Joseph Haydn Piano Trios Hob XV 14,18,21,26 & 31 Trio Wanderer Harmonia Mundi 902321 (2018) Confident, nimble playing with sparkling passagework and seemingly effortless cohesion among the players make these joyful performances by the Trio Wanderer of Haydn’s perennially youthful Piano Trios a delight from start to finish. Even with generally more brisk tempos than…
Category: Classical
Press Releases: November 2017
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphonies 6, 7 & 8 Rafael Kubelik, Orchestre de Paris, Wiener Philharmoniker, The Cleveland Orchestra PENTATONE PTC 5186250 PENTATONE’s third release from Rafael Kubelik’s acclaimed Beethoven cycle of symphonies in its Remastered Classics series is his commanding reading of the sixth, seventh and eighth symphonies performed by the Orchestre de Paris, the Vienna…
Press Releases: October 2017
Benjamin Britten Paul Hindemith Violin Concertos Arabella Steinbacher, Vladimir Jurowski , Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin PENTATONE PTC 5186625 Breathtaking virtuosity flows seamlessly with expansive lyrical passages and fiendish passagework in this commanding performance by Arabella Steinbacher of the restless and technically demanding violin concertos of Britten and Hindemith in this new release from PENTATONE, with…
Press Releases: September 2017
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphonies 1 & 4 Rafael Kubelik, London Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra PENTATONE PTC 5186248 The latest release in the Remastered Classics series from PENTATONE is Rafael Kubelik’s sprited and acclaimed reading from the 1970s of Beethoven’s first and fourth symphonies, performed with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Delightful,…
Press Releases: June 2017
Ludwig van Beethoven Missa Solemnis Regine Hangler, Clementine Margaine, Christian Elsner, Franz Josef Selig. Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig Marek Janowski, conductor Released on 01-06-2017, PENTATONE PTC 5186565 “From the heart to the heart” – Beethoven’s deeply felt and visionary choral masterpiece, the Missa Solemnis The conductor Marek Janowski and the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin continue…
Press Releases: April 2017
Franz Joseph Haydn Symphonies Nos. 53, 64 & 96 Oregon Symphony Orchestra, Carlos Kalmar (conductor) PENTATONE PTC 5186612 Released on 01-04-2017 April 2017 – Whether it’s a confident swagger or a balletic grace, a beguiling folk-melody or a quicksilver rondo, there is always something new to discover in the endlessly inventive symphonies of Haydn, especially…
The Performance of a Lifetime: Sviatoslav Richter Plays Brahms
Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 83 Beethoven Sonata No. 23, Op. 57 “Appassionata” Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf (conductor) Sviatoslav Richter (piano) Sony G010001718537R
Back in the USSR: Going Viral with Sviatoslav Richter
Sviatoslav Richter was undoubtedly one of the greatest and most influential pianists of the 20th century. He came to epitomise everything that people expected from a Russian virtuoso: a stern, penetrating intellect, breathtaking skill, demonic powers and magical, tantalising performances. But he was no flamboyant showman. Complex, intensely private and sometimes eccentric, reports of his…
Czerny: Grand Concerto in A minor
The early part of the nineteenth century was a fascinating period in the development of the piano concerto. With the public’s appetite for virtuoso performers, and with composers only too happy to oblige, much of the music was exuberant and high spirited, by turns lyrical and wistful but always written to delight and to show…
The Wit and Wisdom of Sir Thomas Beecham
It was the sort of gaffe that only Sir Thomas Beecham could get away with. As part of a tour of Germany in 1936 with his newly-formed London Philharmonic Orchestra, he gave a live broadcast concert in Berlin. Noticing Adolf Hitler in the audience applauding after the first piece, he turned to the orchestra and,…