Capriccio - Mendelssohn, Schubert, Debussy, Etc / Renaud Capucon, Jerome Ducros, Composer: Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Schubert (Dresden), Franz Schubert, Sir Edward Elgar, Performer: Jerome Ducros, Renaud Capu�on. The notes to Renaud Capu�on and J�r�me Ducros's recital of miniatures focus on the emergence of this pair of French musicians a decade ago and the affinity they display with this repertoire. And affinity there surely seems to be. The arrangers of these pieces, Wilhelmj, Heifetz, Kreisler, Dushkin, and P�hoda themselves championed works of this kind and surely knew how to put them across. It's gratifying to add Capu�on to the list. On Wings of Song, like Schubert's Ave Maria, may be a Heifetz specialty, but Capu�on and Ducros strongly personalize them, with the violinist even providing his own arrangement of the latter. So, like La capricieuse, they display a range of persuasive dynamics and a willingness to employ a subtle palette of expressive portamentos and nuanced changes in tempo harking back to another era to make their various rhetorical points. Dynamic range seems to be one of the keys to their success: the middle section of Humoreske and the lurches of Prokofiev's "Masks" rise to an intensity to which few listeners may be accustomed, especially in an era of somewhat dutiful performances of such pieces. If a majority of them suggest triste rather than capriccio, and evoke polite rather than rowdy gatherings, the exceptions, like Dinicu's Hora staccato, provide thumping good entertainment of a more visceral kind. In fact, while Heifetz's performance may dazzle listeners with down-bow flying staccato of a brilliance never before (and never since) encountered, Capu�on's communicates hotter gypsy passion, while remaining exciting on a purely instrumental level. Still, the pervasive melancholy (for example, Capu�on has included Kreisler's Liebesleid rather than his Liebesfreud or even Caprice viennois)-exhibiting a narrower range than do similar collections by others, like Francescatti, Milstein, Heifetz, or Oistrakh, to name a few who compiled effective collections-may nudge it, despite the devotion of both performers to the kind of pieces they've chosen (including a few less familiar ones, like Strauss's "Einsamer Quelle" and the two Schumann songs), into a category that overlaps what some call "crossover." And insofar as that nudge increases it's appeal for some audiences, it's sure to decrease it for others. Still, for those who like this kind of thing, this is the kind of thing they'll like. Strongly recommended to them, but nearly as strongly recommended to others as well.

Roussel: Bacchus et Ariane, Le festin de l'araignee / Albert Roussel (Artist) Jean Martinon, ORTF Orchestra, The ORTF plays well enough for Martinon's powerfully cogent and persuasive way with the score to make it's full effect (Note: Suites 1 & 2 take in the complete ballet). A pupil of Roussel, Martinon understands this music as well as anyone ever has. The performance is excellent and works it's way up to a thrilling conclusion. The real treat is Aeneas, one of Roussel's last pieces-as sinewy and exhilarating a score as he ever penned. The ballet tells the story of the trials and tribulation of Aeneas following the Trojan War, including his love affair with Dido and concluding triumphantly with the founding of Rome. The acerbic harmonic idiom and the fact that Roussel didn't live to produce a suite probably accounts for the work's relative lack of exposure, but it's a terrific piece nonetheless, make no mistake.

Saint-saens: Symphony No 3, / Alain Martinon, Composer: Camille Saint-Sa�ns, Francis Poulenc, Performer: Marie-Claire Alain, Conductor: Jean Martinon, Orchestra/Ensemble: ORTF Philharmonic Orchestra, Review - "Way back when, Erato set the gold standard for recording and production of vinyl and CDs. Having this in mind, I was happy to buy this CD featuring Marie-Claire Alain, Jean Martinon, and the O.R.T.F. orchestra."

Rossi, Lotti: Madrigals Alan Curtis, Number of Discs: 1 Alan Curtis's recording of Rossi's Madrigals and Lotti's Madrigals is the newest addition to the Veritas x2 series. Veritas x2 is a series from Virgin Classics devoted to landmark recordings of early Baroque music. Although Rossi was famed as an outstanding violinist and keyboard artist, his reputation also rests on his audacious madrigals, which was inspired by Carlo Gesualdo. Lotti's madrigals are considered a bridge between the established Baroque and emerging Classical styles. Alan Curtis leads the Il Complesso Barocco in this recording.

Monteverdi: L'Orfeo (2004) Ian Bostridge, Patrizia Ciofi, Alice Coote, Natalie Dessay, Veronique Gens, Le Concert d'Astree. Emanuelle Haim Ian Bostridge's account of the title role is musical enough too, and always intelligently stressed, but the words never for a moment sound as if they have anything to do with Italian as a spoken, living language. But that was and remains an essential ingredient of L'Orfeo; it may have been an opera on a mythical subject (Monteverdi did not portray flesh-and-blood characters in his surviving stage works until the very last, L'Incoronazione di Poppea), but the emotions it deals in are real enough, and its overarching themes - the transforming power and limitation of art - have never been explored more profoundly or pithily in the 390-odd years of opera since. Digital ReMastering/Reissued.

Bel Canto Arias - Donizetti, Rossini / Vivica Genaux, John Nelson, Composer: Gaetano Donizetti, Gioachino Rossini, Performer: Vivica Genaux, Conductor: John Nelson, Orchestra/Ensemble: Paris Orchestral Ensemble. Vivica has all the right stuff to sing this wonderful embellished type of music. She is in the big leagues. She has a big voice filled with agility and vocal pyro-techniques.

OPERA 2013

LISZT: SONGS

TCHAIKOVSKY: CONCERTO FOR VIOL

Zen Violin / Various - Composer: Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Jean-Marie Leclair, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Conductor: Christopher Warren-Green, Jonathan Rees, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Christian Tetzlaff, Orchestra/Ensemble: Scottish Ensemble Number of Discs: 3

A. Scarlatti: La Santissima Trinita / Biondi, Gens, Composer: Alessandro Scarlatti, Performer: Roberto Abbondanza, Paul Agnew, Vivica Genaux, Roberta Invernizzi, Conductor: Fabio Biondi, Orchestra/Ensemble: Europa Galante, Number of Discs: 1. La Santissima Trinit� is in fact an immensely rewarding work. Scarlatti, far from being inhibited by the subject matter, produced a score that extracts maximum effect from the conflict of views, articulating Faithlessness's mockery and sturdy skepticisms with a strength that demands all the resources of his opponents, who reply through a variety of means often employing metaphor. It is some of these mimetic arias-the depiction of the turtledove's freedom (enhanced by two solo violins) in Faith's "Vedrai la tortorella," or Theology's evocation of the "hapless little boat" on a stormy sea ("Povera navicello")-that provide just some of the highlights of a richly varied score that throughout shows Scarlatti at his most imaginative and inventive. Stylistically, numbers range from brief, old-fashioned continuo arias with a concluding instrumental postlude to more modern, fully accompanied arias that frequently include concertante solo-writing for the strings (there are no wind parts). Despite reservations about Biondi's direction, this is unquestionably a major addition to the Alessandro Scarlatti discography, yet further vitally increasing our understanding of a prolific major composer who was until relatively recently largely restricted to the more shadowy realms of the Baroque.

Beethoven: String Quartets Op. 18 No 1, Op. 127 / Artemis Quartet. The sixth release in the Artemis Quartet's Complete Beethoven Cycle comes as the Berlin-based ensemble devotes it's international performing schedule to this cornerstone of the repertoire.

Charpentier: Messe Pour Les Trepasses; Tabart; Requiem, Charpentier: Messe en La Memoire D'un Prince / Var Composer: Louis Couperin, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Andr� Raison, Pierre Tabart, Performer: Jean-Claude Sarragosse, Hans J�rg Mammel, Pascal Bertin, Conductor: Jean Tubery, Orchestra/Ensemble: Ensemble la Fenice (France) Number of Discs: 2

Dvorak: Cello Concerto; Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations / Mork, Composer: Anton�n Dvor�k, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Performer: Truls Otterbech Mork, Conductor: Mariss Jansons, Orchestra/Ensemble: Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Number of Discs: 1

PIANO