Alessandro Rolla enjoyed a considerable reputation as a violinist, violist, conductor and composer during his lifetime, and is now best remembered as a teacher of Paganini.

TANGO GOES SYMPHONY

SILVER: Piano Concerto / Six Preludes

No doubt remained as soon as the piano began to reverberate: On the stage was a first class musician and a maestro. A complete freedom went hand in hand with Idil Biret' interpretations. One has the feeling that she plays as easily as she breathes.

A rousing collection of music evoking Britain' capital city in all it's pomp and glory. CD 1 takes the listener on a nostalgic journey though British light music from Sullivan to Farnon, whilst CD 2 embraces traditional classical music from all eras.

BUXTEHUDE: Organ Music, Vol. 4

Sergey Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet was completed after the composer's final repatriation to Soviet Russia after a period abroad. It was written for the Kirov Ballet but early productions faltered, and Prokofiev soon adapted his music to the concert hall. The Suites avoid narrative sequence, selecting crucial moments such as the famous "balcony scene", and dramatic climaxes such as the Death of Tybalt. Composed to celebrate the famous author's 150th anniversary, the Pushkin Waltzes are relaxed, easygoing, and with a typically witty edge.

NAXOS SELECTION: Highlights

Ruperto Chapi composed theatrical and chamber music, opera and symphonic pieces, including the two early works on this disc. Originally composed in 1873 as a suite for military band, Fantasia morisca was revised six years later for full orchestra.

Remarkably, Naxos now has two very good recordings of Britten's still-too-rarely played Violin Concerto. The main reason for its rarity probably has to do with the fact that it ends softly, but it's a magnificent work. Although this performance, previously issued on Collins Classics, is very good, with Lorraine McAslan a very capable exponent of the solo part, I marginally prefer Rebecca Hirsch's previous outing for this label, both for her more shapely handling of the final passacaglia as well as for the highly apt coupling: the Cello Symphony. Here you get two rarities: Canadian Carnival and the colorful Mont Juic Suite, a collaborative effort between Britten and Lennox Berkeley.


As with all the releases in this series, Steuart Bedford conducts superbly, and the sonics are excellent--and Naxos was right to make all of the Collins Britten series available again, even given the inevitable duplication. Ideally, of course, you will need the composer's own Decca recording of the Violin Concerto, with Mark Lubotsky as soloist; but the truth is that there are no poor recordings of this work, and choice will ultimately come down to personal taste and the question of couplings (Britten's own recording has his Piano Concerto with Richter as soloist, pretty tough to beat). The bottom line: you can't go wrong no matter what your choice happens to be.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

While Hill' first three string quartets were reminiscent of Dvor-Ak and Tchaikovsky, these three demonstrate new directions. With the slow movement of Quartet No. 4 hinting at influences of Elgar, and Quartet No.

All music is song. In Michel Meynaud's philosophy of music, singing is musical expression in it's natural state, an archetype of human presence. His works are permeated with melos. This affinity with song can be heard primarily in his choice of instruments for the pieces: a preference for instruments such as the violoncello and the double bass, which radiate sound "as if it is resonating out of the body". Meynaud also has a foible for solo compositions, in which the interpreter is "alone with his instrument, the notes and the music" and allowed to experience the freedom of isolation. However, Meynaud does not reduce the song to a simple Cantabile, but extends this notion to all facets of vocal articulation. The same applies to his instrumental music, where he intonates pre-verbal stammering, introverted murmuring and other affects by transforming them into sound: "comme un cri" stated in a recital direction which marked the climax of his piece Les Points d'Orgue de la Saint-Jean. These works are not only in the broadest sense of the word, singable, but also eloquent and dramatic.

CLASSICAL MOMENTS TO LIVE BY

Schumann: Lied Edition, Vol. 1: Liederkreis, Op. 24 - Dichte

TomAs Garbizu is one of the greatest names in twentieth-century Basque music. This recording bears witness to his genius and his audacity in combining for the first time such disparate instruments as the txistu, the tamboril and the keyboard, to for.