This could be termed 'the record of the concert' because this duo played precisely these works in the same order at the Wigmore Hall in London during November last, rather poor measure for a recital (though there was an encore), but generous measure on a CD. Their live performances were very similar to those encountered on this disc. Swensen, who had already enjoyed success with the Sibelius Concerto in London, has a refined, Szigeti-like tone and like his distinguished predecessor he isn't afraid of using portamento and bowing in the most delicate manner. He nicely varies his dynamics throughout, more boldly so than some of today's players might. The tone isn't very large and certainly not so rich as that of his near-contemporary Dumay, also just entering the record scene, but he is such a sensitive musician that want of big sound hardly matters. At 28 he is obviously destined for a bright future. So is Kahane, who plays with presence and character throughout—listen to him shaping the reminiscence of Sei mir gegriisst (D741) at the start of the Andantino section of the Fantasia.

That work, of course, is the most mature encountered here. Its sense of unity within the utmost variety shows Schubert at his most ingenious, yet I have always enjoyed the sonatas, once called mistakenly sonatinas, since de Vito recorded them for EMI (nla) many moons ago now. The much more recent LP (1973—Philips, nla) made by Grumiaux discloses many of the same qualities displayed by Swensen, and the two pianists are not dissimilar, but the new pair observe the first-movement repeats whereas the older partnership ignores them. I have to point out one serious drawback to the RCA disc and that is the intrusive breathing and bowing noises. I got used to them after a while but they are there, emphasized by the very close recording. Still, since this is the first CD appearance of all the works (the beginning of an integral set), and the Fantasia is such an attractive piece, so spontaniously played, the distraction may be overlooked by many.

-- A.B., Gramophone [1/1989]

Classical Music

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

The new studio album from Arcadi Volodos captures the master pianist’s finely honed interpretation of Schubert’s late Piano Sonata in A major D 959, as well as three of his very rarely recorded minuets: D 334, D 335 und D 600. After spending years performing and refining his interpretation of Schubert’s penultimate piano sonata, Volodos has now committed the work to “tape” for posterity.

For him, a recording is a personal testament to a creative period’s culmination – this explains the relative rarity of a new Volodos recordings. Volodos personally selected the three rare minuets to accompany the piano sonata, additionally choosing to pair the D 600 Minuet with the D 610 Trio. Volodos brings these extremely rarely recorded works to life with his unmistakable tonal brilliance and stylistic elegance. Released 17 years ago, Volodos’s first – and, until now, only – recording of Schubert’s works, coupling the Sonatas in E major D 157 and G major D 894, garnered much praise. “Here is irrefutable proof of Arcadi Volodos’s genius and versatility,” wrote Gramophone magazine at the time. The German specialist magazine Fono Forum observed that “Volodos makes the piano sing like few other pianists today”.

In the intervening years, Volodos’s relationship to the works of Schubert has only deepened. Reviewing his performance at this year’s Salzburg Festival, Der Standard wrote, “When Arcadi Volodos plays Schubert, time stands still.” So, too, this recording offers a snapshot of a master pianist at the height of his interpretative powers.

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REVIEWS:

Every phrase is so exquisitely turned, so perfectly graded in its nuances, so ideally blended – harmonically, melodically and in relation to what comes before and after – that it could be placed on exhibit for all to wonder at. Like all the great virtuosos, he knows how to bring spaciousness to the most technically demanding passages and inner life to the simplest.

– Gramophone

When you witness the palpable stillness Volodos conjures from the opening of the Andante, and when you hear his chiaroscuro, a light and shade beyond the reach of virtually any other pianist, you feel above all compelled to marvel at Schubert’s genius.

– International Piano

Classical Music

Schubert, F.: Schöne Müllerin (Die)

Wilhelm Furtwängler & The RAI Orchestra (Live)

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 / Schubert: Symphony No. 8

"• Exclusive to Naxos! • All titles never before available in the U.S.! • Incredible value; budget prices! • German pressings of the immense Sony Classical Masters Catalog in smart, desirable and collectible multi-disc editions • The Sony catalog is replete with legendary artists and many of the greatest recordings of the classical repertoire • Box fronts feature large, prominently displayed photo of the featured artist • Slender, shelf-friendly boxes; CD's housed in space-saving slipsleeves"

Schubert, F.: Choral Music

Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin

...two artists to be reckoned with: Sonia Wieder Atherton and Imogen Cooper... For the first time, we can rightfully speak of "the cello's diction"... The slow movement draws tears from our eyes as if the cello has imposed its own words to the music... Schubert has been resuscitated!

-- Crescendo [4/1999]

The main question here is how BMG's new 20-bit remasterings compare to those in their 1990 Toscanini Complete Edition. Both ends of the dynamic spectrum are considerbly opened up, which intensify the Maestro's stinging accents and point up the carefully sculpted cantabile phrasings to an unprecedented degree. I also detect smidgens of artificial reverberation: tastefully applied, but frankly superfluous. The Schubert symphonies boast relentless forward momentum, which pushes the NBC Orchestra to the edge of its collective virtuosity. I prefer Toscanini's weightier 1940 Schubert "Great", featuring the more tonally alluring Philadelphia Orchestra. By contrast, the Mendelssohn works benefit from Toscanini's slightly looser-limbed expansiveness in the slow movements, and the solo work is more relaxed. The performances, incidentally, date from between Toscanini's 83rd and 87th years, and reveal the Maestro's unflagging energy and fervent committment in each and every bar.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

This is the kind of release that is fully worthy of a major label like RCA: two of today's top artists working at peak form, delivering the goods in a serious program of worthy repertoire. Schubert is one of the few composers whose range is wide enough to allow the creation of a rewarding evening devoted just to him, and his piano duos (here played on two pianos rather than by two pianists at one keyboard) live in a world all their own. Evgeny Kissin has done some of his best work in Schubert (the "Wanderer" Fantasy, for example), and James Levine, no slouch as a pianist himself, clearly loves this music as much as anyone. The program includes three of Schubert's very greatest works in the medium, all of them dating from the end of his brief life.


The earliest is the Grand Duo, really a symphony that Schubert never got around to scoring (the most famous orchestral arrangement is Joachim's, and it deserves to be a repertory piece). Much of the writing is extremely orchestral in conception, which means unpianistic, and the trick here lies not so much in making the piece sound like piano music (who cares, really?), but simply in focusing the listener's attention on the ongoing symphonic musical process. Key to this is timing, and here Kissin and Levine don't set a foot wrong. The first movement perfectly balances "allegro" with "moderato" in an unbroken arc of sustained tension, perhaps inspired by the presence of the very well-behaved Carnegie Hall audience. A beautifully shaped andante leads to a boisterous scherzo, its interesting harmonic underpinning unobtrusively highlighted where necessary (using two pianos probably helps here). You only need listen to the closing bars of the finale, music that often sounds too thin on the keyboard, to understand just how perfectly timed this performance is.


The Grand Duo occupies the second half of this concert. The program begins with a subtle, fluid account of the haunting Fantasie in F minor. It's interesting how performers who can seem affected when playing solo (as Kissin sometimes does) behave themselves when working in an ensemble situation. Here, the lovely opening theme has the right elegiac simplicity, the final fugue great clarity and rhythmic point. I'm not giving up such favorites as Perahia/Lupu in this music, but Kissin/Levine offer an interpretation that's really very affecting. And their ferocious take on the "Lebensstürme" Allegro D. 947 is just plain thrilling--a turbulent, clenched fist of a performance that brings the first half of the program to a grandly passionate conclusion. Indeed, taken as a whole, the first part minor/second part major cast of the whole evening works extremely well as an emotional sequence for continuous listening.


The two encores, Characteristic March No. 1 D. 968b and the inevitable March Militaire No. 1 D. 733, are played much more quickly than the music requires, but then the point here is simply to wow the audience, and I'd be the last person to deny Kissin and Levine a bit of fun after such a long and tiring program. RCA's engineers also deserve credit not just for leaving out the audience (even though there's a good bit of applause around and between works), but also for finding a sonic framework that minimizes clatter while maximizing clarity. The two-piano (or piano duo) medium can come across as overly thick and unpleasantly dense, but the slight dryness of the acoustic seems just the ticket in this case. In short, what must have been a splendid live event has been captured for posterity with total success. You might prefer this or that version of individual works, but taken as whole this is pretty special.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Schubert Sonatas