BEETHOVEN: DIABELLI VARIATIONS

TCHAIKOVSKY: SYMPHONY NO 5, TH

SCHUBERT: QUINTET IN C, RONDO

JARRE BY JARRE - FILM THEMES O

STRAVINSKY: APOLLON MUSAGËTE,

As sparkling and invigorating a Swan Lake as anyone could wish, with the LSO in top form throughout and clearly enjoying themselves.

...The new recording from Michael Tilson Thomas doesn't include the added Prince Siegfried/Odile pas de deux..., but it has everything else in its favour and is fitted comfortably on to a pair of CDs. The break, however, comes in the middle of the "Danses des cygnes" divertissement, about seven minutes before the end of Act 2. The recording, made in Watford Town Hall, is first class in every way; full and vivid, nicely balanced with a fine concert-hall effect, and certainly spectacular in the climactic moments, which Tilson Thomas clearly relishes (and so do the brass and percussion, which are placed in convincing perspective). Without losing the rhythmic ballet feel, Tilson Thomas treats the score slightly more freely than the other conductors..., the ebb and flow of phrasing and tempo less determined by the demands of the theatre, more by the way he feels the music's natural flux. This is immediately demonstrated in the Introduction to Act I, with its opening languor, followed by a fairly swift accelerando to the climax and enormous energy from the strings in the Allegro giusto which opens the act. Indeed, the lively numbers (the motto vivace coda of the Act 1 pas de deux, for instance) are as sparkling and invigorating as anyone could wish.

The LSO are on top form throughout and clearly enjoying themselves. The string phrasing is warm and polished and the two string soloists, Alexander Barantschik (violin) and Douglas Cummings (cello) are splendid... [T]the LSO wind soloists offer much to seduce the ear and continually demonstrate the composer's wonderfully imaginative orchestral palette. -- Gramophone [4/1992]

THE ROYAL EDITION - WAGNER: OR

RACHMANINOV: PIANO CONCERTOS N

MOZART: STRING QUINTETS NOS 3

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, Op. 125 & Overture from Fidelio

"Webern’s chamber music for strings stretches throughout his career, from the lushly Romantic Slow Movement of 1905, through the vividly expressionist Five Movements completed four years later, to the lucidly canonic String Quartet of 1938. On the way, there are an early single-movement Quartet that shows the influence of Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, the aphoristic Bagatelles, Op. 9 (‘Every glance can be stretched out into a poem, every sigh into a novel,’ wrote Schoenberg in his preface to the score, ‘but to express a novel in a single gesture, a joy in a single intake of breath – such concentration is found only where self-pity is lacking to a corresponding degree’)...The Emerson takes a broader view of the 1905 Slow Movement than the Artis Quartet, which sounds a little impatient with the piece. Elsewhere, however, the Artis is more than able to hold its own against the polished playing of its American rival – indeed, the warmth of the performances on this newcomer inclines me to put it forward as a first choice...Urgently recommended."

-- BBC Music Magazine Reviewing Nimbus 5668

How this terrific 1991 release escaped my piano CD radar I'll never know, yet I'm grateful to Arkivmusic.com's on-demand reprint program for bringing it to my attention. The unrelenting octaves, unforgiving leaps, and sundry stamina-testing challenges that Stravinsky heaps upon pianists in his Three Movements from Petrouchka do not faze Yefim Bronfman's stentorian technique at all. Moreover, his splendid ear for tone color and sonority often evoke the original "accordion-like" orchestrations, especially in the Shrovetide Fair's chordal climaxes.

In an era where many recent recordings of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition are overrun with interpretive graffiti and textual revisions (if it's good enough for Horowitz, it's good enough for [fill-in-the-blank]), Bronfman's vividly characterized yet breathtakingly honest pianism is a balm, together with his perfectly judged tempos and tempo relationships.

Bronfman's performance of Tchaikovsky's Dumka is not just a makeweight, but rather stands as one of this undervalued composition's most distinctive recorded versions. The central virtuosic flourishes exude power and poise, while the lyrical sections stand out for Bronfman's suave fingerwork and heartfelt, singing tone. True, the recorded sound is slightly dry, but you hear everything Bronfman does just the same. Highly recommended.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

SALON MUSIC OF THE 19TH CENTUR

This is the best of Salonen's Nielsen cycle, featuring performances of great thrust and unflagging energy, played with the necessary sharp rhythmic focus, and vividly recorded. The Sixth Symphony comes off especially successfully: Salonen's unsentimental approach does justice both to the "semplice" elements in the opening movements as well as to the grotesque humor of the finale, with the result that the music's tragic outbursts register all the more forcefully. And while there may be warmer versions of the Espansiva on disc (Bernstein, Schonwandt, or Blomstedt), few offer as much visceral excitement or textural clarity, particularly in the first and third movements. If you are looking for this coupling, then having this title available "on demand" from Arkivmusic.com provides a very viable option.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

VERDI: QUATTRO PEZZI SACRI V