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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Susan Graham - Poèmes De L’amour
“The temperature rose with the mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, a superb interpreter of French music who gave one of the most intense accounts imaginable of Ravel's Shéhérazade. Few singers sound quite so involved here … Graham spun seamless phrases with Arabian Nights-like enchantment. Her warm tone was matched by an atmospheric accompaniment from the orchestra to voluptuous effect. In Le livre de Baudelaire, John Adams' arrangements of four Debussy songs, Graham phrased with caressing lightness.” (**** The Times) “Only a brave, or foolhardy, composer sets about reorchestrating Debussy.
Yet that's what John Adams has done, in 'Le jet d'eau', the third of Debussy's Cinqpoèmes de Charles Baudelaire, the first four of which Adams has chosen to score for a modern orchestra. He's done an effective job, and if it makes the songs sound more boisterous, less mysterious than in the usual version for voice and piano, he's probably doing his soloist a big favour. By common consent, these are the most difficult of all Debussy's early songs. Susan Graham seems totally in command, her diminuendo on the words 'Et le charme des soirs' is tender, and is echoed a few bars later by Adams providing a nostalgic woodwind for the reference to those firelit evenings, 'par l'audeur du charbon'.
There's a lovely photograph, taken in 1893, the year of Poème de l'amour et de la mer. It shows Debussy, at Chausson's house, playing the piano. Both composers are in white shirts, surrounded by a peaceful group of family and friends, all in summer clothes, the windows openThis is the sort of mood this disc evokes.
Yan Pascal Tortelier and Susan Graham give Chausson's work a well-nigh perfect performance, capturing the sense of quiet regret at the memory of springtime love that has faded, and of a story that is never quite told.
As for Ravel's Shéhérazade, like nearly all mezzo-sopranos, Graham is stretched to the limits of her resources by the big climactic phrases in 'Asie'. She sings a hushed, beautiful 'La flûte enchantée' and a rather too sad 'L'indifférent', but it's all done with a fine line, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra playing Ravel's music with a good deal of passion.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Elgar's Enigma Variations
| | Hidden Portrait In an acclaimed BBC drama-documentary filmed in the rolling Malvern Hills, Sir Andrew Davis unravels the mystery of the famous musical puzzle contained in Elgar's seminal work. | Elgar: | Enigma Variations, Op. 36 A landmark performance of the complete work, given in the cathedral in Elgar's home town of Worcester, recorded in beautiful 5.1 surround sound. BBC Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Davis |
PICTURE FORMAT: 16:9
LENGTH: 85 MINS
SOUND: DTS SURROUND / LPCM STEREO
SUBTITLES: FR/DE/ES/IT
“Andrew Davis presents the documentary in an engaging style, giving an overview of the variations, as well as homing in on several of them. …there's a lot of information presented in an unassuming way, and, for anyone coming to this masterpiece for the first time, it's a good way.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2005 *** “Sir Andrew Davis's warmly committed performance of the Enigma Variations, atmospherically recorded in Worcester Cathedral, introduces a highly enjoyable documentary about the work and the 'friends pictured within'. Davis suggests that each variation, as well as reflecting the character of a particular friend, reveals much about Elgar himself, 'like an actor playing many roles'.
Each section is illustrated with archive material and period reconstructions, happily with no dialogue, only Davis's narration. He describes and analyses nine of the 14 variations with orchestral clips and illustrations played on the piano.
So the first variation, 'CAE', depicting Elgar's wife Alice, concentrating on the central majorkey section of the theme, includes a brief, passionate climax, 'showing his depth of feeling'.
'RBT', subject of the third variation, was the treasurer of the local golf club, who got Elgar accepted as a member even though his social class was against him. We're shown what used to be the clubhouse, now set in waste land. 'Nimrod' depicts the publisher August Jaeger and Elgar walking together, and Davis points to echoes of the slow movement from Beethoven's Pathétique Sonata. The intermezzo, 'Dorabella', brings a good portrait of the young Dora Penny, but after a reference to her cycling, ends absurdly on shots of a modern couple roller- blading – an example of fussy and intrusive visual illustration.
Fairly enough, Davis favours the idea that the 13th variation, 'Romanza', represents not Lady Mary Lygon, as has generally been thought, but his first love, Helen Weaver, who emigrated to New Zealand. Irritating are the accompanying shots of a soulful modern teenager on Lambeth Bridge looking at a launch bearing his girlfriend away.
The performance itself has no unwanted intrusions – just a sepia photo of the subject as each variation begins – and is a fine one.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Anthony Gilbert - On Beholding A Rainbow
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| |  | Essential PianoThis collection includes the most requested piano music including essential works from Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Liszt, Satie and Grieg
Albéniz: | Sevilla (from Suite Española, Op. 47) Alicia de Larrocha | Bach, J S: | Goldberg Variations, BWV988: Aria Andras Schiff Cantata BWV147 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben': Jesu, bleibet meine Freude (arr. Myra Hess) Julius Katchen | Beethoven: | Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 ‘Moonlight': Adagio sostenuto Vladimir Ashkenazy Für Elise (Bagatelle in A minor, WoO59) Vladimir Ashkenazy Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13 'Pathétique': Adagio cantabile Vladimir Ashkenazy Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 'Emperor' - Adagio un poco mosso Vladimir Ashkenazy Cleveland Orchestra | Chopin: | Waltz No. 1 in E flat major 'Grande Valse Brillante', Op. 18 Vladimir Ashkenazy Waltz No. 6 in D flat major, Op. 64 No. 1 'Minute Waltz' Jorge Bolet Nocturne No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 9 No. 2 Vladimir Ashkenazy | Debussy: | Clair de Lune (from Suite Bergamasque) Pascal Rogé Golliwog's Cakewalk (from Children's Corner) Pascal Rogé | Fauré: | Nocturne No. 1 in E flat minor, Op. 33 No. 1 Pascal Rogé | Grieg: | Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 16: Adagio Stephen Kovacevich BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis | Liszt: | Consolation, S. 172 No. 3 in D flat major Jorge Bolet Liebestraum, S541 No. 3 (Nocturne in A flat major) Jorge Bolet | Mozart: | Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K467 'Elvira Madigan' - Andante Radu Lupu Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K466 – Romance Vladimir Ashkenazy Philharmonia Orchestra Rondo alla Turca from Piano Sonata No. 11, K331 Andras Schiff Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K488 - Adagio Vladimir Ashkenazy Philharmonia Orchestra | Rachmaninov: | Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18: 2 - Adagio sostenuto Zoltán Kocsis | Ravel: | Pavane pour une infante défunte Jean-Yves Thibaudet | Rubinstein: | Melody in F major, Op. 3 No. 1 Shura Cherkassky | Satie: | Gymnopédie No. 1 Pascal Rogé | Schubert: | Moments Musicaux, D780: No. 3 in F minor Radu Lupu Impromptu in G flat major, D899 No. 3 Radu Lupu | Schumann: | Kinderszenen, Op. 15: Traümerei Radu Lupu | Shostakovich: | Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102 - Andante Cristina Ortiz Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy | Sinding: | Frühlingsrauschen (Rustle of Spring), Op. 32 No 3 Joseph Cooper | Tchaikovsky: | Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23, Andantino semplice Vladimir Ashkenazy London Symphony Orchestra, Lorin Maazel |
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| |  | Leopold Stokowski
Recorded 1964 “The Shostakovich is a magnificent interpretation…a master is at work” Sunday Telegraph | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Tippett: Symphonines Nos. 2 & 4
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Recorded 1937 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Robert Saxton - I Will Awake the Dawn & other works
| | | (also available to download from $21.00) | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Fournier & Francescatti
“Davis is excellent in moulding the tensions in the first movement and Fournier’s playing throughout is superbly expressive…” BBC Music Magazine | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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Gramophone Magazine
