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Mordecai Shehori plays BEETHOVEN, Vol. 3 = Sonata Op. 110; Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major – Mordecai Shehori (p.)/ The Hunter Symphony/ Clayton Westermann – Cembal d’amour

Mordecai Shehori plays BEETHOVEN, Vol. 3 = Sonata Op. 110; Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major – Mordecai Shehori (p.)/ The Hunter Symphony/ Clayton Westermann – Cembal d’amour

by | May 4, 2017 | Classical Reissue Reviews

The youthful Mordecai Shehori makes his appearance in these live renditions of two potent Beethoven works. Mordecai Shehori plays BEETHOVEN, Vol. 3 = Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110; Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58 – Mordecai Shehori, piano/ The Hunter Symphony/ Clayton Westermann – Cembal d’amour CD 188, (3/18/17) 53:08 [www.cembaldamour.com] ****: Recorded 19 May 1970 at the Jerusalem, Israel Beethoven Competition, the twenty-four-year-old Mordecai Shehori delivers his First-Prize winning rendition of Beethoven’s late (1821) Sonata in A-flat Major.  In many ways, Shehori’s is a young man’s performance, eager to remain faithful to the text, admirably aware of Beethoven’s directive to play the beguiling first movement Moderato cantabile molto espressivo with that con amabilita that often turns the arpeggiated filigree into an Aeolian harp.  The opening measures of the first movement will later supply material for the fugue of the final movement. Shehori’s attention to touch and pedal effects reflects his poised absorption of his virtuoso-pedagogue Mindru Katz’s example. The pungency of Shehori’s articulation commands the potent scherzo, marked Allegro molto, in which Beethoven incorporates two playful Austrian songs into his antiphonal and martial mix, rife with jabbing accents and metric displacements. The trio […]

BACH: Italian Concerto in F Major; BRAHMS: Three Intermezzi; MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition; KREISLER: Schoen Rosmarin; KHACHATURIAN: Toccata; NAZARETH: Odeon – Tango Brasiliero – Mordecai Shehori, piano – Cembal d’amour

BACH: Italian Concerto in F Major; BRAHMS: Three Intermezzi; MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition; KREISLER: Schoen Rosmarin; KHACHATURIAN: Toccata; NAZARETH: Odeon – Tango Brasiliero – Mordecai Shehori, piano – Cembal d’amour

by | Apr 4, 2017 | Classical CD Reviews

Another in the thoughtful, excitingly virtuosic recitals that lit the New York stages in the course of 20 years. Mordecai Shehori – The Celebrated New York Concerts, Vol. 11 = BACH: Italian Concerto in F Major, BWV 971; BRAHMS: Three Intemezzi, Op. 117; MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition; KREISLER: Schoen Rosmarin; KHACHATURIAN: Toccata; NAZARETH: Odeon – Tango Brasiliero – Mordecai Shehori, piano – Cembal d’amour CD 187, 65:51 (2/19/17) [www.cembaldamour.com] ****: Culled from various New York City concert venues, 1982-2003, the assembled recital by Mordecai Shehori embraces a variety of national styles within a decidedly Romantic sensibility. Shehori opens with Bach’s virtuosic Italian Concerto in F Major, BWV 971, a one-instrument concerto that achieves the effect of the two-manual harpsichord while synthesizing strict counterpoint, playful ritornelli, and sonorous tuttis in the course its often antiphonal progress. The performance (from Merkin Concert Hall, 22 May 1986), enjoys a beguiling intimacy in the face of its brilliant intent, as a stunning, optimistic vehicle, especially in its outer movements. Shehori’s middle movement, the d minor Andante, projects a steady, flowing cantilena over a basso ostinato. The flexible line absorbs a fluent trill into the evolving line, lyrical and heatedly poignant. Shehori proceeds with more understated […]