Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

What many celebrate as the reference studio recording of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro was recorded in 1959 with the same orchestra, chorus, conductor and famed soprano in the role of the Countess Almaviva. This live recording, captured a mere two years later London in 1961, with almost an entirely different cast excepting the great German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in the aforementioned role makes for a superb complimentary recording to it's near contemporary, it's fine cast including, among others, Heather Harper and Elisabeth S�derstrom at the start what became prominent careers.

Classical Music

Hei-Kyung Hong, the formidable Korean soprano, sings a selection of arias perfectly suited for her rich soprano voice. A soprano in the league of Schwarzkopf, te Kanawa, and Fleming, Hong is one of those artists who can easily change hats. She is equally comfortable as The Countess singing "Dove sono" as she is portraying Violetta in 'La Traviata.'
Her interpretation of "Caro nome" from 'Rigoletto' is enchanting and touching, while her flair for lighter repertoire comes alive in "Quel guaro il cavaliere" from 'Don Pasquale.' Hong's singing of "Ach, ich fühl's" rings of the frustration of lost hope and love that Pamina feels, and Micaela's aria from 'Carmen,' "Je dis que rien ne m'epouvante," is deeply heartfelt. Conductor John Fiore, a fixture at the Metropolitan Opera House, adeptly leads the Orchestra of St. Luke's in this thoroughly satisfying disc.

Sir Colin Davis’ sensitivity is effortlessly mirrored by Larrocha with her enviable ease, her avoidance of all artifice or attention-seeking dalliance. Few other pianists are more attuned to Mozart’s mix of pain and radiance.

Alicia de Larrocha’s and Sir Colin Davis’s Mozart concerto cycle, while rarely less than distinguished, grows in stature with each new issue. Indeed, so musicianly and distilled are both these performances that the casual listener is in danger of taking them for granted, mistaking their classic sobriety for monotony and their devotion for a monochrome quality.

Sir Colin’s unforced way with the opening tutti of K595, his awareness of “all passion spent” is haunting but unobtrusive. Such sensitivity is effortlessly mirrored by Larrocha with her enviable ease, her avoidance of all artifice or attention-seeking dalliance. Few other pianists are more attuned to Mozart’s mix of pain and radiance, of the subtle major-minor shifts commencing at 6'34'' and, throughout, her economy ensures that every passing mood is unmistakably yet unobtrusively registered. Again, tempos are ideal whether in K595’s gently paced final Allegro (less idiosyncratically slow or autumnal than from Kempff on DG) or in the central Allegretto of K459. Even in the finale’s opera buffa high-jinks she captures the music’s undertow, a poise and equanimity like “the still point of the turning world”.

Balance and sound (grainy but apt) are exemplary, and this issue is graced with a fine portrait of the pianist by Christian Steiner.'

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone [12/1997]

FLUTE & HARP CONCERTO

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Hans Knappertsbusch conducts Studio & Live Performances (192

Ferenc Fricsay was seen as an exponent of modern, detailed and precise music-making, and as a leading Mozart conductor alongside Bruno Walter and Karl Böhm. Two live recordings and one studio production from the early Fifties document the collaboration between Fricsay and "his" RIAS Symphony Orchestra which, after becoming its chief conductor in 1948, he had made into an elite ensemble. These recordings also document his esteem for Mozart's music which was characterised by a deep seriousness. Fricsay's devotion to sculpting the melodic line fi nds a precise and supple medium in the meticulous and stylish RIAS Symphony Orchestra who display an astonishing quality, particularly in the live recordings.

Charming, lighthearted and fizzing with subversive wit, Neil Armfield's sparkling production of the Marriage of Figaro masterfully captures Mozart's most popular comedic opera. In this classic performance, recorded live at the Sydney Opera House, Patrick Summers conducts an energetic fresh-voiced cast. Available in CD, DVD and Blu Ray.

"A soprano star with one of the loveliest voices this reporter has ever heard," Henry Humphries, the late Cincinnati music critic once wrote of one of Dorothy Warenskjold's opera performances, declaring further, "she is a singer of finely grained musicianship, personality and temperament - one the Golden Age of Song would have been proud to call its own." Dorothy Warenskjold is a third generation Californian. She was born in Piedmont and received all her education and musical training in and around San Francisco. As James Schwabacher, tenor and founder of San Francisco Opera's Merola Program, recently remarked, "I have been constantly amazed at the consistency over the years of Dorothy's vocal technique which produces the pristine lyric quality uniquely hers." And nowhere is this more obviously shown than in the present choice of arias which span a period of nineteen years. These arias date from the young and budding prima donna's first major radio broadcast, through mid-career opera performances, up to the latest recorded arias. This consistency is a tribute not only to her training, but to her intelligent dedication to her art.

The String Quartet offers countless possibilities of interplay between the different instruments. If you add a fifth person to the mix, in this case the viola player, Nobuko Imai, with the Auryn Quartet, then it not only gives the whole sound a comparatively orchestral quality but also considerably increases the methods at the composer's disposal. These are just two reasons why Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's combination of 2 violins, 2 violas and a cello have become so well-loved. The opulent and tragic KV 406 in C minor together with the pure, idealistic KV 515 in C major forms the first standalone album, the famous, sorrowful KV 516 in G minor with the early, exuberant and dramatic KV 174 the second album and the chirruping, mischievous KV 614 in E flat major with the mature and worldly-wise KV 593 in D major the third. In as far as these characterisations say anything at all about the music, it is only about the opening of each piece. Each movement is distinct and different. Every quintet tells its own great story.

It is well-known that musicians very often sit in a circle in Tacet’s recordings. With this layout, they don't just hear each other, they can also see each other. This means that the musical exchanges between the musicians are simpler and better. And it is easier to achieve a natural-sounding recording, not only in Tacet Real SS but also in stereo. But is it even possible for an orchestral recording? And without a conductor? We were intrigued by the question and so decided to pursue it. The answer? It does indeed work - in fact very well! At the very least, a layout like this expresses the equality of all the participants. The Netherlands Chamber Orchestra puts down a spicy performance of two of Mozart's bubbliest symphonies: the "Prague" and the "Linz". The musicians of the NPhO and to Gordan Nikolic took on this successful venture with great enthusiasm, and the result pays dividends!

An artist with a penchant for seeking out the new, Radek Baborak has joined forces with other outstanding musicians so as to interpret the pieces as arranged for horn and string quartet. "I liked the idea of presenting the concertos in the form they may have been heard when Mr. Leutgeb would visit the Mozart's home, get together with Mr. Michael Haydn and Mr. Sussmayr, and make music."

MOZART: Piano Concertos Nos. 9 and 19 (1952 / 1956)

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

A timely re-issue of the legendary 1960 live concert performance in Salzburg featuring a dazzling firmament of legendary singers all in the prime of their singing careers: Leontyne Price, Eberhard W�chter, Hilde R�ssel-Majdan, Fritz Wunderlich and Walter Berry. With the great Herbert von Karajan leading the Vienna Philharmonic and the soaring Wiener Singverein, this is a most distinguished performance of Mozart's Requiem.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music