recital Archive
![Ole Edvard Antonsen [trumpet] & Wolfgang Plagge [piano] – “Furatus” = Music by GRIEG, KOSAKU YAMADA, SHOSTAKOVICH, TVEITT and NIELSEN – audio-only Blu-ray & SACD](https://www.audaud.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/FuratusSA.jpg)
Ole Edvard Antonsen [trumpet] & Wolfgang Plagge [piano] – “Furatus” = Music by GRIEG, KOSAKU YAMADA, SHOSTAKOVICH, TVEITT and NIELSEN – audio-only Blu-ray & SACD
Music for trumpet and piano in sparkling sound. Ole Edvard Antonsen [trumpet] & Wolfgang Plagge [piano] – “Furatus” = Music by GRIEG, KOSAKU YAMADA, SHOSTAKOVICH, TVEITT and NIELSEN – Pure Audio Blu-ray – 5.1 surround + stereo + mShuttle /+ SACD multichannel and stereo – 2L-130, 53:10 ea. (2 discs) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Recorded in the accommodating acoustics of Sofienberg Church & Jar Church, Norway during 2012 and 2013, this recital of music for trumpet and piano by Ole Edvard Antonsen [trumpet] & Wolfgang Plagge impresses in its variety. The Holberg Suite, Op. 40 (From Holberg’s Time) by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) was written in 1884 and comes across as a nineteenth-century take on eighteenth-century dance music. While it was conceived as a suite for a string orchestra, Grieg made that orchestration only after its original publication as a suite for piano. The arrangement here, for trumpet and piano, works remarkably well and gives plenty of opportunity for Antonsen to display his excellent technique. The arrangement of three songs by Kosaku Yamada (1886-1965) and Hardingtonar by Geirr Tveitt (1908-1981) provide a more relaxed interlude of folk-music inspired works with some sensitive playing by the duo. The second and fourth parts […]
CHOPIN: Works – David Fray, p. – Erato
CHOPIN: Works [TrackList follows] – David Fray, p. – Erato LC 02822, 68:32 (2/3/17) *****: A carefully-designed Chopin recital weighted towards crepuscular reverie. As midnight approached and the crowd sorted itself into the right kind of people receptive to genius, Chopin, (according to the famous account by Berlioz), would make his way to the piano. There he would disappear into his his state of grace while the salon would fall under the spell of his lyrical melancholy. Schumann captured this moment well: “It was an unforgettable picture to see Chopin sitting at the piano like a clairvoyant, lost in his dreams; to see how his vision communicated itself through his playing, and how, at the end of each piece, he had the sad habit of running one finger over the length of the plaintive keyboard, as though to tear himself forcibly away from his dream.” “At the end of each piece,” he says. But what pieces? We would like to have a set list in order to see the connections, the large canvas on which Chopin painted his feeling-world. While once it was common for a recording to serve up, say, all of the Mazurkas or Preludes, the more compelling […]
Martha Argerich: Live Broadcasts, Vol. 5 – Works of MOZART, BACH, SCHUMANN & CHOPIN – Doremi
The Argerich legend continues in potent and sometimes manic performances from 1966. Martha Argerich: Live Broadcasts, Vol. 5 – MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 20 in d minor, K. 466; BACH: Toccata in c minor, BWV 911; SCHUMANN: Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17; CHOPIN: 3 Mazurkas, Op. 59 – Martha Argerich, p./ Sym. Orch. of the North German Radio/ Reinhard Peters – Doremi DHR-8048, 78:27 (11/18/16) [www.doremi.com] ****: The Doremi label continues to release previously unpublished sound documents from the volcanic performance career of Martha Argerich: here we have two 1966 concerts, from Hamburg and Milan, respectively. These interpretations testify to the then-twenty-five-year-old Argentinian’s fiery approach to her repertory, although the Schumann no less reveals the dangers of a temperament’s having become manic. The Mozart concerto (16 June 1966) displays Argerich at her best: she has a true sense of the Mozart style, attested to here and also in her collaboration with Eugen Jochum in the Concerto No. 18 in B-flat Major, K. 456 from Bavaria. Her fluidity and grace bespeak careful coaching from both Friedrich Gulda and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, “classicists” in their own right. I did not know conductor Reinhard Peters (1926-2008), who had a significant career […]
HAYDN: Cello Concertos – Pavel Gozmiakov, cello/Orch. Gulbenkian – Onyx
HAYDN: Cello Concertos – Pavel Gozmiakov, cello/Orch. Gulbenkian – Onyx 4151, 59:55 (6/17/16) *****: The legendary King of Portugal 1725 Stradivarius makes police-escorted journey from museum to concert hall where it dazzles in two Haydn concertos. In some endeavors, say bird-watching, novelty is the desideratum. Last year a Siberian Bunting (sp. vlasowae) with a faulty compass created quite a stir as a rare guest from another continent. In other experiences, say having some dental work done, surprises and experimentation are not what we are looking for. Listening to two cello concertos by Joseph Haydn falls somewhere in the middle. These works top the list for both the genre and the composer’s oeuvre and are thus exceedingly familiar. A new wrinkle would not come amiss. On the other hand, we don’t wish for major tinkering or indulgent extravagances that would mar the perfect design of these works. The Haydn recital begins with a cello adaptation of the adagio from the violin Concerto in C. The sound of Pavel Gomziakov’s cello is astonishingly beautiful on the simple melodies of what is rare in Haydn, a true adagio. Behind the cellist and quite recessed at that, the Gulbenkian orchestra mostly stands quietly in […]
“44 Waltzes on 88 Keys” – SCHUBERT: Valses Nobles; BRAHMS: 16 Waltzes; DVORAK: 8 Waltzes; RAVEL: Valses nobles et sentimentales – Peter Schaaf, p. – Schaaf
Peter Schaaf bestows a natural affection of a series of Nineteenth-Century waltzes. 44 Waltzes on 88 Keys – SCHUBERT: Valses Nobles, D. 969; BRAHMS: 16 Waltzes, Op. 39; DVORAK: 8 Waltzes, Op. 54; RAVEL: Valses nobles et sentimentales – Peter Schaaf, p. – Schaaf SR 102, 72:29 [info@schaafrecords.com] ****: Peter Schaaf won the Kosciuszko Foundation’s Chopin Prize in 1961 and the Morris Loeb Prize from Juilliard in 1965. A student of iconic piano pedagogue Rosina Lhévinne, Schaaf performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, had a modest solo recital career, then went into accompanying and chamber music. He played many recitals with Yo-Yo Ma, including his New York recital debut in 1971. Schaaf also worked with Kyung-Wha Chung, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Renata Tebaldi, and Jon Vickers, with whom he made a recording on the VAI label of Schubert’s Die Winterreise from a 1983 Toronto performance (VAIA 1007-2). For several years he led the Archduke Trio. Equally renowned for his photography work, Schaaf now feels the urge to record more keyboard repertory. The obvious addition to the standard “waltz repertory” comes in the form of the Dvorak Eight Waltzes, Op. 54, conceived somewhat abortively for a commission in 1879 for a grand […]
SCHUMANN: Papillons; Carnaval; Davidsbuendlertaense – Philippe Bianconi, p. – La Dolce Volta
Philippe Biancoli revisits those Schumann works that indulge in masks and identity transformation. SCHUMANN: Papillons, Op. 2; Carnaval, Op. 9; Davidsbuendlertaense, Op. 6 – Philippe Bianconi, p. – La Dolce Volta LDV 28, 77:51 (9/30/16) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****: Philippe Bianconi attended the Conservatory in Nice where he studied with Simone Delbert-Fevrier. In Paris he studied with Gaby Casadesus and in Freiburg-in-Breisgau with Vitalij Margulis. He was the first prize winner of both the Casadesus International Competition in Cleveland and the “Jeunesse Musicales” International Competition in Belgrade, as well as the Silver Medal of the Seventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth. Biancoli recorded this all-Schumann recital 7-10 April 2016, meaning to capture the theme of “Doubles and Masks.” Biancoli takes Schumann at his “word,” insofar as the composer responds in all of the works presented here to Jean-Paul Richter’s novel Flegeljahre – Years of Indiscretion – to create a series of masked balls whose characters represent the many contradictory aspects of Schumann’s psyche. Rife with biographical allusions and anagrams of the name of “Schumann” and the town of “Asch,” the pieces often roam into fact and fiction, the commedia dell’arte, and the ongoing romances in Schumann’s […]
HAYDN: Piano Sonatas Nos. 31, 33, 47 & 59 – Enrique Bagaria, p. – Eudora
JOSEPH HAYDN: Piano Sonatas Nos. 31, 33, 47 & 59 – Enrique Bagaria, p. – Eudora multichannel SACD-1601 (4/1/16) *****: (Enrique Bagaria – piano) A buoyant Haydn recital acts as a corrective to dampened spirits. As strife and gloom stalk the land, I find myself retreating into an ever-smaller enclosure until I realize that it has become a dark cell. Call it the “miserable self.” The desolation is mirrored in the faces of my artistic friends. One states, “We need our music more than ever.” But another, the skeptic, ripostes. “If philosophy couldn’t show Wittgenstein’s fly the way out of the bottle, we shouldn’t expect music to persuade the forces of darkness.” On the grim edge of history, we need far more than cheering up, but perhaps an immediate affirmation of the permanently beautiful would not be a bad place to start. This affirmation appears in the form of a disc from Spain, Enrique Bagaria Plays Haydn Piano Sonatas. What can this well-chosen music deliver? I have already encountered this Madrid-based label Eudora, and my review of the Bach Cello Suites played by Petrit Ceku can be found on this site. That high-resolution recording was nothing less than astounding in […]
HAYDN: Piano Sonatas and Variations = Lars Haugbro, fortepiano ‒ LAWO
HAYDN: Piano Sonatas and Variations = Sonata in F Major, Hob. XVI:29; Andante and Variations in F Minor, Hob. XVII:6; Sonata in C Minor, Hob. XVI:20; Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI:50 ‒ Lars Haugbro, fortepiano ‒ LAWO LWC1094; 67:46 (5/6/16) *****: A nicely-varied recital from a Scandinavian Haydn specialist. B01AB6UNWM Despite the highly evocative cover photo, this album is not all storms-a-brewing. However, two of the works on this varied program tap into the darker side of Haydn, one not often encountered since his latest, greatest works are usually in a sunny major mode. Of Haydn’s late large-scale compositions, consider that his greatest symphonic creations, the twelve London Symphonies, include only one work in a minor key, Symphony No. 95 in c. It is perhaps the least admired of the twelve, and as to its key signature, critics generally conclude that here Haydn is more interested in the minor key as a matter of sonority than as a matter of spiritual-emotional context, as it was in the great c minor works of Mozart and Beethoven. Then again, in that same decade we have the marvelous Lord Nelson Mass, or Missa in Angustiis, written during the frightening early years of […]
TAVENER: Missa Wellensis; The Lord’s Prayer; Love bade me welcome & others – Wells Cathedral Choir/ Matthew Owens – Signum Classics
A must-have for Tavener fans. TAVENER: Missa Wellensis; The Lord’s Prayer; Love bade me welcome; Preces and Responses (Part One); I will lift up mine eyes (Psalm 121); Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis (Collegium Regale); Preces and Responses (Part Two); Song for Athene; Prayer for the healing of the sick; They are all gone into the world of light – Wells Cathedral Choir/ Matthew Owens – Signum Classics SIGCD442, 73:43 [Distr. by Naxos] *****: After John Tavener suffered a heart attack in 2007 that brought him near death; his next three years were a torturous trek of pain, depression, and loss of spiritual acumen. But in 2010, despite still being taunted by pain, he experienced a revitalization of sorts, producing over the next three years until his demise, works that were tauter, concentrated, and heavily invested in spiritual austerity. Conductor Matthew Owens suggested to the composer a Latin setting of the mass, and he obliged with great enthusiasm. This double-choir setting, in tribute to Tomas Luis de Victoria, is a staunch reaffirmation of Tavener’a basic religiosity, which had morphed into a confused universalism in his final years. It is a spectacular work of great propensity anchored in blocks of choral sound, […]
“Soaring Solo – Unaccompanied Works II” – Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio, violin & viola – MSR Classics
Don’t think twice about getting this wonderful recital. “Soaring Solo – Unaccompanied Works II” – Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio, violin & viola – MSR Classics MS 1627, 73:32 [Distr. by Albany] *****: This is Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio’s second solo disc, the first called “Going Solo” following this same sort of format. Here, the artist says “Soaring effortlessly high above the clouds. That is the sensation I enjoy when I am in the perfect performance zone. It is a feeling of tremendous freedom and peace. As if I am weightless, I am soaring on air currents looking passively down on the tumultuous world below as the music flows past my ears. When I decided to record a second CD of solo pieces for violin and viola, Soaring Solo was the title that came ‘out of the blue’ and drifted into my consciousness.” Interesting, and no doubt pertinent to this fine violinist/ violist when selecting this program, but I am not sure how much it matters to the listener or our appreciation of the music. What is important is the wonderful technical acumen she brings to each piece on this recital regardless of instrument played, and the superb tonal qualities she manages on each. The […]
Joshua Breakstone – The Cello Quartet – 88 – Capri
Joshua Breakstone – The Cello Quartet – 88 – Capri 71444-2, 64:31 ****: Strong playing from a band immersed in a bop-inspired songbook. (Joshua Breakstone – guitar; Lisle Atkinson – bass; Andy Watson – drums; Mike Richmond – cello ) Joshua Breakstone is an intriguing guitarist of prolific dexterity in the manner of Wes Montgomery. Mind you, which of today’s guitarists, is not of that style? This release, featuring the cello quartet, is built around compositions of some influential bop-styled pianists, with the exception of Breakstone’s own composition with the apropos title: Eighty-Eight. As pointed out by Breakstone in his brief but helpful liner notes, the guitar and the piano are often though to be incompatible instruments because both are chordal in nature. However, in fact, both are rather similar as they fulfill a dual role: in addition to being rhythm section players, both perform solo functions. Hence Breakstone’s curiosity in bringing together some better and lesser-known compositions by a group of pianists, as a basis for this recital. Harold Mabern’s admiration for John Coltrane is proclaimed in the opening track “The Chief” with an assertive introduction to the approach of the quartet. After a long chordal rumination by Breakstone, […]
Martha Argerich/Itzhak Perlman – Works for Violin & Piano by SCHUMANN, BACH & BRAHMS – Warner Classics
Martha Argerich/Itzhak Perlman = SCHUMANN: Violin Sonata No. 1 in a, Op. 105; Drei Fantasiestuecke for Piano and Violin, Op. 73; BRAHMS: Scherzo in c from F.A.E. Sonata; BACH: Violin and Keyboard Sonata in c, BWV 1017 – Itzhak Perlman, v./ Martha Argerich, p. – Warner Classics 0190295937898, 50:58 (9/30/16) ****: A great pairing in some lovely selections. Assembled from two distinct venues, Saratoga Performing Arts Center (Schumann, Op. 105, 30 July 1998) and Salle Colonne, Paris (29-31 March 2016), classical superstars Itzhak Perlman and Martha Argerich collaborate in music both familiar and unfamiliar to their respective repertory, the Brahms and the Bach sonata new to Martha Argerich. Having performed together in Saratoga, New York in 1998, the two artists had been eager to reunite, and the vivacious spontaneity of their recent recital proves infectious. Schumann’s Violin Sonata No. 1 (1851) casts an agitated veil in the course of its three movements, which betray something of the mental anxiety and obsession of the composer at this time. Besides its famed recording by Adolf Busch and Rudolf Serkin (1937), the work found another acolyte in Szymon Goldberg. The first movement – to be played with “passionate expression” – remains relatively subdued: […]
MAX REGER: Comp. Works for Clarinet & Piano – Robert Oberaigner, clar./Michael Schöch, p. – MD&G Scenes
Another nice addition to the growing Reger renaissance. MAX REGER “Complete works for Clarinet and Piano” = MAX REGER: Sonata No.1 in A-flat major, Op.49/1; Sonata No. 2 in F-sharp minor, Op. 49/2; Sonata in B-flat major, Op.107; Tarantella; Album Leaf – Robert Oberaigner, clarinet/Michael Schöch, p. – MD&G Scene MDG 903 1963-6, 79:33 (8/05/16) [Distr. by E1] ****: This is the third album of Max Reger’s complete music for clarinet and piano I have seen and heard these past six months. Clearly the somewhat obscure and somewhat irascible early twentieth century German composer is having a bit of a Renaissance; including recent releases of his choral and organ output and some very rare orchestral music. This is good because Reger was a very fine and somewhat daring composer whose main barriers to further renown were his own criticism of his works; hiding and sequestering them in some cases for years and that documented prickly personality. Interestingly, his clarinet music was always among his best known output; of those many works, the two sonatas written as the opus forty-nine pair are the best known and most often performed. This is for good reason. Those two works are masterpieces of swirling […]
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 […]
Jussi Björling: Copenhagen Concert & Voice of Firestone B’cast – JSP Records
Vocal enthusiasts may well rejoice that a previously unreleased tape of Jussi Bjoerling appears, from 1959. Jussi Björling: Copenhagen Concert – Jussi Bjoerling, tenor/ Bertil Bokstedt (piano) – The Voice of Firestone 1952 Broadcast – Jussi Bjoerling, tenor/ Orch. & Chorus/ Howard Barlow (rec. live, Falkoner Centret, Copenhagen, 15 October 1959; NBC studio, Rockefeller Center, New York, 10 March 1952) – JSP Records JSP682, 67:50 [www.jsprecords.com] ****: The Jussi Bjoerling Society USA unveils an undiscovered Bjoerling treasure – a Copenhagen recital from October 15, 1959. According to Sue Flaster, speaking on behalf of the Society, the recording, brought to light by collector John Haley, has been released on the JSP label, with the engineering entrusted to Seth B. Winner and CD booklet essays by Harald Henrysson and Opera News contributor Stephen Hastings. These newly-discovered Bjoerling (1911-1960) tapes – in excellent sound quality – were recorded in Copenhagen on 15 October 1959 in the then brand new Falkoner Centret – a concert hall with superlative acoustics seating 2000 listeners. The venue had been fitted out with state-of-the-art recording equipment, which was employed to preserve musical events. The material found itself consigned to the archives – until now. There comes a […]
Benjamin Beilman, v. – Spectrum = Works of SCHUBERT, JANACEK, STRAVINSKY & KREISLER – Warner Classics
Benjamin Beillman’s “Spectrum” displays a fine virtuoso talent in a variety of persuasive styles. Benjamin Beilman – Spectrum = SCHUBERT: Violin Sonata in A Major, D. 574 “Grand Duo”; JANACEK: Sonata for Violin and Piano; STRAVINSKY: Divertimento for V. & P.; KREISLER: Viennese Rhapsodic Fantasietta – Benjamin Beilman, v./ Yekwon Sunwoo, p. – Warner Classics 0825646008971, 69:28 (3/18/16) ****: I must confess to finding Mr. Beilman’s recital (rec. 18-21 August 2015) immediately exciting and refreshing, the sound of his incisive 2002 Peter Greiner instrument absolutely ravishing. Mr. Beilman studied with Almita and Roland Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago, Ida Kavafian and Pamela Frank at the Curtis Institute of Music, and Christian Tetzlaff at the Kronberg Academy. The recital, obviously chosen to represent Beilman’s ability to accommodate a variety of musical styles, serves him well. The 1817 Grand Duo of Schubert – which I first heard from a record by Joseph Szigeti and Myra Hess – delights in a lyric urgency that propels the music forward without false sentiment. The Scherzo in E Major reveals a Beethoven touch or two. Especially plaintive, the Andantino flows with noble sympathy between the principals, who attend to Schubert’s idiosyncratic modulations, here, early into […]
“The Return” = Preludes of RACHMANINOFF, Works of BABAJANIAN – Raffi Besalyan, p. – Sono Luminus CD & audio-only Blu-ray
Riveting sound and brilliant performances add up to a most desirable set. “The Return” = RACHMANINOFF: Prelude Op. 3, No. 2 in C sharp minor; Prelude Op. 23, No. 5 in G minor; Prelude Op. 23, No. 6 in E flat major; Prelude Op. 23, No. 7 in C minor; Prelude Op. 23, No. 5 in G minor; Prelude Op. 23, No. 10 in G flat major; Prelude Op. 23, No. 12 in G sharp minor; Étude-Tableau, Op. 33, No. 6 in E flat minor (published as No. 3); Étude-Tableau, Op. 39, No. 1 in C minor; Étude-Tableau, Op. 39, No. 5 in E flat minor; Étude-Tableau, Op. 39, No. 6 in A minor; Variations on a theme of Corelli, Op. 42; ARNO BABAJANIAN: Prelude; Melody and Humoresque; Elegy; Vagarshapat Dance – Raffi Besalyan, piano – Sono Luminus DSL-92187, 65:42 (CD + audio-only Blu-ray – 5.1 & 7.1 DTS, 2.0 PCM with FLAC and MP3 files downloadable) *****: I had no idea that such a powerhouse pianist as Raffi Besalyan worked so close to me. Just downtown from where I live, as Assistant Professor of Piano at Georgia State University, resides this technical wiz and bold Rachmaninoff master. On the […]
Shura Cherkassky, piano = Works of HAYDN, CHOPIN, CHASINS, POULENC & RACHMANINOFF – MeloClassic
Cherkassky’s appearances in Germany in the 1950s confirm his status as a master colorist. Shura Cherkassky, piano = HAYDN: Piano Sonata No. 34 in e minor; CHOPIN: Ballade No. 1 in g minor, Op. 23; Impromptu No. 3 in G-flat Major, Op. 51; Fantasie-Impromptu in c-sharp minor, Op. 66; Scherzo No. 1 in b minor, Op. 20; CHASINS: 3 Chinese Pieces, Op. 5; POULENC: Toccata from Trois Pieces; RACHMANINOV: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 – Shura Cherkassky, p./ Sym. of the SW German Radio/ Hans Mueller-Kray – MeloClassic MC 1033, 74:55 [www.meloclassic.com] *****: The rarified art of pianist Shura Cherkassky (1909-1995) has another important document in these 1952-1958 recital pieces and the Rachmaninov Rhapsody from, respectively, Bremen and Southwest German Radio. From the outset (27 February 1958), with the e minor Haydn Sonata (1778), Cherkassky presents a wide sonic palette, though understated, that reveals Haydn’s demands – Alberti bass figures, legato double-notes, syncopated double-notes, and a constant juxtaposition of major and minor modalities – that unfold in a manner that combines much of Scarlatti with the stile brise of the Bach sons. Besides the use of portato arpeggios in the first movement, the striking Adagio suggests florid, […]
Mordecai Shehori – The Alice Tully Hall Recital of 7 June 2000 = Works of MOZART, BRAHMS, RAVEL, LISZT, CHOPIN & MOZSKOWSKI – Cembal d’amour
The Mordecai Shehori recital from Alice Tully Hall in 2007 reveals a master Romantic pianist.
FAURE: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Major; R. STRAUSS: Violin Sonata in E-flat Major – Itzhak Perlman, v./ Emanuel Ax, p. – DGG
For their first inscription together, Perlman and Ax gloriously collaborate in two works new to the Perlman legacy. FAURE: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Major, Op. 13; R. STRAUSS: Violin Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 18 – Itzhak Perlman, v./ Emanuel Ax, p. – DGG B0023611-02, 53:52 (8/28/15) [Distr. by Universal] ****: This recording (7-9 September 2014) represents a “debut” in several respects, since Perlman and Ax, having often appeared in recital, had never before made a recording together; and these sonatas represent major additions to the Perlman legacy. Given the seventieth-birthday acknowledgments for Itzhak Perlman, the disc maintains his reputation for tonal beauty and passionate involvement in the music he champions. The 1876 Sonata in A by Gabriel Faure marks – in the words of admirer Saint-Saens – “the [composer’s] unimagined audacity as something quite normal. With this work Monsieur Faure takes his place among the masters.” The writing for both participants proves quite demanding, rife with broken octaves and dynamics that swell up in expressive ardor. Ax sets the tone immediately, Allegro molto, with a fulsome statement of the main theme, itself redolent of lyric and sensuous power. Once Perlman enters, the sense of an elastic, ever-evolving […]
James Brawn in Recital, Vol. 2 – “The Time Traveller and His Muse” = Works of SCARLATTI, BACH,MOZART, BEETHOVEN, SCHUBERT, CHOPIN, LISZT, GRIEG, BRAHMS, SCRIABIN, RACHMANINOFF, PROKOFIEV & GERSHWIN – MSR Classics (2 CDs)
Volume 2 continues the fine pianism found in Brawn’s first go round.
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.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
