What is spontaneous creativity? I imagine a kind of spring, no, rather a waterfall. Something gushes forth, seemingly eternally, effortlessly and never running dry, from the pen of Domenico Scarlatti, from the fingers of Christoph Ullrich. An unimaginative person like me thinks: That's it now. He can't think of another sonata that doesn't repeat something long since invented. But yes, there's another one! New again, different again, freshly born again.

What do 555 sonatas mean? It means: an infinite number of sonatas, let anyone count them. This is exactly how Christoph Ullrich proceeds in the 12th of 17 episodes. Not only is every new Scarlatti sonata unique, but every version that Ullrich plays is also new. He cannot play such a unique piece the same way twice. He keeps telling me during the recordings: turn the tape back on, I'll try something else. Both like children at play, endlessly creative. Every version is bursting with ideas, every bar, every take. Every day, every second. All double unique! Domenico's Ullrich? Christoph's Scarlatti!

"We are very happy to present this collection of completely unknown yet outstanding pieces to the public. We hope that the charm of the Latin Song of Songs text together with the absolutely unique and elaborate musical settings we chose for this program will surprise and captivate you with its eternal beauty." - Agnieszka Budzinska-Bennett, founder and director of Ensemble Peregrina

REVIEW:

This album contains a collection of completely unknown and yet outstanding pieces inspired by the Latin text of the Song of Songs and originating from various regions, England, Silesia, France, and Bavaria.

Agnieszka Budzinska-Bennett once again demonstrates a thorough understanding of this repertoire. The inspired narrative performance is impeccable, and the singing is very expressive throughout, powerfully luminous and richly colored. The voices are perfectly blended with flawless intonation.

Thanks to Tacet’s Real Surround Sound, the sound is once again of the very best quality.

The booklet contains notes and translations of the lyrics in German and English.

-- Pizzicato

Better little than toovyl (*) - Vinyl. But what a vinyl! Granted; you could have added a gold border and numbered it; but I honestly forgot; and between you and me - does that even matter with TACET? Everybody knows it already. Sound at its best; Inspiring Tube Sound; side 2 even in TACET Playbackwards mode; and then only the music! When the cellos start very softly; so softly and tenderly that you feel all the melancholy; all the homesickness of Dvorák in the New World for his homeland; if you want to turn up the volume; no no; don't do that; at least not toovyl; you will hear why - have fun! * untranslatable German wordplay

"... They (Bartók and Kodály) wanted not only to put the Hungarian into the light, not to serve a mere colony of German music history, but to study folk music in all its manifestations, moreover - Bartók said in 1931 - to serve the fraternization of peoples. Later they explicitly aimed at "a synthesis of East and West".
This very turn from the Hungarian to the global is nowhere more evident than in one of the last works, the Concerto for Orchestra, which outwardly echoes the Hungarian Pictures as they do the early period of folk music research..." (from the liner notes by Jan Reichow) This recording (like the entire TACET catalog, by the way) not only captivates on first listen, but invites you to savor countless small details, each twist a treasure that András Keller and the musicians of Concerto Budapest bring out as knowledgeably as they do lovingly.

This is not the ninth 5th, but still the fifth 9th symphony by András Keller with Concerto Budapest on TACET! After Bruckner, Dvořák, Shostakovich and Schubert (it now counts as the 8th), now Mahler. An impressive testament to the range of this unusual orchestra and its unique conductor. Certainly there are countless other recordings, also very good, of these last finished symphonies of great composers. However, I find that Keller's interpretations, with his unconditional will to express in detail, can compete with any, even the best known. Recordings of that repertoire in TACET Real SS are completely new. They bring to light previously hidden beauties and place the listener in the middle of the music. This also allows you to hear these works in a completely new way.

A romantic horn melody from the distance is taken up by the woodwinds, continued by the cellos and violas, takes hold of the entire orchestra and leads into an exuberant, lively Allegro. Seemingly so simple everything and yet highly complex. And also the interpretation seems effortless despite all finesses, hair-raising technical difficulties, despite all discussions about styles of interpretation. - Who cares? Without resistance we surrender to this flow of melodies, harmonies, coldness gives way to warmth, and willingly forget for an hour all struggle and cramp around us.

Sometimes time flies by. For example, when something stimulating happens all the time, as here with the new volume No. 8 of the complete recording of all 555 sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti. And not because of the two organ sonatas, which are actually played here on an organ, nor because of the acoustics at the new recording venue Marienmünster. Once again, Christoph Ullrich is exclusively responsible for these stimuli, and he knows how to shape these gems, which seem to have been written for him, with such never-ending imagination, exuberant ideas, nuances that always seem spontaneous but are nevertheless carefully woven, that two hours go by like two shooting stars.

A Beethoven cycle that is fun from the first to the last note! Wojciech Rajski guides us through the sheer inexhaustible wealth of ideas energetically and sensitively, humorously and dance-like, with radiant elegance. And he brings to light details that have never been heard before. Pleasure without pathos. The highly acclaimed series was created between 2005 and 2015 in Sopot (Poland) and in St. John's Church in Gdansk. It has so far been released on CD, SACD, Bluray and also LP in individual editions. But Rajski's Beethoven not only has musical qualities that go far beyond the "normal", it also sets recording standards.

TACET's Inspiring Tube Sound, for example, continues to find new enthusiastic fans. That's why the series is now being released once again, as a limited LP box set for exclusive collectors. "Half-speed" mastered, the suitable sides in the legendary "play backwards" mode (also a TACET development), 180g pressings, in a particularly high-quality presentation with gold edging, in a linen-covered box and with serial numbers (total edition of 1000) as well as signed by the producer.

This disc from Tacet gives the listener a unique opportunity - that of hearing a master musician playing seven different instruments from 1640 - 1992 in the same piece. It is a fascinating exercise and proceeds thus: Amati (1640), Guadagnini (1771), A Guarneri (1671), P Guarneri (?), Horvath (1992), Stradivari (1683), Vuillaume (1870) - it can be seen that the important Cremonese makers are covered together with a fine French manufacturer and a modern Hungarian model. So, does it make a big difference? Well, yes & no - clearly the player makes the greatest difference between a good and bad sound but as the music & musician are constants here the differences are startling. One of the greatest contrasts is between the two Guarneri's (A is P's grandfather) with the more modern instrument sounding considerably richer. It is no surprise that the most rounded sound comes from Gawriloff's usual" instrument (and this spoils the experiment a little) - the Strad! Also, the thinnest sound comes from the Horvath but this isn't far behind the older Guarneri & I'm sure given a bit more time to mellow will be a fantastic instrument to play & hear! If you are concerned that hearing the same piece 6 times (Bach's Sarabande from the D-minor partita) is boring, well it isn't here. Gawriloff then treats us to a nice mini-recital on, presumably, his favourite 5 with each piece being chosen to suit the instrument (or was it vice versa?) Either way, the performances are good without being exceptional, although this is largely a reflection that the music chosen isn't absolutely first rank. The younger Guarneri is given a sonata by Veracini, the elder is given Kreisler's Variations on a theme of Tartini. We are then treated to a beautiful rendition of Dvorak's Romantic Pieces on the Stradivari, followed by Paganini's Cantabile on the Amati. Finally & the choice here is wonderful, the Horvath in Webern's Four Pieces Op.7 where the slightly wirey timbre suits the sparse textures. In the mini-recital, Gawriloff is ably partnered by Kira Ratner who is competent but not inspiring. The sound is, unusally for Tacet, completely straight and well balanced with a nice distance between us and the musicians so that there is some accoustic presence but not overly so. My slight gripe is that the playing time is under 53 minutes, so there would have been ample opportunity to demonstrate the Guadagnini & Vuillame in more substantial repertoire." John Broggio Total playing time: 52'40

This recording is another one of those gimmick" discs that Tacet is constantly throwing our way, with the end result being some seriously good listening for everyone. The concept here has the violinist, Saschko Gawriloff, playing seven different violins, of different vintages, in a kind of "show-down." All seven violins are used to play the Sarabande movement from Bach's Partita No. 2 in D, and then several of the individual violins are used for a variety of pieces including works from Veracini, Kreisler, Dvorak, Paganini and Webern. It's much more than just an exercise, hearing the seven instruments back-to-back playing Bach, and really interesting how very different they all do sound, indeed! The remaining tracks are all accompanied by Kira Ratner on piano, and all tracks are recorded using vintage tube microphones. The sound quality is uniformly superb, regardless of which layer you choose to listen to, though the SACD tracks get my nod for best overall sound. As with the Bach disc above, the multichannel layer uses the surround channels for additional ambience, which does help provide an improved perception of image depth. The supplied booklet has numerous photos, along with a brief history of each violin's maker. So which of the seven violins is the big winner? That's hard to say ? they all have their own uniquely impressive musical qualities ? but I don't think it's a coincidence that soloist Saschko Gawriloff chose three of the Cremona violins for use in three of the five additional works found on the disc. Whether the Guarneri, Stradivari or Amati was in use, each sang with a beauty and purity of tone that was just unmatched by the rest of the competition. Maybe there was something in the water, or the soil that the trees grew in that provided the wood for these incredible instruments ? whatever, nothing in modern times comes even close. Highly recommended." Tom Gibbs Total playing time: 52'40

Mieczyslaw Wajnberg: Works for flute features the new-generation flautist Antonina Styczen together with the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Wojciech Rajski, and distinguished young chamber musicians Zuzanna Fedorowicz and Pawel Czarny. The album includes four catalogued pieces for flute composed by the Polish-Jewish composer-Mieczyslaw Wajnberg. Antonina Styczen, freelance flute player, soloist, and explorer of modern musical currents, graduated with distinction from both the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw and the prestigious conservatory Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid. She is the laureate of numerous music competitions and beneficiary of various scholarships. She has also performed as a soloist alongside ensembles including the Silesian Chamber Orchestra and the Polish Chamber Philharmonic, as well as esteemed musicians such as Hansjorg Schellenberger and Siegfried Mauser.

“...Ice-cold princes and ladies of the court were seen to cry when he played an adagio. Tears often fell from his own eyes onto his violin as he played... His bow-stroke was slow and stately; but unlike Tartini, he did not tear out the notes by the roots, but kissed only their tips. He played staccato very slowly and every note seemed to be a drop of blood, which flowed from the most feeling of souls.” Just one example of the quotes that Wolfgang Wedel has dug out to accompany this recording. This one refers to Pietro Nardini but it could just as well apply to Daniel Gaede, sympathetically accompanied by Wolfgang Kühnl. OK, so maybe not the bit about tears! But the sensitivity of Gaede’s violin playing is difficult to describe adequately. Over and above this, there are a few unusual encores by the likes of Shostakovich, Korngold or Suk to be discovered. A recording for music lovers and connoisseurs to savour, not to mention lovers of the warm, nostalgic Tube Sound.

The commercial discography of pianist Josef Lhévinne (1874-1944) is pitifully small - a single CD’s worth and not jam-packed at that. Born in Oryol in Central Russia he studied with Vassily Safonov in Moscow, began his international career in the early 1890s, taught, returned to Moscow as a professor, and then moved on to Berlin. The pattern is unsettled but things got worse. He was interned during the First World War but was finally allowed to emigrate to America, from which base he resumed his international career and taught. In time the latter came to occupy much more of his time than performing. His wife Rosina was a fellow Gold Winner at the Moscow Conservatoire and also a formidable interpreter and teacher.

Those few precious discs are augmented by the piano rolls he made for Welte Mignon in 1906 and 1911. They have been finely reproduced by Tacet, who are one of the leading companies in this field, and whose booklets are full of important technical details as to the system’s operation, the numbers of the particular rolls, and well produced relevant photographs.

One of his warhorses was Schulz-Evler’s Arabesken über Themen des Walzers "An der schönen blauen Donau", the Blue Danube subjected to roulades of virtuosic wit. His Victor recording of May 1928 is a classic of its kind. He cuts the impressionistic shimmering introduction for the commercial 78, to fit it to a 6:59 length but for the roll he can take as much time as he likes, and he does, taking 8:20. But note that Naxos’s transfer of this same roll [8.110677] in their Welte-Mignon series comes up short at 7:48. My own view is that Tacet’s is the more accurate roll restoration, and it also doesn’t enshrine action noise as Naxos’s does. But this kind of thing illuminates only too clearly the dangers of roll reproduction and the vagaries of the system – let alone the editorial mediations that make it so conditional and provisional a method of analysing performance practice with any kind of assurance or objectivity.

Two other rolls were the subject of studio disc recordings. Schumann’s Toccata was set down in roll form in 1906, and recorded on 78 in 1935. The narrative dynamism of the disc is remarkable, the dynamics surging and cresting, the playing full of leonine command. By contrast the roll is a broken albatross; flat, unconvincing and relatively feeble. True, there is nearly thirty years between them, but the objection relates to the mechanics by which the sound is transferred or transformed (not Tacet’s responsibility, obviously). This is even truer perhaps of Chopin’s Etude Op. 25 No.10. The passionate sweep and rubato of the 1935 disc attests to a performance of committed excellence. The roll’s runs are alas mechanical, the schema of the playing rendered antiseptic.

One must be grateful that we can ‘hear’ Josef Lhévinne in repertory he didn’t set down in the studio – there is Liszt, Rubinstein, Weber and much else in these two discs – and one can enjoy speculating as to the performances he must have given. But contrasting the same pieces in both disc and roll form reinforces, yet again, how wrong it would be to take these artefacts at face value.

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

Tracklist:

Disc One:
1. Paul de Schlozer: Étude de Concert Es-Dur op. 1,1
2. Chopin: Étude h-Moll op. 25,10 ('Oktavenetüde')
3. Benjamin Louis Godard: En route, Scherzo B-Dur op. 107
4. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: 7 Charakterstücke op. 7 Presto F-Dur Nr. 7
5. Alexander Skrjabin: Nocturne für die linke Hand
6. Schumann: Toccata C-Dur op. 7
7. Franz Liszt: Die Loreley R591, Begleitung für Sopran
8. Gluck/Brahms: Iphigenie in Aulis Gavotte aus der Oper von Gluck
9. Anton Rubinstein: Le Bal, Polka op. 14
10. Andrei Schulz-Evier: Arabesken über Themen des Walzers 'An der schönen blauen Donau'

Disc Two:
1. Carl Czerny: Kunst der Fingerfertigkeit Oktaven-Etüde op. 740,5
2. Anton Rubinstein: Kamennoi-Ostrow op. 10,22 Rêve angèlique
3. Giovanni Sgambati: Quattro pezzi op. 18,2 Vecchio Minuetto
4. Beethoven/Saint-Saens: Die Ruinen von Athen op. 113,4 Chor der Derwische
5. Moritz Moszkowski: Menuett G-Dur op. 17,2
6. Anton Rubinstein: Barcarole c-Moll op. 104,4
7. Anton Rubinstein: Album de Peterhof op. 75,9 Prélude f-Moll
8. Chopin: Mazurka Nr. 23 D-Dur op. 33,2
9. Carl Maria von Weber: Sonate C-Dur op. 24 4. Satz Rondo 'Perpetuum mobile'
10. Chopin: Étude c-Moll op. 25,12
11. Franz Liszt: Reminiszensen de 'Robert le Diable' (Meyerbeer)

total playing time: 107:15

This is not an historical recording. Yet mysteriously the music is performed in an interpretation which is historically authentic down to the last detail. The key to this mystery is: the original performer was present at the recent recording session, but not physically: the music is heard on a modern Steinway. Never has music stored in the Welte Mignon system sounded so 'right' or so well. Thanks to TACET's much-praised recording technique, and because the Welte Mignon memory system and sound production mechanism have now been newly adjusted for the first time by the leading expert in the field - and are thus able to meet TACET's requirements..(Welte Mignon was invented in 1904.) The Welte Mignon mystery can now speak to us without distortion.
Composers:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Stephen Heller (1813 - 1888)
Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849)
Theodor Leschetizky (1830 - 1915)

Performer: Theodor Leschetizky


Track Listing:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1. Fantasie c-Moll KV 475

Stephen Heller

2. Prélude op. 81, 3 G-Dur
3. Prélude op. 81, 10 cis-Moll

Frederic Chopin

4. Nocturne Nr. 8 op. 27,2 Des-Dur
5. Polonaise Nr. 9 op. 71, 2 B-Dur

Theodor Leschetizky

6. 'Souvenirs d?Italie' op. 39, 1 'Barcarolle' a-Moll
7. 'La Source', Etüde op. 36, 4 A-Dur
8. Arabesque en forme d?étude (Caprice) op. 45, 1 As-Dur
9. 'L?Aveu' op. 31, 1 As-Dur
10. Mazurka op. 24, 2 Es-Dur
11. 'Souvenirs d?Italie' op. 39, 3 'Canzonetta Toscana all?antica'
12. Impromptu op. 2, 1 'Les deux Alouettes' As-Dur

Timing: 54.23

BACH Ricercar a 6. Arrangements by Kurtág. 1 Passacaglia in c 1. Clavierübung III: Chorale Arrangements. Prelude and Fugue in a • Evgeni Koroliov, 1 Ljupka Hadzigoergieva (pn) • TACET 192 (77:31)


"[A]t the heart of this program is something remarkable, six two-piano arrangements of chorale preludes and also secular music that György Kurtág made in 1991. Kurtág’s voicing is haunting, mimicking a Baroque organ in the upper registers. Here, Koroliov’s reticence works in the music’s favor, and the clean, tonally glistening textures he and his piano partner (and life partner), Ljupka Hadzigoergieva, produce register with subtle beauty."

FANFARE: Peter Burwasser


Track Listing:
1.Ricercar a 6, C minor BWV 1079: The Musical Offering

Arrangements by György Kurtág for piano four hands
2. 'O Lamb of God, innocent,' BWV deest
3. 'Through Adam's fall entirely corrupted' BWV 637
4. 'In deep distress I cry to you,' BWV 687
5. 'But God on High' BWV 711
6. Sonatina'God's time is the best time' (Actus tragicus) BWV 106
7. Sonata I, E flat major BWV 525

8. Passacaglia C minor BWV 582, transcribed by Evgeni Koroliov

Clavierübung III - Choral Arrangements
9. 'Kyrie, God Father in heaven,' BWV 672
10. 'Christ, the world Solace' BWV 673
11. 'Kyrie, God the Holy Spirit,' BWV 674
12. 'But glory be to God on High,' BWV 675
13. 'But glory be to God on High,' BWV 675
14. Fughetta super 'These are the holy Ten Commandments' BWV 679
15. Fughetta super 'We all believe in one God,' BWV 681
16. 'Our Father in heaven,' BWV 683
17. 'Christ, our Lord, came to the Jordan' BWV 685
18. 'In deep distress I cry to you,' BWV 687
19. Fuga super Jesus Christus, unser Heiland 'BWV 689

Prelude and Fugue in A minor BWV 543, arranged by Franz Liszt
20. Prelude
21. Fugue