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Brahms: Piano Trio Nos. 1-3 - Concerto for Violin & Cello

Nimbus

$32.99 Jun 10, 2016

Founded in 2009, Trio Shaham Erez Wallfisch is made up of three of the best classical musicians performing today: violinist Hagai Shaham, pianist Arnon Erez, and cellist Raphael Wallfisch. Alongside the trio, performs the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, conducted by Daniel Raiskin. For this two disc release, the works of Brahms have been chosen.

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Brahms: Piano Trio Nos. 1-3 - Concerto for Violin & Cello
Nimbus Jun 2016
CD
$32.99

No. 3
Capriccio May 2013
CD
$21.99

Old Czech Marches / Czech Philharmonia Orchestra
Supraphon Aug 2001
CD
$21.99

Glinka: Septet, Trio Pathetique, Serenade & 3 Russian Songs / Consortium Classicum

CPO

$18.99 Nov 03, 2017

Mikhail Glinka, the founder of Russian national opera composition and Russian symphonic music, is known internationally above all for his operas A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Lyudmila and his orchestral work Kamarinskaya. His chamber oeuvre is little known outside Russia and – apart from piano music and songs with piano – is limited to a few works. The complete edition of Glinka’s works edited in the Soviet Union contains a mere eight chamber compositions. The form of Glinka’s Septet is modeled above all on the symphonies of Viennese classicism; for its themes, however, he draws on the folk melodies with which he had been familiar since his childhood, thereby combining Western tradition with Russian melodic designs. His Trio pathétique and the Serenata distinguished by great virtuosity and colorfulness are played without breaks between the four movements. The Three Russian Songs heard on the present recording form a group created by the composer Eduard Hermann during the 1880s. He employed songs with piano accompaniment by Glinka and arranged them for a piano trio.

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Glinka: Septet, Trio Pathetique, Serenade & 3 Russian Songs / Consortium Classicum
CPO Nov 2017
CD
$18.99

Klavierkonzert No. 3, Sinfonie
Orfeo Jul 2004
CD
$16.99

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No 3; Ravel, Chopin / Arthur Rubinstein

ICA Classics

$14.99 Mar 26, 2013

BEETHOVEN Piano Sonata No. 3 in C, Op. 2/3 1. RAVEL Valses nobles et sentimentales 1. CHOPIN Nocturne in D?, Op. 27/2 1. Ballade No. 1 in g, Op. 23 1. Andante spianato et Grande Polonaise brillante, Op. 22 2 • Artur Rubinstein (pn) • ICA 5095 (73:00) Live: London 3/17/1963 1 and 10/6/1959 2

If ever there were a pianist who could be considered the aristocrat of the instrument for the 20th century it would surely be Artur Rubinstein, so full of intelligence, nobility, and remarkable simplicity are his interpretations. He was, above all else, a direct communicator of ideas. Throughout his career he always played to the audience, making them feel part of the show, of the whole experience itself; they in turn loved him for it. And though he was not always the most secure technician (in terms of playing the correct notes, not in terms of his overall musical interpretations) he is in especially fine form here.

His direct approach to the music can be witnessed from the very beginning of the recital. Rubinstein’s Beethoven was always interesting to me depending on the particular repertoire he was approaching—his recordings of the “Appassionata” Piano Sonata or the Fourth Piano Concerto are some of the pinnacles of the recorded performances that have been bequeathed to us in the 20th century. His Beethoven Third Sonata is good—it is straightforward; he has little fluctuation of tempo (though the forte outburst in the first movement at 0:25 does push it a bit); his articulation is crisp when required, and he brings a fine joie de vivre in this bright, but not always sunny C-Major work. There is something lacking for me, though—a tension, a drama that I find inherent in this work. Everything here is just too smooth. In Rubinstein’s Ravel there is a tinge (but just a tinge!) of the percussive quality of a Prokofiev: One can almost see Rubinstein’s grin as he lets the rest of us in on what he knows to be Ravel’s true intentions in this work. Too often are these waltzes performed in a flowery manner. The pianist’s approach is subtle in his carefully calculated tonal shadings and in his elegant way of always maintaining the sense of the beat, of the dance, which inspired one of this composer’s loveliest creations. Rubinstein is in especially fine form in Chopin—his composer. The D?-Major Nocturne is the crowning jewel in this recital: Once again everything that makes a Rubinstein performance special is in evidence here, from the continuous flow of the accompaniment to the way in which he approaches each and every phrase, from the highly lyrical to the highly ornamented. Anyone who questions Rubinstein’s mechanism needs to behold the ease in which he plays each and every note in the rapid flourishes that pervade this work. Not only are all of the individual notes crystal clear, each also has a beautiful ringing tone. The G-Minor Ballade was one of the pianist’s favorite works and he is in spectacular form here. He captures that wonderful sense of the narrative—not only can he make the piano sing, he can make it speak. Unfortunately there is an issue here. A sound anomaly mars this otherwise fantastic recording at around 8:30. The Andante spianato and Grand Polonaise act as encores, coming from a much earlier recital. Here too Rubinstein’s magical qualities come out in the ease in which he projects the gentleness of the nocturne-like introduction and the elegance of the dance that follows. It is not the most dynamic reading of the Polonaise I know, but it is powerful nonetheless.

The sound throughout the recording is fine given its vintage (other than the aforementioned issue in the Ballade). What is most remarkable about Rubinstein for me is his naturalness—there seems to be not even a strand of the eccentric in his playing. His Chopin will always remain a favorite because of its elegance, its straightforwardness, and its rejection of the picture of the composer as a frail and meek individual. His Chopin is timeless. His Ravel too is fascinating. In his hands the music retains its modern aura. This is one disc that you’ll be sure to want in your collection; I’m all too happy to make it part of mine.

FANFARE: Scott Noriega

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Beethoven: Piano Sonata No 3; Ravel, Chopin / Arthur Rubinstein
ICA Classics Mar 2013
CD
$14.99

Music from Diaghilev's Ballet Russes / Fischer, BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Signum Classics

$41.99 Jan 01, 2011

STRAVINSKY; POULENC; LIADOV BBC NATIONAL ORCHESTRA OF WALES; FISCHER (COND.) MUSIC FROM DIAGHILEV'S BALLET RUSSES- STRAVINSKY: THE FIREBIRD, THE RITE OF SPRING, PETRUSHKA, SCHERZO FANTASTIQUE; LIADOV: BABA-YAGA, THE ENCHANTED LAKE. KIKIMORA; POULENC: LES BICHES

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Music from Diaghilev's Ballet Russes / Fischer, BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Signum Classics Jan 2011
CD
$41.99

BEETHOVEN SYM NO.3 EROICA & NO.8 OP.93

ALTO

$11.49 Oct 20, 2017

dark and intense Eroica, with urgent allegros... The LSO responds with bite and refinement. Excellent bargain (Penguin 3 stars) "Fiery, noble, and imposing was how I described Wyn Morris' earlier recording... and this remake has those qualities and even finer playing and modern recording. [I had dubbed Morris our Celtic Furtwangler, a phrase that later appeared in adverts!]... but the fact remains, Morris knows his Beethoven and conducts it (like Burton speaking Shakespeare) with an ardour and love of tonal splendour that is close to that old revered school of German interpretation: closer than anything we are likely to get nowadays" (Gramophone)

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BEETHOVEN SYM NO.3 EROICA & NO.8 OP.93
ALTO Oct 2017
CD
$11.49

Sale

Eliahu Inbal Conducts Bruckner
SWR Jun 2024
CD
~~$28.99~~ $14.49

Beethoven: Septet, Op. 20 & Clarinet Trio, Op. 11 / Berkeley Ensemble

Resonus Classics

$18.99 Feb 07, 2020

The Berkeley Ensemble returns with this album of chamber works by Ludwig van Beethoven celebrating the composer’s 250th anniversary year. Written in 1798, when he was already well-known in Vienna as a remarkable and ambitious composer, his Op. 11 Trio uses the rare combination of clarinet, cello and piano. Completing the programme is the original scoring of his Septet, Op.20 for wind and strings. Written in 1800, this large-scale work stands as a lasting achievement unmatched by any other septet before or since.

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Beethoven: Septet, Op. 20 & Clarinet Trio, Op. 11 / Berkeley Ensemble
Resonus Classics Feb 2020
CD
$18.99

Szymanowski: Concert Overture, Sinfonia Concertante, etc. / Steffens, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie

Capriccio

$21.99 Nov 18, 2016

Periodically someone decides the time is ripe for a re-appraisal of the music of the Ukrainian-born Polish composer Karol Szymanowski. Among his most persuasive advocates have been such eminent conductors as Pierre Boulez and Simon Rattle, both of whom have committed much Szymanowski to disc. But, for one reason or another, he remains a name known to many while his music remains largely unknown. Possibly the Etude in B flat minor for piano – one of the most deeply moving of all piano études, with its powerful echoes of Rachmaninov – will be familiar to pianists, but little else from his broad output finds its way into the consciousness of music lovers. This latest disc devoted to Szymanowski on Capriccio’s “Modern Times” series does all it can to keep Szymanowksi obscure, but the music succeeds where Capriccio fails, and I would recommend this most strongly to all of those for whom Szymanowski is merely a name that sounds like a Russian transliteration of Schumann or a spoof composer with a name derived from a cross-fertilization of Schumann and Tchaikovsky. These are not the best performances you will find, and the packaging is grim, but the music is wonderful and for those whose idea of hi-fidelity is listening to music through their computer speakers, the flat recorded sound will not unduly disturb the pleasure of an encounter with this gorgeous music.

The trouble with describing the music of an unfamiliar composer is that one reverts to comparisons with better-known ones – as if originality of voice is given only to those whose music has crossed the fickle threshold of popular taste.

With the Concert Overture which opens the disc, one can possibly be excused this, for if any music ever sounded like a Richard Strauss tone poem, this does. From its boisterous opening to its triumphal conclusion, it is a feast of Straussian gestures and ideas, a wonderful orchestral romp and a stirring musical journey. And this is what Szymanowski intended, for in 1904 when he wrote it, Richard Strauss was the dominant figure. If the booklet notes are to be believed, Szymanowski deliberately aped the style of Strauss “as a provocation to the, in his view, completely fossilized structures of Polish music”.

At this point we must break off to mention those booklet notes, tightly compressed into a distinctly unappealing booklet which seems designed to put off potential buyers. Christian Heindl’s German text is dense enough, striving to place Szymanowksi in some sort of context with Polish music at the start of the last century. But the English translation (claiming to be the work of one Ian Mansfield) is a disgrace. Seeming to have done little more than run the original German through a free online translator, and not even having made the effort to check the spelling afterwards, Mansfield comes up with such incoherent nonsense as; “he ranks as one of the many tone wolves and practically outsiders in music”, “the composer instrumented the cycle for chamber orchestra”, and “meaningful for the concert hall and fathoming it to the depths”.

Soprano Marisol Montalvo is, thankfully, infinitely more eloquent in the cycle of five songs, Slopiewnie, which bears the same opus number as Szymanowski’s great opera, King Roger but is otherwise unconnected. Exotic, sometimes harmonically brittle, sparsely orchestrated but highly effective, these are a world away from the lush world of Strauss’s orchestral songs and present a musical voice which is both distinctive and accomplished. There is nothing identifiably Polish about these settings of Polish texts by Julian Tuwim, but the booklet note suggests the musical idiom is derived from Gorals, an ethnic group which “has its area of distribution in the Polish Tatra and the Beskids, but also in parts of Slovakia”. It also observes some stylistic parallels with Stravinsky and Les Noces. Montalvo has a pure, shining vocal quality with an innately focused sense of pitch.

The major work on the disc is the Fourth Symphony, subtitled Sinfonia Concertante, but which is, to all intents and purposes, a fully-fledged piano concerto. Szymanowski wrote the work for himself to play (although he dedicated it to Artur Rubinstein) and called it a Symphony to disguise his shortcomings as a concerto soloist. Ewa Kupiec is the fleet-fingered soloist, delivering the almost Ravelian delicacy of the first movement with a refreshingly light touch supported by the kind of clear-textured orchestration which seems such a feature of Szymanowski. Even as the movement builds up to its great climax, the feeling of delicacy and suppleness Kupiec brings to the performance is never lost, and Karl-Heinz Steffens seems to have an instinctive feel for the balance which comes across even when the recording engineers have done little to assist. A gentle, fluttering second movement introduces all manner of magical orchestral effects, much in the manner of a Bartók night-music movement but built around Polish rather than Hungarian folk songs. And in the final movement it is the spirit of Polish dances which seems to dominate in music that sounds like Ravel and Bartók holding hands but is, in reality, uniquely the voice of Szymanowski – stunning orchestral writing, impeccably crafted moments of climax and repose and an exotic musical language which is utterly enthralling. Steffens maintains a wonderfully incisive rhythmic momentum which his German players throw themselves into with great gusto.

The Nocturne and Tarantella is an orchestration, made two years after Szymanowski’s death by Grzegorz Fitelberg, of a work originally written for violin and piano. It draws attention to Szymanowski’s fondness for the exotic, combining Spanish and Italian elements in a scintillating dance-like display, where only the final cadence seems indicative of a composer not quite of the very first rank, but with a voice all his own.

– MusicWeb International (Marc Rochester)

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Szymanowski: Concert Overture, Sinfonia Concertante, etc. / Steffens, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie
Capriccio Nov 2016
CD
$21.99

PERSICHETTI: Parable 23 / COWELL: Trio in 9 Movements / REAL
Music and Arts Programs of America Jan 1991
CD
$18.99

Beethoven: Piano Trios / Smetana Trio

Supraphon

$41.99 Nov 20, 2020

When Beethoven assigned the opus number one to his three piano trios, it was evident that the then 22-year-old composer would explore, advance and co-create the composition rules, and that he would very nearly transcend that which was comprehensible to his contemporaries. Upon hearing the first private performance of Op. 1, Joseph Haydn purportedly voiced his doubts as to whether the ordinary listener would be able to understand No. 3. Beethoven experimented with this combination of instruments too – with the form, harmonies and other facets. The Piano Trio in D major, Op. 70 No. 1 may have had its roots in sketches for an opera based on Shakespeare’s drama Macbeth that Beethoven was contemplating at the time. The spectral music of the slow movement, featuring strange modulations and said to be a reworking of the Witches Chorus intended for the opera, earned the piece the nickname “Ghost Trio”. In the “Archduke Trio”, Op. 97, Beethoven emancipated all the instruments, providing each equal scope to apply their technical qualities and possibilities of expression. Its first performance, in April 1814, was the penultimate public concert Beethoven, at the time almost deaf, gave as a pianist. The 250th anniversary of one of the greatest composers of all time was an irresistible impulse for the Smetana Trio. Their new addition to the Beethoven discography possesses all the parameters of the ensemble’s previous, highly acclaimed recordings and will undoubtedly cause quite a stir- Beethoven’s chamber music through the lens of the Smetana Trio.

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Beethoven: Piano Trios / Smetana Trio
Supraphon Nov 2020
CD
$41.99

Beethoven: Sonatas Nos. 3 & 23 / Lang Lang

Sony Masterworks

$11.98 Nov 29, 2019

Ahead of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary in 2020, Sony Classical is pleased to release Beethoven Sonatas Nos 3 & 23 “Appasionata” by superstar pianist Lang Lang. Lang Lang is acritically acclaimed piano virtuoso. Lang Lang began playing the piano at the age of three. Lang Lang studied at Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music. At the early stages of his career, Lang Lang won numerous competitions including the Xinghai National Piano Competition and the Fourth International Competition for Young Pianists in Ettlingen, Germany. Lang Lang has performed with some of the worlds highly regarded orchestras including the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. As bonus track it contains the 3rd movement of the “Tempest” sonata. Beethoven (1770—1827) was a German composer and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. He is one of the most recognisable and influential composers of the Romantic period and his music remains popular around the world today.

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Beethoven: Sonatas Nos. 3 & 23 / Lang Lang
Sony Masterworks Nov 2019
CD
$11.98

Mathieu: Concerto No. 3 - Gershwin: An American in Paris / Falletta, Lefevre, Buffalo Phil

Analekta

$20.99 Sep 29, 2017

This new album by the great pianist and composer Alain Lefevre unveils the results of three years of hard work by Jacques Marchand, George Nicholson and Alain Lefevre aimed at restoring Andre Mathieu’s famous Concerto No. 3. Presented as a world premiere in February 2017 in Buffalo, where it was performed by Alain Lefevre and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of the renowned JoAnn Falletta, the reconstituted Concerto No. 3 was enthusiastically received by the audience. Recorded at those performances, the album Andre Mathieu: Concerto No. 3 accurately conveys the brilliance of Alain Lefevre and the enthusiasm of the musicians, aware as they were of sharing a highly emotional and one-of-a-kind moment. JoAnn Falletta had previously collaborated with Alain Lefevre in presenting works by Mathieu – in New York’s Carnegie Hall in 2013, among other settings. It was in the fall of 1942, 75 years ago, that young Quebec prodigy Andre Mathieu, just 13 years old and at the peak of his glory, began writing his Concerto No. 3, which he would finish the following summer. In 2008, George Nicholson discovered the original score of Andre Mathieu’s Concerto No. 3 written in the Quebec composer’s own hand. The differences, which were noteworthy, between this original score and the Concerto de Quebec, the well-known, modified, version of the work, were the starting point for an enormous undertaking aimed at restoring this masterwork of Mathieu’s. The new album also contains George Gershwin’s An American in Paris. Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and premiered in 1928, the work translates into music the vivid impressions of an American visiting Paris, strolling the city streets and soaking up the exuberant atmosphere of the French capital.

-----

REVIEW:

After languishing unnoticed for several decades, in 2008 the original autograph score for two pianos of Andre Mathieu's Concerto No. 3 was discovered in Ottawa. Since then, composer and conductor Jacques Marchand has prepared a critical edition that is faithful to the original manuscript. This is its first full recording. It has all the sweeping gestures of its period and a devilishly difficult piano part. Lefèvre’s performance at the keyboard is masterful. He and the BPO perform the work with astonishing authenticity, restoring a fascinating chapter to Canadian music history of that period.

– The Whole Note (Canada)

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Mathieu: Concerto No. 3 - Gershwin: An American in Paris / Falletta, Lefevre, Buffalo Phil
Analekta Sep 2017
CD
$20.99

Beethoven: Symphonies 1, 2 & 3 / Thielemann, VPO

C Major Entertainment

DVD

$51.99 Feb 22, 2011

Also available on Blu-ray

The Beethoven cycle of the 21st century!
Christian Thielemann joins forces with the prestigious Wiener Philharmoniker in a unique and monumental project BEETHOVEN 9, their first-ever recording of all 9 Symphonies in full high definition and Surround Sound. This recording from the Golden Hall of Vienna´s Musikverein is accompanied by nine(!) hour-long documentaries, one on each symphony, featuring Christian Thielemann and Germany´s most eminent music critic, Prof. Joachim Kaiser. From insights into Beethoven´s musical thinking to interpretational comparisons, including excerpts form legendary performances by Karajan, Bernstein, Böhm, Järvi etc., to historical perpsectives – no aspect of Beethoven´s symphonic oeuvre will remain untreated! This 3 DVD-set contains Beethoven Symphonies 1, 2 & 3 and the Documentaries about Symphonies 1, 2 & 3.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 and 3
Coriolan Overture
Egmont Overture, Op. 84
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Christian Thielemann, conductor

Recorded live at the Goldener Saal der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna

including:
Discovering Beethoven
with Joachim Keiser and Christian Thielemann
one-hour long documentary for each symphony
Picture format: NTSC 16:9
Sound format: PCM Stereo / DTS 5.0
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese Running time: 155 mins (symphonies) + 170 mins (documentaries)
No. of DVDs: 3

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Beethoven: Symphonies 1, 2 & 3 / Thielemann, VPO
C Major Entertainment Feb 2011
DVD
$51.99

Sibelius Edition Vol 8 - Orchestral Music

BIS

$59.99 Apr 01, 2009

Click here to view all 13 volumes of The Sibelius Edition

3332860.az_SIBELIUS_Orchestral_Works_Osmo.html

SIBELIUS Orchestral Works • Osmo Vänskä, cond; 1 Neemi Järvi, cond; 2 Jaakko Kuusisto (vn); 4 cond; 3 Leonidas Kavakos (vn); 5 Dong-Suk Kang (vn); 6 Marko Ylönen (vc); 7 Lahti SO; 1,3 Gothenburg SO 2 • BIS 1921 (6 CDs: 420:41)

Overture in E. 1 Scène de ballet. 1 Karelia: Complete music; 1 Overture; 2 Suite. 1 Impromptu. 2 Presto. 1 Press Celebrations Music. 1 Menuetto. 1 Coronation March. 1 March of the Pori Regiment. 1 Overture in a. 1 Romance in C. 1 Cortège. 1 Pan and Echo. 1 The Countess’s Portrait. 1 Violin Concerto: (1903–04); 1 (1905). 5 Rakastava. 1 2 Serenades. 2,6 2 Serious Melodies (2 versions). 1,2,6,7 6 Humoresques. 2,6 Academic March. 2 March of the Finnish Jäger Battalion. 1 3 Pieces, op. 96. 1 Suite mignonne. 1 Suite champêtre. 1 Suite caractèristique. 1 Morceau romantique. 1 Suite for Violin and Strings. 1,6 Andante festivo. 1 Processional. 1 Preliminary and alternative versions 1,3,4

Sibelius wrote a colossal amount of music for the orchestra. Already issued in BIS’s Sibelius Edition are boxes devoted to the tone poems (Vol. 1), theater music (Vol. 5, including the full scores plus the suites drawn from the composer’s incidental music), and voice and orchestra (Vol. 3); still to come, of course, is the volume of symphonies (Vol. 12, projected). That makes 21 or 22 well-filled CDs. Then there’s the present set, Vol. 8, which consists of everything else: works for violin and orchestra (about two CDs), music for patriotic pageants (one-and-a-half discs), and various occasional pieces, suites, and other works that don’t fit any of the above categories. The Sibelius quote with which annotator and project advisor, Andrew Barnett, begins his program notes could well serve as an epigram for the entire project: “I am myself a man of the orchestra. You must judge me from my orchestral works.”

Most of the contents of this set were first issued on single CDs: the Karelia music on BIS 915, the Press Celebrations Music on 1115, the two versions of the Violin Concerto on 500, the remaining works for violin and orchestra on 472, and various smaller works on 1265, 1445, 1485, and 1565. Items appearing here for the first time are the Karelia Suite, Menuetto, Romance, March of the Finnish Jäger Battalion , the three French-titled Suites, opp. 98 and 100, and the Processional , as well as several preliminary and alternative versions.

The sheer quantity of material here makes it most practical to discuss the works by category. Along with the Violin Concerto, the most important music in this set is that provided by Sibelius for two patriotic pageants during the Russian crackdown of the 1890s. Thinly disguised as benefits, the first in 1893 for education in the Viipuri district, the second in 1899 for the Press Pension Fund (the Russians had banned a Finnish newspaper), the Karelia and Press Celebrations pageants in reality served as nationalist rallies. The Karelia music, written the year after Kullervo and only two years after Sibelius’s first orchestral works, consisted of an Overture and music for eight tableaux; the Eighth Tableau quotes the song that would later become Finland’s national anthem. The Overture was published independently as op. 10, and three of the eight tableaux were adapted to form the Karelia Suite , op. 11. The remaining music—the entire score totals 50 minutes—is well worth hearing; particularly striking are the runic singing of Tableau 1 and the “siege” music of Tableau 6. In the runic singing, I prefer the earthy female voices used in Tuomas Ollila’s recording for Ondine to the bland baritones used here; otherwise, Vänskä’s version is more compelling. BIS includes Järvi’s energetic 1982 recording of the Overture (to avoid redundancy, one supposes), but gives the Suite in a new recording by Vänskä. I’m not sure why: there are plenty of fine recordings of the Suite already, and Sibelius collectors serious enough to consider this volume doubtless already have their favorite versions; mine is the RCA/Decca recording by Alexander Gibson, not currently available.

The Press Celebrations Music is almost as extensive, comprising a prelude and music for six tableaux; the final movement, “Finland Awakes,” with a new ending, became Finlandia , published as op. 26/7 in the expectation that the entire score would follow. In fact, only three other tableaux were published in revised form as Scènes historiques I , op. 25. The various stages of revision of Finlandia can be heard in Vol. 1 of the Edition; in the original, instead of the familiar apotheosis of the hymn tune, the ending consists of a series of bombastic fanfares. The Press Celebrations score is also included on the Ondine disc, but Vänskä is the clear winner.

The other major work here, of course, is the Violin Concerto. Kavakos and Vänskä give a compelling performance of the familiar 1905 revised version; it’s a performance of extremes, with the many technical challenges met head-on and the more lyrical music played with great sensitivity. Fans of Oistrakh on the one hand or Heifetz on the other won’t want to discard their favorites, but Kavakos offers yet another good option. The real story, though, is the 1991 version of Sibelius’s original score by the same artists; I believe it remains the only recording of the 1903–04 version. The comparison is intriguing; longtime Fanfare subscribers can find David K. Nelson’s detailed review in 14:6. It is impossible to discuss the two versions at length here, but two points should be made: first, the original is both longer and more difficult, including several fascinating passages that were later cut; second, as is almost invariably true, Sibelius’s final thoughts are his best. The revised version eliminates some interesting digressions and much extraneous detail, making it more cohesive and giving it more impact. The original version is still well worth hearing, not only because the comparison is so interesting, but also because it does include a good deal of music later eliminated. The two versions were originally issued in tandem, but here the original version is placed in an “appendix” on the last disc of the set, along with early or alternative versions of other works.

Kang and Järvi give sympathetic readings of the Two Serenades and the Serious Melodies ; the latter are also given, in the appendix, in Sibelius’s cello version by Ylönen and Vänskä. Only the Humoresques are a bit of a letdown. These superb pieces, written in 1917–18 when Sibelius was working on the Fifth Symphony under horrible conditions, are technically demanding and musically complex; they should be far better known, but their format—six short pieces totaling about 20 minutes—seems to have no niche in today’s concert programs. Kang and Järvi are less volatile, less exciting than Aaron Rosand on an ancient Vox LP. I have not heard the recordings of the violin-and-orchestra works by Tetzlaff or Kuusisto; Robert Maxham gave the former a mostly favorable review in 26:6, but the latter does not appear in the Fanfare Archive.

The many other pieces in this set can be addressed only briefly. Sibelius’s first orchestral works were the Overture in E Major and the Scène de ballet , both written in 1891; in 31:1, I preferred Järvi to Vänskä in the former, the reverse in the latter. The Overture in A Minor was written to fill out the program for the premiere of the Second Symphony; supposedly it was composed in a single evening. It certainly is far thinner in substance than the Symphony; its introduction, striking in its use of the trumpets, fails to go anywhere. The well-known Romance in C Major is given a rather perfunctory reading; Pan and Echo , a “Dance Intermezzo” sometimes grouped with the tone poems, is a striking miniature.

Rakastava (“The Lover”), a three-movement work for string orchestra with triangle and timpani written in 1911, the time of the Fourth Symphony, is a small masterpiece. It actually grew out of a much earlier choral work (thus perhaps explaining the anomalous opus number 11), and it was revised in 1912, Sibelius being dissatisfied with the arrangement. Again the final version is far superior to the earlier one, included in the appendix. Vänskä gives a sympathetic account.

Most of the remaining works are of minor importance; the Three Pieces , op. 96, and the three suites that followed, written between 1919 and 1922, are all essentially salon music; the Suite for Violin and String Orchestra, written in 1929 and thus one of Sibelius’s final compositions, is likewise not consequential. The Andante festivo , a 1938 arrangement of a work composed in 1922 for string quartet, is notable not only for its noble formality, but also because the recording of Sibelius’s live broadcast for the New York World’s Fair is the only surviving document of his conducting. That recording shows that almost everyone, including Vänskä, takes the piece too quickly; Vänskä’s version here has a timing of 5:10 versus Sibelius’s 6:55. Finally, the Processional is an arrangement of one of several songs Sibelius wrote for the Finnish Masonic lodge in 1927, again making it one of his last works.

The contents of this set range from some of Sibelius’s finest, most important works to some of the least significant products of his mature years. If you don’t have the single CD of the two versions of the Violin Concerto, or either of the pageant scores, or if you absolutely must have every scrap of orchestral music he created, this set’s for you. Collectors who have been acquiring each volume of the Edition as it is released will find this one of the more rewarding ones. Essential for Sibelians.

FANFARE: Richard A. Kaplan

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Sibelius Edition Vol 8 - Orchestral Music
BIS Apr 2009
CD
$59.99

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante, Music for French Horn

Supraphon

$41.99 Oct 19, 2018

Warning: this recording is not intended for musicological purists. But if you love spontaneous music making in the most select of company, this is definitely the right recording for you. Radek Baborák, for example, does not hesitate to arrange a discarded movement from a symphony to add as the missing movements of an unfinished horn concerto. Of course, to tell the truth, didn't Mozart himself do the exact same thing countless times? In this way, the preserved fragments are turned into two "new horn concertos." The Sinfonia concertante for four wind instruments and orchestra, K 297b is a work surrounded by many mysteries, and it fits beautifully in this context of discovery. Here, it is recorded in Baborák's arrangement for Mozart's original instrumentation. Playing the solo parts are virtuosos from Europe's best orchestras. For the 12 horn duets - the only completely extant composition on this album played in it's original instrumentation - Baborák's partner is another of today's legendary horn players, Radovan Vlatkovic. Radek Baborák and his friends are inviting you on an excursion to the world of their elder colleague Wolfgang Amadeus - with his inexhaustible supply of jokes, ideas, and colors.

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Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante, Music for French Horn
Supraphon Oct 2018
CD
$41.99

Ravel, Berkeley & Pounds: Orchestral Works / Wilson, Sinfonia of London

Chandos

SACD

$10.99 ~~$21.99~~ Save 50% Feb 16, 2024

The three composers whose works appear on this album are interconnected: Ravel was a mentor to Lennox Berkeley, and Berkeley to Pounds. Le Tombeau de Couperin marks Ravel’s movement towards neoclassicism, its forms and style a re-invention of ones from the French baroque.

Originally written for solo piano, the movements of the suite were dedicated to friends whom Ravel had lost in the First World War. In 1919, he orchestrated four of the six movements (the version performed here). Berkeley met Ravel a number of times in the 1920s, working as an interpreter and tour-guide whilst Ravel was in London. Ravel advised him to study with Nadia Boulanger, which he did, between 1926 and 1932.

Commissioned by Sir Arthur Bliss for the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1942, the Divertimento initially received a mixed reception, but has since found many supporters (including Pounds). The critic Peter Dickinson felt it showed an ‘instinctive and unimpassioned creativeness associated with the French aesthetic, but by no means restricted to it’.

Adam Pounds studied privately with Berkeley in London during the late 1970s, and in his own music has perpetuated the firm commitment of the two earlier composers to clarity and accessibility in everything they wrote. His Third Symphony was written in 2021 and is a response to the national lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Pounds states that the piece captures the ‘sadness, humor, determination, and defiance’ which everyone faced at this time – not least musicians. Scored for relatively modest orchestral forces, the work is dedicated to Sinfonia of London and John Wilson who here give the work its world première recording.

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Ravel, Berkeley & Pounds: Orchestral Works / Wilson, Sinfonia of London
Chandos Feb 2024
SACD
~~$21.99~~ $10.99

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No 3, Etc / Volodos, Levine

Sony Masterworks

$11.98 Sep 26, 2000

This selection received a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra)."
This selection is available in standard CD, Super Audio CD and Mini Disc formats.
Arcadi Volodos' concerto recording debut is an involving and exciting Rachmaninov Third which is quite unlike any of the other classic accounts that come to mind. Not for him the manic intensity of Horowitz or the hell-bent impetuosity of Argerich, this particular virtuoso has his own signature gifts, a golden tone that never tarnishes under duress, a mastery of overall form that might be viewed as restraint, and then of course, the killer technique. In this last regard Volodos truly sets himself apart, for his magic is not all speed and power. One is often held breathless by his control in quiet moments, especially where the combination of dexterity and delicacy is called for, and he revels in passage work, making every note count and shine where other pianist seem to merely be moving on to get to the next big hurdle. Then, when the big hurdles of the "Rach III" arrive, Volodos dispatches them with such level command that one is truly awed. No wonder the live Berlin audience breaks into hysterics at the end. They, like you, are lucky to be alive to hear this.

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Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No 3, Etc / Volodos, Levine
Sony Masterworks Sep 2000
CD
$11.98

Beethoven: Triple Concerto, Op. 56 & Trio, Op. 1 No. 1
Bridge Records Dec 2012
CD
$18.99

Fritz Kauffmann: Piano Trios, Opp. 9 & 20

CPO

$18.99 Jan 16, 2026

Fritz Kauffmann was a composer who never fully realised his natural potential because he "suffered" from so many different talents. Specifically, this son of a Berlin businessman, after completing his studies and spending some time as a private tutor, worked to reform musical life in Magdeburg from 1889 onwards, performing there as a conductor and pianist while neglecting his own creative work. The regret expressed by some contemporaries is easy to understand when listening to the two piano trios from the 1880s recorded here. He was a powerful romantic who expressed subtle originality within familiar forms. His expression and creativity range from dramatic force to subtle humour, and - as can be heard in the "Barcaruola" from Opus 20 - he was not above the use of catchy tunes.

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Fritz Kauffmann: Piano Trios, Opp. 9 & 20
CPO Jan 2026
CD
$18.99

Mix & Match

Sturm und Drang, Vol. 3 / Page, The Mozartists

Signum Classics

$19.99 Oct 06, 2023

Like the first two releases in The Mozartists’ ongoing ‘Sturm und Drang’ series, this record- ing comprises three highly dramatic and turbulent orchestral works interspersed with similarly highly-charged vocal items. The repertoire dates from between 1771 and 1788, and again includes one of Haydn’s great minor-key symphonies – this time arguably the greatest of them all, the ‘Trauer’. For the first time in the series Mozart is also represented, in the form of his extraordinarily visceral and darkly chromatic Adagio and Fugue in C minor, and the disc opens with an outstanding G minor symphony by the Czech com- poser Leopold Kozeluch, whose quality, sweep and lyricism will surprise many listeners. The two vocal works are genuine rarities. Schweitzer’s Alceste was one of the earliest attempts to create German tragic opera in the vernacular, and it launches with an aria of searing intensity. The scene from Paisiello’s Annibale in Torino – the twenty-third of his eighty-seven operas –features an exquisite but brief arioso before leading into a stormy G minor aria. The soloist is the exciting young American soprano Emily Pogorelc, and Ian Page again conducts his award-winning period-instrument ensemble.

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Sturm und Drang, Vol. 3 / Page, The Mozartists
Signum Classics Oct 2023
CD
$19.99

Strauss: Symphonia Domestica; Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade / Mehta, LPO

LPO

$17.99 Mar 27, 2020

Recorded live in concert at Royal Festival Hall in 1988 and 1992 under the baton of Zubin Mehta, these recordings of Richard Strauss's Symphonia Domestica and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade are now available from the London Philharmonic Orchestra archives.

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REVIEW:

The key to appreciating the Symphonia Domestica's gentleness and its small details, as American audiences did from early on, is to simply take the work at face value, and this is accomplished admirably here by conductor Zubin Mehta. Even better, is the pairing: Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, Op. 35, might seem poles away from the Symphonia Domestica in its contrast of eastern exoticism to Strauss' bourgeois world, but Mehta asks hearers to listen again. Both works are delicately orchestrated, a bit folkish in places, and they alternate action with big melodies in a similar way, and what melodies they are. A fine pairing of favorites from the London Philharmonic's in-house label.

– All Music Guide (James Manheim)

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Strauss: Symphonia Domestica; Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade / Mehta, LPO
LPO Mar 2020
CD
$17.99

Beethoven: Triple Concerto and "Piano Concerto no. 0" / Trio RoVerde, Mardirossian, Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen

Brilliant Classics

$13.99 Jan 07, 2022

Beethoven’s Triple Concerto Op.56 for piano, violin, cello, and orchestra was unique in the musical literature at the time, and he knew it: he proudly wrote to his publisher that the combination of a piano trio with an orchestra was entirely new. But the innovations go beyond the combination of concertante instruments, extending as well to the importance accorded the orchestra, elevated to the status of an equal, symphonic protagonist alongside the three solo parts alone, in all possible pairings and as a threesome. This was new, and the audience was indeed perplexed when the work was first performed in Vienna in May 1804. There is no indication that the concerto was performed a second time during Beethoven’s lifetime.

The Piano Concerto in E-flat “Number Zero” (WoO 4) is a work rarely performed and therefore practically unknown to the wider public. Written by Beethoven in 1784, at the tender age of 14, it comes down to us as an unsigned 32-page manuscript with the author’s corrections: the solo piano part and the piano reduction of the orchestra parts are completely preserved, but the orchestral score itself has been lost. This manuscript was discovered in 1890 in the archives of the Artaria Foundation and was transferred to the Berlin State Library. It was published that same year. Beethoven researcher Willy Hess later restored the orchestral parts on the basis of the preserved material. The first outing of this careful, accurate work was given in 1934 by the pianist Walter Frey in Oslo (first part only), and the complete reconstruction was performed in 1968 at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.

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Beethoven: Triple Concerto and "Piano Concerto no. 0" / Trio RoVerde, Mardirossian, Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen
Brilliant Classics Jan 2022
CD
$13.99