Mendelssohn played with freshness and vigor, subtlety and panache.

In her review of Lester's and Tomes's issue of Mendelssohn's complete works for cello and piano, JOC praised this duo for both their ''acute telepathy'' and for the ability to sound ''very much on the composer's own imaginative wavelength''. With the present period-instrument alternative, Isserlis and Tan offer comparably idiomatic, well-turned performances; but closer parity between cello and fortepiano helps to generate even greater expressive concentration. Moreover, Isserlis and Tan's predilection for fast tempos gives their performances an added freshness and vigor. Try, for example, the First Sonata in B flat major (which Mendelssohn wrote for his brother, Paul, in 1838), where the second movement's dual function as scherzo and slow movement is convincingly characterized, and the music's passionate outbursts sound arrestingly potent. The Variations concertantes, Op. 17, were also written for Paul Mendelssohn and here, too, Isserlis's and Tan's fine blend of subtlety and panache (enhanced by the fortepiano's relatively delicate timbre) affectingly conveys the music's nostalgic mood, and culminates powerfully in the work's conclusion. In the D major Second Sonata, Isserlis's and Tan's spontaneity and energy in the outer movements, skilfully controlled variety of timbre and touch in the scherzo, and dramatic opposition of chorale (piano) and recitative (cello) in the third movement—with its striking resolution in the piano's own recitative statement—sound immensely compelling.

The Assai tranquillo, written during a journey from Dusseldorf to Leipzig in 1835, bears a touching dedication from the composer to his friend, Julius Rietz. Here, as in the charming Song without words, Op. 109, sympathetic tonal balance between cello and fortepiano in the softly lit recording poignantly brings out the music's sentiment. Lester's and Tomes's version is warm and poetic but Isserlis and Tan effectively draw out the work's inconclusive ending to create a more telling analogy of the eternal nature of friendship.

-- Gramophone [3/1995]

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

...Interpretatively Ormandy scores consistently...whether in the mystery of the fairy music or the natural unforced sweetness of the slow coda of the Overture or the lightness of pointing in the Scherzo. Also the soloists of the Philadelphia Orchestra consistently shine... -- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone [1/1986]

This is verismo singing on the grandest, most authentic scale.

Milanov may sound a trifle mature for Santuzza, but who today, or in any day, fills Mascagni's grateful phrases with quite such full, lustrous tone and with such a wealth of feeling for the text? This is verismo singing on the grandest, most authentic scale and very welcome back to the catalogue as such. Björling may be a trifle too gentlemanly for Turiddu, as is Bergonzi on the Karajan version (DG), but better that than too much overt passion perhaps and—like his soprano—his singing is an exemplar of the spinto style at its best, with much fine shading of the tone and an inward feeling for the part. As Alfio, Merrill turns in one of his most considerable performances on disc. Indeed these three non-Italians prove the exception to the rule that Italians are essential in Italian repertory, but then all three were brought up in a stricter school than that pertaining today.

Cellini's conducting is no more than adequate. The recording is very restricted in range and unatmospheric in sound. For a fuller, more sonorous account of the score, in stereo, the Karajan is hard to equal, but his spacious version is twinned with Pag. If you want this opera alone I would suggest this version.

-- Gramophone [8/1988]

RCA have a penchant for portraying their female string soloists glamorously (witness the presentation of Ofra Harnoy), and the picture of Anne Akiko Meyers on the front of her latest recording gives a certain sultry impression; ironically, since the style of her playing refuses to emphasize that very element in Lalo's sunny Spanish score. To make the strongest contrast with the bold opening, the ripeness of the first movement's famous secondary theme is handled with much delicacy and she caresses it daintily and subtly. There is a sense of fantasy, too, and that comes to the fore readily in the brilliant tracery of the scherzo. The ''Intermezzo'' could be more jaunty in feeling (Lopez-Cobos opens it a little heavily and the soloist responds by slight underemphasis of the rhythmic outline), but the Andante spins real magic: when the violin enters its main theme is very hushed, played on a mere thread of tone, yet later the climax is seductively throaty in its dark colouring. This is the most successful movement.

The finale goes quite spiritedly—the lightness of the soloist's bowing is delightfully mercurial—but later the secondary lyrical material again just goes momentarily off the boil, then the performance picks up brightly at the return of the spirit of the dance. The coda brings a sparklingly light, chimerical brilliance from the soloist. To gauge a violinist's tone from a record, where the microphones contribute their own influence, is never easy, but Meyers appears to have a sweet and cleanly focused timbre, not too opulent. Occasionally there's a touch of thinness on the E string, yet she can produce a fuller, gutsy effect on the G string whenever needed. Her Lalo reading is an imaginatively individual view and could have been an even greater success had Lopez-Cobos been able to combine his sense of orchestral detail (which the excellent recording and good balance help him to reveal readily) with more consistent spontaneity. As it is the performance does not always maintain quite the degree of concentration and sense of forward movement which Barenboim certainly manages in his joyful accompaniment for Perlman, and Mehta too—less imaginatively—conveys in accompanying Mintz (both versions on DG).

The Scottish Fantasy, however, is altogether a great success. The sombre orchestral introduction in the brass has an engaging dark yet mellow sonority and the very hushed entry of the violin is extremely affecting, while the high spirits of the second movement really have the sparkle of a Scottish reel. The Andante begins tenderly and both soloist and orchestra make a full romantic response to the glorious melody of the lament, I'm doun for lack o' Johnnie. The finale is jolly and folksy, its Scottish snap nicely caught, and later (starting at around 4'57'') there is more of Meyers's delicious gently tracery, improvisational in feeling, rising to a peak of restrained intensity at 6'00'', which makes one catch the breath before the brief boisterous coda.

The recording throughout, made at Abbey Road Studio No. 1, is absolutely first class, with a resonantly full orchestral image never clouding. The splendid sound is immediately arresting from the opening of the Lalo and much preferable to the relatively dry orchestral tapestries of both the alternatives. But as a performance I still rank the Perlman/Barenboim combination as the most seductive of all, and I, personally, also prefer Mintz's more voluptous tone and Hebraic intensity to the newcomer in this work.

-- Ivan March, Gramophone [9/1992]

The appearance of this double CD set means that for the first time the entire Jungle Book cycle of Charles Koechlin is available on disc – and high time too, for these are wonderfully evocative pieces. If you have a taste for music which summons up a mythic world in gorgeous colours, then this disc is for you. Kipling’s Jungle Book was a lifelong obsession for Koechlin, and between 1899 and 1936 he based five orchestral pieces on it, some including voices, which together form a vast symphonic cycle. On this disc you can trace the evolution of Koechlin’s language through the cycle, from the hazy, twilight sonorities of the Three Poems, which sound like a cross between Debussy and Ives, to the more dissonant and eclectic Bandar-log. By this time Koechlin had developed a style perfectly suited to Kipling’s world, by turns hazily evocative and awesomely grand. Koechlin was a virtuoso orchestrator, and his music needs virtuoso playing to bring it off. The violins in particular are tested in some mercilessly rapid and ultra-high figuration, which in a less than accurate performance can sound scrappy. Fortunately the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra rises to the challenge well. David Zinman’s performances may not be as fiery as Leif Segerstam’s (Marco Polo), and at times he sounds a bit cautious – as for example at the beginning of The Spring Running, which sounds more like a jog. But this gives him more room to gather pace, so ultimately it’s more impressive than the rival version, which in general suffers from some uncertain playing, and in any case only offers a selection from the cycle.

-- Ivan Hewett, BBC Music Magazine

KAZUHITO & NAOKO YAMASHITA- GU

This is a most useful assemblage of some of the best-known pieces from the guitar repertory... All the music is Latin in idiom, not least the colourful Villa-Lobos. Two undoubted classics are included: the Falla Homenaje, among the most sombre and effective of elegies, and the Turina Fandanguillo, one of the early Segovia solos which burst on a moderately receptive world in the 1930's... Some of this is dispensable. That Bream is a good guitarist, however, may be dispensable information but is certainly a proposition which will win universal agreement from whoever hears the record.

-- Gramophone [1/1965]
reviewing an LP release that included the Villa-Lobos Choros and E minor Etude, the Falla Homenaje, and the Llobet and Turina works

JORGE BOLET LIVE AT CARNEGIE H

The incomparable flutist James Galway celebrates Christmas in Bavaria. Newly reissued by ArkivMusic and originally released in 1991, this wonderful release features the Munich Radio Orchestra with the Regenburger Domspatzen.

FANFARE FOR THE MILLENIUM

REVIEWS:
American Record Guide (11-12/97, p.122) - "...Starker plays with marvelous control and virtuosity, leaving him free to make the most of the music....Slatkin follows him beautifully, and the orchestra is terrifyingly uncompromising in their response..."
BBC Music (4/98, p.73) - Performance: 3 (out of 5), Sound: 3 (out of 5) - "...The opening flourishes [of the Elgar] are perfectly played but alarmingly matter-of-fact....Slatkin makes the most of the colourful and often lush scoring [of the Walton]..."

EDUARDO MATA EDITION VOL 9 - C

DVOR·K: SYMPHONY NO 8, SERENAD

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

Here's another spectacular release from RCA Japan's Ormandy/Philadelphia edition, courtesy of Arkivmusic.com's "on demand" program. These are wonderful, truly Romantic performances featuring amazing playing, string sound that's beyond gorgeous, and interpretations that have a lot more subtlety than Ormandy usually gets credit for. The Seventh is particularly impressive, one of the finest versions available, full of tension in the outer movements, capped by a blazing coda that puts many other, better-known recordings to shame. Listen to the woodwinds cut through the full orchestra in the fortissimo counterstatement of the first movement's main theme without significant orchestral retouching; or notice the exciting transition to the scherzo's main section--there are many such distinctive moments here.

The Eighth is just as fine, and even better recorded, with more presence from the timpani and a bit more air around the instruments. In the first movement it's amazing to hear string playing with such incisive rhythm, particularly at the climaxes, and it's instructive to note how much passion this generates at a basically moderate tempo. The Adagio's exchanges between winds and strings couldn't be better timed; the third-movement waltz is, as you might imagine, the last word in sophisticated phrasing; and the scherzo-variations in the finale is a riot, with bright horn trills and, in the coda, a really vulgar (and totally apt) trumpet smear to cap the festivities. Ormandy also takes the violins up an octave just before the end, between those slashing final chords, arguably a more effective option than the Czech tradition of doubling them with horns. Hearing these performances again is like getting reacquainted with a best friend that you never should have lost touch with over the years.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com