03 Schumann DicterliebcSchumann – Dichterliebe
Kristjan Randalu
Berlin Classics 0303295BC (prestomusic.com/classical/products/9609352--dichterliebe)

This recording of Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe by Kristjan Randalu is one of the most ingenious piano recordings not only of anything Schumann that I have heard but possibly any recent solo piano recording. And there have been many recordings by classical pianists far more celebrated than Randalu. All is explained in the final paragraphs below. 

Dichterliebe (Poet’s Love), a cycle of 16 songs, takes its text from Henrich Heine. It introduces to German song a mingling of sentiment and irony, much as Heine’s poems had done for German verse. This is a world of disillusionment in which nature acts as an adjunct and reflection to a bittersweet love story. 

Perhaps the most immortal interpretation of this song-cycle is baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and pianist Alfred Brendel’s (Philips, 1986). In this (and every other version) the piano becomes an equal partner with the singer, appearing sometimes as a combatant, sometimes as commentator, and given the long preludes and postludes, the instrument adds an extra dimension to the possibilities of the lieder genre. Randalu makes all of the above happen by masterfully employing his insolent virtuosity and febrile imagination to Dichterliebe.

Randalu’s right hand cadenzas are “the singer” adding “vocalastics” through improvisation, a second layer of colour, liberating the lyrical element of Dichterliebe, and defining the emotional element more precisely. His left-hand acts as combatant and commentator. Together they offer Dichterliebe as Schumann dreamed: “a deeper insight into my inner musical workings.”

04 BREAKING GLASS CEILINGS MUSIC BY UNRULY WOMENBreaking Glass Ceilings – Music by Unruly Women
Rose Wollman; Dror Baitel
SBOVMusic (sbovmusic.com)

Expansions of the classical canon are always welcome. Offering much needed opportunities to infuse new and diverse voices into the ongoing history of this music not only provides revitalized repertoire for potentially warhorse weary ears, but such fresh compositional contributions underscore just how relevant, vibrant and still meaningful an art form classical music remains. All of the above is most certainly the case with violist Rose Wollman and pianist Dror Baitel’s excellent 2024 duo recording, Breaking Glass Ceilings, a collection of fine music from the pens of four women composers: Florence Price, Libby Larsen, Rebecca Clarke and Amy Beach.

Released on Sounds Better on Viola (SBOV) records, Breaking Glass Ceilings showcases not only an exciting program of lesser-known pieces by three deceased and one still-living composer, but traverses style (from the lush Romantic-era inspired sounds of Beach to the contemporary and decidedly American influenced compositions of Larsen), and, perhaps most of all, offers up an exciting new duo set of viola and piano performances with impressive results. 

While described as a musical celebration of “women who were told ‘no’ and did it anyway,” the recording may have an agenda to correct long standing historical omissions but there is nothing didactic here. Instead, what we have is an effervescent contemporary recording featuring excellent interplay and blue-chip musicianship from two accomplished soloists and performers. An excellent addition to the collection for fans of the genre.

05 Tchaikovsky Symphonies No. 4 5 6Tchaikovsky – Symphonies 4, 5 & 6
Park Avenue Chamber Orchestra; David Bernard
Recursive Classics RC4789671 (chambersymphony.com/recordings)

Conductor David Bernard has organized and conducted orchestras such as this Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, bringing them up to excellence in concerts and recordings recognized by audiences worldwide and to critical acclaim by the likes of the New York Times and Gramophone magazine. There is a photo of Bernard as a young kid getting a conducting lesson from the great Serghiu Chelibidache and I consider this his highest recommendation. By the way, chamber symphony is a misnomer. They are full size and have all the instruments of a complete symphony orchestra.

Tchaikovsky’s late symphonies, the Mighty Three, are cornerstones of musical literature. These are divinely inspired and among the most important and beautiful works of the master (and perhaps of all Russian composers). I have been in love with the passionate Fourth Symphony in F Minor since seeing Rudolf Kempe doing it so beautifully at Massey Hall back in the 60s with the Royal Philharmonic. In the entire symphonic literature there are few other works that test all sections of an orchestra and its individual instruments in technical brilliance: just think of the virtuoso pizzicato third movement that requires the entire string section to be in perfect unison and coordinated like a giant balalaika. These Park Avenue Chamber players are having a lot of fun with it and can be congratulated on passing the test very well. The sunny, optimistic, heroic and arguably the most beautiful of the three, Symphony No.5 in E Minor and the soul-searching gut wrenching but noble and magnificent Symphony No.6 in B Minor, the “Pathetique” are given equally fine performances.

As a distinguishing feature I noticed the conductor’s obvious effort to bring out all that’s written down in the score thus exposing internal voices I’ve not heard before. But what impressed me most is Bernard and his orchestra’s tremendous enthusiasm and love of this music that one can feel. It shows as if it were a live performance which is not easy to achieve. All in all, not a Mravinsky, nor a Karajan, but lovingly played and a sincere noble effort and that could be the most important element.

06 Prokofiev JalbertProkofiev – Piano Sonatas Vol.II
David Jalbert
ATMA ACD2 2462 (atmaclassique.com/en)

One of the 20th century’s most significant composers, Sergei Prokofiev’s music continues to challenge performers and listeners alike with its thrilling rhythms, complex harmonies and technically demanding scores. An expert pianist himself, Prokofiev’s piano music is notoriously challenging, notably demonstrated in his first two piano concertos.

A prolific writer, Prokofiev composed nine piano sonatas in addition to seven completed operas, seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos and a number of other large-scale works. Featuring Piano Sonatas 5-7, Canadian pianist David Jalbert gives a commanding survey of Prokofiev’s powerhouse writing for piano in this, his second installment in a series of the complete piano sonatas.

Piano Sonata No.5 in C Major is the least-performed of all Prokofiev’s sonatas, largely due to its cumbersome history. Accused of “formalism” by the Stalin regime in 1948, Prokofiev re-composed the third movement, simplifying his music in accordance with Stalin’s dictates. These unwanted, detrimental changes weakened the structure of the sonata, so much so that Prokofiev issued it a new opus number. Despite these political-compositional accommodations, Jalbert injects great energy and conviction into his interpretation, overcoming any weakness in the score with a strong and captivating performance.

Sonatas six and seven, written in 1940 and 1942 respectively, are known as the War Sonatas (along with Sonata No.8, composed in 1944). These works are at once thrilling, expressive and devastating, effectively distilling the angst and anguish of the time into one piano and two hands. This music needs to be attacked and thrust upon the audience, and Jalbert achieves this with gripping success, making this recording essential listening for pianophiles everywhere.

07 The Lost GenerationThe Lost Generation
The Orchestra Now; Leon Botstein
Avie Records AV2684 (avie-records.com/releases/the-lost-generation-hugo-kauder-•-hans-erich-apostel-•-adolph-busch)

Leon Botstein (founder-conductor of Orchestra Now, a graduate-level, multi-year program at Bard College in Red Hook, New York) enjoys rediscovering and performing unfairly neglected works. Here, works by three composers of “the lost generation” – those born between 1888 and 1901 – receive their first available recordings.

Hans Erich Apostel’s Variations on a Theme by Haydn (1940) utilizes a graceful theme from Haydn’s Symphony No.103. Apostel’s variations, while not completely atonal, reflect his studies with Schoenberg and Berg. Despite their melodic aridity and astringent harmonies, listener engagement is maintained by Apostel’s imaginative changes of tempo, rhythm and orchestration.

Renowned violinist Adolf Busch composed his sentimental, cheerful Variations on an Original Theme for piano four-hands (1944) as a Christmas gift for his wife. Often played by his son-in-law Rudolf Serkin and grandson Peter, they’re heard here in Peter Serkin’s orchestration.

The CD’s major offering, Hugo Kauder’s 40-minute Symphony No.1 (1920-1921), opens with Bewegt. As per its title, it’s emotionally agitated, Brucknerian in sonority and drama. The following scherzo is a wryly rustic Mahlerian dance (Kauder dedicated the symphony to Alma Mahler), interrupted by a lyrically nostalgic trio. The gorgeous slow movement is very much in the Bruckner-Mahler mould, featuring long-lined, yearning melodies and noble, hymn-like crescendos. The finale, a passacaglia, begins skulkingly, with alternating playful and solemn variations before ending abruptly. Amazingly, it took 100 years since its creation for Botstein to conduct this fine symphony’s U.S. premiere at Carnegie Hall in 2022.

08 Cuando el FuegoCuando el Fuego Abrasa
Ensemble Bayona; Eros Jaca
Eudora Records EUD-SACD-2403 (eudorarecords.com)

At first glance, the cultural connection between Spain and Switzerland may seem a tenuous one. Nevertheless, the two countries work closely together on political, economic and cultural levels and this premier recording by the Spanish-based quintet Ensemble Bayona is an intriguing demonstration of this close alignment. Titled Cuando el Fuego Abras (When the Fire Burns), it features works by both Swiss and Spanish composers, all of them first recordings.

Focusing on music from the first half of the 20th century, the ensemble made its debut in Berlin in 2021 having won the Dwight and Ursula Mamlok Prize the previous year. 

The disc opens with the Piano Quintet in F Major Op.6 by Swiss composer Joseph Lauber, music very much in the German late romantic style. What a fine sound these musicians produce, the warm tone of the strings – particularly from cellist and artistic director Eros Jaca – perfectly blending with the solid and assured playing by pianist Camile Sublet.

In contrast are two contemporary compositions, the Variations on a Swiss Theme for string trio by Swiss-born Christoph Blum and the Cantos for string quartet by Valencian composer Francisco Coll. The variations are a true study in contrasts with alternating pizzicati and glissandi and the use of vocal parts throughout, while the Cantos is quietly introspective.

The program returns to 20th century Spain with a 12-movement suite from Manual de Falla’s 1915 ballet El Amor Brujo specifically arranged for the ensemble by the Spanish composer José Luis Turina. The ensemble approaches the music with much bravado with vocalist Maria José Pérez further enhancing this fine performance of De Falla’s colourful and sensuous score.

With outstanding playing and a melding of two musical cultures, this disc is well worth investigating.

09 SolaceSolace
Kormaz Can Saglam
Sono Luminus DSL-92272 (sonoluminus.com/store/solace)

The name Korkmaz Can Sağlam may not be an overly familiar one, but this up and coming Turkish pianist already has much to his credit. Born in Ankara in 1999, he was the Grand Prize winner of the 2022 Alexis Gregory Vendome Prize, having received his bachelor’s degree from the Juilliard School. While there, he was also recipient of the Ahmet Ertegün Memorial Scholarship and the Susan W. Rose Piano Fellowship. Sağlam is currently pursuing his master’s degree at the Cleveland Institute and this premiere recording, featuring works by Handel, Rachmaninoff and Turkish composer Ilayda Deniz Oguz, is worthy proof of his stature.  

Handel’s six-movement Suite in D Minor (c.1720) is a set of stylized dance movements, each a musical miniature. Sağlam delivers a polished and elegant performance, from the expansive opening Prelude to the virtuosic presto finale, easily demonstrating that baroque keyboard repertoire can sound as convincing on a concert grand as it does on a harpsichord.

History has never been too kind to the Rachmaninoff Piano Sonata No.1 Op.28. Very much in the grand late romantic tradition; it was written for the composer’s tour to the U.S. in 1909, yet he never performed it in public again. Nevertheless, Sağlam approaches the score with a particular vitality, always clearly focused throughout the myriad technical complexities.

In contrast is Rachmaninoff’s lyrical In the Silence of the Secret Night, the third of his Six Romances Op.4. Of even greater dissimilarity is Bozluk, a contemporary composition by Sağlam’s friend Ilayda Deniz Oguz, where the use of prepared piano demonstrates yet another facet of Sağlam’s musical capabilities.

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