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Brouwer: Concierto de Benicassim - Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez - Martin: Guitare
Naxos · Apr 2016CD$19.99 -
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Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez / Kellermann, Karlsen, LPO, Norrbotten NEO
BIS · Jan 2021SACD$21.99 -
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SaleBaermann: Clarinet Quintets / Graaf, Schubert Consort Netherlands
Brilliant Classics · Mar 2024CD$12.99$9.99 -
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Mahler: Symphony No. 10 - Sostakovich: Symphony No. 5 / Ponnelle, Minsk State Philharmonic
Musicaphon · Jul 2020CD$16.99 -
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SaleGoetz: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-2 & Spring Overture / Cabassi, Ishii, Magdeburg Philharmonic
Naxos · Sep 2016CD$19.99$13.99 -
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SaleAbel, Hammer, Lidl & Mozart: Exquisite Delight / Topelmann, Darmstadt
Carpe Diem · Nov 2023CD$20.99$15.99 -
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Brouwer: Concierto de Benicassim - Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez - Martin: Guitare
This recording brings together two undisputed 20th century masterpieces and one from the 21st, all of which share surprising stories of neglect. With its sublime Adagio, Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez has become a true phenomenon in the history of Western music, but like the original version of Frank Martin’s extraordinarily powerful Guitare it suffered disapproval from its dedicatee Andrés Segovia. Echoes of Rodrigo can be heard in the cinematic romanticism of Leo Brouwer’s Concierto de Benicàssim, described by the composer as “a panorama of my own ideas” and revived here by Miguel Trápaga a decade after its première.
ZAL
Haydn: Piano Trios, Vol. 1 / Kungsbacka Trio
HAYDN Piano Trios: No. 24 in D; No. 25 in G; No. 26 in f?; No. 31 in e? • Kungsbacka Pn Trio • NAXOS 8.572040 (52: 35)
This disc offers an intriguing set of paradoxes. But let’s first state that it is quite wonderful. The Adagio cantabile of Trio No. 26 is that of the Adagio of Haydn’s Symphony No. 102—and yet it is not. The notes are very much the same; one easily follows the symphony’s score during the trio, translating the first violin part to the piano and the winds to the violin. But the movement now makes a totally different impression, sweet and calm instead of solid and intense. This is not just the performance, and the Kungsbacka demonstrates elsewhere that it can be appropriately intense. In its complete set, Haydn Trio Eisenstadt (which I admire greatly) hews close to the symphony’s Adagio, and it just doesn’t work.
As I seem to repeat in every issue, there is no single right way to play Haydn, assuming competence and taste. This ensemble produces the impression of period practice, and yet Simon Crawford Phillips’s piano is clearly a modern grand. He achieves delicate, pearl-like tones in Haydn’s rising and falling phrases, but he sometimes pounds cadences in codas. These performances are thoughtful and relaxed (the andantes are especially lovely), with little of the sparkle of the Beaux Arts Trio’s recordings—which are in turn seldom contemplative and can wear one down with their consistent flash. Each complements the other, and many recordings lie in between; yet the Kungsbacka races through the presto “Hungarian Rondo” of No. 25 as fast as any group. If you prefer one complete set, I recommend Haydn Trio Eisenstadt on Phoenix Edition ( Fanfare 32:5). I prefer the variety of multiple ensembles, and these four trios mesh neatly with a disc of Nos. 21–23 by Trio 1790 on cpo (Complete Piano Trios Vol. 4) and Nos. 27–30 by Robert Levin, Vera Beths, and Anner Byslma on Sony. Add to these PentaTone’s two-SACD set of nine early trios by the Beaux Arts: no duplications, and you get both modern and period instruments.
FANFARE: James H. North
V11: STRING QUARTETS
Mendelssohn, Schumann: String Quartets / Guarneri Quartet
-- Gramophone [2/1980, reviewing the original LP release of the Mendelssohn Quintet]
Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez / Kellermann, Karlsen, LPO, Norrbotten NEO
Inspired by Miles Davis’s legendary album Sketches of Spain, this project intend to conjure up Spain ‘as if through a prism - as a concept rather than a place’. Guitarist Jacob Kellermann and conductor Christian Karlsen worked with hyped young composers Francisco Coll and Pete Harden, who have each contributed a concertante work for guitar and ensemble. With Turia, Coll has returned to his roots – the dried-out river that once flowed through his (and Rodrigo’s) hometown Valencia. He has described it as his most ‘flamenco-colored’ work so far, intended to ‘evoke the light and the respective shadows’ of Spain. Turia is followed by two classics of Spanish music: Manuel de Falla’s Homenaje for solo guitar and Evocación by Isaac Albéniz, here in Karlsen’s atmospheric arrangement for ensemble. The last word on the disc goes to British composer Pete Harden. His affinity to jazz and non-classical tradition shine through Solace and Shimmer, which is based on the same chords that underpins Rodrigo’s Adagio. Kellermann enjoys strong support by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (in Concierto de Aranjuez) and the seven members of Norrbotten NEO.
REVIEW:
Kellerman has everything the Concierto de Aranjuez needs: excellent technical skills, singing tone, impulsiveness. His nail tone is relatively soft, not hard-edged; his timbral contrasts are heard more with vibrant fingertip tone. And the London Symphony has the horsepower as well as the fine soloists— especially the wonderful English horn in II—to make this a reading to remember.
– American Record Guide
Baermann: Clarinet Quintets / Graaf, Schubert Consort Netherlands
New recordings of early-Romantic quintets by the supreme clarinet virtuoso of his day, an inspiration to Weber and Mendelssohn but also an accomplished composer in his own right.
Heinrich Baermann's career took off once he met Carl Maria von Weber in 1811. Weber was immediately taken with the French-accented brilliance and German richness of tone which Baermann drew from his instrument, and began to write a series of works – including two concertos and a concertino – which still rank among his most inspired instrumental pieces, as well as defining a new sound and reach for the clarinet as a solo instrument The clarinet, now thanks to Baermann, could take on multiple roles, as leader, jester, and magus-like figure to complement the likes of Paganini on the violin and Giuliani on the guitar.
Weber pushed Baermann’s technique to new heights of facility and eloquence, which in return inflected Baermann’s own works for his instrument with comparable ambition. He wrote three quintets for clarinet and string ensemble, the first of them more concerto-like in character, the latter two full-scale chamber works. They have been recorded complete only once before, making this new album from a fine team of Dutch musicians all the more welcome.
Especially impressive are the slow movements of the quintets, cast as arias without words in order to capitalize on the fluid legato of Baermann’s playing, but formed with an economy of means which leaves their themes lingering in the mind’s ear. The Adagio of the Op. 23 Quintet was misattributed to Richard Wagner for many years, which speaks for Baermann’s craftsmanship, even if its harmonic language evidently belongs to a generation or two after Mozart. Now restored to its rightful place, the Adagio is the crown jewel, but there are treasures in store throughout Baermann’s clarinet quintets.
Transfigurations: Late Romantic Schoenberg & Berg / Het Collectif
Schoenberg's famous Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), inspired by Richard Dehmel's poem in which a woman announces to her companion that she is pregnant by another man, is presented here in its version for piano trio by Eduard Steuermann: 'This brilliant pianist, the creator of many of Schoenberg's pieces, brings the story to life by entrusting the dialogue between the man and the woman to cello and violin alone', says Thomas Dieltjens, pianist of the group Het Collectief. Anton Webern made a transcription of Schoenberg's Kammersymphonie Op.9 in 1923 for the same forces as Pierrot Lunaire. This miniature orchestra, consisting of just two wind instruments (flute, clarinet), two string instruments (violin, cello) and a piano, 'preserves great clarity in the polyphonic line'. Het Collectif asked the young composer Tim Mulleman to transcribe for the same ensemble the Piano Sonata Op. 1 of Alban Berg, who himself made arrangements of some of his own works, including the famous Adagio from his Kammerkonzert, also presented in this programme.
Dvorák, Bartok: Cello Concertos / Starker, Slatkin, St Louis
-- Edward Greenfield, Gramophone [3/1992]
A Retrospective / Trio Zimmermann
There is no better recordings of the strio trio repertoire than those you will find here. - David Hurwitz (ClassicsToday.com)
In 2007 Frank Peter Zimmermann was able to realize his long-cherished dream to establish a string trio, together with Antoine Tamestit and Christian Poltéra. Three individually superb string players do not necessarily add up to a top-flight trio – even if they all play on instruments by Stradivarius, as here – but Trio Zimmermann immediately made a name for itself at international festivals and prestigious concert venues.
In 2010 the trio released its first album – with Mozart's seminal Divertimento – to critical acclaim. (More than 10 years later, that recording was the top recommendation in the Record Review series Building a Library on BBC Radio 3.) On following offerings, the ensemble explored the later repertoire for string trio: two discs with Beethoven's contributions to the genre, and a third with works by Hindemith and Schoenberg which have garnered distinctions such as Diapason de l’Année, the Chamber Award from BBC Music Magazine and a ‘Jahrespreis’ from the German Record Critics’ Award association. For their fifth disc to date the trio went back in time, however, as the three members together prepared a performing version of Bach's Goldberg Variations, described as ‘a triumph of combined technical ingenuity and musical insight’ in The Strad. These five discs have now been collected into a boxed-set retrospective, offering lovers of chamber music more than 5 hours of glorious music-making, in top-notch sound and including the original booklets with full documentation.
Past praise for previously released albums included in this set:
Bach: Goldberg Variations
The expertise and fluency of the Zimmermann's playing is evident. Their approach to dynamics is refreshingly flexible, and all three players bring a graceful approach to ornamentation.
-- BBC Music Magazine
Beethoven: String Trios, Op. 9, Nos. 1-3
These musicians are in command of the meticulously written extremes in expression, sforzandos not indiscriminately stabbed at but gauged according to the contexts in which they appear. Tempi are gauged to a nicety too. In sum, they do Beethoven proud throughout this exceptionally fine disc.
-- Gramophone
Hindemith & Schoenberg: String Trios
The Trio Zimmermann play them both Hindemith works with such energy, panache, and attention to the minutest detail that they are totally convincing and make a perfect foil to the rigors of the Schoenberg that follows.
-- The Guardian
Trio Zimmermann play Mozart & Schubert
The Zimmerman Trio plays with remarkably accurate intonation and a ravishing tone that’s also mindful of the Classical style. In other words, they don’t lay it on too thick, but they aren’t afraid to let the melodic lines sing. Schubert’s single-movement trio makes the perfect coupling.
-- ClassicsToday.com (10/10; David Hurwitz)
Beethoven: String Trios, Op. 3; Serenade, Op. 8
The Zimmermann Trio offers what must be the finest recording of Beethoven's Op. 3 since the classic mono Heifetz/Primrose/Piatigorsky version. They bring out all of the first movement’s requisite brio, paying heed to the syncopated rhythmic underpinnings that support the scampering triplet passages. The ensemble lightens its sonority for the Andante without sacrificing body and definition, while they articulate the Menuetto’s two-note phrase groups and subito dynamics in strict tempo yet in a way that’s oblivious to the bar lines. While the Finale is a model of controlled ferocity, the musicians are not afraid to let the lyrical sections sing out sweetly (never cloyingly).
Power and delicacy effortlessly coexist in the Serenade’s opening March, while subtle dynamic gradations distinguish the Menuetto’s loud arpeggiatted tuttis. The Adagio’s long unison lines offer cogent proof that one can employ minimum vibrato and still retain a focused and alive sonority. The March returns da capo at the end of the piece, with slightly more emphatic fortes and lighter pianos this time around. The warmth, clarity, and ambient realism of BIS’s surround-sound engineering holds equal appeal when experienced in conventional stereo playback mode. This release is not just a worthy follow-up to the Zimmermann Trio’s magnificent Mozart K. 563 and Beethoven Op. 9 Trio traversals, but a reference disc in its own right. Bravo!
-- ClassicsToday.com (10/10; Jed Distler)
Mahler: Symphony No. 10 - Sostakovich: Symphony No. 5 / Ponnelle, Minsk State Philharmonic
This new release showcases the stylistic similarities and differences between two powerhouse composers- Gustav Mahler, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Mahler’s Symphony No. 10 (Adagio) is paired with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. The National Philharmonic Minsk was founded in 1930 and is one of Russia’s most renowned orchestras. As one of only three orchestras the National Philharmonic Minsk beared the honorary title “Academic Orchestra” during the Soviet Government. The repertoire of the 120 musicians includes not only important works of the Classic and Romantic periods, but also compositions by contemporary Russian composers and, in collaboration with the Philharmonic Chorus, the great works of the chorale literature.
Schubert: Chamber Works / Little, Hugh, Lane
The electrifying and long-standing collaborative partnership of Tasmin Little and Piers Lane returns to Chandos for this double-album featuring Schubert’s complete works for violin and piano, combined with the ‘Arpeggione’ Sonata and the Adagio in E flat for piano trio, all highly emotive masterpieces.They are joined by cellist Tim Hugh, ‘a musician with compelling insight into the creative urge behind the notes’ (The Times). Gramophone praised this duo’s album (CHAN 10749) for the artists’ ‘complete understanding and spontaneity’ and ‘moments of true musical virtuosity’.
Joseph Szigeti: Complete Columbia Album Collection
Sony Classical is pleased to announce the release of a 17-CD box set collecting the recordings made between 1940 and 1956 for American Columbia by the renowned Hungarian violinist Joseph Szigeti.
Szigeti had a remarkable career. Born in 1892 in Budapest, where he studied with Jenő Hubay, one of most celebrated virtuosos and teachers of that golden era of violin playing, he was praised by the iconic German violinist Joseph Joachim at his Berlin debut in 1905; lived in London for several years following his acclaimed 1907 debut and played chamber music with, among others, Myra Hess and Ferruccio Busoni; was a frequent visitor after the war to the Soviet Union, where he introduced Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto; made his triumphant American debut at Carnegie Hall under Stokowski in 1925; toured the world during the 1930s before finally settling in the US in 1940.
It was in that year that Szigeti renewed his friendship with fellow Hungarian émigré Béla Bartók, and in April the two gave a now-legendary recital in Washington which featured Bartók’s First Violin Rhapsody of 1928 – a work dedicated to and premiered by Szigeti in Europe. In May 1940, Columbia recorded their interpretation of this “vehicle for Szigeti’s biting and wholly magnificent fiddling” (MusicWeb International) in New York. That performance appears here for the first time on CD, along with another important work by Bartók, the classic first recording of his Contrasts for clarinet, violin and piano, written for and performed with Szigeti and Benny Goodman.
The rest of the new collection displays many more treasures of Szigeti’s passionate dedication to chamber music: in Bach, Handel, Tartini, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Dvořák, Debussy, Ravel, Bloch, Busoni, Prokofiev, Stravinsky and Henry Cowell, collaborating with such artists as Andor Foldes – another Hungarian émigré – as well as with Mieczyslaw Horzowski, Myra Hess, Pablo Casals and Igor Stravinsky.
There are, of course, major orchestral works represented in the new Szigeti edition, including two towering concertos in D major – the Brahms, recorded in 1945 with Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Beethoven, recorded in 1947 with Bruno Walter and the New York Philharmonic (“an account of impassioned grandeur” – MusicWeb International) – along with Busoni’s early Violin Concerto in D major, recorded in 1954 with Thomas Sherman conducting the Little Orchestra Society. Szigeti’s numerous Bach concerto recordings for Columbia are here as well, conducted by Casals, Fritz Stiedry and George Szell.
As Nathan Milstein, one of his great colleagues, said in a touching tribute to Szigeti, who died in 1973: “He was an incredibly cultured musician. Actually, his talent grew out of his culture. … I always admired him, and he was respected by musicians.” In his late years, Joseph Szigeti finally got the appreciation he deserved from the general public as well. Sony Classical’s new collection his Columbia recordings, many never before released on CD at Sony Classical, can only further enhance that appreciation.
REVIEWS:
Joseph Szigeti (1892-1973) was the violinistic equivalent of a “kunst diva”, just as Gidon Kremer is today. He never had a particularly beautiful tone, while his bowing and intonation grew less dependable with age. Yet Szigeti never put a wrong musical foot forward. His phrasing communicated form, character, architecture, and astute harmonic awareness, with musical considerations always taking precedence over physical expediency.
Sony/BMG’s 17-CD collection of Szigeti’s complete Columbia Masterworks recordings stands out for exemplary remasterings that stem from the best possible source material. His intense yet thoughtful collaborations with Mieczyslaw Horszowski in Beethoven’s Sonatas Nos. 1, 5, 6, and 10 have never sounded so full-bodied and detailed as they do here. The same goes for the 1947 Beethoven Concerto, where the New York Philharmonic turns in firm and insightfully aligned playing under Bruno Walter’s direction. It contrasts to the conductor’s relatively casual and deferential backing in Szigeti’s 1932 recording, which, however, finds Szigeti on far better form.
Rehearing Szigeti’s 1949 Bach Sonata No. 3 in C major for violin solo reminded me just how much more fluent and controlled this performance is in comparison to the violinist’s relatively tenuous Vanguard remake. Likewise, his masterful 1940 account of the D minor concerto based on Bach’s keyboard concerto BWV 1052 is technically, musically, and sonically superior to the bloated 1950 reading under Pablo Casals’ direction. Szigeti’s Casals Festival contributions are admittedly uneven.
His collaborations with Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, and Henry Cowell are both historically important and musically illuminating. Somehow the older Szigeti’s wiry tone imparts welcome character and tension to sonatas by Hindemith, Ravel, and Busoni, as well as the rarely heard Prokofiev solo sonata and Busoni concerto. It must be said, though, that the latter’s final scherzando-like passages are heavy going for the veteran violinist, as are the Busoni sonata’s overextended fugal sequences.
Listeners expecting suaveness and elegance in Brahms’ G major Op. 78 and D minor Op. 108 sonatas with Horszowski may wince at Szigeti’s tremulous and effortful execution. Still, he makes every note count, and the aching fragility that emerges from Op. 78’s outer movements and Op. 108’s deliberately unfolding third movement compels my undivided attention. Yet this Brahms D minor pales next to the power and authority of Szigeti’s great 78 rpm edition with pianist Egon Petri. As for the short encore-type pieces favored in the shellac era, Szigeti plays them dutifully rather than lovingly; he wasn’t a charmer like Kreisler, Elman, Milstein, or Ricci. Or Heifetz, for that matter.
The booklet includes full discographical data, an informative essay by Tully Potter, and Szigeti’s own notes for a 1970 Japanese reissue of his Schubert recordings. Even if just half of this collection represents Szigeti at his best, Sony/BMG’s comprehensive and meticulous production values deserve the highest accolades. In the meantime, a complete edition of Szigeti’s pre-war European 78s is long overdue.
-- ClassicsToday.com (Jed Distler)
The 31 works, from sonatas to chamber works to concertos, span Bach and Beethoven to Debussy, Ravel, Busoni and Henry Cowell. Bartók is pianist in his own Rhapsody No 1 for Violin and Piano. All the Brahms, including the Trio No 2 in C major with Hess and Casals, is to treasure. Szigeti plays Dvořák with grace and melancholy, and gives bite and attack to Stravinsky. The style may be redolent of another era, yet still this playing speaks to us.
– Guardian (UK)
This is a quite wonderful set, one of the highlights being an all-Busoni disc, the Second Sonata with Mieczysπaw Horszowski and the Violin Concerto with the Little Orchestra Society under Thomas Sherman. No one listening could fail to grasp the profound level of Szigeti's musical understanding.
– Gramophone
SET CONTENTS
DISC 1:
Bartók: Violin Rhapsody No. 1, Sz.87 (Remastered)
Bartók: Contrasts for Clarinet, Violin and Piano, Sz.111
Bloch: Three Pictures of Chassidic Life for Violin and Piano (Remastered)
Milhaud (arr. Lévy): Saudades do Brasil, Op. 67: No. 9, Sumare (Remastered)
Falla (arr. Levy): El Sombrero de Tres Picos, Parte I, Danza de la molinera (Remastered)
Mozart: Divertimento No. 15 in B-Flat Major, K. 287, "2. Lodronsche Nachtmusik" (Remastered)
DISC 2:
Mussorgsky-Rachmaninoff: Sorochintsy Fair, Act III: No. 5, Gopak (Remastered)
Dvorák (arr. Kreisler): Slavonic Dance in E Minor, Op. 46, No. 2 (Arr. in G Minor) (Remastered)
Dvorák (arr. Kreisler): Slavonic Dance No. 3 in A-Flat Major, Op. 46, No. 3 (Arr. in E Minor) (Remastered)
Hubay: Scènes de la Csárda No.4, Op. 32, "Hejre Kati", I. Lento ma non troppo. Allegro moderato (Remastered)
Hubay: Scènes de la Csárda No.4, Op. 32, "Hejre Kati", II. Allegro molto (Remastered)
Kodály (arr. Szigeti): Háry János Suite, IZK 26: V. Intermezzo (Remastered)
Brahms: 21 Hungarian Dances for Orchestra, WoO 1: No. 5 in G Minor (Remastered)
Debussy: Violin Sonata No.3 in G Minor, L. 140 (Remastered)
Hubay: The Zephyr, Op. 30, No. 5 (Remastered)
Schubert, Francois: Bagatelle Op. 13, No. 9, "Die Biene" (Remastered)
Stravinsky: Duo Concertant for Violin and Piano
Stravinsky: Pastorale, Song without Words for Violin & Woodwind Quartet
Stravinsky: Russian Maiden's Song
DISC 3:
Beethoven (Cadenza: Joseph Joachim): Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61
DISC 4:
Brahms: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77
Brahms: Violin Sonata No.3 in D Minor, Op.108: II. Adagio
DISC 5:
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.1 in D Major, Op. 12, No. 1 (Remastered)
Schubert: Violin Sonata in D Major, D.384
Schubert (arr. Friedberg): Piano Sonata No.17 in D Major, D.850: IV. Rondo. Allegretto moderato (Remastered)
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.7 in C Minor, Op. 30, No. 2 (Remastered)
DISC 6:
Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No.1 in F Minor, Op. 80 (Remastered)
Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major, Op. 94bis (Remastered)
DISC 7:
Bach, J.S.: Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005
Bach, J.S. (arr. Reitz): Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 1052
DISC 8:
Schubert: Fantaisie for Piano & Violin in C Major, Op.Posth. 159, D. 934
Corelli (arr. H. Leonard): Violin Sonata in D Minor, Op.5 No.12 "La Folia" (Variations Serieuses)
Debussy (arr. Roelens): Suite bergamasque, L. 75: No. 3. Clair de lune
Lalo (arr. Szigeti): Aubade from "Le Roi d'Ys" (Act III)
Tchaikovsky: 6 Pieces, Op. 51: No. 6, Valse sentimentale
Bach, J.S. (arr. Szigeti): Violin Partita No.3 in E Major, BWV 1006: VI. Bourrée (Remastered)
DISC 9:
Bach, J.S.: Concerto for Flute, Violin and Keyboard in A Minor, BWV 1044 (Remastered)
Bach, J.S.: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, (arr. BWV 1052/1056) (Remastered)
Bach, J.S.: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050
DISC 10:
Schubert: Rondo in B Minor for Piano and Violin, D.895 (Op.70) "Rondeau brillant"
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.10 in G Major, Op. 96 (Remastered)
Schubert: Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 162. D. 574 "Grand Duo" (Remastered)
DISC 11:
Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60
Brahms: Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major Op. 87
DISC 12:
Cowell: Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano (1945) (Remastered)
Shapero: Sonata for Piano Four Hands (1941) (Remastered) (Harold Shapero, piano; Leo Smit, piano)
Cowell: Celestial Vision: How Old Is Song? (Remastered)
DISC 13:
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.5 in F Major, Op. 24 "Spring"
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 6 in A Major, Op. 30, No. 1
DISC 14:
Bach, J.S. (arr. Szigeti): Violin Concerto in G Minor, BWV 1056 (Remastered)
Handel: Violin Sonata in D Major, HWV 371 (Remastered)
Tartini (Cadenzas: Szigeti): Violin Concerto in D Minor, D. 45 (Remastered)
Tartini: Violin Sonata in G Major, B. G19 (Remastered)
DISC 15:
Ravel: Violin Sonata No.2 in G Major, M. 77
Hindemith: Violin Sonata in E Major (1939)
Prokofiev: Sonata for Solo Violin in D Major, Op. 115 (Remastered)
Prokofiev: Five Melodies for Violin and Piano, Op. 35bis (Remastered)
DISC 16:
Busoni: Violin Concerto, Op.35a, BV 243
Busoni: Violin Sonata No.2, Op.36a, BV 244
DISC 17:
Brahms: Violin Sonata No.1 in G Major, Op. 78 "Regen" (Remastered)
Brahms: Violin Sonata No.3 in D Minor, Op.108 (Remastered)
Goetz: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-2 & Spring Overture / Cabassi, Ishii, Magdeburg Philharmonic
The Bach Gamut Vol 1 / Virgil Fox
BACH Fantasia and Fugue in g, BWV 542. Sheep May Safely Graze. Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C, BWV 564. St. Matthew Passion: Finale. Prelude and Fugue in a, BWV 543. Air on a G String. Prelude and Fugue in D, BWV 532. I Call to Thee, Lord Jesus Christ • Virgil Fox (org) • REFERENCE 107 (66:19) Live: San Francisco 9/1976
From Professor Keith Johnson, the man committed to producing state-of-the-art vinyl recordings, who once claimed his company would never succumb to the siren call of CDs, comes this 24-bit HDCD transfer of a live recital given by Virgil Fox on the Ruffatti pipe organ and the Rodgers “Royal V” touring organ in San Francisco’s St. Mary’s Cathedral.
Virgil Fox remains a controversial figure in serious organ circles. Often looked upon as the Liberace of organists, Fox was noted for his flamboyant style and an approach to his craft that often put theatrics above respect for the composers whose music he played. The story, quite possibly apocryphal, is told of a visit Fox paid to the Wurlitzer electric organ factory. VIP that he was, he was conducted on a tour of the facility by the president of the company himself. At tour’s end, Fox was escorted into a sealed, temperature-controlled room that contained a pipe from an actual pipe organ. The president proudly announced that the pipe was used as a standard against which Wurlitzer’s organs were measured. To which Fox replied, “Fancy that, a real organ pipe in an electric organ factory! That’s like finding bird poop in a cuckoo clock!”
Not that Fox ever showed much discernment for the instruments he played on. His was a phenomenal technique often wedded in equal proportion to excess and lack of taste. His last years in particular, devoted to his “Heavy Organ” concerts and psychedelic light shows, were especially sad; though in his defense it could be said that he exposed many young people of that generation (the late 1960s and early 1970s)—even if it was through a haze of pot smoke—to the world of classical music.
This will not be a CD for those who take a serious view of the organ in general or of Bach’s masterpieces for the instrument in particular. But no one can take away from Fox his virtuosity or his showmanship. Nor can anyone take away from this recording its astonishing presence and stunning sound. For an organ spectacular to impress friends and alienate neighbors, recommended.
FANFARE: Jerry Dubins
Abel, Hammer, Lidl & Mozart: Exquisite Delight / Topelmann, Darmstadt
Exquisite Delight awaits the listener on Viktor Töpelmann’s new solo album with viol music by Carl Friedrich Abel, Franz Xaver Hammer und Andreas Lidl. Virtuoso Allegros, sentimental Adagios and dancing Minuets come to life in Viktor Töpelmann’s interpretation of sonatas and solo music from this last bloom of viol music in the late 18th century. He plays an original bass viol by Barak Norman (London 1722) and he is accompanied by the cellist Gerhart Darmstadt.
Music For Flute And Organ / Daniele Ruggieri, Andrea Toschi
Featured are works by composers Hartmann, Lachner, Donjon, Doppler, Hiller, Gallon, Genzmer, d’Aurizio, Manzino. They explore the rich possibilities and diverse qualities of the two instruments in a fascinating way, sharing a spiritual or liturgical background.
SIXTEEN (THE): a la Gloire de Dieu
Reinecke: Trio Op. 188; Herzogenberg: Trio Op. 61; Bowen: Ballade Op. 133
Carl Reinecke’s Trio was composed in 1886. He hits on a delightful theme for the opening Allegro moderato, one so delightful in fact that he keeps repeating it again and again. This robust, rather old school writing is not without drama – note the vigorous trumpet-led accelerandi – and has genial charm in the Scherzo, too. The romantic warmth of the cavatina-like Adagio is properly conveyed by Michael Massong’s trombone, in particular – an instrument that lends plangent warmth to the proceedings – and there are hints of wit in the light and spirited Rondo finale.
Written on the same conventionally-structured four movement lines, Heinrich von Herzogenberg’s Trio was dedicated to an old friend, Gustav Hinke, oboist of the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra. Though it also reveals a comparable technical assurance to Reinecke’s work, it sports rather more in the way of bucolic humour. Thematically things are democratically parcelled out and in the hunting brio of the Scherzo, suitably stabbing accents add some vivid drama to the proceedings. The two brass players convince here – they’re in their metier, in fact – but they are also alert to the balladic potential of the slow movement whether singly or in unison. Friederich Höricke provides immaculate support here to Massong and trumpeter Andre Schoch, as indeed he does in the fanfare-dotted exuberance of the finale, with its somewhat Brahmsian close. Herzogenberg’s wife, Elizabeth, incidentally, was the dedicatee of Brahms’s Op.78 Rhapsodies.
Very much the odd man out, compositionally, is York Bowen. His late-Romantic and, pianistically, frankly Rachmaninovian elements are on show in this compact Ballade, Op.133. It was published in 1956 though assumed to have been written some years before, possibly in 1949. Bowen ensure that phrases overlap, which generates a real sense of urgency and the music flows through textures, moods, and tempi towards a quiet, reflective close. This is a fine performance, though doubtless Bowen enthusiasts would rather hear the real deal.
If you want the original instrumentation of the two German works turn to the luxury casting of Tuckwell, Goritzki and Requejo on Claves CD-50 0803.
Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International
Beethoven for Harp
Ives: Symphony No 1, Three Places In New England / Ormandy
Zubin Mehta conducts with similar enthusiasm, but his Los Angeles recording is spoiled by disfiguring cuts in the finale, and despite heftily sonorous playing from the Chicago Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas' earnest reading sounds surprisingly stiff after Ormandy's free-flowing, almost impetuous rendition. Ormandy further earns his Ives stripes (and proves the lie to the claim that he was a bland interpreter) with his intense and atmospheric reading of Three Places in New England. Rounding out the program is a bracing performance of the Robert Browning Overture by a very animated Leopold Stokowski, stunningly played by the American Symphony. The remastered sound for the Philadelphia sessions is pleasingly warm and full for its period (late 1950s), while the Stokowski recording is less open and a bit hard-edged. [3/6/2002]
--Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com
Haydn: Symphonies Nos 74, 75 & 76 / Müller-brühl, Cologne Co
-- Penguin Guide [2003/4 Edition]
