[A] reminder of the awe-inspiring calibre of Emanuel Ax's Chopin... His technique in the daunting demands of the Ballades...is so masterly that you almost forget its comprehensive range or the way even the highest hurdle is taken with yards to spare. Again, when you hear him at 8'20" as he starts the long and intricate climb towards the Fourth Ballade's heavenstorming climax you may well wonder when you have heard this passage more subtly or grandly inflected...

Time and again you are made aware of how Ax, with his sumptuous tone and rhetorical grandeur, can contain even Chopin's most audacious gestures within an overall sweep and impetus as inevitable as a force of nature. Generous and big-handed, Ax's Chopin is noble, grandly aristocratic and, above all, heartfelt.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone [4/2006, reviewing RCA 72554]

Am�riques" - a symbol of renewal, adventure, and discovery - is a symphonic eruption that earned a place in the twentieth century's list of scandals at it's premiere. The version on this CD for two pianos, eight hands introduces the musical world to a work of extreme pianistic virtuosity, both delicate and ecstatic, a work whose wild activity could not be more different from the almost motionless introspection of the Feldman pieces. As Feldman said: "Instead of inventing a system like Schoenberg, Var�se invented a music that speaks to us with it's incredible tenacity rather than it's methodology. When listening to Var�se, we ask ourselves, 'How did he do it?' and not 'How was it done?'

The musicians of the Ensemble Phorminx present central stations in Helmut Lachenmann’s oeuvre: from "Pression" for solo cello of 1969 or the clarinet piece "Dal niente", "Toccatina" for violin, or "temA" for flute, voice and cello to the trio "Allegro sostenuto" of 1986–88. These stations can be categorized by central questions and problems of composition, but they just as emphatically document a constantly progressing development that never comes to a standstill, much less settles down into a “style.” If in works like "Pression" or "Dal niente" Lachenmann worked out his idea of a “musique concrete instrumentale”, in works like "Allegro sostenuto" he permitted a series of approaches to design and procedure that he had categorically excluded from his early works.

Nobody could call Scriabin a fussy man. All he asks of a pianist who would traverse his early sonatas is that he manage to be as sounding brass (Sonata No. 1), to walk on water (No. 2), to burn and be not consumed (No. 3), to fly (No. 4), and to dematerialize (No. 5). In that order. Oh yes, and stretch a twelfth.

Boris Berman, of Yale University by way of Moscow and Tel Aviv, is ready for this or any decathalon. Born and raised in the one country where Scriabin is as securely ensconced in the Pantheon as Bach or Beethoven, he believes in the music the way Sofronitsky did, the way Horowitz did, the way you will after you've heard him play. I must say his performances of the First and Second Sonatas were revelations to me. These are the sonatas one only encounters in integral recordings, and the other complete Scriabins I've heard (Szidon, Ponti) have not been satisfactory. In Berman's hands the first movement of the First, composed by a twenty-year-old just out of the Conservatory, is one of the great Scriabin experiences. It may be as yet conventional in form and only vaguely suggestive in its harmony of the composer's mature idiom. But it already has his inimitable rhythmic fluidity (yes, literally inimitable; God knows Stravinsky and Prokofiev tried) and his unique command of three- and four-handed pianistic textures. Berman sprouts as many hands as are required, and he has an ability to phrase in long periods—plus the pedal technique to support it—that keeps the music airborne despite its sequential construction. He also has his teacher Lev Oborin's famous way with inner voices; how many pianists could bring out the tenor in the chorale section of the funeral-march finale within an overall marking, scrupulously observed, of pppp?

When, beginning with Sonata No. 3, Berman hits the big-time competition, he more than holds his own. He knows the idiom to the extent that his eighth-note triplets are regularly distended, as Scriabin played them, with a hesitation on the second note and a correspondingly shorter third. His tempos are brisk and flexible, his touch remarkably like Scriabin's own, to the extent that we may judge it from the composer's Vorsetzer rolls and from verbal descriptions (e.g., that of Alexander Pasternak, the poet's brother: “I . . . had the impression that his fingers were producing the sound without touching the keys; his enemies liked to say it was not real piano playing, but a twittering of birds or a mewing of kittens“). This mercurial lightness is really indispensable in the Fourth Sonata, not only in the Prestissimo volando, but also toward the end of the Andante, where the right hand must caress a steady stream of high repeated chords while the left hand sings the tune. You will indeed have the impression that Berman's fingers are not touching the keys. When that main theme of the Andante comes back riding the crest of the Prestissimo in what James Baker (in truly excellent program notes) calls the first of Scriabin's many thematic apotheoses, Berman's effortless tone production is suitably glorious.

In fact, nowhere in this set is there the slightest sense of sweat or strain, even in the Fifth Sonata, so full of explicitly erotic gestures. (Yes, Scriabin appeals to forces mystérieuses, but we know very well what they are.) It's a very playful, aristocratic sort of ecstasy Scriabin summons up, the kind reflected in the Kama Sutra, far, oh very far from 42nd Street. Berman has the cosmic skittishness it takes to make what is often such a heavy harangue a tickly, spritzy delight. Porno-phony, perhaps, but definitely soft-core.

Volume 2, expected shortly, will require the pianist to cast spells, be like the sun, worship the devil, and ultimately become an insect. Can't wait.

-- Richard Taruskin, FANFARE [5/1990]

When the first volume of sonatas turned up (Music and Arts CD-605, Fanfare 13:5), Richard Taruskin wrote of Berman that, “Born and raised in the one country where Scriabin is as securely ensconced in the Pantheon as Bach or Beethoven, he believes in the music the way Sofronitsky did, the way Horowitz did, the way you will after you've heard him. ...“ Indeed, in the complete traversal sweeps—Ponti, Laredo, Taub—Berman's most consistent competition comes from Ashkenazy (London 425 579-2, two silver discs), who, needless to say, shares Berman's distinctions. In fact, heard after other pianists, Berman and Ashkenazy seem remarkably at one in their view of Scriabin and in their effortless projection of it—even their timings are often identical ! Within this basic similarity, however, one may say that Berman favors a voluptuously febrile approach, couched in veiled, bass-rich, pedal-held sound (abetted by a lushly resonant acoustic), while Ashkenazy opts for an almost crystalline (though seldom dry) clarity, crisper articulation, and brighter color. In the later sonatas, with their incantatory repetitions flaring into great washes of sonority, Ashkenazy's larger, more pointed climaxes bring these hallucinatory soundscapes into sharper focus, though Berman s accarezzevole touch and cumulative power awaken the music's daimonic eroticism with an hypnotic sureness scanted in Ashkenazy's patrician brilliance.

Both are high-voltage players, though neither quite matches Horowitz for sheer nervous energy, sinister intimations, trembling-on-the-verge spellbinding, eruptive grandeur, or overall éclat— though we are close: if Horowitz overwhelms, Ashkenazy compels, while Berman seduces. It is only fair to add that Ashkenazy recorded his cycle over a period of years, going back to 1975, where Berman committed his to the microphone in a matter of days—a staggering achievement. As noted, Music and Arts's aural perspective, while immediate and detailed, favors the bass. James E. Baker's extensive notes are a decided bonus, though his placement of Scriabin in the cultural history of his time and place will probably amount to obscurum per obscurius for most readers, to whom the likes of Solovyov, Balmont, lvanov, Baltrushaitis, Gippius, et al., are unlikely to be even superficially as familiar as the also named Nietzsche, Rudolf Steiner, and Madame Blavatsky. Hearing the sonatas together is one of music's great adventures, and Berman, aside from being an astounding pianist, is also gifted with that touch of the psychopomp which enables him to convey us unerringly to the heart of Scriabin's mystery. Enthusiastically recommended.

-- Adrian Corleonis, FANFARE [9/1991]

Horowitz Plays Scriabin

Classical Music

In his second CD release with WERGO, Enrico Belli once more juxtaposes the American composer George Crumb with music from one of the predecessors who has influenced him most profoundly. Given that "Makrokosmos IV" was both conceived and written for piano duet, it makes sense to place it in the context of Igor Stravinsky's version for piano duet of his composition "Le Sacre du printemps". The Belli Piano Duo's interweaving of works by Igor Stravinsky and George Crumb - most important and virtuoso works for piano four hands - opens entirely new horizons of perception. The results are "Mythical Dances", indeed.

The repertoire on this CD extends broadly - in terms of style, genre, and chronology - across the compositional output of Igor Stravinsky. Spanning from his most celebrated score for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, "Le Sacre du printemps" (1913), through the neo-classical Concerto en mi b�mol "Dumbarton Oaks" (1938), up to the serial "Movements" (1959), the selection testifies to the enormous richness and variety of his artistic legacy. This diverse repertoire is presented here by Helena Bugallo and Amy Williams, however, from a unifying viewpoint: the "black and white" perspective of arrangements for piano duet or two pianos that the composer himself made.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Masterpieces of the chorale fantasy for organ upon the Latin "Te Deum laudamus" by the great organists of the Marienkirche in L�beck, Tunder and Buxtehude as well as J.S. Bach dominate this CD, completed by free style compositions. J�rgen Essl, internationally renowned performer, improviser, composer, and teacher, plays on Denmark's only larger instrument that retains a considerable substance of the history of organ building from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.

Recorded in: Forde Abbey, Somerset 1-3 June 2000 & 12 June 2001 Producer(s) Gary Cole Sound Engineer(s) Gary Cole

This is the second volume of our complete Scarlatti project - Volume I appeared on Music & Arts box set CD-1236 in April. New Classics [UK] wrote of that release: "Scarlatti's 555 keyboard sonatas are single movements, mostly in binary form.... Some of them display harmonic audacity in their use of discords, and also unconventional modulations to remote keys. They combine pure joyous sounds with the taut rhythms of Spanish dance and the harmonic brilliance of his Italian heritage to a degree that places him among the greatest musicians of all time. This first volume of the recordings of all of Scarlatti's sonatas, eloquently played on the Bösendorfer Imperial piano by Carlo Grante, is a splendid and fascinating undertaking: a journey through shared cultural experience, as well as one that explores the subtle thought processes of a highly influential musical genius." " "Sales Inventory

Classic Mancini

This anticipated release is the first volume in a new series devoted to the music of Gabriel Faure, which is spearheaded by Louis Lortie. Lortie states in the booklet notes: “this album purposely travels through Faure’s various creative periods, from easily appealing early pieces such as the Pavane and the melodie “Apres un reve” through to the late and unjustly neglected Preludes, a masterpiece of condensed harmonic and melodic audacity.” Lortie’s previous series dedicated to Chopin has garnered critical praise. BBC Music called the series “an exceptionally high order of playing.” The same kind of praise is expected for this new series. French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie tours extensively across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He has won widespread acclaim for his Chopin and Ravel interpretations, and has performed all five Beethoven concertos and all of the Mozart concertos. The London Times described his playing as “ever immaculate, ever imaginative.”

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REVIEW:

Lortie understands the type of discretion needed to make this music sing, knows the veiled colours it requires, and has the sort of technique to project Fauré’s signature elusiveness. Above all, he identifies fully with Fauré’s chromaticism and understands its use to create space and light.

– ClassicalSource.com

This is a disc of music for chamber ensembles and solo performers written by two of Britain's leading women composers, who also happen to be mother and daughter. Sparklingly presented by Okeanos, comprising several leading contemporary music performers.

This beautiful disc juxtaposes the work of two composers whose names are frequently placed together for their combination of minimalist and early music elements as well as their Orthodox spirituality. Estonian Arvo Pärt has the sparer style, elements pared down to the most basic chords, notes alternated like bells against a quiet, static background, while Englishman Tavener is the more outwardly ecstatic, using winding, chant-influenced melodies to achieve a kind of rapture.
Andrew Parrott's Taverner Choir, famed for their performances of early music, gives oustanding performances of these modern works with ancient roots, providing the perfect, clear, non-vibrato sound for the Pärt, while also delivering the more tremulous expression needed for the Tavener. A highlight of the program is the seldom-heard 'Canticle of the Mother of God' by Tavener, an early piece that actually employs serial methods yet clearly points in the direction of his later music.

This is the third volume of the Froberger Edition, and completes the set. Containing the complete Libro Quarto and the suites XV and XVII, this album showcases these mature works. For this recording, harpsichordist Bob van Asperen performs on a historic French harpsichord of an unknown maker, dating around 1700. The works were recorded in the incredible acoustics of the “sala nobile” of the Villa Medici, Rome. This release includes a 48 page booklet in which Bob van Asperen comments on works recently ascribed to Froberger.

"Bavouzet’s Haydn is unmatched in its zest and its wit. But it is also substantial, informed and deeply rewarding."

--The New York Times on Bavouzet's Haydn Sonatas cycle, 2022

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s complete Debussy cycle was a big hit across the world in the 2000s, picking up numerous awards along its way. He has now decided to embark upon a Haydn cycle highlighting the fact that he should in no way be pigeon-holed as a ‘French’ specialist. Many leading pianists have tackled these virtuosic classical Sonatas but Bavouzet really feels he has something new to say.

The program for Volume 1 includes the experimental and ambitious Sonata in A flat No. 31, the elegantly virtuosic Sonata in D major No. 391, the expressive Sonata in B minor, No. 47 and the almost Schubertian Sonata in C sharp minor op. 49. Bavouzet shipped in a specially selected Yamaha piano for the recording which he feels give the sort of tonal quality he is looking for.

REVIEWS

We badly need a great Haydn sonata cycle on a modern instrument, and on evidence here Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's promises to be just the ticket. It's fabulous, as wonderful in its own way as was his Debussy cycle for this same label. His approach couldn't be more intelligent: he takes almost all repeats, except in such places as the slow movement of Sonata No. 31 in A-flat (already 24 minutes long), where he adds a fine cadenza of his own making. In quick movements, where final chords seem to render a second-half repeat redundant, he leaves them out the first time through, a practice that I have long believed ought to be standard in such cases. It works wonderfully well.

Interpretively, this is as good as it gets. Bavouzet ornaments repeats with complete naturalness, knows how to phrase a melody without distending the tempo unduly, and exploits the resources of the modern piano in a way that serves the music completely. His touch in such places as the finale of the B minor sonata (No. 47) is phenomenally articulate. In the first movement of No. 31 his right and left hands handle independent dynamics so as to create the same textural layers you might hear through different harpsichord registrations. The sonics are totally at one with the performances: brilliantly vivid, but never hard. I can't wait for Volume 2.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Pianist Grete Sultan (1906-2005) is one of the most extraordinary artists of the 20th century. Raised in a Jewish upper-class household in Berlin, she managed to escape Germany in 1941 after being banned from the concert stage. In New York, she met John Cage with whom she maintained an artistic collaboration for her whole life. Wergo's set Piano Seasons contains her recordings, some of them being released for the first time, of piano works from widely different epochs. Baroque, classical, romantic and contemporary music meet here, finding common ground in the interpretation of this exceptional artist.

Giacinto Scelsi never saw himself as a traditional composer. In his later creative period he would sit at the piano, record his improvisations and then let others transcribe then. Scelsi's world view was grounded in the Eastern mysticism. His spiritual orientation is expressed in the subtitles of the piano suites performed here by Sabine Liebner. Suite No.9 "Ttai" is titled after the 11th symbol from the I Ching which signifies peace. Suite No.10 "Ka" is titled after a Sanskrit word that refers to something unnameable and unspeakable.

Forty years after the death of the "bad boy of music," pianist Guy Livingston has brought to light an extraordinary collection of forgotten works by composer George Antheil. George Antheil was a maverick composer of quirky works that brim over with character..." (The New York Times) Guy Livingston "... a pianist with a flair for modernism of all stripes..." (The New York Times) The CD contains three premi�re recordings.

Includes work(s) for piano by Claude Debussy. Soloist: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.

Includes divertimento(s) by Franz Joseph Haydn. Soloists: Jeff Bradetich, Judi Rockey Bradetich.