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Horowitz Archive

BACH: Italian Concerto in F Major; BRAHMS: Three Intermezzi; MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition; KREISLER: Schoen Rosmarin; KHACHATURIAN: Toccata; NAZARETH: Odeon – Tango Brasiliero – Mordecai Shehori, piano – Cembal d’amour

BACH: Italian Concerto in F Major; BRAHMS: Three Intermezzi; MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition; KREISLER: Schoen Rosmarin; KHACHATURIAN: Toccata; NAZARETH: Odeon – Tango Brasiliero – Mordecai Shehori, piano – Cembal d’amour

by | Apr 4, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

Another in the thoughtful, excitingly virtuosic recitals that lit the New York stages in the course of 20 years. Mordecai Shehori – The Celebrated New York Concerts, Vol. 11 = BACH: Italian Concerto in F Major, BWV 971; BRAHMS: Three Intemezzi, Op. 117; MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition; KREISLER: Schoen Rosmarin; KHACHATURIAN: Toccata; NAZARETH: Odeon – Tango Brasiliero – Mordecai Shehori, piano – Cembal d’amour CD 187, 65:51 (2/19/17) [www.cembaldamour.com] ****: Culled from various New York City concert venues, 1982-2003, the assembled recital by Mordecai Shehori embraces a variety of national styles within a decidedly Romantic sensibility. Shehori opens with Bach’s virtuosic Italian Concerto in F Major, BWV 971, a one-instrument concerto that achieves the effect of the two-manual harpsichord while synthesizing strict counterpoint, playful ritornelli, and sonorous tuttis in the course its often antiphonal progress. The performance (from Merkin Concert Hall, 22 May 1986), enjoys a beguiling intimacy in the face of its brilliant intent, as a stunning, optimistic vehicle, especially in its outer movements. Shehori’s middle movement, the d minor Andante, projects a steady, flowing cantilena over a basso ostinato. The flexible line absorbs a fluent trill into the evolving line, lyrical and heatedly poignant. Shehori proceeds with more understated […]

Shehori – The Celebrated New York Concerts, Vol. 9 = Works of BEETHOVEN, LISZT, SCHUBERT, TCHAIKOVSKY, CHOPIN & MOSZKOWSKI – Mordecai Shehori, p. – Cembal d’amour CD

Shehori – The Celebrated New York Concerts, Vol. 9 = Works of BEETHOVEN, LISZT, SCHUBERT, TCHAIKOVSKY, CHOPIN & MOSZKOWSKI – Mordecai Shehori, p. – Cembal d’amour CD

by | Jul 3, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

A moment of New York musical history is preserved, in which Shehori pays homage to Vladimir Horowitz. Shehori – The Celebrated New York Concerts, Vol. 9 = BEETHOVEN: 15 Variations and Fugue in E-flat Major, Op. 35 “Eroica”; LISZT: Impromptu in F-sharp Major; Au Bord d’une Source in A-flat Major; Canzone “Nessun maggior dolore” (after Rossini’s Otello); Funerailles; SCHUBERT: Sonata in A Major, D. 959; TCHAIKOVSKY (trans. Shehori): Melodie for Violin and Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 42, No. 3; MOSZKOWSKI: Etincelles, Op. 36, No. 6; CHOPIN: Mazurka in g minor, Op. 24, No. 1 – Mordecai Shehori, p. – Cembal d’amour CD 183 (2 CDs) 46:05, 48:27 (5/20/16) ****: The latest installment of “The Celebrated New York Recitals” by Mordecai Shehori preserves a distinctive moment (19 May 1992) for him and us at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall: he pays tribute to his mentor Vladimir Horowitz, even as the great pianist’s widow sits near his keyboard. Later, Mrs. Horowitz would remark: “Mordecai, you are the only pianist that learned from my husband but you do not imitate him.” Shehori opens with a Liszt group, a selection of four pieces that explore Liszt’s penchant for polar ecstasies of emotion. The […]

D. SCARLATTI: Complete Keyboard Sonatas Vol. IV [Books 9, 10 & 11 – 1754] – Carlo Grante, p. – Music&Arts (5 CDs)

D. SCARLATTI: Complete Keyboard Sonatas Vol. IV [Books 9, 10 & 11 – 1754] – Carlo Grante, p. – Music&Arts (5 CDs)

by | Jun 27, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

One of the best of the piano versions of the Domenico Scarlatti Sonatas. DOMENICO SCARLATTI: Complete Keyboard Sonatas Vol. IV [Books 9, 10 & 11 – all 1754] – Carlo Grante, playing a historic Bosendorfer Imperial piano – Music & Arts CD-1293 (5 CDs) [Distr. by Naxos] [7/8/16] ****: This is a continuation of the acclaimed series of the complete keyboard works of Scarlatti, and the only one ever recorded with the same pianist playing all of these works. As a harpsichordist myself, I naturally lean toward recordings of these 555-odd amazing little sonatas on the harpsichord, but the only complete set is the one recorded by the late Scott Ross on Erato/Warner Classics. Wanda Landowska recorded some of them with the Scarlatti Society in the 1930s. However, about half of them were recorded for the Westminster label by the equally amazing Fernando Valenti and six are available in greatly-improved sonic condition from Pristine Audio. He was the definitive exponent of Scarlatti of the time and his personality mirrored Scarlatti’s. Ottavio Dantone is also up to Vol. IV of his series of the planned complete Scarlatti Sontatas on harpsichord for the Stradivarius label, but they don’t equal the facilities of […]