Jazz
Craig Klein
20 products
SUSANNE UN JOUR
Richard Wagner: Das Rheingold
Milhaud: 6 Little Symphonies, Etc / Milhaud, Luxembourg Rso
Includes concerto(s) for viola by Darius Milhaud. Ensemble: Luxembourg Radio/Television Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Darius Milhaud. Soloist: Ulrich Koch (Viola).
Glazunov: Concerto For Violin And Orchestra In A Minor
DUETS FOR 2 CELLI
Reznicek: Donna Diana / Windfuhr, Et Al
Perin--a wonderful role for high baritone--is a wise-fool figure, Don Cesar's friend, who gives advice, puts the play in action, and is more-or-less omnipresent. About a half-hour before the opera's close (the whole work is just short of two hours long) he lets us know that he'd also like a lady friend for himself. He's a delightfully three-dimensional character, and Simon Pauly sings him with remarkable "face" and engaging tone. His duet with Don Cesar near the beginning of the show is splendid, and both he and tenor Roman Sadnik paint indelible portraits of themselves right then and there. The duet, which is grand and grandly orchestrated, ending with a blazing high-C from Sadnik against a slightly too-loud orchestra, sets the tone for the work's forward propulsion and great energy. They and the other players sing off the text brilliantly, and while there are few beautiful voices to be heard, each is distinctive and is used with great theatricality. This live performance really moves.
There are three other pairs of lovers: Don Louis and Donna Laura, Don Gaston and Donna Fenisa, and a surprise in the very sharp Floretta, Diana's foster-sister, who turns out to be just right for Perin. Including Don Diego, then, there are nine characters, and Reznicek writes for them all individually and in ensemble, and always with specificity. The vaguely goofy tone that tends to be present in the comic operas of the earlier Italian composers is entirely missing here, and to very good effect.
The entire cast, well-rehearsed and utterly committed, does itself proud. In addition to Sadnik and Pauly, most impressive is Manuela Uhl as Donna Diana. She captures the girl's haughtiness, while in asides she exhibits a softer side. And as pure singing, she shines as well: in recent recordings of Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac and Strauss' Die Liebe der Danae she has moments of rawness, but here she seems more frequently at home, and her Moorish Romanza in Act 2 is lovely. Max Wittges has just the commanding bass for Don Diego and mezzo Anne-Carolyn Schlüter presents a self-contained portrait of the standing-back-from-the-crowd Floretta. The rest of the cast, chorus, and Kiel Orchestra--the latter with a brass section any orchestra would be proud of--are polished and should be pleased with their fine work. The sound is excellent despite the intermittent tendency of conductor Ulrich Windfuhr to throw the balance toward the orchestra. It wouldn't surprise me if this recording (and the earlier one of Ritter Blaubart) began a Reznicek rediscovery. Seeing either opera live must be a real treat. [2/8/2005]
--Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com
Wagner: Siegfried (London, 1959)
20th Century Oboe Sonatas / Klein, Bush
Grammy Award-winner Alex Klein, former principal oboist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, performs sonatas that signify the oboe’s 20th-century reemergence as a brilliant solo instrument. One of the world’s most famous oboe players, Klein says he waited to acquire a professional lifetime’s worth of experience before putting his stamp on the six sonatas heard here. With pianist Phillip Bush, Klein plays works that he says “define the modern oboe”: Camille Saint-Saëns’ jovial, late-Romantic Sonata for Oboe and Piano, Op. 166; York Bowen’s lushly beautiful Sonata for Oboe and Pianoforte, Op. 85; Henri Dutilleux’s emotionally wide-ranging Sonata for Oboe and Piano; Petr Eben’s youthful, inventive Oboe Sonata, Op.1; Francis Poulenc’s late, philosophical Sonata for Oboe and Piano, FP 185; and Eugène Bozza’s Sonata for Oboe and Piano, an ethereal, rarely heard tour de force. Klein possesses a “tone so unique and beautiful that musicians from around the globe would flock to [Chicago’s] Symphony Center to hear him play” (Chicago Magazine). He won a Grammy Award in 2002 for Best Instrumental Solo Performance (with Orchestra) for his recording of Richard Strauss’s oboe concerto with conductor Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
REVIEW:
Oboe playing simply does not get any better than this. The collaborative support of pianist Phillip Bush could also not be bettered, nor could the recorded sound offered by Cedille. This recital, then, is nothing less than an essential acquisition for any fan of the oboe or superlative wind playing in general.
– Fanfare
HARMATTAN
Vivaldi: Oboe Concertos / Klein, Newman, New Brandenburg Collegium
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, TH 5 (Sung in German) [L
TELMO'S TUNE
LOS GUACHOS CRISTAL
LOS GUACHOS V
LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD
CARRERA
DOMADOR DE HUELLAS
GUACHOS 3
GUACHOS 2
Oboe Concertos Of The Classical Era / Klein, Freeman
His two oboe concertos were written in Vienna in 1803 and 1805. Both are dramatic works with virtuoso turns and leaps abounding. The first is more Mozartean in nature while the second has distinct overtones of early Beethoven. Both are first-class pieces that deserve to be known.
Johann Nepomuk Hummel is more of a known quantity. He was highly regarded in Vienna as a contemporary of Beethoven, though of somewhat lesser stature. His Introduction, Theme, and Variations is a polished, virtuoso piece of considerable brilliance.
Alex Klein was born in Brazil, trained at Oberlin College, and for the last five years has been principal oboist of the Chicago Symphony. His technique is flawless. He is well supported by Paul Freeman and the Czech National Symphony. Cedille's recorded sound is first-class, as expected from this source."-- John Bauman, Fanfare [11/1999]
