Category: Classical
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Christopher Fox: Headlong
While this CD has an appealing side, it’s not one for someone who just fancies a nice bit of clarinet; if you studied clarinet at university, your car is called Clarrie McClarinetface and you only play the chalumeau with added keys for that authentic sound, perhaps. Though it’s a life you need, not a CD.…
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Michael Barenboim: Sciarrino – Tartini – Berio – Paganini
After an acclaimed debut solo album of music by Bach, Bartók and Boulez, Barenboim returns with this new recording, in which the word “virtuosic” is used in the Press release. It is that, but the mix of old and more modern means it’s not a CD of two halves, more like three or four. All…
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Johann Sebastian Bach: St John Passion (1749 version, with additional movements from 1725 version)
As the sleeve notes put it, this and the St Matthew Passion are “without a doubt” two of the most important works Bach composed. Say the notes: “No further reason needs to be given for the fact that they are considered among the most distinguished compositions of Western music since they were rediscovered in the…
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Giacomo Carissimi: Oratorio Di Daniele Profeta
Another CD for those who want some inspiring sacred music for Easter. Carissimi (1605-1674) was well known in his day, and Samuel Pepys wrote of a performance of his music: “Fine it was, indeed, and too fine for me to judge of,” a review that we’d probably not get away with: “It’s so good we…
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Andrew Lloyd Webber: Unmasked The Platinum Collection
Lloyd Webber is one of those composers you never think about; his music has become the background sound to modern culture in a way that few other performers manage. Don’t Cry For Me Argentina is a song that everyone can sing along to, from youngsters to pensioners. Listening to this four CD boxset, the overwhelming…
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Panayiotis Demopoulos: Brahms, Demopoulos and Mussorgsky
It’s not the usual comparison but this CD reminds us of Rob da Bank’s old 5am show on Radio One, aimed at people who’ve been up all night at a discotheque (as they don’t call them), and need some chill-out music to bring them down to a point where they can sleep. Clearly classical piano…
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Mahir Cetiz, Panayiotis Demopoulos: Anairesis
This is one for lovers of modern, harsh music, though it’s mostly not as harsh as it could be; less aural barbed wire than, well something not as barbed or as wiry. It’s written for small chamber ensembles and when one instrument is being harsh, another is more soothing. Much of the music is like…
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Michael Korstick: Dmitri Kabalevsky, Piano Sonatas and Sonatinas
The sleeve notes say Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky, born in St Petersburg on 30th December 1904, achieved international success with music such as his Second Symphony (1934). He came behind Prokofiev and Shostakovich and along with Khachaturian in the “big four” of Soviet music. The First Sonata (1927), which opens this CD, is among Kabalevsky’s earliest…
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Terry Riley: Palmian Chord Ryddle
Eventually we’ll get a classical CD that fans of more popular music can walk straight into; this is nearly it, but not quite. It’s interesting, though. Riley is associated with the minimalist school of composition (interlocking repetitive figures) and is influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, both of which are clearly on display here.…
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Various: Sappho, Shropshire and Super-Tramp
First of all what this is not: it’s mostly not folk music, despite the cover and it does not feature the works of Roger Hodgson and Rick Davies; the Super-Tramp of the title is hobo turned poet WH Davies. This double CD is sponsored by The English Poetry and Song Society and contains music by…
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