recitals Archive
Cyrus Chestnut – Natural Essence – HighNote
Cyrus Chestnut – Natural Essence – HighNote HCD 7283, 63:10 ****: This is a delightfully invigorating trio session. (Cyrus Chestnut – piano; Buster Williams – bass; Lenny White – drums) Cyrus Chesnut’s musical demeanour is a combination of soulful and probing. In his latest release for HighNote Records entitled Natural Essence, he and his cohorts bassist Buster Williams and drummer Lenny White, confirm that their similar ideas and personality make for a session that the listener will find clearly appealing. The recital’s opening track is the Joe Henderson funkaloo number “Mamacita” on which the band finds a groove that they rock out with brio as each member struts his stuff. Chestnut has always had an affinity with spiritually-based music. His own composition “Faith Amongst The Unknown” falls into this bedrock in a supple yet assertive way. “I Cover The Waterfront” was written in 1933 by Johnny Green and Edward Heyman and was inspired by the 1932 book of the same name by Max Miller. Since that time, the tune has been covered by many artists including Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. Chestnut and the trio take the tune at a sprightly pace grounded by the pianist’s impeccable touch. […]
Shehori – The Celebrated New York Concerts, Vol. 9 = Works of BEETHOVEN, LISZT, SCHUBERT, TCHAIKOVSKY, CHOPIN & MOSZKOWSKI – Mordecai Shehori, p. – Cembal d’amour CD
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 […]
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 […]
BARTOK: Piano Music – 14 Bagatelles; 2 Romanian Dances; 15 Hungarian Peasant Songs; Improv. on Hungarian Peasant Songs; Six Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm (from Mikrokosmos) – Terry Eder, p. – MSR Classics
Beautiful playing, shedding a different light on an often-maligned composer.
FERNANDO SOR: Guitar Sonatas = Grande Sonata Op. 25; Sonata; Grand Solo; Grande Sonata – Ricardo Gallen, guitar – Eudora
Fernado Sor’s music well-played and finely recorded in surround.
Siegfried Borries = DVORAK: Sonatina in G Major; Three Romantic Pieces; BEETHOVEN: Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major; SCHUBERT: Violin Sonata in A Major – Siegfried Borries, v./ Michael Raucheisen, p. – MeloClassic
Selected recitals from wartime studios highlight Siegrfried Borries, concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic and Prussian State Orchestra.
Henryk Szeryng, violin = Works of SCHUMANN, MOZART, DEBUSSY & BEETHOVEN – MeloClassic
Polish violin virtuoso Henryk Szerying displays his exceptional prowess in concerts from Frankfurt, Germany in the mid-fifties.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
