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Chopin: Piano Concerto No 2; Variations On "La Ci Darem" / Nebolsin, Wit, Warsaw PO

Naxos

$19.99 Oct 26, 2010

CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 2. Variations on “Là ci darem la mano.” Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise brillante • Eldar Nebolsin (pn); Antoni Wit, cond; Warsaw Phil O • NAXOS 8.572336 (62:53)

Eldar Nebolsin was born in Uzbekistan in 1974. He eventually went on to study with Dmitri Bashkirov, before garnering international attention after winning the Santander International Piano Competition back in 1992. In addition, he was awarded the Sviatoslav Richter Prize in the International Piano Competition, Moscow, in 2005. He is a name that is new to me, and I’m glad that I had the opportunity to hear a bit of what he’s doing right now. He has the kind of virtuosity that is less apparent than other pianists’, because he always seems to be completely in touch, musically, with what he’s doing—and not for the sake of showing off what he can do. He has a fluid sound, and a good lyrical sense—sometimes losing the rhythmic bite, the quirkiness of the rhythms, but always maintaining a beautiful sound. The concerto’s first movement is perfectly paced to bring out the Maestoso character that is asked for in its tempo marking. But again, sometimes the music loses that aforementioned bite and consequently its momentum. The way Nebolsin handles the delicate filigrees of the concerto’s Larghetto, though, is just one example of his good taste in never over-sentimentalizing this music. The Allegretto vivace that follows is equally well done, having an almost eerie, misterioso quality to it from the very beginning of the movement. The pianist shines especially in these latter two. The Mozart Variations—the piece that Schumann was so impressed with that he called Chopin a genius—has never been hugely popular in this century. Nebolsin does a good job of letting the music flow naturally, while keeping the textures of the piano figuration light and airy—not so easy, considering the difficulty of these etude-like variations. Antoni Wit and the Warsaw Philharmonic provide excellent accompaniment, surging when necessary, supporting at other times, and getting out of the way when the soloist comes to the fore...The variations are splendid, and Nebolsin gets my vote for one of the best available.

FANFARE: Scott Noriega

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Chopin: Piano Concerto No 2; Variations On "La Ci Darem" / Nebolsin, Wit, Warsaw PO
Naxos Oct 2010
CD
$19.99

Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas / Boris Giltburg

Naxos

$41.99 ~~$58.99~~ Save 30% Sep 24, 2021

Boris Giltburg is lauded worldwide as a deeply sensitive, insightful and compelling interpreter, with critics praising his impassioned approach to performance. This project to record all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas is a personal exploration for Giltburg, driven by curiosity and his profound respect for the composer. These exceptional performances received widespread critical acclaim upon their original digital release and this premiere release includes extended personal and informative booklet notes written by the pianist. From the vivid energy of the early sonatas, through the dark passions and enchanted lyricism of Beethoven’s middle period, to the awe-inspiring transcendence of the final sonatas – this cycle runs the full gamut of human emotion.

At home in repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Shostakovich, in recent years he has been increasingly recognized as a leading interpreter of Rachmaninoff. He is recording the complete Beethoven piano concertos for Naxos with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (RLPO) and Vasily Petrenko. In 2018 he won Best Soloist Recording (20th/21st century) at the inaugural Opus Klassik Awards for his Naxos recording of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Carlos Miguel Prieto, coupled with the Études-Tableaux.

Past praise for previously released performances included in this set (digital video format only):

Beethoven: 32 Piano Sonatas, Vol. 3, Nos. 8-11

In keeping with the character of both the Op 14 Sonatas, Giltburg’s approach is prevailingly lyrical. For me, the two standouts of the series thus far are Opp 13 and 22. I can think of no other performance of the Pathétique that imbues the Grave introduction with a greater sense of melancholy desolation. The bright, ingratiating Op 22 is also brimful of character, its narrative unfolding with a charming urgency.

– Gramophone

Beethoven: 32 Piano Sonatas, Vol. 8, Nos 27-29

These interpretations are enormously pleasurable and at times revelatory. Always clean and never showy, Giltburg’s pianism is ideally suited to late Beethoven, and his touch throughout is light and flexible. His Hammerklavier lacks fury at the outset but magnificently makes up for that in the closing fugue, where his easy control of the tumult of voices is impressive.

– BBC Music Magazine

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Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas / Boris Giltburg
Naxos Sep 2021
CD
~~$58.99~~ $41.99

Rubinstein: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 - 3 Serenades

Naxos

$9.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 50% Jan 24, 2020

Anton Rubinstein was the equal of Liszt as a pianist and a technically gifted composer but, in his own words, he was perceived by his contemporaries as too German to be Russian and too Russian to be German, and his music was frequently disparaged. Although occasionally derivative, the first two sonatas are impressively bravura and passionate works which pianist Han Chen approaches as if reading a 19th-century Russian novel, digging down to the very essence of the human soul. It is perhaps an irony of the history of taste that Rubinstein's very real achievements are beginning to be valued only some 125 years after his death.

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Rubinstein: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 - 3 Serenades
Naxos Jan 2020
CD
~~$19.99~~ $9.99

CHOPIN PIANO CONCERTOS NOS. 1 & 2

WARNER CLASSICS

$17.28 Jan 31, 2020

Yundi, one of the most celebrated and influential pianists of today, has returned to Warner Classics with the signature of a long-term agreement between him and the label. His first release under the new agreement is an album of Chopin's Piano Concertos Nos 1 and 2, on which he directs the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra from the keyboard. This constitutes both his first recording as pianist-conductor and his first recording of the Piano Concerto No 2.

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CHOPIN PIANO CONCERTOS NOS. 1 & 2
WARNER CLASSICS Jan 2020
CD
$17.28

Reger: Complete Sonatas for Unaccompanied Violin / Mathe

Sono Luminus

$21.99 Nov 17, 2009

REGER Sonatas for Unaccompanied Violin, op. 91: No. 1 in a; No. 2 in D; No. 3 in B?; No. 4 in b; No. 5 in e; No. 6 in G; No. 7 in a • Ulrike-Anima Mathé (vn) • DORIAN 90915 (2 CDs: 115:44)

Having just reviewed a recording of Reger’s suites for solo viola with Tabea Zimmermann for the previous issue, I was pleased to receive this sumptuously reconstituted set from Dorian of the composer’s complete op. 91 sonatas for solo violin. Max Reger, it seems, is beginning to attract more mainstream attention and more of an audience than has heretofore been the case.

Reger’s seven sonatas for solo violin are important additions to the repertoire, and choice in recorded versions is extremely limited. Therefore, I do not wish to be too critical of this retread, which was originally (and still is) available as two separate discs. But I must get one thing out of the way right off the bat. Once upon a time, Dorian was roundly criticized for recordings with such excessive reverberation that they sounded like they’d been made in an echo chamber. The company apparently took the criticism to heart, for their releases that followed were significantly less echoey. Unfortunately, these not-new recordings, made in the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, New York, in 1992 and 1994, come from a period during which Dorian’s engineers were pursuing their sinful ways. I’ve heard quite a few more recent recordings that emanate from this venue, so I can vouch for the fact that it’s a hall with superb acoustics that sound nothing like this. The impression one receives the instant Ulrike-Anima Mathé’s bow touches the strings is of a vast, cavernous space that makes her violin sound three times normal size and dimensionally distorted.

That being said, judgment of Mathé’s playing should not be based on what her makeup artists did to pump it up on steroids. She articulates Reger’s difficult double-stopping and string crossings cleanly and with exceptional incisiveness. Her left-hand work is equally deft, capable of delivering pitch-perfect intonation and invigorating velocity. And though it’s hard to judge her tone quality due to the souped-up sound, I suspect that it would be quite pleasing to hear in a normal setting.

Reger-phobia is unwarranted. Anyone who has ever read anything about Reger or had any exposure to his music knows that he was obsessive-compulsive when it came to writing fugues, and that he had a “thing” about Bach. That fixation, however, led to the creation of some fascinating and intellectually stimulating music. If you enjoy listening to Bach’s sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin, you are virtually guaranteed to enjoy Reger’s sonatas, for they are Bach revisited and reheard through 1905 ears.

The technical difficulties posed by Reger’s sonatas are similar to those posed by Bach’s works for unaccompanied violin. To produce the harmony and the effect of multiple voices engaged in contrapuntal interplay, it is necessary to notate miles of double- and triple-stops and awkward string crossings, something that is neither easy nor natural to play on an instrument better suited to producing a single-voiced melody. Thus, works of this type require a technical whiz of virtuoso caliber, but they are not virtuosic display pieces in the same way that Paganini’s, Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst’s, or Eugène Ysaÿe’s somewhat later works for solo violin are. Reger’s sonatas, however, are no more boring, academic exercises than are Bach’s sonatas and partitas. The initial appeal may be intellectual, but gradually the music grows on you and blossoms into something entirely satisfying on an emotional level.

At the time these recordings were made, Mathé showed every promise of being a rising star. I’m not quite sure what has happened to her since. I reviewed a cpo CD of Friedrich Kiel’s piano quartets in Fanfare 31:5 in which she played violin; but other than that, on record at least, it doesn’t appear that she’s been very active, which is too bad, because her playing here is exceptionally good. And, as mentioned above, recordings of Reger’s op. 91 complete are few and far between. The only other current listing I find is on Troubadisc with violinist Renate Eggebrecht-Kupsa. Her account of the sonatas may be very fine (she has way more recordings listed than does Mathé), but I haven’t heard it.

Reger’s sonatas need not appeal exclusively to listeners who have a special interest in music for solo violin. So, provisionally recommended, as long as you can adjust to the recorded sound. Otherwise, you might wish to explore Eggebrecht-Kupsa’s version, although it’s pricey. I suspect, though I don’t know for sure since it was not yet listed at the time of writing, that the Dorian set, being a repackaging job, may be sold as a twofer.

FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

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Reger: Complete Sonatas for Unaccompanied Violin / Mathe
Sono Luminus Nov 2009
CD
$21.99

Scriabin: Complete Piano Sonatas [2 CDs]
Vox Jan 2002
CD
$29.99

Beethoven: Piano Concertos No 2 & 4 / Kovacevich, Davis, BBC SO

PENTATONE

SACD

$21.99 Jun 01, 2005

This selection is a Hybrid Multichannel Super Audio CD. The Stereo Hybrid SACD program can be played on any standard compact disc player. The DSD Surround and Stereo programs require an SACD player for playback.

If I were pressed, I would have to say that this series is the most consistent in an advanced-resolution format at providing excellent sound. Listen to the Beethoven piano concertos, for instance. The listener is placed in row ten, center, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra sounds rich, full, and focused. You sense immediately that you truly do have the best seat in the house. The solo piano enters and what a sound. It is like a magnificent, properly tuned piano! The overall sound is just right. And so it goes, with every release in this series. -- Rad Bennett, Radical Sounds

A welcome pairing of the two “second-string” Beethoven piano concertos in superb performances….Brent Town Hall in London was the recording site in 1974, and the phantom center image of the soloist couldn’t be better. -- John Sunier, Audiophile Audition

Mr Kovacevich was a killer interpreter of Beethoven back then, and Davis an ideal accomplice….Played with dispatch and recorded with a full-bodied sound that doesn’t lose its characters in the quietest moments, these are performances that will never grow stale. -- Dr. Phil Muse, Classik Reviews

If you don’t already have this recording in another format, it’s worth acquiring even if you don’t have an SACD player. It’s proof audibly that the best analog (and Philips were very good at it) was better than any digital until the present, and it is ironic that the SACD format shows off how good these masters were in the 70s. -- Andrew Marshall, Audio Ideas Guide

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Beethoven: Piano Concertos No 2 & 4 / Kovacevich, Davis, BBC SO
PENTATONE Jun 2005
SACD
$21.99

Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5 / Bezuidenhout, Heras-Casado, Freiburg Baroque

HARMONIA MUNDI

$18.33 Jan 31, 2020

Beethoven's five piano concertos relate, in a sense, part of the composers life: some twenty years during which a young musician from Bonn made several revised versions of the first concerto he wrote (a springboard to Viennese success that ended up being called no.2), before becoming the familiar Emperor of music embodied by the brilliant inspiration of no.5. Two hundred and fifty years after his birth, it is with these two extremes that Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pablo Heras-Casado and the Freiburger Barockorchester have chosen to start an exciting period-instrument trilogy of the concertos that bids fair to be a landmark!

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REVIEW:

Bezuidenhout’s performance of the Emperor concerto is scintillatingly dramatic, heroic, deftly articulated and, above all, fresh; and the instrument he plays seems to possess plenty of power. The Second Concerto is given equally enticingly. Both readings are enhanced by the brilliantly coloured playing of the Freiburgers under Pablo Heras-Casado.

– Sunday Times (UK)

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Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5 / Bezuidenhout, Heras-Casado, Freiburg Baroque
HARMONIA MUNDI Jan 2020
CD
$18.33

PIANO CONCERTO 20 / PIANO CONCERTO 2

LPO

$15.99 Mar 02, 2018

Taken from the LPO's final concerts with the late Aldo Ciccolini (1925-2015), when he was in his mid-eighties, these performances were much praised at the time. Most notably for Ciccolini's soulful and sensitive interpretation that was 'illuminated from within and sounded fresh, spontaneous and heartfelt' (Classical Source, May 2009). Aldo Ciccolini was a musical legend. Through his teachers he inherited the musical influences of Busoni and Liszt, and he was himself a teacher of many world-famous pianists including Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Artur Pizarro and Nicholas Angelich. These live recordings were conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin while he was Principal Guest Conductor (2008-14) and his close relationship with the Orchestra is apparent. Mozart's Piano Concerto marked a shift in tone towards a new, more mature style for the composer. He helped to redefine the piano concerto as a sophisticated and expressive artform, rather than a form of polite public entertainment. Rachmaninoff poured his heart and soul into his Second Piano Concerto, and with it created one of the most beloved works of all time.

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PIANO CONCERTO 20 / PIANO CONCERTO 2
LPO Mar 2018
CD
$15.99

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2; Handel Variations / Vogt, Royal Northern Sinfonia

Ondine

$18.99 Apr 03, 2020

The second album in Lars Vogt’s Johannes Brahms concerto series with the Royal Northern Sinfonia includes Brahms’ 2nd Piano Concerto combined with a solo piano work, Handel Variations Op. 24, which was dedicated to Clara Schumann by the composer. Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 is a romantic 4-movement concerto written two decades after its predecessor and one of the cornerstones in the concerto repertoire. This remarkable opus with a great number of beautiful solo passages and with a duration of over 45 minutes has been interpreted by numerous pianists since its premiere in 1881. In this album, Vogt performs the concerto conducting from the keyboard. Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel Op. 24 for solo piano were written by the young composer in his late 20s. This work, which includes some technically demanding passages for the pianists, reveals Brahms’ profound interest in the work of the great masters of the Baroque era which served as a source of inspiration in the composer’s creative work. This set of 25 variations and a fugue shows Brahms as a great successor to the tradition of piano variations exemplified by Mozart and Beethoven.

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REVIEWS:

Together with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Lars Vogt–in his fifth year heading the orchestra across the shore from Newcastle–got to record the Brahms piano concertos for Ondine. Anyone who reads a chamber orchestra’s and Brahms’ name on the same CD cover and might briefly flinch, fearing undernourished, pseudo-historically informed performances with an economically expedient small band–conducted from the piano at that (another couple thousands in savings!)–need not worry.

Yes, this performance of the B-flat major concerto is notably a child of our times: It is svelte Brahms and transparent too, but still with plenty of muscle, which isn’t on display throughout, but comes to the fore where needed. Compared to the kind of Brahms from even just a few decades ago, this is purged of some excess and trimmed of fat, but it comes to a healthy halt before turning anorexic.

In and of itself that’s hardly enough to compete with the innumerable splendid performances out there, historic and more recent. Buchbinder/Harnoncourt sounds more traditional and celebrates Brahms with the (expected?) breadth–and very tastefully at that. The Northern Sinfonia can’t touch the wonderfully dark sound of the Czech Philharmonic with Ivan Moravec under Jirí Belohlávek, which sounds like an old oak chest smells. But then, no other orchestra can. The way Eugen Jochum custom-tailors the Berlin Philharmonic’s playing around that of his soloist, Emil Gilels, also remains unsurpassed.

But it speaks to Vogt–who doesn’t shy away from a robust and stern touch in the outer movements–and his Sinfonia that no amount of comparison makes this recording appear any less attractive. The fresh-sounding orchestra has a natural forward drive but isn’t hectic or jittery. Nor do you hear any exaggerations or the type of self-consciously unsubtle “nuance” that often passes for interpretation these days. This recording–as does that of Marc-André Hamelin with Andrew Litton, to mention a recent and also excellent account–goes to show that good playing without ostentatious fingerprints need not end up sounding anonymous.

In the olden LP and CD days, the Handel Variations on this disc might have been considered the filler. In the streaming-age, playtime has become meaningless–and in any case, this isn’t an afterthought; interpretively, it might well be considered the lead attraction. There is a certain voracity with which Vogt bites into the piece, with a huge bandwidth of attack: from buttery soft to glassy hard. Gentle and gruff touches coexist peacefully; similarly, there are pompous and wildly colorful moments to be had. You can almost hear an orchestra perform behind it. This is more attention-grabbing (in the best sense) than the articulate sheen of the magnificent-yet-slightly-forgettable Murray Perahia (Sony), yet more coherently done than the wild-and-wilful Olga Kern’s take (Harmonia Mundi). In fact, it might just be the new reference alongside Jonathan Plowright (BIS), Leon Fleisher (Sony), and Garrick Ohlsson (Hyperion).

– ClassicsToday (Jens F. Laurson)

Vogt’s approach is robust, shapely and highly rhythmical. He mitigates Brahms’s habitual textural thickness by refusing to pedal through staccato passages. Together with the orchestra, a marvellous plasticity of line is maintained throughout. This pliant rubato is the bedrock of their realisation of the music’s passionate ardour and vast sense of space. What a pleasure to encounter Brahms, so often interpreted as relentlessly earnest, here captured with his eyes brimming with joy.

– Gramophone

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Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2; Handel Variations / Vogt, Royal Northern Sinfonia
Ondine Apr 2020
CD
$18.99

Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 (Chamber Version)
BIS Dec 2000
CD
$21.99

Debussy: Piano Duets, Vol. 2

Chandos

$21.99 Jun 19, 2026

Alongside their respective solo careers, Hélène Mercier and Louis Lortie regularly meet to perform as a highly sought-after piano duo. Both born and raised in Montreal, they have formed a musical partnership that goes back to the 1980s, developing a musical intimacy present throughout their wide-ranging repertoire. Their complicity has been strengthened over decades of playing concerts and recording together. This, their ninth album for Chandos, continues their exploration of works by Debussy. The programme features transcriptions by Ravel, Dutilleux, Woollett, Durand, Roques, and the composer of some of his best-known orchestral works (Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, Nocturnes) and solo piano pieces (Clair de lune, La Soirée dans Grenade, La plus que lente, Rêverie). These sit alongside Lindaraja and en blanc et noir, original compositions for two pianos. Mercier and Lortie alternate the first- and second-player responsibilities in this mixture of works for two pianos and piano duet.

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Debussy: Piano Duets, Vol. 2
Chandos Jun 2026
CD
$21.99

Mix & Match

Ottorino Respighi: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 2 / Gatto

Toccata

$20.99 Aug 06, 2021

Respighi’s orchestral works are some of the most popular in the mainstream repertoire. His output of piano music, by contrast, is as good as unknown, and this Toccata Classics series will be the first ever to present it all: original works and transcriptions alike, for solo piano, piano four hands and two pianos. The prentice works on this second volume of solo works reveal a Respighi with roots in the high-Romantic past of Schumann, Chopin and Brahms, but they also show the first signs of his later interest in the Italian pre-Baroque.

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Ottorino Respighi: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 2 / Gatto
Toccata Aug 2021
CD
$20.99

Hans Winterberg: Piano Concerto No. 2; Symphony No. 2

Capriccio

$21.99 Oct 16, 2026

Hans Winterberg grew up in Prague where he was one of a whole cadre of composers in the new Czech musical tradition. He claimed to have been inspired by Schoenberg, but in reality, he cultivated a Central European Impressionism which he skillfully blended with complex rhythms. The two works presented on this CD mark high points in Winterberg's oeuvre. The circumstances in which they were composed could not have been more different. While the Second Symphony was written during the darkest moments of his existence, he composed the Second Piano Concerto less than ten years later, in what was probably the brightest moment of his life, the early 1950s, when his breakthrough as a composer, which he had been unable to achieve in Czechoslovakia, now seemed certain in the young Federal Republic of Germany.

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Hans Winterberg: Piano Concerto No. 2; Symphony No. 2
Capriccio Oct 2026
CD
$21.99

Schubert: Piano Trio No. 2 - Arpeggione Sonata / Hobarth, Rudin, Hakkinen

Naxos

$13.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 30% Jan 15, 2021

Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata has today become part of the cello repertoire but it was originally written for the arpeggione, a form of bowed guitar invented by the Viennese maker Johann Georg Staufer in 1823. With a unique ethereal sound, this instrument reveals the true beauty of Schubert’s initial conception. The Piano Trio No. 2 was performed at the Vienna Musikverein on the first anniversary of Beethoven’s death – its extremes of urgent drama and sublime bittersweet lyricism are characteristic of Schubert’s artistic surge during his final year.

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Schubert: Piano Trio No. 2 - Arpeggione Sonata / Hobarth, Rudin, Hakkinen
Naxos Jan 2021
CD
~~$19.99~~ $13.99

BRAHMS: PIANO QUARTETS 2 & 3

UNIVERSAL JAPAN

$26.99 Apr 11, 2025

Master pianist Christian Zimmermann joins young string players as collaborators on this Brahms chamber music album. The recording features Polish violinist Maria Nowak, violist Katarzyna Budnik-Garadzka, and Japanese cellist Yuya Okamoto. [Performers] Christian Zimmermann (piano), Maria Nowak (violin), Katarzyna Budnik (viola), Yuya Okamoto (cello) Recorded: June 2021, April 2023 Switzerland *This product will be available for purchase on Friday, and will be delivered after the day of release.

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BRAHMS: PIANO QUARTETS 2 & 3
UNIVERSAL JAPAN Apr 2025
CD
$26.99

Schubert: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 2
Nimbus Mar 2016
CD
$20.99

PEER GYNT SUITES / PIANO CONCERTO
ALTO Apr 2014
CD
$11.01

Schulhoff, E.: Hot-Music, 10 Studies in Syncopation / Suite

Wergo

$20.99 Aug 01, 1995

"I possess an uncanny passion for popular dance and have times when I dance night after night with bar dames (I only dance modern dances like the foxtrot, Boston, slingan, passo doppio, etc.), purely out of rhythmic enthusiasm and a subconscious sensual drive. Because of myunbelievably earthy, almost even animalistic consciousness, dancing infuses me with a phenomenal creative impulse." (Erwin Schulhoff in a letter to Alban Berg)

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Schulhoff, E.: Hot-Music, 10 Studies in Syncopation / Suite
Wergo Aug 1995
CD
$20.99

Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 / Vogt, Paris Chamber Orchestra

Ondine

$18.99 Mar 04, 2022

Lars Vogt: 8 September 1970 - 5 September 2022

This new release is pianist-conductor Lars Vogt’s debut album together with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris. Lars Vogt started his tenure as the new Music Director of the orchestra on 1 July 2020. This album release continues Lars Vogt’s discography of recordings of cornerstone works within the classic piano concerto literature conducting from the keyboard. Previous album releases include the complete piano concertos of Beethoven and Brahms with the Royal Northern Sinfonia. In 2021, Lars Vogt won the OPUS Klassik award for the best solo piano album release of year from his recent Janácek solo album release (ODE 1382-2).

REVIEWS:

Lars Vogt’s dazzling playing on this new recording does [the concertos] full justice…this newcomer is very impressive and benefits greatly from the fine playing of the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris.

--BBC Music Magazine

German pianist Lars Vogt has been music director of the Royal Northern Sinfonia since 2015, and the recordings where he conducts from the keyboard have been markedly successful, including a complete Beethoven concerto cycle and (more daringly) the two Brahms piano concertos.

Vogt deserves praise for the crisp, precise, and buoyant accompaniments he evokes here from the Orchestre de chambre de Paris. These are vigorous, animated readings that take best advantage of the brilliant fast music in the outer movements, particularly the rocket that takes off at the start of Concerto No. 1. He made me appreciate the slow movements in both concertos, which doesn’t happen often, and the orchestral part is played with real warmth. Also, Ondine’s recorded sound is lovely, capturing piano and orchestra in perfect balance.

What I’ll return to are the two piano concertos, in which Vogt’s performances are as fine as any I’ve heard in years. Warmly recommended.

--Fanfare

Mendelssohn’s piano concertos are rather rarely played. Lars Vogt has recorded two of them together with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, of which he is the Music Director.

He and his orchestra play the Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 with a great deal of impetus, unaffected, fresh, and very colorful. Vogt has the necessary polish and pulsating agility for these movements. The slower passages are interpreted sensitively, nuanced, poetic, but by no means too emotional. The overall result is a joyful and thrilling performance that can only be warmly welcomed and recommended. The well-balanced orchestra, playing with a fresh sound, is an excellent partner for Vogt, sworn to his conducting and soloistic rhetoric.

The Capriccio brilliant, however, leaves the most lasting impression. Lars Vogt plays it not only energetically, but with jubilant enthusiasm, and he transfers this enthusiasm to the musicians of the Paris Chamber Orchestra, who play with great spontaneity.

It is important to note that Vogt does not work according to the principle of ‘fast and loud’, but combines his energy with a fine feeling for the musicality of the works. The result is fascinating.

--Pizzicato

Mendelssohn performed by a chamber orchestra and directed from the keyboard always looks like an enticing proposition. And so it proves with this new set from the Paris Chamber Orchestra with Lars Vogt at the helm.

There’s a wonderfully Beethovenian flair to the First Concerto’s opening movement, but equally striking is the musicians’ way with more lyrical moments. And, as you might expect from such a first-class chamber musician, he gives as much attention to places where the piano accompanies as he does when he’s center stage. Crucially, the orchestra respond in kind, matching the soloist’s articulation and dynamics to an unusual degree. There’s plenty of fantasy too – in the piano passages Mendelssohn writes to link the first and second movements of each concerto, for instance, which unfurl with a naturalness reminiscent of Murray Perahia.

The Presto finales are imbued with terrific energy but never become merely note-fests – the level of detail remains impressive.

The album is filled out by the Capriccio brillant, Op 22, and what can be mere froth in unimaginative hands is wonderfully characterful here, the mock military march given a jokey swagger, with nicely present timpani and brass. In the final a tempo, with its mad running dash of semiquavers, Vogt is impressively unfazed and dazzlingly understated. The recording is excellent too, with a vividness that brings these master musicians right into your sitting room.

--Gramophone

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Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 / Vogt, Paris Chamber Orchestra
Ondine Mar 2022
CD
$18.99

Rubinstein Collection Vol 77 - Beethoven Concertos 1 & 2
Sony Masterworks Aug 2000
CD
$11.98

Brahms: Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 2

Chandos

$21.99 Mar 26, 2013

The acclaimed pianist Barry Douglas presents Volume 2 of his series devoted to solo piano works by Johannes Brahms. The wide breadth of repertoire encompasses works from Brahms’ early twenties to some of his final piano compositions and showcases Douglas’ immense musicality and technical acumen. Simply top-rate performances of Brahms.

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Brahms: Works for Solo Piano, Vol. 2
Chandos Mar 2013
CD
$21.99

Martinu: Complete Piano Music Vol 2 / Giorgio Koukl

Naxos

$19.99 Feb 27, 2007

A fascinating selection of Martinu's early piano works, plus two late trifles

In his classic biography of Martinu (Allen Wingate: 1962), Milos Šafránek states that in “the large and varied assortment of youthful works and experiments, Puppets holds a singular and significant place”. Composed in three sets between 1912 and 1924 (but published in reverse sequence; they are played here in chronological order), Puppets sounds anything but experimental now, though for Martinu’s hometown of Policka just after the Great War, the somewhat Satiesque charms of these 14 pieces must have seemed highly modern.

Heard with the innocent ear, most listeners would be hard put to identify the composer of Puppets and I suspect the same applies for another of the novelties here, the pretty, if flimsy, children’s suite Spring in the Garden (1920). This is no match for what Mark Gresham calls “the bold, jazzy and propulsive” Film en miniature (1925), one of the first products of Martinu’s Paris sojourn. The pearl of Koukl’s programme, though, is Butterflies and Birds of Paradise, written at Christmas of the same year as Spring in the Garden but light years ahead of it in quality. Here Martinu uses impressionism as if born to it.

Still, none of these early pieces, nor even The Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon (1948, dedicated to Tcherepnin’s wife and the only work otherwise available) really sound like the mature Martinu. Only in the 29th and final track, The Booksellers of the Quai Malaquais (1948; dedicated to the composer’s wife) do we encounter one of those heart-stopping themes familiar from the symphonies. Koukl’s performances, occasionally a little over-robust, as in Butterflies, are very warmly recorded but this is a splendid disc despite that. Recommended.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone [5/2007]

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Martinu: Complete Piano Music Vol 2 / Giorgio Koukl
Naxos Feb 2007
CD
$19.99

Weinberg: Works for Violin & Piano, Vol. 2 / Kirpal

CPO

$36.99 Oct 14, 2016

This is the second volume of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's works for violin and piano. Weinberg's Violin Sonata No. 1 covers the path from C minor to C major, a popular tradition of the time while Sonata No. 2 reveals his increasing creative ambitions. Sonata No. 3, has a lyrical tone which dominates the first movement. The structural design is more economical and grows more elaborately throughout.

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Weinberg: Works for Violin & Piano, Vol. 2 / Kirpal
CPO Oct 2016
CD
$36.99

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 - Piano Pieces / Tsybuleva, Reinhardt, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

Signum Classics

$9.99 ~~$19.99~~ Save 50% May 28, 2021

Signum Records presents an exciting new collaboration and debut recording with Leeds International Piano Competition Winner (2015), Anna Tsybuleva, of music by Johannes Brahms together with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, conducted by Ruth Reinhardt. Tsybuleva has been described by as embodying superb pianism and intelligent musicianship (Gramophone Magazine) and A pianist of rare gifts: not since Murray Perahias triumph in 1972 has Leeds had a winner of this musical poise and calibre (International Piano Magazine). Performance highlights have included performances with the Basel Symphony, Mariinsky Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. Alongside this, Tsybuleva has given recitals at such prestigious venues as Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Tonhalle Zurich, and the Wigmore Hall, London.

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Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 - Piano Pieces / Tsybuleva, Reinhardt, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Signum Classics May 2021
CD
~~$19.99~~ $9.99