Debussy Archive
DEBUSSY & Toshio HOSOKAWA: Point and Line – Momo Kodama (p.) – ECM
DEBUSSY & Toshio HOSOKAWA: Point and Line – Momo Kodama, piano – ECM 481-4738, 79:22, (3/17/17) ****½ : Debussy Etudes in dialog with challenging avant-garde etudes by Toshio Hosokawa. The deeper I delve into the music of Debussy, especially the piano and chamber music, the less I care for the term “Impressionism,” with its image of blurred edges and dentist office wall art. Nor do I care for the association of Debussy with Maurice Ravel on recordings or in textbooks. Debussy’s originality and genius are comparable to that of Chopin or Scarlatti. As for his paternity in music history, it is not at all clear. While Ravel opened at least one fruitful path to Jazz by way of his admirer, George Gershwin (there is a photograph of a young Gershwin looking over the shoulder of Ravel seated at the piano), Debussy’s influence is harder to trace. Perhaps he should be placed adjacent to the great experimenters of the mid-20th century, such as Messiaen and Ligeti, rather than stuffed in the same boat with Ravel, Faure and the like. Manfred Eicher and Japanese pianist Momo Kodama have a more provocative idea, that the cosmos of Debussy can be explored to advantage […]
RACHMANINOV: Piano Sonata No. 1 in d minor; 3 Etudes-Tableaux; 4 Songs; Variations on a Theme of Corelli – Sandro Russo, p. – Steinway & Sons
Sandro Russo pays homage to the continuity of style and mood in early and late works of Sergei Rachmaninov. RACHMANINOV: Solo Piano Works = Piano Sonata No. 1 in d minor, Op. 28; 3 Etudes-Tableaux; 4 Songs (arr. E. Wild); Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42 – Sandro Russo, piano – Steinway & Sons 30077, 78:04 (3/17/17) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: A graduate of the Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory and the Royal College of Music in London, pianist Sandro Russo means “to showcase the multiple facets of [Rachmaninov’s] artistic language.” Russo (rec. 13 & 20 June 2016) addresses the imposing Piano Sonata No. 1 (1908), a piece inspired by both the Faust legend and the Liszt Faust Symphony, with its musical portraits of Faust, Gretchen, and Mephistopheles. In fact, the sketches for the d minor Sonata suggest Rachmaninov’s symphonic ambitions, though he would discard any program from the piece, as such. In three large, intricate movements, the sonata resonates with the ubiquitous Dies Irae of the Requiem Mass, especially given Rachmaninov’s gothic sensibility and his admiration of the Liszt Totentanz. Rachmaninov presented the draft of the work to colleague Konstantin Igumnov, who premiered the work. Russo attacks the first […]
PUCCINI: Turandot (2016) – Orch. del Teatro alla Scala di Milano/Riccardo Chailly – Decca
Something’s different about this production. PUCCINI: Turandot (2016, Luciano Berio completion) Cast: Nina Stemme, Aleksandrs Antonenko, Maria Agresta , Coro di voci bianche dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala Orch.: Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano Director: Riccardo Chailly Studio: Decca. Blue-ray [1/27/17] Run Time: 130 minutes Video: 1.77:1 Color Audio: DTS-HD 5.1, PCM Stereo Subtitles: English, German, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, French, Italian Rating: ***** What is the most outstanding feature of this recording of Giacomo Puccini’s opera Turandot? Is it the vividly recorded sound under the expert baton of conductor Riccardo Chailly? How about those well-miked singers, who manage to sound far better than they did in a recent Metropolitan Opera production of Turandot? Or the staging and lighting at Italy’s La Scala, so lush and regal as to be almost overwhelming (particularly when viewed on a 4K television)? Perhaps the excellent acting, judiciously understated as when Aleksandrs Antoninko didn’t grandstand during the famous “Nessun Dorma”? No, something’s different about this production. It’s the ending. They’ve changed it. When Puccini died in 1924, he left the opera incomplete. Two years later Franco Alfano penned a conclusion that, if you’re familiar with the opera, you’ve definitely heard it. Alfano was called in […]
Tribute to Charles Munch – A Strasburger in Boston = Works of BERLIOZ, FRANCK, ST.-SAENS, ROUSSEL, DEBUSSY, FAURE, RAVEL – Praga Digitals
A generous sampling of the ‘Munch touch’ in Boston in the French music he championed. Tribute to Charles Munch – A Strasburger in Boston = BERLIOZ: Romeo et Juliette Symphonie – Queen Mab Scherzo; FRANCK: Le Chasseur Maudit; SAINT-SAENS: La Princesse Jaune Overture, Op 30; Le Rouet d’Omphale. Op. 31; DEBUSSY: Fetes fr. Trois Nocturnes; FAURE: Penelope Prelude; RAVEL: La Valse; ROUSSEL: Suite in F Major – Boston Sym. Orch./ Charles Munch – Praga Digitals PRD 250 340, 80:17 (12/9/16) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****: The wizardry of Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony in French repertory finds eloquent representation on this extensive program, from various discs originally recorded 1951-1961 for RCA Victor. Particularly endearing, we have the 15 January 1951 recording of the Saint-Saens 1872 Overture La Princesse Jaune (on LM 1701), a one-act opera that utilizes pentatonic scales to suggest the courtly life of Japan in a dream-vision, although Netherlands provides the setting of the drama. The BSO achieves a lithe, entirely flexible vocal line and resplendently transparent hues, including an amazing bottom and top line in the full complement of strings. No less brisk, the symphonic poem Le Rouet d’Omphale, (1871) invokes the mythological enslavement of Hercules […]
“French Music” – works of CHAUSSON: Sym. in B-flat; Poeme de L’Amour; DEBUSSY: Printemps – Praga Digitals
The colorful, Symbolist scores of Ernest Chausson receive classic accounts by Munch and Barbirolli. French Music = CHAUSSON: Symphony in B-flat Major, Op. 20; Poeme de L’Amour et de la Mer, Op .19; DEBUSSY: Printemps – Symphonic Suite – Kathleen Ferrier, contr./ Halle Orch./ Sir John Barbirolli/ Boston Sym. Orch./ Charles Munch (Chausson Symphony and Debussy) – Praga Digitals PRD 250 345, 74:58 (11/25/16) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****: Artur Nikisch conducted Ernest Chausson’s Symphonie in 1897, earning the work the epithet “masterpiece” in Paris, Brussels and Barcelona, on a par with Beethoven’s or Schumann’s symphonies. My own first exposure to this scintillating, exciting work came via Dimitri Mitropoulos and the Minneapolis Symphony on CBS (ML 4141), then soon after, with Frederick Stock and the Chicago Symphony on Bluebird LP (LBC 1056). The Symphony (1890) owes many debts to Cesar Franck in terms of structure and its cyclic arrangement of themes. Charles Munch directs a performance from Boston 26 February 1962. The Chausson Symphony enjoys from Munch and his responsive BSO a spacious and ominous opening Lent, whose motivic elements will return at the work’s conclusion to bring cyclic closure to the composition. The horn and bassoon apply the melody […]
Best of the Year Discs for 2016
Best of the Year Discs for 2016 = The 12 Multichannel Hi-Res Discs of the Month for 2016 CLASSICAL (incl. HI-RES), CLASSICAL REISSUES, CLASSICAL VINYL & PURE AUDIO BLU-RAY KATI AGÓCS: The Debrecen Passion – BMOP Sound 1046 American First Piano Sonatas – Licad, p. – Danacord * ”For the Beauty of the Earth” – Celebrating Creation – Works of WIDOR, VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS and others – Gabriel V Brass Ensemble/Sharon Rose Pfeiffer, pipe organ/ percussion ens. – Arte/ Paraclete SACD GDCD 061 * BEETHOVEN: The Nine Symphonies (1963); Rehearsal of the Ninth Sym. – Berlin PO./ Herbert von Karajan – DGG Pure Audio Blu-ray stereo 00289 479 5977 Maya Beiser, “Transclassical” – Innova 952 Jussi Bjoerling in Copenhagen – JSP Records LUCIANO BERIO: Sinfonia & GUSTAV MAHLER: Ten Early Songs – HMC 902180 BRAHMS AND HINDEMITH Viola Sonatas Reisenberg/Doktor – Romeo Records * COUPERIN: Trois Lecons de Tenebres; SEBASTIEN DE BROSSARD: Trio Sonatas in c and a; Stabat Mater – La Nuova Musica/ David Bates – Harmonia mundi SACD HMU 807659 * Chick Corea (piano) & Bela Fleck (banjo) – Two – Concord Jazz CIA-37992-2 (2 CDs) * CORIGLIANO: The Ghosts of Versailles (complete opera) – Soloists/ LA […]
************ Multichannel Disc of the Month *********** * DEBUSSY: Images (complete); Jeux; La plus que lente – SF Sym./ Michael Tilson Thomas – SFS Media
The latest from MTT and the SF Symphony is an all-Debussy SACD. * DEBUSSY: Images (complete); Jeux; La plus que lente – San Francisco Sym./ Michael Tilson Thomas – SFS Media multichannel SACD 821936-0069-2, 62:31 (10/28/16) *****: More superb recordings and performances from one of the best orchestras in the U.S. – the San Francisco Symphony. The mastery of orchestration possessed by the French composer is exquisitely demonstrated in this collection of his impressionist style. French composers nearly always did the best job of portraying Spain in their music, and Debussy’s Images is a great example. Each one of the six parts of Images has its own national coloration. Iberia is the central panel of the Images, and is a sort of love song on a grand scale to the country which so engaged some French composers, including him. In the Night Fragrances section Debussy caresses us with the scents of oleander and sweet chestnut, wild rose and thyme. The score is marked “Slow and dreamy.” The last of the six parts, Rondes de printemps, is dedicated to the composer’s new wife, and quotes a French children’s song. It is actually a fierce little tone poem. Jeux is one of […]
Fantasia Andaluza – Petri Kumela & Joonas Widenius – Various works for classical and flamenco guitar – Alba Music
Fantasia Andaluza – Petri Kumela & Joonas Widenius – Various works for classical and flamenco guitar [TrackList follows] – Alba Music multichannel SACD ABCD391, 49:00 (7/29/16) ****: A unique disc that offers Spanish guitar with flamenco guitar. Fantasía Andaluza, the guitar duo record of Kumela and Widenius brings something a bit new to the music world. It’s a mixture of flamenco guitar and Classical guitar. As the liner notes point out, the two instruments have travelled through history side by side, at times very close and at others further apart. The two top Finnish guitarists on this disc mirror their instruments one against the other. The repertoire is based on the traditional Spanish guitar music, but the two guitars together make this a unique listening experience. The mixing of a classical and flamenco guitarist gives the music a rather different sound. Some of the works on this disc were written for guitar, others are transcriptions. This SACD 5.1 recording is very good. Each guitar gets its own channel in front, while the rear channels provide a hint of the recording venue, which was a small chapel in Finland. The contrast between the classical and flamenco guitar are quite striking. The […]
RESPIGHI: Sinfonia Drammatica; Belfagor Ov. ‒ Orch. Philharmonique Royal de Liège / John Neschling ‒ BIS
RESPIGHI: Sinfonia Drammatica; Belfagor Ov. ‒ Orch. Philharmonique Royal de Liège / John Neschling ‒ BIS multichannel SACD BIS-2210; 70:03 (7/8/16) ****: Respighi off the beaten track. Stimulating and enjoyable. Jean-Pascal Vachon’s useful notes to this recording lay out the complex history of Ottorino Respighi’s musical education by way of explaining why this great big Sinfonia Drammatica sounds so unlike what we’ve come to think of as Respighi’s musical language. It’s easy to hear the influence of Respighi’s teacher Rimsky-Korsakov in his highly colorful and effective orchestration. In the numerous pieces based on medieval and Renaissance music (Ancient Airs and Dances, Concerto Gregoriano. Concerto in modo misolidio, The Birds, Church Windows, Metamorphosen), Respighi pays tribute to his teacher Luigi Torchi, a musicologist and expert on ancient music. In the Roman Trilogy, Respighi’s best-known works, we note that as his musical language matured, the composer took his lead increasingly from France and specifically Claude Debussy. However, the composer also studied with Giuseppe Martucci—whose music reflects the influence of his musical heroes, Schumann and Brahms—and with the echt German Romantic Max Bruch. Martucci happened also to be one of the first champions of Wagner in Italy. Small wonder, then, that early in […]
HINDEMITH: Viola Sonatas – Paul Eurler (viola) Christian Rivinius (piano) / Viola Sonatas Op. 11 & 25; Solo Viola Sonatas – MD&G
HINDEMITH: Viola Sonatas – Paul Eurler (viola)/ Christian Rivinius (piano) / Viola Sonatas Op. 11 No. 4 & Op. 25 No. 4; Solo Viola Sonatas Op. 11 No. 5 & Op. 25 No. 1 – MD&G multichannel SACD (2+2+2) 9031952 (5/13/16) TT: 69:00 [Distr. by E1] ***1/2: Hindemith viola sonatas – a first for SACD. Violist Christian Euler’s new SACD recording of two solo sonatas and two duo sonatas with the pianist Paul Rivinius presents Hindemith’s viola works for the first time in high resolution on disc. We don’t usually think of Hindemith’s ‘smaller’ works, but rather his large scale compositions like the Symphonic Metamorphosis and his Mathis der Mahler. In fact, Hindemith had a strong relationship to the stringed instruments. He was taught the violin as a child. He entered the Hochsche Konservatorium in Frankfurt am Main where he studied conducting, composition and violin under Arnold Mendelssohn and Bernhard Sekles, supporting himself by playing in dance bands and musical-comedy outfits. He acted as concertmaster of the Frankfurter Museumsorchester from 1915 to 1923 and played in the Rebner string quartet from 1914 in which he played second violin, and later the viola. In 1921 he founded the Amar Quartet, playing […]
STRAVINSKY: Petrushka; DEBUSSY: La Boite à joujoux — Seattle Sym. /Ludovic Morlot — Seattle Sym. Media
A vibrant new “Petrushka” and a Debussy rarity make for great listening. IGOR STRAVINSKY: Petrushka; CLAUDE DEBUSSY: La Boite à joujoux (“The Toy Box”) — Seattle Sym./Ludovic Morlot — Seattle Sym. Media SSM1010, 68:33 *****: The Seattle Symphony and its current music director, Ludovic Morlot, are on a real run here lately and especially since they have focused their recording on twentieth-century masterworks and on their own label. I urge you to check out their recent Henri Dutillieux albums or Morlot’s Rite of Spring coupled with the rich but obscure Raskatov Piano Concerto. This is but an example of what is coming out of Benaroya Hall lately and it’s all wonderful; including this latest sparkling new rendition of the complete Petrushka. This new Petrushka is wonderfully paced and Morlot brings out all the nuance and picturesque quality of Stravinsky’s ballet featuring the very symbolic escapades of the title harlequin puppet come to life. There is balance throughout the orchestra, and kudos to all the soloists, especially principal trumpet David Gordon for those charming but oh, so exposed, solos in the “The Blackamoor.” I liked this Petrushka among my favorites of all time, including Giulini’s with Chicago and that of Dutoit. […]
Vladimir Soltan – “Clarinet Concertos” by NIELSEN, DEBUSSY & FRANCAIX – MD&G
Some very fine playing worth having and comparing. Vladimir Soltan – “Clarinet Concertos” = CARL NIELSEN: Clarinet Concerto, Op.57; CLAUDE DEBUSSY: Premiere Rhapsodie; JEAN FRANÇAIX: Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra – Vladimir Soltan, clarinet/Hamburger Symphoniker/Jose Luis Gomez – MD&G multichannel SACD MDG901-1964-6, 57:41 (2+2+2) (8/05/16) [Distr. by E1] ***1/2: This collection of clarinet masterworks is very interesting in that it gives us a bit of a different look at the much performed Nielsen Concerto and perhaps an introduction to the not nearly as well known Françaix Concerto. All of these performances, including that of another clarinet staple; the Debussy Rhapsodie, are very well-done and worth your attention. Vladimir Soltan is a very fine young player who studied with Karl Leister, among others. He has nice, warm tone and a very supple technique. There are moments in the Nielsen where intonation and warmth seem not as well-defined in the uppermost register as in the rest of the work and Soltan’s lower register but this is a minor issue. He is a very good player, indeed, whose career so far has been exclusively in the solo realm. His performance of the Nielsen is a little unusual in that the pace and tempi […]
Gilels in Seattle = Works of BEETHOVEN, CHOPIN, PROKOFIEV, RAVEL, DEBUSSY, STRAVINSKY & BACH – DGG
DGG restores a colossal recital from the Russian legend Gilels. Gilels in Seattle = BEETHOVEN: Sonata No. 21 in C Major, Op. 53 “Waldstein”; CHOPIN: Variations on “La ci darem la mano,” Op. 2; PROKOFIEV: Piano Sonata No. 3 in a minor, Op. 28; Visions fugitives, Op. 22 – excerpts; DEBUSSY: Images, Book I; RAVEL: Alborado del gracioso from Miroirs; STRAVINSKY: Danse russe from Petrouchka; J.S. BACH (arr. Siloti): Prelude in b minor, BWV 855a – Emil Gilels, p. – DGG 479 6288, 74:47 (9/2/16) [Distr. by Universal] ****: Emil Gilels (1916-1985) appeared in Seattle’s Opera House 6 December 1964 as part of his fifth tour of the United States. The private tape of the recital, made with professional equipment, came under the aegis of Deutsche Grammophone via pianist Felix Gottlieb, a former pupil of Gilels who had established the Emil Gilels Foundation and who runs the Emil Gilels Festival in Freiburg im Breisgau. The surviving recital had to dispense with the Chopin Ballade No. 1, the recording of which had lost several moments. Only the variations on Mozart by Chopin have ever appeared on records prior. Despite somewhat distant microphone placement, the opening 1803 Waldstein Sonata reveals a virtuoso […]
To Keep the Dark Away = Piano music of SCHULMAN, PROKOFIEV, WANGER, SHATIN – Gayle Martin – Ravello
In the course of documenting her friendship with composer Shatin, Gayle Martin drafts several Romantics. “To Keep the Dark Away” = SCHUMANN (arr. Liszt): Widmung; SHATIN: To Keep the Dark Away – Suite of 5 Pieces; Fantasy on St. Cecilia; PROKOFIEV: 5 Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 75; WAGNER (arr. Liszt): Ballade of the Flying Dutchman; Isolde’s Liebestod – Gayle Martin, piano – Ravello RR 7937, 64:38 (7/8/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ***: Pianist Gayle Martin and composer Judith Shatin (b. 1949) have had a creative relationship as far back as 1997, when Ms. Martin performed Ms. Shatin’s Fantasy on Saint Cecilia at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. This disc features that work, along with Ms. Shatin’s piano suite To Keep the Dark Away Dr. Shatin teaches at the University of Virginia, where she heads the Center for Computer Music. Pianist Gayle Martin wishes to impart (rec. 10-11 September 2015 and 5 December 2015) her vision of luminous and numinous experience, and so she seeks out those composers and literary artists who exult in a “secret song” of “emotional fervor.” To be sure, Martin’s rendition of Schumann’s Widmung in the Liszt arrangement proves lyrical and dramatic in its “dedication” […]
FRANCK: Piano Quintet in f minor; DEBUSSY: String Quartet – Takacs Quartet/ Marc-Andre Hamelin, p. – Hyperion
Wonderful performances of some lesser heard masterworks. CÉSAR FRANCK: Piano Quintet in f minor; CLAUDE DEBUSSY: String Quartet in g minor – Takacs Quartet/ Marc-Andre Hamelin, p. – Hyperion CDA68061, 62:25 (5/22/16) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****: While Debussy and his music are widely known, his string quartet – an immensely lovely sole work of its type – is certainly less familiar than his orchestral works and much of his piano music. Countryman César Franck is, regrettably, a much less familiar composer save the Symphony in D minor or, perhaps, his orchestral poem Le Chausseur Maudit (“The Accursed Huntsman”.) So, this simply beautiful paring is very welcome and, for me, especially having the Franck Piano Quintet. The amazing Takacs Quartet has recorded for Hyperion before and often in this combination of a piano quintet work and a similarly-styled string quartet. The Franck is a big, beautiful and passionate work; one that actually earned the composer a lot of vilification at the time for its sweeping Romanticism – simply not “French” enough, it seemed. The piano truly controls the opening movement, and Marc-Andre Hamelin’s sensitivity to the style bolsters the sensual nature of Franck’s writing. The Takács Quartet becomes equally engaged […]
“MASTERPIECES IN MINIATURE” Works of LITOLFF, MAHLER, DELIBES, DVORAK, DELIUS, GRIEG & others – SF Sym./MTT – SF Media
Classical gems vividly played and beautifully recorded. “MASTERPIECES IN MINIATURE” = LITOLFF: Scherzo from Con. symphonique No. 4; MAHLER: Blumine; FAURE: Pavane; DEBUSSY: La Plus que lente; SCHUBERT: Entr’acte No. 3 from Rosamunde; IVES/BRANT: The Alcotts from A Concord Symphony; RACHMANINOFF: Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14; DVORAK: Legend for Orchestra, Op. 59, No. 6; SIBELIUS: Valse triste; DELIUS: On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring; GRIEG: The Last Spring, Opus 34, No. 2; DELIBES: Cortege de Bacchus from Sylvia—Yuja Wang, piano/SF Sym./Michael Tilson Thomas – multichannel SACD, SFMedia 821936-0060-2, 78:08, *****: What’s the role of the symphony orchestra in the 21st century? “It’s a preserve for endangered emotions, such as wistfulness,” answered Michael Tilson Thomas, the Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, in an interview at the 2015 Music Critics Conference of North America. Masterpieces in Miniature is a disc loaded with emotions that music is uniquely qualified to express: the exhilarating speed of a virtuosic performance; sensuous refinement; nostalgic memories; lush romanticism; a remorseful farewell to life, to name a few. This album celebrates MTT’s 70th birthday and the twentieth anniversary of his tenure as conductor of the San Francisco Symphony. Its inspiration derives from his earliest memories […]
Luca Baratto – Live at Honens = Works of SCHUMANN DEBUSSY, PROKOFIEV, LIGETI, LUTOSLOWSKI, MOZART, HINDEMITH & Others – Honens (2 CDs)
Virtuoso pianist Luca Buratto demonstrates his versatile musicianship from the 2015 Honens Festival. Luca Baratto – Live at Honens = SCHUMANN: Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17; Davidsbuendler Taenze: No 14; LIGETI: Etudes No. 15 and No. 16; DEBUSSY: L’Isle joyeuse; PROKOFIEV: Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 83; VIARDOT: Two Songs; OBRADORS: Two Songs; LUTOSLAWSKI: Dance Preludes; MOZART: Piano Trio in E-flat Major, K. 498 “Kegelstatt”; HINDEMITH: Viola Sonata in F Major, Op. 11, No. 4; BRAHMS: Geistleiches Wiegenlied, Op. 91, No. 2 – Isabel Bayrakdarian, sop./ Hsin-Yun Huang, viola/ James Campbell, clar./ Luca Buratto, p. – Honens (2 CDs) 66:12, 63:55 (2/12/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Recorded live at Jack Singer Concert Hall at Arts Commons during the September 2015 – semifinals performances – Honens Festival and Piano Competition, the various solo and chamber ensemble works testify to the range and finesse of Italian pianist Luca Buratto (b. 1993), a Laureate of the distinguished Canadian competition. Buratto performs on a Fazioli instrument whose middle register enjoys a liquid warmth, while its upper reaches offer silver pearls. Buratto performs in solo and collaborative works, as designated by the requirements of the Festival. Buratto opens with Schumann’s passionate love-letter […]
DE FALLA: Complete Works for Solo Piano – Juan Carlos Rodriguez, p. – Paladino Music
All of Manuel de Falla’s piano music, sensitively played by fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Rodriguez. MANUEL DE FALLA: Complete Works for Solo Piano – Juan Carlos Rodriguez, p. – Paladino Music pmr0062 (Distr. by Naxos), 73:36 *****: Manuel Maria de los Dolores Falla y Matheu (Manuel de Falla) was born in 1876 in Cadiz, Spain and died in Alta Garcia, Argentina 70 years later. He became one of the leading Spanish composers of the 20th century, along with Isaac Albéniz (1860 – 1909) and Enrique Granados (1867 – 1916). He left music lovers with dozens of stage works, including three of the best – La vide breve (Life is short – 1913), El amor brujo (Bewitched Love, or The Magician – 1915), and El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-cornered Hat – 1917). And he spent his last decades obsessed with completing his monumental opera Atlántida, but never did. This CD presents all of the known piano music that Manuel de Falla composed – and helpfully does so in chronological order. Manuel de Falla took piano lessons in the city of his birth, developed an interest in journalism and literature in his teenage years, and established two literary magazines. By […]
DEBUSSY: Violin Sonata in g; Cello Sonata in d; Flute, Viola, and Harp Sonata; Syrinx for Solo Flute – Boston Sym. Ch. Players – Pentatone
An outstanding release wonderfully brought back to life. DEBUSSY: Violin Sonata in g; Cello Sonata in d; Flute, Viola, and Harp Sonata; Syrinx for Solo Flute – Boston Sym. Ch. Players – Pentatone multichannel SACD (4.0) PTC 5186 226, 46:11 [Distr. by Naxos] *****: For those of you who don’t remember, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, one of the greatest groups of its time, consisted of (for this disc) Joseph Silverstein, violin; Jules Eskin, cello; Michael Tilson Thomas, piano; Doriot Anthony Dwyer, flute; Burton Fine, viola; and Ann Hobson, harp. Especially interesting is the fact of all the trouble Tilson Thomas was supposedly having with the symphony members—who were not liking him much, according to some sources—yet the recordings he made with them during the start of his career, were nothing less than sensational, several now considered staples of the recorded legacy and even desert island discs. This translated into his work with the Chamber Players too. Tilson Thomas, an outstanding pianist, hooked up with the folks on this recording to make a go at repertory that was always second nature to the BSO. Its moniker “The Aristocrat of Orchestras” indicated a certain suavity and high natured tonal luster that […]
Pacific Harp Project = Works of Grandjany, Debussy, Ravel, Liszt & others – The Pacific Harp Project
Pacific Harp Project = MARCEL TOURNIER: Sonatine; MEGAN BLEDSOE WARD: Revenge of the Harpies; Portrait; Willow Waltz; Serafina; MARCEL GRANDJANY: Rhapsodie; CLAUDE DEBUSSY: Danse Sacree et Profane; MAURICE RAVEL; Introduction and Allegro; FRANZ LISZT: Un Sospiro; ALLAN WARD: First Take; Incognito – The Pacific Harp Project (Megan Bledsoe Ward, harp/Noel Okimoto, vibes/Jon Hawes, bass/Allan Ward, drums) – Pacific Harp Project, 60:00, (12/04/15) ***1/2: Very innovative combo and some delightful tunes. The Pacific Harp Project is mainly the brain child of harpist Megan Bledsoe Ward and husband and drummer Allan Ward. Their idea is simple and yet so refreshingly clever; to seek out or create new avenues for harp in a chamber setting – which is largely solo harp and rhythm section. This concept may sound rather weird but the results are pretty entertaining. We get some arrangements of harp “standards” performed by the Wards that includes pieces most non-harpists know, such as the positively ethereal Danses Sacree et Profane of Debussy and the equally rapturous Introduction and Allegro of Ravel. (I happen to love both those pieces.) These combo renditions, only slightly “jazzed up”, work quite well and are beautiful in any guise. We also get a few transcriptions and […]
Ivan Moravec Twelfth Night Recital = Works by BACH,MOZART BEETHOVEN, CHOPIN, DEBUSSY – Ivan Moravec, p. – Supraphon (2 CDs)
This previously unissued 1987 recital reveals the master Ivan Moravec at the peak of his splendid form.
Gilles Vonsattel, piano – Shadowlines = Works of D. SCARLATTI, WEBERN, MESSIAEN, BENJAMIN & DEBUSSY – Honens
Swiss pianist Vonsattel explores the roots and applications of modernism with often explosive effects. Gilles Vonsattel – Shadowlines = SCARLATTI: 3 Sonatas; MESSIAEN: Etude No. 4 “Ile de feu II”; 2 Preludes; WEBERN: Variations, Op. 27; BENJAMIN: Shadowlines: Six Canonic Preludes for Piano; DEBUSSY: Feux d’artifice; Masques; D’un cahier d’esquisses; L’Isle joyeuse – Gilles Vonsattel, piano – Honens 201510CD, 67:51 (10/2/15) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: This second album from Swiss pianist Gilles Vonsattel – Laureate of the 2009 Honens Piano Competition in Canada – testifies (rec. March 2015) to his interest in modern composition, especially that influenced by classical forms. As such, the recital may prove attractive to a musical few who embrace the intellectual over the emotional aspects of artistic expression. Well I recall my courses in the Second Viennese School with Prof. Friedheim at SUNY, in which we would trace out the geometries of Webern’s tone rows and their multiple permutations, as if a huge grid or anagram had emerged from the harmonic labyrinth! But did the music compel as to hear it with the same affection we bring to Mozart? From the opening, jumping figures in Scarlatti’s Sonata in a minor, K. 3, we hear the rush […]
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
