All these pieces date from Liszt's austerer, later years when he had abandoned the life of a lionized itinerant virtuoso. Yet apart from To Petofi's Memory and Mosonyi's Funeral Procession—written to commemorate two cherished, late-lamented compatriots—Jeffrey Swann's chosen programme makes formidable enough technical demands for the disc to sell under the title of "The Virtuoso Liszt"... In so far as sheer prestidigitation is concerned, I would say that Swann's fingerwork is even swifter and sharper-cut than that of the mellower Katsaris (Teldec/ASV) or Howard (Hyperion). In much of the love music in the Waltzes he also shows himself capable of phrasing as poetic as it is intense... [I]n his own highly-strung, darting way, Swann certainly brings home [Liszt's] exploratory daring. As for the two valedictory Hungarian portraits (incidentally listed in the wrong order on the box) I would have preferred a slower tempo for both—and tauter, more inexorable rhythm in the main theme of To Petofi's Memory. Nevertheless, both bring reminders of the searching musician in Swann that won him first prize in Milan's Dino Ciani Competition in the early 1970s.

-- Gramophone [8/1989]

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Red Priest is the only early music group in the world to have been compared to the Rolling Stones, Jackson Pollock, the Marx Brothers, Spike Jones, and Cirque du Soleil. This extraordinary acoustic foursome has been described by music critics as "visionary and heretical" with a "break-all-rules, rock-chamber concert approach to early music." Founded in 1997 and named after flame-haired priest Antonio Vivaldi, Red Priest has given over a thousand concerts in many of the world's most prestigious festivals.

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Brazilian Guitar Quartet Plays Villa-Lobos

Today, French Baroque composer and keyboard virtuoso Louis Marchand is perhaps best known as the performer who failed to take up J.S. Bach's challenge for a musical 'duel.' Unfortunately, this colorful legend has overshadowed Marchand's ample gifts as a composer of organ and harpsichord music. Writing in the 'old fashioned' style of d'Anglebert, he employs a profusion of ornaments which enrich the sustaining power of the sound. In contrast, the music of Rameau immediately imposes a new and revolutionary conception of music. Everything here breathes harmony. The discourse is always deliberately clear, favoring transparency over the bombastic effects of a more sensual harpsichord sound. The Donzelague harpsichord that is featured on this disc provides the link between these two seemingly antithetical composers. Donzelague built his instruments in Lyon and both Marchand and Rameau lived in Lyon at different points in their lives. Christophe Rousset explores the connections and contrasts between these giants of the period.

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Who is Nikolai Korndorf? Have no fear, if the name is unfamiliar to you at present the ensuing popularity (which I’m sure this disc will attract) will have it tripping off the tongue as readily as Gorecki, Part, Schnittke or Tavener. For the uninitiated (and that included myself prior to hearing this release) Korndorf was born in Moscow in 1947 and started out as an 'avant-garde' composer, but (and here’s where he shares similarities with the names listed above) he suddenly changed to a more tonal, simple and above all spiritual style in the early 1980s. In 1991 he moved to Vancouver, Canada, and since then his music has been steadily gaining admirers and exponents in the West.

Sharing the same title, and possibly general sentiments, Korndorf’s three orchestral Hymns would appear to constitute a cycle but, as Korndorf himself has said, he prefers that they should not be performed or considered as such. However, this debut disc offers us Hymns II and III, though I would strongly echo the composer’s wishes and urge listeners to program a suitable break before moving from Hymn II to III. In terms of musical style the works presented on this disc share much in common with Gorecki’s Third Symphony – slow moving, seamless textures, minimal material, peaking climaxes and, in Hymn III, an ethereal, wordless soprano part. If anything Korndorf’s music is even more static than either Gorecki or Part, and generally the impression is of vertical rather than linear movement – walls of ‘bell-like’ pulsating chords dominate and seem to suggest a kind of ‘summoning prelude’ to a great event – Korndorf himself would suggest perhaps the dawning of a new spiritual age.

Hymn III was composed in response to a commission by the Kohler-Osbahr Foundation for a piece in honour of Gustav Mahler, and there are certainly Mahlerian echoes to be found here – not least the off-stage trumpets heard at the beginning and the high sustained string texture which recall the First Symphony. Generally speaking, if you have enjoyed the sound world of Gorecki and Part then you will probably enjoy discovering Korndorf too. As for the performances, the BBC Symphony Orchestra play this music with great conviction and the soprano solo in Hymn III is beautifully delivered by Catherine Bott.

-- Michael Stewart, Gramophone

Trip Into Friendship is the project of three musician friends celebrating their long friendship with music. Orlando "Maraca" Valle in Havana, Orlando Poleo in Caracas and Gerard Naulet in Paris have been friends for 20 years. This recording under Orlando "Maraca" Valle's brilliant artistic direction and Orlando Poleo's exceptional rhythmic pulse, with a supporting wink from Gérard Naulet for Latin-jazz, help traditional melodies of Cuba music meet the original compositions of the three musician friends. The "trip" is a tribute to Latin-American music. Getting together a world-class group of musician friends during a stay in the Norman Countryside, because music knows no boundaries, and celebrating Cuban and Latin-American traditions, is the invitation offered by Gérard Naulet and his "Amigos" with this festive and passionate trip. This album is dedicated to Alena, Orlando Valle’s daughter; for whom he wrote the very beautiful same name melody during the recording.

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Tacet's ongoing survey of all 555 sonatas written by the great Italian Baroque composer Domenico Scarlatti as recorded by the prolific and acclaimed pianist Christoph Ullrich reaches, with these 30 works, K.454-83, available on 2 CD's, it's fourteenth volume. "Unlike Horowitz, who brought out the inner eccentricity of the pieces, or Christian Zacharias, who liberated them from the smell of mere glamour, Ullrich waits for the moment in which the music begins to float." - Die Zeit.

Evgeni Koroliov announces himself again with a recording of the Late Piano Sonatas of Beethoven (opp. 109, 110 and 111). A heavy, powerful touch is not his thing. Playing loudly where it is called for, Koroliov attempts to capture the listener’s attention in a different way, seducing one with his nuanced touch and an almost all-absorbing intensity. “If I could chose just one piece and soloist on a lonesome island, I would chose Koroliov. I would listen again and again to his recordings, dying of thirst and hunger till my last breath.” György Ligeti

Although this 2006 Schubert four-hand program might be difficult to source as a physical CD, it is now easily obtainable via digital download. I have rarely heard such grand, grounded, and deeply considered performances of these two major Schubert masterpieces.

Too many younger duos impose tricky phrasings and fancy rubatos throughout the F minor Fantasia, whereas Evgeni Koroliov and Ljupka Hadžigeorgieva allow the opening section to seemingly play itself, with the climaxes and soft moments carefully scaled and the embellishments perfectly placed. The Largo conveys a rare buoyancy by virtue of the duo’s seamlessly matched trills and triplet chords. They take time over the Scherzo and slightly relax the pace in the Trio section; as a result, the imitative writing gains a lovely conversational lilt. Likewise, the players keep the fugal finale’s foreground and background material in clear perspective, so that the music sounds weighty yet never cluttered or clangorous. You don’t get the Perahia/Lupu edition’s moments of otherworldly intimacy and harmonic pointing, yet Koroliov/Hadžigeorgieva are no less distinctive.

Comparable textural organization and deftly effected transitions characterize this duo’s remarkable synchronicity in the Grand Duo’s first movement, both technically and musically. They appropriately feel the long second-movement Andante in two long beats to the bar, and, more importantly, let the music sing. The Scherzo often comes off as clunky when pianists fall into the trap of accenting most downbeats. Here, however, the triplet patterns fall into long lines that effortlessly move over the barlines. It’s easy to turn the note-packed Finale into a bloated Hungarian Dance that just won’t end. Yet through intelligent balances, subtle animation, and variety of articulation, the Koroliov/Hadžigeorgieva duo brilliantly reveals the movement’s symphonic scope and truly “grand” aspirations.

My home sound system loves Tacet’s resplendent engineering, by the way! No Schubert lover nor piano duo maven should miss this most gratifying release.

– ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)

Total playing time: 65'15

Vintage supercharged Bernstein with the New York PO on starry form. Just on the right side of self-indulgence, this is a compelling old-world view of Strauss – heroic, intimate and headily nostalgic. The pacing, climaxing and longueurs of Don Quixote (one of the best versions around), the seductive rhythms of the Dance of the Seven Veils, and the public splendour of the Festival Prelude all make for a stunning sonic experience. Demonstration remastered ‘high definition sound’ once you get used to the slightly forward separation of solo cello and viola in Don Quixote.
Performance: 5 (out of 5); Sound: 5 (out of 5)

-- Ates Orga, BBC Music Magazine

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GULDA NON-STOP FRIEDRICH GULD

Silvestrov’s Fifth Symphony might well have emerged from Prospero’s island. The music epitomises something rich and strange. Ominous, heavy with threat (trs. 3, 5), dissonant but accessible, dreamy and romantic. Ham-fisted and insensitive but useful parallels include Mahler’s Adagietto, Berg, Griffes’ Pleasure Dome, the film scores of John Barry and the Hollywood 1970s and further enlivened by idyllic evocations of birdsong. A massive orchestra is used and there is an orchestral piano presumably played by Lubimov who is at the centre of things in the similarly ecstatic Postludium. At one point there is a low-key chatter of voices – but very low. This is voluptuously expressive music given spine by the undertow of gloom. I do not know why it has not made more headway. If there were any justice this would have been played at the BBC Proms but the same could be said of a host of other regrettably neglected works including Hovhaness’s Majnun and Etchmiadzin symphonies, of the Benjamin Dale tone poem The Flowing Tide, of Ronald Stevenson’s concertos, the oratorios and symphony of Yuri Shaporin and the piano concertos of Nikolai Kapustin.

This Sony-Arkiv re-animation scores over the competition in various areas. Its sound is rich – bathed in warmth yet not smearing detail. Students of the work will find that the version under review is in nine tracks which certainly aids the process of getting to grips with a single span of three quarters of an hour. Even timid souls – and I count myself in their company – should make a point of hearing the remarkable Fifth Symphony. It is as much an ikon of the second half of the twentieth century as Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3 and the various mystic-religious works of Macmillan and Tavener. The difference is that the Silvestrov is sensuous to the point of saturation rather than devout to the point of asceticism.

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

This was the first ever recording of Wozzeck, and Mitropoulos's handling of the score has seldom been equalled, let alone surpassed. The sheer fire and passion of his reading are remarkable.

This was the first ever recording of Wozzeck, preceding Karl Bohm's sumptuous DG account by 14 years. As the only mono Wozzeck in existence, therefore, it is the least adequately recorded (the orchestra is at times somewhat recessed) and it has long been famous for the conspicuous inaccuracy of most of its cast: the Doctor sings only an approximation of his written notes most of the time, and both Marie and the Captain rewrite some passages quite startlingly. But listening to it again on these beautifully presented, carefully remastered CDs I was astonished at how little these flaws matter; indeed Mitropoulos's handling of the score has seldom been equalled, let alone surpassed. The sheer fire and passion of his reading are remarkable, but so is his vivid response to the detail and the colour of Berg's score. Again and again he seems more aware than most conductors of precisely why this or that scene uses a particular musical form or dance rhythm. And he shows at times an astonishing boldness: it was decidedly risky, with singers and players quite unfamiliar with the idiom, to take the fugue in Act 2 scene 2 as fast as Mitropoulos does, but the sense of cruelty as Doctor and Captain goad Wozzeck with Marie's infidelity and as the one reliable thing in his confused world crumbles is as intensely horrible and pitiful as Berg obviously intended it to be.

But I would hate to give the impression that this is a superbly conducted Wozzeck let down by substandard singing. Mack Harrell, who stands out for his commendable accuracy, is an understated Wozzeck but not, I think, an under-acted one. His is not a familiar name now, but his inflexion of the role of Nick Shadow (in Stravinsky's first recording of The Rake's Progress) and of the beautiful lines of Virgil Thomson's Blake Songs are etched in my memory; so is his finely detailed portrait of Wozzeck as a fundamentally decent man driven to murder and suicide by a desperation that he cannot express. He was a singer of rare intelligence and sensitivity. Eileen Farrell, for all her occasional lapses, is a sympathetic, often moving Marie, and although Ralph Herbert is a conscientious rather than a vivid Doctor, 'vivid' is a positive understatement for Joseph Mordino's Captain. He is often inaccurate as to pitch but his rhythms are precise and his acting needle-sharp. Indeed it is hard at times to believe that this is a concert performance: the oppressive atmosphere of the barracks, the hectic whirl of the dance scenes, the horrifyingly abrupt violence of the murder are as gripping as in any live recording in a theatre.

Erwartung was also a firstever recording, made in a studio that sounds rather airless because of the close focus on Dorothy Dorow's pleasing but small voice. Her efforts are little short of heroic (she sings fewer wrong notes than most exponents of the role), but the emotional range of her reading is perhaps inevitably rather narrow. Mitropoulos's understandable reluctance to obliterate her with orchestral exclamations leads to a lyrical but small-scale reading, the work's extremes unexplored. The Krenek, however (recorded, astonishingly, on the same day as Erwartung: a total of 45 minutes of hugely demanding music), is quite a discovery: an extended and passionately expressive elegy on the death of Webern, performed with intense eloquence. It is not otherwise available on CD and it adds very considerably to the value of Mitropoulos's historic, far from outdated Wozzeck.

-- Gramophone [2/1998]

Schubert's great E flat major trio had its first performance on December 26, 1827 at a concert in the Musikverein with the legendary violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh, who had given first performances of Beethoven’s five last string quartets earlier in the decade. Trio Vitruvi returns to Schubert's gem, giving us the original (longer) version of the score in an impassioned reading. Niklas Walentin, Alexander McKenzie, and Jacob la Cour have performed critically acclaimed concerts in Denmark, China, Russia, France, Ausria, Portugal, Belarus, and Germany in the most beautiful and famous concert halls. They won both first prize and audience prize at the Danish National Radio’s Chamber Music Competition of 2014, and first prize at the Jurmala International Music Competition that same year. “The young Vitruvi Trio showed highest technical and musical qualities… I can recommend them everywhere.” (Adam Fischer)

Paul Mendelssohn, Felix’s younger brother, was a banker by profession but an accomplished amateur cellist, and it is to him that we owe Felix Mendelssohn's three major compositions for cello and piano. This new recording presents Mendelssohn's complete output for cello and piano, and includes the three large scale works, as well as two short pieces, performed by leading virtuosi Marcy Rosen and Lydia Artymiw. Marcy Rosen has established herself as one of the most important and respected artists of our day. Los Angeles Times music critic Herbert Glass has called her "one of the intimate art's abiding treasures." She has performed in recital and with orchestra throughout Canada, England, France, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, and all fifty of the United States. She made her concerto debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of eighteen and has since appeared with such noted orchestras as the Dallas Symphony, the Phoenix Symphony, the Caramoor Festival Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, the Jupiter Symphony and Concordia Chamber Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall, and the Tokyo Symphony at the famed Orchard Hall in Tokyo. Lydia Artymiw has emerged as one of the most compelling and individual pianists of her generation. For over forty years, she has consistently earned rave reviews, firmly establishing herself as a unique artistic personality with rare communicative gifts. Critics have praised her artistry and highly original interpretations, her warmth, intelligence, poetic gifts, thoughtfulness, versatility, and most of all, her distinctive and beautiful sound.

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Antonio Forcione, Seckou Keita and Adriano Adewale Itauna come from three different continents - Europe, South America and Africa. All virtuosos in their own right, they grew up in three different landscapes, speaking three different languages, and were formed by three different cultures and musical traditions. All these differences have converged in AKA Trio, and the product is 'JOY'. Italian guitarist-composer Antonio Forcione has been travelling the world for over two decades, releasing twenty albums and collaborating with many major artists along the way, including such names as Charlie Haden, Trilok Gurtu, Angélique Kidjo and the Bulgarian Voices, amongst many others. Seckou Keita from Senegal is one of the world’s foremost kora players, involved in many international projects including his ground-breaking duo with Welsh harpist Catrin Finch, Africa Express with Damon Albarn and his Transparent Water project with Cuban pianist Omar Sosa. Brazilian percussionist and composer Adriano Adewale has collaborated with Bobby McFerrin, Joanna McGregor and Benjamin Taubkin and has composed music for orchestras and dance theatre.

The Bulgarian Emil Tabakov (b. 1947) follows in the footsteps of such musicians as Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss, being active as both composer and conductor. Like Mahler, he prefers to write for large forces and now has ten symphonies to his name. Again like Mahler, Tabakov’s symphonies explore the darker side of the human spirit in epic scores as austere as they are powerful. Behind the plain title of Tabakov’s Concert Piece for Orchestra (1985) lurks an extraordinary explosion of violence and anger. The Fourth Symphony (1997) sandwiches a wild Bulgarian dance between two glacial slow movements, the second with an episode of Tchaikovskian lyricism at its centre; the finale is a dark, whirling moto perpetuo- a ride through hell. This is the third volume of a projected series of all ten Tabakov symphonies, most of them receiving their first recordings.

HENZE: REQUIEM METZMACHER, WI