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“Double Concertos for Violin and Clarinet” = by MILLS, CHATMAN, CHIHARA, & DAVID – Crystal

“Double Concertos for Violin and Clarinet” = by MILLS, CHATMAN, CHIHARA, & DAVID – Crystal

by | Jan 27, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

Another great release from this dedicated husband and wife duo. “Double Concertos for Violin and Clarinet” = RICHARD MILLS: Duo Concertante; STEPHEN CHATMAN: Concerto for Clarinet, Violin and Orch.; PAUL CHIHARA: Love  Music: Concerto for Violin, Clarinet and Orch.; THOMAS CHRISTIAN DAVID: Sonate for Clarinet and Violin – Walter Verdehr, v./Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, clarinet/Taipei Sym. Orch./Richard Mills/Las Cruces Sym./ Lonnie Klein/ Slovak Radio Orch./Kirk Trevor – Crystal CD973, 71:29 (9/08/16) ****:  Walter Verdehr and Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr have performed as the founding members of the Verdehr Trio (using two or three amazing pianists) over the span of fifty-plus years. I read that they only recently retired from public performance but during this time they commissioned and recorded well over one hundred works for this combination. They also have given us recordings of these works under the amazingly comprehensive collection, “The Making of a Medium.”  As a clarinetist, I am both amazed and grateful for their contribution for I have always found the combination of clarinet, violin a rewarding one but – in some ways – not as richly populated as the trio genre comprised of clarinet, cello and piano. In fact, for many years the best known works in the trio with […]

STRAVINSKY: The Firebird; NIKOLAEV: The Sinewaveland – Homage to Jimi Hendrix – Seattle Sym. Orch./Ludovic Morlot – Seattle Symphony Media

STRAVINSKY: The Firebird; NIKOLAEV: The Sinewaveland – Homage to Jimi Hendrix – Seattle Sym. Orch./Ludovic Morlot – Seattle Symphony Media

by | Jan 25, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

A magnificent Firebird in state of the art CD sound. STRAVINSKY: The Firebird; NIKOLAEV: The Sinewaveland – Homage to Jimi Hendrix – Seattle Sym. Orch./Ludovic Morlot – Seattle Symphony Media SSM1014, 58:32 *****: This CD is another example of the superb recordings and performances that have become a signature of the Seattle Symphony’s recordings under the leadership of Ludovic Morlot. Their recent Mahler 10th Symphony, the three CDs surveying the orchestral works of Henri Dutilleux have defined the best in current audiophile technology and performance. There’s a vibrant immediacy and musical presence to their sound that vividly captures these live performances. Despite Igor Stravinsky’s (1882-1971) title as the apostle of modernism in his time, popularity of his output among audiences in the ensuing 50 years since his death has waned. But his three early ballets, and a few neoclassical pieces have stood the test of time. While much of Stravinsky’s music tends towards structural and stylistic innovations (pounding, irregular rhythms, pungent harmonies and musical disruption held together by persistent tempos), his three ballets (The Firebird, Petrushka, Rite of Spring) add memorable melodies, an element of fantasy and  orchestral brilliance that enchant contemporary audiences. The Firebird (1910) exists at the intersection […]

Gilels in Seattle = Works of BEETHOVEN, CHOPIN, PROKOFIEV, RAVEL, DEBUSSY, STRAVINSKY & BACH – DGG

Gilels in Seattle = Works of BEETHOVEN, CHOPIN, PROKOFIEV, RAVEL, DEBUSSY, STRAVINSKY & BACH – DGG

by | Aug 27, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

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 […]

DAVID STOCK: Concertos = Concierto Cubano; Oborama; Percussion Concerto – Soloists/ Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Gil Rose – BMOP

DAVID STOCK: Concertos = Concierto Cubano; Oborama; Percussion Concerto – Soloists/ Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Gil Rose – BMOP

by | May 2, 2016 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

Diverse and accessible concertos from a champion of modern music. DAVID STOCK: Concertos = Concierto Cubano; Oborama; Percussion Concerto – Andrew Cardenes, violin/ Alex Klein, oboes/Lisa Pegher, percussion/ Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Gil Rose – BMOP Sound 1047, multichannel SACD, 60:10 ****: David Stock (1939-2015) is one of those unknown champions of modern music. In 1976 he founded the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble and for 40 years they premiered music of nearly 300 contemporary composers. He was Professor of Music at Duquesne University for 19 years. While he performed a wide variety of modern music of his time, his compositions eschewed the more esoteric cerebral strain so common in academia. “It took a while to realize that the ‘normal’ climb-the-ladder academic path wasn’t my path,” he commented. His music is dramatic, melodic and thematically interesting, making an immediate impact on his audiences. As composer-in-residence with the Pittsburgh and Seattle Symphonies, Stock had many opportunities to compose and perform his own music. His vibrant Concierto Cubano (2000) for violin and string orchestra, opens with Cuban soloist Andrew Cardenas (Concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony for 20 years) taking upper-register virtuosic turns against low-register string accompaniment. A singing, calm but enigmatically unsettled middle movement […]

“At the Far Edge” = DANIEL ASIA : Symphony #1; Symphony No. 4; At the Far Edge – New Zealand Sym. Orch. / James Sedares – Summit + catalogue

“At the Far Edge” = DANIEL ASIA : Symphony #1; Symphony No. 4; At the Far Edge – New Zealand Sym. Orch. / James Sedares – Summit + catalogue

by | Feb 22, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

“At the Far Edge” = DANIEL ASIA : Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 4; At the Far Edge – New Zealand Sym. Orch. / James Sedares – Summit + catalogue – DCD 256, 61:57 (2/15/00) ***: Interesting contemporary compositions but an uneven recording. This very listenable disc from Summit Records is not a new release, but rather one from 2000. Why they sent an older release for review is a mystery (perhaps it’s a re-release?), but it’s a fine set of performances, so I have no complaint. I wanted to raise the issue of this old release up front. Daniel Asia is an American composer, born in Seattle, and he is now head of the composition Department at the University of Arizona at Tucson. He was formerly on the faculty at Oberlin. There are three works on this disc, his Symphony No. 1, the Symphony No. 4 and a single movement composition, At the Far Edge. The Symphony No. 1 (1987) is a work for large orchestra. It’s derived from a Piano Sonata written earlier by Asia. Of the two symphonies offered, it is the more ‘classical’ in tone and structure, although it consists of five movements. The Symphony No. […]

HANSON: Symphony No. 2, “Romantic”; Symphony No. 4, “Requiem”; Elegy in Memory of Serge Koussevitsky – Jena Philharmonic Orch. / David Montgomery – Arte Nova JAMES COHN: Symphony No. 3 in G Minor; Miniatures for Orch.; Symphony No. 4 in A Major; Symphony No. 8 in C Major – Slovak Radio Sym. Orch./ Kirk Trevor – MSR Classics

HANSON: Symphony No. 2, “Romantic”; Symphony No. 4, “Requiem”; Elegy in Memory of Serge Koussevitsky – Jena Philharmonic Orch. / David Montgomery – Arte Nova JAMES COHN: Symphony No. 3 in G Minor; Miniatures for Orch.; Symphony No. 4 in A Major; Symphony No. 8 in C Major – Slovak Radio Sym. Orch./ Kirk Trevor – MSR Classics

by | Jan 30, 2013 | Classical CD Reviews

Two fine but rather different American composers are showcased on these recordings. The much less familiar James Cohn gets more compelling advocacy here.