BACH & BEETHOVEN Quasi una Fantasia

"This French pianist has a very individual sound. Her touch is light and expressive, and her Bach has great charm; the dynamics and tempos in her Beethoven sonatas are perectly judged, as is the tone." --BBC Music Magazine, July 2015

Pianist Audrey Vigoureux, a native of Aix-en-Provence in southern France, started playing at the age of eight. She studied with Sébastien Risler and Jacques Rouvier at the Conservatoire Supérieur of Geneva and the CNSM de Paris, graduating with honours from both. 

Her awards include the De Agostini Foundation prize and a first prize from the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe. This recording features 'Fantasias' by Bach and Beethoven. Beethoven subtitled two Piano Sonatas 'Quasi una Fantasia' – Op.27 No.1 and Op.110. These works are paired with two Fantaisies and Fugues by Bach, in performances that focus on the music's lyrical properties.

BEETHOVEN Piano Concertos 1 & 2, Rondo

The piano concertos Nos. 1 and 2 are true gems of the classical canon, as Beethoven was an expert both in the art of writing for the orchestra and himself a master pianist.

“An attractive issue marked by an immaculate pianism, nimble conducting and refined sound.” --Gramophone Magazine

“- the recording is gorgeous: beautifully balanced, wide in dynamic range and utterly natural in timbre, with an arresting presence that illustrates how effective a small (38-piece) orchestra can be in this repetory.” --International Record Review

Volume 3 in the series with the complete orchestral works of Ludwig van Beethoven is ready from the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and its music director since 1997, Thomas Dausgaard. The piano concertos are true gems of the classical canon, as Beethoven was an expert both in the art of writing for the orchestra and himself a master pianist.

In the same fashion as Mozart, Beethoven wrote brilliant piano concertos that were being performed with the composer himself as soloist. The idea, of course, was to display his abilities both as a composer and a pianist to the audience and possible patrons. Arriving from the provincial Bonn to the metropolis Vienna in 1795, Beethoven built a reputation as a virtuoso that was to stay with him until his deafness was so severe that the public performance of a concerto would have been an unduly risky undertaking.

It is then in the nature of things that these concertos are forged in such a fashion as to display both compositional mastery and to exhibit what kind of magic a true wizard can do at the piano. Russian pianist Boris Beresovsky (b.1969) is such a wizard. At the age of 21 he won the Gold Medal at the 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

It is a privilege to hear how the combination Berezovsky and Dausgaard/SwCO really hit it of in this music. They are enjoying themselves, surprising each other, challenging and courteous at the same time. The sounding result speaks for itself.

The Swedish Chamber Orchestra/Dausgaard and Berezovsky are touring Germany with this repertoire 21. March — 2. April 2001.

Der Junge BEETHOVEN

The German pianist, Martin Stadtfeld, made his concert debut at the age of only nine. He was 13 when he began to study with Lev Natochenny at the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt. The list of his competition successes begins with the "Jugend musiziert" Competition organised by the German Federal government. In 1997 he won the Nikolai Rubinstein Piano Competition in Paris and in 2001 caused a sensation as finalist in the Busoni Competition in Bolzano.

In 2002 Martin Stadtfeld was the first Federal German pianist to win the International Bach Competition in Leipzig. This is a competition that can look back on a long and venerable tradition, but no first prize had been awarded for 14 years. Winning it led to invitations to appear at leading Bach festivals as Bachwoche Ansbach, Bachwoche Stuttgart and Köthener Bach Festtage as well as other important festivals at home and abroad. Concert appearances have taken him to the principal centres of music in Europe, the USA and Japan. He was described by Die Zeit as "exceptionally talented".

BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto, Romances

Anne-Sophie Mutter's Beethoven Concerto was recorded live at the final subscription concerts of Kurt Masur's long tenure as the New York Philharmonic's music director. The beautifully played orchestral part is a tribute to his leadership. Mutter plays with a silken tone and astonishing technical command of her instrument--absolute ease in the stratospheric tessitura of the solo part, and an amazing array of microdynamic adjustments that display the infinite variety of pianissimos at her command. 

She continually varies phrasing, so moments of ethereal beauty are often followed by finicky lapses into mannerisms. For all her instrumental brilliance, the results are curiously unmoving. The depths of the music's emotions remain elusive, her virtuosity veering perilously close to showboating at times. Similar comments apply to the two Romances, whose verdant songfulness needs more lively tempos and straightforward playing. Mutter's fans will want this disc. Others may turn to Heifetz, Perlman, Suk, or Grumiaux. --Dan Davis

BEETHOVEN Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7

Collated from three live concerts recorded and mastered in December 2014 by Soundmirror, the the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the watchful baton of Manfred Honeck present the 5th and 7th Symphonies. The fourth in the highly acclaimed Pittsburgh Live! series of multi-channel hybrid SACD releases on the FRESH! series from Reference Recordings, this release is proof there is always discovery in the well traveled ground of Beethoven's symphonies when played with conviction and passion.
Release date: 30th Oct 2015

Even though the program is a standard pairing of famous symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven, and the live performances are by a modern orchestra, this intriguing hybrid SACD from Reference Recordings is a real adventure. The excitement lies in Manfred Honeck's clear-headed and musically sound interpretations and the astonishing performances by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, which are not based on conventional practices but on careful study of the scores and original sketches, documentation from Beethoven's time, and what has been concealed under layers of later traditions that were never intended. 

Honeck takes into account the various schools of thought that have given us a romanticized Beethoven, an objective Beethoven, and a historically informed Beethoven. But by regarding these conventions as secondary to the internal evidence of the Symphony No. 5 in C minor and the Symphony No. 7 in A major, and by adapting his orchestra to the norms of the early 19th century, Honeck exposes many exciting details that are often lost through overly homogenized orchestral blending, unimaginative use of dynamics, and excessively slow, reverent tempos. As a result, these performances are utterly transparent, the pacing is extremely brisk and lively, and the interpretations are as fresh as advertised on the cover. The brilliant reproduction is also a major contribution to this album's success, and it brings great clarity to these startling and revelatory recordings. --allmusic.com

BEETHOVEN The Late Piano Sonatas

“Those who are searching for perfection can stop here...this set, the first solo recording from Russo-German pianist Igor Levit, sets a new standard that will be very difficult to surpass...I guarantee that you will only stop when you are sated with sublimity. Revelatory experiences like this don’t come often in a lifetime.” --BBC Music Magazine, January 2014 *****

“it quickly emerges that this is neither reckless nor arrogant but a debut of true significance. Everywhere you turn, you encounter thoughtfulness, an utter engagement with the composer and a clear sense of Levit’s personality, though never in a shouty ‘look at me, I’m playing the Hammerklavier fugue’ sort of way.” --Gramophone Magazine

“Levit's is [a first choice], and he demands to be heard.” --International Record Review, December 2014

“There is some scintillating playing here – and it all serves the music...It would be idle to suggest that these are definitive readings of these works...but they are full of character and insights and thus to be included in any library shortlist, and the immediate recording lucidly relays Levit’s palpable and deep-seated commitment to the music.” --classicalsource.com

“there's certainly nothing callow or immature about any of them. And it's certainly hard to imagine that he will ever make these sonatas seem any more beautiful than they do here, for the evenness of the sound Levit produces is astonishing...It's all hugely impressive.” --The Guardian, 21st August 2013 ****

“Levit’s affinity for the composer’s essentially linear style and intense expressivity borders on clairvoyance, if you’ll forgive the cliché...In short, this is Beethoven playing of the highest distinction, not to be missed.” --Classics Today

“After a few minutes, I was transfixed. Here was playing of technical brilliance, tonal allure, intellectual drive, and an elusive quality that the Germans indicate with the word Innigkeit, or inwardness.” --Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 14th April 2014

LIVE from Teatro Colón

Live from Teatro Colón captures the long-awaited reunion of legendary pianists Daniel Barenboim and Martha Argerich in their home city of Buenos Aires, in concert with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Release date: 31st July 2015

En 2014 la pianista Martha Argerich y el pianista y director Daniel Barenboim, regresaron a su Buenos Aires natal para ofrecer un concierto monumental en el Teatro Colón fabulosamente acompañados por la West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Tras una versión imperial del primer concierto para piano de Beethoven, el programa continúa con obras de Ravel, la primera suite de Carmen de Bizet y un animado tango del compositor argentino Mariano Mores.

HIGHLIGHTS Glenn Gould

In 1956 Glenn Gould’s first Columbia Masterworks release, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, took the music world by storm and immediately established the 23-year-old Canadian pianist as one of the most brilliant, original, charismatic and provocative classical performers of his time. Sixty years later, Gould’s prolific recorded output remains a stimulating presence, thanks to Sony Classical’s newly remastered collection of his complete authorized recordings in an 81-CD limited edition. The Sound of Glenn Gould presents highlights from this definitive presentation of the legendary pianist’s discography. Release date: 11th Sept 2015