Scherzo Archive
CHOPIN: Piano Sonata No. 3; Berceuse; Four Scherzos – Barbara Nissman, piano – 3 Oranges Recordings
CHOPIN: Piano Sonata No. 3 in b minor, Op. 58; Berceuse in D-flat Major, Op. 57; Four Scherzos – Barbara Nissman, piano – 3 Oranges Recordings 3-OR 24, 76:37 [www.threeorangesrecordings.com] ****: Nissman’s latest recorded survey of Chopin contains power, poetry, and majesty. American piano virtuoso Barbara Nissman (b. 1944) extends the legacy of her own record label with some extremely brilliant Chopin, including his last major composition for solo keyboard, the 1844 Sonata No. 3 in b minor. But no less epic, the four scherzos, conceived over a period 1831-1843, challenge both technique and poetic fluency in a manner thoroughly idiosyncratic of the composer’s vocal and dramatic style. Nissman has donned the mantle of the late Gina Bachauer, whose own range of repertory and gripping, consummate technique beguiled and dazzled audiences. The present Chopin recital by Nissman (rec. 1-3 August 2013) derives from the campus of Duquesne University, Pittsburgh. In his own words, Chopin much admired Liszt, both in his own right—albeit with some reservations—as a composer and as a fine interpreter of Chopin himself, particularly of the etudes. Nissman addresses, in potent declamation, the Allegro maestoso of the Sonata with a grand sense of design and rhetorical fervor, especially […]
Russian Symphonies = RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Symphony; STRAVINSKY: Symphony, Scherzo Fantastique – Moscow Radio Symphony/ Boris Khaikin/ Columbia Symphony Orchestra/ CBS Symphony/Igor Stravinsky – Praga Digitals
Russian Symphonies = RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Symphony No. 1; STRAVINSKY: Symphony Op. 1, Scherzo Fantastique – Moscow Radio Symphony/ Boris Khaikin/ Columbia Symphony Orchestra/ CBS Symphony – Praga Digitals PRD 250 341, 79:55 (9/22/17) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi/PIAS] ****: Two Russian symphonies in a strong Romantic tradition complement each other on this sonically alert disc. The name of Russian conductor Boris Khaikin (1904-1978) appears occasionally on compact discs, usually in regard to his extremely active operatic career. His present performance of the equally infrequent Symphony No. 1 (1865) of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (rec. 26 March 1966) may well incite further issues of his work, considering the splendid, clear resonance and visceral excitement of this reading. Although Anton Rubinstein had composed an “Ocean Symphony” around 1853, several commentators—especially Cesar Cui—dubbed Rimsky-Korsakov’s work “The first Russian symphony” because of its strong reliance of Russian folk tunes, conceived under the guidance of Mily Balakirev. The composer acknowledged the influence of the German school, Robert Schumann in particular, as an especial model. The music of Glinka and Balakirev proves no less active in the score, as well as the color results of the composer’s having studied the Berlioz treatise on orchestration. The rather somber opening movement Largo […]
SCHUBERT: String Quartet No. 14 in d, “Death and the Maiden”; SIBELIUS: String Quartet in d “Intimate Voice” – Ehnes Quartet – Onyx
James Ehnes and his quartet members deliver passionate accounts of dark Schubert and Sibelius. SCHUBERT: String Quartet No. 14 in d minor, D. 810 “Death and the Maiden”; SIBELIUS: String Quartet in d, Op. 56 “Intimate Voice” – Ehnes Quartet – Onyx 4163, [Distr. by HM/PIAS], 74:03, (11/18/16) ****: Canadian violinist James Ehnes (b. 1976) extends his multi-faceted career in these two dark quartets (rec. 27-29 October 2015), each of which confronts the composer’s sense of mortality. Schubert conceived his 1824 Quartet while seriously ill, having turned to his own lied Der Tod und das Maedchen, D. 531 (1817) as the basis of his powerful theme-and-variations second movement. Often, in the course of the first, powerful Allegro movement, Ehnes’ part becomes a concertante medium, asking him to display brilliant solo writing against the ensemble. The Italianate second subject achieves some lyrical outpouring, but Schubert transforms this otherwise liberated affect to strict contrapuntal treatment. Triplet figures abound, and Schubert assigns them to bass lines consistently, even concluding by combining the countersubject with the triplets that had underpinned the first motif. Ehnes’ own instrument offers triplet figures that mumble and then dissolve. The famous Andante con moto, based on the dark lied, […]
Monteux at Tanglewood, Vol. 4 – BEETHOVEN: Sym. No. 2; R. STRAUSS: A Hero’s Life – Pristine Audio
A fourth entry into the Monteux legacy at Tanglewood delivers mirth and heroism, at once. Monteux at Tanglewood, Vol. 4 (1962) – BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36; R. STRAUSS: Ein Heledenleben, Op. 40 – Boston Sym. Orch./ Pierre Monteux – Pristine Audio PASC 481, 72:30 [avail. in various formats from www.pristineclassical.com] ****: Producer Andrew Rose extends his rewarding survey of the Pierre Monteux legacy at Tanglewood, here in 1962, a year in which the famed French maestro appeared six times before his old colleagues of the Boston Symphony. The music of this concert comes to us on 29 July 1962. The reading of the Beethoven Symphony No. 2 (1802) revels in its boundless mirth, despite the fact that at the time of its composition Beethoven felt the first real strains of his oncoming deafness. The first movement has Monteux’s urging his horns to exploit the ceaseless energy of its sudden injections of buoyant vitality. The strings whirl at dizzy pace, the tympani’s marking the cadences with gusto. Berlioz had claimed that the D Major Symphony smiles in every bar. The peroration that Monteux achieves at the coda becomes breathtaking, symmetrical in its ecstasies to the point […]
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: […]
BACH: Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in f; HAYDN: Piano Con. in D; MENDELSSOHN: Piano Con. in a – Joshua Pierce, p./ Slovak Nat. Sym. Orch./ Kirk Trevor – MSR Classics
Fine, persuasive pianism from a well-known source. BACH: Keyboard Concerto No. 5 in f, BWV 1056; HAYDN: Piano Concerto in D, Hob. XVIII; MENDELSSOHN: Piano Concerto in a – Joshua Pierce, p./ Slovak National Sym. Orch./ Kirk Trevor – MSR Classics 1496, 62:44 [Distr. by Albany] ****: It comes as no surprise to me that Joshua Pierce, who has already turned in a marvelous album of Mendelssohn’s two-piano concertos on MSR, should turn to a solo concerto outing. What is surprising is his choice here, the early (about 13 years old) A-minor concerto that has been nearly forgotten, written after the composer’s encounter with Hummel in Weimar. Of course, his later concertos aren’t exactly burning up the concert halls these days either, though most artists of substance have felt the need to contribute performances, most notably Murray Perahia in recent years. And none of them has the lasting, enduring “profundity” that other works like those of Mozart seem to contribute. Nevertheless, Mendelssohn’s pieces are always involving and engaging, as wedded pianistically to the page as that of any composer, ever. Pierce revels in this music, and you can feel the enjoyment. The Bach No. 5 is well known, has been […]
HENRY KIMBALL HADLEY: 6 Works – BBC Concert Orch./ Rebecca Miller – Dutton Epoch
HENRY KIMBALL HADLEY: Scherzo Diabolique; Salome; Cleopatra’s Night; Othello Overture; San Francisco; The Enchanted Castle – BBC Concert Orch./Rebecca Miller – Dutton Epoch CDLX 7319 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi], 78:16, (9/11/15) ***: Pleasant enough and somewhat obscure but just not that interesting. Henry Kimball Hadley was an early twentieth century American composer from Boston who studied under George Whitefield Chadwick and who became fairly popular and respected in his time. Hadley and others in this time and place were writing music that sought, mainly, to be at least the equal of anything that Europe was producing at the time; such as the works of Elgar, Dukas, Finzi, et al. However – albeit a sign of the times – therein lies the problem when trying to assimilate these works into a collective listening experience. Each of these works makes for pleasant listening; at best charming and at least, nothing too ‘strange’ or tough on the ears. However, there are heavy strains of other composers such as Elgar, Dukas and the “Boston Six” and even early Richard Strauss that echo throughout but minus anything truly captivating or original to garner our lasting attention. We have themes or concepts on the timeless subjects […]
![SCRIABIN: Nuances = Two dozen works [TrackList below] – Valentina Listisa, piano – Decca](https://www.audaud.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/LisitsaScriabin.jpg)
SCRIABIN: Nuances = Two dozen works [TrackList below] – Valentina Listisa, piano – Decca
With her emphasis on early and rare Scriabin, Valentina Lisitsa provides an alternative universe.
Lang Lang in Paris = CHOPIN: Scherzo No. 1 in b minor; Scherzo No. 2 in b-flat minor; Scherzo No. 3 in c-sharp Minor; Scherzo No. 4 in E Major; TCHAIKOVSKY: The Months – Lang Lang, p. – Sony
Music by Chopin and Tchaikovsky provides the debonair Lang Lang with natural vehicles for his keyboard showmanship.
MAHLER: Symphony No. 3 in d; Symphony No. 5 – Marjana Lipovsek, mezzo-sop./ Vienna Children’s Chorus/ Women of the Vienna Chorus/ Bavarian State Orch./ Zubin Mehta – Farao Classics Blu-ray
Almost a very long home run. And definitely worth the $28 price!
Desire-Emile Inghelbrecht, Vol. 1 = RAVEL: Ma Mere l’Oye; DUKAS: L’Apprenti sorcier; RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Flight of the Bumblebee; BORODIN: In the Steppes of Central Asia; Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dances and Chorus of the Peasants – Orch. des Concerts Pasdeloup/ Desire-Emile Ingelbrecht – Yves St.-Laurent
The acknowledged master of the Debussy idiom finds equal sympathy for Ravel, Dukas, and some basic Russian repertory, here in potent restorations.
“Eastern Impressions” = SERGEI PROKOFIEV: Violin Sonata Op. 94bis; LEOS JANACEK: Violin Sonata; BELA BARTOK: Rhapsody No. 1; PANCHO VLADIGEROV: Bulgarian Rhapsody “Vardar” – Kathrin ten Hagen, v./ Christina Wright-Ivanova, p. – ARS ****:
An enjoyable collection of violin works performed by a spectacular violinist.
BRAHMS: String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat Major; String Sextet No. 2 in G Major – Quatour Sine Nomine/ Nicolas Pache, viola/ Francois Guye, cello – Claves
Thoroughly ingratiating readings of the Brahms sextets makes this disc a most attractive, stylistic experience.
SCHUMANN: Overture, Scherzo, and Finale; Manfred Overture; Julius Caesar Ov.; Hermann and Dorothea Ov.; “Zwichau” Sym. – Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie/ Frank Beermann – CPO
The performances here are solid but not really special. The program and fine SACD recording do have an appeal though.
ALKAN: Concerto for Piano Solo in G-sharp Minor; Comme le vent in A Minor; En rhythme molossique in D Minor; Scherzo diabolico in G Minor – Vincenzo Maltempo, p. – Piano Classics
Vincenzo Maltempo concludes his survey of the brilliant, mad, world of Alkan — music for those who live at the keyboard’s extremes.
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 1 in C Major; Symphony No. 3, (Eroica) – Philharmonic-Sym. of New York/ Willem Mengelberg – Pristine Audio
Historic 1930 readings of Beethoven from New York grant an epic breadth to scores Mengelberg leads in the grand Romantic tradition.
PROKOFIEV: Piano Concertos 1 – 5 – Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, p./ BBC Philharmonic/Gianandrea Noseda – Chandos (2 CDs)
As electric and athletic a set of Prokofiev piano concertos as you could wish, brilliantly performed and recorded.
WALTON: Cello Concerto; KHACHATURIAN: Cello Concerto – Erling Bloemdal Bengtsson, cello/ Iceland Sym. Orch./ Zuohuang Chen (Walton)/ Damain Iorio – Danacord
Two impressively mounted cello concertos performed by Danish virtuoso Bengtsson attest to his easy virtuosity in diverse styles.
BEETHOVEN: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 7 – Park Avenue Ch. Sym./ David Bernard – Park Ave. Ch. Sym.
Beethoven’s First and Seventh Symphonies in pleasing performances by New York’s Park Avenue Chamber Symphony.
SCHUBERT: Octet in F Major – Gaudier Ensemble – Helios
The Helios reissue of the Gaudier Ensemble Schubert Octet deserves to be heard and re-heard, a real tour de force performance of a work of unconquerable spirit.
BRAHMS: Complete Piano Music Vol. 4 = Zwei Rhapsodien; Klavierstücke; Scherzo; Walzer – Hardy Rittner, p. – MD&G
Is this how Brahms heard his own works in performance? Very possibly. The experience will challenge the ear attuned to the modern piano.
Zsolt Bognar: Franz & Franz = SCHUBERT: Drei Impromptus; LISZT: Der Doppelganger; Aufenhalt; La Chasse; Staendchen von Shakespeare; Apres une Lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata – Zsolt Bognar, p. – Con Brio
In an auspicious debut recording, Zsolt Bognar pays homage to Franz Schubert and Franz Liszt, a recital of resonant power and often compelling poetry.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
