Classical Music

Classical Music

Sarnecka: Works for Piano Solo

Beyond question, Karol Szymanowski wrote the greatest piano Mazurkas since Chopin's. They capture all the elemental passion of the traditional Mazurka rhythms in a pungent and pianistically idiomatic language that sounds fresher with each passing year. It's good to see these works turn up more frequently on CD, especially when they're played with Anna Kijonowska's stylistic perception and technical mastery. Like Martin Jones, she's not afraid to rough up rolled left-hand chords in order to give them more rhythmic kick. Some of her tempo choices are unusual, such as a more measured and inward take on Op. 50 No. 12, as opposed to Marc-André Hamelin's more volatile, skittish account. Yet if her touch doesn't quite match Hamelin's supple shadings, her rubatos often speak more organically (Op. 50 No. 18, for example). Unlike Hamelin and Jones, Kijonowska does not include Szymanowski's four Polish Dances and Valse Romantique. This highly distinctive release is a worthy addition to the Szymanowski discography.--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Kosenko Shkoda Vikotr Sepanovytch Kosenko: Piano Music Volume 2: The CompletePiano Sonatas

PAUL HINDEMITH FRANK P. ZIMMERMANN, VIOLIN;*FRANKFURT RADIO SYM. ORCH./P.JARVIENRICO PACE, PIANO ** CTO. FOR VIOLIN & ORCH.(1939*)SONATA FOR SOLO VLN, OP.31 NO.2,"ES IST SO SCHONES WETTER DRAUBEN';SONATA IN E FLAT FOR VIOLIN& PIANO, OP.11 NO.1; SONATA IN E FOR VIOLIN & PNO. (1935)SONATA IN C FOR VIOLIN & PN. (1939)**

GARIBOLDI,KLOSE,CAVALLINI,ETC ADAMI CLARINET QUARTET RARE ITALIAN CLARINET CHAMBER MUSIC OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Bach's late, contrapuntal masterwork, left incomplete upon his death in 1750. Played here on an untempered piano and complete on 2 CDs. French/Swiss pianist Cedric Pescia has concertized throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Professor of piano at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Geneve. Gold Medalist - 2002 Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition in Salt Lake City, Utah (USA).

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Konstantin Scherbakov's 24 Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues leapfrog to the head of a small yet distinguished class on disc, whose valedictorians include Tatiana Nikolaeva and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Time and again I am struck by expressive and textural novelties that inevitably result from Scherbakov's fastidious adherence to Shostakovich's markings. The pianist connects the A minor Prelude's scurrying 16th-notes with a seamless legato that still manages to allow each one to speak softly. He treats the D major Prelude's right-hand arpeggiated chords in a slightly detached manner in order to offset the left hand's cello-like legato line. In the F-sharp minor Fugue Scherbakov takes special care to differentiate the levels of soft dynamics. He maintains Fugue No. 15's marcatissimo directive with unyielding vehemence, while effortlessly clarifying the difficult-to-disentangle voices.


Those familiar with Nikolaeva's freer treatment of the 16th fugue's elaborate subject will be surprised at the profile and contrast it acquires when played in strict time, as Scherbakov does. As a result, the uneven duplets truly stand out from the even ones. On the other hand, the 14th Prelude's tremolos sometimes threaten to cover the melodic material. Here both Nikolaeva and the composer relegate these tremolos to a spooky background murmur, and make more of the motto theme's tenutos. And Scherbakov sometimes plays down Shostakovich's edgy humor. Yet these quibbles are about aesthetic choices, not interpretive faults, and really don't matter in the larger context of Scherbakov's achievement. His interpretations are thought out, deeply pondered, prepared to the nth degree, and played with a perfect fusion of technique and soul. Even listeners who consider these works arid and somewhat pedantic will change their minds after hearing Scherbakov. A triumph.
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

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These world premiere recordings bring together several works from American composer Carson Cooman' Nantucket Dreaming cycle, a series of compositions inspired by the island' landmarks and landscape.

Ned Rorem describes this performance of his Double Concerto for Violin and Cello as "perfect", so it would be presumptuous to challenge his opinion of it technically. Certainly the playing of Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson is excellent, as is that of the IRIS Orchestra under Michael Stern. Like some of Rorem's other concertante works, this takes the form of a series of short movements, eight in all, save that one of them (Conversation at Midnight) isn't so short, lasting for nearly a quarter of an hour, or about half the concerto's total time. The two soloists offer admirably focused playing here, with a real feeling of dialog both between themselves and with the orchestra. The scoring is Spartan--strings, eight woodwinds, and four brass--but there's no lack of color or incident. In short, this is a lovely addition to the string concerto repertoire, and a terrific piece for chamber orchestras to consider programming.

What keeps this disc from getting the highest rating is an admittedly personal issue, one that you may not share. After Reading Shakespeare, a suite for solo cello, was also written for Sharon Robinson, and it is very sympathetically performed (listen, for example, to how vividly she characterizes "Titania and Oberon"). Nevertheless, the pairing of an orchestral piece with this most chamber-like of chamber compositions strikes me as unconvincing, coming as it does after the concerto. In his notes Rorem emphasizes the fact that the movement titles of this piece should not be taken literally, the music having preceded some of them. If so, then why use them at all? And why suggest as opening and closing movements such weighty subjects as "Lear" and "Othello and Iago"? They really beg the question of whether or not Rorem's inspiration is up to Shakespeare's, and we don't want to go there, do we? There are times when composers might do better to resist the temptation to offer verbal clues, even if they are perfectly valid ones. Still and all, the music and performances themselves are self-recommending to the composer's many admirers, and on that basis I can recommend this fine new release without further qualification.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Leonardo Balada, the Catalan composer who went to New York in 1956 to study composition, has been a powerful creative force for more than three decades. These accessible and stimulating pieces span the composer' career.

Canadian pianist Peter Longworth has established himself as one of the most sought after performers of his generation. Equally comfortable as soloist and chamber musician, he has performed in cities around the world, including New York, Chicago, London, Montreal and Vancouver. Through his work as a private teacher at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto, and as one of the key facilitators of the chamber music and collaborative programs, he has influenced many of the most gifted young musicians of the next generation.

Dutch composer Simeon ten Holt is widely acclaimed for his 'Canto Ostinato', one of the most iconic works of Minimal Music. His 'Incantatie IV' is written for 3 pianos, and consists of a complex of 15 layers, whose shifting in both duration, colour and tempo is left to the decision of the performers, thus creating a hybrid between composition and improvisation. According to pianist Jeroen van Veen performing this work is like "looking at the sea: all the time there are changes in color, radiance, and momentum, never an exact repetition". Performed by Jeroen and Sandra van Veen and Tamara Rumiantsev, champions of Ten Holt's music, having performed his music in various environments, such as a train station, a shopping mall (and of course the concert hall...).

The two major organ works on these discs (his longest for organ) show Max Reger at the height of his powers; not only do they sustain a structural coherence over an impressive span, but they show an almost inexhaustible proliferation of invention. As well as the large-scale Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme and the Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue in E minor, this 2 CD Set includes a collection shorter preludes and fugues - the Five Easy Preludes and Fugues and two transcriptions of preludes and fugues by JS Bach from the Well-Tempered Clavier.

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This album contains the last three sets of piano pieces composed by Brahms. Eduardo Fernandez has the measure of these works.

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Classical Music

The American pianist Tzimon Barto and the world famous conductor Christoph Eschenbach have had a very long and close friendship together. After their successful Capriccio recording of Tchaikovsky’s B flat Minor Concerto they follow up now with recordings of the Brahms Concertos, cornerpieces of the piano concerto literature and further examples of these two artist’s close working partnership. Mr. Barto and Mr. Eschenbach, iconoclasts both, offer a new focus on these masterpieces. Also to be heard are Mr. Barto’s interpretations of the 4 Ballades, op. 10.

The second volume in Naxos' survey of Schubert's 12 piano sonatas surviving in fragmentary form offers three works whose harmonic adventurousness and memorable melodic content will appeal to anyone who loves this composer. More often than not, the music provides interesting contexts in relation to more familiar works. For example, I can't help but notice how the C major D. 279 sonata's bold first-movement opening theme and declamatory trills foreshadow the Wanderer Fantasy's finale. And listening to the E minor D. 566/506's Allegretto, with its songful lyricism and rolling left-hand accompaniment, I wonder if Schubert knew the finale of Beethoven's Op. 90 sonata, one of the latter composer's most "Schubertian" utterances! As before, pianist Gottlieb Wallisch turns in affectionate, idiomatic, and warmly phrased performances that are hard to beat. His energy often surpasses Wilhelm Kempff's heavier gait while steering clear of András Schiff's occasional mannerisms (such as breaking the hands in the E major D. 459's first Scherzo). Also as before, Wallisch provides informative, well-written booklet notes. A lovely disc.--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music