this Berlin concert, he described the recital experience as one that ‘revealed a lot of his [Horowitz’s] soul, exposing the inner conflicts of a century. One could hear that an era was coming to an end.’ The authentic Horowitz magic has been revived thanks to Sony who have captured a musician whose artistry was mellowed by age and experience.

-- Patrick P.L. Lam, MusicWeb International

We remember Hildegard if nothing else for her 1980s "revival", or perhaps from Anonymous 4's hit 1997 recording featuring "Chants for the Feast of St. Ursula" (with the provocative title 11,000 Virgins). Her writings, her prophecies and visions, her poetry and music, and her founding and nearly 30-year leadership of the convent at Rupertsberg established Hildegard as one of the more remarkable and influential figures of her time; the question today is how to best present her music--long sequences of unison chant--which of course was intended for worship and prayer, not for "performance". Some have answered that question by arranging the melodies--for string quartet (Kronos Quartet), brass ensemble (Empire Brass), solo voice and cello (Matt Haimovitz, Eileen Clark)--or even "reworking" them with added percussion, whistles, electronic sounds, and cellos (Richard Souther).

Some performers seek authenticity by employing only female voices, but there is good evidence that her music also would have been sung during her lifetime by men. So this program, its selections taken from Hildegard's collection of 77 "poetical-musical" works known as Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum (Symphony of the harmony of celestial revelations) and presented in their original, unadulterated form (no whistles, cellos, or tubas!), takes a very sensible and listener-friendly route: the eight responsories and antiphons alternate between one group of four women and one of four men. The contrast of timbres from track to track is a nice effect, and thanks to some very well-matched and impressively well-practiced voices, the inflections, phrasing, and even the smallest nuances of textual emphasis achieve the desired uniformity while retaining the interesting tonal character of four combined voices. (We shouldn't be surprised at the high level of technical and musical accomplishment demonstrated here--a glance at the list of singers reveals several of Britain's finest, most experienced and versatile choral musicians.)

Oxford's Chapel of Hertford College proves to be an ideal venue for this pure, unadorned, unaccompanied vocal music, and Jeremy Summerly's short but informative notes provide just enough details to give listeners new to this music a start in understanding the mystique of this fascinating and uniquely gifted celebrity from the 12th-century--a true Renaissance woman long before the Renaissance was invented.

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Rimsky-Korsakov’s colourful Capriccio espagnol reflects a Russian fascination with distant lands, evoking sunny climes and exotic dancing in one of the composer’s most popular and uplifting scores. Steeped in the cultural nationalism of the ‘Mighty Handful’, the Overtures are linked to deeply Russian themes and tales, portraying dramatic life amongst the Tsars with brilliant orchestration and inspired use of folk or liturgical melodies. This release follows the multi-GRAMMY®-nominated and Emmy Award-winning Seattle Symphony ‘spectacular’ (MusicWeb International) recording of Sheherazade (8.572693).

This album showcases one of Ginette Neveu's last recordings of Beethoven's concerto, recorded only weeks before her death. The Brahms Concerto was recorded live in 1948 and the Beethoven Concerto was also recorded live in 1949.

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