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Presto News - 22nd August 2011Sublime Ravel from Ibragimova and Tiberghien |
 The Ravel G major Violin Sonata has always been one of my favourite works: full of both variety and apparent spontaneity, it is imaginative, inventive and hugely exciting to listen to. A new recording out next week from Russian violinist Alina Ibragimova and French pianist Cédric Tiberghien is one of the finest I’ve heard, and coupled with other works by Ravel and the rarely played sonata of Guillaume Lekeu I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to tell you about it this week.  Cédric Tiberghien and Alina Ibragimova Ravel’s life was almost divided in two by the First World War. Prior to war he was a prolific composer and along with Debussy became regarded as one of the leading French composers of his time. After the war things had changed somewhat. The American influence of jazz and ragtime had arrived in Paris; Satie and Les Six were gaining in popularity; and composers like Schoenberg were starting to take music in different directions. In addition to this the large orchestral styles of composers like Mahler and Richard Strauss were starting to go out of fashion and instead a return to simplicity and textural clarity was becoming the norm. Ravel’s desire to ensure that his music remained relevant meant that his musical style changed quite considerably to incorporate some of these new influences. Both the G major Sonata and Tzigane are examples of this changing style, the latter being based on the form of the czardas and imitating the gypsy style with techniques like harmonics, trills and glissandos. The G major Sonata took Ravel four years to complete – being frequently interrupted by other compositions. It receives a performance here which is full of character and contains a tremendous range of colours and dynamics. Furious pizzicato and sudden interjections add to the inherent wildness of this music and while harder to really understand than the earlier sonata (which is also on this disc) it is a real masterpiece and well worth getting to know if you don’t already. The Ravel works are coupled here with the Violin Sonata of the Belgian composer Guillaume Lekeu. He died of typhoid the day after his twenty-fourth birthday and this sonata is undoubtedly his most well-known work. He had been a student of César Franck and Vincent d'Indy, and the influence of both is very noticeable here. As an interesting (and perhaps amusing) segue from my article on Bayreuth a few weeks ago, I read that Lekeu attended a performance of Tristan und Isolde at Bayreuth in 1889, but fainted after the Prelude and had to be carried out! He must have been devastated to have missed it as he was a known Wagner admirer. For someone largely unknown though there are some lovely bits in this music: memorable melodies and a beautiful slow movement which, set in 7/8 time, demonstrates impressive compositional skill. As a duo, Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien clearly have a tremendous rapport. Their playing is totally absorbing, and they lure you into the music to such an extent that you don’t really notice the considerable technical demands that both Lekeu and Ravel demand from both performers. They mirror each other’s lightest of touches and phrase beautifully as one voice. Their recent series of Beethoven Sonatas from the Wigmore Hall garnered rave reviews (volume 3 is a finalist at this year’s Gramophone Awards) and I expect this disc to be equally successful. You’ll find the usual sound samples via the link below. Enjoy!
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 Ravel: Complete music for violin & pianoAlina Ibragimova (violin) & Cédric Tiberghien (piano) |
Chris O'Reilly - chris@prestoclassical.co.uk |
Listen - sound samples available for this itemNew Releases22nd August 2011 |
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. |
 Liszt: My Piano HeroLang Lang (piano), Vienna Philharmonic, Valery GergievOn this album, together with the Vienna Philharmonic and Valery Gergiev, Lang Lang plays Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 as well as a selection of some of the most commercial, famous, virtuosic and beautiful solo pieces by Franz Liszt such as La Campanella, Liebestraum and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, Consolation etc. |
 Smetana: The SecretKarel Kalaš (Malina), Přemysl Kočí (Kalina), Štěpánka Štěpánová (Panna Róza), Štefa Petrová (Blaženka), Ivo Žídek (Vít), Vladimír Jedenáctík (Bonifác) & Oldřich Kovář (Skřivánek), Prague National Theatre Chorus & Orchestra, Jaroslav KrombholcThe secret of the success of the co-operation between Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884) and Eliška Krásnohorská (1847-1926) was mutual trust and reverence for artistic creation. Both of them strove for cultivated refinement of new Czech musical and literary works, and in The Secret they attained an exemplary solution. Following the completion of their joint opera, The Kiss, Smetana bore with difficulty the gradual loss of hearing and material hardship. Krásnohorská encouraged him to continue to write operas. She aimed at treating genuine human themes. For The Secret, the second of the three operas she and Smetana created together, she prepared a libretto based on her story set in the present day in the region beneath the Bezděz peak. |
 Gustavo Dudamel conducts Bruckner, Sibelius & NielsenGothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Gustavo DudamelGustavo Dudamel catapulted to international prominence in a remarkably short time as a conducting talent and was named Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director in 2006. This 3-CD project of recent live recordings features Bruckner’s majestic Symphony No. 7, Sibelius’s uplifting Symphony No. 2, and Nielsen’s turbulent Symphony No. 4 ‘The Inextinguishable’ and No. 5. |
 Brahms: Viola Sonatas Op. 120Rachel Roberts (viola) & Lars Vogt (piano)Brahms Op. 120 sonatas were originally intended for the clarinet, but he also arranged them for viola. Presented here in a stunning recording, Rachel Roberts has established herself internationally as a soloist and chamber musician and Lars Vogt needs no introduction. |
 Beethoven: The Birth of a MasterLe Cercle de l'Harmonie, Jérémie RhorerThis recording of a live performance of music by the young Beethoven – his first operatic, symphonic and concert masterpieces – features one of the best of the newer ensembles on the international scene, Le Cercle de L’Harmonie under its conductor Jérémie Rhorer. The lively and innovative programme includes the early dramatic scene “Ah Perfido”, the concert aria “No non turbati”, “O wär’ ich schon mit dir verein” (an aria from the first version of Fidelio, which was titled “Leonore”), as well as his First Symphony, and the first of the two Romances for violin and orchestra. |
 Tcherepnin: Complete Piano Concertos Nos. 1-6Noriko Ogawa (piano), Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Lan ShuiAlexander Tcherepnin was the central figure in a significant Russian musical dynasty. His father Nikolai, a distinguished composer and conductor, wrote the first ballet for Diaghiliv’s Ballet Russes, and Alexander’s son Ivan, and two grandsons Serge and Stefan are also composers. Recorded back in 1999, these recordings were originally issued on BIS. |
J L Bach: Funeral Music, Motets, Cantatas & Missa BrevisRheinische Kantorei & Das Kleine Konzert, Herman MaxJohann Ludwig Bach is one of the lesser known members of this amazingly musical family. Very few of his compositions have survived but his cantatas in particular have attracted the attention of scholars, as eighteen of them were handed down via J S Bach. He performed them in 1726, when he was Thomaskantor in Leipzig. |
 Frescobaldi: Complete Edition (15CDs + CD-Rom)Roberto Loreggian (organ & harpsichord)A release of great importance: the first time CD-issue of the Complete Works of Girolamo Frescobaldi. The importance of Frescobaldi cannot be overrated: the Italian Renaissance master influenced a whole generation after him in the development of instrumental composition: his magnificent keyboard works are rich, virtuosic and grand in form, and have served as model for many composers after him (Froberger, J S Bach, Purcell, to name a few). |
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