Mozart - Complete Piano Variations

Ronald Brautigam: fortepiano

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 835 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 342 mb
Scans (English notes) @ 300dpi = 23 mb

Total playing time: 60:37 + 63:07 + 61:37 + 61:21

Recorded: August 1997, Länna Church, Sweden

Released: 2001, BIS-CD-1266/1267

Track listing:
CD 1
1. 12 Variations In C Major On "Ah, Vous Dirai-Je Maman"
2. 8 Variations In G-Major On "Laat Ons Juichen, Batavieren!" (Christian Ernst Graaf)
3. 12 Variations In B-Flat Major On An Allegretto
4. 12 Variations In E-Flat Major On "La Belle Françoise"
5. 6 Variations In F Major On "Salve Tu, Domine" (From Paisello, I Filosofi Immaginarii)
6. Praeludium (Modulating F Major - E Minor)
7. Rondo In A Minor

CD 2
1. 10 Variations En G Majeur
2. Ouverture : Ouverture
3. Ouverture : Allemande
4. Ouverture : Courante
5. Kleiner Trauermarch In E-Moll: Marche Funebre Del Sig.R Maestro Contrapunto
6. Acht Variationen In F-Dur
7. Zwölf Variationen In C-Dur
8. Clavierstück In F-Dur
9. Fantastic Fragment In D-Moll

CD 3
1. 8 Variations in F major on 'Ein Weib ist das herrlichste Ding', K.613
2. Praludium in C major, K.284a
3. Praludium (Fantasie) und Fuge in C major, K.394 - I. Prelude
4. Praludium (Fantasie) und Fuge in C major, K.394 - II. Fugue
5. 12 Variations in E-flat major on a Romance 'Je suis Lindor', K.354
6. Gigue in G major, K.574
7. Adagio in B minor, K.540

CD 4
1. Neun Variationed in D-Dur, K.573
2. Sechs Variationed in G-Dur, K.180
3. Neun Variationed in C-Dur, K.264
4. Thema in F-Dur mit funf Variationen, K.Anh 138a
5. Sieben Variationed in D-Dur, K.25
6. Zwei Variationed in A-Dur, K.460
7. Rondo in D-Dur, K.485

Reviews:
Classicstoday
A signpost reading "Caution: Genius at Play" should mark each and every set of keyboard variations penned by Mozart. The variation form is where Mozart didn't compose so much as he jammed, riffed, and allowed his powdered wig to all hang out in between big projects like operas and concertos. Mozart probably improvised some of these works before setting them to paper, and they best communicate when played in an unfettered, spontaneous manner. The fluency of Mozart's ideas and the beauty and logic inherent in the piano writing has to come across without the pianist sounding as if he or she has practiced the tricky passages a thousand times. Even more than in his excellent Mozart sonata cycle for BIS, Ronald Brautigam's tempos feel just right, whether adrenaline supplements seem to be fueling the pianist's potent left hand in the C major Variations on "Ah, vous dirai-je Maman" and E-flat major set on "La belle Françoise", or the delightful, show-offy sections of the "Je Suis Landor" Variations K. 354.

Other significant works sprinkled among the variation sets include Eine Kleine Gigue (its dizzying metric displacements tossed off with lightness and glee), a flexible and refreshingly unsolemn B minor Adagio, the perky D major Rondo, and a graceful and supple rendition of the underrated French Overture K. 399, with its harmonically sophisticated Allemande. In a handful of pieces like the A minor Rondo, I feel that Brautigam's little holdbacks and feminine endings are a bit precious, studied, and ultimately predictable. However, that hardly detracts from the collection's overall success. Once again Brautigam uses a Paul McNulty fortepiano (modeled after an Anton-Gabriel Walter instrument circa 1795). Unlike many fortepianos, it doesn't boast pronounced timbral differences from one register to another, but most of the time the soft pedal produces a delicate lute-like sonority that greatly contrasts to the instrument's tangy brightness. With BIS selling these four discs at the price of two, how can you go wrong?

Musicweb
Brautigam has already recorded the complete Mozart sonatas (BIS-CD-835/837) and, as you can see, although this is called "Complete Piano Variations" it actually slips in along the way (the discs are arranged in listenable sequences, not as above) most but not all of the miscellaneous pieces. I find this a little strange. Having got this far Brautigam presumably wishes to finish recording all Mozart’s piano music and the pieces left over – a handful of sonata allegros, a few minuets and a small number of odds and ends – hardly amount to a full CD (it would be churlish, when this box is being offered at 4 CDs for the price of 2, to suggest that there might have been room for them here, for the timings are not all that long). So why not finish the job then and there?

Compared with most recordings of the variations, this includes K. Anh. 138a, usually known as part of the Sonata K. 547a (but not included in Brautigam’s sonata recordings). The very informative booklet notes go into this in some detail, but not so much as to explain why my Peters edition has an additional variation and a coda not played here.

The instrument used was made in 1992 by Paul McNulty in Amsterdam, following a model of Anton Gabriel Walter of c. 1795. There are times when listening to a fortepiano provokes the irreverent consideration that, were I to record a programme on my auntie’s old upright and palm it off as a fortepiano, no one would know the difference. I think it is the richness of the harmonics which proclaim the present as an instrument of very high quality (and it responds to recording in a church as pianos almost never do). The many, many brilliant pieces here have a really exciting sound, with something of a harpsichord ping to the lower register, tempered with sweetness in the upper notes. Listen to the two presto sections in the D minor Fantasia where rapid scales cover the whole range of the keyboard to hear what a splendidly voiced instrument this is (and what a splendidly even touch Brautigam has). My notes are full of comments such as "a splendid display", so once for all I’ll quote K. 613 as a set of variations which shows pianist and instrument at their full-blooded best. (Note also the covered tone obtained for the minor-key variation). No less effective are the more delicate, musical-box sonorities of K. 573, while the chords of the funeral march for Sig. Maestro Contrapunto are strikingly rich without heaviness.

If I now have to make a few reservations, it should be remembered that most of the music here is of a brilliant, virtuosic nature and my reservations therefore regard a minority of the pieces.

Where grace is called for, as in the last part of the D minor fantasia or the D major rondo, Brautigam remains obstinately firm toned and rather heavy. By the same token K. 455 is somewhat perfunctory. One of the advantages of the fortepiano over the piano is supposed to be that chords from the middle register down don’t sound clumpy. Unfortunately the accompaniment to the principal theme of the A minor rondo shows that they do if the pianist does nothing to unclump them (whereas Rubinstein with his modern Steinway reduces his accompaniment to a gentle pulsation). A melody line tied down by an obtrusively chugging accompaniment tends to be a liability in slow pieces and variations. I noticed this first in the 11th variation of K. 353, and the Adagio in B minor is a long haul indeed. Brautigam seems to find it difficult to liberate his melodies from their accompaniments as we are told Mozart himself did, though to be fair I did make a note that he managed to voice the different layers of texture very successfully in the slow variation of K. 264. I also noted in the freer variations of K. 613 a degree of spontaneity which is not always present elsewhere.

So what does this add up to? Brautigam’s brilliance and enthusiasm, as well as the instrument itself, are just what is needed most of the time. Perhaps he will now record some of the concertos and seek out that depth and spontaneity which he seems capable of, but does not yet have completely on tap, as it were.

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Haydn - The Seven Last Words From The Cross

Gidon Kremer: violin
Kathrin Rabus: violin
Gerard Caussé: viola
Ko Iwasaki: violoncello

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 269 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 92 mb
Scans @ 300dpi = 12 mb

Total playing time: 67:02

Recorded: July 1981, Loenen a/d Vecht, The Netherlands

Released: 1981, Philips 412 878-2

Track listing:
1. Introduction (Maestoso ed adagio)
2. I: Largo - "Pater, dimitte illis; non enim sciunt, quid faciunt"
3. II: Grave e cantabile - "Amen dico tibi: hodie mecum eris in paradiso"
4. III: Grave - "Mulier, ecce filius tuus, et tu, ecce mater tua!"
5. IV: Largo - "Eli, Eli, lama asabthani?"
6. V: Adagio - "Sitio"
7. VI: Lento - "Consumatum est"
8. VII: Largo - "Pater, in tuas manus commendo spiritum meum"

Reviews:
Gramophone 1983
Haydn wrote his orchestral setting for The Seven Last Words of our Saviour on the Cross in 1786, in response to a request from a canon of Cádiz. As the composer himself said, some 15 years later: "The effect in performance was not a little enhanced by the following circumstances. The walls, windows and pillars of the church were hung with black cloth, and only one large lamp hanging from the centre of the roof broke the solemn blackness... After a short service the bishop ascended the pulpit, pronounced the first of the seven words (or sentences) and delivered a discourse thereon. This ended, he left the pulpit, and prostrated himself before the altar. The interval was filled by music. The bishop then in like manner pronounced the second word, then the third, and so on, the orchestra following on the conclusion of each discourse. My composition was subject to these conditions, and it was no easy task to compose seven adagios lasting ten minutes each, and to succeed one another without fatiguing the listeners; indeed, I found it quite impossible to confine myself to the appointed limits."

Haydn made a string quartet arrangement in 1787, and gave his blessing to a piano arrangement published by Artaria in the same year; he also made a choral version in 1796 with words adapted by Baron van Swieten. I am convinced that this latter version (of which no recording is at present available) is the most effective of the four unless the music is heard in circumstances similar to those of the original Spanish performance, for, despite the poignant beauty of the separate movements as instrumental pieces, the listener undeniably runs some risk of fatigue when hearing them in close succession, without some aural or visual relief. The string quartet version was made for domestic use, and for the enjoyment of the players rather than of a captive audience; and of the various recordings of the work by a string quartet the most successful one remains, to my mind, that by the Aeolian Quartet, in which the movements are separated by a selection of poems beautifully delivered by Sir Peter Pears (Decca HDNV82, 9/77). That much said, I have nothing but the highest praise for this vividly recorded new Philips digital version, which features playing of great sensitivity and finesse, and which, with all repeats observed, has a total playing time of appreciably more than one hour.

Gramophone 1986
This is one of those beautifully realized recreations of a small group playing in a largish room at which the Philips producer/engineers excel. Details are not given as to who was responsible for this example but, eyes closed, one can picture each player, sense their effort, respond to their emotion and feel the elan when a little bit of 'business' comes off. I would not recommend taking in the whole 67 minutes at one go, but this is certainly a disc to come back to. Note the fine sounding viola.

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Liszt - Sonata in B minor; Grandes études de Paganini

George-Emmanuel Lazaridis: piano

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 208 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 84 mb
Scans @ 300dpi = 29 mb

Total playing time: 57:41

Recorded: 15-18th May 2006, The Maltings, Snape, UK

Released: 2006, Linn CKD 282

Track listing:
1. Sonata in b minor
2. Grandes Etudes de Paganini - I
3. Grandes Etudes de Paganini - II
4. Grandes Etudes de Paganini - III
5. Grandes Etudes de Paganini - IV
6. Grandes Etudes de Paganini - V
7. Grandes Etudes de Paganini - VI

Reviews:
ClassicsToday
In 2002 I capped a highly favorable Schumann CD review with the following: "Needless to say, keep your eye on George-Emmanuel Lazaridis." I'm proud to vindicate my prediction five years later, for here's a Liszt Sonata that easily ranks among this warhorse's most arresting recorded versions. On a scale ranging from fast and taut (Leon Fleisher, Clifford Curzon, Leslie Howard, and the young Horowitz) to rhetorical and subjective (Claudio Arrau and Ernst Levy), Lazaridis definitely falls into the latter camp. He often stretches the repeated-note theme to the breaking point, yet never in an ultra theatrical, mannered way (even Arrau could go overboard here), and he treats the difficult octave passages like music instead of gymnastics.

In this context it comes as a surprise to hear the lyrical D major theme phrased so objectively, although the central fugato brilliantly reconciles sophisticated part playing with demonic drive.

Much as I've enjoyed similarly conceived Liszt Sonata recordings from young pianists such as Yundi Li (DG) and David Fray (Atma), Lazaridis' palpable physicality and wider dynamic range (helped by Linn's state of the art sonics) take honors. Next to the effortless, offhand panache with which Marc-André Hamelin dispatches Liszt's Paganini etudes, some listeners might take issue with Lazaridis' serious-minded and at times unorthodox interpretive stance.

Despite the pianist's undeniable poise and control in No. 2, the downward runs and arpeggios are too poker-faced to scintillate. And it took several hearings for me to get past No. 3's protracted tempo and appreciate Lazaridis' painstaking lapidary work. Similarly, No. 4 trades speed and outward panache for evenness, variety of articulation, and superb tonal control.

The pianist plays No. 5's "hunting horns" very slowly and gradually adds speed, in the manner of an introductory call to arms. As for No. 6, I've never heard the theme's short, decorative notes dovetail so elegantly into the rolled left-hand chords that follow, and I've rarely heard bravura and poetry intermingle to such an inspired degree in the variations. The power and ferocity of the climaxes are enough to make sure you've insured your loudspeakers and warned your neighbors! Clearly Lazaridis is no run-of-the-mill virtuoso, and we're sure to hear more from him.


Musicweb
There is of course far more to Liszt than the shallow, generally held view that he was a virtuoso first, a creative artist second. Not that there is anything wrong with virtuosity, which was a significant driving force during the romantic era. The concept of 'the artist as hero' remains potent to this day, not least when we encounter an artist who can do justice to the towering demands of the Paganini Studies. And there is no question that George-Emmanuel Lazaridis does so.

The recorded sound from Linn is excellent, finding that always elusive balance between detail and atmosphere. In fact this balance is a critical consideration in a recording of these compositions, whose emotional, technical and expressive range is so wide – this is so with the Sonata especially. For the piano tone sounds particularly well, and the first climactic section of the Sonata is thrilling in terms of both sonics and performance. Rarely can a piano recording have generated such sheer impact.

It is no exaggeration to suggest that the Sonata in B minor is the summit of Liszt's achievement as a composer of piano music. He completed it in 1853, soon after he had settled at Weimar as Kapellmeister, and gave its dedication to another great piano-composer, Robert Schumann. The first performance took place in Berlin in 1857, when the pianist was Liszt's protégé, Hans von Bülow.

While undoubtedly a virtuoso showpiece for those talented enough to perform it, the Sonata is far more than a 'display of fireworks'. The music’s thirty-minute span contains an astonishingly wide range of moods, some of them inward and restrained. Moreover, the work closes with an extended epilogue, a veritable meditation. It is understandable, therefore that this music is the most challenging that Lazaridis performs in this new recording. He copes well with the demands, particularly so the technical demands, but technique is only the half of it. If there are doubts they lie in the direction of interpretation and concentration, rather than technique, and it is true that a great artist like, say, Jorge Bolet (Decca), can offer more insights.

The more obvious pyrotechnics of the Paganini Studies suit Lazaridis to perfection, as they did the composer-pianist before him. If it really was Liszt’s intention to make himself ‘the Paganini of the violin’ then this performance confirms it. The range of approaches exploits many aspects of the piano and Lazaridis is a match for them all. As an example, his poetic rendition of La Campanella is beautifully judged, and as such is the highlight of the whole disc.


Gramophone
(click to enlarge)


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Ysaÿe - Sonatas for Violin Solo, Op. 27

Thomas Zehetmair: violin

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 291 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 92 mb
Scans @ 300dpi = 15 mb

Total playing time: 65:55

Recorded: September 2002, Propstei St. Gerold, Austria

Released: 2004, ECM New Series 1835

Track listing:
1. Sonata No.1 in G minor (for Joseph Szigeti) - 1. Grave
2. Sonata No.1 in G minor (for Joseph Szigeti) - 2. Fugato
3. Sonata No.1 in G minor (for Joseph Szigeti) - 3. Allegretto poco scherzoso
4. Sonata No.1 in G minor (for Joseph Szigeti) - 4. Finale con brio
5. Sonata No.2 in A minor (for Jacques Thibaud) - 1. Obsession
6. Sonata No.2 in A minor (for Jacques Thibaud) - 2. Malinconia
7. Sonata No.2 in A minor (for Jacques Thibaud) - 3. Danse des ombres
8. Sonata No.2 in A minor (for Jacques Thibaud) - 4. Les furies
9. Sonata No.3 in D minor 'Ballade' (for George Enescu)
10. Sonata No 4 in E minor (for Fritz Kreisler) - 1. Allemanda
11. Sonata No 4 in E minor (for Fritz Kreisler) - 2. Sarabande
12. Sonata No 4 in E minor (for Fritz Kreisler) - 3. Finale
13. Sonata No.5 for G major (for Mathieu Crickboom) - 1. L'Aurore
14. Sonata No.5 for G major (for Mathieu Crickboom) - 2. Danse rustique
15. Sonata No.6 in E major (for Manuel Quiroga)

Belgian violinist/composer Eugène Ysaÿe

Reviews:
Amazon (editorial review)
This is a stunning performance of some of the most formidably difficult music in the repertoire. Written by the foremost violinist of his, and perhaps any other time, these six sonatas contain every imaginable--and some unimaginable--technical, tonal, and musical challenge for the instrument and the player. Ysaÿe's acknowledged models were Bach and Paganini, his inspiration six friends and colleagues whose playing he especially admired and to each of whom a sonata is dedicated, tailored to his instrumental and interpretive gifts. The one written for Kreisler even incorporates a little pastiche of his composing style. Although Ysaÿe had stopped performing, he poured into these sonatas his peerless knowledge of the violin and its resources, along with his lifelong experience of it as an expressive tool, creating what is widely regarded by both players and listeners as a set of masterpieces. Clearly, only a virtuoso of the highest caliber as well as intrepid courage can do justice to these works. Thomas Zehetmair has established an international reputation for his consummate technique, stylistic versatility, fiery temperament, emotional intensity, and adventurous spirit. These qualities are on abundant display on this recording, making him an ideal interpreter for these highly charged, powerful, dramatic, mercurial works for which he seems to have a natural affinity. He tosses off the most hair-raising technical feats with effortless ease: double stops of all kinds, chords, runs at top speed all over the fingerboard, tricky bravura bowings, sound effects. He can make the violin sing, speak, sigh and laugh; his tone is gorgeous, vibrant, pure, variable, nuanced; even the pizzicati sound good. He captures every mood and character of the music: its sweet, dreamy graciousness, lyrical repose, joyful exuberance, driving energy, unbridled passion, inexorable obsessiveness. This is an all-out, no-holds-barred performance that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Gramophone: "Editor's Choice"
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Bach - French Suites [Gould]

Glenn Gould: piano

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 345 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 120 mb
Scans @ 300dpi = 28 mb

Total playing time: 38:54 + 46:52

Recorded: 1971-73, Eaton's Auditorium, Toronto, Canada

Released: 1994, Sony Classical SM2K 52 609

Track listing:
CD 1
1. Suite No.1 in D minor, BWV 812 - I. Allemande
2. Suite No.1 in D minor, BWV 812 - II. Courante
3. Suite No.1 in D minor, BWV 812 - III. Sarabande
4. Suite No.1 in D minor, BWV 812 - IV. Menuett I
5. Suite No.1 in D minor, BWV 812 - V. Menuett II
6. Suite No.1 in D minor, BWV 812 - VI. Gigue
7. Suite No.2 in C minor, BWV 813 - I. Allemande
8. Suite No.2 in C minor, BWV 813 - I. Courante
9. Suite No.2 in C minor, BWV 813 - III. Sarabande
10. Suite No.2 in C minor, BWV 813 - IV. Air
11. Suite No.2 in C minor, BWV 813 - V. Menuett
12. Suite No.2 in C minor, BWV 813 - VI. Gigue
13. Suite No.3 in B minor, BWV 814 - I. Allemande
14. Suite No.3 in B minor, BWV 814 - II. Courante
15. Suite No.3 in B minor, BWV 814 - III. Sarabande
16. Suite No.3 in B minor, BWV 814 - IV. Menuett -- Trio
17. Suite No.3 in B minor, BWV 814 - V. Anglaise
18. Suite No.3 in B minor, BWV 814 - VI. Gigue
19. Suite No.4 in E-flat major, BWV 815 - I. Allemande
20. Suite No.4 in E-flat major, BWV 815 - II. Courante
21. Suite No.4 in E-flat major, BWV 815 - III. Sarabande
22. Suite No.4 in E-flat major, BWV 815 - IV. Menuett (BWV 815a)
23. Suite No.4 in E-flat major, BWV 815 - V. Gavotte
24. Suite No.4 in E-flat major, BWV 815 - VI. Air
25. Suite No.4 in E-flat major, BWV 815 - VII. Gigue

CD 2
1. Suite No.5 in G major, BWV 816 - I. Allemande
2. Suite No.5 in G major, BWV 816 - II. Courante
3. Suite No.5 in G major, BWV 816 - III. Sarabande
4. Suite No.5 in G major, BWV 816 - IV. Gavotte
5. Suite No.5 in G major, BWV 816 - V. Bourrée
6. Suite No.5 in G major, BWV 816 - VI. Loure
7. Suite No.5 in G major, BWV 816 - VII. Gigue
8. Suite No.6 in E major, BWV 817 - I. Allemande
9. Suite No.6 in E major, BWV 817 - II. Courante
10. Suite No.6 in E major, BWV 817 - III. Sarabande
11. Suite No.6 in E major, BWV 817 - IV. Gavotte
12. Suite No.6 in E major, BWV 817 - V. Polonaise
13. Suite No.6 in E major, BWV 817 - VI. Menuett
14. Suite No.6 in E major, BWV 817 - VII. Bourrée
15. Suite No.6 in E major, BWV 817 - VIII. Gigue
16. Overture in the French Style, BWV 831 - I. Ouverture
17. Overture in the French Style, BWV 831 - II. Courante
18. Overture in the French Style, BWV 831 - III. Gavotte I
19. Overture in the French Style, BWV 831 - IV. Gavotte II - Gavotte I da capo
20. Overture in the French Style, BWV 831 - V. Passepied I
21. Overture in the French Style, BWV 831 - VI. Passepied II - Passepied I da capo
22. Overture in the French Style, BWV 831 - VII. Sarabande
23. Overture in the French Style, BWV 831 - VIII. Bourrée I
24. Overture in the French Style, BWV 831 - IX. Bourrée II - Bourrée I da capo
25. Overture in the French Style, BWV 831 - X. Gigue
26. Overture in the French Style, BWV 831 - XI. Echo

Reviews:
Amazon (editorial review - "Essential Recording")
Just as Bach's English Suites aren't really English, the French Suites aren't really French in any noticeable way. What they are is Bach. All suites, whatever their country of origin, consist of a chain of miscellaneous dances. This set of six is Bach's lightest collection in suite form, and Gould plays them with his usual nimbleness and quick-witted charm. It's amazing how Gould makes the music sound like he was making it up as he plays along--the humming probably contributes to that impression--and like all of his Bach, this is mandatory listening.

Gramophone 1985
Bach's 'French Suites' are relatively intimate pieces, more so, at least, than the partitas or 'English Suites', and Gould does not respond well to their most intimate and expressive movements. These are the sarabandes, and the famous one in Suite No. 5 is nearly caricatured. Yet the same work's Loure receives an intriguing and original performance, and elsewhere much superlative playing can be found. This is especially so in the allemandes and courantes which open each suite — hear the lithe grace, for example, of the initial movements of Suites Nos. 2, 3 and 5. The closing gigues, also, are quite marvellous in their exuberant clarity and intellectual fire, above all that belonging to Suite No. 5. Just as admirable are the gavottes, where they occur, Gould playing them with an exact decisiveness. Splendid, too, is the contained force of Suite No. 3's Anglaise and the Aria of No. 4.
All this we first heard a decade ago, but the French Overture is new to the local catalogue. Its recording dates from the same 1971-3 period as the suites yet creates a number of different impressions. The opening and closing grave sections of the first movement are mannered, but the long central quick section is superbly energetic and precise, tingling with excitement. Surprisingly heavy and slow are the courante and gigue, very different from their opposite numbers in the suites. In between come pairs of gavottes, passepieds and bourrees, all strongly characterized and very enjoyable.

Gramophone 1975
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Musicweb (Sony SMK 87764 edition)
This disc contains Bach’s French Suites, some of his most popular music. Gould surprises - as he often does - with a dazzling variety of tempi in these works. From the breakneck opening allemande of the first suite, he plays a delicately slow sarabande, and a subtle menuett I where the rhythm is almost picked out note by note. Gould said, "About tempo, I’ve never understood why it’s such a big deal." He points out how, for this recording, his tempi had slowed down considerably - he had his favourite piano rebuilt, and the weight of the action led to much more legato than he would have truly liked. But he said that this recording was "as deliberate and dry as any Bach" that he had recorded. Curiously, this is sometimes the case - while some movements are very fast, recalling the 1955 Goldberg Variations, others are slow and deliberate.

But listening anew to Glenn Gould play these pieces elicits such pleasure that one leaves aside the question of tempo. From the forceful gigue in the first suite and the brilliant allemande that opens the third suite, to the melodic yet syncopated approach to the menuett-trio in the same suite, to the almost excruciatingly slow sarabande of the first suite or the pointillist sarabande of the fourth suite, this disc is full of surprises. The music here is often reduced to its simplest expression, and is even more ascetic than many harpsichord performances. It is almost as if Gould is trying to turn his piano into another instrument. Yet the results show that this excellent pianist was able to transcend the music and put his personality into everything he played.

Gould gives one of the most personal performances of the French Suites available on disc. He is one of those musicians you either love or hate - either you appreciate the variety of tone and rhythm he uses, or you detest his lack of regularity. This recording remains one of the landmarks in the discography of the French Suites.

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Vivaldi - Recorder Concertos

Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble
Dan Laurin: recorder

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 255 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 76 mb
Scans @ 300dpi = 19 mb

Total playing time: 54:32

Recorded: 1991-06-21/13, Västerled Church, Stockholm, Sweden

Released: 1993, BIS CD-635

Track listing:
1. Concerto in C minor RV441, 1. Allegro non molto
2. Concerto in C minor RV441, 2. Largo
3. Concerto in C minor RV441, 3. Allegro
4. Concerto in C major RV444, 1. Allegro non molto
5. Concerto in C major RV444, 2. Largo
6. Concerto in C major RV444, 3. Allegro molto
7. Concerto in F major RV433, La tempesta di mare, 1. Allegro
8. Concerto in F major RV433, La tempesta di mare, 2. Largo
9. Concerto in F major RV433, La tempesta di mare, 3. Presto
10. Concerto in C major RV443, 1. Allegro
11. Concerto in C major RV443, 2. Largo
12. Concerto in C major RV443, 3. Allegro molto
13. Concerto in F major RV434, 1. Allegro ma non tanto
14. Concerto in F major RV434, 2. Largo e cantabile
15. Concerto in F major RV434, 3. Allegro
16. Concerto in G minor RV439, La notte, 1. Largo
17. Concerto in G minor RV439, La notte, 2. Presto, Fantasmi
18. Concerto in G minor RV439, La notte, 3. Largo
19. Concerto in G minor RV439, La notte, 4. Presto
20. Concerto in G minor RV439, La notte, 5. Largo, Il Sonno
21. Concerto in G minor RV439, La notte, 6. Allegro

Reviews:
Musicweb
There are precedents for playing these popular concertos on the recorder, which often shared the common name ‘flute’ with the traverso (or what we might now call a baroque flute) for which they were written. Indeed, this soloist and the Drottningholm players probably come closer to a ‘historically informed’ performance than the large string sections and Boehm flutes, usually heard until recently in these concertos. Nevertheless, the ‘cool’, penetrating sound and higher fundamental pitch of the recorder, even when so well-played, as it is on this record, is less responsive to subtle inflections than a traverso, especially in slow movements.

Dan Laurin easily establishes his virtuoso credentials in the first (C minor) concerto, but as the performance progresses its shortcomings appear: relentlessly fast tempi that occasionally find the ensemble at odds with the soloist and obscures some of the finer detail in these delightful works. The dominance of the solo line, even in ripieno passages, sacrifices some of Vivaldi’s masterly touches (in for example La Notte) for superficial brilliance.

It is, however, difficult not to admire the commitment and sheer ebullience of the players. Their sense of ease and enjoyment in the intricacies of Italian Baroque ornamentation alone makes this disc a desirable extra for anyone who already possesses a more authentic version. Full marks for chutzpah, and the example that Dan Laurin provides of the expressive potential of the recorder.

Gramophone
(click to enlarge)


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Mozart - Sinfonie Concertanti

Karl Böhm - Berliner Philharmoniker

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 297 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 88 mb
Scans @ 300dpi = 14 mb

Total playing time: 63:08

Recorded: 12/1964 (K. 364) & 02/1966 (K. 297b), Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin

Released: 2003, Deutsche Grammophon 474 424-2

Track listing:
1. Sinfonia Concertante in Eb Major KV 364 - Allegro Maestoso
2. Sinfonia Concertante in Eb Major KV 364 - Andante
3. Sinfonia Concertante in Eb Major KV 364 - Presto
4. Sinfonia Concertante in Eb Major KV 297b - Allegro
5. Sinfonia Concertante in Eb Major KV 297b - Adagio
6. Sinfonia Concertante in Eb Major KV 297b - Andantino convariazioni

Composition description (allmusic):
KV 364
The magnificent Sinfonia concertante for violin, viola, and orchestra in E flat major, K. 364, is Mozart's only surviving complete work of this type, a genre that incorporates elements of both the symphony and concerto. Generally scored for two or more solo instruments and orchestra, the sinfonia concertante was particularly popular in Paris in the eighteenth century. It was there, in fact, that Mozart composed such a work in 1778 for four outstanding wind soloists from the Mannheim orchestra who were also then in the French capital; that work, however, is now known only in a spurious nineteenthth century edition.

During this period Mozart also began two other works in the sinfonia concertante genre, one for violin and piano in D major (1778), and another for violin, viola and cello in A major, K. 320e (ca. 1779-1780), neither of which progressed beyond the first 130 or so measures before the composer set it aside. The present work may be a replacement for the aborted D major work. It was composed in Salzburg during the summer or fall of 1779, about the same time as that work. In both works, Mozart calls for a higher tuning than is usual for the viola; his purpose in so doing was undoubtedly to give the instrument a brighter sound to avoid being overshadowed by its more penetrating violin companion.

The soloists for whom the Sinfonia concertante was composed are not known, but they may have been Antonio Brunetti, the leader of the Salzburg court orchestra, and the violinist Joseph Hafender. The work is in three movements: Allegro maestoso, Andante and Rondo. The orchestra includes two oboes, two horns, an optional pair of bassoons, and strings. The work is notable for its warm expansiveness; the Andante is particularly delectable with its ravishing dialogue between the two soloists. The scoring is unusually full and rich; Mozart's frequent divisi writing for the violas produces textures that presage the sumptuous writing in Idomeneo, ré di Creta (1781), the opera seria composed for Munich less than a year later.

KV 297b
Mozart's coming-of-age journey to Paris in 1777-1779 -- albeit with his mother as chaperone -- was not only circuitous but leisurely. When mother and son finally did reach Paris on March 23, 1778, he found the city that had hailed him as a prodigy 15 years earlier was now unhospitable -- indeed, inimical. He was able, however, to contact a quartet of visiting wind players from Mannheim, and on May 1 wrote to his "très cher Pére" that they asked him for a new piece to be performed at the Concert Spirituel in the Loge Olympique, Paris' most distinguished orchestral series. He claimed to have finished a "sinfonie [sic] concertante in the current popular style" for solo flute, oboe, bassoon, and horn, with an orchestra of two oboes, two horns, and strings. But the work, supposedly given to the Loge's impresario for copying, was set aside by the latter and subsequently lost. Mozart considered this to be another Parisian plot against him and in a later letter to Salzburg assured Papa Leopold that he could recreate the music from memory. But no manuscript has survived. Nevertheless, this composition turned up nearly a century later, in a hand not the composer's, with solo clarinet rather than flute. It became "K. Anhang 9/K. 297b" in the second edition (1905) of Ludwig Ritter von Köchel's storied Verzeichnis, originally published in 1862, and "K. Anhang C14.01" in the third version, edited by Alfred Einstein in 1937.

While Georges de Saint-Foix in 1932 and J.W. Turner in 1938 accepted it as authentic, The New Grove Mozart in 1982 concluded that "its credentials are dubious, and any music by Mozart that it may contain can only be in corrupt form." Even more recently, Robert Levin has written in the Mozart-Jahrbuch 1984/1985 that the orchestral part is authentic but the solo sections "adapted." Corrupt or not, the best pages are surely too beautiful to be spurious: the work overall has a recollective, even autumnal character found nowhere else found until the sublime B flat wind Serenade of 1781 (K. 361/370a).

All three movements are rooted in E flat major, a key shared by the "Jeunehomme" Piano Concerto (No. 9; K. 271) and the later Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola (K. 364/320d). The opening Allegro has three (rather than two) expositions of the principal and secondary subjects, first by the orchestra's strings, then twice by the solo quartet. Development and reprise ensue, with a through-composed cadenza before the coda. Though the nineteenth century source copy marked the middle movement Adagio, an Andante tempo is likelier, continuing in a vein of almost reflective lyricism with gentle exchanges of thematic material. Like the first movement, this one is in common time (4/4). The finale, Andante con variazioni, is in 2/4 until, after the last variation, six Adagio bars in common time lead to an Allegro coda in 6/8. There are ten variations altogether, each one 15 or 16 bars long, with identical, basically decorative orchestral ritornelli separating them.

Reviews:
Penguin Guide, 1984:
The account of the Sinfonia concertante is of superlative quality, sounding amazingly idiomatic and well blended, with the balance between soloists and orchestra nicely managed. This is altogether refreshing.

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Nancarrow / Antheil - Piano Music

Herbert Henck: piano

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 105 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 53 mb
Scans (English notes) @ 300dpi = 32 mb

Total playing time: 38:48

Recorded: August 1999, Festeburgkirche, Frankfurt am Main

Released: 2001, ECM New Series 1726

Track listing:
1. Nancarrow - Three 2-part studies - I. Presto
2. Nancarrow - Three 2-part studies - II. Andantino
3. Nancarrow - Three 2-part studies - III. Allegro
4. Nancarrow - Prelude (Allegro molto)
5. Nancarrow - Blues (Slow Blues Tempo)
6. Antheil - Sonatina für Radio (allegro moderato)
7. Antheil - Second Sonata, 'The Airplane' - I. To be played as fast as possible
8. Antheil - Second Sonata, 'The Airplane' - II. Andante moderato
9. Antheil - Mechanisms
10. Antheil - A machine
11. Antheil - Sonatina (Death of the Machines) - I. Moderato
12. Antheil - Sonatina (Death of the Machines) - II. Accelerando
13. Antheil - Sonatina (Death of the Machines) - III. Accelerando
14. Antheil - Sonatina (Death of the Machines) - IV. Accelerando
15. Antheil - Jazz Sonata (Sonata No. 4)
16. Antheil - Sonata Sauvage - I. Allegro vivo
17. Antheil - Sonata Sauvage - II. Moderato
18. Antheil - Sonata Sauvage - III. Moderato/Xylophonic, Prestissimo
19. Antheil - (Little) Shimmy

Reviews:
Musicweb:
Herbert Henck has a number of carefully programmed CDs for this enterprising label, all of which are well worth exploring. This latest release juxtaposes two important figures in American music history of (fairly) recent times. There is often a time-lag between innovation and its general acceptance

George Antheil (1900-1959) became notorious and found it hard to be taken seriously in USA after the failure of his Ballet Méchanique in New York. He was a man of many parts and a very considerable writer, with an excellent and entertaining autobiography, 'The Bad Boy of Music'. His piano music, with which he toured, brought him to public notice and caused a major riot in Paris. He was rated the loudest pianist ever to play at Wigmore Hall in London. This is a good selection of it, and shows his instinct for rhythm and interest in jazz. Several of the titles allude to machines. Sonata Sauvage which ends 'xylophonic prestissimo'. There is a Sonatina for radio, and one called The Aeroplane, begins 'as fast as possible' Antheil's Jazz Sonata is marked at one point 'like a player piano'.

Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997) is best known for his dazzling studies for the player piano, which extend rhythmic complexity to the ultimate. There are a few early pieces for piano composed in the 1930s and included here - it was the finding that their enormous rhythmic demands proved insuperable to pianists of the day which led to his exploration of a medium to express his ideas, and to a life of isolation and exile in which he laboriously punched out his music on paper rolls. Only in his last years did he enjoy international fame and his Studies for Player Piano latterly attained cult status.

Herbert Henck supplies his own readable essay on the piano music of both composers and the ECM production is characteristic of their care and individuality. The cover picture is unwittingly prophetic of our sad rural times, with a sad looking solitary cow! Recommended, despite short measure at under 40 mins.


Classical.net:
The connection between Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997) and George Antheil (1900-1959) was not immediately obvious to me, but pianist Herbert Henck's booklet notes tease it out: it's the player piano. Nancarrow's fame rests almost exclusively, of course, on his volumes of studies for that instrument. By taking the human performer out of the equation, Nancarrow was able to write music of nearly unlimited density and rhythmic complexity. I didn't know, however, that George Antheil composed music for the player piano as well. The original version of his Ballet mécanique included no fewer than 16 of those instruments, an inspiration soon whittled down by the knife of practicality and economy. It is ironic that this connection between the two composers is made in the context of a CD that contains no music for player piano. (Antheil's "Jazz Sonata" does include the instruction "like a player-piano.")

In the past year or two there has been a rebirth of interest in Antheil's music. His colorful life certainly hasn't inhibited this; his achievements included the refinement, with actress Hedy Lamarr, of radio-controlled torpedoes! (Check my other Antheil reviews on Classical Net for additional biographical information.) Henck's selection of music by Antheil appears to be the most generous currently available on CD. The music reflects his impudent intelligence (he was, after all, the "Bad Boy of Music"), his piano virtuosity, and his interest in machinery and other modern innovations, namely jazz rhythms. These works come from his European years (1922-33), when he was reviled, embraced, and then reviled again as the Nazis rose to power. (When he returned to the United States, he was unable to repeat his European successes.) Tempo indications such as "to be played as fast as possible" (in the "Airplane" sonata) and "as rapidly as it is possible to execute cleanly and with even touch and dynamics" (the "Jazz Sonata") show that Henck has his work cut out for him. He triumphs over the difficulties, however, and he convincingly animates Antheil's cocky excursions into syncopation.

Nancarrow's works for player piano have overshadowed the rest of his output, so it is good that Henck has included three brief works on this CD. The rhythmic intricacies of works such as these so frustrated flesh-and-blood pianists that Nancarrow was driven to discover the "eureka" of the player piano. Having said that, nine minutes of Nancarrow makes a lopsided CD, and the stylistic differences between Nancarrow's and Antheil's music, while not exactly jarring, exacerbate the lopsidedness. Henck, an established master in modern music of the most demanding sort, deals with Nancarrow's cruel challenges with confidence.

This recording was made in August 1999 in Frankfurt am Main's Festeburgkirche, and the engineering is satisfying; the piano is given lively sound by the venue, but there is no loss of clarity. Henck's booklet notes are generous and interesting. In contrast, the 40-minute length of this CD is not generous. Still, don't let that keep you from giving it a try – it's worth it. Just look for the cow on the cover!

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Stockhausen - Klavierstücke I-XI, Mikrophonie I-II

Aloys Kontarsky: piano
[Klavierstücke I-XI]

Aloys Kontarsky: Tamtam I
Alfred Alings: Tamtam II
Johannes Fritsch: Mikrophon I
Harald Bojé: Mikrophon II
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Filter & Regler I
Jaap Spek & Hugh Davies: Filter & Regler II
[Mikrophonie I für Tamtam, zwei Mikrophone, zwei Filter und Regler]

Herbert Schernus: cond.
Alfons Kontarsky: Hammondorgel
Johannes Fritsch: Zeitgeber
Mimi Berger, Meta Ackermann, Frigga Ditmar, Ulla Terhoeven, Helga Hopf, Monika Pick: Sopran
Arno Reichardt, Dietrich Satzky, Hermann Steigers, Peter Weber, Friedrich Himmelmann, Werner Engelhardt: Baß
[Mikrophonie II für Chor, Hammondorgel und Ringmodulatoren]


Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 444 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 181 mb
Scans @ 300dpi = 27 mb (English notes only)

Total playing time: 70:37 + 63:48

Recorded:
Klavierstücke: July 1 & 2, November 15-17, 1965 - KGH, Winterthur, Switzerland
Mikrophonie I: December 17 & 18, 1965 - West German Radio Studios, Cologne
Mikrophonie II: June 11, 1965 - West German Radio Studios, Cologne

Released: 1993, Sony Classical S2K 53346

Track listing:
1. Klavierstück I
2. Klavierstück II
3. Klavierstück III
4. Klavierstück IV
5. Klavierstück V
6. Klavierstück VI
7. Klavierstück VII
8. Klavierstück VIII
9. Klavierstück IX
10. Klavierstück XI
11. Klavierstück X
12. Mikrophonie I
13. Mikrophonie II

Reviews:
Amazon.com customer review:
Famously quoted by Stockhausen as `... my drawings...' these pieces were composed between Stockhausen's fledgling years as a student in Germany and his rise and permanence to international infamy as a bizarre musical personality of dazzling compositional virtuosity primarily of timber, spatial organization and electronics.

Expanding the boundaries of what were perennially perceived `pianistic' in the 19th century (its orchestral range in pitch, dynamics and extreme responsiveness), Stockhausen revisited and utilized unique strengths of the instrument such as applying distinct dynamics simultaneously on separate horizontal lines and redefined what was considered one of the instrument's ultimate deficiency as a non sustaining instrument into a unique strength - epitomized by the gradual, continuous decay of thunderous, complex clusters down to a single note in Klavierstuck X. Stockhausen was interested in the musical contrast and orchestration of extremes, both simultaneously and as they evolved through the entire piece.

The particular milestone of this creative collection is the aforementioned Klavierstuck X. Lasting between 22 to 25 minutes, `organized sound' with assigned, specific numerical values act as agents that explore through maximum chaos and violence, austere Webernian simplicity and serenity, and everything in between. Similar to how Beethoven's Fifth symphony blazed through the transition from darkness of the first movement to the incandescent fourth impelled primarily by the modulation from a minor to major key, it follows a very specific but convoluted overall musical scheme that plays on volume, tempo fluctuations and flirtatious oscillation within the boundary of what we consider noise and 'clean' notes produced by a musical instrument.

Any rendition must be supported by superb acoustics, and this is where surprisingly, Kontarsky's 1965 analog version reins supreme over the other easily accessible, digital Henck recording of the 80's. Henck's razor sharp cluster glissandos display more violence pivotal to the enjoyment of this work, but none of the indescribable effect as the clusters decompose continuously from opacity to transparency can be heard. An eerie and unexciting dead silence immediately follows the clusters with the absence of the crucial in-between. Without the aurally perceivable transition between the extreme contrasts, this piece cannot be fully appreciated.

Cited by Ian Pace as one of the transcendentally difficult works, one must substitute the traditional habit of searching for harmony and counterpoint to that of enjoying musical gestures for their own sake. Perhaps no piano work in the second half of the twentieth century has been wildly inventive as this. Maurizio Pollini recognizes it as an accomplishment equal to the monumental efforts of the great 19th and early 20th century composers, rivaled only by Boulez amongst his contemporaries. Kontarsky's recording is also accompanied by Stockhausen's humorous and meticulous observations on Kontarsky's gastronomical preoccupation and its supposed effect on the entire recording process. The price is reasonable and well worth what can only be coined a ride. Get it while you can!


Gramophone (Mikrophonie I):
The disc title here, "Music for our time", begs a big question—and I'm not just being stupidly snooty or reactionary. Though musical elements, however bizarre and fleeting, are incorporated in Mikrophonie Mikrophonie I is a pure study in sounds which only by an extension of linguistic meaning could be termed musical. Small boys the world over enjoy rattling a stick along iron railings, and later find pleasure in, for example, sounding a tuning-fork against their teeth, a piece of paper, and so on. Some similar impulse seems to have activated Stockhausen in his Mikrophonie I, which is played as follows: two people excite a tamtam with various materials and in various ways (striking, scratching, rubbing, etc.) ; each is picked up by a directional microphone which is held nearer or further away from the source of sound, or moved about (thus changing dynamics, timbre and perspective) by another person; and in turn the sound from each channel is manipulated by someone operating an electronic filter and a potentiometer (thus further affecting timbre and pitch). Every operator has a detailed plan to follow, and the relationship between them all is worked out in a complicated scheme. All very ingenious in terms of sonority: who would have thought (as Macbeth remarked of Duncan) that it had so much in it? But unfortunately the structural plan is not perceptible to the ear; and the succession of noises—some disconcertingly like barking dogs or mewing cats, though towards the end human voices momentarily intervene—cannot be referred to any known aesthetic criterion.
One is forced to much the same conclusion with Mikrophonie II, in which the sounds of four groups of singers (with the occasional addition of a Hammond organ) are fed via ring-modulators back to mingle with the natural live sounds. Awareness of the intellectual concepts behind it all does not, unhappily, help in any artistic appraisal of the result, which to the innocent ear sounds rather like the soundtrack to a film of Hieronymus Bosch pictures. In short, 'reviewing' this disc is impossible: I can but draw attention to its existence.

Gramophone (Klavierstücke):



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Reich - Drumming

Bob Becker, Ben Harms, Russ Hartenberger, Gary Kvistad, James Preiss, Steve Reich, Gary Schall, Glen Velez, Thad Wheeler — tuned drums, marimbas, glockenspiels
Pamela Wood Ambush, Jay Clayton — voices
Steve Reich — whistling
Mort Silver — piccolo

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 238 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 88 mb
Scans @ 300dpi = 14 mb

Total playing time: 56:44

Recorded: May 1987, RCA Studio A, New York City

Released: 1987, Nonesuch 7559-79170-2

Track listing:
1. Drumming, Part I
2. Drumming, Part II
3. Drumming, Part III
4. Drumming, Part IV

Reviews:
Gramophone:
Those who know and love Drumming will be delighted by the first of these three new releases of music by Steve Reich. The composer and his ensemble have recorded the work once before (DG 2740 106, 1/75—nla), but only in a form that extends over four LP sides. To have the entire piece unbroken on a single CD is a particular pleasure, and it matters little that the new version, by taking up only some of the repeat options, plays for a good ten minutes less than its predecessor.
Repeats apart, Drumming is not a work that leaves much room for interpretation, and the two performances are in many ways similar. Reich's choice of tempo has not changed; he prefers a moderate, stately pulse to the stick high-speed playing one sometimes hears, and he is clearly more intent upon revealing the musical processes than on dazzling the listener with group virtuosity for its own sake. What has changed radically, however, is the quality of the recorded sound. With the benefit of close microphoning, each category of percussion instrument is now more sharply characterized: cleaner attack and less resonance in the sections for tuned drums and marimbas (Parts I and 2 respectively), a jangle of contact noises on the glockenspiels in Part 3, and a thrilling mix of bright sonorities in the Part 4 ensemble finale. Another advantage is that the reasonably wide stereo spread often makes it possible to fathom which player adds what to the densely woven rhythmic fabric. My one disappointment with the new version is that the singers, whistler and piccolo player who highlight resulting patterns within the counterpoint all too often become the focus of attention rather than aids to directing our listening.

Allmusic:
Simply put, Drumming is, along with some of Philip Glass' Einstein on the Beach, one of the most fascinating pieces of first-generation minimalism. The version recorded for Elektra/Nonesuch in 1987 ranks among Reich's masterpieces. The 60-minute continuous work features one basic rhythm pattern. Throughout four segued movements it is multiplied, played in canon on various percussion instruments. "Part I" is for four pairs of tuned bongo drums; "Part II" for three marimbas (played by nine players) and two singers mimicking the sound of marimbas; "Part III" for three glockenspiels, piccolo, and whistling (played by Reich himself); "Part IV" for all previous instruments, including voices. Transitions between movements are gradual, the whole piece being built on accumulation and reduction. When it is time to go to the next movement, players are slowly removed, quarter-notes replaced by rests, in order to make room for the new instruments. The piece almost comes to a complete halt at the end of "Part III," keeping only the most basic pulse before the whole process starts over, building up to the finale. On the original LP, "Part II" faded out before the end, resuming on side two so that the transition between "II" and "III" could be fully experienced. There is a sense of happiness and lightness irradiating from Drumming. It is a perfect example of the paradox of the simple and the complex, the easy and the challenging underlying minimalist music. Both cerebral and vitally tribal or ritualistic, this album is a must-have.


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Weill - Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera)

Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg - Sender Freies Berlin

Moritatensänger: Wolfgang Neuss
Herr Peachum: Willy Trenk-Trebitsch
Frau Peachum: Trude Hesterburg
Macheath: Erich Schellow
Polly Peachum: Johanna von Kóczián
Jenny: Lotte Lenya
Tiger Brown: Wolfgang Grunert
Lucy: Inge Wolffberg
Gangster 1: Kurt Helling
Gangster 2: Paul Otto Kuster
Gangster 3: Joseph Hausmann
Gangster 4: Martin Hoeppner

Music by Kurt Weill
Text by Bertolt Brecht

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 342 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 99 mb
Full libretto @ 300dpi = 20 mb (pdf) or 51 mb (jpg)

Total playing time: 68:25

Recorded: Afifo Studio, Tempelhof, Berlin 1958

Released: 1982, CBS MK 42637

Track listing:
1. Ouvertüre
2. Die Moritat von Mackie Messer
3. Der Morgenchoral des Peachum
4. Anstatt-daß-Song
5. Hochzeitslied für ärmere Leute
6. Kanonensong
7. Liebeslied
8. Der Song vom Nein und Ja (barbara-Song)
9. Die Unsicherheit menschlicher Verhältnisse
10. Der Pferdestall
11. Pollys Abschiedslied
12. Zwischenspiel
13. Die Ballade von der sexuellen Hörigkeit
14. Die Seeräuber-Jenny oder Träume eines Küchenmädchens
15. Die Zuhälterballade
16. Die Ballade vom angenehmen Leben
17. Das Eifersichtsduett
18. Kampf um das Eigentum
19. Ballade über die Frage: "Wovon lebt der Mensch?"
20. Das Lied von der Unzulänglichkeit
21. Salomon-Song
22. Ruf aus der Gruft
23. Ballade in der Macheath jedermann Abbitte leistet
24. Der reitende Bote
25. Dreigroschen-Finale
26. Die Schluß-Strophen der Moritat

Reviews:
Amazon.com (customer review)
Kurt Weill was once quoted as saying "there are only two kinds of music - good music and bad music". This is great music whipped into a frenzy - the Threepenny Opera as true opera and not as a musical play. The casting is superb, a direct reflection of Lotte Lenya's musical supervision of the project. It is one of the few complete recordings of the work, including both the "Jealousy Duet", often omitted because of the vocal demands placed on the performers, and the Ballad of Sexual Dependency, usually omitted because of its frank content.

Lotte Lenya steals the show. Pirate Jenny has an almost maniacal lilt in the final verse. The Tango Ballade hits its full stride only after Lenya's voice takes over the lead. Her delivery of, perhaps, Brecht's most famous line; "erst kommt das fressen, dann kommt die moral" in the Ballad "What Keeps Mankind Alive" is as authoritative as Brecht could ever hope it to be. Lenya's exploitation of the musical interval of a tritone at "Rocke heben" adds a lifetime of experience and conviction to the work.

Not to be overlooked is the excellent musical direction of Wilhelm Bruckner-Ruggeberg of the musicians and singers. Trude Hesterburg as Frau Peachum delivers a delightful performance of the Ballad of Sexual Dependency, and the Peachum family triumphs in the finale to Act I, the Uncertainty of Human Conditions. A true virtuoso performance all around.

Kurt Weill suceeded beyond his wildest dreams - he truly was the poor man's Verdi.

Gramophone:

This is, of course, the classic 1958 recording (first issued in the UK in mono in 1961) of Die Dreigroschenoper, featuring the composer's widow, Lotte Lenya, in the role of Jenny that she created back in 1928. Though 30 years on Lenya's voice had lost its youthful characteristics, no other recording of the work has approached this for bringing out, on the one hand, the pungency of its satire and, on the other, the catchiness of the dance-band rhythm. Probably none ever will.
It is also the only absolutely complete version there has been, since it includes not only Mrs Peachum's "Ballad of Sexual Dependency" but even Lucy's rarely heard "Jealousy Song".
Originally the recording was on four LP sides, and then reissued on three. Now it finds its ideal format on a single CD, in which form it should be in every record collection. The sound is very good early stereo.

Gramophone (1961 review - click to enlarge):




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Brahms - Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-3

Itzhak Perlman: violin
Vladimir Ashkenazy: piano

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 306 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 90 mb
Artwork @ 300dpi = 13 mb

Total playing time: 69:02

Recorded:
20-23.IV.1983
No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, London

Released:
1998, EMI 7243 5 66893 2 9

Track listing:
1. Violin Sonata No.1 in G major Op.78, I. Vivace ma non troppo
2. Violin Sonata No.1 in G major Op.78, II. Adagio
3. Violin Sonata No.1 in G major Op.78, III. Allegro molto moderato
4. Violin Sonata No.2 in A major Op.100, I. Allegro amabile
5. Violin Sonata No.2 in A major Op.100, II. Andante tranquillo - Vivace
6. Violin Sonata No.2 in A major Op.100, III. Allegretto Grazioso (Quasi Andante)
7. Violin Sonata No,3 in D minor Op.108, I. Allegro
8. Violin Sonata No,3 in D minor Op.108, II. Adagio
9. Violin Sonata No,3 in D minor Op.108, III. Un poco presto e con sentimento
10. Violin Sonata No,3 in D minor Op.108, IV. Presto agitato

Reviews:
Amazon.com 'essential recording'
Itzhak Perlman is the greatest living exponent of the Romantic, sentimental style of violin playing. As in his reading of the Brahms concerto, he shows sovereign mastery in these accounts, which are characterized by intense emotion and heated expression (Perlman's warm vibrato and carefully placed portamentos quickly give him away), but are also gripping in the quiet, meditative pages. The first two sonatas' relationship to songs could easily be guessed from the way Perlman plays them in a single, seamless line, marked by soaring climaxes and tender, haunting pianissimos. The treatment sometimes does seem a bit premeditated, but it is so compelling as to sweep aside any criticism. In this 1983 recording (sonically superior to Perlman's later remake with pianist Daniel Barenboim, for Sony), the violin sounds slightly forward, though not unpleasantly so. Warm, supportive, lyrical playing from Vladmir Ashkenazy rounds out a marvelous offering.

Gramophone (click to enlarge):

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Villa-Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras

Heitor Villa-Lobos - Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française

Victoria de los Angeles: soprano

Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 164 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 53 mb
Artwork @ 300dpi = 16 mb

Total playing time: 64:29

Recorded:
1-2: 7 & 13.VI.1956
3-6: 10 & 11.V.1956
7-9: 8 & 9.I.1958
10-11: 16.V.1956

Salle de la Mutualité, Paris

Released:
1998, EMI 7243 5 66912 2 3

Track listing:
1. No.5 for soprano and 8 cellos (1938/1945) - 1. Ária. Cantilena
2. No.5 for soprano and 8 cellos (1938/1945) - 2. Dança. Martelo
3. No.2 for orchestra (1930) - 1. Prelúdio. O Canto do Capadocio
4. No.2 for orchestra (1930) - 2. Ária. O Canto da Nossa Terra
5. No.2 for orchestra (1930) - 3. Dança. Lembrança do Sertão
6. No.2 for orchestra (1930) - 4. Tocata. O Trenzinho do Caipira
7. No.1 for cellos (1930) - 1. Introdução. Embolada
8. No.1 for cellos (1930) - 2. Prelúdio. Modinha
9. No.1 for cellos (1930) - 3. Fuga. Conversa
10. No.9 for string orchestra (1945) - 1. Prelúdio
11. No.9 for string orchestra (1945) - 2. Fuga

Reviews:
Gramophone:
In 1958, when three of these works were issued here, there had been no previous complete recordings of Nos. 2 and 9—respectively the least and most 'Bachian' of Villa-Lobos's soi-disant fusions of Brazilian folk idiom with the spirit of his revered Bach—but No. 5 was already on its way to becoming a popular favourite. (No. 1 had appeared six years earlier in the memorable Capitol version conducted by Werner Janssen.) The presence of the composer as conductor lends these performances some authority as regards character, tempo, correct notes (never very easy to establish in his chaotic scores) but not dynamics; and it would be idle to pretend that they have not been bettered since. The most appealing of these, because of the seductive singing of Victoria de los Angeles in her prime, is No. 5—despite one false entry by her and some untidy ensemble playing: her cantilena in the first movement and, in the second, her rapid articulation and bird-like darting are delightful.
The Prelude of No. 9 is well played, but its Fugue becomes increasingly heavy and laboured, as does the Fugue in No. 1, though the preceding Embolada and Modinha (perhaps Villa-Lobos's most beautiful movement) are good. (May I draw the attention of Enrique Bátiz—also EMI—to bar 12 of the Embolada?) Rough-and-ready is the aptest description of this performance of No. 2, in which the tenor saxophone and trombone soloists might have had their names credited; but the famous "Little train" which forms its last movement is still irresistible (the composer dwelling lovingly on that last impracticable harmonic which so vividly suggests the dying wheeze of the battered old locomotive).

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