Romantic Archive
SCRIABIN: The Ten Piano Sonatas; Fantasy in b – Garrick Ohlsson, p. – Bridge (2-CDs)
Garrick Ohlsson surveys the whole of the Scriabin sonata cycle. SCRIABIN: The Ten Piano Sonatas; Fantasy in b minor, Op. 28 – Garrick Ohlsson, p. – Bridge 9468A/B (2-CDs) (12/9/16) 76:23, 71:23 [Distr. by Albany] ****: Having met and interviewed pianist Garrick Ohlsson (b. 1948), I find him to be somewhat eccentric in his musical tastes, his having excoriated Schumann as a composer too self-involved and self-referencing, but turning to the even more solipsistic Alexander Scriabin as a source of musical enlightenment. [But then they were all three a bit off mentally speaking, Scriabin included…Ed.] The Scriabin sonata-cycle (rec. 27-29 August 2014; 21-23 April 2015; and May 2015), embraces a musical progression between 1892-1913, tracing an arch Romantic’s response to Chopin and Liszt and evolving a personal sense of rapture that, like the paintings of J.W.N. Turner, become ever infused with light and a desire for a compressed moment of spiritual radiance. The First Sonata in F Minor, Op. 6 bears a stentorian, aggressive cast, especially as it rages against Scriabin’s own physical limits set by an accident to his right hand caused by excessive practice – curiously, a Schumann experience. Gloomy and reflexive, the general mood looks to the […]
Bruno Walter – The Complete Columbia Acoustic Recordings – Works of MENDELSSOHN, BERLIOZ, WEBER, WAGNER, & R. STRAUSS – Pristine Audio
The earliest Bruno Walter records reveal a committed Romantic conductor in music in the German tradition. Bruno Walter – The Complete Columbia Acoustic Recordings – WEBER: Overture to Der Freischuetz; MENDELSSOHN: Nocturne from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61; BERLIOZ: Menuet of the Will-o’-the-Wisps from La Damnation de Faust, Op. 24; WAGNER: Tristan und Isolde: Liebestod; Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg: Prelude, Act III; Goetterdaemmerung: Siegfried’s Rhine Journey; A Siegfried Idyll; R. STRAUSS: Death and Transfiguration, Op. 24 – Royal Philharmonic Orch./ Bruno Walter – Pristine Audio PASC 482, 76:50 [avail. in various formats from www.pristineclassical.com] ****: Producer and Recording Engineer Mark Obert-Thorn provides the following remarks concerning Bruno Walter’s first efforts for gramophone recordings: “Although Bruno Walter (1876-1962) claimed late in life that he had made his first recordings around 1900, his earliest documented discs date from 1923 when he began a series for Grammophon/Polydor in Berlin, most of which have been reissued on Pristine PASC 142 and PASC 322. In May 1924, Walter was in London for the first presentation of a German opera season at Covent Garden since the end of the Great War. That month, he conducted Wagner’s Ring cycle, Tristan und Isolde, and Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier […]
George Robert, sax – Plays Michel Legrand – Claves
George Robert, sax – Plays Michel Legrand – Claves 50-1607, 55:16 ***: (George Robert, alto saxophone/ Torben Oxbol; arrangements and orchestral parts) Michel Legrand at the movies, on sax. With the passing of George Robert (1960-2016), we have lost a very fine jazz musician and esteemed educator. He played with many of the top big bands, including Lionel Hampton and Phil Woods. A longish stint with Tom Harrell is also a highlight of his discography. Robert is quite a traditional alto stylist with an even, burnished tone that recalls Benny Carter. On the record under review, he demonstrates his impeccable taste in negotiating unabashedly Romantic music without indulging in effects or tumbling into mawkishness. Most jazz listeners identify Michel Legrand with his momentous 1958 big band recording. It was a real Napoleonic conquest, recruiting the top modern players in original arrangements of jazz standards. One might have thought that a Gallic Gil Evans was in the making. However, events proved otherwise. Although, Legrand returned to specifically American jazz now and again, he directed his professional attention to French film music. He earned an enormous reputation for his soundtracks to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Summer Of ’42, and Brian’s Song. Perhaps […]
AUBERBACH: Tatiana ballet, Blu-ray (2016)
AUERBACH: Tatiana (ballet), Blu-ray (2016) Auerbach is nothing if not ecelctic. . . even polystylistic. Players: Hamburg State Opera Ballet: Helene Bouchet, Edvin Revazov, Leslie Heylmann, Alexandr Trusch, Carsten Jung Conductor: Simon Hewett; Choreography: John Neumeier. Studio: C Major 737504 [7/8/16] Video: for 16:9 screens, color HD Audio: DTS-HD 5.1, PCM stereo Subtitles: English, German, French Extras: Tatiana – Back to Pushkin Length: 167 min. Ratings: Audio: **** ½ Video: ***** Tatiana is a ballet by John Neumeier with music by Lera Auerbach, a Soviet-Russian-born American composer. While its narrative origins lie with Alexander Pushkin’s longish poem Eugene Onegin, its musical technique and style can’t be pinned down like a PBS production of Léo Delibes’ Coppélia or indeed like Intuitive Momentum by the Bill T. Jones Dance Company. Auerbach is nothing if not eclectic or, in the words used to describe her countryman Alfred Schnittke, even ‘polystylistic.’ The same holds true of Neumeier, dancewise. The ballet begins pleasantly enough, with a sweet dream sequence of the young Tatiana, the germination of many hours reading romantic novels. The music is almost Tchaikovskian, with its fat melodic lines and gushy intonations. Soon it takes on a dark aura, as Auerbach […]
HANDEL: Trio Sonatas for Two Violins and Basso Continuo ‒ The Brook Street Band ‒ Avie
HANDEL: Trio Sonatas for Two Violins and Basso Continuo [TrackList follows] ‒ The Brook Street Band ‒ Avie AV2357, 76:10 (3/4/16) ****: An entertaining and enlightening appendix to the Brook Street Band’s Handel Trio Sonata series. Here we have the Brook Street Band batting cleanup, providing a fascinating appendix to their important survey of Handel’s music in the form of the trio sonata. I say “in the form of the trio sonata” because some of this music, including the “Oxford” Water Music recorded earlier (Avie AV0028) and the Sinfonia on the current disc are chamber music versions of orchestral works. My first Brook Street Band experience, a recording of the Op. 5 Trio Sonatas, came as something of a shock. At the time, I had in my collection a recording of Op. 5 sonatas by a now-defunct group—I think it was called the Goldsbrough Trio, headed by Arnold Goldsbrough. I recall describing the Musette from Op. 5, No. 2, as played by this group as “haunting,” an adjective I wouldn’t readily apply to the music of Handel. Imagine my surprise to hear this piece as played by Brook Street: gone was the lulling, sauntering pace of the Goldsbrough, and instead, […]
Fabiren Sevitzky & the Indianapolis Sym. Vol. I – Pristine Audio
Mark Obert-Thorn restores the World Premiere recording of Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony. Fabien Sevitzky – Indianapolis Symphony Vol. 1 = TCHAIKOVSKY: Manfred Sym. in b minor, Op. 58; Waltz from Eugene Onegin, Op. 24; GLINKA: Russlan and Ludmilla Ov.; RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Dubinushka, Op. 62; LIADOV: Baba Yaga, Op. 56 – Indianapolis Sym. Orch./ Fabien Sevitzky – Pristine Audio PASC 479, 79:00 [www.pristineclassical.com] ****: The restoration of the Fabien Sevitzky (nee Koussevitzky) reading of the Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony (27-28 January 1942) at the Mural Theatre, Indianapolis by audio engineer and annotator Mark Obert-Thorn is not the first CD incarnation of this performance: it had been issued on the Historic-Recordings.co.uk label in 2009 (HRCD 00017) in a transfer by Damien Rogan. Under that aegis, the gloomy, dramatic symphony inspired by Lord Byron’s 1816 epic poem stands alone; here, Obert-Thorn adds – in the first two selections from 1941 – the earliest of the conductor’s sessions at RCA Victor. Sevitzky (1891-1967) – nephew of his more illustrious uncle Serge Koussevitzky – had studied both with Liadov and Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg, so he had imbibed the Russian style naturally. An avid collector of neckwear, Sevitzky claimed to possess the second largest assortment of neckties, […]
TANEYEV: Chamber Music with Piano = Piano Quartet in E Major, Op. 20; Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 22; Violin Sonata in a; Piano Quintet in g – Solisti dell’Officina Musicale – Aevea (2 CDs)
A survey of Taneyev’s chamber music with piano unearths several mighty treasures of earnest power and learned style. TANEYEV: Chamber Music with Piano = Piano Quartet in E Major, Op. 20; Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 22; Violin Sonata in a; Piano Quintet in g, Op. 30 – Solisti dell’Officina Musicale – Aevea AE15004005 (2 CDs), 85:30, 72:03 (10/9/15) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Recorded 21-25 November 2013, these chamber works display the significant talent of Sergei Taneyev (1856-1915), whom some consider to be Tchaikovsky’s natural successor, both as composer and pedagogue. The Piano Quartet (1907) provides a good example of Taneyev’s Romantic style, having been conceived before Taneyev’s departure from the Moscow Conservatory in 1905. The four soloists – Alessandro Deljavan, piano; Daniela Cammarano, violin; Paolo Castellitto, viola; and Andrea Agostinelli, cello – inject a direct energy into the music, the first movement’s offering a robustly expansive Allegro brillante that seems less Russian than lyrically ornamental and militant in the manner of Mendelssohn. Clear period breaks mark the various aspects of Taneyev’s conception of sonata-form. The main interest lies in the keyboard part, which displays liquid runs and a purring accompaniment to the soaring expressiveness – nostalgic, akin to […]
BEETHOVEN: Piano Concertos; The Late Sonatas – Wilhelm Kempff, p. – APR (4 CDs)
The early Beethoven legacy from Wilhelm Kempff – sonatas and concertos – with excellent restoration in these inscriptions. BEETHOVEN: Piano Concertos = Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15; Bagatelle in C Major, Op. 33, No. 5; Six Ecossaises in E-flat Major, WoO83; Concerto No. 3 in c minor, Op. 37; Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58; Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major “Emperor,” Op. 73; Rondo a capriccio in G Major “Rage over a lost penny,” Op. 129 – Berlin State Opera Orch./ Dresden Philharmonic Orch./ German Opera House Orch./ Paul van Kempen (Nos. 3 & 4)/ Berlin Philharmonic Orch./ Peter Raabe (No. 5)/ Wilhelm Kempff, p. – APR 6019 (2 CDs) 75:34, 77:38 (2/26/16) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****: BEETHOVEN: The Late Sonatas = No. 24 in F-sharp Major, Op. 78; No. 26 in E-flat Major “Les adieux,” Op. 81a; No. 27 in e minor, Op. 90; No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101; No. 29 in B-flat Major “Hammerklavier,” Op. 106; No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109; No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110; No. 32 in c minor, Op. 111/ Wilhelm Kempff, p. – APR 6018 (2 Discs) 76:02, 71:26 (1/29/16) [Distr. […]
“Cesko” – Works of SCHULHOFF, & DVORAK – Ragazze Q. – Channel Classics
“Česko” = ERWIN SCHULHOFF: String Quartet No. 1; DVOŘÁK: String Quartet No. 13 in G Major, Op. 106; SCHULHOFF: Esquisses de jazz (arr. Leonard Evers) – Ragazze Quartet – Channel Classics multichannel SACD CCS SA 36815, 65:00 [Distr. Harmonia mundi] (5/15/15) ****: A very attractive program of Bohemian yin and yang. The “young Dutch/British” Ragzze Quartet here presents a program that is obviously dear to their hearts. And if it doesn’t quite seem to mesh as you think about it, both composers are Bohemian (hence the title Česko, the popular Eastern-European nickname for Bohemia), and both tap into the folk traditions of their native land though in very different ways. At the same time, both are cosmopolitan composers whose musical influences came as much from abroad as from their homeland. Erwin Schulhoff was born in Prague of a German-Jewish family. As a child, he met and was encouraged in his musical studies by none other than Dvořák, entering the Prague Conservatory before moving on to Leipzig and Paris, where Schullhoff studied with both Max Reger and Claude Debussy. Quite a musical mix, which certainly influenced his music making. Following service on the Eastern Front during World War I, Schulhoff traveled […]
BRAHMS: Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2; WEIGL: Sonata; HINDEMITH: Sonata in F Major – Paul Doktor, viola/ Nadia Reisenberg, p. – Romeo
Nadia Reisenberg joins master Paul Doktor in excellent restorations of the viola repertory.
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.
Fred Hersch – Solo – Palmetto Records
A pianist of unfailing imagination.
MENDELLSOHN & GADE: Violin Concertos – Thomas Albertus Irnberger (violin) – Jerusalem Sym. Orch./ Doron Salomon – Gramola
Two fine concertos – one familiar, one lesser known.
Benno Moiseiwitsch = in piano music of BEETHOVEN, SCHUMANN, MUSSORGSKY, RACHMANINOV & CHOPIN + radio interviews – Testament (3 CDs)
The “George Sanders of the keyboard,” Benno Moiseiwitsch, reveals his colossal gifts in previously unpublished performances and interviews.
RAVEL: Daphnis et Chloe – Rotterdam Philharmonic Orch. /Yannick Nezet-Seguin – BIS
A fresh Daphnis and Chloe well recorded and played.
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D Major; BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1 in g minor – Tibor Varga, v./ Festival Orch./ J.M. Auberson – Claves
Volume 3 of the Tibor Varga Collection features this great violinist’s work in two Romantic staples, incisively played and recorded.
SUK: About Mother – Suite; CHAUSSON: Four Dances; REGER: From My Diary – Paul Orgel, piano – MSR
Orgel delivers a perfect disc for the keyboard collector of new and often challenging works.
BRAHMS: Piano Sonata No. 3 in f minor; SCHUMANN: Humoreske in B-flat Major – Margaryta Golovko, p. – Blue Griffin
Emergent pianist Margaryta Golovko adds her name to the catalogue of Schumann and Brahms acolytes.
Legendary Artist Michael Ponti, piano = Concertos of RUBINSTEIN, ALKAN, & THALBERG – Doron
The gifted Michael Ponti appears in three historical performances of rare and highly charged Romantic fireworks.
Rudolf Firkusny, piano = MOZART: Fantasia in C Minor; SCHUMANN: Davidsbuendlertaenze; Kinderszenen; SCHUBERT: Drei Klavierstuecke – Rudolf Firkusny, p. – MeloClassic
Always brilliant and elegant at once, the impassioned Rudolf Firkusny delivers and Austro-German recital culled from recitals 1957-1964.
Antonio Meneses – Capriccioso = Works of J-L & J-P DUPORT, PIATTI & POPPER – Antonio Meneses, cello – Avie
The Romantic art of the cello etude assumes glorious heights in this tribute from Antonio Meneses.
BERG BY ARRANGEMENT – Music for Strings: Lyric Suite, Piano Sonata, Kanon, Early Pieces—NFM Leopoldinum Ch. Orch./ Ernst Kovacic—Toccata Classics
String orchestra arrangements of Berg’s Music emphasize the romanticism of the Second Viennese School.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
