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SaleMuffat: Componimenti Musicali per il cembalo (1739) / Loreggian
Brilliant Classics · Feb 2024CD$16.99$8.49 -
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Dohnányi: Violin Concertos No 1 & 2 / Ludwig, Falletta, Royal Scottish NO
Naxos · Apr 2008CD$19.99 -
American Ballet Theatre Vol 1 - Pillar Of Fire, Theme & Variations, Bruch Concerto
RCA · Jun 2012CD$17.99 -
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Brahms: Symphonies 1 & 4 / Jansons, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
BR Klassik · Jun 2012CD$29.99 -
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SaleChopin-Godowsky: Complete Studies - Passacaglia, Transcriptions / Delucchi
Brilliant Classics · Jan 2023CD$18.99$14.99 -
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![Szymanowski: Symphonies No 1 And 2 / Wit, Warsaw Philharmonic [blu-ray Audio]](//arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/1844836.jpg?v=1788485511&width=800)
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![Szymanowski: Symphonies No 1 And 2 / Wit, Warsaw Philharmonic [blu-ray Audio]](//arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/510xCUwmY1L.jpg?v=1788485511&width=800)
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![Szymanowski: Symphonies No 1 And 2 / Wit, Warsaw Philharmonic [blu-ray Audio]](//arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/1844836.jpg?v=1788485511&width=400)
Szymanowski: Symphonies No 1 And 2 / Wit, Warsaw Philharmonic [blu-ray Audio]
Naxos AudioVisual · May 2011Blu-Ray$16.99 -
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ELGAR: ORCHESTRAL WORKS CELLO CONCERTO
STATIC
Bowles: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 2 / Invencia Piano Duo
Bowles had been an inveterate traveller even before 1947 as the Four Piano Pieces demonstrate. The first, the rather neo-classical Impasse de Tombouchtou also refers to a dingy street in Thiviers in Southern France. Café sin Nombre and Carretera de Estapona refers to Southern Spain. Estapona, now a glamorous seaside town can almost be seen from Tangiers, and is, I recall, a pleasant boat trip away. Surrounded by a dry and desert landscape it was much more basic and village-like in Bowles’ day. The opening, with its massive chords, reminds us that it is surrounded by those startlingly blue, imposing mountains. In between these pieces is an elegant and tonally ambiguous Theseus and Maldoror inspired by Greek legend.
Bowles’ travel diaries continue with the Three Latin American Pieces. It’s Mexico which is celebrated in movement 1 with its lively rhythms (El Bejuco) and Costa Rica in 3 (Sayula). Despite their brevity these pieces attract immediately. Movement 2 (Orosi) is delicate and is succeeded by a dance-like episode reminding me of Mompou’s Canço i dansa which was also composed during the mid-1940s.
In the detailed and helpful booklet notes Andrey Kasparov describes the Sonatina Fragmentaria as having “crystalline sonorities”. The tiny middle movement is somewhat Spanish in flavor while the outer ones are more thoughtful and enigmatic. All in all, this amounts to a series of attractive mosaics.
South of Morocco, in the Atlas Mountains, is Tamanar. Views from this village inspired this austere, striking and unusually dissonant mini-tone poem. Bowles went there with Aaron Copland who had just completed his equally austere Piano Variations. Bowles discovers some intriguing sonorities. It's a great shame that he did not pursue this style very often.
The Four Miniatures are practically polytonal and pointillistic but are in Bowles’ usual light-hearted manner with Reverie having a touch of Spain about it again. The Sonatina is neo-classical, almost Poulencian. There is no sense of classical development; in other words the Germanic influence Bowles so disliked is disregarded in favour of the interconnection of fragments. The middle movement is a lyrical Andante Cantabile with a long line which reaches a strong climax.
The last seven tracks are devoted to arrangements for piano duet of miscellaneous Bowles pieces. Kasparov selected four songs, apparently quite popular, originally from 1946, all in a light jazz style and called them Blue Mountain Ballades. Gold and Fizdale took three miscellaneous pieces. The first, Colloquy Sentimental is the only surviving material from a lost Bowles ballet score. The next, Caminata again betrays a Spanish influence and is part of a ballet set in Mexico. The last, Turkey Trot is a sort of wild Scott Joplin essay and brings the CD to a zany conclusion.
This disc proved more attractive and interesting than I had expected. Although Bowles may be a better writer than a composer he certainly deserves his place in the Naxos American Classics series.
– MusicWeb International (Gary Higginson)
The performances are beautifully idiomatic, capturing the brittle character, whimsicality and subtle power of the music.
– Gapplegate Classical/Modern Music Review
Franck: Symphonie, Variations Symphoniques / Flor, Firkusny
Claus Peter Flor leads a sober, "Germanic" performance of Franck's symphony, noteworthy for its clarity of texture and sensitivity to dynamic nuance. This is evident at both ends of the dynamic spectrum, whether in the delicate tracery of the second movement's central section, or in the distinct audibility of the trumpets in their final lick just before the work's closing chords. I do miss the rhythmic lift that Monteux brings to the finale (it's not entirely free of Teutonic heaviness, but then that's Franck's fault too), and the Royal Philharmonic strings could have a sweeter timbre now and then, but this is a good performance, strong on basic musical values. The sonics are also well-balanced and pleasing.
The Symphonic Variations is even better, and valuable for enshrining yet another telling example of the artistry of Rudolf Firkusny, whose "Indian summer" recordings for RCA comprise his most important artistic legacy aside from his Janácek piano music discs on DG. For some reason, perhaps because of its brevity and lack of virtuoso fireworks, the Variations doesn't often feature on concert programs anymore, but the piece was a favorite of Artur Rubinstein, and Firkusny gives us a performance very much in that class. The variations proper, actually the central episode sandwiched in between the dramatic introduction and the fully developed finale, have just the right serenely graceful flow, while the conclusion is simply delightful. Clearly the pianist's Czech roots give him an enlivening sense of rhythm, allowing him to convey high spirits with impeccable poise and style.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com
Wilhelm Backhaus Edition
"Essentially, in the incredible ease and naturalness of his pianism, in the unassuming simplicity and absorption of the man, Backhaus was much the same artist and personality then. And he was far from unknown. Even before he won the Rubinstein Prize in 1905, Backhaus was internationally celebrated as a prodigious virtuoso. [...] Backhaus never failed to win a succès d'estime among professional musicians. They always knew his qualities, always marveled at his instrumental perfection, his titanic mastery that scorned every complexity, his unsurpassed freedom and endurance. There was never a time when Backhaus could not toss off any or all of the Chopin études or the Brahms-Paganini variations with an imperturbable calm, an implacable security that left one open-mouthed. Not everyone, for only the pianists really knew what was happening before their eyes and ears, knew how to measure such achievement. There they all sat, in breathless astonishment and envy and despair. [...] Backhaus was a shy, unaffected, recessive personality whose sensational capacities were so unsensationally projected that lay audiences remained totally unconscious of his fabulous accomplishments." (Gerhard Melchert)
REVIEW:
This 10-CD box brings us not only concert recordings of works closely associated with him but also early piano roll and studio recordings, including the first complete recording of the Chopin Etudes and a variety of other short pieces.
Backhaus's technique has been praised by many critics, but his scintillating virtuosity in the shorter pieces on CDs 1 and 2 nevertheless came as a revelation to someone who mainly knows him from his later years. These are technical display pieces, and Backhaus plays them to the hilt.
The most impressive piano rolls are of two Liszt pieces (La Leggierezza and a Mendelssohn paraphrase) and of a very difficult arrangement of a Delibes waltz by Dohnanyi. The sparkling virtuosity here is breathtaking.
CD 3 has the 24 Chopin Etudes. They have been reissued repeatedly, but this was a nice opportunity to hear them again. They remain one of the best recordings of these challenging pieces, and the sound is quite good. Backhaus's seemingly effortless technical mastery without musical superficiality is spellbinding. He was the rare German pianist who excelled in Chopin.
The Beethoven sonatas on discs 6-8 come from two recitals: Carnegie Hall, 1954 (8, 25, 17, 26, 32), with four encores, and Carnegie Hall, 1956 (5, 14, 29), with four different encores. The performances have all the hallmark qualities of Backhaus: They are unfussy, straightforward, and totally convincing.
Turning now to the major concertos, there are two recordings here of Beethoven's Fourth, one with the New York Philharmonic under Guido Cantelli (Carnegie Hall, 1956) and the other with the Suisse Romande under Ferenc Fricsay (Montreux, 1961). They are almost identical in their timing. The sound of the Cantelli recording is boxy, and piano and orchestra are tightly integrated. With Fricsay the sound is better, but the piano is more prominent, drawing attention to the soloist. Backhaus's well-nigh definitive interpretation exhibits superb phrasing, articulation, and dynamics, rhythmic precision, virtuosity without showiness, little rubato, and close coordination with the orchestra.
Not only has this collection been largely cobbled together from previous releases, but CDs 9 and 10 each have less than 40 minutes of music, so there could have been additional recordings of this splendid artist. I already mentioned one omission of information. Some Beethoven sonatas have numbers in the booklet, but others don't. Here a date is duplicated; there a track number is wrong. I wonder how reliable the dates are (see Mozart concerto above). But the booklet essay by Gerhard Melchert is good and includes photographs of the artist at different stages in his career as well as reproductions of newspaper articles and of personal notes or dedications from Brahms (when Backhaus was 10), Arthur Nikisch, Moriz Rosenthal, and Rachmaninoff.
. It struck me that Rachmaninoff and Backhaus have a lot in common. They had a superlative technique; they played serious major works as well as small showpieces (not Backhaus in his later years); their playing was unmannered and unsentimental, brilliant but never superficial; they played hardly any chamber music; they did not teach; and they were very private individuals (especially Backhaus, about whose private life little is known). There is a famous anecdote about Rachmaninoff who, when asked who he thought were the great living pianists, replied, "Well, there is Josef Hofmann and there is myself" and then fell silent. He should have added Backhaus.
-- American Record Guide (Bruno Repp)
Muffat: Componimenti Musicali per il cembalo (1739) / Loreggian
Gottlieb Muffat’s oeuvre, dedicated almost in its entirety to keyboard instruments and skilfully straddling the stile antico and stile moderno, deserves more detailed attention than it has ever been afforded. The majority of sources containing music by Muffat are unpublished, with only two collections published at the composer’s own behest during his years in the Emperor’s service in Vienna. One of these is the Componimenti Musicali per il Cembalo (Augsburg, 1739).
This collection contains 6 Suites and a Ciacona with 38 variations for solo harpsichord. The composer describes these seven works as capricci or galanterie to be performed in the stile moderno and to suit modern tastes. Although arranged in the conventional order of Allemande–Courante–Sarabande–Gigue, Muffat also added various optional dances, displaying no shortage of innovation. The first movements are introductory in nature, often fugal in form and varying in style and pace: Ouverture (Suites 1 and 5), Prelude (Suite 2) and Fantaisie (Suites 3, 4 and 6). The seventh piece in the collection, the Ciacona con 38 Variazioni, is a special case. As Christopher Hogwood suggests in his introduction to the modern edition (Orpheus, 2009), the Ciacona could be another tribute to the imperial family, as the number of variations matches the age Charles VI’s niece, Maria Amalia, would have been on 22 October 1739.
Muffat’s interest in contemporary harpsichord composition is most clearly evident in his transcription and reinterpretation of works by George Frideric Handel, based on a manuscript copy of the Suites des pièces pour le clavecin he held in his library. Muffat reworked the suites in Handel’s collection, suggesting new ornamentation, distributing the notes differently between the hands, changing the clefs and sometimes note values, and adding slurs and cadenzas. He then applied everything he had observed while rewriting Handel’s suites to his own Componimenti musicali: including a table of ornaments, which the composer asks be played with ‘art and discretion’; he considers the positioning of the player’s hands on the keyboard in his writing and avoids using multiple clefs on one line to prevent confusion; he describes the optimum way to use the thumb for accidentals; and he provides the correct technical interpretation of trills and slurs.
Study of the Componimenti reveals what could be defined as a pedagogical intent, as well as a clear desire to make the score unambiguous and accessible by means of his introductory instructions. The collection contributed greatly to setting a new benchmark for keyboard writing in the lands of the Viennese Empire.
Dohnányi: Violin Concertos No 1 & 2 / Ludwig, Falletta, Royal Scottish NO
The opening theme of Ernö Dohnányi's Violin Concerto No. 1 (1915) sounds strikingly like something out of a Harry Potter film, creating the same kind of minor-key-mysterious atmosphere--that is until the solo violin enters with its agitated pronouncements. Often it sounds as if the violin were not at all pleased with this introductory mood and does its best to dispel it. But then the soothing second theme steals in, and the violin is at least temporarily calmed. Dohnányi's solo writing is stunning in its originality and virtuosity, yet violinist Michael Ludwig presents it with confidence, poise, and polish. The serene Andante ushers in a beguiling tranquil mood before the lively scherzo dances about. Dohnányi's theme and variations finale blatantly borrows from the same movement in Brahms' Symphony No. 1, but happily, Dohnányi's less pretentious finale is a lot more fun, even with the return of the first movement's darker theme.
Violin Concerto No. 2 was completed more than three decades later in 1949, and right away the change in the composer's harmonic language shows in the dissonant opening violin cadenza. But far from being atonal or modernist, Dohnányi's work continues the tradition of consonant tonality, albeit a little stretched at the edges. This gives the music great expressive range, and the first movement surges with drama and emotion. As with the First concerto, this one also is in four movements, though they fit within the usual concerto duration (about 30 minutes--10 minutes shorter than No. 1). A charming intermezzo comes second, followed by a lovely and lyrical Adagio. The buoyant allegro finale brings the work to a happy conclusion. Again the violin writing is superb (wonderfully rendered by Ludwig), as is the accompaniment, fleshed out in the composer's robust and colorful orchestration, and beautifully performed by JoAnn Falletta and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Naxos' spacious recording has satisfying bloom, presence, and wide dynamic range. These are excellent pieces that ought to be in the modern performance repertory. If you don't know these works, you owe to yourself to hear this disc.
--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com
Haydn: String Quartets Vol 2 / Leipzig Quartet
HAYDN String Quartets: op. 50/1, 4, 5 • Leipzig String Quartet • MDG 307 1585-2 (67:48)
From the six string quartets of op. 20 (preceded by 31 string quartets) to the two of op. 77, there are 45 remarkable works (excluding the Seven Last Words, which itself is also remarkable) in this form from Haydn’s pen. My familiarity with these quartets began relatively late in life, leaving me with the ambivalence of regret for being so tardy and of thankfulness for not being too late. The six op. 50 quartets lie at about the 40-percent mark of the total 45, and the three offered here are in my view the most attractive of this group of six. All six, however (all 45, for that matter), are strongly attractive pieces—remarkable in invention, distinctiveness, and musicality.
In these performances, the Leipzig String Quartet uses moderately restrained vibrato and observes all repeats (except those in the da capos ). Both of these practices are important contributors to the success of these performances. The Leipzigs approach the music cautiously, sometimes soulfully, yet know to let loose when appropriate, for example, in the memorable Vivace final movements of No. 1 and No. 5. At all times, each of the four voices is discernable. While Haydn’s string quartet part-writing was not as consistently developed as Mozart’s, its importance remains. Haydn was more open than Mozart in his use of humor, and he was more daring than Mozart in resorting to unconventional keys; e.g., E? Minor in the second variation of the op. 50/1 Adagio and F? Major to conclude the first movement and to begin the Menuetto of op. 50/4 (which is in the un-Mozartean key of F? Minor, the slow movement of Mozart’s K 488 piano concerto notwithstanding).
In competition, the Lindsays have recorded all 45 quartets in performances that excel in their verve and in the success of that group’s willingness to take chances in its interpretive approach, but intonation weakness is too often its principal failure. In its op. 50/4, there is too much out-of-tune playing by the first violin to make it a competitor to the Leipzig performance of that quartet.
The members of the 21-year-old Leipzig String Quartet on this disc are Stefan Arzberger and Tilman Büning (violins), Ivo Bauer (viola), and Matthias Moosdorf (cello). Three of its members were first chairs of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. The quartet has concertized throughout the U.S. as well as throughout the world. It has recorded the complete string quartets of Schubert and of other composers. I can only hope that a “complete” (op. 20 and above) Haydn would be one of its eventual goals.
This is a Haydn quartet disc that I highly recommend.
FANFARE: Burton Rothleder
Brahms: Symphonies 1 & 4 / Jansons, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
This disc follows close on the heels of these artists’ recording of the Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 on BR Klassik (SACD) 900111. Both Symphonies were recorded in the splendid acoustic of the Herkulessaal and audience applause has been retained at the conclusion of each symphony. In May 2011 I experienced at first hand just how empathetic the relationship is between Jansons and the Bavarian RSO. I eagerly await the opportunity to attend one of their Munich concerts.
Brahms was aware that by writing symphonies he was encroaching on the territory ruled by Beethoven. In fact Brahms had written to Hermann Levi that he could feel the presence of Beethoven marching behind him. Many Brahms supporters, notably Eduard Hanslick, were happy to acknowledge the close relationship of the First Symphony to the music of Beethoven. Hans von Bülow went further, referring to the C minor symphony as “Beethoven’s tenth”. Brahms was 43 and at the height of his maturity when his Symphony No. 1 was completed in 1876 although the gestation period had been protracted, making sketches for the score, it seems, over twenty years earlier.
The grave and leaden thuds of the threatening drums that open the first movement Un poco sostenuto - Allegro are implacably convincing. Impressive too is the beautiful oboe playing of the rising motif at 2:16. Throughout this movement an assured Jansons successfully provides generous quantities of beauty, sadness and even menace. Compared to many rivals it took me a while to get used to his rather measured pace. One senses that he is rather holding back his forces. Although Rattle comes close with the BPO in truth no one I have heard on record has managed to provide an opening of such raw power. It approaches that of Klemperer and the Philharmonia. There is a burnished autumnal countryside feel to the E major Andante sostenuto. One could imagine walking at the edge of an eerily tranquil and shadowy forest whilst anticipating the ominous onset of severe weather. In the midst of such glorious playing I was struck how much the rising melody for solo violin at 6:05 reminded me of a section in Brahms’ Violin Concerto. Warm and magnificently lyrical melodies abound in the short Un poco allegretto e grazioso right from the swaying opening measures. Its manner is reminiscent of Mendelssohn. This is fresh music of the great outdoors and is evocative of cool early morning dew over a backdrop of wonderful Alpine scenery. Jansons conveys a sense of intense activity in the closing Adagio - Allegro non troppo ma con brio as if lying on a verdant grassy bank gazing up at the tones and shapes of a swiftly changing sky. I loved the inspiring and highly memorable chorale melody. The writing really evokes the finale to Beethoven's ‘Choral’ Symphony.
It was in 1884 and 1885 that Brahms worked on his Symphony No. 4 at the Austrian summer resort of Mürzzuschlag in the Styrian Alps. Hans von Bülow, who had conducted a rehearsal of the score enthused that the symphony was “stupendous, quite original, individual, and rock-like. Incomparable strength from start to finish.” It’s esteem has endured and remains for many Brahms’s most popular symphony. Walter Niemann found an intense degree of sadness in the fourth movement and wanted to describe the score as Brahms’s ‘Elegiac’ symphony.
A comforting mood of warm serenity and joy suffuses the swaying opening Allegro non troppo. In splendid performances such as this I am reminded of the verse, “perfectly cultivated earth. Honey of dawn, sun in bloom” from the poem Glimmer by Paul Éluard (1895-1952). Commencing with a striking horn-call in Jansons’s hands the E major Andante moderato feels like a dreamscape attaining beguiling heights of fantasy and grandeur. I love the good humour and vigour of the Scherzo as Jansons takes the music forward with majestic strides. In the dark key of E minor the final movement marked Allegro energico e passionato is a heroic drama constructed out of a theme and variations in the form of a chaconne often described as a passacaglia. Here Brahms introduces contrasts of the broadest imagination including chorale-style variations featuring horns and trombones. I especially enjoyed the lovely and moving passage for solo flute at 3:05-3:56 as well as the following woodwind interplay and the fierce and defiant hammer-blows.
Jansons and the Bavarian RSO provide highly accomplished performances even if they are unable to match the pervasive aura of heart-searching and the strong sense of excitement provided by Klemperer/Philharmonia and Rattle/BPO. The warm and well balanced sound quality from live concerts at the Herkulessaal, Munich is impressive.
It has been a ‘rite of passage’ for conductors to record a complete cycle of the Brahms symphonies and I have several splendid sets in my collection. My benchmark is the set of evergreen performances from Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia. These are aristocratic, powerful and expressive. They were recorded with the great producer Walter Legge at his favoured venue: London’s Kingsway Hall in 1956/57 and can be heard on EMI Classics 5 62742 2 (c/w ‘Haydn’ Variations; Alto Rhapsody with Christa Ludwig, mezzo-; Academic Festival and Tragic Overtures). The digitally re-mastered sound is quite superb. With impeccable credentials Klemperer is a marvellous and experienced Brahmsian who made a studio recording of the Brahms First Symphony with the Staatskapelle Berlin as early as 1928. I often play the sterling performances of the Symphonies 1-3 conducted by Eugen Jochum with the London Philharmonic Orchestra from the Kingsway Hall, London in 1956 on EMI Classics 5 69515 2. Re-mastered at the Abbey Road studios, for its age, Jochum’s sound is excellent too. For an accompanying single version of the fourth symphony I would add Carlos Kleiber’s commanding 1980 Musikverein, Vienna reading with the Vienna Philharmonic digitally recorded on Deutsche Grammophon 457 706-2. Of the modern digital sets I greatly admire the 2008 accounts from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle on EMI Classics 2672542. They were recorded live in the Philharmonie at single concert performances with some additional patching. In my review I described them as, “urgently spontaneous performances conveying a Romantic power of immense intensity.”
Jansons and his Bavarian Radio colleagues are impressive Brahmsians. Any serious collector should be happy to hold this set of Brahms’ symphonies.
-- Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International
2x33 fur Piano - Works by Franz Hummel
Chopin-Godowsky: Complete Studies - Passacaglia, Transcriptions / Delucchi
According to Leopold Godowsky (1870–1938), the aim of the Studien über die Etüden von F. Chopin “is to develop the mechanical, technical and musical possibilities of piano playing, to expand the peculiarly adapted nature of the instrument to polyphonic, polyrhythmic and polydynamic work and to widen the range of its possibilities in tone coloring…” Godowsky employs various forms in his Studies on Chopin, including variations on the études, transcriptions for the left hand, free transcriptions, cantus firmus, and metamorphoses.
The magnificent C major of Study No.1 opens this extraordinary set: a mighty chorale, the text of the original study in the left hand and its inversion in the right hand are all combined in order to create a polyphonic work in full pianistic tone. In the final pages, the piano seems to express its highest dynamic degree and, as Godowsky writes, “in the coda the player must not show the slightest sign of fatigue”. Also based on Op.10/1, Study No. 2 is a perfect example of Godowsky’s left hand writing. A revolutionary use of the fingering and of the right pedal allows a polyphonic effect similar to the original. Godowsky wrote three studies (Nos. 23–25) for the left hand alone based on Chopin’s Op .25/1. Of these, No. 24 is intended to give the impression of a piece for four hands. The rippling texture of No. 25 is reminiscent of an Aeolian harp.
The final study (No. 43), based on Op. 25/12, is a tour-de-force for the left hand alone, covering the entire range of the keyboard by itself in homage to Chopin's 'Revolutionary' Étude. This set contains a selection of original compositions and transcriptions of works by composers other than Chopin and was recorded on the Steinway D 1906.
REVIEWS:
It’s a critical cliché to equate pianists attempting Leopold Godowsky’s complete Studies based on Chopin’s Études with mountaineers ascending Mount Everest, yet it’s the truth. Emanuele Delucchi serves up half of the cycle (all of the studies based on Chopin’s Op. 10 originals), and proves every inch a viable contender alongside the Marc-André Hamelin and Carlo Grante reference versions.
While Delucchi’s mastery of the daunting “Revolutionary” Étude for the left hand alone impresses on its own terms, the faster edge of Boris Berezovsky’s terrific live recording still dominates the competition. Still, Delucchi’s total comfort with and absorption of Godowsky’s serpentine idiom makes itself felt in every measure. Needless to say, I look forward to Delucchi’s performances of the remaining studies.
-- ClassicsToday.com
By and large, Delucchi proves a more gentle and yielding Godowsky interpreter when measured alongside Carlo Grante’s firmly etched filigree and Marc-André Hamelin’s supple élan.
He doesn’t quite attain Hamelin’s effortless paradigm insofar as the left hand taking over the “Winter Wind” Etude’s stormy passagework, or Op. 25 No. 6’s infamous double thirds. And given his lyrical proclivities, I was slightly disappointed by Delucchi’s pianistically well-groomed yet slightly square readings of two sublime favorites: the E major transformation of the A-flat Nouvelle Etude and the intricate “Aeolian Harp” makeover. Yet Delucchi’s high craft and devotion to this repertoire deserve attention, without, however, displacing Hamelin’s reference edition nor Grante’s formidable Chopin/Godowsky cycle on Altarus, which may be hard to source.
-- ClassicsToday.com
Leonard Pennario: Complete RCA Album Collection
“Nobody plays the piano better than Leonard Pennario,” wrote the eminent critic Andrew Porter in London’s New Statesman in 1952, when the competition would have included none less than Horowitz in his prime. That year, Pennario began recording for Capitol Records in Los Angeles, and a decade later he moved to RCA Victor, for which label he made a series of distinguished albums. To mark the tenth anniversary of Pennario’s death, Sony Classical is now pleased to reissue all of the pianist’s RCA recordings together for the first time in a single box.
Born in 1924 in Buffalo, New York, Pennario gave his first public performance there at the age of seven, later moving with his family to Los Angeles, where his teachers included the legendary Isabella Vengerova. His breakthrough came in 1936, when he made his orchestral debut deputizing for an indisposed soloist with the Dallas Symphony. On that memorable occasion, the twelve-year-old performed the Grieg Piano Concerto, a work he had never heard, let alone played, until a few days earlier.
Dazzling concertos would, of course, feature prominently in Pennario’s discography, and his first RCA Victor releases in 1964 included Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and the Franck Symphonic Variations with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops (High Fidelity: “immense dexterity and bravura”) and the two Liszt concertos with René Leibowitz conducting the London Symphony (Gramophone: “magisterial accounts of both works … it is a constant delight to listen to his effortless brilliance and power … vivid ‘hi-fi’ recording”).
Among the acclaimed solo recital albums in this set are a collection of popular short pieces by Beethoven, Schubert, Dvorák, Tchaikovsky, Rubinstein, Grieg, Falla, Debussy, Gershwin and Rachmaninoff which Pennario plays “with admirable care and impeccable taste” (High Fidelity) as well as both books of Debussy Préludes: “This is a most beautifully played set” (Gramophone).
Although Pennario became best known as a formidable virtuoso, he was also renowned for his performances of chamber music, and RCA documents his participation in the famous series given by Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky. Their performance of the Mendelssohn C minor Piano Trio was praised by High Fidelity for its “conception of restraint and grandeur … consistently maintained throughout all four movements”, and in the coupling of cello sonatas by Mendelssohn and Strauss, wroteGramophone, “Pennario plays admirably, matching Piatigorsky’s forceful musical characterization.”
REVIEW:
A notable characteristic of Pennario’s playing is his extraordinary articulation at extreme speed. As examples of transcendent technique and breathtaking clarity, the two Rachmaninov transcriptions on Disc 2 are hard to beat.
One could hardly complain about the quality of music-making here, yet without exception the piano could have been more forwardly placed. Was he too self-effacing for stardom? Too modest for his own good? Moot points, but Leonard Pennario demands to be heard, reassessed and, on this evidence alone, admitted to the piano Hall of Fame.
– Gramophone
SET CONTENTS:
DISC 1:
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43
Franck: The Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra, M. 46
Litolff: Concerto symphonique No. 4, Op. 102: Scherzo
Piano: Leonard Pennario
Conductor: Arthur Fiedler
Orchestra: Boston Pops Orchestra
DISC 2:
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat Major, S. 124
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S. 125
Piano: Leonard Pennario
Conductor: René Leibowitz
Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
DISC 3:
J. Strauss Jr.- Pennario: Kaiser-Walzer, Op. 437
Mendelssohn-Rachmaninoff: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61: No 1 Scherzo
Saint-Saëns-Liszt: Danse macabre, Op. 40
Shostakovich: The Age Of Gold Ballet, Op. 22b: Polka
Prokofiev: The Love for Three Oranges, Op. 33: March
Ravel: La Valse, M. 72
Kreisler-Rachmaninoff: Liebesleid
Gounod-Liszt: Faust: Waltz
DISC 4:
Dvořák: 8 Humoresques, Op. 101, No. 7 in G-Flat
Tchaikovsky: 2 Pieces, Op. 10, No. 2: Humoresque
Rachmaninoff: 7 Morceaux de salon, Op. 10, No. 5: Humoresque in G
Rachmaninoff: Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3, No. 4: Polichinelle in F-Sharp Minor
Debussy: Children' Corner, L. 113, No. 6: Golliwog's Cake-walk
Gershwin: 3 Preludes, IGG 25
Schubert: Moments musicaux, D. 780, No. 3 in F Minor
Beethoven: Für Elise, WoO 59
Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, Op. 37a, No. 11: On the Troika in E
Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Op. 43, No. 6 "To Spring"
Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Op. 43, No. 1 "Butterfly"
Falla: Piezas Españolas, IMF 10, No. 4: Andaluza
Rubinstein: 6 Soirées à Saint-Petersbourg, Op. 44, No. 1: Romance in E-Flat
Tchaikovsky: 6 Pieces, Op. 19, No. 2: Scherzo humoristique in D
DISC 5:
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 1
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 40
Piano: Leonard Pennario
Conductor: André Previn
Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
DISC 6:
Debussy: Préludes, Livre 1, L. 117
DISC 7:
Debussy: Préludes, Livre 2, L. 123
DISC 8:
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54
R. Strauss: Burleske in D Minor
Piano: Leonard Pennario
Conductor: Seiji Ozawa
Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
DISC 9:
Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata No. 2, Op. 58
R. Strauss: Cello Sonata, Op. 6
Cello: Gregor Piatigorsky
Piano: Leonard Pennario
DISC 10:
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 66
Arensky: Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 32
Turina: Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 35
Cello: Gregor Piatigorsky
Violin: Jascha Heifetz
Piano: Leonard Pennario
DISC 11:
Beethoven: Piano Trio No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 70
Brahms: Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, Op. 87
Cello: Gregor Piatigorsky
Violin: Jascha Heifetz
Piano: Leonard Pennario
DISC 12:
Dvořák: Piano Trio No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 65
Franck: Piano Quintet in F Minor, M. 7, FWV 7
Cello: Gregor Piatigorsky
Violin: Jascha Heifetz
Piano: Leonard Pennario
Buxtehude: Trio Sonatas, Op. 1 & 2
Toscanini Collection Vol 30 - Richard Strauss: Don Quixote
-- Gramophone [1/1991]
![Szymanowski: Symphonies No 1 And 2 / Wit, Warsaw Philharmonic [blu-ray Audio]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/1844836.jpg?v=1788485511&width=800)
![Szymanowski: Symphonies No 1 And 2 / Wit, Warsaw Philharmonic [blu-ray Audio]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/510xCUwmY1L.jpg?v=1788485511&width=800)
Szymanowski: Symphonies No 1 And 2 / Wit, Warsaw Philharmonic [blu-ray Audio]
Although Szymanowski later dubbed his Symphony No. 1 a “contrapuntal-harmonic-orchestral monster” and disavowed the influence of Wagner, Reger and Richard Strauss, it is an astonishingly powerful work by a composer only in his mid-20s and still enthralls listeners a century after its première. The unusually structured Symphony No. 2 is a work of great impact and invention, with many passionate and varied contrasts in its use of solo instruments, in particular the violin. On their CD release, these thrilling interpretations of Szymanowski’s Symphony No. 1 earned 5 STARS from BBC Music Magazine, while the Symphony No. 2 gained Gramophone Editor’s Choice and 5 STARS for these “deliriously sensual scores” from Classic FM.
"When Antoni Wit and his forces are in top form in the music of Szymanowski, they're pretty much unbeatable. Szymanowski repudiated his First Symphony on stylistic grounds (too Wagnerian), and it certainly does not represent the direction he ultimately took. But it's still great fun: a big, bold, scant 20 minutes of colorful scoring and exuberant musical ideas."
-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com
"The performance of No 2 in two movements, an opening Allegro followed by an extended set of variations, is equally persuasive. [T]he first movement is passionate and thrustful and the variations bring some fascinating contrasts, ending with a powerful fugue. Antoni Wit's performance could not be more idiomatic, with players totally inside the music. An outstanding issue."
-- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone
![Szymanowski: Symphonies No 1 And 2 / Wit, Warsaw Philharmonic [blu-ray Audio]](http://arkivmusic.com/cdn/shop/files/1844836.jpg?v=1788485511&width=400)
Peyko: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 1
Nikolai Peyko (1916–95) is a major Russian composer completely unknown in the west. +He is another composer who wrote nine symphonies, and much other orchestral music besides, but fell foul of the Soviet regime and was sidelined. +His piano music shares Shostakovich’s irony and Prokofiev’s driving march-rhythms and playful good humor. +This first CD of two in this complete recording of his piano music is the first time any of this music has been heard recorded on a western label.
Taneyev: Complete String Quartets V 1 / Carpe Diem Quartet
Naxos continues to provide a tremendous service to international chamber music with an extensive variety of recordings. This year there have been several valuable Naxos sets that I have especially enjoyed: the string quartets of Schumann, Glazunov’s five novelettes and string quintet from the Fine Arts, Malcolm Arnold’s works for string quartet from the Maggini and his wind chamber music from East Winds not to mention three volumes of Arnold Bax’s violin and viola music.
Comprising members of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Carpe Diem are quartet-in-residence at the Conservatory of Music at Capital University. This disc is first volume of a projected complete cycle from the Carpe Diem of the Taneyev quartets.
In 1866 Russian-born Sergey Taneyev entered the Moscow Conservatory and later became a composition student of Tchaikovsky. He also received piano tuition from Nikolay Rubinstein and graduated with a gold medal for performance and composition. As a virtuoso pianist he was entrusted by Tchaikovsky with the premières of virtually all his scores for piano and orchestra. It seems that Taneyev was the only composer from his circle from whom Tchaikovsky sought critical appraisals of his scores. In 1881 he returned to the Moscow Conservatory to undertake teaching duties and in 1885 was appointed as Conservatory Director.
Kept in the shadows for many years his music is rapidly gaining a large group of enthusiasts. Taneyev champion, the eminent Russian pianist; conductor and composer Mikhail Pletnev, interviewed for The Independent in 2005, expressed the opinion that Taneyev was, “…the key figure in Russian musical history… He was the greatest polyphonist after Bach. And look who his pupils were: Rachmaninov and Scriabin, and Prokofiev who said he learned more about composing in one hour from Taneyev than from all his other tutors at the Moscow Conservatory.”
Taneyev is best remembered today as the composer of four symphonies and his second cantata At the Reading of a Psalm (1914-15). The cantata was his final work, completed just two years before the Russian Revolution, and is receiving significant advocacy from Pletnev. Very active in the field of chamber music, Taneyev composed over twenty scores in the genre, including, according to Grove Music Online nine string quartets between 1874-1911, plus two incomplete quartets; two string quintets (1901 and 1904); a piano quartet (1906) and a piano quintet (1911).
I can highly recommend a superb version of the Piano Quintet, Op. 30 (1911) and Piano Trio, Op. 22 from a stellar cast: Vadim Repin (violin), Ilya Gringolts (violin), Nobuko Imai (viola), Lynn Harrell (cello) and Mikhail Pletnev (piano). This was recorded in Vevey, Switzerland in 2003 and issued on Deutsche Grammophon 477 5419. Another Taneyev release to receive considerable acclaim is the live 2003 St. Petersburg, Russia recording of At the Reading of a Psalm. This is conducted by Pletnev and performed by the Russian National Orchestra, the St. Petersburg State Academy Capella Choir, the Boys Choir of the Glinka Choral College and soloists on PentaTone Classics Super Audio CD PTC 5186 038.
Taneyev’s wrote his five movement Quartet No. 1 in 1890, the year after resigning as Conservatory Director to concentrate more fully on his composing and counterpoint teaching. It seems that the score was actually Taneyev’s fifth string quartet but the first to be accorded an opus number.
In the extended opening movement Andante espressivo the Carpe Diems emphasise the dramatic, dark and restless aspects with the writing showing only brief glimpses of beauty. The lengthy Largo is mournful and affecting. This is not love music but more evocative of heartbreaking pain and sadness after the death of someone close. In the short, agitated and nervy Presto the music scampers from corner to corner. One welcomes a mood change in the Intermezzo which has a wistful and restful quality with not a care in the world. I especially enjoyed the high spirited and good natured playing in the fifth and concluding movement.
The Quartet No. 3 was written in 1886 and underwent revision in 1896; a time that marked the recent blossoming of Taneyev’s friendship with the eminent writer Leo Tolstoy. The score is cast in two movements with the huge final movement being a theme and eight variations. Lasting over seventeen minutes in performance the closing movement must be one of the longest in the genre of late-Romantic quartets.
Played with considerable assurance, the first movement Allegro has an unsettling and uncertain quality with fascinating writing that meanders from one idea to another. In the second movement Taneyev has selected a light and attractive Mozartean theme. I have attempted to identify each variation commencing from point 1:01 where a broken love affair must surely have been the motivation for the sorrowful first variation. The serious and melodic second variation follows at 2:57 and from 4:14 the players impress with the hectic and robust quality of the third variation. The fourth at 5:13 has the character of a folk dance; from 6:16 variation five is interpreted with tense undercurrents of sorrow through the general good humour. The brisk and rhythmic sixth variation at 9:17 contains an abundance of pizzicato. At 11:31 the slow and gentle variation seven offers a memorable and heartbreaking melody. In the dark and rich eighth and final variation at 14:49 the low strings dominate with confident and urgent playing.
The engineers are to be congratulated for the excellent sound quality. I found the booklet notes, comprising two short essays, to be adequate but the playing time of just over one hour seems ungenerous.
With assured playing and impressive unity from the Carpe Diem the disc is a valuable addition to Taneyev’s expanding discography. For those new to the rewarding and accessible sound-world of Taneyev this makes an excellent and inexpensive introduction to his chamber music.
-- Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International
Bartók: Piano Concertos / Aimard, Salonen, San Francisco Symphony
Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard joins forces with the San Francisco Symphony and Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen for a recording of Bartók’s complete piano concertos. A pianist himself; Bartók imbued his three concertos with multiple aspects of his compositional persona; ranging from complex and innovative (the First) to exuberant (the Second) and serene (the Third). The result is a fascinating slice of his musical life. This all-Bartók release marks the first Pentatone collaboration between Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony; an ensemble he has reshaped through creative performance concepts and expansive new media projects.
A renowned champion of twentieth-century music; Pierre-Laurent Aimard has released multiple acclaimed albums in his exclusive contract with Pentatone; including Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux (2018) and Visions de l’Amen (2022); along with Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata & Eroica Variations (2021). He also joined Tamara Stefanovich in Etudes and Frames (2023); with music by Vassos Nicolaou. Salonen returns to the label for the first time since his recording of Stravinsky’s Perséphone (2018); the San Francisco Symphony previously appeared on the 2005 Pentatone release Young America.
REVIEWS:
You know just within a couple of minutes these recordings are going to be special. As Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony sweep thrillingly into the First Piano Concerto’s Allegro, Pierre-Laurent Aimard luxuriates in the space they leave him on a superbly recorded disc…‘Definitive’ is a daft word to use about an interpretation. How can we truly know? But superlative this absolutely is.
-- The Sunday Times (★★★★★)
Ultimately, then, we’ve got something special here: a fresh take on some canonic works by a conductor and soloist whose bread-and-butter is this very fare. It’s an undertaking that flatters all parties involved musically, technically, and intellectually. Best of all, it draws out the latent mellifluousness of Bartók’s writing, even when, outwardly, that’s at its most hard-edged.
-- The Arts Fuse
In the second concerto I particularly admired the middle movement, with its opening on slow strings – which were silent in the first movement – and the fast toccata-like middle section generated exactly the right kind of excitement.
The third concerto is more different from the other two than they are from each other. It is mainly serene and graceful, remarkably so when one considers that it was written in wartime, in exile and when Bartók knew he did not have long to live...Aimard, slightly to my surprise, provides beautifully elegant phrasing and articulation and shows himself as much at home in the graceful writing here as he did in the much more challenging writing in the first two concertos...The recording is impeccable.
-- MusicWeb International
[Aimard] is aided and abetted every step of the way by the San Francisco Orchestra and its new(ish) music director...Salonen approaches these works as unapologetically modernist, and he has inspired the orchestra to shed the richly upholstered colors they developed under MTT for a less weighty, more severe color palette that ensures laser-like clarity even in the densest contrapuntal passages. The middle sections of concertos 1 and 2’s slow movements are particularly telling, and listen to the wind’s precision and leanness in the first concerto’s opening movement, which gives the music a mechanical brilliance. Pentatone’s engineers ensure the bass drum has plenty of impact. When Salonen conducted these concertos for Bronfman in Los Angeles, the Sony engineering highlighted that orchestra’s cinematic sound. Here we have a quite different sound palette that embraces a greater variety of hues in a true concert hall acoustic.
Characterful...strongly recommended.
-- The Classic Review
Mozart: Piano Works, Vol. 2
Marguerite Long, Vol. 2 - Chopin, Debussy, Milhaud & Ravel
Undoubtedly the foremost French female pianist of the 20th century, Marguerite Long (1874–1966) prided herself on her personal friendships with some of the foremost composers of her day – Debussy, Fauré and Ravel. She championed their works, premiering Ravel’s G major piano concerto, and was to write books on the interpretation of each of them.
This addition to our continuing French Piano School series is the second of two APR volumes, together containing her complete recordings of French repertoire, and of honorary Frenchman, Chopin. Of particular significance here are the premiere recordings of the Ravel G major and Milhaud 1st concertos - both works dedicated to her - and also the first ever recording of Chopin's 2nd Concerto from 1929, which has not previously been reissued.
REVIEW:
The second volume of APR’s Marguerite Long retrospective is once again focused on French repertoire, with recordings set down between 1929 and 1952. In common with the previous volume, all the recordings featured here have been superbly restored by Mark Obert-Thorn.
CD 1 is devoted exclusively to Chopin. Centre stage is the premiere recording of the Piano Concerto No.2. Philippe Gaubert conducts the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatore in this June 1929 inscription. She made a later recording of the work in 1953 with André Cluytens which I haven’t heard, so can’t offer any comparisons. In this earlier recording, the soloist is forwardly projected, with the orchestra sounding slightly recessed. The first movement begins with a heavily truncated tutti. The slow movement, an exquisite nocturne imbued with pathos and beauty and speaking of unrequited love, isn’t the best I’ve heard. I find Long’s rendition oddly prosaic and devoid of poetry. Gaubert’s staid support isn’t much to write home about either.
Set down on 11 May 1929, the Fantasy in F minor is the earliest recording in the set. Long displays virtuosity in abundance and captures the piece’s mercurial moods, with rubato kept firmly under control. The playful F sharp minor Mazurka is stylish. Of the two waltzes, the A flat seems a bit rushed. Elegance and poise characterize her Barcarolle, whilst the Berceuse, a true lullaby, is well-paced and gently rendered. Adopting a pearl-like tone, she achieves myriad tonal colours with each successive variation. It’s certainly one of the highlights of this collection. The Second Scherzo is action-packed with drama, with contrasting sections of poetic lyricism.
Despite the fact that Long forged a personal friendship with Debussy and championed his music, she recorded very little of it. The two Arabesques are played with geniality and affection. Jardins sous la pluie is nicely paced and sparkling even though she herself considered her performance too fast. La plus que lente is tastefully delivered without the overindulgence on the rubato front one sometimes encounters.
The set offers two recordings of Ravel’s G major Piano Concerto recorded twenty years apart, and how different they are. The 1932 traversal is the world premiere recording with an orchestra directed by Pedro de Freitas Branco. Perhaps this version is the better known of the two. The first two movements are more brisk than in the later version. The central slow movement is rhythmically strict. In 1952, this time with the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire and Georges Tzipine, she takes a more relaxed approach and allows herself more rhythmic freedom. The sound quality had improved greatly by the time the second recording was made. I have to say that I much prefer the later one for its less hemmed in approach and the more perceived affection lavished upon it.
Darius Milhaud dedicated the first of his five piano concertos to Marguerite Long. She premiered it in Paris in 1934. That performance was conducted by Alberf Wolff. The recording was made a year later on 5 & 6 April 1935 with the composer himself at the helm of an unnamed orchestra. Two vigorous, neo-classically wrought outer movements frame a central Barcarolle, which provides a soothing contrast. This ‘slow’ movement is a delight, where radiant woodwind writing provides a diaphanous backdrop to the luminous piano writing. Long achieves some subtle, glorious colouring. The two solo piano pieces offer some striking contrast. Paysandú is dark and sombre, whilst the more virtuosic Alfama displays a sparkling, carefree demeanour.
This volume, together with volume 1, positions Long in the hierarchy of great pianists. I’m grateful to the skill and care APR have lavished upon these valuable recordings. Roger Nichols insightful liner notes are the icing on the cake.
-- MusicWeb International (Stephen Greenbank)
