Angela Hewitt's notes for this important new album describe a teenager's moment of revelation when she first came to appreciate the epic masterpiece that is the Liszt Piano Sonata. Here we have a heart-felt recording where this palpable sense of wonder is manifest alongside Hewitt's enthralling technical facility at the keyboard. The program is completed by the second half of Liszt's dazzling second Annee de pelerinage collection: The three Petrarch Sonnets and the noble Dante Sonata, the latter composed as a fund-raiser for the Bonn Beethoven monument in 1839.
A third Hyperion release from top-notch Portuguese choir, Cupertinos, maintains the exceptional standards already set by the first two. This collection of sacred music by Pedro de Cristo includes five first recordings and marks animportant addition to the composer's burgeoning discography.
Vaclav Jan Krvtitel Tomasek wrote numerous songs and short piano pieces. His works predate those of his rather more famous near contemporary Franz Schubert by some years but remain mysterious neglected. This enthralling new album from Renata Pokupic and Roger Vignoles unfolds twenty-eight songs of a rare appeal. Tomasek was one of the very few composers of Goethe settings to meet with the great poet's (relatively) undivided approval.
The heady, youthful tenor of Robin Tritschler guides listeners through Volume nine of Hyperion's Brahms Complete Songs Series. This rewarding journey, spanning more than three decades of the composer's creative life, is full of musical riches.
Bach wrote three sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord. Scholars estimate they were composed in the early 1740s, possibly for Carl Fredrich Abel, son of Bach's colleague Christian Ferdinand Abel. They are paired here with Scarlatti's Gamba Sonata and a Violin Sonata by Handel. These works are performed by violinist Robin Michael, cellist Steven Isserlis and harpsichordist Richard Egarr in a program of haunting tranquility.
Rachmaninov fans won't want to miss this was Gramophone's verdict on Steven Osborne's recording of the Etudes-tableaux, and this thrilling new release is an equally essential acquisition. Osborne proves a predictably fine exponent of the Faustian Piano Sonata No.1 and is no less compelling in the selection of shorter works which completes the album.
This important release once again demonstrates Steven Isserlis's deep commitment to the music of John Tavener. The realization of the album is movingly detailed in a booklet note which provides an eloquent counterpoint and commentary to the performances.
The stylistic pluralism which informs so much contemporary choral writing pays rich dividends in the work of Jaakko Mantyjarvi. This thrilling program from Trinity College Choir Cambridge and Stephen Layton is filled with exciting, accessible, contemporary music.
Alban Gerhardt writes admiringly of Rostropovich and the legacy of marvelous works he inspired. On this recording, he performs two of them alongside the WDR Sinfonieorchester led by Jukka-Pekka Saraste. On the evidence of these extraordinary accounts, he need fear no comparisons with his great Russian forebear.
As companionable, healthy and English as the South Downs on a sunny day was the early verdict on Thomas Dunhill's Piano Quintet. The same could apply equally to Erlanger's Piano Quintet. Both works receive attractive performances from Piers Lane and the Goldner String Quartet.
2020 release. If the name of Henry Charles Litolff is familiar today only through the scherzo of his Concerto symphonique No 4, the absurdity of that 'one-hit composer' tag is clearly demonstrated by this release. These are among the finest examples of the piano trio genre still inexplicably absent from the standard repertoire.
The Larghetto and Allegro in E flat major is mature Mozart - contemporary with Idomeneo and Die Entfu¨hrung - but remains incomplete. Tomer Lev has finished the job brilliantly, making it the perfect companion for Mozart's official multipiano concertos.
On this fascinating release, the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his father Leopold bookend a virtuosic recital from Ursula Paludan Monberg. She traces the development of the natural horn as a solo instrument throughout the eighteenth century.
A comprehensive overview of every style available to Bach, from the archaic to the modern, Mahan Esfahani rises confidently to the challenge of his own brilliant appraisal of the Partitas in performances brimming with intellectual and emotional energy.
Intense, emotional and pure is how Pavel Kolesnikov describes the experience of making this recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations. It is the fruit of a collaboration between the pianist and choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. The spirit of the dance, so fundamental to Bach, is never far away in this compelling new account.
Soprano Harriet Burns makes her recording debut on volume eight of Hyperion's Complete Brahms Songs series. The program's selections provide the ideal showcase for Burns's voice and Graham Johnson's customary scholarly booklet notes are an indispensable companion.
