by admin | May 10, 2020 | Bartok, on CD
The two works here bookend Bartok’s composing life. The Suite was written in 1905, when he was twenty-four, and draws upon tunes that were popular songs of the time, rather than overtly nationalist folk material. Then a liberal humanistic Hungary was the dream – a dream snuffed out with brief interludes ever since. Bartok championed Hungary’s musical heritage but he despised its right wing politics, refusing a medal for this work when it was offered by fascist sympathisers in 1936. He revised the Suite in 1920 but Thomas Dausgard has gone back to the original version and this is the first time it has been recorded in that form…
by admin | May 10, 2020 | Beethoven, on CD
Ronald Brautigam is no stranger to these concertos, having recorded them both on the modern piano and its historical equivalent. In this latest recording he uses two copies of instruments contemporary with the time of composition made by the American builder, Paul McNulty, in his country workshop in the Czech Republic…
by admin | May 10, 2020 | Mozart, on CD
These days it has become quite unusual to hear Mozart’s small orchestra works played by a Philharmonic band rather than a specialist chamber or period orchestra. Big name conductors tend to shy away from them too, perhaps conscious of the potential damage to their reputations if they appear heavy-handed. So for the LPO and Jurowski to release these recordings now is a very much more courageous move than it would have been fifty years ago…
by admin | May 1, 2020 | on CD, Schubert
Now in his early thirties, Maxim Emelyanchev is one of the new breed of conductors happy to straddle the fence between early and modern performance practice. This means that he brings an historically informed attitude to performances with orchestras not playing with period techniques, especially string bowing and tuning….
by admin | May 1, 2020 | Brahms, Debussy, Fauré, Franck, Fritz Kreisler, Liszt, Maria Theresia von Paradis, Mendlessohn, on CD, Philippe Gaubert, Saint-Saëns, Samuel Dushkin, Schumann
When composers play or conduct they seldom get sentimental. They rely on the quality of the music to make the emotional points rather than trying to drag every breath of pathos out of the phrasing. Ades approaches Janacek with just that balance between affection and respect. These pieces, the best of the Moravian’s piano music, come across as beautifully articulated essays, serious reflections on some harrowing events that at the same time need no narrative to stand as introspective masterpieces. There is plenty of drama, no showmanship or virtuosity for its own sake….
by admin | May 1, 2020 | Janacek, on CD
When composers play or conduct they seldom get sentimental. They rely on the quality of the music to make the emotional points rather than trying to drag every breath of pathos out of the phrasing. Ades approaches Janacek with just that balance between affection and respect. These pieces, the best of the Moravian’s piano music, come across as beautifully articulated essays, serious reflections on some harrowing events that at the same time need no narrative to stand as introspective masterpieces. There is plenty of drama, no showmanship or virtuosity for its own sake….
