On her third PENTATONE album Bach Unbuttoned, Ana de la Vega brings together a group of exciting young soloists and the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn to present a lively and fresh perspective on Bach as man and composer. The programme contains Brandenburg concertos Nos. 2, 4 & 5, a unique rendition on flute and oboe of the double violin concerto, as well as the breath-takingly virtuosic Badinerie for flute. Flautist Ana de la Vega’s presents her third PENTATONE album, after having released Mozart Myslivecek (2018) and Haydn Stamitz (2020). Oboist Ramón Ortega Quero also starred on the latter album, and is featured prominently on Bach Unbuttoned as well. Violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky, trumpet player Cyrus Allyar, harpsichordist Johannes Berger and the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn all make their PENTATONE debut.

Anton Arensky belonged to the generation between Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, his early flair leading Tolstoy to state that, “among the new composers he is the best, he is simple and melodious.” Lacking a Russian tradition for the genre, Arensky’s Piano Quintet draws on Brahms and Mendelssohn for its sweeping themes and sparkling wit. The Second String Quartet was written in memory of Tchaikovsky and is a tender, elegiac work unusual in its scoring with two cellos. Dedicated to his cellist friend Karl Davidoff, the First Piano Trio is also a wonderfully heartfelt and virtuosic masterpiece. - Naxos

MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in d. Piano Concerto in a. Concerto for Violin and Piano in d • Michael Hofstetter, cond; Alexander Sitkovetsky (vn); Dinorah Varsi (pn); Stuttgart CO • ORFEO 761 092 (2 CDs: 93:02)


This disc is a treat for the Mendelssohn bicentennial. What we have here is a piano concerto written at age 12, a violin concerto at age 13, and a double concerto (violin and piano) at age 14. Mendelssohn was a composer whose childhood genius surpassed that of Mozart and that of Schubert. These concertos are testaments of that amazing attribute. Each is more interesting and complex than its predecessor. The influences of Mozart, C. P. E. Bach, and early Beethoven are apparent, but an original stamp is present unequivocally and pervasively. The orchestral parts are scored for strings only, in keeping with the scoring of the string symphonies of the same years. Conductor Hofstetter has the strings employ very little vibrato; however, violinist Sitkovetsky does not follow such a limitation. Absent from these concertos is Mendelssohn’s characteristic contrapuntal writing, which made its entry later in his teens. Much in the first movement of the “Double” Concerto, starting around 3:22, is redolent of the “Hungarian” section of Schubert’s piano and violin Fantasie (D 934). The Fantasie was written four years after the “Double” Concerto.


These three concertos are played with consummate musicianship. Michael Hofstetter is the principal conductor of the renowned Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, following a line of succession that started with the orchestra’s founder, Karl Münchinger. Alexander Sitkovetsky, still in his twenties, is a Russian-born British violinist who has become one of the most sought after young violinists for solo and chamber performances. Dinorah Varsi has had a long career, retreating from the public eye from time to time for reflection and regeneration. After studying under Géza Anda and winning the Clara Haskil competition in Lucerne in 1967, her international career was launched.


If you are drawn to Mendelssohn’s music, as is the case for so many classical music lovers, then these discs are the ones that you must hear.


FANFARE: Burton Rothleder

Riga-born Ksenija Sidorova is today one of the most eminent global ambassadors of the classical accordion. She has proudly borne the colors of her instrument in appearances in the world’s leading halls and with the foremost orchestras. Here she pays homage to Piazzolla in her own way: ‘Piazzolla the revolutionary, the ground-breaker, a man thinking ahead of his time . . . Playing this repertoire gave me a sense of artistic freedom and ignited my belief in advocacy of my instrument. For this album, I wanted to celebrate Piazzolla the innovator by pairing some his masterworks with pieces written by other composers for classical accordion, the majority of which I have premiered in recent years. Being of Russian heritage, I couldn’t help noticing the similarity between the nostalgia of the tango and that of Russian composer Sergey Voitenko’s Revelation. French accordionist-composer Franck Angelis’s Fantasia is based on Piazzolla’s waltz-tango, and the programme is completed by the Nocturne of Italian accordionist-composer Pietro Roffi and a piece by Sergey Akhunov.’