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GLINKA: An hour of piano works – Ton Nu Nguyet Minh, p. – Capriccio

GLINKA: An hour of piano works – Ton Nu Nguyet Minh, p. – Capriccio

by | Nov 16, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

Pianist Minh and a rich hour of Glinka’s piano music, revealing a lyricist fond of variation form. GLINKA: Variations in e on Alyabyev’s Romance “The Nightingale”; Nocturne in E-flat Major; Variations in a on the Russian song “Down in the Deep Valley”; Nocturne in f, “Le Separation”; A Greeting to My Homeland – Suite; Variations in F Major on an Original Theme; Variations in C Major on a Theme from “I Capuleti e I Montecchi” by Bellini – Ton Nu Nguyet Minh, p. – Capriccio C5285, 71:00 (8/12/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804-1857) was one of the first Russian composers to gain fame within his home country. His works are influential among Russian composers who would follow, especially The Five, who pioneered the distinctive Russian Style. Glinka studied for a brief period under Irish composer John Field. Field’s salon style – as that of Hummel – influenced Glinka throughout his life, evident in the brilliant style of his piano works, though his works no less reveal distinctly Italian elements. Vietnamese artist Ton Nu Nguyet Minh has the credentials to perform Glinka (rec. 28-30 December 2011), having studied with Jakob Flier, Samuel Alumjan, and Tatiana Nikolajeva. The opening […]

OLA GJEILO: Ubi caritas & other works = Str. quartet & guitar – Decca

OLA GJEILO: Ubi caritas & other works = Str. quartet & guitar – Decca

by | Oct 30, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

My second exposure to this composer, and it is a very satisfying experience.
B01BIEK8JO OLA GJEILO: Ubi caritas; The Spheres; The Ground; Sanctus: London; The Crossing; Northern Lights; The Lake Isle; Serenity; Tundra; Reflections; Sacred Heart – Ola Gjeilo, p./ Voces 8/ Tenebrae/ Chamber Orch. of London/ Thomas Gould, Ben Hancox, Hannah Dawson & Ciaran McCabe, violins/ Jon Thorne & Simone van der Giessen, violas/ Matthew Sharp, cello/ Kristian Kvalvaag, guitar – Decca B0024646, 47:34 [Distr. by Universal] ****:
Northern Lights is a spectacular SACD on Chandos released a few years ago. It has a couple of the selections here. The forces on this stereo CD (not an SACD) are equally adept at Gjeilo’s idiom, and the sound on this disc is very special indeed, but it cannot compare to the sonic splendor of the Chandos. In that 2012 review I said that “It is in effect a religious album though you would not know it by Chandos’s clever masking of that fact”, and that the composer creates “basically diatonic and melody-driven compositions, making for a quaint and sometimes ingenious combination of Slavic feeling set in the mode of someone like Daniel Pinkham.”
Listening to this disc, I hear little to change my mind.
Gjeilo is no Eric Whitacre—his harmonies refuse the tense, ecstatic, almost overbearing dissonances that fall as easily as consonances on the ear. He is more melody-centered (though not in a traditional sense) and his harmony is calmer and far more pointed. The pieces on this disc use a wide variety of instrumental accompaniment, which differs from the Chandos disc, though I must admit that I don’t hear in the instruments anything that is particularly idiomatic to those instruments. In other words, you could swap out one for another and still come away with the same effect, albeit a slightly different coloring, even though we do have some instrument-only pieces in this collection.
Whichever way you look at it, the music is exceptionally engaging and non-threatening while at the same time alluring and enticing in a very subtle manner. If your blood pressure is high, this might be the ticket. The performers are top-notch, and only the short playing time irritates me, especially as Chandos saw fit to give us an hour, and on as SACD. Nicely done, and well worth considering.
—Steven Ritter

DVORAK: Piano Concerto in g minor; SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto – Stephen Hough, p./ City of Birmingham Orch./ Andris Nelsons – Hyperion

DVORAK: Piano Concerto in g minor; SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto – Stephen Hough, p./ City of Birmingham Orch./ Andris Nelsons – Hyperion

by | Apr 4, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

The unusual combination of Schumann and Dvorak concertos certifies Stephen Hough’s mastery in music of the Romantic temperament. DVORAK: Piano Concerto in g minor, Op. 33; SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in a minor, Op. 54 – Stephen Hough, p./ City of Birmingham Orch./ Andris Nelsons – Hyperion CDA68099, 74:11 (4/1/16) [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****: My own familiarity with the Dvorak Piano Concerto of 1876 derives from a recording by Frantisek Maxian and Vaclav Talich – wonderful playing of an edition by pedagogue Vilem Kurz (1872-1945), amending a “concerto for two right hands.” Rudolf Firkusny, too, performed the abridged version, recording it with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra.  So, whatever the innate fluency and often Bohemian charm of the piece, it maintained a reputation for its awkward pianism, its lack of virtuoso bravura, and its rarity in performance.  Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) altered our perception of the work, reverting to the uncut, original edition and subsequently performing it with Kondrashin and recording it with Carlos Kleiber.  Now, the tendency is for pianists to perform the original version as a matter of course, adjusting its idiosyncratic demands to a fluent, poetic realization that makes us question why the work ever fell out […]