Classical Music

Early in 1920, the young brash composer George Antheil decided to leave his home country, the USA, and conquer the concert halls of Europe as a pianist, travelling first to London and then to Germany where he set up headquarters from July 1922 to June 1923, well-prepared to dazzle Europe with his daring compositions and bold pianism. Most of his experimental piano music was composed in Berlin in just this one year. Many of these works can be heard together for the first time on this recording thanks to new discoveries and scholarly research – exquisitely performed by Guy Livingston who is one of the foremost performers promoters of Antheil's music today.

Born in Tennessee, with degrees from Yale, NEC, and the Royal Conservatory of the Netherlands, pianist Guy Livingston wowed critics and audiences with his successful 'Don't Panic' CD. He is based in Paris and Amsterdam and travels widely as a pianist and director. Livingston has already recorded two CDs of the music of George Antheil, organised the Paris Antheil Centennial Concert, and was Artistic Director for the 2003 George Antheil Festival in Trenton in honour of the 1920's futurist. In addition Livingston has been the focus of two television documentaries on Antheil, as well as appearing in the film 'Bad Boy Made Good'.

Bach: 6 Trio Sonatas for Organ, BWV 525-530 (Version for Har

The Complete Masterworks Recordings, Vol. 7: Early Romantics

Sviatoslav Richter’s comment that Hungarian-born Annie Fischer (1914–1995) was ‘a great artist imbued with a spirit of greatness and genuine profundity’ is just a sign of the esteem in which her fellow musicians held her. Curiously, of all the mid-century pianists, she seems to have been among the least recorded due to her profound dislike of the studio. Annie Fischer’s ‘unerring awareness’ (David Threasher) of the shifting moods in the Schumann Piano Concerto has been caught in wonderful sound by the WDR engineers in this ‘live’ recording which has never been issued before. In the two Beethoven works, ‘she is powerfully authoritative’ (David Threasher). Both these ‘live’ recordings are available for this first time on this release. All these recordings are great additions to her relatively small discography.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

SALUT D’AMOUR • Chuanyun Li (vn); Robert Koenig (pn) • HÄNSSLER 98.278 (67:08)


DVO?ÁK Slavonic Dance, op. 72/2. KROLL Banjo and Fiddle. ELGAR Salut d’amour. BAZZINI La ronde des lutins. GLAZUNOV Raymonda: Intermezzo. SARASATE Zapateado. GLUCK Orfeo ed Euridice: Melody. PAGANINI Introduction and Variations on “Nel cor più non mi sento.” GERSHWIN (arr. Heifetz) It Ain’t Necessarily So. R. STRAUSS Violin Sonata


In how many programs does the obligatory sonata follow the encores (the jewel box lists the sonata first)? Chuanyun Li mixes simple and expressive numbers like Elgar’s Salut d’amour with virtuoso showstoppers like Paganini’s Variations on “Nel cor più non mi sento,” Bazzini’s Dance of the Goblins , and Sarasate’s Zapateado as an appetizer for the main course, Strauss’s concerto-like Violin Sonata. Those not familiar with Li from his playing on the soundtrack for the Chinese-produced movie, Together (and his appearance in the movie as a student emerging into the professional world playing Vieuxtemps’s Fifth Concerto), or from his video recordings produced by Bein and Fushi (both in a Ruggiero Ricci lesson and as a participant in a festival of Chinese violin music), should be struck in Hänssler’s issue of a 1999 recording he made at the Cincinnati Conservatory, by his soaring tone, his brilliant technical command, and his grasp of the many styles he’s assembled in his program. Idiomatic Elgar rubs shoulders with Slavonic Dvo?ák, darkly glowing Glazunov, and steamy Gershwin. Bazzini’s Ronde des lutins might as well have been retired for decades after Heifetz’s first recording of it in 1917; later recordings may have included all the notes but not the sizzle. Some, even as recent as Gil Shaham’s (24:3), seemed almost somber in comparison to the young Heifetz’s. Those who might not have heard that earlier recording might come to the end of Li’s with a very similar impression of overwhelming virtuosity coupled with heroic dash and élan. For example, at the section of notes repeated on each of four strings, some violinists simply struggle to play solidly, while Li manages to add tangy nuances. Glazunov’s Intermezzo offers many opportunities for portamentos, and violinists of earlier generations would have taken them with relish. So does Li, but never to the detriment of the music’s lyrical flow, which he builds in waves to a powerful climax. When the music settles to its quiet conclusion, he draws a pure tone from both strings in the final double-stops, a feat perhaps as difficult as the left-hand pizzicato in Bazzini’s Ronde . Li introduces stronger accents than Sarasate did into the Zapateado , and he adds some twangy timbral graces of his own. His performance goes beyond the heavier Russian style that became common in readings of the mercurial Sarasate; but, taken on its own terms, it’s a heady sprint to the finish. Heifetz and Milstein both played Gluck’s Melody, which Fritz Kreisler had arranged for violin and piano. Li’s performance matches theirs in elegance and warmth, and his special personal touches make it his own rather than a copy of theirs. Paganini’s Variations fare well in Li’s reading, sweetly lyrical in the manner of Rossini as devilish in the style of Locatelli. His gift for sumptuous melody alternates in this violinist’s compendium with his knack for brash pyrotechnics (which he fires off with surprising sweetness), and those mount to the conclusion in an unstoppable juggernaut.


Strauss’s early Sonata has been taken almost as a Concerto for Violin and Piano, and Heifetz (who reputedly tried to commission such a Concerto from Prokofiev) seemed always on the lookout for pieces he could play that way, like this one, Saint-Saëns’s First Sonata in D Minor, and Respighi’s. Memory of Heifetz remains strong, but Li manages to create his own forceful identity from the bold first movement. Arguably the slow movement of the Sonata makes a more glowing musical statement than does the slow movement of the (also youthful) Violin Concerto, and Li warms not only to its initial sentiment but also to its more agitated central section. He also seems comfortably at home in the finale’s broad rhetoric.


Here’s an old-fashioned violin recital with a Sonata thrown in to please everyone (the reverse of the usual procedure), and only those with almost unreasonably strong preferences should complain. It’s individual, brilliant, and musically both protean and probing—a substantial accomplishment for anyone, and certainly so for a 19-year-old. As Mischa Elman supposedly remarked to his accompanist, Joseph Seiger, when he heard Michael Rabin’s recording of Wieniawski’s First Concerto, that’s the way the violin should be played. Robert Koenig remains an insightful supporter through the many changes in style, and the lifelike recorded sound makes both players almost bodily present. Strongly recommended.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham

Rudolf Serkin (1903-1991) was one of the great Beethoven exponents of the 20th century. Donal Henahan wrote of a performance given by Serkin of the 'Diabelli' in the NY Times: 'Rudolk Serkin's...approach to music and his instrument is devout, all but priestly, and his audience attends to him with the seriousness of a congregation that expects nothing less than high revelation.'

SCHUMANN Piano Sonatas: No. 1; No. 2; No. 3 • Carlo Grante (pn) • MUSIC & ARTS 1220 (79:16)


We don’t get the three sonatas on one disc too often; as you can see from the timing, these apples barely fit into the barrel. So on one plane of gratitude we must acknowledge Carlo Grante’s efforts in this regard. His playing has also been generally well received in these pages, though if one searches the article archives, a preponderance of relatively unknown material predominates. Recording Schumann is definitely a step into the mainstream, and as such the requirements get a little tougher for the discerning record collector, though again, convenience cannot be easily overestimated.


But many will, in the case of the sonatas, attempt to make the argument that grouping them together is a silly exercise anyway, since, well, the Schumann sonatas aren’t really sonatas anyway, are they? I guess it all depends on what your definition of sonata is, and whether juxtaposed in extremis , origins can ultimately constitute the same sort of name that fits a form that Mozart would have easily recognized. The No. 1, for instance, began life as an interpolation from his op. 4 Intermezzos, used as the middle Scherzo movement. A later Fandango, composed the same year, would join the conglomeration as the rather sophisticated first movement. So already we are left wondering whether “sonata” is telling-true or simply an afterthought because no better title came to mind.


Sonata No. 2 started life as a concerto without piano; it was to see at least three other incarnations. In the second edition, a Scherzo fourth movement was added, with significant revisions to movement 1. This edition on the present recording uses the added Scherzo, but retains the first thoughts of the original first movement. This is a rather crazy work (in a wonderful way) that features a unique “Clara” theme in the third movement, followed by a series of variations, and the superimposed contrasting rhythms of the last movement making it especially appealing to a composer like Brahms, who adored it. The final sonata had its origins before the other two, but was completed later. Clara herself thought it “not too incomprehensible,” but admitted that the public and critics didn’t understand it. It is the least popular of the sonatas, but even so has much to offer the Schumann-starved.


But getting back to the original question, are these real sonatas? In the end, yes, for they do follow the form more or less closely, even though Schumann felt as if he were storytelling in the most basic narrative sense of the word, while using the Classical structure as a basis for his methodology. In the end, we don’t really care though, for the music is too engaging and rewarding to be overly concerned with the formal scaffolding that Schumann uses to present it to us.


I admire very much Carlo Grante’s recent release on this same label of piano concertos by Mozart, using the Godowsky cadenzas. His playing there is clean, efficient, well rounded tonally, and masculine, while avoiding any sort of hard edge. I find much of the same approach on this album. It is some of the driest Schumann I have ever heard, Grante seeming to forego pedal unless absolutely necessary, and when he does use it, there is such a judicious and economical application that you still come away amazed at how well some of the inner lines of Schumann’s always-critical middle voices are heard. On the other hand, when I listen to the likes of Earl Wild (Sonata 1) or Marc-André Hamelin (Sonata 2), I find a certain flair and wildness that I am missing here, where the confines of ultimate control dominate all conceptions. And Eric Le Sage’s ongoing series (the three sonatas already out and available) sport more resonant and deeply felt sound than what Music &Arts gives us here. Nonetheless, I am reluctant to rain on Grante’s parade, as what he does here is quite admirable and will find many takers. I count myself among them, even if my ultimate requirements need a little more moisture.


FANFARE: Steven E. Ritter

In the last years of his life, the great composer and violinist Tartini (1692-1770) labored at a cycle of sonatas for solo violin. The resulting manuscript offers the most important composition for solo violin after Bach and, at six hours in duration, the largest integrated work for the instrument. This is a world premiere of the complete work.

Mykola Lysenko (1842–1912) is regarded as ‘the father of Ukrainian classical music’. As did Bartók later in Hungary, he went out into the field, listened to what the people were singing and fashioned an individual musical language that brought together the styles of Chopin and Liszt and the essence of Ukrainian folksong. This first CD of his piano music reveals a voice, long forgotten, of extraordinary immediacy and appeal.

Includes work(s) by various composers. Soloist: Alexander Kniazev.

In his last years, Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770) labored at a cycle of sonatas for solo violin. The resulting manuscript offers the most important composition for solo violin after Bach and, at six hours in duration, the largest integrated work for the instrument. Now at Vol. 3, this first complete recording is based on a fresh study of the source and includes a number of works in Tartini’s shorthand, overlooked in earlier editions. “Skærved has a fine sense of Baroque style and an understated virtuosity…” (Infodad) “…one waits impatiently for the series to unfold.” (MusicWeb Int’l)

[Nikolai Tcherepnin]...student of Rimsky-Korsakov and teacher of Prokofiev, is revealed in all his pianistic glory in these fascinating first recordings, from the lushly romantic early "Three Pieces", with their tinges of Chopin and Rachmaninov, to a charmingly original set of tone poems based on children's alphabet sketches, which display just why his friends teasingly called him "Debussy Ravelovich".

- Stephen Pritchard, The Observer, [15 May 2011]

Nikolai Tcherepnin (1873–1945) – a student of Rimsky-Korsakov and teacher of Prokofiev – was a Russian-born composer and conductor, and the first of his family’s musical dynasty. His piano music reveals a diversity of influences: the Three Pieces (c. 1890) have echoes of Chopin and Rachmaninov; the Fourteen Sketches on Pictures from the Russian Alphabet (1908) are miniature tone-poems inspired by Alexander Benois’ beautifully illustrated alphabet book for children; [reproduced in the CD booklet] and The Fisherman and the Fish (c. 1914) is a vivid musical depiction of this Pushkin poem, complete with watery splashes!

- Toccata Classics

Pianist David Witten's international career has included numerous concert tours in Ireland, Finland, Russia, Ukraine, Europe, Mexico, and South America. As the recipient of a 1990 Fulbright Scholar award, Witten spent five months teaching and concertizing throughout Brazil, and he is frequently invited back to give concerts and masterclasses.

Eight piano works by McCabe, now one of the most respected figures in British music, played by Gramophone Magazine award nominee Tamami Honma. "A splendid release. Make no mistake: Honma is a superb player. The composer provides his imprimatur of her in the booklet, but hearing her one appreciates immediately how technically able and interpretatively alert she is. Very strongly recommended." - Guy Rickards (Gramophone)

John Cage's Etudes Australes, performed here by pianist Sabine Liebner, launched a series of virtuoso studies born out of the composer's renewed interest in traditional instrumentation and notation. This complex work consists of a total of 32 etudes divided into four books, which John Cage based on maps of the southern night sky. From these maps, locations of planets were selected via chance and translated into pitches, transforming indeterminacy into a new aesthetic category. For Cage's Etudes Australes, the moment of performance is its only moment of reality. Only what is in the present can be heard: in this case, a constantly changing kaleidoscope of sound.

Soprano Claudio Bottcher and pianist Jovita Zohl have worked as a duo since 2008. Their recording entitled Zeit(t)resume is dedicated to works by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luciano Berio. Stockhausen's music box cycle Tierkreis (Zodiac) is presented here in a version for soprano and piano. In Berio's Sequenza III, based on a text by the Swiss writer Markus Kutter, a wealth of emotional states is expressed. Using the voice, the natural instrument of man, the text is articulated through sounds, syllables and words. Stockhausen's Klavierstucke IX shows the characteristic principle of his serial thinking - to arbitrate gradually as well as organically between pairs of opposites. The special charm that characterizes Quattro Canzoni poplari is born out of Berio's fascinating interpretation of traditional folk songs.

Horowitz Plays Chopin, Vol. 1

Glenn Gould Live in Salzburg & Moscow

J.S. Bach: Works for Harpsichord & Clavichord

Classical Music

Haydn: "London" Trios Nos. 1-4 & Duets for 2 Flutes

Haydn: Piano Sonatas Nos. 45 & 62 - Schubert: Piano Sonata N