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Schumann & Brahms
Benjamin Grosvenor
Classical - Released March 17, 2023 | Decca Music Group Ltd.
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4F de Télérama
After two glorious albums devoted to Chopin and Liszt, Benjamin Grosvenor continues his exploration of the Romantic period by tackling the third leading faction of the genre, Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms (who was a close friend of both the Schumann’s). The Kreisleriana, like many of Schumann’s other cycles, are a virtuosic reflection on his artistic 'doubles'; Eusebius, the melancholic dreamer, and Florestan, the feverish and passionate rake. The Three Romances Op.28 expresses Schumann's eternal and unconditional love for Clara, who saw in these pieces "the most beautiful love dialogues". In the last movement of the Sonata No. 3 Op.14, Schumann makes an elegant reference to his own Kreisleriana. Clara Wieck's Variations on a Theme of Schumann later inspired Brahms to write his own variations on the same theme. There are similarities in character to his Intermezzi at the end of the album. With his singular and unmistakable touch, Benjamin Grosvenor delivers an interpretation of unadulterated purity, with a simple and luminous audio recording that gives these great passages their deserved nobility. © Pierre Lamy/Qobuz
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Schubert - Meta
Claire Huangci
Classical - Released October 20, 2023 | Berlin Classics
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R. Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie, Tod und Verklärung (Live)
Mariss Jansons
Classical - Released December 30, 2016 | BR-Klassik
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5 de Diapason -
Choc de Classica -
5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik
Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra have recorded the tone poems of Richard Strauss for BR Klassik since 2010, and they have already presented the popular Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegels Merry Pranks), Don Juan, and Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life), in impressive performances for the German label. This 2016 album offers two more Strauss favorites, the musical representation of a mountain hike, Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony), and the moving depiction of a man's last moments, Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration). These works reflect dramatically different sides of Strauss, where the virtuosic music and opulent orchestration of Eine Alpensinfonie suggest a robust extroversion, while the deathbed ruminations of Tod und Verklärung and its final vision of transcendence are more introspective. Jansons elicits powerful playing from the orchestra, and draws out resplendent sonorities that are thrilling for their brilliance and force. Yet Strauss' softer music may hold more expressive depth, particularly the tone painting of "Night" at the beginning of Ein Alpensinfonie, and the fragile, hesitant opening of Tod und Verklärung, which are among the subtlest and most affecting passages in all of Strauss' works. The sound of this standard CD is rich and vibrant, and practically every detail can be heard clearly.© TiVo
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Schubert: Lieder with Orchestra
Munich Radio Orchestra
Classical - Released October 6, 2023 | BR-Klassik
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One might react to this album with initial annoyance and ask whether it is really necessary to hear orchestrated versions of Schubert's supremely pianistic songs. It may come as a surprise, then, to find that most of these Lieder with Orchestra were arranged by great composers. They include Benjamin Britten, Jacques Offenbach, and Max Reger, who took on the job because, he said, he hated to hear a piano-accompanied song on an orchestral program. Perhaps the most surprising name to find is that of Anton Webern, but his arrangements are not the minimal, pointillistic things one might expect; he wrote these arrangements as a way of studying Schubert's music, and they are quite straightforward. Indeed, it is somewhat difficult to distinguish the arrangers simply by listening to the music; Schubert's melodic lines tend to suggest distinctive solutions. Perhaps Reger's are a bit more lush than the others, although his version of Erlkönig, D. 328, is one of the few numbers here that just doesn't work (there is no way to replicate the percussive quality of the accompaniment). As for the performances as such, Benjamin Appl is clearly an important rising baritone, and he has a wonderful natural quality in Schubert. An oddball release like this might seem an unusual choice for a singer in early career, but he contributes his own notes, and he seems to have undertaken the project out of genuine enthusiasm for the material. At the very least, he has brought some intriguing pieces out of the archives and given them highly listenable performances. The Munich Radio Orchestra, under the young Oscar Jockel, is suitably restrained and keeps out of Appl's way. This release made classical best-seller lists in the autumn of 2023.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Brahms Analogue: Cello Sonatas 1&2, Four Serious Songs
Leonard Elschenbroich
Chamber Music - Released November 25, 2022 | PM Classics Ltd.
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The Brahms Analogue title of this release by cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and pianist Alexei Grynyuk does not refer to some abstract concept but is literal; the album was recorded onto analog tape at Abbey Road Studios and then digitally processed. It even bears the old ADD SPARS code. Audio buffs like to claim that old analog LPs had a warmer sound than their modern digital counterparts, and here, listeners can judge for themselves; even on modest sound equipment, the sound is indeed different from the pristine norm of contemporary product. Less publicized has been the fact that the interpretations of Elschenbroich and Grynyuk are distinctive, quite apart from the analog recording. Performances of Brahms, if competently executed, probably differ less than those of works by other composers, but these two players introduce an unusual amount of rhythmic freedom into the composer's two cello sonatas. On one hand, this demands an unusual degree of coordination between cellist and pianist, and Elschenbroich and Grynyuk, a significant developing partnership, show the fruits of long collaboration and lots of detail work on these particular pieces. On the other, listeners may feel that with small details prioritized in this way, the cello sonatas lose a degree of control over the long line. Again, listeners' reactions may reasonably differ. Most, however, will value the final transcriptions for cello and piano of the Vier ernste Gesänge, Op. 121, shorter works where rhythmic freedom is not a problem; these are memorable performances. This is assuredly not the usual Brahms, and listeners are invited to check them out for themselves.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Schubert : Lieder, Schöne Müllerin, Winterreise...
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Classical - Released January 1, 2005 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
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Diapason d'or -
4F de Télérama -
Choc de Classica
This collection of all of Schubert's songs for low voice is one of the landmark recordings of the 20th century because it features two of the greatest Schubertians of their era, baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and pianist Gerald Moore. The recordings, made by Deutsche Grammophon between 1966 and 1972, come from Fischer-Dieskau's prime, when he was in his early to mid-thirties, his voice fully mature and its youthful bloom gloriously resplendent. He brought an acute, probing intelligence to everything he performed, as well as a penetrating, unmannered musicality, and those qualities are everywhere apparent in his Schubert lieder. Moore was primarily known as an accompanist, and in that role he was perhaps unsurpassed, but his contribution to the music is no way secondary. His playing has interpretive distinctiveness as well as the instinctive musicality of a performer deeply immersed in Schubert's sound world. The singer and pianist made multiple recordings of many of these songs and while aficionados may prefer a version of a song or cycle other than the one offered here, the version here is never less than superb.The set, which includes 463 songs on 21 discs, should be of utmost interest to any fans of the singer and pianist, and to anyone who loves Schubert, and to anyone who loves collaborative music-making of the highest order. The value of the limited edition set released in celebration of the singer's 85th birthday makes it a terrific bargain. The remastering is mostly exemplary and the sound is immaculate, warm, and present. There are a few technical glitches, like a slight click and skip in the introduction to "Wasserflut," but overall the sound is first-class. The balance is just about ideal; it's easy to shut one's eyes and imagine the performers there in the same room. Very highly recommended.© TiVo
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Franz Schubert : Sonate Arpeggione
Anne Gastinel
Chamber Music - Released September 20, 2005 | naïve classique
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Gramophone Editor's Choice -
RTL d'Or -
Victoire de la musique
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Enigma
Sarah Aristidou
Classical - Released October 27, 2023 | Alpha Classics
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Schubert: Arpeggione, Sonatina & Lieder Transcriptions
Anne Gastinel
Classical - Released September 20, 2005 | naïve
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Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3 Op. 5 & Handel Variations
Jonathan Fournel
Classical - Released October 22, 2021 | Alpha Classics
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The pianist Jonathan Fournel, recent prizewinner of the prestigious 2021 Queen Elisabeth Competition (where he won not only the Queen Elisabeth Grand Prix, but also the Queen Mathilde Prize, the Musiq3 Audience Prize and the Canvas-Klara Award) has joined the Alpha label for several recordings, starting with a Brahms programme recorded in the superb acoustic of the music room at La Chaux-de-Fonds just before the Competition: "Over the years, for me Brahms has become a figure I admire so tremendously, a composer I can never tire of. It was fairly obvious to me that I had to make my first recording with these two works that I love so much". The 28-year-old French pianist has been gathering many plaudits for his concerts and shows all the signs of developing a great career and a highly individual artistic path. © Alpha Classics
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Brahms: La belle Maguelone
Stéphane Degout
Classical - Released October 6, 2023 | B Records
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4F de Télérama
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The Complete Recitals on Warner Classics
Christa Ludwig
Classical - Released March 9, 2018 | Warner Classics
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This eleven hour box set marks the 90th birthday of German mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, whose phenomenal career, which ran from 1950 to 1990, still inspires admiration in her colleagues (of course) and a growing number of music fans. She has collaborated with the greatest musicians of her age, most notably Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein and Otto Klemperer. She also shone in the genre of the Lied, with a brilliance comparable to Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's or Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's – and of course she regularly performed with both – and these recordings with Gerald Moore and Geoffrey Parsons bear witness to her talents. A note on the brand-new releases that form part of this edition: some performances are published here for the first time*: these are Lieder with orchestra by Alban Berg (tracks 144 to 146), Max Reger (track 137) and Richard Wagner (track 124) as well as Lieder with piano by Hugo Wolf (track 14), Franz Schubert (tracks 15 and 16, 62 to 66) and Stille Nacht (track 89), which were left aside when they were first recorded, either because of the limits of the 33rpm format, or just because of a decision by the artistic director. This collection also sees some pieces re-published for the first time since their release on LP, such as the piece by Gluck (track 88), several of Brahms' Lieder (tracks 15 to 19, tracks 104 and 107). The recital of Brahms which Christa Ludwig would record alongside Walter Berry appears here in its entirety for the first time since it was first released (from track 67 to track 89, see above). © Qobuz
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Brahms: Complete Liebeslieder Walzer, Op. 52 & 65, Hungarian Dances
Rias Kammerchor
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released November 4, 2022 | harmonia mundi
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In these love songs in waltz style for chorus or solo voices accompanied by piano four hands, Brahms freely indulged his taste for Viennese folk music. The RIAS-Kammerchor instils a wonderful inner life in these musical landscapes, sometimes cheerful, sometimes melancholy, punctuated here by a selection from the Hungarian Dances – also eminently popular in their inspiration. © harmonia mundi
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Schubert: Song Recital
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Classical - Released January 1, 1953 | Warner Classics
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This compilation of 12 Lieder and Six Moments Musicaux performed by soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and pianist Edwin Fischer is old-fashioned in every sense of the word. Recorded in 1950 and 1952, the sound is old-fashioned: clear but distant, heard across all the intervening decades as if through a dark glass. But, more significantly, the performances are old-fashioned. The slight but sweet quiver in Schwarzkopf's voice was typical of its time but unlike anything any contemporary soprano would attempt. In the An die Musik, she flirts with preciousness. In Im Frühling, she comes close to coyness. In Ganymed, she touches on parody. In Gretchen am Spinnrade, she almost but not quite distorts the music with her breathless delivery. And in every performance, Schwarzkopf seems fond of Schubert but not unreservedly fond, as if Schubert's songs needed special pleading to make them succeed, a truly old-fashioned approach compared to the unreservedly affectionate performances of contemporary singers. Similarly, Edwin Fischer's playing is equally old-fashioned, albeit in an entirely different way. Fischer obviously loves Schubert's music and his playing is warm-hearted and true. Unfortunately, Fischer's playing is technically old-fashioned. He drops notes, slurs lines, fudges arpeggios, and smudges rhythms in a manner that no contemporary pianist would dare let stand in a recording. Whether this approach works depends on the listener. Older listeners full of nostalgia for a time long since past will no doubt love it. Younger listeners with no tolerance for sentimentality may have trouble accepting it.© TiVo
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La Playlist Classique
Classical Music: 50 of the Best, Radio Musica Clasica, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Johann Strauss II, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms
Classical - Released October 19, 2019 | Armasi
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Valses Viennoises
Johann Strauss II, Johannes Brahms, Dimitri Chostakovitch, Tchaikovsky, Frédéric Chopin, Valses de Vienne
Classical - Released December 1, 2018 | Armasi
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Brahms, Schumann & Mahler: Lieder
Renée Fleming
Classical - Released June 14, 2019 | Decca Music Group Ltd.
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A long break. In the fall of 2018, Renée Fleming sang for Broadway musicals under the BBC Concert Orchestra led by Rob Fisher including the likes of Jerome Kern, Richard Rogers, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Sondheim, and some lesser-known names. A little unexpected yet welcome, with this new work, the American soprano returns to a more traditional repertoire. To be precise, she puts forward a very beautiful selection of Brahms’ Lieder, the entirety of Schumann’s Fraueliebe und -Leben Op. 42, and finally Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder in an orchestral interpretation led by Christian Thielemann with the Münchner Philharmoniker. Today, Renée Fleming’s tone is perfectly crepuscular, autumnal and suitable for these Lieders filled with melancholy. Harmut Höll’s accompaniments are beautiful (especially in Brahms), and the direction of Thielemann is often poetic
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Schubert Sessions: Lieder with Guitar
Franz Schubert
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released October 14, 2016 | Groupe Analekta, Inc
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But I Like to Sing...
Carolyn Sampson
Classical - Released November 3, 2023 | BIS
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The curious title of this album, the 100th by the wonderful soprano Carolyn Sampson, comes from Leonard Bernstein's I Hate Music, one of the Five Kid Songs he wrote in 1943; the but I like to sing ... album title is the consequent to the song's title. Sampson perfectly catches the wit of this song, which is certainly not only for children, and she is among the few non-American singers who can do a persuasive American accent with a full retroflex "r." Sampson indicates that while the program is not autobiographical, "it is personal, and I've chosen [the songs] because they reflect some of the ways in which music heightens our emotions, eases our pain, deepens our love." She goes on to say that these powers of music are especially needed at the current troubled historical juncture. All of this may be quite true, yet after hearing the album, one may think that it has a second purpose. Among all the beautiful voices on the scene in 2023, no other is as versatile as Sampson's. Bernstein is just the beginning. The program ranges from German to French to English, from chestnuts (Gounod's Ave Maria) to quite rare items (the 12 Chants de Bilitis by Rita Strohl, a fascinating comparison with Debussy's settings), from humorous to philosophical, from Schubert to the late Kaija Saariaho. It all hangs together miraculously, leaving the listener with the impression that Sampson is indeed in touch with deeper currents. This is indeed a joyous and fitting summation of the career to date of one of today's great sopranos, with much more to come.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Strauss, Richard: Eine Alpensinfonie & Don Juan
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Classical - Released January 10, 2008 | Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
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There are somewhere past 100 recordings of Strauss' Don Juan in the international catalog and somewhere past 50 recordings of his Eine Alpensinfonie. In order to make a dent in such formidable competition, any new recording of these works needs to have something special going for it. In this 2007 recording of the works with Mariss Jansons leading the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, that something special is not the performances. This isn't to say that the performances aren't excellent. Here, as always, the Dutch musicians demonstrate why they are one of Europe's greatest orchestras with vivid colors, brilliant soloists, effortless ensemble, and a deeply polished tone that cannot be mistaken for any other orchestra. And with his skill, control, and energy Jansons once again shows why he is a top-rated conductor. But though the performances are admirable, they can hardly be said to be better than dozens of earlier performances, some of them by the same orchestra. Instead, what truly distinguishes this recording is the recording itself. Captured live in super audio surround sound, this disc is stunningly present and staggeringly immediate. Don Juan's brash opening sweeps the listener up and away and carries them straight through Eine Alpensinfonie's boldly pictorial effects. Whether this makes enough of a difference will depend on the listener and his/her playback system.© TiVo
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