Gramophone Magazine Editor's Choice

“All the performances are superb, with Laurence Power lavishing all the richness of his velvety tone and generous phrasing on some of the most striking melodic ideas that Hindemith ever produced.” The Guardian, 19th June 2009 ****

“…the 1939 Sonata that opens this disc… receives a decisive performance from Lawrence Power and Simon Crawford-Phillips. The Sonata Op. 11 No. 4, dating from 1919, is written in Hindemith's early, Brahms-with-chromatic-twists style; it gives Power a chance to show off the gorgeously smooth tone of his 400-year-old instrument. ...the Sonata Op. 25 No. 4 features an uncharacteristically Bartókian finale and a big piano part that Crawford-Phillips... seizes gratefully. Power's acute sense of phrasing makes for an eloquent and elegiac Meditation...” BBC Music Magazine, July 2009 ****

“…not since the days of William Primrose have I heard Hindermith's viola music played with such warmth and conviction and… the pianist is first-rate. A 100 per cent success story.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009

“Paul Hindemith isn't exactly the first composer you think of when the term 'hit tune' is mentioned but the opening Fantasie of his F major Viola Sonata (Op 11 No 4) of 1919 comes pretty close to providing one, especially as 'sung' by viola-player Lawrence Power. 'Might almost be by Brahms…' says Malcolm MacDonald in a typically persuasive and informative bookletnote, which is surely true. The finale is a fairly assertive mood-breaker, pianist Simon Crawford- Phillips marking a dramatic contrast in tempo and colour (now this really does sound like 'updated' Brahms). The grittier Sonata of 1939 also includes a Phantasie, placed third in the structure rather than first. This is the Hindemith of the Mathis der Maler Symphony, purposeful music, square-jawed, angular, confident and assertive, though with more fanciful elements too – especially in the finale, which at times is both playful and delicate.
Macdonald notes the possible influence of Bartók on the Sonata Op 25 No 4 (1922), which seems a justified claim. This is another strong piece, more percussive than the 1939 Sonata, with a desolate but heart-rending slow movement that is savagely interrupted by the finale's aggressive arrival. The CD (Vol 1 of 'The Complete Hindemith Viola Music' is what it's called), which is superbly recorded, is completed with a sensitive performance of the serene Meditation from Nobilissima visione in Hindemith's own arrangement for viola and piano. As to the per- formances, not since the days of William Primrose has Hindemith's viola music been played with such warmth and conviction. A 100 per cent success story.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“…the superb singers of Stile Antico are up to the challenge of presenting all the required moods from pious restraint… to melting abandon… a magnificent display of the very best kind of polyphonic music.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2009 *****

“The standout piece is Tómas Luis De Victoria's epic motet "Vadam et circuibo", a masterpiece of polychoral ingenuity.” The Independent, 29th May 2009 ****

“This ensemble, its members still in their 20s and just a dozen beautifully blended voices singing a cappella, has emerged as one of the best and freshest early music choirs around. Their third CD is a selection of motet and plainchant settings from the Song of Songs, the startling Old Testament collection of erotic love poems ascribed to King Solomon.” The Observer, 3rd May 2009

“…these are just the sort of performances I'd hope to hear in church, which was (one feels) the practical and creative laboratory for what is recorded: full but not strained singing, allowing an advantageous acoustic and the number (212) and freshness of voices to take care of blend and balance, with plenty left in reserve for the longer spans of the two magnificent Victoria anthems, Vadam et circuibo and Vidi speciosam.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009

“One expectation that such an album may raise in its listeners is an answer to the question of what common and special inspiration might composers have taken from contemplating this most erotic of Biblical texts. The symptoms of their reactions might be sensuous melismas, perhaps, and anguished suspensions, surging bass–lines and… let us draw a veil there. Such devices and stratagems are in abundance, whether chastely deployed in turn by Clemens and Palestrina or flaunted all at once in the selections of Guerrero and Gombert, though no more so than they would be on a programme of Marian or Lenten devotions; and these are just the opening four tracks.
That unfair calculation ignores the plainchant antiphons between each pair of motets. These interspersions work well – as they must in a genuinely liturgical context, as here, thanks to the quiet good taste and stylistically homogeneous approach of Stile Antico, with an especially winsome unanimity to the female–only Tota pulchra es.
Indeed, these are just the sort of performances one would hope to hear in church, which was (one feels) the practical and creative laboratory for what is recorded: full but not strained singing, allowing an advantageous acoustic and the number (12) and freshness of voices to take care of blend and balance, with plenty left in reserve for the longer spans of the two magnificent Victoria anthems, Vadam et circuibo and Vidi speciosam.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Mozart's first great opera has fared well on disc...there are penetrating things here, especially the seriousness with which the recitative is treated, and the interaction of Richard Croft's Idomeneo and Bernarda Fink's ideal Idamante - the great quartet is moving.” The Observer, 14th June 2009

“The performance has great dramatic vitality throughout, and the sublime Gluckian drama of the third act has seldom sounded more urgent or moving. The playing of the Freiburg Barockorchester is beyond praise, as is” The Telegraph, 1st June 2009 ****

“The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra plays wonderfully, and much of the singing is first rate, especially Richard Croft's authoritative Idomeneo, Bernarda Fink's honey-toned Idamante (Jacobs rightly favours the original 1781 version of the score with a mezzo rather than a tenor in that role), and Alexandrina Pendatchanska's haughty Elettra.” The Guardian, 22nd May 2009 ***

“Idomeneo is the American tenor Richard Croft, wading through the moral quagmire with impressively crisp decorative runs.... In the role of the Trojan princess Ilia, Sunhae Im wields a small voice, but she uses it with point and feeling. As for Alexandrina Pendatchanska, if we could tap the rage of her Elettra there’d be no need for nuclear power stations.” The Times, 22nd May 2009 ****

“The orchestral playing, choral singing and most of the soloists are first-rate: Bernarda Fink’s ardent Idamante, Alexandrina Pendatchanska’s spitfire Elettra and Richard Croft’s noble Idomeneo rank with the best on disc.” Sunday Times, 17th May 2009 ***

“Jacob's strongest players are the superb Idamante of Bernarda Fink: tender, ardent and in touch with every nerve-ending of every beautifully shaped phrase. Alexandrina Pendatchanska, from her blazing top register to the dark depths of her voice, is a thrilling Elettra.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2009 ****

“…there is no denying the intense theatrical charge of Jacobs's performance. He chooses mobile, natural-sounding tempi… The chorus… are as involved and incisive as Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir in the glorious music Mozart allots them, while the superb Freiburg Baroque Orchestra relish what David Cairns dubs the opera's "proto-Romantic exploitation of orchestral colour". Jacobs, like Gardiner and Mackerras, is unerringly responsive to the ways Mozart expresses the drama through harmony, rhythm and orchestral texture. ...the role of the tortured king is tricky to cast. Richard Croft is a subtle, sensitive artist, mellifluous of tone, refined of phrase. In plangent beauty of tone and passionate immediacy, Bernarda Fink's Idamante is at least the equal of Anne Sofie von Otter (Gardiner) and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Mackerras)... this new version, beautifully recorded, at its best eclipses all corners in dramatic tension, not least in the magnificent, anguished account of the great Act 3 quartet.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009

“Zefiro play the grand Ouverture with the perfect synthesis of splendour and dance-like charisma… "La réjouissance" trips along lightly without a hint of clumsiness, but still has ample juicy magnificence. There are several other good recordings available, but this zesty and fluid performance is a welcome change from stodgy readings in which everything is hammered home mercilessly. Zefiro bring a marvellous sense of light and shade to this music. Zefiro also perform all three of the Concerti per due cori... These shapely performances are phrased and paced to perfection... This is one of the most enjoyable discs of Handel's orchestral music to have come my way in a long time...” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009

“What makes the disc into a must-hear is the pairing with the three Concerto a due cori, Handel's last, ebullient recycling of "greatest hits" from his operas and Italian cantatas.” The Independent on Sunday, 19th July 2009

“What the Italian wind-based orchestra Zefiro, led by oboist Alfredo Bernardini, achieve here is remarkable, giving these ceremonial masterpieces an expressive lilt and rounded warmth - no relentless rhythms, but perky dances, gracious phrasing and, in the famous fireworks music, an unexpected depth of emotion.” The Observer, 2nd August 2009

“…once past the curious opening… the players want for nothing in immediacy or colour. They contrive majesty without pomposity, and there's a deal of gleeful thrusting in the confrontational face-offs which animate the Allegro continuation. The easeful suavity of the 'Bourrée' neatly counterpoints the arcadian lilt of 'La paix', while the two concluding menuets are appealingly crisp and... Laced with infectious swagger, the three Concerti a due cori... provide an inspired and inspiring coupling.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2009 ***

“The Italian ensemble Zefiro, directed by oboist Alfredo Bernardini, specialise in 18th-century music that gives prominence towards wind instruments. This lends itself to Handel's Musicfor the Royal Fireworks, written for the public celebrations of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in London's Green Park (1749). Zefiro play the grand Ouverture with the perfect synthesis of splendour and dance-like charisma (too many versions possess too little of the latter). 'La réjouissance' trips along lightly without a hint of clumsiness, but still has ample juicy magnificence.
There are several other good recordings available, but this zesty and fluid performance is a welcome change from stodgy readings in which everything is hammered home mercilessly.
Zefiro bring a marvellous sense of light and shade to this music. Maybe Bernardini's sparkling and communicative approach would have been too subtle for the great British outdoors in 1749, but it is curious that this beautifully engineered recording was made outside in the cloisters of a former Jesuit college in Sicily.
Zefiro also perform all three of the Concerti perdue cori (1747-48) that Handel arranged for orchestra and two 'choirs' of woodwind and brass. These were intended as entr'actes in oratorio concerts, and it is fun to play 'name that tune'.
These shapely performances are phrased and paced to perfection, and exploit an enjoyable range of instrumental colours (whether oboe trios or bucolic horns, almost everything here feels right). This is one of the most enjoyable discs of Handel's orchestral music in a long time.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“After acclaimed recordings of Barber, Ives and Schumann, baritone Gerald Finley and pianist Julius Drake pull off another success with this disc of Ravel songs. These are for the most part works of cool restraint, with passion hidden beneath a jewelled surface, and Finley’s wonderfully flexible voice achieves maximum effect with minimal means.” The Telegraph, 10th June 2009 ****

“Finley sings with the art that conceals art — relishing but never overpointing the texts, and using a wide palette of dynamic and colour to underpin his musical insights. Other highlights are the inward-looking Ronsard à son âme, the passionate Les grands vents venus d’outremer and the lamenting Deux melodies hébraïques. A superb disc.” Sunday Times, 28th June 2009 ****

“Gerald Finley and Julius Drake's survey gathers all his major songs together. It's a beautiful disc that startles in ways you don't always expect.” The Guardian, 12th June 2009 ****

“It feels inadequate…just to describe this enchanting new collection from Gerald Finley and Julius Drake as the best modern recital devoted to the wonderfully varied world of Ravel's songs. Finley gives the melancholic affirmation of 'Kaddisch' its full weight of understated nobility, and is clearly having fun in the drinking song from Don Quichotte à Dulcinée.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2009 *****

“…the mood might be robust or rarefied, but Ravel's sense of colour and atmosphere is infallible. Drake draws the ear ineluctably into Ravel's imaginative world… Finley's mellifluous, malleable baritone is similarly an ideal match for this repertoire, with lines eloquently floated, nuances subtly voiced and character sensitively defined. This is a beguiling programme, beautifully performed.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009

“There is a vast gulf between the bibulous bravado of the 'Chanson à boire' that Ravel included in his Don Quichotte à Dulcinée songs and the bleak, dark despair of his Verlaine setting Un Grand sommeil noir. Placing them next to one another in this fine selection of over two dozen songs emphasises the broad expressive range that Ravel was able to embrace. It also throws into focus the way that Gerald Finley and Julius Drake can so evocatively tap their emotional substance.
These exquisitely crafted miniatures, whether in the folk-inspired Chants populaires and Cinqmélodies populaires grecques or in the tender Noëlsdes jouets to a text of Ravel's own, show his creative fastidiousness in a consistently positive light: the mood might be robust or rarefied, but Ravel's sense of colour and atmosphere is infallible.
The imagery of the Histoires naturelles, for example, testifies to Ravel's intuitive response to poetry and to his precise placing of the tonal brushstrokes. In this respect, the piano is an essential collaborator, etching in the background for the gliding grace of the swan or the chirping of the cricket.
Drake draws the ear ineluctably into Ravel's imaginative world, as he does elsewhere in the cool restraint of Ronsard à son âme or the turbulence and shifting currents of Les Grands Ventsvenus d'outremer. Finley's mellifluous, malleable baritone is similarly an ideal match for this repertoire, with lines eloquently floated, nuances subtly voiced and character sensitively defined.
This is a beguiling programme, beautifully performed.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Piotr Anderszewski employs a small but incisive tone in the Bach Sinfonia, as though he is taking us into his confidence; the Allemande is sweet and unassuming, the Courante has warmth, the Sarabande has rapt expressiveness. As the Partita progresses, the playing becomes more exuberant: the Caprice is pure tumbling energy.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2009 ****

“So acute is the positioning of the microphones that the force of his playing here and in the mighty fugal statements of the finale makes an emphatic, physical impact. But Anderszewski’s command of perspective is paramount. The soft playing is mesmerising, the scope of his interpretation geared to probing deep into the music’s inner expressive tissues.” The Telegraph, 28th May 2009 *****

“This is playing of exceptional insight and finesse, which few other pianists today could match.” The Guardian, 29th May 2009 *****

“. In Bach's Partita No 2 in C minor, he plays with warm expression, using all the possibilities of a concert grand, yet miraculously avoiding anachronism. His late Beethoven, Sonata No 31 in A flat, Op 110, has earthy tenderness, opening at a steady tempo which prepares beautifully for the serenity and majesty to come. Schumann's "Faschingsschwank", Janacek and Bartok complete this captivating recital.” The Observer, 24th May 2009

“This is an outstanding release that ought to give anyone an appetite for next month’s recital.” The Telegraph, 21st May 2009 *****

“Janácek's In the Mists is a given a peach of a performance, a sense of improvisation sitting securely at its heart. Anderszewski's mastery of simultaneously varied dynamics comes into play here… this is an exceptional recital, and as ever the Carnegie Hall acoustic allows for a luminous piano tone.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009

“Some recital, this. Piotr Anderszewski establishes a commanding tone for the opening section of the Second Partita's Ouverture, hopping elegantly through the little march that leads on to a fast, immaculately voiced fugue. He uses the Courante's ornaments to 'lift' the melody line, and the play between a seamless legato and a gentle staccato accompaniment in the following Sarabande works wonderfully well. The Rondeau is again trippingly elegant, the closing Capriccio assertive in a way that balances it with the opening fugue.
Faschingsschwank aus Wien launches with a flourish: Anderszewski fractionally delays the opening's second chord in authentic Viennese style, while the Scherzo is full of telling though effective emphases, mostly along the lines of 'question and answer'. And yet in the ravishing Intermezzo he seems too aware of the notes (so many to negotiate). The finale works best, a fantastical sojourn dazzlingly negotiated.
Janácek's In the Mists is a given a peach of a performance, a sense of improvisation sitting securely at its heart. Each movement tells its own very personal story, or seems to, the third alternating idyll with searing drama. Anderszewski's mastery of simultaneously varied dynamics comes into play here but in Beethoven's Op 110 he can be just a little over-emphatic on detail – in particular the accompaniment that underpins the first movement's principal theme.
Throughout the recital the understandably enthusiastic Carnegie Hall audience is rather too keen to bound in at the end of each piece, a mild distraction on a recording that you hope to play again and again. This is an exceptional recital, and as ever the Carnegie Hall acoustic allows for a luminous piano tone.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Even the most familiar pages from The Bartered Bride… come up fresh as paint, the BBC Philharmonic's immaculate virtuosity as musicianly and refined as it is sparkling. Everything is permeated with a sense of Czech pride and ideals, a mood memorably captured by Noseda.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009

“An extraordinary, implacable performance of the Libuse prelude makes the disc worth hearing.” The Guardian, 24th July 2009 ***

“…the lyrical tragedy Dalibor, a great hymn to friendship, is rarely performed outside his homeland, and even there, relatively few will ever see Libuše, the story of Bohemia's legendary prophetess-queen, who married a humble ploughman. All the more valuable, therefore, is this sampler from the versatile Gianandrea Noseda, whose glossy, vibrant performances more than hint at what we're missing.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2009 *****

“Brilliant, picturesque and nationalistic, all the music on this superb disc pays colourful tribute to 'the father of Bohemian music'. Even the most familiar pages from The Bartered Bride come up fresh as paint, the BBC Philharmonic's immaculate virtuosity as musicianly and refined as it is sparkling. However rapid and propulsive the tempo, nothing is pushed or over-driven.
The Polka's grandiose opening leads to music of a courtly charm, enough to set even the least susceptible heads nodding and feet tapping. The Furiant's catchy cross-rhythms lead to a suavely romantic melody and in the Overture to TheSecret there is a typical Smetana progression from sobriety to lightness and exultance.
The Prelude to Libuše was written to celebrate the coronation of the Emperor Franz Josef. But even if Smetana was left in the lurch (the event never took place) his ceremonial fanfares carry all the importance of a promised state occasion.
The Entr'acte from Dalibor is a special delight, a magical dream-like interlude before a return in The Two Widows to hyperactivity. Everything is permeated with a sense of Czech pride and ideals, a mood memorably captured by Noseda.
Chandos's sound is exceptional.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The opening movement of Chopin’s Second Sonata certainly identifies qualities of youthful impetuosity, power and dexterity.” The Telegraph, 25th June 2009 ***

“The Scriabin (sonata no 2) flows nicely; in the Liszt B minor sonata she’s no empty virtuoso. A talent worth watching.” The Times, 23rd May 2009 ****

“…Yuja Wang… has all the equipment to be one of the most exciting pianists of her generation. As well as a stunning technique she has a fabulous range of sonority and colour… the two Ligeti Etudes, especially 'Fanfares', suit her dazzling fingerwork perfectly. Pianistically, parts of her Liszt Sonata are extraordinary, with blistering octaves, razor-sharp articulation and a wonderful tonal richness.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2009 ****

“…22-year-old Yuja Wang is a wondrously gifted pianist whose debut album… suggests a combination of blazing technique and a rare instinct for poetry. In Scriabin's Second Sonata she is beautifully sensitive to the moods, whether tranquil and starlit or tempestuous, reflecting the composer's love of the Baltic Sea. She is fiery but never reckless in Chopin's Second Sonata... As a crowning touch her Ligeti Etudes are both musicianly and dazzlingly incisive. In the words of the publicist, "a star is born".” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009

“Curtis-trained under Gary Graffman, Wang tells us in an accompanying DVD of her special love for music of drama and turbulence and how ever since first hearing Pollini's recording of the Chopin Etudes she dreamt of recording for DG.
In Scriabin's Second Sonata she is beautifully sensitive to the moods, whether tranquil and starlit or tempestuous, reflecting the composer's love of the Baltic Sea. She is fiery but never reckless in Chopin's Second Sonata, off like the proverbial greyhound at the first doppio movimento, and offers a dramatic bass emphasis at the climax of the heaven-storming development.
Her finale is truly sotto voce yet with the widest variety of touch and expression, and for the most part her playing, while sharply individual, is free from all distorting idiosyncrasy or mannerism.
You wont hear anything on the scale of Richter or Gilels in the Liszt Sonata but on the other hand Wang is young, wonderfully talented and trained, superbly recorded and, if this disc is anything to go by, with the world at her feet. As a crowning touch her Ligeti Etudes are both musicianly and dazzlingly incisive. In the words of the publicist, 'a star is born'.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The deftness and buoyancy with which the opening string ostinatos are realised indicate qualities of grace and manoeuvrability that more than make up for the fact that the orchestra will never command the weight or fire-power of, say, Böhm's Vienna Philharmonic...” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009

“Though you might wonder at the idea of the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra playing Bruckner, they have been doing so for many years.
Joseph Schröcksnadel's history of the orchestra reproduces a poster from July 1928 advertising a performance of the Fifth Symphony conducted by Bernhard Paumgartner in the Cathedral Square. In 2004 Ivor Bolton took over as music director, and judging by this excellent 2007 Bruckner Third, it would seem that he has made a difference.
The deftness and buoyancy with which the opening string ostinatos are realised indicate qualities of grace and manoeuvrability that more than make up for the fact that the orchestra will never command the weight or fire-power of, say, Böhm's Vienna Philharmonic, an ensemble that also brings to the third- and fourth-movement dance subjects a properly Austrian tread.
There have been outstanding versions of this 1889 version from Wand, Karajan, Böhm (the latter currently available as a two-CD set that also includes a fabulous Fourth – see above) and others besides. However, with few, if any, of these surviving as single-CD releases, this admirable new Oehms CD might be said to have the market at its mercy.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010