Category: Classical
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Giacomo Scinardo: Mussorgsky, Complete Piano Works
There’s something refreshing about piano transcriptions of well-known orchestral pieces (we had some Elgar the other week), reducing all that clutter down to a single instrument, and the intro of Mussorgsky’s most famous work suits this pared-down performance. Except of course: Modest Mussorgsky wrote Pictures At An Exhibition in 1874 for the piano, and it…
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Franz Liszt: 12 Grandes Études
Liszt was one of the most remarkable pianists of all time, and were he alive today he’d probably be in a prog band, trading keyboard solos of fearsome technical complexity with someone like Dream Theater’s John Petrucci. Happily, interminably long and dull prog solos were still more than 100 years away when Liszt composed these,…
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Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Complete Sonatas For Violin And Piano
Weinberg is recognised as one of the outstanding Russian composers of the second half of the 20th century (say the Press notes, we won’t pretend we knew that). He was feted for his symphonies and string quartets, but also wrote a sequence of violin sonatas. Shostakovich’s influence is evident (say the notes) in the Third…
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Rhona Clarke: A Different Game
This new CD from Métier is Irish composer Rhona Clarke’s first album dedicated to her own music, skilfully played by The Fidelio Trio (Mary Dullea, piano; Adi Tal, cello; Darragh Morgan violin). If you’re put off by modern composers, don’t be: while this is a melancholy collection of work, it’s never hard to approach, and…
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Tõnu Kõrvits: Moorland Elegies
We may not know a whole lot about classical music, but we know a lot about moorland, having spent many a happy hour tramping hills. We can never listen to certain pieces by Elgar without hearing the wind blowing through the grass on the Malvern Hills at dusk. This nine-part cycle for mixed choir and…
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Elizabeth Jordan and Lynsey Marsh: Mind Music
It’s a game of two halves in this approachable programme from Elizabeth Jordan and Lynsey Marsh (clarinets and basset horn, with the Northern Chamber Orchestra and Stephen Barlow). And it’s all in a good cause — profits go to Parkinson’s UK. The programme features music written and/or performed by people who either suffered from a…
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Giacomo Carissimi: Eight Motets
Some church music is intended to instill awareness of the immenseness of infinity, some to sing along to and some to be reverential but pleasing, and this CD is in the last category. You could listen to it for its relaxed but respectful religious tones, or just play it to relax. Showing the timelessness of…
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Heroines of Love and Loss
The way things work in general is that classical albums take a couple of plays to get into, whereas it’s the pop/rock tunes that have instant appeal; until now, we’ve never had a classical album with that “must play every day” thing you get with a catchy pop tune. Until now; Not that a collection…
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Jim Parker: Travelling Light
The title says it all: Parker writes light music, and the collection takes the listener to different parts of the world. (He also wears his talent lightly, the sleeve notes being witty and self-deprecating). You might not know the name of Jim Parker but you’ll know his music; he has written for television and his…
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Ferdinand Ries: Flute Quartets Vol.1
If you want to make a name for yourself, getting a job one of with the world’s greatest composers is a risky move, like being an understudy. You might have a lucky break or you might disappear without trace. Wikipedia reports that when Ries — friend and pupil of Ludwig van Beethoven — died, he…
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