Category: Classical
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Robert Loreggian: Bach – Goldberg Variations
This is the second or third CD we’ve had with the Goldberg Variations “played as they were mean to”. This time, Loreggian is playing a copy of a harpsichord made by Michael Mietke in the early years of the 18th century; exchanges between the maker and Bach are documented. Loreggian is a top notch player.…
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Anna Szalucka: A Century Of Polish Piano Miniatures
This is a pianists’ piano album, as Szalucka is an exceptional pianist and can play both softly and very intensely; a couple of moments on this CD are incredibly fast. She’s won more prizes than you can shake a metronome at: 1st prize together with the Eller, orchestra, recital and Estonian Museum Awards at the…
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István Kassai / György Lázár Széchényi: Piano Music From A Hungarian Dynasty, 1800-1920
We can find little original to say about this entertaining and jaunty collection of music, and we don’t want to resort to copying the sleeve notes. The Széchényi dynasty were at the heart of Hungary’s political and musical life in the 19th and 20th centuries, and they excelled at vibrant, melodious dance-patterned music. István Kassai…
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Classic Clarinet
This CD is part of a series of CDs aimed at people who want to know more about an instrument, either as players or listeners. For those who are new to an instrument, the first question is often where to start. This new series offers an easy answer to that question, as well as an…
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Javier Girotto Trio: Tango Nuevo Revisited
First of all what this isn’t: it’s not the kind of tango that’s evocative of svelte couples dancing in sensual fashion across a dance floor to music suggestive of a dodgy nightclub in Buenos Aries. This is more dance music as an art form. It’s a remake of an album, Summit, by Argentinean bandoneonist…
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Trinity Laban Wind Orchestra: Sousa – Wind Band Music Vol 18
John Philip Sousa (1854–1932) was the American composer known as “The March King”; you all know some of his tunes, as he wrote The Stars and Stripes Forever, the national march of the USA, Semper Fidelis — official march of the United States Marine Corps — and of course The Liberty Bell, the official march…
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John McLeod: Complete Solo Piano Music
John McLeod CBE (born 1934) is a contemporary Scottish composer, and his love of the piano began as a schoolboy growing up in Aberdeen. This new (ish, we’ve had it some time) recording of his works for solo piano was made at four concerts given in the Stoller Hall, Manchester, as part of the Chetham’s…
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Dag Wirén: String Quartets Nos. 2-5
The CD notes talk about the “tapestry of drama” of Dag Wirén’s work and it’s a good phrase; this is expressive music that is tightly woven and has something of a flourish to it, though it’s a touch restrained. Wirén, born in 1905, studied at the Stockholm Conservatory from 1926 to 1931, coming into contact…
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Mark Stroppa: Space
The release notes on this make it clear this is modern music: Stroppa “views composition as musical research” and is “constantly aware of the dual nature of artistic thought, the discourse about the thought and the thought itself”. On this release, the Ensemble KNM Berlin “explores the topological qualities of the sound worlds” it says.…
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Graciela Jiménez: Solo Piano Works
Last week we reviewed the excellent album by Mariko Terashi (Piano); this week it’s another good piano programme, though different. Argentinian pianist and composer Graciela Jiménez is inspired by the landscape and folk melodies of her native country, say the sleeve notes, and this is a welcome introduction to her work. Without resorting to nationalistic…
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