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Presto News - 14th April 2008Nigel Kennedy |
 Undoubtedly one of the greatest violinists ever to grace this planet, Nigel Kennedy has managed to divide the music loving world into two camps – for or against. It appears that his popular appeal (achieved largely by his carefully maintained loutish persona) has resulted in many so called ‘serious’ classical music lovers dismissing his very genuine natural ability.  Nigel Kennedy He is probably best known for his recording of the Vivaldi Four Seasons which he first recorded in 1989. It went on to sell over 2 million copies and earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the then best-selling classical work of all time. The album remained top of the UK classical charts for over a year with sales equivalent to one copy sold every 30 seconds of every day. After recording most of the major violin concerti he then took a controversial and highly publicised decision to withdraw completely from public performance. This lasted about five years but he made a triumphant return and since then has split his time between mainstream classical and jazz/world influenced performances and recordings. His new recording of the Beethoven Violin Concerto coupled with the Mozart 4th Concerto shows that he is still one of the world’s leading exponents of the instrument. He first recorded the Beethoven Concerto 15 years ago under Klaus Tennstedt in a lush romantic interpretation. His new recoding is more rhythmically driven and playful but still beautiful and lyrical. And although the opening bars suggest a swifter and cleaner approach, he still slows down for the second subject and his Larghetto is similarly ravishing and soulful. The Mozart on the other hand I have a major problem with – and that is mainly in the form of the cadenzas. I have no problem with instrumentalists improvising their own cadenzas (although they rarely do these days) providing they fit with the character of the piece. Here, Kennedy switches to electric violin and is accompanied by a double bass in some dreamy world/jazzy insertions. Kennedy claims this expresses what the concerto means to him and that he wants to ‘open listeners minds’. To me it simply doesn’t work. We’ve put a video up on the site though so you can see if he can convince you! Luckily the Beethoven is good enough to justify the disc price alone. BBC Music Magazine Awards 2008 One other thing I should mention is that the BBC Music Magazine 2008 Awards were announced last week with Mitsuko Uchida's recording of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas Nos. 28 and 29 claiming the overall disc of the year. You can view full details of all the winners here.
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 Kennedy plays Beethoven & Mozart Violin ConcertosNigel Kennedy (violin & direction), Polish Chamber Orchestra
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Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
Watch an 11 minute video of Nigel Kennedy on Beethoven and MozartNew Releases14th April 2008 |
This is just the pick of the recent releases. The New Releases and Future Releases pages are always available for browsing all the new and forthcoming releases. |
 Placido Domingo - Pasion EspañolaPlácido Domingo (tenor), Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, Miguel RoaOne of Plácido Domingo’s most personal albums to date as he performs coplas, the traditional popular songs of Hispanic origin with which he grew up. Coplas express melodramatic, amorous sentiments, relate humorous incidents, historical events or comment on everyday life. In Spain the genre had a boom in the 1930s when many composers of popular songs and light classical music contributed to the tradition with art songs. |
 Chopin - Piano WorksIngrid Fliter (piano)"Fliter is very much her own person, with essential sparks of individual imagination that show a fertile mind as well as a phenomenal technique at work ... In the second half came a Chopin group that was simply spellbinding. The music seemed to flow from her with an utterly natural lyrical impulse, graced with power, luminous delicacy and a spectrum of tonal colouring that combined to mark her out as one of the most instinctive and eloquent Chopin interpreters playing today" - Daily Telegraph |
 Boldmemann, Gefors & Hillborg - SongsAnne Sofie von Otter (mezzo soprano), Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Kent NaganoVersatile Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter starts this year with a new album of Swedish songs. It is a collection of emotional and evocative orchestral songs, which have been composed by Gefors and Hillborg specifically for her. All songs on this album are world premiere recordings. Always looking for new challenges, Anne Sofie von Otter herself conceived this album for the 20/21 series: “Sweden has a rich singing tradition. I wanted to do something for its contemporary vocal music, which is ripe for discovery.” |
 DreamingPavao QuartetThe CD includes arrangements of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Clair de Lune, When You Wish Upon a Star, Moonlight Sonata, Dream a Little Dream and even Fly me to the Moon! It makes for a wonderful CD, showcasing not only their virtuosic talents, but their ability to perform crowd pleasing arrangements which regularly bring the house down at their live performances. |
Guastavino - The Complete Piano MusicMartin Jones (piano)Carlos Guastavino was born in Santa Fe Province, Argentina. He studied music in Santa Fe with Esperanza Lothringer and Dominga Iaffei, and in Buenos Aires with Athos Palma. A talented pianist, he performed his piano works in London in 1947, 1948, and 1949, invited by the BBC, and as a recipient of a scholarship from the British Council. One of the foremost Argentine composers of the 20th century, his production amounted to over 200 works, most of them songs for piano and voice. His style was quite conservative, always tonal and lusciously romantic. His compositions were clearly influenced by Argentine folk music. |
 Wagenaar - Orchestral WorksThe Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eri KlasThe leading Dutch composer of his generation, Johan Wagenaar (1862-1941) composed operas, cantatas and organ music as well as an impressive list of orchestral works. His most important musical influence came from the compositions of Richard Strauss and his own orchestral works show a great talent for orchestration and a predilection for dramatic subject matter. |
 Dvorák - SerenadesPrague Philharmonia, Jakub Hruša“In my opinion, as soon as Dvorák starts to be pompous, frilly, over-stylized, even rash or studiously virtuoso, the approach is wrong. My goal was to emphasize its simplicity and naturalness, because when this is lost, Dvorák isn’t Dvorák anymore.” These words of Jakub Hruša shine through the young conductor’s third CD, in which he again juxtaposes the works of teacher Antonín Dvorák and his student Josef Suk. |
 Donizetti: La Fille du Régiment - DVDNatalie Dessay, Juan Diego Flórez, Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Bruno CampanellaLast January 2007, Natalie Dessay, joined on stage by acclaimed tenor Juan Diego Florez - “operatic coupling made in heaven” (Financial Times) - dazzled British audiences in La Fille du régiment. The rave reviews from the press and the audiences’ standing ovations clearly indicate how successfully Laurent Pelly (famous for his spectacular productions) staged this new production, and how the singers were perfectly cast. They gave Donizetti’s opera a new life at the Royal Opera House, after 40 years, when the opera was last staged there. |
 3 New Lyrita ReleasesThree important new Lyrita re-issues including the Cello Concerto of Moeran, Barry Tuckwell playing Horn Concertos of Hodinott and Maw, and Elisabeth Lutyens' work for soprano, baritone and orchestra - Quincunx. |
 BBC Radio 3 CD ReviewSaturday 12th April 2008 |
Building a Library - Schumann: Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44 |
 First ChoiceLeif Ove Andsnes (piano), Artemis Quartet |
 Budget ChoiceRecorded 1951-52Clifford Curzon (piano), Budapest String Quartet |
 Period Instrument ChoiceLa Gaia Scienza |
CD of the Week |
 Beethoven - BagatellesLinda Nicholson (fortepiano) |
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