Category: Classical
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Michael Habermann: Sorabji, Piano Music
It’s impossible to say anything bad about this, to be honest. Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was born Leon Dudley Sorabji in Chingford, his father being a civil engineer of Parsi parentage from Bombay. As a teenager, Sorabji took interest in the work of Schoenberg, Mahler and Debussy among others and eventually created his own system of…
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Shuya Xu: Nirvana
Unlike the Schubert also reviewed this week, this is not easily accessible and should be approached with caution. You need some expertise in the handling of classical music to deal with it, and probably gloves. This is modern music, and as discordant, erratic and as dramatic as you might wish. Xu Shuya graduated from Shanghai…
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Goldstone/Clemmow:Schubert – Piano Duos Vol. 3
There’s something strangely comforting about this CD. Although it’s billed as the premier recording of two pieces of Schubert’s music, it’s obviously mainly tried and tested old music brought up to date by Anthony Goldstone, who, with Caroline Clemmow, is one of the world’s leading pianists. (There are extensive and details sleeve notes by Goldstone…
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George Enescu: Violin and Piano Works (2)
If you’re new to classical music, this is almost the definition of what you would like to expect. Lively and easy to listen to, rich and full of energy, it’s classical music without the pretension. The opening section could easily be from a modern dance tune with a big staccato intro and then some mid-tempo…
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Luke Whitlock: Flowing Waters
We tend to listen to the CDs a few times through before we read the sleeve notes, and this rather beautiful CD from Mr Whitlock had a dozen plays before we could press pause. (He’s Mr Whitlock because we like the cut of his jib: he looks like clothes aren’t top of his priorities, so…
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Quatuor Danel: New Sounds From Manchester
We’ve been enjoying this new CD from Quatuor Danel, the quartet in residence at the University of Manchester. On this CD they present new compositions by four English composers associated with the university, two (John Casken and Philip Grange) already quite well known (so the Press notes say) and two younger ones, Camden Reeves and…
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Nick Cave and Warren Ellis: Loin Des Hommes (Soundtrack)
As if he didn’t have enough to do, on top of the Bad Seeds / Cave / Grinderman work, Brighton’s most visible resident also does movie soundtracks. (This isn’t really classical but it’s what we listened to this week). We bought the bleak film The Proposition some years ago, because Cave wrote the music and…
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Peter Sheppard Skaerved: Telemann: The Great Violins, Vol. 1
This rather lovely and delicate new album is from Divine Art and is the first instalment of an ambitious new project, to record baroque works on some of the world’s most historic instruments. For volume one, Peter Sheppard Skaerved is playing a 1570 Amati, already 150 years old when Telemann wrote his 12 fantasies for…
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Gilbert Rowland: Handel: Suites for Harspichord Vol3
Having spent the week listening to Sebastien Fagerlund’s intellectually stimulating music (see this page) and the thrash punk of Gallows (ditto), and enjoying both, it’s a big jump to Rowland’s presentation of Handel’s harpsichord music, whose aim is “merely” to entertain. We’ve enjoyed this too, but there’s just less to say, at least without just…
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