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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | The Romantic Piano Concerto 17 - Mendelssohn
“With Stephen Hough's Mendelssohn we enter a new dimension. The soft, stylish arpeggios that open the first work here, the Capriccio brillant, announce something special. But this is just a preparation for the First Concerto.
Here again, 'stylish' is the word. One can sense the background – especially the operatic background against which these works were composed. The first solo doesn't simply storm away, fortissimo; one hears distinct emotional traits: the imperious, thundering octaves, the agitated semiquavers, the pleading appoggiaturas.
The revelation is the First Concerto's slow movement: not a trace of stale sentimentality here, rather elegance balanced by depth of feeling. Some of the praise must go to the CBSO and Foster; after all it's the CBSO violas and cellos that lead the singing in that slow movement. Foster and the orchestra are also effective in the opening of the Second Concerto – too often dismissed as the less inspired sequel to No 1. The first bars are hushed, sombre, a little below the main tempo, so that it's left to Hough to energise the argument and set the pace – all very effective.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 & Andante spianato and Grande Polonaise
Gary Graffman belongs to that incredible flowering of great American virtuosos who burst onto the public scene in the 1940s and 50s. Graffman, together with Van Cliburn, the tragically short-lived William Kapell, Leon Fleischer, John Browning and Leonard Pennario, presented the public with new ways of interpreting the repertoire, a far cry from the elderly virtuosos who seemed to hark from the previous century. Graffman was born in New York in 1928 to Russian Jewish émigrés. He studied with Rudolf Serkin and Vladimir Horowitz. During the 1960s he made a series of recordings that to this day are considered benchmarks. The remarkable Brahms 1st Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Munch cries out for re-release. The recordings of the three Tchaikovsky concertos, Prokofiev’s Concertos 1&3, and the Rachmaninov 2nd are in this category, along with the Chopin concerto on this CD. Working with conductors such as George Szell, Leonard Bernstein and Charles Munch (here at his peak), Graffman’s genius sounds as startlingly fresh and vivid today as it did 50 years ago. In 1977 Graffman, like his friend Leon Fleischer, began to suffer from recurring pains in his right hand and, after concentrating on repertoire for the left-hand, he turned to teaching. Two of his star pupils are Yuja Wang and Lang Lang. Booklet notes “Authoritative performances, very lean and lyrically rather understated. At times refreshing and aristocratic, Gary Graffman can be a little unemotional.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2012 *** “I can't remember having heard Graffman in Chopin and I found I kept jotting down notes about how extraordinarily well he plays this concerto. Graffman produces some marvellous pianism and I was left full of
admiration for his playing. In the Mendelssohn he plays with great style and with the brilliance this agreeable, if not very remarkable, piece wants” Gramophone Magazine, April 1966 “Here the characteristic rhythms are propelled irresistibly.” Gramophone Magazine, June 1966 (Ballades and Op 22)) | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Mendelssohn: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 5
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| |  | Frank Pelleg, Volume 1
Bach, J S: | Duets Nos. 1-4, BWV802-805 Recorded. c.1951 Goldberg Variations, BWV988 Live Broadcast. c.1959 Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV1050 Recorded c.1952 with Peter Rybar (violin) & Peter Lukas Graf (flute) Winterthur Symphony Orchestra, Walter Goehr | Debussy: | Fantasie for piano and orchestra Recorded c.1951 Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Walter Goehr | Mendelssohn: | Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 Recorded c.1951 Winterthur Symphony Orchestra, Walter Goehr Serenade and Allegro giocoso, Op. 43, for piano and orchestra Recorded c.1951 Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Otto Ackermann Capriccio Brillant in B minor Op. 22 Recorded c.1951 Winterthur Symphony Orchestra, Walter Goehr |
Frank Pelleg (harpsichord & piano) Frank Pelleg, a pianist, harpsichordist, composer, musicologist, conductor, philosopher and a teacher - was clearly one of the most illustrious musicians of the 20th century. In addition to his expertise in the performance of Bach and the Baroque era, he was equally a brilliant performer of the classical period and a champion of new music, particularly of Israeli composers. He was a remarkable, delightful and a charismatic person, an original with a great sense of humor, superb communication ability and had an amazing memory (he could perform most of Mozart’s piano concertos on a moment’s notice from memory). Always active with relentless enthusiasm, his untimely death at the age of 57 was a sad event to all who knew him and the entire musical world. | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Mendelssohn - Complete Concertos
Ultra Extended Playing Time. These products can only be played on a machine with SACD capability. They cannot be played on a conventional CD player. These concertos span Mendelssohn’s complete oeuvre, from 1822 to 1844. “[On the original release] a winning soloist [Isabelle van Keulen] with a soft tone like the finest-spun silk – plus strength to match, when required” Gramophone Magazine | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos
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| |  | An introduction to Felix Mendelssohn
Mendelssohn’s First Piano Concerto is an entirely delightful and comparatively well-kept secret, conceived in the composer’s head during the journey which led to the writing of the Italian Symphony, and bubbling over with much of that work’s melodic exuberance. (The Gramophone) | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Romantic Piano Concertos
| | | (also available to download from $21.00) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Mendelssohn: Concerto in D minor for Violin, Piano and String Orchestra
| | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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