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Vasily Petrenko Shostakovich : The Complete Symphonies

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Shostakovich : The Complete Symphonies

Vasily Petrenko

Classical - Released October 2, 2015 | Naxos

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 5 de Diapason

This box set is a compilation of the individual recordings in the Shostakovich cycle released by conductor Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra between 2009 and 2013. The recordings have been widely praised, and the price here is certainly right. A sampling of the set will confirm the positive opinions: Petrenko has several major strengths, and he is likely to emerge as the primary pick in this repertory among recordings by younger performers with no direct roots in Shostakovich's own orbit. Petrenko seems to delve deeply into the psychological layers of Shostakovich's music, emphasizing the duress that can be heard in the Symphony No. 5, Op. 47, if the conductor pushes and pulls the tempi. The early symphonies have lots of bite, and the big, Mahlerian ones are rich in detail. Petrenko works well with very fine soloists in the vocal symphonies, and Naxos backs him with clear sound in Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall. Sure, there are a few blemishes -- notably the shapeless performance of the unexpectedly humorous Symphony No. 15, Op. 141 -- but nothing ought to be perfect, and this is a set that will give many hours of listening for years to come.© TiVo

Boris Giltburg Dvořák: The Complete Piano Trios

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Dvořák: The Complete Piano Trios

Boris Giltburg

Classical - Released September 22, 2023 | Supraphon a.s.

Hi-Res Distinctions Diapason d'or - Choc de Classica

This recording landed on classical best-seller lists in the autumn of 2023, and several factors combined to place it there. One is the sensitive ensemble work throughout from the trio of violinist Veronika Jarůšková, cellist Peter Jarůšek, and pianist Boris Giltburg. Jarůšková and Jarůšek are members of the fine Pavel Haas Quartet, but the trio, as such, is quite new, and Giltburg, moreover, is better known for virtuoso repertory than for chamber music. One would never know it from the seamlessly executed conceptions and transitions, with Giltburg in no way spilling out of the texture. Another factor is the presence of the first two Dvořák trios, early but by no means immature works. Recordings of them are not common, but hear the absolutely characteristic opening of the Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 21, with its pentatonic melody; handled as sensitively as it is here by Jarůšková, the work is the equal of any of the later trios. Lastly, there is the fresh reading of the Piano Trio, Op. 90 ("Dumky"), one of Dvořák's most popular works. Several movements receive interesting interpretations. Consider the beginning, where the Lento maestoso designation is applied to the movement as a whole, with the opening chords kept consistent in tempo with what follows. This diverts the emotional center to the beautifully sad counterpoint between the cello and violin as the movement continues. The sound from the Wyastone Estate is warm but a bit close up, one of few complaints, and this is a major chamber music release that will yield a great deal of satisfying listening.© James Manheim /TiVo

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Fantasia

Igor Levit

Classical - Released September 29, 2023 | Sony Classical

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions 4F de Télérama

It’s rare for a work as crucial to piano literature as Liszt’s “Sonata in B Minor” to be submerged beneath the thematic title of an album rather than being presented as its primary sales pitch. Yet the great pianist Igor Levit clearly knows what he’s doing. Titled Fantasia, his new double album on Sony Classical is dedicated to pieces that escape all formal frameworks, covering a period of almost two centuries from 1720 to 1910. His program begins with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, which single handedly galvanised a good part of Western classical music, finishing with Franz Liszt, Alan Berg, and Ferruccio Busoni, all three of whom cite Bach in their works, the first two having composed sonatas that rely more on a “Fantasia” than on a precise form. This freedom of composition is the common thread of this fascinating program that comprises in one fell swoop Bach’s exceptional “Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue” and Ferruccio Busoni’s monumental “Fantasia contrappuntistica,” to which Levit responds with renditions of Siloti, Liszt, and Busoni. With his soft and supple sonority, Igor Levit is above all an introspective musician who doesn’t try to make an outrageous demonstration of Liszt’s sonata, haunted by Goethe’s Faust, nor does he do so with that of Alban Berg, whose twelve-tone writing doesn’t burn bridges with music history. With his unique imagination and emotional depth, Igor Levit takes us on a fascinating interior journey through time periods and innovative styles whose timeless and expressive forces never stop compelling us. © François Hudry/Qobuz

Philadelphia Orchestra Rachmaninoff: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3; Isle of the Dead

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Rachmaninoff: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3; Isle of the Dead

Philadelphia Orchestra

Classical - Released June 30, 2023 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Hi-Res Booklet

The phenomenon of a long traditional connection between an orchestra and a repertory occurs less often in the U.S., where orchestras have had to be generalists, than it does in Europe. However, an idea of the flavor can be gained by considering performances of Rachmaninov by the Philadelphia Orchestra, which date back to the composer's years in the U.S.; he conducted many of his works himself, and the performances led by Leopold Stokowski and later Eugene Ormandy were imbued with his spirit. Listeners have been delighted to find that the tradition continues with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who has led the orchestra since 2012 and shows every sign of shaping it into an ensemble for the ages; the album landed on classical best-seller lists in the summer of 2023. The fabled Philadelphia strings are in top form here, and Nézet-Séguin exploits them in a display of full-blooded sentiment, fully controlled. He adds portamento to the string lines in the last two movements of the Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27, and the strings respond naturally, but it is not just the string section. Sample the delicate wind work at the beginning of the Adagio second movement of the Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44, which receives the right feel of mystery. Deutsche Grammophon's engineers add appropriately lush sound, working in Philadelphia's Verizon Hall, in a recording that sounds like a classic in a very crowded marketplace for these works.© James Manheim /TiVo

Krystian Zimerman Karol Szymanowski: Piano Works

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Karol Szymanowski: Piano Works

Krystian Zimerman

Classical - Released September 30, 2022 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or - Choc de Classica

Recordings by Polish pianist Krystian Zimerman are a rare event, and eagerly awaited by his many fans. They surely won’t be disappointed with this new opus that brings together Szymanowski, Zimerman and legendary pianist Arthur Rubinstein.Returning to his roots, Krystian Zimerman pays tribute to his compatriot Karol Szymanowski on the 140th anniversary of the composer’s birth. This selection of little-known works testifies to the importance of Szymanowski within the piano repertoire. A long twenty-eight years separate Zimerman's recording of Masques, Op. 34 (made in 1994 in Copenhagen) from the rest of the programme, which was recorded in 2022 in the exceptional acoustics of the Fukuyama Concert Hall near Hiroshima.Nevertheless, the considerable lapse of time between these recordings doesn’t detract from the album's coherence. This is thanks to Zimerman's fluid, clear and readable sound, which—as we know—leaves nothing to chance. This fascinating recording reveals various facets of Szymanowski's compositional genius and features both his mature and early works, all of which were influenced by the great Chopin.Composed during the First World War whilst staying at the family estate in Ukraine, the three parts of Masques evoke Debussy, Scriabin and Stravinsky. However, each movement is overlaid with the orientalist perspective so typical of the Polish composer. A few carefully chosen Préludes and Mazurkas stand alongside the splendid Variations on a Polish Folk Theme for piano, Op. 10, composed by a young Szymanowski still in the process of mastering his mother tongue. © François Hudry/Qobuz

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Consolations

Saskia Giorgini

Solo Piano - Released June 9, 2023 | PentaTone

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or

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

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Rachmaninoff for Two

Daniil Trifonov

Classical - Released March 29, 2024 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Hi-Res Booklet

Herbert von Karajan Rimsky-Korsakov : Scheherazade

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Rimsky-Korsakov : Scheherazade

Herbert von Karajan

Classical - Released June 24, 2016 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Hi-Res Booklet

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Memory

Hélène Grimaud

Solo Piano - Released September 21, 2018 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Hi-Res Booklet

Music has been described as a way of saving that which has been lost: a simple but strong idea, and one which has influenced Hélène Grimaud's artistic expression.Her new album Memory deals with music's power to bring back to life the images of the past in the present, its ability to vividly and piercingly evoke a specific time and a place. It explores the essence of memory through a series of refined miniatures for piano. The choice of repertoire covers a vast, diverse range, from the reveries of Chopin and Debussy to the timeless, folky melodies of Valentin Silvestrov. © Universal

Nikolai Lugansky Rachmaninov : 24 Preludes

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Rachmaninov : 24 Preludes

Nikolai Lugansky

Solo Piano - Released February 16, 2018 | harmonia mundi

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Diapason d'or - 5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik

Unfortunately no, dear reader, there is no such thing as a cycle of “24 Preludes” by Rachmaninoff; however there are indeed 24 Preludes: a collection of ten Op. 23 from 1903, 13 other Op. 32 from 1910 and one isolated Prelude from the Morceaux de fantaisie Op. 3 (Fantasy Pieces) from 1893. In total: 24 Preludes, in which as a simple count shows Rachmaninoff − much like Chopin and of course Bach − illustrated all major and minor tones. Deliberately random, or the involuntary drive to create a reasonably coherent cycle? Contrary to his two illustrious predecessors, Rachmaninoff didn’t order his Preludes according to a specific tonal plan: the musician’s fantasy develops bit by bit. Nikolai Lugansky – described by the famous magazine Gramophone as “the most innovative and transcendent interpreter of all” (so much for the others…), truly an extraordinarily deep and polyvalent pianist – decided to present the Preludes in the order prescribed by partitions, rather than reorganising them according to some hypothetical tonal logic, without knowing if Rachmaninoff would even have recommended or even considered it, particularly as the constant alternation of moods, independently of any tonal consideration, gives the piece a sense of perfect coherence. Finally it’s worth mentioning that Lugansky offers a very “original” interpretation of this divine music, which may feel like a re-discovery to some listeners. © SM/Qobuz

Pierre Fournier Dvorak / Elgar: Cello Concertos

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Dvorak / Elgar: Cello Concertos

Pierre Fournier

Classical - Released August 3, 1988 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions The Qobuz Ideal Discography

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Debut Recital

Martha Argerich

Classical - Released January 1, 1995 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Hi-Res Distinctions The Qobuz Ideal Discography

Jacqueline du Pré The Great Cello Concertos: Elgar, Dvořák, Saint-Saëns, Haydn...

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The Great Cello Concertos: Elgar, Dvořák, Saint-Saëns, Haydn...

Jacqueline du Pré

Classical - Released July 28, 2023 | Warner Classics

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Francesco Piemontesi Liszt: Piano Sonata & Transcendental Etudes

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Liszt: Piano Sonata & Transcendental Etudes

Francesco Piemontesi

Solo Piano - Released September 1, 2023 | PentaTone

Hi-Res Booklet

To hear pianist Francesco Piemontesi tell it, he waited until middle age to attempt the Liszt Transcendental Etudes, even though these works are often programmed by hotshot young pianists intent on displaying their technical mastery. What Piemontesi gets is that Liszt's most difficult works have technical depths that are still achieved by only a few. A piece like "Scarbo," from Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit, was at the edge of the technically possible when it was written, but now any competent conservatory graduate can play it. The Transcendental Etudes and the Liszt Piano Sonata in B minor are different. A good performance is quite possible, but great ones that evoke the spell in which Liszt held his audiences are rarer. The latter is what the music gets here from Piemontesi. He is strong throughout, but it is in the dense virtuosic passages, with sheets of sound issuing from his piano, unfortunately unidentified in the booklet, that leave the listener amazed. Sample "Mazeppa" from the Etudes or the fugal treatment of the main sonata material for an idea; those sheets of sound never lose their individual notes. Piemontesi is hardly less effective in the slower passages, which have a kind of majesty. He records on home ground at the Auditorio Stelio Molo in Lugano, and it is an appropriate venue for his remarkable achievement.© James Manheim /TiVo

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Succession: Season 4

Nicholas Britell

Film Soundtracks - Released May 29, 2023 | Lake George Music Group

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Alexandre Tharaud Ravel: Concertos - Falla: Noches en los jardines de España

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Ravel: Concertos - Falla: Noches en los jardines de España

Alexandre Tharaud

Classical - Released October 13, 2023 | Warner Classics

Hi-Res Booklet

Pianist Alexandre Tharaud, although he has recorded a wide range of music, is something of a Ravel specialist, having recorded all of the composer's solo piano music. Now, he rounds things out with Ravel's two piano concertos. The Piano Concerto in G major is one of the staples of the 20th century repertory, and Tharaud contributes a bright, quick, detail-packed performance that anyone will enjoy. He doesn't overdo the blues aspect of the first movement, which can speak for itself, and he has a perhaps quintessentially Gallic stylishness in his playing. Perhaps the highlight here is the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, written for pianist Paul Wittgenstein (brother of the philosopher Ludwig), who had lost his right arm in World War I. This work is artfully set up so as to conceal the fact that only one hand is used, and it is quite imposing. It should carry just a hint of somberness that recalls the grim circumstances attending its composition, and Tharaud captures this nicely. Tharaud closes with a colorful reading of Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain that will send the listener out into the world in a cheerful mood. The Orchestre National de France under conductor Louis Langrée is superb in music that is often technically difficult, with perfect brass and wind control in Ravel's jazzier effusions. This release landed on classical best-seller lists in the autumn of 2023.© James Manheim /TiVo

Yannick Nézet-Séguin Rachmaninoff: Symphony 1 + Symphonic Dances

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Rachmaninoff: Symphony 1 + Symphonic Dances

Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Classical - Released January 29, 2021 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Hi-Res Booklet Distinctions Gramophone: Recording of the Month

The crushing failure of Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 1 at its premiere on 15 March 1897 plunged its young author into a deep depression from which he would later issue Concerto No. 2, composed in compensation for this disaster and under the influence of a medical treatment based on hypnosis. This first Symphony was ambitious. The young artist wanted to express so many feelings that the score bulged, opaque in terms of its form and profuse by the admission of the writer, who would go on to denigrate it later. This cursed score would never be played again during the composer's lifetime and the manuscript remains lost. It was reconstructed, probably with the help of orchestral parts, and recreated in Moscow in 1945. Captured in concert in 2018, here it is adorned with a thousand and one colours from the Philadelphia Orchestra under the charged, powerful and imaginative direction of Yannick Nézet-Seguin who believes in this work and conducts it as a masterpiece and not in any sense for the purpose of rehabilitation. Under such an inspired baton, this youthful opus 13 can happily be presented next to Rachmaninov's final score for orchestra, one of the most successful: the famous Symphonic Dances that are a metaphor for the three ages of man. Rachmaninov's obsession with bells and the Catholic theme of the Dies Irae is well known, both of which he sets to music in virtually all of his works; it is already the case in Symphony No. 1 and it will be the case again in the masterful Symphonic Dances performed here by the orchestra for which they were written in 1940, three years before the composer's death in California, where he had gone into exile. © François Hudry/Qobuz