Sir Neville Marriner 1924 - 2016

Conductor Sir Neville Marriner dies aged 92.
Founder of Academy of St Martin in the Fields was still conducting into his 90s and his Amadeus soundtrack sold 6.5m copies.

Sir Neville Marriner began his career playing in a string quartet and trio, then in the London Symphony Orchestra.
Sir Neville Marriner, one of the world’s greatest conductors, has died.
The founder of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, who conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras, died in his sleep on Sunday, aged 92, the academy said.
Marriner was still conducting into his 90s, conducting a concert to celebrate entering his 10th decade two years ago, which included a rendition of Happy Birthday. His 90th birthday was also marked by Classic FM dedicating an entire day of programming to his performances.
Neville Marriner: 'My wife has told me to keep June free'.
His soundtrack to the 1984 Oscar-winning film Amadeus is one of the most popular classical music recordings of all time. It topped the US album chart and has sold over 6.5m copies. The publicity blurb for the film said: “Only two people were qualified to conduct the score.” Below those words were two pictures: one of Mozart in powdered wig, the other of Marriner in white dickie bow. “One was unavailable,” added the blurb.
Academy chairman, Paul Aylieff, said: “We are greatly saddened by today’s news. Sir Neville’s artistic and recording legacy, not only with the academy but with orchestras and audiences worldwide is immense. He will be greatly missed by all who knew and worked with him, and the academy will ensure it continues to be an excellent and fitting testament to Sir Neville.”
Born in Lincoln, Marriner began as a violinist. He studied at the Royal College of Music with WH Reed, biographer and friend of Elgar, and the Paris Conservatoire. He began his career playing in a string quartet and trio, then in the London Symphony Orchestra. He formed the Academy with the aim of forming a top-class chamber ensemble from London’s finest players. Ironically, it was conceived as a conductor-free refuge for string-players but Marriner became, as he put it, “a turncoat” – a conductor who on stage, as often as not, held a violin in one hand and a baton in the other.
Marriner began his conducting career in 1969, after studying in the US, where he founded the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, while at the same time developing and extending the size and repertoire of the academy.
In 1979 he became music director and principal conductor of both the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Südwest Deutsche Radio Orchestra in Stuttgart, positions he held until the late 1980s.
He subsequently continued to work with orchestras around the globe. Marriner was music director of the academy from its formation in 1958 to 2011 when he became life president.
From its humble beginnings in Marriner’s front room as a group of friends getting together to rehearse, the academy, which gave its first performance in its namesake church in 1959, now enjoys one of the largest discographies – over 500 albums – of any chamber orchestra worldwide, and its partnership with its founder is the most recorded of any orchestra and conductor.

1 Sem 2016 - Part One

Lang Lang
In Paris - 2 Cd's



By James Manheim
For all the crossover theatrics he has offered as he approaches the end of the second decade of his career, the Chinese phenomenon Lang Lang would not have continued to flourish without solid and even innovative performances of core classical repertory. Following up on his highly successful Chopin Album, Lang Lang scores again with this recording, put together over several nights at the Bastille Opera in Paris. The first part consists of the four Chopin Scherzos, and these play unmistakably to Lang Lang's athletic strengths. Consider the octave triplet passages that make up the main thematic material of the Scherzo No. 3 in C sharp minor, Op. 39. In Lang Lang's hands, these are not just muscular, but a breathtaking single gesture. There aren't many pianists who could carry that off, and better still, Lang Lang molds the gesture into different shapes as the piece proceeds. He has the musicality to carry off risky contrasts between loud and quiet, and in the bravura passages of these most virtuosic Chopin pieces he is simply gripping. Tchaikovsky's The Seasons, Op. 37, are less commonly played than the Chopin, and there are recordings less brittle and more oriented toward the work's French roots than Lang Lang's. But here again there is a remarkable combination of power and suppleness, and it would be hard to conceive of anyone being bored by his performances. Sony's engineering tends to favor the high end, which is already implicit in Lang Lang's playing and did not need any help, but this does not distort his work in this case. Highly recommended for those who loved the Chopin Album, and evidence of continuing worthwhile work from one of the world's most popular classical artists.
Tracks Listings:
Disc: 1
1. Scherzo No. 1 in B Minor, Op. 20
2. Scherzo No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 31
3. Scherzo No.3 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 39
4. Scherzo No. 4 in E Major, Op. 54
Disc: 2
1. The Seasons, Op. 37a; I. January: At the Fireside
2. The Seasons, Op. 37a; II. February: Carnival
3. The Seasons, Op. 37a; III. March: Song of the Lark
4. The Seasons, Op. 37a; IV. April: Snowdrop
5. The Seasons, Op. 37a; V. May: Starlit Nights
6. The Seasons, Op. 37a; VI. June: Barcarolle
7. The Seasons, Op. 37a; VII. July: Song of the Reaper
8. The Seasons, Op. 37a; VIII. August: Harvest
9. The Seasons, Op. 37a; IX. September: The Hunt
10. The Seasons, Op. 37a; X. October: Autumn Song
11. The Seasons, Op. 37a; XI. November: Troika
12. The Seasons, Op. 37a; XII. December: Christmas


Sol Gabetta & Bertrand Chamayou
The Chopin Album



By ClassicFM
Here is an unusual selection of pieces by Chopin, more often known solely for his piano works, as well as compositions by his close friend, the composer and cellist Auguste-Joseph Franchomme.
Argentinian cellist Sol Gabetta and the superb young pianist, Bertrand Chamayou, came up with the concept of this album together and are now touring the repertoire in Europe.
The centrepiece of the album is Chopin's 30-minute long Sonata for cello and piano in G minor – one of the rare pieces Chopin wrote for a solo instrument other than his beloved piano. It makes for striking listening. Also here is the Grand Duo concertant in E major, written jointly by Chopin and Franchomme in 1832. Gabetta and Chamayou have additionally selected one of Franchomme's Nocturnes for Cello and Piano especially for this album.
The repertoire here is little-known and somewhat unfamiliar but Gabetta performs with her trademark grace and intimacy to bring a special, heartfelt romanticism to these works, which are well worth discovering.
Tracks:
Sonata for Cello and Piano
Introduction and Polonaise brillant
Grand Duo Concertante on Themes from Meyerbeer's '
(27) Etudes, C sharp minor, Op. 25/7
Nocturnes, No. 4 in F, Op. 15/1
Nocturne

Pierre Boulez 1925 - 2016

By Mark Brown/The Guardian-Arts

The composer, conductor, writer and performer, who directed the New York Philharmonic, had been ill for some time.

Pierre Boulez was described as an ‘exemplary man of the future’ by his friend and fellow conductor Daniel Barenboim. 

Pierre Boulez, one of the most influential and significant composers and conductors of the 20th century, has died aged 90.

Boulez died on Tuesday at his adopted home in Baden Baden, Germany. A family statement read: “For all those who knew him and who could appreciate his creative energy, artistic standards, availability and generosity, his presence will remain vivid and intense.”

Boulez had been ill for some time and had been unable to take part in the many celebrations held across the world for his most recent birthday.

As well as composing, Boulez was a prolific writer and pianist and an inspiration for generations of young musicians.

Paying tribute, fellow conductor and musician Daniel Barenboim said: 

"Today, the music world has lost one of its most significant composers and conductors. Personally, I have a lost a great colleague, a deeply admired creative mind and a close friend."

"Pierre Boulez and I first met in Berlin in 1964 and there have been few fellow musicians with whom I have developed such a close and important relationship in the 52 years that followed – even though we always stuck to the formal ‘vous’ when speaking to each other, a rarity in our rather informal world, but from my side, certainly, an expression of my deepest respect and admiration."

“‘Creation exists only in the unforeseen made necessary’, Pierre Boulez once wrote. With this belief as his paradigm, Pierre Boulez has radically changed music itself as well as its reception in society. He always knew exactly when he had to be radical because it was a necessary requirement for music and society to develop. He was never dogmatic, however, but always retained his ability to develop himself further. His development was based on a deep knowledge of and respect for the past. A true man of the future must know the past, and for me, Pierre Boulez will always remain an exemplary man of the future.

“Pierre Boulez has achieved an ideal paradox: he felt with his head and thought with his heart. We are privileged to experience this through his music. For this, and so much more, I will always be grateful.”

The French president, François Hollande, said: “Pierre Boulez made French music shine throughout the world. As a composer and conductor, he always wanted to reflect on the ages.”

As a conductor, never with a baton, Boulez appeared with some of the world’s greatest orchestras, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra. He led the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1971 to 1975 and was simultaneously music director of the New York Philharmonic from 1971 to 1977, succeeding Leonard Bernstein.

Also in the 1970s, the then French president Georges Pompidou invited him to found a new contemporary music centre called the Institute for the Research and Coordination of Acoustics and Music, known as Ircam.

Boulez was a maverick and provocateur, once declaring that that any composer who did not acknowledge the necessity of Schoenberg’s 12-tone system was “useless”. Another of his quotes was: “Operatic tourists make me want to vomit.”

He also dismissed Dmitri Shostakovich as a composer who “plays with cliches most of the time”, and said classical music’s history “seems more than ever to me a great burden. In my opinion we must get rid of it once and for all”.

Boulez was a long way from being stuffy and in 1973 took the chairs away from orchestra members of the New York Philharmonic, replacing them with rugs and cushions so they were more in line with the city’s coffeehouse culture and hippie scene.

George Benjamin on Pierre Boulez: 'He was simply a poet'

In the 1980s, he worked with Frank Zappa, resulting in the album Boulez Conducts Zappa.

One of a generation of pioneering post-second world war composers, Boulez helped steer contemporary music in radical new directions. He pioneered serialism in music, embarked on open-ended and improvisatory music, and experimented with what he called “controlled chance”, in which performers were offered choices about what to perform in music Boulez had written.

Boulez was born in 1925 in the town of Montbrison, near Lyon, and grew up in Nazi-occupied France. He was 20 when the second world war ended, which could offer one explanation for his energy and zeal to make a difference – or as he once said to his teacher Messiaen – “to put music right? It’s in such a terrible state”.

His friend and fellow composer George Benjamin praised Boulez in an article for the Guardian last year. “Through the power of his personality, the scale of his reputation and his considerable personal charm, Boulez has made big things happen, way beyond the confines of manuscript paper,” he wrote.

Boulez even ended up lending his name to Private Eye’s Music and Musicians column, rounding up gossip from the classical world – the column was always bylined “Lunchtime O’Boulez”, to differentiate it from the other regular byline, “Lunchtime O’Booze”.

2 sem 2015 - Part Four

Jan Garbarek & The Hilliard Ensemble
Officium Novum




By Stephen Eddins
More than 15 years separate the release of Jan Garbarek's best-selling album Officium from his Officium Novum. The newer release, like the original, features Garbarek on soprano and tenor saxophones and the male vocal quartet, the Hilliard Ensemble. In both albums, Garbarek takes preexisting vocal pieces and embroiders them with his soulful obbligato contributions. The chaste austerity of the men's voices and the reedy plaintiveness of the saxophone make for a surprisingly effective pairing. Garbarek and the singers manage to merge two very different musical worlds without compromising the integrity of either, and that is part of what gives these albums such an impact. The first album used primarily Medieval and Renaissance material -- chants, motets, and liturgical song -- while this second mostly uses more recent source material, primarily from Eastern Europe. In addition to several medieval sources, included are works by early 20th century Armenian priest, musicologist, and composer Komitas; Nikolai N. Kedrov, a Russian composer of the same era; mid-20th century Greek composer Giorgios Sefaris; Estonian Arvo Pärt; and several original pieces by Garbarek himself. Like the first album, this one is suffused with a sense of distant mystery and a profound, powerful melancholy that is given voice with intense feeling. The sound again is spacious and warmly resonant, with an earthy, enveloping ambience. This album will be a must-have for anyone who loved the first one, and it should appeal to any listener with an affinity for meditative Eastern European spirituality, especially when tied to contemporary expressivity and stylistic freedom.
Tracks:
1. Ov zamranali (Armenian traditional/ Komitas, Hilliard Ensemble/Jan Garbarek)
2. Svjete tihij (Byantine chant, Hilliard Ensemble/Jan Garbarek)
3. Allting finns (Jan Garbarek)
4. Litany (Hilliard Ensemble/Jan Garbarek)
5. Surp (Armenian traditional / Komitas, Hilliard Ensemble/Jan Garbarek)
6. Most Holy Mother Of God (Arvo Part)
7. Tres morillas m'enamoran (Spanish anonymous/Hilliard Ensemble/Jan Garbarek)
8. Sirt im sasani (Komitas, Hilliard Ensemble/Jan Garbarek)
9. Hays hark (Armenian traditional/ Komitas, Hilliard Ensemble/Jan Garbarek)
10. Alleluia, Nativitas (Perotin. Hilliard Ensemble / Jan Garbarek)
11. We are the stars (Jan Garbarek)


Vladimir Horowitz
Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon - 6 CD's




By Doug - Haydn Fan VINE VOICE
For reasons perhaps reflecting what may very well be a coming collapse of classical music pricing and distribution, bargains of an almost too good to be true nature continue to emerge on Amazon. This certainly is one! With the already very reasonable price slashed by half, you can now purchase all six Horowitz discs making up his recordings for DG for a little over twenty-five dollars. It's a buyer's market!
This set includes the famous Moscow Concert, a number of selections of pieces Horowtiz did very well, including Schumann, Liszt, Chopin, Scarlatti, and Scriabin, and even includes a Mozart Concerto, with large-scaled backing by Giulini. By this time in his career Horowitz plays more reflectively; the huge passionate outbursts of his salad days, with thunderous dynamics and blazing tempos are not the main attraction. One should absolutely not expect the reincarnation of, say, live concerts with Horowitz and Toscanini! Instead, perhaps channeling late Liszt, Horowitz seems at his best here when playing music requiring reflection and poetry.
Of course, this IS still Horowitz the virtouso - despite his age at the time of these recordings, around eighty - there's still plenty of pyrotechnics, though I find them more careful, and with a few bald spots showing through when he strives for more full sonorites and explosions. Opinions differ on the DG sound - Horowitz apparently never made life easy for the engineers, and there is some variance here, with some of the results not at all the equal of the best modern recordings.
If you don't yet have the Cd of the legendary return to Moscow Concert, or any of Horowitz's other late DGs, this is a great chance to hear them at an extremely modest cost.

2 Sem 2015 - Part Three

Valentina Lisitsa
plays Philip Glass - 2 CD's



By Michael Birman
Philip Glass may be characterized as a minimalist composer but his music transcends the genre. Minimalism is a catch-all phrase but basically it means a compositional style that considers horizontal development to be more important than the vertical component of a musical piece. In other words, that the melody line is the main focus of the composer's attention and, while not entirely ignoring the vertical or polyphonic (counterpoint) elements, the composer is really more interested in the temporal or melodic aspects of music rather than the spatial interplay of several lines of notes.
This is hardly a new development in the history of music. Something similar occurred around 1750 with the death of Bach, when there was a declining interest in "archaic polyphony" by composers who wanted a simpler, more immediately appealing form of music that we now call homophony. This meant creating new textures in which multiple parts move together but with a single melody line of prime importance, and a renewed interest in chords and harmony. A new aptitude for writing melody for its own sake resulted (melody had become difficult to discern in complex polyphonic music like a Bach fugue). The Classical style music of Haydn and Mozart was born. Something similar occurred in reaction to the perceived sterility of atonal and 12-tone serial music championed by Schoenberg, Webern and others during the mid-twentieth century. Minimalism led to simplification in some of the more intellectual aspects of music and there was a new interest in harmony, melody, and instrumental textures for their own sake. Philip Glass is a master of this new style and his music reflects so much more than merely Minimalism.
The three works - The Hours, Metamorphosis and Mad Rush - recorded on these two CDs by pianist Valentina Lisitsa all reflect the composer's meditative compositional style in which blocks of melody are created, examined from every conceivable angle to the point of near exhaustion until new elements can create new blocks of melody, with the process repeating itself until it seems as if a self-replicating process has begun. Of course, that is one definition of the biological processes that we call "life" and the parallels seem appropriate.
The music of Philip Glass has an organic quality that operates like a melody engine fed by musical motifs (a usually short succession of musical notes that create a single impression; or a brief melodic or rhythmic formula out of which longer passages can be developed). This organic, living melody engine is significantly more complex and a much more creative process than the name of the genre that is used to categorize it (the "M" word again) would lead you to think. Glass is a master at creating these small elements of melodic germination that power the engine that drives his music.
Lisitsa has the pianistic mastery to convey the composer's ideas with almost effortless grace. She makes it look and sound easy but it really isn't. Glass, like Mozart, is a difficult composer to play partly because the music sounds so simple while so much goes on "under the hood". Lisitsa is a pianist with exceptional control of keyboard dynamics (watch her YouTube video in which she plays the final movement of Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata, for an example of her brilliant use of dynamics for expressive purposes). She uses that control to emphasize different blocks of notes as they flow by but always with great subtlety, making the music sound as if it were constantly re-inventing itself, always sounding fresh and new.
Repetition, which is the hallmark of this music, is craftily de-emphasized in Lisitsa's playing by varying its dynamics, volume, velocity and even her playing style at times. Lisitsa's sparkling playing becomes an aspect of the music's creation. Her performances in all three works have some improvisational qualities, another aspect of Minimalism reminiscent of the Classical era (Mozart and Beethoven were renowned as improvisers before they were famous for their compositions). These two CDs are a superb introduction to the piano music of Philip Glass and Valentina Lisitsa is an excellent interpreter of his music. If you're a fan of the composer you'll probably love these discs. Lisitsa is a gifted pianist who appears unafraid of being challenged by new music. She certainly rises to the occasion on these exemplary recordings. Decca's engineers have crafted superb sound: the piano is nicely centered in a well-focused soundstage, its deeply resonant tone abetted by a slight application of reverb. On good systems the piano sounds as if it is in the room with you. 

Impressive recordings in all respects.
Track Listings:
Disc: 1
1. Glassworks: Opening
2. Truman Sleeps
3. The Poet Acts
4. Morning Passages
5. How Now
6. Something She Has To Do
7. I'm Going To Make A Cake
8. Olympian: Lighting of the Torch
9. Mad Rush
Disc: 2
1. Dead Things
2. Tearing Herself Away
3. Wichita Sutra Vortex
4. Escape!
5. Choosing Life
6. The Hours
7. Metamorphosis One
8. Metamorphosis Two
9. Metamorphosis Three
10. Metamorphosis Four
11. Metamorphosis Five
12. Mishima: Closing


Valentina Lisitsa
Études - Chopin & Schumann




By Virginia music lover
Not that many pianists record all the Chopin Etudes from Op. 10 and 25. The reason? They're tough to play, tougher to play very well. The Etudes span every mood, from sadness to winter storm to warlike, and were designed to test a pianist's technique and nerve.
Valentina has a lot of serve. She recorded these under the watchful eye of her public, live streaming two days of her sessions. There's no snip and paste here -- at the sessions she played each etude in whole. A knowledgeable producer would discuss the piece with her and off she'd go again. I listened to much of it and the commenters (one of the beauties of live streaming) would consistently say, "Wow, that one's perfect." Frankly, almost every one of her takes would have been recordable. As she has shown in the past, her pieces are played as a whole, keeping a singing line. Her technique is flawless, and her playing is so clear that you can hear the most minor nuance even while there is a whirlwind of notes. She is also a very fast player, but to me she never sounds rushed. Her clarity of technique means that you don't hear a jumble of sounds. I'm open to debate as to whether anyone plays the Etudes better. But I'll be listening to these on my desert island. Remember, the entire body of these is so difficult that Rubinstein never recorded them -- and he is on record as saying some of them were beyond him. Imagine.
The Schumann Symphonic Etudes are likely less familiar to many, but they are masterful (and difficult) works. The gold standard for these works has been Sfronitsky's interpretation, thankfully on You Tube. It is said no one ever played them better, and the works were nicknamed "sofronicheskie etudy." This may rile people but I think Lisitsa's version is better. Naturally, the recording is clearer -- there's a five decade gap in technology (plus Sfronitsky plays live which is often harder to record). But after the quiet opening, check Lisitsa's Tracks 26-27 and Sfronitsky (starting at about 2:30). Lisitsa's fingerwork is more agile, and every bit as lovely. On to the finale -- Lisitsa plays over 30 seconds faster and for the opening bars of the finale it sounds too fast at first listen. But she maintains the tempo and it really makes sense as the piece builds to its climax. When I went back to the Sfronitsky it sounded a little plodding.
One may disagree with the Sfronitsky comparison I made, but (a) at the very least the modern sound is more enjoyable, and (2) she plays the hell out of the Etudes.
Track Listings:
Disc: 1
1. Chopin No.1 In C Major 12 Etudes, Op.10
2. Chopin No.2 In A Minor -Chromatique 12 Etudes, Op.10
3. Chopin No.3 In E Major -Tristesse 12 Etudes, Op.10
4. Chopin No.4 In C Sharp Minor 12 Etudes, Op.10
5. Chopin No.5 In G Flat Black Keys 12 Etudes, Op.10
6. Chopin No.6 In E Flat Minor12 Etudes, Op.10
7. Chopin No.7 In C Major 12 Etudes, Op.10
8. Chopin No.8 In F Major 12 Etudes, Op.10
9. Chopin No.9 In F Minor 12 Etudes, Op.10
10. Chopin No.10 In A Flat Major 12 Etudes, Op.10
11. Chopin No.11 In E Flat Major 12 Etudes, Op.10
12. Chopin No.12 In C Minor Revolutionary 12 Etudes, Op.10
13. Chopin No.1 In A Flat Major- Harp Study 12 Etudes, Op.25
14. Chopin No.2 In F Minor 12 Etudes, Op.25
15. Chopin No.3 In F Major 12 Etudes, Op.25
16. Chopin No.4 In A Minor 12 Etudes, Op.25
17. Chopin No.5 In E Minor 12 Etudes, Op.25
18. Chopin No.6 In G Sharp Minor 12 Etudes, Op.25
19. Chopin No.7 In C Sharp Minor 12 Etudes, Op.25
20. Chopin No.8 In D Flat Major 12 Etudes, Op.25
21. Chopin No.9 In G Flat Major - Butterfly Wings 12 Etudes, Op.25
22. Chopin No.10 In B Minor 12 Etudes, Op.25
23. Chopin No.11 In A Minor Winter Wind 12 Etudes, Op.25
24. Chopin No.12 In C Minor 12 Etudes, Op.25
25. Schumann Theme Symphonic Studies, Op.13
26. Schumann Etude I Symphonic Studies, Op.13 - With repeat
27. Schumann Variation I Symphonic Studies, Op.13 -Appendix - With repeat
28. Schumann Etude II Symphonic Studies, Op.13 -With repeat
29. Schumann Etude III Symphonic Studies, Op.13 -With repeat
30. Schumann Etude IV Symphonic Studies, Op.13
31. Schumann Etude V Symphonic Studies, Op.13 -With repeat
32. Schumann Variation II Symphonic Studies, Op.13 - Appendix
33. Schumann Variation III Symphonic Studies, Op.13 - Appendix - With repeat
34. Schumann Variation IV Symphonic Studies, Op.13 - Appendix - With repeat
35. Schumann Variation V Symphonic Studies, Op.13 -Appendix - With repeat
36. Schumann Etude VI Symphonic Studies, Op.13
37. Schumann Etude VII Symphonic Studies, Op.13
38. Schumann Etude VIII Symphonic Studies, Op.13 -With repeat
39. Schumann Etude IX Symphonic Studies, Op.13
40. Schumann Etude XSymphonic Studies, Op.13 -With repeat
41. Schumann Etude XI Symphonic Studies, Op.13
42. Schumann Etude XII (Finale) Symphonic Studies, Op.13
43. Chopin 3 Nouvelles Etudes No.1 In F Minor
44. Chopin 3 Nouvelles Etudes No.2 In A Flat
45. Chopin 3 Nouvelles Etudes No.3 In D Flat

2 Sem 2015 - Part Two

Sol Gabetta
Prayer



By James Manheim
The fast-rising Argentine-Swiss cellist Sol Gabetta took the name of this recital from the "Prayer" movement of Ernest Bloch's From Jewish Life, which she has performed as an encore to great success and to an obvious emotional reaction from audiences. She went in search of similar music, found the path partially trodden by Pablo Casals, and put together a program that is actually quite novel -- of the music on the album, only Bloch's Schelomo (track 10) is really common -- and yet seems as though it's always been there. Tribute is paid to Casals not only in the emotive playing, but in the presence of El Cant dels Ocells (The Song of the Birds), one of several Casals compositions deserving of more frequent performance. The most unusual entry here, and perhaps the least successful one, is the selection of pieces from Shostakovich's song cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry, arranged here for cello and orchestra by Mikhail Bronner. It seems to be part of the general mood, but it's not; despite the theme, it's pure postwar Shostakovich, and Gabetta doesn't quite catch its note of tension. The much-recorded Schelomo, however, fares very well here, even with a switch in orchestra, venue, and conductor. As usual, a bracingly fresh program from this charismatic and intelligent cellist.
Tracks:
- Bloch, E
From Jewish Life
Schelomo
Nigun (Baal Shem No. 2)
Méditation hébraïque
- Casals
El Cant dels Ocells (Song of the birds), with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta
- Shostakovich
Lullaby (from From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79/79a), arranged for violoncello & string orchestra by Mikhail Bronner
A Warning (from From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79/79a), arranged for violoncello & string orchestra by Mikhail Bronner
The Song of Misery (from From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79/79a), arranged for violoncello & string orchestra by Mikhail Bronner
The Young Girl’s Song (from From Jewish Folk Poetry, Op. 79/79a),arranged for violoncello & string orchestra by Mikhail Bronner

Performed by Sol Gabetta, cello, with the Orchestre National de Lyon, Leonard Slatkin conducting.

Leonidas Kavakos & Yuja Wang
Brahms - The Violin Sonatas



By Robert Roy
It's taken a long time for Kavakos to be snapped up by a major record company after years of making modestly promoted discs for smaller companies such as BIS. (His recording of the Sibelius concerto in it's original and revised forms is one of the best performances of this much recorded masterpiece). His outings either Decca have, so far, been outstanding with a thought provoking Beethoven sonata set and a wonderful Brahms concerto with Chailly. However, I do wonder if he has been 'marketed' into this latest venture. (I'm trying to imaging the 'suits' discussing this 'concept'. "Okay, we need a new recording of the Brahms sonatas. Lots of great names have recorded them so is there anything we can do to put our disc at the top of the heap?" "I know - let's team up our latest signing with Yuja Wang. She's making a big name for herself. Let's show that she can 'do' chamber music too". "Great idea".)
Kovakos appears to be approaching these works with almost a period instrument frame of mind. Vibrato is kept to a minimum, bowing appears to have been calculated to the millimetre, (how I wish he would just SING now and again) and there is a feeling of austerity to his playing. As for Ms. Wang, well, we know that she can play BIG when she wants to but here she seems to doing her very best to keep a lid on her temperament.
The first movement of the G Major sonata has moments of idiosyncrasy. The second subject melody seems, to me, to be starved of feeling. You can almost hear Kovakosis' fiddle and bow begging to be released from their disciplined straight jacket. The pizzicato chords are most odd where the violinist accompanies the pianist. Korvakos spreads them slowly so that the top note sounds late.
Actually, another problem has already become apparent although I accept it may bother some listeners more than others. I obviously don't know if Kovakos had a cold or not when he and Yuja Wang recorded these between Christmas and New Year 2013 but, my goodness, he sniffs! It's really distracting and, while I appreciate he has to breath, this is up there with Glen Gould's 'vocalise'!
The second movt. is much better with some gorgeous double stopped playing from Kovakos. And I've heard lots of things in the piano part I've not heard before. (Surely the reason for buying yet another recording of these immortal masterpieces!). The last movement, IMHO, lacks a little of the wistfulness and regret that this music needs.
In conclusion, perhaps I've heard too many warmly romantic performances from, amongst others, Oistrakh, Perlman, Mutter, Zukerman and Mr. Heifetz to name but five great names to fully respond to this approach but I DO know that, despite my reservations, I'll be returning to this disc again and again to investigate its unique approach.

2 Sem 2015 - Part One

Hélène Grimaud
Brahms Concertos - 2 Cd's



By Martin Buzacott/Limelight
You’ll read reviews of this CD where itinerant and half-hearted Brahmsians will tell you that the tempi taken by conductor Andris Nelsons and soloist Helene Grimaud in this utterly remarkable, inspired and inspiring recording of the two Brahms piano concertos are too slow and leaden. You must not believe them. Just as true Brahmsians appreciate the glacial tempi of the symphonies in Celibidache’s legendary complete set, so here Nelson’s slower pace is all about unfolding the Brahms universe with its profound richness of detail and astonishing warmth of tone. There are so many recordings of Brahms First Piano Concerto, but few could be classified as Desert Island Discs and in fact many are downright disappointing. Well this performance of it recorded live in Munich changes all of that, and if by the end your legs are still able to support the weight of your body, assume that Brahms just isn’t really your thing. From that first opening orchestral chord, surely the most arresting ever captured on disc, Nelsons announces the epic scope of the enterprise ahead. Just three seconds in and your breath’s been taken away, and from there, he and remarkable Frenchwoman Grimaud are like two Alices in the Brahmsian Wonderland, each glorious new entry, whether in the piano itself, on the horn, or especially in the lower strings, unfolding at a tempo beyond human agency, like the clear dawn emerging after a storm, dazzling the senses in the process. Grimaud’s drama-charged, percussive style, eschews sentimentality but remains passionate nonetheless, filled with an emotion generated from within the music itself, the performers simply a part of a much larger whole. This is Brahms in 3D, everything standing up and being counted, almost as if it has some sort of moral presence all its own, gorgeously captured by the DG engineers in this textbook example of live recording. And then, after two movements of vastly intelligent, intense colour and drama, the finale of the First enters, now transformed into breakneck pace, but never losing its shape or focus as Grimaud, noted for her technical prowess, simply rips the thing apart. The Second Concerto doesn’t have quite the same inherent drama, but here it gets treatment as the First, with a different orchestra but the same injection of momentum with each new musical incident. Some people may mark this recording down a star because of Grimaud’s noticeably heavy breathing throughout, but many more, and definitely males, will give the allure-advantaged soloist bonus points for the very same reason. My God, what a disc.


Hélène Grimaud & Sol Gabetta
Duo


By RBSProds
An inspiring, enjoyable, powerhouse meeting between two award-winning highly-individualistic classical music superstars who consider their initial meeting as fateful, not coincidence. Hélène Grimaud (who is called "the earth" in their interview), one of the greatest interpretative classical pianists who experiences sound as colors, and star cello virtuoso Sol Gabetta ("the air"), famed for the nuanced, singing quality of her instrumental interpretations and her highly emotional playing, meld their 'earth and air' talents and personae into a marvelous musical duo. It began in 2011 in a joyful, fateful musical encounter that 'clicked' immediately. In a wide spectrum of musical tastes, they cover the duo compositions of Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Claude Debussy, and Dmitri Shostakovich, and this diverse program works wonderfully and has toured to great success. All performances are excellent and the 'best of the best' begins with the 'storm to calm' of the 'Finale' of Debussy's Sonata for Violoncello and Piano in D Minor; the awesome beauty and virtuosity of the spellbinding 12 minute Shostakovich Allegro non troppo from the Sonata for Violoncello and Piano in D minor, Opus 40; the fiery third movement of Schumann's 'Drei Fantasiestücke' (Three Fantasies), Opus 73 and the overpowering beauty of the familiar 14 minute Allegro non troppo and the 6 minute Allegro-Più presto movements of Brahms Sonata for Piano and Violoncello No 1 in E minor, Opus 38. Awesome Grammy-nominated performances by two great artists who form a dynamic duo of singular musical purpose. My Highest Recommendation! Five BRILLIANT Stars! (13 tracks; Time 73 minutes, 45 seconds. Booklet notes in English, German, and French. 

- This recording won the 2013 ECHO Klassic award as the Chamber Music Recording of the Year in the 19th Century Music (Mixed Ensemble category).