PUCCINI: IL TABARRO LEONCAVA

YURI BASHMET - BRITTEN, REGER,

GRIEG: HISTORIC CHAMBER MUSIC

MOZART: STREICH-QUARTETTE K 42

In mid-1941 Toscanini temporarily fell out with the NBC Symphony Orchestra management, and during the following season directed the Philadelphia Orchestra in a number of concerts. Some of the items he conducted were also recorded by RCA over several sessions, but various technical disasters left the metal masters with heavy surface noise and a barrage of clicks and pops. Nothing could be done to salvage the situation at the time, but later technology opened up possibilities and in 1963 the Schubert Ninth Symphony was published. In 1977 the whole Philadelphia series finally saw the light of day on five LPs (nla), but some allowance had then to be made for the recording quality. Further technological miracles have taken place and as a result all the performances have emerged on CD with remarkably improved sound. In fact, the recordings now seem very good indeed for their date, and RCA are therefore in a sense justified in leaving the troubled history of the enterprise out of their accompanying notes.

...Toscanini re-recorded all the Philadelphia items with the NBC orchestra, but later versions do not all show gain... [A] great performance whose qualities really emerge for the first time in the improved sound is that of the Pathetique. Here is a most moving, eloquent and exciting account of the symphony, one which is a great deal more characterful than Toscanini's somewhat detached 1947 NBC recording. This now takes its place besides the extraordinary 1937 Furtwängler version as one of the most powerful accounts of the work ever recorded... Strauss's Tod und Verklärung is given a very dramatic, vivid reading...

The Philadelphia Orchestra of 1941 was very much a Stokowski-trained instrument, and possessed more tonal colour and warmth than the New York, NBC and BBC orchestras with which Toscanini made most of his recordings. These performances tend to show a different aspect of the great conductor, one where he sometimes responds in a slightly more yielding fashion to the character of the orchestra and to the acoustic of Philadelphia's Academy of Music, which was softer than Toscanini's usual New York venues.

-- Gramophone [6/1991]

Richard Stoltzman's continuing exploration of the clarinet repertoire has yielded some uniquely enjoyable concerto recordings for RCA, of which the current issue is just the latest example. The disc opens with Lutoslawski's Dance Preludes, a brilliant and lively work of highly varied moods and styles ranging from somber chant to frenzied dancing. Stoltzman sounds as comfortable in each of these witty preludes as he would playing Mozart or Gershwin.


Nielsen's concerto always has been a formidable challenge for clarinetists, and, through its discursive one-movement form, for the listener as well. Happily, Stoltzman's pointed shaping of the musical material aids in the recognition of the various melodic lines, while his freewheeling virtuosity consistently commands attention. Still, Olle Schill's stunningly recorded daredevil performance on BIS remains the Nielsen concerto of choice.


Probably the most interesting item on the program is Kent Kennan's recasting of Prokofiev's Flute Sonata as a concerto for clarinet and orchestra. Kennan succeeds admirably in approximating a real Prokofiev orchestral sound and his arrangement sheds new light on the work's subtle beauties. Indeed the finale, with its judicious use of timpani, seems to improve upon the original. Stoltzman certainly sounds convinced, and you can appreciate in his performance that sense of satisfaction at discovering a new classic. Lawrence Leighton Smith and the Warsaw Philharmonic provide handsomely played and truly collaborative accompaniments. RCA's recording is rather flat in perspective, but allows all of Stoltzman's infectious playing to be clearly heard. A desirable disc, and not just for clarinet fans.
--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com

In mid-1941 Toscanini temporarily fell out with the NBC Symphony Orchestra management, and during the following season directed the Philadelphia Orchestra in a number of concerts. Some of the items he conducted were also recorded by RCA over several sessions, but various technical disasters left the metal masters with heavy surface noise and a barrage of clicks and pops. Nothing could be done to salvage the situation at the time, but later technology opened up possibilities and in 1963 the Schubert Ninth Symphony was published. In 1977 the whole Philadelphia series finally saw the light of day on five LPs (nla), but some allowance had then to be made for the recording quality. Further technological miracles have taken place and as a result all the performances have emerged on CD with remarkably improved sound. In fact, the recordings now seem very good indeed for their date, and RCA are therefore in a sense justified in leaving the troubled history of the enterprise out of their accompanying notes.

...Toscanini re-recorded all the Philadelphia items with the NBC orchestra, but later versions do not all show gain... [T]he Berlioz piece has just the right quicksilver, atmospheric quality. Mendelssohn's score is given with much charm and character...

The Philadelphia Orchestra of 1941 was very much a Stokowski-trained instrument, and possessed more tonal colour and warmth than the New York, NBC and BBC orchestras with which Toscanini made most of his recordings. These performances tend to show a different aspect of the great conductor, one where he sometimes responds in a slightly more yielding fashion to the character of the orchestra and to the acoustic of Philadelphia's Academy of Music, which was softer than Toscanini's usual New York venues.

-- Gramophone [6/1991]

Fans of Toscanini's 1946 recording of Puccini's La Bohème will be happy to know that its best sounding "official" CD incarnation, released in 1991 via RCA's Toscanini Edition, is back in print, thanks to Arkivmusic.com's on-demand reissue program. Toscanini conducted the opera's 1896 premiere, and this performance conveys all of the edge-of-seat excitement of a first performance. Sure, tempos sometimes are fast to the point of discomfort, yet under Toscanini's watch the music-making is so impassioned, so disciplined, so thoroughly integrated in terms of vocalism, dramatic impact, and orchestral character, and so faithful regarding the composer's intentions that you can't help but respect the outcome.

Numerous passages catch my ear anew: the unwritten yet painstakingly-judged rubato in the middle section of Musetta's waltz, framing Anne McKnight's small but pretty voice; the textural clarity of Act 2's most complex goings on; the hushed, hauntingly sustained character the conductor evokes at the top of Act 3; Nicola Moscona's tender parlando phrasing in his Act 4 aria "Vecchia zimarra"; Francesco Valentino's warm, playful Marcello; and the full-voiced, red-blooded interaction between Jan Peerce and Licia Albanese, the opera's protagonists. And who can't help but smile when Toscanini vocalizes along with them during "O soave fanciulla"? Full libretto and translations plus informative notes by Toscanini biographer Harvey Sachs round out a release that every Bohème lover should know.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

TOSCANINI COLLECTION VOL 64 -

One of the century's legendary achievements on record confirms its reputation on this wellmanaged reissue. Here Toscanini's blazing intensity, his full comprehension of every facet of the score are evident throughout. In the very first scene the crackling of the fire in "Fuoco di gioia", the bubbling strings as illustration of Cassio getting drunk, the complete fidelity to the score of Valdengo's Iago tell of long preparation and immediately excite the ear. They are but harbingers of the legendary maestro's total command and of his wholehearted empathy with the opera's faultless structure and deep-felt emotions, all achieved within correct tempos and with an overview of the acts, each of which courses tautly to its inevitable conclusion. Just one little detail—the stab of pain in the orchestra at Otello's first thought of jealousy, before "Perche fai tale inchiesti"—shows just how intimately Toscanini knows his music; that and so much else left uncovered by other conductors sets him far above all, except his disciple Panizza on the equally satisfying Metropolitan performance on Music and Arts, 9/91.

The attack and dedication of chorus and orchestra are apparent throughout; so is the discipline and textual clarity on all sides. Nothing escapes Toscanini, yet at the same time nothing obtrudes in a manner that calls attention to itself—unless it be the conductor's groans and encouragement now more audible in the digital transfer. The sound remains dry but somehow this very close, confined quality accords with the work's own claustrophobic quality—if only Otello had gone out into the open air and thought about the reality of the evidence before him, he might not have been so easily caught up in Iago's web of deceit.

Valdengo's Iago continues to put all but Gobbi's (for Serafin on RCA-11/88; and Tibbett's, for Panizza) in the shade. His light, almost elegant and seemingly cheerful tone, his mordant, sinister delivery of the Credo, his insinuating and perfectly accurate delivery of the imagined Dream (Nucci ought to listen to its subtlety—Decca, 11/91) all tell of his willingness to follow Toscaninfs guidance, for he never sang so well for anyone else. This is a faultless performance. So, in terms of interpretation, is Vinay's Otello—the tormented, fearsomely commanding Moor to the life. It's only when you compare his too baritonal tone with Martinelli's (Music and Arts) or Pavarotti's incisive, Italianate delivery (Decca) or Domingo's absolute security (RCA, 3/87) that Vinay's thicker tone and the throb in it seem a shade below an ideal; but no one conveys better the sense of Otello's world falling about him. Nelli always turns out to be more satisfying than one expects, because her sincerity of purpose, her accuracy and her true tone compensate for a slightly pallid reading of Desdemona's thoughts and feelings. Certainly she makes more of the text than Dame Kin i Te Kanawa (Decca) and often sings with a finer line, while missing Rethberg's warmth on the Music and Arts version—and indeed the sense of suffering heard from Scotto (RCA/Levine). The smaller roles are all worthily taken.

Any incidental drawback should not prevent anyone hearing this overwhelming interpretation. Once the vivid storm is launched it is impossible to leave the performance until the tragic, stricken figure of Otello falls lifeless by his wronged wife's side: Toscanini identifies so sympathetically with the human condition, as did Verdi himself—and it is from Verdi, at whose feet he sat, that Toscanini learnt his trade.

-- Gramophone [3/1992]

Complete Track List:
1. Tempo Feliz
2. Anima
3. Song Of The Black Swan
4. Orixa
5. Nacao
6. Tristeza
7. Modinha
8. Urubamba
9. It's Here!
10. Primeira Luz
11. Ana Maria
12. Pavane
13. Nos Padre (The Lord's Prayer)
14. Dawn

Personnel: Richard Stoltzman (clarinet); Gary Burton (vibraphone, marimba); Jeremy Wall, Bill Douglas (keyboards); Chuck Loeb (guitar); Eddie Gomez (bass); Danny Gottlieb (drums); Cafe (percussion).

AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE VOL 1

Track Listing
1. Paul's Tune
2. Chelsea Bridge
3. Straight, No Chaser
4. Dancing Men
5. Little Train
6. Two Bass Hit
7. Time Being
8. Best Coast
9. Space Shuttle
10. Sassy Strut

Personnel includes: Buddy Rich (drums), Brian A. Grivna (alto saxophone, flute), Pat LaBarbera, Don Englert (tenor & soprano saxophone, flute), Joe Calo, Richard Centalonza (baritone & soprano saxophone, flute), Lin Bivano, Jeff Stout, Wayne Naus (trumpet), Bruce Paulson, Eric Culver (trombone), John Leys (bass trombone), Bob Peterson, Bob Dogan (piano), David Spinozza, Walt Namuth (guitar), Paul Kondziela, Bob Daugherty, Joel DiBartolo (bass), Candido Camero (congas, bongos), Phil Kraus (percussion).

Reissue producer: Ed Michel.

Engineers: Bob Simpson, Bob Auger, Jim Crotty.

Tracks 1-3 recorded at RCA Studio C, New York on August 13 & 16, 1971. Originally released on A DIFFERENT DRUMMER.

Tracks 4-7 recorded live at Ronnie Scott's Club, London, England on December 6-8, 1971. Originally released on RICH IN LONDON.

Tracks 8-10 recorded at RCA Studio C, New York on August 10, 1972. Originally released on STICK IT.

Includes liner notes by Mike Zwerin.

TIME BEING shows the Buddy Rich Big Band in transition, reaching out to audiences attracted to the traditional big band style by such best-selling rock acts as Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Without really changing his style an iota, the great drummer delineates the connections between big beat and swing beat, while driving his brash, brassy band like a well-oiled sports car through such rave-ups as Dizzy Gillespie's "Two Bass Hit" and Thelonious Monk's "Straight No Chaser," as well as more contemporary backbeat-oriented groovers like "Paul's Tune" and "Sassy Strut."

Track Listing
1. Things Ain't What They Used to Be
2. C-Jam Blues, The
3. Chelsea Bridge
4. Back Home Again in Indiana
5. Just Squeeze Me
6. Blue Is the Night
7. Everything But You
8. I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart
9. Frankie and Johnny
10. I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So
11. Rockabye River
12. Jumpin' Room Only
13. You Don't Love Me No More
14. Rock Skippin' at the Blue Note
15. Jubilee Stomp
16. My Old Flame
17. After All
18. All Day Long

Performers include: Duke Ellington (piano); The Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Recorded between 1928 and 1967. Includes liner notes by Stephanie Stein.

This is part of the RCA Victor Greatest Hits series.

This set lives up to its title. MORE GREATEST HITS compiles The Duke's best-known tunes (and those of his right-hand man Billy Strayhorn), along with a few pop standards that he didn't write ("Blues in the Night," "My Old Flame"). This material was recorded on a label with which Ellington had a very long, on-and-off relationship, from 1928 to 1967.

Most of these songs are pop and jazz standards, recorded by hundreds of artists. MORE GREATEST HITS includes the '20s "hot jazz" stylings of "Jubilee Stomp"; the elegant, romantic "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart"; and the rich, thoughtful orchestration of "Chelsea Bridge." The Duke not only survived the passing of the Big Band era; he thrived (note "All Day Long," from 1967). Though this CD includes no personnel listing, the Ellington band had been the home to some of the greatest soloists in the history of jazz--Johnny Hodges, Ben Webster and Jimmy Hamilton, to name three. If you are looking for a good introduction to Ellington, or want a sampler of some classic big band jazz (with a few piano trio cuts for good measure), pick up this collection.

“Matsuev Liszt”, the pianist’s sixth album, was recorded in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire in August 2011, which was dated to match the famous Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt’s 200th anniversary. This album includes some of the most interesting compositions by Liszt: Piano Concertos no. 1 and no. 2, “Totentanz” and the symphonic poems “Orpheus” and “Heroic elegy”.

The album was recorded with the Russian National Orchestra headed by the outstanding Russian director Michail Pletnev - People's Artist of RSFSR, laureate of 3 State awards of the Russian Federation and the Grammy Award (2005). The sound man of the album is Philipp Nedel, laureate of 2 Grammies (2002, 2009), who worked with Matuev on his latest releases, including "The Carnegie Hall Concert".

“Liszt is one of my favorite composers," says Denis Matsuev, "Each of his works is connected with a certain period in my life. For example, I won the XI International Tchaikovsky competition with Liszt, Piano Concerto no. 1. My teacher Sergey Dorensky and I decided to perform the Liszt Piano Concerto no. 1 instead of Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no. 3 literally a few days before making the application. And it turned out to be the right decision.”

During 13 years after the victory the musician nurtured the idea of creating an album dedicated to the great Hungarian composer. Director Michail Pletnev helped Denis put this idea into practice: “We have been talking a lot with Michail Vasilyevich Pletnev about Liszt and his works. And, of course, we played Liszt together very often. That’s why I didn’t even think about another program and another orchestra: Liszt – and only with the Russian National Orchestra! And by all means with 'Orpheus,' which is a rarely played piece. I am sure that even the listeners who are familiar with this music will find out something new in it”.

In is notable that earlier, on October 22, 2011, Denis Matsuev became the only pianist who was invited to play Liszt on the festival day at the National Concert Hall in Budapest. Before the concert Denis was honored with a chance to touch the piano in the Liszt Museum that once belonged to the great musician. Along with the concert Denis held a meeting in Budapest with the students and professors of the piano faculty of the Liszt Academy and made a presentation of this, his new album.