The music of Wilhelm Killmayer needs no declaration of facts, nor a declaration of love. Like almost no other music it "emanates from itself", is autonomic. For the premiere of "fin al punto" (which was written for the twentieth anniversary of the Munich Chamber Orchestra) in 1971 Wilhelm Killmayer wrote the following text: "The calm already contains the catastrophe. Out of the calm grows the movement that drives itself to the furthest extreme of its powers, where it collapses. It is the point at which one gives up, beyond which one can escape into the open."
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FIN AL PUNTO POEMES SYMPHONIQ
$20.99
$15.99
CD
Wergo
Oct 01, 1996
WER66062
Klughardt: Lenore - Symphonic Poem, Op. 27; Gernsheim: At A Drama / Mayrhofer, Anhaltische Philharmonic
Sterling Records
Available as
CD
$20.99
Aug 01, 2013
KLUGHARDT Symphony No. 2, “Lenore”1. GERNSHEIM Zu einem Drama2 • 1Manfred Mayrhofer, 2Klaus Arp, cond; 1Anhaltische PO; 2SWR Kaiserlautern SO • STERLING 10962 (51:07)
This disc is a bit of an oddity with respect to the contents. While released only in 2012 and coming to me this year, the recordings on it were made respectively on October 14, 2002 (a live concert performance of the Klughardt) and July 6, 1995 (a studio recording of the Gernsheim). No explanation is provided as to why the issuance of either item was so long delayed. At any rate, these are world premiere recordings of two works by two significant but hitherto neglected German composers of the Romantic era, whose music has only in the last decade or so become somewhat better known. As I have approvingly reviewed previously issued discs of other works by both composers in these pages, I happily return to both of them again.
In 34:5 and 36:4 I favorably reviewed CDs of chamber music by August Klughardt (1847–1902): two different recordings of his Piano Quintet, coupled respectively to ones of his String Quartet and Piano Quintet. While noting that he became an avowed disciple of the Liszt/Wagner “New German School” after meeting Liszt (an event variously dated to either 1871 or 1873 in different sources; 1871 appears to be correct), the major influences on his chamber music were Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms, with some Liszt thrown in at points for good measure. By contrast, in this Symphony, Klughardt’s allegiance to Liszt and Wagner—albeit the earlier Wagner of Rienzi and the scenes of pageantry in Tannhäuser and Lohengrin—is complete and self-evident.
The “Lenore” Symphony has a decidedly complicated background story. Klughardt worked on the score between 1871 and 1873, immediately upon first meeting Liszt. At this time he also met Joachim Raff, who was likewise identified with the New German School to the extent that he approved of and wrote program music. Unaware that Raff also was working on a symphony (his No. 5) based on the poetic ballad Lenore by Gottfried August Bürger (1747–1794), Klughardt discussed the poem with Raff and played portions of his draft score for him. Raff apparently said nothing to Klughardt and proceeded to finish and premiere his own work first. When Klughardt later became aware of Raff’s Symphony, he wrote Raff a letter in which he apologized to him for poaching on the latter’s turf. Moreover, he then published his own work as a symphonic poem rather than a symphony, though he continued to number it as a symphony in his personal catalog. This in turn has led to confusion among writers as to whether Klughardt wrote six or seven symphonies. To complicate the numbering of Klughardt’s symphonies further, there are: a) an unpublished early Symphony in F Minor, performed in 1871 but then withdrawn by the composer; and b) another Symphony in F Minor, dating from 1876, that was numbered and published as his Symphony No. 2. Thus, depending on who has counted what, this “Lenore” Symphony has been variously referred to as an unnumbered symphonic poem, Symphony No. 1, or Symphony No. 2.
The “Lenore” Symphony is cast in four movements, although the second and third ones are joined together such that they form one continuous movement and effectively reduce the total to three. The music follows the plot of the poem quite closely (Klughardt prefaces each movement with a quotation from the ballad). The young maiden Lenore anxiously awaits the return of her sweetheart Wilhelm, who has been fighting as a soldier in the army of King Frederick II of Prussia in the Seven Years’ War. The war has ended and soldiers are returning, jubilant, from the battlefield. When Wilhelm fails to appear, the distraught Lenore utters a blasphemous attack upon God, which causes all to withdraw from her in horror. Deserted, she suddenly hears a knock at the house door; she opens it and to her joy Wilhelm is there, clad in armor. He tells her that he has come to take her to their wedding bed; they mount his steed and gallop off. As they ride, the increasingly agitated Lenore asks her lover a series of questions, to which she receives increasingly cryptic and ominous replies. At their destination they dismount; Wilhelm now reveals his true form as a skeleton, and escorts Lenore to their wedding bed—the grave. Her wish is fulfilled, albeit not as she had hoped.
The first movement (Heftig bewegt—Violently turbulent) represents the anxious vigil of Lenore. It opens with a dramatic, declamatory theme on the lower strings—one which recurs throughout the entire work—that sounds startlingly like the motif that Modest Mussorgsky later created to signify the brutal boyar Ivan Khovansky in his Khovanshchina. A contrasting lyrical second theme appears occasionally; I presume that this signifies Lenore’s love. The succeeding Scherzo is dominated by a brashly vulgar and raucous march tune, accompanied by loud percussion, depicting the triumphal parade of the returning soldiers. This segues without pause into the third movement (Langsam, aber durchaus leidenschaftlich—Slow, but passionate throughout), which depicts Lenore’s despair and her blasphemous outburst with music of a gentle, sweet melodiousness that belies the putative subject matter. The Finale (Mässig—Moderately) opens with a dotted eighth-note theme representing Lenore’s and Wilhelm’s ride, and then at various points recalls material from the previous movements, ending with the opening theme of the first movement transformed into a peaceful close in the major key.
The first time I listened to this piece, without having read the booklet notes in order to avoid creating any a priori prejudices, I was thrown for a loop and heartily disliked it, thinking it was a piece of ramshackle incompetence because the movements did not follow standard symphonic structures such as sonata or rondo forms. The second time I listened to it, after reading the booklet notes and re-approaching it instead as an extended symphonic poem (or as a symphony after the manner of the Dante and Faust symphonies of Liszt), it began to grow on me, and after several more hearings I have come to like it a great deal, admiring its unconventional boldness. Klughardt reported to friends that Wagner, the work’s dedicatee, said to him: “After reading through your symphony I must confess that I regard you as a notably gifted person: it is no small achievement to bring such a score to this world.” However, the booklet notes for one of the Klughardt chamber music CDs I previously reviewed state that Wagner rejected the dedication with the dismissive comment that he “perceived the whole merely as a study very much in need of correction in terms of style.” Whether only one or both of these is true, I cannot ascertain; I can only say I enjoy it thoroughly.
I have sung the praises of Friedrich Gernsheim (1839–1916) on several occasions, including a review in this issue of a disc of his symphonies Nos. 1 and 3. Zu einem Drama, his one other major orchestral work apart from his four symphonies, was composed in 1902 and published in 1910. Here, Gernsheim’s oft-noted close similarity to Brahms is quite evident; indeed, this work is a step-brother of Brahms’s Tragic Overture, not only musically but also thematically in that their titles do not point to any more specific programmatic content. Gernsheim’s work has its own distinctive traits, however; it is far more ambitious in scope, lasting almost 18 minutes as opposed to about 12 for the Tragic Overture, and the orchestration is more brilliant in a way that shows Gernsheim was not impervious to the music of Wagner and Richard Strauss. Laid out in a modified sonata form with contrasting interludes, it is a work of great substance and integrity that grows upon me with each new hearing.
The Anhaltische Philharmonie is based in Dessau, the city where Klughardt spent the last two decades of his life; the Kaiserlautern Symphony is located in the city of that name in the southern Rhineland, very close to Worms where Gernsheim was born and raised. Both orchestras play very well for their respective conductors, who are able interpreters. The recorded sound for both items is excellent; the hall in Dessau obviously has first-rate acoustics. A bit oddly, in the “Lenore” Symphony the audience noise between movements is neither edited down to a seamless transition nor left intact; instead, a few seconds of noise is left after each movement, followed by the sudden break of a silent interval between CD tracks. The very informative program notes for the “Lenore” Symphony are written by Klughardt scholar Alan Krueck; those for Gernsheim’s Zu einem Drama by the noted British music critic Malcolm MacDonald. If you are someone who is interested in exploring lesser-known 19th-century orchestral repertoire, this disc provides a most inviting portal into that realm; heartily recommended.
FANFARE: James A. Altena
Klughardt: Lenore - Symphonic Poem, Op. 27; Gernsheim: At A Drama / Mayrhofer, Anhaltische Philharmonic
$20.99
CD
Sterling Records
Aug 01, 2013
CDS1096
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
MYTO Historical
Available as
CD
$13.99
$6.99
Jul 08, 2014
This Myto release of Gaetano Donizetti’s repertoire staple opera ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’ with its famed “mad scene” features, among others, a stellar trio of singers at or near their respective vocal primes in Renata Scotto, Alfredo Kraus and Sesto Bruscantini. + This live recording from July, 1963 finds distinguished conductor Bruno Rigacci, a musician with over 100 operas in his repertoire, directing the proceedings.
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Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
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MYTO Historical
Jul 08, 2014
MYTO335
Schmitt: La Tragedie de Salome, Musique sur l'eau, & more / Falletta, Buffalo Philharmonic
Naxos
Available as
CD
$19.99
$13.99
Nov 13, 2020
Florent Schmitt was a student of Massenet and Fauré, and winner of the coveted Prix de Rome. His impressionistic style blends influences ranging from Debussy to Wagner, with references to Stravinsky and other contemporaries. Conceived as a ballet but revised as a symphonic poem, La Tragédie de Salomé depicts Salome’s dangerous seductiveness with subtle magnificence. Narrative symbolism also applies to the evocative word painting of the exquisite Musique sur l’eau. The perilous saga of Oriane et le Prince d’Amour contrasts with the poetic tapestry of orchestral colors in Légende, in a version that replaces the original solo saxophone with violin.
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REVIEW:
Although Florent Schmitt lived until 1958 and took an interest in musical trends of the day, his fundamental style never really changed. It tightened up a bit under the influence of Stravinsky but remained essentially late Romantic. JoAnn Falletta has been an unfailingly successful advocate of Schmitt's on disc. There are quite a few versions of La tragédie de Salomé available, but none more refined and silky than this one. The Buffalo Philharmonic is a polished orchestra and has a wonderful satin feel for French music. The smooth acoustic of Kleinhans Hall and Naxos’s customary transparency do the rest.
All told, this is a winning release. In the vanishing wake of dodecaphonic music, where process was everything, we seem to be rediscovering beauty and meaning in composers who were, so to speak, left behind. More power, then, to Florent Schmitt!
– Fanfare
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Schmitt: La Tragedie de Salome, Musique sur l'eau, & more / Falletta, Buffalo Philharmonic
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$13.99
CD
Naxos
Nov 13, 2020
8574138
Rameau: Zoroastre / Kuijken, La Petite Bande
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi
Available as
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$41.99
Jan 28, 2010
A major achievement - John Elwes is a stylish and eloquent Zoroastre and Gregory Reinhart makes a formidable Abramane with a commanding vocal presence. Rameau's Zoroastre should afford enduring pleasure.
Here once more, but in a new CD format, is Zoroastre, Rameau's penultimate tragedie-lyrique. Readers who bought the earlier CD issue when Deutsche Harmonia Mundi were distributed by EMI (1/88) will not be amused to learn that a new booklet has been prepared for the BMG release; this contains the full text of the opera, legibly printed and now with an English translation. Thanks are due to BMG for repackaging an otherwise excellent product, thus making it accessible to a wider listenership.
Zoroastre was first performed in Paris in 1749 and was, by and large, well received. But the librettist, Cahusac was taken to task by some for relegating the love element in the opera to a secondary place. When it was revived in 1756 Cahusac made shifts of emphasis within the plot and it is this version as it first appeared, rather than that which involved yet further small changes later in the season, which is performed here. The libretto deals with the conflict between Good and Evil or Light and Darkness central to Zoroastrianism. Oromases, King of the Genies, represents the former and has Zoroastre as his high priest, while Abramane, high priest of the Temple of Darkness represents the latter. The chief protagonists in the drama are Zoroastre and Abramane who vie for power, glory and love; their characters are skilfully and often strikingly portrayed by Rameau, whose score is richly endowed with bold dashes of colour.
I very much liked this performance when it was first issued on LP in 1984 and feel much the same about it now. John Elwes is a stylish and eloquent Zoroastre and Gregory Reinhart makes a formidable Abramane with clear diction and a resonant, commanding vocal presence. His "Osons achever de grands crimes" (Act 3 scene 2) with its syncopated accompaniment and characteristically effective bassoon writing, is especially noteworthy. As I have remarked in previous reviews, the three principal female roles are sung well though I should have liked greater aural contrasts between them. Agnes Mellon as the innocent Cephie is a particularly happy piece of casting, though Mieke van der Sluis as the jealous Erinice is rather less so. Her voice is a warmly alluring one but seems ill-suited to the darker shades of this character. Greta de Reyghere brings warmth and clarity to the role of Amelite though she does not entirely succeed in conveying the danger and unpleasantness of her predicament.
La Petite Bande is on its liveliest form and Sigiswald Kuijken's direction reveals an insight into and affection for Rameau's music. In spite of some reservations, this is a major achievement and the work one that should not be omitted from any serious opera or baroque enthusiast's library. The recorded sound is excellent and as I have already indicated, the discs are now accompanied by an informative and helpful booklet. Rameau's Zoroastre should afford enduring pleasure.
-- Gramophone [6/1991]
Rameau: Zoroastre / Kuijken, La Petite Bande
$41.99
CD
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi
Jan 28, 2010
DHM77144
Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 18 & 22 (arr. I. Lachner)
Naxos
Available as
CD
$19.99
Sep 26, 2025
Ever mindful of the accessibility of his works for amateur musicians, Mozart wrote, in a letter to his father, that his Piano Concertos Nos. 11-14 could be performed 'a quattro', with the accompaniment of string quartet rather than with full orchestra. Ignaz Lachner, a contemporary and associate of Schubert, saw great potential in chamber music arrangements and produced performing versions for piano, string quartet and double bass of many of the Mozart piano concertos. His considerable skill as a composer enabled these concertos, among them Nos. 18 and 22, to flourish in a more intimate setting.
This CD release marks the start of a creative partnership between the Oslo Philharmonic and LAWO Classics. Alexander Scriabin’s deep immersion in esoteric philosophy and related spiritual awakening became integral to his art. The Russian composer’s initial conservative musical language evolved in the early 1900s and opened up to daring harmonic territories. His art was influenced in part by his reading of Helena Blavatsky’s The Secret Doctrine, a syncretic blend of ancient wisdom, occult practices, mysticism, and critical reactions to Darwin and modern "materialist" science.
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REVIEWS:
Petrenko shows an excellent grasp of each symphony's dramatic trajectory, and a broader than usual awareness of the creative legacy within which Scriabin worked.
– BBC Music Magazine
Petrenko’s debut disc with his new Oslo band should not be overlooked: Scriabin’s virtuosic writing holds no terrors for them, and they wallow in the “Voluptés” of No 3’s central movement with ravishing transparency. The Poem of Ecstasy is heady stuff, brilliantly played.
– Sunday Times (UK)
Scriabin: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 / Petrenko, Oslo Philharmonic
$18.99
SACD
LAWO Classics
Nov 06, 2015
LWC1088
ROSSINI LA FILLE MAL GARDEE BOUTIQUE
ALTO
Available as
CD
$11.01
May 14, 2013
Classical Music
ROSSINI LA FILLE MAL GARDEE BOUTIQUE
$11.01
CD
ALTO
May 14, 2013
AOTL1213.2
Largo
Haenssler Classic
Available as
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$19.99
$14.99
Aug 15, 2001
Largo
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Largo
$19.99
$14.99
CD
Haenssler Classic
Aug 15, 2001
98386
Seraph / Tine Thing Helseth, Ensemble Allegria
LAWO Classics
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$18.99
Jan 13, 2023
Tine Thing Helseth is back with a new release – “Seraph” – this time together with Ensemble Allegria. Helseth and Allegria have had a close association for many years and have appeared together at the Bergen International Festival, the Northern Lights Festival in Tromsø, the Oslo Chamber Music Festival, and on the main stage at the Norwegian National Opera. This release features some familiar as well as lesser known works for trumpet and string orchestra by composers from Norway and abroad, with the first four written for this instrumentation, while the last three were arranged by Jarle Storløkken. In Tine’s own words: “Seraph” is an album I have wanted to record for a long time, both because of the repertoire and the ensemble I’m playing with. I studied together with these musicians and many are good friends I’ve known for a long time. This makes it all the more rewarding, fun and inspiring to play together!
Seraph / Tine Thing Helseth, Ensemble Allegria
$18.99
CD
LAWO Classics
Jan 13, 2023
LWC1251
Hesse, Lasker-Schüler: Ich habe dich gewählt. Symphonic poems
Musicaphon
Available as
CD
$16.99
Jul 23, 2021
Lutz-Werner Hesse studied School Music and Composition with Günter Fork and Jürg Baur at the Cologne Academy of Music as well as Musicology, Latin Philology and Ancient History at the University of Cologne. Since 1984 he has been a full-time lecturer, now Professor and Managing Director at the Wuppertal campus of the HfMT Cologne. From 1997 to 2011 he was chairman of the “Bergische Gesellschaft für Neue Musik“, and since 2004 he has been chairman of the “Konzertgesellschaft Wuppertal“, the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra sponsorship association. The main focus of Hesse‘s compositional work is on chamber music and orchestral works. Hesse has received numerous commissions for various orchestras in Germany and has worked for important soloists (including Marie-Luise Neunecker, horn and Ulrike-Anima Mathé, violin). His most successful work to date is the composition “Vita di San Francesco – eleven stations from the life of Saint Francis of Assisi” for organ and thirteen gongs, which has now been performed well over eighty times. Hesse‘s works have been performed in many European countries, but also in the United States of America and Japan. The WDR, SR and SWR radio stations produced his works or recorded them at concerts. Albums with works by the composer have been released on the labels “col legno“, EMG classical, Musicaphon and Ars Produktion.
Hesse, Lasker-Schüler: Ich habe dich gewählt. Symphonic poems
Second of three instalments in this Lazic-de Vriend-Bergen Philharmonic unique project. Famous Concertos nos. 21 & 9 are alongside the Rondo K. 382. Once more all candenza and leads-in are inventive creations by Lazic. Fanfare (USA): I find Lazic and de Vriend's K 449 quite exhilarating and rate it an unmitigated success. Classica (FR): In total: a record of quite astonishing eloquence. Luister (NL): Recommended.
Accordionist and composer Charles Peguri was a pioneering recording artist. Along with Emile Vacher he shares the title of originator of the "musette" style, this unique French (shall we even say "Parisian" ?) dancing and already swinging way of playing the accordion. Symbol of the 1930's popular "bals musette", these compositions haven't aged at all! Includes a 12 page booklet with both French and English notes.
Charles Peguri Compositions 1907-1930
$20.99
CD
Frémeaux
Jan 01, 1995
FA021
Froberger: The Strasbourg Manuscript / Ludger Rémy
CPO
Available as
CD
$18.99
Oct 01, 2000
Like his contemporary Louis Couperin, Johann Jacob Froberger preferred to let his music speak for itself. He left no known treatises to clue the interpreter one way or the other as to interpretation, save for the usual dance markings in the suites themselves. Once in a rare while he'll title a movement programmatically, alluding to an extramusical subject (such as in the Allemande of Suite III here subtitled "Wasserfall" or waterfall); but otherwise, the performer is left to freely interpret within the stylistic keyboard parameters of the time. For the less imaginative performer this can be stultifying. For the adventurous one however, the rich variety of Froberger's ideas can bring great joy.
On this new two-CD set from CPO, harpsichordist Ludger Rèmy is thankfully up to the task. He offers the debut recording of Froberger's complete autograph Strasbourg Manuscript, an amazing collection of 14 keyboard suites brimming with fine ideas which was discovered in 1675, eight years after its composer's death. How youthful and exuberant these works are! And how pensive and introspective they can become. The scope and variety of Froberger's imagination places him on par with Rameau, the Couperins, Frescobaldi, and d'Anglebert in their prime. In Germany certainly, he had no peer before J.S. Bach. Listen to the marvelous Gigue in Suite XII, for instance. Rèmy's pointed contrapuntal voice-leading may make the piece impossible to dance to--it is, after all, a stylization--yet it's musically fascinating, a real treat for the ear. In the Allemande of Suite IV, Rèmy treats each run as if it were a new beginning; a fresh start in a series of fresh starts that ends up completeing the piece. The simple minute-long Courante in Suite X is a model of dignity undermined, with it's cocky twists and flourishes humorously interupting the march. This set is loaded with similarly brilliant inventive moments.
CPO's sound is excellent; Rèmy's harpsichord has sufficient weight, yet sparkles gracefully. His fascinating, personal notes are appropriately suited to the diverse interpretive nature of the program. Since this is the only recording of these pieces, there is no comparison. However, for those inclined to further their enjoyment of Froberger, I heartily recommend last year's "Ou L'intranquillité" by longstanding Froberger champion Blandine Verlet (Astree Naive), as well as a much older, transcendental program performed by Enrico Baiano (Symphonia). Like these, this recording could not be recommended more highly! --John Greene, ClassicsToday.com
Froberger: The Strasbourg Manuscript / Ludger Rémy
$18.99
CD
CPO
Oct 01, 2000
999750-2
Leipzig! Grieg, Svendsen, Hartmann, Reinecke for Wind Octet
LAWO Classics
Available as
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$18.99
Apr 25, 2014
Classical Music
Leipzig! Grieg, Svendsen, Hartmann, Reinecke for Wind Octet
$18.99
SACD
LAWO Classics
Apr 25, 2014
LWC1058
Martha Argerich In New York, 1966
IDIS
Available as
CD
$20.99
Nov 13, 2015
The complete Carnegie Hall debut of the then 25 year old Martha Argerich in 1966 is the subject of this marvelous collection highlighting as it does her incipient musical gifts that continue to enthrall audiences today. Argerich's performance can be appreciated with the uncommonly good technical quality this recording possesses, and her program which included Prokofiev, Liszt, Chopin and Schumann hint delectably at the nascence of the legend she would go on and continues to build.
Martha Argerich In New York, 1966
$20.99
CD
IDIS
Nov 13, 2015
IDIS6707
Schmitt: La Tragedie de Salome & Chant elegiaque
Alpha
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$20.99
$15.99
May 17, 2024
In 1907, Florent Schmitt composed music to accompany a ‘mimodrame’ danced by Loïe Fuller, La Tragédie de Salomé. His score is bursting with colour, energy, and voluptuousness – and also with oriental influences stemming from his travels to Morocco and Constantinople, where he discovered the howling dervishes. The final scene features the heart-rending ‘Chant d’Aïça’, an oriental melody sung by a soprano. This music, though bold and modern for the listeners of 1907, nonetheless aroused the admiration of another composer, Igor Stravinsky, to whom Schmitt dedicated the Symphonic Suite he subsequently derived from the work. However, Alain Altinoglu, at the helm of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra of which he has been Music Director since 2021, has chosen to record the original version of this landmark of early twentieth-century French music. The beautiful Chant élégiaque, in its 1911 version for cello and large orchestra, completes this programme.
Franco Gulli was a violinist from Trieste and was one of the most important artists in the 20th century. This release collects three wonderful and sensational recordings that show his incredible talent and artistic greatness.
Adalbert Gyrowetz is one of the numerous, highly talented Czech musicians of the 18th century who received an excellent education in Prague and then turned to the musical centers of Europe. His music is strongly influenced by the classical language of Haydn. Architectural structures, harmonic progressions of tension, instrumentation, disposition of a cycle, representation of affect, and the general idea of music as a balanced language of feeling and reason dominate the aesthetics of this style. The quartets for flute and string trio are all in three movements with the tempo sequence fast-slow-fast. Around 1800 this was rather the exception, since Haydn's mature string quartets had established four movements. The duration of the pieces is about the same as the total duration of a "normal" four-movement chamber work of the time.
In addition, it is interesting that the voices, especially those of the flute, violin, but also viola and cello, feature rapid and virtuosic solos. Gyrowetz thus writes a cycle of three lively quartets that want to be nothing more than virtuoso divertissements and amusements with esprit. The composer has succeeded in this!
Bianca e Falliero was commissioned by La Scala, Milan, for its prestigious Carnival season of 1819-20, enjoying a run of no fewer than 39 performances. Rossini responded with a score the virtuosity and expressivity of which outdid even his Neapolitan works. Prevailing tastes at La Scala meant that ensembles predominated over arias but behind the conventional dictates Rossini lavished the utmost care on his work, fashioning an opera full of dramatic coloratura and powerful theatrical craft and notable for its rich and often surprising harmony.
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Rossini: Bianca e Falliero / Fogliani
$35.99
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CD
Naxos
Sep 08, 2017
8660407-09
Franck: Violin Sonata; Prelude, Fugue Et Variation; Prelude, Choral Et Fugue
Piano Classics
Available as
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$21.99
$10.99
Jul 30, 2013
This marks the CD premiere of the piano transcription of the Franck violin sonata by Alfred Cortot - with new pianistic textures giving a special sonority to the unique harmonies of the masterpiece - paired with the Prelude, fugue et variation transcribed for piano by Harold Bauer. Domenico Codispoti plays with a beautiful blend of grandeur and intimacy and a wonderful transparency.
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Franck: Violin Sonata; Prelude, Fugue Et Variation; Prelude, Choral Et Fugue
$21.99
$10.99
CD
Piano Classics
Jul 30, 2013
PCL0052
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Le Nozze Di Figaro (London, 1961)
Walhall Eternity Series
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CD
$10.99
Oct 09, 2015
What many celebrate as the reference studio recording of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro was recorded in 1959 with the same orchestra, chorus, conductor and famed soprano in the role of the Countess Almaviva. This live recording, captured a mere two years later London in 1961, with almost an entirely different cast excepting the great German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in the aforementioned role makes for a superb complimentary recording to it's near contemporary, it's fine cast including, among others, Heather Harper and Elisabeth Söderstrom at the start what became prominent careers.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Le Nozze Di Figaro (London, 1961)
$10.99
CD
Walhall Eternity Series
Oct 09, 2015
WLCD0339
Schnittke: Variations On One Chord, Piano Concerto / Lyubitskaya, Gorenstein
Fuga Libera
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$10.99
Jun 10, 2008
SCHNITTKE Piano Concerto.1 Improvisation and Fugue. Variations on a Chord • Victoria Lyubitskaya (pn); Mark Gorenstein, cond;1 Russian St Academy O1 • FUGA LIBERA 532 (44:11)
Alfred Schnittke (1943–1998) remains one of the seminal composers of the late 20th century, and any new recording of his music is welcome. His Piano Concerto was completed in 1979 and exemplifies his polystylism, bringing in echoes of Baroque and Classical music while undermining them with kaleidoscopic shifts of emphasis and cluster-filled interruptions. The composer himself described the result as musical “sleepwalking,” although the Concerto lacks the rambling quality of his austere late works.
Lyubitskaya’s playing is exceptionally clear, and she is ably supported by Gorenstein and the Russian State Academy Orchestra. The orchestra has a distinguished recording history, while Gorenstein was responsible for excellent Schnittke performances on the short-lived Popemusic label (albeit with a different band). As recorded here, the orchestral strings have that “glassy” sound we used to hear in early digital releases, despite this being a 2005 recording. The piano sound and balance are fine.
Lyubitskaya shines in the solo piano works, both written as student test pieces earlier in the composer’s career. She is more incisive than is Boris Berman on Chandos, underlining a stylistic link between early Schnittke and Shostakovich.
So this disc is recommended, but with the proviso that 44 minutes is unacceptably short timing for a full-priced CD, especially when other versions of the Piano Concerto are available. On the cheap Apex label you will find one by Viktoria Postnikova, conducted by her husband Gennady Rozhdestvensky (both close friends of the composer), which is the favorite in several online reviews. I find Postnikova heavy-handed and her approach unvaryingly monumental, preferring a more rounded performance by Ralf Gothoni on Ondine, if you can find it. The latter’s strings are better recorded, Gothoni’s pianism is subtler and at times genuinely dreamlike (cf. sleepwalking), while the couplings are substantial: the Third Violin Concerto and Third Violin Sonata with Mark Lubotsky.
However, if you don’t want much more than the concerto, Lyubitskaya will do you proud.
FANFARE: Phillip Scott
Schnittke: Variations On One Chord, Piano Concerto / Lyubitskaya, Gorenstein
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CD
Fuga Libera
Jun 10, 2008
FUG532
Hummel: Sonata In E Flat Major, Sonata In F Major / Alexander-Max
Chandos
Available as
CD
$21.99
$16.99
Nov 17, 2009
HUMMEL Piano Sonatas: No. 2 in E?; No. 3 in f. Bagatelle in A?, “La contemplazione” • Susan Alexander-Max (fp) (period instrument) • CHANDOS 765 (67:11)
Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778–1837) is an important transitional composer, especially from a pianistic viewpoint, between the late-18th and early-19th centuries; he is, unfortunately, also a composer who is underrepresented in the recording catalog. Among currently available recordings, Stephen Hough seems to be the only figure of international standing performing today to have devoted any effort to him. Two recordings that I think have stood out in the last 20 years have been the aforementioned one by Stephen Hough of three sonatas for Hyperion (67390), recorded back in 2003, and Dana Protopopescu’s album for Koch Discover (920237) of three sonatas, recorded in 1995. They both bring a virtuoso technique and a good musical sensibility.
Though I am no fan of the fortepiano, Alexander-Max is a good advocate for both the instrument and the repertoire. Her playing has sensitivity and a good attention to articulation and detail. Sometimes though, it is her attention to these small elements that hampers the overall flow of the music. Her tempos in the fast movements tend to be on the slow side: this provides her ample opportunity to bring out many details, but also tends to make the rapid scale and arpeggio patterns sound a bit sluggish. In comparing just the timings of the final movement of the F-Minor Sonata’s finale, marked Presto, Alexander-Max clocks in at 5:22 to Hough’s 3:59! There is no repeat in this movement, so the temporal difference is not reflected in the omission of any material. Even Protopopescu, who does not play this movement nearly as fast as Hough, clocks in around 5: 01—still over 20 seconds faster than Alexander-Max.
Tempo is not the only factor that makes the fast movements seem sluggish though; it is also the lack of intensity brought to many of the figurational patterns that lead to important beats. The focus for example in the E? Sonata’s finale, this time marked Allegro con spirito, seems to be more on the clarity of notes than on the constant surging motion. In the passage from 00:20 to 00:24, Hummel marks a crescendo moving from piano to forte in the span of two measures. In this performance, though a small crescendo does exist, the kind that Hummel requires does not. The tension and release inherent in the sudden dynamic buildup and rest, held with a fermata that follows this passage, is lost. Though the passagework is clean and articulate, the musical excitement is absent. There is a lack of drama.
There are many good aspects to this album as well. My favorite piece that the pianist plays here is the Bagatelle in A?. Marked Larghetto, it is a fantasy in which much of the beginning material comes back with added figuration. Here, Alexander-Max chooses not only a good tempo, one that flows and allows the movement to progress naturally, but also brings all of her interpretative skills to the fore. She maintains an acute sense of articulation and voicing, and a quality of freedom, almost improvisatory at times—all essential for a fantasy. Her ending pianissimo is as delicate and beautiful as any I’ve heard.
This is a fine addition to the recorded discography of Hummel’s music. I would especially recommend it for period-instrument enthusiasts, though the two previously mentioned recordings, by Hough and Protopopescu—both on modern grand pianos—provide good, in some cases excellent, readings of this much-neglected repertoire.
FANFARE: Scott Noriega
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Hummel: Sonata In E Flat Major, Sonata In F Major / Alexander-Max
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