Gramophone (UK): Another collection of archive CDs celebrates the considerable artistry and beautiful tone of the American cellist Christine Walevska... In her prime Walevska was one of those players who virtually became her instrument Musicweb (UK): The variety of repertoire and accompanying orchestras and accompanists shows that she managed to sustain a strong career over the years and the performances reflect a broadly French-Russian inheritance, subtly deployed. This is a fine box that brings Walevska to renewed notice.
Pianiste (FR): Not to be missed! Musicweb (UK): Now, however, Rhine Classics has collected all Fiorentino's Saga records, in recordings made between July 1958 and June 1960, and remastered them in this 10-CD box. The pianist at the time seems to have been omnivorous
Musicweb (UK): The audio sources for these inscriptions have been very well preserved and the resultant sound quality compares favourably with a commercial studio recording of that period. This is a first CD release. I hope that more recordings of this wonderful violinist surface in the future. She deserves to be heard.
After the premiere recording of Reynaldo Hahn's concerto (released by RH-022), this is another premiere recording by Szeryng: Benjamin Lees's violin concerto. This 2CD set also includes: Brahms violin concerto with Wolfgang Sawallisch, Bach and Szymanowski violin concerto with Ernest Ansermet, Bartok violin concerto with Ernest Ansermet: all never before published recordings.
Sergio Fiorentino (1927-1998) exceptionally detested any superficial gestures and facial expressions when sitting at his instrument. In that respect and in his general view on making music he was true to pianists like Rachmaninov and Moiseiwitsch. The utmost technical difficulties were executed by his hands, and he showed neither strain nor superfluous movements, also never compromising in tempo. His hands always close to the keys, he exerted wonders of clear articulation and full piano tone. Never did he sacrifice the music to show off his tremendous technical endowments. Rhine Classics' collection will comprehensively represent all the significant "non-commercial" recordings left by Fiorentino (from Master's Private Archive), in top-quality remastered sound.
After 9CD in memoriam "inédits et introuvables" (RH-019), this is another treasure recording of Ivry Gitlis. From the never published studio recording in Denmark. With Natalia Likhopoi (Great Russian violinist Viktor Tretiakov's wife), Gitlis plays Concerto for 2 Violins in D minor.
Brahms, Mozart, Berg et al: a la memoire d’un ange - Christian Ferras In Memoriam
Rhine Classics
CD
$64.99May 19, 2023
All recordings are first published here, including two most important ones: Ferras's first concert in the USA (playing Brahms' violin concerto with Charles Munch in Boston) and Ferras playing Mozart's violin concerto No. 3 for Pope John XXIII in 1963, one of the most powerful experiences of Ferras' life.
A young prodigy, Jean Ter-Merguerian got the “1st Prix” at the Marseille Conservatoire at the age of 11 in the violin class of Gabriel Rey. On May 18, 1947 he undertook his debut as soloist with the Vivaldi Concerto in A minor and Mendelssohn Concerto in E minor with the Orchestre du Conservatoire under the baton of André Audoli. In the same year his family immigrated to Soviet Armenia Republic, where he continued his musical studies in Yerevan with Karp Dombayev and then at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of David Oistrakh. The present release contains never before released recordings by this master.
Gary Lemco writes: “My own beguilement with Szeryng came with his performance in 1987 Atlanta with Louis Lane, of the North American premiere of the 1927 Concerto by Reynaldo Hahn, the French master of the Belle Epoch. “Ah, yes”, asserts Szeryng, “Reynaldo Hahn, the most Parisian of all Parisians, even though he was born in Caracas of German parents. There is even a street in Caracas named for him. I remember meeting him; and even though he was trained as a pianist, he had a natural sense of the violin. Some favor his Violin Sonata. The Concerto is published, but for some reason nobody plays it. The first movement for me is the best and most compact and makes a natural display piece. The second movement is based on a song from Tunis — absolutely genuine— and the finale sings in a typical operetta style. It starts like an extension of the second movement and has tremendous wit and charm. And, to be sure, it is a challenge.”
REVIEW:
Szeryng was a class act. His tone pure yet full-bodied, his phrasing the product of a rounded and cultivated mind.
-- Gramophone (Reissue/Archive Issue of the Month, December 2021)
Pietro Scarpini was that rare combination: a highly intellectual pianist with a virtuoso technique. He was a dignified and solitary person with a serious approach to music, single-mindedly following the course of his artistic convictions without compromise. Musicweb writes: ‘The sixth and final volume of a wonderful recorded legacy. As with the previous volumes, the remasterings are superb in every respect. The whole Scarpini project has been a labor of love for Emilio Pessina and I thank him for his commitment and endeavors.”
Discovered Tapes - Beethoven: Piano Sonatas / Scarpini
Rhine Classics
CD
$37.99Apr 01, 2022
The Italian master pianist Pietro Scarpini played Bach's "Die Kunst der Fuge" from memory and was an early pioneer of Schönberg, Berg, Busoni, Dallapiccola and Hindemith. Until now his art remained almost inaccessible. Rhine Classics' complete collection will include 33 albums to comprehensively represent all the significant recordings left by Scarpini, many recorded privately. Musicweb writes: “Scarpini’s legacy can now be seen in all its variety and richness in this series of Rhine releases and this latest example is no less impressive than the previous examples.”
Israeli violinist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Ivry Gitlis enjoyed a long and successful career performing alongside the world’s top orchestras including the London Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In his latest years, Ivry Gitlis listened to all our restored and remastered audio tracks via video-chats and over the phone, and being very pleased with the final result, he approved them for release, as his greatest wish was that his live legacy would never be forgotten. This present collection has been conceived as a double tribute to Ivry’s art: posthumous, in memoriam of his death, and, in perspective, as a celebration for the centenary of his birth.
This new, exciting release will allow listeners to rediscover a great and too often forgotten pianist- Pietro Scarpini. “This set will appeal especially to aficionado’s of great pianism and will be of added value in enhancing Scarpini’s scant discography. The albums are complemented with a beautifully illustrated booklet. Rhine Classics have carefully restored and remastered these valuable aural documents in 24bit 96KHz sound.” (MusicWeb UK) “Piano-wise Rhine Classics has given us a stimulating six-album set of Pietro Scarpini playing Busoni and Liszt [...] all played with intelligence and the odd tell-tale flashback to old-world performing gestures.” (Gramophone UK)
Rachmaninoff: Complete Solo Piano Works / Fiorentino
Rhine Classics
CD
$74.99Jul 17, 2020
Recorded live in September 1987, this release features Fiorentino’s legendary complete survey of Rachmaninov’s solo piano works. “…an utterly mindblowing release of the complete Rachmaninoff solo piano music by Italian master pianist Sergio Fiorentino, to whom the piano world owes a huge debt of gratitude for coaxing the master out of retirement and ensuring that his last decade of concerts was recorded. In this set, we find in absolutely stunning sound quality Fiorentino’s masterful traversals of Rachmaninoff’s solo works, the golden sheen of his sound and refinement of his nuancing as captivating as his passionate and intelligent interpretations.” (The Piano Files)
Franco Gulli was one of the most prominent and active Italian violinists of the latter part of the twentieth century. He began his studies with his father (a pupil of Ševcík and Marák at the Prague Conservatory), then went to Arrigo Serato in Siena and later to Szigeti in Switzerland. His varied and significant career included leading the Orchestra of the Pomeriggi Musicali, Milan, for several years, after which he took up a similar post with Virtuosi di Roma. Gulli's activities included a considerable volume of teaching and he was well-respected in this rôle, giving masterclasses all over the world and sitting on the juries of several international competitions including those in Brussels, London, Genoa, Munich, New York, and Indianapolis. He was a member of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome, the Accademia Cherubini, Florence, and the Reale Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna, as well as holding a Professorship at Indiana University. The present release features newly remastered live recordings surveying forty years of Gulli's career.
A recital by Piero Scarpini, the pianist who put his art at the service of 20th Century music, is always a source of stimulating modernity, even when he sits at the piano and plays masterpieces of the past. Those who are familiar with Scarpini and his personal conflict with contemporary music, know in fact, that his Bach, his Mozart, and his Beethoven can not be solely "some works" selected at random from any pianist's repertoire, but they will always be "that" Bach, "that" Mozart, and "that" Beethoven, which for their interpreter are the most innovative and in some way "contemporary." These live recordings were taken from Scarpini recitals dated 1953, 1961, and 1974.
Ruggiero Ricci followed the tradition of Vasa Prihoda, the Czech virtuoso, who performed Paganini as a central part of his repertory (Ricci gave the US premieres of both the 4th and 6th Violin Concertos). Giving so much attention to the works of the Genoese composer, as he later said, he learned much of the violin-technique from Paganini's works. Mainly for this reason, Ricci was often associated with Paganini, but during his life he was firmly opposed to any categorization, and indeed he was known to say: "A specialist is somebody who plays all the other types of music worse." This 4-album set presents live and studio recordings, ranging from 1946 to 1970, including some rarities, which have never before been commercially released.
From 1947 to 1956 Ruggiero Ricci played on the 1734 Guarneri del Gesu "Ferni, Duc de Camposelice" and from 1956 to 1999 he usually played on the 1731 Guarneri del Gesu "Gibson, ex-Huberman, " which he purchased in 1977. For him the Guarneri sound (as opposed to Stradivari) was a matter of preference, able as it was to give the required brilliance, color and attack that he sought. Until 1981 he also owned violin Lorenzo Storioni c. 1779, with which he recorded the 6 Bach Solos on February 27-28, 1981. This 4-album set presents live and studio recordings, ranging from 1952 to 1986, including some rarities which have never been released commercially, like the Bartok Romanian Folk Dances, Bloch Violin Sonata No. 1, Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 1, and Saint-Saens Violin Sonata No. 1 Op. 75.
Ruggiero Ricci is recognized to have greatly contributed to the world's renewed appreciation and affection for the great 19th century composers, though he maintained a broad repertoire including over 50 concertos with orchestra. Ricci has performed the world premieres of several contemporary composers including Gottfried von Einem, Richard Flury, Urs Joseph Flury, Vittorio Giannini, Alberto Ginastera, Alexander Goehr, Gail Kubik, Benjamin Lees, Gerard Shurmann and Carlos Veerhoff. His official discography encompasses the widest repertoire of any violinist. This six-album set presents live and studio recordings, ranging from 1951 to 1978, including some rarities, never recorded commercially, like the Ginastera Violin Concerto, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze Violin Concerto, and Paganini Violin Concerto No. 6.
Yitzhak-Meir (Isaac) Gitlis was born in Haifa, Palestine Mandate to Jewish parents, who emigrated in 1921 from Kamianets-Podilskyi, Russia, now Ukraine. In 1951, as suggested by his teacher Alice Pashkus, Gitlis participated in the Long-Thibaud Competition in Paris, where he took fifth place. During the preliminary stages of the competition a rumor circulated that he had stolen a Stradivarius violin during the war, which caused a scandal on the day of the final. Six years after the fall of Hitler, being a Jew in France was still causing debate. In 1963, he was the first Israeli violinist to play in the Soviet Union. He gave a series of concerts under the cultural exchange program of the Soviet Union and Israel, starting in Vilnius. His other concerts were given in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and Odessa. In the same year, invited by Giancarlo Menotti, he played in Italy at Spoleto’s “6th Festival dei Due Mondi.” This release features early recordings from Gitlis, dated between 1949 and 1963.
MusicWeb writes of this album: “The value of this release lies in the rarity of these captivating scores, performed by a violinist with a close affinity to both- This interesting release focuses on the Italian violinist Alfonso Mosesti (b. 1924). The recordings have scrubbed up well for their age and provenance thanks to the expert remastering of Emilio Pessina. The documentation is second-to-none, written by Gianluca La Villa, who sets the music in some sort of historical context. The beautifully reproduced black and white photographs are the icing on the cake.” The two pieces featured on this release were recorded at the Auditorium Foro Italico, Rome, November 1959, and the Teatro Comunale Comunale Giuseppe Verdi, Trieste, 1953.
This release includes the entirety of Wanda Luzzato’s recorded legacy. The tracks have been dutifully restored and remastered for a better listening experience. The songs on this release are previously unreleased recordings. MusicWeb writes: “Valuable recorded documents from the Wanda Luzzato Archive. - I would encourage all violin afficionados to explore this compelling collection. I’m most impressed by Rhine Classics presentation. Everything about this production spells quality. [...] Luzzato commands a formidable technique. Her tone is sweet and pure and comes over as silvery in some recordings… Intonation is for the most part pristine. She seems to be greatly influenced by Heifetz in her use of expressive slides and position changes. Emilio Pessina’s expert restorations and remasterings are to be commended.”
MusicWeb wrote of this new release: “This is a valuable addition to the discography. The Los Angeles concerts of 1963-1964 were given at the Hollywood Bowl, in which Heifetz and Piatigorsky played the Brahms Double with Leonard Bernstein, and at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion where the violinist essayed the Beethoven with Zubin Mehta. Neither concert has apparently been issued before. There are two bonus tracks, previously released, that come from the Bell Telephone Hour with Donald Voorhees conducting in Radio City, New York in February 1950. The Evorak is tightly coiled, cloaked and hooded, full of inimitable tonal splendor and not remotely relaxed while the Sarasate Habanera is suave and bewitching. Cembal d’amour once issued this but their transfer is cloudy and palpably inferior to this one.”
Aldo Ferraresi was one of the most celebrated Italian concert violinists of all time, who has recently, unfortunately, fallen into relative obscurity. Born in Ferrara to a mandolin player, he began his studies at the age of five at the Frescobaldi Institute of Music in Ferrara. When he was twelve, he was admitted to the Parma Conservatory. Later, he would receive a degree in violin from the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. His recording heritage is presented here for the first time. The recordings on this album span a period of time from 1960-1973, during Ferraresi’s later life. Several world-renowned conductors are featured on the release, including Aram Khachaturian, William Walton, and Carlo Zecchi. The presented repertoire is mostly romantic, but also includes classics from Mozart as well as newer concertos from Benjamin, Khachaturian, and Shostakovich.
