Search results: Search results

146 results

Products

Mondonville: Grands Motets / Jarry, Marguerite Louise Choir & Orchestra

Château de Versailles Spectacles

Available as CD

$20.99

May 13, 2022

Mondonville achieved the apotheosis of the Grand Motet à la Française: the fruit of Lalande's rhetorical heritage and Rameau's operatic style, in which he developed a sacred work symbolic of the Enlightenment. His great musical frescoes, animated by a sumptuous counterpoint that transfigures the sound of the choir, require unprecedented virtuosity to touch the sublime. A true star of the Concert Spirituel, Mondonville became its most frequently played composer, all the while serving the Chapelle Royale: audiences flocked to enjoy this "rocaille" style music, the sacred expression of Louis XV's reign. Gaétan Jarry offers us the three most splendid jewels.

Mondonville: Grands Motets / Jarry, Marguerite Louise Choir & Orchestra

$20.99
CD

Château de Versailles Spectacles

May 13, 2022

CVS063

MONTGEROULT VIOTTI MENDELSSOHN & WEBER: VIOLIN SON

RUBICON

Available as CD

$20.17

Apr 09, 2021

2021 release. Montgeroult, Viotti, Mendelssohn and Weber: Violin Sonatas.

MONTGEROULT VIOTTI MENDELSSOHN & WEBER: VIOLIN SON

$20.17
CD

RUBICON

Apr 09, 2021

RBCN1056.2

Meyerbeer: L'Africane — Vasco de Gama / Manacorda, Frankfurt Opera

Naxos

Available as CD

$35.99

May 10, 2024

Meyerbeer completed L’Africaine on the day he died and after he had changed its title to Vasco da Gama. A performing version was prepared for the premiere under its original title after the composer’s death but the new critical edition of the score recorded here reflects Meyerbeer’s original intentions. This Oper Frankfurt production features tenor Michael Spyres in the principal role, conducted by Antonello Manacorda.

Meyerbeer: L'Africane — Vasco de Gama / Manacorda, Frankfurt Opera

$35.99
CD

Naxos

May 10, 2024

8660558-60

BIENVENUE EN FRANCE

WARNER CLASSICS

Available as CD

$17.28

Nov 06, 2020

The oboe has held a special place in France's culture since the time of Louis XIV, and on Bienvenue en France the oboist Francois Leleux, partnered by pianist Emmanuel Strosser, performs works originating from the 20th century. The composers are Debussy, Saint-Saens and Dutilleux, the lesser-known Pierne, Bozza and Sancan, and the contemporary Thierry Pecou. This music could not find a more eloquent advocate than Leleux, praised by The Scotsman as "a remarkably charismatic, flamboyant performer, matching immaculate technique with a dazzlingly vivid identification with his music

BIENVENUE EN FRANCE

$17.28
CD

WARNER CLASSICS

Nov 06, 2020

WCL524957.2

Pierre Monteux Live

SOMM Recordings

Available as CD

~~$29.99~~ $22.99

Jul 05, 2024

SOMM Recordings is thrilled to announce Pierre Monteux Live, a two-CD set comprised entirely of first releases including never-before-issued performances led by the renowned conductor. Among these is a legendary 50th Anniversary performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring with the composer in attendance, given a half-century to the day after Monteux himself conducted the storied Paris world premiere! This recording captures an extraordinary moment of historical continuity: between 1913 and 1963 five decades elapsed in the evolution of 20th-century music, in the taste and understanding of the public and in the lives of both creator and pioneering interpreter. The concert was broadcast live on the BBC from the Royal Albert Hall and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra who referred to Monteux affectionately as their "Maître". Both the devoted playing and the emotional audience acclaim are preserved in vividly present sound. This set also commemorates the revered conductor - on the 60th anniversary of his death and ahead of the 150th anniversary of his birth - with moving testimony from LSO musicians involved in the landmark Stravinsky concert. These interviews were recorded between 1992 and 1995 by this set's producer, Jon Tolansky, co-founder of Music Preserved and the author of documentary features on composers and performers. Monteux is also heard speaking on tape here, in a 1955 interview and a 1959 rehearsal of the LSO in Dvorak's Seventh Symphony, providing a window onto the man's intellect, work ethic and rapport with fellow musicians. Rounding out this set are still more never-before-issued recordings of Monteux conducting the BBC Northern Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in music by Haydn, Weber and Beethoven, as well as works by Ravel, who, like Stravinsky, was a composer Monteux knew personally. To the highly discriminating players of the RPO of 1960, Monteux was a favourite guest conductor. As with The Rite of Spring, he represented a direct link to the origins of Daphnis and Chloe, another Ballets Russes production that Monteux led in it's world premiere. The RPO's Principal Clarinet, Jack Brymer, remembered "this wonderfully energetic and meticulous little man" who "even in his eighties... had the touch of elegance, the humour, the exquisite good taste" and "could produce a sudden sforzato second to none by a tiny stab of his baton." The recordings of the performances in this album, all made privately off-air from various sources, have been fastidiously polished by Restoration Engineer Paul Baily. His restoration of the recent Sir Adrian Boult Conducts (ARIADNE 5024-2) was honoured with the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Records Critics' Award) in the Historical Recordings category.

On Sale

Pierre Monteux Live

~~$29.99~~ $22.99
CD

SOMM Recordings

Jul 05, 2024

ARIADNE 5028-2

Mozart - Dans un bois solitaire... / Pierlot, Allard, Devémy, et al

Alpha

Available as CD

~~$8.99~~ $6.99

Sep 01, 2007

MOZART Symphonie concertante, K 297b. 1 Quintet for Piano and Winds, K 452. 2 Oboe Concerto, K 314. 3 Dans un bois solitaire. 4 An Chloe. 5 Die Verschweigung 6 • Fernand Oubradous, cond; 1 Arthur Goldschmidt, cond; 3 O des Concerts Lamoureux; 1,3 Pierre Pierlot (ob); 1,2,3 Pierre Lefebvre (cl); 1 Jean Devémy (hn); 1,2 Maurice Allard (bn); 1,2 Irène Joachim (sop); 4,5,6 Yvette Grimaud (pn); 2 Ludwig Bergmann (pn); 4,5 Jean Germain (pn) 6 • ALPHA 800 (75:23)

Behind this imposing stack of headnotes is a historic collection of Mozart performances, made between 1938 (the first two songs) and 1951, and taken from the archives of Radio France. As must be clear, those were difficult years for music, and for life itself, in France. In the notes, Yvette Grimaud remembers that the Quintet recording was made (in 1948) when she was eating one meal a day. No one quite knew how the music they were making was going to be issued, and no one spoke about money. No one in fact spoke; they communicated through music, and seemed otherwise dumfounded.

So this is a holy recording to her. It is also eloquent, though not perfect. One hears in the first movement of the Piano Quintet the elegance of the winds, the sensitivity of the pianist, but one also hears Grimaud rush through several phrases, perhaps to give the sense of lightness, but disconcerting nonetheless. And one hears a prominent fluff by the usually impeccable horn, Jean Devémy. (There was of course no possibility of fixing such minor gaffes.) I find those problems more than compensated for by the beauty of the slow movement, in which horns and piano play with what Grimaud calls “serene amplitude.”

The Oboe Concerto and Symphonie concertante, featuring many of the same musicians, are similarly satisfying, though the sound of the concerto seems unnecessarily distant for a recording made, even on 78s, in 1951. I am less taken with the tremulous singing of Irène Joachim: she sounds a bit like the oboists of old, wavering and Victorian.

This is a collection for wind enthusiasts, I conclude, and as such, historically interesting as well as musically satisfying.

FANFARE: Michael Ullman

On Sale

Mozart - Dans un bois solitaire... / Pierlot, Allard, Devémy, et al

~~$8.99~~ $6.99
CD

Alpha

Sep 01, 2007

ALPHA800

UGAB: L'univers de l'orgue - La Dalbade (France, 1888)

Alpha

Available as SACD

~~$31.99~~ $23.99

Aug 09, 2011

Classical Music

On Sale

UGAB: L'univers de l'orgue - La Dalbade (France, 1888)

~~$31.99~~ $23.99
SACD

Alpha

Aug 09, 2011

ALPHA652

Langlais: Complete Music for Trumpet & Organ

Brilliant Classics

Available as CD

$14.99

Apr 18, 2025

- Jean Langlais (1907-1991) was a French composer and organist famous for his sacred music and his role as organist at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Paris. - He was born on 15 February 1907 in La Fontenelle, Brittany, France. He lost his sight when he was only two years old due to untreated glaucoma. His disability did not prevent him from following his passion for music. He attended the National Institute of the Young Blind in Paris, where he studied piano and organ under Andre Marchal, and later the Paris Conservatoire, where he was a student of Marcel Dupre, Paul Dukas and Charles Tournemire. - In 1931, Langlais began teaching at the National Institute of the Young Blind, a position he held until 1976. His career as an organist took a major turn in 1945 when he was appointed titular organist at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Montmartre, a position he held until 1987. - Langlais was also a prolific composer. His musical output comprises over 250 works, including masses, motets, organ pieces, and chamber music. His compositional style combines elements of Gregorian, Baroque and modernism, characterized by a strong expressiveness and rich harmonic texture. - This new recording presents Langlais' complete works for trumpet and organ, a happy combination of s strongly melodic and a harmonic instrument. Presented are a set of Chorales, a Sonatina and series of small character pieces. - Played by Nicolas Bernard and Tommaso Mazzoletti, playing the Brondino Vegezzi-Bossi organ at St. Paul protestant church in Gland, Switzerland.

Langlais: Complete Music for Trumpet & Organ

$14.99
CD

Brilliant Classics

Apr 18, 2025

BRI96956

RHAPSODY: CELLO SONATAS

ERATO

Available as CD

$17.49

Feb 05, 2008

RHAPSODY: CELLO SONATAS

RHAPSODY: CELLO SONATAS

$17.49
CD

ERATO

Feb 05, 2008

EAO85786.2

Pierre Monteux - A 150th Anniversary Tribute

SOMM Recordings

Available as CD

~~$18.99~~ $14.99

Aug 15, 2025

SOMM Recordings marks the 150th Anniversary of the great French-American conductor Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) with his live performances of Claude Debussy's Images pour orchestre and Igor Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms. These 1961 broadcasts, featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, have been superbly remastered by Lani Spahr, whose critically acclaimed audio restorations for SOMM have received high praise from Gramophone, BBC Radio 3, and The Sunday Times, amongst many others. While Monteux was born 150 years ago this past April, his death came 61 years ago-still within the lifetime of many present-day music lovers. He was, therefore, a link with the musical past, and enjoyed professional relationships with both the composers on this recording. By the early 1910s, Monteux had a reputation as the leading French conductor of the younger generation, and Debussy chose him to prepare the world premiere of Images pour orchestre, which Debussy himself conducted in January 1913. Debussy's colourful orchestration of his original piano work opens with "Gigues," inspired loosely by English and Scottish folk-tunes. At the heart of Images is "Iberia," of which Manuel de Falla said, "There is more real Spain in 'Iberia' than in all of Albeniz's work." The more veiled final movement, "Rondes de printemps," ultimately brings Images to a superb full-orchestra climax. Monteux's first conducting position was with Paris's Colonne Orchestra, which Sergei Diaghilev engaged for the 1910 season of the Ballets Russes, and Monteux came into contact with Stravinsky's music when he played viola in the company's premiere of The Firebird. At the request of Stravinsky, he conducted the premiere of Petrushka in 1911, and he led the famously riotous first performance of The Rite of Spring in 1913. When Monteux was conscripted into the army during World War I, Diaghilev persuaded the French government to discharge him so that he could direct the Ballets Russes on a North American tour. The success of this tour led to Monteux's five-year tenure as chief conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His successor there was the Russian maestro Serge Koussevitzky who, in 1931, commissioned a number of leading composers-including Stravinsky-to write commemorative works marking the 50th anniversary of the BSO. Stravinsky's offering was his Symphony of Psalms for chorus and orchestra. Composed in a Neo-classical style with a nod to Bach's oratorios, it is one of the great choral works of the 20th century, creating a unique, ritualistic atmosphere in the setting of three psalm texts in Latin. These live recordings from late in Monteux's life, demonstrating his profound and personal insights into the works of Debussy and Stravinsky, are paired with a Pierre Monteux tribute from violinist Alex Nifosi.

On Sale

Pierre Monteux - A 150th Anniversary Tribute

~~$18.99~~ $14.99
CD

SOMM Recordings

Aug 15, 2025

ARIADNE 5042

Ravel & Falla / Tharaud, Langrée, Orchestre National de France

ERATO

Available as CD

$17.49

Apr 12, 2024

The music of Ravel is especially close to Alexandre Tharaud's heart. Now, in partnership with the Orchestre National de France and conductor Louis Langrée, he has recorded both the composer's piano concertos, pairing them with Noches en los jardines de España (Nights in the Gardens of Spain), Manuel de Falla's sumptuous work for piano and orchestra.

"Ravel's Concerto in G major is fresh and Mozartian in it's colours, while his Concerto for the Left Hand is haunted by dark shades and suppressed fears," says Tharaud. Both concertos were premiered in 1932. "Characteristically for Ravel, they are simultaneously unique and alike. They share meticulous craftsmanship and jazzy touches, and both evoke little automata and the ghosts of war." The cross-currents of French and Spanish culture, so evident in Ravel's aesthetic, flow though Falla's concerto-like piece too. The Andalusian composer lived for a time in Paris and became friendly with Ravel. "The solo piano in Noches en los jardines de España plays a different role from the piano in the Ravel concertos," continues Tharaud. "It blends in more closely with the orchestra, though the works share a Romantic spirit and a poignant sense of nostalgia."

Ravel & Falla / Tharaud, Langrée, Orchestre National de France

$17.49
CD

ERATO

Apr 12, 2024

EAO766071.2

Mozart: L'Enlevement du Serail

Château de Versailles Spectacles

Available as CD with DVD

~~$39.99~~ $29.99

Nov 28, 2025

In a palace at the edge of the Ottoman Empire, Constance, a noble captive, lives under the watchful guard of the powerful Pasha Selim, who longs for her heart. But Belmonte, her devoted lover, braves seas and dangers to find her. With the help of Pedrille, he attempts a daring escape, all under the suspicious eye of Osmin, the brutal yet comical guard. Nighttime intrigues, outlandish disguises, and eternal vows weave an exuberant comedy where emotions are put to the test. The Orchestre de l'Opera Royal, conducted by Gaetan Jarry, blends liveliness and eloquence to bring to life one of Mozart's most spirited works-performed in French!

On Sale

Mozart: L'Enlevement du Serail

~~$39.99~~ $29.99
CD with DVD

Château de Versailles Spectacles

Nov 28, 2025

CVS154

De Monte: Madrigals and Chansons / Ratas Del Viejo Mundo

Ramee

Available as CD

$20.99

Apr 23, 2021

The year 2021 marked the 500th anniversary of the birth of Philippe de Monte. This selection of madrigals, motets and chansons is a contribution to the restoration of his much-merited fame.

De Monte: Madrigals and Chansons / Ratas Del Viejo Mundo

$20.99
CD

Ramee

Apr 23, 2021

RAM2004

Piano Music Vol 4

Marco Polo

Available as CD

$19.99

Aug 10, 2004

Godowsky, L.: Piano Music, Vol. 4

Piano Music Vol 4

$19.99
CD

Marco Polo

Aug 10, 2004

8223898

Tchaikovsky: The Queen Of Spades (Ballet Version) / Lacombe, Orchestre Des Grands Ballets Canadiens De Montreal

Analekta

Available as CD

$20.99

Aug 01, 2008

This is not a disc of highlights from the Tchaikovsky opera, but a balletic condensation of the Pushkin story on which the opera is based. The musical adaptation was made by Gabriel Thibaudeau for Les Grandes Ballets Canadiens de Montréal in 2001. In his accompanying notes, M. Thibaudeau states that “to make the material fit for the ballet framework, we had to cut out many sections (the opera lasts over three hours, the ballet 80 minutes) while at the same time retaining musical coherence. And, just like Tchaikovsky, I had to compose new music to maintain the dramatic tension.” Except for the ambiguous last sentence, this is a fairly accurate statement but, in the interest of the opera-oriented reader, I should elaborate further.

The balletic action unfolds in seven sections. Part 1 (18:37), the longest, sets the mood with the Countess’s aria, “Je crains de lui parler de nuit,” a melody Tchaikovsky borrowed from Grétry for period flavor. Motives associated with Gherman’s troubled character then lead to events occurring in the Private Gaming Club, with the music of Tomsky and his comrades entertaining themselves with the mysterious legend of the “Three Cards,” as the scene concludes with the return of the Grétry melody. Without having seen the ballet, the impression is clearly conveyed that the Old Countess is the drama’s principal character.

Part 2 is misleadingly called “A Park in Leningrad” (for reasons known to its creators, the ballet represents the Soviet era of 1938). This is a lyric episode embracing Pauline’s aria and her duet with Lisa, reasonably true to Tchaikovsky’s music, with a discreet accordion part added to the orchestration. The lengthy part 3 (“Soirée au ballet”) combines the opera’s Mozartian pastoral music and the love themes from the Lisa/Gherman scene. The combination may sound incongruous on paper, but it is no doubt effective choreographically, culminating with an exciting “Pas de deux.” Part 4 (“At the Countess’s Home”) is a skillfully condensed free musical elaboration of the turbulent scene involving, again, the Grétry aria, Gherman breaking the solitude of the frightened Countess, her sudden death, and Lisa’s shocked reaction.

Part 5, called “The Funeral,” opens with Gherman in the barracks, with trumpet sounds in the distance. The ghost of the Countess makes her appearance and reveals the secret of the “Three Cards.” Part 6 (“At the Bridge”) nicely condenses Lisa’s desperate third-act aria with the subsequent intense duet with Gherman and Lisa’s suicide. The concluding part 7 takes us back to the Private Gaming Club, with its busy Prokofiev-style gambling atmosphere. We hear expressions of Gherman’s despair, interwoven reflections of the love music, suggestions of the tragic end, as the “Grétry motive” provides a pianissimo underpainting to Gherman’s dying moments.

Lovers of this opera should know that Prince Yeletsky does not appear in this ballet—nor is he present in the Pushkin novel. Accordingly, there is no reference here of the Prince’s gorgeous aria, which, however justified, is a pity. Still, the ballet is put together with great skill and is undeniably pleasing to the eye and ear. The musical presentation is fine, but the recorded sound, with its lack of depth and immediacy, is somewhat colorless.

FANFARE: George Jellinek

Tchaikovsky: The Queen Of Spades (Ballet Version) / Lacombe, Orchestre Des Grands Ballets Canadiens De Montreal

$20.99
CD

Analekta

Aug 01, 2008

AN28816

Boulez Conducts Boulez - Le Marteau Sans Maitre, Livre Pour Cordes / Minton

Sony Masterworks

Available as CD

~~$17.99~~ $13.99

Oct 01, 2013

...one of the supreme achievements of 20th-century music...

-- Andrew Clements, The Guardian
on Le Marteau Sans Maître

On Sale

Boulez Conducts Boulez - Le Marteau Sans Maitre, Livre Pour Cordes / Minton

~~$17.99~~ $13.99
CD

Sony Masterworks

Oct 01, 2013

SONY74930

Elizabethan Organ Music / Leonhardt

Paradizo

Available as CD

$20.99

Jun 24, 2022

Gustav Leonhardt was one of the finest and most influential musicians of the entire twentieth century. On the harpsichord and the organ, from the music of Byrd to that of the sons of Bach, he was simply incomparable. The present release is a rare, remastered organ recording of Gustav Leonhardt from 1962, on one of Holland's most important historic instruments. This is his only anthology of English Renaissance repertoire on the organ, including works unique to this recording. This recording has not previously been available on modern formats, and has not appeared in any of the various ‘Gustav Leonhardt Editions’ issued by the labels for which he later recorded.

Elizabethan Organ Music / Leonhardt

$20.99
CD

Paradizo

Jun 24, 2022

PA0019

BOSSE, CRÂNE, NEZ

Zig-Zag Territoires

Available as CD

$11.99

Jul 13, 2010

Classical Music

BOSSE, CRÂNE, NEZ

$11.99
CD

Zig-Zag Territoires

Jul 13, 2010

ZZT100403.2

Overtures: L'enfant Prodigue / Vendome En Espagne

Sterling Records

Available as CD

$20.99

Aug 01, 2013

Classical Music

Overtures: L'enfant Prodigue / Vendome En Espagne

$20.99
CD

Sterling Records

Aug 01, 2013

CDS1039

SONATA XIII MUSIC FOR MARCEL

Wergo

Available as CD

$20.99

Sep 01, 1991

The first works of Cage are experimental and related to the future. "The Future of Music" - a Credo" is the title of his first manifesto, and this future bears the name "all-sound music". Peter Roggenkamp: piano / Schola Cantorum Stuttgart / Clytus Gottwald: conductor / John Cage: speaking part.

SONATA XIII MUSIC FOR MARCEL

$20.99
CD

Wergo

Sep 01, 1991

WER60742

Jacquet de La Guerre: Chamber Music from the Brossard Collection / The Bach Players

Coviello

Available as CD

$20.99

Jan 18, 2019

Already at the age of five Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665-1729) was a sensation as a musical wunderkind, and Louis XIV encouraged her to further develop her "wonderful talent". Extraordinary for women at the time, she remained highly esteemed throughout her life as an interpreter, teacher and composer. The Bach Players provide a subtle interpretation of this exquisite music. The Bach Players is a group of singers and players known for their engaging programmes of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music. According to needs, the ensemble varies in size from three to twenty-five musicians. In their concerts The Bach Players make links between composers, national styles, and developments in music – to provide a wider context in which to present the famous composers of the time. They play on original instruments, and all vocal music is sung in its original language. When singers are involved they are part of the group and not ‘add ons’. They work without a conductor. Their concerts are lively, informal events in which the musicians engage actively with their audiences.

Jacquet de La Guerre: Chamber Music from the Brossard Collection / The Bach Players

$20.99
CD

Coviello

Jan 18, 2019

COV91815

Moinet - Mozart & Gatti

Berlin Classics

Available as CD

~~$19.99~~ $14.99

May 02, 2025

Oboist Celine Moinet has already released three albums on Berlin Classics with music by Bach, Schumann and French composers. Now she returns with an album, where she pairs Mozart's Adagio for English Horn K580a and Oboe Quartet with world premiere recordings of the works by Luigi Gatti: Quartet in F major and C major. The Italian composer settled down in Salzburg in 1782, when he was already an acquaintence to the Mozart family. Worth discovering are Gatti's chamber works, created during his later years as a retiree after the secularisation and dissolution of the Salzburg prince-archbishopric in 1803. These works reveal him as a skilled and inventive master of form, as well as an experimenter in instrumentation. The F major quartet, in particular, presents considerable virtuoso challenges, including passages that push the oboe's range even higher than Mozart's quartet, reaching up to high G (g'). This daring extension of the oboe's tonal possibilities marks Gatti as an innovator and serves as a testament to his creative spirit.

On Sale

Moinet - Mozart & Gatti

~~$19.99~~ $14.99
CD

Berlin Classics

May 02, 2025

0303728BC

Mozart: Piano Concertos K 414, 415, 449 (Chamber Version). Anne-Marie McDermott, Calder Quartet

Bridge Records

Available as CD

~~$18.99~~ $14.99

Jul 09, 2013

MOZART Piano Concertos Nos. 12–14 (arr. unknown) • Anne-Marie McDermott (pn); Calder Qrt; David J. Grossman (db) • BRIDGE 9403 (75:54)

From Wikipedia, regarding Concertos No. 11-13: “arrangements exist for them for piano plus string quartet that lose little,” with no indication if those arrangements are by Mozart or not. Nothing is said in the liner notes about these or the string quintet reduction of Concerto No. 14. Yet a review of a similar recording, made by pianist Jean-Phillippe Collard for EMI in 1988 at allmusic.com, indicates that the arangements are Mozart’s own, “his justification for doing them was that if he didn’t, someone else would.” To ears used to a full orchestral accompaniment, the sound is a little strange at first—we keep waiting for orchestral tuttis that never arrive—but the bottom line is whether or not the performances are musically convincing and valid, and for me they are, particularly since Anne-Marie McDermott, one of the truly great American pianists of our time, seems to be using a lean-sounding if modern piano (possibly a Baldwin of the type favored by Glenn Gould?), and these lean, crisp sonorities play well against the string quartet (and quintet in the case of No. 14).

The concertos nos. 12 and 13 (presented on the CD in reverse order) are not among Mozart’s most profound compositions in this genre, but rather fall into the category of music that the cynical composer described to his father in a letter: “These concertos (Nos. 11–13) are a happy medium between what is too easy and too difficult; they are very brilliant, pleasing to the ear, and natural without being vapid….In order to win applause one must write stuff which is so inane that a coachman could sing it, or so unintelligible that it pleases precisely because no reasonable man can understand it.” (This quote, again, from Wikipedia.)

McDermott, producing an appropriately light yet well-inflected sound throughout most of each concerto, really lets herself go in the first-movement cadenzas, and it is here that she separates herself from the more delicate, almost prissy Mozart interpreters on record. Not that she attacks the keyboard as if the music were by Beethoven (though she certainly has the power to do so), but because she understands that the nature of these cadenzas was to stand out and assert center stage, however briefly.

As Mozart indicated, concertos 12 and 13 aren’t exactly profound music. Despite some nicely subtle passages (he never wrote anything that did not have such sections within them), they tend to be lightweight works, designed, as he so aptly put it, “to please” without unduly challenging the average listener’s mind. Yet when the music does turn profound, as it does (quite dramatically so) in the Andante of No. 12, McDermott and the Calder Quartet are up to the challenge. Here, their playing includes a great deal of coloration in addition to the subtlest of modifications within the beats, producing an exquisite musical flow.

The Concerto No. 14 inhabits an entirely different musical world. This is richer, deeper, more mature Mozart, the music alternating in mood between “prettiness” (you’ve got to please the public!) and darker, more penetrating depths, and oddly enough this also applies to the first-movement cadenza. Mozart wisely adds a double bass to the proceedings here; it is necessary to counterbalance the thematic material and its development with a richer texture. This performance alone is worth the price of the CD: it is worthy of the music in every way. Note, particularly, Mozart’s subtle yet dramatic use of descending chromatics and his equally impressive use of what one might call grace notes played as part of the overall structure.

This is an excellent album of its type, although your willingness to acquire it will naturally depend on how many other versions you have of these concertos and whether or not you’d like to have them in chamber music arrangements. Recommended nevertheless.

FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

On Sale

Mozart: Piano Concertos K 414, 415, 449 (Chamber Version). Anne-Marie McDermott, Calder Quartet

~~$18.99~~ $14.99
CD

Bridge Records

Jul 09, 2013

BCD9403

GESUALDO: Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday

Signum Classics

Available as CD

~~$19.99~~ $14.99

Jan 01, 2004

Classical Music

On Sale

GESUALDO: Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday

~~$19.99~~ $14.99
CD

Signum Classics

Jan 01, 2004

SIGCD048

Mozart: Serenades Nos. 10 & 11

Divine Art

Available as CD

~~$19.99~~ $14.99

Oct 14, 2016

Santiago Mantas leads the European Union Chamber Orchestra Wind Octect on this release of Mozart's Wind Serenades. These Serenades are among Mozart's most joyful and melodious compositions and this fine performance by the young musicians of the EUCO Wind Octet certainly displays the exuberance and high spirits of the young composer. Santiago Mantas has toured over thirty countries as both conductor and concert pianist and is also a successful composer of music for feature films and documentaries.

On Sale

Mozart: Serenades Nos. 10 & 11

~~$19.99~~ $14.99
CD

Divine Art

Oct 14, 2016

DDA25136

Liquid error (sections/main-search line 271): Could not find asset snippets/spurit_po2_collection_template_snippet.liquid