Pianists Philippe Cassard and Cédric Pescia have found an original way to commemorate Beethoven’s birth by unearthing the masterful transcription of Franz Liszt’s Ninth Symphony for two pianos. The Hungarian virtuoso performed the entire corpus solo, but the Ninth (with its soloists and final chorus) suggested that it should be performed by two pianos. At his publisher’s request, he finally – and reluctantly - recorded a version just for the one piano. This new album, however, does full justice to Franz Liszt’s original idea. Beyond the difficult Finale (a real obstacle course) and the constant search for colours, pedals, tones and balance, this release of Beethoven’s masterpiece is almost like a sonic X-ray, allowing you to appreciate just how complex and modern it is.Cédric Pescia (on piano primo) and Philippe Cassard (on piano secondo) display their virtuosity through tremolos, jumps, octaves and repeated notes. They also sing in the sublime Adagio before embracing the great vocal mass of the Finale. While Schiller’s fraternal words are obviously missing from this scrupulously respectful arrangement, the message nevertheless becomes evident through the two musician’s performances. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Pianists Philippe Cassard and Cédric Pescia have found an original way to commemorate Beethoven’s birth by unearthing the masterful transcription of Franz Liszt’s Ninth Symphony for two pianos. The Hungarian virtuoso performed the entire corpus solo, but the Ninth (with its soloists and final chorus) suggested that it should be performed by two pianos. At his publisher’s request, he finally – and reluctantly - recorded a version just for the one piano. This new album, however, does full justice to Franz Liszt’s original idea. Beyond the difficult Finale (a real obstacle course) and the constant search for colours, pedals, tones and balance, this release of Beethoven’s masterpiece is almost like a sonic X-ray, allowing you to appreciate just how complex and modern it is. Cédric Pescia (on piano primo) and Philippe Cassard (on piano secondo) display their virtuosity through tremolos, jumps, octaves and repeated notes. They also sing in the sublime Adagio before embracing the great vocal mass of the Finale. While Schiller’s fraternal words are obviously missing from this scrupulously respectful arrangement, the message nevertheless becomes evident through the two musician’s performances. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Pianist Saskia Giorgini found both critical and commercial success with her 2022 recording of Liszt's Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, and this 2023 release, which immediately climbed onto classical best-seller charts, follows directly on the earlier album, with the same Bösendorfer piano and the same recording location, the Lisztzentrum in Raiding, Austria. Listeners will not be disappointed, for Consolations has all the virtues of her first Liszt album and adds a few more. The wonderfully controlled lyricism of the Harmonies poétiques et religieuses recurs in the heavily programmatic title work, where Giorgini's playing hints at the presence of all kinds of stories. She plainly excels in the religious, late Liszt, and there are two wonderful examples here, the Deux Legends, portraits of St. Francis of Assisi praying to the birds, and of St. François de Paule. These are difficult works that combine mysticism with Lisztian virtuosity; annotator Mark Berry is right to stress that Liszt did not fully renounce the virtuosity in his later years, but that is not all. Giorgini is just as good in the flashy Three Caprices-Valses and the reflective Liebesträume, the best-known music on the album. In the Valse-Impromptu, she has an uncanny way of suggesting the feeling of spontaneity that seems to have marked Liszt's own playing. Will Giorgini go on with Liszt? She certainly has the technical and emotional wherewithal to do so and to take on more famous works than these.© James Manheim /TiVo

And so, after much expectation, the entire set of Schumann’s Symphonies by Simon Rattle has finally been released with Berliner Philharmoniker’s brand new own label. The 2013 live recordings are extraordinarily thorough: Rattle has truly outdone himself. His direction is incredibly clear, and he benefits from a smaller orchestra with a reduced amount of strings. This is a more ‘reasonable’ set up, as it restores balance between the different instruments. This is especially the case in the sections containing a lot of wood instruments, as all too often conductors let the strings drown out all other sounds without worrying about the ‘chamber music’ essence of the symphonies. It is also noteworthy that the fourth symphony is offered in its original 1841 version, which chronologically makes it his second production. The rearranged version of 1851 is thicker, and contains considerable differences in the music itself. This was not Brahms’ preferred version, and so he published the 1841 original version in 1891, just after Clara Schumann had placed the 1851 rearrangement on the market.

In the 1730s, many composers tried their luck in London, where many other treasures were in preparation: Geminiani revolutionized instrumental writing with his famous treatise on interpretation and presented an amazing version of La Folia; his pupil Avison orchestrated concertos by Scarlatti, and Porpora ventured away from opera to rediscover the vocality of the cello with one of the most beautiful concertos of that period. Ophélie Gaillard and Pulcinella treat us to a frenzied and poetic night in London. They meet Vivaldi, Hasse, Scottish composer James Oswald and virtuoso cellist Giovanni Battista Cirri. Guest artists Sandrine Piau and Lucile Richardot take on magnificent vocal pieces by Geminiani and Handel – Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni would have been seriously envious, that’s for sure! © Aparté

The impression of the ink still being wet on the page is not an unfamiliar one when listening to Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante, such is the freshness and elan they inject into everything they turn their musical attentions to. However in the case of their Vivaldi Edition Argippo the ink pretty much was still wet as they recorded it, because this is Bernardo Ticci's 2019 reconstruction of what is in fact a lost Vivaldi pasticcio (a cutting and pasting together of music from other operas), created in 1730 for the Venetian impresario Antonio Peruzzi to stage in Vienna and Prague. The reconstruction has been possible because the librettos from those two productions remain, plus a set of arias, and also the full score of a complete three-act, untitled and anonymous opera featuring arias from up to twelve other composers – and both the arias and the score appear to be derived, albeit with many changes, from the Prague libretto. The result is a reconstruction which on the one hand is decidedly scant on actual music by Vivaldi, given that even those arias believed to be from his pen can't be confirmed as such, and they appear alongside arias by Galeazzi, Pescetti, Hasse, Porpora, (possibly) Fiorè and Vinci. However, it's also a stylistically diverse and thus thoroughly entertaining offering that bears all the hallmarks of a Vivaldi pasticcio, and is undoubtedly in the spirit of one. Argippo's action takes place in the Bengali Kingdom – a tapping into the contemporary Venetian enthusiasm for tales of the East, although that influence didn't bleed into the musical style itself. A classic Baroque opera plot centred around lies and mistaken identities – King Argippo of Chittagong and his wife Osira almost lose their lives while visiting the court of the Gran Mogol Tisifaro, because the Tisifaro's cousin Silvero seduces his daughter Zanaida while disguised as Argippo – it's high on drama and strife before eventually reaching its happy conclusion. So, add the multi-composer score, and Biondi's five-strong cast have plenty to get their teeth into. Highlights include the opera's first fizzing showstopper, “Se lento ancora”, contralto Delphine Galou as the Gran Mogol Tisifaro's daughter Zanaida making light work of her leaping figures and embellishments as she anguishes over being betrayed by her lover. Also the soft and fruity-toned fluidity to the vocal acrobatics of ‘Un certo non so che’, sung by soprano Marie Lys as a fearful Osira. Equally fine voiced are soprano Emőke Baráth in the title role, contralto Marianna Pizzolato as Silvero, and bass Luigi de Donato as Tisifaro. Europa Galante themselves bring it all together with their characteristic blend of warmth, fizz and dramatic flair, having launched things with a cracker of an opening Sinfonia. In short, great fun. © Charlotte Gardner/Qobuz