New Releases

[Symphonic Addict]

Not something you see everday, an album with both Faure works for piano and orchestra. It's got the orchestral version of the Ballade op.19, and then the Fantaisie op.111.

One of those discs with a quite interesting program indeed. A new recording of Reynaldo Hahn's Piano Concerto and Nadia Boulanger's Fantaisie for piano and orchestra is more than welcome too.

[Brian]

[Atriod]

edit: a lethargic opening of the Waldstein (pales in comparison to the fiery 1950s Columbia) but otherwise a lovely performance even if it's squared off in places. I like his other late in life Beethoven recordings of the last three sonatas, he either had to change his interpretation due to technique or he reimagined them, this Waldstein seems to be similar.

[Madiel]

I always find a title that is "the lost [something]" a bit amusing. At best the previously lost, which doesn't quite have the same ring to it. At worst "the ones nobody bothered with at the time, but we've run out of other material so here you go fans".

[JBS]

This Amazon review relays the official explanation, and is relatively positive about the performance.

Hank Drake
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rudolf Serkin's Beethoven: still compelling
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2023
Back in the olden days of the late-1980s/early 1990s, I would make monthly treks to Tower Records on the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Newbury Street in Boston. The entire third floor was devoted to Classical and Jazz, and among the highlights were catalogs from the various record labels – free for the taking. Perusing the Deutsche Grammophon catalog I saw an upcoming release: octogenarian Rudolf Serkin playing Beethoven's Waldstein and Appassionata sonatas. "They must be kidding," I thought, "surely Serkin can't play those anymore." I kept checking over the following months to see if the recording was released, but it never appeared. Serkin died in 1991. Years later, I heard rumors that Serkin, angered that DG had issued his live recordings of Opp.109-111 on CD (he had authorized a video release only), cancelled the Waldstein and Appassionata release. The introductory note by Serkin's daughter Judith indicates that it was not anger, but declining health that prevented Serkin from granting final release. Now, over 30 years after their original taping, the recordings have been issued with the family's permission.

The Waldstein's opening movement features a gently pulsating rhythm with a bit less forward momentum and a bit more point making during transitions than Serkin's earlier recordings. For the most part, he keeps dynamics on the quiet side, so that when he briefly unleashes fortes and even fortissimos, it's a real event. The central movement is a gracefully magisterial introduction to a majestic Rondo. Toward the end, Serkin suddenly hits the accelerator in a exhilarating way, and the octave glissandi are delivered perfectly. The passage work is remarkably clear here – the rapid scale passages delivered with greater evenness than Kempff – and the forte chords are incredibly clean for a pianist of any age.

The Appassionata's quiet opening measures are delivered sotto voce which makes the fortissimo outbursts all the more shocking. The pacing is rather stately for an Allegro Assai, but Serkin makes it work. The central movement is dignified and uncomplicated, the variations played at a steady tempo. Serkin is able to play all the notes in the finale and deliver a comprehensible statement, but he's clearly husbanding his strength and Beethoven's elemental rage as heard in his 1960's recording is missing.

DG certain achieved better sonic results with Serkin than Columbia did. The microphone placement is an ideal balance of clarity and ambiance. The pianist's vocalizations are detectable here but the stamping pedal of earlier years seems to have subsided.

Neither of these performances are reference recordings. But as a document of a musician's final thoughts on these works after a lifetime relationship with them, they are worth hearing. Recommended.

[Symphonic Addict]

[Madiel]

This Amazon review relays the official explanation.

"The Forbidden Tapes" might have been more juicy.

[Brian]

"The world-premiere recording of the complete Violin Concerto in E Minor by Belgian virtuoso violinist and composer Eugene Ysaye has arrived! Following the recent discovery of a first movement, further manuscripts which complete the work have come to light - one a full orchestration, others for violin and piano - which were found on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Philippe Graffin's close collaboration with Ysaye aficionado Xavier Falques led to a page-by-page analysis and painstaking reconstruction of the musical puzzle pieces, resulting in this recording of the full, three-movement concerto which displays Ysaye's trademark ardour, intensity and originality. For reasons unknown, Ysaye abandoned his Violin Concerto in E minor in 1885, but some years later embarked on another, Poeme concertant, which was also recently discovered in manuscript form and is imbued with passion and the love Ysaye felt for his pupil Irma Sethe. Their love was mutual but their relationship could not endure, possibly sealing the fate of Poeme concertant which lay undiscovered for over a century but is now brought back to life with this world-premiere recording."



The Parsifal comes with a 300 page book.

[JBS]

Is the Schubert a re-reissue?

And then from 2007

Which has the exact same front cover as in your post.

[Todd]

Hmmm.

The Parsifal comes with a 300 page book.

Kaufmann and Garanca? Count me in.  Apparently, the staging confounded some folks.  Kinda makes me think I should get a BD copy, assuming one is released.

[ritter]

The Parsifal comes with a 300 page book.

Kaufmann and Garanca? Count me in.  Apparently, the staging confounded some folks.  Kinda makes me think I should get a BD copy, assuming one is released.

That one is a must for me as well. A better cast could not be imagined today, and for me there's the additional allure of having seen —and very much enjoyed— Parsifal live conducted by Philippe Jordan in Bayreuth (a decade ago). The only thing that causes me some concern is that in my experience, live recordings from the Vienna State Opera —which I presume is the case here— usually have a strange, dryish and constricted sound (I never understood why).

[JBS]

Igor Levit posted this on Twitter this morning. The post was in German; the translation is by Google

I spent the first four or five weeks after the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th in a mixture of speechlessness and total paralysis. And at some point it became clear that I had no other instruments than those of the artist to react to this event. I have the piano. I have my music.

And so the idea came to me to record these works, Mendelssohn's "Songs without Words", and to donate all the proceeds from this recording to two wonderful organizations (
@ofek_beratung
and
@KIgA_eV
) that help people from my hometown of Berlin who fight anti-Semitism experience and that support young people in avoiding falling into the clutches of anti-Semitism.

It is my artistic reaction, as a person, as a musician, as a Jew, to what I have felt in the last few weeks and months. Or to put it more precisely, it is one of many reactions that came to mind.

I recorded this album out of a very strong inner necessity.
It was released digitally today, with the physical product following soon.
3:00 AM · Dec 15, 2023
·

[Atriod]

Igor Levit posted this on Twitter this morning. The post was in German; the translation is by Google

I spent the first four or five weeks after the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th in a mixture of speechlessness and total paralysis. And at some point it became clear that I had no other instruments than those of the artist to react to this event. I have the piano. I have my music.

And so the idea came to me to record these works, Mendelssohn's "Songs without Words", and to donate all the proceeds from this recording to two wonderful organizations (
@ofek_beratung
and
@KIgA_eV
) that help people from my hometown of Berlin who fight anti-Semitism experience and that support young people in avoiding falling into the clutches of anti-Semitism.

It is my artistic reaction, as a person, as a musician, as a Jew, to what I have felt in the last few weeks and months. Or to put it more precisely, it is one of many reactions that came to mind.

I recorded this album out of a very strong inner necessity.
It was released digitally today, with the physical product following soon.
3:00 AM · Dec 15, 2023
·

Looking forward to hearing this, I've had Ania Dorfmann playing it in my heavy rotation.

[vandermolen]

Jerome Moross: Symphony No.1 (actually his only symphony)

[Brian]

"Copland Conducts Copland Complete Columbia Collection" is coming in the new year. Or, for short, CCCCCC. 

[steve ridgway]

Worse things happen in C .

[Bachtoven]

He's recording them on a Stephen Paulello piano, the 102 key grand called Op.102. More information about his intriguing instruments: https://www.stephenpaulello.com/en/pianos

[Brian]

Spring reissue boxes from Warner



Dukas set has pianists Duchable, Ducros, Hubeau, and Argerich/Rabinovitch (in a two-piano arrangement of Sorcerer)
Martinon and Armin Jordan conducting





You can open the images in a new tab to see them larger.

"Copland Conducts Copland Complete Columbia Collection" is coming in the new year. Or, for short, CCCCCC. 

pic



looks like it also includes the composer as pianist

[Symphonic Addict]

Looking at the list of works from this recording, it surprises me a little that Kabelac didn't tackle the string quartet medium.

[Symphonic Addict]