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Alkan Grande Sonate, "Les Quatre Ages", Symphonie Pour Piano Solo

Vincenzo Maltempo

Classical - Released May 2, 2012 | Piano Classics

Booklet Distinctions 5 de Diapason
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Brahms: Symphony No. 4

Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique

Classical - Released September 23, 2010 | SDG

Hi-Res Booklet
Several conductors associated with period-style performances of Baroque and Classical music have turned their batons to Romantic works, trying out what is known of authentic 19th century practices on repertoire that has otherwise been burdened by 20th century interpretations. In this 2010 release by John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, attention is focused on the Symphony No. 4 in E minor by Johannes Brahms, notwithstanding the first nine tracks, which offer shorter works by Beethoven, Gabrieli, Schütz, Bach, and Brahms as a warm-up. These tracks serve as an excellent sampler of what Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir, and the orchestra of original instruments usually record, with an emphasis on early music and particularly choral works. All the same, approach the performance of the symphony with the foreknowledge that Gardiner likes his tempos quite brisk, a string tone with minimal vibrato and a characteristic timbral sheen, and a lean and transparent ensemble sound -- all features that are apparent in the opening selections -- and then decide if this is too jarring a transformation for this work. Many who grew up with conventional readings of Brahms will miss the rich, burnished tone that was fostered for decades by many eminent conductors. Gardiner's version is really spare in textures and even busy-sounding, as if the musicians are in a hurry to zip through the work. As a result, many things are glossed over, especially Brahms' brilliant interplay of rhythms. There is precious little of the glowing sonorities that have become associated with Brahms' final symphony, and Gardiner's clipped accents and fast tempos seem almost too brusque for this famous autumnal work. Listeners who feel that a streamlined approach to the Brahms symphonies is long overdue will rejoice, but for others, Gardiner's choices will be controversial, perhaps even more than his daring innovations in performing Beethoven. © TiVo
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Antonín Dvořák: Symphonie du nouveau monde

Philippe Fournier

Classical - Released October 7, 2000 | iMD-ORCHESTRE-CONFLUENCES

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Time Zones

Lautten Compagney

Classical - Released November 6, 2020 | deutsche harmonia mundi

Hi-Res Booklet

Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique / Brahms Sinfonies 1 and 4: Igor Markevitch

Igor Markevitch

Classical - Released March 3, 2023 | UME - Global Clearing House

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For Clara: Works by Schumann & Brahms

Hélène Grimaud

Classical - Released September 8, 2023 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Hi-Res Booklet
Robert Schumann was never more purely Romantic than in his set of piano pieces Kreisleriana, Op. 16. The set is of extramusical, literary inspiration, taking its name from a character in stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann, and it features the explosive imagination of the young Schumann at its best. Schumann announced the work, which he apparently wrote in four days, rather breathlessly to his inamorata, Clara, and more than almost any other work of his, it seems to spill over the boundaries of the short piano piece. Hélène Grimaud has recorded the work before, but she seems to have added intensity this time around. She is nervously excited in the faster virtuosic numbers, but sample No. 4 to hear her marvelous control over the tonal instability that appears in many of these pieces. The Brahms Intermezzi, Op. 117, were also "For Clara," sent to Clara Schumann toward the end of his life; the two had remained friends, and here, in Grimaud's evocation of tempestuous old-school pianism, one is stirred to wonder what Clara sounded like playing this music. The connection of the nine Lieder und Gesänge, Op. 32, of Brahms to Clara is less clear, and the set, with baritone Konstantin Krimmel on the vocals, may seem like an afterthought; the three performances on the album were all made at different places and times. However, taken on its own terms, it is a fine performance of this set, consisting entirely of settings of texts by Eastern poets. Krimmel catches the rather mystical nature of the songs, and Grimaud, with whom he has worked in the past, is effective as an accompanist. This is an important entry in Grimaud's catalog, with a Kreisleriana that is as fine as any.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Brahms: The Symphonies

Johannes Brahms

Classical - Released April 21, 2017 | BSO Classics

Hi-Res Distinctions Gramophone Editor's Choice
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Brahms : The Complete Solo Piano Works

Geoffroy Couteau

Solo Piano - Released March 18, 2016 | La Dolce Volta

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 5 de Diapason - 4F de Télérama - Pianiste Maestro - Choc de Classica - Choc Classica de l'année - 5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik
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Pancrace Royer: Surprising Royer, Orchestral Suites

Les Talens Lyriques

Symphonic Music - Released May 5, 2023 | Aparté

Hi-Res Booklet
Beyond the neglect of French Baroque music in general, it is a bit hard to understand why composer Pancrace Royer was almost completely unknown until Christophe Rousset came along to champion him, first in harpsichord music and now, with these suites of music drawn from operas, in orchestral music. In the 18th century, Royer was quite well known and admired among others by Rameau, whose music he helped along considerably. Royer certainly inhabited Rameau's stylistic world, but from the evidence here, his music is distinctive and merits the adjective "surprising" that Rousset has attached to it. It is colorful, given to unexpected turns of harmony, and vivid in its evocation of the exotic scenes of French opera. Sample the "Air pour les turcs" ("Air for the Turks") from Zaïde, reine de Grenade, with its crackling percussion. Royer challenged his orchestra with virtuoso ensemble writing in the likes of the "Premier et second tambourins" from Almasis, and Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques step up with precise, vigorous readings that one imagines would have made the composer overjoyed. The inclusion of two alternate versions for movements from Zaïde is also unusual and gives insight into the compositional thinking of the day. Essential for specialists and enthusiasts interested in the French Baroque, this album is a lot of fun for anyone, with only overdone church sound detracting from the overall effect. © James Manheim /TiVo
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Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre: Céphale et Procris

Reinoud Van Mechelen

Classical - Released February 9, 2024 | Château de Versailles Spectacles

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or
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Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 1-4

Mariss Jansons

Classical - Released August 28, 2015 | BR-Klassik

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Brahms: The Final Piano Pieces, Op. 116-119

Stephen Hough

Classical - Released January 3, 2020 | Hyperion

Hi-Res Booklet
By the early 1890s, Johannes Brahms began thinking that his career was approaching its end, perhaps because of his growing awareness of his mortality, due to the deaths of several close friends. In spite of that, encouragement from Brahms' publisher Fritz Simrock and a renewed burst of creativity brought about the major works of his final years, which included chamber pieces for clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld; a collection of arrangements of German Folk Songs; the Four Serious Songs; the 11 Chorale Preludes; and the piano pieces published as the Fantasias, Op. 116, the Intermezzos, Op. 117, the Clavierstücke, Op. 118, and the Clavierstücke, Op. 119. This group of 20 keyboard pieces collectively represent the autumnal and sometimes gloomy moods that dominated Brahms' thoughts in his last decade, and have even retroactively colored the overall character his music, suggesting a nostalgic attitude in his work as a whole. Yet there is a balance between melancholy and exuberance in Brahms, and while much can be made of the sorrowful events in his life that influenced him, particularly in the Intermezzos, Op. 117 (which he considered to be lullabies for his sorrows), expressions in the late piano music are artfully conceived and perhaps less a measure of Brahms' emotional state than of his genius. Stephen Hough has recorded Brahms' piano concertos, and some of the chamber works, but this 2019 Hyperion album is his first album since 2001 devoted to Brahms' solo piano works. At this stage of his career, Hough seems to have found the right approach to these character pieces, which can be just as fiery and passionate as they are sad or sentimental. However, just as important are their structures and formal designs, which show an active and lively imagination, especially in Brahms' use of chromatic harmony and his sometimes expansive treatment of the Romantic "miniature."© TiVo
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Chopin: The 21 Nocturnes (Complete Recording)

Claudio Arrau

Classical - Released January 1, 1978 | Decca Music Group Ltd.

Distinctions Diapason d'or - The Qobuz Ideal Discography
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Brahms – Reger: Song Transcriptions

Rudolf Buchbinder

Classical - Released March 22, 2024 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Hi-Res Booklet
The veteran pianist Rudolf Buchbinder is known best for Haydn and Mozart, but he has the kind of record that has earned him the right to do pretty much what he wants in later life. Here, he plays transcriptions of Brahms songs by Max Reger, items that most listeners will not have heard. Of course, on the one hand, transcriptions were part and parcel of the 19th century scene (although perhaps less so in the song genre); on the other, 28 of these things, deprived of the texts, may sound like a lot, but Buchbinder's program is interesting on the whole. He takes his Brahms songs chronologically, and this yields various insights. There are simple pieces from throughout Brahms' lied output, but most of these songs are not simple, and without the contrast provided by the voice, the listener's attention is directed toward the place of the melody line in a web of polyphony. Consider a song as straightforward as the Wiegenlied, Op. 49, No. 4, the so-called "Brahms Lullaby." There turns out to be plenty going on below, and often above, the melody, holding the listener's interest in a whole new way. The chronological organization gives the listener a unique window into the growing density of Brahms' late style. There is probably no way to know whether Schoenberg and the other members of the Second Viennese School, great admirers of Brahms, heard the masterful treatment of register in these transcriptions, but they certainly might have. A fine offbeat find for Brahms lovers, and indeed those of Reger.© James Manheim /TiVo