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….
by admin | May 1, 2020 | Gunning, on CD
Now 75, Christopher Gunning has had a long and distinguished career as a composer for TV and film. Anybody who has watched the Poirot series with David Suchet as the Belgian sleuth will immediately recognise the quality of his orchestration and his ability to catch the mood. Gunning also wrote the incidental music for Pam Ferris and Felcity Kendal’s Rosemary and Thyme series and many others…..
by admin | May 1, 2020 | Debussy, on CD
Sir Mark has long been an exceptional conductor of Debussy’s music. He is one of the few who convey a sense of the architecture, its overall sweep, while taking intricate care of the detail. That skill is well evident here, not only in the familiar territory of the Nocturnes but in the much more rarely performed works that make up half this disc….
by admin | May 1, 2020 | Giuseppe Brescianello, J.S. Bach, Johann Fasch, Johann Pisendel, on CD, Telemann, Vivaldi
If you are looking for a baroque version of Al Pacino and references to horses’ heads under the heading of The Godfather, you can forget it. The Godfather here is derived from the convoluted reasoning that all these composers knew and were in some way ‘godfathers’ to each other’s music, as represented by the violinist Johann Pisendel, who was friends with all of them….
