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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas Vol. 1
Recording the complete Prokofiev Sonatas with pianist Peter Donohoe had been a long-cherished ambition of SOMM’s Owner and Recording Producer, Siva Oke, who had followed his illustrious career with keen interest for many years. This has now been realised with the complete recording of the Sonatas for SOMM, enjoyably recorded at Southampton University’s Turner Sims Concert Hall on their magnificent Steinway Grand, which Peter considers ideally responsive to the composer’s demands, both technically and musically. Peter is no stranger to the Prokofiev Sonatas. He was asked by the publishers Boosey & Hawkes to prepare the definitive edition of the scores for them in 1985 and he also recorded Sonatas 6, 7 and 8 for EMI back in 1990. He has now added Sonatas 1 to 5 and 9 in this complete recording for the SOMM catalogue, for the first time. He has, however, performed all the Sonatas in recital at some time or other over the years, and he feels – or with typical humility he thinks – that he has come as close to them as is possible for works of such infinite depth and stylistic complexity. Peter has written the CD liner notes for this first volume as well as the rest of the cycle, in a relaxed, informed and affectionate manner. “Donohoe is an inescapable advocate of Prokofiev’s piano sonatas...No 5 opens with a memorable wiggle. He ensures that the slicing, acidulous felicity of Prokofiev’s writing is pure invigoration.” Sunday Times, 5th May 2013 | 
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| |  | Emil Gilels plays Brahms, Debussy & Prokofiev
Brahms: | Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 83 Saal 1, Funkhaus, Cologne, 19 March 1971 Kolner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester, Mario Rossi | Debussy: | Images pour piano - Book 1 Saal 2, Funkhaus, Cologne, 11 December 1974 | Prokofiev: | Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 28 Saal 2, Funkhaus, Cologne, 11 December 1974 Visions fugitives, Op. 22, No. 3 Saal 2, Funkhaus, Cologne, 11 December 1974 Visions fugitives, Op. 22, No. 5 Saal 2, Funkhaus, Cologne, 11 December 1974 Visions fugitives, Op. 22, No. 10 Saal 2, Funkhaus, Cologne, 11 December 1974 Visions fugitives, Op. 22, No. 11 Saal 2, Funkhaus, Cologne, 11 December 1974 Visions fugitives, Op. 22, No. 17 Saal 2, Funkhaus, Cologne, 11 December 1974 |
The Russian pianist Emil Gilels (1916–1985) was born in Odessa. After completing his studies with Heinrich Neuhaus in 1937, he was awarded first prize at the 1938 Ysaÿe International Festival in Brussels. After the war, he toured the Soviet Bloc countries of Eastern Europe as a soloist. He was one of the first Soviet artists, along with David Oistrakh, allowed to travel and concertise in the West. His US debut in 1955, playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1, was a triumph. His UK debut in 1959 was met with similar acclaim while his Salzburg Festival debut came in 1969. Emil Gilels is regarded by many as one of the most significant pianists of the twentieth century and is universally admired for his superb technical control and burnished tone. His interpretations of the central German-Austrian classics formed the core of his repertoire, in particular Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann as well as twentieth-century music like Debussy, Bartók and Prokofiev. Gilels made two commercial recordings of the Brahms Piano Concerto No.2 in the studio with Fritz Reiner and Eugen Jochum. The live magisterial performance of Brahms’s Piano Concerto No.2 dates from 1971when Gilels was at his peak, prior to his studio performance with Jochum. The live recital dates from 1974 and features vibrant performances of Debussy and Prokofiev, all particular favourites of the pianist. Recorded in brilliant stereo, these WDR-sourced performances have never been released before. Previous live recordings of Gilels on ICA Classics have been Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3 (ICAC5000) and Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 & Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.2 (ICAC5032) – both CDs have met with outstanding reviews. “The characteristics of the [Brahms] performance are nobility and breadth...Despite the existence of the Jochum, this Rossi-conducted performance is still a worthwhile acquisition for Gilels admirers.” MusicWeb International, January 2013 | | | (also available to download from $8.75) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Prokofiev: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1-5
Alexandra Silocea (piano) Avie introduces the brilliant young Romanian pianist Alexandra Silocea who offers some of her signature repertoire on her debut recording, the first five Piano Sonatas of Prokofiev. Dubbed “Alexandra the Great” by Gramophone who announced her debut recording, the 26-year-old trained in Vienna and Paris, and is now resident in the UK. In 2003, while studying at Vienna University for Music and Performing Arts, she was awarded the Herbert von Karajan Scholarship, the latest in a string of prizes from competitions throughout Europe. Alexandra made her professional debut in 2008 with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Recital debuts followed in 2009 at the Musikverein in Vienna, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York, and le Salon de Musique in Paris. Alexandra says: “This debut recording serves as a journey through my own musical path. The aim of recording Prokofiev’s first five piano sonatas together was to show all the facets of Prokofiev's musical personality, from Op. 1 to Op. 138, which is the revised version of Sonata No. 5, one of the last works he completed before his death in 1953. Each Sonata is so different, so original, with such care for detail that whenever I play or listen to this music it's a revelation." This recording extends the legacy of the late producer John Barnes, who introduced the pianist to Avie. An insatiable scout for young talent, Barnes also worked for decades behind the scenes at Glyndebourne, recording every production for the company’s archives. His successor at Glyndebourne, Sebastian Chonion, has produced Alexandra’s debut recording. “Alexandra Silocea traces the shift in style with perceptiveness and panache. She characterises the blend of brooding and bravura in the “Fourth Sonata”, and brings out the melodic affinities that the “Fifth Sonata” has with the “Second Concerto”. These are fine, fresh, spirited performances.” The Telegraph, 28th April 2011 **** “[Silocea] plays with musical grace and fluency” Gramophone Magazine, July 2011 “On the evidence of this recording debut, Romanian pianist Alexandra Silocea is both musically tasteful and clearly devoted to Prokofiev's Sonatas. One rarely hears Prokofiev's often fiendish technical demands taken on so coolly and articulated so clearly as Silocea does here” BBC Music Magazine, August 2011 *** | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Emil Gilels
Beethoven: | Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90 | Debussy: | Reflets dans l'eau (No. 1 from Images pour piano - Book 1) Pour le piano | Prokofiev: | Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor, Op. 28 Visions fugitives, Op. 22, No. 1 Visions fugitives, Op. 22, No. 3 Visions fugitives, Op. 22, No. 5 Visions fugitives, Op. 22, No. 10 Visions fugitives, Op. 22, No. 11 Visions fugitives, Op. 22, No. 17 | Scarlatti, D: | Keyboard Sonata K141 in D minor Keyboard Sonata K518 in F major Keyboard Sonata K32 in D minor Keyboard Sonata K533 in A major Keyboard Sonata K27 in B minor Keyboard Sonata K125 in G major Keyboard Sonata K466 in F minor | Scriabin: | Piano Sonata No. 4 in F sharp major, Op. 30 |
Recorded: St. John’s, Smith Square, London, 15 October 1984 (Scarlatti, Debussy) Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London, 22 April 1957 (Beethoven, Scriabin, Prokofiev) This CD contains some of the first and last recordings the great Russian pianist Emil Gilels (1916-1985) made for the BBC. The lunchtime concert at the church of St. John's, in Smith Square, London on 15 October 1984 was to be his last performance in London. Gilels liked to play a selection of Scarlatti's sonatas - what he referred to as 'a bouquet'. He included five of them on his first BBC Legends CD (BBCL40152) from his April 1957 BBC studio recording. Here we have another 7 Scarlatti sonatas recorded in excellent stereo. Gilels first performed Debussy's 'Pour le Piano' in December 1953 only playing it a few times. After the mid 1950s, he did not play it again until the end of May 1984, five months prior to this stereo live concert. When referring to this concert Nicholas Kenyon wrote of Gilels performance of 'Pour le Piano'; 'But this is… more than the sheer creation of sound. For every wonderfully contrived sound reflects a conviction about the music: it is a total fusion of composer and interpreter that tells us for a few exalting moments, that the music can only sound this way.' Although he toured the UK for the first time at the end of 1952, Gilels did not record for the BBC until April 1957. Apart from the five sonatas by Scarlatti which were issued on BBCL 4015-2, we have here works by Beethoven, Scriabin and Prokofiev. As persuasive and pliant as his performance is here, it would appear that Gilels did not play this sonata again until he came to record it commercially in the studio in 1974. From Scriabin's ten Piano Sonatas, Gilels only played No.1 in the early 1950s, No.3 only in 1983-84, and No.4 in 1955-57. In this performance of No. 4, Gilels ability to combine great delicacy and enormous controlled power are ideal for this work. From Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas Gilels only played Nos. 2, 3, 7 and 8. “The Scarlatti, Debussy and Beethoven were recorded live in London in 1984, towards the end of Gilels's life; he's dazzling in the Russian repertoire captured in 1957. The later recital is magisterial, but he's struggling.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2009 **** “…Emil Gilels… in all his imperious and aristocratic glory. Seven Scarlatti sonatas show him in an inimitable if unfashionable mood, slow and romantically free in the repeated notes of the D minor Sonata, Kk141. His Debussy…sings and expands in a style far remote from a more classic French performing tradition...” Gramophone Magazine, January 2010 “The Scarlatti sonatas have a crystalline purity and breathtaking range of articulation, while the Beethoven conveys all the wholeness missing from the Waldstein, and the Scriabin musters exactly the obsessive intensity such highly wrought music demands.” The Guardian, 18th September 2009 ***** | |
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| |  | Bobby Chen plays Prokofiev
Acclaimed by The Guardian and described by International Piano Magazine as “an armour-clad player of complete technique…”, Chen burst onto the scene in 1996 with a sensational season of concerts having been awarded 8 coveted awards at the Royal Academy of Music including ‘Best Final Recital’. | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Alexis Weissenberg
“Weissenberg has a remarkable talent, as the three Petrushka pieces prove, but he has often misused it, with harsh results. This sampling of his repertoire and his thoughts on it is worth seeing.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2008 **** “If you invested in Marc-André Hamelin's recent CD 'In a State of Jazz' (see page 1328) you will have heard the eponymous Sonata and five Charles Trenet song transcriptions by Alexis Weissenberg. Here is Weissenberg himself seen first in the innovative black–and–white film of Three Movements from Petrushka directed by Åke Falck in 1965 which revived the pianist's flagging career. The print is remarkably crisp and vivid even if, as on the original film, the sound of this high–octane performance is not always in sync. The DVD's bonus features a short interview with the pianist talking about the work.
The rest of the programme has performances that reveal what an uneven player Weissenberg was. His impassive face and economic gestures seem to reflect his disengagement with some of the music (try the Bach–Hess Jesu, Joy of Man'sDesiring and the slow movement – the only part of the work here – of Chopin's B minor Sonata).
On the other hand there's a riveting Prokofiev Third Sonata (complete) and Scriabin Nocturne for the left hand alone. The longest work from the 150 minutes of the disc is Brahms's Second Piano Concerto, a lightweight reading conducted by the amiable Georges Prêtre in 1969.
From the same label comes a 1989 recital from Sviatoslav Richter given in London's Barbican Centre by the light of a 40–watt bulb. Now expressing any criticism of the great man will invite a heap of invective, but when Richter comes on stage conveying the distinct impression that he would rather be anywhere else, it does appear rather graceless. What with that, the anglepoise and reading from the score you wonder if he is in the mood to play Mozart at all.
Thank heavens he is. One can put up with any amount of eccentricity to hear K282, K545 (Sonata facile) and K310 played like this. Close your eyes – that's the best way of enjoying this, especially as the editing is a real distraction.
The three (black–and–white) bonus tracks from 20 years earlier were broadcast in October 1969.
Looking once more as though his cat's just been run over, Richter rampages through Rachmaninov's Etude–Tableau Op 9 No 3 and Chopin's Etudes Op 10 No 4 (ludicriously fast) and No 12.
Then there is the endearing figure of Tatyana Nikolaieva in her signature work, the 24 Preludes and Fugues of Shostakovich. Filmed in December 1992 just 11 months before her death at the age of 69, the setting for the 150 minutes of the cycle appears to be a capacious Victorian drawing room, the instrument illuminated by an old–fashioned standard lamp (what is it about Russians and electricity?). Talking of which, Nikolaieva, looking every inch the archetypal babushka and clad in clothes that might have been worn by Clara Schumann, lights up these works from within. Here are old and intimate friends. It's doubtful whether we'll hear them better played – unsuprisingly, as she was the composer's inspiration for the cycle (she reveals as much in the brief interview that forms the DVD's bonus). Already, this is a valuable historical document.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “This beautiful, essential disc gathers together footage of the Bulgarianborn, French pianist Alexis Weissenberg from the mid-to- late 1960s, a period that marked his return to the concert platform after nearly a
decade's absence. Pride of place goes to his 1965 film of Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka, directed by Ingmar Bergman's assistant, Åke Falck. It's a technical tour de force that turns Weissenberg into a
glamorous visionary, fetishises his hands and transforms his piano into a modernist abstraction of planes, lines and lethal-looking hammers. More conventionally filmed, but equally mesmerising, is a 1969 French TV
performance of Brahms' Second Piano Concerto, with the ORTF Orchestra conducted by an enraptured-looking Georges Prêtre. Weissenberg's detractors have often taken him to task for his supposed heavy-handedness. The weight of his
playing, however, was balanced by great interpretative directness and intensity, and this performance of the Brahms is among the most searching and profound that I know. A number of shorter TV appearances give us fine examples of his astringent Chopin, his deeply sexy Scriabin and
his controversial, probing Bach.” The Guardian, Friday 12 December 2008 ***** | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Emil Gilels Live in Moscow, Vol. 3
| | | This item is currently out of stock at the UK distributor. You may order it now but please be aware that it may be six weeks or more before it can be despatched. |
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| |  | Lise de la Salle plays Mozart and Prokofiev
“A talent destined for greatness, Lise de la Salle has the Midas touch. The most complete, thought-provoking young artist to come my way since the days of Pollini, Argerich and Lupu” International Record Review “…Lise de la Salle's… vividly recorded programme is cleverly chosen so as to present the broadest possible representation of each composer's style. Although there are some exceptionally fine recordings of the Mozart pieces on the market… de la Salle delivers committed performances that take full account of the stylistic conventions of the period but never shirk from presenting an individual view of the music... De la Salle's Prokofiev is even more convincing. She builds up a formidable head of steam in the Toccata... and the contrasting sections of the Third Sonata are just as imaginatively characterised.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2007 ***** “Young talent does not come more brilliantly or ardently alive than this. De la Salle is tremulously expressive in Mozart's A minor Rondo, making every bar pulse and breathe with a special life and prophecy of romantic things to come. But then she is no less successful in Prokofiev's diablerie, finding time, despite her headlong tempo, for piquant asides in the Toccata, for a loving romantic dalliance in parts of the Third Sonata and for a reminder in her selection from Romeo and Juliet of delicacy and affection beneath Prokofiev's outwardly prickly and intractable nature.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2007 “Young talent does not come more brilliantly or ardently alive than this. Clearly designed to demonstrate this 19-year-old pianist's versatility, Naïve's album showcases her in radically different composers and finds her equally persuasive in both. De la Salle is tremulously expressive in Mozart's A minor Rondo, making every bar pulse and breathe with a special life and prophecy of romantic things to come. She revels in the bustle and ceremony of the D major Sonata, K284. Hear her enviable perle in the last-movement Vars 1 and 3, her change to minor-key contemplation in Var 7, in the florid musings of Var 11 – and in her pinpoint definition and character in the K265 Variations – and here you surely have a young pianist born for Mozart.
But then she is no less successful in Prokofiev's diablerie, finding time, despite her headlong tempo, for piquant asides in the Toccata, for a loving romantic dalliance in parts of the Third Sonata and for a reminder in her selection from Romeo and Juliet of delicacy and affection beneath Prokofiev's outwardly prickly and intractable nature. This superb album concludes with a short DVD showing De la Salle exclaiming over what she clearly sees as her enchanted life (while acknowledging the hard work involved). All things being equal, she is clearly on the threshold of a major career. Her freshness and vitality are already something very special.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010  BBC Music Magazine
Instrumental Choice |
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| |  | Lise de la Salle plays Mozart & Prokofiev
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| |  | Prokofiev, Scriabin: Piano Music
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