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Rhapsodies Archive

Egon Petri Plays BRAHMS: Violin Sonata; Viola Sonata; Rhapsodies and Ballades – with Joseph Szigeti, Samuel Lifschey – Pristine Audio

Egon Petri Plays BRAHMS: Violin Sonata; Viola Sonata; Rhapsodies and Ballades – with Joseph Szigeti, Samuel Lifschey – Pristine Audio

by | Aug 12, 2018 | Classical Reissue Reviews

Producer Mark Obert-Thorn provides the complement to the recorded Petri Brahms legacy, 1937-1955. BRAHMS: Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108; Viola Sonata No. 2 in F minor, Op. 120, No. 1; 2 Rhapsodies, Op. 79; 3 Intermezzi, Op. 117; Ballades, Op. 10: No. 1 in D minor; No. 2 in D Major; No. 3 in B minor and No. 4 in B Major (the latter two as a FLAC download) – Joseph Szigeti, violin/ Samuel Lifschey, viola/ Egon Petri, piano – Pristine Audio PAKM 076, 76:59 [www.pristineclassical.com] ****: Dutch pianist Egon Petri (1881-1962) may well endure more as a pedagogue than brilliant virtuoso, since his teaching, first in Berlin and then both at Cornell University and Mills College, includes a host of luminaries, including Earl Wild, Gunnar Johansen, John Ogden, and Ruth Slenczynska. But Petri’s advocacy of his mentor, Ferruccio Busoni, for example, led to his collaboration in the 1941 Memorial Concert in New York led by Dimitri Mitropoulos.  Between 1935-1938 he recorded for English Columbia, and his recordings of Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Franck, Beethoven, and Brahms won high praise. Recording engineer and producer Mark Obert-Thorn has assembled the Petri Brahms legacy from several sources, 1937-1955, including […]

SAINT-SAENS: Piano Concerto; GRIEG Lyric Pieces; LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsodies; Polonaise – Nelson Freire, piano/ Radio-Symphony Orchestra Berlin/ Adam Fischer – Audite 

SAINT-SAENS: Piano Concerto; GRIEG Lyric Pieces; LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsodies; Polonaise – Nelson Freire, piano/ Radio-Symphony Orchestra Berlin/ Adam Fischer – Audite 

by | Aug 28, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

SAINT-SAENS: Piano Concerto No. 2 in g minor, Op. 22; Grieg: 5 Lyric Pieces; LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 5 in e minor; Hungarian Rhapsody No. 10 in E Major; Polonaise No. 2 in E Major – Nelson Freire, piano/ Radio-Symphony Orchestra Berlin/ Adam Fischer – Audite 95.742, 55:08 (8/11/17) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Vintage recordings by Nelson Freire reveal several sides of this explosive virtuoso, passionate and intimate, at once. Those who relish the piano artistry of Brazilian virtuoso Nelson Freire will seek out his 16 March 1986 collaboration with conductor Adam Fischer in the Saint-Saens 1868  Piano Concerto No. 2, a fine addition to Freire’s active discography. Even those familiar with its Bach influences in the opening movement will well appreciate the various nuances Freire brings to the arpeggiated filigree that infiltrates its often dramatically energetic contours. The organ-like cadenza yields to passionate outbursts from Fischer’s orchestra, especially in the woodwinds. The briefer cadenza reveals a thoughtful pearly-play from Freire, while the music literally begins the recapitulation. Even in the midst of these “classical” procedures, we hear hints of the exoticism and “Eastern” sensibility that mark Saint-Saens’ love of North Africa. The E Major Allegro Scherzando cavorts most playfully, […]

STEVEN STUCKY: Rhapsodies; American Muse; Concerto for Orch. – BMOP/Sanford Sylvan – Naxos

STEVEN STUCKY: Rhapsodies; American Muse; Concerto for Orch. – BMOP/Sanford Sylvan – Naxos

by | Jan 21, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

This important American composer left a rich legacy you should get to know. STEVEN STUCKY: Rhapsodies; American Muse; Concerto for Orchestra – Boston Modern Orch. Project/Sanford Sylvan, bari./Gil Rose – BMOP multichannel SACD 1050, 56:34  (11/15/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: The gifted American composer Steven Stucky just passed away last year and fortunately he left behind a rich myriad of music in nearly every genre for us to enjoy and to appreciate his talents for orchestration, harmony and – that most elusive of “modern music” qualities – melodic line. The BMOP and its dedicated and talented director Gil Rose have done Stucky’s music many times and has its own rich legacy of recordings of modern music to marvel at. This present recording is well worth having both for it being another well-done collection of contemporary American concert music but for being an important addition to the Steven Stucky recording compendium. These three works are all quite interesting and attractive. Rhapsodies was written in 2008 for Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic to take on their pending European tour. This relatively brief (nine minute) work is, indeed, ‘rhapsodic’ and the work is filled with the most exquisite harmonies and voicings […]

BRAHMS: Piano Trios – Vienna Piano Trio – MD&G; BRAHMS: Rhapsodies; Piano Sonata 3; Ballade – Mortensen, p. – LAWO

BRAHMS: Piano Trios – Vienna Piano Trio – MD&G; BRAHMS: Rhapsodies; Piano Sonata 3; Ballade – Mortensen, p. – LAWO

by | Nov 9, 2016 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

BRAHMS: Piano Trios No. 1 – Trio Op. 8  (Version of 1889); Trio Op. 87 ‒ Vienna Piano Trio ‒ MD&G multichannel SACD MDG 942 1962-6 (& 2+2+2); 63:31 (7/8/16) ***1/2: “In Finstrer Mitternach” = BRAHMS: Two Rhapsodies, Op. 74; Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 5; Ballade, Op. 10, No. 1 ‒ Nils Anders Mortensen, p. ‒ LAWO multichannel SACD LWC1084; 58:00 (2/6/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Brahms at midnight and mid-afternoon. I decided to review these recordings together because they started me thinking about the fractious (mostly on one side of the equation) relationship between Brahms and Tchaikovsky. Thanks to Nicolas Slonimsky’s endlessly entertaining Lexicon of Musical Invective, we know that Tchaikovsky was not a fan of Brahms. In a diary entry from 1886, Tchaikovsky noted that he was playing some music by Brahms. His reaction? “What a giftless bastard!” Tchaikovsky did moderate his view when he met Brahms two years later in Leipzig, at the home of violinist Adolph Brodsky. Here, the Russian composer found Brahms a dignified, kindly man and generally had more complementary things to say about his German rival. However, auditing a run-through of Brahms’s new trio—presumably the Trio No. 3, Op. 101—Tchaikovsky was moved […]

BARTÓK: Rhapsody No. 1; Rhapsody No. 2; Violin Concerto No. 2 – Barnabás Kelemen, v. /Hungarian Nat. Philharmonic Orch./Zoltán Kocsis – Hungaraton

BARTÓK: Rhapsody No. 1; Rhapsody No. 2; Violin Concerto No. 2 – Barnabás Kelemen, v. /Hungarian Nat. Philharmonic Orch./Zoltán Kocsis – Hungaraton

by | Dec 29, 2015 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

BÉLA BARTÓK: Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra; Rhapsody No. 2 for Violin and Orch.; Violin Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Orch. – Barnabás Kelemen, violin/Hungarian Nat. Philharmonic Orch./Zoltán Kocsis – Hungaraton HSACD 32509 multichannel SACD [Distr. by Naxos] (9/11/15) 77:39 ****: Fresh new readings of important Bartok classics. Bartok was not just one of the most important twentieth century composers but his is a signature sound. His music always sounds like no other and in many ways he defined Hungarian classical music like no other. Gypsy blood runs through much of his music and helps to create that sound and is most easily heard in his violin music. Here we have three of his most important violin works performed superbly by a Hungarian soloist and one of the country’s most impressive orchestras. The two Rhapsodies, in particular, are wonderful works that do not get programmed as often as the two Concertos for violin and orchestra. They are both lush and melodic works that owe something to the Marosszék Dances by Bartók’s friend, composer Zoltán Kodály. What is interesting about both of these pieces is that they are both among his longest and largest scale works to be […]