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HOELLER: Fantasie for Violin and Organ; Triptychon for Organ solo; Improvisationen for Cello & Organ – William Preucil, v./ Roy Christensen, c./ Barbara Harbach, organ – MSR Classics

HOELLER: Fantasie for Violin and Organ; Triptychon for Organ solo; Improvisationen for Cello & Organ – William Preucil, v./ Roy Christensen, c./ Barbara Harbach, organ – MSR Classics

by | Jan 12, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

The music of Karl Hoeller proves devotional and ecstatic in a highly individual but dark style.  KARL HOELLER: Music for Violin, Cello and Organ = Fantasie for Violin and Organ, Op. 49; Triptychon for Organ solo, Op. 64; Improvisationen for Cello and Organ, Op. 55 – William Preucil, v./ Roy Christensen, cello/ Barbara Harbach, organ – MSR Classics MS 1445, 70:55 (9/29/16) [Distr. by Albany] ****: During a phone interview with pianist Veronika Jochum, daughter of eminent conductor Eugen Jochum, the name of composer Karl Hoeller (1907- 1987) arose, in the course of a radio tribute to Eugen Jochum which featured one of Hoeller’s orchestral compositions.  Given Hoeller’s penchant for polyphony, tonal colors, and classical procedures, a comparison to Paul Hindemith seemed inevitable; but Ms. Jochum and I agree that Hoeller’s style feels distinctly less “academic” than that of Hindemith.  The three works presented here derive from the years 1949-1963. Violinist William Preucil served as concertmaster in Atlanta and in Cleveland, before assuming the first violin position with the Cleveland String Quartet. The Fantasie (1949) opens with a solo violin cadenza before the organ joins him in some “symphonic” harmonization. The writing for both instruments, whether in concert or individually […]

SHOSTAKOVICH: Cello Concertos 1 & 2 – Alisa Weilerstein, c. – Sym. Orch. of Bavarian Radio/ Pablo Heras-Casado – Decca

SHOSTAKOVICH: Cello Concertos 1 & 2 – Alisa Weilerstein, c. – Sym. Orch. of Bavarian Radio/ Pablo Heras-Casado – Decca

by | Nov 14, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

Riveting performances of Shostakovich’s two cello concertos. SHOSTAKOVICH: Cello Concertos 1 & 2 – Alisa Weilerstein, c. – Sym. Orch. of Bavarian Radio/ Pablo Heras-Casado – Decca 483.0835, 60:52 *****: Shostakovich (1906-75) was Russian (with all the emotional connotations that nationality evokes), yet his music is often classical in structure and tonal. Beleaguered by totalitarian political forces during his lifetime, he was forced to write music that fulfilled the Communistic objective of Soviet realism. This meant that he couldn’t write music for public consumption with much of a whiff of modernism. But by 1958 the Centralist Committee of the Communist party had reversed its 1948 condemnation of Shostakovich. Yet, the memory of persecution remained. Cellist Alisa Weilerstein played the Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto (1959) for Mstislav Rostropovich when she was 22 years old. He asked her “to convey intense emotion that somehow has to be concealed at the same time.” In this performance, she comments that “The emotion is never obvious: he’s [Shostakovich] agonizing, tortured inside, but presents a poker face.” But Weilerstein is noted for being a passionate and emotional cellist. Her performance may start out emotionally muted, but as the first movement progresses, the excitement increases. The initial […]

Audio News for August 23, 2016

by | Aug 23, 2016 | Audio News

Sennheiser Coming to the Big Apple – Headphones will take center stage in October when Sennheiser opens two retail outlets in New York. Both a flagship Soundscape showroom in Westfield World Trade Center and a pop-up store in SoHo will stock Sennheiser’s audiophile range of headphones, including the new HE 1 electrostatic reference headphone system, and demonstrate the AMBEO 3D audio technology. Starting in Chicago on September 27, Sennheiser is planning a series of special “HE 1 Listening Experiences” in selected U.S. and Canadian locations, continuing on to other cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver and Toronto. Bryston Introduces New Digital Music Player – The BDP-π (yes, that’s the Pi symbol) is currently available for a $1295 suggested retail. The device is built upon the Raspberry Pi and HifiBerry platform, with a chassis that’s one-third the size of Bryston’s BDP player. The BDP-π will playback a range of digital files — from MP3 to lossless 24/192 — and can be connected to virtually any digital-to-analog converter, according to the company. It can also be connected to a network-attached storage drive and access Internet radio and Tidal streaming. The player features four USB 2.0 and one Ethernet (10/100 Mbps) input; […]

PROKOFIEV: Sinfonia Concertante in E Minor; Cello Son. in C – Zuill Bailey, c./ North Carolina Sym. Orch. / Grant Llewelly/ Natasha Paremski, p. – Steinway & Sons

PROKOFIEV: Sinfonia Concertante in E Minor; Cello Son. in C – Zuill Bailey, c./ North Carolina Sym. Orch. / Grant Llewelly/ Natasha Paremski, p. – Steinway & Sons

by | Jul 23, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

PROKOFIEV: Sinfonia Concertante in E Minor, Op. 125; Cello Sonata in C Major, Op. 119 – Zuill Bailey, c./ North Carolina Sym. Orch./ Grant Llewelly/ Natasha Paremski, p. –  Steinway & Sons 30057, 61:56 (5/13/16) ****: Tough-minded Prokofiev in the tradition of Rostropovich—and with the same sensitivity to the gentler side of this great Russian composer. Toward the end of his greatly productive life, Prokofiev revisited some of his earlier works with which he wasn’t entirely happy. One of these pieces was the Fourth Symphony, Op. 47, written under commission from the Boston Symphony and premiered by that orchestra in 1930. The symphony was based on themes from Prokofiev’s ballet The Prodigal Son, composed for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Critical reaction to the work was lukewarm at best. The consensus was that Prokofiev’s Fourth Symphony was much less successful in recycling music written for the stage than the composer’s Symphony No. 3, based on themes from his opera The Fiery Angel. Prokofiev was so stung by the criticism that he defended his new symphony in the press—and that hurt and embarrassment stayed with him when he went back to Russia in the mid-1930s. In 1947, Prokofiev returned to the symphony, […]

SCHUBERT: Arpeggione Sonata in a minor, D. 821; String Quintet in C Major, D. 956 – Matt Haimovitz, cello/ Itamar Golan, p./ Miro String Quartet – Pentatone

SCHUBERT: Arpeggione Sonata in a minor, D. 821; String Quintet in C Major, D. 956 – Matt Haimovitz, cello/ Itamar Golan, p./ Miro String Quartet – Pentatone

by | Jul 2, 2016 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

Two classic collaborations from cellist Matt Haimovitz enjoy sonic glory in these restorations from Pentatone.  SCHUBERT: Arpeggione Sonata in a minor, D. 821; String Quintet in C Major, D. 956 – Matt Haimovitz, cello/ Itamar Golan, p./ Miro String Quartet – Pentatone multichannel SACD PTC 5186 549, 76:55 (6/10/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: From the opening piano chords in Schubert’s 1824 Arpeggione Sonata – the obsolete instrument’s having been supplanted by the modern cello – we find ourselves enthralled by Itamar’s seductive keyboard and the sympathetic sonority of the Matt Haimovitz instrument, a 1710 Matteo Gofriller cello. The original recording (30 October 2001) enjoys the remastered sonics that project the glories of Schubert’s lyric genius to full advantage. The music blends a Bohemian ethos into a three-part song that asks of the solo part flurries of bravura filigree interspersed with broken chords, both arco and pizzicato.  The first movement, Allegro moderato, projects a resigned, autumnal nostalgia that we must attribute to the composer’s awareness of his fateful mortality.  The Adagio presents a quiet, intimate lied of rarified beauty, a sentiment that transforms into a slow, darkly-hued waltz marked by plangent, low tones in the cello. The tempo becomes virtually funereal […]

TANEYEV: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 4 = Quartet No. 9; Quartet No. 6 – Carpe Diem String Q. – Naxos

TANEYEV: Complete String Quartets, Vol. 4 = Quartet No. 9; Quartet No. 6 – Carpe Diem String Q. – Naxos

by | Apr 20, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

The Carpe Diem String Quartet extends its gratifying traversal of Sergey Taneyev’s chamber music. TANEYEV:  Complete String Quartets, Vol. 4 = Quartet No. 9 in A Major; Quartet No. 6 in B-flat Major, Op. 19 – Carpe Diem String Quartet – Naxos 8.573470, 65:42 (12/11/15) ****: The Carpe Diem String Quartet – Charles Wetherbee and Amy Galluzzo, violins;  Korina Fujiwara, viola; Carol Ou, cello – continue (rec. December 2013 – May 2014) their survey of the quartets of Sergey Taneyev (1856-1915), whom Tchaikovsky referred to as “the Russian Bach” in homage to Taneyev’s mastery of polyphonic procedures.  No less evident, Taneyev’s control of his materials in sonata-form makes him an outstanding exponent of Classical style. From the outset of the 1883 Quartet No. 9 in A Major, we feel the spirit of Tchaikovsky behind the lush harmonizations of melodies in Russian folk idioms, set in A Major and E Major. Charles Wetherbee’s first violin remains quite active, as does Ms. Ou’s cello, which imparts the main theme in an affecting a minor to begin the development section. The key of E Major opens the Andante movement, a 6/8 tender lullaby whose middle section modulates to c-sharp minor, permitting violaist Korine […]

Lener Quartet – in quartets of HAYDN, MOZART, MENDELSSOHN & DVORAK – Opus Kura

Lener Quartet – in quartets of HAYDN, MOZART, MENDELSSOHN & DVORAK – Opus Kura

by | Feb 1, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

Opus Kura revives the heralded Lener Quartet recordings of Mozart, Haydn, and Dvorak. Lener Quartet – HAYDN: String Quartet No. 17 in F Major, Op. 3, No. 5; MENDELSSOHN: Canzonetta from String Quartet, Op. 12; MOZART: Oboe Quartet in F Major, K. 370; DVORAK: Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81 – Leon Goossens, oboe/ Olga Loeser-Lebert, piano/ Lener String Quartet – Opus Kura 2114, 67:16 [Distr. by Albany] ****: The Lener Quartet (estab. 1918) rose out of the ranks of the Budapest Opera Orchestra after the throes of WW I. Pupils of Jeno Hubay constituted most of the ensemble, along with one cello student of David Popper: Jeno Lener and Jozef Smilovits, violins; Sandor Roth, viola; and Imre Hartmann, cello. The Lener were the first to record the entire cycle of Beethoven quartets. Their heavy reliance on vibrato and portamento produced a symphonic sound and emotional tenor some found distracting when applied to already sentimental music, such as that by Borodin and Tchaikovsky. Columbia Records signed the ensemble, which maintained a strong recording career 1922-1939. Many of the finer British instrumentalists performed with the Lener Quartet: to wit, the 1933 version of Mozart’s Oboe Quartet, in which famed Leon […]

Myra Hess: The Pre-War Trio Recordings = SCHUBERT: Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major; BRAHMS: Piano Trio No. 2 – Myra Hess, piano/ Jelly d’Aranyi, violin/ Felix Salmond, cello (Schubert)/ Gaspar Cassado, cello (Brahms) – Pristine Audio

Myra Hess: The Pre-War Trio Recordings = SCHUBERT: Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major; BRAHMS: Piano Trio No. 2 – Myra Hess, piano/ Jelly d’Aranyi, violin/ Felix Salmond, cello (Schubert)/ Gaspar Cassado, cello (Brahms) – Pristine Audio

by | Aug 25, 2012 | Classical Reissue Reviews

Myra Hess: The Pre-War Trio Recordings = SCHUBERT: Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat Major, D. 898; BRAHMS: Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, Op. 87 – Myra Hess, piano/ Jelly d’Aranyi, violin/ Felix Salmond, cello (Schubert)/ Gaspar Cassado, cello (Brahms) – Pristine Audio PACM 083, 61:26 [various formats avail. from www.pristineclassical.com] ****: The art of Dame Myra Hess (1890-1965) has moments of resurgence, especially as Opus Kura (OPK 2098) and Pristine Audio have revitalized her 28-30 September 1927 Schubert Trio No. 1 with Jelly d’Aranyi (1893-1966) and Felix Salmond (1888-1952). Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Aranyi inspired composers Bartok, Holst, Vaughan Williams, and Ravel to compose for and work with her, although her tone projects that same thin wiry quality we know from Joseph Szigeti. Despite the excellently quiet restorations by Mark Obert-Thorn, we feel that the microphone placement, favoring d’Aranyi, often subdues the keyboard’s contribution, which proves considerable. The Schubert opening Allegro moderato, however, enjoys a decided propulsion, its motto rhythm (almost a Beethoven impulse) underlying much of the development. The Andante un poco mosso occupies pride of place in this work, incorporating duets alternately for violin and piano and violin and cello. The elegant lyricism of the playing […]