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No Boundaries
Release Date: 2006-04-04
Sales rank: 13143
This piano-playing team of five siblings could be easily dismissed as just another crossover ploy, but that would be a mistake. My initial surprise turned into an hour of pleasant listening and, on rehearings, to admiration for this unique ensemble of talented young artists. For one thing, they've got the chops to bring off some fiendishly difficult works. Listen to the way sisters Desirae and Deondra tackle modernist Witold Lutoslawski's Variations on a Theme of Paganini, or brother Ryan's colorful romp through Ginastera's tricky dance rhythms. The fivesome also achieve carefully balances in their concerted works, with a scrupulously turned version of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and their arrangement of highlights from Stravinsky's Firebird. Those in doubt should hear tracks two through four, for irresistible versions of Lecouna's popular Malaguena, a fetching combination of Dvorak and Copland, and a piano rag by John Novacek. A delightful, spirited disc that never fails to please. --Dan Davis |
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Hovhaness: Mysterious Mountain
Release Date: 1995-03-14
Sales rank: 6442
Most people became acquainted with Hovhaness's greatest symphony, Mysterious Mountain (Symphony 2), through this recording when it appeared on vinyl during the Stone Age. It plays like an extended prayer and is oddly structured. It was an immediate hit when it appeared in 1955. Stravinsky's The Fairy's Kiss is a 1928 ballet commission that, quite intentionally, recalls Tchaikovsky and was written to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his death. Last here is a bang-up reading of Serge Prokofiev's classic Lieutenant Kije Suite. If you want to turn a young person onto classical music, play this disc. Worked with me. --Paul Cook |
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Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Scriabin, Rachmaninov, Chopin, Bach, Brahms: Alexis Weissenberg - Classic Archive
Release Date: 2008-06-24
Sales rank: 35970
Weissenberg was at the beginning of his substantial international career in these films, mostly made by French television in the 1960s. The one exception is a 1965 version of Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Petrouchka renowned in its time for attempting to mirror the music’s rhythms and moods. Directed by Åke Falck and filmed in a Stockholm studio, the camera is a creative partner with composer and pianist. So all kinds of odd angles are employed. If you want to see what Weissenberg’s chin looks like from the vantage point of the keyboard, here’s your chance. Lighting and backgrounds change often, but there’s an element of art-house kitsch to the film that today seems dated. In a bonus track, Weissenberg speaks about how the film was made and the difficulties of matching finger movements to the prerecorded sound track while he "played" the work on a specially built silent piano, whose inner plumbing is an important visual element here. As for Weissenberg’s playing, this difficult piece is red meat for a virtuoso of his caliber and he’s predictably impressive, although the piano tone can get glassy in the treble and the considerable pounding the piano gets can leave you feeling pummeled. A wild ride perhaps, but a worthwhile one. The remainder of the solo part of the program consists of Weissenberg favorites: an example of Age of Iron Prokofiev via his Sonata No.3, a Scriabin Nocturne that shows the pianist’s lyric side, a Chopin set offering well-played, interpretively squeaky-clean pianism that needs more tonal bloom than the various engineers could supply at the time. Weissenberg programmed a lot of Bach and some of his best playing comes in the Chromatic Fantasy (here shorn of the Fugue). Bach that looks filmed in a dark celler at midnight, Myra Hess’ famed transcription of Jesu, joy of man’s desiring gets a steel-fingered rendition. The biggest piece on the disc, Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2, with the French Radio Orchestra led by a heavily perspiring George Prêtre, features grainy video and compromised sound that should have been better for its 1969 date. But pianophiles will be interested in this record of a famed virtuoso at his peak. --Dan Davis |
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The Essential Hilary Hahn
Release Date: 2007-07-10
Sales rank: 24060
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Masters of the Trumpet
Release Date: 2005-08-09
Sales rank: 40573
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Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky: Firebird-Complete/Scherzo/Firework
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Sales rank: 32158
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Hilary Hahn ~ Brahms · Stravinsky - Violin Concertos
Release Date: 2001-11-13
Sales rank: 6980
Hilary Hahn is not only one of the best, but one of the most interesting young violinists before the public. Even as a teenager, she seemed uninterested in displaying her formidable technical mastery, concentrating instead on the music with a seriousness far beyond her years. Now 21, she has become a thoughtful, knowledgeable musician and an arresting, involved performer. Both qualities are reflected in this recording, beginning with the choice of the two concertos, which are entirely dissimilar--except for being in the same key--yet make an excellent pair, and extending to the program notes, which blend personal reminiscence and scholarly research. As for the playing, it is extraordinary. Technical difficulties do not exist. Even the most daunting passages, like the infamous G-major section in the Finale of the Brahms and the wild running-around in the Stravinsky, are dispatched with perfect clarity and consummate, effortless ease. Hahn's tone is intense, focused, variable, and of pristine purity in all registers, at all dynamic levels. She never loses her sense of meter or direction; her phrases have shape and elegance; and she needs no external effects. Her playing is austere and controlled, with an inward, noble expressiveness; she can change tone and mood on a dime. In the Brahms, the high soaring passages are ecstatic, the Finale is quite fast and very strict; only the Joachim cadenza is almost too free. Altogether, it's a most impressive achievement. --Edith Eisler |
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Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite; Borodin: Music from Prince Igor
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Sales rank: 5236
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Stravinsky Conducts Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms/Symphony in 3 Movements
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Sales rank: 70534
Stravinsky was seldom the best conductor of his own music, but this disc of his three symphonies is an exception. In the first place, none of them are all that difficult to conduct--at least compared to some of his earlier works--and he seems to have been in particularly good form throughout these recording sessions. He gets a particularly enthusiastic response from his Canadian forces in the Symphony of Psalms--one of this century's great choral masterworks, and seems to really enjoy the neo-classical elegance of the Symphony in C. Of all of the individual releases from Sony's complete Stravinsky edition, this one has pride of place. --David Hurwitz |
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Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music, Fifth Edition, Volume 2: Classic to Twentieth Century (6 CDs)
Release Date: 2006-01-01
Sales rank: 175448
The Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music includes professional recordings (many brand new) of all works in the anthology on two six-CD sets, of which this is volume 2. |
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