Heitor Villa-Lobos - A Prole do Bebê I e II
By SMonteiro
"This is the first time that the two "Proles do Bebê"(Baby's Family) are recorded in the same CD by a Brazilian pianist. According to the distinguished Brazilian composer Almeida Prado, the Baby's Family n. 1, from 1918, "has the French influence of Debussy and Ravel associated with a very ingenious use of Brazilian rhythms." Three years later, in 1921, V. Lobos wrote the second cycle of "Prole do Bebê". "This time", says the critic, "the change in style is astonishing. A very different pianism, agressive- sometimes even brutal- is combined with a highly sophisticated harmony (bitonal, atonal), and new rhythms coming from the Sacre du Printemps are enriched by the originality of V. Lobos.":
PROLE DO BEBÊ Nº 1
01 Branquinha2m40s
02 Moreninha 1m38s
03 Caboclinha 2m57s
04 Mulatinha 1m21s
05 Negrinha 1m17s
06 Pobrezinha2m07s
07 Polichinelo 1m28s
08 A Bruxa 2m08s
PROLE DO BEBÊ Nº 2
09 A Baratinha de Papel 2m45s
10 A Gatinha de Papelão 2m45s
11 O Camundongo de Massa 2m55s
12 O Cachorrinho de Borracha2m35s
13 O Cavalinho de Pau 2m13s
14 O Boizinho de Chumbo 4m44s
15 O Passarinho de Pano 3m19s
16 O Ursinho de Algodão 2m23s
17 O Lobozinho de Vidro 4m41s
Dan Tepfer
Bach/Tepfer - Goldberg Variations/ Variations
By Robert Carraher "The Dirty Lowdown"
Dan Tepfer is one of the most formidable jazz pianists on the international stage and hailed as such by press on every continent you can keep a piano in tune (Antarctica does not qualify). He has owned the spotlight the world over, from his solo work to full orchestra performances, and his improve skills are awe inspiring. His style is more melodic, he's not one to display his technical prowess through big blasts of dissonance and drama. This comes to the listeners ear as playful, fun, sexy and just beautiful. There is such a rainbow of musical colors that it takes you away before you even knew you were packed.
He has chronicled his talents on the solo disc Twelve Free Improvisations in Twelve Keys (2009) as well as the trio sessions Before the Storm (2005), Oxygen (2007) and Five Pedals Deep . Here, he brings that melodic lyricism to JS Bach's Goldberg Variations. To tackle the masters iconic work is a pretty ambitious ideal, but Tepfer is more than equal to the task. This is no popular music take on Bach, so don't expect A 5th Of Beethoven or Hooked On Bach. This is a masterful pianist, a classically trained pianist and a young man who has been praised wherever he has graced the ears of jazz and classical fans giving us a respectful and affectionate interpretation of the complete "Goldbergs" and interspersed are his improv variations on Bach's Variations...did that make sense?
For Tepfer, this was no "romp" through the play ground, no playful process for showing off. He disappears into the music and I am told that he even engineered this disk himself to further immerse himself in the pieces and the project. In between Bach's own variations are Tepfer's improvisation and though true to the original you can feel the kiss of jazz. Wonderful stuff. My advice to you. Grab a good book, and put this album on and get lost in a marvelous disk.
Jacques Loussier Trio
Schumann/ Kinderszenen - Scenes From Childhood
by Alex Henderson
Over the years, third stream music has been criticized in both the jazz and Euro-classical worlds. Jazz snobs have argued that if a jazz musician is playing something by Beethoven or Chopin, he/she can't possibly maintain an improviser's mentality; classical snobs will argue that great classical works need to be played exactly as they were written, and that jazz artists can't possibly do the compositions of Schubert, or Debussy justice if they improvise. But thankfully, Jacques Loussier hasn't paid attention to the naysayers in either the jazz or classical worlds, and after all these years, the French pianist (who turned 76 in 2010) is still taking chances. This 2011 release finds Loussier putting his spin on "Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood)," which German romanticist Robert Schumann (b. 1810, d. 1856) composed in 1838. Schumann turned 28 that year, and he wrote that nostalgic, 13-song work in memory of his childhood. Loussier (who forms an acoustic piano trio with bassist Benoit Dunoyer de Segonzac and drummer André Arpino) performs "Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood)" in its entirety, and he approaches it not as European classical music, but as acoustic post-bop jazz. Thankfully, "Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood)" is appropriate for Loussier, who maintains the 13 songs' nostalgic outlook but does so in a consistently jazz-oriented fashion. Loussier sounds like he is fondly remembering his own childhood, which came about long after Schumann's. Indeed, Loussier was born in 1934, which was 96 years after "Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood)" was composed and 78 years after Schumann's death; Loussier grew up surrounded by a lot of music and technology that didn't exist when Schumann was a kid. But the more things change, the more they stay the same and nostalgia continues to inspire musicians today just as it did in Schumann's pre-jazz, pre-electricity, pre-records time. This 49-minute CD is among Loussier's creative successes; his experimentation hasn't always worked, but it works impressively well for him on this imaginative interpretation of "Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood)."
Evgeny Kissin
Mussorgsky: Pictures At An Exhibition
By Stephen Wigler
Any recording of Busoni's transcription of Bach's mighty organ Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C will inevitably be compared with the Vladimir Horowitz performance that opened his "comeback" recital in 1965and the 78-rpm-era version of Arthur Rubinstein (resurrected on Volume 8 in BMG's Rubinstein Collection). Kissin gives us Horowitz's brilliance, without the nervous affectations and missed notes, and Rubinstein's healthy athleticism and grandeur, without the occasional inattention to detail. In a performance such as this, Kissin convinces us that he is at once the Horowitz and the Rubinstein of our era--and perhaps superior to either. In Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, Kissin almost never falters in evoking the inherently Russian quality of the tableaux: the heartbreak of unrequited passion in the "Old Castle"; the lurching to and fro of "Bydlo"; the mimicry of "Tuileries"; the helter-skelter bargain-seeking of "Limoges"; and the spooky depths of "Catacombs" and "Con mortuis in lingua mortua." Perhaps "The "Hut on Fowl's Legs" and "The Great Gate of Kiev" have only been surpassed in live recitals by Kissin himself and, of course, by Sviatoslav Richter--the best of whose live performances, recorded at a 1958 recital in Sofia, is still available on a Philips disc. Kissin's encore, Balakirev's transcription of Glinka's "The Lark," demonstrates that, when it comes to creating a singing line, with sensitive phrasing and exquisite textures, he has no equal among pianists alive today.
By Vidar Palsson
I have spent the latest week listening to Kissin's newest CD. And here are my thoughts:
- Bach/Busoni:
Kissin's clear tone suits the work perfectly. His tone is sharp and the pedalling is held to moderation. The toccata is virtuosic at times and Kissin rses to sound as a whole organ. The adagio is slow and beautifuly colored by Kissin. Each phrase has weight and you sink in your chair listening to it. But the best is yet to come, the fugue. I wish Kissin would play more poliphonic music like fugues because he is a master at dragging forward inner voices. His fingers seem to have individual life and the lines eash gain their own existance. Listen to the beginning of the fugue, such clarity, focus and calm. The breath of tone in this work displayed by Kissin shows clearly his capability to make the piano sound like any other instrument he likes, organ, orchestra or what ever.
- Glinka/Balakirev:
Small work I haven't heard elsewhere. Melancolic, slow and beautiful. An ok break between the two major works on the disc.
- Mussorgsky:
Listening to Kissin led me into yet one Pictures-mania. So, there has been a lot of comparisons this week. I must say it straight out: genius! This is what I call a high class performance. In his last CD (Chopin: 2nd sonata, preludes) his tone got a bit to hard at times, and I was curious is he would try the power-path of Horowitz or the poeticism of Richter. I am glad he choose the latter, although I love Horowitz's version(s). Take for exaple the Bydlo. Yes, Horowitz is funny and exiting when he unleashes a thunderous left in the high climax. But such a force makes the bydlo more of a crasy bull than a slow, fat and lumpish ox, making heavy steps. Kissin hold back the banging and portraies the bydlo as slow but powerful force. The fast sections, like the market or the ballet of the chickens, sparkle with life. The grand gate of Kiev is magnificent, truly grand and noble.
Conclusion: A CD to treasure as it contains a stunnig Bach/Busoni and one of the very best pictures ever, arguably the best pictures for a long long time. Kissin is the successor to Richter and Horowitz in Mussorgsky, no doubt in my mind.
