Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 13: Grieg: Piano Concerto, Balla

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 26

The famous Salome Closing Scene here is still the best of all in many ways: tone bright, defined and sustained like a laser beam, timbre womanly-strong and girlish-fresh, energy inexhaustible, with resources (sparingly exploited) of wilful shrewishness and devouring sensuality. There have been subtler versions, and perhaps we are now spoilt by recordings where the splendours of orchestration overwhelm as they cannot really do here: a fine orchestral performance under Reiner, none the less, and no apologies needed. As Philip Hope-Wallace felt, however, reviewing this selection in 1969, admirers of Welitsch -in the flesh" might well feel apologetic about the "Vissi d'arte", shallow in feeling, short-breathed in phrasing. Better is her Donna Anna, better still, perhaps, her Zigeunerbaron solo. But the Salome is what matters: "singing with her nerves," as PH-W said, "at a tension which is not in the slightest danger of snapping".

-- Gramophone [5/1984]

One of the more disingenuous lines of ad copy attached to RCA's Kapell Edition has got to be that "[Kapell] was able to attract the finest artists to him." Well, sure, but it probably didn't hurt that the artists Kapell "attracted" were also under contract to RCA. And while no one would argue with a description of violinist Jascha Heifetz or violist William Primrose as being among the finest artists, cellist Edmund Kurtz might not rank among everybody's short list.

Be that as it may, the Kapell-Primrose collaboration on the Brahms Viola Sonata in F minor is beyond all argument, superb. Primrose plays the piece with a warm-hearted tone and open-hearted interpretation, and Kapell doesn't so much follow Primrose as wrap himself around him like a comfortable sweater. Less convincing is the Kapell-Heifetz performance of the Brahms Violin Sonata in D minor, especially if you have an antipathy toward Heifetz's playing in general and his Brahms playing in particular. Heifetz is simply too hard-hearted and unyielding for Brahms. And Kapell himself seems uncomfortable with Heifetz's interpretation: rather than a comfortable sweater, Kapell sounds like a too-tight straitjacket.

The surprise of this volume of the Kapell Edition is Edmund Kurtz. While not in the same league as RCA's house cellist Piatgorsky, Kurtz turns in a driven yet expansive performance of the Rachmaninov Cello Sonata. Together with Kapell's vigorous piano playing, Kurtz turns in nearly as fine a performance of the Rachmaninov as is imaginable. One of the more interesting volumes in the Kapell Edition.

-- James Leonard, AllMusic.com

This is a very sprightly Trout. The first movement, a true Allegro vivace, gives a joyful feeling of onward momentum, but poised and well in control so there's no sense of undue hurry. The lively yet easygoing style persists in the Scherzo and finale. The quintet's bright textures suit the clear, picturesque sounds of period instruments admirably: I especially enjoyed the light, seemingly effortless brilliance of the piano's upper register — the third variation in the fourth movement shows this off to perfection — and the way the characteristic 68 Gramophone February 1999 sonorities of the lower strings emerge so clearly. But there are some disappointments; Schubert's many pianissimos rarely sound soft or mysterious enough, and I felt often that the string phrasing should move further away from classical elegance towards romantic breadth. In the two slower movements particularly, the best modern instrumental versions, such as those led by Brendel and Curzon, achieve a more intense expression of Schubert's unique lyricism.

Bylsma plays the Arpeggione Sonata on a five-string violoncello piccolo. The result is wonderfully convincing; the light, reedy tone, often with minimal vibrato, is very appealing, and the high-register passages sound entirely natural and unforced. Immerseel's Viennese-action instrument, too, is especially evocative and sweet-toned here. The Notturno, however, despite some fine playing, slightly misfires, missing the mystery and excitement of La Gaia Scienza (also on period instruments), or the tranquillity and grandeur of Schiff, Shiokawa and Perenyi (their two-disc set of the piano trios also includes a warmly expressive account of the Arpeggione Sonata).

This well-recorded disc is certainly a recommendation for a period-instrument Trout, and as authentic-sounding an Arpeggione as one is likely to hear.

-- Gramophone [2/1999]

Embraces its historical lineage...luminous and pulsing.

This isn’t a new release. Maw’s Violin Concerto was written with Joshua Bell specifically in mind in 1993; the recording followed in September 1996. In the very enthusiastic sleeve-notes – I’m not sure how Maw feels about being described as a “genius” – great play is made of the work in relation to the Brahms Violin Concerto. Certainly it has a complex romantic affiliation but the composers’ names that occurred to me were those of Prokofiev and Walton. Not that Maw could be remotely taken to be either of them – but in its cultivation of an almost Italianate lyricism it does summon up the memory of Walton’s Mediterranean work and in its fusion of melodic beauty and scherzo drama it must pay at least oblique, tangential historical homage to Prokofiev.

The Concerto is cast in four movements. It opens with ruminative slowness but then opens out into a flourishing, rich and luminous sound world, bedecked by manifold orchestral and solo felicities; those little orchestral lurches toward the end for instance. The second movement is indeed Walton-like in its vivacity but Maw’s control of lingering lyricism, finely woven into the work’s fabric, ensures seamless warmth from the current-swell of dynamism that he generates. The lodestones here are Prokofiev and Barber but they’re securely absorbed into Maw’s lyric modernist world. The powerful cadential passage over a sustained orchestral chord is followed by a muted upwards drift into orchestral nothingness, a Cherubini-like stroke of translucent and mysterious beauty.

Maw’s predilection for major chords – the C major especially – permeates the third movement. Harmonies are richly complex and there are elements of post-impressionism in the writing, as well glimmers of Berg; but over and above such composer-spotting moments, which are essentially incidental, is the sense of luminous quiet, the rapture, the specific and yet endless personal landscape that Maw evokes. And when he unleashes the finale it comes brimful with tunes, vibrant and exciting, richly orchestrated.

Throughout Bell plays with the romantic ardour that Maw identified – and so admires – in him. His playing manages to balance scrupulous cleanliness of attack with tonal warmth and pliant phrasing. Norrington marshals the LPO in assured, colouristically aware fashion and the recording does full justice to the enterprise.

The Maw is a concerto that embraces its historical lineage without being shackled by it. If you admire the Berg, Barber, Walton and Prokofiev concertos, and like orchestration that is both luminous and pulsing then this is the work for you.

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

Track Listing
1. House of Henry Jekyll, The - (opening credits, with London Symphony Orchestra)
2. Birth of Hyde, The - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
3. Announcement, The - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
4. Story of the Scars, The - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
5. Mary's Errand - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
6. Mrs. Farraday's - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
7. It Comes in Like the Tide - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
8. Mary Meets Hyde - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
9. Shopping Trip, The - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
10. Butler's Night Off - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
11. Haffinger's - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
12. Transformation, The - (with London Symphony Orchestra)
13. Mary Reilly - (end credits, with London Symphony Orchestra)

The London Symphony Orchestra includes: George Fenton (conductor); Lucia Lin, Janice Graham (leader, solo violin).

Recorded at CTS Studios and Abbey Road Studios, London, England.

Personnel: Lucia Lin, Janice Graham (violin).

Recording information: CTS Studios, London, England; EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England.

George Fenton's score for the artsy horror film Mary Reilly is appropriately gothic and haunting, capturing the essence of the movie. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

BACH: SINFONIAS & ORCHESTRAL M

This CD contains both DDD and ADD recordings.

This selection contains both DDD and ADD recordings.

Includes fanfare(s) by various composers. Ensemble: Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Steven Mercurio.

Rubinstein Collection, Vol 22: Brahms: Concerto No. 2; Grieg

Artur Rubinstein. RCA RCD1-7156 [Ballades, with Scherzos]; 5613-2-RC [19 Nocturnes; 2 CDs]; 5614-2-RC [51 Mazurkas; 2CDs]; 5615-2 [7 Polonaises]; RCD1-5492 [14 Waltzes]

If there is one sure bet in the music of Chopin, it is Artur Rubinstein. His recordings of the composer’s music can be recommended without hesitation for their warmth, lyricism, and expressive point. Never over-interpreted, the music emerges with spontaneity and freshness in his accounts, always alive, always delightful and surprising. His fiery renditions of the Ballades and Polonaises combine drama and poetry in brilliant fashion, while his readings of the Nocturnes, Mazurkas, and Waltzes are notable for their Mediterranean color and unerring sense of mood. The sound of the 1960s stereo recordings for RCA may occasionally lack depth and seem slightly veiled, but it holds up well enough to convey unmistakably the tone and the touch that made Rubinstein one of the greatest pianists of all time. – Ted Libbey, author of The NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection.

Rubinstein Collection, Vol. 69

Eduardo is the brother of Gregorio Paniagua, whose early-music ensemble (including Eduardo and two more brothers along with several other members) created a lot of fun on records back in the 1970s. The all-stops-out approach was then the prevailing style in medieval music (René Clemencic and the late Michael Morrow were two kindred spirits with a similar approach). Now Eduardo gives us medieval Spanish music in the same vein, rich in instrumental interludes and accompaniment and instrumental renditions of several pieces.

Some of the cantigas in this collection, mostly unrecorded until now, form a unified group in the appendix to the original manuscript. Those who are familiar with the manuscript El Escoriai j.b.2 (long available in facsimile) will recall that, in addition to the Prolog and 400 cantigas (plus two more not notated) in the main body, there is an appendix in front containing a Prolog and twelve more cantigas. Note that here the pieces in the appendix are numbered 410-422 in Walter Mett-mann's scheme, instead of the usual numbering supplied in the facsimile (Ap. I, Prolog, and Nos. 1-12). (Appendix II, a set of ten cantigas found in another manuscript from Toledo now in the Madrid National Library, is another matter. Three of these have been recorded.)

Of this group of thirteen cantigas, only the popular Nenbre ssete, Madre de Deus (421 in this numbering) and three others have ever been recorded even partially. Four other cantigas from the main list are also included, of which Quantos me treveren hárán (120) was recently recorded complete by Sequentia (Fanfare 16:5), and four more are performed instrumentally. The cantigas are sung with all the verses (complete performances are now the norm, a benefit for grasping the form of the works), so this set ranks with the most important collections in the recent discography (18:5, p. 83; see another collection in 19:2).

The performances are lively and informed by a native awareness of the content and context. If they lack something, it is the contrast that would relieve the incessant excitement of the approach that Paniagua favors. Some of the loors, or songs of praise, that Paniagua adds from the main body of the collection provide this relief, including Velia e minya ( 180), which he singles out as the most beautiful song on the disc.

The performing forces are varied, with two sopranos, a countertenor, and a tenor, as well as choirboys from the monastery at the Valley of the Fallen (outside Madrid). Countertenor Luis Vicent produces more of a falsetto than a true countertenor voice. The usual wide variety of period instruments is employed with abandon. Four of the selections run about fifteen minutes, and two of them would be even longer if some verses were not recited over the music. Two of them include all of thirty verses, surpassing the twenty-five verses of Quen a festa et o dia (195) that Thomas Binkley once recorded (his is still, however, the longest performance on disc at twenty-six minutes). I count 127 cantigas on disc now, but that still leaves almost 300 to go. There are collections of cantigas that I enjoy more, but no one who is aggressively amassing a cantiga collection can afford to pass up this one.

-- J. F. Weber, FANFARE [5/1997]