The titular "Iconic" nature of the program here is twofold. First, stardom-groomed violinist David Garrett pays tribute to violin icons of the past. Primary among them is Fritz Kreisler, who is represented several times on the program, including by the familiar Schön Rosmarin (which is not among the bonus tracks for those who purchase the deluxe physical edition but is an additional bonus track available to streaming listeners). One of the icons, Itzhak Perlman, even makes a personal appearance in a Shostakovich duet, and other guests include tenor Andrea Bocelli and the single-named flutist Cocomi. What Garrett calls the second thread of his program deals not with performers but with music; what he has put together here is an example of the classic program of encores. He has done his job well, arranging a lot of the music for himself and changing up the sentimental tunes that can sink a project like this if too relentless with more unusual fare (Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair) and upbeat numbers like Dinicu's Hora Staccato and a reminder of his earlier virtuoso ways with Paganini's Moto Perpetuo, Op. 11. The end result is an entertaining example of the venerable all-encore genre, marred only by oddly too-close studio sound from Deutsche Grammophon.© James Manheim /TiVo

Kerson Leong recently participated in the award-winning "Tribute to Ysaÿe" (FUG758). Here is his first solo recital for Alpha. The young Canadian violinist’s career began at the age of thirteen when he won the First Prize of the Junior division of the Menuhin Competition in Oslo in 2010. In 2018 he was named artist-in-residence with the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal. An associate musician at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, under the mentorship of Augustin Dumay, he has already performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Verbier Festival and Wigmore Hall. The Quebec newspaper Le Devoir, which has followed him since the start of his career, speaks of ‘the purity of intonation, the brilliance of the high notes, the power of the sound... Kerson Leong has remained as brilliant as ever, but he has added a new patina and, deep down inside himself, a new class’. He plays a superb Guarneri del Gesù, on loan from a Canadian patron. Here he tackles a monument of the violin repertory, the Sonatas for Solo Violin of Eugène Ysaÿe: ‘These sonatas are of course a big test . . . The music is highly emotional, pervasive and in some ways also very sombre, which makes it extremely powerful’, says Leong of these six Sonatas, which he frequently plays in their entirety in a single concert. © Alpha Classics

Born in Ukraine, Thomas de Hartmann (1885-1956), a student of both Arensky and Taneyev, achieved fame as a composer in Russia in the early 1900s, and his concert music was later played by some of the major musicians of the day, primarily in Paris. Since his death, he has been remembered mainly for his association with the Caucasian mystic G. I. Gurdjieff, whom he met in 1916, and his output for the concert hall has fallen into obscurity. The four works receiving their first recordings here reveal a major late-Romantic voice, downstream from Tchaikovsky, contemporary with Rachmaninov, and alert to the discoveries of Stravinsky and Prokofiev. © Toccata Classics

Late in his career, Jean-Philippe Rameau was celebrated for his colorful operas and ballets, but prior to these successes, his fame rested on his Traité de l'harmonie (1722) and a series of keyboard pieces which were published over the years as three suites. These works have been frequently played on harpsichord and piano, though among contemporary scholarly performances, the harpsichord is increasingly favored for recordings. Steven Devine's 2018 set of the complete keyboard music on Resonus offers the Premier livre de pièces de clavecin (1705/06), the Pièces de clavessin (1724), and the Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin (1726/27), plus a smattering of free-standing miniatures, including the Menuet en rondeau, the Cinq pièces, La Dauphine, Air pour Zéphire (in a transcription by Devine), and Rameau's keyboard reduction of the overture, airs, and dances from the opera Les Indes galantes (1735/36). This three-disc set is comprehensive and the most thorough presentation of Rameau's keyboard music available on CD, except for the omission of the questionable Les petits marteaux. Devine's playing is impeccable and faithful to historical practices, and the sound of the double-manual harpsichord, a modern copy of an instrument by Andreas Ruckers, is robust and closely recorded. Highly recommended.© TiVo

"The trees are coming into leaf/Like something almost being said." Taking a cue from these lines of Philip Larkin, pianist Simone Dinnerstein casts her album of the music of J.S. Bach and Franz Schubert in poetic terms. Her understanding of the composers is summed up in her own words: "The music of Bach and Schubert share a distinctive quality, as if wordless voices were singing textless melodies." Of course, Bach and Schubert were masters of setting texts to profoundly expressive music, so it is fruitful to look for the lyrical impulse in their keyboard works and appropriate to find songful interpretations. Yet Dinnerstein doesn't merely serve up rhapsodic renditions or treat the music as some kind of tuneful vehicle for idiosyncratic or personal reveries. Her playing is quite in character for both composers, and her treatment of the material is far from self-indulgent. Indeed, counterpoint and harmony are carefully balanced against the upper lines, and Dinnerstein is completely in control of the inner parts in Bach's partitas and the rhythmic subtleties of Schubert impromptus. Dinnerstein's playing is well-rounded and skillful, and the care she lavishes on the smallest details of execution may well remind listeners of Glenn Gould (without his attendant eccentricities) or Angela Hewitt. To find the poetry in this 2012 album from Sony, listeners may make their own connections, but Dinnerstein certainly opens up the music for aesthetic appreciation and deep reflection.© TiVo

The two composers presented on this recording both came from families of musicians active at the Court of Versailles. François Couperin entered the service of the King as organist of the Chapelle du Roi in 1693. He progressed rapidly and within a year he was ap- pointed harpsichord teacher to the Duke of Burgundy and most of the royal children. In 1696 Louis xiv ennobled him and a few years later he was made a Chevalier of the Lateran order. In the early part of the 18th century he composed a considerable amount of church music for Versailles. At this time he also regularly composed chamber music for the Concerts du Di- manche series at Court and by 1717 he had officially succeeded d’Anglebert the younger as the Ordinaire de la Musique. He had been exerting his influence and control of this position for some time before 1717 and had already succeeded in having a number of outstanding musici- ans in his charge, including the viola da gamba player Forqueray and the violinist Rebel. By 1710 Couperin’s contemporaries were already referring to him as Le Grand and many of his disciples had already dedicated compositions to him. In 1713 he took out a privilège du Roi in order to publish his works, printing his first book of harpsichord pieces, which had been written over the previous fifteen or so years. In 1716 he published his theoretical treatise L’Art de toucher de la Claveçin and his second book of harpsichord pieces then followed in 1717. After the death of Louis xiv (1715) he published some of his instrumental works under the title Les Goûts Réünis and the success of these encouraged him to publish some of his earlier sonatas originally from around 1692 and in the Italian style. To these sonatas he added a set of dances or suites in the French manner and titled the whole collection Les Nations, which appeared in 1726.

Dances are among the valuable "raw materials" that composers of all epochs have incorporated into their works. Baroque suites were based on dance forms from various countries, classical symphonies usually contained a minuet or dance movement, and in the 19th century composers of emerging musical nations made use not only of folk songs but also, and above all, of the dances of their home regions in order to form an independent language. In this album, harpist Sarah Christ shows that dance is as rich in moods as it is in forms: On "Un bal" - named after the second movement of Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique - we hear the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, which moves so wonderfully freely within the framework of strict baroque models, the melancholy elegance in Chopin's and Debussy's waltzes, the folklore and rusticity in the pieces by Ferenc Farkas and Manuel de Falla, and the melancholy of Astor Piazzolla's tangos. © Audite

On Halloween night 2022, Duran Duran donned a variety of horror movie-esque costumes and performed a very special concert in Las Vegas. The setlist highlighted a selection of their spookiest songs—"Hungry Like the Wolf," "Union of the Snake" and "Shadows on Your Side"—and a bevy of darker covers. From that night sprang the hair-raising studio album Danse Macabre, a delightfully frightful celebration of the band's influences and history encompassing cover songs, choice remakes, and three originals.Most notably, Danse Macabre includes contributions from former guitarists Andy Taylor and Warren Cuccurullo as well as long-time collaborator Nile Rodgers. One of the album's highlights, the slick disco-funk throwback "Black Moonlight," even features guitar from both Taylor and Rodgers; the collision of their individual styles crackles like dynamite. Taylor also contributes majestic guitar to two other remakes of Duran originals: a doom-laden update of 1981's "Nightboat" and a gorgeous, languid version of the beloved "Union of the Snake" b-side "Secret Oktober." The latter, now called "Secret Oktober 31st," weaves ominous sound effects (an uneasy music box, creepy chimes) into the song's signature haunting vocals and gouging bass; the end result sounds like something beamed straight out of a cobweb-covered haunted mansion. Cuccurullo, meanwhile, adds Big Thing-esque guitar stabs on the title track and soul-funk riffing on "Love Voudou," the latter a slinky, string-augmented remake of 1993's "Love Voodoo." Covers-wise, Danse Macabre also sounds inspired, led by a propulsive take on Siouxsie and the Banshees’ gothic howl "Spellbound" (also a highlight of the Vegas concert), a pulsating rendition of Cerrone's electro-disco explosion "Supernature," and a groovy version of Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" featuring Måneskin bassist Victoria De Angelis. However, Danse Macabre's best cover is an adventurous interpretation of Billie Eilish's "Bury a Friend." Bolstered by darkwave synth swerves, eerie background vocals and an arrangement that amplifies the broken-marionette vibe of Eilish's original, the song is playful and macabre in equal measures. The only tune that doesn't quite work is an uneven take on the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" that feels tossed-off and unrehearsed. Make no mistake, however: Danse Macabre isn't a sequel to Duran Duran's (unfairly maligned) 1995 covers album Thank You, but a compelling collection with its own singular appeal. Just listen to the album-closing original "Confession in the Afterlife," a wistful ballad shrouded by emotional ghosts that's deeply affecting. Spine-chilling veneer aside, Danse Macabre is no tricks—and all treats. © Annie Zaleski/Qobuz

What do you mean, “Six evolutions”? It’s an intriguing title, almost esoteric… The cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who needs no introduction after a worldwide career of some fifty years, pens here his third (and ultimate, according to him) recording of Bach’s Solo Cello Suites. The first, while he was in his twenties, gave rise to enthusiasm, the second—in his forties—gave rise to emotion, so what will this final vision give rise to, now that he is in his late sixties? Serenity and joy, probably, and the completion of a triple discographic evolution. That being said, we still cannot explain the “Six evolutions”, and you will have to dive into a small corner of the accompanying booklet to find an indication, giving little more information, it is true, since it comes with no clarification: 1) Nature is at play, 2) Journey toward the light, 3) Celebration, 4) Construction/Development, 5) The struggle for hope, and 6) Epiphany. Well… Whatever it be, and despite what he said—and the amazing quality of this interpretation—let’s meet in 2038 to find out if he doesn’t decide to give a new interpretation in his eighties! © SM/Qobuz

At ninety-five years old, Herbert Blomstedt still seems to be in his prime. Just last year, in November 2021, he recorded Schubert’s last two symphonies at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. For his “debut” under the Deutsche Grammophon label, the Swedish conductor had originally chosen to rehearse and record both works in public, but the coronavirus epidemic had other ideas. The rehearsals and subsequent recording eventually took place behind closed doors.Blomstedt knows this prestigious German orchestra well, having conducted it from 1998 to 2005. In fact, he remains its conductor emeritus. This new recording serves as a life lesson as well as a music lesson, putting a whole new spin on Schubert’s melancholy. A luminous message of hope takes hold from the very first measures of “Unfinished” Symphony, which features a supple and lively tempo and is completely free of the morosity that most composers tend to imbue into this work.A sense of eternal youth dominates the entire performance of the great Symphony in C major, whose repetitions and lengthy developments are overlooked thanks to the weightless, lively tempos. Every section of the ensemble brings incredible life to the piece, especially the solo oboe in the wonderful Andante con Moto (which seems to take the form of a simple ländler under the artistic eye of this talented conductor). A bouncy Scherzo leads into an explosive Allegro vivace that oozes pure joy. The Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra are truly at their best here, capturing every nuance and reaching every sudden crescendo Schubert intended. The harmonies are dazzling, the brass section is nothing if not divine and the string section possesses the uncanny ability to alternate between soft, silky sounds and unbridled power. Schubert would be proud of this work. © François Hudry/Qobuz