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Honegger: Symphonies Nos 1-5, Pacific 231, Mouvement symphonique No. 3
Serge Baudo, Czech Philharmonic
Classical - Released January 1, 1991 | Supraphon a.s.
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Chabrier: Orchestral Works
Neeme Järvi
Symphonies - Released April 18, 2013 | Chandos
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Famous Works for Piano Duo
Jeroen Van Veen
Miscellaneous - Released March 25, 2022 | Brilliant Classics
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The pianist, composer, producer and renaissance musician Jeroen van Veen has played many concerts with both his wife Sandra and his brother Maarten, and has recorded with both of them for Brilliant Classics. The present compilation brings together a unique sequence of masterpieces for the genre in live and studio performances, made between 1992 and 2008, and given by the brothers as Piano Duo Van Veen. This pocket history of the piano duo opens – as it must – with the F minor Fantasy of Schubert. All elements of Schubert's art can be found in the Fantasy: his gift for a sublime, gently unfolding melody; melancholy harmonic turns from major to minor; high drama within a spacious symphonic design; intricate counterpoint in the finale. Less well known but no less accomplished in its way is the set of Beethoven variations by Camille Saint-Saëns, a polished transformation of a minuet theme. This 1992 studio recording concludes with a pair of 20th-century pieces which capitalise on the energy and momentum of the piano duo genre as a whole: La valse of Ravel and the Paganini Variations of Lutoslawski, which never fail to raise the pulse and receive here barnstorming performances. The adrenaline level increases further with a sequence of live performances, opening with Rachmaninoff’s gorgeous Russian Rhapsody and continuing with The Rite of Spring in the version which Stravinsky first performed with his friends in Paris prior to the ballet’s notorious public premiere in 1911. In his Monologue of 1964, Zimmermann developed the thread of his Dialogue for Two Pianos and Orchestra with a collage technique which quotes from Bach, Mozart and Beethoven in which the two pianists muse almost to themselves at times. Rounding off this collection in epic style is the apotheosis of Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen. © Brilliant Classics
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Piano Recital 1953 (Live)
Clara Haskil
Solo Piano - Released February 9, 2018 | SWR Classic
Booklet
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5 de Diapason
More precisely: 10 April 1953 in the great hall of the Holy Orders of the baroque castle of Ludwigsburg. Clara Haskil, who sadly only had five more years left to live, albeit the happiest and most fertile of her life: with Swiss nationality and a booked-out diary, she could finally give herself over to music without worrying about survival or exile. This most prodigious period of recording gave us Mozart, to be sure, but also rarer repertoires, like Ravel or Debussy, as documented in this publication - in which, indeed, she avoids Mozart altogether! The pièce de résistance is surely the 32nd Sonata Op. 111 by Beethoven, which she plays quite differently from how we are used to hearing it: under her fingers, the fire still crackles, but Haskil knows not to make it a perpetual volcano, which would harm the discourse. Who knows whether it was her fragile health that forced her to go easy - but whatever the reason, musically at least, it is a good thing she did. The programme continues with some rather more transparent pieces from Schumann – the Abegg Variations in particular – before sojourning a while on the other bank of the Rhine with two Études by Debussy, which she plays dreamily; Sonatine by Ravel which she dreams , playfully, before closing with a choral from Bach (the Cantor who opened the proceedings), and a delicate adieu from Schumann, "Abschied" from the Waldszenen. The grande dame of the piano passes into tender silence, rather than ending the concert with virtuoso explosions. 10 April 1953 was a fine day! © SM/Qobuz
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Antonín Dvořák: Symphonie du nouveau monde
Philippe Fournier
Classical - Released October 7, 2000 | iMD-ORCHESTRE-CONFLUENCES
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Dvořák: The Complete Piano Trios
Boris Giltburg
Classical - Released September 22, 2023 | Supraphon a.s.
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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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Rachmaninoff: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3; Isle of the Dead
Philadelphia Orchestra
Classical - Released June 30, 2023 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
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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
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Mozart: Sonatas for Piano & Violin
Renaud Capuçon
Classical - Released June 23, 2023 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
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There are various complete recordings of Mozart's sonatas for piano and violin, most of them leaving off the juvenilia or relegating them to a separate volume (here they are omitted). This one by violinist Renaud Capuçon and keyboardist Kit Armstrong, playing modern instruments, holds the listener's interest unusually strongly. There are several reasons for this. One is the easy rapport between the two players, responding quickly to slight expressive moves or alterations in the tempo by one player or the other. They capture the rapidly developing role of the violin over the course of the set as it is transformed from an accompanimental instrument to a full partner in the dialogue. A second plus is the inclusion of two variation sets, the 12 Variations on "La bergère Celimène," K. 359, and the Six Variations on "Hélas, j'ai perdu mon amant," K. 360. These are not often heard, and quite opposite to what one might expect from their lightweight themes, they are substantial works. The role of the violin here, too, is key; although the piano is still the dominant partner, the violin was ready and available as a sound that would vary the texture, and Mozart exploited it to the hilt. Other attractions include the variety of Capuçon's playing within a fairly circumscribed context and an excellent feel for the dry language of the later sonatas, with their counterpoint and daringly irregular phrase shapes. A major entry in the Mozart discography, which landed on classical best-seller charts in the summer of 2023.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Sibelius: Symphony No. 4 - The Wood Nymph - Valse Triste
Santtu-Matias Rouvali
Classical - Released January 19, 2024 | Alpha Classics
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Choc de Classica
The Sibelius Symphony No. 4 in A minor, Op. 63, is a classically gloomy work, received coolly by its original audiences even though the composer was enormously popular. Sibelius wrote it while suffering from throat cancer that could easily have killed him; as it happened, surgery was successful, and he lived for another 46 years. It is generally taken to exemplify a peculiarly deep kind of Nordic gloom. Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali has gained quite a reputation for shaking up conventional interpretations, and interested listeners put this album on classical best-seller lists in early 2024. Here, he delivers more of the same, with a reading of the Fourth that is nervous and even a bit action-packed rather than gloomy. His performance is actually slightly slower than average, but it doesn't seem like it with all the little climaxes Rouvali inserts into the work. It is almost as if he is coming down on the side of the Sibelius contemporaries who argued for a hidden program in the symphony, something Sibelius himself denied. It is not a typical Sibelius Fourth, but it is intriguing, and the Gothenburg Symphony follows Rouvali effectively through unknown territory. In a work that does indeed have a program, The Wood Nymph, Op. 15, Rouvali offers a highly persuasive performance. He closes with a familiar work, the Valse triste, Op. 44, No. 1, but here again, he pushes the tempo; it is not an encore-type Valse triste. It is hard to know what to think of Rouvali's readings; perhaps he will set new standards, or perhaps they will be interpretational blips. Sample and decide.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Beethoven: The 32 Piano Sonatas
Wilhelm Kempff
Solo Piano - Released September 2, 2013 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
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One could easily lose oneself in the meanderings of the many recordings by Wilhelm Kempff, which stretch out across the 55 years from 1920 to 1975, even though he never liked playing for the microphone. But nonetheless he has always been happy to record, and would constantly polish up his technique so as to render the most faithful possible service to his art, across both his own evolution and the technological innovations that he has seen through his many years of recording, from acoustics to stereophony. The great German pianist left behind him three complete recordings of Beethoven's sonatas. The first was in the 1930s, but it wasn't quite complete; the second in the 1950s; and a final collection, brought together in this recording, from the early 1960s, with stereo sound. Recorded quite quickly, considering the volume of material involved, between January 1964 and January 1965, in the studios of Hanover's Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft, it represents Wilhelm Kempff's final statement on Beethoven's work, having drawn closer to it over the course of several years. While the piano isn't without the odd harsh moment, this complete recording is of very even quality, and it brings out Kempff's free playing style which had brought Beethoven into the light, avoiding the heavy-handedness which German pianists had often inflicted on the composer. This search for clarity and simplicity came close to the improvisatory style that was Beethoven's hallmark, as he quickly "noted" whatever his imagination brought forth. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 & Schulhoff: Five Pieces
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released July 28, 2023 | Reference Recordings
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Gramophone: Recording of the Month
This release made classical best-seller lists in the summer of 2023. It might seem that few listeners would be moved to add yet another version of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64, to their collections, but this is one of the strongest readings to come along in some years. Conductor Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony have specialized in big, bold interpretations of traditional Romantic repertory, and this one is no exception. It is an intense, brooding Tchaikovsky Fifth in the vein mined by the great Russian conductors of the middle 20th century (Honeck is not afraid to let the brass blare), and parts of it are really transcendent. After a bleak, moody first movement, hear the perfectly suspended horn solo in the second movement, sneaking in quietly at first, almost beneath notice. This is a virtuoso piece of playing, and even those not enamored of everything Honeck does will be hard-pressed to contend that he has not raised the Pittsburgh Symphony, which he has led since 2008, to the top rank of American orchestras. The work that rings down the curtain of this live recording is also unusual; the orchestration of Erwin Schulhoff's Five Pieces for String Quartet is by Honeck himself, with Tomás Ille. Another draw here for physical album buyers is the set of detailed booklet notes by Honeck; few conductors do that, and they offer plenty of insight into his interpretations. Top it off with clean live sound from Pittsburgh's Heinz Hall (no audience noise or applause), and the result is a superior Tchaikovsky recording.© James Manheim /TiVo
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Karol Szymanowski: Piano Works
Krystian Zimerman
Classical - Released September 30, 2022 | Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
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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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Anton Dvorák : Complete Symphonies & Concertos
Czech Philharmonic
Classical - Released January 1, 2014 | Decca Music Group Ltd.
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5 Sterne Fono Forum Klassik
Even though Antonín Dvorák remains among the most popular of Romantic composers, compilations of his complete symphonies are somewhat scarce, especially when compared to those of other great symphonists of the 19th century. That's one reason why Jirí Belohlávek's 2014 set with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra should get classical fans' attention, but a more valid reason to acquire this collection is the exceptionally high quality of the performances, which Decca recorded in a series of subscription concerts between 2010 and 2014. A deciding factor should be the strong feeling this conductor and orchestra have for Dvorák's music, not only because of a shared Bohemian tradition and the composer's legacy (Dvorák conducted the Czech Philharmonic's first concert in 1896), but also because few other orchestras communicate the rhythms and colors of the music as vibrantly and with as much excitement. As rare as sets of the complete symphonic cycle are, those that include Dvorák's concertos are rarer still. The recordings Belohlávek and the CPO made of the Cello Concerto in B minor with Alisa Weilerstein, the Violin Concerto in A minor with Frank Peter Zimmerman, and the Piano Concerto in G minor with Garrick Ohlsson are essential listening, and their inclusion with the symphonies gives the package much greater value. Decca's high-definition sound delivers clean details and close-up presence, so even though these recordings are live, they sound as fine as a studio recording. Highly recommended.© TiVo
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Fauré: Complete Music for Solo Piano
Lucas Debargue
Classical - Released March 22, 2024 | Sony Classical
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Choc de Classica -
Qobuz Album of the Week
Pianist, thinker, and author Lucas Debargue explains having wanted to inflect “an experimental accent” onto this album which compiles the complete solo piano works of Gabriel Fauré. Indeed, his intentions encompass both the music itself as well as its highly polished sound production, featuring the use of the now infamous Opus 102 piano, conceived and fabricated by French manufacturer Stephen Paulello. This innovative instrument features 102 keys instead of the typical 88, along with highly reactive mechanics which give it an exceptional sound identity and incomparable variability. Lucas Debargue puts his fluid and inspired technique at the service of music that he first approached quite late, at the end of his music education, upon hearing another student play the “Barcarolle N° 1.” For him, this was a sort of paradigm shift, the discovery of a world that he previously wasn’t aware of. The first major confinement of the COVID 19 crisis ended up being beneficial for him, as it allowed him to return to the long practice sessions that the explosive international success of his career prevented him from enjoying. Casting aside the idea of grouping the tracks together by title, as Fauré himself had given them titles merely for his editors’ convenience, Lucas Debargue follows the thread of this pure music by carefully adhering to the opus numbers. This gives listeners a measure of the composer’s evolution as he slowly distanced himself from his mentors in order to find his own harmonic richness, which also happens to resonate with Lucas Debargue’s own artistic concerns as a composer evolving within a tonal perspective. © François Hudry/Qobuz
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Vivaldi : Concerti per due violini
Giuliano Carmignola - Amandine Beyer
Violin Concertos - Released September 23, 2016 | harmonia mundi
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Diapason d'or -
Gramophone Award -
Gramophone Editor's Choice -
Le Choix de France Musique
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Robert Schumann: Complete Piano Trios, Quartet & Quintet
Trio Wanderer
Chamber Music - Released April 30, 2021 | harmonia mundi
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Diapason d'or -
Diapason d'or / Arte
Constantly shifting from the most impulsive exuberance to the most restrained meditation, from the most intense passion to the most innocent tenderness, this programme forms a representative panorama of Schumann’s chamber music. Going beyond the Piano Trios, which already give us a fully rounded account of Schumann, the Trio Wanderer have invited their favourite partners to join them for their interpretation of two supreme masterpieces, the Piano Quartet and Piano Quintet. © harmonia mundi
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Grieg : Complete Orchestral Works
Bjarte Engeset
Classical - Released May 8, 2014 | Naxos
Booklet
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5 de Diapason
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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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Liszt: Piano Sonata & Transcendental Etudes
Francesco Piemontesi
Solo Piano - Released September 1, 2023 | PentaTone
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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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The Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos
Garrick Ohlsson
Classical - Released May 12, 2023 | Reference Recordings
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Gramophone Editor's Choice
Musical careers last longer than they used to, and here, it is difficult to detect any weakening of the long-impressive technique of pianist Garrick Ohlsson, 74 years old, when this album was recorded in the summer of 2022. The feat is especially impressive in that all five of the Beethoven concertos (plus the Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43, with no piano) were performed live within a single week. Ohlsson is backed by the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra under the direction of veteran conductor Donald Runnicles, who points out that he and Ohlsson had very little discussion about interpretation prior to the performances. It is here that Ohlsson's expertise is evident. He doesn't blaze any new paths in these works, but one has the feeling that he holds the performances, to borrow a phrase from John Le Carré, like a thrush's egg in his hand. His readings are simple in the best way. Sample the arresting opening of the first movement of the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58; it is direct, yet there are micro shapings that bespeak long familiarity. In fact, it is in the first two concertos, where the lengthy expositions make it less possible for Ohlsson to control the flow of events, that are less effective. The partnership between Ohlsson and the orchestra, though, is lively throughout, and Runnicles gets excellent results from what is likely essentially a pickup group; the orchestra is moderately sized and agile. Superb live recording from Reference Recordings, discussed in detail in the booklet, is another draw.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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