New Releases

[Todd]

A Beethoven complete sonata cycle for Todd to buy, from Konstantin Lifschitz on Alpha
Also for Todd, Daniel-Ben Pienaar tackles "The Long 17th Century" in a mixed 2CD recital

Noted. 

Cover of the Lifschitz:

[Alek Hidell]

Re: the Wallin/Pontinen Brahms, are these new recordings or a re-release? Looks to me like it's a re-release of recordings the pair made over twenty years ago - timings appear very similar:

[asin]B000024315[/asin]

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, especially if the recordings have been remastered (from that ancient 1998 sound ) - I'm just curious ...

[Alek Hidell]

I'm on the fence; I fear their playing could be equivocal.

I see what you did there.

[Ras]

Buchbinder is also releasing a book IN GERMAN about the Diabelli Variations. I can't find any information about any upcoming English translation - but both Alfred Brendel and Barenboim has written books that were available in English. So why not Buchbinder?

[Madiel]

Re: the Wallin/Pontinen Brahms, are these new recordings or a re-release? Looks to me like it's a re-release of recordings the pair made over twenty years ago - timings appear very similar:

[asin]B000024315[/asin]

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, especially if the recordings have been remastered (from that ancient 1998 sound ) - I'm just curious ...

Some digging confirms the recordings are new. Volume 1 has a May 2017 recording date.

Edit: And the same for Volume 2.

[Alek Hidell]

Some digging confirms the recordings are new. Volume 1 has a May 2017 recording date.

Edit: And the same for Volume 2.

Thanks! I may just have to keep those in mind.

[San Antone]

Thanks! I may just have to keep those in mind.

This information is from the Chandos website, but I doubt the recorded info is accurate.  The May 2017 date seems more accurate.  In any event they appear to be new recordings and not reissues..



Brahms: Works for Violin & Piano, Vol. 2
Label Catalogue Number:
BIS-2419
Running Time: 01:05:42
UPC Code: 7318599924199

Release Date: December 2019
Originally recorded in December 2019

Ulf Wallin and Roland Pöntinen made their first duo-recording for BIS in 1991 and have released acclaimed recital albums ranging from Schumann and Liszt to Alfred Schnittke, by way of Schoenberg and Hindemith. With the present disc they bring their most recent project to a close: a recording of all the works by Johannes Brahms for violin and piano. These include not only the three well-known and -loved numbered violin sonatas, but also the Scherzo from the so-called F.A.E. Sonata and the composer's own violin versions of the two sonatas for clarinet and piano. Wallin and Pöntinen open the present disc with Sonata No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 120, composed in 1894 for clarinet and transcribed for the violin a year later. As the clarinet part extends further down than the lowest note on the violin, Brahms made considerable revisions to the clarinet part, which entailed changes in the piano part, and consequently the printing of a new piano score. This is followed by the second and third violin sonatas, in A major and D minor respectively. Both works were composed during the summer of 1886 in Thun in Switzerland and are clearly related, even though they inhabit completely different expressive worlds.

Brahms: Works for Violin & Piano, Vol. 1
Label Catalogue Number:
BIS-2369
Running Time: 66:30
UPC Code: 7318599923697

Release Date: June 2019
Originally recorded in 2019

Asked the question 'How many sonatas for violin and piano did Johannes Brahms compose?', many lovers of chamber music would probably answer three, and maybe also add their respective keys and opus numbers. When pressed, a number of them would also remember the so-called F.A.E. Sonata, a collaborative effort by the young Brahms, Albert Dietrich and their mentor Robert Schumann. But very few would probably think of the two Opus 120 sonatas, composed in 1894 for clarinet (or viola) and piano, but a year later published in the composer's own versions for the violin. As the range of the B flat clarinet goes a fourth lower than that of the violin, Brahms had been forced to make considerable revisions to the clarinet part – which in turn entailed changes in the piano part, and consequently the printing of a new piano score.

The seasoned team of violinist Ulf Wallin and pianist Roland Pöntinen have now decided to record all the Brahms sonatas, and the results are being released on two discs, the first one including the first of the 'official' sonatas, No. 1 in G major, Op. 78, the F minor Sonata from Op. 120 and Brahms's Scherzo from the F.A.E. Sonata. Wallin and Pöntinen round off the programme with transcriptions of two of Brahms's more lyrical songs.

[Madiel]

Sigh. I suppose I should have stated my source (the booklets from the recordings are available on eClassical, which is where the BIS website directs you), but I don't know why you felt the need to go looking for further information.

The booklets from the recordings say May 2017. That's the most reliable source we're going to find. It's certainly more reliable than the website of a different label, but you could have actually looked at the booklets on the Chandos website. They're sitting there on the "Media" tab.

[San Antone]

Sigh. I suppose I should have stated my source (the booklets from the recordings are available on eClassical, which is where the BIS website directs you), but I don't know why you felt the need to go looking for further information.

The booklets from the recordings say May 2017. That's the most reliable source we're going to find. It's certainly more reliable than the website of a different label, but you could have actually looked at the booklets on the Chandos website. They're sitting there on the "Media" tab.

You sure do like to carp and complain about other's posts. 

Except for the recording date, which I pointed out was probably incorrect and cited your date as more accurate - all of the other information (none of which you provided) was new and the reason why I added my contribution. 

[Brian]

 

This reminds me of arguments my girlfriend and I have a lot. She'll say, "I think the temperature today will be 40," and then I look it up and say, "Yes, 40," and then she says, "You didn't believe me??"

[Todd]

Among another big batch of Sony Masters sets, this Beethoven cycle will be reissued.  I rather look forward to grabbing a copy.

DG will be reissuing Hermann Scherchen's complete LvB cycle, as well.

Perhaps one or two more cycles will be reissued next year. 

[Madiel]

You sure do like to carp and complain about other's posts. 

Except for the recording date, which I pointed out was probably incorrect and cited your date as more accurate - all of the other information (none of which you provided) was new and the reason why I added my contribution. 

The typical GMG approach of answering questions other than the one that was asked.

Question: are they new or old?

Me:They're new.

Response: Thanks!

You actually used a quote of that response as the jumping off point as if the question wasn't answered and fully resolved. Hence my annoyance. Whether you meant it or not, it comes across as saying I didn't do the job and you have to fix it. You are STILL coming across as if I didn't answer the question that was asked. All that other information you're saying I didn't provide? I didn't provide it BECAUSE IT WAS IRRELEVANT TO THE QUESTION I WAS ANSWERING.

If you feel like volunteering extra information that no one asked for, don't start by quoting like that. Because that's the impression you gave, that you were trying to do a better job of answering the question than I did. The truth is, you didn't answer the question.

[Mirror Image]

I like you, Madiel, but I do wish sometimes you'd reel in these lawyer tendencies to argue or refute a point. Sometimes it's better to just go with the flow or simply leave things alone than going in full throttle. Just a suggestion.

[Madiel]

COULD YOU PLEASE STOP SHOUTING?

Thank you.

Q

sure

[staxomega]

Buchbinder is also releasing a book IN GERMAN about the Diabelli Variations. I can't find any information about any upcoming English translation - but both Alfred Brendel and Barenboim has written books that were available in English. So why not Buchbinder?

Edwin Fischer's is one of the better ones I've read on this.

[Mandryka]

[Mandryka]

[Ras]

Diana Damrau singing Richard Strauss' "Vier letzte Lieder" with Mariss Janssons (R.I.P.).

[asin]B081WTD1TS[/asin]

[Ras]

Yundi playing Chopin's concertos with the Warsaw P.O. on Warner.

[Mandryka]

Just the intermezzi—thereby breaking up every opus number except 117. Presumably another volume of "Ballades, Rhapsodies, Capriccios and Romance" follows.

One CD lasts 53 mins and the other lasts 29 minutes. Caveat emptor.